Volume 2 Chapter 3
Lessons in fire
On the eastern side of the mountain range that lined the border between the kingdoms of Palmer and Itsoeu was a mining town called Naybi. After Palmer opened its borders a flood of people came in to explore the uncharted area, and Naybi was the first to be discovered. On the slopes of that town was an area filled with anvils and fires, and among the many people using this area was Crane.
Before leaving the capital city of Itsoeu he had gone to the blacksmithing guild. For those who had not chosen the blacksmith profession to learn the skill of blacksmithing, they needed to bring their repair skill to beginner level 10 and pass a test to prove they had done so. Crane had just been given a rusted piece of armor and had to use his repair skill to bring it back to maximum durability.
Now he was putting the skill into practice and making swords. The portable mana powered smelter made the process fairly simple. Put ore into the smelter, use it to melt the iron into a glowing liquid, pour it into a mold, let cool, open mold, hammer edges, quence in water, sharpen and polish.
He was doing it just like everyone around him was doing it, in fact he was doing it exactly like they were. There were few people who practiced blacksmithing in places he could watch in the last city which is why he left for this mining town in the first place. But his works did not satisfy him, even though he was a beginner he still had a ring that increased the effects of blacksmithing by two levels and a blacksmith's hammer that increased the effects by another two levels, but his works were only marginally better than the guys around him. It might be different if his handicraft skill was higher but it had only gotten to level nine while he was learning to cook at the restaurant. If he wanted to make the most out of his rune smith skill he needed to reach intermediate level blacksmithing at least, but his priority at the moment was to create a new rapier for himself.
There were no places to buy a mold for a rapier so he tried to make his own out of clay, but the resulting rapier was about as strong as the first rapier he had acquire long ago. Crane packed up his smelter, ores, and molds and decided it was time to leave.
"Hey, you leaving?" One of the smiths Crane had gotten to know over the past week had caught him on his way out.
"Yup, I can't get any better here, I'm going to find a blacksmith who will let me be his apprentice."
"Ha, good luck with that, blacksmiths have a hard time becoming the apprentice of someone skilled. And you're not even that."
Gotten to know and become close were not the same thing, this guy basically considered Crane his rival while Crane had not even bothered to remember his name. He had correctly guessed that Crane’s work was superior to his own only because of his skill enhancing items and thought that because Crane relied on them that Crane was inferior to him. Truth was he was just jealous that Crane had acquired such rare items and was mad that Crane refused to sell them to him. Crane left without another word for the gates where he met up with Keagan.
Since Palmer's tourism was in low supply until recently there were no maps to tell Crane where to go. He could just take the road but last time he tried that some users got into a misunderstanding with Keagan which didn't end well. On the bright side Crane learned that if Keagan deals the final blow to a user without a murderer's mark or a lot of infamy Crane didn't get the murderer's mark himself. Still it was better to avoid roads.
Crane got on Keagan's back and he started running. It was default that when they didn't have destination to just run till they find a group of monsters. After about twenty minutes Keagan sensed a herd of Terror birds and ran to meet them. Since their fighting priorities were different when hunting, Crane got off and let Keagan do his thing. The pack noticed the pair and started their charge. For a group of Terror birds it was a small pack of about thirty. The levels of terror birds was determined by the area and indicated by the color of the feathers. These birds had green and brown feathers making them plains hunters which averaged level 110 or so. But when it comes to terror birds, the smaller the pack, the stronger the bird. Your average terror bird has a beak large enough to take off a man's head in one bite and legs strong enough to remove a lion's head in one kick. Crane guessed that with a pack this small their strength was well above average, possibly up to level 130. Crane used battle aura to make himself appear to be a predator who wanted the terror bird's territory. A group of seven broke off from the group Keagan was playing with and heading straight for Crane.
Although Crane had swords he could use, he found that the finesse rating of his form skills and rune sword skill took a hit when he used a sword that he wasn't used to, so recently he had been taking the opportunity to practiced weaponless combat. Using a combination of short dashing for speed and shouting for power, he smashed his fist into one of the nine foot tall bird's torsos, sending it reeling back. Crane had gained some confidence in attacking with his upper body, but he had not gotten the hang of kicking. He had practiced the forms enough at the monk's guild but he had trouble relying on instinct for when the right time to send a kick was. On this thought he decided to devote today to practice kicking. Crane weaved through the attacking beaks to the bird at the end of the group and tried for a series of roundhouse kicks. The first missed but before the long necked bird could counter, Crane's other leg came up and kicked the bird's head like a soccer ball. Roundhouse kicks were a pain to use but each lead easily into the next which made up for its weaknesses. Crane ducked the snapping beak that came from behind and gave the bird that followed him a good low kick, taking out its feet and causing the birds behind it to stumble over. Crane rose his front leg up then brought his weight down through his waist and onto his heel at the moment of its impact on the chest of the top bird.
The top and bottom bird died with a loud squawk. Although Crane didn't have the intuition to know when the right time to throw a kick was, he could still use them if he made the opportunity himself. While the remaining birds started to get out of their pile, Crane threw a barrage of punches at the base of the closest bird's neck until he heard the crunch that told him the bird's larynx had just be crushed.
Skill Level Up: Fist Mastery [3]
Increase Attack power unarmed (+30% ATK)
Increase Attack speed unarmed (+9% ATK SPD)-Strength increased by 2 point. (+2 STR)
-Agility increased by 2 point. (+2 AGI)
Crane had acquired fist mastery while sparing with the monk's guild back in Itsoeu, and since losing his weapon had been fighting without without weapons to increase his proficiency. Unlike weapon proficiency, fist mastery had the effect of increasing stats with each level the skill increased, something that highly appealed to Crane.
