Once I was out of the arena and getting my rightful 8th level, I headed outside. But then a Wizard of some sort stood in front of me and roared a trumpet voice, drawing the attention of others.
“Cheater! What the hell did you do? This is the third time I haven't been able to pass my Level 7 exam because of you.”
“How I do relate to that?” - I was surprised. – “If you're a crab and you have claws instead of hands, then you should not put the blame for your failure on those who have no relation to it.”
“You-u-u-u-u-u-u-!!!” - The wizard gasped in anger. – “It was because of you that the health of the monsters in the exam doubled. I was supposed to kill all the rats with one blast of Fire Blast. Instead, they all survive and devour me in five seconds!”
“Ha ha! You're such a crab.” - I laughed. I guess now I know why the stone golem was so 'fat'. If it wasn't for my 'buff', it would have only had 10,000 lives, which isn't that much different from 1,500 anymore. After all, it was from level eight onwards that exams began to be really hard.
“He's right.” - The level 9 Destroyer, who was talking to the NPC before, stood up for my defense. – “You could have chosen a different test and taken more healing potions and mana regeneration. Instead, you stupidly wasted six silver on three failed exams. No one is to blame for your failures but you. For example, on server two, the Fourth Evil Seed was destroyed, and the monsters there doubled their damage. That was the problem. Doubled health is not a big deal. Personally, I'm only happy about this event because it opens up new quests to fight Chaos Emissaries like this Cheater. So even if he destroys all seven of the Evil Seeds, it's a win-win for me.”
With those words, the Destroyer looked at me carefully, and then headed for the exit. I followed him, smiling cheekily. The people around us glanced at us, but they didn't follow me. New quests? Heh! Yeah. Where everyone sees only losses, some see new opportunities.
I didn't take the level 9 exam, but headed to the library where I studied the Scouting Profession. I had three second professions to choose from now: Assassin, Hypnotist, and Hunter.
The first thing I concentrated on was researching information on the Hunter. The members of this profession were experts at setting traps. Also, like the Druids, they could tame a single pet. But it turned out that the pets of the two professions were different. If you take a Druid's pet, the corresponding Hunter's skills become useless, and vice versa. In addition, many of the Hunter's skills were tied to the use of bows and crossbows, which prevented the use of a spear.
So it made no sense at all for me to become a Hunter. If I had to choose between Assassin and Hypnotist, then it made sense to become a Ninja, and then take the time to make my final choice of profession.
Having come to this conclusion, I started looking for information on the quest to become a Ninja as a second profession. Obviously, the quests for the Ninja's primary and secondary professions were different. This time I studied the guides carefully so that I could imagine what I would have to face. The thing was, at level eight, players would be required to have strong skills and spells from the core profession. All of my spells were still at level four or six, which was equivalent to not having them. My spear had taken me so far, but sooner or later I would have to make strong talismans, which would surely require a lot of effort.
There were many tasks for the second profession. In fact, one could say that from time to time they were 'generated' at random, although they followed some patterns. In the case of the ninja, the tasks usually involved reconnaissance and the stealthy destruction of a single enemy. I could manage that kind of thing with just a spear and a bracelet.
After leaving the library, I went to the Scouts Guild, where I was sent to the 'safe house' of the Order of Assassins. This particular 'organization' was responsible for the quests for the Ninja, Assassin and Hypnotist professions. The location of the Order's NPCs was constantly changing, so it was only possible to find them using the clues received from the NPCs in the main guild.
Today, the Order's headquarters was in some semi-basement room that seemed to serve as a bar. There I found the right NPC, and approached him.
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“I want to pass an exam to become a Ninja.”
“Quiet.” - An NPC named Evil Mouse looked around anxiously. – “Well, since you found me, then you have the initial qualifications to become a Ninja. Now go to Scout Camp in the Star Forest and find a Ninja Mentor named Secret Penetration. He will tell you what to do next.”
After that, my interlocutor immediately stepped out from behind the table and disappeared beneath the invisibility. A second later, another player entered the room. He looked around and headed straight for me.
