Fighting wolves, they had a lot more health than the rabbits and they do a lot more damage. For Derek, he was certain he would die in 1 or 2 hits from them. Luckily, Martin’s brother, Dinas was a warrior and had very nice equipment for a level 10 at the moment, and was taking the brunt of the damage.
In the party, there was an archer, healer, warrior and a mage. It was the ideal party for hunting wolves. They were hunting very cautiously by pulling a nearby wolf and then attacking it when it wandered near the party. The battle took a while but the party’s health always managed to stay above 70%.
For the first fight, Derek just watched the party brutally murder a single wolf. The archer, Hans, who was lv 6, would use the skill “Crippling shot” on the wolf and it would slow it down, and sometimes even stop it from moving and then Dinas would beat it to a pulp right after. If the shot missed or failed to activate, Dinas would taunt the wolf to focus on him and Hans would try it again. Any damage received would be healed immediately by the lv 7 Priest, Martin.
Derek just stood in the back and watched. Unlike other mages, who can firebolt from farm away, if he wanted to do damage, he would have to walk up to melee range of the wolf, and hold out a torch in front of him and cast the spell. Animals were afraid of fire but once they get over it he is dead meat. The wolves with at least 125 health would require him to cast the flame spell at least 5 times to kill it assuming all of them were a direct hit.
I feel so weak at the moment. Why is this class so hard to start off, I really hope this class become exponentially stronger later on.
His teammates also noticed Dereks inaction and wondered.
“Why are you not casting spells?” Martin asked
A good excuse come on.
“I don’t want to draw its attention, that thing can one shot me if it wants to,” Derek said, “that thing is 5 levels higher than me at the moment.”
“Still, you have to hit it at least once, otherwise you won’t get very much experience.”
“Fine, magic missile” Derek said, but he used mimic to cast the smite spell that the priest used before, it dealt it 5 damage instantly but drained ? of his mana.
“That is the fastest magic missile I’ve seen. Why don’t you use it more often.”
“It’s an enhanced version of the normal magic missile, and costs a lot more mana to cast, so I try not use it often.”
Perfect excuse
“Cool” Martin said completely oblivious to the fact that it dealt a meager 5 damage to the wolf as Dinas finished it off.
You have leveled up. Int+1, Wis+1, Mana+20
Mimic went to 30%
You have used a light spell “Smite”, Essence of light increased by 50%
Being the most basic spell, you have learned “Smite”
Smite: Deal minor light damage instantly to a target. Does double damage to the undead. Damage increases with intellect and faith
Current dmg: 10-30
Mana: 30
Derek was astonished at the fact that he was able to learn a spell from other classes. With the spell, he finally had a way to deal damage from a far.
The rest of the hunt went faster since because of the spell he just learnt. While hunting he also learned the “Heal” spell and the level of the Essence of Light went to 2 because of it.
Heal: Restore a small amount of health to a friendly unit, or deal the same amount to a undead. Amount restored increases with wisdom, intellect and faith.
Heal: 10-40 health
Mana: 40
It is smooth sailing from here onward.
The mimic spells even managed to pick up the skills used by the archer and the warrior. Crippling shot, and Bash, respectively but he wasn't able to use any of them since he didn't have the equipment to do so.
I should consider bring various weapons in the future so i can learn those skills as well.
A wolf howled from far away
“Crap!” Dinas said, “it already that time already? Run everyone run!”
"Why?" Hans said.
"The silver wolf is nearby. Let's get out of here before it find us"
*shiing
The clash of claws against steel was heard nearby.
Another party has engaged it. This is a great opportunity to learn the skills and spells they will use to fight it.
"Run!" Martin said from behind Derek.
Derek ignored him and walked toward the sound of battle.
In an open clearing with a few brushes of grass, he saw two fighters engaged with the wolf while a priest and two mages were casting powerful spells from far away.
The Silver Wolf a boss monster who is at least level 20. It was huge about 5 feet tall and 7 feet long with strong back legs and sharp teeth.
Bolts of fire, ice and missiles flew toward the Silver Wolf wreaking havoc while the fighters dance around the wolf and prevent it from rushing the nukers far away.
You’ve seen the spell “Firebolt”, cost 80 Mana to mimic
You’ve seen the spell “Icebolt”, cost 80 Mana to mimic
You’ve seen the spell “Magic missile”, cost 70 Mana to mimic
You’ve seen the spell “Blessing of might”, Cost 150 Mana to mimic
Derek couldn’t wait to use them. The limitation with mimic, is that right after he uses the spell once, unless he learns them, its gone forever or until he see the same spell being used again. He is also only able to store one cast of the spell at a time. With his current pool of mana of about 300, he would only be able to cast each of the offensive spells one time.
