“Because of this idea, having unrestricted access to all other parts of the continent was needed. But...teleportation is quite expensive to use you know. Those really rare portals are the only things that can constantly teleport someone. Because of this Independent Guilds cannot travel for free using this method unless it's related to a quest of a certain level” explained Eden in great detail.
For some reason, the group felt that Eden was the really talkative type since right now more than anything, they wanted him to shut up and just give them the relevant information and not this story he's telling.
“Besides that point...where was I again?” asked Eden causing the group to face palm.
They all screamed in their hearts, 'How the hell should I know?!!'
“Please cut to the chase to my question” said Hina in a threatening tone.
“Right, the purpose of the Independent Guild System...hmm...well to sum it all up, I wanted something and the Kingdom wanted something and using this system both of us will benefit and get a lot from it” said Eden.
“Isn't...that a bit too blunt. You went from storytelling and just summarising it all in a few sentences” said Hina.
“Well it's either the short version or really long version” Eden said in a humoured voice, “Any other questions? Not even about me?”
“If we ask you will avoid the question again” said Ian.
“Yeah! It's no fun if you avoid all the good questions that invade your privacy!” shouted Maria as well.
“I don't...think you should ask...those questions...” advised Grace to Maria trying to calm her down.
“Hahaha, damn you are really like Alexandra when you let loose Lyndis!” said Eden while trying to hold in his laughter.
“What are you laughing at?!” screamed Maria.
“No, nothing at all. It's just that you are the exact type as Alexandra. The type that seemed to one thing but in the end they inside keep on worrying about those they care about. Have you ever thought that you needed to do this for a certain someone?” asked Eden.
“....”
“No..of course not!”
“That pause is quite funny to me you know” said Eden.
'What the hell happened in these few seconds...?' wondered someone seeing this scene play out. Weren't they a couple of seconds ago discussing something important and serious?
xXx
“Other than the fact that Lyndis was beaten up quite harshly by both Sain and Miriel, did anything interesting happen while you guys were exploring this town?” asked Viv.
Right now they were in the room that Viv rented out which could fit a dozen people in it. There, Viv sat on a bed looking at the group who were standing opposite of him...with the exception of Lyndis who was unconscious on the bed beside them.
Due to the incident...before, Lyndis was beaten up with fists and even whipped and then healed by Sain under the name of 'training' his healing spell in order to do it all over again until Lyndis fainted at the end where they carried her here to Viv.
Thanks to this 'training' however, Sain's 'Minor Heal' was about to reach the Beginner Level 9 level and soon after that, the Beginner Level 10 and then Intermediate Level.
Since Lyndis was unconscious, Shadow took over the task of explaining what happened along with Sain to Viv. First they talked about how some players decided to try and gang up on them. Viv asked how their movements were to which Shadow responded they were really slow.
“That means you are stronger than your peers by a fair bit now” said Viv, “Those guys were actually over level 100 you know though just over.”
“But even the thieves were super slow as hell” said Shadow in surprise that they were agility based players higher level than them.
“That is because of Eden's training that you are faster than normal along with having more stamina than normal. When you start doing missions for Eden, you will believe that you are too slow” said Viv with a wry smile on his face.
“Missions?” asked Sain.
“Ah, that is something when your basic skills are all set” said Viv.
“But don't we already have the basics down?” asked Miriel seeing that they were stronger than their peers according to Viv and yet still not at the lowest basic level.
Viv shook his head and said, “Not yet, you are at best 80% there is an acceptable level. There are still parts that need improvements before we can let you handle something. Remember when I said they you were all lacking in areas?”
The group nodded, it was the time in the forest where Viv stated all of their shortcoming and made them work hard to overcome some of it.
“When there are no complaints from me then you reached the basic level we need. Only Sain and Shadow passed this so far.”
Miriel raised an eyebrow glancing at the two and asked, “After the basic level, what is next?”
“That is to improve yourself until the next stage until you are an expert at things. After that you work on improving yourself as a specialise master of something of your own choosing. Jenny chose to be a master barrier user while Mel decided to be a master druid.”
“Then...” 'What about me and the rest? What are we lacking?'
“What you guys are lacking are some core parts of the role that you have. Raven is almost done...yes almost while you and Serena need some improvements especially you since you decided to pick of Ice Magic as well. Before you only needed to learn some more barriers and support magic but now you need to learn offensive Ice Magic as well” said Viv as if he was reading Miriel's mind.
“So...there are more barrier and support spells for me to learn?”
“Of course, since you took of more work it's natural to have to work more. Anyway by the time we finish this long trip, we'll finish rounding you all up to scratch to the most basic level at least” said Viv.
Next Sain and Shadow individually explain what they did next and then what they brought using the gold they had. The now had 124 gold coins left on them in total.
“Hmm...so you brought those kinds of spells. Not bad since they are the more situational type spells to use. Poison is extremely effective on living creatures especially with humans. This 'Freeze' spell is something that is more effective against larger slow monsters but can affect large areas. Did you learn them yet? Hurry up and learn them!”
Following his words, the three; Sain, Miriel and Serena learnt the spell in which they brought.
You have learnt the spell: Paralyse Shot
You have learnt the spell: Poison Shot
Party Member: Miriel learnt the spell 'Freeze'
Party Member: Serena learnt the spell 'Poison Coating'
Next they also equipped the gear that they brought as well replacing some of their old stuff and adding onto the new stuff as well. Thanks to this, Sain's defence increased by 5 points while Serena's defence increased by 2 points.
“Next up is you three” Viv glanced at Lyndis, Shadow and Raven even though one of them was still unconscious, “You brought gear that you would use in the future right?”
“Yes” responded Shadow.
“Well there is a good chance you might find something better but you can sell the stuff you brought today later at a cheaper price than you brought it. Stores always sell things 50% the market price and only buy at the market price. This is why merchants are extremely important since they can maximise profit and minimise costs.”
Viv then looked at Miriel.
“Hearing Sain's side of things, it seems that Jenny gave you our Emblem to use.”
“....”
Miriel didn't speak at Viv's statement.
“There are many things that comes with carrying that...many good things like the discount you will get no matter what and also lots of bad things...what was Jenny thinking on giving it to....” Viv muttered to himself with a sigh and finally said, “Can't help it. Have to deal with it later.”
“Deal with what?” Miriel dared ask.
“Deal with those that will want to track us down now....there are many people who are afraid of us and even more that want to use us. The Kingdom doesn't do anything because they are part of the group that wants to use us. As a S rank Independent Guild, they will probably...no will force on us some impossible task and watch us fail given the chance.”
“....”
“However there is me, Eden and Al to deal with those kinds of things. We made heaps of profit pretending to struggle and reaping in the reward when we complete those kinds of quests. It forced them to reconsider their approach on us. You must know that we...this guild made too many enemies on all sides.”
“....”
Miriel and the others were still silent. Did...they...no, she make a mistake on using the emblem to save some money?
“Don't worry about it, I believe the Kingdom has better things to do than provoke us” assured Viv with a kind voice that knew what Miriel was thinking and what could be.
“Get some rest for the journey ahead, there aren't many stops left until we finish our trip. You still have another 4 or so months left of travel” ordered Viv dismissing the group to rest.
xXx
The next day...when Lyndis came about to be, the group was already at the gate where they would set off again. There, Viv along with the bull that was pulling the carriage waited for them without moving at all seeming to sleep as time passed.
However when they got close, Viv opened his eyes as if he was awake the entire time and said, “Get on, I rather not attract attention so close to others” he said which made everyone to climb on board on the carriage.
A few minutes later, Viv started speaking to the group.
“Sain, Miriel and Serena, since you have new spells to use, get use to them and make sure to level them up as fast as possible though I don't really need to say that. Otherwise the fastest way to do this is to repeatedly use the spell over and over again even out of battle. It might waste mana in the end but you are training your spells and skills like that” he said.
They were now far enough from the town that there were no one around them. Viv proceeded talk to Lyndis, Shadow and Raven...especially Raven.
“It's been almost two months since this trip started and the gear you have were given by Eden even further back...they should be starting to fall apart by now.”
Everyone silently checked their equipment's gear and found that the maximum durability was reduced by around 15-25 points each. It while not decreasing defence at all and the performance was quite frightening since equipment is very important in this game.
In fact it makes up for around half of your strength. Without it, you would be easily surpassed by those weaker than you and better gear. Every turned to Raven knowing this.
“Not my fault” replied Raven even though there were no questions asked.
Viv sighed and said, “It is not Raven's fault since this would happen sooner or later. Raven's 'Repair' skill is at...what? Beginner Level 3? That means there is a significant drop in maximum durability the longer you have him repair it. Anyway, since I believe you all don't want your equipment to snap in two when fighting...I'll change the line up for the remainder of the trip.”
Viv proceeded to kick Sain, Lyndis and Shadow off the carriage.
“Wow!” “Hey!” “Ah!”
All three of them muttered when they dropped on the hard ground. Confused Sain asked, “Why was I kicked off as well?”
“Because that is the next step in your training. You can make and move the ball of light right?” said Viv.
“Yes...?”
“Then continue the training as you try to do that walking and eventually running!” said Viv with the carriage getting further and further away.
“....”
Sain was utterly silent on this. Magic was something you had to concentrate very hard on to use. It was not something to be easily used when distracted from even moving. People say mages have the worse defence and need to be protected and that is true. However it's not like the mages didn't want to dodge or defend but rather their concentration was elsewhere for the magic they were going to cast which made it impossible for them to move.
But there were those who used spells while in deep combat as well. Those people were known as combat mages and while generally having weaker spells, could use them rapidly in the mist of close combat.
Another name for these types of players were magic-swordsman as well. They were a hybrid class that traded off the more powerful aspects of each class for advantages that neither had.
Sain looked around and found that Lyndis and Shadow had already began moving ahead of him.
“Well...better get started.”
First he wanted to test out whether he could do this while moving. He focused his mana into his hand and out popped a ball of light that was very small compared to the one Viv made. Next while at the same time focusing he tried moving forward.
Poof~
The ball of light immediately disappeared when he lost focus for a moment.
“....”
Sain tried again this time focusing more on the ball of light.
Poof~
However the same result happened.
“Perhaps...I should try to create one by moving first...?” wondered Sain seeing that he was already falling behind rapidly by the second. He went into a jog catching up a bit before continuing his training.
xXx
On the carriage, Viv started to explain what the others had to do.
“Miriel, you are done with the most basic ice magic training. Next you will start to directly manipulate the water to move the way you want to.”
Viv took out the bucket filled with water beforehand and moved his hand over it and gathered water and froze it. However the water now ice continued to move until Viv made it turn back to water and drop back into the bucket.
Miriel frowned and raised her eyebrow.
