Crucis looked through Storage, and picked out the [Silver Wasp] light sword. Finding that he could wield it now due to his Dexterity exceeding 350, he swung it lightly through the air, and it flew almost weightless through the still air. He decided to check on its stats further:
[Silver Wasp | Has a 40% chance to give user a +5% Agility buff after hitting an opponent successive times. Base power: 150. Base speed: 130%]
While it wasn't as fast as his dagger, it was still quite fast at this stage in the game. However, Crucis hadn't yet trained his sword abilities much, and hence would be at a disadvantage using this for now. He would train at swords in due course, but for now he first wanted to bring Cael across to Kruxol, so that he could take advantage of the many new players coming here to find easier quests that had less chance of causing pain. Instead of attempting to train light swords immediately, Crucis put the sword to use in another way: using the [Silver Orb] artifact, he transferred the special ability of the sword to his dagger. His dagger now looked like this:
[Silver Crucifix Dagger | Raises Agility by 5%. Deals 50% extra damage for 5 seconds when Agility is buffed by spells, skills, or non-equipment items, this does not stack. Has a 40% chance to give user a +5% Agility buff after hitting an opponent successive times (Silver Orb). Base power: 120. Base attack speed: 170%.]
This was an interesting set of abilities, although the Agility buff from the [Silver Wasp] would not by itself trigger the dagger's 50% damage increase because that can't be triggered by equipment items. Nonetheless, this buff allowed for much faster and more decisive attacks. He also noticed that he had a few skill points left to invest.
What he needed now was a skill which boosted Agility, so that he could trigger his weapon's damage buff. He sought out an appropriate ability, which could buff his [Agility].
He quickly saw and unlocked an ability called [Dodge Step], which boosted the user's Agility by 50% and allowed them to step out of the path of an incoming attack. The Agility buff only lasted for the duration of the [Dodge Step] skill, but it would still be useful due to triggering a damage increase from the [Silver Crucifix Dagger] ability. The main issue with this was that it could only be used when under attack, since it was a dodging skill, and it would typically move you away from the opponent - this would make it less easy to launch an attack during the 5 seconds of the damage buff.
This skill, while useful, would make it difficult to fully exploit the increased damage.
Thinking about this, Crucis looked through his menu for any other options, and realised that he had recently unlocked the [Skill Mastery] feature on this account. Checking through his basic skills, he saw that when [Stealth] was upgraded, it gained an additional Agility boost:
[Stealth Cloak* | Makes the player invisible for three seconds. During this time, their Agility is buffed by 20%, and by 40% if they are under attack. They can use any dodging skills during this period, regardless of cooldown times.]
This would be useful to him, as he could easily use [Stealth] to approach an enemy and then unleash a fierce assault using the damage buff from his dagger. Checking on the requirements to upgrade his [Stealth] skill, he saw that it required an item named [Book of Disguise]. This item could be used to temporarily blur other players' vision of you, for one minute, or to learn a skill which would do this for 3 seconds. Either use would consume the item. Crucis remembered that the Assassin Trainer NPC sold these books for 30,000 gold each, something that Crucis could now afford after his time in the labyrinth. It would generally be quite expensive for a new player.
While the [Skill Mastery] feature was officially introduced as a way for classes like Mage to use their surplus spell scrolls, for classes like Assassin most skills were not a result of scrolls. As such, the requirements for upgrading Assassin skills were slightly more creative and included skill books of a similar type to the upgraded skill, or rare Talismans. This could still be difficult to acquire at higher levels, but, like basic spell scrolls, most basic skills could be upgraded with items bought in Kruxol. However, upgrading a skill was permanent, and only three could be upgraded. Crucis decided that upgrading [Stealth] was still worthwhile, because it was a staple of the Assassin class even in the late game.
As such, he ran over to the Assassin Trainer NPC outside the Alchemist's Store, and bought two copies of the [Book of Disguise]. He eagerly used one of these to upgrade his [Stealth] skill, which evolved into [Stealth Cloak]. He used the other to learn the [Figure Blur] skill, which would blur other players' vision of him. He invested some skill points into this skill, increasing it to level 5, which increased the blurring effect.
He also picked up a new dagger skill, named [Silent Stab], which was a stab skill mostly focussed on being economical and quiet so as not to alert people nearby. In addition to that, he chose the basic skill [Forceful Kick], which would allow him to kick players and propel them forwards.
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After these upgrades, Crucis wanted to test out his new abilities. He quietly walked past the outskirts of the town, until he saw a group of drunk players talking and jostling loudly by the South of Kruxol. He couldn't quite make out their slurred, loud speech, but he saw a male and female separate off from the group and walk Southwards, leaning on each other, to encouraging shouts from the others.
They may have been going to a famously romantic candlelit lake a short way South of Kruxol, the [Lake of Swans]. Crucis had seen a few forum posts about people going there for dates early in the game. They had mentioned a few features and quests present in the lake, for instance, couples could have their names written together on one of the large columns around the area, buy lockets which marked their relationship status, and set a few roses floating on the lake with messages attached. A few weekly events also took place near that lake. One of the perks of going to the lake was that the couple would be recognised 'officially' for the next week, and would hence be able to share a room in the Inn, interact more intimately than players were typically allowed to, and get a few more perks.
