《Jericho the Bard A VRMMORPG Story》 -3 Authors introduction @@ Welcome to the Novel, Jericho the Bard a VRMMORPG Story. This novel is more focused on the story of Jericho and his adventures in game. This story is less about the game aspects and the story''s setting. Later, I will have a separate Pre-story document with the updated information on character''s their levels, stats, abilities, etc for those who care. I am paying attention to my numbers as I write. In a future edit I may include more of these details into the actual story. Otherwise, Enjoy the story for what it is worth! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This story is the one I will be focusing on, but I am working on other stories to be posted in the future. Please understand that this story experiences minimal editing while I write and I am sadly not as fast of a writer as a lot of authors on this site. There will be mistakes, plot holes, and other things. If you have edits for me or find something off about my story, feel free to let me know. I will look over them and do an editing session at a much later date. Thank you for enjoying this adventure with me as I write it.@@ -2 Songs inspiration Up to date The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul. - Mashup between Kokia- Fukurou and Riku''s Theme KH2. (For the piano part). Moonlit Lullaby -Moonlight sonata and Christophori''s dream by David Lanz hybrid violin cover. (Currently not in existence from what i have looked up.) Chapter 2 Unnamed songs After confirming that the notes on the violin were correct he pulled out the ocarina and started to play a calm heroic yet minor toned song. Misty mountain ocarina cover (Hobbit) After a few minutes the song ended. He took a breath and started playing a sad song filled with hope; a song that felt like someone waiting for their loved one to return. Evenstar (lord of the rings) ocarina cover Feather Rush- Chocobo race theme Final Fantasy 7 (Original) -Ocarina cover. Warriors of Darkness- The composition, Warriors in the performance know as Lord of the Dance (1996-1997 version. I recommend viewing the live so you can see and hear the wonderful clogging. Celtic dream-Mix of Celtic dream and Suil A Ruin also from the 1990s lord of the dance. Chapter 3 The storm (rain) ¨C A variant of the song of storms from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Water''s Tears- Didn''t really have one for this one. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 4 The raw sadness composition- The Weaver of the Worlds by Lucas Brodan The song Jericho sings- Idea stemmed from the full Japanese version of Therru''s song from Tales from Earthsea. (The book series is way better then the animation by the way) Chapter 10 Warrior''s Advance (Incomplete version because of lack of right instruments)- Falls of Glory by BrunahVille The Forest guardians - Sacred Grove from The Legend of Zelda, Twilight princess. The Farewell song- Hymn of the Fayth Final Fantasy X Chapter 13 (Life) Harmonica song- No clue. I didn''t really have one for that. Guitar western ish song- Under the Apple TreeFinal Fantasy 7 Crisis Core Chapter 15 Powerslide (a rock song with the zither and guitar) it was a variant youtube video i saw for a cover of one of AC/DC''s songs. Chapter 16 A celtic dawn- Once again, Lord of the Dance (1997). it is the first song in the performance. Adventure of the young green dragon- Tales of Dragonia - BrunahVille Hunters- The hunt- BrunahVille. Chapter 17 I didn''t really have any specific jazz or off-jazz songs in mind. But you can imagine the starwars cantina if you want it is jazzy enough to be a swing dance... Chapter 18 the song for the plants? No clue either. Chapter 21 The calming flute song- if you want to hear what inspired it, look up relaxing Native American Flute music. It is simple but amazing. Chapter 26 Competitive Kittens- There were two piano duets that I felt fit the vibe, mostly. While it isn''t quite what I was envisioning, these two at least come close. Undertale- Death by glamour (Piano duet) Undertale- Megalovania (Piano duet) Chapter 29 Rhapsody of Doom... I listened to a piano cover of Faceless by Red. and could easily hear a combo of piano and Zither creating quite an intense feeling with it. Chapter 33 The canyon and coyote flute songs don''t have a basis but they are played with a smaller wooden flute. The Baa hoof''n hoedown - is a reference to the song boot skoot and boogie. Chapter 34 While this is not at all what people envisioned, the song I used to describe the first piece Jericho plays is this one. A Legend through the Ages- was based off of The Legend of Zelda Windwaker (The Legendary hero) I didn''t have songs for the other ones. -1 Skill lines and ranks explained. @@ So, I do realize that because I don''t go too in depth regarding game mechanics that certain aspects like skill lines are not overly clear. So here goes: Skill lines are ranked from Tier 1-?. Normally, skills start at beginner. When a skill in a skill line reaches Adept for the first time, the "tier" of the skill line becomes rank 2. Rank 2 skill lines allow for the learning of higher quality skills. The skills follow the naming titles as follows. beginner, adept, expert, master, grandmaster, legendary... Examples to show how skill lines and skills work. random mace welder learns the "Smash" skill. they grind and raise the skill to adept. Mace skill line ranks up to Tier 2. They chose to learn holy magic to be a paldin. they learn the holy/mace combo skill holy smite which requires Tier 2 mace skill line and tier 1 holy. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. They repeatedly train holy smite to adept. because Mace is already at tier 2 that does not change, but holy grows to tier 2 allowing for more skills to be able to be learned. So, spoiler warning: When Jericho shows the system he is a master pianist and gets that skill registered as "grandmaster" that skill line ranks up to tier 5 allowing for much higher level abilities to be learned. New skills learned from the system (via teachers, books, etc. The skills start at beginner. New skills brought from reality into the game are registered at the quality of skill possessed by the person. There are special skill lines that teach the basic skills of each tier upon the line increasing. Monster skill lines are included in this list. Hope this helps. if it is still confusing please help me know where so I can clarify it better. Thanks! Finally was able to get it into the book a bit more properly. It can now be found in chapter 3.@@ 1 The constraints of reality Jericho''s long bony fingers gripped the door handle. The starving musician''s overly slender frame shivered from the cold. The house door opened. "Brother! You are back!" A young cheerful voice called out. Jericho smiled at the freckled girl as she embraced him."I''m home, Moira. How was school today?" The young black haired girl looked up. "It was okay¡­" She trailed off. Jericho''s face pursed with seriousness. "What happened?" Moira frowned. "Nobody believed me when I told them your music is magical. They teased me a lot. They said that instead of making up stories about your music that I should play virtual reality games like them. But I think your music is better than games." Jericho smiled sweetly at his kid sister. "As long as you believe it, I am happy. What they think will only affect how much money I can earn from sharing my gifts." Moira''s frown disappeared. "Before dinner can you play me another one of your songs?" She asked expectantly. Jericho nodded. "Sure. Since today has been hard for both of us, let me play a piece I created before you were born." He rushed over to the piano, seeming to lose his fatigue. "Which one?" Moira''s brown eyes glistened with excitement. The man stretched his fingers. "I call it The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul. It actually requires 3 instruments for the full song but I will share with you the piano section. My few fans call it the Song of Healing." A haunting, yet calming melody voiced itself from the old grand piano. The minor tone sent relaxing chills through the sibling''s bodies. After the melody ended the two ate a meager meal in silence. Moira let out a sigh. "Brother, your music is so wonderful. Why don''t others love it like we do?" Jericho gave a sad laugh. "The instruments I use are considered relics of the past. These days, music is created electronically. Because my music is alive, it gets suppressed by the plentiful songs others make. My music is considered outdated. That is sadly the reality of our world." The next morning, Jericho walked to work. The little antique shop''s dusty atmosphere brought a small smile to his face. An ad rested on the counter for a new VRMMORPG "Freedom Online." The slender musician pulled out some tools to repair a damaged violin acquired not too long ago. Jericho was very familiar with instruments. His great grandfather had taught him how to make and repair most major ones. The morning was quiet as usual for the rundown business. After finishing the adjustments of the violin, Jericho tuned it. Very quickly a melody formed. The vibrations of the strings escaped the confines of the store. An elegantly dressed woman stopped as she passed by. "What a beautiful song." She whispered. "Boy! Stop making a racket and get back to work!" A grumpy middle aged man shouted. Jericho abruptly stopped playing the violin. "Yes boss." He replied reluctantly placing the newly repaired violin on the shelf to be sold. The woman outside frowned. "Why did it stop?" She walked into the store. The bell hanging beside the old shop''s door rang. The musician looked up. "Welcome to Grandpa Todd''s antique shop." He replied in a very professional manner. The model like woman looked around. "Where is the music playing device? It sounded so pure." Jericho laughed inside. "This is an antique shop. With the exception of the register, everything in this place is old. We don''t carry modern music playing devices." "Then what was that music I was hearing before?" She inquired pursing her heavily lipstick covered lips. "Oh that?" Jericho asked pretending he realized what the woman was referring to. He picked up the violin. "That song came from this beauty." He replied ignoring the makeup covered woman''s charm. "What is that strange object? That doesn''t look like it is connected to the network. How does it play songs?" Jericho laughed. "This is an ancient relic known as a violin." He mildly exaggerated for dramatic effect. "By using this special stick and rubbing against the strings in very specific ways you can create music. The song you were hearing earlier is something I played using this device." The woman looked wide eyed in shock. "Can you show me how it works?" "Let me ask the boss." "Sure." Jericho turned his head to the stairs. "Hey Boss!" He shouted. "There is a client that wants to hear how the violin works." A muffled grunt was heard in reply. He smiled before turning back to the lady. "The song I am going to play is a song I wrote calledMoonlit Lullaby." He lifted the violin and started to play one of his many majestic songs. She listened and watched the man in awe. She felt relaxed as he played. Her light tears slightly smeared her mascara. He finished the song and placed the violin back on the shelf. She stared at the lanky man in shock. Jericho smiled. "Feel free to browse. I hope you can find something you like." He returned to his business mode to break the stunned silence. "How much?" She shook her head. "How much for the violin? I want to hear that song again!" She inquired. "200 Credits." She was shocked. "Such a wonderful music making device and it is so cheap?" Jericho shook his head. "The instrument is only able to play music in the hands of someone who knows how to play it. It cannot make music on its own." The woman looked mildly disappointed. "I see. I will buy it anyways. At a minimum I can remember the song when I look at it." Jericho helped her with the transaction and packaging. The woman looked down at the flier on the counter. "Freedom Online has been out for a few days now. Do you play it?" Jericho shook his head. "No, I couldn''t afford it and I can''t let my little sister go hungry." He replied casually. "Oh." The woman left with the violin. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I hope you take care of her." He sighed; unaware he obtained a new fan. The boss came down. "Jerry, I am sorry to tell you, I am going to have to close up shop. I can no longer afford this place. I will send you your last paycheck later. I hope you can find a new job soon." Jericho was startled. Losing a job was not a surprise he was hoping for. He went home dejected. The woman tapped her watch. A translucent screen hovered above it. "Search for the song Moonlit Lullaby." She spoke into the watch. After browsing through a few songs she found a recording by an artist named Jericho Maestro. She hit the play button and listened to the song again. "Such beautiful music hidden away like an oyster''s pearl." She poetically replied. The next day, Moira danced to the jaunty tunes played by her brother. Today was her 12th birthday and due to their financial hardships; Jericho gave her the only thing he could. A night filled with whatever musical pieces she wanted. He even played the ones he didn''t like. A knock at the door ended the festivities. The freckled girl sulked. She stomped to the door before opening it. Two men dressed like movers stood on the porch. "Excuse me, miss. Is Jericho Maestro home?" Jericho walked up to the door. "What can I do you for, gentlemen?" Being called his artist name was uncommon but not unheard of. "We came to deliver a couple of packages and a letter." The man frowned. "We aren''t expecting anything." He replied. "We understand. The sender may not have informed you they were sending you these items. The game cabins and the installation fees have already been paid for. Will you please allow us to finish our job and install them for you?" "Sure." Jericho opened the door wider. "Let''s let the men do their work Moira. What song would you like me to play next?" The delivery men brought in two large gaming cabins and hooked them up as per their instructions. They passed the letter over to the man at the piano and left. Jericho opened the letter. Sir Maestro, We have delivered to you two gaming cabins; one for you and one for your sister. Both pods contain the game Freedom Online. We have paid for the subscription and operating fees. We sincerely hope you both can enjoy the game free of charge. It has come to our attention that you possess great skill with the ancient art of instrument playing. As you may have heard, Freedom online has a high degree of character freedom. There are no set ways to play. We believe that if you were to place your musical talents into the gaming world, your songs will become better known and you can enjoy a play style that is all your own. All of us here at Free Corp have made an initial investment into your future. Thank you for selling copies of your music for us to listen to. We hope your music career succeeds. We have already set up the game cabins to be in-game friends automatically with each other. Our game has an anti-harassment program installed. As people''s minds are within the game world, like all VR games, desires and intention are easily picked up. You do not have to worry about your sister''s safety in our game. ¡­ Sincerely, Jeannette Long Vice CEO of Free Corp P.S. I will take good care of that violin. The letter explained the operation of the game pods, basic tips and tricks for the game, and more. He checked his bank account. Hundreds of his albums had sold last night. His stress over losing his job lessened. At least they would have funds for a time. Jericho laughed aloud. "Happy Birthday Moira! We both got free versions of that new game your friends were telling you about." Moira frowned. "But what about your music?" Jericho released a light smile. "According to the gaming company, my music will be just as magical in that world as it is in this world." Moira smiled. "Then, you become the music master and I will protect you!" The brother''s laughter continued. "I want you to have fun too. Play how you want to play." "Right!" The 12 year old beamed. "Then I will be the dancing princess!" 2 Game Start: Jericho the Bard and Dancing Princess [Welcome to Freedom. Please design and name your character.] Moira smiled brightly as she chose the details of her character: a young female elf with enchantingly long shiny black hair and vibrant emerald eyes. "I choose the name ''Dancing Princess." [Name is currently available. Would you like to complete the character design?] "Yes!" [You may choose a starting package. It is recommended that you choose a weapon and armor. You may choose a total of 3 items.] Moira slowly looked through all the available items. After a few hours, she was finally ready to log in. [Beginning introduction. The information will be available for review on the help menu.] Meanwhile; Jericho made his human character look like himself, just a little less food deprived. "I choose the name ''Jericho the Bard''." [Name is currently available. Would you like to complete the character design?] "Yes." [You may choose a starting package. It is recommended that you choose a weapon and armor. You may choose a total of 3 items.] Jericho paused. "Is there a search function?" [Yes.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Search for musical instruments." A long list appeared before him. Jericho found two smaller instruments he liked and was very familiar with; the ocarina and the violin. "Search armor." A shorter list of beginner armor and their general usage appeared before him. He saw a black medieval vest that was classified as light leather armor. "What a great find." He chuckled as he selected the cloths as his final item. [Beginning introduction. The information will be available for review on the help menu.] Jericho became his avatar and walked into the doorway. He was quickly taught the basics of how to access all of his menus. [While applying skills will not be covered in this tutorial, skills follow the rules below.] The game has countless ''pre-created skills.'' These skills can be learned from either a skill book or an instructor. Skills obtained in this manner will always start at skill level beginner 0/10. Each skill falls under one or more "skill line" categories. Skill lines are measured by proficiency a person has within that skill set. Examples: Fireball is a tier 3 magic spell. "Fire skill line must be at stage 3 to learn. Burning blade is a hybrid skill requiring both the blade skill line and Fire skill line to be at Tier 2. Skills beyond your capabilities can be learned but cannot be used until unlocked. Skill lines can be observed in the help menu. While it won''t give you a list of skills in the skill line, it will give you ideas of what types of skills belong to those levels and some combination skills. Skill lines increase proficiency based on the highest ranked skill known. Besides teachers and skill books, skills can be obtained manually. Repeatedly performing the equivalent actions with the intent of ''creating'' a skill will eventually unlock the skill. The skill''s level will vary depending upon the combined results of application. While this allows for skills to be learned, it often takes significantly longer to obtain unless you are already familiar with the skill. If the person attempting to obtain the skill does not meet the basic requirements, the skill can be obtained but remains locked until proficiency has been reached. No game in existence can account for every possible skill and skill type initially. As a result, skills can be created. The system will do a thorough analysis of the actions and intentions of the creator before creating the skill. The skill''s level will be based on the person''s performance. Once the skill has been created, the system will add it to the list of skills. The creator of the skill''s name will be labeled next to the skill if it is ever found as a skill book. Details about different skill types and how they operate can be found in the various city and town libraries. [Basic characters start with base stats of 1 with 70 assignable stat points. Every level up, you gain 5 assignable stat points. Every 3 levels instead of gaining the 5 assignable points, all stats increase by 1.Statistics are shown as follows.] Strength- Determines how much weight a character can carry, inventory weight capacity, and strength of physical capabilities. Agility- Determines movement speed, attack speed, and other speed based actions. Dexterity- Determines how good a character is with precision based actions. Actions that require nimble hands are greatly impacted by this stat. Constitution- Determines max HP, max stamina, and resistances to physical ailments. Endurance- Determines Health and stamina regeneration. Endurance also reduces the strain of physical activities. Intelligence- Determines the number of different types of items a character can carry and the power of non-physical capabilities. Wisdom- Determines Max MP and resistances to mental ailments. Will- Determines MP regeneration, and reduces the strain of mental activities. Charisma- Determines how influential your actions have upon others and increases the effects of charisma based abilities. Luck- Determines the probability of things going better than expected. Jericho laughed as he looked at the list of stats. "Truly a musician needs all of these, but I should have a little bit of a focus. Dexterity, Endurance, Will, and Charisma are musts and I could use a bit of extra luck." He pulled out his stats and assigned the points where he felt they best fit. "Status" Jericho the Bard LV 0 HP 50/50HP Regen: 11/minute (Approximately 1 every 5.5 seconds) Stamina 25/25 Stamina Regen: 11/minute (Approximately 1 every 5.5 seconds) MP 25/25 MP Regen: 11/Minute (Approximately 1 every 5.5 seconds) Carrying capacity 50 Lbs Inventory space 25 slots Strength 5 Agility 5 Dexterity 11 Constitution 5 Endurance 11 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Will 11 Charisma 15 Luck 7 Skills: NONE [Welcome Jericho the Bard to the starting town of Trillith. Due to special circumstances, Player Dancing Princess is added to your friend list. When she enters the game, she will also start in Trillith.] Jericho opened his eyes. The small town was quite busy. Players and NPCs were everywhere. "While I wait for Moira I should see how accurate these instruments are." He muttered as he sat down at the well in a more secluded part of town and turned his violin. After confirming that the notes on the violin were correct he pulled out the ocarina and started to play a calm minor toned heroic piece. He closed his eyes, immersing himself into his music. The surrounding players were shocked to hear music coming from the well. A few gathered around to listen. After a few minutes the melody ended. He took a breath and started playing sad music filled with hope; an arrangement that felt like someone waiting for their loved one to return. When the music finished he put his ocarina away and looked up. He fell backwards, surprised by the gathering in front of him. He quickly grabbed the well''s rope before he fell in. Some members of the audience laughed. A sturdy woman in heavy armor came forward and lifted Jericho back up. "Thank you." He smiled. "Be careful next time." The woman replied placing a silver coin in his hand before walking off. Jericho smiled at the crowd. "This rarely happens on the street in reality." He muttered happily to himself. He pulled the ocarina back out. "You all seem to want to hear more. Let me give you something more playful." He let out a slight smirk. "I call it, Feather Rush." He placed the ocarina up to his mouth and started playing a very fast paced lively staccato tune. As he finished, three notification appeared before Jericho. [You have acquired the skill Ocarina. Evaluation results skill level Expert 8/10] [You have acquired the skill line Music. Due to current skill level of ''Ocarina'' Skill line is currently rated at tier 3. Special musical skills can be learned.] [Your friend ''Dancing Princess, has come online.] Jericho pushed the first two notifications aside and quickly sent a message to his sister. [I''m by the well.] The gathering was confused by his sudden pausing. Jericho smiled. "The next song I am going to play is called Swamp Palace. You can find the full version of this and the other songs I have played today if you look up, ''Jericho Maestro''" He proclaimed before playing another fast paced regal staccato song. Moira smiled as she saw the crowd. "See, my brother''s music is magic." She slipped past the horde of people. Jericho finished his song and looked at the young elf in an indigo dress that had pushed her way to the front. "I''ve been waiting for you, Princess." Moira smiled. "They had clogging shoes. Since you already brought a crowd, can I dance for them?" Jericho nodded and put the ocarina away. He retrieved his violin. "Which dance?" She smiled. "Warriors of Darkness." He lifted his violin and started playing a dark Celtic melody. Moira started moving her legs quickly causing the metal plates on the soles of her shoes to clack against the pavement in rhythmic patterns. The indigo dress fluttered wildly. Her dancing gave off an imposing aura of dominance which was strange coming from her small frame. As they finished Jericho patted his sister''s head. "Now that you have shown them you can''t be messed with how about we go with something gentler?" She nodded and removed her shoes. "Celtic Dream." "Sure." He started plucking at the strings on the violin in a calming arraignment. Moira started dancing slowly and elegantly like a fairy. The two added their voices to the mix. A few musical pieces later, the two were exhausted. "Thank you everyone, for your support today. Sadly, we have worn ourselves out and must bring an end to our performance today. Remember, Look up Jericho Maestro and support us." Many people donated a few copper and silver coins before departing. Later that day, on the forums. A post attracted the eyes of a few dozen individuals. Person 1: A strange miracle occurred today. Here is a video clip showing the man called Jericho the Bard using the strange object to play music and the young elf, Dancing Princess, dancing. They were found in Trillith. Person 2: What is that object? How did he get wonderful music into the game like that? ¡­ Person 29: I looked up Jericho. He doesn''t use any of the apps to make his music. They are all recordings of him using strange objects. They are called instruments. They were common in history but lost popularity about 200 years ago. His music is great considering his medium. There are even a few videos of a young girl dancing. I suspect Princess is his sister. How long did she have to train in order to get that skilled? Those are dancing skills that were popular back in the 1000s and early 2000s. There were a few performance companies famous for shows using similar types of dancing back in the day. Person 33: No wonder he can bring music into the game like that. It isn''t some advanced thing. Person 34: You try playing one of those two things he played. I doubt you could produce anything remotely close to as good as he does. Person 35: Dancing Princess and Jericho the Bard we support you! ¡­ 3 Unique talents come with unique perspectives Back at the well, the two siblings smiled happily. Jericho stood. "That was an unexpected performance. I am glad that went well." "Now what, brother?" Princess inquired. "Both of us have probably obtained basic skills. It would be a good idea to obtain more advanced skills. We can''t stay level 0 forever." Jericho replied. "Despite how cool it is, I don''t think I can fight the creatures outside of town with my ocarina or violin." The young elf thought for a bit. "The introduction said we could look at our skill lines and see examples of some of the skills we can learn." "Right!" The brother replied as he recalled the introduction. "View skill line, Music." [Skill line music Tier 4 Description: Music skills often take the form of a double ability. There is usually a minor effect while the composition is being played and a larger effect when the music concludes. Leaving a music half performed will not grant a final result. Due to the abnormally long cast times, the end ability is often stronger then abilities of the same tier. The initial abilities are often weaker than abilities of the same tier. Tier 1: Known skills. Ocarina Expert 8/10, Violin Master 2/10, Voice Expert 3/10. Tier 1: Skill ideas: Lute, drums, etc. Tier 2: Skill ideas: Accompaniment of courage, Song of discordance, Etc. Tier 3: Skill ideas: Inspiring Conclusion, Music''s Call, Etc. Tier 3: Hybridize with any magic Tier 1 (Arcane Music), Etc. Tier 4: Skill ideas: Captivate Etc. Tier 4: Hybridize with Chi skills Tier 2 (Remote instrument playing) After a few minutes looking over his skills, Jericho felt refreshed as his stamina was restored. "So, it looks like my music might end up being more magical then I thought." He pulled out the violin and started plucking the strings again. Moira looked up. "Why are you playing the violin part of The Storm?" She asked. The man smiled as he continued to play. "I am going to make it rain." The elf''s emerald eyes brightened. "Let me help!" She hopped up and started dancing to the staccato sounds of the violin. After the third repetition of both playing The Storm and performing an ancient rain dance, the sky darkened above the town. Rain started to lightly drizzle. Both Moira and Jericho received three notifications. [You have composed the tier 3 skill The Storms part 1 (Rainfall) Skill level Beginner 4/10- When playing this piece, the clouds will gather. Upon finishing, rain will fall. The amount of rain that will fall depends on your skill level.] [You have performed skill synergy with Dancing Princess. If you perform The Storm part 1 while she performs Rain dance, the effect will overlap and the MP and SP costs will be reduced.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [You have gained the skill line Water Tier 1.] "My dancing is magical too!" Moira exclaimed happily. "Though, I think we should learn some normal magic too. The tutorial lady recommended it." Jericho tilted his head. "Oh?" "There are also some really cool hybrid skills I want to learn." "Alright. Let''s head over to the magic school then. Our audience earlier gave us some funds we can use." The two left the rainy well. The rocky town was mystified but grateful for the sudden rain that lasted a few minutes. "The first Tier 1 skill book is free. For every Tier 1 skill book after the first, you must pay a small fee of 1 silver." The old wizard explained to the two gaming noobs. Jericho pulled out five silver coins, gave three to his sister and passed two to the old man. "You may pick 3 tier 1 spells." Moira also gave her silver and received a similar reply. "Thank you, sir." The dancer paused. "Um, can you explain to me about skills and skill lines? While I understand a bit I don''t really understand how they work." The wizard smiled. "It is good to admit when you don''t understand things." He nodded. "It will be a bit of a long explanation." "Thank you. Please teach me," She replied. "Skill lines are ranked from Tier 1 to a higher Tier. I don''t know how high they go either but I have seen people with Tier 6 skill lines. Normally, skills start at beginner. When a skill in a skill line reaches Adept for the first time, the "tier" of the skill line becomes rank 2. Rank 2 skill lines allow for the learning of higher quality skills. The skills follow the naming titles as follows: beginner, adept, expert, master, grandmaster, and legendary. As I have said, I don''t know what lies beyond legendary. I know this information can seem confusing so let me provide and example to illustrate how skill lines and skills work. A random mace welder learns the "Smash" skill. They grind and raise the skill to adept. Mace skill line will rank up to Tier 2 as a result. The mace wilder decides he wants to be a paladin and chooses to learn holy magic. They then take the opportunity to learn the holy/mace combo skill holy smite which requires the Tier 2 mace skill line and the Tier 1 holy skill line. They repeatedly train holy smite to adept. Because Mace is already at tier 2 that does not change, but holy grows to tier 2 allowing for more skills to be able to be learned. There are special skill lines that teach the basic skills of each tier upon the line increasing. Monster skill lines are included in this list. The numbers next to the skill line are representative of your progress towards the next rank up. There are subtle differences between a skill at 0/10 and 4/10, but the significant differences occur between ranks." The intelligent wizard took a breath. "Any questions?" Princess thought for a bit. "What about skills learned on your own? How do those work?" The man nodded. "Yes, skill learned on your own are a bit different. You see, when you perform the skill outside of a ''combative'' situation it usually takes some time to form but the skills start at a higher starting point than learning from another or from books. When you perform a new skill in the middle of a combative situation the skill will form almost instantly but the results will vary from training the same skill peacefully. Does that answer your questions?" "I think so. If I have more questions later I will come find you or another smart person," she replied Jericho and Princess walked into the library of skill books. The young girl quickly found four books she liked: Shadow bolt, Ember, Spark and Speak with animals. Jericho thought for a bit as he perused the selection. "Cure would go great with my music. Moira''s hybrid skills she wants probably don''t involve healing." He removed the book and rubbed his hand over the spines of the other books. "Speak with Spirits seems valuable. Music has always resonated with my soul so why shouldn''t I help it affect the souls of others? While these aren''t fantastic abilities, if I am able to hybridize them with my music the effects may be better." He continued his search. "I need an attack. Ah, Aqua Shot. I already have water magic unlocked. This will work." [Speak with spirits- (Passive) You can speak with and understand the languages of the spirits. Spirits include but are not limited to: Ghosts, Elementals, Nature spirits, and half-spirit creatures such as sprites.] [Cure (Tier 1 Healing)- Beginner 0/10 ¨C Heal target creature. Amount healed will vary depending upon skill level and the stats of the caster. Notes: Great for minor injuries, will harm undead.] [Aqua shot (Tier 1 water)- Beginner 0/10 ¨C Form a small ball of water out of magic and shoot it.] The siblings traveled to the training grounds to try to hybridize their skills. The elements of shadow, fire, and electricity danced alongside Moira''s hands and feet. Despite needing to take rests more often since the skills took more out of her, she was quite talented. Jericho pulled out his violin and played a simple calm melody that seemed to ebb and flow. During his fourth repetition, water droplets started to form around him like rain frozen in time. The longer he played the thicker the water became. As he concluded the song, the droplets scattered at high speed in all directions piercing the scarecrows around him. While the damage wasn''t extremely high, the spell struck multiple targets. [You have learned the Composition Water''s Tears Beginner 1/10- While you play this song, water element will surround the caster, slightly boosting defense. The water element abilities of allies that can hear the song will progressively get stronger the longer the melody is played. When the composition is complete, the water surrounding the caster will burst in the direction the caster desires. This was created by combining the knowledge of Aqua bullet and Music.] The musician smiled and worked on his next two abilities. [You have created The Song Healing Part 1 Beginner 5/10- while you play this piece, all allies regen values increase by a value determined by the proficiency of the skill (5). After the piece is complete, healing magic falls upon them restoring Hp Mp and Sp the value cure would heal Hp. This skill improves in power the higher level the healing skill line becomes. This skill was created combining Cure and Music. Note: As this is not holy power, undead will not be harmed by this ability.] [You have created The Song Healing Part 2 Beginner 3/10- While you play this piece, all allies gain an increased resistance to mental ailments, such as Charm and fear. When the piece finishes, dispel is cast causing the removal of mental ailments. The strength of dispel is based on the skill level of the healing skill line. Additional effects may occur if played at the same time as Healing part 1] [You have learned Soul Music Adept 3/10- Your music naturally speaks to the soul. The influence your music has is passively increased. Your music will have greater effect upon spirit type creatures.] Jericho let out a light laugh. "I need an ability that allows there to be more than one of me. Most of my songs are incomplete with only one instrument." The two left happy with their newly formed skills. They turned to the field outside town. Most of the competitive players had left the starting areas by this time so the outskirts of town were not very crowded. A lizard scuttled over to bite Moira. She danced around the lizard and started generating electricity while clogging. Jolts of electricity shot into the angry lizard. Jericho pulled out his violin and started playing a shortened version of The Storm part one. After a minute of Moira dodging and shocking the poor lizard, rain fell. The sparks generated by the elf grew larger and faster. The wet lizard died. [You have defeated Stone Lizard. You have gained 15 Exp] [You have learned the skill, abridged musical piece: You can shorten the duration of the music. The end results will be weakened. The cast time will be shortened.] "This¡­" Moira paused. "This feels wrong. I didn''t enjoy dancing this time. Brother, why did we have to come out here to hunt?" Jericho felt the same. His music felt¡­ off. He thought about it before responding. "We feel that way because what we just did is contrary to what we believe. We have always viewed music and dance as a means to help ourselves and others. Using it to attack others for personal gain is against our nature. I was told that hunting monsters and doing quests were the ways to level up and get stronger." Tears leaked from the elf''s emerald eyes. "Is there no other way?" Jericho patted his emotional sister''s head. "The letter said that the game can accommodate any play-style. If there isn''t, we will make a way to get stronger. If we can''t make a way, then we can train our non-performance skills for fighting. That way at least dancing and making music can remain fun." Moira wiped her tears. "You promise?" "In the future, we may have to use our skills to fight. However, we will aid our friends and allies even if it means others may get hurt. I can promise you that we will not use our gifts to hunt down victims like we did today. I will look for a new method for us to get stronger this afternoon. We should log off and get breakfast. You have school this morning." "Okay¡­" 4 The woman in armor and a tes After sending Moira off to school, Jericho logged back on. He walked over to the well where he had his first performance in game. Humans are habitual creatures. The violin came to his hand and he started playing a slow melancholy melody. Playing music always helped him clear his head. Thoughts played through his mind. ''How can we level up? How can we travel to more populated places to introduce people to my music if we can''t get stronger?'' A woman in full armor watched the melancholy performance of the bard in silence. She could feel the raw sadness coming from the man''s violin. Jericho didn''t stop. He played composition after melody, alone, lost in his thoughts, unaware of the crowd that had long since gathered. His brilliant tenor voice started to sing. ? Forgetting how to burn;Never again to return;Gone from my lofty home;I leave the sky, alone;My decent, do not become the scar;Tis the wish of the fallen star ? ? Alone in the empty skies;The hawk flaps its wings and cries;Where are you my friend?;Will I be alone in the end?;Its desire to be heard;Tis the dream of this lonely bird ? After a long litany of sadness, his thoughts cleared. ''This game is called Freedom. It was advertised to accommodate all types of play styles.'' A light smile appeared on his lips as the song he was in the middle of singing turned into something inspirational. ? The last embers continue to burn ;Rise, young star, tis your turn;Rise in the sky called home;You can burn bright as you roam;Work hard and I know you will go far;Remember the wish of this old fallen star ? ? Another enters the empty skies;The bird dashes over and cries;Are you the one I seek?;Tears of joy begin to leak;I hear you, don''t fly there and gawk;I will answer your dream my fellow hawk ? Jericho opened his eyes to a small crowd watching him. As this wasn''t the first time, he didn''t lose balance in shock. One of the crowd members called out. "Where''s Princess today?" The bard smiled. "She is off at school. She will be back later." Jericho sent the audience off and sat back down on the edge of the well. "Don''t fall in." An alto voice teased. The lanky musician looked up to see the fully armored woman. "Oh, hello again! Thanks for your help the other day." She nodded. "I listened to your music outside of the game. You are quite talented." "Thank you." He replied. "Sadly people don''t seem to understand the emotional difference between an electronically made song and an instrument played song." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. She held out her armored hand. "Shiarra." "Jericho." She took off her helmet and let her thick lush dark brown hair fall down to her waist. "I was curious how you were able to play so many different instruments on your recordings but only one instrument in game at a time." Jericho looked at this sturdy, Native American woman. He looked into her dark eyes that seemed to go on forever. "In real life, I can record myself playing one instrument and overlap it with playing another instrument. Sadly, unless there is some way for me to make multiple copies of myself, in game I will remain a 1-instrument man." She seemed to go deep into thought. "I was exploring a place the other day and found a strange object. I suspect you might recognize it." Jericho was shocked by what he saw pull out of her inventory. "A grand piano? I thought this was an ancient fantasy game. How much strength do you have to be able to carry that around?" The woman smiled and pointed to a magical seal on the side of the piano. "It has a size and weight reduction sigil on it. It can be shrunk down to carrying size without much of a problem. He rubbed his fingers over the ivory keys. "Hello beautiful." He whispered. "Glad to see you like it." Jericho smiled and then sighed. "This is something I can''t afford." "I know, which is why I want to ask you for a trade." "A trade?" "I need help with a quest." "I''m only level 0, and so is my sister. I am afraid we may not be much help." "I saw the performance you two did to make it rain. I need to borrow that power." Jericho frowned slightly. Shiarra smiled. "Let me explain my quest. There is another town just south of where we are. Their well has dried up. I was asked to find a way to bring water to the village. I originally planned on hunting down some water elementals, but I would need a party for that." "My sister and I don''t like fighting." Jericho stated. She took a breath. "Instead of hunting down water elementals, I was wondering if you two would help me befriend them. The two of you can make it rain, they may take positively to that. If we can befriend them, we can ask them to help us save the town." Jericho thought for a moment. "It may be possible. I am not sure though. What if things go wrong?" "If needs be, I can block the elementals while the two of you ran. This is merely a test. If it doesn''t work, you can still keep the object you called a grand piano." "Why not just get more players to help you fight? Wouldn''t that be easier?" "It would but people are merciless. This game was built on the premise not to restrict people''s choices with very few exceptions. My quest can be stolen. I am concerned gathering the required players would actually be harmful." "And you don''t think my sister and I will try to steal your quest?" "A couple of passionate tender hearts like you? Nah. And if you did, I would just admit that I misjudged your character." Jericho shook his head. "Fair enough. My sister won''t be home from school for a few hours. You will have to wait until then." Shiarra smiled. "Take the piano. You can give me a special performance as you add it to your skills. I am intrigued since you have a lot of different pieces of music." "Alright¡­ Do you have a bench or a chair?" Later that afternoon, various people had caught wind that ''The Bard'' had gotten a new instrument and, like before, quickly gathered to watch. Jericho tested the keys and tuned a few of the strings as needed. He dusted off a carving of a name, Christophori. A smile escaped his lips as he sat down on the newly made piano bench and began to play. "Skills first." He muttered. After playing a few complex pieces, he received the first notification. [You have obtained the skill Piano Grandmaster 1/10 Music skill line has increased to Tier 5 Your piano skills are almost legendary.] He continued to play. The haunting melody of the piano section of The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul touched the sounding audience. Soon after repeating the song a few times the notifications sounded. [You have created the song Healing part 3 Beginner 9/10- While the song is playing all allies gain improved resistances to physical ailments such as intoxication and poison. When the song is finished, Purify is cast on targets removing physical ailments. Strength is determined by the level of the healing skill line.] [The Song of Healing parts 1, 2, and 3 have been recognized as three lesser parts to a larger skill. Congratulations, you have created a new skill Please name this skill. This skill will always be labeled as a skill created by Jericho the Bard.] "Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul" [The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul (Special, Growing) (Tier 4 music, Tier 2 healing) (locked) Beginner 5/10- A composition requiring a minimum of three overlapping instruments to perform. For the duration of the piece, the effects of The Song of Healing 1, 2, and 3 are in effect. In addition afflictions of the soul are soothed. When the song is finished the end effects of Healing 1, 2, and 3 are enacted. In addition, the ability will heal damage to the soul. At higher proficiencies, additional capabilities will be unlocked. This ability is locked. It cannot be used until the pre-requisites have been met. Currently healing is at Tier 1. Special notes: Growing- This ability will improve alongside song of Healing 1, 2, and 3. When each major barrier is passed the requirements will also increase. If the requirements for the higher grade version are not met, the ability''s greater effect will be locked. Special notes 2: Requires the use of three or more instruments simultaneously to be used. The more instruments added, the stronger the effects.] After unlocking the skills he wanted, he started to play a variety of tunes until he saw a notification pop up. [Dancing Princess has come online.] He smirked. "Everyone I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that my sister and I are going to head off on an adventure soon since we need to level up. Before you ask if you can party with us, the answer is no, we already have an intended party. The good news is my sister has come online so we can do a short shared performance before heading off." There were a variety of responses to the news. Moira found her way through the crowd. "You have a piano now?" She asked. "I do, and we have a unique opportunity to try our new plan." "You found a way?" "Possibly, but it might not work. But first, if you are up for it, we should perform for the fans. Most of them are here for you anyways." The excited young elf smiled. "Let''s end it with a bang!" The two whispered for a bit before showing their skills. The final performance brought a storm of applause¡­ and rain. 5 Meeting the water elementals The trio left the starting village and started to walk towards the distant lake. "Who is this?" Princess asked her brother. She was quite curious about this female her brother brought along. Her brother normally didn''t socialize in real life so having a new friend in game was surprise to her. "This is Shiarra, she is the one who has a quest that could use our assistance." The woman in armor nodded. "As I told your brother, I want to befriend the water elementals I hope they will be willing to help save another nearby village from a drought." "Oh, and how are we going to do that?" Princess questioned. Shiarra pointed to the sky. "The two of you are going to make it rain and we are going to hope something will work out. If it turns south I will try to block them while you two run." The two girls enjoyed a great conversation as they traveled, mostly talking about Jericho. As if to solidify their newfound camaraderie they registered each other as in-game friends. They walked to the shore of the large lake where they saw water elementals frolicking in the waves, wandering the marshy spots, and standing perfectly still as if sleeping. {Humans have come again. Humans are mean to us, if they come let''s get rid of them.} One of the water elementals said. Jericho looked over and then back to his sister and companion. "Can you two hear them speaking?" He inquired. "They are talking?" Princess asked back, answering his question indirectly. Shiarra shook her head. Jericho half smiled as he recalled one of the skill books he picked up earlier. "Shiarra, are water elementals considered spirits?" He asked to confirm his suspicion. "Yeah, elementals are often referred to as the spirits of the elements." She replied. "It seems I can communicate with them. Earlier I picked up the skill, speak with spirits. This may be more feasible then we thought." His smile grew larger. "Princess, lets perform for these spirits." Jericho pulled out the violin and started plucking the strings. His sister started dancing. {The human calls for us?} {Two of them do! How strange?} The elementals gathered around the duo and started moving around like they were dancing with Dancing Princess. The performance finished and rain fell. {These humans are like us!} One of them shouted. {Call the eldest!} Some of the elementals dashed into the water while the current largest elemental turned to them. {Greetings, humans who are connected to the water, are you capable of speech?} Jericho stepped forward hoping he was activating his ability right. {I am. The others haven''t learned yet. I will communicate on their behalf. My name is Jericho the Bard. The young elf is Dancing Princess, and the warrior is Shiarra. What is your name?} {They call my Glawio. I am the second eldest among the elementals here. Please wait a moment for the eldest to come. Until then, can you play your music and have the young elf dance again? It made my siblings very pleased.} {Of course,} he turned to his sister. "They are requesting an encore." He started playing again. As the performance neared its end a large elemental emerged from the lake. The three meters tall figure sloshed over. {Humans that guide the water without magic? Maybe they can be of use. Thank you, young one, for bringing me here.} The elemental said to a very short watery figure. The performers finished. The rain fell and the elementals felt invigorated. The hulking human shaped water moved closer. {Greetings mortals. I am Llyn lord of this lake and the water that lives here. Why have you come?} Jericho looked up to the towering figure. {Greetings, I am Jericho the Bard, this is Dancing Princess and Shiarra. We have come to ask for your aid. A human land is dying because of the lack of water there. We wish to ask you to help save that place.} {Humans have done nothing to help us, why should we help them?} The elemental''s deep voice replied harshly. {Indeed, you have no reason to aid them. This is why I wish to offer you a trade. My comrades and I will help you however we can. In return please help me and my friends save the human village.} Llyn paused for a short time. {Jericho, a trade must be equivalent or someone will get hurt. Are you from the village you wish to save? No, you would have called it your village if you were. Are they offering you something equal value to their collective lives? Not likely. The one who will needlessly benefit will be the village and the one who will be harmed by this deal is you, friend of water.} The two girls waited awkwardly as they had no idea what was being said. Jericho nodded. {I understand. Then is there no solution to the problem?} The elemental seemed to stare into the souls of the party before continuing. {There may be a way. However it will be difficult. I can sense the non-combative spirits of you and Dancing Princess. I shall give the three of you separate but related quests. When you are done, come to the lake again. I shall emerge and we can talk about the solution then.} Jericho smiled. {Then please tell us these quests.} A notification sounded to the three adventurers; [You have become friendly with the water elementals. They will not treat you as hostile targets when you approach. Killing uncorrupted elementals will remove this friendship.] {The water elementals on the south shore have been tainted and we have felt foul sorcery at play. For your warrior friend, tell her to find the source of the corruption and bring it to an end. There is also an important sphere that we sense is located in the same area, have her bring it back.For the one who dances, there are special herbs that grow on the lake that cannot be plucked by us but are very beneficial. They look like lily pads with two blue antennas. They are called Gemini lilies. We need at least 10 of them. More is better. They won''t allow someone to pluck them easily, but they can be stunned by electricity. For you, Jericho, I sense spirit healing magic in you. My request to you is to use that power to remove the corruption from the elementals'' mind and body. It is a dangerous task, but the more of our brethren are cleansed the sooner we can restore balance to the lake.} Jericho nodded. {I accept, let me tell the other two of your requests so they can accept it as well.} The bard turned around to face the two girls who had been bored for the last few minutes of talking. "Well?" Shiarra inquired. "I suspect something went right considering we became friends with the water spirits." "It is going to be a bit more complicated but there is a potential solution." Jericho started. "First, there is something going on at the southern part of the lake that is corrupting elementals. He needs you to find a special orb to bring back and find the source of the corruption and bring an end to it." A quest showed up for the warrior. She quickly accepted the quest. "Should we go then?" Jericho shook his head. "The elemental gave a unique quest for each of us." He explained. "Princess, the elemental wants you to pick some herbs that grow on the lake. They look like lily pads with two blue antennas. Apparently they are useful but they can''t pluck them. The elemental said to bring at least 10 but bringing more would also be good. You may want to use your Shocking Steps ability. Apparently it will stun the plant long enough for you to pick it." "Okay brother!" The young girl replied happily as she accepted the quest. "What about you?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I get to go soothe some spirits." He turned back to the elemental. {They have agreed to perform the quests.} Llyn created three arms out of his watery body and placed a hand on each party member. {I will give each of you a temporary water elemental ability that will aid you in your quests. The ability won''t last for very long, only an hour by your reckoning, but I hope it helps. If the ability wears off before you are done, come find me again.} Shiarra smiled at her notification. [The water elemental Llyn has granted you the ability Aqua Slash for 1 hour. Your attacks will now deal additional water damage.] "Oh wow!" Dancing Princess shouted excitedly. [The water elemental Llyn has granted you the ability Water Walk for 1 hour. Using this ability will allow you move on the water''s surface as if it were land.] Jericho stared silently at the ability given to him. [The water elemental Llyn has infused you with the spirit of water and has granted you the ability Split for 1 hour. Normally this ability cannot be used by humans as they don''t possess morphic forms. Split allows the user to separate into two weaker versions of themselves.] "It''s perfect." He muttered thinking this ability is exactly the type of ability he wanted to expand his music. 6 The quests Dancing Princess spun on the water surface. She laughed as some of the smaller knee height elementals tried copying her motions. She was careful not to accidentally shock the cute blobs. As she danced, she plucked the strange flowers on the water''s surface. It wasn''t easy and it took time but it was fun. After she had gathered 10 of the flowers, the small elementals made a sort of waterfall sound. They pushed the water around to create a platform beneath the dancer''s feet. It seemed like they were trying to tell her ''dance more!'' The elementals joined her as she danced. Soon a notification was heard by her. [You have taught 12 lesser water elementals how to dance. These elementals have learned the skill line dancing. These water elementals wish to dance with you again in the future. You have gained the skill line Summoning. You have learned the cross skill Summon Background dancers. Current dancers that can be summoned: Lesser water elementals. You can currently summon 2. You can summon more background dancers at a higher proficiency. While active the effects of your dancing will improve. With the water elementals present; performances on, with, around, or about water will have amplified effects. Background dancers will dance to the best of their ability to synchronize with your own. Background dancers can be taught specific dance routines however unless a method of communication is formed complex commands may be difficult to explain. Summoned dancers have felt your desire to not use dancing for combat. They will not actively engage in fighting.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [Background dancers: Lesser water elementals have gained the skill, Aqua stage. They can create and manipulate a dancing stage using water. You must have water walk to take advantage of this ability. There must be water nearby to create the stage with.] Princess squealed in delight. "These lesser water elementals are so cute! And now they can dance with me whenever?" She continued her dancing and gathering herbs. The new skill and her new friends made her smile even brighter. *** Shiarra slashed down at the animated zebra corpse in front of a foul smelling cavern. "These things are everywhere!" She exclaimed to the lack of people around her. She looted the corpse and walked into the cave. "Skree! Humenz!" A bunch of undead small humanoids of varying appearances shouted and charged. "Zombie Kobolds," the warrior spat. Her claymore, imbued with the power of water, cut down the small hostile creatures. After slaying, looting, and other common in-game practices, she headed further into the cave leaving a trail of twice dead corpses behind. "Trespasser, why do you interrupt me? I, Bartok the Undying, am in the middle of important research!" A cloaked figure shouted as the woman reached the depths of the cave. "Are you the one corrupting the water elementals nearby?" She asked back. Bartok laughed. "Indeed, I seek the answers to immortality. Most necromancers are only obsessed with un-death. They are too dumb to see that there are other immortal paths. Do you also seek the path of immortality?" Shiarra looked over and saw a bright cerulean orb tainted with black spider web like patterns. "That''s probably the orb I''m supposed to find." She sighed. "Ah, I see you noticed it. This is a special elemental core that I am using for my research. You see, the elementals are also immortal. When they die, they are reborn soon after with their memories intact. It is brilliant! I wonder why I am the only necromancer to ever think about this. I am a genius! ¡­ He continued rambling on. "Typical." The warrior rolled her eyes, brandished her water covered claymore and charged at the monologing necromancer. *** Jericho took a deep breath. The other Jericho also took a deep breath. They smiled. ""Excellent"" they both said at the same time. The first pulled out the shrunken grand piano and started to carry it. The other pulled out the ocarina. The two Jerichos walked calmly in the direction of the southern shore of the lake. Black water elementals sloshed around in the distance, killing the living things in the area. The corpses rose and joined the elementals in their slaughter. When there were no enemies to face, the corpses and elementals wandered aimlessly. Jericho and his clone frowned at the sight. They prepared their instruments, started to perform. The Jericho at the piano added his voice to the depth of the serenade. The other Jericho lifted the ocarina and played. The sound of the piano playing part 3, the ocarina playing part 1 and the voice singing part 2 caught the attention of the corrupted elementals and the zombie creatures. As they approached the music hit them. They froze and black mist escaped their bodies. The two bards finished their combined composition and a notification appeared before the original. [Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul is not unlocked. Proficiency in parts 1,2 and 3 have increased. Due to the effects of Soul Music, corruption has left the undead and elementals. Undead have returned to rest.] The bard and his clone were pleased. This was something beyond what Jericho had expected. He shrunk his piano back down and the two copies continued on their way to purify as many elementals as they could. The hour was almost up when Jericho and his clone cleansed the 13th batch of undead and elementals. There was only one last group in sight. He had leveled up the lesser parts of the song of healing a few times in the process. A notification popped up as soon as the 13th song finished. [Song of Healing part 3 has leveled up to 10 and had changed from Beginner 10/10 to Adept 0/10. Due to the rank up of a healing skill, Healing has reached rank 2. Serenade for the Soothing of the soul has been unlocked.] Jericho and his soon to be gone clone rushed forward to heal one last group of water elementals before the timer ran out. As they played, the elementals seemed to grow stronger. The undead creatures released a white light that drifted off to the sky. The Serenade concluded and a peaceful feeling permeated the area. "We did it!" The two Jerichos shouted disrupting the mood. They were about to high five when the clone sucked back into the bard''s body. [Split had been deactivated. Split has been removed from the list of known skills. The spirit of the water elementals has been removed.] The man sighed. "This ability¡­ I want it¡­" He muttered to himself before glancing at the time. Jericho sent a direct message to Princess. [It''s homework and dinner time. Log off, let''s get some food. We can continue the quest after a good meal and your homework.] Princess replied back. [¡­Fine. I can''t dance on the water anymore anyways.] The bard laughed at his sister''s reluctance before typing a message to the warrior. [It''s time for us to eat dinner and get princess''s school work done. We will log back in later to turn in the quests. See you in a few hours.] The system sent back a message. [The person you are trying to reach is in combat. They will be alerted to your message after combat has finished.] The man logged off. *** Shiarra was frustrated. She was not a novice to playing games like these. Bartok calling himself the undying wasn''t just for show. She had slain him 3 times already and her stamina wasn''t holding. The timer on the water elemental ability was up. [Aqua slash has been removed.] "Hahahaha!" Bartok mocked. "You have gotten weaker! I dare you to try and push out more of that former strength of yours. Do you really think you can take me down without it?" A thought suddenly flashed through the warrior''s mind. "He is trying to get me to use the water elemental''s power?" She slashed again. "No!" She screamed inwardly. "The reason he has been reviving this whole time is because I have been using water to kill him?!" As if to answer her inquiry a few dozen swings later, the necromancer collapsed from the fatal blow she dealt. The darkness faded from the orb giving it a crystalline shine. [You have slain the Aqua-Necromancer Bartok¡­] The warrior looted the corpse, searched the room, and took the clear cerulean orb. Finally her quest was ready to turn in. [You have a message from Jericho the Bard: "It''s time for us to eat dinner and get princess''s school work done. We will log back in later to turn in the quests. See you in a few hours." (Sent 5 minutes ago. Jericho the Bard is currently offline.)] Shiarra let out a sigh. "At least he let me know. Dinner doesn''t sound too bad right now. I may as well log out to eat since I have to wait for them to get back anyways." She logged out of the game to eat an actual dinner rather than just some snacks for the first time since the game was released. 7 Elemental rewards and Understanding the Elements After taking care of things in real life, the three comrades planned to continue their adventures through the night. They logged back in from their various locations and traveled back to the lake to turn in their respective quests. Princess and her entourage of knee height lesser water elementals carried 23 of the special herbs forward and placed them on the ground. Shiarra brought forth the orb and did the same. Jericho brought himself. The happily cleansed elementals had already returned. The water stirred. Llyn emerged. {I sense the three of you have completed the favors I requested of you.}He scooped up the items. Jericho nodded. {Indeed.} The three received various notifications about their completed quests. Both Jericho and Princess leveled up a few times considering their previously low levels. They were both elevated to level 4. Llyn turned to Princess. {Rewards: starting with the young dancer.} The 12 small elementals hopped up and down. {{Water Walk!}} They collectively shouted. {{Give her Water Walk!}} The large elemental chuckled. {Good idea. However she earned more than just that skill.} A book made of water and a magical staff floated to the surface. {Jericho, please pass these on to the young elf.} Jericho picked up the items and looked over them. [Skill book: Water Walk] [Yun''s First Staff]. He passed the objects over. "You can thank your little friends for the skill book." He said with a chuckle. Princess smiled as she learned the skill and examined the staff. It had two colors on the pole. The grip on the bottom was a dark pink. From the bottom of the grip hung a bell. The main body of the pole was an indigo-blue with wave like patterns. At the top was a dream catcher. [Yun''s First Staff: Requirements Lv 0 The first staff used by a friend of the spirits, Yun. This well designed staff is lightweight and not designed as a weapon. She danced on the water with this staff to guide the souls of the fallen to a better place. Effects: +1 Intelligence +1 Charisma. Dancing with this staff will ease the suffering of wandering souls and direct them towards a better place. It is unknown how it works. Attacking with this staff will break it.] "Wow!" Princess replied looking at the staff. She spun it, swung it and held it in various ways. "This is totally a staff for dancing!" Jericho smiled at his sister. "I''m glad you like it." Llyn turned to Shiarra, {Jericho, ask the warrior what she wishes for as a reward. Tell her she cannot wish for us to aid others. This is a personal reward.} The bard relayed the message. The warrior smiled. "Ask them if they can improve my elemental or magical resistances." The man didn''t question and continued the role of translator. {Indeed I can improve her water resistance.} The elemental moved his watery hand and touched the armored woman''s head passing on the reward. [Water resistance gained: You will take 1 point less of damage from magical and water sources per point of resistance. Current water resistance 34. (2 point per level each)] Shiarra was pleased with the reward but remained concerned. "Jericho, how does this help us complete our other quest?" Jericho shook his head. "I don''t know yet." {Jericho, send the other two off and stay behind. Tell them they are welcome to visit any time but we must speak to you alone. This concerns both your initial request and also your reward for aiding us. Let them know this may take a while.} Llyn spoke seriously. The bard nodded. "Princess, Shiarra, the elemental is requesting that for the next while I remain with them alone for an unknown period of time. He said it is both related to my reward and our earlier request." Princess smiled. "Don''t worry about me, big brother. Shiarra and I will go have fun elsewhere!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The woman in armor half-smiled; "we can look for another quest to do later. Let us know when you are done playing around in the water. Oh, and keep us posted on the potential solution to the village problem. Even though the player population in these earlier areas has thinned out, I don''t want to wait too long since someone else will likely receive the same quest." Jericho nodded. "Stay safe you two." His sister and their teammate left. Llyn swayed slightly. {Jericho, your reward would not normally be offered. However, the others and I have spoken and agreed that what you have done for us cannot simply be repaid through simple means. While we elementals are immortal and normally cannot truly die, when we temporarily experience death we become weak again like the little ones that like to follow princess. The work you have done saved the elementals years of work to regain their strength.} The large elemental pause for a moment. {Glawio, are you sure you wish to be the one?} The human height water elemental emerged from the water. {Of course; if I didn''t then the others would start fighting for the chance. We don''t need to stir up the water and make the humans mad at us again. Jericho, follow us.} He tapped man''s shoulder. [You have been given the blessing of the water spirit. You cannot drown for 1 hour.] The two larger elementals walked towards the lake. Jericho followed. After entering the lake, Jericho was dragged to the center of the body of water and pulled into its depths by the elementals. He looked around to see that he was in an unusually clear section of water that seemed to pulse with vitality. {Welcome, Jericho the Bard, to the heart of the lake.} Glawio introduced where they were. He picked the orb and 18 of the 23 herbs up. He carefully wrapped orb in the herbs before injecting power into it. The herb covered orb shrunk. Glawio slid in front of Jericho. {Before we give you your gift, there are a few things you must learn. In this world there are eight guiding elements.} He motioned towards the image of a compass rose etched into the lake floor. {The four main elements are Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water. Humans often misunderstand these elements. All four of these elements contain properties of control, life, freedom, and death. Each of these elements specializes in one of these four aspects. However, humans have it backwards. The wind, represented by north, exercises a subtle control over other things. It creates chaos and seems free. Because of this, humans see wind as the embodiment of freedom. However, the more unrestrained your life, the more you desire to control others and the more restricted you become. Wind on its good days acts as a guide for the clouds, the dust and other things. If used correctly, wind is the most defensive element. Using it for speed and accuracy is foolish. Fire, represented by the east, burns with life and vitality. It lives and breathes like you humans do. It consumes things as it passes. Because of this, humans view fire as the element of death and destruction. However, fire provides nutrients for things to grow. Fire provides the warmth and light needed for life. Fire is what helps mortals feel alive instead of just being alive, a thing you call passion. There is nothing that lives that does not consume. Fire however always gives back. If used correctly, fire is the best life giving and healing element. Using only the power of consuming will weaken the heart of the fire. The fire elementals will tell you that because of their passion they are the best artists. Don''t listen to them, we are. Earth, represented by the south, is stable on the surface. There is order and reason to everything the earth does. Because of this, humans view earth as a stable existence that restricts movement and exercises control over things. Earth is patient and vengeful. It waits before erupting. They know the rules that make up the world and use it to their full advantage. Earth''s apparent rigid nature allows it greater freedom. It can change like the sands. It can remain still and hard. It can form crevices, valleys, and mountains. When it wants, it can set up the conditions for creation and destruction. Earth uses order to create freedom. If used correctly, earth is the fastest and most accurate element. Using it like a shield is a literal waste of potential energy. Water, my favorite of course, is represented by the west. Water seems necessary for you humans to survive. As you are creatures mostly made up of water but aren''t water, it is reasonable for your kind to misunderstand our element. Most humans think of water as a life giver; a boon of healing. However, water in its dormant state will slowly eat away and consume vitality. It will slowly erode away and age the other elements. Water crushes, destroys and changes the things around us. We are good artists too. The things that remain from our wake are often considered beautiful by human standards. This is another reason we are often called the element of life. Water if used correctly is the strongest destroyer among the elements and also the best artists however, as I said earlier, the fire elementals will argue that they are better. But enough about the arts. Using water as a means to heal will only hasten death.} Glawio concluded his narrative. [You have learned about the true nature of the four cardinal elements, the northern wind, the eastern fire, the southern earth, and the western water. When working with the elements your skills will grow slightly faster] Jericho looked enlightened. {What about the other four?} Glawio mimicked a human laughter sound. {Humans only recognize three of the other four natural elements. There are more than just eight elements but they belong to other unique sources of power. Since you are still human to a degree, I will wait till later to teach you in detail. To the Northeast belongs the element of electricity. To the Southeast belongs the element of crystal. To the Southwest belongs the element of wood. The element of the Northwest will be a topic for another day.} {I understand.} {Now, onto the next subject, as Llyn explained before, after an elemental experiences death, they are reborn and need to take time to regain their former strength. However, on occasion, an elemental will experience true death. When it comes time for them to be reborn, a core like this one is formed.} He showed the core wrapped in herbs to the bard. {This is a soulless core. We elementals work to protect cores like these as they can birth new life given certain conditions.}The elemental placed the tiny core into Jericho''s hand. {This core has been covered by Gemini lilies and compressed with my power. Swallow it. It is our gift to you.} Jericho tilted his head. {What will happen when I swallow it?} Glawio drooped slightly. {I forgot, humans are often suspicious of things. You will become a water elemental like us. However, because of the Gemini lilies you will also remain a human like you currently are. You will be able to use our skills since they will be your own. Some of them will require you to become stronger but that is to be expected. Understand this offer will only come once. This is something we do not normally offer to mortals, but you have proven to be different. The best way we can repay you is through this offer. You will also be able to save the human village on your own, once you are stronger, if you choose to.} Jericho nodded. {Will I be able to learn the skill Split?} {Yes, however it is a skill lesser elementals cannot use as lesser elementals are our weakest form. You must become stronger to use it.} Jericho''s hesitation vanished as soon as he learned it could help him achieve his musical goals. He swallowed the core. 8 One of Us! One of Us! When Jericho swallowed the core; multiple notifications appeared before him. [You have swallowed a pure souless water elemental core. Body has become destabilized and is transforming into a lesser water elemental. Once the transformation is completed, an NPC will take over your character and you will re-spawn back in town as if you had died.] [Gemini Lilies detected. 1/18 consumed. NPC will no longer take over your character. You have gained the skill ''Form-shift'' This ability does not have a skill line. You can switch between available forms. Current forms available: Lesser water elemental, Human.] [You have become a lesser water elemental. You have gained the monster skill line Water elemental rank 1. Your elemental form will grow as you rank up the skill line. The skill line Water (water magic) has been absorbed into the elemental skill line. Future water magic learned will also be absorbed into this skill line. You have learned Aqua slash, Swift swim, Water walk, Merge/separate, Command water and Mutable body. Because of skill absorption, your water elemental skill line has acquired The Storm, Water''s tears, and Aqua bullet (evolved from aqua shot). More water elemental skills will be learned at higher ranks.] [Form-shift: Shift between known forms. Current forms and explanations: Human form: Able to use all ''human skills'' at 100% proficiency, able to use water elementals skills at 50% proficiency except for skills that overlap. In human form, you need to eat, sleep, and breathe. Lesser water elemental form: Able to use all water elemental skills at 100% proficiency, able to use human skills at 50% proficiency. In water elemental form you do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe however, dehydration will harm you. In this form, you possess all the innate traits of a water elemental. In this form, you are considered an in-game creature; you will be subject to npc rules while in this form including, but not limited to, combat agro rules. Form-shift will update as forms update. To use Form-shift, focus on the valid form and think about switching between the two. Saying Form-shift aloud may help with focusing on the shift.] [As you are now considered a water elemental, you will be welcome as a friend at most water elemental settlements and some other elemental settlements.] The first thing Jericho noticed was that his vision seemed strange. Despite being in the middle of the lake could see through the water all around him. The sights of the water elementals and fish swimming in the lake were clear. Slowly, normal vision and water vision overlapped. Jericho tried moving his morphic blobby body. He looked up at Llyn and Glawio. {I''m so small,} he said realizing they both towered over him. Glawio came forward. {As you are now one of us, I will accompany you to help keep you safe at least for now.