“You knew when you gave me that symbol that the shade, or whatever that thing was, would take me to Shadow and make me the next Shadow Mask mercenary king.”
Commoner lifted himself off the ground and gazed angrily at T. J Barnacus. Although he knew that the mask covered his expression he could see that the restaurant owner had stepped back from the sheer pressure he was emitting. The man gazed sadly at Commoners face. At the mask he was wearing. It took a moment for Commoner to realise what the man was thinking.
“You didn’t think he would die so soon.”
“Yer right about dat lad. What man would expect their best friend ta die only minutes after he had passed on his legacy to a stranger that played a piano nicely. No less would I expect Shadow to die, he were the second strongest man I ever known after the Devil Mask mercenary king.” He ran his hands through his beard miserably. “But I stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago lad. It was no lucky chance that you met me.
From the moment you walked into my fine restaurant I could tell you was the right kind of man right to become the next mercenary king. A swagger in yer steps, finely crafted muscles which you would have to be blind to not see, you oozed the confidence I had only seen from kings and knights and better yet,” he pointed towards Commoner’s face, “yer a man with something to hide. No, I do not want ta know what yer secret is. Do not take the work of a mercenary lightly. Ya will always have secrets to hide in yer line of work and to have one that requires ya to hide yer own face will get you prepared for the future. Either you truly are some king or prince from another land or yer a man with a secret so terrible that ya must hide from the world.”
Commoner’s eyes widened slightly at the man’s words. Not only Shadow but now Barnacus had seen through his intentions and determined that he had something to hide. Andross took pride in his acting skills that had been recognised across the world but now two people in the space of an hour had seen through Commoner’s hiding act from the moment they had met.
“Yer looked surprised lad, don’t be. Tis a mercenaries job to be able to read people from the moment they see them. To be able to tell who is lying or planning to betray ya, or ta see who’s the easy sucker that’s panicking enough ta pay you more than their offering. I’ve had years of experience meeting with kings and nobles wanting the dirty jobs, the biggest liars of all have come to me at one time or another. Now I suppose yer wondering what ta do now that the position of king is yours.”
Commoner lightly touched the side of the mask, “What I’m wondering is how much money it takes to change my class to something else.”
His friends had mentioned that class changes were a common occurrence. If somebody hadn’t liked their class they could simply pay a fee and change it. They would have to start over from the beginning but they would keep their current levels at the least. But the voice he had heard when making his avatar had stated that he would have to be level ten before he could get a class and he was currently level one.
“Get rid of it?” Barnacus’ moustache twirled in surprise, “Yer want to give up one of the mercenary king positions? Have ya any idea how grand this is for ya life, people have razed entire countries for less power than this position gives ya. Even now your name is spreading across the entire country, fame and fortune will be yers to command if ya play yer cards right.” Commoner glared at him and he sighed, “So yer secret’s that big is it? Something that not even being a mercenary king can fix, nay, from the way yer bodies moving I can see that being in the spotlight is only worse for ya. Well bad news kid, yer can’t just stop being a mercenary king the ordinary way.”
“But you do know how I can get rid of this class?”
Barnacus stroked his moustache slowly. He was clearly troubled by this unexpected turn of events. He had clearly been expecting Commoner to be jumping for joy when he turned up.
“A true mercenary king will only cease ta be a king if he hands his mask to a successor. If ya find someone that ya accept to take over your position then ya can make them the new owner of the Shadow Mask.”
‘Great, I’ll just hand it to the next NPC I see.” Commoner smiled behind the mask at the simplicity of the answer.
“Don’t be a fool boy. I said only a true mercenary king can choose a successor to replace him, a king that has both proven his worth and unlocked the real powers of the mask he wears. For the record, you haven’t even unlocked a tenth of the masks true powers.”
Suddenly the man’s accent was gone and an angry aura surrounded him. It was not the same pressure that Commoner had been exuding throughout the conversation. This was the real deal, a force that could only be projected by a man that had gone through battles of life and death. It was Commoners turn to step back as he felt a tremor of fear crawl down his spine.
“So how do I unlock these powers?”
Barnacus immediately broke into a smile and the murderous aura that had been seeping out of him disappeared, “I’m glad ya asked. In the ancient times of the first mercenary kings all the Masks gathered together and established a safe haven for mercenaries, the mercenary city Kelhter, named after the mercenary god. To formally take yer place among the Seven Mask mercenary kings ye must travel to the inner chambers of the city to meet the mercenary Guardians. They will pass to ye the tests you need ta complete the rite of passage to become a true mercenary king. Only then will ye be able to choose a successor.”
