“Dragoons, much like their sister class, Sentinel, combine high HP and strong defensive stats. But trade some of this tankiness for mobility in the form of a mount that augments their defensive or offensive abilities. A Sentinel can hold an objective for your party, a Dragoon will claim it for you.”— Annwyn Online Players’ Guide.
The Territories of Rielle. Day 01.
Saiph and Nix settled into a fast, yet comfortable pace that followed the stream near their spawn point southward in the direction of its flow. They hadn’t gone far before Saiph was suddenly flooded with a rush of energy as his heath points increased by two thousand points.
Saiph pulled the reins of the mount Nix had summoned for him and slowed the large war horse to a stop.
Nix stopped ahead of Saiph and glanced over his shoulder. “What’s up? Why are we stopping?”
Stalwart Protector, a passive spell of Saiph’s had been triggered. It was set off by a hostile enemy stepping into the spell’s detection radius while near a friendly ally. Two thousand was the minimum amount of health he’d receive, which meant whatever had triggered it likely wasn’t all that strong. It’d still make a good opportunity to see what this body can do, Saiph thought.
“Enemy ahead triggered one of my passives. If it works like in the game, it’s actively attacking something.”
“Any idea where?” Nix asked.
Stalwart Protector had a maximum detection radius of about 200 yards. Unfortunately the spell didn’t tell him where in that 80 acre circle the enemy was.
Nix quickly pulled his grimoire from his belt and flipped through the pages. “I think I can help with that.”
A small green disc about the size of a basketball opened up above their heads and a large white hawk swooped out of the tear in reality. The bird took off, flying in ever wider arcs above them until it was a speck against the blue sky and clouds.
Nix’s eyes began to glow a soft white. After a couple seconds, they returned to their normal purple irises with dark blue sclera and he looked up.
“Twenty or so goblins to the west coming from the south. They’re heading north, pretty much parallel to us. They’re definitely chasing something, but I can’t see what.”
“Then let’s go. Take us wide so we can cut them off.” Saiph spurred Liath Macha to move and let Nix lead them.
Goblins were monsters said to have been created by the losing side of a war that happened some centuries before Annwyn Online took place. They were the manifestation of a hatred for the living and as far as Saiph was concerned, they were doing this world a favor by keeping their numbers in check.
The pair dismounted when they intercepted the path the thing the goblins had been chasing would run through. It turned out to be a large dog with shaggy brown fur. It plowed into Nix, knocking him over. Its eyes were wide with terror and a gash ran along the length of its left foreleg that was caked with dried blood.
The goblins had been a ways behind the dog and they slowed to a walking pace, giving Saiph a good look at them. Their skin ranged from a pale white to a deep grey, all tinged with a bit of purple. Their eyes were bloodshot with small black dots for pupils. There was a roughly even mix of male and female and those not wearing mismatched armor were dressed in shredded, dirt-stained rags that didn’t cover much. The largest among them wore almost a complete set of light chainmail and held a large, ugly mace coated in blood.
That one was Saiph’s target.
“Yo, ugly!” Saiph bellowed from their hiding place.
The goblins froze in their tracks and started chattering to each other. The big goblin bellowed something unintelligible and the goblins scattered. Those wielding bows and arrows scrambled up the trees like squirrels.
Saiph slipped on his helmet and the world took on a purple tint through his visor. The obstruction his helmet caused disappeared a second later, leaving him with the full field of view he’d had without wearing it.
Saiph summoned his hammer, Mil’s Judgement, and his heads up display shifted and rearranged itself, switching to a combat view. The large goblin’s stats appeared in the upper right corner of his field of view and he cast Dragon Charge.
Flames roared around Saiph’s body as he was magically propelled forward. He connected with the brute of a goblin, which let out shrieks of surprised terror. They traveled as one until they hit a tree, the force of the impact uprooting it and bending it backward.
The goblin had fared far worse than the tree. Its lifeless body crumpled to the ground, reduced to a bloodied pulp inside its now heavily smashed armor.
The action had been far more gory than Saiph had expected. Blood stained his visor and he fought to keep from throwing up inside his helmet. Annwyn Online had never shown the real results of a sword swing or other violent act. That definitely wasn’t the case now.
