“50 years? You mean in game right? Royal road has only been out for at best 30 years” asked Hina.
“....”
Eden silently smiled at her and waited for her to answer his question. Hina thought that Eden was quite controlling of things to even use silence to force people to act the way he wanted.
“Fine, tell me then” said Hina with a look that was not please at Eden. Hearing these words, Eden smiled a bit and then went back to his neutral face.
“The final quest, the final event, the final boss of Royal Road. Do you know what it is or what it could remotely do?” asked Eden.
“Another damn question...” cursed Ian seeing that Eden had literally no intention of answering and was dodging all questions left and right and at the same time forcing them to ask more questions that he would not answer.
“What I have given you all are clues that can prepare you in the future. I know that general outline on what will happen but not the consequences and how everyone will react to it. Anyway I'll explain why the Independent Guild System was needed for the Kingdom that united the continent” said Eden.
“Basically, the Independent Guilds that you see are the Kingdom's no, the Emperor's personal army.”
“Army?”
“Yes, an army that consist of almost all players and it remains that they do not realise that they are part of one large army that was gathered. What better way to control a group but to make them believe they are doing something by their own will?”
“Isn't that...cruel?” asked Grace.
“Not at all, Weed was the one who designed it this way. What I needed was a way to travel and act around the entire continent without any fools trying to stop me. When Weed knew of the massive benefits, namely guilds working together to stop other guilds from upsurging his throne, he agreed since even now, there are many that want to be Emperor and having someone on a throne made people more motivated to act.”
“....”
The group stared at Eden thinking of what he said. This meant that the Kingdom was not as...great and powerful as everyone thought. There were still those who wanted to gain power that way after all.
“Anyway that reason was why the Kingdom and their lot agreed in the first place, I had another idea in which I needed the Kingdom to allow me to travel anywhere and everywhere without restriction.”
“....”
The group thought this conversation would take a long time to finish.
xXx
Inside the town...which was the first slightly larger than a small village place that the group entered...
“Get your herbs! Get your herbs here!”
“Cheap weapons and armour for sale here!”
“Intermediate level blacksmith sword for sale here now! Get it cheap for 5 gold for a limited stock!”
While this town had a population of around 300-500, they did not include the players that came and go. If you did include them, the number would double to roughly 600-1000 people in this town.
Rather than a small town at this rate, it was better to call it a small city. However the land that this town had was only so much and there were no thick walls to protect it nor the proper buildings to consider it a city yet. But it was still located in a place that had high traffic and it would not be strange in a few years time that this place would expand rapidly.
The group kept close together, wanting to not get lost in this place and followed Viv intensely who was taking it easy at any rate.
“To...many people” muttered Serena almost clinging onto either Lyndis or Miriel. Raven was as quiet as always but even Shadow did not talk at all in the presence of so many people. Miriel was silently glaring at anyone that dared to look at them as well.
Seeing Sain sighed and then asked, “What are we going to do here?” to Viv who did not reply immediately.
Instead they had to walk a while longer with Viv leading the bull and carriage ahead until they stopped at a stable where the bull could rest. It was only then Viv answered him.
“We're taking a break in this town for the day. Do what you wish, I'm going to stay at an inn called 'The Boar's Hat'. Find it when you can” said Viv before disappearing from sight with speed that was faster than the eye could track.
“....”
“So...what do we do now?” asked Sain to this sudden predicament. He and the others could already sense the countless eyes on them...a group of players which has a bull and carriage.
xXx
Leaving the six to do what they want, Viv appeared at the inn in which he told them to meet up at later on and reserved a room to sleep in.
“One room for a day please” he said to the receptionist who was a young busty lady. She winked at him who still looked like a child even after a century and flirted with him a bit while guiding him to the room.
When they reached the room however, Viv entered immediately and slammed the door on her. He could hear some curses from the lady on the other side of the door thanks to that. Waiting for a few seconds to hear that no one can listen in...as well as setting up a sound barrier and several more, Viv contracted someone.
“Eden, it's me” he said to the other end connecting via PM.
[Ohhh...Viv it's been while. How are the brats doing?]
Viv could hear the voice of Eden which was in a relax manner, probably completely different from what his current predicament on the other side. Only when he took this manner of speech was when Eden was in trouble in some way.
“What is happening on your end?” asked Viv not caring for Eden's question. He would rather not have to find out later that he had to clean up after Eden due to him not paying attention.
[Well....]
It seemed that Eden was hesitant on speaking. Viv had just the thing to make him 'cooperate' willingly and quickly.
“Eden if you do not want that swimsuit-”
[I'm sorry! Give me a sec here! So many damn....]
Eden's voice cut off there.
“....”
Viv waited for a few more seconds before Eden could talk to him again.
[Okay, I'm all fine now. What were we talking about again?]
“Those six are fine. Under by teaching, their skills are growing and I believe some of them reached the intermediate level in some of their skills as well” replied Viv to Eden's first question.
[Ohhhh.....they sure are working hard]
“Unlike you in the past. Llyfr, Al and me had to remind you so many times to train your skills while those six diligently work hard themselves. I suppose it had something to do with having a strong role model” sighed Viv considering that Eden somehow once again managed to bring together a group in which would probably be quite strong in the future.
