On the fourth week in game, Rion received an interesting message in addition to the usual.
Strength increased by 1 point. (+1 STR)Fame increased by 10 points. (+10 FAME)Health increased by 100 points. (+100 HP)
Fame. A valuable stat. Fame would help a user in the long run, being able to get discounts in shops and NPCs favoring you the higher the stat. It could mean the difference between a good weapon or a great weapon, and the difference between a normal quest and a hidden quest.
The instructor approached Rion.
"Congratulations. You have trained as much as you could in the Training Hall. You are the 3,804th person to finish the basic training program. You completed it just as fast as Weed-nim."
"Weed?"
"The boy over there." The instructor pointed at the boy who was humiliated by her friends.
The instructor pulled out a sword. "This sword is awarded to anyone who completes the program. Take it."
"Item Stat Window!"
Hard Iron Sword: Durability 54/54
Damage: 10-14
Awarded to those who completed the Basic Training Program. This widely-used long sword is better than basic-type weapons that are available in a blacksmith's workshop.
Equip: +10 STR
Limits: STR 40+, VIT 35+
Unfortunately, Rion could not use the sword as she did not have 40 strength.
"With players like you, this could mean a new golden age for swords." The instructor looked pleased.
As Rion walked out, a message appeared. It was a whisper from her friend, Minix.
Sender: Minix
Come to where the foxes are! It's hunting season.
Foxes. One of the monsters that beginning who finished their four weeks preyed upon. Foxes gave a good amount of exp in the low levels, but were very difficult for players to solo. As such, a player usually formed a part with other people.
As soon as Rion approached the hunting ground, a flock of users closed in on her.
"Do you want to join our party?"
"I'm a Level 10 Monk"
"We have a part of four, a mage, a cleric, an archer, and a monk, all Level 5."
"Please, we need a front line."
A hand suddenly pulled Rion away from the crowd.
Minix dragged Rion to Plase, who was counting her japtem.
"When were you little miss popular?"
"Um..."
Plase pointed as Rion's sword. Minix looked at it in awe.
"That is a pretty cool sword. What are the stats on it?"
The sword was likely the reason why players wanted Rion in their party. A sword with different aesthetics than a normal one was usually super rare and extremely powerful, and a player with one could hunt much faster than most.
"5-8 damage."
Minix looked disappointed.
"So it's just a cool looking sword huh."
Plase got up from the rock she was sitting on and put all the japtem away. She picked up her staff and stared at Minix and Rion.
Minix looked at Plase and changed the subject.
"Let's hunt together Jae Hwa. I'm a Level 3 archer and Soo Min is a Level 3 mage. What are you?"
"A Level 1 warrior."
"You won't be as much use right now, but you can do as the front line. It'll get better when you level up."
And so the three began hunting foxes. Rion drew out two foxes and provoked them, while Minix and Plase slowly lowered the HP of the foxes.
It was unfortunate that neither of the three chose to be a priest. Rion did not have the money to buy potions, and as such when she lost HP, she had to rest to replenish it.
After killing the two foxes, Rion leveled up. All stat points were pushed into agility.
Although she could not increase her strength, agility would supplement any strength she had. Each agility increased her attack speed and chance to deal a fatal blow, not to mention it would be easier to dodge attacks.
Rion immediately felt the benefits from the agility. Luring a single fox, Rion skipped around light-footed. She could dodge slightly more attacks from the fox than before, and the fox died quicker from Rion's relentless assault.
When Rion hit Level 5, the hunt revved up. Rion could handle several more foxes at once, Minix had gained the skill piercing shots, and Plase got a passive splash damage on her fireball.
A horde of 10 foxes was spotted, and Rion lured all of them. Because she was dodging and hitting by running around the foxes, it was inevitable to be hit by Plase's splash damage and Minix's piercing shot. Rion's HP dropped to a shockingly low 70 HP after all the foxes had died.
At this point, Rion leveled to 6, while Minix and Plase hit 7. They took a rest, with their HP and Mana too low to continue.
"This sure goes faster with you Rion. We don't have to lure out foxes one at a time, which took forever! Plus, look at all this japtem and fox meat we can sell!"
Rion stared at the sky. There was a cloud that looked like it had a shadow on it. Was that a glitch?
A quest suddenly appeared.
Boss Battle: Yurin the Fox
The mother fox has sought out the ones who have killed her children. Enraged, there is no turning back against a fight. Prepare yourself.
Difficulty Level: F
Reward: +10 FAME
This quest cannot be denied. Quest will fail upon death.
