Rebirth: Rise of the Slave Master

Chapter Twenty-One: It was a Trap

“First things first,” Theo handed the human sized cloak he had purchased to Meatshield and instructed her to put it on, “I need you to wait for me by the big fountain, remember? The one you saw when we came here?”

The princess stuck her head and arms through the drab garment, and was immediately draped in linen cloth. He patted her on the back and shooed her away, but the girl was turning back and staring at him every few feet. It seemed that she had also noticed something wrong, and was unwilling to leave him. If Theo didn’t know this was just because of her buggy programming, he might have been a little touched.

“Go. That’s an order,” he said.

Unable to refute the magic of the [Slave Master’s Brand] Meatshield finally turned around and ran off towards the fountain with dainty little steps. Theo was silently watching the men who had followed him, and was glad to see they didn’t go after his slave. Well, it would have been a waste since she was sitting in a public place with guards around. Theo had already used his much improved [Appraise Humanoid] on these targets.

[Castle Pawn] Lv. 20 Human

HP: 770/770

MP: 385/385

They all three had more or less the same attributes, and unfortunately, Meatshield would only get in his way if she was here. Her lack of skill proficiency would keep her from being able to attack or block with a decent chance. Even with his own Lv. 5 [Lesser Polearm Mastery], Theo wouldn’t be able to properly attack them.

“That bastard really went and did it…” Theo’s scowl was hidden under his hood as he walked.

He quickly slipped behind the shadow of a watchtower and found himself traveling down a set of stone stairs. This was a path which led into the city slums. Although there wasn’t much of a change in the quality of living between the poor in the city proper and those in the slums, the biggest difference was the lack of protection provided by the city. There weren’t any guards to get in the way, and they wouldn’t show up unless there was a serious threat to public safety. Theo had no way of knowing if the pursuers were stupid, or just excited to have an easier target when they willingly followed him.

At this point, they weren’t even trying to hide their presence, not that they were doing a very good job of it in the first place. These guys were weak even for level 20 NPCs, grunts who served the criminal organization Castle by doing various odd jobs. They couldn’t even really be considered fighters or enforcers. If Theo was faced with an actual Knight or Bishop of the syndicate, there wouldn’t be any helping him at this level.

A lot of the city’s water waste flowed into this area of Oasis, so there was a persistent dampness and odor to the district that wasn’t present elsewhere. Most of the houses were fashioned from stone, and one tightly packed tenement after the other was jammed side by side. The ‘streets’ that ran between the buildings were little more than cramped alleys, that wound about in a labyrinthine fashion. Very few players came here for this reason.

Right as the three men were beginning to close the gap to within five meters, Theo dove into a nearby highrise. Few if any of the buildings around here had doors, as they were a waste of precious wood that could keep you alive on a cold night. Even if you had one, it was likely to get stolen before the day was out, so most people made do with a simple cloth draped over the doorway. The interior of the first floor reminded Theo of his own cramped apartment. The small room had little more than a pile of cloths for bedding and some makeshift cooking instruments tucked away in the corner.

Everyone who lived here slept around on the floor wherever they could find space, and many of them wandered from building to building each night. The young couple making eyes at one another in the corner of this room were startled by the sudden, rowdy entrance, and were quickly chased off to a higher floor.

Theo didn’t have any time to concern himself with the NPCs, and immediately drew his newly repaired [Steel-Edged Partizan]. It wasn’t anything more than a simple Lesser-rank weapon, but in Theo’s hands it seemed to roar like a dragon when he brandished it.

Trundling footsteps crossed the threshold of the tenement as the first of the [Castle Pawn]s tore his way through the covering. There was a small, thirty-centimeter dagger in his hand that had a cold, curved edge to it.

[Lunge]

Theo darted forward and slammed the spear into the man’s chest. Although he could fight above his level, Theo was still trapped by the constraints of the system. A large MISS floated up above the man’s head, but the effect was still within Theo’s expectations.

NPCs had strange ways of dealing with a MISS. Unlike most monsters, who couldn’t care less if you hit or missed and would try to rip you to shreds regardless of how many times you attacked, the intelligent AI’s were very concerned with their own wellbeing. Although it might not have been to the extent of the Goblins, these human constructs were still able to feel fear when faced with an overwhelming obstacle.

The damage might have been 0, but the overwhelming ferocity of Theo’s attack caused the man to stop dead in his tracks. The follow-up strikes that homed in on his vitals were like a shadow of death. Throat, eyes, heart, and even the most important thing to him as a man were all pierced by Theo’s spear in a matter of seconds. The damage to his HP was minimal, but his morale had been totally crushed.