} The human height water elemental formed a small ball of spirit water and placed in into the now small Jericho the lesser water elemental. A notification appeared before the bard. [Glawio the elemental has given you his elemental essence. You have gained a tier 3 water elemental companion, level 10. The elemental will join you on your adventures. Because you both share merge/separate Glawio can store itself inside of you. Unlike pets, companions will do what they want despite traveling with you. You can set a nickname for your companion.] {Glaw} Jericho the lesser water elemental replied. {It''s easier to say and remember.} The lesser and small elementals swam towards the center of the lake and started chanting happily. {{One of us! One of Us!}} Jericho inwardly sighed at the tiny elementals he was the same size as. He would have outwardly sighed if water elementals had lungs to sigh with. He decided to have a little bit of fun since he knew this was a game. {{One of Us! One of Us!}} He joined in the chanting. Llyn was pleased by the sight of Jericho embracing the change better than he expected. He slid forward. {It may take some time to get used to being one of us. But once you grow and become a small water elemental or something you call a ''rank 2'' water elemental, you will have the power to bring water to that human village you came to ask us to help.} Another notification sounded. [Special quest update: As a water elemental, you can save the village that has requested aid in restoring water to their home. Elevate your monster skill line to rank 2 to unlock the necessary skills.] Jericho pushed the notification aside and floated to the lake surface. He pulled out the violin which was now slightly bigger than his body size. He tried playing it only to fill the acoustic chamber with liquid. A frown appeared on his wet face. Llyn approached the lesser elemental Jericho. {You have a mutable body; use that to create a fake version of that tool. Also, I should warn you. Don''t let most mortals see you transform between human and elemental. Most will not take kindly to it.} {Ah!} The elemental bard replied. He logged the warning in his mind and tried out the suggestion. He formed a miniature violin and bow out of his own body and tried playing it. After a few dozen attempts, Jericho figured out how to make the water replicate the vibrations of the violin strings. Princess''s background dancers started dancing to the music since they currently were not summoned by her. Jericho hopped in excitement. [Mutable body has leveled 1/10 beginner.] He sent a message to Shiarra and Princess. [I may be at the lake for a while. I got a special skill that needs to reach tier two so we can save the dry town. I will be grinding here for a while.] Shiarra frowned as she received the message. [Fine; hopefully someone won''t complete the quest while you are practicing. We will keep looking for other potential quests.] Princess smiled as she received the message. [Okay! See you at breakfast!] Jericho returned to practicing being an elemental as it would help him with his music skills later. He practiced some of the racial skills and repeatedly played The Storm part 1 and Water''s tears with his small water violin. The consistent rainfall felt very refreshing and invigorating to his elemental body and the empowerment he felt with water''s tears was amazing. [Command water has leveled 2/10.] [Aqua bullet has leveled 2/10.] [Aqua slash has leveled 2/10.] [Water''s Tears has leveled 5/10.] [The Storm (Rain) part 1 has leveled 9/10.] [Mutable body has leveled 7/10.] Jericho was pleased by his rapid progress in the beginner stages of water elemental skills. Morning came and he sent a message to Princess. [Moira, time to get breakfast and head off to school.] After logging off and eating breakfast Jericho walked his sister to school. Moira hummed happily. "Big sister Shiarra is awesome. I approve of her!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jericho turned to his sister in confusion. "Approve of her for what?" He asked concerned she was going to make it awkward. "She will make a good wife for you. She is strong, protective, needs someone like you to cook for her, and she is really nice." Jericho sighed. "I will admit, her in game character is naturally beautiful despite her larger stature. However, I met her just before you did. Before we talk about marriage, she and I should get to know each other as friends first." "Of course! I am curious, what did the elementals want to give you secretly?" She rapidly changed the topic. "It''s currently a secret, so you can''t tell Shiarra yet, okay?" She nodded vigorously. "The water elementals asked you not to tell people?" "Kind of. The reward they gave me was the power to turn into a water elemental. However I need to get stronger before I can use the water elemental power to help the village." "Wow! Cool! Do you look like the two bigger ones?" Jericho shook his head with a laugh. "Currently I look like those tiny ones that liked to hang around you. Later I will look more like the larger ones." Jericho logged back into the game while his sister was at school. He continued practicing his skills and playing with the other elementals by the shore. The bard became quite familiar with how the elementals moved, walked, attacked, and lived. Llyn and Glaw kept watch as they didn''t want their new sibling to run into trouble too quickly. Jericho heard human voices nearby and turned to see who had come. "Hey! The boss has spawned! Perfect, we need its core for our quest!" A random player shouted. Jericho the lesser water elemental saw the group of adventurers charging towards Llyn. A notification sounded in front of Jericho at that very moment. [Greater water elemental Llyn as used the spell, Summon Water Elementals, Mass. Due to your high luck, you have been randomly selected by the spell and summoned.] 9 Participating on the wrong side of a boss battle "Moira, you are playing Freedom Online too? I thought you said you couldn''t afford to play it." Her guy friend Kenneth asked as the two were walking home. She smiled at her average looking classmate. "My brother got it for me. Apparently something good happened for him. The game is a lot of fun!" The bleached haired pre-teen smiled. "I''m glad. I have wanted you to be able to play video games with you for a long time. What is your in-game name?" "Dancing princess." She replied. "What is yours? If we hang out, you can see how wonderful my brother''s music is!" Kenneth inwardly groaned as she mentioned her older brother like a fan-girl, again. "My in-game character name is Huntsman Ken. I''ve been polishing up my archery and survival skills. I''m a bit behind the experts who do nothing but play the game. I''ve finally reached level 20. You probably aren''t very far into the game yet. I''ll take you around hunting sometime. What is your starting town?" "Trillith, and thank you for the offer Kenneth, but my brother and I have a goal to play the game without hunting down monsters." She tried to politely decline. "What?" Kenneth was floored. He had never heard of anyone trying to level up this way. "What level are you?" He finally had the courage to ask. "Level 4" She smiled. "Then your highest skill tier?" "Oh, my dancing is already rank 3. Most of my normal skills are still at the beginner stage. My brother is super awesome though; his music skill is already rank 5!" Kenneth''s mind felt overwhelmed. "How¡­" He shook his head a few times. He knew Moira wasn''t lying. She was honest to a fault." The boy''s Genius-Watch 9 sent him an alert. He pulled it up. [Vextor guild has posted a video on the game Freedom Online''s bug forum requesting an explanation from the gaming company. I''ve attached the link. ¨C Alexander] "Looks like someone found the first in-game glitch; Moira, want to watch?" Moira looked over to her friend. "What''s a glitch?" She inquired. "Ah, I forgot, you never played games in the past. A glitch is where the game''s data has an error causing unusual effects. Sometimes a glitch can make things difficult to proceed and other times it is something that if used can create something for someone to use to get stronger faster. It is sometimes called a bug." He explained, showcasing his knowledge. "Oh, so you are saying this group has found one of these glitches and is asking for the game company for an explanation? Why ask for an explanation?" "Well, sometimes, in games, a glitch isn''t really a glitch but instead an in-game hidden event. The guild asking for an explanation is probably because they are unsure. We would probably understand if we watched the video." He moved the holographic screen so the two of them could watch. The scene unfolded as the group of six fought a large water elemental and lost. Strange music that Moira instantly recognized was playing in the background. *** Earlier that day¡­ Jericho found himself summoned to a chaotic fight. Multiple short notifications flooded his vision rapidly as he tried to get away from the battle. [You have been summoned into battle.] [You have obtained a new quest. Help Elemental Llyn be victorious in defending the lake.] [Due to being a water elemental in combat, Form-Shift has been temporarily locked. It will be unlocked after combat is over.] [Due to being registered as an in-game creature you are bound by the agro system during combat. As you do not possess the skill (Flee) you cannot leave combat until either combat has ended or character death.] An arrow hit Jericho the water elemental. [-15] appeared in front of him. Jericho moved as fast as he could to hide behind Llyn. Two more arrows hit him. He felt a slight regret for a moment about not investing stat points into agility. {Jericho?} Llyn asked in shock as he felt the small arms of a lesser water elemental clinging to his leg. {You summoned me here, but I don''t like fighting.} A few ''lucky'' hits from the team of six hurt the distracted elemental. {Absorb into me. I''ll keep you safe.} Llyn ordered focusing back onto the fight. Jericho activated the ability [Merge/separate] and temporarily merged into Llyn''s body. The tiny elemental didn''t feel very safe. He watched as Llyn was taking hit after hit. {I''ve got to do something.} He voiced from inside the other elemental. Llyn slashed at the hunting party knocking the shield-wielding user back a few feet. {Then partially separate from me and use your music. I will do my best to keep you safe.} {Right!} Jericho didn''t want to fight but this was to protect himself and his current allies. A small face and arms emerged from the back of the giant water elemental. The arms mutated into a violin. {First we recover everyone''s health.} He started to play The Storm (Rain) part 1. The attackers paused momentarily as they listened to a vaguely familiar tune. The rain fell and the water elementals started restoring health by using the falling rain. Jericho wasn''t finished. He started playing Water''s Tears. The unfamiliar ebb and flow of the water violin was very contrasting to the chaotic nature of the fight. Droplets of water started to form around Llyn and Jericho. The players slightly panicked as the elementals'' attacks were dealing progressively more damage and their own attacks dealing less damage. Just before the end of the musical piece, Jericho transitioned back into a loop instead of ending the melody. [You have gained the Tier 1 music skill, Loop: Instead of bringing your music to a conclusion you can repeat it. Cast time increases. Duration of music increases. End effects are amplified by an additional 75% for each repetition. These percentiles are additive. 2 Repetitions will have 175% effect; 3 Repetitions will have 250% effect. In the example of your current piece, hypothetically: if water''s tears summoned 10 droplets of water normally, then 2 repetitions would form 17 and three would form 25.] Jericho noticed Llyn''s the invader''s fight was quickly approaching a climax. He finished the loop he was on and directed all the water he summoned towards Llyn. The elemental''s Hp was restored. Llyn took advantage of this unexpected boon and finished off the remaining attackers. Jericho was relieved that the battle was over and that he didn''t have to experience his first in-game death yet. He emerged from Llyn''s body.A few notifications appeared before him. [You have participated in the battle against invaders of the lake. You have gained 60 Monster Experience.] [You have completed the hidden quest Help Elemental Llyn be victorious in defending the lake. You have gained 400 Monster Experience. You are revered by the water elementals of the Lake.] [Monster experience is a consumable type of experience. You can spend the points on increasing specific monster skill''s proficiency, gaining levels like normal Exp, or use them as a currency to exchange with other monsters for items. Currently you possess 460 MExp. How would you like to allot them? Once chosen, you cannot undo the choice.] Jericho''s watery face smiled. {Allocate into skill proficiency.} [You can allocate MExp into the following skills: Command water 2/10 --> 3/10 (30 Mexp) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Aqua bullet 2/10 --> 3/10 (30Mexp) Aqua slash 2/10 --> 3/10 (30Mexp) Water''s Tears 5/10 --> 6/10 (60 Mexp) The Storm part 9/10 --> 10/10 --> 0/10 Adept (100 Mexp + 100Mexp It costs more to increase to a higher grade of skill.) Mutable body 7/10 --> 8/10 (80Mexp) Note that points will not be confirmed allocated until you give the command.] Jericho thought for a bit. Math was not his strong suit but he knew which skills he considered more important than others. Thankfully the game helped him do the complicated calculating. {Assign as many points as possible to mutable body}. [370 Mexp assigned. Skill Mutable body 7/10 beginner --> Skill 0/10 Adept Rank up! Mexp remaining 90. After confirmation, you will evolve from a lesser water elemental to a small water elemental. Your skill tier will increase to 2. You will gain new water elemental specific abilities. Cannot add more Mexp to Mutable body at this time.] {I can increase my music skills on my own. Confirm skill growth allocation.} [Are you sure you wish to confirm skill growth allocation? 90Mexp will be unable to be assigned to skills later.] Jericho, if he were in his human form would have bit his lip in thought. {No, do not confirm. Assign remaining points into Control water.} [Allocating 70 Mexp into Command water. Skill level 2/10 will increase to 4/10. 20Mexp remaining. Confirm? No more skills found able to have Mexp assigned.] {Confirm.} He replied. [20 Mexp remains. Would you like to assign it to general exp or turn it into monster currency? Mexp to exp ratio is 1:3.] {Monster currency.} A strange sensation filled Jericho''s watery frame. His body doubled in size and looked less like a cute blob. [You have gained 20MC. This special currency can be seen next to your gold.] [Control water has grown to 4/10 Beginner. Mutable body has grown to 0/10 Adept. Your Monster skill line water elemental has advanced to Tier 2.] [You have gained¡­] 10 Back at the well, the audience sleeps [Mutable body Adept: In addition to adjusting your exterior appearance, you can now adjust your interior appearance. Common applications used by elementals include replicating a human voice box in order to speak the human language.] [You have gained the water elemental abilities: Create water, Split, Guise of weaker self.] [Create water 0/10 beginner: Create up to 4 liters of water using MP. The higher the skill, the more water can be created at a time. To create more water, multiple uses of this ability are required. In human form the volume of water is halved.] [Split N/A: Split into two weaker versions of yourself. (Currently: two lesser water elementals). As long as your form(s) are not at the lesser water elemental strength, you can use split again. At higher skill line stages, the number of splits that can be achieved will increase. When your water elemental skill line reaches tier 3 you can use split to become 2 small elementals and then use it to split again to become 4 lesser elementals. In your human form, you can split as many times as your water elemental form, however your stats are directly halved for each split instead of dropping a monster tier.] [Guise of weaker self. N/A: Disguise your current monster rank as a lower rank. While disguised you can only use skills known at that tier of growth. Only applies to monster skill lines] {Yes! I finally got it!} Jericho the small water elemental cheered. Llyn and Glaw came forward. {Congratulations on becoming a small elemental. Honestly we are surprised you were able to grow so quickly. Usually it would have taken a lesser elemental about 5 days to a month to grow to a small elemental. The growth time from there only gets significantly longer. Maybe it is because you are also human that your skills grew so quickly. Regardless, you now have the skill to save the village you and the other two came here to talk about. If you still want to save the village, we won''t stop you. Use Create water repeatedly. It won''t be fast but it will help bring water back to the human place.} [Quest update: Upgrade to a tier 2 water elemental Completed. Use Create water to refill the village well. The skill will be more effective in water elemental form. Reminder, be careful who you form-shift in front of.] Jericho returned to his human form for the first time in quite a few hours. {Thank you both for all of your help.} Llyn shook his head. {We should be thanking you.} Glawio came forward. {I suspect the two of us are off then?} {Both of us?} Jericho questioned forgetting the past notifications. {Glawio will still accompany you as you travel. He will help out as he sees fit. This was something we agreed upon after you became one of us.} Llyn confirmed. The human height water elemental came into physical contact with Jericho. [Companion Glaw has used Merge/separate. While he is merged with you, your stats will be boosted. The stat boost has been limited due to being in human form.] Jericho played one last song for the elementals before departing the lake with Glaw. He sent a message to Shiarra. [Just finished playing in the water. :P Princess will be home from school in a few hours. We can finish up the quest then.] Shiarra looked at the message with a light frown. [You got a new skill from beginner to adept already? How?] She replied. The bard looked confused. [You are the second to tell me that my skills progressed fast. The water elementals were surprised too. I didn''t know my skills were growing fast so I am not sure how to answer your question.] The woman sighed. "Figures, Princess did tell me that this was the first time either of them played a VR game." [Alright, you should come meet me in the starting town. Your fans are stalking the well hoping you will show up to play again. You can also show me that skill that can help us save the town.] Jericho jogged back to the starting village. [Will do. It isn''t very impressive but it will get the job done. It will be faster though if I have a way to restore my MP. Do you know of any?] Shiarra let out a gentle laugh. [You can buy MP potions, HP potions and Stamina potions at any of the general stores in town. You could also learn the alchemy skill to make your own.] The bard thought for a second before responding. [Buying MP potions would be best. That, or making friends with an alchemist.] Jericho arrived at the well. He was excited to take advantage of his new split ability now that it truly belonged to him. The moment he pulled out his piano and sat down on the bench, excited shouts were heard and the area was quickly filled with people. The bard split himself into two copies. The other him pulled out the violin. "Time for some new songs." He whispered with a smile. The copy with the violin stood. Peaceful, calming music started playing from both the piano and violin. If Jeannette Long were in the crowd she would instantly recognize the composition. The two instrument version of the Moonlit Lullaby lulled the audience into a restful calm. Many closed their eyes enjoying the beautiful overtones. Many members of the audience unknowingly fell into a sleep state in-game. It wasn''t long before Jericho received the skill notification he was waiting for. [You have performed a complex rendition the tier 2 music skill ''Lullaby''. You have put 31/58 audience members to sleep. 20/58 are feeling drowsy. 7/58 have resisted the skill Lullaby.] [Lullaby 2/10 Adept. A gentle melody intended to lull other beings to sleep. The skill level is Adept. The difficulty resisting the urge to sleep has become harder. Lullaby''s effectiveness is also directly affected by the type of lullaby you play, which instruments are used and the species of the intended targets] After receiving the notifications the violin wielding Jericho laughed, startling the audience awake. "I guess I should play something a bit more invigorating!" He shouted out. "This song is called the Warrior''s Advance. Because I lack the proper instruments it is an incomplete version." The pianist started playing heavy handed chords on the deep end of the piano rapidly. The violin started with a slow minor tone. Both Jerichos started chanting warrior like shouts. The violinist suddenly picked up the pace and switched to a major tone to match the fast tempo of the piano, creating a heroic army vibe. The rhythmic composition echoed through the surroundings for a few minutes before coming to a conclusion. The audience clapped. "Hey Jericho, before you continue, we all have a question. How did you get a skill to make two of yourself?" One of the audience members wearing a yellow-green robe came forward. "Lay off dude! We are here for the music. Jericho, just ignore that man, keep playing!" Another audience member shouted out. Shiarra send a quick message to Jericho. [Danger! Don''t ignore the man but don''t answer his question.] Jericho smiled at his overly suspicious comrade. He decided to heed her warning, despite feeling it was unnecessary. His clone at the piano started playing an interlude while the violin wielding bard turning to the man. "It''s not that I don''t want to tell you how I got it, friend. I promised the ones this skill originates from that I would only talk about it with those whom I can trust. Besides, this skill is more showy than practical. You are a magician right? Imagine having your intelligence, wisdom, and MP cut in half. It would become really hard to fight things right?" The mage gave a determined look. "I''m Emerald Flame of the Vextor guild. I would like you to invite you to join our guild." Many members of the audience booed. "Go solicit your guild elsewhere!" "Yeah, stop interrupting the performance with your useless agenda!" Another message came from Shiarra. [Decline him and resume your performance. If he or his guild decide to make trouble I''ll handle it.] Jericho messaged back thinking his mission companion was still over-thinking things. [Thank you]. He smiled at the man. "I will have to decline your generous offer, Emerald Flame. As you can see, the show must go on." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He put away the violin and pulled out the ocarina. "This melody is called The Forest Guardians." The piano started to play a chord followed by three increasing notes in a cycle creating a mysterious resonance. The ocarina played an upbeat playful melody perfectly matching the rhythm of the piano. The strange discord created a very whimsical yet respectful feeling. Emerald Flame left the crowd. He knew when he wasn''t wanted. A few songs later, the crowd seemed to grow greatly in size. Jericho received the notification they had all been waiting for. [Your friend Dancing Princess has come online.] When he gave the announcement the crowd cheered. Princess arrived and the crowd split open to allow her in. "Wow, the crowd is even bigger than last time!" She proclaimed happily. "Hey brother, can we make it rain? I need water for my dances today." Jericho chuckled. "How about I get you some water without getting everyone wet today?" The ocarina wielding bard used his new skill he obtained for the sake of saving the town later; create water. Two liters of water appeared and fell at Princess''s feet. "How much more do you need?" The young girl thought for a bit. "About twenty more times should do it." Jericho nodded and repeated the skill, draining his half-MP pool a few times. "Excellent, what songs then?" "The Farewell Song. I want to try out my new staff and the skills I learned from our last adventure." She pulled out Yun''s first staff and used her skill summon background dancers. The bard smiled. "That''s a good one." He put away the ocarina and both of him started tapping the outer casing of the piano like drums and started singing in a foreign language. Princess swung her staff and started dancing elegantly to the calm chant like song. The elemental dancers harmonized their movements and elevated the puddle of water on the ground to lift Princess slightly off the ground. The performance came to a close a few pieces later. The 12 year old smiled sweetly at the audience. "We will be back another time! Remember to support us. Look up my brother Jericho Maestro and love his songs like I do!" 11 The snowflake that caused the avalanche After stocking up on a sizable amount of MP potions from the money they were given for their performance that day, the three comrades traveled to the nameless town Shiarra had told them about. "Jericho, what is the skill you worked so hard on that can help the town?" Shiarra inquired. "This." Jericho replied as he used the ability create water. The water fell to the ground turning the dry dirt to mud. "It will take some time to fill up their well but if I can go into it, I can do it faster." "Why is that?" The woman followed up. "It is the secret the water elementals asked me to be careful who I tell. You have given me no reason to distrust you. However, since it seemed very important, I decided only to tell the people I know well in real life. I hope you understand." He replied. Shiarra smiled with a light laugh. "Good, I was worried you would be overly naive and tell me just because we have adventured together a few times. In truth, the two of us are still technically strangers despite gaming together these last few days." Jericho nodded. "That is true. Either way, when we get into the town, help me get into the well. I''ll worry about the water issue. You and my little sister can go help out the village in other ways so you aren''t bored." "Okay." She agreed. "I am curious though, what''s a guild, and why were you so jumpy at that guy''s friendly conversation?" Jericho inquired. The armored woman shook her head. "You know nothing about the cruelty of mass multiplayer games, do you? Thankfully this isn''t the only VRMMO game out there so the effects have been spread out a bit. That guy wasn''t friendly. I was just surprised that your audience went as far as to verbally chase him off." The bard frowned. "I kind of feel bad for him. He only wanted to know the answers to a few questions and invite me to whatever this guild thing is and he got yelled at because of it. But, you have not answered either of my questions." He pointed out. Shiarra shook her head. "You don''t have to feel bad, those people have thick skin; they can take it. A guild is a group that works together to achieve goals. On the surface that is a great thing however underneath most guilds is a political game someone as soft-hearted as you wouldn''t appreciate. Often guilds will wage war on each other and bully others because they are stronger. Having tricks like your cloning ability can give them the edge in these large fights. He wanted you to tell them how to get the ability so they could take advantage of it. As for the guild invite, he wanted to rope you into a situation where you earn them money. By my count, you have earned almost two gold piece in these last few days just for playing in the streets. They probably would have done things like a contract where you do concerts for them and they take most of the income. Some might even try to get you into a real life contract. Joining a guild would be great in the short run but it is typically harmful to someone like you or Princess in the long run." The bard sighed. "Thank you, for watching out for us. Ill intentions or not, Emerald Flame shouldn''t have had to go through that. Just because someone has ''thick skin'' doesn''t mean that other''s words don''t affect them." Jericho pulled up the messaging system and typed up a message. "What are you doing?" Princess inquired noticing her brother go silent for a bit. "Hopefully I''m making a friend." Jericho replied unknowingly sending the snowflake that caused the avalanche. *** Emerald Flame, despite his high status in the Vextor guild, didn''t have many friends. His guild mates treated him with respect born from fear, avoided him, and even spread nasty rumors about him. He didn''t like them much, but he had been gaming with them for years. Because of their history together in past games, he joined them again in this one. Because of the things his guild asked him to do, he was frequently victimized and easily enraged. He knew in his head that he brought most of it onto himself but his emotions spoke otherwise. At Emerald''s request, some of his guild mates were keeping tabs on where Jericho traveled. The battle team he was in charge of had seen the power the music had in the water elemental fight and wanted to incorporate it into their guild one way or another. The mage had originally been given the task to try and recruit Jericho and learn his secrets. Since he was the most respected group leader in the area, the job became his. As they stealthily followed Jericho and his companions south, Emerald couldn''t get out of his mind the words the audience had shouted at him. He was only doing his job. "Why did they have to get so aggressive?" He muttered. "It''s all..." A notification appeared interrupting his thoughts. [New message from Jericho the Bard] [Emerald Flame, I''m sorry you were treated harshly by my fans. Humans can be cruel sometimes. While I have no intention of joining a guild at this time, I wish you great fortune in the future. I hope you will continue to enjoy listening to the music I play and continue to be the great person I sense you are. This is also a game, it is supposed to be fun right? Remember, you are a survivor, not a victim. Sincerely Jericho the Bard.] The mage stopped in his tracks. "He¡­ cared enough to message me by name? I''m a survivor huh? It''s a bit sappy, but I never expected to see anything like this in a game." He took a deep breath, light moisture filled his eyes as all of his suppressed frustrations resurfaced with better understanding. He started writing back. [Jericho, thank you, you really are a kind person. I will do my best and I wish you the best as well¡­ He paused in the middle of his message as he contemplated things. Sometimes a few well timed, simple words can bring clarity. "A game is supposed to be fun? When did I forget that?" He continued mumbling. "Yo, Master Emerald, you doing alright back there?" One of his team members in armor made of plants asked. "No, sorry Brotillian, something very important came up, I have to go. I''m calling off the mission." He turned to leave. The group got a notification. [Emerald Flame has left the group.] They were silent as they watched the man who was filled with drive just moments ago walk off. "Wait! What about¡­" Brotillian shouted to the running figure. "Forget it, we are no longer going after Jericho." He shouted back. The war-hammer wielding teammate came forward. "Brotillian, what are we going to do?" "We keep going." He told his remaining teammates. "It will be easier to ''negotiate'' without Master Emerald losing his short temper." Emerald pulled the message, he was in the middle of writing, back up. [¡­ I''m asking for myself. Would you be willing to be my friend?] [Friend request sent to Jericho the Bard]. He had just continued walking when he received a reply. [Jericho the Bard has accepted your friend request.] [Absolutely! I would love to be your friend! Like I said before, I had the feeling you were a great person. And while this is a game and not real life, my sister says I am a really good judge of character.] The mage was stunned. It had been a long time since someone had said words like those to him. "Is this a fantasy or something? How can these games have someone kind like you?" Emerald Flame nodded to himself. A resolute look donned his face. [Jericho, Thank you, again. I must warn you, my former guild is following you to try and learn your ''secrets''. Currently there are five of them heading your way. Originally the five of them and I had come up with a plan to use your sister as leverage to extort the information out of you. I left them and told them to stop but I doubt they will. Guard your sister well. I am going to move to one of the towns in the north. Come visit me sometime!] [Thank you for the warning, Emerald. I knew you were a great person! I will let you know when I am up north!] The mage smirked and sent a message to one of his only real-life friend who was not part of his guild. [Dark Lord, I am betraying Vextor. My former guild is targeting Jericho and his sister Princess. They must be stopped. Also, can you help me level back up in Zhery village in the north? I am resetting my character.] A reply came. [Bold, I like it. What changed? Any ideas on how to stop them? And I can certainly help you in the north but I need something first.] [I''ll explain what changed later. My idea? You saw it for yourself earlier at the well; tell me, what is the only thing scarier than a guild? Of course, what do you need? I haven''t left the guild, informed them of my betrayal, or reset my character just yet.] *** Jericho received the warning from Emerald. "I never would have guessed that he and his friends were plotting against me. I''m glad he is a good person underneath that rough exterior." A familiar voice whispered in his head. {I saw the message, if I might suggest it, princess is your sister, she has water walk. Have her join you in the well. She can dance to bring rain while you work. It shouldn''t be a bad thing for her to know that you are a water elemental.} Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. {That''s true. Thank you Glaw for suggesting that.} Jericho smiled. "I take it things went good?" Princess beamed. Jericho nodded before frowning. "There is going to have to be a slight change in plans though." He turned to Shiarra. "Princess will have to join me in the well. She can dance and bring rain. It will help speed up the process. You can help out around the village." He sent a direct message to the warrior. [According to my new friend, the Vextor guild is targeting Princess to get to me. They are sending 5 players. I will do what I can to keep her safe. Please do the same. She looks up to you like an elder sister.] He smiled thinking about the ridiculous conversation about marriage they had on the way to school that morning. Shiarra nodded The three finally arrived at the thirsty nameless village. 12 Saving the nameless village, Finally… The village elder looked over the trio that came in and explained they found a way to save the village. "What took you so long? I asked you to help us a long time ago." He inquired of the warrior. Shiarra nodded. "There were unusual complications. The water elementals were being corrupted by necromancy. We couldn''t obtain a strong enough untainted elemental core. But that is where these two behind me come in. They can summon the rain and fill your well with water. However they will need to go into the well to accomplish the task." The elder frowned. "Isn''t that dangerous? What if they drown and contaminate the water?" Jericho stepped forward. "Respected sir, the two of us can walk on the water. We won''t drown." The old man''s eyes widened. "You are a miracle worker?" Jericho shook his head. "I''m a bard. She is a dancer. We use our performance abilities to make things happen. Please trust us and allow us to go into the well." The elder started laughing. "Young man, you must not understand how wells work. Underground there are natural pathways of water. We have dug into these underground rivers of water. One cannot simply fill the well with water. You must restore water to the reservoir feeding the well. Follow me." The man started to go up the nearby rocky mountain slope. The three followed. After traveling for a few minutes they arrived at a very large open pit. Water bubbled up from one side and trickled down into a small underground river. "As the water passes through the underground rocky path, the water cleans itself before making its way to our well. In order to restore the reservoir, the water in the ground must increase. It won''t be simple. Do you still have the confidence to do it my young friends?" "Yep!" Princess replied before anyone could say anything. "You can leave it to me and my brother!" The elder smiled. "I will do so then." He started to walk off. "Wait," Shiarra called out. "While they are working on the water problem, is there anything else I can help with?" She asked to avoid getting soaked by their skills and to watch out for enemies. "Sure, follow me." The elder motioned. The two left. {So that is how a human well works; interesting.} Glaw spoke to Jericho. Princess looked up at her brother. "Should we get started?" "Yeah. Let''s get started." He pulled out his violin to start playing. {Wait!} Glaw shouted to Jericho. The bard lowered his instrument. {What''s wrong?} {There is a better place to restore the water, and it will hide the two of you. I''m surprised you didn''t sense it.} Glaw emerged. {Follow me.} "Oh, hi Mr. Water elemental!" Princess said. "We are following him." Jericho replied. {I only have that cool water vision when I am in my water elemental form, Glaw. That is probably why I didn''t sense it.} He explained. The three entered into a cave with an open roof. The sound of running water could be heard inside. {Play your music, have your sister dance, and use your water elemental form to bring water to this place. It will be the most effective. It will take a long time by human standards. I will help you to speed up the process.} {Thank you, Glaw.} {Of course, I know you will return the favor.} Jericho nodded to the elemental and turned to his sister. "Now we will get started. I''m going to shift into my elemental form to help speed things along." The bard shrunk. His body became liquid. Like before, he formed his arms into the violin and the bow. He started playing. Moira danced. She summoned her water elemental background dancers to amplify the effects of the rainfall. {Jericho, also use Create Water. You can form a second pair of arms to do so. When we finish filling up the pool here, use Command water to push it into the soil.} Glaw reminded the bard about the advantages of Mutable body. The water violin''s form collapsed a few times as he formed two additional arms and split his concentration between three different tasks. Only the song was practiced to the point of not requiring a large amount of focus. The process ran on and off repeatedly because of the lack of MP and Stamina. They were only level 4. After a few hours of calling for rain and dumping massive amounts of water, the two logged off for dinner and Moira''s homework. "This is so boring. Performing the same dance repeatedly for nobody quickly loses its fun." Moira said at the dinner table. Jericho nodded. "True, but how did you learn to get good at dancing?" The girl frowned and lifted her pointer finger as if quoting someone. "By repeatedly trying to dance. By watching other''s dance. By finding and correcting mistakes in my dancing." Jericho nodded. "Right, my ever famous misquote that I have shared countless times. Do you remember what mom used to tell us all the time? Practice makes progress. I bet your skills have improved greatly these last few hours." "Yeah¡­" She replied. *** On the bug forums, the Free Team sent an official reply to the video in question. "Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention. After careful analysis and data scanning we have determined that this was not caused by a bug in the system. While we were surprised to see it in an early game area, battles like these will become more frequent in the future. For those who have not read the details of our NPC disclosure this information may be useful to consider in the future. NPC do not normally ''Spawn'' unless called upon by magic. Every NPC in game is born, lives, and dies similar to how we do. Monsters just grow at a faster rate than Humans and other normal races. One example you may remember is the extermination of the foxes in forest near the starting village of Pren. Because the players had hunted down almost all the NPCs, the fox population in the forest has become practically non-existent. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The NPCs in the video in question have different AI then the previous monsters fought. Given enough time, or exposure to certain things, NPCs of all types can learn new skills. This will be seen more frequently when facing NPCs of higher intelligence. Guides on how to fight certain enemies will be just that, guides not scripts. We hope you continue to enjoy the ever-changing world of Freedom Online. -- The Free Team --" *** Brotillian the self proclaimed druid and his four companions hiked up the muddy slopes of the village mountain. "Why would Emerald leave halfway? What is so important that he gave up on the chance to watch someone squirm? Why would he try to call off this mission? It doesn''t make any sense with his sadistic personality." The fighter wielding a large warhammer shook his head. "I couldn''t tell you. But, I''m glad he isn''t here to fly off the handle. He can be a real pain when he gets angry." Laughter echoed from the surroundings. Brotillian shook his head. "Adler, there is no reason for you to be in stealth mode right now." The rouge appeared. "But laughing creepily from the shadows is fun; especially when it freaks people out." She replied playfully. The rain started pouring again. The druid looked up. "Sudden rainfall, just like when we were fighting the elemental boss. Do you think the elementals learned the skill from Jericho?" Adler smiled. "It''s likely. There are recordings of him at the well performing on the forums. He has a song that brings the rain as well. In fact I am fairly confident it was the same song." Brotillian frowned. "So, not only did he refuse our kind invitation, he is here stealing our quest to bring water to this place, and he taught the elementals his mystical music arts to interfere with our quests. I agree, it is a good thing Emerald isn''t here. The whole mountain would be on fire by now." The warrior laughed. "No it wouldn''t, everything is soaked which would make our fire mage even angrier. Besides, you need to get over your bad habit of painting everything in the worst way possible. It only makes him angrier and it isn''t like he is targeting us on purpose." Adler laughed. The druid frowned. "I won''t heal you two in our next boss battle if you keep it up." Adler vanished from sight. "Bro''s upset. I''m going back to the shadows. It''s nicer there." The archer looked over the muddy slopes. "The rain has washed away their footprints. We are searching blind." *** The next morning on their way to Moira''s school, Jericho and his sister were feeling quite relieved. "Thank goodness that is done!" The twelve year old sighed. "That was tiring." Jericho smiled. "Indeed. But you got your rain dance up to a higher level of Adept." "Yep, Rain Dance is at Adept 6/10 now and my Ritual Dance skill has also reached Adept 9/10." She confirmed. "But I want to perform different dances again. It will be more enjoyable that way." "I agree, I think I want to be done with water for the next bit. Unlike you, this was the second time I have used water elemental skills while in that strange morphic body for hours on end. I still feel a little weird." "But you look so cute in that form!" Moira teased. "You aren''t wrong¡­ but still, a change of pace would be good. When you get home, let''s turn in our quests and go find a different one to do." The girl thought for a bit. "I''ve got a friend who is playing the game too; he wanted to play with us. Maybe he has an adventure we can enjoy. I''ll ask him." Jericho nodded. "Which friend; Kenneth or Alexander? They are both good kids and the only two friends you ever talk about." "Ken," She replied. "By the way, I was curious, since you were using a lot of skills what are their ranks now?" "Part 1 of The Storm (rain) is now at adept 4/10. Mutable body is at Adept 7/10. I had to form fake lungs and a fake voice box to talk with you while we worked otherwise it wouldn''t be so high. Create Water, the skill I got, actually reached Adept 8/10 I used it a lot. Finally Control water reached Adept 0/10 Most of the controlling of the water was done by Glaw since he was the expert. I am really glad he helped us out, it would have taken way too long otherwise." Moira smiled. "Impressive. By the way, when are you going to finish parts 2 and 3 of rain portion of The Storm?" The bard laughed; "after I get an accordion and a clarinet. It has been tiresome not having the right instruments for most of my songs. Besides, I want to have enough instruments to play the full rendition of the Storm; not just rain." "True. But what if you get other instruments before those two?" "Then I will wait until later to finish The Storm. There are plenty of other songs for me to play once I get the right instruments. We are here, see you after school!" "Wait one last question. Since we have finished the quest other than turning it in, what are you going to do until I get home?" 13 Life Jericho walked through the cemetery near his home in Newcastle. "I''m here again. It''s a great place to clear your head, right mom?" The bard smiled softly. He thought about the many times he would visit whenever he felt down. He sat down on a bench, pulled a harmonica out of his pocket, and started playing. Music soon echoed around the tombstones and memorials. The white haired grounds keeper came over and sat next to the musician. Jericho ended his piece. "Hey Staul, it''s been a while." He greeted with a smile. "I see you are back again, Jerry. You didn''t bring Moira with you today?" The aged man inquired. "No, just me today; a lot has happened recently and I needed to come clear my head. Being here is a good change of pace. It helps." He replied. The old man let out a laugh. The two chatted for a bit. "Hey, Jerry, remember about 7 years ago? You brought that large object you called¡­ What was it, a gooey tar?" Staul asked. "When I brought one of guitars I built and wanted to play it in front of my parents'' graves? I remember, you took it away because my playing and singing was interrupting another funeral. What about that day?" He chuckled lightly. "I''m surprised you forgave me for taking away." The adult shook his head. "I wasn''t very considerate back then, rocking out in my own grief while others wanted to silently grieve their own loss. You were only doing your job." "Well, I still have it, if you want it back." He smiled. "Wait, you told me you got rid of it!" Jericho exclaimed in happy shock. "It''s over in the keeper house. I''ll give it back in exchange for a performance. To be honest this place gets too quiet when you aren''t around." "Deal!" Jericho beamed. After the groundskeeper returned with the instrument Jericho tuned it and began to play. He strummed the guitar to produce a relaxing, vaguely western tune that sounded like someone journeying with friends. *** Jeannette Long stared out over the city of Newcastle. Her petite, blond secretary came into the office. "Mrs. Long, the report on the player Jericho has been complete. It is predicted that his influence will increase the game sells by a significant margin. Details are in this folder here. After seeing the data, the development team has requested a meeting to discuss the future of the game. They and the other company leaders are waiting in office room 9." "Thank you. I will head there now." Jeannette picked up her violin and left her workspace. The head of the game development department, Director Fletcher, spoke first. "Based on the report about the player Jericho requested by Mrs. Long, we want to work on a patch to give stats and levels to artistic items. Mrs. Long, as you are the head figure in charge of this game, we came to seek your approval." The model like woman shook her head and pointed to the violin in front of her. "How many instruments exist?" "In-game? Or in real life? The team head replied. "Both." She answered. "In-game there are 81 different instrument types, we primarily focused on the more popular ones in history. In real life, I don''t know how many there are. How is this question relevant?" "Right. Let me help you see this in perspective. You can''t treat artistic tools like a sword." "Go ahead." "I know it is only a single program for this virtual reality game, but to make a single simple in-game character, how many tools inside your program do you use?" Mr. Fletcher started mentally counting. "104 if we count the coloring tool as one tool." He replied after some thought. "As you can see, department head, the arts are special. Tell me, if you had to switch out every single tool individually every 10 or so levels, how frustrating would it be?" The man frowned. "I see. Then what is your suggestion? The team wants to promote these new in-game avenues. We may even be able to outsell the current most popular game if we do." The Vice CEO smiled. "We will do it like this: Ignore item levels on artistic things. Making them have levels will only add frustration to the artistic players. Give the art items a quality rating like other items. For normal artistic items have the standard Tier 0, 1, and 2. Then create special instruments that have additional effects rather than stats. These can range from tier 3 on. But something the development team must understand is that even a basic instrument in the hands of an expert will produce amazing results. A higher grade item doesn''t always mean a superior performance. Someone like Jericho wielding a Tier 0 instrument will outshine someone with a godly instrument because of pure skill alone. Just like you and your NPC design program. I could only create an okay NPC if I had the knowledge of how to use each tool and someone helping me. You on the other hand, could create an outstanding NPC with the outdated version of your software from 26 years ago." "But, Mrs. Long, if we do that, the artists will have a huge statistical disadvantage later in the game." The Vice-CEO looked over to her co-worker. "There is truth to that. However, armor and clothing already have defensive stats. Not many artists are going to run around without cloths are they?" "Well, I hope not, that would be really awkward." He replied. "More importantly you have been working on the customizing appearance section of the game that is supposed to come out this patch, yes? So artists that are concerned with appearances can wear the higher level gear but appear to be wearing the outfits they want considering it records all of the items they have worn throughout the game and what category they belong in" "Indeed, the program just got completed two days ago. There is a restriction in place though, for a clothing appearance they have to be wearing clothing. for heavy armor appearance, they have to be wearing heavy armor." "It is completely logical. It would be harder to dance in heavy armor even if it was given the re-appearance of a dress." "Okay that covers that portion, but what about the difference in stats created by weapons and other held items?" "If an artist was to equip a weapon instead of their art supplies, wouldn''t the stat discrepancy disappear?" "That''s true, but..." "If your team feels they must do something with stats, the team can create an algorithm that goes something like this, if an art item is equipped instead of a weapon, character gains a temporary bonus to X stats per level. An algorithm like this would be simpler than adding item levels and stats for each object anyways. Do these sound reasonable?" "Indeed, Mrs. Long." "Good, then I will look over the details of the Jericho report later to discuss other plans for the future." "I understand. It was a brilliant move pulling Jericho and his sister into playing the game. How did you think of it?" *** It was lunch break at Eisenberg elementary. Moira and her two guy friends, Kenneth and Alexander, were sitting and happily chatting about the game. Alex dropped his fork onto his lunch tray in shock. "Moira, you are playing a video game? I thought you hated the idea?" The girl laughed. "I told you before, my brother''s music is magical and I would rather hear it than play a game. However, my brother learned his music could be just as magical in Freedom so the two of us started playing. Now I can do both at the same time!" "What starting town are you in? Do you want to come adventure with us?" Alex inquired excitedly. "Whoa, slow down buddy, I invited her first. I even arrived in her starting town last night." Kenneth interrupted. Moira smiled. "You two, I would love to play with both of you. To answer your question Alex, my brother and I started in Trillith. We are just finishing up a quest to save a town from a drought. So we should be good to adventure with one or both of you tomorrow or the next day. But first, you should know I have a few special rules. 1: My brother gets to come and you get to listen to his music. You will understand why I love listening to him so much. 2: My brother and I don''t like hunting monsters. So the adventures we go on are a little different. While we adventure together, we will be finding other ways to solve problems without violence if at all possible. 3: My brother is the leader of our adventures. He may be new to video games like me but he is very responsible." Alex gave a thumbs up and placed his hand on his shaggy brown hair as he continued to eat. Kenneth sighed. "You and your brother like to make things complicated. Alex and I are both higher level so we can escort you to another starting area. I started in the forest village of Pren. I can take you two there so we can adventure in the forests nearby. I''ll help you level up first then Alex can have a turn." "I have always wanted to see what a forest is like! Are you okay to wait until later Alex?" Moira asked. Alex nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Sounds good to me, I want to try and keep up with the experts as best as I can. I want to be one of the famous players in this game." Kenneth smiled. "Message me when you and your brother are ready to head over to Pren. I look forward to this weekend." "Me too!" Alex gave a serious look. "By the way Moira, what type of build are you going with?" "Build?" Moira questioned. "Sorry, what type of character are you going with? A magic caster? A melee fighter? A ranged fighter? A healer? I can help you find good skills to go with your plan." "Oh, I am a dancer. I found out that my dancing is magical just like my brother''s music." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The serious friend frowned. "I don''t know about any dancing skills. Sorry." "It''s alright." She replied. "Oh, I have a huge favor to ask of the two of you. If you find dancing equipment like ribbons, special dancing shoes or cloths, I could really use them. If you find musical instruments like drums, an accordion, a clarinet, or other instruments my brother would be very grateful. He has a lot of music he hasn''t started playing in game because he lacks them." Alex and Kenneth smiled. "Of course, we have been trying to get you to play games with us for a few years now. Why wouldn''t we help you out?" 14 The logic of Glaw The forums were buzzing in excitement. A post titled, ''Fans Unite!'' had recently been posted by some someone from Trillith. They created the post discuss their newfound fandom in the performers. However, today was different. Shocking news was posted that sent the fans into an uproar. DarkLordofDebate: I have received horrendous news, fellow fans of Jericho the Bard and Dancing Princess! Lament with me! The Vextor guild has decided to target our beloved performers in Trillith! We mustn''t let this travesty occur! Our beautiful Princess must be protected! Jericho mustn''t leave the game or our lives will go back to being very dull! According to sources, our beloved performers are risking their lives trying to save a nameless town to the south. The cruel Vextor guild has sent a team of assassins after them! I alone am not enough to stop them. Join with me fellow heroes! We must vanquish the evils that threaten the light these two have brought us! Random person 2: How dare they?! I''m logging in and charging over right now! Random person 3: But they are a powerful guild in other games. Won''t they be cruel here too? Random person 4: Above. He is calling for heroes. If you aren''t one of us then you can leave. Random person 5: Death! Death! Death! ¡­ Random person 52: Who are these Jericho and Princess players that warrant such extreme responses from you all? Random person 53: A not-yet-fan has appeared! Brothers and sisters, Convert them! Random person 54: Jericho is a musician. He has ways to bring music into the game world and he is really good at it! I wish he would adventure with me so I could listen to his music all day! {Posted link to some of his music} Random person 55: Above. Why are you so obsessed with Jericho? It is princess who is the best. Even though she is young, she is a beautiful dancer! {Posted link to one of her dances} Random person 56: (52 again): So, they are performers? What is so special about performers to warrant the attention of the Vextor guild? Random person 57: Listen to and Watch them perform. Only then can you understand their glory! Logging on now to go save them! Remember random not-yet-fan, join us! Be a Fan of Jericho the Bard and Dancing Princess! Random person 58: @DarkLordofDebate, Why are you trying to manipulate an army of fans against the Vextor guild? Your post is filled with subtle psychological verbiage intended to convince the people of this forum that the guild is the evil while putting the useless duo on a pedestal. How dare you manipulate these people! Random person 59: Above, Go away! Those who are anti-Jericho and anti-Princess are not allowed on this forum! Random person 60: (58 again): I''m trying to help you all see you are being manipulated by this guy! Random person 61: How is he manipulating us? He just told us the first task of our heroic duty! Even if he is "manipulating us" as you say, it doesn''t matter. We would have gone to save them anyways! Go away naysayer! Well, everyone I''m off to join the fight! Random person 62: I''m the owner of Higgen''s food stall currently in Trillith, while I won''t be joining you for the fight, I will have food for you to enjoy when you all return victorious! Random person 63: Higgen! Thank you! We will make sure to bring back the best news! Dark Lord of Debate laughed at the ensuing chaos he created. His friend Emerald was right. The one thing scarier in video games other than hostile guilds was a group of angry fans. *** Oblivious to the turmoil on the forums, Jericho and Moira logged back in to the game world. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. {Welcome back, Jericho. Earlier, there were five people that came up the mountain looking for something. I suspect they are the ones your friend wrote you that message about. Now there is a large amount of mortals crowding the area.} Glaw greeted and reported. Jericho nodded and whispered to Shiarra. [It looks like the mountain we are on is surrounded. Do you have any ideas?] A message soon replied. [Your lullaby worked great in town. If you are playing that, you may be able to walk past some of them.] Princess looked over to her brother. "What''s wrong?" "We are surrounded by potentially hostile players. Shiarra suggested I play Moonlit Lullaby so we can sneak our way back to town. But I am not sure how to sneak while playing loud enough for them to hear. Playing loudly and sneaking usually don''t go together." Moira looked around. "Hey brother? What about those special angled pieces of wall you put up in the house? Don''t they make your music louder? If we can make it louder then won''t your song be heard my more people?" A follow up idea popped into the bard''s head. "Moira, you are brilliant, as always." He smiled. {Glaw, may I request an odd favor?} {You may request.} {Can you use Command water to make the walls of the cave covered in water in this pattern? And maintain it while I play my next song?} He showed the pattern of acoustic tiles with Command water. {It is simple enough.} The elemental lined the cave with water. Jericho split himself and started to play on both the piano and violin. The sound echoed out of the cave to cover the whole mountain. "Jericho''s playing that relaxing song again!" One random fan shouted excitedly as he slew the plant wearing healer of the Vextor guild. Jericho soon received a notification once his composition finished. [Due to the amplification of sound by combining skills with Glaw''s Command water, your song has reached 70 people. 56/70 members of the audience have fallen asleep. 13/70 are drowsy. 1/70 has successfully resisted your lullaby.] Jericho smiled. "Let''s hurry to town." Glaw merged again into Jericho and the three headed to nameless town to meet Shiarra. They quickly but quietly slipped past small crowds of sleeping people. As they reached the foot of the mountain cackling broke the silence. "We finally found you! Well, I did!" Adler voiced from the shadows. "I didn''t know there were so many crazy people in this starting area." Princess frowned. "So are you just going to keep talking while remaining unseen, strange woman?" She made a few motions like she was sending a message to someone. "Tell me, Jericho. How did you obtain the ability to make two of yourself? How do you make things happen with music? Answer or I will kill Princess in front of you." Princess''s frown turned into a scowl. "How dare you threaten my brother!" She mumbled angrily. "You are probably just afraid to show yourself because you are too ugly and jealous that a fantastic man like my brother is out of your league." The 12 year old viciously spat despite being wrong, the one being threatened was her. The bard was mildly shocked at his sister''s tongue. She was normally a very sweet child and he almost never saw her lose her temper like this. Thinking back though, the last time was also because someone was badmouthing him. {Jericho. I can deal with the mortal. Let me be the one in control of our merge for a bit.} Glaw stated. The bard nodded, closed his eyes, and relinquished control. [Glaw cannot maintain the stability of your human body. You will take 1 point of damage every 3 seconds while he is in control. Health regeneration is currently disabled.] "Fine, I''ll tell you. But first come out where we can see you." Glaw spoke using Jericho''s mouth. The woman laughed. "You think I am dumb? First your sister tries to viciously bait me out and then you are suddenly co-operative? The good cop bad cop act is so last millennium." The young girl turned to her brother. "Don''t tell her." Glaw half smiled; "worry not, little dancer." Princess fell silent in thought since her brother never called her that. "Alright." She replied after she realized what was going on. Glaw looked up. "First, in order for someone like you to obtain the ability split you must swallow the core of an elemental. However, weak elementals don''t possess the ability to split. So you must choose the correct type of core. If you swallow the wrong type of core, you will only harm yourself." "How do I know you aren''t trying to trick me?" Adler questioned. Glaw smiled bigger. "You don''t. However I have no guarantee you won''t target my sister again either." {Hey, Glaw, what would happen if she swallowed an elemental core?} Jericho inquired. {Her body would become filled with the core''s element and cause her to die. She wouldn''t become an elemental since the core is merely the compression of the water elemental''s power. The core you swallowed was unique and without the Gemini lilies your human form would have vanished completely.} "I get it." Adler replied. "So what about the second question; how does your music affect things?" Glaw laughed with Jericho''s voice. "It is so simple. All I do when I play music is create a resonance. I create a series of vibrations that reverberate through everything and then everything that is already vibrating responds back. Just like how we are talking right now. My words are reaching you and you are reacting to my words." Princess smiled and sent a whisper over to her brother and the elemental possessing his body currently. [Elemental friend, brother, Shiarra and my friend Ken are here watching from a slight distance. They said to delay time and keep trying to draw her out.] Glaw smiled at Princess to acknowledge they got the message. {Nice way to over complicate things, Glaw.} Jericho laughed at the pseudo-scientific answer the elemental gave. {There is no point in keeping it simple when dealing with an enemy. The more they over-complicate the process the more difficult it becomes.} {You have a point. Now how do we draw her out?} Adler interrupted the conversation behind her back she didn''t know was happening. "Then how do you feel these vibrations? How do you produce these vibrations?" The elemental scoffed. "You are a living thing and you don''t know this much? Are you really alive? You are already feeling these vibrations. You see that tree over there? If you touch it you will feel the vibrations it gives off and the tree will feel the vibrations you give off. If you don''t believe me do it and concentrate on what you feel." {Ouch Glaw, even I didn''t know that much.} Jericho replied. {My apologies, the goal is to draw her out, is it not? I believe you call what I am referring to the sense of touch but it is basically the same thing with all the senses.} Jericho laughed. {You are telling me you used all those fancy words to insult her about not knowing how to feel something by touching it?} {Yep.} "Hmph." Adler replied. Jericho''s health dropped to 8hp. "Now that I have answered your questions, may we go?" Glaw inquired. {I''m giving you back your body, I don''t want to harm your flesh, further.} Jericho returned to controlling his own body again. {That was weird having you control my human body.} [Glaw is no longer attempting to control your human form. Human form has stabilized. Health regeneration has resumed.] Adler frowned. "Both of you join our guild and then there will be no conflict between¡­ Ack!" the woman shouted. Her hiding ability canceled as she stumbled out from a nearby boulder. Moira receive a message from Ken. [Finally found her.] Shiarra charged the stumbling rogue and slew her. She sent a message to Jericho''s fan club. [The hidden rogue is down! Mission accomplished guys!] 15 Piano wire Instrument strings Shiarra, Jericho, and Princess strolled into town. Ken followed from a distance as he was excited to take his friend on an adventure, even if there was a third wheel called an older brother ruining the atmosphere he hoped for. "Thank you, heroes for bringing water to our home!" The old village head cried in happiness. The three received a completed quest notification. [You have brought water to the town. Residents will treat you as people worthy of respect. You have gained 300Exp. You have leveled! Claim the rewards from the village elder.] "Yay! We reached level 5!" Moira cheered. "Heroes, follow me." The man walked towards the center of town to a nearby storehouse. "As much as it pains me to say this, we don''t have much we can give you." {Called it!} Glaw voiced to Jericho. {This is why we don''t deal much with humans; there is never an equivalent exchange.} "In the building behind me is a storehouse of items that are either seen as defective products or we don''t have anyone who knows how to use them. We are also willing to teach you about different skills. We have some skill books regarding leatherworking, tailoring, mining, and blacksmithing. Each of you can choose three things either from the storehouse or skills I mentioned." He opened the door. "I am sorry again; it is the best we can offer you." Jericho placed his hand on the old man''s shoulder. "It''s alright. You have just made it through a hard time. It makes sense that you would have very little to offer." He and Shiarra walked inside. "Um, Mister?" Princess started. "Can I have the skill books on tailoring and leatherworking? I want to be able to make wonderful outfits for my brother and I for when we perform and I don''t know how to do either of those." The old man smiled and passed over the two books. "Now then, do you want another book? Or do you want to go look inside for something?" "I''ll go inside now." She smiled as she joined her brother and the warrior. Shiarra looked around the warehouse. After a bit of searching she picked up a few scrolls and left the building. The warehouse was mostly empty and filled with dust. A dark blue and black stained acoustic guitar rested in the corner. Next to it was a similar wooden object that had a longer bridge and more tuning machines but lacked a neck. Jericho immediately picked them up and let out a sigh that the strings were broken. He was happy to have his first in-game guitar and zither, even if they lacked strings He opened the compartments on the ends to find three plectra and a handful of finger picks. "Looks like I have a lot of piano wire to make for these two instruments." He muttered to himself. "Now where can I find¡­" Princess tripped over a container full of metal ingots. "OW!" She cried out. Jericho came running over. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Yeah, I just didn''t expect to suddenly trip." She replied pointing to the box. "No way," Jericho muttered as he stared at the container. "Did the game designers know piano wire was made of this stuff?" "Eh? Did you find something interesting brother?" Princess''s interest was piqued considering the in game pain faded almost instantly. "Steel, with an extremely high carbon count;" He replied. "It is the material used in a lot of things back in the start of the millennium including the piano wire. I have a large collection of it at home in case any of my strings break. Why is this metal considered a defective product?" "I don''t know, but do you have a use for it?" Jericho smiled and pulled the two unstrung instruments from his inventory. "While one guitar is not enough for most of my guitar songs, to find these two beauties here is already a great reward. They just need to be re-stringed." Jericho picked up the box of ingots and put it in his inventory. "Have you found something you want?" "I asked for the books on making clothing from both cloth and leather. We performers need more outfits than just one!" Jericho let out a happy laugh; "such a thoughtful little sister." "Yep, then I can make me beautiful cloths and can make you some fun costumes to play your instruments it." She winked and stuck out her tongue playfully. Jericho continued laughing as he ignored the slight chill of foreboding he felt. "What else are you going to pick then?" "I don''t know, help me find something!" The two resumed their search until they found a slightly damaged simple dress that was ankle length in the back and just below knee length in the front. "It''s so pretty!" Princess squealed in delight as she took the dress that mysteriously shrunk to her size by the power of the game mechanics. Jericho agreed it would look good on his adorable 12 year old sister. He was relieved that it wasn''t a leotard, since it would lower the chance he would have to fight off any loli-cons even if the game had safety measures in place. The two exited the warehouse and were greeted by the village head once again. "I hope you were able to find something to your liking." He replied. "We were. If it is alright, may I borrow your village forge for a bit? There is something I wish to make." Jericho asked plainly. "Of course! If he knows what you are trying to make, Theodore the blacksmith can help you out." "Thank you." Jericho replied, looking forward to the meticulous work to fix up these instruments. Shiarra placed her hand on the bard''s shoulder with a sigh. "I''m going to head off for a while you two. I''ll hang out with you again sometime." Princess looked over to the warrior. "Where are you going? Do you want us to come with you?" The woman laughed as she adjusted her wrist guards. "I am going to go bash some monster skulls in for the next bit; I need to train up my weapon skills. It isn''t something you want to join me on." "Oh," Princess replied sadly. "Don''t worry yourself. I will let you know if I find a good adventure for us in the future." She smiled. "Alright! As long as we can adventure together again! It was a lot of fun playing with you!" "Indeed. Princess, Jericho, keep enjoying this game. See you next time we have an adventure together." She sent a message to Princess as she walked off. [Keep in touch.] Princess smiled. [Always! Thanks for helping to keep my brother safe!] Off in the distance Shiarra could no longer hold in her laughter. "I was keeping both of you safe. I liked spending time with you two oddballs even if I originally approached you because my bosses asked me too. I look forward to next time." She logged off. Seeing their friend leave in the distance, Princess returned to the village head. "Can you tell me where the tailor is? I want to fix a dress and practice my newly learned skills!" *** Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jericho turned his focus to the forge as he pulled out the high-carbon steel. He explained to the blacksmith the process of making the wire from already tempered steel the way his grandfather had taught him. The two worked on turning the ingots into the desired shape. Jericho received a notification. [You have obtained the Blacksmithing skill line Tier 1. You have learned the skill re-molding 3/10 beginner. You lack the necessary skills to forge on your own. You have one known recipe. (Musical instrument strings)] After finishing the wire, Jericho carefully tied them to the instruments and cut them to the proper lengths. He tuned the instruments to confirm that the wires were good. His blue guitar and alpine zither were now fully functional. [I''m done, how about you?] Jericho asked his sister. [I need 30 more minutes.] She replied. [I''ll go to cook dinner. Log off when you are done so we can eat.] He replied as he logged off. Moira carefully placed the newly obtained dress in the various vats of dye present in the tailor''s shop. Her formally plain dance dress was now layered with pink, orange, and yellow looking like a bright sunset. She logged out to join her brother for food. During dinner they talked. "Moira, do you want to rock out later?" Jericho asked with a slight grin. "You finished repairing the instruments already?" She inquired with bright eyes. "Yep and my fingers are itching to play." "I would love to rock out! I just finished my dress. You should sing and play Powerslide!" The elder brother laughed. "Sounds like a plan. So what are we going to do after this, any ideas?" "Yep, Kenneth is going to take us over to a new starting town to adventure in the forest!" "That sounds exciting. Does he know the rules?" Moira nodded. "I told him. He said he would do his best to not hunt things down. So we can find other ways to solve the problems." "Okay. A forest sounds like a good idea. A lot of instruments have stories about being used by creatures in the woods. Maybe I will be able to get some more there." The two logged back in and met at the well in the unnamed town they had saved. The bard admired his sister''s handiwork on her new dress. "I''m ready when you are!" She shouted excitedly. Quickly a crowd formed from the fans that had come to save them previously. "Wow! You guys came all the way out here just to watch us perform! You guys are great!" Princess shouted to the crowd. The fans felt loved. Jericho split himself and pulled out his two new instruments. The twang of the zither blended with the strumming of the guitar. Princess danced fiercely to the classic rock song her brother was enthusiastically playing and singing. She noted that her brother''s prim outfit from the start of the game didn''t match the vibe of what he was playing at all and vowed to solve it later. The performance that awed the audience and mildly terrified the local residents ended. "Today we are going to go travel to someplace new! We hope to see you all again!" Princess shouted out the hyped crowd. Princess messaged her friend. [Ken, we are done here and since it is the weekend, there isn''t school tomorrow. We can adventure a lot!] Her friend smiled. [Let''s go then! To the forests of Pren!] 16 Finding an excuse to play After handling something with a guard, Huntsman Ken paid the teleportation fees for him, Dancing Princess, and Jericho the Bard to warp to his former starting town. He didn''t mind going back to the low level areas if it meant he could game with his friend. They appeared at the entrance to a town built both on the ground and in the trees. "This is Pren!" Ken exclaimed. "Wow, it is so pretty!" Moria replied. Jericho admired the resident''s bravery/stupidity for not installing guardrails on the tree platforms. "Hey Ken? What happens when someone dies in the game?" The pre-teen stopped. "Has nobody told you?" The adult nodded. "Correct and it looks like it would be quite easy to fall to your death in this town." He pointed to the upper landings. Kenneth chuckled, realizing the potential danger. "I guess nobody thought it was important. When someone is below level 5, death is negligible. I looked up the death rules on the official site when I first started. These types of games are usually cruel with a lot of fierce competition. However, in order to help maintain people''s desire to play, Free Corp made it so any player below level 5 would be exempt from character death penalties except for the ''resurrection exhaustion'' state that lasts between 10 minutes and an hour, depending on how you died." "The resurrection exhaustion state?" Jericho inquired further. "From the experiences from previous VRMMO''s, they wanted to avoid having a character die in a fight and then be able to rush back in before the fight was done to help finish things off. They created a status effect that reduces you to about 1/2 your combat power. If you die again while in this state, you don''t undergo the the other penalties a second time but the exhaustion state extends." The bard nodded. "Continue." "When someone dies, they can re-spawn at any resurrection point they have ever been to. If they have a special item or special conditions are in place, they can rez right where they died. These resurrection points include that teleportation gate we traveled through to get here. They created this to avoid the excessive PKers making people''s lives miserable. While the company doesn''t want to restrict people''s choices, they also wanted to give people the freedom to escape." "PKers?" Princess asked, unfamiliar with the turn. "I forgot, games have a lot of their own terminology. PK means Player Killer or Player Kill depending on how it is used. That rouge that the armored friend of yours and I killed? We ''PKed'' her. But now we are off track a bit. Just know that there are benefits and detriments to killing other players if you were into that sort of game play." "Right, sorry." Princess replied. "When a player that is level 5 or higher dies, their level drops by one." "That sounds harsh." Jericho replied thinking about how many days it took them just to reach level 5. "It sounds harsh but it isn''t. Many games are much crueler. That is not the only death effect. In addition to the loss of a single level, every skill you know will drop 1/10 from wherever they are. Princess told me you have skills that are already at tier 5. If you experienced character death any skill that was 0/10 Grandmaster would drop to 9/10 Master reducing your skill tier back down to 4." Jericho frowned. "So death means all skills will drop by 1 value, a level will be lost, and you will enter a state of exhaustion for anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour?" Ken nodded. "That is how it works with most deaths. The company said there are other special types of death that will end up with different penalties, for example if you were on a special map then you would be ejected from that map." {If you died in your water elemental form you would have experienced a conditional death.