Kyle pushed Shirley off into another alley as the pouch exploded, he was knocked back as he felt the air forcefully pushed out of his lungs. His vision was blurry and he could only tell one thing, he had been pushed into the alley opposite of the guards and Shirley was in the alley in between them. He shook himself out of his daze and rubbed his eyes just in time to see three very pissed off guards jumping through the emerald flames with a spherical bubble of air protecting them.

He stood up and faced them (“I can’t let them see her, if that artefact allows me to gain a unique class…then it is priceless!”) they were a couple meters away from him but only a couple feet away from Shirley’s alley, “Suites him right to chase me down” he chuckled gaining their full attention as he opened his arms wide “I am Soul Thief! Master thief and one of the seven Blood Pack lords!”. A sudden chill went down each guard as Kyle activated his ability “You wish to avenge your commanding officer? I can smell it on you...the stench of failure”.

The guards abandoned their previous caution and charged forward just as Kyle turned tail and ran utilizing his sprinting skill, he zig zagged through multiple alleys not knowing any of them until a change came to this chase. Kyle came to a full stop as a dreadful dead end presented itself to him, he stood surrounded by three building walls in a path so narrow only a single person could fit. He turned around to see the guards barrelling towards him, he grit his teeth and prepared to be skewered by their short swords.

(“There goes all my loot…I hope she made it in one piece…”) he smiled in amusement at his predicament, time seemed to slow down as he thought of what the others would say in this situation (“Fight till the end, loss is not an option if you do not make it one. You’re the player, the user, the one who holds control”) he recited the clan’s motto in his mind.

The first guard was only a couple meters away pure rage still alive in his expression, (“Sorry guys, looks like even the user can’t win ever-”) that line of thought was cut short as an array of notifications presented themselves along with a surge of power.

Lesser Demon assist EXP received Level up! (x13) +1 to all base stats (x13) Level 5 attribute points received (+5) Menu [Beastiary] unlocked Active skill [Inspect] unlocked Level 10 attribute points received (+5) Menu [Social] unlocked Active skill [Soul Bind] unlocked

His eyes go wide as he quickly reads through the notifications “Hell if I’m dying now!” he shouted with all his might making the first guard flinch as he lunged forward with his sword, Kyle side stepped the blade then grabbed it with both hands cutting himself “Outa my fucking way” he spoke with cold hatred.

He kicked forward with his right leg hitting the guard straight in the groin, the leather armour did little to protect his jewels. Kyle pulled the sword out of the guard’s grip and flipped it over so he could hold it by the hilt. With hands still bleeding he charged the unarmed and shaken guard, with the path being so narrow and two other guards behind him he had nowhere to run and tried to block the sword with his leather brace pads.

The sword slashed into the leather but stopped short of skin, Kyle slashed downwards with the blade still in the guard’s skin, blade cut flesh as the guard screamed in agony. Kyle stabbed upwards as the guard moved to evade a killing blow to the neck only for the sword to stab away his helmet from beneath, Kyle moved quickly changing the stab into another downward slash, the guards began to quickly back up making him solely cut air but he attacked again. He lunged forward with killing intent, his sword lodging itself inside the first guard’s shoulder making him scream once again. The one behind him tried to intervene but could do nothing more than flail his sword from behind his comrade as Kyle stepped back taking his sword and more screams of agony with him.

The two guards took this chance to switch around as the one on the front crouched down to let his ally squeeze by, Kyle left no room for mistakes and used this chance to attack again. He lunged forward at the guard’s sword hand, his blade cutting flesh and bone as it dug into the other’s sword hilt. Two fingers fell to the floor as the guard shouted curses, his sword fell to the ground and he quickly moved to back away from Kyle. Said person continued his relentless attacks, stabbing downwards he caught the crouching guard in the back killing him instantly. Kyle tried to pull out his sword but it was stuck within the now dead corpse, he let go of the hilt and moved to grab the one on the ground as the third guard tried to slash away at him.

