As dawn rose, the system automatically woke me up, and I climbed out of bed, well rested and eager to go. I donned my armor and belted on my sword, before heading down to the main room, where Rockenroll is being chastised by a gorgeous young woman with long brown hair, what must be a D sized rack, and the tiniest waist I had ever seen. I highlighted her and saw her name was “Lanalass” and her level was 17, the minimum required for reaching the maximum skill levels.
“Ma'am, it is an honor to meet such a beautiful woman,” I said as I bowed deeply.
“So, you're the man who saved my husband from the boss's wrath and kept him and me in the guild,” she responded and hugged me tightly. “I just hit level 50 goldsmith last night. I'll teach you for free when you get a spare skill point.”
Spare skill point? Oh, that's right, I remembered already subscribing for the first month of bonus stats and skill points when I connected my bank account during the system identification. I opened up my status page, and yes, while I had slept, they took effect. I pulled up the Cash Shop interface, and quickly bought the maximum bonus five equip skill slots that I could, deducting another $250 from my account.
“I would love to learn Goldsmithing. I happened to subscribe for a month's worth of the bought bonuses when I signed up, so I do have an extra skill point right now.”
She beamed beautifully, “well then, here, I'll take that skill point off your hands!”
I confirmed learning the Goldsmith skill, and smiled at the system alert informing me that I could now craft jewelry, once I have the proper items and materials, a link to the wiki, and another to the cash shop for an in depth guide to Goldsmithing including recipes and where to find materials. I dismissed it, and looked at Rockenroll, selecting him, and sending him a party invite as I also send his wife a friend request.
“Rockenroll, you're the one who's been around these areas, so where can we go to find some good experience?”
“We could try a goblin cave, but that's if you are really confident you can keep up.”
Rockenroll has Joined your party!
Hidden
Level 5
HP: 366/366
MP: 270/270
TP: 246/246
Rockenroll
Level 30
HP: 270/270
MP: 60/60
TP: 180/180
“By the great bearded father of dwarves you truly are a lucky bastard,” Rockenroll grunts.
“Hold on a second, the Cash Shop icon is flashing.”
“Yeah, it does that when the system adds a new item to it. Most of us can't afford the items in there, so we opened up the settings and disabled notifications,” Rockenroll mutters.
I opened up the Cash Shop and gasped. The new item seemed too good to be true.
The Ultimate Bag of Holding
Mythic
Inventory Space: Unlimited (Internal Size: 1 Universe)
This bag weighs 0.1 lbs per item inside, no matter how much the item weighs outside of it.
+1 Strength per item placed inside
Cost: $2,500
Item Binds on Equip.
Time remaining for purchases: 5 minutes
“I… I can't believe this item can exist… It's too good… I'd even consider that an acceptable and even reasonable price. This is my new life after all, so I gotta do it…” I quickly buy one for myself, Oathshield, Rockenroll, and Lanalass, watching my bank account drop by a whopping ten grand!
I quickly send a message to Oathshield, asking him to come down. He comes down the stairs, and he's wearing a bunny pajama suit, like the one in A Christmas Story. “You'll shoot your eye out!” I can't help but call out, which makes him burst out laughing.
“So, what did ye call me downstairs for at this hour?” he grins down at me.
“Well, there was a limited time five minute sale going on in the Cash Shop… Seeing as I'm new to the guild and you three are the only ones on my friends list, I figured it was worth it...” I said as I pulled out the 3 extra bags, and hand them over.
“What… How can...” Rockenroll is astounded.
Oathshield is completely flabbergasted as he informs us, “the news stream mentioned this item last week… a Level 250 Paladin got it for slaying a Level 400 Grade 7 Crystal Dragon, the last boss in the Crystal Cavern raid, and even then, he only got it because he used a Wishing Star he got off the Level 380 Grade 5 Ice Dragon, the first boss of that raid. The screenshot of the Loot list shows it as a 0.0001% Chance to drop off that Level 400 Dragon...”
“You really spent $7,500 on us? How rich are you?” Lanalas inquires after checking her own Cash Shop interface.
I flinch, knowing that most people wouldn't have been able to afford one bag in a single month, let alone two, and I gave away three plus kept one for myself. Well, I had worked out an answer to this question. "Money cannot buy happiness, and as I plan on becoming a permanent resident of this reality, Money can only really be used to make life easier... I'd honestly rather not think about how much I just spent on an impulse..."