Just hope it is enough to kill the wolf when the worst comes to worst.
Derek observed the battle from a distance. Everything was going well until one of the fighters got head butted out of the way, and the other was pushed aside. It immediately rushed toward the casters with tremendous speed. Both mages were able to cast one last spell before they were knocked away; the one in the middle dying instantly under the impact.
You’ve seen the skill “Takedown”, cost 100 stamina to mimic
What?
The mimic skill managed to pick up the monster’s skill to his surprise. He didn’t even have time to relish in it as the fight in front of him was falling apart. After killing the first mage, the wolf tore into the other one killing him instantly.
The fighter that got knocked aside quickly recovered and shouted at the top of his voice.
You’ve seen the skill “Taunt”, cost 100 stamina to mimic
The silver wolf was about to finish off the healer, but was taunted toward the warrior. The fight resumed but having lost most of their damage, it was the battle of attrition. It was clear, from the way the fighters looked, they were getting tired even though they we skillfully avoiding damage. They were going to lose.
The situation became even worse when the Silver Wolf summoned 3 wolves to fight by his side.
I need to do something.
He tried to move, but his legs won’t budge.
After witnessing the power of the Silver Wolf your morality dropped by 40%
Unable to move
All stats decreased by 30%
Damn. I can’t believe this can happen, its a game damn it, even if you die you’ll just revive. Fight, at least help them.
He willed himself to move and help or even flee but he was stuck. Paralyzed with fear. He was still far from being seen by the wolves limited vision. But he could see that the battle was not going well, although the players were high leveled the priest was getting attacked from every direction, using spells to just keep himself alive. Both fighters were too occupied with the boss to help out.
Why doesn’t anyone help?
He looked around but there wasn’t anyone nearby.
One minute passed then two
...
Then three when it all seem lost.A familiar voice shouted behind him.
“chaarrrge!”
In that second, he saw Dinas rush forward and strike one of the wolves attacking the priest
“Rays of hope”
Your morality returned to normal
“You idiot. DId you want to die that badly?” Martin said as as he stood beside me and cast a healing spell on the injured priest.
“You know we are so dead right?” Hans interjected, “That thing is more than 10 level higher than any of us.”
“It has been weakened enough, we might be able to deal enough damage to kill it with that party” Martin said, “Lets try anyways, imagine the exp and loot we can get if we managed to kill it. If not we’ll leave Derek here and run for our lives since its all his fault.”
“Attack!” Dinas shouted right after he killed off one of the wolf minions. Every one took their position and started attacking the wolves.
Hans focused on crippling the small wolves while Dinas, killed them off. Martin healed and buffed allies. Derek focused on attacking the Silver Wolf with his ranged spells.
“Firebolt”
You’ve used the spell firebolt. It dealt 100 damage due to its weakness to fire.
Essence of fire went to 50%. Firebolt was forgotten
Mimic went up to 40%
Nice. But too bad I can’t use it again
“Frostbolt”
You’ve used the spell frost bolt. It dealt only 25 due to its resistance to cold.
Essence of water went to 50%. Frostbolt was forgotten
Mimic went up to 50%
“Magic missile”
You’ve used the spell magic missile. Unaimed it dealt only 50 damage.
Spellweaving went up to 80%
Essence of wind went to 70%. Magic missile was forgotten
Mimic went up to 60%
That was all the spells he just saw but it did significant damage and the Silver Wolf was down to 20% health. The spells after that were weaker, but combined with the persistent attacks by other players, we managed to whittle down the Silver Wolf to 1%.
“Smite”
*Ding
You smite spell went up by 1 level!
You’ve slain the Silver Wolf
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You have leveled up.
You earned the title WolfSlayer. Your strength and agility will increase by 3 with this title.
You found a Wolf belt, and 50 silvers
Yes, I killed the Silver wolf.
He only had a moment to celebrate before the situation dawned on him. He just stole the kill of another party, which gave his party 80% of the exp and loot.
The other party were staring at them with envy and anger, due to the fact that their party did 90% of the work.
Oh crap!
“Get them!” one of the fighter said.
At that moment, the party ran with all their might back into the city. Of course, no one forgot to snipe the loot before doing so.
***
At the City of Morata
“Well done everyone,” Dinas said, “We managed to take down the field boss and create our first set of enemies.”
