Chapter 9: The hand of vengeance must dig two graves 1/2

Violence and combat with your life on the line, even if its merely a game, might be quite exciting.

Looting on the other hand is decidedly not, at least not when the looting consists of cutting the heads open and scooping out the brains of a hundred and twelve goblinoid Bloods. It was gory and tiring work, that even took the rest of the night. Durabo barely managed to get it done and recast the two Earth walls before he entombed himself and logged off.

*******

When Durabo returned to Nexus, it was with a newfound respect for the tactics involved in small scale armed conflicts like this. He had used the whole lecture to research it and discovered that things were not quite as simple and straightforward as he had thought them to be.

Well the sum of it is that he has now concluded that what he needed most in the upcoming battle was not more damage. It was more control.

The worst of it was that he had the perfect tool for control, Mind magic. With it the previous battle would have been pure slaughter. Well might have been, he was not quite certain how something with a hive mind like the Bloods would react to it.

In the end when he was pressured the most, he had not even considered using Mind magic. Instead he had relied on his martial arts. Why was that?

He had no answer, yet it would be a shame to let a skill set go unused if it could save him in a pinch. With a mental sigh Durabo set thoughts of Mind magic aside for a different time, now was not the time to contemplate how or if, he would use it.

Durabo had planned to wait another play session and rest, before going down into the depths and killing the survivors.

At first he had simply planned to perfect some of his Ice spells, that plan had now been scrapped. Instead he would focus on getting some more solid cc spells.

He would also try to develop some aoe spells, since they would make the fight against the numerous but drastically weaker opponents easier.

Aoe damage should be one of the major strengths of his class, yet the books never mentioned how to actually make aoe spells. Might be that was one of things you had to learn from a master and he had yet to meet an NPC ingame that he wanted to be apprenticed to. Well in all truthfulness he really had not tried to find one.

Before beginning his meditation he would need to have at least an outline of what he wanted to do. He needed a spell to slow down their movement, without fouling his own. He had a few spells designed to mess with opponents footing, as well as one to move them by force.

In other games Ice nearly always had way to slow down opponents, or freeze them if powerful enough. Maybe that was the way to go, try to force them to move slower.

When the sun set and he opened his eyes after having tried to find an Ice spell that slows down opponents without making ice appear he gave op. The shape was not the problem, the problem was what type of Water and Fire mana would create slowing Ice mana when combined. No matter what he tried it simply would not work.

Frustrated by his lack of success, Durabo decided to return to the basics.

The book he had read about Ice magic, taught that you made Ice mana by taking Water mana, and modifying it with Fire. The modifications results in the ice made by spells.

With a start his eyes opened wide, that was it. The key lay in the physics of water becoming ice. The removal of thermal energy.

Slowly his lips stretched into a wide grin, that was it, Fire magic is the manipulation of energy.

He did not have to figure out how to slow someone down directly. No what he needed to do was leech away his opponents energy, causing them to slow down through a lack of resources.

As he slowed down his thoughts and calmed his mind, slowly sinking into the part of his mind used for spell design he heard the clear bell like sound of a system message.

Stats have changed and you have gained stat pointsAffinity is now no longer a percentage but instead a value.

+25 Affinity Fire.

Factor:

By catching a true glimpse of the inner workings of Fire by realising that it has to do with the manipulation of energy.

Durabo was clearly on the right track, a slight problem occurred to him though. If Fire is energy, why the hell is it called Fire, and how come its basic manifested form is fire?

He would have to figure out the nature of the other basic elements, but that was a task for another time. Now he had to use his newfound knowledge to make some cool spells.

The last thing he did before beginning to utilize his discovery, was setting the ingame alarm clock to fifteen minutes before his forced logoff. Time would more than likely fly when he first got going, and he needed the broodmother to be trapped when he returned for his next play session.

It was more difficult than usual to find the place within himself to create spells. Mostly because he was way too excited by the complexity and adaptability of magic in this world.

Submerging himself in the spell creation process and intellectual challenge of getting the most out of his discovery, time flew by fast as lightning.

When he opened his eyes at the alarms sound in his mind he had designed only one spell. But it was beyond cool and when he had some free time he would be able to make a lot of new spells with his first status effect. He had made a spell that could drain the stamina of opponents. Well in truth he had discovered a type of Fire mana that he could combine with other elements granting them the ability to drain an opponent's stamina.

After that he had combined that with Air mana and made a set of spells that both control opponents movement as well as drains their stamina.

Well he would just have to slowly expand upon his repertoire of spells, as always he planned to analyze every fight and improve or design spells as needed. Now he just had a little more to work with when doing the design part.

Durabo settled down in his stone shelter cast the Fire spell and covered himself with the rough pelts. Satisfied with the days work. Although it was more than a little tedious to keep recasting the two stone lids.

*******

Now was the time to see whether the siege had taken it toll on the besieged. He had already sealed the other entrance anew, so he really had no excuse not to get started.

With a few words and some sigils he made an Earth wall appear on top of the one before him, yet unlike usual this one was a tad smaller not quite reaching from one end to another. With a thought the old wall disappeared and the new fell to the ground with a loud thump. There was now a small strip of darkness at the back of the entrance, the place where the Bloods was most unlikely to be able to reach.

The wisdom of that quickly became apparent when he dropped his Light spell down into the dark.

Bloods as many as could be packed into the space available on the floor. It took him by surprise, but only for a moment before he started casting Ice spears killing them from above. He only got four of them before they retreated to the safety of the dark tunnel.

He cast another Earth wall closing of the tunnel as far in as he could materialize. About nine meters into the tunnel, then he dispelled the lid and hopped down unto the slope of the entrance.