} "And this is not as harsh as other games?" Jericho inquired. The hunter nodded. "There was one game where you lost levels depending on how much over your health you were killed by and lost over half you skill proficiency. There was another game where when you died you had to start a new character. There was another game where leveling from level 9 to 10 took the average person two weeks to achieve and the death penalty was the same. What was worse, in almost all of these games, you could lose valuable items from your inventory. While these games were popular with the hard-core gamers, they were too brutal for normal people." "That does sound a bit extreme. I would hate to lose any of my instruments." Jericho agreed. "Yeah, that would be hard considering how difficult it is to get them. This game company learned from the other''s mistakes. For example, when you PK someone, the ''drops'' don''t come from their inventory or equipment. However the drops do make sense for the type of character they play. Also, they read the intentions of the players performing and receiving the PK so people can''t cheat their way into obtaining items. While they still dish out spoils for the killer, they got rid of the ''punish the victim further'' features that other games had. Of all the games you two could have started playing, you two chose the best one. There isn''t an insurmountable chasm between a great player and a decent player." Jericho nodded. "Thank you for answering my questions. Where are we off to then?" The blond hunter smiled. "Follow me, I know the NPCs to talk to in order to obtain good quests." He escorted them to the town mayor. "Greetings travelers!" The short bearded mayor, who for some reason was not busy with office work and could chill outside to talk with the players, smiled when they approached. Ken smiled back. "Hello mayor. We were wondering if you had any knowledge of strange things happening in the area." The mayor stroked his brown beard. "Well, ever since the fox population has dwindled there has been an increase of rabbits eating our crops. Do you think you could go kill 30 of them and bring me proof of their demise?" Jericho, Princess, and Ken received the quest notification. [Mayor Elmer would like to you to slay some pests known as rabbits. Accept?] Ken grimaced as he turned awkwardly towards Jericho. "Well¡­" Jericho patted the blond pre-teen''s head. "Mr. Mayer, we are peaceful adventurers, do you have any requests that do not involve killing things?" Mayor Elmer frowned. "So you won''t go help the poor farmers out by killing the pests?" Jericho shook his head. "If all the help you want is to have things killed, then no. We would love to help out in other ways." "What type of adventure isn''t ecstatic about bringing death to things? If you aren''t here to kill nuisances, you are useless to me. Leave!" He shouted, drawing the attention of other nearby players. A new notification appeared. [You have lost favorability with Mayor Elmer.] "Farewell then." Jericho replied and started walking away. Princess followed. "Ken, come on." She called to her friend who had clenched fists. Despite the fact that they didn''t want to kill things, rejecting the mayor caused him to lose favorability with one of his former go-to NPCs. The three headed towards the large tree in the center of town. They climbed to the upper platform. "Here will be good." Jericho smiled as he stared out over the town. "Here will be good for what?" Ken replied. "A short performance;" Jericho smiled. "Music touches the soul. Moira warned you, didn''t she?" He sighed. "She did, how will that help? You just rejected a perfectly good quest." He mildly complained. "Listen, and hear. Watch and see." Jericho replied in a mysteriously playful tone as he split himself. He looked over to his sister and pulled out his ocarina, guitar, and violin. "A Celtic Dawn?" "Sure, I''m up for a little workout with a mix of ballet and clogging." She replied. The first Jericho picked up his ocarina and started playing a smooth song that gradually increased in tempo. The second Jericho picked up the violin and after a slight delay started playing in sync with the wind instrument. Moira calmly but rhythmically walked forward. The ocarina wielding Jericho put it away and picked up the guitar. Right as he started to strum, Princess started to clog in a strange manner. Her body spun. Her feet hopped, kicked and collided with the wooden platform in sync with the melody creating a heavy rhythm. People gathered. Some had heard rumors from their friends about such performers existing but this was the first they had ever seen or heard it. Ken watched in awe. "To gather so many strangers with just a single performance¡­ Is this what Moira has been wanting me to see this whole time?" The crowd cheered when they stopped. Jericho came forward. "Greeting friends! I''m Jericho and this is my sister Dancing Princess. Our journey has brought us to Pren. We are new here so any information that you could share with us would be helpful." "If we tell you stuff will you keep playing for a bit?" "Jericho, Dancing Princess, where did the two of you come from?" "Absolutely!" Jericho smiled. "We just came from Trillith." "I knew it!" One audience member shouted. "This is the famous pair of performers from Trillith my friend was boasting about! Guys, hurry and message your friends they won''t want to miss this!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ken was stunned in silence. He originally thought Moira lauded her brother because she looked up to him. His expectations were shattered. Here was a man that these strangers looked up to, and for what? Some music? The audience member that had shouted came forward. "Jericho, Princess, it is an honor to meet the two of you in person. My name is Michael Rune. If you want to know the common knowledge here, I can tell you. If you want specific knowledge you will have to ask." "Thank you Michael." Jericho replied. "Please start with the general knowledge." The fan started to explain. "Pren is surrounded by forests on all four sides. If you go to the North you will find higher level creatures like the satyrs that are around level 10-15. You have to pass through the northern forest to leave the starting area here. The creatures there use some sort of music to mess with people''s minds. A lot of experienced players have suffered character death because those monsters are crafty. I don''t recommend spending much time there unless you have a powerful healer and a good damage dealer on your team. Their strategies can be quite exhausting. To the south are the common hunting grounds for us. There are a lot of creatures there. It isn''t overly dangerous until you go into the deeper parts of the woods and there is an abundance of materials. Because of the amount of trees, herbs, and hunted animals Pren has a lot of lower grade herbs, leather, and wood for sale. It is quite cheep to buy them here if you are in the market. If you follow the forest path to the east you will find a small elven tribe. They are very picky about who they let into their village. If you can gain access, I have heard they have a lot of interesting things to see." He stopped. Jericho nodded to indicate he understood. "What about the western forest?" Michael sighed. "The western forest, just beyond the farmland created by the villagers of Pren and has become a danger zone. It used to be nicknamed the vulpine woods since it was filled with all sorts of foxes. You have probably seen the news on the forums, but a while back the creatures were almost all wiped out. A few days ago, a strange poisonous fog appeared. Many NPCs entered and never returned. Among the players, many said the fog contains some sort of toxin that will greatly increase the risk of player death. Once they were exposed long enough they died and respawned back in town. If you go in, the thing you should know is that it affects you more the longer you are in it and it takes a while for it to leave your body once you are away from it. Healing magic seems to do nothing against it. Strangely, nobody has seen what it actually does. We are waiting for a high level player to come back to solve this problem. It is something most of us have given up trying to solve. The more people enter the fog and don''t return, the further it spreads. If it were to spread much further, the fog would start encroaching upon the town." "That''s interesting." Princess replied. "It makes me kind of curious what it is." "I don''t recommend you go in. It would be dangerous for you and for us." He sighed again. The 12 year old girl frowned. "But I want to see it¡­" Jericho placed his hand on his sister''s shoulder. "I understand." He turned to face the informant. "Anything else we should be aware of around town?" "If you head back down the tree and go east, you will find the market. There are quite a few great woodworkers and leatherworkers there. You may be able to find some decent items and quests there if you are looking. But that is about all the general knowledge you should know being here for the first time. I can answer any other questions you have." Jericho nodded. "Thank you. What you have shared is great. It looks like your call to gather people worked. We should continue our performance." Michael laughed. "Sure thing!" "Princess, I''m going to play Adventure of the Young Green Dragon and Hunters. Can your shoes be my drums?" "Of course!" The bard looked over to his clone thinking it would be better to play the next song with three instruments instead of just the two but he couldn''t split himself that many times yet. He pulled out his zither and the violin. A melody soon formed. His own movements were playful yet dignified. The lightly regal yet bouncy tune created by the two string instruments was further amplified by the well placed timing of his sister''s clogging. The two gave off the impression of a young dragon playing in the canyons near its home. The audience clapped as the composition ended. Jericho switched his zither for the guitar and started plucking a calm tone like a creature starting to hunt. His voice rang out once again as he sung in an unfamiliar language. The violinist calmly added an undertone of seriousness to the song. Moira continued to provide rhythmic sounds since her brother lacked drums. Partway into the song, the plucking of the guitar switched to full on strumming and the singing grew louder. Moira''s shoes picked up speed sending chills down the audience''s spines as if the hunter was chasing down her prey. The sounds of the hunt came to an end. Ken sent a message silently to his friend. [Wow. Sorry for doubting you. Your brother seems to know what he is doing. Does he have an idea about how we should continue our adventure?] She smiled and messaged back. [I don''t know. I think my brother was just excited to find an excuse to use his new instruments. He has been itching to play them all evening. But I really want to know what is in that mysterious fog!] [I didn''t bring you here to die. I brought you here so we could level you up a bit and have fun. The fog sounds like it would be a waste of good time.] Ken replied. Princess frowned slightly. [Then what do you suggest?] [It might be best to try our luck with the elven village to the east. They seemed pretty against me being there, but the two of you might have better luck getting us quests.] Jericho received the notifications he had been waiting for. [Skill Zither has been acquired. Zither 8/10 Expert] [Skill Guitar has been acquired. Guitar 9/10 Master] The two performed for another 10 minutes playing compositions that Princess wanted. Jericho received one last notification. [Music skill: Composition of (Specified skill) has been created. 1/10 Adept. You can play a piece while focusing on amplifying the effects of a specific skill you are aware of. Your music will amplify that skill''s effect for all allies that hear the song and have the skill (or equipment with the skill). Once the composition ends, they gain a powerful 1 time boost to the skill which must be used within 10 seconds. You cannot use this to boost your own skills. Adept bonus: If only one ally or object has the targeted skill, the effects are twice as strong.] "Remember to support us!" Princess called out. "Look up Jericho Maestro and buy his music so you can listen to it all the time!" 17 Friday Night Swing! Princess came close to her brother and whispered in his ear. "Ken doesn''t want to go into the mysterious fog with us." Jericho looked seriously at his sister. "We can check out the mist after we are done hanging out with your friend. There is no reason to spoil your fun time with him. Besides, didn''t you want to adventure in a few places here? Delaying our visit to the mist won''t be that problematic." "True. He said we should visit the elves. Even though they are picky about who they even talk to, he thinks we will have a better chance at befriending them." She sighed. "They say elves are beautiful. Maybe they will have cloths you can buy. We did earn a bit from the audience this time around." He showed her the 7 gold they obtained and gave her five of them. "However it is almost dinner time again. We probably will need to break before we get too far." The three left the tree and started their journey east down the safe path that monsters avoided. Princess ran ahead dancing with the butterflies that seemed drawn to her bright dress. Jericho looked over at the hunter who seemed to have a conflicted look on his face. "You want to dance with her, don''t you?" "Yes, wait no, I mean¡­" He stumbled in embarrassment. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to dance with her. In fact, it would probably make her very happy. While she is good at clogging and other dances that can be performed solo, she prefers dances that involve more people. Her background dancers can only do so much." He replied pointing to the tiny water elementals that appeared and started dancing with her. Ken sighed. "But I don''t know how to dance. She is so good at it that I am afraid I will ruin it." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The bard smiled. "Moira didn''t used to be good at it either. Sure, she has a lot of talent in the area but it was because she kept going. Even though most kids don''t choose to learn how to dance, she used to be a part of a child dancing group." "It is hard to believe she didn''t use to be a good dancer, considering even now, she looks like a fairy dancing with her friends." He looked at the bright scene in front of them. "Most dance styles take a lot of practice to learn. However, there are quite a few social and ballroom dances from history that are easier to pick up. Even if you mess up a few times, they still look good to the untrained eye. Even though I am not great at it, I can help you learn the basics of some of these dances and she can turn you into a fantastic dance partner. It will take some time though." "You would do that?" He asked questioningly. "Of course. In real life we had to take her out of her dance group since we couldn''t afford it. She won''t say it aloud but she misses dancing with others and I can''t play music and dance with her at the same time very often. It is dinner time in real life. Why don''t you come over for a few hours so I can help you learn?" "That would be great! Since we are in a safe zone still, we can log off without issue here." The bard smiled and sent a message to his sister. [Dinner time, I will log off to make food. It should be ready in about 35 minutes. Oh, and Ken is coming over for a bit.] [Wait, really? You are letting him come over? What is the special occasion? You normally wouldn''t even consider letting them come over unless I asked you.] [You will see.] Jericho replied mysteriously. [But I want to know now!] [Food first.] [¡­Fine :( I will log of after dancing a bit more.] Jericho left the game and walked into his kitchen. "I''m glad chicken and that non-spicy green curry paste was on sale again." He put 1 and 1/2 cups of rice into a pan, added a little bit of cooking oil and three cups of water. He turned on the burner. He pulled out a frying pan, some frozen chicken, the small jar of ''green curry'' paste, and a cheap can of coconut milk. The water for the rice started boiling. He covered the pan, turned it to low heat, and set a timer for twenty minutes. He sliced the chicken into small uneven squares before frying them in oil. The chicken was quickly cooked. While things were cooking he pulled out a third pan and mixed the can of coconut milk and about 1/3rd of the small jar of curry paste. He set the burner to medium. "Moira likes it with a bit more flavor." He muttered as he pulled out some nutmeg from his spice cabinet. He carefully extracted about 1 pinch of the powdered spice and put it into the curry sauce. Jericho drained the oil from the chicken pan once the meat was fully cooked. He placed it back on the heat and pored the warmed sauce onto the meat. He turned off the sauce burner and turned the chicken burner down to medium before waiting for the sauce to start a simmer. Once that was done, he turned the heat off. The buzzer for the rice rang and he turned the burner off for that one too. A knock was heard at the door. The man opened the door and let the bleached haired youth in. "Moira will be out in a bit. We can eat dinner and then I can help you learn some of the basics." "Sounds good, um¡­" "You can call me Jericho. You don''t have to be formal with me." "Right." Moria emerged and the three ate dinner. Jericho turned on some lightly jazzy music. "Kenneth, come over here." He motioned from the furniture-less living room (with the exception of the piano and a few other difficult to move instruments). "The first basics I will show you are for a dance type called ''The Swing''. It is something you can practice both on your own and with a dance partner." Moira''s eyes lit up. "Ken you want to learn to dance?" The pre-teen scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Well, I wanted to learn to dance with you and your brother agreed to help me so I don''t make a fool of myself." He walked over to where Jericho was stepping in place. "Mimic me for now." Ken started stepping in place to the rhythm as well. "Lean forward, just a touch. You want to hover over your feet, not behind them. You don''t want to be leaning forward excessively though or you two will bonk heads." Ken let out a light laugh. "Okay." "Moira, come over and help him get his posture right." Jericho called out. The sister laughed. "Brother, his posture is better than yours!" After a few minutes of stepping to the beat, Jericho changed the song to one that had a similar rhythm. "Next is Touch stepping. This is done with the same foot like this." He kept the beat and touched a spot with the tip of his foot and then placed it down like a step. "When doing the swing, touch stepping is very versatile. You can use it to move around, change postures and many other things. Moira will help you out with those but practice touch stepping both below you and also in all sorts of directions." Ken smiled as he got familiar with the modes of stepping. Without realizing it, his upper body started to sway with his movements. Jericho grinned at the scene of the awkward kid picking up swing dancing faster than people would have expected. "Excellent, you have swag." He changed the song once more. "The next basic step is called the triple step." It is done like this. Jericho''s feet moved at a fast pace stepping three times twice as fast as the original stepping." "Brother, your stepping is right but your posture is horrible, you will teach him all wrong if you keep it up. Ken, watch my movements." She carefully repeated the triple step. "Oh, okay!" Ken started repeating the triple step. Jericho turned off the audio player. "Eh? Why did you stop the music?" The pre-teens asked. "So I can do what I do best. Moira, you got showing him the Kick Ball Step and the rest of the moves handled right?" "Yep! Bring out the saxophone!" She exclaimed. Jericho went over to the spare room filled with instruments. He grabbed the saxophone and returned. Moira was already showing him the basics without the music. Jericho started to play and watched the two of them dance for a few hours. The sky started to get dark. "Kenneth, I''ll walk you home. The two of you can practice more of the swing as we head towards the elf village and as you two wait for me to log back on." "Thanks again Jericho for tonight! Can I come over again to keep practicing?" The adult nodded. "The swing will take a lot more practice for you to learn and there are a lot more dances to teach you eventually. Getting some skill outside of game will help when you do it in game." The two left the house and started walking. "Ken, did you have fun?" "Yeah, the swing is really awesome. It''s a bit tiring though." "Indeed. It is an energetic social dance. Remember what I said though; practice both alone and with others. It will help you learn it faster." "Um, I did have one question." "Go ahead." "Are you really that bad at dancing?" "No, but I know how to read the atmosphere. You wanted to dance with Moira and spend time with her. I noticed that you were in that awkward stage of both wanting and feeling ashamed to ask her. So, I gave her a reason to take over the process of teaching you so you didn''t have to ask. Sometimes it is hard to ask for what we really want because we aren''t taught how." "Thanks." "On another note, you are quite good at the swing. Here, take this with you." Jericho handed the Pre-teen a small drive. "The songs you were dancing to before are recorded on this. I will need it back but use it while you practice." "Wow, I can see why Moira talks about you like your biggest fan every day. See you back in game!" Ken ran back up to his house door. Jericho waved the boy off and returned home. "I''m glad Moira has good friends." 18 Lillith Jericho logged back into the game to see his sister and Ken continuing to practice dancing. "Passion is a good thing." {You sound like the fire elementals.} Glaw stated unhappily. Jericho let out a light laugh. {I''m originally human, Glaw, and I am a musician. Like us water elementals, I have seen the value of hard work, time, patience, rest, and skill. But, like the fire elementals I have also seen the value of passion and energy. A human artist needs to understand both. Without passion, there is less energy to create and less motivation. Without time, effort, rest and patience, it becomes much easier to give up and never succeed.} Glaw calmed down. {You have a point and at least you remember that you are a water elemental too.} {How could I forget? My favorite non-music ability comes from that fact!} {True. Speaking of water elemental abilities, when are you going to keep training them?} {Probably in a few days; Princess will spend more time away again and I will have a lot of time to myself. I do want to practice the effects of Mutable body and my music some more.} {I understand. Though I am not sure how it would work with your human form.} {I guess we will find out later.} "Brother! We are leaving you in the dust, hurry up!" Princess shouted. Jericho looked up to see the two 12 year olds in the distance. "Coming!" He shouted and ran forward. {It looks like we will have to continue our talk later.} {Of course,} the elemental replied. The three people continued their journey under the towering canopy to the wood elf village. A small crowd of people were gathered at the gate of the walls made of overgrowth. "You are not permitted entry. Persistence will not change that!" The guard shouted angrily at the adventurer''s trying to shove their way in. "Then how do we gain entry?" The adventurer shouted back. "I already told you, if you must ask that, then you are already not welcome!" Ken sighed. "Same as always; even I was never fortunate enough to be allowed entry." Jericho shook his head. "It''s too crowded here. Let''s walk around the village gate." "You aren''t the only one to have thought that type of solution Jericho." Ken hastily replied. The bard smiled. "Even if it is only the outside, it would be nice to admire the place. It may even give me inspiration for a new composition. Besides, it doesn''t look like we will be invited in anytime soon." "Yeah, Ken. You can practice more with me as we walk around!" Princess chimed in. The young man laughed. "Sure. I was hoping to help you get some levels, but I''m okay to practice dancing so we can perform together in the future." Trees and bushes of all sorts surrounded the unnatural natural barrier. As the three of them rounded a corner, they noticed a small patch of flowers that seemed to be lined up in a beautiful array. Princess looked happily at the many types and colors. "It''s so pretty!" She moved forward to pick some. "Princess, stop." Jericho voiced. "What''s wrong brother?" She inquired. "These flowers are growing in patterns. They were probably planted by someone." "Oh, you''re right! I didn''t notice it before. How did they get the flowers to weave into a knot shape like that?" She admired the symbol created by the flowers. Ken noticed the faint sounds of light footfall. He turned to see a young female elf. "Because that is one of my favorite designs! The eternal knot is beautiful!" The young elf exclaimed happily. "Thank you, tall human, for reminding the grey elf not to pick my flowers!" Jericho gave a light nod to the child. Princess, the ''grey elf'' in question, turned to face the small girl. "I''m sorry for almost ruining your flower bed." She gave a light bow as she apologized. "I was so distracted with how beautiful they all were, I carelessly didn''t pay attention. Please forgive me." The little elf was shocked. "A grey elf apologizing to a wood elf? It is almost too unreal to believe! You seem really nice. I''ll forgive you." "Grey elf?" Princess asked. "Don''t you know what you are?" The girl was curious. Princess shook her head. "All I knew is that I am an elf." "Oh! No wonder you are so nice! You see, I''m a wood elf. Like most elves we are shorter than humans. However there is a race of elves that are taller than most humans. They are the grey elves. They have really smooth skin and look more like ''elegant'' humans with pointed ears." She gave air quotes as she spoke. "According to my Grandfather, Grey elves call themselves High elves and often see themselves as superior to other elves. I''m glad you aren''t like that. I came out to water the flowers again. Some of them are starting to wither and I wanted to make sure they stayed alive." Jericho walked over to the flowers and carefully made his way into the center of the knot. He had noticed small trenches traveling around the flowers. He smiled slightly and used create water to fill the ditches. "Ah!" the young wood elf exclaimed as she saw what the bard was doing. "Why are you watering the whole flower bed?" She inquired. "Shouldn''t you only give water to the flowers that need it?" Jericho lifted his head and smiled. "I may not know much about plants but I do know quite a bit about people. Just because someone looks like they are doing fine on the outside doesn''t mean they aren''t dehydrated inside and Just because someone looks sick on the outside doesn''t mean they aren''t actually fine. If I just watered the flowers that look sick, others may die because they didn''t get the water they needed." He left the flowerbed. "Many living things don''t like showing weakness and will try to hide their pain or weaknesses. Others love showing excess weakness because it grants them more care. It is a natural defense mechanism. Of course that doesn''t mean you should ignore the withering ones either because most of the time, they genuinely need the help." The young elf thought about his words for a bit. "So that is why some of my flowers would wilt without warning. I thought something bad happened to them while I was away." The bard nodded and pulled out his guitar. "I heard from a friend that plants like music and the sound of voices." "They do?" The young elf questioned. Jericho nodded and started strumming the guitar. The flowers visibly perked and brightened. The bard received a new notification. [You have gained the tier 2 music skill, Overture for the plants. Play a piece of music to improve the quality of plants as they grow. The effect is minor and will show the best results if it is performed repeatedly over a long period of time.] The wood elf looked excited. "Thank you for helping my flowers! You said talking to them helps too?" "According to an old friend of mine, yes talking to flowers will help them grow better." He replied thinking about the old groundskeeper Staul. Princess and Jericho received slightly different notifications with similar rewards. [You have shown a lack of arrogance commonly associated with your race. Lillith is happy that you chose to apologize for almost picking her flowers. You have gained 10 EXP for completing the hidden quest, Friend of Lillith.] [You have watered Lillith''s flower garden and have brought extra vitality to the plants. Lillith is happy that you cared for her flowers as much as she did. You have gained 10EXP for completing the hidden quest, Friend of Lillith.] "So, umm. Can I ask you for a favor? Your other human friend can help out too. My grandfather has been not been home for a week. Can you find him and give him this basket? I am not allowed to wander the woods yet to look for him." [Lillith would like you to find her grandfather and deliver a special basket full of things. Accept? Complete quest reward: 500Exp. Lillith''s grandfather''s appreciation. ???] Jericho nodded. "We would be happy to help look for him. Do you know where he usually goes?" Lillith thought for a bit. "I would check by the large creek. Mom said he likes to fish and that is the only water source nearby that I can think of." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Alright!" Princess shouted. "We will go look for him!" "Thank you so much! Please be careful, the woods can be a bit dangerous." Ken stepped forward. "Don''t worry, I will keep them safe." "Oh, thank you friend of my friends!" She replied. The three left the flower garden and started into the woods. Ken looked around the forest muttering about small details as he went. He returned. "The river should be this way." Ken pointed. "The trees in that direction are slightly greener." Jericho nodded. "Thanks, your survival skills are great." "Of course, oh Jericho I had a question. What will you do if we run into enemies along our way? From what the little girl said, it sounds like our risk is quite high." "You said you would protect us right?" Jericho half teased. "Moira and I will perform as we travel. Hopefully that will be enough to keep things peaceful. If not, then I hope you will follow through." Kenneth sighed. "So you won''t help me fight at all?" Princess piped in. "Since it is to help keep each other safe it is different than hunting down things. We can help fight. But our combat skills are weak so we won''t be much help." Jericho nodded at his sister''s statement. "Don''t go out of your way to find trouble. If trouble finds you, try to resolve calmly. If trouble won''t go away, don''t play the victim. That will get you nowhere. Like she said, we will help out how we can but our combat skills are weak." The blond shrugged. "I figured your combat skills would be weak since you avoid it. At least you are willing to do something. Let''s go find that girl''s grandfather. He may be the key to getting into the elf village." 19 Grilled Fish? The forest was peaceful as Jericho played one of his many lullabies. He was enjoying his zither that he had fixed earlier. He repeatedly received notifications that many creatures were lulled to sleep. Ken shook his head. "Finding a way to get you guys experience is going to be a challenge." He sighed quietly to himself. "Well, it is how they want to play." "What a nice melody." An aged voice echoed in a relaxed tone. Soon the sounds of a man snoring could be heard nearby. The roar of a mid-sized feline cried out. (Give me your fish old man!) Princess started laughing. "Give me your fish old man?" She questioned the voice she heard. Ken glanced over to his friend. "You learned ''Speak with animals?'' He inquired. "Yeah, wait you have speak with animals too?" "I have both Speak with Animals and Speak with Spirits. I figured both would be useful to my ranger build." Ken explained. "Back off you persistent cat! I was just enjoying the music." The aged voice shouted after the roar woke him. Roars, growls, shouting and collision sounds woke the formerly tranquil woods. "We should hurry up." Jericho interrupted moving towards the clearing ahead. A lynx and an old wood elf with a fishing rod were fighting around the edges of a fire. The lynx seemed set on snatching some of the fish that were being grilled by the flames. The three stared at the two NPCs. The elf saw the newcomers. "Help me get this blasted beast off of me!" He shouted. [Emergency quest received: A strong cursed-lynx (level 20 Tier 2 Elite) is attacking an elf you suspect is Lillith''s grandfather. Help him fight off the beast.] Ken had just become level 20 recently and the strongest creatures in a starting area was usually level 15. He was worried about his friend''s safety. "Princess, Jericho, be careful. Try not to get attacked by it." He pulled out his bow and loosed an arrow. The beast cried out. (I just wanted to eat fish! Why are you interrupting me?) It turned towards the hunter. Jericho, unable to hear what the beast was saying, started playing a jazzy tone with the zither despite the lack of a proper brass or other jazz instrument. He focused on enhancing the dance steps the boy had been practicing. Ken tilted forward and habitually started stepping to the rhythm Jericho was playing while firing his bow. The old fisherman, no longer stressed about the beast, returned to tending to the fish he was grilling. He kept a vigilant watch on the fight he was glad not to be a part of anymore. The lynx leapt and swiped with his large fluffy paws. The boy triple stepped out of the way, twisting to the side of the beast to fire off another shot. The beast roared again. (You are just as mean at that old grandpa! I just wanted fish!) It lamented. Princess''s eyes widened. "Ken, stop shooting it, Brother, play a lullaby." She said as she rushed over to the old man. She picked up three of the fish near the fire. Jericho switched songs. "What are you doing little miss?" The fisherman shouted angrily. "Those are my grilled fish!" "I''ll pay you back!" She replied as she rushed back to the battlefield where the two hunters tangled. With the arrows no longer firing, the cat was slowly lulled into sleep. Princess came over to the hunter. "It wanted fish right?" The hunter nodded before pausing. "Moira you''re brilliant! Every cool ranger needs a good pet and awesome animal related skills. This lynx would look really cool by my side." He took the fish and held the first towards the nose of the sleeping beast. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Princess smiled at the complement. The lynx''s nose twitched, in its half-sleep state is started to munch on the edge of the fish. With the taste in its mouth, the cat''s eyes opened excitedly in happiness. (Fish that tastes better than the ones I catch!) It purred. The beast looked over to the hand that fed it. (Mean person is giving me fish?) He hesitated. (I have more. I was only mean before because I wanted you to stop attacking the grandpa over there. Here have this one too.) He passed over the second fish. The Lynx ate it quickly. (You are a nice human. What are you called? Why are you being so nice?) He tilted his head in confusion. Ken pulled out the last fish and replied to the beast. (My name is Huntsman Ken, or Ken for short. I''ll give you this one too if you will become my friend and accept me as your master.) The lynx wiggled its stub of a tail. (Deal!) It roared playfully at it snatched the fish. (Thank you, Ken! I will make sure to be a helpful friend!) The hunter received a notification. [You have obtained a cursed-lynx combat pet. You can name it. It has its own will but will view you in the best way possible. If you mistreat your pet it may turn hostile, run away, or disobey orders. You can now pull up your pet''s stats by thinking of the pet stat window. You can recall your pet into a special tattoo on your right hand. Warning: Pets can die and can refuse to enter the pet space.] The hunter was ecstatic. While he wasn''t the first to obtain a pet, he could now say he had a combat pet like he wanted for his hunter build. "I''ll call you Lux." Lux, the cursed-lynx, purred happily before being recalled into the ink colored lynx paw print tattoo that appeared on Ken''s right hand. Items fell to the ground and the three received a notification. [You have defeated the great cursed-lynx hunter of the forest. You have killed 0 forest creatures in the last hour. The forest has become cleaner because of the removal of the cursed beast. You have achieved a great accomplishment. You have gained 3000Exp and the title Animal Friend. You have leveled *2. For defeating the boss, items have dropped.] [Animal Friend Title- Animals, not under the influence of outside forces, that would normally have a hostile attitude towards you will now have a neutral disposition and will not go out of their way to attack you. This only applies to creatures that are considered 100% animal.] Jericho received a 3rd notification. [You are recognized as an in-game creature. For obtaining the title, you have obtained 150Mexp. How would you like to distribute it?] Jericho thought about his skills that would be able to be upgraded with that number. He realized there were none that he really cared for below the adept rank at this point. {If I might offer some advice, I would recommend converting it to currency. The amount you have right now is pitifully small. While they are hard to find, most intelligent monster groups have a place where you can exchange MC for things. For example, Llyn has one hidden in the heart of the lake but even simple items cost more than 20 MC.} "Convert to MC" He muttered quietly. {Thanks Glaw}. [You now have 170MC] Ken waved over to the bard. "Jericho, you are the leader, go look at the items and see how we should split them." The man nodded and walked over to look at the items. [Lux''s guide to Paw Fishing: (Consumable, monster skill book) Must have paws and be able to speak with animals to learn. Use: teaches a creature with paws how to fish. Normally lynxes do not hunt for fish, considering their aversion to being soaked, but this particular one seemed to love it.] Jericho laughed as he looked over the items. "Ken, it looks like this one is intended for Lux." He passed the book over to the boy. Ken laughed with the bard as he read the description of the book. Jericho continued to look through the items. [Unlucky rabbit''s lucky foot: This poor rabbit was unlucky enough to get eaten by the cursed-lynx, Lux, but luckily its foot survived. (Trinket) Level None. *Special ability: Triples the user''s luck stat''s effect on item drop rates but removes the owner''s luck bonuses in combat. (Effects may include reduced activation rates for items and less critical hits.) The higher the luck stat of the wearer, the more noticeable the effects become. This item must be worn during combat for the luck effect to apply to the drop rate of fallen monsters. *Only shown because of your status as an in-game creature* If equipped by an in-game creature or monster, they gain the universal monster skill, "Flee". (Not that it helped the poor rabbit escape his fate.)] {That would be helpful.} Glaw piped in. {Since you don''t like to fight, you can run away even in your elemental form.} Jericho thought back to the battle he was summoned to a few days before. {That is a very good point.} Ken peeked at the item. "Wow, harsh conditions but a great effect. Most people who invest into luck going for the critical hits to help them win and this brings their combat power down a lot. The effect would be quite negligible for anyone who doesn''t invest in luck. Though even someone who invested in luck won''t get the best things all the time." "Oh? How do you know that?" "There is a forum online outlining each stat and the areas they affect. Some math genius calculated it out for people. Of course this game hasn''t been out for too long so they may still have a few things wrong." "Everyone has something they like." Jericho replied thinking about his own low math scores. "Is this something you would use?" He held the foot up to the youth. "Not really. While increased drop rates are nice, I haven''t invested in luck. If the two of you aren''t going to use it, you could always auction it off. I''m sure there is someone who will buy it for a few gold pieces." Princess came over to look at the brown foot. "Brother, you can keep it." Jericho gave a nod and equipped it on his trinket slot. He looked over the next items. [Lyngurium*3 and Cursed Lyngurium*2 (Rank 2): Crafting material: Application unknown. An unknown material that looks and feels like a hard yellow amber stone. It is found deep within the ground inside of a Lynx''s territory. The cursed versions of these stones may have unpleasant side effects if used before being purified.] [Lux''s hidden treasure: (There is something special hidden in this dimensional box that refuses to be opened by any creature that is not a lynx): Despite the fact that no lynx has ever been able to open it, they have passed it down from one generation to the next. This item cannot be operated by a non-lynx.] "Can I see?" Princess inquired. Jericho showed her the items. "Do you mind if I keep the yellow stones? I might be able to find a use for them later." She asked. "I don''t mind." Ken replied. "Well, the only one here with a lynx is me¡­" He pointed to the last item. "You can take the box." The siblings replied at the same time. Ken half smiled as he took the useless box. "Jericho, do you still have that package? We have a quest to complete don''t we?" "Right," he replied. The three walked up to the fuming wood elf that had his fish stolen. "I see you dealt with that blasted cat. Now how are you going to ''pay me back'' for the fish you stole?" He glared. Jericho moved forward. "How would you like us to repay you? We can try and help you catch more fish if you would like." He suggested thinking back to the skill book for Lux they just obtained. "That is not a bad idea young man. Go; bring me six fish to compensate for my loss." The three received a new quest. [Obtain 6 fish to give to the unhappy elf. Quest rewards: 50Exp and the old man''s forgiveness.] "We will do our best." Jericho replied, "Oh, respected sir, by chance are you Lillith''s grandfather?" The elf paused before responding. "You know Lillith? What does my pretty little granddaughter want?" The bard pulled out the package from his inventory. "She sent us to give you this." The old elf took the package with a smile. "Thank you for going out of your way to deliver this. However you still owe me for the fish. Come back when you have them and I will treat you to something worthwhile." [You have completed the quest, Delivery from Lillith. You have gained 500Exp, you have leveled. You have gained Lillith''s grandfather''s appreciation. You will obtain the mysterious reward after completing the newly obtained quest "Go fish."] Jericho smiled as he and his sister finally reached level 8. 20 Got any Paws? Go fish Princess, Ken, and Jericho set off to different parts of the river with some basic fishing gear loaned to them by Lillith''s grandfather for the quest They each agreed to do their best to catch at least two fish if not more. They decided to meet up again in an hour to see if they caught enough fish and if not to go back to fishing. Princess was relaxed as she walked on the water to look around for fish and good places to cast her line. After about 45 minutes of wandering the creek and looking for things to catch, she finally snagged one. As she put it in the pail, a notification telling her she obtained the fishing skill appeared. She brushed it aside as she never planned on using it in the future. "Well, one is better than nothing." She said, continuing to fish for the last 15 minutes. Right before time to meet up, she caught a second fish. "I won''t drag him down this time!" She smiled happily. *** Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jericho walked a bit further from the group and turned into his water elemental self. {Ah, much better, I have missed having you in this body for the last while.} Glaw exclaimed happily. {The lack of the other elements is much more comfortable.} {Good to know you are happy. I''m going to go catch fish now. You can help if you want.} Jericho the small water elemental replied. {Enjoy.} Jericho slipped into the river and sensed the water all around him. {This vision skill is still weird.} The elemental focused on his control water skill to draw fish out of the slow moving creek. He quickly found that the fish could still move within the water he was controlling. Fifteen frustrating minutes passed. {Switch me.} Glaw said. {I''ll show you how to keep something from escaping the water.} Jericho relinquished control. The elemental body grew to the size of an adult as Glaw was now the one acting. The elemental started moving the water around a fish in a whirlpool motion before lifting it out of the water and placing it into the bucket. {If you do it like this, the fish can''t escape as easily. Of course it also hurt the fish so we don''t use this trick often.} The elemental body shrunk back down as Glaw gave Jericho back control. {Science was never my strong suit.} Jericho said. {Thank you for showing me.} {It is not a problem.} The bard focused on controlling the water like Glaw. It took quite a few tries, but after a lot of effort his control water skill upgraded to Adept 1/10 and he obtained four fish. {Well, at least now if things don''t go as planned, I have more than enough backup.} Jericho emerged from the water and returned to his human form. "It''s time to meet up with the others." He stared at the five fish in the bucket. *** Kenneth summoned his new pet''s status to see any relevant information regarding his new pet. Status (simplified): Name Lux, Race: Cursed-Lynx (Tier 2 animal, Cursed) Level 20 Skill lines: Animal (Predator), Fishing, Pet skills (obtained after becoming a pet), Curse. Specific skills, Animal (Predator) Tier 2: Claw 4/10 Adept, Bite 7/10 Beginner, Tracking 0/10 Adept, Thick hide 8/10 Beginner¡­ (Etc.) Specific skills, Fishing Tier 1: Paw fishing 5/10 Beginner (self taught) Specific skills, Pet skills Tier 1: Return (N/A), Savage frenzy 0/10 beginner, Guard 0/10 Beginner, Resonance Gift (Rare pet skill) 0/10 beginner. Specific skills, Curse Tier 2 (Unable to control): Tainted skills (N/A), Unholy corruption (N/A), Cursed touch 3/10 Adept, Evil aura 2/10 Adept. Note that the Curse skill line can be very harmful to Lux and others around it. As long as specific curses remain, Lux will be unable to make the best use of its abilities Ken summoned Lux, (Cursed and Evil as a result huh? Well that is something we will have to find a way to resolve.) Lux lowered his head. (Yeah, you are the first creature to be nice to me since I got cursed.) The hunter decided to look at some specific skills. [Paw fishing 5/10 Beginner: Use your forepaws to fish. The user of this skill must have paws.] [Resonance Gift 0/10 Beginner:Huntsman Ken and Lux must achieve a resonance to activate the skill. A resonance or synergy may occur when the desires and wills of both parties line up or something draws both master and pet to form a stronger bond of friendship or camaraderie. A resonance does not have to be strong in order to occur. When active, Lux will gift Huntsman Ken a portion of his identity, power, or abilities based on the type of resonance obtained. The ability will last as long as both parties will it. Ending the effect will require achieving another resonance in order to activate again. Under certain conditions, Huntsman Ken can use the power of resonance to sacrifice a part of himself to heal Lux.] Ken smiled. "That is a very useful skill. It seems quite vague and powerful." [Tainted Skills (N/A) All skills are cursed and may not work as originally intended. This curse brings great suffering to its owner.] [Cursed Touch 3/10 Adept: Anything Lux touches with his forepaws receives a curse. (The ground is excluded) Adept bonus, The curses given are at adept strength. If the touched creature is a hostile target towards Lux, the curse may benefit the enemy for a short time.] The hunter pulled out the fishing skill book and realized his pet already knew it. (Lux, we need to catch some fish.) The lynx perked up. (Fish?) It saw the skill book in Ken''s hands. (You can learn my skill. You can fish like a good master and I can eat like a good pet.) The hunter groaned. (If Ken learns it then everything will be better. The fish I catch end up tasting funny anyways thanks to the stupid curses.) He purred before the hunter could reply. (I don''t have the capability to learn it. I don''t have paws.) Ken replied thinking his comeback to the cat was smart. The lynx rolled on his back and scratched at the air. (Then I just need to give you paws. It isn''t that hard if you try. Then you can fish all you want and I can eat all I want. Simple right, I mean I have had paws for as long as I remember so why can''t you have them too? So learn my skill! Bring me food, Ken!) Kenneth glared at his pet. (I told you, I can''t learn it so I can''t use the skill to catch fish.) The cat flipped back over and hunched a little. (You haven''t even tried to learn! You just want me to fish so you can eat strange tasting fish. Lazy Ken!) (You just want to be the lazy pet. How about this, you go catch a fish and I will see what you mean by it tasting funny and afterwards I''ll try to learn this skill and we will talk about what to do.) (You said it!) The lynx growled unhappily for a moment and walked into the water. (Wasting time and good fish by having me do it.) Kenneth watched as the drenched lynx used its paws to push fish onto land before returning. (There, I caught the fish.) Ken picked up the fish and looked at it. [Deformed cursed fish- An inedible dead fish that tastes incredibly rotten. Consumption will cause sickness.] (I see what you mean by the fish tasting funny.) (Yeah, now learn my skill. You promised.) Kenneth lifted the book and paused. (How do you know this will work?) The cat tilted its head in confusion. (Why wouldn''t it work? You only need paws right?) The youth hesitated at Lux''s strange confidence. He tried learning the skill. [You cannot learn this skill. You do not possess the required body parts.] Kenneth sighed thinking it was dumb to try and learn a skill he obviously couldn''t. (See, I can''t learn it. I tried but I don''t have any paws). Lux growled slightly. (It''s because you haven''t tried hard enough.) He lifted the book again. Lux''s words made him curious. "I didn''t try hard enough to learn it?" He opened it up and tried to learn it once again. [You cannot learn this skill; you do not possess the required body parts.] Kenneth focused and tried again thinking that he wanted to learn the skill. [Intent from both you and your pet have been acknowledged, a resonance has occurred between you and your pet. Lux''s pet skill Resonance has awakened and is being activated.] [Due to the resonance, you have learned Lux''s Paw fishing skill.] [Resonance Gift has been influenced by the cursed nature of your pet. A cursed effect has been added to Resonance Gift.] Kenneth felt funny as the book vanished into particles. The knowledge of how Lux used his paws to fish entered his mind. He looked down to see his lack of hands. They were now large fluffy lynx paws. Confused, he scanned the rest of himself. "It looks like it is just my hands." (Got any paws now, Ken? Go fish! Catch us some tasty ones!) Lux gave a pleased growl. Kenneth started wading in the water and swiping to push fish onto the land. (I need two for my quest then the rest are yours. When we get rid of your curses, you will be doing the fishing since you love it so much.) (Deal!) (This is harder then he makes it look.) He muttered as he looked up the exact information regarding the cursed resonance. [Cursed Skills effect on the current resonance gift (Forepaws): The transformation will last for a minimum of 1 hour and cannot be ended early.] "No wonder the cat was so confident I could learn paw fishing. I didn''t realize Resonance could have such a powerful effect. The skill is actually quite neat. Gaining his stronger senses while we hunt would be very useful. Though, the cursed part isn''t fun and at least Princess isn''t seeing me like this. It would ruin the hard work I have put into looking cool in front of her." Ken muttered. The handless hunter swiped his temporary paws in the water at the fish for 50 minutes. He succeeded in catching the two fish he needed for his part of the quest and another two for Lux to enjoy. [Paw fishing had leveled up to 2/10 beginner] He walked back on shore to look at the fish he caught. (Now how do I get them in the bucket and carry them back? I''ve still got eight minutes left with these wet fluffy things.) (Stop retracting your claws. You will have better grip that way.) The lynx explained. The hunter extended his claws and placed the fish in the bucket. (Aren''t paws great? They are very useful for catching fish!) Kenneth sighed. "I really need to find a way to remove his curses." *** One hour and ten minutes from the time they started fishing, Ken ran to the meeting spot. "I made it." He breathed heavily. "Great! How many fish did your pet help you catch?" Princess asked. "I caught two fish. Lux is cursed and the fish he caught were¡­ not able to be eaten." Jericho nodded. "Then that makes nine. Let''s go turn in our quest." The three returned to the wood elf. "Greetings sir." Jericho started. "You are back already?" He asked. "Have you caught six fish?" "We caught nine!" Princess exclaimed handing over the fish she caught. The other two gave their fishes as well. "Good job you three. You are forgiven for taking my grilled fish earlier. Come, sit." He motioned around his grill. The three did so. The old elf rapidly cleaned, gutted, prepped and grilled the fish. He handed each of them two cooked ones. "Enjoy!" [You have completed the quest Go Fish. You have obtained 50Exp, you have obtained the hidden reward grilled fish*2. Because you brought extra fish, you have gained an additional 25Exp. You have gained a token to enter the wood elf village.] "Now then, I have a favor to ask such reliable youth such as you. Will you bring this special box to town for me? My daughter Cirith would greatly appreciate it." [Quest, Delivery to the Town: Lillith''s grandfather wants you to take a special box back to the village and give it to his daughter. Accept? Completion rewards: Complete access to the elf village. 100Exp.] They accepted and journeyed towards the elven village once more. 21 I Hate Outsiders Ken summoned Lux to help him listen for any potential enemies. While Jericho''s lullaby worked wonders and they had the new title to lessen the amount of hostile enemies, he didn''t want to be careless as they walked back through the woods. "What pretty ears with little tuffs of fur on the tips!" Princess exclaimed after getting a better look at Lux. She crouched down and petted the feline. The cat purred happily. (This feels nice. Ken, you should pet me too sometimes.) (Focus, Lux. We have to get out of this forest.) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jericho, who could only hear animal sounds from Ken''s response, sighed. "So this is what it was like when I was talking to the elementals and they couldn''t understand me." They made their way through the forest with only the sounds of Jericho''s improving lullaby skill. As they reached the edge of the forest, Jericho noticed something unusual. Ever since he equipped the rabbit''s foot, the amount of targets his lullaby affected lessened. "Luck seems to have a more important role on my past success than I thought." He quietly observed. The three people and one feline walked up to the crowded gate. The guards looked up at them. "You three, step forward." One of the guards shouted to them. Jericho, the cat and the two pre-teens did so. "Greetings, we have come with a package for Cirith from her father." He showed them the token they had received from Lilith''s grandfather. The guard nodded. "Go down the road and turn left at the tree. You can''t miss it." They walked into the lush village filled with plant life. The shouts of jealous players echoed. "How did you get permission to go in?" Ken turned around. "Grilled fish." He replied with a laugh. Jericho looked around at the enclosed green and brown village. "Wow, there are a lot of trees here." He muttered. Princess frowned. "Then which tree are we supposed to turn left at?" The two men paused and thought about it for a bit. "I''ll go ask." Ken replied. He ran back towards the gates, got clear directions from the guards and returned. "Follow me." The siblings followed the hunter to a tree with a bulbous trunk. A door was build into it. Jericho knocked. The door creaked open a crack. "Who are you and what do you want?" The voice replied suspiciously. "We are looking for Cirith. We have a package for her from her father." Jericho explained. The elf at the door stared at them for a moment before closing the door in their face. "Umm¡­" Kenneth started to say. "Maybe I got the wrong house?" "There are a lot of trees to turn left at. Maybe it is that house?" Princess pointed to the neighboring building. Just as they were about to turn and leave the door opened once more. "I''m Cirith. You have a package for me?" Jericho nodded and pulled out the enchanted container. "Your father asked that we deliver this to you." The elf took the package. "Thank you." She hastily slammed her door shut. [You have completed the quest Delivery! You have gained 100Exp. You are now able to enter and leave the wood elf village freely.] "That was, abrupt." Princess hesitantly said. Ken nodded. "Yeah, for some reason they don''t seem very friendly. Quite the opposite of that young elf we met before. Since we are here, should we look around for some quests?" Jericho looked at the clock. "Let''s eat breakfast first." The three logged off, had food, and returned. Jericho nodded when they were all gathered again. "Now we can go look for quests. You have the most experience out of the three of us Ken, lead the way." The boy smirked thinking how now was the best time to show off how cool and knowledgeable he was. [Resonance with Lux obtained. Both of you desire to give off the best impression to others. Lux has boosted your charisma by a small amount.] [A cursed effect has been added. Your intelligence has dropped by a small amount. Curse will end when resonance ends.] Ken, whose features looked a tiny bit cooler, took them to the fanciest tree-house they could find. A middle aged elf was quietly tending to a sapling fruit tree. "That should be the village leader." Ken replied before approaching the elf hoping the boosted charisma would help. "Greetings." The elf ignored him. "I''m Huntsman Ken, these are my comrades, Dancing Princess and Jericho the Bard. We were wondering if you had any work we could assist with while we are in town." The elf continued to ignore the hunter. Ken sighed and turned around. "Jericho, you give it a try. people seem to like you better." The bard approached. "Esteemed sir, sorry to bother you," The elf snapped a glare at the man. "If you were sorry, you would have left already." Jericho nodded. "I understand, do you know¡­" "I heard your friend the first time. This is why I hate outsiders; they don''t know how to get a hint, they lack etiquette, and they are always repeating themselves." The elf grumbled. The three stood silently. "What are you all standing around for? I thought you were leaving." The bard sighed. "Farewell then. Good luck with your tree." They left the elf behind. "Now what Ken?" He asked. The hunter hung his head. "We could try their market place." They wandered to the center of town where stalls made from strangely grown trees lined the street. Jericho, Princess, and Ken explored the bazaar and asked the shopkeepers if they had any quests the three of them could help with. While some of the answers varied, they mostly received the reply: "If you aren''t here to buy something, leave. I hate outsiders; they try to waste our time with such useless things." Jericho spotted a long hole littered wooden pole with leather and carvings tied to it. He stopped. "How much for the flute?" He asked the stall owner. "Oh? You know what this is? For you, the asking price is 5 gold." The elf smiled. The bard frowned since he was only carrying two gold on him. He had given the extra gold they had earned to Princess a while back. "I understand." The man turned and started to leave. He didn''t want to ''waste the shopkeeper''s time'' by haggling. The shop owner was speechless. "Young human," He called out. "Why are you leaving?" Jericho continued to walk away, following their silent traditions. "4 gold!" The elf shouted to try and bring him back. Jericho continued to walk away. "2 gold!" The bard hesitated before leaving. The elf started to sweat, the human was fast. "1 Gold." He hollered. Jericho let out a smile. "So that is how you deal with them." He turned around and pulled out a gold coin. The elf sighed in relief as they exchanged the item for the money. The bard was curious. "Why did you lower the price?" "I see you are not a believer in the Goddess Harian otherwise you would have known." The elf replied smugly. "Feel free to visit my stall again." The elf waved Jericho off. The bard left. "Goddess Harian?" {Ah yes, mortals tend to believe in beings more powerful then themselves. This Goddess Harian is one of them. I never cared much for mortal beliefs but I have been slain a few times because mortals claimed their higher beings demanded it.} Glaw replied. {I am sure the mortals have records somewhere if you are interested.} {I see, thanks Glaw. I guess I don''t know too much about these powerful beings either.} {It''s okay, you''re an elemental. It is only natural for you to fill disconnected from these entities mortals call gods and goddesses.} The trio sat down at the fountain. Other than Jericho, who obtained a new instrument, the group was feeling dejected from all the rejection. Seeing their sad faces, Jericho started to play a calming simple melody with his new wooden flute. The two pre-teens voiced their feelings. "This is so frustrating! Why isn''t anyone willing to give us a quest?" Ken let out an exasperated breath. "This is boring, can we go someplace else?" Princess added her complaints. "Ah, such a pretty melody!" A young girl''s voice cried out before getting even more exited. "What a beautiful creature!" The three looked up to see a young elf carrying a small basket. "Hi Lillith!" Princess called out. "It''s the nice people who helped me out with my flowers! What are you doing in town? Where did you befriend a lynx?" Lillith approached. Jericho finished a small piece of the composition and put down his flute. "We came to drop off something to Cirith and were looking for a new adventure to have. Nobody seems to have one for us though. The lynx''s name is Lux." Lillith frowned as she studied the cat. "He has been cursed." Kenneth nodded. "Yeah; he was cursed before we became friends." "Since grandpa send you to bring something for my mom, let me take you to my aunt''s place. She and her apprentice Purai know how to get rid of curses. Follow me!" Ken smiled. "A way to break his curses? A potential quest? I''m in." The three people and cat followed the young elf to an area tucked away from sight. The smell of herbs assaulted their noses. Shouting could be heard from the nearby tree-building. The door swung open and a teenage girl ran out in tears. "Oh yes, run away again you useless apprentice!" The woman in the building shouted and continued to rant. Lillith turned to her friends. "Umm, it looks like now is a bad time, my aunt Trina seems to be angry. I''m sorry. When my aunt is angry she doesn''t see customers. She says it is hard to heal others when you are angry." She fidgeted. Jericho crouched down to be eye level with the young elf. "It is okay, I understand. Emotions are very powerful and affect the things around us." Lillith started to tear up. "I''m sorry I really wanted to help your cat." "We can come back another time." Jericho comforted. "We can heal the lynx of his curses later." Lillith paused. "Um¡­" She sniffed. "Do you think you could go find and help Purai? I want her to know that I hope she is okay. She''s that nice apprentice that just ran off. If you can help her, she will likely help you too. She also knows how to use my aunts healing techniques to break curses and is very kind. If she can''t then you can come back and my aunt can help." [Lillith has asked you to go find and help the young apothecary apprentice Purai. She is likely on her way out of the village. Reward: Unknown. Note: Purai may be able to help removed curses from Lux.] Jericho nodded. "We will find her." Kenneth started thinking about how to track the woman that had run off. (Lux I need your help to track her down.) (Okay!) The beast replied happily. The boy regretted asking as his nose twitched. [Resonance obtained¡­] 22 The Dragoons "Have you noticed, the number of cursed animals has increased and they have been getting stronger since the mist appeared?" A random individual inquired of another player. "Yeah, I heard rumor that The Dragoons Guild has started a hunt for these cursed creatures because they discovered that killing them weakens the mist." "Really? That is great news! The Dragoons have always been a fantastic guild. They do a lot to help out normal players like us. I wouldn''t mind being one of them." "Are you sure? The way they go about things is weird and excessive sometimes. The other guilds wouldn''t consider tickling a monster to death. Don''t the members feel embarrassed?" The man sighed. "That is true. Not only that but a lot of guilds have thanked The Dragoons for their slow approach to problems. The Dragoons have had a lot of quests stolen from them by other guilds in the past. But despite that, they have an almost perfect record of completing difficult things successfully on the first try even against bosses that other guilds have failed to beat repeatedly." "Yeah, while i am not expecting them to solve our problem soon, I am glad it is them that are working on it. I feel reassured that it will be done right." "I wonder of some other guild will come in and beat them to it again. Other guilds often see The Dragoons as a shortcut to good things." "Don''t jinx us! If they do try, I''m leaving Pren. I don''t want to be around when they fail." "Do you know how The Dragoons are tracking these cursed creatures?" *** "Lord Harr, welcome to Pren." A guild member greeted the tall imposing figure of one of the sub-leaders. The man wearing the mossy green lizard-like armor removed his monstrous helmet. "Thank you." The guild member looked up at the dark brown haired man that towered him. "I have an important status update." "Speak." He ordered. "As you are aware, we have been analyzing the mist since it first showed up. It seems that the cursed creatures that emerge from the mist are progressively getting stronger. When the mist and the cursed creatures first appeared, the creatures were all around the same levels the foxes were in the vulpine woods." Harr gave a slight nod. "Around level 3 to 10 correct?" "Indeed sir. However, ever since the natives and the players started running in to try and solve it, the creatures'' levels have jumped. While most of them are still on the weaker side, we have seen beasts higher than level 15 which is dangerous to the common players. The starting area is slowly changing into a transition zone. If this trend continues, this starting area may end up becoming a high level raid or dungeon." Lord Harr closed his blue eyes and sighed. "Dragon Lord Heath will feel a bit conflicted about that. Strong raids and dungeons have always peaked his interest but so has helping the non-guild players. Is there is more?" "Yes, as you were informed before there is a direct correlation between the deaths of these cursed creatures and the mist weakening. However that seems to only be a surface solution. Killing the cursed creatures seems to only be treating the symptoms and not the root of the problem. We have determined that until we can determine the root of the problem, killing these beasts is the best way to keep the normal players safe." "Continue." "We have confirmed that these cursed creatures travel alone and the items they drop have been, unusual. A good amount of the weaker ones seem to be foxes, which is surprising considering the fox population dwindled to nearly nothing." "The drops are unusual and the number of foxes has increased again?" the large man in green armor inquired. The guild member gave a nod. "Take a look." He pulled out some leather armguards and passed them over. Harr looked over the items. [Gondry''s dirty armguards: Leather arm wraps made from the filthy fur of Gondry the dirty dog-fox. Level requirement 5 Tier 2 Leather armor. +5 Defense. +3 agility. While worn the wearer will smell like a filthy canine. They will take a penalty to charisma based on who they are communicating with. They will also randomly bark, yap, and yip as they speak.] Harr started laughing. "So these creatures are dropping gimmick items?" The guild member nodded. "Not only that but they drop some normal things along with some cursed items." "I understand. Store the cursed items for now. Lord Heath can make a decision on what to do with them later. As for the normal and gimmick items, if they aren''t productive for our guild or guild members to use, you have permission to sell them to the guildless players. Remember to check the buyers guild status before selling." "Thank you sir." "Good work so far then." Harr replied. "How are these beasts being tracked?" "The tracking method is a bit problematic at this point. Unless there is a quest directly related to them, the cursed beasts are almost indistinguishable from normal creatures. We have created a solution that can give us the ability to see these creatures for what they are; however it blinds the user while in effect. Only some of our more skilled players can fight mostly blinded like that." "That is a problem. How are the preparations to enter the mist?" "They are underway. I suspect by the time the new game patch is ready to be released Sunday evening we will have enough materials to go in with a large group safely." The guild member fidgeted. "Is there something else?" Harr asked. "Yeah, The EastSeaDrakes have been seen around town. They have come into conflict with a few of our members. While nothing has escalated yet, we are unsure of their motives." Harr raised an eyebrow. "Again? Keep observing their movements. If they seem to be trying to steal our goal like last time, inform me immediately with enough proof to convince our guildmaster. You know how much Heath hates assumptions." The guild member nodded. "Currently, while it won''t be enough to convince him, I already have a small bit of proof. Someone leaked the curse sight recipe and possibly other pieces of information that we have gathered so far. The EastSeaDrakes have also started hunting down these cursed beasts." Harr put on his helmet with a sigh. "It seems countermeasures are needed. Is there anything else?" "Not yet, Lord Harr." "I see. I''ll be off then." He pulled out his poleax and left the building. *** Back in front of the apothecary¡­ Ken felt his face shift. "Merwaly?" His voice came out funny. (Now you can track people''s scent too!) Lux replied. (I''m a great pet helping you do all these useful things. You should give me a treat!) Princess chuckled at the lynx muzzle and whiskers that has sprouted on her friend''s face. Ken covered his face and crouched down. He spoke quietly in Lux''s ears. (Really? We talked about this, I asked you to not use resonance to change my appearance in front of Princess. I wanted you to help me track the girl for our quest. Why did you ignore my earlier request? Growing a muzzle in front of Princess is uncool.) (My curses will get in the way and get us lost; otherwise I would have tracked her. It is better this way. You can track her now and I won''t get us lost.) The cat turned his head. (Besides, that face is really awesome and looks better on you, why don''t you like it?) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. (I give in.) Kenneth replied; feeling defeated. (Princess, can you translate for me? This mouth makes it really hard to speak normally and I don''t think your brother knows Speak with Animals.) Princess nodded. "Sure thing Ken." She leaned down and pet Lux again. (You should be nicer to him.) She pulled out one of her grilled fish and gave it to the lynx. (But here is a treat for helping us.) The cat sulked. (Sorry, nice lady. I will try. Thanks for the fish.) Ken let out a light mew as he tried to sigh. He was relieved his friend was trying to help him despite feeling very humiliated by the current situation. (Let''s go.) He said dejectedly. He led the way with his temporary feline nose. The lynx walked calmly by Kenneth''s side. (See Ken, you are good at tracking. Isn''t a lynx''s nose helpful for you to follow her scent?) (If you weren''t cursed, would you have given me this face?) The hunter asked his lynx seriously. The lynx shook his head. (Only if you asked for it or it seemed productive. I like hunting things down on my own but it became really hard after I got cursed.) The cat slumped sadly. (So when you asked for help to track her, the best way to do that was to use Resonance Gift, even if you didn''t want me to use it in front of that girl. The more I use it, the stronger it will become and the more helpful I can be.) (Then when we find Purai and have her break your curses you will start using your other abilities again?) Lux perked back up. (Wait, we are tracking her so we can break my curses? You are the best Ken! I''m glad you wanted to be my friend. If you do that I can be helpful in more ways! That would make me feel great.) (You didn''t know that?) He asked. (I don''t understand most non-animals.) The feline replied as if it were an obvious fact. Princess came over. (I have been meaning to ask, Lux. How did you get cursed?) The cat stopped and sat down. (A few days ago some humans came into the smoky part of the forest and nearly killed me. A strange voice asked me if I wanted revenge. It gave me more power and I became strong. I left to hunt after defeating the invaders and then everything started going bad. Other creatures started hating me, calling me cursed, and avoiding me. I tried hunting but everything I caught ended up tasting really bad and making me feel sick. I was really hungry. When I saw that old mean fisherman fall asleep I thought I could get an easy meal.) Ken nodded. (And then that is where we found you?) (Yeah, I was really happy that you were a nice human. I wanted to be helpful so we could stay friends. Sorry for making you upset.) Ken let out a lightly awkward sounding laugh out of his feline face. He crouched down and petted the cat. (We agreed to be friends. I will help you get rid of your curses and then you can work your butt off you lazy cat.) He teased. Lux purred happily as he dreamed of being curse free. They followed Ken''s nose out of the elven village and into the forest. 