I Know i know, i said i would see you guys tomorrow but because of all the positive comments i decided to squeeze another Chapter out today so you better be grateful!!![th_104_.gif]

Chapter 3: First Weapon

Looking at this new enemy that was more than double his level and had the wonderful words 'Elite Monster' to it, a bad premonition hit Makoto and his face paled.

Sure enough a few seconds later the battle-effect 'oppression' was applied again and his Strength and Agility where cut down to 14.

The Goblin Chief was approaching with heavy steps and his tiny red eyes where fixated on Makoto.

With another roar he swung his war-axe and Makoto had to jump to the side and even roll on the ground to be able to escape the enormous weapon.

Without even being able to counter-attack he got chased around the whole room by the Goblin Chief, unsure how to deal with the current situation yet another system window appeared.

+1 Evasiveness!

"That is really not helping!"

He couldn’t help but scream while dodging another wide swing.

The pattern of the Goblin Chief was completely different than its other kin.

While they would attack and pause from time to time he was in a constant rush, swinging his axes from one side to the other.

It took Makoto a good 5 minutes to find a gap in the pattern during which he was hit by one of the axes and a terrifying message as well as pain appeared.

You have received 92 Damage!

Surviving barely with a hurting side he evaded the next strike and finally was able to understand.

Every 3 swings the Goblin Chief's Momentum from swinging his war-axes made him lose balance and he needed a moment to adjust before he could attack again.

After waiting another 3 swings he jumped close to the Goblins body and rammed his dagger twice into its side before having to back off again.

16 Damage dealt!

12 Damage dealt!

On his second hit the Goblin chief's armor had protected him a bit so the Damage was lower but happy to finally see his opponents health take a hit, Makoto kept to his tactic while his own health slowly went up again during this long fight.

After getting down the pattern it got a lot easier and he was able to get to full health again by also quickly eating some bread, while the Goblins dropped to 30% at which his pattern changed again.

The name Elite was not for show it seemed.

After dipping below 30% health the Goblin Chief's skin turned fire red and a window informed Makoto that his enemy was now in an 'enraged' state.

While trying to back off and analyzing the new pattern Makoto had a few close calls during which he got grazed twice, losing nearly all of his health again.

The pattern had changed from 3 to 5 swings until balance was lost but this time the duration in which the goblin Chief was open had nearly doubled, allowing Makoto to inflict a few quick stabs before having to lean and jump back.

Luckily he was able to pull off one more bleed attack at the end and could watch the Goblins Health slowly decline.

With a loud bang the huge and fat body fell to the floor causing a slight rumble in the room.

Exhaling his relieve Makoto watched the monster's body disappear.

That was a very close fight...

One look at his own health confirmed that only 12 HP remained, he was one step away from death.

Sadly no loot except copper coins and a key was dropped from the Goblin Chief.

It seems the appearance of the monster was a scripted event which would explain why he hadn't shown up before Makoto accepted the Quest.

After opening the prison cells, women and children swarmed around him happily, laughing and hugging him many times while expressing their gratitude.

Makoto couldn’t help but give a small smile even when he knew they were only programs and not real.

Next on the Agenda it was time to leave this awful cave.

"Stay behind me while I clear us a path, is that clear? I don’t want anyone getting hurt here if possible"

If they got hurt he would fail the Quest and have a mob of villagers hunt him down...

The group of women and children all nodded and Makoto lead them slowly through the only other route.

It was the same way the Elite Goblin Chief had entered the room and after only 2 more Goblins that put Makoto to level 4 they finally stood next to trees and beneath sunlight again.

Children ran around happily while the women tried putting them back in order but the overall mood was good and with a smile on his face Makoto brought the villagers back home.

.....

The sight of a player leading a big group of women and children back to Salem was something else for sure.

Many other players backed off and glanced at Makoto confused.

They had all gotten small quests to hunt a few stray dogs or chickens while Makoto brought a bunch of NPC's back to the Village, it sure was a strange sight.

The Village Chief that had been standing at the gate before and instructed the many players with quests couldn’t believe his eyes.

Seeing him grasp Makoto's hands with tears of joy flowing down his face stunned many users.

"Oh what a great deed you have done young Adventurer, how can I ever thank you enough in saving our loved ones and future, you truly deserve a reward."

Before Makoto could reply, the old man was already searching through the folds of his clothes, bringing forth a short-sword with its sharp blade shining beautifully in the sunlight.

"Here take this, it was my own blade when I was a young fellow but it should still be in good condition.

Know also this, that whenever you are in trouble and need help, the Village of Salem will always come to your aid.

That is the least that we can do!"

Quest completed!

Iron Short-Sword received!

Intimacy with the Village of Salem has increased to maximum!

Makoto also gained enough experience to level-up yet again, bringing him to level 5 and making it so that he could finally leave Salem without worrying too much.

After being thanked again by every single Villager, Makoto opened his map.

It showed his surroundings and what he had explored, right now it was only showing a small portion of the sea, the Village of Salem and a tiny bit of forest where the Goblin Dungeon had been.

After closing the map, unsure of where to go now, for the second time the Village Chief was standing in front of him, smiling.

"I see that you are already strong enough now to leave the boundaries of Salem, young Adventurer.

Your next stop in your Journey is the Marine City of Talis on the beach north of here.

