Colin’s mind moved fast as he tried to work out what he could do against this guy. With no hands. He had been trained on leg and footwork, but with that significant reduction to his physical stats...

Standing up, he carefully dropped his backpack to the ground to reduce the weight he was carrying and grunted in pain as it slid past his hands. If he were to take this guy on, with no freaking hands, then he would need all the speed and maneuverability that he could muster. That with all the ingenuity he could muster.

The man let out a short-lived chuckle as he looked at Colin ready himself. “You are really going to try this? Really? You are either an idiot, well trained, or stubborn to try this with no hands. Which would you like on your tombstone?” the man asked, taking another step forward.

“None of the above. I was hoping for ‘Loved by one, envied by everyone else.’” Colin bantered, trying to buy himself a few more seconds. “But if your paying, it’s your call.”

“You know what? I think I’d like you if we’d met somewhere else,” he told Colin, smiling. “How about you make a deal with me?”

Colin’s mind must have skipped a gear for a second. “What?”

“Would you like to make a deal with me?” he repeated, slower than the first time. “Are you simple or not used to the peaceful options?”

Teeth ground as Colin spoke again, “what kind of deal?”

“See, that’s how you play this smart. Tell me if I get a detail wrong, okay?” The unnamed man said and waited for a handful of seconds before continuing. “You broke in here on some kind of quest and killed these two. I could find out why, but it doesn’t matter. So you either hid in the corner when you heard me coming and readied an ambush or... “he trailed off as he looked Colin over for a moment. “You know what? Nevermind. The point here is that you killed these men, and I need something that was on this one’s corpse.” the mystery man said, pointing at Rodney.

“What is it?” Colin asked carefully.

“A pair of silver rings,” he answered bluntly. “I am willing to make a deal to get them if you have them. No violence or dishonesty, just business.”

Swallowing, Colin looked over the man again. He wasn’t sure how big the level difference was between the two of them, but it must have been massive to let him easily stymie him as he had. Whoever he was, Colin was sure that he didn’t want to screw with him yet, so he decided to play it safe. “Yeah, I have them. What would you offer for them?”

The man rubbed his chin in thought, “I’m not sure. I came here either expecting a body to pull them off or to take them from this sack of shit. I wasn’t here to bargain. What do you want?”

Colin’s mind reeled at the question. He had no idea what to ask for. Even if he did, what were the chances that this guy would have it on him? He needed a few more seconds to think this question through, so Colin shelved it for a moment. “Who are you? what’s your class?”

The man stiffened. “Are you sure you want to ask that?”

“Yes. As long as that doesn’t count as my payment.” Colin quickly added before the man could try and cheat him.

Sighing, the man nodded. “I guess if I am going to answer that, I won’t need these anymore today. I was trying to remain anonymous.” The man said, both disappointed and just a little annoyed.

The man raised his right hand and started tapping at thin air, making Colin assume that he was fiddling with some menus. Seconds passed, and Colin watched at the trenchcoat faded away to be replaced with a comfortably worn aviator jacket and a pair of beige cargo pants. When the mask vanished, Colin was surprised by how normal the guy looked. He expected scars or some kind of deformity but found smooth bronze skin, dark brown hair cut into a fade and shimmering eyes like molten copper.

“My name is Dante, and I will only tell you my class if you promise not to tell anyone, DevilWalker,” he said, a hint of warning in his voice. “Accept this promise, and I will tell you.”

You have been asked to make a binding oath. In Rosengard, Oaths are powerful and more so when made by strong individuals. If broken, something terrible will happen to the individual who broke it depending on the strength of the oath. Be warned that players have had the unbreakable shatter, lost levels, and even had a monster spontaneously become a boss, so make your oaths carefully. Dante is offering you his class name in exchange for silence on the matter, Will you accept Yes or No?

Figuring it was better to know what he was dealing with, Colin selected yes and looked up at Dante. The man nodded in agreement, and another prompt appeared.

A deal is struck!

“My class is Chronomancer,” Dante informed him without delay.

Thinking before speaking, Colin parsed out what that could mean and put the term in a modern context. “Wait. You can manipulate time?”

“To a point. The ability to travel in time is limited to certain points in the world, but yes, I can manipulate time.” He told Colin nonchalantly to make him think it’s not a big deal.