Crane stood straight and rose his right knee. When the other birds that had gotten up charged Crane, he struck each with a simple front kick in where Crane assumed to be the location of the bird's diaphragm. Crane was no where near the point where his kicks were lightning fast, and his accuracy needed work too. Only one of the bird's seemed to have trouble inhaling after Crane's kick, the other two swiped the points of their beaks at Crane's chest. His health only reduced by 15% from the combined attacks, so these guys were probably about level 125. That was not even enough to train his endurance stat. Crane didn't want to get bored, so he dashed past the two birds to the bird that had trouble breathing and grabbed its ankle. Crane took a massive leap to the two birds while twisting his waist. It likely weighed at least 320 pounds but Crane threw the breathless bird like a sack of bricks at the other two, releasing it on impact then jumping into the pile to deliver each one it's final blow.
After killing the last bird, Crane looked around the area to see Keagan playing around. Unlike Crane, Keagan was already an expert at close combat. He had already partially crippled a dozen of the birds and the others had run away.
Fire cats of Keagan's level were not magical creatures per say. Their hair and bodies were fireproof, but that is about it. Like all cats, fire cats can produce oil which covers their hair, fire cats just produce a infinitely more, enough to keep the fire on their backs going indefinitely. If the fire goes out, they cannot reignite it themselves, though the oil does keep their fur waterproof when it is not being consumed by fire. Keagan was able to increase or halt the production of oil, which dimed or increased the amount of fire around him, but that was all the control he had over it. Keagan could swipe a flaming paw, but he could not breathe fire, he could become a charging fireball, but he could not cast fire magic. For now anyways.
Crane calmly walked around the area collecting the items that dropped from the dead while Keagan playfully inflicted terror on the birds that were still trying to run away with their crippled legs. One by one the slowest was killed, but instead of stopping to eat, Keagan continued to hunt. Crane had taught Keagan that although meat was good in the short run, experience was more valuable in the long run. Most predators would stop to eat the first thing they kill, allowing the rest in the pack to escape, but Keagan had been trained to go for the experience before the meat. Thanks to this habit and the 20% experience leech off Crane, Keagan had grown to just above level 190, stronger than any fire cat that had lived in the area he used to call home.
After killing and eating the last terror bird, Keagan looked to the south and flared the fire on his back. Crane noticed the signal for incoming and regrouped with Keagan. Crane yelled, "How many?" Keagan answered, "twelve, but the pack is strange, six of these, and six of you, coming fast."
Keagan's language skills needed a bit of improving, but the meaning was clear. Keagan sensed the fighting spirit of six terror birds and six Users. For Keagan to say they were fast meant they were coming at a speed that Crane and Keagan could not easily outrun.
Crane smiled at the idea and said, "Interesting, finish your meal and stay calm. If I decide to attack, you'll know."
Crane waited in one spot for the group to come, when six Users riding on the backs of six terror birds came into sight, Crane didn't bother to act surprised. At first glance Crane saw that none of the members had their names in red above their heads nor did they have the murderer's mark, but that meant little.
Five of the six pairs partially surrounded Crane and Keagan, but did nothing else. Keagan was calming laying down on the ground in front of the eaten carcass of a terror bird, giving him an appearance that looked dangerous, but not threatening. The sixth member, obviously a spearman from his armor and weapon, got off his terror bird and said, "Who are you who hunts Terror Birds alone with a Fire Cat?"
Most people looked at Keagan and said flaming sabertooth tiger, the fact that this man knew the correct name meant he was no fool. Crane answered, "My name is Crane, and this is my partner Keagan. I came to Palmer looking for a good blacksmith and information at least a thousand years old."
The spearman looked pensive for a moment before saying, "You're in luck, a two week walk southeast of here is a town called Kenysis. It is built upon the ruins of an ancient city, and has several renown blacksmiths."
Due to the fact that several of these people snickered when the spearman said Crane was 'in luck,' they had given away the group's agenda. Crane knew that if he weakened a User without a murderer's mark and let Keagan deal the final blow, Crane would not receive a murderer's mark himself. This group was likely a team of raiders that killed wandering users through the same means, preventing them from getting a murderer's mark themselves. Though if they had enough infamy like the guild he destroyed not to long ago, Crane could still kill them without getting the telltale red diamond on his forehead, but there was no way to know.
The biggest advantage such a group would have is that if they did not have that much infamy and one of them was killed by their targets, the target would get the murderer's mark themselves. Targets who did not know this would receive the murder's mark which caused more of their loot to drop after the other members of the group finished them. And targets who knew about it were unable to deal the final blow to the group and would be finished off by the terror birds.
Not that Crane had to worry about this, if he received the murderer's mark he just needed to kill monsters for a few days and it would go away. And even if the group didn't know that, the presence of Keagan presented the same threat to them as their terror birds did to others, mark free murder. These guys had to think twice about attacking because there was the possibility that Keagan could kill all their birds, and themselves.
Crane said, "Thank you for the information, I think I'll head there now. But before I go, I want to thank you for your help. Is there anything you want?" Crane was goading them into making a choice, to fight or not.
The spearman looked nervous for a moment before saying, "What do you got?"
Crane smiled and said, "I have one month of hunting's worth of potions, stamina, health, and mana. Since you've given me a destination, why don't you take them off my hands?"
The spearman's eyebrows raised in surprised, he had probably not expected something like that. He said, "I'd be glad to accept such a gift, but before I do, I must ask how you obtained so much."
