Chapter 7
Allies and enemies
Crane ran to the north of Yarsan and waited on the road for two days. He doubted he could make it back to Yarsan before Dessen's men, and he had a distinct feeling that they would be waiting for him to get revenge. Crane had to get back into the city without running into them so he waited for a caravan like the one he saw on his first day in royal road. Crane hid in the tail end and followed it all the way to Yarsan. Once again after it entered the gates it split into a big group that continued into the Central ring and a small group that went to the shopping district. This time Crane followed the large group since it was the same direction as the base. However to Crane's surprise, the caravan continued from the Central ring into the base. Crane showed his military pass at the gate and said,
"Where do all those supplies go?"
The guard answered, "To the top, there is a passage from the base to the top of the cliff where the nobles live, all these supplies go to them."
Crane continued into the base and found his way to Owens' study.
"Reporting back sir, the people of Surrol are all safe."
Owens glanced at him and said, "Those nobleman are looking for you, they said they cannot file the incident report until you are found, the higher ups have commanded that you be brought to them immediately upon your return. Why would they need you before they can turn in their report?"
"That doesn't mean I cannot turn in my own report. I have it here and a few copies you can hand out to the commanders and anyone who asks for it, all the details are inside."
Crane handed Owen the stack of identical folders he had spent a few hours writing while he waited for the caravan. Owen took his time reading the report thoroughly and said, "I can't believe it, is this really what happened?"
Crane answered, "Please hand those out to the higher ups sooner rather than later."
Owens nodded and said, "Very well, dismissed."
Ding*
Quest Completed: Surrol Liberation
The people of Surrol are safe without a single casualty
Reward: Nothing
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
Crane gained two levels for completing a D ranked mission but nothing else. This quest reward was based off contributions measured by the infamy of the criminals he killed. Now Crane knew why Tensford wasn't upset that Crane killed one of his men, the poor guy must've been a small fry with little to no infamy.
Crane distributed his stats entirely to Vitality. Since he couldn't add stats to Perseverance, the stat that determined stamina he added it to the next best thing. Hopefully next time he was running with a group of powerful warriors Crane didn't wouldn't to be left behind.
Crane had one more copy of his report in hand and walked to his room, where he saw Barrows in the hall with his sword drawn. He gave Crane a glare that said 'Don't test me,' and then said, "Come with me." Barrows lead Crane to another part of the base where he had never been before and into a large room. It looked like Owens' study but larger, and filled with more expensive items. From a shelf in the corner came Dessen, looking at Crane with the face of an ogre. He took the folder out of his hand and lifted Crane into the air by his collar and slammed him into a wall. "Where is my gold you lowborn foreigner?!"
"With the criminals Captain, in exchange for the safe release the hostages of course."
Dessen slammed his back into the wall once more. This time was hard enough that Crane lost a quarter of his health. Dessen lifted the folder in his hand and said, "Now listen here, I am going to tell you what happened, and you are going to report that it happened, you understand me?"
"Yes Captain, I shall inform Owens that I must edit the reports I gave him."
Dessen's eye's grew if possible, darker, and said, "Edit? You have turned in a report?!"
"Yes Captain, I made several copies as well and gave them to my commander Owens when I returned. He said he will give the copies out for me, so I returned to my room with my last copy."
Dessen looked at Barrows and said, "He already saw Owens?!"
Barrows turned to avoid eye contact, the shame clear in his features. Dessen pressed Crane against the wall again, threw him at the floor of his office, and opened up the folder. Crane could see his eyes widen and narrow as he read over the file. He must've been more surprised by its contents than Owens was. Crane made a report that did not include a single thing Dessen had done or planed to do.
Quest Report by Crane
Made camp west of Turrol
Captain Dessen went over plan
Two hours before sundown Barrows given ransom money.
Ordered to give to gang leader
I ordered to go with him
Captain stationed men at edge of village for immediate response in case mission went south
Barrows met with leader and I was taken to where villagers kept
Barrows gave money to leader, returned to Captain
I helped with release of prisoners, and informed them of who they were saved by
Captain and his men watched criminals leave village to make sure they did not go back on their word
After sundown Captain returned to Turrol where he met the village elder who expressed his deepest gratitude.
According to the report, Dessen gave the criminals the gold as he was ordered to, but did nothing special. For this he would receive nothing but experience, just like Crane had. If Dessen's plan had gone through, the criminals would have killed the villagers, increased their own infamy, which in turn would increase the fame the Captain and his men would obtain from killing them. Although this report did not incriminate him, it did nothing for him either.
Dessen walked over to Crane who had stood up since Dessen began reading and grabbed him by the hair. "You have made some powerful enemies, you will pay for this."
At that moment a large amount of bells started to ring throughout the base. Dessen looked around to see the source of the noise. A bell in the corner of his room with a string attached to it through the wall was swinging back and forth. Dessen threw Crane out his door by Crane's hair and slammed it shut. The bells in the hallway and likely in every single room in the base were ringing. Crane had seen them before, but never saw them in use. He ran to Owen's room, and met him as he was coming out the door. "Sir, what is going on?" "An army must've been spotted heading to Yarsan, we're heading to battle, get ready, you're expected on the front lines."
Defend Yarsan
An army is heading for Yarsan, fight with the soldiers of Yarsan against the enemy.
Difficulty: Unknown
Cannot refuse quest if a member of Yarsan Army
Reward based on contribution to victory
Quest fails if Yarsan falls
Crane headed out to the west edge of the Central ring to see the Mural of Magni. There was a long line of soldiers going up the stairs, and Crane actually saw that at the entrance to the stairs leading to the viewing platform was a priest with a collection box. Crane didn't have time to stand in line or pay a 'donation,' so he went under the platform and climbed the scaffolding. He looked out over the courtyard.
You have seen the Mural of MagniStrength +15
Stamina +15
Vitality +15
Fighting Spirit + 15
For a day
The first time Crane had seen the mural he did not have fighting spirit so he did not receive a bonus from it. He climbed back down and ran for the gate. Along the way he could see shops and buildings closing up their windows and barring their doors. Crane passed the outer city wall, where he saw a hundred of archers stationed.
Crane was not apart of any specific unit. He was told he had transferred to Owens' unit, but he later discovered that the finesse skill was exceptionally rare, and his fellow would-be fencers had all been sent out by Owen on quests, just like Owens had been doing to him. Crane may have been the only warrior in the entire battlefront with the finesse stat, but that did not matter. Crane decided that no unit meant no limits, meaning he could fight however he wanted. This was going to be his first large scale conflict, and he wanted to enjoy it.
But there was something else Crane had to do. He had only been in a single fight since Owens told him the hint to finesse and he did not try it out then. There was still time till whatever army was coming had arrived and Crane needed to figure out the source of power behind finesse, and how it related to the mental half of routines. Why did routines make a fencer stronger. Crane had tried several times to remember what he had done in the Burrower's lair that lead him to get an finesse stat of 75, but he was in a different frame of mind then, and couldn't remember what happened. Crane was convinced that if he could experience a difficult battle he could relive that moment and remember what happened.
A dust cloud was rising at the distance and heading for Yarsan, Crane could not yet see the enemy, but knew they won’t be there in minutes. Dust doesn't come up when walking, only running. As they got closer, Crane realized they were not human.
According to the history of Yarsan, 250 years after Yarsan's founding, an enemy emerged from over the mountains. Where they came from no one knew, but they came over and over, year after year, the Ekril. The Ekril was a tall, long limbed humanoid race with thin brown hair covering their bodies. Soldiers commented that each Ekril shaved off sections and patterns of their hair, giving each one unique tattoo like hair patterns that covered them from head to toe. The Ekril's most potent natural aspect was their high resistance to magic. The Ekril's constant attacks lead to the building of the Yarsan Army and the eventual fall of the High Sorcerer family that once ruled. In the years since then the attacks steadily increased in frequency.
Crane went over every report of the Ekril he had read.
Ekril come in three general classes, warrior, beastmaster, and blood shaman. The warriors could use spears, swords, and hand axes, using their longer limbs to attack with greater reach. The beast masters tamed the monsters of the lands, somehow bending them to their will and fighting alongside them. Blood shamans, like all Ekril have no mana. So they use magic that requires the caster's blood instead of mana. They carry knives they use to cut their own arms and flick the blood. The blood disappears when the shaman chants and a spell comes forth.