Durabo contemplated how to go about this, he had a lot of low level opponents to kill and the Broodmother had proven herself to be a little troublesome. All of this would have been so much easier were Bloods but mere beasts.

In the end he decided that he would simply have to kill as many as he can then erect a new Earth wall while he had the mana to do so and when he had rested he would begin the cycle again.

Ensuring that the Bloods could not escape by casting yet another Earth wall behind himself, Durabo mentally prepared himself for what would more than likely be a long tiring battle.

He first cast a sheet of clear Ice in front of the wall and then summoned two Ice spears before he with a thought dismissed the wall.

He was met by a scaly pale Orc, ten pale Orcs, and Goblins as far as the eye could see. Once more the thrill of battle nearly overcame him, but the thought of the reduction in stats kept him cool and level headed.

The first Ice spear took the head of the scaly Orc, more than likely a high level Blood. The next took a normal Orcs head as well and then he cast three gusts of wind pushing back the horde.

All his Air spells now drained stamina as well since the effect synergizes well with the need for pushback. The chant and sigils were a tad bit more difficult and time consuming though, so it was not without its downsides.

With the horde pushed back he tried throwing shards and the Orcs instead of spears. To his delight that killed them in one shot as well. Gotta love the whole low level thing.

For the next ten minutes Durabo slaughtered the Bloods, then he checked his mana and found it nearly empty, so with yet more gusts of wind he pushed them back and erected a new Earth wall cutting the stream of Bloods off.

He had killed quite a few of the bloods, but for every time he cast the shard spell he had to cast quite a few of the gusts.

After twenty minutes of meditation Durabo once more started the slaughter. Only a tenth of his time was used in battle the rest was recovery, resulting in him having to use a lot more time than predicted. At least the queen seemed intent on throwing anything she had at him, probably she was at her wits end.

*******

Three play sessions it took him to kill them all. Well all but whatever she had hidden down in the spawn pool besides herself.

When Durabo entered the center cave of the old mine, it was more than a little anticlimactic. There she was in all her glory, sitting on a rock besides a beachball sized egg.

Her eyes a deep purple tore into him as she raised her pale purple haired head and watched him enter.

“Why did you kill me?” She asked, her voice sad and confused.

“Because this was not the place you should set up a nest. “ He considered for a moment and then said. “Well in truth this is the way of this world. I need strength, your death provides that.”

Something akin to a spark of defiance entered her eyes.

“Come claim your new strength then, slayer.” She answered anger rampant on her face, and as she did so Ice crystals started to form all around Durabo.

He was outside the ten meter materialization limit of magic he thought. Clearly he was wrong to believe that everyone had that limitation.

Durabo realized he had no spell designed to counter this, he was surrounded by Ice shards.

A precious second was spent just coming up with a suitable alternative. With a few words and some sigils he cast a tall and broad Earth wall tilted behind himself and ducked beneath it before getting pelted with the other shards.

A quick glance at his health bar showed it as nearly depleted. He rose and quickly cast a new spell, this time his Ice spear one, and threw them at the Broodmother. That got his health back to a nice two thirds of full. Gotta love that racial.

She dodged one spear and took the other full in the face, taking some damage although he couldn’t see her health bar to determine how much.

He dodged her retaliatory Ice spears with relative ease. It did jerk his chain a bit that she could cast five at the same time though.

Apparently she was not that into one-on-one fights for she kept throwing spears and he kept dodging trying to tag her with his own spears.

She didn’t use that aoe Ice shard attack either, Durabo was more than a little convinced it had a cooldown or needed the target to be stationary.

A spear pierced his shoulder making him miss his step. Seeing the bar blink in his upper right hand vision he cast the Ice spear spell by reflex, managing to tag both her right shoulder and left side. She had gotten cocky after her successful hit.

Durabo could feel irritation lurking just beneath the calm of his serene state of mind. She should not be any higher than level thirty, why was she so hard to defeat?

He dodged yet another barrage of spears and then a glimmer of inspiration hit him. He cast his Light spell and threw the orb in her face blinding her for a moment. While she was blinded he got two Ice spear spells off. All four of the spears hitting her in the chest.

Seeing her stunned by the large amount of damage he advanced quickly, swept her of her feet and fired two Fireballs point blank at her chest. Hoping that the opposite Element would damage her more. It did, at least she stopped moving.

The second the fight was over he closed of all entrances to the center room and its four shallow spawn pools.

He then started meditating going over every single spell and dodge during the fight. Durabo had faults to correct in his repertoire.

Four hours later he had his sphere of last defense spell made. A spell cast with the most durable Earth mana he could get without adding to the chants length. It would take a hit of a thousand damage or so and had a chant of a second with two sigils. Not perfect but it was the best he could do for the moment.

He did make a mental note to study how to make his general spell casting faster besides leveling his chant and sigil mastery skills. It would help to alleviate more than a few of his problems and weaknesses.

Now that he had taken care of a glaring weakness in his combat potential it was time to do the more unpleasant tasks.

The removal of mind stones had become something akin to second nature for Durabo. So he had already broken her head open and retrieved it when he stopped and realized she looked nearly human, making him question his own sanity for doing it so calmly.

Next up was the extermination of all the eggs in the spawn pools. There was four of them, equally spread across the rooms dark grey stone floor. In the center of the room was the rock she had sat on, with the huge Brood egg next to it. She had fled almost all the way to one of the three exits while dodging and throwing magic at him.

It took him him all of two minutes to squash all the eggs in the pools and he now found himself studying the big white purple veined egg.

Durabo could not help but think it a shame to wipe out such a rare variant of the Bloods. The unborn Broodmother before him represented a choice, he could save or doom this strain of Ice Bloods.

