NECROMN!

“NO! NO NO NO NO NO! THAT F***ING A**. WHAT KIND OF MONSTER WOULD DO THAT!?!?!? NOOOOO!!”

Kelli Porter started to hit the opening console. The last messages he saw in game after he lost both of his arms caused him to scream in rage.

Your ‘Blood Crystal’ Job-item has been destroyed. The destruction of the ‘Blood Crystal’ has released 4732 Lesser Souls and 32 Moderate souls.

You have lost 50520 health.

You have DIED.

You have been locked from the game for 18 hours.

You have failed your class quest ‘Revival of the Bloody Soul Goddess’ and have gained the Ire of Plutys. Your wandering soul has been taken by Plutys and destroyed.

Your account has been deleted.

Creating a new account is possible but there will be some restrictions due to your previous actions,

‘NOOOOO!’ Weeks of work had just been wasted and Kelli was extremely pissed off at the situation. At level 127 Kelli, or Necromn, was one of the top 100 players and he had obtained a Hidden Class just a few real life days ago. ‘Soul Reaper’ was a class that took the souls of enemies after they died and then used it to fuel their magic. The class had the potential to become an extremely powerful class but he had just lost it due to the Quest’s failure punishment.

As a Hidden Class he was supposed to revive his Goddess in secret which meant he wasn’t supposed to die and attract Plutys’ attention. Churches and the like weren’t supposed to know about him either so he usually never interacted much inside of cities. The Tournament was only supposed to be filled with noobs or NPCs that he could take easy souls from but because of that person...

Kelli stopped his pounding and tried to calm down. He also flexed his fingers and moved his arms a few time in order to get feeling back into them. Getting your arms cut off, even if it was just in game, was never a pleasant sensation. The pain from where he got cut could still be felt and he even checked his lower regions to see if he actually pissed his pants. Finding just regular track pants and no wet discomfort, Kelli got out of the Console and proceeded to take a shower. The console itself was fine as the materials made were pretty high-quality.

“That damn nobody. He was just supposed to be a lucky idiot who made it to the finals. What kind of BS did the game throw at me?’ Kelli was still extremely agitated as he went through the daily motions of life. He cleaned himself after the shower and then proceeded to clean the house and cook a meal before his kids got home. His wife was picking them up so there was no worry about him doing it and interrupting his playing, but since he died there was nothing much to do. So he mulled over what happened when he got the class…

[/hr]

Necromn the Mage tripped over a few rocks in the darkness. He wasn’t able to make any light since most of his spells leaned towards the Earth elemental side so he just fumbled in the dark and occasionally cast ‘Echolocation’ to avoid crashing into walls. The Mage class was a really BS class in the beginning but he had gotten over most of his hatred over it. Most of his hatred…

In the beginning of the game anyone who wished to become a Mage had to seek the Church of Information and learn there. The problem was that Magic was incredibly difficult to master usually and the priests there were trying many different ways of teaching. They mainly used trial and error on the various theories the Church had devised for the ‘Otherworlders’ but the waste of time caused many players to change their wishes of being Mages. Necromn and several others stuck to it though and a way was devised that used ‘Chants’ and ‘Movements’ to create the effects of Magic.

Necromn really wanted to become a Mage that specialized in controlling the dead. A ‘Necromancer’, hence the name had chosen. Necromn the Necromancer was kinda stupid but the name was chosen and accepted so there was little to do to change it. When Necromn started playing though he found out that one had to join the Church of Death just to control the dead. Necromn had stark opposition to anything religious since there were basically 2 stupid rules when it comes to religion: Follow what they say or you will die/be excommunicated. Not much leniency at all.

Necromn moved the point of his staff in a horizontal circle and he muttered the words “I wish to see with my ears, Echolocation!” and 100 mana was used up afterwards. The spell cooldown lasted around 2 minutes so the Mana Upkeep was lower than his Mana Regeneration and it could be spammed somewhat properly. It was still a disorienting spell since the echos were all processed in his mind and produced a complex image of the area. Necromn wasn’t able to pay attention to every pebble and rock on the ground, even if the objects were included in the scan so tripping was a common event.

Necromn was in ‘The Cave of Dread’ which was located about 3 kilometres south of ‘The Forest of Dread’. Discovered by a few aspiring ‘Adventurers’ of the Rogue and Warrior classes, the cave was reported to a representative of ‘Duty’ in Bellen and they gained a few choice rewards. One of which was also the opportunity to lead an expedition to the cave and clear it out before retrieving the treasures for themselves and the city.

Necromn had just passed a few more Earth classes with his teachers when the news came. Necromn was getting incredibly sick with his hermit like classes and he thirsted for the adventure that ‘Gaia’ had to offer. Necromn also wanted to see the realism of the game when he killed more monsters. The levels he had gained, about 63 in all, were mainly from hunting the rabbits, foxes, and wolves in the area. He needed more.

Necromn applied for the group with about 150 others. The group consisted mainly of Rogues and Combat relation classes but Mages could be seen here and there. They were also the most welcome since the group needed a few AOE members in case of large battles. Clerics numbered 30 and were ‘donated’ a bunch of mana potions and the like while the few Craftsmen classes were there mainly to cook for the group and harvest resources found. Any rare minerals the cave had would be documented and gathered for future mining excursions. There weren’t many performance classes so the group lost out of some mass buffs but they were rather confident in handling a close new dungeon. They assumed that all close dungeons were made for beginners...

