Right after Oros passed away, I was hit by a barrage of new messages and notifications, and with it a completely unusual, but incredible surge of power—emitting the golden light of a Level Up that lasted a few minutes—though I just ignored all of it, still trying to accept and cope with the unexpectedly strong attached feelings for Oros’ death—wiping some of the tears from my eyes.
While I continued to stare at Oros’ giant lifeless body, I remembered my Uncle Thal being there to help me through my parents' deaths, but being so young, I didn’t remember much, so it made a lot easier to get over their deaths compared to Uncle’s. I never felt comfortable enough to try to talk about Uncle’s death with strangers like Dr.Abe or Nurse Kate, so trying to get over his death alone was really harder for me; it wasn’t until I met someone unexpected who helped me, that I could finally start to accept and move on.
“Okay, I’ll leave you alone Jude, just please promise me you’ll eat a little bit, alright?” Nurse Kate asked politely, “It’s already been a month and a half and you still haven’t tried to get better.” Hearing her leave the tray of food to the table next to me, “I’ll just leave the food here, Jude.” I didn’t respond again like always, and just stayed curled up under the sheets of the hospital bed—hiding myself from everyone. I could hear her open the door to the room again, and then leave with another disappointed sigh. After a few minutes passed, I got up from under the sheets, and struggled to even lift myself up from the bed—my body was still so weak. I had no appetite to eat anything right now, and just found the IV pole again to help me stand up.
Everything was still black in my eyes, and I didn’t know where anything was, so whenever Nurse Kate left, I forced myself to feel everything and try to get familiar with the room. I always tried to avoid the direction I thought the door was, in fear that I would get caught getting out of the bed when I wasn’t supposed to, but the only thing I haven’t felt yet, I moved towards it for the first time. Dragging the IV pole with me, I arrived at the door, but as I was feeling the handle and the window, the door suddenly swung open, and I got knocked onto the ground—the door closed right after.
“Urgh...what—” My mouth got covered the moment I started to talk.
“Shhhh!!!” Someone shushed, overpowering me as I tried to remove their hand off my mouth.
A few seconds later, I could hear someone outside the room say, “Damn it, not again, where did she go this time?”
“I think she went this way.” Someone else said, hearing a few people running right by the room.
The person let out a sigh of relief, and said “That was a close one, and hey I’m sorry for knocking you over.” Removing her hand from my mouth.
“Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my room?” I angrily asked, struggling to pick myself up from the ground.
“Woah, take it easy, you don’t look so good, let me help you.” She grabbed my arm.
“I don’t need anyone's help.” Yanking my arm away from her, and finding the IV pole knocked onto the ground too. “And now that those people looking for you are gone, get the hell out of my room.” Making my to the direction I thought the bed was in.
“You don’t have to be so rude about it.”
Not wanting to deal with this person, I sighed and said “Please leave my room then.”
“Much better, but in a bit, they still might be on this floor looking for me.” Adding, “Oh and by the way, you're walking straight into—” My forehead then hit the wall, and she finished her sentence “A wall.” And I was knocked back down onto the ground again.
“Oww...why didn’t you say something earlier?” I asked, shaking my head from the impact.
“You did say you didn’t need anyone’s help, plus I thought it’d be funny to see, which it was.” She said, helping me to the bed, “So why are you so grumpy? Or are you always like this?”
“Umm...I don’t know, maybe it’s because of a random stranger being chased came into my room and knocked me down!” I then heard her start to eat my food on the table, “Are you really eating my food, right now!”
She quickly swallowed, and said “Well it didn’t look like you were gonna eat.” As she continued to loudly eat it in front of me.
I sighed again, letting myself fall back into the bed, “Do whatever you want, just leave when you're done.” Pulling the sheets over my head again.
“Huy, yuo gut uh nuce roum heer.” She said with food in her mouth.
“I can’t understand you, and don’t talk to me, just take the food with you and leave already.”
Swallowing, she said “Oh come on, don’t be like that, you just said I could do whatever I wanted.” Then clarifying, “And I said you got a nice room here, big and private, and it looks like not a lot of the doctors and nurses come here to check on you.”
