By becoming 'Grave’s' master, you will gain access to 'Grave’s' class 'Soul Necromancer'. You will receive bonuses and penalties of a 'Soul Necromancer' as well as 'Soul Necromancer' skills.

*sigh*

Initially after Chrono calmed down, he thought of having access to the 'Soul Necromancer' class and becoming godly powerful like Seth was good luck in disguise. But after asking Seth for advice and experimenting himself, he decide it’s entirely misfortune.

From Seth’s explanation, there were a few blacksmiths who managed to forge legendary swords in the past. But Legendary Swords will eat the master’s experience until they converted to level 1 and it will be 3 times harder to level as a Legendary Sword’s master. High level users thought it was not worth it since they needed to rework their character and their high level friends cannot form a party with them because of the big level gap. Combined with the Legendary Sword’s extra expensive material, it has remained unpopular among users for 10 years.

And when asked about 'Soul Necromancer', Seth seemed a bit hesitant to speak since it was about his class. One of the reasons hidden classes dominate Emperor Saga is because no one knows about their skills’ effects, bonuses and weaknesses. For normal classes, there were many written guides to counter them in pvp but it is unknown how to counter hidden classes.

Generally, 'Soul Necromancers' need soul to use their skills. Unlike mana, souls are lesser spirits and they will get tired and need rest. For example, after unleashing 'Abaddon’s Kiss' which needs 8,000 souls, those 8,000 souls will rest for 24 hour until they can be used again. In short, instead of regeneration per second like mana, souls need to rest. In other words, soul is like a mana that will only replenish every 24 hours. For Chrono who only has 10,000 souls, he can only use 'soul necromancer' skills once or twice a day.

In return, 'Soul Necromancer' skills are more potent than any other mage skill. Seth can even hunt a dragon alone as a 'Soul Necromancer'. Of course that's only because Seth had a lot more souls to use. With Noah’s staff and more than 10 'Soul Orbs', Seth has at least 1 million souls in his arsenal.

Complete protection against holy magic seems like a good thing. But other than 'Dragon’s Breath', there is no known damaging holy magic. Because holy magic is more known for buffs and healing, 'Soul Necromancer' is more at lose since they cannot receive any of those. Seth seemed to hide a few things, but Chrono was still satisfied with his answers as he could find out about it himself later.

*********************

"Grave skill window!"

1. Soul Eater (passive) : + 0 strength

2.Soul Blade (Beginner lvl 1)(500 soul per second)

3.Soul Wall (Beginner lvl 1) (5,000 soul)

4.Abaddon Kiss(Beginner lvl 1)(8,000 soul)

5.Soul Rip(Beginner lvl 1)(10,000 soul)

Chrono recognized other skills because he had followed Seth. But he never saw Seth use the 'Soul Eater' and 'Soul Blade’ skill. Curious, he opened those two skill windows..

"Soul Eater skill window!"

Soul Eater(passive) : +0 strength

Consume a dying soul and replenish the Master’s vitality by 25%. The soul consumed will passively grant the Master bonus strength. 1/5 of the bonus strength will disappear when the Master dies.

By the skill description alone, one would think it’s an overpowered skill. But Chrono who has a lot of game experience was not so fast to decide that. "(I may need to kill a thousand monsters to get +1 bonus strength)"

"Soul Blade skill window!"

Soul Blade(Beginner level 1)(500 soul per second) :

Enchant Grave with soul that will ignore armor.

A more straightforward skill that will make any user jump in excitement. But again, Chrono did not judge as fast.

"(I can only use this skill for 20 second a day)"

After a while, he decided to check his skill window and stats window. He should have checked it before but he was terrified to see his lower stats and skills. And at the thought some skills may have disappeared, made his heart ache.

"Skill window"

Negotiate (Passive)(Beginner level 1)

Contract ( Beginner lvl 1)(10 mana)

Merchant eye (Passive)(Beginner level 1)

Fake Death (Beginner lvl 1)(50 mana)

Artisan (Passive)( Beginner level 1)

Identification ( Beginner level 1)(50 mana)

Blacksmith (Beginner level 1)

Repair ( Beginner level 1)

Ancient Merchant Secret(Beginner level 1)(20 mana)

Clothing (Beginner level 1)

Foraging (Beginner level 1)

Gem Cutter ( Beginner level 1)

Cooking Mastery ( Beginner level 1)

Accessory Crafting (Beginner level 1)

Walking Dead(Beginner level 1)

Cheat Death(Passive) (Beginner level 1)

Merchant Luck(Passive)

Luckily, no skill disappeared. But every skill had returned to level 1.Chrono didn't know if he should feel happy or not. Then Chrono looked at his Status window.

"Status window!"

Stat Window

Character name

Chrono

title

none

Level

1

Class

Merchant

Fame

1000

Vitality

210

Mana

210

Strength

21

Dexterity

21

Endurance

21

Wisdom

21

Intelligent

21

Sense

26

Luck

26

Stamina

21

He had lost all the stats gained by leveling manufacturing skills, but the stats gained from dragon slaying, forging Ragnarok and Grave remained. The merchant class naturally has +5 strength and luck. His Fame should be higher but the game limits the amount of Fame someone can have each level. For a level 1, 1,000 Fame is the limit.

Chrono then decided he would start to hunt monsters to level. The first monster he fought in Emperor Saga was Ancient Dragon and he actually never swung a dagger before. For a level 1 player, his current clothing was a bit too fancy and may draw attention. If anyone found out he is not a newbie, chaotic users will hunt him as an easy target. Even freshly starting newbies will get hunted if chaotic users know they are wealthy from buying gold or due to help from higher level users.

"(I will take the clothing I found in the warehouse and take its fabric to make the newbie clothing.)"

When the newbie clothing was finished, he made sure he only had 50 copper with him. Grave looked like a sword any newbie could use, so he decide it was okay to use it when hunting monsters. Then, he looked for a piece of paper to make a newbie town return scroll.

Any level 1 player can make novice town return scrolls. It’s rare, but there were cases where a user’s level decreased to level 1 by getting killed. When such a thing happened, they will gain a temporary skill which enabled them to make newbie town return scroll that would enable them to teleport to the chosen newbie town. The skill will disappear when the user reaches level 10.

Chrono chose Town of Dali. A newbie town north of Mafoso.

*****************************************************A New Beginning*********************************************

As soon as Chrono spawned in the Town of Dali, he looked for a food stall to buy bread. A basic food for a beginner. When he arrived at the food stall, he politely asked the stall owner.

"Good morning sir, I would like to buy 20 bread from you."

-"Here you go son, that will be 10 copper."

As Chrono got the maximum amount of fame for level 1, he got a lower price from the stall’s owner. He then went to the town border and did the final check-up before his first hunt. No one prepared things in detail before hunting at a newbie town, but as a merchant it was a habit for him. When he was done, he nervously walked outside of the town border while holding his sword tightly.

Outside, there were hundreds of newbies hunting around. Chrono chose the most crowded hunting area as he thought it would be easier to ask for help from other users. He looked for the weakest monster around and wounded too if possible. After looking for at least 20 minutes, he finally found a limping small rabbit that no one attacked.

"(My first prey!!)" Chrono smile eerily and dash toward the limping rabbit.

Maybe because he was overly excited or because he was too nervous, when Chrono was about to swing Grave, the sword slipped from his hand. As if it was not enough, the sword gained momentum and thrust through a newbie user’s body.

Back Stab!

Critical hit!

You delivered 80 damage

Merchant Luck triggered!! you deliver extra 100 damage

Chrono eyes turn red as he received another heart-breaking message.

You successfully kill a person. -100 fame

25% of you vitality restored

You now have chaotic status. Chaotic status can be lifted by asking forgiveness from every person you kill or repenting your sin by slaying 1,000 monster per person or by staying out of trouble for 3 months.

"(Should I apologize to that guy? I can't enter the town now but I can wait for him outside here.)" Chrono walked over and recovered Grave.

The idea was good, but the world is not so forgiving. The users around Chrono held their weapons high and took their battle stance. They had never seen a chaotic user, but they knew killing a chaotic user will have no penalty and the chance to drop equipment is high. For a newbie user, even Chrono’s cheap looking sword was fancy enough. They slowly surrounded Chrono from all directions.

Sensing the dangerous situation, Chrono tried to explain what had really happened. But before he could open his mouth, one of the newbies attacked him with a bamboo staff. Chrono could dodge that attack easily but another 2 attacks came from behind. Thinking he couldn’t take on that many users, Chrono deliberately got attack by one of the user and used his favourite skill.

'(Fake Death)'

The newbies surrounded his 'corpse' hoping for some nice drops. But as Chrono never actually died, nothing dropped only a never disappearing 'corpse'.

-"He should drop something right?"

-"Yeah, why is there no drop? Is this some kind of glitch?"

-"Maybe the person he killed has forgiven him already?"

After waiting for a few more hours, they decided it was a game glitch since the 'corpse' didn't disappear. Then, the newbies started to leave Chrono’s 'corpse' little by little. When Chrono felt no one beside him, he finally got up and charged to the wood as fast as he could. But there were a few players who saw Chrono’s 'revival' and decided to chase after him.

Chrono outran most of them but a few players kept up with Chrono’s running speed. When Chrono ran towards the 'Forest of Beasts', no one dared chase him further exceept two users. The monsters here ranged from level 30-50, no wonder most of the newbies didn't follow him. As Chrono couldn’t shake off the last two users, Chrono decided to stop running and try his luck fighting the two users.

"Can't we talk?"

-"Nope"

--"Just die"

The two users attacked simultaneously. Chrono calmly calculated the distance and cast his first 'Soul necromancer' skill.

'Soul Wall!'

The two users who went through the 'Soul Wall' got slowed by 50%. Chrono then activated 'Soul Blade' and attacked one of the users. He managed to get three hits in a row as the enemy got slowed.

You delivered 27 damage

You delivered 28 damage

Critical hit!

You delivered 50 damage

You successfully kill a person. -100 fame

25% of your vitality restored

If Chrono had sword mastery, he actually could have gotten 3 critical hits, but without one he considered it lucky when the attack was successful and the sword did not slip. When Chrono delivered his third strike, 'Soul Wall' wore out and the other user rushed to Chrono and struck him.

You receive 18 damage

Chrono tried to retaliate but maybe because of experience, 70% of his attacks were dodged by the user while the user’s attack were always on target. When Chrono’s vitality was about to be depleted completely, exactly after the user’s strike.

'(Fake Death)'. Chrono fell to the ground as if he was dead.

-"No fooling me twice". The user stabbed Chrono’s 'corpse' one more time to make sure. This time 5 copper dropped from Chrono. "Finally". The user smiled.

But when he turn around to leave, Chrono rose behind him and slowly approached him using 'Walking Dead'. Before, he took out five copper from his pocket and held it. When the user stabbed his 'corpse', he released the 5 copper from his hand as if he dropped it because of his death.

Cheat Death activated, instead of dying your health decrease to 1 after receiving fatal attack

Chrono rose behind the user and walked to him slowly with 'Walking Dead'. He walked to him even though he should have continued playing dead. With no soul left and with 1 health, Chrono walked to him stealthily for his last attack. When the distance decreased to 3 feet, he charged while holding his Grave with all his might. Grave thrusted through the user’s body from the user’s back all the way through his chest.

Back Stab!!

Critical hit!!

You deliver 80 damage

You successfully kill a person. -100 fame

25% of your vitality restored

By taking 3 lives in a single day you earn the title 'Serial Murderer' your wanted poster will be all around the nation and you will be hunted down by bounty hunters and the authorities.

Now he couldn't go back to newbie town. And somehow he needed to live here in the Forest of Beasts. If he got any nearer to the town players will hunt him while going deeper into the forest meant the monsters would get stronger. The bittersweet life of Chrono the criminal had now begun......

****