23 When you use powerful cursed abilities... A blindfolded archer looked down from a tree. He was using a special eye covering saturated in the curse sight fluid his guild-mate had made. While it blocked his regular vision, it allowed him to see the cursed creatures his guild had been recently been hunting down. "Two of them? That isn''t what I was told. Oh well, more loot for me." He muttered looking at the information in front of his eyes. [Cursed beast level 20 (Strong curses) High risk.] [Cursed humanoid level 20 (Mild curses) Low Risk.] "The cursed creatures have grown this much and now there are cursed humanoids? This doesn''t make sense, their information is almost always spot on since they don''t pass on information they aren''t confident in. I must report this when I am done." The archer pulled out a silver arrow enchanted to deal high amounts of damage to the creatures of evil nature. "Take out the weaker one so it can''t interfere in the fight with the stronger one." He muttered a common strategy. He paused slightly at the sound of music playing before deciding he didn''t need to worry about any bystanders. The arrow flew with the twang of his bow. *** The cat''s ears twitched. (Ken, watch out!) Lux cried as he body-slammed the hunter out of the way. [Pet Lux has used Guard: Due to Cursed Skills, he has taken a critical hit.] Two thuds were heard as the pre-teen fell to the ground and a silver arrow pierced the lynx''s side. (How dare you attack my friend?!) The injured lynx roared as he started charging forward and climbing the tree the sniper was hiding from. Jericho''s music paused. He split himself in two and pulled out the zither and ocarina. He started playing and singing The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul in order to heal Lux''s injuries. He had promised to help if they were attacked. Kenneth looked up to see his pet get pelted by more silver arrows. (How dare you hurt Lux!) He roared. He drew his bow and started firing arrows back at the sniper. [Extreme amounts of resonance detected as both parties have shown a strong desire to protect each other. Resonance is already active. Due to the strength of the synergy, effects will stack.] [Resonance has reached an extremely high level, you can use sacrifice in order to restore your pet''s health. Warning: Resonance Gift and as a result Sacrifice are cursed. Using sacrifice may be detrimental. It is analyzed that the cursed effects of using Sacrifice will bring you greater harm then letting your pet die.] Kenneth felt his skin harden and fur sprout under his armor. It itched a bit as he continued to fire his bow. (I refuse to lose Lux. Even though I obtained him recently, and he embarrassed me in front of princess, he is a great pet.) Ken growled under his breath. A few notifications, he ignored, appeared in front of him. [You and your pet are exposed to the music Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul. Health, Stamina, and Magic points are being restored. Physical ailments have been weakened. Mental ailments have been weakened. Spiritual ailments have been weakened. Your curses and the curses ravaging your pet have weakened.] The assassin continued his barrage as Lux bit and slashed them. (Lux, watch out!) The boy shouted at his pet that had very low health. He fired another arrow at the same time the enemy released one last silver arrow. (Use sacrifice.) He roared. Red light flowed from Ken into Lux. [You have slain the mysterious foe.] [You have used sacrifice on Lux. Lux has survived a fatal blow.] [Sacrifice has saved your pet from the edge of death. Cursed effects of sacrifice have activated.] Black light seeped out of Lux and flowed into Ken as the red light seeping out of Ken and into Lux faded. The cat shrunk. Ken felt ominous energy fill his body. [You have the cursed touch skill, pet contract has been forcibly canceled as the pet space was directly connected to your hands. Lux has changed from a pet to an animal companion.] [Animal companion, Lux has lost all levels gained from being and while being cursed. All of Lux''s skills have been reset to the state they were before he was cursed. Lux no longer has the cursed skill line. All curses have transferred to Huntsman Ken.] [Lux has lost the pet skill line.] [Due to the cursed nature of sacrifice, Lux has inherited your bloodline and now feels a sibling bond with you.] [Lux''s race has been updated.] [Your experience points have dropped back down to 0 Exp for your current level] [You have gained the Curse skill line. All curses you had previously have changed to have a permanent duration until cured. You have absorbed all of Lux''s curses. You have gained additional curses.] The lynx faced, fur covered pre-teen felt his face and head become more cat like. He pulled up Lux''s and his own statuses. [Name: Lux,Level: 14, Race: Lynx Kitten (Human blooded lynx) (Tier 1 animal) Animal companion (Views you as family). Skill line Animal (predator) Tier 1: Claw 7/10 Beginner Bite 5/10 Beginner Tracking 5/10 Beginner Cannot utilize human bloodline until reaching Tier 2 Animal (Predator).] He scanned over his companion''s information to see all of Lux''s skills and levels reduced and his cursed skill line gone. (Cannot utilize human blood until he reaches tier two again? That is interesting.) He sighed/mewed in relief that Lux was fine despite his severely weakened state. [Name: Huntsman Ken, Level: 20, Race: Cursed Lynx-Human (monster). (Cursed tier 2) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. New: Curse Tier 2 (Unable to control): Tainted skills (N/A), Unholy corruption (N/A), Cursed Form 4/10 Adept, Cursed touch 3/10 Adept, Evil aura 2/10 Adept, Monsterfication (N/A). New: Animal (Predator) Tier 1: Claw 0/10 Beginner, Bite 0/10 Beginner, Tracking 2/10 Beginner.] He looked over his own status and groaned. His pet''s former curses were all there, including a few others that were not originally there including one called Cursed Form which seemed to relate to his current appearance. He looked it up. [Monsterfication: The owner of this skill will slowly lose their original form and progressively turn into a terrifying monster. Warning some of these mutations may hurt.] [Cursed Form: Randomly the owner of this skill will transform into a hideous monster that will randomly attack non-cursed creatures around it. While transformed your character is controlled by AI. The transformation will normally last a few minutes. Adept bonus: The duration has a higher chance of being an hour.] (They weren''t kidding when they said the effects would be harmful. Getting rid of these curses seems even more important now.) The kitten looked over himself. (I''m still alive? I''m small again? Wait, I''m not cursed?! Ken! You are the best!) It mewed happily. (I''m glad you are okay.) The hunter replied. (However, I am going to have to rely on you a lot now. Not only do you need to regain your strength, I''m the one cursed now.) The Lynx kitten nodded. (I''m on it! I will be very helpful. I will find the lady so she can break your curses! Thanks for saving my life!) Princess came up and gave her friend a hug. (I''m glad you both are okay! Who or what was that, that attacked you?) Ken didn''t hug her back because he remembered his cursed touch skill. (I don''t know.) Princess let go. Ken leaned down and picked up the silver arrows that had been ejected from Lux''s body after sacrifice was used. [You have cursed touch. All things you touch with your hands will be given a curse. Silver is designed to harm evil beings. The arrows have resisted your touch. You have taken 10 points of damage.] Ken put them in his inventory. (Princess, it seems my hands will curse whatever I touch right now and not just people, can you or Jericho loot the assassin''s corpse?) Princess gave a nod. Jericho shrugged since he had no clue what was being said. "I know we just got done being attacked, but shouldn''t we find that apprentice?" "Loot first." Princess replied. "I''ll let you touch the dead body brother." Jericho shook his head as he came over to the hunter. "Why did you have to say it like that?" As he touched the corpse it vanished and left a small pile of items. [Quiver of normal silver arrows: See normal steel arrows with the following adjustments: Damage to evil creatures *1.5. Damage to non-evil creatures -2] [Nature''s cloak (Tier 2) Level 15: +5 Defense and Magic Defense except against fire. While worn you can activate the skill nature camouflage. Nature Camouflage: Become the same type of coloration as your surroundings making you harder to spot. This only affects outward appearance and does not stop others from identifying you by other senses.] While Jericho looted and explained the items, Ken scanned back through his battle log. (Princess, can you tell your brother to play that soothing composition again? I think it helped with Lux''s and my curses earlier. Had I known I would have had him play it to help with Lux''s curses sooner. Even though we are searching for a healer to remove them, every little bit helps.) Princess relayed the message. "Okay, I can do that. I have been meaning to get that one more proficient anyways since it seems to be one of my most productive pieces." Jericho pulled the piano and the ocarina. He played and sung the song repeatedly. After three times playing the piece, [¡­Your curses have weakened. Cursed Touch has regressed from 3/10 to 2/10 Adept. Evil Aura has regressed from 2/10 to 1/10 Adept. Cursed Form has regressed from 4/10 Adept to 3/10 adept. The likelihood of transforming in the near future has been reduced.] Another five play-throughs later¡­ [¡­Your curses have weakened. Cursed Touch has regressed from 2/10 to 1/10 Adept. Evil Aura has regressed from 1/10 to 0/10 Adept. Cursed Form has regressed from 3/10 to 2/10 Adept.] [Ally''s abilities are presently not strong enough to further weaken your curses. Search for another method or improve ally''s skill¡­] (Princess, can you tell Jericho that his music has stopped working but to keep playing? If his skill level increases, he may be able to further weaken the curses.) Jericho also received notifications about his composition. [Part 1 has improved. 0/10 Adept: Adept bonus: Listeners will have their skills cost slightly less Stamina and MP, Part 2 has improved. 8/10 Beginner, Part 3 has improved 2/10 Adept. Serenade for the Soothing of the soul has improved. 0/10 Adept. Adept bonus: This piece now has a greater impact on dispelling harmful effects. (Locked requires tier 3 healing to receive the adept bonus.)] "It looks like I need to increase my healing skill line then. It will take me a while to get the song up that high." Jericho muttered to himself. "But we have spent a lot of time standing here. Shouldn''t we be going?" He put away the piano and pulled out the zither. It was more mobile. Ken turned to his house cat sized lynx companion. (Lux, can you track her?) He sniffed around a bit. (Follow me!) The curse-free Lux led the way. 24 The Healer Purai The three entered a clearing where a teenage girl was picking herbs. "Purai," Jericho called out to her. "Ah! People!" She jumped and hid behind a nearby tree, leaving the herb she was picking up half-plucked. "They know my name. They are probably after me for some mistake I made again." She breathed to herself. "That went well." Jericho observed. Ken crouched down. (Lux, your face is really adorable right now, go over there and look at her like you want something. When she responds to you try to bring her back out here.) (I have a handsome regal face. It isn''t adorable. Well it was a cute face when I was a small kitten.) He replied. (You are a kitten again, remember?) Lux looked over his body again. (Oh right! I became little again. I''ll go act nice and bring her back over here.) The lynx dashed to where she was hiding. Soon a teenage girl''s voice was heard. "Aww you are so cute!" Ken was feeling glad that wasn''t him being called cute. Lux nipped at her pant leg and tugged. "You want me to come with you?" Lux let go of the pant leg and walked a few steps before turning around to make sure she was following. After confirming, he ran back to the party and mewed happily. Purai followed while staring at the small creature. When it stopped and mewed she looked up to see a big lynx that looked half human. "Oh, you poor beast!" She cried out and turned back to the small cat. "Is he your brother?" Lux tilted his head. (Ken, I don''t understand human speech. What is she saying?) Ken shook his head. (She is asking if I am your brother. And well, I guess you could say I am your older brother are since I used sacrifice and you somehow absorbed some of my blood.) (Yay! Brother Ken! I like that better then thinking of you as my master!) Lux purred as he mimicked the nodding motion he had seen the others do. Jericho stepped into her view. "Hello Purai." "I don''t know who that is." She hastily replied. Her body tensed. The bard chuckled. "You can calm down. Lillith sent us to check up on you and make sure you were alright. She was worried about you after the incident at her aunt''s place." "Yeah," she drearily replied. "I''m doing fine. Lilly is a sweet kid caring about me like that." She crouched down and petted Lux. "You say that, but your actions say otherwise." Jericho said. "I don''t think I am cut out to be a natural healer." She replied. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Why not?" Princess asked. The healer gave a sad smile. "I''m always making mistakes. The other day I accidentally used a mana herb instead of a stamina herb in a specific ointment and got chewed out. Today I brought the leaves of a plant instead of the root. I want to help people but I don''t understand all the fancy wording Trina keeps using. I can''t keep the herb''s complex names straight. Like that one;" she pointed to the half dug up plant with large leafs. "That is a plant called Silverroot. It is a great plant for specific types of ailments but in order to know which ailments it treats the name is something crazy like Curaticus Sledoominous, or was it Curaticus Sildominous. Those are both very different plants by the way. Not only that but I have no clue what a Yang Link Vessel is." "How long have you been trying to learn?" Princess asked. "Two weeks. You think I would stop making mistakes by now." She berated herself. Jericho placed his hand on the young healer''s shoulder. "I am a professional instrument player. I have been doing it since I was small. Even I still make mistakes. You can''t expect perfection or instant growth. You will fizzle out that way." Purai frowned. "Save the speech, I''ve heard it all before. Practice makes perfect. Slow and steady wins the race." Jericho shook his head. "Actually I was going to tell you different advice that seems much more logical." The healer sighed. "Go ahead then. Share with me your Zen wisdom oh great instrument player." She said sarcastically. Just as Jericho was about to open his mouth; Princess stepped between the two. She was upset that the girl was being unpleasant towards her brother. "Listen well then." She said in a fierce tone. "Practice doesn''t make perfect. Something my mom used to always tell me is practice makes progress. We aren''t meant to be perfect we are just meant to improve. Most inventive ideas came from mistakes and they are necessary for us to grow better. A famous quote from someone a long time ago said that he doesn''t view things as mistakes but happy little accidents because even an accident can become a good thing." Purai took a step away from the fierce girl. "But," Princess glared. "No buts. They stink. As for slow and steady wins the race? You kidding right? Unlike that stupid story that has been around since ancient times, you will make better progress running when you have strength, continuing even when you fall, and resting when you need rest. If have a never ending grind of slow and steady then the monotony will eat away at you. If you don''t rest you will burn out. If you don''t run, you won''t get stronger. If you don''t continue after you fall, you will remain on the ground." The healer frowned as she thought. "Thanks." A smiled appeared."That is the first intelligent thing I have heard from people in a long time. I''ll try to remember that." She turned to look at the animal she was petting. "By the way, what are your names and these two''s names?" She pointed to the two felines. "I''m Dancing Princess. This is my brother Jericho the Bard. That is my friend Ken, as you can see he''s a bit cursed right now. The little guy you are petting is Lux." The dancer replied. "Ken and Lux, good names." She smiled. "Princess, Jericho. Do you want to be friends?" Jericho nodded. "I would like to be friends but I thought you didn''t like us." She sighed and slumped. "I''m sorry; I can be a bit prickly sometimes when I''m upset. To be honest I don''t think I will be going back to that village. I want to go out and explore. I want to learn more by experiencing things and I am tired of being yelled at for every single mistake I make." Jericho nodded. "That may be for the best. But if you are going to leave, you should at least go say goodbye to Lillith." "Yeah, I owe it to Lilly to at least say goodbye." [Purai has sent you a friend request. Accept?] The bard and dancer accepted the request. (What about me?) Ken meowed. The healer looked over. "I haven''t forgotten about you. I think I have a way to remove your curses. But I am not confident in my abilities." Ken reached out before remembering his touching curse. (Can she understand me?) He asked. Princess looked at the unresponsive healer. "I don''t think she can understand you Ken. I''ll translate for you." Purai looked over to Princess. "You know what these two are saying?" "Yep." "Can you ask Ken if he would like me to try and break his curses even if I am not confident in doing so?" (Ken?) She asked. (Please try, the fur under my armor is really itchy right now. Even a partial or defective cure would be nice.) "He said he would be really appreciative if you would at least try. Besides, Lillith said you are really good at it." Princess reworded her friend''s statement. "Alright." Purai scanned Ken over a few times. "Can you tell me what curses you have?" (Cursed Touch, Evil Aura, Cursed Form, Unholy Corruption, Cursed Skills, and Monsterfication,) Ken listed and Princess translated. Purai thought for a bit as she continued scanning her patient. "If I am seeing this right, his curses are around the lower end of adept, right?" Ken gave a nod. The healer frowned. "Then a normal curse removal tonic wouldn''t be very effective. My skill isn''t strong enough for that. However¡­" Her eyes lit up as she thought of a brilliant idea. "If it is that, it should work! Can you help me pick that silverroot? It is one of the main ingredients I''m going to need." "I''ll help" Jericho replied. "What do you need me to do?" "Move the dirt away from roots. Be gentle and try not to damage them." They dug and carefully extracted the plant. "I have a favor to ask." Purai bluntly said. "Sure, a reasonable favor is something we would gladly help with." Jericho asked. "You are willing to help us cure our friend." "Can you guys help me get past the satyrs? I can''t get past them on my own." "Sure, as long as you don''t mind us trying to find a non-violent way to do it." The healer pulled up the plant and looked at the man in front of her. "That sounds really nice. I''m up to trying it like that. I have to log off soon and go celebrate my grandfather''s birthday and then because of the game patch being uploaded tomorrow afternoon, I won''t be able to get back online until tomorrow night after it is finished." Purai measured and cut off a large chunk of the main root and put it back in the ground. "A new one will grow faster if it is replanted." She explained. "Excellent. You attempt to cure Ken''s curses. Then, even if it isn''t a success, we will help you get past the satyrs then when you log back in, after saying goodbye to Lillith." "Alright. I''ll let you know when I am back." She pulled a small table out of her inventory and carefully separated the root, stem and leafs. She placed them into bundles and sent most of them to her inventory. She pulled out a stone bowl and started to grind down the leafs with water. Princess stared at the impressive sight. "I can''t believe you have only been doing this for two weeks. You are really good at it!" "Thanks." The healer replied. She drained the juices into a bottle. She pulled out a few more herbs and performed similar processes until the container was mostly full. She put on a cap to stop the bottle and shook it until it turned milky white. "Now for two last steps." 25 She called me Cute... Purai walked over to Ken. (What does she need still?) Ken frowned slightly. He was getting rather familiar with the lynx muzzle thanks to the game system''s help. The healer grabbed a hair from the fur that was poking through his armor. (Ow.) Ken snarled. "Relax." Purai patted his head. "Your curses will be broken soon. Princess, could you bring Lux over to me? He has the final ingredient I need." "Sure!" She picked up the small lynx and carried him over. Purai pulled out an empty needled syringe. "Don''t be afraid, I just need a little bit of your blood." (Brother Ken, what is that scary thing? What does she want?) Lux, who did not understand human speech, was panicking. Ken let out another mew/sigh. (She needs a small bit of your blood. Apparently it will help her cure my curses. It makes sense considering I took them from you.) Lux instantly relaxed. (Oh, then she can take it if it will help you.) Seeing the lynx relax Purai stuck the needle and extracted a small bit of blood. "Thank you, Princess." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The dancer nodded back and put Lux back on the ground. The healer unstopped the bottle and placed the hair and blood inside. She stopped the small container again and drew a circle with strange patterns on the table. "What are you doing now?" Princess inquired curiously. "Infusing the mixture with magic so it can have a stronger effect;" she replied focusing her MP into the symbol. The symbol started to glow and infuse light into the once milky liquid. It became a clean golden-brown mixture. Jericho and Ken watched from a distance. The light faded. "It''s done!" Purai looked over the mixture''s details. She sighed in relief. "This blood purification injection should work great." She changed the needle on her syringe and had it suck up the concoction. She handed it over to Jericho. "Just inject this into Ken. It should get rid of his curses, I hope. While I want to see everyone''s happy faces, I''ve got to go. See you tomorrow night! Thanks again for agreeing to help me!" "See you then." Jericho replied as he looked at the information of the item in his hand. [Potent magical blood purification serum: Inject into the bloodstream to use. A strange mystical concoction created by Purai. While it contains some questionable ingredients it will remove curses and other harmful effects, affecting the body of ''Ken'', 5/10 Adept strength and below. Injection into living things other than ''Ken'' is not advised.] "Well, it looks like you won''t be cursed much longer." Jericho approached with the injection. Ken hated shots. He wasn''t deathly afraid of them but he still didn''t like them. The pre-teen closed his eyes and felt the prick of the needle. A calming feeling flowed through him as he heard the sounds of a lot of notifications. [You have been injected with a Human Blooded-Lynx''s blood purification serum. Your blood is being purified.] Lynx and human blood have been detected in you. Lynx blood has been enhanced, strengthened, perfected, and stabilized.] [Human blood has been adapted and stabilized to accommodate the stronger bloodline.] [Lynx-Human blood has stabilized.] [Your race and skills have been updated.] [Curse- Cursed Touch has been purified and removed.] [Curse- Evil Aura has been purified and removed.][Curse- Cursed Form has been purified and removed.] [Curse- Unholy Corruption has been purified and removed.] [Curse- Cursed Skills has been purified and removed.] [Curse- Monsterfication has been purified and removed.] [You are no longer affected by curses. The Curse skill line has been removed.] [You are no longer cursed; your race has been updated.] Ken felt his equipment return to his inventory as his body shrunk. He opened his eyes to see an enhanced view of the world. He looked up to see everyone towering over him. He fell forward landing on his new forepaws. (Ken is like me!) Lux shouted happily as he pounced the boy. The hunter, unfamiliar with the body was pinned easily. After a short tussle it dawned on him that he was a lynx. (I may have to reset my character now.) He mumbled as he struggled to move. He was upset at the idea since he worked hard to get where he was. "Ah Ken you are so cute!" Princess picked up her friend, who was in the middle of a play fight, and started scratching behind his ears. Jericho let out a light laugh he failed to suppress. Princess smiled and pulled out her last grilled fish and placed it in front of Ken. She knew her friend would sometimes stress eat. Ken stared at the fish. (I''m an animal. How am I supposed to hold a bow and act cool now?) He snagged the fish and hopped out of princesses arms to hide behind a tree. (Cute. Not awesome or epic but cute.) He cried to himself quietly. (No fair! I want one too!) Lux called out chasing after Ken. {Jericho, remember when you became a water elemental? If you didn''t have the Gemini lilies you would have respawned and a new elemental spirit would have been born from your death. If Ken has truly become an animal, the same thing would have happened to him.} Glaw reminded the bard. Jericho called out to Ken using Speak with Spirits since Ken had said he knew that skill. {Last night what did we have for dinner?} Ken was angrily munching on the grilled fish, sharing it with Lux, and thinking it tasted strangely better than normal. He poked his head up. {Why the random question? It was a type of curry.} Jericho nodded. {Your character hasn''t been overwritten by an NPC. It means that you should be fine.} {Wait what?} Ken asked with his mouth full. (Brother Ken! Tussle with me!) Lux shouted and leaped at the boy once again. Ken was rapidly getting more familiar with the feline body thanks to the game mechanics. He started fighting back. Princess laughed as she watched the two small lynx kittens fighting each other playfully. "You seem to be quite enjoying yourself." (Lux stop!) Ken snarled. (I was only defending myself.) He tried justifying to Princess. The other lynx obeyed. (Are you not having fun brother Ken?) Ken mew/sighed and came close to the other kitten. (I am but I need to figure out what is going on with me first and it is best not to tussle in front of Princess. So please wait.) He whispered. (Okay, I will wait.) The lynx, Ken, pulled up his status and started reading it. (My race is Human-blooded Lynx, isn''t that similar to Lux''s race? I can use lynx items regardless of form? Wait, form?) He continued scanning. (There are three forms listed.) He pulled them up. [Animal form (N/A) (Current) *Monster tier based upon the Animal (predator) skill line and skills; (Current tier 1, Lynx Kitten): This is your race''s base form. While in this form you are considered an animal. While in this form you are considered an in-game creature and are subject to the same rules. The game will assist you in becoming familiar with this form however it will be up to you to obtain the necessary proficiency.] [Human form 5/10 Master: -Normally this skill does not unlock until a human blooded creature becomes a tier 2 beast. As a former human, you have a lot of experience being human and the skill has become unlocked prematurely. Due to your extensive experience being human, the skill has been set to a significantly higher rank. - A human-blooded creature can transform into a human form. They can only maintain that form for so long each day. (Current: 13 hours/day. Each tier upgrade will increase the timer by 4 hours.) Timer resets at midnight. While in human form, you can speak and act like humans do. Note that some lynx traits will be present while in human form and an astute person may realize your true identity. These traits will become less noticeable the higher the skill level. You can assume more lynx traits if desired and can choose which traits they are. If you do not make a choice, they will be assigned to the ''most human'' looking appearance. Stats are based on the assigned stat allocation per level as normal.] [Monster form 0/10 Beginner: A human blooded creature can transform into a beast with mild humanoid traits. (A type of hybrid creature) you will stand on your hind legs and your forepaws will become clawed hands. This form can only maintained for so long each day. (Current 1 hour/day. Each increase in Tier will increase the timer by 1 hour.) Timer resets at midnight. While in monster form, you will be considered a hostile target to most other creatures. While in monster form you have your animal or human stats (whichever total is higher) while in a humanoid enough body to use most human skills and animal enough to use most animal skills. You are considered an in-game creature and are subject to the same rules.] [Both Human Form and Monster Form belong to the skill line Blood Transformation and will not have an effect on your monster tier.] (So for 14 hours a day, I can be something other than an animal? I mean, having an animal transformation was in my list of goals for my ranger idea. I have it, but backwards I guess. At least with school I''m only in game 15 hours a day during most weekdays so I can treat it like the ability I really wanted. I really need to boost those timers up somehow for when I play on the weekends. If I am reading this right, Lux should get these skills once he returns to being a tier 2 creature.) Lux pawed the ground impatiently. Ken got into a sulkier position. (But just now, she called me cute. That must be the first thing that gets changed.) He muttered as he kept looking through his skills. (Activate human form.) He felt his body grow and the fur recede. His equipment re-equipped as he was standing on two legs again. He looked over himself. "That''s better, the cuteness is gone." He spoke as he noticed his sight seemed to be enhanced still. (Aww, Ken why did you have to become human again? I wanted to play more!) Lux replied. Ken softly smiled. "It looks like I can maintain this for 13 hours. And the timer resets at midnight. It isn''t ideal, but at least it is better than the curses. If it is like this, I won''t have to reset my character. But these parts about being an in-game creature and being subject to their rules is a bit concerning." He spoke aloud. Glaw emerged from Jericho. "Hi Mr. water elemental." Princess greeted. {Where did you come from?} Ken asked. Jericho laughed. "He has been hiding inside me this entire time." Glaw gave a nod. {Ken, right? Being considered an ''in-game'' creature as you put it does indeed have some troublesome rules. Most of them are combat related though. If you become engaged in combat with someone who has an undying soul like you, unless you have specific monster skills, you cannot escape from combat. Also, aggro or aggression rules apply which makes fights against a large amount of mortals troublesome. However, there are a lot of benefits to being an in-game creature.} {Benefits?} The pre-teen inquired. {Indeed. But I will leave them up to you to find out. Besides, aren''t you already familiar with your new body despite only being it for a few minutes?} Ken thought for a minute and realized it took him almost no time at all to adapt to the feline body. {You''re right, but why tell me this?} {I am letting you know that there are benefits and detriments so you can make your own choice as to whether it is valuable to you or not.} Ken half smiled. {Thanks.} Jericho nodded. "We have to wait until tomorrow evening until Purai gets back. How about tonight and tomorrow evening you come over again and we can continue live dance lessons?" Ken looked down. "I''m not sure." Jericho coughed and walked over to the boy. "Dancing will help get your mind off of things and I know Moira''s opinion of you would get better if you did." The pre-teen hesitated for a bit longer. "I''ll come over. We have a few hours before dinner time. What should we do Meow?" [You have spent 13 hours in your human form today. Reverting back to your animal form.] (What?!) Ken exclaimed. (That was only a couple of minutes!) (Yay! Brother Ken is normal again!) The lynx face rubbed his brother. Princess tilted her head as she looked at her uncomfortable friend. (It''s just after 1:00. Maybe your skill was counting the time before we met Purai?) Jericho came over and plucked the two kittens by the scruffs of their necks. "You two look identical to me. It might be a bit of a problem." Ken and Lux dangled awkwardly. "I know how we can fix that!" Princess grinned. "But we need to go back to town and get some supplies." 26 Competitive kittens for ren Princess purchased supplies and rented a crafting room before locking her brother and the two lynxes out. (Revenge!) Ken playfully shouted once princess was out of sight. He pounced Lux. Jericho let out a laugh. "So secretive." He said aloud to the two felines that were once again wrestling. {You really enjoy that, don''t you?} One of the kittens replied. {Yes, No. Argh take that! I hate feeling so cute and that the skill is backwards of what I wanted. Hahaha I got you!} He shouted as he pinned the other cat. {But strangely it also feels very liberating having the skill reversed like this. I haven''t had fun wrestling with someone in ages. Normally I get yelled at when I do something violent. These heightened senses are also enjoyable.} The bard smirked. {So you are going to keep your current character?} Ken hopped off Lux. {Yep, even though it feels a bit embarrassing to be this cute and cuddly, and ruins the cool guy image I wanted to have in front of Moira, I think I have enjoyed playing more these last few minutes then I have before this. If I became bigger and less cute that would also help. Don''t tell her that I like this form okay?} The bard nodded. {Do you know the conditions for you to get stronger?} Ken sighed/mewed. {For my lynx form to get stronger I have to increase my animal skills. I don''t know what the requirements are for me to strengthen my human transformation so I can be human longer. But both will probably take a while.} {I see. Then I have an idea on what we can do for the next few hours before you come over for dance lessons.} The door to the crafting room swung open. "I''m finished!" Princess cried out happily. "Ken, come over here." She crouched down. The housecat sized lynx kitten came forward. Princess started scratching and petting her friend. He resisted the urge to purr the game system had given him. Before Ken knew it, something was synched around his neck. [You have been equipped with ''Ken''s pet collar. Do to your appearance being relatively close to a domesticated cat, others will likely mistake you for someone''s pet. You are Ken, the feline this collar was intended for. This collar will give you +10HP while worn. To others, Dancing Princess, Jericho the Bard, or both are now labeled as your owners. As no pet contract is in play, you do not actually have an owner.] (Lux come over here! It is your turn!) Princess called out and repeated the same process. "There, brother now you can tell them apart. Ken has the green collar and Lux has the yellow one. They look even cuter with collars don''t you agree?" Ken grumbled inaudibly a bit. "Indeed." Jericho replied casually. "I want to keep crafting. I have a lot of things I want to make. Brother, Ken you two go and have fun without me for now." She gave them a slightly crazed enthusiastic look. Jericho nodded. "I''ll message you for dinner and dance lessons later." "Thanks!" She shouted as she slammed the door shut again. {This collar is stupid. Can you take it off? She put the latch out of my reach.} Ken had his paw and claws against the strap. He was trying to get them in the right spot to pull it off. Jericho shook his head. {Nope, it will actually help with my idea.} He picked up the empty box of supplies Princess had left outside. {What plan?} Ken asked lowing his forepaw. {You are not against hunting things down, however your current form makes it difficult to have the freedom to do so, right?} {Yeah. It would be dangerous for me if I became hunted while hunting other things especially with the aggro rules.} {Hop in. I am going to take the two of you somewhere where you will be able to train your skills to your heart''s content. Wearing the collars will help reduce the chance you will be attacked by other players.} {Even I don''t know such a place. How do you know of it?} Jericho let out a chuckle. {You do know of it and my idea will make sense when we get there.} {Fine.} (Come on Lux, let''s go into the box.) (Okay!) Jericho carried the two ''house cats'' away from the market area. {By the way, Ken what is a Patch? Purai mentioned one happening earlier.} {Right, you don''t know. A patch is additional content and a few changes to the current content of the game. I read about it, for a few hours tomorrow the game will go offline and can''t be played while they apply the new changes.} {Oh, okay.}He walked west towards the farmlands. {Why are we going over here?} Ken asked. {Wait, the rabbit infestation quest? Those creatures are all low level. How is that supposed to help us?} The bard kept looking forward. {Do you need experience points to increase skill proficiency?} {You have a point. So the goal will be to blitz through these low level enemies to raise our skills?} {Yep.} {If we do that¡­} Ken''s feline eyes brightened. "Hello there, young man. Did the mayor send you to help out with our rodent problems?" Jericho shook his head. "The mayor didn''t send me but I heard you were having a problem and brought with me a potential solution." "Oh? And what is that?" The farmer asked. "My two cats have been feeling rather energetic lately. I am willing to rent them to you for a few hours." {Renting us? This was your plan?} Ken asked. {How does that help?} Jericho looked at the in-game clock. "Three hours to be exact. They can hunt down these rabbits for you." "Oh it isn''t just rabbits. We have had all sorts of critters eating our crops." The farmer replied. "Then they can help by hunting all of them." "How much you are asking to rent these two fellows?" The bard smiled. "How about you reward us based on kills rather than hours; wouldn''t that be more useful to you?" "Well, we don''t have a lot we can reward you with but we can give you a copper per kill. You can also have all the loot dropped from the creatures." [Contract available: Rent your ''cats'' and let them loose into the farmer''s fields for a time. You will get 1 copper piece per kill. You get to keep all loot. This contract can be paused and re-engaged at any point as long as the farmers are having a pest problem.] "That is acceptable." Jericho replied. {No it is not! One copper per kill? That is exploitation! I refuse.} Ken exclaimed. The bard rotated the box and tipped the felines out. {The goal isn''t the money. You two being for rent is just an excuse for you to two to have free reign to train your skills, remember? If you are under contract the farmers will make sure the other players don''t attack you. Now you and Lux go have fun hunting. I''ll send you a message when it is almost time for dinner so you can come back.} Ken received a notification. [You have received a special monster quest. Mass Hunting: You and Lux have three hours. Kill as many pests as you can within that time limit. Rewards will be given depending upon your shared performance. Your kills and Lux''s kills are both recorded separately and together. You are not allowed to see any totals except for your personal ones.] Lux snarled playfully. (Brother Ken, I challenge you! Let''s see who can hunt the most!) Ken bore his teeth. (I accept, but what will the winner get?) (You can speak that weird whoosh speak with Jericho. Ask him to give a reward to the winner. Other than that, if you win you can brag about it.) Ken turned back to Jericho. {Lux and I are competing to see which of us can get the most kills. You should reward the winner.} Jericho nodded. {Competition can be a good motivator. The reward is a grilled fish. Unless you don''t want that Ken, then you can take the copper pieces.} {Sounds like a good plan.} He turned to Lux. (Winner gets a grilled fish all to themselves.) [Sibling competition: You and Lux are brothers and both have competitive streaks. Compete to see who can kill the most pests. Difficult pests will award more points. Lose: No reward from Jericho the Bard, Lux has bragging rights. Win: Gain a grilled fish as a reward and bragging rights.] Lux rushed off. (Ready? Go!) He shouted back. The kid gave chase and their competition began. [Lux and Ken have started a competition to see who can kill the most prey. You have chosen to reward the winner a grilled fish.] [Lux 2 kills] [Ken 1 kill] [Total 3] [Time remaining 2:57:07] Jericho laughed as he watched the two run through the fields as sudden inspiration hit him. He split himself, turned on the recording feature of the game, and pulled out his piano. "I challenge you!" Jericho said to his doppelganger. "You''re on." The two Jerichos started playing a very playful competitive sounding duet. Jericho turned off the video feature. "I think I will label this new song, Competitive Kittens. It has some kinks to work out but I think writing and performing this duet shouldn''t be that hard. I should start an album of songs that I make from inspiriting moments in game. Let''s refine it a bit further." He repeatedly played the playful competitive duet, refining the composition for three hours. He recorded himself one final time. "This should be a good enough recording for me to refine it in real life later." [Piano skill has improved. 2/10 Grandmaster] Ken was having a blast. (Most of my animal skills have already reached 3/10 beginner. If I do this about four or five more times I should be able to get one of them up to Adept. I wonder if I won, that grilled fish is sounding kind of tasty.) Jericho sent a message. [Time''s up. Grab Lux and come back.] The two kittens returned. Jericho looked at the expectant eyes. "Shameless cats." He laughed. He pulled out the grilled fish. "Lux won by 8 kills. It was close. Sorry Ken." The bard placed the fish in front of Lux. The one lynx ate happily. [You have lost the sibling competition. Lux has bragging rights. Lux has won a grilled fish.] Ken received an unfamiliar notification. [You and Lux have completed the monster quest, Mass Hunting and have earned your ''owner'' great rewards. You have gained 300 MExp. Please allocate if you want to use them to increase skill proficiency, be transferred into monster currency, or changed into Exp.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. {MExp?} He questioned aloud. Jericho nodded. {Yeah, when you complete quests as an in-game creature you gain that special Experience. Since you are worried about looking cool in front of my sister, I would suggest using it to increase your skill levels.} The farmer came back over. "Your cats are fantastic hunters killing 218 pests in the last few hours. That is way more than the adventurers the mayor has sent in the last few days. Here is the 2 silver and 18 copper you earned and all the corpses." "Thank you." The bard received the payment. [Contract completed.] [Your inventory is not large enough to receive all the items dropped.] 27 Shall we resume where we left off? Jericho lowered the box. "Ken, help me with the items for a bit and then hop in." Ken put the excess loot that Jericho couldn''t carry into his inventory. {When we log back in, we should clear out the random loot from your inventory. It will help.} The two felines jumped back into the box. "Sure thing." Jericho sent a message to Princess. [Dinner and dance lessons in 45 minutes. Finish up your project and log off.] Ken started looking over MExp''s descriptions in detail and started carefully assigning things. {If I assign points to claw, bite, and tracking I can get them up from 3/10 to 5/10. I''ll have 30 MExp left. If I assign it to monster form it will go up to 2/10 making spending less time on four legs more achievable. I didn''t even have the option to put any into Human form. Master skills must be really hard to improve}. {Ready?} Jericho asked. The Bard and hunter logged off. 45 minutes later¡­ Moria swallowed her food. "What did the two of you end up doing while I crafted things?" Ken slumped. Today had already been a very embarrassing day for him. His ''cool'' image had been totally ruined and he didn''t want to make it worse by having to tell her he hunted for rats and enjoyed it. Reading the mood, Jericho smiled. "Ken, Lux, and I trained some of our skills. We didn''t want to level up without you and thought it would be best." The girl smiled. "Oh, then is that something you can keep doing for a bit longer?" Jericho frowned. "What are you making that is taking so long?" "It is more than one thing and it''s a secret." She replied. "Besides, I''m having a lot of fun making things. We can adventure more after I finish making the things I want to make." "Fine." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ken grimaced as he finished his food. Jericho smiled. "Well Ken, are you up for more skill grinding?" The boy nodded. "Yeah." The adult picked up the dishes and put them in the sink. "Shall we resume where we left off?" Moira asked. Jericho retrieved his instruments and the two 12 year olds started dancing. "Ken, your reflexes are getting better." The girl exclaimed happily. The teen chuckled. "Thanks. Alex would say that it is something related to the natural benefits of gaming and some sort fancy explanation." Moira laughed as she spun. "True, he would say something like that. He knows a lot about technology." The bleached haired youth smiled. The girl smiled back. "At this rate you should be able to perform a simple swing dance with me in game in a week. Assuming you are standing on two legs." She teased. *** On the walk home the two males talked once more. "Thanks for the save back there. I didn''t want to tell her that I had a competition on who could kill the most rodents with Lux." Ken sighed. "I''m also glad that my sighing didn''t sound like a sad kitten tonight." Jericho chuckled. "You aren''t the only male to lose their cool image in front of Moira since the game started. I understand that desire to hide the ''uncool'' part of yourself. Trust me; right now she thinks you are one of the coolest guys in her life right now." "Really? Even after today, cute fluffy paws and all, she still thinks I''m cool?" "Yes she does. You wanting to dance with her has made her extremely happy and boosted your coolness by a lot. Of course, she will tease you forever about being an adorable kitten and will probably find ways to bring it up or embarrass you further, so get used to it. Since you said the patch will take some time to complete, you want to come over and dance some more during the patch time tomorrow instead of the evening?" "Sure, it will give me something to do." "I was curious Ken, how were you able to adapt to being a cat so quickly?" "The game''s system has been helping a lot. It is part of the skill. I know you learned a lot of your skills in game by bringing your real life skills into the game world, but have you learned any from the system?" "I have." "Then did you notice how the knowledge and basic experiences of how to use the skill seemed to just be taught to you?" "So it is the same thing then?" "Yep, it is the same technology they use at school. But a good portion of my current skill is the all the extra practice I got while wrestling with Lux." They arrived back at Ken''s house. "Thanks to the MExp my main skills are now at 5/10. I didn''t know it was so OP." Jericho raised an eyebrow. "MExp is OP? Explain." "Normally I would have had to repeat what I did with such perfect grinding conditions the last three hours again to reach where I am at, but because of the MExp I will probably reach Adept sooner than expected. It is way overpowered. Unless someone is extremely skilled, getting 3 skills from the start of beginner to adept in less than a day is extremely crazy." Jericho nodded. "Well at least I know why Shiarra was saying that my skills were growing really fast. But MExp is what creatures usually use to level up. It only seems overpowered to us because we use it to invest into skills." "That still doesn''t change the fact that it is overpowered." "If you noticed, it can only be used to raise monster and directly related skills so it can''t help you improve most of your normal skills." "That is true." "It isn''t something you can accumulate for higher grade skills; and also, could a wild monster set up the same conditions we did?" "No. They would probably have a much harder time finding so much fodder without getting hunted themselves. Which brings up the question, what will happen when I upgrade to adept?" "You will probably grow a tier, gain a few more animal skills and look more like an adult lynx. Why do you ask?" "Don''t the farmers think we are domestic cats? How do we explain my sudden growth?" "I''ll talk to the farmers to make sure you won''t have too much trouble. By the way what did Lux do with his MExp? He got some too right? "Yeah, He put a lot of it into his paw fishing skill, raising it up to 7/10 Adept before using the rest to raise his level a bit since he is behind me. He will probably take a while longer to get back to his former status considering how much he loves fish. I am curious though, how do you know so much about MExp? I thought you were a gaming noob." Jericho laughed. "Since I know you in person I can share the secret. However, this stays between you, me, and Moira until I tell you otherwise." "I can keep it a secret." Jericho smiled. "I''m a water elemental like the one you met earlier." "Really? Then how come I have never seen you in that form? We have adventured together quite a bit. Is your human form skill higher then master?" Jericho shook his head. "I don''t have a ''human form'' skill. I have an ability known as Form Shift and it doesn''t have a ranking. Yours is a skill?" "Yeah, it is. Thankfully it is already a Master ranked skill otherwise the amount of time I could spend as a human would be significantly less. Why do you ask?" "Let''s try an experiment later. I have a music skill that targets and improves a specific skill I know about. I wonder what would happen If I used that while focusing on your human form ability." "Alright. Do you have an idea why it is different for you? I mean they are both types of shapeshifting." "If I had to guess, Glaw would probably say something like it is because yours comes from your character''s blood while mine comes from a change in the soul or something fancy like that." "I guess that makes sense. I''m a bit jealous you can transform when you want and don''t have a timer like me. Well, I should go inside so I can log in." "Oh, Ken, one last question; what do you want to do about Purai?" He asked. "I''ll forgive her. She warned us she wasn''t confident and I asked her to do so anyways. It wasn''t her fault for thinking I was a lynx. Moira was right. Her mistake became a happy little accident. Don''t tell Moira, but I really like playing as an animal. Hunting and wrestling like that are thrilling. It isn''t something I could do much as an archer." Jericho shook his head. "Sorry, I wasn''t clear with what I meant to ask. Do you plan on being human around Purai?" "Why do you ask?" "Purai currently thinks you are an NPC creature. I know you saw how easily her emotions seemed to be affected." "Ah, I think I understand why you are asking now. If I appear as a healthy and happy lynx, her confidence will be boosted but I won''t be able to use my archery or human skills until after she leaves. If I appeared as a human, she would probably apologize profusely and feel disheartened again." "Right; that is the risk. It is highly possible I have misjudged her but I''m usually a pretty good judge of character. Right now, Purai seems fragile. While lying is problematic, sometimes the truth is best spoken when a person has become stronger." Ken frowned. "I don''t want to be a kitten when I see her next. Let''s log in and boost me up to tier 2 since we have the time and Moira sounds like she will be distracted for a while. We can tell Purai about her mistake later. I don''t want to have to deal with apologies that seem like it is the end of the world. It will make helping her get past the satyrs much harder. But I have a different idea that may work out better." "Sounds good, we can sell things and resume where we left off. I''ll see you in game my four legged friend." "Shut it." *** They logged into the game. Princess continued to hole herself up in the crafting room to work on her ''secret project''. Jericho sold the excess loot he and Ken had before carried the box back over to the farmers. "Hello again!" He called out. The farmer looked up. "Ah, it is the cat man. Are your cats already feeling rambunctious again already?" "Indeed, but that is because of something important I didn''t tell you last time." "Oh?" The farmer asked. "These cats are actually lynxes. The reason they are better hunters than your domestic cats is because these are wild animals my sister and I have tamed." Realization hit the farmer. "No wonder. Well, same deal as last time. I''ll reward you based on the number of kills these two get." Jericho nodded. "Thank you. But I have a favor to ask." "Shoot." "The one with the green collar may grow before they are done hunting. Can you help make sure he isn''t attacked by other adventurers?" "Sure, as long as he doesn''t try to attack us we can do that." "Thank you." He dumped the kittens out of the box. {Same deal as last time, I will give the winner my last grilled fish. However the competition between you two will end when Ken grows to tier 2 or Princess says she is done whichever comes first. If she isn''t done by the time you rank up, keep hunting.} Ken translated for Lux and the battle began anew. Jericho pulled out his piano and once again continued to practice and refine that playful duet and extended its length. 28 I.D. Ten T. Jericho turned to the sound of clapping behind him. A familiar looking man stood in front of him. "Ah, Michael, right? Good morning." He asked the square jawed, brown haired fan. Michael Rune smiled, revealing slight dimpled beneath his unshaven face. "I''m surprised you remember my name, Jericho Maestro. You have a good memory. But please, call me RuneHeart. Is that a new duet you are writing? It''s really good so far." The bard laughed. "It is. Thank you, RuneHeart. I thought you looked familiar when you approached last time. What can I do for you, my fellow musician and former best friend? Last I knew we agreed never to speak again." "I have a shameless request, especially after I mocked you by calling you a relic of the past that belonged in a museum..." He paused "When I learned you were playing the game and had caught the attention of Xanoth, I realized just how wrong I was. I''m sorry." He looked down in shame. Jericho smiled and grabbed the man''s upper arm. "It''s alright Mikey Heart; we were both hot-blooded young adults back then. You weren''t wrong though; my method of playing instruments to create music is definitely outdated. If you think about it, this game world is like jumping back into the past but with magic and really cool creatures. It makes sense that I am more in-tune with my musical element here. So what is this shameless request of yours?" "First, can you please just call me by my artist name? I''ll feel less awkward that way." "Sure RuneHeart, now ask your request." "Will you teach me how to play these older musical instruments?" He asked. "I really want to bring my own music into the game like you have. There have been times I have felt inspired by something and couldn''t work on it until after I logged off. It is really frustrating." "I know the feeling. When I worked and was away from my instruments it was hard. I''m not opposed to teaching you, but I will have to check with my biggest fan and the one you made the most upset back then, my little sister. I remember her saying some unpleasant words we were all shocked to hear come out of a five year old''s mouth." RuneHeart chuckled slightly and scratched his cheek. "She was so calm and gentle I didn''t expect her to call me a son of a motherless seagull and an ''I, D, ten, T,'' like they were the greatest insults in the world." "Wow, she must have left a decent impact on you if you remember the insults that clearly." The other musician half-smiled. "Not really, they were just so funny I couldn''t forget them. If I''m right, Moira is Dancing Princess. Where is she? I know I will probably get an earful, but I think I should ask for permission in person." "Fair enough. I''ll be meeting up with her in a while. You are welcome to come with us unless she banishes you. Regardless, if you would like, we can try being friends again." [Jericho the Bard has sent you a friend request.] RuneHeart smiled as he accepted the friend request. "Thanks, does this mean we can put the past behind us?" Jericho laughed. "The past was always behind us. I forgave you a long time ago, but I am glad to see you have matured just a bit." "I didn''t want to forgive you until recently. I''m glad, other than your temperament which seem much more upbeat than before, you have stayed the same. So what is that instrument called?" Jericho brought him over. "This is a piano. It is one of the few instruments that can be played with many notes and chords simultaneously. A lot of the ancient classical songs were performed on the piano." He pulled out a bench and started playing Chopin''s Waltz in A minor. "You might recognize this one considering one of your best pieces is inspired by it." The musician let out a light laugh. "Wait, you have been listening to my music still? How did you know? Not even most of my fans know the inspiration for my Ghostly Ballroom." "Knowing these older pieces comes with the territory of learning how to play instruments. When I heard your song, I recognized the style. Besides, our mutual dislike for each other didn''t change the fact that you are talented and I enjoyed the music you made." "Oh, that makes sense. While I would have never admitted it in the past, I was always jealous that your music gave off a stronger feeling then mine did." "That is a unique aspect to playing something you created rather than filling in something you create. While your music is more flawless, it is hard to pore your soul into a music making program as the feelings and creation times are difficult to synchronize. I can pore my soul into the instrument as I play. The exact feelings I have go into the notes actively produced. The things I project to others are able to be received more effectively because of that." "Huh, I never really thought of it like that. I didn''t know you knew some complex scientific facts like that." "Science? No, that is simply something my grandfather taught me. Apparently it is something ancient musicians held to for quite some time." RuneHeart laughed. "I see. Now I want to learn how you play even more. I want to hear the difference in my own music when I recreate it." Jericho gave a nod. "So how is Xanoth doing? I haven''t talked to him in a while either." He asked while continuing to play. "The guy is doing great. He has been raving about how cool you are for a few days now. You know how he can get when he gets overly excited about something. It is almost like that recluse turns into a completely different person. He even suggested creating a guild for musicians so we can emulate you." Jericho sighed and stopped playing. "Sometimes his ideas are not all that great. Gathering the musicians together in a guild is almost as bad of an idea as his musician''s conference we had a few years ago where it turned into a huge musical debate and who should be recognized at the top 100 artists in the area. I know he meant well, but we musicians can be quite fierce." RuneHeart laughed. "That''s true. Most of his ideas are great but every once in a while he goes a little too far. You got to like him though. He is a great guy." Jericho nodded. "Indeed, he is a great friend despite the fact that he is rarely social." "Yeah." Princess sent a message. [I''m done!] Jericho sent a message to Ken. [Call it. Princess is done.] [The competition has ended. Ken 1231 kills. Lux 1223 kills.] [Total kills 2454] [Thanks to you and your pet''s efforts the pest population has dwindled. The farmer''s crops should be safe for quite some time.] The bard smiled. [Be there in a bit.] He replied to his sister. "Eight again but this time it is the reverse." "What was that?" The other musician inquired. "I''m going to keep practicing the duet. I want to refine it some more while I still have it fresh on my mind." Jericho answered and resumed having his two halves playfully battle it out on the piano. After a few playthroughs, RuneHeart couldn''t keep his curiosity down. "What is this piece called and what is it about this place that gave you the sudden inspiration to make it?" Jericho laughed as he sent a message to Ken. [Where are you guys? Selling stuff is going to take some time right?] He looked up. "It is titled, Competitive Kittens, and you will see what inspired me soon enough." [Your ''pets'' have entered combat with hostile humans. Their kill count will be reflected on you as their owner.] RuneHeart cocked an eyebrow. "That is a strange name for a¡­" he started. {Glaw, Ken and Lux are in trouble.} {I saw, are we going to assist?} Jericho hesitated. {I know you hate fighting but are you going to let two of the mortals you sent out there and care about be hunted down and killed?} Jericho''s eyes turned grey as regret and grief reminded him of his parents. His thoughts started berating him. -They died because you sent them.- -You knew the danger and chose to do nothing.- -Did you really love them? Why would you let them die if you did?- -You could have saved them but you didn''t.- {The water element in your body is in chaos.} Glaw commentated. {Why are you in turmoil? Isn''t trying to save them as simple as going and doing something?} The darkness intensified as Glaw''s words hit Jericho right where it hurt the most. RuneHeart noticed Jericho being distracted. "What''s going on?" "My sister''s friend is in danger." He replied listlessly. "I heard you turned into a pacifist. Where are they? I''ll go help them, I specialize in electric magic." {Are we going?} Glaw asked. Jericho clenched his fist. "Let''s go." He put away the piano and ran towards the farmer''s fields. *** [Call it. Princess is done.] [...] Ken assigned the Mexp. He felt his body grow and the weakness of being a tier 1 creature leaving him. [Your claw skill has reached 0/10 Adept] [Your bite skill has reached 0/10 Adept.]¡­ [Your animal (Predator) skill line has grown to Tier 2. You have grown to a tier 2 lynx. You have gained the skills Thick hide 0/10 beginner, Fierce Roar 0/10 beginner¡­] Pleased with the results, Ken went to go find Lux. The farmers watched carefully and relaxed after seeing the lynx show no hostile intent towards them. Lux and Ken ran into each other. (Brother Ken! Now you really are like my older brother! You should improve your fishing skills so you can catch fish for your adorable little brother!) Ken let out a feline laugh sound. (Dream on, little brother. You promised me a while back that you would do all the fishing for both of us. Besides, you need to grow stronger too.) (It was worth a shot.) Lux muttered before leaping at a nearby rat to vent. "Woah, a field boss spawned out here? Awesome!" A man shouted. "Let''s get it!" Another person replied. (Crap! Lux, hide!) Ken roared as he noticed a group of five rush towards him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The small lynx backed off and hid. The armored man in front charged at Ken. The lynx leaped to the side avoiding the blow. [You have become engaged in combat with other players. As an in-game creature you are subject to the rules of Aggression. Unless you possess specific skills that ignore or reset the aggression counter you cannot attack any other creature except your target. Unless your enemy flees, you must continue the fight. As you are ''owned'' by Jericho the Bard all kills you achieve will be placed on his head.] [If you wish to flee combat, you may activate your Human Form skill; however, there are many witnesses. Monster to Human and Human to Monster transformations are feared by most people in this world. Your infamy may rise.] [Monster to Monster transformations are not as feared and are expected to a degree.] Ken felt upset as he fought the group''s tank. Logically, taking out the healer and the highest damage dealers would be the wisest course of action because the tank of a group was usually a high health difficult to kill opponent. The closest farmer tried to rush forward. "Wait, stop fighting please!" She cried out. "The dagger wielding damage dealer pushed the farmer away. "These beasts are dangerous it is best if you stay back." The farmer frowned. "These beasts are helping us hunt down our pests and they belong to someone else. Stop!" She shouted as she tried pulling the rogue''s arm away. The dagger wielder pushed the woman to the ground. "If you don''t want to get killed, get out of here." He lifted his dagger threateningly. The farmer seeing the malicious intent in the man''s eyes backed off in fear. The fight continued. Lux grew angry. (How dare you attack my brother and the nice lady trying to help him!) Ken''s ears twitched. (Lux wait!) The kitten paused before jumping into combat. (Sneak behind them and take out the guy in white.) He directed. The kitten worked his way around the group. Ken noticed his health dropping to 50% (Monster form). He snarled as he stood on his hind legs, not even thinking that he was acting the same way monster bosses typically do when their health drops. He hopped back out of the fighter''s range and drew his bow with his clawed hands. (It feels really weird but here goes.) Ken thought back to the sounds of the dance lessons. Despite his knees being the wrong direction and his feet still being oversized paws, he was able to pick up a rhythm again. "The boss has entered its second phase guys, we''ve got this!" Their tank shouted. 29 The Other Jericho Glaw emerged from Jericho as they arrived at the battle field. {I''ll be outside of you until you calm back down. The turmoil of the elements in your body is too great for me to safely stay merged with you.} "So we are here to help take out the monsters?" RuneHeart inquired. Jericho shook his head. "That big monster is my sister''s friend. I thought the farmers were going to keep them save while he and the little one hunted." He noticed the damage Ken was taking and pulled out his piano. "What are you doing?" RuneHeart asked. The bard flashed a deranged almost vile smile as he split into two. "Doing what I do best." {Glaw, will you go and join the fight?} {I haven''t had a good fight in a while. I''ll take pleasure in it.} The first Jericho started playing the song of Healing part 1 to heal up his allies health, stamina and magic, while the other Jericho walked towards the fight. "Stop trying to kill my friends!" He shouted at the party. The group of five looked over and saw Jericho''s beginner gear. "You are hilarious. You think we will stop just because you say so? Go back and cry to your mommy. Oh wait, she probably doesn''t care either." The bard clenched his fist. His feelings of grief and regret he was already feeling sparked a depressed rage. "So you won''t leave peacefully?" He confirmed. Jericho''s entire demeanor radiated an extremely ugly feeling. They laughed as they continued to attack Ken, whose health was regenerating. "Leave? When we have such a great boss here? You''re delusional man. There is nothing you can do to stop us from killing this cat." RuneHeart stepped forward. "I''ll fight them. Jericho step back." "No." Jericho replied fiercely. The light in his eyes vanished. They were filled with a dark void. "I will not let these people murder my friends." He stormed back to the piano in a fury to join his clone playing the healing piece. He pulled out the zither. Loud heavy chords from both instruments echoed across the nearby farmlands as the once calming song from the piano turned fast, dark, ominous, and weighty. An intense feeling of doom and dread filled the enemies. [You have created a cursed composition: Rhapsody of Doom] [You have gained the rare skill line Death-Bringer Tier 3] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [Rhapsody of Doom 1/10 Expert: A Rhapsody filled with unbridled emotions of grief, regret, rage, pain, agony and other powerful emotions. Enemies who hear this song will be filled with a feeling of dread and impending doom. They may experience mental aliments as a result. Once the rhapsody is completed, the player of this piece will enter a doomed state, receiving a -15% to all stats as punishment for desiring others to feel their own agony for 10 minutes. Adept bonus: Enemies who hear this piece will suffer a -3% to all stats. At the end of the piece, all enemies will receive the status effect Doom, -10% to all stats for 10 minutes.Expert bonus: The skills of enemies who hear this piece will cost twice as much Stamina, HP, and MP to use. Note that Rhapsody of Doom cannot be properly performed without the correct emotions. If emotions are missing, the composition will not produce the desired effects.] Affected by the composition, the enemies started to fall. Lux took out the healer and a mage; Ken slew the tank and the rouge, while Glaw brought the other fighter to his death. [Your murder count has reached 5 thanks to your pets and monster companions slaying people. The witnesses know the truth and have agreed that you and your helpful pets should not be punished for defending yourselves. Your murder count has been reduced to 0.] [You have greatly assisted in the deaths of 5 hostile mortals. You have gained 750 Exp and 650 MExp. Assign?] {Assign to Mutable body.} Jericho murmured. [570MExp assigned to Mutable body. Mutable body has reached Adept 9/10] [You have 80MExp remaining]. Knowing that he didn''t have enough to make a difference with his elemental skills, he assigned the rest into MC. [You have entered a state of Doom for 10 minutes. All stats are reduced by 15%.] [You have 250 MC] Unknown to the performers, Ken, who had returned to his animal form, was quietly looting the corpses. "Wow, I underestimated you once again. That was intense. I haven''t seen this side of you before. I always thought you were a peace loving freak with a short temper." Jericho took a deep breath and frowned as the light slowly returned to his still dark eyes, "and it mostly likely won''t be the last time you see it either." {We are back!} Ken called out. {Who won?} The two felines stared expectantly at Jericho once again. The bard laughed as he suppressed the dark feelings once more. He pulled out his last grilled fish and put it in front of Ken. "You won by 8 Ken, the two of you are tied." The other musician looked shocked. "These two cats were competing? How is that fair? The one is clearly a higher grade creature." Jericho nodded. "Before, these two brothers were the same size. The big guy must have grown after the competition ended." Ken, with his much more regal and mature feline face frowned. {You aren''t telling the whole world about me, are you?} He asked as he reached the halfway point in eating the fish. Jericho shook his head. {Nope, just answering a question without sharing any details.} Lux''s saliva started dripping from his small mouth. Ken looked over. (Here,) he passed the fish. The smaller cat swallowed and looked up. (Are you sure brother Ken?) The larger cat nodded. (You worked hard fighting those mean people; it would have been much harder without your help.) He pushed the fish closer. RuneHeart gave a confused look to Jericho. "Wow, they are so nice to each other. You mentioned that duet was called Competitive Kittens? I can''t see how them competing would give off the feeling you did when you played that duet earlier." "If you had seen their competition you would understand." Jericho replied still shaking slightly from the heavy emotions he just pounded out. {Ken, you are too big to fit in the box now.} Jericho teased to ease his own emotional burden. {That is okay, I feel much better now that the cuteness is gone. So what is with the other person?} Jericho crouched down and started petting Lux to continue calming down before turning back to Ken. {He is a fellow musician. He has something important to ask Princess. Let''s go collect the rewards, sell some stuff and go find her. It is nearly afternoon again. We should still have some time before the patch.} Ken gave a light nod. {Yeah, not getting attacked would be nice. Oh, the collar broke when I grew. My neck feels so much freer now. But more importantly Jericho, do you want to talk about what happened back there? You weren''t acting like your normal self. When you started pounding on the piano, I felt like there was something almost¡­} {I''ll be fine} He interrupted. {And if you want, I can ask Moira to make you a new collar. I''m sure she would love to.} {Please don''t.} The bard turned back to RuneHeart. "We have a few minor errands to accomplish before we meet up with Princess. You can accompany us if you would like." Jericho started to walk forward. RuneHeart nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I really hope she will agree to let me learn from you. Seeing you play just now made me realize how much there is to learn." "It would be nice." Jericho replied as they approached the farmer. "Wow, your lynxes are very impressive. Here is the 24 silver, 55 copper and all the corpses as promised. I am sorry we couldn''t stop those people from attacking your pets. They threatened us as well." Jericho received the loot and Ken once again helped with the inventory issue. [Contract complete. The farmers will not likely need your help again for some time.] "Everything worked out. Thank you for at least trying to step in. I''m glad these two were able to help with your rodent problem. Besides, the big one has gotten much stronger thanks to you agreeing to let them hunt." The farmer nodded. "While we won''t need the help for a while, I suspect I will see you again sometime, cat man." The bard chuckled at the nickname. "Until next time," he replied to the farmer. "We should go. Come on you two!" He shouted to the felines. Lux hopped into the box. Ken excitedly assigned the new batch of MExp from the fight to his skills. Jericho, RuneHeart, and Ken walked back towards Pren. Jericho messaged his sister. [Sorry we took so long, we are heading your way. I''m bringing an old friend. He wants to learn how to play musical instruments from me but I said I would need to check with you first.] She replied with a ''thumbs up''. After selling the random stuff dropped from the hunt, they headed to where Princess''s temporary workshop waslocated. RuneHeart stopped as something dawned on him. "You forgot the drops!" He face-palmed and shook his head. "They are probably gone by now." "The drops?" Jericho asked. The other musician nodded. "Yeah, while PK doesn''t drop anything from your inventory like other games did, they still drop items that would make sense for them to drop, like NPCs. It''s too late now though." Ken looked a little smug but it was hard to see past the naturally proud feline look he had. Princess looked up. "You''re back!" She looked over to the collarless Ken. (Good job Lux for growing bigger.) She gave the larger cat a hug. Ken felt happy, even though he knew he was being mistaken for the wrong cat. Lux lifted himself up to the top of the box. (But I didn''t grow bigger, brother Ken did.) The girl let go of her friend and sat down on the ground before letting out a light chuckle. (Oh, sorry Ken. What happened to your collar?) Lux leaped out of the box and onto Princess''s lap. (It went snap! Then brother Ken and I fought off mean people and Jericho played some scary music.) She raised an eyebrow. (Ken, care to give me the details?) (Strangely the collar didn''t adjust to my new size like I originally expected it would. It broke off. We were attacked by a group of people but we handled it fine. Your brother pounded on the piano and that other instrument he likes and our enemies got weaker. It was like he was a different person.) Princess looked a little despondent. (So, you saw The Other Jericho he tries to hide even from me. Something must have triggered his...) She looked over to her brother and looked at his pale face and tranquil dark eyes before turning back. (Don''t worry, he has calmed down. He will be able to adventure with Purai just fine tonight.) Ken slumped slightly. (Can''t I worry about your brother too?) Princess let out a sad laugh. (Sometimes worrying can hurt that person more. It is best to move forward at this point. If it makes you feel better, I will talk with him later.) RuneHeart coughed awkwardly. Princess looked up at the man. "You must be the guy who wants my brother to teach you." She said. RuneHeart nodded. "I did. I came to ask for your permission." The girl frowned. "Michael Rune, the guy who shared with us the basic information about the area before right?" The guy nodded. "The one and the same, Moira; it seems your memory is as good as your brother''s." Hearing her real life name, her suspicions were confirmed. "You''re Mike, that ruined child of the motherless seagull that told my brother he belonged in a museum. You''re shameless enough to ask my brother to teach you how to play music his way after seeing how effective it is? Do you also want to join us in the museum? I don''t think they have one of you on display yet." She oozed malicious intent. The musician scratched his cheek. "I already apologized to your brother. He said he was okay with the idea if you were." Princess smirked. "From what I have seen, music lessons typically cost 25 Credits an hour. However, you won''t be able to find someone to teach you how to play instruments as well as my brother. It is something you musicians have forgotten how to do so how about 50 Credits an hour?" RuneHeart sighed. "I''m not sure I can afford that much." Jericho gave his sister a ''be nicer'' type of look. The dancer continued her smile as she acknowledged her brother''s forgiveness of the man in front of her. "But since you are an old friend and my brother seems to have forgiven you, we can give you a friend discount. How about you pay 35 Credits an hour and you agree to admit to others that my brother is your teacher." The man half smiled. "I can do that. When and how should we do lessons, Jericho?" He asked to avoid the scary pre-teen in front of him. "In person would be best but we can do it over holo-conference. What are your weekday mornings like?" "Usually I spend the morning working on my music so that is actually a great time. Are you still living at your parent''s place?" Jericho grimaced, his former friend didn''t know about his parent''s deaths. "Yeah, I''m still living there." He replied with a very subtle lifelessness in his voice. "Then I''ll come by Monday morning around 10 AM. See you then." Jericho shook his head. "I''ve got something important to take care of on Monday. Come by Tuesday or Wednesday." "Tuesday it is then." The other musician left, happily. 