《Samsara Fall Online: Isekai》 V1 - C1 | The Game World VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 1 - THE GAME WORLD [Fylah: Once again, the shadow general Neralg has joined forces with dark elves to-] *Click [Fylah: Our kingdom is in dire danger, being attacked both by the plague and-] *Click [Fylah: You, my hero, adept of the divine vision-] *Click A window pops in the middle of the screen. [The savior of Gonkdim against the renegade army. (Level: LEGENDARY)] - - - - - - - - - - - -[Do you accept this quest?] - - - - - - - - - - - [Yes]- - - - - - - - - - - - [No] The mouse pointer hovers over the [Yes] button, and with a click, the window closes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk¡­ how boring. Why doesn¡¯t it have an option to disable the lore?¡± With three more angry clicks, the screen goes to a loading. From the monitor¡¯s dull light, a scraggly bearded man in his mid-twenties rests his chin on the palm of his right hand, dark circles around his tired eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m a professional grinder, not a kid wanting a story to sleep, fucking writers.¡± The screen brightens up, the sun shines a radiant yellow, its light rays pierce the scattered soft clouds, and green fields with blooming purple flowers cover the land from the character¡¯s dark boots to the beginning of a snowy mountain in the background. This scenario breaks its staticity once the wind swipes through, the birds fly at the sky, and his character steps forward at a quick pace. An adventurer with plain short black hair and slightly tanned skin, one that he didn¡¯t care to customize from the first appearance the game randomized to him. Even by wearing low-tier equipment and a dark ragged cloak to cover it all, its presence still emanates a natural obscure aura. At his hip, he keeps his strongest item, yet economical, a pair of shiny grey and slightly-curved knives with long ribbons coming out of their handles, red symbols written all over in its thin dark fabric, giving this character something like a double tail of cloth as he runs. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The least they could do was add a fast travel near the mission. Wasn¡¯t this one of the opening events for this new update? Don¡¯t they have any good game designers?¡± With a deep sigh, he leans back in his black gaming chair, extending his arms so he could still evade the random rocks that made his character stuck from time to time. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Another four minutes to reach the dungeon, nice one, devs.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As a professional grinder, my job is to sell rare items for real money. But gathering those isn¡¯t easy, you need to spend hours on top of hours to get the resources to craft a single legendary item, which wanting or not, is the common type in the late game. That¡¯s why I do dungeons, they are the fastest way to farm, plus you won¡¯t be spending a lot of time running like an idiot and mining whatever the fuck you need, only to craft a single set. Yeah, it¡¯s high risk and sometimes you need to repair what you find, but it¡¯s way easier than handcrafting everything to pay the bills. Besides, I¡¯m not here only for those¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - There are also the Unique items, impossible to craft and the hardest item type to get, all because there is only one of each kind in the entirety of the game, so rare that even many beta players hadn¡¯t the luck to see one in action until this day. I, on the other hand, successfully sold three of them already. And, oh man, they are worth some months of work I tell you. - - - - - - - - - - - - One was by pure luck when my grinding bots randomly picked up from a low-level farming area. The other I spent thirty days non-stop at dungeons that had increased dropping chances. And the last one I took from killing a player. What an idiot that one was, actually believing that I would help him to clear a legendary bounty for free, but what can I say? He doesn¡¯t deserve that item if he didn¡¯t know how difficult it is to get one. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s how I managed to survive for all these years. Just like in a real job, all I need is to spend time to get money, so why not spend it smartly? Farming new legendary items and have a chance at getting a Unique, there¡¯s no way I could pass on that¡­ or at least that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been saying to myself, but this game keeps getting on my nerves lately¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Why is this here now?¡± A giant ogre with three heads appears, blocking the only passage there is to a cave. It roars, waving its big tree log of a weapon and looking at the player from the other side of the screen with its six red shining eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A random mini-boss, what a luck. Right in front of the quest I need to go too¡­¡± The man sighs tiredly, readying himself with a straighter posture in his chair. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If I ignore him, I¡¯ll lure him inside and he¡¯ll blow my cover, but if I fight him¡­¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The thing I most hate in this game is that each area of the map is divided by difficulty levels, and when you die, you not only lose experience like most RPGs but you also have a probability of losing items and your character will remain dead for a certain amount of time. At Easy level, you don¡¯t lose XP, you have a very small chance of losing lesser items, and you remain thirty seconds dead. But as you increase in difficulty, every aspect of that rule increases exponentially. - - - - - - - - - - - - Right now, I¡¯m in a legendary region, the highest difficulty there is. Dying here means losing all the progress to my next level, a hundred percent chance of losing all my items, and the time my character will remain inactive is¡­ an entire week. I shouldn¡¯t even need to explain that dying here is bad. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°All right¡­ what level is he?¡± His character¡¯s eyes shine golden, and above the Ogre¡¯s head appears the red name: [21st War Ogre, Shadow Army (Level 90+)] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What, ninety-plus?! My scout can¡¯t even read his level, are you kidding me? I should have leveled him up a little more but¡­ to think that a maxed energy character at level seventy-five can¡¯t see it¡­ this guy would need an entire squad of players to be taken down.¡± He leans his back on the chair with an annoyed sigh. The Ogre¡¯s steps tremble the ground, the purple petals of the surrounding flowers come off its stems on each earth shake. The ragged clothed adventurer stays still looking up at the Ogre stopping right in front of him. Salivating with anger, the monster raises its weapon to the sky, a weapon two to three times a human height. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I hate this game so much.¡± The Ogre strikes down, exploding the ground and lifting a heavy cloud of dirt and petals. A few seconds pass for the dust to disperse, revealing the giant weapon buried in a wide crater. The Ogre slowly lifts the heavy log, smashed flowers dropping from its tip, the veins of his eyes pulsate red as he looks around, to find nothing. The wind blows the purple petals, gently going in the Ogre¡¯s forehead and torso then reappearing on his other side, as if he wasn¡¯t there to begin with. His eyes suddenly calm down, and with steadiness, he maneuvers the log to rest over his shoulder, and so, starts walking back to his guarding position at the cave entrance. A window popup stays in the middle of the game menu: - - - - - - - - - - - - [Disconnected] [You safely disconnected and your character will return at the nearest Quick Travel.] He closes it and a couple more clicks travel him to the last alternate server of the list. [Connecting to Gonkdim server 7] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Four minutes of walking, again. Nice one, devs, everyone is laughing, so funny,¡± ¨C he says emotionlessly. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s already hard enough to keep a scout alive through an entire dungeon, and you put a mini-boss right in front of it.¡± On the screen, a drawn wallpaper of the same landscape he was before stays still, with a text on the bottom right: [Loading world¡­] The man suddenly hits the table with his fist in a burst of anger. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This is my last Alt dammit! If I lose this one, I¡¯ll have to do this dungeon blindly with my main accounts, all because of those stupid traps¡­ Three times, fucking devs, three fucking times that you killed me in that stupid-ass level design. First, it¡¯s just a corridor, I turn on my Vision and there¡¯s nothing, I pass through, and look! It¡¯s a physical trap, Visions don¡¯t catch it! Stupid. FUCKING STUPID! How I¡¯m supposed to trigger them safely if I can¡¯t see them, Devs? Answer me, dumbasses!¡± But no one responds, the room stays quiet until he breathes in and sighs. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. It¡¯s not like one of my main accounts would die hit-kill by those, but how I¡¯m supposed to let my low-level scout through?¡± The loading screen lights up again with the bright sun, and so his character appears from behind the camera, walking over so calmly and stopping at the focus of the scene, waiting for the user''s input. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can¡¯t have my best characters dead for a week, item prices are at their highest near the update¡¯s release, unique items are worth hundreds of thousands right now, and because nobody claimed one yet, they are at their peak drop chance.¡± With a last deep sigh, he places his hands over the mouse and keyboard, and by pressing W, his character moves. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Samsara Fall Online¡¯s biggest update. New NPCs, new story arc, new missions, and most important of all: new items, including five new Uniques, so hard to get that only a few of the biggest players of the game have a single one, and the great majority being bought instead of having the luck to loot it. - - - - - - - - - - - - Beyond the common four attributes slots of a legendary item, Unique tiers also have a fifth trait, an immutable ability that is unique to the game. The Devs themselves won¡¯t show what such abilities are publicly, but from what rumors, hackers, and lore-crackers have discovered, they are game-changing skills, not by their attribute numbers being off the charts but by adding new functionalities to the game that only the owner knows about. - - - - - - - - - - - - I can attest to that, as all the three Uniques I picked had abilities that don¡¯t exist anywhere else in the game. Whatever, they are too much of a pain to use, always with a bunch of nonsensical rules that it¡¯s like signing a contract for your soul just to click the activation button. - - - - - - - - - - - - My first one was called ¡°Midas Hand¡±, a golden gauntlet that transforms any item into pure gold. At first, I thought it would make me filthy rich. Imagine, being able to buy items cheaply and sell them by tenfold their initial prices, but no, the damn rules had to make it impossible, all because it needed for the object to have Energy and it had a limit of uses per month, plus the other dozen stupid rules. What a fucking waste. - - - - - - - - - - - - Then my second item was the Scythe of Death, a weapon that could kill in a single hit. But of course, it had a low chance of that happening, triggering only in a critical hit, and had seven days of cooldown. Amazing. Not forgetting about the other rules which the target had to be lower level than you, have less maximum Energy, and bla-bla-bla. - - - - - - - - - - - - While the last one, which I already forgot the name, was a talisman that allowed the player to instantly revive any characters he writes on a command block, but the rules stated that such character couldn¡¯t be in your account, and by using it the revived character and the one casting the spell would lose one level of experience, plus any lost items wouldn¡¯t come back. So why the hell would I keep it? - - - - - - - - - - - - In my opinion, they would be way better without those damn rules, even if they broke the game a bit, it would still be fun as long they are so rare to have¡­ Well, nothing out of the ordinary for those stupid devs, but whatever, as long there are power-hungry guilds buying and I¡¯m the one profiting from it, I won¡¯t argue. - - - - - - - - - - - His character stomps a purple flower at a stop, his ragged cloak waves with the wind as he gazes forward. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There you go, no Air Ogre or something,¡± ¨C he says looking at the entrance of the dungeon. ¨C ¡°Now, how to pass it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - V1 - C2 | Legendary-Level Dungeon VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 2 - LEGENDARY-LEVEL DUNGEON Being the fourth time entering the same dungeon, the creepy rise of a light fog covering the insides of the cavern and the walking skeletons aren¡¯t as worrying as the first time. The cave is long and narrow in proportion to the big mountain, its peak ceiling being over ten stores tall, where the side walls gradually converge into a single point. The ground, however, is mostly plain, with some changes in altitudes on three different levels, increasing a story in height as it goes nearer each wall as if it was mined and shaped by human hands. Scattered metal poles illuminate the ambient with its torches when the adventurer in the ragged cloak enters, his steps echoing in this ravine-like cave. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°This is a legendary dungeon. I need to be smarter about it¡­ even if the devs are a bunch of idiots, there must be a logic behind placing traps at those corridors.¡± With quick steps, he silently moves to the higher stone platform by the right side of the cave. Looking below, there are wandering skeletons and standing living stone statues, plus when using Vision it¡¯s possible to see spiders buried in some parts of the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Skeletons, spiders, golems, those are easy enough to kill.¡± His character teleports in a blink to the parallel stone platform on the other side of the cave, leaving fragments of energy behind as he keeps his pacing. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°I already have all of this annotated.¡° ¨C His character halts and stares at a group of skeletons, keeping his distance, careful not to get too close. Some hold bows while others have rusty double-edged swords. ¨C ¡°But what¡¯s bothersome is the multiple tunnel entrances.¡± The walls on each floor have often caved entrances shaped like an upside U, their paths are dominated by darkness for the lack of torches within. Groups of monsters guarding its fronts. He waits, looking at his skill bar, a countdown in seconds appears above one of the box buttons. Once it hits zero, the ability shines and he clicks to activate it again, teleporting his character to the cave¡¯s right side so he can run without luring any monsters. The number reappears over the skill: ¡®12s¡¯¡­ ¡®11s¡¯¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°That one, that, and that. I tried all three of them,¡± ¨C he points to pathways at different floors. ¨C ¡°All my characters got impaled, smashed, or dropped into a pool of spikes.¡± He suddenly stops, being able to see the end side of the ravine cave, a smooth wall with no paths to follow. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Hmm¡­¡± The man looks at a paper map over his table, everything is drawn badly in rough sketches, giving the general idea of where the entrances and the enemies are, with all the three paths he tried crossed with an X. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°This is just the beginning. It¡¯s like the devs wanted for the scouts to die right from the start, fucking idiots wanting to change the meta. I bet they don¡¯t even play their own game, and even so, they still do these shits.¡± In realization, he squints his eyes and gazes closer at the map. Then, he holds his mouse and pulls it closer to him, making his character¡¯s camera turn downward to where the enemies are. There are mobs everywhere, but for every pathway, there¡¯s a group of them right in front of it. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Maybe I need to kill the monsters before going in?¡± With a press of a button, his character¡¯s eyes shine golden, and names appear on top of every creature. [Spider of the Depths (Level 81)] [Archer of the Abyss order (Level 85)] [Puppet Stone Statue (Level 87)] Right below him, four skeletons named [Dead of the Abyss Order] walk aimlessly. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°My character is only level seventy-five, plus he is more suited for scouting than combat¡­¡± He sighs, getting a better grip on his mouse. He presses a button and a window opens containing his character sheet. In a second, he clicks a few times, changing a few skills from his usual build, then he closes it. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°But¡­ better try than depend on luck.¡± With the push of a key, his character jumps forward to the emptiness, hovering in the air for an instant before quickly descending from his floor. One skeleton looks up, seeing the adventurer drawing both of his curved daggers. Ferociously, a combo of keys is pressed on his keyboard, and in an instant, the commands are electrically passed to his in-game character, activating its muscles as if it was his. Black smoke bursts out from within his cloak while mid-air, blocking the vision of anything but two grey lights of his blades shining from within. One dagger is thrown upwards, flying above the dark cloud and then descending by its dragged-down ribbon. It cuts the smoke until the blade strikes the skull of the first skeleton, making the monster go three steps back as the adventurer falls to the ground safely. The other three draw their swords and advance. The adventurer walks back, each step of his being propelled by wind, showing that his boots are now wrapped with ghostly blue magic boots with wings near the ankles.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. His enemies dart forward, each step out of balance and cracking their bones with the quick pacing. But before the skeletons can reach him the black smoke continues to spread until everything is sunk into darkness. Within, four quick slashes hit all the skeletons, marking them with a red cross sign above their skulls. The skeletons strike blindly against the smoke in a valley of quick attacks, dispersing it on each swing but relentlessly missing every single one of them. A dagger comes out from the top of the cloud, swings down, and pierces the rightmost skeleton¡¯s head. Red light travels from his hovering mark to the others around, electrifying and damaging all skeletons in a chain reaction. The dagger looses from its skull and suddenly is pulled back inside the smoke violently. This repeats within a matter of instants, one dagger being thrown after the other, launched from above, the sides, or below; red electric currents sparking all around; slicing them again and again as the dark smoke disperses on each move; gradually showing the adventurer spinning as he swings the daggers with precision and pulls them back by their dark magic-clothed ribbons. His feet slide on the stone floor and the spin comes to a halt. The red chain disperses in an explosion of electrical energy together with the last visible patch of black smoke. The skeletons shake their heads, and with their soulless eyes, they lock on the adventurer and walk forward erratically. He goes a step back and pushes them away by throwing his daggers sideways while firmly holding onto their ribbons. After the impact, one skeleton suddenly recovers and strides forth, lifting its rusty sword at the adventurer¡¯s head, but one dagger is pulled back and parries the attack midair. However, another skeleton comes from behind the parried sword, slashing a quick attack from below. Without being able to evade, the sword slices the adventurer¡¯s shoulder and paints the wall behind him with blood. He looks at his wound, showing nothing but void from within his body as if he didn¡¯t have any flesh or blood, only a black space within him. This is just a game, after all, the developers aren¡¯t crazy enough to lose potential players by explicitly showing gore. And at the top right corner of the screen, a red bar goes down: [31##/3560] [28##/3560] [2617/3560] - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°One thousand damage a single hit, huh?¡± ¨C he says unfazed. His face goes even closer to the screen, and his hands prepare for another combo. In a second, he taps nine keys, so fast that his character seems to do a single thought move: The adventurer jumps in the air and quickly launches his daggers, slashing the nearest skeleton and then changing courses in a rapid pull of strings, slicing all in a spin. The first one recovers and erratically tries to attack with two quick slashes, but the daggers magically change courses to parry them. And the skeleton is pushed back with a vertical twirl. He steps away to keep his distance and throws a dagger bursting in flames with a side curve, hitting and scorching their bones, and soon after, the other dagger follows and freezes the same spots, cracking their arms and legs. One drops its sword and two fall to the floor, dismantling their bones and losing their magic supply to sustain themselves. The two surviving skeletons advance, his daggers are pulled back and, in a bang, they shoot forward like bullets in an X crossway, so fast that it¡¯s only possible to see them when the ribbons limit is reached and come to a rough stop. The skeletons¡¯ spines break, and soon after, their bodies also drop to the floor like puzzle pieces. Hesitating, he looks around, checking if all threats are really dead. And with a tired sigh, he turns and sits on the dungeon floor with his legs crossed in a Zen position. The inventory appears in the middle of the screen, having multiple icons organized in a grid, and he clicks a top tab with the image of a potion to switch the grid to [Consumables]. He double-clicks and his character suddenly takes off a piece of bread from his back and starts eating it. ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Never forget to heal.¡± A faint green aura glows around his character, and for each bite of the brown bread, his red bar rises again. He takes his last bite and the bread was gone. With two more clicks, another bread appears for the eating. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Luckily, no dying this time.¡± He looks at the upside U-shaped entrance to a dark pathway that¡¯s just in front of him. Just to be sure, he clicks to activate his Vision, a wave of grey pings around him, spreading towards the floor and walls, showing nothing within the darkness. - - - - - - - - - - - -Still can¡¯t see anything¡­ He looks at his red bar at the top left corner filling to its maximum capacity, but right below it, there¡¯s the end of a number being constantly changed. He moves his camera to center it, focusing on a hovering number above the skeleton¡¯s corpses he just defeated. ¡®10¡¯,- - - - - - - - - - - -¡®9¡¯¡­-- - - - - - - - - - - -¡®8¡¯- - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Revival time?¡± His character stands in a jump. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Ahm¡­ Okay, no time to overthink it.¡± He dashes forward and steps into the pathway. Once he is a few steps in, he blinks and teleports forward, everything warps into complete darkness, but even so, he continues to run without any directions. For a couple of seconds, only his steps on stone can be heard, but suddenly, even that stops to a static silence. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°¡­¡± He taps the W key, then A, D, and S, but nothing works. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°I just died?¡± At the bottom right corner, it appears: ¡®Loading¡­ 99%¡¯ - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a loading screen.¡± The loading finishes and the screen brightens again, not the same yellow light of the sun as before, but a white with a tint of gold. The character and his dark cloak contrast with the environment as he enters the scene from below the camera. This entire place has only one pattern: an oversized corridor with golden luminous baseboards and smooth brick stone walls painted in white; with a plain light-grey floor and ceiling; wide enough to be a two-lane road and having its ceiling up ten meters high; any corners being sharp ninety-degrees. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Things changed pretty quickly.¡± He opens a grin. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°So, this is the real dungeon?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - V1 - C3 | Stone Corridors VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 3 - STONE CORRIDORS Taking his eyes off the screen, he unclips the drawn map from his desk and flips it to its blank side. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­¡± The adventurer keeps walking, and after a few meters, the stone brick corridor turns to the left. As he goes, his pen slides on the paper with his right hand, controlling his character only by the keyboard with his other hand, turning his camera with the ¡°Q¡± and ¡°E¡± buttons after changing to a custom set of key inputs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Turn right, now left, and right again. He stops at a breaking point with two paths to follow. One to turn right, the other to keep going forward. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This isn¡¯t a labyrinth, is it?¡± ¨C he says tiredly. His character continues running, taking the straight path. The more he walked, the more breaking points appeared with more options to follow, but he decided that his priority was to advance upward on his drawn map, so he tried. Some paths lead to dead ends though, so he marked a small X with a red pen on his map and goes back to try another path. That continued for a few minutes¡­ the only thing he saw was this oversized white corridor and the yellowish light coming from the baseboards. Until something strange happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, this isn¡¯t right.¡± Looking at his map, the tip of his pen had just crossed over a straight line he made previously. But he looks at the screen again, and there is only a long straight corridor, with no intersections. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Are my proportions wrong?¡± He takes a closer look at his piece of paper with a frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh¡­¡± He straightens his posture and continues to walk with his character, marking his path with the pen and continuing from the crossing point. The path keeps going to the right until a breaking point forces him to change courses, but he tries to keep his direction towards the right side either way. The pen goes up, and then right, up, right, down, and right again, always in ninety-degree turns. Until it goes out of the paper. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°This definitively isn¡¯t right, is the labyrinth moving?¡± His frown transforms from worried to angry, he turns his character the opposite way and starts backtracking, his pen hovering above the line on the map. For about a minute, he follows its paths exactly as he had marked, but the pen stops middle-way through a straight line, while on the screen there¡¯s a wall. His eyes double-check the screen and then the map. And so, he leans his back on the chair with a deep sigh. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°I should keep going straight here, FUCK! It¡¯s a random labyrinth.¡± The pen falls over the paper. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°How funny, devs, everyone likes moving labyrinths, especially the ones you find nothing while walking for ten whole minutes.¡± He closes his eyes, controlling his breathing to calm down. ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°So, this is basically you telling me to not have scouts on this mission, huh? It just makes my work harder. But for what reason, though? There wasn¡¯t a single monster until now, or a different room, or any of those annoying puzzles. Is this just some walking simulator trash? Is it still under development? It doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­¡± He opens his eyes with tiredness, glaring at the white wall above his monitor for a few seconds before descending back to the screen. ¡°Unknown 1:- - - Did you find anything?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going out to eat soon¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Proximity chat? Shit.¡± His hands quickly grab the mouse. ¡°Unknown 2:- - - no dude¡± ¡°this dg sucks ass¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°So that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t find any players at the cave, they were all trapped in this shit hole already.¡± He walks silently with his character, peeking at the corners to see if anyone was there, but the corridors are all empty. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The last thing I need is to lose my scout to some random dumbasses.¡± ¡°Unknown 1:- - - I¡¯m going 2 leave bro¡± ¡°I think it bugged or something¡± ¡°Unknown 2:- - - Me too¡± ¡°******* trash¡± For a few seconds, he stayed still ready to launch an entire combo at the first one to appear, but besides the chat messages fading out over the long time, nothing else happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shit. That scared the fuck out of me.¡± With a click of a button, his character leaves the sneaky mode, showing its relief by cleaning the dust off his shoulder in a calming animation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Great, so it¡¯s not a single-player dungeon¡­¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He starts walking again, but he halts in his third step when another message pops up with a purple name. ¡°Sigivald:- - - Hello traveler!¡± He turns the camera to the left, at an entrance to a big room that wasn¡¯t there a step before, an empty rectangular place with the same patterns as the corridor, where a man stands still wearing a blue coat, a blue top hat, and dark pants. Looking like some cheap circus entertainer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°What the fuck.¡± ¡°Sigivald:- - - You seem lost, I can give you the answers you seek.¡± ¨C He keeps smiling like a salesman, staring from afar. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°That¡¯s an NPC?¡± He looks at the purple name in chat, proving that it wasn¡¯t a player speaking. With a click, his character¡¯s eyes turn golden, and the name above that man shows after a quick flicker. [Baldo Sigivald, Master of Lornvale (Level 90)] - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It looks like an NPC, but¡­¡± With a click, he opens his inventory and equips a secondary weapon called: [Throwing magic-steel knives]. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Only one way to find out for sure, if he¡¯s not, I need to be ready to get the fuck out. He slowly moves his thumb to V, the key to activate the ability of his speed-burst boots. And with caution he presses and holds the left mouse button, the character lifts the knives over his head and an aiming sight appears in the middle of the screen. By moving the mouse, the sight goes down and stops right in the middle of the smiling man¡¯s chest. The mouse button is released and, in a quick throw, the knife tears the air and pierces the man in blue, the noise of its metallic blade dings on the wall behind him, and falls flat on the ground. ¡°Sigivald:- - - You don¡¯t need to be afraid, I¡¯m here to help you.¡± The man stays statically smiling. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Right, it¡¯s just an NPC.¡± He relaxes his hand over the keyboard and walks to it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fucking creeper, who designed this guy?¡± Going closer, a message appears: [F to Talk to Baldo Sigivald]. With a click, a big window opens at the bottom of the screen, the name [Baldo Sigivald] fading in at the top-right while text appears word by word on the empty box below. The man is shown in more detail in a drawing above the dialogue panel on the left, having a dramatic pose of him statically about to take out his top hat, while his blue coat flies open showing his inner white shirt and two black pants suspenders. His white smile is even more contrasted by the multiple dark shades in his figure. [Sigivald: Oh, Hero! So you found me! I¡¯m Baldo Sigivald of Lornvale, a small village at the North-East border of Gonkdim. My village was the first to be attacked when the war began, but not to worry, we were ready for such a battle. After all, we are warriors trained-] *Click [Sigivald: I myself am a mage of the-] *Click- - - - ¡°Skip.¡± [Sigivald: Lucky one indeed, but-] *Click- - - - ¡°Skip.¡± [Sigivald: Here, be careful-] *Click- - - - ¡°Skip.¡± A popup window appears. [Yes]- - - - [No] *Click The window closes together with the dialogue box and the drawing of the smiling man. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Oh, shit, I should have read that.¡± [+1 Orb of Samsara] - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Well, if it is a lame mission I can always just ignore it, it¡¯s not like my Alt needs a clean reputation.¡± *Click The Quests tab appears. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°So, where is it?¡± He scrolls down the dozens of active missions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°It¡¯s not here¡­¡± *Click *Click The inventory tab opens up. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°What item was that again? Ball of Sahara?¡± He scrolls at the mission items tab but finds nothing. He changes to consumables, then equipments, and then accessories, and there it was, marked with the tag of ¡°New¡±. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Orb of Samsara¡­ rarity-¡± His eyes widen. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°UNIQUE?!¡± He opens a long smile and laughs exhilarated, sliding his mouse out of the way. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell? I¡¯m fucking rich, baby!¡± ¨C he screams to his ceiling, hands raised. His eyes get closer to the screen. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s right! This icon was on the update¡¯s site! I can¡¯t believe it, I got one right on the first day! What does it do?¡± Like a little kid, he hovers the mouse over the item once more and starts reading its attributes attentively. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A Passive item¡­ works just by being carried in the inventory. More 150 health, 150 energy, and 6 intelligence. Ability: [Mind Transferring], allows the player to enter a character for an unlimited amount of time¡­ huh?... What the hell, that¡¯s O.P.!¡± He scrolls down, passing through its lore, going to what appears to be a list. [- - - - - - - - - - - Rules: NOTE: Rules may change in future updates
  1. This item¡¯s effects do not stack.
  2. Can only be activated by a player character with an adventure rank of Legendary or higher.
  3. Any menus besides Inventory or Character are going to be disabled to access.
  4. The owner will only be able to hear up to the proximity chat range.
  5. The character will be temporarily disconnected from any guilds or groups, including friend lists (will be shown as Offline).
  6. Quick Travels cannot be used.
  7. This skill will only activate once the player is alone.
  8. The character¡¯s combat tag will be changed to ¡°always-on¡±, independently of the region¡¯s difficulty.
  9. If such controlled character dies, it will be permanently dead.
  10. [¡­] ]
- - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wow, hohohou! This is actually good! It means that someone can enter another player¡¯s character, kill it, and that guy will lose all his progress, isn¡¯t it? All the random rules aside, this is actually too OP.¡± His grin slowly closes to a serious face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I just didn¡¯t understand that last rule.¡± [10. The player can¡¯t leave such character until this ability is used again.] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Can¡¯t leave?¡± The screen image becomes slightly blurry. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, I can¡¯t access any of my other characters? I guess it makes sense, or I would steal it instead¡­¡± His tired eyes start closing on their own, needing a constant fight to keep them open. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But, how do I activate it? I can¡¯t put a shortcut key.¡± His head tilts and spins like a heavy bowling ball. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shit, I¡¯m tired¡­¡± The image of the Orb focuses again for a moment, then the rules go down line by line, and the next thing is his table coming. - - -Then¡­ everything goes dark. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Interval 1 | Disconnect INTERVAL - 1 - DISCONNECT A narrow popup with a dark background and polite white-blueish letters is shown on the screen: {- - - - - - - - - - - SAMSARA FALL ONLINE GAMEPLAY MANUAL v3.0107 {A phrase is cut in half here, outside the current scroll focus.} U. DISCONNECT - - - - - - - - - - - - 1. Any player is allowed to disconnect anywhere anytime, since: a. the character is standing still; - - - - - - - - - - - - [rule] riding mounts are included as ¡°moving¡±. b. is not with any Combat statuses (see section G); c. stays 7 seconds channeling the log-out function without breaking any rules above. - - - - - - - - - - - - [effect] if in a group, the player will be kicked out of it.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. - - - - - - - - - - - - [effect] the channeling disables any active invisibility or perception deceptions from the character. - - - - - - - - - - - - [exception] Safezones have 1 second of channeling duration. - - - - - - - - - - - - 2. If the player is found Disconnected by external means, and not by the manual log-out function: a. the character will stay in the world; b. a basic AI will take command of the character, auto-attacking and using simple skills until all sources of the current Combat statuses in sight are dead. - - - - - - - - - - - - [effect] no experience, item drop, or quest progress will be received while in auto-pilot. - - - - - - - - - - - - [rule] it¡¯s only possible to reconnect with the same character at the server it is currently on. - - - - - - - - - - - - [option] the first player input over the character after log-in will deactivate the auto-pilot. - - - - - - - - - - - - [end] when possible, the auto-pilot will attempt to log out, needing the conditions of section U.1. - - - - - - - - - - - - 3. Once Disconnected, your character¡¯s body will disappear and remain safe until you Connect with it again (see section T). a. any status effects, being positive or negative, will be dispelled; b. the character¡¯s health and energy will be fully restored. - - - - - - - - - - - - 4. The Disconnected spot will be saved as your last position, allowing you to reconnect by the nearest available Quick Travel (see section T.1 for more Connect info, or section M for Quick Travels) - - - - - - - - - - - - 5. Upon death, the character will be forced to a Disconnect and will have a cooldown to unlock reconnection with the same character (see section F for Death Punishments). - - - - - - - - - - - - 6. NPCs cannot Disconnect (see section D). - END OF MANUAL - } V1 - C4 | Samsara Zero VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 4 - SAMSARA ZERO - - - - - Little by little, I can feel my body coming back to its senses. First, there¡¯s heat, then my heartbeats, the acute ringing coming from the depths of my ears, the smell of mold, and finally the rocky ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hmgh¡­¡± My eyes open slowly, I lift my cheeks from the cold floor and move to sit. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What¡­ happened?¡± There are stone bricks everywhere. My forearm itches, so I try to take whatever is doing that off, but it¡¯s attached to my body. I look down to see that I¡¯m wearing dark leather gloves, I turn my hand back and forth, then I stare completely confused at the palm of my hands. Until a shock of fear dominates my body. Sigivald: ¡°So you woke up.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°WHAT THE FUCK?¡± ¨C I jump away. Sigivald: ¡°I told you already, no? I¡¯m not here to hurt you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A-A-A-¡± ¨C I point my finger at him. ¨C ¡°W-W-WHY-?¡± The smiling man with a blue top hat tilts his head, staring at me before moving his mouth to speak. Sigivald: ¡°You received my item, yes?¡± ¨C He widens his grin. ¨C ¡°I see, so it already took effect.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°T-Took effect? What took effect?¡± His smile shrinks slightly. Sigivald: ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what I told you?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah?¡± Sigivald: ¡°You accepted my gift, did you not? Weren¡¯t you listening? You do understand why you have it, don¡¯t you?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What?!¡± The only thing that comes to mind is his dialogue box. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Y-You mean the lore?¡± ¨C A drop of sweat goes down my temple. ¨C ¡°Who fucking read those? Why would I waste my time on an entire book of nonsense?? I¡¯m not a fucking lore nerd!¡± - - - - - Sigivald closes his smile. - - - - - Sigivald: ¡°Than that is indeed very dire. Do you want me to repeat myself?¡± A moment of silence comes between us, until Sigivald sighs and loses his focus to look at the wall near him. Sigivald: ¡°Well, I would, but time is up.¡± I glance at the same wall he looked, however there¡¯s nothing but the same pattern of bricks that repeats itself throughout the entire place, and when I look back at Sigivald, he¡¯s walking away with his back turned at me, going for a wall at the other side of the room. Sigivald: ¡°I¡¯ll be going now, if you wish to find me, keep searching this labyrinth. You may meet me again¡­ eventually.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­h-hey, hey. Hey! What do you mean, find you? This place is a mess! It keeps changing randomly, there¡¯s no way I can find you.¡± The man stops while facing the wall, he turns just to stare at me with one of his blue eyes and a nervous smile. Sigivald: ¡°That is true, but if there was a way for me to make my find easier for you¡­ the entire plan would be put at risk.¡± He steps forward, going through the wall as if it was made of liquid. Sigivald: ¡°And that is something I cannot let happen at any cost,¡± ¨C his voice fades until the last liquid wave solidifies. With hesitation, I stay still for a couple of seconds, listening only to my heartbeat. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the heck?...¡± I get up and stride to the wall he passed through, but my hands slap the hard stone bricks. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Where did you go?! Are you going to leave me here!?¡± I hit the wall with my fist and a wave of pain comes right after, spreading out from my little finger. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shit, fuck!¡± ¨C I shake my hand in the air. As I turn, I hear a quiet earth shake, one that I was already listening faintly but wasn¡¯t paying much attention to. At the door of the room, a giant beast looks at me, his three heads and all his six red eyes pulsating in anger staring deep at my skull. His big stature is just enough to enter the tall entrance by slightly bending his shoulders down. And at the side of one of his heads, rests a big clean tree log being held by his right arm. I can remember him from a mile away, it¡¯s the mini-boss Ogre that was at the dungeon¡¯s entrance on the previous server. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°RRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH,¡± ¨C the Ogre roars, spitting saliva at the floor. And with a single step, he¡¯s in. I walk back towards the extreme opposite of the door. The enormous Ogre straightens itself, tightening his grip on his weapon and turning it slightly, supposedly hitting it on the wall, or at least that was what it should happen, but the long trunk goes through the stone, not like the liquid wall trick Sigivald did, but as if the weapon itself didn¡¯t exist. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A-Ahm¡­ w-wait a second.¡± The Ogre quickens his pacing towards me, taking his weapon off his shoulder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait a second.¡± He lifts it, passing through the ceiling without causing any damage. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°H-Hold on! Let¡¯s talk it out, okay?!¡± In a single swipe, the oversized club descends, I jump to the left, and the club crashes behind me as I almost fall to the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.¡± I recover my balance by dashing away. The Ogre¡¯s weapon quickly shines white and enters the crate it just did, becoming intangible again. One of his heads turns to look at me. I turn to the exit of the room, fastening my pace towards it, but midway to it, I feel earthshakes coming at me quicker than before, I glance back just enough to see the Ogre charging at me with his shoulder forward. - - - - - - - - - - - - He¡¯s going to stomp me. I look at the exit. - - - - - - - - - - - - I won¡¯t make it. My right hand extends forward, as if trying to grab the exit to come closer. Then, something clicks in my head. - - - - - - - - - - - - I need to go a little further. There¡¯s one last earth shake right by my side, I feel my entire body heat up, the wind making the ends of my cloak fly, and then- *VIULP* The entire world twists itself around me and my legs lose balance for a moment, but a forced stop allows me to regain my footing. Behind me, the Ogre crashes and breaks through the wall and falls to the other side. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I blinked?¡± Fragments of energy disperse and fade out around me and from where I was but a moment ago. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s my scout¡¯s ability¡­ I can teleport. After hesitating for a second in awe, I turn to look at my feet. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Speed boots!¡± The ground shakes again, the Ogre is out of sight but I know he¡¯s getting up. - - - - - - - - - - - - C¡¯mon, my feet¡­ need to be faster. I don¡¯t stop staring at my boots, trying to focus all my mind to build the same model that appeared countless times when I played the game: the blue magic that makes my character faster, a wrapping ghost made of energy. My feet and legs tingle, then suddenly, semi-transparent blue stripes materialize from thin air and begin involving my boots from top to tip, molding themselves until wings pop out near my ankles. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± ¨C I open a smile. With a step forward, the wind pushes my back, allowing me to race out of the room. With a quick side look, I see the Ogre at my right lifting himself from between the rubble with the help of his club. My feet turn to the opposite way and I dash as I never dashed before. - - - - - - - - - - - - This is inside the game, then¡­ what that guy was doing--? He passed through the stone wall, and before that, he looked at another wall, he saw something that wasn¡¯t there? Which abilities are those? I turn to the left at the corridor path, distancing myself from the Ogre even more. - - - - - - - - - - - -I need to think. The first is probably some permission only he has to pass there, it¡¯s the only thing that comes to mind, and... Wait, maybe he used Vision or a similar ability. Some dungeons allow you to see beyond the walls if you use a perception skill, don¡¯t they? That¡¯s right. I need to know how to do that, c¡¯mon focus, Vision, Divine Vision. My imagination works hard to visualize what I have always seen from the other side of the screen: my eyes filling with energy, the golden color, the grey wave, the name tags. And as if it was natural, in a blink of an eye, the entire world is painted with a wave of grey. I instinctively look behind me, and there it was, the silhouette of the Ogre appearing faded through the wall, with a fading text over his head: [24th War Ogre, Shadow¡¯s army (Level 90+)]If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s the same guy, I knew it. Then¡­ I feel a shock of fear electrifying my body, my eyes widen and my blood freezes, just like when you realize that something was wrong, that you just made a mistake. The earth shakes as I turn to face it, I look up with only one of my eyes, reading the name hovering just below the ceiling in front of me: ¡°Seventeenth War Ogre, Shadow¡¯s army¡±. - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh. Everything seems in slow motion. The giant club swinging sideways right at me, his six angry red eyes, the ¡°Level 90+¡± above his head. - - - - - - - - - - - - Two of them? I extend my hand forward, focusing my eyes on the open space between the Ogre¡¯s hip and the wall, everything is so slow that it feels like I¡¯m submerged in thick tar. - - - - - - - - - - - - I need to blink¡­ My right arm''s aim stabilizes on where I want to go, and I imagine the same sensation that saved me before. The need to teleport away, the tingling, the magic, the animation the character does, the particle effects, the mana cost, the button I click, the entire energy enveloping my body. - - - - - - - - - - - - ONE MORE TIME! *tlick* The noteless sound of a piano key being pressed underwater reverberates in my head. A familiar sound effect that I¡¯m used to hear. - - - - - - - - - - - - Hah? The world trembles. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s on cooldown. My foot reaches the floor and my body hits the wall brutally. My entire left side screams in pain. My blood, my bones, my muscles, I feel all of them tangling together in a mess as I¡¯m buried in the stone. A bit of black smoke comes out of my body, a skill that supposedly should block half of fatal damage disappearing as if it was nothing in a single frame of a second. As my chest side is pressed by the tree log, my life bar decreases at the corner of my vision, shaking desperately. [30##/3710] [23##/3710] [17##/3710] [11##/3710] [958/3710] I cough out blood. The Ogre¡¯s club moves away, my body slowly looses off the wall and I fall to the side, but before I can hit the ground, a giant hand grabs me. My eyes open to see everything doubled, red blood tainting the entirety of my left eye, and his giant hand covering me from ribs to knees. The dust clouds dissipate as the Ogre lifts me closer to its three faces. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°... let me go¡­¡± His grip tightens. My eyes tremble in pain, searching if there¡¯s anywhere to run to. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Let me go¡­¡± Nothing, there¡¯s nothing but the white walls and the repeating stone bricks, the yellowish baseboards illuminating the oversized corridors, and the rough and dirty emerald-ish skin of the Ogre. The Ogre¡¯s grip tightens even more, one of his heads laughs in an echo. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (¡°Samsara Fall Online, huh? Looks promising.¡±) - - - - - There are no abilities to use. My life bar keeps decreasing. My ribs crackle. The pain burns everything in me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Disconnect.¡± ¨C Blood squeezes out of my mouth. - - - - - ([New update: The Fall approaches]) ([¡°Tropper96:- - - -How about it, kid? I give you real money for it.¡±]) ([Do you accept this mission?]) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I want to disconnect!¡± I hit him with my bare hands. My mind blindly trying to remember how to leave the game. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°LET ME GO! DISCONNECT!¡± - - - - - (???:- - - - - -¡°I started playing that game you told me about.¡±) (There¡¯s blood everywhere, but it doesn¡¯t stop the punching.) (¡°He¡¯s just a damn kid.¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°PLEASE, I SWEAR- LET ME GO! STOP IT! STOP IT!!¡± The red bar shrinks at each heartbeat. - - - - - ( [Yes]- - - - - - - - - - - - [No] ) (¡°But why he would do that?¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - (¡°That¡¯s a good way to get yourself killed.¡±) - - - - - My body flounces to free itself, my head turning and twisting up and down, right and left, my nostrils trying to gasp for air, my legs to kick him. All for nothing. ¡®3##/3710¡¯ ¡®2##/3710¡¯ ¡®1##/3710¡¯ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± - - - - - Suddenly, lightning strikes. Light-blue sparkles spread and crackle around the Ogre¡¯s heads in a thunder. Like a cannon shot, the explosion pushes him back, making him lose his balance and fall onto the wall, finally releasing his grip. My body falls until my head hits the ground, then everything snaps to a fog of darkness. - - - - - Steps echo deep in the background. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Nice shot, Elay!¡± ¨C a hoarse voice exclaims muffled in my dizziness. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Thanks, but we need to help him, agro it!¡± ¨C a girl says. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Easier said than done.¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Guys, h-he¡¯s level one hundred and twenty-seven, a couple of hits and you¡¯re done for!¡± ¨C A man¡¯s feeble voice comes from farther away. - - - - - Someone comes near me. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°He¡¯s unconscious, but he¡¯s still alive! Holy--¡± ¨C She stops herself. ¨C ¡°He¡¯s only at eight HP, we almost lost him.¡± - - - - - My eyes manage to narrowly see a pink-dressed girl with both arms extended to my torso. I feel my body heal, and slowly my vision opens just enough for me to see my health bar rising, then my eyes close shut again. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re going to be okay~; everything is going to be okay~,¡± ¨C she sings in a calm-ish voice. - - - - - Something crashes in the background. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Shit! His weapon passes through walls, bugged as hell!¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Focus on dodging, I-I¡¯ll do the damage.¡± ¡°T-th¡­¡± - - - - - ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Look, he¡¯s going to say something!¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t care!? Why don¡¯t you join the fight, Elay?¡± - - - - - The Ogre¡¯s weapon crashes the wall again, followed by an explosion. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ there¡¯s one more¡­¡± - - - - - ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°There¡¯s one more¡­? What? following the corridor?¡± The ground on my cheek shakes with the two Ogres walking. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°I-It¡¯s true, Elay, get out of there! One more War Ogre coming from nine o¡¯clock.¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°What the heck is nine o¡¯clock, Steven?¡± - - - - - Someone lifts my body. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Oh! Look, I can carry him! Let¡¯s run!¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°Why, Elay? Stop doing that!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± - - - - - ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°See? Even he is saying to get out! Let¡¯s move!¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°Tsk. His health, Steven?¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°A-Ah! N-Ninety-five percent.¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°Okay, let''s get out of here. Our attacks didn¡¯t do shit.¡± - - - - - The Ogre strikes the ground as I hear someone¡¯s cape drifting in the wind with an evasion. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°What is he?¡± ¨C She passes through the giant Ogre in a quick dash. ¨C ¡°A mission NPC?¡± The three of them run, my body shakes with each step. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Did the talk-to button appear?¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°N-no? I don¡¯t think so.¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°So, it¡¯s not. He¡¯s useless.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m not- an NPC¡­¡± - - - - - ?Man:- - - - ¡°Huh¡­?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ I¡¯m a player¡­¡± ¨C I manage to say before blacking out. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m a player?¡± ¨C Elay says a little bit afraid. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t listen to that idiot, Elay. Drop him, and let him die already,¡± ¨C a boy says annoyed on the other side of her headphones. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°P-Player? Maybe it¡¯s a new group in the lore!? Definitely not dropping an important key to the story, Mark.¡± ¨C Steven says excitedly. Looking at her screen, Elay clicks her mouse to open the chat¡¯s past logs, where the previous messages fade back in, all in which ¡°DArkstrider:¡± appears with a purple name in proximity chat. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Not an NPC, huh?¡± ¨C she thinks aloud. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - V1 - C5 | White Labyrinth VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 5 - WHITE LABYRINTH - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s nothing but water, dark viscous unbreathable water. Besides the faint feeling of pain surrounding his drifting body, there was something underneath, swimming in the same direction as the water flow, or perhaps the flow was solely made by these unseen creatures rashly moving for their lives. Whatever the case, one thing was certain, those slimy creatures kept leaning on his feet, passing near his hands, some even sliding on his chest as he sunk further and further into this chaotic tempest. He was an abnormality. He realized that better once those fish-shaped creatures completely surrounded him. They were forced to change courses, slip around his body, rush faster to keep the flow, bump into each other. But none of them dared to move him, all of them were trying their best to ignore he even existed. The more he sunk in, the more pressure it was, the more viscous it was, becoming more and more unbearable by the second, not by any means of density, but by pure psychological pressure, the longer he spent here, the more he wanted to move his body, to make those creatures go away, to go back to the surface and breathe again. ???:- - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s a dead end--¡± Far away, beyond millions of those creatures, it was possible to hear a drowned voice. Faint clicks then emerged in his ears, and water began entering his nostrils and fill his lungs. The clicks gradually became stronger and stronger like knocks, and then to muffled steps. ???:- - - - - - - ¡°Hurry, to the left!¡± - \ - / - A crash breaks my drowning in the dream world, my eyes open to see bricks falling and an Ogre looking at me with its six red eyes and three angry heads, his imagery goes beyond my field of vision as the one carrying me continues to dash in a turn. The first thing I do is cough out the water from my lungs, but my mouth doesn¡¯t have the strength to open nor there is any water to come out, my parched throat rips in pain, making me remember that my entire body is sore. I close my eyes tight to hold the agony in. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°One more at the right!¡± ¡­what¡¯s happening? I reopen my eyes weakly. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Here! Come here!¡± The white brick walls move quickly to the opposite direction I¡¯m facing, while I see the entire world upside down. - - - - - - - - - - - - Where- Once the shaking health bar appears on the top-left corner of my eyes, erratically going up and down, I remember. [125#/3710] I¡¯m inside the game. ?Man:- - - - ¡°We need to kill them, there¡¯s no other way,¡± ¨C he says in a deep angry voice. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°K-Kill them? How are we supposed to do that? There¡¯s four of them now!¡± To my right, the first one to grab my attention is the tall guy, his grey shirt tight on his muscled body, wearing red-ish brown gloves and pants made of leather, his dark-brown hair spiked like tall grass, wearing golden earrings, and with a fully metallic black battle-axe at his back. Running behind him, a skinnier boy is wearing some blue mage¡¯s robes and wielding a big dark-brown staff made of wood with a big blue pearl near its tip. The man turns his head, showing his sharp red eyes and thick lips to talk to the boy behind him as he keeps running forward. ?Man:- - - - ¡°It¡¯s the damn NPC, drop him, he¡¯s luring them!¡± I look up to the corridor path, sensing not only the earthquakes but managing to see at least three of them running behind us. All the Ogres have different tree logs as weapons of roughly the same size, and strangely as before, their weapons keep passing through the wall without trouble as they charge forward. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Then that makes the point of this dungeon, right? It¡¯s an escort mission.¡± Her voice soothes my ears, and only now do I fully realize that I¡¯m being carried over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and that my head was towards the ground. She¡¯s short, enough so that my hands drag on the floor if both my torso and arms are left relaxed. I only manage to see part of her back from my position, but her golden long braided hair tied with white ribbons and pink coat are easy enough to note. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Escort my ass, I didn¡¯t accept this mission to be smashed by a dozen of those monsters.¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Elay!-¡± The floor shakes and the wall next to me explodes with a strike. The girl jumps to the side, barely managing to evade the attack of an Ogre that just appeared right in front of us from a corner, her feet need a couple of hurried steps to regain her balance before she can run again. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Steven! I thought you were looking ahead!¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry, t-there wasn¡¯t any in front of us, I swear! I thought I¡¯d conserve some Energy.¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Just--¡­ just keep your Vision on.¡± ?Man:- - - - ¡°The only thing running will do to us is use all our energy and stack even more of those monsters. Drop the NPC and we¡¯ll cut our losses. That NPC is useless.¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s just wait until he wakes up, he might have some clue as to what to do next.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I- I¡¯m not an NPC,¡± ¨C I mumble. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°See?! Now he¡¯s going to tell us what to do.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?... I¡¯m lost just like you guys¡­ I don¡¯t know what this is all about.¡± I feel nauseated by the amount of bumping. ?Man:- - - - ¡°Wow, he¡¯s useless. No need to thank me, now, -for my mother¡¯s sake- just drop him already.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait!- Don¡¯t drop me, the Ogres are going to kill me!¡± The man looks back with a doubtful frown, they stay a few seconds running in complete silence until the boy speaks up. ?Boy:- - - - ¡°This labyrinth had something to do with the Gonkdim¡¯s old king,¡± ¨C he thinks aloud. ¨C ¡°It was something about trials where people were sent to kill each other until only one survives. I was considering this was unsolvable but¡­ I¡¯m not sure¡­¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°What do you mean?¡± ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Y-You see, this labyrinth won¡¯t end until the trial ends. No matter where we go, there won¡¯t be an exit.¡± One of the Ogres tumbles and falls behind us. ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°So, we spent twenty minutes running for nothing then?¡± The boy shrugs as he runs. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Maybe, but there must be something we need to do for the exit to appear.¡± I bend my back upwards, with my arms supporting on Elay¡¯s back. Behind us, two Ogres charge furiously as they get closer. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s true, the labyrinth keeps changing itself, it¡¯s completely random, I saw it before going inside the game¡­¡± ¨C Then I mumble to myself: ¨C ¡°I see, it doesn¡¯t make sense if its purpose is to be a labyrinth, this is an arena.¡± Elay looks back on her free shoulder. ?Girl:--- - - - - ¡°There¡¯s two of them now. Shouldn¡¯t there be five?¡± The boy and the muscled man look back. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°¡¯Random¡¯, huh? They could be tiring up. Or if what the NPC is saying is true, maybe the labyrinth is separating us from them,¡± ¨C he says with his eyes glowing yellow, ¨C ¡°b-but again, I wasn¡¯t paying attention to that until now.¡± ?Girl:- - - - - ¡°So, we keep running,¡± ¨C she says tiredly. ?Boy:- - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t get too far away from each other! If we distance ourselves too much we might end up separated. J-Just in case.¡± I turn my vision on, being able to see the Ogres'' names and bars above their heads, and then it clicked, the idea to see who the people helping me were, so I twist my body. The tall man called ¡°Mark¡± has the nametag [Markolain Warrior, House of Bluecats (Level 94)]; while the ¡°Steven¡± boy is [Tak Sorvak, House of Bluecats (Level 107)], and for the one carrying me, I¡¯m surprised to see a popup at her back, her name ¡°Elay the 7th, House of Bluecats (Level 98)¡± is over its window, but below it, I can see skill icons and her equipped items. - - - - - - - - - - - - I can see her skills? What-- I look at her arm holding near my waist. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait, if she¡¯s carrying me I can see her skills? That wasn¡¯t in the game before. Did she allow me to? No, I would have to send a request first or use a skill to spy on it. The earthquakes getting closer redirect my focus, behind us the Ogres were basically at their weapons range. I wide my eyes and instinctively poke the air thinking about the word ¡°Character¡±, and in front of me a popup appears with all my information, just like Elay¡¯s but even more detailed. ¡°DArkstrider [Level 75]¡± is in its title, and below it, there are my equipped items, then my main attributes, and finally my skills, two rolls of six icons each. - - - - - - - - - - - - Right! I¡¯m not in Combat, the Ogre that attacked me isn¡¯t here anymore, I can change my skills. After quick thinking, I tap one of those icons with my index finger and another popup appears on the side, a big wheel-like skill tree is separated into three parts, each having a color and a different mark on the background. I spin the wheel and stop when the transparent blueish third is on top and I poke one of the outmost skills. With only that, my skills switch places. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Get closer to me! I¡¯ll use speed boots on everyone!¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°I don¡¯t like this,¡± ¨C he says indecisive.Stolen novel; please report. - - - - - - - - - - - - Hope this works¡­ Elay:- - - - - ¡°Get closer guys, he¡¯ll use something.¡± The three of them obey, and when I see that the distance was right, I imagine my speed boots skill and it instantly molds itself in my feet with blue magic, but not only that, with the three of them in mind a circle echoes in the air surrounding me, traveling and enchanting their boots as well, wings popping on their feet. The Skill Resonance I put in just now worked exactly as I thought it would. The wind pushes everyone¡¯s back, making me almost fall from Elay¡¯s shoulder by the speed and the Ogres to distance themselves from us. - - - - - By the time the skill wore off, the earthquakes stopped and there were no more Ogres in sight. - - - - - Sorvak:- - ¡°I-¡­ I- think they are gone,¡± ¨C the boy says panting, looking at all sides with his golden eyes. Elay:- - - - - ¡°You sure?¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s nothing near us anymore.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°I used more than half of my energy just to run.¡± ¨C The bulky man sits on the floor with a thud. ¨C ¡°If my character at least doesn¡¯t level up after this dungeon I¡¯ll be pissed off.¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°The only mobs we killed were at the entrance, so I doubt that¡¯s going to be the case.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Tsk.¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t be a downer, maybe it gives a good item in the end.¡± I poke Elay¡¯s back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, hey. You can drop me now.¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°¡­ Oh, right.¡± She lifts my hips, throws me forward, and I fly until my back hits the ground with brute force. [16##/3710] [1445/3710] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ouch! You don¡¯t need to be so damn rude!¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°Ah- sorry, I clicked the wrong button.¡± I stand up, patting the dust off my cloak. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Haha¡­ funny.¡± She suddenly walks closer, stopping a couple of steps in front of me, and stares up with her brave green eyes. I look at her with a frown, finally being able to see what she was wearing: it¡¯s a pink adventurer''s open dress coat with slightly whiter leather pads protecting her shoulders, elbows, and knees; a few belts surround her inner white shirt with a few small squared pouches on the side; and she¡¯s apparently unarmed. As suddenly as she came, she turns and walks back to her group. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay¡­¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°Then what do we do now?¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°I thought he would say something about getting out of here, but if he doesn¡¯t know, then¡­¡± At the corner of my vision, I see that my health bar is roughly at a third. - - - - - - - - - - - - Inventory. I poke the air and the window appears, its visuals being identical to SFO¡¯s: a greyish transparent panel with some details at the corners. I open the Consumables tab and double-tap one item, but my finger passes through the untouchable screen. I wasn¡¯t sure if that would do the trick but the square slot shines white. Whatever, instead of using it, an entire loaf of bread comes sliding out to my hands. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the--¡± ¨C The bread almost falls from my fingers. Sorvak:- - -¡°Uh- We probably need to walk a little more, now that we have him the true path might unlock.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Tsk¡­ ¡®might¡¯, if he wasn¡¯t an NPC I would have killed him already, what a waste of time.¡± I take a furious bite off the rubbery bread. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I did save your butt not a minute ago, you know.¡± [15##/3710] [16##/3710] [1731/3710] Interestingly enough, the bread tastes quite good, like it just came out of the oven, but it¡¯s still too dry. Mark:- - - - ¡°Who fucking cares? These NPCs¡­.¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°Mark, control your anger, it¡¯s not his fault.¡± I gulp the bread with difficulty and I leave it half done back to my Inventory, pushing it against the transparent popup to its inexistence, then the bread¡¯s icon reappears in the item list, being partially consumed. I poke for a red potion, it slides into my hands, but unlike before, I take it without any surprises. I take off its stopper and the smell of sugary blood invades my lungs. I close my nostrils with my fingers and reluctantly drink it. Sorvak:- - ¡°Well, it¡¯s an improvement, we didn¡¯t see anything else in the entire dungeon, doing this must be useful, somehow.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Whatever. Let¡¯s just keep moving, if nothing happens in five minutes I¡¯m quitting the game. Fuck this dungeon.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hm--! What?¡± ¨C I almost choke with the health potion. ¨C ¡°You guys can quit the game? I tried before and it didn¡¯t work.¡± The Ogre¡¯s grip flashes back to my mind, and my screams to disconnect. I¡¯m pretty sure that if I could disconnect, something would have happened there, even if it was an error of some sort. That¡¯s when I remember the Orb¡¯s list of rules, and I change tabs on the Inventory. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It is in the rules, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°What the fuck is he talking about?¡± The other two remain silent. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s the tenth rule, [The player can¡¯t leave such character until this ability is used again], see? You can¡¯t leave.¡± ¨C I frown reading the rule a second time. ¨C ¡°Whatever ¡®until this ability is used again¡¯ means. Oh, and besides, only the Character and Inventory menus can be accessed, the main one, -what was the name of it again?- the one for you to quit it or change the settings, you can¡¯t open it.¡± I look at them, noticing they are all staring at me with seriousness. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°What? You guys didn¡¯t know? You seriously came in and thought: ¡®Cool, let¡¯s play the game that just a minute ago was on my PC, but now I can use my body that feels real pain to do dungeons¡¯?¡± They don¡¯t respond. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Like seriously. Or maybe you guys¡­ do you know how to disconnect?¡± But they only keep staring at me. Mark:- - - - ¡°It¡¯s just me, or the NPC is responding us?¡± ¨C he says in a rough voice. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ This again? I said it already, I¡¯m not an NPC. What¡¯s up with you guys? I¡¯m real,¡± ¨C I point at my chest. ¨C ¡°I was a player and I picked this item--, what was it?¡± ¨C I scroll up. ¨C ¡°Orb of Samsara, then I got transferred inside the game. Didn¡¯t that happen to you guys?¡± The corridor falls silent for a moment. Elay:- - - - - ¡°This is creepy, guys.¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°T-That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s amazing.¡± ¨C He straightens his glasses. Mark stomps the floor to stand, his heavy steps shaking the ground just like the Ogres that were chasing us a while ago. Mark:- - - - ¡°What the fuck,¡± ¨C he says in a deep stern voice. ¨C ¡°SFO is making NPCs hear our microphones? That shouldn¡¯t be a thing.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait-- what do you mean by that?¡± ¨C I step back. Elay:- - - - - ¡°We aren¡¯t talking in-game, though. How the--¡± ¨C She stops herself. Two of them become static and Mark strides forth, only halting when he¡¯s right in front of me and I feel the cold wall at my back, my legs lose their strength and I fall on my butt to the floor. Mark:- - - - ¡°He says he is a player. Ogres are following him. And this crazy shit labyrinth¡­¡± ¨C He looks down at me with anger. ¨C ¡°Steven, could this guy be the final boss?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What?- Where that came from?¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°Uhm¡­¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°It makes sense right? You said something about this being a trial that people would need to kill each other, maybe this is what it means.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It doesn¡¯t! Listen to yourself!--¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°But-- what if he¡¯s telling the truth?¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°A player transferred inside the game?¡± ¨C he says ironically. Elay:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s-¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°-Are you serious? You are reacting to too much anime lately, that¡¯s why you¡¯re not thinking straight.¡± Steven grips his staff tighter, looking down at his feet quietly. Mark:- - - - ¡°Is he really an NPC? I don¡¯t know what the devs are doing by making the game detect our microphones without our permission, maybe it¡¯s the new update or something. But I tell you, I won¡¯t be losing my character because you guys trusted a damn monster shifter.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I¡¯m not a monster shifter! That doesn¡¯t even exist in the game, what are you saying? You guys aren¡¯t in the game like me? You are, aren¡¯t you? You guys are pranking me, right?¡± Elay stares at me with fearful eyes, clasping her trembling hands against her chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This¡­ This is a prank, right? You guys are like me¡­ transferred inside the game. You are players, not NPCs like that guy that gave me the orb, you guys--¡­ you guys actually talk as if you were playing a game¡­.¡± I look up, to Mark grabbing the single-headed battle-axe from his back, grasping it tightly with both his giant hands as red flames burst out at the weapon¡¯s back, mirroring the blade as a second elemental head. Mark:- - - - ¡°There¡¯s only one way of knowing it¡­¡± ¨C He lifts the axe towards the ceiling. ¨C ¡°An NPC doesn¡¯t receive damage from players. If he¡¯s not a monster, he won¡¯t have a scratch on him. You two ready yourselves.¡± Mark waits two more seconds, hesitating to see if anyone would have any better ideas, but there¡¯s only silence. That¡¯s when his muscles grow in anger and, with its blade aimed downwards, the axe cuts the air with violence. His strike hits the stone with brute force, sinking his blade into the broken floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait,¡± ¨C I say behind him, blue particles sparkling around me and where I was but an instant ago. ¨C ¡°We can talk about this.¡± The entire place begins to tremble. Mark heavily lifts his axe off the ground, turning to face me and opening his mouth to yell: Mark:- - - - ¡°Elay! Steven! Wake the fuck up. This is the final boss, I can feel it. If we take him down, the dungeon is over.¡± I look around, seeing the source of all the trembling. The corridors are widening up, they also realize that, all of us glance around at the walls being pushed back to become something like a wide squared room, the corridor paths close into walls, and, when the rumbling ends, the golden baseboards turn red. The four of us stand silently in this big squared arena, them nearest to the walls in a triangle around me, and me right at the center of it all. But most importantly, there isn¡¯t a single exit to run away to. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Interval ! | Orb of Samsara INTERVAL - ! - ORB OF SAMSARA - - - - - {UNIQUE ¨C 6 Stars} [Passive Item] works just by being carried in the inventory. - - - - - - - - - - - - + 150 health - - - - - - - - - - - - + 150 Energy - - - - - - - - - - - - + 6 Intelligence - - - - - (Ability) [Mind Transferring] allows the player to enter a character for an unlimited amount of time. - - - - - This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The seed of resurrection hides within, shining its unnoticeable light toward the living and connecting the end with the beginning. Once its seed is fully nourished the biggest of trees will rise; its roots drinking from the singularity, the body sustaining the universe, each branch reshaping a star, and its leaves purifying the void. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rules: NOTE: Rules may change in future updates.
  1. This item¡¯s effects do not stack.
  2. Can only be activated by a player character with an adventure rank of Legendary or higher.
  3. Any menus besides Inventory or Character are going to be disabled to access.
  4. The owner will only be able to hear up to the proximity chat range.
  5. The character will be temporarily disconnected from any guilds or groups, including friend lists (will be shown as Offline).