"With this item, we can loot the world..." Rockenroll murmurs.
"With this item, you'll end up killing yourself twice as often," Oathshield grumbles. "Since you've given him this item, he's your responsibility now, Hidden. There's a Goblin Cave, about level 30 for the first floor, that you might go and level up in. Take some potions with you, and make sure you keep that fool alive. See you back here in four days."
"Sweet, alright. Anyone gotten to the bottom of the cave yet?"
"You ain't ready for the bottom of the cave. The boss is a level 110 Goblin Chieftain, usually Grade 3, because most people kill him before he can hit Grade 4."
"Alright, thanks. We'll go spend some time leveling up and drag back all the loot to sell or use in crafting."
From the Guild Treasury, I was issued with a high quality crafted longsword and Hunter's Light Armor for level 25, in addition to 30 healing potions, which I put all of them into my new Bag of Holding, as well as the Boar's Tusk crafter material I still had on me.
Rockenroll and I exit the fortress to the north, and I can't help but take a deep breath, enjoying the smell of the fresh mountain air. "So, we're going to kill everything we come across on the way to the cave, hoping for me to level up enough to be able to equip the new items I had grabbed from the Guild," I inform him as I lift the Tusk Whistle to my lips and blow, summoning the Level 1 Grade 2 Boar Pet.
As we walked, I adjusted the pet to receive a whopping 30% of my experience points. As we turned onto the path to the mountain, we came across a level five stag, which I ordered the boar to attack, while I charged forward, casting fireball and preparing to hack off the horns, which are a rare crafter material since they don't drop, and have to be cut off the living creature.
I successfully managed to cut off both horns as the boar finally killed the stag, which turned into a tiny loot box with a few coppers and a pair of deer pelts. For the next half hour, we slaughtered every mob on the way, until I dinged Level 6 and the pet had nearly reached level 3. I now had seven stat and seven skill points available, so I immediately put three points in constitution, three points in intelligence, and one point in willpower, and dumped all seven skill points into Luck's Admiration, which only had a small boost to my passives.
By the time we got to the main divergence fork, I had dinged level seven, distributing six points into constitution, making it so that at level eight I would have another bonus stat point, and put the remaining point into willpower. I put all seven skill points into Tamer, boosting my ability to get a new totem by another seven points! My boar had also hit level four. The left path continued on with level five to ten monsters, but the right path had level twenty to twenty-five.
"Want to take the right hand path, to speed up the leveling?"
"Sure, if you think you can handle it with your low armor level. You better keep your boar back for a bit though, since it will likely die easily."
"True enough... If only one of us had healing magic, we wouldn't have to waste the Healing Potions if either of us gets hurt badly."
"Well, there are Skill Manuals you can buy in the Cash Shop... but I can't afford it, and you need an available skill point in order to learn it. They cost like $20, and are able to be used to learn the skill listed on them. Of course, you see how little MP I have, so it wouldn't do me any good either way."
"I didn't realize... let me check, hold on a second." I pull up the Cash Shop and look through the Skill Manuals. "Let's see... there's Healing magic, Blood magic, ah, there's a Literature manuscript too. And yeah, you were correct, the skill manuals are $20 each." I quickly bought the three of them, always having loved the Drain spell in older games. "Oh, yes, sweet... Intelligence Up and Creature Analysis are also listed!" I bought them both as well, not caring that he knew I just spent $100.
"Now you just need to level up again so you can learn them, right?"
"Yeah, and I'll be able to do that if we kill a couple of those mobs from the right fork, instead of an hour on the left."
I looked towards the forest and moved close, casting a fireball at the Level 20 'Mountain Bandit' NPC. I quickly cast it again and again, as the Boar charge, watching the mob's health bar drop with each hit. The bandit made it to me and I slashed with my sword, calling out 'Lucky Strike!'. My sword moved of its own accord through the Bandit's neck, a fountain of blood spraying as his head rolled off his neck. A System Message pops up.
Congratulations! You have gained a Level.
Current Level: 9
Stat points available: 16
Skill points available: 14
Max Skill Level: 27
Congratulations! You have successfully beheaded an enemy!