[Anyway onto other things I want to know]
“Yes” said Viv, “Sain has achieved a constant 10% synchronisation while the others are sitting on around 5-7% at best sometimes dropping lower or higher than that. The next best person is Miriel on some occasions.”
According to what Viv knew, 10% was the initial point...25% was the first awakening and 50% was the final awakening where they weren't allowed to go any further due to too many complications. If one went beyond 50%...they would go berserk like Ron into a giant 10 headed Hydra rampaging across the city without end until someone stopped him.
[Good good, they are doing better than the last batch. It took them some years to get to that point. Is this the difference between using NPCs and players?]
“Who knows, better not let Al know about this” said Viv.
[Yeah...last time we both almost got killed by her didn't we]
“Al we quite angry that time you know and it was all your fault to begin with” said Viv pushing all the blame onto him instead.
[Heeey! She beat the shit out of me that day...and the day after that as well...and a couple more before I finally died. You're lucky that you only had to suffer for a day of beatings]
“I can't say I was lucky to be beaten up to death to begin with” muttered Viv honestly sighing at the concept in which Eden considered 'lucky'. Now onto another subject that Viv wanted to talk about this time.
“What are you planning on doing anyway? Neither me nor Al knows what you are planning. Are you going off on your own again...you know what happened when that first happened.”
“Then what are you planning, me and Al worry too much about you...and I have to worry about Al at the same time chasing you....it would help if both of you explained things to each other without me forcing you two to.”
[….]
“Your power is poison. I can only describe it as an ocean of endless poison. Even if you give a drop to someone...0.000000000001% of your power and they still live, it is still poison in the end. What are you planning on planting this 'poison' onto people.”
[To be precise, there are only 12 people in total that I have done this with and they match with the other side. I cannot face all of them at once you know, that is impossible even more me]
“All of them?” asked Viv.
[You know what I mean...'them'. One of them is my match already and it is unlikely I can take two on]
“So...this is also preparation for 'that'?” asked Viv.
[No....this is a little bit of an experiment...a small wish...a small hope that they are able to single handedly match one of my 'kind' for at least a while. Least I have to leave it to the other 12 I have prepared as well]
“....”
[By the way, I heard you accepted some information from the 'Wise Men' Guild recently]
“Yeah, the route we are going down are filled with bandits and Pks.”
[Hmm...take care that they all don't die]
“I won't. I don't get so distracted to be with to begin with either way that my mistakes will harm others unlike you with so many people in the past.”
[You know...you really pick a sore spot when you're pissed you know]
With that, the call between Viv and Eden ended.
“Now....what to do?” wondered Viv. Really he only came here so no one could hear the conversation he was having and didn't plan for anything else.
Viv remembered that those six weren't so great on dealing with other people, especially at mass...perhaps this can serve to make them so they can deal with these kind of places...else cause those 'marks' to at least partly awaken some more....or make it harder for it to consume them in the end.
xXx
“Let's go exploring the town!” said Lyndis excitedly.
“I refuse.” “No.” “Ah....” “....”
Four people simultaneously rejected this idea at the same time. They were Miriel, Shadow, Serena and Raven. On the other hand, Sain said, “Sure” which caused these four people to stare/glare at him at once. Seeing that Sain agreed to this, the others had no choice but to follow as well.
Even at the edge of the town, there were a number of players, in groups of parties walking around the place. The appearance of so many people wearing weapons and armour of all sorts made the game seem like more of a game then before.
“In that case, then we should go somewhere where it is less crowded...we can't do anything if we have to wait through so many people first” said Miriel telling her real reason and then excuse in that order.
Miriel's words were true though, there were really too many people here. Think of a crowded city at certain times of the year where it would be difficult to even move to one place to another and you get this place at the most crowded areas.
“The answer is simple then” said Shadow, “Let's just go to a part of the city that isn't a complete train wreck of a place.”
Sain nodded and then asked a question, “Then...what should we do now?”
“Well let's just explore the place then” said Lyndis ignoring the opinions of the others though they didn't have any opinion on what to do anyway.
Miriel sighed but had to agree with Lyndis, “Yeah, it would be good to know more about this place. There could be some things to buy from here that we couldn't back in the city...we have around 200 gold right now thanks to the bandits being money hoarders.”
“200 gold...” muttered Serena. For players, Gold was the highest form of money currency. A single Gold Coin was considered extremely valuable even for a level 50 player.
The average amount of money a player had after they finished their 4 week confinement was merely copper coins and rarely silver coins. When they reached around level 10, they could steadily get more silver coins. This moved up to gold coins rarely when they finally reached level 50 on average.
The group, nearing level 100 usually would have at most 100 gold coins. The amount that Miriel said they had...counting the sum that everyone had was double that value. However Serena did not account for the fact that most of the money a player would get would be...inevitably spent on new weapons, armour and especially spells.
All of these things cost lots of gold and made it so that players were in an never ending spiral of gaining gold to buy new gear to farm for more gold.
“I want to at least get some upgrades for the weapons we're using...well an upgrade for Lyndis and Shadow to be precise. Plus me and Serena need new staffs as well.”
“What about me and Raven then?” asked Sain.
“You don't need a new staff since you don't use one and a spear is good enough for you. Raven can't use a spear right now as well and his armour is still better than the rest of us...speaking of armour, Lyndis do you think you need new armour?” Miriel asked.
