I did it again lost all my text because I accidentally closed my browser from now on I'm going to frequently copy all text so I don't lose anything. *cries a little* the chapter was far enough to take up 3 of my normal chapters and took over 4 hours to do before it all got deleted. Please RoyalRoadl start saving text when suddenly exiting so I don't get false hopes up when I realized I could re-open closed tabs.
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Lynford got out of his Coma while being a bit disoriented. So far it's been about a week since he started playing the game but he already got a unique class and reached level 62. This was quickly cleared up as his phone suddenly began to ring. Most of his apartment was modern except for his phone which was a land-line and a complete antique. He picked it up from a yard sale on a whim since he was only in a mood to talk over the phone at home. Since he was a former waiter and now unemployed this didn't interfere with his lifestyle. When he answered the phone a familiar female's voice sounded out.
"Why hello there Emperor could I bother you with a quick meeting in real life. This is Kandi from Nintendo" said Kandi in a slightly forceful tone
-Sure...?
~30 minutes later~
They met up at a restaurant of Lynford's choosing. Lynford was dressed messily in his only pair of formal clothing and was slightly uncomfortable. On the other hand Kandi was wearing designer brand clothes and stood out in the restaurant like a sore thumb. But she looked completely at ease in this environment. This suggested that she was used to business meetings in odd places and was either higher up in the company then he first thought or she slept around.
Kandi herself was Brunette with long hair tied up in a ponytail. She had a nice figure and a nice personality. She was leaning forward seductively and started talking as Lynford seemed unwilling to initiate the conversation.
"So it's the legendary Emperor himself in person" she said casually
-Please call me Lynford, it feels weird to be called by my game name in real life. By the way what do you mean by legendary?
Lynford's eyes shined sensing that she had in store complements for him.
"Well your quite famous in the game thanks to the video and the happenings in Sicheren Untergang. But more importantly-" said Kandi until Lynford interrupted her.
-The happenings in Sicheren Untergang? It should be relatively event-less due to the NPC's and me not being there.
Kandi's face turned sour from being interrupted but she decided to sate his curiosity a little bit.
"But that's just it thanks to the NPC's being gone the village has become even more popular for beginners. Among other things there's no soldier NPC's to stop players from immediately hunting and the size of the village has increased several times. But really what I want to discuss with you about-" Kandi said before Lynford interjected
-Increased in size? Popular with beginners? We've got all dinner to discuss important things why not start with some less important but interesting things?
Khandi sighed then said "The guards around starter places are there to protect new players from stupidly setting out then dying quickly. Usually they would die then stay for the time period or further out of their own will after realizing they aren't ready yet. But thanks to you killing Alpha and holding up the free roaming monsters from the nearby dungeon all the nearby mobs are weakened. The players rarely die as their sheer numbers overwhelm everything they encounter."
-What about when the mosquitos left the dungeon in waves, I damaged their numbers but I didn't stop them.
"Exactly since you weakened them they decided to avoid attacking Sicheren Untergang." Kandi said smugly
-Why? They have great numbers and high levels with a thirst for blood. Sicheren Untergang should look like a tasty snack to them.
Kandi looked at him surprised then said "You're underestimating the number of players there. There's so many of them that they've expanding the village by building shacks all around it and filled all the houses normally occupied by NPC's. Nintendo estimates their numbers to be around 10,000 in a village meant for a maximum of 500 people. There's so many that any mob that spawns within a few kilometers is almost immediately killed. The chicken mobs that spawned in the immediate vincity of the village have actually gone extinct and the other mobs now gain fear debuffs when they see champions. All because of what you've done."
Lynford savored what she said especially the last part.
'There's something romantic about chaos that you're responsible for.'
Kandi then said "Back to the important things I've got two things for you." she once again leaned forward seductively then whispered forcing Lynford to move closer "First Nintendo wants to hire your perspective for the first half of your dungeon raid, same deal as last time. Second I've got your cut of the money made off the first video all ready in cash."
The reason why Kandi was trying to seduce Lynford was to distract him from the deal being given. There was a chance that Lynford could demand better terms for the second video or even the first due to its popularity and lack of a proper contract between Lynford and Nintendo. But Lynford was more distracted by the new info given to him besides he wasn't aware he could demand a better deal. In his perspective the deal was heavily in his favour.