“What happens if I lose all of the water?” she asked.
Viv chuckled and said, “Then you have to make do until night comes when Sain will refill it for you. Plus you can decide to gather water from other sources as well.”
“....”
Miriel immediately started to mimic what Viv just did expanding her mana into the water like she did with the freezing and unfreezing of the water before. When she did, we tried to move the water the way she wanted to but nothing happened.
“....”
Miriel then decided and freeze the water into half ice half water and try again. She focused her mana into the ice component of the content of the bucket and tried to move it at least. Nothing happened at all.
“This will take time and when you do succeed, you will probably become an Intermediate Level Ice mage” said Viv, “It is a skill that not many ice mages pick up but a powerful basic skill to know.”
“Did Eden do this as well?” asked Miriel.
Viv shook his head with a smile, “What Eden did in the past was control over his mana. After that, everything else was natural for him to the point it was frightening. Imagine a person who was struggling to control his own mana in a basic way suddenly being able to control the elements to destroy his enemies! Moreover, he went beyond that later with a skill that no one else can use.”
“What skill?” asked Miriel wanting to know now since it sounded interesting and powerful to know.
“It's impossible for you to know. The most basic requirement is a good mastery of all elements I believe. You are struggle with just one. What point is there to know the other 11 main elements.”
“....”
Hearing this, and thinking any more questioning is pointless, Miriel started back on her own training now filtering whatever anyone said to focus even more on the task. Seeing that Miriel had started her training, Viv now pointed his attention to Serena.
“Serena. You have become quite skilled with your 'Root Bind' spell that it makes me happy as one who shares a similar path. However now it is time to move onto the next stage. Have you decided on which blessings to learn?” he asked her.
“....”
After taking a moment, Serena nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Good now we can proceed to the contract. Tell me which ones you picked.”
“Blessing of Strengthened Night, Blessing of Invisible Torments and Blessing of Eternal Suns” replied Serena.
“Oh...so one that increases stats in the night or dungeons, one that makes it harder for hate to stick on you and one that reduces stamina consumption under the sun? Not bad choices since they benefit everyone positively” said Viv taking out some ritual items and casting something on them that caused them to moved around the carriage and floating in the air.
“This is only because we are moving right now. Well there's no difference between doing this and the normal way” muttered Viv while concentrating on what to do next.
“Hold out your left hand. That will be used for the contract.” said Viv with Serena responding in kind.
He started to explain what he had to do next, “Normally you can only have one contract at a time until you are proven worthy for a second and eventually third but if you do it all in one go, you can get up at 3 at once at a time.”
After she gave him her hand, Viv chanted a long spell, “O Blessing of Earth and Nature heed my call of Eternal Night! The Cycle of Life and Death spins into a frenzy of chaos. Let the children of night be blessed by your grace and be given strength to combat evil! Let the bringer of hate be forced to the knees of justice as the invisible fangs of dark pierce them from behind! Let the children of light be eternally blessed with great strength to move forward through thick and blood! Heed this contract under the 'Bringer of Darkness' and submit under the power over all life and death!”
Light draw from the floating materials that floated around them and poured into the left hand of Serena's.
“Ahhh!” Serena let out a small scream with the pain as a sharp pain.
Blessing of Strengthened Night has been implanted
Blessing of Invisible Torments has been implanted
Blessing of Eternal Suns has been implanted
Those three message appeared for Serena as she saw that her left now was also marked. There was a half moon that was covered my symbols of light around it like it was a sun and parts of it was more faded than the rest.
“This is a representation of the blessing that you now have” said Viv who was perfectly calm unlike Serena who was panicking that she had another tattoo on her hand now...though it was on the other hand.
After breathing in and out for a few moments to calm down, Serena checked the blessing spells that she got since she only read about the effects and nothing more than that.
Blessing of Strengthened Night Beginner Rank
From the Goddess of night, those who are blessed with this spell will gain a 20% in the night or in dungeons. This blessing was contracted in such a way that the effects of the blessing would increase after moving up to the next rank rather than level. The effects and mana cost of this blessing will increase when it reaches the next rank as the full effects of this blessing is restricted.
Mana Cost: 1500
Duration: 4 Hours
Cool Down: 24 Hours
Blessing of Invisible Torments Beginner Rank
From the God of Hunting, those who are blessed with this spell will be harder to detect and their presence seem to wane to their targets. It does not give the actual effect of invisibility but rather divert the attention of others elsewhere. Having this blessing will give the effect of a Beginner Level 10 'Stealth' state. The effects and mana cost of this blessing will increase when it reaches the next rank as the full effects of this blessing is restricted.
Mana Cost: 500
Duration: 30 Minutes
Cool Down: 3 Hours
Blessing of Eternal Suns Beginner Rank
From the Sun God, those who are blessed with this spell will gain greater strength and stamina while under the sun. To be precise, strength will increase by 15% while stamina will increase by 10% while stamina consumption will be halved. The effects and mana cost of this blessing will increase when it reaches the next rank as the full effects of this blessing is restricted.
Mana Cost: 1000
Duration: 2 Hours
Cool Down: 12 Hours
“This...this is....” stuttered Serena to such a point that Miriel noticed her state.
Viv smiled and said, “It is quite powerful right? Like I said before, normally you would only get one but I bent the rules a bit with my own original spell for this and gave you three of them though each of them are weakened to a third of their true abilities thanks to this.”
“....”
Serena could only stare at Viv in shock as he continued.
“To be precise, these kinds of blessings didn't normally have ranks. When they reach the intermediate rank, it will have two thirds of the blessings true effect and when it goes to the advance rank and therefore mastered, it will have the full effects it should have had in the first place. Mind you that it will take years of using them often to get it to that point” said Viv while also saying:
“Now onto the next stage of your training. You will be learning how to use nature as your weapon as I believe you would not want to learn shape shifting or summoning yet as it would give you too much to train at once. While you can use vine as a way to restrict foes from attacking you and others, you do not have a way to directly block them. As I am unwilling to give you one of my most powerful spells just like that, you will learn how to attack.”
Viv took out a leaf....no a whole bag filled with them and said, “You will learn how to manipulate and use these leaves as ranged weapons. Like how you used your mana in the vines to move them, you will pour mana into these leaves and move them the same way. Start by trying to move it freely around the air without breaking it.”
As such, Serena now had a whole bag of leaves....to train with. It was quite...a different task that Serena thought she would be left with. She started to train on them while Viv then addressed Raven likewise with a bag.
“These are pieces of equipment.”
“....”
Raven stared at the bag opening it to find pieces of armour that seemed a bit old.
“And this is a hammer.”
Viv gave Raven the hammer in his hand. Raven kinda figured what Viv was getting at and immediately started by taking out a piece of armour and hit it several times reducing it's durability.
BANG BANG BANG!
“....”
“....”
Miriel was about to complain but then saw that Viv was looking at her as well. Because of this she shut her mouth and tried to continue her training while ignoring the banging sounds.
After a few more hits at full power and the piece of armour that looking almost broken with really low durability. Raven started repairing it to which it's maximum durability was reduced by a bit. He then started hammering it again and repeating the process many times until it had no more durability even from repairing it and broke into pieces.
Maximum Durability too low to repair. Piece of old armour broke
That message appeared and Raven took out another piece of old armour and continued.
“It's good that at least someone knows what they're going to do without me saying” commented Viv to himself.
xXx
Several days passed, in fact a whole week passed marking the two month point since they left Witchelm City. They were still on the road travelling at a steady rate as they fought the bandits and sometimes wolves and goblins that came their way.
There wasn't much on the levelling department since there weren't that many battles that gave lots of experience like before. However the group had made progress on their training.
For starters starting with Sain, it managed to somewhat make a very faint ball of light while jogging along with the others now. It was small but thanks to this, his 'Mana Control' skill managed to gain 2 levels to Beginner Level 7 now. This amount of progress that would have normally taken at least a month to do made the training to be super effective.
Next along with line was Miriel with her bucket training. In the first three days, she finally managed to properly move the water and ice around a bit to the point that it floated higher than the bucket edge. It took another 4 days and ongoing for her to sorta move it more freely.
It was steady but each day, Miriel had Sain refill the bucket since lots of water were dropped and wasted during this time. It wasn't much but both her 'Ice Magic Mastery' and 'Magic Control' skills levelled up once to Beginner level 8 each.
Serena on the other hand didn't have so much luck. Her training barely made any progress with her managing to crush almost all the leaves in the bag that Viv gave her. While her skill experience increased, none of them increased in level at all.
One the other hand, Raven in this week managed to increase his 'Repair' skill by two levels to Beginner Level 5.
And for Lyndis and Shadow...
xXx
“Why did you say that we can deal with the enemies this time on our own?” asked Shadow to Lyndis who were in front of the rest of the group.
“Because we can~” replied Lyndis ready to fight again. She was itching to move her body in different ways than the usual training.
Shadow sighed and then Lyndis added in, “Besides, you can to test out your new skill as well...though Sain already knows either way with that 'Party Scan' skill of his.”
Shadow nodded and remembered that that 'Party Scan' skill was really invading their privacy in a number of ways...though it only works if they accept Sain seeing their skills and status windows which they did.
It was really a faster way of giving them the details of their stats and skills besides commanding the game to do so every time he asks.
Really it was a skill that required a great deal of trust in order to be used.
“Ah.”
Shadow paused and stopped causing Lyndis to shut up for a bit. The reason being is that he picked something up with both his 'Hearing' skills at once.
“Sounds like goblins” said Shadow with a sigh of relief. Goblins were some of the more easier foes to deal with at least. Plus with Serena's 'Blessing of Invisible Torments' on, both Shadow and Lyndis could now deal with low intelligence enemies like goblins easily.
Taking sneaking postures, Shadow climbed up on a tree while Lyndis hid and moved in the bushes. Walking forward for a few minutes they encountered the goblins.
There were 5 in total.
“Move move! Move to location!” one screamed to the others. It had better armour...well better rusted armour than the others and also had a shield as well.
The other four goblins were the common ones you could find however.
Shadow: There are 5 of them
Lyndis: Yeah I noticed
Shadow: I attack from top and you finish them off?
Lyndis: ....nah. Let's try out our new skills!
Shadow: ….That may be too risky. Well for me not to you
Lyndis: Come on! How else are you going to test out that super cool looking move?
Shadow: ….Fine.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Shadow gave in and dropped from the trees in front of the goblins but did not attack them.
“....”
He silently stood there until the leader of these goblins noticed him and shouted, “Human! Kill human!!!” in a frenzy even kicking the other goblins to attack Shadow.
“Ahhhhhh!” one goblin screamed as it swung it's sword that was too big for it in a slow loop.
