TeddyPicker sat outside the small dwelling. He had just finished a meeting with the three senior dwarves of the village. They were discussing what they would be doing.
TeddyPicker looked around, noting half the villagers had left to work already, even though the sun was barely up. The village and surrounding lands were all monitored by the dwarves. They worked from dusk until dawn to make it productive, in order to fulfil some deity's thirst for domination.
Well, I suppose that's part of the dwarf's legendary stubbornness. They're too set in their ways, he thought grimly. That will definitely be something I have to change.
He sat there in thought for a long time, until he was summoned back into the dwelling.
Three dwarves sat at a small table. From TeddyPicker's point of view, the only difference in their looks was the differing colour and shapes of their beard. The rest of their appearance – eye colour, nose, ears, mouth, even body shape – were exactly the same.
Well, they do all come from the same clan, so I guess they'd have similar traits.
"So," he said, trying to take the initiative. "What did you conclude?"
The three dwarves were sombre. "Neither the three of us, nor anyone in the village," Hinder began, "have even been close to the battlefield."
"So basically, it's impossible for you to aid me?" TeddyPicker's tone turned incredulous. How can they expect me to carry out 'Ishtar's Will', when Ishtar's people won't even help me?!
"Now, don't be hasty," Hinder said, placating him.
TeddyPicker gave Hinder a sharp look, his anger rising.
"Just say what you wanted to say, Hinder, don't beat around the bush," One of the other dwarves said.
TeddyPicker paused, trying to calm down. After a moment he looked at the dwarves and nodded for them to continue.
Hinder took a breath, "Like I said, none of the villagers knows anything about war. All of the planning and preparations will mostly be done by you. However, we of Ishtar's People have been without a leader for very many years, so we'd like to offer that position to you. It is Ishtar's Will."
*ding*
Proposal to become the Leader of Byr-Noldim, the village of Ishtar
Byr-Noldim currently does not have a Leader.
This position can be received by a person approved of by any of the three dwarven seniors, if that person is part of Ishtar's Faith.
Do you wish to become the Leader of the Village Byr-Noldim?
You will be given ownership of the land and public facilities as well as capable of setting laws and policies.
Taxes on harvest, technology and commercial goods can be collected monthly and military power can be strengthened. A higher position and other rewards can be provided if you successfully conquer other territories of a certain size.
Do you accept?
TeddyPicker paused, surprised. "Are you sure it's acceptable for an outsider, a Freedman, to become the Leader?"
One of the dwarves, one with blonde hair, said, "Hinder has already given his approval, and we have agreed. Our village has been stagnating for a very long time. Now we must follow Ishtar's Will. You must lead us so that we can spread Ishtar's Message."
The other dwarf nodded, seated beside Hinder, who just looked a bit embarrassed.
Oh dear lord, a devout follower.
TeddyPicker nodded solemnly. "Very well, I accept this honour. I will not let you down!"
*ding*
Byr-Noldim is a small village, sheltered from the greed of the outside world.
The village has prospered by following Ishtar's Faith, and the village seniors have now appointed the Prophet of Ishtar as the village Leader.
As Village Leader you are able to set taxes on crops and trade. You may create a military force. If the Leader occupies another territory of a certain size or population by force, the rewards will increase.
- You have become the Village Leader of Byr-Noldim
- The title Squire Byr-Noldim has been awarded
- Should you wish to take residence in Byr-Noldim, you will be given resources to build a Manor House.
- Charisma has increased by 20
- Leadership has increased by 10
- Fame increased by 200
- Intimacy with Residents of Byr-Noldim increased by 50. Residents are accepting of your leadership.
*ding*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Fame has been reset to 0! (Fame -200)
[/col][/box]
What the hell is up with this Fame thing? Is this an error?! TeddyPicker thought, surprised
Hinder looked at TeddyPicker, "So, tell us, do you have a plan of how to spread our Faith?" he asked, seriously.
TeddyPicker put the Fame issue on hold and turned to the three earnest faces looking at him. They had put a lot of trust in him, and were eager to hear how he would bring their Faith to the forefront of the world.