In the end he could not do it, he chose to take the egg. If for no other reason than it might get him some gold in Vetas, mages will study anything related to magic including magical beasts.

With that done Durabo headed towards Fursreach, managing to get quite far before nightfall. While his four hour meditation had been in a sense necessary, he still regretted that he could not stop himself from doing it immediately.

Shaking his head at his own eagerness he surrounded himself with Earth walls and started meditating.

*******

Durabo’s run back to Fursreach had been uneventful, he had seen the tracks of wolves and other beasts. Yet when push comes to shove, he was satisfied with being forty-five, it should be enough to at least challenge an adept class witch depending upon her level of course.

That he had enough mindstones to almost overburden his carrying capacity had nothing to do with that decision of course. Well truthfully a single wolf or greater beasts carcass would slow him down to a crawl, that whole you need to bring the corpses back rule being quite the hindrance.

Feet hitting the snow in a slow and steady rhythm Durabo’s mind once more drifted back to the problem of motivation. What should he do within this beautiful world now that his thirst for proving old friends wrong had been preempted.

Well he did have his martial arts, and his rate of improvement would definitely benefit from the pseudo practical experience that Nexus had to offer. However that would mean giving up magic.

That thought triggered something within him, he would really not like to give up magic. Not at all actually. Both exploring all the theory of magic and its intricacies as well as utilizing that knowledge in combat was something he enjoyed immensely.

A grin appeared on his face as he reached the end of that line of reasoning. In the end Nexus was a game world, it was supposed to be fun and exciting.

It was of course at that time his passive twinged alerting him of something. Durabo stopped to figure out what, just as a massive paw swept through the air in front of him.

The clear and obvious irony of this was not lost on Durabo as he dodged the next paw and sized up his opponent. A massive wolf a meter and fifty at the shoulders, grey pelt with white highlights and purple eyes. Oh and according to his Third Eye overflowing with Ice mana.

Second mob in the north he wound up fighting with Ice affinity and something gave him the distinct impression this one would be a tad bit more difficult to handle.

Once more the Minor Frostwolf swiped at him while advancing faster than a beast that size had a right to. By pure reflex Durabo cast a gust spell and dodged behind the wolf while it moved further away than it had planned. He did notice that its claws did not skid across the snow, just perfect snowproof paws.

While it presented its back to him from just over a meter away he quickly fired two Fireballs at it all the while retreating backwards. Since the distance was small enough to allow them to keep most of their heat. Judging by the wolfs growl it was quite displeased by that.

The wolf almost contorted as it turned around and flashed at him again, once more he cast gust and dodged thinking that this beast might not be that hard to defeat.

The searing pain from his stomach stopped that thought right quick. The pain almost broke through his calm, which would have been even more troublesome. The bastard had tagged him with its back leg while passing by him, shaving off two thirds of his health in one hit, how it had done so he was not quite certain.

The purple mana running through its veins had visibly lessened, yet he had not observed the wolf use any magic.

A couple of fireballs hit is flank once again, since the wolf was so kind as to present it to him. Instead of a growl though, he was rewarded by a howl of obvious pain.

For a complex AI this wolf seemed to have a simplistic attack pattern, relying on its speed and strength to defeat opponents.

That thought was of course bound to jinx a fight that was otherwise going quite well for Durabo.

Purple eyes gleamed as the air became frigid. Once more the wolf attacked, but unlike before he could not dodge in time and took a hit. His body seemed to be moving slightly slower than usual, checking his stamina to see whether it was low he saw he still had some left before the debuffs so it could not be that.

The wolf followed up its solid swipe with a roar combined with teeth sinking into his neck. Durabo barely had time to discover what happened before he blacked out.

*******

Sebastian found himself in the white room once more. He was not quite sure how to tackle his second death in Nexus. On one hand the beast had clearly been toying with him, on the other hand he felt like he still should have been able to defeat it anyway. Failure had no place in his modus operandi.

With a flash of light Sophia’s slim form appeared before him, as it did so several other flashes of light brought back the sofa and table as well.

“Hi there Sophia, I presume you saw me getting toyed with by that mutt?” Sebastian asked, with a rueful shake of his head.

The corner of her eyes crinkled a little as she smiled.

“Well yes I did see that, although to be fair it was a variant and affinity beast. Most would have a tough job of killing it.” Sophia said, rubbing it in even more.

Sebastian was not irritated by this though, for in that little sentence was some information he did not have before.

At Sophia’s gesture he sat down in the sofa, and as he did so he felt the gentle warmth of another human being beside him.

“Well in the end there is always something out there that can kill you.” He said, with a small smile.

Sophia’s eyes gleamed as she flashed him a big smile.

“Indeed there is. Especially when you are a frail mage.”

Now that was surprising, if he didn’t know better he would think she was actually developing a playful side.

“Well at least I ain’t no glass canon.” Sebastian said, secretly waiting to see whether she would pick up the bait.

Her smile turned into a smirk as she replied.

“Indeed, that would require you to have high damage.” Her voice sweet and pleasant as she delivered that barb.

Well wasn’t that something, the shy little AI had developed some chops.

“I seem to remember something about us discussing things besides Nexus. How about we do that now?” He said, acknowledging her teasing hit as he did so.

Her gentle bell like laughter was his reward for letting her win their verbal joust.

“Well we can do that as well, Sebastian, what would you like to discuss?” She answered as her clear voice wrapped around his name. Her dark eyes more than a touch alluring.

Now he had no feelings except the friendly kind for her, yet those eyes and that voice was enough to make him doubt that for a second or two.

Time to get back at her for her teasing.

“Well, let me see… Whatever could I want to discuss with a beautiful young woman like you in private?” He said with a crooked smirk.