“Hmm...depends on whether it will drag me down” Lyndis responded, “Well might as well look through them though.”
Armour is an extremely important part of the game. Besides protecting your body, they increased your defence as well. Good quality light armour would increase defence by 25 like the armour Sain wears. In that sense, the armour that Sain, Lyndis and Shadow wore were top class items in terms of defence alone. Good quality heavy armour however had a defence of around 40 which was the level of Raven's current armour.
However there were also the existence of rarer armour as well. Magic Armour would often have slightly lower defence values but in exchange have powerful side effects on them as well such as passively increasing defence or speed. Then there were also unique grade armour as well which had high defence and also good effects on them as well.
However this kind of issue was far beyond the group. The current armour they had could potentially carry them until they reached level 150 if they pleased. However it cannot be said for their weapons which were only average in damage and were long due their replacement.
“You people over there!” said a voice suddenly. The group turned to see a warrior along with a couple other players approaching them.
The group, or rather some of the group backed away a bit seeing them come closer. Sain noticed this and immediately said, “Yes, what do you want?” in an impatient tone since he rather not have the others scared too much.
Hearing this, the warrior smiled and said, “I am wondering if you are interested in cooperating with us and a few others.”
“On what?” Sain had to ask since there was nothing else but that.
“The bandits! There are so many bandits here in this area that we, must liberate this town and others to the path of peace” he said.
“....”
There was something off about this person's speech and it seemed that everyone else noticed as well. Serena went behind Lyndis who was glaring at the warrior. Miriel gave him a cold look while Raven continued to stare and Shadow....umm...disappeared somewhere though Sain could not ask right now.
“In order to strive for peace and unity, we must all work together even on the most painful tasks to help others. There are many reasons on doing this to exterminate the bandit threat and helping this cause. You must join us in this Holy Crusade-”
“We refuse” said Sain flatly.
“And continue to-eh?” the warrior stopped in his speech that was rambling on about something that Sain and really everyone else had no interest in. They were to set off tomorrow either way so they couldn't take part even if they wanted to.
“Have you reconsider since this is a rightful path where-”
“No. Leave” said Sain bluntly again. He had no time for this and at this rate Serena might end up crying since...there are tears on her eyes already.
And more to the point, he nor the others wanted anything to do with this person. Plus his speech pattern is creepy as hell like he was forced role playing here. He was just stringing together words that led to a certain direction and hoping they made sense.
Sain pointed to the others to leave as well to get away from him but when they moved, the other party members of this warrior players moved in and blocked the way.
Seeing this, Sain had to ask, “What do you really want?”
“For you and I with the rest of them to serve justice for freedom and peace. There is nothing better for someone to serve the cause. Only then can this Kingdom can go back on it's proper route where those who had the right to peace can have it.”
“And I still refuse” said Sain not backing down. He was strangely calm about this. It was like...there was a lid on his emotions right now and it was boiling over soon...
“Unfortunately you don't have a choice here” the warrior player took out an emblem with some sort of symbol on it. Sain couldn't see it properly so he couldn't really identify it. “This is something I got to prove that I am right!”
From the crowd that watched on, there were more players that seemed to associate with this person coming out as well. They pushed the other players off and completely surrounded the group that were watching but not doing anything.
“Now kind sir. I believe you can join us...and we can liberate you from your sins” the warrior's eyes glanced towards Miriel....
'Around...10 other warriors, 2 archers and some mages as well...this is not going to end well....for them.'
“Shadow!” shouted Sain commanding him to start already.
(Sound of several slices)
“Ahhhhh!”
“What the hell?!”
“Enemy!”
Suddenly, the back of the legs of several players were cut and then fell onto the ground still alive but injured. Seeing this scene, the warrior player was shocked and then it turned into anger.
“Why you....!” he drew his sword and went to attack Sain.
Snap~!
And then his sword was hit away instantly by Miriel.
Snap~! Snap~! Snap~!
Three more strikes with the whip on the face and then he was crawling on the ground helpless. Sain looked around and saw that the others had already taken care of things. Serena bound some of the players while Raven and Lyndis knocked them down without killing them.
Killing them would really give them the murderer mark which they did not need in the middle of a town that was filled with players.
Having the murderer mark would do several things. The first and most noticeable thing was that other players could now attack you without penalties, the second was that the loot you dropped increase and the third that the NPCs will have a negative relation to you if you had the mark unless you are close to them.
“Well...didn't think that I wouldn't be doing anything beside shouting the name of one person” said Sain in a deprecating tone.
Shadow appeared holding some....well money pouches...which...cough....and said, “Well, you are our dear weak leader. We need to protect you after all” he had a mocking smile on his face as he throw a money pouch to each of the remaining people in the group.
“I'm not that weak...am I?” wondered Sain.
“How long do you think you had to take to knock out so many people?” asked Shadow.
“....”
Sain thought about it.
“Well I wouldn't be able to knock them out but killing them would be far easier for me who used magic and isn't that skilled with a spear” he replied to Shadow.
“And that is why we had you do nothing at all” said Shadow in an exaggerated tone.
Miriel cut in there saying to both of them, “While I would love to lecture you on your tone, we are attracting a lot of attention now and I really feel like vomiting to this.”