-Yeah sounds good to me
Kandi silently cheered in her mind. Before anything else could be said their food came out and they began eating. Awkward silence ensued as neither knew what else to talk about. Lynford was uncomfortable with starting conversations and Kandi accomplished what she set out to do already.
After they were done eating Kandi passed over a stack of bills wrapped up with a rubber band, stripper style. Lynford was shocked at the amount and first thought it was some sort of joke with smaller bills underneath the highest bill. But Kandi had already left before Lynford could ask her anything. Of course leaving the bill up to him.
He went to pay the bill and chatted with the owner quickly.
The owner said "Wow that was a hot girl, no offence but I doubt that was a date."
-Some taken, but you're right it was just a business meeting.
"Looked more like a drug deal but I don't care what my customers do as long as they're paying. Remember that one guy that destroyed the bathroom and ate his silverware." said the owner
-Yes it was hard to forget especially when you forced me to clean it up.
"By the way thanks for the business and not holding any hard feelings for me replacing you." said his former boss before he ambled back into the back area of the restaurant.
'It was more of me not knowing any other restaurants and being forced to choose the location but whatever floats his boat.'
Lynford then hurried home to count the money he earned from the video. Back in his apartment he took out the cash and started counting it. Starting with the $100,000 bill in the front.
-It is a prank...
His knees started shaking as the next bill was a $1,000,000 bill. Counting it up there ended up being $42,000,000 total. All in cash with recently minted bills. Bills made for almost exclusive usage by the 1% fortunate and bankers. Only implemented recently from recent pressuring for more convenience.
'This means that over 4 billion people have watched that video officially without torrenting or using ad-block! How popular is this freaking game that I just earned that much money!?'
Lynford turned on his wall TV and began surfing the news channels. Most of them were talking about Fantasy Chronicles. The exceptions were FOX and CNN which were too busy dissing each other and spreading lies or cutouts of the truth. He continued onto the internet where he found out that the news station that interviewed King was now looking to interview him.
'Nice try but if I go now I'll only be compared to King. Maybe I'll consider once I pass King.'
After reading all that info Lynford got excited and wanted to continue playing but the raid was scheduled to continue tomorrow morning so he instead had to sleep.
~8 hours later~
An alarm sounded but a wide-awake Lynford turned it off. He could barely sleep with his excitement, he wanted to see the new Sicheren Untergang. He quickly ate breakfast then went on a jog to clear his groggy mind. After his jog he did his three S's then went to his Coma.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Log-in procedure initiated
Emperor appeared with a flash of light and immediately posed with a flourish because of his good mood. All this resulted in was everyone staring at him since they were all ready and just waiting for him. Emperor stopped posing and was embarrassed. But he noticed that the length of the dungeon was doing a number on the morale of the raid group. So he decided to make a speech to improve morale.
-Everyone give me a moment of your time. It's come to my attention that morale is low despite beating that giant mosquito recently. You have to realize that now we're close to the boss at the end so from now on the pace is doubled.
Everyone started grumbling and morale seemed to plummet. The opposite of what Emperor intended happened but that was just as planned.
-Of course this isn't for my sake, that's a large part of it, but it's for you. Think about it villagers aren't you getting homesick, don't you want to save your fellow villagers, and don't you wish to place me as your lord so I can make Sicheren Untergang into a place you not only live in but a place that you're proud of? Champions on the other hand don't you want to level up faster, aren't you getting bored of the scenery here, and are you curious about the rewards you'll get at the end? All of this will be fulfilled in due time. But doesn't that make you excited. Why not now, double your pace and that much sooner these things will come into fruition!
At first everyone was skeptical and grumbling. But then people started thinking and couldn't help getting riled up. His words which seemed common and nothing special resonated deep with their desires. Soon some of them were cheering while others still grumbled but were visibly happier.
Charisma, Leadership, and Elegant stat +1
'Appealing to their desires rather than their emotions. Simple but works wonders after several days and compiled mental stress.'
After that they continued into the tunnels faster than before. There was nothing left of the giant mosquito guarding the passageway as it had been completely looted. This passage was much larger and rounded than the other ones plus didn't have as many mosquitos. The raid group took it as a sign that they were thinning out the numbers quite well or it's a result of the quest with the blood mounds.
