“So the outpost down there is a trap?”
Commoner looked over to Astros and Quilbur and they nodded their heads. After they exited the forest they had found themselves on top of a rather high cliff, one that extended to their sides for as far as their eyes could see, looking down at a main road and the outpost that served as a place to buy supplies and gather information for those heading in and out of Obsten. The place itself was rather small with only a few buildings and a watchtower but from the cliff Commoner could see dozens of people racing around the ground and chatting with each other.
“Rather nasty tactics.” Quilbur pointed to the busy centre of the outpost where several market stalls had been set up. “There appears to be a busy trade centre down at the outpost but in reality they are all plain clothed guild members waiting to surround you and force you to join their guild under the threat of death. According to my knowledge they should all be part of the Sunfire guild, which is the only guild to inhabit Obsten. Rather, there used to be other guilds until they absorbed them through force.”
Serena’s eyes had widened at Quilbur’s words, “Do all guilds do this?”
Astros shook his head, “Some of them are nice enough to just send a single person to invite you. They’re generally the ones that have so many high level players that their reputations alone make people want to join them.” He pointed at the town of Obsten which was just barely visible in the horizon, “The guilds like this just like to take in as many members as they can to use as cannon fodder in guild fights or dungeon exploration. Their higher tier members are generally high level and dirty enough to rule their guild through fear and threats. Anybody that wants to leave is reminded with a smile that they will be killed several times if they try and they’ll never be able to receive quests again.”
Commoner lifted his eyebrows at Astros’ words. He had been all fun and jokes when talking to Serena so it was surprising to see him speaking so seriously. Clearly the archer had had some sort of experience with guilds of this type before or else he wouldn’t have gone into so much detail. Quilbur too, he knew a lot about the tactics and traps used by guilds to ensnare new members. Quilbur turned around and pointed a large hand across the edge of the forest.
“We shall have to take the indirect pass across the outskirts of the forest an-” Astros pushed past Quilbur, interrupting him. He pointed towards a spot in the forest and Commoner could see shadows wondering within the trees.
There were several creatures walking around and as he got closer Commoner could see that they were purple skinned. They were around his height and holding an assortment of clubs and swords with tattered pieces of armour on their bodies. They looked like a mix between a pig and an old man, with spindly and wrinkled legs and a long snout on their face with small horns coming out from beside it. Most of them had hunched backs and looked like they were angry at the world. They had faces that only a mother could love.
“Come here honey,” Serena curiously walked up to Astros as he pointed at the roaming fiends, “you see those kobolds? Three shots, three kills. Watch me hit every single one of them.”
Quilbur strutted next to the pair and gazed in disbelief at the archer, “I do believe everything you have tried to shoot so far has ended in disaster.” He pointed to the small group of kobolds, “Are you sure you’ll be able to defeat those monsters? It’s not wise to tangle with those more intelligent than yourself.” Serena giggled at his words and Astros cocked his bow towards the kobolds and fired off three shots almost simultaneously.
*Ketchi*
The three kobolds let out their death cries as they perished in flashes of darkness and Commoner noticed that his experience bar increased slightly. He was gaining shared experience for the kills.
“Did you see how easily they died or was your sight being blocked by those blobs of fat your call eyebrows?” Astros paraded around Quilbur and bowed exaggeratingly towards Serena. She was clapping happily at his display. Quilbur was staring at him and then he pointed towards the area where the kobolds had fallen. There were several more shapes shifting through the trees.
“My god man, do you know what you’ve done!” Quilburs eyes widened as more kobolds appeared from the woods as they heard the death cries of their companions. Commoner looked at them and counted. There were only a few dozen at the most, then a hundred, then two hundred. Slowly groups of hundreds of kobolds pooled into the area and every time a kobold appeared it began to run towards their location and a new one appeared in its place. There must have been well over a thousand kobolds and the ground was shaking as they all ran towards the party.
“I think it’s time we run.” Commoner looked at the others and Quilbur and Astros nodded.
“Indeed. Kobolds would take far too much time to clear up. Nuisances. Of course we wouldn’t have had this trouble if somebody hadn’t tried to shoot at them for no reason.”
“Shoot and hit you mean.”
“YAHHHH”
Before the pair could start fighting again a loud yell rang out from beside them and everyone stared at Serena. She was zig zagging across the grassy plain and heading straight into the thousand strong kobold army. She had already taken out her broadsword and it flashed out to sever several kobold heads from their bodies. The party took a second to realize what had just happened and Commoner sighed.
‘Is she going to do that every time we meet something?’
Astros grinned at Commoner as though he could read his thoughts, “Doesn’t it feel refreshing to see such a willful woman?” Commoner sighed at the archers words and jumped into the clearing to chase after Serena. Arrows rained over his head and killed a kobold with each hit. He opened his inventory and looked at the sword before equipping his stick. He wasn’t sure why but he had instinctively been avoiding the sword since he had picked it from the core of the Guardian of the Sylvern Forest.
‘Shadow Strengthening’
His shadow disappeared and the stick darkened. He could feel that the stick was stronger than before when he had fought against the Guardian but he couldn’t check how much it had changed while he was busy running towards hundreds of monsters.
“So what’s the deal with these ‘kobold’ monsters? Are they high level and tough to handle?” Commoner shouted to Quilbur as he ran.
At least a few hundred of the creatures seemed to be rushing towards the rampaging Serena and she was easily taking their hits and returning the damage tenfold as she slashed her mighty broadsword and cleaved ten of the creatures in half with each swing.
“Only around level sixty companion! They are quite the low level creatures but dangerous none the less because of their high damage and numbers.”