“Guardians?”
“They are the strongest of the mercenaries below the mercenary kings. The only way ta become a Guardian is through reputation and strength. Travelling to Kelhter to meet with then is da only option you have.”
You have been given the class related quest: Path of the mercenary king. Rank B difficulty. This quest is not optional.
Path of the mercenary king Part 1: To unlock the powers still hidden within the Shadow Mask and pave the way to becoming a person worthy of holding the title of the Shadow Mask Mercenary King the former owner of the Twilight Mask has directed you towards the mercenary city, Kelhter. Meet with the Guardians that preside in the city.
‘Rank B?’ Commoner gazed at the message screen for around a minute before he closed it. He had also been given a rank ‘A’ quest but he didn’t know the meaning of these rankings.
“Now then boy. Yer gotta get going. I came here ta warn ya that the mercenary kings have already sent their lackeys into the city and the entire place is crawling with people searching for ya. Take these and leave this city.”
‘They’re already here for me?’
Barnacus held out several clothes towards Commoner. Commoner looked at him in surprise and took the items from Barnacus. There was a cloak and gloves. They were more than enough to hide his appearance. Barnacus sighed.
“Tell me lad, what’s yer reason for wanting to give up something like this.”
“I just want to be a normal person.”
To Commoner’s surprise an honest came out of his mouth before he could think about it and Barnacus placed a hand on his shoulder comfortably.
“I know how you feel boy. I too gave up my Mask to pursue my dreams. Power and fame will always fade in comparison to happiness.” With these final words Barnacus ran back to the city and left a rather overwhelmed Commoner standing alone.
You equipped the item: Barnacus’ Old hooded cloak. Stats: None, Weight: 0.3kg, Description: An old travelling cloak used to cover the entire body. It was previously owned by T. J Barnacus and has hidden enchantments on it. This item will not lead into a quest.
You have equipped gloves: Stats: None, Weight: 0.025kg, Description: A pair of ordinary gloves. This item is not related to a quest.
‘Hidden enchantments?’
Commoner’s thoughts were interrupted and his ears perked up as shouts came across the distance.
‘They’re coming closer. Guess it’s time to go.’
Just like when the shade had told him to find the dying Shadow, the location of the city, Kelhter, popped into his mind when he thought about it. It was approximately one month’s travel away by foot according to the distance his mind told him. Commoner saw that he had already exited through the correct gate and started running towards the location.
‘That’s too long. I can’t run for a month straight. I certainly can’t hide from hundreds of players for that long either.’
“When you find yourself in an overwhelming situation and you just don’t have the time to think. Stop. And then take the time to think because it will provide infinite more benefits than running around like a headless chicken.”
Commoner sighed behind his mask as his acting instructors advice whispered into his mind. The situation was as bad as it could be and he had no immediate way of making it easier. He looked up and realised that he was running towards the Sylvern mountain range where Shadow been betrayed by the Devil Mask mercenary king. There was a large forest at the base of the mountains and he turned towards it. Commoner ran into the shade of a tree and sat down. He needed to rest and get a grasp of his situation.
‘I should at least check what I do have. Status window!’
Status ScreenNameCommonerLevel1ClassShadow Mask Mercenary KingFame2000Health700Mana400Free Stat Points0Stamina10 + 30Strength40 + 30Agility30 + 30Vitality10 + 30Dexterity10 + 30Intelligence10 + 30Wisdom10 + 30SkillsShadow StrikeWeapon MasteryHideQuick StrikeShadow Strengthening[p=left]Mercenary Commissions: None[/p]
He had gained several abilities with his class change.
‘Err, skills.’
He viewed the skill windows that popped up as he ran.
Skill: Shadow Strike. A technique invented by the first Shadow Mask mercenary king. Any shadows in contact with the user will immediately attack nearby enemies, bypassing all armour and dealing true damage. Damage dealt depends on the amount of shadows used in the attack. Damage dealt by your personal shadow: 500. Mana cost: 400. Level 1: 0.00% towards next level.
‘That will be useful but I can only use it once. Why aren’t there capital letters on the words ‘mercenary king’ here but there were for my class? Maybe because it’s not a class?’