“I got a nice bow from it at least,” Hans said as he took out a bow that dropped fro the silver wolf
Derek could see that the bow was glowing with a light aura.
“Since you are a mage can you identify it for me?” Hans said as he handed Derek the bow
I’ve never done this before. Maybe, if I analyze the aura it might tell me something.
“Sure, let me take a look.” Derek said. He focused deeply on the aura surrounding the bow. As he looked at the aura, lines began to move inside it.
If I can read it.
He focused harder to read the lines and then finally..
*Tring
You learned the skill “Identify”. This can be used to determine the properties of an object, entity or spell. As the skill level increase more details can be obtained. Currently Lv 1.
Spellweaving skill has increased to level 2. You learned the craft enchanting. You can make stronger spells. Int+10, Wis+10
Bow of speed
A simple bow imbued with the power of the wind
Min Level: 15
Durability: 40/50
Damage: 5-20
Requirements: Must be a ranged classed
Agility +5
Dexterity +5
The essence of wind skill increased to 90%
You learned about the wind enchantment. Requires Lv. 5 in enchantment to use.
“Here you go.” Derek said as he handed the bow back to Hans, “You got a really nice bow there. It should be a lot of help when you get to level 15"
"Thanks" Hans said
Derek then took out the wolf belt from his bag.
“Identify”
Wolf belt of Vitality
A simple enchanted belt
Durability: 30/30
Min Level: 13
+5 vitality
+50 health
The essence of earth skill increased to 90%
You learned about the vitality enchantment. Requires Lv. 5 in enchantment to use.
A long way off but isn’t useful for me at the moment
“Here”, Derek gave the belt to Dinas, “As a mage I don’t really need this, and since you did all the hard work you should have it.”
“Its okay,” Dinas said, “I have something better than that at the moment. You should keep it. You’ll never know when that extra health would save your life later on.”
“I’m done for today,” Dinas said, “Lets add each other as friends so we can go hunting again sometime. We have the perfect team. A tank, mage, priest, and archer we should be able to do a lot together in the future.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Sounds good,” Derek said as he added everyone in the party to his friend list.
“Good night. Also, Martin, you should show him that place before you leave. It should help him a lot.” Dinas said before logging out.
“I’ve been there,” Hans said, “Sometimes I feel that it might be too good to be true, there is bound to be a reason why they have that.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Derek said
“Just follow me,” Martin said as he led Derek to a shack some distance away from the central fountain. He knocked on the door; the door opened slightly and Martin whispered a few words and then it opened completely.
“Come in quickly. We don’t want any high level players to know about it.” Martin said
Derek quickly rushed inside and closed the door behind him. Soon after, he was lead down a hidden flight of stairs at the far back of the room.
Once inside, the smell of something fragrant filled the air.
Martin, in his most serious face said, “Welcome to the Grass Porridge Cult. We help all new players become stronger and offer free grass porridge all day long. Enjoy!”
At that moment, Derek finally noticed that his character was hungry after an intense hunt, and lined up at the table offering the grass porridge.
Porridge made from grass, this should be interesting.
He was handed a medium size bowl which was then filled with a fragrant porridge. It was delicious.
Much better than rye bread least.
Both Martin, and Hans got some soup and sat down beside Derek. They chatted a bit about the hunt and the loot, and also about the party we stole the kill from. Then, after finishing the meal they left.
Finally, I can work on my skills, can’t wait to see what spellweaving level 2 will allow me to do, and I am so close to being able to combine wind and earth essences with other elements.
“Hi,” a female walked towards Derek as he was about to leave, “My name is Lemon, I’m one of the leader of this place. How are you enjoying the food?”
“It is great, I didn't know you can make something taste so good with just some grass and rice.”
“I’m glad that you enjoyed it. Do you have plans on joining the Cult?” Lemon said
“I don’t know, I feel I’m not good enough to make the decision yet.” Derek replied
“Everyone here is a new player just like you, we are giving them as much support as possible so they can become strong pawn-players to defend Morata and start their own adventure. If you ever want to join. I’ll be here.” Lemon said.
Derek nodded
“Also, the password at the door is ‘pxe dna tool rof’” Lemons said, “Use it get access to this place again. I look forward to seeing you again.”
“Thanks” Derek said as she walked away.
Soon after, Derek headed into out and bought an inn and decided to practice spellweaving.
“Spells list, new spells”
Smite: Lv 3, dmg: 15-70
Heal: Lv 2, Heal: 10-50
Derek regretted, that he wasn’t able to learn the spells, firebolt, frostbolt, and magic missile during the battle, but as long as there is an opportunity to watch a battle and use those spells he would eventually be able to learn it. Nonetheless, it was much more interesting to make spells.
