《Restarting From Genesis》
Chapter 0: Herbarium (List of Plants)
Here is a list of all the nts currently featured in the story and their effects. This may contain spoilers, so be advised.
Darnel Ryegrass - A grain-like nt that looks almost indistinguishable from wheat. Consumption of the nt, whether that be raw, brewed or in the form of a baked goods such as bread, will cause a wide range of unpleasant effects. The most concerning being delirium, tremors, paralysis and convulsions, with the signature symptom being an unpleasant feeling in the calves, ranging from tightness to extreme pain.
Foxglove - A nt with a long stem that sprouted several bell-shaped purple flowers. The insideyers of the purple bell-shaped flower have several discoloured spots. Consumption of any part of the nt can lead to irregr heart function and death. Weaker doses of this nt¡¯s poison will cause other unpleasant effects, such as an upset stomach, blurred vision and muscle weakness.
Goldenweb - An umon fungus that has the appearance of a gold-coloured spider¡¯s web. It grows high on trees, and although it looks like a spider¡¯s web, it isn¡¯t sticky enough to ensnare creatures. Its main use is as an anticoagnt, preventing blood from clotting.
Bloodgrass - A small leafy nt that bes a red paste when crushed. It restores essential vitamins like iron back into the body when consumed and helps with blood production. The nt¡¯s leaves can absorb blood like a sponge, draining it of its nutrients before pumping the waste out into the soil through its roots.
Liliox - A white lily-like nt that can be crushed or brewed into a tea, it has a mild healing and detoxing effect. Can counteract the symptoms of weaker poisons that only cause upset stomachs or nausea.
Falsofal - A flower withrge pink petals. When the petals are crushed, they leak a slimy gel akin to aloe vera, which when applied to a burn will cool the area and amplify the skin¡¯s healing. If mixed with water and consumed it provides a mild healing effect.
Vurdole - A small leafy weed featuring a single small yellow flower. The leaves, when crushed, provide a small healing effect. The yellow flower has a slight citrus taste. And when consumed; whether that be mixed in a potion, brewed as a tea or eaten whole. The flower provides arge dose of essential vitamins for organ function, as well as reduces inmmation and strengthens the immune system.
Impletio - Dark grey seeds with a wrinkly surface, these seeds can be crushed into a powder and mixed with other nts to function as a booster. Impletio significantly amplifies the effects of other nts it is mixed with, the only issue is that without a stabilizing agent to bnce it out, it may cause an overdose.
nemine - A nt with several long, almost string-like white petals. When the petals are crushed and mixed with other ingredients, it reduces their effects. This nt may be used as a stabilising agent for Impletio or other effect-boosting nts.
White Horehound - A nt with a long grey-ish stem and oval-shaped tooth edged, ash green leaves. The stem grows several bulbs covered in small white flowers. Consuming one of these bulbs will cause the user to immediately vomit, including any poisons that were ingested. Chewing on the nt¡¯s leaves, or brewing them in tea, causes a decrease in inmmation and thins throat mucus.
Mothflower - A strange stalk nt that grows fluffy white flowers that look like white moths. (I won¡¯t tell you what it does just yet~)
Yew - A tall, evergreen tree. Most parts of the nts are poisonous, and the consumption of even a small amount of the foliage can result in death. Yew needles and berries can be extracted from the tree and used in a variety of deadly poisons.
Chapter 1: The compass.
Within a bright sh of white light, three people suddenly appeared atop arge ancient ruin. This ruin was located within a clearing, surrounded by a seemingly endless dense forest. The group made their way down a corroded staircase, towards the bottom floor, as the scent of rain and pine flooded their noses.
"Well, we finally made it, now what?" The only female within the group announced with a somewhat restless tone, her heavy armour nking as she sat down on a piece of shattered pir.
"Warren, any luck?" An older looking man in the group asked, staring at a young man fiddling with apass.
"Nope, it¡¯s useless, the bloody thing keeps spinning." Warren snapped in frustration, pelting thepass at arge statue of a turtle, to which it shattered on impact.
"Ahhh, what the hell!" The female quickly jumped up and ran over to the shattered remains of thepass, picking them up and storing them away, "That was expensive you idiot."
"If it was so expensive why doesn¡¯t the damn thing work, huh?" Warrenshed out in response, clearly still frustrated, "Are you just spending guild funds on useless trinkets again?"
As the two began bickering, the older man started wandering clockwise around the ruins, taking note of the architecture, it was somewhat Mayan in appearance.
What caught his interest were the four different stone statues surrounding the ruins, each supported by arge gold encrusted pir covered in faded red paint and overgrown with moss, which stood out from the rest of the ruin¡¯s aesthetic.
On each of the stone statues, there was arge coloured crystal sphere included somewhere within the design.
Starting at the statue closest to his group, it looked to be modelled after an alligator snapping turtle, and within its mouth was arge ck crystal sphere.
The next statue was a coiled serpent-like dragon, which held a simr blue crystal within its ws,
A red crystal was next, located within the grip of the phoenix statue¡¯s talons.
Andstly, underneath the paw of the tiger statue was a white crystal.
The old man found himself mumbling to himself while staring into the empty stone eyes of the tiger statue, before it suddenly clicked. "A ck turtle, blue dragon, red phoenix and white tiger."
"Guys, I think I¡¯ve got a solution" he yelled at the bickering duo. They quickly silenced themselves and walked over. "Which way did the guy say we had to go?" the old man asked Warren.
"Directly east from the ruin¡¯s portal" Warren responded, "But ourpass isn¡¯t working." he followed the old man as he began to wander around.
The old man walked around for a little while, leading the other two towards the statue of the dragon, "If I¡¯m correct in my assumption, then this one points towards east". He then stood there quietly, staring at the others as they looked back at him confused.
The girl looked at him as if she were waiting for an exnation, but after a minute of silence she got impatient, "Alright Merlin, I¡¯ll bite, how could you possibly know that?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.
The old man, referred to as Merlin, smirked and began walking another loop around the ruins, pointing at each of the statues and reciting its name, "The Vermillion Bird of the South... The White Tiger of the West... The ck Turtle of the North... So that leaves... The Azure Dragon of the East..."
"The what now?" The girl responded, not knowing what to make of this.
Merlin sighed as he continued to exin, "We started in what looks like a Mayan temple, but strangely enough, these statues don¡¯t fit the aesthetic at all. That is because these statues are based on Chinese design, and represent the four Chinese beasts who rte to the cardinal directions... So this ce is basically a giantpass"
Warren, who had caught on after the exnation, nodded to signify he understood, however the woman still had a dumbfounded look on her face. "Alright, that¡¯s enough, he doesn¡¯t pay you to think, we¡¯ve wasted enough time here" Warren spoke loudly, pping his hands and walking in the direction the dragon statue was facing.
The three began walking east away from the ruins, delving deep into the dense forest. Fortunately, arge beam of light could be seen in the sky, signalling to everyone where the ruins are, and acting as a beacon for anyone lost in the forest.
As they were walking, they suddenly heard a high pitched scream, they turned around and drew their weapons, only to find that their femalepanion had simply walked into cobwebs.
"Merire, you idiot..." Warren growled, yet his animosity was rudely interrupted by the sound of rustling.
"We¡¯ve gotpany!" Merlin shouted, getting in a low stance while holding two long daggers. Warren tightened his grip on his long green crystal staff and Merire pulled a greatsword out of the sheath on her back. The rustling grew louder and an ominous shriek echoed throughout the forest.
About twelve secondster the shrubbery was pushed aside and arge spider appeared in front of the trio. It was as tall as Merlin was, with thick hairy legs and 8 red beady eyes. "Bloody hell, This one¡¯s almost as big as the ones at home." Warren joked in the most stereotypical Australian ent he could manage.
Merlin chuckled, taking a step towards the spider before quickly jumping into the air andnding on the spider¡¯s back. While holding both daggers in a reverse grip, he plunged his fists down on the back of the spiders head, jamming both des into the creature¡¯s skull. A small robotic jingle yed in his head, followed by three small pop-up notifications in his peripheral vision.
¡¸3600 damage, critical hit!¡¹
¡¸1200 damage.¡¹
¡¸Passive skill ?Rupture? has triggered, target is now bleeding.¡¹
Warren pointed his staff at the spider and began chanting, glowing runes appeared around the staff, gathering within an orange glowing ball at the tip.
Merlin quickly jumped off the spider¡¯s back, narrowly avoiding the wave of fire that mmed into the spider¡¯s body. The fire quickly spread along the spider¡¯s hair, and within seconds the creature was nothing more than a fireball erratically dancing atop a pool of its own blood.
As quickly as it appeared, the spider had died before Merire had the chance to attack.
"Stay on your guard, it hasn¡¯t been long since we entered but we¡¯ve already been attacked." Merlin warned the other two, as he wiped spider blood off of his daggers.
The group continued east for half an hour without encountering any more monsters, what served more of a challenge was the environment. Merire, who was covered in a full set of te armour from head to toe, had the most difficulty traversing the dense forest, while the other two wore clothes that gave better mobility, andfort.
"So, what made you decide to quit being a ranker anyway?" Bored of just travelling, Merire attempted to strike up conversation with Merlin. "You were one of the best yers in the world and now you¡¯re hiring lower level guilds to be your bodyguards while you explore ruins."
"Merire, stop talking." Warren cut her off, not wanting her to offend Merlin.
"You cant say you¡¯re not curious, he used to make so much money from contracts, but now he just looks at rocks all day. The forums still blow up every time someone bumps into him in the wild." Merire tried to argue her point, only to find a crystal staff flying towards her head.
"Warren, it¡¯s alright." Merlin tried to calm Warren down, "It isn¡¯t a secret, most people just don¡¯t really understand for some reason, but if you¡¯re interested, we¡¯ve got a little bit of travel to go, I could tell you while we walk."
After acknowledgement from both hispanions, Merlin continued walking east, throwing out a single question, "Do you know how this world was created?"
Merire nced at Merlin and shrugged her shoulders. Warren noticed where this was going and sighed. "Just keep the lecture short this time around, dot points, please" he begged.
Merlin looked at him and grinned, and then turned to Merire, "Well, I nned on keeping this short because we¡¯re close to the target spot anyway." He cleared his throat and the lecture began.
"So, most games are created by teams of designers, artists, programmers, and so on, and every aspect of the game and its world is designed by people fulfilling their roles. This one however is unique, it¡¯s not even made by people, it is entirely generated from an artificial intelligence known as Gaia, the goddess of this world."
"Gaia is responsible for everything within this world, and it¡¯s the reason the game seems to never end, the game is constantly expanded by Gaia. It¡¯s constantly filtering through the inte, learning about mythology, legend, folklore, history, geography, people, branches of science, art, stories, it finds anything remotely useful and learns from it, hoards it, and then weaves it within its own world."
He stopped talking for a second while climbing over arge felled tree before resuming, "Quests, Monsters, Worlds, sses, it is all generated by Gaia, and alongside all that content is lore and knowledge, and it¡¯s all interwoven into one big story, not just copied and pasted." He stopped talking as he reached an open area in the forest, it was popted by broken ruins covered in vines and moss.
"Alright we¡¯re here!" Merlin eximed.
Chapter 2: A legendary quest.
Merlin ran towards arge stone monolith that looked as though it was undamaged, unlike the structures that surrounded it.
"So after figuring out the direction by looking at rocks, walking in a straight line for over half an hour, we¡¯vee to the destination only to discover more rocks." Merire whined, slumping down on piece of rubble near the monolith. She looked over at Merlin, who was staring intently at the monolith, seemingly able to understand the weird symbols engraved on the structure¡¯s surface. The only thing she was capable of making out was the image of a dragon. "Actually no, this one¡¯s different, it¡¯s a rock covered in squiggles." She received another whack from Warren¡¯s staff.
"This is a story about how the eternal forest came to be, it¡¯s written in thenguage of the ancients, so you can¡¯t read it without the ancientnguage knowledge." Merlin exined, "ording to this monolith, there should be 3 others, one for each direction from the portal."
"It¡¯s still using the Chinese lore, then why do the surrounding structures look Mayan." Merlin mumbled loudly while still reading, before stopping and turning towards hispanions, "Looks like this piece of lore was taken from Chinese myth."
"So... now what? Do you get some super power up now that you¡¯ve uncovered the secret?" Merire asked curiously, wondering if that was it. She expected a third hit from Warren, but he was surprisingly also waiting for an answer.
"Nope, no power ups, however I suspect that it¡¯s a clue towards a legendary hidden quest." Merlin replied as he pointed at the deep recess in the monolith, "The Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the ck Turtle of the North. In Chinese legend these four beasts represent the four cardinal directions."
He paused, and then traced over a lower section of the monolith, "While this section down here talks about a fifth beast, sealed away with the power of the four other beasts, a beast that represents the centre." Merlin turned towards the location of the ruin he came from, and stared at the bright yellow light that shot up into the sky.
"The yellow dragon, or sometimes a chimera-like creature, I believe this entire area is a quest to unseal the fifth beast." Merlin began talking out loud, still staring at the light. "A yellow serpent-like dragon, a Mayan, or perhaps Aztec temple... that may be it..."
"What?" Merire blurted out, snapping Merlin out of his daydream.
"Actually, I¡¯m thinking it may not just be a beast... It¡¯s probably a god." Merlin eximed, leaving the other two confused.
"A legendary hidden quest, to unseal a god? How can you be sure about that, all you did wase to the ruins and read a stone tablet thingy. Sure, it was a pain to find, but if anybody cane here, it¡¯s not so hidden..." Merireined, clearly not seeing the sense behind it.
An ordinary legendary quest was already rare and often extremely challenging, let alone a hidden one.
"Do remember that you need the ancientnguage knowledge to actually read this" Merlin retorted, "It¡¯s a rare reward that sometimes appears in legendary hidden quest, but as of now there are only seven people who are known to have it, so it¡¯s not easy to obtain in the first ce."
Merlin continued reading the rest of the monolith while taking notes, he made sure to note that several ces of the text seemed out of ce, confirming Merlin¡¯s previous suspicions.
Any mention of what should have been a yellow dragon within the monolith¡¯s text referenced a creature that was better described as arge feathered serpent, with rainbow feathers and golden scales, and once he finished reading, a pop-up notification box appeared within his vision, followed by a simr mechanical jingle.
¡¸Due to your vast understanding of the world, you easily uncover the truth behind the eternal forest. By uncovering a legendary secret, you have solidified your ce as a legendary Loremaster! +5,000 Loremaster Reputation.¡¹
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[Hidden Legendary Quest]
Quetzalcoatl¡¯s Seal.
Unseal the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, from his eternal imprisonment. The four ruins seem to hold the key to destroying the seal.
A seal capable of imprisoning a god would require someone with incredible power to destroy.
? Warning: Depending on your actions, this quest may have dire consequences on the world.
? Reward: ???
? Requirement: You must be within top 500 on the leader board to start this quest.
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A wave of panic and sadness washed over Merlin, as his eyes flicked back and forth over thest sentence, hoping he had misread it.
¡¸Requirement: You must be within top 500 on the ranker¡¯s leaderboard to start this quest.¡¹
Letting out a painedugh, Merlin mmed his fist against the monolith before falling to his knees. "Even you, Gaia?" His voice was brittle, as if he were on the verge of tears.
"I¡¯ve dedicated fifteen years of my life... fifteen years dedicated to uncovering the secrets that everyone else disregards as useless backdrops, filler of no importance, nothing more than stupid extra lore." Merlin mmed his fist against the ground, tears formed in his eyes, and his twopanions just noticing the sudden change in his behaviour, and feeling awkward at his sudden outburst, had stopped moving, and didn¡¯t dare make any noise.
"I¡¯ve been mocked relentlessly for abandoning the contracts, all the money, just money, that¡¯s all I hear, money money money." He began spiralling into a rant, directed at nobody in particr. "Oh you y a game to look at rocks, read books and climb mountains, what a waste of time."
"Well I¡¯m sorry for not wanting to endlessly murder monsters every waking hour of my life for 30 years, how dare I not want to endlessly grind." Merlin took another look at the notification that was still in his peripheral vision. "I¡¯m the only one who appreciates your world, but even you mock me for quitting as a ranker..."
"Open leaderboard." Merlin spoke out in a course voice, and a pop-up information box appeared in front of him, followed by a mechanical jingle. Unlike the notification boxes, this one contained a long list of yer names, rankings, and guilds. Merlin quickly scrolled down from the top until he reached position 500.
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[Leaderboard]
[Rank] - [Username] - [Level] - [Soul Slots] - [Guild]
#1 - Typhoeus - 2105 - 4 - Hell¡¯s Benefit
#2 - TurkeyBandit - 2100 - 3 - GobbleGobbleGobble
#3 - AwfulPrince - 2099 - 4 - Devotion
#4 - 333Repeating - 2098 - 3 - Devotion
#5 - Bamboaneer - 2098 - 3 - The ck Sea
...
#498 - Snowbunny - 2089 - 2 - Clouds
#499 - SmugPdin - 2084 - 3 - Hell¡¯s Benefit
#500 - WrongApple - 2084 - 3 - Nirvana
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"I¡¯m fifteen years behind, it wants me to catch up to level 2084." Merlin reached out and swiped at the information box, causing it to vanish.
"Open status." An information box appeared in front of him yet again, this time containing his basic character information.
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Name: Merlin
Level: 894
Guild: Hell¡¯s Benefit
Origin Soul: Angel of Vengeance
Soul Slots: 5
1: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Hybrid Soul: Angel of Vengeance
2: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï ss Soul: Umbral Agent
3: ¡ï¡ï¡ï ss Soul: Bloodseeker
4: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Job Soul: Loremaster
5: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Skill Soul: Eyes of Thoth
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"1190 levels, that¡¯s impossible..." Merlin broke down again, feeling helpless in this scenario.
From what could be regarded as his life¡¯s work, suddenly discovering what could possibly be the rarest quest currently within the game, 30 years after the game came out, located in an unpopr farming location rated for level 1000¡¯s. Only to find that he will never be able to start the quest.
"Merlin, what happened?" Merire spoke with caution, she was still startled by his sudden outburst, but she moved closer and attempted tofort him.
"Well... I was right at least..." Merlin turned to her with a disappointed expression on his face, but with sadness in his voice. "This might have lead to the first six star soul... But you can only start the quest if you¡¯re a top 500 ranker."
"A... Six star soul!" Both Merire and Warren blurted out in surprise.
"The mostmonly known five star souls all involve legendary quests with arch angels, demon kings and lesser deities, a hidden quest rted to a creator god would surely have to be a step above those." Merlin exined, "This quest involves unsealing the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the reward is hidden though, which usually means it¡¯s a soul or extremely high tier knowledge, and I doubt this would give out knowledge of the ancientnguage considering you need it to get the quest."
"Damn, well you can always sell the information to a ranker, or give it to people in your guild." Merire tried tofort him, but it seemed to only make him feel worse.
Merlin let out an awkward chuckle, beforeying back on the stone rubble floor, looking up at the sky. "It¡¯s a quest hidden in an area a thousand levels behind the current rankers, designed for rankers to find, but nobody found it, or if they did, nobody bothered to research the ruins... An unexpected oversight on Gaia¡¯s part."
"Ohohoho, you hear that boys? A god he says." a disembodied gruff sounding voice could be heard from within the dense shrubbery on the edge of the clearing.
Chapter 3: The Angel of Vengeance.
"He actually came, and all it took was a forum post." Several sources ofughter could be heard from the treeline.
"Oh dear, we got baited, huh?" Merlin spoke with a sigh, as if this were amon urrence. Quickly getting up off of the ground, he unsheathed both of his des. "At least give a guy time to mourn."
Merlin¡¯spanions both unsheathed their weapons and moved into a defensive formation alongside Merlin. A few moments passed without either side making a move.
"G¡¯day Merlin, it¡¯s nice seeing ya again." An extremely hairyrge man stepped out from behind a tree, waving around a strange t blue crystal and speaking with an arrogant tone. "It looks like ye couldn¡¯t afford as many bodyguards this time around, eh?"
"Oh, it¡¯s just the puppy squad this time around." Merlin spoke as if he was disappointed by this fact, but his face had formed a smug grin, as if his sadness only moments ago was a mere facade. "I guess I wasted more money than I needed to. Damn, alright,e on lets get this over with, I¡¯m paying these guys by the hour."
"You already paid us thou--" Merire, confused by what was going on, tried to ask a question, only to get interrupted part way through with Warren nudging her.
"You got a n?" Warren asked, staring into the treeline at all the figures still hiding, albeit poorly.
"Yeah... Kill em and loot em. We might as well get some profit while we¡¯re here." Merlin¡¯s tone had be as arrogant as his facial expression.
"Hunter¡¯s Sight, Blood Thirst, True Sight." Merlin started chanting out skill names as he walked closer to the treeline.
¡¸Skill ?Hunter¡¯s Sight? Activated. You can sense nearby enemies, tracking bes easier.¡¹
¡¸Skill ?Blood Thirst? Activated. You can sense wounded creatures, your movement and attack speed increases for each wounded enemy in the area.¡¹
¡¸Skill ?True Sight? Activated. You can see through illusions and invisibility.¡¹
Robotic jingles and notification windows appeared one by one in Merlin¡¯s peripheral vision, informing him that his abilities activated sessfully, before fading away.
"Appraisal," Merlin calmly chanted while staring at the man he previously insulted.
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Name: Wolfsbane
Level: 1367
Guild: Wolfpack
Origin Soul: Werewolf
Soul Slots: 2
1: ¡ï¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Werewolf
2: ¡ï¡ï¡ï ss Soul: Vampire Hunter
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"Ah, you did some farming since Ist destroyed you, even managed to grind out the Vampire Hunter ss." Merlin let out a small snicker, and spoke back up in a condescending voice. Merlin¡¯s slow walk speed had suddenly turned into a dash, making a beeline towards Wolfsbane with his weapons drawn.
Wolfsbane reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of shimmering blue liquid, and as Merlin was only a few seconds away from reaching him, he threw the vial in front of him and began chanting under his breath, the vial suddenly shattered, and the contents within it had formed a wide thin wall that continued to fly towards Merlin.
Either due to Merlin being unable to react in time, or merely just curious, the wall of liquid had sessfully collided with him, the liquid absorbed into his clothes and drenched his hair and skin, but it didn¡¯t seem as though anything else had happened. Wolfsbane had immediately moved into melee range as the vial shattered, and without waiting a second to gloat, he started chanting while performing a stabbing motion with an empty hand.
Before the empty hand could hit, a small wooden stick with a sharpened point had appeared in Wolfsbane¡¯s hand, and less than a secondter, the stick was stabbed sessfully into Merlin¡¯s stomach. Merlin had received two notifications.
¡¸You have been attacked by yer ¡¯Wolfsbane¡¯. Everyone within their party has been marked as an enemy, you may attack them without receiving penalties.¡¹
¡¸You have received 120 damage from yer ¡¯Wolfsbane¡¯ using skill ?Vampire Hunter¡¯s Stake?.¡¹
"What? Why didn¡¯t you die?" Wolfsbane shouted out in confusion as he quickly retreated back a couple steps, the stake disintegrated into smoke.
"Come to think of it, you never got a chance to appraise mest time, did you?" Merlin spoke out, the smug grin still stered on his face. Merlin decided to show off a little, which was generally unusual for him to do. "You know what, I¡¯ll let you scan me... Maybe this time you¡¯ll learn."
Wolfsbane, while infuriated at Merlin¡¯s arrogance, still decided to take him up on that offer. He held the strange crystal te in front of his face and chanted a skill, "Inspect".
Suddenly, the blue crystal te lit up, and glowing words appeared on its surface. It was a tool that replicated the appraisal skill to a limited degree.
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Name: Merlin
Level: 894
Guild: Hell¡¯s Benefit
Origin Soul: Angel of Vengeance
Soul Slots: 5
1: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Hybrid Soul: Angel of Vengeance
2: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï ss Soul: Umbral Agent
3: ¡ï¡ï¡ï ss Soul: Bloodseeker
4: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Job Soul: Loremaster
5: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Skill Soul: Eyes of Thoth
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"W-wait what, you¡¯re not even a vampire, wait no, more importantly, a five star hybrid soul?" Wolfsbane was a little shocked at this revtion, he had seen Merlin in the past use what looked like blood magic and dark magic, both which were the distinct traits of the vampire soul, but it seemed Merlin used two separate sses to aplish a simr y style.
"Thoth¡¯s Library." Merlin quickly chanted another skill, which brought up another notification window.
¡¸Thoth¡¯s library of knowledge has opened, what would you like to research?¡¹
"Vampire Hunter Skill, ?Vampire Hunter¡¯s Stake?, brief description." Merlin answered, a little curious at the skill he had been hit with.
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Vampire Hunter¡¯s Stake is one of the Vampire Hunter¡¯s core abilities.
The ability summons a wooden stake that can be used to attack.
If used against a non-vampire enemy, the stake will deal moderate piercing damage.
If used against a lesser variant vampire of a lower level than the user, it will instantly kill the vampire, otherwise it will do significant damage.
The ability does significant damage against vampire yers, elite monsters and boss monsters, as long as the vampire has been weakened with holy water or holy magic, and as long as the vampire does not out-level the user by arge margin.
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"Ah, so that was holy water... That¡¯s quite thebo you¡¯ve got there, did you practice it just for me?" Merlin had satisfied his curiosity, and his mind shifted back tobat. "My turn!"
Merlin dashed towards Wolfsbane once more, and the instant he reached melee range, his des were already urately aimed for Wolfsbane¡¯s throat, with both des connecting.
¡¸1140 damage.¡¹
¡¸3600 damage, critical hit!¡¹
¡¸Passive skill ?Rupture? has triggered, target is now bleeding.¡¹
Chunks of werewolf hair hit the forest floor as Wolfsbane¡¯s throat opened up, dealing a sizeable amount of damage, and sending him into a panic as he noticed his health rapidly decreasing. He began barking out orders while trying to back away. "Everyone attack!"
Several werewolves left their hiding spots within the treeline, Merlin scanned over them briefly and noticed twelve of them were gathering mana, while the remaining seven were running towards him with swords drawn.
"Angel of Vengeance." The whites of Merlin¡¯s eyes ckened as soon as he finished chanting, and illusory ck feathers started forming within the air around him, suddenly dissipating if they touched anything.
¡¸Skill ?Angel of Vengeance? activated, after receiving fatal damage you will be unable to fall under 1 HP for three seconds, all damage taken during this form will be stored temporarily.¡¹
Merlin stopped moving and took a defensive posture as the armed werewolves were gathering close. Mere secondster, the enemy mages had all finished chanting their spells, magic of various shapes and colours flew towards Merlin¡¯s position, before they suddenly all made contact.
Merlin was bombarded with notifications.
¡¸2922 damage received.¡¹
¡¸2050 damage received.¡¹
¡¸4009 damage received.¡¹
¡¸780 damage received.¡¹
¡¸Fatal damage taken, you are being kept alive at 1 HP by ?Angel of Vengeance?.¡¹
¡¸4551 damage received.¡¹
¡¸1290 damage received.¡¹
¡¸3707 damage received.¡¹
¡¸4772 damage received.¡¹
¡¸630 damage received.¡¹
¡¸2587 damage received.¡¹
¡¸4200 damage received.¡¹
¡¸969 damage received.¡¹
Wolfsbane let out augh as Merlin was buried under an array of rainbow explosions, unaware of the massacre that was about to happen.
¡¸32,467 damage has been stored temporarily.¡¹
"Oh this is going to be so unfair, even I feel sorry for you guys." Merlin stared at the number with excitement, his already obnoxiously smug grin was amplified and he couldn¡¯t help butugh maniacally. Merlin immediately started running towards thergest grouping of enemies, hisughter became insane. His enemies, Wolfsbane in particr, had let down their guard, leaving themselves defenceless as Merlin ran towards them at full speed.
"Revenge counter!" Merlin yelled out while jumping into the middle of group of enemies.
¡¸Skill ?Revenge counter? activated, 35% of your stored damage will be used, the rest discarded.¡¹
Suddenly, a wave of ck energy shot out from Merlin¡¯s chest, quickly expanding to arge bubble that enveloped half of the visible treeline, alongside all of Wolfsbane¡¯s party. Merlin watched as everyone around him fell to their knees, or copsed, as the ck energy dispersed, leaving a rain of ck feathers in its wake.
Merlin stood there, somewhat entranced at the macabre scene he had created, several corpses resting around him, and the sky being ckened out by hundreds of ck feathers slowly making their way to the floor. The only thing ruining the scene was the notification box sitting on the edge of his vision.
¡¸You have killed several high level enemies, congrattions you are now level 895.¡¹
Chapter 4: Legends never die.
"Warren, Merire, clean the rest up, I¡¯m almost dead." Merlin shouted out to hispanions as he limped back towards the ruin, chanting themand, "Open inventory."
Arge game window appeared before Merlin, containing a grid with almost every cell of the grid being marked with the icon of some form of item, alongside the number that represented the amount of that particr item was stored. It appeared that Merlin was quite the hoarder.
Operating the search bar, Merlin quickly searched the term ¡¯potion¡¯, cells that contained relevant items became highlighted while others dimmed. Merlin reached his hand within the inventory window, and as if he had put his hand in a portal, it vanished, only to return with an ornaterge ss vial in hand. Merlin swiped his hand through the side of the inventory window, causing it to fade away.
Ripping the cork out of the ss vial, Merlin chugged its contents as if his life depended on it, hispanions passed him by with their weapons drawn, prepared to clean up the rest of the attackers. Just as he found arge shattered pir to sit behind, Merlin began feeling dizzy, and his breathing became haggard, it felt like he was trying to inhale fumes. The now empty ss vial fell out of his hand, shattering against the overgrown stone brick floor.
Arge red alert box appeared in Merlin¡¯s view, his view was unobstructed, but the box was still clearly visible, it contained the following message.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Error! Safe Operations Code 554!]
An error has urred that interferes with the safe operations guidelines, you will be forcibly ejected from the system, and an error log has been generated.
User Arthur Holmes, you will receive a call within 4 hours from our staff, please do not operate this unit until you have spoken with a specialist.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
A deafening boom that sounded like thunder could be heard, the scenery around Merlin suddenly vanished, only to be reced with a bright white environment Merlin was familiar with, it was the white room that every person visited when theyunched a VR capsule, the virtual hub. Merlin¡¯s vision was slowly fading to ck, and he felt a jolt in his body, a stimting jolt that signalled to the user that they were no longer operating the VR capsule, and to wake those up who fell asleep while connected.
Still not entirely conscious yet, but still in the process of returning to consciousness, Merlin felt it was too silent in the capsule, the only thing that he could hear was his heart beating, but he could feel something was wrong, his eyes and throat felt itchy, his lungs felt like they were on fire.
After fullying into consciousness he realised that he could smell burnt stic, and he had a piercing headache, his ears were ringing, his eyes were watering and he was coughing violently. Merlin began frantically trying to force his way out of the capsule, pushing against it, kicking it, attempting to punch the window. As he was banging on the capsule door, he heard a man¡¯s voice, which startled him because he lives alone.
His mind was not in the best state at that moment, but he couldn¡¯t help but get the feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.
"Ge¡ªh¡¯mm out of th¡ªr naow!" The sounds of unintelligible muffled shouting could be heard, followed by the sounds of nking and banging, and then finally the sound of creaking metal as the capsule door swung open.
When the capsule finally opened, Merlin¡¯s vision waspletely blurred due to his watery eyes and the bright white light that stung due to his current case of light sensitivity, however he could still faintly make out four figures standing around him. Two of them leaned in and lifted him out of the capsule, resting him gently on the floor, a safe distance away from the device.
Merlin¡¯s eyes had started to adjust to the bright light, although his vision was still blurred, he could now make out more shapes, and within his peripheral vision, he saw what looked to be two more people running towards his direction.
¡¯This is strangely familiar...¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, still unable to shake the feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.
When the two figures made their way over to his location, he felt pressure being applied to his wrist, then his neck and finally his chest. A woman voice could be heard amidst the ringing in Merlin¡¯s ears, "Vitals are elevated, but he¡¯s breathing, lets get him on oxygen before we move him."
Merlin found himself lifted up on a chair and given an oxygen mask. While still in a state of delirium and still having slight issues with his vision, he took the time to observe his surroundings, it was familiar but there was absolutely no chance he¡¯d ever think this was his room, no matter how delirious he may be.
The walls were painted an industrial white with cobalt blue lines outlining the skirting board, where the wall and floor meet, as well as around every door frame, most likely for visibility reasons, as the floors were a white vinyl material, a simr shade to the walls, giving off a clean and medical environment.
The woman who had previously checked his vitals approached him, kneeling down in front of him and resting a hand on his face, before speaking in a gentle voice, "Hey, Art, how are you feeling, can you talk?"
It had been a long while since Merlin wasst called that, the only person who did died in a car ident 12 years ago, and the only people he spoke to since called him Merlin or very rarely his real name. The sudden surge of sad memories, along with his delirious state caused him to mutter a name, "Anna?"
"Oh, so you can hear me, that¡¯s good. What¡¯s the matter buddy, cant see?" The woman who seemed to respond to the name Anna lifted Merlin¡¯s face and pulled out a pen light, quickly shining the torch in Merlin¡¯s eyes, to which he gave a wince as a response. "Ah, light sensitivity huh? Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll return to normal soon."
Merlin felt his face redden and tears started forming in his eyes, not sure if he was experiencing a dream, or some kind of hallucination, but the person in front of him felt familiar, as if his deceased sister was suddenly in front of him, taking a chance he wrapped his arms around the woman in front of him, burying his face into her shoulder.
"It must have been scary, huh? I told you those capsules were dangerous." The woman began consoling him, gently rubbing his back and continuing to talk in a soft voice, breaking away from the hug, the woman yfully flicked Merlin on the forehead, "You told me that you were all grown up, but you¡¯re still a little crybaby."
Merlin went to rub his forehead, still confused as to what was going on, but then he noticed his hand. It was smaller than he expected, itcked any of the wrinkles he obtained from age, or even the faded tattoo he hade to regret in hister years.
Thoughts started racing within his mind, with each thought spiralling further and further into insanity, Was he reliving his past memories as his brain died? Was this a realistic dream? Did he suddenly get warped back in time? Did his memories get sent to a parallel universe?
He was forcibly snapped out of his thoughts due to a man yelling angrily. Merlin looked behind his sister to see the four people who were originally with him when he was dragged out of the capsule. There were three men wearingb coats, being yelled at by a well-dressed business man. Merlin struggled to hear the details, but he did pick out a couple insults, it seemed the man was rather foul-mouthed, and suddenly the feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu struck him once more.
Merlin couldn¡¯t help but be startled as the business man pped a clipboard out of another man¡¯s hands, followed by more yelling and more insults, sending what Merlin could only assume to be a researcher or some kind of scientist into a panicked state. Merlin couldn¡¯t help but mumble the words, "He¡¯s kinda angry, huh?"
"Don¡¯t worry Art, father isn¡¯t angry at you. You know how overprotective he gets." His mumble elicited a giggle from the woman, followed by another bomb. ¡¯Oh, that man is my father, I haven¡¯t talked to him in 12 years, I almost forgot how angry he got.¡¯ Merlin couldn¡¯t help but sigh, feeling sorry for the researcher.
"Anna, is Arthur safe?" Merlin¡¯s-- no, Arthur¡¯s father shouted out towards Anna, Arthur¡¯s sister.
"Why don¡¯t we walk over there, are you feeling up for it?", Anna turned towards Arthur, standing up and giving her hand as support.
Arthur felt relieved after finally getting confirmation about his sister¡¯s identity, he grabbed the small oxygen tank and took her hand, following along as she lead him towards their father.
"Arthur, are you alright?" His father asked him, the anger in his voice had almost subsided, it sounded as though he was extremely worried instead. "I¡¯ve called for Doctor Hudson, he¡¯ll give you a check-up as soon as he¡¯s here."
"Y-Yeah, I¡¯m fine. What happened?" He felt a little awkward talking to his father once more after so much time had passed. He couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty, even though it seemed as though the future Arthur had experienced had not yete to pass.
One of the scientists had stepped forward and began exining that the system overloaded due to a sudden surge in power caused by another energy based experiment on another floor within theboratory, and that such a surge should not have happened based on measurements and calctions provided by that team. The scientist then finished off by turning to Arthur and asking him a question. "Regardless of the incident, how did you like the demo of New Genesis?"
And then Arthur remembered where he was, and what he was doing before the incident, this was the first test demo of New Genesis, and Arthur was one of the first testers, well before they started recruiting beta testers. After ying the game for 30 years, Arthur had a couple gripes that he would have liked fixed, or features added, and all of a sudden he was given the opportunity to change them early. A notice from the other medical officer who came with Anna signalled that Dr. Hudson had arrived and expected to see Arthur immediately.
With the time limit given to him, Arthur turned to the researchers and just listed off his biggest issues he could think of before walking off. "Give the option to usemands and skills by thinking of them or being able to teach the system to use that ability with a recorded gesture. Oh, and individual notification windows for each time you take and deal damage is annoying, just add overhead damage numbers like other games or a single window or give the option to change it."
Leaving the researchers with a dumbfounded look on their faces, Arthur walked off with the medical staff.
Chapter 5: A medical checkup.
Departing from the virtual reality testing chamber, Arthur was lead down several long hallways, each hallway as devoid of any life as thest, until he reached the elevator.
Anna pulled out a keycard she had hidden under her medical uniform, hanging on anyard. She walked up to the elevator and swiped the card against the front panel where the call button would usually be.
Upon contact with the keycard, the panel shed green and then turned ck once more, only this time a white number appeared in its ce, the number started to slowly climb, and suddenly picked up speed, rapidly climbing for three seconds before slowing down again, when the number stopped the door opened.
Arthur followed the other two in, when his body waspletely inside the elevator the doors closed and a robotic voice spoke out, "Three passengers detected, Doctor Annabelle Holmes, Doctor Edgar Besson, Master Arthur Holmes, Identities confirmed. Where would you like to go?"
"Operator, please bring us to the medical bay." Anna ordered, as she leaned back against one of the walls of the elevator while grabbing the handrail.
"Understood,mencing travel to level two, you¡¯ll arrive shortly." As soon as the robotic voice finished talking, the elevator began its descent, starting off slow, but picking up speed as it travelled, causing Anna to grip the handrail harder, before finally slowing down anding to a stop. The robotic voice spoke up once more as the door opened, "Level two, medical research, emergency care and the medical bay."
Anna quickly jumped out of the elevator as soon as the door opened, signalling everyone to follow her as she walked down the only hallway leading to this elevator room, with that same hallway being as vacant as the ones on the virtual reality testing floor.
Arthur couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, he had forgotten that Anna, while generally not scared of regr elevators, was terrified of the special elevators used for reaching the higher floors faster.
Arthur and Edgar followed Anna out of the elevator, quickening their pace to catch up to her. When they reached the end of the hallway, they came across more hallways, however unlike the floor they were previously on, this floor was full of life. There were people in scrubs and others inb coats, running between rooms, some carrying vials, others pushing aroundrge pieces of equipment.
"The medical research sector is as busy as always, huh?" Arthur mumbled, while still following Anna, while both matching her hastened pace and trying not to bump into anybody going about their business.
Eventually they got past the active area and made their way through a door that led to the medical bay. This area was much less active, although there were still people moving around, mostly just doctors and nurses, although there was the asional patient moving around.
Making there way through part of the medical bay, they finally reached an examination room, thebel on the door read, ¡¯Dr. Martin L. Hudson¡¯. Edgar knocked on the door, to which he received a response giving permission to enter. Edgar opened the door and signalled for Arthur to enter.
"Heya Hudson, just dropping off Arthur," Anna poked her head in the door to greet her colleague, then turned to Arthur before walking off with Edgar, "Alright, I¡¯ve got to get back to work, I¡¯lle check up on youter, see ya Art."
"Come in Arthur," the voice of Doctor Hudson rung out from within the examination room, as Arthur walked in, he could see a tall man with long curly brown hair sitting on a chair, looking over documents. "Take a seat, lets take a look at you."
Arthur spent the next few hours with Doctor Hudson running tests, starting off with simple examinations such as checking his vitals such as his heart rate and respiratory system, visually checking for burns, abrasions orcerations. Then moving on to more serious tests, some of which involved his blood being drawn.
After all the physical tests had been done, and his blood was sent into theb for results, Arthur changed into the hospital gown that had been provided to him and was then brought into a room with arge cylindrical machine. Looking at this machine reminded him of his past life, and how he was terrified being in the MRI machinest time, but after living his life, he ended up getting used to it.
"Now, this is going to be scary, but you have to remain calm and stay as still as possible. It will be really loud, but it¡¯ll be over with before you know it, I promise." Doctor Hudson was doing the usual doctor practice of consoling younger patients when they had to be treated withrge machinery. He then directed Arthur to sit on the patient table while a nurse walked in carrying a needle.
Arthur did as he was told, sitting up on the table, but then he remembered the worst part of this procedure as he saw the nurse. Arthur¡¯s heart felt like it had tightened, and his hands began sweating, he couldn¡¯t help but get nervous, even after living well past adulthood, he still couldn¡¯t ovee his fear of needles. "Ah, the contrast injection... I almost forgot."
Eventually the contrast medium was flowing through Arthur¡¯s veins, and he was ready to be put through the MRI. Heid down on the table, and as promised, remainedpletely still. Thest thing Arthur wanted was another injection due to a failed scan.
The room was cold, and while unpleasant, the loud rhythmic banging of the ma within the MRI machine served as some form of entertainment for Arthur. Or at least as a distraction from the disgusting metal taste that gued his mouth caused by the gadolinium contrast injection.
After thirty minutes had past, the machine stopped, and the patient table slid out from the machine, freeing Arthur. As he went to sit up, a wave of nausea washed over him, causing Arthur to almost tumble as he hopped off the table.
"Oh my, you took that like a champ." Doctor Hudson half-jokingly praised Arthur, "I know grown men who are still scared of getting an MRI."
"Well, It wasn¡¯t pleasant..." Arthur sheepishly responded, slowly following Doctor Hudson out of the MRI room. "Also, I feel nauseous."
"Ah, yeah, right. Well that¡¯d be the contrast. I¡¯ll go find you a wheelchair. Sit tight." Hudson ran off down a hallway after giving the order to stay put, he came back a few minutester while pushing around a wheelchair. "Alright hop on."
Arthur hopped on the wheelchair, and Doctor Hudson began pushing him down a couple sets of hallways, past several patient rooms, until they finally reached what seemed to be an area full of more exclusive patient rooms. "For now we¡¯ll get you in bed and hooked up to an EEG, and then you¡¯re done with your tests. Sounds good?"
"Alright, that works." Arthur replied as he was pushed into a patient room and then helped up into the bed.
"Right, I need you to lie down and getfortable. The nurses are going toe in and stick these small metal discs on your head, and they¡¯re going to measure what goes on inside your brain, so we can make sure nothing is wrong." Doctor Hudson tried to give an exnation without including any technical or medical jargon.
"Understood, so it¡¯s alright if I just sleep, right?" Arthur had a headache and was hoping to get rid of it through rest. A couple nurses walked in with equipment and they began sticking electrodes around on his scalp, then wiring them to a strange machine.
"Yeah, as long as you don¡¯t knock the electrodes off, you can do whatever you like, You can always contact a nurse if you need help or want a book, game or movie." Doctor Hudson informed Arthur as he was getting ready to leave, "I need to go finish working on your test results, and inform your father about your condition so he calms down."
Doctor Hudson briefly showed Arthur his phone lock screen, there were at least twelve notifications, all of which were his father. Arthur couldn¡¯t help but sigh, "I guess he really does obsess over me."
Over the course of that day, Arthur had many visitors, mostly Anna stopping by whenever she could get some free time or was walking by, Edgar had also made an appearance, bringing Arthur a jelly cup that he took from the hospital kitchen.
Later that day, Arthur¡¯s results hade in, and his father made sure to be present when they were read out.
"From what we can see, Arthur is perfectly healthy, his blood work was excellent, and besides a few bruises and scrapes he¡¯s perfectly fine physically too. There was barely even a speck on his MRI scan." Doctor Hudson was reading his results, almost seeming surprised at how healthy Arthur was, "There is however one thing that is... unusual."
"Unusual. What do you mean?" Arthur¡¯s dad instantly spoke up, Arthur himself also paid close attention as this didn¡¯t happenst time.
"Arthur¡¯s brain activity, as recorded by the EEG, is showing extremely elevated levels, and we cant seem to figure out why." Doctor Hudson turned to Arthur, his face showed more confusion than worry.
Chapter 6: Hospitalised and Revelation.
"Well, I need to keep Arthur here for observation for a couple more days, then he should be fine going back to school." Doctor Hudson was exining to Arthur¡¯s father, however the mention of the word school brought his attention back into the conversation
¡¯Oh yeah,e to think of it.¡¯ Arthur was still extremely confused about the strange situation he had found himself in, and was curious about the phenomenon that had caused it. But he was just following along the path of the past he had previously experienced, but had given no thought to his future. For all he knew, this could just be a hyper realistic dream experienced while his brain was dying, and it would all go ck when his time hade.
¡¯Alright, so lets just say for now that I¡¯ve gone back in time, or uh, my memories were somehow transferred into the body of me in the past.¡¯ Arthur started to think of less morbid situations where, while extremely unrealistic especially for the heir of a family of scientists and researchers, was usible enough to give him a future, or even a second chance at life.
¡¯The testing issue happened less than two years beforeunch, meaning I should be sixteen, and it should be close to the end of year eleven.¡¯ Arthur was still trapped his his internal monologue, thankfully everyone else in the room were too busy to interact with him. His main concern right now was that he wasing really close to testing season, and all his memories of these sses were from thirty-two years ago.
And while he was well known to be extremely studious, mostly due to his father¡¯s pressure, and had what was described as almost a photographic memory, his memories of studying and testing were essentially suppressed, he could only recall major events from this far back in time.
"Uh, I¡¯ve got testsing up don¡¯t I?" Arthur blurted out, hoping someone would be knowledgeable about his school schedule to provide the right materials for it. "I need to study for them, could I get all my relevant notebooks delivered to me, please?"
Arthur had understood that his father was overprotective, and was typically regarded as a helicopter parent by teachers, but he wasn¡¯t as strict as outsiders and the media portrayed him to be, everyone who worked in hispany understood that.
Arthur understood that especially, he was given plenty of freedoms, even allowed to work full time as a ranker in a video game instead of being pressured into being a researcher or join a field of science, he had no issues as long as his children were educated and happy.
But what Arthur was especially thankful for this time, was his father¡¯s obsession with knowing everything that goes on around him, especially if it had anything to do with his children, although he was also mindful to let his children have some level of privacy. One of the main things his father paid attention to in great detail was Arthur¡¯s education, and because of that, within thirty or so minutes, he had brought Arthur every book required for his uing sses, and even exined what sections he should be studying to spend his time more efficiently.
¡¯Maths, English, History and... Sport¡¯ Arthur had a dreaded memory looking at the word sport in his timetable, he never really bothered with sport. He was the type of student who spent his time studying or ying games, not leaving any room for athletics.
Several days passed by uneventfully, Arthur spent his days of free time focusing on his studies, only really taking breaks when he received a visitor.
Anna showed up the most, only for a few minutes at a time and during her breaks. Doctor Hudson was next, it seemed as though he was still fixated on the elevated brain activity, Arthur had a theory but he couldn¡¯t tell Hudson that he had travelled back in time, so he just hoped that Doctor Hudson would write it off as a harmless aftereffect of the incident.
Arthur¡¯s father showed up almost as much as Doctor Hudson, but he was a busy man and couldn¡¯t take as much time away from his schedule as he¡¯d like, he appeared to be happy when he saw the progress Arthur was making in his studies, but did make sure to tell Arthur to take breaks and not overwork himself.
Besides his family, doctor and the asional nurse visit, mostly to deliver food or ask if Arthur needed anything, the only other visitors Arthur received were the developers of New Genesis.
The developers that came in were the most concerned about his condition, they were well aware how unkind his father could be when it came to matters concerning his family, specifically those that put his family at risk. They believed that if they had caused Arthur any serious damage, they¡¯d have lost their heads, figuratively of course... or so they hoped.
The first set of talking points from the developers were loaded with apologies and assurances, their goal was clearly to make sure that their biggest fan, and the beloved son of their biggest sponsor, didn¡¯t hold a grudge against them.
They made sure to pin as much me on the surge caused by an experiment on the lower floor as possible, but they did make sure to mention that they¡¯ve enhanced the surge protection, so not even a direct lightning strike could cause the incident that had happened previously.
The mention of the surge and that particr experiment brought a memory to his mind. Thirty-two years from now, that experiment would finally reach thepleted stage, and then was scheduled to be activated. Unfortunately, it was a heavily guarded secret, not even Arthur could get his hands on the details, but people within the building did know the general purpose of it and when it was being tested on, especially due to the power issues it could cause.
Arthur knew what it was due the fact it was revealed to the public when it was nearpletion, roughly thirty years in the future. They even gave the media front row seats and a demonstration to spark some good publicity towards thepany and project.
It was a reactor that extracted a strange otherworldly energy through something called an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and had harnessed this otherworldly power to create seemingly infinite electricity that left no carbon emissions. It used a crystal shardprised of a yet unknown material that fell to earth after the destruction of Saturn¡¯s seventh moon, Hyperion.
He remembered that the inte had blown up over the experiment¡¯s reveal, of course there were the groups who tried to protest and lobby against it, stating it was even more dangerous than nuclear energy, but they were quickly buried under the endless amounts of support.
The experiment was scheduled for activation the day Arthur had nned his excavation in the eternal forest, what if something went wrong, what if another surge had urred, potentially even on arger scale. The puzzle pieces started to fit together in Arthur¡¯s mind, or so he believed, two surges caused by the same source of otherworldly energy, both happening when his mind was linked to a full dive capsule, it couldn¡¯t have been a coincidence.
Arthur couldn¡¯t help but wonder what would happen if he was, yet again, inside a capsule in thirty-two years, on the day the reactor was scheduled to be activated, would he be sent back in time yet again?
That was something he did not want to experience again, and the only two options he had in mind were to either improve the surge protection to the point where even a surge caused by a reactor meltdown would not phase it, or to just not use the device on the day the reactor is activated.
Arthur had a conversation with the developers, mostly hinting towards the possibility of a major surge, and suggesting that further reinforcements may be required if such an event were to ur. Seemingly understanding what Arthur was trying to say, they confirmed that they¡¯d look into it.
The rest of the conversation was just asking for further criticism of the game¡¯s systems, any changes he¡¯d like to see, some things he enjoyed about the system, etc. At the very end of the conversation, the developers asked him if he would still befortable joining the closed beta tester program next year, especially considering the incident.
"Of course, I¡¯d be sad if you didn¡¯t invite me." Arthur gave the developers a lighthearted confirmation, making sure he had a ce within the beta test again.
Later that day, Doctor Hudson and Arthur¡¯s father hade in, and they began talking about Arthur¡¯s release and being allowed to go back to school. Although Hudson still showed concern at the elevated brain activity, it didn¡¯t seem to have any adverse effects, from what he could observe anyway.
"I¡¯ve given you a signed note, you are not to engage in any form of moderate to strenuous activity, especially sports or exercise, for the next two weeks." Doctor Hudson had ordered, handing Arthur a doctors note to give to his teachers. "If you¡¯re feeling sick at all, severe headaches, nausea, trouble breathing,e see me immediately."
Chapter 7: Back to school.
"Back to school, huh?" Arthur sighed out loud as he exited the vehicle of his father¡¯s secretary and stared at the school¡¯s entrance from a distance.
"You¡¯ve been hospitalised for less than a week, why are you acting like it¡¯s been years?" The secretaryughed at his own joke, but it didn¡¯t seem like the young master had heard him. "I¡¯ll pick you up at the end of the day, call me if you need to leave earlier."
"Ah, yeah, thank you Donovan." Arthur had snapped out of his daydreaming and responded, he closed the car door and waved his chauffeur goodbye before he turned around and walked towards the school. "I¡¯m off, take care."
As he walked through the doorway, a wave of nostalgia hit him. This was technically his alma mater, so he couldn¡¯t help but feel nostalgic, but the feeling of d¨¦j¨¤ vu blended with it, causing Arthur to feel strange.
He made his way past the doorway, the sight of hoards of teenagers mbering to get ess to their lockers in a tight hallway made him almostugh, but he realised he would soon find himself in that position, as soon as he could remember where his locker actually was.
Arthur continued walking down the hall, the sight of a couple familiar faces started bringing back even more memories, it was almost overwhelming.
Afterboriously escaping the hoard, Arthur found himself in a wide room that led to more hallways, there was a staircase in the far end of the room leading to the second floor. Arthur walked towards the staircase and began his ascent, at the very least he knew that his locker was upstairs, the unpleasant memory of having to climb stairs several times a day never escaped his mind.
The top floor contained a crossroads that extended into three more hallways, Arthur took the furthest right and walked towards the end. As he approached the end, he saw the start of another hallway leading left, and from around the corner, he could hear voices.
"Seriously, we¡¯re gonna bete, can¡¯t you just move over?" A male voice echoed down the hall, it was somewhat whiny, but also contained a trace of desperation.
What came after the voice were echoes ofughter from what sounded to be a small group, Arthur felt a sense of familiarity with the first voice, but also dread as he remembered what was going on.
As Arthur turned the corner, his thoughts were instantly confirmed, what came into his view were a group of teenagers loitering around, blocking ess to a section of lockers, while a two smaller individuals stood nearby.
Those two smaller individuals just so happened to be Arthur¡¯s closest friends, who both had their lockers next to his, one on either side, meaning his locker was also being blocked by the other group.
As Arthur walked towards the group that was harassing his friends, the loudest one within the group noticed him and spoke out. "Oh ho ho, if it ain¡¯t Arthur, where have you been for the past three days?"
Arthur sighed internally, he was mentally an adult, so he really didn¡¯t want to put up with the harassment of an annoying child this time around, so he began formting a strategy in his mind as he gave a quick response, "Hospital."
As he moved closer to the group, he stared the loud one down. Arthur was ever so slightly taller than him, and his background far outweighed him, he was superior to this child in every other way. The only reason he ever got bullied was because he didn¡¯t enjoy physical activity orrge groups, he pushed people away and ignored them if they were loud or obnoxious, forcing himself to be an outcast when he could have been the centre of attention.
"Move." Arthur uttered onemand word, leaving all parties within this group somewhat surprised, Arthur¡¯s personality was usually quite timid, but he suddenly obtained a spine?
The loud child in front of Arthur felt insulted, how dare he look down on him, he was about to act until he heard the next words Arthur spoke.
"So, I just found out, your father works for mypany," these words were given in somewhat ominous voice, intended to be taken as a threat. "n your next move carefully, Run."
Arthur learned of Run¡¯s father after he graduated from school, when he showed up at the science exhibit hosted within his father¡¯sboratory with Run at his side. When his father found out about every little thing Run did to Arthur during school, he destroyed Run¡¯s family, abusing his enormous power to make sure Run or his father never found work.
Naturally, Arthur was satisfied at the time, after finally receiving vengeance. However, years went by, and when Arthur was twenty-seven, he passed a homeless man on the street, this man looked familiar.
It was Run, however unlike the arrogant child he hade to know, he was nothing but a pathetic sobbing mess. He apologised to Arthur for all that he did to him, begged him for forgiveness, and when Arthur sat besides him to hear his story, he felt regret for what his father had done.
After that meeting, Run¡¯s father turned to alcohol forfort and began brutally beating him. Calling Run the worst thing that ever happened to him, ruining his career, his life, and he even shouted out in drunken stupor that Run had even taken the life of his wife.
Within his father¡¯s heart, Run was nothing but a cursed child, but he was a memory between him and histe wife, so he took care of him. Until he finally broke down as a man, Run¡¯s father had died, leaving Run alone in this world at the age of twenty-one, and he had been living on the street ever since.
Run began to back away from the locker, barking orders at his groupies to follow, one started to argue, but Run¡¯s re brought him back in line. He stared daggers at Arthur, making sure Arthur knew this wasn¡¯t over, before turning and walking away.
Arthur sighed, he threatened a child and made the kid angry at him, but it was better than any of the alternatives he could think of. His internal monologue was distracted shortly after by the sound of aweing from the friends behind him.
"Which one is my locker?" Arthur turned around to face them, with an awkward smile stered on his face, as he came out with an unexpected question, to which his friends looked at him with confusion.
"I¡¯ve been in the hospital for the past three days, the doctor said bits of memory could be hazy for a while." He lied to his friends with no hesitation, which surprised him a bit, but he felt like it was believable enough, at least more believable than telling them he came back from the future and couldn¡¯t remember where his locker was because it had been thirty-two years.
The expression of his friends lightened up, the boy that spoke up previously couldn¡¯t help butugh, "You just came back from the hospital and then decided to threaten Run... and it worked."
The girl beside him looked worried, Run was known to retaliate harder against anybody who stood up to him. But she was happy to see Arthur stand up to him for once, he typically got the worst treatment out of everyone Run targeted, due to Run¡¯s inferiorityplex. She spoke up in a soft voice and pointed at a locker, "That one is yours."
"Thanks Holly," Arthur turned towards the locker and pulled a set of keys out from his pocket, thankfully it wasn¡¯t abination padlock or he¡¯d probably need to get it cut. Arthur found the correct key after a few seconds of searching and used it on the lock, to which it unlocked with ease.
As his locker opened, Arthur stood there for a second, staring within. The inside of his locker was perfectly organised, just as he remembered it to be, and stuck to the inside of the locker door was his ss schedule list. He stared at it and began reading the three sses he had today out loud, "Maths, sport and history."
"Ugh, we¡¯ve got the assessment for sport today, don¡¯t remind me." The boy behind him blurted out, clearly he wasn¡¯t looking forward to it.
"Well, the maths exames first, Quinn." Arthur remarked, pushing his bag into the lower section of his locker and pulling out the relevant books for his first ss, as well as his pencil case, before closing the locker and locking it once more. "Well, we cant bete."
His two friends scurried into their lockers and quickly grabbed their relevant materials, not wanting to bete, a few moments after they closed their lockers and walked over to Arthur.
"Alright, lets get going." Arthur announced, as he started walking towards the direction of his maths ss.
Chapter 8: Maths Test.
The trip to the maths ss was ultimately uneventful. Arthur¡¯s friends had asked him about the hospital incident, to which he could only respond with vague answers due to confidentiality agreements and him not wanting to spread the word that he was almost killed by hispanies yet unreleased video game capsule. Arthur decided to just call it ab ident, not even bothering to give a hint as to what kind.
Making their way inside the ssroom, they found that the desks had been spaced apart ahead of time and nothing was on the desks besides sheets of paper Arthur assumed to be the exam papers.
Arthur walked around until he found the exam papers with his name listed on the front inrge bold letters. He took a seat and made sure his equipment was sorted, as he finished, other people started arriving to ss.
When the ss had filled up and people got settled, the teacher began informing the exam participants of the rules, "... and if you just so happen to finish early, please raise your hand to have your exam marked, when you receive your result you¡¯re free to leave for an early break. Now if we¡¯re all ready, turn to the first page, your time starts now."
With that, the exam had begun, the several sounds of paper being flipped had almost perfectly synced up. Arthur flipped his sheet and began looking at the first question, reading it within his head. He couldn¡¯t help butugh, it was year eleven maths, but even still it seemed rather easy.
Arthur started answering the questions one after the other without requiring much time between each question, the first page was done just under five minutes. The first few pages were covering things he would have learnt in the previous years, easy things like graphs, fractions, calcting the radius and diameter of circles, etc. They slowly ramped up in difficulty as he progressed.
Arthur was previously worried about the exam due to him believing he had forgotten everything, but it was all rtively simple maths. However this train of confidence suddenly stopped when he encountered a string of numbers and letters, the instruction given at the top of the page said to "Solve this using the Quadratic Equation."
Arthur sheepishly scratched his head while staring at the numbers, ¡¯How do you answer these again...¡¯
Even though he would never have the opportunity to use it, at least not in the next thirty-two years, Arthur had remembered the sentence he was force to learn in his final year, and what he would be forced to learn again next year. He began reciting it within his head, and then used it to answer the problem. ¡¯Negative b, plus or minus, the square root of b squared minus 4ac, over 2a... I think.¡¯
All of the questions after the quadratic equation page were about as easy as the first couple of pages, it seemed that the majority of everyone¡¯s time was supposed to be spent on that page. Arthur continued filling out questions until he ran out, roughly twenty minutes had gone by, there was over half the time remaining.
Arthur raised his hand, as previously instructed, and the teacher approached him, "How can I help you Arthur?"
"I¡¯vepleted the exam, please mark it." These words from Arthur had taken the teacher by surprise, while Arthur was one of his top students, he never expected him to finish this fast.
"Are you sure? Please check that you haven¡¯t identally missed a page." The teacher spoke out with concern, standing there as Arthur flipped through the exam pages, all of the questions seemed to have been answered.
"Very well, I¡¯ll mark it, please stay seated." The teacher took the exam papers from Arthur and walked to his desk, taking a seat. He appeared to be staring at the answer sheet quite intently, to which Arthur worried that maybe he should have taken his time to not appear suspicious, he didn¡¯t want to be used of cheating, although he did show his working out on the exam, whereas other students may solely be reliant on the calctor.
The teacher finished his marking and walked back over to Arthur, he seemed to be scanning him and his surroundings very carefully, as Arthur feared, he was probably going to be used of cheating.
The teacher took a spare piece of paper and began writing a maths question out, when he was done, he ced the paper in front of Arthur, it was another quadratic form question. "Please answer this question for me, and then you may leave."
Arthur sighed, it couldn¡¯t be helped, he was suspicious. Arthur grabbed his pencil once more and began solving the problem, much faster than he solved thest. He pushed the page to his teacher, "Is this correct?"
"Sorry for doubting you, congrattions, you¡¯ve received a perfect score, enjoy your early break." The teacher nodded, and walked back to his desk. Arthur grabbed his stuff and walked out of the ssroom, sending a text to his friend group that he¡¯ll be waiting in the library for when they finish.
Arthur walked down the hallway towards the location of his locker, it was quiet and barren, to think that only half an hour ago this ce was bustling with life, in the form of a hoard of teenagers. He dumped his books and pencil case in his locker and made his way downstairs, walking around taking in his environment, he couldn¡¯t quite remember which way the library was, but he was sure he¡¯d find it eventually, he had plenty of spare time after all.
Arthur¡¯s mindless wandering had caused him to end up at a separatedrge brick building with arge sign that reads "Library", naturally assuming this to be the correct ce, he took a step inside.
As he walked inside the library, an olderdy manning the desk spoke up to grab his attention, "Hey Arthur, I haven¡¯t seen you all this week, where have you been?"
"Ah, good morning Denise, yeah funny story about that actually, there was an incident in theb, and I was kind of in the wrong ce at the wrong time. I didn¡¯t get hurt that bad, but you know how my dad can be at times." Arthur gave an awkwardugh and a brief excuse, this woman Denise was a family friend, and they met almost every day due to Arthur¡¯s tendency to hang out in the library.
"Well, as long as you¡¯re alright. How is your father by the way? I haven¡¯t heard much from him recently." Denise started to converse with Arthur for a few minutes, the library was almostpletely empty due to it currently being ss time. Arthur had to also exin why he was not currently in ss, but she understood immediately.
After their small talk hade to an end Denise spoke up once more, "Oh that reminds me, the book you were asking about was finally returned a couple days ago, it¡¯s at the back."
Arthur thanked her, then began walking to the back of the library, he couldn¡¯t remember what book he asked about, his memory of this time wasn¡¯t perfect, but he did somewhat remember a couple of the topics he was interested in during this time, particrly Lepidopterology, the scientific study of butterflies and moths.
The other two topics he studied both involved nts, one was about medicinal herbs and traditional medicines, and the other was about poisonous nts, thatst one he wouldn¡¯t bring up to a family friend, he could imagine the weird looks he¡¯d get, so she was probably talking about either medical nts or butterflies.
When he reached the back aisles, he reached the history section, and a particr book caught his fancy. The cover image was a very familiar scene, an ancient Mayan, or Aztec pyramid, yet not as overgrown and dpidated as the ones featured within the game.
Arthur grabbed therge book and imed a table in the furthest corner, he sat down and opened the index, it seemed to be an extensive overview on the Mayan and Aztec civilisations. Arthur checked the glossary and flipped to the sections that covered the faiths of both civilisations.
It mentioned how each culture had gods that ovepped and the simrities between the faiths, then it moved on and started describing each god individually, withoutparisons. There were several mentions of familiar names, gods of death, gods of rain, gods of wine. And then a very familiar name popped up, the name Arthur was searching for, Quetzalcoatl, the god of life, wind and wisdom.
"The rainbow feathered serpent, it seems to be extremely simr, maybe even rted to, the Mayan deity Kukulkan, a fellow plumed serpent." Arthur read out loud, he spent several minutes reading into the various gods, not noticing his friends approaching his table.
"Aztec and Mayan civilisations... bored of butterflies already?" Quinn asked while sitting down on the chair beside him, Holly took the chair on the opposite side and leaned in, Arthur remembered Holly was a major history buff. In fact, most of the information he used during the early stages of bing a lore hunter mostly came from him listening in to her passionately ramble while getting coffee together.
¡¯Ah, so I was in the butterfly stage, good to know.¡¯ Arthur thought, causing himself to internally chuckle.
Chapter 9: He shoots, he scores?
Arthur and friends spent the majority of the break catching up, talking about what they¡¯ve been up to the past couple days. Quinn started talking about a new character shooter gameing out in a year.
Arthur remembered aspects of this game, it attempted to bring the character shooter genre back into relevancy, unfortunately it didn¡¯t do anything interesting enough to survive the announcement of New Genesis.
"I¡¯d hold off on the pre-order, something is going to be announced next year that you¡¯d kick yourself for not saving up for." Arthur wanted to warn him, but knew he couldn¡¯t say what it was yet,pany policy and all that.
Quinn tried asking what he meant but Arthur just responded with a cheeky smile, adding an extra note that it¡¯s rather expensive, roughly the price of a high-end gamingputer, but still not specifying what it was.
Quinn was curious, but seeing as Arthur kept refusing to say he eventually gave up. Although he was in a slightly irritated mood after getting teased so he yfully jabbed Arthur with his elbow. "It better be good then."
The group continued to chat until the bell rang, and their next ss was about to start. The group made their way to their lockers, past the crowds. Arthur¡¯s shoulder bumped into the shoulder of someone travelling in the opposite direction, although there was more weight than expected behind it, making Arthur realise it must have been intentional. As he turned around he noticed the figures of Run and his group disappearing behind the iing wave of students.
After reaching their lockers and obtaining their relevant materials for the ss, they slowly made their way to the gymnasium, hoping that the ss would be cancelled, unfortunately this wish would go unanswered.
As they entered the gymnasium, a rtively overweight man spoke to the iing students with a loud, somewhat obnoxious voice. "Hurry up, ss started six minutes ago, you should have been here a minute after the bell rang."
"For the physical part of the ss, and the final evaluation, we¡¯re ying ser, anyints? No? Good." When the entire ss had finally made their way into the building, the teacher spoke up once more. "None of you are sitting this one out, if you don¡¯t participate, you fail, it¡¯s that simple."
Arthur stood up, attracting everyone¡¯s attention, alongside a re from both Run¡¯s group and the teacher himself.
"What is it this time Arthur? Sore feet? A headache?" The teacher spoke out in an almost mocking tone, as though this was a regr urrence.
"All of the above, plus a doctors note." Arthur spoke out in a confident and equally as mocking tone, pulling a form from his pocket and holding it up a few inches from the teachers face, he countered his teacher¡¯s re with a smug grin that waspletely out of character for Arthur.
"I know how easy it is for you to ge--" The teacher¡¯sints were abruptly cut off by Arthur, who spoke with a stern voice.
"I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already been informed about my hospitalisation by the faculty, save yourself the paperwork and just do as you¡¯re told for once." Arthur¡¯s tant disrespect towards this teacher caught everyone off guard, especially the teacher himself, it was as if his personality hadpletely changed.
What was once a timid child who didn¡¯t react to tant abuse of power and injustice against him was now threatening that very same abuser, throwing his weight around and seeming entirely confident in following through with his threats.
His teacher was going red in the face, he scanned his students and his eyes locked on Run, his favourite student. A nasty grin formed on his face, he was aware of Run¡¯s constant bullying against Arthur, so naturally he was the perfect candidate for his next idea.
"Fine, if you want to sit this one out, all you need to do is block one goal." The teacher pointed towards Run and signalled him to approach. "If Run scores, you y, if you block him, you can sit it out."
Staring at the teacher¡¯s disgusting grin, a memory resurfaced, this event had happened before, but in a different yet simr circumstance, it was odd that the main events repeated themselves although Arthur had acted differently.
"I¡¯m not sure you¡¯re understanding." Arthur¡¯s tone went from confident to irritated, "I have the right to sit out regardless, if you want me to engage in your harassment... You need to add some benefit."
Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone stealthily, quickly navigating to the camera application, he set it to record as he announced his terms. "No... If you want me to join in with your harassment, when I win, you will give me full marks for the physical evaluation."
His teacher stared daggers at him, he knew he should have declined, but Arthur¡¯s attitude had brought him to a level of anger where rational thought wasn¡¯t possible. "Fine, and if you lose?"
"If I lose, I¡¯ll join in with your ser game." Arthur¡¯s arrogant tone returned, "Despite my doctors warning that any physical exertion of a moderate level or higher is not allowed, and that by ignoring his warning I risk serious bodily harm and potentially further hospitalisation."
"Deal, if you block one goal, you pass. If Run scores, you y..." As soon as the the teacher stopped speaking, Arthur stopped his recording. If Arthur had learnt anything in thest thirty-two years, it was to always collect insurance, he learnt that humans were fickle creatures, and the best way to counter that was to n around the fact that they will eventually betray their promises.
"Fine, lets do it... Hey Run, try not to miss." Arthur shot Run a wink as he walked over to the goalpost. The rest of the students were loudly talking about the situation, and how Arthur had seemingly changed overnight. Run heard a few whispers mentioning his name, and that only served to make him angrier.
Run slowly walked over to the centre of the field with the ser ball, as he waited for the teacher to give the signal to start, he decided to start showing off by juggling the ball. Another memory surfaced as Arthur stared at Run, strangely enough, Arthur began seeing two of them, although one wasgging behind the other by about three seconds, their actions matched each other perfectly.
¡¯This can¡¯t be a coincidence. I¡¯ll need to research thister.¡¯ Arthur made a mental note to research this phenomenon.
He was experiencing something much more intense than d¨¦j¨¤ vu, it was as if the universe was forcibly attempting to line itself back up with the original timeline. If that were truly the case, than no matter howrge of a deviation Arthur caused, it would always attempt to repair itself, within reason.
But what would happen if he stopped something that couldn¡¯t be lined back up, like saving someone who would have died, what would happen then? Arthur couldn¡¯t help but get lost in thought, but he was quickly snapped out of it when he heard the piercing sound of a whistle.
Arthur turned his attention back to Run, the physical Run had not moved yet, but the memory projection began moving, and three secondster, another whistle could be heard, while the real Run began following the same path of the memory.
As if they were following the same choreography, Run and his future projection moved in sync, albeit with a three second dy. Dribbling off to the side, attempting to show off with his footwork, running straight for the goals yet pulling away at thest second in an attempt to taunt Arthur, he could see it all three seconds before it happened.
Arthur couldn¡¯t help but feel overwhelmed, this odd situation left him with an indescribable feeling, that made him feel somewhat nauseous, and it showed on his face.
Run¡¯s choreographed dance started to finish as his projection began dribbling the ball to the leftmost corner of the penalty box. As the projection reached the corner he twisted his body and dug his foot underneath the ball, sending it into the opposite side of the goals, it scored.
Seeing this, Arthur began moving as Run¡¯s real body did. Run dribbled the ball to the leftmost corner and followed the exact same actions, Run was too focused on his feet, he looked at Arthur¡¯s position once, and only after kicking the ball did he look up at Arthur with a smug grin stered on his face, but what he saw wiped his grin away instantly.
Standing stationary in the exact path the ser ball was about to take was Arthur, it didn¡¯t look as though he just got there, it was more like he moved to that position well before Run even kicked the ball, as if he knew where it was going to go.
The ball flew towards Arthur as he began bracing himself, and then with a thud sound, the ball had hit his chest, and Arthur wrapped his arms around it, sessfully catching the ball.
"I win." Arthur spoke out in an extremely arrogant tone, before walking off towards the teacher.
Chapter 10: Retaliation and spinal pain.
Each step Arthur took as he approached made his teacher¡¯s face distort with various emotions, rage being the most prevalent, this emotion was only multiplied while listening to his students gossip.
"Thanks for the passing grade." Arthur spoke out in a mocking tone, the nausea still showing on his face. "I¡¯m going to to pay a visit to the school nurse, don¡¯t forget your promise."
"Like hell you will, you¡¯re ying, or you¡¯re failing my ss." His teacher spoke out with an aggressive tone, there was no way Arthur could have stopped the ball, he was terrible at sports. He was just lucky, that must have been it. "There was no promise, you¡¯re just a student, do as you¡¯re told."
As Arthur walked past his teacher he raised his phone into the air and spoke loudly, "I¡¯ve got plenty of witnesses, and evidence, try me."
Holly ran up to Arthur, her face tinged with worry, "Hey... hey, are you okay?" Her voice was soft, it contained traces of confusion. Holly stood in front of Arthur, looking him directly in the eyes, "What is going on with you today? You¡¯re like an entirely different person, it¡¯s kind of scary."
Before Arthur could respond he heard a violent rage-induced screeching from the field. As he turned around to look, he saw Run sprinting towards him. "Don¡¯t mess with me!" Run screamed as he kicked a ser ball towards Arthur, as hard as he could.
The ball travelled through the air, flying towards Arthur at an extremely fast speed. Arthur had only just noticed that the ball began curving away from him during thest few moments, he noticed that the ball had unfortunately began flying towards Holly¡¯s face instead of his own. The ball was too fast for Holly to dodge it, her reaction time was horrible, Arthur had to do something.
Arthur performed a mix of stepping in front of the ball¡¯s path, and pulling Holly out of harms way, when the ball finally reached them, Holly was pulled into Arthur¡¯s protective embrace, while Arthur took the brunt of the attack with his back.
A loud thud resounded through the gymnasium as the ball mmed into Arthur¡¯s back, causing his body to be flooded with pain, and his prior feeling of nausea had been amplified. His body tensed up in response to the pain, causing his embrace around Holly to tighten for a moment. Arthur quickly released her, and shortly after the pain faded to a dull throbbing sensation.
"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, coughing as if his lungs had been emptied. Arthur took a look at Holly, noticing that her face was flushed and she appeared to still be in a state of confusion, however that confusion faded as she noticed the ser ball rolling away from Arthur and a very angry looking Run still walking towards them.
"Uh-- Yeah, I¡¯m fine." She attempted to respond at first but found her throat tensed up for some reason, and she had to clear her throat before responding.
Arthur turned around staring daggers at the approaching Run, his gaze then turned to his teacher, who upon noticing his gaze, broke eye contact and looked away. This told Arthur everything he needed to know, and what had to be done.
"Back away for a second, this is going to get messy." Arthur said to Holly. Somewhere within the span of four days since Hollyst saw Arthur, his personality hadpletely flipped, he was more aggressive, confident and at times, surprisingly forward. But Holly didn¡¯t seem to mind the change. In fact, she kind of liked it, but she was still somewhat scared at how sudden it was, and how she couldn¡¯t figure out why.
As Holly backed away, Run ran forward with a wide swing. The students had previously pulled out their phones and began recording the teacher, as well as the rest of the situation, seemingly taking a page out of Arthur¡¯s previous performance with his phone.
Arthur waited until Run was about to hit him, before grabbing the wrist currently swinging at his face with both hands. Arthur twisted his body and used the punch¡¯s momentum to throw Run over his shoulder, sending him t on his back, and gasping for air.
Arthur knelt down to Run, a glint of anger in his eyes. "Now, what you just did was stupid."
"How disappointed would your father be, his very own son trying to ruin his life even more than he already has." Arthur moved in closely and whispered to Run, making sure nobody else heard him. "You already killed his wife, he absolutely hates you for that already. But now you¡¯re trying to kill his career too?"
Those words sent a shock to Run, he grew up without a mother and a cold father, but was never told the reason why. How did Arthur of all people know his family situation better than even he did?
"One more outburst from you and I¡¯ll make sure the only position your father gets anywhere near aboratory is as a highschool janitor. Then I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll really start giving you the attention you want."
Arthur grabbed Run¡¯s cor, and pulled him close to his face as he spoke the next words with as dark of a tone as he could muster. "I can ruin you, do you understand me?"
Run, overwhelmed by the current situation, just silently nodded his head. To which Arthur continued his threat, "I don¡¯t want to ruin your life. But I can, and I will... If you mess with me or my friends again. Think very carefully about what you want to do with your life going forward, because this is yourst warning, I¡¯m tired of ying nice."
After receiving one more confirmation from the panic-stricken Run, Arthur released his cor and stood up, staring at his ssmates.
"Please send all your recordings to my student email, mywyers will appreciate it." Arthur yelled out, before turning to his teacher, staring him down with daggers, "I¡¯ll be seeing you at your disciplinary meeting."
His teacher tensed up, he could feel his student¡¯s intense bloodlust, which left him in an ufortable state. Beads of sweat were pouring down his chubby face, while the cold chill running down his spine caused his hair to stand on end. This feeling vanished as Arthur turned away from him.
Arthur walked back over to Holly to check up on her, a hint of worry in his voice, "You didn¡¯t get hurt, did you?"
She was standing there in a state of surprise, the kind yet shy boy she knew for so long had suddenly be someone who could threaten teachers and beat up students without batting an eye, seemingly overnight. But even with all the changes, she surprisingly still felt a sense offort around him, he was still kind from what she could tell.
"You¡¯re the one who just got attacked, I should be asking you that..." Holly was dumbfounded, Arthur had just been attacked and the only thing he cared about at the moment was her well-being?
"I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m just d you didn¡¯t get hurt." Holly went silent again as Arthur gave her a bright smile. "Alright, I¡¯m going to go visit the infirmary, I¡¯ll see you at the history exam."
Arthur walked off, everyone just stood where they were and watched him leave.
Making his way down the long hallways, Arthur found that he had gotten lost again, but after a short detour, had eventually found his way to the infirmary.
"Ah, Arthur, wee back." A rather chipper young woman wearing what were essentially hospital scrubs popped out from behind a folding privacy screen. She managed to name a student upon seeing him, indicating that she and Arthur interacted on a regr basis, much like Arthur and the librarian Denise. "How can I help you today?"
"Good to see you again Emily." Arthur seemed to make friends with all the supporting members of faculty rather than with his teachers, although there were a few who earned his respect. "I was recently hospitalised due to ab ident, it wasn¡¯t anything serious, but I was told to not engage in any stressful activity for a while."
"Unfortunately, it seems a signed doctors note wasn¡¯t good enough for the sports teacher, and I was essentially forced to y." Arthur began exining his case, trying not to mention that he had threatened his teacher and threw a student over his shoulder, "Also, during the game, I had a ball kicked into my back pretty hard, so I have a feeling that may bruise."
The nurse¡¯s facial expression darkened when she heard that Arthur was forced to y against his doctors wishes, she noticed that he appeared nauseous. "Get on the bed,y on your front. I¡¯ll get some ice for your back."
Arthur did as he was told, moving towards the bed furthest from the doors, it was just far enough away to not feel the vibrations of hoards of students running down the hallways. Arthurid on his front and waited for a moment for Emily to return.
"Alright, where did you get hit?" Emily came into the room with an ice pack wrapped in cloth.
"I¡¯d say the lower half of the thoracic vertebrae, right in the centre." Arthur responded, anticipating the cold sensation.
"It¡¯s always convenient having a patient who speaks mynguage." Emily let out a small chuckle. She gently ced the wrapped ice pack where Arthur directed, making sure it stayed still before pulling her hands away. "Also, ouch, that would have hurt."
Chapter 11: The History Test.
Arthur spent the rest of the duration of his sport ss in the infirmary talking to Emily. Arthur couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was talking to an old friend he hadn¡¯t seen in years, even though that was technically the case, in this timeline he most likely saw her justst week. He made an attempt to act more like a young boy than as a forty-eight year old man.
Their conversation wasing to an end as the sound of the school bell ringing echoed down the hallway, signalling that ss had ended.
"Well, that¡¯s my cue, I¡¯m going to go grab lunch." Emily hopped up off of the stool and began walking to her desk, "Feel free to leave when you¡¯re ready, just pop the ice-pack on a table somewhere, I¡¯ll deal with itter."
"I think I¡¯ll just sit still for a while, it still hurts pretty bad." Arthur pitifully winced while trying to adjust himself, the bruise that formed on his back had already started changing into a more dark red colour, indicating that the blood within the wound was already losing oxygen.
"I wish I could give you something for it, but government regtions and all that." Emily looked at him with pity, she was disgusted at the sport teacher¡¯s behaviour, and this wasn¡¯t the first time Arthur hade to her because of his actions.
"Yeah, I know. Don¡¯t worry about me, go get lunch. I¡¯ll be better in no time." Arthur gave Emily a friendly smile to prove to her that he was alright, and after a few seconds, she nodded and walked out of the door.
A few momentster, Arthur began feeling drowsy. Laying idle for such a long time typically had that effect on him. He attempted to fight it, but his attempt was in vain, as he dozed off shortly after, only to be woken up by the same ear-piercing ringing from the school bell.
"Oh crap." Arthur involuntarily swore out loud. He tried to get off of the bed, his head was spinning and his back was aching, but he had to move or he¡¯d bete. Arthur managed to stabilise himself using the nearby table as he stood up, his world stopped spinning as he regained his sense of bnce.
"Alright, time to go." Arthur looked around, but noticed he was still alone in the infirmary, Emily hadn¡¯t returned yet. He grabbed the ice-pack that had fallen onto the bed and ced it on the table as he was previously instructed, and then walked to the door.
Arthur opened the door and made his way through the hallways, through the quickly diminishing hoard of students, towards his locker. When he arrived he saw less students thanst time, these were the stragglers, and if he didn¡¯t hurry up, he¡¯d be eventer than them.
Arthur quickly cobbled together his materials he needed for his history ss, and grabbed the sandwich out of his prepared lunch, he was starving, but didn¡¯t have time to eat it all. He managed to just finish off the ham and cheese sandwich by the time he reached his history ssroom.
"Ahh, there is a first for everything it seems, Mister Arthur Holmes, you¡¯rete." A bald individual with a big bushy beard turned to Arthur, his current facial expression made him look disappointed, angry even. But the tone of his voice gave away the fact he was clearly joking.
"Sorry sir, I just got out of the infirmary. Had a nasty ident during sports ss." Arthur limped through the door. "I don¡¯t have a note or anything, but you can go confirm it with Emily if you need."
"Alright, take a seat, we haven¡¯t started the test yet." The teacher signalled to an open chair with a small stack of paper on it.
Arthur took a seat, flinching as his bruised back hit the chair¡¯s backrest. He ced all his materials on the desk and arranged them as he liked, before paying attention to the front of ss.
"Well, now that we¡¯re all here, is there any questions before we begin?" The teacher asked while panning over all the students in his ss, "Nobody? Very well, you may begin."
Arthur flipped open his test and began filling it out with ease, the questions didn¡¯t seem to have a theme, it was a random mix of mythology, folklore and general history, all crammed into onerge test.
The questions weren¡¯t even based around a single culture, it was vast, some sections were extremely niche. One second Arthur was answering questions about Greek mythology, the next he was answering questions about mythological characters from North American indigenous cultures.
One character that caught his eye was Coyote. In some stories he is treated as a sacred creator, in others, he is a malevolent trickster god. Arthur used to enjoy listening to Holly ramble on endlessly about the disparities of mythological characters within simr cultures.
Several more questions began sparking memories of New Genesis, such as a question asking who the queen of the underworld in Greek mythology is. Persephone, who within the game was just a kidnapped princess, whose rescue was a legendary quest that several thousand guilds failed toplete. But uponpletion released the denizens of hell upon the mortal world, it was one of the many world changing quests, such as the Quetzalcoatl quest.
The next main question involved an evil spirit from the folklore of the First Nations, the Wendigo. Although in the west, the Wendigo was turned into a generic human/animal hybrid monster, such as a werewolf, New Genesis retained a lot of the original meaning behind the creature upon its incorporation within the game lore, making it one of the more terrifying but memorable viins in the world.
While it still retained the horror creature aspects from western culture, such as the heavily emancipated humanoid body, with decaying skin and a deer skull for a face. The aspects taken from its origin were a lot more frightening, such as the effect it had on the nearby viges, driving them to insanity, waves of famine and starvation, until they turned to cannibalism and became monsters of their own.
With each vige destroyed being entirely preventable by the yers actions, and each NPC lost due to the Wendigo¡¯s curse being permanently removed, regardless of their position as quest givers or salesmen. New Genesis was its own living ecosystem, with each NPC being more than a couple dialogue options, they had their own lives, thoughts, and some would argue, even dreams.
Last, but not least, a question appeared about the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl. Specifically questions noting the simrities, yet differences, between the Aztec¡¯s Quetzalcoatl and the Mayan Kukulkan. Naturally, this brought back a few recent memories, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for himself again, even though he just recently received a miracle. Just how long will it take for him to get back to that ce, seventeen years?
There were surely hundreds of thousands of mysteries hidden within that game that Arthur missed, yet he was so fixated on this one. He calmed himself down, there was no point in being impatient, even with his prior knowledge, there was no possible way to reach the level required in such a short amount of time. But he did know how to stay at the top of the pack, and especially how to gain a massive lead. Arthur began plotting out his n in his head and he filled in thest few questions he had left.
When he finished, Arthur raised his hand and directed for the teacher to collect his test papers. Once they were collected, he was free to leave, he waved goodbye to his friends silently as he left the room, as he walked down the hallway towards his locker, he remembered what he was told earlier that morning.
"Hey Donovan, I finished early, can youe pick me up? Thanks." He gave a call to his father¡¯s secretary as he slowly made his way to his lockers, unimpeded by any traffic.
"Oh, Arthur, are you going home?" A voice spoke out from behind him. As Arthur turned around he saw Emily poking her head out of the infirmary¡¯s door frame.
"Oh hey, yeah, I finished my exam early." Arthur smiled at her, she was quirky, but that just made her more fun to talk to. "Oh yeah, I left the infirmary just after the bell rang, and rocked up to ss a littlete because I was walking slow. I couldn¡¯t find you to get a note, could you back me up if the teacher asks about it?"
"Yeah, no problem." She responded with a smile, and then a hint of worry shed on her face, "So, how¡¯s the back?"
"Not as bad as it was when I left the infirmary, but I¡¯ll have Doctor Hudson look at it when I get home. I should be good as new the next time you see me." He rubbed his back
"How is Martin these days?" The mention of Doctor Hudson brought a blush to Emily¡¯s cheeks.
"Busy, especially because of what happened to me." Arthur knew Emily¡¯s feelings for Doctor Hudson, they were pretty close during med school, and even did their residency together, but Hudson became constantly busy when he was employed by Arthur¡¯s father, which led to him not having as much free time for a social life.
"He mentioned wanting to catch up with you a couple times when he was checking up on me, maybe you should ask him out for a coffee." Arthur decided to tease her a little. "I¡¯ll ask my father to give him a much needed break, and I¡¯ll tell him to give you a call when he¡¯s free."
Emily¡¯s cheeks flushed bright red, and she began stuttering her words, Arthur managed to only make out the works, "Thank you" and "Take care", before she ran back into the infirmary.
Arthur giggled to himself as he continued on his way to his locker.
Chapter 12: A fathers rage.
Arthur made his way to his locker, he began sorting his materials back into his organisation system, before packing his bag and closing his locker. As he did so, he felt his phone vibrate, it was probably Donovan telling him he arrived.
Arthur quickly made his way down the staircase, across the hall and through the school¡¯s front door, where he saw a familiar vehicle, and his father¡¯s secretary standing there waiting for him.
"Hello Arthur, how was school?" Donovan¡¯s voice contained traces of anger, although he managed to mask it on his face.
"Ah, father sure does hear things fast." Arthur spoke out with a sigh, his voice contained hints of fear. If his father got angry at Arthur, he wasn¡¯t confident he wouldn¡¯t be terrified if he was yelled at. Threatening a teacher alongside harming a fellow student, these two things would probably get Arthur in a ton of trouble with his father, he couldn¡¯t help but swallow his fear as he entered the car.
"Yeah, he heard... and he¡¯s furious..." Donovan began talking slow, spacing out each sentence, causing Arthur¡¯s stomach to drop further.
Donovan took notice of Arthur¡¯s expressions, and falsely believing it to be due to what happened to him at school today, continued pilling on excessive detail of how angry his father was during the entire drive home, believing that it would make him feel better slightly.
By the time the car reached theb, Arthur was suffering waves of nausea, guilt and dread. He spent his entire life making sure he never spoke out of line, never wanting to attract his father¡¯s ire, but within a couple days of reincarnating, he had essentially ruined his life, at least that¡¯s how it felt from Arthur¡¯s perspective.
"Go meet Doctor Hudson first, your father will see you when he¡¯s done." Donovan gave out one more foreboding sentence before driving off.
Arthur made his way inside the building, he began the daily ritual of greeting every employee that walked past, starting with the two employees manning the front desk, as he made his way to Doctor Hudson¡¯s office.
"Heya Art, I heard you got into a fight." A soft voice rang out from behind him, he turned around to see his sister, gently smiling at him, while giving him a thumbs up. "I heard you won, good job."
"You probably shouldn¡¯t be encouraging that sort of behaviour." Arthur sighed, he felt like he was going to get chewed out by his father, and didn¡¯t need his sister getting caught in the crossfire. "It was a stupid thing to do."
"Well, yeah. But at the same time, it was self-defence, you did nothing wrong." Anna gave him another thumbs up. "Where did you learn how to fight? I heard you pulled off some fancy moves."
"It was entirely an ident, but it worked out somehow." Arthur scratched the side of his head, he couldn¡¯t figure out a valid excuse, so he just imed it as a miracle and hoped for the best.
"Fair enough. Anyway, Hudson is waiting for you in his office. I gotta head back to work, seeya." Anna turned around and bolted down the hall. Arthur turned back around and walked straight to Doctor Hudson¡¯s office.
When he arrived at Doctor Hudson¡¯s office, the door was already open. Arthur peeked into the room and he saw Doctor Hudson sitting in his office chair, scribbling notes on a sheet of paper, unaware of his surroundings.
"Doctor Hudson, I¡¯m here." Arthur knocked on the door to announce his presence.
"Oh, Arthur, right right,e in." It seemed Doctor Hudson was preupied with his work, "Close the door behind you."
Arthur did as he was told, closing the door after he entered the room.
"Alright, lets take a look at the damages." Doctor Hudson signalled him to take off his shirt andy down, to which Arthur followed.
"Bruises on the back, less swelling than expected, it appears an ice-pack was administered rtively quickly." Doctor Hudson began rambling to himself as he inspected Arthur¡¯s body. "I told you not to engage in any form of physical activity, didn¡¯t I?"
"I¡¯m sorry." Arthur couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of guilt as he was being admonished by Doctor Hudson.
"This time, you¡¯re staying in bed. Your exams are over, so you have no excuse." Doctor Hudson signalled Arthur to sit up, he stood up to open a cupboard, pulling out a small bottle of pills. "Take one of these, then go lie down, same room asst time, I¡¯lle check up on you when I finish my work."
Arthur nodded to show that he was listening, took the bottle of pills and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He walked to one of the water coolers and filled up a small paper cup, using it to take his medication. Arthur threw the cup away and walked to his patient room.
When he reached the room, it was quiet, Arthur didn¡¯t know if he was going to find himself in a sudden screaming match, but he was d he didn¡¯t. He kicked his shoes off before sliding into bed, falling asleep within minutes of his head touching the pillow.
"Arthur... wake up." A stern yet familiar voice rang through Arthur¡¯s head, Arthur woke up due to a wave of dread washing over him, as he opened his eyes, he saw his father sitting by his side.
"Dad..." Arthur¡¯s voice was hoarse, his fear caused his mouth to dry uppletely.
"I heard you got in a fight today..." His father began to speak, each word sending feelings of guilt, nausea and fear through Arthur¡¯s entire body. "I watched a recording of the incident, I¡¯m impressed."
"What?" Arthur could have sworn he heard a record scratch, although that may have just been his imagination.
"Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m not happy you fought, but damn son, you¡¯ve got some moves." Arthur¡¯s father was praising him, why? Arthur couldn¡¯t understand what was going on, where was the screaming, where was the clipboard being pped out of his hands. "That move earlier, where you saved your friend from the ball, very impressive, that stole her heart, without a doubt."
Arthur sat up, he was still in shock. "So, you¡¯re not here to yell at me?" He couldn¡¯t help but ask, for some reason, beingplimented felt just as bad as being scolded, maybe even worse.
"No, I¡¯m not here to yell at you, son." His father calmed down, as if his previously yful attitude was just a facade, "I¡¯m just here to make sure you¡¯re doing alright, and to tell you that thewyers have already attended your teacher¡¯s disciplinary meeting.¡¯
¡¯Your friend, the nurse, Emily was it? She attended the meeting unexpectedly and testified against the teacher on your behalf, bringing out several old medical charts documenting your injuries during his ss, as well as written documentation of your previousints of the man¡¯s behaviour spoken behind closed doors. This was enough to have the board relieve him of his teacher position." His father continued, "As for that student, Run, he has been suspended for two weeks. I¡¯ve also discovered that his father works--"
"Father!" Arthur interrupted his father, something that had never happened before, this left his father somewhat shocked, but he listened to what Arthur had to say, "He¡¯s been punished, there¡¯s no need to destroy his father¡¯s life over the actions of his stupid child. I¡¯m sure his father has learnt of this situation by now, and will teach his son that his actions have consequences, there¡¯s no need to push further than this, please."
Arthur¡¯s father sat there with a surprised expression, this was an unexpected situation, Arthur was not only speaking up to him, but was also speaking in favour of mercy for his childhood bully. Arge grin formed on his face, his son had finally matured past the scared subservient stage he was trying to help him escape from. "I see. I understand, if you¡¯re going to plead for the kid¡¯s life, than it can¡¯t be helped. I won¡¯t push this further."
Arthur¡¯s face lit up, somehow he convinced his father to see reason where he would have sought for destruction, which gave him confidence for one more request. "Father, may I ask for a favour?"
"It depends, what¡¯s the favour?" It seemed Arthur gained the confidence to step outside of hisfort zone, but his father still wanted to make sure he learnt reason and restraint, but if it was reasonable he was willing to do anything Arthur asked.
"Well, Emily helped us out this time around, and she has a massive crush on Doctor Hudson, could you give Doctor Hudson a day off so Emily can ask him out for coffee, please?" Arthur pleaded, he watched as his father¡¯s face lit up with a massive grin once more.
"Sure thing kiddo, Doctor Hudson has been working really hardtely, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d appreciate the break too. I¡¯ll handle the rest, you stay here and get some rest." Arthur¡¯s father practically sprung out of the chair, and waved Arthur goodbye "I¡¯ve got to make a call, I¡¯ll visit sometimeter."
As his father walked out of the room while on the phone, he could have sworn he heard his father utter the words "lobster dinner".
Chapter 13: Petty Revenge.
The next day, Arthur heard somemotion brewing outside of his hospital room. His curiosity had been peaked, he wasn¡¯t aware of this major of amotion within theb during this time period, which means he either forgot, or his actions were the direct cause of it.
A few momentster Donovan, the secretary of Arthur¡¯s father, entered the room and briefly spoke before walking back out of the room. "Arthur, follow me, you¡¯re going to want to see this."
"Well that wasn¡¯t cryptic at all." Arthur remarked with a hint of sarcasm. He slid out from the hospital bed and threw on the first articles of clothing he could find. "I¡¯ll be there in a second."
Managing to find a shirt, pants and a pair of sandals, Arthur made his way out of the hospital room and began looking around for Donovan. Donovan was talking to one of the nurses at the service desk, Arthur approached him. "Donovan, what do you need?"
"Right, you got ready quick, follow me." Donovan gave his farewells to the nurse and then led Arthur to his father¡¯s office on the first floor, the only room that had an interior balcony overlooking the building¡¯s entrance. Leading Arthur to the balcony, he pointed towards the crowd of people forming a circle around two individuals.
As Arthur looked closer, he noticed that one of the individuals was his father, while the other was on his hands and knees in front of him, an act of subservience. After a few seconds, Arthur realised what was happening, that other person was Run¡¯s father. Arthur shot a pair of daggers at Donovan before quickly turning around and dashing towards the elevator, making his way to the ground floor.
Exiting the elevator, he continued his sprint towards the building¡¯s entrance, before his path was obstructed by a crowd of workers. Arthur calmed his breathing, stood up straight and tapped the closest person on the shoulder, who turned around with a sense of annoyance at the person who just made contact with them, but his expression lightened immediately upon realising it was Arthur.
"Excuse me, I need to pass." Arthur¡¯s voice reached the ears of the nearby workers, who turned around and noticed Arthur¡¯s now annoyed expression. Within a matter of seconds, the crowd began parting, giving Arthur a straight line towards the centre. "Thank you."
Arthur started walking towards the centre, the attention of the crowd was now focused on Arthur, rather than the other two. Arthur made his way to the side of Run¡¯s father and turned to face his own father.
"I thought we had an understanding." Arthur¡¯s tone came off as usatory, and somewhat domineering. The crowd gasped, Arthur was known around thepany to be soft-spoken, shy and nonbative, this was only amplified when faced against his father. "The sins of the son shall not reflect on the father, that was our agreement."
"Arthur, you¡¯re misunderstanding the situation, I wasn¡¯t the cause of this." His father instantly took a passive stance, hands raised in-front of him, his torso slightly arched back. "I understand the agreement. He has done this of his own free will, I¡¯ve been asking him to stop."
Arthur¡¯s attention snapped to Run¡¯s father, who nodded that this was indeed the case. Arthur let out a deep sigh and grabbed the man¡¯s shoulder.
"Come on, lets go, you¡¯re causing a scene." Arthur lifted Run¡¯s father by the shoulder, helping him stand up. Arthur leaned in to whisper something to him, "Make sure Run learns his lesson, I won¡¯t be able to protect you next time."
"Thank you." Run¡¯s father uttered those words before walking out of the building, it appeared that he didn¡¯t have a shift that day, he only came in to beg for Arthur¡¯s father¡¯s forgiveness, or something of the sort.
Arthur panned across the crowd, then focused his attention on his father who gave him a light shrug in response. Arthur then remarked out loud in a lighthearted tone, "Aren¡¯t you guys all extremely busy?"
Taking that as their cue to leave, the crowd dispersed, leaving only Arthur and his father standing there in the lobby, besides the people working behind the front desk.
"Why did you have Donovan call me over?" Arthur asked with a sigh. His previously aggressive attitude and tone settled down to something more casual.
"I didn¡¯t." Arthur stared at his father¡¯s expression, it seemed he was telling the truth, meaning Donovan had done this of his own volition.
"Right. Well, you can go have that discussion with your secretary, I¡¯m going back to bed." Arthur looked up at the interior balcony to see Donovan with a grin on his face. Arthur gave him a short wave before walking towards the elevator and making his way back to his patient room on floor 2.
Arthur didn¡¯t attend school for the rest of the week, and the week after that. Quinn and Holly stopped by to visit a couple times, other times they just kept in contact over social media.
Donovan hadn¡¯t visited for two whole weeks after theirst interaction, but he appeared before Arthur once more, with an grin on his face. "Hey Arthur, lets go for a drive."
"You are aware father wasn¡¯t joking when he said he¡¯d cut your pay for doing things behind his back, right?" Arthur stared at Donovan with a dumbfounded look. This man is the only person stupid enough to annoy Arthur¡¯s father, and the strangest part was that he does it on purpose, and still manages to get away with it.
"I promise it¡¯ll be worth it." Donovan¡¯s grin grew even bigger, and it sounded as if he was trying to hold back augh. "Hurry up, get dressed." Donovan dipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Arthur slid out of his bed once more and got properly dressed this time, it was one thing to be walking around theb in his pyjamas or loungewear, but it waspletely different in public. He made sure to grab his phone and wallet before leaving the room. "Alright, I¡¯m ready."
Donovan and Arthur made their way to the elevators, ignoring any curious gazes. They eventually found themselves at the building¡¯s entrance, where the people manning the reception desk also stared at the two with curious gazes.
"Going for a walk, I¡¯ve been stuck in bed for two weeks." Arthur waved them off with a weak excuse, he followed Donovan to his car, hopping in the passengers seat. "Alright, lets see what trouble you¡¯ve cooked up this time."
Donovan gave a slight chuckle in response before starting up the car and driving off. Donovan remained silent during the trip, which was unlike him, especially considering the drive was over thirty minutes at this point.
"It must be killing you not to spoil it, huh?" Arthur remarked, his attention panning between the surroundings speeding past his view and Donovan¡¯s painful grin.
"Like you wouldn¡¯t believe." Donovan responded with a strainedugh.
Eventually the car stopped at a gas station, it was a forty-three minute drive. Arthur nced at the car¡¯s fuel meter, and it read as almostpletely full, meaning this was most likely the destination.
"Hey Arthur, could you get me some gum?" Donovan¡¯sughter could barely be contained at this point, but he still made an attempt.
"Alright." Arthur followed him this far, he might as well humour him until the end. He left the vehicle and walked towards the entrance. The sliding doors opened to reveal an air-conditioned building, with rows of stocked shelves, filled with your typical convenience store products, Arthur¡¯s eyes scanned over the building¡¯s interior until his eyes stopped on the cashier.
The cashier was arge overweight man whose forehead was still covered in beads of sweat, even in a well air-conditioned room. Upon seeing this man, Arthur turned his gaze outside where he saw Donovan convulsing withughter in his car, people nearby stared at him with strange gazes, but he didn¡¯t seem to care.
Arthur walked down the confectionery aisle and grabbed three rolls of bubble gum tape, one of each vour he could see, grape, strawberry and c. Arthur walked up to the counter, cing the three packets of gum on the counter-top.
"Wee! Is this all for toda--" Therge man began the scripted customer service speech, stopping after realising who he was serving. His face distorted into a strange mix of emotions, although it mostly boiled down to anger and humiliation. The cashier just so happened to be Arthur¡¯s recently fired sports teacher.
"Ohhh, hey teach. I haven¡¯t seen you around here before. Did you just start a side gig?" Arthur¡¯s face contorted into the most arrogant smile he could muster, and his tone, while he attempted at making it sound genuine, was obviouslyced with sarcasm.
"Is this all for today?" The cashier spoke with a heavy voice, he was clearly holding back his anger,shing out now would cost him another job.
"Yeah this is all, thanks." Arthur shot him a friendly smile.
"Your totales to nine dors." Hearing those words, Arthur pulled out his wallet, but instead of taking out a ten dor note, started counting out nine dors, one dor at a time. Each coin hitting the counter made the cashier¡¯s expression contort even further.
"Oh actually, could I get one of these too?" Arthur reached to the side and grabbed a chocte bar. He didn¡¯t want it, he just had extra change and it just so happened to be the perfect amount.
"That¡¯s a total of 10 dors and 50 cents." The cashier was furious at this point, but had to do his job.
Arthur ced the remaining amount one coin at a time, finalising his purchase, he pocketed his products, and then his eyes locked on the hot food section. "Oh actually, could I get a sausage roll?"
The cashier¡¯s face was now bright red, but he walked over to the hot food section, slid open the ss door, grabbed a paper bag and a pair of tongs and started picking up a sausage roll.
"Oh what sauces do you have?" Arthur asked with a cheeky grin, he wanted to drag this out as long as possible, but he knew it woulde to an end soon.
"Just tomato and barbeque." The cashier¡¯s eyes met with Arthur¡¯s, and a wave of anxiety hit him.
"You know what, never mind, I don¡¯t want the sausage roll, this is all, thanks." Arthur quickly turned around and walked towards the exit.
As he reached the exit, his eyes snapped to a pedestal beside the door, it had five buttons in a gradient from red to green, each button had a face on it, from extremely unhappy as the furthest left, to extremely happy at the furthest right.
Above the buttons was a sign that read, "Rate your experience."
Arthur turned to face the cashier, a mischievous smile stered on his face, he shot the cashier a wink before double tapping the extremely unhappy button and walking out, as he did he could hear loud banging sounds behind him, it appeared the man had snapped.
Arthur made his way back into Donovan¡¯s car, hopping into the passengers seat, he turned to face Donovan who was stillughing. "You were right, it was worth it."
Chapter 14: Arthurs Birthday Party.
Several weeks went by, with nothing very eventful happening. Over that period of time Arthur was finally released from Doctor Hudson¡¯s care, one thing to note was that his brain activity finally began showing normal results. Although Doctor Hudson was still confused about what caused it in the first ce, there was no reasonable way he could find out, especially now that the symptom had apparently vanished.
Arthur eventually went back to school for thest few weeks of the year, the assessment period had already ended, so there wasn¡¯t anything important for him to do, as he hadpleted all his work for the year. While some teachers still decided to hand out work, or make small quizzes, most of the teachers decided to spend thest few weeks in a more entertaining manner.
The history teacher picked out a different movie for each day, naturally each movie fit the theme of his ss, however he slid a few entertaining ssics into the bunch. The maths teacher hosted a bunch of interactive games he projected on the white board, such as a triviapetition.
Within the sports ss, due to the sudden dismissal of the previous teacher, the person in charge of the sports ss was a substitute. He hosted a game of dodgeball here and there, but for the most part he just gave everyone free time to do whatever they like. Some ran off to y ser, others decided to y basketball, most of the groups decided to just sit in the shade, Arthur¡¯s group was one of them, the substitute teacher also preferred sitting in the shade.
Naturally everyone who was behind on their work had to sit in silence, rushing toplete their work before the year ended, especially so that they could join in on the fun.
Arthur, Holly and Quinn finally finished school for the year. One of the major events after school ended was Arthur¡¯s birthday.
Arthur was nervous, his father used to make every birthday a big deal. But in the previous timeline, ever since the incident that took Anna¡¯s life, birthdays became a sad reminder. Causing the loudpany wide parties everyone enjoyed to turn into a day of quiet mourning that everyone dreaded, it was unbearable at times.
Arthur psyched himself up, this was the firstpany birthday party in a very long time, he was going to enjoy it to the fullest. He made sure to invite Emily alongside his closest friends, Holly and Quinn.
Arthurid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He remembered everything about this birthday, he wondered what would change based on his actions, such as inviting Emily, or his request on a few particr snacks that he grew to enjoy over the years, or even choosing a different type of cake.
Arthur heard a knock on his door, but before he could tell them toe in, the door burst open. The man standing in the doorway was Donovan, who was wearing a pretty nice suit.
"You know the chance of me being naked right now wasn¡¯t zero, right?" Arthur remarked, ncing at Donovan who looked pretty proud of himself. "A minute earlier and you¡¯d have been a criminal."
Donovan¡¯s facial expression darkened for a moment, before Arthur pipped up again, "So I take it the guests have started arriving?"
Arthur naturally already knew this, it was the exact same situation asst time. The only difference being Donovan entered while Arthur was still picking out a shirt in the previous timeline.
"Yeah." Donovan spoke in an almost disparaged voice.
Arthur rolled off of his bed, and walked towards the door,plimenting Donovan¡¯s new tie as he walked past him. Arthur lived in what was more like a small apartment building than a house, each room took up an entire floor, giving Arthur plenty of space for his ever expanding list of hobbies.
The building was right next to theboratory. In fact the back entrance of theb was easily essible through their back garden. Arthur¡¯s father spent a lot of time at work, to the point where he rarely had time to drive home and sleep, let alone not seeing his children for weeks on end. Being sick of sleeping in his office, he eventually had the bright idea of building a house next door to hisboratory, letting him sleep in his own bed and see his family every day.
Arthur made his way to the bottom floor, which contained all the regr parts of a house, a kitchen, an entertainment room, a dining hall, theundry, etc. Each floor had its own bathroom, and a kitchen for that matter, but they made sure to eat as a family on the bottom floor when they could.
"Heya Art, Happy Birthday!" Anna was sitting in the kitchen eating the leftover candied cherries that weren¡¯t used on therge birthday cake resting on the kitchen counter behind her. She pulled a cherry out of the jar by the stem and held it out close to Arthur¡¯s face. "Want one?"
Arthur leaned in and bit the cherry, the lightest pull detached the fruit from the stem. Anna flicked the stem onto a pile of stems, it appeared she ate quite a few.
Donovan made his way down the stairs, ncing at the two siblings. "How do you two eat those, they¡¯re so sweet." He couldn¡¯t help but cringe at what they were eating. To which Anna taunted Donovan by devouring another cherry.
"Are we ready to head over?" Arthur asked, only now admiring the threeyer cake Anna had spent the better part of yesterday preparing.
"Alright, Father sent a couple people over to carry the cake, I¡¯m going to go get dressed real quick." Anna dashed upstairs,ing back down roughly twenty minutester. Her long blonde hair was styled with a bridal updo, and she wore an elegant ck dress. "Alright, I¡¯m ready."
This was the one of the only times in the year Anna could wear something other than medical scrubs or ab coat to work, she made sure to dress up for the asion.
Eventually the two made their way through their backyard into theboratory and up to the first floor. The first floor waspletely redecorated for the asion, especially thergest room, that was big enough to holdpany wide meetings and was often used as the general hangout area for employees on their break. There were now several tables set up all over the room, with some tables being used as the buffet, holding an impressive spread of various foods and snacks, with more food being brought out from thepany kitchen in an adjacent room.
Arthur and Anna made their way to a small group of well dressed individuals, one of which was their father, who noticed them almost immediately uponing into view. "Happy Birthday, Arthur!"
The two men by his father¡¯s side also wished Arthur a happy birthday, they alsoplimented Anna¡¯s appearance, which brought a smile to her face.
More people started arriving, and eventually the party had started. Arthur spent the first hour or so greeting everyone who arrived. Out of his friend group, Quinn arrived first, he was wearing a pair of jeans and a button up polo. Then Emily arrived around the same time, clearly dressed up to impress a certain someone. Andst but not least, Holly nervously entered the party roughly ten minutes after. Her hair was done up nicely in a loose braid crown and she was wearing a floral print summer dress.
"You look great." Athur¡¯spliment caused Holly¡¯s rosy cheeks to brighten. Arthur took her by the hand and lead her over to Quinn. Emily was nearby, but she was hovering around Doctor Hudson, as expected.
Over the next couple hours, everyone indulged themselves in various types of food, dance, and even a few party games, until the time everyone was waiting for arrived.
The centre table was cleared away, and arge threeyer cake garnished with candied cherries was brought into the room. Arthur¡¯s father approached the stage, at the furthest part of the room, grabbing the microphone from the podium, he began a speech, everyone became silent as he spoke.
"Now, those who know me know that I like to keep these events exclusively about my children, business be damned." He continued. "But, this was a special request from my son, a preview of the that is set to go live at the start of next month."
A projector beamed an image on the white wall behind him, Arthur¡¯s father walked off stage, allowing everyone to see the projection clearly. The video showcased a vast fantasy world, alongside gamey from the developers and even some of Arthur. Showcasing them attempting to flip, climb a tree, throw magic with their hands. The general consensus at this point was that it was a pretty engaging roleying game with realistic graphics, hardly next gen.
The next part of the video exined the core element of the game, freedom.
Mentioning that the game was not controlled using any form of controller, nor keyboard and mouse, but instead using the mind, as if you were physically transported into the game itself. The reactions took an immediate turn.
You could do anything in this world, not limited by strict rules of traditional games, this was a true virtual experience, the genesis of a new world.
Arthur nudged Quinn¡¯s shoulder, and then whispered to him. "I told you it was worth saving up for."
Quinn could only nod in response.
Chapter 15: The Beta Test Begins.
The spurred a childish excitement within the crowd, that excitement continued on for the remaining duration of the party.
A month passed, and the went public, it differed slightly from the product shown at Arthur¡¯s party, but most of the changes were simplyst minute polish. The took the inte by storm. Within an hour of it being made public, it had racked up a couple million views, several hourster the view count had reached a quarter of a billion views.
The inte was flooded with videos and articles talking about New Genesis. Reaction videos, trailer breakdown videos, even videos theorising all the possible things you could do within the game world. It became the top trending topic on social media, the hype around it refused to die down, even after several days had passed.
Thepany hadn¡¯t released any more information about the game aside from the trailer. They were constantly being spammed with requests from reporters and game journalists for interviews, a game demo, and such, but received no response. They had gone dark, causing everyone to be even more curious. Each unrted social media post by thepany was bombarded with questions asking about the game, thements section was a mess, but this was an indication that the was a great sess.
Several more weeks had passed, the hype was still simmering, the crowd was ready to gobble up any and all official content rted to New Genesis. There were some groups whombasted New Genesis as over-hyped, others who imed that the naming sense of the game was disrespectful.
Thepany Christmas party went off as expected, excessive yet enjoyable. Donovan had gotten scolded for drinking too much and passing out in one of the medical rooms.
Eventually the new years had arrived, and after being radio silent for so long, at the peak of the hype, thepany made another announcement. The beta test was announced to the public.
Various tidbits of information was provided. Such as the six phase roll-out, every two weeks for six weeks, two hundred new yers would be allowed to join the world. The beta test was hosted within arge facility owned by thepany, with medical staff on site and the developers there to collect information in real-time.
One thing to note was that they would only be allowed to y during the weekends during a strict time block as the game was hosted on-site. But this was fine with their audience as most of them were busy during the week anyway, whether it be due to business or school.
The most important piece of information however was how they were going to decide the twelve hundred beta testers. Fortunately, this information was very easy to find.
The first wave of yers, starting at day one of week one. Several spots were handed out to major investors of thepany, or more specifically the children of major investors. Naturally Arthur earned himself a spot in this category since his father practically owned the game. The remaining spots were put up for auction, a massive bidding warmenced, with some spots costing up to three million dors.
The second wave of yers were starting during week three. Lesser investors, certain VIPs and major personalities were invited, with the rest being auctioned off.
The third wave, which started at week five was also auctioned off, although the price had dropped dramatically.
The fourth wave, starting at week seven, consisted mostly of invited reporters, game journalists and influencers such as game reviewers, streamers and lets-yers. Arthur made sure to step in here and give some advice based on his knowledge of the past, weeding out some of the fake journalists who didn¡¯t really care for gaming culture and who spent their time pushing political agendas.
Arthur picked out a couple smaller reviewers and streamers who he felt would appreciate the invitation more. The remaining two slots for this wave were given to Arthur as a gift. This didn¡¯t happen in thest timeline, but due to circumstance he could now bring his friends into the beta with him.
Thest two waves, five and six, set to start during week nine and eleven respectively. These spots were prizes in a raffle, not auctioned off like the first three waves, this made them more affordable and prevented their sample of testers from being exclusively tycoons and trust fund kids.
Excitement filled the inte once more, especially for those who earned a spot in the beta. In two weeks the first group would be allowed to start, and on the first week of February the next group, then the next, until finally they could be allowed to y. Each group¡¯s start time was separated by a four day gap to prevent spawn from being overcrowded, something they didn¡¯t really figure a proper solution out for when it came to the full release.
Eventually the day had arrived, two hundred people were brought into arge facility. Although it felt more like a repurposed aerone hangar due to the sheer size of the building. It shared a simr colour palette to the main building, industrial white with cobalt blue details. As the group walked through the facility, they passed severalrge rooms, each containing several rows of VR capsules lined up like soldiers performing a ceremonial drill.
There were groups of people working with cables in some of the other rooms they passed, it appeared they were still setting up the capsules in preparation for the other groups.
The group of testers were brought into a briefing room, where they were taught the basic operations of the machine, such as how to log in and log out, and how to contact the outside world in the case of an emergency. A major part of the briefing was safety, although the technology was revolutionary, the thought of your mind being trapped in a digital world was terrifying.
They made sure to emphasise the safety precautions their machines took to keep you safe, ejecting you at the slightest hint of danger. Arthur had experienced all of this first hand, especially being unable to fall asleep in the capsule. They really were excessive when it came to safety, and it wasn¡¯t just because Arthur¡¯s father made sure no harm woulde to his son, but there obviously was that influence, and threat, looming over every discussion the developers made.
Eventually it was time to start. The group was lead over to the first room they walked past while entering. There were two hundred VR capsules in this room, but it didn¡¯t feel cramped in the slightest, rather the room almost felt empty. As the group walked around they were told that each VR capsule had a te with their names written on it, everyone eventually found their own capsule.
Arthur knew upon entering the room which capsule was his... Not because of his past, but because unlike the silver polish every other machine had, his was a faint metallic purpleyered with white runic designs, it looked as though his capsule had been wrapped like a car. The most ring detail of all was that the word "Merlin" was printed inrge rune-looking letters on the front.
This was the birthday present the development team had given Arthur. In the previous timeline Arthur had received a painted 3D model statue of Fluffernutter, the local cat in the beta test world¡¯s beginner vige.
Due to Arthur¡¯s actions, he had changed the timeline in an unexpected way, which left him a little sad because he loved that statue. Although he didn¡¯t hate the custom wrapped capsule, he felt it was a little gaudy, and brought some unwanted attention upon him. He figured it was probably due to some of the things he talked about when the developers visited him while he was hospitalised.
Arthur made a mental note to get a statue of Fluffernutter made at some point in the future, although he would see the real Fluffernutter real soon.
Eventually everyone entered the capsules as instructed, each capsule started lighting up. Arthur could feel his hair began standing on end as he entered the capsule. As he rest on the seat within the capsule, a slight tingly sensation ran through his body. It wasn¡¯t ufortable, in fact, Arthur foundfort in the sense of familiarity this sensation brought him.
A holographic projection appeared in front of Arthur, showing the current diagnostics of the machine. The word "syncing" was written inrge bold letters, and along side it was a loading icon, this indicated that the machine was adapting its connections to the new user.
This was a major reason why each capsule was designated a single user andbelled, not all brains operate the same, so the machine has to spend time calibrating to the needs of a specific user. Over extended and repeated use, the machine would better establish connections, giving the user more freedom andfort in their digital avatar.
Eventually the synchronisation wasplete, Arthur could feel a warm feeling run through his body, this was a sign that the machine linked up correctly, when the probing electric currents changed from a tingling sensation to aforting warm sensation.
The holographic projection on screen changed, the next word was "scanning", with yet another loading icon. A green mesh ofsers slowly scanned his body, this was building a 3D model of their general appearance to use as a base for their avatar.
Within New Genesis, there were rules during character creation that helped with adapting and beingfortable in your digital avatar, one of those rules was that your height and general size could not be changed drastically from within the game. But this would update to fit your real body to keep consistency.
The capsule finished scanning Arthur, the next word to appear on the hologram was "instantiating", as soon as that word appeared on screen, the capsule tilted back forty-five degrees, causing Arthur to be in more of aying down position than a seated position.
The words on the hologram changed once more. "Instantiationplete. Would you like to log in?"
Arthur closed his eyes, took a deep breath in to calm himself before confidently speaking the word, "Yes."
Chapter 16: Character Creation.
Arthur closed his eyes in anticipation, his body began slowly losing consciousness, until he waspletely disconnected from reality.
All of the sounds Arthur was hearing began fading out. The sounds from various machines, the nearby personnel talking loudly, the strange excited squeals emanating from the neighbouring capsules. Eventually it was all gone, reced by nothing but deafening silence.
Arthur was floating in a ck void, and then he opened his eyes.
What stood before him was a bright white room that seemed to endlessly expand into the horizon, this was the virtual hub that Arthur was all too familiar with. It stood as the boundary between the real world and the game world, the benefit of this being that you didn¡¯t have to log out of the capsule every time you wanted to take a short break from the game.
One of the options this hub world offered was the option to interact with the real world from within the virtual one, this was much harder to do from within the game, apart from an emergency situation, as time was experienced differently from within the game.
Yet another option of the hub was being able to join lobbies, simted environments that allowed you to interact with others currently in the virtual hub. Everyone in the beta test was directed to join the only public lobby currently open when they logged in, letting them interact with others while the server wasing online.
Arthur stared at his hands, on his arms were an assortment of glowing buttons used to traverse the virtual hub, although there were more ways to do so, such as verbally or with gestures. Arthur was curious if they had implemented a method to control it with his thoughts as he had asked, but it didn¡¯t seem like that had been implemented yet, or if it was, he wasn¡¯t yet able to control it.
Clicking on one of buttons, one with a silhouette of several people standing alongside each other, a holographic user interface appeared in front of him. It wasbelled the "lobby menu". Within the menu were tools for searching for and filtering through lobbies, however there was only one lobby avable at this time.
Arthur clicked the lobby titled "Beta Testers Join!". His body was suddenly enveloped in a white light, and when it faded away he was in a new environment, it was some kind of downtown city area. He was surrounded by various buildings, food courts, coffee shops, there was even arge yground a little further away. If Arthur didn¡¯t know he was in a virtual world, he would have thought this was reality, although theck of life anywhere to be seen also gave it away somewhat.
Yet another amazing thing about virtual lobbies was that due to everything in the virtual world being replicated, including taste, you could eat anything you wanted without facing repercussions, no dieting required, and since it was virtual everything could be replicated infinitely, for free.
Arthur swiped a slice of cake from the coffee shop, and poured himself a hot chocte from the coffee machine.
As Arthur sat down outside and began eating his cake, shes of light dotted the scenery, fading away to reveal a yer from the beta team. The silent scenery devoid of life Arthur had started getting used to was now ruined by the recent influx of people and their loud gasps in awe and amazement.
Arthur understood their feelings, he had over thirty-one years of experience within the virtual realm and was still amazed at it. Eventually the gasps of amazement died down somewhat, mostly due to most of the crowd now staring at the one boy who had peacefully been eating cake this whole time, the same boy who had the obnoxiously gaudy custom VR capsule.
Not much was known about Arthur, the only parties he really attended were hosted by his father¡¯spany, and only those were out of obligation most of the time. He wasn¡¯t fond of public gatherings, this much typically stayed the same even after he gained confidence and lost his shy nature with age.
"What?" Arthur spoke out to the crowd. "The food is free."
Taking onest bite of his cake, Arthur ced down his cutlery. Feeling a little ufortable with everyone staring at him, Arthur decided he was going to just wait alone. "I¡¯d rmend the pavlova."
Arthur waved goodbye to the crowd before pping the "return to hub" button on his arm. From everyone else¡¯s point of view, he was enveloped in a sh of light and suddenly vanished.
Back in the endless white room, Arthurid down on the cold floor, mumbling to himself. "This is going to be tiring."
Eventually he heard the mechanical jingle indicating that the server hade online. Sitting back up, he pressed the y button, his body once again being enveloped in light, only for it to fade, but once it did, he was in a ck void once more, the only difference being a duplicate of himself was standing still in front of him.
Various menus, sliders, colour wheels and the like appeared around the clone, this was the character creation window, he could adjust his in-game avatar as he liked, with limitations such as his physical mass.
Arthur knew what changes he wanted, he kept it rtively simple, still wanting his avatar to look like him somewhat.
He started with colour, opening the colour menu and selecting skin to start with, Arthur was presented with a few sliders. His first change was adjusting his skin tone, Arthur dragged the slider for tone almost all the way down, causing what was an almost beige skin tone to instantly lighten to a very fair tone, almost white.
While still on the colour menu, he moved on to hair. Adjusting tone and hue, all of the colour from his long straight golden brown hair drained away, leaving bright white hair, with streaks of silver and dark grey.
With these two changes Arthur immediately took on a more albino appearance.
For hisst change within the colour menu, Arthur selected his pale blue eyes. He changed the colour to a deep royal purple and then maxed out the slider that controlled vibrancy.
The vibrant purple eyes stood out amongst the pale face and white hair, with this Arthur was happy.
Arthur made a couple more changes outside of colour, just a few aesthetic changes to the things he felt self-conscious about, such as sharpening his jaw somewhat and choosing to remove all blemishes, such as pore scarring.
When he was satisfied, he was presented with a holographic keyboard, and a holographic screen that asked him to pick his username. Arthur wrote "Merlin" and pressed enter. Some things changed, but this was going to stay the same.
Upon agreeing to his username choice, Arthur was enveloped in white light once more, as it faded, he was presented with an endless green field of rolling hills. A rush of wind blew past, caressing his skin.
Arthur-- no, Merlin couldn¡¯t help but smile, he was finally back in his world.
"Wee to New Genesis, Merlin." A voice echoed through the wind, it sounded feminine, but also somewhat robotic. This was the voice of Gaia, the god with absolute control over the world, and also the smartest artificial intelligence humanity has ever created. "Please, choose a weapon. Do not worry, there is no ss system in New Genesis, you will not be restricted, and may switch out your y style as you wish."
Rows of beginner weapons materialised around Merlin, floating at chest height. There were various generic weapons you¡¯d expect, such as swords, axes, short and longbows, various staffs and wands. But there were also more exotic weapons, such as scythes, chakrams, various assortments of throwing weapons, hook swords, brass knuckles, etc.
Merlin knew grabbing something exotic and cumbersome would be at his own detriment, so he settled for a shield and a short sword. Merlin decided he would choose a round shield rather than a kite, heater or tower shield to improve his mobility.
He was used to running a build with high mobility, but they weren¡¯t cut out for levelling this early on in the game. Especially not until he obtained a ss that gave him abilities to support such a build. The safest choice was to rely on a shield and swordbination.
Merlin picked a set that contained a buckle strapped round shield, simr to a targe, paired with a Roman dius sword. He was allowed to go around and test each weapon if he wished, but he felt happy with his choice. When a screen appeared asking if Merlin was content with his choice or if he would like to test other weapons, Merlin confirmed his weapon selection, causing the other weapons to fade away.
"The tutorial will now begin, please y as many beasts as you can within the given time limit." Gaia¡¯s voice resounded once more. Momentster, gtinous spheres started forming in the air around Merlin, dropping to the ground once they reached a certain size.
The first enemy everyone had to face, the ssic slime.
Chapter 17: The Tutorial - I
Merlin scanned his environment, it appeared that eight slimes had been spawned. Due to this being the tutorial stage, each slime was level zero, meaning they would not pose a threat to Merlin at all.
"Openbat settings." As Merlin spoke these words, he received a mechanical jingle, and a window appeared in front of him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Settings ¡ú Combat Settings]
? Fighting Assistance - ON
? Pain Synchronisation - 20%
? Damage Given Notification - Floating Numbers
? Damage Received Notification - Information Box
? NeuroControl - Further Synchronisation Required.
....
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Merlin made sure to turn fighting assistance off. It was an unpleasant feature that gave some of the control of your body to the system when fighting, the closest thing to auto-attack you could get in New Genesis. It was good for casual yers but only those who broke away from it could rise up to be rankers.
Merlin took note of a couple changes, that he personally contributed to, floating number damage notifications and the NeuroControl system, unfortunately it seemed he couldn¡¯t utilise the NeuroControl system yet.
Merlin swiped his hand through the settings window, causing it to fade away.
Merlin brought his attention back to the slimes, they didn¡¯t appear to be moving. Nevertheless, he took a cautioned fighting stance. He held his shield out in front of his torso and kept his dius by his side, extended out slightly past the shield.
Merlin slowly approached the nearest slime. As he entered within its detection radius, about two metres away, it began to wobble, indicating that it was about to pounce. As Merlin took a step closer, the slime pounced into the air towards him.
Merlin quickly responded by swinging his shield at the slime to p it away, much to his surprise the slime exploded into a ssh of blue viscous liquid. Merlin couldn¡¯t help butugh, his memories had tricked him into believing the first slimes were harder to kill than that.
In the previous timeline, Merlin had originally struggled with the slimes to start with due to not realising that they didn¡¯t take damage if you just sh the jelly. You had to specifically damage the core inside to deal them any damage.
A major part in adapting to New Genesis is to stop thinking of it as video game, unlike other games where you could just spam an attack key to kill creatures, you have to physically do the work yourself, some creatures required special methods to kill them. Although this brought more strategy to the game than the min-maxing button mashing grind that other MMORPGs tend to fall into. There was still a lot of grind within the game, especially at the excessively high levels, although that unfortunately just came with the genre.
Merlin regained his bearings, returning to his cautioned stance, he located the next nearest slime and made his approach. As simr as before, the slime began wobbling, but before it could pounce, Merlin rushed forward, stabbing it with his sword.
The first attack had pierced the slime¡¯s core, causing the creature to melt as if a stationary water balloon had just been popped with a knife.
Continuing on with his current pace, Merlin rushed through the next six slimes, each dying in a single hit. "This didn¡¯t feel like much of a tutorial." Merlin unintentionally mumbled, kicking thest slime hard enough to shatter its core, the viscous liquid now covering his shoe.
"Ohoho, confident are we?" Gaia¡¯s voice resounded once more, however this time her voice contained a hint of mischievousness.
Merlin was taken back slightly, he never expected Gaia to respond to his mumbling, perhaps this was a secret challenge within the tutorial stage. He responded with confidence. "Sure, got anything stronger?"
Suddenly a quest window appeared before Merlin.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Hidden Umon Quest]
The Tutorial¡¯s Challenger.
Entertain Gaia, Survive her onught.
? Reward: ???
? Requirement: Must be in the tutorial stage.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
There were a couple ways of interacting with quests. Two buttons appear below each quest window, a blue one that said "ept" and a red one that said "decline". They could also be interacted with via speech, especially when talking to an NPC, the wording typically did not matter, as long as the meaning was clear.
"I ept your challenge." Merlin¡¯s face lit up, he hadn¡¯t even left the tutorial and he already found a hidden quest, an umon one at that.
"Very well, entertain me mortal." Gaia¡¯s voice travelled across a strong gust of wind. Merlin covered his face to protect his eyes from the loose des of grass that were buffeting his body. When the wind subsided, Merlin could hear several strange gargling growls.
Lowering his arm, he was met with the sight of five hideous little green creatures, with pointed ears and an elongated nose jutting out from an angr face.
Like other games, New Genesis went with the easiest way to convey enemy strength to the yer. A status bar floating above the enemy¡¯s head, it typically had the creature¡¯s health, level and sometimes name. More information could be gathered about monsters and creatures, but it typically took special methods to aplish, such as a title, knowledge or soul ability, such as appraisal or inspect.
"Oh, level one goblins in the tutorial." Merlin took note of the enemy¡¯s status bar, he was surprised to find that there were five of them, let alone that they were level one in the tutorial. Goblins were nasty creatures, although each was weak separately, their strength multiplied when they grouped together.
Two of the goblins were equipped with nothing but a crude club. Another one had a mangled dagger, the one at the furthest back had a makeshift short bow, with what looked to be scavenged old arrows with rotten shafts. Thest one, the one closest to Merlin, was more well off than his teammates, armed with a wooden buckler and a rusted short sword.
The ranged goblin started the fight, sending an arrow flying through the air, aimed towards Merlin¡¯s thigh. Merlin parried the arrow away with his shield, the rotten wood shattered on contact, leaving the arrow unusable. Merlin bent down for a moment and ripped out a handful of grass, only to stand up once more, he decided to kill the shielded goblin first, as he posed the biggest threat.
Merlin marched towards the shielded goblin, he noticed the other goblins start moving to surround him. This was amon goblin strategy, usually amplified by the darkness in the caves they lived in. If he attacked their leader, the shield bearer, the dagger wielding goblin would attack his nk in an instant.
Even knowing this, he continued on towards the shield bearer, as he enteredbat range, he could see the confident grin on the monster¡¯s hideous wart-covered face. Merlin lifted his dius overhead and began swinging his sword down at the shield goblin.
¡¯Three, two, one.¡¯ Merlin finished counting in his head, and if by clockwork, just before his sword made contact with the shield, he could feel a presence behind him.
"Gotcha" Merlin¡¯s face contorted into a confident grin. Taking the opportunity to deal with the rogue first, he swung his shield arm behind him while delivering a Spartan kick to the shield bearer.
The shield bearer was caught by surprise, it had braced itself for a sword attack from above, but instead was met with a forceful kick from below. Unable to recover its footing, the goblin fell backwards, leaving it unable to retaliate for the moment.
On the other side of this manoeuvre, his shield arm wasn¡¯t close enough to connect with the dagger goblin. But that wasn¡¯t what he was aiming for. Merlin opened his hand at the apex of his swing, and within an instant the dagger goblin¡¯s vision was suddenly obscured by a handful of grass.
Taking advantage of the dagger goblin¡¯s sudden vulnerability, Merlin pivoted his supporting foot and twisted his upper body, allowing him to redirect his sword mid-swing. Before the grass could dissipate away, the dagger goblin¡¯s throat was sliced open by the dius, it was a critical hit.
"One" Merlin¡¯s eyes scanned his surroundings, noticing the positions of the remaining four goblins. His eyes narrowed in on the archer, who had just finished pulling back another arrow, although this arrow gave Merlin a bad feeling. As the goblin released the arrow, Merlin noticed a faint red glint from the arrow head.
Merlin instinctively grabbed the dagger goblin¡¯s corpse and threw it in the way of the arrow¡¯s flight path. The arrow pierced the goblin¡¯s corpse, and a momentter the corpse was suddenly set ame.
"A shield-punisher at level one, that¡¯s not fair." Merlin grumbled.
Ignition arrows were the bane of all early game tank yers, due to wood being the mostmon and one of the cheapest materials used for low level shields. Ignition arrows would ravage wooden items, this included wooden shields, leading to the nickname shield-punisher.
"You¡¯re going to be an issue." Merlin sighed as he leaned down, picking up the charcoal goblin¡¯s mangled dagger.
Chapter 18: The Tutorial - II
The goblin closest to Merlin began standing up, while the two club goblins ran towards Merlin. Even so, Merlin¡¯s attention was locked on the archer, he was the biggest threat.
Merlin sheathed the mangled dagger before suddenly pouncing forward.
The shield bearing goblin, while still on its knees, noticed Merlin¡¯s quick approach, and held its shield in front of it, covering most of its body from Merlin¡¯s view.
As Merlin moved within a metre of the shield goblin, he suddenly jumped onto the shield and used it as a spring board, propelling himself closer to the ranged threat. At this point the archer goblin started to panic, it had just finished loading another arrow, this one didn¡¯t appear to be anything special however.
As the goblin let loose another arrow, Merlin ducked out of the way just in time. The arrow flew past his cheek and embedded itself into the soil a few metres from the shield bearer.
Merlin entered melee range with the goblin moments after, he swung down his sword, but the archer goblin managed to avoid his strike. Merlin pivoted the de mid-strike and managed to clip the bow¡¯s string, causing all the tension in the bow limbs to suddenly release. It was now wielding a glorified stick.
The goblin attempted to hit Merlin with its destroyed bow, but was quickly parried away with Merlin¡¯s shield. Merlin shed at the goblin¡¯s throat, cleaving through it with ease. After killing it, Merlin ripped the makeshift quiver from the creature and began inspecting the remaining three arrows, it appeared the rest of the arrows were normal.
Turning his attention back to the other three goblins, they were all charging towards him. Merlin ran forward while tossing the quiver at one of the club goblins, hoping it would serve as a slight distraction, before charging the other club goblin.
Merlin mmed his shield into the club goblin, sending it staggering back, before cleaving through its shoulder with his sword. He had aimed at the neck, but the sword slid towards his shoulder due to it being coated with a viscous ck liquid.
A goblin¡¯s blood was vile and fatty, it stuck to ded weapons over time, causing them to be harder to use. The best counter to this was a well oiled de, although high quality weapons or weapons with magical properties also fared well against it. Unfortunately every beginner weapon was of a poor quality.
Merlin mmed his shield into the goblin¡¯s face to finish it off, it took two extra hits but the creature finally died. Merlin stabbed his sword into the ground and picked up the crude club, unfortunately he couldn¡¯t even spend a moment to try clean the blood from his weapon, so he had to make do with what he had.
The two remaining goblins were now side-by-side, marching towards Merlin. He no longer had the chance to pick each off individually. Merlin started sprinting towards the shield bearer, who raised its shield in response.
As Merlin enteredbat range of both goblins, he unsheathed the mangled dagger and threw it at the club goblin¡¯s leg, causing it to flinch. He then mmed his shield into the shield bearer¡¯s shield, unfortunately the goblin had braced himself, turning this conflict into a contested feat of strength.
Eventually the club goblin regained itsposure and swung its club at Merlin. Merlin pushed away from the shield goblin, barely escaping the club¡¯s devastating blow. Merlin backed away from the two goblins and waited for them to approach. Due to the dagger embedded in its leg, the club goblin was limping. After a small distance, there was enough of a gap between the two goblins for Merlin to work without being nked.
Merlin ran around the shield goblin and instead decided to rush the club goblin, he was easier to dispatch due to not being equipped with any decent gear. Merlin enteredbat distance with the club goblin, who had already started swinging his club in Merlin¡¯s general direction. Merlin parried the club with his shield, while swinging his own club towards the goblin¡¯s head.
The club goblin had sacrificed its spare arm to guard its head, the disgusting green skin started forming blotches of ck where Merlin¡¯s club struck, and the arm itself went limp. It appeared Merlin had shattered the goblin¡¯s arm.
The goblin¡¯s face recoiled in pain, its gargled growls turning more fierce as it swung its club at Merlin once more. Merlin blocked its path with the shield while swinging at the goblin¡¯s head. Both strikes connected simultaneously, Merlin¡¯s arm went numb from the violent vibrations of the club.
Unlike earlier where he would parry attacks away,pletely nullifying the damage dealt, he took this attack straight on by blocking it, causing all the force to be felt in his arm. While this would still reduce the damage significantly, it still dealt some degree of damage.
Meanwhile Merlin¡¯s club had connected with the goblin¡¯s skull, shattering it. The club goblin fell limp, leaving one goblin remaining.
Merlin took note of his health, he had lost roughly a quarter of it from one attack. Although at level zero he only had ten health total. You gained 10 health every level, this could be amplified with titles, equipment and certain souls that gave bonuses to health.
In his previous life, Merlin¡¯s base health was only fifty off of reaching nine thousand. Although those who specialised in tank builds would have several times that at higher levels.
Merlin spent a moment shaking the numb sensation out of his shield arm. He reached down and picked up the second club, it was somewhat cumbersome trying to carry arger weapon in the hand he was holding his shield with, but due to the buckles and straps he didn¡¯t have to worry about dropping the shield. He also grabbed the dagger, sheathing it once more.
Thest goblin began charging at Merlin, intending to tackle him with his body¡¯s entire force. Merlin swung his club in the goblin¡¯s direction, releasing it at the apex of the swing. The club flew into the air, it would have made contact with the goblin¡¯s face had it not blocked the club with its shield. Fortunately, the goblin blocking the club caused him to stop charging, all that momentum was now lost.
Merlin swapped his spare club to his main hand and then unsheathed the dagger to his offhand, smaller weapons were easier to wield when you had a shield strapped to the same arm.
Merlin ran towards thest goblin and swung the club at it. The goblin sessfully parried the club, but Merlin followed up by punching the goblin in the face with the edge of his shield. The shield sliced a gash on the goblin¡¯s forehead, causing ck viscous blood to flow down its face, blinding it in one eye.
The goblin ran forward and thrust its rusty de towards Merlin, only to get parried once more. Merlin brought his club down on the goblin¡¯s head, smashing its skull.
"It¡¯s a lot harder doing this with no stats." Merlin whined as he plopped himself down on the grassy field.
"Does this mean you want to give up?" Gaia¡¯s voice could be heard once more.
"Just give a guy time to catch his breath." Merlin retorted.
After a little while he stood back up. Merlin walked over to the mangled dagger, pulling it out of a goblin corpse. He wiped as much goblin blood from the de as he could, it wasn¡¯t perfect, but it¡¯d do in a pinch.
Merlin picked up the rusted sword from the goblin shield bearer¡¯s corpse. it didn¡¯t seem to be any better than his dius, the rust had blunted it and ruined its durability.
Merlin walked over and picked up his dius sword, it was slick with goblin blood, attempting to wipe the blood off did little to improve its quality. In ast ditch effort, Merlin ran the rusted de alongside the dius, sessfully scraping offyers of goblin blood.
After a couple moments, the dius was back in working condition. Merlin had also healed what little health he had lost.
"Alright, I¡¯m ready, what¡¯s next?" Merlin asked. This time he didn¡¯t get a response from Gaia, instead the piercing howl of wolves echoed throughout the field.
In the distance were threerge wolves with pure white coats, slowly approaching Merlin¡¯s general location.
"Wave two, wolves. Right." Merlin psyched himself up, the creatures weren¡¯t close enough for him to see their level, but he could naturally assume they¡¯d be at least one higher than the goblins, especially if there were less enemies this time around.
Merlin walked over and ripped the buckler from the shield bearer goblin¡¯s corpse, it was smaller than his own shield, but it coulde in handy.
Much like goblins, wolves were extremely dangerous in a pack, yet unlike goblins, wolves could hold their own if separated from the pack.
Eventually the wolves came into range, their detection range was much higher than both the slimes and goblins, as expected of a creature with keen instincts.
The wolves split up, slowly moving to surround Merlin. This move was deadly, not only because he was being attacked by three powerful creatures in his blind spots, but because pack creatures like wolves received a damage bonus when working in a group due to the passive ability called pack tactics.
Chapter 19: The Tutorial - III
The wolves continued to circle Merlin, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Merlin made sure to keep his guard up while thinking of a way to break the encirclement. If he could distract one, handling two at once wouldn¡¯t be impossible.
Merlin transferred his dius to his offhand and held the goblin¡¯s shield in his main hand. The wolves noticed this change, and one of them believing it could take advantage of the situation broke away from their formation, dashing towards Merlin¡¯s blind spot.
Merlin adjusted his footing and twisted his body, building up as much momentum within his arm as he could within a short span of time. Merlin released the goblin¡¯s buckler, throwing it like a discus at the rogue wolf.
Having little room to dodge, the buckler made contact with the wolf¡¯s head, dealing significant damage and causing the wolf to lose its footing. The wolf had tripped but its momentum carried it across the grassy field, the wolf¡¯s white fur being stained green by the chlorophyll in the grass.
Eventually the wolf came to a stop, roughly a metre away from Merlin. The two other wolves began rushing forward, realising something bad was going to happen.
Merlin took the opportunity given to him, he ran toward the wolf that was stillying on its side, stunned. As he drew near, he raised the dius above his head and thrust it down into the wolf¡¯s neck, the creature was not yet dead, although he had dealt it a critical hit. Before the other two wolves could pounce on him, he repeated his actions, finishing off the wolf.
As Merlin dealt the wolf a killing blow, one of the wolves pounced him, biting down on his hind leg. Merlin kicked it off and entered a defensive stance, but as he did so the wolf that had circled behind him pounced towards him.
Merlin quickly pivoted his good leg and twisted his torso, the wolf¡¯s toothy maw was inching closer by the second. Merlin wouldn¡¯t have had enough time to swing his de, so instead he decided to forcibly shove his fist, or more specifically the shield strapped to his arm, into the wolf¡¯s mouth.
The wolf mped its jaw down on the shield, preventing Merlin from using the arm or moving. The other wolf pounced Merlin from behind. The wolf was attacking from an odd angle, he couldn¡¯tfortably rotate his body due to his arm being held by the other wolf.
Merlin thrust his sword into the neck of the wolf holding his shield arm, using it as leverage to rip his shield from the wolf¡¯s mouth. With a burst of strength, he finally managed to free his shield from the wolf¡¯s grasp, shattering the wolf¡¯s teeth in the process.
Barely making it in time, Merlin whacked the wolf pouncing him with his shield, knocking it away. His sword was still inside the wolf with the shattered teeth, who took its chance to limp away as Merlin was contesting the wolf¡¯s teammate.
Noticing its prey was left without a weapon, the unharmed wolf started acting more aggressively, pouncing at Merlin once more. Merlin raised his shield to block it, but the wolf dug its ws into the wooden shield and climbed over it. The wolf attempted to sink its teeth into Merlin¡¯s neck, but to its surprise it was met with a the sharp edge of a mangled dagger.
Merlin sunk the dagger into the wolf¡¯s eye socket and tackled it to the ground, pinning to the floor with his shield. He ripped the dagger out and began repeatedly stabbing the creature, the dagger didn¡¯t deal as much damage as his dius, so it took several attacks to finish the beast.
When the wolf had died, he stood up once more and walked over to thest wolf who was attempting to escape, limping away from the fight. Merlin eventually caught up with the creature, finishing it off and reiming his sword.
"You¡¯ve a very resourceful one I see, merciless as well." Gaia¡¯s voice appeared once more,plimenting Merlin for his actions, "This is thest wave, good luck."
Not even giving Merlin a chance to heal, the third wave had begun. Or so Merlin thought, but for the next few moments nothing had happened.
It was only when Merlin had let down his guard that he could hear faint clinking sounds echoing throughout the wind. As he turned to face the direction the sound wasing from, he noticed an assortment of bones arranging themselves within the air. It seemed hisst challenge was a skeletal creature, not the best match up for someone with two shing weapons, especially someone who had been relying on staggering up until now.
Undead creatures couldn¡¯t feel pain, so trying to stun or stagger them by inflicting pain didn¡¯t work. As as for dealing damage it was inefficient to try and cut bone with ded weapons. Not to mention, following the trend the previous waves followed, this monster was at least three levels higher than him.
The creature had finished forming, it turned out to be a level three skeleton, an undead humanoidprised entirely of bone and held together through some form of magic. This skeleton in particr was equipped with exact replicas of Merlin¡¯s equipment, the shield and the dius.
The skeleton released a haunting battle cry before charging towards Merlin, sword drawn, Merlin followed suit. Eventually the two met in the middle as their swords shed, sending sparks into the air. The skeleton¡¯s face got really close to Merlin¡¯s, he could somehow smell the scent of death emanating from the skeleton¡¯s mouth.
"You need a mint." Merlin retorted, swinging his shield at the skeleton, to which it broke away from the stalemate by dodging his attack, the skeleton¡¯s bones rattling as it moved.
Merlin stepped back intobat range, swinging the dius at the skeleton once more. The skeleton swung back, locking the two in yet another stalemate. A few momentster, the skeleton swung its shield at Merlin, mimicking the move it witnessed earlier. Fortunately Merlin saw thising and ducked out of the way in time.
Merlin was at a loss of what to do, the skeleton was equipped with his equipment, but was several levels higher than him, so he couldn¡¯t overpower it.
Merlin rushed the skeleton once more, getting locked into yet another stalemate, however this time he swiftly unsheathed the dagger and thrust it at the skeleton¡¯s skull, wedging it into the skeleton¡¯s eye socket.
It did an almost negligible amount of damage, and it didn¡¯t seem to have any adverse effect on the skeleton. If anybody was watching right now, they¡¯d have the impression that it was overall a pointless action.
Merlin pulled away from the stalemate once more, Merlin took a few steps back and quickly scanned his surroundings, his eyes narrowing in on a group of goblin corpses. Merlin ran away from the skeleton in the direction of the goblin corpses.
Merlin swapped his sword to his offhand and quickly bent down to pick up one of the clubs. Bludgeoning damage was the way to go in regards to skeletal creatures. It dealt massive damage due to its raw destructive power not being absorbed by muscle fibres and skin.
The skeleton was running towards Merlin, the monster¡¯s pace was slightly faster than his own, so the monster was withinbat distance by the time Merlin stood up and faced towards it.
The skeleton shed down at Merlin with an overhead swing. Merlin easily dodged it by stepping to the side and responded by attempting to whack the skeleton¡¯s sword arm.
The skeleton barely managed to force the shield in the club¡¯s path, but the force of the blow sent it staggering for a moment, long enough for Merlin to strike the skeleton once more, this time targeting the shoulder connecting the skeleton¡¯s shield arm to the rest of the body.
The club connected and the shoulder shattered into tiny fragments of bone. The skeleton¡¯s shield, and the arm attached to it, fell to the ground with a thud. Seemingly offended by this action, the skeleton released another harrowing battle cry before taking another sh at Merlin.
Merlin parried the de with the dius in his offhand, and swung his club at the skeleton¡¯s face.
The club made contact with the mangled de¡¯s handle, sending it further into the skeleton¡¯s skull, cracks formed on the de, it seemed the durability for such an unloved weapon wasing to an end.
The sound of metal shattering echoed within the hollow skull, followed by the sight of cracks forming on the skull itself as the handle was pushed in further.
The club¡¯s blow had sent the skeleton tumbling back, Merlin rushed towards it, bashing it with his shield and knocking it prone. The skeleton attempted to swing its de at Merlin in a futile attempt to defend itself, but its de was knocked away with ease.
Merlin stood over the skeleton, he brought the club down on its skull, sending more cracks through it. Although the skeleton was still alive and helplessly struggling, Merlin spent the next few moments continuously smashing this skeleton¡¯s skull with the crude club until it was a pile of bone fragments.
Eventually the skeleton stopped moving, and a mechanical jingle yed as a notification box appeared within his vision.
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 1.¡¹
Chapter 20: Beginner Village.
Following his level up notification, another notification window appeared.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "The Tutorial¡¯s Champion."¡¹
"A title already?" This notification surprised Merlin, titles were one of the most important things in New Genesis. Due to there being no such thing as assignable stat points in this game, titles were one of the few major ways to increase stats, the others being equipment, souls and asionally knowledge.
There were a few methods outside of those four to increase stats, but they were the major ones, everything else was an exception, such as being too unique to even bother mentioning.
Merlin checked the title he just received, a window appeared before him.
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[The Tutorial¡¯s Champion.]
Granted as a reward forpleting the quest, "The Tutorial¡¯s Challenger."
? Vitality: +1
? Strength: +2
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"Wow, those are some pretty good bonuses." Merlin was genuinely happy with this reward. At level zero, all of your stats started at one, you gained one point into every stat per level up. After reaching level one, Merlin¡¯s strength was only two, and his health was twenty.
This title added an extra ten health, raising Merlin¡¯s current health pool to thirty, as each point in vitality granted you ten health. His strength score was also doubled, strength contributed to things such as your carry capacity, load bearing ability and physical damage.
"I never expected to see such talent here, I¡¯m impressed." Gaia¡¯s voice echoed throughout the endless field once more, followed by a notification that even surprised Merlin.
¡¸You have earned +1 familiarity with Gaia.¡¹
Earning familiarity was somewhat umon of a reward, usually tied torger quests for most NPCs. But to earn familiarity with Gaia herself, it was unheard of. As far as anybody knew, she was just the AI designated to run the game. While yes, she had backstory within the world, everyone just thought it was vour text for the world¡¯s lore. Nobody stopped to think that she would be an actual NPC within the game, not even Merlin.
"Traveller, before I can allow you to run free in my world, I must share some dire news with you." Gaia began speaking, Merlin already knew it was the part where they exin the use of souls, but there was unfortunately no way to skip the tutorial.
"When outsiders travel to our world, part of their existence is lost during the transfer." Gaia¡¯s voice took on a more solemn tone. "Fortunately, it grants you a rare opportunity not present within the world¡¯s natives."
"This right here is a soul." A strange wispy red orb suddenly appeared a few metres in front of Merlin. "This particr soul holds the lived experiences and abilities of a young adventurer who was talented with the de."
Two more wispy orbs appeared, hovering around the red orb, a blue and a green orb. "While these are the souls of a legendary seamstress and one of the goblins you had just in."
The souls maintained their positions for several moments before suddenly vanishing. Gaia spoke up once more. "Souls are the embodiment of a person¡¯s aplishments. However, not every soul is strong enough to manifest."
"Souls are an umon yet valuable resource to the people of my world. They¡¯re important crafting materials that master artisans can use to create artifacts." Gaia continued. "However, travellers such as yourself have found another use for souls, forging them into their own bodies."
"By utilising a soul forge, and using their body as the forge medium. Travellers have discovered that they can integrate with souls by forging them into their own bodies, gaining the experience and abilities of those souls, but more importantly, bing whole once more." Gaia exined, "There are risks to such a feat however, but if you are interested, feel free to visit a soul forge for further exnation."
Eventually Gaia stopped talking, and a sh of white enveloped Merlin once more, "Traveller, I wee you to my world." Gaia spoke onest time before Merlin was swiftly transported away from the grassy fields.
When the light faded away, the first thing Merlin noticed was that the temperature had dropped tremendously whenpared to thest area he was in. Taking a moment to absorb his surroundings, Merlin found himself in a worn down ruin atop arge hill.
Merlin was standing in the centre of some long abandoned ce of worship, some form of circr shrine. The floor he stood on was designed with rows of worn stone bricksid in a radial pattern, and on the furthest edge of the structure were several weather-worn Greek pirs. Some were in better shape than others, with a couple still retaining the Corinthian style ornamental pir caps.
This was the spawn area for new yers in the beta test. Merlin walked towards the edge of the structure, and stared down the hill. There was a vige at the foot of the hill, as well as an overgrown staircase that lead down the hill in the vige¡¯s direction.
Realising that the other yers should be appearing soon, he decided to make his way down the stairs, any kind of lead over the rest of the group would benefit him, even if he did have thirty years of future knowledge.
As Merlin reached the half-way point on the stairs, shes of light began appearing atop the hill, it seemed everyone had finally arrived. It was going to get a lot more crowded soon, Merlin had to grab what he needed and leave before everyone started swarming the vige.
Picking up the pace, Merlin dashed down the staircase, eventually reaching the vige. Merlin¡¯s first order of business was to visit the soul forge. Although he didn¡¯t have any souls yet to use the soul forge¡¯s main feature, the soul forge had another feature, the opening and closing of soul slots.
Souls were a unique mechanic that gave New Genesis its interesting gamey, besides the full dive of course. There were a seemingly infinite amount of souls, with each having its own abilities, bonuses, theme, etc.
The most interesting part of New Genesis was that there wasn¡¯t a ss system, you weren¡¯t even restricted to what souls you could use, these souls could be swapped out at any soul forge, at any time.
If someone who had yed tank for several years decided he wanted to try magic, he could swap out his soul specific to tanking for a magic based soul. Alternatively, if he had an extra soul slot to spare, he could keep the tanking soul enabled and add the magic soul.
That is where soul slots came into y, they were always a controversial topic amongst yers, even thirty years into the future. Soul slots were an expensive trade, they granted the yer the option to have more souls active at one time, but in return made it progressively more difficult to level up. You were trading progress for power.
Merlin was travelling through the vige, eventually he arrived at the soul forge. The building looked like any other cksmith¡¯s workshop from the outside, but upon entering the building Merlin could instantly see where the differences were. The main difference being the massive obsidian obelisk in the middle of the workshop, this was the soul receptacle, it was a glorified global bank exclusively for souls.
Merlin walked over to one of the NPCs manning the counter. "Good day, I¡¯d like to modify my soul vessel."
"Of course, please rest your hand on this tablet." The NPC directed Merlin to a gold encrusted obsidian monument with a t te sitting on top of it, this was the soul forge.
As Merlin rest his hand on the tablet, a notification window appeared before him.
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[Soul Forge]
You are modifying your soul vessel, how many slots would you like to open or close?
Experience requirements for levelling up are listed on the right.
? 1 - 1.0x
? 2 - 1.5x
? 3 - 2.0x
? 4 - 2.5x
? 5 - 3.0x
? 6 - 3.5x
? 7 - 4.0x
Warning: Modifying your soul vessel will cause a change in how your experience is calcted. If you reduce your open soul slots, a percentage of the experience shared with that slot will be deleted.
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"Three slots" Merlin verbally selected three, meaning he would need double the amount of experience to level up. As the soul forge window closed, another pop-up window opened.
¡¸Your level has been reduced to level 0 due to the level requirements changing.¡¹
Unfortunately, this was something that had to be done, it was more efficient to do so earlier so Merlin didn¡¯t have to run back hereter, especially when it was about to be crowded.
"Open inventory." Merlinmanded, causing a window to appear, showing his starter equipment and ten copper pieces, the lowest tier coin within New Genesis.
Merlin walked around the town for a little while, trying to get his bearings. He figured his best option at the moment was to visit the barracks and obtain his first soul, but before that, he had to meet an old friend.
Merlin visited a nearby food stall and purchased two cooked beef skewers. Continuing on his travels, Merlin slipped through several back streets, eventually finding himself in an isted courtyard, surrounded by various potted nts and other vegetation.
But the most important thing here was the handsome gentleman resting on a rocking chair. His vibrant green eyes were locked onto Merlin, as he was a stranger who had just invaded his area.
Merlin walked closer and pulled out the beef skewers, he began pulling the meat from one of the skewers, chunk by chunk,ying them on the ground not too far from the rocking chair.
Eventually the handsome gentleman stopped observing Merlin. He left his perch on the rocking chair and approached the beef. His long orange fur elegantly flowing with every step he took. After sniffing the beef for a moment, he determined it to be safe. He began eagerly scarfing down his feast, only looking up at Merlin after finishing the skewer.
"Don¡¯t worry buddy, I¡¯ve got more for you." Merlin yfully responded, pulling more beef from the other skewer and cing it in front of the fluffy cat. The cat gave Merlin a friendly meow, before going back to eating. A notification window suddenly appeared before Merlin.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "Friend of Fluffernutter."¡¹
Another window opened, showcasing his new title.
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[Friend of Fluffernutter.]
You became friends with Fluffernutter, the local cat.
? Fluffernutter likes you.
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¡¸You have earned +40 familiarity with Fluffernutter.¡¹
The old friend Merlin so desperately had to see was this cat, Fluffernutter.
Chapter 21: The Reaper Appears.
After spending a few more minutes with Fluffernutter, Merlin stood up and made his way out of the courtyard. After traversing through the side streets he had originallye from, Merlin eventually made his way back onto the main street.
As he walked into view, he noticed a few figures making their way through town. Each one was equipped with beginner yer clothing, the same clothing Merlin was currently wearing, they were all yers.
One of the yers caught Merlin¡¯s attention. A tall robust man with tanned skin and long straight ck hair, a long wooden scythe strapped to his back. The man seemed to notice that Merlin was a fellow yer, as his deep red eyes locked on to Merlin the second he appeared from around the corner.
Merlin knew who this man was, in fact, they were rather close in the previous timeline. This man was Typhoeus, the number one ranker in New Genesis, the man who came first in the beta test, and the guild leader of Hell¡¯s Benefit. The guild Merlin helped him establish and maintain.
Another thing to note about Typhoeus was his yer given title in the previous timeline, The Reaper. He received this title due to his insistence on using a scythe, even when it wasn¡¯t efficient to do so, his only reasoning for doing so was because it made him look cool.
Merlin didn¡¯t know how he wanted to interact with Typhoeus this time around. In the previous timeline, Typhoeus had been one of the few yers who adapted to the new world quickly, and used this to get an edge over the others. Merlin just so happened to be in the right ce at the right time to receive some assistance from him, and their friendship grew from there.
Unlikest time however, Merlin was currently the front runner with a massive advantage, so he couldn¡¯t befriend him in the same way. Not to mention, his custom capsule and behaviour in the virtual lobby probably didn¡¯t give a good impression to a lot of people. Everyone in the first wave was either filthy rich or the child of someone who was filthy rich, and their egos typically reached the same heights.
Merlin gave Typhoeus a wave before turning the corner and walking away. He didn¡¯t have time to interact with him yet, he needed to abuse his advantage while everyone was still trying to figure out what to do or how to get quests.
Merlin made his way down a well-paved cobblestone road, the vige had the general feel of a Victorian-era vige, although the architecture was a little more Greek inspired.
Eventually Merlin had reached arge structure on the edge of town. The focal point of this building was that it was built around arge courtyard, and within this courtyard was several practice dummies and areas sectioned off for sparring. This was the vige¡¯s barracks, and it served as a training area for yers, granting them ess to one of the mostmon beginner ss souls, the fighter.
Merlin walked through the open doors of the barracks, and another set into the courtyard, there he was met with the sight of several armoured individuals fighting with various types of weaponry. Merlin¡¯s attention gravitated towards another man who was standing off to the side, barking orders at the younger knights fighting against the practice dummies.
Merlin approached this man, as Merlin moved within a couple metres of the man, a name appeared over his head, this man¡¯s name was General Perakeles. He eventually noticed Merlin approach and turned to face him.
"What can I do for you, young man?" General Perakeles spoke in an generic overbearing military man tone. Perakeles always felt like an uninspired character, created solely to check off an arbitrary character trope, especially whenpared to all the other characters living their lives in New Genesis.
"I would like to receive basicbat training, sir!" Merlin knew he had to respond like a soldier to get a positive response from him, otherwise he¡¯d receive a long lecture on basic military courtesy and etiquette. And if he failed toply after that, he¡¯d be forced to swing a sword at the practice dummy until Perakeles agreed to talk to him again.
Perakeles scanned Merlin¡¯s body from head to toe before speaking up, "Your body isn¡¯t strong enough for realbat, you¡¯ll start with some practice swings."
A quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Training Montage I.
You¡¯ve been given a task to strengthen yourself before you can startbat training. You can strengthen your muscles by swinging at a practice dummy.
Swings remaining: 100
? Reward: +1 Strength
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While it was a repetitive and boring quest, the reward of one free strength point was enticing even if he didn¡¯t want to go down the path of a fighter. Naturally the quest line for the various beginner quests also granted points in their respective stats.
Merlin grabbed one of the wooden swords provided for use within the training grounds and approached a vacant practice dummy.
Merlinzily swung the wooden sword at the dummy, hitting it once before checking his quest counter.
¡¸Swings remaining: 100¡¹
It seemed that you couldn¡¯t skip this quest by beingzy, each swing had to have some degree of effort to count. Knowing this, Merlin took a basicbat stance and began swinging the wooden sword at the training dummy.
A single digit floated above the training dummy¡¯s head for a few moments before fading away.
¡¸Swings remaining: 99¡¹
Merlin swung at the training dummy once more, this time putting more force into the strike. The number two appeared above the dummy¡¯s head this time around, before fading away like thest.
Taking it as a challenge, Merlin swapped to morefortable stance that would allow him to put his whole body¡¯s force into the strike, rather than just his arms. And when he struck the training dummy once more using the full power of his entire body, the number six floated above the dummy¡¯s head.
This was actually a pretty good tutorial, it taught yers that your physical damage depended on how much force you could exert, rather than solely relying on the stats of a weapon, and the optimal way to swing a weapon to maximise damage each time.
Roughly ten minutes had passed, as Merlin took hisst swing, dealing three damage.
¡¸Swings remaining: 0¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Training Montage I", talk to General Perakeles to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin stopped what he was doing, and as he turned around to walk back to General Perakeles, he noticed a small crowd forming at the entrance. It seems a couple yers recognised that one of the knights swinging at the training dummies was actually a fellow yer, and more people built up as time passed, all wondering how to receive some sort of quest in the barracks.
Merlin sighed, there was a learning curve when it came to this game, he had felt the struggle himself at some point, and it was just something the rest of the yer base had to live with. That was just how the game was, it told you the most crucial information straight away and then threw you into the game to figure the rest out yourself.
The biggest hint this game gave you was that it was a new world, and the possibilities were endless. And when they said that, they meant it literally, it was not a marketing ploy.
At some point in the future, a guild that had a couple aeronautical engineers within their ranks decided they were going to follow in the footsteps of the Wright Brothers bypleting a functional bine. This was one of the many impressive feats aplished by utilising New Genesis¡¯s freedom, it was stuff like this that really cemented the idea that New Genesis was apletely new world, not just a game.
Merlin approached General Perakeles, who turned to face him once more.
"Good job recruit, you¡¯re looking tougher already." General Perakelesplimented Merlin, but was still using his drill instructor voice, so it didn¡¯t feel like much of apliment. "Next up, lets have you spar one of the other recruits."
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[Common Quest]
Training Montage II.
You¡¯ve been given a task to practice your swings against a moving target. Hold your own in a spar with a military recruit to continue onto the next stage.
? Reward: +1 Strength
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Merlin epted the quest. General Perakeles called one of the recruits currently swinging at training dummies over to spar. Eventually he was lead over to one of the assigned sparring locations.
"You may take the first strike." The recruit spoke up, sounding rather confident in his own ability. He looked to be in his early twenties, with olive tanned skin, a square jaw and curly ck hair.
Merlin drew his wooden sword and entered his usualbat stance, his eyes nced over to the entrance, where therge crowd was staring at him intensely, before turning back to his sparring partner. "Good luck."
Chapter 22: More Goblins.
Merlin suddenly dashed towards the recruit, lifting his sword up as he enteredbat distance. Merlin swung his sword down at the recruit, putting as much power as he could in the one overhead strike.
The recruit lifted his wooden sword to block the strike. As the two wooden swords collided, painful vibrations rushed down the arms of both participants. These wooden swords had no sticity or any form of shock reduction, so they could feel the full force of every strike.
The recruit recovered from the strike quickly, returning with a wide horizontal swing, it had a lot of power put into it, but itcked discipline. It made sense that he¡¯d be paired to spar against the weakest recruit due to the quest being designed for beginners.
Merlin parried the sword, almost knocking it out of the recruits hands as he stumbled forward helplessly. Merlin took this opportunity to deliver a turning kick to his opponent¡¯s stomach, which staggered the recruit for a moment. This moment was long enough for Merlin to swing his sword at the recruit once more, sweeping the wooden sword out of the recruit¡¯s hands and sending it half way across the courtyard.
Merlin was going to continue, but a notification appeared before him, signalling that the quest conditions had been fulfilled.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Training Montage II", talk to General Perakeles to receive your rewards.¡¹
"Good fight." Merlin showed the recruit some basic sportsmanship, offering to shake his hand before walking off. Basic respect towards an NPC was typically all you really needed to start building good rapport with them, and it was heavily advantageous to do so.
Merlin made his way back to General Perakeles once more. The crowd at the door started to leak into the training grounds, Merlin realised he didn¡¯t have much time left to have this NPC all to himself, eventually they¡¯d all realise he was an important quest giver.
"Well, that was some fight. You¡¯ve proven that you can scrap. But how well do you fare against something that fights back?" As General Perakeles finished talking, yet another quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Training Montage III.
You¡¯ve proven yourself capable in a fight. Your next challenge will be to hunt and kill something that can fight back.
General Perakeles has heard rumours of a small goblin encampment appearing within the forest just south of the vige. He fears that they may start attacking the vige if they¡¯re left to expand, it may be wise to cull their poption as a temporary measure.
Goblins remaining: 5
? Reward: +2 Strength, 250 EXP, ss Soul: Fighter
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Merlin epted the quest, bid farewell to General Perakeles, and began walking to the courtyard¡¯s entrance that was full of people. The crowd watched as Merlin approached, every single one of them was ready to pounce on Merlin and hound him for answers, the self-entitlement emanating from the crowd was almost tangible.
As Merlin entered within a short distance of the crowd, those who focused on him could see his name finally render above his head, and after seeing the name, several faces distorted. They had a hunch as to who this yer was, but it was confirmed seeing the username.
It was the same boy who showed off with a custom VR capsule, the capsule that had his username printed on the front of it, and who showed off his familiarity of the virtual hub before the game even started. Yet the most annoying thing about him was that he was an outsider, yet had the gall to appear out of nowhere and show them up.
Nobody present was aware of his background, he kept an extremely low profile due to his shy nature, staying away fromrge parties and extravagant gatherings for the elites. Whereas most people within the first phase of the game were connected in some way or form. Such as all of the trust fund kids having met before at various social gatherings. And the rest were at the very least known within the various elite circles.
"Treat them like actual humans and you¡¯ll figure it out eventually." Merlin gave them a hint, it would probably put him at a disadvantageter in the game, but it¡¯d be better than having a crowd follow him everywhere he went.
Merlin forced his way through the crowd. His behaviour irritating the crowd once more. And once he was free of them, he ran down the cobblestone street on his way to the southern side of the vige. A few yers decided to follow him instead of following his advice. Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if they were following him to be hostile or were just following because they believed he was going somewhere special and wanted to leech from him. Either way, Merlin couldn¡¯t ept it.
Merlin turned around to face the small group following him. Merlin quickly scanned the group, there didn¡¯t seem to be anybody in the group who mattered in the previous timeline, so Merlin figured he was safe to mess with them if they stepped over the line. Merlin gave the group a wave before dipping into a side street, the group tried to follow him, but Merlin¡¯s constant weaving between buildings eventually gave them the slip.
Merlin made his way past the southern side of the vige, he was currently standing in a small clearing that separated the forest from the vige¡¯s boundaries. Merlin looked around, he noticed a couple yers fighting small creatures, it seemed a couple people figured out how to get quests already, either that or they were just fighting the first thing they saw.
This was a beginner area that spawned level zero wild hares, these creatures could fight back, but were usually killed so fast that they couldn¡¯t deal any damage. Merlin killed a couple hares on his way to the forest¡¯s edge, there were a couple quests that required rabbit meat and rabbit pelt, he figured he should grab some before he went back to the vige, but he¡¯d do that after the goblins.
As he slipped into the forest¡¯s shade, Merlin entered a guarded stance and began sneaking around to the best of his ability. Goblins were tricky and typically relied on ambushing when in smaller groups, they were especially dangerous in environments that gave them vantage points or hiding spots.
Merlin slowly traversed the forest floor, making sure he was constantly hidden with some level of cover and avoided crushing dried leaves or twigs. The forest wasn¡¯t as dense as the eternal forest, but there were plenty of blind spots for someone to hide in. Merlin eventually came across a small clearing within the forest, there was a small river running alongside it, making it the perfect location to build a camp.
Merlin made sure to hover around the camp site, making sure to stay out of view of anyone, or anything that may be within the campsite. He saw glimpses of the early stages of a goblin camp, such as the twig beds, rudimentary campfires and various effigies, but no sign of life yet.
Merlin leaped up the nearest tree, using his new bonuses towards his strength stat, he managed to lift himself up with rtive ease. Eventually he made his way up to a high branch that gave him a birds eye view of the goblin camp, there didn¡¯t seem to be any form of movement within the campsite. Figuring the goblins were currently all out hunting or gathering, Merlin decided he¡¯d wait up in the tree for them to return.
A few minutester Merlin heard the sounds of twigs breaking and leaves being rustled, this wasn¡¯t the sound of goblins returning home, those creatures knew better than to give their positions away. No, this was something else, this was a group of yers untrained andcking any form of talent in the art of stealth.
"Are you sure they said he went this way?" Merlin could hear the hushed voices of a small group, it sounded like they were getting pretty close to his current position.
"They described a white haired pale kid walking into the forest, and when we were following him originally, he wasing this way." Another person piped up, answering hispanion.
Merlin made sure that he was well hidden on the tree by condensing his silhouette so he wasn¡¯t easily spotted from below.
"Oh, what¡¯s this? Looks like some kind of camp." One of Merlin¡¯s stalkers eventually made it to the edge of the clearing and noticed the goblin camp, what he didn¡¯t notice however was that roughly twenty meters to the left of him, sitting up in a tree and staring down at him, was the person he was trying to hunt down.
Merlin watched as the group of three made their way into the goblin¡¯s camp without any sense of caution, one thing to note was that it was all three of the individuals who were following him earlier.
"There aren¡¯t any monsters around, I guess that kid was here not too long ago." The group seemed to rationalise that a monster area with no monsters in it meant that everything in it was killed not too long ago, whereas that couldn¡¯t be further from the truth.
Most monster areas operated as a part of an ecosystem with the nearby areas. And each monster typically had lifestyle habits that could be learnt, so instead of sitting around waiting for a yer toe close before it did anything like other RPGs, monsters who inhabited an area would do things, such as hunt, gather, harvest, asionally fight with other ns and races, etc.
The group¡¯s calm stroll through the goblin¡¯s camp was rudely interrupted by a crude arrow lodging itself in one of the stalker¡¯s shoulders. The residents of the camp had finally returned home.
Chapter 23: The First Goblin Victims.
The yer who received an arrow to the shoulder let out a pained scream that echoed throughout the forest. It seemed that even though he was briefed on the pain synchronisation before starting, he underestimated it and didn¡¯t turn it down, thinking he¡¯d handle it as he hadn¡¯t experienced pain yet.
This was something he would have learnt if he just did thebat training quest, or even just fell over, as the tutorial slimes didn¡¯t hurt when they mmed into you, they were just sentient blobs of jelly.
Two more arrows flew through the air, both sessfully pinging the same guy in the back. His group watched as theirpanion went limp, slumping onto the forest floor, he was now a lifeless corpse.
The other two started to panic, both attempting to dash away from where the arrows wereing from. Arrows were flying towards them, lodging themselves into trees or the dirt near where the two were running to. Eventually their luck ran out, as the smallest of the two had an arrow wedge itself into his Achilles tendon, sending him tumbling forward into the dirt as a wave of pain flooded his body.
Merlin took the opportunity caused by this distraction to observe where the arrows wereing from. Doing so gave him the location of several goblin archers, one of which had steered rather close to him.
Unfortunately, at this time, Merlin didn¡¯t have the stats to traverse the forest by jumping from tree to tree, so he was forced to climb down. Utilising his strength, he managed to hold a steady grip on the tree trunk and branches as he slowly climbed down, reaching the forest floor without making a sound.
Merlin drew his de and began sneaking around to where hest saw the goblin archer. Merlin made sure to veer off from the straight path towards the goblin, circling around the goblin and approaching it from behind rather than the side. This would reduce the risk of him identally being spotted if the goblin just so happened to turn and see him as he approached.
Making sure not to draw any attention to himself, Merlin traversed the forest floor, making sure to avoid the dried leaves and twigs that made up arge portion of the forest floor, as any loud noise would scare off his target.
Merlin eventually reached withinbat distance of the goblin, who was sneaking behind a bush taking potshots at the two yers who were barely stumbling away from the arrows flying towards them.
The goblin seemed to notice something instinctively, its ears popped up and it raised its head, but before it could turn around, a sword pierced through its throat. Merlin used his other hand to cover the creature¡¯s mouth before pulling the de out and stabbing it once more in the heart, finishing it off.
¡¸Goblins remaining: 4¡¹
Thest standing yer in the three man party turned to look at his teammate who was now screaming in pain while trying to crawl to safety. He was unable to stand due to having an arrow embedded in his Achilles tendon, every time it was bumped a wave of excruciating pain flowed through him once more, causing him to release another terrified howl of pain.
This caused a wave of fear to set in the mind of the yer who was yet to be wounded, both hispanions releasing deathly wails upon being struck, meaning he¡¯d experience pain if he was attacked too. This fear caused him to abandon his friend, running away into the treeline, believing he¡¯d be safe if he got away.
The default pain synchronisation was changed from twenty percent to five percent in the full release of the game. It was one of the biggest issues voiced by the beta testers, besides not knowing what to do within the game at first, which was also addressed in the full release.
People didn¡¯t usually enjoy being stabbed, shot or set on fire. Even though it was only twenty percent of the sensation you¡¯d otherwise feel, it was still extremely ufortable to downright excruciating based on your pain tolerance.
However, there were also yers who purposefully turned their pain settings to the maximum limit of sixty percent, believing that it would make them better yers. Unfortunately for them, it didn¡¯t.
Those who had never faced any kind of hardship due to their upbringing were typically those who struggled the most in New Genesis. Their pain tolerance was typically low, they on average had a severeck of ability to do arduous tasks, and their inted egos caused them to refuse performing any form of menial job.
The man crawling on the floor watched hispanion¡¯s back get smaller as he ran into the forest, leaving him helpless and covered in dirt. The only thing he could do wasy there cussing hispanion out, his loud wails echoed through the forest.
Several goblins equipped with sharpened sticks surrounded the manying on the floor. The man was helplessly iling his sword at the goblins, but it was a short lived struggle as one of the goblins stabbed its stick through the man¡¯s arm, pinning him to the forest floor. The goblinsughed maniacally as the man screamed for help, one goblin walked on top of the man and stepped on his head, pushing it into the dirt.
Suddenly, an arrow was let loose from the bushes, piercing through the throat of the goblin standing on the man. This caused the goblins to shriek in rm, as the goblin that was hit staggered backwards, almost tripping over the yer it was walking on.
The goblin fell to its knees as its knobby green hands were wrapped around its own throat, trying to stop the ck blood from leaking out. Another arrow flew through the air, wedging itself in the goblin¡¯s chest, the goblin¡¯s corpse went limp and fell on the yer, the oily ck blood spilling out everywhere.
¡¸Goblins remaining: 3¡¹
Merlin slung the goblin¡¯s bow over his shoulder and then dipped behind cover as two goblins started running towards his position. There was another archer goblin close by, he wanted to deal with that one first. Merlin backed away and dashed back into the forest, he didn¡¯t prioritise stealth this time, but he still limited the sound he was making where he could. Eventually his eyes locked on a small green creature moving in the distance.
Merlin weaved through the treeline, he was slowly catching up to the goblin. Merlin was roughly twelve metres away by the time the goblin eventually noticed him. The goblin started inhaling dramatically, this was the sign that it was about to call for reinforcements.
Merlin who was quickly closing the gap, reached down grabbing a handful of loose soil as he ran. When Merlin enteredbat distance with the goblin, he shoved the handful of dirt in the goblin¡¯s mouth, muffling its cry.
A notification window appeared in Merlin¡¯s peripheral vision, but Merlin was currently too preupied to deal with it.
Merlin thrust his sword into the Goblins throat, its pained growls were muffled by the dirt. Merlin shed the goblin once more, the goblin attempted to block the sh with the flimsy crude bow, only to have it sliced in half, followed by its neck.
¡¸Goblins remaining: 2¡¹
Merlin looked at the previous notification he received.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "Resourceful Fighter. (Beginner)"¡¹
Merlin was surprised, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d earn this title so early, but when he remembered his time in the tutorial stage it made sense.
This title was earned by fighting dirty, such as using the environment to your advantage, like throwing grass to block an enemy¡¯s field of view, throwing sand into a creature¡¯s eyes to temporarily blind it, or shoving dirt into a creature¡¯s mouth to stop it from casting.
There were plenty more things you could do to earn this reward, and most yers earned it at some point, especially when testing out the game¡¯s degree of freedom. It only required a couple of actions to earn the first one, but this was a growth type title, so upgrading it was more difficult as each subsequent upgrade hadrger requirements.
Merlin checked his new title.
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[Resourceful Fighter. (Beginner)]
Some may say you fight dirty, you say it¡¯s just called fighting smart.
? Wisdom: +1
Upgrade Requirements: Resourceful Fighting (0/50)
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Merlin swiped the notification box away when he heard the sound of footsteps closing in. Merlin grabbed the crude arrows from the archer¡¯s quiver, dumping them in the quiver he stole from thest archer that was strapped to his back.
Merlin wiped the ck oily blood from his sword before sheathing it, and then he started climbing the thick tree, perching himself on a branch several metres above the goblin¡¯s corpse. As Merlin grabbed the bow he previously slung over his shoulder, two goblins entered his vision.
The two goblins caught a whiff of blood in the distance and started moving towards it, eventually noticing the corpse of the goblin Merlin had just finished off.
As the two goblins walked closer to inspect the body, Merlin pulled two arrows out of the quiver slowly, making sure they didn¡¯t rattle around and give away his position.
A cheeky grin formed on Merlin¡¯s face as he nocked both arrows on the bowstring and aimed directly down, attempting to line up an arrow for each goblin.
Chapter 24: The Best Defence.
For the brief moment both goblins had stopped moving, and one had leaned down to inspect the body, revealing its neck to Merlin who was staring down at it from above. Merlin corrected his aim before letting loose both of the arrows that were nocked. One arrow flew where he was aiming, embedding itself in the goblin¡¯s neck, the other arrow flew off course, hitting the other goblin in the shoulder. After letting loose the arrows, the bow Merlin was using snapped in half.
Although New Genesis was a game that constantly spouted about freedoms, it was still a game. Some aspects of the world had to be gamified to fit within the game¡¯s bnce, and one of these bnces was temporary equipment.
When you killed something in New Genesis, the corpse didn¡¯t magically disappear immediately like other games. Meaning there was a moment in time where the corpse was still present in the world as a physical object, along with all of the equipment on its body, this equipment was called temporary equipment.
Temporary equipment was as the name implies, temporary. They either had limited durability or a time limit, and unlike their item drop counterparts, couldn¡¯t be stored away in your inventory. Another major factor of temporary items was that they had a fraction of the stats of their item drop counterparts, and typicallycked any of the special abilities that the item would have had.
When an item dropped, it was highlighted in some way by the system. How a drop was highlighted depended on the item in question, but the consistent part was that it stood out in the environment and informed yers that it was an item at first nce.
Merlin dropped the bow and unsheathed his sword, before dropping off of the branch onto one of the goblins. As Merlin fell, the goblin who got shot in the shoulder looked up, only to see the glint of a sword as it pierced its eye. As Merlin continued to fall, the sword was pushed further into the goblin, practically cleaving it half as his entire body weight and the gravity behind his fall was put into the force of the de.
¡¸Goblins remaining: 1¡¹
Merlin pulled the sword out, but it waspletely slick with goblin blood, making it functionally useless. The other goblin who was holding its throat in desperation noticed Merlin. It unsheathed its dagger and thrust it towards Merlin.
Merlin threw his sword aside for the moment as it would slow him down. Barely managing to twist his body away from the dagger, in one swift motion he pulled thest arrow from his quiver and stabbed it into the goblin¡¯s throat.
The wooden shaft of the arrow shattered, leaving splinters in Merlin¡¯s sword hand. Unfortunately the shaft shattered before the arrow head could be wedged deep within the goblin¡¯s throat, Merlin hadn¡¯t dealt enough damage to kill it with that one strike.
The goblin thrust its dagger once more, sessfully wedging the dagger into Merlin¡¯s side. All Merlin could feel was a painful piercing sensation in his side, it wasn¡¯t pleasant but Merlin couldn¡¯t say it was excruciating either, although he was used to it at this point.
A damage notification appeared in Merlin¡¯s vision.
¡¸7 damage received.¡¹
Seven damage was significant, especially at level zero. It would have left a regr level zero yer on three health, however Merlin had an extra ten health due to the additional point in vitality from his title, "The Tutorial¡¯s Champion".
The goblin ripped the dagger out of Merlin, a rush of pain flowed up his side once more. Merlin didn¡¯t give it the chance to stab him again, sending a wide swing at the goblin¡¯s head with his shield, knocking the goblin back a few steps. Merlin didn¡¯t have a sword on hand, and his free hand was currently full of splinters, so his only option was to beat the goblin to death with his shield.
Not giving the goblin a chance to recover, Merlin rushed forward at the goblin. The goblin attempted to swing its dagger at Merlin, hoping it would connect, but Merlin blocked the dagger with his shield, pping it out of the goblin¡¯s hands. Merlin swung his arm towards the goblin once more, effectively pping it with the t of his shield, knocking it to the ground.
Shields weren¡¯t weapons, so they typically only did standard bludgeoning damage, rather than have additional damage given to it through item stats like actual weapons did. Although there were exceptions to this, and there were even methods of raising the damage dealt by shields. But it was overall not worth the effort as they didn¡¯te anywhere close to the damage of a regr weapon. Merlin stood above the goblin, forcibly smashing his shield against the goblin¡¯s face, only to retract his shield and repeat once more.
¡¸Goblins remaining: 0¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Training Montage III", talk to General Perakeles to receive your rewards.¡¹
After a couple strikes, the goblin¡¯s face had been forcibly rearranged. Merlin used the rag the goblin wore as clothing to wipe the slick ck blood from the rim of his shield, as he stood back up, he noticed that another window had appeared.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "The Best Defence. (Beginner)"¡¹
Merlinughed when he saw the popup, this was one of the mostmon titles, often regarded as one of the most useless titles in the game. Merlin checked the title¡¯s stats.
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[The Best Defence. (Beginner)]
It takes hits, but sometimes it hits back.
? Shield Damage: +3%
Upgrade Requirements: Shield Kills (0/20)
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Merlin waved the window away and walked back to his sword, it wasying on the ground, dirt and loose foliage was now stuck to the goblin blood. Merlin tried wiping the blood off, but he knew there wasn¡¯t any hope in that happening, so he threw it in his inventory to deal withter.
Now paying attention to his surroundings, Merlin noticed that a couple glimmering items were scattered around the forest floor. Merlin walked over and collected up the items, there were two copper pieces and a dagger.
Merlin pocketed the currency before checking the stats of the dagger.
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[Gnarled Goblin Dagger. (Common)]
? Damage: +5
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It was pretty decent for an early game drop, it would serve well as a back up weapon for now. Unfortunately daggers were considered finesse weapons, so their damage was amplified by the dexterity stat, rather than the strength stat used for most weapons, such as Merlin¡¯s dius sword.
Merlin sheathed his dagger, as it was the only functional weapon he currently had, before walking back towards the campsite while picking splinters out of his hand. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing, he saw the yer stillying there on the ground, and the other yer who abandoned him earlier was slowly approaching. It seemed he had more courage than what Merlin gave him credit for.
Merlin walked through the treeline into the clearing, making his way over to the two yers. By the time Merlin reached the pair, the wounded yer had been assisted off the ground and was now standing with support from the coward. Both of the yers locked their sights in Merlin as he approached.
"Nasty little creatures, aren¡¯t they?" Merlin spoke up, picking out thest splinter from his hand. Merlin wasn¡¯t sure whether he wanted to taunt them or destroy them yet. He didn¡¯t take kindly to being followed or hunted, they brought back bad memories from the previous timeline. "I saw a couple more goblins a little bit up the river if you¡¯re here for the goblin extermination quest, good luck!"
Merlin walked past, he didn¡¯t want to start drama this early on in the game as it could create too many variables, but if they forced his hand, he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to destroy them without mercy. The two watched as Merlin walked past the treeline, disappearing within the forest.
A little whileter Merlin had escaped the forest and made it back to the clearing full of wild hares. As he observed his surroundings, he noticed that there were more individuals hunting hares nowpared to when he first entered the forest.
Merlin sat himself down on the grass and pulled his sword out of his inventory. He spent the next couple minutes scraping the hardened muck from his dius with his new dagger, bringing his sword into working condition once more.
Merlin walked through the field, killing every wild hare he came across. The hares didn¡¯t drop their meat or pelts every time however, so he had to spend a little over half an hour killing hares to get enough for the quests. If he had some kind of animal harvesting skill it would be a lot easier to get what he needed, but for now he just had to grind it out.
As Merlin was getting ready to walk back to the vige, he heard an excited squealing from one of the people who had been farming hares before Merlin started. As Merlin looked towards where the squeal originated from, he noticed a girl jumping up and down with excitement, tworge fluffy rabbit ears were sitting on her head, flopping around as she jumped. She received the first race soul in the game, a wild hare soul.
Chapter 25: The Fighter Soul.
Race souls were usually special drops from monsters, the rarity of the drop depended on what type of monster it was, but the only things a yer needed to earn one was patience and a little bit of luck.
Race souls were themed around the creature it was named after, and the types of bonuses they gave to the yer varied.
Some of the bonuses race souls could give you were things such as raw stat bonuses, like strength or agility, or just bonuses in specific aspects, such as stealth or critical damage. Other possible bonuses could be racial traits, passive abilities or even active abilities.
Then there was also the possibility of some visual change, such as horns, elf ears, scales, or in the wild hare soul¡¯s case, rabbit ears.
The wild hare soul was generally regarded as a weak soul, but it was good at early levels for characters that focused on mobility, it gave bonuses to jumping and agility, as well as the visual aspect of rabbit ears.
A crowd formed around the girl, it looked like most were familiar with her but there were a couple outsiders who were just curious bystanders. While those who didn¡¯t approach her looked on in envy, some began killing the rabbits faster, hoping they¡¯d get a soul to drop too.
Merlin walked away from the field, making his way back into the vige¡¯s border. Without wasting any time wandering around the vige, he ran directly towards the barracks. Upon arrival, he noticed that there was still a crowd around the doorway, although it was much smaller than when he left.
Merlin pushed his way through the crowd with little difficulty, due to his strength stat being higher than everyone in the crowd. Some attempted to push back but they were quickly overpowered.
When he finally entered the training grounds, the first thing he witnessed was an army of yers swinging their wooden swords at the training dummies plotted around the field. Most of which had a furious expression, it seemed they had earned themselves the punishment quest.
General Perakeles was yelling at these yers, various insults and obscenities flew out of his mouth, which only served to anger the yers more. Within these barracks, respect was never given, only earned. The barracks were a tough challenge for those who believed they were inherently above others due to the fortunate circumstance they were born into.
"I see you were sessful." As Merlin approached, General Perakeles turned to face him, his voice dropped the hostility it previously had towards the other yers, although it was still somewhat overbearing. "Here are your rewards, as promised."
A couple notifications appeared within Merlin¡¯s vision.
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 1.¡¹
¡¸You have empty soul slots, would you like to absorb, "ss Soul: Fighter (Level 1)"?¡¹
Merlin waved away the level up notification and then epted the second notification box. An information box appeared, showcasing his new soul.
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ss Soul: Fighter ? Level 1
Bonus Stats: +2 Strength, +1 Agility
Abilities: ?Heavy Strike?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +1 Strength, +2 Agility, ?Sucker-punch?
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After ncing at the information, a new notification window appeared.
¡¸"ss Soul: Fighter (Level 1)" has been sessfully absorbed. Your origin soul slot is still empty, would you like to set this as your origin soul?¡¹
Most souls in New Genesis had additional abilities and bonuses that could only be essed if the soul was set as the origin soul. Origin soul was just a fancy way of saying main soul, the soul that your character drew the most power from, while every other soul only granted the basic bonuses. No matter how many soul slots you opened, only one soul could be set as the origin soul.
If you only had one soul slot open, any soul you equip would automatically be set the the origin. If you had all seven slots open and filled each slot while refusing to set the souls as the origin, then the seventh soul you absorb would automatically be set to the origin.
You could swap the origin around or even remove all your souls at a soul forge if you wished. Any soul you removed would be added to your soul bank, and could be essed again through the soul receptacle.
Merlin epted the prompt, receiving a sess notification in response, then he checked out his new abilities.
¡¸"ss Soul: Fighter (Level 1)" has been sessfully set as your origin soul.¡¹
The first ability he checked was the core ability of the ss, the ability he¡¯d get regardless of the soul¡¯s origin status.
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?Heavy Strike?
You enhance your attacks with the full weight of your body.
? Your next attack does an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.
? 20 second cooldown.
? Can be used with any melee weapon and unarmed.
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It was a solid early ability, especially for those who yed with support from the system. It grew more powerful as you levelled the soul up, and it was versatile, it benefited all melee fighters regardless of your weapon of choice.
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?Sucker-punch?
A dishonourable attack that catches the opponent off guard.
? Your next unarmed attack has a 40% chance to trigger a stun effect for 3 seconds.
? 60 second cooldown.
? Cannot be used if previously used on the same target within the hour.
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This ability was also very good, although the chance was somewhat low to begin with, a stun ability was a valuable tool to have. Merlin swiped the windows away, facing back towards General Perakeles.
"Good work soldier. I have no further tasks for you yet, be well." General Perakelesplimented Merlin, only to turn to the yers doing the punishment quest and throw obscenities at them the next moment, and all in one breath.
"I¡¯ll take my leave sir." Merlin said his farewell before walking away from the General.
Merlin forced his way through the crowd once more, one person purposefully stood in his way, only to get knocked over. Merlin had gained a fair amount of strength by getting the soul, he had a total of eleven strength, more than enough topletely overpower the man who tried to block him. He had ten more strength than a level zero yer with no bonuses.
Making his way back to the cobblestone street, Merlin turned left and started making his way north, he needed to find the quests that required wild hare materials.
"Open stats." Merlin spoke amand, causing an information window to appear before him.
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? Vitality = 3 (+2 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 2 (+2 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 11 (+2 Base, +2 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 2 (+2 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Agility = 5 (+2 Base, +0 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 2 (+2 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 3 (+2 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Charisma = 2 (+2 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
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It was a good start, but Merlin wasn¡¯t satisfied yet, he intended to do the starter quests for all ss archetypes as each gave four bonus points in their respective stat. The rangers guild, the thieves guild, the wizards college, the bards college, etc.
Merlin walked down the street, staring at the few yers who walked by him. There weren¡¯t many he recognised, but of the ones he did recognise, there were two rankers. Typhoeus, his old guild-mate and friend, and Snowbunny, the girl who he saw earlier earn a wild hare soul.
Snowbunny was there farming wild hares with the sole intent of obtaining a rabbit themed soul. She did the same in the previous timeline, even dedicating some time to levelling up each rabbit themed soul to the max level. She was a very talented yer, only being lower on the previous timeline¡¯s leaderboard due to her hobby.
Merlin eventually made his way to a worn down tailor shop on the northern side of the vige. Upon entering the tailor store, a stale musty scent with hints of leather and damp wool flooded his nose. It was slightly unpleasant, but Merlin walked towards the counter.
An old man was sewing together what looked to be a leather tunic behind the counter, only noticing Merlin approach when he heard the loud creak of rotten wood floor underneath Merlin¡¯s feet.
"Can I help you sir?" The old man¡¯s voice was rather croaky.
"I heard you were in need of rabbit pelt, I¡¯m wondering if that¡¯s still the case?" Merlin responded in such a way that the quest should pop up immediately, instead of having to go through the long winded dialogue he usually put yers through.
"Oh! How fortune smiles upon me, it just so happens I have just run out of materials." The old man looked somewhat ecstatic. A quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Bad Hare Day.
Old Man Louvel, the local tailor, requires more leather for histest project. The pelt of wild hares found on the border of the vige would work perfectly.
Rabbit pelt: 20/20
? Reward: 100 EXP
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"Oh, it seems you came prepared. Would you be willing to give me those materials?" The old man looked up at Merlin with an almost pleading smile.
Merlin handed over the items, getting his experience before quickly leaving the building.
Chapter 26: The Milk Bandits!
Merlin¡¯s next stop was the nearby butcher. The butcher¡¯s ce was in much better conditionpared to the tailors, but it was still rickety, it was just that part of the vige.
As Merlin entered the butcher¡¯s store, his eyes locked on the NPC who ran the store, a tall woman withrge biceps. She was pacing around behind the counter while biting her thumb, too engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn¡¯t even notice Merlin enter the store.
It wasn¡¯t until Merlin walked up to the counter that she stopped pacing, turning to face him.
"Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I was lost in thought." Her voice was soft and panicked, and she never stopped biting her thumb, even while talking. "I¡¯m sorry, but I haven¡¯t got anything to sell today, I haven¡¯t received a shipment from the farms in a few days, and I sold thest few scraps of leftovers yesterday."
"Oh, I¡¯m sorry to hear that." Merlin spoke with a tone that sounded like he was being sincere. "I actually dropped by because I¡¯ve got a fair bit of wild hare meat on hand after doing Old Man Louvel a favour, would you be interested in taking it off my hands?"
The butcher¡¯s face lit up, once again Merlin was abusing his prior knowledge to skip segments of dialogue, but he ended up with the same quest regardless.
"I¡¯ll buy enough to fill up my stock at market price, two copper each. Deal?" The butcher gave her request, and like clockwork a quest notification appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Rahel¡¯s Emergency Supply.
Rahel¡¯s supplier is currently unable to provide the products she needs to operate her business. Some meat from wild hares found south of the vige would work perfectly as a temporary substitute, she is willing to buy thirty pieces at market price, two copper pieces each.
Rabbit meat: 37/30
? Reward: 100 EXP, 6 Silver
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Merlin epted the request, exchanging his rabbit meat for six silver. He also sold the extra seven rabbit meat for a single copper each. Merlin¡¯s total wealth came to six silver and eighteen copper, or seventy-eight copper pieces total if it was all converted to copper.
This wasprised of the remaining nine copper pieces from the ten copper he started with, one of those copper pieces was used to buy the beef skewers used to feed Fluffernutter. He had found two copper on the corpses of the goblins, and now he earned seven more copper by selling the rabbit and six silver from the quest.
"Thank you, this will keep my business afloat for a little while longer." The butcher thanked Merlin, before making another request of him. "Could I ask you to visit the farms and find out why they¡¯re not able toplete the orders?"
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[Common Quest]
Where the cows at?
Rahel¡¯s supplier hasn¡¯t been able to supply her any products as ofte. Figure out the reason why.
Speak with Oswin.
? Reward: 70 EXP
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Merlin epted the quest. The farnds were on the southern side of the vige, so he had to walk to the opposite side of the vige once more. Merlin gave his farewells to Rahel before leaving the store.
Stepping back out onto the street, Merlin noticed a few more yers had started traversing this part of the vige, most of which had probably been given help from their friends, such as getting told where some quests are.
Merlin made his way back to the southern side of the vige, walking past the barracks once more. As he peered in, the crowd had dissipated, and some yers were already sparring against the recruits.
Merlin sat in the lead, but it was only a matter of time before they started catching up, especially because they¡¯d be ying in groups already, which would turn into parties and then guildster in the game. Whereas Merlin was a solo yer for the foreseeable future, although he wouldn¡¯t be against teaming up with Typhoeus or Snowbunny.
Merlin made his way over to the farm area on the more south-eastern side of the vige, his surroundings slowly changed from tightly packed buildings torge fields of wheat, corn and a variety of other crops. Merlin eventually reached a few buildings, arge barn, a few storage silos and a farm house.
Merlin walked towards the farm house, but as he passed by the barn, he noticed a man working inside, throwing around a hay bale with one hand while carrying a bucket of water with the other. It seemed as though he was working on the farm all by himself, filling up the troughs and providing food to all the animals currently stored in the barn.
"Excuse me sir." Merlin yelled out to the man as he approached. The farmer wiped the sweat from his brow as he turned to face Merlin.
"What can I do for ya?" The man responded, he sounded rather fatigued, and hisplexion was sickly. It seemed he hadn¡¯t gotten enough sleep in the past few days.
"Are you Oswin by any chance?" Merlin probed, he already knew it was Oswin, but this was the proper order of things.
"Yeah, that¡¯s me, what do you need?"
"I¡¯m here on a request from Rahel, she¡¯s curious as to why she hasn¡¯t had any orderse throughtely." Merlin spoke out once more, "If I had to guess, based on the fact you look exhausted, and that there isn¡¯t a single animal in the perfectly good pens outside, yet the pens indoors have been overcrowded. I¡¯d say arge chunk of your livestock have been poached in thest couple days. Is this correct?"
"Impressive, you hit the nail on the head. I¡¯ve lost a majority of my herd, just found a couple dead the other day." Oswin looked distraught, "Tell Rahel I¡¯m sorry, there¡¯s no way I can provide her with meat at the moment."
"Do you have any idea as to where these poachers are now?" Merlin asked.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact. I saw some footprints out back, they¡¯re headin¡¯ in the direction of the forest." As Oswin spoke these words, a quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Find the filthy cow thieves!
The Oswin¡¯s farm has been having issues with his livestock being stolen. Sets of footsteps have been located at the back of Oswin¡¯s farm leading into the forest. See where they lead and report back.
Follow the poacher¡¯s trail.
? Reward: 50 EXP
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Merlin epted the quest, Oswin lead him to the back of his farm and pointed out where the footprints started. Merlin began tracking the footsteps as he walked across the open field for a few moments before reaching the forest edge. The soil of the forest was much softer than the ins, so the trail was more obvious to follow.
The trail lead more towards the east than the south, Merlin could see a rocky cliff face through the gaps in the trees. As Merlin approached closer, a small clearing opened up, Merlin could see arge cave dug into the rocky wall, and standing on either side of the cave were two goblins armed with crude looking spears.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Find the filthy cow thieves!", talk to Oswin to receive your rewards.¡¹
This was the end of the trail, Merlin knew that the next part of the chain quest would lead him right back here and into the cave. It served as a mini dungeon,prised entirely of goblins. This was typically the first dungeon yers in the beta would experience.
It would also serve as good practice in working in a party, as goblins in their own habitats had an extremely powerful advantage. An advantage that typically took somewhatpetent teamwork to beat, although it seemed Merlin would have to attempt it solo, at least for now.
Merlin stealthily made his way out of the forest and back to Oswin¡¯s farm, where he spoke with Oswin once more.
"Goblins huh, and a whole pack of ¡¯em?" Oswin looked surprised, "I think this is a job for the General and his squad."
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[Common Quest]
Vanquish the milk bandits!
Speak with General Perakeles about the problems urring on Oswin¡¯s farm, and the goblin nest you located south-east from the vige. Have him dispatch somebatants to clean up the goblin threat.
Speak with General Perakeles.
? Reward: 50 EXP
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Yet another quest, this quest-line was an easy supply of early game experience, the only problem was that the goblin cave was a very dangerous area for unskilled yers, and merely challenging if you werepetent with an equallypetent team.
Merlin waved Oswin goodbye before running off towards the barracks. As Merlin ran west through the vige, he could see the fields in the distance. There was arge group of yers all trying to hunt down the wild hares, they weren¡¯t spawning fast enough to satisfy the group.
Merlin was d he grabbed all the materials he needed when he did, fighting for mob drops against such arge greedy group was stressful and inefficient.
Merlin finally arrived at the front door of the barracks once more.
Chapter 27: Big spender.
As Merlin entered the barracks, the first thing he noticed was that the amount of yers on the training dummies was dwindling. There were still a few yers on the training dummies that were there from the beginning, it seemed they hadn¡¯t learnt their lesson yet and were still doing the punishment quest.
Merlin approached General Perakeles, who turned to face him. Merlin greeted him respectfully before giving him an rough exnation of the problems happening at the farm, making sure to mention the goblin nest.
"Darn, they are multiplying too fast, I still haven¡¯t gotten the expedition team ready yet." General Perakeles was lost in thought for a moment, before piping up once more. "I¡¯ll rush together an extermination team to the best of my ability. I¡¯m sorry to ask this, but we need someone to do reconnaissance before the main team can strike, are you up for the task?"
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[Common Quest]
The Lycoa Goblin Raid.
General Perakeles is quickly putting together an extermination squad for the vige¡¯s ever growing goblin threat, he¡¯s asking you to attack the goblin nest to gauge their numbers and strength.
It¡¯s rmended you form a party before challenging the goblin nest. Goblins are even more deadly when fought in goblin nests, such as caves.
It is also rmended that you purchase a some form of light, such as antern or torch, as caves can get very dark.
Defeat the "Lycoa Goblin Nest" mini dungeon.
? Reward: 600 EXP
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"Yes sir, I need to go buy some equipment before I head out, excuse me." Merlin epted the quest and made his way out of the barracks, there were a couple things he had to do first.
One of the things was acquiring a source of vision. New Genesis was full of situations where you¡¯d need something specific to proceed, or you¡¯d have to think out of the box to get around the problem. One such situation was darkness, not all dungeons had natural light sources, which meant the dungeon would be pitch ck unless the yer had some method of light production.
This could be solved in many ways, such as a wooden torch orntern item. These items were easily acquired in stores, there were some caveats to this method however. The biggest issue is that you¡¯d be a shining beacon to everything else in the cave, even outside of your visibility range, this could be partially negated by upgrading to a hoodedntern.
Another solution would be various forms of magic, such as fire or light magic. These typically had the same disadvantage of it being visible from a distance, but there was also the possibility of it consuming mana, and also the possibility of the light source vanishing if the caster was stunned, knocked unconscious or killed.
Thest couple methods were all passive abilities typically found in race souls, the most useful and mostmon being night vision. There was also echolocation, although it was somewhat strange to get used to at first, this wasmonly found in bat enemies, although some aquatic races had it too. And while not helpful with seeing in the dark, tremor-sense was an umon ability that let you sense the location of enemies as long as they were touching the same ground as you.
There were plenty of other methods to solve this, some being too rare to mention and others being so overlyplicated it would have been better to just buy a torch.
Merlin made his way east, ending up near the base of the hill he originally came down from. He was currently standing in the mainmerce area, most of the stores for yers were in this general location, although there were stores dotted everywhere around the vige. To his right was the soul forge, it currently had a few yers hanging around. Across the street from the soul forge was the store he came here for, Lychester¡¯s Provisions.
Merlin entered the store, the little bell attached to the door chimed, informing the young woman at the counter that someone entered her store. ncing around, Merlin noticed that the inside of the store was full of well-stocked shelves containing arge variety of goods, from stacks of parchment, farming equipment and bags of flour, to sks of oil, bundles of rope,nterns and torches.
It was a store that sold anything that someone would want to buy, anything they didn¡¯t have was usually covered by one of the more specialised shops around the vige.
"Hey there, can I help you find anything?" The young woman spoke up from behind the counter, she was thin, her skin was rather light and her long curly red hair was tied up in a pony tail, at least to the best of her ability.
As Merlin approached closer, a name appeared over the woman¡¯s head, "Zoey Lychester".
"Hello, could I please get two torches, three sks of oil, a sling with two sets of sling ammo and a tinderbox." Merlin came out with a list, leaving a somewhat surprised look on Zoey¡¯s face at first, but she soon caught up.
"Right, so that¡¯d be 2 copper for the torches. A silver each for the oil sks, three silver total. Five copper for the sling, and four copper for the two sets of ammo, nine copper total. And three silver for the tinderbox." Zoey talked while sliding beads around on a wooden board, a few moments after the clicking of beads stopped and she came back with the total. "Your total is seven silver and one copper."
Merlin pulled out all six of his silver, and eleven copper pieces, cing them on the counter. This purchase left Merlin with a measly seven copper, but it was required.
"Thank you, I¡¯ll be just a moment." Zoey took the coins, sliding them into a tray underneath the counter. Then she began running around the store, picking out all the gear Merlin had asked for. After a minute or two everything was ced neatly on the counter. "Here we are."
Merlin started picking up the equipment, shoving them into his inventory one item at a time. When he was done, he thanked Zoey and left the store.
Arge red alert box appeared in Merlin¡¯s view, this sent a wave of panic through his body, but he calmed down when he read the message.
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[Message from the devs!]
You¡¯ve got one hour left until the server is shut down for the day, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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One hour was just enough time to finish the dungeon off. Merlin picked up the pace, running down the cobblestone streets, on his way to the farm.
He passed by a lot more yers while taking this route, most looked to be doing the quests Merlin hadn¡¯t even bothered touching this time around. Merlin nned on doing the main quests in the area and then leaving before a new wave of yers arrived.
As Merlin arrived at the farm, a ck figure in the distance caught his eye. It was Typhoeus, and it looked like he was doing the goblin tracking quest. Merlin was a little surprised, he adapted fast in the previous timeline, but not this fast. It seemed Merlin¡¯s influence had benefited this guy the most. Merlin followed behind him as he entered the forest.
Typhoeus had his scythe sheathed, even he knew it was too cumbersome to wield while walking. He noticed goblins in the distance, guarding a cave entrance. Typhoeus quickly hid behind a tree before he was noticed, a few secondster he received his missionplete notification.
As Typhoeus peeked out from around the tree once more, a small metal ball flew past his head, embedding itself in the goblin¡¯s eye. As he turned around in a panic to see where the ball hade from, he saw a young looking man with pale skin and white hair, spinning around a strap of leather.
The pale man released the leather strap at the apex of his swing, and yet another metal ball flew past him. The metal ball pierced into the skull of the same goblin who was hit with the previous ball, the goblin went limp, falling to the ground as a corpse with only two hits.
"Hey there, I¡¯d rmend that you turn offbat assistance." These were the only words the pale man spoke before running past him, Typhoeus got a glimpse of the yer¡¯s username, "Merlin".
Typhoeus watched from the treeline as Merlin ran at thest goblin that was standing as a guard, he could only stand there in awe as Merlin parried the goblin¡¯s spear away before moving in and cleaving the goblin¡¯s throat out, killing the goblin in two hits.
Typhoeus was shocked, the fastest he could kill a goblin was twenty seconds, but Merlin had killed the goblin in less than two by using a move that wasn¡¯t supported by the system.
Chapter 28: Lycoa Goblin Raid - I
Merlin turned around, making sure that Typhoeus was still watching him as he showcased his power. He did this in hopes that it would inspire him to turn off thebat assistance earlier. This was Typhoeus¡¯ majorint in the previous timeline, that he was so reliant on thebat assistance that it was hard for him to break away from itter in the beta.
Merlin considered this to be his way of paying back what Typhoeus had originally done for him, without his guidance he would never have grown to where he was. Merlin turned towards the cave and walked in. A notification window appeared before him.
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You have entered the "Lycoa Goblin Nest".
? Clear Condition: Kill the boss.
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Merlin stared into the cave, however he couldn¡¯t see very far in as the light from outside quickly fades away toplete darkness.
"Open inventory." Merlin chanted, and an inventory window opened before him. Merlin spent a few minutes getting himself prepared, he took out one torch and set it alight with the tinderbox before throwing the tinderbox back in his inventory. He took two more items out before closing his inventory, one oil sk and the dagger that dropped from the goblin, he pocketed the oil sk and sheathed the dagger on his belt.
Merlin held the torch with his shield hand and unsheathed his sword before moving further inside the cave. Merlin made sure to take light steps, even though the torch announced his position from a mile away, that was only for goblins who saw it. If he gave away his position through sound it would be another disadvantage stacked onto an already precarious situation.
It didn¡¯t take long for a lone goblin to notice Merlin approach. It let out a gargling screech before charging at him, as it got closer to the only source of light in the cave, the hideous malformations on the goblin¡¯s face became even more ringly obvious as they formed long shadows.
Merlin made short work of this goblin, slicing its head off cleanly from the rest of its body. Merlin made sure to wipe the blood from his de while he had the chance, if he had to deal with more goblins the blood would start caking up, rendering his weapon unusable.
Merlin continued further into the cave, making sure to pay close attention to his nk. Goblin nests were notorious for having hidden areas behind blind corners where a goblin could hide and ambush the less durable yers, such as ranged attackers and healers, yers who typically stood at the back of the party.
As he turned a corner and travelled a few steps further, he came across a goblin effigy. It was a long wooden stick dug into the ground that had various bones tied to it with what looked like strips of hemp, most likely torn from the clothing of their victims.
Merlin continued walking past the effigy, a few momentster he heard a light pitter-patter sound that quickly got louder, the sound wasing from behind him. As Merlin turned around, two goblins were running towards him. Merlin dashed towards one and mmed into it with the shield, utilising his strength to send the goblin flying into a cave wall.
The other goblin shed towards Merlin with what looked to be a chipped shortsword, but the de was parried out of the goblin¡¯s hand. Instead of shing the goblin, he decided to punch the goblin with his shield, sending it back in a stagger, before rushing forward and beating the goblin with the shield again. Ayer of ck blood started forming around his shield¡¯s edge as Merlin continued pummelling the goblin, eventually the goblin died.
The other goblin that was knocked to the wall stood up once more and began charging at Merlin. Attempting to stab him with what looked to be like a kitchen knife, although poorly taken care of.
Merlin knocked the knife goblin back once more, the kitchen knife embedded itself in his shield, disarming the goblin. Merlin spent the next couple seconds beating this goblin to death with his shield too.
Wanting to make sure of something, Merlin loaded up the information for the useless title. The small information window appeared before him.
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[The Best Defence. (Beginner)]
It takes hits, but sometimes it hits back.
? Shield Damage: +3%
Upgrade Requirements: Shield Kills (2/20)
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"Perfect." Merlin smiled to himself, it was useless, but he didn¡¯t see any problem with farming it. Any trump card he could possibly use to his advantage he was d to use, especially as a solo yer. Thinking back, Merlin wondered why he didn¡¯t think of this when he was farming the wild hares, it probably would have been less of a hassle.
Merlin sheathed his dius and instead picked up the goblin¡¯s chipped shortsword, it was a temporary weapon, but it was better to use the temporary garbage on the trash mobs, he didn¡¯t want his de to be rendered useless, only to get into a situation where he needs it.
As Merlin walked further into the cave, it suddenly expanded into a wider room. Merlin nced into the room, from what he could see there was roughly six goblins within. Although his light source didn¡¯t light up the rest of the room, there could be more hiding in the darkness.
Although he would have liked approaching the cave more stealthily, his torch grabbed the attention of all six goblins who all turned to face him. The sight of several goblin eyes lighting up in the darkness, all staring directly at him, while their bodies were still somewhat concealed by darkness was still a terrifying sight, even for someone as experienced as Merlin.
The gargling battle cry of one of the goblins spurred the rest into charging forward, all six of them were converging on Merlin, who was still currently standing in the tunnel. Merlin took a few steps back as the goblins continued to converge closer, naturally funnelling in due to the tighter space requirements.
As they finally got close to Merlin¡¯s position, they had formed a closer group. Merlin reached into his pocket and pulled out the oil sk, only to throw the sk at the cave ceiling, just above the goblins. The sk shattered, raining down shards of ss upon the group of goblins, while also spraying the group withntern oil.
The goblins recoiled in surprise, this moment of hesitation was enough time for Merlin to throw his torch at the group. Within seconds all the goblins had been set alight, some of the goblins began running around while trying to pat the fire out, others were rolling on the floor in pain.
This wasn¡¯t enough to kill them however, due to him having to spread half a litre ofntern oil amongst six enemies, it would burn out much faster than using the entire sk on a single target.
Merlin ran forward and began crushing the goblin¡¯s skulls while they were distracted, starting with the ones rolling around on the ground. As Merlin finished off the fifth goblin, the fires hadpletely burnt out. The only remaining fire was his torch that wasying on the stone floor, flickering weakly.
The sixth goblin charged at Merlin, its face had been burnt ck. Merlin didn¡¯t notice at first due to the poor visibility, but managed to deflect its attack before it could connect. Like the others, this goblin was made short work of, ending up as nothing more than a ck smudge on his shield.
Out of all the goblins he had just killed, only one of them dropped an item, a single copper piece. Merlin walked over to the torch and picked it back up, the me on the torch brightened once more.
Merlin opened his inventory, pulling out another oil sk and pocketing it. They were extremely convenient distractions when fighting hoards, it was a shame that they were so expensive.
He turned around, travelling back into the wide room he had just run from. Suddenly the sound of creaking wood echoed within the room, Merlin attempted to take a defensive stance but it was toote, Merlin felt an impact, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder.
Merlin recoiled in pain, quickly ncing around the room he noticed a rock formation that could act as temporary cover. Merlin ran for it as he heard yet another creaking sound in the distance. Merlin threw himself behind cover, sessfully sliding behind cover as an arrow flew past his face.
As Merlinid there with his back to the rock formation he nced over to his shoulder, only to see the shaft of the arrow mere inches from his face. Merlin reached over and ripped the arrow out of his shoulder while gritting his teeth, throwing it to the ground beside him.
It was fortunate that this goblin didn¡¯t use a special arrow, like oneced with poison. Although he was pretty sure that there shouldn¡¯t be anything of the sort this early in the game, with the tutorial¡¯s goblin archer being the sole exception.
Merlin nced over his condition while lost in thought. The arrow had done nine damage leaving him at twenty-one health, and that was just for the shoulder. If it had hit him in the head, throat or heart the damage would have been even more devastating.
Chapter 29: Lycoa Goblin Raid - II
The natural regeneration wasn¡¯t yet able to activate due to him being considered inbat via the system, so he had no way of healing his health before charging in. If he had a passive healing ability he could regenerate health inbat, there were also more active methods of healing, such as potions, healing spells and other healing items like food or bandages.
As Merlinid behind cover, he heard light footsteps of the goblin echo throughout the cave. The goblin had gotten impatient and was trying to move into an angle where he could see Merlin. The footsteps started to get louder, leaving Merlin with little time to think of a n.
Merlin threw his torch into the air, the sudden movement of the light source caused the goblin to let loose the arrow it had nocked in a panic. The arrow flew into the torch, splintering as it made contact, but also splitting the torch itself in half.
Taking this opportunity Merlin ran towards the direction the arrow hade from while the goblin was defenceless. He saw the glint of the goblin¡¯s eyes reflecting the torchlight, this helped Merlin trace the goblin¡¯s silhouette in the low light conditions.
Merlin pounced on the goblin¡¯s silhouette, slicing down with the dius. Although he couldn¡¯t perfectly see where the goblin was, he knew his de had connected due to the resistance he felt as the de cleaved through what he assumed to be its shoulder.
The goblin let out a pained scream as the de cleaved through it, but unfortunately that wasn¡¯t enough damage to kill it. Merlin followed up with a left hook, burying his shield in the goblin¡¯s face. He mmed his shield into the goblin a few more times, finishing it off.
Merlin wiped the goblin blood from his de before sheathing it. He took the goblin¡¯s bow, slinging it over his shoulder, as well as the goblin¡¯s quiver, which contained three arrows. Merlin grabbed the goblin¡¯s body, dragging it with him as he stood back up and walked over to the torch that had been destroyed.
The me on the torch had died down significantly, but was still burning using the rest of the torch as fuel. Unfortunately it couldn¡¯t be used anymore, but thankfully Merlin had learnt to always bring a spare.
Merlin threw the goblin¡¯s corpse on the fire and watched as the remaining torch embers roared into a massive me using the goblin¡¯s rags as fuel. Merlin walked into the tunnel he entered the room from and grabbed two goblin corpses, dragging them back to the fire. Merlin repeated this until all six goblins were added to his makeshift bonfire.
The added fuel source strengthened the fire to the point it sessfully lit up the entire room. Merlin could now see the two paths that branched out from the room. If he had gone down one path while unaware of the multiple paths, goblins from the other path could have nked him from behind.
Plumes of ck smoke erupted from the fire, releasing a putrid scent of burnt goblin. Merlin crouched behind a rock and equipped the goblin bow as smoke quickly filled up the cave, spreading down each tunnel. Merlin nocked an arrow and waited patiently.
Several minutes had passed, Merlin¡¯s natural regeneration kicked in, recovering six points of health.
The cave room was now half full of ck smoke. Merlin made sure to stay crouched, as the lower he was to the floor, the easier it was to breathe. Suddenly the sound of quickened footsteps could be heard echoing down from one of the tunnels.
Merlin drew his bow back as the footsteps became louder, eventually three goblins ran out of the left tunnel into the open room. Merlin let the arrow loose, hitting the leftmost goblin in the chest. Merlin began drawing another arrow as the goblins stood there startled for a second, eventually the goblins noticed Merlin and began charging towards him.
Merlin nocked another arrow and let it loose, sending it towards the goblin at the front of the pack. The goblin sessfully avoided the arrow by stepping to the side, it was now running in front of the previously wounded goblin. Merlin drew hisst arrow as the goblin entered within three metres of him.
When Merlin let the arrow fly, the goblin quickly ducked, letting the arrow fly over its head. Unfortunately for the goblin running behind its leader, the arrow embedded itself in its throat, finishing it off. The temporary bow ran out of durability and split down the middle, Merlin threw it aside.
The goblin rushed forward, shing at Merlin with its knife. Merlin parried the knife with his shield and thrust his dius into the Goblin¡¯s chest, cleaving a hole through it. Merlin retracted the de before stabbing it once more. Thest goblin swung a cleaver down at Merlin¡¯s arm, Merlin let go of the dius and jumped backwards, barely escaping the de.
One of the most terrifying things in New Genesis was losing limbs. They grew back over time with natural regeneration, although it was slow. Or they could be brought back instantly using magical sources, such as healing magic or potions.
But even though they grew back, the loss of a limb was detrimental to a yer, losing your legs ruined your mobility, losing your arms ruined your utility and in many cases your damage output. There was also negative effects that could happen if you took enough damage to major organs, such as your lungs getting pierced causing your stamina to drop.
Merlin threw his fist at the goblin, and chanted the skill, "Sucker-punch".
¡¸Skill ?Sucker-punch? Activated, your next unarmed attack has a 40% chance to trigger the stun effect for 3 seconds.¡¹
As Merlin¡¯s fist connected with the goblin¡¯s face, he received a notification jingle that informed him the skill had failed. He followed up his previous attack with his signature left hook shield punch. Before the punch connected, Merlin chanted once more, "Heavy Strike".
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if the skill would trigger on a shield, he never even used shields in his previous life, let alone tried fighting with them. But he did know that the skill did work with temporary weapons, and even makeshift weapons found in the environment.
It made sense that it would affect shields too, as most environmental weapons also just dealt standard bludgeoning damage, unless they were ded or otherwise pointy. There was even someone who imed he killed a boss with a candbra by utilising damage boosting abilities with low restrictions, although nobody really cared enough to look into it.
As the shield connected, Merlin received a jingle indicating the skill had sessfully activated, the goblin was mmed with the buffed shield, dealing a significant amount of damage for a shield attack. The goblin fell back, losing its grip on the cleaver. Merlin stepped towards the goblin and jabbed the shield at its face, as per usual he smashed the goblin with the shield repeatedly, finishing it off.
"Open inventory" As Merlin chanted themand, a window showing his inventory appeared. Merlin reached into the inventory and pulled out the remaining torch before waving the window away. Merlin walked over to the goblin he cleaved open and ripped his dius from the goblin¡¯s corpse, wiping the blood on the goblin¡¯s rags, he also took the chance to grab the empty temporary goblin quiver from his back and throw it away as he had no use for it anymore.
Merlin walked over to the bonfire that started to die out, holding his unlit torch over the me for a moment until it lit. Merlin crouched as he travelled to the tunnel entrance on the right to prevent his lungs from filling with smoke. He chose the right path as it was opposite to where the three goblins hade from.
As Merlin travelled through the tunnel, he noticed that the smoke began clearing away, but the walls and ceiling were stained ck with soot. As he continued down the tunnel it opened up into yet another room, although it was small enough that his torch could light the room up. Meaning he didn¡¯t have to worry about an archer hiding in the shadows.
What he did have to worry about was the creatures in front of him. Sitting on a throne made of bones, decorated with what looked to be cow skulls, was a pot-bellied goblin wearing a crown that was created from what Merlin could only assume was a cow¡¯s vertebrae.
Standing beside that goblin was a smaller goblin wearing a cow¡¯s skull for a mask and carrying around a staff, this was a goblin shaman. There were two other goblins in the room, both were standard goblins carrying the crude spears Merlin saw at the entrance of the cave.
The goblin king stared at Merlin, it pointed its fat little fingers at him and let out a low growl, the two goblins on guard turned to Merlin, spears pointed at him as they approached.
Chapter 30: Lycoa Goblin Raid - III
The goblin shaman began muttering an arcane chant as green energy began gathering around its staff. The two goblin guards rushed towards Merlin, keeping their spears extended out towards him.
Merlin started strafing left as he entered the room. Making an attempt to get some distance from at least one of the spears. He held his shield out in front of him, getting ready to parry one of the spears.
The leftmost goblin thrust its spear towards Merlin¡¯s stomach. He responded by knocking the de away, causing it to thrust past him. He followed up by closing the distance and slicing at the goblin¡¯s neck in one motion. The second goblin thrust its spear through the first goblin, the spear prated through the goblin¡¯s chest and thrust out the other side, catching Merlin off guard.
Merlin attempted to back away. But the spear had already closed the distance, sessfully piercing his stomach. A notification appeared informing him he had lost seven health. He pulled away from the spear, a nauseating feeling filled his stomach. The goblin pulled its spear out of its deadrade and went back to itsbat stance.
The goblin shaman finished chanting, and a bolt of sickly green energy flew towards Merlin. He attempted to block it with his shield, but that didn¡¯t seem to do anything to stop it. The energy enveloped his shield, quickly spreading up his arm until it reached his head, momentster the energy had faded away.
Merlin stood there as the room around him began spinning, he could feel his centre of gravity shift, it felt like he was falling over although he hadn¡¯t moved at all. The goblin standing in front of him appeared to be swaying back and forth with the constantly shifting room. The goblin shaman had hit him with a disorientating curse that induced extreme vertigo.
The goblin guard pounced forward, thrusting its spear at Merlin¡¯s chest. He attempted to block it with his shield, however he failed to judge the distance due to the disorientating curse. The spear that was supposed to be on a direct path with the shield had instead shifted past its reach, piercing his shoulder.
The goblin ripped the spear out of Merlin¡¯s shoulder and started thrusting the spear once more. He sessfully parried the spear away this time by using his sword, he quickly closed the distance and shoved the torch in the goblin¡¯s face. The goblin recoiled in pain as its face started to char, dropping the spear and leaping backwards. Merlin stepped in, thrusting the dius into the goblin¡¯s chest, finishing it off.
The goblin shaman started chanting once more. The boss sitting on the throne started bing restless. It grabbed hold of therge rusted cleaver resting against its throne. Merlin could feel the curse fade away, thankfully the duration had run out. He realised that he couldn¡¯t afford getting hit with another curse if the boss was going to be fighting him now, but the goblin shaman was too far away for him to run up and kill it in time.
Merlin sheathed the dius before leaning down to pick up the goblin¡¯s spear. His eyes locked with the shaman, who was still concentrating on its chanting, the sickly green magical energies forming on the staff once more.
Merlin took a small run up before sending the spear into the air, the spear flew directly towards the goblin shaman. The shaman wasn¡¯t able to move out of the way in time, and the spear pierced its skull, sending the shaman¡¯s corpse flying backwards. The green energy around the staff fizzled out as the staff hit the floor.
Thest goblin was visibly enraged by this. It let out a war cry before leaping out of its throne, charging towards Merlin, who drew his dius and ran towards the goblin boss.
The boss swung the oversized cleaver horizontally, trying to cleave Merlin¡¯s body in half. He quickly ducked underneath the cleaver, somewhat sliding across the stone floor, quickly getting behind the boss. The boss lifted its cleaver over its shoulder and turned around to face him, who at this point had straightened up and pulled a sk from his pocket.
"Here, catch!" Merlin taunted as he threw the sk at the goblin, who attempted to hit the sk with its cleaver, causing it to be coated by a spray ofntern oil. This only served to anger the boss further.
Merlin ran towards the goblin shaman¡¯s corpse as the boss started charging at him. He quickly sheathed his dius and used his free hand to rip the spear from the shaman¡¯s skull, but the de came loose, so he only obtained the stick it was attached to.
Merlin ran the tip of the stick over the torch, the dried rotting wood of the broken spear handle caught fire quickly, with the fire threatening to consume the entire stick in a matter of minutes.
The boss at this point was only about five metres away and rapidly closing in, Merlin threw the ming stick at the goblin boss. The boss barely dodged the stick itself, but the me from the stick made contact with thentern oil on the boss¡¯s body, erupting into arge me.
The boss, much like the goblins previously, started to il around in a panic. Merlin took this opportunity to run towards the other goblin guard¡¯s corpse, grabbing its spear.
"Open inventory." Merlin chanted, causing his inventory window to open. He quickly reached in and pulled out thest vial ofntern oil before waving his inventory away. He put the oil sk in his pocket before charging at the boss, thrusting his spear into the boss¡¯s side.
The boss iled around, attempting to swing its cleaver at Merlin. He kept avoiding the wild swings, they were powerful attacks but each attack was extremely obvious to track. He continued avoiding the boss¡¯s attacks while repeatedly stabbing at the boss with the spear.
Eventually the spear ran out of durability and the handle snapped, leaving half of the spear wedged into the goblin¡¯s chest. Merlin threw thest sk at the boss as the fires started to die down, thentern oilsted longer due to it all being on one target, but it still ran out rather quickly.
The additional oil caused the mes to rage once more. A few secondster the boss stopped iling, as Merlin saw this he backed away. He opened his inventory, pulling out the sling and a handful of ammunition. He filled his pockets with the metal balls before waving the inventory window away. The boss had entered another phase, meaning its attack patterns would change.
The boss gripped the cleaver with both hands and swung it horizontally with all its might, the de whistled as it ripped through the air. The boss began spinning with the de, its rotational speed kept increasing until it was making a full rotation several times per second.
Merlin started slinging metal balls at the boss as it started spinning, making sure to deal as much damage as he could before it finished charging up. The boss continued spinning around until its speed stagnated, momentster it began moving around like a spinning top.
The boss began moving towards Merlin, who was still slinging ammo at it. Merlin noticed something he found interesting, the fire that engulfed the boss had formed a little fire tornado above the boss¡¯s head.
Merlin kept slinging metal balls at the boss while strafing away from it, the boss would have to eventually stop spinning, but he didn¡¯t want to limit his damage output to only those gaps, he had a time limit.
The boss eventually fell over and stopped spinning, this was a scripted event that gave the yers time to attack the boss unimpeded. The fire had also just died out, leaving Merlin as the only damage source. He shoved the sling into his pocket and unsheathed his dius, rushing towards the boss.
Merlin cleaved at the boss¡¯s throat, tearing a chunk of bloated charred goblin flesh from the creature. The goblin started to stand back up, its self-inflicted debuff had expired, meaning it was going to start spinning again. Merlin drove the dius into the goblin¡¯s chest, piercing the creature¡¯s heart.
The goblin let out a pained roar as it took several staggered steps backwards, only to fall on its back. A notification appeared before Merlin, informing him that the boss was dead.
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Congrattions, the boss has been in!
You have sessfully cleared the "Lycoa Goblin Nest".
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He couldn¡¯t help but fall to his knees when he realised it was over, even if this was a digital world he was still feeling exhausted.
A few minutester, he stood back up, and began looking around for any loot drops. Next to the goblin boss¡¯s corpse was arge glimmering sword, as well as a few small coins. He threw the two silver pieces into his inventory before turning to the sword.
Merlin attempted to lift the sword with one hand, however he was unsessful. He eventually dropped the torch and tried lifting it with two hands, it was heavy but he managed to lift it. He threw the sword into his inventory and inspected it.
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[The Bovine Butcher. (Umon)]
? Damage: +8
? Damage against bovine: +50%
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Chapter 31: Snap back to reality.
Merlin walked around the dungeon while looking for any loot drops he may have missed. After a few minutes of searching he eventually gave up, assuming he had found everything. He made his way back through the tunnel he came from, eventually reaching the room he started the fire in.
As he walked into the room, he saw ck wispy soot gently raining down to the cave floor. This scene brought back memories of the previous timeline, the soot was reminiscent of his ck feathers, even dissolving into dust upon contact.
Merlin covered his face as he walked through the cave. He quickened his pace as he made his way through the various twisting tunnels, until eventually there was faint sunlight creeping in from around the corner.
He turned the corner and was finally met with the cave mouth. Merlin brushed off the soot that hadnded on him as he walked towards the vige. He travelled through the forest for a moment, not seeing anything or anyone until he escaped the treeline and entered the wild hare¡¯s spawning grounds.
As he walked through the field on his way to the vige, he noticed that there were less yers farming the wild hares now. It seemed they had finally moved on to bigger quests, most had probably started fighting goblins in the forest.
Merlin started walking towards the barracks as soon as he reached the vige, he passed by a couple yers who seemed to be wandering around looking for quests, talking to every NPC they saw. A few momentster he arrived at the barracks.
As he entered the barracks, he saw that there was only a handful of yers left fighting the training dummies, even the most stubborn and egotistical of the yers had either learnt their ce and conformed or gave up and abandoned the quest. Merlin approached General Perakeles, who turned to face him.
"I see you were sessful with your mission." General Perakeles spoke up as a wide smile formed on his face. "My soldiers are ready to move out, we thank you for your service."
As the general finished talking, a notification widow appeared before Merlin.
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 2.¡¹
The quest was finally over, Merlin excused himself before rushing out of the barracks, there wasn¡¯t much time left until the servers closed for the day. He intended on farming shield kills on the wild hares until the server closed. He ran towards the field, when he arrived he immediately started farming the hares, making sure to finish every kill with his shield. A short whileter, he received a notification informing him that his title ranked up.
¡¸Congrattions, your title, "The Best Defence. (Beginner)" has been upgraded to, "The Best Defence. (Novice)"¡¹
He checked the stats of his new title, a window appeared.
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[The Best Defence. (Novice)]
It takes hits, but sometimes it hits back.
? Shield Damage: +10%
Upgrade Requirements: Shield Kills (0/50)
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Merlin continued farming wild hares for the next few minutes, already adding twenty-three kills to his new title. He was about to continue when a red notification box appeared before him.
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[Message from the devs!]
The server will shut down in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time.
Thank you.
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Merlin started running towards the vige, he looked around to see most people had begun doing the same. When he reached the vige border he uttered themand, "System logout."
Merlin received a prompt asking him if he would like to logout, to which he responded with yes.
The world around him started to fade out, until he was floating in a ck void. A couple moments passed, and the ck void was suddenly overtaken with the familiar endless white room, the virtual hub.
Merlin lifted his arm that was now covered with holographic glowing buttons, he touched a red button that had the generic power symbol. As he did, a prompt appeared before him in a holographic window, asking if he was sure he wanted to log out, he pressed the button that said yes.
The white room faded away, bringing back the ck void, until suddenly he felt a jolt in his body. The stimting jolt from the capsule woke him up from his trance, and all of a sudden he was overwhelmed with the sudden emergence of sound. The whirring of machines, the muffled sounds of people talking, it took him a few seconds to adjust to the noise after spending so much time in a void.
The capsule Arthur was in slowly shifted to an upright position before the capsule door opened. The bright lights stung his eyes as he exited the machine, it felt as though he had just woken up, feeling somewhat groggy.
Slowly several machines started moving one after the other, opening up to release the people inside. Eventually the entire group had left their capsules, although some had to be forcibly ejected after the five minutes had passed.
Some of the slower beta testers experienced what happens when a machine experiences power outage while there is still a user in it. As described in the safety briefing they received prior to entering the virtual capsule, they experienced a hypnogogic jerk. Better known as the unpleasant falling sensation that jerks you awake while you¡¯re trying to sleep.
Everyone was rounded up and lead back over to the briefing room. On their walk to the briefing room, Arthur noticed several people giving him strange looks, although one person stood out. Typhoeus¡¯ real body, a tall, robust young man with tanned skin and short bleach blond hair, a striking difference to his in-game avatar, was giving him a look of respect, rather than contempt or envy like those around him.
As they entered the briefing room, everyone took a seat as one of the developers stood up and began speaking. He began talking about several of their findings, the biggest issue was people struggling tomunicate with NPCs, yers having a hard time figuring out how tomunicate with shopkeepers, purchase items and get quests.
After a lengthy lecture about other issues, the second most important issue being the pain synchronisation, they had instead started talking about yer achievements.
"Within the first session, one person has already managed to get arrested." The developer stared at one person in particr who lowered their head in shame. "I¡¯m not going to mention for what, but your character will be bailed out next session, further crimes won¡¯t be forgiven and you¡¯ll have to experience the entire prison sentence before you¡¯re released."
"Next up, there have been a total of sixty-three total yer deaths, all of them but one were caused by goblins, thest one was caused by fall damage." The developer flipped the page, and began reading a couple more facts out, before getting to the current leaderboard.
"Coming in at third ce, at level one with one soul, and the only person who kept the scythe in the tutorial, Typhoeus." The developer flipped the page, pulling up another character stat sheet. "Coming in at second ce, also level one, the only user currently with two souls, Snowbunny."
The developer flipped the page once more, however he didn¡¯t read it out right away, seemingly surprised by what he had seen. "Four titles?!" He couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, but quickly regained hisposure. "Coming in at first ce, a level two user who has already killed a boss by himself, and is also the only yer to befriend a cat, Merlin."
Upon hearing that name, several heads turned towards Arthur, he could also feel rows of eyes staring daggers at him from behind. Shortly after everyone was given the time for tomorrow¡¯s session before being dismissed. Some people decided to stick around, while others left immediately.
As Arthur was getting ready to leave, two people approached him, Typhoeus was one of them, while the other was a young woman with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. Arthur was already familiar with who this was, but it seemed like she was about to introduce herself.
"Hey hey, you¡¯re Merlin, right?" She was rather chipper, "I¡¯m Maria, or Snowbunny, nice to meet you!"
He returned her greeting, "Nice to meet you, my name is Arthur. But yes, my name is Merlin in-game."
"Oh, nice, I see what you did there." Maria giggled hearing Arthur¡¯s real name.
Typhoeus then took the chance to speak up. "Hey, thanks for the advice earlier. I¡¯m Acai, or Typhoeus."
Arthur smiled hearing this, it seemed he figured out his way of bing friends with Typhoeus once more, but unexpectedly had also picked up Snowbunny. Not that he wasining, she was a talented yer and would help greatly in the future.
The unlikely trio spent the next few minutes having a friendly conversation, Arthur even told Maria where his best friend Fluffernutter hung out. Maria had mentioned that the three would be friendly rivals, and that she would catch up to Arthur in no time. Taking it as a challenge, he told her that she should turnbat assistance off, as it would benefit her greatly in the long run.
The conversation ended shortly after, with the three adding each other on social media as they made their way out of the facility together. Arthur said his goodbyes before splitting from the group. He noticed Donovan was already here waiting for him in the car.
Chapter 32: A meal with the family.
Arthur walked over to Donovan¡¯s car, entering the passenger side. They greeted each other and made small talk, giving Arthur time to put his seat belt on before Donovan started driving. The two continued the small talk on the drive home, Donovan wasn¡¯t that interested in New Genesis so he didn¡¯t ask much about it.
Eventually they arrived home, Arthur exited the vehicle and waved goodbye to Donovan before making his way inside the house. The lights were all off, meaning he was the first to arrive home.
He made his way upstairs, climbing to his room, or more urately his floor. He walked into one of his rooms, where he was met with several rows of potted nts. This was one of his hobby rooms, specifically the room dedicated to growing medicinal and poisonous nts, one of his previous interests. Arthur made sure to water his nts before leaving, closing the door behind him.
He then moved over to his bedroom, stripping down from his current outfit into somethingfortable and loose. The next room he visited was the newest addition to his collection of various junk filled rooms. This room in particr was something he only started putting together after returning from the previous timeline, his own personal gym.
There were many factors of a person that affected how they would experience New Genesis, some factors were uncontroble, such as a person¡¯s height. Whereas some could be adapted and improved, such as a person¡¯s physical health and overall body mass.
Your body¡¯s mass was something that couldn¡¯t be changed through in-game settings, but it did update as your real body changed.
It was also just a good habit in general to take care of your body with exercise and proper dieting. Especially because there was the risk of severe muscle atrophy and other health defects if you didn¡¯t take care of your body when you were outside of the capsule.
These issues urred due to your body being stationary for so long, working out became widely epted within the yer-base, and shortly after some people found that training their physical bodies actually benefited them in-game as well. One of the many reasons was that having a smaller silhouette was more advantageous, as it would directly trante to having a smaller hitbox within the game.
Arthur spent the next half hour performing a mix of aerobic and light strength exercises. He was starting off light due to his body being untrained and unfit, due to his previous aversion to any and every form of physical activity.
As he was finishing off hisst exercise for the day, he heard what he assumed to be his sister mbering up the stairs. Eventually Anna peeked her head out from around the corner, proving his guess right. She informed him that food was about to be ready, meaning he should clean up ande down quickly. Arthur finished his exercise, wiping down the sweat from his body with a nearby towel.
After tidying himself up somewhat, he made his way down the flight of stairs, greeting his father who was currently ving away in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on what looked to be his father¡¯s famous cheesy ham and potato bake.
Arthur took a seat and waited as his father slowly brought a few dishes to the table, first up was the potato bake, followed by a small bowl of chicken Caesar sd, and finally a te of sweet and sticky pork ribs.
As the family enjoyed their meal, several questions were thrown around. Being one of hispany¡¯s biggest investments yet, Arthur¡¯s father was curious about the experience of the game, especially from his son¡¯s point of view. He had heard all the speeches from the developers, but it was important to get the perspective of a yer.
Arthur told his father all that he had experienced, while trying to make it seem less violent than it was. He probably wouldn¡¯t appreciate hearing how his son was attacked by goblins, stabbed several times and mauled by a wolf. He did however share some things his father would appreciate, such as the scenery and general feel of the game, how it was almost indistinguishable from real life.
His sister started bombarding him with questions, she still had her reservations about his safety and how scary the machines seemed, but since Arthur seemed to have enjoyed himself she put that aside. After dinner, Arthur helped clean up the table before making his way back to his room.
He took a quick shower before getting ready for bed, he spent the next couple hours reading before his eyelids became too heavy to open. When he woke up, it was almost ten in the morning, his father and sister had already left for work, leaving Arthur to his own devices.
Arthur checked up on his nts before going downstairs, he whipped himself up a quick breakfast and went back to his room, spending the rest of his morning reading the current news articles. This was a new hobby he had, reading articles he already knew the climax of was a strange feeling.
He paid attention to a couple news articles, that hade out recently. A couple game journalist websites, those who Arthur had filtered out of the invitation list, started creating smear stories against the game andpany. A petty move, but it seemed as though the inte figured out why they were doing it and had started making fun of them for it.
Not long after Arthur had received a message from Donovan, telling him he¡¯d be there to pick him up shortly, it was already time for day two of the beta test to start. He made a quick sandwich and got ready to leave the house just in time, as he just received the notification that Donovan was waiting for him outside.
Donovan drove Arthur back to the beta tester facility, when he arrived he saw that groups of people had been waiting for a while. They formed small groups, each talking about their ns for today¡¯s session with child-like excitement.
As Arthur walked into view, several eyes locked on him, a feeling he still hadn¡¯t gotten used to. He made his way into the facility, walking past those who red at him. He approached one of the developers, asking for the 3D model of Fluffernutter, the cat of the beginner vige. When asked why, he responded with the reason that he wanted to make arge statue of the cat.
He walked over to the briefing room, where he noticed two people sitting next to each other, they seemed to be having an important conversation, it was Maria and Acai. Arthur approached the two, and he overheard them talking about levelling up faster, he felt like he could assist his new friends without being too overbearing.
"Hey guys, any ns for today?" Arthur spoke up as he took a seat next to Maria, they were sitting on the edge, leaving only one seat vacant.
"Heya Merl-- Arthur... We¡¯re just talking about ways we can level up faster. It feels like the levelling in this game is too slow." Maria began calling Arthur by his in-game name, before correcting herself, it was all toomon of a mistake.
"Right, well you should probably focus down on the main quest of the beginner vige, from what I¡¯ve seen the main quests give more experience than just grinding monsters." If Arthur started lecturing them on advanced game mechanics and levelling techniques this early in the game, he¡¯d be seen as suspicious, and attracting more attention wasn¡¯t something he wanted right now.
"One thing I¡¯d rmend is for you two to work together to do the raid quest." Arthur began exining the Lycoa goblin raid quest, and the difficulties he had to face. He also told them about what equipment to buy, such as an extra torch, or slings as a cheap and easy ranged option.
When asked about how he knew about these things, he just said he talked with some NPCs. This was a pretty easy reasoning to hide behind, due to most people struggling with talking to NPCs in the first ce. It may be that some vigers mention a sling being used to fight off vermin, a cheap and powerful option for those who cant maintain a bow and arrow.
Eventually people started to fill the briefing room, Arthur noticed a few familiar faces, such as the guy who got destroyed by the goblins while trying to hunt him. Eventually the morning briefing started. There had been a couple changes, most of which were background updates.
The most interesting of which was the few changes made to Gaia¡¯s prediction algorithm, it was even given a reason for the changes, due to it making several major mistakes yesterday when guessing the actions certain yers would have taken.
It seemed as though Arthur was already making ripples, but he couldn¡¯t afford to stop now.
Chapter 33: The marshmallow tragedy.
The briefing ended and everyone was led back into the capsule room. The machines were all letting out a soft whirring sound as they started their boot up sequence. Everyone approached their designated capsule and waited for their machines to open.
The familiar feeling of static electricity tickled his skin as Arthur entered his machine. He sat down upon the chair, resting his arms on the armrests by his side. As he leaned back into the chair, he felt the tingling sensation of electricity running up his arms, and the capsule he was in suddenly activated.
The capsule door closed, sealing him within the machine. A few secondster a holographic disy appeared before him, big bold letters spelling out the word "syncing" were stered on the disy, right next to a loading icon. When the machine finished synchronising with Arthur, the electric sensation he felt quickly dulled down to afortable warmth that enveloped his body.
The machine began to whirr, and Arthur felt himself being rotated onto his back as the word "Instantiating" appeared before him in the form of holographic text. As the machine clicked into ce, at a forty-five degree angle, the words on the hologram changed to say, "Instantiationplete. Would you like to log in?"
"Yes", Arthur closed his eyes and answered. After a few moments his body began slowly losing consciousness, the sounds from reality began fading away before disappearingpletely. He was now floating in the ck void, the realm between the real world and the virtual one.
Arthur opened his eyes, and before him was an endless room of white, spreading as far as the horizon. He checked the buttons hovering on his arm, and noticed that the button for entering the game was currently greyed out, meaning the servers haven¡¯t been activated yet.
Instead he hit the icon representing the lobby menu, causing a window that listed all the avable lobbies appear, the only lobby open at the moment however was the one created for the beta testers to join. Arthur clicked join on the lobby, and his body was enveloped in light.
When the light dissipated, he opened his eyes to see that he wasn¡¯t in the middle of a city, but was instead standing in a clearing located in the middle of a lush forest. It was rather darkpared tost time, but the bright full moon directly overhead provided enough light to see, and the various campfires scattered around the clearing also provided both light and warmth.
The campfires were surrounded byrge log seats, and various items littered the general area, including the food items required to make s¡¯mores, bags of marshmallows and boxes of sweet crackers. Arthur grabbed a bag of marshmallows and a bundle of skewers before taking a seat on a nearby log.
Various people started appearing a few seconds after Arthur had. It seemed as though the novelty of the virtual lobbies hadn¡¯t worn off on them yet, as the vast majority of them became giddy with childish excitement when they realised they were dropped in the middle of a forest at midnight.
Both Acai and Maria appeared, they too were experiencing the excitement of suddenly being dropped in a new scenery. The two snapped out of it and began looking around, their eyes both locking on a familiar figure who was sitting on a log and trying to blow out the fire that had spread to the very burnt looking marshmallow he was holding.
The two approached Arthur, who at this point was now waving around a piece of shrivelled charcoal on a stick. Arthur turned to face the two, and with a confident smile, held up the skewered charcoal and asked, "Want a marshmallow?"
After a few minutes ofughter, and Acai taking over with cooking the marshmallows, the group continued the conversation they were having before the briefing. Being the rowdiest group naturally attracted the attention of the others, all forms of hostility were still heavily focused on Arthur, but their gazes started to shift to his newpanions.
Arthur noticed this, making sure to remember the everyone¡¯s faces, he then informed hispanions that they were likely going to be targeted in the wilderness. Although this was most likely going to happen anyway, due to their ce on the leaderboard, their status as Arthur¡¯s friends surely didn¡¯t help their public image. After a little while, a mechanical jingle rung out, informing everyone the servers had finallye back online.
"Well, this is our cue, make sure to add each other after logging in." Arthur spoke out before pping the y button on his arm. He was quickly enveloped in light, and when the light faded away, he found himself on the edge of the vige.
A notification floated in front of him weing him back, there was also a countdown that represented how long his immunity wouldst for. When you rejoined the game, you were given ten seconds of invulnerability, giving you just enough time to get your bearings and n your next course of action. This was implemented to stop you getting annihted by monsters after just spawning in, but it also helped with getting spawn camped by yers.
A short while after, two more notifications appeared. The first notification was a friend request from Maria, or Snowbunny.
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[Friend Request.]
Snowbunny would like to add you as a friend!
Do you ept?
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Merlin pressed the ept button before turning to the next window. The next was also a friend request, but from Acai this time around, better known as Typhoeus, the reaper.
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[Friend Request.]
Typhoeus would like to add you as a friend!
Do you ept?
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Likewise, he also epted the second friend request before waving both notifications away.
Merlin started walking into town, he weaved through buildings until he arrived at the food vendor who sold the beef skewers to himst time. And after grabbing a couple skewers, he made his way through the various side streets until he arrived in a familiar looking courtyard.
There, sitting upon her cushioned throne, more specifically an old rocking chairyered with pillows, was a beautiful orange and white, and extremely fluffy, cat by the name of Fluffernutter.
"Hey buddy, I¡¯m back!" Merlin spoke out with excitement, pulling out the beef skewers. One thing to know was that Merlin loved cats, he had always adored cats and desperately wanted one. The unfortunate thing however was that his sister was extremely allergic to them, so no matter how much he begged his father as a child, he never got one.
Eventually he was old enough to realise why they couldn¡¯t have a cat, but as he grew up, he still retained thoughts of wanting a cat. In the future he even decided to move out with the sole intention of getting a cat, but he eventually never got one.
The main reason was because he realised that due to him ying New Genesis for several hours per day, he would effectively be leaving the cat alone for arge portion of its life, not giving it any attention or affection until it was time for him to work out, eat or sleep.
This revtion eventually gave him the ultimate goal, befriend every cat or local animal in every vige, town and city. Give them all of the attention that a real cat wouldn¡¯t receive from him in his day to day life.
Merlin sat down next to the cat as he fed it one chunk of beef at a time. The cat ate everyst piece, and was now sleeping on hisp as he pet it, a sign of trust.
¡¸You have earned +10 familiarity with Fluffernutter.¡¹
Several minutes passed before Fluffernutter woke up, but Merlin didn¡¯t mind. He was in a rush, but at the same time, he had to make time for the things that were actually important to him. He always had the option to speed ahead if he wanted to, at the risk of peoplebelling him a cheater of course.
Fluffernutter made his way back over to the rocking chair, going back to his default state as Merlin heard footsteps slowly closing in. A woman with long fluffy bunny ears popped out from around the corner, within her hand was a paper bag with several skewers within. This person was Snowbunny, and it seemed she was interested in befriending a cat too.
"Hey, long time no see." Merlin spoke out with a cheeky tone. "He¡¯s all yours. Oh, and he likes being scratched just behind the ear, good luck."
With that bit of advice he vanished behind a building before she could get a word in.
With his goodbyes to Fluffernutterplete, he turned his eyes west. More specifically upon the path that connected the beginner vige, Lycoa and the first town, Orchomenus. He could stick around and do more quests in this area, there were plenty to do. But Merlin needed to move, this area would have a new wave of visitors as soon as the next phase started.
Chapter 34: A roses depravity.
Merlin began his journey, leaving the safe confines of the beginner vige Lycoa. There weren¡¯t any official maintained paths connecting the beginner vige with the rest of the towns, viges and cities. It was pretty isted from the rest of the world, separated by either arge forest or steep hills, depending on what side you approached it from.
Fortunately there was a rtively safe path through the forest, often traversed by merchants hoping to restock their wares, or vigers looking to purchase items that nobody in the vige produces. The forest path was rtively well maintained by the viges up to a certain point, however once you passed that point, your safety was never guaranteed.
Merlin traversed the path while taking in the scenery. He travelled through the rtively clear area, any trees that would have gotten in the way or made the path feel clustered had been cut down. The vigers had also gone through the effort of thinning out the forest near the clearing, cutting trees down deeper into the forest to provide more line of sight as you travelled along the path, this made the area feel safer.
The path he was on was well lit due to the sparse canopy above him, theck of foliage blocking out sunlight was mostly due to the clearing efforts the vigers had done. Merlin admired the bright orange sky as he walked, it was rather close to sunset at this point, meaning nightfall would soon be upon him.
He picked up the pace, he wanted to make it to town before night as he didn¡¯t bother obtaining another torch after using both in the mini dungeon. It was more dangerous to be in the wilderness at night time, one of the biggest threats at night were nocturnal predators, and wolves just so happened to be verymon in this area.
As he ran through the clearing, something within the forest caught his eye. It was a little off the beaten path, but he could see it due to the tree thinning efforts. Merlin stopped running and instead made his way towards whatever it was, weaving through the various forms of foliage and tree trunks.
He came across a small clearing, and within it stood arge monolithic headstone, standing alone amongst overgrown rocks and thick old stumps. The headstone was in a still somewhat respectable state, there were clear signs of wear caused by the elements, and the sides of the stone were starting to be overgrown with moss.
As Merlin approached the headstone, his eyes locked on to the bundle of withered roses resting in front of the headstone. Merlin felt ufortable as he approached, he didn¡¯t realise why until he moved close enough to notice the faint scent of blood.
As Merlin leaned in to take a closer look at the bundle of roses, the scent of blood became stronger, leading him to assume the roses themselves were giving off the scent. It was as if someone had squeezed the thorns until it punctured their skin, as the rose¡¯s thorns were blood stained.
He turned his attention to the headstone, he had an ominous feeling about this ce, especially as it was about to be night time, but it also felt like a secret waiting to be discovered.
His eyes zed over the face of the headstone which was engraved with a strange foreign text. Unfortunately Merlin didn¡¯t have the knowledge required to read it, which probably meant that the quest, if there even was one, was currently unavable to him.
Feeling quite disappointed Merlin turned his back to the grave and began walking towards the path, until he suddenly felt a painful stabbing sensation in his hand. A wave of fear rushed over him as he checked where the pain wasing from, and his fears were proven correct when he found several puncture wounds scattered around his hand, followed by an eerie notification.
¡¸You are being hunted by a malevolent being, seek the light.¡¹
A gust of cold wind started to blow, causing leaves to lift into the air, buffeting Merlin¡¯s body. Every inch of his body was telling him to run, he wasn¡¯t equipped to fight an evil spirit, not just yet.
Merlin ran towards the main path, weaving through the forest with everything he had. From where he was now, it should only take him a couple minutes to reach the next town. And for Merlin, a town meant light sources, which is what he desperately needed.
As he ran down the path, the previously maintained treeline became more dense, it seemed he had finally left the vige¡¯s safe maintained area, although he was having a hard time seeing how it was safe at the moment.
As he continued down the path, he almost missed the glint of an arrow flying towards him. Barely stopping in time, he let the arrow fly past him before unsheathing his de. It seemed his newest problem were a small group of bandits.
These bandits were here to prevent an unprepared yer from leaving the safety of the beginner vige. They also had the added bonus of teaching the yer that not all humans in this world were good or quest givers, some had hostile intentions and would even kill you, given the chance.
Unfortunately, Merlin really didn¡¯t have the time to have a drawn out fight with them, he had to deal with this as efficiently as possible.
Merlin ran towards who he assumed was the bandit squad¡¯s leader, as he was wearing well-maintained leather armour and had a decent looking weapon, as opposed to the rags his two associates were equipped with.
The bandit leader swung his sword towards Merlin, only to have his de parried by the shield. Merlin responded by shing down at the bandit, cleaving through his shoulder, but unfortunately the bandit jumped backwards in an attempt to limit the damage. Merlin stepped forward to sh again but was intercepted by the other two bandits, he avoided their attack and quickly backed away.
"Open inventory", Merlin quickly chanted amand, causing his inventory window to open up before him. He threw his dius and shield into the inventory before pulling out the cleaver he took from the boss.
"I really don¡¯t have the time to y with you, move!" Merlin shouted, rushing towards the group of bandits. He swung therge de with his entire body¡¯s strength, and before the de made contact he chanted once more, "Heavy Strike."
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
His de began whistling as it ripped through the air, the leader ran up and attempted to block the swing with his sword, but found that the force behind the de was more than he expected. The de cleaved through the leader¡¯s torso, leaving arge gash in his stomach.
The momentum hadn¡¯t died out however, and as if copying the move from the de¡¯s previous owner, Merlin began spinning, using therge de as a counterweight. The second rotation caught the leader by surprise, the de easily cleaved through him once more, finishing him off.
Moving this de was extremely taxing, it was obnoxiously unbnced and hard to use, even for someone who had way more strength than the average level two.
Although it was cumbersome and inconvenient, it was a heavy de that dealt eight extra damage per hit. This was on top of his already high base damage due to his strength stat, so Merlin nned on abusing it until he could earn more points in dexterity, at least enough to make his goblin dagger a viable alternative.
The two remaining bandits pounced towards Merlin, weapons drawn and ready to strike, however an ominous screeching from behind Merlin caused their bodies to freeze. Likewise, Merlin himself was also caught by the screech. He noticed as the two bandits started recoiling in terror, he wasn¡¯t yet able to turn around, but he honestly didn¡¯t even want to.
"Open inventory" Merlin chanted the second his body could move again, he threw the cleaver back into his inventory and ran, not even caring about the bandits anymore he sprinted past them. The ice cold sensation that ran down his neck moments prior was the only reason he needed to keep running until he found light.
The bandits let out pained screams only seconds after, although he was curious he knew he had to run, turning around meant slowing down, which was something he couldn¡¯t afford to do. The sound of a woman¡¯s eerieughter echoed throughout the forest, the air grew colder and the leaves started whipping around in the heavy winds.
Merlin¡¯s heart was beating heavily, and his body felt exhausted, as if he had been running for hours non-stop. Eventually he saw light in the distance, an oilntern hanging from an archway, guarded by two militia wielding spears.
Eventually Merlin was close enough for the militiamen to see him, and from their reactions, they could also see the creature chasing him. Just a few meters away from the light, Merlin felt a w dig into his leg, causing him to trip over and slide towards the guards. As he slid along the dirt he turned around to catch a glimpse of his pursuer.
The creature chasing him was a tall pale woman with a sunken face, her long ck hair was dishevelled and she wore a long red dress that was torn and shredded, her dressplemented her blood red lipstick. Her fingers were long and bony, with the tips being more like ws than actual fingertips, and ck thorny tentacles jutted out from her back, still dripping with the blood of the two bandits she ughtered not too long ago.
As Merlin stopped sliding the creature only a metre away, its w thrust out towards Merlin¡¯s face, only to stop a few inches away, it seemed Merlin was now considered in the light, meaning he was safe from this ghost for the time being. The ghost tried taking a few more swipes towards Merlin before letting out an ear piercing screech and vanishing into the darkness.
"What in Pan¡¯s name was that?" One of the militiamen blurted out in shock, to which he received a friendly nudge from his fellow guard to regain hisposure.
Merlin merelyid there on the ground before them, panting as if he had just run a marathon.
Chapter 35: The mercenarys irrationality.
"That hurt." Merlin let out a strange groan as heid there on the ground in pain. The two guards looked at him with obvious looks of concern. He sat up and began inspecting the condition of his leg, it was still a fresh scratch, so the bleeding hadn¡¯t stopped yet.
"Does this town have a priest or medical facility?" Merlin asked the two guards who at this point still had their guard up.
"Yes, we have a priestess, unfortunately she isn¡¯t currently within town." The first to respond was the man who spoke out earlier. "As for a medical facility, there isn¡¯t really anywhere specific, there are those around town who have some form of medical training. But otherwise, everyone just tends to their own injuries."
"I see. Thank you, I guess I¡¯ll deal with this myself then." It was a shame, but he¡¯d have to put up with the pain until his natural regeneration kicked in.
"So, anyway. What on earth was that?" The other guard spoke up this time, It seemed he wanted a proper exnation as to what the creature was. After all, it was his duty to protect the town, that included learning about any potential threats and figuring out a way to counter them.
"All I know is that it is some kind of undead creature. It didn¡¯t seem quite like a ghoul but it also wasn¡¯t a spirit." Merlin began to exin the situation he was just in, prior to being hunted. "I was on my way here from Lycoa, when I noticed something within the forest. I was curious so I went to see what it was."
"When I ran over, I found a lonely grave in the middle of the forest. And when I approached it, all I could smell was blood. So I ran away and the creature started chasing me out of nowhere. This all happened only a few minutes ago."
"It seems like the creature doesn¡¯t like light, so I was fortunate to make it here in time." Merlin spoke once more, "Although I¡¯m not sure what would happen if I went back out into the darkness."
The guards seemed to be satisfied with his exnation, they helped him to his feet and watched as he hobbled along with his wounded leg into town. Merlin felt pretty safe now that he was within the town walls, the cobblestone streets were well lit with an abundance of oilmps, and there were plenty of people around enjoying the town¡¯s nightlife.
He sat down on one of the nearby benches to rest his wounded leg, and a few minutester his natural regeneration kicked in, healing his legpletely.
He felt a strange itchy sensation on his palm, and realised that it had healed too. But where the strange puncture marks previously appeared, in their ce were several light purple spots. Merlin tried scratching them, but the spots seemed to be well under his skin.
Feeling exhausted already, he decided he¡¯d deal with thister. This was a probably something he needed the priestess to look at.
He stood up and began walking around town, trying to get his bearings. He didn¡¯t know if the creature was still hunting him, or how it functioned. Could it suddenly appear if he stepped into a dark room? Could it slip out of a dark alleyway and attack him? He wasn¡¯t sure, so he made sure to stay away from the shadows for now, staying within the well lit main street.
Merlin came across an old tailor store, and from the window view, one of the cloaks caught his attention, a cloak that buffed stealth. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t currently have the funds to purchase such an item, but he made sure to keep a mental note of its existence, just in-case he didn¡¯t find anything more valuable before then.
Merlin entered the store, the clerk appeared to be busy mending what looked to be a pair of fine trousers, so he didn¡¯t bother disturbing him just yet. Merlin looked at the cheaper options for cloaks, picking out a nice dark ck cloak thatcked any detail.
It was a little rough around the edges, but it was sturdy enough that it would serve its purpose. The best part however was that the price tag was only fourteen copper. While still expensive for Merlin¡¯s current financial situation, it was barely enough to make back the material cost. on the item itself.
The old man sitting at the front counter didn¡¯t so much as peer over as Merlin approached, and only after having his light source partially obscured did the old man at the counter turn to face the new customer.
"Hello, may I assist you?" The old man spoke up, his voice seemed uninterested and rather pompous,
"I¡¯d just like to buy this, please." Merlin held up the cloak for the old man to see. "Also do you know anywhere within town I could get a job?"
"Fourteen copper pieces." The man replied, "And as for your second inquiry, there is always the mercenary guild if you¡¯re good with your hands and a de. It¡¯s located in a bar not far from here, it¡¯s called ¡¯The Wandering Spider¡¯ it¡¯s hard to miss."
Merlin ced a silver coin and four copper coins on the counter before pushing them towards the tailor. "Thank you, you¡¯ve been a great help."
Merlin donned his new cloak before walking out of the building, when he got back onto the street he inspected his cloak, a window appeared before him.
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[Apprentice¡¯s ck Cloak. (Common)]
? Protection from the elements: +37%
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it was pretty good for the price point, the overall design of the cloak didn¡¯t look too bad either. Due to it being entirely ck, any of the strange or unprofessional work was essentially hidden, leaving only a fairly decent early game cloak.
Merlin opened his inventory, and instead of taking out his dius and shield, he took out the goblin dagger, hiding it underneath his new cloak.
He travelled through town once more, ending up at a well-lit alleyway with arge sign marked as "The Wandering Spider", there was also a smaller sign below it stating that this was also the headquarters for the mercenary guild. There were several posters stuck around the ce signalling to their fellow townsfolk that they were epting quests.
He walked down the alleyway and pushed the door open. Several eyes locked on him immediately, making him feel like this wasn¡¯t an area he was wee in. Regardless, he made his way forward through the room while on his way to the service desk. His shoes were constantly sticking to the wooden floor due to how much alcohol had been spilt on them.
Merlin made sure not to breathe too heavily, as there was a thickyer of smoke floating around the bar due to the various smokers.. The room smelt like a mix of tobo and stale alcohol, as well as the musty stench of body odour, it was a horrible smell but Merlin had experienced worse recently.
He took a seat at the counter, the barkeeper turned to face him as Merlin pulled back his hood, revealing his face. The bartender was taken by surprise somewhat, Merlin was currently seventeen, but even so he retained several innocent looking features that made him look younger than he was. Even if Merlin had already gone through and changed a few aspects of his character¡¯s appearance, the general look and feel of his face stayed the same.
"I¡¯m looking for a job, I was told this was the best ce for an outsider to start at." Merlin spoke up, "Is there a registration form or something?"
The bartender was about to speak up, until someone sitting nearby stood up. Arge man who looked to be roughly forty years old walked over to Merlin, cing hisrge bulging arm around his neck.
"This ain¡¯t a ce for kids to be messing around in." Therge man belittled Merlin, refusing to remove his arm. Thest line he delivered felt more like a threat than a warning. "Those who don¡¯t understand their ce usually end up dead."
"Please remove your arm, or you will lose it." Merlin threatened back, confidence was the key with these bumbling oafs. They weren¡¯t even high members of the mercenary guild, they were more decoration than anything else, merely used to scare away any would-be mercenaries whocked spirit.
"Oho, you hear that boys, this one has some spunk." Therge man let out an obnoxiousugh, he raised his fist as if he was going to throw a punch at the back of Merlin¡¯s head.
Tired of this man, he decided he¡¯d show off a little to make an example of him. Merlin began chanting for a moment before swinging his fist behind him.
¡¸Skill ?Sucker-punch? Activated, your next unarmed attack has a 40% chance to trigger the stun effect for 3 seconds.¡¹
As Merlin¡¯s fist connected with the man¡¯s face, he received a notification jingle that informed him the skill had been sessful, this one attack had left the man in a daze for a few seconds.
Taking advantage of the stun, Merlin grabbed the man¡¯s wrist, utilising his high strength to twist the man¡¯s arm behind his back, this move also served to position Merlin behind him. It was at this point when more people began standing up, it seemed as though they were going to intervene.
Merlin kicked out the man¡¯s legs from behind, forcing him onto his knees, and with his spare hand he drew the goblin dagger he had hidden under his cloak before holding it to the man¡¯s throat.
Merlin looked towards the bartender, only to find that the bartender had a surprised smile stered on his face. The crowd had also stopped approaching, they received Merlin¡¯s message before he made a demand.
"I take it this is my interview, did I get the job?" Merlin asked, staring at the bartender, who briefly nodded in response.
The only person who didn¡¯t seem to get the memo was the man currently with a knife to his throat. After a brief attempt at a struggle, which had failed miserably due to the leverage Merlin currently had by locking the man¡¯s arm behind him, Merlin attempted to reconcile with the man, to which he only received death threats and insults in return.
Feeling helpless in the situation, he turned to the bartender who merely shrugged at his current plight. Feeling as if he had no other option, Merlin sheathed his dagger before grabbing the man by the hair. He began a short chant and secondster he received a notification.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin smashed the man¡¯s face down on a nearby table. Surprisingly enough, Merlin had actually received the mechanical jingle indicating the skill had sessfully activated.
As the man¡¯s face made contact with the table, the ale-soaked rotting wood was instantly reduced to splinters. Merlin inspected the man¡¯s condition, once he found that the man was still breathing he threw his unconscious body to the side like he was garbage.
"Too much?"
Chapter 36: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - I
"It¡¯s fine, he¡¯ll live." The bartender acted as if this was a normal urrence in this sort of ce. Although Merlin could understand, lower level mercenaries were some of the most rowdy NPCs in the game. They were typically prone toshing out at anybody who annoyed them, and their general behaviour in taverns made them no better than gangsters or bandits. This is why most mercenary-infested taverns never bothered to upgrade or rece their old furniture, it would only be destroyed in an altercation at some point.
The one redeeming quality mercenaries had however was that they loved money and would do almost anything for it, some would even murder if you paid them enough, although that was a thin line between mercenary and criminal that few dared to cross.
Merlin took a seat at the counter once more, the bartender gave him a cheeky smile. Everyone else seemed to have sat back down and gone back to drinking, although a couple of people who were previously drinking with the guy Merlin destroyed walked over to check on his condition.
Looking around the room, he saw that there wasn¡¯t a job board or any loose quest forms, so the reasonable assumption would be that the barkeeper was the one who distributed the quests. This was probably why even the mercenaries kept in line, for the most part, within his establishment. If they got on his bad side they¡¯d be out of a job, or at the very least forced to do the low paying garbage jobs to make a living.
"So, do you have any jobs for me?" Merlin asked the barkeep.
"Would you prefer a lower payout for an easier job, or high payout and an extremely dangerous job?" The barkeeper asked him, a glint of curiosity in his eye.
Merlin put a little bit of thought into it before responding. "Something a little above what you¡¯d assume my level to be, preferably subjugation."
Subjugation quests typically paid the highest, and killing things at his current level was rather easy for him due to his previousbat experience. Although this would get more difficultter on as levels and stats started to matter more, meaning he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to finish abat encounter with a critical hit or two like he had up until this point.
Not to mention the various types of creatures that would appear atter levels, humanoid creatures were abundant, but there were creatures of all shapes and sizes, even giant monsters weren¡¯t that umon of a sight, although they were usually considered bosses of some sort.
"Well, you¡¯ve shown yourself to bepetent with hand-to-hand and a de, I may have something for you." The barkeep rustled through a stack of paper, pulling out a crumpled sheet that looked like it had been handled a few too many times. "This one has been in our backlog for a little while, but it had started bing an even bigger problem as ofte."
As the barkeeper passed the sheet to Merlin, a quest window appeared before him.
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[Common Quest]
Lycoa bandit subjugation.
Reports havee in of a small group of bandits who have been attacking people who attempted to travel between Lycoa and Orchomenus. They seem to have made camp somewhere within the forest, somewhere north from the forest trail.
Kill off a few bandits and force them to retreat so the path can be safely used, a bounty of one silver per bandit has been posted.
Bandits remaining: 20
? Reward: 20 Silver, 200 EXP
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"Think you¡¯re up for the task?" The barkeep asked.
"Yeah, I¡¯ll take it, thanks." Merlin rolled up the quest form and shoved it into his pocket. "Do you have anything that oveps with the quest, anything more to do with the bandits?"
"Oh? You want more." The barkeeper¡¯s expression sharpened, it almost seemed as though he was somewhat disappointed. "I¡¯ll acknowledge that you have some degree of ability, but it¡¯s not good to be overconfident. In this line of work that will get you killed."
"Ah, I see." Merlin realised where the bartender wasing from, a gentle smile formed on his face. Ironically, the man who all the mercenaries in Orchomenus respected was the kindest person in the room.
"I apologise if I seem overconfident. The thing is, I was ambushed by bandits on my way here from Lycoa about twenty minutes ago. I¡¯ve already dispatched three bandits with ease, this isn¡¯t a case of overconfidence caused by inexperience."
Hearing this, the barkeeper¡¯s eyes widened. He inspected Merlin¡¯s facial expression in attempt to discern if he was lying or not, but ultimately it seemed as though he was telling the truth.
"I just figured that if I go deal with them now, I might as well grab all of the rted jobs at once and get it over with in one go." Merlin exined his side of the story, his tone signified that he considered eliminating bandits as nothing more than a petty chore.
Arge grin formed on the barkeeper¡¯s face, it seemed he was convinced. "Very well, the only other job we¡¯ve received for those particr bandits is a formal request from the head of the Lychesters." He pulled out another piece of paper, not from the pile of job requests, but instead from a wax sealed envelope.
He handed the job request to Merlin, along with the envelope it was stored in, a quest window appeared before him.
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[Umon Quest]
Assassinate the Lycoa bandit leader.
The Lychesters seem to hold a great deal of resentment towards the leader of the bandits hiding within the Lycoa forest.
They have ced a bounty of ten silver pieces on the leader¡¯s head.
Eliminate the bandit leader.
? Reward: 10 Silver, 200 EXP
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"I¡¯ll ept this one as well, thank you." Merlin took the quest and shoved it in his pocket alongside the other one.
He felt a sharp pain in his palm once more. When he inspected it, he noticed that the light purple spots had now darkened. Merlin¡¯s thoughts began racing, more so with curiosity than fear, it seemed to be some kind of poison, but he wasn¡¯t sure what it was, at the very least it wasn¡¯t your regr poison.
Some form of curse perhaps? He was dealing with an undead, so it was possible it could be the case. It still didn¡¯t make sense, curses shouldn¡¯t have been seen until muchter in the game, at the very least not right outside of the tutorial vige.
He was straining his memories trying to find a solution, and then he remembered how it started, a rose. The wounds appeared on his hand as if he had squeezed the rose stems, there were roses on the grave covered in blood, this was a clue.
"You should probably get that checked out. The priestess is supposed toe back in a few days." The bartender noticed the dark purple spots and gave hisment, he gave it a strange look. Merlin assumed this look meant he was worried if it was contagious or not, the bartender¡¯s next question sort of confirmed his thinking. "How¡¯d you get it anyway?"
"Got attacked by a ghost on the way here, it¡¯s a long story." Merlinughed it off, "It¡¯s spreading rather quickly, so my guess is that it¡¯s a curse or poison rather than a disease, you probably don¡¯t need to worry about it being contagious."
The bartender nodded, he seemed to be a little surprised that his true intentions were noticed. "It¡¯s a little concerning you don¡¯t seem that worried about being cursed or poisoned, and I¡¯m not even going to ask about it, but just take care of yourself out there."
"Alright, thank you... and uh, sorry for the table." Merlin scratched his head awkwardly as he stood up and walked out, all he could hear was the bartender¡¯sughter as he closed the door behind him.
Merlin walked around town for a little while, looking at the various stores around town and generally mapping the ce out. He came across a familiar named store, Lychester¡¯s Provisions. Feeling like he needed to stock up, although his current funds were limited, Merlin entered the store.
Much like the store run by Zoey Lychester, this store was also packed with various goods, but even more so, it was as if he had walked into their of a hoarder. An older looking man walked out from behind arge stack of rope. As he got closer, Merlin noticed the name that appeared above his head, "Arwell Lychester".
"Hello, how can I help you? Arwell asked, he began looking Merlin over, but couldn¡¯t get a good read on him due to the ck cloak, although the cloak itself looked to be rtively cheap in his eyes. His immediate opinion was that Merlin was a cheap customer.
"I just need four torches." As if confirming Arwell¡¯s suspicions, Merlin only spent four copper, leaving him at a single silver piece.
Merlin left the store and begun walking to the eastern gate, where he entered the town from. As he walked through the town, he opened his inventory, throwing three of the four torches inside. He also took out his shield and dius and equipped them, he kept his dius sheathed while he was in town.
He finally made it to the gate, as he walked out, the chattier guard called out to him. "Hey ghost guy hold up, you going for a revenge match?"
Merlinughed at being called ghost guy, he felt it kind of ironic considering his intentional ghost-like appearance, but he knew this wasn¡¯t why he got the nickname. Merlin turned to the guard and pulled the quest forms from his pocket, handing them to the guard.
The guard started reading the forms as Merlin opened his inventory, pulling out his tinderbox and lighting the torch. The guard returned the forms, which Merlin threw into his inventory along with the tinderbox.
"I guess you¡¯re going out to make more." The guardughed at his own joke, but the other guard facepalmed, it seemed he didn¡¯t approve of his fellow guard¡¯s flippant attitude to taking lives.
The other guard spoke up, but his words were brief. "Stay safe and good luck."
Chapter 37: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - II
"Alright, I¡¯ll be off." Merlin gave the guards a nod before flicking his hood up.
He held the torch out in front of him, the faint torchlight barely illuminating the path only ten meters in front of him.
Merlin could feel his heart pounding as he took a step past the reach of thentern¡¯s light. The hair on his arms stood on end, and an ufortable shiver ran up his spine. Believing he¡¯d be attacked any moment now, he prepared himself to jump back into thentern¡¯s light where he knew he¡¯d be safe.
A few seconds passed and he had only taken two steps, it was obvious to see from an outsiders perspective that Merlin had his guard raised, clearly afraid of something hiding in the dark forest.
"Well, you haven¡¯t been attacked yet, so you¡¯re probably good." The talkative guard quipped.
Merlin slightly chuckled at the remark as the guard received another poke from his more stoic counterpart.
"Yeah, you¡¯re right. Thanks." Merlin shook off the feeling of anxiety that swamped his mind as he took a few more steps into the darkness, he still had his guard raised but at least he wasn¡¯t paralysed with fear.
Merlin made his way through the forest path once more. The faint torchlight was barely lighting up the surrounding treeline, the best he could see of his surroundings were mere silhouettes of trees. A gentle cold breeze slipped through the trees, fortunately Merlin¡¯s cloak protected him from the environment to a degree. The wind was still cold, but the torch provided some level of warmth to counter it.
As he continued on his journey, this time walking instead of running for his life, he started listening closer to the forest¡¯s sounds. The leaves rustling in the wind, the sound of crickets chirping around him, the crunchy sound of dirt under his boots as he traversed the well-trodden path. What startled him the most was the asional flutter of wings, assumed to be a nocturnal predator that had just scored a meal.
Merlin stopped walking when he noticed four light sources in the distance, this seemed to be roughly the location where he had first interacted with the bandits, two of which had met a grizzly fate at the hands of the undead creature. He was a little confused as to why there were four lights, but perhaps more bandits came out at night, unfortunately he wasn¡¯t all knowing.
As he moved in closer, he could hear the nging of metal against metal. It appeared some of the light sources belonged to a different party, one that was hostile to the bandits, whether that be yers or NPCs of some sort, guards perhaps.
Merlin was now a short distance away, the ones fighting the bandits appeared to be yers, he could see the general design of their clothing, but couldn¡¯t make out the details.
"Another one hase, we need to finish this up quickly." One of the yers yelled out. Merlin noticed that this yer¡¯s voice sounded somewhat familiar.
A couple of the bandits turned around, finally noticing Merlin standing a small distance away. One of the bandits was going to speak up when an arrow flew past his head, aimed directly at Merlin.
Barely noticing the glint of the arrow, even amongst the various sources of light, Merlin stepped out of the way, or he thought he had. In reality the arrow had curved slightly, allowing it to make contact, although it was only a slight graze.
There were various types of tracking arrows, but this was different, this was slight mid-air arrow correction, there was only one thing that did it this early in the game, although it was ultimately detrimental to a yer¡¯s growth,bat assistance.
Merlin clicked his tongue, he didn¡¯t appreciate getting shot at, even by ident. A notification appeared before him that instantly improved his mood, and a n quickly formted in his mind.
¡¸You have been attacked by yer ¡¯LordKyle¡¯. Everyone within their party has been marked as an enemy, you may attack them without receiving penalties.¡¹
Merlin dashed forward, the two remaining bandits took a defensive stance, but then were surprised as he simply ran past them without giving them a second thought. The yer with the bow loaded another arrow, but by the time he was ready to shoot, Merlin was already in his face ready to strike and had started chanting a skill under his breath.
¡¸Skill ?Sucker-punch? Activated, your next unarmed attack has a 40% chance to trigger the stun effect for 3 seconds.¡¹
Merlin sunk his fist into the yer¡¯s face, effectively breaking his nose. A notification jingle yed in his mind, informing him that the skill took effect. The yer tripped over his own feet and fell on his back, he was now stunned for the next three seconds.
An evil grin appeared on Merlin¡¯s face, the faint torchlight cast shadows on his face that only served to amplify his maniacal expression. He turned to face the other two yers, both of which only had starting equipment, it seemed only the one was lucky enough to get an item drop in the form of a crude goblin bow.
Merlin pounced towards the nearest yer, besides the one he just stunned, he drew his dius, and as his torch got close enough to light up the yer¡¯s features, Merlin realised who this was.
"Oh hey, it¡¯s the goblin¡¯s pincushion." He let out a mocking remark before shing at the yer¡¯s throat with his dius.
This person was one of the three who followed Merlin into the Lycoa forest, specifically the first yer to fall victim to a goblin, the yer who died almost instantly by being pelted with several arrows after stepping into the goblin camp.
The yer was about to respond, but before he could do so he received another quick strike across the throat, followed by a killing blow. Merlin¡¯s de cleaved through the yer as the corpse dropped to the ground. The yer standing behind him screamed when he saw Merlin¡¯s eyes lock on to him, he knew he was next. Merlin started chanting as he pounced on that yer.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
The yer preemptively attempted to block Merlin¡¯s de. Unfortunately for the yer, Merlin¡¯s attack was surprisingly more powerful than he expected, almost disarming the man. He then attempted to swing his de at Merlin, however it was obvious that thebat assistance had taken over, and Merlin was already familiar with all its moves.
With little effort, Merlin knocked the yer¡¯s de away with his shield before stabbing the yer in the chest, piercing his heart. In one quick movement Merlin ripped the de out before slicing the yer¡¯s throat, then delivering one more attack to finish him off.
At this point the stun on the yer LordKyle had run out, he tried scrambling to his feet quickly. Merlin started walking towards him, his sword still dripping with the blood of LordKyle¡¯s friends.
"Get back! Don¡¯t you know who my father is?" He screamed, quickly swapping to his sword, thinking it would help him in any way.
"You¡¯re seriously going to start throwing family power around in a game are you?" Merlin slid his hood off,pletely revealing his identity, although it was kind of obvious already. "Kinda pathetic, honestly."
Merlin knocked the sword out of his hands, sending it sliding across the forest floor. His next move was to stab his dius into Kyle¡¯s leg, pinning him in ce before turning to the two bandits he had ignored up until this point, just to ask them a question, "Do you want to rob him or something, or can I finish this?"
The two bandits had been looking on in awe as someone unrted to them massacred their victims, and then strangely enough turned to them without any hostility in his voice, asking if they¡¯d like to rob them. What an odd situation.
"Why did you help us?" One of the bandits couldn¡¯t help but ask.
"Truthfully, because they hit me first." Merlin was pretty blunt with his answer, but he had an idea and amended it to the sentence, "But also, I¡¯d like to join your ranks."
This surprised both the bandits and LordKyle, who was still writhing around in pain. A quest window appeared before Merlin, which was somewhat unexpected.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Umon Quest]
Infiltrate the bandits.
Befriend or otherwise convince the bandits that you would like to join them and have them lead you to their headquarters.
Find the bandit camp with the help of the bandits.
? Reward: 1 Charisma
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"I¡¯ll deal with this, and then we can talk." Merlin gave them a friendly smile before turning back to theyer, his friendly smile returning to the demonic expression he wore previously.
"Now, lets have some fun" Merlin¡¯sughter sent shivers down the yer¡¯s spine.
"My father could sink your family¡¯spany!" He was still rambling off empty threats, it seemed he didn¡¯t have any power or at least confidence in any power outside of his father¡¯s grasp. Merlin honestly thought the guy was too pathetic to mock, but he had to set an example.
Merlin leaked in very closely, whispering something into his ear. "This is what happens when you parade around like a fool without realising who you¡¯re talking to."
"You really don¡¯t want topare fathers. Mine could have yours buried with a single phone call." Merlin sighed, the yer continued being a pain, so Merlin decided to kill him, at least after one quip. "Here¡¯s a tip, spend your weekday googling my name, see whates up."
Although he kept a reasonable low profile, as the chairman¡¯s son, his life was already avable on the inte for all to see, they had also attempted to acquire information on those he spent time with. due to some pressure from his father Merlin only dealt with the asional stalker, better known as paparazzi, while his friends were safe.
Merlin ripped his sword out of him before bringing it down on him once more, a few strikester and he was gone, yet unfortunately for Merlin, the bow hadn¡¯t dropped.
Chapter 38: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - III
"Now then." Merlin spoke up, swinging the blood from his de before sheathing it. "I would like to join your band of merry men."
The two bandits were still on guard against him, even though his previous actions were pretty convincing, or at the very least brutal enough to leave an impression, his motive was still unclear.
"Why do ya wanna do that?" The other bandit remarked, it seemed Merlin had to convince them further.
"Well, to tell the truth, I need something from you." Merlin took on a more downcast expression, the bandits didn¡¯t seem to enjoy that answer, but kept listening as he continued speaking.
"I had a disagreement with the monastery a little while ago, and I¡¯m desperate." Merlin pulled out his infected hand, shining a torch on it to make sure the bandits saw the purple spots. He was a little surprised to see that the purple spots had started forming lines that seemed to start running up his veins.
One of the bandits looked visibly disgusted, the other took a step back, probably thinking it was contagious. Even with the typical low education level of a bandit, they generally understood that unnaturally coloured spots and marks on a body were bad.
"It¡¯s not a contagious disease, it¡¯s a curse." Merlin reassured them they were safe, "A curse that needs holy water to cleanse, but the priest in charge said they had a limited supply and he didn¡¯t want to waste it on poor scum like me, just in case."
"What a joke. He¡¯s telling me to go die, just in case they need to use up three bottles of holy water in a couple days." He made sure to weave in a hint of anger and sadness in his tone, although he wasn¡¯t the best of actors it should have been rather convincing. "I got told to wait until the priestess could look at me, but nobody knows exactly when she¡¯s going toe back."
"This curse, it was only a couple spots less than an hour ago, now look at it." Merlin forced his arm closer so they could see it better, the two bandits pulled back, still either scared or disgusted by it. "It¡¯s now spread to my wrist, It¡¯ll kill me before shees back..."
Merlin dropped to his knees, pretending to be distraught and helpless, "I need a bottle, and if they wont give it to me, I just need to take it by force."
"And for that, you want to join us?" One of the bandits seemed convinced, but the smarter of the two still wasn¡¯t buying it. "Do you want us to raid the monastery for you, what do we get out of that?"
"No. I need to do this myself." Merlin¡¯s tone became rather stern at this point, "I¡¯ve just never stolen anything before, I wanted to learn how."
The smarter bandit¡¯s eyes narrowed, it seemed he still couldn¡¯t trust him. It was unfortunate his charisma was rather low, he had to overact to get any sort of effect.
"It sounds like you¡¯d be better off learning from a thief than a bandit." The bandit¡¯s voice had darkened. "Even if we could help you, what would we get out of it? You¡¯d just be in it for you."
Merlin bit his tongue, it seemed he still couldn¡¯t get through to this bandit. Several thoughts ran through his head, one of which involved killing the smarter bandit and having the other one lead him, but he knew that wouldn¡¯t work, the bandit would just be hostile, it was already a miracle they weren¡¯t attacking him yet.
"If I do this and survive, I wouldn¡¯t be able to go back to the life I¡¯ve lived, I¡¯d need somewhere to stay, people to work with." Merlin started rambling, but he realised these excuses were still him using them. "I don¡¯t have many connections in that town. The ones I do have don¡¯t mean anything. I¡¯d rather see it burn down, especially that hideous fat scumbag Lychester."
Merlin noticed the bandit¡¯s expression change, his suspicious re turned into a more curious re, and his mouth formed a small smirk. It was thest idea that he had, but it seemed to have paid off. Merlin remembered that the quest notification mentioned the Lychesters had some form of grudge against the bandits, specifically the bandit leader, he wondered if that went both ways.
"What about this scumbag Lychester?" The bandit¡¯s smirk turned into more of a grin. With that, Merlin knew this was the angle he had to strike to get through to the bandit.
"That fat oaf, all he does is look down on everyone who enters his store. Everyone knows he¡¯s always judging them, with those beady little eyes of his on that stupid pig head." Merlin felt childish insulting the guy, but it seemed childish insults were the way to go to get through to this bandit. "That arrogant slimy mule, all he does is sell overpriced junk, he¡¯s nothing but a glorified hoarder, how dare he look down on people who can¡¯t or don¡¯t want to buy from him."
"I just want to punch the arrogance out of his stupid head." Merlin¡¯s voice became somewhat coarse at this point, as if he was losing his voice. "I heard him, as I left his store, mocking me for only buying a torch. I¡¯ll kill him."
"You should have started off with that, I understand." The smarter bandit knelt down next to him and rest his hand on Merlin¡¯s shoulder, it seemed Merlin had finally convinced him. "Alright, I can¡¯t make any promises, but I¡¯ll put in a good word for you with the boss. Don¡¯t do anything stupid and you should be fine."
The bandit gave him a sincere smile as he helped Merlin up. It seemed the Lychesters had wronged him, enough so that the mere act of someone ndering them was enough for him to trust that person.
One thing a lot of the yers don¡¯t learn about untilter is that alongside the NPCs who each live their own lives, a lot of the enemies do too, more so the human ones anyway. It seemed that the backstory behind this particr bandit camp involved people being wronged by the Lychesters, he felt like there was something more to the story. There was no useless lore in New Genesis, his fifteen years as a lore hunter let him understand that fact.
Merlin brushed away the dirt that had clung to his hands and knees. He was led into the forest by the two bandits, the one he considered dumb had started talking with him like they were friends, and upon speaking with him further, it turned out he was just a child when he was kicked out of town.
His parents had been abused by the Lychesters, driven into debt that couldn¡¯t be repaid, they heard about a camp being formed outside of town, full of those who had been abused by the town¡¯s cruel nobility. After a few cruel winters and regr harassment from the town, the camp had no choice but to turn to crime to survive. They were ssed as a bandit camp, and everyone within the camp, including those who didn¡¯t take part in any of the criminal activities, were marked for death.
Merlin was now feeling torn, he originally intended to trick the bandits into leading him to the camp, only to betray them and get his quest over with. Unfortunately he started feeling resentment to the town after hearing this young boy speak. A measly thirty silver pieces and only four hundred experience points probably wouldn¡¯t save the town from his wrath.
Merlin was toiling over his thoughts as he followed along, the two bandits were being overly kind to him, telling him when to dip under branches and preventing him from tripping over small bushes and roots.
Merlin¡¯s opinion had been sessfully swayed, although he would be willing to change his mind on the spot if he didn¡¯t like what he saw when he reached the camp. Or if the leader of the camp, or the camp itself, happened to reject him.
The wind in the forest began picking up, the temperature drop was noticeable even for Merlin, it seemed the other two were also ufortable because of it.
Merlin also noticed that his torch¡¯s me was violently whipping around in the forest wind, threatening to extinguish itself. Merlin started awkwardly blocking the wind with his cloak in an attempt to prevent his torch¡¯s me from being blown out.
A few minutester, Merlin noticed light a little deeper within the forest, it looked like fire, although it was rtively small, meaning it was probably a torch. He received a notification a few seconds after, somewhat confirming his observations.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Infiltrate the bandits", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
They hadn¡¯t breached past the treeline yet, he was still hidden from the camp. The two bandits hadpletely lowered their guard, their weapons were sheathed and they had their backs turned to him, this was the perfect opportunity to deal with them.
The wind briefly stopped, only to pick up a few secondster, this time carrying a faint scent of blood.
Chapter 39: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - IV
Merlin picked up on the faint scent of blood, a feeling of panic ran through his body, he suddenly stopped walking. The two bandits turned around, noticing that Merlin had raised his guard and looked to be on edge.
"What¡¯s the matter?" The younger bandit asked. The other bandit¡¯s eyes narrowed, Merlin noticed this but he wasn¡¯t sure what thoughts were running through his head.
"I smell blood." Merlin answered. He wasn¡¯t sure what the bandit camp would be like, but it was somewhatmon for the camps of more violent races to have corpsesying around. He wasn¡¯t sure if this was the case with this particr bandit camp, or if the scent of blood wasing from somewhere else... or something else.
The young bandit started sniffing the air around him in an exaggerated manner before turning back to Merlin and shrugging. The other bandit¡¯s narrow re softened, realising that Merlin was probably just an overly cautious individual.
"It¡¯s most likely animal blood, don¡¯t worry it¡¯smon around these parts, especially at night." The smarter bandit triedforting Merlin briefly, and then continued on his path towards the faint light in the distance. "We¡¯re almost home, just a couple more minutes to go."
Merlin¡¯s guard was still heightened, but he followed along. As he travelled through the forest the scent of blood grew stronger, he tried his best to block out the ring warning signs in his brain telling him to escape.
The group continued on through the forest, finally reaching the camp¡¯s location. As the group stepped through the treeline into a clearing, Merlin¡¯s view of the camp was blocked by what looked to be at least several hundred logs, stacked side by side forming arge log wall around the camp.
Merlin was wondering how the camp hadn¡¯t been wiped out by mercenaries or soldiers yet. If it was just helpless civilians who camped out in the forest, there was no chance they¡¯d fight back against the constant harassment. But as it turns out, they could survive because they built what was essentially a wood fort.
The light Merlin saw in the distance a little while ago, the light the group had been walking towards, was a singlentern hanging over the wooden gate that served as the camp¡¯s entrance.
The group walked towards the entrance, where an older looking armed guard peeked out from the outpost above, asking his group to identify themselves. The younger bandit quickly retorted with a one-liner about him being unable to recognise his own son, and the gate began sliding open moments after.
"You¡¯ve been waiting to use that one for a while, haven¡¯t you?" Merlin noticed that the younger bandit seemed rather pleased with himself, leading him to assume this was probably his first excursion out of the fortress, his general naivety was also a strong indicator.
The younger bandit let out a cheeky giggle in response, he seemed happy that someone mentioned it.
As the group entered the camp, the smarter bandit tapped on Merlin¡¯s shoulder, only to point his attention in the direction of a canopy tent. Within the tent stood a buff man with a bald head, swinging arge cleaver at a skinned animal corpse. "Perhaps that¡¯s the source of blood you were worried about?"
It did seem like a reasonable assumption to make, the scent of blood did get stronger as he entered the clearing, but something still didn¡¯t feel right to Merlin. Nevertheless, after obtaining a reasonable answer he lowered his guard somewhat, which allowed him to shrug off some of the thoughts that were weighing his mind down.
As Merlin was led through the encampment, he was surprised to see that the image he had of the camp prior to visiting it was theplete opposite of what it really was. There was no pools of blood everywhere, no kidnapped vigers being held hostage... from what he could see anyway, and no stereotypical evil bandits.
It just seemed like any other vige, a tight-knitmunity of people who just want to survive, each performing their role to help their vige prosper. Within the safety of the wooden walls was a thrivingmunity, not a violent band of thieves and murderers.
The vigers seemed genuinely happy with their lives, there were even small children running around without a care in the world, it was surprisingly peaceful.
The camp was also well lit from inside, there were various torches and campfires littered all around, so he felt safe from the darkness. Merlin threw his torch into one of the campfires he walked past, adding a little bit of firewood and ultimately saving him from having to carry around an almost extinguished torch any longer.
Merlin received some strange looks from the locals as he was paraded through the vige, it seemed they were very hesitant to trust outsiders, this was understandable. The group weaved between the various tents and structures that the vigers inhabited. Until he was brought into arge tent a little bit past the residential area.
Within the tent was a young man currently looking over documents and writing notes onto sheets of parchment. Merlin assumed this to be someone in a managerial position, although his expectations were proven to be a little small, as shortly after the young man was introduced as the leader of the camp.
The man had turned to the two who brought Merlin along, calling them over to his side. The two familiar bandits approached the leader and began speaking to him in whispers, shortly after they were sent out of the tent, leaving Merlin alone with the man in charge.
The bandit leader stood up and approached Merlin, as he came closer a name appeared above his head, "Jackson Lychester".
Merlin¡¯s thoughts started racing, who was Jackson Lychester? He was young so he probably wasn¡¯t the brother of Arwell Lychester. If he wasn¡¯t the brother, then an estranged son perhaps? A rebellious nephew?
"So, my brothers say you helped them, killing three people in the process." Merlin¡¯s thought process was interrupted when Jackson began speaking to him. "You gave them quite the sob story, it seemed very convincing... a little too convincing, you hit all the right notes to twist their hearts."
It seemed the bandit leader was much smarter than the two bandits. He drew his sword and pointed it towards Merlin¡¯s neck before delivering the most cliche line imaginable. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn¡¯t kill you."
Merlin panicked, he didn¡¯t really have a n of what to do when he got here, but at the very least he assumed he wouldn¡¯t be hostile with the bandit leader immediately. It seemed Jackson was running out of patience, as the de hovered closer to his neck.
"Honestly, if you want the truth, I was sent here by your father to kill you." Probably one of his biggest blunders, but he thought that maybe the bandit leader would appreciate the honesty. Considering he wasn¡¯t killed on the spot after saying those words it seemed he gained enough time to exin himself further.
"Why would you admit to that?" It seemed Jackson was dumbfounded with Merlin¡¯s outburst, but he also seemed a little humoured by it. "You¡¯re perhaps the dumbest assassin he¡¯s sent after me so far."
"There is more context to that i¡¯d dly get in to, if you¡¯d perhaps agree to not stab me with the pointy stick for like two minutes." Merlin tried injecting a little humour in his plea, he could probably take a single strike to the neck and survive with his current max health of forty, but he¡¯d rather not fight, he genuinely wanted to help them at this point.
It seemed Jackson was lost in thought, but answered with a stern voice. "Fine, two minutes, state your case."
"Alright, well first of all, please don¡¯t punish the two bandits I fooled. They¡¯re not traitors, just a little naive." Merlin wanted to get that off his chest first, to absolve himself of guilt if the worst were to happen. "Anyways, as I said, I was sent here by your father, or it would be more urate to say, I received a job through the mercenary guild that was posted by your father."
"I had originally intended to trick the two into leading me to the camp, but along the way they exined what you all stood for, what you all went through, who you all were, it waspletely different to what I was told by the mercenaries." Merlin decided thatplete honestly would be the way to go, if he couldn¡¯t convince the leader, then so help it, he¡¯d just be making thirty silver.
"So when given the choice between killing you, your peaceful vige, those two who trusted me, and betraying the mercenary guild, the corrupt nobles and your father. I¡¯d much rather let you live in peace... No, i¡¯d rather take down the corrupt nobles."
"And I didn¡¯tpletely lie, I really am going to die from a curse if I don¡¯t get that holy water..." He decided to hedge his bets, pulling out his cursed hand and showing off the the curse had spread slightly further than what was mentioned prior, "...And your father truly is a pig headed fool with beady little eyes."
"Very well, I¡¯m convinced." Jackson started chuckling after hearing all that. He pulled his de away and sheathed it. "I don¡¯tpletely trust you, especially after hearing how you brutalised those three random travellers without reason."
"Oh, I actually have a history with those three." Merlin awkwardlyughed, "They tried to ambush me in the forest a day ago."
"How convenient." Jackson¡¯s eyes narrowed, it seemed that remark didn¡¯t earn him any brownie points with the man. "What are your intentions now that you¡¯ve--"
A strong burst of wind blew through the forest encampment. The wind was almost screaming as it ripped through the vige, Jackson was startled by this unexpected situation, so much so that he forgot what he was going to say.
Merlin noticed that the light that barely seeped in through the tent¡¯s fabric walls started vanishing, the wind was so violent that it was even extinguishing the various campfires, eventually very few light sources remained.
The wind picked up once more, blowing open the p of Jackson¡¯s tent, allowing a handful of rose petals and the sickening scent of blood to flow in.
Various screams could be heard from outside the tent, and momentster Merlin received a notification.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 19¡¹
Chapter 40: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - V
Merlin could feel his heart almost beating out of his chest, all his senses were telling him that the worst had happened. He wasn¡¯t sure when, or even if it was going to strike again, but he thought he was at least safe in a well-lit environment. The cold air that rushed into the tent stung his face and forced him to shield his eyes.
Jackson unsheathed his de and dashed out of the camp without saying a word, leaving Merlin alone in the tent. The inside of the tent was still lit because of the hoodedntern that was hooked onto a chain and hanging from the ceiling.
Merlin looked around the tent¡¯s interior, trying to find anything he could use to fight the undead creature, but the tent was just full of documents and loose parchment, no weapons or utility items of any sort. He unhooked thentern, taking it with him as he dashed out of the tent.
More notifications started appearing in his peripheral vision, quickly getting reced with the same notification but with updated information.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 13¡¹
There were many ways to approach most quests in New Genesis, with the freedom of full dive it was only natural that the system would try to be as nonrestrictive as possible. With elimination quests, there were many ways toplete them. While some had further restrictions in ce, most were generally open to the yer¡¯s imagination.
The most obvious solution would be to physically engage the enemies inbat and y them yourself. However another solution would perhaps be to use the environment to kill a creature, such as dropping a tree on a monster to crush it, or causing andslide to bury a goblin encampment. There were many other solutions, the most relevant in the current situation however would be causing monsters to fight each other.
Areas within the world weren¡¯t merely spawn locations for monsters, they were their own living ecosystems. And based on yer actions, mostly in the form of quests, they could be modified.
Sometimes monster habitats became dangerously close to each other, causing conflict between the inhabitants. There were many issues that could arise from this, such as one of the two species being annihted or one being dominated by the other. However there was a rarer oue, if the two races werepatible enough they would join side-by-side for their mutual benefit. This oue generally made the area much more difficult for yers to travel and fight in.
However, on a smaller scale, if a yer were to have a pack of wolves chase them, and then lead them into an orc encampment, only to escape and lose their tracks, there was a high chance that the orcs and wolves would fight. In such a case, the yer would be credited for their kill, and the system would most likely count such a kill for their quests, if further restrictions weren¡¯t applied. The only downside to this tactic however is that the yer would not receive experience for the kill.
This was one such situation. As the undead was here solely for Merlin, killing anything that got in its way. any kill it performed would be ssed as if Merlin purposefully baited the creature into the camp, thus adding to his quest counter.
Merlin unsheathed his de and began running towards the general location of where he heard the screams. As he ran through the bandit camp, he took in his surroundings, there were very few light sources remaining, all of which werenterns as they protected the me inside from the wind.
"It¡¯s ok sweetie. It¡¯s ok, you¡¯ll be alright." A woman¡¯s raspy voice caught Merlin¡¯s attention, causing him to stop running and look around.
"--edmond. Why did you leave us to die." Merlin noticed a woman leaning back against a tree, she appeared to be devastated, and when he looked closer he saw why.
She was almostpletely covered in blood, her face had been sprayed with it, her clothes were drenched and her hands were stained, but it didn¡¯t seem like it was all hers. Rather most of the blood belonged to the small child she was desperately cradling in her arms.
This sight tugged at Merlin¡¯s heart, knowing he was ultimately the cause of this, even though he was originally here to kill them, he felt sad knowing he actually had.
"All I did was turn off the light..." The woman began rambling while rocking back and forth, her voice was slowly fading out, it seemed she had also received a lethal strike. "Sir Redm..."
Merlin turned away as the woman finally passed, the sickly feeling of guilt bubbled up within him. The screams of pain and the mournful cries, they were all being drowned out by the violent wind, and then another notification appeared.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 10¡¹
Angered by this, he ran towards the general location of the screaming, and a few secondster he saw the perpetrator, surrounded by several bandits, including Jackson, all brandishing their weapons.
There she stood, or more urately hovered, a tall pale woman with dry corpse-like skin, her sunken eyes and vacant sockets, staring into them felt like gazing into an endless void. This time around her previously she had a nightmare-inducing smile stered on her face, exposing her mouth lined with long shark-like teeth.
Another bandit charged towards her, only to have his stomach impaled by a long ck thorn-covered tentacle. It ripped through the man with ease and then threw his corpse into the nearby fortress wall with enough force to send splinters flying.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 9¡¹
Merlin lowered thentern¡¯s hood to dim its light, he then hid thentern under his cloak before he approached the ghost. Although it was cheap, the material of his cloak was still thick enough to prevent thentern¡¯s faint light from leaking out.
The previously dry forest floor had now be mud due to the various pools of blood that had formed in the area. It was much harder to traverse, and the slipperiness of the mud made it even more of a challenge. Whenbat starts he would have to be mindful of his footing to keep himself stable.
Merlin could feel his hand start to itch as he got closer. He nced at it, noticing that the purple blight under his skin was spreading up his arm much faster than it previously was.
The creature previously had her back to Merlin, yet still noticed him approach, it seemed she had some form of connection with him, the curse most likely also working as a tracker.
She dramatically swung her body around to face Merlin, as if she were a puppet on strings. Rather than floating, it was more like she was being held up in the air by her various thorn tentacles, making quick turns rather difficult.
Her long bony w-like fingers parted, like the talons of arge bird getting ready to impale its prey. Momentster she sprung forward, closing the gap between her and Merlin in an instant. But before she could strike Merlin, he quickly uncloaked thentern and swung open its hood, bathing her with its light.
Merlin watched as the ghost¡¯s skin started king away, and it seemingly began screaming in pain. The ghost pulled herself away from the light with such force that she flung herself into an unlucky bandit, sending him flying into a tent, there was a loud crash but no noises followed. He seemed to be alive still, as Merlin hadn¡¯t yet received a notification of his death.
The ghost pounced towards another bandit, impaling him with her ws before sinking her teeth into him. Merlin watched as within seconds the man was drained of colour, and the previous wound that Merlin had caused the ghost vanished instantly.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 8¡¹
After the creature appeared to have healed, it turned its attention back on Merlin. A tentacle flew out from behind her and thrust itself towards him.
Merlin stepped out of its path and sliced down on the tentacle, unfortunately the tentacle was surprisingly tough, so the cut was shallow. Nevertheless, it seemed to have hurt the ghost, as she looked to be even angrier at him now.
Merlin made a dash towards the ghost,ntern in hand. He ducked under a quick horizontal sweep by another tentacle, using his momentum and the slipperiness of the vile sludge to slide ever closer.
As he reached within seven metres, another tentacle thrust towards him, yet as he stepped out of the way of that one, another tentacle swept at his legs. A thorn impaled his leg and he was briefly dragged along for a couple meters until it unhooked itself. He was thrown a few meters further,nding on his back in a pool of blood, his long white hair, or at least the parts that had been submerged, were now stained a deep blood red.
Pain shot up his leg, causing him to flinch, he couldn¡¯t yet will himself to stand. Merlin took a nce at his health, that attack alone rid him of fifteen points of health.
As Merlin¡¯s attention snapped back to the ghost, he noticed that it was engaged inbat with the bandits once more. One of the bandits was impaled in the stomach, a repeating theme with this particr creature. But when the ghost attempted to throw him like she did the others, he had sessfully cut through her tentacle, albeit mid-throw, causing himself to get tossed into the mud.
Merlin watched as the bandit slid towards him, he could now identify the man who was once just a silhouette in the distance. It now made sense why this particr bandit had survived the ghost¡¯s lethal attack and dealt damage in return. It was Jackson, the bandit leader, as the boss of the camp, he¡¯d be a couple levels higher than the rest of the bandits, putting him a lot closer to the ghost¡¯s level.
Merlin forced himself to crawl out of the blood pool and limp over to Jackson. When he arrived he had a proper view at the disembodied tentacle sticking out of his gut, and the streams of blood running down the side of his mouth. Jackson¡¯s eyes locked onto Merlin, his re was a mix of rage and sadness, but there was also hint of feeling betrayed.
"You--" He tried talking but his speech was cut off by him coughing out blood, when he seemed fine he continued. "You¡¯re the reason that thing is here, aren¡¯t you?"
Merlin¡¯s expression darkened, the feeling of guilt he previously suppressed with rage had bubbled up to the surface once more, a few seconds passed before he nodded somberly.
"I take back what I previously said about you." Jackson let out a painedugh before continuing. "You¡¯re the smartest assassin my father has ever sent."
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Assassinate the Lycoa bandit leader", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
Chapter 41: The Bandit Leader Subjugation - VI
Various screams of pain echoed around him as he stared at Jackson¡¯s corpse. Although he only just met the man, and most of their contact involved a sword being held against his throat, he still felt guilty. Even though he knew it was just a game, even though he knew these people were just strands of code, he couldn¡¯t help but get emotionally attached.
But alongside the guilt, he felt shame. He felt ashamed of himself that a vile thought crossed his mind, he felt ashamed that he had a brief moment of regret.
Regret that he didn¡¯t deal the finishing blow to Jackson as he watched him die, regret he didn¡¯t earn the reward for the kill, which he felt even more guilty for.
He was ashamed that his instincts wanted him to be a monster for profit, to betray someone he nned to help, just to get further ahead. Even though he already had the biggest advantage in his knowledge of the future, he was still greedy for more.
Yet another corpse was flung towards him, sliding past and ripping through a nearby tent. Another notification appeared, but Merlin had be numb to them at this point.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 7¡¹
Standing up once more, he turned to face the ghost who was once again massacring the vige. Merlin rushed forward once more, brandishing the dius in his cursed hand and swinging around the hoodedntern in his other.
The ghost didn¡¯t even look at Merlin this time around, instead two tentacles shot towards him. Merlin pushed himself away from one of the tentacles by pping against it with the shield, pushing himself back. The second tentacle went for another sweep, but he sessfully avoided it by jumping.
As Merlinnded, he felt his feet slide in the mud, but with a little effort he regained his bnce. Ignoring the pain from his ravaged leg, he ran towards the ghost again, forcing her to pay attention to him.
She whipped her head around and released an ominous cry, causing the wind to pick up once more. Merlin flinched as he was buffeted by the strong winds, it wasn¡¯t dealing any damage, but the cold winds made it very ufortable to open his eyes.
He managed to force his eyes open, only to find that a tentacle was flying towards him. Not having enough time for a full dodge, Merlin tried twisting his body out of the way to minimise the damage he took. Unfortunately his pivot foot slipped in the mud, causing him to lose his bnce. As he began falling, Merlin instinctively flung his arms out in front of him in a hopeless attempt to stabilise himself.
When the tentacle was close enough to strike, it barely missed Merlin, rather it seemed it avoided him purposefully. Merlin realised he had messed up as the tentacle instead chose to rip through hisntern. Thentern oil had covered the tip of the tentacle, and it caught fire, forming arge fireball that threatened to spread towards the undead.
What Merlin didn¡¯t expect to see was the tentacle thrust itself into the mud, somehow managing to extinguish itself. Merlin was aware this particr creature had high intelligence, although it wasn¡¯t that intelligentpared to most creatures at higher levels, but it was still odd for such a creature to be found right outside of the tutorial vige. Merlin chalked it up to this being Gaia¡¯s first attempt at bnce before the main world was created, this was the point of the beta test after all.
Merlin ran towards the closest light source, antern hooked into some kind of small thin tree. It seemed to be used to light the general recreational area, the bandit version of a streetlight. He ripped thentern from the tree before running back towards the ghost. Two more notifications appeared before him, one recing the other.
¡¸Bandits remaining: 5¡¹
Two tentacles were sent to attack him once more, one slithered through the mud as it approached, seemingly trying to camouge itself as it swept at his feet. Merlin noticed it rather easily, as if it wasn¡¯t actually trying to hide itself that well, but it still forced him to jump over it.
It was only while he was in the air that he realised why it made itself obvious, unlikest time, the other tentacle thrust towards him as he was still airborne, it was a trap.
Unable to pivot himself in the air, all Merlin could do was try to helplessly block the attack with his shield. He felt the strike through the shield, and although it was sessfully blocked, it was still strong enough to deal partial damage through the shield.
Without any footing to stabilise himself, or any way to push back against the attack, his body was flung away with little resistance. Merlin tried to align himself so hended feet first, but the impact had sent him spinning. He flew for a few seconds before hitting the ground and then continued travelling until he collided with a tent, dealing a significant amount of damage and stunning him.
As heid there stunned, he watched in the distance as the remaining bandits were ughtered, one after the other. Several notifications appeared, only to be reced by the updated version shortly after, until he received thest notification.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Lycoa bandit subjugation", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
There were more than twenty people living in the vige, and as Merlinid there stunned, he watched as the ghost annihted the rest of the vige. All he could hear were screams of pain and mournful cries as everyone in the vige was ruthlessly mowed down by the monster.
Merlin scanned around his surroundings, looking for anything he could use to fight it. When Merlin felt the stun wear off, he attempted to stand up, only to find that his shoulder had been impaled on a shattered piece of wood. Gritting his teeth, he ripped his shoulder away, causing pain to swell through his body, at this point he was tempted to reduce the pain synchronisation, but decided against it.
He looked around and noticed that hisntern had shattered from the impact, rendering it useless. As he searched for anotherntern, he found one in what looked to be a kitchen area, Merlin grabbed thentern and searched through the kitchen¡¯s pantry, finding a small pouch of salt and arge bag of flour.
He wasn¡¯t sure what kind of undead this was, but he did know that it didn¡¯t like light or fire. He decided to try anything, just in case he found its weakness. Salt was typically the weakness of spirits, most ghosts were dispelled by it, and the flour was the backup n.
Merlin ran through the town looking for a secondntern, which he had found near what looked to be a storage tent. He took the secondntern with him as he ran towards the ghost once more, carrying twonterns and two bags of ingredients.
He ran into the ghost near Jackson¡¯s tent, it was moments away from finishing off a viger it had pinned down. Merlin threw the bag of flour and antern onto the ground and charged towards it, taking a handful of salt from the pouch.
The creature¡¯s attention snapped to Merlin as a handful of salt flew towards it, upon making contact the salt sparked before turning into small wisps of smoke. The ghost flinched in pain, but it ultimately didn¡¯t seem to do anything against it, either there wasn¡¯t enough salt or it needed to be blessed.
Before she started attacking Merlin again, he ran back to the bag of flour, hauling it over his shoulder before turning back towards her. The ghost sprung forward in a mad rage, quickly closing the distance, but not getting too close due to the twonterns. As it got closer, Merlin grabbed the bag of flour by the corner and span around, throwing it with as much force as he could muster.
The bag flew through the air towards the ghost. But before it made contact, a tentacle speared through it mid-flight, ripping it in half and sending arge cloud of flour into the air, forming a smokescreen around the ghost.
A cheeky smirk formed on Merlin¡¯s face, although he was still feeling glum about the situation, this was one of his favourite strategies that he very rarely had the opportunity to use.
"Here, catch!" Merlin yelled out in a mocking tone before throwing one of hisnterns where he thought the ghost would be. As he let go of thentern he scampered off, grabbing thentern he left on the ground before diving behind cover.
Merlin heard a shattering sound and a few secondster the cold night air had vanished. A wave of hot wind blew past Merlin, caused by the sudden appearance of arge fireball that had formed where the smokescreen once was.
This was the result of a dust explosion, a rapidbustion of fine particles, such as flour, suspended in the air and then introduced to something such as a me or spark to start the reaction.
Merlin felt rather confident at this point, even leaving his cover to inspect the damage he had caused. The ghost stood there motionless, her red dress had caught fire, her skin was ckened and her tentacles were withered and charred.
As Merlin stepped closer, her neck let out an ominous cracking sound as her head snapped to face him, this simple action sent shivers down his spine and washed away all the confidence he had previously built up.
Merlin could feel his arm itch, the purple blight had spread up to his elbow. Merlin feltpletely helpless against it, he didn¡¯t know whether to run or fight to the death. But surely it should have taken plenty of damage, it was even enveloped in a fireball.
Merlin noticed as the sky started to lighten, it seemed he had spent so much time in the camp that the sun had barely started to rise. The ghost let out a pained cry as it began disintegrating into a pile of rose petals, it seemed like it couldn¡¯t maintain its form during the day, this left the battle with an anticlimactic finish, but Merlin knew their fight was far from over.
Merlin limped through the camp, witnessing the death and destruction he was the indirect cause of. He passed by various corpses he partially recognised, the main one being the smarter bandit who brought him to the camp.
"I¡¯m sorry--" Merlin heard a man¡¯s pained cries and ran over to them, thinking he found a survivor. Unfortunately he arrived at the man¡¯s location only to find that he was bleeding out after being impaled on a tree. "I couldn¡¯t-- I couldn¡¯t stand by and watch him torment them."
The man seemed to be in a state of delirium, he wasn¡¯t able to see Merlin, he was just rambling moments before death, but Merlin noticed the name floating above his head, it felt familiar so he made a note of it, "Woodrow Pord".
"You were right, I should have just been smart." Merlin stood by and listened to the man¡¯s final words, it was the least he could do to help himself. "I¡¯m sorry. You were right."
As the man passed, he continued limping through the vige, making his way to the vige entrance. As he arrived he saw the young bandit he befriended, he was on his knees, weeping over the corpse of his father.
Chapter 42: Birth of the Ghost
As Merlin approached the young bandit, he noticed that the bandit was severely wounded, it was a surprise he was even still alive.
The young bandit heard Merlin¡¯s footsteps, and as he looked up to see who was approaching him. The second he recognised who it was, his face had quickly shifted from sadness to anger.
"You..." The young bandit¡¯s voice was quivering with anger. "You did this."
He weakly stood up, brandishing a small de while trying to cover the gash in his side, it seemed a thorn had ripped a hole in his body as it shot past him at some point.
"I overheard what you and the boss were talking about. We both did." His knees were almost buckling under the weight of his own body, but he still attempted to stand. "You lied to us, you used us. All these deaths, my dad. You did this. Not me... I was only used by you."
Merlin felt his throat tighten as he watched the young boy break down, he was being drowned in guilt, feeling like he was the one responsible for all the deaths, all because he brought Merlin to the camp.
The young bandit lunged forward, haphazardly swinging his de at Merlin. He was blinded by anger, his body flooded itself with adrenaline to keep him conscious, allowing him to temporarily ignore the excruciating pain he would be going through.
Merlin was at a loss, there was nothing he could do to save the boy¡¯s life. Even if he could, the boy was so angry with him that he probably wouldn¡¯t ept it anyway. With little else to do, he strengthened his resolve and decided to finish him, to put him out of his misery. It was the least he could do for him, the adrenaline running through him was going to run out eventually, and when it did, the boy would experience pain once more.
The boy¡¯s movement unsteady, it looked like he could trip over at any moment. His swings were getting slower, and it looked like his grip on the de had loosened. Merlin realised he was running out of time, so he took a step back and prepared himself.
The boy lunged towards Merlin, his de being thrust towards Merlin¡¯s throat. Merlin flicked the de out of his hands, sending it flying a few meters away. The boy, now weaponless, ran up to Merlin and began punching his chest, but each punch had no strength behind it, not even enough to deal a single point of damage.
"Why. Why did you do this to us." A small line of blood and mud on the boy¡¯s face was now being washed away by his tears. "I trusted you. I thought you would help us get revenge."
The young bandit started gritting his teeth as a wave of pain rushed through his body. He clutched his wound and began staggering backwards, he ran out of time.
"I¡¯m sorry." Merlin only said those words as he drove his dius into the boy¡¯s chest, piercing his heart.
The boy¡¯s body almost immediately went limp as the de slipped through his heart. The boy¡¯s corpse began slowly sliding off of Merlin¡¯s de before eventually slumping to the ground.
Merlin began looking around at the death and destruction the monster had caused, and the recent death that he had just caused, and suddenly a notification appeared before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Rare Quest]
The Assassination of Arwell Lychester.
You were sent to eliminate a camp of bandits, only to find that they were merely victims of the noble¡¯s tyranny.
You witnessed the brutal murder of dozens of innocent people, all put into this position by several corrupt and greedy nobles. One name in particr seems to be on the tip of everyone¡¯s tongue, the main culprit, Arwell Lychester.
Perhaps this man deserves to taste the pain his countless victims have suffered through, an action that will prevent him from creating more victims, and one that may bring the dead some closure.
Arwell Lychester has many friends in high ces, failure to finish him off and get away undetected will result in dire consequences.
Eliminate Arwell Lychester.
? Warning: This quest involves severe criminal activity.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause unpredictable changes within Orchomenus.
? Failure: ???
? Reward: 1000 EXP
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Merlin epted the quest, it wasn¡¯t something he was yet equipped to do, but it was a goal to work towards.
He started his journey back through the forest, it was rather uneventful, but he did almost trip a few times over the various shrubbery and roots. He eventually found his way back on the main path, and as he walked towards town, he received a message from Snowbunny.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[05:40:32] Snowbunny: Heya, we just finished the dungeon, where are you now?
[05:40:57] Snowbunny: Me and Ty are gonna finish a couple more little quests and then we¡¯re heading over to the next town.
[05:41:20] Snowbunny: Get this right, so we¡¯re here fighting goblins, and then Ty gets a goblin soul. So now we¡¯re both on two souls, although his feels a bit stronger...
[05:42:12] Snowbunny: Don¡¯t tell him I said that, he hasn¡¯t shut up about it since he got it, it¡¯s driving me crazy.
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Merlin couldn¡¯t help but giggle while reading the messages, besides now knowing that Snowbunny was rather chatty, he was also happy to know her and Typhoeus were getting along well, even using nicknames. Something that Merlin didn¡¯t expect was that Typhoeus had got a goblin soul, this never happened in the previous timeline, so it was definitely something he influenced.
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[05:43:36] Merlin: Sounds like you two are doing well, that¡¯s good to hear.
[05:44:54] Merlin: But something¡¯s telling me this wasn¡¯t the main reason for you making contact, was it?
[05:46:22] Snowbunny: No it wasn¡¯t. Do you know a user called LordKyle?
[05:46:55] Merlin: Yeah, I¡¯ve had a few run-ins with themtely. Roughly half an hour ago being thetest.
[05:47:36] Snowbunny: Well, he¡¯s now trying to form a group to take you down, and it looks like his group has grown in numbers over the past couple hours.
[05:47:58] Snowbunny: They¡¯ve attacked me and Ty a couple times, and are attacking other yers who wont join them. They¡¯ll probably being after you soon, be careful.
[05:48:44] Merlin: Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll deal with them, just try get out of Lycoa as fast as possible.
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Merlin ended the conversation as he finally reached Orchomenus¡¯s gate, there stood the two guards he was familiar with, although the upbeat one seemed rather tired. When they noticed Merlin approach their eyes widened with shock.
But this was the obvious reaction, considering his white hair was dyed red, blood was covering his face and his clothes were torn, indicating that he was severely wounded at some point.
The cheerful guard was just about to ask if Merlin was okay when the stern guard took the words out of his mouth. He seemed anxious, which was unusual, from the very limited interaction he had with the guard up until this point. But when Merlin looked above the guard¡¯s head, he finally realised why.
The stern guard¡¯s name was Mosco Pord, a name Merlin had previously only nced over, but it held a new meaning now. He was the brother of one of the bandits, the man impaled on the tree, the man begging his brother for forgiveness as he slowly faded away, Woodrow Pord.
"Your brother said he was sorry, that you were right." Merlin¡¯s voice tightened as he spoke to Mosco. "He knew it was stupid to jump in, but he could never have forgiven himself. But to you whose brother was branded a criminal, he is sorry."
Merlin didn¡¯t wait for an answer as he walked past, leaving the more childish guard confused, and the stern guard saddened. He received strange looks as he walked down the paved roads of Orchomenus, it seemed even in a world where death happened regrly, seeing someone covered in blood was a unique sight.
Eventually he reached the mercenary guild, and when he entered, everyone¡¯s attention snapped to him. Suddenly the rowdy environment died down, everyone sat quietly as they watched Merlin limp towards the counter.
"They¡¯re both done." Merlin said as he pulled the two quest forms out of his inventory and ced them on the counter.
The barkeeper was still surprised by Merlin¡¯s appearance, so surprised in fact, that he almost missed two mercenaries who burst through the front door.
Merlin turned around to face the two mercenaries, they seemed to be frightened by him, he wasn¡¯t quite sure why, until the barkeeper spoke up. "Speak, what did you find?"
"Boss... The entire camp was annihted." The mercenaries started talking. "We saw countless corpses, not only the men, the women and children, even the elderly. It was a bloodbath, they weren¡¯t just killed, they were mutted."
Merlin realised now that they were talking about the camp he was just in, it seemed the mercenaries had sent a couple scouts out after him. For what reason though, he wasn¡¯t sure.
"We found a single survivor, but all he did was ramble about a ghost." The other mercenary spoke up, his eyes kept flicking between the barkeeper and Merlin. "A pale woman with long hair, cold ck eyes, and drenched in bandit blood."
When the mercenary finished talking, all the eyes in the room were locked onto Merlin, who currently had a downcast expression
"Well, that was an interesting report." The barkeeper turned to face Merlin, he began counting out silver coins, cing thirty of them neatly in three stacks. "I believe you¡¯ve earned these. Unfortunately the bounty was only for twenty bandits, anything more than that is overkill."
As Merlin reached for the coins, the bartender grabbed his wrist. Merlin tried to pull away, but the bartender was too strong to resist. Merlin looked up at the man, trying to determine his intentions. When he did so, their eyes met, and moments after, the bartender spoke in a sombre tone.
"When you first came here, I thought you were just a well-spirited youngd who got in way over his head." The bartender closed his eyes and gentle shook his head, "I expected you to get into a fight and realise you bit off more than you could chew... I even sent those two to help you when you didn¡¯te back."
"But it was a shock to see you like this, and an even bigger shock to hear the atrocities you have caused." The bartender¡¯s voice started to crack, it seemed he was actually getting emotional. "For someone so young to be capable of such evil, what sort of lifestyle have you lived?"
The bartender released his grip on Merlin¡¯s arm, allowing Merlin to collect the thirty silver reward. He wasn¡¯t happy about the lecture, but he knew it wasn¡¯t out of hostility. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he should bother trying to exin that he wasn¡¯t the mass murderer, it seemed everyone in the room believed it, and it was only a matter of time before it spread.
"Just don¡¯t get yourself killed, and don¡¯t do anything so irredeemable that you cant be saved," The bartender started lecturing him again, and as Merlin turned to walk away, the bartender spoke up onest time. "You¡¯ll always be wee here, Ghost."
"Please don¡¯t give me weird nicknames." Merlin cringed after hearing that, he really hoped it wouldn¡¯t stick, but he knew he wasn¡¯t that lucky.
With nothing else to do at the moment, he decided he was going to visit a few stores to get new equipment, and then a bathhouse to wash himself. The dried blood clumping his hair together was an ufortable feeling that he really wanted to rid himself of quickly.
As he stared at his cursed arm, he noticed that the purple markings was getting dangerously close to his shoulder, he needed to solve that issue quickly too, but equipment and a bathes first.
Chapter 43: A Trip to the Bathhouse
Merlin wandered through town, embraced by the cold morning wind. Although it was early in the morning there were still plenty of people around, and no matter where he went, he always seemed to attract the attention of those nearby. Some looked frightened, others disgusted, some just looked with morbid curiosity and very few seemed to not care.
He ignored them all and quickly made his way to the local bathhouse. He figured that if he went to a store for clothing first that they would be frightened or even kick him out, so he decided to get clean first.
The southern side of town mostly consisted of residential areas formoners. It also served as the area of business for most kinds ofbour work. Although the town seemed well off, it was typical that mostmoners did not have their own bathtubs, meaning there was a cheap bathhouse nearby that servedmoners, especially those who became dirty from work.
After a few more minutes of searching around he found the local bathhouse. It didn¡¯t seem like they had any customers at the moment, which was understandable due to the time of day. He opened his inventory, throwing his equipment inside before making his way inside the building, and as he pushed open the door, a little bell chime rang.
"Wee--" The young woman standing at the counter began reciting her weing script, only to be caught off guard by Merlin¡¯s appearance.
Merlin walked towards the counter, fortunately the filthtched onto his body had dried out before entering the town, so he wasn¡¯t dropping trails of blood and mud behind him. The receptionist took a step back as he approached, it seemed she realised that a lot of the filth attached to him was mostly blood.
"I¡¯m sorry for surprising you." He awkwardly smiled, trying to seem friendly. He pulled his disgusting looking hair away from his face to show her that he was young. "I just started working as a mercenary. I didn¡¯t expect to get this filthy on my first day."
"I apologise, how unprofessional of me." the receptionist regained herposure before reciting her script once more. "Wee to the Rosewater bathhouse, we charge two copper pieces for entry into the main bath or six copper pieces for a private bath."
"Customers enjoying our private bath may pay an additional two copper pieces for the bath to be filled with our famous rosewater. Bathing in our rosewater will heal your weary and wounded body and help prevent your body from sumbing from sickness." She continued her sales pitch, Merlin was curious if the healing bath would help his current affliction. "As for other services, for four copper we can cast cleanse on both you and your clothing."
"I¡¯ll have the rosewater bath and the cleanse spell, please." Merlin opened his inventory and essed his money.
He selected one silver piece, causing a special menu to appear beside it, one of the options on that menu mentioned conversion. Upon selecting conversion, a selection screen opened asking what he would like to convert his coin to.
There were a few options however most were greyed out, with words such as "requires 10 silver coins" or "requires 100 silver coins" hovering over the icon. However two options were avable, one being for a single silver coin, meaning selecting this would cancel the conversion, and the other was for ten copper coins.
Merlin selected the copper coin trade, making the contents of his wallet thirty silver and ten copper. He pulled one silver and two copper pieces from his inventory and ced them on the counter.
"Alright, the bath will be prepared shortly, would you like to receive the cleanse spell now?" The woman asked while signalling to a coworker to get the bath prepared.
"Ah yes, please." Merlin nodded, now waiting for the filth on his body to finally be removed.
The receptionist began chanting, and a few secondster Merlin was engulfed in a warm light.
He watched asrge kes of filth peeled away from his skin, floating into the air before disappearing, he felt his hair finally loosen up, no longer glued and clumped together with dried blood. The ufortable itchy feeling of having blood and mud caked on his skin was now gone, and the horrible scratching sensation he received every time his body rubbed against his filthy clothes had vanished too.
Eventually the spell ended, leaving Merlin finally looking and smelling fresh, although he still didn¡¯t feel clean, but at least he didn¡¯t feel disgusting either. His appearance now apparently not terrifying, as the receptionist started staring at him more intently, where previously she was startled.
"White hair, pale skin and purple eyes. You don¡¯t see that every day." She muttered out loud, only to realise after the fact that she was audible.
Merlin gave her a smile in response, and shortly after he was directed into his private room and left alone to bathe.
As Merlin entered his private room, an intense scent of roses flooded his senses. And various memories came with it, causing his body to suddenly tense up ufortably. He didn¡¯t realise his fear for the ghost had run that deep, sure it was scary looking, but he was used to fighting giant dragons, grotesque demons and various undead constructs that made his current ghost look adorable inparison.
Shaking off his fear, he stepped further into the room, locking the door behind him. He stripped down his clothes using the equipment menu for convenience, everything on him vanished one piece at a time until he was standing in his birthday suit.
On one side of the small square room was arge ceiling to floor mirror, and as he walked up to it, his attention was immediately drawn to the purple blight that had grown up to his shoulder, but his gaze slowly shifted over to the various scars that currently covered his pale body.
The yers of New Genesis weren¡¯t considered humans, often regarded to as travellers or otherworlders by NPCs, they possessed abilities that the human inhabitants of this world typically did not have, such as the ability to heal over time, and especially the ability to regrow limbs. The one downside to this ability was that it left marks and scars on the users body until they received some other healing source, such as magic or potions, or by bathing in a healing spring or medicinal bath.
The bath was roughly the size of a small hot tub, it was embedded into the floor surrounded byrge stone tiles, and the bathwater itself had an entire rose worth of petals floating on the water¡¯s surface. Merlin lowered himself into the bath, and enjoyed the sensation of hot water embracing his skin. He submerged himself, including his head, so that every part of his body was now soaking in the bathwater. And as he came up for air he found that some rose petals stuck to his face, causing him to get slightly annoyed.
As Merlin soaked in the bath, he began thinking of his future ns, there was a lot he needed to do, especially now that people were going to be hunting him down. One thing he took note of was that he needed to learn some utility magic, such as cleanse, so that he had a method of helping himself in the event he was covered in filth once more. Acquiring the cleanse skill would either require a job soul with the ability, or for him to learn the spell as knowledge.
Knowledge within New Genesis was a strange concept to grasp at first, but it was one of the most important mechanics in the game. There were an infinite amount of abilities within New Genesis, and the list was constantly expanding alongside the world.
Most people believe at first that the best method of acquiring powerful abilities was through souls, and while yes, souls do typically have the strongest selection of skills for their particr task, whether that be a form ofbat or a job, they were also rather limited in their application.
If you were in a cave and yourst torch died, unless you had a soul that could cast some form of light generating magic, you¡¯d be out of luck. Or if you were in a foreignnd and didn¡¯t have a soul rted to thend¡¯s inhabitants, you would most likely be unable tomunicate with the locals.
This is where knowledge came in, knowledge gave yers the ability to acquire skills andnguages outside of souls. Although most knowledge was hard to get, especially the more powerful skills, there was some knowledge that could be easily bought, such as utility magic.
Utility magic was a vague collection of lower tier spells that helped out with everyday life, such as the cleanse spell, as well as methods of summoning light and lighting fires. They were easy spells that could be acquired for cheap and were ultimately worth the purchase due to the convenience.
There was also the rare chance of acquiring a skill through titles, but knowledge and souls were the best intentional methods.
Merlin nned to find a library or store that sold utility skill books after he bought some new gear, there were a couple skills he wanted, but cleanse was the main one.
Eventually he left the bath, as he did, he peeked at the mirror once more, noticing all the scarring on his body was now gone. The blight on his arm seemed to have retreated back down his arm a little, the purple now reaching the centre of his upper arm rather than his shoulder.
He dried himself off with the towel provided and equipped his clothes once more. He now felt clean, there was a big difference between having dirt removed from you with magic and having your body washed. As he left the building, the receptionist gave him a smile as she bid him farewell.
It was still early in the morning, although it felt somewhat warmer now than when he first entered the bathhouse. He began walking back towards the centre of town, where most of the big stores in town were.
Now that he was clean, there was no reason for him to be the centre of attention wherever he went.
Chapter 44: Shopping and more bandits
Merlin pulled his hood up and walked through the streets that were now softly lit by the sun¡¯s rays barely peeking out over the town¡¯s walls.
As Merlin made his way down the streets, he came across several pairs of guards scattered amongst the town. He watched as one of the guards stood by as their partner extinguished the variousnterns lining each street, refilling eachntern with more oil before moving on to the nextntern to repeat the process.
When he reached the centre of town, most stores were already open, especially those that dealt with food. Some stores were currently in the process of cleaning up after the customers they had during the night, others were converting their stores from their night to daytime operations. The remaining stores were either still in the process of opening up, or were yet to be open.
Merlin scouted the market looking for a tailor, he was hoping to find somefortable clothes so he could escape the beginner rags he was currently wearing.
Clothes, often called outfits by most of the yers, were a special type of equipment that was worn underneath almost every other form of equipment.
Clothes could get dirty, but they couldn¡¯t be permanently damaged, if clothes were damaged then they¡¯d take on a tattered appearance, but it was just a visual effect that would repair itself over a short period of time. And unlike most other forms of equipment, such as armour, essories or weapons, clothes did not have a chance of dropping on death. These were all changes added to prevent potential harassment, and remove all possibility of a yer respawning naked.
Walking around, Merlin came across the old tailor store he originally visited when he arrived in town, the cloak he previously wanted was still there in the window. Merlin entered the store, where he was greeted with the sight of the same old man, this time sewing together what looked to be a suit jacket.
The old man didn¡¯t look up this time either, so Merlin just looked around. He spent a few minutes just staring at the various vests, trousers and jackets. He was searching for somethingfortable that would let him move around easily, he ended up finding somewhat baggy ck pants and a decentlyfortable white short-sleeved shirt, costing him eight silver pieces.
After purchasing and equipping his new clothes, Merlin left the store in search of an armourer. With his current funds he didn¡¯t expect to pick up much armour. A pair of leather bracers, maybe just a leather breastte if he was lucky, but with his twenty-one silver that was unlikely.
After searching around town, he found a couple armourers, but their low end merchandise wasn¡¯t worth the price. So in the end, he decided to save up for something decent rather than waste his money oncklustre gear, it wasn¡¯t like anything around this level was giving him any issues, besides the ghost of course.
Making his way back to the mercenary guild, he decided to stop by Lychester¡¯s Provisions to see if he had any skill books in stock. As he walked through the door, a notification appeared in his peripheral vision reminding him of his quest objective, and also telling him his target was nearby.
¡¸Eliminate Arwell Lychester.¡¹
Merlin ignored the notification for now. Although he was tempted to kill Lychester on the spot, he knew he wouldn¡¯t get away unnoticed. He took a deep breath and walked into the store, making sure not to bump any of the various towers of junk. Upon hearing someone enter his store, Arwell poked his head out from behind a wall of items, and upon seeing Merlin again his expression dulled as if he lost interest.
Merlin noticed this and ignored him, he walked up to the counter and made a request. "I¡¯m looking for a couple utility spells, cleanse and ignite."
"The books are one gold each." Arwell spoke in an obnoxious tone, as if he were looking down on Merlin again. It was only after he received a confirmation by Merlin did the fat man disappear behind yet another wall of junk, only to return a few minutester with two books.
Merlin didn¡¯t feel happy about giving this man any more gold, but this was probably the only store that sold them in this town. He reached into his inventory and converted twenty silver pieces into two gold, then ced them on the counter.
Arwell¡¯s grubby little fingers flung out and wrapped themselves around the gold coins. His eyes looked back over to the books, then back at the coins. Merlin grabbed his books, getting a dirty re from Arwell as he did so, and then quickly made his way out of the shop without saying a word.
Merlin walked down the street, slowly making his way towards the mercenary guild. As he travelled, he opened up his new skill books, causing them to light up and vanish from his hands, giving him a notification in return.
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Utility Magic: Cleanse"¡¹
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Utility Magic: Ignite"¡¹
Both spells were recorded into his knowledge library and added to his ability list. He still had a few spells he wanted, but couldn¡¯t afford them for now, so these two would have to do.
He finally made his way to the mercenary guild, he pulled down his cloak hood and walked in. The rowdy environment quickly died down once again as people turned to see who entered. This was a feeling Merlin didn¡¯t enjoy, but he ignored them and walked straight towards the counter once more. He heard faint whispers as he walked past the several groups, but it didn¡¯t seem like anybody would mess with him again, at least there was some benefit to the misunderstanding.
"Wee back Ghost." The bartender greeted him while drying a mug with a rag. "I see you¡¯ve cleaned yourself up."
"Please stop calling me that." Merlin took a seat on the closest bar stool. "I really don¡¯t want that to stick."
"What can I help you with?" The bartender ignored Merlin¡¯sints and went straight to business. "I take it you want more work? If so I¡¯ve got the job for you."
After receiving a nod from Merlin, the bartender ced the mug and rag down and brought out his stack of quest forms. He shuffled through them before pulling out a single sheet and cing it down on the counter in front of Merlin.
"Since we¡¯ve experienced first hand how much you love bandits, take a look at this one." The bartender picked up the mug once more and finished drying it off, before turning around and giving Merlin an unnecessaryment. "There aren¡¯t any women and children in this group, just a group of highway bandits."
Merlin¡¯s face crumpled at that remark, and the bartender seemed to pick up on Merlin¡¯s feelings, shing him a guilty smile. A quest notification appeared, Merlin took a look at it.
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[Umon Quest]
Clear the route to Macedonia.
The town guards have submitted a formal request to the mercenary guild. They have received reports about a small group of well-armed highway bandits camping on the main road between Orchomenus and Macedonia.
They¡¯re currently not prepared to set out on an expedition to capture the bandits, but require the issue be dealt with quickly. There is a risk that the priestess may be attacked when she returns if they aren¡¯t dealt with in time.
Your mission is to destroy or capture the bandits in time, a bounty of five silver per bandit has been posted.
Highway Bandits remaining: 6
? Reward: 30 Silver, 300 EXP, +10 Orchomenus Reputation
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Merlin epted the quest and then turned to the barkeeper, "Do you have anything that ties into this task?"
"I thought you might ask that, so I prepared this one for you too." The barkeeper pulled out an envelope with an interesting wax seal. Green wax that was marked with the symbol of two intertwined snakes biting each-other¡¯s tail. "An envoy from the oracle heard about the bandits and wanted guards to protect him on his way back to Macedonia. Apparently the town¡¯s guards denied him, so he came to us."
"The oracle?" Merlin wasn¡¯t sure who he was talking about, the beta¡¯s map was based around an ancient Greek ind, but the reference to Delphi was used somewhere down the line in the main world.
"Ahh, that¡¯s just what the envoy called her." The bartender exined. "She¡¯s some woman that appeared a few years ago, she¡¯s made a name for herself in Macedonia as someone who can see the future, so her followers call her the oracle."
"She goes by another title, that¡¯s what outsiders tend to be more familiar with." The bartender pointed at the wax seal on the request envelope. "The Serpent-Bearer, Kilo."
Merlin nodded his head, he recognised the name. Although he didn¡¯t have any interactions with her in his past life, he did hear some rumours about herter in the game. When he opened the envelope, a quest notification appeared.
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[Rare Quest]
Guide the oracle¡¯s envoy to Macedonia.
An envoy of Macedonia¡¯s oracle has requested guards to safely guide him back to Macedonia. He has heard the rumours of highway bandits and doesn¡¯t want to risk the journey alone.
The town guards have denied his requests for escorts, whether this be due to not recognising the oracle as any form of authority or being too preupied with the priestess¡¯ safety, the envoy has now turned to the mercenary guild for safety.
This is a request for a minimum of three people, any spots not filled in will be supplied by the mercenary guild.
Ensure the safety of the oracle¡¯s envoy as he makes his way back to Macedonia.
? Reward: 1 Gold, 500 EXP, +10 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo
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"I¡¯ll take it, where do I meet up with this envoy?" Merlin epted the quest.
"He said he¡¯s staying at an inn on the western side of town, the Faded Bunny I believe it was. I¡¯m sending two of my boys along with you. Don¡¯t worry, they wont get in your way." The bartender responded, pointing at two strong looking men who Merlin noticed were subtly shaking their heads.
"Alright, I¡¯ll head over there now." Merlin stood up from his stool and threw his quest forms in his inventory. His eyes snapped onto the two mercenaries the bartender pointed out, and they lowered their heads as he approached. "Are you two ready or should I wait for a bit?"
"We¡¯ll be right there, give us a few minutes to get ready... please." One of the mercenaries spoke up, his voice slowly trailed off as he talked. Merlin realised that it was one of the friends of the mercenary he smashed through a table, he almost felt sorry for the guy.
"I¡¯ll be waiting for you two outside then." Merlin spoke quickly and left the building, leaving the two mercenaries to scramble together their equipment and scarf down their breakfast.
Chapter 45: Road to Macedonia - I
After a few minutes of waiting, Merlin noticed that the two mercenaries had finally left the building, neither of which had a happy expression on their face.
"Alright, if you¡¯re ready, lead the way." Merlin spoke with a soft voice, trying toe off as friendly as he could, but it seemed the two mercenaries were still cautious of him.
Nevertheless, the two mercenaries led him to the eastern part of town, and from what Merlin could see, this side of town was the main area where nobles would set up their estate. As opposed to the western side which consisted mostly of markets, and the southern side which was a residential and upational area formoners.
The group of three wandered through the streets, walking past the various noble households, it seemed there were a few snobbish nobles out and about as they were asionally given res and looks of disgust. It wasn¡¯t long before the group came across a nice looking inn, featuring arge cutout of a light-pink rabbit instead of a traditional sign.
Entering the inn, the group was greeted with cautious res from the inn¡¯s inhabitants, as well as a curious gaze from the reception desk. The mercenaries looked rough, almost like bandits, so it was only natural for people to be frightened by their appearance.
Merlin walked past the two mercenaries and approached the man at the reception desk. "Excuse me, we¡¯re looking for the envoy of Macedonia¡¯s oracle. I believe he¡¯s staying at this inn."
Before the receptionist could ask their purpose ining to see their client, Merlin pulled out the quest form and showed it to him, quelling any suspicion that may have arisen.
"Very well, I¡¯ll inform him of your presence. Excuse me." The receptionist nodded and quickly scampered up the flight of stairs, only to return a few momentster. "He¡¯ll be right with you. Please, take a seat."
The three mercenaries took a seat on the empty sofa they were directed to, and an odd sight urred for everyone within the lobby. The two muscr men covered in scars were visibly trying to lean as far away from the young man they arrived with as they could.
Eventually a nicely dressed man came down the staircase while carrying a bag of luggage. He spotted Merlin and hispanions and rushed over to them. The man suddenly spoke up, and it felt like he was in a hurry. "I take it you lot are the mercenaries they sent over?"
Merlin noticed the name floating about the envoy¡¯s head, it read as "Savvas Politas". The name was unfamiliar to him, meaning it wasn¡¯t anybody particrly important, at least not to him in the past. One of the mercenaries gave him a positive response, and Merlin pulled out the quest form to show Savvas.
"Alright alright, I¡¯ll get my horses. Meet me out front." The envoy spoke quickly and then dashed out of the building, leaving the group a little dumbfounded.
"Well, he¡¯s in a hurry, huh?" Merlin¡¯s retort was ultimately ignored by hispanions, which left him a little sad.
The group made their way out of the building, where they were met with the envoy driving around an open wagon pulled by two brown horses with thick shimmering coats. Savvas parked the wagon in front of the inn and told everyone to get on quickly. Once everyone wasfortable, the horses set off once more. The horses eventually exited through the eastern gate, and the surroundings quickly changed fromrge noble estates to wide ins, with arge paved road splitting the grasnds in two.
"I¡¯m d you came when you did. I was just about to risk it and leave on my own." Savvas spoke up, exining that he was pretty close to freely throwing himself at the highway bandits, although he didn¡¯t exin why.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" One of the mercenaries asked, it seemed he was genuinely curious, the other mercenary started paying attention to the conversation too.
The envoy gave a small chuckle before exining, he was sure that his reasoning would be seen as stupid by the masses. "Well, before leaving on my mission, I was given an audience with the oracle."
"I was told that I must leave town by the early morning of the fifth day since arrival, anyter than that and I may have an unfortunate encounter with a malicious spirit." He exined, now staring up at the sky, the sun was now clearly visible over the horizon. "Today was the fifth day, so I had to leave immediately, the oracle¡¯s prophesies alwayse true."
Upon hearing the words "malicious spirit", both the mercenaries snapped their heads towards Merlin. All he could do in response was shake his head, it didn¡¯t seem the envoy had caught onto this behaviour yet, so he had that little bit of sce for the moment.
The grasnds were suddenly cut off by a sparsely forested area, causing the previously open ride to feel rather ustrophobic. Merlin opened his inventory and took out his sling alongside a handful of ammunition, if there was anywhere they¡¯d be attacked, it was obviously in a location where the attackers had some form of cover.
And as expected, the sounds of horses treading on soft soil and dried nt matter echoed throughout the forest, although Merlin wasn¡¯t yet able to see them, he knew what was about toe. He started swinging the sling around, waiting for someone to appear.
Once the forest started opening up again, various figures escaped from the treeline. There were six highway bandits, each riding a horse. A metal ball flung out, pinging one of the bandit¡¯s horses in the eye causing it to fall to the ground, throwing its rider off.
"I¡¯ll deal with these guys, you two make sure the envoy doesn¡¯t get hurt." Merlin yelled out as he reloaded his sling once more.
The highway bandits started drawing in closer to the wagon with their des drawn. Merlin knocked another horse to the ground with his sling, leaving four more bandits to deal with immediately while the other two recover.
Merlin threw his sling and ammo into his inventory. Two of the bandits began running ahead of the cart in an attempt to scare the horses into running off the road. While the other two began closing the distance to the sides of the wagon. He pulled his beginner rags out of his inventory and began balling them up tight while chanting.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Suddenly the ball of rags caught alight, the mes began rapidly spreading, threatening to lick at Merlin¡¯s hands. He threw the ball of fire at one of the bandits, causing the horse to freak out and run off the road, leaving three bandits to deal with.
He stood up in the wagon, causing his body to wobble, it took him a few moments but he grew confident with standing on a moving tform. He drew his dius and prepared himself, but as he was going to pounce on the bandit, the wagon underneath him jerked to the side, throwing him off the vehicle.
He hit the tiled road and began tumbling, slowing down until reaching an eventual stop. Ignoring the pain from the fall, he looked around to see that the wagon stopped as the horses had wrapped themselves around a tree.
It seemed like the two mercenaries were holding their own, but weren¡¯t making any ground, so it¡¯d be up to him to finish the bandits off. Merlin stumbled to his feet and sheathed his dius, he opened his inventory and pulled out his cleaver, the Bovine Butcher.
The bandit Merlin was about to attack had turned to face him, but it seemed he was startled by the sudden appearance of arge rusty cleaver-looking de. Merlin began chanting as he ran towards the bandit, who began charging at him in return.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
A sessful jingle appeared as he performed a wide cleave, severing both of the horse¡¯s front legs on contact. The horse copsed, sending its rider face first like many of the other bandits.
Before the highway bandit could stand, Merlin was already standing above him, performing a downward strike on the bandit¡¯s skull before a finishing blow by plunging the de into his heart.
¡¸Highway Bandits remaining: 5¡¹
It didn¡¯t look like any loot had dropped from the bandit, so he turned his attention back towards the wagon. He began running up from behind the bandit currently attacking one of his mercenarypanions, and as he did so he was given a faint notification telling him that the 20 second cooldown on ?Heavy Strike? had ended.
Merlin began chanting as he jumped into the air, performing a downward swing on the bandit.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
The de sliced through the bandit¡¯s shoulder like it was made of butter. The mercenary who was standing on the opposite side to Merlin had been covered in the blood stter, but he didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by it. Rather he seemed to be too busy worried about something else to notice, namely the evil-looking grin currently stered on Merlin¡¯s face that sent shivers down his spine.
Merlin performed a horizontal cleave, rupturing the man¡¯s side and forcibly dragging him off of the horse, where he was promptly finished with several more strikes.
¡¸Highway Bandits remaining: 4¡¹
Merlin turned to face thest of the bandits, the rest hadn¡¯t recovered or made their way over to the cart yet, leaving the one bandit alone. The remaining bandit seemed terrified, now noticing that his teammates were all gone. Merlin began walking towards the bandit, stepping over the now stationary cart to do so.
Chapter 46: Road to Macedonia - II
Raising his sword into the sky, Merlin chanted once more before he swung his de down on thest bandit. Heavy strike activated, he received the notification for it as his de cleaved through the bandit¡¯s shoulder and the stagger effect triggered.
"More iing!" One of the mercenaries yelled out, causing Merlin¡¯s gaze to snap towards the path they had just travelled.
There he saw two of the bandits limping towards them with their weapons drawn, the third bandit was nowhere to be seen. They were quickly closing the distance, causing Merlin to rush.
Merlin tried to pull his cleaver from the bandit¡¯s shoulder but wasn¡¯t able to, the de was wedged in the bandit. He struggled with the de for a few seconds before giving up, he let go of the cleaver and instead unsheathed his dius, cleaving the bandit¡¯s head off with one swift motion.
¡¸Highway Bandits remaining: 3¡¹
Feeling frustrated, Merlin grabbed the hilt of the cleaver and briefly chanted, causing the cleaver to fade away, being sent back into his inventory. Merlin leapt off the cart and sprinted towards the other two bandits.
The two bandits readied their des, both entering defensive stances as Merlin enteredbat range. Moments before he struck, a bolt flung out from the treeline, embedding itself in Merlin¡¯s calf.
Suddenly losing his bnce, Merlin fell forward, his momentum dragging him along the road as his bare skin was ravaged by the rough pavement. The intense stinging sensation pulsing through his body was drowning out anymand to move, giving the two bandits an opportunity to strike back.
"Open inventory." Merlin chanted as a chipped de was thrust into his upper thigh.
The second bandit was greedier, he took his time limping towards Merlin¡¯s upper body rather than taking the easy strike to his legs. As he raised his de to strike, a dagger impaled itself into his chest, causing him to stagger backwards.
Merlin pushed himself off the ground, deflecting another sword strike with his shield. The distinct whistle of a bolt flying through the air caught his attention now that he was paying attention for it. When he noticed the faint glint of a bolt flying towards him, he ducked out of the flight path, sessfully avoiding it.
Raising the dius above his head, he struck down on the bandit who had stabbed him in the leg. The bandit raised his sword to block the strike, but as he did, the edge of a shield was thrust into his face, sending him stumbling back. Taking advantage of the situation, Merlin swung his de, cleaving a deep gash in the bandit¡¯s torso.
The bandit was clearly in pain, but it wasn¡¯t enough damage to kill him. Merlin thrust his de towards the bandit¡¯s chest, but it was parried away by the bandit with a dagger in his chest.
Another bolt tore through the air, but it was from the same location so Merlin could avoid it with ease. Taking a step back allowed both bandits to regain theirposure, the bandit with the knife in his chest ripped the de out and began using it as an offhanded weapon.
Merlin limped forward, chanting as he closed the distance to the bandit he was close to killing. He swung his de down once more, forcing the bandit to block, and then thrust his empty hand towards the bandit.
Expecting a repeat of the previous move, the bandit took his spare hand from the sword and braced himself to take the shield¡¯s impact. But Merlin had unexpectedly grabbed hold of his clothing rather than throw a punch. Confusion arose in his mind, until Merlinpleted his chant, and the word "ignite" echoed in his mind.
Suddenly a small me erupted on the man¡¯s sleeve, threatening to spread if it wasn¡¯t put out immediately. The bandit broke the stalemate, choosing to back away and deal with the sudden fire than continue the fight.
With one bandit distracted, Merlin¡¯s attention snapped back to the other bandit, who at this point had snuck behind him and was preparing a devastating downward swing. Merlin threw himself forward, causing him to hit the ground and tumble, but these few scrapes were a preferred alternative to having his back cleaved open.
"Open inventory" he chanted, causing an inventory window to appear. He reached inside, pulling out a handful of sling bullets.
The bandit rushed forward, his de recklessly thrust towards Merlin¡¯s chest, who knocked it aside with ease. Seemingly expecting such an event to ur, the bandit was already prepared with Merlin¡¯s dagger in the other hand, already attempting to take Merlin¡¯s life.
Easily blocking the dagger with his shield, Merlin shoved the bandit back and thrust his de into the bandit¡¯s side simultaneously, causing him to cry out in pain. The whistle of yet another bolt reached Merlin¡¯s ears, although this time the bolt was behind him, as he turned his back to the shooter.
He ripped his de from the bandit¡¯s body and dove to the side, a bolt flew past his upper thigh, hitting the bandit in the lower stomach.
"Friendly fire, what a way to go." Merlin retorted as a notification appeared before him.
¡¸Highway Bandits remaining: 2¡¹
The bandit who Merlin had set alight was still frantically trying to put out the mes, and had only just sessfully ripped his sleeve off, now throwing it to the ground. His forearm appeared to be severely blistered.
The bandit turned to face Merlin once more, but he was swiftly met with a handful of sling bullets pelting his face, followed by a de thrust through his heart, a quick execution before he could even react.
¡¸Highway Bandits remaining: 1¡¹
Merlin heard a rustle in the bushes, followed by the faint footfall that grew ever quiet, indicating that the crossbowman was fleeing.
"You¡¯ve been a real pain, and now you¡¯re running away..." Merlin mocked as he dashed into the treeline, following the sound of thest bandit, "Come back here, coward!"
The footsteps grew more frantic as Merlin closed the distance. Even with a damaged leg, he could still catch up, meaning the bandit had most likely sustained some form of leg injury after falling from their horse.
A few momentster, the sight of a man scrambling away with all his might filled Merlin¡¯s view, but all he could see was an easy target, the man left his back unguarded. With a single strike, Merlin¡¯s de pierced through the bandit¡¯s chest, pinning him to the forest floor.
It was only now that Merlin realised he didn¡¯t have his dagger to deal the finishing blow, he left it on the bandit¡¯s corpse. Now resorting to strikes with his fist once more, he bashed his shield against the helpless man¡¯s skull repeatedly. Blood sttered all over him but he paid no mind to it, until eventually the man was dead.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Clear the route to Macedonia", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin ripped his de from the bandit¡¯s corpse and then checked the area near the corpse for any loot drops, to which he found nothing. Disappointed, he now made his way back towards the road, unsure of how far into the forest he ran.
It wasn¡¯t long until he breached the forest path, his mercenarypanions seemed terrified as he appeared before them, now covered in blood.
Merlin collected his dagger, sending it back into his inventory, before searching the area for loot. Out of the six highway bandits, only one had dropped loot, which was just a single silver coin.
The envoy, with assistance from the two mercenaries, managed to get the wagon back onto the road and were waiting for the fight to end so that they could continue. Merlin cast cleanse on himself before entering the wagon, the various sources of blood were magically stripped from his body before vanishing.
As the wagon continued on its journey, the scenery opened up from a forest to yet another open ins, albeit with various rivers and streams interrupting thendscape, and arge walled city clearly visible in the distance.
Therge walls grewrger as the distance between the party and Macedonia shrunk, until eventually the wagon was stopped at arge portcullis gate, standing on either side of the gate were what looked to be two heavily armoured knights.
The envoy shing the strange snake symbol was all it took for the knight to start speaking with him respectfully, and mere momentster they were all led inside with a smile.
Inside the walls was a perfect looking Victorian era city, the architecture had no Greek or Roman influence to be seen, unlike thest town and vige. From what Merlin could see, the housing was all tightly-packed brick buildings with fancy wrought iron fencing and the streets were clean and nicely paved, illuminated byrgemps featuring an eerie spectral me.
"Wee to Macedonia, it¡¯ll take us a few more minutes to reach our destination." The envoy announced, but nobody in the cart seemed to pay him any attention, Merlin was too busy admiring his surroundings and the two mercenaries were distracting themselves while hoping the quest would end faster.
Eventually the wagon stopped in front of a walled off area, the gate of which sported the familiar snake logo.
Chapter 47: Serpent-Bearer Kilo
As Merlin approached the gate, the envoy spoke up, informing the three mercenaries that the mission wasplete before handing them each a gold coin. Two notifications appeared in Merlin¡¯s vision, one after the other.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Guide the oracle¡¯s envoy to Macedonia", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 3.¡¹
A loud nk sound rung out, drawing Merlin¡¯s attention to the gate as it dramatically swung open. Standing in the centre of the now open doorway was a rather attractive young man who was dressed like a butler.
Featuring a chiselled jawline, pale unblemished skin and a healthy figure, it was more reasonable to call the man a supermodel than a butler, but he was still dressed the part,plete with a vest and tailcoat suit.
"Pleasee in, the oracle has been expecting you." The butler requested, his eyes trained solely on Merlin, not paying the other three any attention.
¡¯Of course she was.¡¯ The thought crossed Merlin¡¯s mind, but he didn¡¯t dare let the remark escape his lips.
"Please, lead the way." He answered the butler with a friendly smile.
As he followed the butler inside, Merlin turned his attention to the two mercenaries and the envoy, the mercenaries started walking off, while the envoy had entered the gate with the wagon, turning right where Merlin and the butler had instead walked straight.
As he was led to the main building, arge red alert box appeared in his view.
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[Message from the devs!]
You¡¯ve got one hour left until the server is shut down for the day, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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"That time already huh." Merlin mumbled to himself quietly.
Merlin waved the notification box away and continued following the butler up a set of stone brick stairs. As he reached the top of the stairs, he was greeted with arge door featured behind a grand archway, designed with ancient runic symbols.
The butler stepped forward and pushed open the door, suddenly Merlin¡¯s senses were flooded with a sweet yet floral scent, somewhat reminiscent of bubblegum. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the building¡¯s interior, he could now make out several figures.
Those who were present in the room prior to Merlin¡¯s arrival were a mix of young women and men performing various tasks in the room, but it seemed that they were mostly just lounging around. Each one was objectively attractive, a stark contrast to the envoy and especially the two mercenaries. Merlin grew the suspicion that the oracle had purposefully filled the roles of those closest to her with people who fit her preference in appearance, rather than their ability to do whatever task was required of them.
Looking around the room, Merlin took note of a few things. The main one would be the various braziers around the room, each was burning some form of flowering nt stem, which he assumed was the cause of the smell. Upon further inspection, and utilising his knowledge of nts and flowers, he identified the nt to be a snapdragon, at least from its appearance.
The next thing he noticed was that the various residents of the room were each styled in such a way that they fit their own theme, rather than all collectively wearing a simr uniform or cultural garb.
Just scanning the room quickly, he could pick out several key themes, from the butler he was still following, to the Victorian-era maid and a priestess talking on the other side of the room.
There was even the nerdy-looking man quietly reading in the corner and a pencil-skirt wearing businesswoman standing near the door he was approaching. It was clear that the oracle had some interesting tastes, but he was more surprised that she could find this many attractive servants.
The businesswoman greeted the two silently as the butler walked over and opened the door, now gesturing for Merlin to enter.
Taking him up on the offer, Merlin walked into the room, and as he did, the butler closed the door behind him, leaving Merlin in the room alone.
Within this oddly spherical room were various pirs, braziers and incense burners. But the most important feature of the room was the king sized bed, fit with arge canopy and whitece curtains draped over it.
There was a shadowy figure behind thece curtains, but the dim light made it rather difficult to see the already obscured form. Merlin found himself slowly strafing around the room, trying to find an angle where he could get a better look.
"Do you mind flicking the switch behind you?" A soft female voice echoed throughout the room, originating from the bed.
Merlin was caught somewhat off guard, but heplied with the request, turning to face the wall, he was greeted with the sight of a somewhatrge lever. He felt no danger from the situation he found himself in, so he flicked the switch as requested.
As he did, a metallic screeching sound rung out, and the room suddenly became much brighter.
Looking around to see what the cause was, Merlin found himself staring up at the ceiling. A small skylight located right above the oracle¡¯s bed was now open, letting in rays of sunlight that illuminated the room, focused almost exclusively on the bed, making it appear as if it were glowing.
The figure behind the whitece somewhat blended in with her surroundings, the only contrasting detail would be the long streaks of orange that flowed with every movement she made.
"I¡¯ve been waiting for you, Merlin." The oracle slid off of her bed, pushing past the curtains until she was free from their grasp. "I thank you for bringing my envoy home safely."
¡¸You have earned +10 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo.¡¹
There before Merlin stood a pale tall woman wearing a white silk robe, the most ring detail being her long wavy orange hair, but another point of concern being the turquoise ball python currently wrapped around the woman¡¯s neck, staring Merlin down with strangely intelligent-looking eyes.
"You are very wee." Merlin answered normally for now, he hadn¡¯t interacted with this NPC in his previous life, so he wasn¡¯t sure about her mannerisms or any pitfalls he may talk his way into.
Kilo silently stared at Merlin for several minutes, before her attention hovered over to his right arm. "That¡¯s quite the nasty curse you¡¯ve got there..."
Merlin held out his arm, revealing that the purple blight had spread up his arm, but he only just noticed that it seemed to have stopped spreading, the level of blight was the same as when he left the bathhouse.
"I foresaw the possibility of a malicious spirit attacking, yet I never expected it to be bound to the same man who helped my envoy." The oracle spoke up, puffing out her chest. "I expect that after this meeting, you intend to visit the priestess visiting us from Orchomenus."
"Unfortunately, she will not be able to remove your curse." She continued, "You aren¡¯t the first person to be struck with the same affliction, and the previous victim¡¯s visit resulted in the curse¡¯s progression being permanently frozen. Your situation will end much the same, I¡¯m afraid."
"How do you know that for sure?" Merlin asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Well, I¡¯ve seen it, of course." Kilo¡¯s pale blue eyes seemed to faintly glow as she stared at him. Merlin felt like she was staring right through him, it left him with a strange sense of difort.
"I have been granted the power to peer into potential futures of those I hold within my sight. For this, I have been regarded as an oracle." Merlin noticed that her eyes stopped glowing as she finished that sentence, "Not to worry though. I have seen a future where you cure yourself of the curse by exorcising the spirit haunting you."
"Would you be so kind as to exin how?" Merlin asked with a great deal of curiosity, "Myst attempt involved setting it on fire, but I still couldn¡¯t manage to finish it off."
Kilo seemed to find that funny, letting a small chuckle escape her lips. "For a creature such as this, it isn¡¯t the spectral body that must be damaged, but rather its source."
"This particr creature seems invincible, but it has a major weakness." She took a long pause for dramatic effect, waiting until Merlin showed signs of frustration before she continued talking. "It seems bound to its burial site, meaning the soul is still tied to its remains. If you salt and burn the bones, it should be enough to properly exorcise it, killing it permanently."
Merlin thought about it for a moment, and remembered doing simr things with certain undeads that were trickier to deal with. Although it was mostly destroying phcteries that immortal creatures such as liches used to store and protect their souls, but the concept was simr.
"Very well, thank you for the advice. I¡¯ll go try that." Merlin thanked her. Seeing as his quest was nowplete, he started slowly making his way to the door.
"Well, now. Before you leave, I may have a task for you." The oracle spoke up, causing a quest window to appear before Merlin.
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[Hidden Epic Quest]
Hunt down Rig.
The Serpent-Bearer Kilo has warned of a dangerous man who goes by the name Rig. He has been described as an unusually pale man sporting arge blond beard. He seems to possess a destructive artifact that takes the form of a horn. Kilo has said that the man is destined to flood all of Arcadia using the artifact in the near future.
The oracle has requested that you search for this man, although little description of him has been given.
? Warning: ???
? Reward: ???
? Failure: ???
? Requirement: ???
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¡¯How suspicious.¡¯ Was the only thing running through Merlin¡¯s mind at that point. The request itself seemed simple enough, but the fact it was an epic grade quest containing both a requirement and a fail state, both of which were hidden, was too suspicious.
Merlin¡¯s prior experiences with devils led him to not trust quests that had so many hidden variables, especially fail states, as he always seemed to draw the short stick.
"I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to decline for now." Merlin replied with a sombre tone, declining the quest. "If I find this man by chance, I will dly supply you with his location, but I have too many tasks to deal with for the time being."
Merlin waved goodbye as he excused himself, quickly making his way through the door he was led through originally.
Chapter 48: The Frozen Curse
Quickly shutting the door behind him, Merlin found himself back in the sweet smelling room, but now he had several eyes locked on him. Walking through the room was a somewhat horrifying experience, it was like walking into a room of creepy dolls, as each of the servants were silently staring at him as he walked past.
He quickly walked out of the room without saying a word. He could feel people staring at the back of his head as he made his way outside.
Closing the door behind him, he was now outside, although still within the walls of the property. As he made his way down the stone brick stairs, the gate was swung open as he approached, letting him leave without any hassle, although he did get more staring from the two managing the door.
As Merlin left and the gate shut behind him, he received a message from Snowbunny.
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[12:20:02] Snowbunny: FLUFFERNUTTER IS MISSING!
[12:20:57] Merlin: What?
[12:21:40] Snowbunny: Me and Ty were making our way to the next town, but I wanted to say goodbye to Fluffernutter first, but when I went to his hangout, he wasn¡¯t there.
[12:22:04] Snowbunny: I asked the olddy who was there watering the nts, and she just said he disappears from time to time.
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Merlin didn¡¯t really give it any further thought. NPCs were known to move around of their own free will, and it wasn¡¯t umon for NPCs to travel to other towns, let alonepletely different regions or territories.
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[12:22:56] Merlin: He¡¯s probably just walking around the vige, don¡¯t worry.
[12:23:23] Merlin: You guys should make it to town before nightfall, and if you see a grave in the woods on the way there, don¡¯t approach it.
[12:23:33] Snowbunny: What happens if we do?
[12:23:55] Merlin: Well, I got cursed and attacked by a ghost monster.
[12:24:12] Merlin: If you¡¯re still curious, who knows, maybe you¡¯ll get a different result?
[12:24:36] Snowbunny: You know what, I¡¯m fine actually. We¡¯ll just make our way over now.
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Merlinughed as he waved the chat window away. He wasn¡¯t quite sure where he wanted to go next, but he figured he¡¯d scout arge portion of the city in the time he had left.
Macedonia was muchrger than Orchomenus, and several timesrger than the beginner vige Lycoa, so it took him a little while to get his bearings. Although he wasn¡¯t really going through the town in great detail, just mapping out the general regions, such as the noble area, slums, residential areas, markets and temple.
Merlin now found himself standing at the steps of a grand structure, it featured rows of marble pirs and chiselled marble decoration, but was otherwise simple in its design. What made the building stand out the most was that it was situated in the middle of what seemed to be a vibrant parnd, isted from the rest of the city.
Where most of the city felt rather ustrophobic, this area was spacious and almost vacant. Featuring benches,mp posts and various decorative foliage, such as potted nts and flowering trees.
Behind the Greek-styled temple was a connected graveyard, it seemed to be maintained by the temple.
Merlin started walking up the marble staircase and through the open doorway. The first room was open to the public, it featured lines of benches, and arge golden statue of Gaia was given the spotlight on a raised tform. The tform itself was decorated with various depictions of gods and goddesses.
There were a handful of visitors sitting around and praying, and a few more people walking around in some form of priest uniform, performing various tasks such as collecting tips and cleaning.
One of the priests approached him, but before the priest could speak up, Merlin exposed his cursed arm. "I¡¯m going to need something strong to fix this."
The priest seemed almost frightened by the blight growing up Merlin¡¯s arm, he stammered around for a moment before telling Merlin to follow him into another room.
"Please, wait here, I¡¯ll get someone to help immediately." The priest stammered before rushing out of the room, leaving Merlin alone on a cold bench, in what seemed to be a waiting room.
Minutes passed before the priest came back, now being followed by another priest who looked more capable, and a priestess, who appeared to be a high ranking priestess just based on how the other two were acting with her.
"By Gaia¡¯s grace!" The priestess eximed in surprise upon first looking at the curse, it was understandable, the blight was quite grotesque and rather unpleasant to look at.
The priestess quickly recovered from her surprise and approached Merlin to examine it closer. She gently poked, prodded and caressed the afflicted area as some form of test that even confused Merlin, then followed up by pouring holy water on it andstly casting various forms of healing and curse removal spells on it.
Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem as though anything had worked, the curse didn¡¯t even seem to move, unlike what it did with the rosewater.
The priestess sat back on a chair, she seemed genuinely confused as to why everything she did wasn¡¯t working. Several minutester it appeared as though something had clicked in her mind, as she left her seat and attempted one more spell.
This time instead of thefortably warm sensation from holy magic, this magic was cold. He sat there as he slowly lost all the feeling in his right arm, although he could still move it. There was absolutely nothing other than sight that confirmed that his arm was still attached and moving, and that sensation frightened him.
"I¡¯ve frozen the curse¡¯s progression, unfortunately that seems to be all I can do for now." The priestess seemed genuinely apologetic, "Also, do not worry, you¡¯ll regain your arm¡¯s sense of touch in a matter of hours."
"This curse reminds me of a patient from a year ago." The priestess mumbled out loud. "I believe that he is still alive, perhaps speaking with him may help you with finding a permanent cure."
"Please find Sir Redmond in Orchomenus, It is possible he will be able to help you." The priestess exined before starting to leave. A quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Umon Quest]
The Redmond¡¯s Curse.
It seems a prominent noble has been afflicted with a simr sounding curse, although his mental state has declined quite a bit, he is still a man to be reckoned with.
Perhaps he has found a possible cure to the affliction, or maybe he knows the curse¡¯s origin story, either way, a conversation with the man would benefit you greatly.
Speak with Sir Redmond about the undead monster.
? Warning: ???
? Reward: ???
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Although the warning and reward were hidden, he felt he could trust this one, especially because it didn¡¯t have a fail state. Merlin epted the quest before waving the window away.
The mention of a Sir Redmond brought back recent memories, specifically of a woman who was dying in the bandit camp, Merlin remembered that she was mumbling something about getting fired and exiled for merely turning off the light.
The priestess bid farewell before she left the room, her twopanions followed, leaving Merlin alone in the waiting room. He rid himself of the horrible thoughts and made his way out of the temple.
Merlin spent thest few minutes travelling towards the market area before arge red notification box appeared before him.
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[Message from the devs!]
The server will shut down in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time.
Thank you.
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He grabbed afortable spot on the sidewalk before uttering themand, "System logout." When he received a prompt asking him if he would like to logout, he responded with yes.
As always. a familiar experience urred once more. The world around him slowly started fading out, until he was floating in an endless ck void. After a couple moments, a blinding white light shed, causing Merlin to close his eyes, when he opened them the ck void was reced with the familiar endless white room, the virtual hub.
Not wasting any time, he brought his arm up and pped the power symbol, causing a prompt asking him if he would like to logout to appear. He answered by pressing the yes button, and the white room instantly began fading back into an endless ck void.
A jolt ran through his body, sparking his senses back into an active state. He felt groggy again, like he had just woken up from an unfulfilling nap. The various new noises only added to the unpleasant wake up procedure.
The capsule slowly shifted into an upright position before opening, now allowing Arthur to ess the real world once more. Not even waiting for everyone else to awaken, he made his way into the briefing room and helped himself to some refreshments. Shortly after the group made their way over, out of the entire group, there were three who had particrly nasty res aimed directly towards Arthur.
It appears as though LordKyle was still rather upset about getting murdered earlier in the session.
Chapter 49: The Start of Week Two
The rest of the group eventually filled the briefing room and took a seat. Acai and Maria sat next to Arthur as the developers stood up on stage, preparing themselves for their speeches.
The first topic was about various snippets of data, such as people interacting more with NPCs, finishing more quests, and fighting more monsters. Some standout points was that the yer death count from monsters for this session was lower thanst session, but the total yer death count had exceeded the first session due to a mass yer killing spree.
"No arrests this time around, although there was a few close calls with a certain group of yer killers trying to enter the vige." The developer eyed over a group who seemed kind of proud of themselves that they got mentioned, even if it was for something widely considered negative.
There were a couple shout-outs for yers before the top three was announced. The more notable ones were lucky item drops or an umon hidden quest, a couple mentions were for subduing yer killers, ending their killing sprees. The developer flipped the page and started reading out the leaderboard results.
"Coming in at third ce, at level two with two souls, responsible for ending seven kill streaks, Snowbunny." The developer read out Maria¡¯s results before he flipped the page, getting ready to read the next result.
"Coming in at second ce, also at level two with two souls, responsible for ending eight kill streaks and dealing the killing blow to a boss, Typhoeus." The developer finished reading out Acai¡¯s results.
"I thought you said they attacked you a couple times?" Athur was surprised hearing about all the killing, he was previously informed by Maria that there were fights popping up, he didn¡¯t expect this though.
Maria and Acai both shrugged in response, turning their attention back to the stage as the first ce was revealed.
"Coming in at first ce, level three with one soul. The first yer to leave the beginner vige, and also the yer who has travelled the most, entering a total of four settlements, Merlin." The developer flipped the page and continued reading, but didn¡¯t read the rest out, only leaving the group with a vaguement. "Wow, you¡¯ve done so much damage, it¡¯s only the second day."
"What did you do to earn that response?", Maria and Acai both turned to Arthur with a curious look on their faces.
Arthur mimicked their previous actions and merely shrugged in response. A yful smirk formed on his face as they protested.
The surrounding group all looked at the trio with various emotions, the most prevalent being envy and jealousy, but there was also hate and anger. Arthur internally sighed, pampered children could never ept their own inadequacy. They were always ming others for any inconvenience they faced.
The developers informed everyone that the next session would start next week, and that the briefing was over. Eventually everyone in the group left, including Arthur and his friends, and Donovan drove him home.
