Words are easier said than done. Weed thought to himself as he looked at his inventory.
He had rotten rye bread (realization food rots in RREV, though its rate of decay is much slower than the real world), an extremely light weight axe (Weed’s own creation, the Harbringer), and some blacksmithing tools (mostly still brand new). As he sifted through his inventory he found the black diamond, the crafting knife he had forged, the key he received from Rodriguez and lastly the seal and scroll of Sons of Ivaldi.
The seal evoked many emotions and memories within Weed. However, he refused to give in to them or be overwhelmed by them; it was now a matter of the past. The seal and scroll of Sons of Ivaldi was probably the biggest / most precious item in his inventory. It was no ordinary that item that could be bought or obtained through some simple quest. It was a rare quest reward from a serial quest that he had completed. Naturally, it made sense to learn more about the Sons of Ivaldi.
Weed’s first instinct was to run back to where he had left off and look for clues that Theodore might have left for him, but he restrained his impulse. It had been nearly two years in the virtual reality (8 months in RL) world since his departure. Going back to the ruins of Skyholm and looking for clues of where to head next was the same as searching for a needle in a haystack; odds were there was nothing left behind for him there. Even if there was a clue by left behind Theodore over where to head next, over the span of two years all traces of it would have been eroded. The probability that he would find anything leading him to the Sons of Ivaldi in the immediate future was extremely low.
The more Weed thought about it the clearer it became to him. He would have to work his way from bottom to the top, learning about this secret society of blacksmiths.
‘Most likely some dwarvish cult or something…’ Weed thought to himself. Weed decided to be more patient, even though he was dying of curiousity to know more about the Sons of Ivaldi, it was something that had to wait. He felt there were more pressing matters at hand that needed his attention.
Returning to virtual reality after ages wasn’t straightforward as it appeared. In any sport there have been few players who come back out of retirement or return to the game after a long duration of recovery from injury; Lee Jun’s case was no different. He hadn’t played the game of 8 months; it was by no means a short period in the life of a pro gamer where every in game second counts.
Playing virtual reality games was no different from any sport, in the sense if you play it every day your body is in rhythm, you follow the latest news and are always on the top of your game. You can connect dots / hints and clues and your eyes are trained to see the smallest of details.
Although Lee Jun was certain his physical senses were sharper than before he couldn’t be certain if he was still in the flow of the game, following daily news of the game was very different from actually playing it. It is the difference of getting first hand and second hand information. First hand information is usually as credible as the source but second had whisper is more like a game of Chinese whisper; the truth tends to get exgaggerated to untold proportions. RREV wasn’t exactly the most played game; it certainly was amongst the most talked about but that didn’t mean Media houses would necessarily collect information first hand as they did in other games. Most news coverage of RREV was still depended on word of mouth, player forums etc. RREV wasn’t a game which media houses decided to invest in for the time being; it was more of a wait and watch policy adopted by the Media industry.
The second bit that bothered Weed was that, even if the information was accurate sometimes better judgements can be made when one is in the situation themselves. Although, he had read about elves being targeted what he was witnessing right now didn’t completely capture the truth. He was probably the only elf in Lavias at the moment. No matter where he looked, there were Orcs, Dwarves and Humans but no elf. The elven population (both human and npc) in the Air Kingdom had significantly reduced so much so that small NPC children who caught glimpses of Weed’s ears began pointing at Weed excitedly.
The unnessary attention by children could at best be described bothersome. Weed quickly sprinted across the alley ways as NPC children chased behind him; apparently they thought this was some game. After making some flashy confusing moves, Weed moved out of the children’s sight and quickly hid behind a barrel.
“Phewww” Weed let out his breath as the last of the children crossed him; failing to notice that he was hiding. ‘The elves must have surely had it tough….maybe it was a good thing I didn’t log on…’ He thought to himself.
Weed returned to his train of thoughts; he then looked at the next big item in his inventory, the key from Rodriguez.