This was to determine the size of Crane's pockets, potions aren't cheap after all, and someone who could buy a month's supply was worth the risk to take down. Crane answered, "I did a repeatable quest for the owner of a sorcery shop, he made the potions for me himself."
It wasn't too far from the truth and gave the impression Crane was not rich enough to risk fighting him and the Fire Cat. The spearman nodded and accepted the bottles of potions from Crane. Crane thanked them for the info again and the spearman got back onto his bird. He motioned for the group to follow him, and though some appeared not to thrilled, they all left. Keagan looked at them and asked Crane, "Why not kill them, they intended to do the same to you."
Crane answered, "Two reasons. First he gave me the info I wanted, although he intended on killing me, I was still in his debt and I needed to repay it. And second, with that bag of potions those guys will rampage throughout the kingdom, and likely acquire a bounty. Should we see them again, I will be able to collect that bounty myself."
Keagan smiled a bit at the thought of eating those terror birds the group rode as Crane go onto his back and said, "Two weeks by walking huh, let's take this time to train your stamina."
Keagan nodded and began sprinting.
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After three days and nights of travel, stopping only for meals and when Keagan ran out of stamina, the pair reached the outskirts of the town of Kenysis. Crane got off Keagan's back and entered the town on his own, Keagan made quite a scene whenever he entered a town and although Crane usually didn't care, for this town he wanted to enter without trouble.
The town's surroundings had worn down stone walls just tall enough to trip over, an echo of the ancient city that had once covered the area. The areas further from the path had stone walls and houses that were not completely torn down, within them were marks that showed recent excavation.
Crane wandered around the ruins for a while, searching for clues that could lead him to whatever runes the kingdom contained. But to no avail. Looters, diggers, and time all played their part in wiping the every surface of the ruins smooth, whatever was once there could not be seen. After about two hours of circling the town, Crane came across a group of high tents with several people walking in and out between the tents, some of them were carrying items.
"Ahh, yes, umm, who are you exactly?"
When Crane walked up to the tents, one of the old men Crane believed to be an archeologist noticed him and approached the newcomer.
"I am a newcomer to Palmer Kingdom looking for ancient symbols that were once found here 1000 years ago."
The old man wrinkled his nose and said, "We are all newcomers to this land, the natives have long since excavated this place to their heart's contents. Now you say you are looking for symbols that were found 1000 years ago? If you had any knowledge of the past, you would understand how vague of a response that is."
Crane in fact did acquire a great deal of knowledge from the past and had purposely given such a vague answer. If it was known that the knowledge he sought was a source of great power, he would not get it easily. Crane brought out a piece of paper he had made with a group of the runes he suspected were somewhere in the kingdom drawn on them.
Three more people had gathered around the old man to look at the piece of paper. It must have been a very slow day.
"I think I saw this one somewhere in town."
One of the younger men, though still much older than Crane, had pointed to the rune Kenaz.
Crane acted casual, "That's cool, you remember where?"
The guy remained silent for a while before saying, "No, sorry, it really seems familiar, but I don't remember where I saw it in town."
Crane nodded and said, "Thank you so much for your help," and left. Knowing that there was a rune here in the first place was an excellent start, and knowing that it was in the town meant he no longer had to look around the empty ruins. The journal he had gave a general idea of what the rune was but not nearly enough to comprehend and use it. On Kenaz it said it had to do with controlled fire, but not much else.
The town was thick with a variety of buildings and people. Some of the buildings seemed to be made of refurbished old stone buildings while most were made of the wood that grew thick in the area. Crane walked around trying to get familiar with stores and gathering what info he could from NPCs. Within the town were three blacksmiths. Two of the blacksmiths were Users, they worked together producing a variety of reasonably priced weapons. The third was a unique shop around the center of the town. It was obvious that it did not produce the same quantity of goods as the other pair, but the quality of that place's goods far surpassed the others. The shop had a pair of towering smokestacks attached to the back wall that must have been about seventy feet tall. The base of each looked about six feet in diameter that decreased with height. The rims of the top were likely about four feet in diameter. The back of the shop however was the most interesting. There were a dozen anvils in an area with a open use forging oven on the wall attached to the smoke stacks. There were three Users there who were hammering their own weapons on the anvils, and two more who seemed to be baking their hammered items in the coals if the pit's fire. Definitely a good place to train blacksmithing. The only problem with training here as opposed to the mountain was the lack of a direct source of ores, but the they could still be acquired through the trade routes.
Crane walked into the NPC blacksmith's shop and asked the woman at the counter if he could speak to the blacksmith.
"Oh, you want custom equipment?" She said.
"Something like that, I'm in no hurry so whenever he has time, please tell me." Crane took a seat in the corner out of the way and the woman went into the back of the shop. After a moment she returned and said, " He is just finishing up sharpening a new blade, he will be out in a minute." Crane had examined the equipment before but had not seen the blacksmith himself. It seemed that he worked in a workshop in the back where his techniques could not be spied upon.
A few minutes later a six foot tall, burly, muscular man stepped out from the forge covered in sweat. Wrapped around his torso several times was a thick iron chain and on his leather belt was the tools of his trade.
"What can I do you ya kid?" The blacksmith was incredibly imposing, he had a low voice and looked like he would smash you through the wall if you crossed him.
Crane did not flinch though, he said, "Hello, my name is Crane, and I wish to learn the secrets of blacksmithing from you."
Crane had half expected him to burst out laughing, (it would not be the first time), but the man looked over the kid and said, "Are you a blacksmith?"