Skill: Weapon Mastery. Mercenaries have long ago learnt the ability to master any weapon in order to adapt to situations. The user is able to equip any weapon and weapon masteries will unlock depending on the weapon used. Current weapon masteries unlocked: Stick mastery: level 1: 0.05% towards next level.
‘Stick mastery? Does that mean that sticks are a class of weapons in themselves?’
Skill: Hide. A technique invented by the second Shadow Mask mercenary king. User turns invisible for a short duration. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: five minutes. Level 1: 0.00% towards next level.
‘A five minute waiting period for a five second skill, what use is that?’
Skill: Quick Strike. A technique invented by the third Shadow Mask mercenary king. It is a strike which has a 90% chance to hit a target before they can perform a technique. The quick strike was invented to complement the ‘Skill: Hide’ thus when used during or when exiting Hide the damage dealt by this attack is increased 200%. Damage dealt: 100. Mana cost: 100. Level 1: 0.00% towards next level.
Skill: Shadow Strengthening. A technique invented by the fourth Shadow mask Mercenary king. The powers of your shadow will temporarily transfer into your weapon, strengthening it. Dhadow strike may be used while Shadow Strengthening is active. Reinforcement provided by your personal shadow: +30 strength. Duration: 1h. Cooldown: 5 minutes after strengthening has stopped. Level 1: 0.00% towards next level.
‘Seeing as there are no more skills, the fourth Shadow Mask mercenary king must have been Shadow. Only a five minute cooldown for one hour worth of ability and no mana cost.’
Commoner lifted himself from the tree roots he had been sitting on. It appeared that he had been given the tools to survive confrontations with at least weaker monsters. He wasn’t too sure how strong the monsters in the forest were compared to the baby treants he had fought but with his recent class change he was sure that he could fight most monsters he encountered. He took his stick of the inventory and equipped it. He got a notification that his damage had increased by: +1.
‘Damage? What is that?’ At his thoughts a window automatically appeared in front of him.
Damage is the amount of harm you inflict on a creatures health points. Damage is increased two times by your strength stat. Current damage: 141
‘So I’ll be doing a hundred and forty one damage per attack, no, two hundred and one since my shadow strengthening gives my stick +30 strength.’
*Gromp*
Gromp! You have been hit by a wild gromp. Health -50. Current Health: 650/700
Commoner jumped up in pain as something hit his back. He turned around and found himself facing a giant brown toad. Its hands that were thick and wide enough to be called shields and they were raised in front of it as though it were a boxer waiting to punch him. He stepped back and it hopped in front of him. Its bulky arms lashed out at him and hit his side.
Gromp! You have been hit by a wild gromp. Health -50. Current Health: 600/700
‘Shadow Strengthening.’
Commoner calmly assessed the situation. He had been through many sudden and stressful situations as both Andross Silver and Commoner so the appearance of a random monster didn’t affect him too badly. His stick glowed black and he realized his shadow had disappeared. He stepped forward and stabbed the stick into the gromp. It immediately keeled over and a small dark mist seeped out of its mouth and disappeared into the sky.
*Grompchi*
Grompchi! You have slain a gromp! You have gained: 300% of your experience. Experience to next level: 0%
You have levelled up! You have gained 5 free stat points. Current level: 2
You have levelled up! You have gained 5 free stat points. Current level: 3
You have levelled up! You have gained 5 free stat points. Current level: 4
‘Three levels up!’
The gromp had died in one shot but it had given him a heap of experience. Commoner wasn’t too surprised, his stats clearly made him way stronger than the gromp but his level had still been 1. The gromp had hit him for ten times more damage than the baby treant.
‘Does that mean it was ten times the level of the baby treants? ’
Commoner looked at the level up screen again and realized that he had gotten ‘free stat points’. He opened up his status window and saw that each stat except for fame had a ‘+’ sign next to it. He clicked ten times on strength and five on agility.
‘Since the class change gave me boosts in these areas I guess that means it’s what I have to level up.’
Status ScreenNameCommonerLevel4ClassShadow Mask Mercenary KingFame2000Health800Mana400Free Stat Points0Stamina10 + 30Strength50 + 30Agility35 + 30Vitality10 + 30Dexterity10 + 30Intelligence10 + 30Wisdom10 + 30SkillsShadow StrikeWeapon MasteryHideQuick StrikeShadow Strengthening[p=left]Mercenary Commissions: None[/p]
The trees rustled around him and Commoner looked to his sides. He could see more gromps roaming deeper in the woods. All of his health had regenerated after the level ups and it appeared that he had a natural health regeneration since the damage he had taken from the baby treants had healed before the gromp attacked.
