Frank would like to say that he took this job because it was good money. Or maybe he did it because he wanted to help Cole out with this quest. A quest that Frank was beginning to think was too big for the newbie. Saying any of those would be a good answer, an acceptable answer, but he knew it wasn’t true. Not completely.

Sure, helping Cole with this quest did factor into Frank’s decision, but it was a minor reason. Frank was mostly here to test a theory. To see if his brainstorming with Ed turned out to be correct. He needed to know if all the information pointed to the conclusion they came to. Well, the conclusion that Frank mostly supported.

Ed wouldn’t understand. His class prevented him from seeing it from Frank’s angle. Ed wanted to believe that these players were intent on causing chaos. On stealing and zeroing players just so they can ruin lives. Some people are like that, balls of chaos that relish the mischief. Frank knew that personally. But he followed a different line in Ed’s theory.

Based on Frank’s experience with one of the Plague Doctors, he believed it had more to do with the items. He had never had an encounter with one of the Plague Doctors before getting Loki’s Cowl from the hidden chamber beneath the Mega Hawk’s nest. He never saw them, never heard of them, and was never targeted by them. Scratch that. He had heard of them but never believed it.

He thought that the players who were targeted just mistook the player for an extremely good thief. A thief so high-leveled and with such a good repertoire of skills that he could steal someone’s items with ease. The rest about being zeroed and losing skills sounded farfetched at the time. Possibly embellished as rumors and gossip tended to be.

Frank had envied that. He might have even said that he admired it — he wouldn’t say that to anyone of course. They wouldn’t understand. Knights, mages, and other classes wouldn’t understand. Only a fellow thief would. And it was that — being a thief — that made it easier for Frank to not only admire and envy such an ability but to understand why it would be used at all.

They had taken Ed’s Keen, Light Shot, and Double Damage, among other skills. But the most important things they took were two things. Ed mentioned it in passing — he was more concerned about losing his skills, level, and experience points — but it mattered more than he thought. Ed lost a lot of legendary, high-level gear, most notably Hosia’s Helm and Ashur’s Claws.

Ashurs Claw was the item dropped from fighting the Ugal. If enchanted with the correct materials, it would give the user warping abilities. Everyone knew it had the potential to be a broken item, turning the tides of a battle in mere seconds — warping to different points of the battlefield to deal deadly blows. Frank could do something similar, but it took way more effort. Too much effort to efficiently sustain.

Frank never sought it out because he was nowhere near high enough in level to take on such a beast by himself — and apparently, neither was Ed. Secondly, Frank didn’t have the connections to form a party large enough to go on such a campaign. People used his services to retrieve rare items but never trusted him in a raid with such a huge reward.

Who were they taking Thunder Claws to fight? Frank wasn’t sure. He did believe that the Plague Doctors were on the side of the Kingdom of Arrad. Maybe they wanted to use it to make the kingdom win this long, drawn-out war. Everyone was looking for items like that.

As a thief, Frank couldn’t do much to aid in the war. He just profited from it. If stealing items that helped either side turn the tide, that would just be an indirect contribution. Is this quest like that? Based on what Cole told him about getting Bau’s Light, it could be. Again, why the fuck would the game give Cole such a quest?

The other item, Hosia’s Helm, had good reasons to be stolen as well. It enhanced visual sensory skills like Keen — increasing the range and information gathered while enhancing combat predictions. Another tide-turning item in a battle.

Pair it with the enchanted Thunder Claws, and you would have an unstoppable warrior. Both sides of the war have reasons to want someone like that fighting for them, but based on the nature of the game (good vs evil) the likelihood of Sonner sponsoring such a campaign is low. They were supposed to be the good guys.

The tactics the Plague Doctors were using were unethical and immoral. It must be Arrad then. They were using a group of thieves to gain an edge in the war. Frank wasn’t completely sold on that narrative though. They may be doing this for Arrad, but it might not have been organized by the kingdom for purposes of the war. But all of them being thieves so skilled they took down Ed when he was Level 115? That’s hard to believe. Maybe they were double-classing.

Frank just knew that these players were attacking others for their items. The rest — unreadable levels during combat, no health gauge, and other stuff — he had no explanation for. He’ll continue to work it out in his brain until he came to a plausible conclusion. Taking the job Cole gave him allowed him to do that. If Bau’s Light is as pivotal to the war as Cole said, then the Plague Doctors should show up here.

Frank wouldn’t be a match for them. He just needed to prove his theory. After that, he just needed to find a way to get back what they stole from him. He’ll continue plotting as he navigates the temple. It’s more elaborate in design than he thought it would be. There were a lot of chambers, and Frank had expected a monster in each one. Instead, they were mostly empty. Small trinkets and forgotten items occupied a few.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Nothing worth stealing. Yet.