Commoner jumped to the side to avoid various axes and swords that the first wave of kobolds had equipped and slashed at them. Since he was only level forty he didn’t trust his health to keep up with the damage output that the kobolds had. His stick skimmed over their bodies but they didn’t keel over and die like the gromps had. He slashed again and then once more finally the group of creatures fell onto the floor, dead.
*Ketchi* the death cries of the goblins were filling the air and Commoner turned to face the area where they were all gathering. In the middle of the kobolds was a single warrior slashing and stabbing at everything in her range.
Serena seemed to have turned into a demon on the battlefield, she was grinning as she bathed in the blood of the kobolds she slew and seemed to be relishing every moment of it. Since monster blood disappeared when the creatures died it meant that she was killing enough creatures to cover her in blood before the last ones she killed had even registered to the system. Commoner slashed a few kobolds with his stick and found himself back to back with Serena as they were surrounded by at least a hundred kobolds. He found it hard to place the quiet and benevolent girl with the woman that ran into hundreds of kobolds without warning and took pleasure in slashing at their guts.
Suddenly the kobolds in front of him were assaulted by flames and the acrid smell of burnt flesh entered Commoner’s nostrils. Quilbur was huffing from the short run to their location but held his staff up high as his magic attacks poured down on the monsters. He was easily clearing dozens of kobolds with each strike. The ones that were facing Serena keeled over and died as arrows struck their backs as Astros appeared behind them and walked towards Serena to cover her. More of the creatures filled the area by the dozens. Commoner was gaining levels left and right but although the others had noticed they hadn’t commented on it. Quilbur was talking as he slew the creatures.
“You see, the trouble with kobolds is that they’re not very bright creatures.” Another group of kobolds ran towards Serena from the side and Quilbur casually threw a fireball to burn them all alive. “Perfectly fine attacking power but as soon as they see a person or pair of people they will assume that those are the only people in the area and attack them rather hastily.” He created a wave of flame in the air and sent it towards a dozen kobold’s that instantly combusted, exploding as soon as the flames touched them and killing the other kobolds around them. “They never realize that there could be people waiting on the outside to ambush them. Thus the poor sods make for rather lucrative experience.” Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise, “What is this!”
*CLANG*
The sound of two weapons clashing rang out into the air as Serena slashed her broadsword straight towards Astros’ head and he instinctively blocked it with his bow. The bow was sent flying several meters away and before Astros could react to it Serena slashed him through the stomach. As soon as her sword had gone through completely he fell to the ground and she ran towards another group of kobolds and began to attack them. Commoner rushed up to Astros’ side and as he helped up his stricken comrade he could see the surprise on his face.
“Well,” He patted his stomach and saw that it was still perfectly intact “I’m not sure what just happened.” He looked at the blood stained warrior as she leapt from group of kobold to group of kobold, leaving dozens of dead bodies in her wake. “Was she trying to kill me?”
Commoner gazed at her as well and shook his head, “Not sure, she knows the friendly fire is off so I honestly can’t see what she was trying to do.” Quilbur had shuffled to their side now and created a ring of fire around them that burnt any kobolds trying to rush them while they discussed. He had an uneasy expression on his face.
“I have heard of this phenomenon before. The hidden class, Berserker, is a class which activates an incredible rage within the user, giving them strength beyond measure and the ability to take any wound without feeling the slightest bit of pain.” Astros lifted his hand into the air and his bow glowed on the ground and reappeared in his hand. He cocked the bow and fired at the kobolds that were surrounding the ring of flames, waiting for it to die out. Quilbur watched the kobolds dying absent mindedly, “But, I have met the berserker myself and there are no other classes with similar characteristics. So if Serena is displaying the characteristics of a berserker here then I can only come to a single conclusion.”
Commoner saw Quilbur’s troubled expression, “It’s a real life thing?”
“Indeed, some sort of mental switch that transforms the kindly girl accompanying us into a terrifying fighter that cannot distinguish between friend and foe. I won’t hazard a guess at what it could be as I have no idea as to the affairs of her private life.”
“No” Commoner remembered the time he had managed to persuade her to stop attacking the boss monster, Tafrec the Undying, “She can still listen to reason while like this. It just takes a while.”
“WHO DARES KILL MY CHILDREN?”
*Brrr* *Brrr*
The ground shook lightly as the shape of a massive monster came into the players view. A large kobold was heading towards them. Its pink flesh was drooped on its side and beer gut flopped up and down as it walked towards the sphere of fire. Small, misshapen and stumpy horns poked out of its head. Commoner could see the title ‘Kobold Mother’ flashing over its head but if he hadn’t read it twice over he wouldn’t have guessed that the thing was a female.
“FIRE BAD”
She lifted a giant purple hand and smashed it against the sphere, blowing away the flames and killing dozens of her fellow kobolds. She lifted her hand again and brought it down to the trio. Quilbur and Astros shook it off in their stride. They had hardly felt the attack.
“KILL GOO- ARGH”
A purple finger fell to the ground beside Quilbur as Serena blocked its attack with her broadsword. The next moment she had run up to its side and was slashing at its legs and stomach, constantly opening gashes. The boss healed incredibly fast but its health points were squickly going down. The couple of hundred kobolds that were left crowded around her and tried to stop her movements by grabbing onto her.
“Quilbur, Astros, you two take care of the remaining kobolds. I’ll help Serena kill the boss.”
The two ranged fighters nodded and began to rain arrows and magic down on the kobolds chasing Serena. She immediately used the opportunity to duck through the dying monsters and land more hits on the Kobold Mother. Commoner jumped up beside her and slashed his stick at the boss’s large stomach. Suddenly a light reflected off of a weapon and Commoner raised his stick to block the oncoming attack.