“This I can use…” Weed said to himself as he held up the key. It was fairly ordinary looking key; made of steel of some sort and diamond shaped hook at the end. As Weed recalled this was the same key Rodriguez used to access the library in his house…
‘…not exactly where one would expect a hero to begin their journey from,’ Weed thought to himself. If Weed needed access to books the library in every city was more than sufficient. If he gained enough fame he would be able to access even the other restricted sections. Rodriguez collection of books, as Weed recalled, was not small but then how many books could a lone ordinary man gather in his lifetime? Weed didn’t think that the library or the books Rodriguez offered was special…however he could not nudge the notion that there was something amiss.
‘Rodriguez and Theodore knew each other well enough; then it could be that the key and scroll could be some sort of a connecting link.’ Weed thought as he slowly made his way towards the outskirts of Lavias City. ‘Hmmm, at this point everything is a hypothesis…it could well be that Rodriguez and Theodore’s quests have nothing to do with each other…’
Weed took the key out of his pocket at stared at it carefully. It barely had any weight to it. He could not recognize the metal or the technique used to create it. With every level gained in blackmsmithing Weed was able to recognize metals, forging techniques and a little bit of the objects origin. Usually, the higher level or rarer material object would require higher level of blacksmithing for instant recognition. Players always had the option to take the object to antique boutique (RREV’s equivalent of Royal Road’s identification shop) and get the details checked however even that never guaranteed that everything would be revealed.
Probably some sort of alloy or something.. Weed said as he pocketed the key.
Weed blew a light whistle as he walked through the maze of Lavias. Each time he visited the city it grew and grew. This time too was no different; tall buildings and archways replaced what used to be farmlands. The open blue sky was now crowded with conical spires. As the game progressed and players advanced; Lavias was maturing. From an undernourished city it was developing into Air Kingdom’s frontier stronghold. Nobles flocked to the city, and gold poured in from all corners of the Kingdom to build the finest buildings in Lavias. Afterall where players resided was the safest place for nobles to live.
As Weed slowly made his way through the city, he noticed the streets were appearing emptier than what he remembered. Outskirts of a city were usually sparse in population and lacked crowds but it had been quite a while since Weed remembered seeing anyone. He also started getting the feeling he was being followed. Weed stopped dead in his steps to listen carefully, only silence greeted him. He quietly took a few more steps forward and listened to his surroundings carefully. It was then that he could faintly hear muffled footsteps and armour clinking against each other. A single bead of sweat rolled down Weed’s temple.
‘Shadow?’ wondered Weed as he placed his hand around his axe. ‘Or the mysterious murderer of the elves? Have I been found already?’ A frown made its way onto Weed’s face as the footsteps stopped as he did.
‘I am definitely being followed…’ Weed concluded. The question now was whether he should confront those who were following him? Go about pretending to be unaware that he is being followed or try to out run his captors?
Weed quickly opened his skills set window;
S No.SkillStageLevelProgress1AlchemyBeginner261%2Digging SkillsBeginner1092%3EavesdropBeginner156%4Elemental Spirits FusionBeginner10%5Fists of FuryBeginner238%6Item IdentificationBeginner13%7Koboldian AlchemyBeginner148%8Lion RoarBeginner11%9Mining SkillsBeginner257%10RepairBeginner131%11Ripple EffectBeginner263%12RunningBeginner256%13SleeplessnessBeginner349%14SleepingBeginner283%15Slow TimeBeginner20%16SpelunkingBeginner131%17StealthBeginner43%18Sword MasteryBeginner816%Unique Quest Skills1DeceitBeginner855%2Cold Blooded CrueltyBeginner922%3BetrayalBeginner712%
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“Beginner level 2...” Weed muttered to himself as he looked at his running skill. Weed wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with his opponents. With his level at only 20 and barely any battle skills, Weed stood little chance against a group. He also heard armour clanking sounds, which implied his pursuers were most likely well clad in heavy armour. Weed was also able to deduce the only people to usually wear heavy armour in a city were either players or soldiers. His skills weren’t high enough but Weed could estimate from the footsteps and whispers that there were at least a dozen pursuers at his feet. A confrontation against a dozen heavy armoured people would surely result in his lone defeat.