  6. Quick Travels cannot be used.
  7. This skill will only activate once the player is alone.
  8. The character¡¯s combat tag will be changed to ¡°always-on¡±, independently of the region''s difficulty.
  9. If such controlled character dies, it will be permanently dead.
  10. The player can¡¯t leave such character until this ability is used again.
- - - V1 - C6 | Trial Arena VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 6 - TRIAL ARENA - - - - - Mark:- - - - - ¡°Steven. Can you read anything from him?¡± ¨C He takes a better grip on his axe. Sorvak:- - ¡°Ah-¡­ ¡®Dark Strider¡¯, there¡¯s nothing special, he¡¯s level seventy-five, Arcane-Scout and¡­ Trickster.¡± ¨C His eyes shine yellow. Mark:- - - - -¡°So, he¡¯s hiding his attributes. That¡¯s fancy for a new mob.¡± The three of them firm their footing while staring at me. Elay:- - - - - ¡°The Ogres were level one hundred and twenty, right?¡± ¨C she says recollecting herself. Mark:- - - - -¡°So, if he¡¯s a boss, he can be even higher than that for all we know.¡± I keep looking at the three of them alternatively, the entire scenario spinning around me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I am not - the boss - of this dungeon,¡± ¨C I say slowly. ¨C ¡°You guys need to listen¡­¡± The rules of the Orb come back to me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If I die, I won¡¯t come back. I-¡­ I don¡¯t know what happens. My character is deleted, but if I¡¯m the character¡­¡± ¨C My vision doubles with anxiety. ¨C ¡°This- This is real, it looks real. If I die, I might just as well die for real. So please, don¡¯t do this, this is serious.¡± Tears fall to my cheeks without me realizing it. I look down, at my hands shivering uncontrollably. Mark:- - - - -¡°Same formation as always.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Aren¡¯t you understanding me!? Don¡¯t you see? I¡¯m right here talking to you!!¡± - - - - - { [DArkstrider: WHY DON¡¯T YOU HEAR ME!?] } - - - - - I look at them with pleading eyes, heavily gasping for air. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m not lying¡­ j-just look at me.¡­¡± Elay and Steven appear in doubt, but a step comes forth behind me. I turn to see Mark charging forward with his axe, cutting the air downwards in a strike. I jump back and manage to evade it by a hair, the metallic axe hits and bounces off the stone floor. My feet slide to a stop as I draw one of my daggers. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this!¡± I point the dagger at him, holding it with both my hands to minimize the shaking. Then a fireball is shot from Steven¡¯s staff, it almost hits me in the face, its heat burns my cheek and instantly evaporates the tears from my right side before exploding on the wall. I instinctively lift my shoulder to protect my face, but it only makes me feel the pain from my slightly burnt skin. - - - - - - - - - ¡°You don¡¯t want to talk¡­¡± ¨C I relax my arms hopelessly, holding the dagger with only one hand, ¨C ¡°You don¡¯t want to hear me, ¡­o-okay then. I tried, I tried to make you understand.¡± I can¡¯t think straight. The more I try, the angrier I become at all of this. I¡¯m angry at this game for bringing me here, at this maze for being so damn annoying, at these idiots who can¡¯t fucking listen to me, and mostly at myself for picking that useless piece of shit of a unique item. All of it pisses me off. Mark runs towards me and swings his axe sideways to my neck, I bend down to evade it and I dash forward to swipe the dagger into Mark¡¯s side, a splash of blood flies with it. I almost lose my balance because of the sudden inertia but I slide my feet to a halt, being able to turn to face Mark and the others behind him. Mark:- - - - -¡°STOP HOLDING BACK, ELAY!¡± ¨C He glares at me from over his shoulders. ¨C ¡°He damaged me, that¡¯s it, he¡¯s not an NPC.¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°But--¡± ¨C she says staring fearfully at me. Mark:- - - - -¡°LET¡¯S DO THIS!¡± He lifts his axe, making an arc above his head and descending its blade to me, I don¡¯t even need to move for it to miss, but as soon as the blade touches the ground a brown magic circle engraves into the stone, I go a step back, but spikes pierce the floor from below and tear the skin off my right leg. I land outside the circle, and the spikes dissolve in thin air while the broken ground slowly regenerates. I stagger back, feeling my legs burn in pain. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s how I¡¯m going to die? In this stupid place? My entire world is shaking, blood drips off my dagger to the floor. I look at my pants torn under my knee, blood drenching its cloth and oozing into my boots. A light shines in the top corner of my vision, Steven is conjuring one more red circle on the tip of his staff, readying another fireball faster than before. - - - - - - - - - - - - Inside this ridiculous game that I spent four years of my life playing. To random dumbasses who can¡¯t listen to me. A smirk comes to my face, a disgusted smirk. - - - - - - - - - - -- Huh, I don¡¯t blame them. I would try to kill the hell out of me if I were them too if I were being honest. Who would believe a weak-ass story like mine? Transferring inside a game? Hah- I never even read what NPCs had to say, why would this be any different? I wouldn¡¯t even think twice. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s exactly why I¡¯m in this mess in the first place, after all. Elay walks forward with confident steps and a serious face of a warrior. Mark takes his axe off the ground, twisting it with fire bursting behind its blade, and dashes at me. The only thing I do¡­ is close my eyes and breathe in. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Three versus one. Nowhere to run. And with my worst side character,¡± ¨C I mumble dryly. ¨C ¡°What a damn luck I have.¡± From within the darkness of my mind, a white pointer made of light spins like a clock, leaving a fading trail where it passes and falling faster than going up, almost stopping when reaching the top but having just enough momentum to fall again to another turn. Then it repeats, just like the heavy steps I hear outside, again then again, and at the fourth round, once the pointer finally reaches the top for its last time, the clock brightens and the pointer disappears. That¡¯s when I open my eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I won¡¯t die without fighting,¡± ¨C my voice cracks with anger. Seeing the fireball coming from one side, the axe from the other, and the blond princess in front. The entire world warps and Mark¡¯s axe cuts nothing in the air. The wall molds itself behind my back and the mage¡¯s cape appears in front of me. My eye turns golden, a grey wave travels forward, and I see the name [Sorvak] hovering in front of me. I draw my second dagger, and in a swift move, both my blades sink into his back. Just for a moment, a popup opens with his skills and items, but then it was gone, together with Steven that also blinked away, but instead of fragments left behind, some kind of swift energy beam transferred him a few meters from where he was. Sorvak:- - -¡°Shi--, that scared me,¡± ¨C he says while retreating. I stare with a murderous aura at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You have the build to keep using the same skill to be faster.¡± I sigh annoyed and straighten my back, disgusted with what I just saw. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You¡¯ll spam fireballs like a fucking idiot, anything else and your combo breaks. I don¡¯t even need to see your skills again to know exactly what each one of them is.¡± Elay dashes from my side, and in mid-air, she conjures a giant hammer almost bigger than herself made of electricity. It swings down, but I step back twice to evade it, wind supporting me to go even further away as my boots are now enveloped with blue magic and a pair of wings. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ultimate of Arcane, Fighter, and Shaman, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¨C I continue to think aloud, as I¡¯m used to when playing the game, the only difference is that now I need to evade two other real attacks from the raging Elay. ¨C ¡°Turns your weapon¡¯s damage into elemental and greatly decreases its weight, but to equip it you need to spend some energy per second. Ah, that¡¯s why you¡¯re the out-combat healer, you have more regeneration.¡± My eyes twitch searching around, updating my position and of my enemies. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But again, I already knew that when you were carrying me back then¡­ Now, there¡¯s only one left.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Mark runs towards me and swings his axe, but I move back just as before, almost jumping with each step. But as soon as his attack hits nothing, I jump forth and raise my arm to touch his muscled shoulder, so the same type of window appears. I hesitate, taking a moment to think and remember what each skill is, together with any special items that I need to worry about. Mark lifts his axe over his head once more, turns his body, and in an arc hits the ground with everything he got, a single step back is enough to go out of its range. But when the blade touches the floor, another circle is engraved into it and a wave of exploding dirt travels forward, I jump away and it breaks down in the wall behind me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A front fighter, you¡¯re not following any skill builds I¡¯ve heard before, but I see the logic behind it. It¡¯s to keep getting more energy, do bleeding, and keep luring mobs, isn¡¯t it? But it¡¯s still a bit off, there are way better builds than that.¡± With three more steps, I reach the furthest wall from them, and the moment my feet touch the ground for the last time, my speed boots fade away. And then, my body fades with the ambient and disappears in the air. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then we have a DPS caster with some focus on divine vision, and a DPS fighter with some focus on out-combat healing¡­¡± Mark:- - - - - ¡°Where is he?¡± ¨C His angry voice echoes in the closed room. ¨C ¡°Steven, can you see him?¡± Sorvak:- - ¡°Uhm¡­¡± ¨C His eyes turn golden as he looks around. ¨C ¡°I can¡¯t. He just disappeared.¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°Trickster has a skill that improves invisibility against divine vision, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Mark:- - - - -¡°But why would someone ¨Cor something¨C spend a slot with that upgrade?¡± The three of them glance around in worry, getting closer to each other¡¯s backs in the middle of the arena. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Someone that isn¡¯t here to fight. I¡¯m a scout, after all.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - They stop, each one looking outward of their spaced circle. Mark:- - - - -¡°It won¡¯t last forever, keep your guards up. Just don¡¯t get too close, he might AoE us.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Then, there¡¯s nothing but silence, one second after the other. With no more steps, only their breathing echo in the arena. For a moment, it was like I wasn¡¯t even there anymore. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But again, you are forcing my hand.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Elay and Steven side-eye to something in their peripheral vision, and turn to face my character who is simply standing in the middle of the room and between them all. Sorvak:- - ¡°There he is!¡± ¨C The mage points his staff and conjures one more red circle as he walks back. All of them turn, Mark and Elay go forward with their giant weapons ready to attack, but all I do is stand still, my character emotionlessly looking forward unresponsive to their advances, focusing on something that isn¡¯t there. The fireball bursts forth and explodes in my back, scorching my dark cloak and pushing my spine forward; the axe swings and cuts me sideways in half; and Elay¡¯s hammer comes down splatting me into a pulp on the ground. Steven:- - ¡°We got him!¡± ¨C he says thrilled, pointing his staff forward with heavy breathing and preparing another fireball; before realizing the faint blue smoke coming from below Elay¡¯s hammer. Mark twists his axe to a following swing as Elay takes her hammer away, but he halts mid-attack once he sees there¡¯s nothing for him to aim at. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That was an illusion.¡± My invisibility wears out when both my daggers ignite into flames and I trust them into the mage¡¯s back. Sorvak:- - ¡°H-He¡¯s behind-¡± ¨C he says choking on his words. I slice him three more times before he teleports away. Everything is in a greyish tone with my eyes in their golden form, seeing Steven¡¯s health decreasing as it hovers above his head, not even midway yet. Elay dashes towards me while Mark hits the floor to send one more of his earth-waving ranged attacks. Sorvak:- - ¡°That was close-,¡± ¨C he says before the world warps and his face reappears right in front of me. ¨C ¡°Offensive blink?! No, he--¡± Mark¡¯s attack explodes far behind me and another couple of my wide slashes cut the mage¡¯s cape even further, each attack spreading and increasing the flames covering his body. Steven points his staff forward and loads another fire circle, now way slower than the previous ones. But I keep moving to the sides, dancing in harmony with each hit and following the mage¡¯s retreating steps, making Steven miss and throw his fireball to the floor. I glance at the two status bars hovering above his head, seeing his health dropping near to a third. I lift my right dagger near my eyebrow and the other in a reverse grip on the side of my hip, both pointing toward him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Die.¡± In a powerful burst, my daggers shoot forward at bullet speed, swiftly going through his chest and abruptly stopping by the ribbons¡¯ limits, my gloves heat up from the friction, faint smoke coming out from my grip. Steven¡¯s character looks at himself with scared eyes, his own blood painting his face as he burns, until his health reaches zero. Sorvak:- - ¡°I- I died? That was so fast-¡± -His body transforms into blue flakes of energy that magically hover in the air without gravity, they slow down to a stop, and they transform into a shooting beam upwards and disappear. Just like when a character dies in the game. I fix my posture, breathing heavily from the exercise. I look over my shoulder, seeing Mark and Elay halting a few steps behind me, with worry on their sweating faces. Without much of a hurry, I walk to my daggers and pick them back from the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - -¡°Two left,¡± ¨C I mumble from the other side of the white screen, inside my dark room. ¨C ¡°My energy is at seventy, plenty enough to kill them.¡± ¨C I smirk, gripping my mouse to aim at them. ¨C ¡°I just need to--¡± I halt, feeling something viscous and warm in my grip. I slowly flip my hand, seeing blood oozing between my fingers and the plastic of the computer¡¯s mouse. - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh--? I look at my other hand gripping a dagger covered in blood, from its blade to the ribbon, everything is stained red. A cold electric shock spreads throughout my body, freezing me completely as if I had just woken up from a dream, seeing both daggers in my hands and the light-grey stone ground below me. Everything shakes, my legs'' pain remembers me of how weak they are to stay standing, Steven¡¯s body burning reappears in my mind, the dagger slicing and piercing him, blood splashing everywhere. I slowly rub my shaking hands on my long sleeves, trying to clean them off, but it just makes things worse. It was everywhere, from my wrists all the way to my shoulders, below my torso, hips, legs; even my boots were dripping blood to the ground. From outside my cloak to my pockets, everything is heavy with warm blood. Everything stinks of rusty iron. I can¡¯t look up, I can¡¯t move. I can¡¯t stop the chaotic ringing in my ears. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I- I-¡± My eyes won¡¯t focus, my throat closes shut, and my breathing suffocates me. I want to take my clothes off, to rip them away and clean myself, but I¡¯m only able to stare at the bloodstains while the entire world shakes in red around me, my hands transforming into something that isn¡¯t mine anymore and my own body distancing away from my control, I can¡¯t feel the blood stains, they are not real, they are not real, these bloody gloves aren¡¯t mine, this isn¡¯t my fault, not my fault-- - - - - - - - - - - - - Elay:- - - - - ¡°Okay, I know, Steven, I know--¡± ¨C Elay says annoyed, muffled in the background. ¨C ¡°You¡¯re dead, now shut it.¡± I stare at her with wide eyes for a couple of seconds. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah--¡± The world fixes itself, as if I suddenly remembered how to breathe again. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I didn¡¯t-- really kill him¡­ that¡¯s good.¡± I breathe heavily, blood dripping from the tips of my daggers. Elay:- - - - - ¡°Yeah, yeah, he has incredible animations, let us focus on the fight now, okay? I don¡¯t want to lose my items here,¡± ¨C she says never breaking her stare at me. ¨C ¡°Huh? Your items? No, they didn¡¯t drop, maybe the boss took it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I thought I wasn¡¯t in the game for a moment there. That scared me a little. But it''s okay now, I won¡¯t lose focus anymore.¡± I lift my chin, shaking the blood off my daggers to the ground behind me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah- The fear of losing items,¡± ¨C I mumble, calming myself down. ¨C ¡°I know that feeling. That¡¯s why I have scouts in the first place. ¡­and that¡¯s why I¡¯m this weak.¡± I stand upright. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But you guys are so courageous. ~Coming here blind with your strong characters~...¡± ¨C I say waving my voice in irony. ¨C ¡°But even so, instead of trying to finish me off, you guys are staring at me and letting my skills refresh.¡± A trembling smirk comes to my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How kind¡­ keep staring at me all you like.¡± Mark:- - - - -¡°What the heck it is talking about?¡± ¨C he says growling. Elay:- - - - - ¡°¡¯Keep staring at me¡¯?¡¯¡± ¨C she thinks out loud. ¨C ¡°¡­he¡¯s taunting us.¡± Mark:- - - - -¡°What a cocky boss.¡± ¨C He opens a smile, readying his axe to the side. ¨C ¡°What do you say? Let¡¯s take him down, you and me.¡± Elay nods. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I played this game for four years. I know more than one trick to kill stronger players.¡± I open my smile wide as they charge forth with heavy steps. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And to tell you the truth¡­ you guys kind of suck.¡± - - - - V1 - C7 | Arcane Assassin VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 7 - ARCANE ASSASSIN - - - - - With one mental activation, the black smoke bursts out from within my cloak. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Seriously¡­ no tanks, disablers, or a combat healer?¡± I step back, disappearing within the cloud of darkness. Mark and Elay¡¯s silhouettes highlight in yellow as they charge forward and miss their attacks in the smoke. Just like in the game, only I can see them here. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s a rookie mistake for a party. If I die for this¡­ I would have to kill myself.¡± They look around, waiting for me to appear in front of them at any moment. But instead of attacking, I sheathe one of my daggers and drop the one I¡¯m holding, sliding its end ribbon in my hand. It didn¡¯t take long for a sound to start resonating within the smoke, the whistling of a knife cutting the air at high speed, an unstoppable cycle of it going up and down ferociously. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ I think I got it.¡± In a strong swing, a dagger slices Mark¡¯s arm. Mark:- - - - ¡°He¡¯s here!¡± He strikes blindly with his axe, dispersing the smoke and showing that nothing was there to be hit, and soon after, the black cloud sinks everything again. Then another dagger comes, hitting Elay in the back. Elay:- - - - - ¡°No, here!¡± Then, again and again, the dagger flies and cuts the smoke as it descends, slicing and piercing them, most hitting Mark as he angrily swings his axe effortlessly. Mark even tries to leap back trying to predict an attack but it hits Elay instead, then more come swinging. The smoke disperses after a couple of dozen slashes and clears the view for them to see me holding the dagger by its ribbon, spinning it in a diagonal circle and releasing to propel it, all I do is loose my grip until it was in the right range and, after it hits, I quickly wrap the cloth around my arms and pull my weapon back to repeat the cycle. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s the problem with a weak composed group, all I need to do is deal damage over time and you guys are going to die.¡± I throw my dagger once more and it slashes Mark on the shoulder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And since all of us are melee, this will be all about who has more mobility. And look at that, that¡¯s the only thing my scout has.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Typing shit, this boss likes talking, doesn¡¯t he,¡± ¨C he says charging forward with his axe. - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No good equipment, a lower level, and in numerical disadvantage. And yet here I am, how does it feel to be stomped? Well, at least you can blame the fact that I am a slimy arcane assassin, then cry all~ you like afterward.¡± Mark swings his heavy axe to attack, but I jump back with the power of my speed boots which just refreshed. He lifts his axe and quickly strikes the ground. When his blade sinks into the stone, a wave of purple electricity scatters in a cone and hits the wall to my side. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°All I need to do is work around my skill cooldowns while being aware of what abilities you have,¡± ¨C I say lecturing myself. ¨C ¡°Easy does it, there¡¯s no way I lose this.¡± I throw one more dagger at Mark, controlling it almost like a whip. Mark:- - - - ¡°Now!¡± A magic yellow barrier surrounds Mark, blocking my blade before it could land with a clanking sound. But besides that, I was left reactionless, I didn¡¯t understand the Why he screamed. I knew he had that barrier and I was sure he was going to use it after the smoke ended, but that wasn¡¯t near enough for me to worry about, what could a shield that only lasts for a second and a half even do? And yet, the word ¡°Now¡± echoes in my head like a loop with no solution. Then, in my peripheral vision, something shines bright and comes in speed. When I realize that it is Elay¡¯s electric hammer spinning right at me, it¡¯s too late. Before I can lift a foot, it explodes in my chest and pushes me against the hard wall. Like thunder, the loud sound of electric cracklings travels throughout my entire body, burning me from the tip of my head to toes. - - - - - Mark:- - - - ¡°Nice shot, Elay!¡± My vision darkens and becomes blurry, the ringing in my eardrums deafens me, and the smell of burnt flesh fumes out from my own skin, the only thing I manage to focus on is my own health bar going down violently. [3###/3710] [2###/3710] [1###/3710] [###/3710] [491/3710] I almost blackout, sliding my back on the wall and falling to the ground. Everything screams at me to the point I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m alive anymore. I can¡¯t see, I can¡¯t move, I can¡¯t hear anything, until: Mark:- - - - ¡°DIE!¡± I wake up with his axe coming in slow motion from above. I look at Elay running behind him. - - - - - - - - - - - -That was the same move she used to save me before, her ultimate ability not only transforms her weapon into energy but also changes the item¡¯s skills¡­ Damn ultimate abilities, I always forget a detail about them. My eyes shift up to the axe¡¯s blade coming at my forehead, but it warps into nothingness. I fall from a few inches up in the air and hit the ground near another wall, while Mark¡¯s axe smashes the empty floor far to my left. I teleported away just in the nick of time. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That won¡¯t work twice,¡± ¨C I say getting up, leaning on the wall and coughing blood. My speed boots fade away. That broke my entire plan, using two movement skills at once left me without any following moves. Ideally, I should go invisible and reassert a new plan, but it¡¯s on cooldown, I need sixteen more seconds to use that skill, it¡¯s faster to wait for the Blink or the Speed Boots that I just used to refresh, but I doubt they are going to wait. Both of them charge at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - If I still had my parrying skill instead of this useless area buff I switched to escape from the Ogres-- I step to the side, my entire leg explodes in pain and I almost fall, but I slide my shoulder on the wall to keep standing. - - - - - - - - - - - - If I had planned to kill the three of them from the start¡­ Damn it, I should have escaped alone and left them to die, what a fucking pain in the ass. I rest my back on the wall, slowly drawing a dagger and pulling the one that was on the ground by its ribbon. - - - - - - - - - - - - Blink was just used and needs eleven seconds to refresh. Speed Boots, fourteen seconds. Flaming blades and Freezing blades are ready, but they¡¯re useless. The two Dagger Sling Shots need ten seconds. Shadow Cloud, forty-six seconds. And Arcane Clone, two minutes. Both of them take a better grip on their weapons to ready an attack. - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s nothing.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I cough, splattering blood on the ground as I feel the metallic taste all over my mouth. I clean my lips with the back of my hand and my eyes shine yellow, the grey wave reaches Mark and shows his heath bar roughly at sixty percent, then Elay¡¯s at seventy. The entire world slows like being submerged in tar, my mind going full thrust and beyond to give me time to think. - - - - - - - - - - - - Fuck, what do I do? I attack him first? Her? I can¡¯t get hit, one more mistake and I die. Maybe if I spin around one to negate the other¡¯s attacks¡­ no, that wouldn¡¯t work. I can¡¯t run. Use Freezing blades to slow them, then? I can¡¯t throw daggers like this, I would have to be in melee range, but what slowing them would matter at that point? Besides, if I do that, I don¡¯t know if I would have enough damage to finish them. I need to manage my energy too, I¡¯m fighting against two people, I need to think of a plan that uses energy twice more efficiently compared to them. How? I need mobility, but I can¡¯t walk. A potion? Do I have time to open my inventory at this point? No. There¡¯s no time. Something else, there needs to be something else I can do. My eyelids get heavy, it¡¯s hard to keep them open. All I want is to rest a little, let my legs fold and my back slide on the wall so I can sleep a bit. But obviously, that¡¯s not an option at this moment, it can¡¯t be. A multitude of strategies assembles and are discarded inside my head. Some I need a skill that would be in cooldown, others I fail to evade an attack and have my neck ripped off, or I would be pressed against a corner and left without moves, or I would need to play so perfectly that it was humanly impossible. Mark and Elay increase their speed, both already powering their weapons to swing, just a few steps away from me. One strategy came, then gone, and then another, and another, and another and another. There is no true good strategy. The ones that can work are way too risky, while the ones that aren¡¯t risky¡­ don¡¯t exist. - - - - - But then¡­ I hear something above me, something completely out of my calculations and field of view, something I only notice because my two attackers stopped and gazed at it. My eyes are the only ones fast enough to catch what¡¯s going on. Something is poking out of the wall, quickly passing through the stone bricks and descending towards my head, so fast that it looks like a truck is about to run me over. I instinctively push the wall to propel myself away, my arms and legs burst in pain as I fly in the air. - - - - - The wall explodes in a strike, bricks and pieces of stone scatter everywhere. For an instant, nothing happens, I¡¯m on the ground, Mark and Elay stand still, and the wreckage ceases. Only the oversized club moves, going back inside. A giant hand clings out of the hole, pushing the wall to open wider until the heads of the beast come to spy on what is inside the arena. [21st War Ogre, Shadow Army (Level 90+)] The same type of greenish Ogre as the ones before: three heads, six pulsating red eyes, and a giant tree log in its right fat hand. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What-¡± The one the Ogre stares at is the closest to him, me. His angry eyes are enough to force my body to try standing, but my leg bursts in pain and I fall to my back on the ground. I can only crawl back in fear, blood drenching my left eye and painting half my vision red. It¡¯s hopeless. No matter how much I think, there is no way out of it. I¡¯m tired, weak, and out of position. There¡¯s nothing I can do to get out of this. I¡¯m completely powerless. My mind had given up on thinking about a plan even before that thing appeared, it was impossible as it was, but now¡­ there is an ogre too? One so strong that even if the three of us were to join forces, we wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat. And for some reason, the only one who that thing is after is me, or better, after the Orb. For some damn reason, I became their target the moment that NPC gave it to me. That guy even left me to rot dead when he saw they were coming, he knew what was going on, I was trapped from the beginning. Independently of what I do, there¡¯s no way I can win this. All I can do is hope that some miracle is going to happen, maybe someone will come and save me like the first time, or I would magically teleport out of the dungeon, or I would wake up and see that this was all but a bad dream. Anything would be better than this. What¡¯s going on? Why is this happening to me? How any of this is real? Can I go back home already? I don¡¯t want to be here anymore. My head throbs in pain and my forehead doesn¡¯t stop oozing blood into my eye. That¡¯s when I stop. I touch my forehead, surprised to see blood on my fingers. For some reason, all my focus was sucked into that liquid. - - - - - - - - - - - - Uh¡­? The Ogre goes a step forward, kicking the wall to get in. But instead of paying attention to that, I touch my forehead once more. - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯m bleeding? Did the Ogre do this¡­? or that hammer? I slide my fingers on the straight cut above my left eye. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No, it¡¯s too clean, it- it was a blade. - - - - - DArkstrider¡¯s eyes are focusless, paying attention to anything but the problems in front of him. - - - - - - - - - - - - The axe did it before I blinked? With one more heavy step, the Ogre gets completely into the squared arena. - - - - - - - - - - - - You can¡¯t blink if you receive damage, not with my blink at least, it should add a two-second cooldown. So, how did I? Strangely enough, DArkstrider was at ease. He wasn¡¯t there anymore, he was back to be a third person observing the game in his bedroom, seeing the cloaked virtual adventurer on his monitor. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah, I know this,¡± ¨C he mumbles with a smile, his focusless eyes looking forward. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s when the damage doesn¡¯t deactivate the skill in time¡­ it happened almost instantly, so it couldn¡¯t.¡± The pains, the doubts, the worries, everything was gone, even the Ogre¡¯s eyes were staring at his character, not at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ha-hah-, I remember being angry at it before. After someone I should¡¯ve killed ran away because of it, I spent a whole day searching on the internet to see if it was a bug or a hacker¡­¡± His smile gradually closes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A whole day¡­¡± The Ogre stops and raises its club to the ceiling, having DArkstrider right below striking range. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ve spent¡­ so much time with this game¡­¡± ¨C he says seated on his gaming chair, the only light in the room coming from his monitor. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m so damn tired of it.¡± He looks down. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ why I¡¯m even playing this?... Why did I spend so much time on this...? My life-- was it worth it?¡± The images of his hurt younger self seated on the ground come to his mind, first when he was just a small kid, then as a teenager, going all the way to his current self transforming into his game character, all of them in the same position: their legs slightly crossed, his hands over his thighs, blood on his face, and his sharp eyes looking forward. As he grew up, the only thing that truly changed was his eyes becoming more and more tired. - - - - - - - - - - The Ogre¡¯s club strikes down. - - - - - - - - - - I jump back like a spring. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What am I thinking?¡± The heavy club explodes on the ground and a stray pebble knocks my forehead before I land on my feet. [5##/3710] [4##/3710] [217/3710] My entire body burns with pain and anger, black smoke fuming out around me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± I straighten myself. Even more blood oozes down my face. My head is heavy like a bowling ball, my legs are stiff like weak wooden branches, and I feel dizzy from all the bleeding. The warm blood covers the majority of my body now, it¡¯s hard to tell which is mine or not. But my eyes don¡¯t stop looking up. Mark and Elay say something in the background but the only thing I can focus on is the Ogre in front, who is lifting its club and glaring at me, preparing for another swing. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How did I forget? I play to survive, I always did.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - V1 - C8 | Will to Fight VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 8 - WILL TO FIGHT - - - - - The giant club swipes for the third time in a vertical swing. My leg explodes in pain to jump back, evading it just enough to feel the wind of the weapon on my chin before it explodes onto the wall. I stagger to recover my balance and I move to the side while every vein in my body burns in agony, my wrist going over my chest to control the pain. Throughout the entire time, the Ogre never broke his glare at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s why I played this game for so long¡­ I glance around, checking Mark and Elay''s positions and where each wall is, taking mental notes of my surroundings. The white ghostly clock inside my head shines, one of my skills is ready. The Ogre¡¯s intrusion bought me enough time. - - - - - - - - - - - - This is how I survive. The only thing I¡¯m truly good at. I sheathe my daggers and start running, activating the skill that just refreshed and almost falling to take a pebble off the floor, but the wind pushes my back while my feet leave a trail of blue energy from its wings and I recover my balance as I dash towards the Ogre. - - - - - - - - - - - - I fought hard to have this life. All that time spent, the effort to become a professional grinder, the training, the research, the experiences. Everything I lived until now was my choice, my way of fighting against the real world. Giving up now is not an option! I throw the pebble at the Ogre, hitting its closest head in its temple. He lets out a shriek of pain while I jump through the hole in the wall. The red lights at the corners of the arena change to a golden tone, and when my feet lands on the ground once more, I¡¯m back in the oversized corridors, outside the arena. - - - - - - - - - - - - As long I¡¯m inside a game I can still survive, all I need to do is keep on moving. The walls in my peripheral vision blur as I reach inhuman speeds to run. I follow the corridor and head to a right turn I see far away, one of the many forks the labyrinth has, but the ground begins to tremble and the walls around me to wide. The path I was looking at distances itself and the bricks rearrange themselves to make it into a wall, a few other breaking points farther away do the same. A dozen meters forward, the corridor shuts itself with stone bricks, and then, the yellowish baseboards turn red. I stop roughly by hitting my shoulder against the newly made wall and slide my back against it to sit on the cold floor breathlessly. My legs are at their limits, pulsating in pain together with my fast heartbeat and strong headache. Without being able to focus my sight, my tired arm extends to the side while I open my inventory. It takes a couple of seconds for me to find what I was looking for, and then, a red flask comes out of the hovering transparent window at my side. I take off its stopper with my teeth and start drinking it. The liquid is refreshing. The pain in my body decreases while it goes down my throat, the blood drenching my clothes peels off in blue flakes of energy, my strength slowly comes back to me, and the cut on my forehead and the bruises all around my body heals slightly. [3##/3710] [6##/3710] [10##/3710] [1517/3710] My vision in my left is cleaned from the blood and my pulsating pain eases. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That was close, too damn close.¡± I drop the empty flask to the floor and take a look at the new enormous rectangular-shaped arena, the Ogre is charging at me with its shoulder somewhere in the middle of it, just like it did when I first encountered it, and the two players are standing back on the other side. That¡¯s when something ticks in my head. The realization of why I had a strange feeling of familiarity until now, as if I had done this many times before. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, that¡¯s why¡­¡± ¨C I think aloud while standing again. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ve seen them before, that¡¯s why it was so easy to predict and evade their every move. Sure, they are more fleshed out but they are still the same.¡± I extend my hand to take another potion of healing out of my inventory. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Their moves, strategies, builds, and all their classes¡­ it¡¯s the same as in the game. The same ones I studied this entire time, that I practiced against and learned how to counter during all these years.¡± The inventory panel at my side closes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Dying meant a whole week of work gone, so I did it as if my life depended on it, but to think that I would be using all my knowledge and muscular memory to actually defend myself in a real fight¡­¡± I smirk as the earthquakes get stronger with each step. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah, it doesn¡¯t matter, as long this is the same game, I will win. No doubt about it.¡± I step forward, looking at the growing image of the Ogre as I open my arms with a wide grin on my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Come and get me if you can, dumbass!¡± My body fades to invisibility, and when I see my arms become completely semi-transparent, I jump to the right with everything I¡¯ve got. But at the same time, the Ogre suddenly changes courses and instead of going straight, it turns slightly to the right and slams into the wall, sinking into the rubble with violence. The Ogre is stunned for a moment before it tries to pull itself out of the crater on the wall. Besides the bricks crashing down to the floor, the arena turns silent until a bottle stopper pops out from thin air and falls to the floor. And when I start drinking it, my invisibility fades away, showing myself safely a few dozen meters behind the Ogre. I take a few big gulps before stopping in the middle of my flask. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can¡¯t even have a drink without losing my invisibility? Well, I guess this really is SFO after all, so damn stupid.¡± I drink it until the last drop and watch my health bar rise back to about seventy-five percent. My eyes go back to their sharper selves and I feel as if nothing had happened. Then, I take some time to stare at the Ogre, who tumbles and falls to his back on the floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But why the hell did he turn though?¡± ¨C I mumble in deep thought. ¨C ¡°As soon I disappeared, he changed courses. If I went on the opposite side he would¡¯ve hit me.¡± My index finger taps the flask¡¯s glass, seeing the Ogre trying to get up with the help of his club. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well, I could have blinked away to evade, but still¡­ If someone turns invisible you aim to where they are going, but monsters shouldn¡¯t know that, they go where they saw their target last, so why--¡° Someone steps behind me. I drop the empty flask and my hands go to my daggers¡¯ handles as I turn. Mark and Elay are just a few steps away from me, their clothes back to normal without any superficial cuts or blood. I turn my vision ability on, the grey ping goes all around me and their status bars pop over their heads, both their healths are at their peak, completely full. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t be the only one using health potions.¡± I turn my vision skill off. Elay:- - - - - ¡°The Ogre¡¯s up again,¡± ¨C she says analytically.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Mark:- - - - ¡°Fucking hell, now what? We kill both of them?¡± I gaze at the Ogre, now turning his heavy body to face me. That¡¯s when an idea comes to mind. - - - - - Elay sighs and lowers her electrical hammer, building the courage to speak. Elay:- - - - - ¡°Mark¡­ we should stop. I don¡¯t think he is bad, we should--¡± Suddenly the world warps and the surprised faces of Elay and Mark appear in front of me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You don¡¯t have any movement skills, do you?¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Huh?¡± In a single move, I slice Mark¡¯s ribs and Elay¡¯s neck from beginning to end, blood splattering with the backswing of my daggers, while my blades are wrapped in crystalline bluish steam. And when my feet reach the ground behind them, I run to where they came from. Mark:- - - - ¡°What-?! He just attacked us!¡± ¨C He takes his axe and swings backwards, missing me completely. Elay:- - - - - ¡°He crited on me!¡± ¨C her voice glitches out with radio static, covering her neck to stop the bleeding. Mark:- - - - ¡°That¡¯s it! Let¡¯s kill him first!¡± I slide to a stop and another dagger slices the air to slash the middle of Mark¡¯s chest. And a second later, frost grows out from his injury. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, yeah? You¡¯re going to kill me?!¡± I pull my dagger closer to spin it in the air as I step back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I want to see you try.¡± Mark:- - - - ¡°Fucking-- NPC!¡± ¨C he growls. Another dagger flies, hitting Mark and Elay on the legs. Frost spreading even more on them. Mark steps forward at a slightly slower speed. Mark:- - - - ¡°Dammit, my character is moving slow as fuck!¡± Elay:- - - - - ¡°His attacks are slowing us.¡± I laugh at them. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You never heard of freezing skills before? Seriously, how are you guys in a legendary dungeon?¡± They keep on forcibly going forward, but at each strike I land the slower they get. - - - - - - - - - - - - As long I have energy left, they won¡¯t be able to reach me. Sure, I¡¯m not really damaging them that much, freezing magic not only slows your enemy but also increases their overall resistance. I was afraid to use this ability and not have enough energy to finish them off, but now¡­ I don¡¯t need to deal the damage. The ground shakes behind them in a heavy run, and in the next moment, the Ogre¡¯s club hits their sides. Elay flies straight to the far wall, hitting Mark on the way and knocking him down. Mark:- - - - ¡°Fuck, he¡¯s using the Ogre-¡± -The Ogre steps forward, stomping Mark. The ground cracks and blue particles disperse from below the Ogre¡¯s foot. The flakes float in the air, gradually slowing to a stop and suddenly shooting like small beams upwards until they are completely gone. The giant fat foot lifts, showing nothing below it anymore. Mark died instantly. I stop and look at Elay, who is apparently unconscious and leaning on the wall in a bad shape, leaking a pool of blood onto the floor. A wide smirk comes to my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s it, I won...¡± In front of me, the Ogre continues its march. ¡­ My hands'' grip tightens. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Now¡­ How I¡¯m going to kill you, on my own?¡± My first encounter with it comes to mind, when I was still playing the game on my computer, and I remember that phrase I said to myself: - - - - - - - - - - - - (¡°¡­ this guy would need an entire squad of players to be taken down.¡±) My victory smirk transforms into a crooked nervous smile as I lift my chin to look straight at its three heads. My hands begin to shake. One thing was players, the other is that creature, big enough to almost hit the high ceiling, who can kill someone with a single stamp, and is intelligent enough to try predicting my moves in invisibility. That thing isn¡¯t a mob or a player. That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s something else. My legs refuse to move, not exactly out of fear but of uncertainty. I can¡¯t decide if I need to wait or charge, go left or right. My next move was being disturbed by the many possibilities. I¡¯m walking on the edge of the abyss; one wrong step means certain death. The memories of the Ogre lifting his club when we first met reappear in my mind. Then when he charged with his shoulder at the small room I found Sigivald. And after that, when every time he swung his weapon, from when I was pinned down in the wall to the one that hit Elay a few seconds ago. Every single moment I have of him burns in my eyes like flashes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, actually¡­¡± ¨C The confident smile returns to my face. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m sure¡­ I can win against you.¡± I step forward. A blue light brightens on the wall to the side, where Elay¡¯s body is transforming into fragments of blue energy, and suddenly, they shoot upwards like beams and disappear. She is dead. Now there¡¯s just me and the Ogre, no more disturbances in the way, my two daggers against his oversized club. Only one enemy left to kill. But before I go one more step, the entire place shakes. The Ogre stops and looks around for a brief moment and the walls begin to shrink. In a surprised realization, he charges at me. However, part of the ground suddenly rises and the ceiling falls, closing between me and him in a newly created thick wall. He bumps into it, pushing some stone bricks forward, but the walls violently rearrange each brick back to normal. Another two hits are heard, probably the Ogre punching the wall, then everything falls silent. And with a flicker, the baseboard¡¯s all around me light blue. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell?¡± Now, I¡¯m in a smaller rectangular room, the ceiling is high as ever but I¡¯m not in the arena anymore, nor in the labyrinth. I¡¯m in a closed room with only a single path to go, an inverted U-shaped entrance to a dark path with a white light at its end. I stare at it in awe and wide eyes, it¡¯s like my brain stopped working entirely, taking me a few seconds to process what¡¯s happening. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s it¡­? This is the end? the exit?¡± - - - - - But before I go a step forward, something flies above my head and makes my hair move violently with the wind of its speed. It heavily travels to the exit path and pierces the stone ground with brutality. Completely lost, I look at the wall on my back. It is still untouched. I turn again to the pathway and stare at the static giant tree log sunk into the broken floor just in front of it. The wall behind me hits one more time, and then it falls silent. The Ogre isn¡¯t there anymore. - - - - - - - - - - Without understanding much of what just happened, the fact of being transferred inside the game, of fighting people, or the bunch of giant Ogres. The only thing that truly made sense was to sheathe my daggers, walk towards the brightness at the end of that path, and leave the white stone walls and the sunk giant¡¯s club behind. I couldn¡¯t see where I was stepping on, everything was extremely dark, but as long I had the light in front of me, I could orientate myself. The refreshing breeze is the first one to welcome me. And when I stepped outside, I took a minute to glance at the outside world. It feels like it¡¯s been so long, but I remember, this is the same place I was before entering the dungeon. The bright blue sky, the purple flower fields, the snowy mountains, and behind me, the ravine-like cave entrance. The path I was on had disappeared as if it was never there to begin with. - - - - - I¡¯m free now, but of course, still inside the game. A game that felt more real than when I was inside my own room. I am, however, in a way more dangerous reality. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Interval 0 | Samsara Fall Online INTERVAL - 0 - SAMSARA FALL ONLINE - SFO is a popular MMORPG that instead of bringing the generic theme-park adventure gimmick, the developer group responsible to create such a game, Black Killjoy Entertainment, had a different idea for the genre and brought a new concept to the public. Something with such extreme notions, that showed nothing more than ambitiousness and pure madness. At their first presentation, the Lead Developer came up on the stage and, with all his heart, promised something completely new, something that wouldn¡¯t eat the crumbs of other MMOs to nourish a needing public that is becoming more and more stupid with the same sudo-adventurous games. With his game, everyone would feel the adventure, everyone would be challenged and compelled to explore. He believed in his own speech, briefly commentating on every idea of his as if it was a precious gem, even if it seemingly had nothing special about it. At every sentence, he appeared to build up a surprise reveal that would blow everyone¡¯s mind but his voice always descended a tone to an ¡°I promise you, it is going to be good¡±. At the end of the event, everyone knew he was insane. Besides the good graphics, the plain storytelling of a broad world, and the watchable trailer, nothing pointed it to be half what was promised. Sure, the fans of the genre were hyped for it even by the presenter being an asshole, but the great majority hated the game. ¡°Yet another guy who thinks he can change the world with his ideas,¡± some thought. ¡°Trying to create a new game in an oversaturated genre, just another case of a big developer trying an easy cash grab, only to fail in the end.¡± Until its release date, one year after such trailer, the game had grown its reputation, not by making anyone happier, but by increasing everyone¡¯s curiosity. And that¡¯s why in the first week after release, it reached the player count of thirty million. Being an optimized game and free-to-play helped, anyone could download it to try. So, why not do it? That¡¯s when questions started to rise. - ¡°Aren¡¯t there any classes?¡± ¡°What is the story, after all?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t choose a server? How I¡¯m going to play with my friends?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the map?¡± ¡°There¡¯s only the human race?¡± ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡± - Nothing- -was as people expected. There was no choice besides the character¡¯s physical appearance and its name, then only the ¡°start game¡± button to continue. No servers, no classes, no attributes. At first, everyone thought it was going to be explained afterward, that a single-player tutorial would happen first before the real game starts. And so millions clicked blindly and saw the story to be unfolded. Fading in, a white text appears on the black screen: ¡°Only you decide what your story will be in this vast world.¡± The loading ends, the chosen character appears younger, and his mother appears to ask for help with small house tasks, like grabbing items from the ground, interacting with other people, and cutting food with a minigame of some sort, then his father comes home and calls you to hunt with him. Nothing but a normal tutorial-- - ¡°TilerDizNuts: wait this isnt how my char started¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The message pops up, a girl in front of the screen reads it while moving her character. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This wasn¡¯t how your char started, chat? What do you mean?¡± ¨C she says with a friendly smile. After a few seconds, more messages appeared. ¡°TilerDizNuts: for me it started in the royal family¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, is that so? Did you choose a class for that? I forgot that, sorry guys.¡± ¨C She giggles shyly. ¡°MariaTX: Yeah it was about a orphan slave working in a rice field, mine was better.¡± ¡°LucasFoxy: what you guys talking about¡± ¡°safiraboylish: I started in the streets with a poor family, we had to steal and shit¡± ¡°MLumberjack: I wanted to see your reaction when the sister die, but you don¡¯t even have one¡± ¡°LucasFoxy: it was a guy wanting to be a knight¡± The chat turmoiled, the messages going up and up, hundreds of people telling hundreds of different stories. - The confusion only made the game grow even more. People started creating multiple characters only to see what story they would get next, while others spent hours advancing in the lore and leveling up their characters, to explore the world or become the pinnacle of power. Many communities over the internet joined forces to tell their experiences, searching if anyone matched stories or had them linked somehow, trying to discover if the game had a cluster of premade lore that came out randomly. But every story was different. Some cases were indeed very close to each other, but when the player advanced and made decisions, things diverged. Depending on the missions they accepted, on the ones they failed or died into, or if they helped citizens or bandits, everything mattered, not only for each character but their actions also affected other players on how their next missions would be or how new ones would begin. Great groups of lore exploration determined that there were two types of narrative, the random generated and the big-picture. The first is believed to be advanced AIs building stories for each player, making the lore and small missions according to where the player spawned, considering the local culture and the big-picture events. The second one, on the other hand, was written by the developers, while the AI only changes details to fit each player¡¯s context or by the player¡¯s previous actions, those being constant to all players. NPCs weren¡¯t different on that matter, all of them are unique and have distinguished backstories, but differently from players, if they did die they wouldn¡¯t respawn. Places, big monuments, and biomes, also are unique in their own way, having different pasts and content. It was later discovered that changing to a foreign server was possible just by walking to another country in-game. Besides, every server had a unique big-picture lore and places, all having different contents from each other. Once you unlocked a Quick Travel to that place, you would be able to change servers at will, if such border was open to foreigns to pass, that is. This motivated many parties to play. Some traveled the world to explore its beauties and unlocked countless Quick Travels, while others farmed both casually at low-level missions or bravely at high-stake legendary expeditions. Everything was so insanely vast that updates were released separately for each server, and the player base increased so much that they had to open alternative servers to hold the heavy load, even when each in-game country was already enormous. Crafting, fighting, exploring, selling items, making new friendships, backstabbing, and creating ultimate guilds, ranging from economics to full-out wars between servers. Anything imaginable could be done within the boundaries of it being a video game. People made their living from just playing, became addicted, joined forces with thousands of other people, grew famous, found their happiness and sorrows. Countless stories were created. Indeed, it was a world-changing game. In less than a year, the majority of the real world had played it at least once. - It had such a big impact that¡­ on the fourteenth of July of two thousand and fifty-seven, sixteen months after release, Takumi Montoya, the Lead Developer of Samsara Fall Online, hanged himself to death in his house for undefined reasons. His mysterious death had only a single clue, a letter left at the foot of his corpse: - ¡°For thoSe who want Salvation - - - - - - - - - - - - Burn SamSara down.¡± - - - - - V1 - C9 | Starting Line VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 9 - STARTING LINE - Green, thin, soft, somewhat moist, and if pressed too hard it rips apart. That¡¯s a fucking leaf. A real fucking leaf, no matter how much I look at it, it isn¡¯t strange. And that¡¯s exactly why this is strange. The game wasn¡¯t like this, sure it wasn¡¯t an ugly pixel art or those robotic polygonal creatures that smaller developers made, saying that it was their ¡°style¡± when it was clearly a budget cut or inexperience. It was the normal realistic fantasy game type, I heard that if you had the graphics maxed out, RTX on, and all the other AI improvements, you could take a print screen anywhere and have it as your background image and it would turn out ¡°dashing¡±. I myself never cared to see what that looked like, I always played the game in medium or low settings so there wouldn¡¯t be any lag spikes. But this is something else¡­ A fucking leaf. If I didn¡¯t know that I was in a game, I would bet my life that this was real, no second thoughts. - After leaving the dungeon, I went to the nearest Quick Travel, the one which I used five times to get here, I thought that maybe going there would allow me to teleport away, but after a couple of minutes circling it around and trying to figure how to access it, I remembered that one stupid rule in the Orb specifically stating that Quick Travels aren¡¯t allowed for me. So, I went further and entered the forest on foot. I¡¯m not that good with the world map, but I do remember the northeast region quite well, mainly because every serious shit that happens in Gonkdim happens here, be plagues, wars, resource hunts, or anything related to the Legendary difficulty. I can¡¯t open the map nor do I have a way to orient myself, so what I¡¯ll do is roughly follow the direction of where each Quick Travel is towards the nearest city I can remember. Luckily they are not that hard to spot, the Quick Travels are always surrounded by stones and have a huge pillar right in the middle that goes above the tree¡¯s canopy, and there are always some dirt pathways that spread randomly showing where it is even if I miss its direction slightly, so it wasn¡¯t hard to travel from one to the other. If I¡¯m not mistaken, there¡¯s a village not too far from here, so that¡¯s where I will go first. - But still¡­ walking. What the hell. I don¡¯t remember the last time I moved my legs for ten minutes straight, much less more than an hour. And yet, I¡¯m not tired. Probably because this is inside the game and this isn¡¯t my body. I do feel slightly tired, but not nearly what I would expect with my real one. So, I really transferred bodies. I don¡¯t know what to think about that. Magic? or maybe some kind of new technology? A dream? What things do I need to worry about in this body? Do I have any allergies that I need to worry about? Do I need to exercise to maintain shape? Does this body know someone that I don¡¯t know?... So damn tiresome¡­ But most important of all: what happened to my old body? One minute I was playing, then I fainted, and I suddenly was inside the game. Then players appeared trying to kill me. The only thing I can think of is that I transferred inside the game. Not into a separate world, or some kind of copy of it, but the game itself. So what I am now? Bits of code? Am I in a coma in real life? Am I still playing it, or I¡¯m part of it? I¡¯m a projection or¡­ Damn, I don¡¯t know. Either way, it¡¯s useless. Nothing I ask myself now will be answered, nor do I think it will solve any of my problems even if they were answered. I¡¯m inside the game, and if I die I will die for real. These are the two main things I¡¯m keeping in mind. My next objective is to move to the safest spot I can think of and see if anyone in the way can help me, if I¡¯m lucky enough I won¡¯t die by other players if they think I¡¯m an NPC, so I¡¯ll try my best faking to be one. I¡¯m still thinking about how would I call for help. Saying that I¡¯m a player that transferred into the game was clearly a risky decision that nobody would believe, nor I¡¯d trust a random somebody to find a solution for me, it¡¯s not like I can tell other people where I live for them to check if I was alright or not. Maybe I can make them file a missing person¡¯s report, and that¡¯s the extent of it. Though I doubt this case is anything near normal, so it would probably be useless. The best possible outcome would be to find someone I know well to help me. Hah, what a joke. I can only think of a couple of people that match that criteria, and I doubt I¡¯m going to find them. My friend list doesn¡¯t open and the rules say I¡¯ll be shown as offline to anyone outside¡­ That¡¯s a shut-in for you, nobody would notice if I suddenly disappeared off the world. - Anyway, if I go deep enough into Gonkdim¡¯s territory I can go to an Easy region, in the worst-case scenario I¡¯ll be living there the rest of my life. Probably in a high populated safezone where I can find a lot of players and not be worried about dying by a dumbass or a monster. I heard that the best way to make money there is to farm vegetables and do fishing. Tsk, fucking casual players, I never understood why they even bothered playing if it¡¯s to do those shits, but I guess I¡¯ll be testing what is so fun about it by force. If it¡¯s too trashy, I can try being a merchant, or a low adventurer at best. One thing I¡¯m sure, I won¡¯t be near Legendary regions, so to the farthest west I go. - - I arrive at another Quick Travel pillar, being the fourth I passed through. Its stones are moldy and have things written all over them. ¡°May the Heroes save this world, transport and relay,¡± is what is most visible at a bottom slab followed by the symbols of a simplified arrow with its right side erased and a strange S, each letter being carved in straight lines. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Imagine being a damn lore freak. Reading these things and being in ecstasy to whatever the fuck it means.¡± The next lines are impossible to read, the covering green mold and the worn-out stone erased whatever message it had. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Players are heroes, aren¡¯t they? So we are supposed to save the world?¡± I turn around, seeing the smaller stones surrounding me and then I glance at the tip of the taller pillar in the center of it all. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk, what a damn joke. Fucking writers. At least be a little more original than that.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I continue to walk toward the forest. Saving the world, just like every RPG there is. You are the great hero that defeats a big-ass demon, gets married to the prettiest girl there is, and begin doing dungeons like a maniac for years to grind items. My envisionment of Heaven. Oh, and remember that every other player in the game had the same lore as you. What a ¡°hero¡± you are, the ¡°chosen one¡± as they always keep repeating over and over. And there are still people who read those shits with a serious face and say the lore is good. Huh, I don¡¯t remember if I defeated any great demon gods in SFO, or married any princesses yet. If it didn¡¯t happen, it will probably end like that, just like any RPG there is. Either way, I never pay attention to any of it. The only thing I do is read the bare minimum when accepting quests, just to be sure I¡¯m not accepting something that doesn¡¯t pay, or it¡¯s too hard to do, or it is so far away that I would prefer deleting my character and restart from zero than doing that shit. SFO is so fucked up that there are always a couple of scam missions. Imagine being such an asshole that you need to write about a group of NPCs who will beat you up, rob some of your gold, and still give you a ¡°Mission Completed¡± in the end and reward you with experience. Even your mom hates you, fucking Dev. And that is just the tip of the iceberg, because the true enemy is always the players annoying you every single time. You can¡¯t even walk to missions without being hunted down by groups of them. ¡°Pay gold and we¡¯ll leave you alone,¡± and if you pay, they kill you either way. You lose items, lose experience, and your fucking time. ¡­ This game is such a pain. Why do people love it so damn much? I would give anything to keep playing some of my first MMOs, but they all went bankrupt or have no player base at all. Hell, who I¡¯m trying to lie to, even if they were still playable, I probably wouldn¡¯t have the patience to play it anymore. I burnt so much time playing this, treating it only as a job, that I wouldn¡¯t have fun anymore¡­ And here I am, walking in a damn forest inside a game I hate with all my soul. I was so damn close to retiring, but no~. The Devs want me to play this, they want me to literally live in it because their world is so pretty and wonderful. No Devs, I don¡¯t want to live inside your trash game. I used it to take money off dumbasses who are stupid enough to pay for virtual items to play with their stupid virtual characters. You want to punish me for doing that? Is that it? Or do you think anyone going to a legendary dungeon was crazy~ about the game and would love~ being inside it? Ah, and for immersion, you won¡¯t be able to leave ¨C ¡°rule 10¡± of the brainless Devs¡¯ guide. I damn hate you all, especially the one who wrote that rule. When I get out of here I¡¯ll punch the first asshole that is responsible for this. - I stop walking with a sigh. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If I get out of here.¡± ¡­ For some reason, I feel weird. Everything is so quiet. During this entire walking trip, there was nothing in sight. No animals, no monsters, no players. There weren¡¯t even any insects on the plants nor there were any birds in the sky. Everything was quiet. At first, I thought it was because this was the game¡¯s world. Besides, it¡¯s not like I live in a forest in real life to know how quiet or not it should be. But now I realized how weird it is. In-game there was always something moving, like those mobs that don¡¯t even have a health bar that walks around and fade out of sight; or some mob that spawns to be killed or hunted; maybe even a player walking around. But from the almost two hours I spent walking, there was nothing to be seen besides the trees and the green bushes. I was expecting to encounter something dangerous, I even switched my skill build and planned where to run throughout the entire walk if something happened, like climbing a tree, jumping over the bushes, or paths I could take to disappear from sight. I didn¡¯t use any of my movement skills just in case something suddenly jumped at me at the wrong time, so I maintained a steady pace all the way through. But there were no problems until now. It¡¯s weird. - - - - - - - - - - - - There should be at least a mob. My eyes shine golden, and a grey wave pings out painting everything around me. Some fruits shine and each plant paints my vision with a disaturated orange color. As in the game, it is harder to see with divine vision in forests, but because it isn¡¯t too dense I can see relatively far around me. Besides the wind, nothing else moves. That¡¯s when I see something disturbing my vision in the distance. It wasn¡¯t that noticeable but once I saw the faint red light between the oranges and greys, it was hard to unsee the red sun being covered by the canopy of the trees. From what I can understand, it¡¯s coming from a mountain somewhere north of my position. It wasn¡¯t exactly a circle, its light rays spread horizontally to the two ends of my vision, but it was so faded away that I couldn¡¯t see where they ended exactly. {!} Cold crawls in my skin, fear freezes me. It¡¯s like someone was watching me this entire time, as if the red sun was always there observing my walking, waiting to see where I¡¯m going, curious to what I would do, to see if I¡¯m worth something, interested in how fast I could run, and how long I will survive. It was strange. All this information flowed into my head like an unstoppable river. Like Deja Vu, I had seen it before and I¡¯d just now understood what it was, but I couldn¡¯t remember when I had seen it before. I wait, seeing the red getting brighter, not sure if it¡¯s really increasing or if my mind is tricking me. I wait for something to talk to me, that¡¯s what happens next, then, after that, I will die. That¡¯s how it¡¯s supposed to play out. Wind swipes through, the plants move violently from their branches. It was common sense. Something you know or do without even thinking about it. It was irrational, pure instinct, my mind couldn¡¯t get a grip on what was happening but my body was sure of what was going on. As I stare at that burning red light behind the thousands of moving leaves, I could feel that my death was coming, but at the same time, it wasn¡¯t near me. I could see it as I can observe the sun, far away but still in front of me. - With a blink of my eyes, everything is normal again. The fear disappeared. The red taint is still there, but the feeling disappeared. I realize that the time I froze was but an instant, a moment between the blinking of my eyes. - The wind stops. - Sweat slides down my temple as I see something moving below my focus. The bushes are pushed away. With my divine vision still on, I can see a brighter orange silhouette coming through the leaves as it walks forward. It stares at me. Some sort of big cat, a snow mountain dragon-tiger. Two pairs of canine teeth growing up and down off its mouth like sharp blades. Hard scales in diamond shapes pointing backward surround his face, paws up, spine, and tail. Instead of fur, it has white dragon scales for armor. [Tyfal Niteci, Snow Dragon-Tiger (Level 115)] - It didn¡¯t roar, nor did it look wary of me. It just kept staring with its killer instincts, walking over the bushes and stomping them with its heavy weight. - Then¡­ he suddenly leaps, opening his mouth to bite my head off. - - - - - V1 - C10 | Snow Dragon VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 10 - SNOW DRAGON - In this game, there are a few things you need to worry about. First, the difficulty level you are in. Second, which effects the biome you are have. Third, what enemy you¡¯re going up against. The worst thing is, in this day, I¡¯ve got every number on that list wrong. - - - - - - - - - - - Wind goes against my cloak, everything warps around me as I don¡¯t stop dashing. I¡¯ve just blinked away from the dragon-tiger¡¯s leap. The beast lands heavily on its four limbs a few meters after, then it turns to me. The gaps between its armor scales brighten red and flames burst out. Its rear paws explode the ground, pushing its speed from zero to a hundred in a single second. - - - - - - - - - - - - Why is a monster that high level doing here!? Aren¡¯t you supposed to be on a mountain or something?? My feet also explode in speed, magic wind pushing my back. But it isn¡¯t nearly enough to outrun that monster. I turn to see it leaping at me with its claws out and an open mouth to bite. My feet twist to a forced turn and I jump mid-run, evading the attack and falling to the ground. As I roll in the dirt I see the dragon-tiger sliding and burning the forest around it, bursting out fume from its nostrils and mouth. [Tyfal Niteci, Snow Dragon-Tiger (Level 115)] - - - - - - - - - - - - Shit. I draw both my daggers and they shoot forward with a bang, the beast lowers its head and both blades slide through its scales, not even fazing it. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s what I thought, my daggers can¡¯t do anything. I pull my weapons back by their ribbons. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s what I call an equipment lack if I¡¯ve ever seen one. - - - - - - - - - - - Levels don¡¯t matter that much in SFO, someone underleveled can always defeat something stronger than him. But if you have the wrong equipment, you will lose even if your enemy is extremely weaker. My scout doesn¡¯t have any specializations, my build is to survive the longer with the least equipment possible. Escape with movement skills and have a few elemental attacks to counter elemental blockages. My character wasn¡¯t made to fight. Dragon scales are the most resistant natural item in the game, if you don¡¯t have piercing, massive damage, or poison you can¡¯t fight against it. And for monsters faster than you, like a big cat using a flaming movement-enhancing skill, the only escape is defeating it or not be seen in the first place. If you didn¡¯t follow those preparations, you¡¯re done for. And that¡¯s exactly where I am at, completely fucked. - - - - - - - - - - - The dragon-tiger bursts forward. With the last second of my wind boots, I manage to jump sideways to evade, but the beast quickly recovers after landing and leaps at me right after. My body fades to invisibility, I lie down and roll as I see the beast¡¯s belly flying above me, all of its skin protected with dragon scales. - - - - - - - - - - - - I need to get out of here. I can¡¯t win against this thing. The dragon-tiger reaches the ground and soon after starts running to my left, burning the forest where it passes. I get up to run, but I soon realize there¡¯s nowhere to go. I¡¯m surrounded by fire. - - - - - - - - - - - - It trapped me? The monster closes the circle of fire with the sliding of its paws, stopping to stare at the inner circle with fume coming out of its nostrils. - - - - - - - - - - -What the hell? Wait, where did I see this before?... Ah, I know, goblins can do something like this with their torches, but I¡¯ve never seen a dragon type do that. Hell, I never fought a dragon type in a forest either. I turn to the opposite side of the monster. - - - - - - - - - - - - Anyway, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m really trapped here. I jump through the wall of fire, going outside the circle. [3###/3710] -> [293#/3710] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ouch, Ouch! Dammit!¡± I tap the flames out of my invisible cloak as I run away. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I didn¡¯t imagine it would hurt this much.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - But it doesn¡¯t matter, if I get out of its sight before my invisibility wears off I still can- -The dragon-tiger emerges from the flames behind me in a leap attack. - - - - - - - - - - - - How--? I look at my shoulders, seeing the fire going out of my body and being dispersed outside my transparency. - - - - - - - - - - - - It followed the flames? The dragon-tiger¡¯ claws shine purple and it slices the air in a fast swing, launching blades of energy in my direction. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Parry!¡± I twist my body to face it and my daggers fly blocking two attacks, quickly returning to my sheath right after, but the other three energy claws rip my chest open. [2###/3710] -> [1207/3710] Black smoke comes out of my injury, a passive skill that blocks half of fatal damage. A second paw comes right after with the same purple magic. My iris moves to the side limits of my eye socket, and I blink forward in a moving beam, seeing the entire world warp as my invisibility fades out. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Haha! That¡¯s right, I have two blinks now! Damage doesn¡¯t cancel this one.¡± I extend my hand to the side of my running path and my imagination creates a copy of my character, ¡°Arcane Perfect Clone¡±. It runs mirroring my image to the left. The dragon-tiger looks at the clone, but ignores it, keeping a steady powerful walk toward me. - - - - - - - - - - - - What--? How does it know I¡¯m the true one? Pure luck? It shouldn¡¯t know which is real. My eyes search around as I keep running. - - - - - - - - - - - - Dammit, I was so close to that village too, why this had to happen? Can¡¯t I get a break? My legs start to burn from all this running. - - - - - - - - - - - - Ah, wait, if I go there I can use it as a distraction and escape. I won¡¯t die yet. Where is it? It was towards a little below west, where is west? I look up at the canopy of the trees covering the sky. - - - - - - - - - - - - The sun, where is it? It sunsets in the west, wasn¡¯t it? Or was it east? The trees¡¯ leaves wouldn¡¯t open enough for me to see the sun, but something clicks in my mind and I look to my right, to the faded red ball of light over the mountains. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There is near north.¡± I switch my direction a little to my left. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°C¡¯mon, C¡¯mon! It needs to be somewhere around here! Where is it? I¡¯ve been walking for so long, how I¡¯m not there yet?¡± Behind me, I hear the heavy monster coming nearer. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shit.¡± Black smoke bursts out from within my cloak, surrounding the area within seconds. The yellow silhouettes of the plants within the darkness appear all around me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Where is it? My skills need time to refresh. I used all of them already.¡± My daggers point forward, I know they don¡¯t serve much but I can at least try blocking something. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Where are you?¡± Everything is yellow within the darkness. Lines, curves, dots, it¡¯s impossible to discern exactly what is what. My mind keeps pace with the clocks of my skill cooldowns inside my head, each second turning the pointer to another cycle. My feet change positions to turn as I search my surroundings, following with my daggers pointing at the silhouettes of the moving flames. A twig breaks behind me, my hands shiver as I turn. I was the one who stepped into it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fucking hell.¡± The smell of burnt wood gets thicker, making it harder and harder to breathe, and in the next second, I see the dragon-tiger jumping to my right. My daggers leave my hands to parry its teeth just an inch away from my nose and I tumble back. One of my skills shines in my head, I look to the side and the world warps once more, the smoke is pushed away to a clear scenery of the forest while I balance myself to dash away. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It needs to be around here! It needs to be!¡± My mind aimlessly recollects the image of the game map, the Quick Travel positions, where I was, and the path to the village.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. - - - - - - - - - - - - I won¡¯t die in this damn game, I refuse to. I pass through between the hundreds of trees, evading to hit them as I go forward, jumping over the smaller bushes and going around the bigger ones. I hear the monster behind me running and snorting heavily, then I see something at the corner of my eyes to the left. My eyes widen and a smile comes to my face. Between many wood branches, there¡¯s the top of a light-brown straw hut far away. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± I quickly descend a slight slope towards it and I sheathe my daggers. My speed boots turn on just after it recharged, each step is equivalent to a jump, green leaves and brown logs go behind me with speed as I move forward. I spring forth, getting out of the forest and clearing the view to an open space with multiple huts, makeshift stone fences, and houses in the background. When I land on the dirt floor, my second blink recharges. The dragon-tiger comes out just after me, burning a white rope that was tied in the last trees, separating the village area from the forest. I flip my middle finger at the beast leaping behind me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fuck you, asshole!¡± A magic beam transports me a few steps to the side, I leave the warp without stopping my run. Once I¡¯m near the first hut, I jump over its surrounding stone fence. The moment my feet touches the ground, I feel something smashing below me, but it doesn¡¯t stop me. I look down: I¡¯m in some type of backyard lettuce farm. Before I realize it, I¡¯m jumping out of it and going into another small farm, where green tiny leaves are popping out of the dirt in straight lines. I don¡¯t stop running. Heavy steps come from behind, the dragon-tiger turns its almost metallic-looking body to jump the first fence. Turning to the left side of the hut, I see an unfinished stone wall protecting the village¡¯s surroundings and an open gate. - - - - - - - - - - - - Where are the guards? I jump another fence and land on a dirt street. I follow it towards the entrance of the village, where I glimpse at some better-constructed houses with white wooden walls and some closed windows. It doesn¡¯t take long for me to pass through the open gate and go inside the village. - Waji Tame:- - - -¡°Let¡¯s go! It¡¯s coming from here--¡± - Two kids stop at the corner of a house, look up at me in surprise. The taller one, being about ten years old, is pulling the hands of a shy six-year-old girl to follow him. Both of them with grey hair, pale skin, pointy furry ears above their heads, and wolf tails at their backs, the girl having a double tail. I dash through them, not thinking twice. My stare follows them, as theirs follow me. The heavy beast arrives, landing over the dirt road with fire coming out of its entire body as it turns angry toward me. The two kids came from a narrow passage between a house and the thick stone wall, many steps behind me now. The older one gazes at me in awe and the smaller one with terror. They weren¡¯t paying attention to the monster behind them, which was looking at the two small wolfkins with its natural killer instincts. My first idea was to turn my face and keep running. Distraction. They are a distraction. But I was already visualizing their deaths in my head, just as I always do. Predict, strategize, and act. The fastest you are at doing this sequence, the better player you are. That¡¯s why you need to see what is going to happen before it truly does. Logical thinking above loot, logical thinking above experience loss, logical thinking above the fear of death. That¡¯s how it always was. Helping others with goodwill only makes things worse: you lose formation, deplete resources, and miss momentum. Changing your mind about a strategy mid-action can be equivalent to death. You need to be certain of it, follow the plan even if it is flawed. Second-guessing means less focus and less time for action. If you see that someone will die, don¡¯t help out of kindness or run out of fear, always use the situation to win. That¡¯s how it is. Don¡¯t change plans, especially when the time is critical. That¡¯s how it always worked. It¡¯s efficient, it¡¯s what wins the battle, anything else and you¡¯ll depend on luck. And luck can¡¯t guarantee your victory. The only thing you can be certain of is yourself and the plan you are in. Trusting in anything else is trusting in luck. - But again¡­ seeing the terrorized little girl hiding behind the astonished boy, both their eyes shining alive at me. It didn¡¯t feel right. This game wasn¡¯t right. The image of the leaf being ripped apart reappears in my mind. Why is this so damn real? Why they look so alive? It wasn¡¯t like this before. This was just a stupid game, just that. The beast goes a step forward, thick fume coming out of its nostrils and between its sharp teeth. Why? Why in the hell do I need to be involved? I never asked for this. I didn¡¯t need this. Why I¡¯m being forced to be here? [There are 0 skills ready] My feet slide on the dirt street, my right hand goes to the grip of my dagger to a quick draw. My blood boils, my eyes bulging forward with the anger tensioning my body. I listen to my blade being unsheathed, the beast going one step closer, the little girl crying. Every damn time. I need to fight every damn time. The dagger flies from my fingers, the two kids¡¯ eyes follow its path swiftly spinning and cutting the air toward the dragon-tiger. *Tling* The dagger bounces up from the beast¡¯s head, not even scratching it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°GET OUT OF HERE!¡± The dragon-tiger looks at me with annoyance. The little girl screams in horror, only now seeing the monster just a few steps from her, making it look back at them. I draw my second dagger, grabbing it again with my right hand and throwing it. It bounces off on the ground near the beast¡¯s front paw, not even hitting it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!¡± I scream at the children, but they don¡¯t listen. They stumble back and freeze in despair. The beast looks at me once more, and then it opens its mouth toward the boy. I¡¯m too far away to do anything. A skill shines inside my head as if my wish was instantly granted. [Skill ready: Normal Blink] But my legs couldn¡¯t move. I know I won¡¯t be able to run away if I blink, even if I manage to grab them, I won¡¯t get to safety. I¡¯d die the second I teleport. With my health, one more hit and it¡¯s over. I have no defenses, no evasion, no counterattacks. The only thing I¡¯m good at is escaping on my own. Those kids are going to die. Have their heads bitten off, their limbs eaten, and their insides spread on the dirt. I could see the blood splatters already, hear their voices fading away like balloons being deflated, crying for their moms, begging for mercy. It was all there, every path of possibility I could predict, it was impossible to not see it. If there was anyone that could fight that thing, maybe at least one of them could be saved. At least one. - - - - - - - - - - - - Anyone. I close my fists tighter and grit my teeth, never stopping to stare at that scene. - - - - - - - - - - - - They are going to die. Someone needs to help them. My skills¡¯ cooldown pointers keep spinning like a clock, none of them close to being finished in time. I¡¯m afraid of dying, angry about that monster appearing out of the blue, annoyed that it followed me all the way here, and disgusted at myself for not being able to do anything. I see the daggers on the ground near the dragon-tiger, its end ribbons lying down around themselves. And yet, my legs won¡¯t move. Neceha: ¡°Mom,¡± ¨C the little girl cries, her voice cracking and muffled as she buries her face on the boy¡¯s back. ¨C ¡°Mom, help!¡± My fists tighten even more. - - - - - - - - - - - - Anyone, please¡­ My legs refuse to move. If I receive one more hit, I die. - - - - - - - - - - - - Anyone. The beast goes one more step forward and opens its mouth wider, its heat warming the boy¡¯s face to an almost burn. Its blade teeth reflect the shine of the sun as it mirrors the sky, opening wide enough to try gulping the boy¡¯s head in one swift bite. But then- The blade-teeth mirrors something silver in the sky going at high speed. I feel the wind of it flying above my head. And in the next second, a man in strange knight armor is hovering above the beast. ???:- - - - - - - ¡°PIERCING SHOT!¡± ¨C the man screams, aiming an enormous weapon at the monster¡¯s neck. Like a hammer, his red weapon shoots itself from down to upwards in a spin, hitting the dragon-tiger fully. The loud sound of a cannon echoes in my ears, making me go a step back in a scare. The beast flies up, breaking a straw hut¡¯s roof and sinking into it. The man lands on his feet in front of the kids. I take a moment just to be impressed by his shining gear. It¡¯s one of the top tiers of the late game, a full Legendary build. He¡¯s wearing a white polo shirt and black pants below an odd silverish-red knight armor, with oversized shoulder pads and side-legs protections, each piece of metal having big gaps between each other. A set that have both mobility and tanking capabilities. He steps forward, his heaviness kneading the dirt ground. It¡¯s not to be fast but to have mobility, as weird as it sounds. It improves any movement skill but slows you with its enormous weight. It¡¯s so hard to manage that no one uses it, at least no one that isn¡¯t skillful enough. In my entire life, I¡¯ve seen only one person who could pull that build off. The hut begins to move. Flames rise from its roofless structure, then, the beast walks through the walls made of branches and straw ropes as if it was soft paper. Blood spills on the ground, from a few scales that were ripped off its neck. The man spins his enormous weapon to grip it with both of his hands. It¡¯s a weapon that I have never seen before, it isn¡¯t from the new update either, I always check every new type there is to see which would sell more or have the best attributes-to-resource ratio. That weapon didn¡¯t exist in my book until now, I would¡¯ve remembered it. It¡¯s a giant dark-red pickaxe, being almost two times that man¡¯s stature, with carving lines in its metallic texture in a generic sci-fi pattern. What comes to mind, is that thing being a Unique item, but no one would be crazy enough to bring something like that to a place like this. The beast goes one more heavy step forward, and the man follows. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait a second. I look at his side face, a light-brown short hair and a sharp chin with a serious expression, something like a mix of a knight and a modern businessman. His face isn¡¯t unfamiliar, it¡¯s rare for me to remember an in-game character, but this guy¡­ I activate my divine vision. The names of the children pop up first on my side view, then the man¡¯s, followed by the beast¡¯s in the background. [Willrus Strongblade, Yellow Rabbits (Level 157)] - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Willrus¡­¡± One who is ranked in the Top 20 of Gonkdim. One who is considered to be the strongest solo-player on our server. ¡­is suddenly in front of me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - What a strike of bad luck. - - - - - V1 - C11 | Willrus Strongblade VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 11 - WILLRUS STRONGBLADE - His nametag flicker in front of me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Willrus Strongblade¡± I feel the tendons in my hand freeze as I go a step back. - Willrus:- - ¡°Arcane Blink!¡± - A beam of magic shoots forward, and in the next instant, he¡¯s hovering in the air above the dragon-tiger¡¯s back. He swings his pickaxe as he does his body, taking every ounce of his strength into his attack. Willrus:- - ¡°Piercing Shot!¡± The beast could only turn its head, just to see the pickaxe perforating its eyes with the force of a cannonball. The beast slides to the other side of the dirt street, hitting its back into a stone fence. When Willrus¡¯ feet reach the floor, he looks at me. Cold sweat falls from my chin. I just didn¡¯t blink right away because of the fear dominating my body. But instead of receiving any reactions from him, he simply turns to the beast and spins his pickaxe to have its head pointing to the floor behind him. Willrus:- - ¡°Wind Blast!¡± Red electrical energy gets out of his body and gathers at the pickaxe¡¯s head, then the ground explodes and he propels forward, going just like in his first appearance, flying over the dragon-tiger that was now trying to get up on its four limbs. Willrus:- - ¡°Earth Smash!¡± The pickaxe descends to the beast¡¯s body, hitting its back and kneading it to the ground. His weapon bounces upwards, leaving an echo wave that presses the beast down. Willrus:- - ¡°Piercing Shot!¡± Red energy is gathered once more to the tip of his pickaxe, it suddenly stops mid-air and descends in a blast, going into the exposed beast¡¯s neck that had no scales. The pickaxe rips its flesh from inside out, going from one end to the other as he spins in the air with it. A line of blood spills on the dirt in an instant, and a few dragon scales fall on the street. From my position, the only thing I see is the divided neck of the beast, its insides being a black void that doesn¡¯t stop spilling blood. - Willrus lands above the beast¡¯s corpse, kneading it a little with his weight. He takes a second to stand upright again. Willrus:- - ¡°Strange¡­¡± ¨C he mumbles far away. He spins his pickaxe, cleaning the blood by throwing it to the ground. Then he falls to the street, lifting dirt on his landing. Willrus:- - ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like one of the Plagued, nor one of those shadow creatures from back in the first year.¡± He looks to the other end of the street, stopping when he sees something at the north mountains. Willrus:- - ¡°So that¡¯s why, uh.¡± He turns and looks at me. I go a step back, seeing his eyes shining golden. - - - - - - - - - - - - He¡¯s using divine vision. He glares above my head. - - - - - - - - - - - - My nametag--, shit. I¡¯m not in my main, but if he put two and two together he¡¯ll know who I am. He walks forward. Using part of my main¡¯s name in an alt never was so regretting in my life. But he stops in front of the children, seeing them paralyzed by fear. Willrus:- - ¡°It¡¯s all right. The monster is gone now,¡± ¨C his voice has a monotonous serious tone to it. He crouches leaning on the handle of his pickaxe. The children look up, at the shining knight that saved them. Willrus:- - ¡°Go back to your parents, okay? Never go out without them knowing, it¡¯s dangerous.¡± After hesitating, the boy glances at the dead dragon-tiger, nods, and gets up. The girl keeps on holding his shirt as they leave towards where they came from, and went out of my sight. After a long silence, I walk back. But then Willrus sighs. Willrus:- - ¡°You there.¡± I halt, my hands go to my daggers but there¡¯s nothing to grab, they are still leaning on the ground¡­ near him. Willrus:- - ¡°Thank you for saving them. It was very courageous of you, an level seventy-five assassin would never win against that thing, especially with your equipment.¡± With his free hand, he picks up my daggers by the tip of their blades, then he stands and looks at my frozen hands near my hips. My blood freezes. Willrus:- - ¡°You¡¯re not the usual NPC, are you?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - He didn¡¯t recognize me. It¡¯s alleviating, but I don¡¯t drop my guard. Both of us remain a couple of seconds in silence. I look sideways to search for possible escape paths in case he¡¯s baiting about not knowing who I am or charges to attack. Willrus:- - ¡°Hah.¡± I stare at him. His serious face gazing in doubt at me. Willrus:- - ¡°Why are you so wary of me?¡± His golden eyes keep staring into my soul as he starts walking forward, each step kneading the ground. I glance at the dead dragon-tiger behind him, the one he killed with just a few moves. Willrus:- - ¡°People often tell that I¡¯m not friendly looking but--¡­¡± He looks up at the sky, humming in deep thought. One more drop of my cold sweat falls to the floor. Willrus:- - ¡°Wait, I know,¡± ¨C His eyes turn down at me. ¨C ¡°Perhaps you know me? And I know you.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I go two steps back. Willrus:- - ¡°That¡¯s it, isn¡¯t it? uh.¡± ¨C He faces straight at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¨C my voice quivers. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m an NPC, how could I know you?¡± He stops walking. My fake nervous smile fades away within the first seconds of silence. His serious expression masks the confusion on his face, and his eyes go back to their normal dark brown color. Willrus:- - ¡°Then-¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-You are a hero, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¨C I interrupt him. ¨C ¡°I just came from a place where a bunch of you tried to kill me. That¡¯s it. I don¡¯t like your kind, so if you just leave me alone that would be enough.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¨C he mumbles, pressing both my daggers against each other with his thumb, sliding their blades with a sharp noise. ¨C ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense¡­¡± He stops. Willrus:- - ¡°NPCs can¡¯t be attacked by players. It¡¯s been like that since the game started. Did it change?... or could it be¡­?¡± That¡¯s when something stroke me as odd, the fact that he¡¯s talking to me so casually. It would be extremely strange from the perspective of a normal player. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait¡­¡± Willrus tilts his head in a frown. Willrus:- - ¡°Are you a player who transferred inside the game?¡± My eyes widen. That confirmed my theory. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That--¡± I don¡¯t know what to answer. I¡¯m still considering if he¡¯s faking not knowing me, or if confirming what he said would benefit me in any way. Maybe the best choice is to keep pretending to be an NPC. Willrus:- - ¡°The name SFO, or Samsara Fall Online, mean anything to you?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It- it does.¡± His face turns into a more stern expression. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ I am- a player who transferred in it after the big update¡¯s release.¡± - I said it as if I was responding to a policeman¡¯s interrogatory. Willrus hesitated, his expression becoming darker for a moment but then it lights up. - Willrus:- - ¡°Oh, I see,¡± ¨C he says somewhat happier. ¨C ¡°That¡¯s the same case for me too.¡± He continues walking towards me. Willrus:- - ¡°These are yours, right? The sheaths in your belt gave it away.¡± He gives my daggers back and continues walking from my side, going a few steps beyond my back. Willrus:- - ¡°The item ¡®Orb of Samsara¡¯,¡± ¨C he says in a stern voice, ¨C ¡°do you have one?¡± Both of us halt. The village remains quiet like a ghost town for a few more seconds. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I do.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°¡­ hmmm. So, that is happening.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What is?