Eventually it opened up to quite the unique chamber. Unlike the previous chamber it was well lit with not only bloodstones but another type of glowing yellow stone. But they were far out of reach so there wasn't much hope of identifying them. The red and yellow glowing competed with each other creating blending colors of orange, red, and yellow making the room have a fiery aura. Craters covered the ground everywhere the eye could see except on the walls and ceiling. There were mosquitos but they lingered near the roof but some of them lowered themselves into the craters revealing something important. The craters added to the atmosphere by looking like they were caused by meteors.
-People... There's people in those craters! Let's go rescue them.
The others agreed and they rushed down into the cavern. The craters were very steep so they all stopped at the edge of the first one except Emperor who could easily get back out with a charge since it was sloped. He went down and found horizontal spikes pinning down a few people in fetal position. Hearing someone come down into the crater rather than the usual telltale buzzing the people looked up. They showed immense relief but didn't say anything.
'How to break these without harming them? Crush isn't an option as it'll push the spikes down. Impale will take forever. They're too low to effectively charge. Guess I'll wing it and see if my strength stat is high enough to break or bend them by lifting them up.'
Emperor took a hold of one of the spikes then began lifting with all his strength. After a few tries he felt something strange as he lifted. He was frustrated but all of a sudden his strength increased and he managed to break one of the three spikes.
New skill gained: Bestial Strength
-check skill: Bestial Strength
Skill: Bestial Strength
Rarity: Legendary
Level: 1
Call upon the strength of the beast within. While some people insist there's a large difference between man and beast, the difference is actually very little. Let out your true strength, remove your limiters, and do what needs to be done.
Benefits: Strength X 1.5 for 5 seconds
Disadvantages: Lose stamina quicker
'A well balanced skill, perfect for the job too.'
Emperor quickly broke the other two spikes and freed the three captured villagers. They thanked him but looked daunted by the slope before them. Emperor in response picked them up and then shouted.
-Minotaur's Charge
Emperor ran up the slope of the crater and easily came out of it even with three people in his arms. He put them down and the others started to care for them while he dived into the next crater. In there he found something unique. A strange goat-like creature was restrained by 6 separate spikes and was irritably bashing around. The spike closest to its head was covered in cracks.
-Ah so you're one of the satyrs that Khan mentioned.
The satyr responded "Yes indeed human, may I inquire upon your relationship with Khan? Or can we skip that and you free me?"
-How about both, my name is Emperor. I'm a fellow leader acknowledged by Khan. Bestial Strength. He asked me to help him rescue his cousins and fellow tribesmen after he escaped. Unfortunately he was recaptured so all the responsibility falls upon me. Bestial Strength. My own followers have also been captured so I must ask you to help me free all those captured. Bestial Strength. Of course I hope that afterwards you'll help me take care of the source of all this, the yellow one, so this won't happen again. Bestial Strength.
While Emperor was breaking the spikes the satyr thought 'Great another freak just like Khan, at least he's rescuing me.'
After Emperor broke the fourth spike the satyr interrupted "Okay I can handle it from here. By the way the name is Cliff."
Cliff casually lifted his freed lower body and breathed out all the air in his body. Then he quickly breathed in a bunch of air while kicking his lower body down and flexing his muscles. The result is that he broke both remaining spikes at once and launched into the air slightly.
Cliff then casually climbed up the crater with practiced ease. Of course he was half-human and half-goat so climbing things was no problem which explained the extra spikes. Emperor soon followed behind with a charge. But when he reached the top he saw another giant mosquito flying towards them.
Emperor looked over to the raid group and saw them panicking so he shouted to get their attention.
-CLIFFHANGER
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The cliffhanger returns with a vengeance. I was going to go for a boss battle but then I realized they struggled too much against the mini-boss and would lose plus whatever happened to the captured people and half-humans. So it turned out this way, oh well I'm making the chapters longer so the next chapter should have the boss battle. By the way the new updates make it impossible to adjust things via mobile so drafts of the next chapter will be less likely in discussion from now on. Also due to that it took awhile adjusting early chapters because the coding changed and ****ed up all the windows and links.
Next chapter: http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5153