Necromn didn’t like the group atmosphere but he couldn’t find a reason to solo. He was used to uncomfortable situations outside of Gaia so the game made it easier to put up with it. He could talk about various parts of the game and even get information out of his party mates. He didn’t get much recent information just from raiding libraries.

Necromn heard that the best routes between cities were Monster ridden ones. He questioned the validity of the statement but when he was told that the monsters were mainly loners and avoided travelling in groups, he started to get an understanding. Parties could be hired by Merchant caravans so that meant a stable short-term income. Parties would also be able to deal with the single monsters and that means easy experience and items.

Necromn stored that bit of information away as he kept listening. The information he got were rather good but the reliability was a little low. As they were all new players, a few months in game meant that they were still trying out various things and making sure they didn’t make mistakes.

What they all agreed on. NPCs are tough as hell and won’t hesitate to kill.

Necromn scoffed at their words but when he heard that several players were killed quickly on the first day he shut out the thought. He still remembered being punched in the stomach and then the jeers and faces the other NPCs made. Necromn clenched his fists in anger before another piece of information pierced his thoughts.

“I heard the highest level person, Promise, has just cleared another dungeon. He had the backing of a small guild but he is probably the first player to lead a complete Dungeon Run.”

“Ah, we will still be the second ones to do so. He won’t keep that high seat of his for very much longer.”

“Hmph. I heard rumours that he was hoping to increase his guild power and try to own a city. How he will do so is beyond me though.”

“What level was he anyways? I checked the Player rankings an RL day ago and he was at level 96.”

“That was several days ago. He past level 103 when I logged in a few RL hours ago.”

Necromn was excited from news about Promise. The man didn’t start the game at the beginning but his fast leveling and adaptability to the game was shockingly fast. While others joined one of the NPC run guilds in the beginning, Promise made his own guild instead and started to hunt a massive amount of monsters. Necromn had a little hero worship for Promise but opposite that was a lust to surpass the man and become number one.

When the main commanders of the Expedition had finally finished their preparations the Expedition went underway. Approximately 150 active people were in the group and 10-20 were craftsmen. That meant around 130 people to be split into groups. The commanders had no confidence in ordering a large mass of people around well, so they decided to form parties within the army and then allow the parties independent reign when needed. Orders would be told to the party leaders if it was necessary.

Necromn was in a party of 8 that consisted of 1 Cleric, 3 Fighters, 1 Dagger specialized Rogue, another mage, and a Trap specialized Rogue. Not a very balanced group since the Fighters were all offensive types and there was no one to Aggro the monsters effectively, but the overall offensive might of the group was very high. 2 mages added a powerful assortment of AOE spells from the group. A few questions told Necromn that his partner was a Fire-specialized Mage which meant quick a powerful shots, especially in a tight cave.

For 2 days the group traveled. Although the Dungeon was relatively close, the area they were traversing was full of boulders and sparse grass which made for an exhausting travel. Constant breaks were needed to replenish the low stamina of the Clerics and Mages so the Rogues usually went ahead to scout for monsters or the like.

When they finally reached the Cave, most of the people gaped in wonder. The cave was actually sprouting out of the ground and seemed to invite them all inside. The entrance was in the shape of a large skull with the gaping mouth open and waiting. One could see a little foyer inside the mouth and then a set of stairs at the back of the throat. All in all it gave a creepy feeling and fit the ‘Cave of Dread’ title.

“Alright. Everyone take a short break here for a while. Nightmare, send in the two main Rogue parties to scout the inside for a bit. Report back in 1 hour.”

“Aye.”

The speaker was the active Leader of the Expedition, a Paladin by the name Renald - said with a slight french accent - and he was speaking to the Leader of the Rogue faction, Nightmare. Handsome and golden haired spoke to handsome and dark haired. Even with the limitations on Character Creations, most of the Human Players made their characters in the same way, Handsome and taller than in real life. Necromn was no different as he made his Character with a sharp chin, strong nose, and striking grey eyes. He kept his regular dark-brown hair and his 6 foot 4 inches height and the combination created another handsome ‘Otherworlder’. There really was no benefit to doing so in Gaia though since most of the NPC have long since stopped flirting with pretty ‘Otherworlders’. Late-Players can usually be heard cursing the relative difficulty of striking up conversation with NPC women…

Renald was still a striking and large man as he wore an complete set of paladin armor. Stark white with lines of Silver and Gold here and there, there were rumours that Renald had been personally invited by a Church of Light. The Battle-God whose name was Luke or Lukas or something, bestowed his blessing and power on Renald, which was supposed to make the man a powerful person; both on the battlefield and in the cities.

When Nightmare returned with the scout report, the leaders of each party went and congregated near the entrance. They started to talk quietly and any rising voices were immediately snuffed out. Necromn’s party leader was a middle aged sword and shield Warrior named Polo. Since everyone was being trained by the Series teachers, they were all competent with their skills to a degree. This Expedition was more like a test of their skills more than anything.