The injured guard was pulled back by his still alive and armed colleague, the third guard took a stance and waited for Kyle’s move. Kyle grinned and began backing away slowly as the guard also slowly stalked towards him but keeping his distance, Kyle suddenly felt his left leg hitting the dead end’s wall. The guard took this opportunity and lunged forward at Kyle intended to clash swords, Kyle had a different plan in mind. He parried the sword to the side then quickly grabbed the guard’s sword arm with his dominant arm and pulled just as he stepped behind him, he pushed the guard into the wall. Using his legs, he pushed at the wall behind him and held the guard in place as he stabbed one-handed at the guard’s shoulder, the sword dug into skin then flesh and finally bone.

The guard screamed a gargled howl in pain as he released his grip on the sword letting it fall to the ground, Kyle pulled the sword out revealing half it’s length soaked in blood while also releasing more inhuman screams. He knocked the guard’s helmet off then stabbed directly into his head, the skewered corpse fell limp to the ground as Kyle crouched down to grab the other free sword while keeping an eye on the sole living guard. This one was in tears while pulling away at the sword stuck in his colleague’s back, a fruitless action as the sword was embedded deep in the corpse’s bones. Kyle stalked towards the guard as the terrified man released the sword hilt and turned tail to run, Kyle was going to give chase but instead fell forward onto his knees completely exhausted.

With his adrenaline quickly depleting the stress and exhaustion that came with his previous movements assaulted his body as yet another notification filled his view.

Active skill gained [Rage]

He noticed another bar appear beneath his health and mana bars, this one was yellow and was currently recovering from being empty. He glanced at the two corpses in astonishment then remembered a skill he had just gained, he inspected them both.

City Guard Level 23 (Deceased) City Guard Level 24 (Deceased)

He then inspected the sword he was holding and a small window like notification appeared with it’s information.

[Guard’s Iron short sword]

Durability: 73/95

Attack Damage: 45 (30 + STR)

Unable to soul bind

Enchantable

No power-gem sockets

Officially Untradeable

He sighed at the quality of the sword (“Max level is 499 so I’m not sure what I was expecting from a starting town…Oh well, I shouldn’t be seen walking around with this sword in hand anyway”) he left the sword on the ground and stood up to inspect his clothing, blood still dripping from his hands while patches of blood were on his face, chainmail and leather pants.

He took off his chain mail then his leather top and pants, after wiping his face and hands on the pants he then threw it next to the sword. He took out his beginner clothes from inside the leather top and put them on, throwing the latter to the ground as well. “There, just your average beginner player. Nobody can suspect a thing now” he pocketed the mask as his inventory was filled to the brim with loot, giving the NPC corpses one last glance as they disintegrated into dust he then began moving in a steady jog to get away from the scene.

He wandered the alleys until he broke out into the open street, he had no idea where he was or how to get to the front gate. (“No way am I asking a guard so…is that a magic shop?”) he walked over to the strange store front, a purple sign with a black wizard hat decorated the side of the also bright purple wooden door. He pushed the door open and walked in “Ah a customer!” a young elvish girl with dark skin immediately turned around from shelves full of strange magical equipment, she had long jet black hair and ember eyes. “How may I help you tod- Oh are you a new arrival? Have you gotten lost?” she asked with a quizzical expression.

“How did you know?” Kyle asked.

“Oh it’s not so unusual, you adventurers tend to get into the strangest situations!” she exclaimed, “If you’re looking for the general store that’s two blocks from here to your left” she then turned back around to look at her wares.

“Actually I was wondering if I can sell things here even though it’s not a general store? I was out monster hunting and piled up quite a bit of loot…and accidentally killed a player gaining some very strange…items” he lied through his teeth.

The girl turned around “Strange items?” she asked with an excited tone “Could you show me?”.

Kyle opened his inventory and gave it a good look, monster parts, magic weapons, jars of…weird things and vials of fluorescent liquids along with stacks of silver and gold coins.

“You can hide some items from me if that’s what you’re worried about, I will know that you did but not what you hid” she said matter-of-factly.

Kyle nodded and focused on doing just that as he hid most of his currency leaving empty slots behind. He then thought about showing her the window and it spun around to face her, the girl’s eyes went wide as a smile crept up her lips.