¡± He doesn¡¯t answer me right away. Willrus:- - ¡°I presume your Orb of Samsara is Unique, isn¡¯t it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ that¡¯s right.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Mine is also.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?--¡° - - - - - - - - - - - - He also have one? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°That is exactly what confused me. Uniques are supposed to be, well, unique. But having two of them breaks that rule.¡± The memory of Sigival giving it to me in that white room comes back to me. He didn¡¯t give any resistance to it, then he left me to die without worrying at all, and now there are two of them? The status of this item being a Unique was falling in reputation the more I think about it. Willrus:- - ¡°Inventory.¡± I turn to him, seeing that he¡¯s tapping and sliding his index finger in the air. Willrus:- - ¡°It is saying to be Unique. It wouldn¡¯t make sense to lie.¡± I sheathe my daggers, still resting a hand on one of them. I open the inventory as well. By tapping the Orb its information pops up, showing six red stars and the word ¡°UNIQUE¡± written below its name. Then I close it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So what it means?¡± He turns sideways to look at me. Willrus:- - ¡°Don¡¯t know. They could be fake copies, or maybe they are part of a real unique item¡­ Or perhaps it is simply the nature of it, being the only Unique that can have multiples of the same kind. There¡¯s no way of knowing it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Had he been considering this before, or he just thought of all that just now? He resumes walking to the center of the village. I follow him a few steps behind. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Did you find any other transferred players?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Nope, you¡¯re the first one,¡± ¨C he says tiredly. Willrus goes to a well and sits at its edge, at the center of what appears to be an open park, where the streets intersect in all directions. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What about any normal players? Have you asked for help already? I mean, we are stuck in it, right?¡± Willrus takes a second to look at me with his usual serious expression. Willrus:- - ¡°There aren¡¯t any players here.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What? But I saw three of them in the dungeon I came from.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Yeah, but not outside of it. At least none that I found¡­ My theory is that the server closed.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Do you mean, like at an update?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Maybe there are still some players online, but if it is closed, nobody will enter it anymore. No, actually, it already passed the twenty-four hours limit since I came here, so there shouldn¡¯t be any left. I still had hopes it would disconnect me, but here I am. Maybe the server doesn¡¯t see us as players anymore, or this is a separate thing entirely. Again, there¡¯s no way of knowing it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­Wait, this Orb only came on the big update, and it was what- about ten hours ago tops. There¡¯s no way it passed a day yet.¡± Willrus lifts an eyebrow. Willrus:- - ¡°No, I¡¯m sure of it. I entered the game the moment it updated, I transferred here in the first hour of it. That was two days ago, I¡¯ve been in this village since then.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well, I¡¯m not a lunatic to play it at six a.m., I woke up-- I mean--, I entered the game around eleven, so it¡¯s five hours, plus¡­ hmm¡­ round it to three hours that I spent here. It¡¯s eight.¡± ¨C I show him an eight with my fingers. ¨C ¡°Eight hours since the update.¡± - Willrus expression didn¡¯t seem to change, the only thing he did was scratch his chin in deep thought as he listened. Willrus:- - ¡°Our times are different, uh,¡± ¨C he mumbled. - I didn¡¯t need to ask to understand the conclusion he came with. Was it either some timeskip we weren¡¯t aware of, or time passed differently for us at some point. But one thing was certain: the real-time and the time we believe we are in now aren¡¯t the same anymore. - - - - - Interval 2 | Difficulty Levels INTERVAL - 2 - DIFFICULTY LEVELS - {A website entitled ¡°Samsara Fall Online Wiky¡± shows a page named ¡°World Difficulty Levels¡±} Difficulty Levels are divided physically into Regions within each Server. Players are allowed to take harder missions the higher their current reputation level is. But it is not necessary to go into harder areas, remember, always do what you feel like doing, you can keep playing the game on Easy mode and still have fun, it¡¯s no shame in doing what you prefer! {happy emoji} But keep in mind that a region generally drops items of the same tier or below, rarely being able to loot something from any tier above. - {A table is shown below:} {Difficulty- - - - - - - - - - Different effects on death (examples) Safezone- - - - - - - - - - Players won¡¯t take damage in safezones, nor they¡¯ll die (inside cities) Easy- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No XP lost, 7% of losing 1-star non-equipped items, and remains 30 seconds dead with no forced log-out (near cities) Intermediate- - - 5% level-up XP progress lost, 12% of losing 1-star items and 7% of 2-star items, remains 90 seconds dead (neutral areas) Hard- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12% level-up XP progress lost, 17% of losing 3-star items or below, remains 5 minutes dead (wild areas) Expert- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -20% level-up XP progress lost, 25% of losing 4-star items or below, remains 40 minutes dead (monster areas) Challengeful- - - - 40% level-up XP progress lost, 50% of losing 5-star items or below, remains 12 hours dead (monster territory)If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Legendary- - - - - - - 100% level-up XP progress lost, 100% of losing any tier items, remains 7 days dead (high-level monster territory) } - Tips: (1) Events can change a region¡¯s difficulty level, it¡¯s recommended to log out until such an event is over if you¡¯re not ready for it. (2) At Easy level, your equipped items are protected, so wear the important things or keep them in the quickbar. This protection doesn¡¯t count for any other difficulties! (3) When you die, the XP lost is according to your progress to your next level, so it¡¯s impossible to lose a level. On the other hand, the mob or species killing specialization will rewind, that actually being possible to reduce in level. If you¡¯re near leveling up, try your best to not die, especially in the harder difficulties, or you might lose a LOT of progress. If that happens, I feel you¡­ it¡¯s painful. {sad emoji} (4) Your gold is safe regardless of the difficulty level, so you don¡¯t need to worry about that! Unless there¡¯s a bounty on your head for being a bad guy¡­ (5) But you can still lose your items or gold if you accept duels that put something in wager independently of the difficulty area, always double-check if there isn¡¯t anything shady on those duels popups! A lot of people confuse them with trade invitations, in those cases, look if the accept button has swords in it and what the popup window¡¯s title is before doing anything. (6) If you think the punishment dead time is too long, you can always spend gold to half it, but remember, you can only do that once per death and it only halves the current time, not the total. Even if the cost exponentially increases with time, sometimes it¡¯s worth paying up right after your character dies so you can play with it again as soon as possible! - - Post created by Alexandra_Purple | edited by anonymous, anonymous, Luticare13, anonymous, newicefrog, Luporium, Nightalker, MoroMomomo, Tookario, anonymous, Seventen, moralityZero, Nevercare, NooAinsterk, TycoonMaster2 - - - - - - V1 - C12 | The Plague and the Yellow Rabbits VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 12 - THE PLAGUE AND THE YELLOW RABBITS - A long time ago, or actually, somewhere about two years back, I was hired to be a mercenary by a major guild. I wasn¡¯t the strongest in a fight, much less I knew how to teamwork, but even so, I was placed as a squad captain in a group of ten people. Back then, I always used my main account for anything serious that came up, and I didn¡¯t know how to play well in any other classes besides Arcane Assassin. I always felt that my plays were sloppy with any others. Warriors, archers, mages, tanks. None of them were nearly as interesting as the assassin¡¯s class archetype. I didn¡¯t care about it being weaker, I always felt rewarded to have quick thinking and fast reflexes, the only class that does exactly what I want to. I remember everything like it was yesterday. My character wearing a black leather assassin¡¯s trench coat, equipped with my old oversized scimitar swords, those which could separate their blades in parts to increase their attack range, making it almost like a whip. I always liked the idea of a weapon that was both melee and ranged, besides it wasn¡¯t as popular, so people never knew how to react against it. At this night, I was standing on a plain field of a Legendary region, somewhere east of the old territory. I met my group just a few months before, they were all skillful players that were being paid with real money just like me. Our job was to secure the territory of the biggest guild of the time, the Yellow Rabbits. At this time, the game was at its peak after the usual annual update. They had unified the parallel servers and the Plague events were introduced, in which random mobs transform into something more disgusting and rotten, having parasites-like veiny flesh tubes pulsating out from their insides. The simplest creature could suddenly transform into a boss and villages would be attacked by swarms of infected. It was especially hard to contain them in the Legendary difficulty areas, so they spread like wildfire there. Villages and cities that once were safezones turned into the monster¡¯s territory. The infected were more powerful, giving rarer items than the normal ones, and NPCs were forced to give numerous missions to kill the Plague or reconquer what was lost. Which made things extremely profitable. That¡¯s why the biggest guild of the server put a secret plan in motion: to safeguard the plagued territory and farm both on quests and the mutated mobs. No one without the direct permission of the Yellow Rabbits could enter those regions. That way the Plague wouldn¡¯t be wiped out and all its profits would go to them. Sure, its area was enormous, and they needed way more manpower than their guild had, that¡¯s why mercenaries were called in. Kill anyone who trespasses. And so we did it without fail. - But as time passed, more and more people became aware of the shadiness that was happening in the plagued area, and so, on a fateful day, we were told that a group of smaller guilds was preparing an attack to break one of the fortresses we had in the borders. My team was placed to defend it with four others, there were fifty people in total on our side; and for our enemies, it was expected to be at least double that. As I said earlier, we didn¡¯t have nearly enough manpower to protect the entire border. That was the best we could manage to spare. First, we formed a group in-game and joined in a voice chat, then I had to enter a second call where the squad leaders of the operation were in a push-to-talk communication. While we talked by voice in the group, I received and sent reports to the other squad leaders. Communication is one of the most important features of teamwork, after all. - ¡°Dark, this is going to be so much fun! A whole guild war, with a fortress and everything!¡± ¨C a guy a little younger than me exclaims from the other side of my headphones. The others in the call laugh at it. ¡°It¡¯s just like those medieval movies! Are they going to bring catapults? Or maybe those towers to climb the wall!? Maaaan!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°For what I know, that doesn¡¯t exist in SFO, so I hope not,¡± ¨C I respond joking. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s going to be like always, the only difference is that now there will be way more people.¡± The ten of us were on standby at the forest outside the fortress¡¯ walls, some seated, others making poses, or even dancing non-stop. ¡°I heard they were three hundred strong,¡± ¨C an old man jests with a trembling deep voice. ¨C ¡°they posted it online and everything. ¡®Today the conspiracy of the Yellow Rabbits will fall¡¯, Hahahaha!¡± ¡°We will show them! What is three hundred, anyway?¡± ¨C someone says with an annoying voice of a teenager. ¨C ¡°Like- each one of us needs to go against four of them?¡± ¡°Six, dumbass.¡± ¡°Easy breezy, man. They are a bunch of noobs, I bet they won¡¯t have the balls to bring their main equip. ¡®OoOoh, I¡¯m going to lose all my loot if I die, OoOoh, I¡¯m going to cry,¡¯ Hahahah!¡± Everyone laughs. All of them were excited about what was going to come, being paid to play was a dream for some of them, and participating in a big event like this was their heaven.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Well, it was fun while it lasted. When the enemy arrived, exploding the gate with a hail of fireballs, some teleporting on the roof of the fortress¡¯ towers to shoot downwards with their magic crossbows, and cannonballs were exploding everywhere¡­ It became pure chaos. Ultimate abilities were being used left and right, dragons flying in the sky, giant beasts breaking down the walls. My head was overwhelmed by the screams and calls of both my comrades and the other squad captains. There weren¡¯t three hundred attacking us, it was about two times that. After their public announcement, smaller guilds and independent groups joined the war at the last moment, even some random players that were passing through and saw the giant army blindly followed their march. Most of them ended up having their main equipment on. From what I heard, they were so confident they would win, that they made an insurance system to give anyone¡¯s loot back after the war ended, increasing their confidence even further, and so thousands of print screens were saved beforehand as proof of ownership in case they were found later. Even so, I doubt any of it would have worked in that mess. Our squad''s objective was to flank and kill their back line from outside the walls. And that¡¯s what we did at the beginning, it was relatively easy as the enemy clearly wasn¡¯t well organized. But once one of them died, they would reconnect with another of their characters and keep pushing us. After a while, my team¡¯s battlefield became the insides of the forest, where we needed to keep going in circles, using the trees and bushes to hide and separate the enemy into smaller groups to kill them. Occasionally going back to the fortress to continue to kill and agro more of the enemy. Sometimes the attackers even killed themselves by mistake, all because they weren¡¯t in the same group or guild to discern friend from foe. It wasn¡¯t like we mercenaries were under the Yellow Rabbits¡¯ guild for them to use as targets, actually, all players in my group were under different guilds, when in none. All I could hear was the endless killing reports, be it about the enemies or my teammates. Their scream echoed in my head about doing a killing spree or about reconnecting with their second char, or their third, or fourth. Some reached a point where they had none left, but even so, they kept promising to arrive in time with their alts, ones which didn¡¯t have enough level to use any near Quick Travels yet. I didn¡¯t die once in that fight, all because I wasn¡¯t exposing myself to danger as my comrades were and because I had higher mobility than them. To keep our strategic formation and relay reports, all I did was methodically kill a couple of players, retreat, order what the group should do, then repeat. - It lasted three hours. We lost any kill count in the first minutes of it. We didn¡¯t know how many of us were left, or how much of the enemy remained. All we did was keep on fighting each other. But then, from far away we saw something coming, it was a surprise attack by another army. Though it wasn¡¯t the Yellow Rabbits nor a guild against them. In fact, they weren¡¯t players at all. It was a sea of monsters, mutated and infested by the Plague. If we thought that the warzone was chaos, it was because we hadn¡¯t seen the swarm of mobs coming at us from the other side. Some players had their game crashed just by the amount of them charging in the distance. It was impossible to fight or to run from it. Some tried to disconnect but the seven seconds delay was enough for the Plagued to reach them. Others managed to kill one, two, three, maybe even a few dozen of them before being engulfed. Others tried to fly away on their mounts, but they were shot down by acid; or ride in the fastest horses of the game, just to be impaled by roots coming off the ground. From bosses in equal sizes with the fortress to the smallest mobs like big bees, we were swiped through. After we saw them, it didn¡¯t last five minutes. All of us on the side of the fortress and the ones who were attacking it were obliterated. Completely wiped out. - In the next hours, the swarm of Plagued advanced further in the territory. Not only our fortress was destroyed, but also all the others that were trying to contain it. At the end of the weekend, sixty percent of the server¡¯s territory was overrun. Players died by the millions, hundreds of cities and villages were lost, entire guilds were erased from the map, and regions that had a lower difficulty rose to the highest level there is. In a Legendary region, the death penalty is the loss of your level-up progress and every item in your inventory, that was enough for any common sense player to get out of the horde¡¯s way. And those who tried were overrun and remained with their characters dead for an entire week. It¡¯s rumored that a dozen of Unique items were lost trying to defend against the invasions. It was an apocalyptic level of disaster. For some reason, the Plagued was moving as a hivemind, strategically swarming to take over our territories and add the newly killed NPCs or mobs to their ranks in a snowball effect. It was so planned out, that it collected as many infected as it could before launching its attacks, and its army was separated according to the biomes each infected species would be most effective at. However, the biggest SFO guilds joined forces and organized a strategy against it. In a major calculated assault, they were able to hold off the invasion and destroy the core responsible for the Plague¡¯s intelligence. The swarms lost strength and the recapture of territory became easier. Cities were rebuilt and new villages were spread out to guard against the infected. To this day, part of the old Gonkdim is still outside our server¡¯s limits and being infested by the Plague. - All of it was a major event in the world. It was so popular, that people from servers across the globe came to visit, either to help or to observe what was going on. Soon after, it was discovered that the Yellow Rabbits were the sole responsibles for such catastrophe after proof came to the public, which showed that they knew about the Plague¡¯s intelligent core from the start and they had plans to protect it as a way to keep farming over the infected. And so, they were forever banned from commercializing or making alliances with other guilds. It was even raised a campaign entitled ¡°Hunting Yellow Rabbits¡±, or HYR for short, in which players were rewarded with real money if they recorded a video proving that they had killed someone of that guild. Consequently, the great majority of its members left. Nowadays, some areas the plague took are still occupied by high-level monsters. There were some movements of cleansing but they were nearly impossible to accomplish, plus there aren¡¯t any good rewards for it. In due time, everyone forgot that the plagued areas were even supposed to be playable, and the majority gave up on the idea of retaking them. The Yellow Rabbits was reduced to a small guild of old acquaintances of its founder, the majority of which don¡¯t even play the game that often anymore. That founder¡¯s name is ¡°Willrus Strongblade¡±, current leader of the Yellow Rabbits. He was the one who commanded to monopolize the plague as a farming resource for his guild, thus he was recorded in history as responsible for the entire event¡¯s disaster. - - - - - V1 - C13 | Wolfkin Village VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 13 - WOLFKIN VILLAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, it wasn¡¯t dead.¡± I look at a pool of blood on the dirt street, supposedly where a dead dragon-tiger should be. Vute Difivi:- - - - - - ¡°Those cats are just like that!¡± ¨C A big man with brown wolf ears slaps my back with brute force, pushing me a few steps forward and almost making me fall into the blood. ¨C ¡°They like deceiving. You said it was near the children, right? It probably was using them for you to get closer and bite ¡¯ya.¡± Vute Difivi, the wolfkin beside me, apparently was commanding an operation with other warriors of his village to cease the fire the dragon-tiger spread when it appeared here. The weaker people of the village were to stay in a fortified house until they had come back, but apparently, two nosy kids escaped from their vigilance. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ugh¡­ Tsk, you sure? I didn¡¯t know they were that smart.¡± Vute Difivi:- - - - - - ¡°Trust me, they are that evil.¡± Thinking back now, that monster was delaying way too much when everything happened. But could it be? That mob was smart enough to use children as bait? What more do I need to expect from this game? Willrus steps forward, kneading the dirt with his heavy weight. Willrus:- - ¡°I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t kill it, I should have paid more attention. I¡¯ll hunt it down right away.¡± Vute Difivi:- - - - - - ¡°No worry, you scared it. If it knows it won¡¯t win, it won¡¯t come back.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Is that so, uh. I see. Either way, I will look around just as a precaution.¡± Vute Difivi:- - - - - - ¡°Do as you like, Hero. But I doubt it will be close by.¡± Willrus marches forward, trying to follow the trails of blood going beyond the stone fences. - It appears that Willrus still doesn¡¯t remember me. That¡¯s good. The last thing I need is someone that strong as my enemy. He didn¡¯t change a bit, he¡¯s still too methodical about things. The personification of a strategist leader, though he looks more tired than when I met him¡­ He isn¡¯t realizing that this character is me? Or maybe he is the type of person who forgives easily. It has been a long time, so maybe he just erased it from his head. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m a remarkable person either¡­ but even so¡­ The image of the swarm of Plagued attacking the fortress comes back to my mind. There¡¯s no way he would forgive it. There¡¯s no way he forgot about it. He¡¯s probably unsure if I¡¯m really the guy he¡¯s thinking of. - Willrus:- - ¡°So, what¡¯s your name?¡± He asked me when it was already night. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ehm, it is¡­ Strider.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Ah, your nickname. You can call me Willrus. Nice to meet you.¡± We nod to each other. Still no signals of knowing who I am. - - - - - - - - - - - - Good. - After a while, Vute, the big brown wolf person, invited me to dinner. I refused, saying that I wasn¡¯t hungry. Whatever Willrus pressed me to go. Apparently, in this game world, we players don¡¯t feel hungry nor do any other body necessities, like any of the nature calls. But the NPCs do. Willrus said that he didn¡¯t explain this fact to them nor does he plan to, as he believes it would distance us from them. Just imagine telling anyone that you don¡¯t need to eat or poop, they instantly would think you¡¯re a god. But even so, it is still possible to eat and feel flavors. I did test it inside the dungeon when I ate some bread and drank health potions. Perhaps it¡¯s still possible to ¡°go to the bathroom¡±, though I won¡¯t force it and neither did Willrus. If this is just like in the game, food items mainly serve to heal and replenish energy, but differently from potions, they can¡¯t be used in combat. Though I don¡¯t know what that means in this world, maybe I will puke it or a magic barrier will stop it from entering my mouth. Either way, I seriously can¡¯t imagine myself taking a steak dish out of my backpack to eat in the middle of a fight, so I won¡¯t be testing that out any time soon. Besides, It heals way too little and is way slower than it is to drink a potion.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. And also, healing recovers our clothes, but only for us players. Which by the way, the three claw cuts that were on my belly disappeared as if they never even happened in the first place, after I regenerated with time. - At dinner, we entered a huge building that first I thought was some kind of church by its curvy outside layout and a small tower with a bell on top, but there weren¡¯t any benches nor a chancel within. The only thing I could see was a wide room with a huge T-shaped table where everyone in the village gathered. According to Vute, every meal needs to be there and with everyone else, no matter if it¡¯s a big feast or a snack. Even a centenarian wolf-lady was brought on her bed to dine. It¡¯s like a stricter family thing, but with the hundred and thirty-eight of your neighborhood. Because we were guests of honor, we sat at the head of the T table. At its center and above where the two lines connect, there was the leader of the village, a black-haired wolfkin in his thirties with a big scar from forehead to chin on his stern face, his name is Benipe Nate. Nate wasn¡¯t liking that Willrus and I were dining with them, going especially against us sitting at the same side of the table as him, but after some words from an older wolfkin at his left, he finally calmed down. That wolfkin is the elder and counselor of the village, a very ruggedly and grizzly old man with a kind and cracking voice. He¡¯s Peje Hade. Now on the leader¡¯s right side, there was a tall and beautiful wolfkin woman with some white spots on her long blue straight hair, her wolf ears being pointier and sharper than the others. She¡¯s Dutak Ave, the leader¡¯s wife. To the wife¡¯s side, there¡¯s a fourteen-year-old girl with pink colored hair who was always playing with her food, named Dirufe Tawici, and an eighteen-year-old young man, Pilaj Apaw, with a resembling ¡°dark puberty¡± expression and clothes. Both of them are children of the leader Nate and Dutak Ave. Pilaj was very similar to his father, black-haired but with a sleepy-serious face instead of a stern one, but all his physical traces matched. However, the pink-haired girl, Dirufe, has nothing of him. She does have some familiarities with her mother though, as in her straight hair and sharp eyes and ears. Perhaps she¡¯s the fruit of adultery? But after looking at all the others in the village, there wasn¡¯t anyone near pink hair. There were a bunch of wolfkin types within that village: like the ones with black hair that had smaller ears just like the leader; others with brown or lighter hairs; some had tanned skin while others were pale like vampires, just like the two kids I first found coming here, which now I see them happily playing around with their parents as nothing had happened. Though I do believe there are black-skinned wolfkins, there weren¡¯t any in this village. Neither did one of the legendary types, like the ones with their hair colored golden, red, purple, or those bizarre ¡°constellation¡± styles. The table was almost full, the wolfkin bumped into each other just to take a fowl off the table, which, by the way, happened every second. The only spaced place was the top head of the enormous T-table, where the elder and the leader¡¯s family dined, together with me and Willrus at the elder¡¯s side. It was almost unfair the amount of space we had compared to the ones in front of us, not that I¡¯m complaining though. Now, if you think that you had already forgotten the name of everyone I said just now, well, then that makes two of us. The elder and the leader¡¯s wife kept introducing me name after name with the gossip of who each person was or did, not only from these main five I presented, but anyone who dared to be in sight, which may I remember you, was the entire village. There were love stories, rivalries, good hunters, artists, some that were close to somebody that died, over-religious, scammy, funny, jealous, ex-criminals, ex-knights, orphans, ex-orphans, ones sending money to their families from far away, others rebuilding their honor, some sharpening their skills, and any other backstory you could imagine. To summarize, the majority of the adults of the village know how to fight or hunt, but each one of them has a specialization or a hobby they do in their free time. Besides all of that, their names are complete gibberish, there were ones that I wouldn¡¯t know how to begin to write or even which letter their names began with. And thus, at the end of it, I had even forgotten the elder¡¯s name and the wife¡¯s, which were heartfully talking to me this entire time. Ah, an important fact for later: Vute has a crush on some wolf girl and is shy about it, but I also forgot her name and appearance entirely. Dammit, I won¡¯t be able to have my vengeance for his back slap from earlier, but I can still pretend I know who it is. Oh, and the fact that now I¡¯m talking to you, directly, is to quantify the madness that place was and how I, a full-fledged anti-social being, was not well after such dinner. I¡¯m currently insane and now I¡¯m treating this like I¡¯m some webnovelist to describe my day. And I don¡¯t even read novels! or books in general. That¡¯s the extent of my mind trying to drift away from this reality. Anyway, I didn¡¯t feel that miserable. Even though it was hard to listen to my own thoughts and it was really difficult to bite through those oversized meats, everyone looked happy and treated me like I was part of their family or something, like we had met a long time already. It was extremely uncomfortable, but nothing regrettable happened nor any problems were created. Unlike real life. But again¡­ I prefer to never do that again. Yeah, nope, I¡¯d prefer telling them that I¡¯m a god that doesn¡¯t need to eat or poop. - - After dinner, Vute showed us where we Heroes could sleep, at the -[Unfinished Inn]-, the first floor had no furniture in its hall nor paint on its walls. And the stairs to the unfinished second floor were covered by a straw roof to protect against the rain, but as it is now, it will flood if it rains too much regardless. It was that or we could sleep on the storage straw houses that were outside the -[Unfinished Great Stone Wall]-, the same type that the dragon-tiger destroyed and broke as if it was paper. So I accepted sleeping in the inn. - From what he and Willrus told me, this village is one of the closest to the Plagued territory, so the kingdom is paying for stronger species to build villages and protect this area. That¡¯s why a bunch of different types of wolfkins live here, they are from poor families all around the kingdom, the majority being refugees of the major Plague invasions that happened in the past. Vute says there were a few other beastkins in the village, but they left or died. The only strong enough to survive this far are the wolfkins, being also the only ones who are motivated enough to reconquer their territory. There¡¯s something about protecting their God¡¯s grave that is deeper in the Plagued territory, but I didn¡¯t care to ask for any details. - After Vute showed us our rooms and left, I finally had some time to speak with Willrus alone. We talked about the real problematic things. How we arrived. Why all of this is happening. And what to do next. But of course, there wasn¡¯t a clear answer to any of them, and we ended up not reaching anywhere. After that, we slept. - - - - - V1 - C14 | Wolfkin Trial VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 14 - WOLFKIN TRIAL - I had no dreams that night. I woke up when the sunlight was already passing through my window. For a brief moment, I saw myself back in my bedroom, but the illusion faded away once I saw the wooden walls of the inn. I stretched my legs and went outside, where Willrus was talking with Vute at the entrance hall. They appear somewhat stern. When they see me they give me the news: the centenarian wolf-lady, the one who had arrived in her bed the last dinner, died while sleeping. It was already expected, her old age was apparent and her health could only get worse. Dying in your sleep is best in a case like this. Whatever, when the helper came to her room this morning, the old lady was found with a horrifying expression on her face. She still had her eyes shut, but her mouth was wide open as if she was howling in pain, her entire body was contorted by fear, and dry tears were on her cheeks. She was the shaman of the village since its foundation, she helped to predict when the weather would be too harsh for the crops or to go out hunting. She was a great help to them, even predicting when danger would appear in the village. Actually, the only reason the wolfkins were so promptly ready to put out the fire spread in the forest by the dragon-tiger, was because she had warned them a couple of days before. No one in the village knew how she did her magic, the old lady always stayed on her bed. When she wasn¡¯t sleeping she was praying, so her eyes always remained closed, and because of her rugged face, it was hard to discern which of the two she was doing. But one thing worries everyone, that maybe something bad would happen not too far from now, something so horrible that killed her from stress just by visualizing it. The village was placed on higher alert, even though they don¡¯t believe such a bad thing is going to happen today. Also, their usual breakfast was canceled, not because of the higher alert, but because wolfkins have the culture to not eat on the same day one of them died. Keeping their hunger until it is night, for a great feast of grief or commemoration. What separates a grief death from the one you should commemorate is mainly the dead¡¯s age, if you die early it¡¯s grief, otherwise it¡¯s a commemoration. Another big determiner is their accomplishments, being at their death or while they were alive. The Shaman was both old-aged and had done great deeds, so there was near no discussion about it being a commemoration. Whatever¡­ at the village¡¯s reunion, in the same place where everyone had dinner together over the T table, the leader Nate, spoke loudly to present an opposing view on the matter. - Nate:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but there¡¯s something I need to take off my chest. Or otherwise, it will haunt me until the day I die.¡± His words shock everyone, both because he doesn¡¯t look to be the type to apologize and because of the rising anger in his voice and aura. Nate:- - - - - ¡°My doubt is if this death wasn¡¯t by age, nor by trying to accomplish her duties. But by treason.¡± The wolfkins murmur, not sure if they understood it. Nate:- - - - - ¡°She suddenly passes away, after our forest is burnt¡­ and those Heroes arrived.¡° - - - - - - - - - - - - What!? Ave: - - - - - ¡°Ridiculous! You¡¯re disrespecting your guests again--!¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°--SILENCE!!¡± His roar trembles all my nerves, and everybody quiets down. Nate:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s too much of a coincidence to ignore!¡± ¨C He turns to his people at the other side of the table. ¨C ¡°After I returned from our hunting expedition, it came to me, that a dangerous beast was lured to our village by one of them,¡± His piercing eyes glance at me for an instant. Nate:- - - - - ¡°¡­without any worry to our safety! What if destroying the village and killing us all was his plan from the start? He, who dinned as our guest of honor the day before, is an enemy spy?!¡± Turmoil breaks out, the wolfkins whispering between themselves. - - - - - - - - - - - - Well, I did plan on luring the beast here, but being an enemy spy? What¡¯s that all about? Nate:- - - - - ¡°You have no defenses!?¡± When I realize everyone is looking at me with wariness, I freeze for a second. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°O-Okay¡­ look-, I¡¯m not a spy, alright? I¡¯m a Hero, how-¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°-A Hero!? What it even matters? That you can¡¯t attack us because of the Rules of God? Spare me! I know your kind can overbound them. Like luring powerful monsters to kill us by your command!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Is that possible?¡± ¡°They can go against the Rules of God?¡± ¡°I never heard of that.¡± ¡°How could it be?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not a hero?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - They are suddenly all against me?? I look for help from Willrus seated at my side, but he has his eyes closed and arms crossed. - - - - - - - - - - - - Even he is doubting me? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­¡± The wolfkins look static with curiosity, all their ears turned at me, waiting for the next word I¡¯ll speak. - - - - - - - - - - - - I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, but if he¡¯s blaming me then I need to defend myself. I did lure the beast to come here, but I wasn¡¯t wanting to put them at risk, I simply wasn¡¯t thinking straight. But how do I go about it? Just telling that won¡¯t do¡­ I could try to lie and turn the wolfkins against their leader, but I learned from experience that won¡¯t work¡­ Once a group leader accused me of stealing loot, there was no way to kick the guy out because I was an outsider, so even after I gained everybody¡¯s trust, that guy kept on calling me out on anything slightly wrong that I could have done, like going out of sight for a bit, to last hit a boss, or to open a common item chest. In the end, everybody was against me and I never was called to their group again. - - - - - - - - - - - - The wolfkins don¡¯t look angry at me, nor does it appears that Willrus wants to help, so I¡¯ll handle this on my own. I won¡¯t drag anyone to this fight. This time around, I won¡¯t go against the guy blaming me, I¡¯ll prove to him that I¡¯m not an enemy. I stand up and carefully choose my words. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I know it¡¯s possible to do that. I¡¯ve seen it before, powerful creatures being lured to capture another Player¡¯s territory is a strategy that is used, I can¡¯t deny that.¡± ¡°¡¯Player¡¯?¡± ¡°Powerful creatures? How powerful?¡± ¡°They destroy villages?¡± ¡°Mom, what he¡¯s talking about?¡± ¡°Shhhh.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It can be to destroy their defenses, to add a front in a battle, or simply use it as a decoy. But they are always followed by an attack, when not done when attacking.¡± The wolfkins look even more confused, but Nate attentively hears my words with a serious expression. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There¡¯s neither a motive nor the momentum for me to destroy this village! And if I once had, I failed on the day I arrived, so there would be no reason for me to stay here!¡± My last words echo in the reunion room. Making me realize how trembling my voice was, instead of the confident tone I was trying to imply. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Your motive is exactly the reason for you to be here.¡± He turns to talk to his people. Nate:- - - - - ¡°He¡¯s testing us! To find out how strong our village is for his army to attack! That¡¯s what a spy does. Once he heard what our shaman could do, he went to kill her when we slept. He¡¯s trying to cut our eyes against their invasion!¡± The wife hits the table. Ave:- - - - - ¡°Absurd! There¡¯s no way a Hero can do that!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You said yourself I can¡¯t attack you, how am I with an enemy army!?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s because you have an army of monsters! The dragon-tiger is only one of the beasts he is sided with! Otherwise, how come he used it to test us!? It¡¯s because there are more of them, if not worse and stronger monsters that we are unaware of. Imagine the danger it is to continue sheltering him in our village! While we feed him our food, we also feed him with the information needed to our doom, and[¡­]¡± - He¡¯s creating an entire delusional scenario to base his thoughts on. Making his people visualize the same lie he¡¯s seeing. And the worst thing is that I¡¯m not entirely in the right here. I did come to this village to use them as bait and escape on my own, but I wasn¡¯t doing it to kill them, at least I wasn¡¯t thinking of it. But to spearhead an invasion, what he¡¯s saying is madness.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. But how am I going to defend myself? The wolfkins are starting to doubt me. Some of them are looking at me with anger, others with fear. That curiosity they had in the beginning was gone, they are forming their own opinions already, and I doubt that even one of them is on my side. I wanted to heartfully defend that I¡¯m innocent, but I¡¯m still feeling guilty for what happened. I¡¯m doubting if I should let them blame me for whatever they are talking about and leave already. It¡¯s not like I want to be in this village anyway. All those happy faces and telling me the stories of their lives, I knew all of it was a front. That¡¯s how people are, they smile to meet you just because they learned to be polite, but there¡¯s no saying what they think inside their minds. They are no different. I don¡¯t care if they are real, or if it¡¯s just a game, I hate this. I hate this damn feeling of being looked down upon. It¡¯s difficult enough to fight for my life in this crazy world, and now I need to worry about this too? The only thing I want is to get out and blink away from here. Screw them and whatever happened to them. I¡¯m leaving. - My eyes search for an escape, but the chair on my side creaks. Willrus:- - ¡°And how exactly is he controlling such an army?¡± Willrus finally speaks against the wolfkin leader. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t know, and that¡¯s exactly what worries me. What if he or his master have a powerful item to control them? We simply cannot let this danger go past us. We are here to protect the borders of our kingdom. That¡¯s our sole duty.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°¡­Oh, that would be interesting¡­¡± ¨C he says with his usual serious tone. ¨C ¡°An item that powerful would be a problem¡­ but there¡¯s no way of knowing it exists.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Indeed, there¡¯s no way to know it for certain. But I do have another point that strengthens my view¡­ the fact that you, the first Hero, who stayed in our village and ate with us for longer, didn¡¯t kill the monster that invaded us. Instead, you ¡®defeated¡¯ it with a few moves and left it to escape. As if you were doing a spectacle for us to trust you!¡± Willrus scratches his chin to think. Willrus:- - ¡°Hmm, so you¡¯re accusing me too, I see¡­¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Of course, you two are of the same kind.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°I must confess it¡¯s my fault for letting it go. Whatever, I must deny having any part in Strider¡¯s plans.¡± That makes my blood boil. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Plans? What plans!? I tried to protect those two kids and this is what I get? you people blaming me to be a spy?! I should have left them to die then. Why do I even keep trying anyway?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Strider, calm down, I-¡° - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-Drop dead for all I care! You want to protect the kingdom? Your families? Or whatever the fuck you want? I don¡¯t care! You clearly don¡¯t care about me, so why should I care back? Think whatever you want! I¡¯m leaving this shithole.¡± I step back and my chair falls to the ground. Nate also steps back and goes to grip his sword¡¯s handle at his waist. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I cannot let you leave this place,¡± ¨C he growls with anger. His wife stands up too. Ave: - - - - - ¡°Nate, Stop this!¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Get out of my way, he needs to be cut down before warning his allies.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So you want to kill me, now? You¡¯re not the first one, I want to see you try.¡± Nate growls like a wolf, sliding his sword just a bit upwards, a faint black fog comes out from within his sheath, together with distant howls of hundreds of dead spirits. Many of the crowd stand upright and prepare to fight. Willrus:- - ¡°Strider is innocent!¡± ¨C Willrus yells as he stands, calling the attention of everybody. ¨C ¡°I have strong reasons to believe Strider is not what you are accusing him to be, calm down, there¡¯s no need to fight.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Look at them! When I unmasked their motives, they do exactly as I said, trying to leave with what they got out of our village!¡± Willrus:- - ¡°It¡¯s very strange for you to say that, when you already know we didn¡¯t do it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - What? Nate:- - - - - ¡°You try to manipulate us? We should kill them both. It¡¯s clear they are guilty, move away!¡± Willrus:- - ¡°¡­Uh, I see¡­ so your objective was to kill us.¡± ¡®Was¡¯? Do you mean he was planning this from the start? Why would he do something like that? Nate:- - - - - ¡°Of course it is, you¡¯re my enemy! Get out of the way, Woman!¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°No, you must be mistaken! There¡¯s no way Heroes are our enemies!¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Nate, I believe we should listen to what they have to say¡­¡± ¨C The Elder stays seated with a grieving expression on his face. Nate:- - - - - ¡°You are endangering this village! Don¡¯t get in my way!! Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m protecting you!? If you don¡¯t get out I¡¯ll force you to!¡± Ave goes a step back, both surprised and afraid of her husband¡¯s threat. Willrus:- - ¡°There are two reasons that prove we are not the killers. First, the very base of your assumptions is wrong, you yourself said that it¡¯s impossible for us to directly hurt NPCs.-¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°-You must have brought a lesser monster, one that could poison the shaman while she slept! What else you hide, Fiends?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°And second¡­ You had us locked in the inn the entire night, wasn¡¯t it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh? We were locked? Nate¡¯s eyes widen for an instant. Willrus:- - ¡°At night, I activated my Divine Vision and saw an invisible barrier just outside my window, one which only faded at sunrise. A Barrier of protection that enveloped the whole building, not even the tiniest creature could go through without breaking it. He turns towards the wolfkins standing at the other side of the table. Willrus:- - ¡°Interestingly enough, that type of barrier needs the caster to stay inside it while active, and there was only one person besides me and Strider in it at that time. So, why don¡¯t we ask the responsible for the inn himself?... Vute Difivi.¡± Willrus look with his shining golden eyes at the big brown wolfkin, who is surprised to hear his name. Willrus:- - ¡°You were guarding our every move from the beginning, after all. You better than anyone else, should know how to answer this: Did we get out at night to kill the Shaman?¡± Vute Difivi:- - - - - ¡°Hehe-¡­¡± ¨C He scratches the back of his neck with shame. ¨C ¡°You knew about it?-¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°-VUTE, YOU SHUT IT!¡± Nate¡¯s nose wrinkles in anger like a wolf snarl. Vute Difivi:- - - - - ¡°But it is true, there was no way they did it, Nate. Thinking that way¡­ what you are saying doesn¡¯t make much sense.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°DOESN¡¯T MAKE SENSE?... VUTE?! YOU FORGOT ABOUT WHAT I TOLD YOU!? YOU AGREED THEY WERE SUSPICIOUS! THEY CAN EASILY BE OUR ENEMIES!¡± Vute Difivi:- - - - - ¡°Yeah, but¡­ that¡¯s when you were saying it-¡° Nate:- - - - - ¡°-THEY KNEW ABOUT IT, I¡¯M SURE THEY KNEW A WAY TO PASS THROUGH WITHOUT BREAKING IT! YOUR BARRIER WASN¡¯T GOOD ENOUGH! THEY TRICKED YOU! I KNOW THEY ARE THE ENEMY! WE NEED TO TAKE THEM DOWN! ANYTHING THAT ENDANGERS OUR VILLAGE NEEDS TO DIE! MOVE ASIDE SO I CAN ERASE THEM FROM EXISTENCE!! LET ME KILL THEM!!!¡± Nate¡¯s voice trembles the entire room. All the wolfkins look afraid at him. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Nate, enough,¡± ¨C the elder says with sadness. ¨C ¡°You hid crucial information to cover your plea. You plotted against our guests of honor, to kill them without reason. This is unacceptable.¡± Nate looks at his people, then at his son and daughter fearfully backing away from him. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Elder, they are a threat, we need to deal with them!¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°You are being a threat, Nate. You¡¯re threatening to use the Sword of Shadows against people who you have no proof to be our foes. Not only that, but below sacred grounds, and placing the lives of your own people in danger.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°I would never use my sword on my own people!¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°But you¡¯re willing to destroy this place, what if its roof fall over our heads? or even if you manage to only kill the two Heroes, they are written to save us all¡­ using your sword on them is just as well using it at your own people.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Elder, I-¡° Peje:- - - - ¡°-That¡¯s enough. We lost a great member of our family today, that¡¯s enough. We will continue to grieve until the commemoration feast, and tomorrow we will see to your punishment.¡± The Elder stands up with sorrow on his face. Peje:- - - - - ¡°This reunion is over. All of you can leave.¡± - - - - - Interval 3 | Experience INTERVAL - 3 - EXPERIENCE - Once your character has a sufficient amount of experience, it will Level up. Each level higher makes your character stronger: adding 1 Token for the Class Skill Tree; 3 tokens to add in the Primary Attributes; plus 1 to each Primary Attribute; and occasionally rewarding the player with items or extra gameplay functionalities, such as: - - - - - - - - - - - - Every 40 levels, your character gains a Recollection Stone, which allows the reallocation of spent Primary Attributes tokens; - - - - - - - - - - - - Every 20 levels, the character can choose one sub-class, going up to 3 sub-classes, the last unlocking the special group; - - - - - - - - - - - - Every 10 levels, the character unlocks an extra slot for an active skill and an extra slot for a passive skill, going up to 6 each; - - - - - - - - - - - - And other minor rewards¡­ After level 120, where you already have all class-skills unlocked, you receive 1 additional Token to add in your Primary Attributes instead of your Class Skill Tree¡¯s Token. - You can gather Experience by dealing damage, healing, receiving damage, completing quests, or participating in events. Being modified by:This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. 0. Source¡¯s base experience, depends on the source¡¯s difficulty level, gameplay mechanic complexity, or rarity; 1. Experience gained in the same day, the more you gather the less experience you¡¯ll receive, also making it harder to level up your proficiency level. Such modifier resets every day at 00:00 a.m. in your account¡¯s timezone; 2. Proficiency level against such a creature, killing the same type of creature or the same species decreases its experience gain, but on the other hand, it increases your Critical Chance against such targets. This modifier is permanent. Player-type is also accounted to such a system. Note: Missions or Events have no modifiers, only their base experience. Such modifiers begin with a bonus of 200%, but they can drop down to 1%. Each player character has separate modifier values. - Groups share part of the gained experience with their nearby members. The Experience you receive will be also transferred to your Account¡¯s Experience, which allows the player to Level up his Account, gaining 1 token to spend at the Account¡¯s Heritage Tree and a few extra rewards every time a level is advanced. Such improvements in the Account benefit all owned characters. - - - - - V1 - C15 | Apologize VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 15 - APOLOGIZE - After the wolfkin trial ended, I was the first one to leave, then everyone else followed. It was quiet, nobody knew what to say. Their leader had just been arrested and the Elder took command, a seed of doubt was placed on the Heroes¡¯ reputation, and their Shaman died with a horrifying expression on her face for visualizing a near future¡­ there was no space to have peace of mind. There were no conclusions or closures, the problems only piled up. I was cleared of my charges, so I was free to leave the village, I could continue going west and keep on trying to survive as I was planning to¡­ But the feeling of being in the wrong still had me in shackles, its weight pressing my shoulders down. So before I went to do anything else, I stop a few steps away from the church-like building and turn to the wolfkins walking behind me. They all stare at me. Willrus, Ave, and Peje are closest to me. I can¡¯t tell what they are thinking, there¡¯s only uneasiness in the air. But if it¡¯s not now, when would I be able to talk to all of them? So with determination, I collect all the strength I have in me and scream: - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry!!¡± My voice echoes in the dirt street, stopping all wolfkins. It¡¯s early in the day and the sun hits the right side of my face from an alley, but it doesn¡¯t fully explain why I feel my skin burning. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°When I came to this village¡­ with that monster behind me¡­ I-, I was afraid, I didn¡¯t know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to come here so I could escape. But I swear to you, I¡¯m not a spy! But still¡­ I wasn¡¯t considering your lives, and I ended up putting all of you in danger. I¡¯m really sorry!¡± I had closed my eyes halfway through. I don¡¯t want to see their reactions. But it doesn¡¯t matter, if they attack me or if they resent me, I can leave and run away. That¡¯s what I can do best with this character. Run away. I don¡¯t know why Nate did what he did. But I know there are players out there who can do bad things. Do stupid decisions. Especially from the perspective of NPCs. I don¡¯t want them blindly trusting in somebody just because they are a ¡°hero¡±. That¡¯s the logical thinking my mind repeated to myself over and over again to explain why apologizing was necessary. - I hear footsteps in front of me and I quickly open my eyes. I look to where I can blink away, but it¡¯s too late. Ave blocks my vision with a tight hug. Ave: - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s all right! Everything turned out fine, didn¡¯t it? It¡¯s all right.¡± She strokes my head as her other arm pulls my back, forcing my face against her chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - Heh? It¡¯s warm¡­ and soft. Ave:- - - - - ¡°You don¡¯t need to say sorry. You thought right coming to this village when you did! There¡¯s no reason for you to feel guilty.¡± She lets go just enough to look down at me with a bright smile on her face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But I wasn¡¯t-¡± Ave:- - - - - ¡°-You don¡¯t need to worry, I¡¯ll make that fool of a husband of mine apologize. You stay here.¡± She suddenly strides away with a prideful face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, seriously¡­ I¡¯m guilty, I endangered your lives without a second thought.¡± The Elder goes a step forward to be in front of me. Peje:- - - - - ¡°You are not guilty of trying to survive. Anyone in your place would have done the same. We are aware of the dangers of this region, and we still choose to live here. It¡¯s not your fault that beast went to prey on you.¡± He lands his hand on my shoulder with a sad smile on his face. Peje:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re still our guest of honor, and you are still a Hero, nothing changed. Nate is just too thick-headed when it comes to Heroes. When he was younger they couldn¡¯t save his family in time, that¡¯s why he resents them. There¡¯s nothing to do with what you did.¡± The Elder nods and walks away. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Seriously man, lift your chin! It was my bad, I should have said something sooner, I could have saved you from Nate¡¯s speech from the beginning but I was just too dumb to see through his nonsense, I¡¯m sorry.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No- you don¡¯t need to¡­¡± But Vute leaves towards the inn without looking back. - Then, one by one the wolfkins came to apologize. I was completely lost. Wasn¡¯t I who did something wrong?A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Even if I did what I needed to survive, I brought a whole new problem to them, there¡¯s no reason for them to apologize. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! You can stay all you want, all right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! Come hunting with us anytime, just ask!¡± ¨C A muscular couple gives me a thumbs up. ¡°Come to my place to eat some fish hidden from the others if you are hungry! Just don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¨C A wolf girl smiles courageously at me. Three young wolfkins come forth with big smiles, the oldest of them being around fifteen years old. ¡°You were so badass! Going against Nate and all, that¡¯s a Hero for you!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Err¡­ that¡¯s-¡± ¡°Can I be just like you one day!?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-¡­¡± ¡°Being an adventurer must be so cool¡­¡± Their father comes stroking the head of his children. ¡°Yeah! When you said that about protecting the two kids, my skin crawled! There I knew you were telling the truth, you couldn¡¯t be a bad person after saying that with such emotion.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°About the two kids?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - He means the ¡®I should have left them to die¡¯ part? ¡°That¡¯s right! Nate crossed the line this time.¡± ¨C Another adult comes from behind him. ¡°Uh huh, Nate is a big dumb dumb.¡± ¨C A small kid looks up to the previous wolfkin. - - - - - - - - - - - - What¡¯s going on?? ¡°Don¡¯t be down! You saved us, I¡¯ll remember that! It doesn¡¯t matter if Nate hates you, I know you¡¯re a Hero! Keep going at it and one day you¡¯ll become a legend!¡± ¨C The pale skin child yells to me. It¡¯s the same kid who almost was eaten by the dragon-tiger, and at his back, there¡¯s his two-tailed younger sister. ¡°Even though, you did nothing¡­¡± ¨C she whispers creeping behind her brother. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Heh-!...¡± Both their parents come forth, all of them with pale skin and white hair, the mother is the first one to speak to me. ¡°I tried to thank you at dinner last night, but I saw you were too busy with Ave¡¯s talking, so we didn¡¯t want to interrupt. But I truly thank you for saving my children, we are indebted to you.¡± The father strokes the son¡¯s head, both with adventurous smiles on their faces. ¡°That¡¯s right! Thanks, both of you, I don¡¯t know what I would do without these little pests of mine.¡± Willrus stands on my side, a little surprised to receive thanks, interrupting his deep thoughtful expression. Willrus:- - ¡°There¡¯s no need to feel indebted. That¡¯s our job, I just ask for you to continue being kind to us.¡± ¨C He bends slightly forward as politely as he can, as if he had it practiced many times. He looks at me with serious eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah-! T-That¡¯s right, there¡¯s no reason for you guys to feel that way, please don¡¯t mind us.¡± I try to imitate Willrus. Then the family walks away, ¡°They are so humble.¡± ¡°That¡¯s heroes for you, Honey!¡± they say to each other. ¡°I still don¡¯t trust them¡­¡± the little girl grumbles as they turn a corner. - It was like it wouldn¡¯t end. For a time I could only see their blurred figures stopping in front of me and then walking away. Everyone had something to tell me, to thank me, to say I shouldn¡¯t worry, that I could stay in the village as long as I wanted to. It was a complete break of what I was expecting. Many of them said to me, that when Nate threatened to draw his sword, everyone realized he was in the wrong. ¡°Wolfkins knows about those things, we can smell emotions.¡± That doesn¡¯t make sense. I swear to remember them standing up to fight me, but they were going to fight Nate? That happened before Willrus said anything. I don¡¯t know if they are lying, but I thought Willrus was the one who saved me. - - - - - - - - - - - - No, wait. There¡¯s something wrong with all of this. Something isn¡¯t fitting right. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! You are still a hero to us!¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re good! Don¡¯t listen to what Nate said!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait a second. ¡°Maybe if you have a sword you can fight the next monster that appears! Let me know if you want one.¡± ¡°If anything else happens, don¡¯t worry, you can count on us!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh...? ¡°You can be strong, keep going!¡± When a five-year-old child with light-brown hair and chubby cheeks told me that, my soul left my body. After that, I had no more energy to keep up on responding or to react to what they were saying. - When it was over, only Willrus and I remained standing in the middle of the street, looking at the front of the church-like building. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Willrus, tell me the truth¡­¡± I look at him in dismay. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Do I look like a hopeless child?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Huh? What?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How young do I look?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Hmm¡­ about eighteen, maybe a little more. I¡¯m not good with telling age though.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fhuuu¡­¡± ¨C I sigh with teary eyes. ¨C ¡°So why I¡¯m being treated like a child who did a mistake, and everyone else is softening it up so I don¡¯t feel bad about it?¡± Willrus puts his right hand over his chin to think, he hums in deep thought, then he looks at me with an emotionless face. Willrus:- - ¡°Because you act like one.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Gah-!¡± That was a direct hit! I need a couple of seconds to recover from that. - - - - - - - - - - - - At least he¡¯s honest, I guess. Willrus:- - ¡°Say, Strider¡­¡± ¨C He looks with a stern face at me. ¨C ¡°Did you--¡° But he stops and hesitates without breaking his stare. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­huh?¡± He looks away. Willrus:- - ¡°Forget it.¡± He leaves. - - - - - - - - - - - - Okay¡­ - After that, I stayed a few minutes standing alone until my integrity recharged and I had enough energy to move again. - - - - - V1 - C16 | Our Destiny VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 16 - OUR DESTINY - The village went back to normal. Some wolfkins harvested their farms, some went out to hunt, and others remained stationary on their posts. I didn¡¯t have much time to see the village the day I arrived, so just now I realized how big it is as I look around it. There aren¡¯t many people but they are building this place so more can live here in the future, so it¡¯s more like a tidy small town than a village actually, all because they want it to grow like it once was. Before, this village was a town to all kinds of species, known as a great communal space that welcomed any race to live in, it was incredibly peaceful and prosperous. They were well placed at the center of the old Gonkdim, merchants would pass through here every day, so any kind of merchandise could be sold or brought without much trouble. There also weren¡¯t many monsters around, and if there were, any adventurer passing through was enough to help them. This region was one near the Easy level, so I doubt there were any powerful monsters. Whatever, that was completely erased once the Plague invasions came. Even their name was forgotten. But once advancing soldiers found this place in ruins they saw the opportunity to rebuild it, so they requested help throughout the kingdom and many wolfkins came. - Now, the village¡¯s new name is Debeta, which is the direct translation for ¡°Wolf Den¡±. Though I don¡¯t know which language they are translating it from. From what they explained, ¡°De¡± means ¡®wolf¡¯ and ¡°Beta¡± is ¡®den¡¯ in the god language. I¡¯ve never heard of it, so maybe it¡¯s a fantasy idiom inside the game? Not only that, but I learned that their wolfkin¡¯s names are also written in this weird language, and it¡¯s less of a name and more like a title. Depending on what you do or did your name changes. Dutakave, or how we call her ¡°Ave¡±, the leader¡¯s wife, has the title of ¡°Swift Wind¡± because of her aptitude for offensive speed magic. Pejehade, the elder, literally means ¡°Elder Wolf¡±. While their leader ¡°Benipenate¡±, means something like ¡°Dark Claw¡±, mainly because of his Sword of Shadows and good hunting skills. Once you reach a certain age, it¡¯s hard to change your name unless something extreme happens, like a great feat or loss. For newborns, their name is generally based on their appearance or the family¡¯s fame, but when reaching adulthood their title generally changes. In official documents, they need to take both their parents¡¯ names as surnames for registration, though they don¡¯t use surnames commonly. - Not only that, but I also discovered that wolfkins live half the age we live. The centenarian who died was actually fifty-three years old. And their children grow faster too, reaching adult age at ten. And no, it¡¯s not a cultural thing, they physically look adult at ten years old. That information drenches me with even more sadness. To think that a two-year-old tried to lift my spirits with a pep talk, it¡¯s even more depressing. That¡¯s probably why there aren¡¯t many children in the village. From what I could observe, there are about three below ¡°five years old¡±, other two before ¡°ten years old¡±, four more below ¡°fifteen¡±, then a couple before the ¡°eighteen¡± mark. When there are a current total of one hundred and thirty-seven in the village. Theoretically, the number of people below the adult level should be around twenty percent at least, but it doesn¡¯t even add up to ten percent. --Actually, that logic is wrong. If their life span is halved and the children¡¯s growth is doubled, the percentage should remain the same. Then, is it because the village is somewhere dangerous? so they send them away or are afraid of having children? That looks more like it. They are one of the ¡°border protection villages¡±, after all. The Shadow Army and the Plague are their close neighbors, the two strongest threats to the kingdom. No surprise they have to grow faster and are way stronger than normal NPCs. Also, with my Divine Vision skill turned on, I can see their names and levels. Some are almost at the three digits number, way above my level seventy-five character. Even the youngest wolfkin are above level forty. In SFO there is a mechanic that allows you to start ahead in levels, but I didn¡¯t know NPCs had it too. But even so, starting at a certain level is one thing, the other is leveling up. Even I, who is level seventy-five would need about three days to level up. And I¡¯m disregarding the fact that I can¡¯t use Quick Travels or the fact that I have no efficient plans to gather experience. Under those conditions, I would need somewhere around a month to go up one miserable level. So how do they do it? I know it¡¯s possible to gain experience with jobs, and I heard they do hunt almost every day, but¡­ in SFO if you keep on doing the same tasks over and over again, your character basically stops gaining experience with it, like forever. That¡¯s why there¡¯s always some guide to level up faster on the internet, ¡°go to different places and do different things to level up faster¡±. But if you are an NPC and you have to stay in the same village, how do you level up so fast? --No, I¡¯m thinking it wrong again. It¡¯s not being fast, they live in this world so it¡¯s only normal. They don¡¯t spend that much time thinking about economics or need to level up multiple characters all at once. Their lives are cut in half, but they spend all their time leveling up their bodies. Imagine fifty years of grinding in a single character, even if you¡¯re doing it inefficiently, you¡¯ll have a lot of progress. ¡­ Maybe I should take on that hunting invite and see what they do, perhaps I can grind some levels and prepare myself better if I end up not being able to leave this world. Nah. It¡¯s not like leveling up changes much. I can try going to level 120 to unlock all my class skills and try to improve my attribute values, but neither of those is worth it. Skills don¡¯t improve with levels, you only unlock new ones, but because you are set to have six active skills and six passives, the only thing I would win are more options to choose from. Then there are the attributes: every level adds 1 Strength, 1 Agility, 1 Intelligence, and 3 points to spend on which of the three you want. 1 Strength adds 20 Health and 4 Energy, plus it increases your melee damage by 1. Agility increases your overall Speed and Cooldown Reduction by a very minor percentage. And 1 Intelligence adds 8 Energy, plus minor improvements in Critical Chance and Magic Damage. Those attributes do even more than that, but those are the most important changes. I currently have 3710 of Health and 3680 Energy. If I level up now and place all my points in Strength, for example, I would only gain 80 Health. Imagine leveling up for an entire month to improve less than 3% of health. It¡¯s simply not worth it. Then there¡¯s the risk. With this stupid Orb of Samsara, I can¡¯t have the luxury to die and try again later. There¡¯s no reason for me to continue in this village ¡°Leveling Up¡± like some kind of hero, the most rational plan is to go far west and live as safely as I can until someone pulls me out of this world. But again¡­ am I going to be rescued? There¡¯s something deep in me whispering that it¡¯s not going to happen. A creeping fear within my bones with the certainty that I will be living here for the rest of my life.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Maybe I can try searching for a way out... Maybe there¡¯s a hidden key somewhere in this world that would allow us to leave¡­ But where would it be? If I was a Dev, I would put it in the most dangerous place possible together with the biggest boss I could imagine. Somewhere at ¡°the last final battle to save the world¡± kind of trope. If I was at least with my main character, maybe I could try doing that path, but with this one¡­ that¡¯s impossible. Where would I find the right equipment...? How would I get stronger? I have a lot of money in this account, but all the equipment they sell in this village are of no interest to me, all they have are hunting equipment or old loot they found while exploring the forest. Nothing I can use for a decent build. And beyond that, how would I improve their quality level? have them up at ¡°+20¡±? How do I ascend them with the skills I want them to be? Not even the wolfkins I asked know of those. They kept telling me to go to a library or ask a great mage, but there weren¡¯t any in this village, those you only find in a big city. In the game, it was done with a click of a button and every required material was shown right above it, then I could use my notes to know exactly what build I wanted and what strategy to go with it. But how does it work inside this world? What do I want to build myself into? I can¡¯t access the main menu to see the recipes, nor do I know where I can improve my equipment. And more importantly, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going against, so how I¡¯m supposed to go about it? There are too many missing variables to trace any kind of plan. I should first go to a safe location and then search for more information. - But before I could think any further, I see Willrus gathering quite the crowd of wolfkins at the center of the village. It¡¯s around the end of the afternoon, in an hour or two it would be sunset. Has the commemoration feast already started? I thought it would be only near the middle of the night. Willrus:- - ¡°Ah, Strider. There you are.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Uh? What¡¯s happening?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡± My eyes widen in surprise. Willrus:- - ¡°I¡¯ll go to that dungeon we came from, I need to check it again with my own eyes.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, what?¡± He¡¯s going east? Back at the Legendary-difficulty region? Willrus:- - ¡°Don¡¯t you remember? You said something about a shady character who gave you the Orb, Baldo Sigivald.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh-, y-yeah¡­¡± Willrus:- - ¡°I¡¯ll go back and search for him.¡± - That¡¯s right. Willrus told me last night that he never met Sigivald. I thought it odd, but when I asked how he got his Orb, he remained quiet. But to actually go back to find him¡­ Well, I guess that would be the first step to leave this world. It¡¯s the only lead we have. But even so¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Why you¡¯re going there?¡± My voice cracks with fear. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If you die¡­ it¡¯s over. You won¡¯t respawn like in the game. If you get hit, you¡¯ll feel real pain, you know that right? I know how bad it is to feel your bones break and bleed out to almost death. Fighting those things isn¡¯t worth the risk.¡± Willrus turns to the side and stares at the far mountains. Willrus:- - ¡°¡­I can¡¯t keep on waiting and stay here forever. I need to go back.¡± The wolfkins don¡¯t pay attention to our conversation, they keep on chatting casually all around us. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I know how you¡¯re feeling, but going back to the real world--, it might be impossible.¡± Willrus:- - ¡°Sure, there is no way of knowing it¡­ but I have a daughter waiting for me. I can¡¯t disappear from her life like that. If there¡¯s a slight chance this Sigivald guy knows of a clue to leave this place, then I¡¯ll grab his neck and take the information out of his throat even if he doesn¡¯t want to. There isn¡¯t a world where I will give up on going back to her.¡± Willrus starts to walk away, and the wolfkins stop their conversations to wave him goodbye. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I- I see¡­¡± But after a few steps, Willrus tilts his head up as he remembers something. Willrus:- - ¡°Oh, and Strider¡­ The next time we meet,¡± ¨C His eyes pierce my skull. ¨C ¡°treat me as an enemy.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah-? What?¡± Willrus:- - ¡°That¡¯s how I¡¯m going to treat you until I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not, so do the same. There¡¯s no way of knowing the difference in our knowledge when we meet again.¡± He turns his back to me and continues to walk away. - - - - - - - - - - - - The difference in our knowledge? What he¡¯s talking about? Why does he always need to say things in puzzles? ... Wait-- Is it related to being able to leave this place¡­? Could it be¡­ is he predicting we will be against each other because of it? Why do I feel like I¡¯ve heard this somewhere before¡­? ¡­¡­ Yeah, it was inside that dungeon... that magician boy, he said something about the dungeon¡¯s objective being for players to kill each other until the last man, wasn¡¯t it?... Is that trial still happening? No, that can¡¯t be, it doesn¡¯t make any sense. I was thinking that something story-based was the key, like ¡°go against a demon god¡±, ¡°rescue a princess¡±, or ¡°save the world¡± kind of thing. But to kill each other in a free-for-all? There¡¯s no way that¡¯s the right answer. - Willrus waved his last goodbye to the wolfkin and disappeared into the forest. - The two of us are separated now. I felt abandoned. Maybe deep within I thought he and I would be trying to survive through this until the end, but it appears it won¡¯t be that way. While you go searching for a key to get out of this world going east, I¡¯ll go west to run away. I knew he was different from me, but not to the extent of being the exact opposite. But of course, he would go for the Hero route¡­ he¡¯s in his strongest character, one who is at the top of the entire game. ¡­Huh¡­ Would I follow him if I was in my strongest character? Maybe, who knows? But we are clearly in distinct situations and with different motivations, there¡¯s no way to know if we¡¯d group together in any scenario. - ¡­ - I spent so much time thinking, that it turned night. Well¡­ now I will have to participate in the commemoration feast¡­ then I¡¯ll sleep in the inn and leave when it¡¯s daytime. I¡¯ll probably never cross paths with Willrus again. Maybe I should have apologized to him before he left. I don¡¯t know if he recognized me¡­ but I feel like I tricked him by hiding the fact that I know him. If I see Willrus again¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter if he sees me as an enemy¡­ I¡¯ll apologize and tell him the truth. Next time, I¡¯ll tell him that I am DArk, the lowlife merchant of the blackmarket who handed him the worst idea of his life. - That I was the one who discovered the Plague core and planned to contain it and use it as a farming resource, then I presented it to the strongest connection I had, the Yellow Rabbits. - - - - - - - - - - - - Because of that, we lost control and we were swiped through; - - - - - - - - - - - - His guild broke down and he was treated as the villain; - - - - - - - - - - - - He lost everything because of that stupid scheme of mine. - I wonder if he can ever forgive me. - - - - - V1 - C17 | Commemoration Feast VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 17 - COMMEMORATION FEAST - When we stepped into the dining hall, everyone was silent. I went quietly to my usual position and sat down. As people went in, I could see the sadness on everyone¡¯s faces. It was like a line of sad dogs walking into the hall, all with lowered heads, lowered wolf ears, and lowered tails, the only difference was that they looked more human, walked on two legs, and had medieval weapons on their waists as usual. The flow of people entering the room stopped and complete silence dominated the place. But not everyone in the village was there. The leader Nate, his daughter Dirufe, Vute, and a few others weren¡¯t there. After a full minute without anyone else showing up, the Elder stands and begins his speech. Peje:- - - - - ¡°I want to begin this feast¡­ with a cheer.¡± His voice echoes the silent dining hall. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Nemi Cecide was a great Shaman for this village and lived as it should be¡­ She was a great citizen, a great family member, and a great friend¡­¡± I hear some dog-like whimpers in the crowd. Peje:- - - - ¡°It¡¯s inevitable to run from our destinies. One day, all of us are going to follow her and be reborn anew. Death is just part of the cycle of life, so, we should not see it as something to grieve over. Indeed, we should be sad about the loss of one dear to us, but we should never grieve death by itself. Just like a dear friend who left on a long trip and we do not know if we¡¯ll ever see them again, we should not grieve their journey.¡± The elder closes his eye and remains silent for a few seconds, all the wolfkins do the same. But something strikes me odd, and fear crawls in my bones. - - - - - - - - - - - - Isn¡¯t this a feast¡­? Where is the food? Last night I came a little late, so food was already on the table, but even so, they only started eating once everyone had a seat. Aren¡¯t they going to prepare for it? Why nobody is worried about that? Maybe they are waiting for it to come then? Ah, that¡¯s right, that¡¯s why some people are missing. But for some reason, a cold sweat drops from my chin, my hands feel compelled to rest over my daggers for a quick draw, and my legs were ready to run at any moment. The tense silence remained in the dining hall until the elder resumes his speech, startling the hell out of me. Peje:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s why! Here, below holy grounds and by the company of a Hero, we should not grieve any longer. As her new life is nigh, we shall cherish her feats and celebrate her new journey!¡± Everyone brightens their eyes and lifts their ears. Peje:- - - - - ¡°LET THE COMMEMORATION FEAST BEGIN!!!¡± The doors behind me burst open. A male muscular wolfkin enters with a sword in his hand, and on the other side, there is a female muscular wolfkin carrying a two-headed spear. Both of them run lifting their weapons as they howl to the ceiling. - - - - - - - - - - - - The fuck?? Running behind them, four other wolfkins appear on each side carrying a giant silver plate. On the side of the swordsman, there is an oversized full-body grilled chicken and, on the other, there is a mix of vegetables, with smaller plates all around its corners. Everyone cries in rejoice and laughs all around. The enormous chicken is put right in the middle of the T table and the second plate is put on its side, then a row of wolfkins arrives with more empty plates and metallic forks and knives. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Holy crap! That chicken is the size of four whole cows.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it?! HAHAHAHA!¡± I look at the elder with a frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - Why is he so happy all of the sudden? Peje:- - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s eat! I¡¯m so hungry that I might eat the betemita all by myself!¡± The two wolfkins with their weapons at hand jump over empty seats and strike the giant chicken in sync, the muscular male wolfkin quickly slices the meat with his sword while the wolf-woman pierces it with her spear. It¡¯s done so fast that is hard to keep track of where their weapons are, the only things I can hear are the howls and screams of awe every time a part of the giant chicken is separated masterfully. After a hundred consecutive strikes, a plate flies and slides to a stop in front of me, then an enormous piece of meat is pierced by the tip of the sword and dragged to my plate. Neduka: ¡°That¡¯s good enough? You can have seconds later!¡± ¨C the male body-builder wolfkin says with a sweaty smile. From the other side, a bunch of vegetable pieces drop around the meat and the muscular wolfkin woman smiles. Nehen:- - ¡°If you want more, order up!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It- It¡¯s alright, t-thank you both.¡± They go back and continue serving everyone else. Before I touched my fork and knife, I could only stare at the steaming meat. If I was in my real body, I would never be able to eat all of this in a single meal. Its meat is four fingers thick with a slice the size of my face, maybe even a little bigger. This is insanity. - - - - - - - - - - - - So that¡¯s why they wait until it''s night to eat, you would need the whole day to cook this thing. And by its side, there are the one-inch cubic-shaped vegetables: Potato, carrots, something dark-purple, another gray, and the last is completely green. I don¡¯t recognize what those last three are by sight, but they all have the same soft texture. - - - - - - - - - - - - These are why they were harvesting their farms for? Ave: - - - - - ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to eat?¡± ¨C She peaks her head forward to see beyond the elder¡¯s side. Peje:- - - - - ¡°This is wonderful! Just try it!¡± ¨C he says picking a rectangle of cut meat with his fork. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit too much? It looks like you¡¯re using the entire crop of food in this feast, aren¡¯t you worried about food supplies?¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°Ah? Oh, don¡¯t you know? I thought heroes knew of such a thing. We harvest crops daily, we use magic to make them grow faster and to fertilize the soil, so don¡¯t worry about that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh¡­ they use magic to grow vegetables in a single day? Isn¡¯t this some buffed type of chemical growth? is this even safe to eat? I look at the elder eating a big slice of the meat with different vegetables skewed through, so I guess there isn¡¯t a problem. I pick up my fork and knife, and I cut the meat. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s incredibly tender! It¡¯s like I¡¯m cutting gelly, but it is sturdy as any meat. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is this knife using magic?? I had to activate my Vision to appraise it. The grey ping spreads to all my sides and a pop-up appears in my vision. [ Magic-iron Fork +4 (Uncommon ¨C 2 out of 5 stars) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, I can see the item¡¯s properties by holding it? That¡¯s interesting. I just wanted to see if it had magic wrapped in it, but this is even better. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s uncommon? and a +4 too¡­ this is basic quality. - - - - - - - - - - - - Well, I shouldn¡¯t be expecting a Legendary-tier weapon to be used in eating. I look at the plate as well, and when I touch its silver base another popup appears: [ Roasted Betemita with Vegetables +14 (Epic ¨C 4 stars) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - So ¡°Betemita¡± is the name of the creature used in this meat? And damn, this is an Epic item, just one tier below Legendary. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You guys hunted this Betemita thing?¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Yes, we found it a week ago from one of our hunting expeditions. I think Nate was the one who followed its trails, he did the hunt flawlessly too, he didn¡¯t damage the important parts of the meat when striking it down or on his trip back.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Nate, huh¡­ The same one who wanted to kill me just this morning, wonderful guy. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve just remembered. Apaw! Apaw, take a plate to your father so he can eat as well.¡± The Elder yells to the dark-looking adolescent who is Nate¡¯s son. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Take one for Guni too, they must be hungry.¡± Apaw:- - - ¡°Of course, Elder.¡± I¡¯m actually surprised by his politeness, I thought he would be more rebellious like his looks. And damn¡­ [ Pilaj Apaw (Level 88) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - He¡¯s stronger than me, holy shit. To be beaten up by a half-aged adolescent¡­ how depressing. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is it the genetics of being the leader¡¯s son or is it rough training? - - - - - - - - - - - - On that same subject, what is Nate¡¯s level? I never looked at it. Something else clicks in my mind. - - - - - - - - - - - - And where is that pink-haired girl? Is she with her father in jail so he won¡¯t get lonely? I sigh tiredly. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can already see that some people are going to have a grudge against me. Luckily, I won¡¯t die in my sleep.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°What you said?¡± The elder turns to me with his mouth full. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Nothing, nothing at all.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°No, no, dessert is only after we finish the entry meal.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Heh!? There¡¯s even more than this?¡± I look back at my ridiculously oversized dish. - - - - - - - - - - - - I should start eating then. I cut a rectangle''s worth of meat and pierce it with my fork. I lift it to my mouth and take a bite of it. ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - Hm! That¡¯s good! It¡¯s exactly like well-made chicken, but even softer and with some lemon juice seasoning. It makes me go all the way back to when my family celebrated New Year. The only thing I liked about it was eating, so I can say this is kind of nostalgic. It has been so long since I ate something this good. Generally, I only eat the same things from the same restaurant I call for delivery. It comes in those weak-ass white foam boxes with a plastic fork and knife. At first, I kind of hated that those plastic utensils came without me asking, but then I began using them to save time washing the dishes.Stolen story; please report. What a pain it is to eat with those though, if it comes cold I can¡¯t heat it in the microwave or the foam liquefies, then sometimes the plastic utensils break in the food and makes a mess, other times I even slice through the bottom of the damn foam like a fucking clown and food fall all over the floor. I had so much trouble eating the same cheap food every day for so damn long, that I forgot how easy and tasty it can be. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fhuuuu¡­¡± This should be a celebration meal and they were the ones who lost someone important, and yet I¡¯m the one getting depressed. I shouldn¡¯t be thinking about those things¡­ just forget it, forget it. Don¡¯t think about it. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Hey, Hero! How long do you plan on staying?¡± I look up, the big brown wolfkin is talking to me from the other side of the table. [ Vute Difivi (Level 82) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°How long do you plan on staying in the village?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah-, I¡¯ll be leaving tomorrow morning.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oh¡­ I thought you would stay for longer, I wanted to show you the animals I¡¯m taking care of, maybe you can still ride in one of them before leaving?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You care for animals?¡± Below his nametag, I see the symbol of the Master sub-class, together with the Shaman and Devout by its side. - - - - - - - - - - - - So, he¡¯s a support animal carer. That class controls multiple creatures at once and makes them permanently docile, that¡¯s the easiest class to farm mounts or cattle and sell them to other players if I¡¯m not mistaken. I never made a character like that myself, I don¡¯t like collecting beasts and keeping up with their different types, races, regions, seasons, daytimes, or even rituals from lore documents needed to find and successfully befriend them. Even if cosmetic pets can be sold by the thousands, it¡¯s still too much of a hassle for me to do, I prefer selling equipment, they are faster to gather and simpler to sell. But having someone like that in a village sure is helpful. Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s right! Surprised, huh? I¡¯m the one who takes care of the inn and the animals, and I¡¯m in charge of protecting everyone and everything when Nate is out hunting.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh~, is that so? Then, the two children who slipped out when the dragon-tiger came is your fault?¡± I smirk at him. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Eh- Ahmm, I was taking care of the fire, I didn¡¯t know about the creature-,¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m just messing with you, don¡¯t be so stiff all of the sudden.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Is that so? I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not smart to know when people are joking.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If the fire had spread, all the village¡¯s surroundings would turn into a desert of ashes. I¡¯m surprised that so little damage happened, you guys worked well.¡± Vute opens a big smile. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Thank you, Hero. You know, I always do my best.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - That was a compliment for everyone on your team, but okay. I turn off my Vision. All the nametags hovering in the background were making me dizzy. Vute nervously looks to the side and begins to back away. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯ll be going now, see you later!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure, I guess.¡± I lift my hand to say goodbye. Right after, a wolf-girl stops in front of me. Paruci:- - - ¡°You¡¯re looking a little better now. But you¡¯re still down? Do you want me to grab some fish for you to eat? You¡¯ll see they are way better than this feeble meat.¡± She¡¯s the same one who invited me to ¡°eat fish hidden from others¡± back when everyone was cheering me up and ¡°apologizing¡±. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, I don¡¯t even like fish that much.¡± She pounds the table. Paruci:- - - ¡°HEH-!?! How don¡¯t you like fish??¡± Is she a wolfkin or a catkin? Why you had to scream like that!? My damn head is throbbing in pain already. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I just don¡¯t like anything that comes from the sea.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re a sea-phobic, I see.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡¯Sea-phobic¡¯?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Now I really have to make you eat some of my dried fish, or a grilled one, or a soup. Which one do you like the most?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I said that I don¡¯t like fish, but grilled is better.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Grilled, huh? So you¡¯re that type?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - What she¡¯s talking about? In the corner of my eyes, I see a giant wolfkin piercing his eyes into our conversation. It¡¯s a nervously seated Vute in the corner of the room, static with an intact big meat dish over his lap. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait a second¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - Is this the girl Vute likes? A smirk comes to my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - Vengeance! This is the perfect chance to tell what Vute thinks of her. Hehehe. This is for that slap you gave me, I almost fell to that pool of blood because of you, you dirtied the boots of the wrong person! damn giant dog. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So you¡¯re Paruci, right? Did you know¡­ that someone is-¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°-I know!¡± She suddenly gasps, making me jump back in a scare. - - - - - - - - - - - - She knows?!? Paruci:- - - ¡°I¡¯ll give you a Nehenipada, but you can¡¯t tell it to anyone, do you understand?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Heh!?--¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°A Nehenipada? Where you found it, young lady?¡± ¨C The Elder speaks up as if he was drunk. Paruci:- - - ¡°GHIII-! Nehenipada? Where? Where did you see it?¡± She looks nervously to her sides. Peje:- - - - - ¡°*You* said Nehenipada, you caught one and didn¡¯t tell anyone??¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°No, no, I never said that. I never said that.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Paruci! I¡¯ll ask Guni to search your house this instant!¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°HEH-! There¡¯s nothing there!¡± She dashes out of the dining hall. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Gh-! Hmmm!!¡± ¨C He chokes on saliva. ¨C ¡°Stop- Stop that girl! She has a Nehenipada and she doesn¡¯t want to share it!¡± ¡°Hoh!? A Nehenipada!!? Where is it?!¡± ¨C A orange-haired wolfkin just in front of us looks at the T table from one corner to the other. The Elder stands up. Peje:- - - - - ¡°She already ran away, you fools! Paruci is hiding fish in her house again!¡± ¡°Huh? That again? Let her have it, there¡¯s no use scolding her.¡± Peje staggers to the side of the table, going towards the exit. Peje:- - - - - ¡°What happened to this village?! Kids these days! If I was in my golden age, I would catch her in the act and then share it with everyone else! You have no honor!¡± ¡°Honor?! Look who¡¯s talking! The one who I saw last week eating fish at her house!¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Lies! I never ate fish! And how would you know? Unless you were going there to eat as well!?¡± ¡°Old man, I bet you¡¯re going there just to have some of that Nehenipada, aren¡¯t you?! Don¡¯t fasten your pace! I¡¯ll follow you to ensure you won¡¯t do anything wrong!¡± The door closes behind them as they go out. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡­What the hell is a Nehenipada? - I gulp the last piece of food off my plate and stand up. Ave: - - - - - ¡°Are you leaving already? Aren¡¯t you staying for dessert?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good. Thank you, but I¡¯m already full. Besides, I¡¯m feeling tired, I think I¡¯ll hit the bed now.¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s all right, you can sleep in the same room you were in last night. Just don¡¯t mind the fireworks, it¡¯s going to happen sometime soon.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fireworks?¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°If you want to see, have somewhere with a view of the sky, we are going to launch them when the feast ends.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep that in mind, thank you.¡± I leave the dining hall and go straight to the inn. My head is dizzy, I don¡¯t know if it was the food, the crowd of people, all the talking I did today, the morning trial, or the fact that Willrus left back to the dungeon where everything started¡­ but this day certainly was a crazy one. When I reach the inn, I think of going straight to my bedroom but after seeing the light sky coming from the stairs to the second floor I decide to go up. The entire second floor is a plain stone, its brick walls have a few squared holes where the windows are supposed to be placed, and a spaced scaffolding of wood holds part of the straw roof over the open staircase, but all the rest of the floor is uncovered. - - - - - - - - - - - - Somewhere with a view of the sky¡­ this wouldn¡¯t work. I look to the corner of the building, where a corner pillar of stone joins the two walls. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is this a bad idea¡­? With hesitation, I imagine my teleporting ability and in the next instant, the world warps and my feet reach the top of the undone walls. - - - - - - - - - - - - There you go. I sit in the middle of it. I certify if I still have my second blink on, in case I suddenly fall I can try blinking before reaching the ground to soften the damage. That¡¯s how the game was, but I wonder if in here it works the same way. There you could blink and stop fall damage, but would it work in real life?... Real life¡­ real life¡­ is this¡­ real? That comes in one straight line of thought without even me realizing it. - - - - - - - - - - - - Why I¡¯m asking the same stupid questions? - I lift my chin to look at the forest just outside the white-cloth boundaries of the village. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure it is bright out here.¡± Everything is in low blue light, I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s how nights are supposed to be, or if it''s because we are distant from a city. Sometimes I looked outside my window to look at the city at night back in the real world, there¡¯s this type of forest at a mountain on the horizon. The streets were always bright by the light poles, but that mountain was always dark, it was a blob of black in the middle of the world. Sometimes I thought of myself getting lost in it, ¡°What would I do if I were in a place I couldn¡¯t see the trees surrounding me or the roots creeping under my feet?¡± Those kinds of moments when you¡¯re bored out of your mind and imagine an impossible situation just to pass time. But I can see everything clearly from here. Is it because this is inside the game? In the game, nights aren¡¯t as dark as I imagine real-life nights to be. But I never stopped to think about it until now. - ¡°HEH!? Stop that!¡± ¡°Let go of that Nehenipada!¡± ¡°You let go of it!¡± I hear the screams of two people, probably Paruci and the Elder fighting for that fish, I can see their shadows going against each other at a lighted house on the other side of the village¡¯s inner walls. I can¡¯t help but chuckle at it. With a smile on my face, I move to lie on the wall top, I cross my legs, and my hands go to the back of my neck. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This is peaceful.¡± I look at the starry sky. - - - - - - - - - - - - Should I really leave this village? - ¡­ - My vision begins to drift. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Maybe I can stay a little longer, who knows¡­¡± I yawn and pull my hood up so I can cover my eyes. - ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ll think about it tomorrow.¡± - ¡­ - ¡­ - ¡­ - - - - - Interval 4 | Sub-Classes INTERVAL - 4 - SUB-CLASSES - There are no starting classes in Samsara Fall Online. Your role within the game will vary according to your play style, currently equipped items, and your later chosen skills. There are twelve sub-classes to choose from, four of those specials that are only unlocked at your last sub-class choosing. Each unlocked sub-class gives you a permanent passive skill. - {- - - - - - - - - - - Normal Sub-Classes: Shaman: Channels magic rituals with long durations that require preparations, focus, or ingredients. Permanently grants more Energy. Arcane: Uses energy to cast quick spells, like projectiles or instant effects. Passively grants more Cooldown Reduction. Master: Allows to befriend a wild animal and level it up, unlocking its skills or having combos with it. If the pet dies, it does not revive by itself, needing another skill or item to do so; after five minutes dead he¡¯ll be lost forever. Gather mounts, cattle, cosmetic, or combat pets. Survivor: Improved efficiency on outside crafting, collecting resources, using items, as well as having more resistance. Passive increase in Overall Resistance and Overall Damage Blocking. Devout: Has mainly abilities that can affect themself and/or nearby entities in an aura. Passively grants more Health and Divinity. Fighter: Use of the raw physical attributes of the body to attack, block, or evade. Passively increases Bonus Melee Damage and Critical Damage. Gambler: Random-based skills and randomize abilities by increasing the gap between the minimum to maximum output values or adding different critical chances to them. Gains more Critical Chance. Scout: Greater efficiency in movement and improved senses. Passively adds Movement Speed. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Special Sub-Classes: Corrupted: Takes something out of yourself to use skills. *Something besides the available quantity of energy. Passively amplifies Action Speed.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Vampire: Their skills are influenced by the ambient or the characters nearby. Passively grants more Primary Attributes, according to surrounding enemy attributes (up to a max). Trickster: Creates tricks to cheat external perceptions. Permanent bonus of Evasion. Necromancer: Uses fresh dead bodies as fuel or as puppets to be controlled for a limited amount of time. Passively improves Energy Regeneration and Health Regeneration. } - For every twenty levels, a choice for a sub-class opens. By taking one, its skill tree will appear, there you can choose to equip any abilities within as you unlock them. The combination of two sub-classes adds a few ¡°intermediary¡± skills to your class-tree. For example: If you choose a Master and a Shaman, you will become a Beastmaster, allowing you not only to synergize with both sub-classes'' skills, like improving your pet with support magic, but it also unlocks new abilities, like being able to temporarily control groups of beasts with rituals. Now if you¡¯re Master and Arcane, you will be a Bondmaster, unlocking abilities to cast magics through your controlled creature and save his spirit in case the pet dies, allowing you to respawn him afterward. Master-Shaman-Necromancer is a Puppet Master, while Master-Arcane-Necromancer is a Spirit Master, and Master-Arcane-Shaman is an Energy Master; these are three-combo classes, which unlock not only the in-between abilities of the three sub-classes but also add a single ultimate ability that only such class has. - In the beginning, you can choose only 8 classes, then there are 28 two-combo classes, and finally, there are 168 three-combo classes. So it escalates steeply from simple to complex. Not only that, but your equipment also changes your role, and there is no weapon use limitations when choosing classes. For example, if you¡¯re a shaman with a staff as a weapon, you probably want projected-type magic where you can activate skills from afar; while when using sharp weapons, blood-related magic that can be used once you receive or deal damage in a melee battle may be the best, but if you use a guitar as a weapon, you can become a bard to play ritual magics to support or even attack while you keep playing music at a medium range. All of that with the Shaman sub-class. And I won¡¯t even start explaining the usage of armor or tools, because that usually depends on what type of mission and team you are going for. So, if you want to know more, just keep playing at your own pace and you¡¯ll learn them. It¡¯s easier than it looks in practice. - - - - - - - - - - According to the massive server leak of 2057, and the sketchy videos and stories that followed right after, it¡¯s also believed that there are four more secret sub-classes. In the leaked documents, a file contains all two and three-combo class names that are from sub-classes that supposedly aren¡¯t in the game, which is way too much to be just a prank of an unknown player. Those classes are: Contractor, Degrader, Temporalist, and Traveler. The game is hardcoded to have a maximum of three sub-classes, and by the leaked document showing only up to the three-combo classes, it¡¯s believed that or you would have to choose them before unlocking the third class, or you would need to sacrifice one of your classes in order to ascend into a secret class. There¡¯s no proof that these are really secret classes, they might be just unpublished ones that were never truly added to the game, but if you do see a sub-class that isn¡¯t the twelve normal or special choosing classes, email me at: takkarok@insmes - - - - - V1 - C18 | Fireworks VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 18 - FIREWORKS - Standing over a branch of a tall tree, there¡¯s a short girl with porcelain skin, a doll-like face, and scarlet eyes glancing at the north mountain above. A brightness compared to a red sun hovers at a distance just above its snowbed. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°The flare is almost half done already, I wonder if we are going to do this in time,¡± ¨C she whispers in deep thought. Her silver hair and white cloak with corner red lines contrast against the green of the leaves and the night-blue of the moon, whatever, only a few would be able to see her. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°Look at that¡­ It¡¯s too cute to watch.¡± Her soft and annoying voice makes all nearby birds take flight in a scare. As she tilts her head to look slightly downwards, a smirk forms on her face. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°This almost makes me feel sad, what a waste¡­ they are so strong too.¡± In her fisheye sight, a slim wolf-girl carries a basket while two young children lead the way, all with innocent smiles. Lelitt blinks her red shining eyes and her vision trembles. Blood begins to crawl inside her eyeballs, forming symbols and letters over the wolfkins¡¯ heads. - - - - - - - - - - - - |-{( Delajeci Paruci ,`Level 76¡ä, )}-| |-{( Waji Tame ,`Level 49¡ä, )}-| - - - -|-{( Neceha Bawahen ,`Level 42¡ä, )}-| Lelitt:- - - - ¡°It is such a waste to have all of them die. I¡¯m almost crying because of it.¡± ¨C She opens a big creepy grin. Her vision flickers, and every time it does her focus switches to another wolfkin or a group of them, some were out of direct vision but their energy silhouettes shine through the house¡¯s walls without a problem. All their nametags and levels appear in flashes with many strange symbols below them. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°Three, four, seven, eleven, fifteen, twenty-one, thirty, forty-two, fifty-six, seventy, eighty-four, ninety-eight,¡­ a hundred and thirty-seven¡­ Huh? That¡¯s one less. Mmmmm¡­ Ah, right! That old lady would die today, I almost forgot.¡± ¨C But she frowns. ¨C ¡°Wait¡­¡± Her vision flickers one more time, showing a cloaked young man laying over an unfinished stone wall with a ragged hood hiding his eyes. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°Who is he?¡± ¨C her voice cracks with subtle anger. ¨C ¡°And where is that strong hero who was staying here before?¡± |-{( -?-UNKNOWN-?- ,`Level 70+¡ä, )}-| -( History Information Unavailable )- His nametag flickers and burns her vision, but instead of turning it off, she smirks excitedly as blood oozes from her eyes. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°I can¡¯t go away for one day without something weird happening. Who would have thought¡­ another Hero came to play.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - I wake up in a jumpscare, explosions and screams echo in the distance. The night dyes everything in dark blue, its full moon brightly shining on the top of the sky, just behind the red sparkles of the fireworks. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shit, I almost fell.¡± I sit dizzy with my legs crossed. *Bang!* - - - - - - - - - - - - *Pow!* *Bang,* *Bang,* *Pow!* I look at the center of the village, where the happy yells come from, some houses blocking my vision of most of the crowd, but by the amount of noise, I would bet that everyone was there, or at least a majority of them. From my view, I can see one young wolfkin raising his hand and pressing something until it pops, then a quick flash of light travels to the sky and explodes high into the clouds. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What¡¯s that? Those are the fireworks? They look like cloth sacks.¡± Then, I see the Paruci ¡°fish wolf-girl¡± smiling and squeezing her cloth pouch, a firework trail rises and explodes high, illuminating the sky with a cyan flower of light. ¡°Hahaha! You saw that!? Mine went higher!¡± ¡°Eh? No, mine did way better than that.¡± ¡°Whah? You¡¯re blind! Yours was like this, and mine like all over there!!¡± [¡­] She is actually arguing with a kid to see which firework went higher¡­ What the hell. - Even if it was a special event in which anyone could participate, I preferred to be but a spectator. There were fireworks of all types and shapes, some bigger, others smaller, some exploded in a single flash while others painted the sky with different simple patterns. There were red, blue, orange, yellow, and any kind of color you could imagine. Some even exploded multiple times or had magic to swift their colors. The wolfkins gasped at each of them and screamed bets on which would come next. That lasted for twenty minutes straight, until they went out of stock. I could hear Paruci howling in sadness when the Elder said the commemoration was over. From beginning to end, I didn¡¯t move from my spot. I don¡¯t like fireworks so I didn¡¯t bother trying to launch one. It¡¯s not that I hate it, I simply don¡¯t see anything special about it. Maybe it¡¯s because I always saw or heard them when I was in my room, so it¡¯s not something extraordinary for me. It might be a big event here, but back in my world if a famous soccer team wins a game, or if someone rich was having an anniversary, or at any big date really, I could always hear its explosions and see them from my window if I wanted to. Though I never really bothered to see those back then either. Actually, scratch the part that I don¡¯t hate them, to be honest, I do hate them now that I¡¯m remembering them better. They are way too loud and unnecessary. Once I had to mute my microphone and I ended up dying because of it, and on another time, those damn things were so damn loud that I couldn¡¯t hear another player near me mid-PvP. Well¡­ but now that I¡¯m in this world and I don¡¯t have my computer to be focused on, why not take my time to watch them? Besides, these fireworks are way quieter and prettier than the ones I¡¯m familiar with. But in the end, my sentiments are unchanged, I simply don¡¯t understand what is so fun about it. Seriously? Big flashy booms in the night sky? I don¡¯t know why someone would want it. Heh, it¡¯s not like I ever was a normal member of society either, so who am I to judge? - But after all the commotion, I couldn¡¯t go back to sleep. Laying down to risk falling was out of the question, but I also was too lazy to go back to my room in the inn, so I remained seated there with my legs crossed. First I looked around, seeing the wolfkins return to their houses and turn their lights off one by one until nothing else happened. After a few minutes of pure boredom, I opened my inventory and started to randomly scroll my items. At first, I was supposedly rechecking what I had, but I quickly lost focus and opened the grimoire of all items my character knew of to see if anything could be useful in the situation I find myself in, but after not finding any problem-solving miracle, I began playing with the enormous list scroll, seeing how far I could make it go down or up with a single swipe, the faster I went the farthest it would go.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. In less than five minutes I was like a madman swiping my finger in the air. I mumbled to myself competitive strategies on how to make it go further and further, like swiping it in a perfect vertical strike, seating in a better position, and shooting it as fast as I could by moving my finger, wrist, elbow, and shoulder downwards all at the same time. When I finally reached the bottom of the grimoire list in one go, I pridefully smiled at my victory, but then my happiness quickly faded away. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Look who was talking about seeing no fun in fireworks¡­ a guy who uses his paranormal panel of an inventory to play made-up games. I really must be abnormal after all¡­¡± I change tabs to go back to the items I have. - - - - - - - - - - - - I should take this seriously, I¡¯m not playing games anymore. I need to plan how to survive in this world. I have a few potions, bread, throwing knives, and the majority of the loot I have is from that mage boy I killed in the dungeon. All his equipment and items are here, but most of them are useless, it¡¯s like the guy didn¡¯t even consider that losing his whole loot was a possibility. I know that shamans sometimes need items to use skills, but what is this? He had an item for any random thing that might happen in SFO? Talk about waste being overcareful¡­ Maybe I can sell them, but¡­ I don¡¯t need the money either. [21.922.119 Gold] appears on the bottom of the panel. I have enough to buy a whole castle if I wanted to, shame that there are no castles to be bought here in the middle of nowhere. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A mage¡¯s rope, his staff, gloves...¡± They are all of the highest crafting quality possible, it¡¯s worth at least one hundred thousand gold. It is a very common build, so it wouldn¡¯t be hard to sell, but would an NPC buy it? Probably not. I could try changing to a mage role, but¡­ my Arcane class doesn¡¯t have any good skills upgraded, I spent it all on my Scout and Trickster abilities, so no dice. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Maybe if I level up¡­¡± Mages are safer to play than Scouts, so maybe I should go for that. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Why am I even thinking about that? I¡¯m not going to fight monsters, I¡¯ll leave tomorrow, go to a safe big city and stay there until I¡¯m rescued, so why¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - (¡°Maybe I can stay a little longer, who knows¡­¡±) I close my inventory with a deep sigh. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What am I even thinking about? Fucking hell.¡± Far in the corner of my eyes, a strange silhouette moves. It instantly breaks my line of thought and I turn to the sleeping village. I stand up, my hands moving to lay over the handle of my daggers. My eyes thoroughly search within the strong shadows the descending moonlight casts over the many houses. I can¡¯t find where it is, or where I did see it in the first place, but something moved for sure. I glance around, there¡¯s no wolfkin in sight. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is someone awake at this hour? Then again, the shadow jumps, and now I see where it is, dashing over the rooftops. The shadow crawls like a blur of a beast, going out of my sight to climb the small bell tower over the church-like building just six houses away from where I am. I step back and fall to the unfinished second floor, going to safely peek through the window frame. I only have sight of its tip from here, for a second I regret not just turning invisible while I was over the wall to have a better view, but¡­ The shadow pokes its head from over the tower¡¯s roof. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the¡­¡± It¡¯s a wolf? Not a wolfkin, but a literal wolf. The head of an eyeless black-furred wolf is staring somewhere sideways from my perspective. - - - - - - - - - - - - He¡¯s looking at the forest? What is in it? But there¡¯s nothing unusual in sight, the tree leaves at the hilltop far away dance gently with the wind. I look up again at the beast, but now its whole body was exposed, standing straight over its two legs as one hand grabbed onto the roof¡¯s lightning pole. The wolf-head man sniffs the air as his dark cloak swipes in the wind. I activate my Vision, something I should have done right in the beginning, the grey ping is quickly launched from me, painting the blue scenario into a colorless grey, some blobs of faded orange appear below inside the houses, and then that creature¡¯s nametag pops up. [Guni Dijegu (Level 100)] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°One hundred?¡± What is that? Some kind of kobold? - - - - - - - - - - - - Why there¡¯s a monster that high-level here? No¡­ this village is far east, monsters that strong is probably normal, but what is it doing¡­? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait¡­¡± Only one thing clicked in my mind. His cloak is like mine. He¡¯s alone, he¡¯s powerful, he¡¯s moving when nobody is here to notice, and he¡¯s looking around swiftly to gather information. - - - - - - - - - - - - He¡¯s a scout. That¡¯s the only logical reason for that thing being here. The wolf-kobold descends and disappears behind the tower, only his faded blob of orange energy piercing through the walls. - - - - - - - - - - - - But what is he scouting for? Is he planning to attack the village? Alone? No, there are probably more of them, a whole army could be waiting for his report. The Shaman dying from predicting a terrible future, Nate being over-worried about an invasion, and the fact that the Shadow Army is neighbors to them. - - - - - - - - - - - - Should I warn the wolfkins? Ring the bell and wake everyone? An invasion is coming. His orange silhouette runs towards the exit of the village. - - - - - - - - - - - - No, not yet, the invasion might not come today. I stride to the open part of the wall at my left and face the roof of the house in front of me. Then, in an instant, the world warps and I teleport over it. - - - - - - - - - - - - What I need to do is to take him out before he joins back to his army. I turn my speed boots on and I turn invisible. My pace not only fastens but my body¡¯s weight also becomes lighter, making my steps on the roof tiles softer and my jumps from one house to the next easier. The kobold jumps the thick unfinished wall protecting the village and continues dashing on the dirt street between the straw huts and makeshift stone fences. I reach the ground just a couple of seconds behind him. My speed boots effect ends, but I keep on running. The kobold¡¯s pace is slower as it swiftly moves in stealthy bursts, trying to be in a shadow every time it moves. I, on the other hand, run in a beeline at full speed. The distance between us quickly drops from ten meters to nine, then eight, seven, six¡­ I draw my two daggers, my eyes focused on the kobold¡¯s back as it halts and shifts its ears back. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s it! My invisibility fades away as I throw my dagger sideways, sliding its ribbon between my fingers with heating friction, when I sense its distance is enough to hit him, I grip it to a halt and pull it backward. The red symbols over its black cloth shine brighter as it straightens behind me, hovering above the ground and stabilizing itself mid-air to point its blade towards the same direction as its cloth is being held in my fingers, to the sky. In a tug, the blade cuts the air violently in an arc over my head. The kobold turns with a wide eye to my blade, barely managing to evade it by jumping to the side, making my dagger hit the dirt floor. He draws his sword. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Die.¡± I feel all my senses pull me back as my second weapon shoots forward. The kobold¡¯s sword blocks it as quickly as my bullet-fast dagger, an afterimage of his movement appears as a blue ghost who is still moving to defend against my attack. I pull back both my daggers, but as my main dagger flies sideways I command it to attack, the red symbols in its ribbon light up at lightning speed and the dagger suddenly shoots in a V-line. The kobold¡¯s chest is pierced right through, only stopping when its ribbon¡¯s limit was reached tight. He goes a step back before striking his sword against my dagger¡¯s ribbon and cutting it. My dagger falls at his back, but before it hits the ground, the loose ribbon I¡¯m holding moves like a living snake to grab into its other half and merges with it, weaving the cut in a single second as if it never was separated to begin with, taking not only the kobold by surprise but me as well. I didn¡¯t know my dagger could do that. Without thinking deeper about it, I pull it back into my hand. The Kobold¡¯s chest wound closes with a spreading frost, of the freezing blades magic wrapping both my daggers, the same skill I used to kill those two back in the dungeon. My enemy is now slowed. He lifts his blade and stares at me sharply with only one of his eyes, his left eye being covered by a black eye patch, making it look like he doesn¡¯t have a second eye by the darkness of the night as its cloth has the same color as his fur. - I knew a single hit wouldn¡¯t take him out, but I¡¯m ready to finish him off. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t try to escape.¡± I smirk at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Or you¡¯ll be making things way too easier for me to kill you.¡± - - - - - V1 - C19 | Enemy Scout VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 19 - ENEMY SCOUT - We are at a standoff. One waiting for the other to move. The wolf-kobold scout versus the hero scout. As scouts go for, we fight with information. Because we lack firepower, we only attack when the timing is right. My invisibility, speed boots, and both my shooting daggers are on cooldown. Those are my three Aces in the hole, both for offensive and defensive measures, so I¡¯m left without any good cards to initiate. Well¡­ I could try using my Ultimate Clone to create an opening, but using it in front of your enemy, especially not at melee distance, makes the illusion too easy to counter. I need to be especially careful, I can¡¯t go full offensive against someone that higher level than me, plus he just used a skill I had never seen before. That blocking ghost thing. What class was that? Is it a race ability? I don¡¯t know what it does, what cooldown it has, or if he has anything else up his sleeve. I have no following moves against an enemy I know nothing of. - The kobold deep breathes, one hand at his bleeding stomach and the other pointing a khopesh at me, a medium sword with the first third straight but the rest of the blade curved like a moon. Nice choice, for what I remember it has increased stats when it''s nighttime. I used to have a pair of those in my early days, but it was too much of a pain to upgrade two sets of weapons to use depending on the time of day, so when I realized ranged melee weapons existed I didn¡¯t think twice on switching my build. Well¡­ but besides that, his black cloak hides anything else he could have. Before any of us could move a step, a bell behind me starts to ring. Someone is alerting the village to wake up. My smile widens. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You won¡¯t escape. If you drop your weapon, I might calm down the wolfkins enough so they won¡¯t execute you.¡± The kobold frowns in doubt, or at least of what appears to be a frown on a wolf''s face. - - - - - - - - - - - - Does he even speak the same language as me? I start using my body to communicate, lowering my daggers slightly just enough for it to understand that I want to negotiate. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But you need to give me some information in return. Nothing is free, after all. What if you show me who you are working for, how many men they have, and when they plan to attack. That¡¯s more than enough to settle the deal.¡± My speed boots just recharged. Two blinks, two shooting daggers, and my divine vision to top it all off, there¡¯s no way he can run away from my sight now. If he runs I¡¯ll cut his legs and attempt to capture him. Information is more important than killing it. The wolf kobold growls in pain to open its mouth. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Are you¡­ not a traitor?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You can talk?!¡± The kobold coughs out blood. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That makes things easier then. Speak up. Who do you work for? I can give you a healing potion if you answer.¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°¡­I see¡­ my face must have misled you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? What are you talking about? Don¡¯t change the subject, tell me who you are working for.¡± My entire body turns cold, my instincts suddenly sharpening against what was approaching me from behind in heavy steps. - - - - - - - - - - - - Another one--? I turn too late. My attacker¡¯s sword was already sizzling against a blocking blade of another third party by my side. - - - - - - - - - - - - Nate!? The leader of the wolfkins had all but anger on his scarred face, fighting to push his dark blade toward my neck. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU!!¡± And for the person protecting me¡­ it was the kobold. Its blue ghost ran from where it was but a frame of a second ago towards my side as if trying to keep up with its own body''s sudden change of position. Nate:- - - - - ¡°GET OUT OF THE WAY, GUNI! IS HE CONTROLLING YOU!? DAMN HEROOOOOOOOO!!!!!¡± Guni tries to speak, but Nate pushes his sword down with all his strength, forcing the kobold to kneel. With a kick, the kobold falls and slides to the side, giving way for Nate to strike his sword against my retreating steps. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I WON¡¯T FAIL NO MORE! YOU¡¯LL DIE TONIGHT!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hold on a second!¡± I blink to his back, quickly hiding behind a straw hut. Nate:- - - - - ¡°WHERE DID YOU GONE TO, HERO? I¡¯M GOING TO FIND YOU NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU HIDE. COME OUT AND DIE ALREADY!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - When did this turn into a horror show? What the hell is this?? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Nate, listen. I¡¯m not your enemy. I don¡¯t know what you have against heroes, but this is--¡± The collar of my cloak is suddenly picked up from behind, my body lifts in the air and I¡¯m moved to the side in a dash. I hear ghostly animal howls fade in and out, then the straw hut I was hiding on suddenly disappears with a moving shadow, it simply seized to exist in a second, even the gravel ground had its surface caved in a slide swoop. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I KNEW FROM THE START YOU WEREN¡¯T GOOD! YOU CAN CONTROL ANY CREATURES AT YOUR WILL.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Hah? I look up, some sort of giant bird is grabbing me by its beak, carrying me like a dog moves a puppy, but the dog is the size of a huge horse, with brown fluffy feathers everywhere and four thick bird feet with metal talons piercing the gravel ground. Nate:- - - - - ¡°IF YOU DIDN¡¯T CONTROL ME YET THAN YOUR POWER HAS A WEAKNESS!¡± He leaps to me, his face wrinkled in anger like a wolf growl. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯LL USE THAT WEAKNESS TO CUT YOU DOWN!¡± The giant bird-like creature trots to evade. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Nate! Stop, he¡¯s not an enemy.¡± But Nate ignores the kobold. Instead, his body suddenly flashes red, he reappears a few steps forward, then flashes red again, each step teleporting him a short distance towards me, quickly overcoming the giant bird¡¯s pacing and striking his sword diagonally to only attack me. I teleport away with my second blink, a ray line of magic aiming out of his attack range and warping my sight in a quick trip within it. I pop on the other side and start running to the village without looking back. Nate:- - - - - ¡°COME BACK, YOU DAMN COWARD!!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the fuck????¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Why I¡¯m suddenly in danger again? This is madness, I¡¯m getting out of here! As I run, a woman under a white veil comes out from the corner of the unfinished wall surrounding the village, like a priestess calmly walking to her duties with hands joined together in prayer, she quietly activates a skill of her own and I collapse with the brute force of atmospheric pressure. I hit the ground and a crater forms below me, it¡¯s so strong that I¡¯m unable to move my arms to get up. - - - - - - - - - - - - The hell?? What is this? Shaman¡¯s gravity area slow? This is way stronger than the skill I know of. Vute:- - - - - ¡°You calm down, okay?¡± ¨C The big brown wolfkin comes from the other corner. My eardrums fight against the sound of the constant wind as if I was falling at high speed uninterruptedly. I only manage to look up with my chin pressed against the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°W-w-h-y-y a-a-a-r-e y-o-u-u¡­¡± Heavy steps approach me from behind. Nate:- - - - - ¡°You captured him, good! I¡¯ll start the execution right away!¡± The next one to fall is Nate, being stomped by the landing of the four-legged bird pinning him against the dirt street and making his sword fall away. Nate:- - - - - ¡°DAMMIIIIIT!!!!! VUTE, KILL THIS DAMN BIRD, WE NEED TO KILL HIM BEFORE HE CONTROLS ANYTHING ELSE!¡± Nate uses all his strength to try getting up again, but he ultimately fails as the brown monstrosity of a bird pierces its metal claws over his shoulders against the ground, using its own massive weight and strong muscles. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I am the one controlling it, Nate.¡± ¨C The big brown wolfkin sighs. ¨C ¡°I knew something wrong was going to happen the moment the inn¡¯s barrier broke, so I sent it to capture Strider.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Then why is it holding me then!? Kill him already!¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill anyone¡­ and you should be in solitary. Have you forgotten the words of the Elder?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°He was going to kill Guni! He is planning to kill everyone!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I-I-I w-w-a-a-a-a-a-s-s-s-n-¡®-t-t-t.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - I mean, I didn¡¯t know the kobold was their friend. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m in charge of security when you are not around, remember? I¡¯ll decide what to do with the both of you.¡± From the background, the wolf-head kobold staggers from behind the giant bird, one hand on his stabbing injury and the other on the kick he received on the ribs. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Good, you stopped them¡­¡± ¨C he weakly says in relief. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Guni, what happened?¡± A green glow resonates around Guni¡¯s body, healing his injuries and cleaning the blood stains. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Thank you, priestess.¡± ¨C He nods to the white-veiled wolf-woman. She bowls slightly in response. Guni:- - - - - ¡°You can let Strider go. He mistook me for an enemy, he¡¯s not a traitor¡­ unless it was all a play.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Okay, Dilsu, release the hero. We need to hear his side of the story.¡± The priestess bowls one more time quietly, never separating her hands from a prayer. The atmospheric pressure over my back suddenly dissolves with the wind and my lungs quickly grasp for air to recover myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I wasn¡¯t tricking you. I thought--¡± ¨C I cough the street¡¯s dust out of my throat as I try to stand with numb limbs. ¨C ¡°I thought you were a Shadow Army¡¯s scout.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°A Shadow--, why did you think that?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°He¡¯s lying, don¡¯t hear him!¡± ¨C Nate growls in the background, but the giant bird presses his back and buries his face into the dirt. Guni:- - - - - ¡°I think we never met before, I understand why most people would get the wrong impression.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oooh, that¡¯s right, but I thought you were introduced already, Guni was the one who took Nate to his cell, don¡¯t you remember?¡± I take a moment to think back, but nothing comes to mind. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, I never saw him. I would have noticed someone with a giant wolf head.¡° The wolfkins look at me with surprised faces, as if I had just said something extremely inappropriate. Guni:- - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t usually eat at the dining hall,¡± ¨C his words cut the tense air. ¨C ¡°If something would come when everyone had their guard down our village would be easy prey, so I keep watch for monsters when everyone is vulnerable.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Yeah, Guni doesn¡¯t like socializing, so we respect that and give him space.¡± The wolf-kobold flinches in embarrassment at Vute¡¯s blunt explanation. - - - - - - - - - - -And what was all that about ¡°if you want to have a snack you need to gather everybody¡± part you said to me earlier? I thought wolfkins had the culture to never eat if not together at that hall. But again¡­ the Elder and that other dude said something about eating fish hidden from the others, so I doubt that was ever a serious rule. Guni¡¯s body stops glowing, now fully healed. He bows to thank the priestess in silence. - - - - - - - - - - - - And Vute said another thing about this village, is this case just another exception? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I thought there were only wolfkins in the village, but aren¡¯t you a kobold? or that¡¯s a weird mask?¡± Again, Vute and the priestess look at me as if I had said the most impolite thing they had ever heard. Vute:- - - - - ¡°He¡¯s not using a mask, and yes, he¡¯s a wolfkin. Don¡¯t talk like that, it¡¯s disrespectful.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m used to it.¡± ¨C He scratches the fur on his chin¡¯s side. ¨C ¡°I was born with a curse, that¡¯s why I have a wolf¡¯s head. Nothing else really changes because of it, but most dislike being near me so I keep my distance to not bother anyone.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re not a bother, stop saying things like that.¡± Uhm¡­ that¡¯s interesting, a curse, huh? I never heard something like that, it¡¯s probably Lore-based so I wouldn¡¯t care to know. But that¡¯s weird. It transforms your head into a wolf¡¯s? Is it like a genetic abnormality? He¡¯s considered to be wolfkin by them, so maybe he¡¯s just a little more of a ¡°wolf¡± than a ¡°kin¡± kind of situation. But is that a thing? I can¡¯t shrug off the feeling that I should have heard of this before. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Maybe it is a status effect? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, can I touch you?¡± Guni looks at me with a frown, weirded out by the sudden question. The atmospheric pressure suddenly threatens to fall on my shoulders as the intense stare of the priestess pierces the back of my neck. - - - - - - - - - - - - Relax, I¡¯m not seeing him as a freak¡¯s show or whatever, my intentions are pure. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s so I can see your stats. It worked with other things before, so I think I can see what abilities you have. I¡¯m just curious to see what this curse thing is all about.¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°I-I see. I didn¡¯t know heroes could do that, but as I said, it¡¯s a curse, not an ability.¡± He lifts his gloved human hand with hesitation and I grip his wrist. My eyes glow golden and his character panel appears hovering just above my hand. [ Guni Dijegu (Level 100) ] [Species: Black Wolfkin] - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh¡­ a wolfkin, like they say. [Type: Thinking Beast] [Power: {four stars out of five}] [Class: Chrono Relict (Survivor-Scout-Temporalist)] His attributes are most focused on Intelligence, with some on Agility. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Can you really see it?¡± The big brown wolfkin bulges in trying to see what my eyes are reading, but to no success. Vute:- - - - - ¡°There¡¯s nothing there.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can¡­ and it is really weird. I¡¯m seeing something that shouldn¡¯t be here. Guni:- - - - - ¡°What do you mean? Is it my curse?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, it¡¯s your class. Do you guys know about subclasses and stuff?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a Master, isn¡¯t it? Guni is a Scout for all I know.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s only one of your subclasses, you have three in total.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m not really into the specifics of it, maybe Dilsu knows?¡± The priestess quietly shakes her head in a negative. Guni:- - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t know it either, I thought those things were like a fighting style or something.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Not exactly. Subclasses change which magic skills you can have. For us heroes we can unlock all of them as we grow stronger and then we can change the skillset when we are not fighting, but for you people it probably only limits which powers you can learn or you¡¯re born with. That¡¯s how it works to every entity, no exceptions.¡± I place my free hand on my chin to think. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But I''ve never seen one of your sub-classes before, and you have two skills I don¡¯t recognize.¡± There are eight icons of skills at the bottom of the Character panel, four actives and four passives. The first roll has a bright blue frame with white lines and the other a red-blood frame. Those colors generally show which subclass you got it from, but I never saw those styles before. Guni:- - - - - ¡°¡­and what are they?¡± I tap de blue one, and a detailed description pops up. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The first is [Instant Relocate], removes any delay or distance from doing an action. That¡¯s your blue ghost thing, right?¡± But Guni doesn¡¯t respond, probably because he doesn¡¯t know what it was himself. For every two subclasses, you receive an intersectional skill tree, this one, in particular, was from a Scout-Temporalist combo. There¡¯s nothing wrong with it besides one major problem. There are only twelve subclasses in the game: Shaman, Arcane, Master, Survivor, Devout, Fighter, Gambler, Scout; and the special subclasses, which you can only choose one: Corrupted, Vampire, Trickster, and Necromancer. Those work both for players and NPCs alike, so where does Temporalist fit? Unless the devs added it on the last update and didn¡¯t tell anyone, it shouldn¡¯t exist. Maybe it is an NPC thing? the curse, maybe? But I¡¯ve played this game every day for four years, I should have encountered something like this before. - - - - - - - - - - - - And what about this strange blood-like frame, is this one the curse? I poke it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°[Lycanthropy-wolf, Blessing of Rudaw].¡± The three of them wide their eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Increase sense and range of smell and hearing fivefold, allows for the user to see visual warnings of such senses, and physically changes the character¡¯s head to one of a wolf. Huh, that¡¯s pretty good.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Well¡­ if I wasn¡¯t the one living with a wolf head my entire life, I mean. But it¡¯s a pretty good skill to have in a character. I don¡¯t have any good passive skills, they generally change something very specific or add a minor percentage. But a five times improvement? And visually see steps and smell with no costs attached? That¡¯s too much. There are some skills like my Divine Vision that do that in the game, and they are very expensive to use. I would easily buy this if it was on the market. Guni:- - - - - ¡°I didn¡¯t know¡­ A blessing of Rudaw? I lived my entire life¡ª No, I shouldn¡¯t¡­¡± I look over Guni¡¯s character panel and I see his only eye break in tears. - - - - - - - - - - - - Rudaw¡­ Wait, Rudaw? Why do I recognize that name? Vute:- - - - - ¡°Who would have thought? That¡¯s why you were always better at hunting! That¡¯s amazing news, we should commemorate.¡± I let go of Guni¡¯s wrist and open my own character panel, and there it was. My daggers are both named ¡°Ribbon-tailed Rudaw Dagger¡± and not only that, but the shirt I¡¯m using also has his name, which is the one that can burst a cloud of black smoke around me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Rudaw? Who is that? Is he important?¡± To think that I, a full-out and anti-Lore person, would be interested in knowing something like that¡­ this game is really forcing me into a corner. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Ahm¡­ Of course he is, --Ehem-- He was the Saint of Shadows, but he died at the Demonic Wars about fifteen years ago. Which means¡­ he gave you this ability before his death, that¡¯s something to be proud of.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Uh-huh, so to sum it up, that information is useless. The wolf-head couldn¡¯t process the news, his face being a mix of happiness and confusion. Nate:- - - - - ¡°H-M-M-M M-M-M H-M-M-M-H-M-M-! H-M-M-M-!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, and what about him? Shouldn¡¯t he be locked or something?¡± I point at the growling angered wolfkin leader being stomped by the proud bird¡¯s talons. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Yeah, I was supposed to watch him, but another problem came up and I had to leave my post. The thing I was going to check out before Strider stopped me.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Huh? What problem?¡± Everyone¡¯s expressions quickly change to seriousness, his nose picking something out from the air. Guni:- - - - - ¡°A large group is coming this way.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°¡­An invasion?¡± Guni sniffs the air two more times. Guni:- - - - - ¡°They are too weak. I smell blood, filth¡­ and tears.¡± All of us look at the forest his nose is pointing at. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­tears?¡± - As the wolfkins woke up and gathered to see the commotion, strangers came from the side of the forest. First, there was only one staggering old fat man, curly horns growing out of the sides of his head. But then, many others followed, cutting a way through the trees and bushes. It looked like there was no stop to them, as dozens and dozens came out and followed the dirt street. Women, men, children, and elderly, all of them were roughly in the same shape, their clothes ragged and dirtied by mud and bad-washed blood stains. The males had a slightly different style of horns compared to the first, some were smaller, others bigger, curlier or darker, but all of them had the same light-grey hair and hopeful tears in their eyes. Their race was known as the sheepkin. - ¡°Thank you so much, my God, thank you so much for saving us.¡± ¨C The old sheepkin leading the pack drops to his knees and almost kisses the dirt to pray. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hey. What happened? Where you came from?¡± The old man hesitated to recollect himself, his throat building up a deep sorrow within his heart. ¡°Nepaty Citadel¡­ it fell, everyone died.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? Wait¡­ the big city at west?¡± ¡°Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Dark elves, they were all working together, they breached through the walls without being noticed by the watchguard and massacred everyone,¡± ¨C his voice crackles in fear just from remembering it, tears coming back to his eyes, his limbs shaking uncontrollably. My hand goes to the sheepkin¡¯s collar, and I forcefully lift him to his feet and force him to look at me, face to face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Nepaty Citadel, is that Gonkdim¡¯s furthest city to the east?¡± The sheepkin eyes tremble in fear, and he nods unsure. ¡°Yes, I think it is.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Why the fuck did you come here?¡± The old sheepkin quivers with sudden cold, feeling my anger rise into murderous intent. - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You ran from the frying pan to the burning flames of hell, dumbass. Why east? Why did you go toward the most dangerous region? Why are you leading whatever the fuck attacked you to this village?¡± - But there was no response, he never thought of that, he was only glad to have reached civilization. Trying his best to stay alive the way he knew, running away from certain death and embracing any kind of hope his hands could reach, never caring for proper planning or arranging his thought to rationality. For him, he only ran away from the danger, it didn¡¯t matter if he was trapping himself even further. - - - - - V1 - C20 | Actions Resonance VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 20 - ACTIONS RESONANCE - That was my path out, Nepaty Citadel. Go there, find transport, and travel even further west. But if it was destroyed, it¡¯s all over. How would I go to an easier region? I would need to take a few days rounding south until I reached the next big city. I could try buying one of Vute¡¯s mounts and go for it, but how far could I go? What path would I take? I could easily get lost, or even attacked on the way. In the east, there are legendary monsters, and in the west, there¡¯s an invading army? I¡¯m being pinched down to this village. This is bad, really bad. I should have left as soon as I could-- no, would that even matter? The attack would still happen before I could reach anywhere near safety. It¡¯s like no matter what I had chosen, I would be put in danger. I¡¯m starting to wonder¡­ are the devs of the game putting me through this? First the labyrinth arena, then that dragon-tiger, followed by a village where Willrus was in, which an insane leader wanted to kill us, and now this? An invasion blocking my way out? It¡¯s like they are playing with me. It¡¯s like they think I¡¯m having fun with this shit. I fucking hate this. Why are they forcing me to do this? How can I tell them to get me out? How do I make them free me? Vute:- - - - - ¡°Strider, enough! What are you doing!?¡± I snap back to reality. The big brown wolfkin stares at me as he grips my right arm with a hint of preoccupation. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I let go of the old sheepkin I was lifting by the collar. He falls seated over his legs in a shaken state of mind. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t¡­ I--¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Just back away, don¡¯t scare them like that.¡± Vute turns his back on me. Vute:- - - - - ¡°We need more healing medicine!¡± ¨C he yells at a group of wolfkins bringing crates closer. ¨C ¡°Bring the emergency supply.¡± - There are more than one hundred sheepkin laying on the streets, the great majority in a bad shape, if not by sickness or injury, it was of hunger. More than a dozen fainted once they saw the village¡¯s houses, and another few were already unconscious before the first fireworks exploded in the distance, their guiding signal that brought hope back to their eyes. Everyone was helping, doing something. But I couldn¡¯t move. The wolfkins didn¡¯t expect me to do anything, especially after my stunt against the sheepkin¡¯s leader, both beast kins had me in a lower reputation just because of that, so I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to force myself in. I¡¯m the type of person who needs to be called upon to do something in real life, I¡¯m an introvert for what they say. I¡¯m not good with social situations, especially not after I secluded myself from the world after I decided to live on my own so long ago. The only times I socialized were in the game, when I had to take my food delivery, and occasionally when I took the trash out. So obviously, I¡¯m not good with people, being in the middle of so many made me only feel uncomfortable, so I decided to leave this to the ones who knew what to do and went back to my room in the inn. - I like to play games because they are simple. They ask you to do something and you do them. Its intricacies are ruled by logic and logic alone. All you need is your rationality and sometimes quick reflexes, if you do it right you¡¯re rewarded. You aren¡¯t looked weird if your tone is slightly off, if your gaze is somewhere else, or if they see you differently. Socializing is something I never understood about. I could manage to do it for work, but¡­ to choose it in goodwill? I can¡¯t understand it. - - - - - - - - - - - - What¡¯s so fun in talking with other people? I never got that answered no matter how many times I tried. But after the years passed by in solitude, I came to a realization: I wasn¡¯t living my life the way I wanted to. I forced myself to think that my actions didn¡¯t matter if I accomplished something in the end, but that exact way of thinking is what made my legs sink in the mud. The more I stood in the quicksand, the further down I went. I know the correct answer is not as simple as ¡°just be more social¡±, that isn¡¯t what I want to do either, but it¡¯s a fact that I was doing things wrong. Everything was incredibly empty and without any purpose, and it repeated itself day after day for as long as I remember. And if I don¡¯t do anything about it, it¡¯ll keep on going. I need to adapt a way to fix it. I was putting that idea on hold until I could finally retire from being a professional grinder, but now¡­ I¡¯m feeling that this game might not end so soon. I wonder if I should begin searching for that new phase of my life already. One big problem I realized was my constant running away from my problems. If there was a slight disturbance I would prefer taking the smoother path. Maybe that¡¯s where I developed myself wrong. As my older brother once told me, I should keep on trying until I get better at it. So, I¡¯ll give that a try, and see how the results go. That was one reason why I decided to exit my room. I should stop evading people, and start helping the way I can. - Vute:- - - - - ¡°You calmed down?¡± The brown wolfkin stopped me before I could exit the inn, halting his search for something below the reception desk to stare at me with seriousness. I look at him with some hesitation. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m okay now, I¡¯m sorry for getting boiled up.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Just don¡¯t do that again.¡± He looks down and continues to pick up some of the many paper rolls over his desk, so I walk out. Vute:- - - - - ¡°And Strider¡­ we are going to have a gathering with some of the sheepkin soon. I¡¯ll just prepare some things and when Guni is done patrolling the surroundings we will discuss what happened to them. You¡¯re invited, if you want to come.¡± I look back at him with a frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You sure?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re a Hero, I think you¡¯ll be a huge help in sorting what is going on. Besides, there¡¯s something we need to discuss as well.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°About the heroes¡¯ disappearance, I suppose.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s¡­ right. And I¡¯m sorry I sounded angry at you before¡­ know that I don¡¯t resent you, everyone was on the edge there.¡± I take a long breath in and let it go before answering. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­Okay, I¡¯ll think about it.¡± I start walking away, going towards the center of the village. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I mean it.¡± ¨C He steps out of the inn, making me stop midway. ¨C ¡°Before¡­ at the trial of Nemi¡¯s death--, I thought hard about it. And I realized that I was following Nate without thinking by myself, and you were the one who almost paid for my mistake. I thought that¡­ because he had more experience and was the leader, that the only right path was to follow him. Maybe the disappearances and the fire in the forest made me on edge, made me kind of lost, you know¡­ but now that Nate is out and I¡¯m responsible for everyone¡¯s safety, I will try to stand for myself. But I need people to help me make the right decisions. ¡­I will hear first and act later. I won¡¯t act like Nate. So, I really would appreciate it if you participate in the gathering.¡± I hesitate to answer and a few seconds of silence fall between us. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ I¡¯ll go.¡± ¨C My voice is serious, almost challengeful. I look at him from over my shoulder, my eyes sharper than ever. ¨C ¡°I too want to know what happened. And what to do next.¡± Vute nods confidently, and I continue my path. - - The first thing I did was activate my Divine Vision and see the great scope of things. There isn¡¯t one sheepkin in full health, all of them have some amount of Decay tainting their health bars in a black fog, decreasing their HP and Energy full capacities and regenerations. That effect is only triggered when you receive too much damage, use too much Energy, or when a skill that gives such a status effect hits you, generally poison. From what I remember of some missions, NPCs also have the Decay effect if they are tired or hungry, so treating those accordingly should make them heal over time. Everyone already has a resting bed and food to eat, so there is nothing more to do on that end. The real problem is the sick and injured, those were being treated with medicinal herbs, special teas, and healing magic. Dilsu, the priestess, is the strongest healer in the village but even she couldn¡¯t cure the Decay effect, making all her efforts futile. That¡¯s where I find an opportunity. I have an inter-skill in my arcane and trickster sub-classes that nullifies minor effects and negates part of Decay. That, whatever, is a skill that only works for me. But by using it with my Skill Resonance, I should be able to echo it to all allies nearby, as I did with my Speed Boots way back in the dungeon, it will cost a lot more energy but that¡¯s the only way this can work. And well¡­ if they are considered as an ally, that is. I don¡¯t know how that works here, but from what I remember it didn¡¯t work on neutral NPCs before, like static guards, merchants, or those wandering civilians. I guess it would break the game in some parts if it did, some players would be able to abuse it to amplify the skill¡¯s effects in the middle of missions in the cities. But trying won¡¯t cost me anything, so why not? - I gather my courage and step toward the worst patient I could find, clenching my hands to hold my unease.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Dilsu, can I try something?¡± The Priestess turns to me, her golden hair and blue eyes covered by the white veil and her wolf ears poking the cloth from below, her face is covered in sweat and her tired breath shows she¡¯s on the brink of collapse. She used too much Energy, the Decay effect is also beginning to affect her, but even so, she keeps on standing and acting valiantly as a holy priestess on duty. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I think I can help.¡± Dilsu doesn¡¯t speak, hesitates to nod, and steps back. She was trying her best to heal an unconscious twelve-year-old girl of the sheepkin, her light-grey wavy hair matching her sick pale skin. Her health bar is more than eighty percent black already, no matter how much you heal her, she won¡¯t wake up it seems. Not only that, but I see a poison icon I can¡¯t recognize below her nametag. In her state¡­ she might never wake up again. I warily open my character panel, go to my skills and tap a couple of them to equip my Status Nullification and the Skill Resonance. My legs begin to tremble a little with anxiety. Differently from any other skills I used before, this one I don¡¯t have much practice on, I don¡¯t even remember what it looks like, so can I really activate it? I regret not testing it before walking here. From the moment I went into the game until now, I managed to instinctively activate what I wanted as if it was my own muscles, though I feel like part of the trigger was being in a risky situation. I still vaguely remember having a difficult time activating my Speed Boots the first time, I only actually used it after imagining every aspect of it and remembered pressing the button I always placed that ability on. But this is the exact opposite of that, I don¡¯t know how it looks like, I don¡¯t have any specific button that I used to place it, nor I would consider myself in a situation of risk. So, how I¡¯m going around it? I look at the little girl leaning in front of me, her pained expression making her dire situation obvious. [ Torai Nawaga (Level 22) {HP: 17%/17%-} ] - - - - - - - - - - - - I need to try, at least. I breathe deeply and activate my Skill Resonance, the power quickly wraps my body from head to toe and waits for my next skill to echo it around. And with my building determination, hoping to cure her and overcome my fears. I stare at her sweating face and¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - Status Nullification. ¡­ Nothing. I straighten my posture and try again, my eyes widening with my screaming thought. - - - - - - - - - - - - Status Nullification! ¡­ I extend my right hand at her. I imagine the darkness on her health bar to diminish, to be pushed back to zero, her pale skin getting color, the status effect disappearing. - - - - - - - - - - - - [Status Nullification]!! ¡­ It¡¯s like the game doesn¡¯t even recognize what I want to do. I don¡¯t feel anything, not even a hint of activation, no matter how hard I think of its name, it will never trigger. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Status Nullification!¡± The Priestess behind me startles, and a few people around glance over in curiosity. My arm shakes, so I hold my wrist with my left hand to stabilize it, trying my best to ignore my surroundings and focus on the little girl. I imagine whatever power I have growing and shaping itself. I push it into my hand, my blood flows faster, and imagine it releasing something that will cure her. Some miraculous magic that only this world had. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Status Nullification!!!¡± ¡­ The little girl¡¯s closed eyes flinch, but the black health bar doesn¡¯t budge. It didn¡¯t work. As I had thought, it wasn¡¯t going to be that easy. Using that skill was so use-specific that I didn¡¯t equip it often, much less use it, I only unlocked it because it¡¯s a good one to have in theory but because skills are limited to six at a time, there was always a better one to put in its place. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is that it?... I can¡¯t use a skill I have, only because I don¡¯t know how it works? Would I need to learn it from some mage or something? There¡¯s none in the village it appears, the Decay effects are not being cured, after all. There¡¯s clearly no time to go elsewhere to find someone who can teach me. So, is this it? - - - - - - - - - - - - But that doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ why could I use my speed boots, my blink, my daggers, the shadow cloud? Nobody taught me those. It was instinctive, but I never actually used those abilities in real life, so how did they activate? It¡¯s purely visual? That doesn¡¯t make any sense at all. I think for a moment until an idea comes to mind. I activate my Speed Boots. An echoing ping goes around me, the magic blue boots wrap around the little girl¡¯s feet, and behind me, I hear its wings poping on the Priestess as well. Dilsu looks at her legs confused, not understanding why would I activate it. My eyes close as I try my best to concentrate. I activate my Invisibility and my body disappears. The Priestess frightens unsure if I was sucked into another dimension and if I need help. I activate my Blink, I teleport to the same spot I¡¯m standing, going only a little up in the air before falling back to the ground, the invisibility fading away in front of everyone. The Priestess shrieks quietly behind me in a scare and goes two steps back. I hesitate for a second and activate my second teleportation, the Arcane Blink. My body disappears for a moment, I feel the entire world shrink to a single point of energy, then I pop right back where I was. The Priestess looks to her sides, searching if anyone could help and thinking I might be having a stroke. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I think I get it now.¡± I open my eyes and stare at the child laying on the bed, her health bar near the ninety percent mark of the fuming darkness. - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s always one thing in common when I activate my skills. I feel the power moving toward specific places before getting out of my body. In the same way I can visualize my skill cooldowns, I sense the blue flow of energy to be released below the skill icons and pass through. All I need is to make sure the minimum energy required is there to open the gates. - - - - - - - - - - - - When I first used a skill, my body must have memorized how much and where to use it, so I do it instinctively. But if I were to manually control it¡­ I might pull this off. Within my mental space, I collect a watery cloud of energy and push it around, it wobbly moves without much precision, its erratic movements spilling its content out and dispersing back to the void. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s not easy, but¡­ if I just¡­ I use all my focus, shutting my eyes tight and ignoring the noises around me. I gather the energy into a massive ball and slowly move it towards the Skill Resonance¡¯s gate. The cooldown clock reaches zero and I push the cloud against it. It activates, and once again I feel the energy wrap around my body, waiting for the next skill to be released. - - - - - - - - - - - - Okay¡­ now to be sure this is actually working¡­ As if the blue fog was being sucked into the center of a galactic spiral, the ball of energy grows. Not sure how much I need, I take whatever I can and carefully drag it over the Status Nullification slot. The moment I press its corner, the valve opens and the imaginary ball of energy bursts out like a popped water balloon. My body trembles as if I¡¯m in an earthquake, I see myself lifting in the air and my body shining cyan. The energy contained in me hazardly explodes and a one-dimensional ping scoots out as a growing circle of electrical charge around me. Soon after, I fall back to my feet. The wave hits everyone who was observing, taking all of them by surprise. At first, nothing appears to happen, but faint cyan particles begin to emanate from their bodies, as if their skin were peeling its impurities out to the air in shining flakes of paper. Some gaze at their hands, others point to each other in awe, the children trying to catch the floating snow in midair, and the rest look at the sky where the cleansing particles calmly lift towards. It¡¯s as if, for this brief moment, little stars were going back home. I look at my arms, seeing that my body isn¡¯t shining anymore, and I sigh in relief. The Priestess hurries to the child¡¯s side, placing a hand over her forehead to check the temperature and looking attentively at her face, still skeptical of the strange lights coming out of her body. The black bar in her health decreases in a swift swoop, going all the way down to fully cured, the poison icon also popping out of existence. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I lifted the Decay effect,¡± ¨C I smile at the Priestess. ¨C ¡°She can be healed now.¡± Dilsu looks at me and then back at the child hesitantly, she joins her hands in prayer and the sick girl is surrounded by a green aura, her small scratch wounds close and her skin gradually regains a healthy pinkish color. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Good¡­ It worked.¡± I sigh once more in relief, way deeper now, the weight of possible failure lifting from my shoulders. - - - - - - - - - - - - But that¡¯s weird¡­ it worked too well. It should¡¯ve nullified only twenty percent of the Decay. I stare at her clean health bar, with not a trace of darkness left. - - - - - - - - - - - - I know my Skill Resonance amplifies it by the number of people being affected by the echo, but it¡¯s minor, maybe it might go to thirty percent tops, but¡­ there is nothing left¡­ Did the game change the skill? I open my character panel and check. - - - - - - - - - - - - No¡­ does it work differently for NPCs? Vute:- - - - - ¡°Hey!? What was that just now? I turn to look to my left. [ Vute Difivi (Level 82) ] He walks worried toward us in the distance, his nametag hovering over his head. - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh? I glance just above the focus of my vision, at my own status bars in the corner of my eyes. [HP: 3710/3710] [EN: 1#/3680] - - - - - - - - - - - - What? [EN: #/3680] - - - - - - - - - - - - When did I--? My vision blurs, my Divine Vision forcefully being shut down with no more energy to sustain it. The next thing I know is that I¡¯m sitting over my legs, unable to focus on anything, all noises around me muffled. - - - - - - - - - - - - I ran out of energy? Vute:- - - - - ¡°Strider? What happened?¡± I can¡¯t move no matter what I do, my body is completely numb. - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s no way¡­ I just activated a few skills. I visualize my mental space where the skill icons are, seeing the Skill Resonance at 1629 seconds of cooldown and 2843 seconds for the Status Nullification. - - - - - - - - - - - - The Resonance¡­ how many were affected by it? For it to have this much cooldown¡­ did it--? The whole village¡­? I try to look around, but the world spins with it and I collapse to the ground, everything quickly fading away and becoming silent. - Everything is black. - - - - - - Interval 5 | Reputation INTERVAL - 5 - REPUTATION - It¡¯s possible to gain negative or positive reputation, such quantity is added to your reputation pool. But if you lose reputation, its value goes towards zero. The more reputation you have, be it negative or positive, the higher in rank you¡¯ll be placed and different effects will be active in your character. Your higher and lower reputation levels are going to be saved into your character¡¯s history log, and an average of gained positive/negative reputation will be saved as well, changing what contracts you are allowed access. Accomplishing or failing in quests; killing NPCs, players, or mobs; and dialogue actions can change your reputation value. Reputation gain/loss is modified according to who is being affected by such action or mission, the order is: 1. Isolated: homeless; isolated citizens; civil travelers. 2. Low Influence: unsociable citizens; no witnesses job; from a paying common job mission. 3. Normal: common citizens; merchants; hard-paying job missions. 4. Societies: groups, villages, cities, or kingdoms (as a whole or their representatives). - - - - - - - - - - - The reputation level¡¯s effects are accumulative as it ascends the negative or positive ladder, increasing in its effect each level up. - [-5] Underlord: chosen reputation, unlocks weekly Underworld missions. [-4] Public Enemy: positive reputation gain is decreased. [-3] Bounty Head: players are going to be rewarded with gold when killing you. You lose the same amount of such gold bounty.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. [-2] Ruffian: shop prices increase both for selling or buying. [-1] Bad: Access to outlaw missions. > [0] Neutral: no effects, this is the starting reputation. [+1] Good: Access to watchguard missions. [+2] Reliable: shop prices decrease both for selling and buying. [+3] Savior: players are going to be rewarded with extra reputation when killing you. You lose the same amount of such extra reputation. [+4] Legend: Negative reputation gain is decreased. [+5] Royalty: chosen reputation, unlocks weekly Royal missions. - Levels of Underlord or Royalty can be chosen after reaching a certain amount of reputation. When unlocked, a Royal/Underworld mission is given each week that is harder or equal to Legendary but has higher rewards, if you do not accomplish such mission within that week you¡¯ll not only descend in reputation level but you¡¯ll also lose a great amount of gold. Reputation is according to law perspective, there also is a reputation meter according to each group or individuals you interact with but such values aren¡¯t public, only showing the level with a ¡°+¡± or a ¡°-¡±, going up to five of each when seeing the reputation with Divine Vision¡¯s deeper insight. It¡¯s unknown if there are any benefits with NPCs individually, but it is noticeable with social groups by their people being more open in giving information or allowing you to access their locations. - - - - - V1 - C21 | Nepaty Citadel VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 21 - NEPATY CITADEL - Laying northeast of Gonkdim, the great city holds its prideful rumors true once seen at first sight. Its whole structure is wrought in grey stone, from the two hundred meters walls protecting its base to its fourteen elevated floors, the citadel¡¯s peak reaches the height of sixteen hundred meters from the surface plains below. There¡¯s no greater work of art. After Balyvecis Warsaw, the Great Conqueror, defeated the hardest dungeon of the Piter Mountains, he wished for Shiva to build the strongest city in the world. And so, the Major God¡¯s rayflames descended the biggest mountain of the range and carved what Nepaty Citadel is today. An unmatched stronghold with the utmost defensive magic known. Though once defeated by the Plague¡¯s invasions, the citadel was able to delay its waves and greatly contributed to Gonkdim¡¯s victory. The King ordered for it to be reconquered as soon as possible, recognizing its prowess and beauty. Now, the city holds strong once more with three hundred thousand inhabitants from all over the kingdom. Although its residents are only part of its population, the citadel is currently known as the best spot for international high-level merchandise transactions. Its flat stone highways securing a connection through Midlands¡¯ desert to Noire kingdom is one motive, but more importantly, it¡¯s well located close to Legendary regions, where better material can be gathered from the magical beasts and monsters nearby. This is the best city the King could ask for to protect the kingdom¡¯s borders. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Over the outer wall of the great citadel, two guards walked in their routine patrol. Though one was clearly bigger than the other, both had the same silver knight armor, sharp curves and flat faces protecting their entire body with both strength and mobility. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Worrying will do you no good,¡± ¨C said the stronger one named Korfield. The smaller soldier, whatever, trembled in anxiety with every step. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°B-But the heroes--" - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yes, they went missing,¡± ¨C Korfield shrugged. ¨C ¡°but that¡¯s exactly why we are on high alert. We won¡¯t be caught unprepared, don¡¯t wrap your head around it.¡± Though he tried to ensure safety with a calm tone, the younger argued back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They were the stronger ones, not the Watchguard, we are trained to keep peace inside the city, and occasionally protect the walls, but to defend against an invasion on our own¡­¡± The older watchguard sighed tiredly, getting a bit worried himself. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Polis, boy. We are in Nepaty Citadel, the strongest place in the kingdom, even if we were attacked, we are ready,¡± ¨C He lifted his hand, pointing at the movable giant ballista resting under a stone cabin in front of them, its size bigger than a commoner¡¯s house. ¨C ¡°Even if an army came, those pretty things would explode them to dust. And besides, everyone in the city has at least a sword or some experience in combat, even the lowest of the merchants were adventurers in their prime, so don¡¯t worry.¡± But their echoing steps surrounding the ballistas¡¯ chamber only made the veteran¡¯s words feel empty in the boy¡¯s ears. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­¡± ¨C Polis lowered his head, carefully picking his words. ¨C ¡°I can¡¯t relax with my family being here, first the Shadow Army grows, then the Heroes disappeared, and now with all the bandit attacks inside the city¡­ I feel like being on the borders of an upcoming war is the worst place to be, maybe we should move somewhere safer, but I don¡¯t know if we have enough for that.¡± They both exited the cabin and stopped walking after a few steps, the old guard side-looking at the plains outside of the walls. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You¡¯re from the sheepkin district, right?¡± Polis nodded, a bit afraid of being judged. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see.¡± ¨C He turned to the younger soldier, his eyes serious. ¨C ¡°Then you should. If I were to tell you the truth¡­ I¡¯m not certain myself. It looks like something will hit us, though I believe they won¡¯t succeed, I can¡¯t say if the first district is going to be safe¡­ Just, don¡¯t tell anyone that I said that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­Got it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If you do choose to go, try the underground merchant streets, it should be safe from bandits, it''s not all that well-known and it''s too narrow for them to pass through without being noticed by the guards. But let¡¯s finish our patrol first, then I¡¯ll send you off and you can decide with your family, what about it? But if you decide to stay, go right back to duty, hear me? The last thing I want is a fellow soldier who has its mind elsewhere.¡± ¨C He chuckled looking at the boy, proud for the sheepkin to worry so much about family. The easing stress in Polis¡¯ eyes was interrupted, though. For a brief moment, a shock electrified his entire body, a creeping fear almost freezing his bones. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sir--!¡± ¨C He pointed behind Korfield, where a tiny dark hand appeared over the wall. The older watchguard turned, the creature had just finished climbing and was now standing over the battlements. With its black eyes, green skin, twisted face, long ears, slim body, and short stature, the monsterkin was just as surprised as Korfield when their eyes met. The old guard quickly unsheathed his sword, the goblin following by drawing its dagger, but it was too late, the goblin found itself without its head in one swift move. Its tiny body tumbled down, still twitching as it slid on the stone and fell back to outside the wall. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What was that??¡± ¨C The boy said, his sword also drawn. Korfield looked to the sides, but there were no more enemies in sight. He firmly stepped forward to check for any more intruders, and slowly looked down the straight wall. The boy could only stay still, his legs stiff as if they were solid pieces of wood. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There¡¯s nothing.¡± ¨C He saw only the carved stone and the green body still falling, its separated head going down the two-hundred-meters wall along with it. ¨C ¡°Was that a rogue goblin?¡± But it wasn¡¯t. One arrow suddenly reached the guard¡¯s back, seven others followed in a hail, all hitting their target in a spinning move and piercing the armor. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°SIR!!¡± ¨C Polis turned his sword over at the ballista cabin¡¯s roof, where four other goblins stood with bows on their hands and quivers at their backs. ¨C Are we being invaded? Is this an invasion?? The boy stepped back, his eyes bulging in shock, he could only look at the agile goblins readying more arrows to point at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°FIRE WALL!!¡± ¨C The injured guard slid his finger in the air and a wall of flames rose at the corner of the roof, forcing some of the goblins to step back by the burns, a few arrows coming past through and bouncing against the floor. ¨C ¡°Polis, ring the bell! Warn everyone!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°B-But-¡° - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-GO! NOW! This is an order!¡± Polis almost tripped to dash under the flames and entered the ballista cabin, going to the right and disappearing from sight. Korfield saw himself alone, for his relief. He wouldn¡¯t need to worry about protecting others, he could go all out. - - - - - - - - - - - - Now, you bastards¡­ Let¡¯s see how many of you I can kill. ¨C ¡°Overshield!¡± A yellow light grew from each protective plate, projecting beyond the metal and wielding itself with each segment. The brightness solidified, fully covering his body with a magic shield molded over his armor and buckler. Like a shining knight of flaming electricity, he bolted forward. Two blind arrows came from within the flames and broke on the ground, completely missing the advancing watchguard. Ignoring the pain in his back, he jumped with a twist of his foot, his right boot flashing blue as his heavy body was launched up in the air. As soon as he passed through the firewall, he was given sight of six goblins, two launching arrows against the flames and the other four looking down at the city, they didn¡¯t have time to notice the murderous guard hovering above. - - - - - - - - - - - - There you are. ¨C ¡°Wind blades!¡± Layers of wind imitated its blade just a few centimeters in parallel, and in a single swoop, the six goblins were cut in half even before his feet landed. After checking that his foes were moving no more, he stared at the ballista''s back rail, seeing Polis almost tripping on each step as he ran far towards the second wall of the citadel. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Keep going, boy.¡± ¨C He turned back to face more newcomers climbing the walls. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll buy time.¡± However, his roof was not the only one being invaded, but the entire wall from both sides. His face turned stern. His privileged view allowed him to see the other guards amid hordes everywhere he looked, but for some reason, the watchguards weren¡¯t reacting against the full-out goblin invasion, it was as if only he could see invisible enemies. Korfield pointed his sword forward, readying himself to battle, but his vision doubled and blurred out, his strength diminishing as quickly as his arm turned numb. His eyes briefly widened with a realization. - - - - - - - - - - - - Poison. His sight drifted down, seeing goblins who had just finished climbing near the cabin to run towards the same path Polis had gone to. - - - - - - - - - - - - I need to stop them. ¨C He turned back to intercept them, his torso twisting towards it but his legs refused to lift one more step. His mind shook, its logic fading together with the tumbling of his legs. His body fell flat on the stone roof, completely immobilized by the eight poisoned arrows stuck at his back, his magic armor fading away by the lack of focus. The bell rang muffled in the background, and with it, a weak smile formed on the fallen knight. - - - - - - - - - - - - You did it, boy¡­ you made it. The goblins advanced, more arrows hitting the immobile guard, daggers descended to strike him, short swords and hatchets followed into his limbs, his torso, and then his head. Blood splattered everywhere, drenching the invaders in red. When they were finished, the true sight of war came to view, blooded barbarians glaring at the city they would now pillage. The small demons continued their assault, more arriving from the walls in waves. The alarm bell echoing in the entire city, warning the hell to come. - - - - - - - - - - - - - The doors opened, a room full of controls over many stone tables came to view, magic screens showing information from all over the Citadel. An old man in a black military uniform marched in, his boots echoing against the smooth dark floor, white buttons closing the middle front of his clothes, and a high collar covering his neck. Golden and silver badges of honor filled the yellow-framed shoulder pads, his thick grey mustache above his mouth, and a big silver-blue star over the cap that covered his old hair, showing not only his experience but also his position of power. The General of Nepaty Citadel¡¯s Watchguard had just arrived at the command center. In front of him, a beastkin jolted to a salutation, shooting her hand straight towards her temple, her round glasses scrapped around her big round lowered ears of an oversized light-brown meerkat. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Commander! The goblins are overwhelming us! From south to north, they are invading us from all sides.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ve heard.¡± ¨C His gravelly and stern voice startled the meerkatkin to embarrassment. ¨C ¡°Ready the second floor¡¯s ballistas, we¡¯ll bomb them.¡± She quickly sat back in her chair and turned to the controls, but stopped just before pressing the signal sender. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The ballistas? But-- Our men are still holding the line, many are injured and can¡¯t retreat.¡± The commander stared at her with disapproval and disgust. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, we need to forfeit the first district, we lost it when the attack came without you noticing it. Sacrifice them.¡± The meerkatkin looked down at her trembling fingers, despair overtaking her. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°B-But¡­ my family lives there¡­ I--¡­ I--¡± The General¡¯s patience ran out, he cut his way to the controller and clicked the button himself. - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°All units in the first district! Ballista Bombardment will follow in sixty seconds, embrace for impact.¡± ¨C His finger released the button. ¨C ¡°If you don¡¯t want your family to die then shoot the damn ballistas, people had time to evacuate. If your family is between the soldiers¡­ then hope for the best. You do what you can, they will do the same.¡± She lifted her chin to look at the General, still shocked by the order, but she gulped and accepted it. She clicked on the button beside where the commander had pressed, closed her eyes, and telepathically sent orders to all forces to prepare the weapons on the second floor. - The ballistas soon pointed downwards to the surface of the first district. They gradually loaded its energy, the body of the bolt gathering energy from the environment and condensing it like a hot oozing liquid metal going down a pipe, the daylight becoming dimmer as the red brightness at its end grew, hovering in the air as the tip of its giant bolt. In two seconds of preparation, the energy stopped at its peak and suddenly shot forward, dividing itself in a hail of deadly rays and exploding on the city at light speed. Goblins and watchguard alike evaporated to nothingness on impact. The ever so proud wrought citadel of stone had its streets, houses, and walls obliterated by countless craters, its wreckage dropping to the floor with the rising cloud of dust. Whatever, it wasn¡¯t enough, the horde of goblins continued to advance, entering the houses to take cover and killing whoever might be hiding within. The ballistas charged once more and another valley of rays pursued any living beings in their range of sight, ally or foe, blowing all to smithereens. But before the ballistas could charge for a third valley, their cabins exploded. Small wyverns came into sight, their bodies suddenly fading into existence in mid-air, trolls riding at their back and throwing bombs below. Everything was destroyed in a coordinated attack. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Multiple mounted wyverns sighted all around the city, sir.¡± ¨C A male meerkatkin reported on the side. ¨C ¡°Our systems couldn¡¯t detect their invisibility.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell? Pull back the third ballistas! Ready them for aerial defense.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sir¡­¡± ¨C The beastkin girl leading the controls said in shock. ¨C ¡°they are destroying them.¡± The screen showed the third floor¡¯s green dots to snuffle out, blinking red before turning grey. - - - - - - - - - - - - They advanced that far? ¨C ¡°What about the fourth floor? All units shoot at first sight. Lift the Flying Rays post haste!¡± The meerkatkin pressed the button and sent the order. - The fourth roll of ballistas already pointed upwards when groups of wyverns came from below their walls, flying close to the ground and shooting piercing bolts against the infantry patrols nearby, while explosive arrows blew against the ballista¡¯s intricate mechanisms. Some didn¡¯t break on the first wave, but the offensive continued in returning circles and soon enough all green dots on the map turned red. - - - - - - - - - - - - - We had fewer men at the higher levels to protect against low-flight attacks, they used that to their advantage¡­ The general¡¯s gloved hand clenched tight. - - - - - - - - - - - - If I have them pointing downwards, they will come from above. But if we take them out of their cabins to counter it, they will come from below. They are abusing our defensive faults in close combat. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Multiple ground units sighted, sir,¡± ¨C the side meerkatkin reported. ¨C ¡°Ogres and orcs are advancing through the gates.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And why the hell are the gates not closed yet?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can¡¯t turn them off,¡± ¨C she exclaimed in disbelief. ¨C ¡°They are messing with it somehow.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Did they cut the signal? An inside job? Use all channels there are!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, they are reaching the gates, but it won¡¯t trigger. It¡¯s like it¡¯s stuck, we''ve never seen this before.¡± - Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The giant ogres and armored orcs passed through the giant portal, teleporting from the stone plains outside to the wide streets within. Trolls riding giant lizards dispersed throughout the narrow streets or over the destroyed houses on the first floor of the city, while the main march continued to walk toward the next portal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°None of the gates are responding to our commands, all we can do is close its physical barriers, but they are breaking them through.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - What? How is that? There¡¯s no way they had time to manipulate every gate without us noticing. Were we betrayed? ¨C The general examined the team of beastkins in the control room with his eyes. ¨C Mind controlling? Blackmail? Hostage leverage? A trickster¡¯s illusion, perhaps? Or maybe they are using the frame of our gates to make their own?... No, none of that is possible¡­ He looked down, suddenly sensing what was out of place. - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What kind of monster do you have in your ranks that can disturb structural magic?¡± ¨C The General turned to glare over his shoulder, his irises glowing emerald. ¨C ¡°Third Shadow Commander?¡± The darkelf stood unimpressed, his flaming orange eyes piercing from the shadows behind. His dark cloak entailed grey dragon-like scales hiding most of his body as he left stealth mode, reality bending itself for his body to exist in the same space-time as his target. His red hair under the dark hood and a silver gridded gasmask covered the lower half of his face. [ Coreas Hytake, 3rd commander of the Shadow Army (PWR: 93015) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Monster?¡± ¨C His masked breathing was slow and cold like his words. ¨C ¡°I don¡¯t like the term. We are all equal. Thinking beings, beasts, monsters¡­ we are all creations of Tacika. But what would I expect of an old man who lived his entire life in prejudice?¡± The old commander chuckled in a jeer, fully turning to face the newcomer as the beastkins in the control room despaired in the background. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Stop babbling, your idealistic morals don¡¯t hold valid when your army kills thousands of innocents as we speak. This is war, this always was war, you¡¯re just playing along with it like I am.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Comparing yourself with me?... Disgusting. We¡¯ll see about that. When everything is done. Your spirit will bear witness to your sins.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh? My spirit, ey?¡± ¨C The general cracked his knuckles, his white gloves frictioning against each other with blue sparkles. ¨C ¡°You¡¯ll see I¡¯m not easy prey. If you beg for mercy I might free you from being an experimental rat for the rest of your life, and kill you on the spot.¡± The darkelf stepped forward, never changing his cold stare. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But you are.¡± ¨C His breath came out of the gasmask as purple mist. ¨C ¡°All creatures are easy prey to my power. No matter how grand you may be.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - The district bells rang incessantly in the atmosphere, the houses in rubble, the streets filled with dust and scattered corpses of both people and monsters. Few were left, all fighting with their last ounces of strength, vainly trying to hold a never stopping army. And between the chaos was the watchguard Polis, hiding within a back alley and looking through the gaps of his helmet at the enemy army marching on the main street. - - - - - - - - - - - - How I¡¯m going to cross this? Different from the soldiers he saw dying on his way, Polis could only think of one thing, reaching his family to escape the city. The first district had been overrun, that was obvious. He had heard that all civilians would be evacuated, but the risk of his little brother or his mother being stuck in a rough situation was not worth leaving unchecked. So before reaching this place, he had already checked his house, but found nothing. The place was leveled down, only rubble was left of what he once called home since childhood. He searched within the wreckage and yelled to see if anyone was below, but it was silent, the dust and broken stones too numerous and heavy to discern if anyone was dead below. The only thing he could do was hope his mother wasn¡¯t there when the bombardment hit. Without much time left, Polis wanted to head toward a news-journal center where his younger brother works. The most likely place he would be at the time of the invasion, if he wasn¡¯t doing a field job, that is. But again, there were no safe routes, the place was near the first wall and on the other side of the main road from his house. Exactly where the enemy''s main forces were marching through. - - - - - - - - - - - - Should I evacuate? If I go back to the second wall I might contour and get to the other side, maybe I could even search if my family has evacuated once I¡¯m there. But he had no time. Going back now, especially by moving in stealth, would cost him valuable minutes that could be spent to save his family. If any of them was out there on the battlefield for that long, they wouldn¡¯t make it. The only choice is to cross the main street right here and now. Polis had already set his mind, his silver armor taking cover behind sacks of food and wooden crates. Some of the marching soldiers did look to the side at him, but because he remained completely still they guessed the soldier was already dead and didn¡¯t pay much mind. The only strategy he could think of was to climb a nearby roof and use the Dash skill on his boots to jump over from one side to the other. The problem, whatever, was that he would expose himself the moment he went climbing, maybe he could use the dash of one foot to jump over and his other to cross the street, but would one be enough to make it to the other side? Probably not. Jesus, even if he used both there would be a margin of error, the main street is large, large enough for three of those giant one-eyed ogres to walk side by side on their march. There was no hope, but he had to try. It¡¯s risky, but it¡¯s not like evacuating now would be easy either. But as if it was fate, the path in front of him cleared. The marching army had reached its end tail and he could see with no obstructions, the alley on the other side of the street bringing him back the hope he needed. Polis¡¯ eyes shined, it was his chance, and so he stepped forth without thinking twice. First, he glanced to his right, at the back of all the soldiers in the march, seeing that his enemies weren¡¯t paying attention to him, and then he looked to his left. That¡¯s when he stopped. His legs turned stiff like wood. That wasn¡¯t the end of the march, but a space within it. A second segment followed right behind it, all its soldiers looking at him in surprise. But that wasn¡¯t what made his skin crawl. What were the hundreds of orcs, thousands of goblins, or the sky-reaching ogres, when a true monster was in front of him? He could only stare, his eyes wide in shock as his blood frosted. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, one just came running in front of us!¡± The she-demon looked down at him, a surprised expression coming from below her thick black horns curling to the sky at the corners of her forehead. Her body was muscular and three meters tall, her skin a bit redder than the common white-pink, and her red short hair contrasted with the grey stones of the destroyed battlefield surrounding her. With her halt, the march stopped. - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Is he planning on fighting me?¡± ¨C A smile opened on her face. ¨C ¡°Such courage!¡± ¨C she said gleefully. ¨C ¡°How can I refuse?! For his city to be attacked and bravely target me?! You, honorable warrior. What is your name?¡± But the sheepkin boy couldn¡¯t speak, actually, he never heard what she said to begin with. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry, that¡¯s rude of me. I should give my name first.¡± ¨C She pierced her giant sword against the stone ground, making it stand vertically on its own. ¨C ¡°I am Eraet, second commander of the Shadow Army. What¡¯s yours?