All the while looking her straight in the eye, she did have a nice, albeit petite, figure but eyes were the windows to the soul and he always found them the most fascinating.

The blush in her cheeks followed by her breaking eye contact seemed to indicate his revenge was achieved.

“Managed to beat your dad in chess yet?” Sebastian asked, giving her a way out.

“No, there is simply way too many possibilities for me to compute them all. Which I am certain is the reason that is the game we play.”

That actually made sense. Sebastian had a buddy who was rather good at chess.

He said that after each player made a move there was over four-hundred possible combinations and from there the number grew so fast that after the third turn there was more than nine billion combinations. Even Sophia with a processing power greater than most western nations couldn’t figure them all out, at least not within a reasonable timeframe.

“Well, I would think the trick is to not try and foresee everything and instead try to control it. But hey that’s probably just me.” He smiled, then continued. “Then again, that might be why I have never been anything but a mediocre chess player.“

Sophia studied him for a moment, her eyes searching.

“You keep saying that, Sebastian, but I get the feeling you know more about it than you say.” She said and a small grin appeared. “I might just have to force you to play with me sometime.”

A chance like that should always be grasped in his humble opinion.

“Well you won't have to force me to, how did you call it, play with you, Sophia, I will do so quite willingly.” Sebastian said all the while his grey eyes bubbled with barely restrained mirth.

The lightning fast hit to his right shoulder was not at all gentle. He even had to stop his hand from rising up to rub it, would not do to show weakness in front of a lady now would it.

“That was not what I meant and you know it. “ Yet as she denied that, Sebastian, could see a hint of heat in her eyes. “If you don’t want to play chess with me I will just have to survive without.”

“Hmm come to think of it, do you ever do anything like sports?” Sebastian asked, as he thought about her hobbies trying to decide what to talk about next.

“No, I don’t really see the point of doing so. Whatever I want my so called body to do it does, perfectly I might add. Besides who would I do such things with?”

She had a fair point as far a Sebastion could discern at least. How the hell could he have thought sports would be of any interest to her? Then again, she could handicap her body to normal human standards and try it, he thought she might even find it fun.

“Hmm are you able to compartmentalize enough to make your body control and perceptions like a humans?” He asked, an idea forming in his mind ever so slowly.

Sophia looked intrigued as she thought about it, taking her time to figure out whether or not she could.

While she looked into that Sebastian thought about how she would blush and fidget sometimes. If her body only did what she wanted, why did she react like that? No obvious answers presented itself, but he would sure like to know.

After a few minutes, which is bound to be a whole lot of thought for her, Sophia answered his question.

“Well, I can do that, but it requires a separation of this avatar and my main code. This would in essence make this avatar a split personality that is then reabsorbed.” She showed him a small smile before speaking once more. “I would like to know what we would do in the case I decided to try it.”

Mulling it over for a moment, Sebastian could see more than a few possibilities.

“Well, we could try soccer, bowling, dart, pool, we could even try martial arts if you were interested in that sort of thing.” He said, mentioning a few of the things he could come up with on the top of his head.

Her face lit up when he mentioned martial arts, her eyes almost shimmering with anticipation and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Well seemed like the sport we would try had been decided already.

“I would really like to try martial arts, Sebastian. I’ve seen you use some in Nexus and it looks so fun. “ Sophia said, her sweet voice eager.

Sebastian smiled gently at her enthusiasm, he himself had thought the same after he saw a shaolin monk show as a child. Now he was well aware of the fact he couldn’t even be compared to those guys, a lifetime of training is hard to beat. It was nice to hear his form was at least good enough to make Sophia think it looks fun.

“Well if we are going to practice martial arts, then we need a few things. I am sure you have some way to rustle those up Sophia.“ He said, certain that she knew the things needed, she had access to the hub after all as well as the internet.

Her smirk and nod was all the confirmation he needed. Light flashed and he found himself facing a large room, within which the black matted floor and austere furnishings of a traditional dojo resided. The only wall that held anything besides bamboo and rice paper was the one at the end. That one had sets of simple wooden weapons in every shape and size imaginable.

The dojo felt quite comfortable to Sebastian. It resembled the one where he was first taught Jiu Jitsu albeit with a better selection of practice weapons.

“Well I must say, you never fail to impress me Sophia. Now before you separate your main code and avatar I would like you to keep all martial art knowledge away from the avatar.“

“Why, I will only learn it again a later?” Sophia asked her porcelain face wearing a puzzled expression.

“Trust me Sophia, you will get more out of it that way.” Sebastian said, his eyes earnest and tone mild.

Beautiful dark eyes searched his for a moment, before she nodded once.

“Okay, I will try it and see what it feels like. Give me a second to get separated.”

After she said that, she closed her eyes, then both their clothes changed from his slacks and t-shirt and her kimono, into simple white Qi’s. A moment later she opened them again, no obvious change in her demeanor indicating the separation.

“Well, Sebastian, I’m ready if you are.”

A smirk and a after you gesture was all she got for that sass.

After they had found their way to the middle of the dojo’s matted floor, Sebastian stopped and collected his thoughts for a moment.

“Alright we will start at the very basics. That is to say we will practice a couple of falling techniques and decided after that what else we’ll do. Sound good?”

Sophia nodded her head yes, but said nothing. Sebastian took this in stride, his mind already slipping into its old and familiar tracks.

“Perfect. We will start with side break falls since I presume stretching and the like is irrelevant.” Sebastian said, then added with a grin. “Watch what I do closely, I’ll just fall for you.”

Having said that he swept his right foot forward, simulating being put off balance by a push or shove, and fell backwards landing on his right side while slapping the floor hard with his right hand at the moment of impact. After that he made sure to show Sophia how he had tugged his head into his chest and placed his legs so they did not hit each other on landing.

“Now the slap might seem dramatic and all, but it does have a purpose.” Sebastian said while standing up. “The physics are quite complex to explain but the effect is quite simple. If you time the slap so it coincides with the rest of your body hitting the floor it will reduce the impact of the fall.

Problem is if you slap to soon all the impact including that added by you slap will affect your arm, more than likely resulting in injury.

If you slap too late the slap is nothing more than sound effects.

Now that I think about it I’m certain you get the physics of it much better than I ever will.”

Sophia took the little lecture in stride though, without interrupting him. She did have a small smirk on her face as he said the physics of it was complex.

He demonstrated the side fall from both sides as well as how he got up in a basic fighting stance after.

“Now before you try it Sophia, remember to tug in your chin and exhale when you hit the floor. Although the chin is by far the most important part.”

Sebastian had to strangle a laugh at Sophia’s first attempt, she just sorta flopped to the floor not even remembering to slap and her head lolled around when she landed. The intense glare he got from the prone girl was more than enough motivation to stop it before it got out though.

Helping her rise he couldn’t stop himself from asking with a smirk.” Want me to show you once more?”

The glare turned even hotter, while her delicate hand hit him hard in the chest, not one to let a chance pass him by Sebastian used that to demonstrate how to do a perfect side break fall.

When her foot came stomping towards his chest, he rolled backwards and got to his feet in a relaxed fighting stance.

“My my, you do know violence doesn’t solve anything right?” He said all the while flashing her a boyish grin.

A decidedly unladylike snort was all he got for his troubles, that and another hit to his chest. Well another attempt at a hit, he simply dodged it caught her arm and put her in a back armlock.

“Are you ready to give up little miss violent?” Sebastian whispered with his lips close to her left ear while holding her right hand between her shoulder blades.

Moments passed and she still hadn’t answered him, and he was beginning to become quite aware of her closeness.

“I surrender.” she answered her voice containing a hint of both mirth and something else, something that sent a shiver down his back.

His hand released her arm, and he stepped back with a certain amount of regret.

“Well not that this hasn't been fun mind you, but I do need to get something to eat before logging back in.”

Sophia turned around still standing close and flashed him a smile.

“We will just have to continue this another time then, Sebastian. Now shoo, I have falling to practice.”

With that darkness swallowed him once more.

*******

When he logged back in, it was at the his rented room at the Inn. Which was also the reason why he hadn’t checked out of the room when he went hunting. Nexus had a simply respawn system, the last safe place you slept is where you will respawn, as long as you still have the right to that bed. In the case you don’t you end up at spawning the same place that you did when you started the game. Durabo had read rumors online about spawn stones and the like that would let you control the respawn point better, but if they truly existed the ones that had them did not divulge the information.

Durabo looked at himself and couldn’t help but frown. Nora would kill him if she ever discovered what sorry state he had allowed to let his clothes deteriorate to.

There was gashes, cuts, rips and tears all over his jacket. Mud and blood had even stained both his trousers and jacket. Frankly he looked a mess.

Taking needle and thread from his inventory he equipped his novice mage robes and sat down on the floor with the whole soiled mess of his battle set in his lap.

While he had nothing but basic knowledge of how to sew, he had always had a meticulous nature so he set to it with the utmost care and diligence. Besides when push comes to shove, the clothes were simply too cool to neglect or do a half-assed repair job on.

It ended up costing him about nine points of durability on the jacket and two points on the trousers when he was done. That they had magically cleaned themselves while he repaired them was something that reinforced that this world in truth was a game.

That was not too surprising, no the two status windows that appeared as he finished was. He had disabled stat and skill gain reports completely unless he gained something new and not just experience or points. The constant windows when he was calm and begun to irritate him.

New Stat GainedDexterity

New Skill GainedTailor’s Hands(Passive)

A quick thought brought up the information on his new stat and skill. .

DexterityRarity:commonRank:Advanced statType:PhysicalDescription:Effects:The representation of your manual dexterity and skill.

Factor:

Repairing clothes using the tailoring skill.Increases your hand control.

Increases the steadiness of your hands.

Slightly increases your hand speed.

Tailor’s HandsRarity:CommonRank:Sub SkillLevel:N/aDescription:Effects:You are able your hands with precision and speed.

Factor:

Having the Tailoring skill and the Dexterity stat.1% Hand control .

Well the Sub skill wasn’t bad, it could possibly help both his hand-to-hand and spell casting. The stat on the other hand seemed to be a waste of an advanced slot. Then again until he reached the limit of ten he might as well keep it. Who knows it might even prove useful down the line somehow.

Durabo re-equipped his battle set and rose, time to turn in his extermination quest. The sun had not set yet, so the Speaker should still be human and available.

When he got down the old wooden stairs of the inn and entered the tap room he spotted Anna at the bar. A boyish grin flashed across his face, as he saw her cheeks redden while his gaze swept over her. Ahh to be young and hormonal, well he had things to do, no time to tease the poor girl today.

“Where have you been the last week Durabo?” Anna half shouted from behind him.

Durabo turned around and smirked.

“Ohh I have been out hunting a little. That nest of Bloods that was a problem isn’t problematic anymore.” He answered, a note of quiet pride in his voice.

That surprised her a little it would seem, at least he could see a clear widening of her blue eyes.

“Now I’m in a little bit of a hurry Anna so I’ll tell you all about it later if you want to hear it.” Durabo said, and walked out the door after he saw her hesitant nod. Seems she read more into that statement than he did.

The sun above in the frost clear blue sky indicated it was only midday, yet he still felt a little time pressure because he thought that the Blackbriar’s would more than likely want some privacy as the time neared sunset and their change.

Durabo had forgotten all about the consecration ritual since it had no relevance to the quest he had done, so when he entered the square where the Speaker and his family’s log houses where he was surprised to see a small crowd of townspeople gathered around a small stone platform. The stone platform was made from the same grey bedrock as the mine, and on it three adult wolfs, four snow hares and a snow fox lay ready to be consecrated it would seem.

A tall and thin man stood before the platform, a gnarled wooden staff in one hand, a silver necklace with a dark gem in the other. The speaker had wings of grey at his temples, contrasting with his dark almost black hair.

While Durabo stood there watching, the Speaker said something long winded in a language Durabo didn’t understand and gestured to the carcasses. A hint of struggle creased his sharp face when he finished his monologue and a small barely noticeable flash of pale light appeared in the depths of the black gemstone set in his silver necklace. There was a hint of something in that flash that twigged his passive, but he could not for the life of him figure out what. If only the passive was more clear.

For all the fanfare Durabo had expected something a little more dramatic. Then again, they did this every day and repetition will make everything dull and commonplace in due time.

As the hunters took away their kills Durabo strode up to the Speaker and waited while the man chatted with a young boy. The speaker was telling the boy that his father was missed here at the consecrations, apparently he hadn’t hunted anything but small hares for a while.

The brown eyes of the Speaker then turned to study Durabo as the boy ran of with the four hares his snares had caught.

“What can I do for you young traveler?” His tone was polite and inquisitive.

“Well Speaker, I have completed this quest for Fursreach and it indicates I should contact you for the reward.” Durabo answered, his tone polite and forthright. He thought that might be the best tack to gaining this NPCs approval.

“Give me a second and I’ll check the screens. Oh and call me Simon, there is no need to stand on formality young elf.” Simon said, while he opened a window only he could see and fiddled around a bit.

The moment he spotted the work Durabo had done was quite apparent, the surprise evident on the otherwise calm and collected mans face.

“Now, that is indeed a quest I put up. But I must admit that I had not expected it to be resolved so fast.” Simon smiled a bit. “Why don’t you join me and my family for lunch? We can discuss a reward then, seeing as the payment for all the cores might bankrupt the village.”

Durabo had to suppress a frown, the only reason he had bothered with so many low level enemies was the fact that each of their cores netted him two coppers. The cores from the other types were worth more per core, but he had so few of them that they did not matter much in the grand scheme of things.

The experience from the Bloods, while alright, was nowhere near what it would have been had he hunted wolves and the like instead. Well in the end gold isn't everything and he had learned some things from the whole ordeal.

“Well I would be honored Simon.” Durabo said, if nothing else he would get a good meal out of it.

“Perfect, I’m sure Maggie has made plenty of food so you joining us shouldn’t be a problem.” Simon smiled, and indicated that Durabo should follow him.

Simon led him into the biggest log house near the square and through a long wooden hallway at the end of which a dark wooden door was placed.

The hall behind the door was big enough to house forty people and had a long oaken table down the middle big enough to seat half of that. Two benches ran the length of the long table. One end of the table had a white tablecloth and seven people of varying ages seated, yet Durabo barely saw them.

On the wall at the end of the table a magnificent fur hang, snow white with a slight purple sheen and bigger than a grizzly skin by half yet it was clearly a wolfskin. That wasn’t the fur of just any beast of that he was certain, no if he wasn’t mistaken that there was the big bad elder brother to the tame little pup that sent him to see Sophia.The fur of a Greater Frostwolf. How the hell had the Speaker gotten his hands on that?

A slight cough to his side brought him back to virtual reality.

“I see you can recognize a rare thing when you see it, if you are lucky I might even tell you the story of how I brought it down.” Simon said, his voice laced heavily with pride. Not that Durabo blamed him if what he said was true.

Like every person with a lick of sense knows levels are not nearly the end all be all. Greater Frostwolves might only be level fifty to sixty or so, but they had the power of both a sorcerer and an alpha predator. They were some of the undisputed champions of this area, and if Simon had single handedly killed one he was way more formidable than Durabo had thought.

Durabo would not be certain of his chances even if he outleveled that beast by ten or more levels. All of this was of course based upon knowledge gained from bestiaries, so it might not be true.

“I must say, I am impressed Simon.” Durabo said while he gave Simon a respectful nod, then added towards the whole room. “Good day to you all, my name is Durabo and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Lisette gave him a small smile and a nod. The three children just looked up stared at his ears for a bit and promptly dismissed him in favor of the food in their bowls. The elderly woman at the end watched him carefully before giving him a curt nod, and the middle aged woman smiled a bit and indicated he should sit down and dig in. The only one not polite, but almost hostile was the young man sitting next to Lisette, that one gave him the evil eye for some reason.

Durabo simply took the seat near the middle of the table opposite Lisette and her husband. The food was simple rabbit stew with a side of coarse brown bread, delicious in it own way, especially after three play sessions of jerky in a cold damp mine.

There wasn’t much talk, amongst the adults at least, the kids did keep pestering him with questions about what it was like to be an elf. They did not seem to realize they were being rude.

The cider that was served with the stew was the real treat though. Durabo had developed a soft spot for ciders in Nexus after all the dinners he and Silendra had enjoyed while drinking it. That his enjoyment of the drink had become bittersweet and a pang wormed its way through his heart every time he had it did not stop him from drinking it.

When the food was gone the others left and Simon came over and sat down beside him.

“Now I realize the quest promised gold for the cores and a bonus if you cleaned them all out, but we simply don’t have that sort of coin Durabo.” Simon said, his voice earnest. “What I can do is reward you with a tool that I have made myself. “

After he said that he produced a simple bone handled knife in an aged leather sheath. The blade was a ten centimeter drop point. Full tang and curved from handle to tip, the blade wasn’t fancy but it looked like high quality metal work anyway.

The real kicker came when he inspected it though.

IWolfbone knifeRarity:RareType:Tool(Knife)SoulboundDescription:This is an old hunting knife, with a bound wolf spirit. The spirit is an old alpha tired of killing and will only allow the knife to be used as a survival and utility tool.

Made by Speaker Simon of Fursreach. Stats:RestrictionsEffects:Durability: 1000Survival skillGrows through use.

5% skinning speed.

This knife was the perfect knife for him. Now no matter what happened to him in the future he would always have at least this basic survival tool. That the knife also gave him a hint as to what sort of class the speaker had was only a plus.

“Thank you Simon, it is more than I deserve.” Durabo said, humbled by the man’s generosity.

Even if the man could make this knife himself it was not something that could be easily done.

“Don’t worry about, the safety of my village is more important than any knife.” Simon said as he rose and offered Durabo his hand. “Besides I have a feeling you will appreciate it more than I do, he has been left unused for a long time.“

Durabo rose as well and shook Simons hand, still a bit shell shocked by the reward.

As he stepped out of the log house he looked down to his right hand holding the sheathed knife. This was truly a reward beyond expectations.

When he did so he spotted that his ring had been turned around at some point and the flame was clearly visible, he twisted the ring so the symbol didn’t show and silently hoped the witch hadn’t spotted.

Eager to try out his new knife, he couldn’t stop himself from heading out of Fursreach in search of prey.

Durabo had about four hours left before nightfall so he should have plenty of time to head out and kill a wolf or two and still get back in time for a cider and a story at the inn before his meditation.

Two hours later and a slight glow alerted him to the tracks of a feline. This would be good prey, solo hunter max level forty. Just perfect for what he needed.

Half an hour later his limited knowledge of tracking indicated that the tracks was fresh and recently made. Yet the beast was nowhere to be seen. It took him a moment to realize that the snow leopard was more than likely an ambush predator and he had walked right into an area with small rocky outcroppings and other semi mountainous terrain. Perfect for just that sort of tactic.

Well, he should really learn to read and account for the terrain better. Sun Tzu would be ashamed of him.

His intuition twinged so with the sound of runes on his tongue and his hands flowing through sigils he cast to Ice spears behind him while making a forward rolling breakfall angled slightly to the side.

Durabo was rewarded by the dull thump of spears hitting flesh and a shadow flying over his head. His forward movement ended with him on his feet and the leopard two meters away from him rising slowly. Without any hesitation he cast two Ice shards, and actually managed to pierce its eyes with one of them, since he somehow could guide it even after release.

With that the beast died, yet Durabo still felt a certain respect for it. Were he ever to play an assassin he would strive to emulate its tactical thinking. Heck he should and probably would do so anyway.

Drawing his new knife from its sheath at his side Durabo started skinning the snow leopard with as much care and precision as he could. The knife cut through the skin like it was barely there and when separating the hide from the flesh beneath it it almost seemed like the skin did so by itself, truly a nice knife.

Before leaving the rest of the carcass for the wild to reclaim he took its teeth intending to make a necklace from them, while he had won the fight it had been the wisest.

*******

When Durabo got back to the inn the sun was half a hand over the horizon. Time to get some cider and get to know the locals, his help with the nest should have spread by now given him at least some semblance of respect and trust around here.

The taproom was nearly empty, an old man sat in the corner booth nursing an ale, and Lucas stood behind the bar looking bored while listening to the rant of a middle aged man wearing a fur hat sitting on a stool. Well there was bound to be more people coming judging from the amount of people that were here when he first arrived in town.

Durabo decided to free Lucas from his misery, seeing as no one enjoys a drunken lecture.

“Hi there Lucas. Could I get a dark cider please?” Durabo asked cutting fur hat guy off mid sentence. Durabo was well aware of how rude that was, and he did it anyway.

“Oh welcome back Durabo, I hear you’ve handled the Blood nest all by your lonesome. Guess magic gives you some advantages we normal folk don’t have.” Lucas answered, all the while the drunk kept lecturing not even noticing he did not have an audience. “We only have elven forest cider by the way.”

“That’s fine Lucas, that was the stuff that got me hooked anyway. “ He answered and while Lucas drew it from a keg beneath the bar Durabo added. “Well I admit magic does provide some utility that is hard to get elsewhere. But like any other tool or weapon its worth is determined by the hand or mind wielding it.”

Lucas nodded at that and handed Durabo the mug of cider. Too bad that it wasn’t chilled. That was a spell he would have to design at some time soon, the drink chiller. Nothing worse than a drink that is warm when it really ought to be cold.

While Lucas and Durabo had their little talk more people had come and a few of them had gotten in line, clearly the ones whose turn it was to give the round.

Who should he go and talk to? He wanted some information while he enjoyed his drink, he planned to use a week or so hunting around town and getting to know the locals before acting in his quest. The Blood quest should give him a good foundation for that.

In the end he settled on the man sitting in the corner booth. He looked like an old and grizzled man, so he had more than likely been here for many years.

“Mind if I join you?” Durabo asked, polite and respectful but not servile. In his experience most old folk get tired real fast of asskissers.

The mans flinty black eyes weighed him for a moment, judging.

“Nah go ahead kid.”

Durabo thanked the man and sat down across from him.

For the next ten minutes time or so Durabo just enjoyed his cider, even lurk warm it was pretty good. While he sat there enjoying the cider he thought of things to talk with the old man about, the thing that helped him decide was the mans callouses. This man was a hunter.

“So I ran into a Minor Frostwolf while on my way back here.” Durabo said, his voice neutral.

“Hmm you don’t say, how did that work out for ya kid?” Flinty said, with a glint in his eyes and mirth in his voice.

“Well for the first two or three minutes or so I thought it went great. I managed to score a couple of hits with my fireballs, taking a little damage but not much.” He said, and then added with a self deprecating smile. “Turns out the bastard had been toying with me and it killed me in a flash using a slowing aura of some sort.”

Flinty barked a laugh and looked at him with a smile.

“Well they will do that to young pups like you if they can get away with it. Must’ve been an old brute though, few of them have an aura strong enough to noticeably slow you.” His eyes shined as he added. “Good thing you’re a traveler kid.”

“Indeed it is, can’t even imagine how the Speaker handled the one on his wall. If a Minor is like this, I would hate to fight a Greater.”

Flinty snort was loud, reflexive and instantaneous.

“Simon still claims it as his kill does he?” Flinty sounded almost amused by the thought. “Let me tell ya something. There has only ever been one family that could handle beasts like that around here, and it damn sure isn’t the Blackbriar’s.”

It took him a second to figure it out, but if it wasn’t the Blackbriar’s then there was only one other family who had property and therefore status enough to match them.

“You’re telling me that skin came from a Hawthorne kill aren’t you.” Durabo asked, his voice serous.

If that were true then things around here were not what they seemed, then again when are things ever as they seem at first glance?

“You damn right it’s a Hawthorne kill, saw the former White hunter bring it in myself fifteen years ago I did.

That was his last kill before the stuff with his wife happened.” At the end of that sentence flinty looked regretful, as if he had said too much.

Durabo was just about to push his advantage when a blood curdling howl pierced the air. This was not simply the normal howl of the cursed beasts, no this was different more intense.

As fast as he could Durabo rose and rushed towards the square, this might be something serious.

When he got there he was met with yet another tragic and chilling visual tableau. Lisette was kneeling besides one of the smaller beastly forms its head resting on her thighs, her hands and the snow around her painted dark crimson by the beasts heartblood.

“Robert… ohh robert, what have you ever done to deserve this?” Lisette said hulking while tears streamed down her face. Her hands stroking a face slowly becoming more human.

Within the single minute Durabo stood stunned the form changed, turning into the youngest Blackbriar, his chest pierced by a simple hunters arrow. Something that shouldn’t have been able to kill the childs cursed beastly form.

Status Window:

Spoiler : Status WindowName:DuraboGender:MaleLevel:45Experience:2%Job:Silver InquisitorRace:High ElfCombat Class:MageSupport Class:NoneTitles:Firecaller, Novice Eislonien MageExpendable Stats:HP:1580HP/s:12,1MP:19939MP/s:7,2Stamina:1580STM/s:24,1Satiety:30kSAT/s:-1Basic StatsStatBaseBonusTotalAgility:7673149Charisma:611071Endurance:85085Intelligence:450133583Strength:37037Vitality:1580158Wisdom:10340143Advanced Stats:Concentration:180Dexterity:12Serenity:46Willpower:84Affinities:Air:29Earth:26Fire:60Ice:21Light:25Lightning:5Mind:31Nature:3Water:26Resistances:Air:3%Earth:2.5%Fire:16%Ice:7,1%Light:2,5%Mind:3%Nature:0.5%Water:3%

Skill Window:

Spoiler : Skill ListCombat Skills:Skill nameSkill RankSkill LvlSkill EXPControlled Manifestation: Fire (Active):Novice924%Focus: Spells(Passive):Novice2273%Grimoire (Passive):Adept1732%Intuition (Passive):Novice124%Mana Feed (Passive):Adept1681%Manifestation: Air (Active):Adept1943%Manifestation: Earth (Active):Adept1274%Manifestation: Light (Active):Adept29%Manifestation: Mind (Active):Novice73%Manifestation: Water (Active):Adept1247%Mastery: Air Spells (Passive):Adept95%Mastery: Chants (Passive):Adept1423%Mastery: Earth Spells (Passive):Adept912%Mastery: Fire Spells (Passive):Adept1299%Mastery: Hand To Hand (Passive):Novice1865%Mastery: Ice Spells (Passive):Novice231%Mastery: Light Spells (passive):Novice163%Mastery: Magic Staffs (Passive):Novice87%Mastery: Mind Spells (passive):Novice57%Mastery: Sigils (Passive):Adept1414%Mastery: Wands (Passive):Novice129%Mastery: Water Spells (Passive):Adept1156%Running (Passive):Adept32%Third Eye (Active):Adept1021%Support Skills:Skill nameSkill RankSkill LvlSkill EXPCartography (Passive):Novice2254%Charm (Passive):Novice239%Cooking (Passive):Novice75%Language: Rune Tongue (Passive):Adept277%Meditation (Passive):Adept989%Subconscious Note-taking (Passive):N/AN/AN/ASurvival Skills (Passive):Novice847%Tailoring (Passive):Novice247%Writing (Passive):Novice1836%

Hello there fellow penguins of our great and eternal empire :)

First of, let me say that I realized I should have added the little segment in the start to the end of the last chapter, but since I didn’t do that do try to live with it.

This chapter has by far the greatest amount of Sophia screen time, way more than I planned. Well I hope you like it, for I kinda think it’s some of my better work.

To think I hadn’t even planned for Sophia to appear in this chapter. I just simply couldn’t let Durabo beat that wolf :)

Wow my chapters seem to get longer… Hmm and I have even split it into two parts already. Well I’m sure more is better right penguins? :P

Ohh if you haven’t noticed I have started a new story called Ouroboros.

My take on a darker more serious mc and reincarnation story. Check it out if you like that kinda thing. It is very much a side project though ;)

Now see ya around penguins, and as always I hope you enjoyed my humble story.