The little creature swung three time before getting close enough to Shadow to even hit. That was how frightened it was of that other goblin. Shadow didn't even need to use anything to dodge. He simply side step it and sunk his short sword into the side of the goblin killing it.
You have gained experience
Next was the other three goblins. They had him surrounded on all sides about to stab him in turn now. Shadow realised that that first goblin was a decoy for this.
As such, there were now three goblins attacking him with no way for him to escape easily.
Right now was the right time to test out that skill he learnt recently.
“Shadow Step.”
Shadow took a step forward and then a step back. However the goblins continued to attack the place where he stepped forward while he was unharmed. Confused, the three goblins attacked each other with no target to hit.
“Over there! There!” screamed the goblin leader that had no intentions of fighting shadow if possible.
The three goblins looked and tried to attack Shadow again.
“Shadow Step.”
Shadow took a step to the left and then right to which the goblins attacked to the left away from him. He moved in and slashed at one of the nearby goblins and killed them as well. A few more times all three goblins died and all that were left was the single goblin leader.
Seeing the trick that Shadow used, the goblin leader tried running away.
“Re-Retreat! Retreat!”
However while Shadow was dealing with those goblins, Lyndis sneaked behind the goblin leader and appeared from the bushes.
Not noticing Lyndis was there, Lyndis took advantage of this and sprinted forward as well.
“Sword Dance!”
A short burst of speed came from Lyndis as she quickly moved in and shouted, “Speed Strike!” while using 'Precision Stance' was active as well cutting through the small gap in which there was no armour blocking the way.
The goblin leader died in one shot with it noticing until it died.
You have gained experience
“Well that was disappointing. Thought it would put up a fight at least” said Lyndis complaining that she really didn't get much action in the end.
“Honestly you could've help me out when I was outnumber” replied Shadow scorning her a bit.
“That was your fault on taking so long on testing that 'Shadow Step' skill of yours” said Lyndis seeing that she couldn't even use her 'Sword Dance' skill to the fullest, “By the way, how was it?”
“Needs tuning. Can't use it while moving quickly for now, I have to adjust the speed in which I move around to use it properly” replied Shadow.
The skill 'Shadow Step' was something that Shadow thought of for a while but took a long time to develop properly. The basic concept is to direct the enemy away from you by moving your presence to another location for the enemy to attack. There is no tricks involved or illusions but simple change in the perception of the enemy as they attack.
“This skill probably words better with skilled enemies but the more skilled ones can probably see through this as well like a trick” sighed Shadow thinking about it.
“At least you had a chance to think of how badly you need to train to use it. I don't even know that!” complained Lyndis.
Her 'Sword Dance' skill was one used for longer and intense battles than most. Using parts of her body or even her sword as an anchor, she would fly around the place attacking everything in sight. It was a skill almost designed against a large number of enemies. This was the skill Lyndis thought up during this week and finally made it a skill to use.
“You will get other chances to use that skill. Besides didn't you say yourself that it was better to use against multiple enemies?” Shadow raised his eyebrow at Lyndis while picking up the loot that the goblins dropped.
There were only a few copper pieces in the end...
“Actually it works for long duration single combat as well” added Lyndis to the conversation.
“Yeah yeah, let's get back to the others, I already told them we're finish” said Shadow slipping away from Lyndis' sight and disappearing entirely.
“...How is it that he still manages to hide from me so easily?” wondered Lyndis.
xXx
Another week passed on the road.
There is nothing much to say about this period since it was more or less the same as the previous week. Each of the group were doing their individual training as they continued to polish up their skills for later.
However there was a change.
In fact it was something that they did not expect at least.
It started when....
xXx
[Master! Enemies really close and they are all humans]
Luna was immediately alerted the the presence of enemies. Meanwhile Shadow was the same saying, “Sain! They are fighting. Should we go help or not?” he asked.
“....”
Thinking about it, Sain would rather not have to deal one of the group up ahead alone with the others. In the end he said, “How many are there in total?”
“Around 30 or so” replied Shadow with an immediately answer.
[To be precise master, a total of 34 humans]
Luna added on to not be outdone by Shadow. Hearing these numbers Sain sighed and said when he was in range to the others on the carriage, “Do you guys think you can take it?” after he explained what was happening.
“Of course!” said Lyndis with a grin. She was happy enough to fight at this point.
Miriel frowned and asked Sain, “Do you think we are weak enough to lose?” Sain took that answer as a yes for her.
Raven silently nodded and thought shaky, Serena also agreed to go as well. Naturally Shadow was agreeing to go since there really no other answer while Sain sighed and said, “Fine, let's go.”
“Sain” said Viv stopping him.
Sain turned to face Viv.
“Don't trust strangers” he said before silently going back to his business.
As such, the six along with Viv who didn't say anything rushed to the location of the battle which was only a bit further ahead.
“Diiiiiiie!” someone shouted into the distance.
There were loud clanging noises.
“Let flames strike true and far, flame strike!”
A burst of explosions and flames could be seen at the distance. The battle was still ongoing, they could possibly make it. However something strange happened when they got near.
“Tch, more of them, retreat!” someone in bandit gear shouted while running away when the group just arrived.
“....?”
The group was confused, they still had the advantage here even with them arriving so why did they run away? It was strange for a group of 30 to run away when a group of six appeared. However Sain had no time to think about that as he saw the people who were attacked.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
There was a young woman who seemed like a mage who went up and shook Sain's hand without warning. Her robe was ragged at most parts and she seemed to be looking quite shabby compared to the neat look he and the others had.
