《Slade the Shade》 Chapter 1: Sunrays and the annoyed goddess. When the first rays of sunlight pass-through space, time, the Earth, and its atmosphere, through concrete and steel, and gently reflect off a sleeping man with a satisfied smile. Only to be cursed. "F*ck!...I hate the sun. Just as I was getting to the good part. "The young man cursed. Slade woke up staring hatefully at the windows without any curtains allowing the sun to invade his safe haven. As the young man stood up you can see he was about 6 feet tall, above-average looks medium-long brown, bed hair and dark brown eyes. Skin as pale as you can get from avoiding direct sunlight like the plaque. It was not the light that was the main problem for Slade it was the heat. ''The damn heat where you can actually feel the radioactive rays'' Slade cursed eternally again. ''I hope this game works out ''Slade thought as he looked around his empty apartment. The room was just as empty as when his ex left him, he thought with a slight smile. All this happened because of the worldwide announcement of the first fully immersive VRMMRPG "limits".It showcased grand fantasies you partake in with the standard RPG structure with swords, loot, and castles. Just exponentially refined to make it feel and look alive. Slade recently dropped out of university as he felt that it was not for him. After a long time of just playing games, watching streamers, reading power fantasy novels, he was getting bored. He immediately took an interest in this hype, but almost had a heart attack as he checked the prices. He had to sell all his assets and a few misc. items to preorder the gold pod version that boasted about increased immersion. It took about two weeks for them to replace the position where his bed was with the pod. All for the promise of adventure and riches both in and out of the game. After bathing, doing his morning exercising, watching a few videos, the server was about to start. Nervously entering the single bed size pod with the comfortable interior he pressed start and lost consciousness. "Hi host, I''m the pod''s AI that''s responsible for your virtual needs, please help fill out your personal details to access the hub. Note that we will, by under no circumstance share or expose this information."A sweet feminine voice sounded in my ears. "Go ahead," answered Slade. "What is your full name?" asked the AI "Slade Conner," said Slade. "age and occupation?" "22 and professional procrastinator," said Slade proudly. "...Thank you for your patience , please note before you begin your body will be checked for any abnormalities and you may feel slightly uncomfortable."Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. After what felt like an uncomfortable long time I arrived at the so-called hub where I can mentally select several options like body condition, time, an internet browser, Friends, and what he actually came for ... LIMITS. When the game started you get a 4D cinematic in the form of a POV of a bird flying through forests, plains, rivers, towns, cities, and a kingdom of epic proportions.Is what would have been showing if not Slade has not skipped almost immediately. Instead, he had an amused look as he stared ahead at an otherworldly beauty with a soft aval face, warmth-filled amber eyes, blinding golden hair, and most importantly, huge, holy cream-colored wings. Well, proportionate and about 5''6" tall. "Why did you skip the introduction to this world traveler?" the holy being asked inquisitively. "Greetings to you... my holiness? And why would I watch that when I want to see this world through my own eyes as that would be the best experience." said Slade matter of factly while he lied through his teeth as he got bored after 30 seconds where half that time he was looking for how to skip. "Just call me Elaina I am the goddess of this world and am responsible for accepting the travelers, my child, and I am impressed with your attitude?" Asked the so-called goddess. "Please do not call me your child, it''s creepy I''m not into that kind of stuff. And yes but keep it brief," answered Slade as he shivered at the thought. as he appreciated her cute behavior ,she became displeased with his joke. "..." the goddess was speechless at the insolence of the young man in front of her but still continued, "As you please let''s start this already, to begin with, how would you like change your appearance and bear in mind there must be a maximum of ten percent difference between you and your avatar." "Can I change my race?" he asked expectantly. "No all travelers must find their own opportunities throughout the world and beware quests to change classes are beyond rare," she said. "That sounds tedious," Slade said while he sighs. After that, he checks out what he can change and a whole catalog appears which he finds too much work to go through so he just filters to hair and eye color which he changes to black and violet respectfully. "I am done, just a few changes because I''m content with my looks, so what is next?" he asked. "Lastly you must select a class between the 6 options as they both restrict and reinforce your build," she said. [ ] [ ] A class list was set in front of him for the six classic options the first one is a warrior which specializes in melee battles with swords, spears, axes, and so on which he liked a lot but won''t suit as the weapons will be too straightforward for him to enjoy. The mage branches out into different types like fire mage, water mage, and so on. but they are also not for him either. The assassin might be the best bet as he likes to be sneaky but not all the time though. The rest of the classes he won''t even think about. "Are there any better classes?" he asks as he saw the goddess getting bored. "Out in the world yes but you still have to choose one of the basic classes," she said plainly. "What if I call you mommy?" he said while looking reluctant as the goddess''s eye twitches, "Boy be serious or I will let you go without a class," she says while being annoyed. Slade''s eyes seem to glow while she says that. "Is that really an option or must I call you mommy again?" Slade says while the goddess looks pissed even though she looks cute when angry instead of intimidating. Chapter 2: The four pathways and the wolf. "Since you wish to anger me I will show the consequences of your actions." said the goddess before everything went black. [Welcome to the Harrowing plain!] [Traveler has not selected any class during the character selection and therefore will start without a class. All of the traveler''s attributes will therefore start with 10 and will be given 10 attribute points to spend.] When Slade regained his vision he was standing in a massive green plain without much vegetation. After looking at the system logs he was both happy and fearful. Happy because he has the freedom to build his class and fearful because he was not sent to any beginner''s village like he was supposed to. "Damn that petty woman, I was just joking with her, but now where am I?" he muttered as he looked around to find any life. All he could hear was the wind with nothing around and what is with the unnerving name of this place.''At least it is a bit more interesting this way,'' he thought as he decided to check his status. ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 1 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:100/100 MP:100/100 Physical damage:20 Magical damage:20 Strength: 10 Agility: 10 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 10 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:10 Physical defense:13 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect skill:Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. ] Strength will define the amount of physical damage you cause when attacking with your bare hands or a weapon. This attribute is primarily used by attack-based Warriors. 1 point of STR equals 2 attack power. Agility defines the rate you have to avoid the attack of a monster, NPC, or player. 1 point of AGI equals 1 of accuracy and 1 of evasion. Increasing Agility will also make your movement speed faster Vitality represents the number of HP your character will have within the world. This attribute is the most important at the beginning of the game because if your HP is too low, you will not be able to resist a monster''s attack. 1 point of VIT is equivalent to 10 HP. Intelligence defines the number of skills or magic you can use. If your INT is low while you are in a battle, you cannot use any skill that requires mana consumption. This attribute is the most important one for Mage-type characters because 1 point of INT is equivalent to 10 MP and 2 points of magical damage. Endurance is the amount of physical damage you can take. Increasing endurance increases your physical defense as well as lowers your chances of getting a physical debuff. his attribute is the most important one for tank-type characters as 1 point of endurance is 1 point of physical defense.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. When you first choose a class the games will set your attribute points towards your class requirements and only after leveling up will you get the freedom of allocating your own points. This was one of the reasons Slade did not choose any of the default classes. The other reason why is that when you select your class you learn and upgrade class skills faster by a rate if 2 times and 2 times slower for other skills. After Slade was done checking his status he started checking out the item he owns which was admittedly quite a few. Just a cotton Tunic, pants, basic shoes, and a rusty short sword. ''Identify'' [Cotton tunic: Equipment Requirement: None Grade: Iron Property: Defense +1] [Cotton pants: Equipment Requirement: None Grade: Iron Property: Defense +1] [Novice shoes: Equipment Requirement: None Grade: Iron Property: Defense +1] [Rusty sword: Equipment Requirement: None Grade: Iron Property: Physical attack+2] Items within the Limits world are divided as follows from worst to best: Iron Bronze Silver Gold Legendary Mythic Forbidden Divine As of now, Slade has no items to help him find where he is. So he started to look around the area and after 20 minutes he came back with some findings. The plains are empty no plants no lives and no mobs. There are four places he saw he could go, going forward from where he was would le to a big mountain with lots of cliffs and valleys. To the left leads to a desert that never seems to end and where you could actually feel the blistering heat from just looking afar. To the right is the most mysterious lake with cold mist steaming out of it. And last but not least behind him is a huge jungle with giant trees. Now, where should he go, the desert is obviously out, the lake looks too dangerous and he does not have the energy to go hiking. The only choice left would be the peaceful-looking forest that looks like a trap. Walking and gazing at the changing scenery while listening to the birds and insects and feeling the humidity in the air can be relaxing until you spot a 2-meter grey wolf that is giving you the same look like your friend when you left them hanging for an hour because you were sleeping. "Hey sorry for disturbing but I will head out now," Slade said confidently before walking naturally. ''Inspect'' [Grey Wolf Level:7 HP:1000/1000] "F*ck...please let me go I''m only level one!" cursed and pleaded Slade while running from the bloodthirsty beast that is way faster than him and catching up. "Let''s talk this out no need for violence." ''i hope this works or else I''m dog food, I''m starting to really get angry at this shitty goddess.'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 1 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:100/100 MP:100/100 Physical damage:26+2 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 15 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect skill:Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. ] "*phew*im glad that worked."Slade smiled when he saw the claws of death that just missed his throat "hahaha hahaha what''s wrong you got to try harder...Oh shit." He felt stupid because his taunt made the beast go faster. While he was running he got an idea as he rapidly started climbing a tree on his way just to look at the dumb mutt that ate some bark. While looking down he got a great idea as he unsheathed "Look up here boy! That''s a good boy!" shouted Slade with an inverted grin on his face as he started free falling parallel to the tree while holding his sword with both than hands. The wolf only saw a sword''s edge and a human with an excited look on his face before...