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Vol 2 Chapter 2
Wind and more thieves.
Don starts his first day of fall classes without much enthusiasm. Going to school is an investment into the future but not one he was willing to go broke over. This semester he signed up for nine hours at a community college and only for classes that were on the same day, in this case, monday.
His first class started at 9am, engineering graphics and design, a class that taught the basics of designing blueprints and schematics for complex mechanical designs on a computer. Since working on Bob’s automaton and going over the artificer book Bob gave to him, Don had become interested in mechanical engineering. If this class went well he might even go from undeclared major to an engineering major.
The class was however, small. Six people signed up for the classes, all of which he had never seen before.
The teacher said to the class, “Hello, who here plays Royal Road?”
Don smiled, not because he played Royal Road, but because he thought what the teacher was doing was amusing. Royal Road was insanely popular and by bringing up such an interesting topic right off the bat, he had the whole class’s attention.
The other five students raised their hands, so, in this case so he wouldn’t stand out, Don raised his as well. The teacher seemed pleased that six of six played so he continued. “Can anyone here tell me how could this class be beneficial to you for playing Royal Road?”
None of the students raised their hands. Don had a few idea, which this class he would know how to use his home computer to make schematics for personal creations using artificing in Royal Road, but he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself so early. Showboating was not something he considered manly.
The teacher continued, “Well it is very useful for my class. I’m an Architect in Royal Road with quite a bit of fame in Rosenheim kingdom. When I get a quest to build a house, a monument, or even a castle, I first create the blueprints with the software you’ll be learning to use. I use the proper programs to test the integrity, and afterwards I build it in Royal Road. Since starting, not one of my pieces has fallen. Which of course increases my fame further.”
Although it was unlikely that any of the students were architects it still successfully connected the importance of the material to be taught with something they were all related to.
Don decided to ask a question, “How complicated of a blueprint will we be able to make on a computer?”
The teacher replied with a question of his own. “How complicated are we talking about?”
“Automatons or intricate gadgets.” Don replied.
The students didn’t know if that related to royal road until the teacher said, “Oh, I see, you’re an artificer right? Well given practice you will be able to make highly complex blueprints. As long as you aren’t talking about computational parts, this class should have everything you need.”
Don didn’t see a need to correct him for now, it was less embarrassing than the truth. Though as a consequence he attracted the attention of the class, though only for a moment.
The rest of the day wasn’t nearly as interesting, world history and english 2 were overviews of things he had long since memorized, but he needed the core credits no matter what degree he choose.
Don returned home at 7pm and started on his homework, read a 40 page story for english class and chapter 1 of his world history textbook. Not that he had actual textbooks. It had been decades since laws were passed to save trees and stop the printing of paper textbook. Nowadays all students had tablets that the textbooks were stored inside after purchasing them. Don once heard that in the past people actually forced their children to carry up to ten kilograms of textbooks in packs to school they wore on their backs. And people wondered why they grew up with back problems.
After he finished at 10pm, he ate dinner and entered his capsule, he wanted to spend as much time as he could in there, and tonight he had about four hours, sixteen on RR.
Don strolled through the Eisendol marketplace to the blacksmith's weapon shop. There were other stores that sold weapons, but although more expensive, the ones at a blacksmith shop usually had the highest durability.
He settled on a light sword that had forty attack and bought two of them. They weren’t cheap but he had over 600 gold after selling the pair of rubies dropped by the fox god, and the swords were only 60 gold a piece. Don next went to the local tailor.
The selection was high quality and used upper tier materials. Don was satisfied he had found the right place. Don took off the armor he stole from a blade dancer’s grave and the fox’s oversized pelt. The leather armor still had a rainbow like sheen that was very eye catching in the right light.
The tailor came out to greet Don who said, “Hello, I would like an armor like this one here to be made from this pelt.”
The tailor looked at Don and the items and said, “Fox hide eh, will it be for you?”
Don nodded. The tailor continued. “I will have to measure you. Since you have provided the materials I will only charge the cost of treating and working the materials, as well as my time.”
Don suddenly had an idea. “Can I help?” He wanted to know more about making leather armor so now was as good a time as any.
The tailor said, “You do seem to have some experience tailoring. Alright, if you help tan it, I’ll make this pelt into a solid, vibrant chest armor for 95 gold pieces.”