30 Isll see you all again "Thanks." Jericho half smiled. Princess beamed. "Well, at least you can earn some money while I am at school now." Jericho gave a nod back and pulled out his wooden flute and resumed playing the calming medley he was playing back at the elven village. The girl turned to her friend. (By the way Ken, you look great! You look a lot like Lux did before everything happened this morning.) The boy''s short tail wiggled happily out of sight. (I look much cooler now right?) (Definitely; how is it walking on all fours like that?) Ken looked around to make sure nobody was around before reverting to his human form. "With the game system''s help I am getting used to it. I prefer my human form still." Princess laughed. "Alex would mention something about the glory of technology right now." He inwardly grumbled that she brought up Alex again. "Truly, it is still strange how natural that body feels but how much it doesn''t seem to affect my normal self. Oh, Princess, can I ask you for a favor?" "You need a new collar right?" "Um, I didn''t mean that." He shuddered at the thought. "I know how honest you are. I was wondering if you could not say anything about my current condition to anyone except me and your brother." He shuffled awkwardly. Princess smiled. "You are right, I don''t really have much of a filter, but I am good at keeping secrets. You will tell people about your condition on your own. Even my brother has secrets I''m helping him keep. Your secret isn''t mine to tell. Besides keeping secrets and being honest are two different things." "Thanks." He replied. "By the way, Jericho, how high is your luck stat?" Jericho lowed the flute, "fifteen." He resumed playing. "No wonder, if that was tripled in earlier levels¡­" he replied. "Princess, I know you prefer dancing outfits but here are some sandals and a cape. They are level 10 equipment so we will need to level up a bit more before you can use them, but it will at least give you a bit more defense in case you get attacked." Princess smiled. "Thanks Ken but¡­" "Take them; they are too weak for me right now. Besides, I got them from the people that attacked us. If you don''t like them, you can switch them out later for better ones." He interrupted. "Thanks." She replied taking the items. "And for you Jericho, here is some leather pants armor. It shouldn''t affect your movement much but it will at least keep you safer once you can equip it." He handed over the pants. Jericho grabbed the armor and put it in his inventory with a swift motion as he took a breath to keep playing. [You have gained the Flute skill 8/10 Master] "Oh yeah, Jericho, you wanted to try out something with my human form skill?" The pre-teen recalled. The bard snapped out of his thoughts. He put his flute away and pulled out the guitar. "Right." He started strumming while focusing on the blond haired pre-teen''s ''Human Form'' ability. Ken received a few notifications. [You are under the effects of the Composition of (Human Form). While the piece is playing, your human form timer will reduce at half speed. After the composition is completed a minute will be restored to your transformation timer. Because you are the only ally with this skill, the effects will be doubled. The timer will reduce at quarter speed and two minutes will be restored when completed.] The bard ended the melody. "Jericho, the effects are amazing! Not only is the timer slowed down while you play, when you finish it gives me extra minutes." Ken exclaimed excitedly. "If you use your song, I can be human all day long." Jericho gave a nod. "Today it won''t make much of a difference though, right?" A server announcement was made. [The server will shut down in 30 minutes and will be offline until 7:00 PM tonight. Please finish up what you are currently doing and log off. The game company is not responsible for any items, progress, experience, or other things lost or misplaced because of a failure to log off.] The three put away their items and logged off. *** The day was festive as Moira and Kenneth danced. "Ken, I have a great idea!" Moira shouted. "What''s that?" "You should learn a line dance with me. There are quite a few of them that fit with what we have been practicing." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "A line dance?" Ken asked. "Yeah, it is a type of western dance that has a series of steps that are performed before you rotate and do it again. Normally they are done with lots of people and they are a lot of fun. Jericho wrote a song that I made a dance to. It will be perfect for you to practice your swing steps with." Ken chuckled awkwardly. "Will I have time to learn it?" Moira gave a nod. "Yep, most basic line dances like the one my brother and I made are fairly easy to follow even if you don''t know the dance." Jericho turned on a partial recording and started playing a melody on fiddle. Moira started to dance. "Ken, watch me and then when you think you can follow along stand next to me and dance too!" Ken''s eyes widened with both shock and excitement. "That almost looks like¡­" *** Purai looked calmly around the forest before receiving an anticipated system notification. [Your friends Dancing Princess and Jericho the Bard have come online. She sent them a message. [I''m on my way over to Lilly''s flower garden. I will meet you there. How are Lux and Ken doing?] The bard promptly sent a reply to Purai. [They are doing great, they both seem much happier after your serum removed Ken''s curses. See you there.] Purai excitedly traveled over to where Lilly''s flower garden was. "Finally, I did something right." She clenched her fist happily. "I can do this!" The flowers and the young elf came into view. "Lilly!" Purai called out. "Purai! You are back! Did my new friends find you?" Lillith inquired with a bright smile. The healer nodded. "They did and what is even better is I was able to get rid of the lynx''s curses!" "I knew you could do it!" She gave the healer a hug. "I bet they were so grateful! I should tell everyone to be nicer to my new friends since they brought you back happy." Purai smiled sadly and patted the young elf''s head. "Lillith, I''m leaving." The young elf held tighter and remained silent for a bit. "Will you come back sometime and play with me some more?" The healer hugged Lilly back. "I''ll visit. But it may take me some time." "I understand." The elf let go of the healer and picked up a beautiful white flower. "For you, may it keep our friendship pure even when we are far apart." Purai teared up. "Thank you Lilly." She reached into her own bag and retrieved a book. "This is my collection book of our adventures together. Keep it so we can add more to it when we meet again in the future." The sounds of footsteps approached. Lillith looked over. "Ah, new friends welcome back! Where is your other friend?" Jericho smiled. "Hi Lillith, our other friend was a bit busy and couldn''t make it." "I see, Thank you for helping Purai." [You have completed Help Purai. You have gained Lillith''s gratitude. You have gained 300 Exp.] "Are the four of you also leaving?" She asked, looking at the cats strangely, noticing the extra one. "We are. Thank you so much for your help Lillith, we will be back." Jericho replied. "By the way where did the extra lynx come from?" Jericho gave Ken a look to see what he wanted to do. The pre-teen sighed and assumed his human form. "I''m actually here, Lillith." He paused. "Hello Purai." He said aloud. The healer looked over at the cat who had just become a person. "Who?" She paused as she thought the blond in front of her looked incredibly familiar. "Relax, it''s me, Ken." "Wait, you''re a human?" She started to inwardly panic. "Wait you''re not human?" Lillith asked. Ken shook his head. "No, I''m a lynx." Purai sighed in relief. "I wanted to tell you thank you for helping me get rid of those curses and giving me this cool transformation ability." The healer''s eyes widened in shock. "I did all of that?" Lillith frowned as she stared at Ken. Ken nodded with a smile. "Yeah, my little brother and I have been very happy all day thanks to your help." The young elf came over. "But you were clearly human when I met you. And Lux was much bigger." Ken laughed. "I know. It was a side effect of both our curses. By the time we met up with Purai, I had taken all of Lux''s curses and he reverted back to being a kitten. If you must blame anything for the crazy curses, you should blame the fog." Lillith sighed. "Oh, I get it now. Sorry for assuming you were human." The pre-teen shook his head. "There was no reason for you to assume otherwise. If I had to apologize for every time I made an assumption, there would be no end to the apologizing." "Really?" The young elf asked back. "Yeah, people will assume what seems apparent to them, even if it is wrong. Don''t beat yourself up for being wrong. Just give yourself more time to think and observe so you can act instead of react. While that won''t appease everyone, it will help you out." Ken crouched down and reverted back to his feline form even though he didn''t need to. Princess let out a light chuckle. "Brother, your Zen wisdom seems to be rubbing off on Ken!" Jericho smirked. "Well, at least that makes one of you." Purai, who missed the comment, looked at the cat. "You can''t maintain your human form for very long?" She inquired. Ken looked up at the healer and shook his head. (Not as long as I would like anyways. I have more time I can spend as a human but I want to wait until later. We have quite a bit of traveling to do.) Princess translated. The healer smiled. "Thank you for using it to tell me you are doing better. I''m glad." Ken gave a light nod Lillith returned to her garden and picked a few more flowers. She passed one to each of them. "I''ll see you again." She paused. Jericho gave a nod. "We will see you again." The young elf sniffed before running off. Purai started to lightly cry seeing the elf run away in sadness. "I''m sorry Lillith." She whispered. Jericho felt a twinge of emotion break through the darkness he was trying to escape from. "Goodbyes are hard." He lifted the flute he was carrying, sat down next to the flower garden and started playing a calm minor toned piece. Lillith listened from the shadows while crying. "Thank you, Jericho." She pulled out a smaller flute of her own and started playing a different piece in a slightly discordant harmony with his. Princess looked around. "Where is the second flute?" Purai released a sad chuckle as she wiped some of her tears. "Lillith bought one two nights ago saying it would be good for her flowers. She practiced for hours." The dancer walked over to the flower garden and pulled out a new forest green dress she had made. She hung it from a tree near the garden. The flutes stopped. Jericho stood, slowly. "Let us stop by Pren one more time before heading out to the Satyrs. I want to loosen up a bit more." Princess nodded. "Purai is that alright with you?" The tear stricken healer nodded. "Alright. But what for?" Jericho started walking. "A performance." After they departed, Lillith came out from where she was hiding and found the dress. A sad smile followed by a determined look flashed across her smooth face. She grabbed the dress and changed. She ran into town and emerged shortly after with a traveling bag. The elf quietly followed after the group. 31 The Dragon Lords Visi A man wearing a vibrant but dark red armor shaped like a dragonoid walked into the room. "Have you really identified the source of the mist, Near?" The Dragoons'' guild leader asked. The moderately built robe wearing woman nodded. "Yes we have Dragon Lord Heath. According to the books found in Eranoth''s Grand Library this mist is caused by a tier 3 or higher monster that is undergoing extremely painful emotions combined with some sort of magic ritual. It is called a grudge mist and it is more often recorded as a tool for evil necromancers but can have some other uses as well. We believe it has stemmed from a one of the tier three fox creatures known as a Pipe Fox." "You believe?" Heath asked back calmly. "Yes. Of the entire list of tier three beasts in the vulpine woods, that one is recorded in our monster compendium to have the strongest emotional spectrum and could more easily fall into the right emotions to cause it." "Then you don''t know." Heath strummed the fingers of his dark red gauntlet on the nearby table. The lady, Near, flinched. Heath held out his clawed gauntlet with a sigh. "I am sorry, Near; I did not mean to frighten you. In order to understand the situation, fact must be separated from educated guesswork. Please, tell me what you know as fact." Near took a deep breath and calmed down. "The mist feeds off of life-force. When a creature dies within the mist, the ritual feeds off of the creature and channels the life energy from the victims to power the mist. The more HP a creature had before dying, the further the mist spreads. The more stamina they had, the more the terrain becomes corrupted and warped. Normally with necromancy, the MP a creature had will give additional power to the necromancer. Where holy magic seems ineffective against the mist, we can determine that what is happening isn''t necrotic or unholy magic. Currently we have no idea what the MP is doing to the place." "Continue." Heath commanded as he removed his crimson reptilian shaped helmet to reveal his light brown hair and hazy hazel eyes. The woman sighed thinking her guild leader wasn''t as handsome as Harr. "I guess most importantly, according the books related to grudge mists, it is a type of spiritual poison created by emotions. It stems from heavier emotions like guilt, regret, rage, loneliness, worthlessness, sadness, depression and even the emotion Eranoth''s tomes described as nothingness." Heath let out a light laugh as he knew exactly what the old NPC sage meant by the emotion of nothingness. "So, The Great Sage Eranoth has still not been located." "Correct, we have not found him as of yet. However I do recommend you visit his library. The amount of information regarding the world in it was amazing." "Then I will make a special trip later," Heath agreed. "Then do we know how the mist came to be?" The woman nodded. "As I mentioned briefly before, the mist wasn''t caused by the players killing the foxes. It was caused by a single creature who was feeling the emotions I mentioned above. It had a great desire to push their feelings outward and make others feel the same way they did and another entity took advantage of this. These types of creatures were frequently referred to as ''Bringers'' in these tomes as they often bring disaster when they show up. These creature possessed rare and powerful abilities." "I see, so something else took advantage of one of these Bringers to create the mist. Tell me more." "Depending on the type of ''Bringer'' the type of spiritual poison created would change. According to the bestiary a Bringer''s skills stem from a lesser skill line originally but experienced a sudden growth through the exposure of intense emotions. Very few creatures or even people have the emotional pain to become one." Heath frowned. "Then do we know what type of ''Bringer'' this source is and how to stop it?" The woman shook her head. "We only have theories at this point. But as to stopping it, the tomes mentioned that slaying the source won''t get rid of the problem as they were only the catalyst. The problem will only be stopped if the land undergoes a cleanse and the things feeding the mist are stopped. Sadly, none of the magic we know is working." "I see. Tell me what theory you have about this creature''s type of Bringer?" "Based on the types of curses found on the cursed creatures, we have theorized that the creature was experiencing extreme loneliness with a desire to have its friends once more, anger towards mankind and a desire to make them suffer. Among the list of ''Bringers'' the ones that makes the most sense is a Rebirth-Bringer or a Change-Bringer. To further this theory, our lifestyle players that we had studying the mist discovered that when covered by a specific liquid that grants resistances to specific status effects and an inhuman mask, the mist will not invade the body. This has allowed us to traverse the place in relative safety. We have determined that the combination protects the soul from the poison." Near took a deep breath. "The mist is filled with creatures which have been recorded as being mostly foxes once again. We haven''t done a combat test yet but if these cursed creatures are like the ones we have killed in the past, their deaths will weaken the mist. However, according to the normal players, the creatures in the mist become stronger once they reach low health almost like a boss." Heath nodded. "How many people know the information you have just told me about the Bringers and the theories?" "Just me, Lord Harr, Thao, Lednar, Lady Lindsey and you," Near replied. "Good, keep it that way for now, Near. As Harr told me earlier, there are other guild spies that have infiltrated our ranks in this game. We need to be more careful about who has access to what information. Until we can get them out." "I understand." Harr, the other reptilian armored knight wielding a poleax, came forward. "I asked for us to meet with you so I could ask for your permission to start the operation to cleanse the mist. Not discuss our current situation." Lord Heath shook his head with a frown. "Lord Harr, that request is impatient, especially coming from you. While we have gathered a lot of information, we need more evidence and a good plan before rushing in. What has changed to lead you to ask me this?" Harr sighed. "I knew you would say that. The EastSeaDrakes are mobilizing to beat us to resolving the crisis with the mist. Our spy has indicated they will be entering the mist within the next seven days. I have the documented evidence. If we don''t act now, they will beat us to it again." Heath started laughed hysterically. He donned his helmet once more to hide his unhappy face. "The EastSeaDrakes are planning to rush in before us?" He paused to confirm. "Yes, they are." "Give the order, we are pulling out. Our goal here was to help the players, not stop or fall victim to another guild''s stupidity. If they succeed with the 2% probability they have, they can take the glory. When they inevitably fail, even with the information they took from us, we gave the people proper warning. It seems, the choice of whether to let the mist grow or solve it has been made for me. We will have a fantastic hunt in the future!" "But Lord Heath¡­" Near voiced. Heath smiled viciously behind his helmet''s face mask. "How much of that liquid that repels the mist do we have?" "Currently only enough for about 250 people if we plan for 2 hours; the EastSeaDrakes have been making it harder to obtain it." "I see," He replied. "Near, you can go and remember to keep the knowledge you have a secret for now. I must speak with Harr alone." "I understand sir." The lady left the room. "What do you want to discuss?" Harr asked, removing his helmet. Heath removed his helmet as well and relaxed. "Harr, I want you and my younger brother Lednar to stay behind and keep studying the mist. Please make sure to do it discretely. There must be something simple we are missing." The man gave a nod. "Take three fifths of the liquid we have and split it between the two of you. I will store the rest for the future. My little brother''s insight should be very helpful to you considering he is an alchemage. I am trusting you to protect my little brother." Harr continued to frown. "Isn''t that too passive? That amount would last us 150 hours each." Heath shook his head. "You know my first priority is keeping you and him safe in this situation. If you don''t calculate the things I have, it looks like I am choosing to err on the side of excessive caution, but I am not. "Please, enlighten me." Harr smiled as he knew he was in for another calculated conversation with his best friend. "Think about it, how far did the mist spread when that party of six went in?" "About 10 meters in all directions; but the mist grows further if the people have higher HP." Heath nodded. "Right, roughly one and two thirds meters per person for an average group, how far away are the farmlands of Pren from the mist?" "Less than one fourth of a kilometer." "Indeed, let us pull a stupid mistake and assume¡­" He paused and looked around to make sure nobody else was really around. "Let''s assume that the EastSeaDrakes only have enough liquid for 150 of their members to go in which, in my opinion is significantly too low of a number given their cockiness. When they fail, the mist will engulf the farmlands and all the people in it. These innocent people would be unable to resist the mist. Because the farmers and low level players fell to it, the mist will then engulf Pren." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Harr nodded slowly as he took in the information. "Even though Pren is a starting town, it is popular and has roughly 2000 players and over 3000 residents not counting the ones outside of Pren. Within an hour of the other guild''s stupid failure, the mist will have spread through the entirety of the forest and hunting grounds. "That quickly?" Harr asked. Heath gave a nod. "Assuming you meet the standard amount of hostile enemies, it takes about 7 hours to leave the forest to the north. Taking into consideration the heavy stamina builds prevalent in the area because archery is common, the forest will become much more dangerous and difficult to travel through. That alone could easily extend the time to get out to a full day." "Heath, that is only 24 hours, you still have 126 extra hours for each of us. Are your calculating abilities failing you?" Harr teased with a like poke. Heath smiled and stabbed his spear into the floor before pulling out a map of the area. "Right, but we still have not determined the space difference between what is in the mist and what is out of the mist. If the land doubles in size you will be in the mist for just under 50 hours. But what if it is bigger? What if the mist extends beyond the forest? And, on the off chance, what if you are lucky and find people that are able to save themselves from the mist and give us more insight into this problem? What if you find a person or two of value to save?" Harr thought for a bit. "I understand. I will announce it to the guild. You have got the normal populous covered like normal?" Heath nodded once more. "I will; thank you Harr for your hard work." Harr gave a nod. "Don''t worry about your brother." "I know. He is in good claws." Harr laughed. "You always liked that weird statement, Dragon Lord. Is there anything else?" "One thing I guess. My brother said he had friends adventuring in the area. If they are still around when the mist strikes and by some miracle you meet them, help them escape." The green armored man nodded. "Sure, it is unlikely, but if that does happen, I will remember that." "Thank you for being willing to help me out like this. I know I can be unreasonable sometimes." Harr laughed. "Yeah, but I know your emotions run far deeper than your logic. You know I will be there to call you out when needed." Heath smiled. "Always, and don''t let my brother try bossing you around. You are the one in charge." "I''ll make sure to record our escape. I know you will want to analyze it later." Harr nodded, put on his helmet and left the room. Heath stared at the map with a frown. "For Pren''s sake, I hope I am wrong." 32 The Game Changes As the party was walking with a light breeze behind their backs, Jericho thought about how his goodbye song with Lillith went. "That would potentially be another great song idea. A Wordless Farewell. I will have to practice it another time. I don''t have two flutes and having a smaller one would be very helpful. Maybe later I will go back and see if the elves have one for sale." Ken turned to Princess. (If you pull up your menu there should be a notification whether or not the patch has affected your character or items in any way.) The dancer pulled up her menu and saw a few notifications. [Yun''s first staff has lost its level requirements and specified stat bonuses. Yun''s first staff now has the following statistics: Tier 3 dancing item: (Classification Rare) The first staff used by a friend of the spirits, Yun. This well designed staff is lightweight and not designed as a weapon. She danced on the water with this staff to guide the souls of the fallen to a better place. Dancing with this staff will ease the suffering of souls and direct them towards a better place. It is unknown how it works. Dancing must be at Tier 3 or higher to utilize the full effects. While this item is equipped instead of a weapon you will have a bonus to stats in relation to your level.] [Clogging shoes has lost its level requirements. Clogging shoes now has the following statistics: Tier 1 dancing item: (Classification common) A pair of adequately made clogging shoes. Better versions exist. While this item is equipped instead of other footwear you will have a bonus to armor in relation to your level. This item''s quality is low, the bonuses given will not be considered significant.] [Wardrobe feature has been unlocked. All equipment appearances worn have been recorded. As long as you are wearing the same type of equipment (Swords for swords, leather armor for leather armor) you can switch the outward appearance.] [Your skill lines now provide a small boost to your stats or provide a special ability based on their Tier. Tier 1 skill lines will not provide any bonuses to avoid spamming beginner skills for stat boosts. You must work to obtain these boosts. A Tier 2 skill line will provide a small boost to stats (A total of +5). A Tier 3 skill will provide a minor passive ability. You do not possess skills beyond rank 3, further information not unlocked.] "Wow, brother check out how your items and skills have changed! It seems the patch was designed for us." Jericho gave a nod and noticed that his instruments were also given tiers and qualities. [It has come to our attention that you are one of the few players who has skill lines Tier 4 or higher. In addition to the general knowledge, you have earned the right to learn about the changes for skill lines ranked 4 and 5.] [Rank 4 skill lines will increase more stats (+5 from rank 2 and +15 from rank 4 for a total of +20). Rank 5 skill lines will provide a stronger passive skill than rank 3. See specific skills for more details.] [You possess monster and rare skill lines. The information regarding skill lines above will vary slightly.] Jericho brought up his skill lines to look over the changes. [Music Tier 5: You are a grandmaster in music. Your musical abilities have a outstanding influence on others around you. +20 Charisma. Tier 3+5 skill: Music related skills will grow 10% faster while at the Beginner and Adept ranks. Music related skills will grow 5% faster while at the Expert and Master ranks.] [Healing Tier 2: You are adept at healing others. +5 Wisdom] [Blacksmithing Tier 1: You are a beginner at blacksmithing. Work hard!] [Water elemental (Monster) Tier 2 (Absorbed the former Water skill line): You are a small water elemental. +5 Intelligence +5 Monster Power.] [Monster Power: A new stat granted to players who have monstrous characters. Monster skills will become stronger the higher monster power is. You cannot assign points into Monster Power. Typically only skill line bonuses or very specific monster abilities grant this stat.] [Death-Bringer (Rare) Tier 3: You are an expert at bringing others closer to death. Your skills go beyond the basic usage of the Powers of Death. +5 Luck +5 Will. Tier 3 skill: Death touch: Your offensive abilities will be 5% stronger against living and undead creatures. Non-living things are unaffected. Note that Undead are insulting to Death and do not get any benefit from the Power of Death. Rare skill bonus (Bringer''s Bond): As a Bringer, you can recognize others of your kind.] Jericho sighed as he felt his Death-Bringer skill line wasn''t far from the truth. He was an Expert at leading others to their deaths. Lux sniffed the air. (That little elf is following us from behind. I wouldn''t have noticed it if the wind wasn''t blowing.) He said quietly to the bigger lynx. Ken turned around. He caught a slight glimpse of a dark green flash of movement with his stronger sight. (Let her follow for now.) The larger lynx spoke quietly back. Ken paid attention to the sounds of the little elf''s movements as they approached Pren. When the neared the town, she stopped following them. Ken heard the sound of the young girl sitting down behind a tree and crying. He looked over to Jericho. {I''ll be right back.} Jericho nodded, assuming it was important. {I''ll wait.} Ken turned around and ran back towards the trees. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Ken, what are you doing?" Princess inquired turning to follow. "Let him be." Jericho replied. "He should be back momentarily." The larger lynx sat next to Lillith and turned to face her. "So you did notice me." The girl sighed. "I want to go with Purai. I want Jericho to help me play the flute better." She started petting Ken. Ken waited calmly next to the young girl. "I lack courage. I should just go back home." She said. "I came so close but I feel like giving up. I want to go with them but I am afraid I will upset them if I do. Everyone back home would try and tell me I am too young to be adventuring and that I should stay home. But home is boring without my friends." She sniffed. Ken decided to do what he had seen other cats do to ''comfort'' others and rubbed his head against her while purring. "Thank you. You are a nice lynx." She sighed. "Will you stay with me?" The lynx backed off a bit. He motioned with his head and lowered his body. Lillith''s eyes widened. "You want me to ride you? You will let me do that?" Ken gave a light nod. (Hurry, this crouched position isn''t all that comfortable.) He groaned slightly. The elf child smiled and mounted the medium sized cat. (What is in your bag? It is heavier then you are.) Ken growled slightly. Lillith looked down. "Thank you." She gently scratched behind his fluffy ears. The two returned to the party. "Lilly?" Purai asked. The young girl realized where Ken had taken her. She lowered her head. "I''m sorry. I wanted to make sure you made it to your destination safely." Ken tilted his head to partially look at her and hissed. (Tell the truth.) She jumped slightly. Her heavy bag slammed into the lynx''s back. Ken clenched his jaw as it hurt a bit. [You have taken 2 impact damage. You have bitten your tongue and have taken 2 damage.] Princess sighed. "Lillith, Ken wants you to tell the truth." Lillith looked back up resolutely. "I''m coming with you Purai." Ken lowered his body once again, eager to get the girl off of him before she hurt him further. The girl hopped off the cat. "Thank you for helping me to find my courage again, Ken." Ken gave a nod and then hid out of sight. He reverted back to his human form. Purai looked conflicted. "But Lilly, what about¡­" "I left them a note. Technically I am older than you so why can''t I travel too? Besides, the only one who might care is my grandpa." Lillith interrupted. Ken returned. Jericho shrugged. "There is no point in trying to dissuade her. She came here despite knowing the consequences. As long as you can accept the things that will come from your actions Lillith, I won''t try to stop you. If you are coming then come." They entered Pren. Jericho led the group up to the familiar upper tree platform where they had performed once before. Some of the former audience members saw them arrive and quickly messaged their friends. Jericho split himself and pulled out both the wooden flute and guitar. He started to play a lightly rhythmic but relaxing song. Princess danced as if she were telling a story. Unable to suppress the urge to play, Lillith started playing her higher toned flute. The sounds started to clash at first but eventually smoothed out and synchronized. They finished the piece and Jericho looked over to the young elf with a gentle smile. "Great work." He complimented. The elf smiled. He put the instruments away and pulled out the piano. He gave a slight smirk as he thought about Ken and Lux''s earlier competition. "Everyone, I will be giving you a sneak peak at a new duet I recently wrote. When I release my next album a professional performance of this piece will be in it. Enjoy listening to it pre-maturely!" Princess backed off to hear this new composition her brother made. The audience was shocked as they heard Jericho shout "I challenge you! You''re on!" A playful yet competitive sounding duet echoed in the surroundings. Ken froze as he realized the composition was about him and Lux competing playfully yet fiercely the last few days. The duet came to an end and the audience clapped. "Do you have a planned release date for your album?" An audience member shouted. "Not yet, I still have at least ten more songs to write for it," Jericho replied. Princess stepped forward and interrupted her brother. "When he is almost ready to release the album, we will make an announcement. Until then, thank you for your support so far." Jericho nodded at his sister''s words. "Shall we continue?" He shouted to the audience. They cheered. The bard''s eyes regained the more of the light it had formerly lost. "This is one of my more well known pieces." He started to say. "It is known as The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul." 33 The Baa Hoofsn Hoedown Ken, who was familiar with Pren, led the group north towards the satyrs. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jericho played a different lullaby on his flute. He had calmed down a lot after performing. "Jericho, teach me how to play as good as you." Lillith impolitely requested. The bard lowered his flute. "You already know how to play the flute though and you are quite talented." The young elf gripped the instrument tightly. "But I am not good enough. You are so skilled and know how to play so many beautiful things. I want to play like you too." Jericho gave a light smile. "Then, what you want is to learn how to play more songs." He pulled up his bag and paused. "Dang, how am I supposed to write sheet music without anything to write on or with." Princess smiled and walked over. "I have an answer for you." She pulled out a few items and passed them over. "I bought the ones you will find useful for your concern and you will really like the ones I made for next time you choose to rock out." Jericho looked over the items his sister had handed him. [Dyed wolf fur mullet wig- A head item to make it look like your hair is in the artistic style of a mullet. Other uses unknown. This item has a slight odor to it.] [Punk leather jacket- A leather jacket made for to give off a specific type of appearance rather than provide good defense. It looks a bit fierce and may give people a bad vibe about you or may make them see you as really cool. Varies from person to person.] [Parchment *100- Essentially a cheaper paper. Has many uses including folding and throwing for entertainment.] [Pen with 5 interchangeable ink cartages- A tool used for writing.] Jericho gave a light cough at the ancient hairstyle and clothing type. He put them away knowing he would probably have to wear them in the future. "Everyone wait for a minute." He called out. The party stopped. The bard equipped the pen with the cartage and started gently drawing stanzas and a treble clef. He waited for the ink to dry before drawing the notes on the paper. [You have gained the Drawing skill. Adept 2/10] [You have learned a new drawing type: Sheet music.] [You have written down two musical compositions.] [You have written a simplified guide on how to read music.] [You have gained the 2D Art skill line at Tier 2. You have gained +5 Dexterity.] Jericho gave a light nod as he finalized the two pieces he was writing. "Hold onto these for now. These will help you learn two calming flute songs with the type of flute you are currently using." Lillith took the papers and looked at them with a confused look. "What do all these lines and dots mean?" Jericho smiled and passed her a piece of paper filled with explanations about what each type of note, symbol, and word meant. "Music is written in its own language. There are thirteen notes until the cycle repeats. But it is written with eight notes with special symbols to make the other five. See this note here?" He pointed to the sheet. "That one is called A. It is played like this." He held the flute and tooted A." "But my flute doesn''t go down as low as yours. Yours is bigger and the sound is deeper." Lillith retorted. "Right, with my flute A would actually be written down here." He pointed to a lower spot on the paper. "But you also have A on your flute." He showed her the hand position. A high A rang out of her flute. "Oh. I can hear it. It is higher but it sounds the same." Jericho gave a light nod at the novice musician. "Every note has a name and each marking will tell you their name and how long to play it for." He pointed to a Full note. "This one, you play four times longer than this one." He pointed to a quarter note. "Practice reading the music while we travel. Learn their names." He lifted his flute and played a slow increase of the thirteen notes. He paused to specify each note individually to avoid confusion. "That is ?A, ?A? or B?, ?B, ?C, ?C? or D?, ?D, ?D? or E?, ?E, ?F, ?F? or G?, ?G, ?G? or A?, and then it starts over." Lillith copied Jericho''s playing trying to soak everything in. "Now that you know their names, use the charts I drew for you to get familiar with how their names are written. In the future, you will be able to read those two pieces and play them. The first is called The Coyote''s Truth and the other is Sounds of the Canyons. They are both songs I created myself. When you get good enough, you will be able to write pieces of your own." Lillith gave a determined nod and opened up her bag. She pulled out three other wooden flutes of varying appearances. "Here, these three flutes are for you." She passed them over. Jericho gave a nod. "Thank you Lillith." He replied as he stared at the twin flute, the smaller flute and a larger flute. He put them in his inventory. The party resumed moving as Jericho continued to demonstrate how to play various tunes. Lillith copied and raised her own musical proficiency with the flute. Lux''s ears twitched. (Brother Ken, I hear something that sounds like Jericho up ahead.) Ken nodded. "Everyone, be quite for now. We are getting close." The music and casual talking stopped. "Follow quietly for now. You should be able to hear what Lux is hearing in a bit. We are near the satyr''s territory so keep your guard up. They like to employ ambush tactics." The group quietly continued forward listening for what Ken had told them to listen to. ?¡­ to Baa Hoof''n Hoedown¡­? Princess''s eyes lit up. "The words are a bit different, but isn''t that¡­?" She started to say. Jericho pulled out his guitar and started strumming and humming in perfect sync with the song. Princess starting to dance a familiar old line dance as they walked. Ken and Lux heard whispering sounds as they drew closer to the encampment. The pre-teen watched the movements closely to see if he could pick up the pattern. Soon the sight of a large number of satyrs dancing, playing instruments and singing came into view. Princess, seeing the familiar movements unabashedly jumped into the line and started dancing right next to these normally hostile monsters. Ken joined in, albeit a bit more awkwardly than his friend. The song came to a close. Princess, Jericho and Kenneth received a notification. [You have joined in the ritual of the Baa, Hoof''n Hoedown. The satyr god Arglwydd y Ddawns is pleased. You have received his blessing.] [Blessing of Arglwydd y Ddawns: You are recognized by one of the satyr gods as a mortal of culture. The satyrs that worship him won''t attack you or your allies without provocation.] The satyrs paused and stared awkwardly at the group like they were looking at something impossible in their minds to exist. "A human, an elf, and a beast with culture? Am I really seeing this right? Pinch me. I want to make sure I''m not dreaming. Ouch! I didn''t mean literally." "They are blessed by The Great Arglwydd y Ddawns. They knew our ritual. None of the others were like this." One of the elderly satyrs who had been playing some panpipes came forward. "Greetings strangers." The old goat gave a light bow. Jericho returned the bow. "Greetings. My name is Jericho the Bard. That is Dancing Princess and Huntsman Ken. The three behind me are Purai, Lillith, and Lux." He pointed to each of them as he said their names. "It is nice to meet fellow cultured people. I am Carn. What brings you to our woods?" The old satyr inquired. Jericho pointed to Purai and Lillith. "We came to help lead these two out of the forest northward. However, there aren''t many routes that lead in the direction they need to go." The satyr frowned. "They are ignorant creatures. Why should we allow them passage through our sacred grounds?" Purai and Lillith frowned as they were insulted. Jericho held out his hand to stop them from doing something they would regret. "Purai is a healer and Lillith is her friend. That cultured lynx over there? He was heavily cursed and she was able to break those curses. Maybe an exchange then? Your tribe can escort them past your sacred grounds in exchange for helping out your people?" The old goat baa''ed in laughter. "Gafr, Cyrn, you heard our friend. Take these two and see what they can do to help our sick comrades." Two younger satyrs appeared. "Follow us." They lead Purai and Lillith away to task them with things. Carn coughed. "Now then, from what I have seen, you are a musician, the elf a dancer, and the beast, a creature that has recently learned about dancing. So excluding the two beasts you and the dancer must prove yourself on The Alter of Arglwydd y Ddawns." He swung his arm dramatically to reveal a large stone stage. "Do you dare take the challenge? Our god will judge your music compared to our own and her dancing compared to ours." Princess walked over. "I''m being challenged to a dance off? I accept!" Jericho gave a light nod. "I would love to, however wouldn''t it be best if I used the same instruments you use?" The old goat raised both his eyebrows. "You know how to play our sacred instruments as well?" Jericho nodded. "The instrument you are holding is called the panpipes and I am sure you have a variety of them. That instrument she''s holding," he pointed to another satyr, "is called a fiddle is it not? And that over there should be one of the many styles of a drum. I''m familiar enough with them. Do you have others as well?" "We do, we shall bring you out a full set." "Can you bring out a pair of each instrument instead of just one?" Jericho asked splitting himself into two. "I can play two instruments at the same time." Excited baa-laughter was heard. "Wonderful! This will be a great showdown! Now we can fight on even terms instead of odd ones!" [You have accepted the quest: Arglwydd y Ddawns''s Battle of the Bards] 34 Battle of the Bards Princess was ecstatic. It had been a long time since she participated in competitive dancing. She stepped up onto the stage. Carn came forward. "To ensure fairness, the dancing competitors will dance to the same music and lack of music simultaneously. The competition of the bards will happen afterwards." Hearing this, Princess smiled bigger as she equipped a pair to tap dancing shoes she obtained while Jericho and Ken were hunting and a casual shirt and pants she had sown for herself. A satyr, with a groomed look, stroked his goatee as he ascended the stage. "I am intrigued by your enthusiasm and drab choice in cloths young elf. I will see you asking me to teach you the ways of the dance by the end." Princess tapped her shoes on the stone a few times. She spun silently before enthusiastically moving both her body and feet. She paused. "A dance-off should be spoken with action and not words my friend." She started to pick up the pace of her tapping as she sauntered towards him." Seeing this aggressive stance, the satyr grinned and started to match her rhythm. His movements started combining a variety of dance styles into the tapping of his hoofs. Hearing the rhythm of the duo''s feet, the minstrels started playing. Ken stared wide eyed at the energy and passion both parties were throwing at each other. The two circled one another. Their feet clacked perfectly in sync. The satyr performed a few spin kicking like motions as he bounced back and forth continuing to clack his hoofs on point. His hoofs came extremely close to the girl''s face. Princess fell backwards to avoid the kick, caught herself and continued to dance wildly from the ground. Not a single beat was skipped. Jericho suppressed a laugh as he knew exactly what is sister was doing. The girl propped herself onto one hand kicked in the air a few times, flipped around to a pushup like position continued to tap as she spun her body around her hands. She pushed her body into the air and flipped. The dance continued. The satyrs watched her aggressive movements in awe. {What type of dancing is that?} Ken whispered quietly. Jericho grinned. {It is known as tap style break dancing. You need to have a strong body, decent flexibility and a lot of swag to pull off this aggressive style. Despite my sister''s delicate appearance, her muscles are really well formed.} He warned. The dancing satyr was sweating. He didn''t know how she could move like that. He leaned forward and started performing a few steps Ken recognized. {Is he mixing the swing with the earlier type of dancing?} Jericho shook his head. {The movements are similar, but the swing isn''t the only type of dancing that uses those types of moves. But knowing Moira she will take control of the entire dance shortly.} As if completely on cue, Princess mirrored the goat''s movements and the dance off suddenly changed vibes as if instead of competing they were dance partners. The dance-off continued for a few more minutes before everything came to an abrupt close. Princess received a few notifications. [Your dancing skill line has increased to Tier 4.] [You have shown your dominance on the dance stage and have completed the quest Dance-Off of Arglwydd y Ddawns. You have gained 3000Exp.] [You have leveled.] [You have defeated your opponent so one-sidedly Arglwydd y Ddawns has approved of your prowess.] [You have gained 5000 Exp. You have leveled.] "I admit defeat, you are definitely the superior dancer." The satyr gave a nod. "You have my respect young elf." Princess gave a nod. "You are quite skilled yourself. Most dancers would have lost composure facing off with you. Let''s dance again sometime." The satyr bowed. "It would be an honor." Princess received a strange notification she had not anticipated. [You possess the skill Summon Background dancers. You can now summon Satyrs to dance with you. Satyrs do not give a specific boon to any one type of dancing. They give an overall boon to performances in general. If you perform dances of worship with satyrs, the satyr god will be pleased.] The two left the stage. The audience was both shocked and impressed into silence. Jericho came up to the stage where two large panpipes, two large drums, two fiddles, and two very long wooden horn like objects he instantly recognized as an alphorn were placed. "This is going to be fun." Two satyrs approached the stage. "You may begin the battle of the bards!" Carn shouted. Jericho and Jericho picked up the two panpipes and started playing a gentle melody in the minor tone. Partway through his piece, he put away one of the pipes and moved over to the fiddle. The calm song rapidly turned heroic. The second panpipes when away and Jericho moved over to the alphorn. He breathed deeply and with a buzzing of his lips created a heavy undertone like something ominous was approaching. The fiddle wielding Jericho rolled a drum next to his clone''s leg. With the supported drums and kicked them. (He''s playing A Legend through the Ages even though he doesn''t have enough hands to play the completed version.) Princess whispered to Ken. The fiddle came to a tragic sounding climax as the alphorn ceased. The original minor toned panpipe melody returned. Jericho lowered the instruments. He gave a slight nod to his competitors. They lifted their instruments and countered with a peppy melody. When they finished they returned with a light nod. Jericho received their acknowledgment and pulled out both fiddles. The sounds of a strange mix between fantasy and country music styles reverberated through the surroundings. Some of the satyrs in the audience couldn''t resist the urge to quietly dance. Jericho pulled an epic surprise by using the alphorn to beatbox. The exchange of music went back and forth another three times before the two satyrs admitted defeat. "You are really great. I would love to play with you another time." Jericho praised his opponents. "Thank you, Jericho. It would be an honor to play side by side with you sometime." [You have completed: Arglwydd y Ddawns''s Battle of the Bards. You have gained 3000Exp.] [You have leveled.] [You have awed your opponents into submission Arglwydd y Ddawns has approved of your prowess.] [You have gained 5000 Exp. You have leveled.] [You have gained the following skills: Alphorn 4/10 Expert, Drums 9/10 Expert, Fiddle 0/10 Master, Panpipes 8/10 Expert.] The goat people in the audience were in shock. They were out performed by a human and an elf. Carn baa-laughed, breaking the awkward silence. "So the prophesy came true!" Princess turned to face the satyr. "Prophesy?" "The great Arglwydd y Ddawns gave us a prophesy that there would be visitors who are superior worshipers then even us. He said that these visitors would make and teach us a brand new ritual. Will the two of you fulfill his grand prophesy and create us a new song and dance worthy enough to praise our god?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [You have been asked to create a new line dance and song and teach it to the Satyrs. The ''ritual'' has to be good enough to please their god. Rejection and failure will bring the displeasure of Arglwydd y Ddawns. The satyrs will treat you as traitors to culture. Time limit none. You cannot leave the forest until you have completed the task. Reward: Depends on the quality of the ''ritual''. You will receive experience points, a reward or rewards from the satyrs, and if the quality is high enough a gift from Arglwydd y Ddawns as well.] Jericho gave a nod. "It would be an honor to make a new ritual." After watching and competing against the satyrs he felt a twinge of inspiration. "I''ll make the third song for my album here, even though it will likely be finished before A Silent Farewell." Princess''s eyes lit up. "Will you have a recording of the dance I make with it?" Jericho gave a nod. "Of course, this is a sibling project, we need to work together to make it even more awesome." Carn smiled. "We will be grateful to receive this boon." [You have accepted the quest.] Ken sighed. "Well, it looks like the two of you will be busy for a while. I''ll take this opportunity to train with Lux and help out Purai a bit more. I look forward to seeing the end results of your quest." Princess smiled at her friend. "Thank you Ken. Good luck with your training as well." "Let us know if you need any help." Ken and Lux exited the village to train. The satyrs dispersed leaving only Carn in front of the two performers. "We know how difficult it can be to create something new. We will go back to our normal lives and won''t go out of our way to disturb either of you, but if you need or want anything, come find us." "Thank you." Jericho replied. "I did have one question. Do you have a place where I can use MC?" The old goat looked closer at the bard. "You aren''t a human? But you are clearly a human." Jericho took a breath. "I am human but I am also not a human. It is a bit complicated to explain." "I see. We do indeed have an MC store. However it might be best to wait until after you have completed our god''s request before you explore it." "Alright." Jericho and princess were left alone. "So, I think the dance should take advantage of the satyr''s unique physical traits." Princess stated. "So, you want to create a dance that would be amplified by having hooves, four knees, no ankles, a tail and horns?" "Well, at least the hooves but if I could find a way to make it better with all of those body parts it would be better." "Alright, while that sounds like it will be a bit difficult. I have a basic idea for a melody but knowing the tempo, desired length of each dance cycle, and the time signature will help me give you a better practice song while I refine it." Princess started clacking her shoes. "I would say about this tempo. The satyrs seem to really like the fast paced dance styles and it does seem appropriate." Jericho listened to his sister''s tapping. "So about 140 BPM? That would make it a bit faster than most line dances. Are you sure?" The girl gave a nod. "Yep. I think that tempo will work best. But we should probably keep it simple by either going 4/4 or 6/8 timing. While they sound cool, your pieces that are in the rare time signatures are harder to dance to. That and we have to somehow teach them how to both play and dance to it." "Then let us keep to 4/4, it will be simpler to teach that way; complicated doesn''t always mean better. This is meant to be a ritual for them. Something too difficult will only become a frustration instead of something good." "Alright, it sounds like we have a good start. So what melody did you feel would be good?" "I am thinking a mix between oldies rock and country, but having the tune go something like this. Jericho started playing on the panpipes he was borrowing. The night passed quickly as they started to get a feel for what they were wanting. They left the game. 35 Handling some personal matters "I''ll see you after school." Jericho told his sister. Moira frowned. "Brother, are you okay? You seem a bit pale again. The man smiled and shifted the electric guitar on his back. "I''m doing fine; it is just a bit chilly today." The girl turned her head. "I don''t believe you." She muttered. "I remember you telling the idiot seagull Mike you were busy today. What are you doing and why did you bring an instrument with you?" Jericho shook his head. "Handling some personal matters," he replied. "Now, hurry up. You don''t want to be late." "Fine," Moira glared and walked off to school. The man let out a light sigh before looking up at the grey clouds teetering on the edge of sprinkling. "I know you can tell I''m not doing fine. That much I can''t hide from you." He shivered as the autumn breeze blew through his jacket. "How can I tell you? How could you forgive me if you knew?" The musician traveled through the city to visit the graveyard where his parents were buried. The emotions he had been suppressing since Sunday morning burst forward. Seeing another funeral going on, he abandoned his first plan. He laid down in the grass and took some time to breathe. "Mom, dad, Moira is doing well. She has good grades. She seems much happier now. We started playing a video game. In that game world, Moira seems so much freer. She can dance whenever she wants. She has monsters and friends to dance with and people love her. Despite his hairstyle you would like her friend Kenneth. He is a nice kid. It isn''t hard to see that he likes her. Though I think she is completely oblivious to it. I can already tell you confidently, Moira will be able to live a happy, fulfilling life. I am watching out for her like you wanted. I will do what I can to help her be happy." Jericho stopped talking and lightly started to cry as he could no longer suppress the pain he felt in his heart. The minstrel walked slowly back home. Jericho''s long bony fingers gripped the door handle. The whites of his knuckles shone despite his pale, sickly skin. His hand remained frozen. "Glaw was right, had I made different choices... I''m sorry." Tears dripped onto his hand as he stood there, unmoving, for a minute. Jericho slowly turned the handle and took a deep breath. He walked into the house, locked the door, and pulled the blinds shut to darken the front room. He set up the room and picked up his instruments. *** Once again, it was lunch time on a Monday afternoon at Eisenberg elementary. The three pre-teens were excitedly talking about their new shared like: Freedom Online and their adventures over the last weekend. Alex leaned forward. "I bet you guys were able to level up a lot over the weekend. What levels did you reach?" "Ten!" Moira exclaimed happily. "I haven''t leveled at all." Ken replied drearily as he thought about all their misadventures. Alex paused. "Wait, you spent the whole weekend playing and you only gained five of the lower levels? And you haven''t leveled at all Kenneth? What did you do?" Ken sighed. "Leveling up without killing is a lot harder than you would think. Not only that, but we spent a bit of time outside of game and Moira spent quite a bit of time enthusiastically crafting some items for Jericho. So he and I trained together a bit. I really misjudged him. I can see why people like him so much." He grinned, thinking back to the bro-talks he had. Moira gave a nod. "Yep, Ken is learning how to dance! It''s really awesome!" The friend adjusted his glasses. "Oh? Kenneth, you seem to have joined the fan club. It seems I must adventure with Moira''s brother soon too so I can comprehend his glory." Ken laughed. "Can you not be so dramatic about it?" The girl smiled at her friends. "So when is it my turn to adventure with you?" Alex asked. Ken frowned. "You can have your turn after we are done. We have a few more adventures to have before they are ready to hang out with you." A look of realization hit Alex in the face. "You guys are adventuring in Pren right?" Moira gave a nod. "Yeah we are." "You guys should leave as quickly as possible." Alex replied seriously. Ken''s facial expression didn''t change. "Why?" "Right, the two of you have been busy and haven''t paid attention to the movements of the larger guilds. Earlier, The Dragoons guild was working on the mist problem, however they recently made a public announcement saying that the EastSeaDrakes have come in to try and solve the mist problem before them. Their guildmaster himself posted the information and said that The Dragoons are leaving the area to not get caught up in the other guild''s stupidity." Alex explained as if they knew what half of these things meant. Moira looked confused. "So what do these two things have to do with us leaving Pren?" Alex sighed as he remembered Moira was new to gaming world in general. "If The Dragoons are leaving Pren, then that means the guild leader is confident that not only will the other party likely fail but that it will have disastrous consequences when they do. It would be a bad thing for you guys to still be there when it happens." "Then we will leave after our current quest." Moira replied. "It would be bad for us to leave it undone." Ken gave a nod. "How long do you think it will take you and Jericho to finish that quest?" Moira pursed her lips in thought. "It probably will not take much longer to make the music and dance steps, but to add words and teach it will probably take a few days." Alexander sighed and rubbed his temples. "I don''t think you will have enough time to finish your quest. How bad are the consequences if you fail to do your quest?" "Angering a god," she replied casually. The glasses wearing friend looked at her in shock. "You are only level 10 and you are already doing god related quests? Are you at some sort of church I don''t know about?" Ken started laughing. "We are hanging out with the satyrs in the northern forests. Jericho and Moira are amazing. The normally hostile monsters have been treating us like friends." The friend dropped his fork. "Wait, so you really can play in a non-violent manner?" The girl nodded. "Well, mostly. We were attacked by someone before and we had to fight Ken''s new pet for a bit." Ken gave a nod. "Yep, it is possible. It isn''t easy but it does work." "You have a pet? What type?" "He is an animal companion rather than a pet. He is a Lynx named Lux. Hopefully he will grow out of his kitten state soon." Alex smiled. "That is good. I''m glad you had some success with your build, Ken. A midsized feline is a great balanced animal companion. I''m sure you will gain specialized ones later." He turned to face the dancer. "Moira try to finish your quest as soon as possible. The sooner you leave Pren the better." The girl nodded. "I understand. I''ll talk to my brother about it." Alex bit his bottom lip. Kenneth sighed. "By the way Alex, why did you talk about your brother like he is a stranger? I thought you two were close?" Alexander laughed. "Heath and I are close. But, in the guild I am so used to treating him like a stranger I spoke out of habit. With the exception of a few of the higher ranked members, the Dragoons guild doesn''t know I''m their guild leader''s younger brother. I wanted the guild to respect me for me and not because of my relationship with my brother." "You joined a guild?" Moira asked. "One of my online friends I talk to said that guilds have a lot of problems with them." "Yeah, I joined my older brother''s guild so he could help me become a much better player. I understand why your other friend said to avoid them. If you joined The Dragoons, my brother would try to understand what you were capable of and to make the best use out of your abilities. He isn''t cold, in fact I am actually confident he feels more than most people, but because of that, he is very calculating." He sighed. "For free spirited people, like you and Ken, that don''t like having a lot of restrictions in their lives, my brother''s guild is a bad fit." Moira smiled. "Shouldn''t you be trying to convince us to join rather than scare us off? I thought that is how most guilds run?" "When I told him about the two of you, he told me that if the two of you would be unhappy in his guild, not to have you join. He even told me that if I would be happier elsewhere, he would support my choice to leave at any time." He sighed. "I''m not supposed to say anything but since it has come to this, I''m sure my brother will forgive me." Moria looked confused. "Say what?" Alex swallowed. "The mist is a type of spiritual poison and normal means won''t work on it. It only seems to affect humanoids negatively; other types of creatures seem to be able to live in it just fine. Somewhere in the mist is a creature suffering greatly. I thought I should warn you since you have a high chance to get caught up in it." Moira shook her head. "The mist also affects creatures negatively. Ken''s pet, Lux was originally just a normal lynx. He was almost killed by people who entered the mist. The mist offered him power which in turn cursed him. So a lot of the creatures in the mist are normal creatures at first." Alex''s eyes widened even further. "Where did you get this valuable information?" "From Lux himself," Ken replied. "Moira and I both have the Speak with Animals ability." He paused. "If you would like, I can talk to Lux and see what he knows about the mist." "Would you please?" Alex asked. "Of course, however, get permission from your brother to talk to us about the things he knows." Ken replied. "That way, you don''t have to feel guilty for telling us secrets he asked you to keep." The glasses wearing pre-teen nodded. "Thank you. I will do that after I make it home later tonight." Moira smiled. "I noticed you stay after school a lot lately. What are you up to?" Alex looked a little flustered. "Um¡­ Well you see I wanted to make a request to your brother when I met up with him. I have been staying after school to access the learning pods so I can learn some extra things not normally taught in order to be more ready to make that request." Ken smirked. "Tell us more." Alex shook his head at took another bite of food. "I want it to be a surprise." *** Moira turned the door handle. "He locked it? Did he go somewhere?" She pulled out her key and unlocked the door. The dark house gave a very oppressive feeling. The girl frowned. "Speaking of emotional and spiritual poisons..." She rushed into the front room. Heavy instruments were scattered around the floor. A microphone and recording device stood in the middle of the room. The curtains were drawn closed. The sound of the shower running was heard in the background. Moira sighed as she opened the blinds and windows. "So you were suppressing the other Jericho this whole time. I thought he only showed up in game and you were able to handle it. Why do you try to hide that part of you from me? I know everyone''s deaths have affected you more than me, but I don''t understand why you feel the need to act fine in front of me." Nippy autumn air entered the home and cleared up part of the heavy atmosphere. Light entered the formerly dark space. "Who triggered your grief?" Moira muttered as she started carefully propping the instruments out from the middle of the floor. Moira sent a message to her brother. "Take as much time as you need. I''ll see you in game. I left the windows open to air out the house." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The shower water turned off. The dancer logged into the game. Jericho emerged solemnly from the bathroom, read the message from his sister and put his instruments away. 36 It’s my hidden treasure! Lux finally hunted enough to grow up. He was finally tier 2. His originally small kitten appearance vanished as he grew to adult size. (Yay! I''m big again!) He roared in excitement. Ken smiled as he pulled up the cat''s status. [Lux: Status simplified. Level 18 Tier 2 Human-blooded Lynx. Animal companion. Animal (Predator) Tier 2: Claw 0/10 Adept, Bite 7/10 Beginner, Tracking 9/10 Beginner, Thick Hide 0/10 beginner, Fierce Roar 0/10 beginner. Universal monster Skill line Tier 2: Paw fishing 1/10 Adept. Blood transformation Tier 1: Human Form 0/10 Beginner (1 Hour), Monster Form 0/10 Beginner (1 Hour). Human skills: None.] (Great job Lux!) Ken praised. (Thanks! Now that we are the same size again, you should stop pretending to be human and tussle with me!) Lux replied. Ken laughed. (Since you have challenged me, and princess isn''t around to see it, I accept.) The hunter reverted to his animal form. The two adult lynxes fought wildly without actually hurting each other too badly as their claws were retracted. After a few minutes, Ken finally pinned Lux to the ground. (I win!) He hopped off. (Dang it! You are a lot stronger than before.) Lux grumbled. (I am the older brother. It makes sense that I would be more skilled than you.) (Again!) Lux shouted. Just as the feline leapt, Ken reverted to his human form and sidestepped out of the way. (We can play more, later. I just remembered something important.) Lux paused. (Wait! I can pretend to be human now too!) The lynx used his human transformation to look almost exactly like Kenneth. Beginner cloths magically appeared on his body. "And I can speak human speech! This is so exciting! Now I don''t have to feel left out when you talk with your friends!" Kenneth laughed as he was glad the game system didn''t demand realism since minors played the game. "That will make things easier. However we should probably get you some equipment for your human form later. I can teach you some human skills." "Really? That would be cool. But I kind of miss my paws." Lux sighed and looked at his hands. "You can always go back to being your normal self whenever you want." Ken replied. "Being human feels weird. I''ll do that." The feline reverted and stretched. (Much better, I don''t know why you like being human so much.) He purred. (By the way what was this thing you remembered that is so important?) "Actually it is two things. The first is I promised my friend to ask you a question." Lux realized something that made him very happy. (Ah! I can understand human speech while being my handsome self too! I like this human blood, it is so useful!) He distractedly roared. Kenneth smiled "I''m glad. It will make communication easier in the future. Lux, can you tell me what you know about the mist that cursed you?" Lux slumped. (Not much, really. I noticed that the mist appeared. Then after things died in the mist, there were more creatures. I was just a kitten at the time so I didn''t pay much attention.) Ken frowned. "So, there is nothing you can remember that could be important to know?" Lux silently thought about it. (The voice!) He roared. (The voice was strange. It was almost snake like.) "How so?" (Have you never heard a snake hiss?) Lux questioned. Ken laughed. "That isn''t what I meant. Forget I asked. Is there anything else you can remember?" (Nope! So what is the other thing you remembered that was important?) The pre-teen pulled out the box he had obtained a few days back. "This." [Lux''s hidden treasure: (There is something special hidden in this dimensional box that refuses to be opened by any creature that is not a lynx): Despite the fact that no lynx has ever been able to open it, they have passed it down from one generation to the next. This item cannot be operated by a non-lynx.] Lux''s eyes widened. (You found my special box?) Ken gave a nod. "I did. Do you know what is inside?" Lux shook his head. "I wonder what is inside of it then," Ken replied while casually tossing the box in the air like a cool kid. (My Box!) The feline roared as he swiped it from the air before it fell back into Ken''s hand. [Your animal companion has swiped the item you were holding. Lux has learned the human skill Swipe 0/10 Beginner. He has gained the Thievery skill line.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ken frowned. "Lux, give it back! I want to figure out how to open it!" (If you want it so badly, come catch me!) He called back. Ken ran after the cat. (Get back here, I doubt you can open it on your own!) Lux dodged out of the way. (It''s my hidden treasure! You can''t have it!) He ran further into the woods. Realizing he wasn''t going to catch up in his current self, Ken assumed his animal form and gave chase. Lux and Ken darted between the trees playing a game of tag that the pre-teen was losing. Lux laughed after a few minutes, forgetting the reason for the chase. (It''s my turn to win this time!) The feline twisted around and pounced Ken. Kenneth, taken by surprise, was almost pinned. He successfully kicked the lynx off of him. Ken and Lux started fighting once again. Their playful roars scared off the nearby lower level creatures. Lux''s hidden treasure was caught in-between their slightly more violent playing. Ken swiped the box away from Lux. The box tumbled to the ground. (Haha!) Ken leapt at the box. (No you don''t!) Lux roared as he also charged towards his special treasure. They gripped the box with their claws as they continued fighting. A light flashed and the box opened, pulled apart by their claws. The two cats flew apart. Some objects clattered to the ground. A powerful image of an old lynx like creature emerged. (Finally, some worthy lynxes!) An aged growl shouted. [You and Lux have opened Lux''s hidden treasure.] *** Jericho logged into the game and looked over to his dancing sister with a smile. "I''m here." He called out. Princess stopped. "That was sooner than I expected. Are you good?" Jericho gave a nod. "I think we should be able to refine the song and dance steps fairly soon. Don''t you agree?" She gave a nod in response. "Oh, brother, I was warned today that something bad is likely going to happen in the area soon. Alex was really worried and wanted me to tell you we should finish our quest and get out of here as soon as possible." Jericho frowned. "I see. So what do you want to do?" Princess frowned back. "While we could go with the line dance and song we created before, I don''t think it will satisfy them. I don''t think rushing our quest is a good idea. We should keep going at the pace we are going. Good stuff takes time or effort, great stuff takes time and effort." Jericho let out a light chuckle. "Spoken like an artist. So other than the words, I can play the basic melody while you dance to it. But like you said yesterday, you need to figure out how a satyr would dance to it right?" The girl gave a nod. "Yeah, But I don''t know of a way to make my body like theirs enough to make it work. I don''t want to ask them for help just yet, but I will later if it is more useful." Jericho smiled. "I have an idea then. It''ll be a bit gross, but if it works, I should be able to help you with that." He split himself into two and had his clone move out of sight. "For now, you and I should refine the overall performance while my clone tries to see if my idea could even work." Jericho and Princess practiced the piece they had worked hard on the night before. "Jericho, do you want to talk about it?" The bard shook his head. "Glaw mentioned something that set me off but I am much better now but I don''t want to talk about it. Thank you for caring though." Princess gave a nod. "You don''t sound like you are lying like you were this morning." Jericho chuckled. "I''m that readable?" "Only to me; I know my brother better than anyone. What did Glaw say?" The bard shook his head. "Moira, I don''t want to talk about it." The girl sighed. "Alright, I''ll stop pushing." "Thank you. So tell me about this warning." "Alex said it was some sort of spiritual poison and was very dangerous." Princess replied. Meanwhile the other Jericho looked at his legs and was trying not to be grossed out. He watched as his body shape deformed. "Mutable body in human form is defiantly not supposed to be a thing." He groaned. His feet shriveled into the shape of hooves. "They still look fleshy." He muttered as he tried to stand. He winced in pain as the small ''hooves'' were surprisingly tender despite looking calloused. "At its current stage, Mutable body won''t work." His stamina depleted and his body reverted back to normal. "Wow, so human form, mutable body consumes stamina. That is good to know." He sat in a meditative position to breathe and regain stamina. Ken mentioned that breathing does help restore stamina. {Hey Glaw, I have a question.} {I might have an answer for you. What is your question?} {Do you know that the benefit for having mutable body at Expert is?} {I do.} Jericho waited before laughing. {My bad, will you tell me what the benefit is?} Glaw joined in the laughter. {I''m getting familiar with your human humor. I am glad the joke was funny.} He emerged from Jericho to face him directly. {You can change your state of being. For example, if I were to use mutable body, I could become an ice or steam elemental which changes how my abilities work. Like so,} Glaw froze himself and used aqua slash which turned into an icy blade that he could swing. He melted into steam and used the same ability. The slash blasted a wall of hot mist at a high speed outward. {I don''t know how it would work with your human body. But I can''t use it to become something I am not.} He resumed being a normal water elemental. {For example, I am made of water and cannot make myself be made of fire. Your human form is made of flesh, so I am not sure what ''states'' it could be in. Also, the ability doesn''t allow you to change how much mass you have. Even now, if you were to grow an extra arm, you would probably shrink because the material for the arm doesn''t form randomly.} Jericho gave a nod. {Thanks Glaw, it looks like it would be good for me to try and get it up to Expert then.} {True, and then you should be able to make four of yourself.} Glaw reminded. Jericho remained silent for a bit before Glaw''s words sunk in. {Wait¡­ that is what all the complicated explanation about lesser elementals was saying in the skill description for split? I feel dumb.} Glaw waited before answering. {Yes. As a lesser elemental you cannot split. As a small elemental you can split into 2 lesser elementals. As an elemental you can split into two small elementals or four lesser elementals. When you reach Llyn''s level of power, you will be able to split into eight lesser elementals and so on. Did you not understand this? Is that why you have delayed working on the elemental skills? I did think it was strange that you were ignoring them when they could be so useful to you and your performance skills.} Jericho scratched his cheek. {Yeah¡­ Well, now that I know, I should practice more. Mutable body is the closest to breaking through so I will just use that one. Who knows, maybe I will find it works great for the quest once it reaches Expert.} {Good luck.} {Thanks, I have one more question though. My sister just mentioned to my other half that the mist she wanted to investigate later is a type of spiritual poison. Do you know of anything that could help?} Glaw gave a nod. {Your Serenade soothes spiritual ailments. Spiritual poison is likely an ailment. That, and your sister has Yun''s staff, right?While I do not know for sure, both of those should be able to help protect you.} {I see, thank you.} Jericho, the clone, turned into his water elemental self. {Now I can practice without having to worry about stamina running out, or being grossed out by my own actions.} {Jericho, I have a question. There is something I don''t understand.} Glaw stated. {What is it Glaw?} Jericho asked back thinking it strange that there were things Glaw didn''t understand. {Why is it that mutable body is not gross when you are an elemental but is gross when you are in your mortal fleshy form?} 37 Alleviate some of that boredom A voice echoed through the leafs. {One who bears Gemini Lilies in his soul? Could he be the experiment the four main elemental kings were hoping to create?} Jericho looked up. {Glaw, did you say something?} {No I did not. What is it that you heard?} Glaw replied. Jericho tried thinking back to the strange words he heard. {Something about Lilies and an experiment?} He replied confused. {Ah yes. I suspected they would find out.} {Who find out what?} Jericho felt really confused. {Jericho, I was originally hoping to keep this a secret longer, but your existence is something the other types of elementals have been expecting. You probably didn''t notice but we have actually been in wood elemental territory for a while. The wood elementals are peaceful enough and blend with the plants in the forest that they are rarely hunted or even found. They have been by a few times but seem to be speaking only now.} {Now I am curious. Thankfully I''m not a cat like Ken is.} Jericho mildly joked. {I think you are making a joke, but I don''t get it.} {I''ll explain it another time. You were saying?} Glaw drooped. {Do you remember the Gemini Lilies I gave you with your elemental core?} Jericho nodded. {Yeah, what about it?} {Let me explain the context first. Eternity is a long time. So, we elementals can end up bored. The Elemental Kings of the four main elements agreed to try an experiment of sorts to alleviate some of that boredom.} Jericho nodded, thinking that eternity was quite a long time to live. {Of course, experimenting is better than wreaking havoc upon the world like last time... We were wondering if it was possible to have a creature that was all 8 of the natural elements. The main four came up with the idea and the other elementals agreed. We, the water elementals, chose you to be our first experiment. I came along with you as a representative of the water elementals to help with negotiations.} {Wait¡­ You wanted me to become all the elements? Is that why I was given 18 Lilies? If I recall correctly only one was consumed.} Jericho inquired before confirming it with his detailed status page. {Are you against the idea? It would be considered very helpful to you if you were. Of course we don''t know what will happen if you do become more than one elemental at the same time or what will happen once you become all eight, but that is what makes this so fascinating.