‘Games are pretty interesting.’ It was Andross’s first time experiencing a game, virtual or not. He of course had played traditional board games but he never had time for anything involving computers or other electronic devices. He was always too busy with his work.
‘Speaking of work.’
Commoner sighed as he slew some more gromps. The toad monsters were simply roaming harmlessly around the forest and they didn’t attack unless he stood around five feet beside them. He gained five more levels but decided to save the points. He would have to look up mercenaries and stats when he got back to Sasha’s house. She didn’t use computers either but her father had installed an entire room full of computers which he constantly used when he was a break from work. Before he realised it he had already spent up the hour of Shadow Strengthening and he decided to log out. He had spent around eight hours in game and that meant two hours had passed in real life.
‘How do you get out of here?’ he thought incredibly hard, ‘Log out!’
To his surprise the world blurred and he blinked. When his eyes opened he found himself face to face with a pair of sky blue eyes. Sasha smirked at him as he stretched his arms out and got out of the capsule.
“Wow Gold, I didn’t think you would spend a whole two hours inside there. I came out about an hour and half ago by the way.” She flicked her hair casually and stood back to give him space to move.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Andross looked at the smirk on her face and smiled. Her grin widened and she twiddled her hair around her fingers nervously.
“Why, if it were possibly for one as humble as I to think presumptuously I would have thought that you rather enjoyed your stay. Perhaps you have a word of thanks to spare for the one that introduced you to such a fascinating object.” She had reverted to semi-formal speech. Andross laughed internally at her nervous face. It was cute.
“That’s funny,” Andross looked down at his naked body which was covered only by the underwear he had worn underneath his clothes before entering the capsule, “I had rather though that staring at my impeccable body was reward enough, or am I being too presumptuous in assuming that one as humble and innocent as yourself was simply staring at mine body whilst I slept?”
Sasha blushed and wrapped her arms around his arm, “Arrogant is the correct term my prince, one such as I is far too busy to simply stay and stare at your, admittedly, magnificent body. I have spent a full hour making preparations in anticipation of your stay.”
Andross laughed happily. He hadn’t even needed to tell Sasha that he was intending to stay for the long weekend. She had already gone ahead and decided it herself.
“As always, you can read me like a book mademoiselle, but what preparations could possibly be needed for one such as me?”
This wasn’t idle chit chat on his part. Andross had stayed with Sasha so many times that it was like a second home to him. So the fact that something had been brought in anticipation of his stay made him wonder what it could be. They walked into the room and Andross almost did a double take in surprise at the site that lay before him. Sasha giggled at his reaction.
“It took approximately one hour for the various workers to put it up there. Of course,” Andross took the reversion back to informal speech as a sign that Sasha was no longer nervouse and gently lay her on top of the double king sized bed. She winked at him, since he had gone into the capsule a large mosaic artwork had been added to the roof, “The traditional artwork of a gold gilded mosaic can only be truly appreciated once you see it from underneath.” She ran her hand up Andross’ chest seductively as he slowly wrapped his hands around her, “It requires at least a good half hour of appreciation to fully understand its wonders.”
Andross smiled.
“Then it’s a good thing we’ve got a whole weekend.”
~~~~
“So you’re the new mercenary king?”
Sasha was staring wide eyed at Andross as he explained what had happened to him in his time in the game. They were sitting in her father’s computer room and waiting for the PC’s to turn on. Andross noted that Sasha seemed as fresh as a daisy.
‘Sometimes I wonder how exhausted she really feels.’
“Geez Gold, your first time in a game and you’re already king in the first few hours. I think you must have been a saint in your previous life and this ridiculous luck is your reward.” Andross waited patiently for Sasha to make a comment about how he had already drawn attention to himself, “I’m not angry by the way, I can tell your thinking it. But as long as nobody knows who you are it’s fine. And from what you said it seems like you’ve had a lot of fun so far.” Andross looked at her disbelievingly and she rolled her eyes, “It’s not like you have to ask my permission before doing anything.”
“And you?” Andross was curious. She had only spent a couple of hours inside the game, a mere thirty minutes in real life time, so she couldn’t have done much.