Likewise was the appearance of the other people there. One was a warrior with a one handed style and a shield, there was a cleric and finally an archer. It was a balanced party though depended on the warrior for support.
“What happened?” asked Sain.
“Ah, some player killers came out of nowhere and attacked us!” the mage woman said.
This caused the others to be more alert as well. Player killers were one of the more frightening enemies not because of what they did but the single fact that players were unpredictable at times. Even some of the more skilled players in this game would fall when facing them. You could say they were PvP experts while normal players were PvE experts.
“Umm...” the cleric who was also female raised her hand to speak. Everyone turned to her direction as she spoke, “We can hitch a ride? With more people, those Pkers are less likely to attack.”
“....”
Sain thought about and the space that they had on the carriage. They only had enough room for six people and...
“It's fine” said Viv from behind, “It's not like they can do anything with me here. What level are you guys?” he asked to them suddenly.
“Around level 120” replied the mage.
Viv nodded his head and then said, “Get on. Make sure to shut and don't disturb their training.”
“....”
Sain wondered why Viv said that even though a bit before he said to not trust strangers.
xXx
Clang Clang Clang...
The sound of Raven hammering the old piece of armour and repairing it could be heard with the silence on the carriage. There was only Miriel, Serena, Raven and the mage and cleric of the other party along with Viv on the carriage right now. This was mainly due to the space issue adding another four people onto the carriage and as such, the warrior and archer were forced to walk.
“....”
“....”
The mage and cleric did not know what to do. This scene was incredible strange. The extremely shy looking girl called Serena was playing around with leaves. The cool headed person called Miriel was doing something with a bucket with a hint of madness and the guy that looked hot them which was called Raven to them was silently hammering away like he had an obsession.
From behind they could see the red haired elf called Lyndis to be doing something with her sword as she ran. The average looking one called Sain was holding out his hand and causing some sort of light to them and the other one called Shadow....was nowhere in sight which was strange.
“Umm...” the mage muttered not knowing what to say to actually try and say something at least.
“What is it?” asked Miriel stopping what she was doing. It seems that she heard the mage mutter to herself trying to start a conversation. Never once had the mage was in a party that was...like this.
Miriel seemed like the type that really didn't mind other people as much as the other two so she had to respond there even though she really didn't want to.
“What should we...do?” the mage asked not sure on her words.
“Nothing” replied Miriel getting back onto her task.
“....”
The mage was speechless on this respond. Wasn't this too cold? Why were these people so strange? Usually other players were at least...more outgoing than this lot.
The mage and cleric looked at each other and then sat there silently not daring to talk as the others were concentrating quite hard even though what they were doing looked quite ridiculous.
They spent another few hours like that in this kind of awkward situation until...
“Ah, Sain said there are enemies ahead” said Miriel all of a sudden as she was responding to a PM from one of her comrades from the back where they jogged for hours at end. The mage and cleric already got several PMs from the warrior and archer that they wanted to rest and begged them to.
“Enemies?!” cried the cleric. Was it the Pkers again?
The cleric was more sensitive to these kinds of things since she wasn't suited for battle. As such she became a cleric but still had to go into battle as well much to her despair learning about it the first time she went out.
“Viv, can you stop so Sain and the others can catch up?” asked Miriel respectably.
“Sure” the one called Viv, who looked to be a young boy that was even younger than they were and as young as Serena and yet was respected so much. The mage wondered what was going on there.
Viv silently did that and pulled the carriage to a stop where another few seconds passed as Sain and the others appeared including the warrior and archer of their own group. The mage immediately noticed that the three, the ones called Sain, Lyndis and Shadow did not seem out of breath yet.
'How large were their stamina for that to happened', wondered the mage.
There, the mage and cleric saw the one that was dressed in black and seemed to disappear and reappear as he wished and...a large wolf that was coloured black and white as well as if it was normal for it to be there.
“Wolf?” muttered the mage seeing this strange sight. Why didn't they kill it yet?
Noticing this mutter, Sain turned to the mage and smiled saying, “This is also one of our comrades, Luna” he was rubbing it's head as he said that as if everything was normal.
The mage was shocked at the sight since wolves were natural enemies players should have. However Sain added on, “This one is a summon though so it's fine.”
When he said that, the mage and more importantly the cleric calmed down. Being a summon means that this Sain had full control over it and therefore there was no risk at all. However at the same time Sain said out of nowhere, “Yes, that is the best way to explain it. It'll take too long to explain the full story plus I don't want to” to himself as if he was talking to the wolf.
Confused the mage thought, 'Okay there is also a wolf and the one called Sain is talking to it. These are extremely weird like they were hoping that enemies will come even though they seem weaker than us...'
Sain turned his head to the others and said, “So, who'll go this time?” getting onto the next point of things.
The mage and the other three wondered what he meant by that. Weren't they going to avoid the enemies or at least take them on with them all?
“I'll go!” shouted the elf that was using a sword. The mage thought this was quite strange since elves were usually archers or mages.
“Fine, anyone else?” asked Sain. He looked around and found that Miriel wanted to go as well. The mage was surprised that only those two were going.
“Good, we'll wait until your done.” said Sain one last time confirming it.
As two elves were about to leave, the mage suddenly said, “Wait, only two people are going?!” to this strangeness. At this rate they were going to die!