The plinking of arrows and swords off his armor pulled Saiph back to the world around him. The average level of the goblins around him was in the mid teens. Their attacks weren’t even the suggestion of a threat and were more a minor annoyance like someone poking him really hard with their finger.
At level one hundred, it was like he had brought a naval destroyer to a water gun fight. He took half-hearted swings at the goblins, more to keep them from swarming him and possibly knocking him over than a real attempt at violence.
Nix raised his staff above his head and a purple and black swirl of mana emanated from the green crystal at its tip. The earth rumbled as five mounds of dirt rose up at his feet.
Ten bony hands poked out from the dirt piles and five skeletons heaved themselves from the earth. Their bones were pitch black and sockets which would have held eyes had only red flickers of light.
If the word “jacked” could ever apply to a skeleton, then Nix’s fit the bill. Each stood just over six feet tall and wore rusted plate armor with straps that floated inches away from bone, hinting at the large muscles they’d had in life.
With weapons raised, the skeletons charged into the fray.
Their skirmish ended as quickly as it had begun. Their difference in levels made the fight a foregone conclusion. Half the bodies lying on the ground had small purple orbs floating next to them. Loot caches; they were a familiar and welcome relic from Annwyn Online.
Saiph bent down beside one of them and touched it. The orb popped like a bubble and a piece of armor fell on the ground.
The pair went to work checking the caches. When they finished, they’d collected a fair amount of personal items; a comb, a few pieces of kitchenware, some armor, and other knick knacks.
Nix dropped the last item he’d found into his back of holding. “A friendly dog, a bunch of random items you’d find in a home or a blacksmith… You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Village nearby.” Saiph scratched his head. “But it doesn’t make sense, there wasn’t a village this far from Orleana in the game. We’d have passed it when we fought Reynardine.”
“I’m thinking we let the dog lead us.” Nix summoned a life wisp that floated around the dog, pulsing a soft yellow light that began healing the animal’s injuries. “If gobs got to it, hopefully there’s a village left for him to lead us to.”
“Yeah. But let me get cleaned up first. Fighting turned out to be a lot messier than I’d thought.”
Nix placed his grimoire back on his belt and gave a disgusted sniff. “I’m so glad I’m ranged.”
“Trust me, it smells as gross as it looks. You have anything I can wash it off with?”
Nix reached into his bag and pulled out several large sheets of cloth. He walked up to Saiph, took a sniff, then stepped back and dropped the cloth on the ground.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Most of the blood and other mess he’d gotten covered with had dried and caked to the armor. Saiph tried wiping it off with the river water, but he only succeeded in smearing it. Figuring keeping clean would be an uphill battle he’d lose, Saiph put his helmet back on and rejoined Nix and the dog.
The sun hung low in the sky when the forest finally opened up into grass-covered plains with soft, gently rolling hills marred only by the occasional shrub that dared grow out in the open.
Saiph had to stop and check his map several times. It showed they were still heading southwest, but when he tried to use the sun as a guide, he kept wanting to move in the opposite direction. It was only after he’d given up and decided to trust his map that Sam made the observation that the sun was setting in the wrong direction.
Nix stopped and pointed to a lone rock on the ground. “The shadows are wrong, I was wondering what’s been bothering me all day.”
“You’re right. Sun setting in the east is going to take some getting used to. It’s just so… Alien.”
A village crept over the horizon and the dog took off in a sprint, forcing Saiph and Nix to hurry after it.
The village was surrounded by walls of wood and stone so high, the rooftops beyond them were well hidden. Guard towers were positioned every fifty yards or so and the feeling that archers hidden inside them had bows trained on him and Nix long before he realized they were there made his skin crawl. He quickly took off his helmet and gave what he hoped was his least threatening smile.
Two guards exited from a small shack beside the village’s main gate; one an older grizzled man with greying hair and the other carrying a writing board who looked to be about Saiph’s age back on earth, mid twenties at most. The younger man was carrying a writing board with some paper on it.
Both men stopped, their faces turning severe. The older man placed his hand lightly on the pommel of his sword. The reaction, Saiph realized, was caused by the blood coating his armor.