} {Well, I guess the other elementals would have skills that are useful to me as a musician right?} {Indeed they would. We originally planned on giving you eight lilies but your sister picked more than enough for us to give you more of them.} Jericho thought for a bit. {I think i understand thanks Glaw. Can you tell me about the 8th element now? I recall Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Electricity, Crystal, and Wood but you never told me the eighth.} {The eighth element is a bit more ambiguous to mortal minds and there is not much mortal magic related to it. The element that is represented by the northwest is Aether. As you humans would put it, the ethereal and nethereal lie between death and chaos. The Aether lies between water and wind. There is a reason mortals sometimes refer to this element as Limbo. When an undying adventurer like yourself dies, they eject the Aether element from their body to reform a new body later. The Aether is the element that fills in the gaps of mater in your human body. Meeting an Aether elemental is rare and will be the hardest challenge in completing the experiment.} Jericho frowned. {So, it is basically the soul element?} {Well, I guess you could call it that but the Aether elementals would be quite irritated to hear you call it that since it is not entirely accurate.} The bard nodded. {Then why give me 18 Gemini Lilies? Wouldn''t 8 have been enough?} Glaw gave a nod. {Indeed. The extra ten are just for insurance. That and you may get to meet the unnatural elementals which come from other unique sources of power like Light, Dark, Unholy, and Void Elementals. I doubt we could convince them to participate in the experiment but you never know. During our journey you may run across a terrible situation you cannot avoid. They may save your life. If we only had eight then if one were to be consumed prematurely then the experiment couldn''t be completed.} Jericho shook his head. {Wow, I had no idea you all had such extensive plans for me.} {Well, you had things to get done and you never asked why we would make you a water elemental in the first place.} {I see, so earlier you mentioned elemental kings?} Jericho half questioned. Glaw gave a nod. {Indeed I did. Tier 4 elementals like Llyn are known as Elemental Lords. While it is hard to reach that stage, it isn''t so uncommon. However breaking through to Tier 5 is extremely hard. These rare Tier 5 elementals are known as the Elemental Kings. Unless something very special happens to allow a breakthrough, an elemental will never grow past that state of growth. In the entire history of the natural world, none of us have ever broken through that barrier. Part of our curiosity is to see if creating an existence with all the elements would allow such a breakthrough.} Jericho frowned in thought. {So, an elemental King is the highest stage for an elemental? There are limits?} The water elemental nodded once more. {Every creature has its racial limits. Unless something happens to allow a breakthrough, their skill line will stop. If you are a success, and are able to grow to tier 6, you will be the highest ranked elemental in the world and will likely become our new ruler. Because of this, we couldn''t choose any random human, we had to find a human that thought similarly to an elemental.} Glaw interrupted. {I see, becoming all the elements or becoming your ruler is not my goal. However, I will continue with your plan because of the skills that will help my musical goals.} {That is what I expected. I do not plan on forcing our will upon you. I have grown to enjoy watching you make your choices.} Jericho touched his mouth. {Huh. So all of you are wanting to see if I can break through to a stage of elemental none of you have ever broken through before. I could see why that would be fascinating to things that have lived forever.} {Yes,} Glaw replied. {We already know many methods for most creatures to break through their racial limitations but we have yet to discover any means to break through our own. The side effect of trying to break through your own racial restrictions is being blind to your own potential.} Jericho laughed. {I have heard people say similar things when it comes to spirituality. Can you explain one of these limitations and breakthrough methods for me?} {Alright, take two of your everyday animals for example. A rat is a Tier 1 creature. Unless it undergoes some sort of mutation like a growth effect, it will remain a rat. If for example you gave it a growth effect it could then break through the barrier and become a Tier 2 dire-rat. For the next example I will use a coyote. A Tier 1 coyote is a pup while a Tier 2 coyote is an adult. Within the adult coyotes there are many sub-categories and trait specific creatures but that is their natural limit. Unless they can break, change, or add to the title of animal, that is as far as they will go¡­} *** Ken and Lux stared at the ghostly lynx figure that floated above them. They still had pieces of the shattered treasure box in their claws. (Greetings young ones,) the aged ghost said with a nod. (Congratulations on opening the box. A long time ago, lynxes started to lose their true power. I sealed away my power in this box in order to bring that power back. The two of you are worthy to inherit my power.) Ken looked excited. This was basically a special event to make lynxes stronger and he was lucky enough to have experienced enough misfortune to be a part of it. (Greetings elder,) Ken replied. Lux copied his older brother''s actions. (Come closer and look at what was being stored inside the box. Your inheritance is there.) The two adult lynxes came closer. Ken looked at the moist yellow amber looking stones. (Lyngurium?) Lux asked, thinking that he had created plenty of it on his own. (Why is the secret treasure only this stone? I carried these around for so long. I thought my treasure was special.) Lux laid down depressed. (I thought the secret treasure was something really awesome. I''m disappointed that it is something so lame. Ken why did you have to help me open the box? It was better not knowing what was in it.) The old lynx laughed. (Indeed these are Lyngurium stones. However, these ones are special. They are tier 4 Spirit Beast Lyngurium stones. You don''t have to be sad because you will become a much stronger lynx with these. These contain my spiritual essence and can awaken your own spiritual power.) Ken looked excited. (How do we gain the inheritance?) (To the point then, you must swallow one or both of the two Lynguriums of Truth and try to keep it down. The longer you can keep it inside of you the more power I can pass onto you. If you are successful in absorbing all my power then it will be even better.) Lux looked ill. (Swallow a Lyngurium stone? There is no way I am doing that. You are a gross old ghost that should go away. No lynx in their right mind would ever swallow it.) The old ghost looked confused. (What is wrong? Do you not know that the most effective way to pass on our power to another one of our kind is through this stone? What is the problem?) Ken was confused and started laughing. (Lux, I thought you were a brave Lynx. It is only swallowing a stone. It isn''t like he is asking you to swallow one of his hairballs.) The ghostly lynx chuckled. (I did consider that option, but Lyngurium is luckier and a much better vessel for spiritual power.) (Ignorant former human of an older brother,) Lux muttered. (You wouldn''t be so casual about it if you knew.) His voice was progressively getting quieter. The ghostly lynx looked surprised. (Wait, he was formally a human? Truly? How unusual, not that it matters too much. The conditions remain the same. In order to pass on the inheritance you must swallow one or both.) Lux grimaced as he slowly approached what he viewed as a disgusting object. (Nope! They''re both yours.) He looked up at the ghost. (Do you have something else?) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. (I do.) The old ghostly lynx pulled out a strange green cloth. (If you want my other power accept this.) Lux used his mouth to snag the cloth. (What is it?) He asked as the green cloth encompassed his head briefly. Ken looked over at the old ghostly lynx. (What did you just give him?) The old ghost laughed. (It is a special hat that used to belong to a very heroic lynx. It is a semi-bound object that has some cool abilities. Now are you going to swallow the Lyngurium?) 38 The Public Display of Affection Police While Jericho''s elemental clone practiced skills, Princess and Jericho worked and refined the performance for hours. "This would be easier to show if Ken were here to help me." Princess sighed. "This line dance is designed to be performed using a mirroring effect." The half of Jericho working with her gave a nod. "You mean the type of line dance where every other person is facing one direction and the others are facing the opposite, like a checkered pattern or a mild adaption similar to a square dance?" "Yep," she confirmed. "Then why don''t you message him? I think he would enjoy hanging around and helping you out." Jericho suggested. The girl smiled and sent a message over to Kenneth. The dancer received a reply almost immediately. [The person you have messaged is currently busy and unable to respond. They will receive your message when they are able.] Princess sighed and shared the message with her brother. "I got a similar message when I tried to message Shiarra while she was in combat." Jericho explained. The pre-teen looked a little worried. "Should we go find him?" Jericho shook his head and looked up at the canopy above them. "Don''t worry about Ken. Like Shiarra, he is strong. He will message back when his is able." Princess smiled and calmed down slightly. "Oh, speaking of Shiarra, she wanted me to tell you hi. I think she likes you since we talk about you all the time." Jericho paused and gave his sister a ''You really had to go there?'' type of look. "I''m glad she is doing well." He replied. "I like both your ship names. Which do you like better, Jeriarra or Shiacho?" Jericho face-palmed. "I told you already. Shiarra and I don''t know each other. Why are you trying to play matchmaker? You know people can change their appearance in game and act very differently than in real life." The girl sighed. "I just want you to be happy too." "And you are convinced Shiarra would help me have this happiness?" He asked with a shake of his head. The girl sighed back. "It is at least worth a try! Besides, aren''t you being too quick to reject her?" Jericho turned away from his sister. "I''ll only add to her misery. Now can we drop the subject?" "Fine, but one day, you will see that you deserve to be happy too." Princess turned away with a scowl. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The bard took a deep breath. "But I am happy when I can see you happy." "Liar." Jericho received a message. [From !Admin? Griffin Knight: Mrs. Long, the woman in charge of the game, has requested a meeting with you before you get much further into your current quest. She has asked us to tell you she wants this meeting to be as convenient for you as possible while also being as soon as possible. Please set the date, time, and location in your reply. The sooner you meet the better.] Jericho sighed and replied. [How do I confirm this is genuinely from an admin? How long of a meeting does she need?] [From !Admin? Griffin Knight: Log into the forum. Search Admin. You will find the !Admin? to be the indicator you are talking to a real admin instead of someone pretending to be an admin. Let me check with her on that question. Message you again shortly.] "Brother, who are you talking to?" Princess asked seeing that he didn''t verbally retaliate to her calling him a liar. "Apparently an administrator of the game," he replied. "Wow, is it something important?" She inquired. "I would guess so, the woman that gave us the game wants to meet with me about something." "Huh, I should be there to make sure she doesn''t have the hots for you. I can''t have you being snatched away by someone I don''t approve of." Jericho laughed. "I am sure she only wants to talk about something related to the game." "If you are going have a meeting with a strange woman, I''m going to be there to keep you safe. You don''t have a choice. I''ll skip school if I need to." She said in a threatening tone. "What are you? The PDA Police?" "What is that supposed to mean?" Jericho''s laughter increased. "The Public Display of Affection Police; an organization dedicated to making sure nothing affectionate or intimate happens." He replied with a mild mocking exaggerated enthusiasm. "Yep! I will make sure she doesn''t try to seduce you. So don''t go flirting with her either. I know how smooth of a talker you can be." The girl grinned. "Yes ma''am." Jericho shook his head. [From !Admin? Griffin Knight: Mrs. Long has said that the meeting should be short and shouldn''t take longer than an hour. Please tell us the time, date, and location so we can schedule it.] Jericho sent a reply. [3:00 PM, Tuesday October 7th (Tomorrow), At 231 Blue Hen Rd, Newcastle. Please send me a reminder of this upcoming meeting just beforehand.] [From !Admin? Griffin Knight: Time, Date, and Location confirmed. I will send a reminder message when it is time.] *** Ken swallowed the two glowing yellow crafting material in front of him without hesitation. (Sure it tastes bad but it isn''t that hard to swallow. I don''t understand why you are so opposed to it, Lux.) (I can''t believe I''m watching you do that.) Lux replied as the green cloth stabilized on the top of his head. It looked like a green wizard''s hat with holes for his ears to poke out from. [You have swallowed Lyngurium of Truth. Your spiritual power has activated.] [You are absorbing spiritual power from the stones. The longer you can keep it down the more power you can obtain.] [Power absorbed: 0.1%] Ken felt a prickly, painful sensation in his stomach and throat. His gag reflex was repeatedly triggered. He closed his eyes and used his hunting skill Focus to keep himself calm and from throwing up. Multiple notification sounds were heard. Ken felt a strange sensation flowing through his body. It tickled and made the irritation harder to deal with. His ear''s twitched when he heard hacking sounds coming from Lux. (So gross, I can''t believe Ken is fine. Ignorance truly makes one dumb. I would rather eat a hairball than do what he just did.) Ken wanted to curse as the pain intensified and Lux insulted him. A light growl escaped his muzzle. The sounds of more notifications played. The pre-teen felt something shift inside of his stomach and chest. A relaxing herbal smell entered the lynxes'' nostrils. The painful feelings subsided and a rush of power flowed through Ken''s body. Ken felt weak and slept. Lux got bored of watching Ken struggle. He played around with his new wizard cap a bit. (Wow, this hat is great! Wait, when did this relaxing smelling liquid get here? Hey brother, why are you sleeping? Did swallowing Lingurium kill you? I know I would die if I swallowed it.) *** Purai and Lillith had seen the whole thing. They were picking herbs in the area when they heard the sounds of the two felines fighting. "Lynxes have some really gross habits don''t they?" Lillith whispered as she saw the one swallow the objects off the ground. Purai shook her head. "There seems to be more going on." She pointed to the old lynx phantom. She saw the painful look on Ken''s face and the sounds coming from the hat wearing Lux. She pulled out a small bundle of herbs and some water. She lit a small fire with magic and brought the small amount of water to water to a boil. She placed the herbs into the hot water and placed the steeping liquid near the two felines. She gave a bow to the lynx spirit and walked away. "There, that seems to be helping." She smiled seeing the painful expression on Ken''s face relax. Lillith frowned. "Why did you do that?" Purai smiled sweetly. "Have you noticed that nothing seems to have been attacking us while we have gathered the ingredients to help cure the satyr''s ailments?" "I did. But what does that have to do with the two lynxes?" The young elf questioned. The healer chuckled. "The two of them have been hunting in the area and helping us out. I don''t know if they were doing it on purpose or if it was just a coincidence but either way, we have benefited greatly from their efforts. Making a relaxing herbal tea is something very simple I could do to repay them." "Oh, I get it. Well, we should keep searching for ingredients right?" "Yeah. I have almost everything I need to treat the third satyr on their list. This will take a while. I hope we can get things done more efficiently. We should prepare as much as possible to save extra trips into the forest." "Alright!" *** Ken woke up to the feeling of Lux pushing his head against his body repeatedly. He shook his head as he opened his eyes. (I''m awake Lux. What are you doing?) (I''m glad you are awake. I thought you had died. Swallowing Lyngurium is more horrible than death.) (Right¡­) Ken drowsily stood back up and started to read the notifications. [You have gained the Spirit Beast skill line. You can now learn Spirit Beast abilities. You have gained the Spirit Beast (lynx only) skill True-Lynx Eyes. You can see the hidden truth¡­] [You have grown a spirit crystal.] [Because you have grown a spirit crystal, your body, including the crystal, has become more valuable. Perceptive creatures will be able to detect the spiritual power you give off. You may get hunted down more frequently because of other''s greed as a result. This aura is suppressed while you are in human form.] [You can choose 1 known ability and convert it into a spirit influenced ability. You can learn 1 additional spirit ability from an outside source.] [Your True-Lynx Eyes have grown to 0/10 Adept. Your spirit beast skill line has risen to tier 2. Warning, your spirit beast skill line cannot break through to tier 3 until your Animal (predator) skill line reaches tier 3. You can see more hidden truths and see the intentions of creature who''s eyes you can see.] [You have gained the Spirit Beast (Lynx only) skill Produce Lyngurium. Any lynx can produce Lyngurium but only a lynx spirit beast can purposefully create it. Lyngurium has many uses including transferring vitality or knowledge, attracting things to a location or creature and so on. If used in crafting it can create a variety of effect usually related to luck or sight. Note that obtaining the negative status ''captured'' orthe neutral status ''tamed'' will weaken the Lyngurium you can produce to the Tier 1 weak Lyngurium until the condition is removed. You can use this skill three times a day.] [Your spirit crystal has stabilized as a tier 2 crystal. You have gained improved spiritual power. The materials your body is made of are worth more. As a Tier 2 Spirit Beast have gained the special stat: Spirit. Note that Spirit cannot be given assigned stat points. Spirit will have almost no effect on your human form.] [As you have not yet chosen: You can convert a total of three known abilities into spirit influenced abilities. As you have not learned any additional spirit abilities from an outside source, you can learn up to three new spirit abilities from outside sources.] [Produce Lyngurium has increased to 0/10 Adept. 25% of the time, when producing Lyngurium it will become infused with spiritual power raising its tier to 3. When producing tier 3 Lyngurium or higher you can infuse it with any known spiritual power. Tier 3 Lyngurium and higher can hold spiritual power.] [Your skills have stabilized. True-Lynx Eyes has reached 10/10 Adept and cannot change to 0/10 Expert until your Animal skill line has reached Tier 3.] [You have received a message from Dancing Princess: Hey, if you are free, can you come help me with the dance I am making? I could use a dancing partner.] 39 Bleh... The knowledge of how to use his new skills flowed into Ken''s mind. He wanted to throw up. Ken looked over to see Lux sniffing a tea filled bowl. He dashed over and started lapping up the liquid to try and clean his mouth. Lux looked victorious. (Now do you know why I didn''t want to swallow those stones?) Ken''s gag reflex responded once again. (Yep! Now I get why you were calling me dumb earlier. Bleh¡­) He sent a message over to Princess. [I''ll be over there soon. I suggest you get rid of the Lyngurium you got earlier. You don''t want to use it. It would be much better to sell it instead.] Seeing the two felines focus once more, the old ghost lynx laughed. (A nice lady come over and placed it there to help you out. If you find her later you should thank her.) The fading ghost lynx said. (Good luck my successors.) The lynx vanished. (Hey wait!) Ken roared at the air. (Wow, it is so nice that someone chose to help us out like that.) Lux purred. Ken sighed. (And that mean old ghost left without letting me get my frustration out.) (Then do you want to tussle again? I feel much stronger now with this.) Lux playfully growled and swiped at the brim of his wizard hat. Princess sent a reply to Ken''s message. [See you soon! And why should I get rid of it? Isn''t it a valuable crafting material?] Ken shook his head and reverted to his human form. [If you knew what it was, you wouldn''t want to touch it either.] "We will tussle later, Lux. Come, we are heading back to the village. Princess wants our help." (Alright!) Ken was still trying to rinse out his mouth. "Why didn''t you tell me what Lyngurium was? Swallowing... solidified urine is worse than swallowing a hairball!" He asked as he pulled up the information regarding the new hat Lux was wearing. (You never asked and I did try to warn you at least.) Lux replied indignantly. (I don''t understand why humans like to make it into jewelry.) [Lux: Tier 1 spirit beast (Power has awakened thanks to the equipment he is wearing), Tier 2 Animal (Predator). Lux has chosen to assign his first personal spiritual power to Paw Fishing. Fish caught while utilizing spiritual power will taste better and be more nutritious.] [Hat of the Hero Lynx: (Grade Special): The lynx that wears this green hat will slowly gain spiritual power. The wearer of the hat can use the headgear''s special ability ''Absorb Power'' instead of looting a corpse. The wearer can use the power ''Switch Hat'' freely. The head item will gain a new appearance and use for each new power absorbed. Powers can be strengthened to specific degrees and only one power can be used at a time. (Lynx-Bound) The wearer of the hat cannot remove it unless offered to and accepted by another lynx. The powers absorbed belong to the hat and not the lynx wearing the hat. Current hat options: (3)] [Green hat of the Hero Lynx (Skill Max): while worn, the wearer''s spiritual power will slowly grow. Current status: Spiritual power 0/10 Beginner (Tier 1 spirit beast).] [Lynx Hat (Skill Max): While worn, the wearer does not look like they are wearing a hat. It is great for those who prefer their natural appearance. However the effects of the other hats cannot be used while this hat is active.] [Rat Hat- Shrink 0/10 Beginner: Reduce the wearer''s size. Use ''Absorb Power'' on more dead rats to strengthen this ability.] Ken sighed. "We should have opened the box before doing the farmer''s request. Then we would have had plenty of pests to strengthen the hat with. The drops weren''t worth much anyways." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. (Well, do you think we could have opened it up back then? Besides, the rat hat looks ugly and shrinking is dumb. I get weaker when I use it.) Lux complained. (I want to get cool looking hats that have useful abilities.) "You have a point. There is no use crying over spilled milk." (Yep! You just lap it up anyways!) Lux replied proudly. Ken shook his head as he reviewed the information once more. "You used your spirit ability augmentation on Paw fishing? Isn''t that a waste?" Ken asked. (It isn''t a waste if it means food will taste better.) Lux replied. (What about you?) Ken sighed. "I haven''t decided yet." (Hmm¡­ Well, you really like your human form. Why not choose that one?) Lux suggested. Ken thought for a bit. "That does seem like it would be useful." He pulled up his skills and assigned ''Human Form'' as a spiritual power. [Human Form (Augmented with Spiritual Power): 5/10 Master: - A human-blooded creature can transform into a human form. They can only maintain that form for so long each day. (Current: 15 hours/day (13 Hours + 2 Hours for being a tier two spirit beast). Each tier upgrade will increase the timer by 4 hours. Each spirit beast tier upgrade will add 1 hour.) Timer resets at midnight. While in human form, you can speak and act like humans do. Note that some lynx traits will be present while in human form and an astute person may realize your true identity. These traits will become less noticeable the higher the skill level. You can assume more lynx traits if desired and can choose which traits they are. If you do not make a choice, they will be assigned to the ''most human'' looking appearance. Stats are based on the assigned stat allocation per level as normal. While transformed into a human, you can access all of your Spirit Abilities but be warned that your human form also gives off the impression of being a spirit beast in a human guise to the astute observer.] Ken smiled. "Good call Lux. Now I can use my human form for longer each day. But what to do with the other two and how do we learn other spirit abilities?" He questioned out loud. Lux shook his head. (I don''t know how we learn other ones. That would have been a good question for the disgusting ghost if he didn''t disappear too quickly. But you can make two other abilities cooler? Well, since I have got the fishing covered, you probably don''t want to worry too much about that one.) "True, but since spirit beast abilities seem to be rare with limited options, I want to pick things I will be using late game as well. Choosing an ability I will be forgetting about or not using much later would be a waste." (Then why not chose you basic methods of attacking or defending, like your claws or your hide?) "Hmm.." Ken thought. (Oh, I know! Why don''t you choose an ability that is always active or is not restricted by levels?" Lux suggested. "Even if it isn''t flashy, wouldn''t you end up using them even at higher levels?) Ken stopped. "Huh. I hadn''t thought of that. That makes sense though. There are plenty of skills that are just amplifications of already existing skills. Alright, I have my ideas then." (Oh? Tell me!) "I think I will choose my ''Monster Form'' and ''Lynx Form''. If I do that, the effects should show up nicely. Monster Form needs to grow like Human form does and Lynx form is registered under selectable abilities but it currently doesn''t seem to actually do anything. We will see what we can do with it." He assigned the skills. [Monster Form 1/10 Beginner (Augmented by Spiritual Power): A human blooded creature can transform into a beast with mild humanoid traits. This form can only maintained for so long each day. (Current 3 Hours. (1 Hours + 2 Hours for being a tier two spirit beast Each tier upgrade will increase the timer by 1 hours. Each spirit beast tier upgrade will add 1 hour.) Timer resets at midnight. While in monster form, you will be considered a hostile target to most other creatures. While in monster form you have your animal or human stats (whichever total is higher) while in a humanoid enough body to use most human skills and animal enough to use most animal skills. You are considered an in-game creature and are subject to the same rules.] [Due to the recognition of both Human and Monster forms being augmented by spiritual power, you can now use spiritual power regardless of form.] [You have assigned enough spiritual powers into the blood trait. Your Spirit Core has become influenced by your racial blood nature. Your race has been updated.] [Animal form (N/A) (Augmented by Spiritual Power) *Monster tier based upon the Animal (predator) skill line and skills; (Current tier 2, Blood-Lynx): This is your race''s base form. While in this form you are considered an animal (and a magical beast). While in this form you are considered an in-game creature and are subject to the same rules. You have spiritual powers related to blood. New Animal (Predator) skills have been unlocked. The chance to break through to a tier three lynx has improved. You will gain a new blood power every time your Spirit Beast skill line increases a Tier.] [(New) Blood-Fury 0/10 Beginner (Automatic activation): When you drop below 33% health, agility increases by 5%.] [(New) Bloodline surge 0/10 Beginner: You can consume ''time'' from your Human and Monster Form''s timers. Your next attack will be augmented by the amount of time consumed. (1 Hour = 10% base damage increase for one attack.) If you do not have ''Hours'' remaining, the minutes are consumed but no increase in power is granted. If the attack misses, the ability is still considered used. Available hours a day to consume: (Current Maximum 18 Hours or +180% for one attack) (Current available 12 Hours 22 Minutes.)] "Excellent!" Ken shouted. "These are incredibly useful! Except bloodline surge seems a bit weak for a high cost. If I used up all my hours for a single strike and the base damage before armor and resistance was 100 then it would only be 280 base damage. But I guess their armor doesn''t negate the additional damage so I could have an extra powerful strike every once in a while. As long as I am willing to spend all day in animal form¡­" His voice trailed off. The two entered the satyr village. The goat people were giving them strange stares. There was a calculative look in their eyes. Ken activated his True-Lynx Eyes and looked back at the satyrs. [As you were formerly identified as a beast the satyrs are better able to determine your true nature.] [He is debating if he should hunt you and your brother down.] [She is thinking Lynx meat kind of sounds tasty tonight, but wonders if you will revert to a lynx form when dead.] [They are wondering if their god will be angry if they kill you and your companion or if he will be pleased when the two of you are turned into part of a drum.] [She doesn''t know why you and your brother seem to be stronger but thinks the two of you look more handsome then before.] Ken deactivated his sight. "Lux, these satyrs may not be friendly much longer. Let''s hurry up." The two ran to where Jericho and Princess were working. "Lux and I are here." Ken replied mildly out of breath. "What do you need?" "I need a dance partner. The line dance I am making requires people to be starting facing in different directions and I want to make sure I got my distances right." Lux looked excited and turned into a Ken lookalike. "I can be human now too. I want to try!" "Wah! You two look like twins! Lux has such a cool looking wizard hat! Where did he get it? How is it staying on his head?" Princess excitedly questioned. "It was in my secret treasure box Ken helped me open! It can only be taken off if I give it to another lynx specifically." Lux replied pleased that someone else also liked his new green hat. Jericho smiled. "You ready?" The three danced to Jericho''s composition. 40 Tuesday music lessons The morning arrived swiftly. After dropping Moira off to school, Jericho cleaned up the place a bit. Mike Heart, RuneHeart, was coming over for his first music lessons. The expected door knocking sounded. Jericho opened the door. "Come in. So, now that we are out of game, what do you want me to call you?" The man walked inside. "Let''s keep it simple. Call me Mike like old times. Today I''m here as your student." Jericho gave a nod. "So do you have an idea of what instrument you would like to start learning first?" Mike paused. "I don''t know your instrument''s names, but I could try and describe the sound for you." He pulled out his genius watch. "Alright. What does this instrument sound like?" Mike hit play on his watch. The sound of deep vibrations echoed in the mostly empty room. Jericho smiled. "One second." He left the room and returned with two large string instruments that lacked any form of acoustic chamber. "The instrument you are thinking of is called an electric cello and there are a lot of ways to play it." He set the instruments down. He pulled out two chairs. "Sit." He said before leaving again. He returned with similar looking objects with a large acoustic chamber. "This is what an acoustic cello looks like. You can play them the same but the sound will be slightly different and the electric ones are lighter." Mike gave a nod. "Wow, these look a lot simpler than I thought." Jericho passed over one of the electric cellos and a bow and picked one up for himself. "I don''t expect you to be able to do this for a while, but watch. I will demonstrate what can be done with this instrument. First, I want to point out that in your compositions, the cello is often used to create depth rather than the piece itself, like so." He started moving the bow across the strings with one hand and pressing the strings in specific spots with his other hand. Jericho showed a variety of tempos and undertones. Mike frowned. "Like this?" He tried repeated Jericho''s motions. The cello squawked. Jericho smiled. "Let''s get your posture and hand positions right first. First, separate your legs and plant your feet firmly on the floor." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Mike did so. "Alright, now the cello spike needs to go approximately right here." Jericho moved the cello centered in front of the other musician a short ways out in front of his feet. "Put it here on your left side. Your left hand will be what changes the notes." Mike placed the electric cello over his shoulder and lifted the bow. "Now to get your right hand''s finger positioning right." Jericho said. "Hold the bow like this. Separate your fingers a bit and place your thumb here at the butt of the bow." Mike copied the action. Jericho gave a nod. "The bow is one of the hardest parts of playing the cello because that is where all the sound comes from when you are using it traditionally." Jericho sat down and propped up the cello once more. "What needs to be achieved is getting the bow to stay in the same area at a 90¡ã angle in comparison to the strings while going in a dead strait linear motion, like so." Jericho demonstrated. "Now let me help you get a feel of the motion." Jericho put the electric cello down and walked over to the other musician. Mike tried mimicking Jericho''s posture. The teacher pushed down on Mike''s shoulder. "This part of you should feel heavy. Since gravity isn''t helping you keep the bow on the string, you need to put your shoulder weight into the bow." Jericho pulled out Mike''s elbow out. "Most of the movement comes from the elbow, while the wrist needs to stay flexible enough to stabilize the bow. Try running the bow across the strings now," he directed. Mike slide the bow across the strings and with the exception of a few slip ups, he was able to produce a decent sound. "Not bad. Now, if you want to make the notes staccato, you just have to use your finger here to stop the vibrations." Mike started practicing his posture and movements. "This is a lot harder than it looks." He exclaimed. Jericho gave a nod. "Indeed, it can be difficult." The lesson continued for another half an hour as Mike started to become more familiar with the motions. "Now that you have got the basic motions down to a sufficient degree, something to know is that the quality of sound changes the closer you are to the base of the finger board or the bridge." Jericho played closer to the finger board. A crisp breathy tone emerged. "When playing closer to the finger board you don''t need as much pressure." He played closer to the bridge. A heavy loud tone resonated. "When you are closer to the bridge, you need a lot more weight but the sound projects a lot louder. But for now, practice playing in the middle." Mike gave a nod. "The notes on a cello are something you will have to learn to listen to and feel. As you can see, there are no indicators on the finger board nor are there any frets like on a guitar." Mike frowned. "Jargon," he replied. "Ah right, there are no special marking or bumps on it to help you know where to press like there are on other instruments." Jericho clarified. "That makes things more complicated." Mike replied. "It does. On the cello there is a semi-tone between each finger the exception being between the open string and the first finger." Jericho explained. "You are speaking instrument speak again." Jericho sighed silently. "This string here is known as the D string. When you don''t have any fingers pressed on it, that string plays one of the D notes. When you put your finger on the string, the first one will change the string to play E. then every finger after that will go up a half step to F, then to F Sharp and so on." "Oh, okay." "I know it is something weird of me to ask a fellow musician, but can you read sheet music?" The student furrowed his brows. "I know the note names, what they sound like and what various symbols on the music software mean. But I am unfamiliar with the term." Jericho put down his cello once again and opened his piano bench. "This is some basic cello sheet music. Look it over and see if you can understand it." Mike looked over it. "This looks mostly familiar. Let''s see, this number is the beats per minute and the beats per measure. Based on their patterns the black notes with the lines look like they are one beat, the open circle with the line is two and the open circle with no line is four. I can take an educated guess and say that the A-G scales are represented by where they are placed. But I basically recognize all the other symbols." He looked up. Jericho gave a nod. "Indeed. Back in the day, most music was centered around a middle C. Where the cello is considered a base instrument your notes follow this pattern." He handed over a piece of paper with the notes written on it. "If you were playing a different instrument you could have two of these line sets called stanzas or the treble one instead. When you get to the point where you are ready to learn more instruments, we can talk about those later." Jericho explained. Mike gave a nod. "When you get your own cello, you will need to know how to tune it." Jericho showed Mike how to do it. "Alright, it looks like my hour is up for today." "Yes, time does fly when dealing with music." Jericho casually said. "I''m sure you could find an electric cello at an antique store. That is where I found most of mine. Hold on to the sheet music and my spare electric cello until you can get your own. Borrowing one helps but doesn''t feel the same as owning one. Trust me on that." "Thanks Jericho." "No problem, Mike. So when do you want to come back to keep learning?" "How about next Tuesday? I want to get my basic skills down enough so they are more comfortable next time." "It is good that you are not rushing it and wanting to firm up your basics. I''ll see you next Tuesday." "Oh, right, I wanted to check with you about something in game." "Go ahead." Jericho replied blankly. "Have you left Pren yet?" Jericho shook his head. "I''ve heard the news. I''m in the middle of an important quest that can''t be given up halfway. I will leave as soon as I can, though." "Alright, I just wanted to make sure you were going to stay safe. I know how hard it is to raise skills and your music skills are quite high. It would be hard if they took a hit." "Thanks, travel home safely." Jericho said as he led the man with the electric cello out the door. Mike frowned. "I have been wondering, where are your parents? The house seemed emptier than before, have they moved somewhere?" Jericho turned away. "They are dead. They died about six years ago. It was almost a year after we stopped being friends and you moved away." Mike stood awkwardly. "I''m sorry man." Jericho let out a sad laugh. "Don''t be. It wasn''t your fault they died. Besides, they would be happy right now. You and me just spent over an hour in each other''s company and didn''t get into an argument or fist fight. They would probably praise us and tell us how much we have matured." Mike let out a light chuckle. "Yeah, your parents were the upbeat, world is a great place, kind of people unlike us. When I first saw you in game I thought you had become like them and wondered if I was a bad influence on you growing up. Then I saw you use your music to fight like that and I realized I misjudged you. You may have grown up and have had a change in your approach to life but you are still you despite your happy go lucky attitude in front of others. I''m glad." Jericho laughed. "You were a bad influence on me. But I was also a bad influence on you. Thankfully it seems we have both become positive influences for each other instead. Now get going already. I have quests to finish. Or do you want to hang around until Moira returns from school?" "Alright, I''m going. See you next Tuesday. Thanks for the lesson and letting me borrow your stuff. As soon as I get my own I will return it." 41 ? Lyrics ? Jericho closed the door. "Now then I have had quite a few different ideas for lyrics. I should work on that while I wait for Moira to come home. That and continue grinding the morphic body skill. Being able to split into four of me would be a great boon to my playing." He logged into the game. One of him turned into an elemental like before and continued using mutable body. The other him sat in contemplation. ? Our lives won''t last forever, so we''ll forever dance! This is our grand endeavor, to never leave this trance. ? Jericho paused. "I know most line dances have lyrics, but does this composition really need it?" He paused. "Yeah, this particular one wouldn''t feel quite the same without them." ? Our songs will sound forever, the notes already cast. The past will all remember, it will not be the last. ? "These lyrics sound fairly good.I think they fit with what Princess was wanting." Jericho sighed. "Let''s keep going and see what comes of it. If she doesn''t like it, I can find a different use for these lyrics." ? Hear the sound of our feet, our hearts are brought into sync! This is the pace of our beat, won''t ever be brought to the brink! ? [Voice has increased in rank. Voice Expert 4/10.] "So, skills do rise faster when you are making something new. That is twice now that I have had my music skills upgrade." He laughed as he thought back to his lyrics. "Well, they aren''t the most outstanding sounding lyrics but I think they work great." Glaw came forward. {Jericho, earlier you told your sister that I said something that triggered your earlier elemental and emotional turmoil.} Jericho gave a nod. {I did say that. You did say things that triggered those emotional responses. I don''t blame you though. You couldn''t have known what you told me would have such an adverse affect.} {Still, I am sorry. Can you tell me about it so I can avoid accidently throwing you into chaos again? We elementals are very dangerous to other things when we are in turmoil.} Glaw reasoned. Jericho shook his head. {I won''t talk about the specifics, but years ago, people very important to my sister and I were killed. It was my fault they died and a few simple actions on my part could have saved them. Your words to convince me to save Ken and Lux were not wrong but they hit on my guilt and regret. I am doing better now, you don''t have to apologize.} Glaw gave a nod. {I understand then. You are really close to reaching the stage of a true elemental. As a result, being in an extreme state can cause harm to those around you. I will do my best to not add saltwater to your wounds in the future.} {Oh, that is good to know and thank you, Glaw.} Jericho took some calming breaths before thinking about the task ahead. A little while later¡­ [Mutable body has reached Adept 10/10. Upgrading to Expert 0/10. Expert bonus: You can change the state your body is in. You cannot change what you are made of. A water elemental can become any watery state.] [Congratulations, you have become a Tier 3 Water elemental. You have gained the water elemental skills: Become Water N/A, Elemental Fury N/A, Skill Osmosis N/A, and Purify Water 0/10 Beginner. You have gained the Tier 3 water elemental skill line bonus skill: All water related skills will grow 5% faster while at the Beginner and Adept stages. You have gained resistance to water=Level*2 in your human form.] [Become Water N/A: Turn into water. Become one with water. You can deactivate this skill at any time to return to your elemental form. Because mutable body is at tier 3, you can use this skill to become steam and ice as well.] [Elemental fury N/A: When under the affects of any extreme or excessive states of being (Like rage oreuphoria), attacks become more uncontrollable and significantly more powerful. This ability functions similar to a rage ability. The stronger your combat capabilities, the more destructive you become.] [Skill Osmosis (Water elementals only): A skill requiring two Tier 3 or greater water elementals. While merged, Water elementals can transfer skill experience from one to another. They cannot transfer any skill experience that would erase a skill or reduce their elemental tier. The skill transferred must be learnable by the other elemental to work.] [Purify Water 0/10 Beginner: Remove impurities from water. This is often used to cleanse tainted water sources. Currently only a small amount of water can be purified of weaker harmful impurities.] Glaw sloshed over. {Congratulations, Jericho.} {Thanks Glaw,} he replied. {Now then, become whole again and enter your water elemental state. You should pay me back for all the help I have given you so far. That and most of this should be helpful to you as well.} Jericho gave a nod, brought himself back together and transformed into an adult sized water elemental like Glaw. {Equivalent exchange, right? What do you want in return?} Glaw merged into Jericho. {I know how much you hate combat, so give me your skill proficiency for Aqua slash and Aqua bullet first. If you keep these two skills weaker, the amount of damage you will cause when you return to an unstable state will be significantly lessened. We will discuss the rest after.} {Alright,} Jericho replied. He focused on transferring his experiences with the two skills over to Glaw. [You have used Skill Osmosis with Glaw.] [Your proficiency with Aqua Slash has dropped from 2/10 Beginner to 0/10 Beginner.] [Your proficiency with Aqua Bullet has dropped from 2/10 Beginner to 0/10 Beginner.] [Glaw has gained proficiency with Aqua Slash. Not enough experience transferred to increase the numerical values. Glaw has learned the skill Aqua Bullet 2/10 beginner.] {What next?} Jericho asked the elemental inside of him. {I wish to ask for something more than I should. I wish for you to pass on a small piece of your knowledge on how to play that instrument you played using mutable body and the wave like song that made Llyn stronger, but..} Jericho put his watery arm onto his elemental face. He concentrated and received notifications once again. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [You have used Skill Osmosis with Glaw.] [Your violin skill proficiency has dropped from 2/10 Master to 1/10 Master] [Your composition skill, Water''s Tears proficiency has dropped from 5/10 Beginner to 4/10 Beginner.] [Glaw has learned Violin skill 0/10 Adept and can learn tier 2 music skills. Glaw has learned the composition Water''s Tears 1/10 Beginner. Glaw''s Water elemental skill line is strong enough to cover the lack of necessary Music skill to play the piece.] {Jericho this is too much and I was about to give a more reasonable suggestion.} {Why is that too much?} Jericho heard Glaw give a water elemental equivalent to a sigh. {The amount you are paying to me is too costly to you. But, I do have an idea that will help you and balance our exchange.} Jericho felt Glaw concentrating on giving him something. Knowledge and skill flowed into him. [Glaw has used Skill Osmosis with you.] [You have learned the Rare water elemental skill: Energy Tide 0/10 Adept.] [Energy Tide: You have felt the natural ebb and flow of both primary energy sources. You can convert MP into Stamina and Stamina into MP. The exchange ratio is 4:1. Adept bonus: The exchange ratio drops to 3:1.] Jericho looked over the skill. {Wow, this is a really cool skill. But why do you think it will help? Most of my skills require both stamina and MP at the same time.} Glaw emerged from Jericho. {Earlier, you were trying to use mutable body in human form. With this, you can convert your MP into the necessary stamina to maintain the mutations slightly longer.} Realization hit Jericho. {Ah right, mutable body to try and help Princess understand the satyrs better for her dance requires a lot of stamina in my human form.} {You should see if your plan works and how long it lasts.} Glaw suggested. Jericho gave a nod, returned to his human form and focused on using mutable body on his feet and legs. Fur sprouted. His skin receded revealing hard hooves. "Ah!" The man fell over. "How do they balance with these feet?" {Jericho, it might help if you get the knees in the right place and grow a tail like theirs. I think that has a lot to do with their balance.} "Right." Jericho remained on the ground as he continued to reshape his lower body until he looked like a beardless hornless half-satyr. He took advantage of his new skill and converted his MP into stamina. {Better, you still look very unstable but at least you should be able to stand now.} Jericho tried standing again. He wobbled a bit but was able to catch himself before he fell over. "This is harder than it looks. How does Ken adapt so quickly?" {It is because the instinct of how to move is in his blood. You are using a type of mutation ability. When we were back in the cavern and you grew two extra watery arms, it took you a bit to learn how to control them. Mutable body does not have the natural guidance his blood transformation abilities do.} "Huh," Jericho voiced as he continued to practice. [Stamina and MP have been depleted.] Jericho''s human lower body returned. "Well, with the help of the MP, it looks like I can roughly maintain it for a minute and a half." He sat down to meditate and restore his resources. A notification appeared before Jericho. [You have received an unblockable message from !Admin? Griffin Knight.] [Reminder notice: Your meeting with Jeannette Long is scheduled to happen in 15 minutes. It is recommended you log out of the game in order to meet her. She likes to be early or on time.] Jericho smiled. {Glaw, it looks like I have some important things to take care of. I will be back.} {Alright,} the elemental replied. {It is interesting to watch how your water elemental skills affect your human form.} Jericho logged off with a light laugh. Moira came home from school. "Your meeting with that woman today, right?" "Yep," Jericho replied as they heard a knock on the door. 42 Shiarra Returns Jericho opened up the door. "Jeannette, right?" Jericho asked to confirm the identity of the lightly familiar face in front of him. She sighed. "Yes. I am sad you didn''t recognize me right off the bat." Jericho smiled. "A lot of people wear makeup the same way you do and you were wearing a heavier perfume last time. Thank you for not wearing as much. It is easier to breath that way." He replied as he motioned for her and another woman to enter the house. "Have a seat." He motioned for the dining table. "Thank you." The elegantly dressed woman replied as she and another woman entered the house. Jericho filled a pan with water and started to heat it up. Moira looked over to the second woman that entered the room. Her moderately larger built frame balanced nicely with her lush black hair and darker skin. "Shiarra?!" She exclaimed happily. "It is good to see you again too, Princess." The Native American woman replied with a bright smile. "How goes your adventure with your friend?" "It is going really well so far. I had a dance off against a satyr and showed them who the superior dancer was." Shiarra nodded. "Sounds like something you would do." "So what are you doing here?" Moira questioned. The Native American woman pointed over to Jeanette. "She is my boss. I''m one of the game masters." "Like that Griffin guy that messaged Jericho yesterday?" She asked. "Sort of, but I was sent undercover in order to make sure your transition into the game was smooth." The dancer looked sad. "So you were only playing with us in order to help us out?" Shiarra shook her head. "It was originally like that, but I really enjoyed playing with you guys. While I am a GM, I don''t have any special bonuses as one of my main jobs is to find issues with the game that can occur with anyone. So I am looking forward to our next adventure since the NPCs reactions around you and your brother are significantly different then most players. It makes things much more interesting." Jeanette who was sitting nearby smiled. "I brought her because I figured a familiar face might be nice." The water in Jericho''s pan started to boil. He put a few packets of herbal tea in some mugs and carefully poured the water into them. He waited five minutes while Moira talked before he brought out the four mugs without a teabag inside. "Hope you like raspberry hibiscus. It is all I was able to buy this time around." Jeanette smiled. "Thank you, Jericho you didn''t have to do this." The bard smiled. "I made tea for us because I wanted some. So, what brings you here?" He asked as he smelled his hot tea. "Right to the point then," Jeanette started. "It has come to our attention that the NPCs in our game have started to learn your music and in your current quest the satyrs are learning to dance from Moira." Jericho nodded. "They have. The young elf Lillith now has some of my sheet music for the flute and I passed on the knowledge of how to play one of the songs from my Aquatic Violin album to the water elemental Glawio." "You see, legally, in order for them to use your creations we have to have your express permission." She pulled out some papers. "While normally we only have to have your basic permission, our legal team has drafted up a contract to pay you and Moira if you choose to let us use your music for just more than the NPCs playing it. Please read it and ask any questions you have." Jericho took the papers and looked them over. They were filled with all the really annoying fancy complicated terminology but he understood it well enough. He simplified it for himself and Moira. He simplified it as follows. [Jericho and Moira give their permission to allow Free Corp the use of their creations for both in-game and out of game purposes, including but not limited to, advertisements, in-game performances, and other useful applications. Jericho and Moira can choose which things they will allow and not allow for each piece and dance they have. If they wish to add to or remove things from the lists submitted, they can do so at any time. Jericho and Moira can choose to restrict access to specific compositions and dances that they have given their concent for use at any time. Uses may include delaying the use of them until further notice. At any time Jericho and Moira can contact Free Corp to request instruments and dancing supplies to be included in the game if they are not already. However, they cannot use this to request they be given to them directly as that would ruin the fun of the game. Free Corp will have the right to claim things performed by NPCs as part of the game soundtrack written or choreographed by Jericho and Moira. Free Corp agrees to always acknowledge where they got the material. However this does not restrict the publication of them by Jericho and Moira as long as they remember to let people know that the music and dance are also able to be found in freedom online. Free Corp will pay a specified amount of funds monthly for their use. The more the things in question are used the more money they will provide. Jericho and Moira can nullify this contract at any time, however past things are considered already paid for and cannot be rescinded after cancelling the contract.] Jericho, noticed how open and unrestrictive the contract was. He was shocked he wasn''t seeing anything too crazy with the contract, like giving up an unborn child to be eaten by cute goblins and their rat-dogs. He explained the details of the contract to his sister to make sure she was okay with it. Moira gave her consent. Jericho signed the documents while sipping his herbal tea. "Anything else?" He asked. Jeanette shook her head. "That was it. However I did hear that you were working on a new album?" The bard smiled. "I am, I plan to title it, I Made Them in a Game. The performance we are teaching the satyrs is meant to be included in that album. I don''t plan to have that album stick to one genre or artistic style as the inspiration for the songs is very different each time." The woman smiled as she finished her tea. "Well, I should let you get back to it then. I wish you the best because it helps both of us." Jericho gave a nod. "Thank you for not trying to control my music. Artists hate feeling restricted like that." The woman gave a nod. "Normally the conditions wouldn''t be as loose, but we took into consideration the fact that we have a friendly relationship with you." Shiarra chuckled. "Be honest Mrs. Long. You were afraid that if we tried to do anything unfavorable to Jericho, Moira would have told you no; and demand that she and her brother stop playing the game. You know how valuable Jericho and Moira are to Free Corp. If I sat by and let you take advantage of them I wouldn''t be the leader of the hidden Game Managers or one of the higher ranked members of their fan club. You know how scary his fans are when riled up. You saw the recording I showed everyone at the office." She playfully winked in Moira''s direction. The boss lady frowned. "Shiarra, you know that the fan club is only a part of it. I really do value my friendship with Jericho¡­" Moira smiled. "It is good if people know that my brother can''t be messed with." She paused as the woman''s words sunk in. "We have a fan club?" Shiarra gave a nod. "Why wouldn''t you? You are performers after all." Mrs. Long sighed before turning to the bard with a smile. "Speaking of performances, Jericho, how about you play us something before we head off?" The man nodded and walked into the back room. "Where is he going?" Shiarra asked. "To get the drums," Moira explained. Jericho returned, carefully wheeling out his drum set. "Moira, go grab your staff; unless you don''t like them enough to perform for them. "Of course I like Shiarra enough. Besides, it''s tradition! I''ll be back shortly!" Jericho motioned for everyone to go outside. The two visitors looked confused as they entered the front yard. Moira followed after grabbing a decorative looking staff. She ran to the center of the lawn and faced the visitors. Jericho sat down and started drumming in a calm but rhythmic pattern. He started singing in a mysterious chanting language. Moira also started to sing as she danced. Her staff was twirling and moving beautifully in sync with her other movements. Their voices blended well. Shiarra smiled as the two finished. Tears streamed from her eyes as she recognized what was being said and performed. "That is the proper version of The Farewell Song you sung back at the well, right?" Jericho gave a nod. "The first time we say goodbye to a visitor and any time we send someone off on a long distance journey we perform this ritual." Mrs. Long smiled. "It is beautiful and touching, why do you perform it?" Moira smiled with a shake of her head. "It isn''t something easy to understand for those who have never experienced it. I don''t know how to explain it; other than it is important to us." Jericho nodded. "Mrs. Long, there was once a belief that all things were separate but undeniably connected. We performed that farewell ritual to send our will into this connection. It is our wish that the things guiding you will help you succeed as you go." Jeanette smiled. "I see. Thank you." Shiarra frowned. "Jericho, Moira, where did you learn that and why was it different at the well?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Moira smiled sadly. "We made this song and dance six years ago. Our grandma''s final request was for us to create rituals and ceremonies that we deemed important in our lives. Saying goodbye to others¡­ has become one of them. The language we sung in is a language she taught us." Jericho smiled sadly as well. "The version at the well was our grandfather''s doing. You see, he could never figure out how to sing the words correctly so he made up his own lyrics in a language he did know." Moira nodded. "But since we weren''t saying goodbye to the audience and in order to maintain a level of respect for our goodbye ritual, we performed the fake version of the song and dance." Shiarra gave a nod. "Thank you. It is very beautiful. I''m glad to hear the real thing." The two women entered the car and left. "Shiarra, can you tell me about that song? It seemed to have affected you greatly." Jeanette asked as she drove. "They were singing in one of the revived and now almost dead Neo-Algonquian Languages. You see, back in the 2300''s people lamented the fact that so many beautiful languages and cultural beliefs perished. So, they found the recordings of people speaking these languages and performing these types of rituals and tried their best to revive them. Even though their attempts couldn''t bring back what was lost. They wanted to honor their ancestors by at least trying. Even I don''t know if my ancestor''s recreation was acceptable or not." Jeanette looked over to her employee. "I didn''t know that." Shiarra smiled sadly. "Yeah, however history likes to repeat itself. I thought I was one of the only ones who spoke any of the dialects of this twice dead languages left." Shiarra explained, still surprised by the two. "I had no idea that the two of them had connections to those people. I wouldn''t have guessed it based on their pale and freckled completion." "Wait, you knew what they were singing about? Can you tell me?" Shiarra smiled "It would be too hard to explain in detail, and their dialect was a bit strange to me so there are parts I can only infer. But if I tried to keep it simple, it would go something like this: ''We ask the spirits of nature and the guiding light to keep our friends safe as they face the challenges ahead of them. That if the challenges are too much and they are called to pass on, we ask that you guide them to where they belong. Until we meet again, may you be kept safe in the cycles of change.'' It is a really touching goodbye." "Wow, and you said that was the simple version?" Jeanette looked shocked. "The song wasn''t even that long." "That is one of the greatest parts. They didn''t have to say much at all to give a very beautiful message." Jericho and Moira watched the two drive off. He walked inside. "Are you coming? We still have a quest to complete with an unknown deadline." "Alright!" 43 You said that way too casually "Finally you two logged in!" Ken exclaimed. "What held you up?" "I had a meeting with the Vice CEO of Free Corp; the woman in charge of the game. Princess was there to ensure my safety." Jericho casually replied. "But it is a good thing you are here so we can practice figuring out what is needed for the dancing." Ken looked shocked. "You said that way too casually. Do you know her in real life then?" Jericho chuckled. "I sold her a violin once and played her some of my music. That is how the two of us got the game. Ironically, it was music she came to talk to me about again." Jericho focused on his fake satyr morph. "I can only keep this up for a short time. Princess, show me what you need." "Wow, that is so cool!" Princess smiled. "Alright, follow my movements." She started to slowly dance. Jericho did his best not to fall over as he copied them. Before they could get very far, Jericho''s body returned to normal. "Sorry." He panted. "I''m out of stamina and MP again." Ken watched. "Um¡­ you just need to make sure it will work with someone who has backwards knees right?" He asked. Princess sighed. "I''m hoping to take advantage of their whole body type. But making sure the dance is doable with backwards knees is on the list." Ken sighed. "Let me help you with that instead." He assumed his ''monster'' form. (I can only use this for three hour a day. But I am much more stable on my feet than Jericho.) "Alright, brother, you take a rest. I''ll let Ken and Lux help me out with the dancing." "Are you sure?" Jericho confirmed. "Yep. I know you worked hard to be able to help out but it is more productive this way." The girl replied. {Sorry, Jericho. I didn''t mean to waste your hard work.} Ken said apologetically in what Lux kindly referred to as whoosh speak. Jericho smiled. {Don''t stress it. My hard work paid off in other ways.} He took a breath. {That''s good. You still have a song to finish writing, yeah?} {Yeah.} Jericho replied as he split himself into four. "We are off!" Three of the four Jerichos said as they walked away. The remaining Jericho smiled. "When you are ready for the music let me know. I can at least play the main portion while the other three of me work out the details of the piece." The girl smiled. "Now you can make four of you? That is awesome!" She turned to the standing animals Ken and Lux. "Alright follow along." She started stepping and moving in fancy ways. "Alright now for this move you have to crouch down. Put your hands on the ground and kick out with both legs like this." She ended in a backwards pushup position. The lynxes copied her movements. (Ouch!) Ken roared as he scraped up his knees. Lux who had hesitated remained crouched. Princess took a hissing breath in through her teeth thinking that her friend''s scrape looked painful. "Are you alright?" Ken rolled over. (I''ll be fine. In game wounds heal quickly. Though it looks like unless I can straighten my legs perfectly, I''ll scrape my knees every time with that move.) Moira nodded. "Then what about trying it this direction?" She did a similar move but face forward. Ken and Lux copied the movement without too much difficulty. "Alright, now copy these moves with me." She instructed as she lifted herself to one sided, clacked her shoes together, returned to the push up position, and mirrored the movement. They copied. (I am guessing this is supposed to make a clacking sound with their hooves?) "That is the intent." She replied. Ken gave a nod. (Well, as long as they have some balance, they should be able to pull of these moves. But seeing you go into that pushup position didn''t really look too cool.) The girl nodded. "I know. But the satyrs should be able to make it look cooler." Princess smiled and turned to her brother''s clone. He smiled back. "Is it time to face the music?" He teased as he pulled out the fiddle. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. *** The other three Jericho were practicing the composition and singing the lyrics he had made previously to see if things fit together. Jericho 1 sighed. "This would be much better if we included the guitar. The strumming of two guitars shouldn''t be that much of a problem to add and harmonize. But the satyrs don''t have them and I only have the one." Jericho 2 laughed. "I agree. Well, even though we are all thinking the same thing at least we can have fun talking to ourselves in a non-crazy manner." Jericho 3 shook his head. "The fact that we are this bored to pretend we are all separate people talking out loud¡­ I think it kind of is crazy considering we don''t actually have to talk." The first Jericho nodded. "You know, wanting to add the guitar is a good thing, we just need to confirm it with the satyr leader, Carn. I am confident since they have fiddles that making a guitar or three won''t be terribly difficult for them. However finding a way to teach it is the other challenge. That is something that should be brought up with him." He left the other two clones so he could go find the old goat. "Carn," he called out once he found him. "Baa, Jericho what can I do for you?" The old goat inquired. Jericho sighed. "I would like to add an instrument that you currently aren''t using to the ritual. However I do not know if that would be considered a problem or not." The old goat baa-laughed in response. "You and that elf are the champions sent by our god. If he has given you the inspiration to expand our cultural knowledge then so be it. Might I inquire as to what instrument you are referring to?" Jericho pulled out the instrument. "This is called a guitar." "It seems similar to our fiddle." The old goat observed. Jericho nodded. "It looks similar but it is played differently. Instead of using a bow, you use this." He pulled out a plectrum. "That is, unless you have got really good fingers for it." The old goat swished his long tail and tilted his head. "Oh? Can you show me?" Jericho started strumming the guitar. "This is the most common way to play, using the pick to strum multiple strings at the same time." Jericho started plucking notes individually. "You can also play it like this. Of course there are always inventive ways to play a guitar but those are the more commonly accepted methods." The old goat frowned. "I see." Jericho sighed. "You appear to be having the same dilemma I have been having. How do we teach some satyrs how to play this instrument well enough and quick enough to implement it?" "I do have a solution but it is risky. It is something I would rather not pull out if needed." Jericho shook his head. "If you don''t feel comfortable with the idea, we can always add it in later." Carn sighed. "No, it is better to perform the complete version of what you wish to bestow upon us. It seems I must pull out The Memory Crown." "The Memory Crown?" Jericho asked. "It is an artifact belonging to our people. We rarely use it because it is dangerous and harmful to the minds of those who use it, but oh so useful. The crown will pass on the memories of the previous wearer to the new wearer. Many have gone crazy from the effects of the crown so we rarely use it. There are ways to limit the harmful effect but it isn''t perfect. I will go prepare the item. Please take that guitar to our fiddle-makers so they can find a way to create a copy of it. After I have prepared the crown I will come find you and tell you how to use it." [You have received the quest: Making a copy. While Carn looks for and prepares The Memory Crown, take your guitar to the fiddle-makers so they can start making some more guitars. Reward: Unknown.] "I will, thank you." Jericho replied. "Where can I find them?" "Turn left at the 5th tree on your right. There is a sign that looks like a hoof print. Go two huts to the right of that place and you will find Cry, Tho, and Rion. Talking to any of them will do." "Thank you again." Jericho nodded and walked off. He made sure to carefully count the trees so he didn''t get lost. "Why does everyone that lives in an area filled with trees always say to turn at the tree? Are they wanting people to lose their way? A tree isn''t a good landmark in a forest." He voiced quietly. [Your skills have increased: Drums 0/10 Master, Fiddle 1/10 Master, Panpipes 9/10 Expert.] Jericho sighed as he received the notifications from his clone''s actions. He arrived at the place. "Oh, it''s you! I''m Tho, what can we do for you, Champion of Music?" The closest satyr asked respectfully. Jericho smiled. "Carn asked me to bring you this." He pulled out his guitar. "He said that since they looked similar, you and the other two should be able to make copies of it." Tho picked up the guitar and looked it over. "Baa, Indeed we can make the body of it just fine. However the wires we have for the instruments are too short. What is this instrument called?" "It is called a guitar and I see; then if I provided the string, could you and the other two make them?" Jericho pulled out the excess piano wire he had made previously from his inventory. "I need three copies and my original back, intact, please." "Cry! Rion! We have an exciting endeavor to make a new batch of instruments called guitars!" Two other satyrs rushed out from the back room. "Let me see!" Tho passed the instrument back to them and faced Jericho. "We will work on your order. Thank you for providing the instrument strings. We will find you when we are finished." "Thank you." Jericho replied as he left the building. He found a nearby bench and sat in thought. "At least my clones are having fun." He closed his eyes to reflect on the past few days. A lot had happened. "Oh right, I wanted to make A Wordless Farewell for my album." He opened up his inventory and looked at the four wooden flutes within it. "Let''s use the largest and smallest flutes. Two people saying goodbye. A hope to meet again in the future, a hopeful yet sad feeling¡­" He lifted the heavy flute and started to play a baritone bittersweet melody. *** "Director Fletcher, the announcement, starting town redistribution assignments and the analysis on future events has been completed." "Excellent work; now all we have to do is wait to see what happens." The man replied. The worker hesitated. "You mean, it isn''t set in stone?" Mr. Fletcher laughed happily. "You never know when someone or something will surprise you. No plan is ever truly perfect and can calculate even the most minute problems or surprises that may arise. Besides, according to Mrs. Long, Jericho and his sister are playing there currently. You were part of the team that analyzed their game data. I am sure you know what I am referring to." The employee looked enlightened. "You suspect those two abnormal players that can get the AI of our monsters to somehow be friendly towards them will be able to make a significant impact on the current situation?" The man laughed some more. "While they are indeed abnormal, I would rather use a much more kind term for them. These two geniuses don''t think like gamers and have a very unique perspective on how to do things. I am not expecting a miracle from them, but I do look forward to watching their future performances." He hit the play button on his watch. Jericho''s music filled the tech building and Director Fletcher returned to his office. Mrs. Long walked into the room. "I see his music has captured you too, Owen." Owen Fletcher smiled. "How can it not? By the way, how did the contract go? I know the marketing team was pleading with every power known and unknown to man for your success." Mrs. Long smiled. "It was perfect. He agreed to our very loose terms." She narrowed her eyes and glanced around the room. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "How goes the other project?" Owen smiled. "I told you already, it will take some time to finish. There have been no hiccups as of yet. However, progress remains slow. I have only been working on it for a week now. You can''t expect fast results on something being worked on by a very small team in almost no time at all." She nodded. "Sorry, I just hope that it can be done as soon and as quietly as possible." Mr. Fletcher laughed. "What are you some cartoon villainess? Keep talking like that and people will think you are up to something shady. But, my team and I will keep working on it." "Thank you, Owen. Do you need anything from me?" She asked back. "A cup of hot chocolate would be nice." Owen teased. Jeanette nodded, "Mint, Dark, or Hazelnut?" She asked seriously. The man laughed. "If you are seriously willing, then let''s go with Hazelnut today." The woman nodded and opened the office door. She looked over to the male secretary. "Please get Director Fletcher a Hazelnut hot chocolate." The young man chuckled slightly. "Alright!" Owen Fletcher shook his head with a laugh. "What a boss¡­" 44 Donst follow me An old elf read a hastily written note. [I have decided I am old enough to adventure. I am leaving with Purai. Don''t follow me. I love you but I want to travel. I''ll return someday. Please take care of my flower garden. I have met most of my favorite people because of those flowers. Love Lillith. P.S. Grandpa if you came home from your fishing trip early and are reading this, the people I am traveling with and I are not fish to be caught. Stay out of my decision.] The paper wrinkled in his grip. "How dare someone deceive my adorable granddaughter into traveling in the unsafe world?" He took a breath and put the paper back down. "Cirith, I''m going out again." Lillith''s grandpa said. "Already?" The woman questioned. "You just got back. Aren''t you going to rest?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The old elf humped. "Did you not read Lillith''s letter?" "I did. Why? Should I be worried about her?" Cirith questioned. "She has always had an adventurous spirit, it was bound to happen someday. She even specifically asked you not to go after her. Are you going to go against her wishes?" "Lillith doesn''t understand the world. She is too naive and was likely deceived into following someone. I will save her even if she doesn''t want to be saved." The old elf confirmed. "I''m going." Cirith sighed. "Stubborn fool, she will only come to hate you." "Lousy mother, she will never learn if you don''t teach her anything." The old man retorted. "I know you only think like that because you hate me too but at least you aren''t easily fooled by strangers. I am leaving now. Are you going to come after Lillith with me or not?" Cirith huffed. "Then go already." The elf walked out of the tree. He chanted a spell causing a firefly to appear before him. "Guide me to my granddaughter." He spoke to the small insect. The insect flew off. Inside the house the female elf burst into tears. "I''m sorry Lillith, I tried to stop him for you. I know how important this choice was to you." After some time to calm down, she wiped her tears and followed behind the stubborn old grandfather. "I can tolerate your rigidness but Lilly is my daughter, not yours. I know you don''t see me as a good mother, but that doesn''t mean you can parent for me, father. I may not care enough like you said, but you care way too much." *** Carn approached Jericho and waited until he finished. A strange wreath like crown with a dark purple gem somehow embedded into the plants rested in his hands. Jericho finished playing and looked up. "Back already?" Jericho inquired. Carn nodded. "I am. Here is the crown. It is embedded with a mere few seconds of my memories so it shouldn''t have too much of an effect on your mind. Let me explain how it works." Jericho nodded to show he was listening. "The crown, when worn initially will pass on the previous wearer''s memories. The amount of memory given is equivalent to how long the previous wearer wore the crown after receiving the memories stored on it before they wore it. So the best way to not drastically affect someone''s mind is to take it off as soon as the memories are transferred unless your goal is to pass specific memories like playing the new instrument. Please be careful what you think about while wearing the crown as those thoughts and feelings will also transfer. You can see why it is a dangerous artifact." He handed over the crown. Jericho took the crown. "I understand. But why would you have such an item?" The old goat Baa-laughed sadly. "Before we were believers in Arglwydd y Ddawns we were believers in Brenin Tragwyddol. The crown was fashioned so our ruler could wear the crown and when he died to pass on that crown to a newborn satyr to continue his life. After many lifetimes, the ruler became a bit crazy so we brought an end to his reign. Sadly it required a terrible sacrifice as the one who wore the crown knew he was fated to die soon after wearing the crown. Those were dark times before we discovered the glory of culture." The old satyr shuttered. "After all of that, we locked the crown away and only bring it out for specific things that would be deemed necessary." "Wow," Jericho exhaled. "I had no idea. I am glad you are satyrs of culture now though. I would have hated to imagine what would have happened to us if you weren''t." "You probably would have been sacrificed on a great bonfire." Carn grinned. "Now, please use that crown wisely. It can be very dangerous if used incorrectly. When you are done passing on the necessary knowledge, please return it to me." "I will. Thank you. Can you gather the satyrs that will be playing the instruments, including the two that will be learning the guitar?" Carn''s eyes widened. "Two? How intriguing. I will gather the satyrs. Is the dance ready to be taught yet?" "It should be close." "Good, teaching someone how to play a new piece or to perform a new dance does take some time; even with the crown''s help." He started to trot off. "Oh, Carn wait! I have one last question. Do the satyrs know how to read sheet music?" Carn turned around with a smile. "Of course we do! Arglwydd y Ddawns created sheet music in the first place!" He replied with their cultural beliefs about their deity. "Excellent!" Jericho pulled out the remaining parchment and pen his sister had gotten him and started drawing. The satyr smiled. "I''ll leave you to it then." He walked off leaving Jericho alone. *** Jerichos 2 and 3 were practicing the various pieces of the song when the leaves rustled once more. {One who has the Gemini Lilies in his soul¡­ Can you hear our voices?