“Have you seen Evil Mouse around?” - He asked me. – “Oh! Cheater!”
“Quiet!” - I hissed, glancing around furtively as if I were an NPC. – “If you keep yelling like that, you'll never find him. And with your name, you'll be forced to look for him for at least a week.”
I went out from behind the table with these words, and activated Stealth, too. The player only glared at me, gawking wildly. His name was Wild Forest Cat, so Evil Mouse obviously didn't want to catch his eye.
“Shit! I've been looking for him for half a day already!” - Cat hissed angrily. – “Where is this tavern?”
The NPC only seemed to show up here once in a while, so I was lucky to find him on the first try.
Then I went to the familiar Star Forest, where I'd taken my Healer exam. Only now, after exiting the portal, I went in the opposite direction. The scout camp was closer to the edge of the forest. There were quite a few people walking along the road, so I moved under stealth so as not to attract attention.
The camp itself looked like a dozen tents pitched around a large area paved with stone slabs. It would have been a great place for some warriors. It was quite possible that by tomorrow there really would be a Guardian camp here.
The square was quite crowded. I'd say there were several hundred people here. The players, though, were all looking around lost. Some were standing there in groups, others were wandering back and forth. There was a disgruntled hubbub throughout the crowd. I listened to the conversations and found out that all these people were looking for Ninja Master. Some of them had been looking for Ninja Master since the morning, but there was no result.
After scratching the back of my head, I decided to wander around the place as well, looking around carefully. If the mentor's name had anything to do with his character, he wouldn't go out into the middle of the square and draw attention. In addition to the players, there were NPCs wandering around the square pretending to be going about some important business. You could distinguish a player from an NPC by the color of his name, so I automatically looked up all the people in the area, concentrating on their names.
After about five minutes, another NPC caught my eye. I glanced at him with a washed-out look, but after a second or two, I stopped and focused all my attention on the target. When I looked at any living creature in the area, a frame would pop up above their head with their name and level. The frame appeared above this NPC, too, but instead of a name, there were half-written letters that were impossible to read. Moreover, the frame only appeared for a second, and then disappeared even if I tried to keep my attention on the target.
I followed the NPC immediately, trying not to lose him in the crowd. But as luck would have it, he kept looping between the players, sharply changing his direction. After walking around the square, the nameless NPC went into the woods and... ...and cast an invisibility over himself. All I had to do was curse softly and watch the grass swaying to make sure I didn't miss my target.
To my surprise, there were a couple of other players sneaking around with me. They weren't invisible, but they were careful not to make any noise or get too close to the object of their surveillance. After five minutes, we came to a clearing where a dozen or so players were crowded together. Just then the NPC dropped his invisibility, and I could read his name, Secret Penetration. Heh! Looks like I passed that part of the test.
“So there are already twenty scouts assembled here. The next stage could begin.” - People whispered happily, glancing at the NPCs and around. – “Everybody emerge from invisibility.” - After these words, five more people appeared in the field, including me. – “Okay, twenty-one. Not bad. You were able to pass this test. Remember that a scout must always be attentive and invisible. You're going to be a Ninja, which means stealth will be your greatest weapon. Line up in a single line.”
The NPC walked in front of the uneven line of players, carefully examining each of us.
“You all already know that the Ancient Evil has been awakened, and the Evil Seed has been destroyed by the followers of the dark forces.” - The NPC spoke up.
“Hey, I'm not a follower!” - I was indignant, drawing attention to myself. The players who hadn't read my name did so now and began whispering excitedly. But no one dared to be openly aggressive. I knew from the guides that during the Ninja exam, clashing with temporary allies could lead to disqualification and having to start the quest all over again.
The NPC ignored my statement and continued to slander me as if nothing had happened.
“Now the enemies of the Light are gathering forces to attack us unexpectedly and seize all the key points on the island. Your task will be to conduct reconnaissance. I will divide you into three groups of seven, each with a different mission. Now, you, follow me.”