¡± Polis couldn¡¯t answer even if he wanted to, all his senses were telling him to get out of there, so much in fact, that his rational mind ran out of the reality in front of him, trying to silence all his senses the best as it could. All his focus was on the red weapon the she-demon had stuck on the ground. It was bigger than her, so wide that you first would think it was a flat pillar before guessing it to be a sword, and more than that, it was moving. The red sword¡¯s metal was like flesh, a bright red with veins and muscles, pulsating as if it had a heart within, inflating as if it was breathing. It was a nightmare made true. That¡­ was a true monster. - Since he was born, Polis had a special skill no one else could comprehend, the ability to feel colors emanating from the environment. Ranging from black to white and all the rainbow in between, he was able to sense how anything was by them. The color was their mood, their volume was how strong they were, and their movement showed how the energy was being used. He tried to hide it from others, people saw him as a weirdo or someone to be feared, comments of displeasure and jealousy always followed his back once his secret came out. But instead of what the majority may think, seeing such energy wasn¡¯t a feature, but a curse, one which his body strained to withstand. He doesn¡¯t only see the auras, he feels it tingling under his skin, senses its temperature in the air, hears the sound of their cracklings. And it never stops. No matter how much he closed his eyes, covered his ears, hid his skin, or how far he went, it was always there, thousands and hundreds and millions, if not billions of auras. All sizzling in the air, moving, dispersing, burning, and painting the sky around each living creature or object. That¡¯s what made it unbearable. He tried his best to manage it, cutting the white noise and ignoring its scent. He got used to it. But this time was different. No matter how much he tried to cut it down, he couldn¡¯t. The flames he saw were burning everything around him, the heat drenching the streets as the red waves burst against the walls, the sound deafening his eardrums as the pressure weighted on his shoulders like boulders. Whatever was in front of him, was something worse than a monster. A creature that should never be encountered, so powerful that it shouldn¡¯t even exist. That woman who held the giant red sword made of metallic flesh. She is in a league of her own. An unbeatable demon god. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hmmm¡­ what¡¯s up with him? I thought he came here to fight, but he didn¡¯t move a finger until now.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I believe he froze out of fear, my Lady.¡± ¨C A skeleton in black spiked armor and flames rising from his head steps forth at her side, his sullen voice being of a calculating man. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s not uncommon for weak races to die from emotional shock.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Die!? Is he dead?¡± ¨C She looks with worry at the frozen knight. ¨C ¡°Uh? But my sword says he is alive¡­ so why he came here? To stand there like an idiot?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­Perhaps it realized how insignificant his life was, and now is waiting for your mercy.¡± The giant she-demon waited for a couple more seconds, but after realizing the soldier wouldn¡¯t move, she sighs in a tantrum of displeasure. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°When I thought this invasion was going to get at least a little bit interesting¡­ What a disappointment.¡± ¨C Eraet¡¯s long ears quiver and she turns to look at her sword. ¨C ¡°Hmm¡­ Is he one of that race I need to eat?¡± The skeleton turns his skull to her, and then at the boy under the armor. His empty eyes never wavering from a heartbeat or the need of breathing. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, my Lady. That¡¯s a sheepkin, what you seek is a meerkatkin.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ohhh¡­ and what are those again?¡± The skeleton hesitates to answer. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They are¡­¡± ¨C He sighs. - ¡°I¡¯m sure lord Coreas captured one, you¡¯ll see for yourself then.¡± But the ground suddenly explodes with wind, interrupting their talk. They both look forth to see Polis sliding away, his right foot shining with blue magic before activating his left boot¡¯s Dash. Before they could move, the sheepkin entered the next alley and went out of sight. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And now he¡¯s gone.¡± ¨C The she-demon takes her sword back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Let us resume the march, my Lady. The invasion needs to continue.¡± The skeleton calmly resumes his walk, but soon realizes that Eraet didn¡¯t follow. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°My Lady¡­?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You can guide the army. I¡¯ll pursue that knight.¡± The flames surrounding the skeleton¡¯s head rise in a flinch. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t sidetrack.¡± ¨C His soulless eyes follow his commander to move toward the alley. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s just a sheep boy, too weak to present any threat to you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But I have to get him¡­¡± ¨C She stares over her shoulder, a smile creeping under her predatory gaze. ¨C ¡°He has something I need.¡± Her giant stature steps into the narrow alley, her broad shoulders almost sliding against the walls as she advances in the darkness, the army resuming the march behind her. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Polis hadn¡¯t time to breathe. He ran and ran, and kept on running. Every time the skills on his boots refreshed, he used to propel himself away. He never saw Eraet on his escape, but his body could only relax after being far away from that city. But first, he had to find his family. His body was in overload, the auras of parallel alleys and streets rising and burning through the stone walls as he moved swiftly in the city. There were only a couple of times in which he had to wait for the mounted trolls and their giant lizards to pass so he could resume his sprint, the great majority of times he preferred to circle to search for another path. His legs were tired but too agitated to remain still. When he arrived at the news-journal center he was relieved to find nobody, there was no blood to be found, only many holes through the walls. Polis then retraced what his younger brother could have gone to, quickly remembering that some spots of the city had bunkers for protection on the way to the second district. Those were his next targets. He dashed through and hoped to find nobody. There were three spots he could be hiding on. The first bunker was completely wiped out, though there were no corpses to be found and little blood inside, Polis considered that whoever was here ran away, so to the next. The second bunker had its underground ceiling open. This time, not even a sign of blood within the wreckage, this bunker wasn¡¯t even used in the first place, it got hit by a ballista strike before anyone could enter it. And then the third bunker. There were no holes, no blood near it, only corpses of fallen guards laying across the street. Part of him hoped to not find anyone when he knocked. Whatever, the echo made noises other than the blunt metal of the door. There were people in there but they were too afraid to come out. Polis looked to the sides, checking if there was any enemy nearby. The streets were clear, the attack was advancing through the next floors of the citadel, so it should have fewer invaders in the residential areas of the first district now. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m from the watchguard.¡± ¨C the sheepkin whispered through the door. ¨C ¡°There are no enemies around, let me in.¡± He could sense the hesitation and murmurs inside, they were too skeptical to move. But a more courageous voice of a woman came muffled from the other side. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How an orc would pass through as a watchguard? Don¡¯t be stupid,¡± ¨C she said clearly angry with the others, and soon, the door¡¯s locks open. From the other side, a woman with a serious face wearing glasses and secretary¡¯s clothes peeks from the chain-locked door. Polis lifts the visor of his helmet with nervous eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, great. Another sheepkin.¡± ¨C The woman said with disdain, closing the door again and unlocking the thick chains that remained so it fully opens this time. The sheepkin woman glares behind the knight, double-checking if he is alone. ¨C ¡°I thought the watchguard was trying to rescue us, but it''s just another one trying to hide.¡± Polis steps in, his legs still trembling from the anxiety. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m not staying. I¡¯m looking for my brother.¡± The door closes and the woman starts to lock it again, but stops mid-way before turning to the newcomer. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Not staying? What do you mean?¡± Polis didn¡¯t care to respond, instead, he took off his helmet and glanced at the sheepkin inside, one by one. They all were of his race, light-grey hair, curled small white horns, and cowardly eyes. They were seated in the corners of the rectangle rooms, some still afraid that the soldier was some hidden enemy disguising itself, the mothers protecting their children, the elders looking away, and the stronger and braver ones glaring at him with bottled-in anger. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You are from the watchguard, right?¡± ¨C One adult sheepkin asked rhetorically. ¨C ¡°What were you doing? You were supposed to protect us! Why weren¡¯t you watching the walls? You let them come in and kill us all! You are all useless! Damn useless!¡± But Polis was too much in a state of shock to sympathize, he simply ignored the babbling and kept on glancing at everyone¡¯s faces. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You-- Don¡¯t you ignore me!¡± ¨C The same adult sheepkin followed Polis¡¯ rushed steps, but quickly loses the courage and halts. ¨C ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? If you just did your jobs we would have more time to evacuate! You¡¯re a sheepkin too!! You didn¡¯t think of the people in the first district? You knew it was coming! You used us to hold the first waves! I know you did!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shut up.¡± ¨C The woman said in the background. ¨C ¡°Sit down already. Like leashing off your anger in one soldier is going to bring anyone back. Calm yourself.¡± The secretary hurriedly reaches Polis before he stepped into the third room. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± ¨C She asked trying to be cohesive. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°My little brother.¡± ¨C His shaking eyes search everyone¡¯s faces, needing time to examine closer the ones who had hoods on. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°His name¡­?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasahrin, he¡¯s sheepkin, short with small horns.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Everyone is a sheepkin here.¡± ¨C She said with some annoyance. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s Kai Tasahrin?¡± Polis immediately stops. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s him. You know him?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m keeping track of everyone¡¯s names.¡± ¨C She analyzes Polis¡¯ trembling body with hesitation. ¨C ¡°Follow me¡­¡± They go through two more rooms, reaching what appears to be a kitchen of some sort, though now it only serves to be crowded with people sitting all over the floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There.¡± ¨C She pointed at the far corner, where a young adult with curled hair hugs his legs statically. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah!¡± ¨C Polis dashes at him. ¨C ¡°There you are!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°H-Huh¡­?¡± ¨C His shocked eyes need some time to realize the one standing in front of him. ¨C ¡°Polis? What-- What are you--.¡± Tears came to his eyes, hope growing back just enough for him to jolt back to his feet and hug his armored brother. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I thought--¡± ¨C Tasahrin sobs uncontrollably, having difficulty to talk. ¨C ¡°I thought I would never see you again.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s alright now. But we need to get out. The cities are under attack, the watchguard won¡¯t stand a chance. We are leaving the citadel once we find our mother.¡± The younger sheepkin couldn¡¯t muster one more word, his hug getting tighter with the growing fear. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, wait¡­¡± ¨C The secretary-looking woman behind him came closer. ¨C ¡°You are leaving Nepaty? How?¡± Tasahrin separates the hug to look at his brother, unsure if leaving the bunker is the best choice. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We¡¯ll go through the underground streets the merchants use, it should lead far out of the citadel, then we will head east.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The underground¡­ I see, it makes sense, but¡­¡± ¨C the woman thought to herself. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s go, Tasah.¡± ¨C Polis pulls his younger brother¡¯s hand. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait¡­ Brother¡­¡± ¨C He complained, though he doesn¡¯t give much resistance. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s really okay to leave? Shouldn¡¯t we wait?¡± Polis¡¯ eyes sharply turn to his brother, his bloodshot gaze instantly freezing the younger sheepkin. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There¡¯s no chance of victory, they have-- they have too many. And something else¡­ on their side. But it¡¯s going to be okay, Tasah. Don¡¯t you remember that I can see better than other people? I can protect you, don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let you get hurt.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So you are going to leave the rest of us?¡± ¨C the woman asked defiantly with her arms crossed, but she is completely ignored. ¨C ¡°I thought your duty was to protect everyone, why did you join the watchguard? For the money?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m here to--!¡± ¨C Polis snapped, but he quickly calms down and continues to walk away. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m protecting my family.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We too have families.¡± ¨C She talked back firmly. ¨C ¡°Don¡¯t you have any sympathy? If it''s not someone you care about, then they should rot dead?¡± Polis doesn¡¯t give her any more attention, heading to the exit of the bunker in a hurry. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I thought our people were better than that. We are cowards, not cold-blooded killers. But I guess the watchguard¡¯s corruption takes a toll on everybody.¡± - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The watchguard is not corrupt!¡± ¨C Polis snarled, stopping at the first steps of the stairs to the door out. ¨C ¡°Not all of them. There were good people too! People who died fighting.¡± ¨C He strides back to poke a finger at the woman¡¯s shoulder. ¨C ¡°Do you know how many have died? The ones of the first district were weak, but even so, they fought until the end to protect their home! And you say they were corrupt!? That we are cowards?! Take those words back!!¡± The secretary didn¡¯t express any emotions, instead, she uncrosses her arms with ease as if she was expecting such a reaction. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then prove it¡­¡± ¨C Her seriousness challenged him. ¨C ¡°There are two hundred and fourteen lives inside this bunker. Help them. They also have families, they too are people worth protecting. They are all humble workers, parents, retirees, students, all innocent people. They are too weak to protect themselves. But you have more experience, had training. As a watchguard, you should save as many lives as you can, isn¡¯t that what they teach you?... They need your help. Someone needs to lead them.¡± ¨C Her eyes waver. ¨C ¡°Please¡­¡± If that wasn¡¯t enough to convince him, his little brother¡¯s crying eyes are. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Please¡­ Brother¡­ I-- I don¡¯t want to leave these people to die.¡± Polis grits his teeth and briefly tilted his head with uneasiness, afraid he will come to regret his decision. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Make everyone ready. We are leaving now.¡± - - - - V1 - C22 | Council of War VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 22 - COUNCIL OF WAR - It¡¯s like before. I¡¯m in the void. The fish-like creatures swim below me in a race as if their lives were at stake. But at this moment¡­ I¡¯m awake. I can turn around, see my own hands, and observe the blue blurs below me. The thick water makes it hard to see, but it¡¯s impossible to miss the occurring event. I float above a blue luminescent ocean. Or better, a river goes from one horizon to the other in a quick flow. It¡¯s impressive as it is massive, unimaginable to tell. Follow its direction until the end and there lay a sphere, a blue sun. Its threads flow in all directions like cotton stray yarns of a star. I can¡¯t breathe. I don¡¯t need to breathe. Nor I can feel myself, my hands go through my chest as if I¡¯m but a specter. I don¡¯t feel anything. - - - - - - - - - - - - Am I a ghost? Though I don¡¯t remember dying, I do not remember living either. My memories are a haze of a distant dream. The more time I spend in comfort, the less I am of myself. Strange. It¡¯s like the ocean was me from the start. What I see is not the universe, but my body. No, that¡¯s not it. It¡¯s my world. It¡¯s my house. My life. Everything I should know and what I will know. All condensed in a sea of light. - - - - - - - - - - - I open my eyes. Confused as to what is happening, I remain still as if spears were threatening to pierce me if I move an inch. ???:- - - - - - ¡°Oh, thank Jesus, he¡¯s alive!¡± My tired eyes turn to the person in front of me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell.¡± Curled white hair, coiled horns, and scared eyes¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - Why is a sheep talking to me?... Is this life after death?... Do angels have wool for hair? A veiled blond woman comes into the picture, peeking her blue eyes at the corner of my vision. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, that¡¯s more like it. A servant of God. Is she the one to take my soul? ???: - - - - - ¡°Hey, you alright?¡± ¨C She asks with a very masculine voice. - - - - - - - - - - - - Huh? What the fuck. Vute:- - - - - ¡°You passed out, like, for a while. I thought you would disappear or something.¡± I lift my back from where I¡¯m sitting. I¡¯m in the middle of the dirt street, the short stone fence behind me. Only now, I realize that Vute was the one talking behind the worrying Priestess. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How long I was out?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°About¡­ five minutes at most?¡± I touch my forehead with the palm of my hand, my mind still dizzies to recollect its rationality. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It felt like a lifetime. Damn.¡± ¨C They help me to get up. ¨C ¡°What happened?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°From what I heard, you used a spell on everyone. Whatever was blocking the healing magic was gone the moment you did it. Now the sheepkin are all recovered.¡± I look at my status bars. [HP: 3710/3710] [EN: 1952/3680] Memories of the enormous cooldowns come back to my mind, as well as the sudden floating flocks of cyan energy all over the place. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see... The Status Nullification.¡± Vute:- - - - -¡°So, it¡¯s true?¡± ¡°I guess. But to think it would happen on that scale¡­ I should have been more careful.¡± A big smile comes to Vute¡¯s face and before I could raise my guard, he hugs me. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Thank you. Really, thank you very much.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the heck are you doing?? I just woke up, don¡¯t kill me!¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry, hahaha!¡± ¨C He separates the bear hug and gazes at me with a proud smile. ¨C ¡°I was having my doubts about you being a Hero, I must admit. But to think you had Holy Magic. I knew your strength wasn¡¯t to fight, it is to cure everyone!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Err¡­ hahaha, you got me~.¡± ¨C I look away embarrassed to argue. ¨C ¡°That¡¯s one of my true powers.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°But you are feeling well, right?¡± ¨C He taps my arms and shoulders, certifying if I¡¯m in pain or strong enough to stand. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I am, don¡¯t need to bury me to the ground now. I¡¯ll fully recover in a few minutes, but I¡¯m fine.¡± Vute:- - - - -¡°Good. We were about to start the gathering when all of that happened. By the way, are you still up for it? You can let this one out, tomorrow we can let you in on everything. I¡¯m sure everyone will understand.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­Huh, this soon?¡± Damn, I wish I could prepare a little. I don¡¯t have a minute''s break. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I said I¡¯m fine.¡± ¨C I sigh tiredly. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡± - Some wolfkins were still helping and guarding the plaza, but the great majority were sent to sleep and rest by Vute¡¯s orders during the time I was unconscious. Guni also verified the surroundings and checked where our new visitors came from, no one appeared to have followed them. Some sheepkin still lay below the medical tents but they sleep peacefully with no injuries to be seen. To think that something this crazy would happen, I still don¡¯t understand it. Did the skill bug somehow? Why did it come out so strong? The range of my Skill Resonance is about two meters and a half, if I remember it right. But the entire village¡­ did someone buff me or something? Or maybe there¡¯s some amplification magic in the structure of this village? What a pain¡­ now I need to worry about using any skills from now on. I can¡¯t get myself out of energy like this in the middle of a fight. I need to know what the hell is going on. My life depends on it. But this also is true for what happened during that citadel invasion. I need to get to the bottom of it if I want any of my plans to work out. Even if I''m still feeling a bit dizzy, I can¡¯t sit this reunion out. - Though I thought Vute was more of a dumb guy, he looks to have taken his full-time responsibility as chief of security seriously. After the downfall of Nate, his personality flipped to a point that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he candidates himself to be the next leader of the village. Vute organized everyone, greeted and welcomed them one by one with a smile, and when everyone had a seat, he firmly walked forth with a couple of rolled giant papers below his arm, double-checked with a confident gaze if everyone was ready, took a long breath out, and then started it. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I appreciate everyone¡¯s presence, I know it¡¯s late but the matter is too important to leave it untouched for another day. I¡¯ll try to make it as brief as possible, so let''s bring only the most important and give our initial thoughts and ideas, tomorrow we can discuss everything in detail. Okay? Okay, let¡¯s start the council.¡± There are eight people seated around the head of the T-table, me included. I didn¡¯t waste time and had my Divine Vision on to peek at everyone¡¯s names. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s first introduce ourselves.¡± ¨C He looks at the three sheepkin on the other side of the table. ¨C ¡°My name is Vute, I¡¯m chief of security. There¡¯s no need to be formal with me, I¡¯m just acting as this table¡¯s organizer.¡± [ Vute Difivi (Level 82) ] stands in front of his chair at the top center of the T-table. Peje:- - - - - ¡°I am the counselor and elder of this village.¡± ¨C He bows slightly towards the sheepkin. ¨C ¡°Peje Hade, you can call me Peje.¡± [ Peje Hade (Level 91) ] seats on the organizer¡¯s left side. Following it in a clockwise motion, I promptly understand it¡¯s my turn to present myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You can call me Strider. I¡¯m just a passing-by Hero.¡± {For those who forgot:}[ DArkstrider (Level 75) ] I lay my back on the wooden chair as I¡¯m used to with my gaming chair, preparing my stamina for a long reunion. Tasah:- - ¡°A Hero?!¡± ¨C The young adult sheepkin with curly light-grey hair widens his eyes. He¡¯s seated at my left in the rightmost chair below the top line of the T-shaped table. ¨C ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry. I thought they were all gone, I didn¡¯t see any of them in the past days.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, they are. There¡¯s about a handful of us left now.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - If one of my theories is right, that is. For all I know, there¡¯s only me and Willrus walking around. Tasah:- - ¡°I-I see¡­¡± ¨C He lowers his head in sadness, but soon realizes he has forgotten something. ¨C ¡°Ah! A-a-and my name is Kai Tasahrin, b-but you can call me Tasah!¡± [ Kai Tasahrin (Level 40) ] his cheeks blush red, needing to lower his gaze to his clenching hands to avoid the stern stares. Cotys:- - - ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, I said he could leave this one out, but he pushed me. He¡¯s just a newspaper journalist.¡± ¨C He looks at everyone as if explaining an annoyance. He¡¯s a bulky old sheepkin with thick horns and his grey hair giving way to a bald spot over his head. Tasah:- - - ¡°I-I-I want to be useful. I-I¡¯m not strong, and I¡¯m too clumsy to help with the injured. A-All I can do is inform everyone of what is happening here.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Your job doesn¡¯t matter anymore, we are in a state of emergency,¡± ¨C he scolds him with a hint of frustration. ¨C ¡°The best you can do is rest and help whenever you can tomorrow, you¡¯ll just get in the way if you deprive yourself of sleep. I can answer anyone¡¯s questions when we are done here.¡± Tasah looks apprehensive as he thinks hard about it. Tasah:- - ¡°I¡­ want to do this.¡± The older sheepkin sighs in disappointment. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Let him be.¡± ¨C I shrug. ¨C ¡°If he wants to do that, you shouldn¡¯t force him not to, unless strictly necessary. Spreading information is also important, especially in a crisis.¡± Tasah¡¯s eyes shine with confidence by hearing my words. Cotys:- - - ¡°Whatever.¡± ¨C He looks at me with a chill coming down his spine, remembering the crazy person who grabbed him by the collar the minute he arrived in the village, me. ¨C ¡°I am the acting leader of the evacuated group of Nepaty Citadel, you may call me Cotys.¡± [ Mewa Cotys (Level 33) ] even by wearing borrowed clothes of the wolfkin, he overflows with a bureaucratic entrepreneur¡¯s aura. Nejeka: ¡°And I am Nejeka Kadu.¡± ¨C She straightens her glasses, seated below the left side of the T-table¡¯s top line. ¨C ¡°Nice to meet you all, I¡¯m here to bring light to our people¡¯s necessities and to be sure all get their due attention.¡± ¨C It was quick, but I notice her giving a glance of contempt toward Cotys. [ Nejeka Kadu (Level 57) ] Even if most sheepkin have curled light-grey hair, her¡¯s is long and straight, though slightly messy by the lack of proper care. - - - - - - - - - - - - I wonder why she¡¯s higher level than the other two¡­ Cotys is the older one, but at the lowest level, so gaining experience probably depends on what you do¡­ huh, interesting¡­ maybe she is a fighter behind that secretary persona. Apaw:- - - ¡°I am Apaw, the leader¡¯s son and a hunter,¡± ¨C he deadpanned. ¨C ¡°Pleasure to meet you.¡± [ Pilaj Apaw (Level 88) ] The teenage goth wannabe stayed at the rightmost seat from my perspective. I almost didn¡¯t notice he was there, his father was blocking him completely. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Leader of Debeta.¡± ¨C He puts his cuffed hands over the table. ¨C ¡°Sir Nate for you.¡± Well, someone was pissed. [ Benipe Nate (Level 134) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - Holy¡­ shit¡­ one hundred and thirty-four. He¡¯s almost at Willrus¡¯ level. That¡¯s something to not play around with. And laying at the wall behind him, the wolf-head man stares attentively at any abrupt moves his inmate could do. [ Guni Dijegu (Level 100) ] At the table¡¯s tail, a few wolfkins stay as observers in the background, not worth the effort of memorizing their names, I turn my Divine Vision off and all the nametags disappear. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Okay¡­ now that the introductions are over. Let¡¯s take an overview of what happened.¡± Vute places two big rolls over the table and proceeded to unroll them, one drawing showing the nearby geography and the other below being of the kingdom¡¯s overall map in better quality. The map laying on top has a few villages and a couple of big cities marked with their names written on top, a few drawings and annotations mark points of interest or dangerous areas, probably made by the wolfkins themselves. The village is situated in what reminds me of a horn in the Gonkdim¡¯s northeast boundaries, a small one compared to the whole kingdom. Nepaty Citadel is at the horn¡¯s base in the north, while the second big city, Paradis Lomoroi, is southwest of it. Within the horned area, there are a total of nine villages, ours being at the furthest east. Glancing at the hidden bigger map, Gonkdim¡¯s overall shape is like a deformed rectangle, having its boundaries wrinkled by nature. At north, there are the Piter Mountains and the Midlands, extending from one side to the other of the country map, separating us from the Noire kingdom above. For me, Noire is just a different server in the game, but for them, it¡¯s depicted as another country entirely. Which makes sense, since SFO does have some game mechanics of merchandise trading and kingdom wars between the servers. Then at east and south of our position, there¡¯s an enormous crossed-out area demarked as the Plagued Territory. Also being the old Gonkdim¡¯s territory. From what I can tell, the geographic horn is an attempt of the kingdom to retake what was lost, though I don¡¯t know why they would choose to start from the mountain¡¯s side instead of the ocean¡¯s coast in the south. Perhaps it¡¯s because of oceanic monsters'' threat? Not that the mountains are free of dangers either. I guess both places would be hard to conquer and maintain so it wouldn¡¯t make much difference from where they would start expanding. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Nepaty Citadel was attacked three days ago and decimated, according to you guys.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°Not according to us, it¡¯s a fact.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I just want to confirm it, are you completely sure that everyone was wiped out? Or at least driven out of the city?¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°Yes, it¡¯s completely destroyed,¡± ¨C he answers annoyed. ¨C ¡°There was no way we could win.¡± But Vute doesn¡¯t take it for granted and stares at the other two sheepkin. Nejeka: ¡°It was indeed alarming. The Watchguard had not seen it coming, it was like the entire army suddenly appeared at the gates and began their invasion. I doubt they could have defended it. For being driven out of the city, I do not know, we escaped, but I think it was pure luck.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°It-It wasn¡¯t luck! My brother was the one who gave the idea.¡± ¨C He turns to Vute to explain. ¨C ¡°He was part of the Watchguard and he knew of an underground merchant pathway out of the city, it-it¡¯s not that popular and the gate is smaller and more protected to help against bandits, so few people would think of evacuating there.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°How many?¡± ¨C the wolfkin leader¡¯s rasping voice startles the young sheepkin. Tasah:- - - ¡°A-Ahm? Excuse me?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°How many were attacking you?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°I-I d-don¡¯t know--" Cotys:- - - ¡°About one hundred thousand,¡± ¨C the old sheep gives it away without much thought. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible,¡± ¨C I scoff, opening a smile at the bad joke. But everyone remained silent with morbid expressions on their faces. Vute:- - - - - ¡°It could be the Shadow Army¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So they would have that many? That¡¯s crazy. Are you sure you¡¯re not exaggerating?¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°I¡¯m not. I would even risk saying more than that, but I rounded it down.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - Rounded it down?? I know that invasions have a lot of enemies, but not that many. Sometimes it could go over tens of thousands when done in waves, but to go even beyond that? No computer would be able to handle it, not even those tough super-computers the devs use in their servers. Nejeka: ¡°The Shadow Army was joining forces with many factions lately, to think they had such impressive numbers, is indeed something to worry about,¡± ¨C the secretary says with professionalism. ¨C ¡°Their attack was overwhelming, we didn¡¯t have a chance. Especially after the Heroes went missing all of the sudden.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hey, don¡¯t look at me, it¡¯s not my fault that happened. I don¡¯t know what is going on myself.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°M-Maybe it was part of their plan?¡± ¨C Tasah points out, but nobody follows his logic. ¨C ¡°They wiped out the heroes and now they are wiping out the rest.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - The Shadow Army is the reason why the servers closed? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Why is that, Strider?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Hmm¡­. Should I tell them? that it would impossible for NPCs to control servers? Nah, I don¡¯t think they will get it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure nobody in¡­ your world, would be able to banish all heroes at once.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°¡¯Pretty sure¡¯?¡± ¨C the old sheepkin jeers. ¨C ¡°I think you¡¯re in denial.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, trust me. There¡¯s no way that happened.¡± I can only open a smirk at Cotys frowning in anger. Vute:- - - - - ¡°We won¡¯t be discussing everything in depth, but if it is a possibility we won¡¯t discard it.¡± ¨C He writes it in a small notebook. I shrug in response. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s consider that the city was conquered, then.¡± ¨C Vute encircles the city on the map with a red marker and crosses an X over it, faint magic particles briefly floating from the paint. ¨C ¡°Would there be a reason for them to invade there?¡± ¨C He waits, but nobody responds. ¨C ¡°Maybe why now? Or since when they were planning this?¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. But everyone remains silent. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Vute, you¡¯re overwhelming them with open questions.¡± ¨C The wolfkin Elder says with his eyes closed, his arms resting over the table, and his chin over his hands. ¨C ¡°Ask one at a time, start with something that can be answered with a yes or no.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Thank you, Elder. I¡¯ll make a different question.¡± ¨C He thinks for a couple of seconds. ¨C ¡°Was there any commotion, or a¡­ what¡¯s the right word?-- Any movement of the enemy around the city before the invasion happened? Like unnatural sights or rumors between adventurers?¡± The three sheepkin stop to think. Tasah:- - - - ¡°I¡¯m sure the only thing we knew of was the Shadow Army¡¯s alliances with the other banished races, but¡­¡± ¨C the young sheepkin tries to remember the headlines of his work¡¯s newspapers. Cotys:- - - - ¡°Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Not that would lead to their attacks, at least.¡± Apaw:- - - - ¡°But something that was not related happened?¡± ¨C the leader¡¯s son says out of the blue, I had even forgotten he was there. Cotys:- - - - ¡°Hmm¡­ nothing out of the ordinary.¡± Nejeka: ¡°Actually,¡± ¨C her voice cuts the discussion like a sharp knife. ¨C ¡°After the heroes disappeared there was an abnormal increase in criminal activities. It looked like they were pillaging what they could and left the city to escape the watchguards. Perhaps they knew the invasion was coming and ran with what they could grab.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°Or¡­ they saw the opportunity that the heroes were gone, risked it, but couldn¡¯t handle the guards¡¯ persecution.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°We will take what Nejeka said as a possibility.¡± ¨C He says writing it down on his notes. ¨C ¡°Nothing else?... Okay¡­ during the invasion, how the attack went, from start to end.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°We said it already, they came and killed everyone.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Their units,¡± ¨C the leader growls in frustration. ¨C ¡°What were their formation, the squadrons'' arrival, and their equipment.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°Tch. How would I know? Do I look like a tactician or a weapon specialist to you?¡± Nejeka: ¡°While Goblins climbed the walls and wiped our defenses with short blades and arrows, they had the gates open with Ogres. Trolls mounted in Wild Giant Lizards with shields and spears cleaned the city with an army of heavy Orc infantry right after. At the same time, Trolls flew in Wyverns toward strategic objectives in the city with crossbows and bombs in diving waves. And there was also a massive number of armored Undead sieging the city from outside.¡± Everyone stared at the secretary with surprised faces. Nejeka: ¡°I need to be well informed of what happens in the city to do my job,¡± ¨C she explains without much care. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And what job is that again?¡± Nejeka: ¡°I¡¯m a merchant manager.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¨C I squint my eyes at her. ¨C ¡°Right¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - You¡¯re in my sight, secret vigilante lady. Nate:- - - - - ¡°It was a well-thought assault.¡± ¨C the scarred face says with amusement, giving the attackers some credit. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Right.¡± ¨C He finishes writing the report down. ¨C ¡°And then you fled by an underground merchant path?¡± Nejeka: ¡°That¡¯s right. The road went beyond their siege, so we had no problems escaping.¡± Vute¡¯s pen scrambles something, but before he could even finish, I ask about the true problem. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What made you come east?¡± ¨C My gaze automatically goes to the old sheepkin, making him instantly remember our close discussion when he first got into the village. ¨C ¡°Towards a more dangerous region? I¡¯m sure you would be way better off going the opposite way.¡± Cotys and the secretary are taken by surprise, both realizing that my argument is indeed valid. Cotys:- - - - ¡°I-I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¨C The big sheepkin looks away. ¨C ¡°We were running away, that¡¯s it. I didn¡¯t think to where, only to escape the bloodbath.¡± Nejeka: ¡°For what I know of, the watchguard advised us to go this way.¡± ¨C She looks focuslessly at the table, her black gloved hand at her mouth to think. ¨C ¡°But I cannot think of a reason. As you said, we would indeed be going to harsher lands.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - The guards of the city made them come this way? Why though? They didn¡¯t know the basic geography of their kingdom? That¡¯s highly unlikely. What reason would they do that, though?... Hmmmm¡­ There¡¯s only one reason I can think of. I sigh deeply with tiredness. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You guys were used as bait.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°What?¡± ¨C One hair drops from his baldness. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well¡­ it simply doesn¡¯t make any sense to send you this way, and I doubt it was a fluke, their only job is to protect you guys, after all. The only strategic value I can think of is using you guys to lure the enemy elsewhere, create an opening so they can escape by themselves. It¡¯s as simple as that, you were already dead in their eyes when they sent you away.¡± The sheepkins¡¯ expressions turn into thoughtful despair. Tasah:- - - ¡°T-That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s not possible. T-There¡¯s no way he did that!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Were you sent to a specific place to go? Maybe somewhere with stronger forces or a teleportation device?¡± Nejeka: ¡°¡­ No, we were only given a direction.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There you go.¡± ¨C I nonchalantly lift my left hand, giving the obvious. ¨C ¡°Mystery solved.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°M-My brother¡­¡± ¨C The young sheepkin raises his voice with tears in his eyes. ¨C ¡°My brother was the one who said to go this way. It was my brother¡­¡± ¨C His teeth clench, looking at me with animosity. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then your brother was the one who signed your deaths.¡± My face doesn¡¯t even flinch in doubt, that was just fact. The only logical conclusion there is. Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s enough, Strider-¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°-There¡¯s no way!!! He sacrificed himself! He died to give us a chance!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh! So he stayed behind?¡± ¨C I mock, my voice gradually increasing to match his anger. ¨C ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s just too coincidental? Why would he valiantly sacrifice himself to send you to the dragon¡¯s mouth? That¡¯s just a waste, isn¡¯t it?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°He was an honorable person!¡± ¨C He lifts from his chair and hits the table, his voice trembling with every word. ¨C ¡°There wasn¡¯t anybody with a better heart than him! He would never do that!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So can you think of another reason? Anything that could prove he was saving you!?¡± ¨C I stand to point at the table. ¨C ¡°Look at the map! Why in the fucking hell would he send you here when there¡¯s a village way closer than ours to the opposite side!?¡± My finger rests exactly at Dahameva Village, outside the map¡¯s horn region and deeper into the kingdom. Everyone looked at the both of us in hesitance, curious about the results of our discussion. For a moment Tasah has no words, completely in denial of the idea of having been betrayed. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s right. You can¡¯t think of anything, can you? In the end, you never knew who your brother really was like.¡± ¨C I stare at the shocked sheepkin looking downwards. ¨C ¡°He deceived you. Sent you to your deaths, and escaped to save his own sorry ass. The sooner you understand that, the sooner we will get this over with.¡± I fall back to my seat and breathe out heavily. Everyone stares at me, and then at the static sheepkin on the other side of the table. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Tasah, it¡¯s just a possibility.¡± ¨C the brown-haired wolfkin says with a soothing voice. ¨C ¡°Tomorrow we can think deeper into it, there¡¯s probably more to it, your brother-¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°-I¡¯ve just remembered something¡­¡± ¨C he whispers emotionlessly, slowly lifting his chin to look at me. ¨C ¡°When he found me¡­ he said that the cities were being attacked.¡± I frown, Tasah¡¯s voice becoming gradually more hopeful. Tasah:- - - ¡°I didn¡¯t pay attention until now¡­ but he said it in the plural. Not a ¡®city¡¯, but ¡®cities¡¯, as if more than one was being attacked at once.¡± I look at the map, the only other city there was Paradis Lomoroi, all the rest are villages, the closest big city besides those two was way east from there. Considering it took three days of walking for them to come to our village, then Nepaty to Kavikae Fortress would be more than a week. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But can the cities communicate over long distances?¡± Vute: - - - ¡°Every official placement has a Link Stone, well, all but ours and some within the advancing region, we are still building the village so the kingdom didn¡¯t provide it to us yet. So, it makes sense that if a city is attacked, the others around are notified of the invasion.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That changes things then. If they had the knowledge that more attacks were happening¡­¡± If not only Nepaty Citadel was attacked, but also Paradis or Kavikae¡­ their escape path would be blocked. If the three cities were being invaded, the village near at west would be in the middle of the fire. The only direction left to go would be¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Damn¡­ you did it. That is a good reason to clear your brother¡¯s name. If that¡¯s true, of course.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°I¡¯m certain of it, he said it in the plural.¡± ¨C He confidently stares at me, still a bit in shock and with dry tears on his cheeks. The room turns silent for a moment, everyone digesting the bomb of information. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Then it was a multiple coordinated attack,¡± ¨C the wolfkin leader states the obvious term, being even more impressed by his foe. Nejeka: ¡°If that¡¯s so, their army is way more numerous than I thought.¡± ¨C The secretary straightens her glasses as worried sweat had slid them down. ¨C ¡°Both Paradis Lomoroi and Kavikae Fortress are stronger and bigger than Nepaty Citadel. Our city is more focused on defenses, yes, but only to hold as long as we can until reinforcements arrive. It serves as a shield to notify the kingdom from an attack on their borders, our strongest forces are in the inner cities so they can have more range of movement. Before, the Heroes balanced the cities'' strengths as the higher level adventurers stayed at the outmost locations, but with their disappearance, the opening turned obvious.¡± Everyone looks at her intertwining her fingers together and nervously rubbing her thumbs at each other''s backs. Nejeka: ¡°But to think that they had enough forces to take more than one place in such an overwhelming way¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­the moment we disappeared¡­ the Shadow Army took their chance,¡± ¨C I mumble, seeing the logic from a new perspective. Cotys:- - - ¡°But why would they do that?¡± ¨C the bald sheepkin says still skeptical. ¨C ¡°Are they so pissed off that they want to wipe us all out? Even without the Heroes on our side, we still have the normal adventurers, the Watchguard, and don¡¯t forget the royal knights. This stunt of theirs only gave the kingdom an excuse to clean them out once and for all.¡± Nejeka: ¡°We might be stronger than them, but Gonkdim has many other threats to deal with. We do have peace treaties with our neighbors, but show them a weak spot and they will bite it. Our land is the most important as dungeons go for, so they see it as nothing more than a big piece of meat they would love to have on their dinner table. And on the inside, we still have a large number of active underworld guilds and rogue bandits that are powerful enough to go against our best knights, they are the worst parasites we could have.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - You don¡¯t tell, haha--. It¡¯s a good thing that my alt is following the ¡®right¡¯ path, if they saw the negative numbers on my main¡¯s reputation, sheesh. I glare over the map once more. - - - - - - - - - - - - But the bald geezer has a point, why would they do that? Attack all at once, cutting the escape line¡­ My eyes widen with a realization. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait¡­ wait a second¡­¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°What is it, Strider?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - My uneasiness from before, multiple attacks, an overwhelming army, the horn-shaped map. That¡¯s bad. Really, really, really bad. I start shaking my legs from the anxiety. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We need to get out of the village.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Huh?... What do you mean?¡± I sense everyone looking at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°This is all a pincer attack. They are forcing us against a wall.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Wall? What wall?¡± ¨C The old sheepkin looks confused at the map. ¨C ¡°The mountains?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ve seen this before. You dominate part of your enemy¡¯s rear and hold the main force while a second division cleanses the between army. It¡¯s like biting off a part of an enemy bigger than you, it¡¯s costly but worth it if a key objective is taken.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Ahm¡­ I don¡¯t follow.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They are cutting the horn off the rest of the kingdom.¡± ¨C I round the area with my finger. ¨C ¡°While part of their force keeps the front at the cities, another will finish the job, swipe throughout the entire place.¡± As my fingers slide through the rough paper, everyone begins to see what I mean, all nine villages eastmost from the kingdom will be engulfed by their coming army. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They will take whatever they are looking for, and kill whatever enemies they find in the way.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°¡­ That¡­ looks like a wild guess to me.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There would be no reason for them to do this so quickly, what would they gain by conquering this corner of the territory? They are in a haste to take something, and whatever that something is, is within the horn.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°So you are saying that they are targeting us?¡± ¨C Nate says it without looking at me, completely focused on the map¡¯s drawings. ¨C ¡°The cities'' invasions are but the setting for the hunting ground?¡± Nejeka: ¡°I think that¡¯s a stretch. The villages are nothing more than crumbs in the bigger perspective. Not wanting to disrespect the wolfkins, but your army force isn¡¯t something big enough to ¡®bite off¡¯ from, you¡¯re but a cleansing unit, more like a scout division.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But with the Link Stones, a village could call reinforcements¡­ they are doing this to trap us. Whatever they are looking for, it¡¯s something that can walk away and escape, or it¡¯s something they need to take their time to farm on, the only way for them to set a good territorial position is at the fortified cities.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°¡¯Farm¡¯? I think our Hero boy is starting to choke, someone hold him down before he fades out of existence like the rest of his kind.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m being serious. I played-- I¡¯ve seen this many times before. We need to evacuate from the village, try to pass through their lines, and join the main kingdom¡¯s forces.¡± Cotys sighs in frustration. Cotys:- - - ¡°You want us to walk towards the enemy¡­ because of a theory of yours?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If you really think you¡¯ll be safe between a Shadow Army invasion, and the Plague, then go ahead. Stay how much time you like in this paradise.¡± Cotys startles with uneasiness, only now realizing the dangerous flames surrounding him. Nate:- - - - - ¡°We can¡¯t evacuate the village,¡± ¨C Nate''s stern words cut the discussion in half, his cuffed hands resting heavily over the table. ¨C ¡°The wolfkins won¡¯t leave this place.¡± I lift both hands, not believing what I just heard. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And why the hell not?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Because¡­¡± ¨C He turns to stare directly into my eyes. ¨C ¡°This village serves to protect the kingdom¡¯s boundaries. We won¡¯t leave.¡± I roll my eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Good, I¡¯m surrounded by idiots.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°No fighting, you two.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You¡¯ll die. Nate. You and your people will die. And for what, huh? Why are you so tempted on killing the people around you?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°I am protecting my family. And I do not need to give my reasons for that. If it¡¯s for the best of everyone, I would -gladly-,¡± ¨C His handcuffs hit the table, making Guni tense. ¨C ¡°¡­push a damn Hero out of my house.¡± Nate relaxes and lays his back on the chair, Guni hesitantly returns to his guarding position behind him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Funny, it¡¯s like you can¡¯t even argue against what I say, you¡¯re just too arrogant to stop chewing your precious bone to agree with me. I guess whoever designed you did a good job, you really look like a damn dog.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough. If any of you two bicker each other one more time, I¡¯ll kick both of you out. Do you understand?¡± I hesitate to shrug. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure¡­ I was thinking that I could stay and try to help you guys out, but it looks like the best decision is to leave the hell out of this village while I can¡­¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Are you planning to leave? By yourself?¡± ¨C The old sheepkin looked at me with fearful eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°With them, apparently I won¡¯t. But I will, I¡¯m more than used to being alone, and this world is kind of the only thing I¡¯m good at.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Then, would you help to evacuate the sheepkin?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? Hmmm¡­¡­¡± ¨C I think about it for a couple of seconds. ¨C ¡°Nope.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Why is that?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The more people there are, the more problems I¡¯ll have, and-¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°-What a Hero you are.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And¡­ the less chance of passing through without being noticed. Not to put you to shame, but you¡¯re a fucking sheep, you guys are really weak compared to the wolfkins. They can at least hold their own in a chase, but for me to protect all of you? That would be suicide.¡± The room falls silent after my last word, the tense air cracking with everyone¡¯s own thoughts. - This reunion will decide their lives, that includes mine, anyone would be wary of the next thing to say or make a decision if put in this kind of situation. And it¡¯s in this uneasy atmosphere of hesitant conflicting ideas that one pops up by the pressure, cutting the silence with a deadpanned voice. - Apaw:- - - - ¡°It¡¯s because of Dirufe.¡± His father turns to him with anger. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Shut your mouth, boy!¡± ¨C He emanates murderous intent out of every pore of his body. But the boy ignores him. Apaw:- - - - ¡°Until she¡¯s found, my father won¡¯t accept leaving.¡± Cotys:- - - - ¡°¡­Dirufe? Who¡¯s that?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°No one for you to know,¡± ¨C he growls back. Even Vute sweats nervously at the name being brought up. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Vute? Who is Dirufe?¡± Vute glances at me for a moment, but breaks eye contact right after, hesitant to answer. But the son¡¯s leader beats him to it. Apaw:- - - -¡°She¡¯s my sister.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - That pink-haired girl? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°She¡¯s missing?¡± Apaw:- - - ¡°Since before today¡¯s commemoration feast.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Ahh¡­ I thought she was with her father¡­ but she wasn¡¯t there because she disappeared¡­? Nate:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you later, Apaw¡­ I told you to keep this between us.¡± Nejeka: ¡°Why is that a secret?¡± ¨C Her sharp nose quickly catches on where the scent is strong. ¨C ¡°Why is she so important to risk hundreds of lives?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°She¡¯s my daughter, should there be a stronger motive?¡± Nejeka: ¡°Perhaps, but why are you keeping this a secret?¡± ¨C Seeing that she wouldn¡¯t get an answer, she turns to the brown wolfkin. ¨C ¡°Vute, was it? What is your blood relationship with Nate?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I-I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m not related.¡± Nejeka¡¯s eyes only pierce him even further. Nejeka: ¡°Then why agree with that? Do you not know that many other children are at your mercy of protection? You¡¯re the chief of security, are you not?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°The wolfkin is a family! A big family! We take care of our children as if they were our own, all of us are in on it.¡± ¨C He glances at the wolfkins observing in the background, all nodding affirmatively. Nejeka: ¡°So the security isn¡¯t accounted for us sheepkin?¡± ¨C She never stops to stare at Vute, clearly realizing his body was the one giving in more information. ¨C ¡°Our children, our elderly, our sick¡­ our people¡­ are they not worthy of your protection?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°You are outsiders!¡± ¨C Nate snaps, standing from his chair to look down at her. ¨C ¡°Of course they aren¡¯t! Who do you people think you are!? We welcome you, treat your wounds, feed you, and you want more? We consider you as guests! We won¡¯t leave our home and abandon one of our own to safeguard outsiders!¡± The secretary finally turns to look up at the leader of the wolfkins. Nejeka: ¡°Then why are you standing your ground? If it is not for the protection of the kingdom, which you have clearly shown to not care for, why do you risk the lives of all your people.¡± ¨C That takes Nate for a loop. ¨C ¡°You have other children in your care, don¡¯t you? Why she¡¯s special? Don¡¯t you treat all children as your own? You don¡¯t need to answer that. But why you, Chief of Security? Why are you with him?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s¡­ All we ask for¡­ is to stay a little more. She just disappeared, for all we know she could¡¯ve been playing in the forest and just lost herself. We have the right, as the wolfkin village, to try finding her. That¡¯s the least you can allow us to do.¡± His heavy words appear to calm the offensive secretary¡¯s heart. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­ For every passing day¡­ the invasion comes closer. The window narrower.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°We understand that. But she¡¯s important to us¡­ as Nate said, she¡¯s like everyone¡¯s little daughter. She¡¯s too cherished for the wolfkins to lose without trying to find her first.¡± Willrus¡¯ words come back to me, of how he decided to return to that dungeon just to find a way back to his daughter. I might not have the same feeling about my family, but I can at least respect the intent. I sigh, a deep and long sigh. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Alright¡­ I agree with your point. And I¡¯ll help to search for her too. For a day or so. But be warned, if the tide hits, you¡¯ll all die, and I won¡¯t be here to see you fighting your last battle.¡± Nate only huffs and turns his face, probably angry that I¡¯m not leaving yet. Vute:- - - - - ¡°¡­Thank you, Strider.¡± Nejeka: ¡°Then it appears we sheepkin are left with no choices. We are at your mercy.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Hey, who are you calling the shots?¡± Nejeka: ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Maybe we could go alone?¡± Nejeka: ¡°Good luck.¡± Cotys:- - - ¡°Hah?!¡± Nejeka: ¡°Is that all for this gathering?¡± ¨C her sharp eyes turn to Vute. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m getting tired, I need to sleep.¡± Vute looks at his notes, mumbling line by line the questions he wanted to make and the notes he took. Vute:- - - - - ¡°¡­okay. It¡¯s good enough for today. So to end this council, I¡¯ll summarize our decisions, feel free to contest them¡­ We know that Nepaty was invaded, and most probably one or more cities as well. The sheepkin refugees will be in our care, and we will stay in our village. In case Strider¡¯s theory comes to fruition, we need to prepare for the worst. Another council will be held tomorrow, we¡¯ll go deeper into the decisions we can make about our current situation, I would appreciate it if all of you could participate in the next one too.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Neh¡­ I¡¯ll pass. I have more important things to do. Besides, you guys won¡¯t need me, I never was a good team tactician, I¡¯m more of a solo practician. I¡¯ll be looking at the surroundings, check the terrain, gather information. Things like that.¡± Vute nods slowly. Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s all right, and if you can¡­ don¡¯t tell anyone that Dirufe is missing, okay?¡± I lift an eyebrow at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure.¡± He looks at the journalist sheepkin next. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone.¡± - - - - - Interval 6 | Skills INTERVAL - 6 - SKILLS - Skills are special actions that cost Energy, preparations, or conditions to activate, generally using an element as a resource. They come in two different types: Passive, which is always active when possible; or Active, which is only used when the player prompts to. These abilities can be obtained by items, the character¡¯s skill tree, race, or character¡¯s type. Each sub-class has 24 abilities; while in-between sub-classes skills, which only appear in a class combo, have an additional 9 skills per intersection; and finally, when all three sub-classes are chosen, one ultimate ability is added at the center of the tree. Totalizing one hundred skills that a single character can have by the class tree. All paths on its tree can be upgraded, since every level after twenty adds one more skill token and there¡¯s no level limit. It¡¯s only required that each tree¡¯s floor height to be completed to rise at the tier above, having five floors in total. Intersections need for both originating class-tree skills to have their previous tier completed. And ultimate abilities need the first floor of all three classes to be fully upgraded to be unlocked. However, only a few chosen skills can be equipped at a time. Each character can have up to six passive class skills and six active class skills, one slot of each is unlocked every ten levels, being only possible to change the skill build whenever you¡¯re out of combat. Beyond those, you can have up to two additional skills, passive or active, per equipped item. It¡¯s possible to have: boots; gauntlets; a belt; pants; chest/full-body; cape; head wearables; and weapons, which can have two sets of abilities on each single-handed weapon. Some rare accessories can add skills but these types of items give debuffs on wearing, the majority being passive-only. The limitation on wearing them are to a maximum of: ten rings, three collars, two arm-related, two leg-related, one face-related, one eye-related, and two ear-related. Debuffs increase in value for each accessory being used in the same slot type.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. It¡¯s also possible to select one active and one passive common skills learned from skill scrolls, gained from other players, mobs, or NPCs. Plus each species, race, or type, have one to two divine skills by default. E.g.: Heroes have Divine Vision. - {To use activable skills, you must have the required conditions and click the assigned hotkey. It¡¯s important to note that: the more skills you have, the more buttons you¡¯ll need to remember to click, plus they might not combine well with each other. So, more skills do not necessarily mean better, keep in mind to have an effective use of your Energy and keep common-use skills for situations that might emerge.} - Creatures and NPCs also have skills, the amount of them depends on their species'' rarity strength and their current level. - - - - - - - - - - - - Common: up to 1 passive and 1 active - - - - - - - - - - - - Uncommon: up to 2 passives and 2 actives - - - - - - - - - - - - Rare: up to 3 passives and 3 actives - - - - - - - - - - - - Epic: up to 4 passives and 4 actives - - - - - - - - - - - - Legendary: up to 5 passives and 5 actives - - - - - - - - - - - - Unique: up to 6 passives and 6 actives - - - - - - - - - - - - {Bosses}: undetermined These values are capped by the level of such entity, including players, where every ten levels one skill slot of each type is unlocked. But even so, the entity not necessarily will use all of its available skill slots. - - - - V1 - C23 | Wake Up VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 23 - WAKE UP - The shadows twisted like flames on the ground, the evermoving darkness being separated by a casted light in the form of an open door. ???: - - - - - ¡°Little sheep, little sheep. Stop hiding already.¡± Heavy steps echoed from beyond the unseen walls. The black flames wavered more erratically when a silhouette came from one edge and contrasted at the center of the white light. Polis:- - - - - ¡°Tasah!? Why are you still here?¡± ¨C The silhouette flickered in fear. ¨C ¡°You need to go. Run away!¡± Behind it, a bigger darkness swallowed the standing silhouette and halted on its spot, big horns coming from the tip of its head, tall enough to reach the top edge of the door. ???: - - - - - ¡°There you are.¡± The shadow¡¯s head ripped open like a goo monster, light projecting and molding what resembled to be a laughing devil with an unmeasurable hunger overflowing from its melting mouth. Polis:- - - - - ¡°Tasah!¡± ¨C A sword is unsheathed sharply. ¨C ¡°Get out of here! RUN!!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - I wake up swiftly. My body sweats cold and my throat burns. Warm tears slide down my cheeks, it takes me a minute to realize what was going on. I was crying in my sleep, again. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s been more than three days¡­ since my brother died. I sit on my bed and look at the other sheepkins sleeping around me, there are about ten single beds spread near the walls. The only source of light dimly coming from the cracks of a nearby window, signaling that the night has passed already. - - - - - - - - - - - - And yet¡­ I¡¯m still crying over it. How weak can I be? I dry my eyes with my long sleeves as a pained smile grows on my face and the burning in my throat rises. - - - - - - - - - - - - My brother would be stronger-- He would be doing something about all of this, he wouldn¡¯t be waiting for everything to fix itself. But before my emotions got the best of me, a shadow passes through the only source of light and my attention shifts to it. Not too late after, another shadow goes by running on the other side of the window. ???: - - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go.¡± ¨C A stranger man¡¯s voice whispers in alarm. Then two more shadows follow. My skin crawls in panic and my hands shake as I grip the bed sheets. But the fluffy feeling of the cloth remembers me of where I am. For how long was I sleeping in the forest? For almost three days I rested in dirt and had only plants to cover my body from the cold. Now, I¡¯m back to sleeping comfortably with sheets white as snow. The quality is even better than my home¡¯s. - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯m in the wolfkin village. That¡¯s right. I calm myself but my body still stiffens to stand. I put on my shoes and fix my clothes. - - - - - - - - - - - - It should be safe, but it''s better to check what¡¯s going on. Before I head out, I look at one of the laying sheepkin, a woman sleeping with her body twisted all around, one hand over her head and the other reaching out of the bed, the sheets all wrinkled and wrapping up her legs individually as her mouth is half open and drooling. I almost let a chuckle out at the sight. How could someone so serious and competent like her look so silly while sleeping? I give a last glance at the secretary-looking glasses on the nightstand on her side before leaving the room. That eased my tense heart a bit. From the moment I got to the protective bunker at Nepaty to the gathering reunion yesterday, Nejeka was always helping everyone. How much stress was she going through I will never be able to imagine. She definitely deserves the rest. I get out of the building, the bright sunlight blinds me for a few seconds. But gradually, my eyes get used to it and the busy streets fade to view, the wolfkins are jogging all around with baskets or crates in their hands. Anyone would think that they are preparing some kind of a party, if we weren¡¯t in the state of emergency we find ourselves in, that is. But besides all the commotion, there are no alarming signs in sight, perhaps that¡¯s how their morning routine always is? They are just moving some things up and working. I take a moment to glance around, I never had the opportunity to appreciate the village in detail, especially in daylight. The wolfkins said before that the place is still under construction, but from what they did so far they could already say it is a small town of some sort. There are about a hundred or so houses all close together, made out of stone and good-quality wood, all with the same light and modern design. This feels way cozier and prettier than the squared buildings made of stone of Nepaty Citadel, even though it has fewer details, this feels more like a place for families to live in or travel to. Just by walking around and observing, my fingers twitch to write an article about how good-looking it all is. Though I doubt it can be called a vacation spot when placed so close to a dangerous region. The only building that contrasts with the overall pattern is the gathering place with the T-table where I was in yesterday. It looks like a pre-Nipanronjian church, with a darker grey rough stone, rounded edges, and thicker walls. It¡¯s still possible to see a few machicolations on the second or third floor that could be mistaken as protected windows, which are those elongations that extend the wall a little towards the outside, so people can attack anything below to prevent threats from climbing to the roof or break the wall, all while not exposing themselves. It¡¯s basically like a little castle of its own, probably used to shelter a small number of people from beast hordes back in the day. The bell tower above is another sign of that, to alarm them of a coming invasion. Though I doubt it would do much with today¡¯s magical beasts, especially when it seems to not be that well preserved. Now, it¡¯s just a gathering building for decision-making and relay reports, it seems. There¡¯s probably not even a protective enchantment. For such a building to continue standing after a couple of centuries, I wonder if there¡¯s a story behind it, or maybe a reason. But suddenly, something breaks my line of thought. A silhouette rises from the horizon over the church¡¯s roof, breaking the daylight coming from its back. It¡¯s a person in a dark cloak. My eyes widen when I realize that the person does not stop walking even after there¡¯s no roof left to step on, my entire body freezes with empathetic fear. Is he going to kill himself? But instead of falling, he suddenly disappears in an explosion of blue particles. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? Huh!?¡± My eyes widen even more at the scene. - - - - - - - - - - - - Am I going crazy? ???: - - - - - ¡°Good morning, Hero!¡± ¨C a man speaks behind me. I turn to the voice and at the corner of my eye, I see the silhouette that was on the roof now walking on the same street as me. ???: - - - - - ¡°Good morning~!¡± ¨C a woman beside the male wolfkin exclaims as well. Strider:- - ¡°Mornin¡¯.¡± ¨C The dark-cloaked hero waves back with a smile. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, that¡¯s the hero from before. The confusion on my face suddenly changes to a tint of anger. - - - - - - - - - - - - The one who said that my brother had betrayed me¡­ (Strider: ¡°Let him be,¡± ¨C he shrugged. ¨C ¡°¡­Spreading information is also important[¡­]¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - But again¡­ he did help me in the beginning¡­ and he did agree with me later on, as well. My feeling about him becomes a mix of admiration, jealousy, and embarrassing regret. - - - - - - - - - - - - Jeez, I was so angry that even my memories of what I said are still hazy. Why did I get so worked up around a Hero? Especially now of all times, when they become so rare? I just threw the chance to interview him out of the window if he gets important later on. I sigh with the utmost sadness. - - - - - - - - - - - - I should make up with him, I need to apologize. I should always act professionally, especially when the one forcing his attendance at the earlier reunion was me. I go a step forward, but I immediately stop. - - - - - - - - - - - - But should I really? Isn¡¯t it understandable to feel upset when someone points fingers at a member of their family for no good reason? It would be strange if I didn¡¯t protect my older brother! Besides, what if he only sees me as a weakling if I lowered myself? From what I know of heroes, they are an adventurous bunch, that likes strength and challenges. A weak apology might only get on his nerves, and he does look to be very impatient with the little interaction we had. What to do¡­? What to do¡­? I glance around, my lost eyes quickly regaining focus with a building frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait¡­ where is he? Yep, he isn¡¯t anywhere in sight anymore. - - - - - - - - - - - - Damn!! I just missed him! Should I search for him right away? No, what if he sees me as an annoyance? The first thing I do right after waking up is to see him? That¡¯s too clingy, I don¡¯t even know him! What is his name again? Oh no, did I forget!? What I¡¯m going to do with myself??? Wait, wait, it¡¯s on the tip of my tongue! It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s S¡­ S... S--something. Strider! That¡¯s it! That¡¯s right! *Strider*. What a weird name, it must be his working title or something. A few of the wolfkins around stare at my silly face after I had unconsciously hopped with happiness, I instantly feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment and I quiet myself down, the wolfkins look at me with some confusion and start giggling to each other. - - - - - - - - - - - - Okay¡­ I should head out. But before walking, I turn one last time to the church¡¯s roof, where another silhouette is against the sun. This time I squint my eyes so I can see who it is, it¡¯s the wolf-faced of the village, with beautiful black fur and in an unhooded cloak. He side-looks at me before walking back and disappearing on the horizontal edge. - - - - - - - - - - - - Were the Hero and that wolfkin talking with each other? Well, anyway, I should get moving, he was here not long ago, there¡¯s no way he has gone far. I turn and confidently stroll in the same direction I saw him last. ¡­ But no matter where I searched, or whom I did ask¡­ I couldn¡¯t find him. There were no clues at all to his whereabouts. ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Damn it! I completely lost him!¡± Did he leave the village? Or enter one of the houses? There¡¯s no way I can find him by knocking on everyone¡¯s door, much less if I searched in the forest. How can I find him, though? Do I wait until another gathering? No, he said he preferred to do things alone yesterday. What if he just left and won¡¯t ever come back? being a hero and all. Jesus, what do I do? What do I do? I hit the palm of my hand with my fist. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, wait. That¡¯s right! There was that wolf-head person, I need to find him. But how? I don¡¯t even know his name to begin with. Wait, I did see him at the gathering yesterday, he was just behind the leader, right? He¡¯s like his personal guard or something, but wasn¡¯t the leader in some kind of a strange situation? He was handcuffed, right? Or am I remembering it wrong? No, he was definitely handcuffed. I facepalm, my thumb and my middle finger massaging my temples to calm myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - But it isn¡¯t any good if I don¡¯t know how to find any of them. Someone yells an order in the background, and my attention quickly swifts to it. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh! Isn¡¯t that the one who was leading the discussion yesterday? He¡¯s like the chief of security or something, Vute if I¡¯m not mistaken. He probably knows something, right? I stride to the big brown wolfkin. Vute point somewhere to his men, he says something about crates and where each should go as he constantly double checked with a piece of paper in his hands. I slow my pace a bit to give him time to stop talking so he can see me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry, can I ask you something?¡± The tall and built wolfkin looks down at me, his serious expression suddenly changing into a warm smile. Vute:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re one of the sheepkin of the reunion yesterday. Is there something wrong? I hope you guys could rest peacefully.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong, thank you for worrying. I¡¯m just searching for a wolfkin, hmmm¡­ let¡¯s see¡­¡± ¨C I make two triangles by folding my fingers from my palm and raising them over my head. ¨C ¡°He has black fur and ears about this tall, his face is very fluffy too,¡± ¨C I change the position of my hands to the sides of my face like ¡°<¡± and ¡°>¡±, ¨C ¡°he¡¯s about this fluffy. I didn¡¯t see anyone like him, so I¡¯m not sure how to describe him.¡± Vute looks lost for a few seconds. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Fluffy¡­? I don¡¯t follow.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Earlier this morning, he was standing over the church-like building so he¡¯s probably very athletic. Ah, and he was also wearing a black cloak if that helps.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oh, are you talking about Guni?¡± ¨C he responds with amusement. ¨C ¡°Why do you want to meet him?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I want to talk with Strider about something, but first I need to know where he is. It looks like Guni was talking with him before he left, maybe he knows something since nobody noticed where the hero was going.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Hmm, I see. If you saw Guni with him, it was probably just a dismissal from the night watch duty.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah, so Strider keeps watch at this village?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Not really, this was his first time, I recommended him to rest but he pressed to volunteer, so we gave him the basic instructions and left him to it. Guni stayed awake as well, by the way, so it¡¯s not like we had a reason to refuse.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see, that¡¯s amazing.¡± So he stayed the whole night awake? That¡¯s impressive, or maybe his sleeping routine was like that already? Huh, at least now I know why they had their encounter earlier, both of them stayed guard at night. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t know Strider''s whereabouts though, he is more independent than most since he¡¯s not a resident and all, so I don¡¯t keep track. All I know is that nothing happened at night. If you really want to talk to Guni about it, I guess you could go to the village¡¯s prison, he stays there when it¡¯s day.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Prison!? Is he a condemned criminal or something?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°No, no.¡± ¨C he chuckles. ¨C ¡°He guards the place. It seems like he prefers the solitary ambient. Ah! And I ask of you to not be too pushy, if you see that he¡¯s getting nervous or something, try to ease things up or leave it at that. He¡¯s the type that doesn¡¯t like talking with people that much.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Got it! Thank you so much.¡± ¡­ With Guni¡¯s location at hand, I quickly marched to meet him. I was surprised to see the place was just behind the church, it¡¯s like my search went right back to where it started. The prison is outside the church¡¯s boundaries though, its building has a similar design as the other houses, but there are no wooden parts on the walls and its windows are barred with metal. It¡¯s almost unsettling that a prison would be so close to the center of the village. Its door was already open, I knocked a few times either way but nobody responded, so I invited myself in. I stepped with wariness, trying to make them as silent as I could out of fear, for some reason I felt something would jump on me at any second. The entrance hall is the size of a living room, with a few chairs and the main reception desk. I double-check the dreadly environment and stride forth as cold chills travel in my skin with each turn of my head until I arrive at a corridor. At its left, there is a room with a bunch of desks, while straight forward is a closed metal door, and at the right, there are the cells. First, I looked at the desks area, but I find it empty, so I headed to the opposite door to it. The cells host only four different graded rooms, by peeking my head in, I can easily see the black wolf-head Guni seating on a wooden chair near the opposite corner, facing a cell in front of him with his eyes closed. I knock on the door and my knuckles kind of hurt from hitting the thick metal. But instead of moving, the wolfkin stays still. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Guni?¡± With no response, I walk in towards him. Since I saw him, he hadn¡¯t moved a finger at all. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Guni?¡± I poke his shoulder. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Hm? What?¡± ¨C He responds with a grunt but doesn¡¯t open his only eye. ¨C ¡°What is it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I wanted to talk with you for a sec.¡± Guni¡¯s long snout sniffles the air. Guni:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re that boy from earlier. What is it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Uh?¡± ¨C I frown and wave my hand just in front of his closed eyes. ¨C ¡°Are you awake?¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°Since you trespassed the entrance.¡± ¨C He sighs, still with his eye closed. ¨C ¡°I was hoping you to go back once you saw me sleeping, but since you want me to wake up this badly, then I will answer you. What is it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh¡­ okay¡­ I want to know where Strider is.¡± Guni opens his eye to stare at me with a tired alert look. Guni:- - - - - ¡°He¡¯s missing?¡± ¨C His nose instantly begins to sniff the air. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, no, no.¡± ¨C I shake my head and hands. ¨C ¡°I mean¡­ I don¡¯t know, but¡­ that¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for, exactly.¡± Guni relaxes his eye and, with a displeased expression, he closes it again. Guni:- - - - - ¡°What is it then?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You talked to him before, right? when you dismissed him from duty. Vute told me. Did Strider say where he would go? I want to talk to him, but I couldn¡¯t find him anywhere.¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°Oh¡­ he¡¯s probably in the forest by now.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah¡­ Is he hunting for food?¡± Or maybe looking for that girl that is missing? Guni:- - - - - ¡°Huh? No, he did ask me about joining a hunting expedition, but I don¡¯t think it has anything to do with it. You see, there are no beasts nearby that area. He asked me about a place to train and test his skills, so I sent him to an old shooting range deep in the forest in the south. Nobody uses it anymore, but it should still be somewhat useful for those kinds of things.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, I see.¡± I guess that even a hero needs to practice and polish their skills. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then can you point out where exactly is it?¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°You¡¯re going after him?¡± ¨C He opens his eye one more time and analyzes me. ¨C ¡°Is it that important? I¡¯m sure that if you wait he¡¯ll be back before night.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I just want to talk to him, I don¡¯t want to forget about it later on.¡± Guni:- - - - - ¡°¡­ I see¡­ It¡¯s exiting this building, turn left and just follow the main road straight. There¡¯s a board near the forest telling it¡¯s south, then keep looking for an open field at your right, the arrow targets will give it away, its just a few minutes distant.¡± After taking the mental notes, I bow slightly to him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Thank you so much for the information.¡± Guni sighs tiredly. Guni:- - - - - ¡°And since you are going, I want you to check if he¡¯s alright for me. I would be doing that myself but I need to take all the time I can to rest now.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Why? Is something wrong?¡± Guni flinches and his gaze turns lost at the wall near him. Guni:- - - - - ¡°He didn¡¯t appear to be fully¡­ on his right mind. He did try to stay awake the whole night, so I think something went wrong with him. Well, how can I explain this¡­ when I woke him up over the church, he started saying some weird stuff, like not needing to sleep, take baths, eat, or¡­ well. He was being weird. I let him go since I was too tired to argue, but¡­ Ehrrr, I don¡¯t know. Just check if he¡¯s not passed out on the way or hallucinating.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± ¨C I blink rapidly with confusion. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll be going now, then. Have a nice day.¡± He looks at me one last time before closing his eyes and tilting his head to rest. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Sure.¡± ¨C he grunts. I stare at him for an extra second and I turn to the exit, but the cell in front clings from two metals colliding with themselves. Nate:- - - - - ¡°You shouldn¡¯t trust Heroes, boy.¡± I slowly turn to face the scarred wolfkin behind bars, anger dominating his gaze. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah- haha¡­¡± ¨C I go a step back but I hit a wall mid-way. ¨C ¡°You¡­ you are the leader, right?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s sir Nate to you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Right, Sir Nate. I-I¡¯m sorry for disturbing the both of you.¡± ¨C I bow twice and start fleeing to the exit with quick steps. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll be excusing myself!¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°The Heroes are not as good as you think! Before you know it, he will stab all of our backs, mark my words, Boy!¡± ¨C His voice echoes throughout the prison as I leave him behind. Guni:- - - - - ¡°Be silent, please. I need to sleep.¡± With heavy breathing, I stop to recover once I¡¯m back on the streets. - - - - - - - - - - - - That was scary. Both of them are scary. Why does such a fluffy thing have such a deep voice and an eyepatch? And their leader, what in the hell happened for him to have that huge scar on his face and, let¡¯s not forget, why is he in a prison cell? Did he kill someone? He totally looks like the type to kill someone. - O-kay¡­ one more step completed, now all that¡¯s left is to find Strider. And so, I follow Guni¡¯s directions and I finally leave the village. For a moment I feel like this is a bad idea. What if I find a monster? I don¡¯t know how to fight, I don¡¯t know how to run even. Guni did say that it was close by but¡­ you never know. Anyway¡­ one step after the other, and I will reach it. After about five to ten minutes of walking, I finally reach what looks to be a training ground, a small dirt road trails towards its insides a little deeper into the forest, and at the distance, there¡¯s a small field with wooden boards nailed into the surrounding brown trees. - - - - - - - - - - - - There he is! A smile comes to my face as I carefully watch him right in the middle of the circular open field, but instead of practicing like I was imagining he would be doing, he¡¯s just standing without doing anything. His back is faced to me, so I can¡¯t see where he¡¯s looking at exactly, but his finger point close to him just in front of him. He hums something and mumbles a few words that I can¡¯t hear. I cut the distance by stealthily moving from one tree to the other. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly drops one of his daggers and starts spinning it. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, is he going to train like those martial artists in those books!? But instead of dancing or jumping around, he simply looses the ribbon to widen its spinning, flames come out from its blade and the grass below ignites on the slight touch. Then suddenly, he releases the dagger and it flies down diagonally in the direction of a wooden board a dozen steps in front of him. Like a lightning strike in a whip, the dagger hits the target, cuts it in half, and an explosion bursts out. The ball of fire is so big that it instantly engulfs the tree whole and most of its leaves start burning. Strider:- - ¡°Oh, shit! That was too strong!¡± The Hero pulls back his dagger and spins it above his head to throw it again, but now instead of bursting with flames, the entire tree freezes with an even bigger mist. Strider:- - ¡°Fuck! Did I put it all out?¡± ¨C He steps to the sides to look for any fire spots. ¨C ¡°Ahh¡­ good. I almost put the entire forest in flames. The villagers would be pissed if that happened, I shouldn¡¯t be testing this with fire magic.¡± Without realizing it, my mouth is wide open in astonishment. - - - - - - - - - - - - What!?? How he did that? He¡¯s strong enough to make an entire tree burst into flames with a simple attack? I move even closer to the tree I¡¯m hiding in, so I can peek my head further as I forcefully close my mouth shut. - - - - - - - - - - - - I don¡¯t know much about skills, but this was probably impressive. That¡¯s a hero for you! Strider:- - ¡°But this really is a problem¡­¡± ¨C His voice gradually becomes more and more stern and quieter, making me need to peek closer to pick on what he¡¯s mumbling about. ¨C ¡°With only two attacks my energy--¡± A twig breaks below my feet. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh, crap! I hide as fast as I can. - - - - - - - - - - - - Damn it! Stupid feet! Why did you--!? I inhale and slowly exhale to calm myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s okay. This is a forest, twigs break all the time in a forest right? It¡¯s not a surprise seeing that there is even one in the fudging ground it seems! I slowly poke my head out again. First, comes the treeline near me, it gradually opens more as I begin to see the first wooden targets nailed over the trees with old arrows stuck in them, then the middle of the open field, and then¡­ the other side of the treeline. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait¡­ where is he? He disappeared! I blink my eyes twice to see if I was seeing right, I look at the low grass, then and the tree canopy, it¡¯s all empty! Suddenly I feel two fingers push against my face. Strider:- - ¡°If I shot you now, you¡¯d be dead.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Eh?? Shot me?¡± I turn with cold sweat sliding down my forehead, my cheeks being pressed even further by Strider¡¯s hand. Strider:- - ¡°What the hell are you doing? Are you a spy?¡± ¨C His golden eyes shine as he stares at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Spy?! I¡¯m not a spy! Seriously, I swear! I was just seeing what you were doing. Please don¡¯t hurt me!¡± He draws back his hand with his index and middle finger straight with the thumb raised upwards, an expression of doubt still on his face. Strider:- - ¡°How did you find me?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Guni said you were here, he said you were training.¡± I look fearfully at his hand still armed with whatever can ¡°shoot¡± me dead, not being able to stare at it though, I close my eyes and raise my hands in surrender. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You can ask him! Please don¡¯t shoot me!¡± Strider sighs in tiredness. Strider:- - ¡°Stop trembling, I know you¡¯re telling the truth. You are too damn weak to kill me, besides, you don¡¯t have any offensive skills to do the dirty work.¡± ¨C He sheathes the dagger in his left hand, one that only now I realize he had, his invisible hand weapon had robbed all my attention. ¨C ¡°What the hell do you want?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, skills?... How do you know?¡± Strider:- - ¡°I can see your level. And your skills if I touch you.¡± ¨C He made the invisible shooting weapon back in his hand and moved his thumb to clank it, making me flinch in panic. ¨C ¡°¡­It¡¯s not real, I can¡¯t kill you with my fingers alone, just relax dumbass.¡± But I can¡¯t stop shaking, I go a step back and keep an eye on his hands in case he brings it up again. Strider:- - ¡°So¡­ why are you here?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah!... you see¡­¡± ¨C My face burns with embarrassment. ¨C ¡°I just wanted to see you training,¡± ¨C I half lie. Strider:- - ¡°Huh? A creeper?¡± ¨C his eyes deepen in disdain. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No, I swear! It¡¯s not like that, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s just that I¡¯m too weak¡­ I- I wanted to get stronger to help the others.¡± Strider analyzes me from head to toe. Strider:- - ¡°You said something like that at the reunion yesterday.¡± ¨C He began to walk back to the training field. ¨C ¡°You shouldn¡¯t listen to that old geezer, do whatever the hell you want. You are a journalist, right? Just go looking for your next scoop to write or whatever.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I don¡¯t mean that, I want to be stronger to fight. I want to help protect everyone.¡± Strider halts. Strider:- - ¡°You, a sheepkin, want to fight?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I do.¡± He lifts his eyebrows and nods in amusement. Strider:- - ¡°Okay,¡± ¨C He turns to me with a sly smirk. ¨C ¡°let¡¯s do it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Do it?¡± ¨C I shake my head confused. ¨C ¡°Do what?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Let¡¯s train. You and me.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah? Right now? Here? Just like that?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Why not? You can¡¯t train just by observing. I mean, I guess you could, but it¡¯s not very effective I must say.¡± I look at the grass. - - - - - - - - - - - - He suddenly wants to train me? Even though all I said was a train of lies? Well, part of it was true, but¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¨C I nod slowly, pumping up my excitement. ¨C ¡°Okay. Okay! What do I need to do?¡± Strider breaks a leafless twig from one of the nearby trees, one that was thin but arm-long straight. Strider:- - ¡°Let¡¯s start with the basics.¡± ¨C He lashes the stick in the air to test it. ¨C ¡°Try to evade my attack, don¡¯t block it, evade. And no magic allowed.¡± He swings it a couple more times and when he sees that it was good enough, he grips it tightly with his right hand and points it at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay!... Right!¡± ¨C But my smile gradually becomes less cheered up. ¨C ¡°But¡­ what about my weapon?¡± Strider:- - ¡°You don¡¯t have one,¡± ¨C he deadpans. My bones instantly freeze in cold shock. Strider:- - ¡°This is the first lesson. Imagine that I¡¯m holding a sword, if you get hit once, you are dead. Read into my movements to evade, if you know where you can be hit that¡¯s half the way to it. On guard. When I move a step, it¡¯ll start.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°W-W-Wait, hold-hold on!... I-I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good--¡­.¡± ¨C I gulp. ¨C ¡°idea¡­¡± His cold stare analyzes me without flinching. - - - - - - - - - - - - He isn¡¯t going to change his mind now, is he? - - - - - V1 - C24 | Trigger Safety VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 24 - TRIGGER SAFETY - - - - - - - - - - - - - Is he really going to fight me? How am I supposed to win when he¡¯s the only one with a weapon?? Tension crackles in the air as Strider glares at my whole body with his tired eyes, it¡¯s been like that for a few seconds now, the both of us haven¡¯t moved an inch. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wasn¡¯t he the one who suggested training me? So why isn¡¯t he doing anything? Why didn¡¯t he explain what I¡¯m supposed to do? And why I¡¯m unarmed!?... Wait¡­ is this his way of punishing me? I shouldn¡¯t be creeping around so now he will beat me up and ¡°training¡± is the formal way of him saying that?? Oh, God, what have I put myself into? If you¡¯re going to do it, then stop looking at me like a predator hunting for its prey and just do it already!! As if on cue, Strider suddenly clicks his tongue in scorn. Strider:- - ¡°Tsk. You make this too easy¡­¡± ¨C He lifts his weapon at me, anger overflowing his aura. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m going to cut your head out.¡± He dashes forward in a burst, my eyes widen and both my hands rise to protect my face. His steps come closer and, suddenly, something hits the back of my ankle. The forest switches with the sky, and soon after, my back falls flat to the ground. Strider:- - ¡°You lost.¡± ¨C He taps under my chin with the twig. ¨C ¡°That was three seconds. That¡¯s how long you would have lived in a real fight.¡± He lifts his weapon and starts calmly walking away. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You--¡­ I-- You tricked me!¡± ¨C I stand up. ¨C ¡°You didn¡¯t use the sword, you kicked me!¡± He stops and turns to me with a poker face. Strider:- - ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a fast learner. Yeah, of course I tricked you. Are you a masochist? Do you want me to whack you with a stick?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°N-No, of course not!