Writer's Note: And the trials continue! I try to make it like a game and so some things can be made or done that would be considered impossible in real life.
Chapter 5: Samurai versus Knights
*Ping*
Jin is now Level 5
"Sweet!" Jin said as the others decided to rest before entering the tunnel. Jin quickly added 1 stat to spirit, stamina, and toughness. Skills were the ultimate trump card and some skills cost more than 1 spirit or stamina. Toughness also added some physical and magical defense. He grinned as he finally received the system message he hoped for.
First Trial CompleteYou survived the Jurassic Trial
You have proven you are a better fighter than dinosaurs. Now, you must face men. Two sides will be available to you. Choose one and ensure they achieve victory. Should they fall, you and the wood elves will die. Your mission is only to aid the gate or seize it. As you reached level 5, your actions are reviewed by the system and you are awarded based on your class.
Skill unlocked: Bear Trap
Skill unlocked: Heart Seeker
Basic Archery: Level 17
Sword Novice: Level 21
Magic Lore: Level 5
Passive skill unlocked: Jurassic Survivor. Plus 1 strength and stamina.
"Uh, I know what happens in the next trial," Jin said, drawing the attention of the three warriors. "We will have to choose between two sides. We won't know which is in the right or wrong. If the side we choose loses, we die."
"Then we must rest and recover. When this candle wick is gone, we move," Lajakel said as he took out a candle from his storage ring, lighting it as he placed in on the ground.
Jin moved away from the others as he made his own preparations. He looked upon his auction and grinned ear to ear. The stamina potion bid was currently 7 gold, 31 silvers, and 2 coppers. His mana potion was 11 gold, 73 silver, and 15 coppers. His stamina potion was the highest, being 34 gold, 12 silver, and 61 copper. He immediately accepted them all.
Auction Accepted
Jin receives 53 gold, 16 silver, and 78 copper.
Current currency: 7 gold, 85 silver.
Total currency: 61 gold, 1 silver, 78 copper.
"Sweet!" Jin grinned. He would have sold another batch, but he read some of the forums. He also noticed other people starting to sell potions. He had gotten the passive skill to wield two swords. He would have bought one, but low rank items were easy to find and he was currently in a place similar to a dungeon instance. It would be better to keep his money.
Jin closed his eyes and began to cultivate. A red aura permeated from his body, as if they were made of flames. As he cultivated, his spirit, stamina, and vitality were regenerating much faster. When Lajakel called for them, Jin breathed deeply and followed the four wood elves into the right passage, Proto walking beside him. Maybelle held the torch and was flanked by the two elf twins. After a mile, they appeared in a new clearing.
Just like before, a ghost of a moon elf appeared. This time, it was a maiden in white clothing. She looked at Jin and smiled. Before each of the wood elves was two sets of armor. One was a silver armor worn by knights and the other was red samurai armor with a face mask and helmet included. Proto walked up to her and sat next to her left leg.
"Welcome, Jin, to the second trial. Your mother is a wood elf, but her father is a moon elf. She is currently back among her clan. You are one step closer with reuniting with her. Now, this trial is to test you on the field of battle. Two sides are currently fighting over a foreign princess. The prince of the knights was betrothed to her, but she loves the son of the head samurai. Now, she is to be married. You must choose to either siege or defend the city of the knights," the elf rasped.
"So I have to choose a side after all," Jin said.
"Before you go, you must make a choice. This will decide your future path as a hunter. There are three paths. You will choose one path to walk, the power of a second path to be yours in the future. However, you must discard one path. You will no longer receive skills based on that path unless learned from a skill book," the elf continued. "The path of the sword, a weapon of beauty and destruction. The path of the archer, a weapon of glory and slaughter. The path of the mystic, the power to create life and corrupt it."
"The path of the sword is the one I choose to specialize. I even got high sword mastery. Arrows only go so far. I already train with the bow and have to awesome bow skills: <
"The choice is made," the elf said, a change stirring in Jin's body. The rune tattoo on his chest were now silver, the flame in the center becoming a pale blue flame. For some reason, a black pearl was in the center of those flames. The red samurai armor also appeared on the bodies of four of the five elves and they stared at each other in wonder, unable to see their faces. Maybelle was the only elf not wearing armor.
"This is definitely beyond my understanding," Lajakel said as he felt the armor. It was even more impressive than the armor they previously wore.
"Proto and Maybelle will await you for when you return. Both are too young and cannot possibly disguise their identities. This trial will test your resolves. Can you truly take a life? Can you protect each other? As you may have guessed, you are appearing in an alternate timeline, traveling space time. Good luck. I hope you succeed," the elf smiled and vanished with a smile just like the other, gratitude also in her eyes.
Siege the CityYou are now Samurai
You must follow your lord into battle to save the young lord's beloved from a forced marriage. Either the lord dies, or the king dies. The lives of their sons and the princess do not matter. The marriage is an excuse to call forth the final battle. Seize the gate or die.
"Could this ruin lead us to the home of the moon elves? It must be true! The ghost spoke of Jin's mother. It seems even his mother is a blood elf, a mixed wood elf with moon elf lineage! Blood elves are not really a separate race of elves, just mixed blood," Aerolas gasped. "We are going to see the moon elves!"
"This is so awesome. Perhaps with their aid, we can stop the high elves from taking over the High Council. The High Council contains twelve members, four monarchs chosen from the high elves, dark elves, and wood elves. We all know the high elves believe they should be the lords of us all because they believe themselves as the equals of the moon elves," Aerogan nodded.
"Enough! We must think of the present! We must not draw attention to ourselves. Just follow the orders of the samurai lord, whatever a samurai is," Lajakel said as he drew his katana and wakizashi, the two Japanese swords appearing at his side as a longbow and quiver appeared on his back. "It also seems we cannot use our own equipment."
"No way! That means no health potions!" Jin cried, the other two elves looking at each other. All three looked identical to Lajakel, save their build and stature, and had the same equipment.
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"Do not lose sight of each other. A battlefield is chaos and a siege, even more so," Lajakel said and the four ensured Maybelle and Proto they would return as a silver light appeared and they vanished from the temple ruin once again.
"What you three doing! Get off your damn asses! Lord Matsumoto is about to lead the charge!" a samurai roared as the four elves appeared inside a large tent, bed rolls on the ground. "You are with the vanguard. Ready your bows and swords!"
"Yes," Lajakel said as the samurai left, turning to the others. "As soon as they take the walls, we go our own way. Kill any knight in silver armor. We are not in the temple. This is just an illusion spell made real."
"Right," the twins said as Jin kept his bow in his hand. They got out the tent and saw dozens of samurai. Those who got on horses did not have quivers on their backs. Jin quickly realized the vanguard's mission was to sneak to the top of the walls of the city, open the gate, and let the drawbridge down so the cavalry could storm the city. Jin and the three saw a grand city in the distance. It seemed to be built on the side of a mountain, white marble buildings shining as the sun rose.
"For Lord Matsumoto! Vanguard, march!" a samurai yelled, the archer unit quickly descending the hill to the city walls. Three groups of samurai combined to form a three-layered shield wall with numerous archers among them. Jin and the three wood elves were between the second and third shield wall. Their hearts beat loudly as the samurai rushed to the gate. Bells rung up ahead, volleys of arrows raining upon the shield wall soon after.
"Hold!" a samurai yelled, the shield walls stopping to endure the volley of arrows. "Forward!"
Jin took aim and shot, killing an archer over sixty yards away. The samurai around him were surprised and shocked to see someone shoot so accurately from a distance. Jin was only capable of such accuracy as he had the necessary strength to pull it off. His longbow was 150 pounds, meaning that the weight of the bowstring fully drawn was also 150 pounds. The heavier the bow, the stronger it was, and the farther the arrow would fly true.
His usual recurve bow was 80 pounds. He was also shocked and elated that his archery had new bounds. He also wished to own a hunting bow of the same rank. The samurai actually wore rank 3 armor and weapons! He kept shooting the archers on the wall. It was clear they were not experienced, shooting as a unit without any individual taking out any important samurai. In warfare, it was more effective to shoot down those in charge to sow chaos on the field.
The archers at the gate panicked as more of them were getting shot by Jin's arrows. When Jin got close enough to see more of the details of their armors, he changed tactics and shot whoever gave orders or wore fancier armor. When the shield wall reached the foot of the wall, the archers between the first and second shield wall then shot at the top of the wall, thicker arrows penetrating the walls with ropes tied to the arrows.