The three girls jumped in unison. The sky faded to a dark blue and everything became eerily silent. Suddenly, a large rustling was heard from the trees, and out came a monstrously huge fox.
"T-th-that's a BIG fox." stuttered Minix.
Rion and Plase grabbed their weapons and prepared themselves for a hard fight. After all, why else would a quest suddenly pop up for a single monster?
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"I'll distract it. You two hit it as many times as you can." Rion shouted.
Rion rushed at the mother fox and the fox roared. Minix and Plase shot the fox as many times as they could in succession.
As Rion dodged the slow attacks from the fox, she noticed how quickly the fox's HP was dropping.
Doesn't seem as hard as I thought.
What she didn't suspect was that the true power of the fox was still latent. When Rion dealt the final blow to the mother fox, the fox did not collapse. Instead, it turned red, and its HP shot back to 100%.
"What's going on right now!" shouted Minix.
Everyone was confused at this point. Didn't they just kill the fox?
There was no time to think, the fox leaped at Rion. Rion tried to dodge the attack, but this time the fox was too fast. Rion could still dodge some of the attacks, but the mother fox was exponentially faster.
Rion noticed something very strange. When Minix and Plase had to rest a little to restore their mana or reload their quiver, the damage her sword did was zero. The fox went unflinched against her attacks and the fox's HP did not drop a point. Rion had to retreat. She simply could not do anything to the fox, and fighting it would kill her, as at this point Rion had less than 100 HP.
As for Minix and Plase, the damage from their attacks also lessened, but not to the extent where it did no damage.
When the fox had hit 50% HP, which took much longer than the initial 100%, the fox roared again. This time, the fox turned black.
"Oh no, what's it going to do this time." groaned Minix.
As if the fox suddenly grew a brain, instead of going for Rion who was fully dedicated to running away, it leapt at Plase, who was the only one at the time dealing damage.
Plase's HP instantly dropped to 50, and, scared for her life, ran.
"Hey over here you ugly fox!" said Minix as she hit the fox in the leg.
The fox jumped at Minix and ferociously bit her. Minix's HP diminished all the way to 0, and was fading away.
When a character dies in Royal Road, heavy penalties occur. A level is lost, and the stats gained by that level are also removed. Skill experience also diminishes greatly, but the biggest penalty is the 24 hour realtime ban from the game.
To the three girls, the time ban did not matter, they had other things to do besides play the game all day. But the level and skill experience had to be regained, which took even more time out of their hands.
The mother fox turned towards Plase, who turned, looked at the fox in terror, and tripped.
"No..." Rion said weakly, thrusting out her hand at the fox. She simply couldn't do anything at all. Feelings of anger and anguish welled up inside her.
You have cased Mana Bolt.
-5 MP
New Skill: Mana BoltThe precursor to today's known magic.
Damage is equal to the amount of mana used.
Mana usage can be adjusted from 1 to 10.
The fox turned around, hit by the Mana Bolt. It ran towards Rion with the intent to kill.
Rion's heart stopped. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.
The impact never happened. When Rion opened her eyes, she saw Plase weakly holding up her staff and the mother fox running back towards Plase. Rion once again casted Mana Bolt towards the fox, and the fox turned around and started running back at her.
Rion yelled as loud as she could.
"The fox reacts to the last hit. Hit it right before it reaches me!"
Plase nodded.
After about two hours, the fox was defeated. By casting one ranged attack after the other person casts theirs, the fox was running laps. Rion and Plase let the fox get as close as possible before striking it so they could maximize their mana regeneration.
Quest Completed+10 FAME
You have leveled up.You have leveled up.You have leveled up.
Three levels and ten fame seemed far too little for what the two had gone through. However, the real reward came from the items the mother fox had dropped. Rion hopped in anticipation.
Rion looked at the items
An egg, a book, and a quiver.
"Identify!"
Unhatched Egg
A mysterious egg. What could be inside?
Alvadd's Knowledge
Filled to the brim with arcane knowledge. Seems to only be the basic of the basics.
Use: +20 INT
Mechanical Automatic Quiver
A quiver designed with long-forgotten technology.
+80% Attack Speed
+5 Dexterity
Since Minix was the archer, she of course got the best item dropped, the quiver. Rion and Plase decided that Plase would take the book, as Rion did not need the intelligence stat at all the Plase heavily relied on the stat. So of course, the last item, the egg, went to Rion. The egg looked completely useless.
The egg looked like japtem, felt like japtem, so what could it be but japtem?