Polo returned to the party and told everyone to start getting ready. After 30 minutes of some bustle, the entire expedition entered the mouth of the ‘Cave of Dread’. The Skull seemed almost to be laughing as they all entered.

[/hr]

Several hours of painstaking exploring came for the Expedition. No sign of monsters, no signs of treasure. All in all it was a boring cave. Even bats would have been a welcome bit of EXP.

The cave itself served well as a scary experience. Dripping can be heard as the party walked but the sound never came closer or farther. Several hours of travel and the only accompaniment was a steady drip drip drip. The walls themselves were made of pure limestone which was unfortunate enough. The few craftsmen couldn’t find a single bit of raw minerals anywhere in the walls.

The entire Expedition stopped their exploration when one of the Mages reported low Stamina. The groups didn’t split into parties but remained in a general group and the cooks took out their tools of trade and started to make a small feast. The smells of the food nearly brought the Expedition’s hopes up.

Until they heard a scream back where they came from.

Everyone scrambled to their feets while the cooks continued their cooking. They’re plan was to create an after-battle feast for the hungry Expedition.

“All class leaders, report in.”

Unlike the party leaders, the class leaders were people who were assigned a specific class group. They numbered 20 and had the co-work of being a party leader. One by one they checked their numbers before calling out to Renard.

“Cooks all here!”

“Warriors, armed and ready.”

“Archers, arrows nocked.”

“Mages, rested and ready.”

…

For the next 5 minutes these comments from the leaders rang out before a definite silence washed over the group. Renard was listening for something and grew agitated when he didn’t hear it. He scanned the group before shouting.

“Pan! Oy Pan! Why aren’t you responding!”

The entire expedition looked around to find this ‘Pan’ but no one heard or saw anyone speak out.

“Pan! Where are the Clerics?!?!?”

That got everyone’s attention and they all started to scan for a group of people dressed in the donated clothes of Deacons. No one spoke out that they spotted the group though and everyone grew even more agitated.

Their Clerics, 20 in number, were all gone. They would have to traverse the caverns without anyone to heal injuries or cure curses. Another few shrieks echoed behind the group and most thought the same thing.

“C-c-could that be-”

“BY THE LIGHT OF PORTEND I BANI- GRAAAAAH”

A loud male voice boomed down the hall and a light started to shine around the corner. The voice was trying to pray to the God Portend, a patron of Demon Hunters and Exorcists that were especially good in dark dungeons.

“Dammit Pan! What the hell is happening!”

Necromn could see that Renard knew the voice and deduced that Pan was the follower of Portend that had shouted out. ‘Just great. Traveling with a bunch of useless people.’ Necromn was more pissed that they had lost time wondering about an obviously lost group instead of continuing. He had no great love for Priests or Churches after all of the problems they caused in training Mages.

As the group continued to look back down the hall, they suddenly heard a great deal of struggling and shuffling behind them. The group seemed to have unconsciously inched towards where the Clerics had disappeared from and they were actually well away from where they had camped.

When the group turned back they didn’t see anything wrong at first. The food was laid out on makeshift tables that were created with leftover wood by some of the craftsmen. Smells of sandwiches and soups filled the members of the Expedition’s noses as they tried to figure out what was wrong.

“Piper!? Where are the Craftsmen.”

Now they knew what was wrong. The cooks and miners and appraisers. The one woodmaker, and 3 blacksmiths. The tailors and sculptor/painter. All of them had been left behind so that the group could deal with the monsters without being hindered by them. They had all disappeared and there was no large sign of damage in the area. One of the cauldrons were starting to shake and emit a few fumes of black smoke. Food left without a cook usually turned into inedible junk.

“Crap!! Everyone stick together. We need to get out of this hellhole and wait in the city for them to respawn so that we can get information.”

None of the members usually exchanged contact information with one another. Since the Human race had random start places, real life acquaintances usually ended up in one of the random hundred cities on Gaia. This meant that any information they might gleam from the lost members had to wait a little over 4 days.

Dying in a Dungeon did not allow for players to respawn within it. Instead, the player would respond a few hundred metres in a random location outside of the last city they were in. This was to ensure that any dangerous curses and the like could be dealt with before the instigator actually entered the city. No reviving spell has been found by the players as of yet.

The Expedition readied themselves quickly in order to move soon. The cooking equipment and tables were all packed away for the Craftsmen; the group didn’t like the fact that the Craftsmen died due to their incompetence.

Necromn was pissed as hell at the development. 2 days of travel and no monsters to fight. Dungeon was creepy but no treasure or monsters to fight. Now they were going to run with their tails between their legs just because a few people were stupid enough to get caught by some monsters.

Gritting his teeth Necromn hid his feelings and thoughts behind a mask of indifference. He was incredibly angry but still sane enough not to complain right out. The group headed out before what was supposed to be Mid-day outside. They were all a little peeved at the waste of time but they were getting themselves worked up in order to tackle the dungeon properly the next time. Each of them were assured that they wouldn’t be attacked if they were traveling in a large enough group.

As the party travelled back the way they came, they dissolved from their loud discussions and started to quiet down. It soon became dead quiet as the party could only hear their own steps and breathing along with the drip drip drip ahead of them. Then a shiver went up Necromn’s back.