“Probably cause I don’t respond to them.”
“Why not? The doctors and nurses here are super nice, I mean at least when they’re not chasing you of course.”
“Doesn’t matter, and why are you talking about my room?”
“I like it, I think I’ll be using it as my go to hideout from now on.”
“Huh? Hideout? How old are you? And you can’t do that, this is my room.”
“Not anymore, it’s mine now.” She stated.
“Ha...and what if I just go tell everyone you’re here then? You’ll leave for sure.”
“Oh, you're not gonna do that.” She sounded so sure.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I’m me, duh?”
“Okay now I’m definitely gonna get you kicked out of here.”
“No I mean I’m the person that’s gonna bring you back, back to being your real self, before you were all this, because I've been here long enough to know that this isn’t the really you.”
“You don't know me...I can’t ever go back to the real me...” Turning to face the direction of her voice, “I lost my sight, the most important thing to making my dream come true, and I lost my Uncle, the only person and family I had left...there’s nothing left of the real me…”
“Don’t be so dramatic, you're still here aren’t you? and that means there’s still something left.” She continued, “Losing your eyesight isn’t the end of the world, you know? Plenty of people in the world are blind too, and they seem alright, plus I’m sure medical science will develop enough in the future to cure anything, even your eyes. As for losing your Uncle...well I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m sure he wouldn’t like you being like this, and don’t worry about having no one left anymore, because from this day on, you have me now!” She announced loudly.
I was completely dumbfounded by this random and strange girl, but asked “And who would this ‘me’ be?”
“Oh, I’m—“
I could hear my room door suddenly swing open, “I found her! She’s over here!” Someone shouted.
“Looks like I gotta go, I’ll see you tomorrow.” The girl whispered, “Close one, but you’re still not gonna catch me!” As I could hear her running and the person by the door falling down, but getting right back up to run after the girl.
“Who the hell was that?” I thought to myself, with her words about how Uncle Thal wouldn’t like the way I was now slightly getting to me. “But maybe I shouldn’t listen to a crazy person.” Hearing her screaming outside, and some more people running by my room chasing after her.
Standing myself up, I read through most of the new messages—leaving the one seemingly long message, and the notifications for later.
Quest Updated.
Hidden Quest Unlocked:
Find a way to ease Oros' Suffering, allowing him to truly accept and make peace with his death.
Hidden Quest Completed Complete the Quest ‘Oros’ Dying Wish’ to receive the Hidden Reward.
You have collected the [Eye of an Elder Cyclops]. You have learned the Skill: [Concentration].
Congratulations, you have Leveled Up 16 Levels! All Stats have increased by 16, and you gained 160 Available Points.
“Why did I Level Up? Did that actually count as me killing Oros and gave me the experience for it?” I asked myself, “But shouldn’t I have gotten more Levels, Oros was Lv.50 after all? Is it because I didn’t really kill him myself?” Shaking my head, “Never mind, I shouldn’t be thinking like that, I should just be thankful to Oros.” Reading the rest of the messages.
You have gained the Title: [The First Giant Slayer].
You have learned the Skill: [First Aid]. You have learned the Skill: [Leaping Shot]. You have learned the Skill: [Arrow Shower]. You have learned the Skill: [Charged Arrow].
Not wanting to read all those descriptions right now, I walked over to the giant bag Oros asked me to bring to Drune—trying and figure out how I could even bring it with me—but as soon as I touched the giant bag, it shrunk to a regular sized one, and Stats popped up for it.
Bag of Changing Size
Uncommon
Effect: Changes size relative to the Holder’s size, and can hold and carry much more than it seems.
“This could be a pretty good item for the other Players, lucky I don’t have to worry about carrying most stuff.” Deciding to look at the shiny things inside the bag, I opened the bag and saw a whole bunch of pure black coloured blacksmithing tools, my Copper Guild Bracelet, and my Ring of Strength; then placing the ring back on my finger and the bracelet back on my wrist, I put the bag in Infinity. I was about to start heading back to town, but I turned back to Oros’ body, and said “I can’t just leave his body here like that, he deserves a proper burial.” Then saying, “But with all these monsters in the woods, a grave on the ground would probably just be dug up, so giving him a funeral pyre would probably be better.”
