Trapped in the alley skylar waited as Grage’s search brought him closer. Suddenly a paladin walked by the alley from the other direction. As he passed by he looked directly at Skylar then moved on without saying anything.
“Have you seen anyone suspicious around here?” Grage called out to the man.
“Suspicious?”
“Yea, like a seedy looking person in messed up cloth probably covered in paint.”
“Yes I’ve seen someone like that.”
“Where.”
“Right there”
“Not me you idiot. I means someone else.”
“Oh, in that case think I saw someone like that over there.”
“Really thanks.”
Skylars heart sank. So this is how it ends. Taking out his knife he resolved to fight even if it was hopeless. Given his recent strategic choices perhaps a dignified death wasn’t such a bad thing.
One set of footsteps moved away from him while another moved towards the alley. Crouching he waited gripped his knife tightly.
As soon as he saw someone come around the corner he pounced brandishing his knife screaming.
Suddenly he felt a tightness around his wrists and everything turned upside down. Laying on his back looking up at the sky he wondered exactly what had happened.
“A bit bloodthirsty aren’t you?”
It was the paladin from before. What was going here?
“Are you Skylar?”
How does he know my name?
“Yes.”
“I’ve been sent to fetch you. Come with me.”
Getting up he considered trying to run off, but his curiosity got the better of him. He followed the paladin through a maze of streets.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
“What was that thing you did to me before.”
“A simple hip throw.”
“Would you teach it to me?”
“No.”
No much of a conversationalist.
They finally arrived at their destination. Not surprisingly it was a large shack. Well over ninety percent of the building in town were similarly built large shacks. He had asked around about it and eventually found out that they had all been made by the Lord when he was developing the town.
The lord seemed like a really interesting person. Depending on who you asked he was either a scam artist, a cheapskate or a benevolent ruler. Skylar hoped that he would get the chance to meet him someday.
Out of the shack came Maria with her brother following close behind. Actually he seemed to be very close, or more accurately he seemed to be trying to hide behind her. Did I do something to scare him? Well besides blowing up that is…
Someone other people came out of the shack as well. A group of paladins and a young boy. What was going on here anyway?
“Thank you so much for helping my brother. He’s the only family I have left. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.”
*Ting*
Quest Complete!
Help Maria's Brother
You succeeded in protecting Maria's Brother. While some might question your tactics you still succeeded in a difficult task using the resources you had available. Maria is grateful to have her brother returned safely.
Fame rises 15 point. (+15 Fame)
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
“It’s ok, I’m glad I was able to help.”
“Owen don’t you have something to say?” she said to her little brother.
*mumble* *mumble* *mumble*
“What was that? Speak clearly Owen.”
“I said I’m sorry for causing you trouble, and thanks for helping me.”
“It’s ok. Standing up for your sister is a good thing, but try not to make her worry alright?”
He nodded then ran towards the house, but then right before he went inside he turned back around.
“Just you wait. I’m going to train really hard and become much stronger than you. Than I’ll be able to protect my sister on my own.” he shouted then disappeared inside.
Skylar was astounded. At what point did he demonstrate strength? At best his actions could be described as cunning at worst it might be labeled a cowardly sneak attack, but to call it strong...
Kids are weird. They have a tendency to see what they want to see, or maybe everyone was like that sometimes.
“Don’t mind him. He’s a good kid, but sometimes he’s a bit overprotective. I don’t have a lot to give you as a reward, but do have these things my father left behind before he disappeared. they aren’t much, but they are good for a beginner.
He received four items from her.
*Ting*
You have received Used Leather BootsYou have received Used Leather GlovesYou have received Used Leather ArmorYou have received Used Bow
“Also, there is a trick my father showed me for how to use a bow properly. I'll teach it to you as well." She explained what he needed to do. After demonstrating it a few times he tried it out himself and eventually a window popped up.
*Ting*
New Skill: You have learned Chain Shot
New Skill: You have learned Penetrating Shot
These two skill were things that can usually only be learned by archer or rangers. They were beginer level skill, but still they were popular skills for a reason so being able to learn them was a good reward.
“I also have a reward for you as well.”
It was the kid with the paladins.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Priest of the church of Gunther.”
Why would priest of Gunther be here to give him a reward. This quest didn’t have anything to do with the Church of Gunther. If they were involved at all he would expect it to be to hunt him down for bearing the mark of a murder.