“W-w-why is the dripping sound still coming from ahead of us.”

As soon as the words left his mouth the dripping stopped and a scream emerged from behind the group. Everyone turned towards it and raised what weapons they could. The higher leveled warriors had taken a defensive circle around the group so that the more fragile members could stay in the center and not be left behind. Looking back though there was no sign of any warrior classes and more people started to get nervous. The drip drip drip started up again.

“W-we should probably start up again. Faster this time.”

The group restarted their traveling and the walls passed in a steady pace. Screams and shouts could occasionally be heard behind the group but it was mainly an ‘everyone for themselves’ situation. Then they ran into a problem.

“W-WHY!?!? Why is there an intersection here? It was a straight walk from the entrance to where we were before.”

Indeed there was a 4-way split after a few minutes of running and everyone was rather confused. They knew they had gone the way back towards the entrance but the constant dripping in front of them and now this intersection started to cast some doubts.

Then they were attacked by bats.

Night Bat[p=left]A monster in the dead of night, these creatures have horrible vision due to a constant lack of daylight. Nocturnal monsters that rely on Echoes to make their way, these bats are usually harmless and mainly go after insects.

About as strong as a large rat.

Aerial abilities.

Echoes can cause some dizziness in listeners.[/p]

This was the basic information a normal bat has out in the plains. They are rarely hunted since they still benefit from the Night boosts so many people don’t have much experience hunting the creatures. Still, these monsters would normally not cause hunters much trouble.

The ones that rushed the group however were about 4x as large as their innocent and cute cousins and they were definitely not insectivores. Groups and swarms of ‘Cave Blood Bats’ were smothering each of the adventurers and their bites caused huge damage as well as pain. The Mages were easily taken down since the bites disrupted their concentration which stopped their spells from working and the Mages were glass cannons anyways. They were dead before the minute was over.

The rest of the Expedition didn’t have it good either. The warriors and their movements were slow and sluggish with the weight of the bats and each hit they managed to get in did next to no damage. To make matters worse, the damages they did land on the bats were healed when the bats took a swig of their blood. In no time at all the 100+ group was swarmed and eaten by the creatures.

‘Cave Blood Bats’ were extremely powerful creatures since they were born as large as their cousins in their prime. The large frame allowed for the creatures to hunt big creatures when they were very young and the blood they consumed kept giving stats and weakened skills to the creatures. For example, one of the bats had a blue hue to it’s white wings and it had been one of a few dozen to consume a wandering Illusionists. The blue bat was still the only one that managed to get the Illusionist’s skills but the skill was very weakened; it only allowed for the bat to create one type of noise but constant use of the skill showed the intelligent species that it was very effective in weakening prey.

When the last of the Expedition had died the bats stayed in the area for a bit. Their echoes said that the area was void of any extra movement but their instincts said there were still living creatures. They decided to move on though since there was really no point in staying the area just for a few stragglers.

[/hr]

Necromn waited almost an hour to see if the bats would come back before he decided to dissolve a door into the limestone wall he had hastily put up. He was not the only person behind the wall since it was a hasty creation so the rest of his party and the Expedition leader Renald exited behind him. Renald had been talking with Polo so he was the only other member of the Expedition included in the group before the massacre.

As the Expedition was nearing its final hours, most of the parties had started to wander closer together and ready themselves for battle. Since Necromn was against meeting up with his party members, the group instead gravitated towards him instead.

“Dammit! What the hell is wrong with this cave?”

Renald was raging at the awful scene in front of him. Bodies littered the floor but the lack of blood did little to diminish the effects death had on normal people. Necromn’s blood was boiling in excitement but the rest of the party were ghastly pale and a male warrior even went to the side to retch. No vomit fortunately came out and the game didn’t show such nasty effects like snot and spit as the man retched. A lack of a Cleric meant that the group had to deal with the effects of an upset stomach.

“We should get out of here. Renald, there is no reason we should stick around so calm down and take the lead.”

“Yes yes. By the glory of my God, let the Light of Luke shine in the darkness, Luke’s Radiance! Now where is that stupid intersection?”

After praying/casting a light spell, Renald looked both ways down the corridors but couldn’t find the 4-way intersection that had freaked out the group before. Polo was still hoping for Renald to take the lead so he responded quickly.

“It must have been another trick of the Cave or those bats. You notice theres also a lack of dripping noises. Now lets go!”

It was true that the corridors were completely linear again so Renald cast a last look at the bodies before going down the corridor opposite where the bats had come and gone. For a few more hours the 8-man group travelled the corridor but they all stopped when they found a resting stop set on the ground. The same resting set that they had left when they lost both the Clerics and the Craftsmen. A glare from Renald shut off any protests the party was about to voice.

Turning around the group traveled backwards for another few hours but were shocked when they returned to the same area. If the game allowed, sweat would have probably dripped down most of the party members as they became aware of being trapped inside the dangerous dungeon. After a 5th circuit, Necromn decided he had enough and slowed to the back of the group. When the group went far enough ahead, Necromn turned around and went back towards the rest pit and then went beyond the stop, towards what should be the inside of the cave. Better to go solo then keep running around in circles.