*Clang*
Serena gazed furiously at Commoner as her broadsword hit his stick and was pushed back by the shadows that encompassed and protected it. He stared deeply into her eyes and saw that while her anger veiled her eyes she hadn’t recognized him. A large purple hand smashed down on them and they both jumped in opposite directions to avoid it. Serena went back to slashing at the Kobold Mother and the boss cried out in pain as her broadsword opened large gashes in its flesh. She was opening more wounds than it could heal at one time and it was slowly losing blood. Although it had incredible regeneration it was slow and without its children to hold down the attackers it was just a durable sandbag.
*Slash* *Clang*
As Commoner ran around the boss’s body he constantly clashed against the steel of Serena’s broadsword. Although she couldn’t harm him as a fellow team member, the sword had caused Astros to fall to the ground and Commoner couldn’t afford to have that happen to him or else he would be squashed by the large purple hands raining down on them as they moved. The monster had already lost almost all of its health points from their combined attacks. An arrow appeared in its eye as Astros join the fight, shooting several arrows at the creatures head. Suddenly it exploded into flames as Quilbur also joined the fight with his magic. They had both easily defeated a hundred kobolds in under a minute. The boss fell to its last five percent of health and its health bar started pulsating bright red.
*BAM*
The monsters palm hit the ground near Serena, knocking Commoner back with a shockwave, she ignored the shockwave and jumped on top of it. She ran up the creatures purple arm and it roared at her, trying to impale her with the horns growing out of her forehead. Her broadsword started glowing blue just as it had during her fight with Trafec and as she reached the creature’s shoulder she jumped into the air towards its head.
“SEISMIC SLASH.”
Her sword’s blade hit the weakened monsters head and it exploded at the impact. Bits of kobold flesh rained down on the adventurers and Commoner pulled a rather large piece off of his shoulder with disgust. The creatures had been overwhelmed by the trio’s sheer strength whilst he had hardly done any damage.
*GRAR*
GRAR! You have helped slay the Kobold Mother, creator and nurturer of countless kobolds. You have gained +500% experience points. Experience until next level: 0%
Stick Mastery has reached level 3! Experience until next level: 87%
Commoner had gained twenty five levels with the fight against the hundreds of kobolds, raising his level to 65 in the process. It had been an incredibly profitable fight but the fact that he had only noticed the others levelling up once told him just how big the gap between them was. He wasn’t even certain if Astros and Quilbur has leveled up at all since he had been busy fighting.
“Watch out!”
Commoner jumped back as soon as he heard Astros shout at him and Serena’s broadsword crashed into the ground that he had been standing on just a second before. She gazed at him with her dull green eyes and brought her broadsword around again to slash at him. She raised it over her head and jumped at him, Quilbur pulled him back before he could be slashed in half. The crazed girl couldn’t see that the fighting had already ended. Astros and Quilbur cocked their weapons wearily. They couldn’t do much with the friendly fire feature still deactivated. Suddenly her eyes cleared. It was as sudden as a switch being flicked and the players looked at each other, surprised.
“S-sorry.” Serena looked around her, horrified as she viewed the destruction she had caused.
*Growl*
Satiety -5%. Satiety is below 45%.
Commoner looked down at the message that had popped up in front of him and realized he hadn’t eaten for several in game hours. He would have to get some food from one of his team mates before the hour was up or he would start losing his energy and feeling tired. He turned to Serena.
“It’s fine. You didn’t do any harm to any of us.”
*GRRRRRRR*
Quilbur coughed lightly as his stomach let out an inhuman sound from its innards. “I do believe I haven’t eaten in quite some time. I was too busy researching the forest’s creatures you see.” He lifted up his hand and produced a flame, “If any of you good fellows has any raw food on them I would be happy to cook it.”
“Well,” Astros stooped down and poked his bow at the flesh of the Kobold Mother, “I know where we can get some meat.”
~~~~
After a few minutes of walking the players had settled in a small clearing next to another cliff that overlooked the town of Obsten. They were loudly chewing kobold meat next to a crackling fire. The trio was sitting on the ground while Serena had walked to a spot a couple of meters away and refused any food offered to her.
“You know,” Astros put down the piece of meat he was eating as he started staring at Commoners hand, “Why have you been fighting using that stick this whole time when you have that sword we picked up?”
Quilbur threw another chewed bone onto the ground and the fat folded over his legs as he bent closer to the pair. His eyes wandered over the stick, “Indeed, is the branch some sort of magical object?”
Upon hearing the word ‘stick’ Serena’s ears perked up and she crept up to the trio and sat beside Commoner, looking at the weapon in his hands. He looked at her sparkling eyes and laughed, handing her the stick to look at. She grabbed it and started poking and prodding its surface. Her chest had puffed out and her shoulders comfortable slid back a tiny bit, giving the appearance of a perfectly happy and confident girl compared to the sad child that had been laying away from the group with a hunched back just a second before.
‘Well at least that’s one problem solved.’
“I-it was glowing black before wasn’t it? Even my broadsword couldn’t slash through it.”
She waved the stick in the air as she tried to activate the swirls of darkness she had seen engulfing it during their fight before.
“No no my dear,” Quilbur put a pudgy hand out and Serena reluctantly handed him the stick, “Magical objects are activated by pouring mana into them, without a sufficient stream of mana being provided to it, it will simple continue to look like an ordinary branch.” Quilbur adopted a look of concentration and Serena looked at the stick expectantly. After a minute of scrunching up his face the stick was still an ordinary piece of wood and an expression of confusion slowly crossed over his face.
“That’s strange.”
“It’s not that strange,” Astros swiped the stick from the archemage’s hand and stood up, “You’re clearly just constipated from all the food you stuffed into your mouth.” Quilbur tried to grab him but he swiftly stepped back and out of the archemage’s range.
“Now then,” he held the stick, “You have to think about this with a clear mind, can’t activate a magical weapon if your minds filled with bread and chicken, you know what I’m saying? Try to think from the right point of view.”
“I shudder at the thought of thinking the same way you do.”
“Not my mind tubby,” he pointed the stick towards Commoner, “This guys a merc king, so obviously this is a weapon that a merc would have. I’ve come across a lot of things you know, and these mercenary weapons always had something in common.”
Quilbur and Serena moved closer to Astros and looked at him eagerly as he laid the stick on the floor between them and lifted his hands towards it.
“We have to offer it money!”
Commoner whacked him over the head with the sword. He had taken it out when the conversation had begun. He looked down at Astros.
“I hope you didn’t actually believe whoever told you that.”
“I was a fool for having hope in a solution provided by a dunce.”
Serena looked sadly at Astros and shook her head at him. Astros shamefacedly picked up the stick from the ground and handed it back to Commoner, “So how do you activate it?”
Commoner looked at them incredulously, though they couldn’t see it under his mask.
“It’s just an ordinary stick,” he put it in front of them so they could confirm that the piece of wood in front of them was in fact a stick, “I have an ability that lets me empower my weapons. Just like when Serena does her Seismic Slash.”
Serena shook her head.
“Mine only lasts for a few seconds, and that’s one of the more powerful abilities I have.”
Astros’ expression had returned to normal and he nodded in agreement with Serena, “I can empower my bow but it costs all my mana and lasts about a minute or two at most. You were fighting kobolds for almost forty minutes with that stick.”
“Well it does last for an hour. It doesn’t cost me any mana either.”
It was Commoner’s turn to feel every one’s gazes on him. Quilbur had taken another piece of meat and began tearing at it as he expressed surprise and Commoner looked calmly at all of their surprised faces.
‘So clearly this ability isn’t as common as I had first thought.’
“Well then my good man, if the stick itself isn’t a magic object then why didn’t you use the sword during your fights?”
Commoner looked at Quilbur and shrugged, “We all had a hand at killing the Guardian of the Sylvern Forest so I was waiting for all of us to have a discussion on who gets to keep the sword before using it for myself.”
“Who did you think was going to use it?” Astros pointed a piece of meat at Quilbur, “I’m an archer and he’s the state puff marshmallow man.”
Quilbur glowered at Astros, “Forgive the uncouth words coming from that uncivilized mouth.” He turned to Commoner with a smile “This is just like you my good man, just like you. I appreciate the thought but as a pure mage I have no need for bladed weapons.” He put down his meat and took out his staff, waving it in the air as though to illustrate his point.
Commoner looked at Serena and she shook her head and brought out her broadsword, “Only allowed to have this type of weapon.”
Then she pursed her lips.
“I could sell it and use the profit to buy a bigger broadsword if you want?”
Commoner looked down at the sword in his hand. It was shimmering and sparkling with a white glow surrounding the blade. The hilt of the sword was made of a strange white metal that looked like finely polished marble yet felt comfortable in his grip. It had a flower engraved in its hilt and he couldn’t help but think that it looked a bit feminine. It’s double edged blade was also made of a metal with a white shine added to it and a ridge ran through the middle of the blade on both sides. It was a tiny bit longer than his stick but that wasn’t saying much. The white glow must have been some sort of strengthening enchantment because his own Shadow Strengthening skill had simply added to it when he equipped it.
“It was not dropped by a legendary monster. But the Guardian of the Sylvern Forest is a truly powerful boss monster in its own right.” *Nom nom* A piece of meat seemed to slide down his throat with how quickly he ate it. “Several guilds would have to band together to hope to defeat it in its natural forest habitat.” He licked the remaining grease off his fingers as he finished. “The object it dropped must be something powerful indeed.”
The group was looking at the sword closely and Commoner could tell they were waiting for him to tell them what it did. He hadn’t equipped it since he held it against Tafrec and even then that had only been for a few seconds and he had been concentrating on copying shadow so he hadn’t had time to check the benefits of the sword.
‘Err, sword. Status window for the sword, open!’
Item: Blessed Sword: Vitality (Alternate: Life of the World).
Stats: +300 each, damage, +7000 health points, +5000 fame, +1000 strength, +Enchantment: Blessing of the Blessed Smith, +Enchantment: Call to arms, +Enchantment: Inseparable Bond.
Weight: 0.00kg.
Level Restriction: None.
Description: One of the twelve legendary named swords made by the Blessed Smith of Tampac. Credited with being able to create and control life through his creations the sword is the pinnacle of his work. It was created in order to protect the mountain areas and sought to do this by giving its power to a treant. Its mysterious weightlessness is also a subject of research in many kingdoms and its design had become world renowned, leading to the creation of many imitations by those hoping to wield even a fraction of its power. It now belongs to the user: Commoner. This item leads into a quest.
Enchantment: Blessing of the Blessed Smith.
Description: The Blessed Smith long ago deemed that those worthy of possessing her sword be granted a fraction of her indomitable power.
Effect: When under 20% health points: +10% to all stats. +20% damage. +25% health point restoration.
Duration: As long as the fight is over.
Enchantment: Call to Arms.
Description: Should the owner of the Blessed Sword be in trouble nature itself will rise up to fight against those who are considered enemies of Vitality’s owner.
Effect: When below 15% health points plant life within a 500 meter radius will be placed under your command until you bid them leave.
Duration: Until player cancels the effect.
Enchantment: Inseparable Bond.
Description: As the pinnacle of the Blessed Smith’s work, Vitality has an intimate bond with any and all other works of the Blessed Smith.
Effect: If the owner of Vitality falls underneath 30% health points then the 11 named swords will come to their aid and lend them their powers until the danger had passed.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Effect 2: Player may choose to wield any of the other named swords, effects of Vitality will remain in place but only one extra sword effect may be added at a time.
Duration: Until player is no longer under attack.
‘It gives me five thousand fame? And to think I almost equipped that thing again. That was close.’
Commoner breathed a sigh of relief and gripped tightly onto his stick. The sword was incredibly over powered for his level but he had researched the fame stat once he had received it during his class change. According to the Best of Best website, the fame stat didn’t actually affect you until you had held it for some time. If you held a high amount of fame for a short time because of an item then certain NPC’s around the world would be activated to say something like, “Have you heard, the legendary item [Insert name] has been taken from its guardian and is being wielded in battle.” And so nobody would know who had held the item. This would have applied to him as well but thankfully he had only equipped the sword for several seconds he most definitely hadn’t incurred much of a penalty. However, like ripples in a pond, if he had kept wielding the sword then he was sure the messages would have changed to something like, “Have you heard? The Shadow Mask Mercenary King now wields the Blessed Sword”.
The fame in itself was not a problem so much as its repercussions. Normally players would rejoice at having their name spread across the continent and as for those serious players that died a lot in dangerous dungeons or battles, fame was given as a means to counter the death counter. If an NPC saw you had died a lot yet also had a lot of fame they would still decide to give you a quest despite the deaths. But for a man that couldn’t risk people finding out who he was he couldn’t afford to have the fame that equipping the sword brought with it.
He turned to face his waiting companions.
“It’s incredibly strong,” He told them the truth and they rolled their eyes as though that was obvious. “It’ll help me in my journey a lot. Thanks for letting me keep it.” Suddenly a new message popped up stating the next batch of meat was ready. Quilbur reached to take some and found that he was grabbing one end of the piece while Astros was holding the other. They glared at each other. Suddenly their arms limped and they let go of the meat, letting it fall to the ground.
“Well then good chap, you know what has to happen now? The sword is of course thanks for the enjoyable time I’ve had these past few hours”
Astros nodded “It was fun. Don’t use it for evil yadda yadda. Fight a king or two with it if you want.”
Commoner shrugged, “I liked it.” He grinned as he saw Serena staring at them wide-eyed.
Commoner has disbanded the party. Players kicked: Astros, Serena, Quilbur.
“What just happened?”
Serena was flopping around in confusion as she looked from one player to the other. All of them seemed calm, as though they had expected this to happen. Commoner pointed to her and her body trembled slightly.
“Serena, what level are you?”
Serena opened up her status window, “Level three hundred and five. I’m ranked #10034 in the main page rankings.”
‘I didn’t even know what that hashtag number meant.’ He had seen it sometimes when opening his status window but since it was to the side he had never taken much notice of it. He was #85679854. Over eighty million ranks below Serena. Her high level explained why she could run into situations without fearing for her safety. She probably hadn’t met many monsters that could withstand her attacks, or be completely unharmed like Tafrec was.
Commoner pointed to Astros and Quilbur, “And your levels?”
“I do believe,” Commoner could see Quilbur opening the status window screen in front of him, “I am level three hundred and fifty one. I’m ranked #8067.”
Astros shook his head in disbelief at Quilburs words. “I’m level three hundred and fifty. Ranked #8068, I can’t believe that the Archemage of Fire beat me.”
Commoner noted his use of Quilburs title and Quilbur had also stiffened at hearing Astros’ level and rank. Serena’s eyes had widened
“See, Quilbur or Astros could have easily killed all of those kobolds and the Kobold mother if they had used their special attack. But they didn’t because with the amount of kobolds swarming around if they had left my side I would have died in a few seconds. That’s exactly the reason they went to clear the kobolds while leaving the boss to you and me.”
She frowned, “I don’t get it.”
“I’m level sixty five. I just found out what that number with the hashtag signified when you told me and my rank is #85679854. The difference between all of us is astronomical.”
Serena’s eyes widened and Astros shook his head sadly, “Even lower than what I thought it was.”
“Well then,” Commoner nodded at the three, “This is where we part ways. Otherwise I would just hold you down.”
“So that’s it?” Serena looked wildly from one player to another, “We decide never to see each other again?”
Quilbur shook his head, “We’re breaking up the party but that does not signify the end. It is simply that as it is we can only go our own ways until Commoner can catch up to us. A party cannot function unless it has a leader equal to or above its members. I myself am more of a tactician than a leader and I refuse to follow the commands of an uncivilized fool.” He pointed to Astros.
“Which reminds me,” Astros looked at the group and completely ignoring Quilbur, “I keep forgetting to do something.”
You have received a friend request from: Astros. Would you like to accept?
Commoner clicked yes wordlessly and Astros grinned.
“Well now I can’t just say no to a friend in trouble. So if you ever find yourself in my area just chuck me a message and I’ll head right over.”
You have received a friend request from: Quilbur. Would you like to accept?
“Indeed good sir, we are friends and friends help each other. Despite how briefly we have traveled together it has been quite enjoyable to play as a team for once with those of the same caliber as myself.”
You have received a friend request from: Serena. Would you like to accept?
“But”
After accepting the request Commoner turned to Serena as she began speaking once again. She had a grim look on her face and her green eyes exuded sorrow.
“What do we do now?”
