Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
Q
Zeilan
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Zeilan
Q < ~(˘▾˘~) >
Zeilan < (｡◕‿‿◕｡) >
Q < ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) >
Zeilan
Zeilan laughed as he saw the last emoticon Q sent him. Just as he was about to send another one back, he was interrupted by Carro. “Hey, what’re you doing Zeilan?”
“Nothing. Just messaging a friend.” Zeilan sent out one last message to Q before closing the chat box and facing Carro. Carro was now outfitted in her ‘battle mode’ as she liked to call it. She wore mostly leather armor (alongside a few accessories) and her weapons of choice were dual-wielding daggers. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail and her cat ears twitched constantly as she looked at Zeilan.
“Just messaging a friend eh?” Carro had a thoughtful look on her face.
“Yeah… is that a problem?”
“No, it’s just…” Carro trailed off for a moment before continuing. “I rarely see you smile like that. The only other time you smiled like that is when you were dancing you know?”
“Uh… h- she told me a really good joke. Hahaha…” Zeilan looked away sheepishly as he remembered what had happened when he tried dancing again.
During one of his breaks from being a guard, Zeilan found an empty area and began practicing his dance moves. At first he had some difficulty remembering the moves, then he had to get used to performing them in his new body. He failed quite a lot (and looked ridiculous while doing so), but the entire time he was wearing a wide smile. Little did he know that Carro had actually found him by accident and hid herself to watch him dance. Now she endlessly teased him about it, much to Zeilan’s displeasure.
“A ‘girl’ friend is it?” For some reason Carro had a displeased look on her face.
“...Yeah.” Zeilan didn’t know what to make of Carro’s expression, so he turned his head to look at the other player beside him and asked a question. “Hey Rook, our break time is over now right?”
The player in question had a body made of various stones which had a faint magic glow circulating around them. If Q were here to see this, she would instantly call him one of the Ruin Guardians she fought back in the tutorial as they looked quite similar. Rook’s body was strictly more human though, as his limbs were well formed and his face had some very handsome details on it. Rook stood up and reached a height that was about the same as Zeilan’s, and he also pulled up a longbow on his shoulder. After adjusting his fur-covered armor, he turned his face towards Zeilan and gave him a thumbs up.
(A/N: For a visual representation, think of a humanoid golem but more… glowy.)
“Cool.” Zeilan also got up and adjusted his equipment. He hadn’t heard Rook speak once, but he didn’t let that bother him as he understood Rook well enough through his actions and gestures. Sometimes Rook would communicate by sending messages, but otherwise he was like a silent sentinel, always standing guard behind the other two. Seeing his silent figure, Zeilan was reminded of the first time he met him.
*****
After he had fought against Glaide’s goons, Carro decided that she should find at least one more guard on the same level as Zeilan. She opened up a small recruitment booth, and began looking over each of the people who came by. Many of the players who arrived relatively ordinary (in both looks and ability), and the rest seemed a little too quirky to handle. Carro had continued through the interviews in a bored fashion, until Rook arrived.
He stood in front of the two with his arms crossed, not saying a word. His dull glowing eyes seemed to pierce through the two of them, and an uncomfortable silence had followed. For almost a minute no one said anything, that is until Zeilan introduced himself. Upon hearing his name, Rook instantly sent him a friend request, and they soon began talking through that.
Rook
Zeilan
Rook
Zeilan
Rook
Zeilan
From there Zeilan began asking Rook some questions like his level, specialties, and how much time he can devote to the game. Rook answered each of these, and Zeilan nodded while relaying them to Carro.
“What?! You actually understood him from just his stare?” Carro appeared shocked as she stared at Zeilan with incredulous eyes.
“No, we were just talking through the messaging system.” Zeilan replied cooly.
“Oh… because from my point of view it looked like the two of you were just glaring at each other for a few minutes.”
It was then that Zeilan realized that they actually did look like they were glaring at each other from the outside. Despite typing messages to each other, Zeilan had his arms in his pockets while Rook’s arms were crossed, which gave almost no indication that they were typing. The keyboard function is pretty cool, it can move around and you can type even if you’re not looking at it… While Zeilan was admiring the fancy technology, Carro was reviewing Rook’s information before finally letting out a satisfied nod.
“I’ll have to bring you out into the field for a demonstration of your abilities before making my final decision, but for now...” Carro stuck out her hand. “You’re hired!”
While Carro and Rook were shaking hands, the rest of the people who gathered around the recruitment booth were whispering to each other.
“Hey, did you see that? That construct player was able to withstand the ‘gaze of death’!”
“Yeah, it even looks like he gained Crimson Crusher’s approval.”
“Damn, another strong player for Carro… I need to report this.”
Zeilan laughed dryly upon hearing his player given nickname. The name had started when he was out fighting creatures in the field, using his hammer or body to crush the creatures into nothing. Due to his brutal attacks and his red jacket and eyes, players began calling him that, much to his dismay. Letting out one final sigh, he began following Carro and Rook who left the town to see Rook’s skills.
*****
Once the team finished the dungeon, they began heading outside to return to town. “Aah~ that was a nice haul.” Carro smiled as she looked at the items in her inventory. “All of these materials and these uncommon equipments are sure to net me a lot of cash! Oh yeah, Zeilan, can you trade me the rest of the materials that dropped for you? I’ll pay you back.”
“Sure.” Zeilan opened up his trade window and passed over the materials to Carro, while also receiving a few silver coins from her. After the trade had been completed, Zeilan noticed something. “Hey Carro, did you just level up from that?” He asked.
“Yup! One of the merchant class’ skills is called [Trade-In]. I get a small amount of experience every time I trade things with someone.”
“But couldn’t you abuse that and just trade things back and forth between two merchants to get to a high level?”
“Tsk, tsk.” Carro wagged her finger. “Zeilan, haven’t you heard of diminishing returns? There’s a lot of details, but basically the more times I trade with a person the less experience I get. Not to mention that the experience gained is basically negligible.”
Just as Zeilan was about to respond, Rook clapped his hands. Zeilan and Carro looked back to see that Rook was pulling out his longbow and loaded an arrow. The two instantly understood and pulled out their weapons as they faced the entrance to the dungeon. A few seconds of silence passed, before a slow clap could be heard from the entrance.
“Well done. I see the Silent Sentinel really lives up to his name.” The figure who was clapping revealed himself from their hiding spot. It turned out to be a male halfling with lavish clothes who also wore a toothy grin on his face, revealing a small gold-plated tooth.
“...Glaide.” Carro glared at the halfling with unrestrained hatred.
“Huhu, yes, it is I, Glaide!” Glaide threw his arms out to the side as he began talking. “You know Carro, you’ve been a thorn in my side for far too long! This time…”
Rook
Zeilan
Carro
“...and so you see, that’s why you have to be taken out of the picture, my dear Carro. HUHAHAHAHA!”
Zeilan <...That laugh sucked. I give him 3/10>
Rook
Carro
The three of them stopped messaging each other once they saw the rest of the players accompanying Glaide. There were 10 other players, and 7 of them had red names above their heads while the rest appeared to be rogues.
“Seven player killers and three rogues… They’ve probably killed the people I left outside as well… Sorry guys, it looks like we’ll be taking a loss on this one.” Carro seemed to have already given up as she slightly lowered her weapons.
“Giving up already?” Zeilan raised an eyebrow as he stepped in front of Carro. He then hoisted his hammer on his shoulder and with a fierce gaze said, “Because I’m not going down that easy!”
“I… you’re right.” Carro’s eyes regained a determined glint in them. “I won’t lay down and die without making him suffer first! Rook!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Rook fired an arrow straight towards Glaide. Caught slightly off guard by this attack, the arrow managed to graze Glaide and ripped his clothes. “I just bought these!” He stomped in anger. “Kill them!”
Once his order came out, the players with red names rushed forward while the rogues disappeared into the shadows. Zeilan took a step forward, and then shockingly enough he threw his hammer high into the air! Each of the player killer’s (P.Ks) eyes were drawn to the hammer as it sailed through the air, making a *woosh* sound as it flew. While they were distracted by the hammer, Zeilan ran towards those players and quickly closed the gap!
When the P.Ks finally noticed Zeilan closing in on them, they were about to attack when Zeilan suddenly made another strange action. He kicked of the ground with incredible force, and then caught the hammer midair! With the hammer in his hands and the momentum from his jump, Zeilan spun in place once and yelled out “[Crushing Blow]!”
The hammer was slammed down hard onto the ground, breaking an area the size of three meters from where it hit. Those near the center of the impact were blown backwards and took substantial damage, while the others further away lost their balance. Rook instantly followed up on this and began shooting arrows at their arms or legs, disabling them and allowing Carro to get in close and attack.
Carro’s attacks were incredibly vicious, as she aimed for any exposed vital spots, and kicked the players in certain ‘tender’ areas. Two of the P.Ks were actually taken to low health before the rest had recovered and fought back. With two of the P.Ks at low health, Zeilan naturally didn’t let this chance go and rushed towards them, discarded his hammer and began to punch and kick. In no time those two were killed, but in exchange Zeilan and Carro were surrounded by 5 others, while Rook was busy dealing with the three rogues who had disappeared earlier.
After they were surrounded, Zeilan made a split second decision as he grabbed his hammer and said, “Duck!” Carro quickly went flat on the ground as Zeilan began spinning in place with his hammer, looking like an incredibly spiky beyblade as he picked up speed. The P.Ks were trying to approach but couldn’t, so they stood a distance away and waited for Zeilan to get tired.
Three seconds into his spinning though, Zeilan shouted, “Rook, incoming!” He concentrated and let go of the hammer, making it fly towards Rook! Rook, who was constantly keeping an eye on the other two despite fighting against the three rogues, immediately took action as he saw the hammer fly towards him. Using his longbow, he slapped one rogue into the flight path of the hammer, and then grabbed another rogue who had just stabbed him, and threw him at the first one.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Just as the two rogues recovered, the hammer slammed into them from behind, completely decimating their health and bringing them down to critical levels. Rather than finish off those rogues though, Rook began firing arrows at the P.Ks who were blocking the way to the entrance of the dungeon. Those P.Ks were temporarily unable to move, which allowed Zeilan to do one last thing.
Zeilan picked up Carro by her collar (making her look like a small kitten) and threw her over the heads of the P.Ks. Carro flew through the air on a direct course towards Glaide who looked quite shocked. With a determined glint in her eye, she flicked her tail to change her position in midair and stabbed Glaide as she landed on him. She twisted the dagger inside Glaide and gave him a look full of hate, but then removed it as she began running away from the dungeon entrance.
“Really sorry guys! I’ll get you some good equipment after this as compensation!” She yelled as she ran away.
“Don’t worry about it. This is our job after all…” Zeilan muttered to himself, as Carro was already out of earshot. At first the P.Ks were about to follow her, but Carro drank something and her speed explosively increased as she turned into a dot on the horizon. While Glaide was raging and the P.Ks were unsure as to what they should do, Zeilan roared.
“Alright you scrubs, let's dance!” Zeilan faced the rest of the P.Ks and smashed his fists together while letting out a savage grin.
ZeilanLevel 27Display Title: Fierce FighterRace: DraconianNon-Display Title: Gaze of TerrorClass: BrawlerProfession: MinerHP: 345/345MP: 85/85VIT: 44 (+15)WIS: 7 (+5)STR: 64 (+21)INT: 8 (+4)DEF: 31 (+34)RES: 18 (+6)AGI: 30 (+15)DEX: 15LCK: 5
EquipmentHead:Scorched Muffler (Uncommon) Durability (20/20) - DEF +3, VIT +3, WIS +3, RES +3Chest:Red Versatile Coat (Uncommon) Durability (35/35) - DEF +7, Adds 2 slots of inventory, Cold Resistance +10Arms:Spiked Iron Gauntlets (Common) Durability (35/35) - DEF +5, STR +5Waist:Elir's Might (Rare) Durability (40/40) - DEF +10, STR +7, AGI + 5, 10% additional damage when using Blunt-type weaponsLegs:Dark Leather Boots (Common) Durability (20/20) - DEF +3, AGI + 5Main-Hand Weapon:Spiked Hammer (Hammer, Rare) Durability (40/40) - DEF +2, STR +1Off-Hand Weapon:N/AAccessoriesFirst Ring:Ring of Agility (Uncommon) Durability (10/10) - AGI +5Second Ring:Ring of Strength (Uncommon) Durability (10/10) - STR + 5Third Ring:Iron Ring (Common) Durability (7/7) - DEF +2Fourth Ring:Elir's Ring (Rare) Durability (30/30) - VIT + 10, DEF + 5, STR + 3, Increases strength by 10% when below 30% of maximum health.Necklace:Garnet Necklace (Common) Durability (15/15) - DEF +2, VIT + 2Bracelet:Silver Chain Bracelet (Uncommon) Durability (15/15) - WIS +2, RES +3, INT +4
SkillsPassive Skills:Description:Pain Resistance Lv. 5Reduces amount of pain felt.Unarmed Mastery Lv.7Increases proficiency when not using a weapon.Knuckles Mastery Lv.5Increases proficiency with knuckle-type weapons.Dodge Lv.4Increases chance of dodging an attackTough Scales Lv.4Slightly decreases damage dealt by magic and physical attacks.Deflect Lv.4Increases chance to deflect enemy attacks. Deflecting an attack reduces damage dealt.Throwing Mastery Lv.3Increases proficiency with throwing-type weapons.Heavy Weapon Mastery Lv.5Increases proficiency with heavy-type weapons.Medium Armor Mastery Lv.4Increases proficiency with medium armors.Active Skills:Earth Dragon Breath Lv.4(Consumes 9 mana per second, 30 second cooldown) Breathe out a jet of earth magic to enemies in range. Damage dealt depends on strength and intelligenceStrong Punch Lv.8(No Cost, 6 second cooldown) Causes your next punch to deal 20% more damage.Strong Kick Lv.8(No Cost, 6 second cooldown) Causes your next kick to deal 20% more damage.Harden Scales Lv.5(No Cost, 5 second cooldown) Compacts your scales, causing you to take less damage, but also lowers speed.Precision Strikes Lv.4(No cost, 5 minute cooldown) Aim at a target area for 10 seconds. If your attacks hit that area they deal 13% extra damage. If they don’t hit that area they deal 13% less damage.Rock Breaker Lv.3(Consumes 25 mana, 5 minute cooldown) Adds a defense-piercing effect to your next attack. Ignores half of target’s defense.Dragon Roar Lv.3(Consumes 25% of your mana and health, 1 day cooldown) A roar of a tyrant that interrupts enemies using skills or abilities within a 3.5 meter radius.Crushing Blow Lv.5(Consumes 40 mana, 45 second cooldown) A powerful attack with an increased chance of breaking hard surfaces.Dragon's Aura Lv.3(Consumes 50% of your maximum mana, 30 minute cooldown) Your next attack deals double the damage it would normally do.Earthshaking Stomp Lv.1(Consumes 300 mana, 1 day cooldown) You stomp on the earth, causing all things on the ground in a 15 meter radius to temporarily lose their balance. You cannot move while this skill is in use.Dizzying Steps Lv.4(Consumes 30 mana, 2 minute cooldown) Move in a strange pattern for 10 seconds. Enemies hit while this skill is active may be stunned or confused.Heavy Steps Lv.5(Consumes 30 mana, 1 minute cooldown) Slows your speed but increases weight and defense for 15 seconds.Accelerated Steps Lv.6(Consumes 25 mana, 3 minute cooldown) Increases movement speed, but lowers defense for 15 seconds.SpellsEarth Armor (Basic) Lv.7(Consumes and reserves half of your maximum mana when active, 1 minute cooldown) Covers your body in a thin layer of protective rock to absorb damage. When the armor is broken the reserved mana is returned.
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Congrats! You just made it through a buttload of status windows! (Unless you didn't read them which is totally understandable) Anyway, didn't think I'd be able to get this chapter out tonight, but here you go :)
So Zeilan has been incredibly busy with... things. Also his stats are an incredible difference to Q's not only because of his playstyle, but also because he's grinding dungeons and getting great items through Carro. Wish I could come up with more skills though... Also it's kind of annoying to be dealing with the status windows to be honest. Mainly because of BBCode (which I'm glad they're changing) but also because I don't like putting much importance on numbers. It's a game, and they're expected to be there, but don't take them as absolutes or anything.
Chapters might be slightly slower coming out though, because I recently picked up Dark Cloud 2 on my PS4 (one of my ABSOLUTE favorite games of all time) and I'm completely drowning in the nostalgia.