Don extended his hand, “We have a deal.” Which the tailor promptly shook. He took Don into the back, a large room with many knives, tables, and barrels. He took Don to a water barrel, tossed the pelt into it and threw in some ground up wood chips. “You know how to tan, yes?”
“Yessir, I know when to add more wood and how to stir.” The tailor nodded and left to go back to the front counter. Don took a wooden paddle and started stirring. The bark of wood had a water soluble compound which is used to tan, treat skin for leather work. In an hour Don would add more wood bark chips. The slower the amount of the compound in the water was added, the better the compound leached into the skin, and the better the quality of the tanned hide. In real life this would take weeks, but in RR, Don would be done tanning in three hours.
After continuous stirring and occasionally adding more wood chips to increase the density of the tanning compound, the skin had changed to the right color and Don knew it was finished. He removed the water from the hide and washed it before letting it dry. Again this would take much longer in real life, but in RR in only took a few minutes. When the hide was dry and slightly stiff he applied oil to it to make it softer. After this it could be worked into a hard leather. But the working of it into a hard leather armor was the part that required sewing skills higher than his own so he called the tailor.
“Good, good, now you wanted this to have a glossy sheen like the one you showed me yes?” The tailor confirmed Don’s request before moving on. After Don nodded the tailor brought some measuring tools and measured Don’s sizes. Don had once read that tailors had a skill that allowed them to see a person’s stats while they measured them which allowed them to make equipment that bore level requirements that matched their level, making the strongest equipment for them that they could wear immediately.
After confirming the sizes the tailor went to a closet that had several wooden mannequins and got one that matched Don’s proportions. After which he measured the hide to see how much of it was usable for chest armor. However because it was from a giant fox, even accounting for the shrinkage there was enough leather for two pieces of armor. So the tailor cut it in half and set one part aside. He dipped the leather in a pot of boiling water for ten seconds before removing it and quickly bringing over to the mannequin. He strapped the leather to it and waited. The leather slowly constricted, forming itself to the mannequin. After it settled the tailor cut off the excess and left it there. He then got the other half of the tanned leather and dunked it into the pot of boiling water, but this time he left it in there for thirty seconds. After bringing it out he strapped it to the mannequin over the first piece of leather, but he did so loosely. The skin shrunk but this time to an even greater degree, there was almost no excess left to cut off, and what was cut off had to be cut with a sharp knife due to the thickness of the leather. After it settled the tailor coated the interior in wax and the exterior in some oil.
He then went to Don and said, “As you could see there was enough leather to make a two layered armor. The inner layer is stiff but flexible while the outer is rigid. Combining two different types into the same piece is a specialty of mine and increases the defense and durability greatly. Of course it is twice as heavy, but it is still much lighter than a steel breastplate and you will have no problem equipping it. To make the gloss you want the oil must soak into the fur before waterproofed which will take some time. Come back later and it will be finished.”
Don logged out and went to sleep. It was 2am and he had work from 10am to 8pm for the next three days.
Fewer and fewer people were taking broken capsules to the electronic store Don worked at so he wasn’t needed to fix them for resale as often which meant he was no longer free from the mundane tasks assigned by his supervisor. The other thing that had changed was that one of his coworkers quit and today he had to train the new guy, or in this case, girl. Eugine worked the late shift so he wouldn’t see him for a while, meaning Don was stuck with her and his lazy supervisor.
“Hello, my name is Miranda.” She greeted him with a smile.
“Don, nice to meet you.” After the cordial greetings Don went about showing Miranda the ropes. She took to it well and didn’t require much help. Later when Eugine came inside he asked, “Hey Don, where are you in Royal Road, I need some extra manpower for a quest I’m doing.”
“Sairei Kingdom,” he replied, “though I can’t help you for now, I got a long quest to do given to me by the church and got till the end of november to finish it.”
Eugine looked taken back, “Quest? That’s more like a pilgrimage. I’ve never heard of a quest that takes three months to finish.”
“The deadline is independent of the quest but needs to be met all the same. If I succeed I’ll get something awesome.”
Eugine looked like he wanted to ask what but reframed, it was rude to ask for specifics if they weren’t given. Miranda however asked a different question, “Which church, the church of Lu?”