TeddyPicker took a deep breath.
He plainly replied, "No."
**
Kang Jiyoung was a senior manager at the Unicorn Corporation. He managed three large teams of analysts and technicians. In the huge boardroom, however, he was the lowest ranking manager.
Lee Yi Soo, Director of Foreign Relations, stood in front of a group of about 50 people, explaining the message they had all received.
"Before he dropped out of the Hall of Fame, we believe his class was a common blacksmith," Yi Soo continued. "Judging by the quality of his weapons in the videos he uploaded, he may have reached the final crafting stages. It's possible this may be related to a master level quest."
The boardroom broke out in chatter, with numerous comments about master level quests requiring a large amount of fame. Other comments arose about how the user wasn't even based in Korea.
"However, we believe," he said, ignoring the babble and continuing, "The only possible way this user could have triggered the quest activation is by luck."
"What I don't understand is how this user dropped out of the Hall of Fame? Was that a quest trigger as well?" One of the managers asked, over all the noise.
Mr Lee shrugged uncomfortably. "To be honest, last month my department believed the user simply deleted his account."
Jiyoung nodded in agreement. There weren't any quests that required a loss of fame, and in addition, he wasn't aware of a method to remove one's fame from a character – not to the value of 7000 fame.
Another manager spoke up, "Could this be a system glitch? None of us have access to the AI, so we can't even tell if it's malfunctioning..."
Mr Lee shook his head, "No, the AI performs impeccably, so I don't believe it's a malfunction."
The assembled members broke out into a chorus of complaints and questions.
Mr Lee had been prepared to weather a barrage of question, but his patience was running thin.
"Gentleman," he said, cutting off everyone. "I believe the most important question isn't being asked."
The boardroom was silent, waiting for Lee Yi Soo to speak. "'Can this 'TeddyPicker' user complete an endgame quest?' – we should be asking ourselves that," he said, sternly. "The answer is 'no'. Taking into consideration his Fame, his class, his level, and the fact that we've had no NPC chatter, my team has calculated he has an unambiguous 0% chance."
Jiyoung could almost feel the relief of the senior's around him. Jiyoung felt uncomfortable with the statement, though he didn't say anything. For all the talk of the 'Emperor' of Versailles receiving shares, the Directors and Chiefs were unwilling to part with their hard-earned meal-tickets.
I'll do my own research into this 'TeddyPicker' fellow, he thought. Being 100% sure never hurt anyone.
**
Mark sighed in frustration. He was browsing through various prayers trying to memorize them, but his mind was preoccupied.
...domination... how can I achieve it?
In the past, he had played many games where the goal was domination. In order to even play on that level, however, the faction he was in had to be considered a 'superpower'.
Forget being a leading power on the continent, we're not even contributing power in the larger scheme of things. We may as well be compared to a drop of water in the ocean!
Looking at the Village Income, he had noted that the small self-sustaining village controlled an estimated 5% of all Mithril trade in the continent. A single large Mithril mine was owned by the village, and produced the needed quantities. It was a significant amount, but in general, had no effect at all towards his plan.
In addition, because they were self-sustaining, the villagers hardly ever spent the money they received from practicing their crafts, so the treasury of the village was in excess of 500 000 Gold. If Mark wanted, he could turn Byr-Noldim into a fortress.
That still doesn't solve anything, though.
He opened up his browser and did a web search for 'How to start a religion' as well as 'How to take over the world'. He wasn't expecting results, but sometimes random comments could help to spark an idea.
Yes, it's easy to start a religious war... if I had priests and paladins and knights. All I have is 30 Acolytes, and about 100 farmers and craftsmen.
He scrolled through the results, most misinterpreting the search parameters. After hours of reading through a bunch of crap he had only one answer that he could think up.
In order for a religion to grow, people need to know and understand what it's about. It's all about awareness and advertising!
Well, it's only a start, he thought, as he began writing his plan. First I'll have to do something about my useless character though.