“Is that how you knew he had the rings?” Colin asked, pointing Rodney’s corpse.

“Yes, but I didn’t see you, so I am a little perplexed,” Dante answered, sincerely.

“Who are you looking for?” Colin asked, seriously. “I mean, who did these rings belong to?”

Dante looked at him pointedly, shrugged, then stroked his chin in thought. It took a moment for him to answer, “they belonged to a half-fey woman who lived here. Her name was Vivian.”

An impish smile appeared over Colin’s face. “I do have the rings, but what if I told you that I could have their owner in, say, an hour.”

“No, she should be dead by now,” Dante told him.

“She shouldn’t be. I heard those two say something about a half-fairy woman upstairs; the subject matter was why I killed them,” Colin told Dante, who immediately went into thought.

Then his eyes went blank for a moment as the soft copper of his eyes grew into torchlight levels of illumination. The light from his pupils seemed to track something invisible, so Colin assumed that he was using his Chronomancer powers to determine the truth. Admittedly, Colin thought the Chronomancer class sounded extraordinarily cool and had considered abandoning his mystery class choice to try and pursue this one. Now that he could see how the powers of the class broadcast itself to the world, he was infinitely less interested.

Mere moments later, the light dimmed, and he gave Colin a smirk. “It would seem that you are going to be busy here. Three quests already and now a promised reward from this person’s sibling if you bring her back alive. You’re a little lucky these people have been a nuisance.”

“It would seem so,” Colin admitted, though he’d never thought of it that way. “How did you know I got three quests?”

Dante shrugged. “I am a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, sprinkled lightly with chronomancy and sauteed for unknown lengths. Just go with it, most people I’ve dealt with have decided that its easier that way.”

“Sure,” Colin said, noncommittally.

“But here’s the deal. One of the soothsayers from her brother’s courts has told him that the girl, Vivian, was dead by now. He had tasked me to take those rings back as proof to the two’s Father that she was gone. I can guarantee that the man isn’t a complete asshole, just a bit pragmatic AND asshole-ish. If you get her out and bring her to me, I can promise you a reward on a later date. This will not be considered a quest, so no accept or decline windows. Just a promise and another Sworn oath if you find her alive. Sound fair?” Dante asked after his winded proposal.

Colin thought about it for only a moment. He didn’t need a reward to attempt to save a woman in need of actual rescuing. This only hardened the mortar of his resolve to do it and do it fast.

“Yes, this sounds fair. On one condition,” Colin said, carefully trying not to sound like he’s demanding anything from the man who’s already overpowered him once.

One side of his mouth tilted upwards following his raised eyebrow. “Really? What could that be?”

“Is there anything you can give or lend me that can help me here? I am skilled, but I have only been in Rosengard for a couple of days. Not long enough to gain any significant levels or skills.” Colin admitted.

Dante hummed to himself as he considered Colin’s words. “Physical skills have to be taught or used correctly to attain a skill. Magic, on the other hand, needs a spark of power from another person or a very rare item to unlock it. I can unlock one of your magic skills now if that works for you? What class are you, and what skills do you have?”

Colin answered succinctly and held nothing back. The look he got from Dante at the mention of his lack of a class made him feel oddly embarrassed. Colin would have been willing to tell him why he was waiting, minus the demon, but he never asked or interrupted Colin as listed his few skills and their levels.

“Interesting. It looks like you’re going for a stealthy assassin kind of build. Am I wrong?” Dante asked.

“Yes and No. Mostly I did what I had to.”

Humming again, Dante seemed to open up his menus and started poking at the air as he carefully looked through it. “I have three suggestions, and I will only give you one of them. The choices are shadow, light, or Kinetic magic. All useful and all have long term usage.

“How?” Colin queried.

“At the first level of each of these, you can only manipulate the energies so far. With light, you can create a blur like effect, making it a little harder for enemies to hit you. Shadow, you can pull some shadow around your body and make it harder for enemies to see you at night or in darkness. Kinetic is more straight forward, You can use the energies to enhance your body and give yourself a small boost to your physical characteristics, All useful to have but a pain to unlock normally.”