She clapped her hands together “Right this way valued customer!” she said before walking over to her desk, Kyle’s ears twitched slightly at her reaction. He followed her over to the desk as she dragged the window with her “That’s a whole lot of loot, If I didn’t know better I’d say you robbed a mage guild” she giggled at her own joke.

Kyle’s expression twitched with unease “Found anything that interesting?” he said moving the conversation away from robbery.

“Quite a bit, multiple rare potion making materials, enchanting materials, two elemental wands, a combat mancer staff and many magic ornaments as monster parts!” she said excitedly as she pulled out some paper, she put her right index finger on the piece of parchment and it suddenly began to glow purple. She spoke to herself as she listed the items and their prices.

She turned the paper around and moved it towards him, she then rested her arms on the desk showing off her able breasts while giving him a smile “That’s the payment for what you got honey”.

Kyle stifled a smile as he took the paper in hand and read over the list, he now had to stifle a laugh as he finished counting. (“Two hundred gold coins along with the three hundred I already have…how rich am I already?”) he wondered as he glanced up at the still beaming young woman “You wouldn’t rip off a new comer now would you?”.

She suddenly slammed her hands on the desk and glared at him “On my pure Elven blood! I would never lie!”.

Her reaction interested him. “Elves do not lie?” he asked slightly amused at this prospect.

“Unlike humans and goblins who love the use of deception, no we do not!” she spoke with a rather annoyed tone.

He couldn’t tell if she was lying the whole way or not but decided best not to query further (“If she’s not lying then pushing further would make future dealing impossible and if she is it would ruin this one right away. What chances do I have of selling all this stolen loot at another store? I’ll settle on this price…”) he raised his arms in surrender “Sorry my bad, shall we go along with the deal then?”.

She frowned “Fine, pull everything out onto the counter” she said as she opened a drawer and began counting coins.

Kyle started taking out the items she listed (“She didn’t list everything…”) “What about the unlisted items?” he asked.

She shrugged “A useless broken wand core, two shattered mana crystals and a cracked basilisk eye. You probably broke them accidentally, they are very fragile after all”.

Kyle sighed as he moved said items over to a trash can icon within the inventory window and watched them disappear.

“That’s everything then, have a nice day” she handed him a pouch of gold coins which he grabbed and tossed into his inventory.

“Yeah, you too” he waved her off nonchalantly and walked away before suddenly turning back “By the way, where’s the city gate at from here?”.

She was already back at moving her wares “Follow the rising smoke in the sky until you come up on a burning guard post, after that just head straight” she said while wondering where to put her new staff.

Kyle was at the brink of falling apart and laughing but somehow kept it in as he left the shop. He took a deep breath and scanned his surroundings “might as well checkout my new skills and stats while I walk” he whispered to himself after sighting the rising pillars of smoke.

(“That’s ten free points for me to allocate…five per five levels? That’s not a lot but seeing how exerting that stat increases it I guess it’s a different kind of grind…”) he thought as he absentmindedly walked, (“Strength is my largest…strength right now so it makes sense for me to go melee but…I do not know what that unique class will be about so It’s best I wait, about half my strength is from my title anyway”) he sighed and closed the window then opened the skills window and read through each new skill.

As he walked by he himself inspected the damage, the magical fire had eaten through a three building radius before it was brought under control including the bank and a couple buildings across the street. As if the fire saw no difference between wood and stone it had charred most of the damaged buildings into pitch black mounds, Kyle also noticed multiple small mounds lying around the street as civilians or even guards stood by them mourning their loss.

This brought up something inside him as he reached for his throat, feeling the dryness within he kept on walking until he was at the gate. (“Damn…they’re just NPCs…Digital creations…Dolls in a fictional world!...I never felt like this before and I’ve done worse shit in other games but…they’re just…”) he took a good look around as NPC and Player went about their day (“So god damn real!...”).