Crane shook his head. The smith raised his eyebrows and said, "You expect me to accept a apprentice who is not even a blacksmith? You got a lot of guts, but don't seen to be particularly bright."
The smith only needed one look at Crane to decided that he was a foolish child who did not know of the world. Crane had to change that. He used his skill battle aura to extend his fighting spirit and show him that he had some fighting experience. The smith turned around and glanced him over once more, it had an effect, but not much of one. Crane said, "What can I do to prove myself?"
The smith said, "Come with me." He walked to the entrance and went outside the store, revealing the wooden buckler on his back. Crane followed him. The smith took the round shield off his back and put it on his arm. He said, "hit me once, and you can be my apprentice."
Crane took one of the swords he had made out his inventory. He didn't need the greatest sword in the world to beat him, just something to hit him. Crane use majestic stance and stacked it with noble step. Without a rapier he only got a finesse rating of 50, but since it was stacked they should be enough. Crane used his Dash Power Lunge combo, which stacked with his stances was his fastest attack. He aimed to fake out the smith with his charge, forcing him to defend his head with his shield, blocking his vision, then going around him and attacking from the back.
Crane charged, but the smith jumped forward as well, screwing up Crane's contact point, Crane adjusted his aim to above the shield, but was too late to notice there was nothing there. The smith had raised his shield to cover the fact that he had lowered his head, Crane's aim was completely off and since the smith had stepped in, Crane did not have enough room to step to the side. It was too late to do anything, the shield had passed under Crane's sword and through his guard. It smashed Crane's face with all the weight Crane had put into his lunge, then doubled it by sending his head back, followed by his body, ten feet to where he had started.
You have received a critical hit
You have been dealt a concussion, all stats reduced by 40%
You have been stunned
Crane was back where he started but on his back. His health went from full to less than 30% in one hit, he was too dizzy to get up, and his body ached too much to move. After a moment his head became clear enough to realize he had been hit too hard for it to have been an ordinary attack, it was likely the skill shield bash, at high levels the skill was capable of reflecting damage. Crane thought that if he had been able to use the full strength of his routines he would likely be dead. After that moment of clarity he became aware of the biggest headache in his life, like he had a mountain of bricks stacked on top of his skull, putting an enormous pressure on it.
Crane still couldn't get up off his back but the smith had walked up within his view. He looked at his with the same eyes he showed when he rejected Crane. "You think because you've been in more fights than your peers that you're strong? You think because you've had some bad experiences that you've seen the dark side of the world? You're a kid. And I don't let kids become my apprentice."
The smith disappeared from Crane's sight, though he probably had just gone back inside his workshop. Crane still couldn't raise his head off the ground to see. After about a minute his stunned status was gone and five minutes after that his concussion and the headache that came with it was gone. When he raised his head the first thing he noticed was the crowd that had gathered around him. While on the ground several people had looked at him to make sure he was still alive, and it seemed they were collecting around him.
One of the guys Crane had previously seen working at an anvil said, "You tried to be his apprentice huh, I ain't never seen someone get rejected so bad man."
A woman said, "What about when the Blade Brothers asked him?"
Another man said, "Oh yea, that was epic!"
The blade brothers were the pair of Users who operated on the other side of the town. It seemed that Crane was far from the first person to ask this blacksmith for apprenticeship. Crane broke out some of what was left of his homemade potions and got ready for round two. Crane walked into the smith's shop and said, "Again."
The smith was putting weapons in the display and said, "Selfish kids don't think of anyone but themselves. I'm too busy to entertain you all day."
Crane lowered his gaze in shame, then after a moment said meekly, "Tomorrow?"
The smith let out a sigh and said, "Fine, once a day is all I will spare you."
Crane bowed his head and thanked him graciously.
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Crane wandered around town, practiced blacksmithing behind the smith's shop for a while, and logged out. Time in Royal Road was four times faster than in real life, so if he spent four hours in real life, sixteen hours would pass in royal road. He looked at the clock and it was already midnight. Do Hyup got out of the capsule and onto the chair next to it, then moved from that to his bed. He set the clock for 5am and drifted to sleep.
At 4:56 a.m. he woke up. For some reason he always woke up just before he set his alarm. It was Sunday morning and he had one day left before his school week started. After taking a shower, eating breakfast, and changing the battery pack on his muscle stimulator, Hyup got back into the capsule just before 6am.
Connect to Royal Road?Yes|No
He answered, "Yes."
Back in Kenysis, Crane made his way to the smith's shop and said to the woman at the counter, "Hello again." She looked at Crane, rolled her eyes and said, "Please wait in the corner."