“Yes?” Sain was confused since it was like this for a good while now to the mage's actions.
“Aren't you worried if they're going to die?” asked the mage panicking. The cleric also nodded along with the warrior and archer in their group.
“Hey! We're not going to die!” retorted Lyndis annoyed on the notion on the some weak foes were going to kill them after all they had to go through but the mage didn't know that.
“Though I hate to agree...” Miriel glanced at Lyndis, “We are strong enough to take care of ourselves. Some simple foes aren't that much to handle plus I wanted to fight for a bit to relieve stress since a while ago as well.”
“Wait, why do you hate to agree with me?” asked Lyndis.
“No reason. Just that you are a power charging idiot.”
“Oi! I'm not like that at all!” shouted Lyndis back at this accusation that the others...found true at least.
“....”
Meanwhile the mage and cleric was arguing on not letting Lyndis and Miriel go alone and that he should go with them. After a few more sentences calling Sain a heartless bastard, he said, “If you really care that much, go with them!”
“Fine then!” shouted back the mage and cleric at the same time.
As such there were now a fire mage and cleric mixed into the group that will take care of the foes ahead.
xXx
The mage and cleric walked behind the two players that they were following.
'How did it turn to this?'
The mage was questioning herself the entire time as the one called Lyndis and Miriel were arguing to each other on who will do what. She wasn't paying much attention to it until they finally encountered the monsters that the one called Sain was talking about.
“Goblins!” shouted the cleric in fright.
There were a total of 12 goblins in total.
The mage was also shivering since she knew that Lyndis and Miriel weren't even level 100 yet and are facing foes that were much higher level than them...and even her. Goblins in these parts of the road were often around level 150 for unknown reasons.
“I'm going! Back me up!” shouted Lyndis rushing in without hesitation drawing her sword and attacking after shouting, “Sword Dance!”
Her blade flashed along with her body as she went straight in the heat of battle without fear.
“Honestly...you two better help out as well” said Miriel coldly to them as she casted her ice magic at the goblins as well.
“Ice Bolts!” she chanted firing attacks that narrowly missed Lyndis time and time again while also hitting the goblins at critical points killing them.
The mage and cleric blanked out seeing this scene. The two cooperated so well that the 12 goblins died in less than a minute and Lyndis not sustaining any damage with Miriel backing her up so effectively.
“You...” muttered Lyndis all of a sudden.
She turned to Miriel and shouted, “Were you trying to get me killed?!” at the top of her voice.
Ticked off, Miriel responded in kind, “Of course not! If I did than you would've died from the goblins already! Be thankful I saved your neck after you ditched our agreement.”
“What agreement?! You said that you were going to take care of the enemies and I had to clean up after you!”
“Yes and you did the opposite of what I told you rushing in like an idiot! At least nick them from the edge before rushing into the centre of attention you damn attention whore!”
….
The mage and cleric watched the two even more speechless. While fighting they were working so well together and yet now...they were arguing like they were mortal enemies though not attacking yet.
'Perhaps they could....but....no....'
The mage left that thought alone for later.
xXx
Another few days passed with both groups getting to know each other a bit better.
For starters, the other group made of a warrior, archer, mage and cleric also participated in the battles that came on the road. Because of this, the group now had some experience in which they learnt some of the skills that an archer and cleric would have.
The advantages was as such that Miriel was even more disappointed that she didn't manage to learn archery properly at all and had given up to quickly seeing that an archer could shoot down enemies from afar in tight corners.
Another thing that was seen was the more powerful healing spells that the cleric used. When Sain saw the power of her healing spells, it made him think that it could have been better for Serena to have chosen that class if not for the other benefits that she gained as well.
However....
'Remember, don't trust strangers'
That thought stuck on Sain's mind as it was one of Viv's advise that were usually right. And it came true quickly one time at the middle of night.
[Master we are surrounded!]
Luna alerted Sain immediately sensing a large number of people coming at them. Shadow at the same time was alerted with the unusual amount of sound coming around them. Sain and Shadow in turn alerted the others as well but it was too late.
They could not escape.
“I'm sorry.”
Sain felt a dagger deep in his back.
You took 1427 damage
He had lost a little more than a third of his health with that stab and more importantly could not think as well with a scorching pain in his back.
“Sain!”
Seeing that he was injured and by the mage of all people, Miriel used her whip to strike at the mage rapidly which knocked out the dagger from Sain's back as well.
“You dare attack Sain?!” screamed Miriel prepared to kill the perpetrator, the mage who looked harmless enough.
“Stop!” shouted Sain holding his wound though not really since it was too far from his arm to reach.
Miriel though reluctant stopped before Sain said, “Kill her and you will get the murderer mark.”
“....”
However Miriel did not listen to Sain for once and prepared to kill the mage.
“Don't move” said the warrior with his sword at Serena's throat. He had a grim look on his face as he said that and Miriel had to stop. The warrior also glanced at Lyndis who looked like a demon with the anger in her eyes with her sword half drawn at them.
Sain with his hazy vision looked to see that the archer had his bow pointed at Miriel as well.
He felt a pain in his chest thinking about it.
The lapse in time from the silence allowed the people who surrounded them to arrive with the appearance of a man with two people strung with him, tied up.
“I thank you four for luring them here and alerting us” said a man that Sain recognised as one of the bandits Pkers that attacked that group when they first saw them.
Sain glared at him feeling a tingeing sensation on his right hand.
“We done what you asked and give us back our friends!” the mage shouted.