It was uncommon for monsters to not be in temple ruins. They loved those places. Given that Zuna’s magic has touched this place, the likelihood of there being monsters would be much higher. So why hasn’t Frank seen any? Something didn’t feel right. Frank drew his daggers, Fangs of the Drake. The faint heat from them gave him some reassurance. They’ve been his reliable companions since he reached level 30. Sure, it was stolen, but anything worth it usually is.

The only malignant thing Frank consistently came across was the black goo that was all over the temple grounds outside. They snaked along the floor, walls, and ceilings, worming around the blue torches that lit the hallways, pulsing and squirming occasionally. No one knew much about the goo but it started popping up when Zuna invaded and conquered a third of Sonner. Since a few people found out about the Instant Translocation glitch, they’ve been experimenting with it to see what other advantages it could unlock.

Frank figured that the glitch was just some feature the devs changed their mind about using but forgot to remove the code. Instead, they locked it from common knowledge. No NPC, lore, or anything hinted about what the goo was capable of. So Frank was sure that its use was unintended.

Interestingly, the goo decreased as he went up a set of spiral stairs to the top level of the temple. When he exited the stairs and stepped it another hallway, it was nowhere to be found. There were no blue torches either. No torches of any kind.

Instead, there was a bright warm light. The light got warmer the closer he got to the chamber, filling him with the same reassurance his daggers did. The only difference is that, unlike Fangs of the Drake, this reassuring warmth didn’t fill him with fierceness, it filled him with confidence.

As Frank got closer to the chamber the light was coming from, he saw a shadowy figure. It was turned away from him, facing a statue that Frank soon realized was Bau, and the source of the light — though there were no rays springing from it. When Frank entered the chamber, the light was no longer blinding but just filling, and the man in front of the twenty-foot statue was no longer a vague shadow.

He appeared to be a knight, judging by his gear and outfit. He was reaching for the center of the statue’s head. It was out of reach, so he had to climb.

“I don’t think you should be climbing a holy relic,” Frank said. The man turns his head around to look at Frank. “Sacrilege like that is what gets you smitten. And it’s not the kind where you get laid with a goddess.”

Frank scanned the entire room for possible exits. He noted a smaller hallway on the left side. The man dropped from the statue, thirty meters away. The floor shook and his armor rattled as he landed. He turned around slowly. The light caused his armor to glisten. Despite the glow, Frank saw darkness in the man’s eyes through his helm.

“You don’t look like a disciple of Bau,” the man said.

“Neither do you,” Frank said.

“I’m a disciple of a force more powerful.”

“Let the force be with you then.”

Frank’s eyes glowed green as he whispered an invocation, Insight. The man’s eyes did the same. Frank had an idea of what skill the man had just used, Keen. It’s not the same across the board, but Frank has fought enough knights to see it in action. It granted enhanced proprioception, motion prediction, threat detection, combat precog, and enhanced visual acuity. The last feature was the only thing Keen had in common with Insight.

Despite invoking their skills upon first eye contact, neither of them made a move. Frank knew that there was very little he could achieve once a knight had Keen active. They would see through most attacks. Plus, he needed the man to attack first so that he could get the most out of Insight. But the man was obviously waiting for something too. He’s been standing still for thirty seconds. Frank continued counting as he tightened his grip on his daggers.

When fifteen more seconds passed, Frank did two things. He reset his counter and then lunged forward.

Sprinting, Frank closed the distance between himself and the man in five strides. That gave the man time to block Frank’s first slash, but not enough to block the second. It thinly sliced the man’s neck. Frank tried for another attack but the man jumped back twice to put distance between them. Frank had five seconds left before Insight wore off.

“Huh,” The man said. “150 damage with just one strike. Barely half of what I can do. How did you get to Silver III if you’re so weak?”

“It was only half a strike, otherwise I would’ve opened your neck.”

“That’s not how it works in this realm, Saint Loki.”

The man learned Frank’s name from the combat notification. Frank checked his.

Combat Notification

You’ve been engaged by BennyAfterRemmy

Level: 37

Rank: Silver II (1/5)

Class: Fighter (Knight)

Health: 3227

“That’s a dumb gamertag,” Frank says. “What are you, bipolar?”

Frank’s eyes no longer shone green. Insight wore off. In a single leap, Benny was in front of him with his sword crashing down.

Frank managed to narrowly dodge the attack, but that didn’t save him from danger. As soon as Benny’s sword hit the floor, the section where Frank formerly stood exploded. Frank was sent flying and landed fifteen meters away.

“You’ll get it soon, don’t worry,” Benny said.

“Don’t tell me.” Frank got up to stand, ignoring the pain in his back, legs, and chest. “You’re part of a duet. Which one of you gets the most girls?”

“Smart mouth. Guess you need it as a thief. I see you’re a double-classer. If you minored in trash talk, it’s not gonna help you.”

“It cuts you down to size as easily as my dagger does.”

“I’m sure you somehow stole that rank. I don’t get how a thief like you made it to Silver 3.”

“Don’t worry,” Frank said, “you’ll get it soon.”