“Oh well, some people recognised me and invited me to their party,” She sheepishly played around with the computer in front of her while trying to avoid Andross’ eyes, “I levelled up quite a few times in the two hours I was there but most of them had to leave so I logged off as well.” Andross smiled at the guilty look at her face.
“Oh, the betrayal!” He suddenly swept into a melodramatic monologue, “To have been deceived by the girl who shares my very bed. My father hath always told me not to trust in the starry eyed vixens that promise dreams of comfort but slip the knife between your ribs whilst you sleep.”
“Don’t make me feel more guilty than I already am you cur.” Sasha hit him and he laughed merrily, “and only I can break into posh expressions.” she broke into a smile as well and they turned back to the computer screens in front of them. She was surfing the web to research stats and see where he should put his towards. She hadn’t gotten a class yet but she was thinking something along the lines of a priestess. As an elf she had an increased affinity to magic, especially holy magic. Andross didn’t understand a word of what she said and he half suspected she hadn’t either, but her new teammates had told her a priestess was what she was best suited for. Andross himself was logging onto the Best of Best website. The computer scanned his retina and logged him on as Commoner.
“I already had a look at the forum before you finished. You’ll find the front page quite interesting.”
New Hidden Class discovered: Shadow Mask Mercenary King. Location: City of Trinim. Power rating: Higher 9.
Click hereß for further details on the Shadow Mask Mercenary King class.
Andross gazed in horror at the first message to pop up on the computer screen. It had appeared before anything else and covered the whole screen so that it would be impossible for anyone viewing the website to miss it before they went to click anything else.
‘Why is my class being exhibited for all to see?’
Andross surfed the website to look up the terms that had been used in the message. It was no use clicking on the further details if he didn’t understand them. Andross soon found out the reason why his class was so blatantly displayed. He may have stumbled on a hidden class by accident in the first few hours of the game but the actual discovery rate of a hidden class was exponentially small. Not only that, but his power rating was stated to be in the ‘higher 9’.
According to the site, there were power ratings ranging from 1 to 10 and each had their own tier starting from, lower going to middle and ending at higher. The power ratings determined a class’s chance at gaining one of the twenty nine warrior titles. As his class was designated a ‘higher 9’ the website had displayed it for all to see because he apparently had an incredibly high chance of gaining a title if he tried for it. The rating was not based solely on his class’s offensive power but also the fact that he had gained control of the ‘Shadow Mask Mercenary Troops’ which was basically an army of mercenaries that would follow his every command once he took control of them. They were currently stationed at Kelhter and were awaiting his arrival.
“So it looked like you have to get to this city. Won’t there be people waiting for you there though?”
Sasha gazed worriedly at the forum pages she had opened up in front of her. Andross could see most of the posts were about his new hidden class and many guilds had also posted calling for him to join them or telling their troops to wait in locations where he might appear on his way to Kelhter. Every mercenary king had made the same trip he was going to and combined with his location displayed on the home page message it would be easy to discover which routes he would take to reach the city and place men there to recruit him.
“What’s so bad about being recruited? You would get a lot of cool benefits.” Andross shook his head at Sasha’s words, his friends were all part of guilds and the part they had complained most about was the fact they had to reveal their real names before joining. Most, if not all guilds in Best of Best had a policy stating that you had to reveal your real name. This was done in order to weed out those that were giving the game a serious try from those that wouldn’t try or would bring shame to the guild. All guilds in Best of Best aimed to gain one or more of the twenty nine warrior titles for their members. Guilds made for fun were few and usually incredibly small. His name wasn’t very common so Andross knew that the moment any guild saw his name they would put two and two together and he didn’t have anything to mask voice yet.
Sasha looked at him and pointed at the forum screen, “Well you better get back in there. There’s a few hours left before you have to sleep and you need to get as far away and as levelled up as you can.”
Andross had a perfect sleeping schedule planned and Sasha had memorised it completely a long time ago. He had never missed even a few minutes of his scheduled sleep because he knew that once he was on set or at location he would either not have time to sleep or could only catch a few winks between filming scenes. He had also been trying to teach his body to sleep at will so that he would be able to keep himself fresh for longer while on set.
He bowed dramatically to Sasha, “As you will, mademoiselle.”
~~~~
*Rumble*
Commoner almost fell over as a strong tremor broke across the ground. He put his hand on a nearby tree trunk and opened his status window. He put his twenty five free stats into strength. He had learnt while researching stats that he had gained far more from his class change than most players.