In addition, during the early morning hours it was an idyllic private, romantic getaway: small candles were sent floating across the lake, the roses were sold at a halved price, and couples would use the small shacks around the lake for privacy. It wouldn't be a surprising choice of destination, and would explain why the rest of the group were excitable and gossipy about it.
Crucis hovered around the trees just South of Kruxol, and as the couple drunkenly staggered South he crept closer to them while concealed behind the trees.
Both of them were low-level warriors, mostly wearing casual outfits rather than armour. He saw that the female, named [Leonie], had pale skin that looked almost sickly, and was bleach-blonde, wearing a light sleeveless white shirt and denim shorts. It was quite obvious that she had dyed her hair. Her boyfriend, named [Zehud] had slightly darker skin, curly hair, and a large nose. Crucis noticed that they both had visible names, marking them as spenders. Zehud was level 18, and Leonie was level 14.
They were both chattering excitedly and falling over each other, with little inhibition to hold them back. As they moved further away from their friends in Kruxol, they started to become louder and seemed excited about the lake.
As soon as Crucis was convinced that they were out of sight of the group in Kruxol, he used [Stealth Cloak] to quickly approach the couple.
He grabbed Zehud's left shoulder and stabbed it with the [Stunning Dagger] skill, and was impressed that it knocked off 20% of the warrior's HP. It must be because of the 50% damage increase triggered by the Agility Buff of [Stealth Cloak]. He followed up immediately with a fierce [Ripper], flicking his wrist to send his dagger hurtling in a wide arc across the left edge of Zehud's neck where it connected to the shoulder. This triggered a +5% Agility increase, and the jagged cut removed another 60% of Zehud's HP due to Crucis' damage buff still being in play.
As Zehud attempted to turn around and attack, Crucis pre-empted him with a [Silent Stab] near the right of Zehu's neck, then used [Dagger Twist], killing the warrior.
Leonie stared at Zehud's fallen corpse and whimpered a few words, though Crucis couldn't make out what she was saying - if anything. However, her despair quickly gave way to drunken belligerence.
"You should have at least given him a chance to get an attack off! You're just a bully!" she screamed.
"Good idea," laughed Crucis.
Leonie had taken a few seconds to process what was happening, since she was drunk, but now she lurched angrily towards Crucis while raising her sword in the air to strike. However, Crucis was prepared, and had used [Figure Blur] to blur Leonie's vision of him further and make it harder for her to aim. As she clumsily went in to strike Crucis, he used [Dodge Step] to easily sidestep right and evade the attack, and this activated his 50% damage increase.
He noticed that the drunk Leonie was slipping and about to fall after her lunge failed to hit him, so he used [Forceful Kick] to send her hurtling to the ground. Crouching over her, a sharp [Ripper] just below her neck was enough to deal 50% of her HP in damage, reducing her to 30% HP. Crucis grabbed her in a [Chokehold] and shoved her head bluntly into the grassy soil as she tried to scream. As she began to kick at him, he used [Black Spot] to slit her neck. This sent her down to 20% HP, and caused her to bleed.
Eventually, Leonie finally managed to land a kick, that sent Crucis sharply back. Using this opportunity, Leonie lifted her face off the ground and rolled onto her back.
"Ha! I got to attack you!" Leonie sputtered out.
Angrily, Crucis grabbed a sharp, small rock from the ground next to Leonie, and held it in his fist. He repeated a familiar manoeuver, using his [Punch] skill to strike Leonie with the sharp edge of the rock, aiming for the slit on her throat.
The rock made clear contact with the slit, and tore roughly at the wound, causing strands of tattered, bloody skin to hang down.
As Leonie lay down, making hellish gurgling noises, Crucis said, "Good for you, do it again," and held his arms out to the side as if to gesture that he was leaving himself open to attack. She could barely move, let alone attack, and she died in extreme pain.
Crucis heard some slight commotion from near Kruxol, and decided to run deeper into the woods South of Kruxol in case the drunkards of Kruxol came after him. He eventually slowed, after noticing that the group in Kruxol hadn't bothered investigating too deeply because they would rather go back to partying. Since he had a red name, he couldn't return immediately to Kruxol.
Passing through the woods, he found a few small wooden cabins. They all seemed locked, but he noticed that one had an open window, so he crept through it. It was a small, dark, cramped space, that was mostly empty. He found it slightly eerie, but nonetheless sat quietly for half an hour to ward off the red name. After that, he clambered out and made his way back to Kruxol, where he tried to enter from the Eastern entrance to avoid suspicion.
He had heard players talk about draugr inhabiting small, out-of-the-way cabins, and wondered if there was a chance of them appearing in the cabin he had just hid in. He decided to keep this in mind, and check the cabins if he ever received a quest which required him to fight a draugr.