Upon hearing what they could do for him now, Colin got some ideas as to what they could do with a few levels. Immediately, he knew what he would be getting but considered the other two for a moment to make sure he wasn’t overlooking them.

Light had so many applications that could be useful with lasers, flashbangs, flashlights, hard light, invisibility, being a few obvious thoughts. But if he could only create a blur effect around him at the first level of the ability, then it wouldn’t be immediately useful, and he needed something immediately useful. Shadow had a similar problem, long term utility but small short term use. Kinetic, on the other hand, provided a small bonus to his physical stats, which meant it had a more extensive use range since he figured that there was some math going on to determine how well he did certain things. Like dexterity helping with his acrobatics or stealth skill.

The choice made, Colin looked to the man and said, “I would like the kinetic magic skill,” Colin told him politely.

“Are you sure? This choice cannot be changed once I give it to you, so no changing your mind if you want shadow in ten seconds.” He explained, and Colin only nodded once. “Alright, just hold still. This will hurt for a few seconds.”

“Wait, you never said-” Colin started, working himself to get annoyed at the man for withholding a side effect from him when he suddenly appeared in front of Colin. One second, he was maybe six to eight feet away, and the next, he was just there. Dante placed his hand upon Colin’s head, and his vision was suddenly filled with a transparent gray shimmering that would have been described by Dante as the color of motion.

Suddenly, his whole body felt like it was convulsing so violently that it felt like he was going to shake apart with the movement. No, he wasn’t shaking. It felt like he was vibrating at speeds that were hurting every bone, piece of cartilage, and anything else substantial in his body. The pain seemed to drag on and get steadily worse, like a bumpy road getting steadily worse on your backside. Then, an eternity later, it eased away and left a profound sense of calm and vigor in him. He felt rarin’ to go for this challenge now.

Congratulation! Your Kinetic Magic Manipulation skill has been unlocked by -/;’ERROR-=[]’ Dante *!ERROR-+/. At Level 1, you can only access and manipulate a small amount of power from the magic type, so your options are minimal. Right now, you only have access to one of the subskills of Kinetic Magic called ‘Kinetic Vigor.’ At Level five of this skill, you can start devising your own spells and remember, creativity is your friend. You have unlocked a subskill for Kinetic Magic called Kinetic Vigor! While active, all your physical characteristics are increased by one percent (Minimum +1 to characteristics) and cost 10 Mana per Second. This is a subskill of Kinetic Magic and thusly, any time this skill is used, the main skill gains experience.

A bit of a bummer, but it was at its first level. Then another prompt appeared.

Congratulations! The spark of kinetic magic that has been awakened in you has unlocked your Mana. Your maximum mana amount or Pool is based on Intellect (100 base mana pool + Intellect score per level). Mana will now begin to regenerate at a rate of 1(Wisdom x 0.2 = Regen) per second out of combat. This amount is halved in battle.

Good to know.

“With that done, I will take my leave,” Dante said, giving Colin a very grandiose bow before turning around and heading for the stairs up.

“Wait, could I get one more favor?” He called.

“Depends, I won’t be doing anything else to help you here. I’ve already helped out more than I usually do. I’m a tit for tat sort of guy.” Dante told him, stopping and turning to face Colin.

Colin took a minute to explain to the high-level character what he needed him to do. He asked a couple of straightforward questions that were answered quickly, and in the end, Dante shrugged. “It only takes me a little out of my way. Not a big deal, but I will impose one of my usual payments on this, though.”

“Which is…?”

“Like I said, tit for tat. A favor for a favor. I do this, and you owe me a task equal to or lower than this in difficulty or time. Agreed?” Dante pushed out his hand, and after a moment of consideration, Colin took it. He simply figured that what he had in mind was pretty minor so his favor will be very minor.

You have made a deal with =![email protected] If you refuse him when he asks you for the return favor, you will gain the permanent debuff, Oathbreaker.

“Alright. I will get right on that. I wish you luck, DevilWalker.” Dante grinned as a halo of copper light appeared about his head. In a wink of bright light, the man vanished, and Colin was in awe of the power he’d just been shown.

But now he was on a deadline. Colin needed to get upstairs and complete all his objectives quickly or else risk the favor he’d given Dante being for naught.