‘75 strength, 105 if you count the Shadow Masks stat boost. I’m an incredibly over powered player right now.’
*Rumble*
Another tremor rocked through the forest and Commoner frowned. He wasn’t sure if earthquakes were common or not in the game. He would have to check when he logged out. Commoner heard the sound of footsteps echoing across the forest and saw a player running towards him from deep within the woods.
*Rumble*
“Hey you! Run!” A voice called out to Commoner and he saw that the male player was waving his arms in the air in front of him. He was gesturing for Commoner to get away from him.
*RUMBLE*
‘Holy crap.’
The player passed by and Commoner ran after him. The rumbles continued and soon they were both running away from the thing Commoner had seen trailing behind the player.
“What is that?”
Commoner looked over his shoulder to check that he hadn’t been seeing things. Chasing the two players was the biggest monster he had ever seen. Granted, he had only seen two types of monsters so far but this one was at least a hundred times bigger than the gromps, and the gromps had only been slightly shorter than him. It towered over the trees of the forest and knocked them down as it moved, causing the entire forest to rumble as the trees hit the ground. Its body was still obscured by the trees in-between them and though Commoner was curious as to what it looked like he wasn’t curious enough to leave the trees protection and see for himself.
“You know I would love to have this conversation, but right now I’m a bit busy trying not to trip and kill myself.” The unknown player spoke as he jumped over a tree root. Commoner took the run as a chance to examine the newcomer. He was tall and lanky, clearly the type that spent more time indoors than out since his arms were a pale white colour. He wore a hood over his head that covered his hair but not his face and had a bright green bow on his back. He noticed Commoner inspecting him and nodded while ducking to avoid another tree branch.
“The name is Astros, Archer.”
*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*
The monster roared behind them and more trees fell as it strode towards them.
“Name’s Commoner, Mercenary.” Commoner left out the fact that he wasn’t just a simple mercenary. As long as the hooded cloak covered his face and mask he wouldn’t have to reveal who he was. Hopefully.
“So Astros, shall we run to the left?”
They had been running in a straight line for a while now and it had occurred to Commoner that they could simply run to either side to get away from its path. Unfortunately the open plain lay to his right and he didn’t want to risk the creature seeing them and having nowhere to hide from it. Left lead deeper into the forest but even if the monsters were stronger there he would rather take his chances against them than the thing destroying everything in its path behind him.
Astros curved to the left and ran deeper into the forest with Commoner right behind him.
*RUMBLE**CRASH*
The sounds grew louder and Commoner could physically hear the crashing of trees as the monster began to follow them deeper into the forest. Astros looked behind him guiltily and Commoner saw sweat running down his face.
*Pant* “Oh right, I forgot to mention. It may be following me.” *Pant*
Commoner looked incredulously at him but Astros missed it because the hood and mask covered his expression. Instead Commoner tried shouting at him over the roars of the monster.
“That’s a pretty important thing to miss! How the hell did you manage that?”
Commoner ducked under some more tree branches as he ran. The trees were getting thicker as they went deeper into the forest but the monster hadn’t slowed down at all. Astros kept the sheepish expression on his face and pointed his hand to the bow on his back.
“I shot an arrow or two in its ass.” *Pant* “Critical hit too.”
“Are you an idiot?” Commoner had to shout over the crashing of trees, “The things bigger than a house and you shot at it?”
Astros shook his head, “It’s true that it’s big, but it’s got less than a tenth of its health left.”
“So you got it low and then did a runner?” Commoner leapt over a tree root, “Did you run out of arrows or something?”
They stooped under more branches. The monsters roars were softening as the trees behind them finally grew thick enough to slow it down.
*Pant*
“I didn’t even dent the thing.” *Pant* Astros was clearly struggling with the long run, “I didn’t even know critical hits had the possibility of doing zero damage. Some poor sod must have weakened it and died so I thought it’d be nice to claim the spoils for myself.”
Eventually the monsters roars stopped completely and the two looked around to see if the area was safe before collapsing beneath a humongous tree.
‘We had been commissioned to take down a legendary monster hidden deep within the Sylvern mountain range’
Shadows words rang through Commoners mind and he sighed in exhaustion.
‘The old bastards causing me trouble even in death.’
Commoner turned to face the player that had collapsed on the ground alongside him. Astros held out a hand weakly and Commoner shook it firmly. Astros pulled himself up against the tree trunk and laughed into the air.