¡± Strider:- - ¡°Then don¡¯t complain about falling on the grass. Besides, real life won¡¯t treat you like a newbie when it hits, you should¡¯ve predicted I would attack from something besides the weapon I¡¯m holding.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But I thought you were the one teaching me! Why didn¡¯t you explain that? You¡¯re already stronger than me, don¡¯t I get a handicap?¡± He raises his eyebrows, a bit surprised by my tone. Strider:- - ¡°If you are not ready, you die. If you do a mistake, you die. Don¡¯t blame others for your lack of competence, that only gets in the way. We don¡¯t have the time nor the luxury to train conventionally. If you want to get it fast, you need to learn from experience. And the closer you are to the real thing, the faster you¡¯ll be ready for the real thing.¡± He stomps on his starting position. Strider:- - ¡°Now, get up. We are doing another round. I need to test you a little bit more.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But¡­ how can I fight you? There¡¯s no way. You¡¯re a hero, and I¡­ I am an unarmed sheepkin.¡± He sighs in annoyance, slowing down his pacing of words. Strider:- - ¡°Back when I was younger, I used to fight kids way bigger than me. Just because someone is stronger than you it doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t beat them. But your legs are too stiff, you get too nervous and your moves get stupid, that is what makes you truly weak. To win a fight you shouldn¡¯t only watch your enemy, you should know what you¡¯re made of too.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t get it.¡± He facepalms. Strider:- - ¡°Okay, new rule. If you trespass the treeline surrounding us, you win. That should make things easier, shouldn¡¯t it? There you go, your handicap.¡± The treelines, huh? They¡¯re about a couple of steps away, maybe more, but it¡¯s surely way further than him and me right now. I¡¯m not too good with measuring space by the naked eye, so about three to four times our distance? Maybe if I run for it at full speed I can make it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°O-Okay!¡± He points his wooden weapon like a one-handed sword at me. Strider:- - ¡°Ready? When I make a step, it¡¯ll start.¡± I think over all the information for a second time, then I nod in response. ¡­ One second passes, then another, and another. All he did was stare at me with intense focus, it''s like he was already fighting me in his mind and he would only start once he had flawlessly won. And then, at the apex of tension, he leaps forth. My fear overwhelms me to turn and I almost stumble to make one step. My eyes search for a way into the forest, but before I could go for my second step, the grass comes up and the world spins sideways. Strider:- - ¡°You lost.¡± ¨C he presses the stick against my left cheek, my head laying sideways on the ground. ¨C ¡°That makes three seconds, and a half.¡± He raises his weapon and retreats back to his starting position. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How--?¡± ¨C I mumble to myself. ¨C ¡°I didn¡¯t even feel it this time.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Go on, another round.¡± I look at him with a distant gaze. Strider:- - ¡°Get up already. We are doing this until you win at least once.¡± ¨C He points at the ground one step away from me. ¨C ¡°To your starting position.¡± I don¡¯t even argue and follow his order. - - - - - - - - - - - - Okay, I¡¯ll do it this time. I just got startled, I wasn¡¯t expecting him to move so suddenly, this time-- Strider steps forth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?!¡± His figure swiftly comes closer as I go two steps back. During the first two rounds, I wasn¡¯t paying much attention to how he did it, but now that my eyes are wide open and my hands are below my chin I can see him leaping forth, wavering slightly to the sides in each long step, first it¡¯s a bit to the right, then left, and repeat, moving almost like a lunging snake. - - - - - - - - - - - - I won¡¯t be able to run. I need to-- He jumps to my side, his cold stare locked at my body until it reaches the edges of his eyesockets, his weapon following suit below his other arm as it points backward, and in the next instant, he spins and I lose balance. ¡­ Strider:- - ¡°You lost.¡± I open my eyes to see the sky above me. Strider:- - ¡°That¡¯s an improvement.¡± ¨C He releases the pressure his twig had on my neck. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s four seconds now. Let¡¯s try one more round.¡± I watch him stepping out of my field of vision as my thoughts try to rewind what just happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I saw it.¡± ¨C A faint smile grows on my face as I sorely move to sit. Strider looks back from his starting position, tilting his head inquisitively toward me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I saw how you are doing it. You¡¯re jumping to my side and kicking my ankle, that¡¯s how you¡¯re making me fall.¡± He stays silent for a couple of seconds, but without much surprise in his voice, he ultimately responds. Strider:- - ¡°And what about it? Are you going to counter it?¡± ¨C He straightens himself, raising his weapon against me. ¨C ¡°Let¡¯s see you try, then.¡± With my legs still trembling, I stand up. Strider:- - ¡°Once I move, it¡¯ll start.¡± ¨C His face closes to seriousness as he builds his stance back up. ¡­ And once more, Strider didn¡¯t move immediately, he only stared at me, his focus somewhere around my neck and chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - I think I understand it now, he¡¯s not looking at me exactly, he¡¯s using his peripheral vision to see my entire body. He¡¯s not focusing on my eyes, hands, or legs. It¡¯s everything, he is sacrificing his focus to pay attention to the whole picture. I¡¯ve read it once, that some skilled fighters don¡¯t pay attention to what they see, instead, they use their mind to visualize the battle from the sky¡¯s view, building the terrain and their foes beyond what their vision has to offer. (Strider: ¡°¡­if you know where you can be hit that¡¯s half the way to it.¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - Is that what you were talking about? what you¡¯re teaching me? If I turn to the forest I won¡¯t be able to counter your moves, but if I only see you, I won¡¯t know where the forest is and my winning condition falls flat. I need to do both, that¡¯s what you want me to do, isn¡¯t it? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready,¡± ¨C I nod to myself. Strider doesn¡¯t flinch, his stare continuously fixated on me. The wind blows, rustling the leaves around us in a calming environment for a few seconds, and once it was over, complete silence falls between us. But not for long, as Strider¡¯s feet suddenly press the ground and he leaps forth. I try my best to overcome my trembling legs and I start jumping backward, trying to gain the most distance I can from him, but he doesn¡¯t stop, actually, it only makes him go faster, making my efforts seem useless. By imagining the distance from the treeline with my mind, taking my peripheral vision as a comparison, I quickly realize that I¡¯m not even close to my goal, I¡¯m only a few steps away from my starting point. Strider does his last leap and his entire figure goes to my right side, in the same way as before. But now, instead of being caught by surprise, I jump to my left, creating enough distance to see him turning his body, but instead of a missed kick, he simply twists his feet and leaps in my new direction. I try to repeat what I just did, but he¡¯s already at my right again, and before I can hop away, he strikes my ankle lifting in the air. I fall and roll on the grass with momentum, but that¡¯s when my eyes widen even more. - - - - - - - - - - - - Wait, I only lose if he touches me with the sword. If I roll to gain space I¡ª So, instead of stopping the rolling, I speed it up. My spinning vision allows me to look at a tree in the distance and go towards it, but something abruptly hits my back and pins me down, halting my movements completely as air forcefully leaves my lungs. Strider:- - ¡°You lost.¡± ¨C He says while stomping over me and pressing his made-up sword against my spine. ¨C ¡°That was actually good. Seven seconds, almost double the time. If we continue like this, we¡¯ll be over by the end of the day.¡± He immediately starts walking away and I lift myself to sit with my legs crossed. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Was that sarcasm?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Was it?¡± ¨C He shrugs. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Seriously? So I¡¯m not doing it right? How am I going to learn anything if you won¡¯t tell me what to do? I¡¯m trying to visualize the fight with my mind, but there¡¯s no way I can win with just that! You need to tell me more.¡± He stops and turns with a frown. Strider:- - ¡°Visualize? What are you talking about?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That I need to see both the forest I need to go to and my enemy to win? To imagine what is around me instead of seeing it with my eyes? Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯re trying to teach me?¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Strider frowns even more. Strider:- - ¡°I don¡¯t know what the fuck you¡¯re saying.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Heh??¡± Strider:- - ¡°All you need to do is win a duel, you have the handicap advantage of leaving by the treelines. If you want to visualize, or whatever the fuck, sure, since you win in the end.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Aren¡¯t you doing that same thing? So, why are you waiting so much to start? And why you¡¯re using your peripheral vision instead of focusing on a part of my body?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Peripheral vision? I didn¡¯t know you guys knew that word here¡­ huh, I guess you are right. But that¡¯s to not give away where I¡¯m looking at¡­ I think. You know, they won¡¯t know where you are going to hit them if you¡¯re not focusing on it. It¡¯s kind of something I learned when I was a kid, it became such a muscle memory that I don¡¯t even realize I¡¯m doing it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And all the waiting¡­?¡± Strider:- - ¡°That¡¯s just to throw you off, if you don¡¯t know when the fight will start, then I¡¯ll take you by surprise, even if you see me.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wah!¡± Scratch anything about fighting techniques! He¡¯s not following any books I¡¯ve read at all! It¡¯s just a bunch of cheating tricks!! - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then what are you trying to teach me??¡± He stops and looks at me with apprehension. Strider:- - ¡°I¡¯m teaching you how to respond.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Do you remember our first two rounds? The ones who you lost at three seconds?¡± I nod, still a bit confused as to what his point is. Strider:- - ¡°You couldn¡¯t move. Can you tell me why?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-- I don¡¯t know!¡± Strider:- - ¡°Come on, tell me the first thing that comes to mind.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Uhm¡­ It was-- It was because I was afraid?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Nah.¡± ¨C He shakes his head. ¨C ¡°Sure, fear is messing with you even now, but that isn¡¯t the source. You need to seek the deeper reason why you couldn¡¯t move your legs. Just think about it. What changed from the first round to our last?¡± Well, if there¡¯s an answer to that, and it isn¡¯t only fear¡­ then what would make me freeze before, but now I¡¯m able to at least hop around? (Strider: ¡°I¡¯m going to cut your head out.¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Was it¡­ death? I was afraid of dying?¡± Strider:- - ¡°If you were afraid of dying why would your body stay still? It doesn¡¯t make any sense, think harder.¡± It doesn¡¯t? So what else then? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-It¡¯s because¡­ my body doesn¡¯t know what to do, I-I¡¯m unsure if I¡¯m going to do the right thing.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Oh, so you don¡¯t move because you are afraid of making a mistake?¡± ¨C He nods affirmatively, before mocking. ¨C ¡°So you chose to not make a move at all?¡± Strider starts walking closer to me. Strider:- - ¡°You need to understand that your subconscious is as rational as your consciousness, it is even more logical actually. When something happens to you, your body learns from it, and when the conditions are met, it acts on instinct. It doesn¡¯t make loops or forget something in the line of thought. If you really were only afraid of making a mistake, then why don¡¯t you move? In a die-or-live situation, the only way of winning is by fighting or fleeing, if you negate your move then that¡¯s admitting defeat. So, what was it? Why were you freezing?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡­ I-I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know, alright! I¡¯m not smart like you to understand what my body is doing!¡± He crouches in front of me. Strider:- - ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯re weak, and you know that.¡± ¨C His glare pierces my skull. ¨C ¡°That¡¯s why your body doesn¡¯t even move. Independently of what you do, you¡¯ll die, that¡¯s what your subconscious is yelling at you, so why even bother spending energy? You¡¯re not afraid of making a mistake, it¡¯s just that you know you can¡¯t make the right move.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And¡­ so-- what should I do?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Start by learning, and then practice.¡± ¨C He stands and steps back. ¨C ¡°Of course you can¡¯t protect yourself when you never fought before. You don¡¯t know martial arts and you don¡¯t have experience with weapons.¡± ¨C He stares at me from above. ¨C ¡°If you want to fight, then do it. Stop thinking that you weren¡¯t made for it. When that barrier of self-distrust breaks and you level up, you¡¯ll realize that even right now, you can at least throw a punch or jump a fence to get away. Once you start moving, your body will understand that it¡¯s not worthless trying.¡± ¡­ My gaze slowly descends towards my trembling hands. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I think¡­ I understand it. You made a condition to force me to move because you saw that I wasn¡¯t wanting to learn to begin with, because deep down, I knew I couldn¡¯t do it.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Yeah¡­ that¡¯s half right.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Only half?¡± Strider:- - ¡°The truth is, I didn¡¯t make that condition because of it. Actually, I only realized that responding was your mistake after that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So it was pure coincidence??¡± Strider:- - ¡°I¡¯m not a genius at reading people, you know, it just became so obvious that it got unbearable. It didn¡¯t come to you even once that hitting me was an option, right? I even let myself open the entire time for you to take the chance. I thought you would see that I was cheating from the start and try to cheat on your own, like using a hidden weapon, break the rules and use magic, or at least do a pocket sand on me.¡± ¨C He looks at me with disdain before adding with a mumble: ¨C ¡°Though I would counter-attack any of those right after.¡± That¡¯s precisely why I wouldn¡¯t attack you! Strider:- - ¡°And only at our last round that you realized that being hit wasn¡¯t the end of the fight. What a shame.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°H-Hey! That was, what, our fifth bout or something!? How are you expecting me to learn these things so quickly?¡± Strider:- - ¡°That¡¯s true¡­ but unfortunately, we can¡¯t have our usual rounds anymore, now that I spoon-fed you with all my tricks and exposed your main faults. We need to speed things up.¡± He suddenly tosses me the twig he was carrying, it drops to my chest and I¡¯m almost able to grab it, but it falls on the grass floor in front of me. Strider:- - ¡°Just take it.¡± ¨C He sighs. I grab it and stand up with growing excitement. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, am I going to have a sword too?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Sure, but I¡¯ll be using my real weapons this time around.¡± ¨C He unsheathes both of his silver daggers and points them at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°H-Hah?!? What--!? Isn¡¯t this way worse than before????¡± Strider:- - ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t use any throwing techniques, so just worry if I get too close. Besides, even if I slit your throat wide open, I can stop the bleeding with my Status Nullification and heal you with a potion. So, go on, to your starting position.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Slit my throat wide open? Jesus. I wobbly go to the place I¡¯m supposed to. Strider:- - ¡°Oh, but you can use your skills now, don¡¯t be afraid to spend them, if your energy drops I¡¯ll give you a restoration potion. Also, having a stick should give you less energy cost and some accuracy, if I¡¯m not mistaken. So, you can go all out.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? Wait¡­¡± Strider:- - ¡°Asides from that, all rules remain. If you are hit once, it¡¯s over, and I still won¡¯t be using any skills. Once I make the first move, it¡¯ll start.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s something wrong. Didn¡¯t he tell me before? Why is he saying that I can use my skills? Doesn¡¯t he know? Wait¡­ is this¡­ another misreading?... Our discussion in the gathering yesterday, him almost igniting the forest on fire, and when he confessed to not knowing what my weak point was before giving the handicap¡­ Strider¡¯s cold eyes focuslessly look towards me like before, his face becoming numb to emotions as he prepares himself to fight. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait!¡± ¨C I shake my hands for him to stop. ¨C ¡°Wait, don¡¯t start it yet!¡± His sharp blades reflect the sunlight as they lower themselves. Strider:- - ¡°Uh? Why? Do you need to go to the bathroom?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What!? No!! That¡¯s not it! It¡¯s just that you said I can use skills, right?¡± He hesitates, glancing away to think twice about the question. Strider:- - ¡°Yeah, and¡­?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s because I don¡¯t have any skills. I can¡¯t use them because I don¡¯t have them.¡± Strider:- - ¡°What? Are you joking?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m not, seriously! I could never use a skill before, since I was a kid. I¡¯m some special case, all the other kids had their abilities awakened early on, even my brother and mother, but there isn¡¯t a trace of magic in me even after I became an adult.¡± Strider relaxes his stance, lowering his daggers completely. Strider:- - ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense. Are you saying this just to not fight me? You can drop out if you want to, I¡¯m not-¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-It¡¯s not that! Really. All the physicians I went to said the same thing, I simply don¡¯t have the aptitude for it.¡± Strider stops to think for a bit, and after some time he sheathes one of his daggers and walks to me. Strider:- - ¡°Give me your hand, I¡¯ll check your attributes.¡± I hesitantly raise it and he snatches it, his eyes glow yellow and he starts reading something invisible over my wrist. Strider:- - ¡°You have energy, and a class too. All your skills should be good¡­ Hmmm, is where you live in Nepaty crowded?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh--?¡± Strider:- - ¡°You live nearby a lot of people?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ahm, I do, it¡¯s a big city. The houses are all clustered together, the streets are way narrower than of this village.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Strange¡­ there shouldn¡¯t be anything blocking you. The only abnormality I see is that you have a special subclass when you have only two unlocked. But¡­¡± I look at his puzzled face and wait for him to explain, but he doesn¡¯t. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­I don¡¯t understand.¡± He lifts his other hand and taps something in the air with his index finger, taking some time before tapping somewhere else and so forth. Strider:- - ¡°The thing is¡­ you¡¯re a vampire.¡± Ah, a vampire¡­ I see. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, what?¡± Strider:- - ¡°¡­You should be even stronger around many people, but to not have the power to¡­ hmmm¡­¡± He keeps on tapping the air and reading something. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait. What!? A Vampire?! What that means?? Do I need to drink blood or something? Oh my god, did my family hide it from me? That¡¯s why I¡¯m weak and I can¡¯t use skills? Oh, no¡­ is the sun burning my skin?! Oh, God! Jesus! My eyes are burning! I really am a vampire, ain¡¯t I?! I¡¯m going to die!¡± Suddenly something hits my head and forces my head down. Strider:- - ¡°Shut the hell up, won¡¯t you. Vampires don¡¯t work like that. Not in SFO, at least.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ouchie¡­¡± ¨C I rub between my horns. ¨C ¡°¡­Ess-eff-oh? What¡¯s that?¡± Strider:- - ¡°It¡¯s your world, dumbass. Vampires are a special subclass that you can only unlock at level sixty, but you¡¯re level forty and it''s your second class. It doesn¡¯t make sense, but hell, the things I already saw in these few days coming here, I¡¯m not even surprised anymore.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So I can eat garlic just fine?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Dunno, ask your doctor. Vampires are affected by the environment, it grows stronger depending on the people around them, and they can even get attributes or skills from others, that¡¯s what they are strongest at in the meta. Unfortunately, you¡¯re stuck with only one passive skill of that subclass, which is the first case. The more time you spend around the same enemies, the stronger you get. It has a long radius so it¡¯s actually pretty good.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ahh¡­¡­ I¡¯m completely lost. So, I only have a passive skill that¡¯s it?¡± Strider:- - ¡°You have three of each type. For the actives, you have a magic barrier, a buff that transfers your attributes to someone else, and a water mid-range projectile. All from Shaman, your other sub-class. You still have one slot to put a skill, so maybe you need to get it somewhere¡­ but you said you had to awaken it, right? So I suppose you can¡¯t simply put new abilities as you grow older?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No¡­ we are born with them, sometimes we awaken further after passing by a great difficulty, but we don¡¯t choose them unless it¡¯s a blessing.¡± Strider scratches his head to think. Strider:- - ¡°So damn weird.¡± ¨C he lets go of my hand and his eyes go back to their normal dark color. ¨C ¡°A great difficulty, you say. Maybe you got them at Nepaty¡¯s invasion?... But this is out of my knowledge¡­ Have you tried activating it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Not really, it¡¯s been a few years since I last tried. I kinda¡­ gave up.¡± He sheathes his last dagger and looks at me with a thoughtful gaze. Strider:- - ¡°Okay¡­ so let¡¯s try it then. We can put your combat training on hold, this takes priority. If you don¡¯t know how to activate your skills, you¡¯re as good as dead out there.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see¡­¡± I blink twice. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, what?¡± - - - - - V1 - C25 | Real-World Magic VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 25 - REAL-WORLD MAGIC - Strider:- - ¡°This should be easy. Just imagine a box, like a button with an icon of a shield on it. The shield is like those round yellow ones that shine and peel magic flakes sometimes, the ones you need to keep on channeling to maintain. You spend energy per second and if someone hits them, part of it is blocked, the other you receive as damage. If it receives too much damage it breaks, and those flakes go all around like glitter. You can enchant someone or protect someplace, but you need to be at the center of it. Then, all you need to do is gather the watery energy inside of you, it¡¯s like some weird blue fog, then just push it through the box.¡± Strider stares deep into my soul, smiling and nodding with anticipation. Strider:- - ¡°Go on, try it.¡± I look at him with tired hopelessness. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I didn¡¯t understand anything you just said. You lost me on the ¡®icon¡¯ part.¡± Strider:- - ¡°How you don¡¯t know what an icon is?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Is it like¡­ someone famous or something?¡± Strider:- - ¡°No, no.¡± ¨C He sighs. ¨C ¡°This isn¡¯t working. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re making it right.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I think you are not good at explaining things.¡± Strider:- - ¡°I¡¯m just saying what I do to activate my skills. For me, it¡¯s that simple.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It is not ¡®that simple¡¯! How is imagining a box helps me cast magic?¡± He taps his feet on the ground to think for a couple of seconds, then he suddenly turns and starts walking towards the main road. Strider:- - ¡°¡­Okay, we are going for plan B, then. Let¡¯s go back to the village and talk to someone who has an ability close to yours. He should know since both of you are NPCs, if it works differently for you guys, he will tell.¡± I walk after him a few steps behind, but I stop with a frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°En pee sees?¡± Strider just sighs tiredly. Strider:- - ¡°I won¡¯t explain it. Just follow me.¡± - ¡­ - I was completely tired from all the sudden training, so we walked through in silence for a few minutes, it was way more calming than I would have imagined, maybe because all the effort on exercising was a way worse scenario than walking with someone in complete silence. But one thing kept coming back to mind and it ended up boiling out of my mind when the village¡¯s stone walls were already in sight. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You said before...¡± Strider:- - ¡°Hm?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You said that you used to beat stronger kids than you. How did you win against them?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± ¨C He slows his pacing as he looked at the sky to remember something. ¨C ¡°I never said I won.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wha??¡± Strider:- - ¡°They were, like, three to four years older than me, besides, bullies always have the strongest early genes for some damn reason, how could I win?¡± ¨C He laughs. ¨C ¡°But seriously. You don¡¯t need to win every fistfight that falls on your lap, you should always run away when the odds are too low. All I did back then was throw some punches and run.¡± ¨C He shrugs. ¨C ¡°Hmmm¡­ maybe that¡¯s why they always kept coming back, now that I think about it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So you just ran away? I thought heroes were more courageous than that--.¡± ¨C I immediately cover my mouth to stop saying things I shouldn¡¯t. Strider:- - ¡°Courageous, huh¡­? ¨C He glares at me with a side-eye. ¨C ¡°Running away should always be a valid option. Know that a situation is only truly hopeless when there¡¯s no other choice but to fight. The real world is too harsh for you to be dumb at it, if you get too unlucky you¡¯re done forever, that¡¯s just plain fact. So running away is surviving to fight another day, giving up on your life is never the best option.¡± The both of us remain silent for a while, as if we were waiting for the swiping wind of the forest to pass. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Strider¡­ are you afraid of dying?¡± He halts. The houses of the village and a few wolfkins could already be seen beyond the rough stone walls in the distance. Strider:- - ¡°I guess.¡± ¨C The wind stops. ¨C ¡°But I¡¯m kind of used to the feeling. A few people forced my hand before. A few times.¡± ¨C He turns to me, his serious gaze making my skin crawl. ¨C ¡°You don¡¯t need to pass through what I did, though. Just get strong enough to do what you want. If you force it too much you might break. And that¡­¡± ¨C He resumes walking. ¨C ¡°¡­won¡¯t be pretty.¡± His dark cloak wavers with each step, and after digesting what he just said, I continue to follow him. - Not long after, we reach the insides of the village. We spend a few minutes roaming around and asking the townsfolk for directions, but after a while, we finally found the person Strider was searching for. Strider:- - ¡°Yo, Vute.¡± ¨C He tiredly waves to the chief of security. ¨C ¡°I need your help on something.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oh, Strider! And Tasah. So, you found him, did you? What can I do for you?¡± Strider glanced at me. Strider:- - ¡°He¡¯s having a hard time activating a skill. Coincidentally, it¡¯s very close to the magic shield you have, so I thought of asking for any tips on how to make it work.¡± The wolfkin frowns and looks at the both of us repeatedly. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Are you training him?¡± Strider:- - ¡°He asked, so why not?¡± ¨C He shrugs. ¨C ¡°But what gave it away?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°For starters¡­¡± ¨C The wolfkin extends his hand to take a leaf out of my hair. ¨C ¡°He¡¯s way more beaten up than when he talked to me earlier, aaand I also had my suspicions since he was looking for you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - In truth, I was only going to apologize to him but I ended up lying my way to hell. I shake my head to see if anything else was stuck over it, and three other leaves drop at the back of my neck. Why didn¡¯t Strider warn about them?? Strider:- - ¡°Yeah, but he said that he can¡¯t use magic, never was able to. My theory is that he has the wrong idea of what to do, maybe you can share some techniques that help kids to start at it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not a kid!¡± Vute hums to think. Vute:- - - - - ¡°It comes naturally, for wolfkins at least, so I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t help.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Is that so¡­? Could you tell me how you make it happen, then? Maybe it¡¯ll inspire him.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°You said the barrier, right? Well, for that I draw an L on where I want to have the barrier and then I say: .¡± ¨C He demonstrated the movement by sliding his finger in the middle of the air. ¨C ¡°To release it, I do it again around the same place, cast it somewhere else, or simply get out of it.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Huh¡­ it¡¯s really up.¡± ¨C The Hero scratches his chin as he analyzes the wolfkin, then his gaze suddenly shoots at me, his eyes shining golden. ¨C ¡°You, try doing the same thing.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?!¡± ¨C I startle. ¨C ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± I lift my index finger hesitantly and repeat the gesture. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Magic Barrier.¡± Is that it? I¡¯m not feeling anything unusual. Strider:- - ¡°Yeah¡­ as I thought.¡± ¨C He turns to Vute. ¨C ¡°So, there isn¡¯t a secret or a trigger to make it work?¡± ¨C With no immediate response, he adds: ¨C ¡°Maybe something about doing the same skill in different ways? Or some people who train to get better at it?¡± Vute scratches the back of his neck, a nervous look on his face. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Well, there is. How can I explain this¡­ Some cast spells by saying their names aloud, while others do it soundlessly. But that varies a lot, the majority use a mix or multiple methods to activate each of them. There are even some that need magic circles or gestures to make it work, like me. Back when I was a kid, there was even a powerful prince who could only cast when he used a special ring, even though it had no magic embedded into it. So for all I know, it depends on how the person feels about it.¡± Strider:- - ¡°So, summing it up, there¡¯s no manual?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Sorry.¡± ¨C He smiles weakly. ¨C ¡°But I¡¯ve also heard many stories of people managing to make their cast faster, either by using fewer words or by removing part of the incantation. If that helps.¡± Strider¡¯s eyes flinch. Strider:- - ¡°I guess it gives me a couple of clues at least.¡± ¨C His gaze looks distant at the floor. ¨C ¡°Thanks for the info, we¡¯ll be going now.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. He suddenly turns and starts walking away, hand on his chin in a thoughtful manner. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oh, okay... Good luck with your training!¡± ¨C He waves goodbye. Strider:- - ¡°Ah, and can we test some skills in the open fields near the crops? I don¡¯t want to keep coming and going to that training field.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Um¡­ sure? Actually, you can use the field on my stable, just don¡¯t mind the animals, sometimes I train them there so they are used to some noise.¡± ¨C He points to a road ahead. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s right over there.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try to not start any fires there.¡± ¨C He walks towards it with lazy steps. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Now I¡¯m worried. Just be careful to not hurt them!¡± Strider keeps going straight and doesn¡¯t even turn to nod. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°T-Thanks, we will.¡± ¨C I bow to Vute before following Strider. - Strider:- - ¡°This sure is annoying¡­¡± ¨C he mumbles. ¨C ¡°No one here knows how skills work as players do¡­ this is going to be a problem. It¡¯s like another thing entirely.¡± I lower my head and clench my hands together apprehensively. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Strider¡­ I don¡¯t think this is a good idea anymore. M-Maybe we should give up, I¡¯m not saying that your eye thing is wrong, it¡¯s just that I¡¯m not able to use magic, maybe that¡¯s how I was born¡­ and-- and this is how I¡¯m supposed to live my life, I-I think I should make peace with that¡­¡­ To tell you the truth, earlier I didn¡¯t actually want to get stronger¡­ I¡­ when I was seeing you in the forest, I¡­¡± Strider:- - ¡°[¡­] if it¡¯s not one, is two. These are the only variables I can think of that makes sense¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ahm¡­ are you listening to me¡­? Strider? I think we should stop.¡± Strider:- - ¡°Stop?¡± ¨C He looks around. ¨C ¡°Why here? The center of the field is right there, don¡¯t be stupid.¡± Without finding the strength to argue back, I follow him until we are in the middle of the stables where different types of animals were at. All I can see is their heads but I can notice the variety, some are bird mounts, others horses, or hybrids, there¡¯s even a huge worm-like thing rolled on itself as it sleeps over a bunch of hay. Strider:- - ¡°Okay, now we are going to test a few different things, alright? No matter how hard they seem to be, I ask you to do them with the utmost desire and confidence. Do you understand?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Y-Yeah.¡± Why do I feel like he¡¯s having more fun doing this than me? ¡­ And with that¡­ the second part of hell started. - Strider kept on describing how other out worldly things worked, made me do some stupid meditation poses, and even dueled with me a few more rounds to see if my skills would come out when under pressure. He even almost killed me! Twice! He kept repeating that I wouldn¡¯t die with his skills around and that he wasn¡¯t aiming for a ¡°critical spot¡±, but there¡¯s no way I¡¯m trusting that! Especially since he kept on glaring at me like he wanted me dead for some reason the entire time. I ran, drank weird potions, almost fell asleep with Strider¡¯s lectures, and almost died for the third time. And as a surprise to no one, I still couldn¡¯t use magic after hours had passed by. - Strider:- - ¡°Nothing is working¡­¡± ¨C He sighs. ¨C ¡°I didn¡¯t want to rely on this, but I guess we don¡¯t have any options.¡± ¨C His face turns grim. ¨C ¡°Well, I hope this won¡¯t work, or it¡¯ll be very bad¡­ very bad indeed.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hey, hey, hey! Stop right there! If it¡¯s too dangerous then cut me out! I¡¯m not risking my life any more than I already did!¡± Strider:- - ¡°It¡¯s a pity¡­¡± ¨C He grabs his own face to hide it, his eyes glaring from between his fingers. ¨C ¡°But it needs to be done¡­ for science.¡± I go one step back as he extends his other hand and grips something out from the thin air. Purple energy in squared flakes suddenly condensed into some type of dark rod as he pulled it to the side. It was as if evil itself materialized in front of me, as if the tool of doom had just been brought up with a hero¡¯s life force and its target was no one else but me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! What are you thinking of doing with that? Thank you so much, but I resign from training! Please excuse me, I¡¯ll be taking my leave immediately! I¡¯m sorry for wasting your time!¡± But before I turn, something bumps into my chest and falls to the ground. Strider:- - ¡°Argh¡­ go on, take it.¡± ¨C He rolls his head with tiredness. ¨C ¡°To think I would be giving an item of that tier for free¡­ that goes against all my morals.¡± I take some time to look at the thing on the ground. It¡¯s a dark-wooded staff with a giant pure-blue lazure moon wrapped at its tip. I¡¯m not used to magical items, but even I can sense the dreadful energy coming out of it, it¡¯s like untouchable winds were whirling all around in the dirt and everything close to it was unnoticeably freezing. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait¡­¡± ¨C I point in fear. ¨C ¡°Do I take it?¡± Strider:- - ¡°It surely isn¡¯t to stay on the ground, is it?¡± ¨C He snaps at me. ¨C ¡°We¡¯ll test if you can use magic with that thing, so I¡¯m lending it to you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡­ ¡®thing¡¯? This looks to be the most expensive staff I¡¯ve ever seen! Look! It¡¯s Lazure Moon! A head-sized Lazure Moon!¡± Strider:- - ¡°Who fucking cares?¡± ¨C He crosses his arms grumpily. ¨C ¡°Just take it before I change my mind.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ah¡­ O-O-Okay.¡± I lower myself and take it as if it was a newborn. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, what am I supposed to do with it?¡± Strider:- - ¡°First¡­ grab it like a fucking normal human being, grip it with both hands as if you were to club someone with it.¡± ¨C He glares at me. ¨C ¡°With that equipped, you should have more action speed, elemental amplification, and a bunch of other annoying stuff. If the problem is one of those, you should be good enough to cast something.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Uhh¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ This looks dangerous.¡± Strider:- - ¡°It¡¯s safe, it only has a passive to increase channeling speed as you use the same skill over and over again, and another that decreases energy cost for the previous casted skill. It won¡¯t explode on its own. It dropped from an idiot I¡¯ve killed back in a dungeon.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You killed somebody??¡± Strider:- - ¡°Yes¡­ a Hero, they come back and all, right? He should be fine in a week or something. Now, stop whining and start working.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­So, how do I use it?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Just point it at me and try casting anything.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°B-But at you!?¡± Strider:- - ¡°If I¡¯m hit-killed by a level forty sheepkin, then I¡¯ll take my own life myself. Just imagine me as a target and cast something. You have a buff, a shield, and a water projectile, any of those will do. Just get going. Remember everything I¡¯ve told you so far, if one style doesn¡¯t work, try another.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Right¡­ okay¡­¡± - My arms tremble to point the lazure moon tip at him, the staff is way heavier than it looks so it keeps on leaning downwards. - - - - - - - - - - - - Just do everything from before, he says. But now with¡­ this thing¡­ It¡¯s so weird to think something this powerful exists, but this shouldn¡¯t be a surprise for me. Since I was a kid, I¡¯ve read stories about countless adventurers that held items powerful enough to change the courses of history, and I¡¯ve even seen some of these as I was growing up in Nepaty, and yet, deep down, I¡¯ve blocked the possibility that they existed in the same world as me, all because I would never be able to follow their steps. I close my eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - But to see it with my own eyes, to feel its energy through my bones. It¡¯s exhilarating. I feel like I could use magic anytime now, as if I¡¯m one of those adventurers from the old tales. Just concentrate¡­ if I feel the energy, and make it into a barrier¡­ (Strider: ¡°It¡¯s like those yellow ones that peel flakes from time to time.¡± ¡­ ¡°You should be even stronger around other people.¡± ¡­ ¨C He looks at me with seriousness. ¨C ¡°If you manage to do that, You might be able to protect anyone you want to.¡±) - - - - - - - - - - - - If I do this, I can finally do something! I can finally be useful! I feel the energy winds surrounding my arms and rising their way up. - - - - - - - - - - - - If that thing that killed my brother comes back! I can help avenge him! I¡¯ll be able to turn into the adventurers I¡¯ve admired so much! I won¡¯t need to hide anymore, I don¡¯t need to feel like a leech! If I can be a little bit like my brother, I know I¡¯ll be strong enough! Warm tears fall down my cheeks, the freezing energy straining my knuckles gripping the staff. - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯m sick of everyone helping me. I¡¯m sick of being the weak one. I never asked to be like this. I want to be the one who protects, the one who inspires, why can¡¯t I? Why I can¡¯t be like that? It¡¯s everything I want! The tears grow into streams and I feel my chest hurting so much that I start sobbing. - - - - - - - - - - - - So¡­ why? Why, even now¡­? Why I can¡¯t activate it? After training the entire day with a hero, after having such a powerful weapon in my hands, after so many years trying to do it, to follow in my brother¡¯s footsteps. Why? Why doesn¡¯t it work? Why I can¡¯t make it work? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can¡¯t¡­¡± ¨C I slowly open my eyes, the blurry staff emanating energy coming to the center of my sight, its blue gem pointing to the dirt as it became too heavy for me to carry. ¨C ¡°I can¡¯t do it. It won¡¯t activate¡­ Strider. It¡¯s not working--¡± I heard steps coming closer and I look just over my staff, Strider is suddenly charging at me. His eyes are numb like the fights I had before, but this time is different. It¡¯s like he¡¯s serious about it, more serious than before. No, that¡¯s not the right word. This time he¡¯s going for the kill, I can see him aiming at my throat, he¡¯s actually planning to kill me for real this time around. I fall on my ass. Strider¡¯s daggers point forward, slim flames bursting out from its edge. With two more leaps, he¡¯s right over me, and so his daggers thrust forth, I instinctively lift the staff to protect myself and close my eyes. Then the explosion came. Flames spread everywhere, my closed eyelids brightening with the immense clarity and the sound of metal clinging. For a second, I thought of nothing. I was unsure if I should be afraid, curious, or perhaps angry. Why did he attack me all of the sudden? I just wanted him to hear me! One thing was all the training and lessons he made me do and listen through, but this was stupid. Something above stupidity. It¡¯s completely irresponsible, no matter how great you are, or how powerful you are, you shouldn¡¯t scare people like that! Now my butt is all hurt! But when I open my eyes, my entire train of thought vanished in a click. Strider was looking at me, his face completely unsurprised. And all around me, the world was tainted yellow. Small hexagonal lenses everywhere I looked, energy flakes occasionally floating out to the sky. Strider:- - ¡°It looks like it worked.¡± My gaze shifts to him, it takes me a couple of seconds to see that my staff and hands weren¡¯t as yellow as the rest of the world. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It worked¡­?¡± Strider:- - ¡°Took you long enough. I was seriously thinking of giving up on you.¡± ¨C He sheathes his daggers and rests his hands over them with a relieved sigh. ¨C ¡°This was the last of my plans, you know. If this didn¡¯t get through, I wouldn¡¯t know what to do anymore.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It worked?¡± Strider frowns at me as a confused smile comes to my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It worked!¡± I start laughing, the staff slips to my lap as my hands rise to cover my mouth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It actually worked!¡± ¨C More tears come out. ¨C ¡°I did this? I did this barrier?¡± Strider looks to the side and crosses his arms. Strider:- - ¡°Of course you did, dumbass. The caster needs to be in the center of it, did you forget?¡± And the only one in it¡­ is me. Only I can be the caster. Only I¡­ I stand, breaking the barrier from within and running to hug him. Strider:- - ¡°The hell?! The fuck you doing??¡± My arms tighten over his waist as my head presses against Strider¡¯s chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°T~Thank you¡­¡± ¨C I sob with happiness. ¨C ¡°Thank you s-so much!¡± I feel my throat burning and I start crying even harder. ¡­ Strider:- - ¡°Tch. Whatever, kid.¡± He lightly pats my head and back. - - - - - Interval 7 | Elements INTERVAL - 7 - ELEMENTS - Skills or items can have one or a combination of elemental attributes. There are four elemental groups, each of them having three different elements within. Here¡¯s how a mapping of such elements appears in common research books found in-game: - {Four cardinal icons split into three other lesser icons towards outside. Some shaky arrows link roughly written comments to each icon.} {Control: Enchants, changes shape, increases volume, or adds motion to an object: {Left} - - - - - - - - - - - - Earth: to solids - - - - - - - - - - - - Water: to liquids - - - - - - - - - - - - Air: to gases - Erratic: Generates sudden changes to the environment: {Right}This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it - - - - - - - - - - - - Destruction: breaks it or consumes it - - - - - - - - - - - - Light: enlightens it or manipulates light - - - - - - - - - - - - Electricity: electrify it or polarizes it - Energy: Percepts or manipulates the fuel of entities: {Top} - - - - - - - - - - - - Mind: spiritually/mentally - - - - - - - - - - - - Sense: physically - - - - - - - - - - - - Shadows: temporal memories (? Confusing description) - Status: Dictates the state of matter: {Bottom} - - - - - - - - - - - - Heat: changes temperature (Burn = less resistance but more speed | Freeze = less speed but more resistance) - - - - - - - - - - - - Time: changes time value or flow - - - - - - - - - - - - Null: ??? (There are no known abilities or items with this element, but it still appears in elemental books in-game) } -- - - - - - V1 - C26 | Rising Star VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 26 - RISING STAR - One day, I woke up and stared at the sky, but instead of clouds or stars, all I could see was wood. I wasn¡¯t home but in somebody¡¯s house. I don¡¯t know how I got there or when I went to sleep the night before, all I could remember was walking in the forest and my legs getting tired all the time. There were many people like me there, we were running away from monsters. I had my eyes covered when they came, so I was never able to see what monsters there were. I didn¡¯t understand why mommy only let me go when we were at the big tunnel to leave the city, she knew I was scared of the dark, and yet, she didn¡¯t let me see what was all those scary noises and screams about, even when I tried to bite her hand to run away, she kept her hands in my face, closing my eyes shut. It was terrifying, like a nightmare I had sometimes, I felt the same fear as when the creature under the floorboards used to wait for me to step out of bed. Mommy always said they weren¡¯t real, she even kept repeating that they didn¡¯t exist when the monsters attacked our city. But I knew she was lying, she has always lied. I knew they were around, I could see them, hear them, so how were they not real? But when I talked back, she always got angry and grounded me. I didn¡¯t know why she did that, it was so unfair. I didn¡¯t understand why we had to run away, weren¡¯t the heroes going to save us? Isn¡¯t that why they were here for? All those stories, all those adventurers, and all those shiny people, shouldn¡¯t they protect us? Why didn¡¯t they? I had to leave all my toys and friends behind, walk until late at night, and then, on that day, my head was aching and I didn¡¯t know where I was. Father always said that we were safe inside the city, that the monsters would never come in. Was he a big liar too? Were all those stories mere fairy tales? Are heroes a lie? I kept thinking to myself¡­ when I grow up, would I need to lie too? I couldn¡¯t trust anybody, they were all a bunch of fat liars. Even if I got yelled at, even if I ended up grounded, even if I got alone and that monster under my floorboards came out because I was being a bad girl¡­ I didn¡¯t care. I wouldn¡¯t listen to what my mother had to say anymore. - / - \ - / - \ - / - ¡°What am I doing? What am I doing?¡± ¨C A woman sobs with her back turned to me. ¨C ¡°Nawa, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so-- so sorry. I didn¡¯t-- I¡¯m not--" No matter how much I want to, I can¡¯t get up from laying on the ground or focus my sight. She turns, her face filled with despair as she grabs me by the shoulders and stares deep into my eyes. ¡°You need to stay with them okay? Mommy-- Mommy isn¡¯t well, her mind isn¡¯t thinking straight. That¡¯s why I need to go, I need to fix something that¡¯s very wrong. But they will take care of you, just promise me that you¡¯ll behave, okay my girl? You need to promise me.¡± - \ - I get up in gasp and glance to the sides. ¡°Mom?¡± But my voice only echoes in the empty room. My heart raced as I glanced down before leaving the straw bed, the ground was made of stone so it was safe, I thought. And so, I start wobbly walking around while I scratch my eyes to see better. ¡°Mommy?¡± There¡¯s no one to be seen, only a few empty beds, a wardrobe, and a few hung white sheets in between. I leave the room nervously clamping my hands together as I looked at a long and dark corridor. I move in my toes, careful to not make a noise, and soon arrive at an open door. Many other people were sleeping inside, some beds were empty and messy, but there was still a lot of them. I went to the side of each of them to see if mother was there, but she wasn¡¯t. I left the room and followed the corridor, I tried to see through the small windows at the closed doors while going over the tip of my toes, but I wasn¡¯t able to see what was inside, so I carefully opened the ones I could and saw a lot of equipment piled up, or other rooms full of people that weren¡¯t my mother sleeping in. Once the corridor was over, there was only the entrance door to go through, but instead of opening it, I decided to look through the closed window on its side first, I moved the curtains to make a small gap from below and spied an eye through it. On the other side, I saw many houses and a stone street, not the same as the city my home is in, but a more dirty one with some grass growing between the bricks. There also was a man talking to a strange doggy-looking person, instead of white hair and horns, he had long orange ears and fluffy tails, a lot stronger and taller too. It¡¯s scary, I don¡¯t know if I want to go out anymore, I thought. I let go of the curtains and went a few steps back, but once I turned to leave, a paper stuck on the door caught my attention, with a lot of bad drawings and lots of wiggly words all over it. [Report News on Nepaty Sheepkin¡¯s status and Debeta Village¡¯s relations] I¡¯m not a fast reader, nor I could make sense of many of the words, so I just passed my eyes through it to understand what it was all about. First, there was a description of how some ¡°reunion¡± went, and then a lot of what the ¡°sheepkin¡± should do, whatever those words meant. The only part that really interested me was the drawn picture of a dark-cloaked man posing with a thumbs up and a serious face, or at least that¡¯s what I think it''s supposed to be because it¡¯s all scratched up; and the big letters written below the figure: ¡°one hero remains¡±, and then it explained that even after the di-sa-pe-a-rance of heroes, one is living in the village as a tem-po-ra-ry visitor. So there¡¯s a hero here, why is it a big deal? They are everywhere, besides I bet he¡¯s a big liar too. After realizing that the paper wasn¡¯t useless, I started reading from the top. It wrote that the village we are currently in is named De-be-ta, and that we are wel-co-me here and it is in-ha-bi-te-di by wool-fi-kin, they will¡­ host?¡­ and ma-in-ta-in sup-lies for everyone in need¡­ Okay, I give up. I spy through the gap in the curtains one more time to see the person talking with the doggy, a bit hesitant and curious, but the doggy suddenly turns his gaze at me and I quickly step away to hide. They look to be okay chatting, so it must be safe¡­ but I didn¡¯t find my mother yet, what if she gets angry if I go out alone? No, I shouldn¡¯t care, she never hears me anyway, I don¡¯t care what she thinks anymore! I breathe in and grab the door handle to open it, very hesitantly. The outside noise quickly filled the air: the wind, the chatting, and the stepping noises were everywhere. I poked my head out and only saw houses in my view, I turned to the other side and there was a big open park, with even more houses beyond it! ¡°Oh, look who woke up.¡± ¨C The orange-furred doggy who I saw through the window walks toward me. ¨C ¡°Are you feeling better?¡± I look at him in awe, a bit scared actually, but I nod slowly to answer him. ¡°What¡¯s your name, sweetheart?¡± ¨C He crouches a few steps away and I don¡¯t need to look up at him anymore. He has such a strong voice, it''s really unfitting. I glance at the man beside him, a closed face and skinny cheeks, he looks sick but he always looked like that, I remember him from when we were running in the forest, but I don¡¯t know his name. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s bad, I¡¯ve seen mother talk to him sometimes. And if the doggy isn¡¯t barking at me, then they are good, I think. It¡¯s okay to talk to them. I get out of the building and stop in front of them. ¡°I-I¡¯m T-Torai Nawaga.¡± The doggy opens a big smile. ¡°Totorai? Such a cute name.¡± ¨C He pats my head. My cheeks heat a little. ¡°It¡¯s j-just¡­ Torai.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± ¨C He chuckles. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m sorry, didn¡¯t mean to misspell it. Hmm¡­ but where are your shoes? You shouldn¡¯t walk barefoot, you are going to hurt your feet like that.¡± ¡°Ah, I--¡± ¨C I look down, only now realizing it, my cheeks getting even more heated. ¨C ¡°I-I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± ¨C The quiet man spoke up with tiredness. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s probably in her room, I¡¯ll go fetch it.¡± ¨C Then, he went closer to the doggy¡¯s ears and whispered something. ¨C ¡°Don¡¯t bring her parents up, it¡¯s[¡­]¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Then he suddenly walked past me, entered the house I was in before, and closed the door. ¡°You must be quite lost by now, right? But don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be safe in this village, the monsters won¡¯t hurt you here.¡± ¨C The doggy stood up and looked around. ¨C ¡°You can play around if you want, we have a lot of kids around your age... We just need to find them¡­¡± -/-(¡°You¡¯re safe, the monsters can¡¯t get in.¡±)-\- I go one step back. ¡°I heard that before, shining man. I know that¡¯s a lie, you can¡¯t make the monsters go away.¡± ¡°Shining man?¡± ¨C His eyes widen in surprise. ¡°Your clothes are shiny.¡± ¨C I point at him. ¨C ¡°So you¡¯re a shiny man.¡± ¡°Oh, my armor?¡± ¨C He chuckled. ¨C ¡°I guess it¡¯s pretty shiny, isn¡¯t it? But that wasn¡¯t a lie, I promise you, we¡¯ll do everything it takes to keep you safe inside this village! It¡¯s our moral code as wolfkins.¡± ¡°You ¡®promise¡¯?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¨C I fidget my fingers. ¨C ¡°What does ¡®promise¡¯ means?¡± ¡°Huh? Wait, you don¡¯t know what a promise is?¡± ¨C He scratches one of his long ears. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s my word on it, or better, something that I¡¯ll do anything to make true once I told so.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re not lying?¡± ¡°Exactly! A promise is the opposite of a lie. Well, something like that.¡± ¡°Ah, I see! So you need to promise to make what you say true.¡± ¡°Ahm¡­ it¡¯s not that exactly--¡± The door behind me opens. ¡°Here, I think these are it.¡± ¨C The skinny man came back with a pair of shoes in his hands. ¨C ¡°Are they?¡± ¡°¡­Hm huh.¡± ¨C I take them with wariness. ¨C ¡°T-Thank you very much.¡± ¡°So, are you alright?¡± ¨C The skinny man looked down at me, dark circles below his eyes. ¨C ¡°Not feeling any pains?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m fine. My head is hurting a little, but it¡¯s okay.¡± The skinny man exchanged looks with the doggy. ¨C ¡°Maybe we should call for that priestess to take a look at her.¡± ¡°Sure¡­ but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s needed. Dilsu went to care for her every day and even the hero said she was completely cured. I think all she needs is some food and recharge her energies a bit.¡± ¨C The doggy hums in deep thought. ¨C ¡°But you¡¯re right, we should at least tell the good news that her little patient woke up.¡± ¡°Right, I can go, I¡¯m not very good at taking care of children anyways. You go find something for her to eat.¡± ¡°Good idea, Dilsu is by the church, probably in the backrooms. Knock before entering.¡± The man nodded and immediately started walking without any other words. ¡°Good thing¡­¡± ¨C He says rummaging his hands under his chest armor. ¨C ¡°That I always have an emergency stash.¡± ¨C He raised a finger over his lips and winked. ¨C ¡°Just don¡¯t tell anyone from who or where you got it,¡± ¨C he whispered while extending to me a piece of brown block wrapped in thin paper. My hands go to take it but I stop mid way and I look at him in doubt. ¡°It¡¯s good, trust me!¡± ¨C He waves the block thing. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s pressed wheat mixed with sugar and a lot of dried vegetables, it¡¯s an all-in-one meal, it has all the nutrients you need and boosts your energy to march for an entire day. And, ah!¡± ¨C He snaps his fingers and turns to get a metallic cup behind him. ¨C ¡°Water, of course, we can¡¯t forget that. Go on, take it.¡± I stare at both things presented in front of me and slowly grab them. First, I sniff the block thing, then the cup of water. ¡°You can eat it, it''s not like they are poisoned or something like that.¡± ¨C He chuckles weirdly. They smell alright, but¡­ should I trust him? Even if he¡¯s not a person, would a doggy lie about food? But in mid-thought, my belly rumbles, a long and loud shake coming from the depths of my body. My cheeks burn with embarrassment as I avoid looking at the laughing doggy, and I hesitantly take a small bite of the blocky food. ¡°So¡­ how is it?¡± ¨C The doggy puts a hand over on his ear to listen better while making an annoying face. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ fine¡­¡± ¨C I take another bite, a bit bigger than the first. ¨C ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Right? Right? That¡¯s why it¡¯s our secret to keep. I don¡¯t have many of those to share you know.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ cake.¡± ¨C I say before going for one more bite. ¡°Cake!?¡± ¨C He widened his eyes. ¨C ¡°What kind of dry cake are you eating, young lady? That thing is like biting off a rock!¡± ¨C He chuckled. ¡°My mommy does them on my birthday.¡± His wagging tail suddenly stiffened. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, didn¡¯t mean to--¡± ¨C His body stood up straight and sweat came to his face. ¨C ¡°Well, anyways. Ha, ha. Ha. If you have any questions, just ask. I¡¯m here to help, remember that!¡± I think for a moment while a chew, then I point to the thing erratically wagging thing behind him. ¡°Why do you have a tail? You have ears like a doggy but you¡¯re really big like a person.¡± ¡°Ehhh?! It¡¯s because I am a person like you! not a doggy! I¡¯m a wolfkin!¡± I gulp down some of the water. ¡°Wolfikim?¡± ¡°Do we not exist in Nepaty? I thought they teach all about races in school! Arhhh¡­ Don¡¯t worry, you can always learn¡­¡± ¨C He hits his forehead a few times. ¨C ¡°We are all beastkin, but we originated from different beasts, some are mixed with cats, others of ducks, lions, crocodiles, or dragons even. You are a mix of sheep, so you¡¯re a sheepkin, I have a wolf part, so I¡¯m a wolfkin.¡± ¡°Wolf!?¡± ¨C I almost choke with the realization. ¨C ¡°Like Nemibirude, the scary World Ender??¡± ¡°Eh?! How do you know that name but not about wolfkins??¡± ¨C He shouts, but he quickly shows the palms of his hands. ¨C ¡°But¡­ d-don¡¯t be afraid, we are not bad. We are not going to end the world or something like that! We came from the wild wolves. You said doggy, right? it''s like them but instead of living in homes they live in the forest, but they are the same thing! I swear!¡± ¡°So¡­ wolfs are doggies that live outside city?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. That¡¯s basically it.¡± ¨C He sighs in relief, but he quickly raises his hands and shakes them again. ¨C ¡°But don¡¯t pat them, okay? Never go near them if you find one, they bark a lot and bite to scare people away, that¡¯s why they don¡¯t live in the city and doggies do.¡± My eyes widen as I gulp the cake thing. ¡°Ahhh! My family had a doggy once but she was always biting and growling at me, so maybe she was a wolfy then?¡± ¡°Maybe?¡± ¨C He laughs strangely. ¨C ¡°But either way, you shouldn¡¯t worry, just be near an adult and you¡¯ll be safe, okay? In doubt, just hide and wait for someone to help. Okay?¡± I nod after finishing eating and I continue to drink the water. But, suddenly, a boy bumps into the doggy person. ¡°OH! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡± ¨C the boy said while scratching his head. ¨C ¡°I didn¡¯t see you!¡± The boy is about the same size and had white hair as me, but instead of horns, he has long ears and a tail like the bigger doggy. ¡°You¡¯ll hurt yourself badly one of these days if you keep on running and looking back like that.¡± ¨C The big orange doggy crossed his arms and made his face all serious. ¨C ¡°Do I need to speak with your parents about this?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, sir Dusk.¡± ¨C The small doggy lowered his head and ears. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll be careful.¡± ¡°Why are you in such a hurry? Just walk, goddammit.¡± ¨C He startles and quickly turns to me. ¨C ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry for the cursing, miss Torai. F-Forget the word I just said.¡± The smaller doggy lifted his head and stared at me, his eyes slowly widened and his white fluffy tail raised to a wavery wagging, his gaze changing from my ears to hair to eyes. ¡°You¡¯re so pretty¡­¡± ¨C The small doggy said quietly. I lower my head. ¨C ¡°T-Thank you v-very much¡­ I¡¯m T-Torai Nawaga¡­ N-Nice t-to meet you.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ she¡¯s weird.¡± ¨C An annoyed girl¡¯s voice crept behind the smaller doggy, she¡¯s also white-furred but is smaller and has two fluffy tails instead of one. ¨C ¡°She¡¯s nothing special.¡± ¨C She pouts at me with an evil look. ¡°I¡¯m Waji!¡± ¨C The boy smiled while pointing to himself, then he pulled the smaller one forward by the hand. ¨C ¡°And she¡¯s my little sister, Neceha.¡± I try to look at the smaller doggy, but she remembers me of my old doggy way too much, very small and cute but if got too close she would bite really hard. ¡°N-N-Nice to m-meet you.¡± ¨C I clamp my hands nervously and turn to the doggy boy. ¨C ¡°Y-You¡¯re very p-pretty too.¡± The boy¡¯s cheeks went a bit red and his little sister¡¯s eyes went darker. ¡°Oh! Do you want to come with us?¡± ¨C The boy almost jumped to talk. ¨C ¡°The hero is doing stuff, he¡¯s going all crazy. He¡¯s like training a sheepkin to fight and it¡¯s working! They are even sparring right now! I wonder if he can teach me how to fight if I asked!¡± ¡°Wow, wow, that¡¯s going too far, little wolf.¡± ¨C The big doggy said with a shake of his head. ¨C ¡°You should ask your father first, he¡¯s the one who is going to train you when you are old enough.¡± ¡°Aaah, okay¡­ I won¡¯t then, I promise.¡± ¨C He looked at me again, a bit shifty and lowering his ears. ¨C ¡°Oh, you were doing something already? I¡¯m sorry I asked you to come without knowing if you were free.¡± I look at the big doggy hesitantly. ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, Waji. Torai and I were just killing time. She can go. If she wants to, of course.¡± ¨C He tilts his head with a smile. The boy¡¯s tail started wagging again as he smiled at me. ¨C ¡°So, are you coming?¡± I hesitate but I end up nodding. The small doggy¡¯s smile brightened even more and he leaped to a run. ¨C ¡°Great! Just follow us! We are going to free some of our friends from house arrest and then we¡¯ll watch the hero! Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go!¡± I try to follow their sudden speed, but they are just too fast and quickly gained distance ahead. ¡°You damn brats¡­ Be careful Torai! Don¡¯t let those misfits drag you down the wrong path too much!¡± ¨C The big orange doggy waves goodbye. ¨C ¡°Oh, I should call you Nawaga, right? Sheepkin have their family names first, I forgot. Anyways, see you soon, Nawaga!¡± - - - - - V1 - C27 | Rising Problems VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 27 - RISING PROBLEMS - It¡¯s like we are preparing for hell. Everyone is working their hardest to make sure the village is safe, and yet¡­ I¡¯m lost. I don¡¯t know what to do besides yell at them to dig more holes, cultivate the farms, make more weapons, or move supplies around. Is this the extent of what I can do? If an invasion does come as Strider foretold, am I going to be enough to protect them? If I only could see what the right answer is, of what should I do¡­ How? How can I make the things that threaten my people stop? ¡°Vute?! Hey, Vute! Is this deep fine?¡± I look down, taking a moment to calm my nerves and certify if the trenches are at the right size. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s it. You can even go a bit less than that, remember to not exert yourself too much. Take breaks when you need to!¡± ¡°No worries~! I¡¯m fiiiine, can¡¯t you see?¡± The dark-haired wolfkin flexes his biceps. ¡°I worked lifting heavy weights since I was a kid, it¡¯s not going to be today that I will lazy around!¡± Some of the other wolfkins around yell in affirmation. I sigh in disbelief. - - - - - - - - - - - - What am I going to do with these men? All I do is order them around, and even so, they go beyond my expectations to make it happen¡­ My hands rest on my hips as I grin at them. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Thank you for your hard work! I¡¯ll treat all of you to some ale when all of this is done!¡± The wolfkin sinks the head of his shovel into the hard dirt. ¡°Only if I win you in an arm-wrestling first, fair and square!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You are not going to let me repay you, are you?¡± ¡°Why would I? My family is in the village, I need to do my part too.¡± He shovels the dirt out, making the dust rest on the beaten floor above. ¡°All I ask of you is to lead us to the right way! And I will gladly follow!¡± I¡¯m taken aback by those words. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lead you¡­ huh? - My thoughts dominate my mind for a while, but someone taps my shoulder and startles me a bit. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re fitting just right.¡± An orange-haired wolfkin smirks at me, wearing his slim armor with shining silver plates spread in vital points over hardened leather. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Dusk? What do you mean?¡± He walks to my side and looks at the open field. ¡°It¡¯s a pretty good idea to narrow their movement with trenches. I wouldn¡¯t have thought of that, instead, I would have called to make temporary walls made of the forest¡¯s trunks.¡± I take some time to stare at the working men below. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But then¡­ they could easily burn it down if they had fire magic.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not possible to burn it all, it would turn into coal and make a wall of fire. But, I must admit¡­ the smoke and wreckage would only decrease our high-ground advantage. Besides, your initiation plan wouldn¡¯t be possible, to make the logs go downhill towards our enemies, that¡¯s brilliant.¡± He cracks his fingers to think. ¡°But it will only protect us from the west side, what if it comes from the opposite way?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Then we use the village instead. That way even if they attacked us from both sides we have cover, we would only need to move some logs to the other side of the hill. Though if any of those came to happen, we would need to evacuate the children to somewhere in the forest with priestess Dilsu¡¯s long teleportation magic.¡± ¡°If that happens, then you can count on me to protect them.¡± He gives me a thumbs up. ¡°They won¡¯t get hurt on my watch, I promise.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Heh, you just want a safe pass if the invasion comes, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Woah, I might not be in that piece of junk of a uniform but I¡¯m still a watchguard above anything else. My life duty is to protect the weak.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Right¡­¡± I side-eye at him. ¡°Thank you though, at least that¡¯s one thing less I need to worry about¡­¡± My gaze turns to the field once more. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But¡­ is it going to be enough¡­? I wonder.¡± I focus on the man digging, the dark thoughts coming back to me. - - - - - - - - - - - - Would their effort be in vain, if the enemy overwhelms us either way in the end? We have no manpower, we are spread thin as it is. The hunters are busy traveling long distances to get prey, the builders are digging a large number of trenches in such a short time, the craftsmen are using all resources they can find, and even the folk who don¡¯t fight have their hands full taking care of supplies or the sheepkin. My grip tightens, insecurity making my heart waver. But suddenly, Dusk slaps my back a couple of times. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t worry! If the wolfkins can¡¯t make it, then no one could.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hmm¡­ Is that what the kingdom thinks?¡± He shrugs. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Did you forget I only send reports to them?... Sometimes I receive orders but the usual messenger didn¡¯t appear yesterday. What the hero and that sheepkin said was probably true. Not only Nepaty was attacked, but our neighboring cities were wiped out as well. Or the Shadow Army is making a big effort to cut our communications for some reason.¡± He sighs tiredly. ¡°It would be so much easier if we had a link stone, but they had to deny all my requests to place one here¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Enough of that, no use chewing the past, why did you come to see me? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not to volunteer for heavy work.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m strong too! I¡¯m just more of a fighting wolf than a builder.¡± He stretches his arms with a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m here to report that our little sheep girl just woke up, she¡¯s even playing around with the other pups right now.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Wow, I thought you would be a little bit happier to hear that, especially when you were the one who asked to keep you informed of her status. But well, maybe I¡¯m just not a good deliverer¡­ Either way, that¡¯s not the only thing¡­ it seems that the hero is making a move.¡± I turn and frown at him. ¡°He¡¯s training people. It started only with that sheepkin kid who participated in the council yesterday, but now things got... a bit broader.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And why is that a problem? So, he¡¯s helping them, is something going wrong?¡± ¡°Is he¡­?¡± He shrugs. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just say¡­ that things got a bit out of hand and now there¡¯s a big commotion going on in the village.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Out of hand? For Lycan¡¯s sake, just tell me what¡¯s happening. Is it too serious?¡± I start walking impatiently towards the village, Dusk quickly follows behind me. ¡°Woah, I¡¯m just trying to improve my delivering skills, that¡¯s half my job, you know?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You are not-- good at it. Spill it out, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Well, how can I say it¡­¡± Suddenly something explodes in the distance, a big and bright boom coming from beyond the hill as its sound echoes in the mountains. After the aftershock, I glare at Dusk inquisitively. ¡°That. That is going on.¡± I pick up my pace. - As we approached the village, more and more explosions appeared to occur, it was like the god¡¯s wrath was upon us. I wondered who the hero got pissed off by this time, but I don¡¯t remember anyone having enough power to explode things like that, especially repeated times. Dusk tried to explain everything from the start but I only got more confused and my impatience grew so much stronger that I started running before I knew it. And once I arrived, my mouth couldn¡¯t muster the words to describe what I was feeling. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What¡­ in all the hells is this?¡± ¡°I said to you. The hero is training everyone.¡± But when he said everyone, I didn¡¯t expect that in its literal sense, almost all the sheepkin is here, including some wolfkins. There are about two hundred people outside the north wall. Some sparring with each other, others aiming hands at the forest, and the rest were waiting in a line to talk with Strider, who¡¯s lazily seated over a wooden desk in the middle of an empty farm with that secretary-looking sheepwoman, who participated in the reunion yesterday, standing beside him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Where in the hells did you take that desk from?¡± I ask marching to the hero. ¡°Oh, Vute?¡± Strider said nonchalantly. ¡°This? Ahm¡­ I asked around and someone gave it to me.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay¡­ now that I have put aside the first strange thing on this scene. What are you doing?¡± ¡°Ah, I guess I should have asked first, I didn¡¯t imagine it would grow like this. But I¡¯m giving some tips to the people around here.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tips?? Why is that Tasah boy fighting Nate¡¯s son right over there?¡± I point to the side, where in another empty farm, the sheepkin was quickly stepping back while holding a big staff with a blue gem at its tip, while making yellow shields to block consecutive attacks from a wooden short sword on the hands of the young wolfkin Apaw. ¡°Oh, that¡­ I¡¯m afraid Tasah was getting used to fighting me, so I asked that emo kid to help out by being his partner. You know, take some different perspective off the same concepts you learned, kind of thing.¡± A white-haired little girl suddenly comes running and stops beside the hero.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Strider! Strider! Is there some other skill I can use?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s that girl, the young sheepkin that the hero treated before. It seems that she is fine like Dusk said, but not only that, she¡¯s a lot healthier already. Strider really cured her illness with that holy magic. ¡°Huh? Did you learn your previous one?¡± He said with a questioning frown. The little girl lowered her head a bit and nodded shyly. ¡°Okay, show me.¡± He said turning and resting his arm over the chair. The little girl¡¯s eyes brightened up and she turned to the forest. ¡°Remember, aim at the top of the mountain, the farthest the better.¡± ¡°Hmm huh!¡± She raised her short hands to the sky, and soon after, a red ritual circle took shape over the mountains like heated liquid being poured in an invisible cast below the clouds. And once it was fulfilled, it brightened and melted the sky with the opening of a scarlet portal, and a giant ball of dirt came from within blazing in flames. It was like a meatball was dropping from the sky in slow motion, and once it hit the snowbed, a bright explosion came to view. A few seconds later, the booming sound echoed into my eardrums. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°S-She¡­ she is the one doing all of this??¡± ¡°That was so cool, Nawa!¡± A wolfkin boy pulling his younger sister said in awe. ¡°I wish I had a skill like that!¡± ¡°Twat wuas sho cuul, Nawa. Bleh bleh bleh,¡± the little sister mumbled with annoyance, creeping behind her brother and throwing daggers with her eyes. Nawaga¡¯s face brightened red. ¡°S-So? How was it?¡± Strider rested his chin over his hand and hummed. ¡°It was okay, I guess. But anyone would see it coming, maybe if you cast it a bit higher? Can you hide the magic circle above the clouds?¡± ¡°I-I can do that!¡± She nods and raises her hands to try again. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You¡­ you are teaching a child how to meteor strike?¡± ¡°Hm? She has the skill, the more she¡¯s prepared the better, don¡¯t you think?¡± A whistling sound ripped the air in the distance. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s much better!¡± Strider said genuinely surprised, high-fiving the young lady. ¡°I was expecting it to appear and even so I didn¡¯t see it!¡± The second shockwave comes with the far explosion. All I could feel was the uncertainty to consider if this was right or not. Dusk walked to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s what I was talking about, it¡¯s a bit complicated to explain.¡± The wolfkin boy runs over and stops in front of us. ¡°Ah! Dusk, sir. I asked my father first, so I have his permission to train with the hero! You can ask him!¡± He hopped while pointing at a wolfkin with pale skin like him, who was lifting a massive rock over his head and walking around the forest. ¡°You said I could if I asked him first, right?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°He¡­ he¡¯s¡­ he¡¯s carrying a boulder¡­ like it was nothing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called God¡¯s Vigor,¡± Strider said calmly. ¡°a devout-fighter¡¯s skill that increases your strength depending on how much weight you¡¯re carrying. He probably never tried to lift something that looked too heavy before in his life, so he never discovered he had that power. But it looks like he¡¯s working out to build muscle now, he¡¯s trying to surpass his new found limit.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°B-but how? I never see him do that! How did you know he could do that!?¡± Strider pointed to his glowing eyes. ¡°It¡¯s all my divine vision. Did you forget? I saw through the skill of your Guni friend yesterday. All I need to do is touch somebody to see what they have.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - But even so¡­ ¡°You said that skills came naturally to wolfkins before, right? I must correct you with one of my findings¡­ How much was it, Nejeka?¡± he looked at the woman sheepkin standing beside him. ¡°The knowledge average?¡± The secretary-looking sheepkin leafed through the pages on her clipboard. ¡°The adults have about seventy-five percent average rate of knowing their own skills, while the younger ones fall to a third,¡± she looked at me while straightening her glasses. ¡°Just to clarify, I¡¯m taking notes of all the people and their skills, for organizational purposes. You can see them later if you wish.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Of course.¡± I nodded still a bit lost. Strider shrugs. ¡°With those numbers, probably even you have a skill that you don¡¯t know about. But once I told them what their skills were, they did already know how to activate them, so I guess you weren¡¯t completely wrong. Though some need more motivation than others.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Even I have a skill I don¡¯t know? That¡¯s¡­ Strider turned and started talking something with the little girl, making gestures of how some other skill of hers worked. I turn to glance over all the people training, some sparks coming from the sparrings over the farmlands, projectiles hitting targets made of piled stones or wood planks, blobs of water being moved with magic, people hitting tall branches with really high jumps, becoming invisible, cutting falling leaves in half, and teleporting warps coming from a tag game. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How could this be¡­ All of these people had powers they didn¡¯t know of?¡± The secretary steps forth. ¡°Not only that, Strider also gave tips on how to use skills they already knew but were ineffective at using. He shared strategies on where or how to use each of them, gave a different way how to utilize them, and even presented a few pairs of people who could work out together, joining their skills and making ¡®combos¡¯ as he calls them.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I didn¡¯t know¡­ that we had this many people.¡± I look to the distant mountain with a lost gaze, many explosions coming from the line of a dozen new-made mages. ¡°That we had this much strength. This many strong people with us.¡± ¡°Next in line!¡± Strider yelled with indifference, completely cutting my thoughts. ¡°Nejeka, you ready to take notes?¡± The secretary nodded and went to his side, her pen over the papers. ¡°Give me your hand¡­¡± Strider extended his own to the one who approached from the queue. ¡°Your name?¡± While Strider and Nejeka worked, I was just left impressed. I felt my heart burning again, my hope coming back to my eyes as if the path I needed to walk upon was being built by the people around me, and that the hero was helping us to move forward. I don¡¯t know why I thought I was alone, the only one who needed to make the right calls to protect everyone. I even said to Strider before, that I wanted to work with the people not against them, and yet, I was carrying the burden all by myself. I wasn¡¯t relying on everyone. I was being the dog who controls the cattle, forcefully making them move together and push them in the direction I wanted them to, not someone who trusts their own family to do what needs to be done. The diggers making the trenches, the lumberjacks cutting the trunks to use when the attack comes, the blacksmiths and tailors increasing their equipment production, the carriers moving the supplies to where they are most needed, the healers taking care of the sheepkin, the hunters and farmers gathering the most food they can¡­ everyone was making their part on their own way. As someone said to me earlier, all I need is to lead them to the right path, I don¡¯t need to make them go there, if I just give them directions they will follow of their own volition, because with or without me, they will do what they believe its best. If the wolfkins can¡¯t do it, then nobody would. I understand that phrase now. I step forth, a confident look on my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay, Strider. You got me.¡± I extend my hand to him with an open smile. ¡°See my skills, I want to be stronger, and if you¡¯re the one who will help me with that. Then I¡¯ll gladly allow it.¡± ¡­ ¡°Hah?¡± He looks up at me with an angry eye. ¡°Right, then go to the back of the line, who are you in the bread line? The king? Be like everybody else and follow the damn rules!¡± He snapped at the notice board standing on his side. [[RULES FOR CHECKING YOUR SKILLS WITH THE HERO] [1: No cutting in line] [2: No trading or saving places for others] [3: No preferential reasons or pity talking] [BREAK ONE OF THOSE RULES ONCE AND YOU¡¯RE OUT!!!!!!]] I looked back, to the about forty people shrugging to me with sympathetic expressions while waiting in line; then I lowered my arm; and started walking to the end of the queue. I patiently waited for my turn, listened to the other¡¯s abilities and their happy reactions, and recollected my thoughts to pass time. Then, just like anyone else I saw being attended, Strider treated me equally when my turn came: he questioned me about my full name, identified race, and the skills I believed I had; then he read my skills, being one new to me; and ended up with telling me things like how I could ¡®cheat¡¯ somebody¡¯s mobility if I activated my shield against a wall, if the target ended up in that gap, they would become stuck and a sitting duck for projectiles or area effects, at least until my barrier lasted. Though I doubt the information is going to be useful, I thanked him after he gave me some tips on how to test each skill of mine. Who have thought, to use a protection shield as an offensive spell? Heroes really are something else. But before leaving, I needed to warn him another matter. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, and Strider. We¡¯ll be holding that trial a bit later today.¡± ¡°That trial?¡± He lifted an eyebrow. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I go closer to speak in a lower voice. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m talking about Nate¡¯s, we are going to decide what punishment he¡¯ll receive. I just ask you to¡­ be as easygoing as possible, I swear we¡¯ll try to be impartial and listen to both sides. I don¡¯t want people killing each other in there.¡± ¡°Oh, that thing.¡± He nods slowly. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m not going.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What? But you¡¯re the victim in the case.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, really.¡± He waves his hand as if to scare a fly away. ¡°Do anything you want with him, it''s your village, you know better what to do with him. Besides, I¡¯m busy testing everyone here, it¡¯ll take a while. Even after, I have a lot of other things to do, so I have no time.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Hmm¡­ it¡¯s not like he¡¯s afraid of facing Nate, given their last encounters, so¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see.¡± I smile at him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll take care of it.¡± Nejeka suddenly steps forth. ¡°You said Nate is going to have a trial?¡± Her eyes ignite with an offensive curiosity. ¡°What did he do? I heard he¡¯s the leader of the village, but he was in shackles the last time I saw him. That¡¯s interesting, to say the least.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, dammit. I didn¡¯t want to involve the sheepkins on it.¡± ¡°No, no. Please involve us. We are at your mercy right now, we need to have as much information as possible.¡± I sigh tiredly. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well, I guess it won¡¯t hurt if only you know, but¡­ Nate did something extremely bad and now is liable to lose his leading position. That¡¯s all I can tell you.¡± She straightens her glasses. ¡°Well, then, I want to participate in this event. It looks to be extremely important.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Eh?... Hmph, what a headache. What do I do¡­ Goddammit, alright, you can come. But don¡¯t tell anybody else, okay?¡± She nods affirmatively. ¡°Since there are no more people in line¡­ Strider, I¡¯ll be taking my leave. I¡¯ll rest and prepare for such coming trial.¡± ¡°Sure, you can go,¡± the hero said taking the clipboard Nejeka gave him and started lazily reading through it. And with that, she went away in quick steps. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well, thank you for everything Strider, what you¡¯re doing here is way bigger than you probably imagine.¡± ¡°Ha, whatever. I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m being generous by doing this, so, let¡¯s just call it a win-win situation.¡± - With a nod, I turned to leave. But before I could, Strider stopped me with one more question, one he didn¡¯t do to anybody else in line before me. - ¡°Say, Vute, since there¡¯s nobody else waiting, could I ask you something?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure, what is it?¡± I turn to face him again. ¡°What that ¡®jesus¡¯ word mean? Everyone keeps saying that, like, ¡®Thank jesus¡¯ or just ¡®jesus¡¯, it¡¯s really annoying. I thought I could learn something about it by seeing some skills, but no dice. The hell it means?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s-- strange, don¡¯t you know? He¡¯s their God Protector.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± he said with an even bigger frown. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You really don¡¯t know? He¡¯s the Major God of Control, the one who could multiply food and objects, cleanse any poison, and heal any wound.¡± ¡°Never heard of him. But why do they thank him, anyways? They act as if the guy was multiplying food in front of them when I¡¯m the one teaching and they are the ones doing all the skills. Are they dumb?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­It¡¯s because he sacrificed himself to save the world.¡± I lower my voice a bit. ¡°He banished the demons from trespassing to our world fifteen years ago, by nailing his body as the eternal sealing on the divine gates.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ that¡¯s rough. I get that his reputation is high, but why do they keep thanking him? Isn¡¯t he dead already?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Just because he¡¯s gone, it doesn¡¯t mean the idea of what he represented vanished with him. That¡¯s how I see it at least.¡± ¡°I guess I can settle on not understanding it. Hmmm¡­ then why don¡¯t you guys say things like that, I never heard a wolfkin say his name.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Jesus protects the sheepkin, not the wolfs. Ours is the Energy God, Lycan, the one who protects freedom, who fuels our every action, keeper of souls, and shares part of his strength and flight powers in our travels midst dreams.¡± ¡°Dreams? Like when you sleep?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°And you guys understand each other? Jesus looks to be a way better god than yours. I mean, he can multiply as many weapons and food as he needs to, heal every soldier he wants, right? But a dream protection¡­ wouldn¡¯t that make them more powerful--? Oh, maybe that¡¯s why they have the big cities and your kind only the distant villages¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ahm¡­ no, that¡¯s not it. The four major gods are equal under the Mother of All, the Great Goddess Tacika.¡± Strider¡¯s eyes shivers. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Our kind works better in small groups, we prefer to hunt and create bonds with every neighbor as family. The sheep feel safer in flocks working in the city. That¡¯s how things are, our gods'' powers have nothing to do with it, so please don¡¯t say things like that, it can be seen as disrespectful.¡± He holds his lips in deep thought. ¡°Tacika?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yeah¡­ she¡¯s the Progenitor God. The one who created the universe, its elements, and the living, including all the other gods.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ weird. I remember that name¡­¡± he mumbles to himself. Being the first time I have ever seen him with a worried expression and fearful eyes before. ¡°That¡¯s the true name of God back in those history books if I¡¯m not mistaken. But Jesus and Lycan¡­ why in the hell would they mix real-world religion with fiction to make a game?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sorry? I didn¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Tsk. Forget it, I¡¯m just thinking about something stupid. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± - - - - - V1 - C28 | The Big Bad Wolf VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 28 - THE BIG BAD WOLF - Peje:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m Peje Hade, acting counselor of the village.¡± ¨C He coughs to clear his throat, his slow pacing of words matching the tension in the gathering room. ¨C ¡°Today, I¡¯ll be the judge of Benipe Nate, first leader of the Debeta, for the crimes of conspiracy against order, attempted murder, and disrespect to what is holy. With my powers, we shall impartially look into what is presented to us, and[¡­]¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Hmm¡­ so, as I thought, it is an extremely serious case. The Chief of Security wouldn¡¯t have said that their leader was in danger of being deposed if it wasn¡¯t the case, and neither they would keep him under shackles even in trial. But attempted murder? Plus conspiracy and divine disrespect¡­ I see. Nate tried to kill Strider, didn¡¯t he? Strider is a hero, and so a Holy Spirit, and the conspiracy part probably was Nate¡¯s attempt to excuse an execution¡­ but it all backfired it seems. Peje:- - - - - ¡°[¡­] Kadu?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hmm? Yes? What is it?¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Are you sure to participate? The sheepkin-¡° - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-It is of my full interest that I am here. I will meddle as little as I can, please let me act as an observer to my kind.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°I¡­ I see. You are welcome at our table, miss Kadu.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Please, you can call me Nejeka.¡± ¨C I straighten my glasses. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Of course.¡± He nods weakly and turns to the rest of the table. ¨C ¡°Thanks to all of you for your presence. Nejeka Kadu; the sheepkin¡¯s observer; Vute Difivi, acting Chief of Security; Guni Dijegu, as our defendant¡¯s guard; Benipe Nate, our defendant; and Samen Dusk, as the kingdom¡¯s witness.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - The kingdom¡¯s witness¡­? With his immature face, I thought he was another of the wolfkin¡¯s guards. What is he¡­? the kingdom¡¯s messenger? No, Nepaty¡¯s attack happened four days ago, the kingdom wouldn¡¯t waste efforts to send a representative to supervise a deposing trial from a mere scout village in the corners of their territory. He is probably a report man, just keeping the kingdom informed of what happens, someone who was already here, maybe a watchguard posted to protect this area. As small as it is, the royalty wouldn¡¯t let a community live within their grasp without safety measures. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Unfortunately, Strider, the hero who was the victim of this case, refused to take part in this trial and trusted us to give a fair sentence; and Dutak Ave, co-leader and the defendant¡¯s wife, respectfully asked for our forgiveness, because of¡­ the extensive search she¡¯s commanding to find her missing daughter, she¡¯ll be unable to participate on today¡¯s events.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Tch. Let¡¯s just get going with this,¡± ¨C the shackled leader growled. ¨C ¡°No use saying the names of those who are not here.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°It is¡­ important, Nate. Now, I ask all of you to be respectful as I present the case, your opinions are going to be listened to once the trial officially starts, so please be patient and remain silent until we finish this step¡­¡± Peje¡¯s trembling hands lift a paper near his squinting eyes. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Yesterday, at Nemi Cecide¡¯s farewell discussion, it was set that her death should be commemorated instead of griefed according to the points presented. Whatever, Benipe Nate suggested that her death was not caused by natural means or by acting her duty as the shaman but by Strider and Willrus Strongblade, -a second hero who was with us until late that same day-, who would¡¯ve assassinated her at the previous night to weaken our predictability on coming dangers, as she supposedly had powers to predict future events. - - - - - - - - - - - - Nate proceeded and accused the previous day¡¯s dragon-tiger invasion to be a hoax to gain the wolfkins¡¯ trust, and painted Strider as a spy of an unknown monster army to everyone who was gathered. Strider defended himself that there weren¡¯t any motives for him to stay in the village as there was no momentum for an attack or need to gather information from inside, as well as pointing out the Rules of God that made him unable to hurt the villagers, to begin with. Nate countered such statements by theorizing that Strider or Willrus had a special item that allowed control over monsters to undirectly kill one of us without breaking the Rules of God. - - - - - - - - - - - - Then, Strider stood up and yelled his frustration, remembering every one of risking his life in an attempt on saving two of our children once the dragon-tiger came and announced to take his leave from the village. Nate, whatever, grabbed the hilt of his sword and threatened to kill the hero if he would run away. That¡¯s when Willrus revealed to everyone that Vute Difivi was watching the heroes'' every action and that a magic barrier was lifted in order to confine the heroes in the inn by Nate¡¯s orders, -which Vute and Nate himself confessed to doing-, and thus proving that they would be unable to go to the deceased¡¯s room and kill her. - - - - - - - - - - - - However, even with those revelations, Nate refused to give up and further threatened to kill both heroes, only stopping once his wife, Dutak Ave, and me, Peje Hade, subdued him with words. After calming down, Nate surrendered and was imprisoned until this day¡¯s trial. With the exceptions of when Guni Dijegu had left his post once sensing the sheepkin¡¯s arrival, where Nate escaped his confinement and attempted to murder Strider for a second time, but was detained; and at the gathering reunion with the sheepkin, regarding Nepaty Citadel¡¯s invasions, which he was allowed by law to participate as his role as the village¡¯s War Chief was still valid.