Necromn continued his walk for the next few hours and the lack of light caused him to rely on ‘Echolocation’ and luck as he walked. He silently cursed the stupidity of the failed Expedition as he walked; something to keep his concentration in check.

Hours turned into days but Necromn wasn’t able to actually find anything.during his search. The stray ‘Cave Blood Bat’ that he found was killed by dropping a section of the ceiling when it passed, not killing it but disabling its ability to fly. Numerous ‘Earth Spikes’ were then used to pierce and kill the weakened monster. His level rose quite a bit during the rare hunts but Necromn was hoping for more.

Then he walked into a vast cavern and gasped. The cavern was about 100 metres high and twice as vast. The room was shaped in a triangle with Necromn at the far end and middle of the triangle and the point directly opposite him. The trouble was that every section of the room was covered by ‘Cave Blood Bats’. Maybe a few million in all, the mass of bats were still and none of them seemed to be awake. His ‘Echolocation’ was ignored since it was quite familiar to the bats.

Necromn was about to back up and out of the cave when the last bit of his ‘Echolocation’ came back to him. The examination picked up the large bodies of the bats and the end wall. Some dents in the walls meant engravings as well but he ignored it easily. What caught his attention was that the scan revealed a large pedestal near the wall. The bats seemed to be avoiding it and Necromn’s scan revealed several large round objects nestled in the structure. ‘Jackpot’. Necromn was extremely pleased to find some treasure finally.

Necromn decided to distract the bats so that he could reach the end of the large room so he backed out of the room and into the corridor. He ran for a few minutes and then stopped in his tracks. Necromn waved his staff in a square shape before adding triangles sprouting out from the shape. A large circle was then waved around the star shape and Necromn tapped the staff to the ceiling.

“By my order I wish for the ground to devour the passers, and the ceiling to crush my foes, I appoint the time, and say 900 beats; Earth Mine!”

The spell was basically an earth bomb that either dissolved the ground or blew up the ceiling. The last part of it was then a timer that was needed for what he planned. The invisible symbol he had mimed was likely imprinted onto the ceiling that his staff touched and a 900 dots were imprinted in the center of it. As he watched, the dots disappeared one by one as the counter started down.

Necromn recreated this spell as he traveled back towards the ‘Treasure Room’ and he decreased the time as he went. 900, 850, 800...300, 250… When Necromn finally got to the room he managed to created several dozen different timed ‘Earth Mines’ and he scrambled into the room and hid himself. Then he waved his staff in a square 4 times, each square being inside the previous square.

“My protection is a must, Earth shall rise, my life be guarded; Earth Wall!”

Lots of ego was placed inside the spells…

A dull boom echoed down the hall and a great number of the bats woke up. The noise they emitted was pretty quiet since their echoes were of a higher frequency than what Necromn could here. A second boom later woke up the entire colony and all of the bats rose from their perches and screeched out into the hall. A few more booms and then Necromn got some Info Boxes that said he killed several bats and increased in levels. The boxes were a kind of signal and Necromn dissolved a door into the wall and walked into the now empty room.

The large room was incredible and Necromn used ‘Echolocation’ to get more information on it. Usually bats would leave droppings and the like but the game turned off that aspect in order to make the game more playable. The ‘clean’ walls were covered in large sculptures of monsters and undead. A large skeleton warrior was on the left side of the entrance and sported a battered plate armor while the other side had a large Yeti with a club that was larger than it was.

‘Echolocation’ also revealed detailed aspects of the sculptures and Necromn almost fainted in shock when he found that aspect in every sculpture. The miniscule parts of every sculpture smaller than the size of his thumb but the numerous quantity of it staggered the imagination.

It was an engraving in the shape of a square, almost like a picture frame. The inside of the frame had a man or woman or group of people inside and each picture depicted tortured poses of each. Groups of people would stab themselves and their neighbors, men would castrate themselves or stab their eyes out while the women…

Necromn stopped focusing on the million of trillions of images that flooded his mind. He bent over and gripped his head while breathing slowly so that he could ignore the information. He stayed that way for a few minutes before standing up slowly.

Necromn walked slowly across the room and made his way towards the pedestal he had scanned. He didn’t need to rely on ‘Echolocation’ anymore as the pedestal started to glow red the closer he walked. Large broken statues also littered the ground but it was a clear path between the door and other side.

As the walls started to close in on Necromn, the pictures he had seen from ‘Echolocation’ started to become clearer. A close statue was of a normal skeleton with no weapon or armor at all. Definitely low level, the images that Necromn could see were rather gruesome and wrong but a morbid curiosity made Necromn look at as many of the pictures as he could. None of the pictures were the same and when Humans seemed to have become overused the pictures switched to other races. The elves had prominent ears, there were some short people, even some trees were disfigured by the carvings. ‘Was every single sentient species on Gaia depicted here?’

The reddish glow from the pedestal grew darker as Necromn got closer until he managed to touch the actual thing. By then the glow had enveloped the entirety of Necromn’s sight and the deepness of it had erased pretty much everything he could see. Once he touched it however the glow vanished and Necromn found himself in a deep black void.