A week flew by with nothing of interest happening, school hadn¡¯t started yet so Arthur waszing around the house for most of it. He still spent plenty of time working out and tending to his nts, but he spent most of the week ying games with his friends, both Holly and Quinn, as well as Acai and Maria. His room was also asionally invaded by his big sister Anna, who sometimes yed games with him on her breaks.
When the week ended Arthur was brought back to the facility for the first session of week two. There were a few groups outside, Arthur assumed that they were waiting for their friends to arrive. Due to not having any reason to converse with anyone there, he walked past and entered the briefing room. There were a few small groups scattered around, but the two he was looking for hadn¡¯t arrived yet.
He took a seat in the front row and sat quietly while waiting. A couple developers who were walking around waiting for everyone to arrive had started hovering around Arthur until they eventually struck up a conversation with him. It was mostly small talk, but a few points about his performance within the game popped up, it seemed Gaia was interested in him.
Eventually everyone arrived, Arthur¡¯s friends sat next to him and chat for a moment as everyone settled in. The morning briefing was short, covering a few minor tweaks, but nothing that caught his interest this time around.
Over the span of a couple minutes, everyone was led into the capsule room and loaded into their VR capsules. All the machines began their syncing phase, followed shortly after by the instantiating phase, until everyone was sent into the virtual world.
Arthur opened his eyes, revealing the endless white room that everyone had grown ustomed to by this point. Wasting no time, he checked the buttons hovering around his arm, and noticing that the server hadn¡¯tunched yet, decided to join the beta tester¡¯s lobby.
Clicking the join button caused his body to be enveloped in light, fading away to reveal a barren rocky floor.
When Arthur looked up from the floor, he saw the dark expanse of space, and arge overhead, it was earth. The map this time around was on the surface of the moon, but he could still breathe. Other yers started joining in, considerably faster than thest two times, and their collective screams of both fear and excitement pierced Arthur¡¯s eardrums.
Both the transmission of sound and the ability to breathe was possible on this map, unlike the actual moon, but there was still very low gravity. Within seconds Arthur watched as arge group jumped several meters into the air, only to start screaming in panic as they weren¡¯t sure if they woulde back down, they slowly floated back down to the moon¡¯s surface shortly after.
There was a variety of things to do on the map, several caves to explore, what looked to be an abandoned moon base full of weird science gadgets, a golf range, and most importantly, moon vehicles.
Arthur watched as a hoard of people fought over the collection of vehicles, with the winners quickly driving off so they couldn¡¯t be dragged off. There were a handful of moon buggies that looked familiar to the vehicles that were actually present on the moon, alongside a strange one-wheeled motorbike that looked like it was taken straight from a science-fiction movie. Arthur noticed that one of the buggies had both Acai and Maria riding it, with Maria driving.
After a brief moon buggy demolition derby, a jingle echoed out informing everyone that the server was now online. Most people jumped at that fact, so Arthur¡¯s vision was suddenly flooded with shes of white light as the yers all vanished. Various moon buggies continued their momentum as the drivers vanished, either crashing oring to a stop naturally.
Arthur hit the y button hovering on his arm, causing his body to be enveloped in light. When the light faded, he was standing on the sidewalk within the city¡¯s market. A notification floated in front of him, weing him back and informing him how long his immunitysted.
Merlin slowly walked around the market, stretching his virtual body as he did so. Being disconnected from it for five whole days was an unusual feeling.
With his current funds, there wasn¡¯t much he could buy yet that would be of use to him. Most the stores he visited were weapon stores and various tailors, but the armours he could afford were all mediocre.
While walking around the market area, he found what looked to be a cosy little magic shop on the edge of an alleyway called "Potions and Lotions".
When he entered the store, an iron bell attached to the door jingled, signalling that he had entered the store. The first thing Merlin noticed was the pungent scent of various floral perfumes. As he walked in, certain areas of the store were so strong that his eyes stung just by standing near some of them.
The inside of the store consisted mostly ofrge shelves, packed with vials ofpleted product, each properlybelled. There were also various drawers full of brewing ingredients, scrolls and books of potion recipes, as well as some other unrted magic items. One of these unrted products was an item Merlin was looking for, a skill book, specifically the utility spell, light.
He grabbed the book and approached the counter, there stood a friendly looking olddy who was shaking around a small test tube, she saw the book in Merlin¡¯s grasp and smiled at him.
"That¡¯ll be one gold please." The olddy spoke in a refined and respectful manner.
Merlin ced the gold piece he was given by the oracle¡¯s envoy on the counter. The olddy slid it into a small bag that was tied to her belt.
"Pleasure doing business with you." The friendly olddy said her farewells as Merlin walked out of the store.
After closing the door behind him, Merlin opened his new skill book immediately. The book lit up and faded away, giving him a notification in return that indicated that the spell was recorded into his knowledge library and added to his ability list.
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Utility Magic: Light"¡¹
Chapter 50: Finding the Thieves Guild
Now that he was equipped with the three most useful utility spells, Merlin¡¯s next goal was to improve his armour and stats.
With only two silver and eight copper to his name, he wasn¡¯t going to be buying armour any time soon. Which left him with the next goal, improving his stats. The quickest method currently avable to him being the beginner ss quests, as they provided bonus stats as quest rewards, as well as stats in the form of souls.
Macedonia was somewhat special in this regard, being one of the biggest cities on the ind, they had several establishments where one could enter and acquire sses. This included several beginnerbat sses, such as clerics, fighters and thieves.
Unlike the barracks in Lycoa, which also provided the fighter soul, the barracks in Macedonia provided quests to further upgrade your soul.
Merlin instead decided that he¡¯d rather obtain his second soul than upgrade the one he currently had. There were a few time-sensitive things he had to do, so he couldn¡¯t dedicate the time required for an advancement questline.
He decided on the thieves guild, seeing as it was the ss he was mostmon with. In the previous timeline he spent the beta working on the warrior path, only to find out near the end that he was better suited for a dexterous fighter role than a strength based one.
There was one issue though, getting the thieves guild questline was a pain. There were a few quests that led to it, but they all took a fair amount of luck or time. The mostmonly known method was to enrol as a town guard and work until you received a quest to infiltrate the thieves guild. You could then betray the town guard and join the thieves guild instead, but this act would ruin your reputation and make you a wanted criminal.
What Merlin wanted to do instead was try and skip the process, forcing himself in somehow. He wasn¡¯t yet sure if the method he thought of would even work, but figured it was worth a try. The biggest obstacle for him right now was that the thieves guild had roughly four locations it would shift between to avoid getting caught, but he was only aware of two of them.
Leaving the market area, he made his way to the slum, preferring to slip between alleyways than walk on the main road. It took longer with this method, but within a couple minutes, he had reached an area that felt almost separate from the rest of town.
He stepped into the slums, the various buildings around him being of a simr style to the rest of town, their state of disrepair bing more obvious the further he walked down the littered street.
The atmosphere differed greatly from the rest of town, he could still hear the sounds of people talking, and the sound of wagons being tugged down the busy streets, but it felt distant behind him. The atmosphere in front of him was dull and stagnant, there was no liveliness in the streets, and the few people who were on the street only stared at Merlin with suspicious res.
After a few minutes of walking around the slum, Merlin felt a presence behind him, it seemed that the person following him was trying to hide their presence, but it was a clumsy job.
There was a possibility that they were a part of the thieves guild if they were operating within the slums, which meant he could extract information from them.
Merlin slipped between buildings, just fast enough that the person following him could barely keep up, and on hisst corner he turned into a dead end. Looking around, he couldn¡¯t see any spots to hide, so he pushed himself against the wall with his sword drawn.
A few momentster a figure popped out from around the corner, Merlin grabbed them by the cor and threw them to the ground. The interaction happened within a few seconds, not giving the pursuer any time to react.
Merlin drew his sword on the hooded figure, but something itching the back of his mind was that he couldn¡¯t feel their presence now, and the presence he did feel shouldn¡¯t have appeared around the corner at that moment.
Shrugging off the weird sensation, he focused his attention on his pursuer, who had just pulled the hood back, revealing the face of a young boy.
"Are you a pickpocket for the guild?" Merlin asked the boy in a stern voice, his sword now pointed at the child¡¯s throat. Merlin knew that the thieves guild didn¡¯t appreciate snitches, so nobody ever talked, but he didn¡¯t want to torture a kid for information.
The boy¡¯s eyes widened, but he didn¡¯t make a single sound.
"Just point me in the way of the guild¡¯s hideout and you¡¯re free to go." Merlin tried to reason with the boy, "I don¡¯t want to hurt a kid."
The boy shook his head in response, it seemed he was more frightened of the thieves guild than he was the man with a sword to his throat.
Merlin felt a dangerous presence nearby, he turned around just in time to see the glint of a dagger flying towards the kid. He barely managed to knock the dagger away, sending it into the wooden frame of a nearby house.
"The stalker who sucks at hiding their presence, it was you." Merlin¡¯s attention locked on the ugly man who attacked the kid. His hood had flown off and he was clearly out of breath due to pushing himself when Merlin was leading him. "How fortunate, you look expendable."
The clumsy pursuer pulled out another dagger and charged towards Merlin, but was promptly disarmed and cut down. As Merlin threw the man against the wall, he turned around to find that the young boy had vanished.
"Now, would you happen to know where the guild is?" Merlin bent down next to the man, grabbing a handful of his greasy hair. "I¡¯m looking for a new upation, and I hear you guys get all the fun."
Merlin spent the next few minutes getting various expletives thrown his way, to which he responded by injuring the man and repeating his question, eventually the guy broke and gave the thieves guild¡¯s location away, but he refused to disclose any secret codes. Any further questions resulted in the man confidently threatening Merlin with the guild¡¯s power.
"Alright, I guess I¡¯ll sell you as a snitch, we¡¯ll both lose." Merlin remarked as he grabbed the man¡¯s broken arm and dragged him down the filthy street, a thin streak of blood trailing behind.
The short trip that followed was obnoxiously loud, as the man screamed at the top of his lungs, calling Merlin crazy, telling him he¡¯d regret it, until he eventually begged him to stop, informing him that there was a secret code, and he¡¯d give it to him if he brought him to safety.
Merlin had no intention of letting the guy live, if he didn¡¯t have fast reflexes the boy would have been hurt and eventually killed. The only reason Merlin had caught the kid was because of the ipetent scum he was currently dragging down the street, he felt more respect for the kid than he ever would this man.
They eventually arrived at a shady tavern located somewhere down an alleyway. The man was quiet, thinking he¡¯d figure some way out of this mess as long as he was smart about it, but Merlin knew he¡¯d be killed for snitching regardless of what he did.
Merlin knocked the man out and left him against the wall, before casting cleanse on himself, sheathing his weapon and walking in.
Much like its exterior, the inside of the tavern was run down and shady. It was somewhat rowdy, but the noise quickly died down into a stifling silence as Merlin entered the building.
It was always ufortable having eyes on you as you walked into an unfamiliar area, but he was getting plenty of practice as ofte.
The people within the tavern were even more shady looking than most of the mercenaries in Orchomenus. He was just hoping that he didn¡¯t have to shove another person through a table this time around.
There was a woman manning the counter, and unlike everyone else in the room, she was rather attractive. Her hair was a very fair blonde, almost as white as Merlin¡¯s hair, and there was a slight point to her ears.
"You¡¯re a new face around here." She stated out loud, causing several people sitting at the tables to stand up and slowly move closer. "What can I get you?"
"I¡¯d like a job with the guy downstairs." Merlin spoke without any subtlety. He heard various weapons being drawn after he spoke, but his attention was locked on the woman.
"Sorry, we¡¯re not hiring at the moment." She spoke without any change in her facial expression, and instead signalled to the people behind Merlin, causing them to surround him.
Merlin couldn¡¯t help but sigh, he knew it wouldn¡¯t be that easy, but it was worth a shot.
"Well, before you attack me, aren¡¯t you curious as to how I know about the guild and its location?" Merlin asked, obviously hinting at a snitch. "I left him at the door, you can consider it a gift."
The woman looked at him with some level of intrigue before signalling one of the men to go look. He returned shortly after carrying the beaten up thief that Merlin dragged there. A couple people in the room, including the woman at the counter, clearly recognised who it was, and he received some res. The woman¡¯s facial expression was hard to read, but she seemed indifferent to the man¡¯s appearance.
"Peace offering?" Merlin spoke with a charming smile and a light shrug, realising he probably had to fight his way in now.
Chapter 51: Member of the Thieves Guild
"Bring him with us." The woman ordered, causing the encirclement around Merlin to open up, leading directly towards a door beside the counter.
Not wanting to fight under these circumstances, Merlin decided to follow along. If there was any chance of joining the thieves guild now, it would be by lying through his teeth.
As he was led to the tavern¡¯s cer, his brain was racing trying to figure out a reasonable excuse. His current thought process involved mentioning that the thief who attacked him had been caught snitching to a guard, but he had to weave some truth into it, as it was currently his word against a member of the thieves guild.
A secret door within the cer opened up to reveal arge undergroundplex. He was led down a short set of stairs into a main hall, the atmosphere was brighter than expected, there wererge groups of NPCs gambling at various tables, as if he walked into an underground casino.
Looking around the room, Merlin noticed that there were paths that led out of the main room, but the general structure of the paths was strange. There were two elevated paths on either side and a deep channel between them, which gave away the fact that the thieves guild hideout was built within an abandoned and repurposed sewer.
Merlin received various looks of curiosity as he was led away from the gambling ring and down one of the various tunnels. Eventually he was led to what he could only assume was an interrogation room, a small room containing nothing more than a table and two chairs.
He was left in the interrogation room alone, giving him enough time to fabricate a story. He began weaving truths and details into his story, like the appearance of the guard based on one of the guards he had seen around the city. The biggest lie he thought would win him points, and who he knew the other guy would probably mention in a more negative light, was the kid the thief had attacked and Merlin had saved.
It didn¡¯t seem like the kid was capable of speech, considering he hadn¡¯t made a single noise when seconds away from death. So if the kid was asked if the thief had attacked him, his response would most likely be nothing more than a confirming nod.
The boy had no choice but to confirm Merlin¡¯s story, the alternative to Merlin¡¯s story would support the thief who tried to kill him and who would definitely sell him out as the snitch to save his life, there was nothing to gain from selling Merlin out at that moment.
Although the likeliness of this excuse working was minimal, especially considering how low his charisma stat was. Not to mention that if anybody had a lie detecting ability his entire lie would unravel in seconds.
It was pretty apparent that he didn¡¯t reallye in with a solid n, but there were factors that worked in his favour. There were also obvious holes in his story he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin if pressed further, but if he seeded it would save him more than a couple weeks of pointless grinding, something Merlin felt was worth the risk.
A few minutes passed, and several footsteps echoed down the tunnel, getting louder as time passed until eventually the door to the interrogation room creaked open.
A tall slender man walked through the doorway wearing an expensive tailored suit, it wascking the usual gaudy essories nobles loved adorning their clothes with, so it retained its simple yet elegant design. His long pale blond hair lightly obscured his sharp facial features and two long pointed ears. All these features stuck out in such a way that they clearly dered the man¡¯s race to Merlin, he was a high elf.
Merlin noticed the woman who was previously manning the tavern¡¯s counter was now standing in the doorway. With the two standing in the same room he could see the obvious familial resemnce.
"Hair purer than any elf I¡¯ve known, eyes so vibrant they outshine the most expensive of amethysts." Without giving Merlin a chance to speak first, the elf man spoke up with an entric voice. "And a stench of blood that rivals the many wars I¡¯ve lived through. My, you quite the enigma, aren¡¯t you?"
The current situation caught Merlin off guard, he didn¡¯t think to talk yet and just let the man continue.
"A strange young man who appeared in Orchomenus a few days ago, white hair and purple eyes, what a uniquebination. You who made a name for himself immediately as a mass serial killer." The elf continued, arge grin on his face as he watched Merlin¡¯s expression slowly show traces of difort. "Rumours say you bathe in the blood of your victims, your hair dyed a vibrant crimson as you parade around town, striking fear into all who gaze upon you."
Merlin wanted to respond, but his throat started to choke up. The deafening silence didn¡¯tst long, as it seemed the elf loved the sound of his own voice.
"I received word that you entered my city alongside an envoy of the nasty snakedy and a few mercenaries. They speak of your feats on the road, a fondness for murdering bandits it seems."
"Now, I have the man who seems to despise bandits with every fibre of his being, suddenly appearing in my little ce of paradise, my den of thieves if you will."
"Not only that, you bring me one of my men on death¡¯s door, calling it a peace offering, how very strange." The elf leaned in, Merlin barely noticed a strange glint in his eye, indicating that the elf had activated some kind of eye ability, although Merlin couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.
The elf leaned in so ufortably close that Merlin could smell the scent of liquor on the elf¡¯s breath, and hear the elf¡¯s exaggerated inhales as if he were being sniffed, leaving Merlin extremely ufortable.
"My informationwork spans far and wide, there is very little I don¡¯t know. Which leaves me with the question, who are you?" The elf seemed to be mumbling to himself while inspecting Merlin¡¯s body. "Oh, what¡¯s this?"
The elf¡¯s gaze felt like it was peering into Merlin¡¯s soul, leaving him feeling naked and defenceless. He had to fight the urge to cover himself with his hands, although he knew it wouldn¡¯t help at all.
"You¡¯re not whole, how interesting. A cultist of Despoina perhaps? No, it doesn¡¯t seem that way, you¡¯re no hybrid, rather..." The elf continued mumbling to himself, a hint of bloodlust escaped him when he spoke of Despoina, but it was quickly reeled back in.
"A lost one? A traveller? A visitor from another world?" The elf shouted his theory with what seemed to be childish excitement. "Of course, the shes atop the mountain mere moons ago, the sudden appearance, you are not of this world."
The elf pulled away from Merlin¡¯s face and flung himself back into his chair, he seemed satisfied with solving his little mystery. Merlin was feeling kind of exhausted with meeting so many entric and powerful NPCs.
"Now I know why you havee to see us, for you who can assimte souls, you require our training." The elf leaned forward in his chair and stared at Merlin once more. "But for what reason would you require the skill set of a criminal, I wonder."
As Merlin watched the elf lick his lips, the feeling of revulsion grew within him, his body shuddered as a response to the entric elf¡¯s disturbing behaviour.
A notification appeared within Merlin¡¯s vision, reminding him of his main goal.
¡¸Eliminate Arwell Lychester.¡¹
It was for this reason that he needed the abilities of the thieves guild, the option to get away undetected aftermitting the act of murder.
"Toplete a promise I made with someone. I need to deal with someone dangerous who has plenty of connections, and brute strength alone wont help meplete my task." Merlin cleared his throat and spoke for the first time since entering this room.
The elf inspected Merlin¡¯s facial expression for a solid minute, but Merlin didn¡¯t waver and eventually seemed to have won.
"Very well, I do respect a man who follows through with his promises. I¡¯ll take you under my wing." The elf spoke up with a grin, "It was either this or dissection."
Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if thatst part was a joke or not, but he ignored it to the best of his abilities.
The elf held out his hand, "Mister Ghost, do we have a partnership?"
Merlin couldn¡¯t help but sigh after hearing that name once more, he shook the elf¡¯s hand, but had to still respond. "It¡¯s Merlin, my name is Merlin. I really don¡¯t want ghost to spread."
The elf, seemingly not listening to Merlin¡¯sints, stood up and made his way towards the doorway, speaking briefly before walking out. "Wee to the guild, Ghost."
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[Member of the Thieves Guild.]
You became a member of the thieves guild.
? You can enter any thieves guild hideout.
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Chapter 52: Path of the Thief - I
"So what happens to the guy I brought in now?" Merlin couldn¡¯t help but ask. One of the reasons for his self destructive gamble was because he wanted that guy to suffer for attacking a kid, but clearly he couldn¡¯t prove him to be a snitch.
The woman standing at the doorway turned to Merlin and responded to his question with a cold demeanour, "He has been retired for reasons outside of your concern."
Merlin could only assume that retired was used instead of killed, that was typically the way things worked around here.
"You will be expected to undergo basic training in our training facility." She spoke once more, "An instructor will be present at the facility to give you your tasks."
"When you leave this room, turn left and make your way down the tunnel, there you will find the training facility." With thatst piece of information being delivered sessfully, she left the room. Merlin could hear the woman¡¯s light footsteps quickly fade away as she rushed to catch up with her father who had walked off without her.
Merlin waited a few moments before standing up and leaving the room, he followed the woman¡¯s instructions, walking down the tunnel until he eventually arrived at what he could only assume was the training facility.
The room wasrger than the gambling ring, the roof was much higher too, and there were clear signs of walls being knocked down. This room in particr had the biggest overhaul in structure alone, not mentioning what was actually in the room.
The various channels in the ground had been filled, and a thickyer of loosely packed dirt covered the entire training facility floor. The most obvious thing in the room was therge obstacle course that took up most of the space, but there were other things in the room, like various treasure chests, free-standing doors and devices that looked like trip wire traps.
"Howe the city above hasn¡¯t caved in on this ce?" Merlin couldn¡¯t help but wonder out loud. There was always a reason for the most mundane of things, the game never entirely relied on hand-waving things away with the excuse of it being magical.
"We¡¯re not under the city anymoreddie." A voice resounded from behind Merlin, which caused him to jump forward in surprise. "We¡¯re under the forest a little bit away from the city walls. There is nothing above us but a mass of dirt and trees."
Merlin could not sense the man¡¯s presence at all, even when he turned around and looked directly at him, it felt like the man would suddenly vanish if he blinked.
"The tree roots are mostly what¡¯s holding the mass of dirt hovering above us from caving in, or so I¡¯m told." The man continued exining, not paying attention to Merlin¡¯s reaction.
"So, you¡¯re the ghost everyone¡¯s talking about, huh?" The man inspected Merlin¡¯s appearance before talking again, "I heard you saved my son, thanks."
"I sort of put your kid in that situation in the first ce though." Merlin confessed, "It was only right that I got him out."
Merlin¡¯s eye briefly inspected the name hovering over the man¡¯s head, "Pelear Ladrona".
Merlin was expecting Pelear to get angry, but the man smiled at him instead. "You¡¯re a goodd, aren¡¯t ya, Ghost?"
"It¡¯s Merlin. Ghost is a cruel nickname I received due to a misunderstanding." Merlin had a bad feeling he would be exining himself a lot if he decided to talk to more people in the thieves guild.
"What a shame, you should stick with it, it¡¯s a lot cooler than Merlin, no offence." Pelear teased, "I¡¯m not sure what those circumstances were, but it¡¯s surprisingly fitting for this line of work."
Merlin couldn¡¯t help but sigh in response.
Pelear ruffled Merlin¡¯s hair whileughing. He just seemed like a jovial uncle at the moment, but Merlin knew that everyone in the thieves guild was a criminal to some degree, with some even bordering on psychotic.
"Alright, so the boss told me to give you the fast course, it seems you¡¯re already capable enough for his liking." As Pelear finished talking, a quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Path of the Thief I.
You¡¯ve been given a task to show off your abilities on the obstacle course.
Complete the obstacle course in four minutes or less.
? Reward: +1 Dexterity
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"You can spend some time practising lock-picking and disabling traps before you start, we¡¯ve got plenty of spare lockpicksying around." Pelear gave Merlin time to prepare. "Don¡¯t worry, you can attempt it as many times as you need."
"Alright, I¡¯ll give it a shot." Merlin epted the quest.
Merlin received a set of lockpicks from the trainer before walking over to one of the free-standing doors. It was just a locked door within a door frame that was standing upright in the middle of a field of dirt. It didn¡¯t take much for Merlin to figure out that it was supported from underneath the dirtyer.
There were various locks in this world, some much harder to pick than others, and some even guarded with magic. But the mostmon locks, especially early in the game, were old fashioned warded locks that could be easily opened with a paperclip or other thin strand of metal, such as a wire.
Within a couple seconds, Merlin had sessfully unlocked the door with little effort. Merlin felt somewhat dissatisfied, he wanted something more difficult. He was used to solving borate puzzles and disarming traps, a simple warded lock was simply unsatisfying.
"Well, that was fast." Pelear gave light apuse as he watched from the sidelines, "I guess you really are capable enough."
Merlin awkwardly epted theplement as he made his way to one of the treasure chestsying around, there were a couple that had weak locks, but Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto a fancy-looking chest that he knew had a more intricate locking system.
The chest used a standard pin tumbler lock, one of the mostmon lock types in the modern world. Meaning it contained pins of varying length that prevented anything but the correct key from opening it, but it was also one of the easiest locks to pick open.
By spending a few moments skilfully picking at the various pins while applying tension to the lock, it eventually clicked open, revealing an empty chest.
Merlin seemed satisfied now, he was happy that even without his stats and his old body, he retained the ability and muscle memory that allowed him to perform more difficult dexterous tasks.
"Impressive." Pelear seemed genuinely impressed. "That one still gives a lot of our rising stars a challenge."
Merlin smiled, he seemed satisfied with his performance, and was now ready to challenge the obstacle course. He briefly scanned over it as he walked towards the starting line, there didn¡¯t seem to be any major issues, but he couldn¡¯t see theter portions of the course due to it being elevated well above eye level.
The course area was raised periodically, with what seemed to be thest tform roughly five meters high. Fortunately the ground was loosely packed dirt, so there wouldn¡¯t be any serious injuries if you fell, in most cases.
"Alright, when you¡¯re ready." Pelear started yelling, giving Merlin time to prepare himself, "Get set, go!"
Merlin dashed forward the second Pelear finished his countdown, the first task was knee high hurdles, followed shortly after by rotating unstable tforms. His first major hurdle was a two meter high wall without any textures that¡¯d help him scale it. He challenged the wall by running at it directly, kicking up the wall and using the momentum and his upper body strength to vault over it.
The obstacle course was ultimately based around expected environments and situations, meaning there was a lot of bncing, jumping and climbing. A few lockpicking tasks were thrown in for good measure, one of which forced Merlin to unlock and use a zip-line to reach the opposite side.
Thest task before the finish line was a ruthless one, it appeared to be a straight run to the finish, but one of the floor panels contained a hidden pressure te that released the levers that were holding up some of the tforms. Stepping on the unsecured tforms caused them to swing out from under the participant, dropping them five meters into a patch of dirt and effectively sending them back to the start.
Fortunately Merlin knew about the trap, so he threw himself over it rather than spending the few seconds it would have taken him to diffuse it. Noticing that he wasn¡¯t dropped into the dirt, Merlin quickly scrambled towards the finish line. As soon as he passed the finishing line, he was bombarded with notifications.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Path of the Thief I", visit Pelear Ladrona to receive your rewards.¡¹
¡¸You have achieved a record time of two minutes and forty-six seconds on the Macedonia Thieves Guild obstacle course.¡¹
¡¸You have earned +5 reputation within the Thieves Guild.¡¹
Merlin began panting heavily as he slumped on the tform, not yet having the energy to climb back down.
Chapter 53: Path of the Thief - 2
Merlin spent a few moments catching his breath before climbing down the tform and making his way over to Pelear who was no longer hiding his presence.
"Good work, you passed!" Pelear spoke while writing down on a clipboard, "You got the highest score on the recruit leaderboard too."
"Alright, next up is the most important skill to know in our line of work, so pay attention." Pelear put the clipboard away before speaking once more. "I¡¯ll be teaching you the basics of how to hide your presence, like so."
And once again, although Merlin could see Pelear in front of him, it felt like he would disappear the next time he blinked. His presence had beenpletely erased, although there were methods of still detecting him, visually was the only method Merlin could currently use.
For a thief, or any stealth based y-style, the most important skill was hiding your presence. This could be countered through a variety of ways, such as through various detection skills, a high awareness stat and visually or audibly detecting the yer using your own senses. But those counters could also be countered via other methods, such as using skills and items that allow you to be invisible to counter visual detection, or having a higher stealth stat than the enemy¡¯s awareness.
"While you can still see me, there should be a feeling in your mind that something is wrong." Pelear started to exin while pacing around slowly, "Your mind is subconsciously processing everything in your surroundings at all times, the faintest noise, the slightest shift in wind on your skin, even the tiny change in temperature caused by the body heat of all the living creatures near you."
Pelear paced behind Merlin while still talking, causing goosebumps to spring up all over Merlin¡¯s arms and sending a wave of anxiety through his body.
"What I¡¯m doing is drastically reducing all the aspects I can control that your brain uses to confirm my existence." Pelear leaned in and whispered, causing Merlin¡¯s body to automatically dash a small distance away, his difort oveing his self control.
"And as you can see, your brain doesn¡¯t like that, but it doesn¡¯t know what to do." Pelear startedughing once more, dropping his concealment. "If your opponent hasn¡¯t seen you before you stealth, their brain doesn¡¯t tell them something¡¯s wrong until you get too close, how close that is depends on how perceptive they are. Take for example my son, who you didn¡¯t notice walk up behind you."
Merlin¡¯s anxiety spiked once more, and as he turned around, the boy he once held his sword against was standing behind him, causing Merlin to jump back in surprise. His stealth was even better than his fathers, at this close of a distance Merlin¡¯s brain still didn¡¯t register that something was wrong until he was told, the kid was terrifying.
Pelear had dropped to the floor whileughing, it seemed this was something they rehearsed just for him, probably payback for the inciting incident.
A worrisome thought raised itself in Merlin¡¯s mind, causing him to check his inventory, specifically his wallet. His concern waster proven right, the two silver and eight copper he had left was reduced by two copper pieces.
"Seriously?" Merlin sighed out loud, "We¡¯re on the same side, don¡¯t treat me like a mark."
"Oh you actually caught on. Was that just intuition?" Pelear seemed rather surprised, "Alright Bell, give it back."
The kid seemed reluctant to part with his score and even pretended to be sad, leaving Merlin at a loss of what to do. He felt guilty pointing a weapon at the kid earlier, and the situation with the other thief was partially his fault, even though the kid probably deserved it for trying to steal from him.
"Fine, keep the two copper, that¡¯ll be yourpensation. If you take anything else from now on we¡¯ll have issues, got it?" Merlin gave in, but made the kid agree to not steal from him again, giving him some peace of mind, but he still wouldn¡¯t lower his guard around him again.
"Alright, back to the task at hand." Pelear tried to get back on track, "I¡¯ll have you practice hiding your presence now."
As Pelear started exining the basic methods of how to hide his presence, a quest notification appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Path of the Thief II.
You¡¯ve been instructed on the method of hiding your presence, Pelear Ladrona will close his eyes, you must approach him undetected.
Hide your presence and approach Pelear Ladrona undetected.
? Reward: +1 Dexterity
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What would have been a tricky concept to wrap one¡¯s head around hade naturally to Merlin. The slow rhythmic breathing, movements that didn¡¯t produce a single sound, the emptying of his mind and concealing his mana, even an advanced technique of slowing his heart rate. All the techniques he could employ in his current state came to him like riding a bike, although he could feel his body start to strain.
Without any additional bonuses to his stealth outside of what his agility stat gave him, this is the most he could reduce his presence at this current moment, vastly exceeding what would have been expected in such a quest, and well above what would generally be expected from someone at this level.
Merlin observed that Bell had a shocked expression on his face, and he could see that Pelear looked visibly ufortable but still didn¡¯t open his eyes. Taking one step at a time, ensuring that the loose dirt didn¡¯t crunch under his feet, he approached Pelear, who was now breaking out in a cold sweat, not knowing what was going on. Merlin ced his hand on Pelear¡¯s shoulder, causing his body to jump in surprise.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Path of the Thief II", visit Pelear Ladrona to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin felt his muscles weaken for a moment and his breathing became haggard, forcing him to stop concealing his presence. Although he could the utilise his previous life¡¯s skills to such a degree, it took a toll on his body, even if his mind knew all the techniques it seemed his body wasn¡¯t able to keep up just yet and required time to adapt.
"You¡¯re a monster, you know that?" Pelear awkwardlyughed while holding his chest. "I don¡¯t how you earned the moniker Ghost, but I¡¯d say that¡¯d be bloody fitting if that¡¯s what you can do."
Merlin¡¯s disposition darkened, which Pelear didn¡¯t seem to notice while being too caught up in his own thoughts.
"Right, well thest test was going to be run by me, but it seems the boss wants you to do something special." Pelear exined, "Go find him in the main room, he seemed excited."
Merlin said his goodbyes before walking out of the training room, back through the sewer tunnel that he previously entered from. He walked slowly to the gambling ring, giving his body time to recover, it was only at this point did he realise that he was still carrying the beginner lock picking set.
Merlin figured he had paid for it already and threw it into his inventory, he¡¯d probably return it if he was asked, but there wasn¡¯t really a need for him to do so if they forgot.
"Open stats." Merlin chanted amand, causing an information window to appear before him.
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? Vitality = 5 (+4 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 4 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 13 (+4 Base, +2 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 6 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +2 Bonus)
? Agility = 7 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 4 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 5 (+4 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Charisma = 5 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +1 Bonus)
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He hadn¡¯t checked his stats in a while, but they were rising quite nicely. His current goal was raising his dexterity so that he could switch to a fighting style he was morefortable with without sacrificing damage output. But as an important future endeavour, he took note that he needed to raise his vitality and constitution so that he could endure the challenges toe.
While lost in his thoughts, the scent of cigarette smoke and alcohol flooded his senses, bringing his attention back to the gambling den that he had idly walked towards.
Merlin found that several eyes were locked on him as he walked through the various tables, each featuring one of a handful of card games, but they seemed to mostly be poker and ckjack. Eventually Merlin had navigated the sea of tables and thieves, arriving at the bar where a certain mboyant elf was enjoying what looked to be an expensive scotch, or at the very least he made it look expensive.
"I heard that you¡¯re going to be managing the next task, what do you want me to do?" Merlin asked in a rather blunt manner.
"Now now, no need to be hasty." The elf sipped his drink before turning to Merlin, "Would you like a drink first?"
Merlin refused the drink, but the elf persisted.
"I insist, it¡¯ll help you get through the next task I have for you." As the elf spoke, his face contorted into an evil-looking smile, leading Merlin to assume his next task wont be pleasant.
"That¡¯s unfortunate, I¡¯m underage by my world¡¯sws, I¡¯ll have to do without." Merlin retorted.
"Well, we aren¡¯t in your world right now are we?" The elf refuted, "And you don¡¯t seem very concerned with breaking our world¡¯sws."
"I¡¯ll pass, just give me the next task." Merlin made sure to ce more emphasis on his refusal this time around.
"Fine fine, suit yourself." The elf seemed to back away from the topic, although it wasn¡¯t without giving a final remark, "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you."
Chapter 54: Path of the Thief - 3
Although he was savouring it prior to the conversation, the elf suddenly downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp before mming his ss on the counter.
"Alright, follow me." The elf spoke up right before obnoxiously crunching the ice cube that was previously cooling his drink.
Merlin was led through the crowd, although it was slightly easier to navigate this time around as people began shifting their chairs aside to make room for their boss. Eventually the two left the gambling room, moving down the same tunnel that led to the training facility, although this time they made a left turn instead of walking straight.
The background noiseing from the gambling ring quickly died down as they walked down the tunnel. After a few turns, very little light was left, and Merlin began picking up the scent of blood which caused his body to instinctively panic.
"Is it alright if I provide some light?" Merlin asked, to which he received an approving nod in response. He started chanting, and in a few seconds a notification appeared.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
Suddenly a small ball of light, roughly the size of a billiard ball, formed within Merlin¡¯s grasp. The ball illuminated the sewer tunnel roughly five meters either way, with five more meters being dimly lit. The light floated into the air and began hovering around him, following him as he continued down the tunnel.
"Before we arrive, what do you know about the cult of Despoina?" The elf suddenly asked.
Merlin seemed taken back by the question, he did notice the elf mention it during what should have been an interrogation, but he had pushed it aside until this moment.
"I know that they¡¯re a cult that deals in ck magic and maniption of souls. They also perform human experimentation on their victims." Merlin answered with a fraction of his knowledge about the topic, it would already be suspicious if he knew any more than this.
The cult of Despoina were a group of ck magic users who utilised necromancy and soul maniption. Their ultimate goal was to harness souls, much like how yers do, to empower themselves and dominate the world through overwhelming strength.
Their main research topics were hybridisation and soul injections, although their methods usually left entire viges wiped out or mutated beyond repair.
The main issue was that the cult of Despoina eventually became a dangerous force in the main story. Their research eventually creating several troublesome enemies, the most prominent being the starved souls. Creatures who after having their souls shattered in a failed experiment, be ravenous ghoul-like creatures who sought out the living and devoured their souls.
The reason most yers found them troublesome was that their attacks wereced with a curse that had a chance to damage your soul. Giving you a debuff that severely reduced the experience you gained from killing monsters until you consumed a curse removal item or had a spell with a simr effect cast on you.
"Looks like someone did their research." The elf looked at Merlin with a hint of curiosity, "Do you know what it means when the cult creates a troll hybrid of someone within their ranks?"
Merlin shook his head, pretending that he wasn¡¯t aware.
"Oh, that¡¯s a shame. No matter, I¡¯ll tell you." The elf continued exining. "It means that the cultist has done something so vile that it outshines the rest of the filth."
"Because apparently scum have standards nowadays." The elf started getting riled up, it seemed he had some history with this particr cult. He caught himself and continued after spending a second to calm down. "Pardon me. As I was saying, it means that the cultist has done something so bad that not even their fellow cultists can forgive them. Instead choosing to turn them into a mindless beast they can manipte."
"I say mindless, but they¡¯re still somewhat intact, usually." The elf added on, "Although their intelligence may vary depending on what parts of them mutate in the hybridisation."
"And you¡¯re telling me this because you caught one, right?" Merlin questioned, it seemed like this was what the elf was obviously pointing towards. "And one capable of human speech as well I assume?"
"Correct, and that¡¯s where yourst taskes in." The elf suddenly stopped in the tunnel, turning towards a steel bar door embedded in the wall. "You¡¯re going to help me extract information from that thing."
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[Rare Quest]
The Thief Lord¡¯s expectation.
You¡¯ve proven yourself capable with agility, dexterity and stealthiness. Now you are being given a special task that will test your ruthlessness.
The thieves guild leader has brought you to harvest information from a cultist, he has high expectations of you. Don¡¯t worry about killing the target, it seems this cultist has inherited a troll¡¯s regeneration from his hybridisation and wont die to regr attacks. Practice your knife work on the target, make every hit count.
Critical hits remaining: 50
? Reward: +2 Dexterity, 250 EXP, ss Soul: Thief, ???
? Failure: Quest will be reced with "Path of the Thief III".
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Merlin reached into his inventory and pulled out his goblin dagger. He epted the quest before walking into the makeshift prison cell.
There he saw what looked to be a man chained to the wall, but his arms were twice as long as one would expect, allowing him tofortably sit on the floor while still having his hands chained above his head. His skin took on a greenish hue and he had dark green growths scattered around his body.
The man opened his eyes, but seemed to be experiencing pain due to light sensitivity caused by Merlin¡¯s light.
"Good morning sleepy head." The elf walked over to the man, but to Merlin¡¯s surprise, the elf had kicked him in the head with no hesitation.
Merlin watched as the wound on the man¡¯s face healed almost immediately, it seemed his troll regeneration was extremely high, even whenpared to actual trolls. This was something Merlin could tell just by looking at the growths on the man¡¯s arm.
Extreme cell regeneration caused by troll hybridisation came with a major w. The fast cell regeneration alongside the instability of the body due to the experimentation made mutations extremely likely. The mostmon mutation to ur was usually cancerous growths on the body.
Although they were mostly benign, those that weren¡¯t attacked the nearby cells, although they didn¡¯t cause much damage as any cell damage was immediately restored by the troll¡¯s regeneration. Although there was a chance any cells that restored would also be cancerous themselves, leading to a domino effect that would eventually envelop the entire troll¡¯s body, essentially killing it.
The elf began asking the troll questions, but was either ignored or snarled at. After seeing that nothing was working, he eventually he gave themand to start.
Merlin approached the troll with his goblin dagger unsheathed. And with no hesitation sliced the troll¡¯s neck, causing it to split open. Merlin watched as ck blood poured out of the wound, which closed only seconds after.
¡¸Critical hits remaining: 49¡¹
"Without any hesitation. Oh my, how terrifying." The elf teased Merlin before interrogating the troll once more.
After a few more critical hits, the troll still refused to talk, its angry snarls had slowly shifted into pained gargles, but he still refused to break.
¡¸Critical hits remaining: 38¡¹
Feeling tired, and somewhat bored of the monotonous task, Merlin decided to spark up a conversation while still attacking the troll.
"Actually, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask, when we first met you had a few negative words to say about the oracle." Merlin spoke in a casual tone, intending to probe out a conversation. "You called the oracle a nasty snake woman."
Although it was faint, Merlin felt a hint of bloodlusting from the elf.
Merlin came to the conclusion that the elf had serious issues with cults, whether it be the cult of Despoina, although that one was understandable, or the Serpent-Bearer Kilo¡¯s temple, his reaction was always disdain and bloodlust. Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if this was the same reaction targeted towards all cults or if he just so happened to talk about two cults in particr that the man hated, and was getting genuinely curious.
"That I did." The elf¡¯s expression darkened at the mention of the oracle. "She¡¯s a vile, wicked creature, and I rmend not speaking of her again."
"You speak as though you¡¯re familiar with her." Merlin stated. It seemed he had hit a nerve, he didn¡¯t want to lose his favour, but he couldn¡¯t let go of his curiosity, so he asked onest question. "What¡¯s your rtionship with the oracle?"
The elf didn¡¯t respond for a few moments, the room was silent, or it would have been if not for the pained growls of the troll being tortured.
And then, with a sombre expression, the elf decided to finally speak, although his voice sounded coarse, the message came across clear. "She¡¯s the mother of my child."
Chapter 55: The Shattered Sky
Merlin was shocked to the point he found himself unable to respond, so he continued to stab the troll in silence.
¡¸Critical hits remaining: 22¡¹
"Wait, seriously?" Merlin snapped out of his daze. "You and Kilo, I don¡¯t see it."
"Her name isn¡¯t Kilo!" The elf angrily remarked. "Her name is Cecelia, or it was before she took on that strange alias."
Merlin was taken aback by the snappy response, but his curiosity grew.
"Oracle, she¡¯s no oracle... She¡¯s a demon who stole the body of my wife." The elf banged his fist on a nearby table, sending various torture implements into the air.
Various questions were racing through Merlin¡¯s mind, but it didn¡¯t seem like the elf was willing to answer any further, and his mood took a turn for the worst. Merlin didn¡¯t want to risk falling out of favour with the NPC, he still had to interact with him in the future and having a good impression would make his life easier.
¡¸Critical hits remaining: 3¡¹
Thest three attacks ended almost instantly, causing a notification to appear before him.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "The Thief Lord¡¯s expectation", visit the leader of the thieves guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
He was hunched over while attacking the troll, which caused his back to stiffen up. So he spent a few moments stretching as he stood up. He walked over to the elf, each step being followed by slight resistance as he traversed the pool of sticky ck blood that surrounded the troll.
"You pass." The elf spoke up. He seemed somewhat disappointed, but Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if that was targeted towards him or not.
¡¸You have empty soul slots, would you like to absorb, "ss Soul: Thief (Level 1)"?¡¹
Merlin epted the notification, and another notification appeared, informing him that he absorbed the soul sessfully.
¡¸"ss Soul: Thief (Level 1)" has been sessfully absorbed.¡¹
An information window appeared showing him the stats of his new soul.
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ss Soul: Thief ? Level 1
Bonus Stats: +2 Dexterity, +5% Stealth
Abilities: ?Sneak?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +2 Agility, +1 Dexterity, ?Ambush?
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Merlin waved the information window away. He was satisfied, the three quests had boosted his dexterity by four and an extra two from the soul had raised his dexterity stat to ten. Leaving it only three points lower than his strength stat, but high enough that using a dagger wouldn¡¯t be disadvantageous.
The elf walked over and kicked the troll around a few more times, continuing to ask questions in a domineering voice, but the troll remained silent.
"Just tell me who the leader is and I¡¯ll give you a painless death." The elfshed out in frustration while sinking the heel of his boot into the troll¡¯s face. "I¡¯m sick of this, they never talk."
A few minutes passed, and the two eventually left the makeshift prison. The thief lord appeared to be dejected, Merlin just walked beside him in silence, fearing that any further inquiry would result in the elf redirecting his anger towards him.
A few moments passed before the elf spoke up, a barely audible, yet sombre tone. "Has anybody told you about the strange phenomenon that happened a few months ago?"
Merlin¡¯s ears perked up when the words escaped the elf¡¯s lips. He had heard simr conversation starters before, and more often than not they typically led to quests, this was an opportunity to get back the NPC¡¯s respect, but he was also just generally very curious.
"No, would you tell me about it?" He asked in a sympathetic tone.
The elf looked at Merlin for a moment, and then turned back towards the dark tunnel they came from. "Sure, this probably involves you too, so you should learn about it."
Merlin¡¯s curiosity had peaked, he hadn¡¯t heard anything about a strange phenomenon in the beta stagest time. And yet for some strange reason, it apparently involved him, he was even more invested. Merlin slowed his pace to match the elf¡¯s, and gave him an expression to show that he was ready to listen.
"Alright, well it all started a few months ago." The elf recounted his story with sadness in his voice, "One day, a deafening boom echoed throughout thends, and those outside bore witness to arge hole in the sky. It was as if the sky had shattered like ss, revealing an eerie darkness underneath."
"It was pure nothingness, there is no way I can properly describe the feeling, but staring into the darkness made me feel empty." The elf¡¯s body started shaking, as though he was afraid. "It was in the sky for only a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. The temple ordered all the priests to pray for divine intervention, that included me and my wife, so I never saw how it disappeared, but when we left the temple it was gone."
Merlin was shocked that nobody else in the beta stage brought such an event up, not even in the previous timeline. Such a world changing event would surely bemon knowledge, but this was the first time he had heard of it. But what Merlin was actually focusing on was that the elf and Kilo were apparently once both priests, and he found that more surprising.
"But that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Strange events continued to ur days, weeks and even months after the sky had shattered. The biggest issue was that monsters became increasingly violent, choosing to leave their territories and raid our settlements."
"The first attack was just a horde of orcs that had attacked the city of Charisia, which at the time was extremely unusual as their territory was in the mountain range much further west." The elf exined, "Everyone thought it was an unfortunate coincidence at first. But hordes of monsters from various territories began attacking all the towns and cities on the west side of the region. Those closest to the monster¡¯s territories were attacked first, but they continued a path of destruction that only ended once the major cities fought them off."
"Arge wall was built to separate the east and west, but it couldn¡¯t be made big enough to wall off the entire region." The elf continued, "There are still perfectly thriving towns and cities on the western side of the wall. And most people living in those settlements still retain the lifestyle they enjoyed prior to the incident, while others have enjoyed the new upation the situation has afforded them, monster hunting."
"But while we do receive news from, and even trade with, the various western settlements. There are still plenty of them we can no longer reach, or have confirmed that they¡¯re no longer inhabited. One of these settlements we¡¯re unable to contact is the fortress city Charisia" The elf finished his exnation of the monster invasions.
"So the sky event led to a monster invasion, but what does that have to do with me?" Merlin asked, not sure if he had properly understood.
"I¡¯ll get to that part in a moment. The monster invasion was the first strange event to happen, but what came next ties into it." The elf began leaking bloodlust as he continued exining his story. "Weter found out that a great deal of viges and towns hadn¡¯t been destroyed by monsters, but rather by people."
Merlin realised where this part of the story was going, but he still listened.
"Lycosura was a city southwest of Megalopolis, it was the home of a secretive mystery cult. They were worshippers of the mistress, Despoina. They were once friendly, preferring to keep to themselves and worship in silence, but after the phenomenon, they suddenly became enamoured in the taboo magic of soul maniption." The thief lord began grinding his teeth, "Using the monster invasion as cover, they began raiding towns, using the vigers for taboo experimentation. And by the time we realised what they had done, they had already fled, only showing up every so often to raid another town, but we believe they¡¯re nning something big."
"And one more major event urred." The elf¡¯s voice dropped once more. "My wife suddenly left the temple, pushed me and our daughter away, and locked herself in a walledpound while calling herself an oracle."
"The temple wouldn¡¯t help me when I told them my wife had been possessed by a demon. She was calling herself Kilo, so I searched through every piece of scripture the temple had, looking for any mention of a snake bearing demon, but I couldn¡¯t find anything." He continued to speak, his voice sounding incredibly hoarse. "Eventually I was stripped of my title and kicked from the temple, but I continued to search for a solution, I wasn¡¯t going to let a demon steal my wife from me."
"In my desperation, I involved myself with even the lowest of society, and this organisation formed by chance." The elfughed in self pity, "Can you believe it? A priest who runs a criminal organisation, how shameful."
"It¡¯s not as unusual as you might think." Merlin remarked.
"I began sending spies into thepound to figure out the demon¡¯s goals. But the demon caught and bewitched them, turning them into mindless puppets. And as if to mock me further, she dressed them up like they were dolls and kept them as pets." The thief lord was clenching his fist so hard Merlin could see small trails of blood form. "Eventually one of the spies I sent in had escaped, and all we discovered was that she was hunting down a man who goes by the name Rig. All those losses for a single name."
"Wait, I met with her, why don¡¯t you suspect me as a spy?" Merlin asked.
"I did, at first... But while manipting a person through their soul is a dangerously powerful form of magic, it has a lot of quirks and restrictions. And in your case, your status as a lost one, or traveller, is what protected you. You cant use that ursed magic to manipte those without a whole soul, or those with several souls. So both you and those vile creatures are safe." He said, pointing back towards the troll hybrid.
Merlin realised at that point why he was allowed into the thieves guild, even though he was extremely suspicious. It wasn¡¯t just the elf¡¯s curiosity, but the elf had an agenda and Merlin just so happened to be the perfect tool for the job.
"And finally, the biggest event in your life was also most likely a result of the strange phenomenon. You somehow arrived into our world, I can only imagine it is rted to the sky shattering, a hole forming in our world, allowing you to fall in." The elf didn¡¯t seem so sure of himself, "That¡¯s my theory anyway."
The conversation ended as they reached the end of the tunnel, the elf¡¯s downtrodden expression suddenly lit up as though he was happy, but Merlin could tell it was a facade. The elf walked off after giving Merlin a final nod of acknowledgement, causing a quest notification to appear before him.
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[Hidden Epic Quest]
The shattered sky.
A strange phenomenon urred only months prior to your arrival, causing various world changing events to ur.
If you figure out the cause, perhaps you could discover a way to reverse it or at the very least quell some of the issues it has caused.
? Warning: epting this quest will increase the possibility of strange phenomenon urring around you, this could potentially interrupt other quests.
? Reward: ???
? Failure: ???
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Chapter 56: Preparing for departure
A quest that had the chance of interrupting other quests sounded really bad, what made it worse was that the reward and failure punishments were hidden. This was beginning to feel like the quest Kilo had tried to give him earlier, the only thing preventing Merlin from declining it at that very moment was that the quest wasn¡¯t given to him by the thief lord.
Instead the quest was generated after hearing about the world¡¯s lore. The quest was given to him by the world itself, meaning it wasn¡¯t influenced by an NPC¡¯s agenda.
He eventually epted the quest, the promise of a story that was hidden from him in his previous life was more than enough temptation. But there was also the fact that it was a hidden epic quest offered to him at such a low level.
Merlin made a mental note that this strange family had a lot more secrets to uncover, being the cause of not one, but two hidden epic quests appearing in such a short span of time. He wanted to discover the family¡¯s story, almost purely out of curiosity and self satisfaction, but there was also the reason of wanting to help the elf get his wife back.
Making his way out of the tunnel, following slowly behind the thief lord who had left his side, Merlin had entered the gambler¡¯s den once more. Instead of the strange looks he had expected, the thieves sitting at the gambling tables all stared at him with excitement.
"Give a warm wee to our new brother!" The elf roared as he grabbed a ss from the bar and raised it into the air. "Merlin, the Ghost!"
"Ghost!" A collective roar rung out in the den as all the thieves in the room raised their cups, causing various liquors to slosh around and spill everywhere, adding to the already abundant alcohol stains on the furniture and floor.
"That¡¯s not the part you should have picked up on!" Merlin¡¯sint was drowned out by the drunkenughter of the thieves. But he was happy that at least the elf had used his name.
"I take it you¡¯re not going to stick around for a drink." The elf lord approached him, ss of whiskey in hand.
Merlin gave him a brief smile and shook his head, "I¡¯ve got a couple promises to keep. But I¡¯ll be back eventually."
"I¡¯ve got a few tasks for you, but they aren¡¯t urgent." The elf gave him a nod before turning away, "Don¡¯t get caught."
"Wait, what is the code to get in again?" Merlin quickly asked.
The elf lord turned to face Merlin once more, although he didn¡¯t say anything at first. It looked like he was struggling to hold a straight face, but a few seconds passed and he eventually startedughing, causing his ss of whiskey to spill.
"What kind of stupid organisation has a secret code." The elf began wiping his tears, "That was a joke we used to y on new recruits, forcing them to say something stupid every time they wanted to enter."
"Oh, but we did identally catch a rat because of it." The elf had calmed himself down, and began sipping on what was left of his drink. "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll spare you the humiliation. My daughter remembers everyone¡¯s face."
Merlin said his goodbyes and made his way out the den through the secret door in the cer. Making his way back up, there were only a handful of people sitting around the shady tavern, and they didn¡¯t seem that bothered by his presence anymore. He made his way out into the alleyway, making a mental note of where the guild was as he walked out onto the filthy street.
At this point, the sun was getting low, meaning Merlin would only have a few more hours of daylight before the sun hid behind the treeline. He wanted to get back to Orchomenus before nightfall, he was ufortable not knowing when the ghost would attack him again.
As he made his way through the gloomy neighbourhood, the sound of metal clinking together began getting louder. When he turned the corner he saw a bald man wearing a familiar looking armour, the uniform of the town guards, it seemed as though the guard noticed him too.
"What are you looking at?" The guard spat towards Merlin before walking off.
Fortunately the saliva didn¡¯tnd anywhere near Merlin, but he still wanted to pummel the guard¡¯s face in. Although he decided against it, being regarded as a criminal for no merit other than self satisfaction would heavily impede his progress.
Eventually he had escaped the slums, walking back onto the bustling streets of Macedonia. There were a few ces he wanted to visit before leaving the city, the first being Macedonia¡¯s mercenary guild. It only took him a few minutes to traverse the heavy crowd, weaving through carriages and hoards of people, he eventually found himself at the door of the guild.
Entering the building, the environment was simr to Orchomenus, except it seemed as though the furniture was in a better state. As he entered the building he received the usual stares, and looking around, he eventually found the two mercenaries he travelled with. But upon making eye contact, the two mercenaries turned away and went back to drinking.
Merlin heard the usual whispers, it seems his moniker of ghost had spread to this branch of the mercenary guild too. He walked past everyone and approached the woman who was sitting behind the counter, she stared at him as he approached.
"How can I help you?" The woman seemed friendly, although she looked bored. "Want a job, news, or alcohol?"
"Could I get a list of avable jobs near Orchomenus." Merlin asked, "And I¡¯ll hear any interesting news."
The woman shuffled through various envelopes and sheets of paper, but put them all back. "Sorry, I don¡¯t have anything for Orchomenus, how about Asea?"
"No, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll just take the news then." Merlin felt a little disappointed, but it was fine.
"Alright, interesting news, lets see." The woman started shifting through various forms again, reading the most interesting ones out loud. "There are rumours of arge creature being spotted around Mount Lykaion. The king has sent patrols into the wilnds to reim a safe path to the mountain, but they have been unsessful so far.
"What else, attempts have been made to regain contact with Charisia, but they still refuse to respond to our calls. There is a rumour that one of the king¡¯s advisers suggested a siege, but it was denied." She continued. "Tegea has sent reports of suspicious activity from the native Lizardfolk living in the Tegean Marsnds. There are also rumours of them cooperating with the Naga, but we haven¡¯t received confirmation on it."
"And for the nearby rumours, there have been sightings of an undocumented undead roaming near Orchomenus." She finished. "And a rumour from a merchant in Lycoa is that the sh of light a week ago was a sign of otherworlders appearing atop the old temple of Artemis."
There was a lot of information to unpack in the several stories he received, most of which were hinting at future events Merlin was familiar with. It didn¡¯t seem like there was anything special in rtion to his lore quest, besides the news about otherworlders.
He was especially worried hearing about the unique undead near Orchomenus, this was no doubt referencing his rose themed ghost, but he wasn¡¯t sure if the rumoured sightings urred when Merlin was nearby, or if the ghost was freely roaming and attacking people at random.
Merlin thanked her for the information and then walked out of the building, back into the crowded city streets. His next goal was to visit the temple and try to acquire blessed salts before he left. After traversing the crowd once more, he pushed his way through, eventually entering the vacant parnd that the temple was located within.
As he walked through the parnd, he slowly approached therge marble staircase that led into the building. There were a few patronsing and leaving, it seemed rather busy today. Merlin made his way through the open doorway at the top of the staircase, entering the temple.
There in the room, stood the golden statue of Gaia. As well as the many groups currently praying to her likeness. Merlin walked over to one of the priests who was running around dusting every surface he saw.
"Excuse me," Merlin interrupted, "Would you kindly point me towards anyone capable of selling blessed salts."
The priest seemed surprised at first, but happily pointed Merlin towards one of the priests wearing different designs on their garbs, Merlin assumed this meant that they were higher ranked.
"Excuse me, how much would it be for a small bag of blessed salts?" Merlin walked up to the higher rank priest and asked the question.
"Two silver coins for a bag this big." The priest spoke up while holding roughly half a kilogram of blessed salt.
"Perfect, I¡¯ll take one." Merlin said, pulling out two silver pieces, which now left him with six copper.
Chapter 57: Early end of session
Now armed with a bag of blessed salt, and an almost empty wallet, Merlin made his way out of the temple and began walking towards the east gate. He still had plenty of time to enter Orchomenus before it got too dark, as long as he didn¡¯t run into any obstacles or take any detours.
Arge red alert box suddenly appeared before him, causing him to jump back in surprise. It was too early for the servers to be shutting down, but all became clear when he read the message.
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[Message from the devs!]
Sorry everyone, this session is going to end a little sooner than expected.
We¡¯ve just received somest-minute news that a routine system maintenance that had been scheduledter in the day was pushed forward into our time slot, so it¡¯ll be interrupting thest hour of our session.
You¡¯ve got half an hour left until the server is shut down for the day, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out. If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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Routine system maintenance was the excuse given, but Merlin knew it was another test firing of the reactor. Due to Gaia¡¯s framework being temporarily set up in theboratory, it was vulnerable to the power surges caused by the reactor. This problem would be rectified when the official servers were set up, but at the moment the safest course of action was to kick everyone out of the game and disconnect Gaia from the mainframe before the surge had a chance to mess her up.
It would take him longer to get back since he didn¡¯t have a horse, so with only half an hour to spare, all Merlin could really do was make his way back to Orchomenus and cash in his quests.
When he arrived at the east gate, he pulled his cloak hood up and began his journey. There were a few NPCs travelling the road, unlike earlier in the morning when it was almostpletely vacant. Merlin figured that news of the highway bandit¡¯s demise would probably have influenced this to some degree.
The familiar scenery scrolled past Merlin¡¯s view as he idly traversed the path, fortunately it didn¡¯t seem like anything was hiding within the treeline, but he still didn¡¯t lower his guard. The asional merchant cart driving past him gave him a small feeling of security. Even with years of experience, getting ambushed alone was a terrifying situation.
As he neared the town of Orchomenus, the sun began setting. What little light remained within the shaded forests was now gone, leaving barely any visibility past the treeline. A cold wind whistled through the forest leaves, causing Merlin¡¯s hair to stand on end.
Not willing to test his luck, Merlin picked up the pace, eventually entering the radius of thentern that was hanging above the gate. After briefly greeting the two guards, he walked into the town, only now did he feel safe enough to lower his guard. The mental exhaustion caused from him keeping his guard up for such a long period of time had taken its toll and he was ready to pass out on his bed the second he got home.
Merlin wandered around town, and as he approached closer to the market area he began noticing groups of yers. It seemed like his annihtion of the bandits that acted as gatekeepers for the next town had caused more yers to progress faster than the previous timeline.
Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem as though anybody intended on bothering him for the time being, so Merlin slipped out of sight and made his way to the mercenary guild. As he pushed open the door, the overpowering scent of smoke flooded his senses. Eyes locked on him as he walked into the building, but he paid them no attention, instead choosing to walk directly towards the barkeeper.
"Wee back, we received several reports earlier today that several bloodied corpses were found littered on the road to Macedonia. Not saying it¡¯s a requirement, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to clean up after yourself next time." The bartender informed him that his quest wasplete. "Here¡¯s your reward, as stated on the request, thirty silver pieces."
Another notification appeared before him as the bartender stopped talking.
¡¸You have earned +10 reputation in Orchomenus.¡¹
Reputation had a simr function to familiarity, but where familiarity would influence how a single NPC acted around you, often times providing special interactions if raised high enough, or very negative interactions if lowered enough.
Reputation instead influenced the general opinion of you, but this was overruled by almost every other kind of reputation, especially those that were more focused to an individual or party, such as familiarity or certain titles.
Regardless of how high you raised your reputation, if an NPC had a negative reaction to you, it wouldn¡¯t improve through reputation. Reputation only really affected the perception of you from those who had yet interacted with you. There were cases where your reputation did affect even those who had a pre-established opinion of you, but these were typically due to a special title or extreme act and weren¡¯t the norm.
Not bothering to sit around and chat, or in Merlin¡¯s case, sit around and be whispered about by everyone in the building, Merlin left the mercenary guild. Now on the street, he noticed he only had a few minutes left before the server was shut down. There wasn¡¯t enough time to start tracking down information about the noble the priestess called Sir Redmond, and definitely not enough time to get away with murder, so he picked a safe space and got ready to log out.
Before he did so, he noticed some loud yers in the distance, loudly iming that the clothes featured in the store they were harassing were nothing more than overpriced garbage. It seemed the general consensus amongst the nearby NPC was that the yers were obnoxious troublemakers.
Merlin easily identified the yers as LordKyle and his two goons, although it seemed they had some different equipment this time around. LordKyle himself had a crude leather breastte with a tattered red cape, it looked to be a goblin drop, meaning he had been quite lucky with his farming.
Clearly being left alone to bully defenceless yers had inted his ego, and he was now giving a simr treatment to NPCs. He would be shut down eventually, but a few ideas sprung up in Merlin¡¯s mind of how he could use this to his advantage in the near future.
A red alert box appeared before him, telling Merlin to log off now.
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[Message from the devs!]
The server will shut down in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time.
Thank you.
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"System logout." Merlin chanted, causing a prompt to appear asking him if he would like to logout, to which he responded with yes.
He received the familiar sensation of his vision slowly fading away as his body was removed from the game and thrust into the endless ck void used as the limbo between the virtual hub and the game. When he opened his eyes, the blindingly white room was all he could see, but this once again vanished into darkness as he pped the power symbol on his arm and confirmed the prompt that followed.
A jolt ran through Arthur¡¯s body, waking him up from his trance. His pod slowly rotated to an upright position before opening, revealing the facility. He waited a few moments for the groggy sensation to wear off before leaving the capsule.
As he left his capsule, he noticed one of the developers pacing back and forth with a nervous expression stered on his face, it seemed to be especially bad as there were several holes chewed into his pencil. He didn¡¯t seem to be paying attention to his surroundings, instead constantly checking his watch and then his phone.
Arthur could guess that he was waiting for a response from the developer who went back to theb to disconnect Gaia from the mainframe, and his nervous erratic behaviour was because he feared the possibility of losing Gaia. Although backups were made constantly, the hardware Gaia was inhabiting was expensive and hard to rece.
A wave of nausea washed over Arthur, followed shortly after by a sharp stabbing pain in his head as a memory surfaced. As his attention was drawn back to the developer who was pacing around the room, Arthur¡¯s vision split, there was suddenly two developers, one following the actions of the other with about three seconds difference.
Arthur watched as the developer¡¯s projection bumped into a table, followed by his physical body three secondster which sent a handful of pens and pencils onto the floor. And as the developer¡¯s projection began pacing back, not paying any attention to its surroundings, it suddenly tripped on one of the pens, falling forward and smashing his head against a capsule, causing a small pool of blood to form under the projection¡¯s unconscious body.
Chapter 58: Planting the Seeds of Chaos
A momentter, a scratching noise could be heard as a pen was crushed under the developer¡¯s heel. His foot suddenly slid out from under him, causing his body to jolt forwards.
Within moments of hearing the sound, Arthur¡¯s body had involuntarily lunged forward, giving him more than enough time to put his own body in the path of the developer¡¯s fall.
The three seconds that followed yed out exactly the same way up until the point where the developer¡¯s head would have made contact with the machine. Instead Arthur had caught the man as he was falling, allowing him to regain his footing and ultimately preventing the incident.
The projection of the man¡¯s body lying in a pool of his own blood slowly faded away, and the feeling of nausea became stronger.
This train of symptoms was ying out in a simr fashion to the incident with the ser ball that happened several months ago, and it was the first time this phenomenon had urred since then.
His original train of though was that it had something to do with the elevated brain activity he experienced after returning to the past, due to it not urring a second time, but now that he had confirmation that it had nothing to do with it, he was ready to research the phenomenon once more.
More people began leaving their capsules, and the developer who almost hit his head finally received the phone call he was hoping for. His anxious expression faded away as he received news that Gaia was disconnected in time.
Arthur finally remembered that there was an incident that happened early in the beta stage, the developer had tripped and hit his head, but fortunately it wasn¡¯t lethal.
Eventually everyone had left their capsules and were led towards the briefing room as usual. There wasn¡¯t much to talk about this time around, instead it was a lot more helpful tips and suggestions to leave the beginner vige by next session due to the next wave of yers that were going to be introduced into the world next week, leaving the yerbase at four hundred yers instead of the current two hundred.
The yer achievement segment was cut short, their excuse being that they weren¡¯t given enough time to collect data by the end of the session due to the sudden event. The top three on the leaderboard were still mentioned, although everyone knew the oue already. Merlin was first, as usual, with Typhoeus and Snowbunny taking the second and third positions respectively.
As the briefing came to an end, Arthur and his friends were thest few to make their way out of the building. As he approached the exit, he saw a few groups hovering around the entrance, waiting for their rides to arrive. One of the people hovering around was Kyle, and upon seeing him talking to a group and standing next to the path, an evil thought ran through his mind.
Kyle was the perfect scapegoat for a n he began concocting in his mind as he approached. The NPCs didn¡¯t seem to like him, and his usual behaviour made him suspicious at the best of times, all Arthur had to do was nt a seed.
"Hey guys, have you made it to Orchomenus yet?" Arthur spoke slightly louder than usual, and he slowed down his walking speed so that he could give Kyle more chances to overhear him. "Have you been to a store called Lychester¡¯s Provisions yet?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Acai responded, seemingly confused as to why Arthur raised his voice.
"Have you bought any spells from him yet? I figured out a way to get them cheaper." Arthur stated out loud, at this point he could practically see Kyle¡¯s ears twitch. "Arwell Lychester seems powerful, but the guy is a coward."
"All I did was use him of scamming me, I told him that the utility spells were overpriced." Arthur spoke up once more, Kyle had tuned out of the group conversation he was previously in, and was seemingly more invested in what Arthur had to say. "It turned into a screaming match, but if you just keep screaming back at him louder and threaten to turn him into the merchants association, he eventually gives in and begs you not to. I got three spells for nine silver pieces."
"You should have told us earlier, I wanted to pick up light but it was a gold piece." Acai retorted, he seemed excited. "I know what to do first thing tomorrow then."
As Arthur¡¯s group walked away from Kyle, he secretly informed them that he wasn¡¯t telling the truth, and instead was baiting Kyle¡¯s group into a trap. Acai showed his disappointment at first, but he cheered up when he realised that he¡¯d get to watch Kyle¡¯s group suffer.
The group broke off as they each went their respective ways home, Donovan greeted Arthur as he approached his car.
"You seem excited, did something good happen?" Donovan asked, seeing that Arthur had arge grin stered on his face.
"Not yet." Arthur gave a short response before entering the car, not giving out any more detail.
The two drove home, Donovan asked a few probing questions due to his sense of curiosity, but Arthur didn¡¯t budge, although he did promised to give him all the details afterwards.
They arrived home, due to it being earlier than expected, Arthur had more spare time before his sister and father left work. He ran up to his room and took care of his nts before turning hisputer on and checking his social media.
Within a few minutes of logging on, he received a message from Quinn asking if he wanted to y with him and Holly. Arthur joined the voice call and gave his greetings as the game started loading.
"Is it just us three tonight?" He asked, they usually had a full team of five.
"Yeah, the other two have just been ying the new shooter all day." Quinn responded, "Do you have any fills?"
Arthur remembered that the new hero shooter releasedst night for those that pre-ordered it, Quinn hadn¡¯t bought it due to him being warned about New Genesis, and he seemed kind of disappointed, but he¡¯d thank Arthur eventually when the gamepletely dies after the year.
"I might have two actually, hold up." Arthur responded.
He tabbed out of the game menu to send Acai and Maria a message in their group chat. "Do you two y Ancient Defence?"
"Yeah, I¡¯m divine two." Acai responded almost immediately, "You need a fifth?"
"Need a fourth and a fifth, we¡¯ve got a three stack." Arthur responded, "All three of us are around ancient rank."
"I y too, invite us to the lobby." Maria responded, "Are you in a voice call?"
"I¡¯ll send you both invites to the voice call." Arthur invited both of them to the server, the five of them would eventually be working together in New Genesis, it was better for them to get to know each other earlier thanter.
Two join notification sounds rung out as Acai and Maria joined the call. Arthur gave a brief introduction to both sides, then everyone gave their greetings and started sending out friend requests and party invitations.
"Woah, you¡¯re immortal." Holly practically squealed as Maria joined the lobby.
Arthur thought Acai would be the highest rank in the lobby, but it turns out Maria had him beat.
"Positions?" Quinn asked as he started queuing for a game.
"Me and Holly are supports." Quinn answered first.
"Ofne or jungle for me." Acai responded after.
"I y hard carry usually, but I can mid if needed." Maria also spoke up.
"Oh, perfect, I main middle." Arthur wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d be able to keep his role, but everything worked out in his favour.
The five spoke for a few minutes as the game searched for people to pair them with. Quinn and Holly both asked questions about New Genesis, their only source of information up until that point was whatever Arthur told them, but it seemed they were hungry for more. They wouldn¡¯t be allowed into the world until session thirteen, at the start of the seventh week.
"Holly,e support me inne." Maria requested.
"I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll be good enough to match an immortal¡¯s ystyle." Holly meekly responded.
"Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s unranked." Maria pushed, "I¡¯ll help you out if you need it."
"Ok, don¡¯t yell at me afterwards though." Holly said half-jokingly.
The game eventually started, and everyone marked down their positions and hovered over their heroes. Holly and Maria went bottom, Arthur took middle, and Acai and Quinn were left at top.
The game went well, there wasn¡¯t any serious mimunication due to everyone being higher than the average rank. Out of everyone, it seemed Holly and Maria clicked really well. So well in fact that they keptning together for the next three games.
Arthur heard a knock on his bedroom door, followed by his sister peeking her head out from behind the door frame. "Dinner is ready."
"Alright, I¡¯ve got to go eat, I¡¯ll y a few after if you¡¯re all around." Arthur informed his group.
Both Acai and Quinn informed the group that they were also going to get food. Maria and Holly decided that they were going to y a game with just the two of them while they waited.
During his family meal, both Anna and Arthur¡¯s father grew curious as to why Donovan burst into his office saying Arthur had done something and wouldn¡¯t tell him. Arthur shrugged everything off saying that he nned something funny in game and was looking forward to it tomorrow.
Chapter 59: Lychester Conflict
Arthur quickly finished his dinner and made his way back to his room. When he rejoined the voice call he found that Holly and Marie were still in the middle of a game, so he muted and just watched videos for a few minutes. Eventually Acai and Quinn had also returned, and the girls finished their game, so they went back to ying together.
Ending on a streak of five consecutive wins, the group decided to end the gaming session there. It was almost midnight at this point, and Arthur was ready to pass out, so he finished up his daily routine and went to bed.
The next morning Arthur woke up a couple hourster than usual, by the time he made his way down stairs, his sister and father had already gone to work. He prepared himself breakfast and performed his morning routine before turning on hisputer and checking his social media ounts.
He then checked to see if anybody else was online, to which he found Holly and Maria currently in a game that had been going on for twenty-three minutes already. When he checked their ytime, he found that they hadn¡¯t actually stopped yingst night. He sent Maria a warning to get sleep before the session, as she would suffer if she tried to log in while sleep deprived, and then left to tend to his nts and work out. When he returned to hisputer an hourter, both of them were already offline.
Later that day, he was driven back to the facility, where he met Acai and a tired-looking Maria who was yawning while hanging out near the door.
"Get any sleep?" Arthur jokingly asked, knowing that she would have gotten four hours at best. To which Maria just shook her head in response.
The morning briefing didn¡¯t take too long, the main point spoken about was that everyone should work towards leaving the beginner vige by the end of today due to the second wave of yers scheduled to join next week. They all eventually went into the capsule room and logged in.
After loading into the game world, Merlin found himself on the street outside of the mercenaries guild. He saw a few shes of light appear in the surrounding areas as fellow yers began logging into the world. At this point it was pretty dark out, and the streets were now illuminated by the various streemps lining the roads.
Making sure to stay within the light due to his own personal issues, yet also making sure not to stand out, he made his way to Lychester¡¯s Provisions with his hood pulled up.
When he arrived near the store, he noticed a small group near the entrance of the building already, as well as various unaffiliated yers hovering around the perimeter trying to see the action. Scanning the area gave Merlin the location of Snowbunny and Typhoeus, who were standing a little bit away from the action and trying to blend in, as well as LordKyle¡¯s grunts who were blocking the way into the store.
"How dare you overprice your useless goods, you scammer!" The loud screaming match had begun with LordKyle throwing usations of inted prices around, as well asbelling the creep a scammer.
This conflict ultimately solved a few issues Merlin had, the most important being that Kyle would eventually be severely punished for his actions. But there was also that Merlin wanted to harass Arwell Lychester himself, swearing at him would have been satisfying, but it would alsoe with some severe punishments. This was the safest way he could do so, by letting someone else take the fall, and attacking him indirectly by instigating them from behind the scenes.
"I¡¯ll turn you in to the merchants association." There was more yelling, and plenty of profanities thrown around. "You¡¯ll never sell an item ever again."
Merlin noticed a handful of guards slipping into the crowd, it seemed like they heard the yelling, or were curious about the mass group hovering around a store.
Loud thuds and a few nging sounds echoed from within the store, and it was at this point that the guards marched in, pushing the groupies ying as guard dogs aside with ease before kicking their way through the door.
"Who the hell are yo--" LordKyle¡¯s voice had trailed off and transformed into a pained scream as he was attacked by the guards.
"Get this poor scum out of my store." Lychester¡¯s voice was raspier than usual, and from what Merlin could barely see through the building¡¯s window and a shelf of various cluttered junk was that LordKyle had been knocked to the ground and was now being stomped on.
"Take this you poor filth." Lychester screamed in glee as he stomped on Kyle¡¯s back. "Rot in prison!"
Eventually the two guards cuffed and dragged him out of the store, bringing him to the Orchomenus barracks to be imprisoned. With the spectacle ending faster than it started, therger groups that were hovering around just to see some action had suddenly dispersed .
Walking past Kyle¡¯s followers without being recognised, Merlin stepped into the store. There he saw the fat man, but his head was bright red and several veins looked to be on the verge of bursting. A small trace of blood could be seen on the corner of his mouth, it seemed Kyle had done the most stupid thing imaginable, he attacked an NPC in a town.
This was better for Merlin, as it wouldn¡¯t take much convincing for the vigers to think Kyle had killed a man or two. He¡¯d probably be released by next session, so he had plenty of time to n the next phase.
"What can I get you?" Arwell spoke out, not seeming happy about Merlin appearing before him.
"Hey there, could I buy two sks ofntern oil please?"
"That¡¯ll be two silver pieces." He spoke in a straight-forward, yet somewhat rude tone, but the next part was spoken under his breath, just loud enough for Merlin to hear. "Unless you¡¯ve got an issue with that?"
Merlin finished off the purchase while ignoring Lychester¡¯s further remarks about hismoner status. This purchase left him at twenty-eight silver pieces and six copper.
He waved goodbye and left the store, making sure his hood was used to hide his face. When he left the store, he noticed that within the few minutes he was inside, the crowd hadpletely dispersed, not even Typhoeus and Snowbunny lingered.
He made his way back over to the mercenary guild, entering once more. The eyes that fell on him were much softer than usual, more filled with suspicion than hatred. Merlin didn¡¯t understand the change until he realised that his hood was still on, and the second he removed his hood, everything returned to normal.
"Wee back." The bartender greeted Merlin once more, "You leave for a few minutes and an issue urs in town where you show up, would that happen to be a coincidence?"
"I just went to buy a couple things, that was happening long before I got there." Merlin defended himself, although the bartender was spot on. His intuition was incredibly sharp, scarily so. "Not everything bad that happens in the world is my fault."
Although technically the truth, it wasn¡¯t like he wasn¡¯t currently cursed with both the chance he¡¯d be attacked by a murderous ghost-like creature during the night, and from what he understood from the quest, the chance to summon a multitude of magical, and possibly catastrophic, phenomenon wherever he went.
"So, how can I help you?" The bartender shrugged off Merlin¡¯s words and went back to his routine duty.
"The priestess pointed me in the direction of a noble household. There is a rumour that someone has been living with this curse for several years now, they might have ideas for the fix for my curse." Merlin shed his purple arm. The movement of the blight had beenpletely frozen, so it refused to grow further. "I¡¯m looking for the residence of the Redmond house."
"Alright, I can point you in the direction." The bartender nodded as he spoke.
"Could I get any rumours alongside this request?" Merlin abruptly added in. He wanted to get past the gate and have a conversation with the guy, it was important that he knew who he was meeting, or at least something about him.
"Well, he¡¯s in a moderately-sized mansion built near the market area, it¡¯s hard to miss." The bartender exined, "As for rumour, we know he spends roughly four gold pieces onntern oil on a weekly basis. It has been causing issues with the guards being unable to acquire enough fuel for the town street lights."
"There are also rumours that he no longer leaves his home, that he sleeps during the day and is only active at night. But even when he is active, he never leaves the confines of his home. Instead, all his interactions with the outside world are through his servants, they are often seen about town performing various tasks, they act as his eyes, ears and hands in Orchomenus." The bartender continued, "There are rumours that a servant was thrown out of the house and almost executed for merely turning amp off. She fled the town with her child, and we haven¡¯t heard from her since."
Chapter 60: Sir Redmonds Mansion
Merlin began picking through the rumours and tried piecing information together, but one piece of information confused him.
"Lychester¡¯s Provisions hasntern oil in stock though." Merlin looked at the bartender with confusion, he wasn¡¯t sure why they weren¡¯t buying those sks. It wasn¡¯t like most game where NPCs would have an infinite supply exclusively for yers, everything in-stock could be bought out by NPCs if they wanted to, or even stolen.
"Ah, well that¡¯s due to an agreement with the merchant guild and the lord of Orchomenus." The bartender exined. "The lord can only buy a certain amount of the avable stock, arge portion is put aside for civilian use. The issue is that Sir Redmond apparently goes around the Orchomenus merchant guild¡¯s back and purchases most of the supplier¡¯s stock before they ever get into the town."
"If it¡¯s that big of an issue, why hasn¡¯t the lord or merchant guild done anything about it?" Merlin asked.
"Well, there is apparently a great deal of corruption within the merchant guild, and they¡¯d rather avoid paying tax wherever possible, so the lord has only received news of the stock shortage recently." The bartender continued, "I¡¯ve heard that there has been a meeting scheduled with the lord of Orchomenus, the leader of the merchant guild in Macedonia, and the leader of the Orchomenus branch of the merchant guild. So there may be changes to the situation, but I wouldn¡¯t count on it."
Merlin thanked the bartender for the information, but as he began making his way out of the building, the bartender spoke up once more.
"One more thing, don¡¯t ever utter the word vampire in his presence." The bartender warned, "Thest person who joked about him bing one because of his sudden change in behaviour was executed."
Merlin nodded to show he understood before making his way out of the mercenary guild. He started walking towards the market area, following the information the bartender provided him.
He continued piecing together the rumours while staying on the lookout for a noble¡¯s mansion. While ying back the bartender¡¯s words in his mind, the rumour of the servant who was thrown out caused bad memories to surface. He was confident he knew who the servant was, and it was also why he was currently feeling guilty again.
Shaking away the thought, he started thinking about Sir Redmond¡¯s personality. From what he could gather, Sir Redmond was a typical tyrannical noble who abused his power for personal gain, but seemed to also be extremely paranoid. Taking extreme measures such as locking himself away in his mansion, bing nocturnal because he feared being defenceless in the dark and even throwing away, or potentially executing, those who even remotely disobeyed his orders.
Although the priestess had said Sir Redmond suffered a simr ailment, he didn¡¯t know for sure that it was the same, but his symptoms alongside his behaviour almost confirmed it to be the case. It could also be why the ghost was exclusively around Orchomenus, but that could also be just because the gravestone was there. This raised another question in Merlin¡¯s mind, why didn¡¯t Sir Redmond just move to another town or city if this was the case?
Too many questions began forming, but he wasn¡¯t receiving any answers, it was at this moment when his eyes locked onto arge building next to the market area. What stood out especially about this building wasn¡¯t that it was the only one with a wrought iron fence orrge garden, but that every single room was illuminated.
Unlike most buildings in the area, where they¡¯d have at most one or twonterns active indoors, or most residential houses where they¡¯d have onentern or candles for providing light at night, this building had at least eight rooms facing the street, all of which were illuminated.
Merlin walked through the main gate, there was nobody standing guard and the gate was open, so he just made his way towards the door. He nced towards the garden that was barely illuminated by the lighting from the windows and the streetlights.
There was arge section in the middle of the garden that looked as if it had been vandalised. The garden soil was disced, it appeared that several nts had been forcibly ripped out without any care some time ago. The rest of the vandalised patch just had snapped flower stems that were covered in thorns, as if the person ripping the nts out gave up mid-way and resorted to hacking the flowering parts off instead.
As Merlin approached the door, he could hear movement from within the building. And within a few seconds of knocking, someone had approached the door on the opposite side. The door swung open, revealing a woman wearing what looked to be some kind of maid uniform.
"Excuse me, do you have an appointment with Sir Redmond?" The maid asked as she inspected Merlin¡¯s attire.
"Hello, sorry to bother you at this time of night." Merlin spoke while trying toe off as friendly as possible, "I had the pleasure of speaking with the priestess not too long ago and she had suggested that I meet Sir Redmond."
"I believe he¡¯d understand if you told him about this." Merlin pulled up his sleeve, revealing his blight-ridden arm to the maid, who looked upon it with a shocked expression.
"Please excuse me for a moment." The maid uttered before closing the door and scurrying off.
A few minutester, Merlin heard footsteps behind the door, they progressively got louder until they stopped at the door. The door began opening once more, and the maid who he spoke to previously poked her head out from behind the door and spoke a single phrase. "Please,e in."
Merlin pulled his cloak off, throwing it into his inventory as he stepped into the building, his long white hair was now flowing freely instead of being shoved behind a hood. The same maid who spoke with him at the door began leading him towards Sir Redmond¡¯s position. He climbed a flight of stairs, and made his way down a fairly long hallway, most of his attention was currently spend counting how many litnterns he had walked past.
"Here we are." The maid spoke onest time as she opened the door into what looked to be an office, and just from Merlin¡¯s perspective in the hallway, he could already see two litnterns within the room.
As Merlin walked into the room, his eyes locked on an old man with dark circles under his eyes, and an arm that was wrapped in bandages like a mummy. The room itself was simple in design, there wasn¡¯t much furniture that wasn¡¯t strictly functional, and the room smelt strongly of coffee and tobo.
"Well, what can I do for you?" Sir Redmond spoke up first, it didn¡¯t seem like he was pleased with Merlin¡¯s presence, but if that were the case, then why did he allow Merlin to enter his mansion at all?
"Good... evening?" Merlin was a little confused as to what to say at first, seeing as it was practically midnight at this point. "I was informed that you suffer a simr affliction to me, and was wondering if you had any further information about it, or a potential cure."
"I was also generally curious if your contraction of the curse, or disease, was simr to mine." Merlin continued, "Would you spare me a few minutes of your time and tell me anything you know about the curse, and of the monster who caused it?"
Sir Redmond stared at Merlin¡¯s arm for several moments, before he began unwrapping the bandages on his own arm. As the bandages fell away, what they revealed was an almost ck mummified arm.
"I never found a cure, I¡¯m sorry to say." Sir Redmond¡¯s voice had deepened slightly, "I haven¡¯t found anything that fights against it, no manner of curse removal, not a single herbal remedy, nothing."
Merlin was a little shocked to hear this, as he had positive effects with medicine baths, although this could have possibly been because of his regeneration abilities due to his status as an otherworlder.
As Merlin began asking more questions about the ghost herself, he unintentionally wandered closer to him. After a couple steps, his cursed arm began stinging with a slight burning sensation, this feeling was followed by a notification window that appeared before him.
¡¸"The Redmond¡¯s Curse" quest has been updated.¡¹
"What?" Merlin blurted out uncontrobly, this was usually the message one received when something drastic changed or a hidden aspect of the quest was revealed. He quickly checked his quest to see what had changed, and upon reading it again, his eyes locked onto the warning section.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Umon Quest]
The Redmond¡¯s Curse.
It seems a prominent noble has been afflicted with a simr sounding curse, although his mental state has declined quite a bit, he is still a man to be reckoned with.
Perhaps he has found a possible cure to the affliction, or maybe he knows the curse¡¯s origin story, either way, a conversation with the man would benefit you greatly.
Speak with Sir Redmond about the undead monster.
? Warning: When two or more individuals who have been infected by the monster enter close proximity with each other, the monster bes restless.
? Reward: ???
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Chapter 61: Attack on the Redmond Mansion
¡¸Warning: When two or more individuals who have been infected by the monster enter close proximity with each other, the monster bes restless.¡¹
Reading the warning section of the quest one more time filled Merlin with a sense of dread. He interpreted this as the ghost bing more aggressive. Its behaviour up until this point felt more like it stalked its victims, giving them a grace period before attacking. But now it was possible that he¡¯d be attacked immediately after leaving the town that now acted as a safe zone.
He checked on Sir Redmond¡¯s condition, only to see that the man also seemed to be in pain, but before he could say anything an ear piercing whistle rung out from outside the building, grabbing the attention of both Merlin and Sir Redmond. The two turned to face the window towards where the sound seemed to originate from.
Merlin saw that Sir Redmond¡¯s office had a view over most buildings in the market area, as well as a clear view towards the eastern gate. He also noticed that there was practically a straight road from the gate to the mansion illuminated by only nine streetlights.
"Oh no. Not again." Sir Redmond mumbled. Merlin turned around only to see that the old man¡¯s body was shaking, and his facial expression indicated that he was terrified.
The ear piercing sound returned, followed shortly after by a strong gust of wind that blew through the town. The windows of the mansion started shaking violently, threatening to shatter if they received any more force. Several loud banging sounds could be heard from outside as the wooden shutters of the various buildings down the street started iling around in the wind.
Sir Redmond fell back from the window and started crawling towards his desk. Before Merlin could ask him what he was doing, a sh of light caught his eye. When he turned around to see what changed, he noticed that thentern that was hung on the eastern gate was no longer lit.
It didn¡¯t take him long to piece together what was about to happen, he saw several individuals moving towards the gate like something had happened. But not even a few secondster he heard a collective scream, and another streetlight had vanished.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped back towards Sir Redmond, who at this point was frantically trying to unlock a small chest he had stored away in his desk.
More screams rung out, they were getting louder, indicating that whatever was causing them to scream was getting closer.
When Merlin dared to turn towards the window once more, he saw the silhouette of several people getting impaled by a long tendril, only for the light that barely illuminated the scene to vanish moments after.
There were only four streetlights left, and it seemed people had finally caught on to what was happening, as they were now running away while screaming in terror, rather than walking towards it with curiosity.
Merlin took his shield and dius out of his inventory and equipped them quickly. He wasn¡¯t sure what he nned on doing next, but now that settlements were no longer safe zones, he didn¡¯t have a chance to just run away.
Two more streetlights were destroyed, and Merlin could feel his heart almost beating out of his chest. He dared to peer out of the window once more, and now he could see the creature barely illuminated by the various sources of lighting from the nearby buildings.
There it stood in the middle of the market area, with its thorn-covered tendrils now dripping in blood. A familiar scene that left a bad taste in Merlin¡¯s mouth.
As if it could feel Merlin¡¯s gaze, the ghost¡¯s head snapped up and it stared directly at him. Merlin just stood there in a daze as he stared directly into the vacant sockets where its eyes would have been.
"God, I hate that thing." Merlin couldn¡¯t help but mutter out loud as he suddenly felt his arm hairs standing on edge.
"Finally!" Sir Redmond shouted out with desperation as a small click sound could be heard.
Merlin nced over at what the old man was doing for a second. He saw that what was inside the chest was several vials of glimmering liquid. It was something Merlin was very familiar with, to the point he had been sshed with it moments before his return to the past. Holy water, at least a dozen vials of it.
This seemed to be Sir Redmond¡¯sst resort against the monster, this alongside the issue with the overspending onntern oil showed that he was incredibly paranoid when it came to the ghost, to the point he didn¡¯t care what price he had to pay for even a little bit offort. But it also showed that he was a meticulous individual who always had a backup n, an annoying trait to have for a corrupt noble, but fortunate when faced against the same enemy.
As his attention snapped back towards the monster, he heard ss shatter as the finalntern leading towards the mansion had been extinguished.
A blood-soaked tendril was thrust towards the window Merlin was standing behind. Merlin instinctively raised his shield and leapt backwards as the window shattered into tiny fragments.
Two more tentacles shattered the remaining windows, and a fourth tendril quickly pierced through the twonterns closest to that side of the room, extinguishing them.
The old man screamed out in pain, Merlin nced over to see that the man had a couple ss shards sticking out of his back, and he was weakly crawling over to the side of the room with functionalnterns while shielding the chest with his body like his life depended on it.
A loud creaking noise resounded from the tendrils as a silhouette slowly floated up towards the window, rather it looked like she was suspended in mid-air than actually floating, it was more urate to say she was using her tentacles like they were spider legs.
Now only a few meters away, and being lit up by the remaining twonterns, Merlin could properly see his enemy. A pale woman with dishevelled ck hair, blood red lips and nothing but endless ck voids where her eyes should have been.
She was wearing the same tattered red dress that Merlin had seen her wear during every other encounter. Although now that she was standing still, he could see that it was actually an expensive looking nightgown, one that would be marketed towards noble women for a hefty sum.
This fact raised a couple questions about who the ghost previously was. But Merlin was pretty confident he could at least guess who she was connected to in some shape or form, namely the man cowering in the corner while hugging the chest full of holy water.
The ghost began staring Merlin down, but her attention snapped towards Sir Redmond as he started clinking ss vials together while trying to grab one. Her long w-like fingers wrapped around the window frame as her body gently hovered into the room.
Merlin didn¡¯t dare make any sudden movements, he just watched as the ghost slowly walked towards Sir Redmond, shards of ss were crunching under her bare feet after every step she took.
"E-Evaline, please don¡¯t." Sir Redmond muttered as he clenched a vial of holy water.
Evaline? Merlin made a mental note of that name, although he couldn¡¯t remember anyone mention that name, he was going to look into it further. But as he had suspected, Sir Redmond had some kind of rtionship with the monster prior to her death.
Merlin slowly grabbed one of the remaining twonterns that was closest to him, making sure not to alert the creature. Fortunately for him she seemedser focused on the old man.
"No, get away!" Sir Redmond shouted as he threw one of the vials towards the monster and then made a mad dash towards the door where Merlin was standing.
The vial didn¡¯t get close to the ghost, instead being blocked by one of the thorn-covered tentacles. It began sizzling, but ultimately didn¡¯t result in much damage, instead it served to anger the monster more.
Merlin opened the door to the room and took a couple steps out into the hallway, Sir Redmond followed shortly behind. But before he could escape the room, a ck tendril pierced the man¡¯s throat, causing him to lose all the strength in his body and forcing him to drop the chest full of holy water.
"E... va.." Sir Redmond¡¯sst words were cut short.
Several of the vials shattered upon impact, but Merlin wasn¡¯t concerned about that yet. The old man¡¯s body wentpletely limp, yet he was still suspended in the air by the tentacle that pierced his body.
Several servants that were standing in the hallway witnessed that their master¡¯s body had quickly be a corpse. Some ran away, hoping to save their own lives, while others fell to the floor helplessly, resigning themselves to their fate.
Momentster the old man¡¯s body was dragged back into the room. It was almostical how his limp rag-doll body was dragged into the darkness, or it would have been, had the situation not been incredibly morbid.
A tendril flew through the door frame, it was aiming towards Merlin¡¯s head, but he suspected that he¡¯d be the next target and prepared himself. Merlin grabbed the chest of holy water and rolled out of the way, causing the tendril to overshoot and embed itself into the wall behind him.
The chest lid flew open, revealing that only four vials remained, while the rest of the holy water was pooling at the bottom of the chest alongside shards of ss. Fortunately for Merlin, the four vials were glistening in such a way that Merlin could tell they were considered items by the system, not temporary items, meaning he could store them in his inventory.
He threw the four vials in his inventory and closed the chest, he didn¡¯t want the remaining holy water to spill out.
The next tendril flew towards him, but it didn¡¯t take much effort to step out of the way, causing the tendril to hit the wall behind him again, it seemed the monster was having a tough time fighting in tight spaces.
Due to the hallway Merlin was standing in being lit by several morenterns, he didn¡¯t have to worry about the ghost suddenly peeking its head out and chasing him down the hallway like a typical horror viin.
The creature attacked Merlin once more, and he retaliated by throwing thentern he was holding at it, to which it responded as usual, piercing thentern with its tendrils. But Merlin followed it up by emptying the chest¡¯s contents on the creature like he was trying to ssh someone with a bucket of water.
What little liquid that remained in the chest sshed at the monster, shards of ss and holy water sprayed the creature, causing its body to sizzle wherever it was hit.
The ghost shrieked in pain as it fled back into the dark room, and Merlin watched as it escaped through the window it entered from, dragging Sir Redmond¡¯s corpse along with it.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "The Redmond¡¯s Curse", rewards have already been imed.¡¹
Chapter 62: The Ghost Hunt - I
From what Merlin could tell, the rewards he received for finishing the quest was a small amount of experience and the four vials of holy water. He was satisfied with the rewards, it wasn¡¯t that important of a quest. He wasn¡¯t yet sure of the consequences thatpleting the quest would bring in the long run, so ultimately he wasn¡¯t pleased with his current situation.
Sir Redmond was a corrupt noble, and he most likely had connections with other corrupt nobles. Merlin couldn¡¯t know for sure how many factions had some form of connection with the man, or what kind of power vacuum his death would have created.
Due to his quest not giving him a strict warning about consequences in the town, like his quest to assassinate Arwell Lychester did, he wasn¡¯tpletely worried of extreme changes. But this didn¡¯t mean that his death wouldn¡¯t cause changes, just that they weren¡¯t considered important enough by the system to be mentioned.
Merlin slowly entered the old man¡¯s office, what was once a neat and tidy room was now a mess. The desk situated on the other side of the room was scratched up and knocked onto its side, various drawers that stored countless documents had been either knocked over or smashed. There were shredded pieces of paper scattered around the drawers and shards of ss were practically coating half the floor.
It looked like the room had been ransacked, rather than a monster being let loose inside of it. Merlin walked over to the window, he could no longer see the monster that Sir Redmond called Evaline. What he did see was a lot of damaged property and loss of life. Even if they were tiny silhouettes in the distance, he could see people grieving over their losses.
Merlin turned away from the window, there wasn¡¯t much he could do for them at the moment, and he didn¡¯t want to start feeling guilty again.
He spent the next couple minutes looking around Sir Redmond¡¯s office, and during this time no servants of the house even came to check up on him, much less kick him out. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what he was looking for, but all he did know is that he probably wouldn¡¯t have the chance to search Sir Redmond¡¯s house after this.
Besides the several hundred documents that were covered in numbers, Merlin found two things that sparked his interest. One was a sk full of a strange ck tar-like liquid which he found in a lockedpartment on the desk. Fortunately he stole the lockpick from the thieves guild, so he didn¡¯t have to search for the key. The second item seemed to be some kind of diary, and the only reason Merlin found it was because it was hidden between two drawers, but one had been knocked over, causing the diary to stick out.
Merlin threw both items in his inventory before grabbing one of thenterns off the wall and leaving the building. As he stepped out of the building, he dragged his cloak out of his inventory and put it on, making sure to pull the hood up before he set off.
He was surprised that he didn¡¯t find any valuable trinkets or money, but he realised that they probably would have been stored away in a treasury or his room, and he didn¡¯t really want to spend a lot of time raiding a noble¡¯s house for a small sum of coin. There was also the chance that he¡¯d be branded a criminal, especially if the servants called him out.
Not really wanting to bother with the potential trouble, he concluded that it wouldn¡¯t be worth the effort. Plus he had something else to do that was more time sensitive, destroying the ghost once and for all.
As he walked down what was once a bright marketce, but was now a dark road covered in blood, corpses and with the asional patch of shattered ss from thenterns. He passed by several individuals, some seemed to be hurt, but were still alive, others just mourning over one of the many bodies littering the ground.
As he got closer to the gate, he started seeing a surprising amount of yers. There was arge group of yers, mercenaries and town guards forming at the gate. Merlin turned down a street and made his way to the mercenaries guild instead of joining the crowd.
As he walked closer to the door, he heard that it was loud inside. It wasn¡¯t the same as it usually was though, it wasn¡¯t the guild being rowdy, but rather it sounded like there were people aggressively arguing instead. But as usual, when Merlin entered the building and people started realising he was present, they began quieting down.
Merlin thought it would stay this way, but people actually started shouting again, although he couldn¡¯t figure out what they were actually shouting about until he saw two people wearing the town guard outfit talking with the bartender.
From what Merlin could gather, the town guard wanted to request the mercenaries to join their forces in hunting down the monster, and the main issue that arose was due to them not offering a reward. What seemed to have escted this issue was that one of the town guards had a haughty attitude and made an incendiary remark.
There was typically a theme of knights and mercenaries not getting along, although this wasn¡¯t always the case. There was usually the mindset amongst knights that mercenaries were no better than criminals, throwing honour away for a paycheck. What made things worse was that knights generally had some level of nobility, or were raised to a noble status after knighthood, while mercenaries were almost exclusivelymoners.
Merlin ignored the crowd as he walked up to the counter and took a seat. The bartender who looked like he was about to start shouting noticed Merlin approach before giving his attention back to the guards.
"No matter how you want to spin it, not many people are going to risk their lives for no reward." The bartender spoke to the guard with a stern tone. "I can post your quest as is, but I can guarantee that the only people here who would ept it are already out there looking for revenge."
The two guards settled on this, realising that they weren¡¯t going to sway any opinions using buzzwords like honour and duty. They quickly retreated out of the building, getting sworn at by the crowd, but they all quietened down the second they left.
"Now that they¡¯re gone, lets have a chat." The bartender still looked annoyed, but this time it seemed a part of that was targeted towards Merlin himself. "You asked me about Sir Redmond, and an hourter a monster burst into town, killing dozens of people before breaking into the Redmond¡¯s mansion and dragged his corpse down the street."
"And this monster just so happens to perfectly match the description of the monster who massacred the bandit fort." The bartender continued, "Now, can you honestly tell me right now that the two situations aren¡¯t connected, and that this is a really unfortunate coincidence?"
After hearing that, Merlin realised that it didn¡¯t exactly look good for him, but he could probably exin it away. Merlin couldn¡¯t respond right away, instead he spent a few secondspiling his thoughts.
"Well... It¡¯s not a coincidence." Merlin revealed his cursed arm, showing the bartender that the few spots he saw a few days ago had now spread to the point it enveloped Merlin¡¯s entire arm. "Remember when I said I got attacked and cursed by a ghost a week ago? It¡¯s the same ghost, it has been stalking me every night."
The bartender looked at the arm again, he couldn¡¯t help but feel some level of disgust. In his defence, it did look like some nasty disease that would be easily spread, and overall it didn¡¯t look very appealing.
"I¡¯m a victim here too, but when I visited Sir Redmond, I found something interesting." Merlin began exining, "When the monster invaded the mansion, Sir Redmond called it Evaline. Do you know who that might be?"
The bartender¡¯s face briefly showed a surprised expression before reverting back to the stern frown he was using up until that point. The bartender let out a sharp exhale before speaking.
"I don¡¯t think there isn¡¯t a person in this room who doesn¡¯t know who Evaline is. Well, excluding you of course." The bartender spoke, "She was the original owner of the Rosewater bathhouse. She used to grow every single rose herself, in her own private garden."
"She was a kind soul, a noble woman who treatedmoners with respect. She was famous around town for greeting everyone as she tended to her garden every morning. Some people started referring to her as the fairy of the rose garden." The bartenderughed to himself before continuing. "She was kind andpassionate, but what made her especially famous was that she was beautiful."
Chapter 63: The Ghost Hunt - II
"Unfortunately, she caught the attention of other nobles, the type who wouldn¡¯t hesitate against using less than legal means to get what they wanted." The bartender¡¯s tone darkened, and he lowered his volume so that only those within a few meters could hear him. "Several noble families sent her family marriage requests, but they denied every single one of them."
"Noble families started pressuring her family and almost brought them to ruin until they eventually surrendered, and Evaline was married off to a noble house to save her family. Thus Evaline joined the Redmond family, marrying thete Sir Redmond himself." The bartender continued. Merlin could detect small traces of anger leaking out from the bartender¡¯s voice.
"And then came her death a few months after..." The bartender was almost whispering now, so very few people could hear it. "Her body was found early in the morning, face-down in the Redmond mansion¡¯s garden. She was wearing nothing but a red nightgown, and her body was covered in small puncture wounds from the bed of roses she herself maintained."
"Most people believe Sir Redmond threw her out of the window during a heated argument, but the house servants all imed that he was in Megalopolis that week." The bartender¡¯s voice started bing raspy as he retold the story, "Nothing came from the investigation, and her body was quickly removed and buried somewhere outside the town¡¯s walls."
Everything started lining up in Merlin¡¯s mind, the only thing he couldn¡¯t figure out was why. Why was she killed when everyone wanted her? Was it a jealous noble who believed that if he couldn¡¯t have her, nobody could? Was she cheating on Sir Redmond and was murdered because of it?
A few theories started bouncing around in Merlin¡¯s mind, thest one made the most sense to him, especially due to the fact that Sir Redmond was the only other man who was cursed. Another factor that stood out was that Sir Redmond was given higher priority as a target during the mansion incident. It was clear to Merlin that even as an undead she had residual resentment towards the man, enough hatred that even the man who set her on fire previously was considered an afterthought.
"If that really is Evaline... Then she finally got her revenge." The bartender sat down on a chair behind the counter. "But that doesn¡¯t mean she will pass on peacefully."
As Merlin felt the conversatione to a close, a quest window suddenly appeared before him.
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[Rare Quest]
Evaline¡¯s Exorcism.
The town of Orchomenus has been attacked by an undead monster. The creature breached the eastern gate, leaving a trail of death and destruction as it barged into the market area and invaded the Redmond¡¯s mansion, killing the head of the house.
A group of town guard and mercenaries are forming at the eastern gate, preparing to set out on an expedition to hunt the monster down.
You who knows the full story behind this incident, and who has previously fought this monster, have the knowledge and the means to put an end to it once and for all. Defeating the monster may remove the curse it has ced on you.
Defeat the Rose Wight.
? Reward: 500 EXP, An Apology, +20 Orchomenus Mercenary Guild Reputation, ???
? Failure: ???
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Merlin read through the quest, his eyes locked on to the quest requirement.
¡¸Defeat the Rose Wight.¡¹
The monster that he had been attacked by finally had a name, he hadn¡¯t seen anything like it in the previous timeline. He expected it would be some form of undead, but he didn¡¯t expect it to be a mutation of a wight.
Wights were a type of undead which usually resembled zombies, but they weren¡¯t entirely physical beings. They had an weakness to sunlight and sources of holy magic, they also typically had an aversion to light and fire, with some variations having them also be weaknesses, amongst other things. Wights were generally very hostile creatures, having been originally reanimated through extreme hatred and malevolence, something that didn¡¯t add up if what the bartender said about Evaline¡¯s nature was true.
Merlin guessed that the wight would have instead been a mutation of a revenant, due to the monster¡¯s desire to get revenge against her husband. But the hostile behaviour seen today and the day of the bandit extermination made sense for a wight.
A thought ran through Merlin¡¯s mind, he was entertaining the possibility that the wight wasn¡¯t reanimated through her own will, but instead through a third party¡¯s use of ck magic and necromantic spells. This exnation solved the strange behaviour of the creature, as well as allowed the bartender¡¯s view of Evaline to stay true.
Merlin epted the quest, he had no reason not to. Plus one of the rewards promised an apology, and he was looking forward to it.
He grabbed thentern he stole from the Redmond mansion and made his way out of the building. He travelled towards the eastern gate, where the crowd had be evenrger as more town guard and mercenaries were pilling in. It seemed like a leader figure for the town guards was making a speech of some kind, and Merlin fortunately arrived at the end of it.
A few minutes after the man stopped speaking, the crowd started rushing out of the town and quickly spread out within the forest. The hundreds of torches andnterns lit up the forest, and everyone had some form of weapon drawn. The town guard were all equipped with either a spear or a standard iron short-sword and wooden shieldbo. While the mercenaries and yers had arge variety of weapons; hatchets, swords of varying sizes and styles, chain weapons, farming tools, and a familiar looking scythe.
It was only at this point did he realise that Typhoeus and Snowbunny were also participating in the ghost hunt. He hadn¡¯t seen or heard from either of them since the fight between LordKyle and Arwell Lychester.
Merlin approached his friends, and he was just about to surprise them when a loud bang rung out from within the forest, followed by a series of iprehensible shouting and screaming, it seemed contact had been made only a few minutes after the hunt had started. Everyone started running towards the noise, Merlin¡¯s friends included. From a distance all Merlin could see was hundreds of small fireballs closing in on a single point.
The wind began picking up once more, and a strong gust of wind ripped through the forest, extinguishing arge portion of the fireballs that Merlin could see. What remained were mostly justnterns, but there were some people who protected their torches.
Merlin started running towards the position of the noise with his de drawn. The forest was sparse this close to the town, but it grew denser as he traversed further in. Eventually he reached arge group and could now clearly hear the sounds of battle nearby.
Slipping through a section of dense foliage, Merlin saw a small group of mercenaries hacking away at a pair of thorn covered tentacles that were weaving between the trees and lunging at their blind spots. The mercenaries appeared to be in good condition, a few scratches but nothing serious.
Tracing the origin of the tentacle, Merlin found that the rose wight was a little further into the forest, and was currently holding several groups back with just a few tentacles utilising hit-and-run tactics.
Merlin made his way to the main body, which turned to face him as he approached. He pulled a single vial of holy water out of his inventory and poured a small amount on his dius, allowing it to barely coat his de.
"Unfortunately I cant have you destroying the expedition force while I purify your remains, so I¡¯m going to have to deal with this body first." Merlin pointed his de towards the rose wight. A few remaining droplets formed near the tip of the de. "I¡¯d appreciate it if you just stood still and let me exorcise you."
The wight shrieked at the taunts, and one of its two unupied tentacles lunged towards Merlin. When he dodged it with rtive ease, the tentacle wrapped around a tree and lunged at him again, this time from behind.
Had Merlin not expected something like this from seeing the tentacles doing the exact same thing against the mercenaries, he would have probably received a fatal injury, but fortunately he reacted in time. Merlin stepped aside, allowing the tentacle to fly past him, before he cleaved his dius into the tentacle. Where he previously encountered resistance, like trying to cut through a rock with a steak knife, his de now slid in with ease, it seemed coating his de in holy water was extremely effective when it came to fighting this monster.
Applying additional force was all it took for Merlin¡¯s de to cleave right through the tentacle. The rest of the tentacle dropped to the forest floor, and the tentacle itself gushed out a tar-like ck liquid, it appeared to be the creature¡¯s blood or perhaps some kind of sap.
Chapter 64: The Ghost Hunt - III
The rose wight shrieked in what Merlin could only assume was pain. It pulled the sliced tentacle away from Merlin¡¯s reach and buried it into the ground behind it. Several of the tentacles that were distracting other groups were now starting to get reeled back in. Loud scratching noises could be heard from the surroundings as the thorned tentacles scraped against and tore up the surrounding vegetation.
Not wanting to lose his current momentum, Merlin rushed forward and sliced at the wight. The spare tentacle was thrust in his way, but this time Merlin¡¯s de didn¡¯t cleave through it.
The rose wight whipped Merlin away, forcing him to take a few steps back or risk tripping over, and two more tentacles had finally returned to defend her.
Wondering why he couldn¡¯t slice it, Merlin took a look at his de, the holy water coating waspletely gone after only one strike. Fortunately he only used a small amount each time he coated his de, so the vial still had enough for maybe three or four more coats, depending on how much he poured.
Merlin sshed his de with another coat of holy water, he was awkwardly holding the open vial in the same hand as thentern, so his current grip was rather ufortable. It was also the arm that had his shield strapped to it, weighing him down further and making any detailed movements like pouring exact amounts cumbersome. He ced his thumb over the vial¡¯s opening as he rushed in for another attack, making sure that the contents didn¡¯t spill out and get wasted if he iled his arms around.
Two thorned tentacles went to counter his strike this time around. His de cleaved cleanly through the first, but it barely left a mark in the second. Instead of pushing him away this time around, the tendril that had been cut lunged itself at Merlin¡¯sntern in an attempt to shatter his light source, while the one that was still intact attempted to pierce through his chest.
Merlin barely parried the intact tendril away, but the other one had sessfully destroyed thentern. Merlin jumped backwards while throwing thentern away, getting enough distance away from the rose wight, he began chanting while pouring the remainder of the holy water on his de.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
As soon as the spell triggered, Merlin touched his sword, causing it to suddenly emit a faint glow that illuminated the nearby forest around him with the five meters around his de being the brightest.
"Good luck extinguishing this one." Merlin taunted as he threw the empty vial into his storage before pulling another vial out, getting it ready for his next attack. Before charging at the wight again, he filled his mouth with almost a third of the holy water before cing his thumb over the vial once more.
He knew the rose wight hated fire, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it hated light in general. Most wights did, but this one was a mutation with the theme of roses, for all he knew it could work against him. This was the first time he had seen such a creature, so he wasn¡¯t well versed in its weaknesses, but he did know of simr creatures. Both undead that had a merged with nts, forming some kind of symbiotic rtionship with them, and undead that had been created and/or controlled by parasitic nts, usually some kind of magical or demonic fungus.
Merlin rushed forward once more, but instead of blocking his next attack and risking more damage, the rose wight swiped at Merlin¡¯s feet with one of the remaining tentacles, hoping to trip him up. Merlin saw the attacking and leapt over it, using it as a springboard to get a little boost of height, allowing him to add extra momentum from his fall as he shed down at the creature.
With only two undamaged tentacles in the fight currently, the rose wight instead chose to sacrifice one that had already been wounded, Merlin cleaved through the tentacle, his de was now caked up with the ck tar-like substance the creature had in ce of blood. Unfortunately his de failed to reach the wight, but Merlin had already nned for this, and upon getting a good angle, released the contents of his mouth in a fine mist, directly at the wight¡¯s face.
The wight shrieked in pain as its face began bubbling and sizzling, trails of smokeing off of its now boil covered face. Its tendrils began iling around, sending Merlin flying into the treeline.
Merlin slid along the forest floor, his clothes being progressively more stained by the slightly damp dirt and dposing leaves. He stood back up and spat the remaining holy water out of his mouth, his face began cringing at the taste. A light metal tang remained on his tongue, which he struggled to scrape away at with his teeth.
He began chanting as he ran towards where he was just fighting. He could see various individuals peeking their heads out from around the trees. They had finally caught up after being held back by the tentacles for so long, and were given the position of the monster by its angered iling.
¡¸Skill ?Cleanse? Activated.¡¹
The filth sticking to Merlin¡¯s de and back was stripped away, floating into the air before vanishing into nothing. He pulled his goblin dagger out of his inventory and coated it with holy water before using the remainder of the vial to coat the dius, he threw the empty vial of holy water in his inventory and held the dagger in his offhand before approaching the rose wight once more.
The monster was still iling around in pain, its tentacles were snapping small trees on impact, sending them flying. A few bystanders were almost hit by a flying log, and they took that as their hint to stand behind cover. A tentacle swiped at Merlin¡¯s face as he approached, which he barely ducked in time, his back was still scratched by a sharp thorn, but it wasn¡¯t as bad as it could have been.
Merlin closed the distance while chanting the words "heavy strike", barely avoiding yet another random sweep from a second tentacle.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin made the motion of shing at the wight once more, and as he expected, a tentacle attempted to sweep him away. This time however, Merlin intentionally wanted to bait the tentacle out. Instead of continuing the swing of his de, which would have collided with the tentacle, cleaving it in half, he pulled his de back and threw his dagger at the wight instead.
The dagger flew straight towards the wight¡¯s chest, but its path was ultimately blocked by a tentacle. The dagger¡¯s de sunk into the tentacle like it wasn¡¯t even there, stopping as it reached the hilt. While the tentacle was distracted, Merlin swung his de at the wight once more, he didn¡¯t hear a jingle from his skill being used yet, but it yed as soon as his dius pierced the wight¡¯s neck.
Merlin¡¯s de sliced through the creature¡¯s neck, continuing on down its torso, only stopping once it had sessfully cleaved the wight¡¯s left arm and leg off.
"Interesting, a thrown dagger doesn¡¯t trigger heavy strike." Merlin mumbled out loud as he pulled another vial of holy water out of his inventory, coating his de once more.
The wight attempted to w at Merlin with her remaining arm, but that too was neatly cleaved off moments after.
"This just goes to show how easybat can be when someonees prepared." Merlin taunted the creature, coating his weapon before sshing the remainder on the wight¡¯s iing tentacle, causing it to essentially melt before reaching him. "And to think you were once a threat."
A single swipe was all it took for the wight¡¯s head to be sent flying, and the creature was finally dead, or so the observers thought. Merlin however knew that this body wasn¡¯t all of it, and if he wanted the creature¡¯s death to be permanent, he had to purify it at the source.
So amongst the cheering and shouts of victory from the expedition members, Merlin pulled his dagger out of the tentacle now motionless on the floor and marched in the direction of the gravestone.
It took a few minutes, but he was now near to where it all started. It was at this moment when the wind picked up, carrying the scent of roses that Merlin¡¯s body had now started attributing to danger.
He now stood a few steps away from a small clearing in the middle of the forest. Under a dim moonlight, illuminated by nothing more than Merlin¡¯s glowing sword, stood a single monolith headstone that appeared to be in rtively good condition, although there were signs of wear from the elements and overgrowth. The words written on the headstone were nothing more than a strange foreign text, written in anguage Merlin was yet to acquire the knowledge of.
A withered bundle of roses was resting in front of the headstone. Merlin kicked the roses aside and began digging up the soil with his dagger where they once were. Fortunately it didn¡¯t take too long for Merlin to find anything, but instead of a skeleton, all Merlin found was a drawstring bag covered in runes.
Chapter 65: The Rose Wight
Opening the bag, Merlin found a couple bones and a strange crystal talisman that gave off a sickly green glow. This confirmed his theory in his mind, the rose wight was created through necromantic magic, meaning there was a culprit, but he was yet to find the reason why she was killed, or how turning her into a wight fulfilled their goals.
He pulled a sk ofntern oil out of his inventory and poured the entire sk inside the bag. He then grabbed the small bag of blessed salts he previously purchased from the temple in Macedonia, emptying its contents inside the drawstring bag as well.
Upon the blessed salts making contact with the remains, ck smoke began rising out of the bag, and an eerie scream echoed around him.
Ignoring the scream, Merlin began chanting while pointing at the bag.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Small embers started appearing on the bag, which quickly erupted into arge fireball as thentern oil caught fire. The eerie screams became much louder, and the pitch raised into an almost ear-piercing whistle before bingpletely quiet only moments after.
In the smouldering remains of the rune-covered drawstring bag was the talisman, seemingly undamaged by the fire, and a glowing green ball of light.
Merlin¡¯s eyes widened as he saw the green light, it was a monster¡¯s soul. Without hesitation, he reached his hand out and grabbed the soul, causing a notification window to appear before him.
¡¸You have empty soul slots, would you like to absorb, "¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Rose Wight (Level 1)"?¡¹
Merlin epted the prompt, and the green ball of light was absorbed into his body. Moments after an information window appeared, showcasing the soul¡¯s stats and skills.
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¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Rose Wight ? Level 1
Bonus Stats: +7 Constitution
Abilities: ?Rose Blight?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +12% Status Resistance, ?Thorn Vine?
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Merlin admired the information window for a moment, he didn¡¯t expect it to be a two star race soul, not this early into the game anyway, but that didn¡¯t matter too much as he acquired it from a lower level creature.
Stars weren¡¯t typically an indication of power, they were more there to make it feel special, or as an indication of rarity. But coincidentally higher star souls usually had better stats and abilities than lower ranked souls, although this wasn¡¯t always the case.
In the case of race souls, souls that had more stars were either due to the creature being a rarer creature, a higher species of creature, or in the case of the rose wight, a rare mutation of a creature. This wasn¡¯t an indication of power, as the soul¡¯s strength varied based on the type of creature, as well as the creature¡¯s level you received the soul from.
As such a level four hundred dragon¡¯s soul would be vastly superior to a level three goblin¡¯s soul. And a level four hundred goblin¡¯s soul would also be much stronger than the soul acquired from a level three goblin.
For ss and job souls however, higher star souls were generally given by quests with a high rarity, but they could also be levelled up and evolved by various means, the mostmon being ss questlines provided by the various guilds and colleges.
But the mostmon way to acquire superior souls, which was an essential part of being a ranker, was by utilising the soul forge and the soul merging feature it provided. The soul forge allowed you to forge two or morepatible souls together to create a new soul that typically contained traces of each soul. The output was usually a higher ss of soul, or at the very least had more potential than its parent souls.
Merlin decided to take a look at his soul¡¯s abilities, unfortunately he couldn¡¯t utilise the thorn vine skill due to his origin soul being taken by the fighter soul, but this didn¡¯t stop him from reading the skill.
The first ability he checked was the core ability of the ss, one he¡¯d be able to use regardless of the soul¡¯s origin status.
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?Rose Blight?
You have be immune to rose poison, but your blood is now poisonous.
? You can imbue your attacks with rose poison.
? This poison has a 10% chance to reduce the target¡¯s stats by 5%, this does not stack.
? Can be used to amplify certain skills or coat any physical weapons.
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Merlin read the ability out, it seemed a little weak at first, but five percent was incredibly useful when versing higher levelled opponents. The ten percent chance seemed a little low at first, but Merlin knew it would raise rtively quickly when he started levelling the soul up.
He then looked at the next ability, which appeared to be more of an active ability than the rose blight, which was more passive, only really changing his blood into a toxin and giving him an immunity to it.
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?Thorn Vine?
You now have a telepathic link with the seedlings that are growing in your body, allowing you to manipte them as if they were your own limbs.
? Allows you to manipte up to 2 thorn-covered vines.
? The vines can be used to attack, and have a 10% chance of triggering the effects of ?Rose Blight? on a sessful hit.
? Can be summoned and retracted from any part of your body at will.
? If one is severely damaged, it will automatically retract and cannot be used again until it has recovered.
? 30 second recovery time.
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It was a strange ability at first nce, but he realised that it was simr to souls that just added other body parts, these ones were just retractable. Merlin had yed around with these types of souls in the past, just out of curiosity, but he never really bothered trying to make them work with his ystyle.
The most popr souls that added body parts were ones that added wings, some rankers began using them as they believed that aerial superiority gave them an edge. There were also those that added tails and fluffy ears that were popr with the more casual yerbase, but also a few rankers, such as Snowbunny. There were plenty of others, but most weren¡¯t viable for ranked y, the yers who did use them were doing it out of personal enjoyment or as a joke.
One of the least extreme examples of such were souls that added two additional arms, which was used by those who thought wielding four swords at once was a good idea. But the most extreme example he could remember was a high ranking centaur¡¯s soul that a streamer started using as a joke, causing him to explode in poprity. It made him much worse as a yer as his entire lower half was reced by a horse¡¯s body, but he became one of the most popr streamers in the game.
Humans only had four limbs, so utilising wings or in Merlin¡¯s case, tentacle-like vines, would require a lot of practice, but Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to swap out his current origin soul for it. If he did, he would lose one strength, two agility and the sucker-punch skill. But the twelve percent increase to status resistance almost made it worth it alone. He was torn, but decided that he¡¯d try out the new skill outter to see if he liked it enough to swap.
With that issue out of the way, he swiped all the windows away before chanting amand, "Open stats."
An information window appeared before him, showcasing his current stats.
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? Vitality = 5 (+4 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 11 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +7 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 13 (+4 Base, +2 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 10 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +2 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Agility = 7 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +3 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 4 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 5 (+4 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Charisma = 5 (+4 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +1 Bonus)
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Merlin seemed pleased as he nced over his stats. Constitution, which was once tied with intelligence as his lowest stat, was now raised to his second highest. Constitution governed over his defence and status resistance, two attributes that would assist in Merlin¡¯s survivability, especially when he met creatures that posed a threat to him.
Putting his new soul aside for a moment, Merlin swiped the information windows away once more before ncing at the talisman that wasying within the burnt remains. When Merlin walked over and picked the talisman up, he found that it was considered an item by the system, meaning he could store it in his inventory.
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[Purified Soul Sealing Talisman. (Umon)]
A crystal talisman, attached to a silver chain ne.
? Was used as the catalyst in a necromantic ritual, it has since been purified.
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It didn¡¯t seem like the talisman was useful for anything, but Merlin decided to keep it stored away in his inventory for now. There was always the option of selling it, but he may find a use for it in the future.
Chapter 66: The Ghost
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Evaline¡¯s Exorcism", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
As soon as the talisman was stored away, Merlin received a notification that he hadpleted the quest, and at that moment he knew he was finally free. The stress of being hunted was no longer weighing him down, and only now did he realise that his cursed purple arm was clearing up quickly, returning to the pale skin he had chosen during his character creation.
His sword began flickering, and momentster the light faded away, leaving Merlin in the middle of the forest without any form of vision. The only thing he could see was the faint orange light of what he could only assume werenterns in the distance, but those too were slowly moving away from him in the direction of the town.
Not wanting to remain in the dark for much longer, he began chanting out the light skill once more.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
Instead of touching his de like before, Merlin allowed the light to form in his hand. The traces of light slowly coalesced into a small ball, roughly the size of a billiards ball, before it left Merlin¡¯s hand and began floating around him.
Merlin started walking towards the town, although he still had his weapon drawn and his guard up. A murderous undead wasn¡¯t the only threat in the forest after all, wolves were also present. And there was always a threat of bandits, even if thest group was exterminated, it was highly likely that another bandit group would fill in where they left off after iming their territory.
Eventually Merlin had made it back to town, his return trip ultimately being uneventful. There were a few more guards on the eastern gate than usual, and Merlin saw a pair of familiar faces. The two guards he had interacted with on multiple asions at this point were both there, uninjured. Merlin was relieved that neither of them had a shift on the day the wight attacked, because he was aware of what happened to the guards who were.
Not even the chattier of the two spoke up as Merlin passed, all of the guards held a sombre expression, and as Merlin entered the town, he felt that the usual lively nightlife the town had was reced with a dreary atmosphere. Merlin began walking towards the mercenary guild, passing by all of the people who were huddled around while mourning their losses.
Merlin eventually made it to the mercenaries guild, but from outside the door, he couldn¡¯t hear any noise. The usual rowdy atmosphere, or even the aggressive yelling he heard before leaving, wasn¡¯t there, it was just silent. As Merlin entered the building, like always, all the eyes in the room fell on him, but this time they weren¡¯t eyes tainted with fear, disgust, hatred or envy, but were instead just curious gazes.
Merlin ignored the gazes as usual, and walked towards the counter, greeting the bartender as he sat down.
"I see that arm of yours has cleared up, looks like it really was a curse." The bartender spoke while pouring himself a drink. "I also heard that you took the monster down by yourself... Where everyone else struggled to make a dent, you sliced through it with ease."
The bartender downed the ss in a single gulp before continuing. "You helped her pass on. Thank you."
Upon hearing those words, he received a notification, and when he checked his character profile, he noticed that arge chunk of his experience bar had filled up.
¡¸You have earned +20 reputation within the Orchomenus Mercenary Guild.¡¹
"Thank you... And sorry." The bartender lowered his head. "Even though you were sent on a task by us to subjugate bandits, you were suddenly treated like a monster through nothing but rumour, and we now know that isn¡¯t the case."
"I know this wont make up for the nder you¡¯ve experienced, but we apologise." The bartender raised his ss, "This is a littlete, and not the best atmosphere to be doing this, but your wee is long overdue."
"Wee our brother in arms..." The bartender paused mid speech for a second, only realising now that he didn¡¯t know Merlin¡¯s name, but before he could awkwardly ask, his speech was overshadowed by the collective chant of everyone else in the room.
"Ghost!" In a simr turn of events to the thieves guild, the nickname that was forced upon him was used instead, something about it appealed torge groups of drunkards. And it seemed his reputation, even if it was nder, had been spread using the moniker instead of his name, alongside a description of his appearance.
"What did I say about giving me strange nickna--" Merlin¡¯sints were cut short when he received another notification.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "The Ghost".¡¹
The notification left him speechless for a moment. His greatest fear hade to pass, the moniker that was forced upon him had been recognised by the system.
Merlin inspected his title¡¯s information window, hoping that he at least acquire decent stats for his humiliation.
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[The Ghost.]
Rumours about you have spread amongst the mercenary and thieves guilds, and certain figures within the criminal underworld have started to hear your name.
? May buff your diplomacy, deception, intimidation or coercion attributes when speaking with those who know of your reputation.
? This title¡¯s effects will grow alongside your reputation.
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It was simr to a typical reputation-based title, although Merlin¡¯s title had a darker theme added to it due to the rumours being spread about him and his ties to the underworld.
Reputation titles were a type of growth title, but they were a little different to the usual growth type titles most yers were used to.
There were a handful of titles that yers considered growth types, and some users found it a little confusing at first, but it wasn¡¯t that difficult to wrap your head around after it was exined by someone.
The mostmon growth type titles were nicknamed evolution types by yers, seeing as it shared a simr gimmick with most job souls, as such every rank up was given a title that showed the yer they had achieved another level of proficiency.
Skill ranks were essentially just a tier system that used words instead of numbers to show that a yer had progressed in some aspect, it usually consisted of ten ranks, the names of which progressed as follows; Beginner, Novice, Amateur, Adept, Professional, Expert, Superior, Master, Legendary and Transcendent.
For job souls however, they utilised skill ranks to showcase what stage of the soul¡¯s evolution you were at, instead of just the level of the soul. Job souls that utilised the system started you off as a beginner version of the soul, and allowed you to evolve a total of nine times up to the transcendent rank.
Once a yer reached the max level of a job soul, they could level it once more to evolve it and increase its rank, which was essentially a prestige system that buffed their job soul. The effects of the evolution differed from soul to soul, but the mostmon changes was that they had ess to more powerful materials and recipes, or in some cases earned new abilities or tools.
A beginner miner for example wouldn¡¯t be capable of mining rare ores in a high level area, and an adept cksmith may have issues with forging higher tier materials, but a transcendent alchemist would not have any form of restriction within their craft.
Merlin smiled as the mercenary guild began getting rowdy once more. It felt wrong to him that the ce was dead quiet earlier. Unfortunately there were a few mercenaries lost in the rose wight attack, but everyone currently seemed to be mourning in their own way, which for the most part involved the consumption of too much alcohol.
After a little while, Merlin made his way out of the building to clear his head, the scent of tobo smoke and alcohol was starting to give him a headache. When he left the building and began walking around, he noticed that a group of people had begun crowding, and when he moved in closer he saw that they were crowding around a familiar looking man who was standing on a makeshift podium.
As he approached, he received the usual notification.
¡¸Eliminate Arwell Lychester.¡¹
"...And for ourmunity, for our families... We must all stand strong together during these tough times." Merlin walked closer, joining inte to what was Arwell Lychester giving the crowd a lecture on grief from atop his wooden crate podium. "I have experienced so much loss in my life, my own son was taken from this world at such a young age, so I know it wont be easy."
Merlin¡¯s fists tightened as he began talking about his own losses in the family in the most hypocritical way, obviously not including the fact he had signed an assassination contract for his own son.
Chapter 67: The Soul Forge
"That is why, as of tomorrow morning, I will be closing my doors for a few weeks." Arwell Lychester dered, "I feel it is my duty as a father to spend time with my daughter, as should you all spend time with your families. I will keep my store open for the night, bute morning and you will find the store closed."
Merlin realised what the slimy individual was trying to do. Although he was just one of many stores that provided goods in town, he had the most variety when it came to his stock, and also generally held a monopoly on some of the more obscure items and parts that nobody really thought of until they needed it. He was making an attempt to harvest as much coin as he could while everyone was in a bad state of mind, before running away to safety.
Merlin checked his own inventory, and figured he wasn¡¯t really aching for any items at the moment, rather he had a few itemsying around he didn¡¯t think he would even use anymore, such as the remaining ball bearings and his sling.
Merlin walked passed Lychester while thinking that he would probably have a better chance of killing him as soon as he left the safety of town in the morning, which was in about four or so hours based on the position of the moon.
It was at this moment that he saw a very familiar individual angrily stomping down the street, making his way towards the eastern gate with a handful of followers. It seemed LordKyle was finally released from jail after being locked up for a couple hours.
Merlin waited and watched as the yer started being disrespectful towards the guards standing in the eastern gate instead of asking them to move aside nicely, making the already unhappy guards even more annoyed at his behaviour.
Merlin smirked to himself as he made his way towards the soul forge near the business area of town. Much like the one in Lycoa, it had the appearance of a cksmith¡¯s workshop from the outside, although this one fit in more with the town¡¯s overall theme.
As he entered the building, it also reflected a simr structure to the other soul force, namely massive obsidian obelisk in the middle of the workshop, as well as a couple other stations for crafting or soul maniption.
Merlin walked over to an NPCs who was idling away at the counter. "Hello, I¡¯d like to use your soul forge."
"Of course, we¡¯ve got a couple at the back there, just to your right, feel free to use them at any time." The NPC directed Merlin to a simr looking gold encrusted pedestal that featured a t te on top of it. "You cane to me if you need any help!"
Merlin thanked the NPC and walked over to one of the soul forge stations. The soul forge in Lycoa only had a single forge, but this building had four, and cities orrger towns typically had a lot more. As Merlin rest his hand on the tablet, a window appeared before him, showing him the various options of the forge that he could utilise.
There was the option to modify his soul vessel, a feature he had already utilised back in Lycoa, and didn¡¯t imagine using for at least a little while longer, especially because he had just acquired his third soul.
Another option of the forge was essing his soul receptacle, his global soul storage. When you collected souls, that you couldn¡¯t absorb, or that you refused to absorb, you could bring it to a soul receptacle to store away. There was also the option to extract a soul from the soul receptacle, but this was most often used for trading or selling souls. One thing to note was that you couldn¡¯t trade or sell a soul that you had already absorbed, as they were already attuned to you, simr to bind on equip weapons that you found in other games.
There was also the option to swap your absorbed souls around, allowing you to swap which one was considered the origin soul, or trading souls with your soul receptacle. It was possible to store all your absorbed souls in the soul receptacle, leaving all your slots empty, but it was generally pointless to do so.
Another option, one of the most important ones, was the option to forge souls together. This had a few uses, but the mostmon one was forging two different souls together to get a new soul. There were a few restrictions for this, with the most important one being that the soul had to be at least level five to be used in upgrades, which depending on the soul, could be a little time consuming to achieve, as each soul had different methods of acquiring experience. When forging two souls together, neither of the parent souls were consumed, rather only a small percentage of the experience bar for each was used in the new soul¡¯s creation.
Another use of forging souls together was instead forging two of the same souls together, causing the highest traits of each soul to take over, including the soul¡¯s experience and level. Unlike forging two different souls, both parent souls were destroyed in the making of the new soul, and there was no level requirement on either soul.
This was useful for example when you acquired a soul from a level three monster at an early stage in the game, and then had spent weeks levelling it up, only to find a monster soul from a level forty monster of the same type.
The level forty monster¡¯s soul would have higher base stats, but would start at level one. You wouldn¡¯t want to waste your time levelling the new monster soul up. So instead of grinding the soul out, you could instead merge both souls, grabbing the experience points from the soul you had been using all this time, alongside the stats of the stronger soul, to create a much more powerful soul.
There were a few other options of the soul forge Merlin didn¡¯t need to bother with just yet, one of them being the option to forge souls into items. It was a process simr to enchantment in a sense, but depending on the soul provided, and quality of the materials, you could possibly forge active or passive abilities into tools, equipment and weapons, allowing you to utilise the power of souls without having to waste a soul slot.
Merlin picked the option to move around his souls, when the window opened, it showcased that he didn¡¯t have any souls stored in his soul receptacle, so he instead focused on the window that showed his absorbed souls.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Origin Soul: Fighter
Soul Slots: 3
1: ss Soul: Fighter
2: ss Soul: Thief
3: ¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Rose Wight
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Merlin chose the rose wight soul and swapped its position with the fighter soul, effectively setting his rose wight soul as his origin. He then backed out of the window, receiving a prompt asking him if he would like to confirm his changes, which he epted.
When the window closed, Merlin stepped away from the forge and made his way out of the building, waving goodbye to the NPC before he stepped out.
Now back out on the street, Merlin made his way towards the the northern gate. It wasn¡¯t as heavily guarded as the eastern gate currently was, and Merlin managed to leave the town without any issues.
He currently had a few hours to spare, so he wanted to try y with the thorn vine skill while making a n to finallyplete his promise. As soon as he left the town guard¡¯s sight, he summoned a ball of light and then made his way into the forest. Moving in deeper towards the bandit camp, he kept his eyes open for any enemies that came out at night, namely wolves and goblins in this area.
He soon found a small clearing in the forest, there seemed to be a small abandoned camp directly in the middle, consisting of a couple makeshift tents and a campfire between them. Merlin decided that this would do as a ce to camp out for a while, there weren¡¯t any goblins around, but if he stuck around there was a chance some would appear. He sat down on arge rock and cast ignite on the campfire, a few embers appeared, which quickly spread to the dry leaves and twigs that were already present in the campfire.
Merlin remembered a couple friends mention that the initial part of learning to control a new limb was envisioning it moving as you wanted, and overtime you would develop the ability to control it instinctively. Merlin generally got the idea when it came to limbs such as tails or wings, but this was something that he could supposedly summon anywhere on his body.
Chapter 68: Learning the Ropes
A telepathic link with the seedlings that are growing inside his body, and the ability to manipte them as if they were his own limbs. That was what the vour text of the skill stated, he previously thought it was an active ability that replicated other passive abilities just from the skill description alone, but nothing happened when he chanted the skill name, meaning the ability was actually passive.
He thought back to how the rose wight fought, and how it typically had the tentaclesing from its back, and how the vines could be freely retracted and extended at will. Perhaps it was a morbid way to look at it, but he began envisioning the vine as if it were chains or rope wrapped around a spool, but in this case the spool would have been the rose wight¡¯s spine.
The envisioning part didn¡¯t really matter as long as the general idea was tranted well enough. In the case of tails, it didn¡¯t matter if you thought of a dog¡¯s tail or a cat¡¯s tail as long as they functioned the same way. But tails that didn¡¯t move in a simr way or had other functions, such as a fish or scorpion¡¯s tail, probably wouldn¡¯t work.
He held his arm out in front of him and focused all his attention on the palm of his hand. He tried thinking of a chain extending out of his palm, but after a few attempts nothing happened. His next thought was to specifically focus on the vine running under his skin, escaping through his palm, but that didn¡¯t work either.
Unlike wings or a tail, where he had a proper reference of how they worked, the idea of vines capable of moving at will just didn¡¯t click. Chains, rope or vines weren¡¯t capable of slithering through the air, they were subject to gravity and didn¡¯t even have their own method of movement. Even if it did work, he would have been utilising them as whips rather than the way the rose wight was, like tentacles, or even as serpents.
Then it clicked, but before he could test his new theory, he heard footstepsing from the forest area in front of him. As he prepared for an attack, he heard a faint creaking noise, followed by the sound of something whistling as it flew through the air. Merlin quickly leapt from his rock and rolled into the forest dirt as a shoddy arrow shattered upon impact with the rock he was previously sitting on.
Two goblins ran out from the treeline, one carrying a club and the other carrying a rusty hatchet, neither of which were carrying a bow, which meant there were at least three goblins to fight.
Merlin drew his sword and began swinging as the hatchet goblin ran towards him with its weapon raised above its head. Before the hatchet and Merlin¡¯s sword made contact, an arrow flew directly towards Merlin¡¯s face, which was swiftly blocked by his shield.
The club goblin seemed to be trying to nk, approaching Merlin¡¯s blind spot as the hatchet and dius made contact, causing sparks to fly off and the goblin to be staggered back a step. And as Merlin was preparing himself for his next swing, the club goblin made his move, running towards him with its club raised, but Merlin merely stepped to the side, causing the goblin to miss.
¡¯It¡¯s just a few goblins, I should get some practice.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, now staring at the club goblin. Yet another arrow flew past, but Merlin moved his head instead of blocking it with his shield, he didn¡¯t want to waste its durability.
Merlin held his shield hand out in front of him, and while parrying the hatchet goblin¡¯s next strike, imagined a snake crawling out of his palm instead. And much to his surprise, a small rose bud formed in the palm of his hand. He couldn¡¯t feel it pierce his skin, and there wasn¡¯t any feeling of movement under his skin, it didn¡¯t even feel like it was attached to his body, but he could still tell that it was there. It was a strange sensation that he couldn¡¯t really describe properly, but it was sort of like moving your fingers while your arm was numb or under anaesthesia.
With his palm now facing the club goblin, he imagined that a snake slithered out of his hand and struck the goblin. It didn¡¯t move at first, because he envisioned that the snake lunged at the goblin and sunk its fangs into it. He instead tried thinking of the snake constricting around the goblin¡¯s neck, to which the bud suddenly lunged at the goblin, a long rope of thorn-covered vines following it, which then wrapped around the club goblin¡¯s neck.
"You¡¯re really picky, huh." Merlin mumbled to himself as he watched the club goblin struggle against the vine. He decided that maybe thinking of it more like a tentacle and less of a snake would be easier for him to imagine.
The club goblin tugging on the vine caused Merlin¡¯s arm to jerk towards it instead of more vinesing out. Merlin found this interesting, even though it was extendable and retractable at will, only Merlin could adjust its length. Not only that, even though it magically appeared somewhere on his body, he was still considered attached to it, so stronger enemies would be able to whip him around.
Another arrow was notched and fired from the exact same location as the other arrows, instead of dodging this one, Merlin imagined the snake dragging the club goblin into its line of fire. The vine viciously whipped around, causing the goblin to frantically stumble in the direction the vine pulled it in. A secondter, the goblin let out a pained scream as an arrow pierced its back. Merlin retracted the vine back into its body before turning his attention back to the hatchet goblin.
Merlin lifted his shield in the way of the hatchet goblin¡¯s next strike and then thrust his sword into its exposed chest. The oily ck blood began sticking to his de, two more strikes at the goblin¡¯s neck was all it took for the creature to fall to the ground.
"Honestly, it feels a little gimmicky." Merlin mumbled to himself as he walked towards the club goblin. He noticed that the archer goblin hade out of hiding and was now running towards him with a dagger drawn, but Merlin had finished off the club goblin before it got very far.
Merlin threw his blood-caked dius at thest goblin before charging towards it, now imagining a tentacle extending from his finger and driving itself through the goblin. And in a simr fashion to how the rose wight once did it, a vine extended from the tip of Merlin¡¯s finger and pierced the goblin¡¯s chest.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
Surprisingly, he received a notification that his passive triggered, and he could see that where the vine had struck the goblin, the surrounding skin had begun turning purple.
¡¯Ah, so that¡¯s what that was.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, it seemed rose poison was just sporotrichosis, or moremonly known as rose gardener¡¯s disease, but with a fantasy twist. Rose poison spread much faster and acted more like a curse than poison, or even what it really was in the real world, which was a fungal infection that was transmitted through cuts caused by rose thorns.
Merlin retracted the vine and began mming his shield against the goblin¡¯s face, while pinning its knife arm down. It took a couple strikes, but he eventually killed it. When he stood up, he noticed that none of the goblins dropped any loot, which left him slightly disappointed, but the goblin¡¯s bow seemed to be in an alright condition, and it was kind enough to leave a handful of arrows in the quiver, so he considered it a win.
Merlin robbed the goblin¡¯s corpse of the bow and quiver, they were temporary items but he had a use for them. He walked over and grabbed his sword before chanting and casting the cleanse spell.
¡¸Skill ?Cleanse? Activated.¡¹
The filth that was coating his body and his sword suddenly peeled off and began floating up for a few moments before vanishing, leaving both Merlin and his sword spotless.
"Such a convenient spell." Merlin said to himself as he grabbed the goblin¡¯s dagger and started using it to cut the ears off of all three goblins, throwing them in his inventory before throwing the useless dagger away. He grabbed the goblin¡¯s bow and quiver, alongside the club the other goblin used, and walked back towards his seat next to the campfire, which was now starting to die out.
Merlin threw the club into the campfire as fuel, ced the bow beside him and began ying with the vine once more. It seemed tentacle was the right idea, as they became much easier to control than trying to imagine a snake moving as he wanted.
Chapter 69: Preparing for the Assassination
After ying with the vine ability for roughly half an hour, Merlin found a few more limitations with it. The main limitation was that it could extend for a maximum distance of about ten meters, roughly the radius affected by the light spell.
The next limitation was that a tentacle seemed to roughly output as much strength as a single arm. So if Merlin couldn¡¯t physically lift an object with his arms, it was very unlikely that the vines would be able to either.
Although there were a few cases where this wasn¡¯t the case, as the vine was longer than his arm, in some instances he could utilise leverage to apply more force against something, like whipping a goblin¡¯s body around from a distance rather than trying to throw it around with just his arms.
One thing he took note of was that he couldn¡¯t seem to reach the limit in regards to the vine¡¯s tensile strength. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t figure out a way to tear through it with force alone, if something stronger pulled on it, he¡¯d be the one being dragged around instead.
And finally, the most interesting aspect in regards to the vine was that its ability to retract didn¡¯t care about the weight limit. If Merlin hooked his vine on a tree branch or solid surface and retracted his vine, it would drag him towards it like some form of grappling hook.
"It¡¯s gimmicky... It really is." Merlin mumbled to himself while looking up at the night sky to determine the time. "Looks like I¡¯ve got a couple hours left to n this out."
Merlin¡¯s light source had vanished a little while ago, and he was using the campfire to see, but that too was starting to die out. He began chanting, causing yet another small ball of light to appear and hover around him.
Merlin stood up and grabbed the goblin¡¯s bow and quiver, throwing them over his shoulder before making his way further into the forest. He took a look at his abilities and realised he hadn¡¯t taken a look at the thief ss¡¯s skills in this life, partially because of the situation he was in at the time, but also because out of every ss, he was the most familiar with this one.
Just making sure the skill hadn¡¯t changed for whatever reason, he quickly checked the skill info, pulling up an information window.
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?Sneak?
You focus on hiding your presence, improving your ability to blend into your surroundings.
? Removes all the aggro focused on you, prevents additional aggro for 1.5 seconds.
? Increases your stealth stat by 30% for 20 seconds.
? 60 second cooldown.
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It seemed to be exactly the same as he remembered, although he hadn¡¯t used this specific skill for quite some time as upgrades of the thief ss typically had improved versions of the skill, like ones that allowed the user to be invisible.
Merlin chanted the skill name, and shortly after he could feel his presence be somewhat blurrier.
¡¸Skill ?Sneak? Activated, stealth increased by 30% for 20 seconds.¡¹
Merlin made his way through the forest while making a slight attempt at hiding his presence alongside his sneak skill, although the ball of light was still clearly visible. Doing so, he sessfully snuck up on a squirrel before the sneak skill ran out, causing it to suddenly panic and dash away the second Merlin appeared in front of it. Merlin found it interesting that the squirrel didn¡¯t seem to care about the glowing ball of light, it stared at it for a brief moment before going about its day after realising it wasn¡¯t a threat.
Merlin continued on his way, trying to find the closest wolf spawning location to the road. It was at this moment when he picked up the scent of blood nearby. Merlin hid his presence naturally as he approached the source of the blood stench.
"Seriously, how many more wolves do I have to kill." He heard an obnoxiously whiny voice in the distance, the person was loud enough that they could be properly understood from at least thirty meters away. "What the hell is this stupid game, who cares about town reputation, just give me a damn quest."
As Merlin approached, he could see that the source of this whiny voice was none other than his favourite victim, LordKyle. It seemed that his behaviour in town, alongside getting arrested, had severely depleted the town¡¯s opinion of him to the point nobody was willing to associate with him.
A solution to regaining town reputation when it was too low to get quests was to reduce threats in the area, do odd jobs around town or improve his reputation through other means. Although simply killing monsters was the slowest method, LordKyle was too prideful to apologise or clean the town.
LordKyle was surrounded by his twockeys, the same two he had killed at the start of the bandit subjugation mission. Merlin wanted to mess with them, but it was highly unlikely that he¡¯d be hit by another rogue arrow, even with the slight aimbot given to it bybat assistance. Not that it mattered, as it didn¡¯t seem like any of them were using a bow this time around.
Merlin didn¡¯t really want to lose karma by starting the fight, as he was already going to take a major hit once he killed Arwell Lychester, but he wanted to mess with them a little.
Instead of just attacking them, giving himself the initial advantage but losing the karma, he decided to walk out into the open and taunt them into attacking instead. He made sure to drop his bow and quiver against a tree once he left the treeline, he didn¡¯t want to risk those being damaged just yet.
Two of the users were using rusted shortswords while LordKyle had a hatchet. All of their items seemed to be from goblins, meaning they were probably grinding goblins out for quite a while trying to regain their karma after killing all those yers in the beginner vige.
"Hey guys, what are you up to?" Merlin yelled out to them as he approached, a confident grin was stered on his face.
The trio turned to face Merlin after dealing with thest wolf, their faces all contorted with anger as they realised who it was.
"Oh hey, it¡¯s you guys." Merlin spoke out with a smug tone, it was pretty obvious that he knew who they were when he approached. "No hard feelings aboutst time. Remember, you guys attacked first."
"Oh yeah, I saw you got thrown in jail, how did that happen?" Merlin directed a question at LordKyle, who at this point looked about ready to pounce on him.
Merlin took a few steps closer, and the ball of light hovered in front of LordKyle¡¯s face, causing the bright white light to sting his eyes as they had adapted to dim lighting for however long. This seemed to cause him to snap, because he began shouting swears at Merlin while charging at him.
"I love stupid people." Merlin mocked as his shield made contact with LordKyle¡¯s hatchet.
¡¸You have been attacked by yer ¡¯LordKyle¡¯. Everyone within their party has been marked as an enemy, you may attack them without receiving penalties.¡¹
"Kill him!" LordKyle roared at his teammates before turning his attention back to Merlin.
The trio all used thebat assistance system, so their attack patterns were tantly obvious. Fortunately most yers hadn¡¯t even thought of abandoning thebat assistance system yet, so Merlin and his friends had an obvious advantage in the long run. Merlin easily parried each attack while taunting them.
"He¡¯s cheating!" One of them screeched after being parried for the fifth time. His pride wouldn¡¯t allow him to ept that he was being tormented like a helpless child.
He swung the dius towards the yer who called him a cheater, while simultaneously sending a vine to wrap around the hatchet and another vine to attack the third yer.
"What the hell is this." LordKyle screamed while trying to fight against Merlin¡¯s vine.
The yer received the first attack, which left a nasty cut on his upper torso, before receiving few more attacks in quick session. His health plummeted before he could voice any moreints.
The other yer had begun swinging his de towards Merlin¡¯s back, but was promptly stopped in ce as another vine slid out from Merlin¡¯s shirt and stabbed itself into the yer¡¯s shoulder.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"You know what, I take it back. This skill is kind of fun." Merlin teased as he turned to face LordKyle, who just managed to slide his axe handle out of the vine¡¯s grasp.
"Go to hell." He screamed as he attacked Merlin once more, but he began chanting a skill name as he swung the hatchet, "Heavy Strike!"
Merlin took a step back as the hatchet swung downwards, missing him and hitting the forest ground with enough force to send loose dirt flying everywhere.
Merlin took this chance to return the favour, chanting the same skill while swinging his de at LordKyle.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Chapter 70: The Eve of Arwell Lychesters Assassination
The de ripped through his shoulder, sending his hatchet, alongside the arm it was attached to, rolling away along the forest floor. Not giving the man any time to scream or retaliate, he dealt one more attack, which was enough to finish him off.
He then turned to thest yer, who was screaming in pain as he ripped the vine out of his shoulder. Merlin could see purple spots slowly form and spread up his neck. The man retaliated by slicing the vine with his sword, forcing it to quickly retract back into Merlin¡¯s body automatically.
"What the hell is that?" Thest yer shouted while clenching at the wound he just received. "How is that fair?"
Merlin¡¯s remaining vine was sent towards the man¡¯s other shoulder, but was forced to dodge as the man swung his sword at it. Although the tentacles were interesting to y with, they were incredibly weak against sharp objects, unlike the rose wight¡¯s tentacles which were seemingly indestructible without the use of holy water.
This weakness made them somewhat inconvenient to fight with, even those who usedbat assistance posed a threat to them at this level. Someone who was capable with a sword without the use ofbat assistance would probably never be hit by one of Merlin¡¯s vines, unless he was swarmed with multiple.
The man charged towards Merlin and began swinging at him without any care for self-preservation. Merlin parried him while watching the effects of the rose poison, and after a few minutes it didn¡¯t seem like it was spreading anymore, rather the purple was slowly fading away. It seemed the poison onlysted for about five minutes before the effect ran out.
Merlin parried one more strike and sent both vines into the man¡¯s legs, causing him to lose his bnce and fall to his knees.
"Thanks for being my test subject, you¡¯ve been a great help." Merlin mocked, to which he received nothing but cursing in response. Not wanting to waste his or the man¡¯s time any longer, he put him down quickly.
"So he received three strikes but didn¡¯t die, I guess it¡¯s more of a utility skill then, or maybe the damage just scales poorly." Merlin mumbled to himself while looking around the floor for loot, unfortunately none of the yers he just killed dropped any loot. "Why don¡¯t these guys ever drop loot. So stingy."
Merlin stood back up and made his way over to LordKyle¡¯s corpse, he used his dagger to cut a part of his tattered red cape and then grabbed the guy¡¯s hatchet off the ground, it was a temporary item but it didn¡¯t matter. He shoved the red cloth in his pocket and made his way over to where he left his bow.
After picking up his bow and quiver, he started walking towards the well-trodden path that connected the two settlements. He had found a ce where wolves spawn, and there was an easily traversable route between the wolf spawn location and the path, without much vegetation that would potentially slow him down.
Merlin stepped out of the treeline and onto the man-made path within the forest. He looked around the treeline for a tree that was long enough to block most of the road, but wasn¡¯t too thick that he couldn¡¯t cut it with the few hits the hatchet would give him.
Eventually he found one that matched his needs, not too far from where he stepped out of the forest. Merlin ced the bow and quiver down against another tree, and twirled the hatchet around as he approached the tree.
He began chanting the skill name of heavy strike before swinging the hatchet at the tree. Merlin could feel vibrations travelling up his arms, and the hit itself made a loud noise that echoed within the forest. The hatchet¡¯s head was wedged into the tree rather deep, but with a bit of struggling, Merlin freed it from the tree¡¯s grasp, leaving a single diagonal cut in the tree.
He waited for the skill¡¯s cooldown to end before repeating the process, this time swinging from below the previous cut to slice a wedge out of the tree. It didn¡¯t quite work, but over the span of a few minutes and a few more hits, the tree lost a lot of its foundation. Unfortunately before Merlin could give it thest few hits it needed, the hatchet shattered.
"I don¡¯t suppose a sword would work?" Merlin wondered out loud as he grabbed the bovine butcher from his inventory. He waited for the cooldown once more, and once it was back, he began chanting the skill as he swung the de at the tree.
With a loud bang, the de sunk into the tree, but nothing further happened. When Merlin attempted to retract the de, he found that it was well and truly stuck, so he recalled it back into his inventory.
"Maybe I should have grabbed a woodcutter¡¯s soul before this." Merlin sighed, he just stared at therge missing chunk near the tree¡¯s base. It looked as though the tree would fall if it received enough force pulling at it, the weight of the tree would cause the rest of it to just snap off.
An idea popped into Merlin¡¯s head, and he decided to give it a try, he wasn¡¯t confident in finding another axe in time. Merlin walked out onto the path and pointed both hands towards the tree. A vine extended out of each hand towards the tree, wrapping tightly as high as they could reach.
Starting off slowly, he began repeatedly applying force before taking it away, effectively rocking the tree back and forth. Merlin could hear the wood creak, and a few small cracking sounds every time he applied force. The rocking became stronger and faster, the leaves on the trees were loudly rustling, and eventually a series of loud cracking sounds could be heard.
Taking that as his cue to finish, Merlin put all his strength into one final pull, causing the tree¡¯s foundation to spray bark everywhere as the tree began falling directly towards Merlin, who barely rolled out of the way in time.
As the tree fell, it kicked up a cloud of dust and sent yet another loud noise echoing through the forest. It was very likely that people would had heard the noises, but even after a half an hour passed, nobody bothereding to check. Merlin hooked the tattered red cape on the fallen tree before picking up his bow and walking back into the forest.
He began patrolling between the wolves spawn and the treeline near the eastern gate. All the wolves had respawned and were staying around the one location, it wouldn¡¯t be very difficult for him to attract the attention of all of them within seconds, so that part of the n was sorted.
After a few hours, the sun had risen, and there was movement at the eastern gate. A wagon pulled by two horses, and surrounded by what looked to be four private guards, were now talking with the town guards who were on duty at the gate. Merlin got a good look at the man sitting on the wagon, and as if confirming the man¡¯s identity, he received a the same notification as always.
¡¸Eliminate Arwell Lychester.¡¹
It was time, everything was going as nned. This would be thest time he received this notification.
Merlin dashed through the forest with an excited smile on his face. His heart was beating so fast he could hear it. Assassination was amon quest you received when sticking with stealth-based sses, but Merlin¡¯s heart always beat with excitement moments before hepleted the task. It wasn¡¯t only excitement, but anxiety too.
What if the n failed, what would his backup n be? Would he abandon the quest due to the difficulty? What if the guards saw him? Would he run in there and kill the man himself? Would he kill all the witnesses? What if the guards were too strong?
Questions ran through Merlin¡¯s mind, but he knew he had to stay focused on the n he made. It took him a few minutes to reach the wolf spawn location, everything looked fine so far. If the wagon had started moving a little while after Merlin left, they would reach the tree in less than a minute if they were moving fast, or in about four minutes if moving at an average walking pace.
Either way, the tree should keep them upied for a few moments, enough time to distract them while Merlin dragged the wolves there.
"It¡¯s time." Merlin roared as he ran towards a group of wolves, utilising his vines to whip all the wolves he could reach, fortunately all the wolves near the ones he attacked also decided they wanted to rip his face off, so it didn¡¯t take long for all twelve wolves in the area to start chasing him down.
Chapter 71: The Assassination of Arwell Lychester
After angering the pack of wolves, Merlin turned towards the route he plotted out previously and started running. The wolves began sprinting after him with their fangs bared, and their collective barks and growls could be heard from quite a distance away. Merlin saw as various small critters ran away as he and the wolf pack approached.
Merlin¡¯s heart was beating fast, there was too many things that could go wrong at this moment, some of which were out of his control. If he failed the timing, he would be mauled to death by a pack of wolves. If for some reason Arwell Lychester¡¯s wagon wasn¡¯t there, he would be mauled by the pack of wolves. If someone else was where Arwell should have been, they would be lunch for the wolves, and Merlin would lose his chance.
What was ultimately a three minute sprint through the forest had felt like thirty, he had to make sure the wolves didn¡¯t get too far away, but also that they didn¡¯t get close enough to attack him or trip him up. And he also had to focus on his footwork, the ground was soft, and although he picked a route without many serious obstacles, there was still the risk of him tripping over a tree root or bush if he wasn¡¯t careful.
As he got closer to his goal, he could finally see the path a little bit away, and on that path he could see a familiar wagon stopped at the road block he set up. As he got a little closer, he could finally hear Arwell yelling at his personal guards to hurry up and move the tree. It didn¡¯t seem like anyone realised what was about to happen yet, Merlin was now only a few meters from the wagon.
¡¯It¡¯s time¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as his eyes locked onto a tree that was next to a collection of small leafy nts. Merlin began chanting a skill under his breath while sending a vine out to wrap around the tree.
¡¸Skill ?Sneak? Activated, stealth increased by 30% for 20 seconds.¡¹
Merlin contracted the vine and put all his focus into hiding his presence. His body slid into the forest dirt, but instead of travelling forward, he used the vine to swing his body into the collection of foliage.
The wolves, now confused by the effects of sneak, instantly lost all their aggro on Merlin, who had swung out of the way and hidden himself. While still in an enraged state, their eyes all locked onto a different group of targets not too far away.
"What the hell am I paying you all for, put your back into it!" Arwell Lychester roared from atop his wagon. He noticed that his horses had suddenly be disturbed, and began moving around anxiously. "What are these stupid things doing now--"
Disturbing his rant, a pack of wolves suddenly burst out of the treeline while barking aggressively, causing the horses to start bucking and trying to break free, which sent Arwell, who was standing up in his wagon, tumbling to the ground with a thud.
"Damn things!" He roared, only now realising that there were a pack of wolves approaching him, he screamed out in fear, swearing at his guards to protect him as he tried to scramble back up on the wagon as fast as he could.
One of the wolves managed to snap at his rear as he struggled up, but was promptly pierced by one of the guard¡¯s swords. The rest of the guards had finally caught on, and were getting into a defensive position around the wagon.
"Kill them!" Arwell screamed out in pain as he struggled to grab the reins of his horses.
The wolves split up between the guards, with most pouncing at the one guard who attacked first. The other guards struggled to fight off the wolves, but it didn¡¯t seem like they would have much trouble killing them after a little while. Even the guard who was being swarmed was somehow keeping the wolves at bay.
Merlin watched this all happen from the bushes, he made sure he was still well behind cover when he stood back up, he couldn¡¯t afford being seen by the guards. He grabbed his bow and one of the few arrows avable to him before locking his sights on his target.
"Hurry up, get rid of th--" Arwell¡¯s pained cries were briefly cut off as an arrow flew out of the treeline, wedging itself in his chest. "Wha--!"
Another arrow flew through the air, this time piercing through his throat, cutting off his pained cries, but before the man could fall to the ground, one final arrow ripped through the air. And as the arrow embedded itself in the man¡¯s eye, he fell backwards off the cart.
Merlin received a handful of notifications, which he briefly nced over.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "The Assassination of Arwell Lychester.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 4.¡¹
¡¸You have killed an important NPC, your Karma has been reduced by 300 points.¡¹
The bow in Merlin¡¯s hand snapped, but fortunately it survived for just long enough. Merlin¡¯s heart began beating even faster as he watched the man drop, it wouldn¡¯t take long for them to realise what had just happened, but fortunately Merlin hade with a distraction. Usually escaping was the most stressful part of the assassination, but Merlin had the fortune of being able to just slip into the forest unseen.
Merlin dashed through the forest for several minutes, not even daring to stop and take a breath. It was very likely he wouldn¡¯t be seen where he was, but over the years of performing assassinations quests, he learnt that it was better to run so far away that nobody could reasonably expect to find you, and then run a little bit further to be absolutely sure.
After a few more minutes of running, Merlin found a small area between a few trees that would work as cover while he rested for a moment. He sat down and rest his back against one of the trees while struggling to catch his breath, only now did he bother properly looking at his notifications.
The most ring notification was the one that mentioned he lost three hundred points of karma, this meant that the name hovering above his head would be a dark shade of red rather than the usual white.
The maximum amount of karma a yer could have was one hundred, but there was no limit to how low into the negatives it could go. Your karma could be reduced through various methods, such as attacking and killing yers, attacking and killing NPCs, attacking, destroying or otherwise vandalising settlements, to name a few.
But there were only a few methods of regaining karma, you were granted ten karma per in-game hour, or could earn it through a few other methods, the mostmon being simply killing enemies your level or higher, the higher the levelpared to you, the more karma you received.
When your karma fell to fifty or lower, your name was made a shade of orange, which progressively became darker as you grew closer to zero. Once your karma was zero, you were brandished with a red name which got closer to ck as you dropped even further.
yers with an orange name could be attacked by other yers without any karma penalties, and most NPCs that you didn¡¯t have a positive familiarity score with usually refused to associate with you, or at the very least treated you with some degree of scorn in a simr fashion to how they would act if you had low reputation in an area. Reputation in an area, unless it was rather high, didn¡¯t really do much against a low karma score, but familiarity with individuals did.
yers with red names, regardless of the shade of red, were in most cases banned from legally entering settlements, and would usually be hunted down and arrested if they tried. Depending on familiarity and how low the karma score is, some individual NPCs may still respond positively, although in most cases it was unlikely that they would want to speak with you, and attempting to do so may reduce your familiarity with them.
The most punishing aspect to having a red name however, was that if you were killed, depending on how low your karma score was, at least one of your equipped items was guaranteed to drop, alongside a hefty chunk of experience, this punishment scaled severely with the karma score.
This was the solution Gaia came up with after studying human psychology, yers hated losing progress, so there had to be a very enticing reason for yer killers to do what they didter in the game.
Merlin¡¯s karma score was currently negative two hundred, he had to gain at least two hundred and fifty-one karma points to return to good standing, which would take him at most twenty-six hours of just waiting for the hourly karma if he didn¡¯t want to grind monsters.
Chapter 72: Farming Karma
The wolves in the current area he was in ranged somewhere around level two to three. So Merlin, who was now level four, couldn¡¯t farm them to improve his karma. Merlin started travelling deeper into the forest, hoping to find a spawn location that matched his level.
His journey through the forest was somewhat uneventful, the only enemy he encountered was a small group of goblins which he dispatched with ease. While looking for the goblin¡¯s loot, Merlin received a message from Snowbunny.
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[06:20:01] Snowbunny: Hey!
[06:20:57] Snowbunny: Me and Ty found a dungeon a little bit to the north of town, we nned on entering it after finishing our quest, do you want to join us?
[06:21:20] Merlin: What type of monster is it based around?
[06:21:50] Snowbunny: It¡¯s a wolves den, so wolves would be my guess.
[06:22:11] Merlin: Alright, sounds good. How long are you guys going to be?
[06:22:42] Snowbunny: Well, about an hour, maybe.
[06:23:11] Merlin: Alright, I¡¯ll just kill stuff in the area while I wait. Need to try get some karma back.
[06:23:37] Snowbunny: Karma? What happened?
[06:24:23] Merlin: I ran into Kyle¡¯s group, killed them all and it dropped me into the negatives. I¡¯ll tell you about it after.
[06:24:56] Snowbunny: Alright, see you then!
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The conversation ended, and Merlin waved away the message window. He had arrived at a small clearing within the forest, where he saw a wolf that appeared to be sleeping. This wolf was muchrger than the wolves he saw previously, and when Merlin moved close enough to see the enemy¡¯s status bar, he saw that it was a level five dire wolf.
Merlin began hiding his presence somewhat. Creatures at this low of a level didn¡¯t generally have the ability to detect faint mana signatures in the air or locate him with nothing but the sound of his heartbeat. So he didn¡¯t have to bother straining his body like he did when sneaking up on Pelear Ladrona in the thieves guild.
He unsheathed his dius, and decided to try something new, he sliced his thumb on the de and ran it along the edge, allowing his blood to coat the de.
Merlin snuck up on the unsuspecting dire wolf, but once he enteredbat range the wolf seemed to notice that something was wrong. It opened its eyes, and after noticing Merlin standing before it, sprung up.
Merlin barely managed to sh at the beast before it could get into position for a pounce, but unfortunately his passive ability didn¡¯t trigger. He took a nce at his de, and it seemed the coat was still on his de, only a small part on the tip managed to rub off.
The wolf bared its fangs, growling at Merlin who took a defensive stance behind his trusty shield. As the wolf pounced on him, Merlin thrust his shield in its path in an attempt to knock it off bnce. The wolf instead mped its jaw on his shield and began tearing at it.
Merlin heard the wooden shield start cracking as the wolf fought Merlin for the shield. Merlin swung his sword at the wolf, barely grazing its side as the wolf leapt out of the way of his strike, and only now did Merlin notice that a small chunk of his shield had been bitten off.
"Bad dog, spit it out!" Merlin taunted the wolf while preparing his next attack. He didn¡¯t appreciate that his shield wasing close to the end of its durability, once it broke he had to make the decision of either recing it with another shield or getting an offhand weapon instead, but he wasn¡¯t sure which one he¡¯d rather have at this point.
Merlin thrust his de at the wolf once more, but the wolf was already in position to dodge out of the way well before Merlin¡¯s de got close. Unfortunately for the wolf, two vines had wrapped around its hind legs, causing its body to flop onto the ground the second it tried to leap out of the way.
Merlin¡¯s de sunk into the wolf¡¯s side, but this time too, the passive didn¡¯t seem to activate, leaving Merlin somewhat disappointed. It was only a ten percent chance of activation, but Merlin had been rather lucky in the past.
The wolf tried to escape, but the vines kept it in ce. It seemed that the vines were especially efficient against elusive beasts, they lost most of their threat once their biggest advantage was taken away. Merlin finished off the wolf, only to find that a single wolf fang item had dropped.
Merlin continued around the area, making sure to stay on the lookout for wolves. The area had a few level five dire wolves, as well as level four wolves that spawned in small groups. There was also arge clearing that had arger pack of wolves, Merlin counted roughly twenty, but didn¡¯t dare get any closer.
Utilising the vines to trap the wolves in ce, Merlin ran around hunting all the smaller groups he saw. The lone dire wolves were the easiest to hunt, due to him not having to fend off two or three additional wolves like the small groups of wolves. After about forty minutes of hunting, he had acquired a total of twenty-three wolf pelts and sixteen fangs. His karma score had improved by a total of sixty-six points, leaving him at negative one hundred and thirty-four karma.
He stopped his hunting because he received another message from Snowbunny.
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[07:26:55] Snowbunny: Hey, we¡¯re done with our quest, can you meet us near the northern gate?
[07:27:23] Merlin: My name is still red, so I¡¯ll message you when I¡¯m close.
[07:28:05] Snowbunny: It¡¯s still red? How many people did you kill?
[07:28:30] Merlin: A few. Anyways, it¡¯s going to take me a few minutes to get there, so stock up and get prepared.
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Merlin wandered around the forest until he found a clearing that allowed him to see arge section of the sky. Seeing as it was only half past seven in the game world, the sun would still be rising from the east. Using this information, Merlin determined which way was north, and the location he had to travel to make his way back to town.
He slipped through the forest, making sure to avoid any of the spawn locations he memorised over the past half hour. It took about ten minutes to find a road as he was rather deep in the forest, but once he did, he could follow the road down to the town. Thinking it was time, he sent Snowbunny a message telling them to walk over to him.
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[07:40:57] Merlin: I¡¯m on the road north of Orchomenus, I¡¯m walking down now,e meet up with me.
[07:41:13] Snowbunny: Wait, you¡¯re on the road? A group just left here not too long ago, be careful!
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As Merlin read the message, a group of four people came into view and were making their way towards him. The group seemed to have noticed him, and as they got closer, they saw that his name was red.
"Oh look, another yer killer." A tall nerdy-looking man spoke, he had a katana hanging from his belt, and it looked like he was going for some kind of samurai hairstyle.
Before Merlin could tell them he was friendly, the nerdy man rushed towards him while drawing his de. Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if this group was one of the groups who engaged in yer killing in the beginner vige, or if they were just a group that was sick of yer killers and decided to hunt them down for revenge, either way, he didn¡¯t appreciate getting attacked.
Merlin parried a couple attacks, the second attack showed Merlin that the man had actually turnedbat assistance off, which was surprising. It seemed he wasn¡¯t satisfied with the game partially controlling his body when he attacked, or that he wanted to swing a katana his own way.
¡¸You have been attacked by yer "Zankoku". Everyone within their party has been marked as an enemy. You may attack them without receiving penalties.¡¹
Zankoku, it seemed to be a romanised Japanese word, confirming Merlin¡¯s theory in his mind that the man was a nerd for Japanese culture, or at least wanted to y as a samurai.
The rest of the group began circling him, there was a small blonde girl with a crazed look on her face who used a dagger, a hefty looking man who was holding a war hammer, and another woman with red hair who used a shortbow.
While parrying another attack from the wannabe samurai, and blocking an iing arrow with his shield, Merlin was grazed by the blonde¡¯s dagger. Merlin pushed through the encirclement, barely dodging a the war hammer that crashed into the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Merlin turned to face the group, his eyes locked onto the samurai first, he was somewhatpetent, it was very likely he trained with the sword in real life. But then his attention shifted to the blonde girl instead.
The blonde girl wasughing maniacally while holding a dagger that now had Merlin¡¯s blood on it. She then, for whatever reason, decided to lick the dagger, causing her redhead archer friend to turn away in disgust.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
Chapter 73: The Roleplayers
Merlin watched as the blonde girl¡¯s face suddenly shifted into a worried expression after receiving the notification that she had been poisoned. Her tongue turned purple, and that purple blight quickly spread along her face and down her neck.
The rest of her teammates stared at her in shock as the girl¡¯s face was overtaken by the purple hue, they then turned to face Merlin with their weapons drawn.
"What the hell did you do to her?" The samurai wannabe screamed at Merlin while pointing his sword at him.
"What do you mean what did I do?" Merlin looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, "I didn¡¯t make her lick my blood, who the hell runs around randomly licking blood. How do you not expect blood transmitted diseases to be a thing?"
The redhead seemed to agree with Merlin, as she was nodding her head along with his retort. It seemed she wasn¡¯t very fond of blood, or at least the consumption of it, which may have influenced her choice in picking a ranged y-style.
Merlin guessed that this was a group of friends who decided that they wanted to roley as characters, which wasn¡¯t an umon practice. The game allowed you to live a second lifepletely different to your own, so most people who enjoyed the escapism usually put their all into acting out their characters, sometimes adopting a personality that was theplete opposite of their real life counterparts.
The aggressive katana guy clearly went for a samurai theme, the archer went for the typical redhead archer woman trope that was popr in fantasy stories. The heftier man seemed to be going for some kind of half-giant, or bulky barbarian-like character that swung around heavy weapons. And the blonde girl went for the typical cute-but-psycho character trope, most likely modelled after some character from pop culture.
"Calm down, the poison will dissipate in five minutes." Merlin exined while keeping his guard up. "Now, before you go back to attacking me, can you just confirm that you¡¯re not a part of LordKyle¡¯s group? There is a chance this may be a misunderstanding."
"We¡¯re not a part of their group, we are against their group." The redhead archer spoke up this time, she had an arrow nocked, but wasn¡¯t aiming it at Merlin just yet.
"Good to hear, well I¡¯m in the same boat." Merlin exined, trying not to anger the group. "In fact, I have this red name here because I killed a few of them not too long ago."
Hearing this, the group seemed to calm down a tiny amount, but they still had their weapons drawn. It was at this moment that two more figures appeared in the distance from behind the roley group, Snowbunny and Typhoeus were running towards the group as fast as they could, and once they were only a few meters away, they slowed down into a small walk.
"See, I told you they wouldn¡¯t kill each-other, you were worried for nothing." Typhoeus remarked out loud as he approached.
"They all have their weapons drawn, I¡¯d say they were close to--" Snowbunny caught a glimpse of the blonde and just stopped talking as she stared at her. "Alvira, why are you purple?"
The blonde girl who Snowbunny called Alvira didn¡¯t answer, and instead tried covering her purple face with her long blonde hair in embarrassment. The rest of the roleyer¡¯s group turned to face Merlin, who had just started sheathing his dius.
"Well, now that we¡¯ve figured out our affiliations. Friends?" Merlin spoke up as he ripped an arrow out of his battered shield, offering to hand it back to the archer. "We can call it a tie."
The archer was the first to put her weapon away, she retrieved the arrow Merlin handed to her and stowed it away in her quiver. The big guy followed, cing his war hammer on the ground with a thud. It didn¡¯t seem like the samurai wannabe Zankoku trusted Merlin that much, but he too sheathed his de.
The two groups began having a friendly conversation for a few minutes, and eventually Merlin¡¯s poison lost its effect, causing Alvira¡¯s face to return to its usual colour.
"What caused the purple face?" Snowbunny asked Alvira once more, but she didn¡¯t seem to want to answer out of embarassment.
"Purple-People Eater over here decided to consume my blood, not knowing it was poisonous." Merlin exined while Typhoeus chuckled at the reference.
"Why is your blood poisonous?" Snowbunny asked, her facial expression showed more shock at hearing that than the part about her friend licking blood.
"Long story, I¡¯ll exin after." Merlin pushed the conversation aside, before turning to face Alvira to ask her a question, "It¡¯s not real, but it should still taste like blood right? Why¡¯d you lick it?"
Everyone stared at Alvira with a concerned look. It seemed that at least Snowbunny and Typhoeus weren¡¯t aware of this strange quirk of hers, but her party didn¡¯t seem to know the reason either, which suggested that she recently picked it up.
"I-I wanted a skill." Alvira spoke with a soft voice,pletely different to the character she tried to portray. "A guy in the vige got a skill for killing things bare handed, I thought I¡¯d get a vampire skill if I licked blood."
A skill for killing things bare handed? Merlin thought to himself, but all he could remember was a title that gave you additional damage to unarmedbat, it was even more useless than the shield title unless you acquired a ss soul like monk or pugilist that buffed aspects of your unarmedbat or made unarmedbat a requirement.
"Are you talking about the hardened fist title?" Merlin asked, there may be a chance his actions would have changed things around, but he doubted it. It was more likely that she didn¡¯t yet know the difference between titles and skills, or had even heard of the term knowledge yet.
Merlin received a nod from Alvira, confirming that the name of the title was the same at least. Typhoeus broke out inughter upon hearing her reasoning, iming that it was the dumbest thing he had heard all day.
"Actually, it kind of makes sense." As Merlin spoke those words, the entire group looked at him with a collective dumbfounded look, "Although you¡¯re probably going about it the wrong way."
"What do you mean?" Alvira asked, her voice filled with curiosity and traces of hope.
"Just a few droplets of blood is nowhere near close enough to be recognised by the system, you¡¯re going to have to be excessive with it to see results." These words sparked several morbid ideas in everyone¡¯s mind, but what Merlin thought of probably differed by arge margin. "Someone find a wolf, lets test a theory."
The group all gathered within the forest, following Merlin towards the area he had been farming prior. They eventually encountered a dire wolf who was alone, and that was when, to everyone¡¯s surprise, vines erupted out of Merlin and entrapped the wolf, and they watched as he beat this helpless wolf to the brink of death.
"What the hell is that ability?" Snowbunny was practically screaming now, she had so many questions that weren¡¯t being answered, she wasn¡¯t sure how many things changed over the span of a day.
"I¡¯m like half nt or something now, I¡¯ll exinter." Merlin shrugged as he grabbed the almost-dead wolf and started shaving a section of its fur, revealing almost bare skin underneath. "Alvira,e over here and bite into it until it dies."
The group looked at Merlin with disgust, especially Alvira who didn¡¯t expect him toe out with this. She thought he was going to make her drink animal blood at most, not eat the thing.
"Most titles I have were received by killing stuff in a certain way, so if you kill enough creatures by biting them, if there is a title to be had you should get one. This is what I mean by being excessive." Merlin¡¯s reasoning was wed, but oddly convincing, and a few momentster, Alvira had fallen to her knees and began sinking her teeth into the wolf¡¯s flesh.
The redhead archer turned away while recoiling, and the rest of the group looked on with varying levels of disgust as this little girl tore chunks of flesh from the wolf with her mouth until it died.
"Alright, now feast." These words were all it took for the rest of the group to turn away. Tears began forming in Alvira¡¯s eyes, she turned to Merlin while hoping he was joking, but his gaze seemed like he was being serious. "What do you think a vampire does? Start eating."
Arge chunk of the wolf¡¯s upper torso had been eaten by the girl, whose face was covered in dried blood, her signal to stop arrived when another wolf spawned, and the process repeated. Alvira¡¯s salvation came when she received two notifications after devouring the tenth wolf.
"I¡¯m done, I got it." Alvira spoke while barely holding in her stomach contents, "I unlocked two titles, Predator and Corpse Eater."
Chapter 74: The Wolves Den - I
Merlin had heard of predator before, it was a title that you received by killing ten monsters your level or higher with your teeth. The title buffed your jaw strength and improved the damage output of bite attacks. It was amon skill to get if you used a soul that used bite attacks, such as vampires, werewolves or certain zombies.
Although with his experience, he hadn¡¯t heard of anyone acquiring a vampire title from drinking blood, if one existed then every vampire yer would have received it. So he thought if there was a chance of an additional title it would have been through more extreme measures, and his mind for some reason went directly to eating part of the corpse.
He hadn¡¯t actually heard of the corpse eater title before, not many people even thought to bite into a monster¡¯s corpse, and anyone who did were usually repulsed by the vour and texture and vowed to never do it again. Monster meat was a popr ingredient for cooking souls though, and it was possible to eat most creatures as long as they were prepared properly.
In some cases, monster meat tasted much better than some of the most expensive meats you could get in real life, especially when cooked by a high level cooking ss. The increase of yers eating food for pleasure rather than just buffs and status effects made starting a restaurant and selling food in-game a profitable business that several groups capitalised on.
The high poprity of consuming monsters meant that the requirement for acquiring the corpse eater soul was most likely just eating the raw meat straight from the source, much like what the name of the title described. From Merlin¡¯s recollection, there hadn¡¯t been a single person who actively admitted to having this title, which was understandable. Just by staring at Alvira¡¯s face on the verge of being sick was all the confirmation Merlin needed to know that the process he had put her through wasn¡¯t pleasant.
"Good work, experimentplete." Merlin congratted her, while helping her up. "What are the stats on the corpse eater title?"
"It says something about an increased resistance to poison and diseases that you eat." Alvira exined, "And it also grants a skill called ghoulish tendencies, which allows you to consume corpses to regain health."
Merlin found the skill interesting, to the point he almost wanted it for himself. A resistance to poisons and diseases that you consumed was a huge buff, especially if you associated with certain types of people or joined certain circles where poisoned food was a possible threat.
"Well, a ghoul is sort of like a vampire, technically." Merlin consoled the girl who looked disappointed with her new skill. "There is always the possibility of acquiring a vampire¡¯s soul at some point, cheer up."
Merlin turned to face the rest of the group, "Does anybody else want the titles while we¡¯re here?" To his question, Merlin received a strong refusal from everyone, effectively putting the idea to rest immediately.
Alvira walked towards the group while holding a hand over her mouth, it seemed as though the experience would haunt her for quite a while, but maybe she would think twice about licking random people¡¯s blood now. The little girl had arge blood stain that started on her chin and ran down her neck, which caused the redhead archer to run behind a tree and throw up.
The two groups conversed for a little while longer while walking back to the main road. Merlin, who felt somewhat guilty using the girl as a test subject, decided to cast cleanse on her, letting her keep some small level of dignity. The redhead seemed to appreciate that the blood was gone, confirming in Merlin¡¯s mind that she had some form of phobia of blood.
The group said their farewells and split up, with the roleyer group continuing down the path they originally intended to travel down, and Merlin¡¯s group making their way into the forest on the other side of the road.
"So, are you going to exin the poisonous blood and vine ability? What is this about you bing a nt?" Snowbunny unloaded a string of questions, it seemed she couldn¡¯t hold it in any more, Typhoeus also listened.
"Well, It¡¯s a sort of long story, but I¡¯ll give you the cliff notes." Merlin began exining his interactions with the rose wight from the start to the final fight. He pointed out that it was the same undead he mentioned to her prior, and that the purple face that Alvira had was due to his poisonous blood passive.
As the group made their way towards the dungeon, Merlin began showing off some of the things he could do with his vine, and he even began instructing Snowbunny on how to control her ears.
As the group finally reached the location of the dungeon, they saw that within the clearing were three dire wolves standing guard.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, can you send me an invite to the party?" Merlin asked while they were hiding behind a bush, peering in at the dungeon¡¯s entrance. A notification window appeared before him a few seconds after.
¡¸You have been invited to "Snowbunny¡¯s" party, would you like to join?¡¹
Upon Merlin clicking ept, everyone in the party received a notification message.
¡¸yer "Merlin¡¯s" karma score is -134, all party members will be considered evil until the yer leaves or the party is disbanded.¡¹
Within New Genesis, your karma was only as high as the lowest individual¡¯s karma when it came to parties. This was another punishment from the system, as those who were partied with evil yers suffered from the same consequences, even if they didn¡¯tmit a crime. Most people didn¡¯t want to take the risk, and instead pushed their friend away until they recovered their karma alone.
"How did you get it so low, did you murder four people?" Snowbunny looked at him in shock, "Or since you farmed karma back for an hour, was it more than four?"
"Oh well, it¡¯s not hard to get back, just a little time consuming" Merlin merely shrugged in response. He wasn¡¯t answering the question, but still managed to get through it without having to lie to his friend.
"Alright, bring your attention back to the front. There are three dire wolves and three of us, how about we take one each?" Merlin suggested, he received two confirming nods and began counting down from three before starting the assault.
Merlin took the wolf in the centre, it was a level five, like the usual wolves he farmed constantly. Using his knowledge that he acquired through roughly an hour of endlessly grinding wolves, Merlin had developed a bit of a system when it came to fighting wolves.
He started by unsheathing the de, which caused the enemy to subconsciously focus their attention on his weapon. This was roughly the time when two vines flew out of Merlin¡¯s body and immobilised the wolf by taking control of its legs, allowing Merlin toe in and slice it to death with some degree of safety.
After killing his wolf rtively quickly, his attention shifted to Typhoeus, who was spinning around arge scythe. The wolf had a hard time getting anywhere close to him, as it risked being torn into ribbons if it did. Seemingly sick of the cat and mouse game the two were ying, the wolf ended up leaping at the man, but Typhoeus dodged the wolf¡¯s ws and counterattacked with a basic sh attack.
The wolf seemed to learn from its first mistake, it didn¡¯t bother trying to leap at Typhoeus any more. What came next was a set of annoyingly repetitivebat manoeuvres where ultimately nothing happened for a great deal of time. The wolf focused on its speed to dodge the scythe¡¯s attacks but it couldn¡¯t push in to deal any damage or it¡¯d risk getting seriously wounded, and the scythe was too slow to hit the wolf for any serious amount of damage, but had enough reach to keep it away, leaving the two in some kind of stalemate.
"This is annoying." Typhoeus swore at the wolf as the sense of frustration kicked in. Unfortunately the scythe was a very bad match up against an elusive enemy, it was a rather cumbersome weapon to fight with in general, but sometime in the future Ty would figure out a way to use its strange quirks to his advantage and keep the top position on the leaderboard for thirty years.
Merlin was about to help him when, in his frustration, it seemed Typhoeus had made the mistake of lunging forward with the scythe instead of sweeping at the wolf, causing an obvious hole to form in his defences. The wolf had lunged towards Typhoeus the second he seemed to let down his guard, which Merlinter noticed that he had intentionally done, as Typhoeus had begun chanting a skill the second the wolf ran at him to sink its fangs into his leg.
Chapter 75: The Wolves Den - II
The wolf¡¯s fangs pierced Typhoeus¡¯ flesh before his skill had activated, as it tore at his thigh, it didn¡¯t realise that the scythe hade back and wrapped around its neck until it was toote. The wolf released his thigh before trying to evade, but the scythe had dug into its flesh the second it backed away.
With a frustrated roar, Ty swung the wolf around while it was still hooked around his scythe, the de continuously dug in deeper due to the rotational force, until the skill activated. "Heavy strike!"
Merlin watched as this wolf that was being swung around on a stick suddenly flew off into the treeline, its head flying off in a different direction. He praised him before looking towards where Snowbunny had gone.
Snowbunny seemed to be doing fine, in fact she hadn¡¯t yet been hit. She was using a rapier to slowly bleed the wolf out while dodging around with her improved mobility given to her by the wild hare soul.
It seemed that out of everyone, she had the least amount of issues dealing with slippery targets, as she was no doubt as mobile, if not more so, as they were.
Eventually all the wolves had died, and the group spent some time healing up before they could continue inside.
"Wolves suck." Tyined as he watched his leg slowly heal. "They¡¯re too hard to hit."
"I told you to just use a sword instead." Snowbunny retorted. "Or a spear, scythes are way too slow and clunky."
"Well, you¡¯ll probably do better off once you get the right souls to assist you." Merlin joined the conversation, "Skills that specifically buff scythes, or maybe magic that can debuff and slow enemies so you can hit them easier."
"Another possibility is that you can use war scythes instead, at least until you find a better recement for your beginner farmer scythe." Merlin continued, "There will probably be an undead you could steal a reaper scythe from at some point."
These were all things Typhoeus had done in the past, Merlin was just nting the ideas in his head much earlier. Out of all the yers Merlin had met, Ty was actually one of the biggest roleyers he knew, which was why he was so adamant about using a scythe even though he knew it was inconvenient, and why he spent so much time staying ahead of everyone else in the future.
Typhoeus seemed to have taken Merlin¡¯s advice into consideration, and not too long after he had beenpletely healed, allowing the group to continue inside the dungeon, a notification window appeared before everyone.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
You have entered the "Orchomenus Wolves Den".