Closing his eyes and recounting the battle he experience today. He tried to replicate the feeling of casting the spells he mimicked. The wind as bolt of pure mana fired at the target when he cast magic missile, the feeling of heat from the palm of his hands as it blazed through the air when he cast firebolt, the feeling of cold and the trail of fog as it flew through the air when he cast frostbolt.
Firebolt, fire and wind, frostbolt ice and wind, what makes ice...lack of heat... darkness. magic missile...light and wind.
Once he had all the components of the spell in his mind (feeling, sight, and sound) he proceed to make the spells.
*Tring
You learned the spell “Firebolt”
Dmg: 10-50 dmg
Mana: 40
Essence of fire increased to 30%
Essence of wind advanced to Lv 4, agi+1 dex+1
You failed to learn the spell “Icebolt.” A deeper understanding of the Essence of Darkness is required. For trying, essence of water increased to 23%, essence of darkness increased by 10%
You learned the spell “Magic missile.”
Dmg: 1-50 Extra damage can be dealt depending on where the missile hits
Being your first light spell essence of light increased by 1 level. Charisma+2, Luck+2.
I am not done yet.
Visualizing, multiple burst of fire in the form of missile he created a new spell.
*Tring
Combining the essence of fire with Magic Missiles you’ve created the spell, “Fire Missiles”
Dmg: 10-150
Mana: 80
Essence of fire increased to 60%
Essence of wind increased to 20%
Spellweaving increased to 40%
At last, an original spell, now all I have to is practice it enough so it can succeed more often.
Once that last spell was created he logged out and went to sleep. There will be even more work tomorrow.
******
The next day
“Enjoying the show?” A player on the top balcony in the training hall said to his friend.
“Yeah, either that person is a complete idiot or he enjoys setting himself on fire. This is 10th time in a row that his spell backfired and set him on fire.” Darren said
“Is that the same person that stole our kill yesterday?” Erin said
“Yup”
“Do you want revenge on him?”
“Nah, he is only lv 9 at the moment, and has crappy equipment. So there is no point killing him at all. Nonetheless, let add him to our hitlist; he might get something useful. He is only a mage anyways.”
“Oh look, he set himself on fire again.”
“...”
***
By setting yourself on fire consecutively your resistance to fire magic increased by 2%
Derek dropped to the ground and rolled to put out the fire. It only put out a little so he had to pull out his water skin and dowse himself again. He used the spell “Splash” to make sure that minimum amount of water was use to dowse his entire body.
Damn, I didn’t know the spell I made had such a high failure rate. What am I doing wrong?
He tried again, and again it set him on fire, but this time manage to fire a single fire missile.
Almost got it.
He tried to cast again but he was out of mana.
Time to work on my weapon skills. It is clear I can’t rely only on my spell casting skills.
He borrowed two wooden sword from the training hall and started practicing with them. The rate at which he earned stats from attacking the scarecrow decreased a lot past the 6 week point. Still he had to complete basic training so he can get a sword, a generous boost in health and be one of the limited number of people that passes basic training. Even though it was boring and repetitive task, the clear goal ahead gave him all the motivation required to get it done.
For the next week, right after work he would login to Royal Road, practice 12 in-game hours swinging his swords and practicing the spells he learned. He would spend the last 8 hours in-game hunting and doing simple quests.
Sometimes, Hans, Martin, and Dinas would be online and they would hunt together. With his current arsenal of spells, the party was able to defeat single wolves really fast, almost to the extent that, they are able to kill 3-4 of them at one time.
By the end of the first week Derek finally passed basic training. He gained 100 health, an iron sword, and the endurance stat which reduced the damage received by a percentage based on it. He also obtained the skills "dual-wielding"and "ambidexterity."
Dual wielding: Lv. 1
Increases the damage of the weapon in each hand by 5%
Passively increases dexterity by 5, agility by 5, and stamina by 75
Ambidexterity: Lv. 1
Increases the accuracy of all weapons by 10%
Increases the exp earned for performing complex task with each hand by 20%
Increases the success rate of weapon skills by 10%
Passively increases dexterity by 5
He also managed to get to Level 13.
Finally, after a total of 4 in-game weeks hitting the scarecrow I'm am ready for adventure.