Pulling up his character sheet, Colin looked it over before going in.

Name: DevilWalker. Nickname; Walker. Level 4. Class:none. Subclass: none. Health:130/130 Mana: 80/80 status: Normal. Personal attributes: Strength: 10 Dexterity: 10 Speed: 10 Build: 10 Intellect: 10 Wisdom: 10 Charisma:10 Luck: 10 Skills: Stealth level 5, Personal Blades level 4, Acrobatics Level 3, Tumble level 1, Improvised crafting level 1, Knowledge: Spiritcraft level 1, Detect Falsehood level 1, Kinetic Magic Manipulation level 1, Kinetic Vigor level 1(subskill)

It was getting more and more full every time he looked at it. As far as he’d seen and read, there was no limit to the skills he could learn and was happy just to learn them as needed. More skills meant more options, and more options said that he could win any situation. And wasn’t winning everyone’s goal in here?

Closing his status sheet, Colin grabbed the dagger’s that had been tossed to the floor and only then realized that the wrist sprain debuff had timed out and smiled at the lack of pain. He wished for a moment the system had told him that the debuff had timed out but was glad it hadn’t. In a regular battle, the array of buffs and debuffs starting and ending could be disorienting if prompt windows appeared for every single one.

Sheathing the blades, he looked towards the stairs that led up and took a single steadying breath before starting up them. Twenty steps later, he was crouched down and trying to remain quiet and stealthy while getting a look at the room.

Directly across from him was another set of stairs that led upwards to the upper floors, and immediately to his right, Colin found the foyer and the barricaded front door. The room was sparse except for a receptionist desk that looked clear of debris and benches against the wall near the sealed door.

Finding no one, Colin reasoned that this must have been where Ter’ and Rodney must have been posted when they heard his entrance from the sewers. A couple of bags sat under the benches, so Colin took a moment to take a peek inside.

You have found six survival rations, two waterskins filled with water, a hand crossbow, a quiver with 11 hand crossbow bolts, 64 CB, 2 CC, and a bag of fresh sunflower seeds

Taking everything in the bags and loading them into his own, Colin took the hand crossbow and looked it over.

Shody hand crossbow. Proficiency required: none. Damage 12 to 20. Range: 50 feet. Strength score required to load crossbow: eight minimum. Durability 12/30

He’d use it until it broke, but with its durability so low, he was hesitant to use it at all. It could snap in his hand and cause damage to himself at the wrong time. But having a ranged weapon like this could prove invaluable, so he attached the quiver to his hip and loaded the crossbow with a pistol grip and trigger with a bolt. Better to be ready.

Colin stealthed around the rest of the floor and found one dead body that must have been a few weeks into decomposition from the smell. The man had been stabbed through the eye socket and had been left to rot in a closet, forgotten. He had no ID, looted from the looks of it, and no one to miss him.

These people were nothing but shitbags they deserved what they were going to get.

Returning to the stairs, Colin crept up them to the second story and immediately went still at the sound of someone nearby coughing. He waited, and another short series of phlegmy coughs rang out from the man only a few feet away. Only a few steps down from the top of the stairs, Colin figured that the man should only be just around the corner where the stairs stopped at the landing.

“Still sick, huh?” someone nearby asked.

“Yeah. Goin’ on a week now, and it still won’t calm down. Starting to think its this shithole keepin’ me sick.” the man around the corner grumbled.

“Probably right. I heard that stressful environments could make sickness last longer.” the non-coughing man told the other.

“Why?”

“I dunno. Ferm told me that a few weeks ago, when I last had a cold,” he told his sick friend.

While the two chatted, Colin crept up the rest of the steps and leaned against the right-most wall of the stairwell. Listening to the two talk and trying to get a sense of where they were. After a minute, when he was ready, Colin carefully drew one of his daggers into his off-hand and waited a moment.

He confirmed their locations before stepping out into the open and triggering his Kinetic Vigor ability. As raw physical power empowered his body a little, Colin aimed the crossbow at the non-sick man and pulled the trigger. The bolt leaped from the weapon imbedded into the man’s right bicep. Dropping the weapon, Colin braced the dagger by the pommel with his main hand and, with a small turn of his body, brought the weapon down onto the sick man who’d been sitting in a chair, directly against the stairwell wall.

