Hit 99 followers- darn, so close :p

Also, I figure out why the spacing gets messed up by the tables. It just does that after a certain length of writing it does that automatically. Rats.

Steel awoke in a round room. The floor was covered in circular designs that spread like the waves a drop of water makes in a lake. 4 windows stood, perpendicular to each other, letting in light but having nothing beyond them. The roof above his head looked like a cone, rising up to a point far above.

He looked down at his body. Legs, check, arms, check, pain....none existent. He still had his shield on his arm, and felt his necklace on his neck. Strange though, he wasn't breathing and could not speak. A blue box popped up in front of his thoughts:

Welcome to deathYour current state:DeadHi, and welcome to your death. You died in the field of battle. Because of this, you have to spend some time in the room of reincarnation. You will also suffer some penalties, which you may view now, or when you revive. You will appear in the last temple you've visited. Since you have not started a Player Killing, you have not lost any of you equipped items. However, you have dropped: Bread. Please remember to store valuables so you do not lose them in death. Please note, if you attack a player unprovoked, a PK sign will appear above your head. When that happens: you have a chance of dropping equipped items, town guards will distrust you on sight, a bounty option becomes available to those you kill. This may be avoided if: you accept a bounty, you are ordered to kill by the kingdom, receiving the blessing for revenge kill granted by a god, being mobbed by multiple opponents your level or above, or bribing the town guard. Because this is your first death, you least valuable item was dropped. Enjoy your stay, and we hope to never see you again :)Death Inc.

Steel widened his eyes, this was a lot of information to take in. He noticed a feedback button at the bottom, he clicked on it, and typed, "Too long, make it read more smoothly." That done, he sat down and decided to look at the penalties he had received for dying. He opened his notifications:

Status UpdateYou have died in battlePenalties:-1 all basic stats

Loss of least valued itemNote:Penalty has been minimized for first death. For this time only, praying to your god may return the stat losses to you.This will not be offered again.

He winced. Losing 1 point in all his stats really hurt him. Thankfully, it looked like praying would get rid of it, but he swore to himself to not die again, it was too harsh.

Death Timer:01:30

It looked like his death timer was small too, just a minute and a half. He shuddered at the thought of being stuck in this room for longer periods of time, an hour, a day. He would die of boredom, especially since he couldn't log out.

The time passed quickly, and he felt himself fall from the room. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the center room where the god statues were. He didn't like reviving in front of them, it kind of felt like they were judging him. Which they most likely did not, gods had more important things to do then judge random players.

He was wrong apparently.

Status UpdateYour actions have pleased your nameless benefactor.ResultsYour blessing has been uncovered

Your patron has been revealed

You may now pray directly to your god

Blessing of Milna

You have been blessed by the goddess Milna. She has heard your prayers of love and watched you defend nature from greed. Offer a prayer to her once and awhile or perform actions agreeable with her to keep this blessingBenefits:+Intimacy with Milna

Normal animals will not attack you without being provoked

Monsters will cry as they eat your flesh

+intimacy with nature

+Earth resistance

Status UpdateYou are the first player to forge a connection to the goddess Milna.Title Aquired:Milna's FollowerReward:+200 fame, Milna will hear your prayers (When she feels like it)

Steel was floored. His blessing was pretty amazing. Not only did he have a connection to Milna now, he could interact with animals without having to kill them due to aggro. The part about monster crying as they ate him kind of creeped him out, and he wondered why it was even included, but hey, he'd take it.

Still, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the blessing. It certainly didn't hinder him, but it didn't really help him either, except for the Earth resistance. He shrugged, blessing was blessing.

He kneeled down and prayed to Milna for help with his stats. He barely began when a notice popped up and told him his stats had been restored.

"I didn't even get to attempt piety bs." He muttered, "Takes the whole point out of praying."

Another notice told him Milna was enjoying his antics.

"........B%$^&."

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

Getting over his annoyance, he checked the new title he had received:

Milna's FollowerGranted to those who worship or whose actions embody the wishes of the goddess Milna. People will know you as a follower when equipped, and will ask you questions about the elusive goddess. Hunters and trappers will be wary of you, and poachers will be outright hostile. Priests and other holy folk will offer you respect.

It was interesting, but he didn't feel like it was better than his current title, so he kept "The Listener" equipped. He left the temple and walked back to the gate.

Reaching it, he entered the guard house and walked over to the wall to inspect his times. It listed his job for the day was to patrol the grassland immediately outside the wall and stop the over harvesting of rabbits. He asked the receptionist why he had to stop people from killing the rabbits. She explained that the monsters that lived in the forest were wary of the bunnies, and thus did not approach the wall often. With the players killing all the rabbits, the guard was worried that the monsters would become bolder with their excursions. A notice had been given to all people who passed through the gate to stop hunting the rabbits, but some players were ignoring the notice.

Steel understood, and said he would do his duty.

Quest exceptedStop the Bunny Killers!

Steel exited the guard house and walked through the gate out into the field.