“Of course, we will train” Quilbur gave a warm smile to the girl exuding sadness in front of him, “Unlike the oafs fighting tactic of clumsily running in making a ruckus that brings the monsters down in arms around us, we will have to actually start thinking of tactics with both precision and poise. We need to have you” he pointed towards Astros, “at least suitably presentable or we’ll become the laughing stock of the game. I shall train further, study creatures and monsters of the continent and prepare for the time when we will once again join forces,” he grabbed the hem of his robe and with difficulty bowed towards Commoner, his large stomach threatening to tip him onto the ground, “It was quite enjoyable, I look forward to when we meet again.”
Astros smacked his hand against Quilburs butt and the archemage toppled over in a heap on the ground.
“You have to make me presentable? You’re going to have to lose at least a hundred pounds on your journey or else nobody will be able to see us past your jiggling ass. I can feel the gravity magic at work as it shakes.” He looked at Commoner and saluted with a smirk on his face, “Can’t guarantee anything, but I get the feeling we’ll be meeting again pretty soon. Honey” He looked at Serena, “Want to come journey with me?” Serena shook her head and he grinned as though he had expected her to reject him before he had even asked her. He turned around to look at the Sylvern Mountain Range “then I bid you adios, amigos.” He ran into the woods without looking back.
Commoner and Serena rushed to help up Quilbur and Commoner saw that his face was red with rage.
“I rather think,” He lifted himself to his feet with Commoner and Serena’s help, “that this parting would have gone better if that bumbling buffoon hadn’t been here. Well then,” He moved back so that he could face both Serena and Commoner. “As one of my favourite authors liked to say, ‘the parting of ways between friends is not an ending, for the paths of friends will always cross as long as they hold each other in their hearts’.” He equipped his staff and fire began to pour out of the red gem it held and the flames encompassed his large body, “I have only known you fine people for a small time but I already know without a doubt that we are friends. We shall meet again and when we do I look forward to taking this world by storm.” He disappeared as his teleportation spell activated, leaving just a small patch of burnt grass to show that he had ever been there.
‘I too consider you a friend,’ Commoner couldn’t help but think, ‘but in the end our goals are completely different. You clearly want to aim for the top where I simply want to remain at the bottom.’
Serena grabbed onto his cloak and he could see a certain look in her eyes. He had seen the same in look in Sasha’s eyes whenever he was going on a trip or even to the nearby store to buy food. He shook his head and she looked down sadly.
“Sorry Serena, but we too have to part ways. But don’t worry,” He ruffled her black hair with his hand and she blushed, “We’ll meet again, although I can’t guarantee that I’ll be as strong as you guys expect me to be.”
‘Especially since I plan to ditch my class as soon as I can.’ He silently added to himself.
Serena sadly stepped back and suddenly her broadsword appeared. She smashed it into the ground and opened a chasm underneath the earth. She gave him a sorrowful wave goodbye and jumped inside it and disappeared. She was truly more powerful than he had imagined, they all had been. If he had stayed with them as he was then he would have run into trouble one way or another. With their ranks so high they were probably more famous than he would ever become in Best of Best which was another incentive to leave them behind. He would have attracted too much attention simply by being in the same team as them. At least that’s what he wanted to believe.
‘But that wouldn’t have mattered,’ he realized, ‘I just didn’t want to slow them down.’ He had found people that he considered his equals, no, they were far greater than him and so he hadn’t even once thought of simply power levelling by scrounging off of them or dragging them down. They were competitive players in a competitive game and he could respect that. As an actor he had long ago gone through the tumultuous times of competing against thousands of others for spots that would even give him a chance of getting to the top. If he had stopped during any moment of that time he would have fallen behind everyone else and never been able to climb back up to those that had passed him. He wouldn’t let himself be the thing that stopped his friends from their own climb to the top.
Commoner sighed to himself, ‘Is this the kind of thing you were talking about when telling me to make friends, Sasha?’ It was hard for him to believe that he had only spent a few hours with the trio of players yet he felt as though he understood them completely. A single tear glimmered down his cheek and fell from the mask onto the floor. But he wasn’t sad.
‘Well then,’ He walked away from the empty camping spot they had made, the fire had died out and the meat had long disappeared. ‘I suppose we’ll meet again sometime later, friends.’
He strode over the grass towards the nearby cliff that looked over the track leading to Obsten. Once he got there he looked over the cliff and saw that the bottom was filled with trees. He could see small figures that might be have been gromps roaming through the gaps in the treetops. He still held the sword, Vitality, in his hands.
Commoner gazed at the sword and contemplated the benefits of keeping it over the gains of losing it. Now that he knew it was his he felt that while he had such a powerful weapon in his hand then he would eventually encounter a situation where he felt he would have to use it. Just having the weapon on him was dangerous as long as the temptation to use it and expose himself more to the world was there. Since he had parted ways with his teammates there was no chance at all that he could fend off any high level players trying to obtain the sword.
‘If there’s one thing I know, it’s that you’re definitely not worth the trouble you’d bring to me.’
He grabbed the hilt of the sword and threw the item off the side of the cliff.
He watched the sword bouncing off some jutting rocks and fall into the trees below. He knew that the sword would be gone permanently.
‘Are you sure you want to do that, traveler? It will just come back to you eventually.’
A harmonious female voice spoke to Commoner and he turned around, finding himself facing a pair of dark blue eyes. A woman in a white dress was slowly walking towards him from the forest clearing where he and his teammates had parted. She seemed to glide across the ground she covered, her bare feet barely grazing the floor. Her words were being spoken into his mind. Commoner frowned. He had seen this happen before.
“Are you an angel, or something else?”
The girl smiled happily when he spoke to her and gathered the bottom of her dress around her knees as she sat down on the grass, motioning for him to do the same. He chose to stay standing.
‘I am the Blessed Smith.’