"Stat Window"
Status WindowNameDerek SkylornPrimary ClassSpellweaverHealth780Mana520Level13Stamina245Health Regen/Sec1.2Mana Regen/Sec8.6Strength55Agility60Wisdom51Intelligence58Charisma2Vitality60Dexerity10Luck2Endurance5Perseverance2Attack12Defense6Fame20Accuracy10%Spell resistFire 15%, Water 7%, Wind 1%, Earth 1%, Light 3%, Dark 1%Undistributed points0
Derek was proud of his current stats. With his high int and less than average strength, and dexterity he is still limited to casting spells. But it was very good at his current level. The only thing missing was good equipment.
"Skill list, summary"
Spellweaving: Lv2, 70%
Essence of Fire: Lv5, 20% (bonus +30 health, 5 str)
Essence of Water: Lv4, 20% (bonus +20 Mana, 4 wis)
Essence of Earth: Lv4, 40% (bonus +20 Stamina, 5 vit)
Essence of Wind: Lv4, 40% (bonus +4 agi, +4 dex)
Essence of Light: Lv2, 60% (Bonus +2 cha, +2 luk)
Essence of Darkness: Lv1, 80% (Bonus +1 int, +1 perseverance)
Mimic: Lv2, 50%
Dual wielding: Lv. 1 (bonus +5 agi, +5 dex, +75 stamina)
Ambidexterity: Lv. 1 (bonus +5 dex, +accuracy +10%)
Identify: Lv. 1
Enchanting: Lv. 2 (bonus +2 int, +2 wis)
"Spell list"
Offensive spells
Firebolt: Lv. 3, Dmg: 20-90, Mana: 60 (Has a chance to set the target on fire)
Smite: Lv. 3, Dmg: 20-70, Mana: 55 (Does double damage to undead and can stun them for a few seconds)
Magic missile: Lv2, Dmg: 5-90, Mana: 40 (Can deal double damage if aimed at an critical area)
Fire missiles: Lv3, Dmg: 60-180, Mana: 100 (Current success rate at 40%, has a chance to set the target on fire)
Steam Spray: Lv1, Dmg: 1-20, Mana: 40
Defensive spells
Heal: Lv. 3 Restores 15-80 Health, Mana 70
Miscellaneous spells/spells in development
Growth: Lv 3, Mana: 40- (Can cause small plants to grow very fast)
Water Spray: Lv. 5, Mana: 40 (Can be used to instantly put out a fire if there is a water source nearby)
Float: Lv 2, Mana: 80/second (Causes a small breeze under the feet)
Spells/skills stored in Mimic skill. Mimic skill lv determines the level of the spell that can be remembered
Heal Lv 2, Heal 100-150, Mana cost: 100
Takedown Lv 2, Deal 50% of health as damage, deal 40% to self, Stamina cost: 150
Taunt Lv 2, Causes nearby targets to attack you, Stamina cost: 150
Blessing of might Lv 2, increase the defense and attack of an ally by 30, Mana cost: 150
Ray of Hope Lv 2, Removes a debuff from an ally, Mana cost: 200
The skill mimic can remember 5 more spells
Looking at his stats, Derek was very proud of the progress he made in the last two month in game. He felt ready for anything.
Before he was about to head out the instructor approached.
"Wait."
Derek turned around. The instructor was a middle aged male who had a broad build.
"I've seen your dedication to swordsmanship but I've also see you use magic as well. Are you planning to become a battlemage?”
“Yes, but I don’t plan on changing my primary class.” Derek replied
"You don't have to." He said, "I know someone who can train you in the optimal way to fight with both magic and weapons. Let me introduce him to you"
*Tring
You received the quest "Mage of War"
A retired mage lives somewhere in the Northern continent. If you meet him, you’ll be able to learn and improve your physical combat skills.
Quest reward: New skills, and combat experience
Quest difficulty: C
Quest duration: Unlimited
“He lives in a valley between the mountains, northwest of Morata, if you follow close to the mountain you should be able to find a cave that leads to where he live. As usual, there are monsters in the area so be careful.” The instructor said, “Also, take this letter to him and show it to him. He is usually reluctant to train new pupil, since most of them give up during the first few days of his training. If he knows that it is from me, he’ll assume you have the will to go through his training.”
“I am willing to do anything to become stronger.” Derek declared
You have accepted the quest
“I wish you the best of luck.” The instructor left and went back to training the soldier behind him.
Great, I can get private lessons from this guy and probably learn some combat skills. I can’t wait to share this with my friends. There's a cave there so this could be our first dungeon.
*Tring
You friend Dinas has come online
“Hey Dinas…”