(“So that’s what that power boost was…not only did I get the stat bonus from levelling I also got an increase from this active!”) he then suddenly realised something ”Wait…” he pulled up his character page again and looked at it closely, “Level…14…The demon…died?...” he stopped walking “How…assist right?...then what did?” he wrecked his brain for a couple moments thinking over what might have occurred after he kamikazied into the Lesser Demon

“Gah! No point thinking about it! I got more pressing matters right now” he scratched his head and continued to follow the rising smoke. As he walked towards the charred street Kyle made it his purpose to watch his surroundings carefully, guards and mages rushed around injured civilians while some wealthy looking individuals inspected the damage. He didn’t see any sign of the guard that escaped him but he figured they were still searching the alley way his comrades died at.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed (“Weak”) then walked over to the gate where two guards stood, this time inside the walls while keeping an eye on the forest outside. They noticed him approaching and eyed him down as he passed by (“Please don’t be a stupid reputation system…”) as if by sheer luck they did not stop him as he walked out of the city and headed towards the forest and snow, Kyle tried to retrace his steps but found he couldn’t remember where exactly.

“Fuck, what now?” he asked himself as he searched tree by tree for any notable differences between them, he sighed as he was about to lay his back on a tree.

“Hey! Punk!” a familiar voice spoke out from his left, he glanced towards the voice’s source and saw Regg walking over. “What ye doing out here alone?” he asked with crossed arms and a frown, his eyes wandered around the forest behind Kyle.

The man looked more paranoid than usual, his casual and carefree demeanour gone “Did ye ‘n Shirley only go out?” he asked still frowning.

Kyle noticed the change (“Did something happen?”) “Yeah, did she not arrive before me?” he asked, off the corner of his eyes he noticed some other cloaked figures hiding behind multiple different trees behind Regg.

“Aye she did arrive at base, can’t say the same for you though” he waved in the others as they rushed out holding an assortment of bladed weapons while they surrounded Kyle, “You see kid, I was already on a bad mood from that pointy eared bitch casting me into recruitment duty. Then ye come along and drop me even lower on her list? Boss didn’t like that, now I gotta teach you the ladder of leadership around here boy. You be at the very bottom” he spoke with annoyance clear in his voice.

The ragged and grinning thieves finished surrounding Kyle as he scanned them and their gear (“Any way out…”) he inspected their levels starting with Regg;

Dusk Blade Officer [Reginald Kaylin] Level 36 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 24 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 23 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 26 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 21 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 22 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 23 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 27 Dusk Blade Bandit Level 28

(“I guess talking is my only choice…”) “Come on now Reg, killing me won’t gain you nothing back except the city guards knocking on your door” Kyle shook his head as he spoke, “I’m sure we can come to a…reasonable agreement?” he put up a cocky smile.

Regg spat at the ground between them “You think you can talk yourself out of this kid? Bring on the guards see if we care!” he unsheathed his short swords “Steppin all over our pride! Show ‘im who we are lads!”.

(“Well negotiation is out of the window now…Wonder if they’ll give me my gold back if I ask nicely enough?...”) Kyle thought to himself as he grimaced at some of the bandits closing in on him slowly, they were acting cautious.

(“Unarmed? No way he’s that dumb…Mage maybe?”) one of the bandits thought as he stood back letting his less than bright peers go first.

Kyle activated his frost aura as his eyes moved from bandit to bandit, some were effected but others simply shook it off. (“Hell…well I ain’t just gonna stand here and be stabbed to death!”) he activated rage and felt the stats piling over as he rushed at the weakest level 22 bandit, the bandit flinched at the sudden attack as he moved his axe in front of himself. Kyle sprinted by the bandit as he knocked the man aside and continued running.

“What ye waiting for! Grab him!” Regg commanded the bandits making them all turn and give chase.

(“Shit! City’s the other way!”) Kyle zigzagged through the forest as the bandits quickly caught up to his pace, suddenly as he turned around one tree a knife embedded itself inside the trunk making him cringe (“Throwing knives!? Seriously?!”).

He ran for as far as his stamina took him but in the end the bar reached its end, he tumbled down to the ground as exhaustion set in “Sure system!…just!…bend me over and fuck me in the ass more!” he cursed while forcing his exhausted body up. Suddenly a kick to the side turned him over to face the branches and leaves, three bandits stood around him as more ran over.

