“I don’t understand, Nigel.” Kendelbreu said as he stared into an empty room. “It was really all here.”
“Well Kendelbreu Du Cristo, all I see here is absolutelty nothing but rocks. Now unless you mistook your treasure for these measly plain rocks, I suggest you take me to the location of your treasure.”
“Dammit! Nigel this is the safe! I stored all my vast wealth here.” Kendelbreu said as he walked from one room to another. There were five interconnected rooms, which were supposed to filled to the brim in gold, silver, precious stones and other rare metals. Yet, here stood Kendelbreu and all his wealth disappeared.
Salos and Moses stared at Kendelbreu with contempt. They had decided to forego the final round just to gain a share in Kendelbreu’s treasures. Now they realized there was nothing here. They had been lured away by their greed. Salos drew his sword and Moses unhinged his hammer, they had had enough of the lying scheming dwarf.
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*cough* *cough* “The great Elder finally succumbing to old age, eh?” He said as he held the key around his neck tightly.
“Grandpa, you have to drink your medicine.” Mnamanth said as he searched the drawer of their new home for his grandfather’s cough medicine.
“I am fine. I never needed it.” Elder Mnementh coughed again. He had coughs when the morning was cold. For very long time he survived just fine. In discomfort but alive. But with the pour of the new wealth, the dutiful grandson bought him medicines for his cough.
Mnamanth finally found the medicine. He poured a measure of wine into a goblet. The dark swirlings in his iris flickered for a single moment then disappeared. If anyone ever saw it, they would think it was their imagination. He poured a couple drops of the cough medicine. But while turned from his grandfather who sat on his bed, he deftly took out something else trapped in between folded paper.
Mnamanth slowly emptied the contents inside the metal flask. A black liquid slowly oozed out and a single drop made it’s way into a glass full of alcohol. Quickly retracting the container lest he spill more, he placed its lid back on. Tucking away the flask into his coat, he quietly stirred the drink. Quietly served the now deadly concoction.
“Grandfather, your medicinal drink isssss ready.” He hissed in delight as he offered the goblet to the Elder.
“Thank you, Mnamanth. But you are not getting anymore money from me.” Elder Mnementh restlessly laughed at his own joke. Could it be just Mnamanth’s imagination or for a fraction of second his grandfather’s eyes have streaks of black?
Elder Mnementh drank his medicine in full. He keeled over before finishing the drink. The goblet clanged on the floor with a small portion of leftover spilling out, staining the beesheet.
“Grandpa?” Mnamanth asked with concern.
Slowly, Mnemeth’s inside’s started dissolving till there was no more left of elder Mnementh. He died the moment he swallowed the first drop. Mnamanth gave away a sly smile before shouting, “HELP! SOMEONE HELP! THE ELDER HAS BEEN POISONED!”
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“KMC-Extraordinare bring’s you live coverage from Elementarem Vim! Hi, Shin Ye Sui here today! I will be your host!” A fair skinned elf waved to another person who was providing the live feed.
“We are today in the Skyholm City of the Air Kingdom! I know all of you must be thinking…what? Why is she in a beginner city! But I have news for you players of Royal Road Elementarem Vim! Skyholm is holding it’s very own blacksmithing competition…Yes as some of you may have guessed this is related to Theodore’s test for apprenticeship! Today is in fact the final round!
We have heard rumors going around that the first two rounds were held in the undiscovered city, Northern Mountain City! Though, players are yet to confirm it, only a handful of participants know the city’s location. Lucky for all of you, KMC has been able to not only get tickets to the blacksmithing competition but also…get an interview with none other than THOR!!”
The anchors back in the studio turned to the audience, “Please clap and welcome Thor!”
The studio was jam packed with players. Most of the players were fans of Thor from other games, they were here just to support Thor after hearing KMC had selected him for an interview. Thor had done a number of interview’s before but now he would provide first hand insight into Elementarem Vim’s blacksmithing. Like Thor, much of the audience here was hard core blacksmithing fans. Partially, having been influenced by Royal Road where they first learnt of the craft and partially from real life experiences, the audience was a mixed bunch.
“Thor would you like to say hi to your fans watching and those in the studio!” Shin Ye, asked a stout dwarf who was wearing impeccable white armor.
Thor waived to the camera-man.
“Thor, you are the twelfth apprentice of Theodore, have you had a chance to learn anything exciting from him?”
“No. Honestly, I feel there are better masters out there than taking the test.” Thor replied back. He did not exaggerate his experience nor did he elaborate it. Shin Ye, who was new at her job still didn’t know that these were the type of short answers she should expect from a pro-gammer.
“Why do you compete in the apprentice test then?” Shin Ye asked, clearly she was perplexed.
“To even the odds with Cynbel, of course!”
A loud cheer broke out in the audience back at the studio.
“Would you share more of your relationship with Cynbel. We all have heard stories about how ferociously the two of you compete for the number one title.”
“Sorry, but this is a personal matter. It can only be settled with a winner.”
Shin Ye, quickly changed the topic. “Please, tell us more about your experience in Elementarem Vim.”
“The game is refreshing. It is challenging but I feel there is something here for everyone. I found other games to boring and easy. I even felt sometimes there was too much vagueness and lack of clear objectives in those games, but Elementarem Vim has something for everyone. I guess you only need to look for it.”