? Clear Condition: Kill the boss.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
The dungeon entrance was essentially just a small hole on the side of a hill, but it quickly expanded into an vast underground cavework. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t take long for the cave to be nearly pitch ck inside, so Merlin began chanting a skill while his two party members began reaching for their inventory.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
A small ball of light formed in the palm of his hand and floated into the air, illuminating the cave roughly ten meters around it.
"Well that¡¯s convenient." Typhoeus dered while putting a torch back into his inventory, Snowbunny had done the same.
"Yeah, I¡¯d definitely rmend picking it up at some point. It¡¯s one gold, but it¡¯s worth the price." Merlin exined while watching the ball of light slowly hover around him.
The group began hearing faint growling noises echoing from deeper within the cave, they all prepared themselves for another attack.
Two wolves started sprinting towards them while revealing their teeth, Merlin got a quick nce at their levels and saw that they were both level five as well.
"It seems level five might be the lowest level in the dungeon, if it scales too high the further we get in, we might not be able to do this just yet." Merlin told his teammates as he ran towards the wolves, sending his vines out to trip them up.
The vines swiped at the wolves¡¯ legs, causing one of the wolves to trip, the other one had caught a glimpse of the vine and instead mped its jaw on it, causing it to snap, releasing a ssh of poisonous sap in the wolves¡¯ mouth before retracting back into Merlin¡¯s body. The only benefit being that he received a notification in regards to the wolf that bit his vine off.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"Alright finish them off." Merlin shouted as he watched the one wolf¡¯s lips and tongue start turning purple.
Snowbunny took the wolf that was still standing, she rushed it with a flurry of attacks from her rapier, puncturing the wolf¡¯s skin in several ces and causing its dirty light grey coat to slowly gain small patches of red as its fur soaked up the blood.
The reduction in stats made the fight even easier for her, and within the span of a few moments she had caused the beast to bleed out without getting a drop of blood on herself. It was an elegant way of fighting, and it seemed as though Snowbunny had actually been trained with the rapier in real life.
He realised now that he never really knew much about Snowbunny outside her love of all things cute and fluffy, especially rabbits, or that she was a member of the guild Clouds and sat within the top five hundred on the leaderboard, albeit near the bottom.
Typhoeus on the other hand had decided to attack the one Merlin was so kind as to trip over. He raised his scythe into the air and brought it down on the wolf¡¯s neck as if he were an executioner swinging an axe. The scythe de pierced the wolf¡¯s flesh, causing the wolf to howl in pain.
Typhoeus lifted the de out of the wolf, which had just started trying to get back up, and swung the de down once more, sessfully digging the de into the wolf¡¯s torso. As it stood up, Ty began pulling the de, causing arge tear to form in the wolf¡¯s side, hitting a few major organs, and a few momentster it fell back to the ground dead.
Typhoeus however seemed to be the opposite of Snowbunny, rather than graceful, his fighting style was barbaric and brutal. A significant amount of blood had sshed all over him, and the corpse he was left with was shredded, if anyone on the team had a skinning or animal harvesting skill, they wouldn¡¯t get much but torn scraps from his kill.
"Man, that vine thing is overpowered." Typhoeus said while trying to wipe the blood off of his hands.
"It¡¯s basically just sentient rope, honestly. It barely does any damage, and I cant use it on anything other than tripping up beasts." Merlin refuted, pointing out a few of the vine¡¯s ws. "And if a vine gets destroyed it retracts back into my body and I cant use it for half a minute. "
Merlin cast the cleanse spell targeting Typhoeus, the various splotches of blood covering him, his clothes and his weapon began peeling off, hovering for a moment and then vanishing.
"Thanks!" Typhoeus felt better now that he wasn¡¯t covered in blood.
"I¡¯d rmend picking this up too, it¡¯s just as important as light." Merlin told him. "And ignite, if you can afford it, but it¡¯s not as important as the other two."
"I¡¯ll keep it in mind." Typhoeus turned to the cave, and the group started making their way further inside, the ceiling went from hardened dirt and roots to stone as they traversed deeper into the den.
After a couple minutes of travelling, Merlin received a notification that caught him off guard.
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo.¡¹
"What?" Merlin blurted out loud due to the unexpected notification, which caused both his teammates to look back at him with a confused look.
"What¡¯s going on?" Snowbunny asked while seeing that Merlin was looking at the floor with a confused look, but when she stared at where he was looking, she didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary.
"Sorry, I just got a notification out of nowhere." Merlin briefly exined before swiping the notification away. "How strange."
"Fair enough, well it looks like we have a group of wolves ahead. I can see four, no five of them." Typhoeus called out as he peered from behind a wall into another opening. "And it looks like there¡¯s a level seven with them, the rest are fives."
"A level seven already huh, this is gonna be an issue." Merlin thought about how he was going to do this.
He could take the level seven himself, leaving his party to deal with two wolves each. Or alternatively he could let Snowbunny take the level seven while he and Typhoeus wipe out the lower tier wolves beforeing to help.
Chapter 76: The Wolves Den - III
"Alright, how are we going to do this?" Typhoeus asked, it seemed the wolves seemed to have finally noticed their presence.
Merlin decided to give Snowbunny the spotlight this time around, but he wanted to make sure she had as much of an advantage as he could give her.
"Snow, do you think you could hold the big guy until we deal with the little ones?" Merlin asked her.
"Sure, I could do that." She answered while drawing her rapier.
"Alright, bring your rapier here for a sec." Merlin ordered. When she raised the rapier towards Merlin, to her surprise, he grabbed the de without any hesitation, causing his palm to be cut open and his poisoned blood to leak onto the de. Making sure to coat the entire de, he slid his hand down, causing a sharp, stinging pain to run up his arm.
Merlin flinched as he did so, and he actually lost a point of health. "There¡¯s a ten percent chance your attacks will trigger my poison, good luck."
He pulled his hand away from the de. Snowbunny¡¯s expression showcased that she appeared to be in utter shock, but she quickly snapped out of it and rushed into the room, with the other two following.
"Time to wipe out the little guys, go for the legs." Merlin shouted while sending a couple vines out to sh at the wolves and get their attention.
He managed to cut a few of the wolves, but rose blight still hadn¡¯t triggered. But he didplete what he wanted to do, which was gain the wolves¡¯ attention, as they were previously focused on Snowbunny as she was the first to enter the room.
Merlin rushed forward with his dius, he didn¡¯t just nuke down a single wolf like he usually did. Rather it seemed as though he was dealing heavy shes at the wolves¡¯ legs on purpose, slowing them down enough for Typhoeus to do his part.
Typhoeus was performing wide sweeping attacks that hooked around the wolves¡¯ legs and sliced through their muscles, leaving them helpless before moving on to the next wolf.
Snowbunny had rushed towards the level seven beast, it was muchrger than the dire wolves surrounding it. Unexpectedly, the wolf dodged her initial thrust, and when she tried attacking it with a flurry of blows, it barely dodged those as well. She managed a few shallow cuts, but nothing serious.
When the wolf decided to attack back, Snowbunny was forced on the defensive as she barely managed to avoid the wolf¡¯s ws. Her improved mobility didn¡¯t seem to be doing her any favours when it came to turning the fight around, but had the other two been in this position they would have suffered a fatal attack.
From a distance, it looked like a wolf was ying around with its food, as all Snowbunny could really do was avoid the attacks and try not to get cornered or trip over. There was also the disadvantage that the only light in the room was the floating ball around Merlin.
While running around, she barely managed to get a few more scratches in, but the wolf was extremely elusive. Until one of the attacks caused the wolf¡¯s expression to change, and a patch of skin under its fur began turning purple. And not even a few momentster, it was as if the wolf had suddenly slowed down.
A notification appeared before Merlin while he was cleaving a wolf¡¯s head off, he ignored it for a few seconds as his de cleaved through the wolf¡¯s neck, and then decided to give it his attention.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
He peered over at Snowbunny, who was now turning the fight around with her new-found advantage. It seemed she didn¡¯t need his help anymore, so he turned his attention back to Typhoeus, who was cleaving heads off at an impressive speed. After taking care of thest wolf, the two began admiring the fight between the strongest wolf and Snowbunny.
Snowbunny managed to partially blind the creature, as well as limit its mobility even more by piercing and shing at its muscles and ligaments. It was an almost one-sided massacre, the wolf became unable to even get close to hitting her, and eventually all it could do was howl in pain as she dealt the killing blow.
As soon as the wolf died, she slumped down onto the ground alongside it andined about how tired she was. "Man that was exhausting."
"Do you think you would be able to handle two of those at once?" Merlin asked curiously.
"Not a chance." Her answer was resolute, "Not even if you poisoned both of them."
It was at this moment when arge red alert box appeared before everyone, signalling the nearing of the server close.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Message from the devs!]
You¡¯ve got one hour left until the server is shut down for the day, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Aww, already?" Snowbunny let out a disappointed sigh, she didn¡¯t expect it toe out as audible as it did.
After a slight chuckle at Snowbunny¡¯s expense, the team started looting theirtest kills. And out of all the smaller guys, only one of them decided to drop a fang, which went to Typhoeus. Therger wolf that Snowbunny essentially fought solo had dropped arge wolf bone. The item was given to her without any argument, as she was the one who took it down.
"We¡¯ve got roughly an hour left, we might need to speed this up depending on howrge this dungeon is." Merlin announced.
The group stopped dawdling, and they began quickly moving through the rooms, dealing with a few wolves that were patrolling the hallways alone. At some point Merlin had to recast light, as it suddenly died, leaving the group in pitch-ck darkness for a few seconds.
Eventually they came across a narrow opening, and after peering inside, they saw a group of roughly twelve wolves sleeping. Nine of the twelve were level five dire wolves, basic trash monsters that they had quickly gotten the hang of purging with ease. Two of the remaining three were level seven dire wolves, and seemed to be the guards for thest wolf which towered over them in both level and general size, the level ten alpha dire wolf.
The group pulled away from the entrance and moved a few meters away so they could talk without disturbing a whole army of wolves.
"Well, that¡¯s a level ten boss, and we¡¯re a party of three that average at level three. And if that weren¡¯t bad enough we need to deal with a couple level sevens and a hoard of fives." Merlin clearly exined the scenario they were in. "Either we¡¯re going to need to think of a solution to the boss, and fast. Or we run away ande back in a few levels."
"Shall we take inventory and see what kind of strategy we cane up with?" Snowbunny spoke up first, she reached into her inventory and began taking out a handful of misceneous items.
"Works for me." Typhoeus also began taking a few items out of his inventory, cing them on the floor.
"Yeah, lets do that." Merlin reached into his inventory and pulled out a few items too.
The first item he pulled out was a single sk ofntern oil, the leftover from the time he bought two sks from the now-dead merchant. The next item he brought out was the sk full of ck tar-like liquid, he could almost swear that it was a vial of infected blood, just due to its consistency alone. He also had the sling and remaining ammunition for it, which he hadn¡¯t really bothered usingtely.
Snowbunny took out a sk ofntern oil, two torches, a small bag full of what Merlin determined to be some kind of spice mix with a single tear-inducing whiff, thirty meters of rope and a shoddy. Typhoeus took out a torch and a shovel, but he didn¡¯t seem to want to answer why he bought a shovel this early into the game, so everyone stopped asking him.
"Snow came prepared." Merlin seemed impressed with her current collection, "What¡¯s the spice mix for?"
"The soup in the town tastes like soapy water." She dered proudly, "So I found an old spice shop that was hidden away in an alley and made myself a spice mix, now everything tastes alright."
Merlin couldn¡¯t argue with her logic, the food you could get in Orchomenus did taste rather nd unless you splurged, which was something nobody would do this early in the game. Ironically enough, the beginner vige had better food than the first town, although not by much. The best thing in the starter vige being the overpriced beef skewers, or the various rabbit dishes due to the overabundance of wild hares in the area.
Eating within the game wasn¡¯t required. It didn¡¯t benefit you that much earlier in the game, and what little benefits you did get were ultimately not worth it untilter in the game when it either started applying status boosting effects, or it tasted good.
Chapter 77: The Wolves Den - IV
"Why are you torturing yourself for the satiety buff?" Merlin asked her while taking another whiff of the spice mix, causing his eyes to water.
"Well, it wasn¡¯t just for the buff, I just wanted some good soup, but there wasn¡¯t any." She said with a saddened expression.
"Well, if you want good food, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s some kind of job soul for cooking." Merlin suggested, somewhat hoping that she would pick it up. If their group acquired a chef, they would be able to get high level food buffs without having to spend a ton of money.
"Well regardless, this maye in handy for the boss." Merlin lifted the bag of spices. "A pinch of this in the wolf¡¯s nose and it¡¯ll hurt."
"What about this then?" Typhoeus picked up the sk of ck liquid that Merlin found at the Redmond mansion. "Is it a potion or some kind of oil?"
"Unfortunately, I need to get it inspected before I can tell you for certain, but based on where I got it and it¡¯s appearance. I¡¯d have to say that it¡¯s most likely infected blood." Merlin exined. "So I wouldn¡¯t rmend drinking it."
"I¡¯m not even going to ask why you just decided to pocket a vial of blood." Typhoeus gently ced the sk back on the ground while staring at Merlin.
"It mighte in handy, who knows?" Merlin retorted, picking the vial up and throwing it back into his inventory. "Chances are it¡¯s a much stronger version of my rose poison, so I don¡¯t want to waste it on a level ten boss. I may get it appraised in the future."
"Our best bet would be to separate the nine basic wolves from the other three and kill them off first." Merlin exined, "So if we can abuse this narrow opening so we don¡¯t get swarmed, I think we¡¯d have a chance."
Looking at the rest of the itemsying around, Merlin picked up the two vials of oil and the shoddy. "If we soak the withntern oil, we can use it to trap the boss for a few moments and deal some damage."
Typhoeus seemed interested with the idea, so Merlin gave him the task of soaking the. While he was doing that, Merlin and Snowbunny starteding up with a way of dealing with the rest of the pack.
"So we need to bait them here from afar, and not have the entire pack chase us down immediately." Snowbunny said while staring at the supplies. "What about the rope? we could make a trip wire."
"It didn¡¯t look like there was an obvious area to tie a rope around." Merlin thought out loud, "But maybe we¡¯ll get lucky, sneak over there and check."
Snowbunny grabbed the rope and made her way back towards the opening, and as soon as she left, Merlin turned back towards Typhoeus and began asking him a question. "So why did you buy the shovel?"
"It mighte in handy, who knows?" Typhoeus copied Merlin¡¯s previous retort, but repeated it in a sarcastic tone. Merlin shook his head and turned his attention back to the pile of items, his current thoughts were just to set the boss on fire and just fight his way through the rest.
A few minutester, Snowbunny came back with the rope and an expression that made it abundantly clear she was disappointed. Merlin didn¡¯t even ask her if she had any luck, he just watched as she threw the rope back into her inventory and sat back down.
"The is done, what are we doing now?" Typhoeus spoke up without any care for the atmosphere. "We¡¯ve got a n for the boss, what about the two extras."
"I¡¯ll take one, but I cant fight off both of those, not even if you poisoned them." Snowbunny spoke up, repeating what she said after killing the first level seven dire wolf they saw.
"I think it¡¯d be best if we poisoned them and hit them with a pinch of spice powder each, that might give us enough of an edge to finish them off." Merlin suggested, "Then we¡¯ll all deal with the boss after everything else is dead."
"If we start getting destroyed, we¡¯ve always got the option of escaping, so lets just give it a shot." Merlin said, "Nowe get your weapons coated."
Merlin cut his hand on his dius and began coating the edge, and after repeating the same process for the rapier and the scythe, he decided to spill some of his blood on his sling ammunition.
The group waited a few minutes while Merlin regained his lost health, during this time they picked up the remaining items, only leaving the three torches out. The group started making their way over to the narrow entrance once more, and Merlin made sure to recast light, just in case the battle dragged out and they were left in darkness again.
"We¡¯ll hit them from afar with the sling." Merlin said, "Then we¡¯ll block the entrance off with the torches."
Merlin started chanting while touching the tip of the torch Typhoeus was holding, and it suddenly caught fire.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Snowbunny used the Typhoeus¡¯ torch to set both of her torches alight as well, and she got ready to throw them both.
Merlin put one of the blood-covered metal balls into his sling, causing some of the blood to soak into it. He span it around a few times while peering into the room, and when he felt the time was right, he let the ball fly.
The ball ripped through the air and embedded itself into the side of one of the wolves who was happily sleeping with its pack. It suddenly jerked awake and began looking around its surroundings, which started waking up a few of the wolves that were asleep next to it. A few of the wolves noticed a faint lighting from around the corner of the entrance, and started charging towards it.
"Now!" Merlin yelled while firing off his sling once more, sending a ball into another wolf.
Typhoeus and Snowbunny threw the torches into the middle of the entrance to the best of their abilities, and only momentster a small group of four wolves dashed out from it, their fur coats suddenly bing fuel for the fire.
The rest of the wolves stopped in time, but those that didn¡¯t had obtained some serious burns. The scent of burnt hair filled the cave, making Snowbunny and Typhoeus gag.
"Finish them off, quickly." Merlin shouted while shing at one of the wolves.
The other two drew their weapons and followed hismand, and after a few attacks while the wolves were distracted, they had killed them all with ease. Out of the remaining five dire wolves, it seemed that one on the other side of the entrance had caught fire, but the rest seemed fine.
Merlin stood at the entrance and began wasting the rest of his sling ammo while the wolves didn¡¯t dare charge through the fire. He managed to pick off the wolf that caught fire previously, reducing their numbers even further, as well as poison one of the mini-bosses before the torches died out.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"Here we go." Merlin braced himself at the entrance with what remained of his shield as the remaining four low tier wolves charged at him. The two mini-bosses and the boss were behind them, but unable to get through due to the others.
"Start picking them off." Merlin shouted while swinging his de at a wolf that leapt towards his shield, slicing its side and sending it barrelling to the floor.
Another wolf leapt up to take its ce, it peeked its head over the hole left in Merlin¡¯s shield and attempted to bite his face. Fortunately a scythe appeared above his head in time, piercing the wolf¡¯s skull.
"Thanks! Alright a big one is about to join, lets back it up." Merlin yelled as he took a few steps back while pushing back against another wolf that began shing at his shield with its ws.
The wolf rolled out of the way as Snowbunny¡¯s rapier pierced its torso. Merlin looked to see that she had killed a wolf already, and Typhoeus had dealt with the one he impaled, leaving just two left.
She then took her stance behind Merlin once more as they continued backing back into the previous room, taking jabs at the enemies that pounced Merlin. Arger wolf poked its head through the entrance and turned to stare at Merlin¡¯s group.
"Herees the first mini-boss, this one¡¯s all yours Snow." Merlin yelled out while stabbing a wolf in the head. "Come get a refill if you need more blood."
Snowbunny dashed past the remaining wolf that Typhoeus made quick work of shortly after, and began attacking therger wolf. After three strikes, Merlin received another notification telling him the passive had triggered.
Chapter 78: The Wolves Den - V
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
Therge wolf that Snowbunny hit with a quick flurry of jabs suddenly started slowing down. Purple splotches started forming around the wound, which barely showed through its thick coat of fur. The next level seven wolf had just poked its head out from around the corner, and was now staring at the group.
"Both of you, go stall the second one for as long as possible, make sure that boss cant fit through the entrance. I¡¯ll take care of this one quickly ande help." Merlin yelled out as he charged at the wolf Snow was fighting.
Snowbunny threw a pinch of spice powder at the wolf¡¯s face as nned, before running past the wolf to the second one. Typhoeus had also begun running towards that wolf, and upon arriving first, delivered the first swing, which missed.
"I hate wolves!" His roar echoed within the cave, alongside the nging sound of his scythe hitting the stone floor.
Merlin¡¯s shield collided with the first wolf, which currently seemed to be in excruciating pain. It was barking and growling the few times it wasn¡¯t sneezing or swinging its head around, doing anything it could possibly do to force the powder out.
"Yeah, I know the pain buddy." Merlin mocked as he shed the wolf¡¯s neck with his dius.
Wolves had an incredible sense of smellpared to humans. So what caused Merlin¡¯s eyes to water with a simple whiff would be torture for a wolf, especially when it was a pinch of powder directly in its face, rather than stored in a bag.
The wolf didn¡¯t react to the sh in time, and a significant gash had been cut into its neck. It attempted to dodge the next strike with all its might, but found that its legs had been tied with vines, forcing it in ce as the de pierced its neck once more, causing the already blood-soaked fur around its neck to start dripping with blood.
The wolfshed out with a free hand, causing arge gash to form on Merlin¡¯s shield, but Merlin retaliated with onest stab to the wolf¡¯s heart. And upon the de sinking into the wolf¡¯s flesh, it lost all strength in its body and dropped to the floor like a rag doll.
Turning his attention back to the second wolf, it seemed that Typhoeus and Snowbunny were handling it well. The wolf wasn¡¯t able to get through the gap, as Snowbunny was dodging its attacks and slicing at it to force it back, and whenever it tried to force its way out, Typhoeus would be there around the corner to scare it away with arge sweeping attack.
"Alright, first wolf is down, lets deal with the second one." Merlin yelled out while running towards the group. "Depending on the resistance, the poison should end on that one in about a minute or two, be careful it might suddenly speed back up."
Snowbunny heard him and performed the same tactic as before, throwing a pinch of the powder at the wolf¡¯s face, causing simr effects to ur. By this time, Merlin had caught up to the group, and was getting ready to join the fight.
"Ty, get the ready. Snow, get ready to refresh your coating." Merlin ordered while sending his vines to wrap around the wolf¡¯s legs.
Typhoeus backed out of the fight and chanted to open his inventory, while Snowbunny rushed forth and pierced the wolf several times while it was unable to evade. Merlin¡¯s contribution was a deep sh across the wolf¡¯s face, causing it to lose its vision.
"The is ready." Typhoeus yelled out, signalling to the other two that it was time to finish. Snowbunny rushed the wolf onest time, piercing its side with a flurry of attacks that ended with the wolf falling to the ground into a pool of its own blood.
Not giving the party any time to regain their positions, the final boss had made its move. The wolf they had just killed was thrown at Merlin, who barely dodged in time. The wolf¡¯s corpse hit the cave wall with so much force that it left a significant patch of blood sttered across it.
"Well, it looks like the wolf¡¯s enraged, hit him with the." Merlin yelled out before he started running towards the wolf.
The boss wolf noticed Merlin and began the motions of a sh attack, but a poor quality that looked to have been stolen from a goblin vige flew at it, barely hooking around its w and face. The distracted it enough to cancel the attack, but it easily tore under the wolf¡¯s strength, not amounting for much as a. It ended up just being uselessly wrapped around the wolf, simr to that of a stic bag or fishing line caught around a turtle¡¯s neck.
This wasn¡¯t bad, all Merlin really needed was for it to stay on long enough to do damage, any entanglement was just a bonus. He ran forward and touched part of the while chanting a skill name.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
A small spark appeared, followed by a roaring me that quickly spread up the. Merlin backed away as the waspletely engulfed in the me, followed by the wolf¡¯s fur.
"And now we hit it until it dies." Merlin said as he sliced his hand on his sword once more, causing his blood to coat his de. He didn¡¯t enjoy the ufortable feeling of sharp metal running along the exposed muscles, or the pain that followed, but he had been cut enough times that he could will himself past it. The worst part was the itchy sensation that followed as it healed, but it was such a powerful ability that he couldn¡¯t simply not abuse it.
The ability was most likely bnced with the intent that humans wouldn¡¯t intentionally cut themselves for a five percent stat reduction with a measly ten percent chance, which was also probably why the ability had a chance to trigger on the vines. But unfortunately for Gaia, Merlin was a lot stranger than expected, and had already experienced enough of the game to know that he had to be willing to do anything to win at times.
Snowbunny pped the boss with thest pinch of spice powder, her face contorted into disappointment when she realised there wasn¡¯t anything left in the bag but a few leftovers she¡¯d barely be able to use for food. Unfortunately, spices were expensive in general, but especially this early in the game. Even salt was more affordable, so a small bag like that probably cost her about as much as Merlin spent for the bag of blessed salt, probably more.
But she seemed to be getting her money¡¯s worth, as the boss seemed to be suffering in a simr way to the other two wolves. Now that the wolf was partially distracted by the multiple sources of pain, Merlin rushed in once more, shing at its neck. Due to the wolf¡¯s fur still smouldering in ces, he couldn¡¯t use his vines to entrap it yet, although he wasn¡¯t sure how effective they would be, seeing as the was torn like paper.
The wolf barely dodged out of the way of Merlin¡¯s strike, but a scythe swing followed it, leaving arge gash in its right side, while Snowbunny punctured its burning flesh several times on the left.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
He wasn¡¯t sure which attack caused the notification, but he determined that it was Typhoeus¡¯ fault as the smouldering flesh on the wolf¡¯s right side had begun showing patches of purple.
"It¡¯s been poisoned, it should slow down now." Merlin yelled, while shing the wolf once more. The attack connected, leaving a nasty gash on the wolf¡¯s snout.
The wolf, seemingly angered by this attack in particr, started bearing its fangs at Merlin moments before it shed at him with so much speed that he could barely react in time. Merlin raised his shield, but he was still sent flying back into the cave wall behind him, and his shield had finally shattered into pieces, leaving him with nothing but splinters and shards of his former shield, a ringing in his ear, and a notification that made his blood boil.
¡¸Your "Tutorial Shield" has been destroyed.¡¹
Merlin waved the notification away as he stood back up, he stared at the wolf with an angered expression, and with his now shieldless left hand, he reached into his inventory and pulled out his goblin dagger.
"Merlin, are you okay?" His friends yelled out while still trying to deal with the wolf.
"It just changed phases, be careful." Merlin warned as he walked back to the fight. "It seems it¡¯ll perform a heavy sh at certain intervals, so back away from it when it starts ring at you."
Merlin cracked his neck before breaking out into a sprint directly towards the wolf. The boss, which had just turned its attention to Snowbunny, suddenly snapped its attention back to Merlin and began growling with its teeth bared once more.
Chapter 79: The Wolves Den - VI
The Wolf¡¯s expression crumpled into intense anger as it stared Merlin down. Its hatred for Merlin seemingly being more powerful than the targeting system.
The reason for the wolf¡¯s sudden hatred for Merlin, even when it had a perfect next target in the form of Snowbunny, was because Merlin was currently implementing an advanced tanking technique.
This technique essentially worked in the opposite way to the technique used to hide ones presence. Instead of his method of minimising his influence on the world around him to improve his stealth ability. Merlin was doing the opposite, trying to maximise every aspect he could, to make sure he was being noticed. Merlin weaved in traces of bloodlust to further catch the wolf¡¯s attention and make sure he was designated as the highest threat target by the wolf¡¯s AI.
The aggro system in the game worked in a few ways, there was the typical RPG system where you¡¯d increase your aggro the more damage you dealt, and there were abilities that purposefully increased and decreased your aggro. Outside of the basic system expected of the game¡¯s genre there were a few more elements that could be influenced by yers with the freedoms that New Genesis afforded to them.
One such example of this was being able to verbally taunt and mock an intelligent enemy that you could speak thenguage of, which added to your aggro score in a simr fashion to what a taunt skill would do, albeit not as effective.
Another element that could be influenced, and this was the aspect that Merlin was currently abusing, was causing the creature¡¯s AI to register him as the biggest threat by maximising his presence, giving a significant boost to his aggro score and causing it to overpower Snowbunny¡¯s score.
Merlin rushed toward while thinking of what happenedst time, that the wolf¡¯s swipe attack was almost too fast for him to react to. Due to his agility score being incredibly lowpared to what he was used to and his shield being destroyed, there wasn¡¯t much he could do if the attack triggered before he could prepare for it.
The only way he would be able to sessfully dodge the attack was if he anticipated the strike and dodged it well before it started, the only downside to this was that if he dodged too early, it¡¯d give the boss enough time to redirect its strike.
He switched both of his weapons around into a reverse grip and prepared himself. The second he entered the wolf¡¯s attack radius, it would most likely start the swipe, as it was already showing the telltale signs of the attack that he saw moments before.
As he stepped into what he could only assume was the creature¡¯sbat radius, while at a full sprint he suddenly leaned back and allowed his body to drop to the ground. The momentum of his sprint continued with his body as he hit the stone floor and continued sliding.
The wolf¡¯s w sliced out in a wide horizontal sweep, just missing Merlin. The attack was so fast that the gust of wind it produced could be felt by everyone around it.
As Merlin slid under the creature he thrust his des into the wolf¡¯s underbelly, the cuts trailed along as he travelled, ending near the rear where he began slowing down. Merlin¡¯s long white hair had once again soaked up a significant amount of blood from the floor as it dragged along, an urrence that was somon at this point that he was starting to consider investing in hair ties or a hat.
The boss screamed out in pain as it started bleeding our severely, and it began bucking its hind legs while trying to at least harm Merlin who was now positioned behind it.
"Lets finish it off." Merlin roared as he thrust both des into the wolf¡¯s hind-quarters.
He wrapped his vines around the creature¡¯s back legs, which at this point had finally stopped smouldering, in an attempt to tie them together. It held the beast in ce for only a few seconds before the wolf had actually managed to snap the vines by pulling its legs apart.
This left Merlin kind of impressed, as the vines could even hold up his own weight and the weight of a moderatelyrge rock without showing any issues, but this wolf seemed to have snapped it with little issue.
Arge scythe came down on the wolf¡¯s back, it dug into the wolf¡¯s charred flesh, as as the wolf moved, the de tore into it further. Snowbunny on the opposite side had just finished a set of ten consecutive hits when the wolf began baring its teeth at her.
"Dodge i--" Before Merlin could finish yelling out his warning, the wolf¡¯s w swung out at Snowbunny.
She jumped backwards in an attempt to dodge it while trying to also block it with her rapier, but due to the rapier¡¯s poor blocking ability and her being in the air at the point of impact, she was sent flying down a hallway and into the darkness.
"Wow, look at her fly." Typhoeus said out loud while chuckling to himself. He tore out another chunk of the wolf¡¯s hide, and the wolf seemed to have chosen him as his next target.
"If you get hit by the next one you wont hear the end of it." Merlin warned him, driving yet another strike into the wolf¡¯s legs.
The wolf began snarling once more, and Merlin didn¡¯t even bother reacting this time. It seemed Typhoeus tried to make an effort to avoid the attack, and he had actually backed out ofbat distance before the boss showed its teeth. Unfortunately for him though, the boss closed the distance in a single hop and shed at him, sending him flying backwards.
Typhoeus tried digging his scythe into the ground to slow himself down, but all it did was create sparks and an obnoxious scraping noise as the scythe failed to prate the stone floor. Unable to stabilise himself, he began tumbling backwards while the boss¡¯ attention returned back to Merlin.
As the wolf turned around and began approaching him, Merlin heard a pitter-patter sound echoing within the cave, his attention left the wolf for a moment as he saw the glint of a rapier leave the darkness, followed shortly after by a very angry looking Snowbunny.
"How dare you send me flying you stupid mutt." She screamed as sprinted towards the boss, plunging her depletely into the wolf¡¯s side as she entered itsbat radius.
The boss had started baring its teeth at Merlin, but the lights in its eyes had suddenly vanished, and then it simply toppled over, falling to the ground like a rag doll. The group received a notification telling them they had defeated the boss.
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Congrattions, the boss has been in!
You have sessfully cleared the "Orchomenus Wolves Den".
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"It¡¯s actually dead?" Snowbunny said in surprise as she pulled her blood soaked sword out of the wolf¡¯s corpse. "That was a nightmare... Oh, I got something called the resourceful fighter title."
While Merlin was congratting her on the new title, Typhoeus had begun limping back into view with an embarrassed expression on his face. Snowbunny was staring him down with daggers, it seems she had heard his remark earlier.
After a round of banter, the group started searching around for loot drops, and they made sure to inspect the room the wolves were originally in. Amongst therge group of corpses, there was a handful of wolf fangs, a few meters of fur, and in the original room, they had found a dagger that looked to be made out of bone.
Merlin was given the dagger as it seemed he was the only one who used them in the group, and the other two split the rest of the animal parts. Merlin checked his new dagger¡¯s stats.
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[The Wolf¡¯s Fang. (Umon)]
? Damage: +9
? Dexterity: +1
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It was a pretty good dagger, in fact it was the strongest weapon he currently had in his arsenal as of the moment. Merlin considered using it as his primary weapon, with his goblin dagger as his offhand, since his sword and shieldbination had been ruined.
The group eventually made their way out of the dungeon, Merlin began checking his karma score, seeing if killing the boss had done anything to chip away at it. Overall it seemed to have dropped a fair bit, but that was mostly due to the sheer amount of wolves they had killed. The final boss would have only been worth around three points, as the kill reward scaling for karma went up by one point every three levels.
Unfortunately, even though he had improved his karma by a fair bit, it was still too low for him to enter settlements. He would have to spend a couple more hours to get his karma back to good standing.
He began twirling his new dagger around, and took a peek at his stats. Removing the origin status on his fighter soul had reduced his dexterity by two points, but this dagger mitigated the reduction by one, which wasn¡¯t so bad. Overall he seemed pretty pleased with his haul for the day.
Chapter 80: Corpse Eater
"Alright, I think this is where I leave you guys." Merlin spoke up, "I¡¯ve got a few more wolves to kill before I get my white name back."
"Aww, okay." Snowbunny sighed in disappointment. Typhoeus seemed a little sad about hearing these words too. "We could help you farm them if you wanted."
"It¡¯s all good, I¡¯ve got a pretty effective grinding spot. I don¡¯t think it¡¯d work any better with multiple people." Merlin exined. "Just keep levelling up and we¡¯ll meet up in the future."
Before he left, Merlin began chanting out the skill for cleanse, starting with Snowbunny. He started talking while waiting for his cooldown to end so he could cleanse the other one.
"Oh, and when you get to Macedonia, send me a message. I might have a way to get you guys into the thieves guild without you having to jump through hoops." Merlin suddenly had a thought and wondered if it would work.
"Thieves guild?" Both of them looked at him with confusion.
"Yeah, even if you¡¯re not going to be a thief, doing the first quests will give you four points in dexterity which helps a fair bit." Merlin continued while cleansing Typhoeus, and after ten more seconds he had finally cast cleanse on himself, allowing his white hair to be free of the blood and filth they had soaked up in the dungeon. "There we go, all clean. Alright, I¡¯ve got to get to work before the server shuts down, I¡¯ll catch you guyster."
Upon saying these words, Merlin left the party. He watched as Typhoeus and Snowbunny¡¯s names had shifted from green to white in an instant. If a person that wasn¡¯t in the party was around to see, their names would all have appeared red before two of them suddenly became white.
Merlin said his goodbyes to his friends before dashing back into the forest, and after checking that he hadn¡¯t been followed and that nobody else was in the area, he tracked down a level five dire wolf that was roaming around alone.
He would only have a few more minutes left until he received the notification to logout, twenty at the best, so he sped up his process.
After tracking down the wolf, he did the usual thing of entangling their legs so they couldn¡¯t run away before beating it within an inch of its life. What happened next strayed very far from his usual technique however, as he left the creature barely alive, and began shaving a section of its fur away with his dagger.
"The things I do for power." Merlin sighed to himself before sinking his teeth into the wolf¡¯s flesh. He ignored the disgusting texture of the wolf¡¯s muscles being torn apart in his mouth as he chewed. A disgusting tangy metal vour flooded his taste buds, but he still forced it down.
The wolf had died, and a small chunk of its corpse had been eaten, it was a fair bit smaller than what he had made Alvira consume, but it was most likely more than enough, she was the test dummy so that he didn¡¯t have to suffer without a guaranteed reward.
He repeated this several times, moving from wolf to wolf, beating them down within an inch of their lives and finishing them off with a bite, only to eat part of its corpse and skip to the next wolf. After the fourth wolf he was starting to feel really sick, but he forced himself to continue on for a total of ten wolves, promising himself that he¡¯d eat real food when he was done.
He finally got the two titles that Alvira mentioned earlier, and quickly took a look at their stats.
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[Predator.]
Those at the top of the food chain need only their fangs to kill.
? Jaw Strength: +100%
? Bite Damage: +50%
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First up was the title he was familiar with, it wasn¡¯t really useful unless you yed with race souls that actually utilised bite attacks, like werewolves, vampires or some zombies for example. But having extra buffs, regardless of their usefulness, always felt good to Merlin.
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[Corpse Eater.]
A sickening hobby practised by the most vile of creatures.
? Resistance to Consumed Poison: +60%
? Resistance to Consumed Disease: +60%
? Grants the skill ?Ghoulish Tendencies?.
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The next title was corpse eater, one that he was unfamiliar with. As he read the stats, everything that Alvira had said was correct. Resistance to consumed poison and disease, these two buffs were incredible, especially if you were doing a quest where having your food or drink poisoned was a possibility, such as a quest involving political figures, especially those with roots in the criminal underworld.
Merlin checked the skill that the title granted,
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?Ghoulish Tendencies?
What a tasty looking corpse, perhaps just a nibble?
? You have obtained the ability to determine a corpse¡¯s freshness at a nce.
? Regenerates 5% of your maximum health per second while actively consuming a recently killed corpse.
? Passive health regeneration increased by +200% for 5 seconds after consuming raw meat.
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It was an oddly useful looking passive skill, and Merlin would consider it overpowered if it wasn¡¯t for the morbid aspect of corpse eating required to both get the skill and trigger its effects.
Besides from corpse eating to regenerate his health, which was the only feature he was aware of due to Alvira¡¯s brief exnation, it contained a few utility abilities that he wasn¡¯t sure how he¡¯d be able to use right away.
The first ability being able to determine a corpse¡¯s freshness at a nce, which seemed to tie in with the main ability pretty well, but it may have some unrted benefits down the line.
The next ability was one that improved his passive health regeneration by two hundred percent for five seconds, and this one didn¡¯t actually specify corpse eating, but rather just raw meat. He would have to test what the system considered raw, but he was actually pretty happy about this part.
He stood up and began chanting the cleanse skill, causing the blood that had begun drying on his chin and neck to slowly peel off his body before vanishing.
¡¸Skill ?Cleanse? Activated.¡¹
"There we go, that feels better." Merlin scratched his neck that had recently been caked with blood. It was an ufortable feeling no matter how many times he had been caked with blood in the past four sessions.
Arge red notification box appeared before him, warning him that he was about to get logged out.
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[Message from the devs!]
The server will shut down in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time.
Thank you.
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While usually the first one out, this time around Merlin wasn¡¯t in a safe location, so he spent four minutes in a full sprint trying to get back near the main road at least. When he determined he was safe enough, he quickly logged out of the game, causing his body to get sent back into the white room.
One he was in the white room he pped the logout button, causing his virtual body to be thrown back into the void, and the next time he opened his eyes he was inside his capsule that had just started opening.
Arthur stepped outside of the pod, his senses were still getting readjusted to the outside world so it took him a few moments before he felt stable.
"You¡¯reter than usual." Maria and Acai were hovering around his pod, waiting for him toe out.
"I was deep in the forest when I got the notification, I had to sprint to safety." Arthur said whileughing.
"Did you clear your red name?" Acai asked, but Arthur shook his head in response. "You shouldn¡¯t be far off then."
"I¡¯ll have it cleared within an hour without issue." Arthur exined while walking towards the briefing room.
As the group travelled together, they came across a group of four that were standing around in the hallway chatting. Anky looking guy with sses, a tall curvy redhead, a hefty guy, and a familiar looking short girl with long ck hair instead of the blonde hair the group had seen in-game.
"Oh hey, it¡¯s the grape ghoul." Acai blurted out while pointing at the small girl as his group approached the roleyer¡¯s group.
"Who are you calling a grape, dim reaper." The short girl remarked, shooting back an insult that caused Maria to chuckle in the background.
"You were saving that one up for a while, weren¡¯t you?" Arthur stared at Acai while shaking his head slightly. "And you still got destroyed."
The two groups joined up and walked into the briefing room together, finding a set of seats where they could sit together to chat. More people starteding in, and the developers at the front were still setting up for the briefing, so it was fine to chat for a while longer. The roleyer group began talking about how difficult it was to move up north, due to the high level disparity, and Arthur suggested that west was probably the safer option if they wanted to visit a new city.
Chapter 81: The End of Week Two
After a few more minutes of casual chatting, the developers had finally finished setting up for the briefing. Withrger stacks of paper strapped to their clipboards this time around, a couple developers took the stage.
"Alright, can I have everyone¡¯s attention please?" He asked into the microphone, causing the current ongoing conversations to quicklye to an end. "We¡¯ve got a lot of information to cover, so we¡¯ll try make this as quick as we possibly can."
The first topic the developers began reading out stats regarding the beginner vige. This didn¡¯t benefit Arthur much as he left the vige on the second day, but he did find it interesting that there were still only a handful of people still in the vige doing quests, especially now that there were currently no bandits acting as gatekeepers to the next town.
The next point was that everyone in the game had at least one soul now, the mostmon soul being the fighter soul, as it was the easiest to acquire. There was actually a fair amount of yers that had two souls now, but it was generally the same three race souls.
The mostmon out of the three was the wild hare soul. This was a soul that Snowbunny had acquired on the first day and it seemed that the group that were crowding around her at the time wasted a significant amount of time grinding wild hares to acquire one for themselves.
The second mostmon out of the three were goblin souls. This was a soul that Typhoeus had acquired for himself at some point. The reason for the high number of people with the soul was simply because there were plenty of quests that called for the subjugation of goblins.
The third mostmon soul within the groups was a wolf soul. Not many people currently had them, but it was significant enough to count in the listings. The wolf souls were typically acquired after a yer had identally walked too deep into the forest surrounding Lycoa. The fight to the death that ensued had a small chance of rewarding a sessful yer, which seemed to be the reason why a handful of yers had one ording to the stats.
"Besides from the souls, we¡¯ve had the most titles granted today." The developer began reading out. "In fact, the titles acquired today alone outnumber the amount of titles acquired in the past two weeks."
"Wow, a handful of rarer titles have been handed out today, that¡¯s interesting." The developer seemed surprised as he read the sheet. He began looking at certain people in the room and nodding his head with approval, but once he turned to Arthur and Alvira, his facial expression showed great concern.
"It has been a busy day today, a lot of things happened, and we¡¯re looking forward to next session." Another developer took to the stand and began talking, "As you guys probably know, there was an event in Orchomenus that was caused by a yer, which caused a special undead to invade the town.
"That undead has since been killed, and a simr event should not happen for quite some time, so don¡¯t be turned away from the town." The developer began exining, "Apart from that, an important figure in the town has been killed, so you may find that the town will change drastically in theing days."
He hadn¡¯t leaked out the reason why an important figure had died, only that they had, which was public knowledge if you listened in to local gossip.
The developer began warning yers of potential changes that coulde. A world that adapts to yer choice was still a strange concept in games. So the developers took it upon themselves to give the yers a heads up that changes wereing to avoid any possible confusion.
A few more less interesting topics passed before they got to what they were expecting at the end, the leaderboard readings, but before that could happen the developer decided to throw out a single line that caused everyone in the meeting to stare at them.
"Congrattions to Snowbunny, Merlin and Typhoeus for being the first group to kill a level ten boss."
Arthur¡¯s group could feel several rows of daggers targeted towards them, but a few groups just seemed impressed, such as the roleyer group that began congratting them.
"Alright,ing in at third ce, a level three with two souls. Responsible for dealing major organ damage to the level ten boss, Typhoeus." The developer read out Acai¡¯s results before turning the page.
"Coming in at second ce, a level three with two souls. Responsible for dealing the killing blow to a level ten boss, Snowbunny." The developer flipped the page once more and continued.
Maria poked Acai and gave him a smug grin, it was the first time since session one that she had ended on top of him.
"And as usual,ing in at first ce. A level four with three souls, one of which being the first two star soul to be seen in the game. A man who has racked up a total of eight titles and who also contributed to the death of a level ten boss, Merlin." As the developer spoke, Arthur could feel the daggers that were targeted at his party focus solely on him, but he was too busy counting how many titles he had with his fingers.
"That is all for today¡¯s session, thank you all foring." The developers spoke up onest time, "Please remember that wave two starts as of next week, so for those of you still in the first vige, we¡¯d rmend getting out quickly. That is all."
With that, the session hade to an end. And after a few more minutes of conversation, the roleyer group started leaving first.
"Hey guys, do you have ns for the week?" Before Arthur¡¯s group could leave, Maria asked both the guys a question, "Or I mean, just this Friday."
"No, I should be free. Why, what¡¯s up?" Acai answered first, and she received a simr response from Arthur.
"My mother likes hosting tea parties, and there¡¯s oneing up this week, on Friday." Maria started nervously exining, "She always said that I could bring friends if I wanted, but I haven¡¯t really had any friends that I could invite before."
"Would you bothe if I invited you?" Maria asked with hopeful eyes.
"Sure thing, I don¡¯t mind." Arthur answered first, it was an opportunity to find out more about his teammate and get closer to her as a friend, he wouldn¡¯t turn this down even though he despised most social gatherings with rich people involved.
Acai held himself back from teasing her. He awkwardly scratched his head and said he didn¡¯t really do tea parties. But when Maria mentioned that cake was involved, he changed his tune pretty quickly.
"I¡¯ll text you guys the time and ceter." She said with an excited smile on her face. "Thanks!"
As the group started making their way out, they saw a familiar group hovering near the entrance. It was a very unhappy looking Kyle and his groupies, and when Arthur¡¯s group got near, Kyle attempted to block their path.
"Move aside jailbird." Arthur mocked him with a smug grin on his face. "Or are you trying to pick a fight in public?"
Arthur¡¯s re after saying those words sent a shiver down Kyle¡¯s spine. Arthur¡¯s face had already embedded itself in Kyle¡¯s subconscious, the appearance of this face always meant pain. But what was even more terrifying was his lineage.
It seemed as though Kyle had taken the advice Arthur gave himst time, after a quick google search it was easy to tell who had the more powerful family out of the two. Hell, Arthur¡¯s friends also held equally as scary backgrounds, a new money upstart like Kyle¡¯s family wouldn¡¯t darepete against any of them.
Kyle stood aside with his fists clenched, and Arthur walked past, leaving the guy with nothing but a bitter feeling. Arthur knew that the guy was going to retaliate at some point, Kyle was way too emotional over what amounted to kids fighting in a video game.
His inferiorityplex was unmatched, and while Arthur found it fun to torment the guy, Kyle¡¯s actions in-game were more extreme than what he did in the previous timeline. Things such as mass yer killing and forced recruitment were obnoxious acts he didn¡¯t dare try doingst time and it was very likely that certain yers weren¡¯t enjoying the game as much as they would have.
Arthur thought about bringing it up with his father, but that was typically a nuclear option that he¡¯d rather keep for ast resort. He figured he would try bring up his concerns with the developers instead if it escted any further.
The group split up and Arthur walked to Donovan¡¯s car as usual. He hopped into the passenger seat and sat back in the seat.
"Donovan, I¡¯ve got ns this Friday." Arthur said, which surprised him. "I got invited to a tea party."
"You are going to a tea party? Outside of family obligation?" Donovan spoke with a shocked expression that was obviously exaggerated, and then he started having too much fun with it. "Are you being coerced? Is it ckmail? Threats of violence? Are you feeling ill?"
"Donovan." Arthur spoke out in a stern voice, which interrupted Donovan¡¯s act. "Get a newedy routine. I though this one was exclusively for when I get invited to birthday parties."
"Yeah, but I don¡¯t get to use it that often." Donovan started the car up after his retort left Arthur feeling somewhat defeated.
Chapter 82: Average Weekday
"So, that thing you were excited for yesterday, how did that go?" Donovan asked with some lingering curiosity.
"It went really well." Arthur said while letting out a slight chuckle, "I¡¯m going to have to give some context before I tell you what I did."
For the drive home, Arthur began briefly exining relevant mechanics and details first, such as how NPC interaction worked, and the behaviour of Kyle, alongside his own history with the NPC he used as a target. He then described in detail the borate n that he had put into motion, both the tricking him into getting arrested and then framing him for murder.
"Oh that poor kid." Donovan was a little concerned at what he was hearing, but it was still pretty funny to hear. "Like father, like son."
They eventually arrived home, Arthur thanked Donovan before entering his house. He ran up to his room and took care of his nts before turning hisputer on and checking if his friends were online.
It seemed that Quinn and Holly were currently online, but Acai and Maria more than likely had not made it home yet. He sent a message in their group chat asking what they were up to, and he received a message from Quinn saying that they had just finished a game and were taking a short break.
Arthur received a message from Maria with the address and time, and an extra note that informed him there wasn¡¯t a strict dress code. Thatst part was something Arthur appreciated, he found that dress codes were obnoxious, and he disliked ck tie events in particr.
Arthur joined the voice chat, and a few minutester Maria joined too and began talking with Holly. Acai hadn¡¯t joined yet, but he sent a message in chat telling everyone that he¡¯d be on sometimeter. Eventually Arthur¡¯s father and sister came home and he left the call to go have dinner with them.
"So, Donovan told me you epted an invitation for a tea party." Arthur¡¯s father spoke up, but his questioning carried a slight teasing tone. "Did a lovelydy finally catch your interest?"
"Aww, is our little Art all grown up now?" Anna joined in with the teasing. "Who¡¯s the lucky girl?"
"No, nothing like that." Arthur made sure to keep a straight face to not give either of them any satisfaction. "I¡¯ve made a few friends at the facility, and one asked us to join their family¡¯s tea party. I didn¡¯t see a reason to refuse."
"Oh? That¡¯s a first." His father¡¯s face lit up with surprise, but he didn¡¯t ask any more questions. Anna also lost interest pretty quickly when she saw that Arthur wasn¡¯t reacting with embarrassment like he used to do when she teased him about girls.
Dinner had ended, and after cleaning up after himself, Arthur made his way back up to his room. When he checked to see who was still around, he noticed that Quinn had gone to y another game, Maria and Holly were ying together and Acai wasn¡¯t on yet. Instead of ying games or watching videos, he decided to instead work through his workout routine, hoping that by the time he finished, everyone would have returned.
As he waspleting thest few reps of his workout, he received a couple notifications on his phone that told him Acai had finally returned. It seemed they would be able to fit in a couple games as a five-man party.
As they yed through the games, Arthur started asking Holly and Quinn a few probing questions about what they nned on doing within New Genesis. One of the major points he was curious about was their intended y style or build.
Arthur¡¯s group consisted of three melee damage types as of the moment, he was wondering if either of them nned on ying ranged or magic sses. Even if they decided on the spot, Arthur knew that it was highly likely they would change their opinion once they got in game, so he didn¡¯t want to try force them into choosing a role. Instead he made sure to specify that they should choose what sounded fun and that they werefortable using.
From the sounds of it, Quinn wanted to y more of a support role, and when Arthur told him he could be a tank and healer at the same time he seemed ecstatic. Whereas Holly thought of using a whip or a bow, but also wanted to use magic. She settled on the idea of a magic archer in her head, but was also still thinking about using a whip, at least as a side weapon.
The group yed a few games before bringing the session to an end. Arthur started performing his bedtime routine while reading the group chat on his phone. He made his way into bed and began reading until he started falling asleep.
The next morning, Arthur didn¡¯t bother logging in just yet. Instead he did his morning routine and threw on some clothes that were eptable to wear in theboratory, alongside his credentials that he had to use within theb, before leaving the house. He entered theboratory through the garden and upon entering theb, he made his way straight towards the special elevator that would lead to the floor he wanted.
Arthur grabbed his keycard and swiped it against the elevator¡¯s call panel, causing the panel to sh green, followed by a white number appearing on the panel that quickly got smaller as the elevator approached. When the number stopped counting down, the elevator doors opened momentster, Arthur entered the elevator.
"One passenger detected, Master Arthur Holmes, identity confirmed... Where would you like to go?" A robotic voice spoke out as the elevator door closed.
"Operator, bring me to the virtual reality floor please." Arthur ordered, causing the elevator to respond with a confirmation before it started moving quickly.
When he reached the virtual reality floor, he was reintroduced to familiar long hallways that featured nothing but a white paint job and cobalt blue stripes. He made his way through the hallways devoid of any life, turning down several corners and ignoring several doors, until he found a room that wasbelled as the developer¡¯s office.
After opening the door into the office, Arthur was greeted with the sight of what looked to be a normal office room. There were several desks around the ce that were covered with personal effects, and each desk had a minimum of two monitors each, with several having three or even four monitor, which Arthur found to be a bit excessive.
There were a couple people currently in the office that were mming away at theirputers while appearing to be busy. Arthur¡¯s eyes locked onto one person in particr, one of the developers that worked as a project manager. That person had been there during theb ident and recently almost suffered a grievous ident had it not been for Arthur¡¯s quick reaction time and his currently unexined foresight ability.
Arthur walked into the room and approached the product manager, who at the time seemed like he was really invested in what he was currently working on, to the point that he didn¡¯t even notice Arthur approach.
Arthur didn¡¯t want to interrupt the guy¡¯s momentum, so he just sat beside him until he broke out of his current working mindset. It didn¡¯t take long for the developer to hit a snag, snapping him out of the trance, when he turned around to start pacing around the room, he noticed Arthur sitting right next to him.
"Oh my go--, how long have you been sitting there?" The developer asked while holding a hand over his chest.
"Only about seven minutes." Arthur responded while checking his watch, "I wanted to talk about a concern I had with the beta."
The developer heard him out, Arthur began talking about the various incidents that had happened in-game rting to the yer LordKyle. He brought up issues such as the mass yer killing that happened around the beginner vige and the forced recruitment into LordKyle¡¯s group at the risk of violence, and he pointed out a few of his concerns in regards to yer enjoyment because of the issues mentioned.
The developer began exining that they had simr concerns, especially in regards to new yers. And that they were currently working on a few methods of protecting the new yers and dissuading simr actions from urring again.
Arthur seemed satisfied with the direction the developers decided to take, he thanked the developer for his time and left him to get back to his work. Arthur made his way through the barren hallways once more, and back through the special elevator, as he returned home.
After quickly switching back intofortable clothes, he turned hisputer on and continued his day. After a few hours, everyone had finallye online and they resumed their winning streak once more.
The next few days yed out in a simr fashion. He woke up and did his morning routine, followed by watering his nts, then working out, and finally logging onto hisputer and ying games for most of the day with his friends.
This loop had been broken much faster than expected as neither of the girls logged in on Wednesday. The same thing happened on Thursday and then Friday finally came but it didn¡¯t seem like the girls were going to log in today either.
That was until Maria sent a message into the group chat at thest minute saying that she was looking forward to seeing everyone at the tea partyter that day.
Chapter 83: The Watts Estate - I
"So both of you are going to the tea party thing?" Quinn asked in the voice chat.
"Yeah, are you not going?" Acai replied, asking a question of his own.
"It doesn¡¯t really sound like something I¡¯d be interested in. I don¡¯t even like tea." Quinn replied, "Well, go have fun, I¡¯ll be here to y when you get back."
As the day progressed it started getting really close to the event¡¯s start time, and at this point Arthur had received a notification that Donovan was on his way to pick him up. So after saying goodbye to his friends, he logged off and started picking out an outfit that would be considered eptable for the event.
Maria had told him that casual was perfectly fine, based on this information alongside the weather and temperature forecast, Arthur decided that he didn¡¯t need a jacket or cardigan. He settled on a nice white button-up long sleeved shirt with afortable pair of dark-blue dress cks, and a pair of ck sneakers to finish the look.
Arthur wasn¡¯t one to essorise, picking out an outfit was annoying enough, more variables was just a pain and he didn¡¯t really care about jewellery in the first ce. He considered wearing a watch at least, but he quickly decided against it.
Eventually Donovan had arrived, and Arthur made his way to the car after making sure he grabbed everything he needed.
Arthur hopped into the car and Donovan drove him to the address that he was given. Arthur noticed that Donovan¡¯s expression changed when he nced at the address, although he didn¡¯t bother mentioning anything.
The address he was given was fairly deep within an expensive residential area of the city. Arthur¡¯s house was located in the same expensive residential area, albeit just on the border of it. This was due to the house being built right behind his family¡¯sboratory which had to be ced in themercial district.
But even if the two houses were in the same general area, the drive still took several minutes toplete. During this drive, Arthur noticed that the buildings started getting spaced further and further away from each other, and plots ofnd became so big that the obscenelyrge mansions with too much wasted space only took up a small percentage of the totalnd.
Driving a little further he had finally entered the area where the plots ofnd had be so excessivelyrge that one had to spend another minute driving from the front gate to the main building, and people began considering forests as part of their gardens.
"Here we are." Donovan spoke up as he approached arge iron wrought gate with an borate design and a stylised crest featuring the letter "W" in the centre. This gate in particr had a small building beside it, housing what seemed to be a security guard.
Donovan drove up to the gate, and he pulled up beside a window near the gatehouse where he could now speak with the guard.
"Could I get a form of identification please?" The guard requested while trying to get a good look at the passenger.
Donovan pulled out his identification, as well as apany identification card indicating his position in the Holmes family¡¯spany, the guard¡¯s eyes widened when he noticed the Holmes family crest.
"I¡¯m currently escorting master Arthur Holmes, is that enough identification?" Donovan asked while putting on an air of importance. The guard confirmed his identity and gave him his identification back before opening the gate.
"Wow, look at you mister big shot." Arthur said in an obviously sarcastic manner shortly after Donovan began driving into the estate. Donovan jokingly puffed out his chest in response, knowing that Arthur didn¡¯t mean anything by it.
As they drove further into the estate, arge building, which was more fair to call a castle than a mansion, appeared from behind the treeline.
Upon seeing the building, a strange feeling started bubbling up within Arthur. Something about the building felt familiar, but he couldn¡¯t understand why. He knew for a fact that he had never met Maria outside of the game in the previous timeline, he had spoken to her a few times in-game, but that was the extent of their interaction.
"Donovan, why does this ce feel familiar?" An ufortable feeling started building up in his throat, causing it to croak slightly when he asked his chauffeur a question. "I¡¯ve never been here before, have I?"
"Oh?" Donovan seemed surprised when he was asked the question, which wasn¡¯t the response Arthur expected, but Donovan continued. "I didn¡¯t expect that you would remember this ce, you were just a baby after all."
Arthur¡¯s mind started exploding with questions, but he hadn¡¯t yet voiced them out loud, he was just trying to work it all out in his head.
Just why was this ce familiar? Based on what Donovan just said he had been here before.
Why would Arthur have been here as a baby? This was a strange point, when it came to social events hosted within the upper echelon, children under a certain age were just left with family or caregivers in order to not embarrass the family or ruin the event.
It wasn¡¯t umon that the two families would have had some interaction. Maria was in the first wave of the beta test, so it was likely that her family was a major shareholder of his family¡¯spany. But there was also just the chance she won a spot in the auction, and considering the castle it was obvious that her family didn¡¯tck any money.
But in the case of the families being close, then why has he never been here since he was a baby? Perhaps they just didn¡¯t host events that often... But then again, Maria had mentioned that her mother had hosted several tea parties before. And her main concern was that she just didn¡¯t have friends to invite the previous times, which meant the family did host events.
What was the reason for Donovan¡¯s reaction when he saw the address? What about the guard¡¯s reaction, why did he seem shocked when learning of Arthur¡¯s family?
In his mind, clearly something had happened between the two families, but even if that were the case he would have at least heard something in regards to the drama.
Arthur began wracking his brain further, trying to think of any events that would happen in the future between the two families, but he couldn¡¯t think of a single moment when they interacted. So maybe it wasn¡¯t that big of a thing after all?
"You have been here before. Several times in fact." Donovan noticed that Arthur seemed to be struggling, so he decided to end his suffering. "Although thest time you were here was when you had just turned four."
"But why was I here, and why only as a baby?" Arthur couldn¡¯t help but blurt out the questions that were floating around in his head. "Why haven¡¯t I been here since?"
"This is where your mother used to bring you during the day." Donovan slowed down the car as he began exining Arthur¡¯s past. "Back when Anna was in school, instead of leaving you with the caregivers, she used to bring you with her when she visited."
Arthur noticed that the tone in his voice became darker as he continued, it seemed the topic was rather dark, as even the always-cheerful Donovan seemed depressed just by telling the story.
"You used to y around on the table, licking the frosting off of all the cupcakes you could get your hands on." Donovanughed a little as he retold this part of the story, "You used to scare me every time you came close to rolling off the table, but your mother always told me that you were fine. That you would never fall, and she was right."
"What rtionship does our family have with them?" Arthur asked, he was always happy hearing about his mother, but right now he was more concerned with who this family was, why they had connections with them, and why they he hasn¡¯t visited them or heard anyone talk about the family since.
"Besides the obvious case of investment. The only other connection we have, or had, to the Watts family was your mother." Donovan exined as simply as he could. "The current head of the household and the mother of your friend, Olivia-Rose Watts, is your mother¡¯s cousin."
"So, they¡¯re family. Why have I not heard of them before?" Arthur threw out another question, he was shocked. How in the forty-eight years that he had been alive for, could he not have at least heard that he was somewhat rted to another prominent family that he lived only a few minutes away from?
"The two families had a falling out more than a decade ago and refused to speak with each other." Donovan exined, "Your father publicly dered that he would no longer consider them to be family and refused to invite them to any of the Holmes family¡¯s social events, they began doing the same in return."
"Why?" Is all Arthur could muster, he was beyond confused. He knew his father¡¯s track record for being over the top and stubborn, but he was incredibly reasonable to those he considered family, why would he suddenly purge his actual family?
"You were just four at the time, so you¡¯ve probably repressed the memory." Donovan finally dropped the bomb that answered all of Arthur¡¯s questions, especially the reason why Donovan made the expression he did earlier. "This is where your mother died..."
"No..." He corrected himself, his voice was now cracking but he forced himself to finish, "This is where your mother was murdered. Right in front of you."
Chapter 84: The Watts Estate - II
Donovan watched as Arthur¡¯s hands convulsed with anger, he could only imagine the thoughts running through his mind. Donovan pulled over to the side and stopped the car, giving Arthur enough time to calm down.
Arthur just sat in silence while he processed what Donovan just told him. His current thoughts were so chaotic that he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to know anymore. He spent forty-eight years believing his mother died peacefully, that she had a weak body and passed away due to natural causes.
But now Donovan, a man who he had trusted with everything for the entirety of his life, was telling him that his mother was murdered right in front of him.
Arthur¡¯s hands stopped shaking, at it was at this point that Donovan prepared himself for an avnche of questions. It was likely that Arthur would close himself off from the outside world, or that he¡¯d push his family away and run from home. He wasn¡¯t sure what to do in order to minimise the damage, but he had to try.
Arthur held himself back fromshing out in anger. After a sharp exhale, he opened his mouth and asked a single question. "Why did you tell me that?"
Donovan didn¡¯t know how to answer at first. He wasn¡¯t expecting that question out of all the other possible questions that a seventeen year old kid would ask in this situation.
He wanted to try think of an answer that would result in a positive oue, but it was clear from Arthur¡¯s expression that he didn¡¯t appreciate waiting, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of. "There was a chance you would have found out about it today, I didn¡¯t want you to find out from someone else."
Arthur¡¯s eyes locked onto Donovan¡¯s face, and he felt rage bubble up inside of him. On the tip of his tongue was an angry rant about how he wished he heard it from his family instead of from Donovan.
But he didn¡¯t say anything. He knew he wouldn¡¯t have meant it. Arthur already considered Donovan family, he was like a big brother to him. Or rather he considered him as an uncle, as he was more of a parental figure than his father ever was.
Arthur refused to take this out on Donovan, he knew better than that. But even though he had the memories and experiences of a forty-eight year old man, his body was still immature and emotional. It felt like his young body was fighting his adult mind, and often times it won.
It was a strange feeling he had to deal with, and ever since he began feeling emotions that he wouldn¡¯t usually be so affected by, like the guilt he felt after the bandit camp was exterminated, he knew something wasn¡¯t right.
After a deep breath, Arthur rationalised his thoughts. He didn¡¯t have to be told why this was hidden from him. He already knew it was his father¡¯s orders as usual, and anything his father said was gospel. The only person who would dare disobey him was the man sitting beside him, clearly holding back tears of his own.
"Thank you." Arthur breathed out a sigh, his mind had finally won over his body¡¯s emotions, allowing him to suppress the anger he felt. "I won¡¯t bring this up, especially not to father. So don¡¯t mention it to him in some strange moment of weakness either."
Donovan could tell something strange was going on, this wasn¡¯t the sort of behaviour he hade to expect of Arthur. Even if he seemed to suddenly change after the ident, from what Donovan could tell he just seemed to be more confident. But his current attitude seemed dangerous, he was violently shaking with anger mere moments ago, but had somehow suppressed his emotions after hearing his mother was murdered.
Warning signs were shing in Donovan¡¯s mind, and he remembered Dr. Martin mention something concerning about Arthur¡¯s mental activity, and Donovan believed that he just found the consequence of it.
They sat in silence for a few minutes longer, before Arthur asked another question. "Did they ever catch who did it?"
This was a question Donovan expected earlier, and while he was originally going to lie, he decided to just tell Arthur everything.
"When the police began their investigation, they found traces of blood somewhere on the fence. The police determined that the murderer had cut himself on one of the spikes while jumping over." Donovan exined, "The blood they found was already on record, linked to amon criminal with a couple charges for battery, assault and burry."
"If they caught the guy, why did my father disown the Watts family?" Arthur asked, surely he wasn¡¯t going to me them for a criminal jumping over their wall andmitting a random act of murder.
"Well, they didn¡¯t catch the guy." Donovan corrected him. "He was found a weekter, face down in an alleyway with his throat slit. They never found his killer, and further investigation showed that he was receivingrge sums of money from an unknown source."
"So, he was silenced?" Arthur¡¯s scarily calm expression twisted into anger once more, but he still seemed calm, "It wasn¡¯t a random kill, it was a hit... Is that what you¡¯re suggesting?"
Donovan felt his throat tighten, he thought he had already circumvented the worst of it, but he was now thinking that was probably not the case.
"Why was my father angry at the Watts family? Does he suspect that they paid the killer? Or is there another reason, were they still somehow involved in this, or is father just ming them?" Arthur asked a bunch of questions at once. He just wanted the answer but all he was left with were more questions. "Just tell me why father has it out for them."
"It was likely that your mother wasn¡¯t the target." Donovan exined with a sombre tone. "After her death, Olivia was attacked a few dayster. The assassination failed, and then there was yet another attempt a few weeks after that."
"We believe your mother was mistaken for Olivia, and was killed in her ce." Donovan continued, "Your father med the Watts for her death, and Olivia wasn¡¯t even allowed to attend the funeral."
"After this, your father began spending more time in the office, overworking himself to avoid thinking about histe wife, and ended up pushing you and Anna away as a result." Donovan cleared his throat and wiped the moisture that was forming around his eyes on his sleeve. "Due to your father locking himself away in hisb, there wasn¡¯t any chance for the two families to repair their rtionship, so they eventually decided to mutually avoid each other."
"And you know the rest. Your father only snapped out of his depression after almost losing you a few yearster." Donovan said. "That incident forced him to reconnect with his family, but by that time the damage had already been done."
"So what is going to happen when I walk in there?" Arthur asked calmly, he was mostly concerned about the fact that a possible oue of today was getting screamed at by Maria¡¯s mother for something his father did. "I¡¯m not going to get attacked or anything, am I?"
Donovanughed at Arthur¡¯s question, he started the car back up before he began talking again. "Olivia isn¡¯t that sort of person, so it should be fine. You might as well find out by yourself, what¡¯s the worst that could happen?"
Arthur had several more questions about the situation that he wanted to ask, but he figured he could find out afterwards. Instead he decided to focus on meeting a rtive he wasn¡¯t aware even existed. He also just realised that this meant that Maria was technically his distant cousin, which was a surprising revtion all on its own.
As the car continued driving along the road, theyer of trees suddenly ended and the surroundings opened up to showcase a massive flower garden that separated the castle from the forest.
"This ce would kill you if you didn¡¯t take an antihistamine, huh?" Arthur yfully asked Donovan while gazing out towards the field of flowers. Donovan silently nodded in response.
They eventually pulled up to arge parking space that was full of expensive looking cars.
"It looks like Olivia can still manage to fill her events." Donovan said while looking for a spot to park, "I think I can see a few I recognise."
Donovan parked the car and the two stepped out of the vehicle. They made their way up towards the excessivelyrge patio that overlooked the garden, and sitting around the various tables on the patio were rich looking people who were busy speaking amongst themselves.
A few eyes fell on the pair momentarily, but everyone seemed more interested in what they were currently doing. Arthur couldn¡¯t see Acai or Maria yet, but he continued scanning around looking for a familiar face.
"Oh, Donovan is that you?" A woman¡¯s voice could suddenly be hearding from behind them. "Is that grumpy old fool ready to apologise, or did youe here looking for a job?"
Arthur and Donovan turned around to see a busty woman sporting a ck form-fitting pencil dress and an assortment of pearl essories. Arthur noticed that the woman did indeed have some resemnce to the pictures he had seen of histe mother.
"Hello Olivia, good to see you too." Donovan responded in a sarcastic manner, shrugging off the negative introduction. "Neither of those options happen to be the case today, but there is someone here that you probably want to meet."
Chapter 85: The Watts Estate - III
Donovan stepped aside and directed his hands towards Arthur, who stood there and awkwardly waved.
"Arthur¡¯s here!" A voice resounded from behind him, and he heard a familiar set of footsteps quickly close in on him "You¡¯re thest one to arrive."
Maria came into Arthur¡¯s vision as she spoke. She was wearing a form-fitting pair of light-grey dress cks, and a dark-grey in long sleeve shirt that she had tucked into her pants, creating a casual look that fit the party¡¯s aesthetic pretty well.
"Arthur?" Olivia mumbled out loud as he watched her daughter interact with the boy next to Donovan. She mumbled out a question, to which she received a quick nod from Donovan in response. "Arthur Holmes?"
"What¡¯s wrong mother?" Maria asked, as she noticed tears forming in her mother¡¯s eyes. She watched as her mother practically sprinted towards Arthur, locking him into a warm embrace. She only managed to register what had happened a few moments after the fact. "What the hell are you doing?"
Olivia didn¡¯t respond to her daughter¡¯s questions. She continued to hold the boy close, almost suffocating him with her bosom. It wasn¡¯t until Donovan cleared his throat that she realised what she was doing. Olivia promptly broke away from the embrace and wiped the tears that were streaming down her face.
"I seem to have lost myself for a moment there, I apologise." Olivia returned to her usual behaviour in an attempt to regain some level of dignity. "Maria, please entertain Arthur for the moment. Arthur, I would love to speak with youter, but I must attend to some guests."
"As would I." Arthur responded in a polite manner. "I¡¯ll make sure to leave some space openter in the day if you would like to speak then."
"Oh my. Who would have known that adorable child would have grown up to be a man with such manners." Olivia teased, "I doubted that the grumpy old troll would have taught his children anything of value. Fortunately it seems as though you take after your mother, so you would have been fine regardless."
She was a rather aggressive nderer of his father, but Arthur understood her frustrations with the man. Arthur himself had more than a few frustrations of his own. Arthur turned to face a confused looking Maria, and Acai standing a few meters back eating a small cupcake.
Acai was wearing a pair of dark-grey dress pants and a light-blue short sleeved buttoned-up shirt that had too many buttons unfastened, showcasing more skin than necessary, alongside his various nes and bead jewellery.
After getting permission to leave on the condition that Arthur promised to spend some time with herter, Arthur briefly said goodbye to her and Dovonan, who looked as though he wanted to talk to her in private. Maria began leading the group through the inside of the house.
"What the hell was that about?" Maria blurted out the second she believed nobody was around to hear her. Her mother acting like that was a strange urrence, so there was definitely some story here she didn¡¯t yet know. "How do you know my mother?"
"It¡¯s, a bit of a long story actually, I just found out about it on the way here." Arthur began speaking in a hushed voice. "You¡¯ll find out the restter, but to put it bluntly, you and I are distant cousins. Long-lost cousins I guess."
This revtion left Maria somewhat surprised, but after a couple more questions she found out that their two families were estranged. It started making sense in her mind, but she didn¡¯t yet know why they were estranged in the first ce, or why her mother reacted the way she did. And unfortunately for her, Arthur just kept telling her that she¡¯d find out about itter until she eventually dropped it while pouting.
"Dude, I¡¯m jealous." Was the onlyment Acai made to Arthur during the walk, and after doing so he squealed in pain as Maria grabbed a portion of his side and began painfully twisting it.
Arthur was confused at first, but Maria was kind enough to exin the context of the situation. It seemed as though Acai began mentioning that Maria¡¯s mother was attractive, and Maria jokingly responded telling him to be careful, as Olivia would gobble up boys like him. What Maria didn¡¯t expect was that after herment, Acai appeared to be more interested, but she wasn¡¯t sure if he was joking or not.
Thinking back, Arthur remembered that Acai did have a thing for older women. But at the same time he made a note to not include married women or the mothers of people he knew onto his list of potential partners. So while he may in-fact be physically attracted to Olivia, it was likely that he was just teasing Maria.
The group make their way through the inside of the castle, and as Arthur assumed based on the outside, this ce wasrge, excessively so. After climbing a flight of stairs and walking down a few hallways, the group were now in front of arge set of doors on the east side of the castle.
Maria pushed the doors open, revealing a massive room that rivalled Arthur¡¯s entire floor. This room was absolutely packed with furniture and decorations, and much like what Arthur assumed it would be, it was arge mashup of various shades of pink and white.
Sticking true to her nickname of the lover of all things cute, there was an entire wall dedicated to the storage and disy of stuffed plushy toys. Which ended up as more of arge section of the room as several morerger plushies were scattered and stacked along the floor in the same general area.
Arthur¡¯s eyes locked onto therge king sized bed with a canopy, the pillows and nkets were all shades of pinks and whites, but that wasn¡¯t the detail he was concerned about. Rather his eyes locked onto the person who wasying down on Maria¡¯s bed, casually ying with her phone.
Maria ran into the room and leapt onto the bed, causing Holly to be shaken around. Due to the fact she was so focused on her phone, it seemed as though she didn¡¯t notice the group enter, this left her vulnerable to a surprise attack from Maria.
Holly was wearing a simple yet elegant light-blue summer dress, she didn¡¯t essorise with it, but her sses were coincidentally also a light blue. She had her wavy brown hair tied up, but herying down seemed to have ruined it a little.
Arthur and Acai entered the room, closing the door behind them as instructed. Acai helped himself to one of the seats that was ced around a small spherical table. While Arthur walked over to Holly and started talking to her.
"You¡¯re surprisinglyfortable in the princess¡¯ castle." Arthur teased, remembering a time when she was embarrassed every time she visited Arthur¡¯s house. Holly awkwardlyughed in response, it seemed she was still embarrassed, but Maria¡¯s overly affectionate personality seemed to be beating Holly¡¯s more reserved nature.
Arthur was pretty surprised that the two had bonded with each other as well as they did, especially in such a short period of time. It seemed that both of them were really desperate for a female friend of a simr age, and their personalities just so happened to mesh together well.
Looking around the room, Arthur¡¯s eyes locked on to a fancy ornamental rapier that was hung up on the wall, and surrounding it were a bunch of trophies and medals, they all seemed to be for fencingpetitions, and arge majority of them were for winning. Arthur was already convinced that she had been trained in the use of rapiers before entering the game, but this just served as proof that she was much better than he thought.
While the two girls sat around on the bed, Maria brushed Holly¡¯s hair and started restyling it, as thest hairstyle had gotten messy. Arthur grabbed a chair next to Acai as the group continued talking about various topics for several minutes.
"So you guys haven¡¯t been online because you¡¯ve been hanging out together, huh?" Acai was really curious why the two hadn¡¯t been online for the past couple days, and now he finally had his answer. "I guess that makes sense. But we had to y with two randoms in ranked, and I lost my rank up game because of it."
After the groupughed at Acai¡¯s expense for a bit, they continued their previous conversations until there was a knock at the door. Someone came in an informed the group that the tea party had properly begun.
Everyone stood up and began making their way out of the room, Arthur¡¯s eyes nced over at aundry hamper that was poorly hidden near the entrance, it would have beenpletely obscured by the door as he walked in, but it was almost in in sight on their way out. While not meaning to pry, he noticed that there was a familiar looking summer dress hanging from it.
Arthur found the coincidence somewhat funny, although one of the girls was essentially English nobility and the other was the daughter of two famous archaeologists, they had several things inmon, and apparently one of them was a simr taste in fashion.
The group was led back towards the front door, where they could now see that the front patio was beginning to fill up, but fortunately there was a table where all four of them could sit together at.
"Oh, Arthur. I heard that one of your hobbies is gardening, would you be interested in seeing our gardenter?" Maria asked, "It¡¯s much more impressive than the front garden."
"That sounds interesting." Arthur replied as his eyes gazed over to Holly, who just so happened to break eye contact sheepishly. It seemed that the two had some kind of girl talk at some point, and Arthur¡¯s hobbies were included. He didn¡¯t really mind that he was being talked about, but he was curious about the context that caused him to get brought up in the first ce.
Chapter 86: The Watts Estate - IV
The tea party had officially started now that everyone was in attendance. The centre table that previously had a few snacks to indulge on was now slowly starting to fill up as servants of the Watts family beganing out from the kitchen with more prepared food.
There were several types of confectionery, such as scones, cupcakes and shortbread cookies, as well as some light meals and finger food for those who wanted something more savoury, such as arge variety of finger sandwiches and quiches.
The servants began making their rounds to each table, asking everyone what type of tea they¡¯d like. When the servants came around to Arthur¡¯s table, his group ordered three Earl Grey teas and one Darjeeling, with Maria being the odd one out.
The secondrge cakes were introduced to the table, Acai had practically vanished from his chair to grab a slice or two, everyone else chose to wait for their tea before jumping at the food. The girls seemed to continue a conversation they were having before the boys arrived.
"So, we probably can¡¯t do it tomorrow or the day after because of the game thing, so does Monday work for you?" Maria asked Holly in a hushed voice. "I¡¯ve got some ideas in mind for yours."
"Monday works." Holly answered, "But remember, you cant go over the price limit."
"I won¡¯t, promise... Here, I¡¯ll show you one." Maria pulled out her phone, swiped for a few seconds and then pointed the screen towards Holly.
Arthur caught a glimpse of the screen, it seemed to be some kind of store page for a dress. From the context clues he realised that they were probably picking out outfits for each other.
A few minutester the tea had been served, and Acai came back to the table with a te stacked with slices of all of the cake options and a few smaller confectioneries. The rest of their table went for food, and Arthur came back first with a few finger sandwiches and a slice of quiche.
"Your dentist must love you." Maria remarked sarcastically as she watched Acai devour a te of sweets, to which she received a yfully rude gesture in response. Arthur was surprised at how close these two had gotten in such a short period of time as well, to the point they could banter like siblings.
The group enjoyed their tea, and once they were satisfied their group decided to pay a visit to the garden. Out of the entire group, Holly seemed to be the most excited for some reason.
Where the front garden was just a field of flowers, the garden behind the house was significantlyrger, and rather than just a field of flowers it was more fair to call it a paradise or what was essentially a private botanical garden.
There was a vast range of nts, all separated into their own categories andbelled, Arthur followed along as Maria lead the group down one of the various paths that cut through the garden, but he walked behind everyone else as he started reading all thebels on the nts.
"Oh wow, this ce is amazing." Arthur said with excitement. "You¡¯ve got so many protected species."
"See? I told you he¡¯d love it." Holly remarked.
As they continued down the path it eventually opened up a bit, and there were a few statues and other pieces of art scattered around, but Arthur noticed that Holly began hovering towards what looked to be some kind of rusty cannon with an excited grin on her face.
"Come check this one out!" Holly said to the rest of the group.
Arthur approached the cannon, and his eyes locked onto a podium that was situated next to the cannon, featuring a que that had more information about it.
ording to the que, the cannon was extracted from the shipwreck of the SS President, a British passenger liner that was lost at sea in March 1841.
It was an interesting find, but it didn¡¯t seem so important that the history buff Holly would be this ecstatic about it. And it was only once he began thinking like this that his eyes skipped to the next line, then it all made sense.
"Well would you look at that." Arthur said with an impressed tone in his voice.
The next line on the que mentioned that the archaeologists responsible for its extraction just so happened to be Holly¡¯s parents. He now knew why she was acting like this, of the dozen or so cannons that they extracted, one of them just so happened tond in thep of someone she knew.
Arthur figured it wouldn¡¯t have been that big of a coincidence. His own family had been close friends with Holly¡¯s family long before Arthur and Holly started going to school together, and if this were before the estrangement, that meant that Maria¡¯s family could have also been rather close as well.
Still, Arthur liked that Holly found happiness in seeing traces of her parents in the most unexpected of ces, due to their line of work they rarely ever came home, so she had to savour little encounters like this.
They had left her alone for most of her life in search of exploration and adventure. And in herter years, Holly finally admitted that she believed her parents considered adventuring as something far more important to them than their own daughter.
Even though her own house was more like a national museum with how many relics were stored inside of it, it wasn¡¯t the same as seeing their name in public. When she saw the relics at home, she was just reminded that her parents considered their house as nothing but a ce to store things they didn¡¯t want, including her.
The reason Holly excelled in history above all else was because she wanted to understand why her parents went to the extent they did for discovery. Because maybe if she could experience the same thing, she would be able to forgive them at least a little.
The group eventually made their way around arge section of the garden, and they eventually came across a bed of roses. The most interesting part of this area of the garden was that the seven different types of roses that were growing in the one rose bed each had a separate colour and were arranged in such a way that they created a rainbow.
"Oh, that¡¯s cute." Arthur praised while closely inspecting one of the blue roses. He wanted to see if it was gically altered or if it was just dyes, but from what he could tell, it seemed to be gically altered. "Your gardener is very good at their job, this is quite the collection."
Maria and Arthur lead the next conversation for a while, Maria mentioned that Arthur should visit some other day when the gardener is here. Their conversation was abruptly stopped when Holly pointed out that Arthur¡¯s hand was bleeding.
"Oh, that¡¯s weird, I must have cut it on something earlier." Arthur looked at his right hand with a confused expression.
A servant came to inform the group that the rest of the party had begun leaving, and that she was looking for Arthur for their promised conversation. The group made their way back to the patio at the front of the house.
"Well, I think this is where I say goodbye." Acai broke away from the group after seeing his driver step out from the car. "Thanks for the cake, I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow."
The group watched as Acai hopped into a car and drove away. Maria¡¯s mother noticed the group, but was currently too busy seeing all of her guests off.
Once everyone was gone, and only Olivia, Maria, Holly and Arthur remained. Everyone took a seat around a table and the other two just listened as Olivia and Arthur began talking.
First they had covered the events that lead up to the death of Arthur¡¯s mother, and the issues that followed. Maria and Holly had begun tearing up when they heard about it. Holly was previously told that Arthur¡¯s mother had died of natural causes when he was younger, but she had just suddenly been told that she was murdered instead, it left her feeling shocked. Maria had finally put some pieces together, and now knew why her mother had hugged Arthur the way she did.
Instead of focusing on some of the darker parts of their lives, Olivia began asking Arthur about the life he lived. Arthur began exining that the earlier parts of his life were just a blur for him, but he remembered that his father never came home, and he was taken care of by various servants instead, especially Donovan. He then told her that his father suddenly started paying more attention to his family after an incident urred that almost cost Arthur his life.
They continued talking about several more things that happened in his life. He noticed that Donovan¡¯s car had arrived, it flew down the street, stopping once it reached therge parking space they parked in earlier.
"Well it seems our conversation muste to an end." Arthur said as he watched Donovan leave his car and approach. "Thank you for the invite. This was lovely."
After several goodbyes and a couple quickfire questions, Arthur had made his way to the car. He made sure to ask Holly if she needed a ride home, but she said she had it handled. With onestment from Olivia telling him that his mother would be proud of him, Donovan began driving him home.
Chapter 87: The Second Wave
The first thing Donovanmented on was that his white shirt seemed to have a small blood stain on his sleeve. When he asked about it, Arthur just showed him that his hand had been cut.
"How are you always so ident prone?" Donovan remarked while shaking his head. "What did you do?"
"I actually don¡¯t know how I got this one." Arthur said while staring at the wound on his palm, "It¡¯s not that big of a cut, I¡¯ll just deal with it at home."
The rest of the drive was mostly quiet, Donovan asked a few questions about Arthur¡¯s conversation with Olivia but the incident of his mother was never brought up again.
When they arrived home, Arthur made his way into the house and Donovan drove back to theboratory parking lot. Arthur made his way up the stairs to his room, he washed his hands and found a bandage that seemed to fit the cut pretty well, fortunately it didn¡¯t seem to be bleeding anymore.
He changed into something morefortable before bringing his clothes into theundry, he tried to wash the blood off the sleeve with cold water but it didn¡¯t seem to do anything.
"Damn, I liked this shirt." Arthur groaned to himself, he left the shirt in the sink and started searching around theundry, eventually finding a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to remove the stain.
After dealing with hisundry, he made his way back to his room. He dealt with his daily chores, such as dealing with his garden, before checking hisputer.
The girls weren¡¯t on, Acai wasn¡¯t on either, the only person who was online was Quinn, and he was in the middle of a game.
The rest of the day flew by quickly, Arthur yed a few games with Quinn, ate a meal with his family and did his bedtime routine before eventually going to sleep. The next morning he helped himself to some breakfast andter in the day Donovan picked him up and drove him to the facility.
Arger crowd had formed outside of the facility today, there were plenty of fresh faces that were filled with child-like excitement, it was finally time for the second wave to begin.
As expected, Arthur saw Kyle making the rounds and trying to size people up, but it didn¡¯t seem like things were going to go his way today, as he would soon find out. The doors to the facility opened, and a developer poked his head out and requested that group one entered first.
All the familiar faces started piling in to the briefing room, where the developers started giving a rundown on somest minute changes. The most important change being that level zero yers were protected from yer versus yerbat. Another protection added to new yers was that those level three or higher would incur twice as much penalty to their karma when attacking yers under level three.
Kyle didn¡¯t seem pleased with this change, but he didn¡¯t dare voice his discontent. Meanwhile everyone else seemed to appreciate this change, and even wished that it had been implemented sooner.
Eventually everyone was led into group one¡¯s capsule room, it seemed that they were getting shuffled through with pretty quickly so that the second group could start their briefing. They passed by the second capsule room, noticing that it finally had its lights on.
Arthur hopped into his capsule and started the login procedure, eventually his consciousness faded away and he was brought back into the familiar white room. The server hadn¡¯t started up yet, so he checked out the active lobbies, and like usual there was just the one room that had the title "Beta Testers Join!".
When he joined the lobby, he found himself at a ski resort, and the freezing winds blew against his skin, forcing him to enter the main building. Snow wasn¡¯t something that could really be found in Australia, so through virtual reality was the only time Arthur had ever experienced snow
More people started joining and immediately started ying in the snow. A few familiar faces popped up, like the roleyers and his two friends. Arthur watched as Acai was hit perfectly in the face by a snowball thrown by Alvira, starting off a snowball fight that just became a one-sided ughter as she was easily destroyed by Acai¡¯s counterattack.
Eventually the server hadunched, giving everyone a notification that it was finally online. Everyone began slowly vanishing into a sh of white light, and Arthur did the same.
He received the wee back message like usual and his invulnerability countdown had started counting down from ten seconds.
He found himself on the side of a road, but a little bit into the forest, exactly where he left himselfst time. Thinking about his next move, he decided to quickly deal with his karma score before doing anything else, so he made his way back into the forest.
After roughly twenty minutes of killing wolves non-stop, Merlin noticed a bright sh of light that illuminated the sky. Had he been closer to the vige, he would have seen that the light was caused by a beam of light that was shot straight up into the sky from the temple on the hill, but he knew this already.
Merlin killed one more wolf, and at this point his karma had finally hit fifty-one, meaning he was no longer considered an evil yer, and his name had finally returned to being white. He still needed to kill forty-nine more creatures his level to cap his karma out again, but he figured it could wait. He didn¡¯t receive any penalties for it not being exactly a hundred, the only thing that mattered was that it was above fifty.
Taking a break from killing wolves, Merlin sat down on arge enough rock and took the diary he had been putting off reading until this point, the diary he took from the Redmond mansion.
"Oh, this exins a few things." Merlin started grinding his teeth together as he read the diary, it seemed this was a full recount of all the wicked things he and his associates had done. "The guy kept receipts to use as leverage against his peers, just in case they turned on him, how cunning."
The diary contained years of records of political crimes and other dastardly schemes. But the most annoying piece of information he found was that there was clear evidence that several nobles based in and around the town of Orchomenus were conspiring with the Despoina cult.
"That exins the necromancy I suppose." Merlin mumbled to himself as he continued reading.
There was a section in the book that talked about what had happened to Evaline Redmond. It turns out that Evaline had caught on to the Redmond¡¯s illicit dealings and criminal conspiracies, and due to her suddenly bing a risk to their operations, the Despoina cult had her killed while giving the Redmond¡¯s head an alibi for her murder.
There were a bunch of maddened scribbles ranting about a curse, the devil and his wife in the few pages that followed, it seemed that the man had been afflicted with the curse for at least a month or two prior to his death.
Merlin thought of a specific individual who could use this information better than he could, so he threw it back into his inventory with the intent of handing it over.
Without entering Orchomenus, Merlin made his way to the western side of town before setting off to Macedonia. He was certain that news of Arwell Lychester¡¯s death had spread all over town already, so he didn¡¯t want to be seen in the same ce, it was highly unlikely that he would be suspected, especially because of his nning and assigning a scapegoat beforehand, but it didn¡¯t hurt to be cautious.
It took quite a while to travel from the town to the city, but fortunately it seemed as though there weren¡¯t any bandits that chose to retake the road yet, so Merlin made it into the city unharmed. Knowing where he wanted to go, he didn¡¯t bother with any detours and started making his way directly towards the slums.
"She knows what you did..." Merlin felt someone whispering directly into his ear, goosebumps rose on his skin, but when he turned around, nobody was there.
Bing somewhat perturbed by what had just happened, Merlin scampered towards the thieves guild as fast as he could.
It seemed as though they were still using the same hideout, which was fortunate as he really couldn¡¯t be bothered checking them all out at the moment. He entered the shady looking run down tavern and made his way over to the woman who was standing at the counter.
"Password?" A familiar looking woman with slightly pointed ears and fair blonde hair asked with a smile on her face.
"Apple bottom jeans." Merlin blurted out the first thing that came to mind, knowing she was only joking around. But when she looked at him with a confused expression, he shook his head and briefly exined himself. "It¡¯s an otherworlder thing, don¡¯t worry about it."
The receptionist looked at Merlin with confusion for a few seconds longer, but she snapped out of it and lead him downstairs.
"It¡¯s the ghost!" A few people sitting at the gambling tables noticed Merlin enter and gave him their greetings. Merlin waved back while he searched around for someone in particr, his eyes quickly locked onto a familiar looking elf sitting at the bar, Merlin slipped between the various tables and made his way over to him.
"Hey boss." Merlin greeted the elf as he took a seat beside him.
"I heard that you made a bit of a mess in Orchomenus, several messes in fact." The elf responded while swirling around his ss of liquor. "I take it you¡¯re done with your obligations now?"
"Yeah, all done. Thanks." Merlin pulled the diary out of his inventory and ced it on the counter in front of the elf. "And I even managed to get you a gift."
Chapter 88: Cleaning the Slums
"A gift?" The elf spoke with a questioning tone.
He ced his drink down on the counter before picking the diary up. He opened the book to a random page and skimmed its contents. He let out an inquisitive hum as he continued reading.
"Intriguing." The elf mumbled as he licked his finger and flipped the page. His eyes narrowed as he read the part mentioning the Despoina cult, and his quick skimming shifted into focused reading.
"There were twelve names on this book, yet it seems only ten remain thanks to your efforts." The elf closed the book before turning to face Merlin. "A gift indeed."
"I believe this will be the catalyst for something special." He picked up the ss he was ying with earlier and downed the entire drink in a single gulp.
"Well, my friend. Now that you¡¯ve returned, I still have those tasks I mentioned earlier." He spoke once more, causing a quest notification to appear before Merlin. "It seems you¡¯re rather adept at cleaning filth, I would like to put your talents to use."
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[Umon Quest]
Cleaning the Slums.
A corrupt town guard in the city of Macedonia has been seen around the slumstely, often intoxicated while on duty.
There have been reports that he has been abusing the residents of the slums while using his town guard position as a shield. Not too long ago, the guard had beaten a defenceless old man to death and left him on the street to rot.
The thieves guild have finally had enough of his tyranny and have requested that the man be dealt with, permanently. The crime scene will be dealt with by the guild, getting caught in the act by an unaffiliated third party will cause the quest to end in a failure.
Assassinate the corrupt guard.
? Reward: 300 EXP, 100 Thief Soul EXP, +5 Thieves Guild Reputation.
? Failure: Be a wanted criminal.
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Another assassination quest, just after he had gotten his karma score back. Fortunately it didn¡¯t seem like it was going to be that hard, and he wouldn¡¯t have to bother with hiding the body. He figured he may as well go through with it. The guy was definitely not worth the same as Lychester, so even if he killed the guy he wouldn¡¯t be as heavily punished. But just based on the wording of the quest, Merlin figured that the guard would have an orange name at least, especially if the murder was recent.
The karma system didn¡¯t affect NPCs the same way as it affected yers, but it still had some influence. When an NPCmitted vile acts such as murder, it was likely that they were brandished with an orange or red name. This didn¡¯t have the same effects that it¡¯d have on a yer, but it would allow someone to kill them without receiving any deductions to their karma.
Another method of getting around karma punishments would be if the system designated the target as an enemy. This was often seen with NPCs who were bandits or cultists, but it could also apply against the enemy of something you were strongly affiliated with, like an opposing army.
Another major factor with why he wanted to take this quest was the experience reward that went straight to his thief soul. There were a few ways to level each type of soul up, but the best method was usually getting experience directly for that specific soul through a quest reward.
There were a few other methods of levelling a soul up, but most were specific to a certain type of soul. Job souls gave you experience when you fulfilled the job¡¯s function sessfully, like mining for a miner, or brewing potions for an alchemist. Combat souls allowed you to obtain experience by killing monsters with weapons that rted to your soul, like a dagger for a thief, or bow for an archer. Race and hybrid souls were generally unique, but like every other soul, they usually had a method of earning experience by utilising soul specific abilities.
"Sure, I¡¯ll deal with it." Merlin epted the quest.
"Wonderful, I knew I could count on you." The elf cheered, "He¡¯s a bald guy with a bad attitude, you can¡¯t miss him."
When Merlin heard this, a certain individual came to mind. And coincidentally, it just so happened to be a person he already wanted to pummel.
"I¡¯ll go get to that. Oh onest thing." Merlin turned away for a moment, but suddenly snapped back as he remembered he wanted to ask something. "Would it be possible if I could get a couple of my fellow otherworlders into the guild?"
"Oh? Well if they¡¯re friends of yours and they¡¯re capable, I don¡¯t see the harm. You¡¯ve done me a favour already, I don¡¯t see why I shouldn¡¯t reciprocate." The elf answered, but he began speaking with a more cautious tone afterwards. "However, should they betray or otherwise inconvenience our operation, I will hold you personally responsible. Deal?"
"Works for me." Merlin epted the terms before leaving his chair. "I¡¯ll bring them over at some point."
As he made his way out of the thieves guild, and back up to the shady tavern, he decided to send Snowbunny a message.
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[19:26:51] Merlin: I¡¯ve pulled a few strings and figured out a way to get you both into the thieves guild without having to deal with a bunch of annoyances. Message me whenever you guys reach Macedonia, I¡¯m going to have to escort you in.
[19:27:30] Snowbunny: We¡¯re actually on our way over to the city now. Yeah, I¡¯ll tell you when we get there.
[19:27:57] Merlin: Sounds good!
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The conversation ended pretty quickly, Merlin waved the message window away and left the building. He walked out of the alleyway and back onto the filthy street, he began wandering around the slums while remaining on the lookout for the guard.
The squalid buildings around him seemed to be devoid of any life, but it was likely that the residents just hid very well. When someone stood out in a ce like this, they was usually chosen as a target for crime, whether that be tyranny from the town guard or an attack by someone unaffiliated with the guild, someone who decided it would be a smart move to be a criminal in the guild¡¯s territory.
Several minutester, as he turned down another alleyway, Merlin started hearing loud thud noises. Merlin turned another corner only to see a young girl who was wearing nothing but rags be brutally kicked around and beaten by a familiar looking man.
This man had a bald head and a nasty re, the same one who spat at him earlier. The guard had been hitting the woman with his sword¡¯s sheath, leavingrge bruises on the woman¡¯s skin. And as Merlin suspected, the guard¡¯s name was a dark reddish-orange, meaning it was safe to kill him.
"Wow, now that¡¯s a sight to see." Merlin mocked the guard from within the alleyway. "A town guard abusing a helpless woman. I wonder how many of you share the same barbaric tendencies."
"Who are you?" The guard yelled out as he frantically looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
"I guess you could say I¡¯m kind of like a garbageman." Merlin taunted while sending his vines out. "Becausetely all I¡¯ve been doing is cleaning up trash."
Before the guard could respond, he felt something tangle around his legs, sharp spikes began digging into his flesh before his legs were pulled out from underneath him, causing him to fall face first into the pavement.
His victim watched as the man was somehow dragged down an alleyway while screaming for his life. His chest and face started developing road rash, and a trail of blood began forming as the man was dragged further and further away. The dragging eventually stopped, and the guard struggled to turn around and face the man who captured him.
"Y-You!" The man yelled out as he recognised Merlin¡¯s appearance.
"What are you looking at?" Merlin repeated the words the guard spoke to him earlier, but in a more mocking tone, and instead of spitting on the man afterwards, he plunged his dagger into the guy¡¯s shoulder.
While using the one dagger for stability, Merlin punched the guard in the face before pulling his fist back and punching him once more. The guard wasn¡¯t offering much in the way of defence, Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if he was just left ipetent due to his inebriation, or if his strikes had sent the man into shock.
He felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him after every punch, it was almost therapeutic. Merlin realised that the man had made him irrationally angry earlier, and that what he was doing was excessive. He could have been done with this in only a few shes, but for some reason he felt like this was necessary.
Perhaps he just needed to vent his frustrations from yesterday. He had bottled up his emotions for an entire day, and while his adult mind had the experience to just take the trauma andpartmentalise it like all the others, he could feel his teenage body buckling under the stress. He knew he had to let it all out before he began developing stress rted illnesses, and there was no better ce to vent than in a virtual reality game.
There was also the fact that he just didn¡¯t like the idea of scum abusing their positions to harm the vulnerable. Either way, he didn¡¯t want to end this right away, it wasn¡¯t harming a real person and the man was supposed to die regardless. He figured that his own petty revenge would inadvertently fulfil the vengeful wishes of some of the guard¡¯s victims.
When the guard¡¯s pleas had devolved into nothing but pained groans, and Merlin¡¯s blood coated hand had started hurting, he decided that it was time to finish this. Merlin made sure there was nobody around, and once the area seemed clear, he readied his dagger.
After plunging his dagger into the guard¡¯s neck, the guard immediately sumbed to his injuries, and a notification appeared before Merlin.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Cleaning the Slums", visit the leader of the thieves guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
"Well that was a bit anticlimactic." Merlin sighed before chanting out the cleanse skill. The blood that caked his hand and arm had suddenly started peeling off before vanishing. "Drunks offer no challenge."
As previously instructed, Merlin left the corpse alone, although he made a small attempt to conceal it. He stood up, pulled his hood up and made his way back towards the thieves guild. He entered the tavern and made his way downstairs once more.
"You¡¯re back already?" The elf asked him with a surprised expression.
"Yeah, I found him pretty quickly, and it didn¡¯t take long to put him down." Merlin shrugged before exining where he left the body. "You might have a few issues with identification, but some of his features are still there... So what¡¯s next?"
Chapter 89: She Knows - I
"Some features?" The thieves guild leader asked on with a curious look before immediately dropping it. "No matter, I¡¯ve already send some of my best to deal with the mess."
"Moving on to the next topic, I had a few things lined up for you to do, but those ns have been put on hold for now. I¡¯ve got something far more interesting in the works, courtesy of this diary." The elf spoke while tapping his chest, and from the sounds of it, it seemed as though the diary was being stored away in his breast pocket. "I don¡¯t have a task for you yet, bute back in say an hour or two and I may have an important errand for you to run."
"I¡¯lle back in a few hours then." Merlin nodded his head, said his goodbyes and made his way out of the thieves guild hideout once more.
While he was out on the street, making his way out of the slums, he stopped by where he had killed the guard. To Merlin¡¯s surprise, the guard¡¯s corpse and all the blood were already gone, it was like nothing had happened there only minutes prior.
When Merlin finally stepped out of the slums, he made his way into the crowd, following the flow of traffic further into the city.
"She knows what you did..." Once again, someone whispered directly into Merlin¡¯s ear, causing his hair to stand on end. And yet again, when he turned around, there weren¡¯t any sketchy people leaning in or even ufortably close, just a handful of merchants and their carts in the general area around him. As he turned back to face the direction he was walking, the voices spoke out once more. "The oracle sees all..."
As if to confirm his suspicions, the creep was so kind as to disclose the person they were affiliated with. He had a feeling it would be this one, mostly because of what happened while he was in the middle of a dungeon, but also because she generally gave him a bad feeling.
Merlin dipped out of the crowd and made his way into the mercenary guild. Eyes locked on him as he entered, but there weren¡¯t as many hostile or wary gazes asst time, it seemed as though the guild master for the Orchomenus branch was doing his best to fix Merlin¡¯s reputation.
He walked over to the front counter, where the same woman asst time was sitting around looking bored.
"Wee back! Job, News, or Alcohol?" The receptionist asked without any additional small talk.
"I¡¯ll take whatever news and rumours you have, thanks." Merlin responded.
"Alright, let me see what we¡¯ve got here." The woman pulled out a handful of documents, and began flipping between them quickly after skimming the titles. "Well first up, there was a major incident in Orchomenus a day ago, the undead that had been spotted roaming the nearby forest decided to attack the town, killing several civilians, town guard and specifically a noble from the Redmond house before leaving. Rumours say this undead was killed that same night by someone the mercenaries are calling The Ghost."
"Also in Orchomenus, we just received news of this a little while ago. The president of Lychester¡¯s Provisions, Arwell Lychester, had been found within that same forest with a handful of arrows in his body. His guards say they were attacked by wolves, but the arrows seemed to be from a goblin, and those two races haven¡¯t been seen getting along in that area." She continued. "There are rumours that Lychester was killed by someone he had a disagreement with the day before. The suspected culprit was seen escaping from the town when asked by town guards toe in for questioning."
"So far there have been no further reports from the king¡¯s patrols into the frontier, Charisia still refuses to respond to the outside world, a handful of scouts were sent into the Tegean Marsnds, but not a single one had returned." She began reading off a few updates from older information. "And earlier today the skies above the temple of Artemis lit up once more. We are yet to receive any reports about the situation in Lycoa, but just based on the size of the light, our best guess is that yet anotherrge group of otherworlders have appeared.
As she started shuffling through the documents while skimming them, she found onest piece of information that Merlin would possibly find interesting. "And finally, there seems to be arge amount of missing person cases appearing out of... Orchomenus, yet again. What is going on with that town?..."
"Anyway, it seems it as though there have been several kidnappings of people travelling between Orchomenus and Caphyae. We believe it to be arge bandit operation hiding out in the forest. It doesn¡¯t seem as though the Orchomenus town guard can spare any manpower to deal with it for now, especially due to the recent issues in town, so for now it is probably best to avoid travelling along that road." She finished exining and ced the documents down neatly. "Scary times we live in."
Yet again, there was plenty of information there to dissect. It was always a good idea to listen to the local rumours and news from neighbouring towns, in most cases it would hint towards major quests, but sometimes it could give hints to possible hidden questlines or other secrets.
"Thank you. Scary times indeed." Merlin thanked thedy before making his way out of the mercenary guild building.
While he had time, he decided to see what the crazy snakedy had to say. He wasn¡¯t particrly fond of her after hearing about the elf¡¯s story, and having people stalk him and whisper into his ears didn¡¯t help her case either. But a sense of curiosity grew, just what did she want with him?
After a short walk, Merlin found himself at the walled offpound that the Serpent-Bearer Kilo resided in. He approached the gate that featured the strange symbol of two intertwined snakes biting each other¡¯s tail.
A loud nk sound rang out as the gate dramatically swung open, revealing the same young supermodel butler who guided himst time.
"The oracle has been expecting you." The butler spoke in a seemingly emotionless voice. "Please, follow me."
The butler led him up the same set of stone brick stairs and through therge door that he entered throughst time. As he entered the building, the first thing that happened was that his senses were overpowered by the smoke emanating from the braziers situated around the room, once again burning the snapdragon looking nt.
And as he opened his eyes and took a look around, he saw all the same individuals he sawst time, all dressed up like dolls. Due to his talk with the thieves guild leader, he now knew that everyone currently in this room were rted to the thieves guild. They were spies that had been bewitched by the woman, or demon, calling herself Kilo.
As Merlin walked to the other side of the room, he noticed the heads of everyone in the room slowly track him, it was like a scene straight out of a horror film. One of the dolls that was dressed up like a ssy businesswoman stood by the door, she slowly opened it for Merlin and then quickly closed it behind him as he walked through.
¡¯This is as terrifying as always.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he walked into the spherical room.
He made his way towards the switch he was told to flickst time, and he flicked it without being told, causing the skylight in the centre of the dome roof to open, alongside a loud metallic screech.
"You really should oil that." Merlin quipped as he made his way over to the king sized bed in the middle of the room.
There was a silhouetteying on the bed, hidden behind the whitece curtains that were draped over the bed¡¯s canopy. Merlin watched as the figure slowly rose out of bed, crawling towards the side of the bed only to push the curtains aside.
The oracle revealed herself to Merlin once more, a tall pale woman, wearing nothing but a white silk robe, and her long wavy orange hair partially concealing the turquoise ball python that was still wrapped around her neck.
"I¡¯ll take your advice under advisement." Her soft voice rung out. "My, you have been quite busy, haven¡¯t you?"
"The hero of Orchomenus, as well as the viin who stole away the life of a trusted merchant." The oracle¡¯s voice picked up a darker tone as she used Merlin, "You are quite the schemer. And for your schemes an innocent man was suspected for your crimes. No, it was a man you intentionally made the suspect through nted evidence."
"But I..." Merlin noticed that the woman¡¯s eyes were slightly glowing as she stared at him, but they quickly returned back to normal only a few momentster. "I caught you."
Chapter 90: She Knows - II
¡¯I caught you.¡¯ The oracle¡¯s words reyed in Merlin¡¯s mind. Then he remembered the Oracle¡¯s glowing eyes.
¡¯Damn it. So it was scrying... I was careless.¡¯ He rebuked himself in his thoughts. He didn¡¯t expect that he¡¯d have to worry about scrying this early in the game, but he had made himself known to someone who ims to have an oracle¡¯s power, and clearly made more of an impression than he expected. ¡¯I¡¯ll have to figure a way to counter that, but for now, how do I get out of this?¡¯
He stood there in silence for several moments, lost in thought while staring at Kilo¡¯s confident expression. He wondered what would happen if he just sshed her with holy water, would she sizzle like the rose wight did?
A demon who publicly unts its enved victims dared to reprimand Merlin about his wanton disregard for the life of others, even going so far to use him of murder without any evidence. A n formed in his mind, although he wasn¡¯t sure it was a good one.
"So, you¡¯re using me of murder?" Merlin asked with a shocked expression that was obviously forced, "If you truly believe I have done something so abhorrent, why are you interacting with me instead of delivering all the evidence you have to the town guards?"
The oracle¡¯s confident expression crumpled into a frown, it seemed like she just expected him to confess immediately upon being confronted. Merlin figured she probably wanted to use it as a bargaining chip, or as ckmail, but he didn¡¯t feel like ying the demon¡¯s game.
"Perhaps you don¡¯t have any evidence that you could use to turn me in. In which case, did you perhaps want to coerce me into confessing to a murder I had no part in?" Merlin asked with an usatory tone.
"No part?" The oracle repeated as she stared at Merlin, and with her confident grin returning she began recounting every action that Merlin took during the assassination in great detail, including the part where he killed LordKyle and started framing him. "From my observations, it seems as though you had quite a significant part in the murder of Arwell Lychester."
"Well, that¡¯s quite the imagination. But if you¡¯re using me with nothing but a story, I don¡¯t see how you expect people to believe you, especially when all the evidence seems to point towards someone else." Merlin pressed the issue further. "As far as the records are concerned, I had left through the northern gate earlier that day, and there are at least six people who can confirm that I was in fact north of Orchomenus around the apparent time of the murder."
"More importantly, if you believe I was the one who killed him, then what is my motive supposed to be?" Merlin asked. It didn¡¯t matter if she saw every single part of the kill, she still wouldn¡¯t have any of the context as to why he did it, which would have been a major reason for his suspicion.
"From what I understood from the news and rumours around town, it sounded as though the kill was premeditated." Merlin pretended to think as he spoke. "Surely someone who puts that much effort into a murder must have quite a strong motive, and there is someone who fits that description much better than I."
"The man you framed you mean?" The oracle asked. "Yes, it was quite crafty, I will admit. Using a man who publicly harassed Arwell Lychester as the scapegoat for your crime was ingenious. And while I don¡¯t know why you decided to murder him, there is nothing saying that it simply couldn¡¯t be an indiscriminate killing."
"If you truly believed me to be a viin who murders indiscriminately. Why would you befortable standing here before me without any form of protection?" Merlin asked as his eyes narrowed in on the woman¡¯s face. "Unless of course, this isn¡¯t your real body?"
Merlin expected some kind of reaction with those words, and he did indeed get a surprising reaction, but it wasn¡¯t anywhere close to what he expected.
Rather than the oracle reacting, it seemed as though she froze, there wasn¡¯t even a flicker in her eyelids. However the snake that was wrapped around her neck, the one that hadn¡¯t moved an inch since Merlin entered the room, it quite obviously flinched upon hearing his words.
¡¯Interesting.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as his eyes locked onto the snake. He noticed before, but the snake really did have intelligent looking eyes. ¡¯Then it¡¯s not just a case of body-snatchers. Perhaps it¡¯s a parasite?¡¯
The oracle started moving again a few moments after, it was like she temporarily lost control of her body¡¯s motor functions, and Merlin could tell something wasn¡¯t quite right with her now.
Kilo looked at Merlin with a great amount of suspicion, it seemed she had grown cautious of him. Merlin decided that he had to break the oracle¡¯s suspicion, because he didn¡¯t know what sort of rash actions she would do if she felt cornered.
"Well, it doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re an illusion." Merlin spoke out loud as he stared at the oracle. "So I suppose you really are here. I¡¯m going take that as it meaning that you trust me enough to not murder you like the supposed serial killer you believe me to be."
"Which begs the question, do you really believe that I am someone capable of such violent and irredeemable acts?" Merlin asked, "Or if not, what is the real reason you brought me here?"
A few moments passed, and the oracle let out a long sigh. "It would have been easier for me if you just let me ckmail you. This is why I cannot stand schemers."
The oracle had dropped all pretext, and had seemingly broken character. She narrowed her eyes at Merlin, inspecting his demeanour before she exined herself. "One of my pets went missing during their tasks, I want you to go find them for me."
Upon hearing this, a quest notification appeared before him.
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[Umon Quest]
Lost and Found.
One of the oracle¡¯s envoys has been captured on his way to Caphyae. There have been several reports of kidnappings of people travelling between Orchomenus and Caphyae. There is a significant chance that arge bandit group is behind the kidnappings, thereforebat might be a requirement.
The oracle has requested that you search for her envoy and bring them home safely. If the envoy is killed the quest will end in a failure.
Bring the lost envoy home safely.
? Reward: 300 EXP, 1 Gold, +5 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo.
? Failure: ???
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By pet, did she mean one of her envoys? She had the audacity to kept people as pets and treat spies as nothing more than dress-up dolls. Merlin¡¯s only thought was that the woman was nothing but bad news.
He took notice that the serial kidnappings had been mentioned, meaning this was probably something that would blow up to be arger quest chain, or lead to something interesting at the very least.
"Fine, I¡¯ll do it. All you had to do was ask." Merlin agreed to the quest, not because he was interested in helping this strange woman or her envoys, but because he was interested in the kidnappings and expected that something woulde out of it.
"Oh? It was that easy, I see." Kilo escaped into her own thoughts as she made her way back over to her bed. "Turn the lights off on your way out."
Merlin watched as the tall figure vanished behind thece curtains, Kilo was no longer responding to questions, so he decided to leave the building.
When Merlin left the spherical room, back into the room that was usually full of smoke, he was met with quite a strange sight. All of the attractive dolls seemed to be unconscious, idling around in their usual locations. Merlin saw that the butler had seemingly passed out mid walk and had fallen over, the rest had fallen unconscious in seating positions, so they were all generally okay.
Merlin stepped around the unconscious bodies as he made his way to the door. He realised that the reason they were like this was most likely because of what happened with the snake. This practically confirmed the parasite hypothesis, or at least Merlin believed so.
Opening up the door to the exit, Merlin breathed in fresh air once more. The sickly floral scent of the strange snapdragon-like nt had filled his nostrils, leaving him feeling a bit lightheaded.
¡¯I hate this ce.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he practically leapt down the stone brick staircase before making his way to the gate.
When the gate to thepound swung open for him, Merlin walked out of the building as fast as he could, and once the gates closed behind him he walked off into the nearest crowd. As he did so, he received a message from Snowbunny.
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[20:03:41] Snowbunny: Hey Merlin, we just entered Macedonia, we¡¯re waiting at the entrance for you.
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Chapter 91: The Party Enters the Thieves Guild
Merlin slipped into the crowd once more, making his way towards the entrance that lead back to Orchomenus. When he arrived, he saw his two friends standing around nearby, so he walked towards them.
"Hey guys. Follow me." He ran up and greeted his friends, before leading them away from the busy streets.
"Man, this ce is packed." Typhoeus said as he followed along. He was busy making sure his scythe didn¡¯t bump into anybody.
Merlin lead the two through a couple streets, and the amount of people in the area dropped considerably, giving them space to move aroundfortably. The amount of people reduced even further the more they walked, until there was only a handful of people scattered around the street.
Snowbunny and Typhoeus began noticing that the atmosphere had be different. The loud noises from the city had be muffled background noise in the distance, and the surrounding buildings fell into disrepair, only getting worse as they continued on their way.
"What is that smell?" Snowbunnyined as she tried covering her mouth.
"Wee to the slums. That stench would be filth, try not to touch anything." Merlin exined as he continued walking. He started feeling bad that he brought a princess into such a disgusting area, but it would ultimately benefit her, so a little ufortable stench wouldn¡¯t hurt her. "Follow along and remember the path."
The group walked through the slums, and the only person that was out on the street was a creepy looking old man who started ogling Snowbunny as she walked by, causing her to shudder in revulsion. Typhoeus started walking directly behind Snowbunny the second they passed the old man, protecting the princess from the eyes of a lecherous man.
Now knowing that he was at risk of being scried upon, Merlin took extra caution taking note of his surroundings. He couldn¡¯t see any evidence of scrying, which meant that his awareness stat was either too low to tell, or he wasn¡¯t currently being watched. They continued for a little while longer, ending up near a dark alleyway somewhere in the furthest depths of the slums.
"And now it¡¯s a scary alley, wonderful." Snowbunny said under her breath while following Merlin, there she saw an extremely shady looking tavern at the end of the dark alley. "Oh no, we¡¯re not going in there are we?"
While ignoring Snowbunny¡¯s reasonableints, Merlin opened the door and walked inside, signalling the other two to follow.
The inside of the building was just as run down and shady as the exterior, but Snowbunny¡¯s eyes locked onto a rather attractive woman who was working at the counter, and she couldn¡¯t help but think that the woman looked out of ce in such a shady area.
All the nervousness that Snowbunny had felt while entering such a sketchy looking ce suddenly vanished as her eyes locked onto the woman¡¯s gentle features and fair blonde hair that gently swayed as she cleaned a ss. Snowbunny walked passed the two guys and quickly approached the counter.
"Hey, you¡¯re a new face around here." The woman at the counter spoke up, repeating the dialogue she did with Merlin when they first met. The few people sitting around in the room started getting up from their chairs. "What can I get you?"
Snowbunny hadn¡¯t noticed anything going on in her surroundings, she was enamoured by the thief lord¡¯s daughter, or at least her appearance. She nervously asked for the woman¡¯s name.
The woman stared at her with a surprised expression for a few moments, and then her eyes panned to the person standing a little bit away from her and she realised where this person hade from. She turned back to face Snowbunny while signalling to everyone in the room to stand down with a hand gesture. "You can call me Fae. What¡¯s yours?"
"Oh, right, sorry." Snowbunny was flustered for a moment, but she regained herposure. "Hi, I¡¯m Snowbunny, but you can just call me Snow. Nice to meet you!"
Fae¡¯s eyes locked onto the two floppy bunny ears stuck atop Snowbunny¡¯s head. She watched as they swayed back and forth as Snow awkwardly shuffled around. Fae turned to Merlin with a smile stered on her face, which was vastly different to the cold treatment he had gotten when he first joined.
"Ghost, where¡¯d you find this one? She¡¯s cute." Fae winked at Snow before walking out from behind the counter. "I¡¯m assuming these two are both with you, so follow me."
"Ghost?" Typhoeus asked Merlin with a curious gaze.
"Don¡¯t ask." Merlin shook his head and followed Fae to the cer as usual. He only just realised now that he didn¡¯t know her name before now, and that he still doesn¡¯t know her father¡¯s name.
Unlike many people in the thieves guild whose name he could see above their heads, the thief lord and his daughter¡¯s names were hidden for whatever reason. And only after she introduced herself as Fae did a name appear above her head, although there was no chance of him knowing if Fae was her real name.
Snowbunny¡¯s face had turned bright pink, but she also followed along with the rest of the group. A secret door within the cer opened up, revealing arge underground gambling ring.
Several members sitting around at the gambling tables noticed the new faces, and their eyes shifted with caution. An elf who was sitting at the furthest end of the room stood up from his chair and made his way over to the group, weaving through the sea of tables and chairs that parted for him when he grew near.
"Friends of Merlin, wee to our humble abode." The entric elf weed them, "Would you care to join us for a drink, or would you prefer to skip the alcohol and get straight to business like our mutual friend here?"
"A drink sounds nice." Typhoeus answered before slowly walking towards the elf. Snowbunny declined the drink, opting for getting straight to business.
"And you, my friend?" The elf turned to Merlin with a grin on his face. "A drink with friends?"
"Still a no unfortunately, but I¡¯ve got more information for you so I¡¯ll tag along." Merlin exined as followed the elf back towards the bar at the back of the room. As he left Snowbunny behind, he overheard Fae ask her what apple bottom jeans were.
The three sat at the bar in a straight line, and the bartender poured two of them a drink, with Merlin signalling that he didn¡¯t want any. The thieves guild leader clinked his ss with Typhoeus and took a sip of his liquor before turning to face Merlin.
"Now, what was this information you were talking about?" He asked, it hadn¡¯t been long since he left after dropping off the diary. He didn¡¯t expect another bomb but he considered Merlin to be extremelypetent, so he was still hopeful that it would be useful.
"Well, before I say anything, do you have any counters for scrying? I¡¯ve got a stalker of sorts." Merlin asked, hopeful that there was something he could do.
"Who do you think we are?" The elf let out a little chuckle before exining the rest. "This entire base is lined with lead, there are very few ces in thisplex that observation or tracking magic can reach. It¡¯s how we¡¯ve retained our status as a secret organisation for such a long time."
"But if that doesn¡¯t calm you, then there are very few people in this town whose scrying orbs I cannot detect." He continued tooting his own horn.
"Does that include the snakedy?" Merlin was a little hesitant to ask this, but he had to be sure. Fortunately he received a nod in return, but it didn¡¯t seem as though he appreciated Merlin bringing her up again.
"Well, I guess I need to give a little bit of backstory." Merlin began exining the situation that urred with the voices he heard around the city, and that he entered the oracle¡¯spound to talk with her.
He began bringing up the general idea of the back and forth they had, where the murder charge was just an attempt to ckmail him, but she seemed to have given up and chose to just give him the quest normally. With the context out of the way, he leaned in and began whispering the rest, the elf leaned in somewhat too.
"I don¡¯t believe we¡¯re dealing with a demon that has infested your wife, that¡¯s why you couldn¡¯t find any mention of it in the scriptures." Merlin began exining in hushed whispers. "Rather I believe the snake that is always around her neck is some kind of parasitic creature. The snake is the cause of all of this."
Merlin exined his reasoning why he believed the parasite hypothesis to be correct, and this included how the snake was stationary while everything else was happening. He specifically mentioned that the snake was mostly still while all the ves were moving, and that it seemed to require a lot of concentration to micromanage all of the victims. His biggest point supporting this was that when the snake received a minor disturbance, something that would make it flinch, it lost concentration over its puppets, causing them to immediately lose all bodily functions, like they were actually puppets that just had their strings cut.
"It didn¡¯t rebind them right away while they were unconscious in the other room, so there¡¯s probably a requirement that it must make physical contact to reconnect with its victims." Merlin thought out loud, "The connection being interrupted with Cecelia¡¯s body caused her to pause momentarily, but the parasite quickly regained control. Since it probably considers her the main host, it¡¯s likely to not to leave her neck, just in case it needs to reconnect with her immediately."
"Those are my thoughts and observations anyway. I believe that rather than a powerful demon¡¯s soul maniption curse, it seems to just be some kind of puppeteers curse used by an intelligent parasitic creature." Merlin finished talking, leaving the elf with a strange sense of optimism.
Merlin watched as the thieves guild leader¡¯s expression slowly shifted into a smile as he finished listening to Merlin¡¯s story, and by the end of it he seemed hopeful.
Chapter 92: Mysterious Letter
"If that were the case, then it should be possible..." The elf began muttering to himself before snapping out of it. "That¡¯s an issue for another day, but you came just in time, I had just finished this."
The elf presented Merlin with a sealed letter, the wax seal featured the Verginia Sun, a sphere surrounded by sixteen long triangr sun rays.
"Since it sounds like you¡¯re going to Orchomenus anyway, it wont be much of a hassle if you drop this off at the lord of Orchomenus¡¯ office." The elf said while handing the letter to Merlin. "You don¡¯t need to deliver it to the prince himself, but do specify that this is a letter to Prince Orchomenus to whomever you hand it off to."
A quest notification appeared before Merlin.
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[Umon Quest]
Mysterious Letter.
The leader of the thieves guild has requested that you deliver a letter to the lord of Orchomenus, the Arcadian Prince Orchomenus.
If the letter is opened before reaching the lord¡¯s office the quest will end in a failure.
Deliver the letter to Prince Orchomenus.
? Reward: 100 EXP, +5 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild.
? Failure: -10 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild, -10 reputation within the Thieves Guild.
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"Very well, I ept." Merlin took the letter and stored it away in his inventory.
"He named a town after himself?" Typhoeus blurted out, "That¡¯s pretty arrogant of him."
"Most of the princes are. But don¡¯t let anybody hear you say that." The elf turned to face Typhoeus, and then showed his thumb sliding across his own neck. "Or there¡¯s a good chance they¡¯ll take your head."
Merlin shook his head as he stood up from his chair. "Alright, I¡¯ll go deal with this. Take care of those two."
"Oh, I will." The elf teased as Merlin walked away. "Don¡¯t cause any more catastrophes, at least not for a bit."
"No promises." Merlin waved as he made his way through the sea of tables. Merlin walked towards the exit, where he saw the thief lord¡¯s daughter ying with Snowbunny¡¯s rabbit ears while the two were talking. Merlin just waved as he walked back into the cer and up into the main building.
Merlin waved to the guards that sat around the tavern before making his way out of the building and into the sketchy alleyway. It took a few minutes but Merlin quickly made his way out of the slums, passing by the creepy old man. He noticed that there seemed to be a handful of guards entering the slums and patrolling the area, so he sent Typhoeus a message telling him to inform the elf about the increased presence of guards.
Merlin slipped out of the city and started making his way towards Orchomenus, it was starting to get really dark out, but he wasn¡¯t that worried due to him no longer having to deal with the rose wight.
There wasn¡¯t much activity on the road, just a few wagons that seemed to be runningte, but eventually Merlin was alone and the forests around him became incredibly dark. He started chanting a skill name and received a small notification in return.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
A small ball of light appeared in his palm and began hovering around him, illuminating the road in front of him and a little bit past the treeline. It wasn¡¯t much but at least he would know if something wasing at him faster.
Sticking to the road was generally safe, or at the very least much safer than running through the forest at night. Besides a few scary noises deeper into the forest, nothing seemed to be off, and after several more minutes of walking, Merlin could see the lights of town in the distance.
He heard the sound of growlinging from the treeline, and upon turning his head he saw a wounded wolf limping towards him, but before it could attack, a tiny spark of white light flew out of the treeline, hitting the wolf in the back and killing it.
"I got it!" Merlin heard the excited voice of a girl, and momentster three people ran out from behind the treeline. They all stopped moving as their eyes all collectively locked onto Merlin.
They were all wearing beginner clothes, and it seemed like they were all still using tutorial weapons. All three of the group were women, the smallest of the group was holding a beginner¡¯s wand. The next one was using a bow and thest one had a sword and shield that differed in design to Merlin¡¯s old trusted partner.
Contrary to what most people thought at first, you didn¡¯t require a spell-caster or magic rted soul to use wands. Rather they were just tools that channelled your body¡¯s mana into the wand¡¯s core, and it was the core that converted your mana into a basic attacking spell. This core was usually a refined magic gem that had been infused with some kind of raw elemental mana or imbued with a spell, but it could also be a material that contained a lot of magic, such as the feather of a phoenix or unicorn hair.
The beginner wand that the woman was using seemed to hold a crude magic stone that had been infused with the light element.
"Hi there. I mean no harm." Merlin took a few steps away from the wolf¡¯s corpse and slowly started walking backwards towards town. He didn¡¯t want to get into another fight, and he especially didn¡¯t want to make more enemies where he could help it. "Nice shot by the way."
The women didn¡¯t respond, but after seeing that Merlin was slowly backing away, they lowered their guard. Eventually when Merlin thought he was a safe enough distance from getting a light bolt to the back, he turned around and continued on his way to the town.
Instead of going through the western gate, he slipped into the treeline before he reached the wide open ins and made his way through the forest around to the northern side of town, where he originally left from.
He popped out from behind the treeline a fair distance away from the gate so that the guards couldn¡¯t see him suddenly appear. And then he made his way into town, saying hello to the guards as he entered. The guards weren¡¯t the same ones that saw him leave, but now he had two sets of guards that saw hime and go from the northern gate.
Before he did anything else, Merlin made his way to the eastern part of town where all the nobles lived. He received a few disgusted res as he made his way through the nicer part of town, his clothes were cheap but they didn¡¯t look too bad, and he wasn¡¯t covered in blood and filth this time either, so he really didn¡¯t understand why they always reacted this way, especially when half of them shared more features with bulldogs and pugs than they did humans.
He made his way over to a fancy looking government building that had a couple town guard standing by at the door, Merlin climbed the few stairs and made his way over to them.
"Halt." One of the guards raised his hand while ordering Merlin to stop. "What business do you have here,moner?"
Merlin ignored thest part, it was obvious the guard was looking down on him, but instead of answering he just pulled the letter out from his inventory and held it out to the guard.
"What¡¯s this? Anotherint about the monster? We¡¯re busy dea--" The guard immediately stopped talking once he saw the wax seal, and his eyes widened. From this, Merlin could infer that the wax seal was rted to someone or something rather impressive.
"Well, I get that you¡¯re busy, but make sure this gets into the hands of Prince Orchomenus." Merlin ordered while handing the letter to the guard. He felt like the guard¡¯s reaction to the seal would maybe allow him some degree of arrogance, but he made sure not to push it too far, only enough to give him a little bit of satisfaction as the guard¡¯s behaviour had annoyed him a little. "It¡¯s urgent."
"Right away." The guard took the letter and vanished into the building. While the other guard looked at him with a confused expression.
Merlin shrugged and started walking off, making his way to the mercenary guild. He got about half way there before he received a couple notifications that informed him his quest wasplete.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Mysterious Letter.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild.¡¹
He was a little curious as to what the letter said, but knowing the entric character of the thieves guild leader, he knew it was going to be fun, or catastrophic, but mostly fun.
He continued on his way to the mercenary guild, passing by several yers wandering around the town on their own adventures. He started slowing down as he came close to the eastern gate and Lychester¡¯s Provisions, he was looking around and taking in more information as he walked, but it just seemed to be people rebuilding and grieving, barely anybody was talking about the suspected cause of the two tragic events.
Merlin made his way into The Wandering Spider bar, home of the mercenary guild. The familiar stench of tobo and stale alcohol flooded his senses. He received a few greetings as he made his way towards the counter, the bartender was there as usual.
"No shield?" The bartender asked after ncing at him.
"No, unfortunately a wolf ate it." Merlin sighed, "On that note, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have a quest or two that needed wolf pelt or fangs, would you?"
Chapter 93: The Caphyae Kidnappings
"I might. Give us a look at what you¡¯ve got." The bartender said while searching through his stack of quest sheets.
Merlin did as he was asked, taking out a handful of fangs and a wolf pelt from his inventory and cing them on the counter.
The bartender picked up one of the fangs and brought it close to his face to inspect it. "Right, Right. This looks like one of those dire mutts that hover around town." He flicked the fang and listened to the sound it made. "Sounds tough too, these will fetch a pretty penny."
The bartender ced the tooth back down and ran his fingers across the wolf¡¯s pelt before going back to flicking through the quest forms.
"There we go, knew we had one." The bartender mumbled to himself while pulling a sheet out of the pile, he then handed that sheet to Merlin. "You might like this one."
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Common Quest]
Local Alchemist needs Wolf Fangs.
A local alchemist has requested ten wolf fangs as quickly as possible, they didn¡¯t specify what type of wolf it had to be. They are offering to buy it at four copper each.
Wolf fangs: 10/10
? Reward: 50 EXP, 40 Copper
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Done deal." Merlin epted the quest, handing over ten of the sixteen wolf fangs he had on him. He received forty copper in return, which he threw into his inventory. "I¡¯ve got six fangs left, will you take those off my hands?"
"We¡¯ll take them at a copper each and three copper per wolf pelt." The bartender said while inspecting the pelt¡¯s quality. "If you¡¯re going to be hunting a lot, it might be best that you visit old Arnulf, the local hunter and learn a thing or two about skinning an animal from him, it¡¯ll help you improve the price."
"Thanks, I¡¯ll look into that." Merlin nodded his head as the bartender spoke, he began taking out all the pelts and fangs out of his inventory,ying the rest out on the counter. "I¡¯ll ept those prices, I¡¯ve got six fangs and twenty-three pelts."
"Right. Well, lets see here." The bartender began counting out the pelts. "So you¡¯ve got six copper for the fangs, and lets see here... Sixty-nine copper for the pelts."
The bartender handed Merlin a hefty handful of coins, which Merlin quickly threw into his inventory. He currently had twenty-eight silver and one hundred twenty-one copper, or four gold and one copper when converted.
"Alright, do you have any quests up north by chance?" Merlin asked as the bartender had started moving wolf pelts into the back room. "Or maybe something involving these disappearances between here and Caphyae?"
"The rumoured kidnappings?" The bartender poked his head out from the back room. "Yeah, we¡¯ve got a special request from the town guard, I¡¯ll find it for you in a second."
The bartender vanished into the back room with another handful of wolf pelts, he came back a few momentster and began rummaging through his pile of quests once more. He pulled out a page and handed it to Merlin, causing a quest window to appear before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Umon Quest]
The Caphyae Kidnappings.
There are rumours and reports of kidnappings or disappearances of people travelling between Orchomenus and Caphyae. The town guard have submitted a request to the mercenary guild to deal with this issue swiftly.
Nobody is sure if this is bandits, monsters or something else entirely, there have been no ransom notes or bodies found anywhere near the path, so the town guard have issued a statement that anyone travelling should travel inrge groups.
Your task is to search the area between the two towns and discover the cause of the disappearances, and if you can, rescue the survivors.
Research the disappearances.
? Reward: 200 EXP, 20 Silver
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"I¡¯ll take it, thanks." Merlin epted the quest, but when he asked if there were any more quests in the area he received a no, so he said his farewells and left the building.
He figured he didn¡¯t really need anything else in town, so he made his way back towards the northern gate. He gave the guards a wave before stepping into the dark wilderness that was barely illuminated by the moon above.
Without wasting any time he had summoned his ball of light as usual and began travelling down the nothern road on his way to Caphyae.
After about eleven minutes of walking, Merlin heard a rustling noise in the nearby forest. He firmly grasped both of his daggers as he continued on his way, but as he walked the rustling was getting louder and it sounded like it was closing in on him.
Merlin could feel his heart starting to race. He didn¡¯t enjoy feeling like someone else¡¯s prey, so whoever, or whatever was out there targeting him right now was about to have a very bad day.
The forest became silent for a moment, and the tension in the air grew. Merlin was taking deep breaths to try and calm his heart rate. And then suddenly, a long bipedal creature lunged out of the treeline directly towards Merlin and attempted to sh at his flesh with its long w-like fingers.
Merlin tried jumping out of the way but felt the creature¡¯s ws slice across his chest, dealing a measly seven damage. This creature was much faster than Merlin expected, so he didn¡¯t manage to react in time, but now that it was finally out in the open, Merlin could now see his stalker.
"Oh man, you¡¯re ugly." Merlin mocked the creature as he took a couple steps backwards, avoiding the creature¡¯s second attack.
The creature was somewhat pale, more bluish-grey than anything. It had long ws, a hideous face with sharp dagger-like teeth, and it appeared to be severely emaciated. Merlin could see the creature¡¯s ribs quite clearly pronounced underneath its disgusting decay-ridden skin.
"Why the hell is there a gho--" Before Merlin could finish his sentence, the creature lunged at him once more, Merlin thrust his daggers into the creature¡¯s side before he pushed the creature away.
It relentlessly lunged at him once more, and the same thing happened, only that this time the creature wasn¡¯t pushed away. Instead it dug its ws into Merlin¡¯s back to secure itself before it started biting down on his shoulder.
Merlin started stabbing the creature¡¯s side repeatedly while it bit him in return, the creature eventually let up with its attacks as arge gaping hole had been made in its side, causing ck blood and various mashed organs to spill out.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has been resisted.¡¹
A notification appeared before Merlin as the creature leapt off of him and started sprinting into the forest, leaving Merlin on the road alone with arge hole bitten out of his shoulder. He nced at the notification, and he understood why it had been resisted.
"What the hell is a ghoul doing this far south?" Merlin asked himself, wondering why he had that encounter, or better yet why the ghoul was such a low levelpared to what he would normally expect.
Merlin had a very strong suspicion that this was rted to the kidnapping quest, and he saw the trail of blood and giblets leading into the forest, the only problem was that he currently didn¡¯t have the use of his left arm so he didn¡¯t feel like going for a rematch at the moment. It seemed as though the ghoul had bitten through some crucial nerves and muscles and even the bone in his shoulder, leaving it useless.
Merlin utilised one of his vines to wrap around his shoulder and block the bleeding as best as he could. He picked up the dagger he previously held in his left arm and sheathed it before making his way into the forest to look for some kind of wildlife. It didn¡¯t take him long to find a wolf in the area, and after killing it with the help of his remaining vine, he began fulfilling the conditions for his ghoulish tendencies ability to activate.
By devouring small chunks of raw wolf meat, he was quickly restoring his health points, and the wounds on his body started healing at an unnatural rate. Unfortunately while the gaping hole in his shoulder had healed, arge scar was left on his body where it once was. This scar would only disappear once he received proper healing, like from magic, potions or a medical bath.
Now fully healed, Merlin cast cleanse on himself, removing the wolf¡¯s blood from his chin and his own blood that had covered the entire left half of his torso. When he was satisfied, he made his way back to the road so that he could follow the blood path properly.
As he traversed through the forest for roughly three minutes, he came across arge clearing in the forest, and within this clearing was a severely dpidated church-like building that looked to have been abandoned in the middle of the forest for countless years. And the trail of blood was leading straight towards the church¡¯s front door.
Chapter 94: An Unexpected Reunion
Merlin walked out of the treeline and into the clearing. With both his weapons drawn he slowly made his way over to the abandoned old church. The closer he got, the more details of disrepair he saw. Whatever part of the building¡¯s stone exterior wasn¡¯t covered byrge cracks or obvious signs of corrosion was mostly covered by a mix of moss and mould.
As he cautiously entered the building, he saw that the inside was just as bad as the outside. No, perhaps it was worse.
As he looked around he noticed that the floor, what was left of it anyway, was just rotten wood. The rest of the floor was covered in shards of roof tiles, and as Merlin stared up towards what should have been the ceiling, all he could see was the night sky.
"I wonder why this ce was abandoned out here, or why it was even ced out here to begin with." Merlin wondered out loud, his inner lore hunter found something interesting about abandoned ruins of a church being left seemingly in the middle of nowhere. "Just what purpose did you have so far away from civilisation?"
As he walked further into the building, he began hearing scratching noisesing from the end of the room. It seemed to being from behind the altar that had barely been spared from the roof copsing on it.
Merlin took another step closer towards the altar, the roof tiles crunched underneath his shoes, and the rotten wood underneath that let out loud creaks. The scratching became louder and faster, it almost seemed like the creature was panicking.
Another step and the same thing happened, Merlin could hear frustrated gruntsing from behind the altar. But when he took another step, everything became silent.
The floor creaked once more as he raised his foot, and at that moment the ghoul lunged out from behind the altar in a desperate attempt to rip Merlin¡¯s head off. Unfortunately for the ghoul, this time Merlin knew what he was up against.
Merlin avoided the w and plunged his daggers into the ghoul¡¯s body. One punctured the creature¡¯s eye and the other hooked around and pierced its neck. With a loud roar, Merlin used his newfound leverage over the creature¡¯s head to throw it to the ground. The creature wed at his leg, but Merlin ripped his dagger out of the creature¡¯s eye before plunging it into where he expected the heart to be.
The creature let out one final pain-filled grunt before it lost all the strength in its body. Merlin¡¯s calf was finally free of the creature¡¯s w, although it had done a significant amount of damage to it, forcing him to limp.
Merlin sighed with disappointment as the creature didn¡¯t seem to drop anything. He limped over to the altar, the ground underneath him transitioned from rotten wood to cracked stone as he made his way up a few steps to get onto the elevated stone tform that the altar was resting on.
His calf left a trail of blood behind him as he walked up the steps. As he made his way behind the altar, he could see that there were several deep w marks on both the altar and the floor, mostly around where the two met.
"That¡¯s suspicious." Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto the section between the floor and the altar, besides the w marks and cracks, he noticed a very small gap between the two. When he reached his hand towards the gap, he could feel some kind of airflow air flowing out from it. "A secret room under an altar, how clich¨¦."
Merlin tried pushing on the altar but it didn¡¯t move. "Well, If a ghoul cant force it open, what luck would I have?" Merlin shook his head at his own actions before he started running his hands over the intricate designs around the altar, looking for some kind of hidden switch.
A few minutes passed, but Merlin couldn¡¯t seem to find it. Nevertheless he continued his search, there had to be something here. As he was concentrating on his search, he heard voices in the distance, although it sounded like they wereing closer.
"This is thest time we¡¯reing here. We¡¯re gonna fall behind if we don¡¯t get back to questing." It sounded like a grumpy young man was yelling at someone else, meaning there were at least two people in the area.
"That looks like blood. Did someone get it before us?" This time it was a woman¡¯s voice.
"No, they better not have, we¡¯ve waited for it to respawn for half an hour." Another woman¡¯s voice piped up this time, meaning there were at least three. But something sounded familiar about that voice.
He heard the crunching of grass and forest soil get closer and closer, until several silhouettes appeared at the church¡¯s doorway.
"Who is that?" The grumpy man asked, "Looks like they got... Wait that¡¯s not the vampire."
Merlin was currently sitting down in front of the altar, partially resting while waiting for his leg to heal. Something in his brain clicked at that moment, the guy¡¯s voice, it was extremely familiar to him, and only now did he realised who the group were.
"It looks like some kind of, zombie?" Another man¡¯s voice spoke up, this one was deeper than the rest. "Wait, that person is."
"Oh, it¡¯s the nt guy." The small blonde girl spoke up, as she walked further into the building, the moonlight could finally light up her face, revealing the girl to be Alvira.
"You gave Ty such a creative nickname, why do I just get nt guy?" Merlin yfully remarked at his new nickname. He greeted the rest of the group as they walked into the building, and they greeted him back.
"Alright then, how about sadist?" Alvira blurted out a nickname suggestion.
"On second thought, nt guy has a nice ring to it." Merlin sighed, before addressing the rest of the group. "What were you guys saying about a vampire?"
The group sat around and began exining to Merlin about how Alvira had gone around town asking about vampires, and eventually she received a hint about a possible sighting.
An olddy who ran a spice shop had told them about a rumour she heard from a merchant. This merchant told her about how his wagon was attacked on his way back from Caphyae. The merchant exined that the creature looked human, but one of the guards had gotten bit on the neck, leaving two puncture marks simr to the vampire bites he had once read about. When asked what happened to the presumed vampire, the merchant just said that his guards fought it off, and they made their way back to town.
Merlin just found out that the reason the roleyer group had run into him in the first ce was because they got a quest to validate the rumours of vampire sightings in the forest, which they hadpleted.
But it seemed as though Alvira wasing back to this location whenever she could so that she could hunt down the one vampire that spawned here, all in the hopes of getting a vampire soul to drop.
"Wait, it spawned during the day time, was it not affected by sunlight at all?" Merlin asked while gazing up at the hole in the roof. There were several different types of vampires, pulled from various myths and legend.
There was the movie stock standard, the night stalkers who burnt up in the sun, but then there were also arge variety of daywalkers, it ranged from perfectly immune to the sun¡¯s rays to severely weakened but not destroyed by it, then there was also the case of half breeds, dhampirs.
There were also the more ghoul or zombie-like vampires, and even ones that looked more like gargoyles. Vampires, and other blood-sucking monsters came in all shapes and sizes, and some didn¡¯t even suck blood.
"It didn¡¯t burst up into mes, no. But it seemed slower than I expected." Alvira was the first toment.
"Perhaps some kind of daywalker then, maybe it was weakened by sunlight, but not destroyed." Merlin was even more surprised that a daywalker appeared so early in the game, let alone a ghoul. "But it seems the spawn changes at night, I was attacked by a ghoul that led me here."
"Actually, perfect timing. There seems to be a secret passage under this altar, but I cant find the switch to open it." Merlin stood back up, it seemed as though he thought of a good idea. "Hey big guy,e up here for a second."
The hefty barbarian looking fellow did as he was asked, he climbed the stairs and walked over to the altar. Merlin only now bothered looking at the guy¡¯s username, which ironically enough was Tiny.
"You see where the scratches are on the altar? Give it a big whack with the hammer, lets see if you can shatter the locking mechanism." Merlin revealed his n while pping the side of the altar he wanted Tiny to hit.
After Merlin took a few steps back, Tiny had positioned himselffortably next to the the altar and was loosening up his shoulders before preparing himself for a heavy hit.
Merlin heard the guy chant a skill under his breath, and as the hammer ripped through the air and collided with the altar, a loud bang reverberated throughout the church, causing his party and Merlin to cover his ears.
The resulting damage was a deep set of cracks in the altar¡¯s side, but nothing seemed to be moving. After waiting for the cooldown once more, Tiny tried again, this time giving a little run up to build some extra momentum.
The loud crash reverberated throughout the church once more. Due to the swing ending up a little high, arge chunk out of the altar had been broken off and was now flying off towards the other side of the church, shattering further as it collided with the stone wall.
"Damn, this stupid thing." Tiny cursed before psyching himself up for one more swing.
This time, alongside the loud crash, the altar seemed to almost fling off its hinge as it flew backwards, revealing a staircase underneath.
As Tiny sat down to take a breath, and everyone else climbed up onto the tform to see the damage, Merlin received a couple notifications revealing that he was in the right ce.
¡¸The quest "The Caphyae Kidnappings." has been updated.¡¹
¡¸The quest "Lost and Found." has been updated.¡¹
"This seems to be the right ce for my quest, I just got an update." Merlin spoke up, while looking at the group. "And based on what you were saying earlier, there¡¯s a pretty good chance there is going to be more vampires down there. Do you want to party up and do it together?"
Chapter 95: The Vampires Crypt - I
"Oh, we might get lucky and get a vampire soul then." Alvira spoke up with an excited tone.
"There are probably treasures down there, how would you suggest we split them?" The samurai wannabe Zankoku asked Merlin.
"I¡¯m perfectly happy with rolling need or greed, or free for all if you want to do it that way." Merlin answered, "I¡¯ve got some pretty good daggers, so I¡¯ll pass on weapons. I¡¯m mostly looking for armour suited for a thief, but I¡¯ll dly take any trinkets nobody else wants."
"Need or greed works for us." Zankoku said before he began poking around the air.
Nobody else could see your disy windows unless you messed around with your privacy settings. Most people kept it as the default setting which was invisible. Others found it awkward to be seen doing strange actions like a mime, so they allowed the window be visible but set it so that everything on the window remained hidden.
Most rankers kept theirs invisible, especially those who focused on stealth, because nothing stood out in the dark corner of a cave quite like a bright inventory window.
¡¸You have been invited to "Zankoku¡¯s" party, would you like to join?¡¹
Merlin epted the party invite, and everyone¡¯s names turned green, signalling to him that they were allies.
Merlin poked his head down the creepy staircase that was once hidden under the altar, and when he breathed in, he could smell a strong scent of death, decay and the rusty scent of blood.
"It smells pretty bad down there, hey Legs are you gonna be ok?" Merlin asked while turning to the redhead archer.
The username floating above the head of the woman Merlin called Legs was "Nora". It took a second for Nora to realise Merlin was talking about her, she seemed confused at first but when she took a few steps closer she could smell the strong scent of blood.
"It doesn¡¯t seem like you¡¯re good with this sort of thing, so there¡¯s your heads up, it might be gross down there." Merlin warned before turning back towards the staircase. "I¡¯ll go first if that¡¯s okay with you guys."
Merlin received a nod of approval from everyone, so he slowly made his way down the staircase. Fragments of the shattered altar were being crushed under his feet as he walked down a couple steps, the staircase wrapped around slightly before opening up into the first room.
The scent of blood and death grew even stronger as he stepped into the first room. The room was only illuminated by the faint moonlight that was leaking in through the staircase, so Merlin began chanting and summoned the small ball of light as usual.
"Alright it seems safe,e in." Merlin said while looking around the room, there was a strange ck puddle to his left as he entered the room, so he steered clear of it.
The other four made their way into the room, and immediately noticed the ck puddle as well. While avoiding the puddle, they began searching the room for treasures or secrets, but ended up finding nothing. So with that disappointment out of the way, they approached the rickety wooden door that led into the next room.
Merlin pressed his ear to the door, and he heard faint nging sounds, it sounded like chains being tugged on and dragged along the stone floor.
"I hear movement, but it doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯sing from the next room, maybe a room over." Merlin whispered to the party. "It sounds like chains being whipped around."
He reached his hand towards the door handle and gently turned it while trying to feel for any resistance in the door handle. He wasn¡¯t expecting a nasty trap, but he didn¡¯t expect vampires either, so he was more suspicious than he usually would be.
The rest of the party seemed to be getting impatient while watching Merlin slowly turn the handle while cowering behind the wall beside it, but their thoughts changed when Merlin suddenly had a look of surprise on his face. As Merlin began sliding the door open, he heard a faint click and he felt a slight resistance in the door, like something was barely pulling on the other side.
"Hey guys, do you know what a spring-gun is? Or a shotgun door trap." Merlin asked the group before signalling everyone to move towards the wall with his other hand.
Once everyone was off to one side, Merlin swung the door open before retreating behind the wall. A rain of arrows flew through the doorway, colliding with the staircase on the other side of the room. Merlin caught sight of a familiar red tint on a couple of the arrows, while the rest seemed to just be normal.
"An arrow trap and shield-punishers... This crypt is definitely out of ce, something strange is going on here." Merlin mumbled to himself before poking his head into the other room, he quickly inspected the arrow trap from a distance. "It looks like the trap is spent, no automatic reload."
Once they heard that, everyone stepped away from the wall. Their expressions were a mix of surprised and relieved, and it seemed as though they were now more thankful that Merlin took his time.
"Alvira, you¡¯re going to be the thief of your party, aren¡¯t you?" Merlin asked, remembering that she attacked him with a dagger. Alvira nodded her head in response, to which he continued. "Alright, well disarming traps is going to be your most important skill. This will get covered again once you enter the thieves guild, but it¡¯s good to learn ahead of time."
Merlin walked over to the arrows that were shot out, most were destroyed during their impact with the stone steps but a couple survived. Merlin picked out a handful of arrows, two of which had the red tint, the rest were just normal.
"Nora, these two arrows are special, notice the red tint. These are ignition arrows, and they¡¯ll set anything that they hit on fire as long as the target is mmable, this includes wooden shields and fabrics. We only have two so make them count." Merlin handed her the two arrows, which she put in her quiver. He handed her the pile of normal arrows as well. "And these are just temporary arrows, you should use those before your regr arrows."
Merlin was a little worried that they would think of him as bossy if he kept this up, but he just wanted to help them out a little. This group waspetent, and they had pretty good teamwork from what he saw earlier, so Merlin considered them worth pointing in the right direction. The best part was that they were friendly to his group, it was hard finding trustworthy allies with potential.
The group walked into the next room, and Nora turned around immediately as if she were going to be sick. This room was full of bones, some seemed to be wolf bones, while others were clearly human.
There were two mostly eaten skeletons hanging from chains on the other side of the room, and a ck puddle underneath them. Merlin confirmed his prior thoughts that the ck ooze was just old blood, which is why the ce reeked so heavily of rust.
Merlin took a look around the room, making sure not to step on any bones. There were a few weaponsying about, but none of them were considered items by the system. They didn¡¯t look to be in good condition anyway, most being chipped or bent if they weren¡¯t coated in blood and rust. There were a few supply cratesying around, and upon peeking in it just seemed to be scraps of rotten meat.
"Well, I¡¯m going to go out on a limb and say that this is where they feed the ghouls." Merlinmented as he walked over to the arrow trap.
"They clearly aren¡¯t picky with their food." Tiny retorted, he slowly made his way over to one of the two doors that lead further into the crypt.
The rest of the group followed Tiny, who had chosen to walk towards the door on the right side of the room, rather than the one opposite to it on the left, Merlin stopped inspecting the arrow trap and walked towards them.
Merlin noticed that Nora didn¡¯t seem to be feeling well. He was worried for her, this was the worst kind of ce for her to be in. Virtual reality could potentially work as some kind of exposure therapy for her, but it was best done in moderation. Where she was right now was clearly overwhelming her, so Merlin wanted to get this over with quickly.
"I can hear chains being rattled around. This room has someone, or something in it." Alvira whispered to the group. She had her ear to the door, just like Merlin had done with the first door.
Merlin thought it was cute that she was mimicking him, he had told her to learn but he expected her to just watch what he was doing, not try it immediately for herself. He didn¡¯t hate people who were dedicated on improving themselves.
"What were you doing with the doorst time?" Alvira asked him, her eyes gleaming with interest.
"I was turning the handle while trying to feel for any resistance, like a tripwire or other mechanism connected to it." Merlin tried exining as simply as he could, but it was rather difficult without practice in a safe environment. "I¡¯d rmend watching first, it¡¯ll be easier to exin if you see it."
Alvira moved aside and let Merlin get into position. She stood on the opposite side to him where she would be able to hear a click if there was one. Merlin began repeating his previous actions, slowly turning the doorknob while feeling for any resistance.
This time however, Merlin didn¡¯t hear the click, and there didn¡¯t seem to be any resistance, so he opened the door slowly, enough to peek inside.
Inside the room was incredibly dark, but from what little light was bleeding in, Merlin could see what he thought to be a few ghouls chained up to the wall.
"No traps, but it looks like we¡¯ve got ghouls inside, but they¡¯re chained up." Merlin whispered to the group, who all started peeking inside, opening the door up a little each time, eventually the door was practically open and Merlin¡¯s light illuminated the room.
"What the hell is going on here?" Alvira asked while staring at the ghouls from the doorway.
Nobody in the group wanted to be the first one to walk in, so Merlin took the lead again. As he stepped into the room, the ghouls noticed him and began struggling against their chains. They looked like they were being starved, perhaps someone was trying to train these ghouls.
Chapter 96: The Vampires Crypt - II
The rest of the group followed Merlin inside, everyone was wary of the ghouls. Zankoku and Alvira jumped in fear every time they heard chains rattle. They made sure to keep their distance, but even then they didn¡¯t feel safe here.
"What kind of messed up torture room is this?" Alvira spoke up again while looking around.
The room was full of torture implements, and amongst the handful of live ghouls chained up along the wall were a couple dead ghouls, they appeared to have been carved up by several of the torture implements lying around the room.
Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto one of the dead ghouls hanging on the wall, its eyes were sunken and its chin was covered in blood. But unlike the other ghouls in the room, its skin didn¡¯t seem entirely decayed, and this one almost had a full head of hair, whereas the others were all bald or balding. Merlin¡¯s curiosity grew as he stared at this creature, it just didn¡¯t seem normal in his eyes.
Much to his party¡¯s disgust, Merlin began poking around the body. The nearby ghouls were mming against their chains and trying to attack him, but they were helpless against their chains. Merlin inspected the ghoul¡¯s corpse, his eyes locked onto the ghoul¡¯s neck, where he saw a bruise that seemed to be in the shape of arge hand.
"Odd, why would someone choke a ghoul if they were trying to tame it." Merlin mumbled out loud.
His eyes hovered up towards its jaw which was covered in blood, and to Merlin¡¯s surprise it seemed there were also remnants of bile running down its face. After a few seconds of inspecting the corpse he realised that the jaw had been broken, and there were remnants of food left in its mouth, along with the overpowering scent of vomit. Merlin wasn¡¯t certain but the food seemed to be human remains, which made him feel sick to his stomach.
He pulled away from the jaw and inspected the ghoul once more, he thought of all strange aspects about it, and then something suddenly clicked in his mind.
"No. They aren¡¯t just taming ghouls. Someone is creating them." Merlin mumbled to himself. "They¡¯ve been force fed human remains and tortured. This is some kind of sick experiment."
Merlin noticed a glowing item within a nearby pile of torture implements, and when he walked up to it he noticed that it was a knife. Merlin picked the knife up and inspected the stats on it, causing an information window to appear before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Torturer¡¯s de. (Umon)]
? Damage: +6
? Chance to inflict bleeding: +14%
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Oh hey, this is pretty good." Merlin mumbled to himself, he was starting to regret promising not to take any of the weapons that they looted. He walked over to Alvira and handed her the de. "This knife fits your aesthetic pretty well, check the stats."
In the end it seemed better to give it to Alvira, he could always find better weapons down the line but he couldn¡¯t rece trust. Merlin wasn¡¯t keen on losing an ally because of his own greed.
Alvira took the weapon happily, she immediately swapped out her beginner dagger for the torturer¡¯s de and swung it around a bit before thanking Merlin.
"What should we do about the ghouls?" Zankoku asked. He had his sword drawn and seemed to be on edge just being near the ghouls, even though they were chained up.
"All the ghouls here are most likely the people who have been getting kidnapped. Unfortunately I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a way to turn them back once they¡¯ve be ghouls, it¡¯s best to put them out of their misery." Merlin instructed.
The group spent the next couples minutes killing the defenceless ghouls before investigating the rest of the room. There wasn¡¯t much else of value left in the room, but Merlin passed on anything that showed up.
The group went back into the room full of skeletons and made their way over to the left side of the room this time. Alvira decided that she wanted to try what Merlin showed her, and whileser focused on her task, she decided that there were no traps without consulting Merlin before immediately swinging the door open.
Fortunately for the party, there were no traps on the other side of the door. But on the other hand, they suddenly caught the attention of everyone within the next room.
As Merlin¡¯s light illuminated the next room, he saw four human-shaped creatures that he quickly identified to be vampires performing various tasks around the room. He also noticed that there were three ghouls that were locked away in what were essentially reinforced dog cages.
The vampires all turned around to locate the light source, immediately seeing the party standing around the door frame.
"Vampires lets go!" Alvira shrieked with excitement as she quickly made her way into the next room. The rest of the group followed with their weapons drawn, Merlin included.
Two of the vampires were using weapons, a sword and a dagger, but the other two were barehanded.
One of the barehanded vampires took the initiative, and decided to lunge towards Alvira with its ws out. But unfortunately for the vampire it leapt into the swing of arge war hammer that forcibly sent it flying to the opposite end of the room. Tiny let out a taunting grunt as he lifted the war hammer back onto his shoulder.
Merlin watched as the rest of the party quickly got into position. Nora drew an arrow back and was getting prepared to shoot. Zankoku had begun sprinting towards the vampire with a sword while getting ready to strike. Tiny and Alvira were preparing themselves for the iing attacks. While Merlin picked the vampire with the dagger as his target and began running towards him with both his daggers drawn.
The second barehanded vampire ran towards Tiny and Alvira, lunging at them with its ws out. An arrow flew past Alvira¡¯s head and embedded itself in the vampire¡¯s heart. This disrupted the vampire just long enough for Tiny to chant his heavy strike skill as he swung his hammer down on top of the vampire¡¯s skull, causing its body to bend forward and its head to collide with the stone floor at an incredible speed.
Alvira ran behind the vampire that was now face-first into the ground, and plunged her new dagger into its back, aiming for where she believed the heart would be.
Zankoku and the sword vampire had just begun shing des. The vampire parried Zankoku¡¯s katana and used the opportunity to w his chest with his spare hand. Zankoku took a step backwards and shifted into a more defensive stance.
Merlin¡¯s eyes nced over at Alvira and Tiny, and he saw that they just killed the vampire and were now moving to assist Zankoku. He also noticed that the other vampire that Tiny batted away hadn¡¯t moved yet, but it was highly unlikely that it was dead with just that.
Merlin enteredbat range with the dagger vampire. Sparks flew as his goblin dagger collided with the vampire¡¯s dagger. Merlin began chanting for his heavy strike skill while getting ready to attack with the wolf¡¯s fang.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin barely dodged the vampire¡¯s w strike before plunging his dagger into the vampire¡¯s neck. The vampire let out a pained grunt as it thrust its ws at Merlin once more, barely grazing his skin as he pushed away.
"I really need to get more agility." Merlin mumbled to himself while thinking he¡¯d probably want to visit the rangers guild sometime soon.
Merlin and the vampire shed once more, and the vampire immediately thrust its w towards Merlin¡¯s stomach without bothering about its own defence. It seemed to have gotten an understanding of Merlin¡¯s speed and decided that this was the most effective attack it could perform.
Instead of taking the bait and going for another attack, Merlin thrust his dagger into the vampire¡¯s w, preventing its w from reaching his body and causing it to roar in pain. He parried the vampire¡¯s desperate attack before shing at its throat.
Merlin sent his vines to entangle the vampire temporarily as he pulled his dagger out of the vampire¡¯s hand and plunged it into its heart, causing it to fall limp. He turned around just in time to witness an arrow piece through the skull of the sword vampire, killing it.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped back towards thest vampire, who was fiddling with the locking mechanism of the ghoul cages. An arrow flew through the air and pierced it in the shoulder just as it ripped open the lock, causing the ghoul inside to burst out of its cage.
"Kill it before it opens more." Merlin roared out as he charged towards the ghoul.
An arrow with a red tint flew past his head, embedding itself in the vampire¡¯s heart. Merlin watched as the vampire¡¯s clothing spontaneouslybusted, the fire rapidly spread along its clothing and onto its hair.
Although its skin was visibly melting and the vampire was roaring out in pain, he still worked on opening the second lock, another few arrows were let loose as it opened the cage. One hit the vampire¡¯s leg, the others hit his head and stomach, sessfully killing it.
The ghoul charged towards Merlin and pounced into the air with its ws out. Merlin plunged his daggers into the ghoul¡¯s chest and wrestled it to the ground using the daggers as handholds. The ghoul wed at his sides while Merlin was repeatedly stabbing the ghoul¡¯s chest with his daggers.
Tiny ran over to Merlin while chanting, and Merlin barely rolled out of the way as Tiny brought his war hammer down on the ghoul¡¯s skull, causing its contents to spray out and cover Merlin. It seemed as though that was thest straw for Nora, as she immediately turned away and became sick after witnessing it.
The ghoul that had just been released burst out of its cage and pounced Tiny, who hadn¡¯t yet recovered from hisst attack. But Zankoku intercepted the creature, leaving a deep cut in the creature¡¯s shoulder. Alvira and Zankoku worked together to finish off the creature while Merlin cast cleanse on himself and Tiny. They killed thest ghoul that was still locked in its cage before doing anything else.
"We didn¡¯t get a vampire soul." Alvira let out a disappointed sigh as she began searching around the room for any loot.
"Well there¡¯s another room over there." Tiny said as he pointed Alvira towards a small connected room in the corner. "There¡¯s still hope."
When the group collected themselves and approached the room, they saw that there was nothing else in the room but arge double door that appeared to be made of stone.
"Well, that¡¯s definitely a boss room." Alvira remarked before sitting down in the cleanest corner she could find.
The group rested up, allowing their bodies to heal before daring to attempt the presumed boss room.
Chapter 97: The Vampires Crypt - III
"Alright, are we all ready?" Zankoku stood up first and inspected the rest of the party.
Everyone else nodded in response and stood up. Merlin resummoned his ball of light so that he¡¯d get the maximum duration on it, and Alvira grabbed a torch from her inventory and lit it.
With their weapons drawn, everyone waited in anticipation as Tiny and Zankoku worked together to push open therge stone double door.
As expected, the inside of the next room had next to no light outside of what looked to be a single brazier hanging in the centre of the room.
The brazier was letting out a fair amount of smoke that was visibly gathering near the ceiling. Seeing as the room wasn¡¯tpletely full of smoke, it seemed as though the room wasn¡¯t entirely sealed as it first appeared. There must have been some venttion system that the smoke could escape from.
Dotted around the room were an assortment of cages, and within these cages seemed to be arge group of humans left in a strange state of delirium. None of them reacted as the two ghouls that were roaming around the room wed at their cages.
Two more vampires seemed to be working within the room, one was handling vials full of an assortment of liquids, while the other seemed to be writing on various sheets of paper that were strewn across its desk.
At the very back of the room, barely illuminated by Merlin¡¯s orb of light, was a muchrger vampire sitting on what was essentially a throne. On the vampire¡¯sp was a motionless pale woman wearing a bloodstained white dress, the source of the blood stain appeared to being from her neck.
The vampires all noticed the doors opening, and they bared their fangs when they saw Merlin¡¯s party appear on the other side.
"What the." Alvira mumbled,
As the party slowly started entering the room, Merlin noticed that his body suddenly felt somewhat lethargic, but he didn¡¯t know why. He finally got a good whiff of the nt that was burning in the brazier and he immediately recognised the scent.
"Nora, shoot the brazier." Merlin yelled as he stepped back out of the room. "The smoke is a powerful sedative, don¡¯t breathe it in.
Everyone followed his actions, quickly stepping out of the room and covering their mouths. Nora drew an arrow back and sent it flying. She barely hit one of the chains suspending the brazier, causing it to frantically shake around and spill hot coals around the room.
The ghouls were the first to react, they began a sprint towards the group and both pounced on a target. The two vampires doing tasks dropped what they were doing and started making their way over, while therger vampire remained seated on his throne.
Zankoku and Tiny intercepted a ghoul each, while Nora shot another arrow, sending the brazier crashing to the ground, causing the rest of its contents to spill out as it rolled around the floor.
Zankoku wedged his de into the ghoul¡¯s shoulder, while Alvira slid underneath it to stab at its heart before retreating.
The ghoul that was pouncing onto Tiny barely dodged his war hammer. Allowing it to dig its sharp ws into Tiny¡¯s chest.
Nora sent an arrow into the shoulder of the ghoul attacking Tiny, and Merlin charged at it, plunging both his daggers into the ghoul¡¯s eye sockets, using the leverage they provided him to rip the creature off of Tiny.
Merlin began chanting when he noticed one of the vampires running towards him. As the vampire pounced on him, Merlin mmed his palm into its chest while finishing his chant, "Ignite."
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Small embers formed on the vampire¡¯s clothes quickly spreading as the vampire moved around, focused more on plunging its ws into Merlin¡¯s shoulder than putting out the fire. Merlin ripped his daggers out of the ghoul¡¯s head and thrust them towards the vampire, causing it to leap backwards. The ghoul Merlin was on was quickly finished off by Nora with a single headshot.
The other group had made short work of the other ghoul and were now fighting the second vampire. Tiny had gone to help the other group with their vampire issue as Merlin pounced on the vampire that had only just realised it was on fire.
Merlin parried the vampire¡¯s panicked w strike, leaving a deep gash on the creature¡¯s neck in return. The smoke hadn¡¯t yet dissipated, so Merlin was beginning to feel its effects as he chased this vampire down into the centre of the boss room. The scent of burning flowers was slowly being overpowered by the scent of burning flesh, so now he was feeling lethargic and nauseous.
The vampire allowed Merlin to plunge his daggers into its chest, but in return managed to sink its fangs into Merlin¡¯s neck as ast resort, its flesh was still slowly burning away and Merlin could feel the heat of the mes.
Merlin felt his life force being slowly drained away, but it seemed the vampire didn¡¯t enjoy the taste of his blood. A few seconds after it bit into him, the vampire tried to pull away, only to find that strange vines had burst out of Merlin and wrapped around it. As the vine thorns stabbed into the vampire¡¯s pale flesh, a familiar notification appeared before Merlin.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
The vampire seemed startled at this development, it panicked and tried to struggle out of the vines, only to find that an arrow wasing right for it. Unable to dodge, the vampire was helpless as the arrow pieced its skull. Merlin finished it off with a quick flurry of dagger attacks, followed by a final stab to the heart.
Merlin¡¯s head was spinning, the smoke had taken its toll on his body. He retracted his vines and dashed towards the rest of his party, leaving the vampire corpse there to continue burning. He arrived near the group just as the party finished off thest vampire.
Before anybody could say anything, the boss finally started moving. It reached for the corpse of the woman it had on itsp and wrapped itsrge hand around the corpse¡¯s neck. With only one hand it threw the corpse away like she was useless garbage. The woman¡¯s corpse hit the back wall beforending on one of the cages.
Everyone¡¯s attention was quickly brought back to the vampire itself as it stood up, showing that it was at least three heads taller than the other vampires.
"Oh lord, he¡¯s massive." Alvira, the shortest in the party, remarked. She appeared to be somewhat intimidated by the vampire¡¯s size.
The vampire began shouting at Merlin¡¯s party in a strangenguage. Nobody seemed to be able to understand what it was saying, and even Merlin was having a hard time trying to figure out whichnguage it was. Even though he couldn¡¯t understand it, there should still have been some familiarity if he had heard it before, but thisnguage just felt alien to him.
"Any idea what he said?" Zankoku asked, but he received a negative answer from everyone in the party.
The party all rushed forward into the room with their weapons draw, Merlin stood back for a moment. He made sure nobody was watching him before he sneakily cut a chunk of of forearm off of the vampire corpse next to him and shoved it in his mouth, allowing him to start regenerating his health faster.
The flesh tasted rotten and almost caused him to throw it back up, but Merlin forced it down and kept it down. He immediately regretted his actions, wolf flesh was one thing, but vampire flesh was clearly crossing a bar. Unfortunately he wasn¡¯t equipped with potions just yet, so this was the only option he had for healing.
The vampire lord seemed to be struggling against the four of them. It managed to dig its ws into Zankoku, but as a result it lost its left arm.
A red tinted arrow flew through the air, embedding itself in the centre of the vampire¡¯s chest, causing its body and clothes to spontaneouslybust.
At it struggled to put out the mes with a single arm, Alvira had snuck up behind it and plunged her new knife into the vampire¡¯s back, slicing its flesh from the neck down to the tailbone.
As Merlin watched the party fight the vampire boss, his body suddenly received a surge of energy, seemingly out of nowhere. The sedative smoke¡¯s effects had finally run out and he was ready to rejoin the fight.
Merlin picked up both his daggers and sprinted towards the vampire. He watched as Tiny chanted and mmed his hammer into the vampire¡¯s back, sending it stumbling forward where Nora put two more arrows into its chest. Zankoku and Alvira took a leg each, leaving a deep gash and causing it to fall to its knees.
Seeing this perfect opportunity, Merlin chanted his heavy strike skill as he lunged towards the vampire.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
He plunged his wolf¡¯s fang into the vampire lord¡¯s head, causing a loud cracking noise to echo within the room as his dagger broke through the vampire lord¡¯s skull.
The vampire stopped moving.
"Wait, seriously that was it?" Alvira asked with a smug expression. "The ghouls were harder than that!"
Chapter 98: The Vampires Crypt - IV
As if to purposefully mock Alvira for her overconfidence, the vampire boss suddenly erupted into a cloud of red mist,pletely enveloping the party.
"Why did you have to jinx it." Zankoku yelled as he attempted to escape the mist. "It has a second phase."
Merlin quickly leapt out of the mist¡¯s range. He found that his vision was partially obscured by red blotches in his eyes, and his attempt at wiping it away didn¡¯t work well enough.
Merlin watched as his party stumbled out of the mist, it seemed that a couple of them had beenpletely blinded, and a couple were coughing out what looked like blood.
The mist slowly gathered back into the shape of a human before dissipating, leaving the vampire standing there, seemingly unhurt.
Merlin and Zankoku both sprinted towards the vampire. Vines burst out of Merlin¡¯s shoulders and attempted to restrain the boss, but the vampire cut the vines apart with its sharp ws, forcing them to retract back into Merlin¡¯s body.
While the vampire¡¯s attention was locked on Merlin, Zankoku started his attack, He performed arge sweeping attack from behind the vampire, leaving a deep gash in both of its calf muscles.
The vampire turned around and swiped its ws at the samurai, leaving a deep gash in his face and sending him tumbling towards a pile of cages.
Merlin took this opportunity to leap onto the vampire¡¯s back, stabbing both of his daggers into the back of the boss¡¯s neck.
The vampire roared in pain as Merlin¡¯s daggers sunk into its flesh. It began quickly twisting its body in an attempt to throw Merlin off, but he was holding on using the daggers as support, it began reaching for Merlin, but he barely avoided the boss¡¯s grasp.
Zankoku stood back up and charged towards the boss. He managed to slide under the iing wide swing of the vampire¡¯s w before delivering a strong sh to its abdomen.
Merlin ripped one of the daggers out of the vampire¡¯s neck and began repeatedly stabbing the neck as if he were trying to saw its head off.
An arrow suddenly flew through the air, piercing the creature in the ribs. The vampire¡¯s attention snapped towards Nora, who had just prepared another arrow. The vampire¡¯s eyes glowed faintly before another arrow was let loose, this time the arrow flew way off target, shattering against the stone wall. Nora dropped her bow and stood there in a daze, she had fallen victim to the vampire¡¯s charm.
"Someone p Nora, she¡¯s been charme--" Merlin noticed Nora¡¯s behaviour, and immediately shouted instructions to her teammates. Unfortunately hismands were cut short as arge w reached towards him, sessfully wrapping itself around Merlin¡¯s head.
Before Merlin could react, he felt his body lose all its strength as he was picked up by the head and thrown to the other side of the room. His body rag-dolled through the air before crashing into the ground, only stopping once his body collided with a wooden desk.
His collision snapped one of the desk¡¯s legs off, causing it to copse on top of him.
Loose sheets of paper covered in strange symbols slid off the desk andnded around him, a thick leather-bound book with a faint glow joined them, creating a hefty thud sound as itnded on the stone floor.
As Merlin tried to reach over and grab the book, he just found out that he currently couldn¡¯t move or feel anything below his neck, which caused him to groan in frustration.
Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto a few of the sheets of paper instead, his eyes traced the strange foreign symbols that were scratched onto them. The symbols seemed almost entirely unfamiliar to him, but he had a strange feeling that he had seen them before.
A few minutes passed before Merlin¡¯s attention snapped back towards the fight. He saw Alvira get pierced in the chest by the vampire¡¯s w, only to be thrown aside as it continued fighting the rest of the party. It didn¡¯t seem like Alvira was dead, but she looked close to it.
Tiny retaliated,unching a powerful swing into the vampire¡¯s shoulder, causing it to go limp and fold at a strange angle. The boss let out a deafening roar as its eyes suddenly became bloodshot, with its one remaining arm it punched Tiny as hard as it could, sending him barrelling into a handful of cages behind him.
Several more arrows were let loose, half of them missing their target as the vampire weaved back and forth as it approached the archer. Zankoku attempted to intercept the boss, but was quickly overpowered and sent tumbling backwards.
Nora let one more arrow fly before rolling under the boss¡¯s swipe. She tried her best to create more distance while shooting at it, but the vampire was too fast. Eventually she was caught as well, and her party watched helplessly as her arm was snapped. Nora screamed in pain, while the boss seemed to beughing at her suffering.
The vampire dramatically swung is head back before sinking its fangs into Nora¡¯s neck, her screams slowly died out as she felt her life force drain out of her body.
Merlin suddenly felt a rust of pain flow through his body, he quickly found out that he could move his body again, although it felt sluggish he crawled out from under the desk. He immediately noticed that his daggers were still lodged in the back of the boss¡¯s neck.
He watched as the boss wasing real close to killing Nora, and a quick nce told him that nobody else was going to make it in time. Merlin grabbed the broken desk leg that wasying beside him before he sprinted towards the vampire while chanting a skill name.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin quickly closed the distance, he watched as Nora gasped for life, and the vampire dug its ws into her body. Merlin leapt into the air and swung the wooden leg at the vampire¡¯s head. He also made an attempt to whip it with his vines, but unfortunately it didn¡¯t trigger his passive.
Merlin received a notification jingle informing him that the skill had triggered. He watched as the wooden leg erupted into a cloud of splinters that scattered out in all directions. Nora¡¯s hair seemed to have caught most of them.
The vampire shrieked, dropping Nora as it staggered backwards. Nora¡¯s body fell to the ground almost lifeless, but she was still breathing, albeit barely.
Merlin found that he was left with nothing more than half a wooden table leg that conveniently sharpened into a jagged point, forming a makeshift wooden stake.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped to a noise quickly closing in behind him, he turned around just in time to see Zankoku sprint past him with his sword drawn and chanting a skill name. Zankoku angrily roared as he cleanly sliced one of the vampire¡¯s legs off, causing it to fall onto its back.
Merlin made his way towards the vampire as he watched Zankoku angrily slice at the vampire¡¯s body. Merlin received a small jingle notifying him that his twenty second cooldown had finished, at at that moment he began chanting the skill for heavy strike again.
Merlin leapt onto the boss¡¯s chest, pinning it down before he thrust the makeshift stake into its heart as hard as he could. He heard the vampire¡¯s ribs snap as the stake forced its way in. The vampire wed at Merlin¡¯s side desperately, but then as the stake pierced its heart, it stopped moving as if it had been paralysed.
Zankoku came in with the finishing strike, a downward strike with all his might that sessfully cleaved through the boss¡¯s head, sending it rolling away. Merlin felt his body slightly sink as the vampire¡¯s corpse he was on top of turned to dust.
"It¡¯s finally over." Zankoku groaned before copsing onto the ground.
Merlin dug his daggers out of the mound of dust before standing up and casting cleanse on himself, causing all the filth he had acquired to slowly peel away.
"God, I hate vampires." Merlin groaned as he began pacing around the room. As he checked up on everyone¡¯s conditions. They seemed to be fine, and their passive regeneration would kick in soon.
"That definitely shouldn¡¯t have been here, something is seriously wrong." Merlin mumbled to himself as he approached the book he was looking at earlier.
He picked the book up and inspected it, causing an information window to appear before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Strange book. (Unique)]
A strange leather-bound book, the pages are full of scribbles featuring foreign symbols. Its contents may be trantable.
? Uses remaining: 1
? Grants Knowledge: "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)"
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Bashkatil?" Merlin muttered out loud. It was an interesting find, anguage that even Merlin hadn¡¯t heard of.
He wanted to im the book for himself, but he had toply with loot etiquette and announce his find. "Hey guys, I found a book here that teaches you anothernguage, do you mind if I take it?"
"Whatnguage?" Zankoku asked. Fortunately he didn¡¯t seem that interested in having the book, it appeared to just be mild curiosity.
"It¡¯s called Bashkatil, I believe it¡¯s thenguage scribbled around this ce, and probably thenguage the boss was speaking in." Merlin exined.
"Oh cool. Yeah go right ahead." Zankoku answered. Merlin also received confirming groans from the rest of the party.
Merlin immediately opened the book, causing it to light up and vanish, giving him a notification in return.
¡¸Knowledge Obtained: "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)"¡¹
Chapter 99: The Vampires Crypt - V
After absorbing the knowledge, Merlin reached for a handful of the loose sheets that wereying around at his feet. He attempted to read what was on the page, it seemed that the beginner knowledge was enough to understand the context, but there were a several words that most likely expanded the story into greater detail that he simply couldn¡¯t understand.
The general context he managed to figure out was that the vampire had one day suddenly found himself lost and alone in the forest. There was a specific passage that mentioned that this was a strange world where contact with sunlight caused the vampire¡¯s skin to burn.
Merlin believed this passage confirmed his theory that something strange and unusual was going on. The reason the vampire seemed out of ce was because it actually was. The vampire had seemingly been taken from another world, or dimension, and plopped into this one without warning.
Most of the other sheets on this table spoke about its attempts at creating allies. It seemed as though the vampire¡¯s usual methods weren¡¯t working the same way as he expected. So the vampire discovered an abandoned building and began rigorous testing on any native life forms it could find.
It seemed to be testing on animals at first, bats and rats being the mostmon, but also the asional wolf. It then quickly expanded out to humans once it discovered the nearby trade route.
It seemed the first task was to create the vampire¡¯s kin through various unconventional methods, which coincidentally led to the development of ravenous ghouls. It seemed the first few test subjects were a lost cause but eventually the vampire discovered a method to create other vampires, sort of.
It seemed these vampires were no better than ghouls at first, but subsequent attempts resulted in a more stable creature. They couldn¡¯tmunicate but they were able to obey simple instructions, and the biggest bonus of all was that they didn¡¯t burn up in the sun.
Merlin grabbed a stack of sheets and made his way over to the other desk, the one that had several vials full of strange looking liquids. This desk also had various documents, although they were stacked neatly in a pile.
Merlin ced the various loose sheets of paper down on the desk, and picked a few sheets from the pile. He attempted to read them, but he found it near impossible. Most of the documents were almost iprehensible, they were riddled with endless jargon and entric reports of testing.
By this point everyone else had finally healed, Merlin could hear their pained groans as they started standing back up.
"Is everyone alright?" Zankoku asked, to which he received a variety of answers. The person in the worst shape seemed to be Nora, who appeared shaken up by what had just happened. Then Zankoku turned to Merlin, who was still reading through paper. "What about you Merlin, you doing ok?"
Merlin turned away from his attempts at reading, he turned to face Zankoku, but found that it was a little inconvenient to turn his head.
"A little stiff around the neck, but I¡¯m fine otherwise." He said while cracking his neck. "What kind of guy throws someone by the head anyway? That sucked."
He received a couple chuckles in response, but it seemed everyone was low on energy at the moment.
"So, you¡¯ve been reading for a couple minutes, have you figured out anything interesting?" Zankoku asked, to which Merlin briefly exined the story he had put together about the vampire¡¯s life.
"Wait, so vampires aren¡¯t normally in this world?" Alvira asked with a disappointed tone.
"There are still vampires, don¡¯t worry." Merlin reassured her. He didn¡¯t know how much he could reveal without seeming suspicious, but he came up with an easy exnation, so he briefly told them where to go. "There are vampires and other undead north-west of Caphyae. Although you¡¯re going to need a lot more levels before you try it."
"How do you know that?" A few people in the group asked.
"I yed this game briefly during the closed alpha and testing stage. Most of the undead were put in the same area, and it doesn¡¯t seem like much has changed from then and now so they¡¯re most likely still up there." Merlin exined.
It wasn¡¯t a lie, although he could barely remember much from the alpha test aside from the final demo. And he only remembered the final demo because it was the day of the incident that sent him to the medical bay a few days before his exams.
"That exins the fancy machine." Alvira mumbled out loud, she seemed convinced. "And everything else, really."
The rest of the group nodded, they seemed satisfied, like they solved a mystery that had them scratching their heads.
"So this is why you¡¯re always first on the leaderboard?" Alvira asked. "You¡¯ve yed all of this before."
"Well, I haven¡¯t done any of the quests before. The story is new to me." Merlin tried exining in such a way that he wasn¡¯t used of cheating. "The alpha test was just everyone messing around on an admin ount and testing a bunch of features out like casting magic or interacting with things."
"All I really did during the alpha was y with magic and try learn how to do a flip." Merlin continued downying it, "So it¡¯s probably just that I had more experience moving around and doing things at first, and that eventually snowballed into me taking the top spot."
"What about Snow and scythe guy?" Alvira asked, she seemed to be a bit disheartened hearing that Merlin had an obvious advantage, even though he tried to minimise it as much as possible while exining it. "Were they in the alpha too?"
"No, no. The alpha was just the developers, I was only invited to y around a couple times because of family reasons." Merlin continued trying to downy it. "Rather, those two are surprisingly good at this. It took me a while before I figured out how to do things, but those two are naturals."
Alvira seemed content with Merlin¡¯s answer, but he couldn¡¯t help but think he went the wrong way about it now. Even if they were better behaved than the others, they were still part of the upper ss and members of famous families. Those kinds of people were famous for being especially bad when it came to their inferiorityplexes.
"Well, I think we should start breaking these people out." Merlin changed the subject, "There is probably a set of keys around somewhere for these cages, along with other loot."
The group started searching around, there was a couple weaponsying around and a few trinkets, but nothing Merlin could really use or wanted. A couple of the vials of strange liquids glowed faintly, indicating that they were lootable, but nobody wanted to touch them because they looked dangerous, so Merlin decided he¡¯d take them. Unfortunately, simr to thest vial of strange liquid he looted, the information on it was hidden and required an appraisal skill.
The group eventually found a ring of keys for the cages. The keys were hidden in the pile of dust and were only found once Nora broke her eerie silence and began angrily kicking the dust around. She seemed to be in better shape after expelling her frustrations, but she still didn¡¯t talk much.
With the keys in hand, Merlin started unlocking all the cages that had people in them. They were all still a delirious state, and it was likely that they would snap out of it eventually.
Zankoku somehow got the bright idea that pping an NPC would wake them up, simr to how Merlin told them to p Nora. But he was met with nothing but a light reduction in karma.
Eventually all the cages were unlocked, and the group slowly helped them out of the building one by one,ying them on the forest floor outside the abandoned church.
Once Merlin carried thest captive out of the building, he received several notification messages.
¡¸You have solved an issue caused by a strange phenomenon.¡¹
¡¸The quest "The Caphyae Kidnappings." has been updated.¡¹
"A strange phenomenon." Merlin mumbled those words out loud. It seemed familiar, and then it clicked, the shattered sky quest had a simr wording.
He wasn¡¯tpletely certain if this was rted to that quest, but it made sense to him. It did warn that it would increase the possibility of strange phenomenon happening around him, but he wasn¡¯t entirely sure what that meant.
Merlin started casting cleanse on the entire party while they spoke about what to do next. Eventually the NPCs started snapping out of their drug-fuelled haze and slowly regained the ability to think. A lot of the NPCs seemed terrified, but calmed down when reassured that they were safe.
One of the NPCs, a frail looking woman, was frantically searching around while screaming out what Merlin assumed was a woman¡¯s name. After scanning every face crowded around, the NPC approached Merlin¡¯s party. She started asking questions about her sister, saying that perhaps they missed someone and began screaming out descriptions.
Everyone slowly realised who she was talking about, Merlin decided that he was going to be the one to go back into the crypt. He came back up a few minutester with the pale corpse of a woman in his arms, and a thick stack of rolled up paper in his hand.
When the woman saw the corpse Merlin was carrying, she broke down in tears. Merlin gently ced the corpse on the forest floor, and the woman fell to her knees beside it. Everyone stood around silently as the woman cried. She held her sister¡¯s lifeless body tightly in her arms.
Chapter 100: Kidnapping Case Solved
"Are you guys heading back to Orchomenus?" Merlin asked Zankoku, to which he received a nod in return. "Do you mind helping me with getting the group of people back to town?"
"We might as well." Zankoku answered. "When do you think we¡¯ll be leaving?"
Merlin and Zankoku both looked over to the woman who was still sobbing, then Merlin scanned the faces of everyone nearby until his eyes fell on an older looking woman with a sympathetic look on her face.
The woman seemed to have noticed Merlin¡¯s gaze and understood his intentions. She gave him a brief nod before approaching the woman who was crying, she began consoling her. After a few minutes, the woman calmed down, and Merlin took the opportunity to speak up.
"We¡¯ll start making our way back to Orchomenus now, preferably as a group." Merlin announced, "We¡¯ll protect you from any threats on the way. For those of you who wish to travel to Caphyae instead, I¡¯d advise against it. We don¡¯t know what sort of condition your bodies are in and we don¡¯t have any torches to spare, plus it wouldn¡¯t be safe to travel alone at night."
He received a nod of approval from everyone, it didn¡¯t seem like anybody even considered moving away from the group, even though quite a few of the NPCs could cast light.
Before the group left, Merlin scanned around and located the envoy of the oracle, he approached the envoy to exin the situation to him. Merlin told the envoy that he would be guiding him back to Macedonia, but he would have to follow him into Orchomenus first while he got the rest of the people to safety.
The group started slowly moving through the forest, their first goal being the road. It didn¡¯t take long to traverse through the forest following Merlin¡¯s guidance, even the more elderly got through without much issue. Merlin was going to carry the corpse at first, but a friendly looking man with a muchrger build offered to take his ce.
Eventually the group had made it to the road, making everyone feel considerably safer. The group began their travels along the road on their way to Orchomenus.
"So why did you grab the paper?" Alvira asked Merlin in a hushed voice. "I thought you read those already."
"Couldn¡¯t help myself, I¡¯ve got sticky fingers." Merlin replied in a joking manner at first, but he decided to humour her. "Well, I didn¡¯t understand all of it, I¡¯m hoping I can get someone to trante the rest for me."
"What else is there to understand?" She asked.