The dagger found a home in the man’s forehead before he could even flinch at the attack against his fellow gang member.

Leaving the weapon and deactivating Kinetic Vigor, Colin drew his second dagger and advanced towards the man was trying and failing to draw his weapon. His dominant left hand was slick with his blood and was shaking as it tried to muster the strength to grip the sword at his side.

Smiling at his fortune, Colin moved up towards the man and aggressively shoved him up against the wall. He barely resisted even as Colin pressed a clean dagger up to his throat and held it there for long quiet seconds.

“I am only going to make this offer once. Only nod or shake your head to answer me, understood?” Colin asked in a low growl. The man nodded, and Colin proceeded, “I need a little information. If you give it to me, not only will I not kill you, I will give you a Copper Coin for your trouble. How does that sound?”

The man nodded emphatically. “You may answer my next questions, but you speak louder than a whisper, and I will cut your throat. Where are the hostages, and where is your boss?”

The sound that came out of the man’s throat was more of a whimper than a whisper, “Next floor up. The hostages are in apartment 3A with another thug. The boss should be on the top floor with his mage. P-please, don’t k-kill m-me,” the man stammered.

“I won’t since you did as you were told. Unfortunately, I cannot just leave you here.” Colin told him as he grabbed the front of the man’s shirt with his open hand. He pulled the man forward, moved around the man’s body while maintaining his grip on the shirt, and pulled the man’s back to his chest. Now he released his hold on the shirt and switched into a sleeper hold, cutting off the blood flow to his brain. The man struggled but was ultimately rendered unconscious.

Taking one of the two copper coins he’d taken from the bags in the lobby, Colin slipped one into the man’s pocket. With that promise fulfilled, he moved over to the corpse of the sick man and removed the man’s scarf that Colin had only just noticed and proceeded to tie the man’s wrists together and to one of his ankles. He would have preferred both ankles, but the scarf was only so long, and with the man’s arm like that, it was unlikely he’d be able to get up.

Congratulations! You have killed Harvey’s grunt, Brune, and rendered Harvey’s Grunt, Rid unconscious! You have gained 124 experience points You have gained 124 EXP and have 712/1200 experience towards level 5

Going back into stealth, he pulled his dagger free from the man’s head with a sickening slurp and cleaned it on the dead man’s shirt. Weapon retrieved, he took a moment to pick up and reload the crossbow; it had been effective enough to warrant continued use, but more cautiously.

Ready to go, he moved around the short hallway that would likely turn into the next set of stairs going upwards. But that could wait a moment as he reminded himself of the quests he had. Kill the mage, grab Harvey and the ring, and find Roy Clyde. To do the latter, he’d have to look, and so he did and was grateful when he found nothing but three ransacked apartments on this floor. Also, the owner of apartment 2B must have been a chemist because Colin was tempted to grab a small bag of what looked and smelled like really good Meth. While worth a fair bit of money if sold, it wouldn’t be worth his time or safety if someone walked in as he picked it up

Pressing forwards without using his itching sticky fingers, Colin Moved up the stairs to the third floor and hoped he was making an impact against Harvey’s goon squad. He’d stopped four men now but was confident that there must be several more in here. Why else wouldn’t the high guard just come and take care of it quickly and be done with it.

There was a clamoring of voices up above him, and Colin guessed it was either Harvey’s grunts chatting or the prisoners. The voices were coming through the walls, so he wasn’t sure which it could be, so he proceeded carefully.

Stopping at the top of the stairwell, Colin listened to the area and tried to hear out anyone who could be nearby.

A snore broke the silence, and a complaint quickly followed it. “Bloody fool, falling asleep in the middle of the day. One day, the boss will get tired of everyone’s lax attitude.” a harsh woman’s voice grumbled as a pair of feet started walking back and forth, pacing the hallway.

“Complain any louder, and the two nincompoops downstairs will wake to your moaning.” an older man yawned out. “Nothings happened here in nearly two weeks, people are bored, but we cannot leave without the bosses plan finishing. Any word on that?”

“None. Just the same ‘it’s coming along’ BS,” the woman spat, annoyed.

“Pity. I was hoping to leave soon,” he said with a sigh.

Deciding to try the same tactic as before, Colin stepped out from around the stairwell and aimed his crossbow at the one standing up. He pulled the trigger at the woman and promptly dropped the crossbow this time. Drawing both daggers, Colin flipped them around into an ice pick grip and plunged them down into the man.

Only the man was scrambling away from Colin and was several feet away from where he’d been a few seconds earlier. Looking at the woman, He found the crossbow bolt had burrowed into her right shoulder and ran at her instead.

“Help!” the older man yelled as he got to his feet and started away from Colin and his female companion’s scuffle. He definitely wasn’t getting paid enough for this.

Kinetic Vigor had ended after his first attack, and Colin was struggling against this opponent. This woman was skilled, higher leveled, and was barely slowed by the bolt in her shoulder. She bore no weapon, electing to box him into submission as he dodged as efficiently as he could. His practiced movements and slightly longer reach would have to do the trick here.

After a brief exchange, they broke off their close distance attacks and took a few steps away — both needing the moment.

“You know this is pointless. The coot just went off to get back up, and it will be here at any time. Why haven’t you just run away?” she panted.

“I can’t. I have a job to do,” Colin said. Changing his grip on both blades, Colin reactivated Kinetic vigor and hoped he had a few seconds for increased accuracy and power. He threw both knives at the woman and both in different spots on her body. With a backhand, she deflected the one that had been thrown at her face. She yelped as the other went through her foot.

Without hesitation, Colin sprinted the feet between them while his hands drew a throwing knife each and held the forward. He didn’t aim for anything special or especially lethal; Colin just tried to do something to hamper the skilled woman’s form and function so that she wouldn’t be able to fight back. He took the blades and drove them into the woman’s ribs, one through each side.

With a growl, she turned her shoulder so that it faced him and rammed it into his torso.

You have been tackled by Mota and have taken 46 points of damage. You have 84 out of 130 remaining.

His lungs emptied violently as she shoulder checked him. Stumbling backward, he took a second to catch his breath while the now identified Mota held a hand to each of her sides and pulled the throwing knives free from her. Blood seeped past shirt, and Colin figured that she could be saved if she got help quickly. He’d seen people survive worse injuries. But this woman just stared at Colin, hate now glaring through her pain.

Her mouth twisted into a snarl, “you little bitch.” she charged, her fists balled and drawn back for a straight punch. Reading the move, Colin stepped to the inside of her guard, grabbed her wrist, and twisted his entire body. With her now dragging off-balance, he kicked her feet out from under her and tried to drop his elbow into her back while she was prone.

Mota rolled away and onto her front, kicking up into Colin’s side as he tried to stand and knocking him back down.

You have been kicked by Mota for 21 points of damage. You now have 63 out of 130 health remaining.

Thinking quickly, Colin grabbed one of the crossbow bolts from the quiver at his hip and used it as a stake. It thunked into the wooden floor, and Mota found herself unable to move more than a few inches as Colin had staked her to the floor by her shirt near her right shoulder. Without much leverage, try as she might, Mota couldn’t pull the bolt free from the floor.

You have defeated Harvey’s Lieutenant, Mota! You have gained 100 Experience points. You have gained 100 EXP and have 812/ 1200 EXP towards level 5

Retrieving his deflected dagger from a minute earlier, Colin walked over to Mota and considered letting her live. She wasn’t a threat to him now, and if his plans worked out, then she wouldn’t be able to do anything against him soon.

Taking his dagger out her foot with a yelp of pain that she bit away quickly, it looked like she was doing her best to remain silent now. Seething in her pain and anger as she lay prone on the floor.

After retrieving his dropped crossbow and attaching it to his belt, He walked over towards the apartment, marked 3A, and opened it slowly. Everyone in there were likely as stressed as piano wire, and he’d rather not surprise the people in there. “Hello?” he called out softly. “I’m here to rescue-” he started only to have something hard hit him in the head.

You have been hit in the head by Vivian and have taken 15 points of damage. You now have 48 out of 130 health remaining. You are mildly concussed. Intellect, wisdom, and charisma reduced by half and will return steadily until three minutes have elapsed.

“Wait, what?” a young woman said in confusion as Colin’s head throbbed.