“The blood belongs to some goblins we killed to the north of here.” He said when the men were within earshot.
The older man stopped and studied Saiph, his eyes slowly rolling over his entire body. “It is too dark to be human. But I know that insignia on your chestplate. So what if you’ve killed a few goblins, you’re not looking to cause any trouble by claiming to be a Guardian, are you? This village has no fools and there are guards here who could threaten even someone of your level.”
Of course he wore his guild’s insignia; a golden snowflake with a silver compass laid on top of it, the only letter on the compass being a white “N” and the word “Remembers” written along the bottom in a bold, gold font. How did a village he’d never heard of know about his guild?
"I wear it because I am the leader of that guild. I am the Sword of Giants, Saiph." He projected his most heroic voice.
That only earned a scoff from Nix behind his back, but the guard studied Saiph even harder.
“That would make you level—”
“One hundred, yes,” Saiph took Mil’s Judgement from his back mount and set it on the ground and took several steps back. He gestured for the older man to inspect it.
The man stepped up to the weapon and rested a hand on it. His eyes went wide in understanding.
Saiph held out a hand and the hammer flew back to him. “I changed my looks a while back. The dreadlocks and beard are new and you’d probably recognize me in red, black, and gold armor; our guild’s colors.”
“We’re honored to have two Guardians visit our village. My name is Mikel, the boy’s name is Arin.” His tone had gone from one of grave suspicion to something like reverence. The question marks beside Mikel’s level, twenty-four, resolved into his name. “We have to be careful. It’s not uncommon for grifters to pass through swindling people of their money. What brings you here? We’ve never had a Guardian visit Firestone before.”
“We completed a quest to slay Reynardine a while back and we’re heading to Orleana to turn it in.” Saiph left out the whole interdimensional travel bit. He figured that might be a bit above what these guards were used to dealing with.
“So that was you two? We issued that quest months ago. The damned beast kept messing with the farmers’ livestock. It was too crafty for any of us to deal with. It hadn’t bothered anyone in a while and we weren’t notified of the quest being closed. We figured it had either moved on or got it from something else. I think everyone will be happy to know the beast’s final fate.”
“We’d appreciate it if the entire village didn’t know we were here,” Saiph said quickly. “We’re in a bit of a hurry and don’t have time to tell stories.”
“It’s not our place to tell folks your business, but with the way you’re dressed and your high levels, it’ll only take one or two people over level thirty to figure out who you are.” Mikel gestured to Arin and his ledger. “We still have to record the names of all who pass through our gates, however.”
Bureaucracy was a powerful force in any land, time, or space, it seemed. Saiph and Nix signed their names on Arin’s clipboard.
“Oh, before we go, this might help you prove Reynardine’s dead.” Saiph pulled a small black claw from his bag.
Item: Claw of Reynardine
Type: Quest Item
Rarity: Unusual
Description: This claw once belonged to the werefox Reynardine. While it no longer has any ambient magic left in it, the claw can be turned in to the Guildhall in Orleana as proof of completion of the quest “Slay Reynardine.”
Mikel inspected the item, then handed the claw back. “We really do appreciate you dealing with the beast, but you’ll have to go to Orleana to receive the gold reward.”
“We don’t do quests for the gold, besides, I have three more claws.” Saiph had amassed a fortune in his ten years of gameplay.
Outside of the merchant guilds that manipulated the markets to make their profits, his guild was one of the wealthiest in the game. He thought it a little ironic that what had likely been a massive pain in the ass for this village had simply been a time sink for him.
“Even so, you’ll save us time by closing out the quest yourselves. We’d have to send a guard to formally close it.”
“We can do that.” Saiph placed the claw back in his bag. While rummaging through it, he remembered the personal items he and Nix had recovered from the bodies of the goblins along their way here. He took a rusty helmet from his bag. A crest had been stamped into the helmet matching that on Mikel’s armor. “Would you happen to know anything about this?”
“Yes, a small party of goblins got into the barracks a few weeks ago. Nothing too bad, but they made off with some of the other guards’ stuff. You didn’t happen to find anything else, did you?”