"May the blessing of Gunther be upon you."
*Ting*
Due to the mercy of God Gunther, Your outrageous sins were saved.Mark of a murder removed.
Unwinding his bandana he checked his forehead to find that the mark of the murder was indeed gone.
“The god of Goddess Gunther is indeed merciful, but I can’t help wonder why such mercy would fall upon someone as unworthy as my self.”
“You’re too modest. I happened to be in the area when word reached me of your noble act. After hearing about it I felt it was the will of Gunther that I should help you.”
Some of the paladins looked less than convinced that priest should be acting this way. Skylar himself thought it was a bit weird, but he wasn't going to complain.
“I am grateful to Gunther and his church.”
Alberone noded in acknowledgment.
“Walk in the light.” He said before he and the paladins departed.
“So what will you do now?” Skylar asked Maria.
So long as Grage was around the danger to her and her brother wasn’t really over.
“Everything should be fine. I switched houses with a friend. Someone he won't be able to threaten.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“There’s still one more thing.”
What, there was still more reward?
She walked up to him and before he realized what was happening kissed him on the cheek.
“Thanks again.” She said before going into her house.
So does that count as my first kiss? It was from a NPC and on the cheek.
Putting on his new armor he started to wander around town lost in thought.
People made games as an entertaining escape from reality. Over time games became more and more realistic until the present where they had a game that was like a whole new reality. A new reality where people can lived out their fantasies, and also in that reality there was remarkably realistic NPCs. Indeed it wasn’t always easy to tell who was a player and who was and NPC. He predicted this was going to become a problem someday. Eventually people will start becoming attached to NPCs and when they do you’ll start wondering thing like; why do NPCs need to die when this is only a game, and is it alright to kill NPCs for exp and quests?
When this happens philosophical questions like; do NPC really feel pain, do they have consciousness or do they have a soul won't make any difference. The fact that they act and look like human being is enough. People have the tendency to personify even inanimate objects doing things like giving ships names and yelling at their car when it breaks. How much worse will this tendency be when dealing with thing that actually look and act human.
This game exists because it lets people experience their fantasies, yet if people decide the fantasies are wrong and demand that they stop then this game will no longer have a reason to exist. Ironically it might turn out that this game is to realistic for it's own good.
“Why are you walking holding your cheek grinning like an idiot.”
“What... Grage… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Who’s Grage? I’m Grend. Have you forgotten about me already?”
*Ting*
Familiarity with Grend decreased slightly.
To many Gr names lately. It’s getting confusing.
“Sorry I’ve been distracted.”
“I’ll say. You look like you’ve been walking around in a daze.”
“I’ve been contemplating stuff.”
Grend smirked.
“It’s ok my boy. I used to “contemplate stuff” when I was your age as well.”
Skylar decided that Grend was a bit annoying.
“Is there something you need from me?”
“That right. I’ve been looking for you. I heard about what you did and I decided to offer you a class. How would you like to become the new necromancer of justice?”
*Ting*
Class Change!
You can convert to a secret class Necromancer of Justice. If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from the primary classes.
Do you want to convert to Necromancer of Justice?
What? So sudden. Was getting hidden classes supposed to be like this. It seemed too convenient somehow.
The necromancer of justice. What the heck kind of hidden class was that. Some type of necromancer he guessed. He’d never even considered being a necromancer of any type. Should he take it? A hidden class had a lot of appeal to him regardless of the type.
"I accept." Suddenly his avatar was enveloped in light.
He checked his skills and states.
“Statue Window”
*Ting*
Status WindowNameSkylarTypeHumanLevel13Fame15TitleNoneClassNecromancer of JusticeHealth137Mana131Health Regen/sec0.04Mana Regen/sec0.16Strength10Agility10Vitality10Intelligence10Wisdom10Justice1 Can Not Change Class
“Skill Window”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
*Ting*
Active SkillsDeath's Embrace: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost: 1Chain Shot: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost: 10Penetrating Shot: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost: 10Mana Sense: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost: 6 Per MinuteMeditate: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost:0Identify: Level 1 — 0%
Mana cost:20Passive skillsCooking: Level 2 — 22%Axe Mastery: Level 2 — 56%Cleaning Skill: Level 3 — 9%Illustration Skill: Level 3 — 9%Painting skill: Level 1 — 0%Carving Skill: Level 1 — 0%
“How come not much has changed, and also what does it mean I can’t change to another class. You never mention that.”
