Sora had just reached the gates of the city, the guards seemed fidgety as they kept looking around. Every now and then he could hear a guard talking about a demonic horde of some sort. This was supposed to be the first hints towards the upcoming event but Sora had already taken care of the demon general. Sora kept walking through the city until he came up to a huge palace that took up a large amount of space in the city. The walls were erected over 10 meters and guards could be seen everywhere. Sora had tried to pass by but a guard stopped him.

“Halt! This is property of the royal family, any guest must be invited by the king himself or show that they are worthy to be in his presence.”

“Honorable sir, I come bearing incredible news from Frost Peak Mountain.”

“Fr-Frost Peak Mountain you say? Is.. is there anything going on there?”

The guards seemed to have already known about the demonic creatures that were spotted there. The royal family had already sent scouts to check on the mountain and when they saw the corrupt insects they reported it immediately. If there is corruption then that means there is also a demon general. A demon general was basically just a host to a corrupt power that would spread to other creatures around it, only creatures with immense strength had bodies that could contain the power. The guard left for a little bit before coming back, a little more calm than when he left.

“The king will see you, please head straight ahead into the throne room. If you wander around then expect retaliation from the other guards.”

“Thank you, you should expect great news shortly after I enter.”

The guard was a little confused about what that meant, he ignored it and went back to guarding diligently. Sora continued down a long sidewalk lined with a variety of exotic looking flowers. One flower would be burning, the next would be iced over, one group even had electricity jumping between each flower. The first room he entered was like a reception room. The room was large with a grand staircase leading up to another door, it was decorated with gold and purple to show off the wealth and majesty of the royal family. Sora continued up the stairs, each guard seemed to have been informed that he was a guest because they stood at attention in a line on either side of the room. Sora opened the door at the top of the stairs to reveal a room with many pillars made out of a smooth white rock that looked like marble. Guards that looked much stronger than the ones outside carefully watched Sora as he approached a man with a noble look, white hair that was mostly covered by the jeweled crown on top of his head, and a muscular body that was adorned with white robes and seemed to have an enchantment on them as they would glow with a mysterious light every now and then.

Sora pulled out the bladed arm of Visux as he walked towards the king. One of the guards started rushing up to him as he pulled out what looked to be a sharp object and was prepared to take Sora’s life. The king had a troubled expression, why would someone so blatantly try to pull out a weapon, then after a closer look his heart trembled and he stood up to stop the guard from taking Sora’s life.

“STOP!”

“B-but your liege, he has a weap-.”

“Take a closer look, doesn’t that seem more like the arm of a mantis. Can you feel the demonic energy leaking from it?”

The guards took a closer look and his king was absolutely right, the so called weapon was in fact a mantis arm that had a black color and leaked what could only be described as an unpleasant feeling. He slowly stored his weapon and went back to his position, still carefully watching Sora.

“Adventurer, what is this all about?”

“Your majesty, I stumbled upon a mountain that goes by the name of Frost Peak Mountain recently and discovered…”

Sora went on to tell the tale of how he “accidentally” defeated Visux. The king had varied emotions as he listened, at one moment his face would be hardened with a look of anger, the next moment the story would describe a tale of heroic encounters and the king would have a face of wonder, the next moment his face would be saddened once again at the mention of the difficulties Sora had faced.

“...I was able to deal the final blow just as Visux had emerged from his cocoon. The only things left there are a bunch of stray demonic insects that have no leader.”

“If what you say is true We may have a chance to finish this up once and for all. Veradon! Immediately mobilize a battalion of soldiers, you are to march to Frost Peak Mountain in 4 hours. Clear a path from the closest village if possible incase we need to send reinforcements.”

“Yes your majesty!”

“We will need to conduct a few tests on that mantis arm young adventurer. Jaal, take the arm to Gzarna to test the demonic en-”

“No need for that your majesty, I already felt the demonic energy and came to have a look.”

A woman who was wearing red robes and had straight black hair came into the throne room carrying a staff that seemed to be alive. She was basically running towards Sora with an eager look on her face, she snatched the arm away from Sora and started to mumble things as she examined it closer.