Sain nodded and dragged the group out of there as fast as possible before the guards could find them.
xXx
On another part of the town...
“That was fun, what should we do now?” asked Lyndis looking as if she was itching to get into another fight.
“Please don't pick a fight...I rather not to flee from this town in the middle of the night” muttered Miriel just loud enough that everyone could hear while she was sighing.
“Say you who pulled out a whip and struck several players at once. You know you're really good with the whip” praised Lyndis.
“And nothing else...” muttered Sain under his breath thinking back on when she tried to use a bow...and any other weapon from Park.
Miriel glared at Sain and said, “What was that?”
Sain quickly waved his hands on denial and replied, “Nothing, nothing at all.”
Seeing that Sain was submissive to Miriel already...Lyndis turned to look at Shadow and asked, “So how much did you steal from them?”
“Ah..? Steal?” asked Serena not knowing what was going on.
Lyndis held up the money pouch that Shadow threw to each of them before they escaped.
“....”
The group was in silent that Shadow would do this...but for some reason at the same time, Miriel's eyes were shining with hope and dreams..
“I estimate that they had around 300 gold in total which is lot mind you for a couple of punk only around level 50” replied Shadow.
“Level 50?” asked Raven pointing that out.
“Yeah..they were really slow and were taken out by us quickly. They had to be that weak in order for that to happen” Shadow replied to Raven reading his mind and question with his words.
“Total of 500 gold....” muttered Miriel.
“Miriel...?” asked Sain seeing that Miriel was in a daze.
“Plus later on...Viv will give us the skill books to sell if we manage to...could increase to 1000 gold if things go right....” she was muttering frantically while the others looked at her worried. In the end, Sain shook her a bit and said, “Miriel! Snap out of it! We don't need that much gold to begin with!”
To hearing these words, Miriel snapped and shouted, “Who doesn't need money to live!” which caused Sain and the others to be more silent.
“Ah...” Miriel snapped out of it and then apologised, “Sorry about that...”
The situation was awkward for a few seconds more and then Sain decided onto the course of action they will take.
“We will split up into two groups from here until we meet with Viv at 'The Boar's Hat' inn. I'll go with Miriel and Serena while Lyndis, Raven and Shadow will be together as well. We will take half the money we have and split it between us” said Sain.
“What...are you planning?” asked Shadow.
Sain let out a smile and said, “Shopping. Some of us may need new gear so you might want to update your equipment while some of us may need new spells to use at the same time” Sain looked at the sky and the position of the sun, “We have around 5-7 more hours to do this and then we're off to sleep then leaving the town.”
“....”
The group silently exchanged money pouches so that they had equally distributed the gold and then split up into the two groups...namely the ones that used magic and the ones that did not.
xXx
“That reminds me, did you choose which three blessing spells you decided to learn?” asked Sain to Serena.
“Umm...no...not yet...most of them are...powerful but...” muttered Serena but then picked up her voice and said, “There are lots of different kinds of blessings...most of them affect the party as a whole and are only medium in strength but there are ones that only affect a single person at a time but are really powerful. But at the same time there are one that have side effects in exchange for their powerful effects as well. For example there is a blessing called 'Iron of Strength' which increases strength by a lot but at the same time makes the body too heavy which may be useful for Raven but...useless for Lyndis or anyone else.”
“In that case it's like you are choosing this spell for Raven?” wondered Sain aloud.
Serena blushed red and Miriel pinched Sain's cheek when he said those words.
“What she means is that whether learning a spell like that will be beneficial later on. Aside from Raven, the side effects are really bad plus Raven is also the mobile type” said Miriel resisting the urge to force Sain down and hear her lecture on the heart of a maiden.
At this point, both Miriel and Lyndis thought of Serena as a younger sister. Plus Sain was the dense type, Shadow was...bad and Raven didn't talk much so only they could take care of Serena properly.
“Is that so...” said Sain thinking about it.
He turned to Serena and then said, “Don't worry about it too much. We are still strong enough to fighting without blessing or buffs...you can learn up to three of them so you don't need to be too picky” while rubbing her head.
'Her hair...is quite soft and...fun to play with...' Sain thought he had just discovered a new habit to be...until he saw that Miriel was glaring at him again with intense eyes.
“Any-Anyway I believe that the magic store is around that corner...” said Sain quickly leading the two to the store that he had heard about from a kind old lady that noticed they were all magic users.
Walking over, Sain saw that the sign on the store had the name 'The Dragon's Tongue' on it. Not minding the name of the store nor the sign that was shaped in the form of a Dragon, Sain and the others entered the store.
“Welcome!” a middle age man appeared at the counter the moment they walked in.
Sain nodded to the man in which he then proceeded to ask, “How may I help you all?” glancing at Miriel and Serena behind Sain.
“We want to look around this store to see if there is anything we want” answered Sain.
“And what would you be seeking?”
“Mostly spell books and if there is a good deal, magic items and rings.”
There are three things a store like this will sell. The first is spell books which are the most sold to mages. The second are magic items and rings in which other classes other than mages will also buy.
You have 10 slots for rings as well which is why powerful rings are super popular and expensive at the same time. Sain recalled that only he had a ring in the group...so there are 59 rings in total that he can get for the group.