Crane waited for about two hours before the smith came out to put a sword in the case and saw Crane was sitting in the corner. The smith motioned for Crane to follow him outside again, without saying a word. He equipped his buckler and Crane got into the same position he was in last time. Before anything started, a crowd had already formed around him. Crane recognized half the faces there as the same ones from yesterday. Crane took out his sword and walked forward. However the smith didn't wait, he took the chain from his waist and let a few feet of it fall to the ground. Crane stopped and took Noble Step and Regal Guard's stance. This increased his movement speed, time perception, total defense, and luck. Crane was unsure of how the smith with attack with a chain, but no matter what he did, Crane would be prepared to dodge, counter, or parry anything he threw at him. The smith stepped forward, twisted his waist, and threw out his arm. It happened faster than a person could blink but to Crane it took about three seconds. The tip of the chain was hurtling towards Crane's wrist, he had a small flashback of the first time he had been in a fight, when his instructor had slashed his wrist. Crane used his increased time perception to slash the chain away to parry it. His sword caught the first chain link in the middle of his slash and the rest of it threw the trajectory of the chain to the side. After the movement passed his time perception returned to normal, but the chain kept coming. The parry had diverted about three feet of chain to his left but the chain behind that continued straight as an arrow, scraping by his wrist.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The parry was useless, Crane realized that since a chain didn't have a solid connection throughout, parrying one segment does not parry all of the weapon. The smith shook the chain from his end and Crane attempted to move to his side away from the chain. The wave flowed down the chain and when it reached Crane's distance the smith pulled it, causing the chain to chase and wrap around Crane's torso before he could duck under it. The next instant Crane was in the air with the chain tightly around him and being pulled to the smith. Crane's arms were bound but his instincts had kicked in. Crane revolved his legs using the movements of a round house kick to turn his body so his legs were facing the man's shield. As Crane's flying kick was about to land straight on the small round shield, it slightly tilted up and raised. The instant Crane's foot made contact the shield bumped it, causing Crane's kick to bounce off. The shield retracted enough for the smith to give another full power shield bash to Crane's face. Crane's center of gravity was still falling forward past the shield that got plowed into his face, twisting his body over in a complete rotation before face planting into the ground.
You have received a critical hit
You have been dealt a concussion, all stats reduced by 40%
You have been stunned
"OOOhhhh!" The crowd around him simultaneous winced at the hit.
The smith tugged up the chain causing Crane to be thrown into the air a bit and land on the ground again. After wrapping the chain back around his torso he went back into his shop, leaving Crane on the ground with the words, "Each skill has a weakness, only a kid would think that learning many skills would make you stronger," before disappearing behind the wall.
"Did you see that?! The dude did a complete flip in the air! Someone check to see if he's still alive."
Listening to the spectator, Crane looked back to his health bar. He had a bit more health than last time but the fight lasted only a few seconds longer, and two of those seconds involved Crane being tossed in the air. When someone looked at Crane he met their eyes to shown he was still conscious and alive. The one good thing about a crowd was that their were too many witnesses to pickpocket him while he laid there stunned with another massive headache.
Losing twice to someone with no signs of improvement was the kind of thing to discourage your average fellow, but this was too similar to his training back at Yarsan. Back then, everyday was a series of losses against the same person who was far superior to Crane. Each battle brought to light one of Crane's many weaknesses which was a fine way to get rid of them. Although Crane was a jack of all trades class, that did not mean he had to learn every method of fighting possible. It was better to further the training of what he had.
After his headache wore off, Crane got up and wandered around the town looking for a good place to fight. Back in Itsoeu Crane had annihilated a guild with the worse reputation in the kingdom, and in doing so his fame had jumped to about 600. It allowed him to get some information off NPCs without familiarity, though not much. He was able to locate the area Users gathered before going outside the town.
-Hunting Party, looking for tracker
-Dungeon Party, need priest.
-Need Ranged Attacker!
-Need Tank!
Various players shouted out what they needed for a party, usually some specific specialist. Few people wanted a jack of all trades class.
Two men walked up to Crane, from the equipment he estimated a level 120 wizard and level 130 knight.
"Hey kid, need a party?"
Another hurdle he had to face when playing was that most Users were at least five years older than him, so they usually looked down on him. Crane sighed and replied, "I'm looking for a place to train, I specialize in mid range attacks." It wasn't a complete lie, although he didn't specialize in anything, he could deal the most damage at mid range with dash powered attacks.
"What level are you kid?"
Crane remained silent. Telling them he was far above their levels would make them leave, either because they wouldn't believe him or because they would. If he joined their low level party, he would get most of the experience for any monster he dealt damage to, a system which prevented high level Users from assisting in the leveling of low levels.
The Knight spoke up, "Nothing to say huh? Rude little punk."
Just then Crane got an idea. He said, "Who are you calling a punk old man, I would wipe the floor with you."
The man tensed up and said in a low growl, "Why you.... You wanna die little turd!"
Crane smiled mockingly and said, "Bring it on geezer."
The knight took a deep breath and moved his fingers in the air a bit. Crane looked around and saw he had gathered a crowd.
A Knight has requested a duel. Due to the difference in level, rejection will lower fame.Accept|Reject
If the Knight had been close to Crane's level or stronger Crane would receive some compensation for winning, but beating up someone weaker than you gave no such rewards. If Crane had challenged the Knight, the message would likely have included that defeating Crane would yield vast fame and Honor for the knight, but that would also reveal Crane's level. To prevent this Crane got the Knight to challenge him instead.
Crane motioned for the people around him to move away, and equipped his sword. "Accept."
A small countdown began in the top corner of his vision from ten. One aspect of duels is complete fairness, any buffs Crane used or had before the duel began were lost when the countdown reached zero, so he couldn't use his stances. Not that he needed to against this level of opponent. The only problem was that the Knight's sword was much stronger than Crane's. Crane was still using the sword he made himself, it was his best sword but it only had an attack strength of 13, compared to the Knight's greatsword which Crane recognized and knew to have an attack of 30. Crane didn't mind though, it was only fair that he had some handicap.
The timer hit zero and Crane dashed forward. then to the side, After the fight yesterday he decided charging into an unknown opponent was no longer a great idea. The knight's sixth sense ability would allow his to know the position of enemies which covered the Knight's blind spots. He didn't even have to look to know that Crane was at his seven o'clock trying to strike his legs. The knight swung his greatsword while shifting his stance by stepping back. Now Crane was in front of him and about to be sliced in two. Crane remembered the technique that the smith used on him and tried it himself. Crane moved his blue steel wrist guard in the path of the greatsword at an angle. The moment before it made contact Crane slammed his wrist into the blade of the sword, bumping it up along the angled guard, and using the force to push his own body down beneath the blade.