You have gained the title: Executioner
This title grants you a passive boost to Dexterity for each enemy you behead
Current Count: 1
"So! I just gained 2 levels off that fight!" I quickly opened up the inventory and used all five manuscripts I had purchased.
You have learned the skill: Healing Magic Skill Level 1
Rare
Healing magic is uncommon among normal folks, but a deadly necessity for adventurers!
Access to Spell: Cure (Light)
You have learned the skill: Blood Magic Skill Level 1
Rare
Users of Blood Magic are often deemed Vampires by the people of the realm, although they are not Vampires or undead usually.
Access to spell: Drain (HP)
You have gained the skill: Intelligence Up (Passive) Skill Level 1
Rare
This equipped skill passively boosts the intelligence of the holder.
Intelligence +2%
You have gained the skill: Creature Analysis Skill Level 1
Rare
This ability allows you to see more detailed information about your enemy.
Access to Ability: Analyze
You have gained the skill: Literature (Passive) Skill Level 1
Rare
This equipped skill passively allows a character to read the in-game manuscripts, tomes, and scrolls that contain the lore of this world.
You have learned the Spell: Cure (Light)
Cost: 5 MP per level of Healing Magic skill
This spell allows a player to heal another character in The Divine Adventure.
Effect: Heals target for 25%-50% of your Intelligence.
You have learned the Spell: Drain (HP)
Cost: 5 MP per level of Blood Magic skill
This spell allows you to drain a living target of HP, restoring your own in the process.
Effect: Inflicts damage equal to 40%-80% of your Intelligence to target, restoring equal amount in health.
You have learned the Ability: Analyze
Timer: Once per minute
To activate either call out 'Analyze!' or focus your thoughts on finding out the secrets of a target.
Reveals hidden information about a target, the higher the skill level, the greater the amount of information is available.
Currently reveals Current and maximum HP, MP, and TP.
With the addition of these new abilities, I upgrade both my new spells by four skill levels each, and then the Tamer ability by one point. Cure (Light) and Drain (HP) both gain a boost of 5% on the minimum heal and damage, putting them at 30% and 45% respectively. I put ten points into constitution and the remaining six points into my intelligence, raising it to a whopping eighty constitution and seventy intelligence before the 2% buff from Intelligence Up adds 1 more point.
"Well, now I feel so much more powerful... I think I can take on the world. Shall we continue onward?" While I'd been busy handling my new skill points and stat points, Rockenroll had looted the dead body, placing everything, again, in his own ultimate bag of holding. "I'll now gain nine Stat points and eight skill points each level. I love this! This is more than a game, especially if I want to be here for good."
I adjusted some of my settings, and upped the pet's experience to a whopping half of my own. I would need to be careful with my new spells and abilities, but I couldn't help wanting to get more Executioner counts to boost my dexterity. "So, here's the question... do we want to try to clear out all the enemies in this area in front of us before we go down meet the goblins? There must be a bandit lair and a miniboss with loot and experience."
"That sounds good. I'm already close to leveling up, off the free exp you've been giving me. Say, thanks for helping me with the boss yesterday, and this morning..."
"Don't worry about it. Hmmm... I think once I get to a hundred constitution and intelligence, I'll be holding off leveling up until we're done with everything. It isn't wise to assign stats and skills in a battle high."
"That's actually quite responsible... You wouldn't believe how many of the top tier players have had to purchase back bonus points, which overall reduced their maximum potential due to the automatic reduction of bonus stat and skill points taken from them."
"What I'll probably do is use skill points on my passive skills and Tamer so that I can get some use out of them... Let's go!" We rush down the fork, and I use fireball as my primary attack, normally draining an enemy down to about five or ten percent health remaining before giving the coup'de'grace with my sword, every so often completely managing to cut off a head without having to use another Lucky Strike. After about twenty enemies, the boar has leveled twice, and I level up as well.
I didn't bother applying the stats yet, deciding to hold off until I hit level eleven and could apply a full ten points. We kept going, working down the path, and into a small wooded area, where I found a path that lead to a cabin, surrounded by twenty bandits, with a Level 35 - Grade 2 Minotaur sitting on the steps! I used Fireball to pull a pair of bandits, quickly killing them off with the help of Rockenroll and my boar. I hit level 11 just as we killed the last of the bandits.
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I distributed ten points into Constitution, and eight points into Intelligence. I upped Luck's Admiration to twenty, Tamer to twenty, and put the remaining points into Concentration, raising it to level twelve.
Luck's Admiration (Passive) Skill Level 20
Mythic
+15% Rare Loot drop
+15% Experience
+15% Crit Chance
+10% Evade Chance
Loot Grade +1
Ability Lucky Strike Upgraded
Ability Lucky Stars Upgraded
Lucky Strike
The attack will now inflict a Critical and a Debuff, a DoT and a Debuff, or a Critical and a Dot. 10% chance of inflicting all three.
Lucky Stars
MP Cost Reduced!
Cost: 10 times Luck's Admiration's Skill Level
Bonus Experience upgraded to 20%
Concentration (Passive) Skill Level 12
+10% chance to not be interrupted when hit
Can continue a cast after being hit without restarting cast time - does not work on High, Super, or Epic Spells.
Tamer (Passive) Skill Level 20
+20% Chance to acquire monster 'Totem'.
I whistled softly as I examined my stats and buffs. "It's a good thing when you level up your stats, it automatically refills them to maximum for HP and MP... I want you to focus on cutting off his horns, and pulling out his nose ring. Before we go in, let me give you a buff, and then let me regen my MP. I have a feeling those horns are going to be high quality crafting materials, and your wife will want them."
"So what will you be doing?"
"I'll be burning the boss, and healing my boar as it tanks for us..."
I cast Lucky Stars on Rockenroll and watched as his eyes bugged out at the new buff on his screen. "How can that be real?"
"It's the passive boosts of my Mythic skill, granted to another. I get 20% of the Experience you get. If this minotaur is out here, then who's in the cabin? Hopefully, we will have time to restore HP and MP after the fight before we have to face what's inside."
Once my MP was full again, I cast a pair of fireballs before sicking the boar on the minotaur. Each Fireball did about 2% damage, and the boar's charge did 5%. This was good, we could seriously do this! I unsheathed my sword and charged forward alongside Rockenroll, casting three fireballs as I closed the distance. I leaped up and activated Lucky Strike, slamming the sword right through the minotaur's leftside horn, and dragging the blade down its skull. Critical hit, item drop, and a debuff from the blood flowing into the eye of the minotaur!
I activated another Fireball, as I backed off. The minotaur attacked the boar, doing 10% damage to it. I activated Lucky Strike while I was behind the Minotaur, and my sword cuts deep into the back of knee, severing tendons, causing it to collapse to its knee with a bellow of pain and loss of another 5% damage. I cast Cure (Light) on my boar, bringing it back up to about 75% health, and attack the other horn, using both hands ont he longsword and putting all my power behind it, managing a crit without using Lucky Strike, and severing the horn from his head.
The minotaur roars and swings around with an arm, hitting me hard with a crit, and sending me sprawling, gasping for breath. I dropped down to 65% health from the single hit! As I got up, I started casting Cure (Light) and healed myself back up to 70%. As I was focusing on healing myself, the minotaur had managed to stagger towards me. I dived under its swing, and activated Lucky Strike again, slicing out its other leg, dropping it down to both knees.
With his strength blown completely out of proportion to anything else thanks to us storing nearly every piece of enemy loot in his ultimate bag of holding, Rockenroll rushes in and grabs the minotaur's nose ring and rips it out, dropping the minotaur's health down to ten percent, dropping it to hands and knees and putting it in the stunned status for ten seconds. I line up my two handed sword blow with the back of the minotaur's neck and use Lucky Strike a last time, beheading the beast.
As the minotaur dissolves into a loot box, Rockenroll bags the nose ring and the horns while I notice that I've received a few system messages.
Congratulations! You have gained a Level!
Current Level: 13
Maximum Skill Level: 39
Stat Points Available: 20
Skill Points Available: 16
Congratulations! You have given a boss the Coup'de'grace!
Your Executioner status is now Elite Executioner!
Elite Executioners gain Strength as well as Dexterity!
Bosses you Execute will grant Triple Loot!
Bonus! Bosses you Execute leave their heads behind as Trophies!
You have received the title: Trophy Hunter
Now you can mount your trophies for display in a personal room, home, guild, or castle! You may also collect Trophies of any standard animal with your Elite Executioner skill.