Don realized she was eavesdropping but didn’t mind too much, “Yea, the church is helping me out.”
She nodded, “I’ve heard mixed things about them. They help those in need and such, but they are unlikely to help those who are not followers of the church of Lu.”
Don nodded, “Yea, I made a deal with... One of the higher ups of the church. He helps me gets something awesome, then when I have it I will use it to help the church of Lu, after officially becoming a follower.”
The chat between the three revolved around Royal Road for the rest of the day. Miranda was a level 210 knight who was off exploring the eastern frontier. An image of her in shining armor wielding a greatsword or spear, riding into battle atop a horse rode through his head. At first he thought he should chastise himself for the thought, but then he remembered he was no longer in a relationship. His last girlfriend got accepted on full scholarship into a top tier university, but not one that was close by. She figured a long distance relationship wouldn’t work so she broke up with him and moved away over the summer.
At 9pm Don got home and went through his pre-RR routine. He ate dinner, took a shower and got into his capsule. The next day and the day after he also worked ten hour shifts, but after that he was free for the next three days before monday to play RR as long as he could. But for tonight at least, 2am was the stopping point.
Don logged in and went straight to the Tailor’s shop. The leather armor had been tooled and cut into a seamless work or art. Although the colors of the outer fur were not as vivid as his previous armor, the red fox hide’s fur seemed to have dozens of different hues of red gloss which made it just as striking to the eye as his other.
The tailor handed over the armor for Don to inspect. “Identify.”
Divine Fox Hide Armor.
Durability 90/90
Defense 35
Leather armor tooled from the hide of a fox god, made with a stiff outer layer and softer inner layer making it resilient and flexible. Made by an experienced tailor to have a glossy sheen.
Requirements:
Level 135
145 Strength
95 Agility
Effects:
Fire does not affect the durability of the armor.
Greatly reduces the chance of receiving a critical hit
+30 Wisdom
Before taking Don’s money the tailor said, “You know I’d be willing to buy this off you. This came out better than I thought and I’d be able to sell it for plenty. I’ll give you 550 gold for it.”
Don wasn’t surprised by the offer, what he was surprised by was that the tailor could make it with a straight face. Other effects aside, resistance to critical hits was likely a hidden property of the fox god that the tailor didn’t know would come out and that made the armor unique and invaluable. The tailor would likely ask over a thousand gold for it, and get it too, but Don would not sell it, he needed it to survive what was to come.
“I’m sorry but I’ll be keeping it.” Don said as he handed the tailor the payment for the work. The tailor nodded and took it, he likely hadn’t expected Don to yield it. “I understand, but if you come across any more unique leathers, please bring them by, I would love to buy them.”
Don kept that in mind as he left. He still had ten hours before he had to go to sleep and wanted to spend it wisely. Rose and Tolan weren’t on at night so he would wait until his workdays were over before getting on to the next god on their hit list. For now he wanted to find a spot to train.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
After asking around he found that the forest south of the city had a dense monster population. However half an hour after he left the city he noticed he was being followed. It was only a pair but Don was traveling off the beaten path without anywhere specific in mind as a destination so it was unlikely they were simply going the same direction.
Don wondered what the manliest thing to do was and decided simply to confront them.
“What do you want?” he asked.
However as soon as he turned around to ask he realized he was mistaken about the number. There were six following him, and the other four all had the telltale red diamond, the mark of a murderer on their foreheads and names that glowed red above their heads.
One of the two without the mark came forward and said, “Hand over everything you have and we won’t kill you.”
Don brandished his swords, he wasn’t going down without a fight. However two of the group were clearly thieves while two others were assassins. From their equipment they were all a higher level than he was, but that wasn’t the problem. When someone dies they drop items, what they drop is usually random, the chance of him dropping his egg, the essence of Lu, his armor or hardlight swords was relatively low considering he was almost a hoarder and his inventory was filled with random japtem. However a thief with enough skill can take items off a dead body, not all of them, but it increased the chances of him losing something that could not be replaced should he fall. He remembered the new dance he acquired that would blind his enemies, but they were already in the forest and not enough light shown through the leaves. Don focused his mind and started dancing.
The two thieves started laughing, “What is he doing?”
“Who cares.” Said the assassin. The group surrounded Don and started moving in. To them Don’s dance appeared slow and easy to predict. One of the thieves jumped behind him
Don slashed him twice before the thief could retreat, not that anyone but the assassins saw the attack.