*splat*the wolf''s lower jaw was impaled on the ground while the young literary started kicking it while it''s down until it stopped moving. [You have killed a lv.7 wolf and are rewarded with: 2500xp] [You have leveled up and now are level 2] [You have leveled up and now are level 3] [you have unlocked the skill meteor strike] [you have unlocked the skill kick you while you are down] ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 3 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:80/100 MP:20/100 Physical damage:26+2 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 15 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:10 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Stike: Cost:100 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy.the greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<200 Physical damage x (0.5 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage. <+50 Physical Damage when kicking> ] Slade was panting and wheezing after kicking the wolf for the umpteenth time"hahaha hahaha that was epic...damn I''m awesome...hahaha thats what you get you stupid dog hahaha" he was reveling at the moment until... "Guys this is not what this looks like ...*sigh*screw you Elaina!" shouted as looked up with a face of despair and saw 7 wolves of the same type he slew but bigger and fierce closing upon him in a semi-circle formation. Chapter 3:Familiar feeling and the fall. [You have died!] [You have not set your spawn therefore you will be respawned where you first came into this world.] When Slade regained his vision he was standing in the same massive green plain without much vegetation.''The Family never liked me...same as usual I guess'' Slade thought and got up to stretch and checked to see his status. ''Status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [50%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:100/100 MP:100/100 Physical damage:26+2 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 15 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:10 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Stike: Cost:100 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy.the greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<200 Physical damage x (0.5 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. <+50 Physical Damage when kicking> ] Each death in this game minuses 50% of the experience in the level you are in which is pretty big, especially in the later parts of the game. ''oh well let''s check what the wolf dropped and allocate some points'' thought Slade as he brought out a silver sword from his inventory as well as some wolf leather and fangs. [Silver wolvic sword: Type: longsword Equipment Requirement: Lv.5;15 Strength Grade: Silver Property: Physical attack+60] [Grey wolf leather: Type: Crafting Material Grade: Bronze] [Grey wolf fangs: Type: Crafting Material Grade: Bronze]x2 [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [50%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:100/100 MP:100/100 Physical damage:26+2 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 25 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 ] Slade put the loot he acquired back in his inventory as can not use the sword yet. Slade put all his points because right now he can see he is under-leveled in this place where his first mob he saw was a level 7 not to mention their pack. If he can not beat them he may as well be faster than them so that he can come and go as he pleases and maybe who knows he can use the tree strategy again. He was musing which way he should go for about two minutes before he gave and threw the sword into the air as he saw the sword fall and point towards the massive mountain. After he picked up his sword he started his journey forward until he could make out where the terrain changes abruptly like someone drew a line separating them.'' Not suspicious and nerve-wracking at all.''He started to be more cautious on the way as all of a sudden dark cloud pops up in the sky with different birds of prey circling around circling the mountain looking for tasty prey like me. As he was shivering and feeling cold sweat on his back he can barely hold back his excitement as he thought that this is what he came here for, a change in life where he could feel his dead heart beating without caffeine to stimulate it. There comes a point in life where you can have the marvelous feeling as the wind pass by you as you are moving faster and faster, as your mind is focused you feel your breaths comings in and out. Your heart rate is racing and you want to stop and as you look behind you and see... [Rocky cayotes Level:9 HP:900/900] x3 [Rocky cayotes Level:10 HP:1100/1100]x1 [Rocky cayotes Level:8 HP:700/700]x4 "Shit! please let me go, is swear I was just talking to him!" he pleaded without looking back. It all started when he was halfway through the rocky path to the foot of the mountain and a small coyote came across my way. He saw the cub was not going to attack me so he was having a small talk with it about how great was he when slew a great wolf without taking damage before he was ambushed by their evil pack. They were having a great time and he was reluctantly going to ask to have him as a pet before ...here we are still being chased for doing nothing.'' this world is too cruel'' As he was running he saw a huge ravine that leads so deep you can''t see in. At first he looked into the abyss before turning around and seeing the eight cayotes hot on his trail he said "f*ck it!" Slade started using all his reserves and staking it all on this, he started running faster until he reached the cliff of the ravine and jumped with his life to get to the other side. The coyotes naturally stopped before the edge to watch as the sweaty young man make a huge leap and soar through the air and by just barely ...miss as he fell into the blackness they thought that''s what he gets for trying to kidnap our young. "f*ccckkkk!" was all you could hear before silence reigned and they went on with their business. Chapter 4: Inheritance and rejection. "f*ccckkkk!" Slade screamed as he watched the cliffside fade out of view as darkness welcomed me.''Jeez how long am I going to fall, am I going to hell. Would not surprise me.'' he thought as he has been falling for about a minute.'' If I have to fall down hell you bet I''m going to impale a demon when I land'' was the thought on Slade''s mind as he pulled out his trusty rusty sword pointed it down and angle his body like someone who is going to dive down in a diving contest. ''Hope there is someone down there to greet me or else I''m going to look like an idiot'' as he reached terminal velocity all hope of getting out of this alive was squashed as he would soon. As the wind was hitting harder on his face he managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel man did he get the fright of his life. He saw a torch fire illuminated hall with a muscle-filled dog with three heads guarding a set of double doors, but keep in mind that is relative to what he is seeing from the height he is falling which means as he gets closer everything just gets bigger. when he finally gets to see the three-in-one pitbull it was about 4 meters tall and three meters wide. fortunately or unfortunately for it, it was currently sleeping unsuspecting of the falling human adjusting the angle as he aimed for it. <-20> " YELPPP!" in three different alliterations destroyed the silence in the room, as Slade impaled through the hound''s tail before falling on its back. Slade first started limping towards the doors before straight on sprinting despite feeling so much pain he started crying when he saw the beast recover and then gaze at him with three identical stares that I woke up with when the alarm goes off. By the time I reach the doors I see the mythical creature break my precious sword in two with just its tail while its wounds regenerate in mere seconds, and when I just get the doors open three balls of fire barely miss me as I tumble to the other side, but not before closing and bolting the doors. He huffed and wheezed as he rested his battered boy. Slade opened up the system logs to see what nearly took his life [CERBERUS Level:? HP:?/?] [You have leveled up your skill meteor strike to level 2.] [You have unlocked the skill Sprint] "Only now!" Sade cursed the goddess again. ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [50%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:5/100 MP:10/100] Fifteen painful moments passed by until Slade felt the energy to move around. He started to check the place out and maybe find some treasure. He found himself in a massive hallway with the same torches lighting up the place further up ahead is another set of doors and much to his surprise, a gold treasure chest was to the side almost making him drool. ''I really hope this is not a trap, or I might just cry'' Slade thought inwardly as he walked up to the chest to open it. [To open a treasure chest you have to touch it for 30 seconds without being interrupted]Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. <30> <29> <28> ... <1> [Congratulations you have opened a gold treasure chest!] What lay before me in the chest was a pouch full of gold, a pair of black boots, and a skill book. [You have acquired 50 gold coins.] [You have unlocked the skill Instincts] [Windstrider boots: Type: Footwear Equipment requirements: 20 Agility Grade: Gold Property: Agility +10 Skill: Windstrider Type: passive Cost:none After running at full speed for 30 seconds wind will gather at your feet to increase your movement speed<+10% Agility>] ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [50%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:50/100 MP:80/100 Physical damage:26+2 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 25+10 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Stike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy.the greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:?] ''This is what we talking about, a mysterious skill plus some nice boots'' Slade had a content smile after equipping the boots and heading to the doors ready to brave any dangers ahead. With confidence, he walked up to the door before carefully opening it enough just to peek through it. What Slade saw was a cave with a candlelit stair leading up to an altar with a giant statue he can''t make out yet. Seeing no mobs he opened the doors before walking up the stairs and getting a better look at the statue. It depicted a humanoid form with a single horn protruding out of its temple and sharp-looking fingers. It was wearing a knight''s armor without the helmet allowing you to see the handsome face with a fierce expression. It was holding up a mighty greatsword looking ready to go to war. As I came to the statue its eyes locked onto me giving me almost as much of a scare as when a voice suddenly spoke within my mind. "Welcome human and congratulations for completing my five trials and tribulations for testing the resolve and limits of a real warrior!" "Thank you, Sir, no mere trial will shake up my resolve and my courage holds no bounds," said Slade with a look like a hardened warrior that''s been to war. "Oh I''m impressed and call me Kayn and as you can see from my good old days I''m a noble demon, one of the strongest races in this world. Now tell me, Slade, would you like to inherit my strength." "If that is the case I would gladly accept and help you with any requests," he said while he was practically drooling imagining himself looking devilishly handsome slaying his foes and impressing the ladies with his cool new form. "Very well, I can see the desire for strength on your face so that you can settle grudges and strive towards your goals. Now all you have to do is sign this contract with your blood." It was at this point that warning bells were playing at the back of his head signaling to hold off his desires. "...Kayn what does the contract say," Slade asked nervously. "What is the matter did you not say your courage holds no bounds and you would help with any requests?" the voice asked coldly. "haha...It was just a figure of speech, and I''m just curious is all," he said while sweating. "This contract is no problem for such a valiant warrior like you, you just have to start worshipping me and promise to a few requests for me once in a well." "Sir stop playing around I worship the goddess and will never betray her," said Slade with a pained voice. "I will tell you what, in exchange for my power I want you just to destroy a few human cities, and then you can do what you want thereafter." "F*ck that after everything I been through in your trials, after risking my life just to make it here. I must either become your pawn or ruin my future by becoming a wanted man, where is the justice where are my rewards." said a voice laced in injustice. "Here I will give you a little something for getting here. Now sign the contract or I will kill you and you will be an enemy of an entire race." After putting away the item in his inventory, Slade came closer to the statue before pulling up his hands and pointing his middle fingers at the statue. "Go f*ck yours..." he could not finish his sentence as his head was sent out flying from his body. [You have died!] Chapter 5:Self-reflection and the great one. [You have died!] [You have not set your spawn therefore you will be respawned where you first came into this world.] When Slade regained his vision he was standing in the same massive green plain without much vegetation. ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A HP:100/100 MP:120/120 Physical damage:26 Magical damage:24 Strength: 13 Agility: 25+10 Endurance: 10 Intelligence: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:10+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy.the greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:?] Slade sighed as had died yet again to something he could not go against.''Well, at least I scammed an item from, haha wait till he finds out I''ve never done any of his dumb trials ''. He pulled the item out from his bag and inspected it. [Bleed Enchantment Gem Type: Weapon enhancement Grade: Legendary ]This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "Worth it, now all I have to get is my weapon and a way to enhance it," Slade said to himself. <-200 reputation points to high noble demon Kayn> <-50 reputation points for the demon race> "Ha I already offended a goddess, what can one demon really do?" Now that he looked up he can see that its night time with two full moons in the sky almost overlapping each other. Slade decided to go to the only other place he is willing to go which is the mysterious lake. With no weapon he can use, he puts all his faith in his boots so when danger comes he can just run away. As he reaches the dividing line to the mysterious lake area, he feels weirdly cold not by temperature but something he can''t exactly describe. He started to feel calmer which led him to see that he was acting a bit rashly toward some powerful figures, as he started to self-reflect he realized that he was being stressed and his behavior was starting to show it. It''s scary when you let your emotions start to take over, he decided to just lay down and take a 5-minute breather. As he was approaching the lake the mist starts to thicken until he only can saw grey smoke which weirdly started to surround him. He continued to walk forward as he trusted his brain to remember the directions until he stopped where the lake was supposed to begin. Do you know the feeling of sensory confusion where what you taste and what you smell is different like eating blue cheese imagine that just more intensified? That was what Slade was feeling when he could you the ripples in the water. He could feel the freezing cold water but what if instead of seeing water all he saw was a tunnel where the walls were pitch black and blue fire from the ceiling illuminated the way. Truly unnerving. Slade took a deep breath and calmed his mind, He decided to trust his sight and walk forward. What was mystifying was that with every step he took, he started to feel the negative emotions that were holding him down start to chip away. His mind was getting sharper and for the first time in his life, he started to accept himself. [Blessing of an unknown great one received!] When he reached the end he found he found that all of the grey mist was absorbed by him. What he saw on the other side was a room only containing a table and a pair of chairs opposite each other. A pair of yellow glowing eyes watching from as I sat across the mysterious humanoid form in front of me. "I do not know if you are truly fortunate or if this is fate for you to come across the lake while there are two full moons while I''m basking in its essence and releasing some of my own." came a calm-inducing husky voice from the being. The being was so dark that Slade can barely detect it from the light coming from the ceiling of blue flames. Despite that, it had a humanoid shape where tendrils of darkness flake off occasionally. Its only striking feature was the glowing yellow eyes. "I doubt it is any of the two, but I''m glad I made it here. Just the mere essence helped me self-reflect and be myself. I do not know who you are but you have my gratitude" Slade said in wonder. "Call me S for now, but do not thank me, it requires a certain affinity and talent for your mind not to decay let alone benefit from it. I would like to give you an opportunity you reaching here, but first i need to know something from you." "Go ahead and I promise to answer honestly." "What do seek in life? Is it power?longevity?riches?Is it a harem full of beautiful women? Do note that just because I''m asking this question does now mean I can fulfill it for you." "It is a hard question I tell you, one that I''ve been asking my whole life. Only recently have I figured it out, and no it''s not any of them you listed, tempting as they are. What I am truly seeking is who I am, what really is Slade, what makes me, me. And I doubt I really can find out in this life." "That was truly an interesting answer, one that I can''t really give you any advice on, but I will give you an opportunity that will help you in your journey. Only if you are willing to get help from someone like me." It only took Slade a second before he answered. "It would be my honor." "But not so soon," the being said, "As you are far too weak to hold my power, and as I can see someone of your level is not supposed to be hanging out in the wastelands, but fret not I will send you where you supposed to go with your other travelers." "I will give you a teleportation scroll for you to come back here, but in order to receive my power you must be level 10 and complete my quest." [Quest received: the unknown great one''s inheritance. Description: A myth has taken an interest in you, whether that''s a good or bad thing for you is unknown He has given you a chance to change your fate but first you got to be strong enough in body and mind Task No.1-You must reach level 10. Task No.2- You must, by your own effort find out what is the great one''s name, origin, and race. Task No.3-Do not take too long or else he may lose interest in you. Possible rewards: 1)Class change. 2)Race change. 3)??? In the case of failure: 1)Removal of blessing.] Chapter 6: Forum and new unique weapon. "Say less, I will be back as soon as possible," Slade said with relief in his voice as he gets to leave this place. "Before you leave, I will lend you a weapon. Farewell and beware dangerous beings lurk everywhere, it''s wise not to offend anyone you see" said its husky voice while its eyes seemed to pierce my soul to get such information. "Advice noted." The next thing Slade noticed was the being lifting its hand with claw-like fingers leaving behind wisps of shadows as it extended one of its fingers before touching his forehead before he can think of what was happening his surrounding changed. [Welcome to the beginners'' village No.400.] ''Finally, I don''t know who or what that was, but that was epic, can''t wait to complete this quest'' Slade thought as he saw a village containing lots of small houses surrounded by wooden fences and a few watchtowers. He could see many players like him wandering in and out with better equipment and probably better levels.'' I''m just going to set this place as my respawn point before logging out and taking a nap.'' As he started to walk toward the village he saw three players walk toward him. He looked into his inventory and was shocked by what he saw, but he decided to inspect them later as he walked into the village. [Do you want to set this village as your respawn point.] ''yes'' [Respawn point has been set.] When he decided to log out he was scared when the log out button was not there, just kidding he just mentally called out and he was back in his empty room. Slade just napped in the pod for two hours as he was tired. He looked around his room and thought about how he can''t wait for the currency conversion update. As this is the first of its kind, not a lot of people would invest in the game this early, but when they see how many people would be playing the game globally they would start the update. By then Slade would start to make a living again. A melodious ringtone started to play before Slade sighed and picked up his phone."Hey Jean, it''s been a while." "Hey man is everything good, I heard you sold everything you had." came a concerned voice from the phone. "Yeah, haha, it was my investment into the new game Limits, which I''m sure you heard of by now." "Why wouldn''t I, I bought the platinum pod already, you know if you asked I could have bought one for you too."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "I know, but I decided to be serious with this, I feel like this is my chance, and besides when the next update comes I will be rolling in it." "Well, I wish you the best, and when you get the chance add me as a friend by searching for "ladykiller". Until next time." "Yeah later," he said before he ended the call. With nothing else to do, he started to check the forum for the game on his phone. A few guides on how and where to level up faster, which NPCs give the best quests, and what other players have found so far. A few hours later he found a lot of s*mps for the goddess, how to get certain skills, and a lot of trolling. What is interesting is that quite a few people already changed their race inviting envy from the people as not only do they cool but they give out certain skills and buffs, and what he gathered so far he has been the only ''lucky player'' to be thrown into the wastelands. Mainstream players are now mostly level 6, while experts are already level 7, and rumors of a few level 8s. The second time he logged on was as smooth as it could be, just select the game and he was already standing in the middle of the village. After he found a bench he sat down and started sorting out what was new in his inventory. First, he took out a scroll and inspected it. [Teleportation scroll Type: Consumable Description: After use, the user will be teleported to a predestined location. requires 30 seconds for use] Next, he brought the lent weapon, which was two meters tall with a wicked blade that was one and a half meters. It was a big scythe with a black metal handle with blue pulsating lines leading to the edges of the razor-sharp blade. [Spectral Scythe: Type: Scythe Equipment Requirement: S???? or his permission. Grade: Mythic (unique). Property: Physical and magical attack+500 every hit with the weapon; unauthorized; unauthorized Skills: Unauthorized Description: Unauthorized Cannot be dropped, stolen, lost, or traded] Slade just stared wide-eyed at the overpowered weapon as just one of its properties will allow me to dominate this area.'' It''s a wonder why he lent me this weapon, as it would be very hard for me to actually turn it.'' With a new weapon and newfound determination, it is time to power level. [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 2 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:110/110 MP:130/130 Physical damage:28 Magical damage:26 Strength: 13+1 Agility: 25+10+3 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 12+1 Vitality: 10+1 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:11+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Chapter 7: Village