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Before I did anything, I decided to spend my 170 Available Points—10 from the Level Up when Lavie saved me earlier—though still balancing the Stats, I put 22 points into each, and used the extra to for getting more Mana and Stamina, but also making the Stats look neat—putting 6 points to each Vitality and Magic, 1 to Strength and Agility, and the last 2 in Sense. I also noticed that the Ring of Strength’s bonus was now being added to my Strength Stat.
Stats
Name: Eyes Thalion
Race: Wood Elf
Level: 20
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Seer
[Titles]: 5
Health: 1200 (10% regen/hr)
Mana: 800 (1% regen/min)
Stamina: 800 (1% regen/min)
Vitality: 80 Magic: 80
Strength: 110(+20) Agility: 110
Intelligence: 74 Endurance: 74
Sense: 85
Available Points: 0
Status: None
Bonus: 20 Strength
Remembering that I just reached the Required Level, I pulled Odelia’s Shame out of Infinity. “Finally.” I said, drawing the string of the bow—familiarizing myself with its heavy draw weight. Then standing in front of a tree, I used Power Shot, and the bow fired the arrow with such a loud echoing force, that the sound could be heard throughout the forest. When the arrow struck the trunk of the tree, it tore a huge round hole right through it. “Wow! This bow is crazy strong! Except it’s so damn loud, it might even be as loud as a point-blank gunshot, but at least this will make making a giant pyre a lot easier.” I said to myself, continuing to use Power Shot to start cutting down the trees into moveable pieces, and with my Strength at 135 when I used the bow, I could barely just lift parts of Oros’ giant heavy body to fit the tree logs under him—stacking them decently together.
After an hour of work cutting trees and logs—filling the gaps with branches and leaves of the cut trees—I had a respectable makeshift giant-sized funeral pyre; so grabbing a branch on the ground, I lit it with Oros’ still burning campfire, and set the pyre ablaze. Stepping back, I watched the fire slowly encompass Oros’ entire body in flames, the logs burning better than I thought they would, with the flames growing even taller. “I hope this helps you rest even more peacefully, Oros.” I said to him, continuing to watch his body burn in the pyre, and after a long while it started to slowly cremate in the fire. Then appearing in my face, I got another message.
You have gained the Title: [A Friend To All].
“Huh, what's this?” Reading the Title.
A Friend To All: To the one who didn’t treat a Monster as a Monster, you truly befriended a creature considered a Monster and gained its complete trust and respect for you. Monsters will now recognize you as a Monster, and you can now also communicate to All regardless of language.
“Wow, does that mean I won’t get attacked by Monsters?” I wondered, finally taking some time to go through the notifications.
Seer’s Eye Collection increased by 2 Levels. Eyes Of A Seer increased by 2 Levels, and you now have vision of an Npc’s Level, and the Weak Points of things. Seer’s Visions increased by 2 Levels, and you can now see slightly more of the Visions.
“I wonder why my Seer Skills skipped a Level when I only collected one eye? Was is it because it was an Elder Cyclops eye? and maybe they're considered rare and more valuable to the Collection? That would make sense since I've never seen or heard about a cyclops eye being like that before." I concluded, closing some notifications I missed.
Dodge increased by 3 Levels. Perception increased by 3 Levels. Power Shot increased by 3 Levels. Archery increased by 3 Levels.
I then finally decided to find out what those Titles and Skills did.
The First Giant Slayer: The first to slay a giant creature, it becomes much easier for you to face and slay other large creatures. +10% Damage against any creature larger than 10 feet.
Eye of an Elder Cyclops: Developed from centuries of consistent and precise concentration of Mana through the eye, your eye can now clearly see and detect the flow of Mana and Magic.
Concentration: Having found a way to clear your mind of unnecessary distractions, focusing and concentrating on something is much easier for you. Skill Level based on how well you can really concentrate and focus on something.