“What the hell?! Everyone, Get him!” Don’s dance of death struck out when the thief approached but it wasn’t omni-directional, he immediately switched to fiery dance. The two swordsmen however blocked his flaming strikes leaving the remaining thief and assassins to attack him without worry.
Don was struck several times without getting a single attack in.
Perseverance has increased by 1 (+1 PER)
Don moved slower, his health was dropping rapidly. Then he disappeared. Using illusion steps to fake going one way while going the other, he moved behind the swordsmen and drove his burning blades into the pair.
Critical Hit!Critical Hit!
The pair caught on fire and Don moved to attack the thieves who still hadn’t realized what happened. He charged forward but again used illusion steps to fake them out and attack their blind spots. The one he had attacked before died and the other caught on fire. The two swordsmen started striking him again but again Don faked them out, though this time to the opposite side. The fire of Don’s blades went out due to lack of mana but now he could manage. Burns lowered attack so the swordsmen could no longer fully parry Don’s strikes leading to their deaths.
You have gained a level!
The second thief died from the flames leaving only the two assassins. The first spoke while wheezing, “What the hell is going on?! Why can’t we get any critical hits?!”
They continued to strike him but without flinching he struck them back and in short order killed one. When he longer believed he could win the last assassin fled. Don didn’t show it but his life had dropped to less than fifty and he was bleeding, he would be dead in a few seconds so he chose not to pursue.
He quickly got out bandages and herbs to perform first aid. He had treated himself enough times to get the bandaging skill but it was only high enough to stop the bleeding, though for now that was exactly what he needed.
Don knew he was lucky to say the least. From his sister he learned that their are many builds of assassins. The pair he fought likely relied on agility and luck instead of agility and strength. That type relied on dealing a barrage of critical hits incredibly fast, but as of thirty minutes ago Don had a high resistance to criticals. Of course even the fox hide's hidden property couldn't make him fully immune, but with his charm stat it practically did. One of the effects of charm was reducing the chance of receiving a critical hit.
Of course that alone wasn’t the reason Don survived. He brought out his flaming dance as a distraction, allowing the swordsmen to focus on the pattern of the dance’s attacks to predict Don’s movements. After they were blocking Don’s strikes before they even happened he used illusion step to use their preconceptions of what they thought he would do against them. Most people have one method of fighting, but Don learned through trial and error that by using different dances he could trip his opponent up and make them attack or defend how he wanted them to. After he struck them they were burned and defending in the manner that best suited a dance he was no longer using. Such things are hard to overcome unless you train for it.
Don picked up the treasure trove of loot the fallen had dropped. Those with murderer marks lose more items when they die.
Silent boots
Durability 34/50
Defense 15
Boots made to erase the sound of steps
Requirements:
Level 160
50 AGI
Effects:
Muffles the sound of foot steps, makes you harder to be detected by soundBlack Cloak
Durability 12/40
Defense 20
Requirements:
Level 100
A cloak that had been dyed black to make the wearer less visibleSword of Dol
Durability 40/55
Damage 60~65
This sword once belonged to the swordsmen Dol
Requirements
Level 170
100 STR
Effects:
Greater chance of scoring critical hitsMoger Fur
Fur from a recently hunted Forest moger
Neither of the swordsmen’s name were Dol, the sword was likely stolen. The boots and cloak Don would keep but the sword and japtem he’d sell. His moonlight blades had lower requirements and were better anyways.
However the whole thing left a bad taste in Don’s mouth. If those assassins had a different build, if the swordsmen had been just a little bit stronger of the thieves just a little bit quicker he would be dead. A highway robbery isn’t that uncommon, but Don didn’t like the coincidence that they came across him while he carried items that had a value of thousands of gold. That and he didn’t encounter them along a road, they had been following him since he left the city. Why follow a single elf just because he has a slightly nice piece of armor?
At first Don considered that the tailor could’ve sent them for the fox hide armor, but he dismissed the idea, the tailor knew that critical hits would not work on him and if he hired them he probably would’ve told them. It could’ve been retaliation from the den of thieves, but they would not have asked him to turn over all his items, they would’ve killed him without a word. Don mused the thought that Smith sent them because he had second thoughts about giving someone hardlight equipment. Perhaps the gnomes had discovered that Don had given him an artificing journal and sent the thieves to retrieve it before their secrets got out. The last thing he could think of was maybe the church of Lu, or maybe a rival of Lu’s had sent them to get the essence of Lu from him.