‘Best to avoid confronting them…’ Weed said as he quickened his pace. His right hand was tightly wrapped around his axe. He was ready to draw blood if someone unexpectedly pounced upon him from the front.
Weed decided to make an escape for it while appearing to be unware of the fact that he was being followed. His reason to do so was simple. If his pursuers truly intended well, then they would have confronted him rather than follow him through the twisted streets of Lavias. It was clear from their hushed pursue that their intentions weren’t in Weed’s best interest. Weed could not recollect whether he stirred up any trouble in Lavias (other than his initial few weeks of lying) or whether this was in someway a consequence of what happened in Skyholm; either way Weed knew he needed to give a slip to his pursuers who were at his heels.
However, no matter how briskly Weed walked he could always hear that his pursuers were close by.
‘Damn…’ Weed thought as he panicked slightly. ‘Do they have a dog owith them?’ He wondered. ‘This won’t do, I need to run for it…’
Weed took a giant step befor shooting off into the distance. He was sprinting ahead at full speed.
“Oye! He’s running!” shouted a man in the distance.
“I am after him!” a woman called out as she hopped from one roof top to another chasing behind Weed. Unlike comrades who were dressed in heavy plated armour, the woman wore a single one piece blue silky tunic. This dress was light and even helped her slightly with her acrobatic manouvers as she chased after Weed.
“Curse you…” She swore under her breath as she struggled to keep up with Weed. For Weed it was a simple matter of running on the cobbled pebbly streets of Lavias, though they may zig zag and meander, but running on ground any day is easier than running on roof tops.
Weed slowed down; the quick dash exhausted his stamina. Weed smiled, his calculations were on the spot; he guessed that the only ones with enough authority to empty the streets was probably a city official. This in meant that he was being chased by soldiers; or at least it was more likely he was being chased by soldiers. Weed was certain if it were mere soldiers chasing him then even at his low level he could out run them. However, Weed was completely unware that there was still one pursuer still left or the fact that the others decided to take a short cut and cut him off from in front or even a bigger stumbling error that the entire section of the city had been cordoned off to catch him.
As Weed dashed forward through the narrow streets, his folly became slowly apparent to him as he caught a glimpse of the woman on the roof as he looked back.
“What the…” Weed said to himself between his breath as the woman on the roof top over took him. She was no ordinary soldier, given her stealth movements it was evident she was part of some elite corps…maybe even an assassin or player.
“What do you want from me?” Weed shouted out to her as he continued running.
The woman kept silent and followed on.
Weed cursed his luck, he had no long range attack weapon or skill. This incident decided for him that he needed to learn archery or some other long distance attack skill as soon as possible.
‘If only I had a bow…’ Weed thought to himself. He could have snuck a few shots at his lone pursuer and then used the moment of confusion to hide.
Weed looked around the streets to see if there was anything that he could use. He was at a strong disadvantage here and he was desperate to find anything that he could use to even out the odds that were stacked against him. The biggest disadvantage was the woman pursuer on the roof top, she was likely to be the eyes of the entire operation. As long as she following Weed, others knew as well where to look. Even if Weed could somehow out run her, she would always be able to find him since she was on the roof…
‘That’s it…I just need to get on to the roof…’ Weed quickly eyed the walls of the buildings that he was about to cross. He couldn’t scale the walls in a jiffy but he could certainly jump up stacks of crates or hold on a rope & pully as it pulled him up….
Weed saw his chance; there was a pile of fish crates lined up perfectly for him. One after another in ascending order, there were just enough crates lined up to help Weed scale the wall.
Sensing what Weed was attempting to do the woman jumped down to the roof hoping to land on Weed and subdue him. However, Weed had anticipated this situation and ducked for cover. His pursuer crashed into the wall instead of him and was out cold.