“I guess you recommend others to play Elementarem Vim?”
“Sorry, I do not endorse games .” Thor replied back cooly. If Unicorp wasn’t sponsoring him to endorse their games, he wouldn’t endorse it.
“How about blacksmithing? Does it feel different in Elementarem Vim?” Shin Ye appeared to be somewhat harassed by Thor. Thor simply gave single line replied to nearly all her questions. The interview was supposed to last 10 mins….at this rate it would not even last 5mins.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Well I don’t think blacksmithing could be taken so lightly. Yes, Unicorn Corp has done it’s home work but I feel there are number of ways to improve certain aspects of blacksmithing. In fact, I was writing a paper where I detail 100 ways to improve Royal Road EV. The first is…”
Shin Ye just stepped on a land mine. She was clearly going to regret asking a passionate dwarf about his passion.
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“Wait!” Nigel said as he sensed the two players ready to kill Kendelbreu.
Salos and Moses held back. Nigel could single handedly crush them, if they chose not to obey him. They were witness to his power as held his own ground even against a mighty black gigantic scorpion. Though, he could not defeat it but if it were come down to it, he certainly wouldn’t lose either. It was only when the partner of the scorpion intervened that Nigel decided to withdraw. The scorpions too decided not pursue their prey having just rebuilt a nest in a location.
“These are wagon tracks.” Nigel said as he examined the ground.
“Yes!” cried Kendelbreu who collapsed to the ground and ran his hand on the imprints of the wagon. Judging by the first set of imprints in the ground, it was light weight when it came in and the impressions grew deeper as they went back out. The treasure had been stolen from right under their noses. “I don’t understand who could have done this?”
Nigel was still kneeling on the ground examining the tracks. His hand slowly ran across the ground, feeling each uneven impression and recreating a story of what happened in his mind.
At last he spoke, “Kobolds.”
Salos and Moses looked at each other confused, Kobold’s here?
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“What happened here?” An old kobold asked, Mnamanth who was bitterly weeping over the remains of the deceased Elder Kobold. There were only a pile of tattered robes remaining. The poison was so deadly, that it ate away the Elder’s flesh from the inside and slowly crept outwards till it burnt his clothes.
“He was coughing and I gave him the medicine the elf prepared.” Mnamanth replied as he choked on his own tears. “And he…”
“Grandfather!!” Cried a young female kobold as she rushed into the room. She joined her brother in mourning. “Not even his body remains!” She wailed away. “What cruelty is this?” She asked.
“I have seen such, trickery at work.” Mnamanth replied. “Though, I refuse to speak. I will not say more. He is our benefactor!”
“Who is it? Tell me!” His sister asked, weeping bitterly as she gripped his chest armor.
“Yes, do tell us. Kobold’s cannot be trifled with!” The old Kobold at the door way spoke up.
“I have seen such poison before many times. All our warriors use it as well.” Mnamanth replied while looking away from his sister.
“Was it one of our own?” His sister asked in shock.
“No…this poison was prepared by the elf…this medicine was also prepared by the elf…” Mnamanth sheepishly replied.
“I don’t understand, is Weed-nim a traitor?” The sister asked in shock.
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“I don’t follow Nigel. Kobold’s those down trodden lizard race? Are you saying they stole all my wealth?” Kendelbreu asked in disbelief. His ancestors did warn him to watch out for them
“Aye, these are definitely Kobold tracks. This explains those recent reports.”
“What reports?” Kendelbreu asked anxiously.
“They opened an account in G&L, with so much wealth that the goblins had to request for support from other branches.” Nigel said as he slowly got up. “What, I don’t get is…how did they find it? You would need a map or something to get here…and those kobolds would need weapons...”
“Son of Thor!” Kendelbreu swore. “THAT BLOODY ELF STOLE MY TREASURE ALONG WITH THE KOBOLDS!”
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“Jun!! Wake up! Time for breakfast.”
Lee June, groggily opened his eyes. “5 more minutes!” He yelled back to his mom as he dug in deeper beneath his blanket.
“Ok! I am leaving for work, don’t be too long! Or your breakfast will be cold!”
With that Lee Jun heard the apartment door close. ’Leaving for work at 6AM? I guess you can’t compete with mothers when it comes to hard work…’
The golden sunlight poured into Jun’s room and straight on to his face; causing him much discomfort.
“Computer, time?” Jun asked as he covered his face with a pillow.
“It is 8AM. Would you like me to connect to Elementarem Vim’s website for the latest news?”
Jun shot up straight, “8AM?” He nervously asked.
“Yes, it is now 8:01 AM.”
“I set an alarm for 7AM!!” Jun shouted back angrily as he hastily pulled out his console gear.
“Indeed you did, however, your mother terminated that alarm.” The computer monotonously replied back.
Jun didn’t bother replying back or getting angry, there was no time left! He was already late for the competition by 2:15Hrs in game time.
Am I too late? He wondered. All his effort would be for naught, if that were indeed the case. A window popped in front of Lee Jun.
Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem VimYesNo
“Yes!”
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Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon!
2. Thanks V4lkyr13 for helping me despite your busy schedule! :)
3. So I am tried a new style of story telling....
4. Once again the chapter is shortish.... >.> it just happened to be like that....
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