“I’ve never seen a boar knock a sword out of a player's hand before. Perhaps this boar is secretly much more powerful than the others?” Zekor asked, trying to keep the broadcast interesting as Winter got tossed around by the level 1 beast.

“No, no... it’s just a typical boar.” Samathara sighed.

“Based on the expressions Winter is making, many viewers have pointed out that it’s likely he’s set his pain level to 10. Still, it doesn’t explain his horrible swordsmanship.”

“My 5 year old sister was able to stab boars on her first day, honestly this is just pathetic. Pain level 10 or not.”

“Either way, it looks like he’s getting a lot of shield mastery experience. Uh oh, one more blow and he’ll be done for again!” Zekor shouted out.

Eli watched his avatar on the television charge at the boar once more, get hind kicked across the forest into a tree, and die.

“Aww dang. Poor guy, he just can’t seem to take out that boar. It’s a shame his friend isn’t still around to help him.”

“I wonder if he’s going to give up.”

“I hope so.” Samathara groaned.

“It looks like we’ll be taking another break, tune in while we join Black Phoenix’s grind team in the Darklight Caverns, and we’ll be back with more on Winter’s great boar duel.” Zekor tried his best to hype the situation before it switched back to commercials.

“Seriously, they’re still going to keep going?” Eli shook his head in disbelief. An hour went by, he logged in, swore vengeance on the boar, went back to the forest, and repeated the process, dying a 3rd time.

“Should I just kill the boar for him? I honestly feel bad at this point.” Samathara commented as he went back to watch his third death, on the TV he was able to catch his last moments thanks to the delay.

“No way, this is no longer a simple fight with a boar. This is a battle with a man’s pride on the line. Even after losing twice, Winter doesn’t give up. He may completely suck at this game compared to his father, but you have to admire his spirit. Come on Winter, we’re rooting for you!” Zekor cheered in a whisper.

“The audience seems to agree.” Samathara pulled up a window showing the SimBox chat that went along with their livestream. It was filled with encouraging messages along the lines of ‘You can do it Winter!’ ‘Don’t give up!’ ‘Show that boar who’s boss!’.

“It’s getting down to the wire now, he’s getting low on health. All he needs to do is land 4 good hits with his sword and that boar is done for!” Zekor cheered.

“At a certain point, you have to wonder, why isn’t he healing himself or casting smite?”

“Maybe he doesn’t know how to use his spells. Uh oh, here it comes!” Zekor cringed his eyes shut as Winter went flying up into a tree from a hind kick, dying again. “Damn it. I was really hoping for him that time.”

“I think we need to face the facts. This guy is hopeless.” Samathara said.

“No way. With his fighting spirit, I’m sure he’ll come out on top.” Zekor clenched his fists. “Place your votes in the chat now for round 4, who will win? Winter the Brave? Or the Demon Boar! We’ll find out in 1 hour.” It cut to commercials again.

“Still not?” Eli commented. The process repeated several more times. After his 5th death, the sun rose in the Shattered World and the streets of Orm were lined with spectators cheering him on, players were offering him special equipment to help him kill the boar, such as copper swords with beast slaying enchantments. Even Ruffily gave him her newest high quality shield for free after admitting she was watching the broadcasts. It was getting way out of hand, he had hoped they would leave him alone after seeing him die so often, but it was having the opposite effect.

After his 6th death his mom had gone to sleep, and at around the 7th death the people cheering him on started mocking him and telling him to give up. On the 8th death, the broadcasters hosted an interview with a staff member of The Shattered World Online discussing whether or not boars were too dangerous as beginner monsters. The number of spectators died down and the enthusiasm around the event was dispersing. It looked like the broadcasters and viewers were finally getting tired of watching him die pathetically to a level 1 boar. On the 9th death, there was no broadcast and it was getting into the AM, but Eli had figured he had a lot more dying to do to prove his theory was right or wrong.

Knowing the next days of class would just be self study, he was able to talk his mother into letting him skip them. He continued up through the next day as well. death, after death, after death. At the 25th death he started to seriously doubt his theory, but he wasn’t one to give up part way through. The broadcasters had popped in again from time to time, once reporting that an unaware player had killed the boar that he’d been fighting - they made a show out of it but Eli just found another one.

He used his time in between the lockouts to try and get some shut eye, and got worried calls from Derrick but Eli assured him he knew what he was doing. Derrick doubted him but let him be and kept playing in his own way, he seemed to think that Eli was making a joke out of the game and sounded a bit disappointed the longer it dragged on.

The interviewers on the broadcasts made several attempts to reach out to his father for a word, or perhaps have Makaroth come and help out his son for a big broadcasting event, but his father was busy live streaming his own dungeon clearing which had tens of thousands of viewers on its own. Eli figured there was no way that by now his father hadn’t heard about what was going on though. He couldn’t help but grin, thinking how David would have to explain that he’d abandoned his son and wife for the game, so had no relation to him anymore. That alone kept Eli motivated to push on.

As the 50th death approached that Thursday evening though, Eli began to get nervous. There was no guarantee his theory was correct, he may have just made a fool of himself in front of all his friends, classmates, and the world, and have nothing to show for it. A sensation of doubt and uncertainty began to creep in as he walked up to a boar for the 50th time. With no broadcasters around, he didn’t bother putting on a show, and just sat down to let the boar wail on him until he died.

You have died.

Login Restriction: 1h

(Reduced Login penalty due to player level)

He climbed out of the Simbox and began nervously pacing around the room. His idle hands led him to start cleaning things around the house aimlessly, things that clearly didn’t need cleaning. By the time he was done, the Simbox looked brand new. His mind raced about what would happen when he logged in. Would he have a quest to get the skill, or would he have it learned already? What if 50 deaths wasn’t enough, does he keep going until he hits 75, or does he give up? Was he wasting precious time that he could have been using to make money already in the game, or would this be worth while? Why did he follow through with the random words of a mage on a forum post that no one else believed? He had read over the post multiple times now, the name of the mage deeply ingrained in his mind. Aros, a level 45 mage. It was based on Aros’ determination to prove he was right, that Eli set out on this endeavor.

The long hour ended, and the login restriction was lifted, but Eli didn’t jump in right away. He took a deep breath outside of the Simbox, then slowly sat inside and began the simulation, his heart racing from anxiety. After the bright flashes of light, the simulation began, and he found himself standing once more in the graveyard, but a notification was waiting for him, indicating he had acquired a new skill.

His heart skipped a beat, he couldn’t help but shout out for joy, jumping in the air, which was not well received by the other players logging in at the graveyard after having met their own demise’s. He hastily touched the notification to open his skill window and read it.

Pacifism - Passive

Deity: Eirene

A blessing granted to those who refuse to cause harm to others even in the face of certain death.

Effect: Increases Experience Gained by 100% for all non-offensive skills. Reduces experience gained by 100% for all Offensive attacks and skills.

Restriction: This skill is lost if the favor of Eirene is lost. This skill is removed permanently if you cause harm to any creature or player in the Shattered World,

A gigantic grin grew across Winter’s face. He reached his hands out, intertwined his fingers with one another and cracked his knuckles as he looked in the direction of the Crafting Guild Hall.

“Time to start playing.” He said to himself.