But Sain only had the intention of buying rings that were good enough.
The three started to browse through the store. Sain left them to their own devices and first went to the spell books section of the store to see what general spell they had that they could use.
Looking through it, several windows appeared for him.
Fireball Spell
Will create a single fireball on casting. The strength and number of fireballs will increase as this spell levels up
Cost: 10 Copper
Fire Arrow Spell
Creates a single arrow made up fire to shoot. The strength and number of fire arrows will increase as this spell levels up
Cost: 10 Silver
Fire Tower Spell
Creates a single tower of flame at the target location. The strength and number of fire towers will increase as this spell levels up
Cost: 10 Gold
Paralyse Shot Spell
Shoots a bullet with the effect of paralyse on it. It has a 10% chance of dealing paralyse and has half same damage as a normal spell on the same level
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Cost: 15 Gold
Poison Shot Spell
Shoots a bullet with the effect of poison on it. It has a 10% chance of dealing poison and has half same damage as a normal spell on the same level
Cost: 15 Gold
Sain looking through this thought, ' The 'Fireball'...the most basic fire spell cost so little...while 'Fire Arrow' the next stage is 100 times more expensive and the same is with 'Fire Tower' as well...it's interesting how fire magic is still one of the most popular magic out there.'
Sain looked to find there were also lots of ice magic spells here as well in which Miriel was looking through.
'Then there are the 'Paralyse Shot' and 'Poison Shot' which seem really interesting...I want to buy them...so that means I'll have to spend 30 gold total to get them....'
Deciding on these two spells, Sain also looked around the rest of the store as well. While Miriel was browsing mostly ice magic spells, Serena was looking through the magic items and rings.
Looking through the magic items...Sain saw that there were many pieces of armour that cost way more than they can afford. There were items such as braces that cost over 200 gold a piece while only having moderate effects and were not worth it.
The same were with the rings. Rings that had anything to do with mana or magic each cost several tens of gold and only had effects such as 'Increase Mana Regeneration by 1%' or 'Reduce Casting cost by 3%' and yet they cost so much. Sain understood if he stacked the effects of these rings it would be extremely beneficial but the cost would be too high at that point.
Because of this, Sain did not dare to buy anything from there at all...
Soon enough the three finished with getting what they wanted and went to see what each other wanted to have.
Sain immediately presented the two spell books which totalled 30 gold coins. Likewise, Miriel wanted a new spell but only had one and also carried a new staff as well. Sain looked through the descriptions of both.
Freezing Spell
A spell in which shoots frozen air to the target to cause them to freeze. With this spell, the target's vision, speed and defence will decrease when this spell is used against them. The range and power of this spell will increase as it levels up.
Cost: 20 Gold
Staff of the Ice Mage Durability: 30/30 Damage: 2-5
A staff that was made and designed for better use of Ice Magic.
Restrictions: Magic Class
Options:
- Increases the Strength of Ice Magic by 15%
- Decrease the cost of Ice Magic spells by 3%
- Increase casting rate of Ice Magic by 1%
Sain who was thinking that this staff was powerful looked at the price and it was at 50 gold....
“Miriel....” asked Sain without realising it, was he holding back then?
Soon enough without waiting for Miriel to answer, he looked at what Serena wanted. There were no spell books but Serena had a ring, boots and can arm guards as well as a spell. He looked at them all.
Poison Coating Spell
Cast poison effect on a weapon with a high chance of causing the poison effect.
Cost: 30 Gold
Magical Arm Guards Durability: 30/30 Defence: 5
Arm Guards that were magically blessed so the magic strength of spells will increase by 10%
Restrictions: Combat Class
Boots of Protection Durability: 30/30 Defence: 2
Boots that fit on all people and gives a bit extra protection while being light.
Restrictions: None Class
Ring of Confined Healing Durability: N/A Defence: N/A
Increases the power of healing spells by 5%
Sain, seeing the effects of these items...dreaded at the price. The magical arm guards...cost 60 gold...the other two items cost 20 gold each and in total 100 gold coins.
“....”
Sain looked at the two and really asked, “Do you really need these items?”
Both of them nodded.
“Serena, do you really need these arm guards? You can't even equip” said Sain.
Both Serena and Miriel looked at each other and then Serena said, “They're...for you” while Miriel said, “Hurry up and accept it. You are our last meat shield so you need to be able to protect yourself.”
Sain looked closely at the arm guards. They were completely made of metal and were light...if not for the fact that they were a magical item, Sain would be thought that a single cut could break it.
“In that case, I'll accept it. Let's buy these items then” said Sain bringing over the books and equipment to the counter where the middle aged man said, “That will in total 210 gold.”
When Sain was about to give him the gold, the man also said, “And if you are part of an independent guild, there will be a discount as well.”
“How much of a discount?” asked Miriel quickly before Sain could even open his mouth.
“Depends on the rank of the Independent Guild you are in. F rank gets a 5% discount and it goes up by 5% per rank. An A rank Independent Guild gets a 30% discount and a S rank one gets a 40% discount on all things purchased on the continent” explained the shopkeeper.
This was something that Sain nor Miriel knew of. Who knew that being in an Independent Guild would also get these benefits...considering that being in one means you can be called to a quest at any moment...