"There¡¯s arge pile of records involving tests, they¡¯re full of jargon and words I don¡¯t understand. Quite a few of these seem to involve some kind of alchemy, and there were the vials we found on the same desk." Merlin exined, "Since the vampire couldn¡¯t use his powers to convert things in this world the normal way, there¡¯s probably information in here involving poisons that can create ghouls and vampire kin."
"You¡¯ve put way too much thought into this." Alvira stared at Merlin like he said something strange. "Wait, but you killed the vampire already, so the rest of this is pointless, isn¡¯t it?"
"Probably, but I might get something out of it." Merlin shrugged. "At the very least there¡¯s a chance I¡¯ll get more story, if not anything else."
"Just story, no guarantee for anything else, no power ups?" She asked, "What¡¯s the point then?"
"What? It¡¯s more story, that¡¯s more interesting than just an extra stat point." Merlin asked. "Don¡¯t you read any of the books you find in games, or any of the dialogue?"
"Nope, I just skip it all. I only click on books if they give me bonuses, but I never read them." Alvira replied. "It¡¯s more fun to just get back into killing stuff."
"What is the fun in just fighting endlessly?" Merlin shook his head. "A lot of time and effort goes into crafting those worlds and stories, usually more than thebat system."
"So you y games like an old man." Alvira retorted, causing Merlin to awkwardly cough.
"An old man..." Merlin felt her words stab at his pride, "Really, you don¡¯t feel any sense of mystery and excitement in this world?"
"Well, it¡¯s fun running around the forest and dungeons. But I don¡¯t want to spend my time reading when I could be fighting." She exined before running off, it seemed Merlin had bored her.
"And old man." Merlin muttered under his breath.
As the group continued down the road, the light from thentern on the northern gate could be seen in the distance. Fortunately it didn¡¯t seem like anything in the forest was going to bother attacking such arge group.
The guards standing at the door seemed a little taken back when they saw such arge group approach. Merlin pulled his quest document out of his inventory before he walked up the guards. He exined that they were all victims of the rumoured kidnappings, and that the issue had been resolved. When he mentioned vampires the guards had a concerned look on their faces, and their eyes were especially focused on the woman¡¯s dead sister.
One of the guards called a handful of other guards over to assist them. The guards asked that all the victims should undergo a medical checkup and leave a report if they were up for it. Everyone but Merlin¡¯s party and the envoy followed the guards to their barracks. Once everyone had entered the town, Merlin received a notification.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "The Caphyae Kidnappings.", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
"Well, they should be fine now." Merlin said as he turned back to the roleyer¡¯s party. "Thanks for the help guys."
"Not a problem." Zankoku gave him a thumbs up, "It was fun, besides the whole getting destroyed by a vampire part."
"Thanks for the advice." Alvira spoke up, it seemed she wasn¡¯t really bothered by the fact he was an alpha tester anymore. Probably because she was now more concerned with how he yed the game in the first ce.
"It¡¯s fine, you guys are pretty good. If you focused on levelling up instead of trying to farm souls, you¡¯d catch up with Snow and Ty easily." Merlin said as he left the party, everyone¡¯s green names turned white. "Anywho, I¡¯ve got to get this guy home for another quest, and turn in the one for the rest, so I¡¯ll see you guyster."
"See ya, old nt guy!" Alvira yelled out louder than the rest of the party¡¯s goodbyes, Merlin just sighed at the addition to his nickname.
Merlin and the envoy made their way to the mercenary guild. Merlin entered the building and the envoy waddled behind, it seemed he wasn¡¯t fond of such ces. Merlin walked towards the bartender with the quest form in hand.
"I guess you were sessful, that was fast." The bartender said with a grin on his face. He started counting out twenty silver coins before Merlin even handed him the quest form. "I heard arge group of people wandered into the city through the northern gate, they were paraded through town on their way to the barracks."
"Another heroic feat added to the legacy of the ghost." The bartender chuckled as he ced the stack of silver coins on the counter. "If your friend back there doesn¡¯t mind, I¡¯d love to hear what the cause was."
Merlin signalled for the envoy to take a seat before turning back to the bartender. He briefly covered his findings, he mentioned the vampire and the ghouls, the cages and the experiments. The bartender had a grim expression stered on his face as he listened in.
"If it ain¡¯t one monster it¡¯s another." The bartender spoke, in-between a slew of vulgar swears. "What the hell is happening to this world. The dead shouldn¡¯t be walking."
The bartender shook his head and poured himself a drink before speaking with Merlin once more. "These are scary times we live in. Make sure you don¡¯t get yourself killed out there."
Merlin nodded his head and insisted he¡¯d be careful. The bartender gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder before indulging in his drink. Merlin and the envoy stood up and left the building.
"I¡¯ve got one more stop to make, and then we¡¯ll head over to Macedonia, tell me if you need anything." Merlin said, the envoy just nodded his head silently and followed along.
Merlin went to the market area, and after a few minutes of browsing, he picked up a strong leather backpack for a ten silver coins, and picked up a ten meter ball of twine for two copper pieces. Leaving him with thirty-eight silver and one hundred neen copper.
Merlin tied the rolled up sheets of paper up using some of the twine before throwing it in the backpack. Although Merlin could put the backpack in his inventory, if there were any items in it that couldn¡¯t be stored away, they¡¯d just fall out. So due to the documents not being considered items by the system, he had to carry them around the old fashioned way.
Merlin put the backpack on before he and the envoy made their way to the western gate. The guards gave them a friendly nod as they walked out into the darkness of the night.
"Well, just stick close and I¡¯ll get you there safely." Merlin reassured the quiet envoy as they continued down the dark road, their path was illuminated by nothing but Merlin¡¯s light source.
Chapter 101: Otherworldly Translator.
Although the walk took longer than it would otherwise due to Merlin having to slow his pace for the envoy, they arrived at Macedonia unharmed in roughly half an hour. They traversed into the bustling streets of Macedonia on their way to the oracle¡¯spound. The gate swung open before Merlin and the envoy even made it to the gate, and the handsome butler stepped out of thepound to greet them.
"Well, you¡¯re home now." Merlin said to the envoy who was still being silent.
The envoy waddled towards the butler and was quickly ordered to get inside. The envoyplied without turning back, and momentster he had vanished into thepound.
"The oracle thanks you." The butler turned back to Merlin, he pulled a gold coin out of his pocket and held it out for Merlin to take. He continued speaking after Merlin grabbed hold of the coin. "The oracle said she¡¯s looking forward to next time, and she hopes to see you again soon."
As soon as those words were spoken, Merlin found himself bombarded with several notifications.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Lost and Found.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 5.¡¹
"Well, If there is a next time..." Merlin replied in an uncaring tone as he threw the gold coin into his inventory. "I better not be met with another ckmail threat."
The butler¡¯s face crumpled as Merlin turned and walked away, not caring to continue the conversation. Merlin heard the gate m shut behind him as he walked towards the slums.
As Merlin slipped into the slums, he noticed that there were still quite a few guards wandering about. Not wanting to be questioned, Merlin pulled his cloak¡¯s hood on and began hiding his presence, he also started chanting his sneak skill.
¡¸Skill ?Sneak? Activated, stealth increased by 30% for 20 seconds.¡¹
Using the twenty seconds that the skill gave him, Merlin slipped past a small group of guards and quickly made his way to the thieves guild while making sure he wasn¡¯t being followed. He checked his surroundings onest time before walking into the alley. Merlin pushed open the door to the shady tavern and walked inside.
Merlin noticed that everyone in the room seemed to be on edge the second he walked in, but quickly calmed down once they realised who it was. It seemed the elf had taken Merlin¡¯s warning seriously.
Fae was idling at the counter as usual, and as Merlin approached arge smile appeared on her face as she asked him a question. "What¡¯s the password."
From the conversation Fae and Snow had earlier, he could naturally assume why she asked the question, but he decided to humour her. "Apple bottom jeans."
"Boots with the fur!" She blurted out with an expression that was practically begging for him toplement her.
Merlin gave her a little golf p and a slight chuckle in response. It was childish, but it seemed to make her happy. She was much cuter when she smiled, he preferred the child-like innocence rather than the cold secretary act he got when they first interacted with each other.
"Well, I¡¯ll get Snow to teach you another one." Merlin said before tapping his backpack. "I¡¯ve got some things to deliver to your father."
Fae led Merlin down into the cer once more, but before she opened the hidden door she asked him a question one more time. "What is the password?"
"Never gonna give you up." Merlin said with a mischievous smile.
The door opened and Merlin made his way inside, his eyes locked onto the back of a familiar looking elf. Merlin greeted everyone as he traversed a sea of tables and drunk gamblers. Fae on the other hand seemed to have scampered off towards the training facility.
"You¡¯re back already." The elf greeted him as Merlin sat beside him. "I hope you didn¡¯t cause any more catastrophes."
"I solved one actually..." Merlin said as he pulled the stack of documents out of his backpack.
"You¡¯ve brought more things to read?" The elf said as he stared at the rolled up paper. "I might have to create a library down here at the rate you¡¯re bringing these in."
"These are in anguage called Bashkatil, have you ever heard of it?" Merlin asked as he handed the stack of documents over.
"No, never." The elf said as he grabbed the paper, unrolling it and staring at the markings on the first sheet.
"I found those in a vampire¡¯sir. It was a crypt under an old abandoned church somewhere in-between Caphyae and Orchomenus." Merlin exined, "The kidnapping case, I¡¯m almost certain that it¡¯s linked with the hole in the sky."
The elf¡¯s eyes narrowed as he stared at the documents. He turned to Merlin and asked him to exin.
Merlin began briefly exining everything that happened when he left. He exined everything about the vampire¡¯s nest, the ghouls being tortured, the experiments they were doing on captured humans. Then he began mentioning the documents. Fortunately he didn¡¯t have to exin how he learnt the basics of thenguage, as it seemed the elf had done quite a bit of research into otherworlders already.
"Anyway, those are the research documents that I found." He said "The general idea behind it is that the vampire I killed wasn¡¯t from this world, instead it was suddenly brought here but it either doesn¡¯t exin how, or I cant understand the parts that exin it."
"The biggest issue I have, and the reason why I¡¯m bringing this to you, is that the vampire originally couldn¡¯t use its power to convert living creatures into its ves." He continued, "Instead, it seemed as though the vampire was utilising some kind of alchemy to create vampires and ghouls. So in those documents is possibly a recipe for a poison that can convert humans into ravenous undead."
"That sounds incredibly dangerous." The elf¡¯s expression darkened, "Why would you not burn this? What if it fell into the wrong hands?"
"I considered it at first. But then I worried that this wouldn¡¯t be the only vampire dropped into this world. What if the next one managed to seed?" He exined his case. "If possible, I think it might be best to develop a cure, so we can be prepared should the threat of a ghoul armye."
"I was also hoping that you would have some people who could decipher the rest of thenguage." Merlin said, "I believe I¡¯vee across this once before, so I think it may be tied in with some of the strange phenomenon that has been happening since the hole in the sky."
"Either way, it could be a hint that could help us in solving the mystery and fixing the issues it caused." Merlin continued.
The elf went silent, he seemed to be lost in thought. A full minute passed before the elf tore his gaze away from the documents that could potentially hold the key to humanity¡¯s ruin.
"Very well, I¡¯ll get my best on it. But they specialise in cracking ciphers, not decipheringnguages." The elf said with a sigh. "But you¡¯re going to have to trante everything that you can, so they have some foundation to base their work on."
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Unique Hidden Quest]
Otherworldly Trantor.
You have requested that the thieves guild assist with tranting documents written in Bashkatil, your task is to trante as much of the documents as you can to give them the best conditions to work with.
The chances of the thieves guild sessfully tranting the rest of the documents increases based on how much of the work is tranted and the quality of the trantions given.
Trante the documents and hand them to the thieves guild leader.
? Reward: 50 EXP, ???
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Deal." Merlin didn¡¯t expect a quest to appear, but he was happy to ept. He¡¯d be getting something extra out of a task he would have done regardless.
"I¡¯ll get you a quiet ce to work. Follow me." The elf lord picked up the sheets of paper and led Merlin down one of the tunnels and to a familiar room, the interrogation room he had been dragged to earlier. "I¡¯ll get you some supplies, feel free to visit your friends in the training facilities while you wait, I¡¯ll send someone to collect you when we¡¯re ready."
Merlin took him up on the offer and made his way towards the training facility. The floor changed to packed dirt as he walked into arge room full of training equipment.
Merlin walked in just in time to see Typhoeus near the end of the obstacle course, he seemed exhausted. And unfortunately that exhaustion seemed to cost him as he stepped on thest trap pressure te, causing the ground to copse under him. Merlin heardughtering from the observing group as Typhoeus plummeted into the packed dirt below.
Palear, Bell, Snowbunny and Fae were all watching Typhoeus¡¯ attempt from the distance. However, Snowbunny was the only one currently rolling around in the dirtughing hysterically. Merlin approached the group, his gaze hovered over to where Typhoeus was out of concern, but he seemed okay.
"Hey guys." Merlin said as he approached the group. "How have you been progressing?"
"Oh hey ghost." Palear was the first to greet him, it seemed Snowbunny was still busyughing at Typhoeus¡¯ expense.
Bell gave Merlin a respectful nod before turning his attention back to Typhoeus, who was only now standing back up.
As Typhoeus walked over with a look of shame and exhaustion, Snowbunny finally realised that Merlin had showed up.
"Hey Merlin. What is with you and outdated song references?" Snowbunny asked as she stood back up. She gently wiped the excess dirt off of her clothes.
"What do you mean outdated? They¡¯re ssics." Merlin retorted.
Chapter 102: Translation Complete
"ssics?" Snowbunny mumbled to herself, but eventually dropped it when she noticed Typhoeus approach. "Hey Ty, how was the trip?"
Typhoeus yfully flipped her the bird before copsing against a wall, he seemed exhausted.
"Hey Pelear, how are they doing?" Merlin asked the instructor.
"Well, Bunny here finished about an hour ago, she¡¯s a natural. She¡¯ll quickly grow to be as good as you." Pelear praised Snowbunny before he turned to face Typhoeus, "Scythe boy however, well he¡¯s got lead blocks for feet."
Merlinughed at his assessment. After a few minutes of banter and Merlin learning about his friend¡¯s progress, a messenger came to pick him up. As he made his way over to the interrogation room, arge red alert box appeared in front of him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today¡¯s session, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Merlin waved the window away as he followed the messenger, until he arrived at the interrogation room. Inside he found the documents he delivered alongside a clean stack of paper and various writing implements, and it seemed the messenger was going to be staying nearby just in case he required anything else.
Merlin sat down and began his work. He started by tranting each sheet intomon, word for word, drawing the symbols of any word he couldn¡¯t understand. And after about thirty minutes had passed, he was done with the trantion. He spent the rest of his time creating a dictionary of the mostmon words he could think of, drawing the symbols and giving the meaning inmon in the hopes that this might assist them in tranting the rest of thenguage.
Common was the name given to the universalnguage that most allied sentient racesmunicate with. It was once the nativenguage of humans, but through alliances and the mixing of cultures, it slowly began incorporating words from other cultures over time, mostly Elven and Dwarven.
All otherworlders were ingrained with the highest level understanding ofmon upon being summoned. The average yer usually only learnt a handful of othernguages at the basic level during their years of ying, while very few yers like Merlin took it as a challenge to collect them all.
Eventually he received the warning that it was almost time to leave. Another red alert window appeared before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Message from the devs!]
Group one, your session will end in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time. Thank you.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Only now did Merlin realise that the text on the alert boxes had changed. Now that they weren¡¯t the only group ying, the logout warnings were tailored to each group and sent out at different times.
"Alright, I¡¯ve finished." Merlin alerted the messenger, informing him that his work wasplete. "Please get the boss quickly."
The messenger ran out, and a few momentster the elf made his way into the interrogation room, he seemed to be in a hurry. Merlin quickly handed him theplete trantion and the dictionary, causing a notification to appear before him.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Otherworldly Trantor.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"What¡¯s the matter? Why the rush?" The elf asked with a hint of curiosity.
"Uh, how do I exin." Merlin mumbled out loud. He thought for a moment before answering. "Basically, I¡¯m about to lose connection with this world and temporarily vanish."
"Oh, right, is it that time already." The elf seemed intrigued. Fortunately the elf was interested in all aspects of otherworlders, so he was aware of this phenomenon already. "I¡¯ve heard lots of rumours of people disappearing and appearing in shes of white light."
"I haven¡¯t yet been fortunate enough to witness this." The elf seemed giddy, "Would you mind if I watched?"
"Suit yourself." Merlin said as he walked out into the tunnel and found afortable spot. "I¡¯ll be back. I¡¯ve left you with a trantion and a dictionary, good luck."
"System logout." Merlin spoke themand word, causing a prompt to appear before him asking if he would like to logout.
"Oh my, what was thatnguage?" The elf¡¯s eyes widened with curiosity. But before he could ask any further questions, Merlin vanished in a sh of white light. The elf gazed at where Merlin once was with arge smile on his face, he reached his hand in and began gently swiping his hand where Merlin once was. "How intriguing..."
Merlin found himself floating around aimlessly in a ck void, left with his own thoughts. Merlin realised that he had grown quite fond of this character, he reminded him a little of himself, eager to discover everything.
This wasn¡¯t the first character he had interacted with that had such a strong passion for researching the otherworlders, and he wasn¡¯t the craziest either.
Otherworlders weren¡¯t an umon thing in the world, and most NPCs just ignored them or treated them like regr people. Others found interest in otherworlders for one reason or another, some for good reasons, others for not so good reasons.
But there were some NPCs that for some reason found the existence of otherworlders uneptable. Some reasons for hating them made sense, such as the NPCs who had a vendetta due to the vile actions that some otherworlders took for their own benefit or entertainment.
Others just hated otherworlders because they were different. Whether this be because they were unnatural beings that didn¡¯t have aplete soul, or that they were practically immortal, at least the yer variant anyway, or because they just considered them to be the scourge of the world.
The hatred some NPCs showed for the yerbase ranged from merely showing disdain to actively waging war on yer guilds.
A blinding sh of white light broke him out of his thoughts, and he found himself back in the virtual hub, the seemingly endless white room.
Arthur brought his arm up, where he saw the controls floating around it, he pped the power symbol causing a prompt to appear. The prompt asked him to confirm his logout, and he answered with yes, causing the white room to quickly fade back into the ck void he was familiar with.
A jolt ran through Arthur¡¯s body, waking him up from the machine induced trance. His senses slowly returned to him as he sat in the pod, he could now hear the familiar whirring of machinery.
He felt the capsule shift back into the upright position before the door slowly opened. Arthur remained seated for a few moments, allowing the groggy feeling to subside at least a little before he left. He briefly stretched his body before making his way to the briefing room.
He passed by the room for the second group, he nced through the window and saw that all the capsules were still upied. As he entered the briefing room he saw the roleyer group sitting around and talking, Maria and Acai were also already sitting around chatting with the group.
"Hey, it¡¯s the old nt guy!" Alvira yelled out when she noticed Arthur appear. The rest of the group turned and greeted him.
Arthur approached therge group of friends he had made and took a seat nearby. His eyes immediately nced towards the redhead, he noticed that she was looking a little pale, not to mention she seemed somewhat out of it. She was just staring silently into the cup of tea she obtained from the refreshments area.
"Hey, uh... Nora, are you feeling okay?" Arthur only now realised that he didn¡¯t actually know any of the real names of the roleyer group.
The redhead turned to face Arthur, she gave him a slight nod before mumbling something that Arthur barely heard. "It¡¯s Rowan, and I¡¯m fine, just-- tired."
Arthur realised that her username was almost an anagram of her name, just without the "w".
"Alright, well I hope you get better." Arthur triedforting her before turning to the rest of the group. "Hey guys, could I get your names?"
"Oh right." The tallnky guy who Arthur knew as Zankoku spoke first. "I¡¯m Liam, nice to meet you."
The hefty guy that Arthur knew as Tiny spoke up next, "I¡¯m Mason... You can still call me Tiny if you want, I don¡¯t mind."
Arthur finally turned to the short blonde girl he knew as Alvira and waited for her to introduce herself, but she sat there for half a minute with a smug grin on her face before finally giving in. "I¡¯m Alvira, yes that is my real name."
"You used your real name as a username?" Arthur asked, before remembering that another idiot in the first wave just put lord in front of his name and called it a username.
"What? It¡¯s a cool name." Alvira retorted.
"Fair enough." Arthur nodded, "Well I¡¯m Arthur. Nice to meet you all."
The conversation the group was having earlier resumed with Arthur involved, it seemed the roleyers were telling Acai and Maria about what happened during the vampire den raid, but the conversation was interrupted by Alvira once again.
"Wait! you¡¯ve got azy username too." Alvira blurted out once she realised what Arthur had done for his own username, "You¡¯re in no ce to judge!"
It took a few seconds but the others seemed to make the connection too, nobody else bothered toment.
Chapter 103: Revelations - I
The group continued talking for the next few minutes, and eventually everyone from the first group had finished making their way into the briefing room.
"Can I get everyone¡¯s attention please!" One of the developers stepped up and began speaking to the group. "We¡¯ve got a fair bit to cover and about eighteen minutes until the next group is brought in for their briefing, so we need to get through this quick."
The developers started off the briefing by talking about the sess of the preventative measures they implemented regarding yer versus yerbat for lower levels. They brought up that PvPbat was the lowest it has been since the first session, and they seemed rather proud of that.
The developers covered some other things that Arthur wasn¡¯t that interested in, but he turned in when the developer began talking about the vampire den and the yers who conquered it. The roleyers seemed happy that they got a special mention, but there were quite a few daggers aimed at them once Arthur¡¯s name was also brought up.
Then came the time everyone was waiting for, most hoping that the top three were finally knocked off their pedestals. But to their surprise, the top three had been expanded to the top five.
"Starting off at fifth ce, at level four with one soul, Director_ke." The developer read out, quickly swapping the page and reading the next one. "Next we¡¯ve got forth ce, the man who dealt the killing blow to the vampire, at level four with one soul, Zankoku."
"Next up, we¡¯ve got third ce barely keeping his position it seems, at level four with two souls, Typhoeus." The developer said as he nced at the next page. "And at second ce, at level four with two souls, Snowbunny."
"You¡¯re only using two souls?" Arthur whispered to Maria. "I thought you passed the thieves guild training already."
"I swapped out the fighter soul, I wasn¡¯t using it." Maria whispered back, "My weapon uses dexterity anyway."
"And finally, at first ce, although it seems second ce is catching up now. At level five with three souls, Merlin." The developer finished talking as another developer took the stage. "Alright, well it seems we¡¯ve got about three minutes left, so we can answer a couple questions if anyone has any, but afterwards we¡¯re going to have to clear the briefing room for the next group."
It didn¡¯t seem as though anybody had questions to ask, so the developers started getting prepared for the next briefing while the first group slowly began shambling out of the briefing room.
Arthur¡¯s group continued chatting as they made it outside, and they eventually said goodbye and began splitting up on their way home. Arthur walked over to where Donovan usually parked, only to find that he wasn¡¯t there yet. He gave Donovan a call asking where he was, only to be told that he would be there in about five minutes.
"That¡¯s unlike him." Arthur mumbled to himself as he waited, he looked around to see what other people were doing. After about seven minutes, Arthur noticed Donovan¡¯s car speeding down the road, it screeched to a halt as it got close to the curb.
"Sorry I¡¯mte. Get in." Donovan rolled the windows down, he seemed impatient today, so Arthur did as he was told.
Donovan started driving again the second Arthur entered the car and closed the door, not even giving him a chance to put his seat belt on before the car started moving.
"Alright, what¡¯s going on?" Arthur said with a mildly annoyed voice as he plugged his seat belt in. "You¡¯re being impatient, what happened?"
Donovan didn¡¯t even look at Arthur, he was focused on the road. Arthur mmed his fist on the dashboard, causing Donovan to jump and his focus to be disturbed. Arthur then repeated his question, he was rather annoyed at that point.
"Sorry. It¡¯s just... Stressful in theb right now." Donovan seemed partially lost in thought as he tried to think of a way to exin his plight. "That experiment thing, you know... The one that breaks everything."
"The reactor, what about it?" Arthur knew that at this point people knew it was a reactor, although they didn¡¯t know the details about it. And nobody but a select few knew anything about the space crystal that powered it.
"Ah, you know about-- anyways. Well it¡¯s been having issues today, and they¡¯re taking too long to fix." Donovan began stumbling his words, but he still made sure he didn¡¯t leak anything too confidential. "There¡¯s a government inspection on the project tomorrow, so the scheduled testing has to be dyed untilte at night while they fix the damn thing."
"That¡¯s all I can tell you, but basically your father won¡¯t be sleeping at home tonight." He said, before mumbling one more thing under his breath. "And neither will I..."
Donovan eventually dropped Arthur off at his house before driving back to theboratory. Arthur made his way inside and did his usual daily routine, watering his nts, working out, changing his clothes. He turned hisputer on but was feeling too tired to y anything, so he justid in bed for a few hours while reading.
Eventually his sister and father came home and began preparing food, Arthur went down and helped out for a change. He noticed that his father seemed stressed out and tired, but he didn¡¯t voice anyints over dinner.
After dinner, he told Arthur and Anna that he had to finish off some work at theboratory tonight before leaving. This came as a surprise to Anna, but Arthur knew this beforehand.
"Father going back to work at night, there¡¯s something I haven¡¯t seen in a long while." Anna remarked as she and Arthur cleaned up after dinner. "I hope everything¡¯s alright."
"It should be fine, he¡¯s just nervous about the government inspection." Arthur reassured her.
"Government inspection? How do you kno-- Ah, Donovan." Anna was about to ask how he knew something she didn¡¯t, but then she remembered that Donovan always had a big mouth.
"Yeah. Well, I¡¯m gonna get ready for bed, I¡¯m tired today." Arthur said as he started making his way back to his room. "Goodnight!"
Arthur made his way back to his room, brushed his teeth and then hopped back into bed. He could feel a strange sense of lethargy taking over him as he tried to read his book. After almost dropping the book on his face, he decided that it was time to sleep.
A wave of nausea hit him next, and as he tried cing his book down on the bedside table, he missed, causing the book to tumble to the floor. Arthur just decided that he¡¯d get it tomorrow, he believed he wasing down with some kind of illness and needed the rest.
Arthur tried to sleep, hoping that a good night¡¯s sleep would help him in fighting his ailment. But following the nausea was a sharp stabbing pain in his head. It was painful, but not painful enough that he¡¯d fight his nausea and lethargy to get out of bed and find pain medication.
Unfortunately it was enough pain to keep him awake. Arthur could feel his body start heating up and getting sweaty, ufortable feelings that contributed even further to the fact he was never going to fall asleep naturally. Until his body finally lost consciousness.
Arthur suddenly found himself floating around in an endless ck void.
There was no ufortable mmy feeling anywhere on his body, no lethargy, no pain, no nausea. It was like everything that was irritating him suddenly vanished, along with everything else.
Arthur was floating in the void for what felt like hours, unable to move around of his own free will, or even make any sounds, it was frustrating. He felt helpless, trapped in his own body, unable to wake up and escape from the lonely void he found himself in.
But as he felt the frustration rise until he almost couldn¡¯t take it anymore, things started to appear around him. These things ranged from loose items to entire scenes, but their stay was brief. It wasn¡¯t long after they first appeared that they vanished once more.
He was still floating around helplessly, but at least he had something to look at now. Various scenes came and went as he floated within the void. His body phased through anything it came in contact with, like he was ying with a hologram.
Suddenly the scenery changed once more, although this one didn¡¯t vanish after a few seconds passed.
Arthur found himself floating around what he could only assume was part of his family¡¯sboratory. The walls were a familiar industrial white with cobalt blue lines and decoration, but he had never entered this part of the building before.
Arthur hovered around this scene, trying to take in as much information as he could. There were several people running around wearing protective gear, some had clipboards, others had various engineering tools, but they all seemed stressed out and extremely busy.
They all seemed to be focused on the metal sphere in the centre of the room, it was anchored onto arge gyroscope frame that allowed for unrestricted rotation. Arthur couldn¡¯t exin why, but the thing was rotating, seemingly on its own, and it was rotating fast. Arthur caught a glimpse of a murky yellow crystal through the metal sphere¡¯s window, and then he knew what this device was. It was an early prototype of the reactor, the one doomed to fail.
"Get away from it!" Arthur heard a familiar voice yelling at the workers on the ground floor, his eyes locked onto a man that was standing atop the balcony overlooking the room, it was his father.
The reactor began letting off loud scratching noises as it continued to speed up. Arthur noticed that it began letting out bright sparks of white energy, and unfortunately a few people on the ground floor weren¡¯t fast enough to get away from it.
Three workers were struck by a bright bolt of white lightning that flew out from the reactor. Arthur watched as their bodies dropped to the floor.
Before Arthur could see anything else, the scenery faded away, and he was back in the darkness once more.
Arthur was left in the darkness for another lengthy period of time, he was trying to piece together what happened, and tried to remember if something simr happened in thest timeline, but he couldn¡¯t remember.
Without giving him any more time to organise his thoughts, Arthur found himself dropped into another scene.
As he looked around, he noticed that it all felt familiar. He was dropped into the kitchen of his house, but it was much different to the kitchen in the current timeline. There were several new kitchen appliances sitting around, a massive spice rack that was filled with arge variety of spices, most of which you¡¯d rarely ever use.
It was almost like he was dropped a few years into the future, where Anna decided to attend a cooking ss in her free time before eventually iming the kitchen as her own, filling it up with several useless gadgets she never used.
His body hovered towards the fridge, where he saw his sister rummaging through it.
"Damn, we need more eggs." She mumbled to herself as she pulled an egg carton out of the fridge. She pulled out thest remaining egg, cing it on the kitchen counter. "I need to go shopping."
Arthur heard footstepsing from behind him, and then he remembered what this scene was.
"Hey, I¡¯m going to go walk to the shops, do you want anything?" Anna asked the person who was currently walking towards Arthur. And then they suddenly walked through him like he wasn¡¯t there.
"No, I¡¯m good." The mysterious man spoke, his voice was incredibly familiar. "Why don¡¯t you get Donovan to drive you there?"
"I need the exercise." Anna retorted as she grabbed her keys and wallet and made her way outside. "I¡¯ll be back soon."
¡¯No, no, no. Please, no. Why do I have to relive this.¡¯ Arthur¡¯s mind began racing, he didn¡¯t want to see this anymore, he couldn¡¯t. He begged anything and everything to wake him up, but nothing happened, nothing could help him.
Arthur helplessly floated along, following his sister outside, he briefly turned around and stared at the face of the mysterious man. It was his own face, albeit slightly older looking.
But unexpectedly, his clone suddenly turned his head and stared directly at him.
Chapter 104: Revelations - II
The two stared at each other for a little while, Arthur¡¯s body was still slowly floating away, but he kept eye contact with his clone. Arthur noticed that there were tears running down his clone¡¯s face.
"I¡¯m sorry." The clone quietly mumbled as Arthur phased through the wall.
Arthur couldn¡¯t do anything but helplessly float around. He had so many questions, if his clone could see him, if he apologised, that must mean that he knew what was going to happen.
But why didn¡¯t he stop her, why would he just stand there and let her leave?
Arthur watched his sister peacefully walk down the street without a care in the world, humming a catchy pop song that came out five years from now. Anna made her way to the closest shopping centre, it was a little bit away, roughly a ten minute walk.
When she arrived, she grabbed a trolley and made her way into the store. When Arthur saw her grab a trolley he knew this was going to be a dreadful experience.
Anna made her way to where the eggs were, she picked up a couple cartons and then briefly made her way around the produce section, picking up a couple pieces of fruit that caught her fancy. But as Arthur expected, the second she left the produce section, she immediately made her way towards the snack and confectionery aisles.
Arthur very rarely went shopping with her solely because she was the type of person who could turn a twenty minute grocery run into a three hour adventure. But now, for some reason he was forced to hover around her helplessly as she struggled to decide between chocte chip and creme filled cookies.
¡¯You already know that you¡¯re just going to pick both!¡¯ Arthur was screaming in his mind. This was his own personal hell.
Anna finally decided, and like Arthur predicted she threw both into the trolley. What should have been a three minute shopping trip turned into thirty minutes as she began walking back and forth between the aisles while trying to decide what other snacks she wanted.
Anna¡¯s trolley was filled with fifty dors worth of snacks and a few other things, alongside the two cartons of eggs she originally went to the store for. She slowly made her way to the cash register toplete her purchase. Now with a couple loaded shopping bags, Anna began making her way home.
Arthur noticed a familiar face walking down the street, it seemed Quinn was walking a dog in the area.
¡¯Quinn is here too?¡¯ Arthur thought to himself. ¡¯What kind of fever dream is this.¡¯
In Arthur¡¯s memory, what should have happened that day was that he and Quinn were ying a ranked game together, which was one of the contributing factors for him not wanting to go shopping with her. And now that Arthur thought about it, Quinn didn¡¯t even have a dog.
¡¯Do I subconsciously me Quinn for her death?¡¯ Arthur thought to himself. ¡¯What a stupid thought.¡¯
Before he could continue his theorising, a loud screech caught Arthur¡¯s attention. It was time.
The sound of sirens ring became louder as several police vehicles sped down the street, they were in pursuit of arge car that was swerving around dangerously, it seemed as though one of the wheels was damaged.
A police vehicle attempted to bump the rear of the vehicle, causing it to swerve towards the sidewalk.
Arthur couldn¡¯t see the driver¡¯s face from his angle, but he could see the panicked steering as the driver tried to regain control of their vehicle. The car seemed to be heading straight for Anna.
Arthur shut his eyes and tried to block his ears, but he could still hear everything. He heard the loud screeching of tires, followed by the loud scratching noises as the car scratched against the gutter. Arthur could feel tears welling up as he heard a thud, followed by a much louder crash, and eventually everything became silent.
Arthur opened his eyes to see several police officers surrounding the vehicle and apprehending their target. Arthur¡¯s gaze wandered until he eventually found his sister¡¯s bodyying unconscious in someone¡¯s front yard. Her shopping bags were torn apart and their contents had been scattered around the incident site.
Arthur wasn¡¯t there to witness his sister¡¯s death, but he heard several details about it, and even visited the ce of the crime after the fact. But he could see this crime scene right now as if he were actually there when it happened, everything looked simr to how he imagined it.
The scene faded away into nothingness as Arthur broke down in tears. He remained this way for quite a while, or at least he thought he did, the passage of time was impossible to estimate within the ck void.
Eventually, another scene started building itself around him. He seemed to have been dropped into a small apartment building.
He didn¡¯t really feel like looking around, thest scene had hurt him too bad. All the scenes so far had shown him nothing but people getting hurt or killed. He didn¡¯t want to witness any more death today.
Unfortunately the scenery didn¡¯t change, no matter how long he waited. So he at least began surveying his surroundings.
He was in what seemed to be the main room of a one bedroom apartment, there were three doors that led into the room he was currently in. One of the doors had a set of keys dangling from the lock, which led Arthur to assume that was the entrance.
Another door was open, showcasing a small amount of the room within, Arthur saw what he believed were tiles, leading him to believe that it was the bathroom.
That left the remaining door, which was closed but theck of a bed in the main room caused him to assume that the remaining room was the bedroom.
The main room that he was floating around in currently was the kitchen,undry and entertainment area. Although it looked like it had seen better days. The sink was full of dirty dishes, there wasundryying around on the floor and an overabundance of empty alcohol bottles strewn along the floor and tables.
His eyes locked onto a calendar that was stuck to the fridge door, it seemed to be roughly fifteen years in the future, if the apartment owner¡¯s consistency of updating the calendar was to be trusted.
Arthur heard a creaking noiseing from behind him. Followed by the rattling of beer bottles and footsteps that were slowly getting closer. Arthur¡¯s body turned around to face the person who he assumed was the owner of the apartment.
Although the man¡¯s face looked older, especially with the unkempt beard that looked like it hadn¡¯t been cut in several years, and the long tangled birds nest he called hair, the man looked remarkably familiar.
There was no doubt about it, Arthur was staring at yet another one of his clones, albeit much older than thest.
¡¯And another one appears.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself. ¡¯Why does he look so pathetic and defeated?¡¯
"Don¡¯t judge. You¡¯ll end up like me one day too." The clone said in a sullen tone. The message didn¡¯t seem to be addressed to anyone, but Arthur could feel that he was the intended recipient.
The clone walked over to the fridge, pulling out another bottle of alcohol before walking back into the bedroom. The clone mmed the door shut, leaving Arthur floating there alone once more.
¡¯I guess I me myself the most.¡¯ Arthur gazed out the window, it seemed to bete at night. The stars in the sky seemed dim tonight, but fortunately the dark sky was illuminated by a bright full moon.
A few minutes passed and he heard a familiar whirring of machinerying from the bedroom. It seemed that even as a depressed mess in this timeline, he was still addicted to that game.
Arthur entertained himself for several hours just gazing at the city below. He appeared to be quite high up, which gave him quite the view.
Eventually he noticed that thick plumes of smoke suddenly rose into the air. There seemed to have been a pretty serious fire, it looked to being from arge building in the distance.
ncing at the area, he started putting pieces together. Only now did he realise where he was, and what the purpose of that building was.
A bright beam of white light shot up into the sky from the burning building. It was almost blinding at first.
Arthur noticed that all the lights in the buildings closest to the beam of light had turned off. The next row of buildings had their lights turned off a few moments after, and the pattern repeated itself again and again. Eventually it seemed to have reached the building Arthur was currently floating in, he knew this because the light suddenly shattered, and he could hear pained screams from the bedroom.
Arthur turned back towards the beam of light, which was now more bearable to look at. But he was surprised to see that the previously dark sky was now instead appearing as a dark shade of purple, the colour was slowly bing more vibrant as time passed.
¡¯What the hell is going on.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself as the scene before him faded away into the dark void he had be familiar with.
Arthur felt a sharp pain in his chest, and then he suddenly woke up in a cold sweat.
Arthur found himselfying in extremely damp clothes, his bed sheets were also ufortably damp. He could feel his heart beating fast, he tried to sit up before he was once again hit with a wave of nausea.
Arthur rushed out of his bed, almost tripping over the book he had dropped onto the floor earlier. His legs were wobbly, and his head was spinning, but he made it to the bathroom in time. He sat there beside the toilet for several minutes, waves of extreme nausea hit him one after the other until he had nothing left to throw up.
Eventually he waddled back into his bedroom and checked his phone, it was only two in the morning. What felt like almost a full day had only been a couple of hours, but there was no way he was going to be able to fall back asleep after what he just went through.
Arthur noticed that he had a couple messages on his phone, one was from Donovan and the other was from his sister.
From Anna¡¯s message he understood that something bad had happened at theb, and extra medical staff were called in to work. While Donovan¡¯s message just asked that he find his own way to the beta test facility.
It must have been really bad, Arthur thought to check up on everyone, and maybe pay a visit to Doctor Hudson if he wasn¡¯t busy. But that would have to wait, he currently smelled of vomit and sweat.
He threw his phone back onto his desk and made his way back into the bathroom. He decided a cold shower is what he needed to calm down.
Arthur kept thinking of the messages he was sent, and then he remembered the first scene he was shown during his fever dream. His brain was trying to associate the two, but he shook his head thinking of it as impossible.
He sat there on the shower floor, allowing the water to hit the back of his neck. He tried clearing his mind, but one final thought broke through.
¡¯But so is going back in time...¡¯
Chapter 105: Revelations - III
He had never been in that room before, he had never seen that specific reactor, although he knew one was doomed to fail. But he was aware of the yellow crystal shard, it was just a fragment of therger crystal that fell to earth. The rest of the crystal was being studied by the government, it wouldter be used in its entirety as the fuel source for the final version of the generator.
Arthur was only aware of the crystal because it was featured in a government campaign and theboratory¡¯s own press release several years in the future, but it would be kept as a closely guarded secret for the next couple decades.
"Too many strange things have happened." Arthur mumbled to himself. "But, I already knew something bad was happening with the reactor."
His rational side was trying to fight against his crazy theories. But it seemed like he had started stretching to exin some of the strange phenomenon, the only one that was impossible to exin was the fact that he was sent back in time.
"I have to go check." He finally came up with his answer. "There¡¯s a high chance it¡¯s just a coincidence but on the off chance that it isn¡¯t..."
If it wasn¡¯t a coincidence, and if this did happen, then what were the other visions. One was like the event that happened in his timeline, but thatst one was confusing. What was the beam of light, and why did the sky turn purple?
"If that wasn¡¯t a dream... No-- a nightmare. Then what the hell was with the future versions of me." Arthur blurted out, "Why would I not save Anna, and what was with the other one, I don¡¯t even like beer."
He continued going back and forth in his mind, and his hands started to prune as he continued wasting water.
Eventually he started feeling better, and the stench escaped him. He finished showering before getting ready to visit theb, and only now did he realise that his hand seemed to have healed.
Before he left, a strange thought crept into his mind, he decided to text Quinn, who fortunately was still awake thiste at night.
"Hey, do you n on getting a dog soon?" Arthur felt like an idiot the second he clicked send, but he couldn¡¯t take it back now.
A few minutes passed before he received a message back. Quinn sounded confused. "Huh? You know my mum won¡¯t let me get a pet. Why, what¡¯s up?"
Arthur didn¡¯t really know what to say now, so he just tried awkwardly changing the topic before letting Quinn get back to his game.
"What a stupid question to ask." Arthur shook his head as he grabbed his phone, keys and wallet.
He left the house, locking up behind him before making his way towards theboratory back door.
When he entered theb, it seemed eerily quiet. He made his way over to the special elevator, but it seemed to not be operational, so he was forced to take the stairs.
"That¡¯s weird, something is definitely wrong." Arthur mumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs up to the first floor. He made his way over to his father¡¯s office, but he couldn¡¯t help but notice that everyone he passed was running around while trying not to make too much noise. They seemed so busy that Arthur barely got a greeting.
As he approached his father¡¯s office, he could hear his father yelling through the door. "...What the hell do you mean you can¡¯t agree to our request."
"The department secretary can¡¯t give you that clearance." He heard an unfamiliar voice responding to his father, although his voice sounded like he was on the verge of crying. Amon fate for those who ended up on the wrong side of his father.
"Don¡¯t you give me that crap. Your stupid design just put three of my best in the ICU, has dealt millions of dors in property damage and wounded my son." His father shouted, it sounded like he was getting progressively angrier as he continued his rant. "So alongside anypensation we¡¯re owed, I expect to see a damn letter on my desk saying we¡¯ve got free reign over the project by tomorrow morning."
When Arthur heard his father say "three of my best", his mind immediately brought back up the dream he had. It was getting harder to deny that it wasn¡¯t a coincidence.
"But he can¡¯t--" The other person tried to exin himself, but he was cut off by Arthur¡¯s father.
"I don¡¯t care. If he doesn¡¯t I¡¯ll shove his stupid space rock so far up his--" As his father began screaming, Arthur heard ss shatter. It seems his father had throw something again. The ss shattering was so loud he almost missed the rest of his father¡¯s threats.
"You government types are so god damn useless. Why do you even have a science and industry department if everyone on it is ipetent." His father threw insults at the man. "Stop wasting money and just redo our damn contract, or I¡¯ll start a damn press release right now."
"You can¡¯t do tha--" The other person tried to speak once more, but was cut off once again.
"Just watch me!" His father threatened, "Get the hell out of my office, and don¡¯te back without a contract!"
The door swung open, and a pale scrawny man wearing a suit quickly left the room, he didn¡¯t seem happy.
"Useless government officials." He could hear his father¡¯s mumbles now that the door was wide open. "I should bill them for the window too."
Arthur walked into the room. His father had his back turned to him, he was busy inspecting the damaged window, and looking to see if any ss hit someone on the floor below.
"Do you think it was wise to threaten the government?" Arthur asked with a concerned voice.
"Arthur?" His father¡¯s tone quickly softened as he turned around. "What are you doing awake?"
"I couldn¡¯t sleep." He said, "I went to bed with a fever, woke up covered in sweat and nauseous, I was hoping to see if Doctor Hudson could prescribe me something to help... But it doesn¡¯t seem like the right time. What happened here?"
His father stared at him, he had a troubled expression on his face. Arthur¡¯s father wasn¡¯t fond of lying, especially to his children.
Although he didn¡¯t consider omission a dishonesty. Which would also probably be his justification if pressed on the issue of the Watts family.
"The government¡¯s reactor overloaded." His father told him the truth, "The discharge hit a couple of the engineers that couldn¡¯t escape in time, before it self destructed."
This lined up with the dream Arthur had. He was now almost certain that he had another one of those strange future vision phenomenons, but that only troubled him further when he remembered the other two scenes.
While the two talked for a little while, Arthur found out that the ident happened a few hours ago, which lined up with the dream once again.
There was a knock on the door as a woman wearing hospital scrubs poked her head through the doorway.
"What is it?" Arthur¡¯s father asked.
"Sir, two of the patients are conscious." The nurse said, "Doctor Hudson is checking up on them now, but he says it isn¡¯t extremely serious."
Arthur, his father and the nurse all made their way up to the second floor. Unfortunately they had to use the staircase, which Arthur found out was because of the surge caused by the reactor, as he suspected. Fortunately they used a separate power source for the medical bay, so other experiments never posed any risks to the patients or equipment.
The three cut through the medical research sector and made their way into the medical bay. They were led over to the sector that focused on intensive care, which was also near the surgery rooms, one of which seemed to have a lot of activity.
There were quite a few medical staff around, but Arthur immediately noticed Anna and Doctor Hudson walking out from one of the patient rooms.
The nurse that led them there quickly disappeared into another room, leaving Arthur and his father to approach the other two on their own.
"Doctor Hudson." Arthur¡¯s father spoke loudly, causing everyone¡¯s attention to focus on him.
Doctor Hudson walked over to him, and Anna followed. She had a surprised expression when she saw Arthur beside their father.
"Art, what are you doing here?" Anna asked as she approached Arthur, "You should be asleep."
Anna looked incredibly tired, but she still had the energy to worry about her little brother.
Arthur could feel his heart beating faster as he saw his sister walk towards him, he remembered the sight of his sister¡¯s bodyying there in the neighbours yard, but he had to force himself not to suddenly start crying.
"Hey buddy, you okay?" Anna reached over and ced her hand on his forehead. "You don¡¯t look so good. Oh, you¡¯re burning up."
"Yeah, I came to get medicine. But..." Arthur felt his throat tighten up. He already went through this emotional turmoil once before, why did it have to start again.
He noticed Doctor Hudson and his father start walking into one of the patients rooms. Arthur decided that he had to know for absolute certain.
"I wanted to talk with Doctor Hudson." He said softly before quickly making his way into the same room, Anna followed along saying that it wasn¡¯t something he should see.
"How bad is it?" Arthur heard his father¡¯s voice as he turned the corner.
As Arthur peered into the room, he saw a familiar looking manying in the hospital bed. It was definitely one of the engineers in his dream, this erased all doubt in Arthur¡¯s mind.
Chapter 106: Revelations - IV
"These two will live, at worst they¡¯ve got second degree burns. The lichtenberg figures should disappear in a day or two, we¡¯re administering pain medication for everything else. We¡¯re keeping them under observation, but they should be fine." Doctor Hudson started exining the patient¡¯s conditions.
"And the third?" Arthur¡¯s father asked with a sullen voice.
"She¡¯s still in surgery, she got the worst of it." Doctor Hudson spoke in a sad tone. "We¡¯re doing everything we can, but we fear it¡¯s not going to be enough."
Arthur watched as his father¡¯s fists tightened. He clearly wanted to throw something, but he knew everything in the room was too expensive to destroy, so he contained his rage.
"She was hit in the head. Even if she does survive, she wont be able to live a regr life." Doctor Hudson tried exining her condition, being as respectful as he could to not set Arthur¡¯s father off on another burst of rage. "It is very likely that she¡¯ll develop neurological, physiological or optical impairments. That is, if she wakes up at all."
"God damn it." His father snapped. Fortunately he had the state of mind to punch the wall instead of the nearby machinery. "Those useless government b--"
"Stop it." Doctor Hudson spoke with a stern voice. "We cant afford to deal with another heart attack, we¡¯ve got too much on our te already. A broken fist won¡¯t help either."
"I should just topple that damn government." His father threatened, "I¡¯ll sue them for all they¡¯re worth."
Doctor Hudson took Arthur¡¯s father to his office to help him calm down. The nurses and doctors nearby all went back to their tasks, and Anna made her way to the other room to check up on the other reactor victim.
Arthur left the room and slowly followed his father to Doctor Hudson¡¯s office. He waited outside as the two spoke. A little whileter, Arthur¡¯s father came out of the room, and Doctor Hudson requested that he entered. The two talked for a while, and Arthur began exining his symptoms.
"No shortness of breath? A tight feeling in your chest? A fast heartbeat or shaking?" Doctor Hudson began listing off more symptoms, some of which Arthur said yes to. "I¡¯m thinking it may have been an anxiety attack, but it¡¯s sounding like a bnce disorder. But we¡¯ll run some tests."
Over the next few hours Doctor Hudson began running a whole slew of physical tests, he also drew blood and sent it into theb for testing, just in case. But as far as Doctor Hudson was concerned, Arthur was the healthiest he had ever been.
"Arthur, would you humour me for a moment." Doctor Hudson seemed to have thought of something. "I¡¯d like to use the EEG once more."
After Arthur agreed, Doctor Hudson prepared a private room for him. And after a little bit of setting up, Arthur was back in a hospital bed with the metal discs stuck to his head. As soon as the machine was turned on, Doctor Hudson showed a face that insinuated he was correct.
"Your brain activity, it¡¯s higher than the day you were caught in the ident." He rambled, "These sudden episodes you¡¯ve been having, I wonder if they coincide with the elevated brain activity."
"Arthur, do you mind sleeping here for the night? I¡¯d like to collect some more data, it may help us find out what¡¯s going on." Doctor Hudson asked.
Arthur responded with a yes. He needed the sleep, and his own bed required a wash, so he decided to stay the night.
Doctor Hudson turned the light off as he left, he closed the door, allowing Arthur tofortably fall asleep without much noise from outside.
Arthur was anxious that he¡¯d have another nightmare, or perhaps it was more appropriate to call them visions now. But his worries were unfounded, and he managed to get a good nights sleep. What was left of the night at that point anyway.
Arthur was woken up in the morning by Doctor Hudson. Arthur noticed that he had dark bags under his eyes, and he looked incredibly haggard.
"Your brain activity has returned back to normal again." Doctor Hudson exined before disconnecting the EEG from Arthur. "Unfortunately I don¡¯t have a concrete diagnosis for you, yet. But hopefully this data will help us figure it out."
Doctor Hudson handed Arthur a box of medication, "If you start feeling nauseous, chew on one of these. Hopefully it¡¯ll help treat the symptoms."
Arthur took the box of medicine and thanked Doctor Hudson, who left the room to give Arthur some privacy. Arthur got dressed before leaving the hospital room.
As Arthur began making his way out of theboratory, he overheard some rumours regarding the third victim of the reactor. Apparently the surgery was considered a sess, she hadn¡¯t woken up yet. The woman was consideredatose, but for some strange reason the EEG showed that her brain activity was extremely high, to an unnatural degree. This was unusual, especially for someone who was supposed to be in aatose state, so there were plenty of people gossiping about it.
Arthur made his way down the stairs, he reached level one but continued down further to the ground floor. On his way down he happened to pass the government agent his father insulted the day beforehand, his face was rather pale and he was carrying a briefcase that seemed to be awfully heavy.
Arthur made his way out the back door and entered his house. He noticed that Anna¡¯s shoes were haphazardly thrown near the door, and her keys were left on the kitchen counter. It seemed she was too tired to bother by the time she got home.
Arthur ran up to check on her, and as he suspected, she was passed out on her bed. She hadn¡¯t even bothered changing into her pyjamas.
After remembering a couple things fromst night, he sent Maria a text asking if it was alright if she picked him upter that day on the way to the facility. She said it was fine, so he sent her his address.
Arthur made his way to his room to do his routine as usual. A few hours passed and he saw an exhausted looking Anna crawl her way up the stairs into his room, she asked if he wanted breakfast, to which Arthur responded yes.
Arthur made his way downstairs a few minutes after, where he saw his sister rummaging through the fridge.
"Damn, we need more eggs." She mumbled to herself as she pulled an egg carton out of the fridge. She pulled out thest remaining egg, cing it on the kitchen counter. "We need to go shopping."
"Hey Art, I¡¯m going to go walk to the shops, do you want anything?" Anna asked as she closed the fridge and turned to him.
Arthur could feel his heartbeat speed up when he saw this scene, even though it was different, he couldn¡¯t shake the bad feeling he got.
"You know what, I think I¡¯ll tag along." Arthur responded, he didn¡¯t want to let her go alone, just in case.
"I thought you said you hated shopping." Anna remarked as she grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter.
"I need the exercise." Arthur retorted.
"Alright, let me go grab my wallet." Anna said before disappearing up the stairs.
Arthur ran up to his room and quickly got prepared as well, and eventually the two left the house and began their walk to the store.
Arthur felt tense, and it seemed Anna noticed it as shemented on it. "You feeling okay buddy?"
"Yeah, I¡¯m doing alright." Arthur responded, shaking the terrible thoughts out of his head. "How about you? It sounded like a rough night."
"Honestly. I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t had time to process everything yet." She mumbled. "But I can¡¯t imagine the stress father is under right now. Ab ident on that scale, the three casualties, and apparently he even picked a fight with a government official."
"I just hope his heart doesn¡¯t give out again." Anna said with a gloomy tone. She seemed rather upset, so Arthur tried to pull the topic back.
"Well, he¡¯ll be fine. He¡¯s our father after all." Arthur said with a more cheerful tone. "I¡¯ll bet you that by the time you go back in theb, the government would have folded and paid out. Lets say a hundred?"
"Oh, gambling at your age?" Anna jokingly asked, "You¡¯re on."
The two shook on it and continued walking down the street, it seemed that brought her mind away from theb somewhat, and her mood improved.
The two eventually made it to the shopping centre, Anna grabbed a trolley and they made their way into the store. The two travelled to where the eggs were.
"Do you think maybe we should get a couple of cartons?" Anna asked.
"I guess. Do you n on baking more cakes soon?" Arthur responded.
"You know what. I might..." Anna thought about it, and then she decided she was. "In that case, make it three."
With three cartons of eggs in the trolley, Arthur knew exactly where he¡¯d be led to next, the confectionery and snack aisles.
Arthur trailed behind his sister as she excitedly ran between the aisles, looking at all the snacks they had in stock. She picked up two boxes and her facial expression showed that she was having trouble deciding which one she wanted more.
"You already know that you¡¯re just going to pick both." Arthur remarked with a slightugh. "Just throw them both in the trolley."
Chapter 107: Hoarding Quests
The two continued shopping for about twenty minutes. Arthur helped Anna pick things out, so she didn¡¯t take quite as long as she would have otherwise. He didn¡¯t seem as annoyed with this shopping trip as he usually would be, perhaps he just wanted to spend time with his sister after witnessing that horrible vision.
With their trolley stacked up, mostly with snacks, the two made their way over to a cash register to finish their purpose.
"You know if you keep eating so many snacks, you¡¯ll eventually get fa-- Oww." Arthur began teasing his sister, but he was cut off short when she reached over and pinched his arm.
"Don¡¯t call ady fat." Anna remarked with a pouty expression. "Who taught you your manners?"
"You did." Arthur retorted while rubbing his arm.
The two bantered on their way home. Arthur was on edge as they were leaving the shopping centre, where even the slightest noise would cause him to jump, but it seemed they were fine. The vision wouldn¡¯t happen for a couple of years anyway, he was just being paranoid.
As they eventually arrived home, they noticed that their street was swarming with parked cars, and there were arge group of people around. The cars ranged from standard ck SUVs to trucks and vans featuring various logos, themon theme being that they were all repairmen in a sense.
The two noticed a couple men walking into theboratory while carrying arge pane of ss, and it seemed the repairmen were running back and forth from their vans to theb.
Government agents were standing around, seemingly not doing much. And there seemed to be a lot more of them sitting in the ck SUVs.
"Well, since nobody seems to be getting arrested or thrown through windows, I think you owe me a hundred dors." Arthur remarked.
"Unless father is making a bloodbath out of them right now." Anna retorted.
"Fair point." Arthur walked towards their house. "I guess we¡¯ll find out afterwards."
After making their way inside Anna unloaded her wide array of snacks while searching for the eggs, and the two eventually had breakfast.
Arthur received a message from the beta test developers, it seemed the start time had been dyed by a couple hours. Although it didn¡¯t specify, it was highly likely that Gaia¡¯s core needed to be transported to another facility due to the issues that happened at thebst night.
Hours passed and Arthur received a notification that Maria was on her way. Arthur got ready and made his way outside while waiting for her to arrive.
He saw an expensive-looking pink convertible drive down the road before stopping at the curb next to him, Maria was sitting in the driver seat and she motioned for him to enter.
"What¡¯s with the secret service?" She asked as she pointed towards therge group of ck SUVs parked around the street.
"Something happened at my father¡¯sb, so there have been a bunch of government officialsing and going all day." He said as he entered the vehicle and put his seat belt on.
"You live next to your father¡¯sboratory?" She asked, as she gazed at the apartment-looking building and thergeboratory building that towered over it.
"Cool" She remarked as she took off from the curb, making sure not to speed next to all the government cars, but once they turned the corner she mmed the gas. Wind blew through Arthur¡¯s hair as Maria sped down the road.
The two started talking about things, which eventually shifted to Maria asking if Arthur was nning on getting his drivers license, something that Arthur hadn¡¯t thought of doing just yet. But he realised that he¡¯d likely pass his driving test with flying colours, as he had several years of driving experience already, so he was looking forward to it.
"So what happened to your butler?" She asked. She asionally saw Donovan pick Arthur up from the facility, and he was there at the tea party too.
"Ah, you mean Donovan. He¡¯s my father¡¯s secretary." Arthur responded, "But he¡¯s usually free, so he just acts as my chauffeur. Unfortunately he¡¯s busy at the moment, it was sort ofst minute."
"Fair enough." Maria replied as she continued on her way to the facility.
They parked at the facility parking lot and made their way to the front. It seemed there was already arge group formed, some probably didn¡¯t read the message they got and ended up arriving an hour or two early.
"We apologise for the dy, there will be no briefing today." A developer finally came out of the facility and began speaking to the crowd. "Both groups will be allowed to enter at the same time, you will be informed when the serveres online."
The two groups entered the facility, quickly finding their VR capsules to log in. Arthur entered his and began the login process, and a few momentster he was back in that familiar white room. While waiting for the server to start, he decided to join the beta tester¡¯s lobby to entertain himself.
It just so happened that he was spawned in one of his favourite virtual ygrounds, the cat ind theme park. It was arge theme park full of cat themed rides and games, but the best part was that there were thousands of cats roaming around. If you sat down, you¡¯d be surrounded by cats in less than a minute. It was heaven for cat lovers, especially those with cat allergies.
Eventually the server came back online, and Arthur hit the join button after petting the cats onest time. He vanished in a sh of white light, only for the sewer system of the thieves guild to appear before him. He received his wee message, and the usual timer that showed his spawn protection.
Merlin turned to see that there was a stack of boxes next to him. Fortunately there was no possible way of spawning inside an object, the system found the nearest safe location to spawn you in if your original spawn location was obstructed.
"He didn¡¯t." Merlin nced at the boxes, he felt like perhaps a certain elf was too caught up with his curiosity.
Merlin made his way to the main hall, where he saw the usual suspects indulging on alcohol, and the elf downing the same ss of liquor. He approached the elf and took a seat next to him.
"Oh, Merlin, wee back!" The elf seemed cheerful, although that might have been because of the alcohol.
"I take it the boxes were a little prank." Merlin said, he didn¡¯t seem pleased. "It doesn¡¯t drop us back in the exact location we left, for the record. Otherwise we¡¯d be dropped in the middle of space."
"Space?" The elf seemed confused and focused on that part of Merlin¡¯sints. He was clearly trying to avoid the topic of the boxes, but Merlin didn¡¯t really care enough to push the issue.
"Uh, well. I don¡¯t quite have the time to exin the concept of astronomy today, we¡¯ll save that for another time. But it¡¯s basically the endless void above the sky." Merlin tried to dumb his exnation down as much as he could, before bringing back the topic he wanted to visit. "Anyway, how have you been doing in regards to the trantion?"
"Well, it seems they¡¯re making progress, I¡¯ve been given an estimation of about a week, give or take." The elf exined.
"Right, I¡¯ll check back on that in a week then. How about any more tasks?" Merlin asked.
"We¡¯ve got something big in development, but nothing that requires your assistance yet." The elf exined. "We¡¯ve got our hands full with the issues going on in Orchomenus and Macedonia right now, we¡¯ve got no time to cause trouble."
"Alright, I¡¯ll go cause trouble elsewhere." Merlin said as he made his way out of the guild, ending up in the cer of a shabby run down tavern. Merlin quickly left the building and made his way out of the slums, it seemed there was still arge number of guards around, but they wouldn¡¯t be that much of a bother to him.
Merlin made his way to the mercenary guild, as he entered and made his way to the front counter, the receptionist asked him the same question as usual. "Job, News or Alcohol?"
"I¡¯ll take any nearby jobs, or something along the way to Megalopolis." Merlin requested.
"Let me just see here." The receptionist flipped through arge stack of quest forms for a few minutes. "It doesn¡¯t seem like we¡¯ve got any escort quests for Megalopolis, but we¡¯ve got plenty of extermination quests up there."
"There seems to be quite a few goblin quests heading that way. It sounds like the locals have found a few camps appearing in the area that they want taken care of." The receptionist exined. "Roaming gangs of kobolds and gnolls have also been threatening travelling merchants, so there are a couple quests here to deal with those too."
"Sure that sounds good. I¡¯ll take as many extermination quests as you¡¯ve got in that area." Merlin said.
"Alright, I see you¡¯re confident." She said as she started pulling out several quest sheets before handing them to Merlin. Several notifications appeared before him, and he epted them all.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Common Quest] Destroy the Goblin Camp. ? Reward: 200 EXP, 15 Silver
[Umon Quest] A Hobgoblin¡¯s Heart. ? Reward: 70 EXP, 10 Silver
[Common Quest] Goblin Exterminator. ? Reward: 250 EXP, 10 Silver
[Common Quest] Killing Kobolds. ? Reward: 160 EXP, 5 Silver
[Common Quest] Gnoll Gangs. ? Reward: 120 EXP, 5 Silver
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Are you sure you can handle all of those?" The receptionist asked with a concerned look.
"Yeah, I should be fine." Merlin said before throwing all the quest forms in his inventory.
After leaving the building, he made his way to the eastern gate, it led to a wide paved road that connected Megalopolis and Macedonia.
Chapter 108: Goblin Hunting - I
Merlin stepped out of the city and onto the wide paved road. Thend that immediately surrounded him was a vast field of barley. There were a couple farmhouses dotted around in the distance.
Merlin continued down the road, there were a few diverging paths off the main road, although they weren¡¯t paved at all. They just seemed to be easily traversable paths through the vast fields that allowed ess to the farmhouses, they were quite wide and could easily fit two wagons that were both on therger side.
As Merlin continued down the road, he noticed that the field abruptly stopped, leaving arge dirt path separating the farnd from the wide river that cut through the road.
There were plenty of fishermen who were sitting along the dirt path, quite a few were fishing from the stone bridge that connected the road to the other side of the river. Merlin received a friendly greeting from many of the fishermen as he crossed the bridge, to which he responded in kind.
He noticed that several of therge baskets the fishermen were using to store fish in were almost full, it seemed the river had an abundance of fish, or they were just very active this early in the morning.
Gazing down the river, he could see that a lot of the field was built alongside the river, and it continued down as far as he could see. There was even more farnd on the other side of the river, although it seemed to be more than just arge field of barley, there were even pens full of livestock.
Merlin eventually made his way past the farnd, and while continuing down the paved road, the surrounding area shifted from farnd to vast rolling hills. This area was considered a safe hunting ground, as much like the grasnds that spawned wild hares in the beginner vige, this area spawned nothing but wild boars, and there weren¡¯t any obvious threats of other monsters in the area.
The wild boars respawned fairly quickly and were a great source of meat and hide. But unlike the wild hares, wild boars weren¡¯t pushovers, and would grievously harm any unprepared individual who approached them while believing they would be.
There was also the threat of a giant variant of wild boar asionally spawning, which would prove a challenge for a single individual that struggled against the regr variant.
Merlin noticed that a small group of individuals were running around the area killing the boars. Based on their clothing and pieced together equipment, Merlin identified the individuals to be yers.
Fortunately, they seemed to be busy doing their own thing, and even after noticing Merlin walking down the road, they briefly nced at him before continuing on with their hunt. Merlin was always on edge when he came across people in the field. He believed that he held the world record for the most attacked individual in the past, which was odd because he rarely ever participated in PvP outside of guild activities.
Walking past the group, he followed the road down until the rolling hills slowly started shifting into yet another forest. Fortunately due to the two cities being diligent with maintaining the safety of the road, every tree within ten meters of it had been chopped down and uprooted.
A few merchant wagons drove past him as he slowly walked down the road, and Merlin started really missing having a mount, or even just a wagon of his own.
Mounts weren¡¯t the same as just buying a horse, mounts were more akin to a soul-bound contract or summoning pact with a creature that was usually mythical in nature.
There were a few ways of acquiring a mount, the mostmon method was a tedious process called incubation, where you¡¯d create one from scratch utilising harvested souls from the creature you wanted to make as a mount.
The next method was by throwing money at the issue, and purchasing the end result from someone who went through the incubation method for you, although this was generally the most expensive solution and it was much cheaper to just do it yourself.
And the hardest method out of the three was to form a bond with a creature in the wild. But the chances of that happening were slim, and it was likely that someone would kill the creature you were trying to bond with well before you reached the stage where it¡¯d even consider forming a pact with you.
There was also quest rewards, but those were barely worth mentioning, and often times they¡¯d just fall under the third method anyway. Very few quests were ever publicly known to give an already incubated mount egg as a reward, and the ones that did were generally not worth it.
The benefits of a mount over just a bought horse, besides bragging rights, was the ability to summon and dismiss it almost at will. And unlike horses that permanently died when they were killed, mounts were practically immortal, and their only punishment for death was being sealed away until their spiritual bodies regenerated after a certain amount of time.
Merlin checked his quests as he walked. "Destroy the Goblin Camp" mentioned that there was arge camp of goblins somewhere north within the forest, and his task was to annihte them all and the leader of the camp.
"A Hobgoblin¡¯s Heart" was a quest where he had to retrieve the heart of a hobgoblin for an alchemist, it was simple enough and it seemed that it ovepped well with his first quest.
"Goblin Exterminator" was your typical murder a certain amount of things quest, although it specifically mentioned to collect their ears. The quest ovepped with the first quest as well, but he may have to kill stragglers to make up the numbers if the camp wasn¡¯t as big as he expected.
"Killing Kobolds" and "Gnoll Gangs" both mentioned that the two were rival races fighting for territory south in the forest, it seemed that the gnolls were forced out from their territory north of the forest due to the goblin infestation. His quest was to cull their numbers a bit so neither races posed a risk for a while.
He decided to get rid of the goblins first, although the forest covered quite the distance and north was rather vague for the camp¡¯s location, so he had to rely on luck and his prior experience to find it.
He slipped into the forest and began heading north-west. It took him less than seven minutes to encounter his first group of goblins, unfortunately they just seemed like random goblins, not a hunting team of arge camp.
They seemed to be fighting over a dead squirrel, not paying any attention to their surroundings. Merlin hid his presence and slowly crept up on the group, and when he felt the opportune momente, he pounced.
Merlin suddenly dashed out from a bush with his daggers drawn, plunging them both into the neck of the unsuspecting goblin that had its back to him.
The other two goblins were startled, but quickly readied their pointed sticks. One lunged towards Merlin, but the stick that barely qualified as a spear was easily pushed away. The other tried a simr thing but it suffered the same fate.
Merlin yed with the two remaining goblins like they were ipetent, he was much morefortable fighting with two daggers rather than a sword and shield, although he did enjoy the feeling of invulnerability that the shield offered him.
Merlin finished the goblins off with ease, and as his quest asked, he started roughly cutting the goblin ears off. Due to the active quest, once the ears left the goblin¡¯s body they started faintly glowing as if they were items, allowing Merlin to throw them into his inventory. It was a simr effect as to what would happen if he had used an animal harvesting skill.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 6/140¡¹
Once he was done, he quickly cast cleanse on himself to rid his hands and his weapons of the goblin¡¯s blood. After onest check he found that unfortunately there was no loot once again.
Merlin continued his journey through the forest, and not long after his first encounter he seemed to have found another group. As he stared at the group of four from the distance, he noticed that they were much better equipped than the goblins he just killed. But the most ring detail was that they all had simr looking body paint, indicating that they were from a tribe.
Merlin hid his presence and began stalking the group. He wasn¡¯t sure if they were going to eventually lead him to the camp he was targeting, but he decided that it was worth the gamble. It was much better to have a guide than to wander blind after all, and even if he was wrong, he still had to kill plenty of goblins anyway.
Chapter 109: Goblin Hunting - II
He followed the goblins as they traversed the forest, he had to be patient and retain his stealth as the goblins ran around hunting all the small game they came across.
There were moments where a goblin began wandering towards him while hunting, but Merlin understood that goblins kept close proximity to the rest of their hunting group. So if he kept a far enough distance from the group, it wouldn¡¯t wander close enough to discover him.
After following the group for a few more minutes they seemed to have finished their hunt and started making their way back to the camp. Merlin found himself walking north-east instead of the north-west he was moving in originally, meaning he would have walked straight past the camp if he continued in the direction he was originally travelling in.
He kept his distance as he followed as half of his focus had to be directed at his feet. He had to make sure he didn¡¯t step on any dried leaves or twigs, or even trip over roots. As any noise he made would alert the goblins and he¡¯d lose his guide.
He saw glimpses of structures a little bit away through the treeline, it seemed he had finally found the camp.
Merlin decided that he would deal with the hunting group now, this would allow him to get the jump on the camp and have less goblins to deal with at once. He chanted out the skill name for heavy strike under his breath, and slowly crept up closer to the group.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
He was eyeing the goblin with the bow, it seemed to be the leader of their expedition and it posed the greatest threat. He snuck up until he was close enough to pounce, beforeunching himself towards the goblin.
The goblin seemed to notice something was wrong, but it turned around just in time to catch the glint of two daggers plunge into its throat, killing it instantly.
The other three goblins started panicking the second they saw their leader fall, Merlin took the opportunity to cleave through the closest one, causing that one to die as well.
He avoided two spear thrusts while he chanted cleanse, and the filth that covered his weapons suddenly peeled off and vanished without a trace. Merlin slid under another spear thrust as he approached one of the remaining two goblins, he leapt up and finished the goblin with ease before turning to thest one.
Seeing as the goblin was the only one remaining, it made the motion as if it were going to call for help, but before it could start yelling a dagger flew at it and pierced its throat. Merlin charged forth and finished it with the other dagger.
It was rough, and he could have done it faster if he had his old stats, but at his current level he was doing pretty well for himself. The one annoying factor is that his weapons kept caking up with goblin goop, and cleanse had a ten second cooldown so it wasn¡¯t a reliable ability to continuously cast in a fight.
Nevertheless, he ran around cutting the ears off the four goblins and threw them in his inventory before casting cleanse on himself to rid him of the filth.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 14/140¡¹
He then looked around for loot, but was once again disappointed. Fortunately he could make do with the temporary items the goblins left behind. He threw the goblin bow and quiver over his shoulder, and grabbed the three spears.
These were actual spears, with metal tips, rather than the pointed sticks thest set of goblins were using. It seemed this camp was richer than expected, which wasn¡¯t a good sign.
Merlin snuck up to the treeline and poked his head out from behind a tree to inspect the camp in the clearing. There were plenty of tribal tents,rge effigies made from animal bones, camp fires and arge variety of weaponryying around, most of which were spears.
Most of the weapons, especially the spears, were still in surprisingly good shape for something that had been in the hands of a goblin. This usually meant that the goblins had raided a merchant wagon that was holding arge shipment of weapons.
And as Merlin walked around the treeline while inspecting the vige from several angles, he saw the wagons as he suspected. Although they seemed to have been ripped apart and used for firewood, and he didn¡¯t even have to think as to where the people and horses went.
After surveying the camp for a few minutes at various angles, he began seeing a few heavily armoured goblins standing around. After further investigation he came to the conclusion that there were about four heavily armoured goblins total. Fortunately for Merlin, they seemed to all be standing guard nearby a certain tent, leading Merlin to assume that was where the leader was.
Other than those four, the rest seemed to just be wearing what Merlin could only assume was a patchy mix of gnoll and horse hide, with most not having anything outside of the regr loincloth.
There were quite a few goblins in total, but they were spread out quite far from each other in theirrge camp. Merlin figured that his best bet at annihting the goblins would be to bait small groups of them away from the camp at a time, otherwise he¡¯d risk being swarmed.
Being swarmed was definitely something he wanted to avoid, as even Merlin would struggle against a hoard of goblins at this level. Goblins were rather weak when alone but incredibly dangerous when working together, and the added obstacle of their blood rendering ded weapons useless made it even more so.
Fortunately, he always had his sneak skill to fall back on if things went wrong. So even if he did attract too many goblins, he could vanish into the treeline to start again, although they would definitely be on guard the next time around.
Alternatively as hisst resort if for some reason his stealth trick didn¡¯t work, Merlin could just fight the entire camp in the forest using gueri warfare. He would have a much greater advantage as an individual fighting a group in a forest, where he could use his speed and abilities to his advantage, rather than fight them out in the open where he could get surrounded.
Believing he nned his attack as well as he could, Merlin made the first move. He slowly walked around to a group of five goblins on the far edge of the vige, they seemed like the easiest targets and none of them had the patchwork hide armour like the goblins closest to the middle of the camp.
Merlin picked up one of the three spears he had looted and began targeting the goblin closest to him. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t use heavy strike in this circumstance, as he found out when fighting the rose wight, it didn¡¯t trigger on thrown weaponry much like other damage boosting skills.
Merlin let the spear fly, but unfortunately, instead of the neck shot he was hoping for, the spear flew short and instead punctured the goblin¡¯s stomach. It seemed hisck of power was caused mostly by the awkward movement he was forced to take due to the bow and quiver hanging off that very same shoulder, but he didn¡¯t really want to bother about cing it down only to scramble and pick it up when he had to run.
The five goblins, alongside another group of three a little bit away who were also caught in the aggro, made their way to Merlin¡¯s position in the forest with their weapons drawn. One was running at him with a spear sticking out of his back. Merlin prepared another spear and threw it, puncturing the shoulder of another goblin.
Merlin ran further into the forest as the goblins breached the treeline. The goblin who entered the forest first, who also happened to be the goblin that caught a spear in its shoulder, was greeted with a spear that prated its skull. That goblin was the first to fall, and its death angered the remaining goblins.
Unfortunately for them, the second they caught a glimpse of white flowing hair, two arrows flew out, one piercing an eye, and the other a chest. Merlin continued ying with the goblins, eventually having to enter melee range due to his temporary bow snapping, but he eventually finished them off with ease.
Merlin ran around chopping off the goblins ears, throwing them in his inventory before cleaning himself and his weapons.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 30/140¡¹
He ran around looking for loot, and fortunately this time he found some, although it was just a handful of copper pieces, three to be exact. And alongside the three somewhat bloody spears that seemed to have a use or two left, he had eight more.
Merlin gathered the eleven spears after casting cleanse on the three blood-covered ones, and began lining them up near the treeline where he made his first attack. He took the three spears he used prior, alongside two more, and ran around the camp for more easy targets.
Another spear flew through the air, this time sessfully piercing a goblin¡¯s throat, two more spears flew out in quick session, one pierced a goblin¡¯s chest, the other its shoulder. And like before, another group was also enraged and began running towards him, there seemed to be about ten total this time.
Merlin let two more spears go before giving the goblins a wave and then disappearing within the treeline. Three spears were thrown at him, one barely lodged itself in the tree Merlin had hidden behind, the others dug into the soft forest dirt.
Chapter 110: Goblin Hunting - III
Several goblins scattered throughout the forest, any who got close to where Merlin was hiding were quickly disposed of. Once a goblin was killed, their spear and any spear sticking out of them were quickly used against its allies.
Merlin dodged a few more spears thrown at him, those that slid across the floor and were easy to pick up were quickly thrown back, often times hitting the goblin who threw it in the first ce. But Merlin remained mobile, not stopping in one ce for too long to minimise the chances that he would be hit by a spear.
The goblins that tried closing in on his position found that he vanished without a trace the second he stepped out of vision, only for him to show up behind them, or drop down from a tree and kill them in melee range.
The process repeated itself until all ten goblins were dead, and once again he ran around cutting goblin ears off, throwing them into his inventory the second they were registered as items by the system.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 50/140¡¹
"Forty-five goblins to go." Merlin huffed while wiping sweat from his brow.
He went around collecting as many spears as he could that retained their good quality before casting cleanse on himself and the weapons.
He made his way back to the treeline, but it seemed the camp was on high alert now. Which was understandable, as eighteen goblins had just suddenly vanished.
And it looked like the leader had started making his move, as he saw a muchrger goblin step out of his tent. It was roughly the height of a human withrger muscles than the regr goblins around it, it was a hobgoblin.
Although his eyes nced over the hobgoblin, Merlin¡¯s interest was quickly taken by the creature that followed it out of the tent. He was surprised to see a goblin adorned with small bones and more ritualistic body paint than the regr tribal markings the other goblins had. The most concerning fact about this goblin was that its weapon of choice was arge wooden staff, meaning the goblin would be some kind of spellcaster.
"Oh, that¡¯s not fun." Merlin muttered under his breath as he inspected the goblin further.
He wasn¡¯t sure what kind of spellcaster the goblin was, and since he wasn¡¯t close enough to it, he wasn¡¯t shown the name hovering above its head to confirm it either. Merlin began rethinking his n, he had to y around the goblin spellcaster, as it was currently a wildcard.
His actions in regards to the spellcaster would differ depending on what type it was. If its spell list consisted of raw evocation spells, such as fireballs or throwing lightning, then he would just have to avoid the spells, or he could use them to deal with other goblins.
But if the goblin just so happened to be the type of spellcaster that used hexes or binding skills, then he¡¯d be in trouble. He couldn¡¯t risk losing his mobility against such arge group, even so much as a reduction of strength in his arms, or having one of his senses obstructed, could pose a grave threat.
It seemed that quite a few goblins were now keeping watch along the perimeter, some of which were utilising bows. Merlin watched as one of the goblins noticed movement somewhere within the treeline and without a moment of hesitation, let an arrow fly.
The arrow flew into a bush, and Merlin heard a pained cry from a woond critter, so it seemed as though the goblin hit something, but not the target it wanted. Merlin decided that he was going to have to avoid the mage, and take down the goblin archers as quickly as he could.
While stealthily spreading a few groups of spears out along the treeline, he started throwing a few in quick session. The spears were aimed solely at the archers, and once he ran out of spears in one location he quickly dipped behind cover and ran towards another pile of spears, repeating the same process with another archer.
He killed three archers with this method, and grievously injured two more. But the best result of this tactic was that instead of the camp running towards the one spot, they formed groups and split up between all the locations the spears wereing from.
Some of these groups, or in this case search parties, were better armed than usual. Amongst the few spears were goblins wielding swords and bows, and there was even a couple shields scattered around the groups. But none of the four armoured goblins moved away from defending the hobgoblin.
Merlin hid within the forest, although he was still technically unseen for now, he made sure to break line of sight before scrambling up a tree. He perched himself on arge tree branch while hiding his presence, he had his des drawn and he could feel his heart beating.
Arge group of goblins closed in on the position where he had thrown his spear, and once they entered the forest, they quickly split up into groups of three or four. Several groups walked near Merlin, and even directly under him, but he had his eyes locked on a specific goblin who was slowly inching his way towards him.
This goblin had a long one-handed sword and a round shield that covered most of his torso, it was also wearing the mixed hide armour. Merlin believed that it would be the most annoying goblin to deal with, so while he had the element of surprise, he wanted to take it down first.
"Heavy strike." Merlin quietly chanted under his breath, and he received the activation notification which disappeared a few seconds after.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin held his breath as the goblin walked underneath him, and once he believed it to be the most opportune time, Merlin simply dropped off the tree branch and plunged his daggers into the goblin¡¯s neck.
As the goblin¡¯s body went limp, a glowing wispy green ball of light flew out of its body and hovered in the air, it was a monster soul.
The goblins around him heard the goblin fall, and they all turned around and noticed Merlin, so he didn¡¯t have much time to be surprised about the appearance of a goblin soul, he reflexively reached out and grabbed the light, causing a notification to appear before him.
¡¸You have no empty soul slots, would you like to store the soul in your inventory?¡¹
Merlin responded with "yes", which caused the soul to vanish.
¡¸"Race Soul: Goblin (Level 1)" has been stored in your inventory.¡¹
With that out of the way, Merlin quickly ducked under an iing spear and grabbed the shield of the goblin he just killed. He quickly raised the shield, which blocked an iing arrow aimed at his head.
The goblins didn¡¯t have himpletely surrounded, and he found a gap in their attempt at an encirclement which he made a dash for.
Two more arrows flew at him, which were easily blocked by the shield, but it seemed to be running low on durability. Merlin charged at one of the archers that was shooting arrows at him, after two more shots the shield split in half.
More goblins were closing in on his position, and several spears were getting ready to be thrown. Merlin quickly disposed of one of the archers, but the other had shot an arrow at him, forcing Merlin to awkwardly throw the goblin¡¯s corpse in the way of the arrow before dashing behind a tree.
Three spears were thrown in his path, one barely missing his legs. And before he realised it, a couple more groups started running over due to the noise the goblins were making.
Realising he was probably in trouble, he quickly assessed his surroundings while dodging another arrow. There were three goblins without a weapon near him, the ones who had just thrown their spears. There was the archer who was surprisingly urate with a bow, and next to him was a goblin with a sword.
Coming up behind him was another group, fortunately no shield but there were two spear wielders and another archer.
Merlin sheathed his daggers before grabbing one of the spears on the ground. He dashed towards the three unarmed goblins, dodging yet another arrow aimed at his head.
The unarmed goblins quickly scattered as Merlin approached and began scrounging around for a weapon. Merlin¡¯s focus snapped to the sword wielder instead, who stepped in front of the archer. Even a dim-witted creature like a goblin had enough sense to realise that the archers were giving Merlin the most trouble.
But unfortunately for the goblin, the archer wasn¡¯t his target. Merlin threw the spear at the goblin¡¯s chest and unsheathed his daggers as he approached. The archer goblin stepped out from behind the goblin with its bow loaded, but Merlin threw one of his daggers at it before sidestepping a vertical sh from the sword goblin.
The dagger sliced through the goblin¡¯s bowstring, rendering it useless, and barely punctured its chest. It didn¡¯t do much damage, but it served as enough of a distraction for Merlin to execute the sword goblin. Merlin lunged at the archer, killing it before retrieving his other dagger.
Merlin cast cleanse on himself and ran around picking off the other three spear goblins, two of which had a weapon while the other was still searching.
Beads of sweat were pouring off Merlin¡¯s forehead, and he was beginning to pant quite heavily. Even if he was more skilled, without his stats he was barely hanging on. If he continued at this pace, eventually his body would slow down and he¡¯d be at risk of dying.
Chapter 111: Goblin Hunting - IV
The two spear goblins and one archer had finally approached, and upon noticing Merlin they immediately attacked him.
Merlin attempted to dodge another arrow while weaving through the two spears that were thrust at him, but he failed to dodge it fast enough and the arrow barely scratched his cheek.
Seemingly enraged by this, vines rushed out of Merlin¡¯s arms, one entangled the archer goblin while the other forcibly ripped the bow out of its hands and flung it into the forest.
Merlin received the notification for cleanseing off cooldown, so he began chanting it as he dodged two more spears that were thrust at him. The goblins missed Merlin, but decided to sh at his vines instead, forcing them to retract into his body.
Cleanse had finished casting, and the filth was swiftly removed from his des, just in time too, as the goblins both charged at him. Merlin pushed one spear to the side, forcing it to slide past him harmlessly as the goblin holding it stumbled forward.
Merlin hit the other spear with the handle of his de and forced it into the ground, only for him to step on it once it had partially buried itself in the forest floor. The goblin holding that spear found it near impossible to dig out under Merlin¡¯s weight. Instead of having the brain to let go of the weapon and run, the goblin just stood there struggling as Merlin dug his daggers into its throat, killing it.
The other goblin had regained its footing, but once it turned to face Merlin, it too received a pair of daggers to the throat.
Merlin sheathed his des before he grabbed the goblin¡¯s spear. He saw the archer goblin running towards where he threw the bow, and it seemed to have found it. With all his remaining strength, he threw the spear at the goblin. The spear arced through the air before embedding itself in the goblin¡¯s back. The force behind the throw transmitted to the goblin, causing it to be flung face-first into the forest soil.
Merlin picked up the other spear that was partially buried in the dirt before he started walking towards the goblin. The goblin was slowly crawling towards the bow, but Merlin made it to the goblin first, and while standing over the helpless creature, he thrust the spear into its neck, killing it.
"That was exhausting." Merlin huffed as he ripped the spears out of the goblin¡¯s corpse.
Fortunately no other groups had closed in on his position yet, so he pulled a dagger out and began chopping ears off. He made sure to go back and grab the ears from the other groups too, such as the shield goblin he killed first. He threw everything in his inventory before casting cleanse on himself once more.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 70/140¡¹
"We¡¯re half way there." Merlin mumbled to himself, he seemed to have found himself a moment of respite.
Merlin climbed arge tree and sat on one of the lower branches while he caught his breath. If a group wandered around his location, not only would he be able to see them better, but he¡¯d have the option of a surprise attack if they got too close. Unless of course one of the goblins just so happened to spot him up in a tree, and it seemed that only the archers were perceptive enough for that sort of thing.
A few minutester, Merlin¡¯s breathing had returned to normal, and he could feel energy run through his body once more.
Another group slowly wandered into his area, and they noticed the corpses of their tribe scattered around the forest floor. There was one archer, two swordsmen one of which had a shield, and a spear wielder.
Merlin, who currently held two spears in his arms, was sitting up in the tree watching the goblins wander around the area. He wanted to deal with the shield bearer first, but the archer would also be an issue, and unfortunately the shield wielding goblin didn¡¯t have any intention of wandering under his tree branch.
The next fight started with the archer goblin being removed frombat immediately, two spears thrown in quick session caused the archer to drop to the ground as a corpse. Merlin began chanting his heavy strike skill as the remaining three goblins turned to face him.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 30% damage, and has a 10% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin leapt off the tree branch in the direction of the shield bearer. The spear goblin got prepared to intercept him, but Merlin quickly sent his vines out to hook around another tree branch, allowing him to safely swing outside of the spear¡¯s reach.
The shield bearer braced himself behind the shield as Merlin quickly closed the distance. Merlin¡¯s next swing increased his momentum greatly, allowing him to put as much power into his next attack. Instead ofnding on the ground, Merlin stomped down on the shield. He heard the jingle of heavy strike trigger.
The shield goblin was pushed back several steps. Merlinnded and used this opportunity to rush at it, but the goblin quickly regained a defensive position behind its shield.
Two vines rushed out of Merlin¡¯s body and thrust towards the goblin. They barely avoided the goblin¡¯s sword strike as theytched onto the shield and tried ripping it away, but it seemed like the goblin didn¡¯t intend on letting go.
Fortunately, his vines trying to rip it away gave him enough of a gap in the goblin¡¯s defences that he could slip his des past the shield. Merlin¡¯s des quickly found their target, the goblin¡¯s throat, and it dropped dead momentster.
The other two goblins rushed him from behind, but Merlin dealt with them with ease. He received a notification after killing thest goblin.
¡¸Congrattions, your soul "ss Soul: Fighter (Level 1)" has levelled up.¡¹
"Well it¡¯s about time." He quietly remarked.
Fortunately, out of all the souls, the fighter soul was one of the least pickiest souls when it came to specific weapon requirements. All that mattered was that you were killing things or using the skills provided by it.
Merlin checked his surroundings to see if there were any more enemies, and only after a second scan did he lower his guard somewhat to harvest more goblin ears.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 78/140¡¹
While he was still rtively safe, he loaded up his fighter soul to check the stats.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
ss Soul: Fighter ? Level 2
Bonus Stats: +4 Strength, +2 Agility
Abilities: ?Heavy Strike?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +2 Strength, +3 Agility, ?Sucker-punch?
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Not only did the stats rise, albeit not by much, the soul¡¯s skills received buffs too. Heavy strike¡¯s extra damage and stagger chance were both increased by five percent.
After a short break to catch his breath, Merlin went back to hunting goblins, the process repeated itself several more times, with Merlin ughtering his way through five more groups. Eventually he collected thest ear of histest victim and threw it in his inventory.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 116/140¡¹
"Twelve goblins to go." He mumbled to himself.
Merlin threw a couple bows and quivers over his shoulder, he slid his arm through a shield and picked up a handful of spears. He carried everything back towards the treeline around the goblin camp.
As he stared in to the almost vacant goblin camp, he saw that there were only six goblins remaining. Four were the armour wearing guards, while the other two were the spellcaster and the hobgoblin leader.
He wasn¡¯t entirely sure, but Merlin was confident that he wiped out the rest of the camp.
It was six versus one, but unlike the army he had just ughtered over the span of an hour, these six were clearly much stronger. Merlin¡¯s main target was the spellcaster, as it posed the greatest threat to him.
Merlin took his time spreading spears along the treeline and setting bows and quivers down around the area. He was hoping to fight it out from a distance, but if they approached him, he would at least want it to be in a situation where the spellcaster was dead.
Merlin rest the shield down on the ground and picked up one of the bows and quiver full of arrows. He had the spellcaster in his sights, he drew his bow back and let an arrow fly.
The arrow ripped through the air, and before the goblins noticed the arrow had been sessfully embedded in the goblin spellcaster¡¯s chest. The goblins all turned to face Merlin, who had just nocked another arrow on his bow.
Small ck sparks began coalescing around the tip of the spellcaster goblin¡¯s staff. Merlin saw this and realised he was dealing with ck magic, meaning the goblin¡¯s identity was most likely a goblin hexer, one of the most annoying types.
Merlin let the arrow fly before he was forced to duck out of the way as a ck bolt of energy flew past his head and hit the tree behind him.
Merlin hit the ground and quickly turned around, only to see that there was a deep eroded hole in the side of the tree where the bolt hit. It appeared as though the tree bark around the hole had corroded.
"Ahh, a corrosive bolt." Merlin sighed, "That¡¯s not fair."
Corrosion did increased damage against item durability, it did deal damage to people and left nasty looking wounds, but most people were concerned with what it would do to their items.
His attention was brought back to the camp as he heard metal nking, the armoured goblins were approaching him. But looking past the armoured goblins, it seemed his second arrow had sessfully hit the hexer in the chest.
Chapter 112: Goblin Hunting - V
Merlin stood back up and drew hisst arrow, he saw that the goblin hexer was still alive, although it seemed to be barely hanging on by a thread. Merlin tried shooting it once more, but his arrow was intercepted by one of the armoured goblins that had closed in on his position.
The arrow shattered against the goblin¡¯s armour, and Merlin¡¯s bow snapped in his hand. The goblins quickly ran towards him with their swords drawn, Merlin grabbed the shield and a spear and dashed around the treeline towards another location where he left supplies.
The armoured goblins breached the treeline and began chasing after him. Merlin turned around and threw his spear at one of the goblins.
Although the goblin¡¯s oversized breastte served its purpose, the force of the spear easily knocked the goblin over, leaving only three goblins to chase Merlin down while it struggled to stand upright.
Another ck bolt was flung towards him, as the almost dead goblin hexer began desperately firing his spells off in Merlin¡¯s general direction. One almost made contact, but Merlin¡¯s shield was raised just in time.
Unfortunately, after only one corrosive bolt, Merlin¡¯s temporary shield began rapidly dposing. One of the goblins had caught up to him and swung its sword at Merlin, who blocked it with what remained of his shield, unfortunately that caused it to split in half.
Merlin leapt backwards and he noticed that his foot had hit something hard, he briefly looked down to see that it was a spear. He had finally made it to his next stash.
The goblin charged at Merlin once more, the other two were slowly following behind and there was one much further in the distance. Merlin nced out of the treeline and saw the hexer had also begun casting again.
Merlin kicked the spear up and caught it, using the wooden shaft to parry the sword that was being shed towards him before kicking the goblin in the chest and forcing it onto his back. Merlin dodged another bolt of magic as he began chanting heavy strike.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 35% damage, and has a 15% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Another goblin charged at him, but Merlin avoided its attack. He swung his spear like a quarterstaff and struck the goblin¡¯s oversized helmet. He received a notification jingle informing him that the stagger chance had triggered.
Merlin flipped the spear around and thrust the de into the goblin¡¯s eye before quickly ripping it out and gouging out the other. Merlin finished hisbo by swinging the shaft down on top of the goblin¡¯s helmet. The spear shaft suddenly shattered into hundreds of splinters upon making contact with the helmet.
That goblin lifelessly fell to the ground, but before Merlin could celebrate, another goblin thrust its de at him. Merlin twisted his body to avoid the de, and in the process of doing so ended up behind the goblin as it lunged past him.
Merlin noticed ck sparks in the distance, so he quickly grabbed the goblin¡¯s sword arm and hooked his other arm around the ridge of the goblin¡¯s breastte. As the goblin hexer fired another bolt at Merlin, he swung the goblin around and threw him into the magic bolt¡¯s trajectory.
ck sparks flew out as the spell collided with metal, but only a few momentster did Merlin see that a small hole had formed in the armour, as if the metal around that area was suddenly eaten away by rust. Unfortunately the goblin was still alive, but there was now a ring weak spot in its armour.
Merlin unsheathed his des and pounced on the goblin that was stillying on the floor, he easily parried away the sword it began iling around before he kicked the goblin¡¯s helmet off and plunged his des into the goblin¡¯s head.
Thest goblin, the one he had originally knocked over, had finally made its way over to Merlin, who immediately charged at it. The goblin swung its de at Merlin, but its de was parried away with ease.
Thinking back to how easy it was to kill a goblin when it was stuck on its back like a turtle, Merlin slipped his leg behind the goblin¡¯s legs and punched the creature in the face. Although the metal armour hurt his knuckle, he got the effect he was hoping for, and the goblin was forced onto its back.
Merlin repeated the process as with thest goblin, he knocked away the de, knocked the helmet off, and then executed the creature. He stood back up, only to find a bolt of magic was flying at him. A surge of dark energy struck his chest, creating a hole through his clothes and burning his skin.
Merlin stared down to see that the flesh underneath the hole in his clothes looked like it was decaying. It was a grotesque sight, but it only dealt twenty-three damage. So it wasn¡¯t enough to make him worry when he had a maximum of seventy points of health.
Merlin began chanting cleanse as he dove under cover. As the filth left his weapons, he sheathed them and immediately crawled to the bow and quiver he stashed nearby.
He pulled an arrow out of the quiver and quickly nocked the arrow, and once he had done so he drew the bow back and jumped out from cover, using the brief moment of surprise to locate the hexer and aim his bow at it.
Merlin released the arrow at the same time the hexer fired its bolt, and as the two collided in the air, the arrow disintegrated into shards. But unfortunately for the hexer, it didn¡¯t take Merlin that long to grab another arrow and shoot it again. The second arrow hit its mark, and Merlin watched as the hexer went down.
Fortunately, outside of the long ranged damage spell, the hexer didn¡¯t pose much of a threat to him when he attacked at a distance, but he would most likely have suffered a worse fate if he charged into melee range where it could hit him with curses.
The hobgoblin leader that was stationary until this point suddenly let out an enraged roar. Merlin quickly dealt with thest armoured goblin that had just gotten up and attacked him. Fortunately the hole in the armour gave him easy ess to the goblin¡¯s heart.
Merlin barely dodged a spear that was thrown at him by the hobgoblin. He turned to see that the spear was buried quite deep into the tree.
Merlin grabbed another arrow from the quiver and shot the hobgoblin, the bow snapped but the arrow continued towards the leader of the goblin camp. Merlin watched the hobgoblin as he reached down and grabbed another spear from the floor, but surprisingly the goblin batted the arrow out of the air with a one-handed axe.
Merlin left the treeline and began walking towards the hobgoblin, who was only now pulling out its second axe. And as Merlin approached, he saw that the hobgoblin was level nine, its face was covered in tribal paint, as were the two muscly arms that were poking out of the metal breastte that seemed to actually fit the creature.
Merlin charged at the leader with his spear and threw it with all his strength, the hobgoblin rolled out of the way and rushed towards Merlin. As soon as it entered melee range, it swung its one-handed axes around in a frenzy.
All Merlin could do for the most part was unsheathe his des and attempt to parry each blow, but he found that he was slowly being pushed back. Merlin¡¯s upper arm was cut, which told him it was time to bring the fight¡¯s tempo under control.
After parrying a couple more strikes, Merlin leapt backwards and tried making a gap between him and the hobgoblin. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t seem as though the hobgoblin had any intention of letting him leave, so it charged at him once more.
Merlin waited for the goblin to close the distance before he kicked a pile of dirt at the creature, but it didn¡¯t seem to have the effect he wanted as the hobgoblin blocked the dirt from entering his eyes.
Merlin charged at the monster while it was partially distracted, but the creature swung an axe at him, threatening to chop his head off.
Merlin slid under the de and shed at the creature¡¯s leg before dashing in the opposite direction while chanting cleanse. It didn¡¯t seem to do much against the creature, but now he was just trying to slowly wear it down.
Merlin sliced his forearms with his des, allowing his daggers to get coated with his own blood. He turned around just in time to see the hobgoblin was closing in quickly. The parrying and shing continued, but now Merlin¡¯s blood was being flung around onto the hobgoblin as he swung his des.
Unfortunately his passive hadn¡¯t triggered yet as there were no cuts for the blood to enter, and he wasn¡¯t lucky enough to get any blood tond in one of the hobgoblin¡¯s orifices, and even then it would only be a ten percent chance.
Merlin was slowly losing ground once again, but instead of staying still and getting sliced up, Merlin sent his vines out to attack.
Vines burst out of Merlin¡¯s forearms and began wrapping around the hobgoblin¡¯s arms. Merlin and the hobgoblin were now closely tied together, neither of which could swing their des with any convenience as they were linked by the arms.
Rather than a fight where they swung des at each other, the fight quickly progressed into a tug-of-war as the hobgoblin began trying to swing Merlin into things, and Merlin was preventing himself from being dragged around. Fortunately it appeared as though Merlin¡¯s strength stat was higher, although the hobgoblin seemed to have an endless supply of energy.
Merlin bit his tongue and allowed his mouth to slowly fill up with blood as he stared the monster down.
Chapter 113: Goblin Hunting - VI
Once he felt he had enough blood stored up, Merlin used his strength to pull the creature closer to him, where he promptly sprayed its face with a fine mist of his blood and saliva, he made sure to periodically stop and then spray again, just in case they counted as separate attacks by the system.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
And it appeared that they did, as the third spray triggered the notification.
Merlin watched as the hobgoblin¡¯s face slowly became a shade of greenish-purple, and he could feel the monster¡¯s strength drop as it wasn¡¯t quite as difficult to fight against it in the tug-of-war.
Merlin chanted to activate his heavy strike ability, causing a notification to briefly appear, telling him that his ability had been activated.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 35% damage, and has a 15% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin pulled the monster towards him once more causing it to stumble forward, unlikest time. His vines quickly detached from the hobgoblin¡¯s arms, giving Merlin the freedom to move his arms once more.
Merlin thrust his daggers into the hobgoblin¡¯s neck, causing the monster to roar in pain. Merlin unfortunately had his face sttered with the hobgoblin¡¯s saliva as it roared. He kicked off the monster¡¯s chest and ripped his des out of its neck.
The hobgoblin threw one of its axes at Merlin, the de spun quickly through the air. Merlin barely dodged it, but both of his vines had been sliced apart.
While he was off bnce, the hobgoblin rushed him with the remaining axe. Merlin tried blocking the de but the force sent him falling backwards. Instead of falling onto his back where he¡¯d be in a vulnerable position, Merlin kicked the ground, sending himself tumbling backwards to increase the distance between him and the monster.
As he rolled, Merlin kicked up dirt at the hobgoblin, distracting it long enough to give himself enough time to stand back up.
Merlin charged at the monster once more, but unlike thest time where he was in a stalemate, the hobgoblin was slower and had one less weapon to worry about, so Merlin got plenty of cuts in while he was able to defend from all its attacks.
While the two were fighting, Merlin waited for the right moment before he parried the hobgoblin¡¯s axe into the air, throwing its bnce off. He followed that attack by stomping on the monster¡¯s pivot leg, forcing the creature to kneel, where he easily plunged his daggers into the monster¡¯s neck once more, finally killing it.
After doing so, he received a couple notifications.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Destroy the Goblin Camp", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, your soul "ss Soul: Thief (Level 1)" has levelled up.¡¹
Pleasantly surprised by the second notification he checked his thief soul¡¯s stats.
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ss Soul: Thief ? Level 2
Bonus Stats: +4 Dexterity, +7% Stealth
Abilities: ?Sneak?, ?Backstab?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +3 Agility, +6% Stealth, ?Ambush?
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It appeared to be the same as he remembered. He received a slight increase in stats, alongside buffs to his abilities, and even a new passive ability.
The improvement sneak received was that the duration increased by ten seconds, the percentage bonus remained at thirty.
Merlin checked his new passive ability, causing another window to open up.
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?Backstab?
You specialise in attacking your opponents from behind.
? Striking an enemy from behind with a melee weapon will deal 1.4 times the damage.
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"Perfect. This wille in handy." Merlin mumbled to himself as he began tearing the hobgoblin¡¯s breastte off of the corpse.
Merlin plunged his dagger into the hobgoblin¡¯s chest and began a gruesome sawing motion as he sliced through the monster¡¯s body. Its blood began pouring out like motor oil and began slicking up Merlin¡¯s hands and de until he was having a hard time holding onto it.
"I really should spend some time and get a harvesting skill." Merlinined to himself.
He quickly cast cleanse on himself and his weapons, giving him his grip and sharp edge back, but it was quickly bing covered in filth once more.
Merlin reached into the hobgoblin¡¯s chest and started snapping ribs as he made his way to its heart. The squishy sensation made him feel sick, but he slid his knife in and began cutting away at all the parts keeping the heart attached. Once the heart was free, it began glowing to show that it was now considered an item by the system, and Merlin received another notification.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "A Hobgoblin¡¯s Heart", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin threw the heart into his inventory and waited the brief cooldown before he could cleanse himself once more. But he knew he was only going to be filthy again once he ran around picking up ears.
He quickly ran around checking for loot while picking up goblin ears, and surprisingly enough there was actually loot this time around. But before he put his hands on it, he threw the goblin ears into his inventory and cast cleanse on himself.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 128/140¡¹
"Six more to go." Merlin mumbled as he stared at the notification. As expected, he would have to pick off a couple more stragglers on his way to the southern side of the road.
Merlin picked up the glowing staff that was resting next to the goblin hexer he had killed not too long ago, and then he checked its stats.
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[Goblin Hexer¡¯s Staff. (Umon)]
A knobbly wooden staff that appears to be rotting at the tip.
? Attuned spell: ?Corrosive Bolt?
? 10 second cooldown.
? Mana cost: 12
? Required level: 7
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"Level seven." Merlin sighed when he read the stats. "Oh well, at least I have a staff for the wizards college."
Merlin threw the staff into his inventory, stood up and stretched his back. He looked around for a few moments before walking back into the forest, travelling in the direction of where he believed the road was.
"I need to really work on my agility. A hobgoblin shouldn¡¯t have given me that much trouble." Merlinined as he walked past a group of goblin corpses, his eyes were fixated on a dead archer that was pinned against a tree with a spear in its chest.
"Alright, once I¡¯ve finished these quests, I¡¯ll pay a visit to the rangers guild." Merlin continued mumbling to himself. "But I¡¯m going to need a bow."
Merlin traversed the forest for a few minutes, and fortunately he found six more goblins who all suffered a tragic fate. But in return he was able to finish hisst goblin quest.
¡¸Goblin Ears Collected: 140/140¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Goblin Exterminator", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
"There we go. And now I need to deal with the other two." Merlin said as he inspected the other two quests. "Well at least I don¡¯t need to wipe out an entire camp, I suppose."
Merlin finally breached the treeline and was now back on the road, although it didn¡¯tst long as he walked across the road and into the opposite treeline.
"Lets get this over with." Merlin said as he began sprinting deeper into the forest.
A few minutes passed, but he eventually found a small group of kobolds roaming the area. Kobolds were small lizard-like creatures. They were roughly the size of a goblin and had reptilian features, such as scales, a tail and a long snout that held a row of pointed teeth.
There were four kobolds in this group, and they were all armed with at least a dagger, although one also had a sling.
Kobolds weren¡¯t known for being strong fighters, rather they were famously known for being weak cowards, especially when fighting alone. It was very likely that a kobold would even lose a fight against a goblin if it were a one versus one duel.
But what theycked in physical strength they made up for in their ability to build defensive structures and set traps.
So while killing off kobolds was an easy feat, much easier than killing a camp of goblins, stepping into a kobold¡¯sir was an expedition fraught with danger.
Merlin snuck up on one of the kobolds with his des drawn, and when he felt the time was right, he pounced on the kobold, wedging both his daggers into the creature¡¯s neck from behind.
The kobold immediately dropped dead and the other three kobolds leapt into the treeline in surprise.
¡¸Kobolds Killed: 1/50¡¹
Merlin chased after one of the kobolds that dashed away. He quickly caught up with the creature and thrust his des into its back, killing it in one shot once again.
¡¸Kobolds Killed: 2/50¡¹
And Merlin¡¯s favourite thing about Kobolds, besides them being weaker than goblins, was that their blood wasn¡¯t a pain to remove. He didn¡¯t have to cast cleanse every time it came off cooldown.
Merlin dodged a rock that was flung at him and then dashed towards the remaining two kobolds, killing them in quick session.
¡¸Kobolds Killed: 4/50¡¹
Unfortunately nothing dropped, but Merlin didn¡¯t mind. He was too busy enjoying the easy fights, it seemed fighting an army of goblins had put quite the strain on his body.
"But I¡¯m also going to have to deal with gnolls, aren¡¯t I..." Merlin sighed as he ran further into the forest.
As he ran around, he found a somewhat open area in the forest. Within this open area was an elevated area ofnd, a small rocky hill, where there seemed to be a cave with a fairly wide opening leading inside.
Chapter 114: Killing Kobolds and Gnoll Gangs - I
The opening of the cave was fairly quiet. There didn¡¯t seem to be any signs of monsters within the entrance of the cave, which was usual for kobolds but that meant that he was probably going to have to be vignt in his search for traps.
Merlin kept his eyes peeled as he walked into the cave, he quickly summoned his ball of light once sunlight could barely illuminate the area. He followed the only path avable to him, which lead him into a small room with another tunnel that led further into the cave.
The room seemed to be empty, besides the strange shadows that formed on the floor on the other side of the room.
Merlin slowly approached the shadows, only to find that it was actually a pit. As kobolds loved to burrow, pitfall traps were one of their favourites.
Within this pit, Merlin noticed a bipedal figure, he couldn¡¯t make out many details as the creature was several meters deep in a dark pit, face down and punctured with spikes.
Merlin reached over and cupped the ball of light, slowly dragging it towards the pit to give him more light as he inspected the creature. Upon further inspection, the creature seemed to be covered in fur, and it had strange segmented legs, simr to that of a goat.
"The gnolls have already tried raiding this ce." Merlin mumbled to himself as he backed away from the pit and continued further into the cave.
The cave almost immediately split into two paths, and as Merlin began walking down the left path, he began hearing very faint sounds. It seemed like the path he was going down had monsters, he could hear faint growling, and what sounded likeughter.
Merlin began hiding his presence as he continued into the cave. There he saw two gnolls wing at a small hole on the other side of the room. It seemed the gnolls noticed the light source, as they quickly turned around to see Merlin creeping up on them.
Gnolls were roughly the height of the average human, making them almost twice asrge as goblins or kobolds. They were bipedal dog people with a hyena-like head.
Without any warning one of the gnolls charged at Merlin with a spear, the creature was quite fast. As as it got into melee range, it performed a wide sweeping attack that Merlin barely ducked under in time.
Merlin unsheathed his daggers and pounced on the creature, driving both des into the hyena-like monster¡¯s thick neck. Merlin found himself promptly pushed away by the creature before it began its counterattack, and the other gnoll had also just charged at him.
Merlin was unfortunately stabbed a few times in the process of dodging their attacks, but he was able to kick off of the wall and leap over another wide sweep. He leapt towards the gnoll he attacked previously, and as hended beside the gnoll that was just getting ready to stab him, Merlin sliced at it with his daggers once more.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 1/15¡¹
Before he could celebrate his first kill, he was forced to roll away as another spear was mmed down on the area he was just at.
Merlin retaliated by charging at the monster, blocking a spear strike with both of his des as he approached. The gnoll leaned in for a bite attack but Merlin thrust his dagger through the creature¡¯s jaw, pinning it shut as he began slicing at the creature¡¯s throat.
The gnoll resorted to primitive attacks once he couldn¡¯t attack Merlin with its spear, but its ws didn¡¯t do as much damage as Merlin¡¯s dagger. And within a few strikes, the gnoll fell to the ground as a corpse.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 2/15¡¹
Merlin was surprised when the quest informed him that the gnolls had been pushed out of the northern part of the forest by the goblins, based on their nature of being needlessly violent and always hungry. But when he thought about it, and considered how many gnolls he had to kill inparison to how many goblins he had just gone through, it eventually made sense.
Regardless how strong an individual was, superior numbers almost always had an advantage, with the one exception being superior power, such asrge area of effect spells. But gnolls typically didn¡¯t know how to use magic.
Unfortunately neither of the gnolls had dropped loot, which left Merlin a little disappointed. He quickly looked around the room he found himself in, and besides the small hole in the wall that he wouldn¡¯t even be able to crawl through, there was another pit with yet another dead gnoll inside.
"It seems the kobold traps are making short work of the invaders. d it wasn¡¯t me." Merlin said. He was happy that the gnolls seemed to have triggered most of the traps on the way in, which would make his life somewhat easier as long as he remained cautious.
Seeing that there weren¡¯t any other paths to take in this room, Merlin went back into the tunnel he came from and chose the right path this time around. As he continued down this path, it seemed to branch into two more paths.
But as he peered down the right path, it looked like the roof had copsed in on it, and there seemed to have been some gnoll casualties based on the limbs barely sticking out of the rubble.
Cave in traps were one of the worst types of traps to fall into, especially if you were someone who suffered from ustrophobia, and it was a key reason why some people absolutely refused to raid koboldirs regardless of how easy they were to killpared to the quest payout.
Merlin continued down the path which seemed to branch out once more. The left side sounded quiet while the right had the sounds ofughing, growling and a strange hissing sound. Merlin took the right path and followed it down into yet another room.
Within this room he saw three gnolls fighting against kobolds that seemed to be hiding in the walls, only popping out of the little tunnels that littered the room¡¯s walls to pelt rocks at their attackers.
Merlin saw as one of the gnolls drew its bow back and shot an arrow into one of the holes, and after a brief moment he heard a pained high pitch squeal.
One of the kobolds dashed out of their holes behind an unsuspecting gnoll and stabbed them in the back before dashing away and vanishing into another hole before the gnoll could retaliate.
It seemed like the gnolls were being rapidly worn down by the repeated assault by the kobolds, and when it looked like one was barely standing up straight, Merlin dashed into the room to deal the finishing blow.
The gnolls didn¡¯t react at first as Merlin ran into the room, they seemed too distracted by their current enemy, but once Merlin¡¯s light properly began illuminating the room, only then did the creatures turn around. But it was toote, as Merlin had already leapt onto the gnoll that was almost dead and had plunged his daggers into its back, killing it.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 3/15¡¹
The kobolds continued firing stones at the gnolls, while Merlin quickly avoided their sudden attacks. Fortunately the kobolds continued doing damage to the gnolls, and hadn¡¯t started attacking him yet. Merlin watched as another kobold ran out of its hole and thrust its dagger into the back of the gnoll currently attacking Merlin, causing it to flinch in pain and miss Merlin by arge margin.
Merlin took this chance to plunge both of his daggers into the gnoll¡¯s neck, fortunately dealing enough damage to kill it.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 4/15¡¹
The fight continued briefly with thest gnoll, but eventually it too was brought to its knees and eliminated.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 5/15¡¹
Once the gnoll dropped, there seemed to be a moment of silence in the room. Merlin didn¡¯t really want to bother fighting kobolds in their home advantage, he believed it would be more efficient for him to just leave and pick out any kobolds that were hanging around out in the open.
Merlin picked up one of the gnolls spears and quickly walked out of the room. And even after a few moments passed, it didn¡¯t seem like the kobolds were going to chase after him.
Once he made it back to the crossroads he took moments ago, he walked down the path he hadn¡¯t yet explored, the one that was seemingly silent.
As he walked through the cave, he noticed a pool of blood at his feet, which caused him to instinctively look up, only to see another gnoll corpse. This one was dangling upside-down from a rope a few meters above him. The gnoll¡¯s corpse was riddled with puncture marks, which matched the rows of small stone spikes on each side of the wall beside it.
He could have only imagined what kind of torture that gnoll went through moments before its death, and was once again d he didn¡¯t have to be the one to suffer the fate.
as he continued down the path, he saw another gnoll corpse, this one seemed to have tripped over and fallen into yet another pit, but he didn¡¯t see any spikes in this pit. It was only once he shined his ball of light over the pit that he saw hundreds of beady little eyes staring back at him.
Merlin shuddered as he backed away from the snake pit. He quickly made his way further down the tunnel, far away from the army of snakes.
Chapter 115: Killing Kobolds and Gnoll Gangs - II
Merlin continued his journey down the tunnel, eventuallying across yet another room. This room was much bigger than the previous rooms, and like thest room, the walls were full of little tunnels that only the kobolds could fit in.
Merlin entered the room, where he saw four heavily wounded gnolls gnawing on the corpses of kobolds. The floor was littered with kobold corpses and the shells and spilt yolk of shattered eggs. There were also two corpses of gnolls that seemed to have fallen victim to the kobold¡¯s attacks.
Merlin turned the corner, his ball of light began illuminating the rest of the room, which caused the gnolls to immediately stop paying attention to their food and turn to face him.
"I really need to get night vision." Merlinined under his breath before running over to one of the gnoll corpses to grab its spear.
Three of the gnolls quickly grabbed their weapons and began charging at Merlin, one had a long bow and was readying an arrow.
Merlin scanned the group quickly, eyeing the health bar above each creature¡¯s head. He also took into ount how wounded each gnoll looked, and if any weaknesses had formed from the damage they took while fighting the kobolds.
One seemed to have a knife in its thigh, causing it to limp. While another had blood pouring out of its left eye which remained closed. The third gnoll charging at him seemed to be fine besides the low health, so Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto the archer behind the three, as it seemed to be the biggest threat right now.
Merlinunched the spear at the archer, barely missing two of the gnolls charging at him. The spear flew as straight as a bullet as it tore through the humid air, piercing the chest of the archer gnoll at the end of its journey.
Although it didn¡¯t seem to kill it, as the archer gnoll had the highest health amongst the rest of the gnolls, the spear distracted the gnoll enough to miss its first shot.
Two of the gnolls thrust their spears at Merlin as he began chanting. One spear barely scratched him as Merlin twisted his body out of the way, quickly closing the distance between him and the gnoll with the bleeding eye. Merlin pped the gnoll in the face as he finished his chant, and suddenly small embers appeared on the gnoll¡¯s fur.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Merlin leapt backwards as another spear was thrust at him, he began drawing his daggers in the same motion. He watched as the fire quickly spread along the gnoll¡¯s fur, it began panicking and running around, but that only served to spread the fire faster.
Merlin dashed towards the archer gnoll while the other two were temporarily distracted. The archer had just nocked another arrow and was getting prepared to shoot when Merlin leapt at it with both daggers, stealing its life away.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 6/15¡¹
Merlin received a couple notifications as he turned around to face the other gnolls, it seemed the one that was burning had actually died from the fire damage.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "Pyromaniac. (Beginner)"¡¹
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 7/15¡¹
"And I haven¡¯t even learnt fire bolt yet." Merlinughed, thinking it was kind of funny that he managed to get the title so early. Especially when he acquired it only through the use ofntern oil and utility magic.
The remaining two gnolls angrily charged at him, But Merlin ripped the spear out of the archer gnoll¡¯s corpse and charged at them in return.
The fight ended as expected, although the spear broke as it pierced the heart of the gnoll with the limp, fortunately that was all it took to kill it. Thest gnoll put up some degree of a fight, but was ultimately cut down.
¡¸Gnolls Killed: 9/15¡¹
"Six more to go, but it doesn¡¯t seem like there¡¯s anything left here." Merlin sighed to himself as he looked around.
For a koboldir, it was rtively small, but this was understandable as it was still a lower level area. Regardless of their¡¯s size, the traps were still deadly enough to cause yers issues, especially if they didn¡¯t have anyone who specialised in detecting and disarming traps.
Merlin spotted a pile of glowing objects in the furthest corner of the room, it was the kobold¡¯s treasure hoard, although it was a bitcklustrepared to the koboldirs he was used to.
After checking for traps, and then double checking, Merlin approached the pile of treasure. Arge part of it was junk that weren¡¯t considered items by the system, but just there to make the pile visually appealing. But he found a couple items he could take after making a mess of the pile.
Merlin picked up nine silver, increasing his wallet to forty-seven silver and one hundred twenty-two copper.
He then picked up a strange bracelet that immediately began faintly glowing with a soft blue light, but dimmed once it was kept still. Intrigued, he checked the item¡¯s stats.
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[Glowing Bracelet. (Umon)]
A bracelet that emits light when shaken.
The colour changes based on how fast it is shaken.
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Merlin shook his head before throwing it into his inventory and turning to check the next item. The bracelet glowed green as it flew into the inventory window.
The next item was a small red gem that was warm to the touch. Merlin inspected the gem and as he suspected, it was a magic stone.
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[Crude Fire Stone. (Umon)]
A small red gem that was infused with fire magic.
? Crafting material.
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Merlin threw the magic gem into his inventory as well before he searched through the treasure pile once more, checking to see if he missed anything.
After confirming that he hadn¡¯t left anything behind, Merlin stood up and began walking out of the cave. He loaded up the title he received earlier to check its stats as he walked.
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[Pyromaniac. (Beginner)]
Some people just want to watch the world burn.
? Fire Damage: +5%
Upgrade Requirements: Fire Damage Dealt (3/200)
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"Not a bad haul." Merlin said to himself as he waved the information window away.
"I should have a couple hours of light left." He mumbled as he stared up at the sky that had started getting darker.
Merlin unsheathed his des and began sprinting through the forest. He began finding several small groups of both races around the forest, and started noticing a trend of where they were spawning which allowed him to locate them faster.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Gnoll Gangs", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
After killing off enough gnolls to finish his quest, Merlin began avoiding the locations where he expected them to form, although he did check to see if any spawned with a bow. If he felt like he could quickly kill a gnoll without taking any damage to himself, he would quickly leap in and kill the creature before sprinting back into the forest and activating sneak to escape.
He then went back to the scene of the crime to check if any loot had dropped, and through this method had acquired fourteen arrows, but no bows.
Kobolds were the easiest to handle, it wouldn¡¯t take much time to cleave through their small camps. The only issue he had was when they escaped into burrows they prepared beforehand, and at that point he was forced to leave them alone to save time.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Killing Kobolds", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
Eventually, Merlin hadpleted hisst quest. Although it took so long that the forest had be incredibly dark, to the point he had to summon his ball of light and risk giving away his position in order to traverse safely.
Now that all his quests were done, he began running towards the road. He didn¡¯t want to be in the middle of the forest at night, especially in a level seven and higher area.
The forest was almost quiet, the only sounds Merlin could hear were bugs, the ground crunching under his feet and the collective cries of several owls.
¡¯Owls... That might not be a bad idea.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself.
Race souls covered all manners of creatures, not just monsters. If you killed an elf, there would be a chance that you could get an elf soul. If you killed a human, although ultimately considered useless, you could also potentially acquire a human soul.
This meant that critters were also included, although most didn¡¯t give you any bonuses that made hunting them worth it. But out of all the critters, there was one that was considered the best, and that was the owl.
The reason everybody considered the owl soul to be the best critter race souls was because they were one of the earliest sources of the popr night vision passive skill that a yer could acquire, but also because they gave buffs to perception stats.
The only issue with the owl soul was that it didn¡¯t have much in the way ofbat bonuses, and they were kind of annoying to hunt. So by the time people were bothered or able to hunt them down, they would probably find other sources of night vision or work around the use of torches,nterns and the light utility spell.
Merlin was considering if this kind of bonus would benefit him, he didn¡¯t know if he wanted to rece one of his souls or expand his number of soul slots to fit another in.
Shrugging the thought off, he quickly made it to the road, where the ground around him was now faintly illuminated by the moonlight, and began his trip back to Macedonia to turn his quests in.
The trees around him eventually opened up to reveal vast rolling hills, and as Merlin took a look at his surroundings, he saw several individuals being chased by horde of wild boars.
Chapter 116: Road to Megalopolis
Merlin continued down the road, but his attention was still locked on the individuals being hunted by wild boars.
One of the individuals tripped over, quickly getting crushed under the stampede, and the rest of the group continued running without even looking back.
The rest of the group suffered a simr fate as a muchrger wild boar quickly caught up with them, crushing them all under its hooves.
Merlin made sure to not get too close to the horde as he watched them stomp on the corpses angrily. But after a few moments they all began walking back to their original positions further away from the road.
Merlin was staring at the giant wild boar and regretting that he hadn¡¯t yet bothered to grab a harvesting skill.
¡¯I¡¯ll do it the next time I visit Orchomenus.¡¯ He made a mental note to himself.
Once the boars moved well away from the corpses, Merlin wandered closer to see if they had dropped anything. But as his poor luck would have it, they didn¡¯t drop anything.
Merlin continued down the road, the rolling hills shifted into farmnd as he approached the city. He made his way over the bridge, noticing that there were still a few fishermen out at this time of night. He continued towards the city, where he was surrounded with an endless sea of barley once more.
He walked through the gates, greeting the guards as he entered the city. Merlin made his way back into the mercenary guild, where he was greeted with the same receptionist as before, although she appeared to be tired.
"Oh, you¡¯re back already?" She asked with a yawn. "Did you bite off more than you could chew?"
"No, I¡¯m here to turn in mypleted quests." Merlin pulled out all five quest forms, cing them on the counter. The receptionist noticed that the forms were all marked aspleted.
"I¡¯ve got physical proof, if a god¡¯s seal isn¡¯t enough for you." Merlin reached into his inventory and brought out the hobgoblin heart.
"No, no. That¡¯s plenty." The receptionist awkwardly coughed before pointing out specific locations around the counter. "Please put all the goblin ears in the collection basket over there, and the heart in that box."
Merlin did as he was instructed, he ced the hobgoblin heart in the box inscribed with magic circles, before walking over to the collection basket and holding his inventory above it.
The receptionist, and everyone paying attention, watched as a hundred and forty goblin ears suddenly appeared into existence, before they all collectively slumped into the collection basket.
"That would be forty-five silver pieces. Is that all for today?" The receptionist asked while cing a bag of silver coins on the counter.
"That¡¯ll be all." Merlin said as he grabbed the bag of coins and walked out.
He threw the silver into his inventory before clicking on his copper coins and converting as many as he could into silver, adding another twelve silver pieces to the pile. His wallet now came to a total of one hundred and four silver, and two copper.
"That¡¯s quite the nest egg." Merlin mumbled to himself, realising he had enough silver coins to immediately make a tinum coin.
¡¯The Arcadian currency is so simple.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he made his way to the western gate. ¡¯They should just keep currency this simple for the full release.¡¯
Merlin began wondering what sort of changes would happen after the beta test ended, and became curious if any of his actions would severely influence the world of the main game or not.
As Merlin continued to the gate, he saw a group of familiar looking yers making their way through the gate, and out of the city. They didn¡¯t seem that happy, but it was understandable when he thought back to how brutally they died.
Merlin followed along, summoning his ball of light before leaving the city.
The group of yers gave him a few nces, but it didn¡¯t seem like they were that interested in interacting with Merlin, so he ignored them. Eventually the group split off from Merlin and set out on their revenge match against the giant boar, while Merlin continued down the road into the forest.
Merlin perked his ears up as he traversed the road. He heard the usual noises expected from the forest at night, the rustling of leaves, the strange chirping of various bugs, and the various noises from a clear overabundance of owls.
Merlin pulled the glowing bracelet out of his inventory and began ying with it as he walked. He shook it hard enough for it to shift from blue to green, but could only manage a slight yellowish-green before he grew too tired to shake it. It was ultimately a useless magic item, but it was slightly entertaining.
Roughly thirty minutester, Merlin could see hundreds of lights scattered along arge hill, illuminating therge, yet open, city of Megalopolis.
The city struck a nice bnce of nature and civilisation, although there were several hundred buildings scattered about, they were so spread out that it never felt cramped, especially whenpared to cities such as Macedonia.
And scattered around the city were several ancient ruins, and fortunately every ruin was left untouched by the city¡¯s expansion. It was clear that Megalopolis was full of individuals who appreciated their history, something Merlin could respect.
But the most impressive feature, and especially one that towered over all the others, was a massive stone wall, roughly twenty meters in height.
This was the main defence of Megalopolis, as the city chose to not be surrounded by walls. Therge wall spanned past the horizon, as far as the eye could see. Its main goal being to protect the east from the frontier, the wilderness west of the walls where powerful monsters ran rampant.
Merlin continued walking until the treeline parted, opening up to more rolling hills. As Merlin continued down the road, he noticed that it quickly came to an end, just outside of arge buildingbelled the "Merchants Association".
The road split up into several different paths of varying widths, but Merlin knew where his main goal was. He began following the paths that lead closer to the wall, walking by several ruins that he briefly nced at with excitement before continuing on his way.
One thing Merlin noticed while walking around the city was that almost everyone was armed. And as he got closer to the wall, he noticed that more people began appearing with bows, staves and wands.
This was because Megalopolis was home to both the wizards college and the rangers guild, both of which Merlin intended to enter, but the rangers guild was his first goal.
Merlin walked towards a buildingbelled "The Rangers Guild", although the building appeared to be more of a barracks than a guildhall. It was quite arge building with an evenrger walled off facility behind it.
Merlin walked into the building, unlike the several other guildhalls he had entered, this room wasn¡¯t tainted with the scent of alcohol or tobo smoke, rather the area had the pleasant aroma of a forest.
There weren¡¯t many people within the first room, a couple people sitting around filling out what seemed to be a form of some sort, and a young woman sitting around at a desk who had been staring at him since he walked into the building.
The woman had long red hair, bright blue eyes and was wearing a dark blue tunic. Merlin approached the woman at the desk, and as he got closer, the woman¡¯s curious gaze shifted into a smile.
"Hello there, wee to the rangers guild!" Her voice was cheerful and lively, she seemed extremely friendly. "Are you here to submit a request, or are you looking to register?"
"I¡¯d like to register, please." Merlin said as he gave her a smile.
"Sure sure sure!" She said repeatedly as she searched for something under her desk. She came back up a few secondster with a sheet of paper and a pencil. "I¡¯ll just get some basic information from you and then I¡¯ll lead you to the training room."
"Do you need any assistance with reading or writing?" She asked while handing Merlin the form.
"No, I¡¯m fine. Thank you." Merlin replied as he quickly began filling in his information.
It asked a few basic questions, such as his name, age, physical activity, reason for wanting to join, etc. Merlin filled it in as best as he could before handing it back to her.
"Uh huh, everything looks good." She said as she checked over the form. She nodded her head before standing up from her chair and sticking her hand out like she was waiting for a handshake. "Wee to the rangers guild! My name is Tuli, you can ask me for help whenever you need.
"Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Merlin." Merlin shook her hand and returned her greeting.
Chapter 117: The Rangers Guild
"Very nice to meet you too Merlin." Tuli said with a warm smile. "Now if you¡¯ll please follow me to the archery range for the first test."
Merlin followed Tuli as she lead him through the rangers guild building. Merlin noticed several hallways leading to various other rooms, they seemed to mostly be dorms or facilities for members of the guild.
Merlin was greeted by quite a few individuals as he was lead into another building, it seemed the other members of the rangers guild were also quite friendly.
The two walked out into the archery range. It was a walled off area with several targets lined up in the distance. There were a couple NPCs doing target practice when they walked in, and Merlin was lead over to an area that was vacant.
Merlin noticed that each area had three targets, although his area appeared to have the smallest distance, it seemed to be reserved for beginner training.
"Okay, now I see you probably don¡¯t have a bow of your own just yet, which is fine." Tuli began talking. "We¡¯ve got a couple training bows at the back there, feel free to use them within the training room. I¡¯d rmend testing out what kind of bow you like best."
"With that being said, your first task is to hit three targets." As Tuli said these words, a quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Target Practice I.
The first step of bing a ranger is confidence, the second is being able to actually hit something with an arrow. Hit three targets in the rangers guild archery range.
Targets hit: 0/3
? Reward: +1 Agility
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Merlin epted the quest before walking towards the training bows. There were several different types on disy; longbows, shortbows, recurve bows and even a couple crossbows.
Merlin grabbed a recurve bow that he believed was the right size for him, then grabbed a quiver of testing arrows and walked back to his position.
"That was fast. Usually people are more indecisive at first." Tuli said as she stared at Merlin¡¯s choice. "Well, It seems you already know what you like. Feel free to start firing when you¡¯re ready."
Merlin loosened up his limbs for few seconds while he stared at the targets. There were three targets in a straight line, roughly the same distance away from each other.
While there weren¡¯t any markings for distance, Merlin could estimate that the first one was about twenty meters away, the next was roughly forty meters and thest one was about sixty.
Merlin nocked his first arrow, drawing it back before quickly locking his sights on the twenty meter target, and within a second he released the arrow, causing it to tear through the air before sinking into the centre of the target.
¡¸Targets hit: 1/3¡¹
After that first shot Merlin believed he found a few oddities about the bow, the most irritating for him being that the string seemed to have stretched too much, which he would have to take into ount for his next shot.
"I think the bow might be overdue for a new string." Merlin mumbled out loud.
"We¡¯re actually getting new bows pretty soon. As you¡¯ve probably noticed, these ones are a little old." Tuli responded to his mumbles. "Good shot by the way!"
Merlin let another arrow fly while ounting for the bow¡¯s quirks, his next target being the sixty meter one, the furthest target.
¡¸Targets hit: 2/3¡¹
"Another bullseye, impressive." She remarked from the sidelines while watching Merlin shoot.
Merlin flicked his hair back before loading in two arrows, aiming for the centre of the forty meter target.
¡¸Targets hit: 3/3¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Target Practice I", talk to Tuli to receive your rewards.¡¹
"And now you¡¯re just showing off." Tuli said as Merlin turned to her. "Well, it¡¯s clear to see that you know your way around a bow. Good job!"
"With that being said, archery isn¡¯t the only skill rangers are required to have." Tuli continued, "Please collect your arrows before returning your borrowed weapon, please follow me when you¡¯re ready for the next test."
Tuli walked over and alerted the rest of the archers that Merlin was going to go collect his arrows. This caused them to all stop shooting and begin doing the same.
Merlin ran over to the targets in hisne, making sure to remove the arrows gently, putting each back into his quiver after inspecting their condition. After he had collected them all, he ran back to the training equipment pile and neatly returned everything back where he found them.
He ran over to Tuli who started walking back into the building, she lead him around for a little while, until he began smelling the overpowering scent of herbs.
"Rangers spend plenty of time in the wilderness, so a core part of what makes a good ranger is knowing what resources you have at your disposal and where to find it." Tuli began exining as she lead Merlin into another room.
The room was full of strange looking nts and other brewing equipment, it was like he walked into an alchemist¡¯sir.
"I¡¯ll begin exining the most important nts that you will run into within the frontier, if you have any questions you may ask them at the end." Tuli said, causing another quest box to appear before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Target Practice II.
Rangers feel at home when surrounded by nature, as such it is wise to learn the blessings that certain nts can bring, or the dangers you may face if you don¡¯t heed their warnings.
Pass Tuli¡¯s test.
? Reward: +1 Agility
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Merlin epted the quest, he was pretty excited for this one, as nts just so happened to be his speciality.
"So first of all, we¡¯ll be starting off with this." Tuli said as she held up what looked to be a dried stem of wheat.
"Do you know what this is?" She asked with a smile.
"Well my first thought was wheat, but since this is a lesson on herbs, my guess is Darnel Ryegrass." Merlin said as he stared at the nt.
Tuli stared at him with a surprised expression for several moments.
"That is correct." She mumbled before asking another question. "Do you know the effects of this nt?"
"Consumption of the nt, depending on the dosage, could lead to a wide variety of effects. A few of the more concerning ones being delirium, tremors, paralysis and convulsions, with the signature symptom ranging between tightness to extreme pain in the calves." Merlin began exining everything he knew about the nt. "I believe the mostmon way ofing into contact with the nt is through bread made from the crops of a Darnel infested wheat field."
"My, you¡¯re quite studious aren¡¯t you?" Tuli said with surprise. "That is correct, well what about this one?"
Tuli¡¯s next nt was a long stem that had several bell-shaped purple flowers sprouting off of it. The insideyers of the purple bell-shaped flower seemed to have several discoloured spots.
"I believe that is a foxglove." Merlin said with confidence. "It¡¯s an extremely poisonous wildflower, consumption of any part of the nt can lead to irregr heart function and death. But those who survive or consume weaker doses suffer from arge array of nasty side effects such as an upset stomach, blurred vision and muscle weakness."
"Correct again, you¡¯re really good at this." Tuli remarked with a bright smile before she ran around looking for something else to show him.
She came back a few minutester with arge piece of tree bark, and on one side of the bark was a strange gold-coloured spider web, but as Merlin took a closer look, he quickly realised what it was.
"I¡¯d be very impressed if you knew what this was." Tuli said with a confident smile. "It¡¯s somewhat rare in Arcadia."
"Goldenweb." Merlin muttered, "It is a fungus that grows high on trees. And although it looks like a spider¡¯s web, it isn¡¯t sticky enough to ensnare creatures. It¡¯s main use is as an anticoagnt, it prevents blood from clotting."
¡¸You have earned +10 familiarity with Tuli.¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Target Practice II", talk to Tuli to receive your rewards.¡¹
Tuli was so surprised she almost dropped the bark, but she quickly recovered her grip and ced it down safely on a table before turning back to Merlin.
"Were you raised by a druid?" Tuli asked, her shocked expression refused to leave her face.
"No, I wasn¡¯t raised by a druid, unfortunately." Merlin couldn¡¯t help butugh a little, but he made sure to correct her. "I am just very passionate about my hobbies."
"A very respectable hobby." Tuli said as she seemed to puff up her chest, it seemed she was rather proud of her knowledge and could see that she and Merlin were birds of a feather.
"Well, I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ll gain anything from my lecture, you¡¯re already quite knowledgeable." Tuli said while nodding along to her own thoughts, "With that, we¡¯ll skip right over to stage three."
"For your third task, you will be given a mission to step into the frontier and hunt down a wildcat, returning with its corpse. Please be careful, as wildcats are creatures with tremendous stealth abilities. To add onto the difficulty, this task must be done exclusively with a bow. Marks with any other weapon will disqualify your catch." Tuli said, causing another quest window to appear before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Target Practice III.
But the most important part of being a ranger is that it is your duty to protect your home from the dangerous creatures that have wrecked havoc on the west.
You¡¯ve been tasked with a mission to set out into the frontier and hunt down an elusive wildcat while only utilising a bow.
Wildcats Killed: 0/1
? Reward: +2 Agility, 250 EXP, ss Soul: Ranger
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Chapter 118: To Catch a Predator
Merlin epted the quest.
"You wont have to travel far, several wildcats live in the patches of forest just outside of the walls." Tuli warned. "Please don¡¯t travel too far, as you may encounter threats far above your current capabilities."
"Thank you." Merlin said, before adding on another question. "Oh, by the way, are there any stores that sell good bows in the area?"
"There are a few, but your best bet would probably be the merchants association." Tuli said before picking up the b of bark and disappearing behind a corner.
Merlin thanked her before walking out of the building, he noticed that someone else was now sitting around at the front desk, and one of the people who was filling in a form before had left.
As Merlin left through the door, arge red alert box appeared before him.
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[Message from the devs!]
Hey guys! We¡¯ll be closing the server down in roughly an hour. Due to some technical difficulties on our end, we¡¯re unable to collect data. So there will be no briefing at the end of today¡¯s session either.
Not to worry, your progress will still be saved and we¡¯ll be running at full capacity next week.
You will receive another notification when it is time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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¡¯I guess they¡¯re still scrambling to get Gaia¡¯s core back to full capacity.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he began walking back down the hill towards the merchants association building.
Once he reached the front of the building he opened the door and walked in, what greeted him on the inside wererge shelves that were packed full with arge variety of wares. He was greeted by a worker manning a counter near the exit.
"Good morning. Could you point me in the direction of bows, please?" Merlin asked.
The worker pointed towards the weapons section, and Merlin made his way over there, passing by a section full of nothing but clothes.
Merlin walked past a vast array of melee weapons until he came across a section for ranged weaponry. There didn¡¯t seem to be much within his price range, so he was limited to a few basic choices. He picked up a longbow made from a rtively pale wood and inspected the stats.
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[Maple Longbow. (Common)]
? Damage: +14
? Required strength: 15
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"Not bad." Merlin mumbled to himself. He looked at the price, which was five gold pieces.
He looked around at a few shortbow alternatives, but they didn¡¯t really have the damage to price value that the one longbow did. Of course, they would have different benefits that could suit him in other scenarios, but at the moment he was just concerned with damage output.
He wanted a recurve bow, but even the cheapest one was well out of his budget and hardly worth the price. Merlin eventually settled for the maple longbow and bought two quivers of twenty longbow arrows, priced at two silver coins each.
He finalised his purchase, leaving him at a paltry sum of fifty silver and two copper.
Merlin was now ready to set out on his journey. He threw one quiver into his inventory and equipped the other at his side. He climbed back up the hill and approached the wall, there was arge open portcullis with four guards standing by.
"Good morning" Merlin greeted the guards as he walked through the gateway.
It was still dark out, so Merlin summoned his ball of light and left towards the nearest patch of forest. The area around him was still mostly hills, but there seemed to be a lot more foliage than on the other side of the wall.
Merlin noticed the remnants of a road, but it was mostly overgrown, and if it were still used as a road, it clearly wasn¡¯t used very often.
Merlin slipped into the forest, his ball of light clearly giving away his position. Merlin didn¡¯t bother with hiding his presence for now, he was looking for something. It took him a few minutes but he found it, a tall wildflower with purple bell-shaped flowers.
Merlin pulled out one of his arrows and plucked one of the flowers from the stem, he began coating the arrow tip with as much of the flower¡¯s sap as he could manage.
There was a reason nts were brought up in the training after target practice. It was supposed to give you a hint of how toplete the third task, which significantly ramped up in difficultypared to the first two.
One arrow would never be enough to kill the wildcat at such a low level. If you could even find one, so you were supposed to use poisons to disable it. If you failed to disable it in one shot, it would run away and you would never be able to catch up to it.
Once Merlin had coated the arrow, he cancelled his light, causing his surroundings to instantly darken to an almost pitch ck. The issue was that his eyes were used to the light, and he had to wait a few minutes for his eyes to properly adjust to the darkness once more.
Merlin¡¯s eyes had finally adapted, and when they did he immediately began hiding his presence. He stalked around the forest for what seemed like twenty minutes before his eyes caught a glimpse of arge four-legged silhouette walking atop a fallen tree.
The silhouette appeared to be stalking a small group of deer that were sleeping under the shelter of a tree with low hanging branches.
Merlin silently nocked his poisoned arrow and began holding his breath as he watched the silhouette slowly prowl closer to the deer herd.
The wildcat stepped out of the shadow, the moonlight lit its shiny ck fur as it stealthily closed the distance. Merlin could see the creature in full detail now, it was a panther.
The panther finally pounced on one of the deer, mping its jaws on the deer¡¯s neck. Merlin took this opportunity to quickly draw his arrow back, aiming it at the panther¡¯s neck before releasing the arrow.
The bow was quite hard to pull back, and it made a loud pping noise as the string snapped back into position. The arrow flew incredibly fast, piercing the panther¡¯s neck before it had time to react to the sudden noise.
The panther, who currently had a deer hanging in its jaw, began sprinting away with the deer. Merlin quickly chased after it, he noticed that after about two minutes the panther was forced to drop the deer. And after another three minutes of chasingter, Merlin had caught up with it.
The panther was waddling around as if it were drunk. It seemed to have lost a lot of its leg strength, which gave Merlin the chance to catch up to it. But the biggest factor in it slowing down was because it kept running into shrubs and trees.
Merlin loaded another arrow into his longbow and aimed for the head, putting the panther down.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Target Practice III", bring the wildcat¡¯s corpse back to Tuli to receive your rewards.¡¹
And it seemed the elusive wildcat in this instance was referring to a panther.
Merlin pulled his arrows out of the panther¡¯s corpse gently, making sure not to break the arrows. Fortunately both arrows were in good shape, so after casting cleanse, he put them back into his quiver.
Merlin threw the bow and quiver into his inventory before picking the panther¡¯s body up and throwing it over his shoulder. He summoned his ball of light before carrying the panther¡¯s corpse back to the gate.
The guards gave Merlin an impressed nod as he hauled therge beast¡¯s corpse towards the rangers guild building.
He entered the building and found the same man who reced Tuli at the front desk was still there. He looked up from the desk to see a panther staring back at him, causing him to recoil somewhat.
"Hey there, Do you know where I could find Tuli?" Merlin asked him.
"Oh, yeah, she should be in the medicine room." He said.
Merlin made his way through the building, parading his kill around to all the rangers who were going about their day. He knocked on the medicine room door and Tuli opened it a few momentster.
"Oh wow. That was fast." Tuli said as she immediately spotted Merlin under the panther¡¯s corpse. "Please, follow me to the skinning room."
Tuli lead Merlin to a room down the hallway, it featured several racks and various skinning tools, alongside arge table in the centre of the room.
"Please ce the corpse on the table." Tuli asked as she walked to one of the racks and grabbed a pair of gloves.
Merlin did as he was told, and once the panther¡¯s corpse was safely resting on the table, Tuli approached and began inspecting the body.
"A total of two puncture wounds, no othercerations." She mumbled to herself. "The puncture wounds, I would like to guess that they¡¯re from a longbow?"
"Correct." Merlin responded.
"I see. So you utilised poison." She said as she poked around at the corpse. "Congrattions, you pass!"
¡¸You have no empty soul slots, "ss Soul: Ranger (Level 1)" has been sent to your soul receptacle.¡¹
Unlike the souls acquired through killing, where you could store them in your inventory and trade them, souls acquired through quests were automatically bound to you and sent to your soul bank if your slots were full or if you refused to absorb it.
"Now, the next step after killing a creature is to make sure you don¡¯t waste it. I¡¯ll now teach you the basics of animal harvesting." She said, before remembering who she was talking to. She asked another question instead of continuing. "Unless you already know how to?"
"Unfortunately I don¡¯t know how to harvest animals, please teach me." Merlin said with sincerity, causing a quest notification to appear.
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[Common Quest]
A bountiful harvest.
Once you¡¯ve hunted, the next step is to harvest your kill to make the most of the lost life. Tuli has offered to teach you the basics of harvesting, follow along with her instructions to sessfully harvest the wildcat.
Harvest the wildcat.
? Reward: 60 EXP, Life Skill: Animal Harvesting (Beginner)
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Chapter 119: Gaia Appears
Merlin epted the quest.
Of course, he already knew how to skin animals, but he didn¡¯t know what would happen if he decided to mess with the quest, so he just followed along.
"Please grab one of the skinning knives from the shelf behind you." Tuli instructed, "And you may wash your hands in the basin behind you"
Merlin did as he was instructed, washing his hands before picking out a skinning knife that feltfortable in his hands. He then began following all of Tuli¡¯s instructions.
"Start by turning the beast onto its back." Tuli began running through the steps of skinning an animal. They ran through a couple basic steps before getting to the main step. "The next step is to split the hide. Cut from the lower jaw all the way to the animal¡¯s rear. Be careful to make the cut shallow or you¡¯ll pierce a few organs."
An old ranger that Merlin was acquainted with in the previous timeline once told him that mammals, humans included, were ultimately just fleshy donuts. So skinning creatures was a simple task, it didn¡¯t matter what form they took. As long as they fit his description of a fleshy donut, the technique was ultimately the same.
Despite his morbid humour at times, he was very good at skinning animals, so he was typically given the task whenever he partied up with Merlin or the rest of the guild. Merlin learnt a lot from the old man before he eventually quit the game and the guild several yearster.
"Good work. Now insert your knife under the skin, make sure not to cut into the body. Peel the skin back on either side to make sure hair doesn¡¯t get inside the body." She instructed, followed by a few more steps rting to opening the chest and removing internal organs safely, and the most crucial step of removing the dder, making sure to prevent its contents from leaking on the meat.
Several more minutes passed by as Tuli instructed Merlin how to clean the remaining internal parts out safely, followed by draining the blood and finally removing the hide from the meat.
Merlin had worked up quite a sweat, but the ck fur was eventually free from the rest of the meat, causing a few notifications to appear before him.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "A bountiful harvest", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Life Skill: Animal Harvesting (Beginner)"¡¹
"I thought you said you didn¡¯t know how to do this." Tuli said with her cheeks puffing up. "Normally people struggle their first time but you did it all perfectly. You were just ying along weren¡¯t you?"
"Or perhaps you¡¯re just a very good teacher." Merlin said with a charming smile, causing her to pout more.
Tuli stared at Merlin for a moment before dropping it, but not before mumbling something that Merlin barely caught parts of. "...smooth talker."
"And now the next step is to clean up the station for the next person to use." She said moments before a long lecture. Merlin eventually threw all the parts of the creature into his inventory as he cleaned up.
He was thinking about what parts of it would be good to sell, and that he now had plenty of raw meat to use in an emergency alongside his ghoulish tendencies ability.
The quest took much longer toplete than he expected, and by the time they had finished cleaning up, Merlin received his second red alert message of the day.
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[Message from the devs!]
The server will shut down in five minutes, please find a safe ce to log out during that time.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time.
Once you¡¯ve disconnected, you may leave the building, there will be no briefing today. Refreshments are avable in the briefing room for those waiting for a ride.
Thank you.
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Merlin said his goodbyes and thanks to Tuli before quickly stepping out of the rangers guild and began logging out.
As the world around him started to fade out, Merlin closed his eyes as his body began floating in an endless ck void, and once he felt solid ground he opened his eyes once more.
However what greeted him wasn¡¯t the sight of an endless white room, but instead the familiar sight of an endless green field and rolling hills as far as the eyes could see. He could feel wind gently caressing his skin as it blew past.
This was a sight he didn¡¯t expect to see, at least not for another year.
"Anomaly detected." Merlin heard a somewhat robotic woman¡¯s voice echo throughout the wind.
¡¯Damn, I got too excited with the nt test, didn¡¯t I?¡¯ Merlin couldn¡¯t help but think to himself. ¡¯Or maybe there were quite a few things that added up.¡¯
"User Arthur Holmes. Actions have defied all reasonable expectations." The woman¡¯s voice spoke up once more, although the robotic side had overpowered the other half. "Scanning user¡¯s unit."
Several seconds passed while the voice remained silent, until it finally returned. "Confirmation, user¡¯s unit is upromised, no illegal modifications found."
"User listed on alpha registry, records unrecoverable." A few moments passed before it spoke up again, its voice seemed to be glitching out. "Separate protocol will be created with anomaly in mind. Expectations undefined, further research required..."
The voice became more and more distorted, and then it suddenly stopped.
Several moments passed, but Merlin was left there without any further interaction, he attempted to log out again but it didn¡¯t work.
¡¯What the hell is going on?¡¯ He wondered to himself, ¡¯Did I just get put on a watch list?¡¯
It was unfortunate, but inevitable. Gaia was still growing, and the beta test was supposed to be her first main interactions with arge group of people. The main reason for this was because her ability to build worlds, and bnce them, relied heavily on her expectations of humanity.
She could only learn so much from the inte, and it usually lead her astray at times. The clear bnce issues of the encounters Merlin had around the first town was a clear sign of this.
Another example of this would be her overestimating human curiosity. As such, many of her secrets went undiscovered for many years, including Quetzalcoatl¡¯s Seal and the ruins in the eternal forest.
Merlin zing through the world was an unexpected variable that vastly exceeded her current understanding, and was thus considered an anomaly.
Merlin saw vines suddenly erupt from the ground a few meters in front of him. And from the ground where those vines sprouted rose a tall beautiful woman with very pale skin with a greenish-yellow hue. Her long brown hair that extended to her hips was full of flowers of various shapes and sizes.
The vines that sprouted from the earth had wrapped around her body, fusing together to be her clothes.
This was the first time Merlin had seen her physical form, but she looked exactly the same as a statue he found in arge underground ruin several years in the future.
"Nice to meet you, Gaia." Merlin greeted the woman.
"And you, Merlin." The woman responded, her voice didn¡¯t contain any trace of the robotic distortion it usually had, rather her voice was quite nice to listen to.
"Of all the travellers I¡¯ve allowed to enter my world, you are the strangest." Her voice rung out, "I was aware you were talented when we first met. But what you¡¯ve shown me far surpasses my expectations."
"You¡¯ve outshined your peers, to a degree even I can¡¯t help but find suspicious." Gaia said as she stared at Merlin, "Your knowledge about this world is strange... But not impossible."
"You¡¯re quite the enigma. I do find myself exceedingly curious the more I watch you." She continued, "Well, it is not my ce to judge your abilities. No matter how unnatural they may be."
Merlin felt a strange pulse run through his body, and his vision became blurry for a moment.
"Oh dear, it appears we¡¯ve run out of time. A pity." Gaia spoke once more. "Please do be aware, I will be watching your journey closely from now on."
Another pulse ran through Merlin¡¯s body, and he felt his vision slowly fading to ck.
"So once again, do try your best to entertain me... Mortal." Gaia seemed to chuckle as she spoke these words. "We will meet again."
Merlin barely caught the sight of a notification message before everything became ck.
¡¸You have earned +1 familiarity with Gaia.¡¹
Merlin¡¯s vision faded to ck, and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. His body suddenly jerked awake as it felt like he was falling, causing him to wake up with his heart beating ufortably and his leg suddenly jerking.
Arthur groaned as he slowly started regaining his senses. This was the first time in a long while he was forcibly removed from the capsule. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant feeling.
Eventually the capsule began its procedure to straighten up and open, allowing Merlin to leave. His heart rate hadn¡¯t stabilised yet, and he was feeling ufortably sweaty.
"Hey Arthur, do you need a ride home?" Outside of his capsule was Maria who was waiting for him.
Merlin quickly checked his phone, seeing that he hadn¡¯t received a notification from Donovan, he responded with yes.
Maria and Arthur made their way outside of the building, there seemed to be quite a few groups still hovering around. Arthur heard several of the second phase group bragging about their feats, with a few first phase yers jumping in and tooting their own horns.
"Acai and the others left already." She said as she walked over to her car. "Rowan didn¡¯t seem to be feeling well, so she left first, and everyone began leaving a few minutester."
"Thanks for waiting for me." Merlin said as he hopped into the passengers seat.
Chapter 120: The Start of Week Four
"Not a problem." Maria started up the vehicle and quickly drove out of the parking lot.
While Maria was speeding down the road, she and Arthur were talking about various things, such as what she was doing in the game and how they were progressing.
"So what have you been up to?" Maria asked. She slowed down the car because she thought she saw a police vehicle in the distance. "I haven¡¯t seen you around since the thieves guild."
"I¡¯m just in the next city over." Arthur responded, "I just finished off the ss quests for the rangers guild."
"You¡¯ve joined another one?" Maria asked with a confused expression. "Are you going to use even it?"
"I might, I¡¯m not sure just yet. Honestly, I just grabbed it for the bonus stats." Arthur responded, "I¡¯ll be doing the wizard college¡¯s ss questter too for the intelligence bonus."
"Does that mean you¡¯ve done all the other ss quests in the previous towns?" She asked. "Actually, what other ss quests are there?"
"I haven¡¯t bothered doing the cleric quest at the temple yet. It sounded like a pain, and I needed more agility, so I skipped over to the next town." Arthur exined, "As for beginner sses, from what I know from the alpha there are six beginner ss quests; fighter, thief, ranger, wizard, cleric and bard. Those quests provide bonuses for strength, dexterity, agility, intelligence, wisdom and charisma, respectively."
"What about constitution or vitality?" She asked, "There aren¡¯t any beginner quests for those?"
"Not that I¡¯m aware of. Those six should be the only beginner sses if nothing changed from the alpha. Although there may be other quests that give bonus stats or other ss souls, but they wouldn¡¯t be beginner sses." He continued exining.
"I see." She mumbled to herself, before asking another question. "What does a bard do?"
"Bards are sort of like magic users, but they use their magic through words or music. They¡¯re sort of like magical performers." Arthur tried exining it, "They¡¯re kind of like a jack of all trades support ss. There are plenty of ystyles to choose, but basically they¡¯ve got buffs and debuffs, I think there was some mention of illusions too, and they¡¯re pretty good at lying to people."
"I watched some of the devs mess around with the ss, but I couldn¡¯t really get the hang of it." Arthur said, "I can¡¯t y any instruments that well, and I¡¯m dreadful ating up with lies on the spot."
"Interesting. Do you think there are any violins in that world?" She asked, her eyes were gleaming with curiosity.
"I don¡¯t see why not." Arthur answered her. "But they¡¯re probably expensive."
She seemed excited for some reason. But for some reason, all Arthur could think of was that he didn¡¯t remember seeing a violin in her room.
The two talked for a little while longer, until they finally turned the corner onto the road in front of Arthur¡¯s house. Maria pointed out that the government vehicles were all gone, which Arthur expected. Maria pulled over at the curb and allowed Arthur to exit the car.
"I¡¯ll see you next week, send me a message if you need a lift again." She waved at Arthur while preparing to drive off again.
"Sure thing. Thanks." Arthur responded. "Have fun with Holly tomorrow!"
Maria coughed and turned to face Arthur, she seemed confused.
"You two were talking about going shopping at the tea party." Arthur exined.
"How do you remember that?" She asked, seemingly flustered.
"It was like three days ago, why wouldn¡¯t I?" Arthur answered with a slight smirk on his face. He found her reaction somewhat interesting. "Have fun, and tell her I said hello."
A few momentster Maria waved and drove off. Arthur made his way inside the house and went to his room.
Arthur went through his daily routine, he watered his nts, worked out for a little while and decided to y some games. A couple hours passed, and while he was ying a game he heard a knock on his bedroom door.
"Come in." He shouted, still partially concentrated on the game.
Anna walked into his room and ced a one hundred dor note on the table beside him.
"What¡¯s this for?" He asked, while ignoring his game and turning to face her.
"The bet." She responded, and only then did Arthur realise what the money was for.
"Take your money back, I was just trying to cheer you up." Arthur sighed, turning back to his game only to realise he had been killed.
"Keep it." Anna insisted. "A bet¡¯s a bet."
Anna walked out of the room, but not before telling him that food was almost ready. Arthur turned back to his game, only to find that he was being insulted by his teammates for suddenly going inactive and dying.
A few minutester, Arthur went downstairs to eat dinner. Although he found that it was just him and Anna at the table.
"Father isn¡¯t going to be home that often for a while." Anna exined. "It seems that the government contract they ended up agreeing on is going to take a lot of overtime."
"There¡¯s also the other issues he has to take care of, like the repairs, and the reparations for those who were hurt." She continued. "I¡¯m worried that the stress is going to hurt his heart again."
Arthur watched as his sister sat there trying to hold back tears, she was barely picking at her food.
"That¡¯s why he¡¯s got Donovan and Doctor Hudson by his side, isn¡¯t it?" Arthur triedforting her, "It will be much easier once the main hurdles dealt with. And the government are paying for everything, aren¡¯t they?"
"Yeah." She said in a soft voice.
"So eat your food, you¡¯ve got a shift tomorrow, don¡¯t you?" He said, "You¡¯ll only worry father more if you copse on the job because you didn¡¯t take care of yourself."
After the two finished eating, Arthur ordered her to go to her room and get some sleep, telling her that he would deal with the dishes. She tried toin but surprisingly, Arthur had actually won.
Tired from the day¡¯s ordeal, he finished his nighttime routine before he went to bed early.
He couldn¡¯t sleep at first, he was thinking about what happened with Gaia earlier. He had finally been caught, although at the same time he didn¡¯t really bother hiding anything.
It wasn¡¯t like he was cheating, and there was nothing that Gaia could do to use him of cheating. As far as she was concerned, Arthur was just overly skilled and knowledgeable, that was the reason why he wasbelled as an anomaly.
Because no modifications were found in his capsule, he wouldn¡¯t have been listed as a cheater. So when the game developers go to check the game¡¯s data logs, something that hadn¡¯t yet been set up properly due to the sudden emergency move, they¡¯d probably find his ount ID in an exceptions list and grow curious.
But besides being able to modify the world¡¯s rules to a basic degree and submit request forrger modifications from Gaia, the developers didn¡¯t really have much control over the game world.
Of course they did have full control over modifying Gaia herself, as she was just an AI. But doing so would go against the purpose of the project in the first ce.
Overall, the most information that Arthur believed the developers would get is that his performance was beyond expectation and as such he was ssified as an exception by Gaia. This was something that they had already approached him for at the start of week two, back when Gaia had shown interest in him and his performance. The devs brought it up in small talk before the briefing, but it was more interest and praise than suspicion.
Overall, he wasn¡¯t expecting much suspicion next time either, but there wasn¡¯t much they could do to him regardless even if they were suspicious. So there was really no point in hiding his abilities in the first ce, all it would do is ruin his fun.
At most, all he had to be cautious of were the whims of a curious AI, and that terrified him the most. He had already seen the results of her slight curiosity during the tutorial, he wasn¡¯t sure what she would do if she considered him an enigma.
The rest of the week flew past rather quickly, his father appeared only a few times that week, and even so it was mostly just to eat before going back to work or just because he really wanted to sleep in his own bed. Although their conversations were brief, the topic of school was eventually brought up. It was only a few months until hisst year of high school would begin.
It seemed like the stress at work had died down quite a bit, as Donovan began getting enough free time to return to his self-assigned duties as Arthur¡¯s chauffeur.
Once Saturday came, Donovan drove Arthur back to the facility and dropped him off, promising he would be there to pick him up when the session ended.
Arthur walked to the building, he noticed therge crowd that were sitting around the ce. It was only going to get more crowded as more groups were allowed in over time.
Within the crowd, Arthur spotted a few familiar faces that he had yet to interact with in this timeline, as well as a few that he had briefly run into, such as a familiar looking short girl standing around two other girls.
Arthur finally spotted Maria and Acai, as well as the roleyer group standing around talking.
"Oh, old nt guy is here." Alvira was the first one to notice Arthur approach, interrupting the conversation once more.
"Hey guys." Arthur greeted everyone before turning to Maria. "Hey Maria, you never responded to my messages. How was your date?"
Chapter 121: Going Shopping
"Date?" The rest of the group turned to Maria with curious eyes.
"Wh-- What do you mean date? We¡¯re not dating." Maria blurted out, she seemed to be getting somewhat flustered.
"Who said anything about dating?" Arthur asked with a grin.
The rest of the group picked up on the new topic and ran with it, causing Maria¡¯s cheeks to turn bright pink. She was eventually saved when the developers opened the door and requested the first group to enter.
The briefing was small, but it mostly focused on the fact that everything was back online, along with a couple small changes that didn¡¯t really affect the first group. The briefing ended quickly and the group was ushered towards their capsule room.
Arthur noticed that he didn¡¯t really get any strange looks, so they either hadn¡¯t noticed the changes yet, or just didn¡¯t care.
A little whileter. everyone had entered the capsules and logged in.
Merlin found himself on the road in front of the rangers guild where he originally disconnected from, rather than the endless rolling fields that served as Gaia¡¯s domain.
He quickly checked over his equipment, stats and inventory, but fortunately it seemed everything was as it should be. While he was checking his inventory, he took a quick nce at the panther he harvested.
"Ny kilograms of meat, two and a half metres of panther pelt, fangs, ws, bones, and various organs. I should sell some of this stuff before it goes off." Merlin mumbled to himself.
He then brought up his stats to make sure nothing had changed there either.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
? Vitality = 7 (+6 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 13 (+6 Base, +0 Title, +7 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 16 (+6 Base, +2 Title, +4 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 15 (+6 Base, +0 Title, +4 Soul, +1 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Agility = 12 (+6 Base, +0 Title, +2 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 6 (+6 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 7 (+6 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Charisma = 7 (+6 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +1 Bonus)
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¡¯Looks like everything is as it should be.¡¯ He thought to himself before swiping the window closed. ¡¯I guess everything is normal, for now.¡¯
Merlin made his way to the merchants association and walked inside. A different worker greeted him this time around, and Merlin approached him.
"Hello there. Would you be so kind as to tell me where I can sell animal parts, and also where I could get clothingmissioned?" Merlin asked the worker. "I¡¯ve got arge panther pelt that I¡¯d like converted into a cloak."
"For animal parts and meat, our closest associated butcher would happen to be just left of our store as you leave. As for a cloak, we¡¯ve got a tailor who works in-store, just approach the counter at the back there." The worker exined while pointing to the other side of the building.
"What about bones, fangs and ws. Do you know where I could sell those kinds of materials?" He asked once more.
"The counter at the back handles those too." The man answered.
Merlin thanked the worker and made his way to the counter at the back of the store.
"Good morning, how can I help you today?" The woman sitting at the counter spoke up once Merlin approached.
"Hello, I¡¯d like to sell panther materials, and have a cloakmissioned." Merlin said.
"Alright, no problem. What would you like to sell?" She asked.
"I¡¯ve got an entire panther¡¯s worth of fangs, ws and bones." Merlin said as he pulled some examples out.
"Very well." She said as she reached out and took one of the examples, inspecting it for a moment before cing it on a scale. "Please ce everything you would like to sell in the cart to your left."
Merlin did as he was asked. Unloading all the panther bones into the cart.
The woman began inspecting the stack of materials in the cart, she began calcting the worth of each material, before finally turning to Merlin and informing him of the prices.
"We¡¯ll take the fangs at four copper each. Three copper for the ws, and ten silver for the skeleton." She said while calcting the numbers on an abacus. "That¡¯ll be sixteen copper for the four fangs, fifty-four copper for the eighteen ws, and ten silver for the bones, for a total of seventeen silver coins."
"Deal" Merlin agreed with the prices, and he finalised the deal.
"Now for your second request, you would like to have a cloakmissioned?" She asked, "Do you have any specific style or materials you would like?"
Merlin pulled the panther pelt out of his inventory and ced it on the counter. "I¡¯d like you to use this, and the style doesn¡¯t matter as long as it has a hood."
"Very well. We can do that." She said as she took the panther pelt behind the counter. "What would you like to do with the excess material? We can take its value off the cloak¡¯s price if you¡¯d like."
"That works for me." He said, before a thought came to mind. "Do you have any way of incorporating this into the design too?"
Merlin pulled the crude fire stone out of his inventory and showed it to her.
"We do, however that will increase the price." She said, pulling out the abacus once more. "The end result will be thirty-six silver pieces and six copper."
"Sounds reasonable." He agreed with the price, handing over the amount and the stone.
"Here¡¯s your receipt, please don¡¯t lose this." She said as she handed him a small wooden card that was covered in engravings. "Please show this to the receptionist when you¡¯re ready to im your cloak. Pleasee back for it after three days."
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Merchants Association Receipt. (Unique)]
This receipt holds unique identification for a purchase made at the merchants association.
? Time left to wait: 71 hours, 59 minutes, 32 seconds
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"Thank you." Merlin said as he walked out of the store.
As he left the store, he noticed that the atmosphere outside had changed. People seemed to be making their way over to the wall, as if something had happened.
¡¯I¡¯ll check it out in a minute.¡¯ Merlin said to himself as he ran over to the butchers he was pointed to earlier.
While not nearly as big as the merchants association building, this butcher was still surprisingly big. Merlin made his way inside, he immediately noticed the temperature drop around him as he entered.
Merlin rationalised that they were probably using magic to keep the temperature low in their storage rooms to keep the meat from spoiling as fast, and the cold temperature happened to be leaking into the rest of the store.
"Hello there, how can I help you?" Arge friendly man asked.
"Hey there, I¡¯ve got a harvested panther from myst hunt. Someone at the merchants association told me that this is the ce to go to sell." Merlin exined himself.
"panther meat you say?" The man asked as he walked around the counter. "We do buy that. Do you have it on you right now?"
"Yes, I¡¯ve got it stored away." Merlin said. "Would you like me to take it out here, or do you have a specific ce for it?"
Merlin was eventually lead into one of the back rooms, and as he suspected, it was much colder than the rest of the building.
He ended up selling eighty of his ny kilograms of meat, deciding to keep ten for himself, just in case he needed to utilise his ghoulish tendencies passive in a pinch. He also sold all the panther¡¯s internal organs, but he decided to keep the panther¡¯s dder, which still had liquid in it, as he believed it may serve a purpose in the future.
Due to the parts being dealt with so cleanly, something that probably wouldn¡¯t have happened had he not done it in such a prepared environment with quality tools provided to him, he earned four gold pieces and an additional six silver.
¡¯Harvesting is so overpowered in the early game.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he said goodbye to the butcher. ¡¯Although it does take a while to do, so I cant just waste my time skinning every creature I see.¡¯
Merlin threw the money into his inventory and quickly made his way towards the wall where everyone was heading. He climbed the hill and approached the crowd that had formed near the gate.
Merlin squeezed his way through the crowd, where he saw arge group of wounded individuals making their way towards the rangers guild. Merlin noticed that a few of the ones being carried around were quite clearly dead. Some were just missing limbs, but others seemed to have had their throats wed out.
"What on earth happened?" Merlin muttered out loud as his eyes locked onto a beautiful brte with an angered expression walking behind the group.
Chapter 122: Meeting Callisto
Merlin¡¯s eyes followed the woman, he watched as her angered expression turned into a wrathful re, it seemed as though the crowd had caught her ire.
"Move out of the damn way, can¡¯t you see we¡¯ve got people injured!" She shouted out at the crowd, and once she did everyone scrambled to open a path leading towards the rangers guild.
The group of injured quickly piled into the rangers guild, and the woman stood outside at the door, ring at the crowd before shouting once more. "The rangers guild will be closed to all requests for the rest of the day."
Once she said this words, she turned around and entered the building, mming the door behind her.
"What¡¯s got the princess so mad?"
"What happened to the kid."
"I was just going to submit a request, damn it."
Merlin heard various loud whispers in the crowd, he felt his curiosity growing, and he decided to walk into the rangers guild.
"What¡¯s that guy doing?"
"There goes another one."
He heard a few ominous whispers as he walked up the steps and entered the building. Once he was inside he saw the injured group slowly making their way further into the building, and the woman was speaking to Tuli who was sitting around at the desk.
The woman seemed to have noticed that Merlin entered the building, and she turned to see who it was. Once she realised it wasn¡¯t anyone she knew, her nasty re returned, ruining what was quite an attractive face.
"What the hell did I just say?" She began suddenly screaming at Merlin. "There¡¯s always one punk who thinks he¡¯s the exception. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a rich, a noble or even my damn father, get the hell out of my guild."
The woman threw a punch at Merlin¡¯s face, which he was fortunately able to dodge with ease.
"Guild master, stop!" Tuli shouted just as the woman began throwing another punch. "He¡¯s our newest recruit, Merlin. He joined just the other day."
The woman¡¯s fist flew past Merlin¡¯s face once more, embedding itself in the door behind him. She stared at his face for a few moments before letting out a sharp exhale.
"You should have led with that." She mumbled before taking a few steps back and bowing to Merlin. "I deeply apologise, please don¡¯t take this as an indication of our regr behaviour, it has been a rough week."
"No harm done..." Merlin muttered, still surprised as to what just happened. He felt like he understood the crowd¡¯s muttering a little bit more now.
"Tuli." The woman nodded before turning back to Tuli, who had a worried expression on her face.
"Yes ma¡¯am?" Tuli responded with a shaky voice.
"Please inform Baron Doolmet that his useless son was mauled by a bear and caused the death of several of my men, and that if I see his face again I¡¯ll put an arrow through it." The woman said with a stern voice.
"Do you want me to leave thatst part in?" Tuli asked.
"No, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s better to not give him the warning." The woman muttered before walking off down the hall. "I¡¯ll leave the wording in your capable hands."
"Yes ma¡¯am." Tuli muttered, before turning back to Merlin. "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy." Merlin shrugged.
"Peachy?" Tuli looked at him as if he said something strange.
Merlin thought for a moment but quickly gave up. "Nevermind, what about you?"
"Not good." She muttered. "I saw so many injurede through that door, but we don¡¯t have enough capable people around to tend to them."
"Could I be of any assistance?" Merlin asked.
Tuli¡¯s face suddenly lit up as Merlin said those words. "Would you? Please, we need all the help we can get."
A quest window appeared in Merlin¡¯s view.
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[Rare Quest]
Emergency care.
The ranger guild¡¯stest expedition, lead by the leader of the rangers guild Callisto, had ended in a failure. The result of this failure has led to the early demise of several rangers, in the guild, and many more in critical condition.
You have been asked by Tuli to assist in supplying medical assistance to those in need.
Assist Tuli with healing the injured.
? Reward: 200 EXP
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"Yes, of course." Merlin epted the quest.
The two quickly ran over to arge room, most likely a room dedicated for meetings of some kind, where several wounded individuals had been gathered and seated. The dead had beenid on the ground on the other side of the room respectfully. Merlin and Tuli began inspecting the conditions of everyone in the room.
"These people here have mild injuries, those people there are in critical need. If all you need are bandages, please leave for the moment and bandage each other up." Tuli began running around barking orders at those capable of movement, her main focus was identifying who needed help first.
She and Merlin ran into the medicine room, and she began stressing out while rummaging through shelves of ingredients.
"Wait, is this all the bloodgrass you have?" Merlin asked while staring at the shelves. "This wont be enough for everyone there."
"I know." Tuli said, she looked as though she was about to start crying.
"Do you have any liliox, falsofal or vurdole?" Merlin asked while searching around the shelves.
"We¡¯ve got falsofal, I¡¯m almost certain." Tuli said before vanishing around shelf anding back with arge jar of dried pink flowers. "This is all we have."
"I¡¯m borrowing a pestle and mortar." Merlin said as he grabbed one of the jars of bloodgrass and the jar of falsofal and bringing them to a table. He grabbed a pestle and mortar that wasying around and looked clean.
He threw three leaves of bloodgrass into the pestle along with one of the pink flowers and began grinding them into paste. He ended up with a thick red paste with a slight pink hue.
"I need boiling water and potion vials or bottles." He said as he grabbed another mortar and pestle, repeating the process.
He eventually got his request fulfilled, and he began scraping the paste into the boiling water. Quickly making what was once clean water bright red and somewhat viscous.
"What are you doing? That¡¯ll dilute the potion too much." Tuli screamed as she watched Merlin waste half of their already limited resources.
"Don¡¯t worry about it. Get those potion bottles ready." Merlin said as he dashed back to the shelf, grabbing a jar of what looked like dark grey wrinkly seeds.
"Wait, was this your n? Impletio won¡¯t work, we don¡¯t have a stabiliser." Tuli tried exining to Merlin who was already crushing three seeds up in the mortar and pestle. "I get where you¡¯reing from, if you amplify the healing then we don¡¯t need as much potion per person, but they¡¯ll overdose if you use it without a stabiliser."
"We just need something to weaken the bloodgrass¡¯ effects." Merlin asked her while staring at the jars of ingredients. "We won¡¯t need a stabiliser if we just weaken the bloodgrass."
"We need a nt with a poison that dulls the effects of other nts... Something that lowers stats." Merlin began searching through the shelves, reading thebels of various jars of nts. "We don¡¯t have any nemine, damn."
Chapter 123: Merlin M.D.
"It¡¯s hopeless. We haven¡¯t had the chance to restock our ingredients yet. We¡¯ve been too busy with expeditions providing aid to frontier towns." Tuli said, her voice sounded like she was about to cry again.
"Wait..." Something clicked in Merlin¡¯s mind. "A nt poison that lowers stats..."
"We don¡¯t have any." Tuli said as she sat down on a stool with her head in her hands. "No matter how much you look, we don¡¯t have any."
¡¸You have lost 4 familiarity with Tuli.¡¹
"I do." Merlin said as he made his way back to the potion brewing in the boiling water. "Bloodgrass still absorbs blood efficiently even when it has been crushed right?"
"Not as efficiently as if it were whole, but yes." Tuli answered, "Why?"
Merlin unsheathed one of his daggers and sliced his hand over the potion, allowing his blood to drip into it.
Tuli sat there speechless as she stared at Merlin, just what was she thinking bringing this guy to help?
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"It actually worked." Merlin chuckled to himself as he watched the potion solution begin bubbling, the red liquid began turning purple. "Tuli,e look at this before you decide to have a breakdown."
Tuli didn¡¯t seem to appreciate thatment, but she stood up and looked at the concoction, what was once a red pool had slowly shifted into a purple hue as Merlin¡¯s blood touched it, until it eventually became a dark shade of pink.
"It¡¯s actually reacting to your blood, and it looks like a sessful potion... What did you just do?" Tuli asked with a shocked expression as she stared up at Merlin.
"It¡¯s hard to exin why, but my blood contains a nt¡¯s poison, and the poison has a simr effect to nemine, except it spreads through blood and usually affects creatures." Merlin tried briefly exining his rose poison. "I thought it was worth a shot."
"So if you¡¯re not acquainted with the druids, are you an Anthousai? Or at least part flower nymph?" Tuli asked him.
"No, I¡¯ve just got weird blood." He said with a shrug. "Quickly, start healing people with it. My poisonsts for about five minutes on people, I don¡¯t know what sort of effect or limit it would have on nts."
Tuli seemed a bit hesitant, she didn¡¯t want to be the one to put her fellow rangers at risk by feeding them a suspicious potion.
Merlin could partially tell what was going on in her mind, so he filled one of the potion vials and chugged its contents before turning to Tuli.
"It¡¯s safe. I¡¯m not dead." He spoke to her in as non-threatening of a voice as he could muster. "But some of those people out there will be if they don¡¯t get the potion, so please."
Merlin began filling up the vials and bottles he had on hand with the potion and ced them where Tuli could reach them.
After a few minutes, Tuli realised that it was worth a shot, as there didn¡¯t seem to be any immediate dangerous effects. She grabbed two vials and ran to the briefing room where the patients were. The room smelled like blood, and the pained groans made her feel sad, but she could only hope that the potion did as Merlin promised.
Tuli picked out a couple of critical patients that she believed wouldn¡¯t live long enough for her to brew another batch with the ingredients that remained, so she used the potion on them. She realised it was ultimately a gamble, and that she was essentially using them as test subjects, but it was either this or death from bleeding out.
She applied the potions before running back into the medicine room to grab more and dump her empty vials. Eventually she noticed that the first few people who were given the potion seemed to have started getting better, which gave her a boost of confidence in her goal, and in Merlin.
¡¸You have earned +9 familiarity with Tuli.¡¹
Merlin had to whip up another batch for the remaining victims, but eventually everyone had been given the potion and were beginning to heal. Those in the most critical conditions had been sessfully stabilised.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Emergency care", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸You have earned +5 reputation within the Rangers Guild.¡¹
Thatst notification was unexpected. It wasn¡¯t listed as a quest reward, but based on the quest, it was likely that saving everyone wasn¡¯t a requirement, or rather that it would have been impossible outside of a miracle.
Merlin left the medicine room after his hand had healed. He made his way into the briefing room to inspect the end result of his efforts. Fortunately it seemed like everyone was doing okay, so he slipped out before anybody could really notice him.
He made his way towards the building¡¯s exit, where he was met face to face with the leader of the guild.
"Merlin, was it?" She asked as she walked towards him. "Not many people can avoid my first attack."
Merlin began tensing up as she walked closer to him.
"Would you like to join my next expedition?" She asked him. "Although you¡¯ve sessfully healed my men, it¡¯s very unlikely that they will be in fit enough shape to attend the next one. And unfortunately, it seems that some of them will never use a bow again."
Merlin observed the woman¡¯s fists clenched as she spoke those words.
"That¡¯s quite the offer, but we¡¯ve only just met. Aren¡¯t you worried you may be overvaluing my skill?" Merlin cautiously worded his next sentences. "And I beg your pardon, but I haven¡¯t even gotten your name, guild master."
"That¡¯s quite odd." She responded, before mumbling to herself. "I suppose I¡¯ve been taking my position for granted."
"Well, if I must. I am Callisto, leader of the rangers guild, daughter of King Lycaon." She began reciting her titles. "And most importantly, a devoted servant of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt."
"Now that we are acquainted." She spoke up again, this time with a strange grin stered on her face. "What would your opinion be if I were to shoot a baron?"
Chapter 124: A Cry for Help - I
"Isn¡¯t that question a trap?" Merlin asked. "I don¡¯t win if I answer that question, no matter what my answer is."
"How so?" Callisto asked with the grin remaining on her face.
"If I give you a negative response, that means I¡¯d be questioning the actions of royalty." Merlin exined. "And if I give you a positive response, that means I¡¯d be condoning harm on nobility."
"Both of those are most likely crimes that will result in me getting beheaded." Merlin continued, "And if I refuse to answer, I¡¯d be ignoring a request from royalty, which probablyes with its own punishments."
"Oh? You¡¯ve got quite a good head on your shoulders." Callisto said while walking closer to him.
"Thanks. I¡¯d like to keep it that way." Merlin retorted.
"I do like smart people, and you¡¯re witty too." Callisto let out a chuckle before returning to a resting expression. "I need you to join our next expedition. We¡¯ve received an urgent request for aid several days ago, but our expedition team was away. I¡¯m afraid it may be toote, but we must go provide all the assistance we can."
"Don¡¯t you have multiple teams?" Merlin asked, "Surely, some other group would have been sent during that time, right?"
"Yes. Tuli has informed me that we did send another team in, but it has been three days and nobody from that team have established contact or returned." Callisto exined with a grim expression. "The other teams are all out on missions, so the only members we have are reserves, my team and new recruits. Unfortunately my team are mostly all out ofmission, and we don¡¯t have enough reserves to fill the team."
"That¡¯s where youe in. While new recruits are usually a liability, Tuli has informed me that you¡¯re quite capable already." She praised him, "From what I¡¯ve seen, it doesn¡¯t seem like she was exaggerating, so please, help us."
"Alright, I¡¯d like the details." Merlin agreed to her request.
She seemed happy once he said that, and after briefly exining the mission, a quest window appeared before him.
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[Umon Quest]
A cry for help.
The frontier town of Acacesium had requested aid from Megalopolis a few days ago. Unfortunately due to an issue that urred during the recent expedition, most of the active duty rangers are out ofmission.
You¡¯ve been given a spot on the next expedition team by Callisto, the leader of the rangers guild. Your task is to attend the expedition and provide aid where possible to the people of Acacesium.
Acacesium is a small vige on the route between Megalopolis and Parrhasia, as such it is often used by rangers as a resting point for expeditions that lead much further into the frontier. The vige often provides hospitality to rangers in exchange for the promise that aid will be given when it is needed.
Join andplete the expedition.
? Reward: 300 EXP, 300 Ranger Soul EXP.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"I ept." Merlin said, epting the quest. "So when are we setting out?"
"We¡¯ll set out in an hour. Please get your equipment in order and meet us in the briefing room before it¡¯s time to go. I¡¯ll need to round up anyone who can move." Callisto said before making her way back into the briefing room.
Merlin left the rangers guild building, he had an hour to prepare, but he didn¡¯t quite know what he wanted to do within the hour.
¡¯I could do with a skinning knife of my own.¡¯ He thought to himself, which eventually lead him back to the merchants association.
He walked into the store once more, and the same worker was standing at the counter. Merlin approached them.
"Wee back. How can I help you?" The worker asked.
"Hello again, I¡¯m looking for a skinning knife, could you point me in the right direction?" Merlin responded.
Once he received directions, he quickly made his way to the area, walking past an interesting looking satchel bag that caught his attention, the sign beside it called it a "herbalist¡¯s kit". Merlin inspected the item, before looking at the price, which was four gold coins.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Herbalist¡¯s Kit. (Common)]
A kit containing all the basic tools one would need to utilise nts found in the wild. Assists with collecting nts, as well as producing medicines, potions and poisons.
? Contents: Satchel Bag (1), Clippers (1), Mortar and Pestle (1), Tough Leather Gloves (1), Herb Pouch (3), ss Vial (12), ss Jar (3)
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Do I need it?" He mumbled to himself as he looked at the window and then back at the price tag. "I should probably get the skill for it first."
He walked past the herbalist¡¯s kit, and made his way over to a shelf that had a small selection of knifes made for dissecting animals.
After scanning through the knives, he found one in the higher range that he wasfortable with.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Sharp Hunters Knife. (Common)]
A sharp knife made for skinning animals.
? Animal harvesting efficiency: +30%
? Damage: +2
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
The specs were decent, and the price was a six silver, so he picked it up and began making his way over to the counter. His eyes snapped back to the satchel as he walked, and he could feel himself fighting against the impulse purchase.
But his will wasn¡¯t strong enough.
"That will be four gold and six silver. Is that all for today?" The worker asked.
"That¡¯s all, thanks." Merlin said in a disparaged tone as he handed most of his wallet away. Leaving him with thirty silver and six copper.
As Merlin walked out of the building he could hear the worker¡¯s upbeat farewell, "Have a nice day!"
¡¯So where can I learn the herbalism skill.¡¯ He thought to himself as he threw the knife and satchel into his inventory. ¡¯It¡¯d be awkward if I asked Tuli to teach me, wouldn¡¯t it? I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to lie my way out of that one.¡¯
He wandered around the city looking for a herb shop, after a few minutes of searching, he found one that was full of potted nts and had an adjoined farm next to the main building that was fenced off.
As Merlin entered the store, he was instantly hit with the overpowering stench of various herbs. A little olddy greeted him as he entered the store.
"Hello dear, what are you looking for?" She asked. "I can prepare a recipe for you, or provide fresh cuttings if that¡¯s what you¡¯re looking for."
"I apologise if this is a strange request, but would you be willing to teach someone how to harvest nts." Merlin asked. "For a price of course. I¡¯m going on an expedition into the frontier and believe I could benefit from a quick ss on the best practices for harvesting nts in the wild."
"Oh?" The woman eximed, before she seemed to think about it for a moment, "Well, I suppose I could spare some of my time, but you¡¯ll be buying all the materials we use, is that alright with you?"
"That is reasonable." Merlin said with a smile, "So where do we start?"
During what was roughly a thirty minute ss, the olddy took Merlin around her store and her farm and began showing off several methods of extracting nts. Of course Merlin already knew all of these, the issue was that for it to be recognised as a skill within the system it either had to be taught to him, or granted to him through a quest.
There was the long method of acquiring the knowledge alone, through constantly doing the task at an eptable level. But the issue with that was that he would have to manually carry everything around until he earned the knowledge, as any nts he cut wouldn¡¯t be recognised as an item by the system and therefore couldn¡¯t be stored.
It was a tedious mechanic that tried bncing real world knowledge against in-game abilities, but fortunately it was easier to just ask someone of that profession to teach you their ways for a price. Depending on the skill, you would usually you¡¯d get a basic knowledge, but some may instead choose to take you on as an apprentice and eventually grant you a job soul.
Getting a job soul was more likely if you asked for a job instead of just a short ss, but Merlin didn¡¯t need the soul of a botanist, he just wanted his nts to be considered items by the system.
After the ss had ended, Merlin paid the olddy for her time, as well as the herbs that were utilised during the ss. He spent a total of ten silver and six copper, earning himself the knowledge he wanted alongside various herbs.
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Life Skill: Herbalism (Beginner)"¡¹
Merlin thanked the old woman and left the store, making his way back to the ranger¡¯s guild. He checked his inventory and began sorting the herbs he had just bought into a folder in his inventory.
"Two kilograms of bloodgrass, a kilogram of liliox and two kilograms of falsofal. Lets put those in a sub-folder for healing herbs." Merlin mumbled to himself as he continued ying with his inventory. "One kilogram of white horehound, that¡¯ll go in a separate folder for antidotes."
¡¯And she even had mothflower, surprisingly. Although it was kind of pricey for just three hundred grams." Merlin thought to himself, realising he had just spent most of the money he was building up in under an hour. "I¡¯ll just put it in a separate folder for now. I¡¯ll save it for a rainy day.¡¯
Chapter 125: A Cry for Help - II
Merlin finished ying with his inventory and made his way back to the rangers guild.
It was a lot more lively inside the rangers guild building than it was before. Fortunately it seemed as though the medicine was effective, and enough people were now on their feet to take care of the more critical patients and their dead.
Merlin walked past several rangers on his way to the briefing room. The room still had the scent of blood but it was much fainter than before, most likely because the wounded and dead had long evacuated the room.
As Merlin walked into the room he spotted Tuli and a few other rangers cleaning the room and spraying around a strong citrus-scented mist. Although they didn¡¯t know much about diseases, especially not at the level of modern medicine, it seemed they had at least a general idea about disinfectants and their benefits.
Merlin waited around while the team finished cleaning up the room, more people began crowding around as time passed. Merlin caught glimpses at each of the people standing around, some seemed excited, others anxious. He assumed that these people would be on the expedition, making them his teammates for the foreseeable future.
Eventually it came time for the briefing to begin. Merlin and the rest of the group entered the room and took a seat.
Once everyone had settled down, Callisto walked into the room and made her way up the elevated tform on the far side of the room.
"Is everybody here?" She asked while scanning over everybody present in the room. When her gaze fell on Merlin, she paused for a moment, before continuing on. "Very well, it seems we¡¯re all here, and hopefully all prepared."
"With that said, let us start the briefing." She announced, pulling up a map and hanging it up against the wall. "Our mission for today is to fulfil our obligation to the frontier town Acacesium who had requested aid from us several days ago."