quests And the rare encounter. Before leaving the village he decided to go around and accept a few quests to gain extra rewards. First, he went to the butchery and found a middle-aged man holding a cleaver. "Greetings, how''s business" "Greetings traveler, business is fine just waiting for more supplies." "That''s just what I came here for I want any and all of your quests" "Here they are but don''t bite off more than chew, lots of danger in the wild." "No problem" [Quest received: Wild boar meat. (repeatable up to ten times) Description: Butcher needs meat from wild boars and is willing to pay. Task: Kill and harvest meat from ten wild boars and bring it back to the butcher. Reward:50 bronze; EXP; 1 reputation point] [Quest received: Deer meat. (repeatable up to ten times) Description: Butcher needs meat from deer and is willing to pay. Task: Kill and harvest meat from ten deer and bring it back to the butcher. Reward:20 bronze; EXP] Next up was the tailor which was an elder woman. [Quest received: Wolf hide. (repeatable up to ten times) Description: Tailor needs the hides of wolves and is willing to pay. Task: Kill and harvest the hide from ten wolves and bring it back to the tailor. Reward:80 bronze; EXP;2 reputation points] With the killing quests Slade collected he made it out of the village through the crowd of players and into the forest. He walked for a few minutes before he spotted his prey. ''Inspect'' [Boar Type: Normal Level:3 HP:500/500]This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. With the scythe equipped and a single swing. -9998 [You have killed a Lvl.3 boar and are rewarded with EXP] Done collecting the loot, he starts to hunt his prey again and after killing ten more boars he finally goes back to level 3. [You have leveled up and are now level 3] With no stat points to allocate, he starts to practice his use of the scythe with every boar he came across. Left swing,[You have killed a Lvl.3 boar and are rewarded with EXP] right swing,[You have killed a Lvl.4 boar and are rewarded with EXP] jumping slash,[You have killed a Lvl.3 boar and are rewarded with EXP]. Even with that one boar that he missed and hit a boar using the flat side of the blade,[You have killed a Lvl.3 boar and are rewarded with EXP]. boars for 30 minutes until boar number 100 is killed. [You have leveled up and now are level 4] [You have learned the skill Deadly strikes] Deciding to hold off on allocating any of his points until he finishes the power leveling. He begins to take a short break on the nearby tree. ''Staus'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 4 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:110/110 MP:130/130 Physical damage:28 Magical damage:26 Strength: 13+1 Agility: 25+10+3 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 12+1 Vitality: 10+1 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:10 Physical defense:11+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Satisfied with his progress Slade looked up only to be greeted by a red-eyed tusked boar charging at me at my fastest speed even with my boots. [Tusked Boar Type: Rare Level:5 HP:3000/3000] Mobs are classified as ascended order by their power as follows: Normal Elite Rare Mini-boss Boss World boss Legendary Mythic Divine With the boar closing In on me and no way to run and knowing its certain death if it hits Slade''s mind went on overdrive allowing him to see things only slightly faster, but just enough to activate his new skill right as the boar was in his reach. He swung his scythe from left to right slicing the boar''s right eye causing it to swerve and miss its charge. The next swing slashed that faster than before, and the pig''s leg flew away causing it to kneel on the ground lastly the head was decapitated before the leg hit the floor. <-950> <-1000> <-1200> [You have killed a Lvl.5 rare Tusked Boar and are rewarded with EXP] [You have leveled up and now are level 5] With the hand still outstretched with the scythe, Slade looked up with a smile as he said while looking toward the trees to the side, "Are you three still going to play hide-n-seek or must I personally invite you here." Chapter 8: The trio and the loot. A party of three was traveling in the wood, a flashy level 6 mage who was constantly fixing her hair, A level 7 warrior with a huge ax, and a level 5 assassin occasionally checking out for dangers. The party was progressing through the woods before they heard the constant sounds of something falling to the ground. They hid in the nearby bushes before looking out and spotting a young man in novice clothing adding another fallen boar to his collection with his terrifying scythe. They watched him lean against a nearby tree to rest as they spoke in hushed voices. "What do you guys think?" asked the warrior "That guy is hot I mean look at the way he smiles."The woman said with a blush. "What is wrong with you, he only smiled while killing, and this is beside the point you dumb girl what else have you guys noticed." said the warrior with frustration. "That weapon is a treasure look at the equipment he is wearing and the fact that he only recently leveled up to four. With the way, he one-shots the mobs I say the weapon is at least legendary grade." said the assassin, "Oh, you right." said the mage. "My thoughts exactly, and I want to take it away from him, imagine how rich we will be if we manage to sell it. This is the chance guys we can do this, but first, we need a plan to kill him before he can attack us and for that, we need you to use stealth and sneak behind him. We will distract him and when you get the chance kill him or buy us enough time to do that at least." With the plan set up, they watched in awe as the guy decimated the rare boar, and with renewed determination they... "Are you three still going to play hide-n-seek or must I personally invite you here." said while looking at them with a smile. With a signal to continue the plan the mage and warrior walked out openly while the assassin sneaked past the oblivious target. Slade watched as the two stepped in front of him and say... "Hey handsome, we do not mean any harm we were just passing by." said the mage flirtatiously "Yeah and I''m just wondering where you got your scythe as it is quite unique and eye-catching." Probed the warrior.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Oh this," Slade held out the weapon "I just found in the ground nearby." "If that is the case we will offer you 50 silver for it, which is quite a lot in the early game, and since I''m generous I will even recommend you to my guild."The warrior offered as he looked at the weapon longingly with a look that says he is taking a loss. "I will even give you my number." the mage added. "You know guys," Slade started talking while pointing the scythe behind him"I did say the three of you."The assassin''s figure gradually showed as the blade was pointed at his neck. "How did you..." was all he said before he got decapitated and turn into pixels and disappeared. While the two were flabbergasted Slade walked in from of and asked "Now that this farce is over are there any last words you guys have to say?" and just when they managed to open their mouths their heads went flying. "Haha I love doing that, it''s so satisfying, maybe I need some help." With the annoyances dealt with he looted a few worthless items they dropped and luckily in this game you do not receive a red name from PKing. He also decided to check the loot received from the tusked boar. [Tusked boar leather: Type: Crafting Material Grade: Bronze] [Tusked boar meat: Type: Ingredient Grade: Bronze] [Ring of minor strength : Type: Ring Equipment Requirement: Lv.5 Grade: Silver Property: +5 to strength] [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 5 [10%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:110/110 MP:130/130 Physical damage:38 Magical damage:26 Strength: 13+5+1 Agility: 25+10+3 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 12+1 Vitality: 10+1 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:20 Physical defense:11+3 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] ''Nice'' after equipping the ring and checking his status. He decided to hunt everything he sees from now on until he reaches level 10. Chapter 9: More wolves and new playstyle. While on the way to the wolf area Slade decided to kill and loot everything he came across, the sheep, the deer, and even the slimes. He decided to aim to be the first person to reach level 10 hopefully there will be some kind of epic reward. By the time he reached the wolf area, he was 60% of the way to level 6. From what he saw there was a small clearing in the forest situated next to a river. From what he could gather from his observations were that there were about 200 mainstream players farming the wolves at any given time and a lot of big and small fights occasionally. Wanting to stay out of trouble he decided to be lowkey. He went deeper into the forest until he could not hear any players or fighting he happened to spot a few wolves patrolling around being led by a slightly bigger wolf. ''Inspect'' [Wolf Type: Normal Level:5 HP:1500/1500]x3 [Wolf Type: Normal Level:6 HP:1800/1800]x2 [ Alpha wolf Type: Elite Level:7 HP:3000/3000] Calming his mind Slade realized that while he has an overpowered weapon he himself is too weak. He would need a few strikes to kill one wolve and by then he would be surrounded. The wolves could probably him in a few strikes plus the fact that they are faster than him. He needed a game plan. He can use "Deadly strikes" but it has a cooldown. Looking around he found a tree before doing a meteor strike on a group of 4 wolves targeting the level 6 wolf. Pinning down the targeted wolf before hitting the other three wolves with "Deadly strikes" at the same time before finishing the downed target <-1440> <-930> <-980> <-1230> <-980> [You have killed a Lvl.6 normal wolf and are rewarded with EXP]x3 [You have killed a Lvl.7 normal wolf and are rewarded with EXP] With four wolves out of the way and two left Slade dodges out of the way of an enraged wolf before capitalizing by performing two quick attacks before it recovers.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. <-980> <-980> [You have killed a Lvl.7 normal wolf and are rewarded with EXP] And before Slade could react a huge chunk of his health disappeared leaving 3 large claw marks on his chest. Steading his grip on his scythe he looked into the intimidating eyes of the wolf and steeling his nerves he subconsciously let out a smile and went into a passive stance. deducing that he can''t out strengthen or outpace he started allocating his points. ''Attribute status'' [Name: Slade Level: 5 [98%] HP:30/110 MP:0/130 Physical damage:38 Magical damage:26 Strength: 13+5+1 Agility: 45+10+5 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 12+1 Vitality: 10+1 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:0] As the wolf attacked with its claws Slade could see everything it moving clearer allowing him to decide on the best time to dodge, he could feel that his response time was shorter as he sidestepped the attack and he could naturally move faster as he avoided the second set of claws by narrowly tilting his head. He slashed the canine as he dodged the saliva-filled teeth aimed for his throat, rolled away from the incoming claws, and while blocking the second set of claws he pulled back the scythe and watched it cleave through its paw. with a pained howl the wolf charged with everything it had before missing and got cut down. [You have killed a Lvl.7 elite wolf and are rewarded with EXP] [You have leveled up and are now level 6] With the added agility Slade now found his playstyle and decided on an agility build as loved the feeling of narrowly dodging the enemy''s attacks before silencing them. He was going to a 5-2-2-1 ratio for his attributes points on Agility, strength, intelligence, and vitality respectfully. As for endurance, well he is tired of enduring. Collecting and sorting out the loot he found... [Old leather armor: Type: Armor Equipment requirements: none Grade: Bronze Property: +15 Physical defense] [Old leather pants: Type: Armor Equipment requirements: none Grade: Bronze Property: +5 Physical defense] [Wolf leather: Type: Crafting Material Grade: Bronze] [Wolf fang: Type: Ingredient Grade: Bronze] [Ring of minor agility : Type: Ring Equipment Requirement: Lv.5 Grade: Silver Property: +5 to Agility] At long last Slade managed to replace his novice gear. With the new strategy he went out to fight some more wolves and with some minor scratch marks here and there he leveled up again. [You have leveled up and are now level 7] ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 7 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:150/150 MP:200/200 Physical damage:42 Magical damage:40 Strength: 19+5+2 Agility: 50+15+5 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 18+2 Vitality: 14+1 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:11+20 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Chapter 10: Family situation and the world boss. Logging out he went out to eat at a small restaurant and in the middle of his dinner, he receives a call from his family. Slade''s family situation is not that great as his mother died giving birth to him, while his father always unfairly blamed it on him. His father later remarried and introduced his new stepfamily including two stepbrothers. While he was a bit anti-social that could not be justified as the family always treated him as an outsider and even straight-up ignored him most of the time. When he grew up and realized the false hope that one day they are going to accept him shattered, at the age of 18, he declared his independence and that he is no longer a part of the family. Andrew the younger sibling always kept in contact and apologized for what he did, though he was the only one, was the one who is calling Slade. Picking up the phone he heard a cheerful voice come through. "Hey brother, how are you doing." "Sup Andrew I''m going fine, and you know we are not brothers anymore right." "Please you will always be my brother and where are you right now? I got something important to discuss with you." "Yeah yeah call me whatever you want and I''m eating out at *****. Don''t keep me waiting too long or I might just leave before you arrive." "Cool see you in 10 minutes." All of a sudden the delicious meal became bland, Slade waited about 20 minutes browsing the Limits forum until a sports car parked in front of the restaurant. A young man wearing an expensive suit about 19 years of age with blond hair blues and an innocent face walked through the doors of the restaurant found who he was looking for and seated himself in front of Slade. "You look as fancy as ever, to what do I owe the honor of your presence." "haha stop with that, I came to offer a business offer." "Go on I''m listening." "It''s about the new game Limits, I talked with a famous guild for you and can get you a pod for joining the guild plus a monthly salary."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. "Sounds good so far but what are the restrictions in the contract," Slade said with a smile. "It''s not that much it''s just everything you loot will be processed by the guild first and you will have to work to guild activities a set amount of hours a week and then you can do anything else you want." "*sighs* tell me something who is the guild leader you spoke to?" "Well you see it is our brother, I mean my brother Jacobs so if you want to talk more about the contract we can talk." "So basically you just want me to be a slave to his guild where I must work my as* off for him while he oh so generously gives his scraps, the same "brother" who bought off my ex." enquired Slade while still smiling." "It''s not like that and besides I am the vice guild leader I can..." "You know I already got a pod already and doing quite well for myself in the game." "But how can you.." "How can I afford it, do I look that incompetent to you." "I''m sorry Slade I was just trying to get you back into the family." "I have been trying that my whole life and you think me being the subordinate of him will help, you really are naive. Now if that''s all you have to say, I am leaving." Leaving behind Andrew with a pained face and some cash for the meal, he started walking home. Along the way back it started raining, pulling out his umbrella he saw a shivering figure under a street light. Sighing he gave his umbrella to the person before continuing on his way, too engrossed in his thoughts to care about the rain or the lovely voice calling for him. After a hot shower and a long night''s sleep, Slade went back Into the game. While absent-mindedly killing wolves the sounds of fighting intensified, curious he went to check it. Putting the scythe in his inventory and passing through some trees he found where it came from. A huge 5 meters tall black wolf with spikes extending out its spine and sword-sized claws, was being surrounded by a well-coordinated group of about 300 players. ''inspect'' [ Wolf King Type: World boss Level:7 HP:49763/50000 Description: A wolf who had been in many life and death situations to become the king and is now angered that its subjects are being hunted in its own territory.] The person who was leading the attack was a 30-year-old man in a full set of armor and a shiny greatsword turned to the players watching the fight including me and said intimidatingly. "This boss is the property of The Raven''s guild and if we catch you trying to interfere in this fight will become an enemy of us and will be hunted down to level one!" While a few people protested no one took action fearing the consequences. Slade sat down and started to watch the show and if the opportunity shows he might take action. Chapter 11: Kill steal and world announcement. Slade was sitting down on the grass field watching the 300 man raid on the world boss. There were the tanks in the front taking the hits, the warriors who switched with periodically dealing physical damage. The mages at the back were raining the boss with their spells dealing magical damage making sure the assassins were in and out of the fight dealing damage to the boss while killing any mobs that came near the fight. The priests were in the middle of the formation being protected while healing the tanks first before everyone else. The battle was pretty one-sided against the wolf until half of the boss''s HP was gone. [ Wolf King Type: World boss Level:7 HP:24232/50000] By that point, the wolf calmed down before jumping directly in the middle of the formation dealing a huge AoE(area of effect) attack with a claw swipe, killing a huge amount of the healers. With a cunning look, the wolf roared stunning everyone before he started to attack the mages at the back. It took about a minute for the players to get back in formation surrounding the boss. By this point, a third of the players had died, with them mostly being priests and mages. The same cycle would repeat itself until the boss was down to 10,000HP and there were only about 50 players left around them in low health and scarce priests. [ Wolf King Type: World boss Level:7 HP:10001/50000] With the final push about to happen the surrounding people started to have ideas as they slowly started to inch closer.The leader of the raid seeing this happen, steppe out before threatening... "Stay back! If you guys insist on being vultures we will put all of you a kill on sight list." "Why are you calling us vultures, we only want to help out is all, besides the boss does not have your name on it. Let''s share this with everyone right guys!" said a shrewd man as he came forward weapons ready. "Yeah, he''s right, let''s share!" "I''m tired of these guys anyway." "Who told you to be so bossy let''s attack everyone!" "Attack!" And just like that, another 100 players came forward attacking both the raid team and the boss while they were down. Things escalated as spells were thrown everywhere, the raid members were dying and the wolf was just rampaging everywhere. Slade enjoyed the show until the wolf went down to 10% of its health.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. [ Wolf King Type: World boss Level:7 HP:5000/50000] The wolf went berserk as it roared again before cleaning out most of the players except the raid leader and two others from his team before tiring itself. The leader breathed in a sigh of relief as it was just him vs the beast was his last thought before his head flew into the air catching the figure of a smiling scythed figure dispatching the rest of his team. As Slade and the beast exchanged glares Slade grinned as he checked the health of the boss one last time before... [ Wolf King Type: World boss Level:7 HP:2487/50000] <-920> <-965> <-980> ...he cast "Deadly strikes" as the wolf howled in despair before it died. [You have killed a Lvl.7 normal wolf and are rewarded with EXP] [You have leveled and now are level 8] [Player Slade, You have killed a world boss for the first time in Limits]. [Do you wish to inform the world Y/N] "No I stole the boss from a guild, I do not want them to know of me." [World announcement: player ### was the first player to slay a world boss in Limits and is rewarded with 20 gold coins, reputation, and a mysterious token] [World announcement: player ### was the first player to slay a world boss in Limits and is rewarded with 20 gold coins, reputation, and a mysterious token] [World announcement: player ### was the first player to slay a world boss in Limits and is rewarded with 20 gold coins, reputation, and a mysterious token] ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 8 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:170/170 MP:180/220 Physical damage:46 Magical damage:44 Strength: 21+5+2 Agility: 55+15+6 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 20+2 Vitality: 15+2 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:11+20 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Satisfied Slade grabbed the loot and started running away without checking them out as he does not want the raid team to catch up to him from the village. In this game, there is no such thing as a graveyard, If you die you respawn where you put your respawn point. That is why it would take about 30 minutes for the raid members to come back, and he wants to be long gone before then. Chapter 12: Goblins and their dungeons. When Slade reached far away from where the boss was, he pulled out an ax, a mask, and engraved leather armor. [Mask of intimidation: Type: Mask Equipment Requirement: Level5 Grade: Gold Property: none Skills: Intimidation; Type:active Cost 10 MP/s When active any mobs below 5 levels of you will cower in your presence.] [Ax of cleaving: Weapon Type: Ax Equipment Requirement: Level5;warrior class Grade: Gold Property: Ignore 20% of physical defense Skills: Cleave; Type: active Cost 50 MP Unleash a focused strike on a singular target dealing 300% of your physical attack.] [Leather armor of avoidance: Type: Mask Equipment Requirement: Level5 Grade: Gold Property: +20 evasion;+50 physical defense Skills: none.] Looking around after equipping the armor and mask, he saw a different scenery he was used to when hunting the wolves. Realizing he was lost he looked around before finding the mountain that could be seen from the village, but a lot closer this time. Looking for more opportunities he heads towards the mountain while looking for suitable prey for him to level up more efficiently. At the foot of the mountain, he found a black bear looking around menacingly. ''inspect'' [Mountain bear Type: Normal Level:8This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. HP:4000/4000] [You have killed a Lvl.8 normal Mountain bear and are rewarded with EXP] Dealing quick work with the bear, he tracked where it came from and found a cave hidden in the mountain. As he walked inside he could not see a thing just the light that came from behind, He walked until he barely saw the light showing his way back and found a few rooms in front of him with fire torches around. The first two rooms had nothing but sleeping bears which he dealt with before stepping into the final room. The final room had a silver chest containing nothing worthy to be found except just a few potions of healing and mana in it. Past that point was a set of glowing steel doors with a status in front of it showing... [Entrance to Goblin dungeon Recommended level: Level 10 Player limit: 1-4] Ignoring the hint he proceeded carefully inside the dungeon and found that he was transported elsewhere as he was now outside next to a pond. [Welcome to the Goblin dungeon to clear this trial you need to: -Kill at least half of the goblins in the camp. -Kill at least one goblin mage. -Kill the hobgoblin. Rewards will depend on your performance and will be calculated at the end of the trial.] Looking around he found the campsite surrounded by a wooden fence, with about 50 goblins even a massive 2-meter goblin, presumably the hobgoblin. Scanning them he found three different variations of the goblins. [Goblin warrior Type: Normal Level:10 HP:3500/3500] [Goblin archer Type: Normal Level:10 HP:3500/3500] [Goblin mage Type: Elite Level:10 HP:3000/3000] [Hob Goblin Type: Boss Level:8 HP:15000/15000] From what he could see while the goblins have less HP compared to beasts they are potentially more dangerous as they can use weapons and perform skills.Coming up with two plans one where he charges in and kills as much as he can or the sneaky plan where he picks them out one by one. Deciding on the safer plan for more rewards he spots that there are only 10 mages being protected inside the camp while there are groups of three mixed goblins patrolling around and hunting. In the middle of the night, you could barely spot someone jumping down from trees and slaughtering goblins around the camp. One group at a time Slade ambushed them from the shadows until there were only 20 goblins left. It was then that a huge roar was heard alerting the rest that there was an intruder. The surviving goblins started to regroup and now Slade''s only choice was the first plan he came up with. With a huge grin, Slade wiped the blood off his scythe before dashing straight to the entrance of the camp. ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 8 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:149/170 MP:126/220 Physical damage:46 Magical damage:44 Strength: 21+5+2 Agility: 55+15+6 Endurance: 10+1 Intelligence: 20+2 Vitality: 15+2 Charisma: 10+1 Luck: 10+1 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:11+55 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Chapter 13: Level 10 and new city. Rushing into the camp he could see the 20 goblins waiting for him anticipating their next meal. Smiling as he dodged a fireball, extending his scythe he cut down three goblin mages as he sidestepped a furious hobgoblin. Getting out of range he hid behind a hut, he panted as he was hit by an arrow to the knee ''I guess I used to be an adventurer now haha'' thought Slade. popping a healing potion he watched his HP recover by half climbing up the hut he saw the mages aiming the spells at him while the warrior waited below with their weapons ready. Taking a huge leap he performed a meteor strike before doing a spinning slash and as a finisher using "Deadly strikes". Laughing at the 7 fallen warriors from the epic combo he just did, he glances at his low HP and MP. [Slade HP:43/170 MP:22/220] With the cooldown for the potions still on cooldown, he realizes the helpless situation as he is being surrounded and enclosed, he decides to take down the hobgoblin be or at least die trying. Laughing he rushes straight to the club-wielding hobgoblin, dodging its attack he repositions himself behind it to use it as a meatshield and hopefully buy enough time for his attacks to go through uninterrupted. Dodging most attacks he keeps on attacking before dodging, the cycle continued until he was on 5% of his HP when something clicked in his mind, everything was so much slower in his mind he saw the lightning bolt flying towards his head he even heard the arrow slicing the air at his back. With his new hyper state, his dodging and evading became more refined as it looked like the attacks were off-target instead. Casually cutting an arrow in half he used all he had left to make the most optimal path from his scythe to the bulky neck of the boss. The goblins saw the human make impossible predictions as all their attacks missed and watch him leap before using his scythe with his whole body before cutting their leader''s head off. Horrified they watched the grim reaper start to laugh maniacally before running towards them. "You have leveled up and now are level 9" After hunting down the remnants of what was left he completed the dungeon before being teleported back into the cave. [You have completed the Goblins dungeon Calculating grade... You have achieves an SSS grade. Calculating rewards...Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! You have been rewarded with : -EXP -10 Gold coins -+10 to all stats as the first player to reach sss -Ignite skill book -mysterious token as the first player to complete a dungeon] Satisfied and tired Slade was about to log off before a disappointing message came through [World announcement: player frostbite is the first person to reach level 10 in Limits and is rewarded with 2 gold coins and a mysterious token] [World announcement: player frostbite is the first person to reach level 10 in Limits and is rewarded with 2 gold coins and a mysterious token] [World announcement: player frostbite is the first person to reach level 10 in Limits and is rewarded with 2 gold coins and a mysterious token] "Guess I''m not the only special one, well at least this makes things fun. I will remember you Frostbite," Slade said to himself before deciding against logging off. If he can''t be first he may as well come second was his motivation. Hunting a few more bears and wildcats in the area he finally made it... [You have leveled up and now are level 10] [You can now talk to the village chief to proceed to your first city.] On his way back to the village he saw a lot of players looking for something or someone. "Must suck to be that person," said Slade as he made sure to fix his mask and hide his scythe in his inventory and equipped a random sword. With a sigh of relief, he reached the village safe and sound. Thankfully players can not fight each other in an NPC settlement or else they will be arrested as it disrupts the peace. On his way to the biggest house in the area which was no question the chiefs, he was stopped by someone. "Greetings, I saw you just come into the village from the forest, by any chance did you happen to see a player wielding a scythe?" I do not know if this is a coincidence or not but the person who stopped me happened to be the raid leader I stole the boss from. Trying to keep a straight face and not laugh Slade replied. "Not really but why are you looking for him though" "What a shame just know that he is a despicable person I will pay a huge amount if you have any info on him." he said as walked away to search for this "despicable" person. Slade managed to find the chief who looked like a wise old man sitting on the porch of the big house. "Hey, chief I want to request to move to a city from you." "Greetings young traveler, you are quite a unique one arent ya, reaching level 10 without a class and before almost everybody too, interesting. But no matter will send you anyways. Now before I send I must explain a few things to you first..." the chief said in amusement. What he explained was that for the game to play with billions of people the map will have four continents with two warring empires inside each of them. There are countless cities inside of each of them that players can choose from to go from level 10. Problem is that each city will have a population cap so only a limited amount of players is allowed. The fastest players to reach level 10 will have priority over the rest. "Can you send me to the city with the most knowledge or one with the biggest library?" "Peculiar request but since you are the first to leave my village I will send you to Evergreen city of the Eternal Empire in the northern continent, be warned though that knowledge is power and it comes at a cost. Now farewell traveler I wish you the best." the chief said before I was teleported away. [Welcome to Evergreen City traveler] [Evergreen City has been automatically set as your respawn point] Chapter 14: Library and librarian. [Welcome to Evergreen City traveler] [Evergreen City has been automatically set as your respawn point] What appeared in my sight was a massive city surrounded by high walls, clean streets bigger and better houses, and lots of people doing their everyday business. in the center of the city was a huge beautiful fountain which was slightly ruined by a statue of the goddess next to it. With guards everywhere, Slade found the city quite nice and a good place to start his journey. While he was touring the city taking in the sights and making a mental map a message was shown in front of him, making him stop and bump into someone. [World announcement: Ten players have made it to level 10 and as a result, the top ten rankings for levels are now available] [Would you like to reveal your name] [Y/N] "Yes, I do not see why not," Slade said ''Ranking'' [Level Ranking Name; Class; Level 1)Frostbite; Ice Elementalist; 10 2)Zed; Pyromancer; 10 3)Slade; None; 10 ...] "Third place, huh" Slade sighed as he was about to walk away. "Hey, you can not just bump into someone and walk away." When Slade turned around he found a short woman wearing glasses with brown long hair and a good figure, which admittedly Slade found cute, talking to him. "Sorry, it''s my fault now would you excuse me." Slade tried to leave but he found the woman holding his clothes refusing to let him leave. "What else do you want young lady." She blushed and pointed at the fallen books around them. With an irritated face and extreme reluctance he picked them up and even offered to carry them for her. On the way, he made some small talk and found out her name is Mira.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Say Mira why are you carrying these heavy books around for?" "Um, actually I''m a librarian and I''m collecting the loaned out books." "That''s convenient." "Why is that," she asked timidly. "You see I have a quest that needs me to research something so I came here to this city." "Wait are you a traveler?" she asks me with eagerness and anticipation all over her face. "Yes, is there a problem?" "No, I''m just excited at seeing a real traveler, omg, I read lots of books saying travelers will be here soon and defeat the demon lord, before protecting the kingdom. Is that what you going to do after your research?" she said with an innocent charm. "Maybe another traveler but definitely not, please don''t put those expectations on me" Slade cringed as he imagined being some sort of naive hero "My bad I''m sorry but maybe you guys can end all the conflicts in this world." "You are truly naive Mira but maybe it''s better to be as optimistic as you. And like I said don''t expect anything of that nature." With a long walk to the library, Slade finally made it to the last step of his quest. What Slade found out was that it costs 10 silver a day to read books in the library and after paying for a few days he requested the books he wanted from Mira. Books about ghosts, books about the supernatural, and books about mythical beings. After a long two days, he finally found the shocking information he was looking for, Slade pulled out the teleportation scroll and anticipated the class and race change he was about to receive for his quest completion. ''status'' [ Name: Slade Species: Human being Gender: Male Level: 10 [0%] Title: N/A Class: N/A Blessing:S???(+10% to every stat;??? skill) HP:250/250 MP:370/370 Physical damage:78 Magical damage:74 Strength: 35+5+4 Agility: 75+15+8 Endurance: 20+2 Intelligence: 34+3 Vitality: 22+3 Charisma: 20+2 Luck: 20+2 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:22+55 Magical defense:0 Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Ignite Lvl.1: Cost 100 MP: Set your weapon ablaze and deal fire damage that scales off your intelligence Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? ??? Lvl.max: Cost?:?] Chapter 15: Race and class change. [Quest completed: the unknown great one''s inheritance. Description: A myth has taken an interest in you, whether that''s a good or bad thing for you is unknown He has given you a chance to change your fate and you have taken your first step.] Back in the black caves with blue fire for a ceiling, the mysterious opened their eyes as a black-haired youth suddenly appeared. Slade looked around the room and found everything to be the same as the last time he was there. looking at the being he could see it stop emitting its essence as its blue eyes kept looking at him. The silence was making Slade anxious so he Cleared his throat and Slade... "I have completed your quest." "Is that so, then tell me what is my race and what is my name?" Its cold husky voice echoed throughout the room, its mere voice seemed to be suffocating me by some unknown pressure. Taking a deep breath and staring directly at the piercing eyes Slade replied... "There is no record of your name but after the war where you destroyed half of the humans, the angels, and the demons'' forces for disrupting the flow of the spirits, they started calling you shadowless, quite ironic to call a being that is made up by only be a living soul, shadows and dark mana. You are the only one left of an ancient race older than even the dragons, you are a Shade." "You have done well, but you got one thing wrong those puny forces died because they dared to disturb my slumber and this wasteland was the result. Are you reconsidering now mortal that you saw my true colors? Are you angry that I slew your kind for such a petty reason?" Shadowless asked when he saw Slade lost in his thought. "Hahaha, I thought that reason sounded like an excuse... huh what?no, I could care less about that I would not have come here if I thought like that." he hastily replied as he came back to his senses. "It seems like you are prepared, you are quite unique as most would not want to be associated with someone like me, let alone laugh in my presence. Now before we begin don''t think this world is a mere game and let this pain be proof to you."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Slade had no time to ask it what it meant about this being just a game, before the hand of the being pierced straight into his chest and crushed his heart. [Race change initiated Analyzing the power... An error occurred reboo..] As he felt his heart being crushed the feeling of physically not being able to breathe was not as painful as the excruciating pain not possible from a game that came flowing through his blood into his cells all over the body, as the freezing power that was being transferred to him. After what felt like an eternity he felt his heart being reconstructed before passing out. When Slade woke up he felt the joy of being able to breathe again, he looked up and saw shadowless proving it was not a dream. Getting up and seeing everything looking the same as before he looked confusedly at the shadow being. "Good to see you not screaming but unfortunately for you that was only half the process, now do you want to continue this now or later." "Only half! sigh, just get this over with." Just like before he pierced me with his hand, but this time it was to the face and what he crushed this time was his eyeballs. "Aaaaaargh!" Waking up to the same flames he got up and asked. "Glad that is over but why do I not feel any dif..." Slade was stupefied when saw that the cave walls were no longer black instead they were translucent and what he can only describe as soul forms flowing towards the center of the room where they get swallowed by the now pitch black form of shadowless. "Judging from your expression the experiment was a success as you can now see and differentiate forms of mana." "You mean this whole thing was just a hypothesis before and this could have gone horribly wrong," Slade said curiously instead of being angry. "Good to see you not acting irrationally again, and this is my first time doing this and I might have been unconventional in my ways. From what you could guess I reconstructed your heart and sent my power throughout your body from there. And your eyes I have done something special with them, tell me something what type of essences do you think shades have?" "Shadow, soul, and dark mana essence." "Right, now what I have done is compress and forge your eyes with a combination of shadow and soul essence and making them your essence cores where they send, receive, and store the mana of your body, making them extremely vulnerable to damage but makes your body easily flexible in terms of mana manipulation in which you will see the benefits later." "Sounds cool but what about the dark mana?" "That''s for a later date as it is extremely dangerous and invasive as just a wisp of it created the demons. Forget about it what don''t you see the changes itself let me just bring the system back online for you." [System rebooted and found no errors.] [You have successfully changed your race and now are a demi-Shade] [You have successfully changed your class and now are a Shadow reaper] Chapter 16: New powers and status. [Due to receiving the power of a mythic being from outside the systems control you will be given the option to continue with the manual control system or play freestyle. With freestyle mode, you can tap into your own powers and use them in any form you like but you will not learn any more skills from the system and can not learn any skill books(you will still get to keep and use your old skills normally). Note that this choice is irreversible and you will not be able to create another account.] [Choose: 1)manual control OR 2)Freestyle mode] ''Freestyle mode'' Slade chose this option immediately as he will get to choose how he will play from now on. The mere thought of creating his own moves from his own power made him smirk. The restrictions were obvious as he was not going to get any skills or moves outside his control like fire or win magic but overall it was a better choice for him as he will get to specialize in the powers he just received. "Wise choice, You have removed one of the restrictions from the system and before you ask I will not tell anything more about the system and what this game really is. There is a mirror over that side go check out your changes and try out your powers for a bit, and give me that ugly mask of yours, when you''re done I will give you another one." Shadowless said before continuing absorbing souls. Deciding to ask later he gave his mask away before heading to the mirror spotting immediate changes. Firstly his black hair was now longer and a few shades darker, occasionally shadow essence could be seen flickering in and out of existence through it. His skin was a lot paler and his eyes specifically his pupils glowed a violet hue. Overall he now looked less human and more mysterious and unnerving. While he was taking an immediate liking to his looks a thought came to him telling put his hand into the mirror. Following his instinct, he felt his spectral and shadow essence combine before his hand slipped right through the mirror, without changing or damaging it. Separating the essence he found that his spectral powers make his hand shine eerily grey cracking the mirror from inside while his shadow essence makes turns his hand into an incorporeal black form that can separate and surround the mirror before reforming his hand through both sides and smashing the mirror to pieces. What made him excited was that his eyes showed him how it was done with his essence.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Done testing his powers he went back and caught a white black featureless mask with red outlines. "Take this it has no real powers but it will cover your eye glow and change their color, It will also help muffle your voice and no one will be able to identify you no matter the level distance." [Anonymous Type: Mask Equipment Requirement: Slade Grade: Legendary Property: disguise;unidentifiable;??] "Thanks this will be useful," Slade said with gratitude. "No matter but before we continue check your status and afterward we will talk about your class and what it does for you" ''status'' [You have been granted the mythological which gives you an extra 10 luck points] [Due to race change: -Your whole boy is now full of mana giving you an extra 5000 MP -Your intelligence now gives you ten times more magical damage -Your agility now increases the amount of control you have over your essence. -Your magical defense has greatly increased except for cases such as light and holy magic] [ Name: Slade Species: Shade(demi) Gender: Male Level: 10 [0%] Title: Mythological Class: Shadow reaper Blessing:Shadowless(+10% to every stat;Revive skill) HP:250/250 MP/Essence:5000/5000 Physical damage:78 Magical damage:740 Strength: 35+5+4 Agility: 75+15+8 Endurance: 20+2 Intelligence: 34+3 Vitality: 22+3 Charisma: 20+2 Luck: 32+3 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:22+55 Magical defense:50%(except for light and holy magic) Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Ignite Lvl.1: Cost 100 MP: Set your weapon ablaze and deal fire damage that scales off your intelligence Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? Revive Lvl.max: Cost 200MP:?] Chapter 17: The price of power and the scythe. "Now about your class as from what you can see you never got any bonuses from it right? disappointed, don''t be yet for what you have is special a shadow reaper absorbs powers from souls you have defeated. Once you absorb your first soul you will get your "souls" stat that quantifies how much much soul power you have as for what to do with that, that''s for you to find out about." Shadowless said in amusement. "Haha cant wait to find out actually," Slade smiled and asked, "Not that I''m ungrateful but I must ask why are you doing this for me?" "Three reasons actually the initial reason was that we share the same affinities to our essences without I would have killed you on sight." "I figured as much, please continue." "Second reason is I find you quite unique, I read part of your memories and from that, I can tell you have quite a twisted perspective as you are quite indifferent about life. Even right now I can see you hardly care about me reading your memories and are more interested in how I did it." "You are right I stopped caring long ago I am only here to find if there is anything of interest to me in this game or whatever this is. Now for the main reason, please?" "As you can tell I''m currently absorbing a lot of souls, and the reason is that I was injured a long time ago by mighty beings you can not even fathom. I''m about 95% healed and a lot stronger from then but they are close to finding where I am hiding. I can kill them all but it will come at a price, so when you came stumbling into my cave I got a great idea." "So basically you made me into your vessel so you can hide your power inside me and possess me." "Wrong, where is the fun in that. I made you my kin that has the same potential as me so you could hide my soul next to yours and hide my power in your shadows. I will help mentor you while you will actively find items that can heal me completely then we will both grow strong enough to conquer everything on our paths." Shadowless said excitedly.