‘Teaches her a lesson.’ Weed thought to himself.
Weed stopped by her side to check if she had any items on her that he could use. As he got closer to her he noticed she had crimson hair; unkempt and short much like a young untidy boy’s. Weed checked her hands (no weapons) and then stood up, he was hesitant to search through the woman’s pockets…thoughts of the nurses room clouded his minded for a moment.
‘Nevermind…’ He thought to himself as he got up. ‘I couldn’t have used whatever it was she was carrying…don’t want to be branded as a thief either…’
Weed jumped up the crate as he decided to run on the roof and get a better view of the soldier’s position. Once on top, he got a birds eye view of the street way ahead of him. He could clearly see had he gone further he would have hit a dead end; the soldiers had barricaded the street.
‘Thank goodness I got up here…’ Weed looked around at the roof tops wondering if he could imitate what the woman had been doing. Hopping from roof top to roof top required reasonable level of skill…
“Up there!!” shouted a soldier painted in red plated armour.
Several more soldiers immediately turned up answering to the call of their comrade.
Weed took the chance he had hearing the clamour. ‘Its now or never…’
Weed dashed at full speed and took the leap as the soldiers began climbing up the crates.
Trrrinngg!!
You are in the process of acquiring a new skill Parkour!
This skill allows you to move through any terrain quickly and utilises Acrobatics to help.
You get 10% increased movement speed, 3% stamina consumption reduction and a 5% bonus to agility!
Also has the active ability of increasing your movespeed by 50%, but consumes 50 stamina per second.
To learn this skill jump over 20 roof tops without falling! If you fall, you will need to repeat the steps all over again!
Weed concealed his smile. ‘This skill can be really useful in tricky places like this!’
Weed looked behind at the soldiers shocked expressions. It was evident they did not expect their prey to jump of to another roof so easily…They could not copy him as they would be dragged down by their armour or so atleast Weed thought.
However, contrary to his expectations the soldiers took a few steps backs before rushing forth and completing the jump. It was a complete success as Weed watched in horror. He did not understand how they managed to jump so perfectly while wearing such thick armour and he didn’t bother staying to find out how.
Weed simply ran along the slanted tiled roof top barely avoiding falling off and jumped to the next roof.
‘18 more to go!’ Weed thought to himself. The benefits of the skill were absolutely essential in order to escape from the chase the soldiers offered.
Each time Weed turned around to take a peek while running, he noticed the gap between him and his pursuers was closing down. Weed was terrified at the prospect of being caught. He could only imagine the worst case scenario; killed or worse still locked away in a dungeon.
‘I don’t want to be caught on my first day of return to RREV!’ Weed dreadfully thought to himself.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, a message popped up bursting the small bubbles of hopes swelling within Weed just as he managed to finally put some gap between the soldiers and him.
Trrrinngg!!
You have exhausted your stamina!
Running further is injurious to your health!
Weed closed the message and decided to continue running. He was simply greedy to learn the Parkour skill.
‘Come on!! Last jump!’ He coaxed himself.
Weed took the last jump....and fell crashing into a wall just as his female pursuer did…
Trrrinngg!!
You have exhausted yourself! You have lost consciousness!
Penalties of being unconscious:
You have lost all sensory functions temporarily. This state will only end quickly when you are splashed with cold water or other similar stimulus or if you are healed. If you are not woken up / healed, you will resume consciousness after the 60 minutes, with 15% lower HP.
After that everything went black on Weed’s screen. A single window remained as all others closed,
Unconsciousness time remaining - 00:59:39
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Authors Note:
1. Back from new year holidays! Hope you all had fantastic holidays!
2. The effects of the skill Parkour differ from what Daemon learnt owing to the players choosing different races and items worn by each at the time.
3. I have released a schedule of how many releases there will be in a month for each volume (check ToC thread). Other than that happy reading!
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo