<>(Zack)<>

After exploring the house, I examine my Stats again, this time, focusing on each one to see if I can find out what they are. Doing so for Strength pulls up a window.

Strength Your physical strength, this affects your physical prowess. Endurance Your body's durability, your ability to endure physical attacks. Vitality How healthy you are, this affects both your Health and its recovery, as well as how quickly your body recovers from injuries and illness. Agility Your speed and reflexes are both affected by this. Intellect The intellect within, this affects the strength of your magics and slightly boosts your memory capacity. Willpower The strength of your mind, this affects how well you can resist magical and debilitating effects. Wisdom How well you put your knowledge to use, this affects your Mana and its recovery. Perception The power of your senses, this affects how well you notice the things you take in and how many things taken in by your senses that you can focus on at a time.

I'm… not sure I want to know how those descriptions were invented. I get the sense that it's not flat-amounts for them, but rather, they affect me based on my body's state in addition to that number. At the same time, however, I feel like it is. Does that make any sense?

Trial and error will be how I figure that out.

If 1 Strength is weak, then I doubt I'd have been able to move around the way I have, to explore the property I arrived on.

Dropping to my hands and feet, I begin doing pushups, to see if I can increase my Strength. I perform fifty pushups in a row, but receive no message.

Stopping, I determine that if 1 Strength is considered ‘low', then it really is something added to my actual physical strength, not a set amount that determines exactly how much strength I have.

That decided, I rotate my arms a couple of times, then leave the property, wandering around for a bit. Most of the buildings are vacant, and mine was a fair distance into the city. Pretty much all of the buildings around here are covered in vines, grass and flowers growing between the stones of the road.

This isn't an abandoned city, is it? Did Big C leave me alone?

I make my way toward the massive building nearest to the place I arrived, though I can see several around the city. They all have a less menacing appearance than this one, but I like the look of this one.

This one's a massive temple built of black and bloodred stones, a flame insignia on the stone in front of the steps leading up to it.

I walk up the steps, finding the insignia on the ground again, and make my way to the jet-black doors.

Making my way across the insignia, I look at the doors, where I feel something within me reaching out, a flame burning deep within me that desires to be within.

When I attempt to open the doors, however, nothing happens. My hands slide right off of them. There's nothing to pull on or grip, so I thought they were push-to-open, but it seems that that isn't meant to be.

Unless there's some sort of magic that prevents people from entering it…

But then, how do I get in? I feel like I'm supposed to be here, like this is home to me.

I also feel like someone is watching me in amusement as I attempt to enter, and that pisses me off. I begin to feel my rage boil within me. I really want to punch them in their face, whoever they are.

New Skill! Rage Passive Increases physical strength based on the strength of your anger. Rage has been adjusted for amount of skill with this acquired before entrance to the Boundary Rage is Level 6

Ignoring the message, I look around, focusing on my senses to try to figure out where this jerk is, but I can't locate them.

"Where the fuck are you, asshole?" I ask, and someone appears a few feet away from me, darkness swirling around him.

He's tall, with broad shoulders and a muscular build, wearing light metal armor, a sword strapped across his back, another at his waist, and a knife strapped to his other waist. He's dressed in black and red, and has brown hair and eyes, a smile on his lips.

Dark Knight.

That phrase forms in my mind, and I instinctively know he's something dangerous, something more than just a warrior. Yet at the same time, the flame within me, that small, tiny little fire, says he's not evil, despite the sense of foreboding I get from him.

"What the fuck is so funny to you?"

"You've got some fire in you," he comments. "I am Nik, the head of the Guild of the Dark Knights in this City of Maelnor."

"Why can't I enter?"

"Only those of our line of Classes," he states. "And those we grant permission to, may enter the Dark Temples. Even those of the Blood Priests must receive our permission to enter, and they serve the same master."

"I want to enter."

"Obtain Dark Squire," he says. "And bring it to Level 10. I see the potential for a powerful Dark Knight in you, Zack. I am the only Dark Knight in Maelnor, right now. Impress me, and I will grant you permission to enter, if you seek to become a Dark Knight, one of the few who will use Skills that decrease their Health."

"It's not like it isn't going to go down in battle, anyway."

"True," he says. "We Dark Knights are among the few who use Health as a weapon. Taking damage does, indeed, decrease it, though where and how helps determine how much you took. Certain things and places do more than others. If your head is ripped off, you will die, even if the Monster could barely do that to you."

"Well, then," I smile at him. "Guess I should rip their heads off, first."

"Definitely a future Dark Knight," he smiles. "It's a Tier 3 Class, so you can't take it on until you meet the qualifications and do the Quest. You'll need Dark Squire for that, and bring it up to Level 10, then advance to Dark Warrior, bring it to Level 10, and then advance it again. That is, if you're interested."

"I am."

"Very well," he nods. "Remember that, then. It'll likely be a long while before you manage that – on average, it takes four years to bring a Tier 1 Class up to Level 10. I'll be watching you."

"Four years?" I ask. "What would you do if I made it in less than a year?"

"Laugh my ass off."

"How about less than four months?"

"If you can master Dark Squire in four months," he chuckles. "I'd have no idea as to what I'd do. You would have blown away even the quickest of those who can Level."

"It's that difficult?" I ask.

"Indeed," he nods. "Four years is average for someone who devotes every day to killing Monsters and growing stronger."

I hold a hand up and stare at the back of it, then turn it around and make a fist, meeting Nik's gaze.

"Then I'll just train harder," I tell him, dropping my hand down to my side, and he raises an eyebrow. "What would you recommend?"

"First," he says. "To stop by the Trading Post in town, over by the West Gate. You can get a basic weapon in there, and Jesse will replace it if it ever breaks. If you want to gain Dark Squire, you'll need Sword Mastery Level 1, Knife Mastery Level 1, Rage Level 1, and Taunt Level 1."

"Okay," I tell him. "So where are the Monsters? Are they just outside of town?"

"Some," he nods, gesturing to a gate in the distance. "The East Gate leads to the pass between the mountains. It takes seven days to reach the next town that way. In the pass, you'll encounter mostly Slimes and Rats. Be forewarned – most people will tell you to go further into our territory, rather than training here."

"Meaning?" I ask.

"This town," he responds. "Maelnor, sits at the very edge of Adventurer territory. Every City to the west of it has fallen to Monsters. For thousands of years, they have slowly taken over each City past us, starting from as far as our records go. No one knows what lies beyond that, the knowledge lost. This mountain range is all that separates our people from Monsters.

"This City," he continues. "Is the next target, and though our numbers have grown small the last two decades, with only a few hundred people left in it, there is a high possibility that a Horde is on its way here. If that happens, then a Dragon will be approaching us as well. It will destroy the City Barrier, which prevents Monsters from entering the City. It might or might not kill off the strongest Adventurers before it leaves, though destroying the City Barrier often drains it enough that it leaves.

"The Horde itself," he continues. "Will be of immense size, and of overwhelming power. They won't kill us through sheer might alone, but through their numbers, sacrificing their lives to wear us down so that the Elites and King Monsters can kill us off without issue.

"And so," he concludes. "You will find a number of people telling you to go through the pass and make your way farther inward. If we fall, the next City won't be far behind. We are the last barrier between freedom and the end of Adventurers. The Horde makes it through this pass, and it is estimated that every remaining city – despite there being more than three hundred of them – will fall within a decade at most, a year at the earliest. A Horde cannot pass through the mountains, only the pass, unless one of the two Cities guarding the pass falls."

Oh. So they want to get me out of the danger zone, because it's possible everyone here will die when that Horde comes.

But at the same time, that means that I'd die anyway.

Bullshit. I ain't dying, no matter how hard they try.

"Alright," I tell him. "And the other gates?"

"Lead into the valley," he answers. "Naelmar Valley consists of four Cities, ours being the last left standing. To the north, we have the Fallen City of Talorn. It's filled with mostly Goblins, though Rats are seen from time to time. To the south, we have Praevar, where mines are. Most of the Adventurers are trying to reclaim Praevar, because of those mines – they were once the most valuable in the Boundary, and are now filled with Kobolds. Praevar is filled with those and Goblins.

