Max swore and cussed as he berated Rone over the audio call.
“Ok, stop, stop, let me explain!” Rone attempted to pacify him.
“Yeah explain, ‘cause clearly you’re a bloody expert, aren’t you?” Max replied derisively.
“...I’ll ignore that comment on account of the fact that your charm went down again. The reason I-”
“Why would you remind me of that?!” Max was devastated. “You know I did 920 damage? Your health is f*cking 220! How are you planning to survive that, go on, explain it to me.”
“...So there is a fourth damage type.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s called critical damage. Every attack has a 1% base chance of triggering a critical hit, which will multiply the damage dealt by either 2x, 5x or 10x, with 2x having the highest probability. You said the damage indicator was red; that’s the critical hit colour.”
“...”
“If you did that much damage, you probably hit a 5x multiplier, which has a 0.09% chance of occurring on any given attack.”
‘Okay, that seems quite unlucky then...’ “Even if it were 2x, you’d still have died.”
“Okay, fine, fine, so I made a mistake. I admit it. It’s me who’s most affected anyways; I can’t log in for a full day now.”
That was true... Max felt a bit bad for him. “Well, you can watch me play. I’ll stream and you can give me directions.”
“...Actually, I think I’m gonna go have breakfast. I’ll watch you a bit later though.”
“?” ‘Uh oh, this wasn’t supposed to happen.’
Max felt like a tourist who’d just lost his tour guide. His entire travel plan consisted of following the guide around, who’d studied up on everything prior to coming here.
“Okay, well, any suggestions for me before you leave?”
“Yeah, go finish your starter mission and do any follow-up mission you get. That or you can go to solo-grind monsters in the woods or join a party with some randoms. I’d recommend against joining other players actually, because you might get PK’ed.
“What’s PK?”
“Player-killing.”
“Oh.”
“Clearly PK is enabled, considering that you’ve already eradicated 3 people from existence. Anyways, you have that OP class, and your skill with the bow is good, so you’ll be fine. Probably.”
“Your confidence is truly inspiring.”
“All right, I’m hungry so I’m leaving now. Good luck!” Rone hung up the call.
“...”
“...”
Max sighed. As he did so, a cloud of vapour formed in the air in front of him, catching his attention.
‘I hadn’t noticed before, but it’s really cold here.’
It was amazing that he could even feel an in-game temperature. The sensory experience here was leaps and bounds ahead of the previous game. Additionally, since he didn’t feel cold earlier, there was probably a mechanic that warmed you up when you moved around quickly.
With nothing else to do, Max trekked back to the archery range rancher. It was true that he’d accepted a mission from that guy, he’d just forgotten about it completely.
Mission: Battle-Tested
Difficulty: Easy
Description: Every hero needs to prove themself in battle. You are no different. Defeat 100 enemies and report back to Coby when you’re finished.
Milestone 1: Defeat enemies: 100/100 (Complete)
Milestone 2: Return to Coby (Pending)
Reward: 1,000 gold
‘Right, his name was Coby.’ Max recalled the ranchman NPC. That guy also said that he would have another mission for him and that he should come back later.
Having already grown bored of what felt like a walking simulator, Max broke into full sprint as he ran back to the archery range.
‘Zzooommm.’
The player’s muscular strength in the game was determined by their STR and AGI stats, with the starting strength being at the level of an average athlete in real life. For most people, this was surreal, because it would cause them to feel stronger than they’d ever felt before. For Max, it felt comfortable and familiar since his game avatar felt almost the same as his real body.
Nearing the range, he slowed down when he spotted a gathering of players around the facility. Not knowing what they were doing, he listened in to their discussions as he passed by.
“Dude, why is it so hard? What kind of evil game designer makes something like this?”
“I really wanna be an archer but I failed the test. What now? Do I have to choose another class?”
“Everyone spam the devs on the forums! With enough of us, they’ll be forced to fix the test!”
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
Max pitied them. If it weren’t for the new feature reducing shaking while aiming, he probably would have failed the test too. That last target was diff-wait.
It was at this moment Max realised that he had common sense, which he had not been using for quite some time.
In the previous dive game, Hero of Liberation, it was necessary to hit bullseyes on all targets up to 60m to obtain the ‘Archer’ title. This was what had influenced his thinking.