Saiph and Nix set the items they found on the ground and Mikel went through them. “
The other guards will be happy to have their things back. Stop by Sylas' Tavern. It’s in the center of town, you can’t miss it. Tell him your meals are on the guard.”
At the exact moment Mikel finished his words, both Saiph and Nix received a prompt saying they completed the hidden quest. The XP reward was modest, only a few hundred, but it listed the free meal as one of the other rewards. The interaction made Saiph wonder just how the universe knew this quest existed. He decided not to pursue the “chicken or the egg” question it presented and just thanked the universe for rewarding him.
Saiph and Nix thanked the two guards and walked through the village gates. Dozens of people milled about, having conversations with each other while children played in the streets as animal-drawn wagons rolled by. Everyone seemed to stop and take notice of the armored warrior and the mage in robes.
A girl and a boy stopped their duel with stick weapons and gave both men waves as they walked by. Saipoh pulled his hammer from its mount and held it above his head in a salute. The kids returned the gesture, waving their sticks with big grins on their faces before disappearing into an alley.
From the whispers he could hear, no one called either man a Guardian, but adventurers. It answered a question Saiph had had. Everyone he passed was under level thirty and only those who were at level thirty or above would be able to tell he was above level forty. Aside from levels, there must be no immediately identifying feature that singled the two men out as not from this world.
The two came upon the tavern Mikel had mentioned. The outside of the building was a smooth stone and wood construction with a cobblestone foundation that peeked through parts of the dirt surrounding it. Portions of the walls had been repainted and there were various signs of other small repairs going on.
Saiph stopped at the door and glanced down at his blood-stained armor. He went through his inventory and unequipped the armor, leaving only a simple black tunic and pants in their place. He would have to figure something out to get the armor clean.
But that was a battle for later. He pushed open the tavern doors and was met immediately with the savory scent of roasting meat.
The two made their way to a booth in the corner and while there wasn’t a menu he could look at, Saiph knew he wanted whatever was making the room smell so good.
A server came up to them and they placed their orders. When she left, Saiph’s eyes wandered around the room. He watched a young couple, likely only just entering their mid teens, laugh and joke with each other. Both of them had that mix of nervousness and joy plastered on their faces that reminded him of his first date with Riley almost eight years ago. As his mind went to her, he reached for his necklace and cursed under his breath when he didn’t feel it under his tunic.
A tap on the table pulled Saiph back to the present. His food had been set before him.
Nix was giving him an impatient look. “You spaced out, everything alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good, I—” Saiph stopped.
There was a woman sitting at a table not far from them. There was no mistaking what she was. Her red cloak with ornate gold stitching, white and gold compound bow leaning up against her table, and bright, golden hair made her stick out amid the muted earthy tones inside the inn. That woman had to be another player. Saiph tried to focus and view her level, but he couldn’t get her status information to appear.
Saiph pointed the woman out to Nix, but when he turned around to see her, the woman was gone.
“You know, Coffee Girl had blonde hair. Maybe your mind is trying to tell you to ask her out when we get home. Though you might want to consider stat dumping into Charisma for a few levels before then…”
Saiph rolled his eyes. “Charisma isn’t even a stat in this game and I doubt we’ll somehow keep our stats if we make it back to earth even if it was.”
“Guess you're screwed,” Nix looked stricken for a moment, then shrugged and picked up a piece of bread.
The entire tavern suddenly went quiet. Saiph turned to where everyone else was looking and saw three guards, one of them Mikel, standing in the doorway. He had a severe look on his face as he moved quickly to the bartender. He beckoned for the bartender and whispered something in his ear that made the man’s skin go pale.
The bartender moved around the counter and walked with the guards towards the door.
Saiph’s eyes locked with Mikel and he waved a hand. “Is something wrong?”
Mikel’s expression was grim. “A goliath huntsman attacked Sylas' son’s caravan on the road south of here. His son’s wife is here, but he and the driver are still missing.”
Saiph rose from his seat and felt the sudden surge in power from his armor’s enchantments as they appeared over his tunic. “It’s a Guardian’s duty to help. Tell us where we’re going.”