The samurai forming the third shield wall tossed aside their shields and began to climb the ropes. Jin, with his speed, scaled the wall quickly and shot the knights ringing the bells for reinforcements. When Lajakel and the twins arrived, the four took out their katana and headed to two small towers above either side of the gate.
"I'll get the farther tower!" Lajakel said, drawing the wakizashi as well and killing the knights before him with his skills. He laughed as he deflected arrows. Aerogan and Aerolas took advantage and quickly got to the closer tower. Jin jumped out of the tower, using his quick reflexes and speed to scale down the wall and land at the ground. The knights cried out as the entrance to the stairs to the towers were right next to the bottom of the gate. Jin chose to fight there to prevent reinforcements.
"Kill that samurai! We cannot lose the gate!" a knight roared, but Jin easily dodged his sword slash by just stepping aside. Jin did a high kick to the man's chin, the knight crying out before his throat was stabbed. Jin kept his cool by pretending he was in a kendo competition match. As the knights decided to ram at him, he lifted his left hand and tried to use <
"The gates are opening! Keep at it!" a samurai cried as the gate behind Jin started to rise, the drawbridge already on the ground. "Keep pushing forward!"
Jin's eyes only saw red, ignoring the bruises and cuts on his body as he focused on deflecting and slashing when the knights exposed an opening in their guard. The knights then nodded and those with square shields formed a shield wall, slowly enclosing around Jin. As knights pierced with their lances between the gaps of the shield, Jin grabbed the gate behind him.
When it stopped, he pushed off the gate, landing behind the shield wall. He spun around low, his katana slicing the back of the knights' knees where the armor was just chain mail between steel plates. They cried out and fell to the ground, Jin quickly stabbing them in the neck. All the samurai and knights paused as one samurai sounded a horn. The ground shook beneath their feet as the cavalry received the signal and charged into the city.
"We have taken the gate! Onward, to victory!" Lord Matsumoto cried, everyone seeing a giant samurai in red and gold armor lead the charge on his white horse, Jin and the other elves not following as the scene before them vanished. When they appeared back in the cave, they were back in their armor, but had a katana.
You Passed the Second TrialJin receives Caliburn
Jin receives the rank 7 sword wielded by the defeated king of the knights. The sword, Excalibur, is given to the first to pass their personal quest after a certain point. Caliburn is one of nine other weapons given to the rest of the first ten to pass a certain point. You are the seventh to receive a gift. Your power is great, now the next trial will take some of it away. In this trial, you lose more than you gain. One important choice must also be made: which elf will you choose to be left behind? What affinities will you surrender? The next trial is sacrifice. You've been warned.
Basic Archery: Level 23.
Sword Novice: Level 27. Halfway to level 50 and first combat skill upgrade.
Kicking: Evolved and now a combat skill instead of a job. Skill readjusted. Kicking level is 19.
Title Earned: Samurai Vanguard: +1 vitality, +3 strength.
]/table]
[table]
Jin is now Level 6 Jin is now Level 7
Jin chose the first and second options. Jin got strength, vitality, agility, stamina, and spirit increased by 1 first. With the random option, he got +1 vitality, +3 spirit, +1 agility. Jin quickly inspected his status to see the overall changes.
Name: Jin
Race: Blood Elf
1st Profession: Hunter
Titles: Jurassic Survivor, Samurai Vanguard
Stats
Strength: 11
Vitality: 8 (5+3)
Agility: 6
Spirit: 10
Stamina: 9
Speed: 5 (4+1)
Toughness: 7 (2+5)
Affinities: 47% Fire, 35% Darkness (Ring effect +35%), 20% Wind, 14% Thunder, 7% Water, 1% Chaos.
"We got to keep the long sword," Aerolas said, wonder in his voice as he admired the blade.
"What are the details of the third trial?" Lajakel asked.
"I have to make some sacrifices. I...also have to choose who to leave behind," Jin said, the others crying out in alarm.
"A sacrificial trial. I should have known. One is to test our teamwork. The second was to test our skills against other warriors and our mettle on the battlefield. This trial is one in which we cannot come out on top," Lajakel said through gritted teeth. "Jin has to sacrifice more than us overall. I should not have brought us here."
"Let's go the the third clearing then. We will hear the particulars of the sacrifices Jin must make before we choose who to leave behind," Aerogan said, leading the way into a passage as it appeared. Maybelle and Proto looked at them, confused as they followed the others in silence.