“Oh,” Commoner turned his head to view the leafy treetops the sword he had just discarded had fallen into. “Did you come for your creation?”
‘Was my sword not worthy enough for you traveler? It was my finest work.’
She giggled playfully at him and motioned again for him to sit beside her on the grass, ‘Or could it be that it is not only your title you wish to discard, but also all which brings fame to your name?’ Commoner stiffened at her words. She had begun to calmly brush her fingers across the tips of the plants poking out from the floor but she was clearly waiting for an answer to her question. Commoner decided to go for the direct approach.
“How did you know about that?”
‘There is not much I do not know of your desires Commoner.’ She curved her knees towards her body and placed her arms to rest on top of them as she spoke his name, ‘I can make your desire a reality.’
‘Make my desire a reality?’
As though the girl was reading his mind she chuckled, ‘I can make it so that you are no longer the Shadow Mask Mercenary King. You will be a simple and common being. Free to become whatever you want and roam the land anonymously, none will know you for who you are.’
He thought about it for a second and shook his head at her words. There was always a catch in these situations. “Then what’s in it for you?” Commoner squinted at the Blessed Smith, as though he could get a glimpse of her intentions if he looked hard enough. He couldn’t place the reason but she looked incredibly familiar to him. Perhaps he had passed her during his short stay in Trinim.
‘It is the Shadow Mask Mercenary King that laid his claim to my sword,’ she lifted her hand to and his horror he saw that she was holding his mask. He felt his face with his fingers and saw that it lay completely exposed, ‘If the Shadow Mask Mercenary King ceased to exist, so too would your claim to my creation.’
“You want your sword back?”
‘Any object will never reach its full potential if its not used or cared for. Just as you would not want one of your children to end up unwanted in a strange new land so too do I not wish for my creations to lay derelict and disrespected.’
Her bare feet crossed over each other and on the tip of her toes lay ten lady bugs, all in perfect harmony, she passed him back the mask and he hastily put it on again. “Then take the sword back. And take along with it my class. I never wanted the thing anyway.”
‘If only it were that simple a matter.’ She gazed sadly at him and there was a hint of something else, some deep longing in her eyes as though there was something she desperately wanted in front of her but she couldn’t have it.
“So…” Commoner sat down on the grass beside the girl and waited patiently for her to explain. If she was true to her promise then she would easily be able to solve all of his problems.
‘There is a slight problem,’ the lady bugs flew away and she watched their flying forms sadly. ‘I’ve fallen in love with you.’
Commoner burst out laughing and the Blessed Smith’s melodic voice laughed alongside him. His eyes drifted over the Blessed Smith, her slender, pale arms and smooth black hair with dark blue eyes. The curves of her back lay exposed by a split in her white dress. He pale legs were tentatively touching the grass, as though it would come to bite her at any moment. She flicked her hair away from her eyes and he realized why she looked so familiar.
“You’re Sasha.”
Commoner meant it in the literal sense. He’d been too preoccupied thinking about getting rid of his class to notice it before but except for differences in hair colour and other small changes, the Blessed Smith looked exactly like Sasha. The Blessed Smith let out a joyful laugh.
‘Indeed I am, although the one you know as Sasha is known to me as the traveler Mademoiselle. I am simply a being in her form.’
Commoner glared at her and her eyes seemed to tremble, ‘My body is doing this through no choice of my own I assure you.’ Commoner looked at her disbelievingly and she waved a hand in the air, a sword made of the same white material as Vitality appeared in thin air and she grasped it in her hand, “For you see, I take on the appearance of the loved ones of those I am talking to. In this case I sense it’s not a family member, but a lover.’
Commoner felt annoyance cross through his face but the Blessed Smith just looked at him ‘Of course, the path to getting rid of your title is not an easy one. The way will be filled with danger.’ She changed topics so fast that Commoner was slightly caught off guard.
The Blessed Smith looked at him and he saw how vulnerable she looked, the same vulnerability that Sasha emitted whenever she knew that nobody else except him was looking. The Blessed Smith noticed him eyeing her and blushed lightly.
She shifted her legs around and stretched and the vulnerability seemed to disappear. She calmly glanced over the sword, tracing her finger through the ridge of the blade and continued as though he hadn’t spoken, “Not only do I take on the outer form of their loved ones. I also take in their desires.’ Her hand brought the sword to point at him, towards his heart. ‘Just as I held your desire to be rid of your title only hours ago so too do I now hold the wishes of a new being in my heart.’ She hugged her free arm tightly around her knees, ‘I have come to talk to you about another female Traveler. One that holds one of my swords, she wants to be saved Shadow Mask. She has been betrayed by the world and calls for me in her heart to save her from her agony. Because she carries one of my swords she feels that I will come to save her, though she does not know herself that she feels this way. She trusts me with undying loyalty. It’s quite touching really. But,’ she glared angrily and smashed the sword into the ground, its pieces sunk into the dirt and flowers rose in their stead. ‘It is also quite distracting, and I cannot afford to be distracted at the moment.’ She instantly adopted a calm expression and with a wave of her hand another sword appeared in the air, his sword, ‘And so because I love you I will give you the chance to be rid of your title, for one small favour.’
‘Yet you weren’t holding Sasha’s form before you came to talk to me about this quest. So how come you suddenly love me?’ Commoner didn’t express this point out loud however, as it might cost him the precious chance that had suddenly presented itself to him.
“You want me to do a quest for you.” She cupped a hand around his cheek and beamed at his words. Before he realized what was happening his mask was in her free hand again and she was leaning in, her lips brushing gently against his own.
