Chapter 1: Dark Fire

July 10th, in a household that can be considered as wealthy, Zeal and Lowy Argot was lazing around their room.

Though the two were considered as siblings, they were not related by blood since Lowy was someone that was adopted by the Argot household.

The two were of the same age and there aren’t any visible conflicts between the two, except maybe, according to their preferences.

Lowy was someone that wouldn’t mind eating roasted rats or cockroaches or any other exotic food for that matter while Zeal was very picky and only wanted the edible looking food.

Lowy was also more into gore while Zeal was a mecha fan which caused a few fights between the two here and there but nothing severe.

Zeal doesn’t get arrogant being the legal son and Lowy doesn’t disrespect the parents who took him in. It was a perfectly normal family.

Both were Mapua students and in their second year already. While Zeal was a CS student, Lowy was a BA student. So to say, Zeal was more into computer and Lowy was more in business.

“Zeal, Lowy! Come down here, we have a surprise for you!” (Mrs. Argot)

A female voice resounded throughout the house.

“Coming~!” (Zeal)

Normally, they would keep saying ‘Just a minute~’ but as there was nothing for the two of them to do, they immediately came downstairs to see their mother.

Having seen their parents downstairs, Zeal and Lowy wore curious faces.

“What’s wrong mom? Did something happen?” (Lowy)

“Huhu, son, have you heard of virtual reality?” (Mr. Argot)

Zeal and Lowy looked at each other seemingly asking the other if their father was alright.

“Well…yeah I guess? As its name suggest, it is a virtual world right?” (Zeal)

“Then what would you say if the technology for a virtual game was already made? You know, diving into the virtual world and have adventures and stuff.” (Mrs. Argot)

At the moment, the two sons fell silent.

Both in their minds screaming what was happening? Is this real? Are they messing with us again?

In truth, the two of them has no idea what sort of job their parents did, when they asked, they were only answered with ‘I wonder~?’ and leave it at that.

They were very mysterious parents but they were good parents so the two just assumed that they will tell them when it’s the right time.

“Haha, shocked ain’t you? What, you don’t believe us? Then why don’t you find out yourselves?” (Mr. Argot)

The father brought out two boxes with a wide grin.

Already guessing what was inside the boxes, Zeal and Lowy immediately grabbed one for each of them and opened them.

What was inside was a visor that looks futuristic all over it.

“I-is this really-!?” (Zeal)

“A virtual gaming device!?” (Lowy)

“Since when did you two finish each other’s sentences? Well yeah. As I said, if you don’t believe me then try it!” (Mr. Argot)

Not needing to say anything more, the two dashed towards their room and turned the [Portals] on.

“Hm? Why a CD disk?...Well whatever, let’s go!” (Zeal)

“Yeah!”

As a CS student, Zeal was naturally familiar to computers and gadgets so he noticed how come a virtual game is in CD form but since virtual gaming was already way ahead of his knowledge, he decided that there must be a reason to it and ignored it.

However, as excited as they were, they were met with an unfortunate message.

NoticeServer is not yet online.

“…” (Zeal)

“…” (Lowy)

And thus ended their adventure.

+ + +

“Haha, sorry, sorry. I forgot that servers are still offline at the moment.” (Mr. Argot)

“Well don’t worry about it. Servers will be online 3 days from now so just wait a bit.” (Mrs. Argot)

The two parents began their explanation.

They worked for the company called [IDEA] which made the [Portal] as well as [World Gate Online]. While their father was a guard, their mother was in charge of records.

Since the product has finally finished, they gave one for each employees for their service and for a test run. At this point, the topic of virtual technology is told to be under wraps for a while.

Hearing the explanation, Zeal and Lowy has no choice but to sigh and accept it.

“Well, at least that new game will be release tomorrow right Zeal? Let’s just play that first before this.” (Lowy)

“Haah, I suppose it can’t be helped.” (Zeal)

The next day, the two bought a new game to rid their boredoms.

It’s a game where you catch monsters and have them battle against other trainers.

Time flew by, before they knew it, college has begun and the two had no choice but to attend and abandon their game for a while.

“…I feel like I’m forgetting something reeeal important…” (Lowy)

“Yeah…I wonder what it is…” (Zeal)

That’s right, the two had completely forgotten about the virtual game.

When these two begin on something, they tend to finish that immediately and forget about anything else.

In fact, they had nearly caught every monster in the game already. The story was finished long ago, now, they were focusing on catching all monsters in the index.

How these two didn’t hear the news however, was a complete mystery.

In fact, when their friends would talk about the virtual game, they weren’t present so they only remembered about it when a movie was released that centered on said virtual game.

After a friend of theirs gave them VIP like pass and finishing the movie, the two dropped the game they were playing and picked the [Portal] instead.

“Gah! How did we forget about such an awesome game!?” (Zeal)

“What? Don’t blame me, I also forgot about it till now!” (Lowy)

Hence, their adventure finally began.

+ + +

After their quick read on the wikis and the game site, the two chose to start in the central continent [Cravon] like most others. In the city of [Morburn].

Since they figured the tutorial will already be something they know, the two skipped it as they want to play the game even by a second faster.

Zeal chose the name [Ashclad] while Lowy was known as [Blood]. Both of the [Human] race.

“…Why [Blood], Lowy?” (Ashclad)

“What? Doesn’t it sound awesome? And why [Ashclad], Zeal?” (Blood)

“…I don’t know, it kinda just…popped in my head at the time since I want to play already, I didn’t really mind.” (Ashclad)

After that exchange, they decided to show each other their statuses.

“[Status Window]!” (Ashclad & Blood)

NameAshcladLevel1GenderMaleMoney1 G 20 S 50 CJobNoviceRaceHumanHealth115Mana260STR3INT32SPD7DEX10VIT3LUK5TitleBlood’s Soul BrotherFame0Passive SkillsActive SkillsPopularity

NameBloodLevel1GenderMaleMoney1 G 20 S 50 CJobNoviceRaceHumanHealth115Mana260STR3INT32SPD7DEX10VIT3LUK5TitleAshclad’s Soul BrotherFame0Passive SkillsActive SkillsPopularity

Through some amazing stroke of luck, or some kind of fate, the two had the exact same status points distributed amongst them. This may have been the reason as to why they had such a title.

Seeing this, the two looked at each other in amazement and laughed together.

Afterwards, they decided to follow through the guides they saw in the internet and hunt some monsters already.

Like the guide said, a knight official was giving out quests to hunt monsters. This was the quickest way to reach level 10 for a job change.

Not only that, but the two had already began preparing for their job quests which was to collect some monster drops.

The two wanted to be a [Magician]. After all, if we’re talking about fantasy then it has to be magic right?

Based on the wiki, they needed to gather 50 [Slime Gels], 9 [Fox Tails], and 4 [Wolf Fangs].

Rather than complete that after they receive the quest, since they already know what they will need, then they’d rather gather those as they level up themselves.

“Ah! Slashes and piercing attacks don’t work on [Slimes]! Punch it or kick it to earn the skills!” (Ashclad)

“I know! Hah-!” (Blood)

The two sheathed their [Beginner’s Dagger] and began to punch and kick the slimes freely.

From their surroundings, a similar scene can be seen as well.

After defeating around 20 [Slimes], they finally rose up to level 5 which gave them the [Bash] skill.

After completing the 50 [Slime Gels], they now faced against Lvl 9 [Foxes] while at Lvl 7.

Since there was two of them, they decided to fight 2 against 1 so they have to defeat 18 [Foxes] to complete the loots necessary.

This seemed to be faster rather than risking your life and attack them by yourself. With two of them, they were able to defeat the [Foxes] faster than alone, this was already proven when they tried it earlier.

Though now that they’re already at Lvl 12, they decided to finish the loot gathering first before job changing and faced against Lvl 13 [Wolf].

“G-gh! Damn, this guys are harder than I thought! Blood, try to pin it down!” (Ashclad)

“I-I’m trying!” (Blood)

As the [Wolf] was too fast, even though there was only 1 level difference and there were two of them, the [Wolf] was harder to beat than expected.

Blood tried to slice its paws to stop its movements but the [Wolf] always manages to dodge.

“Nggggg arrrrgghh!!! Annoying!” (Blood)

Annoyed by the fact that he can’t hit, he threw a fit and attacked wildly.

“Ah, hey! Watch where you swing that thing oi!” (Ashclad)

Ashclad, who was confronting the [Wolf] was also in the range of Blood’s rampage.

However, maybe because Ashclad was also evading Blood’s attack with the [Wolf], they ended up dodging in the same direction which became an opening.

Not missing this opportunity, Aschlad slashed the [Wolf’s] neck which made it collapse in pain.

What happened next was a one-sided massacre so it’s better left unsaid.

After that, they decided to use the same tactic by having one of them deliberately attack the [Wolf] in a rehearsed direction so they can guess the direction where the [Wolf] evades and the other aims there.

After finally killing 8 [Wolves], the two are now at level 20 Novice.

“Phew, now, let’s go change jobs.” (Ashclad)

“Finally!” (Blood)

+ + +

Having visited the magician center to change their jobs, the two accepted the quest to hunt for the loots said earlier.

Since they already achieved that, they immediately gave the loots to the magician on the counter who revealed a surprised expression.