“Phew! That was a close one. Well since I guess I did have something to do with you running for your life I’ll introduce myself properly.”
He saluted to Commoner and bowed.
“The name’s Astros.” *Pant* “I am the famous Blue River Archer.”
Astros said the last words dramatically and seemed to be disappointed when Commoner didn’t react.
“You know- it’s a hidden class. Higher 3 power rating, pretty powerful stuff.”
Commoner cocked his head to the side.
“But your bows green.”
Astros groaned at his words and lifted the bow into his hands, “You know its aqua blue, the owner of the store told me that you have to look at it from a certain angle.”
*Wheeze*
“I do think you got jipped my good man.”
*Wheeze*
A voice called out beside the two players and they jumped up in surprise. The trees lit up as a bright fire appeared where the voice came from and when it cleared a large fat man in a large crimson robe lay gasping on the tree roots, struggling for breath.
“If you good chaps wouldn’t mind” *Wheeze* “Do you have any rations to spare for a tired and hungry adventurer?”
‘Now who’s this then?’
Commoner groaned internally as the amount of people suddenly grew yet again.
“Where the heck did you come from?” Before Commoner had time to blink three arrows were resting on the bow and facing their deadly edges at the wheezing newcomer’s large belly. Commoner rather thought that from the way the man lay gasping for breath on the floor he was unlikely to be able to run away even if he wanted to. Then again, he had appeared from nowhere.
“If you would kindly point that thing away from me,” *Wheeze* “After all this is your fault.”
Astros apparently came to the same conclusion as Commoner and the arrows disappeared. The fat man lifted himself up and then promptly fell flat on his face as his belly dragged him down again. Commoner went over to the poor man and helped him to stand.
“I am the Archemage of Fire, Quilbur.” He tried to bow dramatically but thought better of it once his belly threated to drag both him and Commoner to the ground, “For the record my power ranking is higher 7th tier. And yes, it is a hidden class as well.”
Quilbur and Astros glared at each other. Although it seemed like it was their first time meeting each other clearly something had gone wrong in the introduction phase of it.
“So what are you doing here? Seems like a strange place for the Archemage of Fire to be.” Commoner had no idea who either of these people were but since they appeared to have large egos and hidden classes they were clearly famous, at least to a certain degree. He decided to address Quilbur by his class title and the Archemage nodded his head in appreciation of the question.
“I was simply observing creatures of the forest when a fine specimen appeared in front of me, a legendary creature no less, and calmly began to walk around the area as though searching for something. But while I was closing in behind the creature to get a better look at it,” he shot a hate filled look towards Astros, “this dunce in front of me goes in and shoots an arrow in its behind. Enraging the creature and forcing me to run rather hastily for my life. Once the monster had stopped its rampage your voices floated towards me and I used one of my spells to teleport to you.”
“Well it seems like I did you some good, you look like you could use the exercise.”
Astros glowered at Quilbur.
“I’m sorry but I find it difficult to talk to those so beneath my station.”
Quilburt scowled at Astros.
The legendary monster glared at both of them.
‘Hang on a second,’ Commoner did a double take and let go of Quilbur, “Er, guys,” the two broke off their staring match and looked at him. He pointed towards the monster that had crept up beside them, “I think we have bigger problems right now.”
*ROOAAAARRRRR*
The monster stood on its hind legs and let out a yell into the air, causing the leaves in the nearby trees to fly off from the air pressure and blowing the trio of players back a few meters.
“Holy crap.” Commoner gazed at the creature in front of them. It looked like a raptor except it was the size of a house and instead of hands there were a pair of very large and menacing scythes. Its head was a skeleton and half of its body had lost its flesh and was either swollen and red or exposing large bones.
‘It’s as though someone mixed the grim reaper with a dinosaur.’
*CRASH*
The creature ran its scythe hands through the surrounding trees and they fell to ground around it. It seemed to be displaying its strength to the players.
*GROOT*
The players turned around as another sound boomed out from behind them. A large tree with two legs and arms appeared from behind several trees. It was carrying a massive tree trunk in its hand to use as a club and was walking straight towards the scythe handed monster that was destroying its forest.
*GROOT* *ROARRR*
Astros, Quilbur and Commoner stared at the giant monsters as they faced each other down. Commoner could see arrows sticking out of the scythe creatures hide.
“You know.” Astros laughed weakly as they entered his view.
“I think next time I’ll think before I shoot something in the ass.”