The weather was a little darker today, clouds every so often covering the sun with their bodies. The grassland moved slowly with the occasional breeze, grass flowing like dancers in a song. He put his hands over his eyes and gazed around, but he didn't see any bunnies or players.

He headed out into the grassland, watching for any movement. Seeing the lack of bunnies made him sad, they had been so plentiful when he first appeared.

"If those bunnies kept the monsters away, this really could be a problem." He muttered to himself as he stalked the fields.

He heard a cry to his left, the area in front of the forest. Hurrying, he made his way quickly over in the direction of the cry. He came across a battle, between some players and....a monster he guessed.

The beast resembles a canine of some type, but bigger and covered in black fur. It had glowing red eyes and a drooling mouth full of teeth, and was currently ripping into a group of 5 players. He could see the damage it was inflicting on the players from here.

-25

-30

From the looks of it, the player group didn't have a healer and were bleeding out their health regen. Everlife may have had a higher than normal Health regen system, but the downside was the bleed status and high damage from monsters. On the other hand, proper blocking could negate all damage- but most players Steel had seen did not have shields.

"Run! It's too strong for us!"

"Ahhh, my arm, my arm!"

The group of players were trying to flee the beast, but it was too fast and tore in to them.

Steel got a notice that told him as a member of the guard he was obligated to protect those in need, or risk infamy and punishment.

"How bothersome." He sighed, lifting his shield. He really didn't want to tangle with the beast, or die, but a job was a job. Besides, he could ask for hazard pay after this.

He rushed into the group and hefted his shield in front of a player in the ground.

"Clang!"

The monster jumped back and regarded Steel and his shield as he braced the attack. It growled and began pacing, trying to figure out the threat this new being posed.

"You all right?" Steel asked the player he was covering, not taking his eyes off the beast. He was answered with a whimper and the sound tears. The player was obviously terrified. "Hurry up and bandage your wounds, it would be annoying it you bled out after protecting you." He ordered. The sound of ripping fabric told him that the player had listened.

A quick gaze around told him the other players had fled, leaving behind the one as a sacrifice for their escape. He felt pity, but no sympathy to the player on the ground. Picking the wrong people to be friends with was a risk everyone took, he felt.

The monster then decided that Steel wasn't that much of a threat, and charged in mouth open.

Steel swung his shield, hitting the monster on the side of the mouth. The monster swung away, but whacked Steel with it's tail on the way by. He took the hit, and was forced back by the force.

-15

Ten percent of his health in one hit! Steel felt some sweat on his forehead.

The beast ran back, this time swiping with it's paws at him. Steel swung the shield into both blows, taking damage with each block.

-10

-5

Thankfully, his regen was covering him, but the longer the fight went on, the lower his stamina would be, and then he would be unable to raise the shield fast enough to block. The wolf backed up, and threw it's body into him.

Steel flew back under the force of it's weight, tumbling into the grass.

Cursing, he got up and inspected his shield. The durability was slowly going down, and his previous fight had taken it's toll on it as well. He barely managed to get the shield up before the monster was on him.

It's mouth closed around his shield, trying to bite through the shield into him. Steel was on his back, trying desperately to keep the beast from chewing into his arm. He looked over and saw the player he had protected get up and watch him.

"Hey! A little help here!" He called out to the player. The player, who was wearing a hood, took a step toward him, but the monster let out a roar, and the player fled in fear back to the gate.

"Son of a biscuit!" Steel roared, outraged by the player's fear. That was on him for trusting the player and trying to protect him. The beast back up and slashed at the shield, angry at the lack of food.

"Grrrr! I won't die here!" Steel roared, strength surging through him as he bashed the leg away. While the beast stumbled a moment, Steel leaped to his feat and charged it with his shield. With full force, he bashed his shield into the beast's head, throwing his weight into the blow.

-20, daze inflicted

The beast roared in pain and hit Steel's body with it's other foot, He went flying back again, bleeding from the wound it's claws had inflicted.

-40, major bleed

Major Bleed StatusYour wounds are bleeding. You will lose -10 health every 5 seconds until you stop it.

Dazed StatusYou have been dazed by an opponent. You are stunned for 3 seconds.

Cursing, Steel saw the monster recover from it's daze, and glare malevolently at him. It charged him, and Steel closed his eyes.

"Dangit, I really didn't need this." He muttered, waiting for the blow to come.

Suddenly, he heard the monster cry in pain. His eyes shot opened, and he saw white figure running around the monster. The demon bunnies from hell were hissing at the monster, jumping on it's back and taking chunks out of it's flesh. The monster began a frenzy, whipping it's body to shake off the rabbits. It's claws sliced into the occasional rabbit, and they cried out as they died.

Rage took hold of him, and Steel checked his stamina.

"Almost out huh."

He wasn't going to let himself be saved by a horde of rabbits, too embarrassing to say the least. Also, the monster was his! Yelling out a battle cry, he charged the beast again, hammering it's head with his shield over and over again.

Dazed, the monster couldn't stand up to the combined might of Steel and the bunny horde. With a cry of anguish, it fell to it's side and lay still, it's life blood seeping into the grassland.