“I didn’t? It must of slipped my mind. Listen becoming a necromancer isn’t easy. Usually it involves a lot of quests, and can only been done by people who are versed in magic and also much more experienced than you.“
“So you're saying that I’m stuck like this?”
Being trapped without a viable class like this would really suck.
“No, there is a way for you to fix it. You just need to carry out a small quest.”
“What kind of quest?” Skylar asked suspiciously.
“Nothing that difficult. All I need you to do is find a fresh corpse and bring it to the graveyard at midnight.”
*Ting*
Mysterious Ritual
Grend requires you to bring a fresh corpse to the cemetery at midnight in order to participate in a mysterious ritual. This suspicious ritual should allow you to learn necromancy.
Difficulty: F
Quest Requirement:
Familiarity with Grend
Have the Justice Stat
Accept hidden class Necromancer of Justice without proper qualifications
Reward:Become a true Necromancer.
“What kind of corpse, and how fresh?”
“Any kind of corpse will do, and it needs to be less than 24 hours old.”
That didn’t seem to hard, but he was finding it difficult to trust Grend. Still he didn’t really have much of a choice.
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
*Ting*
You accepted the quest.
“Great I’ll see you there.”
A corpse. He decided that he would go kill a weak monster. Going out into the beginners hunting area he saw a variety of different creatures. There were foxes, raccoons and rabbits. Chasing those animals around were a bunch of newbie players. The closest animal to him was a white rabbit. It was bigger than a real life rabbit, but still a lot smaller then he was. Maybe it weighed around fifty pounds.
Taking out his bow he let loose a series of arrows using the ability chain shot. A few arrows missed, but the third struck home.
Suddenly the bunnies eyes flashed red.
That doesn’t seem good.
The bunny started charging him. He shot a some more arrows at it but it was a fast and small target and only one of his arrows struck home.
The bunny took a flying leap at him, and he dived out of the way barely avoiding being hit. Taking out his knife he prepared for the next attack.
The bunny leapt again this time striking his leg chomping down.
Skylar swung his knife at it and hit.
The bunny leaped back, and the whole process started over. Like this the human bunney deathmatch continued until finally Skylar managed to strike home the finishing blow.
"Yes!" skylar shouted feeling triumphant over winning his first fight. He was rather happy about the whole thing until he looked around and noticed that some people were watching him with less than impressed expressions. Well victory over a bunney probably wasn’t something to celebrate over.
Some players frowned over beginers killing cute little animals but if you really think about it wasn’t it the more intelligent monsters that you should really feel sorry for?
“Don’t look at me like that cute little dead bunny. It’s all in the name of justice.”
He put the bunny in his bag and went back to hunting. It was hard for him because he hadn’t used any of the stats points from his level ups. At first he didn’t use them because he didn’t really need them yet, but now he wasn’t using them because he didn’t know what states a necromance of justice needed to focus on.
Eventually it became dark, so he went to the grave yards to wait. It was a spooky place, but surprisingly it was a safe zone. You would think it would be filled with undead monsters or something.
Eventually Grend showed up.
“You’re here early.”
“I have nothing else to do.”
He didn’t want to hunt monsters when it was dark.
“Well I’ll start setting up. It would have been a lot more dramatic if you had come after I was done.”
He took out a portable altar and a bunch of random stuff then started drawing lines on the ground in weird patterns.
“You might as well go ahead and put the body on the alter.”
He took it out of his bag and set it on the alter.
“A rabbit?” he asked incredulously.
“You said any fresh bodie was fine.”
“No, no, it’s fine. No problem at all.”
Somehow Skylar didn’t believe him, but it was too late to worry about it now. Midnight was less than an hour away.
“It’s time to begin the ceremony. Go stand it that spot over there.”
“Ok, now what do I do.”
“Just wait.”
He began to change to bunch of seemingly nonsensical words while using various tools in seemingly nonsensical ways.
Suddenly skylar didn’t feel very well.
“There it’s done.”
“I don’t feel very well.”
“Good that means it’s working.”
“What do you mean good? This doesn’t seem good at all.”