¡± The old wolfkin places the paper on the table, finally taking a breath in to prepare himself. Peje:- - - - - ¡°Any questions or disagreements about what was said?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I have a question.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Yes, miss Nejeka?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You said of Willrus Strongblade. There was a second hero in this village? And why did he leave?¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Indeed, he arrived two days before the hero Strider, but left yesterday¡¯s late evening. He told us he had unfinished deals to take care of and was headed to the dungeon in which he came from.¡± Suddenly someone strikes the table in fury. Nate:- - - - - ¡°And you had to let him escape!?¡± ¨C The leader¡¯s chains clanked as his hair raised in anger, but when his glare met Guni¡¯s he slowly quiets down. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s too much of a coincidence, that the day I reveal their plans, one of them runs away...¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Nate¡­ it¡¯s not yet time to-¡° Nate:- - - - - ¡°-that Willrus hero was probably the one who kidnapped my daughter, and you let him go!¡± The giant brown wolfkin slaps the wooden table. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Stop accusing them with your made-up theories!¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s a possibility, Vute. The heroes aren¡¯t the good people you think they are!¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°While you were in prison, Willrus left with everyone waving him goodbye and wishing his safe travels, everyone saw him leaving on his own, there¡¯s no proof he left because of you or with your daughter!¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°He could have come back at night, taken her. You know it¡¯s possible, you understood what I was talking about when you accepted the job to watch them! They are not to be trusted!¡± Vute closes his hands tight with hesitance. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Yes, I did the mistake to listen to you, but not twice. I thought we could have some form of rational discussion here, but you¡¯re just a madman talking nonsense¡­ It¡¯s still not your turn to talk in this trial. If you can¡¯t refute what was written about the case, then shut the fuck up.¡± Nate¡¯s shackles slide through the table as he straightened his back. Nate:- - - - - ¡°You know I can break these shackles at any moment, don¡¯t you?¡± ¨C His sharp eyes pierces Vute, like a bloody wolf bending down to talk to his prey. ¨C ¡°Guni can¡¯t stop me either, no one in the village can. But I didn¡¯t break it, I didn¡¯t fight against my kind, do you know why?... It¡¯s because I want you to understand me. To protect this village, my family, I need you to see the dangers in front of you. That fire is not something to play with, it¡¯s as simple as that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fire?... Do you see heroes as if they were fire?¡± His glare turns to me, a deep hatred building within his eyes like dark flames. Nate:- - - - - ¡°What is the difference? Both of them sprawl over everywhere if not controlled, and both of them destroy what they touch. Seeing my people idolize that is as if I was looking at a child innocently playing with the blaze, and yet, they don¡¯t see their skin burning.¡± For the first time in a long while, I sensed the urge to break eye contact, as if I wanted to hide and not make my presence noticed. But, instead, I continue to push forward, with a straight posture and confidence. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What do you have against heroes? You surely overwhelm with vengefulness. What did they do for you to get so angry at them?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°What they did?¡± ¨C He chuckles. ¨C ¡°They didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¨C He leans on the table to stare closer. ¨C ¡°At least, that¡¯s what the kingdom says. They never do anything wrong. But I know the truth. Heroes are lower than beasts, lower than any monster I have encountered in all these years hunting in the hardlands. All of those I have slain or met with, they all had something in common, a reason to live, a why for doing something, everyone has a motivation in this world. But not heroes. They don¡¯t care. - - - - - - - - - - - - They die, come back, and kill whatever and whenever they feel like it. They are called holy spirits, but I doubt there¡¯s anything holy in them. They are corrupt, unable to feel how we feel, and so they destroy us without even realizing it. Even if they stared deep into your eyes and saw your sufferings in front of you, they won¡¯t care, they can¡¯t care. - - - - - - - - - - - - Because it¡¯s impossible to understand someone that is from another world. - - - - - - - - - - - - I don¡¯t know why the great mages called them, maybe they saw no other solution to fight against the magic beasts or the tyrant gods, but what they called upon us, wasn¡¯t salvation. They called demons, demons who seek purpose in hazarding our world, on making fun of us, to rob us of what we have. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t want anything to do with them. If it was up to me, I would banish all the heroes from this kingdom, kill the ones who didn¡¯t want to leave. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s why when the heroes disappeared I thought my wish had been granted, but those two came and destroyed that utopia as quickly as it came. Destroyed it and caused my people to doubt me. All I want to do is protect my family, and yet my children look at me as if I was a monster, while the damn heroes smirk behind them with their filthy manipulative words. - - - - - - - - - - - - I just don¡¯t want what happened to me to repeat, I don¡¯t want the heroes to destroy my home and my family again, to flatten out my village. But no matter what I do or say, it¡¯s like the curse surrounding the heroes can¡¯t be lifted. People will always think they are the good guys, until they are stomping over your body and all your family is dying around you. Because that¡¯s what they do. They don¡¯t care.¡± Everyone looked at him with apprehensive stares, listening to every word he had to say as if we were being spoonfed with poison. The hatred, everyone could feel it, the genuine animosity. Whatever he said, it couldn¡¯t be an act, that was how he felt deep within. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I see¡­ I suppose the plague¡¯s invasions are at fault? Did the heroes not care about your village being infested? That¡¯s why you resent them?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°They did not care? I guess I used the wrong wording, no, they did care¡­ to some extent. Because that invasion was their plan. They were the ones who made the plague come, and for the adventurers who tried to stop it, they chopped their heads out. The same heroes who supposedly were there to save us, opened the paths for destruction to come. Ironic isn¡¯t it? Almost like the salvation everyone believes in¡­ is a farce.¡± The elder wolfkin clamped his hands and closed his eyes before speaking in his usual slow pacing. Peje:- - - - - ¡°The plague invasion indeed was very traumatic to all of us, this village is an example, all of the wolfkins here, and I believe in Nepaty as well, were victims of those dreadful impacts.¡± ¨C His closed eyes widen. ¨C ¡°But Nate¡­ he was just a child at the time, not bigger than his older son. Someone at that age can easily be subverted by his own beliefs, his hatred for the heroes not saving them at the right time was so great that the memories of them murdering the people of his village were fabricated on his mind.¡± Nate laughs at that. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Fabricated, huh? So that¡¯s how you have seen me this whole time, gramps? A pitiful lunatic?... But I know it was true, those damn heroes weakened our forces, let the plague kill everyone, and when they came back, it was only to loot what was left behind in our corpses.¡± I lean forth, my elbows resting over the table. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But how? The heroes¡­ they can¡¯t attack the ones who are not considered holy spirits, unless they are attacked first.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s what they say. But they have more than one way to make that happen. Using monsters to wipe us out is one of them, just like that filthy cloaked hero said back then, don¡¯t you guys remember? He confirmed that heroes could lure hordes of monsters to take a village out. We could¡¯ve asked him himself if he didn¡¯t bail and decided to not care for this trial. I-wonder-why¡­¡± Dusk:- - - - ¡°That¡¯s something I wanted to ask, actually.¡± ¨C The orange-haired wolfkin raised his hand. ¨C ¡°Why isn¡¯t the victim of this case here? It¡¯s not like he¡¯s unable to, he¡¯s literally outside walking around.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Dusk¡­ he said that he trusted our decision of his own volition, he didn¡¯t want to meddle in what the wolfkins can take care of by themselves, and I respect his decision. He¡¯s just a guest, after all, we don¡¯t want to press our home¡¯s responsibilities to outsiders any more than we absolutely need to.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¨C The chief of security said with confidence. ¨C ¡°We¡¯ve been bothering him from the start, no need to make him go through any more of it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I agree. But for a different reason. I wouldn¡¯t trust that hero, he being here would only get in the way.¡± Everyone stared at me with surprise, even Nate¡¯s wrinkles soothed a bit. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t trust heroes without a contract forcing them to do something. And even then, they can fail you.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°But¡­ didn¡¯t you see? All he done so far? He used holy magic strong enough to cure all your people at once, saving that little girl who was about to die in the process, he even passed out for all of that! And now, he¡¯s helping your people to be stronger as we speak, to get on their own feet and defend themselves. You were there yourself, by his side!¡± I rest my chin over my hands, a deeply thoughtful expression overcoming my relaxing face as if I finally could take something off my chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°To tell you the truth. I¡¯m not completely sure about this either, but¡­ I never saw heroes as our saviors, not ever, even when we learn they are the pure embodiment of generosity at school, or listen to all those epic stories we¡¯ve been told when growing up, I¡¯ve never actually believed it. - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯ve worked for many merchant guilds before, and I¡¯ve heard some stories¡­ about heroes going the wrong way. Sometimes, they didn¡¯t only fail their contracts, but they were suspects of abusing the convoy quests we sent them. Yes, most of the time they did their part of the deal, about ninety-six percent to be exact, with a failure rate by death of two to three percent. That was all calculated in the insurance, something we consider as a natural loss, something we have no control over. But there was always that one percent¡­ that one percent which the heroes purposely failed at their missions for personal gain. - - - - - - - - - - - - My bosses said things like the human possessing the holy spirit being at fault, or that the reports were ambiguous, or that I shouldn¡¯t worry if it was still under the insurance acceptance level. But¡­ I started wondering, why do heroes should be all good? How did someone know that the heroes are going to save all of us? I can¡¯t, I refuse to, and that¡¯s why I fought my whole life against it, I studied my whole life and worked hard to reach where I am now¡­ all to be able to stand on my own, to not need heroes.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. - - - - - - - - - - - - Ironically, all of that directed me to work right below them, managing their contracts day in and day out. The time I spent with them gave me a better perspective. They aren¡¯t much different from any other adventurer, they laugh in anger, make inappropriate jokes, get scared by the dumbest things¡­ and yet¡­ the embodiment of generosity¡­? that¡¯s something I can¡¯t grasp at. How does that make them less of a living being? How do we expect them to do so much? Just because they have more brute power and can die however many times they can? I don¡¯t believe it¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - You said about that little girl Strider saved from the brink of death, right? Indeed, she was fine today but¡­ will she in the next year? Maybe the next month or week even? The misfortune that will follow the rest of her life, will the heroes be able to save her from that? I doubt it, and I will explain why I think like that: - - - - - - - - - - - - Her father died in the invasion, and her mother¡­ she was under a lot of stress, we often caught her mumbling to herself as if she was still talking to her late husband, or chatting with other people as if we were still in the city going on our normal daily lives, she looked at the grass and trunks of the forest and saw them as parts of the city¡¯s stone, and even called people by names nobody knew of. - - - - - - - - - - - - And then¡­ one day we found the daughter unconscious over the grass, with no signs of the mother around. We sent a few groups to search for her, but¡­ it didn¡¯t take too long for us to find her body, she was hanging by a rope tied to a tree, just right there, wavering with the wind of the forest. All we could make out of the scene was that she had killed herself. And that little girl, she was left behind poisoned by something, probably by the mother herself. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s a story that would make anyone sick, something you wouldn¡¯t tell anybody for the sake of peace of mind, both for the listener''s and yourself¡¯s sake. But you know what the hero¡¯s response was when I told him that story?... (¡°I see¡±), that¡¯s the only thing he said, the only emotion I caught off of that was¡­ if I had to pick the right word¡­ was annoyance. - - - - - - - - - - - - He ended up never telling the girl the truth, as I recommended, even when she asked where her mother was, he brushed it off and made her forget about it by teaching some of her skills. But I never¡­ I never felt sympathy coming from him. Not once, on the entire day he was helping the people get ¡®stronger¡¯, I felt that he was glad. To tell you the truth¡­ all I felt coming from him, was frustration, and him getting more tired as time went by. E-Even now¡­ I think: is he going to be our savior¡­? Because¡­ I don¡¯t want him to be.¡± I keep focusing on my imaginary point in the middle of the air, but once I realize that everyone was staring at me, I recompose myself. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I am sorry. I said I was going to be just an observer but I¡¯ve just spent a lot of your time talking. Forget everything I¡¯ve just said, you can continue.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°No, it¡¯s alright, Nejeka.¡± ¨C He said lowering his head, speaking a bit slower than usual. ¨C ¡°The sheepkin must have suffered so much. And indeed, we all should stand on our own feet. Even though the heroes do not look to be much, we must hope the prophecy is right. That when the dire time comes, the heroes are the ones who will save us all. That¡¯s why they are called our saviors, not because they are perfect beings, or because they can grant us true peace. But because they have the power to keep our world alive.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Tch. She just said the sanest thing I ever heard from any of you, and all you have to tell is some religious bullcrap?¡± ¨C The leader spat. ¨C ¡°Heroes are trash. They can¡¯t and won¡¯t save our world even if that¡¯s what they wanted to. Look at that Strider hero, do you think that guy can beat me? All he knows to do better than me is run. ¡­and at the end of the day, control your asses.¡± The chief of security uncomfortably twitched on the chair before opening his mouth to speak. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Strider is¡­ indeed a bit closed up. But much like Guni is, in my perspective.¡± ¨C He pointed to the startling wolf-head. ¨C ¡°They just don¡¯t like talking too much, aren¡¯t about socializing, maybe Strider too had a harsh past and that¡¯s why he¡¯s like that. But we shouldn¡¯t treat him as less of a person. Even he can get tired if he works too hard, and maybe he will react differently about heavy stuff compared to most people, we should be considerate of his thoughts and feelings too.¡± Dusk:- - - - ¡°But how are we going to do that if he¡¯s not here?¡± ¨C the orange-haired said with a shrug and a sigh. ¨C ¡°That¡¯s what I mean guys, why am I the only one wanting the victim, I repeat, the victim and central piece of the case, to be present?¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°As I said, he isn¡¯t necessary. We won¡¯t burden him, we take care of our own by our own.¡± Dusk scratches his head nervously. Dusk:- - - - ¡°Gaahh! The hell with it. Alright, since everybody is having a spotlight, then let me borrow it. The world is going to oblivion anyways, so why would I keep it a secret?... - - - - - - - - - - - - All of you guys know I¡¯m a watchguard, right? Maybe not you Nejeka, but now you do. The truth is, I''d been doing this since I was eight, that¡¯s twelve years since then. And I¡¯ve learned some tricks in the big cities before being posted to work here. The truth is, I¡¯m kind of a badass, -not wanting to brag of anything-, but I know a couple of things that only royalty knows about, overheard them when I used to work as their guard back in the day, so¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - The thing is, it¡¯s not a crazy thing for the heroes¡­ well, how can I say it¡­ to stop being heroes. The fact that they are heroes depends on how many good things they did or not, they call it ¡°karma¡±. For every huge amount you accumulate, the hero basically gets a better patent, that¡¯s what makes us sure if a hero is actually a hero just by looking at them, it¡¯s like we can see their insignia pressed against their chests, it¡¯s like an aura ability. But if they start doing bad things¡­ well, they lose that badge. - - - - - - - - - - - - So, for all we know, when they stop being heroes they can actually¡­ well, kill people. I know, I know, it seems bad but Strider definitely is a hero, because if he wasn¡¯t we wouldn¡¯t have thought he was to begin with, we would only see him as an adventurer, or even worse, an underworlder. The fact is, underworlders are actually heroes, but with bad karma. I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s something that Nipir gave to all holy spirits, and it¡¯s fail-proof, there¡¯s no way to mimic it or cheat on it. - - - - - - - - - - - - But the problem is, that¡­ even the good heroes aren¡¯t saints, the gods don¡¯t follow their trail. It¡¯s an automatic system, if they happen to do more good than bad it marks them with high karma, but it doesn¡¯t mean they will only do good things. - - - - - - - - - - - - Actually, in my time as a watchguard in the city, I¡¯ve seen a lot of shit happen. Like a phenomenal level of shit. Heroes who were personal guards but had their royal killed by bandits, leaving the scene without a scratch; or heroes who ended up killing dozens of citizens in a bar fight; and there was even a royalty-level hero who descended to be an underworlder by the number of bad shits he did. - - - - - - - - - - - - All of those, of course, were covered by the kingdom, and we watchguards who were witnesses to any information like that had to be quiet or we would be deposed as crazy. So, that¡¯s that. Believe me or not, that¡¯s what I had to say, though I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very useful for Nate¡¯s case. Either way, don¡¯t tell anybody you heard that from me, I don¡¯t want to lose my job.¡± He looms over the chair and turns to the side as if he was a pouting kid. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Seriously?¡± ¨C The leader rested his back on the chair. ¨C ¡°Shut up, not even I believe that shit. You want to look cool, go hunt or do something useful.¡± Dusk:- - - - ¡°It¡¯s true! It was a big thing¡­ at the time. But nobody knew a hero did those.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Heroes being responsible for killing royals? It wouldn¡¯t be easy to keep that a secret forever, and everyone would know they were scumbags if that came out even once. What would they have to do? use a memory-wiping item? If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯m raising the white flag, I would never be able to win against something like that.¡± ¨C He leans forward, his face wrinkling like a growling wolf one more time. ¨C ¡°But only I survived in my village and I still remember everything those damn heroes did, if they had something like that, wouldn¡¯t they have taken it out of my head? They can¡¯t control memories, Dusk. Sure, they are trash, but they don¡¯t have something powerful like that.¡± Dusk:- - - - ¡°Think whatever you want, then.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°But the rest¡­ that I can believe. Heroes descending to underworlders, whatever that word means, it makes sense in my book.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°What are you guys talking about? We should backtrack, it doesn¡¯t matter if heroes did or did not kill royals, or if they can turn into bad people, what we do know is that Strider was falsely accused as a spy and as the murderer of one of our people.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Oh, were we still discussing that? I thought we were clear that Strider was guilty.¡± Vute suddenly stands up and slaps the table. Vute:- - - - - ¡°You are guilty, Nate! You are! Strider might look like a bad person, and look really weak. But he has the right heart into it, I know, and all the wolfkins present that day knows what he said was true. Strider did try to protect those two kids, and he was genuinely upset about being called a spy, he was taking it as an injustice, not as someone who was caught with bloody hands like you want to picture. - - - - - - - - - - - - When he saw the sheepkin coming, he did indeed grab one of them and scared them without any reason to, but he felt so bad that he knowledged his mistake and tried to fix it up by healing everyone. - - - - - - - - - - - - He might have attacked Guni at that one time, but it was because we never introduced them to each other, right? Guni himself can testify that Strider was just trying to protect us. Even so, he soon realized he was in the wrong and even helped Guni to get past a deep trauma he had, making him see that his head looks like one of a wolf¡¯s wasn¡¯t a curse but a blessing, from Rudaw nonetheless. - - - - - - - - - - - - Strider might not look like it, but he¡¯s good. He is trying to be at least. Even if he makes a mistake, or multiple ones, he always learns from it and moves forward. He is a hero, and I do believe him when he says he isn¡¯t here to harm us or to betray us. It¡¯s not because of mind control, Nate, not because he is manipulating everyone, but because he acts upon it, he shows why he should be trusted, he doesn¡¯t tell pity arguments or made-up theories like you! - - - - - - - - - - - - And I can tell, since I was the one being used in one of your plans, of how bad they were, of how manipulative you were being. Maybe you are the bad one, Nate, ever thought of that? That maybe you are in the wrong? It doesn¡¯t make any difference if you are doing it to protect your family, or the village, if you¡¯re doing wrong things, it¡¯s worth nothing. You¡¯re just destroying it all. - - - - - - - - - - - - But Strider delivers it, even when nobody expects much from him, he tries his best to make it happen. Anyone can see the results, they are as plain as day. It¡¯s up to you to see if what he has done is useful or not. But you can¡¯t tell me that what he¡¯s doing is bad.¡± Vute seats down to catch his breath and calm himself, taking a glance at everyone and lowering his head a bit. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t want to get this emotional.¡± ¨C He chuckles a bit. ¨C ¡°I even told Strider to be easygoing about all this, but I¡¯m the one getting out of hand when it comes to it¡­¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s okay to let it out sometimes, Vute. But let''s focus on the matter. Nate¡¯s being accused to attempt murder against Strider. Is there a defense?¡± ¨C He turns to the shackled leader. Nate:- - - - - ¡°I tried to protect the village.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°By killing him?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°He was going to run away, wasn¡¯t he? If he was guilty, the entire village would fall. If he had nothing to hide he would have no reason to run away. I would call it preemptive confinement for interrogation.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°But you said, repeatedly, that you would kill them.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Yes¡­ but it was a threate-- a warning shout, I wouldn¡¯t really do it, not without being sure that he was a spy, of course. Did I swing the sword once? For what I remember, I didn¡¯t even unsheathe it.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°And about the planned conspiracy of marking Strider as a suspect of being a spy, while knowingly hiding the fact that he never left the inn by Vute¡¯s watch.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it was a conspiracy. I ordered Vute to watch them and make a barrier weak enough to break once somebody attempted to get out. As only the two heroes were there, if it broke, then he would immediately call for me and we would interrogate them. I did know of that but I was unsure if the barrier went well, as I said on that day, they could, and probably did, passed through the barrier without breaking it.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°So, you saw it unfitting to share your knowledge, in a moment in which it could have been used to prevent a conflict?¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Not really. The discussion was heated, I never thought of bringing it up, so it never did it with my mouth.¡± Vute moves from his chair with a scornful laugh: Vute:- - - - - ¡°Ha! I remember you shouting for me to shut up, Nate. Everyone saw it. Even if you did forget, you didn¡¯t want to remember.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Tch. It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t want the information to go out, I just wanted to pressure them a bit more and make them confess.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Willrus was the one who brought it up, keeping it hidden at that time would be impossible. Stop weaseling around, Nate, you¡¯ve lost it already, you¡¯re guilty. You want it or not.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°What do laws serve, if to not protect the people?¡± The old wolfkin resumes de discussion: Peje:- - - - - ¡°And about disrespecting what is holy? You accused a Hero without solid proof. Even if all of what you said is true and purposedly for good, you still failed to act respectfully to one who is seen as sacred. Wanting or not, that¡¯s against the maintenance of peace in the community, independent of your belief in heroes.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°So, what?¡± ¨C He glared at the elder. ¨C ¡°Heroes can do wrong things, that¡¯s what kept coming back in this whole trial, I might not have proof, but wouldn¡¯t you agree? a hero, no, two of them arriving at our village after all of them had disappeared, isn¡¯t that a bit strange? Wouldn¡¯t I be more than excused to test them? It might not be common action, but given the situation¡­ wouldn¡¯t it be understandable?¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Not when it comes to threatening someone¡¯s life. Or hiding information to manipulate your own people to believe in one of your personal views. Or disrespecting the heroic spirits.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Then, I¡¯m guilty. If trying to protect who you love is wrong then I¡¯m a hundred times guilty.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°I see.¡± ¨C He said grimly. ¨C ¡°Benipe Nate, first leader of Debeta, I hereby declare, guilty of conspiracy against order and disrespect of what is holy. You¡¯ll be absolved from attempted murder since Strider himself saw no problem with it. I asked him before coming to this trial since he wouldn¡¯t come, and his words were that, quote: (¡°He can bark as loud as he can, but he would never scare me. I didn¡¯t feel my life a bit threatened that day.¡±) end quote.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°Fuck him too.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°Your punishment will be the deposing of your role as Leader of this village, since you cannot be enprisoned while you¡¯re acting as the War Chief, until the threat of the Shadow Army or the dissolution of Debeta¡¯s community, you will be free to act as a civilian until you¡¯re asked to command in battle.¡± ¨C He turns to the rest of the table. ¨C ¡°For the new leader, we¡¯ll decide that with a majority vote in seven days, for now, Dutak Ave shall be officially named as the second leader of Debeta temporarily. Vute Difivi, you are now assigned as the permanent Chief of Security, as Nate cannot exert his power any longer.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I gladly accept it, Elder.¡± Peje:- - - - - ¡°If there¡¯s no more accusations or defenses, I shall declare this trial over.¡± Everyone but Vute and Nate stand to leave. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Let¡¯s pray that not many people get killed because of this decision.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Enough, Nate. Stop acting like the heroes are at a fault, all you do is drool out your dumb prejudice around and expect everyone to enter your boat.¡± ¨C The brown-haired wolfkin stands. ¨C ¡°Strider wasn¡¯t the one who killed your family. The plague was.¡± Nate:- - - - - ¡°What difference it makes? To me, all heroes are the same¡­ Wait--" ¨C He halts before fully standing. ¨C ¡°Guni¡­ that time Strider attacked you.¡± ¨C His sharp eyes shifted to the wolfkin who had his back already turned to leave. ¨C ¡°How that happen? How did he attack you when he¡¯s a hero? He shouldn¡¯t be able to with the Rule of God thing, but I clearly remember that you were injured.¡± Everyone stopped, Guni turned slowly with a wide eye at Nate. He hesitated, lowered his head and thought about it for a second. Guni:- - - - - ¡°That day¡­ I¡­ I-- It happened too quick, so¡­ so I ended up hitting him unintentionally, he scared me so I sliced him with my sword, it was superficial, probably healed too quick for anyone else to see, but I saw it, it probably made an exception on the rule, that¡¯s how it works, right? That Rule of God disables if we attack them first, so¡­ that¡¯s when he pierced me with one of his abilities, I didn¡¯t even see it coming. But I¡¯m f-fine now, Dilsu healed me pretty well, it¡¯s like it never happened.¡± Nate¡¯s expression soothed out. For now, he accepted the defeat. Nate:- - - - - ¡°Heroes are¡­ dangerous. Don¡¯t let your guard down, that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s all I ask.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A genuine smile widens on my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s working better than I expected¡­ First the explosive gain of positive reputation with the NPCs by healing them from the Decay effect, and now they are all coming to me to improve their power? I couldn¡¯t ask for a better scenario, without needing to spend much effort I¡¯m transforming useless NPCs into somewhat useful soldiers, all while gathering information on how this world works. Like in the game, the lower the level, the easier it is to become stronger. Soon enough they will be able to fight against the coming Shadow Army. I wave goodbye after giving a tip to another kid, an adult steps in next, presents himself, and I welcome him. - - - - - - - - - - - - I would¡¯ve preferred to evacuate and regroup with Gonkdim¡¯s main army, then use the wolfkins as leverage to command a reconquering counter-attack. But this is fine. It¡¯s not like they would be much of use to me in the long run either way. If they want to stay then let them be. - - - - - - - - - - - - Let them be mere pawns. I shake hands with the adult sheepkin and his character panel pops up, I read them one by one and tell him what they are, together with a few tips I can remember and thoughts on how he could test them out. All with a friendly smile on my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m on your side. I want you to be strong. Hell, I would turn you all into gods if I could. But unfortunately, I need to play with the cards I have. So please, my pawns, hear what I say, take my tips close to your heart, and use them against whatever is coming. All I ask is for you to hold the line the longer you can, kill as many as you can. I wave goodbye to that sheepkin, and another one comes next in line. She presents herself, and I welcome her. - - - - - - - - - - - - In the end, they will all die. Not that it matters anyway, there isn¡¯t a chance of victory no matter how much I teach them. The only thing that¡¯s making me stay here is the possibility of reaching the key out of this world. So, whatever thing you find back in that dungeon best be worth it, Willrus. I¡¯ll do my best to buy you time. Don¡¯t disappoint me. - - { [2 days until the invasion arrives] } - - - - - - Interval 8 | Contracts INTERVAL - 8 - CONTRACTS - By completing contracts you gain reputation and adventure rank. Adventure rank allows access to harder missions according to its Difficulty Level, while Reputation unlocks participation in different types of contracts, such as the outlaws, watchguards, or with a certain group of people. Some only need Adventure rank while others exclusively use Reputation, but it generally needs a part of both. In some cases, it¡¯s possible to bargain your contract¡¯s reward. Even if there are no named rewards, you¡¯ll always gain experience. Abandoning or failing results in loss of reputation, while if you do missions that imply bad deeds you¡¯ll gain negative reputation, allowing you to build up Negative Reputation. Negative Reputation allows you to access contracts of the opposing party, which are mainly focused on attacking or sabotaging them. Whatever, you¡¯ll also gradually lose access to their respective places. The Major Reputation follows the law of your current kingdom, having a negative reputation on that means you¡¯ll only be able to enter underworld locations. A high-to-low scope of your reputation will be saved in your character¡¯s profile, so the game can remember if you had a negative or a positive reputation in the past, changing not only NPC¡¯s but also player¡¯s interactions, and that¡¯s why even if you have the required reputation, you won¡¯t be able to receive some missions. It¡¯s possible to slowly lower such extremes with time. - - - - - - - - - - - - - There are three categories of contracts: NPC-based: which are received from NPCs to help NPCs.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Player-based: allows to attack or help player operations, generally being guild missions or commissioned quests. Event-based: are given by the developers for players to advance within a season event. According to how the players do in these, the event can change courses and lead to a different big-picture narrative or difficulty level. - Contracts aren¡¯t separated by tags in-game, but they can be boiled down to a few different types of objectives, which is possible to preview by reading the quest¡¯s context or its requirements for completion. From lower to higher rewards: { Talking: speak to NPCs, for presentation or delivery of information. Delivery: deliver items or objects, or move them around. Gathering: collect a certain amount of items or objects. Exploration: gain information or unveil something from a certain location. Bounty: kill a certain amount of creatures, clean an area, or destroy something. A specific target to kill is also possible. Protection: safeguard people and/or cargo until they are safe. Expedition: ¡°advance, conquer, and secure¡±, focused on both exploring and conquering a location. +Mission modifiers, which can be: Time, having a time limit to complete it; Moment, when such mission can be done; Action, which needs you to do it peacefully, stealthily, or aggressively; or Competition, where only the first ones to finish the mission receive the reward. } V1 - C29 | Hunting Practice VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 29 - HUNTING PRACTICE - After leaving the training of the NPCs with Vute, the next thing I did in the morning was ask to participate in a hunting expedition. They were quite surprised, probably because they didn¡¯t take me as the ¡°hunter¡± type, even though my class IS an assassin. Vute kept telling me to give up on the idea, saying things like it being too dangerous and that my ¡°calling¡± was to help from within the village. Well¡­ he didn¡¯t stop me. After a few minutes of powering my way through, I finally managed to enter a hunting raid, led by the couple Neduka and Nehen, the same muscular wolfkins that sliced that giant betemita back in the commemoration feast, and the ones who invited me to a hunting expedition back when everyone was cheering me up after I apologized, if I¡¯m recalling it right. Once Vute realized I wouldn¡¯t change my mind, he even lent me one of his mounts and gave me its basic instructions. Now, I¡¯m riding on one of those horse-sized birds, those who saved me back when Nate leaped on me with guns blazing after I almost killed Guni. The most interesting thing I learned was that you don¡¯t actually use the reins to ¡°drive¡± the mount, for what they taught me, it¡¯s mostly done in your legs and body weight. If you press your right leg, it goes to the right, the same thing with the left; if you want to go faster, you tap it with both heels or press both; and to stop you pull your body back. You can use the reins to reinforce a command, but even then, you only do it a bit and after the leg¡¯s pressure, never pulling it too hard. My entire life I thought the steering was solely made by moving the reins, but I guess it makes sense since back in history books and medieval movies the heavily armored calvary used both hands to wield weapons, and yet they were able to move the same way as in any horse. The same thing applies here, but instead of horses, it¡¯s an oversized bird. It¡¯s like I said, a horse-sized brown-feathered bird, maybe even bigger really, its head has a beak like a giant eagle, but not quite. Eh, it¡¯s weird to explain, just seeing it to really understand what they are. When they were in the game they didn¡¯t look so weird, but now that they are in flesh and look so alive, it¡¯s super distressful. The first question I did was what the hell was this thing even, but Vute answered me with a simple: ¡°a male birthrill,¡± completely missing the point. I mean, what is this creature? A horse mixed with a bird mixed with an insect? Why it was so big? and why did it have two pairs of legs and then a pair of wings? But when I asked about that, Vute said that he wasn¡¯t understanding the insect part and I left it at that. And even though all of them have wings, the one I¡¯m riding on can¡¯t fly, apparently male birthrills are unable to after they reach adult age, so that¡¯s a shame. As for what I was told, the females of this species are the huntresses of the relationship and are also the rarest to get, because they are very territorialists and often kill each other in the wild. Again, if I¡¯m not mistaken, those traits are somewhat resembling with insects. But who cares, it¡¯s a fantasy game anyways, it probably doesn¡¯t even have any connection with reality when it comes to mobs. Then, Vute thoroughly spanked me for every minor detail he saw me doing wrong, like telling me to seat straight instead of leaning forward, relax my shoulders and arms, have my toes pointed upwards in the leather straps where you put your feet, and even have my thumbs faced up and wrists slightly in while holding the reins. I mean, what is this? A royal composure training on how to hold your birthrill with elegance? Anyhow, after I passed the many questions and tests to check if I had learned it all, I was finally able to leave the village with a group of seven wolfkins and went south. It took us about one hour to leave the dirt road and go inside the forest, and even then, we had to travel for another hour until they started searching for prey. Nehen, the spearwoman wolfkin, told me that since the heroes disappeared, the creatures migrated away to the south and the west. It was so worrisome that they had to split their hunting groups to gain more ground and had to increase their expeditions from every other day to a daily routine, as they had to bring fewer carcasses to not tire the mounts from the long travel. It¡¯s like something was scaring them, only the ones who had an important habitat around the village stayed, but the majority of those were hunted down on the first days or are simply too small to eat. That made me remember of that dragon-tiger I encountered right after I left the dungeon, its spawn should be way over at the top of the northern mountains, but somehow it was trying to kill me way down in the forest. Was it also fleeing? Well, it certainly didn¡¯t look like to be scared, so¡­ maybe it itself was the reason why others were fleeing? Eh, I can¡¯t tell. Maybe that big-ass red light over the mountain has something to do with this¡­ but I don¡¯t recognize it as a skill. It¡¯s probably a world event that came after the big update so there¡¯s no telling what it does. All I can do is wait to see. If I¡¯m lucky, it¡¯s something I don¡¯t need to worry about. And with that thought, I had my divine vision turned on for the entire trip, both to keep my guard up and to search for that missing daughter of the leader. If she was nearby, her nametag would probably pop up. But unfortunately, there was nothing to see. After almost two hours and a half, we finally encountered our prey: a group of wild boars. Differently from real-life boar, though, these are almost human height, even when in their fours. Not forgetting how fat and well-built they were, with tusks the size of sharpened clubs. I let the first attack with the professionals. Neduka, the swordsman group¡¯s co-leader, gladly unsheathed his katana and went forth like a madman to show how it was done. Apparently, their strategy is to¡­ just be courageous. Assault them with speed and fury before they can mobilize, separate the flock and hunt the ones that stayed behind or lost their way. It was¡­ something to be amazed by. I was pretty sure that if the wild boars just turned and attacked altogether, none of them would die. But the loud howls of the wolfkin were enough for them to think it wasn¡¯t worth the risk, or weren¡¯t confident enough that their kin would follow the counter-attack. I mean, the boars were all level eighty, some even over ninety, they were basically at the same level as the wolfkins and had the bigger numbers. But even so, they were running. This is even more impressive if you account that levels aren¡¯t as easy to read as they seem. I don¡¯t know how much NPCs are affected by it, but players have a pretty much linear growth rate, and a very slow one at that, but mobs have an exponential growth rate instead. Some species and types gain more attributes per level than us, sometimes their skills even evolve after reaching some level, while we are stuck with the same ones since we unlocked them. It¡¯s not official, but I have a basic rule guide to follow when I see levels. So, instead of seeing how different the levels between my character and the mob are, I instead place their level in a table I created. The first 30 levels are where anyone can kill it, independently of gear or power, all you need to do is smash buttons; from 30 to 60, you need some acceptable equipment or be about at the same level as it; from 60 to 80, you have to know its attack patterns; from 80 to 100, you need the right items or strategy; at 100, it¡¯s generally required at least one more person with you; and every 10 levels over that, an additional person in the group is needed.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It''s not a golden rule, you could be a level one and have no equipment and still be able to kill a level two hundred boss. All you need to do is not get hit, and maybe a few weeks without sleep. But to make the odds of winning higher, the more you¡¯re prepared the better. So, if you put these metrics to use, you¡¯ll see that the War Ogres living back in that old dungeon were about level one-hundred and twenty, if I remember it right, for those you would need to know their basic attack patterns, use the right equipment or strategy, and a group of at least four people of that level to defeat it. While the dragon-tiger was somewhere over one hundred in levels, which theoretically you would need two people with the right items to kill it, but in the end, Willrus was able to fight it alone and without preparing his equipment for it, all he had to do was overpower it with a bigger level, wear a maxed out somewhat effective items, and a unique-rarity weapon. Well, he didn¡¯t kill it, it ran away, but you get my point. So for these wild boars to be at level eighty, and the wolfkin being at the same range with no apparent overpowering equipment, they must already have good experience in hunting them and are using the right strategy to counter their reactions. They are, as I said before, professionals at doing this. In a single assault, they had successfully slain nine gigantic wild boars. After about three hours, they only needed five minutes to complete their raid. But for some reason, they felt bad that I walked all the way over here and didn¡¯t do any hunting. I was fine with it, I only wanted to take some notes, but when we were about to leave they pushed me to hunt one more boar, on my own, saying things like ¡°Even if this expedition ended up bigger than usual, we still have the sheepkin to take care of!¡±, ¡°Yes, yes. It would be so sad if a sheepkin child dies from hunger all because we didn¡¯t have enough, we should always take more!¡±, and ¡°If only a very strong hero could help the children in need¡­¡± or whatever. The hell with this! If I knew this would happen, I would¡¯ve faked chasing after some boars on the backline or something. Damn you muscular couple of wolfkins! Damn you!! But luckily, a red-cloaked wolfkin, riding an oversized blueish wolf of our party, spotted a lone wild boar that got separated in the raid and I was dragged against my will to it. Once we arrived, a wild boar peacefully drinking at a shallow river came into sight, it was a little bit smaller than the adult ones, but it wasn¡¯t quite a cub, more like a young adult of some sort. That, whatever, only reinforced their idea that I could hunt it alone. It was a level sixty-three, so according to my table, I wouldn¡¯t need the right equipment to kill it, but even so. It was the first time I was riding on a mount for real, and¡­ it still fits in the ¡°needing to know its basic patterns¡± category. I mean, wild boars are very simple, they stand their ground, charge to attack, or run away. Sometimes they can harden their skin, create barriers to protect themselves or close their target¡¯s running escapes, teleport, heal, set a ring of fire around them, or any other protective or mobility abilities. But it depends on where they live, some are even considered mutations and could get you by surprise with an unusual skill. But well¡­ before I could think of any strategies or go further on what should I be careful about. Someone¡­ slapped my birthrill and it lunged forth in an instant. Without much time to think anymore, I gripped the reins and held on tightly to the saddle. The boar quickly realized the screech and the heavy steps of my mount charging at it, it hesitated for a second but it ultimately decided to run away, passing over the small river and disappearing on the other side of a hill. Unfortunately, I was instinctively pressing both my legs to have a better balance and to not fall off, but the birthrill understood my fear as a command to charge even faster. It uncontrollably jumped over a few bushes on top of the hill and the wild boar came back to view, but instead of simply continuing to run away, the boar turned and stood its ground facing my charge with its big-ass tusks. At that time, I realized that I was already completely fucked. So, why not embrace it? I unsheathed one of my daggers mid-air and leaned my body forward to the left side, the birthrill¡¯s balance shifted and once we reached the ground I almost fell with the bump, but with the rapid turn, I was able to evade the boar¡¯s charge. The birthrill didn¡¯t need my command to understand it needed to turn towards the squealing boar, who had just hit its head on a tree and broken it from its base. The thin tree tumbled over towards the riverside and the boar turned to face me as if nothing had happened. In less than a minute, the prey changed sides with the hunter. I tapped the mount¡¯s sides with my feet for it to evade the next boar¡¯s charges. While I had a hard time evading the trees on the way, my mind was questioning when would be a good time to throw my dagger. The boar was definitely pissed off, there was even smoke coming out of its nostrils, or better, there was smoke coming out everywhere from its body. Great, that¡¯s some smoke skill that I can¡¯t remember its effects, or better, I wasn¡¯t focusing enough to remember as more and more problems piled up. With all the noise, another group of curious wild boards came to help. And before I knew it, I was in front of a gang march. I stirred the birthrill to walk in front of the new line of angry boars and eventually I got back into the small river from before. All I can remember is that in the corner of my eyes I saw the group of wolfkins waving their hands and asking something like ¡°How did it go?¡± or ¡°Where is the boar?¡±, but the squeals and stomping steps of the dozens of boars behind me engulfed any sound there could be. I looked behind and saw the first fuming boar right at our backs, charging with a speed higher than the birthrill¡¯s. I bumped the mount with my heels two times and pressed them to make it go faster and steered it to the side, but I instantly changed my mind once I saw it wouldn¡¯t work, so I sat back and pulled the reins to stop in an attempt to make the boar¡¯s charge pass right in front of us. But the speed didn¡¯t go down, instead, the birthrill jumped forth just in the right time and the boar passed below us, splashing on the water of the river and continuing its charge toward the group of wolfkins. My hips absorbed the trots until my mount stopped and turned away from that charging boar, and soon after I was facing sideways at the other dozens of boars coming from behind. Without much planning, I used the ability to shoot the dagger that was in my hands toward the river and put on all the energy I could with it. Before the boars could charge through the river it suddenly all exploded in ice, freezing the small water current and extending it towards them like a wall of blades made from thin air. I heard some high-pitched cries of pain from the other side and I immediately began running away from it, already preoccupied that they might go around it, or to prepare in case the first boar came back and flanked me. But once I made sense of what was happening behind me, the smaller boar was already laying on the ground bleeding from a wide cut on its side and the wolfkins were all spread around it, readying themselves for the coming group. However, I¡¯m not sure if it was because they sensed the bloodthirsty wolfkins or because they were scared of the ice ramp I made, but after that, the dozens of boars simply ran away and we didn¡¯t see them anymore, so we left it at that. After having time to breathe a little, I apologized for not being able to hunt it as they wanted to and for almost calling a horde upon them. But, as always, they brushed it aside and congratulated me, telling me something about pulling and separating beasts also being a form of hunting, and that it¡¯s not necessary to kill it with your own hands for you to be considered a hunter. Anyhow, they finally quieted down about me not doing anything and the hunting expedition was finally called completed. I was most happy to hear that from Nehen. All I wanted was to go back to the village already, maybe even force myself to sleep, but as my life is unfortunate, they said we still needed to clean the corpses just enough to not leave trails of blood to the village, and to tie them with ropes so the mounts could drag them. And that¡­ would be another hour. Not only that, but the travel was even longer as the mounts were more tired and had more weight to pull than before. Then, at the end of it all, I promised myself to never go on another hunting expedition again. It definitely wasn¡¯t worth the experience. - - - - V1 - C30 | Fishing with Paruci VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 30 - FISHING WITH PARUCI - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, why do I have this?¡± Paruci frowns at my questions as she walks beside me. Paruci:- - - ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to learn about fishing?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yeah, but why my rod is a stick?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Hey! That was my first rod, it¡¯s only natural for you to start with that too! It may look like just a stick to you, but that¡¯s very important to me.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I literally saw you breaking it from a tree earlier¡­¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Eh?! You saw that--?¡± ¨C She almost trips, quickly changing her gaze to the tree''s canopy to think of an excuse, nervously cold sweating. ¨C ¡°-Ahem- It¡¯s still the same. You¡¯re a level one, so you can¡¯t wield a better rod than that! You need to level up first.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Level one!? Wait¡­ does she know about proficiency levels? I thought NPCs couldn¡¯t see those game statistics¡­ so the tools you can use are limited by it, I thought it only helped you to get better quality fish¡­ is that the same for all the other jobs? ¨C A smile widens on my face. ¨C This is certainly helpful. I knew that accepting her invitation was worth the while. Any information I gather here will help me to survive in this mad world. She dances over the dirt path, her hands all so happy to point at herself. Paruci:- - - ¡°But¡­ I am at [Supreme Master God] level, that¡¯s why I am powerful enough to have Excalibur with me!¡± ¨C She presents her fishing rod, coated in silver and almost royal-looking with golden details in rounded lines and occasional roses entailed in dark-purple. - - - - - - - - - - - - Oh¡­ she is just making things up¡­ Paruci:- - - ¡°Don¡¯t be sad! I will be the one training you, then someday you will be able to wield my fishing rod too. And then, and then--, you¡¯ll pass it down to your next disciple, and he to the next! And Excalibur will forever be remembered as the legendary rod of Delajeci Paruci, huntress of the godfish!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°God¡­fish?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Yes, but of course, even fish have gods of their own. ¡­I think.¡± I look at her without moving a muscle of my face. Paruci:- - - ¡°And if I do find any of them¡­¡± ¨C Her eyes suddenly burst into flames, staring deep into my skull. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ll fish them out.¡± ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sure¡­ So, where is this lake you told me about? How far are we?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Oh¡­ hehe.¡± ¨C She glances to the sides, nervously fidgeting her fingers. ¨C ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You don¡¯t know how long or--? Wait¡­ are we lost?¡± She looks to the sides as fast as her accelerated heartbeat, quickening her walking pace. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I thought you did this every day!! How you get lost in something you do every day!?!!?!?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Don¡¯t scream at me!¡± ¨C She halts and raises her hands in surrender, but she quickly lowers her head in sadness. ¨C ¡°I never had anyone accompanying me, so I got a little distracted¡­ I always do it without thinking much about where to go, so¡­¡± We spend a few seconds in silence until I sigh deeply in tiredness. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay¡­ what do you need to locate yourself? We walked for about thirty minutes now, we shouldn¡¯t have gone that far.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Ahm¡­ Ahm¡­ let me see¡­¡± ¨C She searches for clues around her. ¨C ¡°We took the left path, then the middle one. Then the one with the old board¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­then we passed by a head-shaped rock, and after that, we crossed through a river.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Right!¡± ¨C She hits her palm with her other hand, solving the mystery like a confident detective. ¨C ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have crossed the bridge, we should have followed the river!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°AND WHY IN THE HELL YOU SAID TO CROSS THROUGH IT!?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°It¡¯s- it¡¯s because I wanted you to see the old temple¡­ Please don¡¯t yell at me!¡± What? That bathroom-like place with a broken roof and a fat stone statue of a sleeping man seated with his legs crossed? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We are lost because of that rotten place?? What made you think I would like seeing that!?¡± She looks at me with teary eyes, her aura overflowing with puppy sadness. Paruci:- - - ¡°It¡¯s because¡­¡± ¨C She sniffs, her voice cracking to hold back her tears. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s because I like it¡­¡± I hit her right in the top of her head, my hand straight to chop her in half, though unfortunately it did nothing but make her cry louder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ask me first at least! How much of an air-head are you to even forget we were going on the wrong path??¡± She only lowers her head, her wolf ears down pleading for my mercy. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Whatever¡­ Let¡¯s just go back, then. No use crying now.¡± I turn and start walking in heavy steps, but her small voice stops me. Paruci:- - - ¡°Wait¡­ I think we can use a shortcut.¡± ¨C Her instincts talk through her mouth as she remembers something helpful. ¨C ¡°This path goes above the lake we need to go, if we just go south from here, we¡¯ll be able to get there in a few minutes.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay¡­ and you know where south is?¡± She whimpers, lowering her head once more, her tail rolling between her legs. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Don¡¯t worry, I can roughly tell where.¡± ¨C I activate my divine vision, a grey ping going all around me and sucking the world of all its colors. ¨C ¡°There¡­ was around north.¡± ¨C I point at the red sun creepily resting over the north mountains ¨C ¡°if we went west by a little, and the mountains are this distant¡­¡± ¨C I keep mentalizing my memories of the game map as best as I can, drawing points and lines to where I currently am, the direction the red sun is, and calculating where is the true north, and so at its exact opposite¡­ ¨C ¡°Then south is around there.¡± Paruci cleans her tears and her gaze follows my finger, pointing at the forest at our left. Paruci:- - - ¡°You sure?¡± ¨C she says skeptically. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Now, you are doubting me?...¡± ¨C I say with my arms crossed and my feet tapping on the floor. Paruci gulps her doubts, accepts them, and so we walk down the slight slope. - In less than five minutes, the giant lake is in our sight, glittering with the sunlight at its surface, its clean blue color spreading far in the middle of the forest in the shape of an eye, almost like the earth itself had it open to watch the sky above. Paruci:- - - ¡°You were actually right!¡± ¨C She says jumping as we walk around the shore. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s Mer¡¯s Lake!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Of course I was, we went mostly towards west, going to the right from that road wouldn¡¯t make sense, all I did was to point which angle we should take at left.¡± But of course, she wasn¡¯t listening to me. Paruci is playing in the cold water, wetting her leather sandals and toes while spinning and dancing as if she was a child¡­ --Oh, wait¡­ that¡¯s right. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How old are you?¡± Her eyes widen in surprise at me. Paruci:- - - ¡°Huh, what with the sudden question?¡± ¨C She blushes slightly, avoiding my cold stare. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m not a kid you know, I¡¯m just hyperactive. I¡¯m becoming an adult next year, thank you very much.¡± ¨C She pouts like a kid. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Next year¡­ if wolfkin adulthood is at age of ten, then¡­¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m nine!¡± ¨C She says grinning from one ear to the other, raising nine fingers in front of her face. And yet, she looks nineteen¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Damn the wolfkins and their double growth rate¡­¡± ¨C I clench my hands in anger. ¨C ¡°How in the hell are you one level above me? Even if you lived through it all, to reach level seventy-six¡­ you would need to have done at least some hundreds of dungeons worth of XP.¡± She turns static, letting the small wave creep below wet her feet and go back to the enormous body of water behind her. Paruci:- - - ¡°Level seventy-six?... Dungeons?¡± ¨C She looks completely confused at me. ¨C ¡°¡­XP?¡± I stare at her, the only emotion coming from my eyes being of deep disappointment. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°How did you survive through all these years?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°H-Hey! I¡¯m strong you know! Just because I don¡¯t know any of those strange mage-thing words it doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m worthless!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Okay, stop squealing and let¡¯s keep going at it.¡± ¨C My eyes scan the lake from one corner to the other. ¨C ¡°Where¡¯s the boat you told me about?¡± Her adventurous smile challenges me. Paruci:- - - ¡°Oh, right down to business, ey?¡± She chuckles in triumph as she walks to the forest with a knight¡¯s step, proud that I¡¯m so interested in fishing. Paruci:- - - ¡°It¡¯s right¡­ here!¡± ¨C She pounces into a big bush, instantly disappearing from my sight and making it move erratically. Small green leaves and pink petals fly out of it, and then a painful high-pitched squeak comes from it. Paruci:- - - ¡°Ah! I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t know you were living in there!¡± An angry light-brown squirrel pops out to the shore, its floppy ears and red eyes like an infuriated rabbit, it jumps and dashes away before going back into the forest from another small entry point. Paruci:- - - ¡°There you go!¡± ¨C She drags a boat against the gravel ground as if it was made of cardboard, pushing the gravel on its path towards the water. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That?¡± The boat had only two seats and a chest-box in the middle, probably to place the fish or fishing tools. Though space isn¡¯t the issue, what really bothers me is its decaying state, with green moss growing brown barnacles and mushrooms of all colors and shapes at its bottom. Its wooden carcass and insides were at their breaking point through rotting to crumble altogether. And even though I said there were two places to sit, one of the wood boards was broken and a blue bucket was turned upside down to be used as a seat. Paruci:- - - ¡°What are you waiting for? Come on in!¡± ¨C She said already jumping in and taking the best spot. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s safe? We should take another one.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Another one?¡± ¨C She laughs. ¨C ¡°As if I would betray my old partner here!¡± ¨C She slaps the boat twice, the wood molding itself to the palm of her hand for a few seconds before puffing back to normal.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If your partner doesn¡¯t betray you first and drowns you.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Ah? It¡¯s a saying, the boat isn¡¯t alive for it to drown me.¡± ¨C She giggles innocently. ¨C ¡°Don¡¯t be such a kid.¡± I warily go on board it, one leg at a time, carefully not to touch the mushy wood. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ergh¡­¡± My cloak swipes through the outside of the boat, a green smudge marking the insides of the dark cloth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, fucking great¡­¡± I take off my scout¡¯s cloak and fold it before sitting, fully uncovering my grey adventurer¡¯s long-sleeved shirt with hard leather plates marking the cloth from underneath in arrow-like stripes, each patch made in a way that allows me to move without much trouble while protecting me; and below, my dark-brown pants with black belts all over to hold the many bags around my waist and thigh. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Now I¡¯ll have to wash it later.¡± ¨C I say resting my cloak on my lap, the green stain facing up. Paruci:- - - ¡°Woaah...¡± ¨C Her eyes dazzle as she examines my body. ¨C ¡°I never imagined you were wearing such strange clothes beneath that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Eh? This is good equipment, damn you. It¡¯s only a rare tier but I made them myself, modified solely for this character¡¯s traits and class!¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Wooooah!¡± ¨C Her eyes brighten even more. ¨C ¡°You know how to sew too?? So cool!¡± My eyes flinch in embarrassment. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Err¡­ not exactly. It¡¯s more like magic summoning.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°WOOOOHAAAAAT!? You can summon clothes??? Like from thin air??¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Something like that, yes.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Give me one too, then!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No! You crazy? I need resources to make them, it¡¯s not cheap. Besides, after I went in-- after the heroes disappeared, I can¡¯t do that anymore.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Aaaaauhhh¡­¡± ¨C she howls in sadness. ¨C ¡°And here I thought you could do something cool for once.¡± A one-sided contempt smirk comes to my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Is that so¡­¡± I take a time to relax and then I turn around in confusion. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Wait, how are we moving? I thought you needed to row it.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°No, no. No rowing in my boat, it doesn¡¯t like the friction. Last time we tried, that place you¡¯re sitting on broke and launched me on the water.¡± I look down, analyzing the broken wooden board at the sides of my blue bucket seat. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°So, this is its story, huh?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°I use magic. I think where it needs to go. And it goes. No trouble.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That simple? How someone make a telepathic boat like this?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Telepakick? I don¡¯t know. My father was the one who brought it, maybe you can ask him. But I doubt he will remember it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yeah, I can see how old it is by the looks of it.¡± ¨C I feel the boat crackle below me. ¨C ¡°I doubt whoever sold it is still around on the market.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Okay. Now¡­ have your rod ready.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°My rod? You mean the stick?¡± Paruci leans down, opening the box in the middle of us and showing its insides. Fishing lines, hooks, and baits are separated from a round spot which I think is to place the fish in. Paruci:- - - ¡°Here a level one hook¡­ and a level one string.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You¡¯re just giving me the worst ones you can find¡­ and shouldn¡¯t I have a bait?¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°No bait. No, no, no. That¡¯s cheating. My father only allowed me to use baits after five years of training.¡± All my motivation goes down the drain. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I don¡¯t want to be here for five years.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°I said the same thing when I was a kid. But that¡¯s the only way to improve yourself the way of the legends!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­I think your father was just afraid you would fall in the water if a fish really came.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Now, stop talking.¡± ¨C She lowers her voice into a serious tone, ducking her head to come closer. ¨C ¡°We are near the middle of the lake, where the most dangerous fish are. If you make too much noise, the Chupacabra laying dormant below will eat you alive.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - Hah¡­? Chupacabra...? I duck to whisper seriously at her. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I commend your father for raising you. He sure did his best to keep you behaved.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Oh, you can thank him later. He¡¯s my master, he taught all I know. But now¡­ let¡¯s focus, you¡¯ll throw the hook on the water, but first, you need to knot it at the end of the string. Oh, and you need to wrap the string on the fishing rod too.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Why are you explaining it all backward? You¡¯re lucky that I already knew all that.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Oh, how many years of experience do you have?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°None, I only saw how people did it a few times.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°So, no talking back to me. I¡¯m your senior.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°But I¡¯m right.¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Shhhhh.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You--¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.¡± ¨C She looks at me with dark anger, pointing a finger down. ¨C ¡°The Chupacabra.¡± I blink slowly, holding my anger in and nodding tiredly. - - - - - - - - - - - - Better to not argue. Or this will extend more than necessary. She turns her back to me, eager to start. Paruci:- - - ¡°Okay, to make it fair, each one of us will face one side. And we will throw the hook at the same time.¡± ¨C She gazes to the front of the boat. ¨C ¡°Whoever takes more fish wins.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Right.¡± ¨C I hesitantly turn to the opposite side. The both of us stare at each other over our shoulders, fishing rods tightly in both hands. Paruci:- - - ¡°Three¡­ Two¡­ One¡­¡± ¨C she whispers ¡®loudly¡¯. ¨C ¡°Now!¡± Paruci lifts from her seat with emotion, swinging the rod with everything she has, the fine string slide through the metal cogs of her weapon and quickly propels with red magic, cutting the air in an arc above her head and reaching the ultimate spot at the middle of the lake. The float stays above the surface as a blue light circles around it like a clock, making the hook descend to the perfect level with the latest fishing magic tech someone can buy. Below the water level, it¡¯s possible to see faint lightning twinkling from its sinker, calling the nearby fishes'' attention every few seconds or so. I, on the other hand, lazily throw the small hook with my own hands and the string follows flimsy a few meters away, it knots itself a few times as it came out of the roll laying over my folded cloak before reaching a few meters behind the boat. The silver metal hits the water and submerges slowly, the string sinking bit by bit nearer and nearer to me. Because there is no floater to keep it still, the underneath hook travels all so calmly to lay below the tip of my rod¡¯s range. Paruci looks down at me with a wide grin. Paruci:- - - ¡°Not too bad. For a newbie.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Shut up.¡± - The container in the middle of the boat only grew over the hours, blue scaled sharp fish, brown with long fins, others with big black eyes, and some smaller ones like sardines. But of course, all of those were caught by the radiant Paruci and her legendary fishing rod named Excalibur. Luckily, I needed to meditate on some other matters so I could easily ignore her victory barks over my ears every time a fish slapped my back and fell over the pile of caught prey. All creatures paralyzed by the magic of her hook, hopelessly looking at me for mercy, all to die soon after. - - - - - - - - - - - - So magic is important even for jobs like this. Before, Ave said that the wolfkins could farm vegetables daily with magic, the blacksmiths also need to deal with ascended items with powers, and even fishing is improved by it. - - - - - - - - - - - - From what I know, Paruci has Poisoning Blades. The same type of wrapping magic as my Freezing Blades or Flaming Blades. You activate it and your hits receive extra elemental damage. Though in her case it causes to add a poison status effect that damages you over time and can slow or even paralyze you. These poor fishes had no chance once they took the bait. Because it¡¯s a temporary magic effect, it should be eatable after a while, so it¡¯s perfect for hunting. - - - - - - - - - - - - I guess the metal hook is considered the blade of her weapon. Damn, maybe she can even fight with that fishing rod for all I know. And thinking about it, it might be a fairly dangerous foe to go against. Its movements are too quick and the range too wide. It wouldn¡¯t paralyze me as fast as those fishes, but with enough stacks of poison, anyone would be done for. I look back. Paruci is smiling merrily at her floater, proud of herself to have caught as many fish as she already took. - - - - - - - - - - - - Is she like that¡­ every time? Or is this a lucky day?...... Well, I¡¯m already here, so why not start a conversation? - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Paruci¡­¡± Something pulls my string. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What--¡± It pulls more, and more, suddenly growing stronger with every pull. I quickly grab the stick with both hands, needing to use my legs to go against it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I caught something!¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°Pull it! Oh my God, oh my God! It¡¯s your first! Pull it, pull it back!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m trying dammit!¡± I feel my feet sliding on the wood together with the old bucket I¡¯m seating on until my boots slap against the corners of the old boat, the entire thing almost turns forward and sinks into the water but Paruci is fast enough to get up and counterbalance the weight on the other side, and so the boat¡¯s shell hits the water once more. The monster on the other side of my string begins to move the boat forward with its constant fight. Paruci:- - - ¡°Spin it! Spin the rod to pick the string back!¡± I spin it with the force I can muster, but I¡¯m using most of what I have only to keep my grip. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s not working! You need to help me!¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°I can¡¯t! If I move the boat capsizes!¡± The thing pulls even more, even harder, the boat start gaining speed and begins moving in circles in the lake. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the-- HELL!!¡± ¨C The strength I¡¯m using exceeds one of a normal human already, all to not fall on the water. ¨C ¡°DAMMIIIIIT!!¡± Instead of spinning it, I try to pull it with all I have. And instinctively, I activate my Freezing Blades to try copying Paruci¡¯s magic. I feel it traveling through the pulling string, going over each knot and reaching the other end underwater. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Come here!!!!¡± I pull, all my muscles contracting it to move back, I fill my strength gauge to hit its overlimit¡­ but then¡­ the stick breaks. The string quickly unwinds in the air in front of me, letting the creature go. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh no, you won¡¯t!¡± I grip the strings in my hands tighter, the ones that were attached to the stick before, and I coil what is in front of me with both hands and arms, wrapping it all around my body. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HOURS I SPENT HERE!? NOW YOU¡¯LL COME WITH ME!!¡± Paruci:- - - ¡°You can do it! Pull it, Strider!! Pull it!!!¡± ¨C She raises her fist in the air, a big exhilarated smile on her face. My Freezing magic amplifies, the string in my body almost cutting through the fabric of my gloves and sleeves. Some strings rip each other apart like tight guitar cords being released from their tension. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!¡± I pull it out of the water, the shadow of the enormous creature going over the boat and blocking the sun. Paruci:- - - ¡°That can¡¯t be¡­¡± Paruci gazes at it, all in slow motion, the creature arching over so elegantly above our heads as drops of water reflect the sunlight all around us. It''s bigger than an elephant but thin like a fish, with blue smooth skin and a teethed-tail of a shark. A whale-like cry resonates in the air as it tries to open its mouth, its beak resembling a long spear projecting out of its head, having a small hook stuck on its tip as the fishing string wraps it tightly close, ice frosting it whole. It falls heavily on the other side of the boat, and soon, it begins to pull me again, now a little weaker than before but still forcing my boots to slide to where Paruci is. Paruci:- - - ¡°That¡¯s a Nehenipada!¡± ¨C She looks in amusement at me, the biggest smile widening on her face. ¨C ¡°A Mommy one at that!¡± The boat starts to turn from its head, but Paruci manages to almost kick the other side to balance it again, making it move like a jetski. I amplify my freezing magic even more, sensing my energy bar falling quickly to fifty percent at the corner of my eyes. Paruci:- - - ¡°Hahahaa¡­ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAHHA!!!¡± I pull with all I had left, my energy quickly descends to a quarter. I spin it to my side, steering the creature¡¯s direction to go out of the water, the creature leaps out and flips through the air. But this time, the giant fish leaps against the forest. It flies like a spear cutting the wind, and with a thud, the giant creature falls on its back at the lake¡¯s shore. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡±Ah HA!... That¡¯s right!... You - stay there!¡± I use up to the tenth percent of my magic to keep on freezing it, the enormous fish squirms around, my arms completely numb and wrapped in knots with stray strings all around. I pant heavily and the lake fell silent, after a full minute, the fighting was settled for good and Paruci howled happily ever after. - - And with that¡­ The entire village could dine a Giant Nehecipada together. Paruci gladly gave me the credits for the catch, but she couldn¡¯t help herself to boast to everyone about how her ¡°apprentice¡± managed to quickly learn from her ultimate teaching techniques. And for the first time, I could try that legendary fish people were fighting over a few days back¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s actually¡­ amazing. For a fish dish. - But I still prefer chicken. - - - - - V1 - C31 | Recruitment VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 31 - RECRUITMENT - I am an Arcane Assassin. My class relies on speed and positioning. That¡¯s why I need skills and items to synergize with those traits or tap their flaws. I can¡¯t charge in the front lines and tank every attack with my chest wide open. I need to strategize, see the battlefield as a board game. Don¡¯t be like those stupid FPS players that think SFO is all about accuracy or the meta. You need to be smart. Analyze the conditions. Be creative. Seize the best opportunities; surprise your enemies; and kill them by striking their throats. No mercy, no playing around, just do it as easily as you can. Even though this is just a game, don¡¯t have fun with it. Treat it as a job, or a competition. Imagine as if it was your life at risk. You only have one of those, right? So don¡¯t drop your guard with it. Don¡¯t be the dumbass who chokes when the fight comes. Especially now. - I open my eyes, my divine vision already painting my irises golden as the world lights up in grayscale. I¡¯m on a bench in the central part of the village, the wolfkins and sheepkins stand on the streets, talking with each other, working, or simply walking to somewhere. Everything is in slow motion, the picture of the simple houses and their people rest above my entangled fingers as my hands are placed in front of my mouth. As I think, my right foot slowly taps on the floor repeatedly, mechanically, it¡¯s as if everything is submerged in tar. - - - - - - - - - - - - We have about three hundred people. The wolfkins¡¯ average level is eighty-five, the sheepkin¡¯s is forty-five. We are weak, that¡¯s the problem. We don¡¯t have enough numbers, that¡¯s a bigger problem. They are not ready; they are laughing, casually chatting with each other¡­ that¡¯s an even worse problem. - - - - - - - - - - - - I did all I wanted in these past few days. The cards were drawn and I placed them on the board already. My round is almost over. My character panel opens on the side, and my focus shifts to it. - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯m already pretty set with my skills. Don¡¯t think it needs to change. - For the six class and one simple active skills slots: - - - - - - - - - - - - Normal Blink, Arcane blink, and Speed Boots for escape; - - - - - - - - - - - - Flaming Blades for damage dealing; - - - - - - - - - - - - Trickery Parry for blocking attacks; - - - - - - - - - - - - Great Invisibility and Skill Resonance for positioning utility. - Then there¡¯s my equipment: - - - - - - - - - - - - Two Ribbon-tailed Rudaw Daggers, medium ranged attacks with an activatable piercing skill to shoot towards a focal point; - - - - - - - - - - - - The Lurker¡¯s Overcloak increases my evasion, and if I lift my hood I disrupt outsiders¡¯ perception skills; - - - - - - - - - - - - A Rudaw Protective Shirt, gives me good damage resistance, and it¡¯s where my Shadow Cloud comes from, which will block my enemy¡¯s vision if I want to escape or initiate an attack. - - - - - - - - - - - - Slip-on Scout Gloves, passively give more action speed and cooldown reduction if I¡¯m not in combat. - - - - - - - - - - - - Double Dagger Assassin¡¯s Shealths, more critical chance and my first strike deals critical damage. - - - - - - - - - - - - Pants of the Explorer, amplify the movement speed from all my abilities, as well as their durations. - - - - - - - - - - - - Then my Elemental Resistant Boots¡­ which give me a lot of magic resistance from ground environmental sources. This is by far the worst part of my current build, the majority of my items are of rare-tier, made to be economical, something that I wouldn¡¯t care about losing if I died. But now that, thanks to that damn Orb that transported me to this world, death is permanent, I need the best pieces of equipment there are. If I only could access my account¡¯s inventory¡­ but that¡¯s not possible it seems, I can only open my Character panel and personal Inventory menus. My major problem with this build, whatever, is that I would greatly prefer a ranged weapon or a sword instead of my daggers. Throwable melees synergize well with high-mobility characters and are very adaptable, which is basically the best thing there is for scouts like me. But here, the dagger¡¯s tail actually exists, they are solid just like anything else. Just like back when I attacked Guni by mistake, someone can easily cut it through with a sword. Luckily, the magic cloth can reconnect the separated pieces if that happens, probably made considering that was a flaw, but even so, there¡¯s no saying if it has some durability limit or which conditions it can go through. Back in the game, the weapon¡¯s ribbons or elongated blades were untouchable, they only increased the range of your attack, and maybe added a bit of response time for your enemy to evade it, but here¡­ It¡¯s basically the same problem spears have in the real world: their range and trusting potential make them theoretically the best weapon there is; but when you place into account that someone can easily grab its pole, or even break it, or make it useless by going inside their blind range, they fall flat only as an initiation weapon; turning into one of the worst main weapons there is. My tailed daggers are the same. They might be very good for initiation, but if I had to fight someone for a long time; or without the surprise effect¡¯s advantage; or even worse, fight against multiple people; my chances for them to disarm me while I throw is too great. And if I use it as a normal melee I lose in range against most weapons, if I limit the usage of my weapon to that I might just as well compare it to bringing a kitchen knife to a gunfight. It¡¯s not ideal. But unfortunately, there are no better choices for me to buy in this village, and that mage¡¯s staff in my inventory won¡¯t do me any good either, since I have no good skills to use with it. I guess, in the end, I¡¯ll just have to be prepared if anything like that happens and keep on using my daggers. - And to finish with my build, there are my six class passives: - - - - - - - - - - - - Perfect Disguise, my deceptive skills become immune to any vision perceptions, which allows me to stay invisible even against foes with high intelligence. - - - - - - - - - - - - Energy Efficiency, 15% less cost to all skills and halves decay gain from lost energy. - - - - - - - - - - - - Shadow Protection, nullifies half of a fatal damage, but its cooldown becomes bigger depending on how much was blocked. - - - - - - - - - - - - Space Travel Master, improves range, action speed, and cooldown of any teleportation skills by 12%, including the damage-disable cooldown of two seconds in my normal blink when I receive a hit. - - - - - - - - - - - - Momentum Balance, nullifies 10% of received damage and retrieves it to the enemy caster with the cost of some of my energy. And the last one. - - - - - - - - - - - - This is the only skill I¡¯m still unsure of¡­ { [Loan With Death (Trickster - Tier 4)] After reaching death, the stacks of this skill will be consumed to remain up to a few seconds alive and accumulate negative health with part of the damage received. If the caster returns to positive health before its duration ends, life will be redeemed. Maximum stacks: 60 Extra time alive per stack (TIME): 0.1s Stack regeneration: 3s Overall Resistance while active: 50% - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you seek lady Nipir for help, you shall evince your worth. Nothing comes for free, but kindness may still outshine death. } - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s the same build I always had since this character was a dungeon scout. Wanting or not, having skills that focus on keeping me alive for longer is still my number one priority. But this one I have my doubts. Before, this skill was good since I could see six more seconds of terrain even after I theoretically would have died. For scouting an unknown dungeon it can make all the difference. But¡­ My stare shifts over my fingers, back to the wolfkins and sheepkins in slow motion all around the village. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡­is this skill really going to be useful? Wouldn¡¯t a situation I reach zero health something I don¡¯t want to be in the first place¡­? But again, it¡¯s not like there¡¯s a better skill for this situation. Maybe one or another, but I don¡¯t have them with this character yet, and I don¡¯t know if I have the time to level up to unlock them. - - - - - - - - - - - - This passive is pretty high tier, which means it is strong but there¡¯s has some other costs attached to it. In this case, I think it¡¯s the cooldown and its duration, three minutes to refresh a six-second immortality effect is a bit too much. But in my case, it¡¯s not like I want to be at zero health many times in a roll, or stay too long in that state. If I receive too much damage with it, I¡¯ll accumulate too much negative health and it¡¯ll be impossible to come back from that. My strategy should be to retreat and instantly drink a health potion if it comes to that. Yeah, if this helps me even once, it can be the difference between life and death. I close the semi-transparent panel. - - - - - - - - - - - - I only have one of those now, can¡¯t risk it. If it gives me one more chance, even if it¡¯s not certain, I need to have it. It¡¯s one more variable that decreases my chances to get too unlucky. Tasah:- - - ¡°Strider? Are you alright?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh?¡± I stare up at a wary sheepkin. [ Kai Tasahrin, Sheepkin (Level 40 ¨C Shaman|Vampire) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°You look a little bit too serious. Something happened?¡± I rest my chin over my entangled fingers and hesitate to answer, taking a long and silent breath in before opening my mouth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah¡­ if I asked you to join me in battle, would you come?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Uh!? What, what are you talking about?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s because an invasion is coming, today.¡± ¨C I stare at my entangled fingers apprehensively, my feet tapping non-stop on the floor. ¨C ¡°If not today, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Aah, haha~, you actually scared me for a second.¡± ¨C He sighs. ¨C ¡°And what if it doesn¡¯t come in the day after tomorrow? Then it¡¯ll be the next? And if not then, the next after that?¡± I look into his eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No. That¡¯s definitely the final day.¡± He blinks thrice in surprise. Tasah:- - - ¡°H-Hold on, a-are you serious?¡± I glance to the sides, certifying that nobody is listening. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yep. I¡¯m not messing with you.¡± ¨C I hesitate for a second. ¨C ¡°I have a plan, but it won¡¯t work if you¡¯re not in my team. So, what do you say? I¡¯ll even give you a full mage set, the same type as that staff I lend you before.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Holy shi--. You¡¯re not... kidding. You wouldn¡¯t give it to me just for a prank, I still remember your disdainful face when you just lend me that staff. But are you going to give it to me¡­?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yeah, yours forever. You won¡¯t need to do much, your job will be to activate your shield and buff someone with your attribute-sharing skill. Can you do those?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Um¡­¡± ¨C He blushes. ¨C ¡°I wanted to surprise you, but yeah, I learned how to do all the skills you said I had.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Good, then it¡¯s going to be simple. All we need to do now is grab ourselves a damage dealer and a mount.¡± I stand and start searching around. Tasah:- - - ¡°Wait, so are we really doing this? I didn¡¯t hear anything from the wolfkins. Is it really coming?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°About ninety percent sure.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°We should warn everyone, then.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They won¡¯t believe me, Tasah. They have no use with a hunch of mine.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Don¡¯t you have proof? Something you can show what is going to happen?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No. All I¡¯ve got is my guts.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Then¡­ what about warning of what they need to do?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ve told them the invasion focus was the region where this village is, don¡¯t you remember? There¡¯s nothing more I can say about that. Not even I know how they should organize to fight against it. But look around, they are already preparing the terrain. We are already expecting an invasion, they just don¡¯t know when it¡¯s coming.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°So, how do you know?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A wide prediction. Not a very helpful one, I must say. The only thing that changed from that council of war to now, is that I¡¯ve decided to stay and fight. For the first wave, at least.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Then, you¡¯re not leaving?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Didn¡¯t you fucking hear me? I just--¡± ¨C I stop once I see tears sliding down Tasah¡¯s face. Tasah:- - - ¡°T-Thank you.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Why are you doing that again?¡± ¨C I go back searching the faces of the wolfkins around as quickly as I can. ¨C ¡°We need to find that goth boy, the one who¡¯s the leader¡¯s son.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°You mean Apaw?¡± ¨C he says wiping his tears. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Yeah, yeah. That¡¯s the one.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Why him, though?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°He has an assassination skill that can perform what I want to do. I knew I could use that the moment he let me see his character attributes. A skill so powerful that might even hit kill if the conditions are set right. A shadow strike that goes through armor and burns energy like a bitch. It¡¯s a very nasty skill, but it has a very long cooldown. It¡¯s not, but I would consider it an ultimate skill. The type that can end a battle just by using it.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°A-And he has that?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Are you deaf? I¡¯ve just told you that. He¡¯s the only one who has a skill that strong.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s just t-too much to process.¡± I raise my hand to a big brown wolfkin that comes into my sight. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°VUTE! Hey, Vute! Where¡¯s Apaw? I need to talk to him!¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Huh? What? Apaw?...¡± ¨C He frowns in the distance. ¨C ¡°What do you want to talk to him about?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯m inviting him to my party. We¡¯ll cut some heads together.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°H-Heads?! What are you talking--??¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s just a saying. It means we¡¯ll be killing someone.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same thing?¡± I stop and stare up at him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s about the invasion, I have a plan, but I need him on my team.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Okay, okay, calm down.¡± ¨C He looks inquisitively at Tasah on my side. ¨C ¡°What¡¯s going on? The-- the invasion? You mean the Shadow Army¡¯s?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah, explain to him.¡± ¨C I turn and make a cone with my hands in front of my mouth. ¨C ¡°APAW! Apaw, where are you!?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°U-Uhmm¡­ Strider said he knows an invasion is coming into the village. He said something about being today or tomorrow or the day after that.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Oh.¡± ¨C He nods slowly. ¨C ¡°Or maybe the next one too?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Um¡­ that¡¯s the same thing I said to him. But he said no, that the day after tomorrow will be for sure the last day.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°APAW! LEADER¡¯S SON?! WHERE IN THE HELL ARE YOU HIDING??¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Okay, Strider. Lower your voice, you¡¯re scaring the sheepkins.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I need to know if he¡¯ll go with my plan or not. Every second I stay in this village my chances to escape alive decrease. If he¡¯s not joining my team, then I¡¯m leaving. Immediately.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°I see¡­ Guni told me about this, that Strider might start hallucinating because of sleep deprivation. He¡¯s not resting well, that¡¯s why he¡¯s-" - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°-Stop saying nonsense, Vute. I don¡¯t need to sleep. I¡¯m a hero, you dumbass. Heroes don¡¯t need to sleep.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Yes, yes. Dilsu!¡± ¨C He waves to the blond priestess who was just passing by. ¨C ¡°Dilsu, can you help him go to bed? He can rest in any room in the inn. Just make him sleep. I have some other business to take care of.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The hell, Vute. I¡¯m serious, I don¡¯t need to sleep. Don¡¯t touch me, priestess! I¡¯m not going to bed!¡± The priestess shrieks silently once I push her trembling hands away. Ave: - - - - - ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¨C The leader¡¯s wife suddenly appears from the background, going down a huge duck-like mount and walking closer with her blue hair and leather clothes covered in blood. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ve just come back from my expedition, did something happen?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Ave, good! I need to talk with Apaw, can you call him from me?¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°Your older brother?¡± ¨C she thinks aloud. ¨C ¡°He should be around guarding the village¡­¡± ¨C She looks to the sides and folds her hands to make a cone in front of her mouth. ¨C ¡°APAW! APAW WHERE ARE YOU, DARLING?!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°APAW! I JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU!! COME OUT FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE!¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Great, now there¡¯s two of them.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Strider, I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s the right way to go about this. We should be more respectful, I¡¯m sure if we ask around, we¡¯ll eventually locate him.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Uh? Ask around? Isn¡¯t that what we are doing?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°N-Not exactly-¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°-Oh! There he is~!¡± ¨C She points to a low-eared wolfkin with a goth vibe. ¨C ¡°Oh, my. My baby, are you well? Mommy just came back from her hunting~! I brought lots of food if you want to eat~! I¡¯ll go right back hunting, though. If there¡¯s anything else you want, mommy can try fetching it for you~! Ah, and Strider wants to talk to you about something.¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°Hm, someone came running to warn me,¡± ¨C he says tiredly as if he just came out of bed. ¨C ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I want you on my team, Apaw. An invasion is coming but I have a plan, I need you to join me and kill someone.¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°Hah?¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°An invasion? What kind of game is that? Is the summer festival happening so soon already?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°N-No, ma¡¯am. He¡¯s talking about the Shadow Army¡¯s one.¡± Ave: - - - - - ¡°Ooh! the same that happened with you sheepkin? What a meany thing they did to you. Unforgivable!¡± ¨C She suddenly hugs Tasah tightly. ¨C ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m going to protect you if any baddies come, just worry about growing and sleeping well, okay~?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°A-A-Ah, t-thank you, miss, b-but I¡¯m okay!¡± ¨C His voice muffles within the deep hug. I extend my arms as if theatrically presenting something to Apaw, making my cloak open wide with a big smile on my face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What do you say? Are you up to it?¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°So, let me see if I get it right¡­ is the invasion coming already? Why isn¡¯t the bell ringing?¡± And just when he points to the bell tower over the church, a silhouette comes out of its roof¡¯s edges. A dark-cloaked creature with a black wolf face suddenly started climbing the tower in a spiral from its outside. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Isn¡¯t that Guni? What he¡¯s doing awake?¡± The hooded wolfkin reaches the top, and as in an image I¡¯ve seen before, as if it was deja vu, the wolf-faced person stands straight by grabbing the metal pole on the top of the tower, and with its elongated snout, he starts sniffing the air under the cloudy sky. As if waiting for the passing wind to end, the chaos quieted down and everyone gazed up. I could sense that in Guni¡¯s perspective, he was searching the trail of scents to know where something was coming from. And once its source became clear, the wolfkin¡¯s eye widened and he looked down. The people below exchanged stares with the wolfkin on top, and after a few seconds of tension, the wolf opens his mouth. Guni:- - - - - ¡°An army is approaching!¡± ¨C His voice echoed in the streets. ¨C ¡°I¡¯m going to check who it is!... But prepare yourselves!¡± And in the same way he got up, he went down faster and jumped from roof to roof until he was completely out of sight. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Wait¡­¡± ¨C Vute turns to me. ¨C ¡°How did you know?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It still might not be it. But I had a feeling today would be the day.¡± Vute¡¯s friendly expression dissolved into a serious look, his face stiffening with doubt. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Dilsu, recall the hunters.¡± ¨C He turns to his men. ¨C ¡°Prepare the weapons! Let''s have everyone in their positions! Do it as if your life depended on it!¡± Vute goes a few steps away, but stops in hesitation and points a finger at me. Vute:- - - - - ¡°I trust you Strider. Just-- Don¡¯t let me down.¡± I frown at that. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, Vute! I need to ask you for a mount. We need something really fast. It¡¯ll be extremely important for my plan to work. It¡¯ll decide if we are going to win this or not.¡± Vute scratches his chin with worry. Vute:- - - - - ¡°Fast you say¡­¡± ¨C He stares down at me. ¨C ¡°Are you afraid of height?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think so.¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°Then I¡¯ll give you my flying birthrill. I¡¯ll tell the stable guards that you¡¯ll need it.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Flying, huh?¡± ¨C I nod with that. ¨C ¡°Aren¡¯t there any instructions on how to ride it?¡± Vute:- - - - - ¡°It¡¯s the same thing as the male one.¡± ¨C He waves goodbye and quickens his pace. ¨C ¡°It just also can go up and down.¡± The entire village became agitated as if someone had just poked a wasp colony. It¡¯s too hard to discern anything from all the movement around us, but one thing I¡¯m sure, they were all moving to prepare for the coming battle. I turn back to the leader¡¯s son, his face a bit more alert than before. Apaw: - - - ¡°Then¡­ what is the plan?¡± My nervous smile widens. - - - - - - - - - - - - - We had time to buy some equipment in the local shop: a few spyglasses, a compass, and even a few fireworks sacks. By the time we reached an agreement and my team was formed, Guni had come back and confirmed that the incoming army was too big in numbers and had too many monsterkins to be any ally of ours. - - - - - - - - - - - - - On that fateful day, the invasion came. - I could have run away, fought on the frontlines, or chipped out the enemy¡¯s army on their sidelines. But I chose to go for their throats. No mercy. No playing around. I went to my limit to make it happen. The next thing I knew, we were taking flight. Valiantly separating ourselves from the main army of the village, where wolfkins and sheepkins joined forces to fight a great evil. I was going to do my part, not to defend the village, but to attack whatever was coming. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tasah:- - - ¡°Then this is how it is to fly?¡± ¨C The sheepkin¡¯s voice trembled on my back between flaps of the giant wings. ¨C ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a bit scary.¡± Tasah seats behind me, already wearing the blue mage¡¯s equipment and the staff I promised to give him, well, all but the hat of the set which he clumsily couldn¡¯t wear because of his horns. And right behind him was Apaw in his usual dark clothing, a small sword sheathed on his back near his waist. Apaw: - - - ¡°Just don¡¯t look down,¡± ¨C He points to the ground nonchalantly, ¨C ¡°some people pass out by the height and fall off.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Ahm¡­ t-thank you for the tip.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just remember your roles in the plan. And you just might come back alive without a scratch.¡± The altitude grows quicker as the birthrill¡¯s beak aims upwards, the forest below turning into a distant green carpet. Tasah:- - - ¡°So¡­ I never actually asked.¡± ¨C He screams against the strong wind, grabbing onto my cloak. ¨C ¡°What are we doing, exactly?¡± I lift my hood, a quick shine glitches throughout my dark cloak and the hood bonds itself with magic to not go down with the violent wind. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, I thought you were listening when I explained it to Apaw. But if I had to sum it up¡­¡± ¨C I glare at him, a smirk building up on my face. ¨C ¡°¡­we¡¯ll bite their throats out. Kill their commander and anyone who looks important. Fuck their chain of command and turn their numbers into a bunch of pathetic fools! That¡¯s how you defeat an army that big.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°A-Ah! Right. We¡­ w-we are going to do that.¡± The birthrill flaps its wings one more time and we go even further away from the village, its gray feathers camouflaging with the dark clouds in the sky. Just a few sun rays are able to pierce the storm that is to come, some highlighting the dark spots marching on the horizon. - - - - - Interval 9 | Divine Vision INTERVAL - 9 - DIVINE VISION - Divine Vision is a skill that all players have. By default, it activates when the middle mouse button is toggled. Alternative names: Elemental Vision, Magic Vision, Heroic Vision, Vision. - - - - - - - - - - - - - EFFECTS: Allows the caster to visualize the colors of the environment according to its elemental energy, see masses of energy that are normally hidden, and appraise targets in sight. This skill is togglable and costs energy per second while activated. [ Skill type: No-target Cast type: Activable Switch Affects: Self-only Modifiable by: Visual Perception Dispellable: No - Cast Animation: 0s (cast point) + 0.2s (trigger) + 2.8s (radial ping from caster) + 0s (backswing) Range of effect: Global Power: (SENSE) attribute_DIVINITY Cost of Energy per second: 10 Duration: Until Recast; Until Silenced; or Out of Energy - Cooldown: 0.4s Cost: 35 Energy ] Notes: For any information to unlock, the Power output needs to trump the target¡¯s thresholds; Counters visual trickery such as invisibility, illusions, or magical traps; Color visualization of elements; Saturation shows the energy¡¯s density, allowing to identify elemental amplification, critical hits, or enchanted objects; Opens a panel popup with the unit¡¯s information, such as Health, Energy, Name, Class, Level, Attributes, etc¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SUCCESS METRIC: Its appraisal success depends on the Power of this skill minus the target¡¯s divinity (or needed divinity), resulting in the availability of information as shown in the table below:
INFO: Name/ rarity Numberless Health barThe tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Title/Guild Numberless Energy bar/ Active Effects Level (real) Health Values Energy Values Race/ Type/ Class Invisibility Piercing Illusion Piercing Skills and Items
POWER DIFF -16 -12 -8 -4 0 +4 +8 +12 +16 +20 +24
For every 50 meters of distance, the output Power decreases by 4. If the target is considered an Ally, all information becomes available. Visual blockages disrupt the Power output partially or completely (e.g.: walls or magic barriers). Any unknown information will be shown as ¡°???¡±. Information won¡¯t show if the panel is too small to read (would need some kind of zoom for distant targets, for example), or if the optimization settings reached their maximum panel count. - Notes: The Power directly uses the Divinity attribute of the character, such is gained for every 10 points in intelligence, and can only be further modified by a skill¡¯s effects. Elemental Affinity, Energy Affinity, Sense Affinity, and Visual Perception amplification directly modify this skill¡¯s Power addictively. While the target can only defend itself with Visual Perception resistance or by raising his divinity attribute. This means that the caster generally has the upper hand. Every 10 levels you passively gain 1 Divinity; while spending a 10-level worth of tokens in intelligence you gain 3 extra Divinity. This means that: for you to see the real level of a target with no extra intelligence points or modifiers, you need to be at least at the same level within the tens as it or spend 10 tokens in intelligence for every 10 levels of difference. When you don¡¯t have enough power difference to reveal the Real Level (at 0), it will show an approximation by the tens (like ¡°Level 50+¡±, ¡°Level 60+¡±, or ¡°Level 70+¡±). Such approximation starts by the actual target¡¯s ¡°tens¡± level, but it will decrease by ten for every negative unit of difference, and if the approximation number reaches below half of what the real level is, it turns into ¡°Level ???¡±. - - - - - V1 - C32 | Heroes VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 32 - HEROES - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You damn Heroes.¡± The beast growls in anger, his black hair arching upwards with the increase of Energy release. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s all because of you damn Heroes.¡± (A knight with oversized shoulder pads stands at the door) flashes in his mind. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s all your fault, all of this.¡± (The knight turns, showing his emotionless mouth, one which doesn¡¯t seem to be worried or feeling guilty about what just happened.) - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I hate all of you.¡± (A shocked boy looks at himself in the mirror. Blood oozes from an open cut going from his forehead to his chin, drips to the floor, and splashes on a poll of red where a couple of corpses lay.) - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If any of your kind didn¡¯t exist we would still have a home, a family! We would be at peace!¡± Nate, the leader of the wolfkin village, touches the scar on his stern face. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°And where are they now!? A pathetic excuse of one is taking my son away, the other ran, and the rest left this world to rot. This is what heroes are supposed to do?¡± His entire war armor is black, with a few faded red lines at each plate¡¯s corners, a mix of knight armor and metallic patches of fur. Nate puts his closed helmet on to ready himself, having only two straight gaps for his eyes to see, going all the way down his chin, and two more at the end of his nose to his mouth, creepily resembling a mask of a crying muzzled wolf. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If so, I don¡¯t need them. Take them back to whatever end of the world they came from. WE are strong! THE WOLFKINS ARE STRONG!¡± He draws his sword, pointing it to the sky and screaming to his men, all below the first droplets of coming rain. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°WE SURVIVED THIS LONG BECAUSE WE FIGHT! NOT BECAUSE OF HEROES! WE REBUILT THIS VILLAGE WITH OUR OWN EFFORTS! WE REBUILT OUR LIVES WITH OUR OWN EFFORTS! AND WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL RECONQUER EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST!! LET¡¯S SHOW THEM WHAT WE ARE MADE OF!¡± Nate points his sword at the enemy charging on the horizon, flooding the plains downhill like black water in the distance. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°LET¡¯S PROVE THAT WE CAN WIN THIS FIGHT WITHOUT ANY HELP!! ARMS UP! PREPARE TO FIGHT, AND GIVE EVERYTHING YOU¡¯VE GOT! THIS IS THE TIME WE HONOR LYCAN!! MAY OUR PROTECTING GOD LEAD THIS BATTLE!¡± Everyone screams in a solid war cry. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°CHARGE!¡± Nate is the first to go forth, running faster than any other of his men. His sword is positioned horizontally, cutting the rain as he closes the distance from the many orcs, trolls, and dark elves at the enemy¡¯s frontline. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯ll kill all of you in a single strike!¡± His sword shines black, all the light around swallowed by its blade, then a hundred animals burst out like a cloud of dark fire, and with a heavy swing, they are pulled to follow his blade. Their souls scream for vengeance as their shadows eat everything in their way. At the end of his attack, only the wind was left, and hundreds of enemies¡¯ feet and spear¡¯s heads drop to the ground. Not a single body was standing on the attack¡¯s path anymore. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°NO MERCY!¡± He leaps forward, his sharp canines grinning at each other as he swipes his blade to kill one more. His men follow clashing blades, mounted warriors pouncing forth, arrows sizzling in the air, and heavy trunks descending from the sides. All to kill whoever enemy was in front. - - - - - - - - - - - - - The extreme height is scary, and being on top of a giant bird-like creature wasn¡¯t helping it at all. The thought of hopelessly falling from high up was a hidden fear of mine since I was a kid. For some reason, every time I see a high descent, my body gets cold and I feel anxious to move, a mixture of uncertainty and an urge to get as far as possible off the edge. But now¡­ seeing the birthrill heavily beating its wide wings on my sides, the thousands of enemies covering the forest below like ants, and going forward with the plan to disrupt their chain of command¡­ My guts are indecisive as to what to be afraid of. I¡¯m starting to doubt if following the plan is really a good idea, every muscle in my body is screaming to keep on flying away toward the west and never look back. Well, if it wasn¡¯t for the two behind me, I¡¯d probably have done so. Tasah, our magic shield, with the blue mage¡¯s cape I gave to him; our sword Apaw, with a nonchalant face even in a situation like this; - - - - - - - - - - - - And I, I am the leader of these two idiots. Our plan: charge to the center of the enemy army, and kill their commanders. Suddenly, the birthrill steers to the side and almost goes upside-down to turn. The wind strengthens, swiping through our faces with the droplets of rain, and in a flash, a lightning strikes right where we were but a moment ago. Tasah:- - - ¡°AAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - The hell, it almost got us, my eardrums are sizzling. Tasah:- - - ¡°OH MY GOD, ARE WE BEING ATTACKED!?!? THIS IS SO SCARY!¡± ¨C the sheepkin cries burying his horned head into my back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°GAAH!! Stop it! That fucking hurts, you dumbass!¡± But the sheepkin only grabs my clothes even tighter and pushes his head even harder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°STOP IT!¡± I distance my back away from my companion¡¯s pointy horns, which, whatever, does not soothe the problem as Tasah hugs my back and appears to not listen to my complaints. Who does understand something out of me though, is the birthrill, which after sensing the increasing pressure of my legs and my body weight going upwards, it understands as a critical command to descend, and so, the beast suddenly dives sixty degrees in full speed. The blazing wind slashes our faces and I see the raindrops go upwards as we build up speed. Tasah:- - - ¡°WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!! WHAT DO I DO!? WHAT DO I DO!?¡± Seeing the treetops getting closer, I use all the muscles in my body to seat and push my weight backward. The dark-silver dots between the trees transform into distant coin-sized shapes, and then into helmed humanoid demons. {One green-skinned demon in the middle of the marching army looks to the side, curious as to what was the whistling noise he was hearing, noticing that it was coming from above.} I activate my echo ability and invisibility. My hands on the reins fade to an almost transparent material together with the birthrill. {From below his iron helmet, the curious demon stares at nothing in the cloudy sky, scratching its chin and questioning himself if the wind was the cause of such noise.} - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°DON¡¯T PUSH YOUR DAMN SHEEP HORNS INTO MY BACK!¡± ¨C I scream after stabilizing things back to normal. The sheepkin startled, only now realizing he was the one being called upon. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That was just a damn thunder! We are in the middle of a storm, you fucking idiot!¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± His voice was so low that I hardly heard it midst the wind. I sigh with heaviness. - - - - - - - - - - - - Good thing the bird knew it was coming though, or we would be fried chicken right now. But I guess Vute would have warned us if the storm was going to be a problem. Huh, maybe it has some sixth sense to pick up the electricity in the air. I relax my grip on the reins and try to locate myself by looking at the distant ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Be a little bit more confident, will you?¡± ¨C I side-eye at Tasah. ¨C ¡°I¡¯ve been stroke by two thunders since I came to this world, and look at me, I¡¯m all well and fine. Get your stuff together, we ain¡¯t going to die while we are in the air.¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°O-Okay¡­ I trust you Strider.¡± ¨C He lowers his head. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Now we need to find that commander!¡± ¨C I say as we ascend in altitude. ¨C ¡°Search around, anyone who stands out in the army, a group of better-armed guards, anything! If the invisibility ends we will fly in circles until the cooldown refreshes. We have a little more than one minute!¡± I take my spyglass out of my inventory as I look down with my vision on, only the enemies'' blurred magic silhouettes appear in orange, I put more energy into my eyes until the nametags pop up. - - - - - - - - - - - - <[ (x999+) Summoned Skeleton, Shadow Army (Level 30-90) ] [ (x999+) Moonlight Darkelf, Shadow Army (Level 60-100) ]> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <[ (x999+) Lawrish Troll, Shadow Army (Level 80-120) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - <[ (x999+) Underground Orc, Shadow Army (Level 50-80) ] I¡¯ve never seen those nametags before, it¡¯s grouping enemies together and having a curved cone going transparent as it went to the ground. Like some sort of explaining CGI panel, it remains stuck on the surface level like a surreal semitransparent board. There are a dozen or so of those nametags, some enemies ranging over to a hundred and twenty in level, the majority with the ¡°x999+¡± before its name. All I was looking at was the main stream of the army, but there are two other secondary marching lines, one on each side, full of ¡°Summoned Skeletons¡±, its lighter-grey color hiding within the forest from the skies. I wasn¡¯t sure how many we were against down there, my mind simply couldn¡¯t grasp the amount only by looking at it, but now, I felt dumb. I was expecting a minor army that would try to clean up the village, somewhere in the thousands, but with all these numbers popping up my world fell apart, as if all the heat in my body vanished in one swift wind. - - - - - - - - - - - - What the hell is this? How didn¡¯t I realize this before? They are at the five digits mark, somewhere above ten thousand, no, I would say thirty thousand at least, this is more than a one hundred to one difference ratio. I¡¯ve been in many disadvantageous battles before, but a hundred to one? That¡¯s insanity, even if I was with my main character it would be impossible. This¡­ This isn¡¯t going to work. Sixty seconds of invisibility left. My grip tightens on the leather reins. - - - - - - - - - - - - Why I¡¯m going through this¡­ to begin with? This is such a risky plan and yet I didn¡¯t think twice before promising I would do it. How dumb am I? This is impossible. These two behind me only followed me because they are trusting a Hero. As if I could do anything in this weak character¡­ I¡¯m the leader of this mission, I¡¯m the one who needs to call it quits if I see so. That¡¯s what I need to do. But¡­ should I go back? - - - - - - - - - - - - To where? To the bloodbath? Anyone who fights this head-on will die, there¡¯s no way we will win on those numbers. Even if we retreat now, people will be hunted down. In the best-case scenario, the majority of them are going to die. Flying in this mount is the best shot we have to leave unharmed, but it is already full, three people is already overloading its maximum capacity. - - - - - - - - - - - - The only logical conclusion is to escape now, and don¡¯t look back. I just need to explain to the two behind me that this is insanity and it won¡¯t work. They are going to understand it, right?The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. No, they wouldn¡¯t. - - - - - - - - - - - - They only trusted me this far because this is the only hope for victory. Maybe Tasah would accept leaving his kin behind, but Apaw definitely won¡¯t. If he has inherited anything from his mad father, he will cut me down the instant he realizes we are off the track, then fly back to the battlefield and die fighting. Maybe go back, leave them there, and then escape? - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s too damn risky. They are already in combat, the crossfire could hit me in the way. Besides, it¡¯s not like they would let me take their precious mount and fly away afterward on my own, like a coward. I should drop them here, then. Escape right after. - Forty seconds of invisibility left. - I look behind with wide eyes and sweating cold. Both of them are semitransparent to me and their silhouettes emanate a thin layer of orange energy. They search downwards with their spyglasses, carefully gripping their hands into the clothes of the one in front to not fall. I stare at the sheepkin¡¯s hand tightly gripping my cloak from my left side. - - - - - - - - - - - - If I do it fast enough, they won¡¯t be able to react. I free one of my hands from the reins. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s right, they are just NPCs, I¡¯m the real person here. My life is the only one that really matters. Apaw: - - - ¡°Did you find it?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh--?¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°Where is it!? Did you find the commander? Why are you looking at us?¡± - Thirty seconds of invisibility left. - Strangely enough, Apaw¡¯s sharp eyes calm me down, the idea of running away on my own suddenly fades away. Maybe his confidence in this plan is making my mind reconsider. - - - - - - - - - - - - No, wait¡­ that¡¯s not exactly it, I¡¯m thinking this the wrong way. Tasah:- - - ¡°--I FOUND IT!¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°Hah? Where?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°There, right there! I think that¡¯s it, right?¡± Apaw turns his spyglass in the pointed direction. Apaw: - - - ¡°I see it. It looks like a moving tent.¡± I zoom my spyglass to where they were facing. Tasah:- - - ¡°And some strong guards too, see?¡± Within the river-like mat of soldiers in the plain field, just after the forest end, there¡¯s an empty squared area moving inside the march, where a tend of black cloth ceiling moves with four stronger demon-like humanoids with yellowish sand skins carrying its sides. [ Elite Sun-Orc, Shadow Army (Level 101) ] [ Elite Sun-Orc, Shadow Army (Level 98) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - [ Adiana Bigrand, 7th commander of the Shadow Army (Level 100+) ] [ Elite Sun-Orc, Shadow Army (Level 107) ] [ Elite Sun-Orc, Shadow Army (Level 105) ] I wasn¡¯t expecting it to appear in the nametag, but there you go. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°That¡¯s the commander, alright.¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°So, now we attack?¡± ¨C He goes for the sheathed sword on his back hip. Fifteen seconds of invisibility left. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We lost too much time. When the invisibility recharges we do it, that¡¯s when we can take them by surprise--¡± While I¡¯m checking the commander¡¯s surroundings, a white-cloaked person comes from behind the moving tent and walks to the middle of the square space. [ ??? (Level ???) ] - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­it¡¯s-- a girl?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°What? Where?¡± The short girl in the white cloak looks up, piercing my spyglass with her eyes. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the-¡­ she¡¯s seeing us?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - There¡¯s no way--¡­ Actually, does my passive that immunes my invisibility against vision affect my allies? Shit, I don¡¯t remember. She opens a friendly smile, the front of her silver long hair dancing with the wind as her hood falls back and her nametag flickers. [ Lelitt Wihet, ??? (Level 72) ] Her friendly smile molds itself to speak. Lelitt: - - - ¡°###¡± ¡­ - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Is she talking to us?¡± Five seconds of invisibility left. Tasah:- - - ¡°Huh? What is she saying?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s strange. There¡¯s no way I can hear her, so why bother? Does she want to negotiate? At this point, I doubt it, I can hear the battle going from here. Whatever it is, these spyglasses don¡¯t come with a stabilization feature nor it has enough zoom to read her lips, so even if I knew how to, it would still be pretty hard to pull it off. The invisibility effect lifts. Even so, my attention is entirely on her mouth, but to no avail, she only holds her annoying friendly smile and narrow eyes towards us. I give up and put the spyglass back into my inventory. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk, it doesn¡¯t matter. Not all of them have vision, even if one can see us, we can still surprise their army with--¡± An electrical shock runs through my entire body and the world freezes. Everything stops, the wings from the birthrill at its lifting, the army¡¯s march, my heartbeat. It¡¯s all static. I can¡¯t move anymore. Lelitt: - - - ¡°Die.¡± Her voice explodes in my eardrums, echoing inside my head as a screaming thought. -\- (I¡¯m lying on top of the inn¡¯s wall, all the way back in the village. The starry night is calm and silent above me as I sleep.) (The same short girl in white descends from the sky as a peaceful gliding leaf at the other corner of the wall.) (As she slowly walks, a friendly smile covers her face as she looks at my hooded self.) (She gently takes something out of her cloak and bends down, extending her hand to me.) (Over the palm of her gloved hand, a small red vermin with only a mouth with tiny teeth for a face squirms. The creature is lifted by its tail between the girl¡¯s index finger and thumb, precisely managing to position the vermin inside my hood and over my closed eyes.) (She lets go of it, dropping the vermin over my eyelids. It twitches to the inner corner of my eye and writhes until it found itself between my eyelashes, opening it and burying itself in. It goes deeper and deeper, eating its way through until it reaches the middle of my head, all I do is grunt as if I was having a bad dream, and once it reaches the bottom of my brain, it stops and falls asleep.) -/- I wake up from this trance with a gasp, all those images flashing into my mind in a fraction of a second. I feel the vermin sleeping in my head to move, it had grown since it first came in. I can feel it turning around, opening its mouth, and biting into me, all to eat more of my brain and to get even bigger. The idea is surreal, but I feel all of it happening. The birthrill¡¯s wings strike down. The world is moving again, together with the pulsating pain in my head. I touch my eye with the palm of my hand in hopeless disbelief. - - - - - - - - - - - - When did she? At that feast--? *GGRIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* The birthrill screeches, lifting its beak toward the sky. Tasah:- - - ¡°A-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! TAKE IT OFF, TAKE IT OFF!¡± Tasah desperately touches his nose with tears in his eyes, while Apaw covers his wolf ears in pain. Apaw: - - - ¡°When¡­ d-did she enter our village?¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°I CAN¡¯T TAKE THIS! PLEASE, STOP IT! STOP IT! TAKE IT OFF!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°You two also saw-;-?¡± The vermin in my brain twists even more violently as the world slows down for me to think. - - - - - - - - - - - - A remote skill that kills with a single word,-;- that kind of power exists in this world?-;- This is bad, how do I counter it? I never heard of something like that in the game before. But every time my headaches strike, my vision becomes turvy and the world fastens, the wind violently blowing on my face as the other two agonize behind me. - - - - - - - - - - - - Not only that but they too?-;- A multiple-targeted attack? How did she know the three of us were-;- No, she probably did that to everyone in the village, then why-;- Why didn¡¯t she kill everyone from the start?-;- Is she testing us? Why did she use it only now?-;- It¡¯s to protect their commander? -;- Does it have a condition?-;-;- Dammit, this pain is killing me-;- I can¡¯t think straight. I hold on to the birthrill¡¯s feathers for balance, lowering my head to focus on the reins and control the nausea. But, that¡¯s when a popup panel appears right above my fingers. [ Kanili, Birthrill (Level 81) (Owner: Vute Difivi) ] [Status effect: Suicidal Delirium Parasite] - - - - - - - - - - - - Ah, I see. I turn to the two behind me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s an illusion! The thing in your head is not real!¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°BUT IT¡¯S HERE, I CAN FEEL IT, IT¡¯s--¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°IGNORE IT!! IT¡¯S A FUCKING ILLUSION!-;-;-¡± The thing inside my head keeps on biting my brain and getting bigger with each gulp. All I can do is hold my temple to soothe the pain. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fuck!¡± Apaw: - - - ¡°A-Are you sure?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I can see your health and skills remember!? Everything is alright! Just hold on and it will pass.¡± Even though I was referring to the status effect, I check my HP bar. [3710/3710] - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s safe, it doesn¡¯t do damage. We won¡¯t die. Hopefully. *GRIIEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* The birthrill suddenly dives down even deeper. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Easy there!¡± I command it to go up. *GGRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHH* It doesn¡¯t work. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°GO UP, DAMMIT! GO UP!!¡± But it refuses to. I wasn¡¯t paying attention but the creature was already going down the first moment it screeched, just at a lighter degree than now, but steadily enough for us to be currently just above the enemy army. Tasah:- - - ¡°It¡¯s hurting too much¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡± ¨C He cries hugging my back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°WE ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!¡± My headache pulsates even harder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°HOLD ON TIGHT, WE ARE GOING TO JUMP!¡± Tasah:- - - ¡°Please, make it stop.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯M GOING TO USE BLINK AND STOP THE FALL, HOLD ON TO ME!¡± I extend my hand to Apaw, he painfully looks at me before gripping it, Tasah being pressed between us. A few meters above ground, the birthrill twirls sideways as it dives toward the marching forces. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°JUMP!¡± In a spinning free fall, I dizzily search for where the ground is, seeing the birthrill crashing on the edge of my sight before the world warps. - After the teleportation, the three of us fly in an arc until we fall to the ground, roll on the grass, and go our separate ways by harshly bouncing off the ground. My ribs violently hit a wooden structure, making me come to a rough stop. The spreading pain instantly shocks my entire nervous system and the air in my lungs is pushed out through my mouth. My hand goes to my throbbing chest, taking me a couple of deep gasps for my sight to come back, seeing myself breathlessly looking at the cloudy sky, and the corner of a fabric layer wavering above my side. Adiana:- - ¡°Ah¡­ look who came flying to see me.¡± I glance over at what I did hit, where a pinkish-skinned grown woman is seated on a makeshift throne over a wooden platform; a dark metal collar around her neck; her straight dark hair contrasting with her shining red eyes, blood chaotically moving within her irises; and two black demon horns shaped like single-edged swords growing out from her forehead towards the cloth ceiling. [ Adiana Bigrand, 7th commander of the Shadow Army (Level 119) ] She smiles, showing her pointy teeth and crossing her legs with flirtation. Adiana:- - ¡°Such a delightful snack.¡± - - - - - V1 - C33 | Seventh Shadow Commander VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 33 - SEVENTH SHADOW COMMANDER - Lelitt:- - - - ¡°It almost got me, poor thing.¡± The short girl in the white cloak caress the laying birthrill¡¯s back. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°Even though he tried so hard to aim at me, he missed at the very last moment. What a shame, really.¡± I feel the world at the corners of my eyes twist, my entire body sore, it¡¯s like a truck just ran over me. [1783/3710] my health bar flickers at the corner of my eyes. Tasah: - - ¡°AAAAH! S-Strider!? W-What do we do? What do we do?¡± The sheepkin crawl away from the soldiers surrounding us, and Apaw lay unconscious on the opposite edge. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I try to get up, using my right hand to push the grass floor over my shoulder, but my strength fails. Just above my focus, a pair of bare yellow-sand feet halt at my side. I weakly raise my chin to see a deformed person, no, at the approaching demon, a rugged fat face with small tusks coming out from his lower jaw, dark-green tough eyes, brown helmet and armor, a thick metal collar at its neck, and a rusty great axe in his dirty hands. The demon lifts his weapon, glaring down at me with hidden anger; points a silver sharp sting at its base to my head; and then¡ª Adiana:- - ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Her voice instantly stops the Orc¡¯s attack, making it turn to silently ask for a reason. Adiana:- - ¡°After all, he came a long way to see me¡­ we should be better hosts, shouldn¡¯t we?¡± The tall demon steps back, releasing one hand off his great axe and going back to a guarding position in the background. From her makeshift throne, the horned pinkish woman stands up and walks forward, stepping over my chest and reaching the ground. Adiana:- - ¡°Ahh~ Why rain comes at the best moments? It¡¯ll ruin my hair¡­¡± She sighs one more time looking at the cloudy sky. Adiana:- - ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, not when a Hero is visiting. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± I turn to face her chaotic red eyes staring at me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What¡­ you¡­¡± Adiana:- - ¡°But this isn¡¯t good at all¡­ What is this? You¡¯re not the great hero I was being promised of. Lellit!? Why is he so weak?¡± The white hooded short girl sighs from the side, standing up straight and walking lazily around. Lelitt:- - - - ¡°Unfortunately¡­ the strong hero I talked of is missing, he probably ran west about two days ago. Master Eraet will take care of him, I¡¯m sure.¡± Adiana:- - ¡°Eraet--!? Even without her presence, she steals my glory. Gahh~ What a pain. I was hoping for a warmup, gain some reputation, you know. Anything. Why I am the one taking the most pitiful missions? I should be way more important to the Shadow Army.¡± Adiana snaps her finger and a hexagonal cyan energy shield appears over her head, evaporating the raindrops before reaching her. Adiana:- - ¡°Well.. well¡­ At least it isn¡¯t all that useless, I need to admit. I have a new toy now.¡± She smiles at me and kicks my ribs right after, my body is pushed against the wooden platform, and I instinctively go to a fetal position to protect my belly as I face the ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Dammit! What the fuck--.¡± Adiana:- - ¡°You¡¯ll be mine from today forward. Do you understand?¡± She straightens her posture with a sigh. Adiana:- - ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, because you¡¯re quite a cutie, I¡¯ll take very good care of you. I¡¯ll spoon-feed you, walk you around, play a little, and toss a branch for you to catch and bring it back. You know, things a good master does.¡± ¨C She opens a malicious grin and her eyes shine red brighter. ¨C ¡°Then, when you get strong enough, you can serve me as a foot rester for the rest of your life and purr when I stroke your head. So¡­ what do you think? I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be better than dying here, right? All you need to do is put on a collar and be by the side of someone as magnificent as me. What do you have to lose?¡± She genuinely waited, curious as to how I would respond. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah-¡­¡± From deep within me, a chuckle builds up, overcoming the pain of my throbbing body. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± I can¡¯t help it, the urge to laugh only becomes greater by the second. My body is possessed by a strength I didn¡¯t know I had in me, the anxiety fueling me to laugh even harder, even longer, even madder. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hahahhahahhahahahahahahahahaahahhahhahahahaahahhahahaahaaahaahhaaaahaaaaaaaaa!¡± My lungs empties as my eyes pierced between the inner space of my upper arm and forearm, intently staring at the demon woman throughout the entire time. After a long hissing breath-in, I open my smirking mouth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­being talked down like that is the first for me. Sorry, it was just too funny. Your deal is tempting but I must refuse. I¡¯m not here to play with you, I¡¯m here to kill you, then erase all your men from this stupid game. A foot rester? Really? Who do you think you are? someone invaluable? An evolved species? A god? I despise people like you. Thinking they¡¯re above everything else and that nothing can hit them. Oh, don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯ll prove how pitiful you are. How someone as weak as me can take you down without much trouble at all.¡± The gradually stronger rain falls over the encircling army near the commander¡¯s tent. It was all static: Adiana''s serious face looking at me, Tasah¡¯s fearful wide eyes, the elite Orc guards hiding their building anger, and Lellit with a happy grin on her face. Adiana:- - ¡°¡­ No one gets in my way. Don¡¯t interrupt my playtime. That goes for you too, Lellit. My new pet needs to learn a few lessons.¡± Another couple of seconds of complete silence remains without anyone daring to move a step. Tasah: - - ¡°S-Strider?? What is the plan?¡ª¡± Adiana¡¯s head moves before my dagger show from below my belly. The bullet-fast attack pierces the air in an instant, cutting the side of her cheeks and burning her skin with the passing flames embedded in my blade. She lifts her hand and grabs the black ribbon tail of my dagger, but it disappears as I teleport. My second dagger shoots towards her guardless back, only to frizzle in a piercing fight against her hexagonal barrier and fail to go through. Adiana turns from beyond her almost invisible shield, rain falling over her hair. I pull my dagger back and swing my other one to her. Her shield quickly moves with the same speed as her eyes shift and blocks my lashing attack. Adiana:- - ¡°Look at that¡­ my hair is all messed up now.¡± She says with sadness, blocking another two-combo attack without much trouble. Adiana:- - ¡°Someone has a towel?¡± My two daggers move simultaneously, one at her forehead and the other to her feet. She bends down to evade my upper attack and her magic shield frizzles my lower dagger against the ground, but once the blade touches the grass, it explodes, its flames instantly surrounding her protection and reaching her before dying out. Her health bar doesn¡¯t even flinch. Adiana:- - ¡°Geez, you want to burn my dress? What a naughty boy.¡± A quick flicker of strings turns my upper dagger to strike her from above, cutting through the thin smoke of the evaporated water. Her shield blocks it off without sweat, and fire spreads towards her on impact, stronger than before. My second dagger comes again from below, like a wave of a traveling whip to change courses and magically propelling itself to her other side. Her shield moves in its way once more, then even a bigger explosion booms near her legs. I pull my daggers back, tiredly taking time to breathe. - - - - - - - - - - - - Right¡­ I¡¯m at eighty percent of energy already. I won¡¯t last too many turns, but if I don¡¯t attack this heavily there¡¯s no stopping her. I don¡¯t have much space to maneuver because of these monsters around me. She said for them to not attack, but like hell I¡¯m going to trust that. I need to keep a safe distance from them while I keep on drawing their attention. - - - - - - - - - - - - This isn¡¯t going to be a long fight, so I don¡¯t need to worry about spending my energy, the real problem begins after she¡¯s dead. We will need to cut away from the soldiers surrounding us and retreat. Without the birthrill, this is going to be very difficult. I¡¯m hoping the villagers can see us from there, our survival depends on the artillery support landing right at us. - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯ll be soon¡­ I hope the rain doesn¡¯t ruin the fireworks. Adiana:- - ¡°Is that all? Is your tantrum over? Have you seen how powerless you are? You have no chances against me, so why don¡¯t you drop the weapons, lay on the ground, show your belly, and play dead. I¡¯ll give you a good treat for it.¡± Adiana¡¯s health bar hovers within the cloud of vaporized raindrops, being somewhere above ninety percent, a four stack of a fire icon effect above it. I throw my main dagger with everything I¡¯ve got, the blade sizzles in the air on an arc to her head, but before it could land, the magic barrier blocks it as always, and the flames burst out from my frizzling blade into a red curtain surrounding her. Right after, my second dagger comes from below to her left, and the shield moves, pushing the upper dagger with it to protect herself from my second attack. - - - - - - - - - - - Adiana:- - It¡¯s like he truly believes he can win. How childish¡­ I thought heroes were better than this. Burning all your mana to prove a point you never had in the first place. Truly childish. Such weak trait needs to be fixed by force. Her eyes move to reallocate the magic shield, blocking the swinging daggers one by one, the fire spreads to the sides like red rain around her, burning her military-green dress at its unprotected corners. His next attack would be an arc from above and then another below to the side. His play style was too easy to predict. Always going for her blind spots made the job only easier to handle. But something strikes her odd when going to defend against the attack from below, the vaporized water particles and her magic shield made something like a blurred faded mirror, one which only faintly replicated the colors of the dark-blue sky, but with a shadow in its middle.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. It¡¯s fuzzy and impossible to see what it is, of course, but that was enough for her to shift her attention to it. He was fighting as if he already knew he would win¡­ The overspending of energy to create blasts of flames¡­ Coming here with two others to attempt killing her¡­ on an invisible flying mount¡­ even though all of them are weak. Those concurrent ideas flashed in her mind. Experienced as she was in battle, it should be obvious that something was out of place. Adiana:- - They were expecting to kill me and run away? How? Only one answer came to mind. Without second-guessing, she moves the magic shield, unprotecting herself from Strider¡¯s attack and dragging it to the extreme opposite direction; exactly to where that shadow was emerging, all in but a frame of a second. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Just like that¡­ the plan failed. My dagger exploded on the commander¡¯s hip, a direct hit. Adiana¡¯s life dropped ten percent in one go. But to the other side, an arm flew without its body. A sword sliced down the steamy air without balance, a blade embedded in dark energy cutting the flying treads of Adiana¡¯s hair, but ultimately missing her neck. And right above her, Apaw was falling directionless as he tried his best to evade the hexagonal shield, blood splashing from his missing left arm. - - - - - - - - - - - - My plan was simple. Tasah¡¯s vampire skill increases his attributes the more time he spends with the same enemies, considering our target was a commander, they would be surrounded by an army, so the effects would max out pretty quickly. Then Tasah can use his other skill, one which allows him to share his increased attributes with someone else. Apaw would be the receiver. - - - - - - - - - - - - While the build-up happened, I would use flaming magic to decrease our target¡¯s resistance, call its attention to buy time, and give Apaw the perfect shot for him to use his critical strike skill, consequently, one-shoting the commander by its neck. I already used such a tactic before. Get closer without being noticed, surprise the target with debuffs, and a buffed full-out glass cannon finishes it off. In but a couple of seconds the most powerful player would be taken down and we would retreat to normal formation. It was fairly easy to do, I saw it working many times, but not this time. - - Before Apaw could reach the ground or escape, Adiana grabs him by the neck with veins popping out of her arm as her grip tightens. The wolfkin tries to lift his sword with his remaining arm, but the strength runs out together with his gushing blood. Adiana:- - ¡°You little--¡± I quickly teleport with my blink and cut her wrist with my enflamed dagger. She releases the wolfkin in surprise and I take him on my back like a potato sack as I activate my speed boots. I rapidly change pace to go away and throw the wolfkin at where I was before teleporting. Apaw bounces twice as he rolls to a stop. Before he has the chance to complain, I toss a potion of healing in front of him. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Drink it up, I¡¯ll buy time.¡± He grabs it with hesitation. Apaw:- -- - ¡°But, the plan¡­¡± I nod affirmatively. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It failed.¡± Apaw¡¯s eyes fill with guilt. Apaw: - - ¡°¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°We can still fight. Tasah still has the shield and his other skill is still going. Just like before, same plan. I¡¯ll figure things out.¡± My hands tremble from the uneasiness as I grip the daggers tighter. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s right. I just need to buy enough time for Apaw¡¯s skill to cooldown, and try again. I still have fifty percent of energy left, that¡¯s plenty. One hundred and twenty seconds, that¡¯s all it takes for our second strike, this time around I¡¯ll make sure she won¡¯t survive. I turn my face to the side to scream. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah! Shield yourself, don¡¯t release it until I tell you to!¡± The sheepkin scares on hearing his name, but he nods understanding my order, and quickly lifts a small yellow barrier around him. - - - - - - - - - - - - No matter what, these two need to stay alive. If one dies, we all are done for. I need to play my steps perfectly now, draw her away until the time is right. If everyone does their part we can still win this. I face Adiana standing on the other side of the encirclement, her hexagonal shield hovering above to protect herself from the pouring rain. [Adiana Bigrand {HP: ~75%}] Adiana:- - ¡°That was surprisingly smart.¡± Adiana looks genuinely impressed from the other side of the rainfall as she walks forward. Adiana:- - ¡°Without a second thought, you blinked to free your friend when you saw the opening. You even used Speed Boots with Area Effect to buff yourself and decrease his weight with it, even though you spend more mana, you optimize your speed. Clever, that¡¯s something that not even I would consider. But¡­ I would never try to save anyone, to begin with, so it makes sense that I would never think of that.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Well... that¡¯s experience for you.¡± ¨C I shout to be louder than the rain. ¨C ¡°I have way more tricks on my sleeve than that though.¡± Adiana:- - ¡°Is that so? But I know your sleeve isn¡¯t big enough to hold many secrets. Heroes can only use six abilities at a time, right? And you can only change your skillset when you¡¯re not in combat. I, on the other hand, don¡¯t have that limit.¡± I frown confused. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Huh? How do you know that?¡± Adiana:- - ¡°Oh? Now you are interested?... Hmmm, because you¡¯re so weak, I will give you this for free, so listen well.¡± ¨C She coughs to clear her throat and pose straight with a building smirk. ¨C ¡°I can copy any skills I want, no rules attached. Naturally, I can see how all of them work, otherwise, how would I copy them, right? There¡¯s no hiding from my eyes.¡± She points to her chaotic red irises. Adiana:- - ¡°Ah, and I also can change them in the middle of combat.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell¡­ Something like that exists?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - It looks too overpowered for the devs I know of. Adiana:- - ¡°Of course it does, it¡¯s called a Blessing, but enough of that. I hate foreplay, you know. Why don¡¯t we get a little bit more practical?¡± Blue magic wraps her feet, then with a step forward, her back is pushed by the wind into a leap. Blood leaves from her right hand, solidifies into a small sword, and it¡¯s stricken down with black energy wrapped on her blade, the same amplification skill Apaw just used. If it wasn¡¯t for the distance, I wouldn¡¯t be able to respond to her incredibly fast reach. The dark magic extends itself to cut the grass floor where I was, before I jumped back, evading it by a hair. Her semitransparent shield comes from below in a diagonal slash, almost separating my legs from my torso, but passing through cutting the air at extreme speed. Adiana:- - ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± ¨C she says while striking twice with her sword. ¨C ¡°I won¡¯t kill you.¡± Her shield comes from above, like a satellite revolving around her, luckily, it stops just a few inches from decapitating me. Adiana:- - ¡°I¡¯ll just immobilize you.¡± The shield orbits her in a full spin to strike from below, aiming for my legs once more, but I¡¯m fast enough to step out of it with the activation of my own speed boots while black smoke bursts from within my cloak. Only the yellow silhouettes appear in my vision, being hard to see what lines are the men encircling us or Adiana¡¯s quick attacks. No matter how much I jump back and burst my enflaming blades against her, she keeps advancing relentlessly at me and cutting the black smoke with her bloody sword, attempting to slash my legs and arms. - - - - - - - - - - - - So that¡¯s how I look like with speed boots? So damn annoying. My daggers fly from my hand to protect two strikes from reaching my chest. The wind supports me to evade two more combo hits. [Trickery Parry skill used, 9s of cooldown] - - - - - - - - - - - - I can¡¯t be hit, or it¡¯s all over. [Health: 1958/3710] - - - - - - - - - - - - Just ten more seconds. Her attacks slice through making gaps in the smoke cloud, showing her mad smiling face briefly before I retreat back inside the darkness. My back hits something, and I have just a frame of a second to realize it¡¯s the wooden commander¡¯s tent. I see the yellow silhouette of something coming at my face at a quick pace, I bend down just as the dark smoke disperses, and a red blade pierces the thin wood wall, showing Adiana coming forth with wide eyes. I step away before she unstucks her sword. [Area effect ready] [Invisibility ready] [Speed boots twenty seconds of cooldown] [Normal Blink ready] - - - - - - - - - - - - There. The world warps away from another coming slash and I exit the smoke cloud as I step back, my speed boots fading from my feet. Adiana:- - ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± With heavy steps, she jumps out of the smoke with a mad grin on her face. Her red blade slashes my chest open, my blood mingling in an instant with the solidified blood of her weapon and transferring to heal her. [1###/3710] [###/3710] [658/3710] Smoke comes out of my wound, of my passive skill nullifying half of the fatal damage. I trip and fall on my back, turning my body invisible as my last resort. Adiana:- - ¡°Stop running!¡± She slices the ground, missing my feet by an inch. - - - - - - - - - - - - That¡¯s it, you just missed your last chance to kill me. I extend both my hands to aim, and my dagger shoots forward. My weapon only turns back visible after its guard presses against her skin and the entire blade pierce her forehead. Flames burst in an explosion inside her pushed-back skull. The invisibility is lifted from my body, showing myself on the ground in front of her and my hands holding the extended cloth tail going all the way over to her head. After a full second without her moving, the hexagonal shield slides down to cut the dagger¡¯s ribbon as she goes to grab its handle. Adiana:- - ¡°You seriously think you can win!?¡± She grips its handle and tries to force it out, her anger building up on her wrinkling face until she manages to pull it off with her splashing blood. Adiana:- - ¡°Congratulations!! My health is at half, now my second phase begins!¡± ¨C Her health bar shows ten fire stacks above. She breathes heavily, looking down at me with her bloodshot eyes and her closing wound bleeding over her nose. Adiana:- - ¡°Now¡­ playtime is over.¡± I smirk. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Oh, it is.¡± Her eyes follow mine, just behind her head, a semitransparent wolfkin strikes his sword with only one hand, dread black energy surrounding its swift blade. The shield moves faster than ever. It passes through on her back, missing Apaw¡¯s extended side attack and his body. It was too late. Adiana sees herself flying away as her head is separated from her body in one smooth cut. - - - - - - - - - - - Adiana:- - Uh? What? She looks at the extended blade made of dark magic disappearing right in front of her headless body, and the wolfkin fading back from invisibility and falling to the ground at her side. Adiana:- - How?-? He doesn¡¯t have any sort of invisibility skill, how did he--? Her eyes widen as the world loses its life in slow motion. Adiana:- - That damn Hero used Skill Resonance, he¡­ he¡­ But why? Why? I never told him I had Spiritual Vision, I never told him I had vision over the entire battlefield from above. When he took out my eyes, I thought¡­ I thought he would take the opening and strike me himself. But it was all for his friend to attack?? Why would he take my physical eyes and make the other invisible? It doesn¡¯t make any sense. He can¡¯t know I had other ways to see them. Did he guess it just by his first failed attempt? Her head bumps on the grass floor and stops faced to her body, her eyes hopelessly observing it tumble on its knees and fall to the ground. Adiana:- - No, he just improvised¡­ did whatever he felt like it and won. He evaded my attacks by a hair and wagered that his friend would help him in the nick of time. That¡¯s luck. Pure luck. He¡¯s just too damn lucky. There¡¯s no way that was his experience, he shouldn¡¯t be able to do all of this only by playing the game. He wasn¡¯t following any plans, he wasn¡¯t¡­ Her weak eyes stare at Strider getting up as everything fades to black. Adiana:- - ¡­how did I let someone like that kill me? - - - - - V1 - C34 | One Hundred to One VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 34 - ONE HUNDRED TO ONE - I think that was it. Part of me was still afraid of going near her body to retrieve my dagger, so I didn¡¯t risk it and circled around it just to be safe. But since she got decapitated, she hasn¡¯t moved an inch. - So¡­ Adiana really is dead. Our mission to kill their commander was a success. Maybe our next target should be that white-cloaked girl, but where is she? Did she escape? It doesn¡¯t matter now, we need to retreat and heal ourselves. We can search later, then finally kill her too. - I walk over to Apaw. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Nice one. Clean hit.¡± Apaw nods, his face coming pale as his legs lose the strength to stand, I quickly manage to take his arm over my shoulder to catch him. The healing potion I gave him didn¡¯t grow his missing arm back, all it did was leave a closed scar as if it had happened years ago. Looking at his health, it is full, so there¡¯s no healing over that, it seems. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah! You awake?! You can lift the barrier, come here!¡± The wet sheepkin trembles from cold in a protective fetal position over the grass, trying his best to hide his presence inside his egg-shaped barrier. Tasah: - - ¡°Is-Is it ov-over?¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°It¡¯s phase two! Do you remember what you need to do?¡± Tasah freezes for a second before nodding as fast as his trembling. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Come closer then! I¡¯ll signal it.¡± Tasah makes his yellow magic barrier disappear and he crawls on his four limbs while quickly glancing at the enemies encircling us. Tasah: - - ¡°B-But wh-what about th-them? Wh-why are th-they all st-standing?¡± I grab the firework sack off my inventory, half ignoring what Tasah just said, but after looking around, I halt with a doubtful frown. The outnumbering demon soldiers encircling us weren¡¯t advancing to an attack, nor retreating for that matter. They only stared at the head of their commander in shock, not a fear-type of shock but out of surprise, a mix of uncertainty and a lifting weight off their backs. The rainfall decreases slightly. Before closing my inventory, I take out a health potion as well. Something deep inside was telling me that I would need that. That¡¯s when it suddenly started. A distant drum muffled by the rain, a slow-paced dull metallic sound. The first one I see doing it is a three-meter orc hitting his chest plate, the others don¡¯t even flinch their stare forward to repeat that motion. One by one, the unorganized beat increase in number, their speed becoming gradually faster, its sound growing stronger and stronger. So strong in fact, that their armor began to bend to their fists, some iron plates dropping to the ground and breaking apart. And with it, they began to giggle. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I, Tasah, and Apaw look each other¡¯s back, the sheepkin still sitting on the ground without being able to stand. The beating becomes more numerous than the raindrops falling from the sky and the surrounding giggles transform themselves into open-mouthed waves of laughter. The only ones that aren¡¯t in the commotion are the dark elves, all dark-clothed and human-looking with pointy ears. They retreat from the encirclement with fearful steps while nervously sweating below their hoods, hands gripping the dark metal collars at their necks, one which all invaders had. I drink my health potion wary to not break visual contact with the enemy. Once I finish it, the cut in the middle of my chest regenerates completely, the cloth and skin going back to their normal state. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Your commander is dead!¡± ¨C I swing the empty flask at the descending raindrops. ¨C ¡°Will you keep fighting us, or surrender!?¡± But instead of responding, their laughter only grew stronger, the soldiers that were marching near joining the racket from the background. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. What the fuck is this?¡± Apaw: - - ¡°¡­ I¡¯ve read this before¡­ I think it¡¯s their culture.¡± I look at the weary face of the wolfkin on my side. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Culture?¡± Apaw: - - ¡°It¡¯s just some old tale book I¡¯ve read once, so I didn¡¯t know if it was true but¡­ the orcs¡­ they beat on their chest and laugh as hard as they can when they are happy.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Happy? Why they are happy?¡± I drop the empty flask and unsheathe one of my daggers, the confusing chaos going over my head as anger. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What the fuck you are happy about!? Is this funny!? Do you think that your commander being killed by me is something to laugh at!? I want to see you guys try it then!! GO ON! STEP FORWARD! WHY DON¡¯T YOU TRY ME FOR YOURSELVES!?!?¡± Only by screaming louder than their mad laughter that they begin to control themselves, gradually going down to hidden giggles. Even though they don¡¯t stop completely, the three-meter tall Orc I saw beating his chest first steps forward, breaking the stale encirclement. My dagger points at him, to no effect whatsoever. [Yokate Orc, Shadow Army¡¯s Lieutenant (Level 102)] The Orc halts at his own will, and in a trembling hum, he opens his mouth to speak. Yokate:- - ¡°Funny human. Funny wolfy. Funny sheepy.¡± The orc stops, trying to remember what he was going to say. He looks at the dead body of his commander and a grin comes to his face. Yokate:- - ¡°Funny. That is funny.¡± ¨C He points at the decapitated head. ¨C ¡°Adiana, dead. Very funny.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What¡¯s your point? Are you going to stop attacking us!?¡± He looks at me with empty eyes. Yokate:- - ¡°Stop¡­ no. No stop. I came to thank you.¡± ¨C The Orc straightens his helmet. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Hah?¡± Yokate:- - ¡°Adiana bad, always ordering us. Now Adiana dead. Now Yokate and his family is free to kill. Thank you.¡± Tasah¡¯s face turns into despair and mine closes to seriousness. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What do you mean?¡± Yokate:- - ¡°Adiana ordered to kill fast. I not want kill fast. I want fun. I want kill, not fast.¡± He starts drooling. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk, no diplomacy, huh?¡± Yokate:- - ¡°Now Yokate finish thank you. Now Yokate have fun. You die slow now, be very funny.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Alright, I¡¯m sick of listening to you.¡± I lift my arm and squeeze the sack until it pops into my grip, and the silent trail of dust rises to the cloudy sky. The Orc takes his big axe off the makeshift sheath on his hip and holds it tightly with both hands as he strolls forward. The firework explodes above us, the Orc¡¯s attention is drawn to dumbfoundedly observe the boom of colors, spreading like a magical flower just below the raining clouds. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tasah!... Activate it right now!¡± But he doesn¡¯t listen to a word I¡¯m saying, his eyes looking without focus at the giant Orc. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The shield! Tasah! Shield!!¡± Tasah looks at me lost in thought and despair, then his mind clicks as he remembers his part in the plan. He extends both hands upwards, lifting its staff¡¯s enormous blue gem at the sky, and like a liquid pouring over an invisible dome, a yellow semitransparent barrier solidifies around us. The Orc gazes for a couple more seconds at the sky, but once the last sparkles disappear he quickly gets bored of it and shifts his attention back to us. His expression shows confusion as if he had just forgotten what he was doing in the first place. He looks at his axe, then at Adiana¡¯s corpse, then at us again, and that¡¯s when it comes to him. Yokate:- - ¡°Oh, I kill now¡ª¡± In a flash, all our surroundings light up and explode in bright yellow. Dozens of projectiles rain from the sky, a show of red flames and dark smoke engulf us from all directions. Consecutive bangs ring in my ear as some of the explosions hit our shield directly. After almost a full ten seconds, the last meteor explodes. The smoke quiets down into a thick fog, each raindrop making it disperse little by little. The yellow barrier surrounding us collapses and the smoke invades my nostrils.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I cough hard before I have the chance to cover my face with my arm. Yellow and green lights from the background around us pierce through the grey fog as the view clears. On the ground, many crates carve the dirt, and right in front, the same big orc appeared sunk in the mud. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Now we make our way out!¡± ¨C I walk forth to take my dagger off Adiana¡¯s burnt grip. As soon as I take it, its fabric tail heals back to its normal size, the symbols in its black cloth shining red before quieting down. The blade is a little dirty, but I think it¡¯s still usable. The ground to my side trembles, I activate my vision and turn to it as I step back, the name ¡°Yokate¡± hovers above the standing body. Yokate:- - ¡°That¡¯s fun. Fire very fun,¡± ¨C he says groggily. The yellow lights in the fog collapse all around me and the green lights shine brighter. A hooded demon comes floating out of the dusty background and extends its dark bony arms to make Yokate¡¯s body highlight in green magic. [Yokate Orc {HP: ~60%+}] his health slowly rises while he looks down searching for his lost weapon. As the smoke from the explosions settle down, I can see their army better, the yellow lights they had were barriers just like Tasah¡¯s, but all made by the many scattered floating hooded skeletons with charred bones. Below them, there are no craters. And all soldiers are around fifty percent health and rising. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°They¡­ blocked the attack.¡± Tasah: - - ¡°What now?! I can make another shield.¡± I go another step back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°¡­that¡¯s not going to work. I told them to use everything. We would need to wait for the cooldown¡­¡± ¨C I think aloud. ¨C ¡°About two hundred seconds.¡± Apaw raises his sword, readying himself to fight. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The original plan was to leave their army outside of it while we fought the commander, I¡¯m sure it can buy us a minute or so. But would it hold until the second barrage ends¡­? Besides, if they too can use shields and heal it¡¯s all useless.¡± Tasah stands up, trembling as he looks desperately around. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Only if our mount hadn¡¯t died on the get-go, we might¡¯ve had a chance, but¡­¡± I cover my face with the palm of my hand, my anxiety increasing by the second. Apaw: - - ¡°Tasah! Transfer your attributes to Strider, I won¡¯t be able to do much like this. He¡¯s our best shot.¡± Tasah: - - ¡°Right.¡± Their voices are but white noise to me, whatever they are saying is all but useless. The only thing I can do is mutter my dreadful thoughts. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°At our state, there¡¯s no way we can force our way out of this. Even if we do manage to escape to the sides, there are the parallel marching streams of skeletons. Maybe without command, they won¡¯t mobilize efficiently, but the three of us aren¡¯t enough to fight all of it off until we get back. We are way too far. I don¡¯t have much energy left; Apaw doesn¡¯t have one of his arms anymore; and if we start moving, Tasah¡¯s vampire ability will reset if he doesn¡¯t stay nearby the ¡°same enemies¡±. The retreat of our plan was bound to fail when our mount died, I should have thought of another way out before we arrived at this situation.¡± All the emotions gradually leave my body, my logical brain going full thrust to think. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°What this plan served for¡­? Killing their head? breaking their chain of command? Why did I think any of that would matter? They clearly don¡¯t need orders to kill us all. Hell, their morale even increased by it. Even without a leading actor, their raw numbers are enough to end it all. It¡¯s all over, there¡¯s no winning this. No matter how much I think about it, there¡¯s no right answer. All paths lead to death, to everyone¡¯s death.¡± The sheepkin finishes his chanting, both hands having their palms facing my back. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If we had just left¡­ Huh, I guess this was a meaningless plan from the start¡­¡± ¨C I say emotionless. Tasah moves to be in front of me. Tasah: - - ¡°It¡¯s done. Strider, we need to get out of here! I know you can make this work. I know you can do it somehow! I¡¯m not the best one to be with in a fight, but I¡¯ll do anything to help! I¡¯ll do anything you tell me. So¡­ if you say I need to fight, I¡¯ll do my best. I trust you!¡± He squeezes my right hand between his two palms, a directionless hope deep within his eyes as he stares at my fingers, waiting to follow my next heroic steps. - I slap his hands away. - Our eyes meet, his in shock and mine with subtle anger. Without thinking twice, I turn my head and blink away, quickly turning my speed boots on and turning invisible. - - - - - - - - - - - - Well, that was a waste of my time. I run over and between the demon¡¯s lines. Stepping on some of their heads, then at the branches of the sparse trees of the plain field and back to the grass floor. - - - - - - - - - - - - All because those stupid wolfkins didn¡¯t want to leave the village. Willing to stay because some stupid girl got lost in the forest. Now everything is fucked. Glancing back, I see the circle Tasah and Apaw are in, seeing only the backs of dozens of armored demons closing the encirclement. I quickly face forward to continue evading the demons on my path out. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Sorry.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - It¡¯s not like I can do anything. I jump out of the main marching stream and run freely in the plain field. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Tsk. Fucking hell.¡± I grit my teeth. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°If they just had listened to me and got out of the village. Just that. They would¡¯ve had a chance. I wasn¡¯t expecting them to send this many at us, I thought there was hope. Tsk. I should have escaped when I saw it, what was I thinking? Trying to fight them off?¡± It all comes back to my mind, like the wind whipping on my face with my inhuman speed. The image of Apaw¡¯s courageous eyes nodding to my plan reappears in my mind, then Tasah¡¯s happy tears; Paruci¡¯s smile while fishing; Nehen and Neduka talking with me about hunting; Nejeka politely volunteering to take notes by my side; the beastkin kids looking up at me with shining eyes; Vute slapping my shoulders, proud that I cured the sheepkins from the Decay; priestess Dilsu¡¯s surprised eyes after I lifted the poison from that Nawaga sheep-kid; Guni¡¯s wolf-face shedding tears through his only eye; Peje, Ave, and all the wolfkins eating in the commemoration feast like a big family; Willrus determined face, serious as ever; and even Nate¡¯s glare challenging me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I guess, I just wanted to be a hero¡­ what a fucking idiot. I¡¯m such a fucking idiot.¡± - The line of summoned skeletons is just in front of me. I look at a thick dead tree¡¯s branch just inside their marching stream, one I can jump over and pass through before my speed boots end. But suddenly, my leg refused to make the jump right in the nick of time and I fall directionless. My body rolls uncontrollably in the mud and slides to a stop just below the tree I wanted to be on. I¡¯m lost, did I trip over something? Or my feet got stuck in some roots? Maybe my speed boots ended, or the wind pushed me. But none of those makes sense. I lift my face to get up, but my left leg weakens and I tumble down. My back hits the tree and my vision doubles. That¡¯s when I see blood oozing below me, and as in queue, my knee starts burning. I touch it in a scare and the pain worsens. Looking down, I see my lower leg limp and my kneecap out of its skin, the bone poking out of it. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°The hell--?¡± Right beside me, a skeleton looks down at where I am, searching for something on the ground. For a moment, I thought they were looking at me, but-- - - - - - - - - - - - - I¡¯m still invisible, right? I glance at my hands, to see the mud fading out of invisibility as it oozes down with the rain. Not only that, but the water droplets that hit me splatter all around the surface of my body, not once becoming invisible. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Six more skeletons stare at me, and the first steps forward drawing its sword like a puppet to a sudden swift strike. I roll to the side. The sword pierces the trunk I was lying on, and its skeleton hazardly attempts to unstick it by twisting all its bones, but with no success. The bony legs of another one trip over me and dismantle instantly. The problem was that it was still alive, desperately turning and trying to slash me with a sword that he had dropped on the fall. I draw my daggers and manage to get up with only one leg, throwing the skeleton over me against the tree. The invisibility and the speed boots were over by now. I blink forward, the line of magic teleporting me a few steps away from a launching attack at my back. But instead of reaching safety, I was only deeper into the enemy line. The skeletons don¡¯t even look at me with their soulless eye sockets, they simply stop marching and the next thing they do is swing their sword with absurd agility. My daggers leave my hands to parry two attacks, but five others find their marks. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°FUCK!!¡± My teeth grind to hold the pain and the anger in. I grip the tail ribbons of my daggers and start swinging them, magic amplifying its striking speed and breaking the bones of everything I see around me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!!¡± A sword strikes down at me, I sidestep to evade but unfortunately, I just used my bad leg. The next thing I see is a cut opening from my shoulder all the way down to my hip. But that doesn¡¯t stop me. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I HATE ALL OF YOU! DAMN THIS GAME! FUCK YOU ALL!! WHY DID YOU SEND ME TO THIS FUCKING WORLD?!?¡± Without being able to think straight anymore, I use my daggers like short spears, its ribbon becoming steel-hard to stabilize my thrust to explode two skulls at once, and afterward, to slash like a sword to kill three more. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I¡¯M GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU! DO YOU THINK I CAN¡¯T DO IT?!? THAT I¡¯M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!? I¡¯LL KILL YOU ALL, I PROMISE YOU!! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU BASTARDS!!!¡± My muscles numb by the uncontrollable killing spree, it¡¯s like I¡¯m not even doing it anymore, it¡¯s as if I¡¯m only controlling my character from the other side of the monitor once again. One sword slices my legs, a spear pierces my side, four arrows strike my back, and a fireball explodes on my shoulder. I don¡¯t feel any of it, it¡¯s all happening with my character, not me. On the corner of the screen, my health drops swiftly down to fifty percent, then to forty, thirty¡­ ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!¡± Twenty, ten, five, and then¡­ A rusty sword slashes in a blink of an eye, and the right side of my sight explodes. The pain burns from the top of my right cheek, all over through my left eyebrow to my temple, deep enough to have my skull cut, the blood quickly flowing warmly down half my face. My health reaches zero. Four more attacks slice my body, two on my back, one on my left arm, and then a trust right in the middle of my chest. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I-I¡­¡± I build up my anger and thrust my spear-like dagger into the one that took my eye out, exploding its skull and making it dismantle. I grab the sword in my chest, locking the next skeleton in place and I strike its cage rib, hammering it sideways and tumbling it to the ground. I stand still for a few seconds, trying to find the strength to keep on attacking, but I inevitably fall to my knees. The only warmth I feel is my pouring blood meshing with the cold rain. My face hits the ground, the sword stuck in my chest tilting my body sideways and pressing my bones even further. The skeleton I hit last slowly stands from the ground in front of me, but it¡¯s weird, they all suddenly stopped attacking me, why was that? My mind, however, forgot that preoccupation the second after, all its focus went to reassembling the cogs of my brain back together, all my resolve fighting the heavy drag of my sleepy eyes to continue awake. Everything is so chaotic, but at the same time, peaceful. Like drifting into a dream. It¡¯s too inviting, but I don¡¯t want to go yet¡­ - Suddenly, all sounds muffle to silence. All warm and cold leave my body. The rainfall disappears midair. Everything freezes in place. My body pain vanishes. Then my sight fades. - The only thing that remains is the liquid void. My shapeless body drifting into its empty darkness. And its quietness. But then¡­ Not even that. - It was all gone. - - - - - V1 - C35 | The End VOLUME 1 - CHAPTER 35 - THE END - This is it, death. The highest form of freedom a being can have. You simply lost in a game of luck, nothing more nothing less. A mistake, an accident, an unfortunate event, a hopeless situation, an injustice. It doesn¡¯t matter what you call it, the fact that you died is immutable. It¡¯s as simple as that. But look at the bright side, your death wasn¡¯t all that bad. How many people have died in an instant without a single achievement? They are born, play around, make friends, have dreams, study, train, build strong ideals¡­ all to die in the first second of a battle. Mancro: ¡°Such bad luck, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¨C The gravelly voice of an old man echoes. With a startle, the scenario lightens up with the sudden opening of an eyelid. The dark iris trembles as the man who just woke up searches his surroundings with rapid movements. Mold, rough stone walls, rusty iron bars, and darkness are the only things in sight. One drop of water slowly slides up the middle of his nose to his forehead and drops to the ceiling, splashing a puddle of water on the brick stone. Mancro: ¡°But you¡¯re different¡­ you are lucky.¡± The man vainly tries to free himself, but the thick chains pin him upside down. His shaded silhouette struggles in the moonlight coming from a graded window above, right in the middle of this small dark room. The chain¡¯s metal clicks against each other and the steps of a shadow in front echo. Mancro: ¡°Because you see¡­¡± The old man steps forward, moonlight illuminating his face, a wrinkled demon with dark purple skin, long grey hair, and yellow teeth. Mancro: ¡°You were granted life after death!¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Mhmmmm-mhmm!¡± ¨C The cloth in his mouth muffles his complaints. Mancro: ¡°How wonderfully lucky! To think I could revive a Hero, what splendid luck indeed! How lucky I am for finding you, and how extremely lucky you are to have met me, Dark Strider! This must be the work of the Gods!¡± Strider widens his eyes, remembering everything that happened, the village, the battle, and the fact that he lost. His battlefield escape attempt failed. His right eye ruthlessly remembers him of that, when an excruciating pain burns once he tries to open it, but it is in vain, his eye is all but lost already, no healing magic could repair it at this point. On his face, a long straight scar begins at the top of his temple, passes through his injured right eye, and ends above his chin. Mancro: ¡°Now, now. No need to be scared. If Lord Neralg wanted to kill you, you would be dead already.¡± - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Mhmm-mm, mmm!¡± Mancro: ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take that off when the ritual is done. I can¡¯t let someone as important as you bite your own tongue unsupervised, can I? That would be very, very unfortunate.¡± The old demon walks back to the entrance door, extends his slim arms to a lever at his right, and pushes it down. The chains are suddenly released and Strider falls violently to the ground, hitting his shoulder on the stone and laying with his belly upwards. The chains quickly descend link by link to his chest. A thunderous clank echoes from a metal bar above, and in a scare, Strider rolls to his left, successfully evading a ball of iron crashing into a crater where his head was but a moment ago. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Fhuk.¡± Mancro: ¡°Come on now, I didn¡¯t wake you up for you to die. Don¡¯t be unlucky and end up dying like that.¡± The old demon speaks as if he was scolding a little kid. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Bhmmmm, a-mm ghmm hm mmmmh-mm,¡± ¨C he growls furiously. The demon steps out of the prison cell where a torch illuminates the outside corridor. Mancro: ¡°Lord Neralg is waiting for you, we have no time for this futility. Get up and follow me.¡± ¨C His eyes shine purple. Energy comes to Strider¡¯s eyes like an electrical current and the metal collar at his neck heats up, making him stand immediately. He shakes his head confused and he grabs the thing on his neck, just now noticing the strange collar with small iron thorns pointed outside. He tries to pull it off, but it doesn¡¯t budge, the metal is too strong and it seems to have no visible locks to open. His attempts only make the heat rise. Mancro: ¡°I told you to follow me.¡± The old demon stares from the corridor. Strider hesitantly lifts his feet from the chains he¡¯s now free of and goes forward, still grabbing the collar with discomfort and trying to stop the heat from burning his throat. On each step forward, his collar cools down. Strider reaches the outside, where the same pattern of rough stones as in his cell repeat. The demon takes the only torch there was from the near wall and points it forward to light the narrow corridor, its blue flames wavering with each step. Mancro: ¡°To think you could defeat five thousand of our army with only three-hundred units. That¡¯s impressive.¡± Strider looks at the demon¡¯s back with a frown, going in steady steps. Mancro: ¡°¡­ very lucky, very lucky indeed,¡± ¨C he whispers to himself. Then, only their steps echoed in the silence. At their sides, there were only rows of iron bar doors just like the room Strider was in before. At first, it seemed that all of them were empty, room after room after room, there was nothing inside besides scraps of cloth leaning on the corners, but the strange was that: as soon the light came, they moved. Only around the hundredth cell seen, that Strider saw the skinny people trembling weakly and peeking from below the blanket scraps. They were like skeletons with only skin, their dry eyes popping from their eye sockets like they didn¡¯t belong together anymore. It was terrible, some stunk more than others, the scent of rotten flesh. It was nauseating, Strider had to cover his nose or he would throw up. It was like there was no end, but after a few minutes, the cells end in a spiral staircase, allowing them to go up. Mancro: ¡°Our Lord is kind, but no kindness comes without respect. So, behave yourself in front of our highness.¡± Another electrical shock hits Strider¡¯s collar, a weaker one that didn¡¯t change its heat. After an almost full minute of going up, the stairs lead to a better structure with less filth, more light, and wider rooms. The demon leaves the torch on the wall, and they keep walking through what appears to be a big stone castle or mansion. Tall armored guards stand on the corners of the corridors, all with different skin colors from the rainbow, but with the same shiny metal uniform and clean spears. Every time Strider passed close by one, their eyes beyond their helmets would lock downward at him. After a few minutes of walking, the old demon stops at a big redwood door at the end of a large hall, a black mat with golden diamond-shaped details covering the middle path of the floor toward it. Mancro: ¡°Here we are. Our Lord is expecting us.¡± The two green-skinned guards on the sides nod, extend their hands in sync and touch the great door with their fingers. Red energy spreads out within the gaps in the wood like pouring blood. What at first appeared to be a random patterned door, now lights up specific paths on its design to draw two great axes hitting their blades against each other, thorned roots all over. Once all paths connect in the center, a heavy metal lock clicks from within. With heaviness, the mechanisms crack and tick to slowly make it open inwards, only now showing it being half-meter metal thick. The wood from outside was perhaps but a decoration, a misleading texture hiding the great door¡¯s strength. And so, the purple old demon marches in. The leading hall is the size of a mansion but of pure empty space. Giant columns lay on the sides and a wide mat covers the floor¡¯s central path to show its elegance. The slightly-arched ceiling hits a dozen stories high, filled with a picture of an army facing toward the throne from an upper view. It¡¯s like you were seeing a mirror, where tens of thousands of top heads were stacked on the other side. It¡¯s so trippy that it might take you some time to realize it is not a simple pattern.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Mancro: ¡°My lord, I brought the human hero, as requested.¡± The old demon bows to the other end of the hall, where at a slightly elevated ground, the biggest demon Strider has ever seen in his life was seated on the throne. Neralg:- - ¡°I see.¡± The deep voice trembles the room with prowess. Neralg:- - ¡°Dark Strider¡­ Fallen Hero. Lufeape Village¡¯s commander. And killer of Adiana, she who was the seventh elite demon of my army.¡± He stares down with an overwhelming aura. Neralg:- - ¡°Come forth.¡± Strider goes up the few steps, looking wearily at the golden throne made of skulls and bones and at the four demons protecting its sides, these, whatever, have different equipment from the rest of the guards, all their gear is legendary, if not above in quality. The first looks like a tall human, though he is mostly covered in a blue watery full armor; the second has black smoke constantly coming out of his leather clothes, his skin is green, and long ears poke his lifted hood from the sides, though he looks like a goblin, he¡¯s taller than the average; then on the other side, there¡¯s a muscular horned-demoness using a pulsating giant sword made of hardened flesh; and the last is the silver-haired short girl with a white cloak that was at the battlefield earlier, there was no way Strider could forget her ¡°friendly¡± smiles. The two male demons on the left glare at the human with disgust; the big demon-woman on the right glances focuslessly to the paintings at the ceiling; and for the short girl, she excitedly stares at Strider. Strider halts once the King lifts the palm of his hand, still many steps away but at the same elevation as the throne. Neralg:- - ¡°You have lost. Been captured. All your soldiers fell as you fled to save your own life.¡± Strider stares unflinchingly at the King, who wears a type of light armor made of shiny dark metal with gold details, his crown having thorns pointing to the ceiling and mending together with a metal helmet that covers his ears and nose. The Lord leans forward. Neralg:- - ¡°I give you two options.¡± ¨C His voice echoes in the hall. ¨C ¡°Die in shame, or serve me as an army commander.¡± Mancro, the old demon, smirks and moves his hand in the air to magically remove the cloth blocking Strider¡¯s mouth. But the smoky demon nervously taps his feet and turns to the throne. Skom: - - ¡°Ranking a Human?¡± ¨C He hisses loudly. ¨C ¡°Even if he was a Hero, he¡¯s worthless! Too weak to even be a soldier!¡± The Lord heavily turns his eyes at Skom, making the lesser demon step back. Neralg:- - ¡°A commander doesn¡¯t need to be strong, but to lead with strength. That strength can come from many sources other than pure muscle, Skom. I thought you of all commanders would know that.¡± Skom lowers his head, gritting his teeth. Skom: - - ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡± Neralg:- - ¡°So, what do you choose? I won¡¯t repeat myself.¡± The hall is dominated by silence. Strider glances at everything around him with cold sweat going down his temple, it takes him a few seconds to build enough courage to stand straight and then bow. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°I accept it,¡± ¨C his voice trembles, ¨C ¡°¡­my lord.¡± The little girl demon opens a happy smile, and the Lord heavily stands up from his throne. Neralg:- - ¡°Welcome, Dark Strider.¡± ¨C His heavy steps come closer to the human almost half his size. ¨C ¡°New seventh elite demon of the Shadow¡¯s Army.¡± Strider sees the king¡¯s boots in his view, so he lifts his head to look up at him. Neralg:- - ¡°But nothing comes without a price, Commander Strider.¡± His enormous hand pushes the air forth. Strider goes a step back to try evading it but it¡¯s too late, he¡¯s grabbed by the neck and his entire body is lifted in the air. Neralg:- - ¡°To be trusted, you need to show loyalty.¡± Strider holds the Giant¡¯s hand, hardly managing to grasp for air. - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°Dammit--.¡± Neralg:- - ¡°Accept this bond and be free. Disrespect me, run away, or betray me and you¡¯ll burn to death. Great ritual bond, .¡± Neralg¡¯s eyes shine purple, way stronger than the old demon¡¯s from before. Strider¡¯s eyes burn as they become like headlights, shooting purple rays everywhere. The pain travels from his neck towards his entire nervous system, and his metal collar becomes hotter like the sun and brightens orange. His mouth opens to scream, but nothing comes out besides the erratic light rays. Neralg:- - ¡°You¡¯ll obey every order of mine, that¡¯s the only way for you to earn my trust.¡± Strider¡¯s lost voice rises from the depths of his throat. Like molten lava erupting from a volcano, he finally manages to emit a sound, a terrifying glitchy screech of a dying animal as his entire body gradually glows brighter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¡°A??????????????????????-??????????a????????????????????????-????????A???????????-??????????????a????????????????????????-??????????????A???????????-??????????????????a??????????????????-?????????????a??????????????-??????????????????A?????????????????????-?????????????a?????????????-???????????????????h??????????????-?????????????????????????H?????????-???????????????H????????????-?????????????????h??????????-????????????H????????????????-???????H?????????????????¡± - The entire hall becomes purple, and then, everything stops, again going to the dark void. - ¡­ - ¡­ - ¡­ - - - - - - - - - To think it was all but a game¡­ For it to turn like this. I¡¯m wondering if this is something completely different. Though it doesn¡¯t fully explain it either. It¡¯s like we are connected somehow. - - - - - - - - - The corridors of the white labyrinth are empty, its fancy stone walls and golden luminous baseboards untouched near its entrance, but as you go deeper, red splashes begin to appear on the walls and floors; they become more frequent with each step in, quickly turning into pools of pure blood; then pieces of giant meats lay scattered on the cold floor, ranging from fingertips to separated torsos or perforated corpses of Ogres; in every corner turned, the scenery gets worse. It all stops at the last Ogre lying on the floor, and a tall man drenched in red breathing heavily as he takes his giant red pickaxe¡¯s prickle out of the monster¡¯s three heads. Tired, Willrus jumps and kneads the floor with his weight and glances around, certifying that there are no more Ogres alive. Small steps echo behind him, he turns to see a little girl with pink wolf ears extending both her hands and offering the man a piece of cloth for him to clean himself. With hesitation, he takes it with a bit of annoyance. - - - - - - - - - But what would that make of us? who is between it all? Are we ghosts? Mere apparitions? A recurring event? Or but observers of what is to come?... No, that¡¯s clearly not it. We¡¯re way more than that. - - - - - - - - - On a monitor screen a video entitled ¡°Advanced AI or player stuck in-game? ¨C Samsara Fall Online¡± plays on a webpage, showing three players running from War Ogres as messages pop in the chat with the purple name of an NPC called ¡°DArkstrider¡±. The view counter rises from a few dozen to hundreds, to thousands, and then millions. The commentaries rise at the same pace, flooding with doubts and conspiracies. - - - - - - - - - We¡¯re players. That¡¯s the only fitting word. And look at that¡­ So many possibilities are opening now¡­ It¡¯s endless. Just like when stars were born in genesis. - - - - - - - - - In the northeast mountains, someone wearing grey-furred clothes hikes in the middle of a blizzard, her legs cutting through the deep snow. Suddenly, the strong wind reveals her black wolf ears and strong dark-skinned face in a swipe. With a grunt, she grips her hood and closes it, never slowing down her pacing. On the plain fields somewhere down southwest, the noise quiets down with the calmer climate. Where birds sing peacefully and the grass rustle with the wind, a puffing white-cloaked mage uses a long wooden staff as support to stagger directionless; Traveling far towards the northwest, passing over a great stone wall, we reach the shady back alleys of a city. The bar¡¯s entrance doorbell rings with the coming of a new visitor, a big-chested woman with dark long hair and fancy pirate clothes of a renegade sailor officer. She stumbles with her first step in and falls unconscious to the floor. All its ugly customers stare with a frown at her, unsure if they should unsheathe their weapons or not; Then in the east, beyond the many forests and hills, a dark-skinned short girl with dragon-clawed hands seats over a small bolder in front of a ravine-like cave. She yawns with a long stretch and gazes at the clear sky with sad eyes, waiting for something to happen; And going into the forest in front, a red-haired knight walks ever so cautiously with his thin sword pointed forward. His handsome face sweats nervously as the greens and browns around contrast with his character while he moves stealthily. And in a leap forward, he strikes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - So dazzling it blinds¡­ The moon lights a slim silhouette stepping forward from within the darkness. ???: - - - - - - ¡°Damn, finally.¡± ¨C He opens a smile. ¨C ¡°I was getting bored.¡± - - - - -