During the class test earlier, Max assumed he simply needed to hit all of the straw targets to obtain the archer class, but upon thinking about it for more than 2 seconds, which he had not done, anyone would realise this was complete absurdity. Many of the players starting this game would have never touched a bow in their lives. As an archery instructor himself, Max knew that such beginners would have trouble hitting a target at 10m, let alone the furthest target which was a whole 100m away. This being the case, the minimum range for passing would most likely be somewhere from 10-20 metres.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
On the other side of things, this test should be a cinch for experienced archers. Loads of NPCs were capable of shooting 100m in Hero of Liberation, so Max concluded that players who were veteran archers in real life would ace the test without much difficulty.
Though, this did raise one question... Why did he get something so grand as a ‘unique’ class just for completing the test? After all, ‘unique’ meant only one person should acquire it... Maybe he was the first to do it, since he was quick?
“Ah, Gun! Yer’ back!”
Max felt like he was missing something but was nevertheless torn away from his thoughts when someone called out to him. To everyone’s surprise, Max included, it was Coby, who abruptly dropped everything he was doing and ran over to greet him. “Did ya complete my mission?”
Max instantly felt the glares of numerous players.
“Y-yeah, I killed a hundred. Now that I’ve shown my ability, can I be of help in any way?”
A useful trick Max had learnt from Hero of Liberation was how to bait out new missions from NPCs. Offering one’s services was a surefire way of extracting new dialogue.
“As’matter of fact, there is! It’s tough, but the town guard are in a bit of a jam and could use yer’ help. Talk t’the guard captain for the details. He’ll be expectin’ ya.”
“Okay. Where can I find him?”
“He’ll be at the front gate’o’the north wall, just over yonder,” Coby pointed in the general direction. “If you’re going, make sure t’go quick, since it’s urgent.”
Max nodded and set a waypoint in his map. “I understand. I’ll head there immediately.”
“Heh, that’s what I like ta hear. Best ya get goin’ now!”
Without needing to be told twice, Max fled the area before the nearby players could ask questions, speeding back into town toward his next destination.
Unlike the rest of the players who cursed with frustration and envy, a player with dishevelled blonde hair watched Max’s receding back with stars in his eyes.
‘So cool!’
...
...
Max arrived at the north gate of the town and was impressed by the strong fortifications. Asking around for the guard captain, some soldiers directed him up a ladder to the top of the wall, where a peculiar sight presented itself.
An elderly man garbed in dark-red military attire sat by a makeshift desk while scanning through documents. One soldier approached to inform him of Max’s presence, causing the man to unconsciously smile and put down his paper. “Hello! You must be-” The man frowned as the paper immediately blew off the desk and over the parapets.
A moment of silence was held as the paper glided through the air toward the forest north of them.
“I’m sorry.” Max felt compelled to apologise
“Don’t be, I should have used a paperweight.” The man gave a wry smile, but his eyes were dead. That paper was probably important. *Ahem* “You must be Max, correct?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Sir? Haha, no need for formalities, since you’re not my subordinate you can just call me Ken.” After ensuring the rest of his papers were secured, Ken turned his chair around to face Max and rested his hands in his lap.
“As you probably surmised, I’m the captain of the guard division for this town. The reason I’ve called you here is because Coby spoke highly of you, and I have a serious problem which needs solving. Firstly, I’d like your word that you will keep the contents of our conversation private. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Of course. I can do that.” Max agreed easily.
“Great, then let me explain the full situation.” Ken’s expression changed and a sense of solemnity pervaded the surroundings. The NPC seemed like he was about to say something important, so Max decided to properly pay attention.
“A few weeks ago, we began seeing an influx in the number of missing persons reports we were receiving in relation to the woodland north of us, Novus Forest. This is obviously unacceptable, so following standard procedure, we sent a scouting group from the town Adventurer’s Guild to secretly investigate the issue.” Ken wore a bitter expression, “However, none of the adventurers returned. Despite being a full party of four, all with levels in the late twenties, it is our belief that they were wiped out in their entirety.”
‘...So something strong took out the scouts, presumably.’ Max furrowed his eyebrows. It also didn’t go unnoticed by him that the captain mentioned their level, confirming his suspicion that NPCs levelled up just like players.