You have parried a strong blow, chance of parrying raised by 1.5%
Crane still took a good deal of damage and his arm had gone numb but it was worth it to try out the smith's move. To the spectators it looked like the greatsword had jumped over Crane's body, and since Crane's sword was in his other hand and the blue steel wrist guard was covered by a sleeve, people had no idea what had happened. The large sword's momentum continued it through creating a large opening for Crane to attack. However Crane still had another problem, even with his strength, his sword would not be able to deal much damage through the knight's armor. If Crane tried, the sword would shatter before the knight. Instead of using the opening to attack, Crane put his hand on the knight's armor and said, "Isa, Isa, Isa, Isa!" A black aura spread from Crane's hand over the knight's armor, causing thick ice to grow over the iron sheet. If Crane's INT had match his level he would have gotten the same effect with a single rune call, but he put more of his stats each level into strength and agility instead of intellect and wisdom, so he had to waste almost 2k mana to get a decent ice sheet over the knight's armor. The knight hurried to take off his armor before it killed him. A moment later the full plate was inside a block of ice on the ground. Crane looked at the knight to see that his suspicions were true, the knight was a full tank type who wore cloth armor beneath chain mail beneath a full plate. Crane's own defense was very high, but his was nothing compared to the knight's. However now that the full plate was gone, so was at least half his defense. Crane's sword would be able to deal sufficient damage.
For the next five minutes Crane slowly ate away at the knight's health. Crane's body was fleet and nimble compared to the knight's and the man's greatsword did not touch Crane unless he wanted it to. Breathing heavily, the man said, "Wait!.. I yield."
The knight wishes to resign, you can accept under conditions, accept without conditions, or refuse to accept.
Crane could force to Knight to give Crane whatever he wanted, but doing so would look bad, so he said, "I accept. Next time, don't judge a book by it's cover."
You have shown mercy and asked for nothing.
Fame rises by 5 points (+5 Fame)
Crane made his way to a pile of rubble and sat down. After sliding up his sleeve he put his hand over the blue steel guard that now had a large dent in it and said, "Repair." The wristguard glowed a bit then went back to normal, it's condition restored. One of e the perks of having intermediate level repair is that as long as the equipment isn't destroyed, it can be repaired to full durability. Crane wondered for a moment what it could do when it reached advanced levels, but then another pair of Users walked up to Crane.
"Saw your fight there, you're not bad. We need an attacker between level 150 and 190, you qualify?"
Crane could tell that the pair's equipment was about level 160, as long as Crane wasn't more than 30 levels above them, the experience would be shared fairly. Crane said, "Yea, for now anyways." The man who asked seemed to be of the mercenary class, and the other seemed to be a magic user, though he could not tell what kind.
Crane looked at the mercenary and said, "Will fighting be involved?"
He answered, "Well that is what you advertised yourself for, isn't it?"
Crane smiled. The whole point of provoking the knight into starting a fight was to get people to look beyond him as a kid and see a capable fighter. Crane said, "OK, I'm in."
You have Joined Byrce's Party.
The pair took Crane over to another pair, a priest and warrior. With the exception of the warrior, all the members were male. The priest walked over to Crane and said, "You're the guy who fought against Dighilt right?"
Crane asked, "Dighilt?"
The priest said, "You know, the blacksmith in the store with those huge smokestacks."
"Oh, never got his name, he never gave it to me."
"The priest nodded, "Yea, according to what we learned from the locals, he's always been like that. Though you still got off easy compared to Jered and Josh."
Crane gave him the same, questioning look. The priest rolled his eyes and said, "The Blade Brothers, Jered and Josh. They asked to be Dighilt's apprentices as soon as they got here, back when the borders had just opened. But Dighilt didn't like them for some reason, he beat them so bad, they couldn't move till I came around and healed them up."
Crane asked, "Those two strong?"
This time the warrior woman answered, "The pair could've taken out that knight in ten seconds. Although members of the craft classes don't make good fighters, those two got around that be specializing in different stats along with strength, Jered agility, Josh luck. Jered uses two sharp knives to repeatedly attack and Josh is able to break any armor he hits with his blacksmith hammer, thanks to his high odds of dealing a critical hit and his own knowledge of the weak points in armor. So one whittles away defense and the other whittles away health. It is an interesting thing to watch."
Crane said, "Oh, how did the fight go?"
"Well, Josh's lucky strikes were useless against the smith's wooden shield. The smith knew where its weak points were, and never let it get hit. And Jered got caught by Dighilt's chain. Even the most experienced get caught by that thing."
Crane nodded, "So how should I beat him?"
"Hah! You don't understand what I'm saying kid. You are not going to beat him. The man is a specialist with a high level and higher proficiency, he can't be beaten by guys like us. Not for a few years anyways. The only chance you have is to wait until you are strong enough to overpower him."
Crane wasn't going to give up that easily, if he had to do the impossible then he would do the impossible. Crane noticed that Bryce and the magician weren't around them, so he asked, "Where'd Bryce go?"
The warrior said, "Looking for more power hitters. This is a boss hunting party afterall."
Crane said with interest, "Boss hunting?"
The priest looked at Crane, "Oh, he didn't tell you? There is a big dungeon raid going on tomorrow, some local guild got the quest to defeat it but the place is too strong for them. A raiding party is being hired to wipe out the dungeon, and we are the guys responsible for defeating the boss."
"How's the boss room itself going to be?"
The priest smiled, "Everyone is expected to die."