“Oooooo then what does… such corrupter energy… interesting vessel…”

The woman would prod and poke the arm with various magical instruments, sometimes even making it start to twitch as if it was alive. After various tests she pulled out a glass ball and put it next to the mantis arm. The black colored drained from the arm as the glass ball filled with some sort of black smoke. The woman was the head mage of the royal family which was known for her eccentric behavior towards magical items and creatures, her name being Gzarna. She had even been known to give a few hidden quests in Sora’s past life so it was best to make a good first impression. After she was done draining the mantis arm she turned towards the king and did a slight bow before relaying her reports.

“The concentration of corrupt energy is definitely above a normal demonic creature, the energy could only be held in a powerful vessel, and the demonic energy will spread when a suitable host comes near it. It’s safe to say that this indeed was a demon general, the location could technically still be questioned but Frost Mountain Peak has always had a lot of insect creatures that would inhabit it.”

“Then… We really will be able to take back Frost Peak Mountain… Ha.. hahahahahahaha! Oh this is great, We will definitely find a suitable reward for this brave adventurer! What is your name young man?”

“This one goes by Ethereal, your majesty.”

“A fine name for an adventurer like yourself. We would like to invite you to become a Vanquisher Knight. They are a special knight that excels in both defense and offense, with enough training you could fight your way through a tide of enemies without taking a single hit. Would this interest you?”

“It does sound tempting your majesty, I will graciously accept.”

“Great! You are now officially part of the Vanquisher Knights, Vaticien, please go through the procedures.”

The knight stationed next to the king walked forward and pulled out a dagger with multiple slits made into the sides. The hilt was adorned with a special symbol of a sword plunging through what looked like a sea of stars, this was the symbol of the vanquisher knights. Sora grabbed the dagger as the man named Vaticien said a few basic initiation words.

[x1 Vanquisher Parrying Dagger]

Rarity - Unique Common

Durability - 50/50

Defense - 7

Requires - Level 30 - Vanquisher Knight Class

“The parrying dagger is the symbol of the Vanquisher Knight, they are unrivaled in the art of maintaining defense while on offense. The dagger can be turned in for an upgrade once the requirements are met.”

+10 Strength

{Item Quest}

0/5000 Attacks Parried

After the initiation was done, Sora equipped his beloved parrying dagger. This item was his most important tool from now on, the item could be upgraded to the next rarity after certain requirements were met so it would stick with him all the way until the end. The only requirement for becoming a Vanquisher Knight was to impress the king, it may sound easy but the king was not easily impressed. Sora determined that since it was the first territory claimed for the faction, along with the fact that he did it alone, was the reason why the king had been impressed by his actions.

“Adventurer Ethereal, We would also like to give you a reward for your contribution towards the kingdom. Please accept these items as a reward for your hard work.”

The steward named Jaal came out from one of the side rooms with a treasure chest being carried by two large knights. The treasure chest was placed in front of Sora as his heart rate sped up a bit. He had never heard of a reward for single handedly claiming a territory for the faction so he was quite excited. Sora opened the chest without any further thought.

[x50 Gold Pieces obtained]

[x1 Lucky Coin obtained]

[x1 Obsidian Bloodsteel Chestpiece obtained]

Rarity - Set Rare

Durability - 80/80

Defense - 14

Requires - Level 40 - Heavy Armor Class

“A chestpiece fashioned from bloodsteel and obsidian. A magic envelops the armor, strengthening when similar magic connects and resonated with it.“

+15 Constitution

+15 Strength

*Set Bonus*

2 / 5 = +20 Constitution

4 / 5 = +30 Strength

5 / 5 = Attacking converts 5% of damage dealt into a shield that caps at 10% of max HP

[x1 Obsidian Bloodsteel Leggings obtained]

Rarity - Set Rare

Durability - 75/75

Defense - 13

Requires - Level 40 - Heavy Armor Class

“Leggings fashioned from bloodsteel and obsidian. A magic envelops the armor, strengthening when similar magic connects and resonated with it.“

+15 Constitution

+15 Strength

*Set Bonus*

2 / 5 = +20 Constitution

4 / 5 = +30 Strength

5 / 5 = Attacking converts 5% of damage dealt into a shield that caps at 10% of max HP

[x1 Obsidian Bloodsteel Helmet obtained]