I look at the minotaur's head, which has new horns and a new ring, and swear softly, then I check the loot chest. Inside is thirty gold, three epic rarity minotaur hides, and a pair of epic rarity Grade 4 minotaur horn totems! I quickly put all the items into my ultimate bag of holding, adding another five points to my strength, distribute ten points into my constitution, two points to my intelligence, and the remaining eight points into my willpower to refill my MP.
"Why is the head still here?"
"Because it's now a Trophy, according to the system message I received. That's also why it isn't letting you pick it up," I answer as I grab it and shove it in the bag of holding. "Let me put these points into Tamer real fast, then we'll be ready to go into the building."
Tamer (Passive) Skill Level 36
Your pets get a bonus 10% experience that isn't subtracted from your experience.
You no longer suffer a penalty to Totem drop rate while in a party.
The door is not locked, and opens without a noise. I look inside the cabin and am astonished to see a party of three level 15 players bound and being held hostage by a Level 40 - Grade 5 Bandit Chief! I look at the players then the chief who laughs. "So, more spoiled humans from another world have come to my parlor..."
"Listen, Chief, I'm sorry, but could you please let those three go, with their weapons and armor?"
"Bah, you be a fool if you think I won't kill them. I'm nearly to Grade Six! And if I kill them, they'll just respawn here anyways. They figured they'd camp in my cabin, and not pay me rent?"
"What do you want for their release then?"
"Give me a hundred gold for the three of them, and I'll consider it!"
"A full hundred gold is a bit pricey for three level fifteen players. How about fifty gold?"
"Ye be wastin' me time, boy? Perhaps ye wish to join 'em..."
"How about we take this outside?"
"Eh? Ye' seriously wish te fight me?"
"Why not? I'm pretty sure I can win."
"If ye lose, I'll be takin' all yer items and leaving you bound with the rest of them!"
"Deal." I grin as I back out the cabin and down the stairs. My boar has already killed a freshly respawned bandit, as has Rockenroll. The Bandit Leader frowns as he sees my two assistants and shrugs.
"Just more loot for the takin'..." He leaps down the steps and charges at me, swinging his dagger, only to trip on a root as I dodge. my boar rams his chest as I use Lucky strike, digging deep into the arm, cutting tendons, and making his fingers go limp, dropping his dagger. Rockenroll runs up and crits a fist to his gut, knocking the wind out of the bandit as he was planting his feet, just as I was slicing the back of his legs to hinder movement speed.
Two fireballs, and my pet used its special ability, it's tusk ripping open the bandit's stomach. I went for the Executioner, using another Lucky Strike, and the bandit's head rolls off his shoulders.
I'm breathing hard as the bandit's body dissolves into a loot chest. I blink at my interface and see that my boar and Rockenroll are both down to about thirty percent health, and I'm at forty percent! I don't recall getting hit in this battle, but I must have... I rapidly cast Cure on Rockenroll and the boar, and cast a couple of myself as well, and once we're all above 80%, I read the level up message and shook my head as I dismissed it.
I applied ten of my stat points to intelligence, and the leftover point to Willpower. As for the nine skill points, I pumped them into Concentration, raising my inability to be interrupted to a whopping 15%!
Inside the Loot Box was seventy gold, a prisoner's key, a legendary rarity armor, a pair of legendary rarity cloaks, and an epic rarity dagger! There was also a pair of skill manuals for Thievery and a pair for Stealth!
The Bandit Lord's Armor (Light)
Body
Legendary
4 lbs
Requires Level 30
Requires Strength 20
Requires Dexterity 30
Durability 80/80
AC +55
Dexterity +20
Grants access to the Thief Skill if not learned or +2 Skill Levels
Grants access to the Lockpick Skill if not learned or +2 Skill Levels
Grants access to the Stealth Skill if not learned or +2 Skill Levels
Grants access to the Dagger Proficiency Skill if not learned or +2 Skill Levels
The Bandit Lord's Cloak
Clothing
Legendary
2 lbs
Requires Level 20
Requires Strength 10
Requires Dexterity 25
Durability 20/20
Grants access to the Low Light Vision Skill if not learned or +2 Skill Levels
Prevents people from inspecting your status.
While your hood is up, hides your identity.