} The two Jerichos looked around. {I hear you. Where are you?} One called out. {Return to being one being and follow us.} A nearby sapling tree, a flower and a stalk of some sortsprung to life in front of him and took on mildly humanoid shapes. Jericho sighed. {The other two parts of me are busy with important tasks. Do you need all four of us to be one or just the two of us?} {Just the two of you will be fine. We only wish to talk for now. Bring the water elemental with you as well.} The two Jerichos merged back into one bard. {Glaw, you heard them right?} {Indeed. Lead the way lesser wood elementals.} Glaw replied. {Come!} The trees groaned and opened a path. The tiny plant shaped wood spirits make their way through the overgrowth. Jericho and Glaw entered deeper into the woods. {Lesser wood elementals? They look like living plants.} Jericho inquired as their surroundings darkened. {Yes, but living plants are not immortal wood spirits like these ones. There are a few other differences but that is irrelevant right now. I doubt they have come to get us just to talk. You are our both our brother and experiment at the same time. To them, you are currently like a distant cousin. At least I think that is how you mortals would explain it.} Glaw replied. {I see.} Jericho grunted as the plant life became thicker and harder to traverse. The whispering sounds around the two ceased the moment they walked into a grove enclosed by thickly woven plants. A large, old oak tree towered in the middle. Vines and branches sealed off the way they had come from. {Greetings. I know mortals hold much sentiment towards names. You may call me, Eiche. What is yours?} The lone oak in the clearing opened its eyes and lowered its branched to look a little bit more humanoid. {I am known as Jericho the Bard. But you can call me Jericho.} {I am Glawio, but Jericho here calls me Glaw.} The old tree creaked with laughter. {Jericho and Glawio, it is a pleasure to meet you officially. We have been watching you for some time. The forest has watched as you have avoided taking life unnecessarily. A rare feature among humans I might add. Is this something you have formed after becoming a water elemental?} Jericho shook his head. Glaw nodded. {Jericho and his sister, Dancing Princess, have been like this since before we met them. It was actually this part of their nature that solidified our choice in making him one of us.} The tree smiled. {It seems my worries were needless then. Jericho, will you hear what I have to say?} {I will listen. What is it that you wish to tell me?} Jericho replied seriously. The large tree elemental creaked. {Since there is a bush next to you, there is no reason to beat around it.} The elemental paused to observe the lack of reaction from the bard. {Ah, I see my joke was lost on you. My apologies.} Jericho continued to wait; he understood the joke but didn''t think it was very funny. {First, I should tell you that we do not possess a soulless wood elemental core here. So for now, we cannot further the desires of our ruler. I know that that is most likely one of the reasons for you to visit our forest and remain close to our territory for so long.} Jericho shook his head. {To be honest, I didn''t know your territory was here or even about the experiment until Glaw mentioned it yesterday.} The large wood elemental paused. {Truly? Well in that case, there really wasn''t much of a reason for us to summon you here then, my apologies. Regardless, we do not have the core you need.} The bard nodded. {Glaw did mention soulless elemental cores were rare.} {They are. However that is not all, the Wood King passed down an order. We wood elementals will not give any of the experiments a wood core until they have become acquainted with both water and earth. So before you can be accepted as part of the plant life, you must be accepted by the earth. If you can do that, then being accepted by us is not a problem. However you must find the wood elementals that are in possession of one of the soulless cores we have.} [You have received the quest become one with the Earth: Become an Earth elemental. Reward: After returning to a place with wood elementals, they will willingly bestow upon you a soulless wood core however this particular group does not have a soulless wood elemental core so you will have to search elsewhere.] The large wood elemental continued. {The three elements northward probably don''t care about such precautions but it is wise to take the time to understand the risks of chaotic behavior. If you head west out of the forest, you will find the Clogwyni mountain range. Our Earth elemental friends there should have an earth core. But you are too weak. The mountains are a bit dangerous for you mortals.} Jericho gave a nod. {I understand. You said they are to the west? There is an exit that way?} {Of course there is an exit that way, the forest doesn''t go on forever. But if you are asking if there are any mortal pathways, then no. Also the forest becomes more dangerous the closer you get to the mountains.} {Thank you for being forward with me. It seems I must continue my previous quests. I was in the area to help a friend get past the satyrs without violence and got roped into making a song for a line dance for them.} The tree-humanoid looking wood elemental nodded. {Until our roots touch once more.} {Was there anything else or did you summon me here just to inform me of this information?} Jericho asked to confirm. The tree shaped elemental lowered his branches. {Informing you was only half the reason however the other half has been completed as well. We wanted to be sure of your nature. I will inform the other wood elementals of what has transpired here today. They will be very relieved that you are a tranquil creature. You may leave.} {Thank you.} Jericho gave a light bow as he turned to leave. {Jericho, please wait!} A small daffodil shaped wood elemental cried out in front of him. The bard paused. {Okay? Do you need to tell me something as well?} The old tree groaned once more. {Narzisse, why do you stop him? We have said what needs to be said.} The humanoid flower slumped. {But, my friends and I have been watching the elf girls he came to the forest with. We want to go meet them. Can we go? Please?} It pleaded with Eiche. {Go then. Meet the mortals that have drawn your attention.} The tree replied. {Yay!} Narzisse shouted and motioned for a few other small plant shaped lesser wood elementals. The vines and branches blocking the way back opened once more. Jericho, Glaw and a small horde of lesser wood elementals left the clearing. 45 Blasted Satyrs! Jericho returned to where he, Princess, and Ken were practicing with his mini army of lesser wood elementals. "Princess!" He called out. "I have some new friends for you to meet." The girl turned around. "Wah! How cute!" She smiled brightly at the humanoid/plant shaped elementals. She crouched down and held out her hand. Narzisse looked up at Jericho. {She doesn''t speak our language does she?} The bard shook his head at the daffodil. {No but I can translate for you.} The flower nodded before changing its appearance to an aged dandelion. It plucked a seed and then changed back. It held the seed out to Princess. {Tell her to take this seed.} Before Jericho could translate, Princess already picked up the seed. "For me? How kind of you." {How did she know if she doesn''t speak our language?} Narzisse asked. Jericho chuckled. {She is a dancer who pays close attention to posture, movements and other such things. Lifting the seed in her direction was basically using your body to tell her to take it or to look at it.} {Oh. I see.} The lesser wood elemental focused. The seed in the dancer''s hand burrowed into her skin. [A wood elemental''s seed has been ingrained into you. You can use the ability Speak with Spirits for 1 week.] Princess''s eyes lit up. {I can use Speak with Spirits now! Thank you so much. My name is Dancing Princess, what is yours?} {You are welcome, I am Narzisse and these are my friends but you do know that the ability is only temporary right?} {Yep! It is really nice to meet you Narzisse.} {It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Bush can you come over here and explain why we have come so we don''t have to beat around you?} Princess laughed as an elemental shaped like a small shrub waddled forward. Jericho face palmed. {You guys really like that joke don''t you?} {Would you prefer that we find a canine to bark up the wrong tree?} Bush inquired continuing the terrible and overused plant jokes. {We are good. You wanted to talk to my sister about something though?} Jericho reminded. Narzisse chuckled. {Feeling a little impatient are we? Fine then, Bush go ahead and make the request.} {We have seen that you possess summoning magic and are a fun but tranquil person most of the time. We want to let you know you can summon us to dance with you whenever. We may not be good at it yet but it looks like a lot of fun.} [You possess the skill Summon Background dancers. You can now summon lesser wood elementals to dance with you. Wood elementals will enhance any dance related to nature.] The girl smiled. {I will gladly ask you to come and dance with me in the future!} She exclaimed. Most of the lesser wood elementals departed whispering excitedly among themselves as they left in search of the other elf. Narzisse walked closer to the girl. {I know how important the skill to Speak with Spirits is. You can summon me even if it isn''t for dancing. I can help you regain that ability periodically.} [You have gained the skill Summon Elemental 0/10 Beginner. You can call for a lesser elemental to join you at your side. This skill has a high failure rate because the elementals do not know you well enough to trust you. Due to your other skills, lesser water and lesser wood elementals will be slightly more willing to come to your aid for non-dancing purposes. You can specify the elemental you wish to summon by name. Current named elementals that will gladly come to your aid: Narzisse (lesser wood elemental).] The girl held out her hand and gently stroked the stem of the flower shaped elemental. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The daffodil shook. {I will see you in the future. Just know that I am not suited for battle so please don''t ask me to fight. I gave you this power because I want us to be friends and helpful to each other.} {I understand.} Narzisse left the mortals behind and joined her friends in search of Lillith. Ken smirked and patted his friend on the back. "That was interesting. I have never seen elementals give a summoning contract to someone who didn''t instigate it." The girl smiled back at her friend. "I don''t really use summoning other than to have background dancers. But being able to communicate with them is useful. I don''t really see much use for me to use the summon magic otherwise. I mean it is cool to be able to call for friends but I''m not a fighter." "That is true. But I think you will find a good use for it later." Ken replied. "Princess, my clone that is in town has noticed that the satyrs seem to be getting excited. Are you ready to teach them your dance?" Jericho inquired. The young dancer nodded. "Are you ready to start teaching them how to play the music?" Jericho nodded. "Just as soon as I can re-gather the last part of me," he replied. "Carn gave me a useful object that will make at least part of it easier to teach. One of my clones has been writing down the sheet music for the satyrs to use." "That is good. I look forward to hearing the full song." The girl smiled. Kenneth sighed. "If you don''t need us to help out right now, Lux and I will go back to hunting for a bit. The satyrs seem to be progressively thinking the two of us should be offered as tribute to their god. They seem to have found out that we are now spirit beasts and they have greed just like anything else. I would rather not be sacrificed and turned into a drum." He grimaced thinking about the intention he had read in the satyrs'' eyes yesterday and today. Jericho nodded. "Thank you for all your help. If we need more help we will message you." The pre-teen nodded. "We''ll be close by." Ken and Lux dashed into the woods. Their figures quickly vanished from view. "Shall we head to the stage they call an altar?" Princess asked. *** "Blasted satyrs! How dare you take my granddaughter!" The old elf fisherman swung his metal fishing pole and smacked one of the satyrs who had rushed at him. A dart flew out from the overhead trees. And punctured the old elf''s skin. Lillith''s grandfather felt drowsy and fainted. The satyr who had been hit by the pole was rubbing his forehead. "How dare you attempt to intrude upon our village during the time the champions of our god are bestowing upon our people their blessing! Bring him. The champions should decide his fate." Another elf walked into the clearing with her hands up. "Peace." She said as another sleeping dart flew through the trees. "Peaceful or not, you are coming with us." The satyrs tied up and dragged their two would be victims towards the altar of Arglwydd y Ddawns. *** The third satyr removed the memory crown. "So that is how you ''beat box'' with an alphorn." He replied as if filled with an epiphany. Jericho nodded. "Yeah, you and the two guitarists should take the time to practice." He pointed to the two new guitars held by the nearby satyrs. The three fiddlemakers were inhumanly fast at making the instruments. "Come find me if you have questions of find something difficult. I will try to help out." He pulled out the sheet music. "Here, I have been told you know how to read it." The satyrs grinned. "Thank you. We will practice hard." The three took the parchment and left. Jericho sighed. "Wow, that crown really is potentially dangerous. It recorded memories thoughts and feelings." He muttered as he thought about the bursts of foreign memories in his mind. "I should go find Carn and return the crown. Memories are a tricky thing and I prefer to avoid messing with them further. I''m just glad nothing broke my concentration or allowed my mind to wander while I played. It would have been bad if my darker thoughts invaded their minds." He wandered the stone stage and found the old goat humming happily to the sounds of a new song with new lyrics. "Ah, Jericho, you have returned. I suspect this means you were successful?" The satyr inquired. Jericho gave a light nod and handed back the crown. "It was. They have received the knowledge of how to play the instruments. But I agree, this crown is very dangerous. So I am returning it to you." Carn smiled back. "Thank you. Though I would prefer it if you took the crown away from here when you journey on. It is actually a dark relic in our eyes. At least in your hands it will be used for better purposes." He pushed the crown back into Jericho''s hands. "You are someone we can entrust it to." [You have been given The Memory Crown. This relic of the satyr god Brenin Tragwyddol is used to transfer memories, feelings, and thoughts from one wearer to the next.] Jericho sighed. "Fine. I''ll take it away from this place." Carn nodded. "I thank you. What you do with it from here is your choice. We will not begrudge or claim responsibility for any action you take even if you give it away." The sound of about seven bodies being dragged across the ground caught Jericho''s and Carn''s attentions. While immobile, the seven individuals were conscious. "Let us go!" "Fight me!" "Blast, this is humiliating!" Their weak voices attempted to shout. "Champion of Music, Champion of Dance; we have captured these intruders. What do you wish to do with them?" Jericho frowned. "Why ask us?" "Because this is an interruption to your great work; this crime must not go unpunished but we also wish for you to be pleased with the decision." Princess frowned. "Why must they be punished? Ignorance will get people in trouble sure, but it certainly isn''t a crime." The satyr hunters hesitated. Jericho looked over the group and saw the two vaguely familiar elves. He sighed once more. "Separate these two from the rest. We will talk to them in a bit." Lillith''s family members were separated from the others as ordered. "You five are players right?" Jericho asked. "Yeah," the one who looked like a martial artist replied. "Are you here to hunt or to leave Pren?" Jericho asked. "We wanted to escape this place but we can''t afford the teleportation fees. This is the only way we know out of here." He honestly replied. Jericho nodded and turned to the satyr hunter. "Other than through your sacred grounds, is there another route out of the forest?" "There is. However it is significantly more dangerous. The path to the Northwest will also lead people out of the forest but they will have to venture through the dangerous FoxBear territory. While there aren''t many foxes left, the bears and the even more wild and territorial FoxBears are still around. It would be a challenge to protect themselves against any of their leaders seeing how easily we subdued them." A nearby satyr shivered. "My older sister was eaten by a FoxBear. They are very scary creatures that think of us as food." Jericho nodded. "I know your sacred grounds are best left undefiled which is why you are having Purai and Lillith prove they are helpful enough to allow through. However, let these five leave the forest. If you do not want them traveling directly north, send them this other way towards the exit. In the near future if invaders are here to pass by, let them through. There are some unpleasant things happening near the human lands and many humans have been leaving." The satyr hunters nodded. "We will escort them to the edge of the FoxBear territory and give them instructions on how to leave. What about the others?" "If they are here to harm you, do what you normally do. If they have specific reasons for coming like those two elves, hear what they have to say before making a decision." Jericho took a breath. "There is no need for unnecessary violence or interruptions." The satyrs untied the five adventurers. "Follow us. We will show you the best way out of these woods." The players mildly cursed their luck but were glad there was still a way out. They departed. Jericho and Princess walked over to the old fisherman and woman. "Are Lillith and Purai nearby?" He asked one of the satyrs. "They are." "Please bring them here to see these two. They need to talk." 46 Friday In a rented room near the center of Pren a meeting of four people was taking place. Four of the higher ranking guild members of the EastSeaDrakes had gathered. "I can''t believe it is already Friday. Our plan hasn''t changed right Talon? Most of our guild mates will be online in a matter of minutes. I know there has been concern about our mission after reading The Dragoon''s announcement." A petite young adult woman asked to confirm. A man whose avatar''s hair color was snow white nodded. "Yes, the plan is still on Odette. You see, we have caught wind that a few members of the Dragoons are secretly still around and I confirmed it with my own eyes. Their earlier move was simply a scare tactic. We have claimed glory on many things they were slow to act on. Their guild leader was hoping that by backing off we would back off too. It almost succeeded. I too was hesitant until I recognized Harr loitering around the market in beginner''s hide armor. The wardrobe feature was quite useful to him this time. Unfortunately for him, I would recognize his tall figure anywhere." Talon clenched his fist as he thought about this long time rival of his. "If we were to back off like they wanted, it would allow their hidden raid team to swoop in and save the day after we were foolish enough to forgo this opportunity." A scrawny youth sighed. "Their guild master''s plans are ingenious and crafty as always. Besides we have information they don''t about the mist. We have that one report of the level 20 beast and humanoid. Our spy in their guild has not found anything out regarding any cursed creature above level 18 or any humanoid being cursed. Those two beasts that escaped us are still out there somewhere and have probably gotten stronger since last week. But even with those two the strongest creature in the mist shouldn''t be over level 35. Our success is practically guaranteed. The only thing that may hinder us is if the Dragoon''s raid team tries to interfere." A woman wearing all black laughed. "Oh? They aren''t dumb enough to try that stunt you know this Sliver. Are you really that confident in our success?" The scrawny youth, Sliver, grinned. "I took the time to have someone walk around the entire mist with a measuring tool yesterday. It is currently around 32.5 kilometers around meaning there is only ten and a little bit kilometers to make it from one end to the other in a straight line. Even if the reports the Dragoons have suspecting the mist was larger on the inside then it was on the outside, we are still in the clear on time. Even if things turn bad, getting back out safely should be no problem within four hours. Besides, defeating the boss in the mist is the whole purpose of our escapade. Defeat the boss, the problem gets solved. That''s how it works. The boss is most likely hidden somewhere near the center of the mist so we don''t have to cover the whole area or even travel the whole diameter. We plan to enter from all sides just to be sure. I suspect it will only take us about an hour and a half to complete the mission and make the mist vanish. But since the Dragoons ran scared, it is better to be cautious and give ourselves the four hours." "Oh? What poor sap did you convince to do all that running around and how much did you pay him?" The woman in black questioned further. "Some smart kid named Lednar. I didn''t pay him a cent. I just gave him some of the really random and useless materials I was carrying around and was having a hard time selling; like vials of questionable liquids, some small bones, and other scraps I had in my inventory. I have no clue why he would be interested in those types of things but I have had someone tailing him to find out. I was glad to get rid of those items. The NPC shopkeepers wouldn''t buy them off of me because they were deemed trash." Sliver replied. "Yes, we know all about your shopkeeper woes." Talon interrupted. "Obviously this Lednar person is a player or a really questionable NPC. Have you found anything out about him?" Sliver, shook his head. "Other than the fact that he seems to be a wizard that also spends a lot of time in a crafting room? He seems to be a very thoughtful hard worker. Even when he was using the measuring tool to go around the mist; he didn''t rush. He took the time to work on other skills as he measured." Odette sighed. "Well, I will go spread the announcement among the guild members." Talon nodded. "Then I will start passing out the materials. And getting people organized." Sliver grinned. "I''ll start looking for our next target. Tell me how it goes. See you later Blizzetta." The three left the room. Blizzetta, the woman dressed like it was a funeral walked out the door with a creepy smile. "It begins." *** Lillith, her mother, and grandfather talked it out. There was a bit of heated discussion as these three extreme family members had a lot they disagreed on. Her mother and grandfather were warned of the danger regarding the mist and finally consented to let Lillith go adventure. They chose to head back to their village to make preparations to depart. They determined that it was the best course of action for Lillith to leave first. The rest of Tuesday ended peacefully with the satyrs practicing. Wednesday and Thursday were productive and uninterrupted. Periodically Jericho and Princess would take breaks and explore the village and nearby forested areas in order to avoid the boredom of constant repetition. Not everyone can handle days of doing the same things over and over again without breaks. Kenneth felt anxious as he and Moira walked home from school Friday. "If Alexander is right, then you only have until Saturday at the latest to finish this quest. But you probably don''t even have that long." Moira nodded. "Thankfully it looks like the satyrs are ready to perform it officially soon after we log on. Though I am kind of bothered; what will happen to the satyrs and the elves once the mist hits?Are they creature enough to not be affected much? Will they suffer a similar disappearing fate like everyone else? I don''t want to teach this to them just to have them perish soon after. But those places are important to them. Would they willingly just get up and leave? And what will happen to the wood elementals in the forest here like Narzisse; will they be fine?" The girl sighed. Ken joined in the sigh fest. "I don''t know. I suspect they will fall to the mist as well based on the things Alex has told us. You don''t have to worry about the elves since they have been warned. The satyrs, they may be bestial enough to not be affected. As for the elementals, they will probably become corrupted until the mist is purified." "I see." "In better news, Purai said that she and Lillith finished the last of the satyr''s insane healing demands so she will be leaving the forest around the same time as us. You won''t have to worry about them. She said she wanted to see this line dance of yours before heading off." The girl chuckled. "You like her don''t you?" Ken awkwardly laughed back. "Not in the way you are thinking. Besides she thinks I am an NPC and she isn''t my type." Moira nodded. "You have a type already? My brother told me that people don''t normally know their type until they are older and have been around a lot of people." Ken''s laughter went from awkward to more natural. "I don''t have to know what my type is to know what isn''t. But enough about that, we have arrived at your house. I''ll see you in game shortly." Moira nodded. "Thank Ken." As she opened the door she could hear the sounds of a recording of a wooden flute and someone playing a different wooden flute. She quietly closed the door and snuck close to her brother''s room. She waited until both flutes stopped and she heard a sigh. "What''s wrong?" She asked her brother. Jericho jumped out of the seat. "Moira, you startled me." The 12 year old girl laughed. "You usually practice when I am not around so I don''t get many opportunities to sneak up on you. But what seems to be the problem? Do you not like the new piece you are working on?" Jericho shook his head. "There is something off about my Wordless Farewell and practicing it in game has been hard with all the hype about the line dance we made for them." Moira nodded. "Play it again. Let me hear it." Jericho hit play and put the wooden flute to his face and started playing. The girl walked over and hit the stop button on the recording. "I already know what is wrong. Brother, you have been too focused on the game your ingenuity has been stifled. There is nothing wrong with the notes you are playing but you aren''t getting the feelings out because you are too focused on the aspect of playing it in the game." Jericho took a deep breath as he thought about it. "No wonder. I have been thinking too much about the instruments I have in game. I limited my instrument options." Moira nodded and left to the instrument room. Jericho followed and saw his sister pick up a standard metal flute and a clarinet. "First, your melody needs to be crisper. When it is breathy like the wooden flutes it doesn''t feel as sharp as it needs to be. The piece needs that clarity to express the raw emotions better this time. The metal flute will be a better option for the higher part and you can have a bit more freedom of notes with it as well if you chose to change them a bit." Jericho nodded. He respected his sister''s opinion because even if she was wrong, it would help him see where things could improve. "Then what about the other instrument? You are thinking the clarinet?" Moira sighed. "Your farewell lacks depth." She pointed to a large harp. "The harp will be able to bring out the emotions better then the deeper flute. I was holding the clarinet because I thought if there was a third instrument it would be a good one." Jericho grinned as he was filled with ideas. "Thanks Moira, You know that half my songs wouldn''t be nearly as good without your help." The girl''s face flushed. "Don''t take too long or the satyrs will perform without you. We have to finish our quest as quickly as possible but I also know you need to record this so you don''t lose the feeling. I''ll meet you in game." Jericho gave a nod. "See you in about 30 minutes then." The bard wheeled the large harp into the recording room. Moira logged into the game. Jericho turned on the recording device and started strumming the harp. The tranquil sounds of the strings gave off the impression of looking longingly over a lush valley from an isolated cold mountain peak. He ended the recording and pulled out the metal flute. "I wish you were still here." He whispered with a light tear in his eyes. He put in a small earpiece so he could hear the sound of his previous recording. Jericho gently pressed the play and record buttons. The flute emitted a bittersweet overture. The crisp sound echoed lightly as if to reflect the desire to meet once more. Jericho''s eyes watered as he stopped the recording and switched to the clarinet. "We will meet again. It is a promise." He breathed through his teeth as the feelings of doubt plagued him. "We will meet again." He forced out as the tears began to fall once more. Again, he hit the play and record buttons. The sounds of the flute and harp played in his ears. The clarinet''s tenor tone sung with great sorrow. A lament that would never reach the heavens, it was a farewell of false promises and empty hope. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. He ended the recording once more. "It still needs some work and I need to fix a few notes but Moira was right. I have been so focused on the game that I lost sight of something right in front of me. I will need to remember that in the future." Jericho walked over to the bathroom and washed the salty tears off of his face. "Feelings, they are great and terrible at the same time. I feel my music when I play it so others can feel when they hear it. On that note, let us have some fun seeing the fruits of our labor¡­" He paused as a ridiculous thought entered his mind. "The wood elementals would probably like that phrase since they are always making terrible plant related puns." 47 The Eternal Dance Lednar, or Alex in real life, logged into the game. "The person that has been following me since yesterday has left. It seems the EastSeaDrakes are starting." He sent a message. [Harr, The tail is gone. Are they moving in?] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [You would be correct. Why do you ask? You know our plan was to wait until they failed before leaving. Are you ready?] Lednar sighed as he adjusted the in-game glasses he wore. He didn''t need them in game but it felt much more comfortable with them on. [My friends are likely to get caught up in the mess. They said they would be finishing their quest within a few hours but that isn''t enough time for them to leave the forest.] [Please speak clearly so I don''t misunderstand.] Harr replied. [If it is alright, since I know you are in charge, I would like permission to start heading north now so I can potentially help out my friends if they are in danger.] Harr frowned. [You and your brother are a lot alike you know. Despite being calculating, when it comes to your friends, you two always look for solutions that benefit them without trying to ruin the original mission too much.] The man thought about it for a bit. [Explain your reasoning.] Lednar seeing the response he continued. [If we were to use our save yourself skills in town, we might get swarmed. This is going to be a crisis and people will do a lot to live.] The leader sighed. [Heath asked me to keep you safe and you are right it would be counterproductive to use something to alleviate the effects of the mist in town. We would draw too much attention to ourselves. I can''t win against you or your brother''s logic. Let''s go.] [Thanks Harr.] Alex replied. [If my friends don''t have a way to delay the effects of the mist, it will be too late regardless. But, if they do, they may be able to help with this Mistery.] Harr laughed at the terrible spelling pun. [I''m not doing this for free you know. You owe me five dexterity enhancing potions. I will hear an earful from your brother because I let you boss me around this time. You will owe me ten if your friends fall to the mist because I will hear an even bigger earful.] [I''ll make you ten regardless, you know I make those just for you. You could have just asked. Most ax wielders would prefer to build solely into strength. Why do you invest so heavily into dexterity?] [Ten it is, don''t go back on your word. Those barbaric people who think strength is the only thing you need to fight with an ax only know how to swing wildly and don''t take advantage of the other characteristics of the beautiful weapon. If you actually watched how I fight like your brother said to do, you would understand why I invest so much into my dexterity. But enough preaching about the grace an ax has. I''ll meet you at the northern gate.] *** Jericho had been logged on for an hour and a half helping get everything set up and giving the musician satyrs a motivational pep talk in order to help them boost their confidence. Carn came forward. "We can now perform the ritual, a line dance of true culture, The Endless Dance." Ken watched from the nearby trees mostly out of sight. He was still leery about being around the satyrs. Purai and Lillith were in the audience watching. The satyrs aligned themselves in the correct positions on the Alter of Arglwydd y Ddawns. The guitars, drums, and beat box filled the stage with intensity. The clacking of hoofs, as the satyrs started dancing on the stone stage, synchronized creating a powerful dominant feeling. The panpipes and fiddles echoed in the surroundings as a male and female satyr sung in harmony. ? Our lives won''t last forever, so we''ll forever dance! This is our grand endeavor, to never leave this trance. ? The satyrs rotated and the dance continued. ? Our songs will sound forever, the notes already cast. The past will all remember, it will not be the last. ? A long bridge played as the guitars rocked out in the fast paced composition. Princess smiled as she watched the movements she had carefully designed turn out better than she expected. ? Hear the sound of our feet, our hearts are brought into sync! This is the pace of our beat, won''t ever be brought to the brink! ? A few minutes passed. More verses were sung. The performance ended. Jericho and Princess received their quest completion notifications. [You have completed the quest: A New Ritual. The god Arglwydd y Ddawns is extremely pleased by the result. It was well beyond what he expected from you. You have gained 25,000 Exp. You are now Level 15. All Performance related skills have increased by 1/10 of whatever rank they were previously.] "Jericho and Princess, Champions of our god, we thank you for the services you have rendered us. Jericho, if you would like, you can keep the instruments you borrowed." Carn gave a bow. Jericho smiled. "Thank you." "Of course!" The satyr replied happily. "Dancing Princess, follow me. We can discuss a suitable reward." Carn motioned to take princess a short ways away from the group. A gong sound reverberated from above the stage as two phantoms shaped like satyr descended. They fell before the two performers. The one was out of sight with Princess while the other appeared near the stage with Jericho. It spoke. "Jericho the Bard, you have rendered a merit worthy feat of culture. As a representative of Arglwydd y Ddawns I have come to bestow upon a gift or wish of your choosing. Of course, it must be a gift that will help you further the work of spreading music. Jericho thought back to his conversation with his sister before logging in. "Then, if it is alright, I wish for an object that I can turn into any instrument." He took a breath. "It won''t solve all of my problems with only having so many instruments around, but it would be a great help considering the amount of instruments I know how to play." The phantom closed his eyes. "What you request is indeed something worthy of your prowess, however that is a very powerful artifact. Arglwydd y Ddawns can only give it to you if you are willing to give up something of great value in return." Jericho thought for a bit. "Does the object of value have to be useful to him?" Jericho asked. The phantom shook his horned head. "He has more contacts than you do. He can receive any object of value and find the right existence to make a deal with." Jericho pulled out the Memory Crown. "Is this an acceptable object?" The phantom laughed and took the crown. "Indeed." A dark purple light flashed upward as the crown disappeared. A bronze flash fell downward. Kenneth who was watching from a distance started humming a light bouncy tune as he was reminded of the trading features in other games. A bronze statuette and a clear orb landed in the ghost''s hands. He passed them over to Jericho. "He hopes you like the extra gift. He said that the G.O.D.s gave him instructions to be generous if you were willing to give up the temptation of the crown. He said to tell you that the crown holds immense power to change the world and he is grateful you were willing to give it up." Jericho smiled. "What temptation? That crown is something I was looking to get rid of. It may be world changing to some, but not to me. This is world changing." He lifted the items and looked over the details of both of them. [Omni-instrument: This bronze statue artifact is worthless in the hands of anyone who is not a grand-master in at least one instrument. Only someone who possesses the talents of a Tier 5 musician can unleash its power. A worthy wielder of this item can direct it to become any instrument, instrument tool, instrument part, or instrument set (Playable by one individual) they know of. However it can only become one musical tool at a time. The instrument or equipment produced will not possess any magical traits and will be treated as a Tier 2 High quality non-magical item.] [Transmutation-orb (Instrument): The holder of this orb can select an instrument or instrument part they would like to have. After this selection, the owner of the orb must use the orb''s skill (Devour item). Once sufficient material has been obtained, the orb will create the new instrument. Left over materials will remain in the orb to be used when a suitable instrument is selected. A new instrument can be created in this manner once every day at most. The quality of instruments will drop if the orb is in frequent use. The instrument''s quality will be determined by the quality and level of items used in the making of the instrument. It is recommended to avoid using trash grade items unless you want a trashy instrument. The orb will not absorb materials, only completed items.] Jericho''s smile got bigger as he thought about how pots and pans made great trashy instruments. "Thank you. I love them." "I am pleased to hear that. I bid you farewell Jericho. May our paths cross again." The phantom returned to the sky. Away from the group, Princess, who had received similar notifications to Jericho was gifted a few dance costumes and tools the satyrs had made from the creatures they hunted in the past. The gong sound was heard and a phantom satyr appeared before her. "Dancing Princess, you have rendered a merit worthy feat of culture. As a representative of Arglwydd y Ddawns I have come to bestow upon a gift or wish of your choosing. Of course, it must be a gift that will help you further the work of spreading the art of dance." The girl was silent for a bit as she contemplated. "I think the thing I would need most is something that would help me dance for longer without tiring out but I don''t know if that is acceptable." The ghostly figure, in front of her, nodded. "Something like this?" He pulled out a small charm. Princess took the music box charm and looked at the information. [Arglwydd y Ddawns'' Music Box: (Tier 4 Trinket): While equipped Performance related skills (Music, Theater, Dance, etc.) cost half as much stamina and magic to execute. +5% Charisma while performing. A performance skill line must be Rank 4 or higher to experience the full benefits of this trinket. If you open the music box, a song dedicated to Arglwydd y Ddawns will play.] The girl''s eyes lit up. "This is perfect! Thank you!" She equipped the music box. "I am pleased to hear that. I bid you farewell Dancing Princess. May our paths cross again." The phantom returned to the sky. She opened the music box to hear it play the melody they had just performed. Kenneth, Lux, Purai, Lillith, Jericho, and Princess met at the edge of the satyr village. "Are you ready?" Ken asked. *** At a respawn point in a random starting town, a white haired man appeared. "What in the world just happened?" Talon exclaimed loudly. "Why did my party start attacking me like that?" He looked around confused. "Wait, this isn''t Pren. Where am I?" A warrior wearing dark heavy armor and a familiar looking wizard wearing a dark red-brown robe came over. "This is Zhery Village. You are quite a ways from Pren." The wizard replied caressing his amber colored staff. The man sighed. "I see. My name is Talon. What are yours?" The knight waved his gauntlet with tiger claws jutting out from the back of them. "Greeting Talon of the EastSeaDrakes, I''m DarkLord this is Emerald Carnage of the recently created Royal Bardians Guild. We were just on our way out of this starting village when we heard your shouting." "Royal Bardians? That is a terrible guild name. If you were the Royal Guardians that would have sounded cooler you know." Talon spat. "So, tell me about this new guild of yours. Considering the fact that you know who I am and show no fear mentioning your guild name to me means you are either stupid or secretly strong." Emerald Carnage smiled happily. If Jericho saw him, he would recognize him as the former player Emerald Flame he had briefly befriended. "We are a guild dedicated to our King Jericho and his beloved younger sister, our lovely Dancing Princess. It is more apt to call us a fandom then a true guild. Care to leave your guild and join us?" A look of realization was plastered onto Talon''s face. "Wait, DarkLord¡­ You are the masterminds behind the manipulation of all of those random players against the Vextor guild a bit ago." Emerald shook his head. "Oh, you must be referring to the assassination attempts on Jericho and his sister. You are only half wrong. Manipulation or not, we fans would have moved against the Vextor guild. We aren''t people you can mess with." Talon laughed. "I should be wary of you? You obviously haven''t seen the strength of a powerful guild." DarkLord lifted his face-guard to speak more clearly. "Actually, we have. Speaking of the power of large guilds, does your arrival here mean that your guild has failed their quest and Pren is now gone?" Talon glared. "No the quest hasn''t failed and we will succeed. We will show the world that we are the best." As if to confirm the dark knight''s inquiry a mass announcement was made by the game''s notification system. [Warning: Due to the actions of players; the starting town of Pren and surrounding settlements have fallen to a mysterious mist. New threats have emerged and the world has become more dangerous. The southern countries are wary of the dangers and are more apprehensive. Players, in or around Pren, that have or soon will fall prey to these new threats have been shuffled off to random starting towns.] 48 It Starts Harr and Lednar walked out of the northern town entrance and ventured into the forest a short ways out of sight. "Hey Harr?" Lednar called out. The man turned to face the twelve year old just to be splashed with a bucket of horribly smelling liquid. "What in tarnation do you think you''re doing?" He shouted. "This stuff reeks!" Lednar smiled as he splashed a similar awful smelling liquid onto himself. "It''s better to be prepared." He pulled out two vials of an extremely dark purple toxic looking liquid. "Drink this." He said before gulping down one himself. Harr sighed and took the liquid. He swallowed it before voicing his dislike for the taste. "Seriously, what is all this for?" The youth ignored the question and started chanting while pulling out two handfuls of a powdery substance. "By the arts of deception, I call upon the receptors of sound, touch, and sight. Project to others my will! Dust of Disguise!" He tossed a handful onto himself and the other handful onto Harr. Harr looked himself over seeing that while he could see himself, there was a semi-transparant layer that made everything excluding his ax look bushy and bulky. "(Bears?)" He questioned noticing that he both heard bear grunts and speech. Lednar who also was overshadowed with a semi-transparent bear appearance nodded. "(To answer your earlier questions. The potion I had you swallow allows you to see both the illusion and what is real. That is why we can still communicate and recognize each other despite looking like and sounding like bears when we talk to everyone else.)" Bear Harr frowned. "(That makes sense but why the illusion and the smelly liquid in the first place?)" Bear Lednar bore his teeth with a grin. "(If we look, sound, feel, and smell like this, the things in the forest will view us as animals. Once the mist overtakes us, they won''t see us as hostile humans. If what my friend''s pet said is right, then most of the creatures in the mist are not cursed so we will blend right in. It will reduce the risk of us getting attacked by a large margin. However, I have only been able to use my alchemist magic illusion dust to affect three senses. An illusion to pretend we are animals becomes pointless if we still smell human. Don''t worry the illusion and smell will wash off. As long as it doesn''t rain we won''t have any problem holding our disguise until we leave.)" Harr sighed. "(A little warning would have been nice. Can you end it early if we need to?)" Lednar shook his head. "(If I could end it early without water the effects wouldn''t last long and I would have to continuously channel magic into maintaining the illusion. That would negate the point. Most beast type creatures are innately sensitive to magical fluctuations. Stable magic is something they normally don''t notice.)" "(Then how long does everything last?)" "(If we never bathe, the illusion dust will fade in about 48 hours. The smell will be on us for about a week. But if we can find a source of water, we should be able to get rid of it sooner. If memory serves me correctly, there is a river not too far out of the forest. If the illusion dust gets removed before we are ready, I''ll just have to recast it. As for seeing through illusions I made a lot of potions because I knew we would be here a long time. They last for an hour each. Here, take them with you. I''ll remind you when the hour is almost up. Though if the hour does end up finishing before you drink it you will only experience the bear illusion until you down the liquid again.)" Lednar passed over a large pouch filled with vials of liquid. He put on an animal mask that sunk into the illusion. Harr also put on a mask that faded into the illusion of the bear. They continued their walk north. To any bystanders, what appeared to be a bear wielding a poleax and another bear holding vials of stuff sauntered casually deep into the forest. Harr turned to the west and turned on the guild video sight sharing. "(It starts. Heath, are you connected?)" He and Lednar pulled out flasks of transparent white liquid and drank them. [I am.] Heath messaged back. *** Kenneth, Lux, Purai, Lillith, Jericho, and Princess met at the edge of the satyr village. "Are you ready?" Ken asked after making sure there were no satyrs looking to eat him nearby. Everyone but Princess nodded. Jericho seeing this turned to his sister. "What''s wrong?" The girl sighed. "But what about the satyrs?" She questioned. "Are we really just going to leave them?" Jericho shook his head. "I''ll go talk to Carn again and see if they are willing to leave this place. But, if they don''t want to leave then we will leave without them. I know you care about them, but we probably don''t have the time for them to talk about it in a committee." Lux sighed. (I''m okay to leave those goats where they are. They defy nature. A goat is food not a predator. I would rather not become dinner for these smelly creatures.) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ken stifled a laugh as he inwardly agreed. "Then please be quick about it Jericho." Jericho split himself in two. "I can communicate faster if part of me stays here with you." He said as the other him ran back into the village. "Baa, Jericho, you are back? Oh, right you wanted to visit our MC store before you left." Carn recalled. Jericho shook his head. "While I would love to do that, I don''t have the time to look yet. It seems that the human problem I mentioned a few days ago will spread here and likely kill everyone. We don''t know when it will spread this far but if there are satyrs that wish to leave the forest in order to live they should pack up quickly and leave with us." The old goat thought for a bit. "That does sound bad. However, how can we leave our home? Our god will protect us, I am sure." Jericho shook his head. "I wouldn''t put too much stock into divine protection. We aren''t puppet on a string. They either can''t or won''t protect us from making foolish choices." Jericho clenched his teeth. "They won''t protect us from the choices of others either. Divine intervention isn''t some mystical fairy tale power that happens just because people want it to or expect it to." Carn frowned. "I can see where you are coming from. I will go speak with the others." "Please hurry." Jericho admonished. Soon, the frantic sounds of hooves clattering and gathering things echoed in the surroundings. Satyrs appeared before the bard carrying large and heavy containers and objects. The bard sighed. "Champion of Music, we know that the danger is coming but Arglwydd y Ddawns would be disappointed if we left the sacred instruments behind." A younger satyr admonished after seeing Jericho''s frustrated look. Jericho muttered something under his breath. "Fine, follow me." He started walking towards the exit. More satyrs followed slowly weighed down by the extensive amounts of things they were bringing. Jericho looked to the southwest to see a fog rapidly filling the trees. "It''s here already." He said as the mist flooded the village. [You have entered the mysterious mist. Your existence is being corrupted.] [Bringer''s Bond has activated. You sense another Bringer nearby and connected to the mist. The other Bringer has become aware of you as well.] Knowledge of where this creature was hiding flowed into his mind. Jericho split himself in preparation to play the one song Glaw said might do something. [You possess multiple weaker forms, the corruption and bond will now affect you faster.] The bard pulled out his instruments and started playing the Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul. He felt the corruption leave him as the area in the village cleared up for a short time. The song ended and the mist returned. "Satyrs, I can''t play forever. We need to go, now!" He said as he started playing once more, walking slowly towards the edge of town where the others were waiting. *** The Jericho with the party frowned as the satyrs were taking their sweet time. "They are finally coming. But it seems they don''t understand the meaning of a rapid escape from danger." The bard told the rest of the party. Ken frowned. "Waiting for them is probably a bad idea." "If it comes to it, and it seems like a feasible plan, we will utilize my ability to make multiple of me so we can escape quickly while also helping the satyrs to escape at their much slower pace. That is, if my music will work against the mist." Ken gave a nod. "That does sound feasible." Lux''s ears twitched. (Something is coming!) He roared to get the party''s attention. The group turned to the southwest and saw the approaching mist. Ken growled slightly despite being in his human form. "That came way sooner than I expected. Had we left the satyrs behind we would be most of the way out of the forest by now." He voiced. Princess looked down in guilt. "I''m sorry, I didn''t want to leave people behind just to save myself." Purai gave the girl a hug. "I understand. That isn''t a bad thing. We just need to find a solution to our problem now." She replied with confidence. Treating Ken and then the satyrs had helped build her self esteem. Jericho read the notification the other him had received. "If I use split too much more, the mist will affect me much faster than I can repel it. Princess, can your staff ward away the mist like Glaw said it might?" He inquired noticing that instead of corruption at 1% per minute he was being corrupted at 1% every 20 seconds as there were three of him. Princess pulled out Yun''s staff. "We can try. Can you play the Farewell song? The one grandpa made up. It would help me focus a lot." She wiped her tears. Jericho nodded and pulled out the bronze statue he had recently obtained. He focused on a drum set. A light glimmered in the mist. Jericho started drumming and singing. Moira started to silently dance. The mist flowed in a spiral centered on the staff as if the symbol on the end was like a dream catcher capturing nightmares. "{(How Dare you!)}" The sound of many creatures shouting echoed in the party''s ears. "{(You will not stop us! Join us in our despair! You are the ones that need to be cleansed!)}" An oppressive feeling weighted down on them. Jericho clenched the drumstick briefly as he continued to play and sing. He knew his other halves would arrive soon with the panicking satyrs that Carn was trying to keep calm. A giant clawed wing flashed into the clearing. "{(We shall start with you!)}" The voices bellowed as it swept Princess off her feet. "Princess!" Ken and Jericho shouted at the same time. Ken turned to Lux. "Stay with Jericho until I return. I''m going to rescue Princess." He looked over to Jericho who had recalled his drums and was about to rush forward. "Help them get out!" He pointed to the group. "I''ll save her. You are needed to save them!" Lux and Jericho hesitated as the words sunk in. The cat reverted to his human form briefly. "Because Ken said so, I will be your pet until he returns." Lux said. [The Lynx Lux has requested to be your pet until further notice. Accept?] "I accept. You will be returned to Ken when we meet up outside of the mist." Jericho replied as a golden paw print appeared on the back of his left hand. Lux reverted to his feline form and walked beside the bard. The other two copies of Jericho and the frightened satyrs approached. The mist surrounding them faded again. Ken, who had already dashed into the woods, turned into his animal form to track the monster and Princess better. He activated his True Lynx Eyes ability and gave chase. 49 You believe therefore you perceive that it is Director Fletcher watched the many monitors of players he had interest in. The ten screens showed players that were currently in the area of Pren. The software had run an analysis of players deemed likely to survive despite the mist overrunning the city. "The Dragoons guild leader was indeed smart to back off and take precautions. Even his own understanding of the mist was fundamentally flawed." The secretary who brought in some more hot chocolate placed the cup on the table. "Sir, your hot chocolate has arrived. Don''t let it get cold this time." The man turned and smiled back. "Thank you." The male assistant nodded. "Sir, I may be overstepping what I am allowed to know, but may I ask what the Dragoons were mistaken about?" Director Fletcher smiled and pointed to one of the screens with two bears on it. "They will discover it soon, thanks to the smaller kid. So there is no harm in sharing it." "Um, sir, that is a bear." The assistant corrected. The man laughed. "Yes, indeed. But back to your question, they overlooked two very simple factors. First, foxes and demons are a very common combination and yet they didn''t consider that the lore would be useful to them because of the guild leader''s habit of avoiding assumptions regarding situations. Second, they did not consider the power of belief. You believe therefore you perceive that it is. This is a factor that plays more heavily into virtual reality than the AR, console, and computer games of the past." "I don''t get it. That sounds way more complicated than simple." The assistant shook his head. "We trust our senses more than we realize." The director replied. "How will they react? Do you want to watch it with me?" *** Princess struggled to move as she was being held fast by a powerful three headed demonic bi-pedal creature. [Yun''s staff has absorbed enough of the energy attempting to invade your body. You will be protected from that energy for 2 hours 16 minutes.] "Where are you taking me?" She shouted at the monster holding her tightly. "{(To your death.)}" The creature with three heads replied. The girl struggled some more before shouting at the creature again. "If you were taking me to my death, you would have killed me already. You are much stronger than me. Where are you really taking me?" "{(To your death.)}" The creature with three heads replied again. "{(My job is to bring you to your death. Not cause it.)}" "Fine." Princess stopped struggling to break free. "Then while we travel can you at least tell me about yourself?" "{(No.)}" "I''m Dancing Princess, do you have a name?" "{(Why wouldn''t I have a name puny human.)}" "Tell me your name! I told you mine!" "{(No. Even if you are about to die it is stupid and pointless to waste the time telling you my name. Monologing is dumb.)}" "Then at least talk to me about something." The giant demonic creature remained silent. She became irked. "I didn''t want to have to do this, but¡­ Spark!" She shouted as electricity cackled from her hands and into the demon''s flesh. No notifications or damage indicators appeared. "{(That tickled. You won''t be able to get me to let you go with that weak of power.)}" The demonic creature mocked. The pressure around her tightened as the creature picked up speed. She closed her eyes to deal with the pain. They traveled at tremendous speeds for a long time. A familiar roar caused her to open her eyes. "Ken? Ken back off! It is too powerful!" She shouted. "I really wish my brother was here with me." She took a breath. The fiend stopped moving and turned around. "{(Stupid pest. Buzz off!)}" The voices shouted. "Ken watch out!" She shouted. *** "(Heath, I know you have been connected to the video since before the mist showed up. Are you seeing what I am? The forest becoming a thing of nightmares and seeming bigger on the inside¡­ I can walk through these trees! They are all fake.)" Harr exclaimed excitedly. Lednar nodded to the side. "(There can only be one explanation since the other creatures are moving around these trees and we are also able to see the normal forest behind all of this craziness. We are inside of a powerful illusion that not only messes with our sight but our depth perception and internal compass as well. Is this really the power of a Bringer? I don''t think I could ever create an illusion on this scale while at a beginning area.)" Heath sent a message to reply to their videos streaming to him. [The mist doesn''t look like is has changed. The mist itself and probably the curses that have been affecting creatures are all real. Please be careful. And yes, this is the power a bringer can show under the right circumstances. I had Near confirm the information just now. By the way, I have been meaning to ask. Why do you both look and sound like bears? And¡­ Why are you already halfway to the exit? I thought I told you to stay close to town.] "(Both of those are my doing.)" Lednar admitted. "(I wanted to make sure my friends were alright and had us leave town early. The bear disguise is also an illusion. We haven''t been attacked at all by the creatures here because they think we are one of them.)" Harr sighed. "(Be grateful smell doesn''t transfer over in the video. He also splashed himself and me with some unknown pungent disgusting liquid.)" [I see I will count my blessing this time. But Harr, I told you not to let him boss you around. You are the leader.] Harr gave a creepy grin with the bear face scaring the nearby prey. "(True, but he is a smart kid and his reasoning made sense to me. Besides, we have learned more about the mist in the last few minutes they we did the entire week prior.)" He attempted to send a message out. [He is definitely your brother.] [You are in a zone where messaging out has been blocked. The current out video has not been blocked because it was actively engaged prior to your present condition.] "(Darn, it seems I can''t send direct messages to you while we are in the mist.)" [Alright, I will wait until we are in person to talk about the situation. Don''t the two of you need to hurry to find Lednar''s friends?] Heath reminded. "(Right.)" Harr replied as the two of them started to run instead of walk. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. It didn''t take them long to arrive at the abandoned satyr village. Harr bent down. "Looking at the hoof prints and the occasional foot print it looks like they gathered recently and started heading towards the exit of the forest." Heath sent another message. [Follow them. If the trail ends, you will know they fell. If you find them, we might get more insight on how to combat this mist.] "(Wait)" Lednar called out as he placed a beaker with a crystallized plant bulb on the ground and poured a syrupy red liquid onto it. "(By the powers of life-force and divination I call upon you to reveal to me the life signatures of the recent past. Echoes of Life!)" Images appeared showing people talking right before the mist appeared. The adult male pulled out an instrument and Lednar''s friend danced with a staff that seemed to be swallowing the mist. "(If it is like that, then they should be fine. Let''s go catch up so we can talk to them.)" Lednar suggested and started running north once more. Harr followed. [Harr, walk backwards, I feel there is more to that situation than meets the eye.] As he followed instructions he saw the dancer swept up by something unseen. Two more of the adult carrying other objects showed up. One of the younger humans turned into a beast and ran after the girl. "(Come on Harr! Hurry up!)" Lednar called back seeing that Harr had practically stopped to keep watching the hologram. [Thank you. Don''t tell him what you saw. Knowing my brother, he would lose focus of the reason you are there in the first place. I don''t want him losing proficiency with his alchemy and magic skills for a pointless reason.] "(Just like you when you see me get into trouble?)" He turned forward and ran to catch up with the alchemage. [Yeah. Just like me...] The two bears swiftly caught up to the slow moving satyr, bard and friend group that was traveling towards the northern exit of the forest. *** Kenneth dashed into the mist after shouting at Jericho and Lux. He activated his True-Lynx Eyes ability as he ran through the forest. Other than a light haze the forest looked almost normal. (Is that a spirit beast?) (He is running through trees and other things like they aren''t there. He must be.) (Wow, I want to know how he became a spirit beast. To be able to run through things like they aren''t there is really cool!) Ken sighed as he continued to run with a large assortment of animals attempting and failing to follow him. (Why are they moving like there are thing in their way?) He questioned quietly. (From what Alex and Lux said, I thought the forest was supposed to be scary. Other than the mist, woods look normal.) He continued to chase down the fiend that took Princess. He was grateful he had invested into his stamina and his lynx form was suited for running. (We should be near the center of the western forest.) He muttered to himself tired from the chase that had already taken over an hour. He caught sight of princess floating midair flying at high speeds. (Princess!) He roared. "Ken? Ken back off! It is too powerful!" She shouted. (Wait! What''s too powerful? There is nothing there!) He shouted back. Princess stopped flying away from him but she seemed unable to see him. "{(Stupid pest. Buzz off!)}" The voices from before shouted. "Ken watch out!" She shouted. The lynx stood there strangely unconcerned. (There is no danger here.) He muttered trusting the animal instincts. "Ken!" Princess shouted once more. (Moira, it is fake! You are being held up by an illusion!) Ken shouted. Princess fell to the ground. "Akh!" She cried out as she landed. "Huh? I really am moving through it." She said as she moved her hand through the leg of the demonic creature. The girl froze and her eyes glazed over like she entered some sort of trance. (Princess! Wake up!) Ken shouted and tried to shake her. Nearby hissing and yapping sounds echoed nearby. (Why? Why do you choose to help this human? I thought we were friends little princelynx. I saved you, gave you power, and yet you choose to help one of the humans that tried to kill you? I don''t understand.) Ken shook his head. (You must be talking about my little brother. The one you cursed. Do you know how miserable you made him?) A slender fur covered lanky snake like creature with a fox head appeared out of the nearby tree. [Because of your True Lynx Eyes you have successfully warded off an illusion targeting you.] (The human is experiencing an illusion that doesn''t seem to be affecting you. You seem to be immune to my powers. Indeed you are not the little Princelynx. You called him your little brother? Interesting, I didn''t know he has a spirit beast for a sibling.) The snake-fox like creature explained. Ken got ready to pounce and started snarling. (Release her, this instant, or I will attack you.) The creature slithered a little higher. (She is fine. I will release her when we finish talking if you really want to save one of those disgusting creatures. Besides, I did not curse your brother. So let''s talk amicably; Spirit Beast to Spirit Beast. Or are you too dumb of a Spirit Beast to reason with?) 50 Monosyllabears, Monosyllables, and Monosyllabulls Two bears entered the space where the mist couldn''t invade thanks to the power of music. A few of the satyr hunters became wary and cautious. Bears were some of the satyr''s natural predators. Despite the goat-people having a higher level of intelligence, many had still died by bear claws. One of Jericho''s four clones turned around. "Bears wielding an Ax and holding items? That doesn''t seem normal." He muttered. "Don''t attack; I think there may be something more to this than meets the eye." He held out a hand to tell the goats to back off slightly. "(Thank goodness)" Harr growled. Jericho faced the bears. "I''m sorry, I don''t speak animal." Lux assumed his human form. "I can translate for you!" "(Ken? Where is Princess? And why were disguised as an animal?)" Lednar asked because he knew his friend had the ability Speak with Animals. Lux listened and repeated what he heard. "Horn, fruit, hat, pen, pipe, and disk?" (Umm, little bear what are you trying to say?) Lednar sighed. "(That is definitely not what I am saying. Can you please stop joking around?) The lynx in human form listened a bit more before donning a look of horror. "They are Monosyllabears! Everyone get back! Don''t let them touch you or you will be cursed to speak in random short nonsense words!" Lux hid behind Jericho. Lednar roared in frustration. "(Ken, stop fooling around!)" "Monosyllabears?" The clone of Jericho that currently wasn''t playing an instrument inquired at the very ridiculous sounding name. "What are they Lux?" "(Lux?)" Lednar felt confused. "They are Syllabears that speak in short words and don''t make sense! I can''t believe they look just like regular bears! My mother warned me about them. She always said that among the Syllabears that some of the Mono ones make you sound really dumb." Harr, the larger bear, growled with the shake of his head. Jericho sighed. "Can you understand me?" He asked the larger bear. Harr nodded. "Are you a Monosyllabear?" Jericho asked, since Lux didn''t really have any reason to lie. The large bear shook his head. "(Harr, write drink this with your ax in the dirt.)" Lednar the smaller bear said as he held out the dark purple liquid vial. Harr took the poll end of his ax and wrote in the dirt. *Drink this* "Jericho, don''t it is a trap!" Lux quietly exclaimed. The bard chuckled. "This is only 1/4th of me. If it is a trap, then it won''t affect me much." He took the liquid and drank it.When he looked back at the bears he saw the people behind the appearance of the bears. "Ah, so the bear thing is a disguise." He thought out loud. Harr smiled without showing his teeth. "(Now you should be able to understand us too.)" Jericho gave a nod. "I can. But the others probably can''t still, right?" Lednar sighed. "(The illusion dust and scent I put on us can only be washed off with water and I don''t see a water source nearby. If we had water, we would remove out disguise as it would not be needed anymore.)" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Alright, I just need to get you wet then?" Jericho merged two of the four copies of himself so he could use Create Water. Water appeared and he used Control Water to splash it onto the two bears. "Finally I don''t have to smell that foul odor!" Harr exclaimed through his reptilian mask as most of the illusion wore off. There were still parts of him and Lednar that still looked like they belonged to a bear. "Lednar, you illusion is great but that was a real pain." He turned to the bard who had once again separated himself so he could recover faster as they traveled. "My name is Harr. This is Lednar. Sorry for the scare earlier. Sneaking past the animals in the mist was easier this way." The bard nodded. "I''m Jericho, we are on our way out of the forest. Are you going to come with us?" The young pre-teen looked up. "Ah, so you are the famous Jericho my best friends have been raving about at school. Your sister and Kenneth talk about you a lot. Speaking of your sister, where is she?" Harr mouthed ''don''t say it'' with a shake of his head. Jericho, seeing the motion half smiled. "You must be Alexander then. I am curious why you haven''t come over to hang out with her yet. She has told me quite a bit about you too." Lednar nodded. "Right; that is something I wanted to talk to you about. But you are dodging my question." The minstrel smiled. "One second." Jericho walked over to the other halves of him that were playing and swapped them jobs for the eighth time. Their stamina and magic were depleted again. The mist was kept at bay by the continuation of the serenade. The other two Jerichos came over to Lednar. "They ran off earlier but Princess has a way to protect herself from the mist as well." Jericho explained calmly to avoid letting his own personal worry reveal itself. Lednar frowned. "Then who is that behind you acting scared and calling us made up creatures? He looks just like Ken." Jericho laughed. "Want to introduce yourself officially Lux?" "I don''t want to tell the Monosyllabears that I am Ken''s younger brother though." The feline replied defiantly. Lednar adjusted his glasses. "I think you mean Monosyllables. I heard your description before and it sounded like you were being taught about speech not about mythical creatures. Jericho, I will ask that you help me understand the meaning behind Lux''s words. Ken doesn''t have a younger brother." "Wait! That is right, she called them MonosyllaBulls! Stay away you MonosyllaBulls and don''t infect me you short random word disease, you cows in disguise!" Lux reverted to his animal form and vanished into the pet space located in the temporary tattoo on Jericho''s hand. Jericho came closer chuckling at Lux''s severe misunderstanding. "As you can see, Lux can make himself look like Ken so the two of them started calling each other brothers. The healer girl over there thinks Ken is an NPC. So please respect your friend''s choice in not telling her." Lednar sighed. "Fine." Jericho observed the two who still had some parts of themselves that looked like bears. "You still look a little ridiculous like that. Let me help you out." The bard used the water technique from before and drenched the two. "Shall we head out? It is tiring to constantly be playing the same musical piece over and over with no real break. I am hoping to get out of here sooner rather than later." The wet Harr nodded. "Let''s go." He started to walk forward and join the group. "Oh, Jericho what can you tell me about all of the satyrs that are here?" Jericho half smiled. "We helped them out a lot and these are the ones we could save so we are bringing them out. You see that older goat with a skip in his step still despite the fact that they just lost their home? His name is Carn. He is their current leader." Harr gave a nod. "Thank you for being so forthcoming. Do you have plans with them once you leave?" Jericho shook his head. "No, and just a second." He tagged out the copies of him that were playing. "I have no clue as to where they would be able to go; but if you have an idea, great. I will just give you warning now; they are very particular about music and dancing. They look poorly on others because they lack ''Culture''." Jericho emphasized the last word. "Culture? Like being Posh and drinking tea or wine in an elegant manner?" Jericho chuckled. "No, they view that type of stuff poorly. If you show interest in performance related skills, you may be able to get them to view you in a slightly better light." "I see, thank you." Harr left to go talk to Carn as they walked. Lednar came up behind Jericho. "So, back to the topic of me coming over to hang out with Moira¡­" He paused awkwardly. Jericho let out a soft chuckle. "There is no harm in you coming over. Any time that either of us say it is okay for you to come, then you are free to. You don''t need both of our permissions." The boy adjusted his mask. "What I meant to say is, I want to learn how to play musical instruments from you. I have been staying after school to learn the basics of a few of them but a live teacher would be better. I would like to have a real teacher help me know more than just the ''How to'' that I can get in the school''s learning database simulator. They didn''t even give me extra credit for learning it because it is considered obsolete and worthless knowledge. But you know differently." Jericho smiled at the boy. "May I know why you are so eager to learn?" Lednar adjusted his glasses that were behind the mask. "I want to become a very powerful player that people recognize as one of the best. Of course I am really young and so I can''t game all day like most of these people." Seeing the boy pause in his explanation, Jericho motioned with his hands. "Continue." "Both alchemy and magic are knowledge oriented pursuits, but I suspect that emotions are just as valuable. My theory is that with emotions included, the power and potency will improve. Emotions are part of the mind after all. However from a logical standpoint it is hard to inject the emotions into solving a basic math equation that you have solved hundreds of times." Jericho nodded as he waited for the long round about explanation to finish taking place. "Then, on the week of Moira''s birthday she mentioned your music was magical; that there was something about your music that was unique. At the time I didn''t understand but became intrigued. I know I upset her when I told her magic wasn''t reality and I apologized later." Jericho held up his hand. "Just a second I need to switch off again." When his clones returned he smiled. "Continue." "The things I have been learning in the school''s database has been very equation oriented. Play C, E, and G and get a very common chord. But the way you play is... different. I watched some of your performances and felt something. It was like your music had feelings of its own and you were there to help it express itself. After that, I realized that if I played instruments to help with the emotional sides of alchemy and magic, I might just be able to achieve my dream of becoming a top player. I might be able to see past the data and numbers." Jericho chuckled. "At least you are honest about it. And Moira was right, your vocabulary is well beyond most twelve year olds. I have one question for you. Do you like music?" Lednar sighed. "I really do like music. I have liked learning how to play it too. It is because I like it that I feel like I can utilize it to achieve the other dreams I have." "I could tell; however, you explained so much your intent was almost lost on me. I don''t mind teaching you but every single person I teach must get past Moira first. You know how protective she is when it comes to me." Lednar chuckled. "Truly." Jericho continued. "Where you are one of her two best friends I am sure she will willing but it is better to get it from her mouth instead of assuming it is fine. However, when you ask her, I would avoid the long explanation. Just tell her you really want to learn from the best. She seems to respond to people better when they verbally talk about me positively." The pre-teen nodded. "Thank you Jericho; and thanks for telling me the secret on how to communicate better with your sister. Now that I know you are willing I will talk to Moira about it in school later unless we meet up with her sooner." "Right, so what instruments have you been learning by staying after school?" "They were called the bass guitar, electric guitar, a drum set, keyboard and a few others. I really like the instruments I play with my fingers or small object. There was one that I liked that had a very different sound but the ukulele was also really fun to play." Jericho smirked. "Have you ever listened to rock style music?" Lednar shook his head. "I don''t know. To be honest there are so many categories of music out there that I can''t keep them straight." *** Director Fletcher wrote a few words on a piece of paper. "Thank you Lux for that brilliant idea." He passed the note to his secretary. "Pass this on to the monster creation sub-department." The secretary ran off and read the note. New monster: MonosyllaBulls: There is so much Bull going around that these bovine like creatures have resorted to randomly speaking in monosyllables. Have fun with this idea! -Director Fletche 51 The one I hurt the mos The wind blew the leaves to interrupt the awkward silence between serpentine fox and lynx. Ken noticed phantom chains that seemed to bind the other creature. (Fine, we can talk,) Ken growled unhappily. (First, what do you mean you didn''t curse my little brother?) He focused on the chains to see if he could figure out more. The pipe fox relaxed a little bit and came closer. (Your little brother was going to die by human weaponry. He asked me for help and I gave it. After that, I was saddened because he seemed to have forgotten me and left. I never saw him after that. Now a question for you; are you tamed or wild?) (I''m a wild Lynx.) Ken replied confidently. (What are those black chains binding you?) (What black chains? And can you prove that you are a wild lynx. With the way you act around that human, you seem very tame to me.) Ken looked over at the dazed Princess to confirm she couldn''t see what was happening before walking over to a tree. He lifted his leg, watered the tree and shoved dirt over top of it. (What are you doing? This is my territory!) The other spirit beast shouted angrily. Ken moved the dirt again to reveal the Lyngurium. (You wanted proof that I am not tamed. Despite being disgusting, here it is.) (That still doesn''t give you the right to mark up my territory!) Ken laughed. (Chill, by the way what are you?) He continued to observe the chains. [You have observed the chains of a harmful contract. These particular chains are unholy in nature.] The fox turned his head. (I''m a pipe fox and a strong one at that.) (I see, and I found an answer to my earlier question about those chains.) The pipe fox looked back. (Oh? Tell me about these non-existent chains you disrespectful cat.) (Those chains I can see are your contract with some other being, an unholy one at that. You asked me if I was a wild lynx but it seems you yourself are bound.) The foxes eyes dilated. (How did you know about my contract?) (Because, I can see what is real. What is real is this, you did curse my little brother when you gave him power. After he left the mist, he was treated as an evil creature. The fish he caught turned rotten and he almost died. If it wasn''t for my human friends, like Princess here, I don''t know the type of fate he would have faced.) The pipe fox paused. (I... If anyone is to blame it is the humans who hunted down all our friends. They should pay for what they have done! I¡­ I miss them so much. I know you and your brother probably miss all of your friends too. We should be allies not enemies.) Ken sighed. (Who said we were either? You sound just like the type of human you hate.) He walked closer. (Sure, you are getting your revenge. But you are blind to the fact that you are hurting countless innocent creatures. That contract of yours is harming you and others needlessly. Besides,) he turned to face his friend. (Princess isn''t like other humans. If there is any human I could call a good friend, it would be her.) The fox grew angry at being called out. (Oh? She isn''t like the others? Let''s prove it.) The pipe fox fell into a slumber. The earlier stunned Princess seemed to half-wake up. "Oh, she really is a strange human." Princess''s mouth said. "Her memories¡­" "So, how long are you going to observe my memories friend?" The girl questioned as her eyes flipped to full clarity. Her eyes half dimmed once more. "You are awake? How long have you been awake for?" Princess smiled as light returned to her eyes. (I woke up when Ken created Lyngurium.) She turned to face her friend with a sympathetic smile. (By the way, now I know why you wanted me to get rid of it. That really is a gross crafting material. I know it is awkward but you could have just told me what it was.) Ken hid his face in embarrassment. (Really? You saw all of that?) The girl nodded. "Yep, I should thank you. The smell brought me to my senses I just wanted to see how far the two of you would talk before I needed to join in." Her eyes dimmed once more. "Fine, After scanning through some of your memories I understand a bit more about who you are. Unlike other man children, you understand pain. I will give you your body back and we can talk properly. I will concede to the fact that you are not like other humans." The girl''s eyes regained clarity as they moistened. The pipe fox jolted awake. (Tell me, what is your relationship with the other Bringer?) Princess wiped a tear from her eyes. (I also was able see some of your memories. We aren''t too different. But I am not sure I understand your question. What is a Bringer?) The pipe fox turned away. (A Bringer is one who can utilize their powerful emotions to affect the things around them. There was one near you when I sent my demonic illusion to drag you here. That staff of yours was very troublesome to my original plans.) "Oh!" (You must be referring to my older brother, Jericho. Why do you ask?) (I will tell you more if it becomes relevant. But as I scanned through your memories I am very confused on one thing. How do you not feel hatred? Everyone important to you, except your brother was taken from you. Why? Am I wrong for feeling angry?) The pipe fox was confused. Princess stood and walked over to the creature and held out her hand. (I was angry for a long time when it first happened. I felt wronged. I felt that life was cruel. I wasn''t much different than you. If it wasn''t for my brother''s music and meeting my two best friends, I would probably still be hurt and angry as a result.) (Then, did you lash out?) The pipe fox questioned as she turned to face the outstretched hand with caution. The girl nodded. (Yes, and the person I hurt the most was my brother. I know he still suffers because of my past choices. But, there is one thing I learned because my brother chose to be a much more mature person than me. He didn''t retaliate against me and my harmful actions. He shared with me his wisdom.) She inhaled. (As the one still here, I survived the emotional burden of my loved ones passing. The pain and sadness are still there, but because of him and his kindness I was able to see there were still good people in the world. I was able to see that I could form new bonds that gave me hope again.) She paused. Ken sighed. (We have been friends for a few years now and you never told me this.) Princess smiled sadly as she faced her friend. (That is because I didn''t want you or Alex to pity me. The pity I received from teachers and many others stung and only added to my own pain. You and Alex treated me like a normal person and it was fun being around you. I preferred that friendship over one where you felt concerned or bad for me.) She turned back to the pipe fox. (So, because of how I felt, I don''t pity you but I do understand the pain of losing everyone. So, instead of a pity party how about being friends? You do not have to stay in this dark place forever. You can return to your dark place as often as you need. I won''t try to solve your problems or try to make you feel better, but I will be here for when you want to solve your problems or want to feel better.) The serpentine creature rubbed her head in the girl''s outstretched hand. (Thank you. I didn''t know that those were the words I wanted to hear.) Princess smiled. (Friends?) The creature backed away. (No, I still can''t be friends with a creature like you. However, I have a favor to ask of you since you are different.) (What favor?) She inquired. (Come;) the pipe fox slithered over to a nearby partially hollowed out tree stump. Princess and Ken came over and looked to where the fox pointed with her tail. A tiny pipe fox slept. (This is my only child left. The others were slain.) The pipe fox sighed. (The inconsiderate cat is right, my actions are harming others and you are right, the one suffering the most is my child. Please, take him and leave the forest. Help him wake again.) Princess shook her head. (You should both leave the forest. I know you hate people but I can tell how much you care for your child. Do you really want to give up on one of the only creatures that brings you happiness?) (Yes.) The pipe fox replied resolutely. (Because that is only my request to you; I saw, you possess the kindness my son will need after I am gone.) The fox turned to face Ken. (My request to you, stupid cat, is that I need you to kill me. The only way for me to be free of the demon''s contract is for me to die. My beast core will be beneficial for you if you swallow it.) Ken resisted the urge to gag. (What is it with spirit beasts and swallowing things?) He grumbled. The fox squinted at the bizarre question. (It is the best way for us to absorb power. But that aside; will you kill me? Please, do it.) Princess stood between the lynx and the fox. (No; there is always another option.) The fox looked angry. (Why do you stop me from dying? Do you have a solution? Well, spit it out. I want you to take my child and leave so I can die knowing that my son''s future will be better than mine.) The girl pulled out her staff. (I don''t have a solution, yet. But if you are so dead set on dying, then at least let me give you a proper farewell.) Princess held back her tears. (A proper farewell?) Princess closed her eyes and took deep breath. She started to sing and dance. The mist surrounding them was devoured by the staff. Calming feelings touched the nearby creatures'' hearts. Tears fell. The fox faced the dancer quietly; mesmerized by the movements and feelings she hadn''t felt in a long time. Princess ended the dance and walked over to the mother. (Now, if you still wish it, I can fulfill your request.) The pipe fox hesitated before answering. (Yes, please still take my son and leave the forest. He needs to wake once more. But you are right, there is a third option. Hold out your hand please.) She said quietly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The girl held out her hand. The pipe fox bit her finger. (What are you doing?) Ken roared protectively. Princess held out her other hand to stop Ken. (It''s fine.) She told him as a rush of power flowed into her. The once very large pipe fox shrunk at a fast rate. She shrunk until she was only a thick paintbrush in size. (Now that I have lost all my power, the contract has been nullified. My memories are fading and I will soon sleep once more.) The pipe fox''s body fell in front of Ken and the head disappeared into glowing particles that entered the girl''s rapidly healing wound. A Ring appeared on her finger. [You have equipped Fox Mother''s soul: This ring contains the soul of a mother fox. If the soul can regain power, the ring will form back into the former living creature.] Princess stroked the sleeping baby pipe fox and the ring. She had pushed aside the notifications she had received from being bitten earlier. She planned to read them later. [You have obtained a baby Pipe Fox spirit bound mythic creature. It must grow more before becoming a Tier 1 creature. Currently it is in a state of unending sleep. The mythic beast will be transferred to your soul world until able to be woken up.] [Emergency quest obtained: Escape the forest alive. Success, keep the pipe fox and your newly obtained power. Failure, the pipe fox will be trapped in the forest and subject to the whims of the demon who guides the power of the mist. You will lose the powers and ring granted to you by the mother fox.] [Follow up Quest: After successfully leaving the mist, find a way to wake the baby pipe fox.] The baby pipe fox vanished. The strange husk that had fallen in front of Ken earlier laid there, unmoving. The lynx looked at the lanky hairy empty body with his sight skill. [Pipe Husk: Uses vary depending on the type of creature using this item. As a Sprit Beast with the blood trait, touch to absorb the husk''s power.] He poked it and watched it shrivel as the husk absorbed into him. [Blood and husk of the Pipe Fox has been absorbed. Your blood has purified and adapted it. You have gained the form Pipe Lynx. Pipe Lynx shares the same timer as monster form. Details can be found in the Monster Form description under the sub-ability Pipe Lynx Form.] Before Ken had time to review his newly acquired odd ability, a powerful roar was heard. "{(Foolish Mortals! Give me back what you have stolen! Perish for me! Children of the mist hear my command, capture the other Bringer! Bring him to me while I deal with these annoying interlopers!)}" The sound of many overlapping voices shouted as a very familiar three headed fiend appeared before them. "An illusion?" Princess questioned. Ken shook his head. "Nope, that one is real." 52 Bringers Bond Jericho watched as Harr and Lednar passed out two vials of liquids and masks to all the bi-pedal creatures in their group. They approached Jericho. "You have been playing non-stop for a while now. These masks and potions will help us continue through the forest and mist for a few hours. Based on where we are at and the pace these satyrs are traveling at, we should reach the edge of the forest in just over an hour. I''m surprised how smoothly everything has gone." Lednar explained. Harr smacked the back of Lednar''s head. "You know that that is the tropeiest thing to do in a situation like this. We are almost out of the mist and you commentate how well things are going right before something bad happens." Lednar scoffed. "If something bad is going to happen, it will happen regardless of if I commented about it or not. That is reality." Jericho chuckled at the exchange. "Thank you for the items. I could use a break." He recalled his instruments and returned to being one person. He donned the mask and drank the liquids as the mist filled the clearing once more. His skills had increased significantly from all the repetitive playing he had done. "Everyone put on the masks and drink the potions!" Harr called out. The group traveled slowly onward for about half an hour. A loud roar interrupted the now silent journey. "{(Children of the mist hear my command, capture the other Bringer and bring him to me!)}" A horde of animal cries followed as they rushed the traveling group. [Emergency Quest: There is a Bringer among you. The powers in the mist wish to claim them. Protect them at all costs. Failure: The mist will evolve into something far scarier.] Lednar looked over to Jericho. "Bringer?" Jericho pulled out his punk jacket and mullet and put them on. He pulled out the bronze statue. He focused on turning into a bass guitar. He split himself into four and pulled out his acoustic guitar, zither, and ceremonial drum. "Pay attention, while these aren''t the most common instruments for what I am going to do, this is one of many styles of rock music." He said as he placed the instruments in their proper positions so he could play while moving. Using the ceremonial drum to create a basic rhythm, the song played. Two of the four Jerichos started to sing. [You have learned Inspire Courage 8/10 Adept: Allies who hear this piece will be able to exert more from their stats than normal.] [You have learned Captivating Song 2/10 Adept: The audience will become focused on the music. This will have varying effects depending on the intent of both the audience member and the player.] [You have learned Musical Barrier 1/10 Beginner: Hostile attacks towards you and your allies within the sound of your music are weakened. The type of barrier erected is based on the type of music used to create it. Examples: Classical Shield, Metal Bulwark, Electric Fence, Techno-Rampart. (Current application Wall of Rock): Melee physical attacks deal less damage.] [You currently are under the effects of multiple potions while split. The timer for the potions will wear off 4* faster while you remain split.] [You have learned Bass Guitar 9/10 Adept.] The satyrs, Harr, and Lednar started fighting with the beasts as they continued to retreat from the forest. Harr dexterously wielded his poleax as he slipped around his enemy''s attacks. He utilized his body weight and momentum to strike at his opponent''s center of balance before landing a fatal blow. Lednar threw object while chanting to create various effects from explosions to instant ice. Many of the animals slipped and became vulnerable enough for the satyrs to slay. The beasts were stunned and slowed as they fell captivated by the powerful music. Jericho''s allies felt powerful as they fought off the horde of beasts. Lux emerged from the pet space. (I''ll help!) He activated his ugly rat hat and shrunk. Hs skulked around the battle field using Swipe to snag any loose item drops like Ken had taught him. He also used his hat''s power on any creature he deemed ''cool'' enough to absorb their power. Ken was rubbing off on him. Minutes went by as they neared the edge of the mist. [Your potions have worn off. You are being corrupted by the mist. As you are currently split between four weaker forms of yourself you will become corrupted 1% every 15 seconds. If the damage you have taken and the corruption reach a combined total of 100% you will fall to the mist and your comrades'' quest will fail.] Jericho was too focused on playing to notice the notification. The music he was playing progressively got heavier and darker as feelings of revenge, loss, emptiness, and agony filled and penetrated his mind. Glaw emerged from Jericho. {Hey! Calm down! Those emotions aren''t yours! Jericho snap out of it!} He shouted. As Jericho played the mist turned black. Water droplets appeared and floated around him dangerously. [Elemental Fury has become active] [Bringer''s Bond has been amplified. The other Bringer, you felt a connection to, has died. Their bringer trait has found home in you. You have absorbed their Change Bringer skill line and bringer skills.] [Due to past actions your Healing skill line has merged with the Death Bringer skill line.] [Your bringer skill lines have merged into the Advanced Life Transformation Bringer skill line.] [Advanced Life Transformation Bringer Skill line Tier 3: Some known skills have been influenced by this new Bringer title.] [The adept bonus for The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul is now usable.] [Form-Shift has been influenced by your Bringer Titles. If you obtain valid forms for this ability, you can access ''hybrid'' forms. Currently no hybrid forms are available as water elemental and human forms are not compatible for hybridization.] [You have gained the skill Grudge Mist (Change + Death + Healing) 8/10 Expert: By utilizing your powerful emotions, you can exude a substance to change the existences of those you target with your hostile feelings. By utilizing your powerful emotions, you can exude a substance to kill the existences of those you target with your hostile feelings. By utilizing your powerful emotions you can exude a substance to heal your allies who were hurt by those you target with your hostile feelings. Adept bonus: You can infuse aspects of other your other skills into the Grudge Mist. Expert Bonus: You can focus your grudge mist ability on a single target to heal, kill, or change faster.] [The mist around you has tapped into the aforementioned skill. The Grudge Mist near you has come under your command] Glaw froze himself and placed his icy arm onto the back of Jericho''s neck. The bard stopped playing as he was shocked awake by the cold. [You have been stunned by your companion Glaw. Abilities have deactivated.] {Are you back yet? Those emotions you were feeling weren''t yours. You know you almost¡­} Glaw hesitated as he remembered the former conversation he had with the bard and wanted to avoid sending him back into a dark place, especially at this critical moment. Jericho took a deep breath. {Thanks Glaw. I needed that.} He switched instruments and merged back into two of him to slow down the rate of corruption. The Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul echoed in the surroundings once more. The adept bonus that was formerly locked kicked in. [Adept bonus: This piece now has a greater impact on dispelling harmful effects.] The mist around them cleared more than before and the animals influenced seemed to regain some clarity of thought and ran away. Everyone felt tired and weary as they pushed through the last stretch of the woods. "We made it!" Purai shouted in relief. "We finally made it out!" She looked out over the grasslands with scattered trees and distant farmlands. Lux returned to the pet space and Glaw merged once more with Jericho. The majority of the party received a notification. [You have successfully brought the Bringer out of the mist. You have saved the nearby areas from a more dangerous threat. You have¡­] Harr walked over to the bard. "Thank you." Jericho gave a nod in return. He had a lot on his mind as he thought about Princess who had been taken earlier by that same voice that wanted him. The ax wielder grabbed the minstrel''s upper arm. "So, you are a Bringer then?" Jericho looked over to the man. "A Bringer?" He questioned knowing that he was one. He didn''t want to directly confirm it. "Yes, they are a special existence that can draw immense power from their emotions. This mist was created by a Bringer. We received a quest to bring a Bringer that was in our group out of the mist. Based on the evidence, I can only see you as the one we were tasked to help escape. You were the only one undergoing visible emotional fluctuations." Jericho lifted his hand to his chin and cheek as he thought about it. "It makes sense, I probably am then. Music does draw from power from the body, mind, and soul. It is very powerful when it comes to influencing emotional states." "Strange, I wonder if bringers are unaware of their title then." Harr thought aloud. Jericho smiled as he overheard the conversations between Lednar and Purai regarding the similarities and differences between an apothecary and an alchemist. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Harr woke from his pondering. "Now that we are out of the mist, let me re-introduce myself. My name is Harr. I come from the Dragoons guild. I must say your skills are quite impressive." Jericho held up a hand to stop him. "I am not interested in joining a guild. I am here to spread my music. Even though Lednar over there and my sister are friends, she wouldn''t be interested in joining your guild either. It is nothing against you; it is just that we were taught by a reliable friend that a guild would be harmful to us in the long run with our goals." Harr smiled. "I knew that much. Your sister told Lednar already. I wanted to ask if we could be friends and if we can ask for your help from time to time." Jericho smiled back. "Friends for sure. As for help, I prefer to avoid fighting whenever possible." "Sounds good. Our guild leader, Heath has told me to tell you that he looks forward to working with you on occasion." [Friend Request received from Harr] [Friend Request received from Heath]. Jericho accepted the requests. "I''ll see you around then." "Wait! Jericho, what are you planning on doing now?" Harr inquired. He didn''t want Jericho to go back into the mist where he was a target. "I''m going west. I have a quest far off in the Clogwyni mountain range." Jericho replied. Harr paused. "That is a wild zone with no quest givers in the area. It is teaming with monsters level 15 to 45. You never know what you might accidentally run into. It isn''t a good grinding spot because there is no nearby town or city to replenish your supplies. That is also quite the walk westward. You aren''t going to rush back into the mist to save your sister are you?" Jericho grabbed the warrior''s arm in the same manner he had been grabbed. "Of course not, going back would be both a dangerous and foolish idea. My sister and Ken will be fine. Even if they aren''t fine, I can meet up with them again afterwards. Besides, haven''t you noticed? The mist is slowly receding back into the forest. I suspect my sister is cleansing a part of the mist as she makes her way back out as we speak." The warrior gave a light nod. "Good. Please don''t undo all that hard work we just did to get you out of the mist. Good luck with your quest, but if you can, I would wait until you reach closer to level 25 to attempt going there. You don''t want to be caught without the ability to escape if you run into one of the more powerful creatures in the area." "Thanks for your concern. I will be fine." Jericho wandered the group and said goodbye to a few of the people he had gotten to know. "Baa! Jericho, before you leave take this." Carn passed over a small stone. "When we set up a new village someplace you can use that to visit us. It will glow once it is usable. You can visit our MC store then." "Thank you." Jericho took the stone. "I must be going now," He said before walking westward and out of sight. The large group watched the receding figure of the bard they owed their lives to. "Now, to stop suppressing my anxiety," Jericho said as he started shaking. "Please be okay." He turned to make sure that nobody could see him before turning towards the forest. {I thought you promised that mortal that you would not go back into the mist. If you go, not only will you face great danger, you may have to fight. I mean really fight.} Glaw said. Jericho sighed. {I know and I lied I planned to go back in anyways.} {What about the need to fight?} Jericho sighed. {People only assume I''m a pacifist because I hate fighting and will go out of my way to avoid it like the plague. It isn''t that I won''t fight it is that I would rather not fight because¡­} Jericho sighed. {Regardless, I am going to make this stupid choice to go back in.} {I understand, I am coming with you then. But, I doubt I can bring you back to your senses if you become overrun with the emotions the mist carries again.} {Thank you, Glaw. My stupid rescue attempt would be much harder without your help.} {You''re welcome. I must thank you too but that is a conversation for another time. Let''s go save your sister.} Jericho was about to walk in when he received a notification he did not expect. [Summoner Dancing Princess has used Summon Elemental and is requesting your aid by name. You are too powerful of an elemental to answer her weak call.] A small gate appeared before Jericho. {A summon gate?} Glaw questioned. {I''m impressed that your sister was able to call for you while you are in your human form. Are you going to go through?} Jericho gave a nod. {How can I leave my sister alone, especially when she wants me by her side? So how do we go through? This looks too small.} {You can assume your elemental form and expend some of your own magical power to widen the gate. If you do that though, you cannot be unsummoned as you are using your own power to go there. It will become a one way trip for us. Another option is to use Guise of Weaker Self or split and send a lesser water elemental through but the amount of power you would be able to show would be severely limited and you will be unsummoned once she ran out of MP.} Jericho assumed his water elemental form and channeled his magic into the portal like Glaw had explained. {One way trip it is. Princess, I''m coming.} He stepped through the large gate back into the mist. 53 Summon Brother! Ken lost count of how many times he dodged out of the way of the giant club, claws and razor sharp wings of the three headed fiend. (Princess, my damage output isn''t doing much to this guy.) Ken growled as his health dropped below 33%. The enemy still had over 75% Health despite the two fighting for over half an hour. [Blood-Frenzy has auto activated. Agility +5%] The girl was busy twirling her staff as she danced. She split her focus on dancing both to cleanse the mist and to give Ken strength. "I''m running low on stamina, Ken." With the agility boost the lynx was able to dodge blows a bit more effectively. (I''m sorry Princess, I don''t think this will work out.) Princess inhaled "Jericho, I wish you were here to help. You would know what to do." She was focused enough to not notice her MP slowly draining. (Yeah, if Jericho was here, he might be able to help us turn the tables.) Ken agreed. As if to answer their wishes Jericho, the water elemental, appeared in their surroundings. He assumed his human form. "It looks like we are just in time to save the day! Come out Lux." He directed with a playful glint in his eyes. (Let''s rescue this damsel in distress!) Lux proclaimed as he exited the pet space. Princess chuckled. (Jericho told me to say that!) He admitted quickly to princess. "You''re such a dork at the weirdest times." She said to her brother with a grin before turning back to Lux. "Nice dramatic entrance though." (Ah! We found Ken again! Don''t worry Big Brother! I will help you defeat that monster and protect your beloved Princess.) (You''re embarrassing me.) Ken growled through his teeth. The demon started laughing arrogantly. "{(Bringer, not only did you advance, you spent all that effort to escape my grasp and yet you bring yourself directly to me. Join me, Life Transformation Bringer, and we can destroy your enemies.)}" Glaw emerged from Jericho and joined the two felines in fighting. {Jericho, Assist or Fight. I think the five of us can handle him either way.} The demon swung his oversized club at Princess. Lux dashed over and pushed her away, taking the blow himself. Seeing this scene, the bard joined in the demon''s maniacal laughter as he pulled out his violin. "Destroy my enemies? I like the sound of that." He put the bow to the strings and annoyingly squawked the instrument, repeatedly. "Let''s start by removing you since you dared to attack my sister." A humid bright fog emitted from Jericho. [Elemental Fury has activated.] [Grudge Mist (Healing) has activated. You have targeted the demon Sklavoi. Allies he has harmed will have their natural health regeneration doubled until deactivated.] [You have learned the ability Cacophony of Annoyance. 0/10 Master: Play an annoying series of noises with an instrument to hurt the ears of the listeners. This ability does not cause actual damage and is usually accidentally learned by novice musicians instead of purposefully created by master musicians. Use of this ability will draw the aggression of all nearby hostile and neutral monsters towards you. Adept Bonus: Weak willed creatures will try and cover their ears to avoid the painful sounds. Expert Bonus: Creatures that hear this ability may become stunned or dazed by this monstrosity. Master Bonus: Target creatures are immune to the effects, but it still sounds grating on the ears.] The bard split himself into two. "Ken, is there an ability I should focus on with music?" The lynx gained a look of inspiration. {Focus on my ability, Bloodline Surge.} The Demon was feeling the pain of the violin three fold because of his multiple heads. The Aggro Rules dominated his focus. He slashed his wing in the one Jericho''s direction. "{(You think you can best me with such petty tricks? If you will not join me willingly I will force you to submit to me!)}" The bard jumped back with another loud, painful shrill from the instrument. The other Jericho pulled out some panpipes and played a heroic melody while focusing on Ken''s Bloodline Surge. [You are under the effects of the Composition of Bloodline Surge. You will do your maximum damage as if you had all your hours available. As you are the only audience member with Bloodline Surge the ability will deal an additional +90% base damage.] Ken waited as he knew the ability would gain a second more powerful boost as soon as Jericho finished the piece. The violin wielding Jericho continued to dodge and take hits for about a minute before perishing. [Half of you has been slain. You are now unable to merge back into a full elemental form. You are in a weakened state until you can restore your other half. You will not take the full death penalties unless all copies of you die.] "So that''s what happens." Jericho muttered as he felt a heavy sense of loss. He finished playing the short piece. Ken received the notification he had been waiting for. [Any attack used with Bloodline Surge will land a successful critical hit upon use. You must use within 3 seconds.] The feline reverted to his human form in the first second. Drew his bow and shouted. "OverDraw, Piercing Shot, Bloodline Surge!" He loosed his arrow on the last second. [You have consumed all available time remaining on your transformation abilities. Reverting to Animal form.] [Bow''s durability has dropped because you used the OverDraw ability.] A huge damage counter appeared above the fiend as piecing shot ignored some of the creature''s defenses. [You have dealt a devastating blow.] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. [Your party has slain the manifestation of the demon Sklavoi. You have gained 900 EXP.] [The Demon Sklavoi will not be able to return to the forest of Pren for another 167 hours and 59 minutes. Creatures corrupted by the mist during this time will shorten this timer.] Ken walked over to the pile of items that dropped when the demon returned to the land he came from. [Sklavoi''s giant club (Tier 3) Level requirement 30¡­ A mace made from an alloy of Copper, Zinc, and Dark Aasterite¡­ Among demonic weapons this one would be more fragile if not for its enormous size and the use of Dark Aasterite as a coating¡­ Due to its enormous size it would be difficult for a human to wield.] [Demon Crystal (Tier 4 crafting material): Use to add the unholy trait to an item. Special abilities may show up on equipment made with this item.] [Demonic wings (Glamour item): Equip this item to add it to the list of equipable appearances. You do not need to have wings to use the appearance. Note that NPCs may treat you with hostility while the glamour is active. These wings do not give the ability to fly as they are intended for appearance rather than practicality.] [7 gold 2 silver.] Ken looked over to Jericho. {These¡­ How should we split or use them?} Jericho scanned the items. "If you don''t mind I''ll take the club none of us can use. I received an item from the satyr quest that allows me to use items like the club to make instruments. As for the rest, I don''t care who gets them." Ken nodded. (Princess?) She came over. "Wow, um I don''t think I will want to craft anything with the unholy trait but the wings look cool. I could use that for some of my dances that require outfits." {Then I''ll take the crafting material. I am sure I can sell it for a decent price.} He said as they split the money. {I''ve wanted to ask since you showed up. But how did you get here, Jericho?} Ken asked Jericho who had a crystal that was absorbing the weapon. "Princess used her Summon Brother Skill," he half-joked. "Now, we should get out of here." Ken nodded. {North is this way.} He started to walk. {We are actually near the center of the mist. Running here at full speed took me quite a while.} "Ken, wait. If we are close to the center of the mist, let''s head west." Jericho replied as he read the system notification. [Transmutation-orb (Instrument) has absorbed a large Tier 3 Item. No instrument has been selected for creation. The orb will not create an instrument until you have selected an instrument to make.] {Why? The forest is dangerous in that direction and there isn''t a good way out.} "Earlier, that fiend sent a huge number of creatures in that direction to chase after me. North is extremely dangerous too." Jericho explained. "I have a quest to go west of here. So with both directions being dangerous¡­" He continued. {I get it.} Ken replied. {Let''s go then.} Princess looked over her battle log. "Summon Brother Skill¡­ Wait, Summon elemental (Jericho the Bard)? I can summon you with that skill?" She asked disbelieving the proof right in front of her. Jericho smiled. "I am an elemental. So yes you can summon me with that skill. However I am too strong of an elemental at this point so I had to use my own power to strengthen your portal to come here. That is also why I am not draining your magic. You can''t unsummon me either." The bard split himself into the two of him he could and pulled out two instruments. "You are probably tired from dancing for so long. Let me take over on mist duty for a minute while you rest." He started playing and singing. The mist around them cleared as they walked further west. Princess took the time to review her new skills she had obtained from the pipe fox and also the information regarding her new soul bound companion. [Skill line Tier 2 Illusion +5 Will] [Multi-sensory Illusion Beginner 0/10: Choose two senses; one must be sight. Create an illusion within 3 meters of you. Viewers of the illusion will see and ____ the illusion. Illusions rely on the power of belief to be powerful. Knowing something is an illusion doesn''t change the fact that they will still experience it.] [Targeted Illusion Adept 0/10: Target creature falls under the effects of an illusion you create. Only the target sees what you want them to see. A creature with a strong enough perception or will power will be able to see through the illusion. Adept bonus: Choose an additional sense other than smell. Target will also, feel, taste, or hear the illusion depending on your choice.] "This¡­" She muttered before trying it out. She focused on the first skill to create an illusory double of herself. She had the two of her taking different actions. "This will work great! If I can get this skill stronger, I will be able to use the illusions to create the appearance of a lot of dancers even when it is only me." [Soul bound creature (Unnamed Baby Pipe Fox *Male*). It must grow more before becoming a Tier 1 creature. Currently it is in a state of unending sleep. It currently cannot wake. A soul bound creature cannot truly die unless its bonded companion dies. You currently have quests regarding this creature. Escape the mist. Wake the Baby. See the quest entries for details.] "Okay Princess, time to swap me out again. I need to recharge my magic and stamina." Jericho called out breaking her from her thoughts. She danced once more. Jericho moved closer to Glaw. {So, can you explain this half death thing?} Glaw nodded. {You need to restore yourself by returning to a water source in an area not filled with corruption. We may be able to find a lake or a river to do so at. Until then you are stuck in that weakened state of yours. The other way to become whole again is to die but that is usually more painful than not. This is actually one of the many reasons we stay near a body of water. This half death state can be quite dangerous.} Jericho gave a light nod. {So, find a river, lake, or other body of water and do what exactly?} {Submerge yourself in it for a long time by your mortal''s standards. Of course most bodies of water will only be able to restore a lesser elemental amount of your power so you may need to find two water sources to regain your full power.} {Sounds simple enough when we can find one,} Jericho replied. {Simple, time consuming, and best to do it as quickly as possible,} Glaw explained. {If you could return to our lake it would be faster. When bodies of water have hearts we elementals heal faster in them.} Jericho nodded again. {Thank you again for teaching me.} {Of course. Thank you for making the boss angry so we could focus on damaging it. The support was quite useful. However please exercise more caution in the future. Death isn''t something fun even for immortal creatures like us.} Lux assumed his human form and walked over to the bard. "So, how long are you going to hold onto the pet contract?" The minstrel smiled. "I can let it go whenever you want. But originally you wanted to wait until we were both out of the mist and with Ken." "Release me now then, please." Lux replied. Jericho focused on releasing the pet contract with Lux. [You have freed your Pet Lux.] "Thanks a bunch!" Lux called out before reverting to his normal self and going over to bug Ken. Jericho pulled out his instruments once more as his resources were recharged. "Ready to rest some more?" The two performers switched off as they ventured westward. 54 Army of Animals Moira, Kenneth, and Jericho sat at a table in Capriotii''s Sandwich Shop. A figure watched silently from the corner as they slowly ate their food. "Thanks Jericho for treating us to lunch." Ken sighed. "I know you guys haven''t eaten out much because of finances. So it means a lot." Jericho smiled. "I earned some money from selling music recently and I have been craving a chicken cheesestake for years. Besides, I think all three of us needed a break after all that walking, dancing, and playing. I for one am going to relax and not play the game until after dinner. I might even wait until later than that." Kenneth sighed. "It is a shame Rita''s closes during the fall and winter. An Italian Ice sounds amazing right now. When spring comes I should take you two there. You will love it." He explained before taking a bite of his Capastami sandwich. Moira chuckled and she dipped her spoon back into her large bowl of chicken noodle soup. "Alright, I look forward to it. Your treat right?" "If it is only the two of us? Yes. If it is the three of us? Sure." Ken replied with a light smile. "Smooth," Jericho quietly smirked at the kid. Moira smiled and turned to face her brother. "You''re happy." Jericho gave a short nod. "Yeah." The girl sighed. "I mean, YOU are happy." The musician flinched as he realized what she meant. Ken looked confused. "What are you talking about Moira? What is the difference between your two statements. Jericho took a bite of his sandwich. Moira sighed. "Brother, is it really such a bad thing for all of you to be happy? Even for a short time?" The minstrel lowered his sandwich. "It is bad if the other me is happy. It is probably happy because I proved to myself that when it comes to you, my dear little sister, I have the courage to act." The girl smiled. "Well, I''m glad that part of you is happy." The young man looked enlightened. "Dark Jericho is happy too? I thought Dark Jericho was just all the unpleasant feelings you have been hiding." Jericho shook his head. "So, she told you. You know it isn''t nice to call people''s other halves dark." He half teased. "Instead of calling my other half dark, I would explain it as the side of me others find very unpleasant." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The person eating in the corner stood up and left. *** Earlier in game... (Why was I acting weird before? Eh? There are friendly bi-pedal creatures over there and the forest looks normal around them.) A random fox said as it ventured closer to the party. Ken got in a defensive stance as the creature approached. (Wow! How is the forest normal around you?) The fox inquired as it looked around curiously. Ken relaxed a bit. (You aren''t going to attack us?) The fox tilted its head. (Attack you? No, you are friendly creatures. Now are you going to answer my question, friend?) Princess smiled as she continued to dance forward. Lux pounced forward happily. (We defeated a demon that was affecting you and the mist! But the demon will come back in about seven days¡­ We are leaving the forest before it comes back.) (Oh! Then thank you!) The fox cried out happily. (I''m going to tell all my friends!). A piercing cry echoed through the surroundings. (HEY EVERYONE! I MET THE CREATURES WHO HELPED US NOT ACT CRAZY ANYMORE! LET''S LEAVE THE MIST WITH THEM BEFORE THE BAD THING COMES BACK!) Various cries were heard in return as things stampeded towards them. [You have received a new quest. Escort the animals, who want to leave, out of the forest. Reward: The animals will be happier. 500 Exp. 1 Special gift each.] The horde of animals willingly followed the group west. {Such an easy quest.} Ken muttered as he watched the in game clock. {5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.} [The timers for your Blood Transformation skills have reset.] Ken assumed his human form and stretched. "Finally! Hey Jericho, how long did it take you and the satyrs to leave the mist after I ran off to rescue Princess?" "I am not sure of the exacts but Princess summoned me here not too long after we escaped. We are moving much faster now though and I saw the mist visibly shrink in size. I am fairly confident her staff is doing something to it." They journeyed in relative silence. The higher level animals they came across were strangely amiable and joined them as they continued to walk out. "Hey Lux, why are all these animals being so friendly?" Ken asked. Lux looked up past the brim of his hat. (Because you, Jericho, and Princess all have the Animal Friend title; now that these friendly guys aren''t being influenced by the demon we took out, they were able to see your title again. If you didn''t have that title most of them would have ignored you and some of them would have attacked you. But you shouldn''t worry about that big brother since I would be here to save you again if they did!) Lux looked pleased. He transformed into his human appearance and spoke people speak in order to not upset any of the animals around them. "Oh, and I got some new hats! The Deer hat lets me run faster and the bear hat makes me stronger and healthier. I''ll show you later. You should thank Jericho for giving me the opportunity to use the hat''s power on the things the satyrs and your other friends fought." He reverted back to his feline form. (I''m getting stronger. Maybe next time we tussle I will win!) Ken smirked. (Confident, aren''t we?) Time passed and the two performers swapped roles once again. "Is it just me or is the mist getting thinner?" Princess inquired as a patch of moonlight poked through the trees. Ken nodded. "I think you are right. We must be close." They continued to walk and the number of trees thinned. The terrain started having more ups and downs. Princess received multiple notifications. [You have left The Mist of Pren. You have completed the quests Escort the animals and Leave the Forest.] [The baby pipe fox is now safe from the demon. You may give him a name.] [You have gained 500 Exp for escorting the animals out of the forest. You have been given the Necklace of the Fox (LV15): While worn: +5 Agility +5 Wisdom.] Jericho received only one notification. [You have escorted the animals out of the forest. You have gained 500Exp. You have been given a small hollowed out horn. You have gained 100 MExp.] Princess smiled. "I''ll name him Forryn" [Pipe fox successfully named Forryn. You have 1 quest related to Forryn.] "Finally," Jericho sighed. He leaned against a nearby tree and converted the MExp into MC again. "I know this game provides us with the sleep we need but after that a real nap sounds nice." [You now have a total of 350 MC] Ken looked up. "Hey, what is that over there?" He pointed to a small hut. Jericho forced himself to stand back up and walk over. "It looks like somebody''s home." "It is!" A crackly voice sounded loudly behind him. Jericho jumped back and turned around. "You startled me," he said to the old stereotypical witch. "Hehehe. No need to worry I won''t harm you. In fact, I must give you thanks for saving my work. The mist almost overran my little hut here but your efforts kept drawing it back." Jericho smiled at the sweet old lady. "I''m glad we were able to be helpful." The witch cackled some more. "You aren''t like those other fellows. Many who have seen me have either run away or tried to kill me because I''m¡­" She went silent. Princess walked over and gave the old witch a hug. "It can be hard when people are mean." The witch caressed princess'' hands. "Such sweet children. Come inside, it must be fate we have met." As the group was about to walk inside the witch turned to Ken and Lux. "Not you two. You two animals can stay out with the rest of the beasts." "But." "If you don''t stay out I will turn you into a house cat," the witch threatened. Ken and Lux backed off. "Lame." Princess gave Ken an awkward smile. "It is almost 7 AM. We will probably be logging off soon anyways." "Alright, keep me posted. We''ll wait outside for now," Ken replied. The performers entered the witch''s hut. [You have been invited into the witch''s hut as a guest. You can use the teleport feature from any town to come to this point.] "That''s handy," Jericho said after reading the notification. The witch smiled and sat down. She motioned for them to sit as well. "Don''t worry about your feline friends; I wouldn''t really turn them into house cats unless they started making a mess of my place." Princess exhaled. "That is a relief." "It is very rare for humans and elves to enter the mountains from the forest. It is normally dangerous to do so, but it seems the animals like you." The two performers nodded. "I''m Jericho, this is Princess, and those two you told to stay outside are Ken and Lux. What is your name?" "They call me Cannon. So why have you come to the Clogwyni mountains?" the witch asked. Jericho looked at the witch. "I was told by the wood elementals in the forest to come here and meet the Earth elementals." "I see, then you are far too weak to be here. Not only do I get the feeling that a part of you is missing, the monsters that guard the area the earth elementals are around level 20. At a minimum it would be best for you to be at your original strength." She pulled open a small cabinet with a crystal shard in it. "Call your two animal friends inside. I will send you back to a safe place. Remember to return when you are stronger. Level 20 or 25 would be the most productive. I have a request but I shan''t give it to you now." Princess called Lux and Ken inside and confirmed to them that they would not be turned into house cats. As the two felines walked in, Jericho turned back to the witch. "It has been a pleasure to meet you, Cannon." "Likewise; I will see you again," the witch cackled. She channeled magic into the crystal and the party vanished from the hut. Jericho opened his eyes after they finished their blinding teleportation. "Trillith?" He inquired as he scanned the familiar surroundings. {Indeed. This is that town near our home. You should be able to restore yourself better by returning to the heart of the lake.} Jericho chuckled. "Then for nostalgia''s sake, let''s have a performance at the well before we log off." *** "Lednar, I have some work to do with the satyrs. Go have fun with your new friends," Harr told the boy. The young man gave a nod and walked back over to Purai and Lillith. "So, what are the two of you going to do?" Purai smiled. "I''m going to go find an apothecary in a new city or town to further my skills. I have a lot to learn but I also have learned a lot." Lillith smiled as well. "I''m going to go with and learn how to play some really relaxing melodies on my flute. Jericho gave me some sheet music to help me practice. So I am going to travel with Purai while I improve my skills." "Would you two like an escort to the nearby city of Durango? Harr back there has some business with the satyrs and that leaves me free for now," Lednar explained. "That would be nice." Purai smiled at the young gentleman who looked just a couple of years younger than her. "Then let''s go!" 55 The End of the Prelude Cannon started humming as she put the crystal away. She sat down on her chair now that she was alone once more. "Oh, yes. I look forward to making good use of you, Jericho." The old witch''s wrinkles faded until a woman in her mid-thirties remained. The ground rumbled and a shadow appeared near the doorway. "I''ve sent them away. You can go back to what you were doing without fear of getting seen, Antlion," she said aloud. The shadow skittered away. Cannon logged out of the game and emerged from the gaming machine. "Truly this game''s character options are only as limited as you believe them to be." A man with a type of tablet came forward. "Cannon, I see you logged off. Then was project F a success?" The woman chuckled. "Yes it was, well mostly. I met some interesting people at my hut just now. I suspect they have removed the source and slowed project F''s future progression, but that isn''t a problem. We still obtained the super condensed Mana crystal Antlion needed for one of his other experiments." "Wait, your hut wasn''t consumed by the mist? And what do you mean, met? Normally people are instantly hostile towards you." "I meant exactly what I said. There were four players that exited the mist; a man who gave off the feeling of being incomplete, a young girl who is a genuine sweetheart, and a pair of twins that can turn into animals. They were the ones who saved my hut. It seems we aren''t the only ones to discover the secrets of monstrous characters. I look forward to playing with them in the future." The man nodded. "So, how goes Antlion''s experiments?" Cannon laughed. "You worry too much, little brother, Antlion and I confirmed our suspicions. The game will deem losing your humanity as making your character unplayable unless certain conditions exist. First, if the person has certain types of abilities, they will always be considered playable unless they, the player, refuses to accept it as playable. Second, certain items will prevent a character reset. Third, if you view your character as playable regardless of losing your humanity the game will acknowledge that and not override your character. This third option is the easiest to achieve as all it requires is for the player to view something as playable. It is entirely possible to play this game as the raid boss everyone wants to defeat. The game company really did live up to their name. However, death as a monster is different than death as one of the ''playable'' races." "Excellent, so my goal is completely doable then?" The woman gave a nod. "That is excellent news. I have not had much contact with Antlion for the last while. Since Project Forest went so well, how are projects B, D, and G progressing?" "I met with him just before the visitors. So far, only Project Grotesque has shown some minor issues but otherwise everything is playing out smoothly. But I do plan to make use of the visitors that I met when they chose to return. We may even be able to make them our allies in the future." "Oh? You believe they are that useful?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com ;for visiting. "I do, and if I can use them, they won''t be in the way to spoil our plans." The man grinned. "Who cares if our plans get spoiled? We enjoyed making and using them. Playing the villain in games is more fun than playing the hero anyways." Cannon shook her head. "You know that playing as a monstrous existence does not make us innately villains or evil. Humans often use that title for anything that they deem harmful to themselves. Such arrogance; can''t they see that they do the same or worse to other races? How come they are not called evil?" "You have a point. Now will you stop preaching to the choir? You don''t need to tell me your tirade for the 10th time in the last two weeks." *** After spending a relaxing afternoon and evening in real life dancing, playing music and laughing, the three decided to log back on Saturday night. Jericho looked around the well where they were at. "Princess, I should go recover the parts of me that were slain by the demon. In order to do that, I need to head back to the water elementals in the lake." Princess smiled. "Wait for me a bit. I want to learn the Speak with Spirits skill officially before we go." She ran off towards the mage''s library. Ken stretched. "Well, that was more of an adventure then I was expecting. I think I am going to back to doing my own thing for a while. I''ll level up faster that way. Being around you is great for raising my skills though." Jericho gave a nod to the pre-teen. "Are you going to wait till Princess gets back before we part ways?" The youth nodded. "Yeah, but I just wanted to thank you. Before we hung out, I was always jealous of you. She would talk about you non-stop. I know it was wrong of me to feel like that. You helped me get through those embarrassing times in front of her and also helped me become even cooler. At school she talks about how awesome I am now too. That wouldn''t have been possible without your help." Jericho chuckled. "It is only natural to feel jealous of people who get the attention of others that you want yourself. But, unlike most people you were open minded enough to see past your surface feelings and grow up quite a bit." Ken gave Jericho a playful glare. "You and your Zen wisdom¡­" Princess returned. "I''m back! Let''s head to the lake!" "Wait Princess," he called out. "What is it?" "Lux and I are going to head off and adventure elsewhere. When we are at school Monday you can tell Alex it is his turn." Ken said. The girl nodded. "Alright, but you are still coming over to dance with me later, right?" "Of course!" The young man genuinely replied. "I will be over frequently. Dancing with you is a lot of fun." She nodded. "Then I''ll see you at school on Monday." The kid and his lynx left. Jericho, Princess, and Glaw walked towards the lake where their adventure took root. When they arrived, Jericho reverted to his weakened elemental form. {I''m going to the center of the lake, I''ll let you know how long this will take.} "Alright; I''ll use this time to dance with the elementals here. It has been a while." She replied. Jericho and Glawio submerged themselves and returned to the nearby compass symbol on the lake floor. [You have returned to the Heart of the Lake. Current time till you are able to be restored to your former strength: 8 Hours (four for each lesser elemental amount of strength). If you were not at the heart of the lake, the time to restore yourself would take twice as long. You must remain in the lake during this time. Time logged off does not count towards this timer.] {Great, this will be a bit boring then.} Jericho said as he sent the message to Princess. [A full 8 hours in-game, submerged in the water. I hope you don''t get too bored up there without me.] [Alright. Good luck not being bored down their either.] She replied. Llyn, who appeared to have shrunk a size floated over. {Welcome back, Jericho.} {Thank you, Llyn. Why have you become smaller?} {After you and Glaw left, humans came back and defeated me. I lost a good fraction of my strength. Oh right, you probably don''t know since you have never experienced death as an elemental and we never explained it clearly before. We drop a tier in our monster rank when we are slain. All of our elemental skills drop to the next lower tier by 10/10. We don''t lose our other skills or skills that have multiple skill lines so your compositions are safe. As you are a human and an elemental I am unsure of how death would affect you. But it may affect you differently based on which form you died in.} Llyn explained. Jericho gave a nod. {Hmm¡­ That is something I will need to keep in mind then. So Llyn, I have gathered quite a bit of MC and Glaw said there was an MC store here?} {There is. Just put your hand onto the center of the compass and you will be shown what you can buy. Please understand that here at our lake the options are limited. Elementals living in larger lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans will have more options or different options. For example there is an uncommon skill called Gravity''s Blessing that can only be obtained by the ocean and sea.} {I understand.} Jericho moved to the center of the symbol and touched it. [You have connected to the Heart of the Lake. Heart of the Lake has been recorded as a valid respawn point for your water elemental form.] [You currently possess 350 MC.] A menu of many items appeared before him. [Condensed water elemental skill proficiency: (Select skill, spend MC equal to the amount of progress you wish to obtain) Price: Varies. Available amounts: varies.] [Tablet of condensed fresh water: 50MC. This item, when absorbed by an injured water elemental, will restore them back to full health and grant them a short burst of power. This item does not restore lost power from partial death. This item has many uses for mortals that craft things.] [Gemini Lily (Only 5 in stock): 250 MC Each. Strengthen and stabilize the user''s soul(s) or elemental core(s). Water elementals often use these when their elemental core becomes destabilized and there is a risk of true death. This item can be a real life saver.] [Rare water elemental skill book: Energy Tide. 1000 MC. Use to learn. (Known). Can only be used by a Tier 3 water elemental or higher.] [Opalite: (Price varies by quality) Tier 1: 25MC. Tier 2: 75MC. Tier 3: 225 MC. This stone appears beautiful and tranquil. It has many uses mortals can take advantage of. For water elementals it will shorten the necessary time to recover from partial death. It also improves their finite control over water. Only one stone can be stored at a time in an elemental''s core.] {Wow, Glaw. You gave me a good skill worth 1000 MC?} {Yes, but that is only because your violin skill was far more valuable. If I were to die, I wouldn''t lose any skill proficiency since it is not an elemental skill.} Jericho looked over the prices once again. {And you were right, 20MC doesn''t get you anything. But looking over this list, the best items are still out of my price range. At least in the immediate future, it looks like Opalite is probably one of my better choices.} Glaw gave a nod. {Opalite is a good choice. The weakest one won''t be very useful. The middle one would be good because you can still use it if you ever regress back to a small elemental. The most expensive one would show the strongest results but if you were to regress, you wouldn''t be able to use its power.} {You are expecting me to regress?} Jericho inquired. {Based on my observations, for someone who dislikes violence, you often find yourself in dangerous situations. So, yes I expect you will end up regressing at some point.} Glaw replied with brutal honesty. Jericho shook his head. {I guess that is fair. So what would you suggest?} {Personally, I would spend a little now and save the rest of your MC until you can get a significant pool of MC. Once you can get a lot of MC then I would spend it on things you might need or want.} The watery bard gave a nod. {Alright then. Spend MC on a Tier 2 Opalite} He said. [You now have 275 MC. You have acquired Tier 2 Opalite. Equip?] {Equip.} [Your timer has further reduced. Normally the Tier 2 Opalite would reduce the 8 hour timer to an 6 hour timer. As you are in the Heart of the Lake Your 4 hour timer is reduced to 3 hours per lesser elemental piece needing to be healed.] [Command water has received a passive bonus. Effects will be more visible while in use.] {Well, six hours down here will be a lot less boring than eight.} Jericho replied. Llyn floated over. {Jericho, there is one other feature of the MC stores has not been explained to you. You can give things to the store in exchange for MC. I would not recommend the current you taking advantage of this but in the future, it may be useful to you; especially since you can transfer skill proficiency into the MC store for other elementals to learn.} Jericho practiced some of his elemental skills while under water and continued to chat with his watery friends. *** Princess, danced with the lesser elementals and enjoyed conversing with them thanks to her new skills. She attempted to summon Narsisse the wood elemental. {Princess! You called?} The little daffodil asked as it looked around the surroundings. {Hi cousins!} The flower waved to the nearby lesser water elementals. {Water you up to?} The water elementals slid over. {We are dancing. Would you like to join us?} Narsisse rustled with excitement. {You guys are funny!} Princess chuckled. {Narsisse, how are you and the other wood elementals doing?} She inquired. {We are doing just peachy. Things like that mist that are harmful to you mortals are food for us. But your mortal concern for our well being is nice.} Princess smiled. {That''s good.} {Well, your magic is running low so I should uproot myself and leaf before you wither. Seed you later!} Narzisse called out before vanishing. {Bye!} Princess replied to the disappearing elemental. Some of the lesser water elementals whispered. {Finally¡­ Their need to make puns is annoying. And we didn''t intend things to be a pun when inviting them to dance either.} Six hours passed. Jericho and Glaw emerged from the lake. "You are done already? I thought you said it would take eight hours." Princess inquired. Jericho reverted to his human form. "It would have but I obtained an item that sped up the process. I was so focused I forgot to tell you." The girl smiled. "Well, I don''t know where we should go from here. But do you want to visit the well again to perform?" Jericho shook his head. "Honestly I am still mentally exhausted from the mist. I think I want actual sleep rather than the rest the game provides our bodies." Princess gave a nod. "Alright." Jericho logged off and laid down on his bed. He quickly fell asleep. *** Rain fell as Jericho chased after his parents. Two searing lights flashed. "No!" Jericho cried out as the two people crumpled to the ground. "Jericho, take care of your sister," his mother''s voice weakly said. "¡­deserve to be happy." *** The sound of glass shattering woke the man. He jolted from his bed and entered his living room. A rock wrapped in paper and the fragments of his shattered front room window rested on the laminate floor. Jericho carefully removed the paper, read and slumped lifelessly to the floor. "No, this is exactly why..." The paper shook in his trembling hands. "Who gave you the right to be happy again you fiend in human flesh? You failed to heed my warnings. The Symphony of Jericho Maestro''s Lament shall be played again. Last time it was those who loved you. This time; watch as you are helpless to do anything. The 1st Movement has already begun." -The Conductor- *** *End of the Prelude* *Coming up next: The 1st Movement* (Teaser 1) Jericho closed his eyes plucked and strummed the strings of his electric guitar. His voice roared in agony as he clenched his vocal chords. ? Hello Unknown; your visits are not acceptable. Why have you come so unexpectedly? I did not invite you to the table! What do you expect me to see? You have made my heart unstable. Why must you take these things from me? ? (Teaser 2) Jericho quivered in anger as he stared at the silhouette of a man on the other side of the video call. "*To hear from you after all of these years...*" An aged gruff yet refined voice said in an unfamiliar tongue. "*I need your help,*" Jericho replied with an attempt to remain calm. The deep heavy voice spoke. "*You have needed my help for years. What''s changed?*" The bard clenched his fist as he struggled to answer. "*The Conductor; he''s back.*" "*Oh? The one who convinced you hate yourself... and me?*" Jericho nodded slowly. "*Still can''t accept the other half of you? Do you think you are beneath others because of it?*" Jericho glared. "*How can I accept it, when the thing I need your help with...?*" "*You are just like The Conductor. You are still blaming things that should not be blamed, Jericho.*" 56 It only takes a few Moira was furious. Someone, more accurately, many people dared to bring harm to her brother. She glanced at the myriad of websites out there taking copies of Jericho for their own sites. "It seems these people have no idea how hard it is to live as an author." "It seems we must accelerate your original plan, Eranoth," Jericho sighed. Eranoth scrunched his brows in anxiety. "But everyone will hate that. I guess I was too hopeful. I hoped that people would be honest. I hoped that things could go better. I wanted to see everyone including myself find enjoyment and happiness. It really does only take a few problematic humans to ruin everything." Jericho nodded. "True, but what is more important? Writing until you are a shriveled husk and have to stop writing because you couldn''t afford your electricity or internet bills, or making everyone upset right now so that you can write, and write properly moving forward, so you can afford these things. We all know that because of your horrible reactions to other people''s colognes, perfumes, scented items, vape, smoke and other things, that you can''t hold a normal job. Your health has already limited your options." Moira nodded. "Right! You are writing to get published officially because it is one of your only hopes left. With all these people out there wanting to make you work your butt off for nothing, you are better off moving forward with your plan now rather than later. The most important thing is that the people who truly care about your work will gladly follow. Don''t lump them into the ''they'' that you fear. The ''they'' is the minority of them, even if they are loud." Eranoth sighed in defeat as he slumped onto Jericho''s piano bench. "Logically I get it. Emotionally this is something I don''t want to do. I really like interacting with these really fun people. I know they like my story as well. Alexandra''s and ExtraWhiteRice''s funny comments, TJinx''s and Le_Berino''s constant support, YoungJustice''s ''defend the author'' and everyone else''s fun interactions and support." Moira flicked the author''s forehead. "It''s not like you are dropping the story. The fans that care, will follow you. They will enjoy all the extra hard work you have put in to improving things. Think about it, all they really want is for our story to continue. You are still doing that. In fact, you are doing even more than just continuing the story." Jericho nodded. "She''s right, and on top of that you are being extremely kind and informing them of the choice you have made after days of self debate. You aren''t reacting to the situation, you are acting in your best interest and their best interest. Besides, this plan has been there for a long time, you are just hastening it." Jericho smiled. "When do things ever go according to plan? Besides, if you keep speaking Eranothian, you will keep confusing people." A knock was heard at the door. "They are here." Moira opened it. "Everyone, You''re here! Come in, come in! Eranoth''s got some really exciting news that will make you happy!" Eranoth shook his head in disbelief, "I really don''t think my choice will make people happy," he muttered to himself. A horde of over 500 people crowded into the living room killing off any breathing room. "What is this news you have to tell us?" Eranoth clenched his fist as he struggled to find the words. "I''m leaving the internet writing scene." The group was in uproar and some people left before hearing the rest of what the author was trying to say. "I mentioned before that I am going the publishing route. As I have been editing volume 1, I realized that my voice, especially when I can get it edited, doesn''t really match the air of internet writing. So, coming up, you will see a significantly improved version of my work in physical book and e-book format. When I can get things out, the first place you will be able to find it at is \u003cB\u003ebarnesandnoble.com\u003c/B\u003e." "Bah, paperback versions," a random person said as they walked out the door. Eranoth took a deep breath. "I was offered the webnovel contract, but found that the conditions for them to pay me anything were too harsh for me. For the sake of my work, I could not accept their conditions and feel happy about it." Moira smiled. "Jericho and I are glad you chose to reject it for our sake and the sake of the royal bardians, but if you keep sacrificing like this, eventually you won''t have the capability to continue." Another person spat. "So your plan is to drop it? How dare you! We all told you not to drop it!" Eranoth flinched as he held his own tears. "Changing mediums," he muttered. "All I''m doing is changing mediums." Jericho sighed. "Everyone, this isn''t easy for Eranoth to do or say." He turned to the author. "Eranoth, just your self-editing alone has made the future version of our story into something far more fulfilling and significantly less boring. You have already made thousands of changes. You have made many things clearer, you have simplified the difficult to understand complexities of game mechanics, and you have added more depth to the story. I''m curious to see what will happen once your editor April gets her hands on it. If you alone can make that much of a leap in progress, I''m looking forward to when she tears things to shreds and can help you see where things need more work." Another person spoke up. "You are doing all this extra work, Why? Your story is great where it is." Eranoth turned away took a breath and looked out the cold snowy window. "This is the only Win-Win I could find after a long time of searching. Publishing official versions of my works seems to be the best way forward. Jericho and Moira deserve this editing. They are worth more to me, than first draft vomit onto the page. You all can see and understand far more and my story will progress far better if I put in this extra work. I can potentially earn a piddly income in order to keep writing, and do things right by everyone." "What was that about?" another random person asked. Eranoth sighed and looked down, trying not to break down in tears. "Sorry, I got on my soap box. But you never know the life an author is facing. Why are they writing? I just wish that some people would realize how much pain some of us are actually in. I''m not the only one to face this. I''m not the only author or artist out there who cannot hold a normal job. I didn''t write this so you would pity me. In fact, I hate people''s pity. But I want you to understand that I am doing this 51% for selfish reasons. I am a selfish person." Moira smiled at Eranoth''s courage to speak about the reality of his own life. "How is that selfish?" she asked. Eranoth shook his head. "I don''t know, but I do know that it is what most people would call it. This is hard for me. I wanted to keep interacting with you all. I really had hoped that online writing could be the answer. But things rarely go how we want them. So, I will say once more for good measure. I, J Eranoth, author of Jericho the Bard, am changing mediums officially. Again, when I am able to get it out there, the first place to look for it will be at barnesandnoble.com. I chose them as the first of many places to put my book for sale because they can reach most of you. If you are in an area that cannot access barnesandnoble.com, let me know so I can find a way to make it accessible to you. Stay with me, and I will let you know when the official published part 1 is out. Visit my Ko-Fi.com/Eranoth and I will keep people updated as to my progress towards things moving forward and also some fun flavor from time to time." Eranoth was unable to hold back his own tears. "I will miss interacting with you guys. I hope, I dream, and I ask, will you follow me as I move forward in a direction that is different from other people who''s works you have read?" Jericho grabbed Eranoth''s shoulder. The author flinched and tensed. "Relax, most of them are still here. Most of them support your choice. I can tell. These are your true fans, their my true fans. These people don''t care that you are changing mediums. In fact, these people are proud that you care enough to make this hard choice. They understand that you are not dropping your work. They understand that you are seeking something far better." The author sighed and relaxed a little. "At least, I feel at peace with my choice. Well, everyone, thank again for coming. I''m sorry things had to play out this way. I, J Eranoth, will keep writing. I will keep improving and I will see you all again!" Eranoth stood and walked resolutely towards the door, trying to hide his own tears. He closed the door behind him as he walked out into the snowstorm. The people still in the house with Jericho and Moira were silent. Moira smiled at the crowd. "Shall we perform one last time for you?" Jericho sat as his piano. His fingers played the keys. His voice called out, singing about a hopeful and brighter future. ? J Eranoth 57 Thank you for your patience! Hey everyone! J Eranoth here! First and foremost, thank you all for your patience. While things are not progressing nearly as fast as everyone wants, I wanted to assure you that I am still working on it. The editing and revising process is far more intensive than people expect. I am fixing plot issues that I didn''t know existed until after my editor pointed it out. 1 small fix then turns into 500... So, July is when I will next be meeting with my offical editor. (for the 3rd time) I have to finish the revision I am on before I meet up with her. I know I love the new version of Jericho more than the old one so I am confident most of you will too. Something to look forward to, the plot isn''t trying to go in 20 directions at once anymore. Again, thank you all for your patience and understanding so far and your continued patience. I will let you all know when the story goes offical. But it will still be a bit. I provide more frequent updates on my ko-fi page though I am bad at updating that too. And a little side thing, I know everyone is panicking about the pandemic thing, and as someone at "high risk" I should be more concerned... But because of my health I have been forced to social distance for years, so this is nothing new to me. Well, except for the excess of high anxiety people around me adding to mental stress... Regardless of how you chose to handle life, know that the virus hasn''t really changed anything for me and my writing. And a little bit of "Zen wisdom" for you. Opposites are neither a thing nor equal. Cold is mearly "less heat particles then comfortable" but there is still heat in cold. Darkness is less light partials than our eyes can see. It only takes 1 light partical to ruin pure darkness and 1 heat partial to break from absolute 0. But what about chaos? to have true chaos, you must have at least 1 law... The law stating laws don''t exist... I will stop before I decend into out-sanity. Enjoy the other books you are reading. Hopefully I will talk to you all again soon! J Eranoth.