Crane heard the loud creak of the massive fortress doors close behind him. Captain Elestas raised her sword and charged forward. Her knight unit followed her and the rest of the army followed them. Crane drew his sword and calmed his mind.
He wanted to run forward with the rest of them, but he had no idea how to fight in a battle like this. So he calmly walked forward while looking for places he could fight and not get in the way. His chance came earlier than he thought, the crowd in front of him was pushed away, by a charging rhino looking monster ridden by an Ekril. Crane took out a knife, steadied his hand, and with a shout he threw it right at the rhino's face, just missing the eye. The monster roared but moved forward, only his aim was adjusted to charge right into Crane. Crane took a stance and looked the Ekril right in his eye as he came within a few feet of him. Crane knew he had already won, when the rhino was only two feet away Crane used Noble step, 70! and quickly took a step out of the way and another step forward. He was at the rhino's side and shouted as he drove his sword into the rhino's hind leg. The rhino passed him and collapsed after taking another step. Crane turned around to see the rider had already jumped at Crane before his mount hit the ground. Crane rolled forward under the Ekril before he was chopped by the Beastmaster's axe. Crane had another moment before the next attack so he made a motion with sword and held it in front of his face, 50! The Ekril let out another attack which Crane caught with his Regal Guard and parried to the side, leaving the Ekril open to Crane's Flurry attack. After several hits the Ekril slashed at Crane. Using Flurry left him open as well, preventing him from dodging it and taking damage. Crane survived the blow but saw that the Ekril was not looking at him, but past him. Crane's instincts screamed as he jumped to the side just as the rhino charged from behind.
Crane's opponent fought at his beast's side making it two on one. He was likely going to be killed. Crane smiled, that kind of thing didn't matter, he knew he should fight like he had already won. From his majestic stance, Crane launched into a dash power lunge while shouting at the Rhino. 75! The lunge was aimed for the tip of the knife sticking out of the rhino's face. Due to the high finesse of the stance, Crane's time was slowed down enough to guide the tip of his blade to the knife, then slide the tip down the knife through the penetrated skin into the wound.
-Critical Hit!
-You have leveled up
-Skill Level Up: Sword Mastery. You sword mastery has reached intermediate level. You gain an additional 50% attack when using a sword
The rhino dissolved around crane's sword, the Ekril looked stunned. He must've thought Crane would attack him first, not his mount. Crane did not let the opportunity go to waste, "Twelve forms, HAA!" Crane let loose a barrage of sword attacks against the Ekril who started barely defending himself. Crane's level 9 sword mastery which once provided +90% attack and +27% attack speed leveled up with an additional +50% attack, making it +150% Attack and +30% attack speed. The Ekril couldn't keep up with the onslaught and finally died.
Crane looked around assessing the battlefield. The Ekril had broken through at several points. There was a massive number of Ekril foot soldiers fighting Kallamore Infantryman in front of the main gate. Crane walked over to them while going over the fight he just had. He remembered that when he fought the bugs, he had imagined victory before the battle. In two out of three times in the last fight he had done the same, and broke the 50 finesse barrier. That was the mental half of routines, or at least a part of it. The act of performing the routine must cement the image that you will be victorious before the battle begins. A group of three Ekril spotted Crane and started running at the lone swordsman. Crane imagined cutting each of their bodies a thousand times before they struck him once and performed Majestic Stance.
----------------------------------
After ten hours of conflict Crane had found himself fighting alongside a group of kallamore warriors, two priests of Magni, and a very large great axe wielding Barbarian who kept the Ekril from the city gates. Crane set up a rotation system where several soldier fought in front of the barbarian, killing most the ekril that made it through the wall of infantrymen ahead of them. And when they ran low on health, mana or stamina they switch with the people behind the Barbarian who were being healed by the priest or recovering from fatigue. The barbarian acted as a last defense wall that prevented ekril who made it past the warriors from getting to the injured behind him. Crane had a larger than average supply of mana and of stamina from his leveling up earlier, and he choose to fight on when he had very low health because it eventually increased his fighting spirit stat. He fought like a madman using fast accurate movements to take on up to three ekril at once, only returning to the back to recover when his mana ran dry. He made a mental note to gather lots of ingredients to make a lot of mana potions later so he wouldn't have to wait to recover in situations like this. However Crane was the only one of the warriors capable of combat on that scale. Almost half of the Ekril who fought the warriors when Crane was recovering made it past them to be taken out in a single strike by the massive barbarian. Crane got up when his mana fully recovered and walked back to the front. As he passed, the barbarian said, "You sure you wanna get up? I haven't even gotten to stretch yet." Crane said, "neither have I," and went back to slaying the ekril. From the back emerged a hooded ekril Crane recognized as a blood shaman. They usually did not make it past the army, so this would be Crane's first encounter. Actually Crane realized this would be his first fight against anyone who could use magic. Crane motions for the warriors behind him to stay there as he walked forward to meet the shaman. Crane took his stance and waited for the shaman to walked within range of his dash powered lunge. Instead he stopped and in a smooth motion, drew a small knife, cut his forearm and flicked it in front of him while muttering something. Crane realized his mistake and used noble step to aviod a column of fire that ruptured from the ground he was just standing on.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
-You have been burned, your health will slowly decline.