It took him three hours to write up an effective draft that would lay the foundations for a widespread religion. After that, though, he had no clue how to tackle a domination-type game through a religious approach.
Let's do what I can now, and worry about the rest later.
**
TeddyPicker stood in a clearing outside the village, about one kilometre away. Behind him was a large covered cage. In front of him were the 30 acolytes from the village. 20 were female, and about 10 of the acolytes were human.
TeddyPicker looked at all of them carefully. All of them were pretty young, aged from about 20 to 25, although the youngest amongst them was a dwarf by the name of Kin, who was 18. He was the son of one of the three senior dwarves.
"Listen very carefully," He said to them. "We're going to be practicing and training from today onwards. It's going to be painful. It's going to be life-threatening."
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
The dwarves and humans faces paled.
"It is definitely not going to be fun," TeddyPicker continued. He walked to the cage and pulled the cover off. "In fact, I think most of you will be petrified!"
A handful of the females cried out in fear, and most of the Acolytes were visibly shocked. Inside the cage was a low-level skeleton soldier. TeddyPicker estimated it to be around level 80-90, since it wasn't at a level where it carried armour or even a sword.
This isn't even scary... it looks exactly like the 'Anatomy Skeleton' from Biology class...
The skeleton looked up, and walked into the bars of the cage, while it stuck its hands out, trying to reach an acolyte. It had a weak undead aura; however, for the Acolytes it may as well have been a Lich in the cage!
"Don't worry," TeddyPicker said, trying to get them to focus. "We'll be concentrating on seeing whether or not this is an effective method of training. I'll be the guinea pig for this method today."
TeddyPicker took out a net he had borrowed from the village, and handed it to two dwarves. "Just throw the net on it when I say so."
When they nodded, he took out a crude practice sword, based on the ones from the training hall. He threw it into the cage. After a few moments the skeleton picked it up.
He then opened the cage, allowing the monster to charge at him.
It struck a resounding blow, and a few of the acolytes screamed, fearing he'd been killed.
*Whack!*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Health has dropped by 1%!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Armour Durability has fallen by 0.2%
[/col][/box]
TeddyPicker smiled in relief. The thing he feared the most is that the heavy armour he wore underneath the clothes wouldn't be sufficient to handle the skeleton's strength.
*Whack!* *Whack!* *Whack!* *Whack!*
TeddyPicker let the skeleton try to do as much damage as possible. The damage wasn't considerably large, so he wasn't feeling much pain. Thankfully the skeleton was tireless and relentless.
After about 2 minutes of continuous punishment, his health fell below 50%.
"Alright, first acolyte, step up and use a healing skill," TeddyPicker called out to the group.
A timid human girl stepped up.
"Be covered in Ishtar's Warmth, Heal!" she shouted.
*ding*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Health has been restored by 30 points (0.005%)
[/col][/box]
"Again!" he called out, surprised.
Her skill level is pathetic!
The girl repeated the spell until her mana had run out. The next acolyte stepped up, a dwarf this time.
"Heal!"
*ding*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Health has been restored by 20 points (0.003%)
[/col][/box]
Even worse! TeddyPicker was miserable. These guys haven't used the skill at all since they learned it!
The acolytes began to rotate themselves without any more orders. It seemed TeddyPicker was about 15 levels higher than anyone in the group; they began to get a lot more proficiency for healing him. By the time the entire group had finished casting, it had taken only 20 minutes, and they hadn't even managed to restore his health up to 60%
*Whack!* *Clink!*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Health has dropped by 1%!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Armour Durability has fallen by 0.2%
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Armour is in a Critical State!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Endurance increased by 1! (+1 END)
[/col][/box]
"Use the net!" TeddyPicker shouted.
He jumped back, and instantly the large net sailed past him, capturing the undead. TeddyPicker walked up to the undead and removed the wooden sword, and let the net guys drag the undead back into the cage.
Behind him the acolytes sighed in relief, and sat down, tired.