Miriel took out a emblem and presented it to the shopkeeper and said, “I believe we will be getting that 40% discount then” with a smile.
The shopkeeper's eyes widened and said, “I understand. That will be 126 gold instead.”
They got a 84 gold discount on the things they brought...which leaves them with 124 gold coins left from their purchase. Leaving the store, the three were quite happy on learning this fact and then discussed it.
“It was nice to know that there was such a thing...to think that we could've saved even more” said Miriel.
Serena then asked, “But..where did you get...that emblem?”
“Yeah...Eden not mentioned it at all...” said Sain.
“Ah, from before my master gave it to me saying that Eden and the others will probably forget about it since they don't use it often” explained Miriel.
“....”
For some reason Sain had a bad feeling about this...considering that the 'Sleeping Sheep Centre' is a S rank Independent Guild...however Miriel seemed happy right now so he rather not spoil her mood just yet.
xXx
On the other hand with Lyndis, Raven and Shadow...
“Let's go to a pub and drink!” said Lyndis totally in control of the situation. She held and dragged the two other boys with her looking around quickly and also finding a place to drink. These two boys could only sigh seeing that Lyndis was out of control without Sain and Miriel.
Those two did not realise of how much she restrained herself in front of those two. Sain might have looked really kind and easy going but he did not accept failure no matter what. If you did something wrong...then he made you do it again...and again until you got it right.
Miriel on the other hand was also the same but with a cold glare instead. Without knowing it...for at least Sain, they had complete control over the group. But for some reason both Raven and Shadow could not help but think of when Miriel will take control...even though she said she had no intention to, the possibility and her nature to mettle in things made it hard for them to not think of that.
This was the main reason he had to speak up to her to make sure nothing bad happens in the future. Although it was quite hard to always act like a bad person with a horrible personality, Shadow didn't mind to...in fact he found out he was quite good at it.
Plus for some strange reason, he got along with Sain and Raven better after he showed off the personality.
“Hahaha, there's one there!” pointed Lyndis not even caring for the strange looks other people were giving them.
“Please don't trash that place up” asked Shadow.
“Trash? Why would I do that? I'm only going to drink” said Lyndis puzzled.
'And that is the reason why...I don't think we have enough cash on hand to pay for the damages...' thought Shadow.
He turned and looked at Raven who had the same expression on his face.
Kick!
Lyndis kicked opened the door to the pub since both her hands were already dragging Raven and Shadow through as well. Letting go of their hands, Lyndis once again ignoring the stares immediately went to the barkeeper and said:
“I want to drink!”
“....”
The barkeeper stare at her and then asked, “What kind of drink may you want young lady?”
“Alcohol! Beer!” Lyndis said excitedly. To this expression that she was making on her face, Shadow could only sigh since it was completely loose. She was already acting drunk even though she didn't even drink one bit yet.
The barkeeper then took out a bottle and poured it's content into a glass cup and gave it to Lyndis while saying, “That will be 5 silver.”
Lyndis gladly gave him the money and immediately started drinking the cup. However she immediately stopped and then complained loudly, “Why does this taste like juice?!”
Shadow could see that there were several several chuckles around the place laughing at Lyndis. He gripped his short sword by his waist even harder hearing this...and then he remembered something from the game manual.
Those who were under 18 cannot drink...but that does not stop them from buying in game...it was just that the game automatically replaces the alcohol with juice by the option you want when you try to drink. Lyndis should know this as well but she...
“Oi look at that elf chick”
Shadow picked up some words using his 'Hearing' skill along with his 'Pin-point Hearing' skill together. He did not turn his head but glances at the location with the corner of his eye noting their appearance. He started listening in on them while Lyndis was making a commotion.
Eventually the conversation went to a point that Shadow did not like.
“Let's go and...”
They were discussing on capturing her and using her...
That was all that Shadow needed to hear. He used 'Stealth' in the middle of this bar which was quite easy since Lyndis was attracting all of the looks anyway. No one even noticed that Shadow disappeared. He walked slowly and yet quickly to the edge of the pub and moved to behind the two men that were discussing harming his comrade.
He took out both weapons...his short sword and dagger and moved them to point at the back of the two men who were at the corner of the pub.
Then he started threatening them.
“If you do not stop what you are planning to do to my comrade, you will both die right now and will die over and over again until you can no longer handle this game” said Shadow in a low tone making sure to stab them lightly to make sure they did not get any funny ideas.
Both these two men were shocked but did not move. For a player to get behind them so easily meant that he was no push over and was highly skilled. Plus his voice was scary as hell. As such they immediately nodded without reserve and then felt that the weapons pointed at their back was gone and the person with it.
Shadow reappeared back at his original location just in time for Lyndis to say, “Damn!” grab him and Raven and drag them out of the pub.
“Where are we going?” asked Raven.
“Good question” pointed out Shadow.
“Armour store of course” shouted Lyndis causing the two to flinch.
“I thought we didn't need new armour yet” pointed out Shadow. Raven nodded to this.
“Who cares, we can just look if we can't find anything interesting” said Lyndis not caring at their opinion at all, “Plus we need to visit the weapon store as well and then get food to eat. I'm tired of getting meat stew or fried meat!”
“....”