A loud cackle sounded in Necromn’s head.

“Ahahaha a mortal! Finally someone who has found their way to my prison. Puny soul, what is your name?”

“N-Necromn.”

“Hmmm? You don’t seem to be like one of the regular people of Gaia. Your soul has many restrictions and I can’t seem to access them…”

‘Restrictions? Could she be talking about the difference between AIs and Players?’ Necromn was a little confused about this but decided to obey the rules of the game for a bit.

“I am one of the ‘Otherworlders’ that appeared a few months ago.”

“Oh! So you’re a player!”

And the AI broke the rules…

“Oh don’t be so shocked. I can’t say much but I can at least admit I know you’re a player. Now lets get started. I’m gonna offer a job and a quest to go along with it. You can accept and take it or die. Good? Good.”

Necromn was a little shocked at the straightforwardness of the woman but he internally smiled at what she was getting at. A hidden cave filled to the brim with Giant bats and then had a bunch of illusion traps with a reward being a quest and job at the end? Definitely a Hidden Job and Hidden Quest. Necromn could smell the excitement he was giving off.

The Blood Goddess Kalybus[p=left]Several thousand years ago, the Goddess of Blood and Souls Kalybus tried to rule the world in a cliche way. She was defeated rather cliched way by a group of Good Heroes and forced into the void for all eternity. The void has weakened considerably in recent times by the influx of ‘Otherworlders’. You have passed the ancient halls of her temple and entered her place of worship. You have met the Goddess and been deemed worthy of her blessings.

Reward: Quest and Job

Requirements:

Level 300+

500+ Intelligence

10,000 + Infamy

Killed at least 100 members of every race.

or

Be the first one to enter.[/p]

You have been offered the Hidden Class: ‘Soul Reaper’ This class can be promoted as you complete more quests for Kalybus. This Class has a natural antagonism with nearly all churches. All skills will be removed and new skills will be created upon acceptance. You cannot learn any normal skills like others.

Do you accept?

(Yes) (No)

Necromn nearly screamed in joy as he shouted “YES!” This was exactly the type of class he wanted. A class that was nearly pure evil just by description. If a Necromancer was unavailable then a Soul Reaper is really the next best thing. Or was it a rank higher?

You have become a ‘Soul Reaper’[p=left]You have discarded your old job and taken up the mantle of a Soul Reaper and as a member of Kalybus’ Church. You will only get a few skills until you show your worth as a follower. You will be forbidden from entering the Churches that are negatively aligned with you. If any of your ‘Soul Crystals’ get destroyed, you will be overrun by the power of the released souls and die.

Cannot learn any skills the normal way. All skill books dissolve when you touch them.

Limited to a Staff and ‘Soul Crystal’ for weapons. All other weapons become 20x heavier.

Limited to blood robes made from the skin of your enemies. All other clothing and equipment will continuously rot if you put them on.

Any equipped ‘Soul Crystals’ will be a conduit for the souls you collect. If they get destroyed you will suffer under the strain of angry souls.

Friendship level with all Good-aligned Churches is at the Minimum Level: Blood Enemies (will attack if they even sense you)

Friendship level with the Church of Information is at the Minimum Level: Reluctant to approach and help.

Friendship level with the Church of Death and its God, Plutys, and his counterpart is at the Minimum Level: Too negative to count.

Friendship level with all other churches not already included is at Minimum Level: Unfriendly.

You have gained the skill: Agony

You have gained the skill: Blood Dominance[/p]

Agony. Beginner Level 1. (0%) Active Skill.[p=left]An evil skill wielded by only a few, this skill is mainly used for torturing purposes. This skill hits the soul of the target and depending on the ranking of the ‘Soul Crystal’ being used, the skill will gain or lower in strength.

Can transmit a low amount of pain to the target before using the ‘Soul Crystal’ to amplify the pain.

Costs 100 mana per second. Increases if the rank of the ‘Soul Crystal is high.

Requires a basic understanding of souls and pain.[/p]

Blood Dominance. Max Level.[p=left]A skill only allowed for those who follow Gods or Goddesses that have dominion over blood.

This skill allows the user to control blood to a degree. Beings with a low Ego and Concentration have easy to control blood. Beings with high intelligence and Egoes will be much more difficult to control. Beings of a higher intelligence and ranking than the user will be next to impossible to control.

Beings that are less than half the rank of the user have easy to control blood.

Mana use is 20 per second.

Blood cannot solidify well.

Blood is weak.

Beings that are around the same ranking of the user have moderate difficulty blood.

Mana use is 100 per second.

Blood can solidify well.

Blood cannot be destroyed easily.

Beings of higher ranking than the user are very hard to control.

Mana use is 500 per second.

Blood can become as sharp as anything on Gaia.

Blood is nearly indestructible.

Warning: Blood always has a connection with the soul. If the person gives up blood but is not sufficiently weak, you will NOT gain control of its blood. This means you cannot even control a drop of Dragon’s blood if the Dragon isn’t crippled beyond belief.

A strong amount of fear and pain can lower a being’s rank.[/p]

The revival of the Bloody Soul Goddess Kalybus[p=left]Finding the hidden temple of the Blood Goddess Kalybus, you have been chosen to revive her and her Church. Gather 1000 moderate souls and 5000 lesser souls first.