“There seems to be a lot of novices that immediately have the required loots the moment they enter here…” (Magician)

“Hm? Well, of course. Since they already know what to get, they decided to get them while leveling up. We also did the same.” (Ashclad)

“Oh? So you mean to say that the quest information has already been leaked huh?...I wonder if I should change the requirements?” (Magician)

“E-eh!? Please don’t joke around…after we already got the loots…” (Blood)

“Haha, its fine. In the first place, I don’t have the authority to do such things anyway so you two pass. From now on, you are a [Magician]” (Magician)

NoticeYou have been given a job [Magician]!

Taking on the path of magic, you will be able to cast spells and sense the manas around you!

“Next is this. What element do you desire to use?” (Magician)

This was the normal process in job changing.

They give of skills without the [Skill Point] cost but only to the basic elemental magic and only one of them for you to start.

“Fire for me.” (Ashclad)

“Dark here~” (Blood)

After that, Zeal received [Basic Fire Magic Skill Tree Book] and [Basic Staff Skill Tree Book] while Blood received [Basic Dark Magic Skill Tree Book] and [Basic Staff Skill Tree Book].

Though they still can’t unlock any magic yet as they are still low in [Skill Points], they decided to buy it now that later.

After that, the two would always activate the basic elemental magic on their finger so as to raise its proficiency while walking around.

They didn’t do anything further than that since they thought that that was all it could do.

In fact, the wikis said that it aside from the stat it gave, it is a useless skill that can’t even be maxed out. The highest you can get is Master LVL 9 (99.99%) and no one has passed that limit. At least, none that were known.

The two continued to grind for 2 more days in real life which is 6 days in game.

The two brothers had completed multiple quests from the [Magician Guild] which rewards items, equipments, weapons for [Magicians] as well as [Skill Points].

[Harus] has a guild for each job where you can easily raise your job levels and earn skills. They say that the hardest job is the [Thief] job which is one of the second jobs of the [Scout] job because finding the [Thief Guild] is hard itself.

There are a lot of benefits when choosing a job the proper way, in the case of Ashclad and Blood, they immediately have the basic element magic as well as the [Magic Appraisal] skill. They can also access jobs specific for a [Magician] job where they can easily increase their job level, skill proficiency, and skill points while Lucas, cannot and has to earn his skills the hard way.

Both are now level 35 and Magician level 31 and have number of skills already.

Ashclad who also uses his staff, the [Staff of the Salamander], in fighting, also adds points to his STR stat while increasing INT as well for a coordinated attack of magic and staff while Blood, who wields the [Grim’s Staff], solely focuses on magic attack.

They were both already known well in [Morburn] and were called the [Dark Fire Brothers] for a while. The reason for this name was not because they have the Fire and Dark elements but because of their melded magic, [Dark Fire].

It was an accident at first, but every player who saw it was amazed.

Blood used a normal [Dark Wall] and Ashclad fired a [Flame Shot] from behind, when the two magics collided, instead of blocking off the [Flame Shot], the [Dark Wall] coated a small portion of darkness to the flame which created a black flame that is twice as powerful as a normal flame.

After seeing them, the other players naturally imitated them but were unsuccessful.

In which, made them become the center of attention in an instant, forums started to appear with the video of the melded magic, asking how it was possible, or why the [Dark Wall] didn’t block the magic, etctera.

Because of this, the two were repeatedly asked the moment they appear in public which made it harder for them to play, hence, they decided to lay low for a while.

Though they tried to answer them by saying it may be because of their linked titles, as expected, believing two players having the same status distribution points entering the game at the same time and place was hard to accept as answers so they no one believed them.

The next day after that was when Lucas showed himself and revealed an unexpected quest which made other players divert their attention from the two to Lucas.

2 days after that, was the attack in real life.

It was enough to say that it has been a traumatizing day for them and the other students involved, but thanks to Lucas, they were rescued.

Instead of being afraid, once they knew that there is a way for them to bring their characters in real life, they were more pumped up.

Not letting themselves lose to Lucas who seemed to be so far away already.

With that in mind the two logged in again to the game…no, to [Harus].

“Well, we can’t be losing to Gavin and Kanin, especially to Lucas so we need to find out other job now!” (Ashclad)

“Yeah! Gavin and Kanin will also be visiting [Morburn] as they said so we need to be stronger than them by the time we meet up!” (Blood)

The two then began to search for a quest to level up while thinking of their other job when man approached them.

“Excuse me, you two are the [Dark Fire Brothers] right?” (Man)

Ashclad and Blood looked at each other first before answering.

“Yeah? What about it?” (Lowy)

“…Are you going to ask how we created the [Dark Fire] because-” (Ashclad)

“Ah, no no no no…well actually…” (Man)

The man looked behind him where his party members seemed to be at and continued.

“…We found a new dungeon, the only problem is…we think the only way to open the door to the dungeon is using your [Dark Fire] so….” (Man)

“You want us to open it for you?” (Ashclad)

“…Yeah, sorry, we promise to reward you with gold.” (Man)

“Hmm…” (Ashclad)

Ashclad placed his hand on is chin and thought about the offer first.