Skill proficiencies were only one of the many ways a player could enhance their combat abilities, but at the end of the day the most important thing was the technical mastery of the player. The NPCs judged the threat of their target based almost entirely on this singular aspect, and in this regard Theo couldn’t be outdone even by a Heroic-tier boss. Of course, without the proper attributes like Strength and Agility, he would not only be one-shot by these enemies, his body wouldn’t even be able to keep up with the speed of their attacks.

System and expertise, these two aspects would always be two sides of the same sword in Dream World Online.

The thought on the man’s mind was plainly written on his face, and that was, “This guy can kill me anytime he wants!”

The thug’s will-to-fight seemed to cave in, and his knees went weak. He struggled to stand as the other two tried to push him out of the way. The [Castle Pawn] refused to walk even a step further towards that terrifying spear, and he couldn’t understand why anyone who was right in their head would ever enter this building! The only reason he didn’t run was because the way out was blocked.

Why did he have to accept this stupid job!?

Even a rat will bite when backed into a corner, and the man charged at Theo with shaking hands, wildly swinging his dagger. Theo couldn’t help but smile when he saw this. The building wasn’t really an advantageous place for him to pick a fight, since he used a spear as a weapon. The dagger actually held the advantage in this enclosed space, but the important thing wasn’t to escape from the pursuers. The big bad wolf had led these three poor little piggies to this place because there was only one entrance. He had them trapped! Windows? They were small holes hardly wide enough to fit your arm through. If you wanted to leave, you would have to defeat Theo first!

“Heeheehee… shall we play, then?” Theo easily dodged the clumsy attack and tapped the man on the neck with the edge of his weapon as he passed.

This fight was actually easier than Theo had thought it would be. He had forgotten to take into account his incredibly useful [Inflict Pain] skill. The psychological damage of this attack was quite a bit higher than a regular attack, and it even seemed to have a built in accuracy modifier. Whereas only one in ten average strikes might hit normally, [Inflict Pain] seemed to have success rate of 1 in 3. This was likely because it functioned partially like a magical spell, which had no MISS chance as long as it hit. Slave Masters weren’t expected to grind up their weapon proficiencies, Theo realized, so their skills were treated a bit differently.

It was good news.

For Theo, the fight was a brief affair, but for the [Castle Pawn]s it was likely an eternity long descent into Hell.

The bodies of the three men were already cold on the floor. Even if he had been limited to hitting only once in twenty attacks, Theo could still slowly kill them off one by one, it would just take him that much longer. In that span of time, the thugs might have fled and revealed his abilities to organization, and Theo wouldn’t have any real way to stop them. This would only lead to Castle sending more dangerous foes in the future. Hence, he trapped them.

Once they passed out from a combination of fear, pain, and exhaustion, any chance of his attacks missing was gone. They were all killed on the spot. Theo might have thought to interrogate them, but what was the point? He already knew why they were here and who had sent them.

“At least they recovered my alignment a bit,” he muttered.

In order to avoid any complicated moralistic arguments, Dream World Online took a very simple approach to alignment with its point system. Right and wrong, circumstance, partial accountability, none of these words meant anything to the system. If you started a fight with or killed a Good or Neutral player or NPC, it was considered Evil. If you did the same to an Evil character, it would be considered Good. While there were various local laws and customs that were in place throughout the world that could affect your reputation, these alignment mechanics never changed.

The stance of the devs was plain to see. Good people don’t kill other good people.

Even if you were the one who was under attack, you would still receive a penalty to alignment if you slew the attacker. You were spared the Evil points gained from starting the conflict, and that was it. This gradual exchange of Evil when fighting other players was mitigated by the fact that it required a lot of points to adjust your alignment, so even if you went on a slaughtering spree occasionally, it wouldn’t affect you that much. It was only those who caused too much trouble and constantly abused others, those who dropped to the Evil alignment, who were suddenly turned into targets for elimination. Not only was their no penalty for hunting them down, you would be rewarded for it.

Slave Masters, as agents of Evil, were popularly wiped from the game in Theo’s past life to this end, and he had to be careful not to repeat the mistakes of those who came before him. Slave Masters were once such popular targets that they were given the pathetic title of Alignment Potion! If you wanted to be Evil in this game, it required one thing: Power. Not just personal power, but political, economical, and military power. For the time being, it was better to stay Neutral at all costs.