“Ooh...these could be useful.” Noting, "Though Concentration doesn't really sound like a Ranger's Skill, so did I get it because I collected the Elder Cyclops Eye?" Forgetting it for now and reading the rest of the Skills.
First Aid: Touch and heal a target for 1% of their Health per second, for 3 seconds. Removes the Bleeding Status. Cost 70 Mana. Healing increased by Skill Level.
Leaping Shot: Jumping into the air, you shoot an arrow at a higher point. Cost 65 Stamina. Damage and Jump Height/Distance based on Strength and Skill Level.
Arrow Shower: Shooting a high arcing arrow, it increases to 10 arrows as it falls and lands in an area at the same time. Cost 150 Mana. Damage based on Magic and Skill Level, Number of arrows increases by 2 per Skill Level.
Charged Arrow: Drawing your bow, you focus your Mana into an arrow and fire it at your own will. Cost is the amount of Mana you draw out. Damage based on Magic and Skill Level.
“Seems like some standard, but great Skills, I can’t wait to test them out on something.” I thought, finally reading the long message I saved for last.
1st Class Choice
Meeting the Required Level for the 1st Class Choice, you are now eligible to choose between receiving a Class Change or a Class Promotion.
The two Class Promotions have been chosen through a culmination of your Actions and Experiences so far; with one of them being your Preferred Method of Combat, and the other being a Highly Recommended Class Progression.
*Note*
Choosing another Starting Class will cause you to lose all currently obtained Skills that are incompatible with your chosen Starting Class, and that doing so will also reset you back to Lv.1, with the Class Change not appearing again when the Required Level is met.
Choose:
[Archer] [Fighter] [Healer] [Mage] *[Pathfinder Ranger]* [Rogue]
Already tunnel-visioned to only one choice, I didnt bother to read the recommended Pathfinder Ranger, and immediately just picked the Archer Class without giving it a second thought—not even reading the description for it.
Confirm Choice:
[Yes] or [No]
Sure of my choice, I smiled and clicked Yes.
Congratulations, you have been Promoted to the 'Archer' Class! All Stats now permanently increase by 2 per Level, and your current Stats have all been increased by 20 for the previous Levels.
You have learned the Skill: [Archer’s Confidence].
Archer’s Confidence: Growingly more sure of yourself and your abilities, you become more comfortable using a bow from any angle or position, regardless of footing or terrain. Skill Level based on Archery Proficiency.
Ranger’s Dash has been changed to Archer’s Dash. Ranger's Stride has been changed to Archer's Stride.
Unsure what exactly Archer’s Confidence did, but having a hunch about it, I used Power Shot, and I was able to control my movement a little, rather than the Skill moving me on it’s own—which it was doing before. Happy with the Skill, I read the Skills that changed, but quickly found out that only the names for the Skills changed and nothing else.
Finally done going through all of the messages and notifications, I looked up at the moon, and thought “It looks like it might be around midnight, I should rest here for the night, and finish the Oros’ Quest tomorrow. Finding and climbing a tree with a thick branch, “I wonder if the Guild saw what happened, I hope I can still get my Reward.” Laying on the branch, I checked the group chat to find no one had typed anything since yesterday, but instead saw a whole bunch of new personal messages and Friend Requests from the other Players; they were all asking me about how I just Leveled Up so fast. Not caring, I ignored all of them and closed the Menu, and thought to myself “I can’t believe this is only the second day, I wonder what’s in store for tomorrow?” Slowly falling asleep to the crackling of the pyre.
***
In Asheton at Drune’s Shop...
“What an interesting method of making a sword, I’ve never thought or heard of someone doing it that way, Mako.” Drune said, already really intrigued by Mako’s creative potential.
“I thought you’d think so, Master. It’s a method from the East.” Mako chuckled a little, “And this’ll be my first sword I'm gonna be making on my own.” Taking a second to wipe the sweat off her forehead.
“Well I can’t wait to see how this turns out in a few—” The two of them suddenly heard loud bells ringing coming from all over the town.
Mako asked in concern, “What are those bells, Master? I didn’t hear them yesterday night.”
Already taking off his leather apron off and equipping some armour, Drune said with a serious look on his face, “It means the town is under attack.”