‘Experience what I have experienced, feel what I have felt.’ The grassy plains instantly disappeared, replaced with a dark area covered in bars and filled with cries of agony.
“You can have the sword if you want. I didn’t know that simply touching it would make it mine, none of us did and you know it.”
The girl’s voice rung out across the room and the screaming voices seemed to quieten. She was facing a handsome man with sandy hair and a golden complexion. He grinned at her and she felt the hate welling in her heart.
‘What did I do to deserve this?’
“Unfortunately there is only one way for the sword to transfer owners. If you hadn’t touched the sword it would already be mine. But I can already picture the forums response to this. I’ll get more fame for executing the player killer Orion for being a traitor to the kingdom than I ever would have by wielding some stupid sword. The fact that I’m getting the chance to do both is just good luck.” The handsome man smirked at her.
“So you’re trying to make me into a traitor now?”
The man laughed and pointed to her hip. She looked down at the sword that was stuck there. The guild members had tried taking it away from her but every time five minutes passed it would simply come back to her side. That was when they had turned on friendly fire and whacked her unconscious. She had woken up in a cell with the guild leader addressing her. That same guild leader was standing over her prone and shackled body as he ogled the sword.
“That sword is worth a few hundred thousand gold coins deary. Unfortunately the majority of the expedition members mysteriously passed away from poison in their rations. An investigation by the survivors has found that you put the poison in there so that you could bond to the treasure and steal it. At least, that’s what we told the public and the others won’t say differently as long as they get their money. And who will the community believe? The known player killer that clearly betrayed her teammates or the dozen guild members that survived against her rampage when she tried to kill them.”
“How did you manage to do this without a trial?”
“Well we pulled a few strings and the prison administration agreed to lock you in here until your execution since we had recorded testimony that it wouldn’t be interrupting any of your activities. They agreed to waive the trial since it would cost too much and the amount of evidence against you was overwhelming.” He lifted his hand and a small device appeared, it played a movie of her smiling and talking with some fellow players, “Normally we wouldn’t be able to do it but there are perks to being a large guild’s leader.”
Orion spat at the man and he laughed as it hit his shoe. She had told the guild members her time left online in good faith while she thought they were friends. Afterwards she had found out that they were anything but friendly. As soon as the expedition had reached the treasure room the guild members had started a fire and handed out food to everybody. She had eaten her meal heartily but soon all the people except her had started collapsing. Her team mates had died from the ensuing damage caused by the poison and she had run away from the approaching guild members, accidently brushing her hand against the sword that lay in the dungeon. She had grabbed it and started swinging it at the players so that they would stop approaching her.
Unfortunately they had also gotten that part on tape and manipulated it to look like she was attacking them.
“I’ll see you in a few hours for your execution deary. Don’t be late now” The man laughed as he walked off and Orion heard the door slam behind him. She cried a little in her sorrow. Several guild members moved in front of her cell to guard her. She smiled at the gesture. They treated her as a threat even when she was shackled and unable to move.
“Someone please come and save me.”
Commoner blinked as the vision blurred and he found himself sitting back on the grass with the Blessed Smith lips smiling as she moved them away from his own.
‘Shadow mask,’ the Blessed Smith looked at him with sad eyes, ‘If you save this girl I shall meet with you once again and aid you in being rid of your class. Do you accept my offer?’
You have been requested to save the traitor Orion from the Orbsten dungeons. Difficulty: B. Description: Orion, the owner of the legendary sword, Mortality, has been captured by a guild that wishes to have the swords power for their own use. Save Orion and lead her to an area that is safe from the guild.
Time left until execution: 8 days, 12 hours.
‘That girl wasn’t an NPC. Players can be the centre of quests as well?’ Commoner accepted the quest in front of him by nodding his head.
*Ahem*
He cleared his throat and the Blessed Smith looked at him curiously.
“You said that you can take away my sword from me by getting rid of my class. But that guild leader said that there was only one way to get rid of the sword. By that I’m guessing he meant her death?”
‘Not just death.’ She had unfurled her legs so that they lay across the grass, ‘she will be killed until her power has reverted to when she first stepped into this world. Approximately a hundred deaths in rapid succession will occur and only then will the sword refuse to acknowledge her as its master anymore. Humans have long ago learnt to take possession of my creations through killing their owners. They have chosen to forget long ago the other methods I can use to transfer ownership of the sword.’ She delicately balanced the sword on the tip of her fingers and brought it in front of him, letting him grab the hilt and wield it in his hands.
‘I entrust my sword to you. Be warned that the people guarding the girl are more powerful than you could imagine. Warriors renowned throughout the land for their skill will try to stop you. There will also be royal guards sent from the Capital City Trinim due to her being executed as a traitor to the kingdom. ’
‘I wish you luck on your journey. We shall not be meeting for a very long time.’
She stretched her legs and he gave her his hand so that he could help her up.
‘I thank you. We shall meet again, traveler.’
With these final words she glided back to the clearing and her dress shimmered and slowly her entire body disappeared. Commoner looked at the sword in his hand and sighed. Before he could lose his class it appeared that he would have become even more famous than he already was.
‘Eight days until the execution. That means that I have two days in real life to do the quest.’ He had nothing planned for the long weekend so he was free for the next two days. He would try and train as much as he could.
‘Of course, I have to train more.’ He always had a bad habit of relaxing when at Sasha’s and ignoring his martial arts training. ‘I wonder if I can train in this place.’ He looked at the world around him. The slowed time would help him polish his techniques but it wouldn’t compensate for what his body would lose if he didn’t continue to train in the real world. He would test later if he could balance his training between both worlds. He opened his status window screen and clicked the log out button.
The world blurred into darkness and when he opened his eyes he was once again Andross Silver.