Farewell and may the Divines bless your step!"

"I see, you have my thanks Village Chief."

Makoto curtly replied, after having reached such high intimacy that the Village Chief himself informed him where to find his next destination he did not want to anger him in any way.

As one could see high Intimacy paid off, now he knew where to go and a short time later after repairing his Plated gloves, with his sword in hand he left the Village of Salem.

.....

Battle-hardened Short-Sword: :An Iron Short-Sword kept in optimal condition, gifted from the Village Chief of Salem for a great deed.

It has seen many battles and clashed with many foes, a sword that truly carries its own story.Damage:9-11Durability:30/30Special Option:+ 3 StrengthRequirements:Must be gifted willingly from the Village Chief of Salem

No matter how many times he saw it, it was a really good sword.

Smiling while petting his precious sword, Makoto traveled along a dirt path that lead north.

He was currently going through the fields of Salem.

A smell of the sea was charming his nose and every few second a gust of wind comfortably went through his hair.

A house on the beach would be a nice thing.

Daydreaming about swimming every day in the ocean, his gaze naturally went to his left admiring the snow white beach in the distance.

After watching the waves for a few seconds, Makoto saw something odd.

A middle sized rock was scuttling along the beach.

And it was not the only rock.

Surprised Makoto stopped walking and watched this weird spectacle of rocks running around the beach, stopping from time to time and then kicking off again.

"What the hell..."

Unable to withstand his curiosity he walked towards the beach until he was close enough to see letters appear above every rock that ran around the beach.

Rock crab: lvl 4

"So that is a crab? Well, makes sense I guess."

Makoto sat down at one side of the beach and watched these strange creature run around, presumably looking for food.

After a few minutes one of the crabs noticed him and gave off a weird clacking sound in his direction and started to slowly approach with opened pincers.

"I guess you aren't coming here to shake hands are you?"

Makoto jokingly said while readying his sword.

Rock crabs generally moved slow, only when they got close their pincers shot forth, trying to grab you.

Makoto blocked the attempts to squeeze his arm off with his own sword and took a step forward for a sword thrust only to find his trusted blade bounce off the hard shell.

7 Damage dealt!

"Damn, such high defense."

Cursing under his breath he tried different angles and sides while evading the rock crab but to no avail.

All he could mostly do was inflict 10 Damage which was a lot less even when compared to a level 7 Elite Monster.

The fight took quite a while and after killing the dog sized crab all he got was a broken pincer which was junk loot...

Frustrated Makoto engaged into combat again and tried to kick the rock crabs legs in an attempt to maybe break it, unfortunately that backfired terribly.

You have sprained your ankle!

-20% movement speed until the fight is finished!

"Fuck!"

Calling the crab every known curse word in the book, Makoto hacked and slashed away at it while limping around, now unable to even dodge properly and nearly dying a few times.

After waiting for his health to refill again and the status effect to disappear he decided to study the creatures a bit, he had nothing else to do anyways.

As far as he could tell they had an incredibly hard shell, their joints where well protected unlike most humanoid creatures and there was no obvious weak-point for Makoto because he did not understand their anatomy well enough.

After watching one crab eat a mouse an idea formed in his head.

Logically speaking their hard shell was protecting a weaker inside right?

With that idea in mind he got another crabs attention, luring it away from its friends and after it got close enough Makoto took a quick step forward and thrust his sword right down the crabs throat.

Critical hit!

84 Damage dealt!

Right away more than half of the Rock crabs health disappeared and with a moan it fell to the floor while Makoto twisted his sword on the way out, inflicting an additional 'bleed' status on it.

After killing the crab in seconds, he wiped the nasty goop off his sword and looked smiling to the surrounding Rock crabs that all took a fearful step back.

Afterwards he discovered a few other weak-points, their shell was not completely sealed, if one was able to turn them over, generally their belly was another spot easy to Damage.

He killed around 20 of them while heading north along the beach before another blinding light descended from the sky signaling a level-up.

This time he put 4 points into Strength and Agility while 2 in Vitality, to finally boost his health a little more.

Apparently Vitality seemed to boost his armor rating a slight bit because his defense numbers rose after putting those two points into it.

One thing he had to do was check online what each individual stat actually did after logging out.

He was still a long way from the Marine city of Talis, even when standing on the beach and straining his eyes, all he was able to see was the endless ocean.

Makoto lost count how many crabs he actually killed but being the only player visible for miles allowed for a free farming range.

After killing a crab and actually piercing its shell with his sword, a new system window popped up.

Through your continues efforts on breaking your opponents defenses, you have acquired the skill 'Penetration'!

Penetration:Even the strongest of defenses can be broken through with effort and tenacity.Skill Type:passiveSkill Level1 (0%)Skill Effect:+ 5% Armor Penetration

It was a simple skill but Makoto was happy, even when he had no idea how he had gotten it.

"My first skill seems pretty effective when dealing with tank classes."

As far as he understood it he was able to level skills up after using them for a long time and considering his 'Penetration' skill was passive and not active its usefulness only increased.

"So it pretty much means I don’t have to worry too much when fighting heavily armored players or bosses, sweet!"

Grinning like a little boy that had just been gifted his first bike, Makoto ran towards a group of Rock crabs, slicing apart their hard shell while laughing like a maniac.

Man, this is going to be fun!

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:happy: