Morgan woke up while it was still slightly dim, she heard the sound of a distant clanging of metal to metal. Immediately awake, she put on her gear and backpack and headed down stairs. The sound of clanging became louder as she walked down, it seemed like it was coming from the basement. Morgan saw a light orange glow coming from downstairs, her curiosity overtook her self control and she continued heading down stairs. The clanging sound became louder, followed by a loud hissing sound. As Morgan turned the corner, she saw Elizabeth dressed in a grey tank top vest and shorts with a hammer in her hand. She had just finished quenching the blue blade and was now continuing her heat treatment, sweat soaked the vest as it clung tightly to her skin.
Seeing Elizabeth's figure in the orange light of the flame made Morgan feel a weird tingly sense of excitement from deep inside. She decided it was probably better to leave her alone and turned around.
"I'll get to you in just a bit, stay for break fast. I made an extra serving for you."
Elizabeth said without turning around, hammering away at the blade. It surprised Morgan a bit, but she knew everyone with high mana would have unlocked mana sensory and thus walked upstairs into the restaurant. She took a seat placed at the counter top connecting the front of the restaurant to the kitchen, she stared blankly at the fridge and the different magnets on it.
Suddenly the front door swung open and a loud voice boomed through the room
"Liz, I'm here. Got you the best stuff from yesterday's hunt."
A towering giant of a man walked through the door, having to slightly bow down to make his way through. Everyone who has been in Afterlife for more than a couple days would know who he is, Morgan even worked for him. The man was Nathaniel Bozeman, the Guild master of the Hunters, what was a man of such esteem doing in a small establishment down on the 25th floor?
The door to the staircase opened and Elizabeth walked out, her clothes were still soaked but her hair was tied back in a ponytail. She smiled and walked towards the large man. Picking up the bag of what looked like different cuts of meat and vegetables. He also handed her a bundle of herbs and a crate of elixirs.
"Have you finished the ones I gave you last time?"
He spoke in a much more calm and toned down voice, a stark comparison from his booming voice just a moment ago. Elizabeth looked a little embarrassed, averting her gaze.
"Um, Not yet. Come on you can't blame me, the herbs taste so bitter. I've tried mixing it into food and drinks but it's taste is so over powering. I finished the elixirs though."
He looked a little disappointed, but just shook his head. Elizabeth took the bags and headed into the kitchen.
"I'm almost done with your new sword, it'll probably take a week or so. Go sit up with Morgan, I'll get you guys your food."
Nathaniel sat in a large chair a couple seats away from Morgan, the size of the chair was probably made specifically for Nathaniel's size. He eyed Morgan suspiciously, like a dog controlling his territory.
"Nate, be nice"
Elizabeth said calmly, as if anticipating what would happen. Nathaniel dismissed her naturally, it was like watching a pair of close siblings bicker. Morgan's gaze followed Elizabeth around the kitchen, she couldn't help but feel a sense of amazement. The woman was more incredible than she initially thought, to have such a close relationship with the guild master of a major guild leader. She licked her lips.
"You're the assistant leader of the b team hunters aren't you. I heard reports, you're a good sensible person. I don't want to know whats going through your mind but if you hurt her I'll send you to the depths of hell. I've known Elizabeth for a while now, she seems very open and welcoming but she's very shy and fragile. Pursue what you want, just watch yourself. You'll know she's opened up to you when she touches you herself, but don't you dare touch her"
He whispered with a slightly threatening tone, his eyes serious. Morgan instinctively nodded her head, she wasn't sure if she was really interested in Elizabeth but she knew she definitely wanted to be more familiar with her. Elizabeth interrupted the staring contest between the two with three plates of steaming hot curry rice. Morgan was a little nervous, she didn't have that incredible of heat tolerance. Elizabeth held a hand up to her mouth and whispered mischievously
"Don't worry, it's mild. Nate's not that big of a spice person either"
She grinned, Nathaniel scowled at her but immediately dug into the food. Morgan also started eating, the curry roux was thick and rich, fitting perfectly with the fluffy white rice. Elizabeth pulled up a chair from inside the kitchen and also started eating, Morgan stared intently at Elizabeth's cheeks as she was chewing but realised what she was doing and averted her gaze.
The three ate in a comfortable silence for a while before Nathaniel stood up. Elizabeth reached up to give him a hug before he left, and not long later Morgan also stood up. She thanked Elizabeth for the food and the room, promising to pay her back in full. She got in the top 3 for the 25th floor's trial and thus will earn quite a considerable amount, enough to pay back Elizabeth. Elizabeth offered adamantly for Morgan to continue to stay at her place, saying that she's been thinking of adding a new floor anyways for storage and new equipment and that Morgan can live there rent free. Morgan couldn't refuse, but changed the offer so that Morgan would help collect materials for Elizabeth's artisanal crafting and training and also help test the things she makes.
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This was the beginning of a partnership which would grow to be something much much bigger. Morgan headed off into the city of Somnusurb, after clearing the 25th floor's trial, the floors she had access to in Afterlife were 1 to 29. At her current level and equipment she could comfortably handle monsters on the 27th level but may have a little difficulty handling raids on the 28th level. As an archer her agility was high, but no where high enough to be on the level of High rankers like Nathaniel. At her current strength she'd be overpowered by even the weakest high ranker, the Valkyrie Bishop Yeon-Hwa.
In afterlife, players are able to reenter the trials they've already passed, though they can't change their record. Many of the trials place restraints on players in order to increase difficulty, players realised that under those restraints, they are able to level up faster. The 20th floor increases the weight on players as they climb a flight stairs with 999 steps, each step adds weight on the players and makes it more and more difficult to climb. If Morgan trained there, climbing up and down the stairs, her agility and strength would increase.
She decided to stay on the 25th floor for a bit and participate in a few of the hunts organised by the Hunters guild before going off to train. After every hunt, the treasure and money earned are spread evenly through out the parties, this includes the leader and the assistant leader, however the leader and the assistant leader have paid wages from the hunters guild, for every hunt not only do they earn money from the hunt but also the part of the profits made from selling items or information. Every time a guild member passes a trial, the guild rewards them with some money and items for harder trials, for passing the 25th floor Morgan was rewarded with 15 gold and 50 silver, she planned to give 5 of the gold to Elizabeth as thanks. So now she was left with 14 gold and 20 silver when combined with the 3 gold and 70 silver she had earlier, 100 silver can be converted to 1 gold.
Aside from hunts, Morgan could also do some exploring. While people have been living in Afterlife for over centuries now, there are plenty new locations and secrets being found. If she was lucky, she may even find remnants of deity level beings and find manuscripts for special classes like Elizabeth's Poltergeist and Yeon-Hwa's Valkyrie. Special classes manuscripts reappear when the last person who had it died and failed the revive process so there were still quite a few around the tower, however they were all quite cleverly hidden. Either way she needed to level up and increase her stats, she mumbled to herself and pulled up her character screen. A light blue slightly transparent screen appeared before her eyes, displaying many different pieces of information about herself.
Name: Morgan Dumont Age: 25 level: 5
Alias: B squad Assistant Team Leader
Strength: Intermediate (high) Agility: High (low)
Dexterity: Intermediate (medium) Endurance: High (low)
Intelligence: Intermediate (low) Will: Intermediate (medium)
Feats and Traits:
General: You are a natural born leader, those who are under your leadership feel motivated and stronger.
Blood thirst: You are no stranger to death and murder, you are able to keep calm when pressured with violent force.
Competitive: You work harder when facing an opposing force compared to when you are on your own.
Tenacious: You experience exploding growth when your life is threatened, however usually your talent is quite normal.
Gluttonous: You hunger for strength and power is overwhelming, even though your talent is low you strive to become stronger.
Special class: none
So far there was nothing exactly unique about Morgan, she was no doubt strong for her level but she wanted more. Currently she specialised in melee weaponry, with no particular preference. Before she entered afterlife she was in the military for a short while before teaching martial arts in England. She has some considerable skill in many different weapons, but obviously not enough to compete with any of the high rankers' skills.
She looked through her inventory space, at her level she only had 10 slots, however she could exploit it by placing items into backpacks or duffel bags and count it as one slot.
Pike of immunity +1
Comfortable spear which grants wielder with immunity to poison
Attack: Intermediate (high)
Strength needed: Intermediate (Low)
Skill needed: Warrior - Basic Spear skill
Proficiency skills:
Spear dance: Fatigue + 15, combination of slices and jabs in circular motions with increased power every cycle. Attack scales with agility.
Power thrust: Fatigue + 5, strong forward thrust which generates a powerful ripple in the air that knocks nearby enemies down. People who are directly struck with the blade are more likely to be heavily damaged.
Passive traits:
Immunity to poison
Stronger against beast type monsters
Morgan pulled the spear out of her inventory, it was about her height and had two comfortable leather grips along the shaft that didn't hurt her hand when she spun the spear. The spear tip is slightly pronged, with two short sharp corners jutting out the side pointing forward. If the spear was pushed in far enough, the corners would grab onto whatever surface it was plunged into and grip on. The opposite end of the spear was a round pummel which balanced the weight of the spear so it wouldn't tip forward. Generally the weight was quite light, it didn't take much to plunge forward and pull back and swinging it around was smooth and simple.
Morgan casually swung her spear around the forest just outside the borders of Somnusurb, spinning it in circles across her back and around her sides. The wind picking up from the spinning agitated the scattered leaves on the floor and rustled the trees. Suddenly she changed form and tossed the spear up into the air parallel to the ground, she stepped forward with her left leg and caught the spear with her palm facing up. With a slight grunt she twisted her torso and swung her arm forward, the spear pierced through the air with a slight whistle in the wind. The spear slammed into a tree and passed right through, the tree split open and toppled over, leaves and twigs covered the floor in the nearby area.
Morgan tried to pass it off nonchalantly, however the smug grin on her face was more than apparent. She then realized there weren't anyone around to see her and suddenly felt embarrassed of her thoughts. The spear disintegrated into blue light and reappeared in her hand, she placed it back into her inventory and continued looking at her new gear.
After finished the 25th floor trial she had bought a full set of new armor for a few hundred gold, as a melee fighter strong armor was just as important as a weapon. However spending over 200 gold leaving her with only a handful of coins didn't feel great.
"This better be good"
Morgan muttered, as she pulled the metallic blue armor out of her inventory, despite it's material, it felt like feathers in her arms. A cold aura emanated from the armor.