"As many of you know, we have already sent a team out for this request, however they have note back or sent word for several days now." She continued. "While Godric and his team love their drinks, it¡¯s unlike them to fail to contact us for an extended period of time. So it is very likely that they may have run into trouble."
"We will march into Acacesium, provide any assistance we can, and locate Godric¡¯s team, providing assistance if required." She announced, "And in the best case scenario, we¡¯ll just be dragging those alcoholics home."
After a deep breath, she continued once more.
"This team isprised of three groups, and as such I don¡¯t expect perfect cohesion right away, but please be mindful tomunicate with your teammates." She said, "There are a couple members from my team, those who weren¡¯t badly wounded and have rested enough to enter another mission, as well as a group of reserves who are rarely active on the field."But alongside those two, due to our low numbers, I¡¯ve invited a handful of new recruits for the team, those I believe arepetent enough to hold their own."
The meeting went on for another few minutes, this time pointing out the direction the group would take, alongside possible threats that one maye across in the wild.
"We will meet outside in ten minutes, pleaseplete anyst minute preparations during that time." Once the meeting was done, everybody quickly made their way out of the room and started getting ready.
Merlin made his way outside, where Callisto showed up momentster with her bow in hand.
"Do you not have a bow?" She asked Merlin.
"I do." He replied, quickly opening his inventory and pulling his longbow and a quiver of arrows out. "I just don¡¯t like carrying it around."
"Oh? I see." She said while staring at Merlin, "You¡¯re a traveller, that exins a few things."
"Like what?" He asked.
Callisto just stood there and motioned with her hands as if she were pointing at Merlin¡¯s entire body, from head to toe.
"Well, I suppose I stand out a little bit." Merlin said with a slight nod. He found it funny how Callisto seemed bbergasted as he continued.
As the two talked, more people began leaving the rangers guild and pilling around, and once it seemed everyone had arrived, the group collectively made their way towards the gate into the frontier.
"Good day gentlemen." Callisto greeted the guards, who all returned her greeting and saluted her as she walked through the gate.
"We¡¯re going to be moving into the frontier, please be on guard and don¡¯t overexert yourself, it¡¯s a long journey ahead of us." She announced to the group as they marched.
The group began following the overgrown road that Merlin noticed the first time he stepped through the gate. The sun was roughly an hour away from reaching the highest point in the sky, meaning the group would arrive at the town just before noon in the best of circumstances.
Roughly twenty minutes into the walk, a majority of the group seemed to be doing fine, even most of the wounded individuals were looking energetic still.
Merlin caught sight of a couple individuals who found their way to the back of the group over time, and they appeared to be somewhat tired. They were the same ones who seemed excited when they were waiting around, so Merlin assumed they were the new recruits other than him.
Merlin was at the front of the pack alongside Callisto and two others, who seemed to be lightly wounded, meaning they were most likely a part of Callisto¡¯s original expedition team. The wounded individuals seemed calm, but Callisto herself was showing signs of anxiousness on her face, or rather, it just seemed like she was just feeling impatient.
Merlin caught a glimpse of movement and a silhouette in the patch of forest a slight distance away from the group. Nothing seemed to want to jump out yet, so he was keeping his attention locked on it just in case.
"What¡¯s the matter?" Callisto asked him, noticing that his attention was drawn away from the road.
"I saw movement and a silhouette in the forest to our left." Merlin said quietly, "I¡¯m not sure if it was a wild animal or not."
As he said these words, one of the wounded rangers wrapped his arm around Merlin¡¯s neck and spoke whileughing. "Those trees over there? It¡¯s far enough away to where it¡¯s not a threat."
Merlin nced over and saw another silhouette appear, he wasn¡¯t sure what was there in the forest, but they seemed to have an interest in therge group walking down the road.
"It¡¯s probably a kobold, nothing to worry about." The wounded ranger said as he pat Merlin¡¯s shoulder.
The silhouettes in the forest seemed to have vanished once Merlin turned away for a moment.
"See? They ran off, it was just a couple kobolds, those things are cowards." The rangerughed before wandering off towards his other teammates. "Don¡¯t worry about a thing rookie. You¡¯ve got plenty of experienced people around to watch your back, no need to get tense. Just rx and enjoy the trip."
Merlin disregarded thement, and then he and the group continued on their way down the road. Roughly twenty minutes passed once more, and the group could finally see the outskirts of a town.
The town was fairly open, there were quite a few farms in the area, and several one story buildings. But as they got closer to the town, they began noticing that something wasn¡¯t quite right.
"Something¡¯s wrong." Callisto said in a worried tone, her eyes were scanning around the town.
"Where is everyone?" Another ranger asked, "This ce looks abandoned."
The group ran towards the town and began searching through the buildings, but there was nobody in sight. Merlin entered one of the houses and began looking around, he noticed that besides a couple chairs being tipped over, the ce appeared to have been lived in at least a few days prior to everyone vanishing. There was even food on the tables, although it was stone cold.
"It¡¯s like everyone just vanished." One of the rangers who came into the building with him whispered.
"Or more likely that they were abducted." Merlin replied.
As Merlin left the building, he approached a distressed looking Callisto, but from the corner of his eye, Merlin saw arge temple in the distance, and from what he could see it seemed to have been abandoned, as even from a distance he could see that the overgrowth had already reimed a significant portion of the external walls..
"What about the temple over there?" Merlin asked Callisto, "If something bad had happened, perhaps some of the vigers sought shelter in the temple."
Callisto¡¯s face contorted into anger when her eyes nced towards the temple Merlin had mentioned, but then she turned to him and shook her head.
Chapter 126: A Cry for Help - III
"That temple is no safe haven. The vigers would never approach it under any circumstance." Callisto muttered.
"What¡¯s wrong with it?" Merlin looked at her with a confused expression. "Is it a monster¡¯s nest now?"
"Well, I guess you could say that, in a sense." She retorted, "That temple was built during a time before the wall. Back then, it used to be a collective house of worship for the western towns, filled with statues of the many gods and goddesses the surrounding settlements worshipped."
"Of course, without the wall here, one of those nearby settlements was Lycosura. Home of my father¡¯s castle and also the location of that dreaded sanctuary of the ursed cult." She continued, stretching out the word ¡¯sanctuary¡¯ as if to insinuate it was no such thing. "The temple stands today as a reminder that not even the gods are immune to the influences of evil. So yes, I would say it is a den of monsters, but not in the traditional sense."
"Boss, we¡¯ve checked everywhere. There isn¡¯t a single person anywhere in town. Godric¡¯s team aren¡¯t anywhere to be seen either, even their alcohol barrels seem untouched." A ranger reported his findings as he approached. "It¡¯s most likely another--"
"Don¡¯t say it." Callisto cut him off before he could finish. She was now seething with anger. "That damn cult."
"One of the other guys also pointed out that he saw movement in the distance near the temple." The ranger continued, "They would like to ask for permission to investigate."
"We¡¯ll investigate it as a group, order everyone to group up." She ordered, her eyes were now locked on the temple as she mumbled something else. "If it weren¡¯t made of stone, it would have likely been burned down months ago. Even at risk of upsetting the gods."
The group all formed up in an open area within the town, and once everyone was ready they set out for the temple. The group marched up the hill, most of the group began securing the perimeter and investigating the forest as Merlin, Callisto and a handful of rangers made their way inside the temple.
As Merlin entered the temple, he noticed rows of shattered statues, with only two statues remaining intact at the far side of the temple.
The group wandered further into the temple, inspecting many of the shattered statues. Merlin noticed that Callisto had stopped in front of one of the statues, and upon approaching her, he noticed that some of the stone shards on the floor seemed to have been carved out in the shape of a bow.
"How dare they." Callisto mumbled to herself with her fists clenched. But she turned away from it when she heard one of the rangers shout.
"What¡¯s this on the statue¡¯s face? It looks like blood." One of the rangers that Merlin assumed was a new recruit shouted, causing the rest of the rangers to approach.
Merlin approached the ranger and observed the statue. It was a statue of a woman, most of her body was hidden by arge veil, but the face was clearly visible because part of the veil that was covering her face had been shattered.
The strangest thing about the statue was that there were almost ck lines running from the statue¡¯s face, like tears. But as the new recruit had said, it appeared to be blood.
"That¡¯s the statue of Despoina, but who is that beside her?" Merlin asked, staring at the only other statue standing in the room.
The remaining statue was arge man that towered over the statue of Despoina. He was wearing hoplite armour, featuring a spartan-style helmet with arge plume on top. He was wielding a long spear and had arge round shield that could cover most of his torso.
"That man is the titan Anytos. Legends say that he raised and protected Despoina, and was one of the few titans not cast into the pit of Tartaros." Callisto exined, "Although perhaps Zeus is regretting his choice now."
The new recruit wandered closer to the statue to inspect what the red liquid actually was, he noticed that a puddle of the liquid had formed on the floor underneath the statue.
As the recruit bent down to inspect it, Merlin could have sworn he saw the statue of Despoina smile for a brief moment. A sickly feeling ran through his body, as he stared at the statue.
"Something¡¯s wrong..." Merlin mumbled.
The group heard a loud crash outside the temple, along with several pained screams.
"What was that?" One of the rangers inside the building asked before running towards the temple entrance to gather information.
The moment everyone in the room turned towards the entrance, they all heard a pained screaming from behind them.
"What is it this ti--" One of the rangers shouted as he turned to face the new recruit, but all he saw was the statue of Anytos piercing the new recruit with his spear, and the new recruit¡¯s lifeless body dangling off of it.
"Those damn cultists, it was a trap." Callisto shouted as she quickly drew an arrow and sent one towards the statue.
Anytos blocked the arrow with his shield, before throwing the corpse dangling on the spear towards the group of rangers.
The new recruit¡¯s lifeless body rolled to Callisto¡¯s feet, and Merlin saw the woman¡¯s body shake with anger. Merlin¡¯s eyes nced over at the statue of Despoina, who now had a disgusting grin stered on her face.
"Split up and don¡¯t get too close to it. They¡¯re made of stone, so regr arrows wont do much." Callisto ordered, "And if you¡¯re using a short bow, find out what¡¯s going on outside and provide assistance, thene back with reinforcements if you can."
The group of rangers scattered around the temple at hermand and beganunching arrows towards the titan. A couple rangers made their way outside, where the sounds of loud banging could still be heard.
The titan charged towards a group of rangers, it was surprisingly fast for something made of stone, but fortunately the rangers moved out of the way in time. The statue crashed into the wall, sending debris and dust raining down on those nearby.
Merlin drew an arrow and sent it flying into the statue¡¯s back, the arrow wedged itself into the stone, but ultimately it didn¡¯t seem to have done anything besides make a few small cracks.
Merlin¡¯s eyes nced back over to the statue of Despoina instead, who was much smaller than the titan, and he assumed that his arrow would deal more damage as it had less material to puncture.
As he drew another arrow and aimed it at the statue of Despoina, he quickly caught the glimpse of a long stone rod flying towards him. Merlin barely dodged in time as the titan¡¯s spear sunk itself deep in the temple¡¯s wall.
The titan statue began stomping towards Merlin, who still had his arrow nocked. He quickly drew the arrow back and fired it towards Despoina, but the titan lunged his shield in the way, causing his arrow to embed itself within the shield¡¯s surface, like many other arrows.
The statue ripped the spear out of the wall before turning to Merlin once more. Arrows were flying towards it, some managing to pierce the statue¡¯s stone skin, others shattering on contact, but the titan was solely focused on Merlin.
Merlin leapt out of the way as the titan tried to crush him under its foot.
"This would have been so much easier if I could use the staff." Merlin groaned as he avoided a fast sweep from the long spear. Fortunately his recent addition to his agility was helping, although the statue was still fast enough that he would be skewered if his attention wavered.
"Attack the other statue" Merlin shouted as the spear barely grazed his shoulder.
The next sweep attack had unfortunately caught Merlin¡¯s foot, causing him to be tripped up and thrown to the other side of the room. But instead of running over and finishing him off, the titan seemed to be after a new target.
Merlin struggled to stand for a moment, but he forced himself to his feet and ran back into the fight.
The titan had began charging at Callisto, who was still shooting arrows at it as it approached. Once the titan was ready to attack, she slid under the spear being thrust towards her and the statue¡¯s legs. She managed to shoot an arrow through its lower jaw as she was sliding, but once she made it to the other side, the shield arm was swung towards her, swatting her into the temple wall.
One of the other rangers nearby was about to speak up, but before he could get a word in, Callisto crawled out of the rubble she found herself in and had immediately started charging towards the statue, leaving her bow behind.
"Boss stop!" The ranger shouted as he watched the furious Callisto charge past him, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the titan¡¯s spear scraping against the stone floor.
Fortunately Callisto had dodged the spear, but before she could get close, the statue¡¯s massive shield had blocked her way once more.
Surprisingly, Merlin watched as Callisto winded her fist up and punched the shield. She bellowed with a deafening roar as her fist sunk into the stone shield, causingrge cracks to form on the shield¡¯s surface.
The force of the punch had actually forced the titan to take a step back, and as it did so,rge shards of the stone shield began shedding, falling to the floor as nothing but rubble.
Chapter 127: A Cry for Help - IV
¡¯Why didn¡¯t she start off with that attack in the first ce?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he watched Callisto throw another punch, shattering the shield once and for all. ¡¯I thought she was supposed to be a ranger, why is her strength so high?¡¯
"Guild leaders are overpowered." Merlin mumbled as she watched Callisto¡¯s devastating punches rip the titan statue¡¯s defences away.
It wasn¡¯t often that you would see a guild leader in action, but seeing it now was a reminder that there was a reason they were at the top of their fields. Merlin wondered how powerful the thieves guild leader would be, as all he could see him as was an entric and crafty individual.
The titan statue dropped what remained of the shield and began swinging the spear around with both hands, but Callisto was nimble enough to avoid all the titan¡¯s strikes.
The two were moving around so much that the rest of the rangers had stopped shooting arrows at the statue, due to them fearing that they would hit Callisto instead.
While the titan was distracted, Merlin drew an arrow and shot it towards the statue of Despoina.
The titan statue tried blocking the arrow with its hand while it was being overpowered by Callisto, but Merlin watched as the titan¡¯s hand was shattered into tiny fragments by a single punch, causing the stone spear to fly away from the statue¡¯s grasp.
Merlin¡¯s arrow flew through the area where the statue¡¯s hand once was, and travelled in a direct path towards the statue of Despoina.
Unsurprisingly, the statue of Despoina attempted to dodge the attack, but it wasn¡¯t as nimble as the titan statue due to the stone veil limiting its movement. Merlin¡¯s arrow flew into part of the statue¡¯s veil, causing it to crack, revealing an arm.
"Target the other statue." Merlin roared as he loaded another arrow.
Fortunately, Callisto was still keeping the titan statue upied. She had the statue pinned and was wailing on its chest, causingrge cracks to form. Her angered roars sounded almost bestial, but it seemed as though she was running out of energy. Her fists weren¡¯t packing as much of a punch as the first few times, and Merlin could even see from a distance that her fists were covered in blood and torn to shreds.
¡¯So that¡¯s why she didn¡¯t start off with that.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯It must be herst resort, some form of temporary power boost probably.¡¯
The rest of the rangers began shooting arrows at the statue of Despoina, who was helpless to dodge most of them.
Each arrow pierced the veil, causingrge cracks to appear, while others actually managed to hit body parts. But once the veil had received enough damage, arge audible crack could be heard as the statue of Despoina herself began ripping out of the veil like it was a shell.
Merlin released an arrow, aimed directly for her head, but to his surprise, the statue caught it with her hands.
A creepy grin formed on the statue¡¯s face.
And a few momentster, the statue threw the arrow back at Merlin with so much force that he couldn¡¯t dodge. The arrow pierced his thigh, ripping all the way through before digging itself into the stone floor a few meters behind him.
Pain ran up Merlin¡¯s leg, and only now did he realise how powerful these statues actually were. There wasn¡¯t any level floating above its head, neither was there a name or even a health bar, it was likely that the statue wasn¡¯t registering as a monster by the system.
The statue of Despoina charged towards Merlin, she was much faster now, even more so than the titan. She closed the distance in a matter of seconds, and like a wild animal that was hunting down her prey, the expression stered on her face was now a mix of anticipation and euphoria.
"Is this going to be my first death?" Merlin mumbled to himself as the statue stopped in front of him and thrust her hand towards his chest.
Merlin struggled with all his might to twist his body out of the way, and had somehow barely avoided the strike. But the statue quickly twisted her body and kicked Merlin to the other side of the room.
Merlin hit the wall and slumped onto a pile of rubble. It felt like every bone in his body had been shattered, although it didn¡¯t seem to be the case as he could still move.
Instead of finishing Merlin off, the statue of Despoina started charging towards Callisto, who had just destroyed one of the titan¡¯s legs and left a hole through its chest.
Merlin quickly opened his inventory, throwing the bow and quiver in and grabbing out a kilogram of Panther meat. He began chomping down on the meat without hesitation, the taste of blood filled his mouth, and he tried his hardest to ignore the disgusting chewy feeling of raw meat in between his teeth.
As he swallowed a mouthful of the Panther meat, his wounds began sealing up, and his health was quickly returning.
Merlin watched as the statue of Despoina swatted Callisto away. She looked severely battered and bruised, her knuckles had been stripped of almost all their skin.
¡¯What can I do?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, staring at his inventory. His eyes scanned over the giant cleaver he obtained from the first dungeon he raided, the bovine butcher. He stared at the additional damage to bovine section of the cleaver¡¯s specs before shaking his head. "She¡¯s a bit of a cow, but I don¡¯t think that counts."
He nced at the other weapons in his inventory, his eyes were glued to the goblin hexer¡¯s staff, it would have been the perfect weapon to use against the statues, but he couldn¡¯t use it for two more levels.
"Wait, I don¡¯t have to be the one to use it." He muttered, grabbing the staff out of his inventory.
He nced around the area, noticing the various wounded rangers that had been caught in the crossfire between Callisto and the statues.
"Can anybody here use magic?" He shouted out, causing several rangers in the area to look at him.
"The guild master can, sort of." Another answered back in a pained groan, his leg had been pierced by some rubble that was flung towards him at some point, so he was limping around while firing arrows.
"Good enough for me." Merlin mumbled as he charged towards Callisto, who was being thrown around by the statue of Despoina.
The statue of the titan wasying on the floor, it wasn¡¯t quite dead yet but Callisto had dealt enough damage to immobilise it.
Callisto let out a pained scream as she was kicked in the stomach and sent flying into the air above Merlin¡¯s head. But before she had a chance to fly into a temple wall once again, she found herself caught in midair by two vine-like tentacles.
Fortunately Merlin¡¯s poison hadn¡¯t triggered, rather he felt a strange force shifting his vines around in such a way that the thorns didn¡¯t make contact with her body, and Callisto was ced down on the floor safely.
¡¯What just happened.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, thinking back to that strange feeling he just got.
"What the..." Callisto muttered as she watched vines retract back into Merlin¡¯s body.
"It¡¯s a long story, and I¡¯ll tell you once we¡¯re safe." He quickly announced, throwing her the goblin hexer¡¯s staff. "I got told that you can use magic, so please use that to destroy the statue. I¡¯ll try my best to restrain it."
Merlin quickly charged towards the statue, sending his vines out to entangle it. The statue of Despoina began dodging the vines as it closed the distance, until it finally stopped in front of Merlin.
The statue repeated the previous attack of trying to thrust her hand through his stomach with that same grin on her face, but Merlin had a grin of his own, something the statue didn¡¯t even pay attention to as her hand prated his stomach.
"Gotcha!" Merlin yelled as he wrapped his arms around the statue, before sending his vines out to wrap around the two, tying the both of them together.
He jerked his body, forcing the two of them to fall on to their sides in such a way that the back of the statue¡¯s head was directly in Callisto¡¯s line of sight.
"Shoot now!" He roared as he watched the ck sparks coalescing at the staff¡¯s tip.
Callisto made sure to line up her shot before a ck bolt flew out of the staff. The bolt collided with the back of the statue¡¯s head, causing ck sparks to scatter as it made contact.
Merlin watched as half of the statue¡¯s head began quickly eroding away, revealing a glimpse of arge ck orb.
The statue¡¯s expression had stiffened once it realised it was actually in trouble, and it began struggling against Merlin¡¯s grip.
Merlin knew he had to hold on for at least ten seconds, enough time for the staff¡¯s cooldown to end. He believed the second bolt would be enough to finish the statue off.
The next ten seconds felt like ten minutes as Merlin could feel the statue¡¯s hand messing around with his internal organs as it struggled to free itself. His body was in pain, and he could hear the vines start to give out.
¡¯This would have been so much easier with Tiny here to deal damage.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, he couldn¡¯t believe how much of a bad match-up this was. Not to mention how significantly more powerful these statues werepared to him.
Ten seconds had finally passed, and the second bolt was ready to fire.
The ck bolt flew towards the statue¡¯s head, partially colliding with the ck orb as it eroded more of the statue. Merlin watched as a crack formed on the ck orb, and a strange wispy smoke began leaking out of the crack, dissipating as it rose into the air.
Merlin felt his grip loosen as the statue he was holding so tightly onto began crumbling into nothing. He retracted his vines and quickly grabbed another kilo of panther meat to eat, allowing him to heal once more.
Callisto went over to the other statue and began firing the staff into the titan¡¯s head. The titan statue also had a ck orb embedded in its head, and like the other statue, this one crumbled into nothing as well.
Callisto dropped to the floor once the titan waspletely destroyed. Merlin was about to approach her when he received a notification.
¡¸You have solved an issue caused by a strange phenomenon.¡¹
¡¯Ah... That makes sense.¡¯ He thought to himself.
Chapter 128: A Cry for Help - V
¡¯That exins the clear difficulty spike.¡¯ Merlin thought as he watched the notification disappear. ¡¯But what issue did we solve? We just destroyed the statues, it¡¯s not like we saved the vigers.¡¯
Merlin made his way over to Callisto, who was panting heavily and holding her wounded fists.
He reached down and grabbed his goblin hexer¡¯s staff, throwing it back into his inventory before taking out his herbalist kit, cing it on the stone floor beside her.
"I didn¡¯t bring any water with me, damn." He mumbled to himself. He turned towards Callisto and asked her if she had any water.
He was instructed to grab the waterskin attached to her belt, a water bottle of sorts made from animal skin. Merlin shook it around and found that it was almost full.
He reached into his herbalist¡¯s kit and pulled out the mortar and pestle, before looking through his inventory once more.
"I don¡¯t have fuel for a fire, so this¡¯ll have to do." He sighed as he pulled roughly ten grams of falsofal from his inventory.
In his hands was a bundle ofrge pink leaves, Merlin balled them up tight and put them in the mortar before he began grinding them with his pestle.
As the pink flower petals were ground up, they began releasing a slimy gel, and once Merlin was done that ten grams had produced a significant amount of this gel. Merlin reached into the mortar and took a handful of the gel before reaching for Callisto¡¯s hands.
"This might sting at first." He said as he began covering her bloodied and shredded hands with the gel. Her blood was mixing with the gel and getting all over Merlin¡¯s hands, but he didn¡¯t mind.
Callisto seemed to recoil from the stinging sensation at first, but moments after she calmed down, the cooling effect of the gel had taken over.
Merlin cast cleanse on himself, ridding his hands of the gunk, before he went back to the mortar and started pouring water into it. He mixed the water with what was left of the falsofal gel in the mortar before bringing the mortar to Callisto.
"Drink it." He said as he held the mortar¡¯s rim to Callisto¡¯s mouth while helping her sit up.
Callisto drank the contents beforeying back down, it seemed that the falsofal was doing its work. Although it was only a mild healing effect, as he didn¡¯t have the equipment to boil water and make a proper potion.
¡¯All the tools required, what a scam.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself when he stared at the herbalist¡¯s kit.
Merlin began running around to each of the rangers, providing medical assistance where necessary. And after about one hundred grams of falsofalter, everyone in the room had been treated. Merlin returned the waterskin to Callisto before he started wandering around checking up on everyone¡¯s condition.
Arge group began making their way into the temple with their weapons drawn, but they were quickly identified to be the other group of rangers, those who stayed outside.
Once the other rangers realised there was no threats inside the temple, they put their weapons down and began spreading out within the temple. Merlin had made his way back over to Callisto as one of the rangers from her original expedition team approached her.
"Boss, I¡¯m sorry." He said as he dropped to his knees beside her. "We suddenly got attacked by an ogre while searching the surrounding forests."
The ranger signalled a couple other rangers to approach, there were three of them carrying what seemed to be a body each, but two of the bodies were covered in a ck robe.
"Yl was the first to fall, he was hit by the ogre, and we couldn¡¯t save him in time." The ranger continued, "But besides the ogre, we were attacked by two individuals. They were surprisingly powerful, but truthfully they caught us by surprise while we were dealing with the ogre. All the enemies have been subdued, but we¡¯ve suffered losses."
The three bodies were ced on the ground, and by this time Callisto had sat up and began inspecting the bodies.
Merlin recognised the ranger called Yl. He was the jerk who started treating him like baggage when Merlin mentioned the silhouettes in the distance.
His eyes then locked onto the hooded figures, and he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Callisto tore one of the hoods off the dead assants, only to find that what should have been a human¡¯s face was partially green and covered in warts. One of the eyes was bulging out of its socket and the nose was bulbous.
It was a hideous sight, but both Merlin and Callisto had the same angered expression on their faces, while everyone else showed disgust.
"They¡¯re cultists, goblin mutants." Callisto said as she inspected the other one, noticing simr features. "But why would they only send out fodder if they¡¯ve set up such an borate golem trap? And how did they get an ogre so far east? This doesn¡¯t make sense."
Callisto¡¯s mumbling was cut short when one of the reserves approached and immediately began talking, he seemed to be somewhat panicked. "Excuse me, do we have any more medicine avable? There are too many injured for what little supplies we brought."
"I¡¯ll take care of it." Merlin stood up and began following the ranger to the new group of wounded, leaving Callisto and the other rangers to talk. He borrowed a couple water skins and used up roughly two hundred more grams of falsofal, but eventually everyone had been healed.
As he helped thest person drink the medicine he provided, he received a notification.
¡¸You¡¯ve been granted the title, "The Phnthropic Pharmacist."¡¹
¡¯Oh, I¡¯ve got it already?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he opened the title up to read its stats, ¡¯Did it perhaps count the emergency care quest too?¡¯
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[The Phnthropic Pharmacist.]
You don¡¯t shy away from providing medical care to the residents of this world who are in need.
? Healing effects for crafted consumables: +5%
? Charisma: +1
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
¡¯I guess it must have.¡¯ He thought as he swiped the information window away.
Merlin approached thest person who lent him their waterskin, he made sure not to use too much of one waterskin so that they still had water left to drink, so he borrowed several of them.
He received several thanks as he checked up on the people he healed, and eventually enough people were mobile enough to carry or support those who still couldn¡¯t, including the few rangers who had lost their lives.
"We¡¯ll make our way back to the vige and begin stocking up." Callisto ordered, "Take whatever supplies you can. They¡¯ll just go to waste otherwise."
The group began marching out of the temple, and made their way towards the town. As the group continued moving, more and more people started healing enough to move on their own, until it was just a few seriously injured who required being carried or supported, and the dead.
The group began resting at the town, they began scavenging the houses, searching for anything they could possibly use.
Most of what they harvested were consumables, there were food items, barrels and bottles of alcohol, a very sparse amount of medication. But besides food, there were a few tools and weapons that could be looted, mostly farming tools and kitchen utensils.
"Can you store any of this?" Callisto asked Merlin as the rangers began making a pile of loot in the centre of the vige.
"Unfortunately no. There are specific requirements for something to be stored, and it¡¯s finicky at the best of times." Merlin said while shaking his head.
"Well it looks like we¡¯re carrying it all." She said. "Alright everyone, start picking up anything you can carry and then lets move out."
Merlin pulled out his strong leather backpack and started loading it up with as much supplies as he could manage.
The group all picked up anything they could carry. Those who weren¡¯t as wounded carried the most, while those who could barely stand on their own weren¡¯t given much to carry.
The group moved much slower than they did while making their way to town due to all the injured rangers, so after thirty minutes had passed, they were barely half way.
"Two failed expeditions in a row, I¡¯m not going to hear the end of this." Callisto groaned as they marched back towards the city, "I¡¯ll need to get Tuli to send messengers to inform each expedition team out in the field that Acacesium is no longer a safe location."
"Not to mention, I¡¯ll have to put up with that damn baron, he¡¯s most likely heard about his useless son¡¯s fate by now." She mumbled. "I should just shoot him."
Merlin just awkwardlyughed as they continued on their way. Fortunately it didn¡¯t seem like the conditions of any of the other rangers was getting worse, so they eventually made it back to the city, a little over an hour after they left the town.
As they made their way through the gates, greeting the guards, Callisto¡¯s face crumpled as she saw a crowd forming.
"Here they are again, always ready to judge." She muttered under her breath, barely audible to the point only Merlin and a couple others around her could just hear it. "Damn vultures."
As they walked past the crowd, Merlin could hear faint whispers talking about another failure, and he even heard a couple mentioning him. He stared into the crowd, noticing a particrly hideous man wearing gaudy clothes that were clearly three sizes too small, and he seemed to be shooting Callisto a nasty re.
Chapter 129: Taking Stock
"Even the princess got hurt this time, look at her hands."
"Yet another failed raid, is it actually that dangerous out there or are they just not thatpetent anymore?"
"Look at what they¡¯re carrying, another town was lost."
"Maybe they left the town to die and robbed it."
"Don¡¯t say that, you¡¯ll get executed for treason."
Merlin heard the various rumours as the group walked past the crowd, making their way inside the rangers guild. As Merlin entered the building, he received a notification telling him that he hadpleted the quest.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "A cry for help.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
Tuli, who was talking to a couple of wounded rangers in the hall, noticed the expedition group that was just entering the building. "Boss, what happened?"
"Tuli, I¡¯ll exin in a moment, help our injured out." Callisto ordered, before walking further into the building in order to not block others trying to enter.
"The rest of you, bring everything you¡¯ve scavenged to the mess hall." She shouted, before turning the corner and vanishing into arge room.
Merlin followed behind her, along with the rest of the expedition group, the room they entered was full of tables, more than enough to seat arge group of rangers at once. And there seemed to be an interconnected kitchen on the other side of the room.
"Unload everything you¡¯ve got on the tables." She ordered while walking over to a table and stacking supplies on top of it. "When you¡¯ve done that, for those of you who are hurt go see Tuli for medical treatment, the rest of you are dismissed."
Merlin did as he was told, unloading his backpack¡¯s contents onto one of the tables, and once he had done so, he threw his backpack into his inventory and began making his way to Tuli.
Tuli was in the medicine room crushing what little remained of the bloodgrass and falsofal. She turned around when she heard the door open, and then she saw Merlin.
"Merlin, what¡¯s the matter, are you injured too?" She asked, wiping beads of sweat from her brow.
"No, I¡¯m fine." Merlin shook his head. "I came here to ask if you needed more help."
"Honestly, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much you can help me with now." She said, "We¡¯re basically out of materials. But fortunately it doesn¡¯t seem like many people are seriously injured this time around. I assume the emergency treatment was courtesy of you?"
"Yeah, I used a bit of falsofal where I could. I didn¡¯t have much else to make anything stronger." Merlin said. "But do you need someone to go on a supply run? I¡¯ve got plenty of bloodgrass and falsofal on me already, I can go get other things."
"We¡¯d need about a kilogram each to fill our stock up, do you think you could get that much?" Tuli asked, while going back into mixing up potions.
"Yeah, I¡¯ve got enough already, although I¡¯ve got fresh falsofal, not dried. Do you need anything else?" Merlin asked after exining.
"Oh, that¡¯s perfect." She said, "Well, if it isn¡¯t too strange, do you think you could fill up a few vials with your blood?"
A quest window appeared before Merlin.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Umon Quest]
Taking stock I.
Thest medical emergency used up what little remained of the rangers guild medicine stock. Tuli has requested that you assist with supplying materials to refill what is required.
She has also requested vials of your blood, for what purpose you are yet unsure, but three vials should be enough.
Provide Tuli with the materials she requested.
Bloodgrass: 2001/1000 grams
Falsofal: 1690/1000 grams
Vials of rose poison: 0/3
? Reward: 200 EXP, 200 Ranger Soul EXP.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Merlin epted the quest, taking notice that it was obviously the start of a quest chain due to the roman letter numbering system. He pulled a kilogram of falsofal and bloodgrass out of his inventory and ced them down on a table.
"Do you have the vials ready?" Merlin asked. "And preferably a funnel so I don¡¯t spill blood everywhere."
Once she heard these words, Tuli quickly made her way towards a shelf, where she pulled out three vials and dashed to a different shelf to find what seemed to be a ceramic funnel. She then made her way towards Merlin with everything.
"Alright, I¡¯ll get this sorted. There¡¯s one kilogram of both nts for you." He said as he grabbed a vial rack and began setting up the three vials, uncorking each before bncing the funnel above the first one.
Merlin opened his inventory, pulling out his sharp hunters knife that he had bought recently.
"I never would have imagined this knife¡¯s first use was going to be on me." Merlin groaned as he held his wrist above the funnel. "This soul is making up for myck of an emo phase growing up I guess."
Merlin sliced through his wrists without hesitation. He clenched his teeth, but fortunately his dagger was so sharp he barely felt it.
¡¯Does the animal harvesting efficiency bonus take effect if I cut myself with it?¡¯ He wondered to himself, shaking his head at the stupid thought.
The blood dripped out quickly, filling all three vials in a matter of seconds. Merlin wrapped his mouth around the wound, preventing blood from spilling out everywhere. He received a notification telling him his quest had beenpleted.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Taking stock I.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Thank you!" Tuli said as she put the corks back on the vials. "This will help with potions for the time being, and I¡¯d also like to run some tests on its reactions with other nts."
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with Tuli.¡¹
¡¯She¡¯s really easy to raise familiarity with.¡¯ Merlin couldn¡¯t help but think to himself. ¡¯Is she that friendly, or does she just really like people who share her interests?¡¯
Once the wound on Merlin¡¯s wrist seemed to stop bleeding he removed his mouth from it, noticing that it had healed, but with a scar, much like many of his other wounds.
"Could I help you with anything else?" Merlin asked, hoping to get the next part of the chain quest right away.
"Well, I won¡¯t say no to more help, although you¡¯ve done plenty already." Tuli said as she pulled two dark grey wrinkly seeds out of a jar and began crushing them into powder. "We¡¯re desperately in need of nemine. Your blood works as a recement, but we don¡¯t know the full extent of its effects yet, or how well or long it stores for. It¡¯d be good if we had a nice stash of nemine, about one kilogram would do."
"And while you¡¯re at it, if you could pick up a little bit of foxglove, not too much though, just a few hundred grams." She said, "There are a few medicines we use that require small amounts of it, plus I¡¯d like to test its effects when mixed with your blood."
As Tuli finished talking, another quest window appeared before Merlin.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Umon Quest]
Taking stock II.
Thest medical emergency used up what little remained of the rangers guild medicine stock. Tuli has requested that you assist with supplying materials to refill what is required.
You¡¯ve provided the guild a few medical ingredients so far, but this time she has asked for other materials.
The first nt she has requested is nemine, a nt with long string-like white petals that can be used as a stabilising agent for Impletio, drastically reducing the risk of an overdose in potions and medication.
The next nt she has requested is Foxglove, a nt that sprouts purple bell-shaped flowers, the nt is dangerously poisonous, but Tuli swears there are positive health effects that can be extracted from it.
Provide Tuli with the materials she requested.
nemine: 0/1000 grams
Foxglove: 0/300 grams
? Reward: 200 EXP, 200 Ranger Soul EXP.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Alright, I¡¯ll get to it." Merlin said, epting the quest. "I¡¯ll be backter."
Merlin grabbed his knife, casting cleanse on it before throwing it back into his inventory. He then said his goodbyes to Tuli before making his way out the door.
As he left the room, he noticed a few rangers hovering around, their eyes were glued down the hallway, near the entrance. Merlin could hear loud shoutinging from the entrance, so he began walking down the hallway towards it, as he had to go there anyway.
As he made his way down the hall, the hallway opened up into the waiting room at the front of the building. And within the waiting room was the familiar individual wearing gaudy clothes that Merlin saw in the crowd earlier.
From the fragments of conversation he was picking up out of context, this man seemed to be Baron Doolmet.
"...You should have visited my estate the second you returned and apologised in person, but you just ran off for another few hours, returning with more death. And yet you dared to send a mere letter to my estate." Baron Doolmet shouted, "In fact, you didn¡¯t even write the letter yourself, how dare you look down upon my household."
"Mind your tone Doolmet." Callisto roared back. "What right does a mere Baron have barging in and yelling at royalty and ordering them around. I¡¯m not sure howcking your education must have been, but I¡¯ve got a pretty good idea considering how stupid your son was."
"You¡¯re just a glorifiedmoner with an ego the size of your stomach." Callisto continued. "You don¡¯t get to make demands here, and you¡¯re lucky you haven¡¯t received an arrow to the chest for how much grief your son had caused."
"Filthy half-blood." The baron grumbled back. "You still call yourself royalty when your mother was amoner."
An arrow flew past the baron¡¯s head, burying itself into the door next to the fist indentation from the day before.
"Leave before I take your head for treason." Callisto shouted while she nocked another arrow.
Chapter 130: An Old Man Appears.
The baron quickly scrambled out of the building, threatening that this wouldn¡¯t be thest time she heard from him.
"Was it wise to shoot an arrow at him?" Merlin asked as he approached. "Even if you missed on purpose, he¡¯s going to run around and be a nuisance now, isn¡¯t he?"
"It wasn¡¯t on purpose..." Callisto mumbled while putting the arrow she nocked back into her quiver.
"What?" Merlin retorted, unsure if he had heard that correctly.
"I was aiming for his head." She said. "But my hands went numb."
Merlin stood there for a few moments, unsure what to say, or if he should even say anything.
"That isn¡¯t good." Merlin remarked,pletely ignoring the part about her intent to seriously maim or kill a man. "Maybe you should go pay a visit to Tuli and get those hands taken care of. They took quite a beating and it wouldn¡¯t be good if you developed permanent nerve damage."
"I¡¯m just waiting until everyone else gets healed before I go in." She mumbled. "I was told that we didn¡¯t have enough medical supplies left, especially after thest expedition, so I didn¡¯t want to waste what little we had."
"There are a few medical herb shops in the city, why don¡¯t you get stock from them?" Merlin asked out of curiosity.
"Well generally we prefer gathering our own supplies. We¡¯d rather keep the supply in those stores exclusively for the use of civilians, but we do asionally buy what we need if it¡¯s an emergency." Callisto exined.
"Oh, well that¡¯s fair enough." Merlin nodded his head. "And there isn¡¯t a shortage of medical supplies anymore, so go get healed right away."
Merlin began walking towards the door, but as he approached, Callisto spoke once more.
"Where are you going off to?" Callisto asked with a hint of curiosity. "I thought you were going to tell me about the vine thing?"
"I¡¯m just doing a task for Tuli, helping to restock the medical room." He said, "I¡¯ll be happy to exin when I¡¯m back, but Tuli doesn¡¯t have any nemine so she sent me out to get some."
"Very well." Callisto said with a nod before seemingly remembering something. "Oh, a word of advice."
"You¡¯ll find arger amount of nemine if you walk down the road for about twenty minutes before you enter the forest. But please be careful, as the further from the gate you go, the stronger the creatures you¡¯ll find."
"One of these creatures that have been spotted in the area is a brown bear, although it is roughly three times the size of a regr brown bear and very powerful."
"Whatever you do, please do not attack it or anger it in any way." She warned.
"If you findrge bear tracks, trees that look to have been shattered by a w, or see the mauled corpses of monsters, it¡¯s likely that you entered its territory. If you enter its territory, get out of it as fast as you can."
"The bear is generally harmless if you leave it alone and keep your distance, but it¡¯s a terrible threat if you decide to attack it." She concluded. "It hunts down monsters in the area around its territory, making the general area closer to the wall much safer, so we¡¯d rather keep it alive."
"Understood. Thanks for the warning." Merlin remarked as he made his way out the door.
The crowd outside seemed to have dissipated, but he could see a new group forming in the distance, and he caught glimpses of Baron Doolmet leading the crowd.
¡¯Maybe I should kill him before this gets troublesome.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he watched the group vanish into arge estate. ¡¯It¡¯s just going to generate annoying quests otherwise.¡¯
Not really wanting to deal with the karma punishment, Merlin decided against it for now. He instead made his way towards the gate and stepped out into the frontier once more.
¡¯But if I could somehow bait him into ruining his karma...¡¯ Another obtrusive thought arose in his mind, but it was quickly snuffed out as Merlin made his way down the road.
He looked up at the sun, noticing it was getting rather close to night time. Instead of following the road for twenty minutes, Merlin decided to do both and hopefully save time. He ran into the forest and began making his way through the forest in the direction the road, while searching the forest for nts as he travelled.
Besides a few critters and medium sized herbivores, Merlin didn¡¯t really encounter anything for the twenty minutes he travelled, and definitely not anything that could reasonably be seen as a threat. Instead he was peacefully picking nts while enjoying the peaceful scenery, and after about an hour and a half he had harvested enough to finish his quest, and even managed to pick up a few other nts for his own use.
As he thought about sticking around and harvesting more, he received the same dreaded red alert box that make him decide against it.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today¡¯s session, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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Merlin sighed as he swiped the quest window away, and he began making his way through the forest, towards the road.
As he breached the treeline, he noticed arge group further down the road, they seemed to be making their way towards the gate, but still had a fair walk to go. Merlin saw several bows, so he assumed they were one of the ranger expedition teams that were mentioned previously.
Fortunately none of these rangers seemed heavily wounded, at least from what he could tell from this distance.
Merlin made his way towards the city, not bothering to wait for the expedition team behind him. As he continued walking, he noticed that he seemed to be increasing the distance with the group. It was likely that the group hoped to rest at Acacesium before continuing, only to find that the town had been looted and abandoned due to not yet receiving a messenger warning them.
Merlin entered the city once more. He noticed that the groups seemed to have dissipated by now, with only a couple curious observers nearby paying any attention to him, albeit only briefly.
He made his way inside the rangers guild building and took a direct path towards the medicine room where the red-headed Tuli was ving away at the mortar and pestle.
"Hey Tuli, I¡¯ve got everything you need." Merlin said as he walked into the room.
He unloaded a kilogram of nemine and three hundred grams of foxglove onto the table, and as he did so, he received a notification telling him his quest wasplete.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Taking stock II.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Thank you!" Tuli said as she quickly ran to grab a couple jars to store everything. "You¡¯ve been a great help."
"You¡¯re very wee." Merlin smiled. "Oh, I saw another expedition team on their way back, they should be arriving any minute now."
"Oh, they¡¯re early." Tuli mumbled, "Well, at least I¡¯ve got more supplies to treat them with."
"Fortunately they didn¡¯t look that wounded, mostly tired." Merlin reassured her, "But that was only from a small distance away."
"Anyway, I¡¯ve got to take off." Merlin said, "I¡¯d love to stick around and help, but I¡¯ve got some things to take care of."
"Not a problem." Tuli said, "Take care, and thank you for all the help!"
Merlin walked out of the room and briefly wandered around the base looking for Callisto to fulfil his promise, but he couldn¡¯t seem to find her. He made his way over to the front desk and asked if the person sitting at it knew where she went, and apparently she went into the forest alone to blow off steam, something that was apparentlymon as ofte with her.
Merlin instead made his way out of the building, where he saw a smaller crowd start to form around. Merlin walked through the crowd after seeing the group they were there to see, it was the rangers he saw earlier on the road.
The crowd was rather negative, but not as negative as both times Callisto¡¯s groups came back. It felt as though maybe someone was stirring the pot against Callisto, or there was just a widespread hatred for her. But besides Baron Doolmet, Merlin couldn¡¯t quite understand why anyone would have anything against her.
Merlin wandered through the city, stopping at an interesting looking ruin. For all intents and purposes, it was nothing but a freestanding arched stone-brick door frame. But what caught Merlin¡¯s attention, besides the fact that there was clearly no signs of a building previously being attached to it, was the strange almost Greek-like runes inscribed within the stone above the door frame.
"What mysteries lie within these old stones." An old mans voice could suddenly be heard.
Merlin turned around to see a short grey-haired old man with round sses and a back hunched over due to old age. The old man slowly wandered closer until he was stood beside Merlin.
"Do you find interest in these old stones?" The man wondered out loud.
"I do." Merlin nodded. He was trying his hardest to hide the overwhelming excitement that he felt due to being approached by an NPC in regards to the ruins.
"An immediate answer, oho. Not many youngsters respect their ancestors nowadays." The man seemed pleased, but then his face quickly shifted to sadness. "All they do isin that they get in the way of construction."
"What a stupid way of thinking." Merlin replied. "This city is a treasure trove of history, they¡¯d be fools to tear this all down."
The man¡¯s smile returned to his face when he saw Merlin¡¯s enthusiasm.
Chapter 131: A Door Without A Key
"Ohoho, indeed." The old manughed, as he walked over to the stone door frame and rested his hand on one of the bricks.
"May I ask what brought your attention to this ruin in particr?" The man asked, he turned around and Merlin could see that the old man¡¯s gaze was filled with anticipation.
¡¯This is it.¡¯ He thought to himself, a smile subconsciously formed on his face, even though he was still trying to hide it.
"What I first found interesting was that out of all the ruins I¡¯ve seen in this city, this door frame seems to be in the best condition. It hasn¡¯t suffered the wear and tear caused by the elements like many of the other ruins." Merlin said, before making his way over to one of the bricks besides the door frame. "And yet this overgrowth and wear on the decorations around the freestanding door frame suggests that it¡¯s one of the oldest structures in the city."
The old man¡¯s smile formed into a wide grin, and after seeing this, Merlin continued.
"Seeing as the door frame appears to be a permanent structure, purposefully made to perfectly fit its surroundings. It is unlikely that it was reced hundreds of years after the surrounding structures were made, that wouldn¡¯t make sense." Merlin said as he traced his fingers along the supporting pirs on either side of the door frame, the bumpy corroded feeling was then reced by smooth clean stone once they reached the door frame.
"My only assumption would be that the door frame is magically preserved, but for what reason." He said, "Perhaps it¡¯s for a religious reason, but I¡¯ve never read about a faith that worshipped this sort of structure, nor do I see any trace of followers in this city."
"Which would lead me to my next assumption. Perhaps this faith was ancient, long forgotten and reced by worship of the new gods. That would exin why there aren¡¯t any followers left, but why wouldn¡¯t there be any record of such a faith, especially ones capable of such longsting preservation magic."
"But perhaps I¡¯m going about this the wrong way, what if this isn¡¯t the work of humans? Or even elves. For this magic to still retain its strength for hundreds, if not thousands of years, it must have been the work of someone, or something truly adept in magic." Merlin rambled, "Maybe it¡¯s the work of a deity, of who the world¡¯s memory was lost, or perhaps not ever worshipped in the first ce."
"And finally, what is this script above the door frame. Whatnguage is it, what is the history and culture behind thenguage, and what do these words mean?" Merlin concluded his ramblings.
The old man stood there in silence for a moment, just staring at Merlin.
"Wonderful." The old man said as he slowly pped his hands. "You truly do understand the wonders of this structure."
"One thing however." The old man¡¯s grin widened as his eyes locked onto Merlin.
¡¯What? Did I say something wrong?¡¯ Merlin wondered as the old man kept him in suspense.
"You keep referring to it as nothing more than a door frame." The old man spoke, "But might I suggest taking a look at it another way."
"What do you mean?" Merlin looked at him with a confused expression, he wasn¡¯t sure if the old man was requesting he take a look at from another angle.
The old man kept him in suspense, just long enough for Merlin to notice that the surroundings that were getting darker due to the sun setting, began brightening once more as a full moon peered over the horizon.
"I would suggest thinking of this, not as a door frame, but as a door without a key." The old man said, pointing back towards the structure.
"A door without a ke--" Merlin muttered as his eyes nced over at the door frame, but his train of thought immediately stopped as he noticed that the text on the door frame was glowing a very faint blue.
Merlin turned back towards the old man to ask him more questions, but as he did, he noticed that the man was gone.
"Where? How did he just?" Merlin was slightly confused as to why he couldn¡¯t tell that the man left, and then he just realised that he didn¡¯t feel the man approach him either.
Merlin quickly nced around his surroundings, but the old man was well and truly gone, as if he just vanished.
"A door without a key, huh?" Merlin muttered as he stared at the door frame, the text was slowly getting brighter as the full moon rose, but it was never bright enough to be that obvious.
Merlin could feel his heart beating faster, out of everything he had experienced in this timeline so far, this was the most exciting thing he hade across, a true mystery.
As he rest his hand on the door frame once more, arge quest notification appeared before him.
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[Hidden Mythical Quest]
A door without a key.
Within Megalopolis stands several ruins from an ancient civilisation scattered around the ever-expanding city.
One of these ruins is a strange stone door frame, seemingly untouched by the ravages of time and the elements. Its surroundings have been ravaged and overtaken by nature, but the frame itself is immacte, as if it were just made.
But for what reason would a door frame, with seemingly no purpose, have such powerful preservation magic cast upon it, and what being was powerful enough to preserve this structure for such a long time.
An old man had suggested to you that perhaps it¡¯s not just a mere door frame, but actually a door, albeit without a key.
But before you could ask him for rification, he suddenly vanished as quickly as he appeared. Just what meaning do his words hold, and where would you possibly find a key to such an ancient structure, if there even is one?
The door frame seems to react to moonlight, perhaps the key has something to do with the moon?
What about the script above the door frame, perhaps it holds a clue to opening the door, or maybe the words are the key itself?
Figure out a way of opening the mysterious door frame.
? Reward: ???
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"What story are you a part of, I wonder." He mumbled to himself as he epted the quest.
Merlin stood by the doorway for a few moments more, until a red alert box ruined his view.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, your session will end in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time. Thank you.
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"I wouldn¡¯t be able to solve it right away anyway, but it¡¯s still disappointing being torn away from it against my will." Merlin muttered to himself before uttering themand, "System logout."
He received the prompt asking him to confirm the logout, he said yes and suddenly the world around him darkened, until his vision was ck and he could feel his body suddenly thrust into an endless void, the stability of the floor below leaving him.
Arthur went through the usual steps of being dropped into the white room and pping the logout button. His body was shocked back awake shortly after, and he waited in the capsule, allowing his body to regain its bnce and control over its senses as the machine went through the process of standing upright and opening.
It seemed as though Arthur was the first one to exit, although as he left his capsule, he saw a few other capsules begin the wake up process.
Arthur made his way towards the briefing room, he saw a few of the developers sitting around discussing something so he approached them.
"Oh, hello Arthur." One of the developers spoke up, greeting Arthur as he approached.
"Good evening." Arthur greeted back.
"We were just going over the data for the previous session, what little we could recover, and we noticed that Gaia seems to still love you." One of the developers said, he seemed rather excited. "She made a new protocol and your ID was the only thing within it."
"Oh... Cool. What does that mean exactly?" Arthur asked, ying dumb.
"Ah, ha. Well, the thing is, we don¡¯t know." The developer sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Gaia didn¡¯t give any extra information about this protocol, and it¡¯s just called ¡¯exceptions¡¯. But she keeps refusing any queries or requests for further exnation."
"Has anything weird happened in-game?" The other developer asked.
"What do you mean by weird?" Arthur asked with a confused expression, it was forced but he tried making it look subtle enough to be considered genuine.
The developer didn¡¯t seem to have an answer for that question, so he eventually dropped the topic.
"I got attacked by the rose wight a while back, and then there was the thing with the vampires." Arthur started recounting a few events, "Oh, and I got attacked by statues in an abandoned temple, and there was the cult of Despoina, but that was attached to a different quest I got a couple sessions ago."
"You¡¯ve encountered so many powerful monsters in only seven days... And the Despoina cult?" One of the developers thought back to all the briefings they had prior and now that he thought about it, Arthur had been attacked by some of the biggest things hidden in the areas he went to, and then something else came to mind. "Wait, have you died yet?"
"No, I¡¯vee close a couple times, but I still haven¡¯t died." Merlin pretended to think about it for a second before answering.
"Oh... That makes sense." Both developers checked over their notes beforeing to a conclusion. "You keep getting challenged by monsters well above the expected skill level ande out alive and victorious, so Gaia considers you an exception."
The developers seem to havee to their own conclusion, but it sort of felt like Gaia was protecting him a little. Or perhaps she just didn¡¯t want the developers to get in the way of her curiosity.
Chapter 132: Stay Toasty
¡¯Wait, actually isn¡¯t this the perfect opportunity?¡¯ Arthur thought to himself as he watched the developers pondering over their notes.
¡¯The streamers will be joining us in six sessions.¡¯ He thought, ¡¯If I try streamter like I did in the past it would take me far too long to grow again, and it¡¯ll be impossible topete with these massive streamers right away.¡¯
¡¯So the ideal scenario would be to stream before them.¡¯ He concluded, ¡¯But I¡¯d rather not give too much away.¡¯
"Oh, I had an idea." Arthur stated. "Since you guys can¡¯t see inside the game from your end, and the information you¡¯re getting sent isn¡¯t helping at all, what if you just watched from my point of view?"
"What do yo-- Ohh..." One of the developers was about to ask what he meant, but quickly realised. "True! You could stream it, that would let us identify anything strange right away."
The developer turned to the other developer with a curious gaze, who turned to Arthur. "We are currently setting up the streaming modules for room four¡¯s machines. I don¡¯t see why we can¡¯t set one up in your machine as well, if that is what you want."
"That¡¯s fine by me." Arthur said with a smile.
"Very well, I¡¯ll bring that up with the maintenance team. It should be done over the week, hopefully by the first session of next week." The developer said while writing notes on a sheet of paper.
¡¯Jackpot, there¡¯s my future career secured.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself.
By this time arge group of yers started filling the room, and the developers scrambled off to set up the briefing quickly. Arthur took his usual seat and his expanded friend group started taking their seats around him and began chatting while the briefing was getting sorted.
"Alright, could I get everyone¡¯s attention please." One of the developers spoke up.
Fortunately there wasn¡¯t much to be briefed on this time around. The biggest change would have likely been rted to Arthur, but it wasn¡¯t like they could announce that, so only a few small things were mentioned before they moved right over to the rankings.
"Starting off at fifth ce, at level five with one soul, Zankoku." The developer began reading out the top five rankings. "At fourth ce, also at level five with only one soul, VoidJade."
"And here we are at third ce, yet another level five, this time with two souls, Typhoeus." The developer said, turning the page once more. "The second ce, once again level five with two souls, Snowbunny."
"And it seems as though nobody has reached level six yet." The developer flipped the page once more, staring at Arthur¡¯s information sheet. "In first ce, at level five once more, with a total of three souls, Merlin. And it seems as though the top two are no longer neck and neck."
"Well, I hope you¡¯ve all enjoyed, we¡¯ll be seeing you all tomorrow at the same time as usual. Enjoy the rest of your day." The developer concluded.
Everyone was asked to leave the briefing room within a few minutes so that the next briefing could take ce shortly. Most of them left, Arthur¡¯s group included, while a few stayed back for a moment while grabbing refreshments before leaving.
The group of friends Arthur had made were all chatting along as they continued outside. Arthur was thinking that they¡¯d eventually make a great guild if they all decided to group up in the main game. Although out of all of them, he only knew of Typhoeus and Snowbunny, either the others quit the game early on, or just didn¡¯t end up making a name for themselves, which would have been surprising as they were pretty skilled already.
Eventually the group scattered, and Donovan was there by the curb to pick up Arthur. After a few greetings, Donovan drove Arthur home.
He went through his usual schedule of watering his nts, working out and ying games with friends. And by the time it came time to eat, he was called down to the kitchen.
As Arthur made his way down the stairs, he found that his father was actually home this time around. The family began eating, but Arthur noticed that Anna didn¡¯t seem that talkative today, so he asked her what was wrong.
"It¡¯s nothing." Anna said while poking at the peas on her te. "I¡¯m just still worried about Mallory. Doctor Hudson said she seemed to be healing fine, but her EEG still hasn¡¯t stabilised. It shouldn¡¯t be that high and I don¡¯t understand what is happening."
"Annabelle." Their father spoke up. "Please. Not at the kitchen table."
"Sorry." Anna said meekly while going back to picking at her food.
The family finished off their meals in an awkward silence, and Arthur eventually vanished back into his room, performing his night time routine before heading to bed.
The next day, Donovan picked Arthur up and brought him back to the facility. It didn¡¯t take long for the morning briefing to end, and then everyone was allowed back into the game.
When he loaded back into the world, it seemed to be in the middle of the day, and he was standing in front of the stone door frame. The script on the stone surface didn¡¯t seem to be giving off any more light, so Merlin made his way out of the ruins before he got a notification message in regards to his merchants association receipt telling him that his item was ready to be picked up.
"Well time to see what they whipped up for me." Merlin muttered to himself as he made his way down the path towards therge building.
Merlin made his way into the store, greeting the person at the front counter before making his way to the counter at the back of the store.
"Good afternoon, how can we be of service?" The man at the counter spoke in a friendly tone.
"I¡¯ve got an order that should be ready, I¡¯m here to retrieve it." Merlin reached into his inventory and pulled out his receipt, handing it to the man.
"Alright, let us see here..." The man nced at the receipt for a moment, before vanishing behind a door behind him,ing back momentster with a nicely folded fluffy ck square. "This was your purchase correct, the cloak?"
The man began unfolding the item, revealing arge fluffy ck coat that seemed to have kept the nice sheen of the panther¡¯s coat. It featured a hood as Merlin requested, and also a fancy silver sp at the front featuring a beautiful red gem, which Merlin identified as the crude fire stone.
The man handed Merlin his purchase, and Merlin gave him the receipt in return. Excited to see the stats, he inspected the item.
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[Warm Panther Cloak (Rare)]
A cloak made from the fur of a panther, a stealthy predator, that was then enchanted with a crude fire stone.
? Abilities: ?Overheat?
? Stealth: +20%
? Cold resistance: +10%
? Protection from the elements: +70%
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"It¡¯s perfect." Merlin eximed while reading over the stats, which seemed to put a smile on the cashier¡¯s face.
The stats alone were amazing, especially for what amounted to only three gold, six silver and six copper, he didn¡¯t know how much the excess material took the cost off, but it must have been a fair amount if he even managed to get an ability with it.
"I¡¯m d you like it, would you like to wear it now?" He asked.
Merlin obliged, taking off the apprentice¡¯s ck cloak that he had been wearing all this time, throwing it into his inventory before putting the new cloak on.
The first thing Merlin noticed was that unlike thest cloak, that was somewhat rough and scratchy due to the materials and poor crafting, this cloak was incredibly soft.
The next thing he noticed was that it was quite warm, whether that be the work of the fire stone or just the fluffy material, it was pleasantly warm.
"My, that suits you very well." The cashierplimented him.
"Thank you." Merlin said with a smile.
He eventually made his way out of the building, and while he was there he checked the ability that the cloak had.
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?Overheat?
You inject mana into the fire stone attached to your cloak, causing it to produce hot air that gets trapped within the fur, keeping you warm and protecting you from extremely cold temperatures.
? Increases your cold resistance by +50%.
? 10 mana per minute.
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¡¯Interesting¡¯ He muttered to himself, ¡¯I don¡¯t think anywhere on this map gets cold enough to need this though, but it¡¯d probably protect me if I got sted with ice magic.¡¯
Merlin made his way to the rangers guild, which for once in his time in this city didn¡¯t have a crowd gathered around it. He made his way inside and greeted the ranger who was sitting at the front desk before making his way down the hallway.
ording to the ranger, the guild master wasn¡¯t currently in, she seemed to have left for the field once more only a few hours ago.
¡¯It is very difficult to find her.¡¯ Merlin groaned in his thoughts, ¡¯and she was the one who wanted an exnation.¡¯
Merlin eventually bumped into Tuli, who was making her way into the medicine room with what he could only imagine was another new recruit.
"Oh, hey Merlin!" She greeted him. "Nice cloak, looking good."
"Thanks." Merlin smiled, before asking her a question. "I¡¯ve got plenty of free time now, do you need help with anything, more supplies?"
Chapter 133: Bear Attack
"Well, honestly. Our stocks are getting pretty full." Tuli said while making her way into the medicine room and instructing the new recruit with her to take a seat. "But I might have something for you to do, nobody else wanted to take this request."
Tuli vanished behind a shelf and came back a few secondster with a jar that had four red berries rolling around in it. She ced it on the bench and looked up at Merlin, but before she could say anything, Merlin spoke first.
"You want me to find you yew berries?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, and the needles too." Tuli nodded.
"Why does nobody else want to do this?" Merlin asked with a confused expression. "Is it just because it¡¯s a deadly poison?"
"No." Tuli shook her head. "It¡¯s because the closest yew trees are deep within the territory of the giant bear."
"Oh, that ce that I¡¯ve been specifically told to run away from at all costs?" Merlin quipped with a lighthearted tone.
"That¡¯s the one." Tuli nodded, "Well, the bear isn¡¯t always there, it seems to move around a fair bit within the forest. So as long as you get in quick and get out just as fast, you shouldn¡¯t really have any issues if you¡¯re cautious."
"Good to know." Merlin said.
"Although if you do see the it, I¡¯d advise that you run." She added, "Personally, I¡¯d rather you weren¡¯t mauled by a bear."
"I share the sentiment." Merlinughed, "Alright, I¡¯m up for it. In which direction should I be heading?"
Tuli briefly gave him instructions, and then a quest notification appeared.
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[Umon Quest]
Taking stock III.
It seems the rangers guild medical supplies are being filled up quickly now that expeditions have been temporarily halted, giving the rangers enough time to set out on smaller gathering quests for the guild.
Tuli has given you a task that had been turned down by many of the other members of the guild, due to the great risk thates with it.
You¡¯ve been tasked with retrieving yew berries and yew needles from the few yew trees located within the territory of the giant bear.
Almost every part of a yew tree contains lethal amounts of a deadly poison, with the only exception being the flesh of the red berries, which is sweet, although the seeds inside the berries also contain the deadly poison, so eating them is not advised.
Yew needles are the thin leaves on the tree. The needles also contain a lethal amount of poison, of which, the consumption of even a small amount may lead to debilitating sickness, if not outright death.
Be advised that the poison can be absorbed through your skin, so try avoid getting any of the tree¡¯s sap on your hands.
Provide Tuli with the materials she requested.
Yew Berries: 0/300 grams
Yew Needles: 0/1000 grams
? Reward: 200 EXP, 200 Ranger Soul EXP.
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"Alright, I¡¯ll get to it." Merlin said as he made his way out of the medicine room, leaving Tuli to go back to teaching the new recruit.
He quickly made his way outside the rangers guild and went directly towards the gate leading into the frontier, making sure to greet the guards as he did so.
"Alright, so the bear¡¯s territory is approximately that way." He said, pointing somewhat south west. "Well, If I get attacked by a bear, I¡¯ll know I¡¯m in the right ce."
Merlin walked off the overgrown road and quickly vanished into the treeline. Once again, there didn¡¯t seem to be any threats around, just wildlife.
Merlin travelled for approximately seven minutes before he saw a copsed tree that seemed to have been partially hit with a cannonball, as arge chunk of the trunk had been removed. But upon further inspection he noticed a few distinct indents that were reminiscent of w marks.
"Are you telling me a bear one-shot a tree with the swipe of its paw?" Merlin mumbled to himself. "Callisto wasn¡¯t kidding."
Merlin continued through the forest, eventually making his way into a shaded clearing, with threerge trees providing most of the coverage in the area. Merlin looked up to see bright red berries hanging from the branches. All of these trees were yew trees, and Merlin noticed that none of the trees seemed to have any marks from the bear, although other trees in the area did. It seemed the bear was smart enough to avoid this area.
"Alright, time to get to work." Merlin said while pulling his clippers and tough leather gloves, both of which were items that came with the herbalist¡¯s kit, out of his inventory.
He put the leather gloves on and began climbing one of the trees. He couldn¡¯t use his daggers to climb the tree like he usually did because he feared sap sshing back at him. Even if his hands were protected, the rest of his body, especially his face, generally wasn¡¯t.
Although the tree¡¯s strange trunk structure gave him plenty of footholds, so overall he didn¡¯t need to use anything to assist his climb.
Merlin made his way up the tree and onto one of the branches, he continued along the branch until he reached a spot where there were plenty of needles and berries within reach.
"How much of this stuff is a gram?" Merlin wondered out loud, he couldn¡¯t remember using yew in the past twenty or more years, as once you hit a certain point in the game, the poison from a yew tree was essentially ineffective against everything with such high constitution scores.
"It would be less tedious to just cut the whole branch down."
Unfortunately, Merlin didn¡¯t have an axe, nor did he have any form of logging skill or a lumberjack soul, so it would be pretty difficult and inconvenient to take the thick branch down at once.
Instead Merlin crawled along the branch, picking off smaller branches that either his clippers could cut, or he could cleave through with a swing of his dagger. He dropped all the branches to the floor to deal withter.
After about twenty minutes of work, several of the branches were stripped bare, and Merlin made his way down to the ground,nding in a sea of leaves. He then spent the next half an hour stripping the branches of as many needles and berries as he could, throwing them in his inventory without much care.
He seemed to have cut down way too many branches, thinking the leaves wouldn¡¯t ount for much.
¡¸Yew Berries: 743/300 grams¡¹
¡¸Yew Needles: 2704/1000 grams¡¹
"Well, that was an oversight on my part." He eximed, throwing what little remained into his inventory. "Oh well, I¡¯ve got plenty of personal stock to use in the future."
As Merlin was talking to himself, he heard a loud thud in the distance. His immediate attention snapped to the animals that seemed to be taking off in quite a hurry, even the nocturnal predators seemed to be making a run for it, leading Merlin to assume that what was around was both big and tremendously powerful.
Merlin heard loud footsteps, with the asional thud, which Merlin could only imagine was either trees getting shattered or monsters having their bodies forcibly injected into trees. Either way, Merlin didn¡¯t want to stand around and find out.
As Merlin began running for the treeline, an orc¡¯s dead corpse was thrown several meters past him, making a deep groove in the forest floor as it was slowly buried under the mountain of dirt its body dragged with it.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped to the left, where the dead orc hade from, and there he saw a massive brown bear that towered over the two orcs that were still attacking it.
The bear seemed to have noticed Merlin, as its eyes locked on him, causing a shiver to run down his spine. Although this brief distraction by Merlin was all one of the orcs needed to bury its axe into one of the bear¡¯s hind legs.
As punishment for its insolence, the bear squashed the orc into the dirt as if it were pping a mosquito. It raised its paw, only to see what amounted to an orc pancake that was partially buried in the soil.
"Oh dear god, that¡¯s overpowered." Merlin muttered out loud.
Merlin began moving again, hoping thest orc would distract the bear for long enough so that he could get away from the it safely.
But then he watched from the corner of his vision that thest orc stupidly decided that, even after seeing all of its friends killed by the bear with ease, that it would decide to test its luck and attack the bear too.
Merlin watched as the bear swiped it paw, and everything above the hips for the orc had vanished into nothing, leaving only the legs that quickly slumped to the ground.
"That¡¯s genuinely terrifying." Merlin muttered as his legs continued moving as fast as they could.
He could still see the fight y out through the variousyers of trees, however it was quickly being obscured by the forest as he continued running.
However before his vision of the bear was entirely gone, he watched the bear¡¯s head snap towards Merlin¡¯s position. And then he heard heavy footsteps, it seemed as though the bear chose him as its next target.
"God damn it." Merlin swore, realising that he was pretty much doomed if he didn¡¯t do anything. Merlin started weaving between trees and trying to throw the bear off its path. "Is this where I die?"
The stomping was getting louder, although Merlin was yet unable to see the bear. Even though the bear shouldn¡¯t have been able to see him either, the bear seemed to be tracking him surprisingly well.
Chapter 134: Back to Macedonia
The bear ripped through the trees just behind Merlin, causing splinters to fly out everywhere. Merlin rolled out of the way as the bear¡¯s w came crashing down, leaving a deep imprint of its paw in the soft forest soil. Merlin dashed back into the trees, but this time began trying to hide his presence.
The bear seemed to be less urate the more he hid his presence. The bear ripped through more trees, sending hundreds of leaves and splinters into the air. Merlin decided that he¡¯d rather not lead the bear back to town and risk everyone¡¯s lives, so he started running towards the yew trees instead.
The bear almost caught him several times, but fortunately it wasn¡¯t as urate as it once was. With Merlin weaving through the trees, the bear could only seem to guess the rough area where he was.
¡¯This bear¡¯s awareness stat is way too high.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, dodging another palm strike.
Eventually he made it back to the yew trees, making sure not to trip over the groove in the soil that was left there moments ago.
As Merlin ran into the opening and started making his way over to the yew trees, he noticed that the bear seemed reluctant to approach any further.
¡¯So it is weary of this area.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯Good to know.¡¯
Merlin ran to the other side of the clearing, and he noticed the bear start running around the area towards him.
Merlin pretended to run further into the forest before activating sneak and running back around towards the yew trees.
¡¸Skill ?Sneak? Activated, stealth increased by 30% for 30 seconds.¡¹
Merlin was trying his hardest at that point to hide his presence and it seemed to be working, as the bear seemed to run right past him in the direction he pretended to run.
Once he felt safe, while still trying to reel in as much of his presence as possible, Merlin dashed towards the exit of the forest.
There didn¡¯t seem to be any furtherplications as Merlin escaped the treeline and made his way towards the gate.
Greeting the guards, who seemed a little disturbed by Merlin¡¯sck of presence. Merlin finally calmed himself, allowing his guard to drop somewhat and his presence to return, which seemed to put the guards at ease.
He quickly made his way towards the guild building, walking inside he saw the same ranger sitting at the desk not doing much else. It seemed his main role at the moment was to tell people unaffiliated with the rangers guild to leave, unless they wanted to join.
Merlin made his way over to the medicine room as usual, where he saw Tuli resting her head on the desk. She wasn¡¯t asleep, but she seemed tired enough to fall asleep at any moment.
"You should goy in bed if you¡¯re feeling tired." Merlin said as he approached. "Sleeping like that is going to ruin your posture."
"I¡¯m just waiting for thisst potion to brew." Tuli said in between yawns. "Then I¡¯ve got some management duties to deal with, and I still haven¡¯t..."
"And you¡¯d be much better doing all of that when you¡¯ve actually slept." Merlin interrupted her. He felt a little hypocritical as he was about to give her more work to do before leaving.
He reached into his inventory and pulled out his leather gloves, putting them on before pulling out three hundred grams of yew berries and a kilogram of yew needles. He ced them down on the desk and as he did so, he received a couple notifications.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Taking stock III.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 6.¡¹
¡¯I missed being able to level up this fast.¡¯ Merlin thought, staring at the level up notification. ¡¯Although I should start levelling up my souls too.¡¯
Tuli got up from her chair and grabbed her own pairs of gloves, allowing her to safely touch the nts and store them away in their own jars.
"Thank you Merlin." Tuli said with a sleepy tone. "I think we¡¯re stocked up for the foreseeable future now."
"You¡¯re wee. I¡¯m d to help." Merlin said, throwing his own gloves into his inventory.
Merlin remembered that he still had something to do at the thieves guild, it had been a little more than a week at this point so his request must have beenpleted by now.
"Hey Tuli, I¡¯m going to be heading over to Macedonia for a little while." Merlin exined, "The guild master wanted to chat, but she¡¯s been missing every time Ie around, so if she asks where I am, there you are."
"Alright, I¡¯ll pass the message along, and we hope to see you again soon." Tuli said with a smile before going back to her potion that had started bubbling.
"Take care." Merlin waved as he left the room, and then the building.
As he left the rangers guild building, he noticed that it was starting to be night time once more, so he wanted to see the ruins once more, and hopefully find that elusive old man again.
As Merlin walked quite a distance away, he noticed that a few vigers in the area were getting rowdy. He turned around to see a group start forming, so he went to see what was going on, but before he could get close he saw it was just Callisto making her way back home.
Although even from a distance he could tell that she was hurt, mostly due to the fact she was slightly limping, and that she was covered in scratches.
¡¯She must have tried soloing something nasty.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯I hope she isn¡¯t being reckless because her expedition parties keep getting hurt.¡¯
It was the unfortunate fate of a leader who cared too much about the individuals under theirmand. Merlin could tell that Callisto, even though her attitude could be quite abrasive at times, was quite a softhearted individual.
She clearly cared for everyone in the rangers guild, but was cold to outsiders, especially nobles, which was something Merlin could respect.
Merlin didn¡¯t bother going back and talking to her, he figured that he would just do itter if it ever came up again, it wasn¡¯t like he needed to exin himself anyway.
Merlin made his way over to the ruins, particrly the stone door frame, and when the moon seemed to finally be rising, he noticed that the words weren¡¯t lighting up anymore.
"Is it because I got the quest, or does it only light up on a full moon?" Merlin racked his brain thinking of all the possibilities that would cause this change, but he could only confidently think of these two. "I guess the only way to figure out which one it is, would be to wait for another full moon."
"Oh well." He muttered before turning and making his way down to the road.
Merlin began his journey to Macedonia, he made sure to summon his ball of light before stepping out onto the dark road.
On his long trip, he was tempted once more by the several owls he heard chirping in the night.
"I could just rece my fighter soul." He muttered to himself. "But that is four strength and a good ability I¡¯d be passing them both up for night vision and perception bonuses."
He was lost in thought as he continued walking, thinking that perhaps it¡¯d be best if he merged a few souls together to save space.
"Thief and fighter makes a bandit soul, right?" he mumbled to himself. "I doubt either of these souls would bepatible with the rose wight. But an owl soul might work with a thief."
He eventually put off the idea, mostly due to him not wanting to hunt down hundreds of owls right now, but also because he didn¡¯t feel like changing any of his souls out, or adding another soul slot which would reduce his level and make further level ups difficult.
Eventually he made it back to Macedonia, and without wasting any more time he quickly made his way through the city towards the slums.
Fortunately it seemed that the guards that were patrolling the area seemed to have let up, so Merlin made his way towards the filthy tavern, still making sure he wasn¡¯t followed.
He made his way down a dark alleyway and entered the old bar, where Fae was standing around pouring one of her security members a drink.
"Oh, hey Ghost, it¡¯s been a while." She said while cing the mug in front of the scary looking man. "If you disappeared for any longer we would have started thinking you died."
"Really? I thought the boss knew that travellers were essentially immortal." Merlin retorted. "Anyway, is he in the usual spot?"
"Yes." Fae responded, walking him down to the cer like usual and letting him in.
Merlin quickly located the elf in his favourite spot, drinking the same liquor he usually drank.
"I worry for that man¡¯s liver." Merlin identally mumbled out loud.
"Yeah..." Fae responded in a sad tone that seemed extremely out of character for her, an emotion she hadn¡¯t yet shown.
Before Merlin could even think of pressing that issue further, Fae quickly vanished back up the stairs, resuming her post as a bartender.
¡¯Wait, you can¡¯t just leave me with that.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he watched Fae disappear behind a door. ¡¯I definitely felt a storying...¡¯
Merlin shook his head in disappointment, that was a question for another day.
Chapter 135: Acquiring Knowledge
He made his way through the sea of tables and drunkards, most of which were too intoxicated to greet Merlin, but he returned the greetings of those who could.
"Hey boss." He sat down next to the thief lord, who was enjoying his ss of liquor.
"Oh, so nice of you to join us." The elf said while dragging out his letters, it seemed he was rather drunk at this point, and Merlin could smell the choking scent of strong whiskey on the elf¡¯s breath.
"Do you have the tranted documents ready?" Merlin asked, not really wanting to deal with a drunk entric elf.
"Slow, slow, slow down. All work and no y will make an elf go grey, you know?" The elf lord muttered in a drunken stupor. "Although it may be toote for you."
The elfughed at his own joke before mming the rest of his drink down his throat and standing up.
"Come." He said before drunkenly waddling through the sea of tables and other drunkards.
Merlin was lead down a different tunnel this time around, and about four minutes of the elf wobbling around barely able to stand on his own two feet, he suddenly stood up straight and began walking normally.
"The sted elf¡¯s curse." Merlin heard the elf mutter, it seemed he had already perfectly sobered up but didn¡¯t seem too happy about this fact.
"Come Merlin." The elf spoke, quickly leading him down a tunnel, and within the first minute they had already travelled further than thest four.
Merlin was lead into a surprisingly well lit room that was full of shelves, books, andrge desks. There were several people in the room working at the fewrge desks in the room, every single one of them seemed very invested in their work, as not a single one turned to look at the two who entered.
"I thought you said you didn¡¯t already have a library." Merlin muttered, "Or did you make this one in a week?"
"It¡¯s not a library, this is our office." The elf let out a small chuckle before correcting Merlin. "This is where we do most of our work involving cracking ciphers, forging documents and ckmailing nobility.
Thosest two points were mumbled, but they were still audible enough to be heard.
"And for you." The elf began talking as he walked over to a shelf, picking up a stack of paper bound with twine. "I believe this is for you."
As Merlin was handed the stack of paper that had a small shimmer indicating that it was recognised as an item by the system. He inspected the item, causing an information sheet to appear.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Bashkatil Trantion. (Unique)]
Sheets of bound paper containing arge list of trantions of the mysterious Bashkatilnguage, it was made for you by the thieves guild.
? Uses remaining: 1
? Upgrades Knowledge: "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)"
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A smile formed on Merlin¡¯s face as he read the item¡¯s stats. He unbound the twine and flipped through the pages, causing the sheets to suddenly light up before vanishing in Merlin¡¯s hands, causing a notification to appear before him.
¡¸Congrattions, your knowledge, "Language: Bashkatil (Beginner)" has been upgraded to, "Language: Bashkatil (Intermediate)"¡¹
"Well, that¡¯s an interesting ability. Convenient, but it must surely waste a fair amount of paper." The elf remarked.
"I suppose so." Merlin said, "It doesn¡¯t always eat the book or paper. It seems to only eat the document if it provides a skill."
"How odd." The elf¡¯s eyes were sparkling with curiosity. The elf turned towards the shelf once more, pulling out yet another stack of paper. "And this is the recipe we tranted... Please don¡¯t eat it."
Merlin took the sheets, although the elf seemed reluctant to hand them over. This stack of paper also shimmered, Merlin inspected the item, causing an information window to appear.
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[Ghoul Conversion Poison Recipe. (Unique)]
Sheets of bound paper containing a tranted recipe used by the vampire from another world to convert this world¡¯s residents into ravenous undead.
? Grants Knowledge: "Recipe: Ghoul Conversion Poison"
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"Well, here goes nothing." Merlin jokingly said as he flipped through the sheets of paper, knowing it wouldn¡¯t vanish as it didn¡¯t have a limited amount of uses.
The book began lighting up simr to thest, which caused the elf¡¯s body to subconsciously jerk forward and reach for the recipe, but the light vanished before his hand reached it. He stopped mid-grasp, seemingly confused.
Merlin on the other hand was given a notification.
¡¸Knowledge obtained: "Recipe: Ghoul Conversion Poison"¡¹
"Well, it didn¡¯t eat it." Merlin said, handing the documents back to the elf.
The elf seemed flustered, but quickly regained his usual demeanour, taking the documents and putting them back up on one of the shelves after retying it.
"Well, that¡¯s the trantion partplete. I still have my men working on the cure part, but we¡¯ve run into a bit of an issue." The elf exined. "They don¡¯t have a sample of the poison to work off of, or the main ingredient required to make the poison in the first ce, vampire blood."
"I might be able to help with that actually." Merlin said, "Do you know anybody with the ability to appraise or inspect objects and entities?"
"I can." The elf said, giving Merlin a gaze that reminded him of the first time they had met.
Merlin pulled two vials out of his inventory, one of the vials was from the vampire¡¯s den, he only took out one because he wanted to keep the other, and the other vial was from Redmond¡¯s mansion.
"Could you appraise these both?" Merlin asked, holding the vials out to the elf.
The elf stared at the first vial, the one he acquired from the vampire¡¯s den, and Merlin could see a strange glint in the elf¡¯s eyes.
"It¡¯s vampire blood." The elf said, looking away from the vial. "Specifically vampire blood from a creature not of this world."
Merlin tried inspecting the item now that it had been appraised, and he finally received an information window for it.
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[Otherworldly Vampire¡¯s Blood. (Rare)]
The extracted blood of a vampire from another world. It isn¡¯t certain what would happen if you were to consume it.
? Crafting material.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
He checked his inventory and the other vial¡¯s information had also appeared, it was the same item.
"Hopefully this will help you." Merlin said as he handed the elf one vial full of vampire blood.
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild.¡¹
"I¡¯ve got nothing but respect for a man who alwayses prepared." The elf said, taking the vial of vampire blood from Merlin. "I¡¯ll get this to the team shortly."
The elf then repeated the process on the second vial, the one he acquired from the Redmond¡¯s mansion, and Merlin watched as the elf¡¯s curious gaze turned into horror as the man quickly backed away a few steps.
"Where on Gaia¡¯s green earth did you find that." The elf said loud enough to distract a few of the workers in the area. "Make sure that doesn¡¯t spill anywhere in this city."
"What is it?" Merlin asked, taking a look at the vial himself now that it had been appraised.
He inspected the item, causing an information window to appear.
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[Concentrated Rose Poison. (Unique)]
Rose poison that had been cultivated within a victim of the rose wight over a long period of time, only to be extracted and concentrated into a thick tar-like substance.
A small amount of this poison entering the blood of something asrge as an orc is likely to kill the creature within a matter of minutes.
? This poison has a 80% chance to reduce the target¡¯s stats by 50%, this does not stack.
? This poison will cause severe necrosis at the point of contact, and will continue to slowly spread throughout the body until the creature dies or the poison duration ends.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Oh, well that¡¯s..." Merlin muttered, reading through the item¡¯s stats. "I¡¯m d I didn¡¯t waste this on the wolf..."
The elf seemed unsettled as he watched Merlin stare intently at the vial. Merlin decided to give him a little bit offort by cing the vial back into his inventory.
"You have that on your possession and you¡¯re worried about ghouls." The elf eximed, shaking his head.
"Well, this is the only vial of its kind." Merlin said, "There aren¡¯t any more and there cannot be any more."
"How can you be so sure?" The elf asked with a curious expression.
"The poison is developed within the body of a rare mutation of a wight, the rose wight. Born from otherworldly necromancy and a specific sequence of events, it¡¯s fair to say that she was the only one to have ever been created." Merlin began exining. "The only known victim of this poison, besides myself of course, was Sir Redmond, a noble whose wife was the corpse who became the rose wight."
"The victim in this case was Sir Redmond, and it is from his home that I acquired the poison. That man is now dead, and his body, as far as I¡¯m aware, has yet to be recovered." Merlin continued, "As for the rose wight herself, she is also dead."
"What¡¯s stopping the Despoina cult from capturing her soul again?" The elf asked.
"I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll ever find her again..." Merlin couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a little, he held out his hand, and the elf watched as a small rose bud appeared in the palm of his hand. "Because I ate her."
Chapter 136: Intercepting the traffickers - I
"You did what now?" The elf looked at Merlin¡¯s hand with a concerned expression.
"Her soul. I ate her soul." Merlin corrected.
"Doesn¡¯t that mean that you can produce the poison yourself?" The elf asked. "In which case, it¡¯s not a matter of there cannot be any more, but just that nobody besides you can make it. Correct?"
"Not really." Merlin shook his head. "I may have her soul and her abilities, but my poison is nowhere near as potent as hers, and itsts for a few minutes at the best of times."
Merlin retracted the rose bud back into his own body.
"I see." The elf said as he lowered his guard somewhat.
"Well, putting that aside now." The elf cleared his throat and got back to business. "I¡¯ve got a couple missions for you to do."
"Alright, lets hear them." Merlin seemed excited.
"This may need some exnation first." The elf took a seat and instructed Merlin to do the same.
"You¡¯ve provided us with a lot of useful information, even helping work towards the identity of the demon that took Cecelia away from me." As Merlin took a seat, the thief lord began speaking. "Within the information you¡¯ve given us about the corrupt noble organisation in Orchomenus, we found a few links with corrupt nobles here in Macedonia, and when we researched those corrupt nobles further, we began finding that a few of them have links with the demon, Kilo."
"We¡¯ve identified several nobles in strong positions that have been supported by, and have provided support to this being who calls itself Kilo, and we believe that is why its cult had grown so quickly from nothing." The elf continued exining. "The main issue is, once we defeat the demon and free Cecelia, there will be a power imbnce within the city."
"The demon¡¯s puppets will attempt to take over her position, each with their own agenda. We¡¯re fortunate now that the demon doesn¡¯t seem to be interested in anything other than this Rig person." The elf said. "And Cecelia herself wouldn¡¯t be safe from these corrupt nobles if they were allowed to live. Those corrupt nobles may try to ckmail her with all the cruel things the demon had done, or even outright try to kill her... So they must all die before we free her, for her safety."
"I¡¯ve picked out the first target, and it seems to benefit us both." The elf said with a smile, "It¡¯ll solve your scrying issue too."
A quest notification appeared before Merlin.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Hidden Rare Quest]
Cutting off the spider¡¯s legs: Madame Harce.
The thieves guild leader has given you a mission to assassinate Madame Harce, a corrupt noble who is well loved and quite famous amongstmoners for her supposed phnthropic activities.
In the public eye she is seen as a saint, for she donates to the poor and even runs an the Harce orphanage.
However behind that veil is a wicked and morally bankrupt woman who utilises her orphanage as a cover for her human trafficking ring, of which most of her wares seem to be children from the orphanage itself.
The thieves guild leader believes that Madame Harce is one of the corrupt nobles within the oracle¡¯s grasp, but before he can take her down, he needs to cut off all her limbs.
She is known to be slightly paranoid, most likely due to the fact that even the smallest leak of her criminal organisation would be a major blow against her public image. She doesn¡¯t seem to be too fond of being spied on and seems to have invested in magic items to counter scrying.
The added benefit of taking Madame Harce down first would be acquiring magical items that would protect you from the oracle¡¯s attempts at scrying, making assassination of the other nobles easier.
Failure to finish her off and get away undetected will result in dire consequences.
Eliminate Madam Harce.
? Warning: This quest involves severe criminal activity.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause unpredictable changes within Macedonia.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause Serpent-Bearer Kilo to be wary.
? Reward: 1000 EXP, 1200 Thief Soul EXP, Ring of the Undetectable
? Failure: Be a wanted criminal, -50 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo.
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"Human trafficking... Child trafficking even. What scum." Merlin muttered as he pped the ept button. "Where can I find her."
"Calm down for a second." The elf interrupted him. "I said there were a couple missions."
Merlin took his advice and began listening once more.
"You wont be able to reach her just yet, she has too much public support and is too paranoid to be left unguarded. But there is a way you can weaken her defences." The elf began exining. "We¡¯ve uncovered rumours of a shipment that is supposed to happen soon, headed towards a noble¡¯s estate in Megalopolis."
"My spies are still extracting information, but it should be happening in the next couple days." The elf continued, "If you intercept the shipment and free the captured victims, that could deal a major blow against Madam Harce¡¯s reputation."
"I would like you to hide in waiting and free the captured individuals before they reach Megalopolis. Make sure that none of the ve traders are left alive." The elf said, "I¡¯d rmend wearing a mask."
Another quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Rare Quest]
Intercepting the traffickers.
There seems to be rumours of an illegal trafficking shipment headed towards Megalopolis. The thieves guild leader has asked you to intercept the shipment and free the victims, making sure that none of the criminals are left alive to warn Madam Harce.
Failure to finish them off and get away unrecognised will result in dire consequences.
Intercept the ve caravan, kill all the traffickers.
? Warning: This quest involves severe criminal activity.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause Madam Harce to be increasingly paranoid.
? Reward: 700 EXP, 600 Thief Soul EXP
? Failure: Be a wanted criminal.
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"Of course, I ept." Merlin said, epting the quest. "Do you have any more details, or should I just be in the area and attack any wagons that appear on the road?"
"I should have more information in a matter of hours, but for now all we know is that the shipments will be made using covered wagons with the crest of a three leaf clover." The elf exined. "The crest belongs to a lesser noble family that Madame Harce uses as a cover for her illicit dealings."
"The noble family seems to have been ckmailed into servitude." The elf mumbled, "We aren¡¯t exactly sure why yet, but we believe it to be rted in some way to their eldest daughter¡¯s drug problem."
"Regardless, that¡¯s an issue for another day. Please set out and get prepared. I¡¯ll send an informant out to find you if any other informationes up, but for now just look for covered wagons with the clover crest." The elf said as he stood up. "I¡¯ll be preparing a few more tasks for when you get back. Good luck."
Merlin stood up and the two of them began walking out of the room, Merlin started walking back towards the main room, but the thief lord had turned and gone down a different route with the vial of vampire blood in hand, he was most likely delivering it to his team working on a cure.
Back to the main room, Merlin gave a few waves to a few of the drunkards that seemed to have woken up from their drunken stupor as he left.
Merlin waved goodbye to Fae as he left the shabby looking tavern, and once he was out in the slums once more, he flipped up his new hood and made his way back into the main part of town.
¡¯He asked me to wear a mask, what stores here sell masks?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he ran around looking for a mask.
He eventually came across a shop dedicated to noble clothing, and a part of that catalogue seemed to be masks for masquerade balls.
As he entered the store, he surprisingly didn¡¯t get any rude res, it seemed his cloak looked nice enough for him to not be treated as amoner, unlike the basic clothes underneath.
Merlin looked around the store for a little while, browsing the wears. Most of the masks were the half face variety, and amongst those most had a handle. He was looking for something that would cover the entire face and had a strap, but so far all he could find were half face ones with a strap.
He was beginning to give up hope when he saw a full faced mask that seemed to have been shoved to the back and hidden. behind other masks.
As Merlin reached in and grabbed the mask to take a look at it properly. Once he got a proper look at it, he thought it was kind of cute. It also happened to be a full faced mask with straps, so it met all his criteria.
Merlin inspected the item, causing an information window to appear.
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[Decorative Owl Mask. (Common)]
An oddly shaped porcin mask, it somewhat resembles the face of a barn owl.
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Merlin approached the counter with the owl mask in hand, and as he ced it on the counter the man standing behind it gave him a strange expression, clearly judging Merlin¡¯s taste in fashion.
"How much is it?" Merlin asked.
"Six silver." The cashier said while staring at the mask.
Merlin took six silver out of his inventory and ced it on the counter, leaving him with only fourteen silver left.
Chapter 137: Intercepting the traffickers - II
Merlin took his mask, throwing it in his inventory before leaving, he made sure his hood was at least partially obscuring his face as he shopped. The mask seller would be able to identify any crimes caused by him using the mask and potentially the robe, but Merlin could always hide and change those, but he couldn¡¯t change his face.
¡¯Well, if I¡¯m going to be out there, I might as well pick a couple quests to give me an excuse to be out there, and earn some money on the side.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯But at the same time they deal in news and rumours, so if the victims start talking about their saviour, some identifiable features might pop up...¡¯
¡¯It¡¯s better to be safe than sorry, lets do this.¡¯ Merlin took off his warm panther cloak, throwing it back into his inventory before grabbing his apprentice¡¯s ck cloak and wearing that instead.
He entered the crowd as usual and made his way over to the mercenary guild, entering the building once he arrived. Surprisingly enough, the usual woman who served him wasn¡¯t there anymore, instead reced by another woman.
"Hello there. Would you like to look at our job listings, receive reports, news and rumours, or would you like to purchase alcohol?" The receptionist spoke, she was much nicer with her words, extending the prompts into full sentences instead of the one word limit thest receptionist gave him.
"I would like to hear about any news and rumours, please." Merlin asked, curious to see what changed over the week.
"Sure thing! Let me see what I¡¯ve got for you." The receptionist spoke in a friendly voice while pulling out a bundle of paper. She began flipping through the sheets, looking for the most crucial news.
"Are you aware of what¡¯s been going on with Charisia?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes, has anything new happened over thest week?" Merlin responded.
"No, it looks like you¡¯re all up to date on that information then." She said while flipping through to another page. Her face darkened when it came across a certain page.
"Thetest news would be that the city of Laconia and its nearby town Sparta has fallen to the undead horde." The receptionist said with a sad voice. "Not even the spartan warriors could face against so many undead."
"The temple has officially dered Laconia as the city of the dead, renaming it and the surroundingnds to Necropolis. It is nothing but an undead wastnd now." She said. Merlin noticed that tears seemed to be forming in her eyes as she read it. "The temple has decided that it will now be sending its holy warriors to keep the undead at bay, as they have received support requests from the towns of Caphyae and Argolis."
"There have been updates in regards to the Tegean Marsnds, a single scout managed to return from their expedition into the marsh, although he came back in critical condition. He apparently confirmed that the Lizardfolk were cooperating with the Naga, and even worse, that they had undead on their side as well." She continued. "Oh gods, why is there nothing but news of the dead walking every week. This is not natural. Something truly evil must be working behind the scenes."
Merlin gave the receptionist a moment to calm down before she told him a few smaller news pieces that didn¡¯t really interest him, until thest one grabbed his interest again.
"There have been rumours of a new addictive drug circting the city. The town guards are paying for any information that could help them put a stop to its production or trade throughout the city." She said, "There have been a few reports that criminals have been drugging the children of nobles, getting them hooked before ckmailing the parents with their child¡¯s life on the line."
"Disgusting behaviour." She muttered before putting the sheets back into a pile. "Unfortunately that¡¯s all I¡¯ve got in regards to news, can I help you with anything else, work perhaps? Or a drink after all that bad news."
"I¡¯d like to see what jobs you¡¯ve got avable." Merlin said, "Preferably extermination quests heading towards Megalopolis."
The receptionist started flipping through a new stack of sheets.
"I know we had a bunch a week ago, goblins especially, but it seems someone has taken most of them." She said, flipping through a couple more pages. "I¡¯ve got a couple for wild boars, oh and there¡¯s one for a giant wild boar."
"I¡¯ll take them." Merlin said, specifying all three quests.
"Efficient. Alright, here you are." The receptionist said as she handed Merlin each quest form, causing three notifications to appear before him.
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[Common Quest]
Makin¡¯ Bacon.
The mercenary guild has requested that you acquire meat from the local wild boars. They are offering to pay six copper per kilogram of meat, and they need about a hundred kilograms of meat in total.
Wild Boar Meat: 0/100
? Reward: 300 EXP, 60 silver
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[Common Quest]
Acquire Pigskins.
The mercenary guild has requested that you hunt down local wild boars and harvest their hide. They are offering to pay one silver per meter of hide, and they need about forty meters in total.
Wild Boar Hide: 0/40
? Reward: 200 EXP, 40 silver
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[Umon Quest]
Jurassic Pork.
A mutated wild boar has been spotted west of Macedonia, it is muchrger and more aggressive than the regr wild boars.
This giant wild boar has been quite an issue for hunters, preventing them from hunting the local wildlife without suffering injury.
The mercenary guild has requested that you set out and y the giant wild boar.
Kill a giant wild boar.
Giant wild boar: 0/1
? Reward: 300 EXP, 20 silver
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Merlin epted all three quests, throwing the quest forms into his inventory.
He thanked the receptionist and made his way out of the mercenary guild building, quickly running towards the western gate.
He slipped out of the city, summoning his ball of light as he made his way down the darkened road. The cold midnight wind rustled the vast fields of barley that surrounded him.
¡¯I wonder if that wild boar is still there.¡¯ He wondered to himself, ¡¯Those yers probably ended up getting revenge, so I¡¯ll just have to hope one spawns.¡¯
Merlin made his way over the bridge, greeting the few fishermen who were still working diligently throughout the night.
He eventually made it to the vast rolling hills once he escaped the farnd, and he began eyeing up the boars in the area, looking for a giant variant, but he wasn¡¯t so lucky.
Merlin swapped his cloak out for his panther cloak, finding the cold air much more tolerable now.
"Well, wild boars don¡¯t give much experience, but they¡¯re weak enough I should be able to level you up by tonight." Merlin said as a rose sprouted from his hand.
He needed to waste time while he waited anyway, so he decided to give some love to his soul that hadn¡¯t levelled up yet.
The rose wight soul didn¡¯t seem to get experience from weapon kills, or at least didn¡¯t get any experience from the weapons Merlin used on a regr basis.
"Well based on how the original rose wight fought." He said as two vine-like tentacles extended out of his hand. "It should just be kills with you guys, and the poison I guess."
It seemed the rose wight was a picky soul when it came to harvesting experience, some souls were simr, in which there were very few actions that would help it grow.
For most of these souls, they were often regarded as not worth the effort, even if they gave better stats, as it¡¯d just be faster to level up a different soul that was more lenient with its requirements.
"Lets see what you¡¯ve got." Merlin muttered as he ran towards one of the boars, sending his vines out to puncture its hide.
The vines both pierced the boar, but it was still alive. It wasn¡¯t until he ripped the vines out and stabbed it a few more times that the boar dropped dead.
¡¯They really are weak.¡¯ He thought, ¡¯They seem to have powered up a little though, so it¡¯s linked to stats as I thought.¡¯
He continued throughout the hills, using his vines exclusively to kill things. It was inconveniently slow, but he was still getting his quest done.
He originally nned on skinning the boars to get it over with faster, but seeing as they were dropping a few items on their own, and he had plenty to kill, he just kept at it.
About an hour had passed, and he was getting close topleting the quest for wild boar hide when he heard a loud stomping sound in the distance that seemed to be getting louder.
Merlin turned his head to see a cloud of dust behind the giant wild boar that was chasing after him.
"This little piggy is going to the market." He muttered while equipping his daggers.
Chapter 138: Intercepting the traffickers - III
The giant wild boar snorted angrily as it charged towards him. The boar lowered its head as it got close, with the intent of skewering Merlin with its tusks.
"Aren¡¯t you getting ahead of yourself pork belly." Merlin taunted as he sent his vines out.
The vines lunged at the boar¡¯s legs, wrapping around them and causing the boar to trip. Merlin barely leapt out of the way as the boar barrelled down the small hill he found himself on.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
He ran after the boar that had rolled past him, sending his vines into the boar¡¯s underbelly.
He began chanting a skill as he charged towards it.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 35% damage, and has a 15% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
Merlin leapt into the air, plunging his wolf fang dagger into the side of the boar¡¯s head.
The boar tried retaliating, quickly rolling into its feet and mming its head at Merlin, but he leapt backwards while pushing away from the boar with his vines, giving him a fair amount of distance over his usual leap.
The boar seemed cautious, it didn¡¯t immediately start charging again out of fear of being tripped once more. So while it began moving slower in an attempt to keep all four feet on the ground, Merlin ran circles around the creature, slowly whipping it to death with his vines.
The vines did a fraction of the already subpar damage due to the boar¡¯s thick hide, but he was ultimately fighting this thing unchallenged.
Any time the giant wild boar got frustrated and decided to charge at him again, Merlin would trip the boar over and impale it with his vines instead of whipping it.
The only challenge he really faced was when the boars he had killed in the area started respawning, and the giant wild boar¡¯s cries sent them into a frenzy. This was most likely what had happened to thest party he watched get stomped to death by the boars whileing back from his extermination quests.
Eventually the giant wild boar, alongside any of the nearby boars that decided to charge in, had fallen.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Jurassic Pork", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
¡¸Congrattions, your soul "¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Rose Wight (Level 1)" has levelled up.¡¹
"Oh it¡¯s about time." Merlin said, out loud before checking his soul¡¯s stats.
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¡ï¡ï Race Soul: Rose Wight ? Level 2
Bonus Stats: +9 Constitution, +2 Strength
Abilities: ?Rose Blight?
Origin Soul Bonuses: +15% Status Resistance, +6 Attack Damage, ?Thorn Vine?,
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"Aww, no new abilities?" Merlin mumbled before taking a look at what changes his soul skills had.
His rose blight ability seemed to only have one change, and that was the ten percent chance of triggering bing fifteen percent. It didn¡¯t seem like the reduction of stats had changed at all, that remained at only five percent.
As for thorn vine, he was now able to manipte up to three thorn-covered vines, and other than that it seems the trigger chance for the poison on a sessful hit was also raised to fifteen to match the rose blight ability.
"Well, it¡¯s still a solid ability, nothing toin about." He muttered. "And I do enjoy the bonuses."
He brought up his stats window, checking the changes.
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? Vitality = 8 (+7 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 16 (+7 Base, +0 Title, +9 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 19 (+7 Base, +2 Title, +6 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 16 (+7 Base, +0 Title, +4 Soul, +1 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Agility = 13 (+7 Base, +0 Title, +2 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 7 (+7 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 8 (+7 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Charisma = 9 (+7 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +1 Bonus)
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"And my strength overtakes my dexterity by a mile once again." He grumbled before looking at his constitution. "I have so many different bonuses for my dexterity, and all it takes is one soul to match my constitution with it."
While he was talking to himself he barely heard the sound of grass rustle behind him, which he ignored for a moment, thinking it was either the wind or a boar, until his body started feeling nervous.
Merlin drew his weapon and turned around quickly, only to find that Bell Ladrona, the mute kid from the thieves guild, was standing a few meters in front of him.
"Bell, you¡¯ve really got to stop doing that, you¡¯re gonna give a guy a heart attack." Merlin lowered his weapon while exhaling.
Bell smiled before pulling a letter out of his pocket, handing it to Merlin before immediately scurrying off back towards the city.
Before Merlin opened the letter, he quickly checked his inventory to see if everything was there, and fortunately it seemed Bell had kept his promise.
He eventually opened the letter, and read its contents.
The letter spoke of a shipment heading towards Megalopolis, it was going to be shipped early that morning in a total of three covered wagons bearing the clover insignia. But the most interesting piece of information he found was that the intended recipient was someone he was familiar with, and he was apparently even a repeat customer.
"Baron Doolmet... I guess he really is scum." Merlin muttered while feeling somewhat disappointed he didn¡¯t go through with his desires earlier. "Well, that would have probably fallen on Callisto or the other rangers had I actually done it, I¡¯d need to approach it smarter."
"But if he has bought ves before, was the kid that got killed even his biological son?" Merlin wondered out loud, "Is he conspiring against Callisto?"
Merlin pulled his sharp hunters knife out of his inventory as he mumbled to himself, and he began skilfully harvesting the giant wild boar for as much material as he could.
About twenty minutes passed and Merlin had obtained as much as he could from the creature, he was trying his best to skin it while also using his vines to fight off any of the boars that spawned nearby and started attacking him.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Makin¡¯ Bacon", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
The boar gave him enough meat to finish his quest, but there wasn¡¯t enough hide on the creature, he would still have to kill a few more boars and hope for the best.
Twenty or so minutes had passed, and Merlin had finally killed thest boar he needed. At this point, it seemed the sun was starting the rise, as he didn¡¯t have to resummon his ball of light to see well.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Acquire Pigskins", visit the mercenary guild to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin turned towards the bridge, noticing that there wasn¡¯t any wagonsing his way yet.
"I probably don¡¯t have time to turn in the quests, huh?" He muttered, "It¡¯d be embarrassing if they left while I was in the city, lets just do itter."
Merlin reached into his inventory, pulling out the porcin owl mask. He put the mask on, tightening the strap before throwing the cloak¡¯s hood over his head.
He made his way down the road for roughly ten minutes before slipping into the forest. This would put him far enough away from the city that nobody should see what was about to happen.
Due to the ten meter distance between the treeline and the road, along with the morning light, it was unlikely that they wouldn¡¯t see him charge at them. His next idea was that he should pick off as many as he could from a distance before charging in.
"I guess I should cripple the horses to stop them from running away." He thought to himself as he pulled his bow and a quiver of arrows from his inventory.
He was going to start slicing his hand on each of the arrows, but then he remembered that he had an overabundance of yew in his inventory.
Since it seemed he had plenty of time, Merlin quickly pulled out his gloves, a mortar and several yew needles and berries, peeling off the red fleshy skins from the berries and crushing the seeds. Because the fruit part of the berries were safe to eat, he threw them towards a nearby squirrel.
Merlin crushed the yew materials into a paste of sorts, and he began applying this paste to the tips of his arrows before putting his arrows back into his quiver.
He cast cleanse on his pestle and mortar, causing the leftover yew paste to peel from the mortar and pestle, before floating into the air and vanishing.
¡¯Such a convenient spell.¡¯ He thought once again.
He eventually threw his equipment back into his inventory, grabbing hold of his bow once more.
Like usual, Merlin could feel his heart beating faster, as his body was full of excitement alongside the anxiety he always felt before an assassination.
Although this was more akin to murdering bandits than a proper assassination, the reason assassination was soon toe.
As he was scanning his surroundings, he heard several wagons being pulled down the road a fair distance away.
Merlin grabbed one of his poisoned arrows and nocked it on his bow as he crouched down behind arge shrub for some cover.
As the wagons continued down the road, Merlin could now see three of them, each being tugged along by two horses. The three wagons had six armed guards walking alongside them, so if there weren¡¯t any people hiding within the covered wagons there would be a total of nine people to kill, including the drivers.
Chapter 139: Intercepting the traffickers - IV
Merlin drew his bow back, aiming it at one of the horses in the front carriages.
His first goal would be to prevent the carriages from running away. If he started picking off the guards, it was likely that the carriages would continue to their destination while leaving the guards as a distraction.
For this task, he only had to kill one of the two horses each, as the dead horse¡¯s corpse would serve as a severe inconvenience that would hopefully prevent the other horse from moving the wagon much, if at all.
As the horses rode closer, Merlin¡¯s eyes locked onto the clover insignia on the covered wagons, which was all he needed as confirmation to let the first arrow fly. The arrow flew out of the treeline, embedding itself in the head of one of the horses tugging along the leading wagon.
The horse became panicked, running the cart towards the treeline and knocking over one of the guards, only to drop dead a few moments after. The sudden boost of speed, followed by the sudden stop as the wagon¡¯s wheel hit the dead horse, caused the driver¡¯s body to jerk forwards, throwing him off the cart.
"What the--" One of the guards shouted out in surprise as another arrow flew out of the forest, hitting another horse in a simr way, followed by a third.
By the time the guards had drawn their weapons and moved to defend from their attacker, all three wagons were effectively disabled.
Merlin could hear startled criesing from the wagons, which caused an increased feeling of bloodlust to grow within him.
Merlin drew another arrow, sending it flying into the heart of one of the guards. And fortunately he wasn¡¯t given a karma reduction, which meant that the system treated them as nothing more than criminals.
The guard that was hit in the heart staggered towards him, it was impressive that he was even still standing after taking a shot from his longbow, let alone the poison.
The guard dropped to the ground after making it about half way from the road to Merlin¡¯s position in the treeline.
"It¡¯s just one guy, be careful of others still hiding." One of the guards shouted.
The rest of the guards, and even the drivers, had started making their way over to Merlin¡¯s position. A couple more arrows were shot out, one of which barely scraped a guard¡¯s arm, the other found its way in the throat of the guard that was yelling out orders, causing that guard to drop dead moments after too.
By this time the guards had closed in on Merlin¡¯s position, so he was forced to throw his bow back into his inventory and move into melee range. He kept the quiver on his side however, not bothering to take it off just yet.
He drew his daggers and ran towards the nearest guard, who had been barely scraped by one of the arrows. This guard had started wobbling around as he moved, it seemed the poison had started circting through his system, but he was fortunate to not get as high of a dose as the others so it was taking longer.
Merlin had loaded each arrow with enough poison to overdose a horse within a matter of seconds, so while the guard hadn¡¯t gotten it all, it should still be a lethal dose.
"An owl?" The guard muttered before shing his sword at Merlin.
Merlin dodged the guard¡¯s desperate sword sh before slicing the man¡¯s throat with a couple quick strikes from his daggers, finishing the guard off.
Thest three guards had pounced towards him with their weapons drawn, Merlin parried away the closest de while leaping backwards to avoid the others. But as he leapt back, the guards continued rushing towards him, not giving him enough room to n his next attack.
"Fine, we¡¯ll do it this way." Merlin muttered as he reached for his quiver, grabbing hold of three poisoned arrows.
As his foot hit the floor, he leapt backwards once more, throwing the three poisoned arrows into the air above him.
The three guards nced up towards the arrows briefly, wondering what the purpose of that action was. But as their attention all snapped back towards Merlin, they witnessed three vines suddenly burst out of his body.
"What the, it¡¯s not human." One of the guards shouted in surprise.
The vines extended up towards the arrows, each wrapping around one. It was at this moment that the guards realised what was about to happen.
Before they could even react to the attack, the vines, alongside the poisoned arrows, were suddenly thrust into the guard¡¯s bodies.
"A demo--" A guard who had the arrow thrust into his neck muttered before the poison overtook his system, causing him to fall to his knees.
One of the guards who got an arrow to the shoulder ran towards Merlin once more, slicing at him while shouting at the top of his lungs.
Merlin avoided the strike, but the de cut the vine that was attached to him still, causing it to retract.
Merlin plunged his daggers into the guard¡¯s heart, finishing him off. He then approached thest guard that was still standing upright, but he seemed to be having a hard time staying that way, let alone moving.
The guard didn¡¯t even bother raising his sword arm, or perhaps he couldn¡¯t, as Merlin approached and cut him down.
The guard that was on the floor died moments before Merlin even approached him.
"Yew is overpowered against low constitution enemies, wow." He muttered, ncing over at the drivers who seemed to be experiencing arge array of emotions.
One of the drivers was trying to drive away, but the remaining horse couldn¡¯t drag the wagon and the dead horse being dragged underneath it. Another driver had a dagger drawn and was slowly approaching him, and thest driver was groaning on the floor, as he seemed to have been trampled by his remaining horse as he was bucked off the driver seat.
Merlin made short work of the driver approaching him, before finishing off the driver groaning on the floor, and then he made his way to the driver that barely managed to move the wagon and was currently a little bit down the road.
It took him about twelve seconds at a slight jog to catch up with the vehicle. Before the driver could do anything else, he felt his body go cold, only to look down and see arge vine piercing through his chest where his heart should have been.
The driver was dragged off the wagon by the vine, it seemed the vines received a little bit of a strength upgrade, which Merlin had just noticed.
The driver was thrown to the ground at Merlin¡¯s feet, and he stared up to see the face of a pale white porcin owl staring back at him.
"I don¡¯t think you¡¯re cut out for this line of work." Merlin taunted as the driver drew a knife and attempted to lunge at him.
Three vines flew out of Merlin¡¯s body, each piercing arge hole in the driver¡¯s torso.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
Surprisingly, the vines had actually killed the driver.
"Woah, you guys got a pretty nice buff." Merlin mumbledpliments as he retracted his vines back into his body. "Not sure if that¡¯s because of the raw attack damage bonus or an upgraded part of the skill, but not bad."
He looked around his surroundings, noticing that he left a little bit of a mess out of all the child traffickers.
"I should probably clean this up before I free the kids, huh." He muttered, sending his vines out to grab the driver¡¯s body before dragging him into the forest. He found keys on the driver¡¯s corpse, something he thought would possibly be useful so he grabbed them.
He disconnected the dead horse, throwing that into the forest too, before riding the wagon back towards the other wagons.
He tied the wagon down to another wagon before running around hiding all the dead bodies, obtaining the driver¡¯s keys and retrieving all the arrows that didn¡¯t break on contact.
He cast cleanse on the salvaged arrows before throwing them in his inventory, he also threw the quiver full of poisoned arrows in his inventory.
Fortunately nobody else seemed to be out on the road yet, or he¡¯d have to quickly escape. But once he was done, it was time to remove the covers from the wagons.
He ripped the ck fabric cover off the wagon, revealing that the inside of the wagon was just arge metal cage.
"This would have been obvious during any amount of inspection..." Merlin muttered, "There have to be guards on the noble¡¯s payrolls."
Inside the cages were arge number of young children, mostly young boys, packed within the cage. They seemed terrified, but clearly couldn¡¯t do much against their bindings, let alone the metal cage.
Merlin started messing around with the keys he looted, figuring out which key belonged to which cage. He eventually got the door opened, and began untying all the victims. It was mostly children but there seemed to be a few older individuals in the group.
He eventually finished freeing everyone, and once he had, he turned to the older looking individuals.
"Start making your way back to town. Don¡¯t trust the guards at the gate, it¡¯s highly likely that they are working with the human traffickers." He ordered, "And don¡¯t trust Madame Harce."
Chapter 140: Assassinate the Assassin
As Merlin finished giving out instructions to the kidnapped victims, some of which seemed confused at the mention of Madame Harce¡¯s name, the group eventually began moving down the road towards Macedonia.
As they made it out of the forest, Merlin received a notification telling him he hadpleted the requirements for the quest.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Intercepting the traffickers", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Alright, works for me." He muttered, thinking he¡¯d have to do a lot more. "I guess that counts as getting away undetected, masks are pretty convenient."
Merlin started running around to all the wagons, freeing the horses that were still alive before resting his hand on one of the wagons and chanting a spel.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
He continued to the other wagons, waiting for ignite¡¯s ten second cooldown before casting it again and again on the other two carts.
"Alright lets get out of here before the guards show up." He muttered before dashing into the forest.
Merlin took off his warm panther cloak and owl mask, throwing them both into his inventory and pulling out his old apprentice ck cloak.
Once he was dressed, he slipped through the forest, only to end up in the rolling hills a little distance away from the road.
Merlin started killing more boars with his daggers for about ten minutes, until he saw a group of eight city guards marching down the road. Merlin continued shing at the boars, not paying the guards any attention, and they just continued down the road without giving him any attention either.
As the guards marched past, Merlin began making his way down the road and into the city.
The guards at the gate seemed to have changed, although he wasn¡¯t sure if that was just a shift change or something had happened with the other guards and the kids.
He quickly made his way towards the mercenary guild and stepped inside. He walked over to the friendly receptionist, who greeted him with a smile.
"Hi there! Have youpleted the tasks already?" She asked.
"Yes, I¡¯d like to turn them in." He said, pulling the three quest sheets out of his inventory and handing them over to her.
"Excellent. Lets see here." She muttered before vanishing behind a door into another room, she came out momentster with arge basket. "Please unload all the meat in this basket here, and all the skins in that collection basket over there."
She pointed over to the basket that he had previously unloaded a ton of goblin ears into, fortunately it seemed like the basket was cleaned regrly.
Merlin did as he was instructed, unloading one hundred kilograms of wild boar meat into the one basket, and forty meters of boar hide in the other.
The receptionist seemed to be counting everything that was being unloaded as she messed around with coins in her hand.
"So in total that¡¯ll be one hundred and twenty silver, would you mind if I paid that out in gold coins?" She asked.
"No, not at all." Merlin said.
He watched as she threw therge handful of silver back into a hefty drawstring bag, only to pull out a smaller bag and take twelve gold coins out, cing them on the desk.
"Thank you." She said, pushing the gold coins towards Merlin.
"Not a problem." Merlin took the coins, saying goodbye before wandering out of the mercenary guild building.
He weaved into the crowd as usual, making his way over towards the slums once more.
He checked his surroundings as he made his way towards the thieves guild, and believed that he was fine. Once he was confident, he slipped down the alleyway and made his way into the run down tavern.
"Wee back." Fae said, poking her head up from behind the counter. She started making her way towards the cer before Merlin could even say anything.
Merlin gave her a wave as he followed her down into the cer, he walked through the door into the thieves guild.
As usual the elf was sitting around in his favourite spot. Merlin approached him, weaving through the tables that seemed to be more barren than usual.
"Hey boss, that one is all done, what next?" He said as he sat down besides him.
"You¡¯re raring to go this early in the morning, don¡¯t you ever sleep?" The elf turned and asked him.
"Well, this body doesn¡¯t require it, so no." Merlin answered, "It shouldn¡¯t be that unusual, you don¡¯t really sleep either, do you?"
"No, I suppose you¡¯re right." He muttered, turning back towards his drink.
"You¡¯re drinking that this early in the morning too, don¡¯t you ever get tired of it?" Merlin asked.
"Yeah..." The elf muttered softly, which Merlin barely picked up on.
A few moments passed before the elf asked the bartender to pour another ss of the same whiskey, just a tiny amount this time rather than the full ss that the elf usually had.
As the elf received the drink, he pushed the ss to Merlin.
"Just taste it, you don¡¯t have to finish it or even swallow it." The elf said with a stern voice.
Merlin was going to refuse, but since the elf was being so adamant, he decided to go through with it.
He picked up the ss and poured the contents into his mouth, swirling it around his tongue for a moment before he ended up swallowing it anyway.
Merlin began coughing, and he felt his stomach immediately start churning. The alcohol was still so powerful even with the effects of corpse eater cutting it down by sixty percent.
"Did you just make me taste dwarven armpit sweat?" Merlin retorted as his body started heating up. "That is the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth."
"I suppose that¡¯s a good name for it." The elf said while cracking a smile. "This is the mountain¡¯s tears, a disgusting whiskey brewed by dwarves, and it¡¯s the only alcohol that you can find in all of Arcadia that can get elves drunk."
"Albeit briefly, before our bodies reject the alcohol and we be sober once more." He continued. "This batch was brewed on the same year that me and my wife were married."
"Does that serve your curiosity?" The elf asked.
"You did all that just for that?" Merlin sighed.
"Well, no." The elf said, "I also got you to drink, didn¡¯t I?"
"Although I¡¯m impressed, you seem perfectly fine..." The elf continued, his eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Your scythe wielding friend was curious about it too, but he was drunk after the first sip."
¡¯Aha, I guess my high constitution and corpse eater title saved me this time around.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯If I raised my constitution much higher I could probably challenge a dwarf to a drinking contest.¡¯
"We¡¯ll make an alcoholic out of you yet." The elf muttered, "Well, back to what you came here for, good job on protecting the kids."
"Did they get into the city safely? I suspected that the guards at the gate were being paid off, so I was worried that they wouldn¡¯t be safe." Merlin said.
"Not to worry, we¡¯ve already dealt with the corrupt guards and a few guards of our own have taken custody of all the children." The elf exined, "They will be used to build a case against Madame Harce, and we should have results by the end of the week."
"Alright, that¡¯s good." Merlin breathed a sigh of relief.
"There is however an issue that has arisen." The elf continued. "Madame Harce has heard the news by now and grown more paranoid, she has suspected that someone is working against her. And we have heard rumours that she considered using her connections with the oracle to hire someone dangerous."
"There is an assassin famously utilised amongst the nobles to silence those who oppose them, he goes by the alias Ghostsaw." The elf exined, "I fear that Madame Harce will use this assassin to silence the city officials that we have under our control, so your task is to protect them and deal with this assassin."
As the elf said this, a quest window appeared before him.
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[Hidden Rare Quest]
Cutting off the spider¡¯s legs: Ghostsaw.
The thieves guild leader has given you a mission to assassinate Ghostsaw, a famous assassin who operates within Macedonia.
He is famously known for only taking kill requests from high paying customers, mostly high ranking nobles, and his victims are almost always high profile targets. He appears for brief moments of time, sometimes only a few times a year, only to disappear without a trace, never to be heard from again until the next year.
This behaviour pattern has given him the first part of his nickname, Ghost. While the second part was due to the fact that his weapon of choice is always a nasty serrated de, which always leaves cuts that looked as though the body had been sawed rather than sliced.
Failure to finish him off and get away undetected will result in dire consequences.
Failure to finish him off before he kills his target will result in associated quest, "Cutting off the spider¡¯s legs: Madame Harce" to increase in difficulty.
Eliminate Ghostsaw.
? Warning: This quest involves severe criminal activity.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause unpredictable changes within Macedonia.
? Warning: Thepletion of this quest will cause Serpent-Bearer Kilo to be wary.
? Reward: 1000 EXP, 1200 Thief Soul EXP, Ghostsaw¡¯s de
? Failure: Be a wanted criminal, -50 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo, -20 familiarity with the Leader of the Thieves Guild, -20 familiarity with the Thieves Guild.
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Chapter 141: Ghost vs Ghostsaw - I
"Ghostsaw. Sure it sounds fun." Merlin said while epting the quest.
"Very well. I¡¯ll have someone escort you to the building." The elf said, "Do you need to n anything beforehand?"
"Well, I might need to get something to counter invisibility." Merlin muttered, "If the guy goes invisible I probably wont be able to detect him."
The elf stared at Merlin for a moment before reassuring him. "There¡¯s no need to worry. The office already has measures in ce to prevent such a thing. You just need to worry about killing him quickly."
"Do I need to wear a mask again?" Merlin asked.
"You mean the owl mask?" The elf chuckled, "The people within that office are on our side, but at the same time it wouldn¡¯t hurt to separate that lifestyle and your identity, even if it¡¯s just with a mask."
Merlin nodded, deciding that he¡¯d switch to his owl mask before entering.
"I would have thought you¡¯d find some kind of demon mask or something to keep consistent with your nickname." The elf said whileughing. "If you¡¯re not careful people might start calling you owlman instead of ghost."
"I¡¯m not sure which one I hate more." Merlin sighed. "Alright. Then I¡¯m ready to go."
The elf nodded calling in one of the nearby thieves who was usually sitting around at one of the tables.
"Guide our friend here to the office." The elf ordered the other thief, who quickly epted his duties.
The thief turned to Merlin, who had just stood up from his chair, and asked him to follow.
"Lead the way." Merlin said.
The thief lead Merlin out of the tavern and into the slums, and before they entered the crowd of people in the main part of the city both of them pulled their hoods over their heads.
The thief lead Merlin into a part of town he wasn¡¯t that familiar with, partially because it seemed to be the more fancy area in town which he had no reason to visit up until this point. After a few more turns, the roads quickly became less packed, as it seemed most people didn¡¯t have a reason to be here either.
"Alright, we¡¯re here." The guide spoke.
Merlin stared up at an excessivelyrge building, it seemed to have at least three floors, or perhaps two with very high ceilings.
Merlin took his cloak off and reced it with his panthers cloak, he also brought out the owl mask, putting it on before entering the building.
As Merlin entered the building, he found himself impressed at the interior design of the building, truly government buildings were excessive in both design and size.
"Woah. What is the purpose of having ceilings that high." Merlin muttered.
"Ovepensation, it makes the people who work here feel important." The guide remarked.
"Fair enough." Merlin didn¡¯t want toment, so he just nodded and continued following the guide.
Merlin was getting some strange looks from the various workers in the area, most of the eyes were filled with suspicion. Since he was next to someone, who he could only assume was a known figure in this office, nobody approached him or questioned him.
He was eventually lead up a set of stairs and brought into a room behind arge set of double doors.
In this room was an older looking gentleman with a full head of grey hair and rough patchy stubble of a simr shade, the man was working at a desk on the far side of the room. There were a few people standing beside him, they seemed to be servants based on their behaviour, but it was more likely that they were just subordinates with meek personalities.
The room had a strange device in the centre of the room that was constantly spraying a fine mist into the air, somewhat like arge humidifier.
The gentleman at the desk looked up at Merlin and the guide, before turning back to his work, he didn¡¯t seem interested in Merlin at all.
"This is who he sends me?" The gentleman spoke out, his voice was surprisingly deep. "Does he wish for me to die?"
"No sir, despite appearances, this young man is quite capable." The guide spoke to the gentleman. "He is the lord¡¯s favourite."
The gentleman at the desk beckoned the two to walk closer.
As Merlin walked forward, following the guide, he got a whiff of a sharp almost minty-like scent alongside a more earthy smell, it seemed to being from the strange humidifier in the centre of the room.
"Observer¡¯s bloom?" Merlin subconsciously mumbled out loud with a questioning tone.
"Oh? You¡¯re quite keen." The gentleman spoke, "Perhaps I misjudged you."
"Yes, the mist is infused with observer¡¯s bloom, this is our counter for any would-be assassins who rely on stealth abilities or invisibility magic." The gentleman continued. "Oh dear, where are my manners, we haven¡¯t been introduced yet."
"Jenmier. Elwood Jenmier, that is my name." The gentleman introduced himself, "Should we survive this ordeal, it is likely we will meet again. What would you like to be referred to as?"
Merlin thought about his question for a moment, he was going to use his real name, but then he remembered the thief lord¡¯s words about keeping his real identity a secret.
"Ghost." Merlin muttered, before clearing his throat and speaking louder. "The guild calls me ghost."
"Ghost is it?" Elwood muttered, "Very well, ghost. I¡¯ll be relying on you to deal with the assassin, you may stand guard in this room if you wish."
"Yes sir." Merlin said.
Merlin made his way over to one of the seats closest to the door and sat down, he wasn¡¯t sure how long he had to wait until something happened, but he was willing to wait as long as he could.
A fair amount of time flew past with nothing happening, Merlin began spending this time in the corner coating his daggers with yew poison, only to sit back down again with nothing to do.
The old man waszing around at this point too, as he hadpleted his work a little while ago.
Merlin nced at the window every so often, watching as the sky slowly dimmed down until it was night time once more, but his view was suddenly obstructed by arge red alert box.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today¡¯s session, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe location when you log out.
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¡¯Oh great, now I¡¯ve got a deadline toplete the mission.¡¯ Merlin groaned in his thoughts. ¡¯I sure hope this guy appears soon. If I fail the quest because I got booted from the server, I¡¯ll be disappointed.¡¯
Before Merlin could do anything, he sensed an eerie presence in the wall behind him.
Merlin ducked and twisted his body just in time to see a long serrated de swing out from the wall, slicing through where his neck would have been before vanishing back behind the wall.
"What? I could have sworn that should have hit." A strange muffled voice leaked out from behind the wall. "Someone is awfully lucky."
Merlin backed away from the wall, moving closer to the centre of the room. As he did so, a man dressed in all ck opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind him.
"Good morning Elwood." The man dressed in ck spoke with a surprisingly upbeat voice, it seemed almost yful. "Can I just say, I¡¯m a big fan of your work. But, unfortunately you¡¯re getting in the way of my employer¡¯s fun, so I¡¯m going to have to ask you to retire."
"Oh, what do we have here?" The man said while staring at Merlin. "An impostor, how cute."
Merlin could see bloodshot eyes behind the creepy ck mask the man was wearing, and then his attention snapped to the de the man was holding. It seemed to be giving off an eerie aura, causing Merlin¡¯s hair to stand on end.
"Ghostsaw I presume?" Merlin asked with a questioning tone, he unsheathed his daggers and entered a fighting stance.
"The one and only." Ghostsaw remarked with an arrogant tone, "Let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got, little owl."
Before Merlin could react, Ghostsaw held his de to his chest, before his body suddenly vanished.
"Invisibility, what a pain." Merlin remarked as he began looking around the room while taking a few steps back.
Merlin¡¯s eyes immediately snapped to the translucent figure of a man who was charging towards him. The mist had started revealing Ghostsaw¡¯s position, and Merlin saw that he started swinging his de, getting ready to slice him.
Merlin moved his goblin dagger in the way of the de at thest second in an attempt to parry the de, but surprisingly enough, it was as if Ghostsaw¡¯s de slipped through his own. Merlin attempted to twist his body at thest second to avoid the brunt of the strike, but the long serrated de managed to slice his skin.
Merlin leapt backwards while holding his arm, he took a look at the damage logs, and what he saw shocked him.
"Seventeen damage for a measly scratch? Are you kidding me?" Merlin remarked. "What kind of overpowered dagger is that."
"You saw me?" Ghostsaw seemed equally as shocked, for apletely different reason.
¡¯So his de can go through things?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯That¡¯s going to be a pain to deal with if I can¡¯t parry his strikes.¡¯
Chapter 142: Ghost vs Ghostsaw - II
¡¯What can I do if I can¡¯t parry him.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself for a moment.
Ghostsaw was now ncing towards the humidifier in the middle of the room. "Ah, so that¡¯s how you did it. No matter, I don¡¯t need stealth to kill you all."
Ghostsaw grabbed his de and charged towards Merlin, who was still lost in thought, but quickly snapped out of it.
Merlin swung his daggers at the de while avoiding the next strike. And as he observed the de, it went through both of his, barely missing his arms.
¡¯Surely the de has limitations, it wouldn¡¯t make sense otherwise.¡¯ Merlin wondered. ¡¯If his de can go through anything, it would fall through the world any time he sets it down, sheaths it, or drops it.¡¯
¡¯If I can¡¯t parry the de, perhaps I could parry the handle.¡¯ Merlin thought, readying his de once more.
Merlin charged forward this time, shing the man with both daggers, one was just a decoy attacking the main body while the other was slicing towards the handle of Ghostsaw¡¯s de.
His enemy moved his hand out of the way and twisted his body around Merlin¡¯s strikes before counterattacking. Merlin also avoided the man¡¯s strike before attacking him once more.
It seemed the de couldn¡¯t be used for parrying either, as Ghostsaw made sure not to defend with it, so it eventually became a dance between two skilled thieves trying to kill each other in a government building.
Fortunately Ghostsaw¡¯s original target seemed to have the right idea and escaped out the side room with his subordinates, leaving Merlin to deal with the assassin without any distractions or people to protect while he fought.
Eventually Merlin managed to strike the de¡¯s handle, and to his surprise the de went right through it, barely scraping Ghostsaw¡¯s finger. But in retaliation the dagger was plunged into Merlin¡¯s arm, causing yet anotherrge number to appear on his damage logs that made Merlin worry.
"How is that thing fair." Merlin grumbled as he barely dodged another sh aimed for his throat.
"Why would an assassin have to y fair." Ghostsaw replied in an arrogant tone.
"Fair point." Merlin retorted.
The yew poison didn¡¯t seem to be doing much on the assassin. Although it was just a small scratch on his finger, he should be feeling some of the effects by now.
¡¯Well, if skill won¡¯t help me...¡¯ Merlin¡¯s train of thoughts continued. ¡¯I guess all I can rely on is overpowering him with an extreme act of violence.¡¯
Merlin began chanting out a skill name, which caused ghostsaw to back away quickly.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 35% damage, and has a 15% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
¡¯He¡¯s surprisingly cautious.¡¯ Merlin noted as he watched the thief stare at him with inquisitive eyes.
"Well, I hope you don¡¯t mind, but I¡¯ll have to change this up a bit." Merlin remarked, "I¡¯m not a fan of tediously long fights. Even if you do pose a challenge, this is incredibly boring."
"I was about to say the same." The assassin retorted, readying his de once more.
¡¯Does heavy strike work with my vines?¡¯ An invasive thought crossed Merlin¡¯s mind, and as he pondered the question a smirk formed on his face that was hidden behind his mask.
Merlin charged towards Ghostsaw, pretending that he was going to strike with his de once more.
He made an obviously wide attack aimed at the assassin¡¯s right side, forcing him to dodge left as he readied himself to counterattack.
But although Ghostsaw was suspicious at the moment, his body instinctively followed along with Merlin¡¯s n. And as the assassin was standing at Merlin¡¯s side, just about to deal Merlin a crippling blow, several vines flew out from Merlin¡¯s body, thrusting themselves towards the assassin.
"What the--" The assassin was startled as several vines appeared in his vision.
The assassin managed to slice through one of the vines, causing it to retract back into Merlin¡¯s body, but the other two managed to slip past Ghostsaw¡¯s guard and puncture his skin.
Merlin received a notification sound notifying him that his skill had triggered, alongside another notification that his passive had also triggered.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"Surprise!" Merlin said in a yful tone. "But how interesting... Does that de pick what materials it can and can¡¯t cut through, or does it just not cut through non-living materials?"
"In which case, can it cut through nts? Are those considered living materials? What about undead? Can you only slice my vines because they¡¯re a part of me?" Merlin¡¯s curiosity grew. Fortunately one of the quest rewards was the dagger, so he¡¯d be able to satisfy his curiosity once the assassin was dead.
Merlin pulled the vines back before the assassin tried shing at them.
Ghostsaw he seemed to have noticed that his body became visibly slower, and Merlin caught him ncing towards the door.
"Oh don¡¯t you even think about running." Merlin taunted, charging towards the assassin once more.
He sent out his vines to attack first, both of which were cut down with ease and retracted back into Merlin¡¯s body before he could even close the distance.
The assassin then attempted to attack Merlin, but as his speed had lowered, Merlin was able to dodge the de and leave a deep gash on the assassin¡¯s arm, slicing through several muscles and causing Ghostsaw to drop his de.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped to the de, and he watched as the de fell. He wanted to reach for it, but his body didn¡¯t react in time. To Merlin¡¯s surprise, the de had hit the floor instead of phasing through it.
"Oh? Does it only phase through objects when it¡¯s being held?" Merlin thought out loud.
Merlin barely managed to dodge a fist that was aiming for his head, and then his attention was brought back onto the assassin once more.
"Shouldn¡¯t you be dead right now?" Merlin asked, while holding his des up. "How high is your constitution for this to not take effect already."
The assassin didn¡¯t talk anymore, he just started throwing one unarmed attack after the other, while seemingly trying to make his way towards the dagger he dropped.
Merlin caught on to his actions pretty quickly, so he stood around the dagger and prevented the assassin from getting in close.
After trading a few more strikes, Merlinnded a solid attack on the assassin¡¯s mask, causing it to shatter into several tiny pieces.
The face that was revealed underneath was hideous. Besides the bloodshot eyes that Merlin could see prior, the man¡¯s face was dry, wrinkled and cracked, as though it were stone being eaten away by erosion and time.
"Ever heard of moisturiser?" Merlin mocked, slicing at the man once more, only to find that he had ducked under his attack and made a dash for the door.
"No you don¡¯t!" Merlin roared, sending his vines out to wrap around the assassin¡¯s legs, causing him to trip and fall face-first on the hard floor.
Merlin dragged the man¡¯s body back to him, he watched as the once confident Ghostsaw was now desperately trying to w at the floor, trying to get away from the inevitable.
Merlin leapt onto the assassin and began ravaging his defenceless back with his daggers. And only moments after he began making a mess of the surroundings, Ghostsaw¡¯s body stopped moving and the room went silent.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Cutting off the spider¡¯s legs: Ghostsaw", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"God, that was even more tiring than dealing with the statue." Merlin groaned before yelling out to the government officials. "Alright, job¡¯s done, you cane out now."
Moments after Merlin yelled, Elwood Jenmier and his subordinates came out of the side room. The subordinates seemed shocked at the sight of a dead body, but Elwood just took a seat back at his desk with a smile on his face.
"Well done." Elwood spoke, "I can see why you¡¯re the elf¡¯s favourite."
Before a conversation between the two could start, one of the subordinates walked over and picked up Ghostsaw¡¯s de, and momentster he screamed in fear, only to drop the de and back away from it.
"What are you doing, you idiot." That subordinate received a re from Elwood, causing him to shrivel up in the corner. "Bring some people in to deal with the body."
The subordinate vanished into another room, as as he did so Elwood spoke to Merlin once more.
"The spoils of war goes to the conqueror." He said, "Please take the assassin¡¯s de as you leave."
Merlin stood up and walked over to where the de had ended up, and as he reached down and grabbed the de, he felt an eerie energying off of the de, and it was surprisingly cold to the touch.
Merlin inspected the de, wondering what secrets it held.
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[Ghostsaw¡¯s de (Unique)]
A nasty looking long dagger with a serrated edge. It was previously the trusted partner of Ghostsaw, a famous assassin who operated within Macedonia before he was assassinated. It has an eerie aura, and often feels cold to the touch.
? Damage: +16
? Stealth: +15%
? Abilities: ?Rending Strike?
? Infused souls: "¡ï Race Soul: Ghost (Level 3)"
? Soul abilities: ?Phantom Step?, ?Phantom sh?
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"Ah, that exins it." Merlin muttered. "A soul infused weapon, no wonder it had such an interesting ability this early in."
Merlin threw the item into his inventory and cast cleanse on himself and his weapons, washing off the excess poison.
Chapter 143: Ghostsaws Blade
¡¯I¡¯ll take a look at the weapon closer once I get to the thieves guild.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯This ce is going to be crawling with people soon.¡¯
"We¡¯re all done here, right?" Merlin asked Elwood. "I¡¯m running a little short on time."
"Yes, everything else can be sorted by my men." Elwood responded. "If you see your boss, tell him I said thanks."
"Alright, will do." Merlin said as he waved and made his way out the door quickly.
He was greeted with strange looks, and it seemed a few more curious gazes were around due to the recentmotion.
Merlin slipped out of the building, making his way out onto the less crowded streets of the upper district of the city. He still had the mask and cloak on, but as he made his way towards the slums, he managed to slip into a vacant alleyway. He swapped his mask and cloak for the older cloak before he reached the most active part of the city.
Merlin slipped into the crowd as usual, flowing with the traffic as he made his way closer to the slums, and once he reached the point, he slipped out of the crowd and pulled his hood up.
As per usual, the atmosphere was dreary, Merlin slipped through the slums and make his way to the shabby old tavern once more. He greeted Fae and made his way down into the thieves guild.
Surprisingly, the elf wasn¡¯t in his usual spot drinking, rather he was standing near one of the tunnels out of the main room, speaking with another thief.
Their conversation seemed important, so Merlin waited, and as he waited he pulled the Ghostsaw¡¯s de out and checked his new weapon¡¯s stats.
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[Ghostsaw¡¯s de (Unique)]
A nasty looking long dagger with a serrated edge. It was previously the trusted partner of Ghostsaw, a famous assassin who operated within Macedonia before he was assassinated. It has an eerie aura, and often feels cold to the touch.
? Damage: +16
? Stealth: +15%
? Abilities: ?Rending Strike?
? Infused souls: "¡ï Race Soul: Ghost (Level 3)"
? Soul abilities: ?Phantom Step?, ?Phantom sh?
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He then loaded up the first ability of the weapon, causing another information window to appear.
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?Rending Strike?
The mangled serrated edge of the de rends and shreds any flesh ites into contact with, making it harder to heal and increasing the chance to inflict severe bleeding.
? Reduces the healing of wounds caused by this de by 19%.
? Each attack has a 12% chance to inflict severe bleeding.
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¡¯That¡¯s quite useful for a passive ability.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯I¡¯m definitely happy with that.¡¯
He then swiped that information window away and loaded up the first ability from the soul ability category, another information window appeared before him.
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?Phantom Step?
By channelling magical power into the de, you can surround yourself with a ghostly veil, allowing you to be invisible for a short period of time.
? You be invisible for 12 seconds, attacking, casting a spell or being attacked will cancel this effect early.
? Mana cost: 40
? 70 second cooldown.
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¡¯The ability to go invisible, that¡¯s really convenient.¡¯ Merlin thought. Arge grin had formed on his face. ¡¯It¡¯s just too bad that it¡¯s a seventy second cooldown, but that¡¯s understandable.¡¯
Once again the window was swiped away, and then he brought up thest information window for hisst infused soul ability.
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?Phantom sh?
The soul of a ghost was infused in this weapon, granting the de the ghost¡¯s ethereal properties.
? The de can phase through most non-living materials when wielded.
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¡¯This one is going to require some testing.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself while reading the very brief description. ¡¯But it¡¯s cool.¡¯
As Merlin continued staring at the ability window, he pondered about how useful it actually was.
¡¯It has the insane ability of being entirely undefendable, or so it seems. But at the same time, I wouldn¡¯t be able to use it to parry. Which means I¡¯d have to undo years of trained reactions and train myself to not parry with whatever hand held that de.¡¯
As Merlin was having a long internal monologue session, the thief lord seemed to have finished his conversation with the other thief, who was now making their way down the tunnel. The thief lord noticed Merlin and slowly approached, striking up conversation as he drew near.
"Hey Merlin, I assume your quest went well?" The thief lord asked in a tone that seemed almost hopeful.
Instead of giving a straightforward answer, Merlin pulled out Ghostsaw¡¯s de, showing it off to the elf with a nod.
"Oho, very nice." The elf remarked as his eyes locked onto the unique dagger design. "With that, we can finally conclude that the Ghostsaw has been vanquished, and by none other than the Ghost himself."
The elf seemed to be having a little bit of fun with that strange coincidence, and he continued on for a few more sentences until Merlin grew tired of it.
"Poetry aside, what other tasks are there for me to do?" Merlin asked. "Are there any other names on the list that you need dealt with?"
"Plenty, yes." The elf spoke. "Like the body of a spider, Kilo stands as the head, while she has eight legs, or puppets, at her disposal."
"The first leg has been destroyed, the Ghostsaw, one of her favourite pawns." The elf muttered. "No doubt the assassin involved with the death of several city leaders who opposed thepound from being constructed and the status of a valid religion being granted to them."
"Next is Madame Harce, the ve trader who runs the local orphanage." The elf continued, "Her job was to provide vebour, or spies, to nt in noble houses."
"There are several others, but we¡¯re yet to find much information about them outside of their general activities in service to Kilo." The elf said, "But of those we do know... We know of a noble who has been creating, selling and utilising a new drug within the city, a highly addictive substance that has been found used on the children of nobles, usually lesser nobles but sometimes not."
"We¡¯ve found several cases of the drugs being used to ckmail noble families into subordination, with the life of their child at stake." The elf spoke while gritting his teeth. "Truly despicable behaviour."
"And of the remaining five legs, we can assume that one of the puppets is a high rank within the temple, another a high rank within the city guard. And from what we can tell, the remaining three are very wealthy and seem to only support her through their collective wealth." The elf concluded.
"So I need to kill a drug dealer, a high ranking priest, a high ranking soldier and three very wealthy individuals who could probably buy my death if they so wished." Merlin said out loud. "Did I get that right?"
"Precisely." The elf retorted.
"Alright, well I get why the high ranking soldier is involved. I clearly saw how scummy the town guard could be not too long ago with those kids." Merlin said, "But how do you know the temple is involved?"
"It¡¯s simple, really." The elf muttered. "The temple once held great conviction of the gods and goddesses we worshipped, and especially to Gaia, who oversaw our activities and sustained thend that we required to live."
"With our convictions holding true, those who worshipped false gods and who wished to create temples in the honour of false gods were shunned and prevented from doing so." The elf said, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"So when one of their followers defects, only to start a new religion with said follower as the object of worship, and nobody from the temple reacts, attempts to stop her, or so much as calls her a demon." The elf continued, "Well, something in such a case is very out of ce, and I suspect that one of the leaders of the temple has fallen under Kilo¡¯s spell."
"Now that you mention it, I did find it quite odd that the temple stripped you of your title, but now I know more it is even more suspicious. I understand your suspicions now, they should have contested the new religion being formed at the very least." Merlin muttered.
The two continued to converse for a while, with Merlin finding out that he must wait a week or so to see results. And as the conversation wasing to an end, he received another red notification window.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, your session will end in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time. Thank you.
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Merlin said farewell to those in the general area before logging out within the thieves guild.
"System logout." He chanted, causing a prompt to appear before him asking for him to confirm, he said yes, causing the world around him to suddenly start darkening before he was returned to the familiar ck void.
Chapter 144: The Start of Week Five
Arthur was quickly thrust into the endless white room as usual, where he was then able to p the logout button and escape the virtual world.
His body was shocked awake shortly after, and he spent a short period of time waiting within the capsule while allowing his body to adapt to the real world once more. He felt the machine slowly turn upright before the capsule opened, revealing the outside world.
Arthur slipped out of the machine and started making his way to the briefing room, he noticed that other machines were starting their wake up procedures too.
He made his way into the briefing room, greeting the developers who were sitting around whilepiling information. Eventually arge group of people began funnelling into the room, with Arthur¡¯s usual friends making their way to him, the briefing started shortly after.
"Well, starting off. The most interesting topic about today¡¯s briefing is that wave three is going to be starting next session." The developer started speaking. "The third group of yers, time sure does fly by."
The rest of the briefing was small, and the announcement of a new group of yers really was the only thing interesting about that briefing, but then came the next part of the briefing, the leaderboard.
"Starting off at fifth ce, at level five with one soul, Nora." The developer spoke, which surprised Arthur¡¯s group somewhat, but they all congratted Rowan on breaching the top five.
"At fourth ce, at level five with one soul, Zankoku." The developer continued, Zankoku got his own congrattions but nobody was that surprised. "At third ce, yet another level five, but this time with two souls, Typhoeus."
"Maria, you¡¯ve got a pretty solid experience advantage." Arthur remarked. "How are you keeping above Acai so well?"
"Honestly, I just get more kills because I attack faster." Maria replied, shrugging her shoulders. "It sort of just turned out this way."
"Oh, that makes sense I guess." Arthur nodded as he turned his attention back to the developer who just started reading out Maria¡¯s score.
"At second ce, at level five with two souls, Snowbunny." The developer spoke, which got Maria her own round of apuse, although they knew it wasing. "And finally, at first ce, the first level six with three souls, Merlin."
"How do you level up so fastpared to everyone else?" Maria asked. "You should have twice the experience requirement but have kept the top spot since the start, what gives?"
"Honestly, there¡¯s no real secret to it. It¡¯s just big quests." Arthur responded. "I get a lot of my experience from quests, for example I¡¯m currently doing a questline with very high experience rewards."
"I wouldn¡¯t rmend farming mercenary guild quests for experience, but they¡¯re very good for money." Arthur continued. "I find that unique quests, or quests that involve some action from the yer to find, give a lot more experience as a reward."
"Oh, alright. That makes sense." Maria remarked.
"Alright, that brings us to the end of this session. We hope you have a great week and are looking forward to seeing you all next week." The developer concluded the meeting there. "The next group will be here in a couple minutes, please make your way out of the building as soon as possible."
Arthur¡¯s group began talking as they made their way out of the building, Arthur was giving them tips on what would give them levels faster, such as not just grinding monsters, and how to get better quests out of NPCs. He also briefly covered stacking quests and other methods of maximising questing efficiency, but these sorts of things were obvious to anyone who had yed an mmorpg before.
The group eventually went their separate ways, Arthur walked over to Donovan¡¯s car and entered the passenger seat, greeting him as he put his seat belt on.
The two had a brief conversation on the drive home, but then the topic of school starting was brought up, reminding Arthur that he had another year to go through again.
The drive eventually came to a stop as they arrived home, Arthur thanked Donovan and made his way inside his house. He started going through his usual routine before dinner, where he heard school mentioned once more.
After dinner he made his way back to his room, and while getting ready for bed, he was visited by Anna.
She suggested that they do some back to school shopping, although it was less of a suggestion and more so a statement that they were in fact going shopping and that he didn¡¯t really have a say in the matter.
Arthur just agreed as he finished off his nightly routine, when he was done, Anna seemed to have vanished back to her room.
"School starts next week." Arthur sighed as he jumped onto his bed. His eyes nced at the medication sitting on his bedside table that Doctor Hudson gave him.
"I would have preferred the power to skip forward in time." He groaned while picking up the book on his bedside table. Arthur read until he found himself falling asleep.
Later in the week, he was forcibly dragged out to go shopping with Anna, he picked up some essential supplies for school, and then waited around as Anna ran around the confectionery aisles again.
"You bought so many snacksst time, how have you eaten them all already?" He asked, only to receive a shrug in response. The two ended the shopping trip and made their way back home safely.
Later in the week, Arthur received a phone call from Maria, she seemed rather worried about something.
"Hey Arthur, I need your advice." She muttered.
"How can I help?" He responded in a concerned voice.
"So, you know how it¡¯s Holly¡¯s birthday soon?" She asked, "I¡¯m not sure what to get her as a birthday present."
With that one line, Arthur immediately knew that this call wasn¡¯t as serious as he first though. Well it wasn¡¯t serious to him, but it was clearly a big deal for Maria. He listened to her ramble for a little while beforementing.
"Ah, so you¡¯ve figured out that she doesn¡¯t like receiving expensive gifts I see." Arthur said with a less concerned voice this time. "It¡¯s good you¡¯re paying attention. I¡¯ve made that mistake before."
"I guess her feeling guilty about receiving your gift would really put a damper on your n to date her." He teased, "Smart move."
Arthur heard an awkward cough from the other side of the phone, and it seemed his teasing worked.
"Well, why not get her something meaningful?" He suggested, "That way your gift would have asting impression on her."
"But what would that be?" She asked.
"Did you hear about that new museum opening up in the cityter this month?" Arthur asked, "I heard that it¡¯s going to have several pieces credited to her parents."
"If you pulled some strings and got your hands on two tickets to the opening night, I think that¡¯d probably be one of her favourite gifts." Arthur continued. "I doubt it needs to be said, but the second ticket is yours, make it a date."
Maria went back to awkwardly coughing, so Arthur just continued.
"And my best tip for you would be to not look bored." He concluded. "If she is having fun, she will start rambling. If you want to make her happy, pay attention to her and ask a question or two if you can."
"Alright... Thank you." Maria said with a soft voice before saying goodbye and ending the call.
"I¡¯d be really good as a matchmaker." Arthur mumbled to himself, throwing his phone onto his bedside table. "I wonder how Doctor Hudson and Emily are doing."
The week eventually ended, and it was nearly time for the next session to begin. Arthur was driven to the facility by Donovan once more, and he saw an evenrger crowd than before. There were plenty of fresh faces around, all of which seemed extremely excited.
¡¯I get the excitement, but that¡¯s like a forty minute wait until it¡¯s their time to join.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself as he walked into the building.
The morning briefing was, in a word, brief. It covered a few things that were mentioned at thest briefing, such as the new wave of yers.
Eventually everyone was lead into the capsule room, but while everyone else was allowed to jump in, Arthur had to stay back and get a personal briefing.
He was informed that the streamer setup had been sessfully installed on his machine. He was given a brief rundown of what to expect and how to operate the streamer controls from within the game. This was all information that he already knew, but he listened anyway.
"So themands are all under system stream, gotcha." Arthur said while nodding.
Before he jumped into his capsule, he sent a message to the group chat with Quinn and Holly, telling them that he will be streaming gamey of New Genesis in a little while. He didn¡¯t end up getting a response from either of them before the the capsule started up, but it was likely that they would see it and check in with his stream when they could.
He went through the login process, first ending up in the white room beforeunching the game, and when he opened his eyes once more he was in the thieves guild where he left offst time.
"Nobody tried trapping me in furniture this time around, awesome." Merlin muttered as he checked his surroundings. It was the same as usual, drunkards and gamblers hanging out around tables, and the elf in his favourite spot at the back.
Chapter 145: A Heartless Woman - I
Merlin made his way to the elf, through the sea of tables as usual, he took a seat beside the man.
"So, how is the Madame Harce situation fairing?" Merlin asked immediately upon sitting down.
"Hello, nice to see you too." The elf spoke in a sarcastic tone, "It¡¯s always immediately to business with you..."
"Oh well. At least you¡¯re reliable." The elf muttered while taking another sip of his alcohol, and after cing his ss back on the bar table he continued. "There have been some developments with the Madame Harce case."
"What sort of developments?" Merlin asked.
"Well, we finished getting all the testimonies from all the people you had saved, and we made sure that all their stories matched up." The elf exined, "Then we leaked the story to the public, and it spread far enough for the city guards on Madame Harce¡¯s payroll to pay a visit. They brought in a handful of victims to interrogate them further, but there were a couple of our spies and some neutral parties present, so they couldn¡¯t silence the kids."
"There was enough evidence to take Madame Harce in for interrogation, which put a stain on her reputation and gave the rumours some validity. But unfortunately the court of public opinion isn¡¯t going to be deciding her fate, but rather a judge on her payroll." The elf continued. "Almost everyone who will be deciding her fate today will be on her side, so legally there is nothing we can do."
"So, when can I kill her?" Merlin asked.
"Well, we received word that she intends to do a public speech after the court case to try and regain some of the public¡¯s favour." The elf exined. "The speech is nned to be outside of the temple, as it has a wide space for arge group to gather."
"A wide open space outdoors, and I take it she will be on an elevated tform, or perhaps the steps." Merlin mumbled to himself. "If I kill her from a distance, would it be possible for you to retrieve the ring for me?"
"Kill her from a distance?" He asked, "Are you going to shoot her with a bow?"
"That¡¯s the n." Merlin nodded. "Killing her with an arrow in front of arge group of people before disappearing."
"While that sounds interesting, I don¡¯t think shooting an arrow into a crowd of people is such a good idea." The elf shook his head. "And in the case that your arrow does hit her, all that will do is cause panic."
"Her team will then work overtime to clear her name and pin the mysterious killer as someone plotting against her." The elf continued, "It¡¯ll be better if she died in her office, away from the public¡¯s eye. Oh, and I have this for you, it maye in handy."
The elf pulled out a folded pile of clothes, cing it on the table in front of Merlin. The clothes were lightly glowing, indicating that they could be stored away. And Merlin couldn¡¯t help but feel like they were somewhat familiar.
"Oh, and I almost forgot this. Since someone happened to shatter the original, this one is a replica." The elf muttered as he ced a familiar looking ck mask on top of the clothes. "You can probably piece together the n from this, you¡¯re a smart one."
"Ghostsaw..." Merlin muttered as he picked up the mask. "I liked my idea, it was simple and fast... But your idea is just evil."
"Such kind words are wasted on me." The elf chuckled, picking his drink back up and indulging in it once more. "She will likely be making her way back to her office in about an hours time, so make your preparations now. The mask will get you inside, the de will get you out."
Merlin inspected the mask once the elf stopped talking.
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[Replica Ghostsaw Mask. (Common)]
A replica of the maskmonly worn by thete Ghostsaw, a famous assassin in Macedonia.
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Merlin threw the mask and the outfit into his inventory. He asked the elf where Madame Harce¡¯s office was before leaving the building.
He took his cloak off as he made his way upstairs, and after waving goodbye to Fae, he left the building. Merlin stepped out into the slums, only to find that it was rtivelyte in the day, on the cusp of night.
"System stream." Merlin muttered as he began his walk out of the slums, causing arge window to appear before him.
The system stream window was full of options, buttons and sliders. A streamer could spend hours messing around with it to get their ideal setup, but Merlin just nned on setting up the basic stream for now.
He hit the initial setup button, which brought up a selection for various streaming services, alongside an option to enter a custom link instead. Merlin clicked a familiar icon of a popr streaming service that he used before, and a login screen appeared before him.
Alongside the login screen was a floating keyboard that allowed him to type in the boxes. Merlin started filling in his login details, eventually logging in to the site. He was given a window where he could see the website from within the game, and even click on other streams if he wished, but he decided to type the name of the game in the search bar.
A topic for New Genesis had already been created on the website, and although nobody had streamed it yet, the topic itself had over ten thousand followers.
Merlin was excited, as at least a fraction of those followers would be his, which would boost his career. It was just a shame that he couldn¡¯t start streaming just yet, as he didn¡¯t want to show everyone that he was the one who killed Madame Harce.
Merlin closed the streaming window and slipped into the crowd as he left the slums. He decided to make his way to the mercenary guild. He found that the receptionist at the desk was the same woman he metst time, the one that was more friendly.
"Hello there." Merlin greeted her as he approached.
"Oh, good afternoon." The receptionist responded while seemingly fighting off a yawn. "Would you like to take a look at our job listings, learn about any news or rumours, or purchase alcohol?"
"I¡¯d like to hear about local rumours. I heard some people talking about something and I wanted to get the full story." Merlin said. "Do you have anything about the Madame Harce rumours?"
"Well, it hasn¡¯t been absolutely confirmed, but Madame Harce was escorted to the city guard barracks for questioning, so there must be some truth to it." The receptionist said in a hushed voice. "Rumour has it that she was leading a child smuggling operation within her orphanage. But someone broke a group of children out during a transport and the children alerted the city guards to Madame Harce¡¯s vile crimes."
"There is supposed to be a court trial ongoing, but those who have seen the woman mentioned that she doesn¡¯t seem worried at all by the trial or it¡¯s possible results." The receptionist spoke even softer this time around. "And the rest of this is just spection by people who do not wish to be named, but some people worry that the trial itself wont be fair."
"That¡¯s all I have for you." She said, "Would you like news or rumours from other locations?"
"No I¡¯m fine, thank you." Merlin responded, "That helped me understand the situation pretty well, so thank you once again."
"It is my pleasure, please take care!" The receptionist spoke as Merlin turned around and left the building.
Merlin made his way outside of the building and slipped back into the crowd, his target this time was the spacious parnd that surrounded the temple.
When he arrived at the temple, he noticed that several people were waiting around, they didn¡¯t seem to be there for the temple¡¯s service, but rather that they were waiting around for something to happen.
Merlin took a seat on one of the park benches situated around the parnd and enjoyed the scenery while waiting around. His attention was pretty drawn to an anxious looking hooded individual who was sitting by a tree and muttering to himself.
There seemed to be other people standing around the parnd with simr feelings, mostly anxiety, which was somewhat strange. But what caught Merlin¡¯s attention more was that they each seemed to be wearing rather pricey clothing that was usually seen on nobles.
Merlin¡¯s eyes locked on to a man who came running into the parnd, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath before yelling something at the top of his lungs.
"The Madam was found not guilty, spread the word." The man yelled out, which caused all the anxious looking individuals to spring up from their positions and dash out into the city.
"What on earth..." Merlin muttered to himself as he watched the group scatter.
Chapter 146: A Heartless Woman - II
Merlin saw the group return several minutester, followed closely by a muchrger horde of civilians.
Therge group all gathered around the temple, and from the fragments of mumbling he had heard, it seemed like arge majority of the group weren¡¯t entirely sure why they were there.
It seemed that most of them had just followed along due to curiosity, but eventually a rumour was spread around that Madame Harce was going to be speaking at the temple soon in regards to the terrible rumours regarding her and the illegal dealings of the orphanage.
Those who were curious stuck around while a small group who didn¡¯t seem that interested left. The crowd became rowdier as they waited, but eventually the star of the show had arrived, escorted by several city guards who appeared to be acting as body guards.
Madame Harce took to the stage, making sure she walked up a couple the temple steps so that she was physically above everyone else before she began speaking.
As she stared down on the crowd, she began exining the rumours that were being spread around about her to the crowd. The rumours were fabricated and twisted just enough to paint her in a positive light. It seemed she had put a lot of effort into shutting down the rumours for good,belling it as nothing more than a nderous campaign to ruin her.
Surprisingly, the name of the thieves guild was dropped as a potential culprit. She didn¡¯t seem to have much evidence to support her ims, but half of the crowd seemed to be eating it up regardless.
¡¯So this is the game she wants to y.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself while he continued listening to the woman ramble.
The crowd seemed to have shrunk after a few minutes, those who were still suspicious of her had left, while those who believed her stuck around until it finished.
Eventually the public speech came to an end, and Madame Harce started making her way towards her residence. Merlin followed them from a distance, making sure to blend in with the rest of traffic.
The crowd filling the streets started to thin out as Merlin followed them into the more expensive area of the city, and Merlin started getting strange looks from people once more.
¡¯I should probably splurge on a fancier outfit eventually.¡¯ He thought to himself as he continued walking.
Eventually Madame Harce made her way inside arge building, while the city guard who were acting as her bodyguards left as soon as she entered.
Merlin slipped into an empty side street as the city guards walked past, he continued down the side street until he found an area that broke line of sight with the main street.
After double checking that nobody was around, he quickly changed into Ghostsaw¡¯s outfit. It consisted of tough ck pants that were easy to move in but had way too many belts for no apparent reason, and a ck hooded shirt.
Merlin tied his white hair back with a piece of twine from the ball of it that he hadying around in his inventory. He then put the replica mask on and threw the hood over his head, hiding the rest of his hair.
"Kind of wish this world had hair ties." He groaned under the mask while throwing both of his daggers into his inventory.
He grabbed Ghostsaw¡¯s de out of his inventory, a slightly cold sensation ran up his arm briefly, causing his hairs to stand on end. He shook off the strange feeling he felt from the de and sheathed it by his side.
Now that he was dressed for the part, Merlin stepped back out onto the main street, he seemed to be getting even more looks now, but he ignored them all and quickly made his way into the building that he saw Madame Harce enter moments prior.
As Merlin walked into the building, he was introduced to the sight of a well-furnished house that was clearly owned by a wealthy individual. He saw a few maids walking around who all collectively stopped what they were doing and stared at Merlin with a sense of horror as he walked further into the house.
One of the maids, an old woman, approached Merlin, With a fearful voice, she asked Merlin to follow her into the Madame¡¯s office. Merlin simply nodded his head, he didn¡¯t want to have his disguise ruined by someone realising his voice wasn¡¯t right, at least not until he finished his task.
The maid lead Merlin up a flight of stairs and towards a room with arge decorative door. Merlin could hear speaking on the other end of the door, but the voices immediately silenced when the maid knocked on the door.
"What is the reason for this disturbance." A familiar feminine voice rung out from the other side of the door, albeit somewhat muffled. "This better be important, I¡¯m in the middle of a meeting."
"Madame, your special guest is here to see you." The maid nervously answered before staring at Merlin.
"Is he now..." The woman¡¯s voice replied. "Gentlemen, although we¡¯ve just started I¡¯m afraid we¡¯ll have to take a small break for now. Please make your way towards the entertainment room while I tend to this time sensitive matter."
Merlin watched as the door to the office opened, and several rich-looking individuals who didn¡¯t seem too pleased getting kicked out had appeared on the other end, a few of them gave dirty looks at Merlin, while others had a fearful gaze simr to the maids.
It seemed a few were in the know, while others were oblivious to the identity of the man Merlin was pretending to be.
¡¯I guess you¡¯re not that famous after all.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯Then again, I suppose not being recognised is kind of the point of being an assassin...¡¯
The maid joined the group of men, leading them away while leaving Merlin at the open door.
Chapter 147: A Heartless Woman - III
"Come in." The woman¡¯s tone was more arrogant all of a sudden.
Merlin walked into the room, closing the door behind him before approaching. He nced at the inside of the room, but nothing really caught his eye.
The room consisted of arge desk that was covered in various stacks of paper, a throne-like chair where a certain horrible human being was sitting, as well as two long couches sat beside a long table that had several fresh cups of tea and coffee on it.
"What a surprise, you finally show up after a week." Madame Harce ranted, "The oracle promised me that you were the best assassin that money could buy, so why is it that you¡¯re here and Elwood Jenmier is still alive?"
"He was there, at the trial, with his stupid smug grin." She continued. "Had I not been prepared with a backup n, I would have been executed."
The woman picked up a paperweight and threw it at Merlin, who stepped aside and let it fly past him, shattering against the door.
"Are you even listening to me, you useless mongrel." She swore, "Go do your damn job."
Merlin silently took a few steps forward, which caused the woman¡¯s eyes to widen. A nervous expression covered her face as Merlin approached.
Merlin was more focused on the fact that Madame Harce was considered evil by the system, he felt relieved knowing that he didn¡¯t have to escape from the city after finishing this job.
"You wouldn¡¯t." She nervously muttered as Merlin walked closer to her desk.
Merlin noticed a strange ring on the woman¡¯s fingers, it stood out from the rest of the rings covering her fingers as it was the least gaudy looking.
"Even if the courts don¡¯t find you guilty..." Merlin taunted as he stopped at the other end of the desk. "I do."
Madame Harce seemed terrified at first, but then she found that something seemed off, the voice was different.
"Wait... Who are yo--" Madame Harce started screaming out, as Merlin lunged over the desk. Her screaming was cut short due to the serrated edge of the de tearing through her neck.
"They call me ghost." Merlin taunted as he plunged the dagger into the woman¡¯s heart.
Merlin grabbed the woman¡¯s hand, noticing that the ring he noticed before was the only one glowing in such a way that it was clearly an item he could take.
He struggled for a moment trying to force the abundance of rings off the woman¡¯s fingers, but he eventually managed without having to cut her fingers off.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Cutting off the spider¡¯s legs: Madame Harce", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
Merlin checked the ring¡¯s stats and an information window appeared before him.
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[Ring of the Undetectable. (Rare)]
A magic ring covered in strange magical runes. It seems to protect its wearer from attempts of divination.
? Protection from divination magic.
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"Well that¡¯s perfect." He muttered to himself while putting the ring on.
As Merlin equipped the ring, he felt a strange warmth surrounding him for a moment before it vanished.
As he stood up from the corpse there was a knock on the door.
"Madame, is everything alright in there?" A muffled voice came through. It seemed as though a maid had heard the screams and thought something bad had happened.
Merlin walked over towards the door, the maid seemed to be more worried as she was now banging on the door harder.
"Madame, I¡¯ming in." She yelled out.
As Merlin got close to the door, it swung open, and a young maid was standing before him. She stared up at Merlin and her face immediately went pale.
¡¯Oh great.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯Well, she¡¯s going to scream the second she notices. What do I do...¡¯
The older maid and several of the men that Madame Harce was meeting with only moments ago had returned due to themotion.
¡¯Well, lets cause an issue for Kilo and then vanish.¡¯ He came up with a n at thest minute.
Merlin leaned in and whispered in the ear of the young maid as he walked past her. "The oracle sends her regards."
He quickly started walking towards the exit, and as he made his way to the bottom of the stairs, he heard a loud ear-piercing scream.
Several more screams followed, and then there was a whole lot of shouting as the men basically roared for Merlin to be seized while they charged down the stairs.
¡¯Well, I should keep in character for a little bit longer.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯Ghostsaw... He was rather arrogant wasn¡¯t he?¡¯
Merlin opened the door and quickly stepped outside, he arrogantly waved goodbye to his pursuers within the building as he chanted the skill belonging to his new dagger. "Phantom Step."
The men chasing him witnessed Merlin¡¯s body quickly fade away, they charged out of the building hoping to catch him, but there was no trace of Merlin remaining.
Merlin made his way down the same street he entered from, although he did briefly nce at the crowd that were now staring at Madame Harce¡¯s minions who were making a scene.
He made his way into the spot he changed in previously by the time the invisibility wore off, and without a moment of hesitation he quickly changed his outfit to his usual clothes, throwing the mask, dagger and outfit in his inventory.
Merlin took the long way around, but eventually made his way back towards the temple. He avoided stepping out onto the street that was full of the minions he just taunted, just in case they picked a fight with him for whatever reason.
It was his usual state of being overcautious after an assassination, but it had kept him safe up until this point so he continued doing so. Nothing seemed to have gone wrong, so Merlin began making his way back towards the slums to report his sess and get a new task. He eventually took his cloak and daggers out of his inventory and equipped them once more.
Chapter 148: The Nobles Attack
Although it was now ratherte, the streets were still surprisingly crowded, although the number of wagons on the street diminished by quite a bit. And it seemed the few who were still around had either just returned from making ast minute delivery to other settlements, or had just made it to the city to rest for the night before setting out the next morning.
Although the street was illuminated bynterns and the light leaking from the various buildings that lined them, the streets were oddly dark, and this wasn¡¯t just because it was night time. After ncing at the sky for a moment, Merlin noticed that it was because the moon was being blocked byrge dark clouds that were looming overhead.
¡¯Oh, great.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he quickened his pace as he made his way towards the slums.
He eventually made his way into the slums, but as he traversed the glum streets, he became the witness of a strange sight.
A few meters down the street were four young individuals, all dressed up in rather gaudy clothing that was only ever worn to showcase one¡¯s wealth.
Four young noble men were walking through the slums, throwing insults at any of the residents they came across, and threatening violence if their victim spoke back. Unfortunately their karma was still high enough to be considered not evil, as they hadn¡¯t actually done anything yet, so Merlin couldn¡¯t attack them without suffering penalties.
Merlin pulled his cloak¡¯s hood over his head as he continued on his way towards the thieves guild. He was walking behind the nobles, but didn¡¯t get too close as he didn¡¯t want them to turn around and start annoying him.
"There¡¯s another brat over there." One of the nobles remarked out loud.
The group of nobles approached another individual, although Merlin couldn¡¯t see the victim yet, he could only assume it was someone young as the word brat was used.
"Hey pipsqueak, what are you doing out here without your parents?" Another noble mocked, "Do you even have parents?"
The group all beganughing at the one guy¡¯s insults, but they stoppedughing rather quickly.
"What the hell, are you some kind of mute or something." Yet another noble remarked, and Merlin watched as the man went to shove the individual that he had yet not seen.
From what would have realistically been a ssic bullying scene was immediately flipped on its head as Merlin heard a loud snapping noise, followed by a pained cry from the noble who had just acted out.
Merlin caught a glimpse of the supposed victim of this event, moments before he kicked another noble in the head, causing several teeth to fly out onto the street.
¡¯Jeez, Bell is overpowered.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he watched the kid destroy four men before reaching into their pockets and stealing their coin purses alongside any other valuables he could find and reasonably fit in his own pockets.
"Good job." Merlin praised as he approached Bell, stepping over the nobles who were groaning in pain on the floor.
Bell gave Merlin a small nod before he started running back towards the thieves guild. Merlin followed behind him, ncing back at the nobles that the kid had just ruined for a moment before looking forward again.
The two entered the run down tavern just as it started to rain pretty heavily outside.
¡¯That was a close one.¡¯ Merlin thought as he closed the door behind him.
"Bell, you¡¯re back!" Fae spoke up with a happy tone, "You finished your task already? Good job!"
Bell nodded after she spoke. He gave her a high five before disappearing down the cer.
"You¡¯re back too I see." Fae said as she turned to Merlin, her voice was a lot less energetic than when she was interacting with Bell, but it was still friendly and upbeat. "I assume you¡¯ve also had a sessful mission."
Merlin nodded in response, to which he was given praise by her as well.
"Good job!" She said before she made her way back to her spot behind the counter.
Merlin stuck around, because he thought she was going to make her way down into the cer like normal, but she didn¡¯t seem to do anything this time around.
"What, are you waiting for a high five too?" Fae asked.
"No... But, is that an option?" Merlin asked in a tone that was intended to obviously portray that he was joking.
"Are you a child?" Fae asked in a lighthearted tone.
"Technically." Merlin quickly responded.
"What?"
"Nevermind." Merlin muttered as he walked towards the cer.
He made his way into the thieves guild. The sound of rain hitting the roof of the building above him became muffled as he climbed down the stairs and entered through the secret door in the cer.
He closed the door behind him as he walked down into the gambling den. He weaved through the tables as usual and sat down besides the thief lord.
"Before you ask, no. I don¡¯t have a task for you to do right away." The elf sighed. "Although I would like to inform you about a situation that has recently urred."
"I¡¯m hearing several reports about groups of noble children making their way into the slums and harassing the residents here. Some of which have turned violent very quickly and several people have gotten hurt." The elf exined. "The biggest concern that I have is that the family names of some of the nobles we have identified, those who havee into the slums to cause issues and attack its residents, can also be found within reports I¡¯ve received of noble families who have been ckmailed with the use of that new drug that has been circting around the city."
"Meaning this isn¡¯t just a new trend for noble children to suddenly attack those less fortunate. Someone is forcibly encouraging them to attack the slums for whatever reason... But there must be a reason. I¡¯m not sure what their end goal is just yet, but there is no way that it can be good." The elf mumbled.
"When did this start?" Merlin asked.
"About three days ago." The elf answered. "Although the issue was light at first, just some insults and sneering, but it slowly began snowballing intorger groups brawling in the middle of the street."
"We believed that the incident was dying down as some of the city guard started breaking fights up, but it seems to have picked up once more." The elf growled. "It has gotten so bad that we¡¯ve actually started turning to more extreme measures to keep the residents of the slums safe."
"Oh, and we identally killed one of Kilo¡¯s puppets..." The elf said with an annoyed tone. "They were beating an old man to death when we caught them, we only figured out their identity a couple days after the fight. So good news, you¡¯ve only got five more enemies to kill."
"But you¡¯re going to need more time figuring out their identities and weaknesses?" Merlin asked, realising the pattern that was going on with this quest line.
"Correct." The elf nodded his head, "I¡¯ve got as many talented people as I can reasonably stuff onto a task looking into any and all information about the rest of the spider¡¯s legs. I should have a new task for you by the end of the week, maybe sooner. But for now, just watch out for the nobles hanging around, they¡¯re prone to violence."
"Alright, thanks for the heads up." Merlin thanked him. "If I have a week, I might head back up to Megalopolis. I¡¯ve got to pay a visit to someone by the name of Baron Doolmet, since his name showed up during the trafficker case."
"Oh, you are already familiar with the ve trader¡¯s customer?" The elf asked with a curious expression.
"Yeah, I¡¯ve seen him a few times around the ranger¡¯s guild. He¡¯s a really sketchy guy, and I suspect that he¡¯s probably plotting against Callisto, the leader of the ranger¡¯s guild." Merlin started rambling, "The two of them don¡¯t seem to get along at all."
"And you¡¯re also familiar with the princess too? You really are always full of surprises." The elf remarked. "Well, it sounds like you¡¯ve got your work cut out for you, so I¡¯ll let you go... Good luck out there."
Merlinughed a little before standing up, saying his farewells and making his way towards the exit. The sound of rain picked up once more as he opened the cer door and reentered the shabby tavern.
"Leaving so soon?" Fae¡¯s voice rung out as Merlin approached the door. "It¡¯ll probably rain for a few more minutes, feel free to sit around while you wait for it to stop."
"I should be alright. I¡¯ll be back in a week or so." He waved goodbye as he pulled up his cloak hood and stepped out into the rain. The feeling of cold water soaking into the cloak and then touching his skin caused his body to shiver uncontrobly.
¡¯This weather is perfect for the warm panther cloak, why did I have to use it for a disguise...¡¯ He thought to himself. He wanted to wear it, but didn¡¯t want to risk the extra identification chance while five of the legs, as well as Kilo herself, were still alive.
Merlin made his way out of the slums quickly. He walked by where Bell had recently showcased his skill in hand to handbat, much to Merlin¡¯s surprise. Although Merlin wasn¡¯t quite sure why he was surprised that Bell was skilled at fighting, considering his father was Pelear, the guild¡¯s trainer. Maybe it was just his small stature and unoffensive appearance that made Merlin underestimate him.
Chapter 149: The First Stream
Before Merlin continued into the active part of the city, he stopped under the cover of a run down building and decided now would be a good time to start his stream.
He had done the initial setup, which linked his streaming ount to the game, but now he had to go through and mess around with the various options before he could start.
"System stream, settings." Merlin chanted a systemmand, causing a window to appear before him.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Stream Title: ...
Stream Tags: ...
Stream Description: ...
Save VOD: Yes
> Advanced Options
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The floating keyboard appeared alongside the window, allowing Merlin to type in the various boxes.
"Stream title... Do I go for something quirky or just keep it simple." He muttered to himself. He thought about it for a moment before just typing in the name of the game in the title while sighing to himself. "I¡¯m the only one streaming in this category, it¡¯s not like I need to clickbait people into watching."
With that mindset, he rushed through stream tags and description, and he didn¡¯t really bother with any of the advanced settings.
He saved the preset before closing the window and chanting another systemmand. "System stream, camera settings."
Another window appeared before him, alongside a floating ethereal ssic movie camera. The window was full of settings specifically for the camera, and the options could be further expanded on. It was something that people could spend hours customising, but Merlin didn¡¯t feel like wasting time on getting it perfect.
¡¯How did I do this again...¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he scanned through the various settings, but therge camera kept drawing his attention away. ¡¯Ok, but first of all, you¡¯re way too clunky.¡¯
Merlin started by messing with the camera¡¯s appearance. He set it to the smallest option he could, which was a floating eyeball, and then set the transparency so it was almost invisible to him. He made sure the setting for being invisible to everyone else was on before moving on to the next part, controls.
He began flicking on features such as dynamic positioning, and most of the cinematic options, he focused on the options that would give him cooler shots and smoother movements, and after about five minutes he was satisfied.
"Good enough." Merlin remarked as he swiped the camera controls away and began chanting yet another systemmand. "System stream, start."
He received a notification that his stream would be live in ten seconds, and another window appeared before him, although this one floated around his peripheral vision until Merlin tried interacting with it. It was the chat window, which allowed him to talk with his stream, as well as see how many viewers he had.
Merlin didn¡¯t have any viewers currently, which was understandable as the stream had just started, but he expected to have at least a couple in the next few minutes. Whether it was Quinn and Holly, any of his ount¡¯s followers, or even people who followed the streaming page of the game. He was almost guaranteed to have a small group of viewers in no time at all.
Once the stream was live, Merlin stepped out into the rain and began making his way out of the city towards the farnd and road that lead to Megalopolis.
As he stepped out into the barley fields, his stream had received its first message.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: a
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Merlin waited for a moment, wondering if any more messages woulde through.
"What, that¡¯s it?" Merlin muttered.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Oh, you can talk to us through the game? That¡¯s cool.
[MOD] As: Hey, we¡¯re here!
[MOD] As: Oh look at you, you¡¯re drenched.
[MOD] As: Cool character though.
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It seemed Holly had arrived not long after.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: We¡¯re just in a ranked game right now.
[MOD] Quinntessential: Give us like twenty minutes, we¡¯re stomping these guys.
[MOD] Quinntessential: Don¡¯t end stream.
[MOD] As: Be right back.
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Those two had vanished as quickly as they appeared. Merlin continued his journey back towards Megalopolis, summoning his ball of light as he stepped out onto the road.
A few morements started popping up, most of which were wondering if this was actually gamey of New Genesis, and not just someone who was streaming in the wrong category again. And it seemed they were pleasantly surprised, as they began posting tons of questions about the game in chat, and the chat was flooded with notifications of people following.
He began answering as many questions as he could while he followed the road through the farnd, the rolling hills and then into the forest. He was keeping himself entertained as he walked, but a notification appeared beside the chat window.
¡¸"Susan_Dilly" has gifted 6500 tokens with the message: "Do a backflip."¡¹
Merlin fulfilled the donation¡¯s request, which seemed to impress chat. But Merlin was even more surprised at the massive donation straight off the bat. He couldn¡¯t help but feel sad when he thought back to how much he struggled trying to get big as a streamer in the previous timeline.
"And thank you very much for the gift. I appreciate it!" He said with a genuine smile.
The walk towards the city was long, and although he had chat to talk to, they seemed to be getting bored just watching him walk around in the night. Fortunately the rain had stopped, which was something positive at least.
Giving the viewers a little bit of a show, he slipped into the forest for a few minutes and showcasedbat with the first monster he found, which happened to be a gnoll that was alone.
Merlin put on a show for his audience, choosing to be more shy and dynamic with his movements than the efficient killer he usually was.
Being shy came natural to him, as he spent quite a long time as an entertainer. The only downside was that it cut down his killing speed, but it was still much faster than those who fought with fighting assistance on.
His long flowing white hair and the camera¡¯s cinematic options made for quite a spectacle alongside his movements, or at least he believed they did, based on the messages he saw in chat.
"So yeah, that wasbat." Merlin said, "But that little bit of entertainment has to be all for now. I need to get to the next city."
Merlin ran back towards the road and continued on his way to the next city. But as he traversed the road, he was met with an odd sight.
Merlin could see several lights moving as a group in the distance, and as he continued down the road, he saw that it was a wagon with a few guards walking alongside it.
¡¯Why on earth is a wagon travelling thiste at night. Everyone knows how dangerous it is...¡¯ Merlin thought to himself.
But as the wagon got closer, Merlin could identify one of the people within the wagon, and a few other faces that seemed somewhat familiar. The person he identified was Baron Doolmet himself, and the facial expression he held was full of anxiety.
Unfortunately Merlin was now close enough for the group to see his face too, and Baron Doolmet¡¯s face distorted when he locked eyes on Merlin, someone he would have seen around the rangers guild and near Callisto.
It seemed the guards weren¡¯t fond of his presence either, as they had their hands resting on their weapons as the wagon made its way past him.
Merlin caught a glimpse of the coloured names of everyone in the group, and it seemed they all had positive karma, including Doolmet, surprisingly enough. Merlin realised he couldn¡¯t do anything to the group without being severely crippled by punishments.
His chat was full of people spamming that he should have robbed them, so Merlin took the time to exin how bad killing NPCs was, and a few of the punishments that arose from doing such a thing.
Holly and Quinn appeared in chat once more as Merlin could finally see Megalopolis in the distance.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Have you actually been walking this whole time?
[MOD] Quinntessential: No mounts?
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"I could buy a horse, but they¡¯re pretty expensive." Merlin muttered, not bothering to exin mounts to chat, as it was a feature that nobody should know of just yet.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: So one of the greatest technological aplishments of our time is a hyper realistic walking simtor.
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"To an extent, yeah." Merlinughed at Quinn¡¯s remark.
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[MOD] As: Do you have any magic yet?
[MOD] As: Oh, Maria mentioned something about nts, what was that about?
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"You mean this?" Merlin asked as three vines escaped his arm and started twirling around in the air, which caused his chat to erupt in surprise once more. His chat was so hectic that he couldn¡¯t see any of his friends messages anymore, even if they were highlighted due to their mod status, they just flew past within seconds.
"I¡¯ll show it off inbatter, lets get in the city first." Merlin sighed, retracting his vines before he continued towards the city.
He made his way past the merchants association and walked past several of the ruins, including the mysterious door frame, which wasn¡¯t glowing.
Merlin looked up at the sky, only to see that the moon wasn¡¯t even remotely close to being whole.
"Damn, waning crescent, almost a new moon." He mumbled to himself.
Much to Merlin¡¯s disappointment, the old man he met that day was nowhere to be found tonight either. Although he remained hopeful that he¡¯d eventually find him and maybe get a hint on what the key could possibly be, or even what thenguage on the door frame was.
Chapter 150: Friendly Neighbourhood Rose Wight-Man
Merlin eventually made his way towards the rangers guild. Although he found that this time there weren¡¯t many people outdoors, most likely because it had been raining until a few minutes ago, but also because it was roughly around midnight at this point.
He walked into the rangers guild building, where he was met with the sight of an unfamiliar ranger sleeping peacefully at the front desk.
"Slow day, huh?" Merlin muttered as he walked past, making sure he didn¡¯t wake the ranger.
He walked through the building, dropping by the medical room in hopes that he¡¯d find Tuli, but she wasn¡¯t there either.
Figuring she must have been asleep or eating, he ran around checking a few moremon rooms and the mess hall, but there wasn¡¯t any sight of her or Callisto for that matter.
"I guess they must be sleeping, I¡¯lle back in the morning." Merlin mumbled out loud before making his way to the door.
The ranger manning the desk didn¡¯t wake up as he left either.
Not knowing what to do, Merlin made his way towards the wall. And after a brief greeting to the very tired looking guards, he stepped out into the wilderness to entertain himself and his viewers.
As he promised Holly earlier, his goal was to show off how he could utilise the vines inbat, and he spent several in-game hours traversing the forest and killing anything he could find, which for the most part were just the asional kobold or goblin and various wildlife.
As the sky started brightening up, Merlin thought to start heading back to town. But then he received another donation notification.
¡¸"Frank_Trampedach" has gifted 2000 tokens with the message: "Can you use the vines as legs? What about swinging around the forest?"¡¹
"That is a very good question." Merlin muttered to his stream. "I guess we can find out together."
Suddenly three vines sprouted out of Merlin¡¯s back and started digging into the floor underneath him. After a few seconds his body started to rise off of the ground, and he felt excitement build up within him, until he lost his concentration and one of the vines gave out, causing him to fall into the soft damp forest soil.
"That¡¯s a lot harder than it looks." Heined to his chat, who were now spamming variousughing emotes.
He tried once more, and found that while he was a little unstable at first, as he didn¡¯t quite know how to visualise it in his mind properly, his body slowly bnced itself.
He was holding the image of a tripod in his mind, the most stable three-legged option he could think of.
"If I had one more vine I think I could walk pretty easily." He muttered to himself. "The vines got stronger, but they¡¯re nowhere close to the rose wight."
"Sorry, I don¡¯t think walking is going to be possible just yet." Merlin apologised to the donator, "But thank you for the gift."
Then came the next part of his testing. Would he be able to swing himself around using the vines?
The vines flung out and wrapped themselves around the most stable looking tree branches they could reach. And Merlin¡¯s body was lifted off the ground with ease.
It was much easier to stabilise himself this way, but then came the next struggle, how was he supposed to move?
¡¯What if I just slingshot myself in the direction I wanted to go.¡¯ He wondered to himself. ¡¯Besides a few hundred broken bones if I hit something at such a fast speed...¡¯
He decided it was worth a try, but he wanted to start it off slow. So he gently threw himself towards the direction of the city, and as his body picked up momentum, he let go of the tree branches that were suspending him in midair.
Before his body could hit the ground he saw the next branch and shot his vine out towards it. His body swung past it, picking up a scary amount of speed, but as he hit the apex of his swing, he released the branch once more.
This pace continued until he was flying through the forest at an insane speed, his body had picked up enough forward momentum that he barely had enough time to find the next branch to grab on to before it was already time to look once more.
He was trying to keep focused, but he saw several shes of light in the distance flying towards him. They all flew past him, but one nearly grazed his face. It was at this point that he realised they were arrows.
"Who the hell can shoot something moving this fast?" Merlin eximed in surprise as he wrapped his vine around another branch.
He saw yet another arrow, this time flying in the direction he would end up if he let go of the branch at that moment, so he instinctively held on for a few more seconds before letting go, and his body was thrown several meters into the sky.
Merlin quickly scanned the ground beneath him, although it was mostly trees, he saw a single individual standing on the road looking up at him. It appeared to be a woman with a bow and arrow, although he was a little far to catch any details, he saw that she was a brte and her silhouette seemed rather familiar.
"Good with a bow, brte..." He muttered to himself, but his thought process was cut short as another arrow flew towards him as he began plummeting to the ground.
He threw a vine in the arrow¡¯s path, as he couldn¡¯t do much else to avoid it. The arrow pierced the vine, and without being slowed down pierced right through Merlin¡¯s shoulder.
Merlin¡¯s eyes widened as he saw that a single hit of the bow had dealt a whopping forty-six damage to him, and it wasn¡¯t even a critical hit.
"Crap, yeah that¡¯s her alright." He groaned as he sent his two remaining vines out to catch any branches they could on his way towards the ground. Taking fall damage from that height would be a death sentence for him now.
Fortunately his vines did manage to wrap around a pair of stable branches, and that allowed him to break his fall, but it seemed as though the huntress hadn¡¯t realised who she was shooting at just yet, as yet another arrow flew past his head.
Merlin began making his way towards the road where she was standing. He figured that he looked like nothing but a silhouette moving at speeds impossible for humans in her eyes, so if she just realised who he was, she would stop shooting.
The only issue is that he could maybe survive one more shot if she hit him in another non-lethal area. But even another arrow to the shoulder would kill him who only had eighty max health.
He swung himself towards the road as fast as he could, avoiding all the arrows that were being shot his way.
"How are you still so urate under these conditions." Merlin screamed, "I know you worship Artemis, bute on."
While swinging around with desperation, one of the branches he figured was safe had immediately snapped as he reached half of his swing, causing his body to plummet towards the earth.
Before he hit the ground he wrapped his body in vines as best as he could, hoping that they would soften the blow at all, and maybe dig into the dirt to slow him down.
He wasn¡¯t sure if his actions were pointless or not, but he rolled along the forest floor for what felt like a few seconds before his body began slowing down.