He had not escaped the pillar entirely and got a burn to go with the massive damage he took. Crane dashed to him and saw him make another motion with his knife and a green fog appeared around him. Crane stopped before going into it and pulled out his knives. He wouldn't be able to recover them after this, but he threw them them one at a time onto the cloud until he heard a his target make a painful sound. Crane then threw his remaining knives at him, each with a shout powered throw.
Skill Level up: Throw [2]
Skill Level up: Shout [4]
Crane had been shouting a lot more this battle than throwing but it was still sastifying to see them rise up together. The fog lifted and revealed the ekril. He had four knives stuck in his body and was bleeding badly. The blood shaman smile, as Crane felt the chill of death envelop him. The Ekril shouted in a strange tongue and started to glow, Crane saw something in the corner of his eye pass in front of him just as the shaman exploded in a massive light.
Even shielded the shockwave threw him to his back. When he opened his eyes again he saw the barbarian in front of him. The man seemed to have been badly damaged and said, "Careful, those guys tend to go out with a bang." A few more hits would likely kill the man which wasn't great due to the hole created by the explosion letting in dozens of Ekril warriors.
Crane stepped in front of him and said, "Switch, you go get yourself patched up and I'll hold things here." The barbarian wasn't in a position to argue and said, "I need you to hold them all for two minutes." Crane was surprised at how serious he sounded. He guessed the man had an excellent potion and said, "No problem." Crane faced the horde approaching and found it very difficult to imagine coming out alive. He silenced his mind and realized the true purpose of routines. A person cannot truly imagine victory over any outcome without practice. That was what a routine was. The movement was performed while imagining the victory, strengthened the bond between the movement and the image with use. Over time and with practice the routine's use would invoke the image of victory regardless of the circumstances. Crane willed it that the use of the routine would make him see victory. He performed the motions of Majestic stance and imagined slicing through the entire army in a matter of seconds. 95! Crane used dash, moving faster than he ever had moved before right into the Ekril hord and started up continuous use of twelve forms. Even the kalamore warriors who fought beside him watched from the rear in amazement at the speed, power, and accuracy of Crane's movements. Crane never stopped in a single place but moved through the entire group seeming to be at battle with the whole thing simultaneously. The group could not advance forwards because they would immediately be attacked from behinds if they did. Several died but Crane was receiving wounds left and right from the omnidirectional attacks he received.
The weakness of twelve forms as a skill was it's lack of dodging motions. When he dodged an attack he could not parry it counted as stopping the skill which used up one movement boost from the routine. It did not take long for Crane to run out of the boost.
Crane's life was at a quarter when he dashed to the front of the horde and stood with his back to the area between him and the wall. He had successfully pissed them all off enough for them to prioritize skewering his head over passing him to the gate. Crane fought while parrying at least six frontal attacker and walking backwards to prevent them from getting his back. However his stalling tatics worked and the Barbarian came from behind killing the Ekril with each wave of sword until the hord started to run away. As the running Ekril passed the army a horn sounded and the rest of the army started to fall back.