“With such a high level of danger, we were forced to restrict access to the forest.” Ken continued, “However, this is only a stopgap measure, as the town relies heavily on exports; most of our people’s livelihoods depend entirely on logging and foraging operations. As such, we need to solve the problem at its root.”
Max nodded, “How can I be of assistance?”
“I wasn’t done explaining yet.” Ken spoke sharply, but there was no sign of aggression or irritation in his voice. He crossed his arms. “We privately sent out more requests to the stronger members of the Adventurer’s Guild, but no one accepted, likely out of fear from noticing the absence of the previous team. We also sent a request to the army for reinforcements, but they refused to send anyone on the grounds that we had no evidence of enemy presence.”
Max remembered the game’s backstory, that the human nations were embroiled in war with the Demon Army. This was probably the enemy the captain alluded to.
“And so, we became stuck; nobody wanting to assist and nary a soul willing to scout. All the while, the people are quickly dipping below the poverty line, and with no chance of any monetary aid from our bastard mayor.” Ken spat with acidity in his tone, before forming a small cloud of fog as he exhaled deeply to calm himself. It was apparent that he had been under a great amount of stress due to this issue.
“My vice-captain offered to investigate with a group of volunteers, but I ordered them to stand down while I sent an appeal to the military tribunal, since the reduced manpower caused by their absence would leave the town vulnerable to attack.”
“They did not comply. Three days ago at dawn, a detachment of 20 of my men, along with my vice-captain, Parker, left to investigate the source of the disappearances without my go-ahead. We haven’t heard from them since.” Max briefly spotted a tinge of unease in the captain’s face, before he realigned his emotions and looked Max in the eye, “That’s where you come in. Since you’re supposedly immortal, being a summoned hero and all that, I want you to go in and bring my people back, or at the very least, get me an update on their status. I am prepared to provide you the appropriate compensation if you succeed.”
Max was completely dumbfounded. The complexity of the NPCs and the world dynamics seemed to be extremely profound. This completely surpassed all of Max’s expectations; it was incomparable to the one-dimensional NPCs and linear storyline of Hero of Liberation.
Not leaving the captain in suspense, Max bobbed his head in acknowledgement, having gotten the gist of the situation. “I have a few questions.”
“Shoot.”
“You could send a large number of heroes for this, yet you’re only asking me. Why?”
“I couldn’t pay that many people, our budget is already stretched thinly. Additionally, we’ve told the public that we closed the forest due to a powerful mage performing an experiment. This is a flimsy excuse, but if the real truth were to be exposed, it might trigger a mass exodus from the town, as well of all sorts of other chaos. For this reason, I am only planning to confide in a limited number of heroes, prioritising those with skills. You’re the first I’ve told. I’m having faith in your integrity that you won’t go screaming about this from the rooftops as soon as we’re done here.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. What else did you want to ask?”
Max looked over the battlements into the forest. It was densely lined with trees, extending all the way into the distance and over a mountain. “It’s a large forest. Do you have any leads or indication of where they might have gone?”
“Their tracks head straight north. I don’t expect them to have diverged from that direction unless they found something. I am also aware that this is like finding a needle in a haystack, which is why I intend to send more of you separately to cover more ground. Now, was that all for questions?”
“Yes, that should be enough to go on.”
“Very good. Then I take it you accept the mission?”
[ Received mission offer: The Lost Patrol. Accept? Y/N ]
Mission: The Lost Patrol
Difficulty: Unknown
Description: Crisis looms over the town of Novus, where numerous members of the local guard have gone radio-silent after a string of unexplained disappearances in the adjacent forest. Captain Ken has personally asked you to find his subordinates and either bring them back or return with information on their status.
Milestone 1: Find the patrol (Pending)
Milestone 2: Either bring back the patrol or report your findings to Ken (Pending)
Optional Milestone 1: Return with evidence related to the Patrol (Pending)
Optional Milestone 2: Investigate the source of the disappearances (Pending)
Optional Milestone 3: Obtain evidence of the source of the disappearances (Pending)
Reward: 15,000 gold, subject to changes based on mission performance
‘Woah, that’s a lot of milestones.’
Max felt that he had nearly no chance of actually finding the patrol, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
Thinking this, he acc-
“...”
The game crashed.