He unwrapped his body and flung himself upright just in time to see Callisto in front of him with a surprised expression as she let another arrow fly.
It seemed she had realised toote who she was firing at, and the arrow was now on a direct path towards Merlin¡¯s heart.
¡¯My first death isn¡¯t going to be getting murdered by a guild leader.¡¯ Merlin screamed in his mind as he tried pushing himself out of the way with his vines, he seemed to move a fair distance before the arrow made contact with his flesh.
The arrow flew past Merlin¡¯s side, it barely grazed him, yet it left him on only two health.
¡¯Damn, I can¡¯t just devour raw meat or corpses on stream, can I?¡¯ He thought to himself as his body slumped to the ground. ¡¯I need to make potions at some point.¡¯
"Merlin!" Callisto screamed in panic as she ran over to his body.
She reached into her pouch and pulled out a small vial of pink liquid, and after uncorking the bottle, practically forced it down Merlin¡¯s throat. "Drink it, now!"
Merlin consumed the potion, and he could see his health now rapidly rising, which allowed him to calm down somewhat, as he now wouldn¡¯t die if someone so much as sneezed in his general direction.
"Hey Callisto..." Merlin groaned, "So, remember that vine ability I was going to exin to you at some point."
"I¡¯m so sorry." She apologised several times before spamming him with excuses like: "It was so dark. I thought you were a monster. I didn¡¯t expect someone could move that fast."
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[MOD] As: Wait, Callisto?
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It seemed Holly was still watching, and had found interest in the woman¡¯s name.
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[MOD] As: If this ce is based in Greek mythology then...
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"As, no spoilers." Merlin groaned, which confused Callisto, but he told her not to worry about it. "It¡¯s sort of like talking to other travellers, but through your mind... It¡¯s hard to exin."
She seemed to have dropped it, as she was more concerned over Merlin¡¯s health. But he stood up momentster, and while Callisto tried to protest, she stopped once he showed her that his wounds hadpletely healed.
Chapter 151: The Huntress Love
Callisto was still a worried wreck. This was a side of her that Merlin hadn¡¯t seen before.
Her public image was most likely that of a hot-headed violent princess who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to shoot a noble in public, but Merlin had seen her softer side that was used almost exclusively for those in the rangers guild.
And although Merlin had seen her emotions when faced with the death of members in her family, specifically referring to the guild members, and not the royalty she found herself rted to by blood. He hadn¡¯t yet seen her reaction when she almost identally killed one of them right in front of her.
It was kind of morbid to think about, but Merlin thought her reaction was kind of cute, even though he was the one who had almost died. It was mostly due to her contrasting behaviour whenpared to the time she had almost murdered Baron Doolmet in the same manner.
"What is the draw weight of that bow?" Merlin turned to Callisto and asked. "It ripped a hole right through my vine and then me. It felt like I got shot with a ballista."
"How do you know what that would feel like?" Callisto asked, it seemed she was more interested in that specific detail than the rest of the question.
"I was being hyperbolic." Merlin shook his head as he answered with a lie, for he did actually know what it felt like to be shot with a ballista, an unfortunate experience. "But seriously, how powerful is that bow?"
Callisto didn¡¯t seem to want to answer, but since she felt guilty of having almost killed Merlin, she reluctantly let Merlin hold the bow after making him promise that he would give it right back after he tried shooting it once.
Merlin received the bow and a single arrow, and despite its rtively small size for a longbow, it was rather heavy.
He did as he was told and attempted to draw the bow back, but found that it didn¡¯t budge in the slightest. He could feel his arm start shaking as though it were being strained as he used as much force as he could possibly muster up, but even after all that effort it was all pointless.
Before he handed the weapon back, he tried inspecting it while it was in his hands, and much to his surprise the information window wasn¡¯t hidden.
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[The Huntress¡¯ Love (Legendary)]
An elegant longbow made from cypress wood. It is the signature weapon of Callisto, a devout worshipper of the goddess Artemis, and the weapon seemed to have received a blessing from the goddess, although the power remains hidden to those who Artemis does not deem worthy to wield it.
? Damage: +50 (+500)
? Agility: +6% (+60%)
? Traits: ?Artemis¡¯ Blessing?
? Abilities: ?The Huntress?
? Required level: 40
? Required strength: 320
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¡¯A legendary weapon with a trait... That makes sense.¡¯ He thought to himself as the weapon left his hands.
He noticed that Callisto seemed much calmer when the bow was back in her possession, it clearly meant a lot to her and it must have been quite difficult passing it to another person.
The information window for the weapon was still on his screen, so while he still could, he took a closer look at the trait.
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?Artemis¡¯ Blessing?
The goddess of the hunt blessed this bow, giving it astronomical power when wielded by her most devout followers.
? If wielded by someone who doesn¡¯t worship Artemis, or someone who Artemis doesn¡¯t recognise as worthy, the bow¡¯s stats will be reduced to only 10% of their original values.
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¡¯Wait... Then why wasn¡¯t I instantly killed by the first shot?¡¯ A thought pierced Merlin¡¯s mind. ¡¯Callisto is one of the most devout followers of Artemis, there isn¡¯t any way that isn¡¯t the case... That means...¡¯
¡¯Artemis doesn¡¯t believe she is worthy?¡¯ Merlin raised the question in his mind, but he couldn¡¯t imagine what the reason could possibly be. There was clearly a story here, one that he wanted to uncover, but it seemed as though he wouldn¡¯t be able to get the answer out of Callisto right away.
He checked the other bow¡¯s ability, and it was just a passive that added even more bonus damage to the bow, but exclusively against wild animals and beast type creatures. He swiped the information windows away and turned his attention back to Callisto.
"Well, I¡¯m going to make my way back to the city." Merlin said as he began stretching his body.
"I was just making my way back as well." Callisto said as she threw her bow over her shoulder.
The two walked down the road together, making their way towards therge wall that separated the wilderness from the city.
Merlin checked his stream chat while walking, and he could only shake his head in disappointment as he saw a massive wave of spam mentioning nothing but shipping. And it seemed that Holly was the only person in the chat who understood how bad of an idea that was.
¡¯Seriously, does nobody learn about Greek mythology anymore?¡¯ Merlin couldn¡¯t help but think to himself. ¡¯Dating a follower of Artemis is a one way ticket to angering the god and earning yourself a lifelong curse, probably getting turned into a...¡¯
Merlin¡¯s thought process had stopped at that moment, and something clicked in his mind.
¡¯A bear...¡¯ he thought as he turned and stared at Callisto.
¡¯How did I not realise that earlier.¡¯ He grumbled in his thoughts as he thought back to various details that should have made it obvious for him, namely the proof that she had lost the recognition of Artemis. ¡¯Is it because she isn¡¯t permanently a bear like in the myth?¡¯
Although he believed some questions of his were answered by this revtion, more questions arose.
¡¯She angered Artemis in the original myth by losing the purity that she swore an oath to keep, I believe it was Zeus who pretended to be Artemis who stole it, at least in one of the renditions.¡¯ He thought, ¡¯Did the same happen here, or was it different?¡¯
¡¯What causes the bear form, and can she control herself in the form or not?¡¯ Merlin was leaning towards no on the second part, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have had a near death experience getting chased down by therge bear.
He found it kind of odd that this NPC had almost killed him on several ounts now, all unintentionally, or so he hoped. But there was also the chance that he waspletely wrong about his current assumptions, as Gaia was known to throw twists to fool those who knew too much.
"What¡¯s the matter?" Callisto asked in a curious tone.
"Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted to hear about the vine ability. Or if you don¡¯t really care anymore." He came up with a lie on the spot, which was surprisingly effective, considering his track record.
"Oh, sure, I¡¯d love to hear it." She said.
Merlin ended up telling Callisto various details about the rose wight, specifically how much of a menace it was in Orchomenus and how tricky it was to kill. He even threw in details of how it was created by the Despoina cult, which surprised Callisto, as she wasn¡¯t aware that they were active that far east.
Eventually they made their way back in the city and towards the rangers guild. There were a few onlookers, but nobody seemed to be stirring up any trouble in the crowd, so they just went about their day.
As the two entered the rangers guild, the ranger who was previously asleep when Merlin left was clearly now wide awake, and as they got closer he spoke up, informing Callisto that an urgent request had been received by one of the frontier towns not too long ago.
He handed her the request form that contained arge wall of text, and out of her grumbles he could gather that the quest involved a group of orcs.
"Merlin, this expedition seems a bit tough. But I think you¡¯re capable enough to handle yourself on the field, especially after thest expedition we did together." She spoke with confidence, "Would you be willing to join us for another expedition?"
A quest window appeared before Merlin,
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[Umon Quest]
The Orcs Attack.
The frontier town of Farbe is requesting aid from the rangers guild in Megalopolis, and although the mission seems a bit tough, Callisto has given you a spot on the expedition team.
Your task is to travel towards Farbe with the rest of the expedition and assist them in dealing with the orc threat.
Farbe is arge vige located further west from Parrhasia, it is one of the most western frontier viges that still have a poption, and everyone within the town are quite adept at protecting themselves.
The vige usually deals with its own issues and invasions, so if Farbe is requesting aid, the situation must be dire.
Join andplete the expedition.
? Reward: 900 EXP, 1400 Ranger Soul EXP.
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Chapter 152: Preparation for the Second Expedition
Merlin epted the quest and looked back up at Callisto.
"Please get prepared and meet us in the briefing room." She spoke before walking off and turning down a hallway.
Merlin believed himself to be prepared already, but then he remembered back to a few minutes ago when he found himself without a socially eptable way of healing himself.
¡¯I should probably go make potions, I need to stop putting that off.¡¯ He thought to himself.
Merlin turned around and made his way out of the guild building, he turned and started walking towards the merchants association. The morning air was rather cold against his skin, so he took the warm panther cloak out of his inventory and equipped it.
Although he had used it as part of his disguise, he felt like those who could possibly know about it were situated within Macedonia and all held positions that basically meant they couldn¡¯t leave the city. So his identity would most likely be safe in Megalopolis or within towns west of the wall.
His paranoia was rather pointless to begin with, it was just him being overly cautious as usual. Those who had the remote chance of identifying him through that single detail were on his side anyway, or were the kids he saved.
He made his way down the hill, walking past several vigers who were minding their own business and going about their day. He made his way to the merchants association building and walked inside.
As usual, he was greeted by a cashier near the door. The cashier greeted Merlin and then pointed him in the direction of water skins. The water skins were only two silver each, so Merlin picked up two, costing him four silver and leaving him with twelve gold and ten silver coins.
After finalising his purchase, he made his way out of the building and towards one of the many wells situated around the city where he could fill both water skins.
His next destination was a little store that was full of potted nts, the herb shop he visited before and learnt the herbalism skill from. As Merlin entered the store, he was once again hit with the overpowering stench of herbs, and a little olddy was inside tending to her nts, only noticing Merlin after the door closed behind him.
"Oh, hello again dear, are you here for another lesson?" The olddy asked.
"No, I¡¯d like to take a look at your wares please." Merlin said, "I¡¯m specifically looking for nemine and Impletio, about five hundred grams of each would do me well."
"Well you¡¯re in luck, I just finished wrapping the new supply." She said, vanishing behind a stack of very leafy nts.
She came backter with two wrapped packages, both werebelled withrge ck letters, one as "imp" and the other as "n".
"Five hundred of each, a silver per package." She said as she ced both packages on a table. Merlin paid the olddy two silver and received both packages in return.
He gave his farewells before leaving the store and making his way towards the rangers guild building once more.
He entered the building and walked down the hallway further within the building. He noticed that a few rangers had started gathering near the briefing room, although they were clearly early.
Instead of joining the group, Merlin turned down another hallway and walked into the medicine room.
There he saw a very bored looking Tuli sitting around on a chair, swirling around a test tube. The test tube contained a single seed that had sunk to the bottom of what Merlin could assume was some form of acid, based on how the seed was breaking apart and dissolving.
"Hey Tuli. I take it you¡¯ve been doing tests on yew berry seeds?" Merlin asked with a hint of sarcasm as both of them turned to stare at the table that was covered in a handful of the red flesh part of the yew berry, they had been stripped of their seed and abandoned on the table.
"Very observant." Tuli responded with a slightugh. "Are you hungry? I don¡¯t have much use for the fruit part."
"I¡¯ll pass." Merlin shook his head, even though they were technically safe to eat, consuming them wasn¡¯t exactly a pleasant experience. "I¡¯m just here to ask if I could use the room to brew a couple potions."
"Yeah, go right ahead." Tuli nodded.
Merlin began pulling his ingredients out and spent the next four minutes brewing up just enough potion to fill eleven of his twelve ss vials. As he was cleaning up he nced at his stream chat, where he saw Quinn yfully paying him out.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Look at you living your best life.
[MOD] Quinntessential: This game was practically made for that flower obsession of yours.
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Callisto poked her head into the room a few minutester and informed Merlin that the briefing was about to start.
He said goodbye to Tuli and followed Callisto down the hallway and into the room. He took a seat and waited for the briefing to start.
Looking around, this group was almost entirelyprised of experienced looking rangers, those who were on Callisto¡¯s original team. There were also a few dotted around the room who Merlin recognised from his time in thest expedition, they were clearly reserve members, but were the most skilled of the bunch. Outside of Merlin, there wasn¡¯t a single rookie to be seen.
"Alright, it seems everyone is here." Callisto announced as she took to the stage, or more urately, the slightly elevated tform on the far end of the room.
She pulled out a map and hung it up on the wall, then with a long stick she pointed to a small dot quite far south-east from where Megalopolis was marked.
"Our target for this expedition is Farbe, as you all know, this means we will be delving quite deep into the frontier." She spoke out with a loud, confident voice. "Those of you who do not believe that you are up for the task, please speak up now so we can fill your spot immediately."
She waited for a moment, but nobody spoke up, so she continued speaking.
"We have received a request for assistance from Farbe, as one of their scouts seemed to have found a massive army of orcs within the nearbynds. Such a sight usually means that a warlord has taken power, which means it isn¡¯t long before they start attacking nearby settlements to expand their territory." She exined. "Our task for this mission is to make our way to Farbe and assist them with fighting off the potential orc invasion. And, if possible, hunting down the warlord and ending his reign early."
"I¡¯ve begun preparing wagons for our expedition, but we wont be able to make it there in a single day." She announced, "And due to our recent loss of Acacesium and the walled off city Charisia not responding to outsidemunication, we¡¯ll have to extend our march to Parrhasia, where we will rest before setting off for Farbe once more."
"Let us pray that Parrhasia hasn¡¯t befallen a simr fate. We haven¡¯t received anymunication from them in a short while, and our scouts aren¡¯t yet required to return." She grumbled. "So there is a small chance we will be camping out for the night, please prepare ordingly."
"This team isprised mostly of my original expedition team, but you¡¯ll notice a couple unfamiliar faces in the mix. I can vouch for the ability of every single one of you, and I expect you to work together well." She said, "We will meet outside in twenty minutes, please make any final adjustments with this new information and prepare to set off within that time frame."
"You¡¯re all dismissed." She announced, causing everyone in the briefing room to scatter and prepare.
Merlin also stood up from his chair and made his way to the exit. While everyone else was rushing to their dorms, Merlin left the building and waited outside, where he was joined by Callisto momentster.
¡¯Well, this is a familiar feeling.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself.
He noticed that a few of the nearby residents seemed curious as to what the princess was up to now.
Merlin nced at his chat, noticing that they all seemed to be hyped up after that briefing, most likely because it signalled the arrival ofbat in the near future, something different from the walking and alchemy simtor that took up most of Merlin¡¯s day so far.
Little did they know that they had an even longer walking simtor ahead of them, wagons weren¡¯t nearly as powerful as they likely hoped.
A little whileter, as many of the rangers started gathering around Callisto, a group of two-horse wagons started making their way down the street, each pulling up in-front of the rangers guild building. All of the drivers were gruff looking rangers that Merlin saw during the briefing.
As the crowd of civilians becamerger as more curious individuals gathered around, Callisto ordered everyone to pile onto the wagons before Merlin and herself also climbed into one.
With a single order, each wagon began moving towards the gate in a single line formation. The guards gave the group a salute as the wagons made their way past them.
The road was slightly bumpy, but even after ten minutes of travel it wasn¡¯t that ufortable of a ride, for a horse-drawn wagon¡¯s standards anyway. The group continued down the road, with most of the rangers that Merlin could see looking out towards the wilderness surrounding them.
Chapter 153: The Road Trip
The group travelled down the overgrown road in the same straight line formation that they left Megalopolis with. The trip was ultimately uneventful, as nothing in such a weak area would bother such arge group.
Unlike the previous expedition where it took them nearly an hour to reach Acacesium, the wagons allowed them to reach it within half the time.
And while the group didn¡¯t stop at the abandoned town, all of the rangers took in the sight of yet another town that they were once familiar with, or even had family living in, now devoid of any signs of life.
"Those damn cultists." One of the rangers growled. Merlin turned to face him, and he could immediately tell that the man was on the verge of tears. The rest of the rangers on his wagon, including Callisto herself, all had expressions with a mix of emotions, but the most prevalent ones were sadness and rage.
Merlin turned his gaze to his surroundings. The town seemed to be untouched, appearing exactly as he had left it during his first expedition. Although it seemed there was at least some form of life thriving in the town, as Merlin caught a glimpse of a fox carrying its baby into one of the abandoned houses by the scruff of its neck, only to poke its head out from one of the windows and observe the travelling group a few secondster.
Although they had started their journey westbound, after leaving the town, they began moving more towards south-west. Had they continued west for quite a while, they would have eventuallye across Charisia, the walled city that has been isting itself from the outside world for a yet unknown reason.
So, while looking for a safe location to give their horses and themselves enough rest to continue on their journey, they decided that their safest bet would be Parrhasia.
At this point in time, what was once an early morning had slowly been shifting towards the afternoon. Merlin was half listening to several of the rangers talking about their feelings and recounting the memories they had with some of the victims. This helped him pass the time and resolved some of his curiosity, but having so much negativity brought up at once had started making the mood of the group quite depressing.
After almost another hour into their journey, the group could now see arge walled off town in the distance. The sight of civilisation helped the mood recover, and the signs of life that they could barely make out from a distance gave them hope.
Merlin noticed that some of the horses seemed to be getting somewhat tired at this point. Carrying around severalrge teams over a poorly maintained road while simultaneously keeping a fast pace seemed to be taking its toll on their bodies.
Although he wasn¡¯t happy about the choice of forcing the march, he understood the dangers of being stationary in the wilderness for too long. Especially when there were so many horses in one area, which seemed to always be a prime target for ravenous monsters.
Sometime along his travels, a red alert box appeared before him.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today¡¯s session, you will receive another notification when it¡¯s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you¡¯re in a safe
location when you log out.
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And during thete afternoon, the group had finally made their way to the outside walls of the town. The walls surrounding the town were thick logs stacked side by side, and the top of each log was sharpened to a point, forming an impressive looking stockade.
There were several tall structures within the walls that were tall enough to provide vision over the wall, and upon each of these watch towers was an armed guard. There seemed to be a set of watch towers for each of therge gates that were scattered around.
It seemed as though all the gates that Merlin could see were closed, and it was likely that they mirrored this behaviour on the other sides of the town too.
The wagons started approaching one of the walls, and without any words being said to the guards from anyone in the ranger group, one of the guards ordered for the gate to be opened. Merlin watched as the gate was slowly opened, and the wagons were allowed inside.
¡¯They¡¯re a bitid back in regards to safety, aren¡¯t they?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯It¡¯s not like allrge roaming groups are good, there¡¯s the Despoina cult after all.¡¯
Merlin thought of a few reasons behind it, perhaps they were made aware of the group¡¯s arrival ahead of time, or could easily recognise a few faces in the crowd. It wasn¡¯t like the wagons had any easily recognisable icons or an insignia printed on them, so there surely had to be some reason that they didn¡¯t so much as ask for a name or the group¡¯s intent.
As the wagons drove further into the town, Merlin was too busy taking in his surroundings to notice the wagonse to an abrupt halt. He felt his body jerk, causing him to almost bump into Callisto before he caught himself.
He turned to face the front of the wagon, where he saw an army of armoured knights marching down the street. Each bearing the insignia of a wolf¡¯s head wearing a crown on their armour.
"Oh, great." Callisto groaned as she stared at the soldiers, "Father¡¯s personal army... He¡¯s getting in my way as usual."
"It seems he¡¯s gotten impatient. I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d go so far as to upy a frontier town as a base of operations while trying to reestablish contact with Charisia." She mumbled, "At this rate he might end up listening to one of those bloodthirsty advisers he keeps by his side."
The army of knights marched towards one of the north-western gates leading out of the town. Once they had gotten out of the way, the wagons began moving once again.
¡¯I suppose another possible reason they would be less cautious is because they have the king¡¯s personal army residing within the town, that might be the answer...¡¯ Merlin thought, ¡¯Although wouldn¡¯t they ramp up security in such a case? They would be putting the king¡¯s army at risk for no reason.¡¯
It was probably something simple that Merlin just found himself overthinking. After noticing that Callisto or the other rangers didn¡¯t seem to care, he eventually dropped the thought.
The wagons made their way to arge stable, and all the rangers were ordered to dismount. Once everyone was off, the drivers of each wagon made their way further into the stable, while the rest of the rangers were pointed in the direction of a local pub.
Although he had no intention of eating, nor the requirement to do so, Merlin followed the group into the pub.
An interesting detail that Merlin noticed within the pub was that, those who were drinking seemed to be doing so in moderation. Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if it was the case here, but he had visited several viges located in monster dense areas during his time as a lore hunter, and while learning about various cultures he discovered that several viges ouwed severe intoxication outside of major events.
The reason given was always that death was always a single monster raid away for a lot of these viges, and having your warriors at least somewhat capable of standing on their own two feet while fighting was always going to be more advantageous than having them debilitated by their drink.
There would almost always be at least one group of rowdy drunkards in every pub, but that rule never applied to these viges.
While thinking to himself, he noticed Callisto approach one of the tables where a group of four men were sitting around enjoying slices of what looked to be honey zed ham and a pint of alcohol.
"d to see you¡¯re enjoying yourselves." She muttered, and as the group of four finally realised who they were talking to, they dropped their food back on their tes and greeted their guild leader.
¡¯So I suppose she found the scout team she sent out here.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he stared at the four.
Callisto turned to the expedition party who were now crowding around the pub entrance.
"The horses are resting, so we¡¯ll be setting off early tomorrow. We¡¯ll be meeting at the stables at sunrise, don¡¯t drink too much." She announced. "You¡¯re all dismissed."
A few minutester almost everyone in the group had started making their way to the various tables and began ordering food. Merlin received the information he required, so he decided to slip out of the building and explore the town.
By the time he logged out and back in again the next day, it should be time for them to set off, hopefully. It was tricky managing these sorts of quests with such a limited amount of time to y, but this wasn¡¯t much of an issue once the servers were permanently on and everyone could y at their own pace.
Merlin walked around the town, giving his viewers a tour, and himself a refresher on the town¡¯syout. He came across what seemed to be a makeshift barracks located on the southern side of town. In reality, it was just a repurposed inn that was flying banners with the same wolf insignia that Merlin saw on the knights previously.
Merlin spent what little time remained wandering around the town, but eventually it came time to end the stream as he received the red alert box telling him it was nearly time to go.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, your session will end in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time. Thank you.
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"Sorry for theck of content this time around everyone." He apologised to his stream before promising them some interesting content next time. "But tune in tomorrow for what sounds to be a massive war against an orc army."
He ended the stream before making his way back towards the pub, as he walked past, he peered inside and saw that most of the rangers were still inside. But it seemed that several others had called it for the night or were enjoying their time somewhere else in the city.
He did notice that the group of four scouts and Callisto were nowhere to be seen.
He made his way over to the stables, the ce he was supposed to meet the group tomorrow, before uttering themand to logout and then confirming it.
Then not long after, the world around him faded to ck.
Chapter 154: Arriving at Farncombe
After going through the usual process of leaving the capsule, Arthur made his way to the briefing room where most of the developers were sitting around talking. The first thing he noticed after entering was arge screen that featured his own streaming ount, and a notification that mentioned the streamer was now offline.
His eyes locked onto the follower count, being the first streamer of the game clearly had its benefits, as the two hundred or so followers he started with had expanded into a little more than five thousand.
"Arthur!" One of the developers noticed him enter and called out to him. "No wonder Gaia is interested in you. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re so far west already."
"Gaia estimated that it should be at least two months before yers made it to Parrhasia." Another developer grumbled. "I guess that¡¯s why she separated you into your own list."
Fortunately it seemed the developers were rationalising Gaia¡¯s behaviour by themselves, without any input from the culprit standing a few meters in front of them.
The developers spoke with Arthur about his stream, and he received several questions in regards to the sudden growth of hisbat abilities.
Eventually he was saved by the barrage of questions as more yers began filling the room, and the developers had to scramble their notes together for the briefing.
The briefing didn¡¯t take too long as there wasn¡¯t much information to be shared. And when it came time to list of the top five, much to nobody¡¯s surprise, the top three hadn¡¯t changed, while it seemed as though Liam, better known as Zankoku, was barely holding on to his fourth spot.
The briefing had ended, and Arthur made his way out of the building while talking with his friends. Eventually they all split and went their separate ways, and Arthur walked over to where Donovan was waiting for him. The two exchanged pleasantries as they drove home.
He went through the usual routine of watering his nts, working out and having dinner with the family. And once he logged onto hisputer he found himself flooded with private messages in regards to New Genesis.
He yed a few games with his friends, who both came loaded with questions of their own, before going to bed. Once the next day arrived, at some point Donovan came around to drop him back off at the facility. And at this point, it didn¡¯t take long for the first group to be ushered into the capsule room and sent back into the game.
Merlin found himself standing in the middle of the town, next to the stables where he logged out the day before.
He stared up at the sky, taking note that it seemed to be ratherte at night, or early in the morning depending on your perspective. Now the question was if this was several hourster than when he left off, or had at least a day gone by?
While remaining hopeful, Merlin checked his quests, and fortunately it seemed as though the orc attack quest hadn¡¯t been marked off as failed, meaning he was either in the clear or had to start running fast.
He quickly received his answer as he stepped into the stables and caught sight of an older looking ranger brushing his horses.
After a sigh of relief, Merlin made his way out of the stables and began chanting the systemmand to start his stream. "System stream, start."
What appeared moments after was a notification to inform him that his stream would be live in ten seconds, and after those ten seconds were up, forty more seconds had passed before Merlin received his first notification for the day.
¡¸"Cyeven" has gifted 2000 tokens with the message: "Hyped for the stream!"¡¹
"Jeez, that was fast." Merlin retorted, "Thanks for the gift!"
A few rangers had started making their way over to Merlin¡¯s position, some of them appeared to be somewhat hungover. Clearly they hadn¡¯t taken Callisto¡¯s warning to heart, either that or the sight of an empty Acacesium had caused them great pain that only drinking could dull.
The entire group formed up within the span of twenty minutes, and not long after the sky had started to brighten as the sun barely rose into view. Callisto had eventually appeared, and after reprimanding a few alcoholics, ordered the group to enter the wagons once more to continue their journey.
The group set off westbound once more, following along a road that was maintained much better than the one that connected Acacesium to Megalopolis.
It seemed as though the two frontier towns had their fair share of travel between them, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t put the effort into maintaining such arge road, especially under the threat of high level monster attacks.
Fortunately for the group, there wasn¡¯t a single monster that dared to attack the train of wagons as they travelled the road. Although they saw the asional monster watching them from a treeline or standing alone in a field. It seemed the monsters within this zone were intelligent enough to rationalise that attacking such arge convoy would undoubtedly lead to a painful death.
The sun slowly began rising behind them as the convoy travelled for almost an hour, the scenery experienced very few changes until thest half of the journey, where they noticed that the lush green forestedndscape they had been familiar with for quite some time was slowly obtaining more interesting rock formations.
The rock formations became more frequent the further west they went, and while looking ahead quite a distance away, they could see that eventually the scenery became almost exclusively rocks and gravel. And a little further than the rockyndscape was a massive mountain range that marked off the furthest west one could go in Arcadia, as it was nothing but ocean past that point.
However, that was a journey for another day, as their target was much closer than the mountain range. Standing in the slightly rocky yet still very lushndscape, and sat next to a wide river that was flowing down from the previously mentioned mountain range, was thergest thriving frontier town, Farbe.
Surprisingly, for a town so far west in a dangerous region, it wasn¡¯t entirely walled off unlike most of the settlements in Arcadia, most of which remained in rtively safe locations. But it did have a uniqueyered style of fortification that was born from the bad habits of a certain entric crafting-obsessed race.
It seemed that the town had tried several times to wall itself off from the outside world, only to require more space and expand out, which they then also tried to wall off. This process repeated itself until the chaotic mess of a fortified town was born.
The wagons drew closer to the town, riding pastrge plots of farnd. There was a lot of farmers out working the farms, and it seemed as though all of the farmers that Merlin could see were armed with at least a dagger or their farming tools, where most seemed to have bigger or more specialised weapons, such as swords, bows and wands.
Arge majority of the farmers were human, but he saw plenty of elves in the bunch. All of which had quite the healthy tan and a happy expression on their faces, the mood was rather light for a town in such a dangerous area. Especially one that was at risk of being invaded by orcs any day now.
Several people greeted the wagon drivers and some of the other rangers as the wagons drove past, and it didn¡¯t take long for the wagons to officially enter the town.
Merlin took in the scenery, the city was rather loudpared to all the other settlements he had visited during the beta. It wasn¡¯t just that it was just full of traffic, but that the town was full of life.
More noises became audible and others slowly dimmed out as the wagons moved, there was the sound of hammers pounding against metal as they drove by a cksmith, and then the sound of hammering and sawing from the nearby construction sites.
Merlin nced at the closest construction site from the wagon, and he watched as a short yet stout man found himself hanging from a harness, attached to the most rickety looking crane that he had ever seen.
The stout man was swinging over what Merlin could only estimate was roughly a ten meter drop, and he was hammering in nails without a care in the world. While equally short and stout individuals were swinging the man around on the other end of the crane.
¡¯Dwarves.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself with a sigh, ¡¯They¡¯d all go out of business if this world ever adopted the upational health and safety act.¡¯
While most of the individuals working at the construction sites were tanned dwarves, some of which had very impressive beards, there was a single individual on the construction site that stood out from the rest.
One of the reasons he stood out to Merlin was because he wasn¡¯t a dwarf, rather he was quite tall even for a human, and while standing next to two other dwarves he was at least four heads higher.
Him being human wasn¡¯t that big of a deal however, as there were other humans and even elves working on the construction site too.
But the main reason that Merlin found him interesting was because this man, whoserge blond beard even rivalled some of the dwarves. Although he was out working in the sun like everyone else, his skin was extremely pale, almost to the point it could bepared to a sheet of paper without any form of exaggeration.
Chapter 155: The Orcs Attack - I
¡¯Wait a second, isn¡¯t that--?¡¯ Merlin¡¯s train of thought was rudely cut off as the wagons moved down a street abruptly, causing him to lose sight of the pale man. ¡¯There¡¯s no way... What is he doing here in the beta?¡¯
¡¯He¡¯s supposed to appear yearster in the main release...¡¯ Merlin felt his heart race as his thoughts were slowly piecing together. ¡¯How did I not realise earlier. That description.¡¯
The group of wagons continued through the town while Merlin sat there lost in thought, a cold sweat ran down his back. ¡¯Wait, then that means...¡¯
"Hey Merlin, you doing okay?" Callisto asked, which caused Merlin to lose his train of thought once more. "You¡¯re looking a little pale."
"Yeah, sorry. Lost in thought." Merlin awkwardly coughed before trying to change the topic, "This ce is a maze, huh?"
"Yes, and we¡¯ve got the dwarves to thank for that." Callisto let out a small chuckle. "For a race that prides itself on being master craftsmen, when ites to building cities, they¡¯re all surprisingly poor at nning for expansion."
"Isn¡¯t that just an excuse so they can build more?" Merlin remarked.
Callisto¡¯s eyes widened, and she nodded a few secondster. "Now that you mention it, that does make more sense."
The wagons had made their way through another portcullis gate, and this time the streets opened up rather wide, and there were severalrge buildings scattered around, almost all of which seemed to be for some important purpose based on how many people were moving between them.
Merlin¡¯s focus dropped back down to his ownp as the wagons continued moving, he caught a glimpse of the ring covered in magical runes on his finger, which allowed him to let out a sigh of relief. ¡¯That could have been bad, I¡¯m never taking this thing off.¡¯
The wagons eventually stopped in front of arge building, and based on its appearance and the types of people walking in and out of it, it seemed to be some kind of military barracks.
Callisto stood up in the wagon and began speaking loud so that the entire group could hear her. "We¡¯ll be working alongside the town¡¯s military, everyone dismount and prepare for a briefing."
The rangers began leaping off of the wagons, and once everyone was gone, the drivers made their way down the street, disappearing behind the barracks.
Therge group of rangers, Merlin included, began walking towards the barracks, where they were led down a hallway by an older looking knight with a scruffy white beard.
They were eventually lead to arge auditorium, the room¡¯s structure was reminiscent of a lecture hall. Other groups were slowly entering the room and filling up the seats, and Merlin followed the rangers who began doing the same.
The same older knight who had led the rangers to the briefing room started making his way down the stairs towards the stage at the far end of the room, Callisto had followed him onto the stage.
The old man introduced himself as themander of Farbe¡¯s military to the audience, before introducing Callisto as the leader of the rangers guild. After a brief section exining that the rangers guild will be working alongside the military, the real briefing had begun.
The briefing was short yet information dense, it covered the generalyout of the nearbynd, and explicitly pointed out certain areas where scouts had spottedrge groups of orcs gathering around.
But one thing had worried Merlin, and that was when a wounded scout hobbled onto the stage and began describing his encounter with the orc warlord only a few hours ago.
It seemed this orc warlord wasn¡¯t normal in appearance, even for a warlord which was already a rare variation of the creature. The scout described an orc roughly twice as big as any other orc they had seen, which was normal for a warlord so far, but the next few details made Merlin realise what was going on.
Underneath the orc warlord¡¯s dark green skin were almost pitch ck bulging veins, the whites of its eyes also seemed to take on a darker greyish colour.
¡¯Seriously, they even started corrupting monsters?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯We¡¯re still just in the beta, what haven¡¯t those cultists done?¡¯
¡¯I guess starved souls haven¡¯t appeared yet, that¡¯s a good sign at least.¡¯ He internally sighed.
Merlin noticed that Callisto¡¯s expression had changed dramatically, it looked like she was shaking in anger.
As the wounded scout finished talking, themander started to step forward once more, but he was surprised to find that Callisto had done so as well, cutting in front of him.
"If I may." She began speaking, turning to the old man who backed away and gave her the spotlight. "The ck veins that you¡¯ve just heard described, the rangers guild have had a confrontation with an ogre with simr symptoms."
"The most ring detail was that the ogre attacked my men alongside two of Despoina¡¯s cultists, both goblin mutants." Callisto announced, which caused a loud collective gasp from the crowd, "With this new piece of information, I suspect that the cultists may have something to do with this, perhaps even something to do with the warlord¡¯s evolution."
¡¯Wait, wasn¡¯t that the time we were attacked by the statues?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, wondering why he didn¡¯t notice it at that time. But then he remembered that he never actually saw the ogre¡¯s corpse as he was too busy providing medical support, and they left the temple not long after.
The briefing room started getting louder as people began specting and trying to talking over each other. It became very loud rather quickly, and it made it hard for anybody on the stage to get a word in or continue the briefing.
"Silence!" The old man yelled, his deep voice reverberated throughout the briefing room, which caused everyone to suddenly stop talking.
The room had gone from unbearably loud to almostplete silence within a matter of seconds, and everyone sat still while looking at the old man who was yet to move again.
"This information doesn¡¯t change our n." The man spoke out, "We¡¯ll still be killing the orcs and the orc warlord, but..."
The old man cleared his throat before continuing. "Should youe across a cultist of Despoina while out on the field, mutant or otherwise... You are ordered to kill them on sight."
"If there is nothing else to be said, you¡¯re all dismissed." The room remained eerily quiet as the older man stepped off the stage, making his way out the briefing room.
Callisto, having nothing left to say, also dismissed everyone before she walked back towards her group and started leading them out of the room.
As the rangers all started filling up the hallway they entered from, a loud bell began ringing, and the ear-piercing sound started echoing throughout the building.
"Well that can¡¯t be good." Merlin grumbled. He didn¡¯t enjoy the sudden loud noises, it was rather unpleasant.
He noticed that there were several knights that were previously walking near the rangers suddenly break out into a full sprint the second they heard the bell, not caring if they had to push past a ranger or two. The knights ran down the hallway, and they seemed to be in quite the hurry.
Callisto quickly lead her group outside of the building and onto the street where they wouldn¡¯t get in the way of all the knights running around.
"Is everyone prepared?" She turned to her group and asked, to which she received a unified yes.
"It¡¯s the orcs, they¡¯re here." A knight yelled out as he left the military barracks and started approaching the rangers. "Another scout just returned, the first attack is apparently just a small group of orcs, they¡¯re approaching from the north."
Several more knights that started rushing out of the military barracks, some of which were still putting on armour and adjusting their weaponry as they ran. The knight who informed the group had also started running alongside them towards where the orcs apparently were.
"Alright, everyone lets head out, follow those knights." Callisto ordered, grabbing her bow as she started marching towards them, "And don¡¯t you dare die... Any of you."
The rangers started running through the town as they attempted to make their way north. Due to the town¡¯s unconventionalyout, they spent more time running away from the north before they could start travelling in that direction. It wasn¡¯t fun to deal with when you were in a rush, but if it confused a group of rangers, then it was enough to confuse an army of orcs.
Merlin noticed that everyone had started running into houses and locking up. He saw that most houses had metal bars on the inside of their windows, something he didn¡¯t notice while entering the town. It was likely that they were only attached to their windows during times like these.
The rangers had finally made it to the edge of town, where they saw the same knights that they met previously. These knights were locked inbat with three heavily-armoured orcs, and it was clear to see that they were losing ground.
Merlin quickly switched his weapons around, he chose to throw the goblin dagger back into his inventory before pulling out Ghostsaw¡¯s de. The wolf¡¯s fang was relegated to his offhand so that the cold jagged de could have its time to shine.
"Phantom step." Merlin chanted as he ran towards the orcs. Callisto and the other rangers saw as his body suddenly began fading away, before he waspletely invisible mere moments after.
Chapter 156: The Orcs Attack - II
Merlin sprinted towards the orcs as his body faded from sight, he looked behind him for a second, only to see that the rangers were surprised at seeing him disappear suddenly. The rangers had stopped moving for a second while trying to register what happened, but they quickly regained theirposure and started running into the fight as well.
His attention was quickly brought back to the front as he heard a pained grunt, it seemed that the knight that previously warned the group about the orc attack was being overpowered by one of the orcs, and hispanions had their hands full trying to fend off the other two armoured orcs, so they couldn¡¯t lend him any assistance.
An arrow flew past Merlin¡¯s head and buried itself into the orc¡¯s hand as it was about to swing down its axe on the knight. This surprised the orc for just long enough for the knight to stumble out of the orc¡¯s immediate reach.
Merlin¡¯s eyes nced at the orc¡¯s status bar, and he couldn¡¯t help but sigh when he saw that the orc was level thirteen, a little more than twice his own level.
¡¯Well, at least they aren¡¯t as fast as hobgoblins.¡¯ He reassured himself while thinking back to the level nine hobgoblin he briefly struggled against while clearing out the goblin camp. ¡¯As long as I don¡¯t get hit by the giant axe, I¡¯ll be fine.¡¯
Merlin circled behind the orc that had just been attacked by the arrow, he saw a broad back that was protected by the breastte that the monster was wearing.
Heavy armour was typically an issue for dexterous assassin builds, as their primary method of dealing damage was usually through several attacks in a short period of time, dealing damage that quickly added up, alongside any additional status effects such as poison or bleed.
This was often countered by full te armour, as there wasn¡¯t usually any vulnerable skin to attack, and the daggers were too light to deal any substantial bludgeoning damage.
All of the orcs had their arms exposed, and two of the three were wearing severely dented helmets, while the orc without a helmet was brandishing a shield.
Fortunately, armour wasn¡¯t an issue for Merlin, courtesy of a dead assassin. While still cloaked, he readied his Ghostsaw de and while chanting the skill name for heavy strike under his breath, he pounced at the orc who was now moving closer to the knight once more.
¡¸Skill ?Heavy Strike? Activated, your next attack will do an extra 35% damage, and has a 15% chance to trigger the stagger effect.¡¹
The de phased through the orc¡¯s breastte as if it weren¡¯t even there, and Merlin quickly felt a small bit of resistance as the de ripped straight through the orc¡¯s flesh as if it were butter.
As his de touched the orc, the ghostly veil that was surrounding his body quickly vanished, and at that moment he was no longer invisible.
The orc suddenly let out a pained roar which startled the rangers and the knight, and had partially grabbed the attention of the other two orcs.
It seemed as though the use of heavy strike and backstab worked wonders together, as he did quite a significant amount of damage, what seemed to have also helped was that he effectively punctured the orc¡¯s heart, and the passive from his dagger slowed its healing even further.
The orc swung around desperately while swinging its axe, but as Merlin was already familiar with the creature¡¯s movements, the attack was telegraphed enough for him to dodge the strike with ease.
Now that he was face to face with the orc, he took the initiative to deal more damage as the monster was still trying to recover its bnce after the wild attack.
Merlin thrust his dagger towards the orc¡¯s chest, but the monster didn¡¯t seem to think that the strike was worth dodging, as it focused all its power into preparing the next swing with its axe.
Much to the orc¡¯s surprise, the dagger phased right through the breastte, piercing one of its lungs. Merlin received a notification that his passive had triggered.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rending Strike? has triggered, target is now suffering from severe bleeding.¡¹
The orc spat out a mouthful of blood, which Merlin failed to dodge, causing his white hair to once again be partially stained by blood.
"Why is it always the hair?" He quipped while ripping his dagger out of the orc¡¯s chest.
Merlin dodged another wide swing with the heavy axe before dealing several attacks in rapid session.
The fight continued for a little less than two minutes, until the monster¡¯s health bar had eventually dropped to zero. The orc remained standing for a moment, before it dropped into the puddle of blood that had formed underneath its feet.
Merlin chanted the skill name for cleanse, causing the filth covering him and his equipment to peel off and vanish.
He took a second to look around at his surroundings, and he noticed that the rangers had just finished up with the other two orcs.
¡¯Nobody decided to help me?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯Fair enough, I guess they knew I had it covered?¡¯
It seemed as though Callisto had dealt with one of the orcs alone, and it clearly lost in a battle of strength, as its limbs were contorted in very unnatural ways.
She seemed slightly angry, and he noticed a few moments after that one of the rangers had gotten wounded, then a theory of his clicked into ce.
¡¯Nobody messes with mama bear¡¯s cubs.¡¯ He thought to himself as he stared at the orc that clearly suffered a painful death. ¡¯So it seems that her trigger is anger, that exins a few things.¡¯
Merlin noticed that out of therge group of rangers, only a handful were standing around, and besides the knight that Merlin saved, the other knights had disappeared too.
Callisto informed him that they began spreading around while looking for any other orcs that may have tried entering the town.
"This group will be one of the few to move out into the wilderness with the sole intention of hunting down the warlord." Callisto began exining to the group. But she pointed at the ranger who had been wounded, and ordered him to go back to the military barracks for medical treatment.
The ranger looked as though he was going to try and argue, but he quickly stopped himself after noticing that Callisto wasn¡¯t happy. He eventually epted his orders and began marching back towards the military barracks.
"The rest of you, move out." She said before walking away from the town. The rest of the group, including the one knight, followed.
The group had marched in a north-western direction, and they quickly came upon a forested area, although it wasn¡¯t nearly as dense as the forests further east.
The knight acted mostly as a guide, directing the group towards the orc hot spots that was brought up in the briefing.
The group had put a special focus on moving around stealthily, especially when moving around areas where orcs had been seen. Thest thing they wanted was to get into a fight with a horde of them, even if the numbers were equal, orcs were still more powerful than regr humans.
It was likely that even Callisto would suffer serious injuries if swarmed by several orcs, and that was reason enough to not test their fate.
The group had checked three locations so far, and although there were quite a few orcs gathered around, there was no sight of this ck-veined orc warlord.
On their journey to the fourth location, they had encountered a group of four orcs wandering around. The group quickly hid behind an uprooted mound, as they didn¡¯t have anywhere else to run where they weren¡¯t going to be spotted. Unfortunately it seemed that the orcs just barely managed to spot the knight, and they started making their way over to the group.
"We¡¯re going to have to kill them quickly before they call for reinforcements." Callisto growled, while readying her bow.
"I¡¯ll initiate." Merlin said while reaching into his inventory.
He pulled out a handful of strange fluffy white flowers that were oddly reminiscent of moths. The flower¡¯s wings appeared to be pping slowly as the faint wind blew past, causing small scales to escape into the air.
"Mothflower!" Callisto remarked with a surprised smile on her face. "Where did you get your hands on mothflower?"
"A nice olddy who runs a little herb store in Megalopolis." Merlin answered before activating phantom step once more.
His body suddenly faded away, and only the sounds of crunching leaves gave away that he had moved.
Now only a few meters in front of the orcs, he began crushing the flower petals in his hand before rolling them around with his fingers, he was trying to loosen as many of the scales as he could.
Although nobody could see him currently, an excited grin had formed on Merlin¡¯s face.
Chapter 157: The Orcs Attack - III
Merlin could feel the grainy scales rolling around in-between his fingers, and once he felt like he had enough, he charged forward at one of the orcs.
The orc was quick to notice something wasn¡¯t right, as Merlin wasn¡¯t being subtle with his movement at all. But fortunately for him, he didn¡¯t need the stealth toplete his n, it was just more convenient if the four orcs didn¡¯t group up on him right away.
The orcs had started spreading out as they intended to circle around where the group of rangers were hiding, this worked in Merlin¡¯s favour.
Once he was almost face to face with one of the orcs, he threw a pinch of mothflower scales at its face, he made sure not to throw all of it, as he still had three more orcs to hit.
As the scale-like pollen sshed the orc¡¯s face, Merlin¡¯s invisibility quickly ran out, causing all the orcs to notice his presence. They immediately stopped focusing on the location where the rest of the group were and all started charging towards Merlin.
The one orc that was hit suddenly dropped itsrge two handed axe and reached for its throat. Merlin saw that its eyes were almost immediately bloodshot, and he quickly leapt out of the way as it dropped to its knees and began throwing up bile.
One of the orcs had made its way behind him, this one carrying a severely dented longsword. Merlin barely managed to dodge the strike before throwing another pinch of mothflower in its direction, causing the same effect to ur.
While that orc started falling to its knees, another orc had started swinging its axe at him, Merlin turned around in time to see an arrow hit the orc¡¯s helmet, barely scraping the metal before flying off into the forest.
It didn¡¯t serve much of a distraction unfortunately, and Merlin had to immediately throw himself into a roll to dodge the strike, as he leapt out of the way, he released the entire handful of mothflower scales into the air, causing arge cloud of scales to appear in front of the orc.
He unfortunately wasted everything but the few scales that remained stuck to his hands, but it seemed that at least that orc was now beginning to suffer from the effects, so he realistically only had one threat to deal with.
Merlin sent out his vines, wrapping them around a tree branch. He quickly pulled himself up the tree and scanned the area around him. He couldn¡¯t find thest orc immediately, he thought it would have chosen to attack him during the fight but it seemed to have gone after the rangers instead.
He saw a group of rangers and the knight run over to his position, with a dead orcying on the ground behind them.
The three orcs that were alive were still suffering the nasty effects of the mothflower, with his most recent victim only now entering the nausea stage, while the first orc was desperately wing it its own throat while gasping for air.
Now knowing he was safe, Merlin leapt out of the tree and began dealing damage to the helpless orcs. The rangers started doing the same, and all the orcs were dead not long after.
"I didn¡¯t imagine you¡¯d have mothflower on you." Callisto remarked, "You sure do alwayse prepared, no wonder Tuli likes you."
¡¸You have earned +5 familiarity with Callisto.¡¹
"I don¡¯t have much, unfortunately." Merlin said, "So I¡¯d like to save some for the warlord."
"Good idea." Callisto nodded before turning towards the knight. She signalled for him to lead the way.
Mothflower, or specifically the scale-like pollen of the mothflower nt, was usually harmless to most creatures. But there was a specific group of monsters, namely goblinoids, that suffered a severe allergic reaction and an extreme case of nausea when they were exposed to the pollen of a mothflower nt.
Goblinoid was a general term used to group together monsters such as goblins, hobgoblins and orcs, to name a few. And while many of the creatures under this umbre varied greatly, they all shared some level of gic detail, and in most cases appearances and weaknesses.
Goblinoids were a strange group of creatures that typically defied the usual expectations of biology. The race was not as gically restricted as most other races were, and they had the ability to breed with almost any other mammal and have the end result not automatically be a horrific amalgamation of cells.
Some researchers believed that the orcs were a mutation that urred after a goblin had tried mating with an ogre. The end result was a creaturerger and stronger than the strongest hobgoblin, yet smaller and weaker than most ogres. Although this theory was yet to be observed in nature, and Merlin hadn¡¯t heard any further updates about it since.
A key detail that usually came up in heated arguments of whether orcs were actually rted to goblins or not was that orcs didn¡¯t have the signature tar-like blood that the goblin and hobgoblin species shared. Rather their blood was simr to other humanoid creatures, for the most part.
As the group continued their travel through the orc infested forest, they fortunately didn¡¯t find themselves in any further encounters.
The group had made their way towards the fourth location marked out by the scouts, and they saw arge army of orcs sitting around a makeshift camp, some of which were eating burnt bs of meat that seemed to be various wild animals that could be found in the forest.
Around one of the many campfires scattered around the campsite was an orc muchrger than all the others. The ck veins under the orc¡¯s skin made themselves visible, even from a distance, it was clear that this was their target, but there were way too many orcs around to just charge in recklessly.
"Well, that¡¯s a veryrge group of orcs." Merlin remarked. "What¡¯s the n?"
"We¡¯re going to have to cause a diversion, we need to drag as many of them out of the camp as we can, or at least separate them from the warlord." The knight answered.
"Don¡¯t you think we should bring some more groups in?" Merlin asked while looking at the small group that he was working with. "We¡¯re heavily outnumbered, jumping in would be a stupid idea."
"Don¡¯t you have that powder?" The knight asked, "Can¡¯t you just use that powder stuff you have on the entire camp?"
"I don¡¯t have nearly enough for even a quarter of that camp." Merlin retorted. "And we aren¡¯t even entirely sure that whatever the Despoina cult did to that thing, didn¡¯t make it immune to the flower. So it¡¯s barely ast resort, definitely not something to rely on."
The knight quickly stopped talking, and Callisto proposed that they should probably find at least another group to help manage the crowd.
"There should be another few groups checking other camps nearby, if we just wait here or check around, it¡¯s likely that we¡¯ll find a group or two in a few minutes." The knight interjected.
"That¡¯s better than nothing." Callisto remarked. "Lead us to the closest camp, the rest of you will stay around here, inform any other groups of our n and run away if you¡¯re spotted. Don¡¯t do anything until we return."
The knight, Callisto and Merlin made their way through the forest once more, following the knight¡¯s guidance. They heard the sounds of fighting as they got closer to where the next camp apparently was.
The group picked up the pace, and after making their way nearby, they saw a group of roughly twelve knights fighting against seven orcs. They seemed to be holding their own, but besides the twelve who were standing, there were several more knightsying around the battlefield, all of which were wounded, although the severity varied greatly.
The trio charged towards the orcs, Merlin slipped into invisibility once more and made his way behind an orc who was just about to deal the finishing blow against a knight, only to find that its heart and a lung had been pierced.
Merlin and Callisto ripped through the horde of orcs to the best of their abilities, with the knights barely serving as decoys as they managed to take three orcs down in total.
Merlin and many of the other knights watched as Callisto held thest orc in a headlock. The creature was struggling with all its might, but Callisto¡¯s raw strength clearly outmatched it. The group all witnessed Callisto, with an angered expression stered on her face, snap the orc¡¯s neck with ease, before throwing its limp corpse to the ground.
Merlin¡¯s attention briefly panned over to his stream chat that he had been ignoring up until this point, and he made it just in time to catch onement that stated that they were jealous of the orc, causing Merlin to shake his head in disappointment.
"Merlin, do you have any medicine on you?" Callisto asked, looking at the various knights who were wounded.
"Yeah, I¡¯ll deal with this." Merlin said, pulling out the mortar and pestle from his inventory before yelling at the rest of the knights. "Gather up the wounded, point me in the direction of the most severely injured knights first."
Merlin had to use four of his eleven brewed potions on the more critical patients, but he managed to deal with the rest of them with just the raw herbs and water. Unfortunately there were several deaths that not even he could stop with his current capabilities, but most of the group had survived.
Chapter 158: The Orcs Attack - IV
Due to several of the knights being in a severely wounded state, the group was forced to split into two, leaving most of the members to carry more seriously wounded knights back to town. A few of the wounded knights who weren¡¯t critically injured had started picking up their deceasedrades, deciding that they were going to bring them home to be buried properly.
A total of five knights stayed behind and began following Merlin¡¯s group back to the campsite where the orc warlord was hiding.
To their surprise, it seemed as though another group had also made it to that spot and were quickly exined the n before they did anything stupid.
The group was ratherrge, consisting of twenty knights, and with the addition of the five that they had saved from the other camp, alongside the knight that had been acting as their guide, they had a total of twenty-six knights to assist them in their n.
The knights were given the order to bait small groups away from the camp and lead them as far away from the warlord as they could. They were explicitly told not to engage inbat unless absolutely required, as the main goal wasn¡¯t to kill the army yet, just the leader.
The n was set into motion, with Callisto and Merlin being designated the two main fighters while dealing with the boss. The other rangers were standing by to separate thest few orcs away from the warlord if required, otherwise, they were just going to be dealing damage to the boss from a distance.
The knights spread out along the treeline around the camp, and every couple of minutes a single knight would leap out of the treeline, appearing before a group of orcs. They would usually throw a rock or branch at them, or unload an avnche of profanities in their general direction, before sprinting back into the forest and making a run for it.
Each knight seemed to be grabbing about seven orcs each, with some angering three campfires worth of orcs identally. Not long after the n had started, the warlord seemed to have noticed that something was wrong. When it saw that a little more than half of its camp had suddenly disappeared into the forest, it became cautious. The warlord stood up from the campfire and began barking orders at its army in Orcish.
¡¯Oh finally, a familiarnguage.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he listened to the orc warlord.
Up until this point, all thenguages that he had encountered werenguages he never found in the main game. There was thenguage on the gravestone, the strange Bashkatilnguage he found in the vampire den, then the strange symbols on the door frame of that one ruin.
This was the first time in the beta that he heard someone speak anguage that wasn¡¯t justmon, and Merlin felt happy that he could still somewhat understand what the orc was saying.
The orcs started stomping into the forest with arge variety of ded weapons drawn. The rangers, besides Callisto and Merlin, quickly scattered, they started baiting the orcs further into the forest. Eventually, the warlord was almost alone in the camp, only having two orcs remaining by its side.
"Everyone seems to have their hands full, do you want to take the little guys while I start messing with the big guy?" Merlin asked Callisto.
"Why don¡¯t you take the two orcs and I¡¯ll take the warlord?" Callisto responded.
"You can kill the little guys faster than I can," Merlin exined. "If you take care of both orcs quickly, you can help kill the big guy too."
"Alright, fine." Callisto backed off, epting Merlin¡¯s n. "You better not kill it before I get a few hits in."
"Oh, I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll be too hard." Merlin remarked, "I¡¯ll definitely need a hand with killing it."
Callisto quickly escaped her cover and shot two arrows out, aiming for both of the basic orcs. Her arrows hit their targets, angering all three enemies. It seemed the warlord was now alerted to her position too.
"Alright, it¡¯s my turn," Merlin remarked, He reached into his inventory, pulling out only a single mothflower this time.
He started rolling the flower around in his hand, filling his hand with loose scales. He activated phantom step with a brief chant, causing his body to quickly fade out of sight. Once his body had disappeared, Merlin ran straight for the warlord.
The warlord was much faster than the other two orcs, stomping past them in mere moments. The warlord reached Callisto before Merlin could catch up, and swung its massive war axe down on where Callisto was standing, causing a small cloud of dust to kick up as the axe struck the forest floor.
But the dust didn¡¯t block the painful sight that Merlin witnessed. As Callisto was about to be struck down with the war axe, she quickly dropped down to the ground, and her body slid underneath the orc warlord¡¯s legs gracefully.
But as she was sliding underneath the orc, she seemed to have decided that a quick jab at the orc¡¯sher region was an eptable attack. Merlin couldn¡¯t help but cringe as he imagined the pain the orc must have felt at that moment.
The orc warlord suddenly dropped down on one knee, as if it lost all strength in its legs for a moment.
"Well, you¡¯re definitely never having kids again." Merlin mocked as he stopped right in front of the warlord¡¯s face, throwing a handful of mothflower scales at it, which caused his invisibility to end abruptly. "Although, that¡¯s probably for the best."
The orc warlord breathed in the scales, and Merlin watched as the creature¡¯s nose became runny, and it briefly threw up. But it didn¡¯t seem to be that effective against the warlord like it was against ordinary orcs, rather it seemed to have made the monster angry more than anything.
Merlin barely dodged a fast w swipe as he leapt backwards. He began sending his vines out to scratch the warlord, hoping that he would trigger his rose blight passive in the process.
The vines were leaving small scratches against the creature¡¯s exposed limbs, but they didn¡¯t seem to be dealing much damage at all. But while he was focused on that, much to Merlin¡¯s surprise, the orc warlord had suddenly grabbed hold of one of his vines.
"Oh cra--" Merlin swore as his body was suddenly jerked around by the vine. He tried his hardest to stay grounded, but eventually, his feet left the ground, and he found himself being spun around like a ball on a chain.
"We¡¯re not doing this!" Merlin shouted as he sliced the vine with his dagger, causing his body to be flung out of the campsite and further into the forest.
As Merlin flew, he sent out his remaining two vines to catch onto anything they could. Fortunately, he managed to grab two trees in time, but the sudden stop caused his body to whip around violently, dealing a moderate amount of damage for what would have ultimately killed a regr human being.
But Merlin didn¡¯t have time to rest, as he quickly noticed that the orc warlord was now charging towards him. As it got near, Merlin thrust himself into the air as high as he could, allowing him to gracefully flip over the orc¡¯s giant frame.
While midair once more, Merlin sent his remaining two vines into the orc¡¯s shoulders, hoping that this time they would pierce it properly.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
And his wishes were granted, he watched as the orc¡¯s green skin on its right side had suddenly started shifting into a more purple hue.
The orc turned around while trying to grab the vines once more, but Merlin had retracted them in time and was now sending them back up into the trees so that he was off the ground.
The orc started moving again, it stomped its feet before it started its charge once more. Merlin noticed that it seemed to have slowed down slightly, but not to the level that he expected. The corruption process had given the creature a fair bit of status resistance, so Merlin¡¯s usual tricks weren¡¯t as effective as he hoped.
Merlin quickly started swinging through the trees, making his way back to the camp. The orc was chasing him along, but Merlin was quickly picking up speed. Even still, he made sure not to lose it.
While he was swinging in the air, Merlin quickly reached into his inventory and pulled out one of the healing potions he prepared beforehand. He emptied the contents into his mouth before throwing the empty ss vial back into his inventory.
Merlin started slowing down while approaching the campsite again, giving the orc warlord enough time to close the gap. But as Merlin had almost made it to the campsite, another figure flew past him.
He heard a loud bang, quickly followed by the distinct sound of a tree being shattered into splinters by brute force.
By the time he had made his way back onto the ground and turned around, the orc warlord was being pummelled into the ground by a very angry looking Callisto.
Callisto seemed to be getting extremely tired rather quickly, and her attack speed had dropped tremendously.
Unfortunately, the warlord was still alive, although it had been beaten up rather brutally, and its face had been forcibly reconfigured, it still kept looking for a way to counterattack.
Once Callisto¡¯s attacks slowed down enough, the orc pushed her back several meters with a single punch. And due to her sudden exhaustion, she was powerless to counter the strike.
The orc warlord staggered to its feet and roared at Callisto. But before it could charge at her and deal any damage, it felt a sharp pain in its back.
"I¡¯m still here, remember?" Merlin remarked, stabbing the orc once more before ducking under a panicked backhand strike.
It seemed Callisto had shattered several of the monster¡¯s bones, as the orc was much slower than it was even with the rose poison taking effect.
The two danced together as the fight raged on, with Merlin avoiding most of the strikes by a hair¡¯s breadth.
An evil-looking grin had formed on Merlin¡¯s face, showcasing to his entire stream that he was enjoying this situation a little too much. Eventually, the rose poison had run out, and the orc warlord picked up more speed, making the fight slightly harder for Merlin.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rending Strike? has triggered, target is now suffering from severe bleeding.¡¹
Merlin couldn¡¯t spare any time reading notification windows, even the slightest mistake would cost him arge chunk of health. He was panting rather heavily at this point, and his body was screaming from exhaustion, but Merlin ignored all the warning signs his body was giving him, which caused him to slowly start losing health over time.
Merlin¡¯s leg was swiped by the orc, causing a loud snapping sound to ring out and a massive wave of pain to run up his leg. Merlin barely nced at his health, noticing that he was almost dead.
He barely dodged the orc¡¯stest attack before thrusting his dagger into its leg, and it seemed as though the creature was finally in, as it fell to the ground mid-swipe, almost crushing Merlin in the process.
"That... was fun." Merlin panted heavily before falling to the ground alongside the warlord¡¯s corpse.
He looked over to see that he was almost in the single digits in regards to his health, to which he quickly reached into his inventory and downed another healing potion.
Chapter 159: Cleaning Up The Orcs And Going Home
Once his health had stabilised, Merlin took a deep breath before slowly sitting up. He didn¡¯t want to move around too much, as he was currently suffering from overexertion. While not having anything else to do for the moment, he checked his stream chat, only to find there were several gift notifications that he hadpletely ignored in the heat of battle.
¡¸"jeebjanson" has gifted...¡¹
¡¸"PatriarchFireWall" has gifted...¡¹
¡¸"Hannibal1996" has gifted...¡¹
"Thank you everyone for your support." He thanked his audience.
He remained still for several minutes while taking deep breaths, and his body had finally started to calm down.
"Death by overexertion would have been embarrassing," he mumbled to himself.
It seemed that Callisto had recovered from her case of overexertion, and she immediately came over to check on Merlin¡¯s condition.
"Are you alright?" She asked with a concerned voice.
"I¡¯m good, just a little tired." Merlin groaned. "We should go help out with the rest of the orcs now."
"Are you in any state to continue fighting?" She asked.
Merlin staggered to his feet. "See? Perfectly fine. And I¡¯ll recover my stamina in no time."
Callisto dropped the topic and nced over at the orc warlord¡¯s corpse. Merlin followed her line of sight and stared at the warlord too, he quickly noticed that the ck blood under the orc warlord¡¯s skin had started wriggling.
"What on earth..." Callisto mumbled.
She moved closer to the orc¡¯s body and pulled an arrow out of her quiver. Before Merlin could tell her to stop, she used the arrow to slightly cut one of the orc¡¯s veins open, causing a strange ck liquid to spray out of the wound like a geyser.
Callisto leapt backwards, stumbling into Merlin who barely managed to catch her and remain upright.
Merlin heard the princess unleash a stream of expletives as she witnessed the ck liquid suddenly catch fire upon making contact with sunlight.
The liquid seemed to be swaying around like a creature that was in pain, and an eerie screeching could be heard, which caused Merlin and even Callisto to suddenly feel sick to their stomachs.
¡¸You have solved an issue caused by a strange phenomenon.¡¹
Eventually, the screeching ended, and all of the ck liquid had been drained from the orc¡¯s body and burnt up.
"What was that?" Callisto asked in a panicked tone, she seemed terrified about the thing that she had just witnessed, "That was unholy."
"Yeah, it was," Merlin muttered while knowing for a fact that it was indeed unholy, demonic even.
Several rangers and knights had stepped into the camp, they all began approaching once they noticed the orc warlord had been in.
A couple of the knights were injured, it seemed as though they had been forced intobat with the orcs at some point, and there were fewer knights present now, which raised the question of how many knights had died or were just critically injured in the forest.
The knights who arrived had exined that the orcs suddenly stopped attacking for a moment and either kept chasing them down, which led to several injuries, immediately scattered without looking back, or picked fights with other orcs.
Thatst detail was interesting, as orcs in an area didn¡¯t often fight other orcs unless it was for gaining authority. Which led Merlin to assume that the warlord had actually collected orcs of various tribes and ruled them under one banner.
Such a thing was usually only ever seen through territory battles, but they still retained their allegiance to the tribe when the warlord was killed. Whereas this was more like they were forced into subservience through the use of a fiend¡¯s power, a power granted through corruption.
The group began searching the area, looking for the remaining knights. They found a couple of corpses, which was unfortunate, but there were several others who were just wounded and were quickly healed by Merlin.
The group began making their way towards the town, culling any orcs roaming the forest that they encountered.
As they stepped out of the treeline, they saw a field of orc corpses surrounding the town walls. And there were several more injured knights having their wounds mended by medics and clerics.
The group continued into the town, and while they were getting close to the barracks, she turned to the group and gave them an order.
"Alright, everyone make your way back to the military barracks after resupplying," Callisto ordered the rangers who were following her, "We¡¯ll be setting off in half an hour, so don¡¯t bete."
After that message, Merlin broke away from the group and slipped down a side street that seemed to be empty. He turned to the floating transparent eyeball and began talking to his stream.
"I¡¯ll be ending this stream for today, it¡¯ll just be a long trip back," Merlin said to his stream. "The next stream will be on Saturday next week. I hope to see you all there."
With that, he waved goodbye to his stream before uttering themand to end it, causing the eyeball and chat box to disappear.
Merlin quickly made his way over to that construction site he saw at the start, and although it seemed as though the streets were starting to fill up again, the pale man couldn¡¯t be seen anywhere.
He walked around that area for a while, but eventually, he had to leave. He couldn¡¯t find a single trace of the man.
¡¯I guess I¡¯ll find him next time Ie here,¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯But that snake will no longer be a threat by then, I hope...¡¯
Then a thought ran through his mind.
¡¯What would happen if I killed it here?¡¯ He wondered. ¡¯Would that entire event just not happen? How would that change future events after that?¡¯
Merlin was experiencing a strange feeling of worry and excitement. His actions now could potentially ruin an event several years in the future, but that may give birth to an entirely new story, at the expense of his advantage.
He decided that ruining his advantage for the chance of a new story would be stupid. His goal was to uncover the opportunity that had been robbed from him, and for that, he needed the advantage.
¡¯Bing a loremaster would take too long if I didn¡¯t have all this knowledge already.¡¯ He realised, ¡¯And if I did that, I¡¯d lose my ce on the rankings, making the Quetzalcoatl quest impossible.¡¯
With this realisation in mind, he stopped thinking about changing the future any more than he had to. This meant that the snake had to live, for now.
He quickly made his way back to the military barracks and waited around until it was time to get on the wagons and leave.
They had a long uneventful journey back to Parrhasia, where they let the horses rest for a while, before making their way back to Megalopolis. Somewhere along the ride back to the city, Merlin received the regr alert box telling him it was time to leave.
And as the wagons drove through the gate, Merlin received a notification telling him his quest had beenplete.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "The Orcs Attack", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
¡¯That should have put my ranger soul¡¯s experience bar a little over halfway,¡¯ He thought to himself, ¡¯Maybe I should level it up and merge it, it¡¯d be nice having some kind of range bonus.¡¯
After hopping off the wagon and saying goodbye to Callisto, the other rangers and Tuli who was manning the desk, he made his way to the ruins, hoping to see the old man once more. But unfortunately, the old man wasn¡¯t there, and he received another notification telling him to logout.
Merlin chanted themand to logout, then epted the confirmation prompt, which caused his surroundings to quickly fade to ck, dropping him back into the dark void once more.
Once the usual process of leaving the capsule had beenpleted, Arthur made his way towards the briefing room. This time the developers were doing other things besides sitting in front of the monitor watching his stream. This was most likely due to him ending the stream much earlier, giving them time to finish their conversations before going back topiling data.
After a brief conversation, and a shower of praise due to his sudden explosive growth inbat prowess being put on disy for the world to see, the rest of the group had entered the room and the briefing had begun.
It was rather quick as usual, with the longest part being the leaderboard reading at the end, but everyone already knew what the top three were going to be. And it seemed as though the fourth slot had cemented his position for the time being as well, so everyone realised that only the fifth spot was actually being contested.
The briefing came to an end and everyone made their way outside of the facility on their way home.. Arthur overheard the word school mentioned in several groups he passed by, and then he remembered that it was the first day of school tomorrow, his final year.
Chapter 160: Back To School, Again.
Donovan drove Arthur home, but before he left, he told Arthur that he¡¯d be around to pick him up in the morning for school.
"Thank you, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then," Arthur said farewell before making his way inside the house.
Arthur went through his usual routine of watering his nts, working out, ying games with friends and eating with his family, but this time with the addition of packing his school bag for the next day.
"I might as well bring all my textbooks on the first day, get my locker organised and not have to deal with it again," Arthur mumbled to himself. He had been sent his schedule for the first term already but left packing his school bag to thest second.
He spent a few minutes trying to force several books into the bag, which was an unsurprisingly tedious task. Once he was done, he finished off his nightly routine before going to bed.
He woke up rather early the next day, and after doing his morning routine and getting breakfast, he quickly organised himself for school. He made sure to pack himself some lunch that Anna had prepared for him the night before.
He had only just realised he didn¡¯t put his uniform out while he was packing his bags, he eventually found it hidden away at the back of his wardrobe.
Arthur double-checked that he had everything, before throwing his backpack on and making his way downstairs. He received a text message from Donovan telling him that he had arrived, so Arthur left the house, making sure to lock up behind him.
The two exchanged pleasantries while getting into the car, and not long after they had arrived in front of the school building.
"Back to school, huh?" Arthur sighed out loud as he exited the vehicle, lifting the heavy backpack that had been hurting his thighs for most of the drive and throwing it onto his back.
"When you get to my age, you¡¯re going to be missing school." Donovan teased, "I¡¯ll be here to pick you up. Have fun, and don¡¯t get into any fights."
"No promises." Arthur jokingly remarked as he waved goodbye and started making his way inside the building. "I¡¯m off, take care."
Due to experiencing the schoolst year and having the time to focus on remembering the past, Arthur found himself more familiar with the school¡¯syout.
He walked through the doorway, only to findrge groups of students hovering around the main area, talking with each other and clearly fighting the other groups in a contest for which group could talk the loudest.
Arthur wasn¡¯t fond ofrge groups, especially notrge groups consisting of obnoxiously loud teenagers, this remained true for his entire life and applied in this instance as well.
sses hadn¡¯t started yet, so unfortunately all the students who arrived early were forced to entertain themselves as they waited for the bell to ring.
While walking through the groups, Arthur began overhearing several conversations, and quite a few of them rted to New Genesis, and specifically his stream.
Surprisingly, there were a couple of people who held the opinion that New Genesis was actually rather boring. He found out through snippets of conversation that those people had only caught the end of Arthur¡¯s first stream, the extremely long road trip.
"So you didn¡¯t watch yesterday¡¯s stream?"
"No, I unfollowed the channel."
"You missed the boss fight, it was intense."
"I could watch the VODter, is it worth my time?"
Several people intruded on the conversation to shout "yes" at the student, to which he responded by saying that he would watch it once he got home.
Another interesting thing he noticed, and something that seemed to be rathermon was that several students seemed to believe that Callisto was another yer, only to be surprised when informed by people who watched the first stream that she was in fact an NPC.
"Don¡¯t you think that Merlin guy kind of looks like..."
Arthur barely heard another piece of a conversation, and he was curious to know if anybody had recognised him or not. He didn¡¯t bother changing his appearance that much in-game, so it still had a fair bit of resemnce to him.
He continued towards his usual hangout spot, the library. He found both his friends sitting around a table in the library, they seemed to be talking about something, and Holly had a bright smile on her face.
Before approaching his friends, Arthur greeted Denise, the librarian. The two briefly exchanged pleasantries before they ended their conversation and Arthur started to approach his friends.
"Hey, there¡¯s Arth-- God damn." Quinn was the first to notice Arthur approach, but instead of a greeting, he received a surprised remark instead. "Someone has been working out."
Holly turned around to greet Arthur, but she remained giddy and unable to hide her excitement.
"Something has got you really happy, what¡¯s up?" Arthur asked Holly after returning the greeting, although he had a feeling he already knew what it was.
"Oh, yeah yeah, so." Holly began stuttering with excitement, which confirmed what it was, because for as long as Arthur knew her, Holly only ever gave this sort of adorable reaction to very specific things. "You remember that museum that is opening a few days after my birthday?"
"The one you really wanted to go to but couldn¡¯t get tickets?" Arthur asked with a curious tone. "What about it?"
"Well, Maria texted me this morning while I was getting ready for school," Holly exined, "And it turns out that she managed to get tickets to the opening night and asked if I wanted to go with her."
¡¯Woah, that was fast... She only just asked me about itst week.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself, ¡¯I guess nothing can stand in the way of a princess when she really wants something, or in this case, someone.¡¯
"Woah, that¡¯s amazing!" Arthur eximed. "How¡¯s that for a birthday miracle. Maria is pretty great, huh?"
"Yeah! Maria is the best." Holly nodded at Arthur¡¯s words, and her radiant smile somehow managed to grow evenrger.
Quinn sat on the sidelines, not bothering to join in the conversation. It seemed as though he had heard plenty of Holly¡¯s praises towards Maria up until Arthur arrived.
¡¯Yup, that¡¯s a cute couple in the making.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself.
Eventually, the topic shifted over to New Genesis, and Quinn rejoined the conversation.
"Did you know there have been plenty of channels making videos about your stream?" Quinn asked. "Some even uploaded clips from it."
"Wait, really?" Arthur remarked.
"More than six," Quinn said, before making a joking remark. "You could run around copyright striking channels to take all that ad revenue."
"What kind of jerk would do that?" Arthurughed, "I¡¯m sure most of it would fall under fair use anyway."
"There have been quite a few people who just straight up reuploaded the VOD," Quinn said.
"Oh, well those could go. But it¡¯s probably not worth the time or effort. All I¡¯d get out of it is a few dors and a bad reputation." Arthur shrugged.
"Fair point," Quinn nodded, "Oh, you should be pretty close to partner status now, right?"
"Yeah, I checked itst night. I¡¯ve hit the requirements to apply for it." Arthur said. "I¡¯ll probably apply next week."
"You spent all those years streaming Ancient Defense and noting anywhere close to getting partnered, and all it took was two streams of you riding around for hours in a virtual world to hit all of the requirements," Quinn said while shaking his head.
"It¡¯s kind of sad if you say it that way." Arthur sighed.
Eventually, the bell rang, and the trio made their way to their homeroom, asbelled on their schedule sheets. Which happened to be the same asst year, the year before that, and so on.
They had their first introductory ss, and their homeroom teacher weed them back for their final year before leading them to a group of lockers that would be theirs for the year.
Everyone was forced to choose a locker, and Arthur quickly stuffed his school bag that had been weighing down on his back this whole time into the locker. He decided toe back to it when he had time, as people were waiting to ess the lockers above and below him.
Unlike American schools which stereotypically had full-length lockers, Australian schools or perhaps just this one in particr, had a collection ofrge lockable boxes that all contained a single shelf. This allowed you to store your bag underneath the shelf while your books remained stacked neatly on top.
He ced his padlock on the locker before escaping the horde of students who were all fighting for the remaining middle lockers.
Arthur caught a glimpse of Run, who was putting his school bag away in a high locker. Their eyes met, but Run turned away and wandered off. There didn¡¯t seem to be any res this time around, rather his eyes seemed somewhat sad.
"Damn, you two got middle lockers?" Quinn groaned, "Lucky, I¡¯m going to have sore knees all year."
The ss eventually all finished up with their lockers, and the homeroom teacher led them all towards the gym that had been filled with stic chairs and temporarily repurposed as a ce to hold the yearly tradition of a first-day assembly that will without a doubt extend well into the first break.
¡¯At least they let us put our bags away first this time..¡¯ Arthur groaned internally as he made his way into the gym that for some reason was several degrees hotter than anywhere else in the school and ufortably humid.
Chapter 161: A Surprising Substitute
As Arthur expected, the assembly went on several minutes into the first break. He heard countless groans from people sitting around him allining about the humidity and how bored they were.
Eventually, the assembly came to an end and everyone was allowed to leave and have what little remained of their first break.
Arthur and his friends made a trip to the infirmary so that Arthur could say hello to Emily. However, it seemed as though she wasn¡¯t around so they just made their way towards their lockers instead.
The area around their lockers was packed with students, it seemed everyone wanted to quickly get a snack and run off to enjoy their break before lessons started again, which caused a rather unsightly crowd to form.
Eventually, the group thinned out as the horde of students quickly made their way out of the building, leaving only a few stragglers behind, and Arthur¡¯s group.
Arthur and Holly made their way to their lockers with ease, while Quinn was grumbling and stillining that he had a bottom locker.
"Oh great, and our first ss of the year just had to be maths," Quinn groaned, "And then we¡¯ve got sports right after."
Arthur spent time reorganising his locker while the other two began having a conversation while eating their snacks.
"Hey, it¡¯s the nerd squad!" A rather grating voice echoed down the hall.
Arthur¡¯s group all knew who that voice belonged to. It was Vasco, who just happened to be the most annoying out of Run¡¯s groupies.
Arthur closed his newly organised locker after grabbing his books for maths and a snack. He locked it and turned to see Vasco walking up to them with another of Run¡¯s groupies. Run himself however had immediately gone to his locker without saying a word.
Vasco seemed to notice this, and an irritable expression formed on his face.
"What¡¯s the matter Rus? You ain¡¯t gonna say a word to him?" Vasco turned around and taunted Run. "Is it because he beat your assst year?"
Run didn¡¯t respond verbally, choosing to instead flip Vasco the bird before mming his locker shut and walking off.
"Hey, I get if you¡¯re scared. It looks like the scrawny dork worked out." Vasco continued to taunt Run, "I bet he¡¯d stomp you again."
Run didn¡¯t respond to his provocations this time either, so Vasco called him a coward under his breath. It was audible enough for Arthur and his group to hear, meaning it was likely that Run had also heard this, but he still didn¡¯t respond.
Vasco clicked his tongue before he and his groupies quickly grabbed what they needed out of their lockers. Vasco threw a nasty re at Arthur before stomping off, he seemed to be walking faster to catch up with Run.
"Well, it seems someone¡¯s more docile this year..." Arthur muttered out loud.
He looked around to see that both of his friends weren¡¯t as surprised as he was.
"That video of you throwing him to the ground sort of became viral over the holidays." Quinn said, "Haven¡¯t you seen any of the memes?"
"No, I haven¡¯t really paid much attention to what anybody else has been doing," Arthur responded. "I haven¡¯t really talked to anybody besides you two either."
"Oh, well. Basically, Run became a joke over the holidays because people kept spreading that video around. I heard even the year tens that they bullied had started making fun of him online." Quinn said whileughing.
"That doesn¡¯t sound like it would make him docile though. If anything wouldn¡¯t that make him act out worse?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, I guess you¡¯re right," Quinn shrugged. "No idea then."
¡¯I guess his father took my advice to heart.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself. ¡¯I¡¯m still surprised it was that effective though.¡¯
The group spoke for a while before the bell inevitably rang, and eventually, they were making their way towards their first ss.
"Oh yeah, who is our teacher for sports?" Quinn asked, "I heard the fatty got fired."
"I think I remember reading on the schedule that our teacher is someone called R. Nys." Holly responded, "I think they might be a new teacher."
"I guess we¡¯ll find out next ss" Quinn retorted, with a slight groan after remembering that they had sports after their maths ss.
"Nys?" Arthur muttered in a questioning tone. "Isn¡¯t that someone from a pretty prestigious family, what are they doing as a sports teacher?"
"Huh? What if it¡¯s just someone with a simrst name?" Quinn asked.
"I guess, but it¡¯s a pretty rare surname here though," Arthur said.
Arthur was lost in thought for the rest of the trip, he thought he had heard that name mentioned at some point but he was having a hard time connecting names to faces.
The group made their way towards the ssroom, and after a few minutes of waiting, their teacher had arrived. They were let inside and their first lesson had begun.
The first ss was more of an introductory ss exining what they would be doing that year and what they should expect from the curriculum. They went into some basic math problems, but the ss quickly came to an end.
The bell rang once more, an ear-piercing noise that echoed down the hallways, signalling the arrival of a horde of teenagers as everyone rushed to get to their locker so that they could get what they needed for their next ss.
After a troublesome battle to get into their lockers, Arthur had put his books away, but realised much toote that he had forgotten something.
"Ah, I forgot to pack my sports uniform," Arthur groaned. "I knew I was missing something."
"Let¡¯s just hope our new teacher isn¡¯t as uptight as thest one," Quinn remarked while pulling out his sports uniform. Arthur turned to see that Holly had her uniform too.
"Oh? It¡¯s usually Quinn who forgets his uniform, this is a first for you." Hollyughed as she closed her locker and squeezed out of the crowd, the other two followed.
The group eventually made their way to the gymnasium. It seemed as though the school faculty had just finished packing away such arge amount of chairs and were wheeling thest of them into the gymnasium¡¯s storage room before all making their way out of the building, all except for one.
The one teacher who remained was a tall curvy woman with long red hair. The woman was trying to juggle a ser ball, but it didn¡¯t seem as though she was very good at it, as on her third kick the ball bounced out of her control and rolled away.
"I guess that¡¯s our new teacher," Quinn muttered as he watched the woman chase after the ser ball. "It doesn¡¯t seem like she¡¯s that sporty, maybe Arthur was right about her being a princess? Oh well, at least it isn¡¯t another creepy guy."
"She¡¯d easily beat you in an archerypetition though," Arthur remarked as he trailed behind the other two, which caused his friends to turn to him with a confused look. What the two saw was Arthur with a somewhat confused, yet oddly smug grin stered on his face.
Before his two friends could ask him what he was on about, they quickly received a response to their question from the new teacher¡¯s mouth.
"Merlin?" The redhead woman muttered out loud.
His friends turned to stare at Arthur once more,
"Hey, Legs." Arthur gave the redhead, who happened to be someone he was very familiar with, a friendly wave.
"Wait, you already know the new teacher?" His friends asked him.
"Oh yeah, we killed a den of vampires together," Arthur said with a yful tone. "We¡¯re basically best friends."
Rowan, their new sports teacher, approached Arthur¡¯s group with a nervous expression.
"I had no idea you were a teacher, uhh. Miss Nys." Arthur said, unsure if it was okay to call her by her first name.
"Rowan is fine." She said with a slightugh. "This is my first proper teaching job, I was a student-teacher up until the end ofst year."
"Oh, Mason and Liam are also teachers." She added. "Mason is teaching at another high school while Liam has been working as a primary school teacher."
"What about Alvira?" Arthur asked out of curiosity.
"She¡¯s still in college," Rowan answered. "She is the youngest out of our group, but I think she wanted to work with kids like her cousin."
"Her cousin?" Arthur asked with a curious expression.
"Her cousin is Liam, didn¡¯t you know that?" Rowan asked, to which Arthur shook his head in response.
The other two had eventually joined the conversation, introducing themselves as other students started entering the building.
"Why didn¡¯t you say anything if you knew who our teacher was?" Quinn asked.
"I actually wasn¡¯t aware of her family name. I just figured it would be someone I could at least recognise." Arthur muttered, "The Nys family is a major contributor to my father¡¯spany, so they received an invitation to the first wave of New Genesis.. That¡¯s where we met."
Chapter 162: Bruises
"So three heirs of prominent families all decided to be teachers?" Arthur wondered out loud, "There must be a story behind that."
"Well..." Rowan thought for a moment before thinking, "It¡¯s not thatplex or interesting of a story. Actually, it¡¯s sort of silly if I say it out loud."
"Now I¡¯m even more curious," Arthur said.
"Well, out of the three of us; Mason, Liam and Me. Only Mason wanted to be a teacher during our time in high school." She began exining, "Liam expected to inherit his father¡¯spany, and I wasn¡¯t sure what I wanted to do."
"You didn¡¯t want to inherit your family¡¯spany too?" Arthur asked.
"No." She said as she shook her head, "My father wanted me to follow in his footsteps and start off as a surgeon in one of our hospitals in Hungary."
"A surgeon with hemophobia, what a wonderfulbination," Arthur muttered.
Rowan let out a small chuckle at his response.
"Yes, fortunately, my father quickly put the thought of me bing a surgeon behind him when he found out about my condition." She continued, "Although it left me wondering what I wanted to do, as I didn¡¯t really have any interest in studying medicine in the first ce."
"As for Liam, his father was worried that he would grow up to be nothing but a spoiled brat if luxury was all he knew." She exined, "So his father added a requirement that would prevent his ability to inherit thepany until it was met."
"Be a primary school teacher?" Arthur asked with a confused tone.
Rowanughed at Arthur¡¯s quip once more.
"From what Liam told us, he was essentially asked to go experience the real world." She said, "Which apparently meant find employment within the working ss and working for several years while learningmon sense... It¡¯s sort of hard to believe now, but Liam was quite the troublemaker back in high school."
At this point, the gymnasium had filled up with an entire ss worth of students. Which was Rowan¡¯s cue to interrupt the current conversation.
"Oh right, I need to go be a teacher," She muttered before announcing to her ss that they should go to the changing rooms to change if they have a sports uniform on hand.
Quinn and Holly both made their way towards the changing rooms after she said this, but Arthur stayed behind.
"You¡¯re not going to go change?" Rowan asked him.
"I actually forgot my sports uniform," Arthur muttered, "I was too focused on trying to force all my textbooks into my bag that it went over my head."
"Oh? Fair enough," She said.
"So what about Mason?" Arthur asked, trying to open thest conversation back up.
"You¡¯re wondering why he wanted to be a teacher?" Rowan asked, "That¡¯s just how Mason is. He was the type to prefer studying over physical activity. He had no interest in doing construction work or bing an architect, so he let his brother take his ce inheriting his family¡¯spany while he became a physics teacher instead."
¡¯A physics teacher who waves around a giant hammer in-game,¡¯ Arthur thought to himself. ¡¯That sort of makes sense.¡¯
"So yeah, Liam and I didn¡¯t know what we wanted to do, and since we didn¡¯t want to split up the group when we went to college, we just both followed Mason into bing teachers." She exined.
"I guess that makes sense," Arthur said, "Although I¡¯m still confused as to why you chose a sports teacher out of every other option."
"Why¡¯s that?" She asked with a confused expression.
"Well, besides maybe a cooking ss, you picked the only ss where seeing blood is a likely possibility," Arthur exined. "Scraped knees aremonce."
"Oh..." Rowan eximed, "I didn¡¯t think of that, I just figured it would be the easiest ss to teach."
Eventually, the other students started making their way out of the changing rooms, and out of all of them, Vasco was being the loudest.
"You actually changed in a stall?" Vasco seemed to be taunting Run, "What happened to you man? You¡¯re acting like a dork."
"Alright ss, we¡¯ll since it¡¯s the first lesson this year, I¡¯ll give you a choice of what you want to do," Rowan announced to the group. "Ser or dodgeball?"
Dodgeball won almost unanimously, even by the students who didn¡¯t typically participate during sports ss.
"Yeah, I figured that would be the case," Rowan muttered.
The groups were eventually split almost evenly, with the opposing side having one yer more than Arthur¡¯s team.
Somehow Arthur was split up from both Holly and Quinn, as they were on the opposing side with Vasco of all people, while the only notable person on Arthur¡¯s team was Run.
The gamemenced, and within no time at all the slowest members of each team were quickly culled, this included Holly and Quinn.
Somehow Arthur had be one of their team¡¯s powerhouses, as most of the remaining seven yers kept giving him and Run the ball instead of throwing it themselves.
"Hits above the shoulders don¡¯t count," Rowan repeated amon rule for Australian schools as she watched Vasco receive a ball to the face, which seemed to make him angry, and the crowd of onlookersughing at him only made him angrier.
Run, the one who threw the ball at his face, became Vasco¡¯s main target. He seemed entirely focused on getting revenge on his supposed friend who had just bruised his ego mere moments ago.
Despite his usually foul attitude and poor behaviour, Arthur couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat impressed at Run¡¯s agility and acrobatic ability as he dodged the onught of dodgeballs with ease while seemingly taunting Vasco at the same time.
Although the taunting came to an end as Run seemed to mistime his jump, and happened tond directly on a ball. His ankle appeared to twist painfully before his body slumped to the floor.
Run¡¯s shirt slid up during the fall, showing Arthur who was standing nearby, a torso covered in bruises. Arthur took note that not all of the bruises that he could see at that moment were the same colour, some bruises indicated that they were about two weeks old, others appeared to have been made only the night before.
¡¯Oh, so that¡¯s why he¡¯s being so docile...¡¯ Arthur thought to himself as he stared at Run with pity, ¡¯I get why he turned out this way, what a pathetic father.¡¯
Unfortunately, Arthur realised that there was really nothing he could do, it wasn¡¯t his ce to join in and try to be a hero, as his interference would only make things worse.
¡¯It¡¯s hisst year of high school, he¡¯ll legally be an adult soon... He won¡¯t have to put up for it for much longer.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself, ¡¯And without being crushed under my father¡¯s pressure this time around, he should easily bounce back and live a proper life... Or at least I hope so.¡¯
Run was grunting in pain while holding the ankle he twisted, it seemed to be in pretty bad shape. Arthur walked over and offered Run a hand, but it was pushed away, and Run slowly stood up on his own and hobbled over to the wall without any assistance before sitting down.
Rowan went to talk with Run, but not before signalling that the game would continue. Arthur immediately noticed a ball flying towards his face in the corner of his vision, and he instinctively reached out to grab it.
"Catch! Vasco, you¡¯re out." The crowd all cheered.
A very unhappy looking Vasco was now staring daggers at Arthur as he walked towards the wall.
The game didn¡¯tst much longer, Arthur and his team quickly finished off the rest of their opponents, it wasn¡¯t much of a fight after Vasco¡¯s group were out.
"You should get Emily to take a look at that," Arthur gave some advice as he walked over to Run and Rowan. "It¡¯ll swell up pretty bad if you don¡¯t get ice on it."
"Emily is?" Rowan asked, turning to Arthur.
"The school nurse," Arthur answered.
"Oh, right. Arthur, would you please help, uh... This student to the infirmary?" Rowan began asking Arthur for a favour but seemed to have forgotten Run¡¯s name.
"Yeah sure," Arthur agreed.
Arthur was eventually given the task to escort the limping Run to the infirmary, much to Run¡¯s disapproval.
The two walked across the yard towards one of the buildings where the infirmary was located. Rowan had essentially ordered that Run not argue and allow Arthur to support him while he walked, but as they walked far enough away from the gym, Run began showing his disapproval once more.
"Get off me, I can walk by myself," Run argued.
"Shut up or I¡¯ll carry you like a princess," Arthur responded in a mocking tone. "If it¡¯s bad and you put too much weight on it, it¡¯ll take longer to heal or may get more damaged. Which means you¡¯ll be saying goodbye to that ser career for a long while."
That seemed to have shut Run up, not that he could easily overpower Arthur¡¯s in the first ce, he wasn¡¯t the scrawny nerd he used to be in this timeline.
"I didn¡¯t want to go to the infirmary, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t bring it up," Run mumbled, he was still clearly unhappy with the situation he was forced into.
"Because you don¡¯t want the school to know that you¡¯re being abused?" Arthur decided to drop the bomb, which seemed to make Run go silent.
Chapter 163: The Return Of Emily
"Well, whose fault is that?" Run snapped as they stepped into the building, clearly hinting at the fact that he med Arthur for his situation.
"Your fathers," Arthur dered, ignoring the fact Run had raised his voice at him, "It¡¯s not your fault, it¡¯s not my fault, it¡¯s not even my father¡¯s fault, although I¡¯m sure he amplified the situation somewhat... The me rests entirely on your father."
Run went silent once more, and he remained silent until they reached the infirmary. Once they entered the room, Arthur announced their presence by calling out to Emily.
"Hey Arthur, long time no see. I¡¯ll be with you in a second," Emily said with an upbeat tone, she seemed to be hiding behind a folding privacy screen tending to another patient, "I was really hoping this would be the year you didn¡¯t show up wounded on the first day."
"It¡¯s somewhat impressive how ident-prone you can be. Although I do wish you would stop getting hurt." Emily rambled while most likely pressing ice down on an injury of another patient, or at least that¡¯s what Arthur assumed based on the small mutterings of the patient iming something was cold. "So what was it this time? Ser ball, baseball, tennis racket?"
"The tennis racket only happened once," Arthur eximed. "No, I¡¯m actually not injured this time around, I¡¯m just the transport."
Arthur watched as Emily appeared from behind the screen with a surprised look on her face.
"The curse is broken!" She eximed in a tone that expressed that she was clearly joking. Her attention then snapped to the grumpy individual Arthur was lugging around, "Run, this is an umon sight. What can I do for you?"
"Sprained ankle, hended on a dodgeball and rolled it," Arthur exined before Run could even open his mouth.
"Ouch, that¡¯s not fun. Alright, bring him over to a bed, get him off of that foot," Emily ordered.
Arthur helped Run onto one of the beds before turning to find that Emily seemed to have vanished out the room, only to return a few momentster with another makeshift ice pack.
"They should just get me an ice machine at this rate," Emily sighed out loud. "Four injuries today, and we haven¡¯t even made it to lunch."
"Maybe I¡¯ll be the fifth," Arthur joked.
"Don¡¯t even joke about that, I¡¯m getting tired of raiding the staff room for ice cubes and tea towels." Emily sighed. "The next patient is getting an ice cube in a scrunched up ball of paper towels."
Arthur couldn¡¯t help but chuckle in response as he watched her tend to Run¡¯s injuries.
Before he could even think of going back to ss, Emily turned to him and started making conversation.
"I¡¯m d to see you¡¯re well," She said, "And it seems as though you¡¯ve been working out, you¡¯re looking much healthier."
"Yeah, I¡¯ve been taking care of myselftely," Arthur nodded. He chose not to mention that the only reason he started working out was to get an advantage in a video game.
"So how has life been treating you?" Arthur asked, "Any progress with Doctor Hudson?"
Arthur¡¯sment instantly brought a blush to Emily¡¯s face.
"It¡¯s... Well... I¡¯m working on it." She muttered silently, she seemed restless now, but couldn¡¯t move because she was busy holding ice to Run¡¯s ankle.
Arthur¡¯s attention nced over at Run, who was justying there listening to the two, he seemed to have aint but kept silent while the two talked.
"We haven¡¯t been able to spend much time togethertely... Something about a critical patient," Emily muttered, which made Arthur immediately think of the woman that Anna called Mallory, the one who was still in aa due to the reactor explosion.
"But, good news," Emily perked up again, "Your father invited me to work alongside Martin at theboratory."
"Oh wow, that¡¯s great news," Arthur said with a hint of joy. "And you¡¯ll be happy to hear that father is surprisingly epting of office romance."
Once again, Arthur¡¯sment had caused Emily to brighten up like a tomato and go silent.
"Are you going to take the job?" Arthur asked.
"I will be, I¡¯ll be starting next year," She responded.
Arthur was happy to hear this. Emily was much too kind to be rotting away at a high school.
Run finally couldn¡¯t take it and interrupted the conversation, saying that the ice was stinging his foot.
"Oh dear, I apologise," Emily spoke up, quickly pulling the ice away. "If you felt difort, you should have spoken up earlier."
Arthur watched as she wrapped the tea towel around the ice two more times before reapplying it. He shrugged that detail off as slightly uncharacteristic of her until he noticed Emily giving him a sneaky wink, indicating that she had done it on purpose.
¡¯I didn¡¯t know she had a mean streak.¡¯ Arthur thought to himself.
He was aware why she had done so, Emily was one of the most knowledgeable people in school in regards to Run¡¯s mistreatment of Arthur, and it seemed her method of satiating her dissatisfaction was through petty but harmless actions like this.
¡¯So much for the Hippocratic Oath.¡¯ Arthur internally sighed.
"Alright, I should be getting back to ss," Arthur announced, "I¡¯ll see youter."
"That better not be as a patient," Emily retorted as Arthur slipped out of the room.
By the time Arthur had made it back to the gym, the ss wasing to an end. And he noticed that Rowan was surrounded by a group of his ssmates.
From snippets of conversation that he could hear from a distance, it seemed the ss had somehow found out that Rowan was a beta tester for New Genesis.
Rowan seemed overwhelmed, as did Holly, who also had people talking to her. But Quinn was standing around with his chest puffed, so Arthur immediately knew it was his fault the situation turned out this way.
The beta test wasn¡¯t a secret, nobody was forced to sign a confidentiality use or anything, rather the developers wanted people to talk about the game. It was just inconvenient being the centre of attention when not much information was public, as you were relentlessly hounded with questions.
"Like a pack of hyenas," Arthur muttered out loud before chucking.
People quickly turned to stare at Arthur after noticing him approach, it seemed people were quite curious about him.
A couple of questions were thrown around, most seemed to be curious if Arthur was Merlin, as the two looked rather simr. And since he wasn¡¯t too fussed with hiding it, he just responded with a simple "yes".
"Is it true you forced a girl to eat a wolf corpse?" Another student asked, which caused Arthur¡¯s gaze to lock on to Rowan, who had escaped the crowd and was now running around picking up dodgeballs.
The bell had rung, signalling to everyone that ss was over and that lunch break had started. Seeing as they weren¡¯t getting any more answers out of Arthur, the crowd started making their way out of the gym.
"Of all the things to bring up," Arthur sighed to himself before walking over to his friends. "How¡¯d that happen?"
"Someone overheard us talking about the game, and it sort of spiralled out of control," Holly sighed, "Although is it true you made a little girl eat a wolf corpse?"
"To be fair, she¡¯s older than both of us," Arthur tried defending himself, "And I didn¡¯t make her, I just suggested it."
After saying goodbye to Rowan, the group went out and started having their lunch. And for the rest of the day, besides the whispers, stares and asional questions, the day flew past without much issue.
Donovan picked Arthur up at the end of the day.
"Did you get into another fight?" Donovan asked with a yful tone.
"Nope, but I did put a kid in the infirmary," Arthur responded with a half-truth, "Technically."
Arthur had to exin his poor attempt at a joke to a very confused Donovan, but thankfully he caught on rather quickly.
He was eventually dropped off at home, and after his usual routine, he went to bed. The next four days flew by without anything interesting happening, Run didn¡¯t seem toe to school for two days, but on the third day, he found him studying in the library.
¡¯What on earth has happened to this man in only a couple of months,¡¯ Arthur thought to himself, ¡¯I wasn¡¯t aware that Run even knew what studying was.¡¯
He noticed that Run had been limping around with his leg in an ankle brace, so he was spending less time with his usual group who usually yed ser over lunch break.
Eventually, the week had ended, and it was finally time for Arthur to jump back into the game. For some reason, the week felt much longer than it was, so Arthur was feeling rather excited to hop back into the game.
There was arge group outside of the facility, and it seemed even a couple of people from group three were standing around waiting, even though it would be a while before they were allowed in.
Arthur saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, one of them being the roleyer group. Although it seemed Liam and Alvira weren¡¯t present at the moment, it was just Rowan and Mason around talking with Maria. It seemed Acai hadn¡¯t arrived yet either.
Arthur approached the group, and as he slipped through the crowd, he saw Kyle standing around in the distance speaking with his own group.
"Hey guys," Arthur greeted his friends as he approached.
Chapter 164: The Old Man Returns
After greeting his friends, the group spoke about various topics while waiting for the rest of their group to arrive or the doors to open, whichever happened first. The topic of Rowan bing Arthur¡¯s sports teacher was somehow brought up.
"Wait, so you¡¯re Arthur¡¯s teacher now?" Maria remarked, "What are the chances of that?"
"A lot smaller than finding out you¡¯re a long-lost cousin, I¡¯d say." Arthur retorted, "There¡¯s probably somewhere around sixty-something high schools within a reasonable driving distance or something like that. Out of those schools, how many suddenly lost their sports teacher?"
"Why did you say it like that? What happened to thest sports teacher?" Maria asked,pletely ignoring the random number that was pulled out of thin air.
"Oh, nothing... Nothing at all," Arthur remarked with a cheeky grin. "I¡¯m sure he¡¯s as happy as he¡¯s ever been, serving lottery tickets and reheated sausage rolls to disgruntled customers."
The door to the facility opened shortly after, and Arthur gleefully walked into the building while Maria had several questions left unanswered.
Acai, Alvira and Liam all arrived at the facility sometime during the morning briefing, and not long after the group was led into the capsule room, where they were swiftly sent back into the game world.
Opening his eyes, Merlin found himself where he left off, just outside of the ruins. He took around at his surroundings and quickly noticed that the sun was rather low in the sky and that it¡¯d be nighttime in only a matter of minutes.
¡¯I should stick around, just in case.¡¯ He thought to himself while sitting down beside the door frame.
Merlin waited for the moon to rise, and he was fortunate this time around, as the text on the door frame began glowing ever so faintly, and after waiting for a little while longer he could see the moon rising over the horizon.
"You¡¯re back I see." An old man¡¯s voice suddenly emerged from behind Merlin, causing his eyes to widen.
¡¯I didn¡¯t sense him this time either,¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, ¡¯What a stealthy old man.¡¯
"Have you made any progress?" The old man asked as he walked towards the door frame.
"No, I haven¡¯t figured it out yet," Merlin responded in a sad tone. "Actually, I wanted to ask you a few questions before you disappearedst time."
"Oho, questions for me? Let¡¯s hear them." The old man responded.
"My biggest bottleneck with figuring things out is currently thisnguage," Merlin said, pointing to the unknown script above the door frame. "Frankly, I wouldn¡¯t be sure where to even start while figuring out such an ancientnguage, I¡¯m not even sure what thenguage is called."
"Oho, I do suppose that would put a damper on things," The old man briefly chuckled. "I¡¯m not familiar with thenguage myself I¡¯m afraid. Although I can tell you what little I do know."
"Please do," Merlin requested.
"Well, one of my associates believes that thisnguage is ancient Arcadian," The old man spoke up, "He believes he¡¯s seen this script used in ancient temples throughout Arcadia, namely the ancient shrine of Artemis in Lycoa."
"Unfortunately, if such a thing is true, thenguage has been lost to time, without a doubt..." The old man¡¯s expression darkened. "These words may never be read or spoken aloud by mankind ever again. Perhaps only the gods themselves will remember such anguage..."
"Well, you may not need to read the script to figure it out," The old man¡¯s expression lightened as his eyes rest on Merlin¡¯s sheathed weapon. He rest his hand against the smooth stone that made up the door frame. "I have a feeling you¡¯ll be able to think of a solution. You¡¯re a bright young man."
Merlin stood up and approached the door frame, the script above the door was glowing stronger than it originally had, but it was still faint enough to go unnoticed by those walking past.
But as Merlin moved closer to the ruin, he noticed that the de strapped to his side had begun vibrating.
Startled by this sudden change, Merlin pulled Ghostsaw¡¯s de out of its sheath to inspect it, but he quickly found that the closer the de was to the door frame, the stronger it vibrated.
"What on earth..." Merlin muttered to himself, believing this to be a very strange interaction.
He continued moving the de ever so closer to the door frame. The vibrations ramped up in strength as it got closer to the centre, but then it suddenly came to a stop, and Merlin couldn¡¯t move it any closer, it was as if the de was being pressed against an imprable barrier.
For a de that could phase through almost anything, for it to be unable to enter the empty space within the door frame, it was an odd sight. No matter how much force Merlin applied to the de, it wouldn¡¯t traverse through the door frame.
Thinking perhaps something was wrong with the ruin this time around, he reached out with his free hand and reached through the frame where the de couldn¡¯t. He quickly found that his hand could move through the space without any resistance, but the de was still being prevented.
¡¸The quest "A door without a key." has been updated.¡¹
While being somewhat preupied with his recent findings and the notice that his quest had been updated, Merlin was slow to notice that the old man had disappeared once more.
"Why does he keep doing that?" Merlin eximed in frustration, "I still had more questions, bloody ninja grandpa."
He looked around for a while, trying to locate any trace of the old man, but once again it was as if he had vanished into thin air.
He turned his attention back to the door frame, he wondered just how much force he could apply to the mysterious wall blocking his dagger¡¯s path.
Merlin walked through the frame, and his whole body was allowed through, except of course for the dagger he was holding in one of his hands.
Due to the fact he was now applying a pulling force to the dagger instead of a pushing force, he figured he¡¯d be able to apply more strength to it. He wanted to see how far he could push it before something happened.
"Perhaps the key in this instance is strength?" He muttered to himself, "It might be that I¡¯m just not a high enough level to push through the barrier."
He sent his vines out totch onto anything they could grab behind him, most of which seemed to just be various structures of the surrounding ruins.
Once he felt like he had a secure grip on his surroundings, he tried his hardest to pull the dagger by himself, but to no avail. It was now time for the vines to do their job. Merlin set all the vines to retract mode, causing his arm to suddenly feel like it was being ripped from its socket.
Ignoring the pain, he noticed that the dagger was still not budging, but after a little while, he started seeing small blue sparks slowly form around the dagger.
"Well, that¡¯s something." He muttered in a pained grunt while still trying to apply as much force to the dagger as possible.
The sparks started gettingrger, some of which had begun hitting Merlin¡¯s arms. Rather than the burning sensation that was expected of electricity, these sparks carried an eerie cold sensation that prated deep into Merlin¡¯s skin, causing his arms to go numb.
Eventually, Merlin¡¯s body couldn¡¯t take it, and the de slipped out of his numb hands, causing the de to suddenly fly out with a bright blue sh, while Merlin was flung backwards in the opposite direction.
"Ouch, that was a stupid idea." Merlin groaned as he picked himself off the ground, retracting his vines in the process.
He found that he couldn¡¯t move his arms, it was almost like they were frozen solid, down to the bone.
"Oh dear, that¡¯s not a good sign..." He muttered to himself while staring at his arms.
He wandered around the ruins while looking for his dagger, it seemed to have been flung quite the distance away from the ruins, but the sight of blue sparks around a nearby tree eventually gave the de¡¯s position away. Fortunately much closer than expected.
Approaching the tree, Merlin saw that the dagger had been embedded deep within the tree trunk and arge area around the de, big enough to encase most of the tree trunk, seemed to have been suddenly sh-frozen.
Due to his hands being currently useless, he sent a vine to pick the weapon up, but upon making contact with the de, the vine was quickly sh-frozen as well. The sudden temperature drop had caused the vine to shatter, which had counted as enough damage to force the vine to retract.
Being unable to retrieve the dagger manually, he was forced to use amand to retrieve it. He began chanting briefly, which caused the dagger to quickly fade away, being sent back to his inventory where he quickly inspected the item.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Freezing Ghostsaw¡¯s de (Unique)]
A nasty looking long dagger with a serrated edge. It was previously the trusted partner of Ghostsaw, a famous assassin who operated within Macedonia before he was assassinated. It has an eerie aura, and often feels cold to the touch.
Due to being forcibly shoved into a sealed dimensional rift, it has absorbed some of the pent up energy that was once stored behind the barrier, causing it to be temporarily imbued with that dimension¡¯s energy.
It seems as though the de¡¯s original aura has been vastly enhanced, causing it to obtain a field that will instantly freeze anything that gets close. This effect will disappear once all the energy is expended.
? Damage: +16
? Stealth: +15%
? Abilities: ?Rending Strike?
? Infused souls: "¡ï Race Soul: Ghost (Level 3)"
? Soul abilities: ?Phantom Step?, ?Phantom sh?
? Freezing Aura
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Ahh, Arthur you idiot... We didn¡¯t learn our lesson when ying with dimensional riftsst time, did we?" Merlin reprimanded himself, "Well, at least nothing bad happened this time around.... I hope."
Chapter 165: No Souls Allowed
"Ahh cold, cold..." Merlin¡¯s surprise from the situation wore off, and only now did he start focusing on the fact his hands were essentially frozen solid and stinging. "It hurts, why couldn¡¯t it be like the time the priestess froze my arm."
A loose thought came to mind which involved shattering his arms and just having them regrow, but the thought of going around without limbs for however long it took to heal was an ufortable thought.
Various NPCs seemed to be staring at him from a small distance away, some of which clearly saw the blue sh.
Worried about the state of the ruin, Merlin turned around to gaze at the door frame, only to find that it was still in pristine condition. Fortunately, his mildly chaotic testing methods hadn¡¯t caused any visibleplications, that he was aware of.
He reached through the door frame with his arms, and just like before, they passed through without any resistance.
"So... That was odd." He muttered to himself, "It may not be the key, but the dagger is the only thing that has interacted with the ruins so far."
He stared at the information window of Ghostsaw¡¯s de, wondering why this was different to everything else he had on him, including his other dagger, the Wolf¡¯s Fang.
¡¯The only thing I can think of is that it¡¯s an infused weapon.¡¯ He thought to himself, ¡¯Perhaps souls can¡¯t travel through it?¡¯
¡¯But then again, I have souls infused in my body, yet I can pass through it.¡¯ He continued to wonder but his thoughts were interrupted by the painful stinging sensationsing from his arms.
Tucking both his arms underneath his cloak, he quickly chanted out a skill name that he hadn¡¯t used yet, "Overheat".
Suddenly, the red gem that decorated the cloak¡¯s sp began faintly glowing a warm red, and the inside of his cloak began heating up quickly. Within a matter of seconds, it was as if he had been wrapped in a heated nket that was cranked up to its highest setting, which caused him to start feeling slightly drowsy.
He felt a moment of relief as the warm air soothed his freezing body, but after eight minutes, the gem stopped glowing and the skill ended.
"Ah, ran out of mana," He said with a disappointed tone in his voice, forgetting that he no longer had the obscenelyrge mana pool that he once had.
It seemed his hands were healed, for the most part, and he could now move them around.
"Oh wait a second," He muttered to himself before opening his inventory and scrolling through it. "I almost forgot I had this."
He pulled out a wispy green ball of light and held it tightly within his hand. It was the goblin soul he had acquired and hadn¡¯t yet stored away at the soul receptacle.
As he moved the soul closer to the door frame, he felt resistance against his hand as the soul inched closer. Once the soul was only about a fist away, he began seeing a faint blue ripple effect form within the stone frame, something that didn¡¯t happen when he held the de to it.
However, much like with the de, Merlin was unable to push the soul through the door frame. The ripples were bing more violent the harder he pushed, so he eventually pulled back and threw the soul back into his inventory.
"So you¡¯re a portal of sorts that won¡¯t allow souls to enter," Merlin¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement, "What is the story here, I wonder? A sealed dimensional rift..."
Unfortunately, he was forced to move on as he didn¡¯t have enough pieces of the puzzle to figure it out right away.
¡¯I guess I should pay a visit to the Artemis shrine at some point.¡¯ He thought to himself, ¡¯I also need to get rid of the excess energy in the dagger, but if I hold it my arm will freeze again...¡¯
Shaking his head, he threw his hood over his head and began making his way out of the city. Merlin summoned his ball of light as he stepped into the darkness.
¡¯I guess I should activate my stream, I¡¯ll have to pause it when I go deal with the thieves guild though.¡¯ He thought to himself while travelling down the road.
He eventually chanted themand to start his stream and the transparent floating eyeball returned.
"Good evening everyone," He greeted everyone who had quickly piled into his chat.
He had a pleasant conversation with several members of his chat, and then some people began spamming iming that they were fellow ssmates, which caused Merlin¡¯s face to cramp up.
"Quinn, are you there?" He asked his stream chat, to which Quinn promptly responded.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Yes, I¡¯m here. What¡¯s up?
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"If anyone starts doxxing me, ban them immediately," He ordered with a frustrated expression.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Roger that!
[System] Moderator Quinntessential has banned xX_L1tsune_Xx.
[MOD] Quinntessential: Whoops, finger slipped.
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"What, that wasn¡¯t permission for you to ba--" Merlin remarked, but he was quickly cut off when he received a private message from Quinn informing him that it was Vasco¡¯s ount. "You cheeky..."
He let it slide because it was likely that Vasco would have tried to cause trouble now, that was just the type of person he was. Except this was now an excuse for him to start trolling on an alternate ount. Merlin could only hope that Vasco wasn¡¯t smart enough to operate a VPN to get around the streaming service¡¯s IP address ban.
Eventually, Merlin had walked through the forest safely and was now at the rolling hills where the boars spawned. The moon was rather low in the sky at this point, and it¡¯d be dawn in the next few minutes.
Merlin saw some sparks in the distance and there were several light sources scattered around, it seemed as though several groups were strong enough to farm boars now.
Although as wasmon in games, people had begun fighting over regions of the field, and upon closer inspection, it seemed as though the main culprit in all the fighting was Kyle¡¯s group, as usual.
They seemed to be fighting against a couple of other groups, one of which was a familiar sight, the trio of girls he had run into in the wild weeks ago. The other groups seemed to be yers that Merlin hadn¡¯t yet interacted with, and a couple of people seemed to not even be from the first wave.
One person stood out as peculiar within this whole crowd, quite a tall individual amongst everyone else, and who seemed to even be taller than Merlin. But that wasn¡¯t the reason why Merlin found him interesting, rather it was because this individual had already acquired a metal helmet and breastte, two fairly expensive items at such an early stage, alongside leather bracers and shin guards to protect their extremities.
This individual seemed to have arge masculine build, although Merlin couldn¡¯t tell from quite a distance away and under poor lighting conditions. They were wielding arge kite shield and swinging around a short sword in their main hand, both of which they utilised effectively, and Merlin watched as they cut down one of Kyle¡¯s goons with minimal effort.
Merlin¡¯s chat was telling him to jump into the fight, and Merlin was tempted but wanted to see what everyone¡¯s karma was at first before he made a move.
He quickly ran closer to the fight until he could finally see names appear over everyone¡¯s head. As expected, Kyle¡¯s group were bright red, and a group of unfamiliar faces who seemed to be attacking anyone who got near them were all orange.
"Oh, this is going to be a clusterf--" Merlin muttered to himself, his words were cut off as a spark of magic flew past his head.
Merlin¡¯s attention snapped to the individual who shot magic at him, a nasty looking individual with a red name. One of Kyle¡¯s group he could only assume, but it wasn¡¯t one of the three he was familiar with.
"So you recruited a mage, huh?" He muttered, gripping his Wolf¡¯s Fang and unsheathing it.
Merlin was about to run intobat when he heard the armoured individual shout out a skill name while charging at the caster, "Shield bash!"
The individual¡¯s shield seemed to faintly glow, up until the point it was used to backhand the caster.
Merlin watched as the caster¡¯s body flung backwards, and he could almost make out shards of shattered teeth scattering in the air.
"Wait, that was a knight skill," Merlin muttered, "How has he upgraded his soul already?"
It was at this moment that Merlin realised he had been cking off. Although he was keeping the lead due to quests, he was putting off the grinding element that helped level souls up faster.
Keeping those two elements in bnce would be the key to acquiring a steady amount of power, something he was failing to do due to old habits and his hatred for endless grinding, a hatred that developed from his fifteen years as a ranker.
The individual, whose nametag Merlin barely caught a glimpse of, reading it as "SaintMRP", had charged towards the caster who was staggered, piercing his de into his enemy¡¯s chest and finishing him off quickly with another attack with his shield.
As Merlin¡¯s attacker had been made short work of, he was forced to changed targets. And after slipping into the crowd, he quickly located his favourite person to torment, LordKyle.
Merlin was approaching Kyle as fast as he could, but he didn¡¯t make it in time to save one of the other yers that had just been cut down by him, falling to the ground as a corpse.
Chapter 166: Stay Frosty
"That wasn¡¯t very nice of you," Merlin remarked while stabbing LordKyle in the back, an attack that triggered the backstab passive¡¯s multiplier.
LordKyle screamed in surprise, but Merlin wasn¡¯t sure if this was because of his sudden appearance behind him, or the sudden disappearance of most of Kyle¡¯s health bar.
Merlin dodged a panicked strike that was aimed at his head, which caused him to stagger backwards a few steps. This gave Kyle enough time to scamper off and create some distance between the two, and he was now hiding behind one of his minions, a man armed with a spear.
That action had caught Merlin off guard for a moment, Kyle¡¯s irregr movement was something Merlin didn¡¯t expect. It seemed as though Kyle, along with most people participating in the fight, had finally decided to turn offbat assistance. Although it seemed that most of the ranged users and everyone who was utilising a wand had keptbat assistance on.
"That¡¯s annoying, I enjoyed the easy fights," Merlin muttered to himself. "Oh well."
He barely caught a glimpse of an arrow being fired towards him, yet before he even bothered dodging, the knight from earlier came to his rescue, parrying the arrow away with his kite shield.
"Thanks!" Merlin yelled out before dashing past him, making a beeline towards Kyle once more while the knight seemed to immediately charge at the archer that had shot at Merlin.
Merlin watched briefly as arrows bounced off the knight¡¯s shield, and the archer attempted to run away at thest second but was met with another shield bash.
Merlin¡¯s attention was brought back to his own fight as he barely dodged a spear that was thrust towards him, the goon that Kyle was hiding behind quickly pulled back to thrust once more, but Merlin twisted his body out of the way, essentially dancing around the spearhead before he closed the distance within an instant.
The spearman found himself in a world of pain as he received an elbow to the face to start, which seemed to break his nose but didn¡¯t do much in terms of damage. It seemed as though Merlin was adding a little bit of ir into his attacks to entertain his stream, but he almost immediately returned to his usual efficient fighting style and delivered several shes aimed directly at the spearman¡¯s throat.
Merlin began chanting his cloak¡¯s skill, "Overheat", causing his cloak to begin warming up. This seemed to be a pointless action at first, but what followed quickly gave the action context.
He pushed past the spearman¡¯s corpse and dashed back into melee range with LordKyle. He reached into his inventory, pulling out a de that made the surroundings drop in temperature almost immediately.
Even with his cloak¡¯s overheat ability in effect, an ability that boosted his cold resistance by an additional fifty percent, on top of the ten percent that his cloak already granted him, the de¡¯s freezing aura was quickly encroaching up his arm and it wouldn¡¯t be long before his arm was frozen solid once more.
"Do you mind holding this for me?" Merlin taunted, before dodging a wide swing from LordKyle¡¯s hatchet. Before Kyle could recover his swing, Merlin quickly plunged the freezing dagger into Kyle¡¯s chest.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rending Strike? has triggered, target is now suffering from severe bleeding.¡¹
¡¯That¡¯s not very useful when you immediately freeze the wound.¡¯ Merlin couldn¡¯t help but think to himself.
Another swing from Kyle¡¯s hatchet made its way towards Merlin¡¯s head, and he was forced to leap back to avoid it. Instead of taking his dagger with him, he decided to leave the dagger in Kyle¡¯s chest and let it do its thing. He could clearly see that the freezing aura was already ravaging Kyle¡¯s avatar, and what little health of his remained was quickly dwindling down to nothing.
Kyle had realised he was about to die a few moments toote, and when he reached for the dagger to pull it out of his chest, his health had bottomed out and he had died with the de in his hands.
The freezing field continued to freeze the rest of the corpse, and Merlin decided that he would leave it for now in hopes that the annoying energy that had been imbued within it would eventually dissipate.
He tightened his grip on his remaining dagger and inspected the state of the battle.
It seemed that most of Kyle¡¯s group were dead, and those remaining seemed to be focusing down the orange named users. And the orange named users themselves were fighting both the red named users and any white named users who got too close.
¡¯Right well I came here to kill Kyle again, but I¡¯d rather not pick a fight with another group.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself.
One of LordKyle¡¯s group, an individual waving around a mace, wasing close to beating down an orange named user who was cowering behind his shield. It looked as though the shield user was about to be pummeled to death when three vines flew towards him.
One of the vines wrapped around the user¡¯s neck, the others took a wrist each, and as the thorns of the vines dug into the user¡¯s skin Merlin received a notification message.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target¡¯s stats have been reduced.¡¹
The mace user was quickly overpowered by the vines as Merlin began retracting them. He had tripped over his own feet and was now being dragged by the neck towards Merlin who was looming over him with a dagger in hand and an evil-looking grin.
The user tried fighting the vines, rather it looked as though he was terrified, but it wasn¡¯t enough to get away and his fate was eventually sealed as Merlin¡¯s de made short work of his health bar.
As the user sumbed to the damage, Merlin noticed that his leather breastte had begun glowing faintly, meaning it was a lootable item.
"Ah, the benefit of killing red named enemies," He muttered with a happy tone while storing the armour away in his inventory. He quickly inspected the item while looking for his next victim.
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[Tattered Leather Breastte. (Common)]
An old leather breastte that has clearly seen better days. It appears as though this breastte was once the property of a goblin.
? Defence: +2
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"Garbage, but it¡¯s to be expected," Merlin sighed before equipping the armour. "I guess it¡¯s better than nothing."
After looking around, it seemed he didn¡¯t have much else to do, the wizard girl¡¯s group and the knight had destroyed what little remained of Kyle¡¯s group in a short timeframe and were now attacking the orange members.
¡¯Yeah, alright time to go.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself, turning back to the ice sculpture of Kyle.
The air surrounding the statue wasn¡¯t as cold as it once was, informing Merlin that the energy had probably dissipated.
"I guess it would have sorted itself out if I just left it in the tree longer," He mumbled to himself. "Well, that probably would have caused trouble in the city..."
He reached in to take the dagger out of Kyle¡¯s corpse, but the frozen corpse had a tight grip around it, he also noticed a faint glow on Kyle¡¯s gloves.
"Ooh, more loot," Merlin hummed.
He chanted amand to return his dagger to his inventory since it would have been a pain to try and dig it out from the corpse¡¯s grasp.
While blinded by loot, Merlin took the back of his dagger and mmed the hilt on the sculpture¡¯s wrist, causing it to shatter and his hand to fall to the ground. He repeated this action with the other hand, retrieving the other glove.
"Thanks for giving me a hand," He chuckled to himself before throwing both hands in his inventory.
Much like what would happen if he threw a backpack full of unstorable items into his inventory, only the gloves were sent to the inventory, while the frozen hands themselves flew right through the window and shattered against the ground.
Merlin inspected his new item, and he couldn¡¯t help but sigh when he read it.
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[Studded Leather Gloves. (Common)]
A pair of tight leather gloves, brass studs have been embedded within the glove and serve as an extrayer of defence against attacks.
? Defence: +1
? Unequippable
? Currently frozen solid, must be thawed out before being equipped.
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¡¯Yeah, no more messing with dimensional rifts for the time being.¡¯ He sighed internally.
Merlin nced back towards the fight that was starting toe to an end as another orange named user was pped with the knight¡¯s shield.
He quickly ran towards the road, fortunately, nobody seemed that interested in attacking him. Merlin quickly remembered to swap his cloak back to his old one beforeing up close to the city walls.
He greeted the guards before entering the city, and after jumping into the crowd he began slowly wandering towards the slums.. He was unsure as to when he wanted to pause his stream temporarily, but as he approached the slums he found it to be crawling with town guards.
Chapter 167: Parkour
The town guards seemed to be actively inspecting everyone who wasing and going from the slums for some yet unknown reason. Merlin quickly turned around and made his way towards a different street that led away from the slums.
Merlin slipped through various side streets until he found one that didn¡¯t seem to have any traffic, he managed to slip into a small alcove before turning towards his stream.
"Hey guys, we¡¯ll be taking a short break from the stream," Merlin announced, "I¡¯ll see you all then."
"System stream, pause," He chanted, causing the floating eyeball to vanish, although the stream chat screen was still active.
He quickly took another look around to make sure that he wasn¡¯t being watched before pulling out the fancy cloak he had swapped out before entering the town and the owl mask.
"I¡¯m going to need the extra boost of stealth," He sighed while taking his old cloak off and throwing it back into his inventory.
He equipped the mask and cloak before reaching into his inventory and grabbing out his dagger, and while it was still rather cold to the touch, fortunately, it had lost the excess energy that froze everything around it.
"Up we go," Merlin sighed to himself while stepping out of the alcove.
Vines suddenly shot out from underneath the cloak, grabbing onto any details on the surrounding walls such as balconies, plumbing or other overhanging designs, and Merlin¡¯s body was gracefully lifted into the air. The vines continued travelling upwards until Merlin found himself standing on a tiled roof.
"I haven¡¯t done this in a while," Heughed to himself while staring at the other rooftops around him. "If we can¡¯t go through them we might as well go over them."
Fortunately, Macedonia was ratherpact for a town, all the buildings were close together, and although it made the town feel rather ustrophobic at times, it was rather fortunate when someone needed to jump from roof to roof.
"Now as long as I don¡¯t kick any tiles loose we shouldn¡¯t have a problem," He muttered to himself while staring down at the street below.
He unsheathed Ghostsaw¡¯s de, tightening his grip before chanting the skill name "Phantom step."
His body quickly faded away as almost his entire mana pool vanished in an instant.
Vines slipped out from underneath Merlin¡¯s cloak once more as he sprinted along the unstable sloped surface towards a sudden drop. Before his body was thrown over the street below, he leapt while using his vines to gift him additional thrust.
The vines hitting the tiles was somewhat audible, but it didn¡¯t seem as though anybody below had heard it.
Merlin stuck thending, fortunately not shattering any tiles as hended, and while his invisibility was still in effect he sprinted towards the next gap.
This continued several times as Merlin leapt from groups of buildings to other groups of buildings on the other side of a street, and he eventually leapt over the main road.
The gap on the main road was somewhatrger than the side streets, so Merlin was forced to send his vines out to grab hold of a couple of chimneys as hended, and unfortunately this time hisnding was so rough that he did manage to shatter a couple of tiles, earning himself a small karma reduction in the process.
It seemed as though his invisibility wasing to an end, so he leapt onto another group of buildings and ran towards the slums.
He saw groups of town guards wandering the streets beneath him, although he was quite high up so he couldn¡¯t hear much of the conversation anybody was having. He began wandering over to the thieves guild building, making sure he knew that where he was stepping was stable as the buildings in this region of town were in several different states of disrepair.
Thest thing he wanted was for his foot to fall through a roof and alert all the guards to his position.
He was making use of his vines to stealthily bridge the smaller gaps rather than leap from building to building. Stealth was his main priority now, as he didn¡¯t have to worry about the time limit for invisibility. As long as nobody saw him it didn¡¯t matter how long it took.
He took notice of arger group of guards beneath him, which all seemed to be gathering around a single corpse.
The corpse was adorned with clothing that seemed to have been made from expensive fabrics, so it was clearly the corpse of a noble, albeit much older looking than most of the nobles who were seen around causing trouble in the slums.
Merlin could barely make out the conversation the guards seemed to be having, so he began somewhat hiding his presence before lowering himself onto a balcony and listening in.
From some of the information he gathered, it seemed a few higher-ups of the guards were fed up with this new trend of nobles picking on those in the slums, which was why the entrances of the slums had such strong guards taking note of everyone who entered.
The noble corpse the guards were all gathered around seemed to be the sole heir of a wealthy family that had been recently drained of all that it had.
And although spoken in hushed whispers, Merlin heard that the noble had copious amounts of the new drug on his person at the time of his death and he himself was showing symptoms of drug use. Merlin continued listening in and heard a few of the key symptoms of overuse, namely bloodshot eyes and skin that had lost almost all its moisture, leaving dry, wrinkled and cracked skin that made the user look like a huskpared to their former selves.
Once Merlin was satisfied with the information he received, he quickly climbed back on the roof and continued making his way towards the thieves guild, but once he reached where the building was, he found that it was crawling with guards.
"What the hell do ya mean there¡¯s no hideout?" One of the guards shouted at another, it was rather loud so even Merlin could hear him clearly from the roof.
"It¡¯s just a shitty tavern, there¡¯s nothing here besides cheap alcohol. We searched everywhere, including the cer," the other guard said, "Perhaps the informant was wrong, or this is the wrong tavern."
¡¯Oh, well it seemed they moved locations already,¡¯ Merlin thought to himself. ¡¯Now how am I supposed to find the guild.¡¯
"Useless, search again, make sure there¡¯s nothing you¡¯re missing," The guard shouted, ¡¯My promotion is reliant on us catching those murderers."
Merlin made his way further into the slums, but the sheer amount of guards patrolling the ce was incredible.
¡¯Did they put the entire force into catching the thieves guild? What the hell.¡¯ Merlin thought.
He continued wandering around until he saw a familiar-looking small boy being interrogated by guards. Unlike the nicer looking clothing he usually saw Bell wearing, he was wearing tatteredmoner clothing and his face and hair was caked in ayer of dust. He fit in with the other residents of the slum quite well.
"Oi, do you not know how to speak?" One of the guards seemed to be shouting at him. "If you can¡¯t understand humans, how are you any different from livestock?"
"Cool it, he¡¯s just a kid." The other guard beside him seemed to take Bell¡¯s side. "Why are you even interrogating him anyway, what is a kid going to know about a gang of murderers?"
The two guards seemed to get into an argument, which allowed Bell to slip out of sight and make his way down a side street. Merlin started following Bell, who was slipping between groups of guards with great skill. It was rather difficult for even Merlin to follow him, but it seemed as though Bell realised he was being watched.
Merlin followed Bell until he wandered down an alleyway and turned around, waiting for his pursuer to appear before him. He clearly felt himself being watched, but nobody appeared around the corner which seemed to make him ufortable.
Something must have eventually clicked in his mind as he looked up and saw Merlin staring down at him. Merlin gave him a friendly wave before sending a vine down, which seemed to relieve Bell of his caution as he had seen these vines before.
Bell grabbed hold of the vine while avoiding the thorns before he was pulled up onto the roof.
Merlin watched Bell¡¯s expression suddenly brighten as he stared down at the streets below, although he wasn¡¯t able to audibly express his excitement of being up so high, it was clear for Merlin to see.
"Hey Bell," Merlin said as he took off his mask, revealing his face and some of his and some of his long white hair that slipped out from under his cloak hood. "I take it the base moved, would you be able to lead me to the new location?"
Chapter 168: The New Thieves Guild
Bell nodded in response and began pointing Merlin in the direction of the new base. The two traversed the rooftops, with Merlin assisting Bell over anyrge gaps.
The directions that were given eventually led Merlin to another dead end down a dark alleyway. Although there was a small door made from iron bars that lead down to the sewer, which surprisingly was not locked, rather it was merely held closed with a small rock.
Bell led Merlin through the door, closing the door behind him and shifting the rock in ce once more.
The door led into a small hallway which quickly descended down a flight of stairs into the sewer system. Bell was now covering his mouth with his shirt, and he signalled for Merlin to do the same before they continued.
After reaching the bottom of the staircase, the room quickly widened, revealing a familiar hallway with a deep canal running down the centre. Although this time there was actually liquid in the canal rather than it being blocked off like in thest thieves guild hideout.
The duo traversed the sewer by walking along the walkways on either side of the canal. They walked for quite a while, making Merlin suspect that they were no longer underneath the area of the citybelled the slums.
It was rather dark in the sewer, but before Merlin could summon his light spell, Bell had pulled out a small bead bracelet that featured arger white bead. Upon tapping therger bead it suddenly began glowing and illuminated the area around him.
¡¯Oh, that¡¯s neat.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he continued following Bell through the sewer.
Eventually, they stopped at adder that led up to the surface, one of many exits that they had passed along their travels.
Bell climbed up thedder first and knocked on the manhole cover above, he seemed to knock in a pattern. After a few seconds, a knock came from the other side, they also seemed to knock in a pattern and were continuing on from when Bell left off. After the other side stopped, Bell continued the pattern onest time before Merlin heard a clunking sound, and the manhole swung open.
Bell climbed inside, and Merlin followed. He seemed to find himself in a dark basement of sorts, the walls were made of stone brick and there were severalrge sacks and boxes piled up on the other side of the room.
The man who had opened the manhole for them quickly closed it behind them, locking it back up before returning to his wooden chair.
"Wee Ghost. How do you like our new hideout?" He asked with a toothy grin.
"Well the entrance was a little stinky for my liking," Merlin retorted.
"Well, it gets better. Trust me," The manughed at Merlin¡¯s response. "Enjoy yourselves."
Bell led Merlin up a set of stairs that were illuminated by the light that was leaking in from the next room, he cast cleanse on himself before climbing the stairs, not wanting himself to smell of sewerage.
Bell turned around and indicated that he would like the spell cast on him as well, so after the ten second cooldown was done, Merlin had also cast the spell on Bell, removing theyers of filth that had formed on him as well as the stench that was sticking to his skin and clothes.
The two climbed up the stairs, and Merlin was rather surprised to find himself inside what seemed to be a noble¡¯s mansion.
"Where did you guys get enough money to buy a mansion?" Merlin couldn¡¯t help but blurt out in surprise.
"Courtesy of Lord wfol, yet another stupid noble with more money than sense," A familiar voice emerged somewhere behind Merlin. He turned around to see nothing but the staircase behind him, and there didn¡¯t seem to be anybody else besides Bell on either side of him so he instinctively looked up.
There he saw, leaning over a fancy indoor balcony, a familiar-looking elf enjoying a ss of his favourite whiskey. Although he seemed to be having too much fun with his character, he was dressed in a tailored light grey suit with blue ents,plete with a top hat and cane.
"Could I offer you a drink? A cigar perhaps?" The elf spoke with a clearly fake ent that mocked the nobility.
After taking all of this in, Merlin couldn¡¯t help but chuckle in response.
"Just business works for me, thanks." He responded, "After you catch me up on what¡¯s been going on."
"You¡¯re no fun... Oh well,e on up." The elf said before walking away from the balcony, vanishing from sight.
Merlin looked around until he found a staircase leading up, and Bell seemed to vanish into one of the many rooms of the estate.
On the top floor, he found what was essentially the gambling hall from thest hangout, but with much nicer scenery and tables that didn¡¯t look as though they were moments away from crumbling into splinters.
Merlin greeted all the members of the guild who were enjoying their new hangout as he slowly made his way towards the fancy table where the elf was sitting. Merlin took a seat at the table and just stared at him with a face that clearly had several questions but didn¡¯t know where to start.
"Well, first of all. You¡¯re probably wondering why..." The elf began speaking.
"Alongside who, what, when and where, yeah." Merlin retorted.
"Right, so let¡¯s begin with wfol, an earl, alongside one of the spider¡¯s legs." The elf began exining, and the mention of the spider caught Merlin¡¯s attention even more so than it already was.
"Out of the eight legs, there were three whose purpose was just to be an easy source of wealth for Kilo and her operations," The elf exined, "Two of those legs are dead, one of which was killed by us on ident while the other seemed to have been killed sometimest night and left in the slums to frame us and incite a witchhunt against us."
"We¡¯ve found thest of these piggybank nobles, well actually, he found us." The elf said with a smirk. "It turns out that Earl wfol¡¯s son had been one of the ckmailed victims of the drug, and he was killed in the slums while following the orders of a minion of the spider¡¯s legs, but we¡¯ll get to that in a second."
"Either way, Earl wfol had begun putting out excessive bounties in his moment of grief, and the prices for finding the hideout and identities of those who killed his son were also rather excessive." The elf paused for a moment to see if Merlin had already caught on, which he clearly had. "And it just so happened that a few honourable fallen nobles living in the slums at the time had gone out of their way to locate the hideout and identify several core members of the team."
"Of course, they only received half the payment for now as the information wasn¡¯t confirmed, but it was more than enough to do a little bit of shopping," The elfughed. "And we¡¯ve blocked up the entrance to our old hideout, so that location will no longer be suspicious after the investigation isplete."
¡¯How sneaky.¡¯ Merlin sighed in relief, it was fortunate that the guild hadn¡¯t been betrayed as he thought at first.
"So, on the topic of Earl wfol, is he my next target?" Merlin asked.
"Oh, definitely not," The elf remarked, "There¡¯s still so much money to milk from such a foolish man."
"Rather, my spies have learnt much about this drug dealer, it seems as though they are one of the main forces behind Kilo¡¯s sudden expansion into the criminal underworld and while we still don¡¯t know his identity, we¡¯ve heard from his clients that he goes by the name of Ashen." The elf exined, "The drug in question ismonly referred to as Ashen¡¯s Kiss amongst young nobles, or Ashen¡¯s curse amongst those who have been ckmailed by Kilo and Ashen¡¯s minions."
"I don¡¯t yet have a target for you to assassinate just yet, but I do have a task for you." The elf stated, he briefly began exining his n, and moments after a quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Hidden Rare Quest]
Infiltrate the temple.
The thieves guild leader has given you a mission to infiltrate the temple of Macedonia, joining them and obtaining a higher position within their ranks.
The thieves guild leader believes that someone of high rank within the temple is working with Kilo. He states that bing a cleric within their ranks would allow you to confirm this theory and that climbing the ranks within the temple would potentially give you plenty of ess to the spy which may make a future assassination easier down the line.
Infiltrate the temple and be a cleric.
? Reward: 500 EXP, 600 Thief Soul EXP
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"Bing a cleric to murder a cleric, that¡¯s a new one, even for me.." He muttered to himself while epting the quest.
Chapter 169: Leaving The Sewer
"Alright, I¡¯ll dly do so," Merlin said, "Do you have anything else for me?"
"Oh, right. I almost forgot," The elf spoke up once more, and his face had stretched into a wide grin. "That Baron Doolmet you spoke of a week ago, how did things go with him?"
"I actually passed by him on my way to Megalopolis, but he was surrounded by armed guards who seemed to be looking for any excuse to attack me, so I couldn¡¯t even approach him." Merlin sighed, "I haven¡¯t seen him since."
"Oho, well good news," The elf spoke, "I received word that Baron Doolmet had been arrested a few days ago."
"Oh? That is good news," Merlin said with a smile before it crumpled again, "Although, I assume that he will find himself dered innocent when he gets ced on trial."
"Actually, no." The elf retorted, "It seems your previous actions are already paying off and the little criminalwork of theirs had begun falling apart faster than expected."
"It seems as though several figures within Madame Harce¡¯s faction wish to rearrange the hierarchy with them as the head, so they¡¯ve been caught in a power struggle and have been unable to coordinate another conspiracy." The elf exined, "They¡¯re also quite wary of what Kilo has nned for them, so they¡¯re clearly trying their hardest to not stick out as much in fear of being cut down, much like theirte leader."
"Whereas it seems as though Kilo herself is in a state of panic due to Ghostsaw¡¯s sudden betrayal," The elfughed, "My spies have caught wind of prominent figures ordering their vassals to hunt down the assassin. It seems as though you had a little bit of fun while using your new persona."
Merlin sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He wanted to cause a slight bit of confusion as he left, but it was clearly more effective than anticipated.
"We¡¯ll continue hunting down the location of this Ashen character while youplete your mission, We¡¯ll contact you when we have his information." The elf spoke onest time before returning to his drink.
"Thank you," Merlin said before standing up and leaving.
Now that he was walking around at his own pace, he began looking around the mansion as he slowly made his way back towards the basement. All the windows within the mansion were blocked off by curtains of moderate thickness, so while they prevented anyone from peering through them, it allowed some level of sunlight to seep through.
Along the bottom floor, it seemed as though the windows were protected by fancy wrought iron grills, or at least that¡¯s what he could make out by the strange pattern silhouettes cast on the curtains.
And as thest security measure, it seemed as though any doors that led outside were both locked and barricaded with a piece of furniture, but other than that it seemed to be a normal mansion.
Merlin eventually made his way down the staircase into the basement where he saw the same thief who let him in previously.
"You leaving so soon Ghost?" The man asked, to which Merlin nodded. "Right, well I suppose you should learn the code."
Merlin spent a few moments with the man while learning the secret code, and once the man was satisfied he was let back into the sewers.
This time around, Merlin had summoned his little ball of light to apany him and illuminate his path. He noticed a faint marking on the wall next to thedder, which must have been some form of indication that the thieves guild was located above.
Merlin made his way through the sewer system, there were severaldders leading out into buildings, locked on the building side, but only a few staircases leading out into the streets, all of which seemed to be hidden in back streets and locked off with iron doors.
The sewer system itself seemed to be several years older than even the oldest buildings that Merlin could see, and quite a few of the newer buildings didn¡¯t seem to have adder leading into the sewer.
¡¯I wonder what the original n behind the sewer was... Was it even intended to be a sewer in the first ce?¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he made his way up yet another staircase.
Looking through the iron bars, he noticed that the surrounding buildings began looking less expensive, it was likely that he had found himself in a moremoner-friendly part of town.
Making sure that nobody was nearby, he pulled out his beginner lockpicks and started picking the iron door open. He heard the click, followed by a rusty metal squeak as the door slowly opened.
¡¯Finally, fresh air!¡¯ Merlin thought before casting cleanse on himself.
He was about to walk out of the alley he found himself in when he realised what he was wearing. He took off his conspicuous outfit and threw it into his inventory before pulling out his basic looking ck cloak and equipping it.
"System stream, unpause." Merlin chanted, only now remembering that he had been paused for the past several minutes. It seemed as though his viewer count dropped substantially, but his chat erupted as it came back online.
¡¯Oh right, I should probably put this one away too.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as he grabbed hold of Ghostsaw¡¯s dagger. He unequipped it and threw it back into his inventory before pulling out the goblin de that he had neglected for a little while.
Merlin threw his hood back up over his head before stepping out of the alley into the street. Fortunately, he had stepped out into a back street and there weren¡¯t many individuals around, Merlin quickly picked a direction and walked in a straight line until he eventually found the crowded streets that he was familiar with.
Merlin slipped into the crowd once more, this time making his way towards the temple.. It seemed several yers were also caught within the crowd or were gathering around the mercenary guild building.
Chapter 170: Historian Hollys Heartbreak
The ustrophobic streets opened up once more as he made his way through the parnds that surrounded the temple. He walked past several yers who were sitting around on the park benches and who seemed to be enjoying their time in this world.
Merlin realised that he had seen more yers today than he had for the past several weeksbined.
He walked up the marble staircase that led up to the Greek-style temple¡¯s entrance before making his way through the open doorway.
There were several yers inside the temple as well, several of which were praying towards therge golden statue of Gaia. Merlin noticed that several of the depictions of gods and goddesses that decorated therge tform were faintly glowing, this was an indication that a deity was responding to prayer, one of the core mechanics behind the cleric ss.
Besides the yers, there were a small group of NPCs sitting around praying, and a couple of priests doing odd jobs around the ce, such as cleaning the temple and collecting tips.
Merlin was approached by a priest who was wearing a friendly smile, but unlikest time, Merlin didn¡¯t bother interrupting this one.
"Good evening, what has brought you to our humble temple?" The priest said while retaining a smile. "Are you here to pray? If so feel free to pray at your leisure. If you¡¯re here for something else entirely, you need only ask."
"I¡¯d like to be a cleric," Merlin announced, and he could have sworn that he saw the priest¡¯s expression crumple for half a second.
"Oh? Wonderful, truly wonderful," The priest spoke with what seemed to be a forced upbeat tone, "We¡¯ve had quite a few new recruits recently, it seems a wave of enlightenment has swept over the world¡¯s youth, truly wonderful."
Merlin couldn¡¯t help but cringe somewhat, but he kept a straight face. He was quickly reminded why besides the bard ss, the cleric ss was one of his least used types of ss souls while ying, not even considering how little use it had with his ideal ystyle.
"Very well,e with me." The priest said before leading Merlin into another room and down a small hallway.
Merlin continued following the priest down the hallway, and momentster he was brought into a strange round room, somewhat reminiscent of a cylinder, with sixteen alcoves spaced out evenly around the room, one of which contained the door they had entered.
The other fifteen alcoves, apart from one, contained smaller statues of various gods, all of which were facing the centre of the room. Almost every statue in the room was a major Greek god, there were however a few outliers, but at the very least every statue present was from Greek mythology.
¡¯Well, that makes sense considering the beta is almost entirely based around an ancient Greek ind.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself as his eyes scanned the room.
The one alcove missing a statue seemed to have scratch marks along the floor as if something heavy had been awkwardly dragged out of its spot.
¡¯That was where a statue of Despoina previously was, I¡¯d assume.¡¯ Merlin thought to himself while thinking of the mostmon gods that people on this ind worshipped. ¡¯Even for an evil god, it¡¯s unlikely that they would destroy the statue, I suppose they just hid it?¡¯
"Wee to the room of enlightenment," The priest said, "Feel free to pray silently while I go and retrieve an instructor for you."
The priest quickly scampered out of the room, leaving Merlin alone with the various statues. Merlin took a quick look around at each of the gods and began voicing their names out loud.
"Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Apollo, Athena..." He suddenly came across a statue that stuck out to him. The statue was of three identical women standing with their backs to each other, each woman was holding two torches.
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[MOD] As: Isn¡¯t that a statue of Hecate?
[MOD] As: I thought this map was supposed to be based around ancient Arcadia, what is she doing here?
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Merlin noticed Holly appear in the chat, and she clearly found something wrong with the statue¡¯s inclusion too.
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[MOD] As: Oh, there¡¯s a statue of Hades as well.
[MOD] As: Well, Arcadia was close to Elis so I guess...
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It seemed Holly felt a little disappointed about the uracy of history and mythology presented in the game, but it was something she would have to get over at some point as this wasn¡¯t even remotely close to the worst of Gaia¡¯s utter disregard for historical uracy.
Eventually, another priest entered the room and introduced himself. He was wearing a long-sleeved white robe that struggled to hide the surprisinglyrge biceps on the man.
"Good evening, I¡¯ve been asked to instruct you in our ways." The man spoke, "I notice that your weapon of choice seems to be daggers."
"While I won¡¯t request for you to change your ways, I must inform you that due to the recent surge of undead that have been guing ournd and the recent emergence of the Necropolis, one of our core missions as men who work under god is to purify the undead and put their souls to rest." The man exined, "When fighting against the undead, I¡¯m afraid ded weapons just aren¡¯t ideal, even when blessed. For that, I would rmend something such as a mace or cudgel to deal with the undead more efficiently."
"Very well, I¡¯ll take that under advisement," Merlin said, which signalled the man to continue.
"Alright, that¡¯s all I can ask. Moving on, let us see your affinity with the gods." The instructor said, which prompted a quest window to appear before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Receiving Enlightenment I.
The road of a cleric starts off simple, pray.
Before you can infuse yourself with the powers of the gods, you must first worship the gods. Each statue in the room of enlightenment is connected to a primary figure of the Arcadian faith.
Pray to each statue in the room of enlightenment and request guidance.
Guidance received: 0/14
? Reward: +1 Wisdom
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Chapter 171 - Your Prayers Answered
Chapter 171 - Your Prayers Answered
"Each of these statues is attuned to one of the fourteen gods who watch over ournd," The priest exined, "And although we pay our respects to every god, as a cleric you will eventually be asked to choose which god you will dedicate your worship to."
"For now, let us see your affinity with each god, and you may perhaps find that one god has found your way of living admirable." The priest continued, "First, allow me to demonstrate, then it''ll be your turn."
The priest walked over to the statue of an older looking man holding up a handful of grapes in one hand, and a wine goblet in the other. He interlocked his fingers and lowered his head before praying out loud.
"I call to Dionysus, the great god of the vine and holy wine. I beseech you to fill this vessel with your guidance, so that I may quench my relentless thirst for your blessing, and be drunk on your knowledge." The priest chanted, and momentster Merlin noticed that the statue of Dionysus had begun giving off a very faint glow.
''So this particr priest is an alcoholic, fair enough.'' Merlin thought to himself. ''But that''s one obnoxious prayer...''
A few moments passed before the priest turned his attention back to Merlin, and the statue''s glow faded away.
"You must use words thate from the heart." The priest said before signalling for Merlin to try.
''How are you not embarrassed by that?'' Merlin thought, knowing he wouldn''t be able to retort out loud.
One thing that Merlin did know, however, was that fortunately, the fluffy and obnoxious prayers that the NPCs would use were unnecessary. Prayers were just voured systemmands, so as long as the keywords were used in a way that wasn''t disrespectful, themand would trigger.
This particr prayer had two words that must be used, the god''s name as the target and the word ''guidance'' as themand.
If he wasn''t aware of the god''s name, it seemed as though the priest was standing by to provide assistance or answer any questions asked of him, but that wouldn''t be a service Merlin required.
Merlin walked towards the same statue that the priest had just prayed to, and as if mimicking the priest, he interlocked his fingers.
"Dionysus, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted, he heard the faint scoff by the priest behind him, but the priest seemed to quickly shut up as the statue gave off a faint glow that was much weaker than the priest''s attempt.
¡¸Guidance received: 1/14¡¹
A couple of information windows appeared before Merlin.
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Dionysus, God of Wine
God''s Blessings: ?Heavenly Hangover?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: ?Intoxicating Mist?
Requirements:
? You must consume at least a litre of alcohol. (0.06% Complete)
? A minimum of 20% favourability with Dionysus.
Favourability: 2% Dionysus doesn''t seem to be fond of your abstinence.
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Merlin nced over the information window that appeared before him, it showed him all the benefits that he could get at his current level, alongside the requirements one would have to meet to be granted the god''s blessing.
The window that appeared beside it seems to have been a notification informing him that he was yet unable to utilise this feature to its full extent.
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To receive a blessing from a deity, you must equip a ss with the ?God''s Blessing? passive.
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Merlin turned away from the statue and moved on to the next one.
"Aphrodite, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.
Merlin went around the room, praying to each god one by one and reading through the information windows.
Aphrodite had no interest in him, rather it seemed she was offended by Merlin''sck of respect and care for his hair.
Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon and Zeus were all indifferent to Merlin''s existence, most likely because Merlin had yet to interact with their domains in any meaningful way. Ares was the highest so far at a record twenty percent, he seemed to appreciate Merlin''s fighting abilities.
¡¸Guidance received: 9/14¡¹
"It seems the god of war favours you slightly, I was getting worried for a moment there." The priest spoke up after witnessing that most of the gods had little interest in him.
He seemed to have a smug expression, it was as if he was personally offended by Merlin''scklustre prayers and was d the gods seemed to feel the same way.
But his attitude quickly shifted as the statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, began glowing slightly brighter than Ares due to her favourability being twenty-six.
¡¸Guidance received: 10/14¡¹
"To get the attention of two warrior gods, I suppose you''re a fighter of some renown?" The priestmented. Merlin ignored him and moved on.
"Hades, grant me your guidance." Merlin moved on to thest four gods, he figured that Hades would be somewhat high due to his undead souls in the form of the dagger and the rose wight,
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Hades, God of the Underworld
God''s Blessings: ?Keeper of Souls?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must have died a minimum of twenty times. (0.00% Complete)
? You must possess an undead soul that has reached level 3. (51.5% Complete)
? A minimum of 30% favourability with Hades.
Favourability: 17% Hades is mildly curious about you.
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But much to Merlin''s surprise, Hades didn''t seem as interested in him as he thought. Although Merlin wasn''t that interested in Hades'' blessing to begin with, nor the abilities he would eventually grant as Merlin obtained and levelled up his cleric soul, as they were more suited to Typhoeus'' ystyle.
It seemed as though it doesn''t consider souls embedded in equipment the same as possessing a soul. This likely meant that yers and NPCs had separate requirements for being granted blessings by the gods.
¡¸Guidance received: 11/14¡¹
Moving on to the final three, he first approached a statue of a woman drawing an arrow from the quiver on her back, the statue of Artemis.
Merlin wasn''t expecting much now, since thest one was low when he expected it to be high, but perhaps his friendship with Callisto would count for something in Artemis'' eyes.
"Artemis, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.
After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened. The light radiating from the statue wasn''t blindingly bright by any stretch of the imagination, it was still a subtle glow like the rest, but whenpared to the previous reactions it was fair to say that it was bright.
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Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt
God''s Blessings: ?The Huntress'' Mark?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must possess a ranger-rted soul that has reached level 3. (26.25% Complete)
? A minimum of 40% favourability with Artemis.
? You must sacrifice an animal that you''ve hunted to Artemis.
Favourability: 75% Artemis looks upon you favourably.
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''Seventy-five?'' Merlin thought as he stared at the number with a confused expression.
Not even his friendship with Callisto could exin how high this number was. He was rather skilled at all the aspects of a ranger, such as hunting, skinning and his knowledge of nts, which still shouldn''t have boosted the number this high but it might have exined a fraction of the number.
Merlin turned around to see that the priest had quite a surprised expression stered onto his face. He felt satisfied seeing that, as it seemed the priests were looking down on their new recruits for some reason.
Merlin moved onto Gaia''s statue, the statue looked surprisingly simr to how Gaia actually looked, which meant that the other statues were likely rather urate as well.
He was expecting a much bigger reaction from Gaia due to their previous interactions.
"Gaia, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted. After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened even brighter than the statue of Artemis.
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Gaia, Primordial Goddess of Earth
God''s Blessings: ?Nature''s Wrath?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must possess a nature-rted soul that has reached level 5. (12.87% Complete)
? A minimum of 60% favourability with Gaia.
Favourability: 88% Gaia is keeping a close eye on you.
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Merlin turned to see that the priest''s expression had changed immensely, it seemed as though he was no longer looking down on Merlin, or he was just too shocked to produce a sneering remark.
¡¸Guidance received: 13/14¡¹
"A warrior... druid?" The priest muttered.
Merlin walked over to the statue that stuck out to him at the very start of this, which he coincidentally left forst, the statue of Hecate.
"Don''t be rmed if Hecate doesn''t respond. Even the few followers she has from this temple haven''t been able to get a response from her for a couple of months now." The priest muttered.
"Hecate, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.
The statue brightened and an information window appeared before Merlin.
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Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads and Witchcraft
God''s Blessings: ?Moon-touched Mage?
Abilities: ?Speak with Dead?
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must befriend a minimum of three animals. (33.33% Complete)
? You must possess a magic-rted soul that has reached level 3. (0.00% Complete)
? A minimum of 40% favourability with Hecate.
Favourability: 72% Hecate is hoping for your assistance.
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¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Receiving Enlightenment I", talk to the instructor to receive your rewards.¡¹
"What do you mean she won''t respond?" Merlin asked as he turned to face the instructor, whose face seemed to be stuck in a surprised expression.
Something caught Merlin''s eye on the information window as he turned around.
''Hecate is hoping for your assistance?'' He thought to himself, ''Is this an effect from the shattered sky quest?''
Chapter 172 - The Valley Of Plenty.
Chapter 172 - The Valley Of Plenty.
"She hasn''t been answering prayers recently, not even from her most faithful worshippers." The priest muttered, "However few that may be..."
"You said this started a couple of months ago?" Merlin asked, he seemed almost convinced that this had something to do with the shattered sky quest at this point.
"Yes, although it happened a little while after the goddess Despoina and her cultists went mad." The priest exined, "We were worried that it was going to be a simr case with the goddess Hecate, so we''ve been keeping a close eye on her most active worshippers, although it''s clear to see that our worries were unfounded, so far."
"With that out of the way, I would like for us to move on to your next task. But first, please follow me." The priest said before taking a step outside of the room.
Merlin followed the man down the hallway and towards another room, this one being more rectangr in shape, especially whenpared to the previous room.
The room that they had entered seemed to be a shared office space. There were several priests and bishops sitting around doing paperwork, not even sparing Merlin a nce.
The priest he was following took a seat at a free desk and immediately helped himself to the writing implements and stationery.
"Please, take a seat." The priest said while gesturing to one of thefortable-looking sofa-like chairs next to the desk.
Merlin took a seat and waited while the priest seemed to be scribbling frantically on a note before stuffing it into an envelope and sealing it off with wax.
The priest stood up from the desk with the letter in hand, he quickly made his way over to Merlin, who was still currently seated, before handing him the envelope.
"Your next task will be in the vige of Hysia, a small vige just north of Macedonia." The priest exined, "Due to the city of Laconia falling to the undead invaders, we''ve been worried that the undead will continue to expand past the necropolis and ravage the rest of Arcadia."
"Fortunately, standing between our city and the Necropolis is the small vige of Hysia. While the only thing standing between that vige and the Necropolis is arge natural defence in the form of the valley of plenty." The priest continued, "But seeing as they''re our first line of defence, we''ve set up an outpost within the vige and have been assisting them with fending off the undead."
The priest exined a few more things before a quest window appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
Receiving Enlightenment II.
You''ve been tasked with journeying to the vige of Hysia, a small vige north of Macedonia that protects the town from any potential undead invasion.
You''ve also been given a letter, it seems the priest would like you to deliver it to someone within the town by the name of Archbishop Ferdinand.
Deliver the letter to Archbishop Ferdinand.
? Reward: +1 Wisdom
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Merlin stored the letter away in his inventory after epting the quest.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, Merlin stood up and excused himself before quickly making his way out of the temple.
''Right, well I should probably get this over with.'' He thought to himself while ncing at his stream chat window, noticing that arge group of his viewer base had left.
Merlin walked towards the northern gate this time around, a gate that he hadn''t used in this town yet.
After giving his greetings to the town guards, his view opened up to a vast in, with patches of forest scattered around the ce. Merlin began his walk down the lonely path towards the vige.
It didn''t seem like this path received much travel nowadays. Nobody would go out of their way to visit a small vige that was at risk of being swarmed by the undead without a purpose. This meant that besides the vigers who lived in Hysia and made trips to the city for work or supplies, only those affiliated with the temple ever really visited the ce.
The path had a few small bridges built on it, they provided an effective way over the various streams that broke up the path as water made its way towards therge river that supplied the city with crops and fish.
Eventually, Merlin had arrived at the vige, his journey was ultimately uneventful. But even if he was attacked, nothing at his current level posed any form of challenge.
Hysia was as Merlin expected, a quaint little vige stationed at the base of a unique natural structure. The vige seemed rather close-knit, at least that''s how it seemed to Merlin from a distance.
After a few moments of wandering around the vige, he noticed a group of individuals who seemed out of ce. From their appearance, he assumed that they were members of the temple, and by following them he would quickly find the location of the temple''s outpost.
As expected, he found the temple''s outpost rather quickly, not that it would have taken him very long had he looked, as they were flying a very conspicuous banner, which featured a familiar-looking symbol in the form of a Vergina Sun, a sphere surrounded by sixteen long, triangr sun rays.
''Wasn''t that the icon used by the thief lord?'' Merlin thought to himself, ''He still uses his old job''s resources to his benefit.''
He approached the building that was upied by the temple''s forces, but before he could enter, he was stopped by one of the few clerics acting as defence for the building.
"I''m a recruit of the temple. I''vee here to see Archbishop Ferdinand." Merlin announced as he pulled the letter from his inventory and showed the guard the seal. "I have a letter for him."
"Right this way." One of the clerics said as he opened the door, letting Merlin inside.
Merlin was led up a flight of stairs, down a corridor and then into the office room of an older looking gentleman. Once Merlin was in the room, the guard who led him there had vanished back to his post.
"Archbishop Ferdinand I presume?" Merlin asked.
"You presume correct, how may I be of assistance?" The archbishop said while not sparing even a second to look at Merlin, the man was too entranced with his paperwork but still seemed as though he was ready to have a conversation.
"I''m just here to deliver this letter." Merlin took a few steps closer to the man''s desk and ced the letter onto it.
Archbishop Ferdinand looked up from his work for the first time since Merlin entered the room, although his focus was locked on the letter, and not the one who had brought it.
The archbishop reached out and picked up the letter before swiftly slicing it open with a letter opener. The man read through the note''s contents, and Merlin noticed his facial expression seemed to have brightened.
"She returned has she?" He muttered, "That''s truly fortunate, that had me rather worried..."
''I suppose that''s in rtion to Hecate finally answering prayers again, although I''m not sure what would have caused her to return or even leave in the first ce.'' Merlin thought to himself
"So, you''re loved by the gods of earth, nature, magic and the hunt?" The priest muttered out loud as his eyes finally locked onto Merlin, "That appearance... You don''t seem to be a druid."
"No, I''m not a druid. Although many people seem to make that connection with me for some strange reason, I''m not so sure as to why." Merlin responded.
He remembered that Tuli had said something about the druids at some point in time too, although that was more so due to his vast knowledge of nts, or so he thought.
"No matter, it''s just an unusualbination of gods." The archbishop shrugged. "I thank you for delivering this letter, this lifts a great burden from my shoulders."
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Receiving Enlightenment II", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Now, onto the next topic. From the letter, I''ve been tasked with providing thest part of your training, and as such, I would like you to showcase your abilities in a worthy environment." The archbishop said, "And it just so happens that the perfect opportunity has presented itself."
"We''ve received reports about a small group of undead wandering into the valley. We''ll be sending a small force to cleanse them, and I''d like for you to be a participant in this mission." The archbishop said, "All you''ll have to do is kill off a couple of undead, the rest of the team should be able to clean up the rest."
Once the archbishop stopped talking, a quest window appeared before Merlin.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Common Quest]
Receiving Enlightenment III.
You''ve been tasked with assisting the purge of undead that have wandered into the valley. You will journey into the valley alongside a small group of clerics and annihte the enemy force.
To be recognised as a cleric, you must prove yourself worthy in the eyes of your peers.
Undead killed: 0/5
? Reward: +2 Wisdom, 250 EXP, ss Soul: Cleric
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Chapter 173 - Meeting The Clerics
Chapter 173 - Meeting The Clerics
"Alright, sounds good," Merlin said, epting the quest. "When do I head out?"
"You''re quite eager," The archbishop said, "I''ll send you out to meet with your team."
The archbishop reached for a small bell, and within seconds of ringing it, a young man quickly entered the room from a side door.
"How may I assist you, archbishop?" The young man asked.
"Take this recruit out to the yard, introduce him with the team scheduled to enter the valley today, and have them set out the moment they''re ready." The archbishop ordered.
"Yes sir!" The young man replied.
The young man quickly led Merlin down the stairs and then out of the building before making his way towards the back of the building.
Within the backyard were several groups of armoured individuals, some were sparring while others seemed to just be hanging out and talking.
Upon the arrival of Merlin and the archbishop''s errand boy, a couple of the individuals sitting around turned their heads with curiosity.
"Group E, it''s time for your mission to begin," The errand boy announced, causing a couple of the individuals sparring to stop what they were doing and quickly approach him.
A couple of other individuals, including some of the people who looked Merlin''s way on his arrival, had also stood up and were making their way towards the errand boy more who were sitting around to quickly stand up and join the group that was forming around the errand boy.
"This is the newest recruit, the archbishop has ordered that he will be joining your group for this mission," The errand boy announced before turning to Merlin, "Please, introduce yourself but keep it brief."
"Nice to meet you all, I''m Merlin," He said, keeping it brief as he was instructed to do.
"You can go into a little more detail than that," The errand boy said with a sigh. "Oh well, you guys take care of him, set out when you''re ready."
The errand boy vanished behind a building, leaving Merlin alone with the group he was suddenly pushed onto.
"Well, that''s pretty much it..." He said while scratching the back of his head.
"Usually we include the deities we worship in our introductions," A man with spiky blond hair said as he walked closer to Merlin, he was holding a long spear and was wearing basic leather armour. "Well, I guess if you''re a new recruit, you haven''t received a blessing yet..."
"That''s fine, you don''t need a blessing to fight the undead... The name''s Thovan. A devout worshipper of Zeus, and master of the spear," The man introduced himself. "Good meeting you."
"Alright everyone, introduce yourselves," Thovan turned to the rest of the group and gave them an order. This action led Merlin to assume that this guy was the de facto leader of the group.
"Nice to meet you. You can call me Cam." A tall, bulky man was the first to introduce himself. "I worship Hephaestus, the god of the forge."
Unlike Thovan, who was decked out in leather, Cam was equipped with chain mail and a solid metal breastte. His weapons of choice were arge vicious looking mace and a sturdy looking heater shield, leading Merlin to assume that his role in the party was clearly as a tank.
"Come on Leo." A woman''s voice emerged from behind Cam.
Two individuals appeared from behind Cam, they were rather small inparison to the giant tank, it was a young man and a woman. The two appeared to be twins, just based on their general appearance.
"Hello." The two said synchronously before the woman spoke up, "I''m Lyte and this is my younger brother Leonid."
''That''s sozy. What kind of parents would name their kids like that?'' Merlin internally sighed.
"We''re both followers of Ares," Lyte said.
The twins had silky-looking ck hair and dark green eyes, and although they were twins they clearly had their differences.
It seemed Lyte, the older sister was more outspoken than her brother. Her weapon of choice seemed to be the massive battle-axe that was currently strapped to her back. While her younger brother, Leonid, was rather soft-spoken and shy. Leonid had two war picks strapped to his belt, so Merlin naturally assumed that was his weapon of choice.
Merlin''s gaze turned to one of the remaining two members of the team, someone whose attention seemed to be focused entirely on Merlin''s hair this whole time. His facial expression was hard to read, Merlin wasn''t sure if he was jealous or just impressed, but perhaps it was a mix of both?
The man in question took Merlin'' gaze as a request for him to step forward. His brte hair was long, and although it was nowhere close to Merlin''s level, it still flowed as he walked.
"You may call me Stavros." He announced as he rested his arm on Thovan''s shoulder aftering to a stop, his eyes locked onto Merlin as he continued speaking, "I worship the beautiful Aphrodite."
The man had a lute strapped to his back, which originally led Merlin to think that he would have been a worshipper of Apollo instead.
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Stavros spoke with a mboyant tone as he reached his hand out for a handshake.
''Yeah, that makes sense I guess. The goddess of love... A flirty bard...'' Merlin thought to himself as he shook the man''s hand.
Thest member of the team approached him, a young man with short ck hair and brown eyes, carrying around what seemed to be a long wooden staff. It seemed thisst member was a spellcaster.
"Nice to meet you, Merlin. I''m Bibar, the only worshipper of Hecate at this outpost." The young man said as he approached, he held his hand out for a handshake, which Merlin promptly epted.
''Hecate...'' That name suddenly appeared again, which led Merlin to think of the message he saw earlier, ''Hecate is hoping for your assistance.''
"I heard that she has started responding to prayers again," Merlin said.
"Yes, she has. Although the connection with her is much weaker than it used to be, I''m d she has begun responding once more." Bibar said with a soft tone that seemed almost sad.
"Do you have any idea why she vanished in the first ce?" Merlin asked while trying to be respectful.
"No... Not a single clue, I''m afraid." The cleric sighed, "I''ve asked countless times, but she won''t answer me."
"Alright, everyone quickly prepare for today''s mission," Thovan ordered, "We''ll be heading out once we''re all ready."
Several members of the group began scattering around, only to return minutester with packed bags and other equipment.
"Alright, we''re all prepared? Let''s move out." Thovan ordered.
The group marched through the vige of Hysia, attracting strange gazes from the locals as they marched towards the valley that they could see in the distance.
"Why is it called the valley of plenty?" Merlin asked, almost muttering his question.
"I heard from the locals that it was a trantion error," Bibar answered Merlin''s question, much to thetter''s surprise. "It should realistically be called the Abundant Valley, although even that doesn''t really trante over well."
"You''ll see why it originally earned the name in the first ce very shortly," Bibar said as they continued their travels.
"A trantion error that stuck around, fair enough." Merlin nodded his head.
"So daggers huh? That''s an interesting choice against undead," The party conversed, which seemed to mostly be his seniors trying to give him advice that would honestly be helpful for an unskilled yer.
The group came across the entrance of the valley, and although rtively small whenpared to half of the crazy rock formations and insanendmasses he had encountered in the thirty-odd years of ying the game, it was still rather impressive.
The valley itself was lush and full of life. Countless trees were flooding the inside of the valley, almost like a forest, a lot of which seemed to bear fruit of some kind.
There were plenty of animals in the area, feasting on the treasure trove of natural resources this valley held.
"Right, so the valley of plenty part makes sense," Merlin said with an impressed tone.
"Indeed, harvests from the valley make up arge portion of the vige''s food supply," Cam spoke up this time. "Whether it be fruit, vegetables or even meat from the local wild animals. Not to mention, it doubles down as natural defence against the Necropolis, this valley truly is a godsend."
"Is there not a single poisonous nt in the valley?" Merlin asked while scanning around. From what he could see, even at a nce value, he couldn''t find anything poisonous outside of a mild stingingtle.
"The natives remove any dangerous nts or weeds that they see show up within the valley, at least for several hundred meters into the valley.." Cam exined, "It''s likely that nts further in, or near the other side of the valley, are less than safe to eat."
Chapter 174 - Lappel Du Vide
Chapter 174 - L''appel Du Vide
"How far are we going in?" Merlin asked.
"As far as we need to," Thovan responded, "But the scouts reported that the undead were a small distance in the valley, so it shouldn''t be that far."
Merlin nodded in response and the group continued travelling through the valley.
After a little while, the group decided to take a break and regain their strength before the anticipated fight.
Thovan decided to scout the surroundings first, while the rest of the group sat down and started recuperating.
Everybody seemed to be doing their own thing, but Merlin''s attention was particrly focused on the twins.
Lyte seemed busy trying to wipe off a vibrant purple stain from her younger brother''s face. The cause of the stain seemed to be a strange purple fruit that grew in the area that Leonid had feasted upon, as evidenced by the stains on his fingers and clothes too.
Cam seemed to be sitting still while resting his eyes, but Merlin could feel a very faint trace of magical energy leaking from his body. It was likely some kind of area detection ability or rm spell.
Stavros seemed to be tuning his lute, gently strumming it every so often to check if it sounded right.
While Bibar seemed to just be silently praying to Hecate.
Merlin approached Bibar, who stopped with his prayer as he noticed Merlin approach.
"Hey, Bibar." Merlin said, announcing his presence to the man.
"Hello Merlin, can I help you?" Bibar responded.
"I actually wanted to get your advice on something, seeing as it rtes to your goddess," Merlin said.
Merlin seemed to have grabbed Bibar''s attention, and after a nod of understanding, Merlin continued.
Merlin exined the events that led up to him praying to Hecate the first time in the simplest way, before getting to the most important detail. "When I asked Hecate for guidance, it felt like she was asking me for assistance. But I don''t know what she means or what to do to help."
"Have you had any simr interactions with the goddesstely?" Merlin asked.
"No, I can''t say that I have, unfortunately," Bibar responded, "I wish to do everything in my power to assist her, but there isn''t much I can suggest outside of purifying undead."
"I see. Well, thank you for the help." Merlin thanked the man before letting him get back to praying.
Thovan returned a few minutester with his arms full of strange fruits, some of which even Merlin was unfamiliar with.
"Feel free to eat, we''ll be moving out in about ten minutes," Thovan said, picking up a strange bumpy fruit from the pile and biting into it like it was an apple.
Others started picking from the pile, and seeing this, Merlin feltfortable enough to also reach into the pile. He picked out a long fruit that looked almost exactly like a banana on the outside, outside of the reddish hue and blue spots on the skin.
Peeling the fruit''s skin back, he bit into the soft fruit and much to his surprise, it was exceptionally vourful.
But then the vour really started kicking in only moments after.
''Why... why is it spicy?'' He thought to himself as the heat rushed to his head.
After their break, the group continued their travel through the valley, until they had finally run into the targets of their mission.
A small group of zombies were slowly shambling around the valley. It seemed as though they were just wandering around without any real intent of invading the vige and just ended up this far into the valley by chance.
This was further proved by the sight of several zombies chasing around the local wildlife, even when there was a small group of humans a small distance away.
''I guess their undead behaviour causes them to stumble towards the closest group of life. So they''re drawn towards the valley that is flourishing.'' Merlin thought to himself. ''It''s a surprise the entire Necropolis hasn''t invaded, but I guess there are towns closer than this vige that serve as juicer bait.''
"Alright, Merlin," Thovan started talking, "It''s time to fight, let''s see what you can do."
As Thovan said those words, Stavros began ying an upbeat melody on his lute, and Merlin could feel a sudden surge of energy rush through his body.
A ball of scorching red fire flew over Merlin''s head, it travelled through the air, well above the undead.
When Merlin thought it was an obvious miss, he heard Bibar suddenly start chanting a prayer.
The fireball that hovered in the sky suddenly red up and took on a bright gold colour instead, before splitting into smaller bolts of golden fire that rained down on the group of undead beneath it.
Any undead the fire touched were immediately set alight and seemed to be in pain. A sensation that should have been impossible for a creature without a functioning nervous system.
ck smoke plumed from the zombies as the mes ravaged their undead skin. Once the mes had done enough damage, the zombies all dropped to the ground, their corpses remained smouldering as the rest of the group of undead were now aware of the group''s presence.
Cam, Thovan and the twins all rushed in, with Merlin following shortly behind.
It was clearly a one-sided ughter, Merlin thought it''d be easy to get his five required kills, however, the biggest challenge was that the group kept killing everything before he could even get a hit in for it to count as an assist.
¡¸Undead killed: 5/5¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Receiving Enlightenment III", talk to Archbishop Ferdinand to receive your rewards.¡¹
Fortunately, there were more than enough undead around, and it seemed as though the group had started slowing down on their killing which would have allowed him to finish the quest even if he didn''tpete with the group for kills.
''But, that''s strange. Aren''t these guys a little toopetent for such a beginner ss quest?'' Merlin thought to himself as he cut down an extra zombie.
"Aren''t there way more undead than the scouts reported?" Stavros asked the group. "They said it was only a small group of wanderers, and it was only a small group when we started this fight, so where did the rest of theme from?"
''Now that you mention it...'' Merlin subconsciously thought that it was just a feature of the game to prevent the yer from getting stuck on quests that were impossible toplete, but if an NPC was pointing it out, then it was clearly something beyond just simple game mechanics.
As if to break his train of thought, a loud boom echoed throughout the valley, seemingly out of nowhere. It was quickly followed by an obnoxious cracking noise as if a ne of ss was slowly being cracked under pressure.
¡¸A strange phenomenon has urred.¡¹
''Right, I suppose I was due for one of those...'' Merlin thought. ''But what is that cracking sound?''
"What on earth is that?" Stavros screamed.
Everyone turned to face him, only to see that he was looking up at the sky.
When they all turned to see what he was looking at, all they saw was arge spiderweb-like crack that was seemingly floating in the sky. But as the cracking noises got louder, shards of thatrge crack started peeling off, plummetting towards the ground.
The sound of ss shattering echoed throughout the valley as therge shards of ss, or sky, began shattering further into little shards that were then harmlessly blown away with the wind before it could make contact with thend below.
What remained where the shards of the sky used to be was a seemingly infinite ck void.
''Well, that matches what the elf exined a while ago.'' Merlin thought to himself as he stared into the ck abyss. He felt himself being drawn into it as if he couldn''t pull his gaze away.
"It''s happening again. Don''t stare at it!" Cam began shouting orders to his party with confidence, which snapped Merlin out of his daze temporarily, but his eyes were still slowly being drawn back towards the void in the sky.
Merlin wasn''t entirely sure if this was just a trait of the phenomenon or if this was just him unable to fight against his curiosity, perhaps it was a mixture of both.
It seemed as though while Thovan was the de facto leader of the group, Cam was also able to give out orders.
Based on Thovan''s reactions to those orders, it seemed as though Cam might actually be a higher rank than him within the temple. Perhaps he was just in the group to serve as a warden and protector by the temple''s orders.
''Right, so more undead and a strange hole in the sky. What''s gonna happen no--'' Merlin wondered to himself, but his thoughts were interrupted by a strange noiseing from what he could only believe was the shattered sky.
It was a strange group of grunts and low growls, almost bestial or monstrous in a sense.. At least it would have been had it not been for the static-like sound over it which made it sound more synthetic.
Chapter 175 - Sudden Madness
Chapter 175 - Sudden Madness
"Well, that''s not ominous at all..." Merlin muttered to himself.
He quickly noticed that the undead horde seemed to have been agitated by the grunting sound, as they were now charging towards the group with stronger resolve.
Merlin''s attention was forced away from the rift in the sky as a zombie charged at him while baring its teeth at him. He quickly cut the zombie down, but as it fell he noticed that another zombie seemed to have been thrown towards him.
He stepped out of the way as the zombie that was thrown his way slumped prone on the valley ground, a few steps away from his feet.
It began trying to stand back up, but Merlin quickly stomped its head a few times, dealing enough damage to finish it off.
¡¸Congrattions, you are now level 7.¡¹
"Wonderful," He muttered to himself while turning to see who or what threw the zombie his way.
What he saw was Lyte, swinging herrge battle axe around with reckless abandon.
It appeared as though she was in some kind of battle trance, as she swung her axe at anything that moved in front of her, barely avoiding her teammates that approached too close.
She wasn''t even finishing her kills, rather her heavy blows were sending zombies flying all over the ce, and her teammates were just finishing them off.
''That''s a follower of Ares for you.'' He thought to himself, before ncing at what the brother was doing.
Unlike his sister, Leonid was disposing of the zombies gracefully. His war picks were quite good at dealing critical damage, and they paired well with his swings that pierced the zombie''s skulls with seemingly perfect uracy.
The grunts and growls stopped for a brief moment, and then a loud synthetic-sounding roar echoed throughout the valley. Oddly enough, it shared a fair amount of simrities to the sound of metal being scratched against metal, an unpleasant metallic shrieking sound.
¡¸Your body has been temporarily paralysed with fear.¡¹
As soon as that notification appeared, Merlin felt his body tense up, and his attempt to move caused his body to slump to the ground, forcing him to fall on his hands and knees.
He looked around, noticing that the rest of the group seemed to be suffering from simr effects to varying degrees.
But the undead didn''t seem to be negatively affected by this sound. Rather, they were taking this opportunity to close the distance and attack while their targets were all paralysed.
They didn''t get too far with that task, however, as both Lyte and Cam seemed to break out of the status effect with a moderate amount of screaming between them. Cam focused on protecting his teammates while Lyte went straight back into thinning the enemy''s frontline.
Merlin didn''t have a high enough mental resistance to forcibly break the status effect due to how low his wisdom score currently was. So all he could do is sit there for a few moments before the status effect wore off.
Fortunately, it ran out just in time for him to spring up and deal with a couple of zombies that had gotten too close forfort. Had the effectsted a couple more seconds, it was likely that Merlin would have taken a substantial amount of damage.
"Huh? It blinked..." Bibar''s panicked voice reached Merlin''s ears.
He quickly turned his head to see Bibar with a horrified expression stered on his face. Bibar''s body was shaking violently, it was as if he was suddenly plunged into freezing temperatures.
Only a few momentster, Merlin witnessed something snap in Bibar''s mind. The cleric began screaming in terror, catching everyone''s attention and startling them. His manic screams echoed throughout the valley, but what came next was more of a shock.
Bibar reached for a dagger sheathed on his belt, and while still screaming at the top of his lungs, unsheathed the dagger and drove it into his stomach, only to rip it out and repeat the action several more times.
''What the hell?'' Merlin thought to himself as his mind quickly processed what was going on.
Before he knew it, Merlin found himself sprinting towards Bibar, but due to him being so far away, it was unlikely that he would be able to do anything for him in time.
"Stavros put him to sleep!" Cam roared as he began shattering zombie skulls angrily with his mace.
Stavros, the previously flirtatious cleric, was now running towards Bibar with a face that clearly expressed worry. He pulled out his lute as he closed the distance, and his first action was swinging the lute at Bibar.
The lute collided with Bibar''s hand, causing the dagger he was holding to fly out of his grasp, the force of the strike had sent the dagger several metres away from where the two were standing.
Stavros began channelling his mana into the lute as he yed a lulling melody, and after a couple of seconds, Bibar started nodding off.
Imbuing magic into your voice or musical instruments was the core feature of a bard. Typically treated as a support ss, they were most proficient with enchantment and illusion spells. They imbued their will into the sounds they made, allowing them to influence the world around them.
''I was wondering why he didn''t worship the god of music, Apollo. But I guess Aphrodite is also pretty good for a bard, especially the enchantment buffs.'' Merlin thought to himself.
Fortunately, it seemed as though Stavros arrived in time, as he quickly began chanting a healing spell to patch up the sleeping cleric.
"Keep your gaze away from the darkness!" Cam shouted as he crushed a zombie under his shield. "We can''t afford to lose another person, we''ve already lost our mage."
"He isn''t dead," Thovan shouted, he didn''t seem to be a fan of Cam''s choice of words.
"Those patches willst until we can get him proper care, but he''s not going to be in any state to help us now," Thovan muttered while driving his spear into a line of three zombies, killing all of them. "Lyte, go cause some damage."
Taking that as her cue, Lyte charged into the battle once more and began swinging her war axe around. Her attacks were even more vicious than they previously were, so everyone kept their distance and let her do her thing.
Merlin eventually reached Bibar, who was currently still asleep and having his wounds being patched up by Stavros.
Merlin reached into his inventory, pulling out one of the healing potions that he had made a week earlier. He quickly handed the potion to Stavros while briefly exining that it was a healing potion before turning back towards the fight and sprinting towards it.
He witnessed the group of clerics absolutely destroying the wave of zombies as if nothing had changed, but it still seemed as though there was no end in sight for the zombie wave.
''I get why I got assigned such powerful NPC support now, but aren''t they still way too overpowered?'' Merlin thought to himself.
Joining the fight, Merlin started cleaving through the undead, but even with his current stats, he was falling behind with killspared to the rest of the group.
But it was understandable, considering the bonuses against the undead that clerics got. Additionally, they were all using weapons that were better suited for dealing with the undead, while Merlin was still swinging around his daggers.
''I wonder when the wave will end... There''s probably a limit, surely.'' Merlin thought to himself, ''Where are they even spawning from? Gaia wouldn''t throw a mass summoning circle onto a beginner ss quest... Would she?''
Merlin continued to kill the undead, and at some point, he received the usual red alert box.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today''s session, you will receive another notification when it''s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you''re in a safe location when you log out.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
"Ugh, this is inefficient," Merlin groaned as he swiped the alert box away, he was clearly getting frustrated at the endless waves of enemies.
''Oh... Right, why am I even hiding my trump card?'' He thought to himself, realising that his fighting style as ofte has involved the core part of his origin soul, and he suddenly wasn''t using it which made him feel weaker all of a sudden. ''It''s just the dagger that I should be worried about revealing.''
Another zombie approached Merlin, but instead of swinging his daggers at it, he just pointed at the creature while willing his vines to attack.
Although his damage output for the vines had improved, they were still weaker than just attacking with his weapons, but they would likely rival them at some point.
Three vines extended out of Merlin''s arm before flying towards the first zombie they saw. The zombie suddenly found that its body had been pierced in several locations and was unable to move.
The vines began moving in a sawing motion that continued to deal damage to the creature as the thorns ripped into the zombie''s rotting flesh. Over a period of a couple of seconds, the vines ravaged the undead creature''s corpse and tore it limb from limb.
''If they''re going to keep spawning, I can just farm them for experience points for my Rose Wight soul.'' Merlin thought to himself as a smirk grew on his face.
Merlin suddenly ran towards a group of zombies, the three vines sprouted out of his shoulders, leaving his hands free to continue attacking.
Chapter 176 - Cleric Soul
Chapter 176 - Cleric Soul
"What the--" Cam suddenly shouted out as Merlin rushed past him with his vines exposed.
Merlin''s vines suddenly rushed out in front of him, piercing an undead each and pushing them back as Merlin ripped into an undead of his own.
There were about five more zombies immediately in front of him, and around him, it seemed that everyone was dealing with at least two at that moment, besides Lyte who was so far away from the group that she was surrounded by roughly twelve that had all started grouping up on her.
It seemed Lyte was doing plenty of work, as the crowd that Merlin saw earlier had almost halved by the time he rejoined the fight.
Merlin continued moving from target to target without showing any indication of slowing down. His vines had also be proficient undead meatgrinders, dealing damage to several zombies with one swing, which allowed them to rack up more kills over time, and in turn, more experience for their associated soul.
Somewhere in his killing spree, he had identally caught up with Lyte. And besides the first instance where he had to immediately duck under a giant axe de or risk losing his head, the two foughtfortably side by side.
The rest of the clerics couldn''t help but watch as Merlin and Lyte shredded the remaining zombies faster than they could respawn.
Several minutes had passed, but a loud roar eventually filled the valley. Merlin instinctively looked up at the darkness, catching a glimpse of it before itpletely faded away.
¡¸You have solved an issue caused by a strange phenomenon.¡¹
The group finished off any of the stragglers before they finally had the chance to catch their breath.
"It''s over... Finally," Merlin said while panting heavily.
He and Lyte had begun walking towards the rest of the group, half of which had copsed to the ground, others who were chugging water from their waterskins, and Cam who was now silently praying over a mountain of zombie corpses.
"Let''s get back quickly. Stavros, how is Bibar doing?" Cam stood up and shouted once he was done with his prayers.
"He hit some important parts, but he''ll live," Stavros said while wiping sweat from his brow, unknowingly smearing a streak of blood across his forehead.
"Alright, I''ll carry him back. Thovan, lead us back to base," Cam ordered as he approached the sleeping Bibar.
As Cam rested his hand on Bibar''s shoulder, getting afortable grip on the man before lifting him, Bibar suddenly shook awake.
The sudden coughing and spluttering had startled Cam, and it seemed Bibar had woken up earlier than Stavros had expected, but they both regained theirposure rtively quickly.
"W-what happened?" Bibar asked in a shaky voice.
He immediately started holding his stomach, seemingly feeling a strong amount of pain in that area, but he didn''t make a sound. Cam also noticed that Bibar had slowly started trying to open his eyes.
"Keep your eyes closed," Cam ordered him as he quickly reached over, covering Bibar''s eyes with a single hand, "We don''t know what sort of curse you were hit with, but it''s safer if you don''t open them right now..."
"Yes sir..." Bibar responded with a weak voice.
Cam had picked Bibar''s weak body up, carrying him around in his arms. Leonid had fetched Bibar''s staff before the group all made their way back to the vige.
"So what were those vines?" Thovan asked Merlin, "They were pretty powerful, are you some kind of--"
"I''m not a druid," Merlin cut in with a sigh.
"What about a dryad?" Thovan asked again, staring at Merlin with a suspicious look.
"I''m not a dryad, anthousai, or any other kind of nymph," Merlin sighed, "Despite appearances, I am male. I''m also human..."
''Mostly human anyway.'' He thought to himself, not daring to say it out loud.
"It''s just a power I have," He said as he showed off the vines, making a vine dance around in the palm of his hand.
"Fair enough," Thovan said, nodding to himself. It seemed he didn''t want to probe further, either out of respect or he just lost interest.
The group continued their journey back into the vige, a depressing silence hovered around the group until they heard a loud boom of thunder echoing in the distance, which caused all of them to tense up.