One of them dressed as a thief while the other was another warrior but with only a sword and no shield this time. Sain presumed that these were the two that she was talking about...else was this another trap?
Seeing this and with her personality, Lyndis asked in an upright way, “Can anyone explain to me what the hell is happening?” with anger wanting to know which person to swing her sword at.
The bandit smiled and said not minding Lyndis at all and instead looking down at her, “Of course. You see these two belong to that lot which we took a few weeks ago. Seeing this opportunity we staged a fake attack to get them with you where spending a few nights telling us of your ability and now here we are. You are too foolish to let them close to-”
“Borrrrring!” Lyndis dared to interrupt in response to this.
Miriel sneered and added on, “Do you really think we are like Sain there stabbed in the back to trust people so easily?”
“....”
Sain could only stay silent from that comment. He WAS indeed stabbed in the back moments before. He used used 'Minor Healing' to heal himself from the wound a bit before standing up.
[Master...there are at least 40 of them around us] warned Luna to Sain to which no one else except Viv could hear.
Sain nodded and stood silent as his comrades continued to insult the bandit player despite the situation.
“Such a loser.”
“All bark but not bite.”
He needed to think of a way out of this. If they were all players here then...bad news if they kill them even if they are bandits. They don't have the red marks on them from what Sain saw at least with a few of them.
“Shut u-” the bandit tried to shout but was stopped by a blade to his throat and another to his back.
“Have you noticed that I wasn't there from the very beginning?” asked Shadow with his short sword at the neck of the bandit forcing him to let go of the two players he had hostage.
“Move or die” said a voice from behind Shadow. He did not and several more weapons pointed at Shadow forcing him to move away.
“You are all outnumbered and out levelled. Most of us are at least level 200 here. How do you think we are still existing if we weren't strong. Of course we will let...anyone who wishes not to die to join us” the bandit player said with scorn trying to fix his appearance after Shadow caused him to feel some fear.
He greedily took his time to eye of all the females that he saw with made them uncomfortable though two of them did not let rest their intent of killing them that had cold eyes and blazing eyes respectively.
“....”
Eventually things turned bad with the means of escape slipping away.
“Honestly....” breathed a certain person with more power than anyone else here.
“You lot really need to learn to ask me for help sooner again since there are reasons for everything” said Viv in a calm voice getting off the carriage ignoring the glances that everyone gave him.
Event he pointed weapons of the bandits that tried to capture him fell short every time which made them even more alert to him.
Viv looked at the bandit player and then to Sain and said, “Only this one and a few others are actually players. The rest are NPCs else how else is he going to control them? Also, if you fight them at this point you will all die.”
“I see” Sain nodded to agreement, Someone twice their level at this point was certainly too much for them let alone a large group of them.
Viv took his staff out that glistened even in the night. The bandits eyed at it even more seeing that it must be an expensive staff.
“Sain you better get the others get of here by running away” ordered Viv seeing that the bandits were about to attacking and were itching to with Viv showing off a valuable item in front of them.
“By the way, I'm not helping anyone here so you better run else you might die” reminded Viv as he gave everyone a smile which caused chills to run to the group.
“You have to be joking...” muttered Miriel realising what Viv was planning.
“RUN!” shouted Sain kinda half expecting on what will happen next. He grabbed onto the nearest person as did Miriel and Shadow and ran into the forest not caring the anyone else except for their own since Viv was letting off a frightening aura.
“What? Kill them!” shouted the bandit player.
As the bandits tried to attack the group that leaped into the darkness of the forest, suddenly something prevented them from attacking. It was the trees themselves as if they moved to protect them.
Seeing that the group in his care was gone and probably safe by now, Viv turned to address everyone else.
“I have gotten a request to remove a certain group of bandits from this area and some more information from the 'Wise Men' group. Are you them....?” asked Viv wanting to know in an innocent voice though threatening tone at the same time.
“....”
“Respond.”
Viv let out killing intent at all of them seeing that no one replied.
“I will deal with everyone here with no exception. You DARE try to harm someone from my guild!” there was a fury like no other in his voice. He like Eden and Alexandra had a side which you really did not want to cross with.
The mage, cleric and the others felt that these words was directed to them and they stood in fear and shivered shaking waiting for death from Viv who they just ignored from the very beginning.
“M-monster!” one bandit screamed not being able to take the pressure any more and tried to run away.
Viv did not move one step at all.
A large root appeared from the ground from him and moved at piercing speeds and stabbed that bandit through the chest and several times more repeatedly until he died in a scream that echoed.
Letting out a small smile that did not come up to his eyes, everything around him except for the fools that dared injured his fellow guild-mates were all without exception killed.
Viv glanced at the group of six people that he spared and said, “I'll deal with you all later. For now I will want information of every bandit in this area” in a threatening voice.
----------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 9800~
- Well I have exams very soon...so I shouldn't be writing at all...well not really since they are a week apart so it's all fine if I right in between studying. There may be another chapter soon, may not be as always depends on my mood on writing.
- This was a sort of...well usual chapter now for this volume. Felt this chapter was boring though it is the beginning of the arc and I need to write about it...if I skipped these 6 months so much would be disconnected so I didn't. Have to deal with this slow pace for the rest of the series...even though I decided on the slow pace to begin with.
- Another thing is of the double spacing thing. It doesn't take much time to fix up but is really annoying since the chapter is pasted properly and this forum decides to double space it all of a sudden.