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. "You are right this is far more exciting, I look forward to working with you," Slade said with a grin. After talking about their future goals and plans they made a soul pact promising to not betray each other, where if one of them tries to they will die immediately. Without the need Shadowless gave the scythe to Slade but not before taking the bleed gem and melting it into the scythe, turning the accent from blue to purple. [Bleed Enchantment Gem Type: Weapon enhancement Grade: Legendary] [Spectral Scythe: Type: Scythe Equipment Requirement: Shadowless or Slade. Grade: Mythic (unique). Property: Multiplies physical and magical attack by 500%; Ignores defense; Essence adaptable; Shadow essence amplifier; Deals extra damage with how much you make the enemy bleed through the weapon; Skills: Integration: You can integrate the weapon with your body effectively hiding it but keeping it equipped at all times. Sacrificial slash: Cost: 80% of HP: By sacrificing your health you empower your next attack by 500% for a single target or 200% across multiple targets. Description: An ordinary scythe that gained its power by slaying millions of lives in a single slash by a powerful being. Cannot be dropped, stolen, lost, or traded] After seeing all of its stats Slade could see why this scythe was mythic, especially the essence adaptable property allowing him to switch the essences he is using through the scythe effortlessly. With that settled, Slade felt something pass through his body and settle to a part next to his soul before attaching itself to it. As shadowless''s enemies are tracking its soul, by attaching himself to Slade''s soul he can hide and stay low until he recuperates. Shadoless''s power and body will be separated and sealed into Slade''s shadow where none can find it. "Word of advise before we leave and blow up, I will be able to share your senses but if you get yourself into major trouble I will not be able to help much as soon as I use my powers outside we will be in a far greater trouble." its voice sounded in his head making Slade realize he will have to get used to it from now on. "Noted but I prefer it this way but when the time comes, I will with or without your permission." He said in his mind. "Hahaha you can try but if your soul gets corrupted by my dark mana don''t blame me." With one last look at the cave where this all began his body blew up to pieces along with everything around. [You have died but through some unknown power you did not lose any items or EXP] When he respawned next to the fountain in the city he found a quiet place before logging off. Getting up from the pod was horrified when he heard a voice in his mind. "So this is your world in which you live in Slade." Chapter 18: Coincidental meeting and the viscount. "So this is your world in which you live in Slade." Slade turned to his shadow and found part of it branching out and changing shapes until it formed into a black cat with deep blue eyes. "I keep trying to tell you that this is not a mere game, besides we are going to be together from now on so better get used to me being around." Slade thought for a bit before accepting the situation and thought that having a pet is not so bad until he tried to pet the cat. "Treat me like a pet and I will crush your heart again, and I''m only in this form because not all my power came through with you." Reluctantly retracting his hand Slade asked. "So what''s going to happen to this world from now on, is this an apocalyptic situation we talking about?" "Nothing is going to affect this world for about two years, I am a special case where the system has no control over me so I could come here in a limited form through you and if you people can get strong enough in the "game" nothing major would happen here." "Well I have you as a potential nuke so I am not that worried, so should I explain this world and its technology to you?" "Please do." So Slade unlocked his phone and download a few videos for the cat to watch before he took his nap. When Slade woke up he found a black cat playing games on his phone, thinking nothing of it he felt a bit peckish. "Kitty cat do you want some food I''m going out." "Sure let''s go out I want to see the world, and you know I can turn you into a cat in the game right." "Haha, we will not be in your cave anymore try that and watch as they find you." "I will remember this. Oh, and can you get one of those phones for me." "No problem just wait till the update comes." It might have looked weird as a young man walked nonchalantly through the streets with a black cat on his shoulder looking at everything curiously but Slade had better things to worry about as he sat down at the restaurant. After ordering food for him and shadowless the waiter said... "Sorry sir but if you bring pets to this, you will be responsible for its mess," and then left. "Hear that don''t be a bad cat and shit everywhere." While Slade and the cat were bickering amongst each other in their minds and eating their food a voice interrupted them.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. "Hey, brother fancy meeting you here." Sighing Slade looked up and saw Andrew and thought that he has to now change restaurants. "Sure it is now what do you want this time." "I came to apologize for last time I was inconsiderate." "Ok so what now.'' "I just want us to add friends in the game so we could hang out in there." "That''s fine we could play together when I''m free." "I''m guessing it''s you who got top ten in rankings with no class then switched to a unique class, congrats," Andrew said with a smile "Thanks, man." "So can you tell me how you did it and if there are other opportunities?" Looking at the cat that is shaking its head Slade replied... "No I''m afraid not." "That is unfortunate, I see you have a new pet never figured you were that type of person." "Well I sort of stumbled across him and now we are and by the way, I''m in the eternal empire at Evergreen city if you need me." With that Slade headed home integrated the cat into his shadow and logged back into Limits. Back in the city, a few well-armed guards stopped Slade who thought he was in some kind of trouble. "Stop traveler our lord wishes to meet you urgently." Without waiting for his response they escorted him to the biggest mansion he had ever seen where they stopped as they reached the open gates. an elderly man with a butler suit came to and bowed... "Please follow me our esteemed guest my lord Viscount Hemington is waiting in his office." ''So that is his name'' While following him Shadowless warned... "Remember this, people are in power because off reasons you do not want to find out about currently." "Do I look like I would offend everyone I see...you know what, never mind." And with that, they reached the office where a middle-aged man with thick muscles was waiting. "Greetings traveler Slade, come sit down we got much to discuss." boomed a loud voice. Unintentionally bowing half-heartedly and sitting down Slade replied with... "Greetings Viscount Hemington I heard so much about you glad to meet you in person." "Before we begin I want you to serve your allegiance to me and my cause." [ Name: Slade Species: Shade(demi) Gender: Male Level: 10 [0%] Title: Mythological Class: Shadow reaper Blessing:Shadowless(+10% to every stat;Revive skill) HP:250/250 MP/Essence:5000/5000 Physical damage:78 Magical damage:740 Strength: 35+5+4 Agility: 75+15+8 Endurance: 20+2 Intelligence: 34+3 Vitality: 22+3 Charisma: 20+2 Luck: 32+3 Attribute skills:0 Physical defense:22+55 Magical defense:50%(except for light and holy magic) Skills: Inspect Lvl.1: Cost: 1 MP, can see information about monsters that do not exceed the user''s level by more than 10 levels. Meteor Strike Lvl.2: Cost:90 MP, when falling down heights greater than 2m while perpendicular to the ground while facing it with a weapon, you can perform a falling strike that can impale the enemy. The greater the height the greater the damage caused(beware fall damage will still count).<220 Physical damage x (0.6 x maximum height(m) before falling(maximum of 20m) > Kick you while you are down: Cost:10 MP per kick, when an enemy is immobilized to the ground you can start kicking them for extra physical damage.<+50 Physical Damage when kicking> Sprint Lvl.1: Cost 20 MP/S: while active the skill increases your movement speed by 10%<+10% movement speed> Deadly strikes Lvl.1: Cost 50 MP: Unleash a set of three fatal strikes where each one is progressively faster.<1st strike: 90% of your physical attack;2nd strike: 100% of your physical attack;3rd strike:110% of your physical attack. (30-second cooldown) Ignite Lvl.1: Cost 100 MP: Set your weapon ablaze and deal fire damage that scales off your intelligence Instincts Lvl.1: Cost ?:? Revive Lvl.max: Cost 200MP:?] Chapter 19: Bandits and the necromancer. "Before we begin I want you to serve your allegiance to me and my cause." "Sorry sir but I just started my journey and don''t want to settle down yet." "You''re right I was a bit hasty but if you ever want to settle down I hope you will consider this place first." "Will do." Breathing a sigh of relief that he is not unreasonable Slade continued listening. "The main reason I called you here was that I have a request for you as you were the first traveler to choose my city, will you hear me out?" "I''m listening." "You see there was some unusual activity reported near the graveyards south of the city and I want you to check it out and inform me about your findings" [Quest received: Undead activity Grade: A Description: Unusual reports around the graveyard plus reports about missing people might be related to necromancy and you are tasked to find the source and report your findings. Reward: reputation; EXP; item from the front of the treasury(Rewards may vary depending on performance) Failure: loss of reputation; no more quests from the powers in the city] "I will do my best." Slade accepted before bowing and taking his leave. "I hate being polite, it''s too bothersome," Slade said in his mind. "Sometimes it is necessary, but do not join any alliances you will not be an equal in or else they will exploit you and use you." "Was not my plan" At the graveyard south of the city, there was nothing happening yet and nobody around, but the reports were all around the evening. After waiting for an hour talking to shadowless the sun went down. The graveyard started to spew mist as Slade was getting uneasy, he started hearing wailing from a small girl-like spirit nearby. finding her to be harmless and confirming that due to my spectral essence seeing ghosts would be pretty normal he walked up to her.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Hey, little girl can you hear me." "wahh,... you can see me please help someone in a dark hood kidnapped random orphans from the street before bringing them here and ending them" "But why would they do that" "They said they were making malevolent ghosts for his experiments and something about the graveyards surrounding energy that help." Finding out he was on the right track Slade asked a few questions but got nothing further from the girl. walking around he saw a white grey trail that led out, he asked Shadowless and found out that it is probably spectral essence. following the trail, he was led outside the city to a nearby abandoned farm area. Before he continued he stared blankly as three figures approached and blocked his path.As he saw them turn out to be players dressed as typical bandits. "Why do they look like stereotypical bandits, I guess they must really be into this kind of thing," Slade said in his mind. "Leave all your valuables behind or we will kill you." said bandit A. "Perfect time guys I just wanted to test out some things," Slade grinned as his violet eyes glowed. Having found three test targets for his new power he wrapped his hand in spectral energy his hand hit their armor of bandit C but he still dealt damage to their souls it was not much but it was still damage. With shadow essence, his hand shifted around the dagger of bandit B and grabbed the person''s hand, and unarmed him. His ethereal essence(shadow+spectral) phased his hand through the bandit A''s chest before he pulled out his heart through the body without leaving any marks but it cost him a lot of his mana. "Bruh what just happened what is he." "I don''t know, Let''s run away from this monster." Finding his powers satisfactory he finished the other two horrified bandits with a swing of his scythe. [3 souls gained] [Soul stat unlocked] Deciding to check it out later Slade kept following the trail as he walked into an abandoned farmhouse he walked and went into the basement and found a locked door with no key laying around. Assuming that the quest should end here before he reported his findings and came back. Too lazy to do that he came up with an idea as he let his ethereal essence flow through the whole body as he walked into and phrased through the door. On the other side, he heard something fall behind him as he found out that his equipment could not phase with him, strangely leaving him with only his white underwear. "hahaha..." hearing Shadowless laugh in his head made him embarrassed even further as he found himself in some kind of lab filled with test tubes of different body parts and a lot of human bodies stockpiled on the other side of the room. Using show essence he covered his body except for his face as started to look around. [You have created the skill Shadow cloak.] Finding another room he found a dark-cloaked man, busy stuffing souls, into a dead monster, Slade watched in horror as these souls were all children were dissolving into a giant tiger carcass. "I see that you are enjoying the show," said the figure as he turned around and started eerie laughing. "Haha I do not know what you are but I can tell you will be quite a worthy experiment." [??? Race: Human Class: Necromancer Level:25]