"That hard huh?"
The priest nodded, "This is the third raid attempt, everyone member was killed in the last two. The difference this time is our boss party, Bryce has been here for the past three days looking for anyone who he feels capable enough to handle himself in the battle."
"So everyone else wipes out the dungeon, and we kill the boss?"
"That's the idea, plus there's a bonus. Besides the pay we'll be getting, members of the boss party will be allowed free access to the dungeon."
Crane understood what he meant. This dungeon was likely under the control of the local guild, to enter it non guild members would have to pay a fee.
Bryce and the magician came back with a knight, this one had gear about level 150, but his great axe had a 165 level requirement.
"This guy is Nonance, Nonance, these are the other party members."
The magician spoke up, "Do we have enough?"
Bryce replied, "We'd better, there isn't another person here above level 150. I also called in a favor at the mercenary's guild, six more will be waiting for us at the dungeon's entrance tomorrow."
Crane spoke up, "So what's the dungeon?"
Bryce took in a deep breath, "The Burnt Mansion, it is a two hours walk south east of the town. For those of you who don't know, the story goes like this. A hundred years ago there was a rich family in that house. It held several generations of their family and all their relatives. With each generation the family grew in size, and the house was expanded, it is like the size of a shopping mall now. Anyways, one day the whole place burnt down, but the family who lived their refused to leave. Now they hunt the place and possess the objects in the house, most notebly, the toys of the hundreds of children who were in the house. Now, the boss is the ghost of the guy who built the house, apparently he was there the whole time and his power increased with his family. The goal of the raid is to first get rid of his family to weaken the bosses power, then take out the boss ourselves."
Crane had read about the ghosts of Royal Road but had not fought any yet. But before he could say anything, the priest continued from there.
"For those of you who don't know, ghosts and spectres can only be hit under certain circumstances. Luckily I am a priest who specializes in buffs as opposed to healing, I can give each of your weapons a holy buff that will allow you to attack ghosts."
Crane was relieved that the team had this kind of specialist with them, but he had another point to ask about.
"Excuse me, but you said the boss's power increases with the amount of family members in his house?"
Bryce and the priest nodded, Crane continued, "Are you sure it is family members, or just ghosts?"
The priest asked, "What do you mean?"
Crane elaborated, "If the house is his domain, what if his power is determined by the number of dead people inside his house, not the number of family members?"
"What's the difference?"
"Dead people can be Users too. If the raiding party that wipes out the ghosts dies, then the boss will still have power. I'm only mentioning it because this is the third raid, and I am wondering why they were beaten the last two times. Maybe they had it wrong."
The priest spoke up after a moment, "Well, it isn't impossible. Hmm, if that guy draws power from our own dead, then what exactly are we supposed to do?"
Crane made a suggestion, "I can scare them away."
Everyone remained silent. This is usually the point where people laugh, but this group was assembled for competence, none of them were the types to underestimate a situation. Finally the magician broke the silence, "How?"
Crane smiled and sat down, "This is about half max, I was advised against using max in public."
Crane's Battle aura skill was almost intermediate and his fighting spirit was about 240. The skill channeled the effect of fighting spirit into other forms with many uses, though none were lethal, it was a very practical skill. Crane concentrated on his own fighting spirit, then imagined that something horrible would happen to every person in the area, like a herd of mountain trolls was about to come down and ripe the limbs of every person in the area apart. Crane had actually felt the exact feeling coming from a herd of mountain trolls before, so he was not making it up, just imitating it.
Every person gathered in the area tensed up. Some of the people removed their weapons, and started looking around. The feeling that someone was watching you, planning something sinister was not uncommon in the game, and every person there got the distinct feeling they should get out of there. No one person started running before the rest, but as a whole, the entire group suddenly decided to leave at a pace faster than walking. There were no screams, but the area had emptied in two minutes flat, save Crane's party.
The female warrior spoke up first, "Woah, what skill is that, I felt like I was being hunted by a pack of monsters."
Crane turned to the magician and priest and said, "You alright?"
They nodded, slowly. The strength of the effect was determined by the difference between Crane's fighting spirit and the affected. Most magic classes have little or no fighting spirit, so among the group those two would be the most affected. The mercenary however didn't even wince, the man was probably very close to Crane's level. He walked out to the empty area a few paces and stopped. "Would you like to join our party?"
Crane nat not seen anyone before Bryce had walked out there, but after asking, Crane noticed Bryce was standing in front of a hooded man. Crane didn't recognize the level of the equipment, but looking at the style caused only one word to enter his head. Assassin.
The assassin said, "Sssuure."
The mercenary class was a class above adventurer, and came with many practical skills, seeing the unseen was among them. The pair returned to the group and Bryce looked at Crane, "You really think you can scare the ghosts out of the house?"
Crane nodded, "Beings without form are more vulnerable to fighting spirit."
"Wait one moment." Bryce moved his hands around, likely bringing up some menus, then he started talking without noise. Crane could read lips, but he knew that Bryce was whispering with someone. A few minutes later Bryce spoke up. "The raid is scheduled to start in tomorrow at noon. We will head for the dungeon early to test the effectiveness of your skill, if it works, we will face the boss, if not, we will have to kill ghosts till the guild comes."
Bryce made sure everyone understood before taking them to the local guild's headquarters to borrow some horses. The party rode southeast with Bryce leading the way. After ten minutes of riding, the party reached the Burnt Mansion. Crane couldn't see it through the trees till he was closer but when they arrived he saw it was about four floors high and stretched further to the left and right then he could see.