The Mountain King's Cloak
Clothing
Legendary
2 lbs
Requires Level 40
Requires Strength 30
Requires Constitution 50
Durability 20/20
+300 Health
+50% Fire Resistance
+20% Chance of crafting Unique+ Rarity
+5 Skill Levels to Blacksmith
+5 Skill Levels to Goldsmith
Mageslayer
Left-Hand / Right Hand
Epic
2 lbs
Requires Level 30
Requires Dexterity 40
Requires Skill: Dagger Proficiency Skill Level 20
Durability 40/40
Damage 35-40
Access to Ability Silencer
Access to Ability Gutripper
+20% chance of silencing an opponent for 30 seconds preventing vocalized casting
I let out a soft whistle and put all eight items, and the bandit chief trophy into my bag, and picked up the prisoner's key, holding it in my hand as I climbed the stairs into the cabin, and unlocked the prisoners. "It's a good thing the system hasn't implemented a Satiety set yet, otherwise I'm sure the bandit chief would have starved you and deprived you of water." I went to the chest beside the cot and opened it, whistling softly as I saw the gold and jewelry.
Rockenroll looks at the party of three and shakes his head. "We'll help you get to the place where the low level fork meets up just short of the goblin cave, but you three need to head back to the Fortress. Your guild has been plastering the city with fliers asking about you."
The three captives whimper and flinch closer to each other. From all the blood in the area, I could see that they had been killed multiple times in this place. In the corner of my vision, there's an icon marking this as an Adult Zone, meaning that mature content was allowed in this zone, with or without the consent of all parties in the zone. The way the girl in the group flinched from my gaze upon her and tried to hide behind the other two answered that she had indeed been abused.
"I thought that Adult Zones were supposed to be Safe Zones..."
"They are, but you heard that Bandit Chief. I think he is a self-aware AI, which has its own consciousness and can ignore game commands and can do whatever they please. There were warnings about self-aware AIs that went out a few years ago in other games... To think the first one we come across is a villain in this one."
"So these three set their respawn zone as here, because they had planned on being safe when they resurrected, only to have the Chief burst in on them in the middle of the night and used them as a personal grade grinder in order to get his Grade up so high?"
"Yes, and that minotaur too, it seems."
At the mention of the minotaur, the girl whimpers and curls into a tight ball. I look over at the bed and notice the cuffs for the first time. Now that's just wrong... a player should never have to suffer at the hands of NPCs. I reach into my bag and pull out my Trophies. "I beheaded those that wronged you. Let us take you back to town, where you can be safe..."
Both of the men stand up, staring at the heads I'm holding. "H...How...?"
"Special Title. You've gotta earn your trophies," I inform them as I put the heads back in the bag. "Now, I'm claiming the gold and jewelry for my Guild, but if your weapons and armor are still around, we'll return them to you. Is that alright?"
"He put our gear in that Cabinet...", he points to the wardrobe across the room, and I go over to it, while Rockenroll moved to the chest with the unexpected loot. Inside the wardrobe is two full sets of iron armor, a set of chainmail, two steel longswords, two kite shields, and two shortswords. I pull them out, and toss them to former prisoners. There are cries of surprise from outside, as my boar kills a freshly respawned bandit and I watch it gain a level on my interface.
"We've got some interesting loot here, Hidden. Apparently, as the bandit's leader's grade increased, so did the coffer he had in here. There's a full map of this section of the mountains, including markings for the caves that are one-off lairs, and markings for which are entrances to dungeons. There's also a mark for a Raid... It looks like that AI made us a really useful map. It's even marked for how many floors are in a dungeon and each floor's max level."
"Well, I think the boss can forgive us for not staying out the full time, if we come back with this loot. I really love that Boar of mine. I can't wait for him to turn into a riding mount so I can use one of my new Totems..."
The three former prisoners have finished donning their gear. "So, do we take them back through the bandit fork, or are we going to where the forks meet up by the goblin cave and take them up the low level fork?"
"I say we take them back the shorter path, straight through bandit territory. my little Boar is having a field day with the bandits as they respawn. He's not even losing that much health."
"Well, he is a Grade 2, after all. You'd expect him to do well since he's equivalent to a level forty by now."
"Then we'll definitely take them through the Bandit Fork, killing any that try to get in our way while you and I protect them. We'll get them back to town before nightfall then, if only just."