There were too many suspects and not enough info, the best thing he could do was ask the next guys who would come. Don had a small regret about letting the assassin go, he would report all of Don’s tricks to whoever hired him, but it was a pointless regret. All the slain were users and would return in four days to report anyways.
Don found a quiet spot to slowly recover and think about what to do next. Of course he had to confront the challenge head on, it was against his manly code to back down, but that didn’t mean he had to commit suicide. He had to figure out how to next defeat them. The blade dance, Dance of Scattering Light would be useful but only if Don was out in the sun. However Don then remembered that other than get a new skill, when his blade dancing reached intermediate he gained the ability to create new blade dances. While he could use weapons with normal dances like dance of death as he had just done, it wasn’t as strong for attacking as Fiery Dance. Don remembered that he was also able to use it to deflect fire magic before.
According to Rose, the next target was an Eagle god. Don decided it would be best if he could create a dance that attacked with wind. Of course he had no idea how to create a dance skill.
Don spent the rest of that day’s time in Royal Road trying to make a dance that used wind. After logging out, going to sleep, going to work and returning he did the same.
Don practiced in the forest, since it was fall, leaves were dropping frequently and Don used this to his advantage. He tried to make movements with his swords that not only attacked those around him, but also sent leaves that were close to him far away with air currents. After ten hours of practicing he finally figured out the movements, an accelerating spiral motion, that would send leaves away, however the the system never registered it as a skill. But he knew what to do.
After a few hours of watching leaves falling and watching the wind carry them, he heard a melody in the air. Don was taught the importance of music to a dance so after figuring out the movements to the dance he got out his lute and starting composing the song he heard on the wind. Since obtaining the skill, Lute playing, the act of playing a lute had become considerably easier in game, although he knew what his hands were doing, the system provided minute assistance to the finer movements and chord strumming order. By the end of thursday night, he had the melody of the song down. However it wasn’t enough. The bard who taught him said that a song needs lyrics, or at the very least a story. So Don made up a story about a breeze and a cloud who fell in love and were separated by fate, never to see each other again. It was corny but after being dumped he was able to put some strong emotions into it. After a few adjustments to make the melody fit the story he received a message.
Ding*
You have composed a song.
Melody of the Wind
This song speaks of the freedom as well as the loneliness of the wind
Special Effects:
Party members who hear this song played will have their health and mana regeneration increased by 10% and resistance to wind based magic increased by 15% for 2 hours
Number of songs composed: 1
Lute Playing has reached level 2
This allows you to play more difficult music.
- Fame + 50
- Charisma + 3
- Charm + 3
Don almost smacked his head. He didn’t want to actually make a song, he didn’t want higher charisma and charm, and he especially didn’t want a reason to play the lute in parties. He sighed deeply and accepted that what’s done is done, and if the song was made official, then the dance may work out as well.
Don did his wind dance beneath a tree with falling leaves. The motions were seamless and when he wanted he could send a falling leaf a meter away with the current released from his sword’s movements.
Ding*
You have created a blade dance.
Gale Dance
Can only be used while dancing
Envokes the spirit of the wind within your dance. Swords deal wind damage in addition to regular combat damage.
Mana Cost: 10 per second
Can cast Gale Blade while performing Gale Dance
Gale Blade Mana Cost: 50
- Fame + 80
- Charisma + 2
- Charm + 2
- Wisdom + 5
Don immediately started practicing. Currents of air wrapped around his swords and when he moved with the practiced motion, the air around his sword was sent across the forest. Upon impact the gale blade scarred whatever it hit with dozens of slashes that seemed to be carried by the wind. The wind around his blades themselves was not as damaging as the fire of his fiery dance but it has other beneficial effects. Don noticed that the leaves around the wind wrapped blades were blown away violently, the air currents affected anything in the air around them. Don smiled, this would be very useful for long range attack and defense.
Don logged off at 2pm and went to bed. Tomorrow he had neither work nor school so Rose, Tolan and himself would head for the next god in the morning.
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