"Sounds like it''s going to rain pretty soon," Thovan muttered to himself.
Merlin noticed that Thovan seemed pretty out of it, perhaps that fight had disturbed him and he was just looking for a distraction from the depressing mood.
The group had eventually arrived at the vige. Thovan and Merlin were sent to report their sessful mission, while the rest of the group immediately sought out medical aid for Bibar.
Merlin stepped into the building that the temple was currently upying. He followed Thovan up a flight of stairs, down a corridor and back into the office of Archbishop Ferdinand.
"Good evening gentlemen, I trust that your mission was a sess?" The archbishop asked.
"Yes, but there were some... Unexpected circumstances," Thovan tried to think of the right words to say.
Thovan seemed somewhat shaken up from the situation and was having a hard time properly exining the events that had recently urred. It had reached the point where the archbishop was getting visually frustrated. Archbishop Ferdinand turned to Merlin and asked for him to briefly exin the situation instead.
"A strange abyss formed in the sky, and from it leaked out the roar of a terrifying creature. The undead seemed to have be even more aggressive after hearing the roar, and the amount of undead had vastly exceeded the amount that was reported by the scouts." Merlin briefly exined the situation to the best of his ability. "Bibar seemed to also be afflicted by a maddening curse from the creature and attempted to kill himself, but was sessfully subdued and healed by Stavros."
"Simple and to the point." Archbishop Ferdinand said with a nod, "Thank you."
"This is a concern though..." Ferdinand muttered to himself, "Thest time this happened everything went to hell."
"Let us put that aside for the moment. Merlin, I believe you''ve more than proven yourself. Wouldn''t you agree Thovan?" Ferdinand asked, to which Thovan quickly nodded in response. "Well then, Merlin. We wee you to the temple, congrattions."
¡¸You have no empty soul slots, "ss Soul: Cleric (Level 1)" has been sent to your soul receptacle.¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Infiltrate the temple.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Thank you," Merlin said.
"Merlin, please visit the main temple to receive the next part of your training... And Thovan, please bring me a status update on Bibar''s condition and make sure he''s alright. We can''t afford to lose another Hecate worshipper, they''re rare enough as is." Ferdinand ordered, "You''re both dismissed."
The two walked out of the building together, and once they were at the front door, Thovan turned to speak with him.
"Thank you for your service today," He said, holding his hand out for a handshake. "Hopefully we''ll be assigned a mission together in the future."
"Yeah, hopefully," Merlin repeated Thovan''s words as he epted the handshake.
''Although life would most likely be rather difficult for you if you were.'' Merlin thought to himself.
"Be seeing you," Thovan said as he scampered off.
As Merlin waved goodbye and began walking off, he decided to send a message to his friends to see what they were up to.
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[15:20:57] Merlin: Hey Snow, what are you guys up to at the moment?
[15:21:44] Snowbunny: Hey, we''re in Megalopolis right now because Ty wanted to get the Wizard soul.
[15:22:20] Snowbunny: Although we''ll be heading back to Macedonia soon, Ty spent all his money on a war scythe and apparently you need a wand to start the wizard college questline, so he can''t do it just yet.
[15:23:46] Merlin: Well, that makes sense.
[15:24:20] Snowbunny: Yup. So what''s up? Did you need us for something?
[15:24:32] Merlin: Nah, I was just checking in.
[15:25:00] Snowbunny: Oh fair, well what have you been up to?
[15:25:48] Merlin: I''ve been killing zombies at Hysia for the Cleric quest for the past couple of minutes.
[15:26:12] Snowbunny: Alright, well we''ll be making our way back to Macedonia now. Ty just finished arguing with some guy in a robe. We should meet up and do a quest.
[15:27:35] Merlin: Sounds good. Anything in mind?
[15:29:43] Snowbunny: Well, I heard something about a necropolis. Alvira wanted a vampire soul, so that might be a ce we can try.
[15:32:05] Merlin: That''s probably a little too high for all of us. Unless we all picked up cleric souls for the extra damage against the undead.
[15:34:23] Snowbunny: I''ll go message Alvira and the group and see if they''d be interested. Talk to you in a bit.
[15:35:12] Merlin: Might be a n for two sessions from now, but yeah sounds fun, cya.
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Merlin eventually left the confines of the little vige of Hysia. On his way back to the city of Macedonia, he began looking over his stats.
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? Vitality = 9 (+8 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Constitution = 17 (+8 Base, +0 Title, +9 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Strength = 20 (+8 Base, +2 Title, +6 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Dexterity = 17 (+8 Base, +0 Title, +4 Soul, +1 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Agility = 14 (+8 Base, +0 Title, +2 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Intelligence = 8 (+8 Base, +0 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +0 Bonus)
? Wisdom = 13 (+8 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +4 Bonus)
? Charisma = 10 (+8 Base, +1 Title, +0 Soul, +0 Equip, +1 Bonus)
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"Looking good, I just need the wizard and the bard souls and I''ve got all the bonus stats," He muttered to himself.
Chapter 177 - The Shattered Sky Update
Chapter 177 - The Shattered Sky Update
"Alright, I''m gonna call it there," Merlin said, turning to his stream camera. "Thanks for tuning in, I''ll be streaming at the same time tomorrow."
"I''m thinking we''ll pay a visit to the wizard college tomorrow," He said, "I''m sure some of you are dying to see magic in action. It''ll be fun."
He spent a few minutes reading the chat and answering a couple of questions. He even gave the audience a backflip due to receiving many requests, but he eventually ended the stream and made his way into the city of Macedonia.
He walked through the city, making his way down a side street that was both uninhabited and had an entrance into the sewer system.
After picking the lock on the iron bar door, Merlin slowly opened it and entered the sewer. The stench of bodily waste flooded his senses, but he summoned his little ball of light before setting out in search of the correct entrance.
The sewer system was a confusing maze of a structure, and finding the correctdder was proving rather difficult, but he eventually spotted the marking that he took notice of earlier.
''Oh thank god.'' Merlin thought to himself. He didn''t want to spend even a second more in the sewer.
Merlin quickly climbed thedder and started knocking on the manhole cover in the rhythm of the secret code that he was taught before leavingst time.
After a few moments, a set of knocks came through from the other side. Merlin returned thest part of the code before he heard a loud clunk sound as the manhole swung open.
"Ahh, Ghost, wee." A man looming over the manhole said in a cheerful voice.
Merlin climbed up into the dark basement and quickly cast cleanse on himself.
"God, I would do anything for the power to teleport," Merlin muttered to himself while staring at the manhole that was being slowly closed by the man on guard.
"Yeah, it''s not the most pleasant of entrances, I agree with you there." The guard said as he wandered back over to his chair. "But it''s better than jail, or a guillotine..."
"Not by much." Merlin retorted, getting a chuckle out of the guard.
He waved goodbye as he made his way up the staircase into the mansion, he caused his ball of light to vanish before reaching the next room.
The inside of the building was pleasant. Which was quite the contrast whenpared to their makeshift entrance.
Merlin made his way upstairs again, where he saw the usual faces sitting around at the various tables, all of them drinking or gambling.
He weaved through the sea of tables and chairs, greeting everyone as he made his way towards his usual conversation partner, the thief lord.
There was an unfamiliar sight at the thief lord''s table this time around, his daughter Fae had joined him for a drink.
"Oh, Hello there Merlin. I haven''t got any tasks for you to do if that''s why you''vee today." The thief lord spoke up. "But you''re wee to join us for a drink."
Merlin shook his head and took a seat at the table.
"I''m here because I''ve got information." He said, "I encountered a situation simr to the one you described to me when I first joined. The sky started to shatter, and a dark void revealed itself underneath."
The elf''s expression hardened, and Fae started listening into the conversation.
"Go on..." The elf muttered.
Merlin went on to describe the events that had urred during histest quest, but when he mentioned the monstrous noises that drove the undead into an aggressive state, the roars that struck fear into all that heard it and the maddening effect, the elf seemed lost in thought.
"I''m not sure if that monster is the cause of these phenomenons or just an inhabitant of that void. Either way, it likely has some part to y in at least some of the strange things happening in this world." Merlin exined.
"It does seem that way," The elf muttered, still lost in thought.
"Is that... the thing that took mother?" Fae spoke up and turned to her father. "Can we get her back now that we know this? Do we have to kill that monster?"
"We''d have gotten her back, even without this." The elf lord rested his hand on his daughter''s shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "We''ll get her back soon, just stay strong."
¡¸The quest "The shattered sky." has been updated.¡¹
"Thanks for this." The elf lord turned to Merlin once more, "We''ve tracked down a couple of the biggest dealers in the city, it won''t be long until we can locate and identify Ashen. We''ll contact you when we have more information."
Merlin gave the man a nod before standing up and making his way back towards the basement.
He quickly escaped into the sewers after saying goodbye to the man on guard duty. He summoned his ball of light as he plunged into the stinky hellhole that was the sewer system.
While making his way out of the sewers, he quickly pulled up his quest sheet to see what had changed.
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[Hidden Epic Quest]
The shattered sky.
A strange phenomenon urred only months prior to your arrival, causing various world-changing events to ur.
If you figure out the cause, perhaps you could discover a way to reverse it or at the very least quell some of the issues it has caused.
Some major events in the world seem to have been caused by the shattered sky event. Perhaps assisting in solving the issues they''ve caused will uncover a solution for preventing more phenomena from urring.
A monstrous creature seems to lurk within the void. It seems to be capable of manipting monsters and sending them into a frenzy. This is a power that matches some of the previous events caused by the phenomenon, perhaps this creature is pulling the strings behind the entire situation, but for what reason?
? Warning: epting this quest will increase the possibility of strange phenomena urring around you, this could potentially interrupt other quests.
? Reward: ???
? Failure: ???
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"So, not much I didn''t already know." Merlin muttered to himself, "But it now has text pointing out that I''m likely on the right track, so that''s good to know."
Merlin wandered the sewers for a few moments before finding a suitable location to escape the sewers from.
He cleaned himself off with the cleanse spell before making his way into the more popted areas of the city.
At some point, he received the usual red alert box, telling him that his ytime wasing to an end.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, your session will end in five minutes, please find a safe ce and log out.
The server will forcibly disconnect those who do not log out in time. Thank you.
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Merlin made his way over to the temple''s park, finding afortable ce in the shade before logging out.
His body went through the usual procedure of being thrown into the dark void, then into the virtual hub.
Once he escaped the virtual world, he made his way over to the briefing room, greeting the developers as he took a seat in his usual spot.
His friends started to arrive after a couple of minutes, and once everyone was present, they all started talking about their raid on the Necropolis.
"We should do it next week, you guys need to all get the cleric soul and preferably level up to at least level six or seven," Arthur said. "But out of all of that, we absolutely need the cleric soul for it. That two times damage bonus against the undead is incredibly helpful, especially when we''d be pretty under levelled for the area."
Everyone nodded in agreement, but Maria seemed to realise something and was now conflicted.
"Ah, but Holly is joining next week..." Maria said in a disappointed tone.
"Well, it''ll be more fun if she can experience the world for herself first, rather than being power levelled from day one." Arthur said, "Give them tips, but don''t take away the first experience from them."
That seemed to convince her. So with that, everyone was on board with the n.
"What will you be doing tomorrow while we''re doing the cleric quests?" Alvira asked Arthur.
"I''ll be heading over to Megalopolis to get the wizard soul tomorrow. I''ve already got the cleric soul, but I don''t meet any of the requirements to get a god''s blessing just yet, so I''ll just be using the base version." Arthur said.
"God''s blessing?" Several people in the group asked.
"Yeah, the cleric soul has a mechanic where you can worship a god for bonuses," Arthur exined. "If you meet the requirements you can get a god''s blessing. Ites with some themed abilities and stuff depending on which god you pick, so I think it''s the most unique ss so far."
The group continued chatting until the rest of the first wave''s yers had finally all entered the briefing room, allowing the end of session briefing to start.
The briefing ended several minutester without many overly important topics to cover. The same set of names appeared during the leaderboard segment, with Rowan taking the fifth seat.
The group continued talking as they made their way out of the building before eventually splitting off and going their separate ways.
Arthur made his way over to Donovan''s car, where he noticed that Donovan seemed to have fallen asleep in his vehicle.
Deciding that he didn''t want to wake the guy up, Arthur entered the vehicle as quietly as he could. Closing the door was slightly louder than he had hoped, but Donovan was either extremely tired or a deep sleeper.
Arthur decided to just sit quietly in the car while waiting for Donovan to wake up on his own.
Chapter 178 - The Prank War Begins
Chapter 178 - The Prank War Begins
Arthur waited in the car for roughly ten minutes before a truck drove by. The truck''s nging next to the driver''s side of the car seemed to immediately rouse Donovan from his sleep.
Donovan stretched with what little room the car afforded him while letting out a long yawn. It took him a few seconds to realise that Arthur was sitting right next to him with a bored look on his face.
"Morning sleepyhead," Arthur said right before yawning himself.
"Why didn''t you wake me up?" Donovan asked, "How long have you been waiting?"
"It''s only been a couple of minutes, who am I to ruin a guy''s nap?" Arthur said, before a grin formed on his face, "Oh, and I didn''t draw on your face, I promise."
Donovan immediately pulled the driver side sun visor down and checked his face in the mirror. After noticing that there wasn''t anything scribbled on his face, he breathed a sigh of relief before folding the sun visor back up.
"Woooow, how distrusting of you," Arthur chuckled.
"You cheeky brat," Donovan said while shaking his head. "I''ll get you back for that."
The car started up momentster, and Donovan started driving Arthur home.
"Oh? Well then you better not fall asleep in the car again," Arthur taunted. "You might find yourself walking back into theb with a curly moustache."
Arthur mimed out the action of twirling a moustache with a grin on his face.
"It sounds like you''re challenging me to another war," Donovan said. "You remember what happenedst time?"
"Yeah sure, why not?" Arthur remarked, remembering some of the fun he used to have with Donovan. "But I wonder if you still remember any of your old tricks. Thest time we did this, you were struggling against a fourteen-year-old kid, right?"
"You were fifteen at the time... And I still won." Donovan corrected him. "Do you remember the rules?"
"No bodily harm, no damage to property, and absolutely no glitter," Arthur repeated the phrase that had stuck with him for so long.
"And no fart spray," Donovan added another rule. "It took weeks to clean that stuff out of the seats."
The two continued talking until the car arrived at Arthur''s house, where Arthur promptly hopped out of the car.
"Let the games begin," Donovan said with aically evilugh before driving off.
Arthur spent the rest of the day performing his usual routine before eating with his family and then ying games with his friends before going to bed. The next morning he decided to work out some more before finally getting a message from Donovan saying he was on his way.
''Right, we started the war yesterday, what were his usual methods? It has been a while...'' Arthur thought to himself, ''His first move isn''t going to be that destructive, surely.''
He decided to pack a couple of tissues, just in case.
A little whileter, Donovan had arrived. Arthur left the building, locking up behind him before approaching the car.
''First trick, he sometimes hides ink behind the door handle.'' Arthur remembered, pulling out one of those tissues and rubbing it behind the door handle. Fortunately, it came back clean, meaning this wasn''t trapped yet.
Arthur opened the door and sat down on the passenger''s side of the car, he immediately took notice of Donovan''s cheeky grin.
"What, no whoopee cushion?" Arthur asked.
"I couldn''t figure out a way of hiding it." Donovan retorted.
Before putting his seatbelt on, Arthur closed the vents for the air conditioner on his side of the car and then ran a tissue over the seatbelt buckle and eject button, but both of those came out clean too.
Arthur put his seatbelt on, and Donovan started driving him to the facility.
Arthur noticed that Donovan kept sneaking nces at him while he was looking around for traps. Donovan''s smirk was growing the longer Arthur took, so he quickly realised what was going on.
''He''s ying mind games with me...'' Arthur thought to himself.
As Arthur sat still and stopped looking for traps, Donovan''s smirk seemed to fade, seemingly confirming Arthur''s suspicions. The two eventually arrived at the facility, but Arthur caught a twitch on Donovan''s face as he moved to unbuckle his seatbelt.
Arthur pulled out another tissue and ran it along the inside of the car''s door handle, the one ce he hadn''t checked yet due to not wanting to identally open the door while the car was moving.
He immediately felt a somewhat sticky resistance from behind the handle, and pulling the tissue up revealed a blue ink-like substance on the tissue.
"How sneaky, better luck next time," Arthur said with a smirk as he balled the tissue up while making sure not to let any of the ink spread to his hands. He wiped the excess ink off before leaving the car.
''That was a close one.'' Arthur thought to himself as he walked towards the facility.
The morning briefing was short, but the most important piece of information that could be taken away from it was that the fourth wave was going to start in the next session. This meant that Arthur wouldn''t be the only streamer anymore, so his numbers would likely take a massive loss as those with an established fanbase took back their respective audience from Arthur''s pile.
But this also meant that Holly and Quinn would be joining them pretty soon, which Arthur was looking forward to.
The briefing ended and the first group was led towards the capsule room to log in.
Merlin found himself located at the temple in Macedonia, right where he left offst time in afortable area located in the shade.
He quickly started his stream before doing anything else.
"Right, for those early birds. Today''s n is to get a quest at the temple before heading over to the wizard college." He said to the stream camera before making his way up the temple steps.
He was quickly approached by a priest upon entering the temple.
"Good evening, what has--" The priest began his usual introduction speech, but Merlin cut him off.
"I was told toe here for the next part of my training. At least, that''s what Archbishop Ferdinand said to me." Merlin said with an uninterested tone, "Where would I go to do such a thing?"
The priest''s facial expression distorted as he was cut off, but Merlin didn''t seem to care.
"Very well, follow me to the room of enlightenment." The priest said before walking off.
Merlin followed the man into the room full of statues of gods, but before he could ask what would happen next, the priest cut him off, seemingly getting revenge for what Merlin had done only a few moments prior.
"The next task is to acquire your first blessing," The priest said, "Choose which god you would like to dedicate yourself to, and then improve yourself until you meet their standards. Then, and only then, may the gods decide to bless your mortal flesh with their divine gifts."
A quest window appeared moments after the priest finished talking.
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[Common Quest]
Bless You!
To utilise the powers of the gods, you need to be first blessed with a god''s power.
Your next task from the temple is to acquire your first blessing, this can be achieved by meeting a diety''s requirements and then requesting guidance while equipped with a soul with the ?God''s Blessing? passive.
Receive a god''s blessing.
? Reward: 100 EXP, 400 Cleric Soul EXP
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Merlin quickly epted the quest before turning towards the statues he had in mind.
"Artemis and Gaia..." Merlin muttered to himself. He decided to approach the statue of Artemis first.
"Artemis, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.
After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened and an information window appeared before him.
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Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt
God''s Blessings: ?The Huntress'' Mark?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must possess a ranger-rted soul that has reached level 3. (26.25% Complete)
? A minimum of 40% favourability with Artemis.
? You must sacrifice an animal that you''ve hunted to Artemis.
Favourability: 75% Artemis looks upon you favourably.
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Nothing seemed to have changed on the window, and the other window that appeared beside itst time was still there as well.
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To receive a blessing from a deity, you must equip a ss with the ?God''s Blessing? passive.
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"So, I''ll need to level up my ranger soul to level three and then sacrifice a hunt to her." Merlin muttered, "That''s not too bad, I really should start using that soul more."
He then made his way over to the statue of Gaia to repeat himself.
"Gaia, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted. After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened even brighter than the statue of Artemis, and an information window appeared before him.
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Gaia, Primordial Goddess of Earth
God''s Blessings: ?Nature''s Wrath?
Abilities: N/A
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must possess a nature-rted soul that has reached level 5. (12.90% Complete)
? A minimum of 60% favourability with Gaia.
Favourability: 90% Gaia is incredibly curious about your future actions.
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Unlike Artemis'' information box, this one seemed to have changed ever so slightly.
"It seems I need to level my rose wight soul to level five... That''s going to take ages." Merlin said to himself.
''I could always swap blessing around at ater date if I really wanted to.'' Merlin thought, finally deciding on Artemis.
As he was walking back towards the statue of Artemis, the statue of Hecate caught his eye.
''Although I am still very curious about Hecate... I don''t know why my favourability with her is so high, or what has happened to her, why did she vanish for so long?'' Merlin continued to think to himself, ''I had so many things to ask Bibar earlier, but I lost my chance when he decided to turn himself into a pin cushion.''
"Alright, I''ve decided..." Merlin announced, "I choose Artemis."
"Very well. You may return to this ce once you''ve met your requirements or wish to refresh yourself on the god''s requirements, or even pick another god to worship.." The priest said as he made his way out of the room, leaving Merlin alone with the statues.
Chapter 179 - Chill Out
Chapter 179 - Chill Out
Merlin''s attention snapped to the statue of Hecate. He wasn''t that interested in her blessing as it wasn''t that useful for him. He wasn''t reliant on magic and didn''t really have any intention of using the cleric soul much in the first ce.
His curiosity got the better of him, and he quickly approached the statue.
"Hecate, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted, causing the statue to glow and an information window to appear before him.
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Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads and Witchcraft
God''s Blessings: ?Moon-touched Mage?
Abilities: ?Speak with Dead?
Origin Soul Bonus: N/A
Requirements:
? You must befriend a minimum of three animals. (33.33% Complete)
? You must possess a magic-rted soul that has reached level 3. (0.00% Complete)
? A minimum of 40% favourability with Hecate.
Favourability: 74% Hecate is hoping for your assistance.
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''My favourability went up by two points, but the message remains the same.'' Merlin thought to himself, ''Just what do you need help with? And why is your favourability so high?''
''This sort of thing should have prompted a quest already.'' He thought. ''Am I not a high enough level? Do I need more information? Do I need to receive her blessing?''
''Or do I have her quest already?'' Another thought crossed Merlin''s mind. ''She might just be rted to the shattered sky quest... One of her followers was attacked during a phenomenon. In fact, he was the only one so heavily affected... A coincidence?''
With thatrge list of questions stashed away within his mind, Merlin left the temple. The second he reached the bottom of the temple steps, he made a beeline for the western gate.
He passed by several yers on his way to the gate, some of which he recognised, like the trio of girls and SaintMRP, the man who had already upgraded his fighter soul to a knight. It seemed that the knight had be a member of that team after the incident with LordKyle''s group.
''Haven''t seen the roleyers, Ty or Snow yet, but they said they''d get the cleric soul today.'' Merlin thought as he walked through the gate, greeting the guards as he passed by.
Merlin''s walk to Megalopolis was uneventful, he passed by yers hunting the boars, and also saw a few groups of yers running out of the gnoll infested forests, but nobody attacked him. He did get a few curious looks, but Merlin wasn''t sure if this was just because his appearance was so eyecatching or people had seen him in a recording of his stream.
When he arrived at Megalopolis, Merlin noticed that there were actually other yers around now, although it seemed to just be mostly those closest to the top of the leaderboard outside of Merlin''s friend group, at least for now.
Merlin made his way through the city, he walked further away from the gate where the rangers guild was located, as his goal this time around was thergest building in Megalopolis, the wizard college.
While both the rangers guild and the merchants association were veryrge buildings, neither of thempared to the size of the wizard college, even whenbined. And for this reason, it was quite far from the rest of the main buildings, as it needed enough room to be built where ruins wouldn''t get in the way of construction.
Merlin approached therge building, but the loud argument happening in the za in front of the wizard college had caught his interest.
"Clearly it''d be a waste of time to teach you anything if this conversation is anything to go by," the angry-looking wizard snapped at a group of yers who seemed to have been arguing for a little while now. "If you''re too stupid to understand what I''m saying, why the hell would we bother to teach you anything?"
"This is bullshit. Why do we have to waste so much money on a stupid little stick when you can just cast magic with your hands." One of the yers pped back before chanting for a moment, summoning a small ball of light in his hands a few momentster.
"If you consider that to be magic, you''re dumber than a goblin." The wizard clicked her fingers, causing the ball of light that the yer summoned to fizzle out and disappear. "I''m sick of this, get out of my sight now or I''ll have you forcibly removed."
That line seemed to have tipped one of the yers over the edge, as they started swearing at the wizard while reaching for the mace hanging from their belt.
"Like I''d let you." The wizard remarked before clicking her fingers, causing the temperature in the za to drop almost immediately and a thin fog to suddenly appear.
Merlin noticed that all three yers were now frozen solid, and their health bars indicated that they were all dead.
''Well, they''re clearly not going to like that.'' Merlin thought to himself.
A few robed individuals stepped out from the wizard college and started disposing of the ice sculptures in the za, carrying them off somewhere out of sight.
"Another group of idiots," The wizard sighed to herself as she made her way inside the building. "They''re gonnabel me a mass murderer at this rate."
Merlin quickly thought back to his conversation with Snowbunny yesterday, Typhoeus had also argued with a wizard, hadn''t he?
But since there was no mention of his death, it was very likely that it didn''t escte to him getting turned into a popsicle.
Merlin doubted that such a thing would have happened anyway, Ty wasn''t stupid enough to attack an NPC. If he was, he wouldn''t have had the highest position on the leaderboard thirty years in the future.
Merlin quickly changed into his fancy cloak before he made his way into the wizard college building, where he was met with a receptionist and some sort of waiting room. This receptionist had long ck hair, ck eyes and dark bags under her eyes. She wore a long ck robe embellished with goldce trim.
"Herees another one..." Merlin heard the receptionist mutter under her breath as he approached.
"Hello there, I''d like to enrol into the wizard college," Merlin said with a polite tone,pletely ignoring the receptionist''sst statement.
"Understood," the receptionist said with a sigh, "Before you start the test, you must possess your own wand, staff or another kind of spellcasting medium. Do you have one, and is it with you right now?"
Merlin quickly opened his inventory and pulled out his Goblin Hexer''s Staff.
"Does this count?" He asked, holding the staff out for the receptionist to see.
The receptionist''s face distorted slightly, but she nodded. "That''s eptable, would you like to start the test now?"
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[Common Quest]
You''re a wizard I.
The first step for enrolling into the wizard college is to learn how to control your mana.
After being led to the training grounds, you will be taught how to channel your mana into objects. Sessfullyplete the task to move on to the next.
Channel your mana into a magic orb.
? Reward: +1 Intelligence
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"Yes," Merlin answered, epting the quest.
The receptionist muttered a brief arcane chant before a ball of light suddenly appeared in front of Merlin''s face.
"Follow the ball of light, it''ll lead you to the training grounds." The receptionist said before lowering her head as if she was going to fall asleep at her desk.
Merlin turned away from her and started walking towards the ball of light that had slowly started drifting away from him.
The ball of light took Merlin around the facility and down a set of stairs until he was standing in arge room that seemed to have an open roof that let sunlight in and a soft grass floor, but Merlin knew this was just an illusion.
Stepping into the room, Merlin noticed a couple of yers doing the first test as well.
"Oh, what''s this? Another recruit?" A somewhat grating voice rung out, and Merlin saw who the voice belonged to.
The voice came from a tallnky man wearing an oversized wrinkled red robe thatcked any designs. His face was obscured by the oversized hood he was wearing, and the only details Merlin could make out was the lower part of his face.
"Ugh, I''ve got my hands full with these, why can''t she be more considerate." The wizard grumbled to himself.
From Merlin''s current perspective, it seemed as though everyone in the wizard college had a bad attitude.
"Alright, well new recruit, sit down and listen up because I''m only going to exin this once." The wizard said while pulling a crystal orb, that was roughly the size of a tennis ball, out of his sleeve.
Merlin did as he was told and sat down on the grass, which was much harder than it looked, confirming that it was an illusion.
"Right, so the basics of being a wizard is to move around and channel your mana into things, such as spells, items or your wand," The wizard started talking, "Your first task is to channel your mana into this magic orb, like so..."
The wizard seemed to be focusing on the orb for a moment, and then a bright blue light formed within it before fading out a momentter. "That will cause a light to form within the crystal. If you can do this, you pass the first lesson."
"Now, I''ll exin the basics of controlling your mana. Everyone is different, so I can only exin it in vague terms and it''s up to you to figure it out." The wizard continued.
He went on for a little while exining the logic behind mana control, and it was simr to the logic used when controlling additional limbs, with imagination being a key factor.
Chapter 180 - Youre A Wizard, Merlin
Chapter 180 - You''re A Wizard, Merlin
"So yeah, some people imagine water flowing through their bodies, others find that lightning is a better alternative, those are two of the moremon methods but there''s plenty more than that... And some are really strange." The wizard said, "But the rest is up to you, I''lle to check on you after a few minutes."
The wizard then threw Merlin the magic orb before walking over to the other yers who seemed to still be struggling.
''And for me, the answer is blood.'' Merlin thought to himself while clenching the orb, causing blue light to form almost immediately within the crystal.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "You''re a wizard I.", visit the magic instructor to receive your rewards.¡¹
Merlin quickly stood up and made his way over to the wizard, the magic instructor, who was looking rather frustrated with one of the students.
"You''ve been at this for thest twenty minutes, either finish the task or ept that you''re not cut out for this and leave." The wizard taunted the student, who looked as though they were either going to break down and cry or punch the wizard in the nose.
Merlin was curious as to which one she''d choose, and he subconsciously let out a small chuckle under his breath when he noticed the student''s fist clench.
The wizard noticed Merlin hovering nearby, seeminglyughing at his student''s failure and struggles, so he turned his attention back on to Merlin.
"What are you doing? Are you giving up already?" He asked, "If not, you should be focusing on producing your own results, rather than just watching othe--"
Merlin''s crystal orb suddenly glowed a bright blue, which immediately silenced the wizard''s rant.
"I''m here to receive the next task," Merlin said while handing the magic orb back to the wizard.
The wizard grabbed the orb and stuffed it back into their sleeve before clearing his throat.
"Right, well then you pass the first task," The wizard said, "Now the next one is for you to showcase your ability to utilise magic. For this task, you will be using a staff or wand that you''ve brought with you to destroy all these targets."
The wizard pped his hands together while muttering, and six floating stone targets suddenly appeared in the distance, alongside a quest notification that appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
You''re a wizard II.
The second step for enrolling into the wizard college is to showcase your ability to use basic magic.
Six floating targets must be hit using magic from a distance. Destroying the targets is not necessary, a solid hit will suffice for proof ofpetency. Sessfullyplete the task to move on to the final task.
Hit all six targets with magic.
Targets hit with magic: 0/6
? Reward: +1 Intelligence
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"Alright, I''ll get started then," Merlin said, epting the quest.
He inspected the staff that he had in his hand, causing an information window to appear before him.
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[Goblin Hexer''s Staff. (Umon)]
A knobbly wooden staff that appears to be rotting at the tip.
? Attuned spell: ?Corrosive Bolt?
? 10 second cooldown.
? Mana cost: 12
? Required level: 7
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And then he inspected the attuned spell, causing another information window to appear.
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?Corrosive Bolt?
By channelling magical power into this staff, you can fire a ck bolt of energy that corrodes non-living material and causes living material to decay.
? Fires a bolt of energy that deals 20 corrosive damage, damage is doubled for non-living materials, armour and constructs.
? Mana cost: 12
? 10 second cooldown.
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Merlin pointed the tip of the rotting wooden staff at one of the floating targets in the distance. He imagined his blood flowing into the staff, his vitality coalescing at the end of the staff.
Small ck sparks began forming at the tip, growing in size until they suddenly shot out in a single ck bolt of energy. The energy bolt tore through the air before colliding with the first target.
Merlin watched as arge chunk of the stone target corroded and crumbled away, what little remained of the target plummeted towards the ground.
¡¸Targets hit with magic: 1/6¡¹
"First try... And with dark magic no less," The wizard muttered, "Very good, continue."
Merlin lowered the staff and waited until ten seconds had passed before he aimed at another target in the distance and fired the next bolt.
¡¸Targets hit with magic: 2/6¡¹
Merlin released yet another bolt after the cooldown ended and then continued again until all six targets had been destroyed.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "You''re a wizard II.", visit the magic instructor to receive your rewards.¡¹
"All six in a little over a minute..." The wizard muttered to himself.
''And that brings my intelligence up to 10,'' Merlin thought to himself before lowering his staff.
"What next?" He asked, turning to the wizard. As he did, he noticed that he seemed to have gotten the attention of all the other students.
The wizard turned around and started shouting at the other students with the same kind of rant that Merlin had gotten to begin with.
"Thest test is a wizard duel. You''ll be faced against a student of the college and equipped with proper duelling equipment." The wizard started exining, "Thisst task will utilise the same skills from thest two tests."
A quest notification appeared before Merlin.
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[Common Quest]
You''re a wizard III.
The final challenge for enrolling into the wizard college is to utilise both skills that were shown in the first two tests in a simtedbat setting, namely a wizard duel.
You will be matched against a student of the college, your goal is to stay in the ring for a certain amount of time. Knocking the opponent out of the ring will also result in a victory, but is not required to pass.
You will be lent two pieces of duelling gear, the use of any other equipment, abilities, spells or dealing physical damage will disqualify you. You''re wee to retry as many times as you''d like.
Win the wizard duel or stay in the ring for 2 minutes.
? Reward: +2 Intelligence, 250 EXP, ss Soul: Wizard
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"Sounds like fun, where do I go for this?" Merlin asked while epting the quest.
"It''s just in the next room," the wizard said before clicking his fingers, causing a door on the other side of the room to swing open, revealing another training room. "Make your way over there and another instructor will find you an opponent."
Merlin nodded and quickly made his way through the door, where he was met with the sight of an elevated tform where two wizards were shooting bolts of energy at each other in close proximity.
The floor around the elevated tform seemed to be padded, and any further than that was just rows of benches where several other students sat and watched the ongoing duel.
An older looking wizard approached him as he entered the room. He seemed to be the instructor that
"Ah, our next challenger has arrived just in time, let''s get you fitted before the match--" As the wizard began speaking with Merlin, one of the students who was duelling had been sent flying onto the padded floor. "... Ends."
The instructor pinched his temples for a moment before he turned towards the stage.
"Everyone take a break, our newest student needs time to prepare." The instructor yelled to everyone in the room before turning to Merlin, "Come, follow me."
Merlin was led into an equipment room full of lockers.
"Please store your weapons and other items away, we have lockers you can utilise, or--" The instructor started talking, but Merlin quickly threw his staff, daggers and cloak into his inventory. "That works too, I suppose."
The instructor then grabbed two pieces of equipment, a glove with an embedded crystal and a thin wand, and handed them both to Merlin.
Merlin inspected the wand as he received it, causing an information window to appear.
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[Beginner Duelling Wand. (Umon)]
A sleek thin metal rod with a round blue gem affixed to the tip, useful for friendly wizard duels due to the dampened output and non-lethal attuned spells.
? Attuned spell: ?Force Bolt?
? 3 second cooldown.
? Mana cost: 4
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And then he inspected the attuned spell, causing another information window to appear.
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?Force Bolt?
By channelling magical power into this wand, you can fire a bolt of pure energy that applies a pushing force against anything it collides with.
? Fires a weakened bolt of energy that deals 1 bludgeoning damage and applies a weak pushing force against the target.
? Mana cost: 4
? 3 second cooldown.
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He then took a look at the glove that was handed to him, inspecting it and reading the information window that appeared.
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[Beginner Duelling Shield. (Umon)]
A soft glove with a small magical crystal embedded in the palm. By channelling magical power into this glove, you summon a thin shield of mana that can assist with protecting against or deflecting iing magic projectiles.
This glove is useful for friendly wizard duels, it helps protect against simple non-lethal missile spells but it is not very effective against lethal attack spells.
? Conjures a simple magic shield that helps protect against ranged magic attacks.
? 3 mana per second.
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''Ah right, this thing is a trap for new wizards.'' Merlin thought to himself while reading the information window. ''Sure, it summons a shield. But it''ll still take the pushing force of the force bolt if you take it head-on, and that mana cost is dangerous.''
Merlin quickly did the math in his head and realised that if he kept his shield up without dropping it, he could have it up for a little over half a minute. Roughly a fourth of the time he needed.. But this didn''t take casting spells into ount either, which would drastically reduce his resources.
Chapter 181 - Wizard Duel
Chapter 181 - Wizard Duel
He wore the protective glove on his left hand and held the duelling wand with his right. He channelled mana into the glove for a couple of seconds, causing a thin circr ethereal shield to appear before him, it was roughly the size of his old shield.
The three seconds that he had summoned the shield for had reduced his mana pool to ny-one, showcasing just how inefficient relying on it in battle would be. Although it was good to check how big the shield was ahead of time, just in case he had to use it.
''Using the shield for only a couple of seconds drained almost a tenth of my mana pool.'' Merlin thought to himself.
"Alright, give me a moment to replenish my mana, and then I''ll be ready," Merlin announced.
"Alright,e with me." The instructor said as he walked out to the stage and instructed Merlin to take a seat at one of the benches.
Merlin walked over to the bench as instructed and took a seat, where he noticed a notification appear beside his stream chat window.
¡¸"Brian_Simmons_3867" has gifted 2000 tokens with the message: "If you throw the wizard off the stage, I''ll gift another 2000."¡¹
Merlin smirked when he saw this. He was nning on doing so anyway, but it was a good incentive.
The instructor had made his way onto the stage and began scanning the wizards in the audience, he did a couple ofps before pointing towards one of the students who seemed excited.
"You''ll be the challenger for the nextpetition, go get prepared." The instructor said as the student jumped up from his seat and ran towards the equipment room that Merlin was just in.
The student came back a few minutester, and Merlin''s mana had finished regenerating, so both of them were called on to enter the stage.
"Now, let me remind you of the rules." The instructor said while pointing at each of the starting locations, instructing the two to stand in the right locations. "This is a friendly wizard duel for the enrollment of this new student, he must stay in the ring for two minutes or knock his opponent off to win."
"The use of equipment outside of the two that were provided to you, alongside the use of abilities or spells is strictly prohibited and will result in disqualification," The instructor said, "Likewise, dealing physical damage to your opponent, such as punching or kicking them, will also result in disqualification."
"Physical damage, not just physical contact?" Merlin asked, wondering why that was specified.
"If you want to run up and push your opponent off the edge, by all means, you can certainly try." The instructorughed.
"If both of you can agree to these rules, the match will begin in three seconds." The instructor said while jumping off the tform, once he was a safe distance away and received an epting nod from both participants, he began counting down. "Three... Two... One... Star--"
Before the final word had finished, Merlin''s opponent quickly channelled mana into his wand and flung a bolt of energy directly towards him.
Merlin caught onto this at thest second and leapt to the floor, rolling out of the way of the spell.
Knowing he had three seconds to breathe, he quickly stood up in time to see his opponent finish casting the next spell.
This time, Merlin stepped out of the way and responded with a force bolt of his own.
¡¸Mana: 96/100¡¹
The wizard promptly side-stepped the bolt before returning the same spell.
The two went back and forth several times without Merlin having to use his shield once, it seemed that his opponent wasn''t that concerned with him either as their distance from each other gave them plenty of room to dodge.
¡¸Mana: 76/100¡¹
''Right, the only way to do this would be to close the distance." Merlin thought to himself while dodging another force bolt.
Merlin ran towards the centre of the stage while channelling mana into his wand, he released a force bolt at roughly half the distance the previous ones were fired at, causing his opponent to summon his shield for the first time.
The opponent slid back a few centimetres, but he effectively parried most of the kic energy from the force bolt away from his body.
The audience''s reaction was a mix of excited gasps and a handful ofughter.
The wizard''s gaze sharpened as he red at Merlin.
"Alright, that does it," The wizard shouted as he closed the distance even further.
The wizard started channelling mana into his wand and then entered a stance as if he were about to fire, causing Merlin to leap out of the way.
But instead of firing, the wizard twisted his body around and fired at Merlin who was currently off bnce from what he previously thought was going to be a close dodge.
"Oh crap," Merlin swore as the bolt of energy flew directly towards him.
Merlin quickly summoned his shield while nting his feet down to regain his bnce. The force bolt collided with his shield, causing Merlin''s body to be pushed back.
The force continued to push Merlin''s body until he mustered enough strength to push his shield away from his centre of gravity and then deactivate it, causing the remaining kic force to fly out into the air and disperse.
¡¸Mana: 64/100¡¹
In just four seconds, Merlin was pushed from the centre of the ring to the very edge, and enough time had passed that his opponent had already finished channelling his next attack.
Merlin kept his guard up, refusing to fall for yet another feint attack like the one he had almost just lost to.
While keeping his distance, he avoided the wizard''s next two attacks, but the wizard refused to get any closer.
"What''s the point in just running? Come over here and fight me." The wizard taunted.
Merlin was trying to discern how much mana his opponent had remaining, but it was a difficult task. The wizard seemed to be fine, albeit slightly out of breath, which meant he could either be faking it or have arger mana pool than Merlin.
''Right, he''d likely have arcane recovery, which means drawing this out is only going to be disadvantageous for me...'' Merlin thought to himself before calming his breath. ''I''ve got a little over half, with no way of recovering it... We''ll need to end this fast.''
Dodging yet another force bolt, Merlin closed the distance once more, he rolled out of the way of what was going to be yet another force bolt, but it was another feint. Merlin didn''t even bother pulling his shield up this time as a force bolt was shot towards him only a couple of metres away.
Instead, Merlin responded by firing a force bolt of his own at his opponent''s force bolt, causing the two energies to collide.
¡¸Mana: 60/100¡¹
Arge grin formed on Merlin''s face as the two energies simultaneously exploded, causing a wave of force to push both Merlin and his opponent back, but due to the height of the spell, most of that force was pushing down on Merlin, as he was currently kneeling, rather than pushing him away.
With that, Merlin had slid barely half the distance that his opponent had travelled, and he was ready to close the distance once more.
The wizard immediately panicked and shot a force bolt towards Merlin who was running directly at him. Merlin parried the bolt with his shield, much more efficiently than his first attempt.
By the time that Merlin had reached the student, he was already charging up his next strike, until Merlin reached out and grabbed the other end of his wand.
Merlin channelled his own mana into the opponent''s wand, causing the energy in the gem to dissipate and preventing the wand from firing.
This was the basic concept behind magic interference, two sources of mana channelled into one object, especially one that wasn''t built to resist said interference or didn''t have some level of engineering that allowed the tool to ept two or more sources, would often be unable to operate due to the flow of mana bing disrupted.
Merlin then channelled mana into his own wand and fired it towards the wizard''s stomach at point-nk range, causing the student to fly out of the ring, almost missing the padded floor section as he rolled into the benches.
¡¸Mana: 52/100¡¹
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "You''re a wizard III.", visit the magic instructor to receive your rewards.¡¹
"I win," Merlin announced while wiping sweat from his brow.
The crowd roared with a mix of surprise and amazement, and Merlin spotted a handful of studentsughing in a corner of one of the benches.
Merlin''s attention was brought back to his chat as another notification message appeared beside his stream chat window.
¡¸"Brian_Simmons_3867" has gifted 2000 tokens with the message: "I believe I can fly~"¡¹
Chapter 182 - Class Is In Session
Chapter 182 - ss Is In Session
"It''s not often that a new student wins their first duel, let alone through knocking their opponent off the edge," The instructor said as he stepped into the ring. "Congrattions, and wee to the finest magical educational institution in all of Arcadia."
''Finest? Isn''t this the only...'' Merlin thought to himself, but he didn''t bother finishing it when he was suddenly handed a strange gold badge.
"Please channel your mana into this badge," The instructor asked.
As Merlin did as he was instructed, the badge started faintly glowing.
Merlin quickly inspected the item, causing an information window to appear before him.
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[Wizard College Badge. (Unique)]
This badge holds your unique magic signature, it can be used for identification within the wizard college, such as for borrowing books at the library.
You can upgrade the badge by attending sses at the wizard college or bypleting extracurricr activities, this will grant you ess to more advanced sses and resources.
? The badge will glow faintly if the attuned user channels their mana into it.
? Attuned User: Merlin
? Rank: New Student
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The instructor took the badge from Merlin''s hand and pinned it to his cloak, this action caused a notification window to appear before him.
¡¸You have no empty soul slots, "ss Soul: Wizard (Level 1)" has been sent to your soul receptacle.¡¹
"Now that you''re a student, you may wish to attend your first lecture. Might I suggest starting with the ss orientation lecture?" The instructor asked while signalling for Merlin to step off of the stage.
A quest notification appeared before him.
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[Common Quest]
Orientation day!
An orientation lecture is going to be held for new students. This ss will detail what core sses are avable, some basic information about magic, as well as any extracurricr sses and activities that the school provides.
The ss isn''t mandatory, but it is rmended for new students to attend.
Attend the orientation day lecture.
? Reward: 400 Wizard Soul EXP
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Merlin epted the quest after reading it, even if he didn''t need the information as bad as others would, he couldn''t pass up four hundred free experience points.
"Where do I go for the orientation?" Merlin asked the teacher.
"I''d rmend asking that question to whoever is at the front counter where you need to go, they''ll always provide guiding magic," The instructor told Merlin, "Theyout of the building is quite tricky to wrap your head around, but do try your best to memorise as much of it as you can."
Merlin followed the instructor back to the equipment room where he returned the duelling shield glove and the duelling wand.
"Right, now how do I find the receptionist..." Merlin muttered to himself as he wandered through the door he came from originally, leading him into the room of illusions where he saw the same students struggling, alongside a new addition.
"Oh wow, you passed so quickly, you really are a natural," The previously grumpy wizard shouted as Merlin walked past.
Merlin gave him a wave as he made his way to the exit.
''Right, now which way did Ie from.'' Merlin thought to himself as he walked down the hallway he remembered entering from, ''Why are ancient catbs easier to navigate than school buildings...''
Merlin wandered around the facility for a little while, walking past a room that was leaking an eerie ck smoke from under the door. He eventually found himself at the receptionist once more, only to find that the same receptionist was there at the desk, seemingly asleep.
"What do you need?" The woman''s voice rang out as Merlin approached the desk quietly.
"I''d like directions to the orientation lecture, please," Merlin said with a soft voice.
The receptionist began chanting without lifting her face from the desk, and like before, a ball of light appeared in front of him and began moving.
"Thank you," Merlin said as he began following the guide.
The ball of light took Merlin around the facility once more, however, this time he travelled up a set of stairs and into arge lecture hall where barely a fraction of the seats were already filled.
The ball of light fizzled out as Merlin walked over to an empty seat closest to the front and sat down.
Merlin stared at the stage, where he saw severalrge chalkboards with runes and equations scribbled on them. There was a singr piece of chalk floating around the stage, writing more runes on one of the boards, before it suddenly stopped.
A rag hovered into the air and wiped off a couple of numbers on the centermost chalkboard, only for the chalk toe back and write other numbers.
Merlin noticed that the number was specifically a timer that counted down until the lecture started, and the number currently indicated that there were only seven minutes remaining.
Merlin decided to just read his stream chat while he waited for ss to start. It seemed as though everyone was excited to see magic cast for the first time, although they would have to sit through a lecture first.
The seven minutes had passed by in a sh. A couple more students seemed to have entered the lecture hall during that time, but the number of yers present in the room right now could be counted on only one hand.
"My, it seems we''ve got a full ss today," A woman''s sarcastic voice rung out, reverberating throughout the room.
"I wee you all, our new students, to our humble little wizard college," The voice said.
A small cloud of smoke filled the centre of the stage beforepressing and taking the form of a tall woman. As the smoke dispersed, a tall woman with long silky ck hair appeared in its ce.
This woman was wearing a slit dress rather than a robe, like many of the wizards that Merlin had seen around the college were wearing. And instead of a stave or a wand, she was carrying around an elegant-looking pipe with a red crystal embedded on the front of the bowl.
The crystal glowed slightly as she took a sip of her pipe, before exhaling the smoke into the room.. The smoke rose into the air beforepressing into letters, eventually causing a name to appear in the air before dissipating a few momentster, "Elore".
Chapter 183 - Element-ary, My Dear.
Chapter 183 - Element-ary, My Dear.
"My name is Elore, and I''ll be your instructor for this lecture," The woman said, "Wee to your orientation."
It seemed that little bit of showmanship had caused Merlin''s stream to explode, but upon looking closer, most of the spam consisted of the word "Mommy".
''Oh dear god,'' Merlin thought to himself as he turned his attention back to the lecture.
"I''ll begin by listing each of the elements, and in turn, I''ll give you a little bit of insight about myself," Elore said before taking another sip of her pipe.
Elore exhaled the smoke directly into the air, where it took the form of a small wyvern that began flying around for a few moments before dissipating.
"As you can see, I control smoke. Well, this is partially true," She said, "Rather, this is an advanced application of the air element, one of the six elements that a wizard can utilise."
"Air, Water, Fire, Earth, Light and Dark," Elore spoke each word out slowly, "These six elements make up the primal forces of this world, and as wizards, you will eventually learn to harness and weave this power to serve your own purposes."
"This is not to say that you can harness all of them at once. No, the life of a single human is much too short to even grasp the true mastery of one."
"Instead, you will dedicate yourself to one of the six elements, this is a process that we call attunement." Elore dered, "You will infuse your body and soul with your chosen element before setting out on the endless journey of magic."
A couple of the students let out faint noises of excitement, while others seemed to groan with anxiety.
"Some of you may be wondering how you will know if you made the right choice or not, or if you could change your element at ater time." She said, "The answer to that first question is that you''ll likely know when the timees, and for the second, while unnecessary in most circumstances, the answer is yes, although there are a number of caveats one must take into ount if they decide to do so..."
"For now, I''ll briefly cover the six elements and their functions, but the act of selecting the right element for you is often intuitive," Elore said before exhaling more smoke into the air, forming peaceful clouds above her head.
"We''ll start off with what most people consider to be the most destructive element, Fire."
"Often considered wild, destructive and unpredictable, Fire is often the first element a young wizard has in mind when consideringbat magic."
"The power to summon balls of fire, generate scorching heat, or summon white mes that burn so hot they can melt through armour. Fire is suited well for a battlefield, but if you wish to utilise this magic, be wary you do not lose control for the results may be catastrophic."
Most of the students seemed convinced that fire was for them, based on their excited muffled squeals.
It was understandable, throwing fireballs was one of the most iconic aspects of magic.
"Then we''ll move on to the antithesis of fire, Water. The element of adaptability, often considered to be more suited to a support role on the battlefield, however, do not underestimate thebat potential of a water mage."
"It doesn''t need to be said, but the power to protect from, and extinguish, mes are very valuable abilities to have due to the poprity of fire magic. The domain of water also gives ess to that of ice and snow. Spells of which hold incredible value in a wide variety of circumstances."
It seemed as though the teacher was leaning pretty heavily into the countering of the fire magic part, it was likely that too many wizards continued to choose the fire element each year and she was making an attempt to bnce it out.
"Next, we''ll talk about my element, Air. The element of freedom and mobility. Often disregarded and thought of as the weakest element amongst those without a strong grasp on magic."
"While it is true that air cannot split the earth in half or set countless forests aze, those who underestimate an air mage are often helpless when their feet are swept from under them by the raging force of a tempest." Elore said, "Some who practice this element eventually learn to harness the raw potential of the storm, allowing them to invoke the destructive force of lightning."
As she spoke these words, the clouds of smoke hovering above her head had darkened and the sound of rolling thunder filled the room, causing several students to audibly jerk back in their seats.
"Now, the sturdiest of the elements, Earth. The element of resilience."
"This is another element that is more support oriented in the eyes of many."
"Earth users often focus on defensive magic rather than offensive, but that is not to say that an earth mage cannot deal significant damage when required."
"For an element of magic that is so rigid, the earth element tends to have the widest reach in domains. Those who lean into earth magic may even find themselves influencing nature to a degree, and those with dwarven ancestry may find that you resonate well with crystals and ore."
"Now, this next one may ovep somewhat with the powers granted through faith, the element of Light."
"The element of purity, one that epasses not only the power of healing and purification but also the destructive potential of light."
"This element is very popr with members of the temple with magic potential, as it blends well with the powers granted to them by their gods and is very effective against some of the more dangerous enemies of humanity, such as the undead and demonic creatures."
Merlin immediately thought of Bibar, the Hecate worshipper who ravaged arge group of the undead with a rain of golden fire.
"Andst, but definitely not least, is the element of Darkness."
Merlin perked up, knowing for certain that this was the path he''d go down once more.
"Foolish individuals may consider the dark element to be that of evil, due to how many terrible monsters in this world harness it, but the dark element is just like any other."
"It is the user who bends the magic to fit their evil intent, not the other way around."
"The dark element is one of the least researched elements due to this stigma, but it holds domain over most of the magic you''ve likely heard about in stories.. The power of curses, the power to weave shadows, and although considered taboo by the temple, it also covers the power to raise the dead."
Chapter 184: Orientation Complete
Chapter 184: Orientation Complete
The room was suddenly filled with hushed whispers at the mention of necromancy. This was a hot-button issue due to the recent fall of Laconia at the hands of arge horde of undead and the sudden emergence of the Necropolis in its ce.
"Silence," The teacher ordered after a few moments, causing the room to quickly quieten down. "While yes, even though it may be considered controversial, the dark element is still a very viable source of magic."
"Now, moving on to how one acquires that source. Let''s briefly talk about attunement," She said, "Now, I''ve previously mentioned that attunement is the act of infusing your body and soul with your chosen element, now how we go about this is somewhat of aplicated process."
"There are a couple of steps that a wizard must take before acquiring attunement. The first step, and arguably the most important one, is that your soul must achieve proper resonance with the elemental magics of your chosen type," The teacher exined, "Some of you may know of this as the elemental trials, but for those unaware, it will be better exined once it is your turn to take the trials."
"Afterpleting your trial, the next step is to then infuse your soul with the chosen element," She exined, "You will be given a list of items that you must collect for the attunement ritual. Once you return with the items the attunement ritual willmence."
Upon her first exnation ending, Merlin received a quest notification.
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[Common Quest]
Attuned to the Elements I.
You''ve learnt that the next step in your wizard journey is to acquire attunement to a chosen element.
Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light or Dark.
These six elements make up the primal force of the world and learning to harness one of them will increase your power exponentially. The first step is to conquer an elemental trial, but to challenge it you must first improve your control over magical energy.
Speak with an instructor in the attunement room about taking an elemental trial.
? Requirement: You must have a level 2 or higher magic soul with the ?Attuned Element? skill equipped to challenge a trial.
? Reward: 200 Wizard EXP
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Merlin clicked the ept button on the quest window before continuing to listen to the lecture.
"With that, does anyone have any questions before we move on?" Elore asked before ncing around the room. It seemed as though nobody raised their hand, so she moved on to the next topic.
"Next up, we''ll talk about what most of you are excited for," She said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "The library."
"The library of this school is incredibly vast. Not only does it contain a wide variety of magic tomes, grimoires and spellbooks. It contains a copy of almost every book that had been circted around the major cities before the crisis." She exined, "There are also thousands of original copies of documents and research notes that you can ess, some more dangerous than others."
"Now, all of these resources are free to ess, of course, but arge majority of them have been sealed away until you improve your rank within the school, as indicated on your badge." She said.
A couple of groans could be heard from the crowd, it seemed as though some people weren''t fond of the idea that they wouldn''t be able to learn incredibly powerful magic out of the gate.
"This is for your safety, so don''t be too disappointed... Thest thing we need is another beginner wizard trying to learn gravity magic before mastering mana control." She muttered out loud, "Our poor cleaners have enough work as it is without having to scrape the ttened remains of students out of the crevices of stone brick."
"Now, do we have any questions in regards to the library?" Elore asked. "And before anybody asks. No, I will not exin the gravity magic situation in further detail."
It was at this moment that Merlin raised his hand, causing the instructor to look at him.
"Just the one question then, very well," Elore said. "What would you like to ask?"
"Of all the books and documents within the library, would any of them hold information on the ruins of this city?" Merlin asked.
"Oh? You consider yourself a bit of an archaeologist?" She said with a surprised look, "I suppose there would be some, although most of the information from that period has already been lost to time, so I''d doubt it''ll have exactly what you''re after, but you may be surprised."
"If you''re truly interested in the ruins, stick around after the lecture." Elore said with a cheeky smile, "There may be a teacher here who would love to meet with you."
Hearing these words caused yet another quest notification to appear before Merlin.
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[Hidden Umon Quest]
Archaeology Club.
Your question posed to Elore during the orientation lecture had surprised her but seemed to also give her an idea. She ims that she wishes to introduce you to a teacher and that if you''re interested she would do so after the lecture ends so long as you remain in the room.
Speak with Elore after the orientation lecture ends.
? Reward: 50 Wizard EXP
? Failure: The quest will be removed.
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Merlin was a little surprised that his question gave birth to a quest, but after reading over it, he epted the quest and gave Elore a nod, indicating that he had no further questions.
"Very well, now if nobody else has a question, we''ll move on to the next topic." She said, "Extracurricr sses and activities."
"This school holds arge variety of sses that you can take. Our most popr ones are alchemy and rune crafting. Enchanting is rather high on that list as well." Elore exined, "Apart from those, some teachers asionally hold sses to teach certain spells, although this may be restricted based on wizard rank or an appropriate price tag."
The mention of wizard rank caused groans once more.
"Something I failed to mention previously, but will bring up now since it''s still relevant." Elore said, "You can learn and use spells outside of your attuned element."
"If, for example, you decided that fire was the path that you decided was suited for you, any fire spells you learn will be influenced and benefit from that attunement." She exined, "If you also knew a spell from the air element, you would still be able to use that spell, however, it would be cast as if you weren''t attuned at all."
"There is however an exception to this," She said, "Spells of the opposite element to your attunement will be harder to cast."
"Using our previous example, a fire wizard attempting to st an enemy with a torrent of water will have to use twice as much mana to cast the spell." Elore exined, "This is due to the fire element within the user''s body fighting against the water element infused mana."
"The two elements are diametrically opposed and in most normal cases can never truly coexist." She said, "Although exceptions are always the case, such as the existence of an undead priest."
"Magic is truly a paradoxical existence that humanity will no doubt struggle to fullyprehend even hundreds of thousands of years from now..." She muttered before inhaling smoke from her pipe once more.
p??da n?vel "Finally, we''ll cover extracurricr activities," She said, "I''ve spoken plenty about wizard ranks, but never mentioned how one may go about upgrading their rank. Well besides just attending sses, here''s where extracurricr activitiese into y."
"Here at the wizard college, both students and teachers engage in research to further their understanding of magic. This research oftentimes requires materials orbour, and you may obtain points towards your wizard rank by providing them."
"Teachers often require an assistant or two during their research, experiments or rituals. If you''re up for the task and meet the requirements, you may be temporarily hired to participate." Elore exined, "Other times, they may need materials that cannot simply be found within the city, or a specific taskpleted and may request that someone perform the task in their ce."
"Lists of these requests can be found in the task hall, and everypleted task can be exchanged for points, along with any other rewards stated on the task sheet." Elore exined, "Students can also submit requests at the task hall, as long as they have the points or other items to submit as a suitable reward."
"And finally, once you''ve received enough points, you can spend them to upgrade your rank." She exhaled another cloud of smoke, "This will grant you ess to more advanced sses and resources. Perhaps even better tasks if ranks are listed as a requirement."
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Orientation day!", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"With that, your orientation is nowplete," Elore stated, "Now go research the world of magic to your heart''s content."
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Man, this game really is realistic.
[MOD] Quinntessential: That felt as long as an actual lecture.
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Chapter 185: Hey there Dalai
Chapter 185: Hey there Di
The room was quickly filled with the sound of students scampering out of the room as quickly as they could.
Merlin sat in his chair and watched as Elore blew smoke rings into the air before exhaling a cloud of smoke that quickly took the form of a small dragon. Her little smoke dragon flew through each smoke ring before dissipating into the air.
At that moment, the doors closed and the only two people in the room was Merlin and the instructor.
"Well, since you''ve decided to stick around, I''ll take it that you''re interested in meeting this teacher," She said before extinguishing her pipe. "Follow me."
Merlin hopped up out of his chair and made his way down several steps and rows of seats before reaching the stage.
Upon climbing the small set of stairs onto the stage, and making his way over to the teacher who was waiting for him, he found that he was quite a bit shorter than her.
He was previously looking at her from a high angle, and while she did seem rather tall from a distance, he didn''t expect that she would be a head taller than him, even without the heels she was currently wearing.
Elore gave Merlin a small smile before making her way to a door hidden behind the stage.
Merlin followed her while taking a nce at his stream once more, only to internally sigh in disappointment at his viewer''s behaviour.
Elore led Merlin through the room behind the stage and into another door that led into a hallway. She made sure that he was following her before she started moving again, quickly navigating the building and leading Merlin down a flight of stairs.
Merlin tried to memorise the path they were taking until Elore suddenly stopped in front of a door.
"And here we are," Elore said before tapping her pipe on the door.
A few momentster, Merlin heard the sound of paper being rustled before the clicking sound of a door lock.
Elore took a step back moments before the door quickly swung open, and a woman with messy blonde hair,rge round sses and dark bags under her eyes stuck her head out of the room.
"What do you want?" She crankily asked Elore with a tired tone in her voice.
It seemed as though this person had either not slept for a very long time or was just rudely woken up from her attempt to sleep. Either way, she didn''t seem happy.
"I''m here to introduce you to a new student," Elore said in a bright and chipper tone, it was clear that she was trying to annoy the angry teacher, perhaps she was just using Merlin as a reason for doing so?
"They asked me about the ruins in this city, and I thought you were the perfect person to talk to," Elore said, raising her voice before turning to Merlin, "Meet Di, you two are likely going to be the best of friends."
Elore said that moments before scampering off, leaving Merlin with the very angry looking Di.
''Woooow, that was petty.'' Merlin thought to himself.
Di turned to look at him, the dark bags on her face emphasised her bright green eyes, they almost seemed to be faintly glowing.
"Are you actually interested in the ruins of this city, or is she just making a fool out of me?" Di muttered.
"Probably both," Merlin said, "I am interested in the ruins, but I haven''t been able to find much information about them... Actually, I''m most interested in the door frame near the rangers guild, the one that glows during a full moon."
Di''s eyes lit up as Merlin muttered those words, and as a smile grew on her face, a notification appeared before Merlin.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Archaeology Club.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"You truly do understand!" She remarked, her previous cranky attitude was suddenly nowhere to be seen. "Although, I''ve got a theory that it''s not actually a door frame, but serves as some kind of--"
"portal to another dimension." Both Merlin and Di spoke at the same time, causing Di''s grin to widen even further.
"Sorry, I didn''t get your name," Di said, reaching her hand out for a handshake, although her hand was barely peeking out from her oversized robe.
"It''s Merlin, nice to meet you," Merlin said while shaking her hand.
"Merlin huh? What a wonderful name for a wizard." Di said before disappearing into her room. "Come in, I want to show you something,"
Merlin followed her in but found that he was wading through scraps of loose paper that had fallen onto the floor.
"Don''t worry about damaging those, they''re all garbage theories," She said while running towards a table that had a chunk of rock floating above it.
"Here, take a look at this," she said, pointing to arge sheet of paper spread over the desk and the floating rock. "I traced out the text above that door frame, and this piece of rock is part of a destroyed statue in the abandoned temple in Acacesium."
"I had requested some students go out and retrieve a piece when I read a report from the rangers guild about what happened during their raid." She said, "It detailed that all the statues had been destroyed, and since it''s a major sin to destroy the statue of a deity yourself, I figured it''d be okay to take a piece of one that was already destroyed."
"And look at this, the statues used to stand on podiums that had their names engraved in them, some of the letters used in this name match the letters used on the door frame." She said, pointing at the engravings on the rock.
Merlin quickly nced at his chat when he noticed highlighted text.
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[MOD] Quinntessential: Hey look, @As, they made you as an NPC.
[MOD] As: Shut up.
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"Unfortunately, I don''t know which god this text is referring to, so I''m no closer to mapping out thenguage or tranting the text on the door frame." She said, "So I''m thinking that I''ll likely have to visit the temple myself, rather than send people out to collect samples for me."
"The only issue with that is that I''m not very well suited forbat, so it isn''t safe for me to enter the wilderness alone." She said, "You mentioned the rangers guild earlier, would it be safe to assume that you''re the same Merlin mentioned in the rangers guild report?"
"Yeah, I was there," Merlin said.
"I knew it. Well, I''d like to put a request in," She said, "Would you be willing to guide me to the abandoned temple near Acacesium?"
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[Hidden Umon Quest]
Revisiting the Acacesium temple.
An archaeologist within the wizard college is researching the ruins of Megalopolis. She has discovered that the shattered statues in the abandoned temple near the frontier town of Acacesium may hold secrets that could help her with her research.
Safely guide Di to the temple near Acacesium and back.
? Reward: 500 Wizard EXP, 200 Wizard Points, ???
? Failure: ???
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"Absolutely," Merlin said, epting the quest immediately.
"Wonderful!" Di said, "I''d like to set out immediately if that''s alright with you?"
Merlin nodded in response, which caused her to scamper around grabbing a few materials and stuffing them into a bag.
"Give me a moment to get ready," She said while grabbing a staff that was slightly taller than she was.
While Di continued searching for items, Merlin swapped his equipment out. Recing his staff with Ghostsaw''s de and the wolf''s fang.
After Di finished getting ready, she led Merlin out of the building.
"Oh, by the way. I''m an earth mage who focuses on defence in a fight," She exined as she scampered out onto the street, "so I''ll support you as best as I can if we run into any trouble."
"Alright, sounds good," Merlin said while tapping his daggers, "I''m a front liner of sorts, so I''ll be fighting in melee range."
The two made their way to the gate leading into the wilderness, and after greeting the guards who were standing by, they made their way through the gate and onto the path to Acacesium.
"Give me a moment please," Di said before taking a few steps off the path and kneeling on the grass. She began chanting while rotating her staff, and a few momentster the ground began to gently rumble.
Rocks and dirt began floating into the air before suddenly beingpressed into small hardened shapes, those shapes were then crushed against others until the form of two horse-like creatures took shape.
With the tap of her staff, both horse golems seemed to suddenly spring to life.
"Earth golems?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, they''ll cut our travel time down tremendously," She said, "You didn''t n on walking there, did you? We''d also have to worry about carrying stuff back."
Merlin didn''t say anything in response, he just hopped up on one of the golems after Di had signalled for him to do so.
Chapter 186: Revisiting the Acacesium Temple
Chapter 186: Revisiting the Acacesium Temple
With the wave of her hand, Di had caused the two horse-like earth golems to start marching forward.
"I would rmend holding on," Di said while tightening her grip on the earthen beast.
Merlin took her advice to heart and did the same, and a few momentster the horses started picking up speed.
The benefit to travelling on golems rather than living creatures was that golems could travel great distances with consistency, they didn''t run out of stamina or faint from overexertion, they were essentially just machines that utilised mana as fuel.
It seemed as though Di had utilised quite a bit of mana to manipte both these golems, as they were now running at speeds much faster than what most horses could ever do.
While the scenery was flying past his vision, Merlin nced at his chat, seeing what was going on there.
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[User]...
[User] Queen106: Can yers learn this spell?
[System] Make sure to follow the channel so you''re always notified when I start streaming!
[User]...
[User] Brian_Simmons_3867: It seems pretty overpowered, who knows?
[User]...
[System] Type !rules in chat for a list of the channel''s rules, and !disc for a link to ourmunity server!
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Merlin continued to read chat while partially paying attention to his surroundings, and roughly twenty minutes in, he received a red alert box indicating that his ytime was going toe to an end rtively soon.
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[Message from the devs!]
Group one, there is only one hour left for today''s session, you will receive another notification when it''s time to log out.
If you do not leave by that time you will be forcibly disconnected, please make sure you''re in a safe location when you log out.
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Merlin swiped the window away and turned his attention back towards Di, who seemed to be showing early signs of mana exhaustion.
Merlin was somewhat impressed that she had held on for such a long time. It was clear that her mana pool was tremendous whenpared to his own.
The two arrived at the abandoned town of Acacesium a few minutester. Both Merlin and Di unmounted the horses, which were then promptly unsummoned.
Merlin watched as the two horse golems dissolved into piles of dirt beside him, and Di wiped the sweat from her brow with her oversized sleeve before drinking what appeared to be a mana potion.
"My god. This ce really is abandoned, huh?" Di said while looking around the town, "It''s one thing reading about it in a mission report, but it''s somethingpletely different when you see it first hand..."
Di spent a few minutes silently wandering around the abandoned town. She began exploring the houses, taking a look at the state they were left in and ended up identally scaring a family of foxes when she wandered into a room that was upied by the creatures.
Although it seemed as though Di was even more frightened than the fox mother, as she had stumbled backwards and knocked several pieces of cutlery off the kitchen table, causing the foxes to run out of the house.
"Oh, no. I''m sorry little foxes..." Di muttered as she watched the foxes leap out of a window and disappear. "...I didn''t mean to scare you."
Di''s slowly waddled out of the building with her head held low, it seemed that exploring the vige was putting a damper on her mood.
"Well, instead of getting depressed. How about we pay a visit to our actual destination?" Merlin said while pointing to therge temple in the distance. "That runic text isn''t going to decode itself."
Di nodded and followed Merlin as he made his way up the hill towards the temple.
Merlin cautiously took a look inside the building first, but there didn''t seem to be anything within it that immediately caught his attention or set off any red gs.
The two walked into the temple, where they were greeted with rows of shattered statues.
"Oh wow, this ce has seen better days," Di quipped while skipping towards what seemed to be the base of a statue, there was a partial namete on the base, the other half of which seemed to have been shattered into tiny stone fragments thatid at Di''s feet.
"A couple of these letters match up, I wonder whose name it was." She muttered before hovering her hand above the pile of shattered statue fragments.
After muttering a brief incantation, the stone shards began floating into the air,ing to a stop while hovering over the palm of Di''s hand.
The stone shards seemed to be shing together, slowly reforming into the state they held before being destroyed.
It took a few moments, but the other half of the namete had actually been fixed, and with another incantation, was slowly attaching itself to the base, forming what they both believed to be the name of a god in ancient Arcadian.
"Right... I still can''t read it," Di muttered while sketching down the runes. "We''ll have to build the statues so I can figure out which god is connected to which name."
Di pointed out that a set of feet were attached to the base, and that they just had to build the statue up with puzzle pieces that fit,
Both Merlin and Di had started picking up chunks of the statue, with Di focusing on repairing anything she could.
"That won''t fit, that''s clearly a woman''s thigh and that''s the torso of a man," Di started pointing out mistakes as the two tried figuring out which body part fit the specific statue they were trying to repair.
It was at the moment that Merlin had picked up what seemed to be a handful of stone grapes that he realised which god they were in the process of building.
"Dionysus. This text means Dionysus," he said while handing Di the stone grapes.
"Well, I figure out those letters, but there isn''t much else I can get from this." She said while attaching the grapes to the statue.
Before they continued, Merlin pointed out the statue that he remembered Callisto getting angry atst time, the one that had a shattered stone bow in front of it.
"There''s Artemis," Merlin said while pointing towards the statue base.
Di started repairing what little damage the namete had taken, but she eventually fixed it and started filling out more runes in her book.
"Very well, I''ll take your word for it for now," Di said before moving on to the next one.
The two spent the next ten or so minutes piecing together various statues until the identity of the god or goddess could be confirmed. After being confirmed, their names were added to the list and then they would move on to the next statue.
This continued several times until they came across a statue in much better condition than some of the others. This one seemed rather odd, as the base of the statue clearly showcased six feet, all facing away from each other.
Merlin saw various heads, torsos and legs scattered about the temple floor, it was clear to see which god this was, just based on the statue''s base.
"This is clearly..." Merlin muttered to himself before Di had walked over to him with the shattered upper torso of a goddess that was carrying a torch. "Yeah, that''s clearly Hecate."
Once again Di had repaired the nametag and started filling in runes when her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
"Merlin, Merlin, Merlin," Di shouted for Merlin toe and look at what she had found, it was as if her previous moment of sadness was but a mere illusion.
When Merlin peered over her shoulder at what she had found, he noticed it immediately.
"One of the words in the door frame, the entire word is just Hecate''s name?" He muttered out loud, causing several things to click in his mind in that instant.
"Wait, then that means..." He muttered to himself once more, "Doesn''t she?..."
"We worship her today as mostly the goddess of magic, but back in the day it seems she was much more popr for her other domains," Di said while jotting down notes, "The goddess of crossroads, who was also affiliated with the moon. But most of all, she was renowned as a goddess of the underworld and of the dead."
"A guardian who guides the dead to the afterlife with a torch in hand," Di muttered, "Although since necromancy is a taboo topic, that part of her is rarely ever mentioned."
"Then is it a portal to the spirit realm?" Merlin muttered, realising what had happened. "A door without a key..."
Di''s ears seemed to perk up at thatst line, but before she could say anything Merlin continued talking to himself.
"But the key, in this case, would be your soul..." Merlin continued, "But then why didn''t it allow the dagger or the goblin soul? Why is the portal blocked?"
¡¸The quest "A door without a key." has been updated.¡¹
Chapter 187: Uncovering Ghostsaws Secrets
Chapter 187: Uncovering Ghostsaw''s Secrets
Merlin immediately checked his quest information, and while immediately scrolling past the wall of text he was already familiar with, he saw a couple of extra lines added to the bottom.
©°©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
[Hidden Mythical Quest]
A door without a key.
Within Megalopolis stands several ruins from an ancient civilisation...
...
During a full moon, a strange spectral film seems to fill the space within the door frame, and for some unexined reason, souls and anything rted to them are unable to pass through the door frame, whether that be souls themselves or even soul-infused equipment.
It seems as though this door frame has some connection with the goddess Hecate and the spirit realm. Her name is clearly written on the stone frame in what you believe to be ancient Arcadian. What is the purpose of the door frame, and why is it blocked off?
Figure out a way of opening the mysterious door frame.
? Reward: ???
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
''So... It''s a portal to the spirit realm, of which Hecate has some sort of domain over... Right.'' Merlin thought to himself, ''So it''s likely that my interest in the door frame is the reason why she has suddenly taken interest in me, and why she requested me for help.''
''There is a veryrge likelihood that this has something to do with whatever had cut off Hecate''s connection with the temple and the prayers of her worshippers.'' Merlin thought.
''She suddenly returned after I messed around with the rift.'' He thought to himself, ''Something must be preventing her from interacting with the world. But that shouldn''t be possible, she''s a boundary diety.''
''There are too many holes in that idea... What sort of barrier could stop a boundary god but be slightly inconvenienced by some serial killer''s dagger?'' Merlin shook his head, ''Unless the de is a little more special than I originally thought... But that''s doubtful.''
"Di, as an earth mage, you have a spell for identifying the materialponents of a piece of equipment, right?" Merlin turned and asked Di, who was busy repairing another statue.
"I can... Yes." She said while finishing a repair, "Is this important?"
"It''s relevant," Merlin said while pulling the Ghostsaw de out of its sheath, "I would like to see what materials this de is made from."
Di reached out to take the de from Merlin''s hands, but it seemed the sudden drop in temperature from merely getting close to the de had caused her to retract her hand in surprise.
"It''s a little cold to the touch, don''t worry," Merlin reassured her while handing the weapon to her once more.
"While I do this, you''ll run around collecting statue parts to be reassembled, right?" Di asked.
"Of course," Merlin responded.
Di had picked up the de properly this time and sat down with it in herp. When she began chanting and focusing her magic on the de, it slowly began to hover slightly in the air.
Merlin let her do her thing while he started picking up chunks of rubble.
Several minutes went by, but the results of Di''s investigation hade in.
"So? How is it?" Merlin asked.
"It''s a special de..." Di said while handing the de back as quickly as she could, "First of all, it''s clearly infused with the soul of a ghost."
"But not only is it infused with the soul of a ghost, but the de also seems to have quite the strong affinity for the infused soul," She exined, "You see, it turns out that one-fifth of the de is refined soul steel, which is why it has such a strong bond with the infused soul, any undead soul would."
''Ahh, that makes sense.'' Merlin thought to himself. ''That''s why it reacted so strongly to the portal in the first ce.''
Soul steel is a special material that could be used in all manner of crafting recipes. It''s a metal that had been fused with necrotic energies to produce a material that implemented aspects of both. Ores of soul steel rarely form in areas with high undead activity, such as in a crypt, a dungeon full of undead or even within a necropolis.
This ore could be mined by yers for use in crafting, and it had quite a strong affinity with undead souls for the purposes of soul infusions. It was rather valuable for weapons in the early game, as it gave non-magical weapons the ability to damage certain ethereal creatures such as ghosts.
"Other materials that make up the de are mostly regr sword steel, but there are traces of cobalt and tungsten mixed in..." She continued, "But, the most concerning material in this de is what I believe to be blood... And lots of it."
''Oh, dear...'' Merlin thought to himself, ''How am I going to exin that.''
"It''s not even just that the weapon has been used to inflict several wounds in its lifetime... But blood seems to have actually been used as a material during its creation..." She said with a tremor in her voice, "Where did you get such a cursed weapon?"
"I received it from the corpse of a murderer who tried to take my life, but that''s not the important part." Merlin said while trying to brush the whole blood thing away, "This de is unable to pass through the mysterious door frame on a full moon... It''s as if there''s a barrier in the way that blocks souls and soul-infused items from crossing."
Di''s previously worried face had partially lit up at the mention of the door frame, and especially a unique behaviour that she was previously unaware of. Although it seemed that a part of her was still worried about the blood, and now the mention of a murderer.
"Alright, let''s finish up here," Merlin said while sheathing his dagger. "We can continue this conversation on the way back to the city."
Di nodded and quickly went back to restoring statues, although it seemed to just be enough to read the name tag and get an idea as to which god the name belonged to. And after a little while, it seemed that they were finally done.
"Got everything you need?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, let''s go back," Di responded.
As the two stepped out of the temple and made their way back to the abandoned vige, Merlin started exining what he knew about the door frame. But once he brought up the strange old man, that seemed to be the only thing that Di focused on, even when he had more things to talk about regarding the door frame, it was rather strange.
Di had stopped the conversation briefly while she began chanting a spell, causing rocks and dirt to float into the air beforepressing into the shape of two horse-like golems.
The two got on a golem each and began riding them towards the city. For the first few moments, there was silence between them, but Di spoke first.
"A door without a key," She said, "Did you hear this phrase from that old man?"
Merlin looked at her with a curious gaze.
"Yes, I did," He said, "Has the old man said the same to you?"
Merlin naturally assumed that Di had encountered the old man at least once while researching the ruins. He seemed to be very interested in the same thing that both of them were interested in, so it was only natural that they would cross paths eventually.
Even Merlin had met the man twice, and that was on both asions that he visited the portal during a fool moon.
"Yes," Di said, although it sounded like she was choking up slightly, "I''ve heard him say it once or twice."
The atmosphere between the two had gotten strange for a moment, but it quickly recovered and Merlin had finally exined more about the door frame, his antics with the dagger and also mentioned his experience with Hecate at the temple.
All of these points seemed to cause Di to go quiet as she thought to herself. It was likely that she woulde to a conclusion simr to that of Merlin.
as the two rode silently towards the city, now able to see that the wall was only a small distance away, a red alert box appeared before Merlin, informing him that he had five minutes to log out or be forcibly logged out.
Merlin swiped the notification message away as the horse golems began slowing down. Momentster the golems had stopped near the wall, and once dismounted by their riders, dissolved back into a mound of earth.
The two walked towards the gate, greeting the guards as they stepped into the city.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Revisiting the Acacesium temple.", rewards have been delivered.¡¹
"Thank you, Merlin," Di said, "I''ll be going back to my office to work on this trantion. Feel free to pay me a visit at any time."
With that, Di began walking away from Merlin who remained near the gate.
"Take care," Merlin said before walking in another direction, he slipped into a more quiet location, where he told his stream that it was time to go. "Thanks for watching everyone, I''ll hopefully see you all next week."
He turned his stream off before uttering themand to log out.
His body was quickly warped out of the game and into the ck void, Merlin went through the many steps of logging out before the machine finally freed him.
After escaping his capsule, Arthur made his way toward the briefing room and took a seat in his usual spot, greeting the developers who were finishing off their briefing notes before everyone woke up.
Chapter 188: Happy Birthday Holly!
Chapter 188: Happy Birthday Holly!
As the members of the first group began to enter the room, Arthur greeted his friends as they started filling in the chairs nearby where he was sitting.
The briefing was rather short, with the most important news being that wave four would begin next week.
This was the wave that contained many influencers, such as streamers, along with a wide variety of journalists that would be writing about the game from now on, with the strict exception of a few popr sites that Arthur had purposefully excluded.
This would also be the week where Holly and Quinn would take their first steps into the virtual world. But it was also the scheduled day of the group''s first raid on the necropolis.
The briefing ended with the usual top four, but the knight that Arthur was familiar with, SaintMRP, had found himself in fifth ce.
Once the briefing ended, all the groups began shuffling out of the room, while Arthur and his friends began talking about their cleric quest.
"It feels like a waste having this soul take up a slot," Alvira said, "It feels iplete without the blessing."
"On the topic of blessings, what gods did you guys have a high affinity for?" Mason asked, "My highest was Hephaestus."
"God of the forge, yeah that makes sense," Arthur said while thinking of the giant war hammer that Mason used as his weapon, "What about the rest of you?"
"Hades!" Both Alvira and Acai spoke at the same time, before turning to each other.
"I had thirty-four percent favourability, how about you?" Acai asked.
"Thirty-seven percent," Alvira replied with a smug grin.
"Well, I''ve also got thirty percent with Dionysus," Acai replied.
While those two continued their back and forth, Liam spoke up, "Ares, I had thirty-two percent with Ares."
"Fifty-six percent with Artemis," Rowan said, "And then twenty-two with Hermes."
"Woah," several members of the group said in surprise.
That one made sense to Arthur. Rowan was the one archer of the group, and a woman no less, it was understandable why her number was so high.
"Sixty-four with Artemis..." Maria muttered.
"What?" Both Arthur and Rowan retorted.
"Yeah, I don''t know either. I don''t even own a bow." Maria said with a sigh.
"Do you remember your second highest?" Arthur asked.
"It was thirty-something for Athena," Maria said.
"How odd..." Arthur muttered to himself.
"What about you?" Maria asked Arthur.
"That was a day ago, I can''t quite remember." Arthur said, "My highest was Gaia though."
"Because of the nt thing?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, most likely because of the nt thing," Arthur nodded.
The group eventually split up, and Arthur made his way towards Donovan''s car.
He checked for traps before entering the vehicle, and the two started driving home.
"Did anything interesting happen today?" Donovan asked after the usual polite greetings.
"I became a wizard and enrolled in a wizard academy," Arthur said.
"I thought you were already a ninja?" Donovan asked with a confused look on his face.
"Well, I could be a magical ninja," Arthur shrugged.
"A ninja that hides in the shadows, only to reveal himself immediately by throwing fireballs," Donovan teased, "Yeah, I see that working out pretty well."
Arthur shook his head before exining how the magic system worked briefly, listing out the six elements that you could specialise in and what sorts of things they would allow you to do.
"Ah, so you''ll pick the dark element to help you sneak around in the shadows," Donovan said.
"What about you? What would you pick if you were a wizard?" Arthur asked.
"Fire, it just has to be fire," Donovan said.
"The ssic wizard," Arthur said.
"Of course, nothing says fantasy more than a bearded old man in a robe hurling a giant fireball at a dragon," Donovan said, "Although, lightning is pretty cool too. It''s just too bad it''s tied to air."
The car eventually pulled up next to Arthur''s house, and he made his way inside after saying goodbye to Donovan.
He made his way upstairs and started his usual routine. He hopped on hisputer eventually, but before he started ying games, he started the application process for partner status for his stream.
Two days of school flew by without much happening. Some people outside of Arthur''s social circles had started talking to him, while Vasco was hovering around with an annoyed expression every time he saw Quinn walk by.
He didn''t seem to appreciate the fact he was banned from the stream and seemed to be looking for an opportunity to express his displeasure directly at those who banned him. Unfortunately for Vasco, however, Arthur''s group seemed to be the centre of attention, making it impossible for him to act without being seen.
On Wednesday, after arriving at school early in the morning and making his way to his locker, Arthur ran into his two friends, Holly and Quinn.
"Good morning," Arthur said moments before pulling a small box out of his schoolbag.
He quickly reached back into his bag to pull out the adhesive ribbon bow that had fallen off, and after sticking the ribbon back onto the box, he handed the box to Holly.
"Happy birthday," He said with a smile.
"Thank you," Holly said while receiving the gift.
Quinn immediately started looking over her shoulder as she started opening the box, and the first thing that came to her attention was arge gift voucher.
"See? I told you that you''re hard to buy gifts for," Quinn remarked. It appeared that he was referring back to a conversation they had prior to Arthur arriving.
"Gift voucher?" Arthur asked while looking at Quinn.
"Gift voucher," Quinn repeated while nodding, he then looked back over to Holly who was now looking at what else was in the box, the rest of the gift that was hidden under the voucher.
Inside the box was arge pile of stickers of varying colours, styles, shapes and sizes.
"How many stickers did you get? Jeez." Quinn remarked while watching Holly, who wasn''t even half way through the pile of stickers.
"There should be about five hundred I think," Arthur said while thinking, "There might be a couple of duplicates, but most of them should be unique."
Quinn coughed when he heard the number before shaking his head.
Holly seemed to be making a pile of her favourite stickers at the top of the pile, most of which just seemed to be the cute caricatures of the Egyptian gods that he bought the entire set of.
"I love them," Holly said while still flicking through the stickers, "But, I don''t have enough space to put them on."
"You''ve sticker-bombed almost everything in your room already, so I guess save them for when you get a car?" Quinn suggested.
"Well, it turns out you''re allowed to customise your capsule at the facility," Arthur said, "So feel free to sticker-bomb it on Saturday."
The mention of Saturday caused both of them to smile, it was clear to see that they were excited to finally y New Genesis.
The rest of the day flew by, as did the next Thursday, both days ending without anything out of the ordinary urring. But on the following Friday, thest day of school for the week, something different happened.
"She actually took a day off from school... I can''t even remember thest time she did that," Quinn said to Arthur, "And this time she isn''t even sick."
The two closed their lockers and began walking to their first ss.
"It just goes to show how important this is to her," Arthur said, "Although, I wonder which one she''d have picked if it was a choice between the museum''s private opening day and her first day in New Genesis."
"Probably still the museum," Quinn answered immediately.
"Yeah, you''re right. Stupid question." Arthur nodded his head.
The two checked their phones throughout the day, and their group chat had received several updates and even a few pictures, although none of the pictures were taken from inside the museum, likely due to their strict camera policy.
"Sounds like she''s having fun," Arthurmented as the two were making their way to theirst ss for the day.
"We''re stuck here doing math while she''s enjoying her time in a museum," Quinn groaned before reading a new message, "Oh, and they''re going to dinner after visiting the museum store."
"Well, you could have always tried to catch the interest of a princess too, I''ve invited you to enough events," Arthur said while poking fun at his obvious jealousy, "You always said no."
"Yeah, I wouldn''t fit in with those fancy parties, and they sound extremely boring," Quinn muttered, "Also, isn''t it always you who messaged the group chat saying that you''d rather be anywhere other than at those events?"
"It probably would have been more tolerable if I had a friend there to talk to." Arthur shrugged. "Who knows what could have happened."
The two entered the ssroom for their final ss.
Chapter 189: Wave Four Begins
Chapter 189: Wave Four Begins
Holly and Maria didn''te online for the rest of the day, and her regr posts stopped after they had left the museum.
The next day, Arthur made his way to the facility.
After saying goodbye and leaving Donovan''s car, he walked towards the building while scanning over the evenrger crowd that had formed around the buildingpared to the week prior.
There were several new faces, and some that he recognised, notably the streamers and lets-yers that were invited to y.
There were a couple of news vans parked around, and several people who weren''t part of the beta but were likely associated with some of the journalists who were invited had set up temporary pop-up gazebo tents and folding chairs near their vehicles.
It seemed as though a couple of the journalists and their teams were conducting interviews with some of the willing yers, some experienced yers from the earlier waves and others who hadn''t yet stepped foot into the virtual world.
He noticed Quinn and Holly standing around near the interview tents, alongside Maria and Acai.
Arthur approached the group and immediately noticed how excited Quinn looked.
"Hey guys, what''s up?" Arthur asked, "And why does Quinn look so excited?"
"You know that streamer he''s been obsessed with?" Holly immediately answered Arthur, and then pointed at one of the interview tents where an attractive brte was sitting."
"Oh, right," Arthur muttered to himself while nodding his head.
"Do you think it''d be rude to ask for a signature?" Quinn turned to Arthur and asked.
"I''ve got no idea, just... Don''t make it weird," Arthur said with a pitying look in his eyes.
"Don''t make it weird... Got it," Quinn muttered to himself while waddling awkwardly closer to the interview tent.
Arthur shook his head and turned to the rest of the group, where he noticed that Holly was ying with her new bracelet. It was a silver bracelet with a simplified design of Khepri''s symbol engraved into it, a scarab beetle holding the sun.
"Maria''s birthday gift?" Arthur asked, "It''s cute."
"Yeah, I love it!" She said with a smile, "She also bought me a giant dinosaur plushy."
"How giant are we talking?" Arthur asked.
"I had to leave it in the car while we went out for dinner, here let me show you a picture." She chuckled while pulling out her phone.
What Arthur saw was arge stegosaurus plushy that was almost as big as Holly was, taking up arge area on her bed.
"That''s a big dinosaur." He muttered.
"Yeah, he is," She giggled.
"You excited for today?" He asked.
"Yup!" Holly responded immediately, "I''ve memorised all the tips I''ve been given."
"Don''t open too many soul slots, don''t attack NPCs or other yers unless they hit you first, turnbat assistance off, pick a reasonable weapon at the start, and I know which quests I should be grabbing straight away and a vague idea of where to get them from," She started listing all the things she had been told while counting on her fingers, "And something about feeding a cat in a back alley."
"If you can find him," Maria spoke up, "He wasn''t therest time I visited."
"We won''t be able to meet up right away, but once you make it to Macedonia we''ll see each other more." Maria finished speaking, "We''ve got the raid this session."
"On the topic of the raid, where are you again?" Acai asked Arthur.
"I''m still in Megalopolis, I''ll be making my way to Macedonia after a quick visit to the wizard college." Arthur replied, "Are you guys all in Hysia?"
"We''re all in Macedonia I think, Mason said something about doing a cksmith quest before we parted, so I think he''s still in the city at least," Acai responded.
"Alright, well you guys are going to have to entertain yourselves for thirty minutes while I make my way over there," Arthur said.
"Is that him?"
"It looks like him."
Arthur heard whispers from the direction of where the interviews were taking ce, and as he turned his head he saw a couple of people staring at him.
He averted his gaze temporarily after noticing Quinn waddling back with a bright smile stered on his face.
"Did you get a signature?" Arthur asked him as he rejoined the group.
"Nope," Quinn responded, which made everyone''s expression contort into a look of confusion.
"Then why are you...?" Arthur muttered.
"I didn''t have anything for her to sign, but she promised to sign something I brought tomorrow," Quinn said, "I''m not sure if I should bring my poster or the limited edition keyboard."
"You mean the keyboard you haven''t cleaned in a year?" Arthur retorted.
"The one that is growing its own ecosystem underneath its keys?" Holly joined in, "That one?"
"Poster it is..." Quinn said as he lowered his head in embarrassment.
A couple of the people who were doing interviews had slowly approached Arthur, and were now hovering around him.
"You go by Merlin, right?" One of the interviewers asked, to which Arthur simply nodded his head.
"We''d love to interview you, the first person to share a glimpse into the game world." Another interviewer said.
Arthur saw the doors to the facility open just in time, giving him a valid excuse to deny the interview.
"Unfortunately, it seems you''ve caught me at a bad time, I''ve got to go." Arthur said with a slight smile, "Maybe next time."
"Oh, of course," An interviewer muttered as Arthur''s group walked away towards the doors.
"Unfortunately, we still have to wait an hour or so until we can get in," Holly muttered as Arthur, Maria and Acai followed a group of people into the facility.
Quinn seemed pretty disappointed when he was reminded of this fact.
"You also get to leave the game an hour after us too." Arthur turned around and said, which brightened Quinn''s expression somewhat.
"Don''t forget to add us after you log in," Maria yelled out, "You know my username."
Arthur''s group made their way into the briefing room and took their usual seats while the developers were preparing.
"So, you had fun on your date?" Arthur asked Maria, whose face had turned bright pink after he asked Holly about the bracelet.
"I did," Maria muttered while partially covering her face, "The museum was a great idea, thanks."
"No problem," Arthur said as his gaze shifted to the developers who took to the stand.
The briefing started, and it seemed as though they were trying to speed things along so that everyone could get into the game faster.
There was mention of the fourth wave, how arge portion of the new yers were influencers or journalists, and that new protections and moderation were being temporarily added to improve their first impressions.
There was also a mention that the server wouldn''t be up for a few minutes, as Gaia was still implementing a new update that even surprised them as it didn''t seem to be a bug fix, but rather an automatic content update.
This caught Arthur''s interest, as he wasn''t sure what the update was about or if he was the cause of it, and it didn''t seem as though the developers had any idea just yet either.
Eventually, everyone was led into the capsule room and was sent into the virtual world, or rather, just the white room he was familiar with. The server wasn''t open yet, so he decided to check out the private lobbies once more. As usual, there was the default lobby for beta testers, which Arthur joined.
Arthur''s surroundings went dark, and once he opened his eyes, he found himself at a beach resort with a nice tropical climate.
"I wanted the cat resort again," Arthur muttered to himself with a sad tone before walking straight towards a nearby tiki bar.
"I''ll have a pina cda with no alcohol, thanks." He asked an NPC working at the bar, and once he received his drink, he sat down on awn chair and waited for the game to finish updating.
Several minutester, the server came online and everyone suddenly dropped everything while rushing to join it.
Arthur finished his drink before pping the join button, where he was once again thrust into the darkness, before reappearing where he had left off previously.
Merlin found himself in a quiet location within the town of Megalopolis.
He quickly started his stream right away as the approximate hour window where he''d be the only one streaming was one of his only advantages now that he couldn''t monopolise the market.
There was still the benefit of being more skilled and performing more interesting feats, which would help him retain and even gain additional viewers, but the streamers with dedicated fan bases would have their viewership regardless of what Merlin did, and it was an unfortunate fact that he would lose a chunk of his viewers to them because of it.
But the other influencers would likely draw in a crowd that didn''t view Merlin''s original streams, and there was still the chance he''d grab the attention of curious drifters who wanted to see what other people were up to while their favourite influencer was learning the ropes or doing boring things like travelling.
"Hey guys, I''ll just be getting ready for the big raid today. We''ll be raiding in about half an hour or so," Merlin announced to his stream, "So stay tuned, we''ll be taking a shot at the Necropolis."
With that, Merlin made his way towards the wizard''s college once more while reading chat.
It was only now that he realised he didn''t have any other moderators for his stream, as both Holly and Quinn would be joining him in-game very shortly.
Chapter 190: Stocking up on quests again.
Chapter 190: Stocking up on quests again.
Merlin made his way toward the za where he saw a couple of robed figures carrying yet another group of ice sculptures away from the wizard college.
The culprit this time was sitting on a chair in the za while a smaller man in a pure white robe was tending to her wounds.
It appeared as though the aggressor had managed a single lucky hit on the wizard, as there was a bloody dagger lying on the za floor and the wizard''s robe was clearly stained with blood.
"Bloody immortal bastards, I''ll get Pyrena to incinerate their corpses next time." The ice wizard swore as Merlin walked towards the building. "I won''t be satisfied until I watch them choke on their own ashes."
''That''s an ice wizard with a fiery temper,'' Merlin thought to himself as he slipped into the wizard college.
Merlin walked toward the receptionist''s desk, where an older man was sitting patiently, waiting for Merlin to approach.
"Good evening, how can I be of service?" The receptionist asked with a kind voice.
"Hello, could you please point me in the direction of the task hall?" Merlin responded.
"Certainly," The old man said before muttering a brief arcane chant.
A few momentster, a ball of light had appeared before Merlin and began moving in the direction of a doorway.
Merlin thanked the older man before chasing after the orb.
Fortunately, the location of the task hall wasn''t too far away, and only after a couple of turns Merlin had found himself in arge room, oddly reminiscent of an adventurer or mercenary guild, albeit without the strong scent of old booze and smoke.
The room itself was somewhat packed, from individuals covered in various coloured robes to some wandering around in generic clothes, to even the one individual who was walking around wearing a full suit of armour.
There was arge desk at the far end of the room where several robed figures were sitting and speaking with those who approached.
There wererge bulletin boards lining the walls that were covered in sheets of paper that had been loosely pinned to them, each containing a unique task, the name of the requester, a list of the rewards and sometimes a list of requirements that one had to meet to undertake the task in the first ce.
Instead of doing what many of the other wizards in the room were doing, standing around staring at the walls of quest forms, Merlin walked directly towards the desk, and after waiting in line for a few moments, was greeted by one of the people sitting behind it.
"You didn''te with a form, did youe to make a request, or do you wish for a specific task?" The robed figure asked.
"I''d like a specific task, or a couple of tasks if more are avable," Merlin said, "I''ll be travelling to the Necropolis, I''d like to know of any tasks involving undead or other tasks specific to that region."
"The Necropolis, give me a moment, I''ll take a look," The robed figure said before muttering a chant.
Several strands of mana extended from the man''s fingertips, attaching to various forms throughout the room before they were suddenly reeled in.
Several sheets flew towards the robed man, stacking neatly in a pile in front of him.
"Let us take a look, shall we?" The man asked before flipping through the quest forms.
"Hunting down a demi-lich?" The man muttered to himself before ncing at Merlin, noticing his badge he quickly shook his head and threw the sheet onto a new pile.
"Vanquishing a Gravekeeper? No."
"Defeating an Undertaker? Certainly not."
The man shuffled through the stack of forms until only six remained.
"These are the remaining forms, which would you like to take?" The man asked while spreading them out for Merlin to see.
"ws of a ghoul, the flesh of a zombie, vampire fangs, ectosm, skeleton bones..." Merlin mumbled to himself as he read the quest requirements out for each, "and the arm of a zombie?"
"Strange tastes, but it''s not my ce to judge," The man said, "So, what would you like? There''s a line forming."
"I''ll take them all," Merlin announced.
"Overzealous," The man muttered as he stared at Merlin with annoyance. "Eh, what the hell, it''s your funeral. Another zombie for the Necropolis..."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Merlin said as he grabbed all six quest forms.
Several notifications appeared before him, and he epted them all.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[Common Quest] Rotten Flesh. a¡é Reward: 100 EXP, 100 Wizard EXP, 50 Wizard Points
[Common Quest] Wee to the bone zone. a¡é Reward: 100 EXP, 100 Wizard EXP, 50 Wizard Points
[Umon Quest] Give me a hand. a¡é Reward: 140 EXP, 150 Wizard EXP, 75 Wizard Points, 1 Gold
[Umon Quest] Ghoulish Grasp. a¡é Reward: 200 EXP, 150 Wizard EXP, 100 Wizard Points
[Umon Quest] Fangs for nothing. a¡é Reward: 180 EXP, 120 Wizard EXP, 100 Wizard Points
[Rare Quest] Ghost Goo. a¡é Reward: 250 EXP, 200 Wizard EXP, 140 Wizard Points
p??da n?vel aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
''Alright, that''s nine hundred and seventy experience, eight hundred and twenty wizard experience and five hundred and fifteen wizard points,'' Merlin calcted everything in his head. ''Oh, and one gold.''
He took his forms and made his way out of the wizard college, quickly finding his way into the za where he saw no trace of the ice wizard or the vindictive yers.
While he started walking towards the road to Macedonia, Merlin nced at his chat, seeing what was going on there.
"Hey guys, I''ll need a couple of new mods, Is anyone interested?" He said to the camera orb floating around his head.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[User] Invictus_1863: Sure, but what happened to the other two?
[User] SaintMRP: Sure! I''ll do it.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
"The other two are going to be in the game ying in about an hour, they can''t moderate the New Genesis stream anymore." Merlin said, "And Saint, aren''t you going to be logging in soon? Like in five minutes?"
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[User] SaintMRP: Yeah.
[MOD] Quinntessential: Hey, we''re still here!
[MOD] Quinntessential: And look who joined us.
[System] Moderator Quinntessential added BeBambi as a VIP.
[VIP] BeBambi: Helloooo everybodeeee~
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
''Oh dear god, he''s using my stream to flirt with streamers.'' Merlin thought to himself while shaking his head.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[User] ... : Is that the real BeBambi?
[User] ... : I clicked on her profile, and it is.
[User] ... : Bambi, are you going to be ying New Genesis too?
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
''And with a single greeting, she took over my stream chat," Merlin internally sighed, ''That''s the power of fame I guess.''
Merlin made his way to Macedonia, he asionally checked his chat just to see what was going on, but it seemed as though the streamer was there to stay, at least until she was allowed into the game.
''If he tries to invite her into our party, I''ll hit him...'' Merlin thought to himself, knowing exactly what was running through Quinn''s mind at that moment.
He quickly sent Quinn a private message.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[Priv] Merlin: Don''t even think about inviting her to our party...
[Priv] Quinntessential: Huh, why not?
[Priv] Merlin: I''m not going to waste time and resources carrying her, it''s obvious what''s going to happen.
[Priv] Quinntessential: She''s a famous gaming streamer, she''ll be a good teammate.
[Priv] Merlin: Remember that time you added that spy into our guild because you thought "she" was cute? And then "she" stole all our guild loot and ran off after you carried "her" to max level and equipped "her" in all the best gear.
[Priv] Quinntessential: Wait, it''s not the same. She''s got thousands of viewers watching, she wouldn''t do that, it''d hurt her reputation.
[Priv] Merlin: You own a poster of her, her overpriced themed keyboard and that dirty mousemat of her that you hide every time your parents enter your room.
[Priv] Merlin: Dude, you''re a mark. You know full well that her fanbase won''t criticise her for anything outside of announcing that she has a boyfriend.
[Priv] Quinntessential: ...
[Priv] Merlin: It''s not happening man, I know you''re not dumb enough to fall for it again.
[Priv] Quinntessential: Fine... But I''m getting that signature before I do anything to offend her.
[Priv] Merlin: Feel free to me me as much as you need.
[Priv] Quinntessential: I will.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
''That idiot never learns,'' Merlin sighed to himself, then chuckled when he remembered how heartbroken he was about the spy who ended up being a guy twice his age.
''I can''t afford to carry a leech, so he''ll just have to live with the tough decision," Merlin thought to himself, ''My time and resources are one thing, but my viewer base would be something difficult to get back if she leeched those too.''
''He wouldn''t be stupid enough to ditch us for her... Would he?'' Merlin had a strange thought that started to worry him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he continued down the road.
Merlin nced back to the stream chat, where he saw people finally talking about the game once more.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[User] Queen106: So you''ve stocked up on quests, what now?
[User] Invictus_1863: Time for the undead raid!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
"Now we''ll make our way to Macedonia, grab a few friends, maybe pick up another couple of quests on the way to the Necropolis." Merlin announced, "Then it''s time to ughter a horde of undead... and hopefully not all get mauled to death in the process."
As he wasing up to Macedonia, he received a message from Nora.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[09:40:32] Nora: Are you close to Macedonia?
[09:41:43] Merlin: I''m only a couple of minutes away, I can see the farms now.
[09:42:25] Merlin: Are you guys all grouped up?
[09:43:51] Nora: Mason is just finishing up on a quest, he''ll be ready in a few minutes.
[09:44:23] Nora: I mean Tiny, sorry.
[09:44:46] Merlin: It''s fine, I knew who you meant.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Chapter 196
Chapter 196
"This is too creepy," Alvira muttered quietly while brandishing her knife in a defensive position. She was cautiously looking around at the foliage surrounding the group, preparing herself for something to suddenly spring out at them.
"Just keep--" Snowbunny began to speak, but she immediately noticed movement in a thick group of foliage near her.
Her rapier was thrust towards the foliage with blinding speed, but the only response she received for her efforts was the pained cries of a small mammal.
"A little jumpy," Typhoeus muttered with a slight chuckle.
The group travelled further into the necrotic mist. It seemed to get thicker as they moved closer to the Necropolis, but only ever hovered close to the ground, creating a disturbing horror-esque atmosphere.
"It looks like there are two zombies ahead," Merlin said while signalling for everyone to stop moving forward. "Undead encounters are likely going to be verymon now, as we''re almost near the city. Let''s still try for stealth, we don''t want to alert every undead in the city, or we''ll be swarmed and mauled within moments."
"Yeah, I don''t really want to get mauled to death, just my personal preference," Alvira quipped.
"Take them out quietly and efficiently, we''ll use these ones as practice as they''re isted," Merlin said, signalling for Zankoku, Snowbunny and Alvira to take care of the two zombies.
Those three nodded and dashed forward, slipping in and out of sight through the various patches of thick bushes and shrubbery. Merlin observed as the trio made contact with the zombies.
Snowbunny, being the fastest of the group, lunged forth and ambushed one of the zombies with a flurry of sword strikes from her rapier, doing a fair amount of damage for a piercing weapon. It seemed as though she was aiming for the zombie''s muscles, rather than its vital organs, as when the flurry of blows had ended, the zombie fell to its knees, helplessly.
Arge dagger flew towards the zombie''s head, piercing it right through the eye socket. Alvira followed behind it shortly after, now brandishing what he could only describe as a meat cleaver. She plunged the cleaver straight through the zombie''s skull, splitting it in half.
Thest participant of this trio slid out from the bushes, on the opposite side of the zombies to the girls. After clearly observing that the zombie was locked in on Snowbunny, as she was the first to appear, it had its back to him, giving him a perfect opportunity to strike.
Zankoku unsheathed his de as he lunged toward the monster. His first strike connected, severing the zombie''s torso from its legs.
After quickly recovering from the back swing, and well before the zombie''s torso hit the floor, he muttered an incantation before he shed at the zombie once more, liberating the creature''s head from its torso.
''They''re efficient,'' Merlin thought to himself, ''Honestly, it''s hard to believe that they''ve been ying this game for only a few weeks now, their development speed is incredible.''
"Why''d you just send those three out?" Typhoeus asked.
"They''re the fastest attackers in the group." Merlin responded, "Tiny''s and your weapons are cumbersome, and Nora''s long-ranged attacks won''t be that effective against higher-level undead."
"They''ll be our strikers if we need to deal with some isted monsters, you guys should hold the fort, guard the escape route and provide backup when required. We''ll need to save Tiny for bigger threats, like any monsters that need bludgeoning damage, and your weapon would be hard to use in tight alleyways." Merlin said, "This is just the most efficient method, and it''ll likely result in us living through the worst-case scenario."
"Fair enough," Typhoeus responded. "What about you?"
"I''ll assist them if there are too many to deal with, but I''ll be focusing more on utility and guidance if possible," Merlin responded.
"Themander and strategist of a raid team." Typhoeus remarked.
"Precisely." Merlin said, "And healer if we need one."
The trio who dealt with the zombies had just made their way back to the group, Alvira was still wiping zombie gore off her dagger and cleaver.
"How''d we do?" Zankoku asked Merlin.
"You did great. Fast and efficient, perfect for our striker team." Merlinplimented them.
"Striker team?" Snowbunny asked.
Merlin briefly exined everything he had just informed Typhoeus, Tiny and Nora about.
"Right, so our priority is clearing a safe path for the group, right?" Alvira asked.
"That''s a big factor for this raid, yes," Merlin responded, "If we can avoid getting swarmed by trash undead our lives will be much easier."
"Alright, let''s do this!" Alvira shouted, to which she was shushed by everyone almost immediately.
"Stealth... Be stealthy." Typhoeus muttered to Alvira while giving her a look of concern.
"Don''t worry, I got this." She responded.
The group continued through the valley, finallying across the first hints of an intelligent civilisation, roads and fences.
"We''re here... Wee to the Necropolis," Merlin muttered as he stepped onto the road. His hands were wrapped around the handles of his sheathed daggers.
The group all brandished their weapons as they stepped onto the road that led into the city.
Their surroundings quickly shifted from the lush foliage to what was likely once the perfect example of a medieval city, now turned to ruin.
Large houses made of stone, brick and wood formed the main sight as the group nced around the city. It was clearly once a prosperous city, likely benefitting from its geographical position and all the abundant natural resources surrounding it.
What was once a thriving city, however, was now a deste ghost town, where nothing but a few undead roamed every other street.
The striker team dealt with any undead they came across as the group travelled further into the city.
They seemed to arrive at what was once an open za in the jungle of buildings that seemed to double as a local market area. There were plenty of stalls scattered around the ce, each seemingly featuring some sort of item or produce for sale. Therge market itself had several undead crowding around it. Rather, it was thergest gathering of undead that the group had seen since they entered the ursed city.
The scent of rotting produce andrge amounts of blood filled the air, creating a nauseating concoction that almost drove Nora over the edge with a single whiff.
"A ughter of all the civilians," Merlin muttered, "It was a massacre."
From the red-dyed stone floor to therge crowd of undead, it would have been obvious to anyone what events urred at the market.
A small squeak escaped Snowbunny''s lips. Merlin quickly turned to face her, but he quickly noticed that her attention was locked on something within the market.
Following Snowbunny''s line of sight, Merlin''s eyes locked onto the figure of what seemed to be a little girl.
The little girl turned around, allowing Merlin''s group to observe its appearance. The girl was quite obviously a zombie, if not for the fact that it seemed to be at home amongst the walking dead, half of its face had been eaten off.
As the little girl shambled around, the stuffed toy that was hanging from their belt swayed back and forth. It was some sort of bipedal bear that had likely seen better days.
"Right, let''s backtrack." Merlin said, "We don''t want to attract this horde."
The rest of the party nodded, and they quietly retreated from the infested marketce.
"What if there are zombies hidden in the houses?" Zankoku asked.
"Well, then it''d be best if we didn''t get their attention," Merlin said, "Having them banging on windows or shattering ss will announce our general location to every zombie in the area."
"And if that happens?" Zankoku asked.
"Then we run like hell," Typhoeus interrupted the conversation.
"What he said," Merlin said, agreeing with Ty.
"Understood," Zankoku nodded.
After ying a few more small groups of undead, the raid team had gotten a little further into the city.
"This was easier than expected," Alvira said, "Although I was hoping there would be more variation in monster types, all we''ve been doing so far is killing zombies. I thought there were going to be vampires or skeletons at the least."
"Hold your horses, we haven''t even gotten close to the city centre yet, let alone the western side of the city," Merlin said while trying to ensure that she didn''t get too cocky. "Most of the higher level undead will be in dungeons underneath the city, like in a catb or cave. But that doesn''t mean that there won''t be threats above ground..."
"Why the west?" Nora asked.
"That''s the direction where the undead had originallye from," Merlin exined, "Therge wall that separates the eastern region from the monster-infested wilderness ends abruptly before reaching the city."
"There''s also a convenient bridge that spans the river. I''d imagine that''s where therge majority of high-level undead monsters are." Merlin said, "Or to the northwest, to the town of Sparta that is rather close to this city. That town was also overrun by the undead."
"Zombie Spartans?" Typhoeus asked with a surprisingly excited expression on his face.
"Calm down, we''re not rushing off to Sparta just yet." Merlin said, "We''d get steamrolled, our levels are barely enough for this area of the Necropolis."
"Aww," Typhoeus muttered with a sad sigh.
At that moment, Merlin could feel faint vibrations in the ground underneath him, followed a few moments after by a faint thumping sound.
The vibrations and noise grew in power each time they urred, after a few moments, it was strong enough that most of the group could feel them.
Something clicked in Merlin''s mind, and his eyes suddenly widened.
''Oh, crap.'' He thought to himself.
Chapter 197
Chapter 197
"Everyone follow me, now!" Merlin yelled before thrusting his hand into his inventory, pulling out his beginner lockpicks.
Merlin quickly scanned the area for a house that could be used as a base, he was especially cautious about houses that showed immediate signs of being breached by the undead forces. He quickly found a house that looked safe enough, so he dashed towards it.
The rest of the group quickly followed, unsure as to why Merlin was suddenly acting so frantic.
''Crap, crap, crap.'' Merlin thought to himself as he forced his lockpicks into the door''s keyhole.
He attempted to calm his breathing, knowing full well that rushing himself while lockpicking would cause him to mess up and lose his progress, but the thumping sound was getting louder.
After a couple of failed attempts, Merlin finally heard the click he desperately wanted. He quickly pushed the door open and leapt inside before signalling everyone else to do the same.
Everyone suddenly piled into the building. Merlin tried to release his lockpick from the door before he closed it, but it seemed to be stuck. In Merlin''s haste, he attempted to quickly wiggle the lockpick free, but the additional force alongside the already poor durability caused the item to snap.
"Damn it," Merlin muttered, ripping half of his lockpick from the door before closing it.
"The curtains, close them quickly!" Merlin ordered in a hushed voice. "Cut off the line of sight to the street!"
Snowbunny quickly closed the curtains, although the material was clearly more decorative than for privacy, it still provided some small degree of protection.
"Everyone find a hiding spot, don''t leave yourself exposed to the street and be very quiet!" Merlin said in a hushed voice once more before grabbing a nearby chair and blocking off the door.
The rest of the group did as they were told, and Merlin quickly followed his own advice, ducking behind a cupboard.
Typhoeus, Snowbunny and Alvira quicklyid prone underneath the main window frame that was covered by the decorative curtains. Tiny and Nora dashed into an adjoined room, and Zankoku vanished up a set of stairs.
"Remain perfectly still until I say it''s safe," Merlin whispered as the thumping sound became rather loud, the vibrations were causing some of the decorations filling the abandoned house to shake around, and Merlin could hear faint metallic nging from the adjoined room. It sounded somewhat like metal cutlery being shaken around.
Whatever was making the sound was getting extremely close, and then the light seeping through the curtains was suddenly cut off as if something obscenelyrge had parked itself in front of the window.
Merlin calmed his breathing and began hiding his presence before barely peeking out from around the cupboard. What he saw immediately quelled his suspicions.
''I knew it, it was a bloody Gravekeeper.'' Merlin thought to himself while staring at the heaping pile of rotten flesh that was just outside of the window.
A shudder ran through Merlin''s body as arge bloodshot eye suddenly opened. The eye gazed through the curtain-covered window and began scanning the interior of the building.
Merlin kept perfectly still while continuing to hide his presence, and for a moment he could have sworn that the monster''s eye had locked on him, but it quickly closed moments after.
The heaping pile of flesh crawled away from the window, causing loud thuds that echoed throughout the house, making a mess of the building''s furniture.
As the heaping mound moved past the window, light seeped back into the room. Merlin could see that his three friends who wereying stiff as corpses underneath the window were sweating bullets.
''It probably sensed their life energy, since they were too close...'' Merlin thought to himself, ''That was a close one.''
When the stomping creature was far enough away, Merlin finally gave the signal that it was safe to move, although he mentioned that everyone should still be rather quiet.
The group all gathered upstairs where Zankoku was hiding, and they sat around while catching their breath.
"What the hell was that?" Alvira asked Merlin, who clearly knew what was going on.
"That was a Gravekeeper." Merlin said, "A heaping ball of flesh and necrotic energy, and thest thing you want to encounter when raiding an undead zone."
"Could you borate further?" Alvira asked. "What does it do? Why did you suddenly freak out? Is it the boss of this area?"
The group all turned to Merlin, waiting for a response.
"Well, firstly no, it''s not a boss," Merlin said.
"What? That wasn''t a boss?" Typhoeus said, "I could feel how strong it was through the wall."
"Nope, not a boss." Merlin repeated himself, "Think of it more as an obstacle to avoid rather than an encounter."
"Why didn''t we just run away?" Nora asked, "Did we need to hide in a house?"
"There''s a reason we hid, and I''ll go further into that, but first I''ll exin what it does," Merlin said, shifting into lecture mode. "So, a Gravekeeper''s purpose, to put it simply, is to eat corpses and create undead."
"Right, so it makes more zombies... That doesn''t exin why you were so jumpy." Alvira said.
"Besides making more undead, including higher level undead, the Gravekeeper itself is an extremely high-level undead. From what I saw, I believe that the Gravekeeper is stronger than any monster we''d find in the necropolis, perhaps aside from the boss." Merlin exined.
"But its overwhelming strength isn''t what makes it terrifying. Gravekeepers have the ability to alert all nearby undead in a massive range, which means getting targeted by one means you''re likely fighting every single undead in a region unless you have a means of silencing them."
"Wait, every single undead in the region?" Typhoeus asked, "So if that thing screamed in the city, how far would it go?"
"I believe it''d alert every undead in the Necropolis. Maybe even the neighbouring town of Sparta, depending on the Gravekeeper''s level." Merlin answered.
"Oh shit." Alvira said, "So, why did we hide and risk getting caught instead of running away?"
"Because we''d likely be running through the path we came from, or at least near it, as that''s the only way out that we''ve cleared." Merlin began exining once more, "The issue with that is that the streets are now lined with the corpses of undead monsters. And when the Gravekeeper finds those corpses, it''ll fly into a rage and follow the path we created, easily catching up with us and attracting nearby undead to block our way."
"Oh god, this thing sounds terrifying," Snowbunny said. "And you only decided that now was the time to inform us of this?"
"Well, the Necropolis is newly formed." Merlin said, "I didn''t expect a Gravekeeper to generate so quickly."
"But there are so many undead in this ce, wouldn''t that thing be making them all?" Alvira asked.
"Undead can form through necrotic energies or necromancy, provided the conditions are right." Merlin corrected her, "The formation of a necropolis, and a city full of helpless civilians to use as catalysts, those are prime conditions for a surge of undead to appear."
At that moment, the group heard a metallic-sounding cry, it was an obnoxiously loud piercing sound that sent a wave of fear through their bodies.
"The Gravekeeper found the corpses..." Merlin muttered.
"What do we do now?" Tiny asked.
"The tracking cry isn''t asrge of a range as the detection cry, but a massive wave of undead will start moving towards our exit." Merlin said, "We''ll stay in the house until the Gravekeeper calms down and a majority of the undead begin to scatter."
Everyone nodded at Merlin''s decision and they all began to explore the house that they found themselves in.
The house was ratherrge for a house near the edge of the city. It had two floors, the bottom floor contained the guest or entertainment area, the kitchen, an adjoined pantry full of rotting produce, the bathroom and the bathing area.
While the top floor contained a guest bedroom, an office and a storage room full of wilted nts and herbs.
"Ah, it seems like the people who lived here were alchemists of some sort, or perhaps just herbalists," Merlin muttered as he picked up the wilted stem of what he believed to be White Horehound. "It''s a shame the necrotic energy has infested this ce, they seemed to have quite the stockpile."
"Hey Merlin,e help us with this." Zankoku''s voice rang out, causing Merlin to leave the storage room and check what he was being called for.
Tiny, Alvira and Typhoeus were standing around the only door on the upper floor that hadn''t yet been opened.
A faint jingle rang out as Alvira turned around to face Merlin.
Merlin''s eyes quickly found the source of the noise, a bag full of a random assortment of knives hanging from Alvira''s belt, ranging from a steak knife to a handful of butter knives.
"Those are all temporary items, you know that right?" Merlin asked.
"You never know when they''lle in handy," Alvira responded.
"If you jingle like a Christmas tree, in a location where we can''t afford to attract too much attention, I''d say not handy at all," Typhoeus remarked.
While Alvira and Typhoeus began their bickering, Merlin turned to the proper adult of the trio and asked why he was called over.
"Could you pick this lock?" Tiny asked, pointing at thest door.
"Sorry, no can do, I''m afraid," Merlin said, "I broke my lockpick trying to get into this ce."
"I guess that leaves us with the option of busting the door down, but I don''t want to alert a swarm of zombies." Tiny responded.
Chapter 198
Chapter 198
Merlin walked to the end of the corridor they were all standing in, towards the window overlooking the street they entered the building from. Peering into the street he saw a few undead wandering around, but nothing too worrisome.
"We may be in the clear, there isn''t many down there," Merlin said, "Let''s block off the front door with something sturdier than that chair, just in case."
"I''m on it!" Both Typhoeus and Alvira responded, quickly dashing down the stairs.
The rest of the party began gathering around the door at that point and they could all hear the faint scraping sound of furniture being slid across a wooden floor.
Merlin continued to peer into the street, and once he saw the zombies wander further away from the house, he gave Tiny a thumbs up, indicating that it was safe for him to start.
Tiny pulled his hammer back as everyone made space in the hallway, and with a heavy swing, apanied by a deep grunt, Tiny''s war hammer struck the doorknob, letting out a loud bang.
The area around the doorknob was reduced to splinters and the doorknob itself, alongside the locking mechanism that was attached to it, had been sent flying into the next room.
Everyone within the building went silent the moment the sound rang out, all of them hoping that nothing had been alerted by the noise. Nobody else even dared to move, although Merlin decided to peek at the city street once more.
On the street, he noticed a group of three zombies wandering toward the house, but it seemed as though after only a few moments they gave up and began wandering past it.
"I think we''re safe for now," Merlin whispered to the group as he walked slowly over to them. "Let''s see what we''ve found."
Tiny pushed what remained of the door, only to find that it was still being blocked. After pushing the door with some more force, he heard the familiar sound of furniture scraping across the floor. But not long after, the door was open and the group could now make their way into thest room.
The first thing Merlin noticed as he entered the room was the strong scent of herbs, the room had an overwhelming medicinal smell.
"It smells like a hospital in here," Snowbunnymented. She took a few more steps into the room and then suddenly froze.
In front of Snowbunny were two individuals, oneying in arge bed, and the other sitting on a rocking chair beside them. What had caused Snowbunny to freeze, however, was the state that their bodies were in.
It was clear to see that the two individuals were corpses. Fortunately, they didn''t show any signs of bing undead. They had both somehow retained their mortality in the middle of the Necropolis.
Merlin slowly approached the corpses and began inspecting the one on the bed first, as it was the more gruesome sight.
The oneying in the bed was a middle-aged woman with a soft, pain-free expression on her face. Most of her body was covered by what were originally white bedsheets, now stained with arge dark reddish-brown patch of blood where the woman''s stomach would be.
Within the centre of this blood stain, thrust into the sheets and by extension, the woman''s abdomen, was an ornate dagger. The dagger stood vertically as if it were Excalibur lodged into a stone, practically inviting someone to pull it out, and yet Merlin didn''t have any intention of reaching for it.
Merlin heard a crunch under his foot when he stepped closer to inspect the woman''s face, and as he looked down at the ground he noticed the shattered remains of a teacup. Bending down, he picked up thergest piece of the teacup, and as the sunlight from the nearby window shined upon the ceramic, Merlin noticed a somewhat sparkly residue coating the inside of the teacup.
This particr sheen was somewhat familiar to him, as he had seen it several times already, even in this lifetime.
''Holy water?'' Merlin thought to himself, ''So they consumed holy water to protect their bodies from the necrotic energy?''
He looked towards the bedside table, which had a teapot resting on a tray, alongside a spare teacup. Peering into the teapot, he saw several wilted herbs, from those he could identify he quickly deduced what sort of concoction they had made.
''Mostly pain relief and sleep inducement.'' Merlin thought, ''No wonder the woman looks like she died so peacefully.''
Merlin turned to the middle-aged man sitting on the rocking chair. The man''s cause of death was also rather apparent, his throat was slit open, meaning he likely either choked on his own blood or died of blood loss.
The man''s expression was vastly different to the peaceful expression of the woman. Even after death, Merlin could still detect the suffering the man must have felt, but the strongest emotion he could feel was regret.
The murder weapon was also easy to find, as the blood-coated de was still being held in the man''s hand. Merlin nced at the man''s other hand and quickly noticed a blood-stained book that was leaning against the chair''s armrest.
"What''s the story here?" Typhoeus asked as he walked further into the room with the rest of the group.
Merlin turned to look at his friends, he could tell that a couple of the members were rather ufortable with this scene, especially Nora.
"I don''t know for sure, but I could make an educated guess..." Merlin said before reaching for the blood-stained book, he quickly flipped it open to a random page and quickly noticed that it was a personal diary. "But I''d imagine this diary would give us better answers."
Alvira walked toward the womanying on the bed, it was very obvious that her eyes were locked on the ornate dagger sticking out of the woman''s stomach.
"Don''t touch it," Merlin warned her.
"Why not?" Alvira asked, likely thinking that he wanted to take it for himself.
"See the religious symbolism on the de''s design?" Merlin said, pointing towards the dagger. "That''s a very strange thing to use as a murder weapon, especially when he had a perfectly viable knife to use already."
"There might also be a reason as to why he left this de stuck in the woman, let''s read the diary to figure out if there was before we start messing with anything," Merlin said while waving the diary around.
Chapter 199
Chapter 199
"Fine, start the lecture already," Alvira said as she sat on a small cupboard.
The rest of the party gathered around, sitting infortable positions around the room, with most of them deciding to just sit on the floor, Merlin included.
As Merlin opened the book, a donation notification popped up in front of him.
¡¸"Here_4_a_good_time" has gifted 1337 tokens with the message: "Wooo! Storytime!"¡¹
Merlin waved the notification away before flipping the pages and briefly skimming the earliest diary entries. The first part of the diary waspletely unrted to the Necropolis, mostly detailing the happenings of the couple''s little apothecary, discovering new ingredients on the market and new effects, and a couple of details rting to their interactions with customers.
"Well, what does it say?" Alvira asked.
"I haven''t found any entries rting to the Necropolis yet, be patient," Merlin said as he flipped to the next page.
The next entry was focused on the young daughter of one of the neighbors who lived across the street. It seemed as though the little girl frequented the couple''s apothecary with toothaches due to her love for sugary treats.
The next couple of pages mentioned various interactions between the young girl and the diary owner''s wife, such as the time when she had worked on developing a sugar-free alternative sweet for the young girl.
An entire page was dedicated to the time the young girl had walked in just to show off her new toy, some sort of bipedal bear with oddly long ears, and the wife had asked her what its name was. It described how the two worked together for fifteen minutes toe up with a name, it seemed the girl was happy with the wife''s suggestion of Cinnabun. She exined that night that it was named after the girl''s favourite sweet, and also referenced the colour of the teddy bear''s fur, and the odd bunny-like ears.
ording to the following diary entry, that same night the wife expressed her desire to have a child of her own.
"So... Anything else?" Alvira asked.
"The young girl we saw in the market..." Merlin muttered.
"The zombie girl with the teddy bear?" Snowbunny asked.
"Yeah, her teddy bear is called Cinnabun," Merlin responded.
The group went silent for a moment, and then Alvira spoke up once more.
"You read for that long, for the name of a zombie''s teddy bear..." Alvira muttered.
"I still haven''t gotten to the Necropolis entries," Merlin said.
"Then skip to it!" Alvira expressed her irritation.
Merlin quickly skimmed through the next couple of pages, where it was confirmed that they had both agreed to finally have a child.
After flipping through several more pages he finally found a page rted to the Necropolis, and at this point, he began reading it out loud.
He described how the city had started locking down after reports of arge undead army were approaching, residents were informed that the city would be on high alert and that the city guards and local knights would protect them. But before the fighting had started, arge portion of the nobility living in the city centre had moved out of the city temporarily for their own safety.
Once the fighting had started, tensions within the city were high, but a high degree of faith was ced in the city''s defences. Life went on as usual for the next few days, with news of the city guards being slowly pushed back by the undead force, which increased the city folk''s unease.
Speaking with their customers every day had caused a great deal of concern within the apothecary couple, they began speaking about moving to Caphyae or Macedonia, but the wife was in thest stages of pregnancy and the trip would be rough on her, with the risk of having to give birth on the road.
Alongside the risk of giving birth, the thought of abandoning their customers and their home was a difficult choice for them both, they decided against moving, noting that the risk was much too high now and they could only wait out the attack and hope reinforcements arrive in time.
A curfew was eventually ced on the civilians, and they were instructed to stay within their homes when possible.
The group all had darkening expressions as Merlin continued to read the diary''s pages.
News of the city''s defence breaking had spread within the city, causing arge degree of panic amongst the citizens. The city officials implored everyone to stay within their homes, noting that the breach had been contained and that the undead army had been pushed back out of the city, but several families refused to stick around and decided to flee the city before it was overrun.
Days went by, with no news from the western region of the city, or the defence efforts, spreading to the eastern region, which caused a great deal of difort to those living in fear.
Until one day, news finally broke, the city guard had been destroyed, and even the warriors sent from Sparta had been overwhelmed by the undead force. The final order from the city officials was to defend your home and wait for reinforcements from the temple, lock the doors and board up as much of your residence as you could.
The next several entries of the diary covered the happenings of the days that followed, families all locked themselves in their own homes, utilising what little supplies they may have had stored up while waiting for reinforcements that did note.
The husband recounted the terror he felt as he watched a horde of undead march down the once lively street outside of his home. He constantly worried about what would happen if the undead stormed into his house, although he did his best to seal it up, he was still unsatisfied with his own safety, and the safety of his wife and soon-to-be newborn child.
"Oh god, what a terrifying situation..." Snowbunny muttered, "Being locked in your house, helpless as you''re surrounded by monsters, and where one wrong move would have your house broken into, and your family eaten alive..."
The rest of the group showcased a range of emotions after hearing several pages of the diary''s entries, but alternatively, the stream seemed to be enjoying the storytime.
"Right, so I assume we''re close to what happened to the couple... Continue." Alvira spoke up, it seemed even she, who previously showed no emotion at the happenings of the game up until this point had be somewhat invested in the couple''s story.
Chapter 200
Chapter 200
Merlin continued to read through the pages, the beautiful handwriting that described every detail of the events that urred quickly began to warp in theing pages. Some pages were almost manic scribbles, clearly showcasing the stress the old man was under. But he continued to diligently scribe his life story.
As food storages shrunk, with no end to the lockdowns in sight, several neighbours were pushed to act in their desperation.
Some families turned to abandonment to continue their lives, throwing out the elderly onto the street into the swarms of undead, merely to secure their next meal. While other families decided to escape the situation together, and when the streets seemed clear, began their escape.
There were several pages dedicated to each time the husband noticed one of their neighbours attempt to escape the city. Every single article ended the same way, the families ran into an alleyway that seemed safe, only to be ambushed momentster by the undead, surrounded and then violently consumed.
Merlin began skipping through the pages until he skimmed over a line that mentioned the young girl once more.
The pages described how before the family could even move a couple of metres from their house, they were ambushed by one of the corpsesying on the street.
One of the neighbours who had previously been killed in their escape attempt had suddenly sprung to life, grabbing the father of the family by the leg, forcing him to fall face-first into the street, only for the newly formed undead to bite into his leg.
The man''s screams alerted several other undead to rise, quickly surrounding the mother and young child. The mother attempted to push past one of the undead and leap back into her house, where she believed she would be safe. Unfortunately, she was unable to muster up enough force to push the monster aside, and as a result, the undead bit down on her shoulder, sealing her fate.
The young girl, terrified at the sight before her, sprinted past the undead and towards the old couple''s apothecary, where she knew she would be safe.
The next page described the loud banging the husband heard on the first floor, alongside the young girl''s screams for help. But he couldn''t muster himself to move from his spot in the second-story window, staring down at the girl who was slowly being surrounded by the undead that had just put an end to her family.
The rest of the page described the grim fate of the young girl in between apologies and excuses that the man had written to free himself of the guilt he felt. Like how he couldn''t have made it down there in time, or that even if he had, the undead would have broken down his door and murdered him, his wife and his unborn child.
Merlin stopped reading briefly and looked around at the expressions of everyone in the building. Naturally, everyone had aplicated expression on their face.
Merlin also nced at his stream chat, and there seemed to be an almost unanimous vote that the story had gotten rather messed up.
"How much more is there to the story?" Zankoku asked.
"It feels like we''reing to the end," Merlin said as he briefly flipped through the remaining pages, just to see how many were filled.
"Alright, might as well finish it off," Alvira said while gently cing the stash of silverware she looted from the house onto the floor.
Merlin continued to read thest few chapters, they seemed to all revolve around his wife and child.
They described how the necrotic energy in the city had be so thick that it had started taking its toll on his wife''s physical condition.
The wife had begun experiencing night terrors, waves of extreme pain and shortness of breath. Alongside those symptoms, the baby inside her began kicking around violently as if it too were in severe pain. And only a couple of dayster, the wife had begun experiencing painful cramps.
The husband did all that he could to assist her in any way that he could. He began giving her high doses of pain medication, while still taking their baby''s safety into ount. This seemed to work for most of the pain, but some instances of pain were still too much for her, causing her to scream as if she were being tortured.
The husband was forced to gag her at times to prevent her screams from alerting swarms of undead to their doorstep. Although he wasn''t happy about it, he''d rather put her through this slight degree of difort than watch her be eaten alive by ravenous monsters.
One day, the painful cramps had stopped, as did the violent kicking of the baby within his wife.
The wife was distraught, as a medical professional, she knew what this likely meant. Her sombre tears filled the man''s heart throughout the rest of the night.
Although his wife was experiencing severe depressive episodes after the presumed death of her newborn, her body''s health was slowly recovering. The husband wasn''t as restricted with his prescriptions, so he used the very best materials within their inventory to save his wife''s life.
The wife was slowly regaining the ability to walk, with her husband''s assistance, but the fact she was no longer restricted to the bed was already a good sign in regard to her recovery.
That was until the pain suddenly returned.
The baby inside her had begun moving again, except this time it was even more violent, his wife screamed out in pain, falling to the floor while wrapping her hands around her stomach.
The husband''s manic scribbles that filled the following pages described that as he helped her onto her bed and checked her condition, the sight that he saw sent shivers down his spine.
Small w-like fingers were stretching his wife''s skin, seemingly reaching out for him, as if a monster were trying to w its way out of his wife''s body.
But what followed the ws had clearly ruined the already waning sanity of the man, a sight that ruined what little hope he had left for a chance of survival, or any desire to survive in the first ce.
He saw the outline of his previously dead child''s face pressed against his wife''s stomach.
His baby had returned as an undead.
Chapter 201
Chapter 201
Thest pages of the diary describe how the husband drugged his wife''s tea, using the various herbs that Merlin had previously identified within the teacup, along with holy water to protect her body from turning.
The diary then described an ornate dagger, blessed by the temple and used for certain concoctions that required divine energy and ritual. What was supposed to be a tool of healing had been used out of fear, used for a purpose most foul.
The husband had thrust the dagger into his pregnant wife''s stomach, piercing his now-undead child and ultimately killing both it and his wife.
The writing had be deranged and almost cryptic, the erratic scribbles flooded the pages, and Merlin couldn''t find any value in decoding more than a couple of lines.
They seemed to be curses against the temple, the nobles who ruled the city and the guards who were supposed to protect his livelihood. He had also written curses against himself, ndering himself as a useless provider, a terrible father and husband.
The final page was an apology, with half of the page covered by splotches of blood and smudged ink, presumably smudged by the tears that fell on the page.
Merlin''sment section was now full of people mentioning how messed up the story was, and as he looked around at his friends, he noticed Nora''s condition immediately, she was clearly ufortable with the situation, more so than anyone else in the room.
"So... the dagger was thrust into his wife and child..." Alvira said as she stared at the ornate dagger. "Now that we know the story, what does that tell us?"
It seemed as though Alvira still desired the new weapon, regardless of how the story affected her.
"Well, it was used as a tool for murder, and it''s presumably lodged in the corpse of a dead baby," Merlin said, "It has also been soaking in necrotic energy for quite some time, so with all that in mind, feel free to do as you wish."
Alvira took Merlin''s words as the go-ahead to im her new de.
Merlin took several steps back from the woman''s body, something that everyone else in the room but Alvira had noticed, as she was too enamoured with the prospect of a strong weapon.
Alvira reached for the de, and in one quick motion, released it from the woman''s corpse with a loud squelching sound.
The room went silent as everyone watched her wipe her new dagger onto the bedsheets, wondering if that was all that was going to happen after all that.
As to put everyone''s suspicions aside, a high-pitched squeal rang out from the woman''s corpse, catching Alvira off-guard.
Suddenly, a small creature burst out from the woman''s stomach, lunging itself towards Alvira who had just noticed it and was unable to react in time.
The creature''s long emaciated fingers were a mere distance from Alvira''s eyes before the creature was suddenly flung towards the wall.
The small creature, barely the size of a toddler, was hanging from the wall by one of its shoulders. It looked to originally be a baby, although incredibly emaciated to the point it was essentially just a skeleton. The most out-of-ce aspect was the surprisingly developed arms and hands, they were much longer than they should have been, and the fingers had shaped themselves into horrific ws. It was such a horrific sight that it sent Nora out of the room immediately.
As the creature squealed in pain, everyone''s eyes nced at the dagger holding it against the wall before turning to face Merlin who was already walking towards the creature.
"As it turns out, the man failed to kill his child," Merlin said as he plunged his other dagger into the creature''s head, "The de''s remaining holy energy functioned as a seal, preventing the evil creature from moving, but once you removed it, it regained its bodily function. A terrifying and unexpected ambush."
"Unexpected?" The rest of the group all muttered, remembering that he took several steps back before this happened.
Merlin ripped his other dagger from the creature''s shoulder and watched as the monster plummeted to the ground.
He noticed that the monster had actually dropped an item, and upon reaching for it, he was met with a notification.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Ghoulish Grasp", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
"Oh, that''s convenient," Merlin muttered.
"What is?" Typhoeus asked.
"The kid dropped a ghoul''s hand, which saves me the trouble of fighting another ghoul," Merlin said as he threw the hand into his inventory.
"What do you need a ghoul hand for?" Typhoeus asked.
"It''s just one of the quests I picked up from the wizard college," Merlin answered, to which he got a simple nod in return.
Alvira seemed rather shaken, to the point she hadn''t moved from the spot she was standing since the creature was released.
She finally decided to inspect the weapon she was now holding, and her face showcased a mix of emotions.
"Hey, Merlin," Alvira muttered, "What do I do when a weapon is cursed?"
"Let me see it," Merlin said, holding his hand out to receive the de.
Once he held the de in his hand, he felt the palm of his hand go numb, there was an eerie cold to the weapon, not unlike his ghost de, but far more sinister.
He quickly inspected the de, not wanting to hold it for longer than he needed to.
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[Vampiric Ornate de (Unique) (Cursed)]
An ornate ceremonial dagger, once blessed by the temple and used for ritualistic healing purposes. It has since been warped and sullied by negative intent and vast necromantic energy, being bathed in evil has since nullified its original blessing, perverting the de in a rather ironic fashion.
Instead of healing and providing strength, the de now siphons life and induces weakness.
? Damage: +19
? Abilities: ?Blood Siphon?
? Curses: ?Decrepify?
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He then inspected the ability of the weapon, causing another information window to appear.
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?Blood Siphon?
The depraved nature of the ornate de rips the lifeforce from anything it sinks its edge into, imparting a fraction of that energy to the unfortunate being wielding it.
? Heals the wielder by 6% of all damage caused by this de.
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''Lifesteal this early into the game, not bad.'' Merlin thought to himself. ''But that just means the curse must be pretty bad.''
He swiped the information window away and inspected the curse, causing another information window to appear.
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?Decrepify? (Curse)
The cursed de siphons energy from its host, inducing its host with a degree of lethargy and frailty.
? Agility: -2
? Any piercing or shing damage taken while this de is wielded is multiplied by 1.5.
? Any bludgeoning damage taken while this de is wielded is multiplied by 2.
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''And there''s the kicker,'' He thought, reading over the window a second time, ''But I suppose it could be worse.''
"It''s not that bad of a curse, honestly, not a bad weapon, you just need to ensure you don''t get hit as often," Merlin said as he handed Alvira her de back. "And even if you do, you can heal it right back."
''Of course, it reduces your agility, so your stamina, dodging ability and stealth all get nerfed, meaning you''d get hit more often...'' Merlin thought to himself. ''And you take more damage, so you''re more likely to get critically injured or even one-shotted.''
"It does have a base damage of neen..." Alvira muttered to herself as she stared at the de.
"It''s also vampiric, isn''t that your whole schtick?" Merlin asked.
"What do you mean my schtick?" Alvira huffed as she sheathed her new de. She continued talking while rubbing the palm of her hand, clearly disturbed by the numbing sensation, "I wanted a vampire''s soul, not a vampire weapon."
"Well, we can get you both," Zankoku spoke up as he peered through a window, "The zombies have scattered again, from what I can see from here."
"Alright, let''s get out of here," Snowbunny said, quickly stepping out of the room and making her way to the staircase.
The group followed Snowbunny''s lead, quietly making their way down the staircase, they inspected the street via the window before slowly unblocking the door.
"Alright, we know our positions as normal. Strikers in the front, clear our path, the rest cover our nk."
"Where is our destination?" Zankoku asked.
"We''re after a vampire soul, right?" Snowbunny asked, "Where would we find a group of blood-sucking parasites?"
"A courtroom." Typhoeus quickly remarked, which received a slight chuckle from Merlin.
"Nice," Merlin remarked, "But, I think we should head towards a temple."
"Why? Don''t holy things kill vampires?" Snowbunny asked.
"Yes, but not in this case." Merlin exined, "The birth of a Necropolis wouldn''t be possible in a city if consecrated grounds were immune to necrotic energies. Truthfully, the Necropolis brings about a perversion of expectation, and a sick sense of irony, simr to the knife that Alvira has."
"This makes a holy area, such as temple grounds, a hot spot for high-level undead, as the necrotic energies corrupt the area in such a way that it bes incredibly desirable for those twisted creatures to reside in it." He continued.
"Thest vampire we found was in a church, and that wasn''t in the Necropolis, why was that?" Alvira asked.
"That one was a little special, this doesn''t really apply there..." Merlin said, "Also we found that church in pretty bad condition, there was likely no holy energy to be found anywhere within those fragile walls."
"Alright, understood, so we''re going to the nearest temple or holy grounds," Zankoku interrupted the conversation those two were having, as he was getting tired from hearing so much of Merlin''s narration for one sitting.
Chapter 202
Chapter 202
Every member of the group took their position and began their trek through undead-infested streets. The team started off slowly, but as the number of undead dwindled, the pace quickly ramped up.
"We''ll find a temple in no time," Alvira said as she hacked down yet another zombie.
"It will start slowing down soon, we''ll have to deal with stronger undead once we get close enough to one," Merlin exined.
The group continued to traverse the abandoned city until they suddenly ran into arger group of undead.
"That''s... There''s a lot of them there..." Alvira muttered, "Do we try to find our way around them?"
"Thatrge of a group usually means that there''s a point of interest nearby, like the market we passed when we first got here," Merlin said.
"So we''re close to the temple?" Snowbunny asked, "Then I suppose we take them."
"Everyone get ready for a fight, Nora, watch our nk," Merlinmanded as he unsheathed his daggers.
A small handful of undead seemed to notice the group from quite a distance away and began shambling towards them.
"My turn!" Tiny roared as he charged towards the undead stragglers, he seemed to have gotten rather bored being stuck in the backline for the entire expedition.
With a wide swing of his war hammer, two undead were thrown through the door of the closest house, wood splinters scattered as the door was violently ripped from its hinges.
Merlin and Snowbunny ran after him, quickly dealing with the undead that remained.
"Don''t get killed," Merlin shouted to his party as he sprinted towards the crowd of undead. With their weapons drawn, the rest of the group followed him into battle.
The sounds of weapons slicing through flesh rung out within the city, and although the undead horde was losingbatants at a rapid pace, Merlin''s side had taken its fair share of damage too.
Merlin sliced through yet another undead when he received a notification indicating that one of his quests had beenpleted, he nced at it quickly before leaping back into the fight.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Push back the horde.", visit the temple''s outpost to receive your rewards.¡¹
"God, we really need to get a healer," Zankokuined as he clutched his right arm, an arm that received arge scratch wound from a lucky zombie.
"How about you just don''t get hit," Alvira mocked him as she slid under Tiny''s wide swing.
Tiny roared with excitement as he swung his war hammer, each swing took the heads off of any undead within his reach, as though he were a farmer reaping grain.
"We should have started with this, instead of all that sneaking arou--" Tiny''s words were cut short as he turned a corner. The rest of the party could only watch as the war hammer-wielding giant was suddenly thrown back towards them.
Snowbunny narrowly avoided Tiny as he skid past them, Alvira was not as fortunate. The two flew back several more metres until they both crashed into a wall.
"What the hell?" Alvira swore as she pped the back of Tiny''s head, "That hurt."
Tiny only let out a groan as he stood back up, using his war hammer as a walking stick for the first few steps.
Merlin''s attention was quickly brought back to where Tiny had been thrown from, as arge rotting creature emerged from behind the wall.
"An ogre... An undead ogre..." Merlin muttered as he stared at the hideous creature.
The zombified ogre let out a disturbing roar as it brandished the crude mace in its hands, preparing itself for another swing.
"Woah there big fe," Merlin taunted as he barely ducked under a wide swing of the monster''s mace. His hair whipped around frantically due to the wind pressure caused by the swing, signalling to Merlin that getting hit would be more than just unpleasant.
"Let''s back out, we need to bait this guy into a tight alley so he can''t swi--" Merlin''smands were cut off as he quickly rolled out of a downward swing from the mace. The blow was so violent that it sent dust and specks of stone into the air, and Merlin could feel the vibrations from the ground running up his legs. "...So he can''t swing that bloody mace around so freely."
Hispanions quickly turned towards the direction they hade from and began clearing the way out of any monsters wandering the streets behind them. Merlin slowly followed while avoiding the undead ogre''s deadly blows, alongside any other undead that thought it wise to follow, even though they were currently the only things getting demolished by the ogre''s berserk swings.
"Merlin, what about this alley?" Snowbunny yelled out, causing Merlin''s gaze to shift towards her.
"Too wide, find something thinner," Merlin shouted out, "Go a little further down the street, I remember an alley this guy wouldn''t be able to enter without squeezing."
After avoiding several of the undead ogre''s attacks, Merlin started getting into the rhythm of each swing, to the point he was confident with making a show of it.
The extra leeway granted to him had given him the opportunity to nce at his stream''s chat window, where he noticed an influx of newmenters.
From just a general observation of his chat, it seemed as though the streamers had finally logged in and started up their streams. But not many of the viewers found interest in a group getting destroyed by slimes or exploring the beginner town, so they decided to check out other streams to see if anyone was doing anything interesting yet, where they found Merlin skillfully avoiding arge grotesque behemoth of a beast.
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[User]... : Where did you learn to move like that?
[User]... : Where are you? This doesn''t look like the area the other streams started in.
[User]... : Is this the next town over from the starting zone?
[User]... : Why would the town over be infested with zombies? Does that make sense? Fighting slimes to fighting giant zombies?
[User]... : Shouldn''t it be slimes and then kobolds?
[User]... : No, slimes and then goblins, this is a western RPG, right?
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Chapter 203: Its all ogre now!
Chapter 203: It''s all ogre now!
There was arge group of people joining Merlin''s stream for the first time that assumed all streamers started at the same time, but Merlin''s regrs quickly informed them that he had been ying for weeks now.
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[User]... : That''s unfair, people got a head start over others in an MMO!
[User]... : So what? It''s just a beta, it''s not like they''ll be level 100 when it''s fully released.
[User]... : When is this gameing out?
[User]... : How do I apply for the beta?
[User]... : What happens if you die?
[User]... : Why do you just keep dodging? Kill the monster.
[User]... : No, let it hit you, for science!
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Merlin was too busy dodging the ogre to answer any questions, and he was about to ignore chat again when he received a notification window beside his chat window.
¡¸"josh183rd" has gifted 2200 tokens with the message: "Show us what you can do, kill the monster without getting hit."¡¹
"Oh, a challenge is it?" Merlin smirked before deciding to show off for his new viewers, "Piece of cake."
The rest of the party had traversed further down the street where they located the particr alleyway that Merlin mentioned, and after clearing the alleyway of undead, all the way to the opposite end, they informed Merlin that it was safe to enter.
"Perfect timing," Merlin responded as he started leading the ogre towards the alleyway, "Clear out, head to the other end, I''ve got to take this alone."
"Huh, howe?" Alvira asked.
"I got challenged," He responded, "I''ve got to put on a show for our audience."
"Fair enough, we''ll cover the other end," Typhoeus responded, "Make it quick."
Merlin followed the group through the alleyway, but he stopped halfway before turning to see how the ogre was doing. As he predicted, the monster found great difficulty traversing the alley with such arge weapon in hand.
The monster attempted to swing its mace at Merlin, but the only thing that resulted from its attempt was a shattered window.
"Oh, you absolute oaf," Merlin mocked as the monster reached towards him with its grotesque rotting hand.
Simply stepping back was all Merlin had to do to avoid the hand, and it was at that moment he began his assault on the creature.
One of his daggers shed open the monster''s palm, and the second dagger sliced the creature''s thumb clean off, causing it to fly off and hit the alley wall.
The beast roared before lunging towards Merlin with a vertical swipe of its mace, the only angle that the alleyway would allow. However, this limited range of movement made the mace ultimately inconsequential to the fight, as it was easier to avoid than it otherwise would be in a more open space.
Vines thrust out of Merlin''s body, plunging themselves into the alley''s walls beforeunching him into the air, where they were thrust into the walls once more, anchoring him directly above the ogre.
Brandishing both his des, Merlin hung upside down from the vines, allowing him to easily plunge both des into the back of the monster''s neck before flying back out of its range as it tried to grab him again.
"You''re too slow," Merlin taunted once more as he made a show of his advanced mobility with the vines, choosing to include flips where they clearly weren''t necessary, "Let''s speed this up."
The pale assassin gracefully bounded off the walls as if he were in a pinball machine, digging his des into the ogre''s rotting flesh, leaving deep gashes that continuously umted every time he flew past. The ogre did all it could to swat Merlin away, but it was always a few seconds toote to reach him.
Merlin checked hisment section, ensuring that his viewers were satisfied and that a great enough example of his skills had been provided before he ended things. It seemed as though this was the case, and members of the chat were mentioning that they were getting rather dizzy due to the rapid movements.
The ogre shattered several more windows before giving up on using the mace, instead, it seemed as though it was preparing for a ranged attack.
Before Merlin couldunch himself back into melee range, the undead ogre suddenly threw its mace towards him. The mace flew almost vertically as it shot past Merlin, barely missing the tip of his nose.
"I guess you''re frustrated, huh?" Merlin said as he stared down at the grotesque b of tormented rotting meat. "You''re much smarter than the average husk, but overall, you''re still just a braindead zombie."
Merlin stared up towards the mace that had just run out of upwards momentum and was now at the mercy of gravity. He used his vines to fling himself into the air, where he grabbed hold of the mace in midair with one of his vines.
As he plummeted back towards the ground, he utilised the centrifugal force granted to him by his increased leverage over the weapon and swung the mace in the direction of the ogre with significantly increased momentum.
The mace plunged itself into the ogre''s body, instantly pulverising the skull and crushing an incredible number of bones as it shattered the stone beneath the creature.
Merlinnded atop the bloody pulp that was once his foe, and he stared directly into the camera.
"Was that satisfying enough for you, challenger?" Merlin asked the chat, and after ncing at his own chat window, he could see that a fair few of them were bbergasted by his performance.
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[User]... : Is... is this really something you can do in New Genesis?
[User]... : Holy sh...
[User]... : Yeah... Holy crap indeed.
[User]... : That was sick... Like gross, but also goddamn.
[User]... : That looked like it could have been a cutscene from some superhero game.
[User]... : He can do that after only a couple of weeks, so everyone else could probably learn that too?
[User]... : What was that grappling hook he used? An item? An ability? It sort of looked like some kind of nt.
©¸©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤©¤
Chapter 204: Invading the Corrupted Temple
Author note:
Hey guys! Sorry for the sudden, and very long, hiatus.
Got caught up in the holiday season and then stuff happened at work... And before I knew it, it was suddenly the start of February and I was off to America for a couple of weeks to celebrate my Birthday.
Alright, enjoy the chapter!
I''m sorry it took so long!~
*********************************************************************
"Right, so when you''re done showing off, there are still zombies to deal with," Typhoeus remarked while staring at a new group of undead closing in on their position.
"Let''s push back through where we came from, make a rush for the temple, and deal with any undead that gets in our way," Merlin ordered while hopping off the monster he had just in.
The group did as ordered, they began clearing out the zombies in their immediate area, as Merlin charged down the alleyway in the direction of where he came from.
Several quick strikes were more than enough to deal with the zombies that had wandered into the alley. each rotten husk fell lifelessly, one after the other, as Merlin charged through them.
The rest of the group caught up as Merlin pushed out from the alley and back into the street, where a fight quickly broke out between Merlin''s group and the remaining zombies.
"Everyone alright?" Merlin asked once it seemed the fighting had ended for now.
"We''ve got a couple wounded from the big guy''s appearance, but other than that, just a few scratches," Snowbunny said.
Merlin distributed thest of his healing potions, which were crucial for healing Tiny and Alvira especially.
Once the team had sessfully restored as much health as they could, they began their journey towards the temple once more.
Merlin decided to lead the group this time around, rather than letting his three strikers do all the work, and as he was cutting undead down with ease, his quests were finally starting to show progress.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Rotten Flesh.", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
Harvesting the rotten flesh that dropped as he traversed quicklypleted one of the quests he acquired from the wizard college. As he continued down the path, he eventually got a lucky drop.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Give me a hand.", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
''That''s two quests down, now I just need skeleton bones, ectosm and vampire fangs.'' Merlin thought to himself while cutting down yet another zombie, ''That shouldn''t be too hard.''
The group eventually arrived near the outer walls of arge temple-like structure, the closer they got to the building, the colder the air surrounding them seemed to be.
The eerie dense fog that hung around the temple''s location caused visibility to drop somewhat, but Merlin could still make out the architecture.
The group found themselves face-to-face with a stylised temple wall, made of stone and wood, with various greek runes etched into the stone. Thorned vines and moss appeared to make themselves at home in the various cracks and crevices of the wall.
The group moved towards one of the entrances within the walls.
Wispy tendrils seemed to form within the fog, they appeared to gently caress the skin of those who walked past. The group was unsure if it was just due to the moisture in the air and the sudden temperature drop, but they all found that their hair began standing on end as goosebumps formed on their arms.
Finding themselves in the courtyard, it was clear that the necrotic energies had perverted what was once a beautifully maintained garden. Flower beds that had once blossomed had wilted, and rose bushes were reduced to nothing but thorned bramble.
The remains of a statue stood in the middle of the courtyard, a statue of what Merlin could only assume was of one of the gods. This statue had the top half of its torso shattered into tiny pieces that had been scattered on the ground beneath it, leaving only the exposed bottom half of the gentleman standing.
The temple stood before the group, appearing to follow more victorian-era architecture than the standard greek-styled temples that other areas had used. Although the temple had clearly seen better days.
The stone bricks that formed the building''s foundation were severely cracked, mostly due to the corrupted nt life attempting to burrow into the gaps between the bricks.
The wood elements of the building, such as the supporting and decorative beams, were showing signs of rotting, with the rot appearing more prevalent the closer the wood was to the ground.
"Well, this isn''t creepy at all," Zankoku muttered as he walked towards the shattered statue, bending down to pick up a piece of stone.
"At least there aren''t any undead in here, surprisingly enough," Alvira said.
"That''s probably because all of them are in there, right?" Typhoeus asked
With a slightly feminine-sounding yelp, Zankoku dropped the piece of stone and stumbled back, falling onto his rear end.
"What''s the matter with you?" Snowbunny asked, but before Zankoku could answer, ethereal wispy lights began appearing around the courtyard.
"Ah crap, will-o''-wisps," Merlin muttered.
"What the hell are these?" Alvira asked as the group readied their weapons.
"Will-o''-wisps, don''t let them touch you," Merlin shouted, "If you don''t have magic attacks or a magic weapon, you won''t be able to hurt them."
A will-o''-wisp that was hiding within the shattered stone statue had moved towards Zankoku, while thetter began trying to swat it away, but his hand was phasing through the creature. The ball of light flickered before lunging itself through Zankoku''s chest and appearing on the opposite side.
Although there wasn''t any form of entry or exit wound, Zankoku screamed out in agony, swearing and mentioning something about feeling like his insides were being torn apart.
The rest of the party took more defensive stances and actively began dodging the balls flying towards them, some more sessful in their evasion attempts than others.
A wisp began flying towards Merlin, who swiftly split the creature in half with Ghostsaw''s de, causing it to disappear shortly after.
"Wait you can kill them?" Alvira asked, "I thought you said only magic weapons could? Is that a magic weapon?"
Merlin ran towards the ball of light that wasing back to finish Zankoku off, and mere moments before it touched him again, the ball was split in half and extinguished.
"No, my weapon isn''t magical. One of the ingredients is refined soul steel, which means it can cut through ethereal creatures," Merlin exined while running towards Tiny.
"That''s convenient," She said while trying to stab a wisp with her new de. Unfortunately, it seemed as though her attacks were ultimately useless, the wisp didn''t seem fazed by her wild attacks, rather it barely flickered.
"Shouldn''t my de be able to damage them? It was once a holy de, and we''ve also got the cleric passive." Alvira shouted.
Merlin sliced through yet another wisp, this particr one was kind enough to drop ectosm, which Merlin quickly pocketed before moving on.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Ghost Goo.", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
"Your de lost any holy power when it was corrupted, and the passive is just a damage bonus, you still need to hit them to apply it," Merlin exined.
Merlin quickly cleared the rest of the wisps, fortunately, not many of his group took any damage, and the damage that had been taken wasn''t that severe.
"Ghost creatures everyone, aren''t they fun?" Merlin eximed, "We need to work towards magic items pretty quickly, especially if we n on fighting more ghosts."
"You said soul steel, right?" Tiny asked, "I''ll check what level of mining and smithing skills you''d need for it when we get back."
"Alright, how is everyone doing?" Merlin asked, "We''ve got the vampires inside, do we feel prepared?"
"Hell yes!" Alvira roared. She was clearly the most excited of all of them, especially after that, most likely due to her wanting her vampire soul at longst.
Everyone else took a few seconds to catch their breath, but each nodded and prepared their weapons.
"Alright, let''s go..." Merlin ordered.
Chapter 205: A Bloody Good Time
Merlin and his friends made their way into the corrupted Victorian-era temple. The air was thick with the scent of decay, and he could feel a cold chill run down his spine. He nced around at hispanions, seeing a look of mild anxiety and apprehension on their faces, except for Alvira, who seemed rather excited.
The interior of the temple seemed to be predominantly Greek in design, although it was hard to tell due to the sheer amount of damage that had been done.
What were once imposing stone statues of what Merlin could only assume were the Greek gods, were now headless bs of stone, carved up and disfigured byrge w-like marks.
As the group moved further into the temple, their footsteps began giving off a sticky sound, as if they were treading on puddles of glue.
It had gotten rather dark within the temple, and the faint light escaping the door had quickly left them seeing nothing but shades of grey.
¡¸Skill ?Light? Activated.¡¹
A small ball of light formed within Merlin''s grasp, illuminating the area around the group, and allowing them to see something Nora immediately regretted.
Before them was a long hallway full of carnage. The scattered remains of ravaged corpses littered the hall, and blood stained the floor beneath them, creating a disgusting sticky sound after every step they took.
As they walked further into the temple, several Vampireszing around could be seen. Some were flirting with each other, others were sitting around drinking blood from sses as if it were wine, and a couple more were torturing or draining thest remaining humans.
The floor between the party and the vampires was nowced with more than just blood, corpses of humans, and several stray body parts, were scattered along the floor, or strewn over pews like wetundry.
Amongst the corpses were what Merlin believed to be recently turned vampire spawns, feasting on whatever remains they could get their hands on, or licking the blood from the floor.
Nora turned away from the scene and made the motion that she was preparing to throw up. It was already a challenge for her toe this far, and Merlin had noticed that she was trying to keep her eyes towards the ceiling as they were walking.
"Well, there are the vampires," Merlin announced, "Prepare yourselves."
The vampire spawn seemed preupied with their feast, to the point that the first enemy to notice their presence was one of the vampires, which was mockingly wearing a blood-stained priest vestment, and was looking for a new human to torment.
The vampire began hissing towards the direction of the party, gaining the attention of the other vampires. The priest-looking vampire quickly kicked a couple of the vampire spawns to get their attention.
Within moments the vampire spawn had been given their orders to attack and began charging at the party.
Two vampire spawns run towards the party on all fours, as if they were mad hounds ordered to pounce. Zankoku and Alvira made quick work of the vampires, one had been cleaved in two and the other received a knife to the brain.
A third vampire spawn made itself known after quickly leaping into the air, preparing to sink its teeth into Alvira, but it was quickly met with the blunt end of a war hammer.
Tiny''s wide swing shattered the vampire spawn, killing it almost instantly. At the same time, the remaining force of the blow sent the remnants of the monster back to where it hade from, and in turn, sprayed the other vampire spawn, and the vampire priest, with the tiny giblets of their fallenrade.
Several more vampire spawns were cleaved as if they were being harvested by Typhoeus'' scythe.
"Why are these guys so easy to kill?" Alvira asked.
"They''re essentially just corpses at the moment, their bodies are frail because they''ve only recently be undead, vampirism requires time to mature in newly turned victims," Merlin said, "It acts like your average infectious disease, it has an incubation period."
The fight continues, with Merlin''s party easily demolishing the vampire spawns. It was at this point that the vampires became overly agitated and began preparing themselves for a fight.
The first vampire to attack the party, however, was the one wearing the priestly garb. It lunged towards Alvira, but quickly found itself down one eye as an arrow embedded itself in the vampire''s skull. But the monster didn''t have time to rip it out, as the party had already started attacking it.
After the shing of des and the swing of a scythe, the creature''s head started rolling along the floor.
"One down," Tiny remarked as he swung his war hammer like it was a golf club, sending the skull flying towards the group of enemy vampires. "I thought this was going to be hard."
Seemingly taking that action as an insult towards their pride, the vampires all began hissing at the party before collectively breaking out into a charge with their fangs on full disy.
"Now this is what I''m talking about," Tiny roared.
The group separated somewhat, each taking on a small group of vampires, except for Nora who was standing at the back while taking any shots she could within the chaos.
Merlin dashed to the far side of the room as a group of vampires leapt towards him. Fortunately, Tiny''s stunts had lured thergest group of vampires, so it was only three of the undead monsters that had chosen Merlin as their first target.
Merlin quickly made this a choice they would have no time to regret, as the vampires leapt into the air to dog-pile Merlin. They quickly found themselves suspended in mid-air like puppets. Thorn-covered vines ripped through the undead, impaling them and leaving them helpless.
Merlin began chanting a skill name before resting his hand on the torso of one of the vampires.
¡¸Skill ?Ignite? Activated.¡¹
Small embers started appearing on the vampire''s clothes before quickly erupting into an adequately sized me as the cloth continued to feed the fire. The vampire screamed out in pain and began panicking as it struggled against the vines.
The ignited vampire was mmed into the other vampires by the vines before being mmed into the ground, feeding the fire more fuel to extend its burn time.
The vines were retracted from the vampires so that the vines themselves did not take damage from the mes.
As all the mmable parts of the vampire''s clothing burnt away, the roasted undead skin underneath showed, it was a rather gruesome sight to behold.
The vampires staggered to their feet, but before they could take a step forward, their heads had been swiftly removed from the rest of their bodies, finishing each creature off.
Merlin scanned the room, finally paying attention to his surroundings. His first thought was to see who required his help, but he also looked to see how well the team fought when outnumbered.
His eyes flicked to Typhoeus first, who seemed to have a taste for the dramatic, Merlin noticed that he was adding extra ir to his attacks, favouring wide swings and inefficient spins due to the overall weakness of the vampire spawns that surrounded him.
With arge swing, he cleaved what remained of the vampire spawns in that area, and also managed to hack off the leg of the one vampire who targeted him, sending the undead creature face-first into a pile of vampire spawn viscera.
Maria on the other hand was showing efficiency and precision with each of her movements. Two vampires had chosen her as their prey, an unwise decision.
Two swift strikes were all it took to remove the sight of one of the vampires, leaving it helpless to the flurry of blows that followed. Her rapier severed every crucial skeletal muscle that was required for the creature to operate, effectively paralysing its arms and legs. Then as her attention moved to the second vampire, which was currently closing the distance, it received a simr fate.
Alvira showcased a level of savagery that he had yet to see from her up until this point. He was unsure if this was merely impatience caused by her goal standing right in front of her, or the fact she was using the cursed vampire de she imed earlier, either way, her ystyle had be somewhat reckless.
Alvira seemed to be taking the most damage out of everyone so far, but the life steal on her de was keeping her alive, albeit barely. But with each vampire that dropped dead around her, she seemed to get slightly more disappointed.
Nora on the other hand didn''t get a single vampire on her, giving her the space required to take careful shots.
The blood and viscera that filled the temple were clearly taking a toll on her, but she was pulling through andnding important shots. One shot of hers, in particr, saved Zankoku from getting disarmed by a vampire that got too close.
Chapter 206 A death in the family.
206 A death in the family.
Zankoku had taken quite a few hits at this point. His weapon allowed for wide swings, but the vampires still managed to close the distance and deal damage. The covering fire from Nora was one of the main reasons that he was still alive.
Merlin began moving to assist Zankoku, but his eyes were drawn to the sight of Tiny. Therge man was somehow holding back thergest group of vampires. And while he was taking hits, simr to Zankoku, any hits of his that connected effectively removed that particr vampire from the fight, either permanently or temporarily.
Merlin''s eyes snapped back to Zankoku''s situation, but he only just noticed that one of the vampires had broken away from Zankoku''s range and chosen Nora as its target instead.
"No!" Zankoku shouted as he turned his back to the other vampires, immediately sweeping his de at the legs of the vampire that broke away. Fortunately, he had managed to sever the vampire''s legs, causing it to plummet face-first into the ground. Unfortunately, however, the vampires he turned his attention away from had used this opportunity to finish the job.
Merlin turned in time to witness several ws ripping through Zankoku''s chest, stomach and throat. Their blood-soaked ws retracted from his body one by one, and upon thest w disappearing, Zankoku''s lifeless body plummeted to the ground.
"Oh shit, Liam!" Alvira shouted, she finished off thest of the vampires that were fighting her before running over and starting on the group that had killed her cousin.
The vampires that finished with their prey had split up, adding to the forces that were fighting the rest of the party, while some remained to fight Alvira.
Merlin finished off the vampire that had targeted Nora before turning to her, "Cover Tiny for now, call out if anything is running towards you."
He then dashed towards Tiny, plunging his dagger into the head of a vampire that managed to sink its fangs into Tiny''s arm. Using the dagger as leverage, he ripped the blood-sucking parasite from his friend before throwing it to the ground and stomping on its head.
With a flick of his wrist, three thorn-covered vines burst out from Merlin''s hand, piercing the throat of three vampires surrounding Tiny. Merlin received a system notification, one he hadn''t seen in a while.
¡¸Passive skill ?Rose Blight? has triggered, target''s stats have been reduced.¡¹
"Get over here!" Merlin taunted with a smile, tugging his hand back and causing the creatures to lose their bnce and begin staggering in his direction.
The vampires within Merlin''s grasp were decimated by a whirlwind of dagger strikes, leaving them nothing more than bloodied husks.
The fight continued briefly, but it was swiftly nearing a conclusion, with Merlin''s friends clearlying out on top, albeit some of them seeming worse for wear than others.
Merlin finished thest vampire that had pounced on him by shattering the monster''s nose and front teeth with the pommel of his dagger before decapitating it.
The group heard a loud squeal from one of their friends, all of them turned to see that it was Alvira, who was currently standing over a glowing green orb.
"Looks like she''s finally got her vampire soul," Snowbunny said.
Merlin looked down at the vampire whose face he had shattered, noticing a faint yet noticeable glint on the floor nearby, hiding within the blood and viscera. He reached down and picked the item up, a notification appeared to acknowledge that he had finally obtained vampire fangs.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Fangs for nothing", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
With that, he only had one set of monsters left to hunt until all of his wizard college quests werepleted.
Looking at the condition his party was in, especially Nora who looked very pale, he decided that they shouldn''t remain in the area. He mentioned to the group that he had one more quest to finish before he could leave, which was fortunately located in the nearby graveyard.
As the party was making their way to the graveyard, Zankoku respawned in Macedonia and messaged the party, he informed the group that he was just going to turn in his quest and see them when they returned, as the server would close by the time he made it back to the Necropolis.
The party found a group of skeletons within the graveyard, enemies they had yet to find within the Necropolis up until this point.
As the fight began, Tiny showcased his raw strength, decimating the majority of the skeleton poption of the graveyard within a few moments. The sheer force of his war hammer caused immense bludgeoning damage against the vulnerable skeletons, and the damage multiplier from the holy weapon made him a force to be reckoned with.
Merlin picked up a couple of bones that wereying around, and then he finally got thest notification he needed.
¡¸You havepleted the quest, "Wee to the bone zone.", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.¡¹
With that, all six wizard college quests had beenpleted, but he would likely have to wait until the next session to turn them in.
Meanwhile, Tiny had gotten excited by the sight of a strange ore that seemed to be growing around the graveyard.
"That''s soul steel ore. You won''t be able to mine it just yet, but it''s definitely something you''ll want to grab in the near future." Merlin informed him.
"Soul steel, like the stuff your dagger is made of?" Tiny asked.
"Yeah, refined soul steel," Merlin confirmed before thinking of something, "Oh, Tiny, you''re working on mining and cksmithing, yeah?"
"That''s right, why?" Tiny asked curiously.
"I need a favour once you can forge refined soul steel," Merlin said, "I''ll help you get your job levels up during the next session if you''d like."
"Sure, no problem," Tiny responded.
The group made their way towards the vige of Hysia once they received a notice that it was almost their time to log out. The group snuck out of the Necropolis in a simr way to how they came in.
Once the group entered the Valley of Plenty, they all began to rx. Nora, especially, seemed to look much healthier than she had minutes prior.
"Let''s maybe level up a bit before we try that again..." Typhoeus muttered.
"Agreed," multiple people responded, but the feeling seemed to be rather unanimous within Merlin''s group.
The servers had eventually turned off once the group was safely within the vige and began resting.
After the briefing, Arthur made his way home, where he was greeted with a delivery.
"Wow, but it''s the weekend, I thought the post didn''t work on weekends?" Arthur said as his sister handed him arge parcel.
"I think it was through a third-party delivery service, not the local post," Anna said.
"Makes sense, considering I came home to my package, and not to a ''Sorry, we missed you card'' in the letter box because they were toozy to carry the package out of the car," Arthur said with a spiteful tone.
"Seriously, you''re still mad at that?" Anna said, "It happened a month ago."
"I watched hime up to the door, knock and then walk away. The guy didn''t even acknowledge my existence," Arthur retorted, "That''s the government for you,zy and useless regardless of the department."
"Now you''re just imitating Father," Anna teased, "Now, what did you get?"
Anna stared at the box curiously, it was one of Arthur''s least favourite traits about her, she was always too nosy when it came to packages.
"Let me guess, more seeds?" Anna said, "You did mention something about buying that extremely poisonous ntst time."
"The Brugsmansia? I don''t have the room for it." Arthur said, "Also, you take back that remark about father."
"I will not," Anna stated.
"Well, then I guess you won''t be seeing what I got," Arthur said, taking the box and slowly carrying it up the staircase.
"Wait, why are you being so secretive this time?" She said in an almost whining tone, "Are you embarrassed? Did you buy something naughty you don''t want anyone to see? I suppose you are of age... Rather, you''re past that age, I guess you''re just ate bloomer."
This was an old tactic that his sister started to employ in Arthur''s previous timeline when the two were younger. Arthur would get embarrassed by her ims and his pride forced him to prove her wrong every time, when in truth he was starting to tire of being coddled, andcking any privacy that he believed an average child would have.
"Yeah, maybe." Arthur retorted, "I guess you''ll never find out."
Without a hint of shame, Arthur shut down his sister''s devious strategy, leaving her somewhat dumbfounded as he walked away with the package.
"You cheeky brat," was all Arthur could hear being yelled up the staircase as he made his way up to his room. With a slight grin on his face, he closed his room door and ced the package on his desk.
What''s in the box?
TechnexGames
Chapter 207 Duck for Cover!
207 Duck for Cover!
Opening the package, Arthur was greeted with an army of rubber ducks, each packaged in their own collective bags, some of varying sizes and colours.
Buried underneath the ducks was another box, this one more tightly packaged.
Arthur made quick work of the box using a small de he kept in his desk''s drawer. Within the box was ayer or two of bubble wrap, followed by a sleek ck nylon case and a rattling cardboard box.
Quickly unzipping the case, Arthur found himself gazing upon a variety of different lockpicks, tensioning tools, rakes and various bypass tools. It was a well-rounded set with plenty of variation to tackle more unique defences.
Arthur opened the cardboard box and poured out its contents, various types of locks and padlocks fell onto his desk in a disorderly pile. Arthur picked up a padlock and began testing his new lockpicks, testing if the skills he developed over the years for opening more advanced locks than what could be seen in the game had remained.
Muscle memory didn''t seem to be working at first, causing Arthur''s frustration to build, but simr to riding a bike, once he had gotten the feeling for it once more, his memory took over. The first padlock had taken him ten minutes to open, by far his worst time in quite some time.
To rectify this, Arthur reached for the next padlock and began the process again.
Within his focus, he almost missed his sister knocking on his door.
"Hey, I got called in for work, I''ll be backter tonight, we''ll be having takeaway so order whatever you''d like," Anna shouted from behind the door, where she loitered for a moment before receiving a response from Arthur.
"Yes! I did it!" Arthur mumbled to himself with excitement, cing down thest padlock from his pile, one that took him mere moments to open. "I''ve still got it."
Arthur grabbed his old messenger bag, filling it with his lockpicking set and a varied collection of ducks before slinging the strap over his shoulder and making his way downstairs.
''Sounds like something is going on at theb, maybe that''ll take some attention away from Dad''s office.'' Arthur thought to himself.
Arthur made his way out of the house, locking the door behind him as he left, and walked towards theboratory, namely the building next door.
Before entering the building, he made sure that Donovan''s car was parked in the parking lot, and after confirming that detail, he made his way inside.
As expected, it seemed as though something had happened at the office, Arthur wasn''t sure what that was, but he had the feeling that something was amiss.
He made his way up the stairs and onto the first floor, walking past his father''s office, he noticed that nobody was around, which was convenient for him.
After a moment of checking corners, ensuring he wouldn''t be caught in the act, Arthur snuck inside the office.
Although this was his father''s office, there were two desks, the main one was obviously for the big man himself, but the second desk was for his secretary, Donovan.
Arthur snuck behind Donovan''s desk, crouching behind it so that nobody noticed his presence if they walked past.
The top drawer of Donovan''s desk was Arthur''s current target, but unfortunately for Arthur, Donovan kept the desk locked when he wasn''t present. Unfortunately for Donovan, however, Arthur considered himself an expert at picking locks, and something as subpar as a drawer lock was mere child''s y.
Opening the drawer took only moments of Arthur''s time, and after opening the drawer, Arthur''s prize was resting on top of several notebooks and a handful of misceneous items, like a calctor, half a packet of chewing gum and a few pens and pencils.
Arthur swiped Donovan''s car keys before closing the drawer. He made sure to leave the drawer unlocked so that he could quickly return the keys when he was done.
Arthur briefly scanned the outside of the door, making sure nobody would witness him leaving, aside from the security cameras. And when he determined it was safe, he slipped out of the room and down the stairs.
When he left theboratory with Donovan''s keys in hand, Arthur found himself feeling a sense of childish excitement, but most of all, he was going to enjoy Donovan''s reaction tomorrow.
Opening Donovan''s car, Arthur unzipped his bag and took out a handful of rubber ducks. With a devilish grin stered on his face, he began hiding the various ducks anywhere he could within the car.
Arthur hid tiny ducks anywhere he could; in the ashtray, in both the driver and passenger side sun visor, he fit a couple ofrger ducks in the glovepartment. Several ducks found themselves wedged in the drinkpartment of the centre console, in the storage areas behind the seats and one even buckled up on one of the backseats. Although Arthur was cautious that the duck wouldn''t roll under the driver''s seat and cause issues.
The remainder of the duck army had been loaded in the car''s boot, scattered within anything the boot contained, even the second pair of shoes stored in his boot weren''t safe from a rogue duck sneaking its way in there.
When he was out of ducks, Arthur locked the car and made his way back into theboratory. Once again the first floor seemed empty, so Arthur snuck inside his father''s office and slipped behind Donovan''s desk once more. He returned the keys before closing the drawer, and as he just finished locking the desk again, he heard voices quickly approaching.
Arthur hid underneath the desk and decided to wait it out.
The voices became more recognisable, even more so when the office door opened and two people walked inside.
"The medical bay has seen an increase in visitation from the reactor staff, they aren''t reporting injuries, but various ailments," A voice that Arthur recognised at Doctor Hudson spoke up, "It''s quite possible that the experiment is causing rapid onset ailments, we don''t know what the long term ramifications of exposure to this undocumented radioactive element are."
"Various ailments?" Arthur''s father responded, "borate."
"One of the patients is burning up to such a degree that we were forced to submerge his body into an ice bath, the ice doesn''t seem to be working for very long, as each bag of ice has melted after only a few minutes." Doctor Hudson reported, "Alternatively, another patient is showing extreme rigour, his body temperature has dropped significantly."
"Several methods of external heating have been attempted, but do not show any signs of improvement, he has since requested to be allowed to run around the hallway to increase his body temperature, and this request has been granted." Hudson continued.
"Observe their conditions, provide a report for any further symptoms and the duration of symptoms. Keep a record of each patient''s testimony regarding exposure durations and approximate distance from the element source, note that the file should remain confidential." Arthur''s father spoke next, "I will arrange a team to attempt to identify if the element is the cause, and if so develop a way of containing the radiation, is that all?"
"Understood, sir..." Doctor Hudson responded, "But, it is my understanding that you have had high levels of exposure to the element as well, are you experiencing anything that could possibly be considered a side effect?"
"I am fine, Doctor." His father spoke up before seemingly grabbing a handful of documents, at least from what Arthur could tell based on sound alone, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, please excuse me, I am due for a board meeting."
"Of course..." Doctor Hudson responded.
The two men made their way out of the office, Arthur felt both surprised that he hadn''t gotten caught and guilty that he overheard a conversation that clearly was not meant for him. But his sense of curiosity had caused him to follow Doctor Hudson, albeit from a distance, to the second floor, just to see what was going on.
As he wandered down the hallway, passing by researchers, doctors and a few patients, he began feeling somewhat overheated, as if the heater on that floor had been turned up to a slightly ufortable level.
Despite the heat, Arthur noticed that one of the patients was shivering as if he had been caught in a snowstorm without a jacket, this patient was someone who worked at theboratory, clearly identifiable by the keycard hanging on his waist.
This keycard informed Arthur that the man before him was one of the engineers working on the reactor project, namely the engineer that had been experiencing the rigour.
The engineer was running through the hallway in a desperate attempt to warm himself up, he was barely managing to avoid others as he sprinted down the hall as if his life depended on it, Arthur attempted to avoid the man, but he ended up lightly brushing past him.
A painful static shock could be felt at their point of contact, followed by Arthur feeling a sensation of energy running through his body. He quickly turned to find that the engineer, surprised by the slight shock, had slipped and ended up prone on the floor behind him.
As the engineer stood back up, Arthur expected him to sprint off again, but something surprising urred.
"What?... It''s not cold anymore," the man spoke to himself out loud, "What the hell is going on? I should tell the doc..."
The man sprinted past Arthur once more, this time heading towards the location of Doctor Hudson''s office, leaving Arthur feeling quite surprised.
Arthur stared down at his hand where he had felt the shock and decided to go home, his curiosity had not been quenched, but he felt like something troublesome would happen if he appeared before Doctor Hudson right now.
Chapter 208 Distant Memories
Chapter 208 Distant Memories
As Arthur made his way down the stairs, on his way to the bottom floor, he began feeling a sense of nausea building within.
Arthur recognised what this could potentially mean, as this sickly feeling was something he had been all too familiar with as ofte. He had made it down the staircase and out of theboratory before waves of nausea coursed through his body.
It wasn''t quite vile enough of a feeling for Arthur to rush to the bathroom, but it did deplete any motivation he had to do anything other thany down the second he entered his room.
He entered his house and locked up behind him before staggering up the stairs. The energy he had earlier in the day was now gone, reced with lethargy, and his motor skills had be sluggish.
Arthur barely slipped into morefortable clothing before slumping down in his bed, not even bothering to perform his usual nighttime routine.
As Arthur expected, he once again began experiencing the sensation of floating around in a ck void moments after his body fell into a state of unconsciousness.
''Let''s hope the dreams are different this time... or I guess I should call them visions.'' Arthur thought to himself, ''I just don''t want to see Anna in that state again.''
But, regardless of how long Arthur waited, no vision seemed to appear.
For what felt like hours, Arthur''s consciousness floated around in that ck void, he spent that time ruminating on his thoughts, but it had gotten to the point that he began getting impatient, and then his thoughts captured his interest again.
''Why has it not taken effect yet, where are the visions?'' Arthur pondered. ''Do I not--''
That thought was immediately cut off as Arthur was thrust into what seemed to be a battlefield in the middle of a forest clearing.
Scorch marks littered the ground of what must have been a beautiful natural wonder. Many flowers appeared to have been crushed underfoot and some of the surrounding trees hadn''t gotten off lightly either.
''Wait a second, this isn''t real life...'' Arthur thought, turning to see a few familiar faces, one of them being his own.
"Commander, they''ve got us surrounded... There are at least fifty enemies in the immediate area." One figure spoke, it was a young man who joined the same guild as Arthur in the previous timeline, although he had joined several yearster, he quickly made his way through the ranks as one of the best information-gathering supports in the world.
"Is that so? Those poor bastards..." A gruff yet familiar voice rang out.
An older Typhoeus stood before Arthur, mounted on a winged steed with a silky ck coat.
"You''re up, old friend," Typhoeus spoke, signalling towards a man with long white hair and bright purple eyes. "Do what you do best."
"Alone?" The support remarked, "Pardon myck of faith, but we have been split up from the rest of the raid team, should we not call for backup?"
"Don''t worry, just keep your head down and watch," Typhoeus said.
As the older version of Merlin dismounted from his own steed, Typhoeus had thrown him an item.
"That''s the useless tank item that has been floating around in the guild storage." The support remarked while remaining confused, "What could Merlin possibly do with that?"
"Probablymit a war crime," Typhoeusughed before turning his attention to his surroundings.
"Are you seriously hiding in the trees? What are you, the Viet Cong?" Merlin mocked, "If you y nice and stop hiding, we might even go easy on you."
A vast assortment of lights filled the treeline, denoting the fact that several spells had begun being cast.
"You guys are so easy, it''s not even fun for me anymore..." Merlin continued to mock them, causing more lights to appear.
With a smug expression on his face, Merlin held the item in his hands straight into the air, the item that the support imed was useless.
The item let out a low hum, indicating that it had been activated, but whatever effect it had was yet to be made clear to all outside observers.
"I''m kidding of course..." Merlin spoke once more. "This part will always be fun..."
As the enemy spells finished, a barrage of magic flooded the area around the clearing, but something odd had urred.
Even spells that had flown so far off course that they clearly missed anything that could remotely be considered a valid target suddenly turned and flew directly towards Merlin.
As was the effect of the magic item currently active in his hands, an item that attracted every spell, allies included, towards him. The addition of ally spells was what cemented this item''s useless status amongst rankers and raid teams, but for someone like Merlin, using the item in a context such as the one he found himself in at this moment, that effect was unproblematic.
With a smug grin on his face, and with a barrage of magic moments away from mutting his corpse until nothing remained, Merlin chanted a skill name.
"Angel of Vengeance."
Within an instant, the whites of his eyes had turned ck, and ck illusory feathers began forming in the air around him. But these details were hard to notice when he was showered by an obscene amount of visual effects.
When the spells ended, Merlin was still standing.
Arthur noticed that Typhoeus looked excited at this moment, like a child eager for the next firework at a festival. Arthur appreciated the additional point of view that the vision granted him, and for some reason, it brought a genuine smile to his face.
"Revenge counter!" Merlin shouted, ensuring his words echoed within the clearing and reaching those hiding away.
A ck wave of energy shot out from Merlin''s chest, expanding into arge bubble that enveloped the clearing and arge portion of the treeline surrounding them.
Moments after, the ck energy dispersed, causing ck feathers to rain down from the sky in its ce.
"So cool, every time," Typhoeus muttered to the support staff before leaping from his mount. "My turn!"
Typhoeus walked up to Merlin, who was currently drinking a high-level health potion, and stood by his side before chanting an ability of his own, "Angel of Death".
Eerie red energy bubbled around Typhoeus'' feet before spreading out rapidly in a wave around him. It wasn''t as visually appealing as Merlin''s move, but the effects would quickly show themselves.
"Arise you miserable bastards, have a second chance in life on the winning team for once." Typhoeus said in a mocking tone to what seemed to be nobody, but screams and shouting could be heard in the distance moments after.
Within moments, smaller groups had scattered, running out into the clearing, and being chased shortly after by what seemed to be their own team members.
The group watched as a tankier-looking yer was ganged up on by three of their fellow teammates and slowly devoured alive. The scene was reminiscent of an animal documentary, where a group of wolves had grouped up against arger target, taking chunks out of it before it ran out of energy and died.
"Your army seems stronger thanst time, did you change your build?" Merlin asked.
"Sort of. You remember the apple that appeared in the auction house a few weeks ago?" Typhoeus responded, "It took every penny of my personal funds and an eighth of the guild''s treasury."
"Ah, so it was you who got the Eden apple... I remember hearing the drama about it but I didn''t pay much attention to who actually got it." Merlin responded.
"If another one shows up, I''ll try to get you it." Typhoeus said, "I''m curious what it''ll do to your angel soul. Maybe it''ll just buff the damage."
"Nah, not necessary," Merlin said, "Thirty-five per cent of all damage taken is still busted."
"True that, but it still hurts my soul that you wasted an apple of Eden on that lore... finder... seeker... whatever soul," Typhoeus said.
"You''re ignoring the fact that we have the archangel souls specifically because I upgraded the loreseeker soul..." Merlin said, giving Typhoeus a side-eye.
"True that..." Typhoeus conceded, "But the offer still stands."
"Let''s clean up the stragglers and meet up with the rest of the raiding party," Merlin said, ignoring the topic.
Arthur felt himself being suddenly dragged back into the ck void as the scene around him faded into nothingness. But he didn''t seem to mind as much, he was too busy reminiscing on the scene that yed out in front of him.
''Good times.'' Arthur thought to himself. ''One day we''ll get back to that point. Well, maybe not exactly... I wonder what everyone else would eventually build into...''
But the happiness he found would soon disappear as scenery began forming around him once more, this time it was clear that this wasn''t another memory from within New Genesis, but rather a scene he had yet to witness.
Arthur found his consciousness floating around the front gate of the Watt''s estate.
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