“A running skill? Stupid adventurer…Shoulda just given up if that’s all yer skills let ye do!” the same bandit that kicked him earlier lowered his short sword towards Kyle’s face and grinned, some of the bandits began to sheath their weapons as two of them bent down and grabbed Kyle by the arms “Haul ‘im back to Regg, see what he got in store for ye trash” the bandit said.

The bandits began to drag Kyle through the forest as he mildly struggled back, exhaustion sapping away his strength. Suddenly a sound could be heard through the forest, a joyful whistling could barely be made out by Kyle’s ears. Most of the bandits didn’t notice but two of them glanced at the others and then began scanning the forest, seeing nobody one of them spoke up “Ye hear that whistling?”.

The whole group stopped moving as they glanced around for the source of the whistling, most staring down the direction they had come from. Along with the whistling which was getting closer more sounds chimed in, the sound of something being dragged along the snow and the sound of a man groaning in pain.

Kyle looked up to see a new figure moving towards them in the distance, a tall bulkily built beast man with grey wolf ears and a grey wolf tail. The man was wearing beginner clothing as in a black jacket over a purple shirt and long black trousers, he stopped a couple meters away from the group of bandits and Kyle. Dark purple hair and bright violet eyes, the man grinned at the sight before him.

“Fallen low haven’t we Kyll?” he spoke with a slight Semitic accent as he brought forward what he was dragging behind him while raising his long pole-blade to rest on his shoulder. “Your new friend here was kind enough to give me directions!” he exclaimed while holding up a bloody and beaten Regg, both eyes where closed as purplish red bulges grew around them while blood leaked down all over his face and wide open mouth lined with missing teeth.

Kyle stared wide at the player in front of him momentarily then inspected him

SlyOkami [Classless] level 42

Sly grinned a fanged grin as he threw Regg towards them, the beaten man landed a couple feet in front of them groaning “Sorry forgot to contact ya when I logged in, went straight to grinding! The game’s amazing!” he chuckled while gesturing at his surroundings with a free arm.

“How did you find me? Minus the bandit that is…” Kyle asked in amazement (“He’s got a terrible sense of direction!”).

Sly frowned “Hey you think I can’t make my way through a map!?” he said with a serious tone which then quickly crumbled into a chuckle “Yeah took some fiddling but I found out that opening the social menu along with the map lets me see where you’ve been or something, found out recently it shows where you were last seen” he explained.

Suddenly one of the bandits spoke out in anger “Who you be!? What did you do with our captain!?” the bandits dropped Kyle to the ground and unsheathed their weapons.

Sly smiled widely at their reaction and spoke with raised brows “Oh? You wanna fight too?” he took a step forward and almost immediately three bandits rushed towards him. Two held short swords while the one at the back held a double edged axe, Sly rushed forward to meet them. Lowering his stance he held his pole blade in both hands, the long curved blade met a bandit’s sword as he tried to parry the lunge only to have his blade dented and the pole-blade digging into his shoulder. W

ithin moments Sly pulled out the blade and slashed at the second bandit, he knocked away the man’s sword and spun around with his weapon to deliver a slash at the bandit’s leg cutting it clean off. The one legged bandit fell to the ground screaming while the other one held onto his shoulder and backed away. The third flinched and stopped in his tracks as Sly regained his balance and rushed forward, sneaking in his blade between the axe’s hook and haft he knocked it aside and with a quick lunge pierced the man’s forehead.

Sly pulled away from the dead bandit and spun towards the legless one quickly slashing low at his neck, he beheaded the man in one fell swoop and spun his pole-blade around his neck bringing it back behind him as he parried the other’s slash. He grinned at the paling bandit that quickly backed away leaving himself open, Sly spun his pole-blade back around and lunged at the bandit.

The bandit parried the blade away and rushed in to close quarters, he stabbed towards Sly’s chest. Sly let go of his pole-arm while side stepping the bandit’s attack, he then grabbed the bandit’s arm with his left and raised his right while forming a fist. A smacking sound echoes through the treeline as the bandit hits the ground unconscious, Sly kicks up his pole-arm and grabs it in one hand then glances at the rest of them “Who’s next?”