Oh yeah, can I rant a bit about Wuxia/Xianxia novels for a bit? Just skip the spoiler if you don't care.
Spoiler :
So if you've clicked on the spoiler, that means you also read Wu/Xianxia novels. Or maybe you were just curious on what I have to say. Either way, let's begin.
I'm going to start with my biggest gripe, and that is the CONSTANTLY reused tropes throughout the stories. I'm talking about reincarnation, weak MCs becoming gods (more or less), and deus ex machinas UP THE ASS (and that's only to name a few). I'm not kidding guys, they're everywhere in these novels. I won't name one in particular, but there was a scene where the MC was finally going to kill a person who would become incredibly troublesome if he let them live.
First, some strong people come by to protect said person, but MC struggles and takes them down. Then an even stronger person comes by, and MC takes them down putting his life on the line. THEN ANOTHER one stronger than the last comes by and is about to kill the MC, but then the MC is saved by someone EVEN STRONGER than the previous person. Seriously. I know the authors like to build up tension and stuff, but it just gets annoying after a while.
Another gripe I have is with the way the story is written. Not that I have any problem with the story though, but it's the grammar and whatnot. I mean, do you not dislike double negatives? Do you enjoy slogging through flowery language just to get to the point that "this does this"? Do you like how the author takes an entire paragraph to describe something, only to take another paragraph right after and describe it slightly differently!? Do you like how in the middle of an action scene, right as the characters unleash their special attacks, the author decides to go on a tangent describing said attacks in absolute detail!? DO I NEED THIS MUCH DETAIL!!?!?
Well maybe, but like the previous thing, it gets annoying after a while. I know it's just the way they write since it's a different culture and all, but it still irks me sometimes to see these things in EVERY story I read.
*Phew* Let's calm down a bit and talk about some good things. Like the worlds! Each world that is made in these stories are HUGE. Like, they're designed to make you feel like an ant, and even if you think you're strong the story will be all like "but wait, there's even MORE worlds out there which are bigger than yours!" (not that that's necessarily a bad thing though).
Oh, let's also talk about the main characters, since they're the main draw of the stories. I mean, let's be honest. Most stories (or at least the ones I've read) can be summed up as: MC is thrown into the world of 'cultivating'. Slowly rises to the top after many twists and turns, then becomes a stupid strong overlord. Now, the MC's personalities and quirks are really what draws you to them. Some have outstanding characters, some are reincarnated and are just laughing at everyone trying to provoke them, and others just want to have sex with tons of girls.
Actually, talking about girls, why haven't I seen a Wu/Xianxia novel featuring a female main character? Am I not searching hard enough?
...Since I'm starting to run out of things to talk about, I'm going to end this with the BIGGEST thing I dislike about Wu/Xianxia novels, and that is: the Sects. Sects, organizations, etc. They piss me off to no end. Like, imagine, for a minute, that you're in a world filled with beehives. Every step you take, every move you make, bees will be watching you. If you get too close to a beehive, bees will come out and start to sting you. If you stay away from beehives, they'll come to you and bother you anyway. If you start attacking bees, EVEN STRONGER bees come out, and if you beat them even more will come out! It's neverending.
If you have honey on you, BEES! If you look at a bee funny, BEES! If you don't pay attention to a bee, BEES! Replace Bees with [Cultivators] (any kind, whether they're small fry or elders) and honey with [Fame, Fortune, Women, ANYTHING] and you have a pretty good idea what kind of world the characters live in. It's really... irritating.
Could this secretly be social commentary by Chinese authors, talking about how their society is incredibly cutthroat and if you don't join a large company or corporation you won't get anywhere in life? How people who strike off on their own are small and few, and even less actually succeed at that? How, you must bow your head to all those above you or otherwise become punished!? ...Eh, probably not. I don't even know anything about Chinese society.
*Sigh* Despite all that I've said though, I still enjoy these novels. Some scenes can really get my blood boiling, and others can actually affect me emotionally. So... take what you will from what I've said. Thanks for reading if you came this far.
Um, so yeah. Thanks for reading everyone! (Also thanks for helping hatch my dragons. I just picked it up randomly just because, but it turns out there's a lot of cool dragons out there. Must... resist... urge... to... collect... them... all)
Fun-fact: The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa at a whopping 828m.