Crane started to walk around the field collecting dropped items when the warriors behind him ran up to him and said, "That was amazing," and, " I can't believe anyone can move like that." They were praising him when the barbarian said, "That was impressive. I haven't seen someone so young fight so well in a long time. I don't believe I've introduced myself, I am Dairos Burq." The warriors around him gasped and Crane knew why. Diaros Burq was a famous NPC mercenary whose exploits were known throughout the continent. He was an expert on rare and secret dungeons, and a well known member of one of the most exclusive guilds on Versailles, the Dark Djinns. Crane wondered why a person such as this, a person who must've been at least level 200, would come to the outskirts of Kallamore Kingdom and take part in part in this battle. Even more so why he would stay in the rear as a guard when he could've been in the front killing hundreds of Ekril.
The great barbarian said, "You've shown that you have great potential, would you like to join the Dark Djinns?"
-You have received an invitation to join the guild Dark Djinns
Again, the warriors around Crane gasped, but Crane had made other arrangements. You can only join a single guild and Crane had made a promise to join the thief Tensford's guild. He was about to refuse when Crane saw Dairos tapping the hilt of a small knife he had on his side. It was identical to the Knife Tensford had. Dairos saw Crane looking at the knife and said, "I'm sure you were meant to join us." Crane nodded in understanding and said, "I would be honored to join."
You have accepted
You are now a member of the guild, Dark Djinns
You have access to the guild's bases and resources
Now Crane knew why Darios was there. Crane had made it known to Tensford that he wanted to join his dark guild, but did not want to be a criminal. If Crane was a prospective member and a criminal then he would be invited in secret, but if he was outwardly righteous than he would be invited publicly and add to the good face of the guild. Crane found it ironic he never suspected a guild called Dark Djinns of being a Dark guild but that just went to prove how good the public face of the guild actually was.
Dairos passed a piece of paper to Crane and said, "Lets have a drink tomorrow. This is the address of a good bar."
Crane bowed and went back to collecting fallen loot.
-----------------------------
Back at the base, Crane was called into a meeting with Owens.
"Good job kid, I hear you really showed your stuff out there and did me proud."
Quest Completed: Defend Yarsan
You gained 200 fame
You gained 50 gold
- You have leveled up
- You have leveled Up
- You have leveled up
- You have leveled up
Crane told Owens,
"I only did what I was trained to sir, just like every soldier out there today."
"Every soldier on that battlefield didn't have an audience of two hundred archers on the fortress walls watching his every sword swing. The entire city is talking about you. Fame for you is fame for the army and the higher ups have decided you will be promoted and get some lackeys of your own."
You have been promoted to the rank of officer.
Your pay will increase to 3 gold a month
You will be given command of 10 infantryman
Because of how good the army had been to him, he was eager to continue and get stronger. The Knights of Kallamore were known to be some of the strongest in the continent. The reason is because the cities within Kallamore were prone to almost constant attack by monsters and the soldiers became strong as steel fighting them off so often. Today Crane had gotten a little taste of that and had become considerably stronger. Crane thanked Owens and left the base. He withdrew the paper Dairos Burq gave him. As he thought it was an address to a house in the slums.
The next day Crane found his way to the address and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a young woman who gestured for Crane to come in. She lead him into the basement where Dairos and another woman waited for him. The hostess left and Crane waited as the woman next to Dairos sized him up.
"My name is Isse, and I am a senior member of the Dark Djinns. I was told of you by a mutual friend a few days ago and arrived in the city with my escort yesterday to investigate you. Not long after the battle started I got my hands on this." She waved a copy of Crane's report on the Liberation of Surrol and said, "Trust is not a simple thing, but after hearing about the situation from our mutual friend and reading this, I decided you were worth a look, and sent my escort to see if you were worth the trouble. You know the rest."
The fact that this woman, likely a user, had Dairos as a bodyguard told Crane a great deal about her. She continued, "So now that we have caught up to our present, we need to determine our future. Why did you ask to join our guild, the purveyor of dark wishes?"
Crane took in a breath and started. "Foresight. I am a good person who has done nothing wrong, in a sane world that isn't a bad thing. But in Versailles, that could severely limit me, I recognize that and when an opportunity came along that could remove that limit, I did not hesitate."
"So you don't want to do bad things but you don't want that to stop you from doing anything?... And here I thought someone who turned down fifteen thousand gold would be a little less greedy. Well I don't have a problem with that but I am going to need to see your credentials."
At this point Crane said, "What? Oh, credentials, Show stat and skill screen."