Glancing towards Blood, he saw him nod as if saying he doesn’t mind.

“Alright, but no need to pay us. We want to join your party, is that fine?” (Ashclad)

The man seemed surprised at first and talked it over to his party then reached an agreement.

“Alright! If the [Dark Fire Brothers] are with us, then it will make the hunting easier! The name’s Bane, it’s a pleasure to work with you.”

NameAshcladLevel35GenderMaleMoney21 G 38 S 65 CJobMagician LVL 31RaceHumanHealth3625Mana4160STR70INT132SPD40DEX40VIT25LUK23TitleBlood’s Soul BrotherFame120[/tds]

Fire25Passive Skills[Staff Mastery] Intermediate LVL 3 (31.53%)

[Magic Appraisal] Intermediate LVL 5 (42.65%)

[Chained Strike] Intermediate LVL 3 (63.12%)Active Skills[Punch] Intermediate LVL 2 (13.45%)

[Kick] Intermediate LVL 2 (52.23%)

[Bash] Intermediate LVL 3 (53.31%)

[Fotiá] Intermediate LVL 5 (64.45%)

[Fire Ball] Intermediate LVL 6 (23.83%)

[Fire Wall] Intermediate LVL 3 (34.72%)

[Flamethrower] Intermediate LVL 3 (75.51%)

[Blunt Attack] Intermediate LVL 5 (23.75%)

[Staff Hurricane] Intermediate LVL 1 (64.12%)

[Flame Shot] Intermediate LVL 2 (53.23%)Popularity

NameBloodLevel35GenderMaleMoney19 G 47 S 12 CJobMagician LVL 31RaceHumanHealth3715Mana4350STR13INT170SPD37DEX52VIT43LUK15Title[td3]Ashclad’s Soul BrotherFame[td3]120[/tds]

Dark27Passive Skills[Staff Mastery] Intermediate LVL 3 (42.53%)

[Magic Appraisal] Intermediate LVL 5 (64.45%)

Active SkillsActive Skills[Punch] Intermediate LVL 3 (12.35%)

[Kick] Intermediate LVL 3 (63.34%)

[Bash] Intermediate LVL 2 (41.74%)

[Skotádi] Intermediate LVL 6 (42.75%)

[Dark Ball] Intermediate LVL 4 (63.75%)

[Dark Wall] Intermediate LVL 5 (63.58%)

[Dark Cloud] Intermediate LVL 3 (52.64%)

[Blinding] Intermediate LVL 7 (36.75%)

[Black Shot] Intermediate LVL 4 (64.12%)

[Darkness Sword] Intermediate LVL 3 (42.62%)Popularity

---------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes

Well.....didn't think I'll finish it placing it here fast.....tables are still a pain though.....

So, Ashclad and Blood / Zeal and Lowy, these two were first mentioned at Vol 3 Chap 1 as Lucas' friends in college,

As you've seen, this takes place throughout the story's timeline so far before Lucas was summoned to another world, heck, this actually started before Lucas won the [Portal].

Let me explain for confused readers in case I wasn't able to properly explain it in the chapter.

Jul 10 (year doesn't really matter....)

- [Portal] 'production' finishes and was distributed among the employees for a test run which was kept a secret to the world for a while

Jul 13

- game goes online but the Argot brothers forgot they ad the game and yeah, they were playing pokemon here. This is also the reason why there seems to be a lot of strong players already by the time Lucas played and the reason why wkis already existed so fast.

Jul 17

- game officially starts, raffle begins, start of classes

Jul 18

- Lucas starts playing the game

Jul 19

- Geeves and Rice defeats the [Young Bear] thereby sealing the cave's hidden entrance, Lucas dies the first time, they all talk about the game wherein the Argot brothers were not present

Jul 23

- They watch the movie, the Argot brothers start playing

Jul 25

- REAL fight

well,that's enough of the timeline explanation, hope you guys aren't more confused....

Next, the company finally has a name [IDEA] haha! I really have no idea what it stands for though...it could be just IDEA and nothing more or less....since it's been kinda weird not naming the company......

So, you get to see a normal(?) players POV....well, they're still normal a this point as these two would be more or less as OP as Lucas in the future.

You also see how hard it actually is for the Wanderer job to increase it's skill points. After all, I only said in the description that the Wanderer class can only access other job's skill tree and armors from 1st jobs. So yeah, like I've been saying, if you think Lucas is OP, he's actually not that powerful....and thee are still plenty OP chars in the future.

Sorry if there are alot of wrong spellings and wrong grammars....my wireless keyboard has been acting weird and would not work properly so I might've missed something.

So, what kind of dungeon will the brothers encounter? What items will they see inside? Is there more to the Soul Brothers title that they know of? How will they change?

Japtem Version

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