The entrance to the house had about fifteen people there, all members of the local guild that claimed the dungeon. The took the horses off the party's hands and let the group in without charging.
The mansion was hot and gloomy, small rays of light pierced the wooden boards giving the area a soft light. "Ok kid, show us your stuff."
Crane nodded, his plan was to take care of the dungeon one floor at a time. Although his skill had a limit to about twenty meters for the strongest effect, the guild gave them a detailed map of the dungeon to use as a guide. Crane and the group wandered around for a minute before they found a group of floating toys. Two jack in the boxes, three string marionettes and three dolls, all of which had burnt marks over them. Crane activated his skill and imagined that if these spirits didn't leave right now, he would use the ice spells he learned not to long ago to chain them up and send them to hell. Since the thought was not an empty threat, more of a promise, the effect was noticeable. The toys fell to the ground and white spirits floated out of them and flew like the wind through the roof and far away. Crane was slightly disappointed he didn't get any experience, but he didn't actually fight anything, so it was understandable.
The priest spoke up, "I didn't feel anything that time."
Crane said, "Cause you're not dead, I made them understand if they did not leave, I would send them to hell."
Crane hear a small, 'hehe,' coming from beneath the assassin's hood. The other members did not think it was very funny. The party went to the stairs and gave Crane the map to the dungeon, for the next hour and a half Crane scared every ghost off the first floor. When he could not find anymore, he met up with the party at the stairs and they hit the second floor.
In this way the group made their way to the fourth floor. Crane took out every ghost there before hitting the boss's room. And before that the group returned to the lower floors to make sure the ghosts hadn't returned yet. A full day after entering, the entire mall sized mansion was empty of ghosts save one room. The priest buffed the party and gave everyone's attacks the holy attribute. The group hadn't fought anything in a day thanks to Crane, though none really thanked him for it. They were all itching to fight, Bryce kicked open the door to reveal a large round room with a ten portraits hanging on the walls, with a forty foot tall portrait hanging on the wall furthest in the back. It looked to be an old man in some military attire. Then, candles on the walls around the room started flaming up, the figure in the picture looked like it was decaying, until a skeleton in a uniform remained. Then an enormous ghost, twenty feet tall at least emerged from the painting with a red name above it, ‘Eustace’.
"YOU!!" He pointed his boney finger at Crane, "YOU CHASED AWAY MY FAMILY! ARHHHH!!!" He charged at the group but the mercenary appeared in front of him, slashing through him, "ARRGG!!" The ghost rolled to the side but still received a clean hit. "Come My Family!" At Eustace's call, spectres appeared from the other portraits, each about level 160. Crane felt he had gotten too much attention already, so he decided to go for the spectres and let everyone else fight Eustace. He extended his aura with the thought, "Stupid spectres, probably as weak as the old geezer." After his battle aura hit beginner level 8, he could get more specific on the thoughts he transmitted. The spectres who had been attacking whoever was closest stopped what they were doing and converged on Crane. 'Ok, maybe not my best idea.'
Crane imagined cutting each spectre so many times, they would be reduced to mist, then used his Majestic stance, 50!. He still couldn't get above 50 without a rapier, but he started his twelve forms skill and begun slicing with his holy blade. To his surprise the assassin appeared behind the spectres and dealt each a critical hit before disappearing again. Crane kept up his aggravation of the spectres and the assassin kept attacking each from behind. But there were too many spectres, he had to keep his priority on defending to prolong his fight so the others could concentrate on Eustace. The only reason they had not overwhelmed him instantly was because the spell Isa worked on them and slowed them sufficiently for Crane to keep up with them all.
Upgrade: Battle Aura [Basic to Intermediate]
Increases range of aura and power of effect
"Aarrgggg.." Crane heard the ghost scream one last time before everyone else came over to Crane and got the spectres off him. Crane killed two and the party got the rest. For being in the party that killed Eustace Crane got 15% toward his next level, but experience was never his incentive to come here. Crane counted up the party to see that everyone was still alive, though plenty beaten. Crane was a little disappointed he was unable to participate or even watch the fight, but no one in the group belittled his efforts in the battle. Bryce walked up to Crane and threw something to him. Crane caught it and saw it was a finely cut ruby. Bryce said, "That's your share of the boss's loot, you did real good. You ever consider becoming a mercenary?"
Crane shook his head, "I already got a class."
"I'm not an NPC offering a class change, you can be a mercenary by joining the guild."
He shook his head again, "No thanks, I am happy with the guild I'm in."
Bryce frowned, "Shame, you don't know what you're missing."
Crane could only smile, if he only knew.
Bryce spoke up again, "One other thing, I've spoken to the guild that hired us, for clearing out the monsters but not killing them, you're getting a quarter of what they were going to use to pay the raiding party with, it totals 1675 gold. You'll get it when we return, along with your contribution for being a member of the boss party, 800 gold." Crane didn't particularly care, but the warrior exclaimed, "That's not fair, why is he only getting a quarter? There's no difference between what he did except he didn't get the experience!"
Crane was slightly surprised at her outrage on his behalf, but Bryce held up his hand and said, "I know, they're cheap and willing to do whatever they can to pay less. Don't worry about it, he got what he came for."
The warrior looked over at Crane and asked, "What does he mean?"
Crane said, "Bryce knows I joined this party for the rights to fight in this dungeon without having to pay for it, though I don't remember telling him that."
Bryce raised his shoulders slightly and left for the exit, with the rest following behind.
The group quietly left the mansion and retrieved the horses from the men out front. After returning to the guild Crane got paid and received a pass that allowed non guild members to access the dungeon at any time.