Thankfully, almost every last agent of Castle was considered Evil by the system. Fighting against the international criminal syndicate for a little while wouldn’t be too bad of an idea, but he needed a higher level if he was going to do that. The levels of the higher members easily crossed the 100 mark. It certainly wasn’t a safe plan to hang around Oasis, even with the guards present, because Old Man Snake Eyes simply had his withered old hands in too many pockets.

It was a shame to leave behind the little cave and the nice loot farm that was the [Desert Serpent Queen], but he was backed into a corner.

Theo didn’t care too much about having to skip town, since he had already accomplished all of his goals here. Even if he couldn’t hang around and wait for his goods to sell, the proceeds would be automatically deposited in that city’s bank. He could withdraw coins from any of his accounts without a fee, so he just needed to reach a place with a bank and he was fine.

Of course, Theo wasn’t going to travel the countryside for free, nor was he planning on traveling unprotected. The most obvious solution was to visit the Adventuring Guild.

“You’re late,” Caoimhe’s voice was polite, but Theo could clearly hear the dissatisfaction in her tone.

This woman reminded him a lot of Elizabeth, the kind that he was the worst at dealing with. The more he interacted with her, the deeper her claws would sink.

“I had other appointments,” Theo deflected the greeter’s comment with a shrug.

Caoimhe’s stern features only hardened further when she heard Theo’s dismissive words. This was definitely a woman he didn’t want to enter a verbal spar with, so he refused to take any of her bait. It was something she seemed to pick up on immediately.

“D-rank Theo, you do understand that your mission reward will be docked for a late confirmation, yes?” she asked.

Theo nodded.

“Then if you take into account the cost of the mission supplies, and the penalty from accepting an E-rank task in the first place, the total reward has been completely discounted,” Theo was amazed that she managed to say all of that without a scowl.

“It’s fine,” he said, “I’ll just take another mission to make up for it.”

The woman sighed, “I would hope so, D-rank Theo. Without the proper achievement points, we will be forced to reduce your rank.”

Theo again nodded along, though he tried not listen too hard to the greeter’s cutting words. Seeing that the man before her had no intention of denying his mistake, a small smile actually graced Caoimhe’s features for a moment. She might have hated everything about Theo and his nonchalant attitude, but it was easiest to work with a compliant customer.

“Then for your next mission-” she began.

“I plan on traveling a bit,” Theo interrupted her, “something like an escort mission would be fine.”

There was a cracking noise from the other side of the counter, but since Theo couldn’t see Caoimhe’s hands from behind the desk, he had no idea of what she had just snapped in two. It was probably a pen or something.

“D-rank Theo, are you informing me that you’re seeking a transfer?” she asked just as cordially as ever.

Clearly, she took a lot of pride in her status as the A-rank greeter, and would probably end him on the spot if he insulted that position.

“That’s not the case,” he shook his head, “I’m just getting out and seeing the sights. I don’t plan on taking missions from another Guild branch.”

Caoimhe narrowed a pair of emerald eyes at him, “You’re certain about this?”

“For the time being… a caravan heading anywhere with a bank branch is fine,” Theo didn’t try to hide the obvious implications of this statement.

He might have been running, but he certainly wasn’t hiding. Theo wasn’t so confident as to think he could avoid the detection of Castle’s information network. Even within the Adventuring Guild, they were sure to have spies that were watching his every movement. Doubly so if he were correct and the one behind this mess was Old Man Snake Eyes.

Since this was far from her first rodeo, Caoimhe only shrugged and retrieved another mission briefing from a cabinet behind the counter. This time, it was a D-rank escort job, though the reward was quite a bit higher than Theo expected.

“Are we expecting some kind of danger?” he asked, looking over the form.

“The merchant in question is transporting some rather valuable cargo to the port city of Aleside, and has already hired dozens of armed guards for this mission,” Caoimhe said casually, “This mission was actually given priority status. For someone who could clear out an entire Goblin camp by their lonesome, this shouldn’t be too difficult for you, D-rank Theo?”

A smirk crept across Theo’s face. Difficult? This was perfect for him.

“Good job, whatever-your-name-is!” he thought.

He had forgotten her name, and thankfully didn’t inform her of this faux pas out loud.

The more protection the caravan had, the more protection he would be afforded by their presence. He nodded along complacently and accepted the mission at once. What’s more, the increased reward would earn enough achievement points to tide him over until he could accept missions again. This was exclusively a win-win situation!

“Very well, the details are all there. This time, all of the supplies will be provided by the employer, so you shouldn’t have to worry about - and he left again.”

Theo had already turned around with a slight spring to his step after receiving the mission, and he paid no attention to the various imaginary daggers that were digging into his back.