He then check his gear:
Heavy Iron Armour:
Durability: 03/45
Defence: 25
A heavy piece of iron armour, made by a skilled blacksmith. In the current state, the armour's defence is considerably reduced!
Effect:
Agility -20
Strength +20
Piercing damage reduced by 10%
Requirement:
Strength 120
Level 75
Thankfully the armour had resisted long enough until he had received the message he was looking for. After only twenty minutes, he was able to increase his Endurance.
The most important thing was to have an incredibly high defence and high skill levels. To that effect he would let the acolytes practice on him until they grew proficient in using the healing spell. Then he'd try blessings, before finally moving onto attacking the skeleton.
He unequipped the armour then repaired it and the wooden sword. He wasn't worried if it broke, since he had prepared nine other copies of the armour as a backup.
After about ten minutes, he called out to them. "Alright, that was good. Let's try again!"
The Acolytes groaned, but all of them stood up. TeddyPicker handed the blade back to skeleton, which seemed to look confused, before grabbing the blade.
Once again, TeddyPicker opened the cage, and the same process was repeated.
Fufufu, thankfully the game's mechanics are predictable, he thought. All I can do for now is to grind these guys' skills until they become more formidable.
**
*Kyaaaaaaaa!*
TeddyPicker's eyes shot open. Immediately he knew something was wrong. For a second he went outside thinking about the scream, before something clicked inside his brain.
By instinct, he started to sprint towards the field where undead soldier was. It took him about 60 seconds at his full speed. Immediately he noticed two youngsters standing at the entrance of the cage, trying to force the skeleton back into the cage.
As he got closer, he noticed that the two were trying to get a third person out of the cage.
As he neared them, he shouted, "Out of the way!"
At his full speed, he tackled the undead soldier as hard as he could. The soldier fell back into the cage, stunned, and TeddyPicker took the opportunity to quickly drag the boy, the young Acolyte Kin, out of the cage. The two others, also Acolytes, slammed close the cage.
"You must do something!" one of the Acolytes cried.
TeddyPicker looked at the young boy. Instantly he noticed the boy was struggling to breathe.
His windpipe is crushed!
"Heal him then!" TeddyPicker said, exasperatedly.
"He's only alive because we've been healing him the entire time. We're out of mana!" the other Acolyte cried, tears streaming down his face.
Useless idiots! TeddyPicker wanted to scream at them. I don't even have a healing ability!
TeddyPicker looked at the poor boy. His face began to go blue, tears seeping out of his eyes, and his body started shuddering.
Shit! Shit! Shit! I just know I'm going to get blamed for this! TeddyPicker thought, bitterly
A few of the villagers arrived, standing behind them, but TeddyPicker ignored them, his mind working furiously. After what seemed like ten minutes, he finally had an idea – a last resort!
TeddyPicker laid his hands upon the boy, who was moving less and less, and then closed his eyes.
"Divine Ishtar, look upon me with eyes of mercy! May your loving touch rest upon me! May your life-giving powers flow through my body! Heal this young servant of yours, and restore him to wholeness and strength for your service! Amen!"
For an incredibly long moment, nothing happened. TeddyPicker opened his eyes, about to admit defeat. Suddenly a blinding white hot light enveloped his hands, and then covered the body of the young dwarf. After a second or so, the light disappeared.
For a split second nothing happened. Then the boy's body jerked and he took a huge gulping breath.
Thank god it worked!
*ding*
[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- You have used Miracle! Proficiency increased!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Due to lack of Fame, Miracle's power has been reduced!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- All Mana has been consumed!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- You have learned the skill Divine Healing!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Those who have witnessed the Miracle have increase in Faith!
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Faith has increased by 10! (Faith +10)
[/col][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]
- Fame has increased by 20! (Fame +20)
[/col][/box]
"Kin!" one of the dwarves rushed up and hugged the boy on the ground.
TeddyPicker took a deep breath, and sat down in relief. Immediately the surrounding dwarves approached him.
"It's a Miracle!" One of them cried.
When TeddyPicker turned around to face them, he saw their eyes filled with wonder.
**