Name:
Mark
Class:
Rogue
Level:
10->13
Experience:
26590/81920
MP:
24->32
SP:
48->60
Strength
20->25
Agility
30->39
Constitution
17->20
Intelligence
13->16
Skill:
Description
LVL
Novice Bow Mastery
Better handling of weapon: Bow
LVL 9 EXP 467/2560
Precise Shot
Slight correction of a fired arrow.
LVL 9 EXP 74/2560
Double Tap
Shoot two arrows at the same time, arrows will land very closely together.
LVL 6 EXP 53/320
*Charged Arrow*
You charge your arrow with more Energy allowing it to do much more damage. The arrow is destroyed.
LVL 1 EXP 8/10
Novice Dagger Mastery
Better handling of weapon: Dagger
LVL 9 EXP 1276/2560
Stab
Executes a powerful stab dealing much more damage.
LVL 9 EXP 776/2560
Stealth
You are thinning your presence, avoiding the awareness of other living beings.
LVL 8 EXP 1779/5120
Sprint
Run much faster.
LVL 6 EXP 153/320
Quick Step
Make an instantaneous step in any direction.
LVL 7 EXP 39/1280
Lie
Your ability to lie has become much better, unaware folks would almost always believe you.
LVL 2 EXP 3/20
Premonition ^UNIQUE^
You can sense incoming danger.
N/A
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Looking at his status sheet, Mark finally confirmed what happened on the clearing the previous day. It looks like gaining skills had much more to it than just standing in the shadow and gaining Stealth.
Though he was so accustomed to being in shadows he couldn’t think of what he did that attributed to him gaining the skill, unlike with the arrow, where he had to put conscious effort into manifesting it into being.
He also felt a fair bit of resistance from the energy then, but none when gaining stealth, truly strange. But if he were to take under consideration all the information he managed to gather up to now, he had a basic idea of how Skills formed. So far it had a lot to do with the intent and spending of energy.
If he was correct he could try gaining the Forest Stride skill without consulting Donny by willing himself to travel better and maybe sending energy throughout his body, if it didn’t work then too bad he would find a way to ask, while still experimenting on how to gain other skills.
He stood up and went to Donny’s room to wake him up, when he knocked he heard shuffling, and the doors opened, showing the boy fully ready for a day out. He would look ready for the challenges of the day, were it not for his red eyes, and big black bags under them.
The boy looked like he hasn’t slept a wink, Mark could understand it, after what happened to the boy, but he didn’t intend to be lenient to him.
Contrary, he intended to put the boy through a complete wringer, exhaust him to the point the kid’s body would shut off by itself. Very rarely would one have dreams after such strenuous exercise, he could have the boy sleep, and train him up a little at the same time, pure benefits.
“Come on, we are going to the guard station, to report what happened, we will also get you your Association Token, so you can take on missions, after that I will check how you do with that bow, and then we train, can’t have you looking like a scrawny stick when you are going to work for me.”
“Ok, we can go boss, I already have everything”
Mark didn't react much, he was used to being called boss, and it was much better than being called sir in his opinion.
They walked down the stairs, so early in the morning there was no one in the main hall, even Joe looked like he has just woken up, behind the bar. Just waving to him, Mark led Donny out of the building.
On the streets, they could see a couple of early riser farmers setting up stalls to sell their produce, and a few women walking to the river. At this time there were no children, who would usually run around loudly, screaming and giving the streets some liveliness.
The town looked incredibly peaceful, so much so, that you could almost forget that bloodthirsty bandits waited just outside the walls. It was a grim testament to how little you could care about other people when you were safe yourself.
Walking over to the big stone buildings near the gate, when he was a couple of meters away, a guard near the door saw him coming and became more alert. “What do you guys need?”
“We have something to report, it’s regarding the Stranglers.”
The guard's eyes widened a little, then hardened, his jaw clenched, Mark could see, that just the name itself was enough to bring out the rage in the guards of Pharia. The guard quickly calmed himself, feeling the gazes of the two young men.
“Very well, I will take you to the Sergeant.”
The guard turned, opened the door, and motioned for them to follow him inside. This time Mark was led deeper into the building, passing a couple of doors left and right. Finally, they arrived at a T-shaped fork in the corridor, the guard turned left and knocked on the doors immediately to the left.
“Come in”
From the room came a deep but very clearly feminine voice. Hearing that the guard opened the door and let Mark and Donny walk in first, then he stood at the door, reporting the situation to the woman sitting behind the desk.
“Sergeant, those two young men say they have a report regarding the Stranglers' situation.”
The woman who until this point looked pretty bored, not even bothering to rise her head from the papers on her desk stopped. She lightly dropped the papers on the desk and looked up. Mark could now see what the woman looked like.
She was about 40 or 45 years old, with short brown hair and deep brown eyes. Her jawline was well pronounced, her shoulders broad, and she had a fair bit of muscle on her arms. She had more muscle than Mark, though he had more of a slim build, like a swimmer’s, it was still impressive.
She was tall, he could tell even with her sitting down. All in all, she was one big woman.
“Very well, you can go back to your post, Peet”
“Yes, Sergeant!”
The young guard, Peet, went out and closed the doors, they could hear his footsteps moving away. After a couple of seconds of silence, the woman pointed the two to a couple of chairs placed before her desk.
“You two can have a seat. My name is Sarah, tell me what is the situation you have to report? What happened?”
While she was asking, her attention was drawn to the younger boy, with clear tear marks on his eyes and the bags underneath, she could kind of tell what the report was about. She was pained, they were trying to locate the bandits all this time, but no matter who they sent, they never came back.
While the Stranglers still, pillaged, robbed, and raped every house and caravan they could get their hands on outside of Pharia’s walls. They were powerless, but they couldn’t just keep sending out people to die. Even sending full regiments of guards didn't do much, they always came back empty-handed. They could only wait and see if any of the adventurers were able to find the location of the bandit hideout. While she was looking at Donny, Mark started his report.
“Yesterday near evening a group of bandits attacked the farm Donny here was living at. They… killed his mother and little sister, I was too late to help the women, but managed to save the boy and kill the bandits.”
The sergeant sighed heavily, she knew it could not have been good news, but she hoped it was just robbery, but it would seem the Stranglers were becoming crazed, at the start it was just robberies, but now, there were more and more deaths.
She was about to console the boy thinking that it was it for the report but she was shocked to hear what Mark said immediately after.
“I had the boy go to town while I tried to find their hideout. In the end, I managed to follow another group and found a ravine in the forest, about two hours way southeast of here."
“What?! How did you follow them? What does the hideout look like? How many of them are there?”
Astonished the woman belted out question after question. They never had anyone gather such valuable information on the Stranglers, she was practically ready to shake the words out of Mark’s mouth with force.
“Calm, down a little, not all at the same time”
Hearing this the woman reddened a little, embarrassed at the loss of her cool in such a situation. She cleared her throat, and relaxed a little, sitting back in the chair that creaked softly under the pressure.
“Ok, first how did you follow them, not one of our scouts ever came back”
“Well it is understandable, from what I managed to deduce, all their raid groups have an independent rogue following them, making sure they don’t have a tail, they are pretty good at Stealth, almost didn’t find the one responsible for the group I was following, but with her, out of the picture it was easy enough to follow them to their base."
Sarah was saddened, if they knew this earlier they wouldn’t send any men at all, there were very few people within their ranks who could see through high-level Stealth, and that too almost all of them were at officer ranks, and would never be sent on such tasks.
In that manner, Mark told Sarah all the details about the base. He was considering not revealing it at first, knowing that the guards would want to raid the base, which would minimize his contributions in getting rid of the bandits, as well as the number of them that he could kill for the reward. But in the end, he couldn’t do it.
Every day he delayed more people could die, He was no longer a tool, no longer a bodyguard, in his last life he couldn’t care less about a couple of people’s lives, all that mattered was the mission. But here, there was no one to take the blame for giving him orders, here he was living completely for himself, and was completely responsible for his doings.
That’s why he would try his best to live a good life in this world, he wouldn't be a savior, no one besides his Young Miss had enough energy to save the whole world. But he would try to help where he could.