It took them a further 10 minutes in order for Lyndis who was dragging Raven and Shadow to find the armour store...which was luckily enough next to the weapon store as well. The only reason it took 10 minutes was because Lyndis did not ask for directions even though it was only a short walk away from the pub.
“This place is called the 'Turtle Shell'? What an interesting name” said Lyndis humoured entering the store.
“Welcome young lads!” said the shopkeeper happily to the three that entered.
Looking around the place the three could see that this place was...ordered. Light Armour on one side, Heavy Armour on the other with everything else in the middle of things. There were several sets of armour on displace on the walls as well and pieces of them at a workshop at another room behind this shop.
“Can you point to us where the level 100 gear are?” asked Lyndis to the shopkeeper.
“Of course, what kind of armour are you looking for-ah, of course for yourselves” the shopkeeper quickly moved and took out three sets of armour for the three to look at.
One of them was similar to the heavy armour that Raven wore but thicker at places, another was extremely thin...thinner than what Shadow wore and yet looked heavier at the same time and finally there was one that looked like what Lyndis was wearing but it looked heavier and less sturdy than the one she was wearing.
“Are you sure this is level 100 gear?” asked Shadow confused on the it being weaker than the one they were wearing.
“Of course this is level 100 gear! You can even look at the descriptions!” shouted the shopkeeper. He did not like people being smart on him.
Assassin Armour Set Durability: 30/30 Defence: 10
An extremely light weighted set of armour that is designed to allow maximum speed in it. Due to the thinnest of the materials used, the defence of this armour falls by a bit but small wounds and cuts are still easily prevented thanks to this.
Restrictions: Thief or related class, Level 100
Options:
- Agility +6
- Able to move in the dark with less notice
Heavy Armour Set Durability: 50/50 Defence: 30
A heavy set of armour which has several layers onto it. Due to this, the weight of the armour increases to a point where there is a noticeable increase in weight when wearing it. However strong blows aside from blunt weapons are easily deflected from this armour.
Restrictions: Warrior or related class, Level 100
Options:
- Sharp weapon damage decrease by 10%
Leather Armour Set Durability: 30/30 Defence: 15
A set of armour that was made by layering leather over each other while placing metal in between it at certain points to block as much damage at those parts. It does not hinder the wearer that much and allows a decent amount of defence at the same time.
Restrictions: Level 100
Options:
- None
“....”
The three stared at the windows since they were...not what they expected at all.
“You see now! These are top grade goods for level 100 players! I'll sell them to you at a discounted price as well. How much do you think you can handle?” said the shopkeeper looking at their expression.
“Are...you sure this is top grade gear? They're worse than the ones who got now and they're from when we were level 50” pointed out Lyndis.
“What the hell are you talking about?! There is no way a mere level 50 gear can outmatch something from level 100!” argued the shopkeeper.
“You want proof?” asked Lyndis with an eyebrow raised.
“Yes! Let me see the armour you're wearing now!”
Lyndis took out a bit of her armour...not all of it of course since she needed something to wear and she didn't want to strip. After looking at it with wide eyes the shopkeeper gave it back to Lyndis with an apology.
“My honest mistake lads. Didn't think that you would have stuff from a master blacksmith and not to mention a really skilled one as well” he sighed remembering the stats on a mere level 50 piece of equipment that were better than level 100 gear of the same type.
The quality was as such that it rivalled a poor grade level 200 gear.
“Master blacksmith?” wondered Shadow, didn't Eden give them their gear?
“Yes, a blacksmith that has the blacksmithing skill to at least the intermediate level. That's when we start to call them masters of their trade as mid-level masters. It's only when they reach the advance level that you can really do the interesting stuff like what was done of your armours” the shopkeeper explained.
“Wait, what was done to our armour?” asked Lyndis not getting his words.
“Ah, your gear was actually a lot higher level than you think. It was made and then had a certain piece of magic applied to it to lower it's requirements to use. By doing this the effects of the armour decreases accordingly but it is usually better than the other armour it was reduced to. It takes a lot of skill to do that and there are at most a dozen people on the continent who know but only one or two that have the materials to do so. Not many people want to get gear that was intentionally weakened. Plus it costs a lot of money to do that as well. It's well known as something to test your skills with but no one wants to teach it.”
In other words why get a weakened version when you can get a the full one and grow into it to use later with it's full effects. More over, the costs of having a weakened one was actually higher than having a normal version of the same armour, no one in their right mind would do unless they were randomly spending money on things.
“I see...in that case, we should use our current armour until a better one appears” muttered Lyndis thinking about it. The other three, Miriel, Serena and even Sain didn't really need armour since they were fighting at the back.
However they needed armour to fight properly since they are in the heat of the battle.
“In that case, should we check out the weapon store then?” asked Shadow.
“Yeah...”
The three left the armour store with that and went inside the weapon store.
“Welcome!” said another old man managing this store.
The three ignored the man this time and started to look through weapons silently. They had 250 gold worth of spending money either way. As a result they spend all but 10 gold of their money on these weapons.
Long Iron Sword Durability: 80/80 Damage: 32-38
An iron sword that is longer than normal. As such, the damage it produces is higher than normal but at the same time the durability increased due to the good tempering of the blacksmith. It's long blade surprisingly does not make it heavier than other swords.