“The ceremony creates a link between you and the dead rabbit. This link creates an affinity with death that most people seeking the art of necromancy have to struggle to achieve. Of course it will eventually kill you.”
“What?”
“You ask a lot of questions my boy, but there’s not time to talk now. You have to hurry up and read this book.”
“Dare I ask what the book is.”
“This book contains the secrets of necromancy. Well at least some of them. You have to read it, and use what you learn to resurrect the rabbit before you die. You better hurry. Even though you foreigners resurrect after you die if you fail to complete the ceremony you won't get a second chance.”
Skylar decided that Grend had officially moved onto his dislike list.
Taking the book he started reading. It was more difficult than it would be normally because of the increasing level of discomfort, and because of the pressure he was under, but he stayed focused and kept going. Finally after what felt like forever he finished.
*Ting*
Skill: You learned Basic Resurrect Dead Spell.
Allows you to create undead.
Usually creates weaker types like zombies and skeletons.
Skill: You learned Death Sense Skill.
Allows you to sense the presence of death including dead bodies and spirits.
Allows you to communicate with spirits.
Skill: You learned Minor Restore Undead Spell.
Allows you to restore damaged undead.
Spell does damage to the living for one fourth the amount it restores the dead.
He had only 50 life points left.
“Resurrect”
The bunny obediently came back to life, and instantly he felt better again.
“Great job. Now you can truly be called a necromancer.”
*Ting*
Quest Complete!
Mysterious Ritual
You've successfully completed the mysterious ritual becoming a necromancer in truth not just name.
You have leveled up!
Now that the quest was complete he couldn't help but wondered if he should try and get revenge against Grend for tricking him, but it wasn’t really his nature to be vindictive like that. Besides who knows what level Grend was.
“So what’s next?”
“Nothing you’re done. Well there is this.” he said handing Skylar a book.
*Ting*
You have received Namic's Journal
“What now? Do I have to read it naked in a pit full of snakes under the light of the full moon?”
“No of course not. Why on earth would you even think something like that?”
“Nothing would surprise me at this point.”
“It’s part of Namic’s legacy. In order to truly be the necromancer of justice you must recover all of Namic’s legacy.”
*Ting*
Recover Namic’s Legacy
Namic was a Necromancer that fought and died for justice. Now you follow in his footsteps. In order to truly become the Necromancer of Justice you must recover his legacy.
Difficulty: B
Quest Requirement:
Cancellation is not permitted.
Reward:Unknown
That did surprise him a bit. A difficulty B ranked quest at his level. Hidden classes really were something else.
“Do you have any idea how to go about recovering Namic’s legacy?”
“Well you might want to check out Namic’s monument, but I wouldn’t go there just yet. There are still horrible demonic monsters in the area left over from the war, and also it is said only someone as just as Namic can recover his legacy.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me how just that is.”
“Can anyone really measure justice?”
Skylar gave him an incredulous look. The fact that a justice stat even existed meant that it was being measured by some criteria.
“Fine, I think it’s around three hundred. Maybe. Don’t get mad at me if it’s wrong” Grend said giving in to skylars look.
“That’s quite a lot. Where is this monument anyway.”
“Let me mark it on your map.”
“I don’t have a map.”
“Well get one and I’ll mark it for you.”
“Ok, if that’s all I guess I’ll go start leveling up.”
“Thats great my boy. Don’t forget your rabbit.”
“My rabbit?”
“Of course. Don’t tell me you forgot about it.”
“I thought the rabbit was only needed for the ceremony.”
“Yes, the ceremony that linked the two of you together so you better take good care of it.”
I’m not liking the sound of this.
“I think you better tell me exactly how this link works.”
“It’s very simple. If the rabbit dies you die, and if you die the rabbit dies. Also if either of you get more then 20 meter away from each other both of you die.”
“Thats terrible.”
“Did you think you could get around the normal restrictions surrounding becoming a necromancer without any consequences?”
“Yes, I did think that. How come you didn’t tell me any of this?”
“Would you have done it if I had told you?”
Skylar just glared at him.
“Don’t worry my boy it’s not all bad. You’ll be free after a year when the link expires naturally.”
Looking at the undead rabbit he decided that it was still kind of cute despite the horrible wound, the bloodstained fur and one of it's eyes hanging out. Unfortunately what it didn't look like was formidable. He predicted that this was going to be a long year.