Rarity - Set Rare

Durability - 65/65

Defense - 11

Requires - Level 40 - Heavy Armor Class

“A helmet fashioned from bloodsteel and obsidian. A magic envelops the armor, strengthening when similar magic connects and resonated with it.“

+15 Constitution

+15 Strength

*Set Bonus*

2 / 5 = +20 Constitution

4 / 5 = +30 Strength

5 / 5 = Attacking converts 5% of damage dealt into a shield that caps at 10% of max HP

[x1 Ring of Forgiveness]

Rarity - Unique Rare

Durability 40/40

Requires - Level 1

“A ring emitting a holy aura with a simple inscription of the word “Forgive” on the outside.”

+Sacrifice 10 durability to activate Skill

+Skill: Forgiveness - For the next 5 minutes, any player killing will not give player the murderer status.

-Cannot be repaired by normal means

[x1 Skill Book: Vanquish the Weak]

-Use this item to gain the skill Vanquish the Weak.

[Vanquish the Weak Skill obtained]

Duration: Passive

Requires - Vanquisher Knight Class

-Any target that is successfully parried will receive a stack of ‘Unworthy’. Each stack increases damage dealt to target by 10% on next attack by player. Can stack up to 10 times. Any damage taken from target with stacks will reset stacks back to 0.

Sora kept getting a bigger and bigger smile as he went through the loot, equipping what he could and setting the equipment he couldn’t use in a spot separated from the rest of his inventory. The Bloodsteel armor was the first set of armor that could be obtained from a dungeon, the bonuses were very basic but that’s what should be expected of the first set armor. The ring nullified the red name tag penalty when you killed another player but couldn’t be repaired so it only had four uses unless you could find magical repair items, it was good for quick kill operations since it only lasted 5 minutes. The best part for Sora was definitely the skill book. [Vanquish the Weak] was one of the core items for Vanquisher Knights, as long as you were good enough you could put ten stacks on someone and then use a high damaging ability to do double damage. Let’s take the skill [Overwhelm] as an example, if the target is below 10% HP and also has ten stacks from [Vanquish the Weak] it could do 600% damage. Sora doesn’t have [Overwhelm] but he will be able to get skills like it in the future. Right now his biggest damage dealer is [Purge with Silver] which does 200% damage to undead. If the undead also has ten stacks of ‘Unworthy’ applied to him then it will deal a 400% damage to that target alone, plus the damage dealt from the other two attacks. It sounded a bit broken but it also required precise movements to get the stacks to ten, due to the fact that damage received will reset the stacks. Even without getting the stacks up he would be able to do an extra 10% damage after each parry which adds up over time.

“I hope the rewards are to your liking, Ethereal. We will take over from here to take back the Frost Peak Mountain. As a small bonus I will officially give you a title of knighthood in my kingdom.”

[‘Knight of the Eastern Legion’ title has been obtained]

-Server Announcement-

Player Ethereal has earned the first official title in game. +100 Fame +’The Honored’ Title

-Server Announcement-

The Eastern Legion has successfully pushed the demon territory back! As the first faction to accomplish this they will receive double EXP for the next three days. All players waiting to revive has had their timer reduced to 0. Long live The Eastern Legion!

-Faction Announcement-

The Eastern Legion has taken control of Frost Peak Mountain. The royal army will clear out the remaining demonic horde and a flight route to the peak of Frost Peak Mountain will be available from the base of the mountain in one week. The peak of the mountain is the location to the first dungeon, The Frozen Caverns. Players are recommended to have a five player party at level 40 before trying to challenge the dungeon. Long live The Eastern Legion!

A huge wall of text appeared for everyone in The Eastern Legion as announcement after announcement popped up. The world was silent for a moment before the eastern side of the continent roared with excitement. Players could be seen jumping up and down, cheering, laughing, and celebrating. The players who were grinding endlessly had a renewed urge to fight as they started to furiously kill off enemy after enemy. The spawn points had flooded with players who thought they had to wait to revive and each of them had a huge smile on their face as they rushed to continue fighting. The Eastern Legion had all been united and morale had flooded to each and every member. The three other factions had sullen looks on their faces, but were pushed by this humiliation to fight harder. The name Ethereal firmly locked in everyone's memory.