Tasks:

Gather 5000 lesser souls [ /5000]

Gather 1000 moderate souls [ /1000]

Reward:

???

???

???

???

Class Promotion.

Requirements:

‘Soul Reaper’ job or a higher ranked version.

Cannot be denied.

Failure:

Quest will fail upon death. Due to the extreme antagonism between Plutys and Kalybus, if you die Plutys will hunt down your soul in Gaia and destroy it.

Your account will be deleted. You will have restrictions upon your next Character Creation.[/p]

You have accepted the quest.

Necromn didn’t really care about the disadvantages to the Quest and Job as he wallowed in his imaginations of what he could use the job for. ‘Agony’ was a simple spell but if he read it right, he could cause immense pain to whoever he wanted. This was something he desired greatly since his ego didn’t allow for many people to be ahead of him in any way. He started make a simple list of the people he would use it on. The priests at the Church of Information who wasted his time, Librarian, Expedition members, Promise....

“Oh, how wonderful. Not even hesitating before accepting it all. I don’t really have such high hopes but it should be incredibly fun to watch you and your adventures.”

The voice seemed too peppy for an evil Blood Goddess but Necromn didn’t really pay much attention. Instead he was rather impatient to get on his way.

“Is there anything else? I would like to get started quickly...”

“Yes yes, hold your horses. I’ll just send you back and give some minor equipment for the class... Also you’re free to take the ‘Soul Crystals’ on that pedestal you touched. Tah tah.”

Necromn felt like he was being sucked into the black void but when he opened his eyes he found himself back in the large triangular cave. He could still hear a dull booming in the far hallway so he knew that time had barely passed since he got his dream job. Necromn smiled and looked around himself after standing.

On the ground before him was a bright red boots and black robe both made with an unknown type of cloth and a staff that was twice as large as his old one. A green hat could be seen under the robe and overall the set looked like it was put together by a colour blind imp. Necromn just shrugged and took off his brown mage set and proceeded to identify the items.

Demon Fleshed Boots[p=left]Uncommon

Durability: 100/100

Defense: 12

A pair of boots fashioned by a large fire demon that was heavily in dept. The processing of its skin involved using the entrails of its family and friends.

Infamy + 1000

+10% resistance to fire.

Fire Demons will get incredibly angry if they ever find out the information of these boots.

+20 to Agility, Strength, and Vitality[/p]

Human Black Robes[p=left]Uncommon

Durability 200/200

Defense: 20

A flowing black robe made from the skin of a village of people. Their farm animals were included in the processing of this robe.

Enhances all Evil related magic by 50%

Infamy + 2000

Any damage to this robe will release a toxic scent against Humans. User is immune to this debuff.

+20 to Intelligence[/p]

Leprechaun’s Hat[p=left]Rare

Durability: Unknown

Defense: Unknown

A hat supposedly made from an entire Leprechaun. Properties have remained unknown for a very long time. Supposedly very lucky.

+100 to Luck

???

???

???

0.0001% chance to incur the wrath of the Leprechauns.

Pot of gold over the rainbow is inaccessible to you.[/p]

Necromn didn’t bat an eyelash at the descriptions he read. ‘Just a stupid game. Doesn’t really mean anything.’ With that kind of logic in mind, Necromn proceeded to put on the clothing before turning to the 3 large Crystals on the pedestal. He identified each one.

Regular Soul Crystal[p=left]Uncommon

Durability: 200/200

Can be used as a medium for the souls acquired by the user. As long as this is in hand, you will acquire souls.

Any souls within 100 metres of this item will be absorbed if the body is dead.

Will only work on beings that have been dead for only a few minutes. Any longer and the soul has already left.

Agony: Does 20x more damage.[/p]

Healing Crystal[p=left]Common

Durability: 300/300

Can be used to heal people.

Uses up a portion of the user’s soul.

Recovers any amount that is half the health of the user.

Cannot heal the user.[/p]

Blood Crystal[p=left]Rare

Durability: 100/100

A crystal made by dipping a regular crystal into a fresh vat of blood made from 1000 different people. Much more effective than a Regular Soul Crystal but it does have some restrictions.

Any soul within 2 metres of this crystal absorbed if the body is dead. The soul’s ranking will increase when absorbed.

Will only work on beings that have been dead for only a few seconds. Any longer and the soul has already left.

Agony: Does 200x more damage.[/p]

Necromn ignored the ‘Healing Crystal’ and picked up the other two. As equips the two were very high quality but the ‘Blood Crystal’ will have to be used sparingly. He decided that a little practice was in order so Necromn went back into the hall and got as close to the bats as he dared.

The bats were still swarming a bit but the mines had stopped exploding after his class change and the bats were calming down. Necromn had gained a whopping 30 levels just from killing the bats so he was rather happy there. When they finally settled down, they all swarmed back into the large cavern and rested again. Necromn got out from his old Earth Wall hiding place (he just closed the door on it) and walked out of the cave. The illusion seemed to have finally worn off so he made it out rather easily.

[/hr]

Kelli woke from his reminiscing to the noise of his family coming home. He walked down the stairs to greet his sons and then his wife and the family settled down for a “how was your day” discussion. Kelli avoided the questions and looks that went his way - he wasn’t playing the game so his wife was looking at him a little funnily.

Lets go over the house arrangement. There was Kelli’s two sons, Nick and George who were in grade 3 and 5 respectively. They gave no real problems to the family so they were spoiled quite a bit. Kelli’s wife, Melinda, was a secretary for a large firm and she was given a few leniencies here and there so that she could be with her family a lot. She was mainly in charge of driving since Kelli himself was scary at it. She had to beg to stop him from driving.

Kelli himself was a moderately successful book writer. Well, online book writer. His works were mainly dark classics but the small internet crowd loved it so he made quite a bit from that. Around the same as his wife.

The Hierarchy was that Melinda would take care of shopping and driving and anything that involved leaving the house area. Kelli would be in charge of cleaning the house and doing some simple repairs here and there. Both were not afraid to hire outside help for anything big, like indoor plumbing or furniture repairs.

Kelli definitely fit the look of a household father with his height and normal features. He wasn’t a well built man but he wasn’t so bad that people would avoid looking at him. His wife was the same but much shorter and the family was seen in a rather positive light.

Kelli was sitting and listening to Nick’s talk about how his plant project had done at the science fair but Kelli’s mind was still on the game. He hoped to follow the exact same paths he had before in order to try begging for a second chance. Since the AI knew that he was a player it should relatively easy to do so.

Melinda saw Kelli’s wandering mind so she told the kids to go play on their computers and she shooed him to take a nap. Kelli was a little hesitant but he decided that he wasn’t himself at all so he took her advice and took a nap before dinner. The rest of the day went rather quietly as Kelli tried his hardest to ignore ‘Gaia’ for a time and he fell asleep rather easily until morning.

In the dead of morning, Kelli woke up in anticipation. The kids had already gone to school and Melinda was also at work so Kelli was the only one in the house. He took a simple shower and took note of the time as he ate something light. He sat and stared at the clock until his 18 hours of death were finished, then he ran to the console and turned it on.

[/hr]

Welcome to ‘Gaia’.

The familiar voice greeted Kelli as he waited for the everything to start.

Scan of Irises and brainwaves have revealed you to be a new user.

Do you wish to create a new account?

(Yes) (No)

“Yes.”

Calm, calm.

Please speak the In-Game name you wish to have. Conflicts with others are allowed. Please choose wisely, it is incredibly expensive to obtain a name-change while in-game.

“Necromn.”

I’m sorry, the following name, Necromn, has been forbidden for you. Please choose another name.

‘What? Was this one of those restrictions my death caused?’

“Blood.”

I’m sorry, the following name, Blood, has been forbidden for you. Please choose another name.

‘What the hell!?!?’

“Kel.”

Kelli chose a very short nickname he had in his childhood.

Do you wish for your name to be (Kel)?

(Yes) (No)

“Yes”

‘Finally.’

Unfortunately you will not be able to choose your own race. Your decisions in ‘Gaia’ before has caused you to become watched by Plutys and the other Gods and Goddesses. The divine beings had decided the following.

You will be an Elf.

You will be restricted greatly in-game.

You will start in the Neutral City of ‘Bellen’.

Please change your character’s look. You cannot change it to look more evil.

Kel had gotten extremely pissed as he read the information. ‘An ELF?? A WEAK SPINDLY PRETTY BOY ELF?!?!?’ Kel was conveniently ignoring the fact that he had changed his own character to look a little better and that he was a physically fragile mage.

In front of Kel, an elf with his features appeared. He decided to make the elf as different looking as possible and succeeded in making the first ugly elf the world has ever seen.

“Finished.”

You have created your ‘Elven’ character.

With that done the next step was his starting point. However the void he was in remained empty for a little while before a large information box appeared in front of him.

Paroled by the Gods.[p=left]Due to your actions in a past life, you are under the watchful eyes of the Divine Realm. You will be greatly restricted as you adventure in ‘Gaia’. Kalybus sends her regards.

Any actions against a Player or NPC will reward 20X more Infamy.

If you level due to killing a Player or NPC, you will get reduced stat increases.

Monsters are 10% more powerful when they fight against you.

Fame is 3x as hard to get.

Cannot get a class of Neutral or Evil-aligned.

Evil-aligned beings will see a halo around you and avoid approaching you. They will still be allowed to kill you.

Good-aligned beings will see a dark aura around you that is reflective of your infamy.[/p]

‘This,was.horrible!!!!’

These restrictions stopped Kel from doing anything evil at all. Killing people is worse, and leveling that way gave such huge penalties! ‘THIS F***ING GAME!!!’

[/hr]

So Necromn’s adventure...Meh I didn’t like him but I did my best to show how he got the class and quest.

His family life is boring. I couldn’t write much about that.

His new name and class and such may be shown in later chapters. How do people feel about a reformed Necromn in the guise of the ugly Paladin Kel :;^^:

Michael...meh he will come later. I have an exam tomorrow, a film response the day after (I didn’t find out until today…), an assignment due next week and also an Essay. I hate the next few weeks…

Comments are greatly appreciated.