Status WindowAvatar- Crane.Alignment- NeutralLevel 92Class- Kallamore WarriorTitle- NoneFame- 240Health- 3840Mana- 1840Strength- 200+60Agility- 205+66Wisdom- 70+24Intellect- 70+24Vitality- 50+20Luck- 0+10Leadership- 0+10Finesse- XX+10Fighting Spirit- 28+15Perseverance 34+14Endurance- 40+18Attack- 178Defense- 63+ All stats are added 10
+ While using a sword you receive +50% bonus to Attack
+ Decreases Mana Consuption for Sword Skills by 50%
+ Can learn skills that use the Stat Finesse
+ All stats increase by 20% while wearing the Kallamore Warrior's helmet
+ All stats decrease by 20% while not wearing the Kallamore Warrior's helmet
Skills WindowIdentification [6] 92%: Enables you to learn the true value of unidentified items.
Mana Cost: 30Sword Mastery Intermediate [2] 12%: Increases attack power and hit rating for swords.
+170% ATK +36% ATK SPD while using a sword.Twelve Forms [8] 3%: Increases attack power and speed of attack while fighting using the twelve forms.
+80% STR +80% AGI
Mana Cost: 10 per secondFlurry [4] 78%: Rapid series of thrusts
5 thrusts per second
Mana Cost: 30 per secondDash [5] 32%: Move a great distance in a single step
Mana Cost: 10Power Lunge [5] 43%: A strengthen piercing attack that covers some distance
Mana Cost: 45Soa's Routine [4] 31%
Majestic Stance- Increases attack strength and speed of techniques performed after stance used
-Attack Str and Spd +40% for 4 techniques after use
Mana Cost: 20
Regal Guard- Increase defense and chance of successful parry after use
-Defense +20 Luck +40
Mana Cost: 30
Noble Step- Increase movement speed to dodge oncoming attack after use
-Movement speed +80% for 3 steps after use
Mana Cost: 15
All effects are multiplied by Finesse stat/97Alchemy [1] 6% Enables you to create potions from ingredientsRepair [3] 12% Enables you to repair weapons and armors. Beyond Lv. 10, you can forge new weapons and gears.Throw [2] 4% You can throw objects and weapons further and more accuratelyShout [4] 3% Increases strength for an instant while shouting.
STR +12% for an instant
Mana Cost: 5
From what Crane could tell, the average Ekril warrior was between level 80 and 120, and he had fought hundreds of them for hours and hours. After leveling he distributed his stats to what he felt he need more of during the battle. He gave 10 points each to INT for mana and WIS for faster mana regeneration. He had already given 20 points to Vitality so he distributed what was left between STR and AGI. He had also taken every powerful hit he could survive willingly to strengthen his endurance and he spent at least a fifth of his time fighting with less than 8% of his health against multiple opponents, strengthening his Fighting Spirit.
Isse looked at his stats and skills for while and said, "You definitely have some potential. I've heard of only three fighters who used finesse in my time and from what Dairos tells me you trump them all."
Now Crane was curious, so he asked, "what was wrong with them?"
She sighed and said, "Apparently they were told in detailed how to use finesse instead of figuring it out for themselves, that it seems crippled them for some reason and the could never use more than half their skill."
Crane understood, if one was simply told it basically works by conditioning yourself to think positively they would never believe it and without the belief they only had the form.
She started up again, "One last question, how far would you be willing to go for the guild."
Crane had already decided, "As far as you need me to. That being said I will do what I can to make myself more valuable to you as someone who doesn't have a bounty on his head."
Isse smiled and said, "Ok, it's official, you're in. This house serves as our secret base in Yarsan and you can use any empty room if you need it." She got up and left for the stairs, Dairos stayed behind and said, "I heard about what you did to those nobleman, Isse said I was sent to watch you but the truth is I was sent to protect you. Along with that folder, Isse found out plans were being made to eliminate you. Be careful out there."
Crane went back to the army base and wondered how they were going to kill him. Crane found it amusing himself because he was the only member of the Royal Kallamore Army who was a user, therefore the only one who couldn't be killed permanently. Whatever they had planned would be interesting to see, but it would be useless in the long run. Crane mildly looked forward to it as another adventure.
Chapter 8 Into the Spider's Web viewtopic.php?f=91&t=579&p=2358#p2358
Chapter 6 The Skill to Win viewtopic.php?f=91&t=577