Restrictions: Level 140
Options:
- Damage on living creature increases by 10%
- Light weight and balanced at the same time despite it's true weight
- Sword skills are executed twice as fast
Light Iron Dagger Durability: 50/50 Damage: 19-20
Made also too thinly, it's blade can easily sink through armour with a stab but at the same time can cut through thin metal like butter. It's light weight at the same time increases the speed of attacks by a large margin.
Restrictions: Thief or related class, Level 130
Options:
- Able to cut through metal with some skill
- Attack speed +15%
Strong Iron Spear Durability: 60/60 Damage: 25-30
Made with more iron than normal to increase it's durability, it was designed to be used in long battles and does not suffer from any defects even with long use. Most of the weight of the spear is however positioned at the tip of the spear which causes trouble on handling unless you have great strength. The blade of the spear is also flattened to allow for cuts as well.
Restrictions: Warrior or related class, Level 120
Options:
- When used against light weight foes, +15% damage
- Unbalanced weight which makes it hard to wield but at the same time increase damage +10%
- Quite heavy and sturdy and causes durability +20%
Strong Iron Shield Durability: 100/100 Defence: 25
Made with heavy iron combined with light iron to create a shield that can block even strong monster attacks, this shield is so heavy that speed is greatly reduced unless you have great strength. The defence and durability is higher than normal as a result however.
Restrictions: Warrior or related class, Level 120
Options:
- Able to block heavy attacks easily
- Movement Speed -25% if strength is lower than 200
- Quite heavy and sturdy and causes durability +20%
While they cannot use these weapons right now, they could in the near future. This was what you could say to be an investment into the future as they found weapons that they were suited to. While they were not the best weapons that could be used, they were quite powerful in their own ways combined with their skills.
“Thank you, come again” said the weapon store shopkeeper as the three left with the weapons in their inventory now.
“Yep! Now is the time to eat all I want!” said Lyndis once again excited.
“....” “....”
Both Shadow and Raven could only look on helpless as Lyndis spent the last 10 gold they had...all on food...
“Give me some lobster!”
“More meat!”
“Yum! This taste greeeat! Give me more!”
It only took 25 minutes for that 10 gold to completely disappear. Lyndis had been holding back on a long time but she was in fact a food addict. As a girl however in real life, eating so much would make her fat...but in this game, nothing would come from eating a bit too much.
xXx
Soon after...all six of the group made their way to 'The Boar's Hat' inn where Viv was. However just before they entered, Miriel suddenly asked Lyndis, “How much gold did you spend on new stuff?”
“240 gold in total” replied Lyndis immediately.
Miriel heard that number and then sighed and then Sain next asked, “Were the stuff you brought important?”
Lyndis tapped her chest proudly and said, “Of course! If not for weapons we can't fight can we even if it is expensive, every advantage helps.”
Hearing this, Sain and Miriel were at least delighted that Lyndis didn't spend all of the gold on something worthless while Raven and Shadow could not stop her.
“That reminds me, if you show the guild emblem, apparently you get a 40% discount on everything you buy at stores” said Miriel remembering what happened before.
“40%! I could've brought three times more food to eat with that money!” shouted Lyndis suddenly hearing of this discount.
“Food...?”
Shadow then answered that question seeing that Raven did not want to, “Yes, the remaining 10 gold we had was completely consumed by the food Lyndis brought on a rampage and none of it remained. We...couldn't not stop her before it was too late” Shadow had a voice of sorrow.
“....” “....”
Both Sain and Miriel looked at Lyndis....no stared at her...no glared at her.
“Lyndis.”
“Come here for a sec.”
Both of them grabbed Lyndis before she could escape and dragged her to some unknown corner away from sight...and away from all hope.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
“Quiet you!”
“Mmhmhmhmmhmhh!!!”
There was a short scream before even that was prevented from leaking out.
Onwards?PreviousExitNext
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Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 9100~
- New forums....well at least it looks nice and they fixed up some of the broken things for now...There was an issue where the first 5 chapters (Being the longest chapters) having their last bits cut off (Probably due to having a word limit before removing it) when all of the stuff was copied over. Fixed that since it wasn't like the code for tables weren't working and causing the chapter to crammed into the left half of the screen.
Another thing is that certain tables are white and because of that...well the text is white on white (To resolve this problem for now switch to the 'default' theme for the forum located at the bottom right which is black text on white background. I'll switch to another colour for those tables later). I'll have to edit those parts so you guys can read the text for this series...don't expect that in 'The Unfortunate Fool' since there are too many damn tables that are white with white text (Just highlight it for now).
Another thing is the links are all broken now plus remaking the links with the 'Insert a link' thing just causes it to go to this http.com page instead. Another thing is that the forums is still quite glitchy seeing while editing through this, it decided to make all my text go italics...something else is that when I copied this chapter here, it double spaced everything as in
this space you see would end up as
instead...so I'm presuming that this is for Microsoft word where it half space everything which didn't registered as a double space before in the last forum. Quite annoying since it spaces everything out so much if I don't edit it. If possible maybe a trigger to not auto double space everything when you copy thing in.
Finally making the tables is so much harder with the lost of the [window] button...
So...this is all I have to say about the new forums. Looks nice, there are MANY problems which makes it harder to do things for now...and I now have to start mass editing stuff...