"And to the west," he says. "Never, ever attempt to set foot in Kaelmar."

"Why?" I ask.

"Even the most powerful of Adventurers are slain by a creature within," he answers. "In a Fallen City, Monsters are stronger than they could be at the equivalent Levels outside of it. In Praevar, they can be even stronger than in a Fallen City, and no one knows why, other than the presence of a creature none of us have seen. Or rather, a creature no one has survived seeing.

"Because of this," he continues. "In addition to having that creature and these powerful, Corrupted Monsters, Praevar is filled with Fallen Adventurers – Adventurers who were killed, and their bodies not cremated within seventy-two hours."

"Seventy-two hours?" I ask. "Why that timeframe?"

"Probably," he says. "To allow people to recover their bodies. Most of the time, though, if someone is killed and not able to be brought out immediately, it was somewhere with an intelligent enough Monster that their body is hidden. Fallen Adventurers are much, much more different from regular ones in that they're far, far more powerful than they were before they died the second time."

"So there's no Resurrection?" I ask, and he raises an eyebrow. "That's a spell that brings the dead back to life, right? It popped into mind when you talked about dying."

"Yes, it is," he nods. "But it doesn't exist, except in our knowledge from before death. Seems back in our old world, everyone dreamed of being able to defy death. To those of us who have already died once, there isn't another chance."

Doubt it. Resurrection must be a spell so powerful, it isn't easy to learn.

"Okay," I say. "And what Monsters are past each of those gates?"

"Naelmar Valley is mostly forest," he answers. "You'll encounter mostly Goblins within it. The lakes have fish and such in them, though I'd recommend not going for a swim, because there are Monsters in there as well."

"Got it," I say. "What other types of Monsters are there in the forest?"

"Rats and Spiders, mostly," he answers. "You might encounter Wolves from time to time. For the most part, you'll only see Goblins."

"Alright," I say, then scrutinize him.

"What?"

"I can't see a Level or anything on you."

"You'll need Appraisal for that," he laughs. "Oddly, there's also a Resistance Skill for it, and we're not sure why."

"Adventurers don't fight amongst themselves?"

"We do," he nods. "But most who don't simply try to live a regular life or retire or raise families typically fight Monsters, regardless of if they get along or not. The Crystals generally frown upon infighting, and encourage us to work out our differences by killing Monsters. The fewer Monsters there are, the safer it is.

"Not that it matters, in the long run," he adds. "In the end, all we're doing is delaying how long it takes. Supposedly, there will be a team of warriors who come that will change the tides of war, but the signs of that prophecy have yet to be shown."

"The signs of the prophecy?" I ask.

"Yes," he nods. "In ancient times, beyond our records, there was a man who prophesied that one day, a warrior would appear, a Crystal Adventurer whose very existence meant the turning of the war. It never said that he would be the one to do it, simply that his arrival meant the war would turn to our favor."

"In what way?" I ask.

"We don't know," he shrugs. "The prophecy gave us three signs for his presence – the first, that he would restore the City Barrier of a Fallen City. The second, that he would Ascend – something no one knows the meaning or way of. The third, that he would forge his own Class."

"People can't make new Classes?"

"Indeed, not," he shakes his head. "There are set Classes, and unless it already exists, you can't take it on. If you gain one that no one has heard of before, you didn't make it – you simply discovered it and its requirements."

"Ah, okay," I nod. "So City Barriers can't be restored?"

"If they can be," he says. "No one's figured out how."

Then I guess I'm just going to have to be the first, as I am not going to die a second time.

"Wait," I say. "So he's destined to do three things that haven't been done before, yet it's only his existence that changes the war, not he himself?"

"Correct," he nods. "If the prophecy is to be believed, his role isn't to change the tide of war, only indicate the change has come. He isn't the destined one, or chosen one, or anything like that – others will likely do far more than him. We believe he's a divine being of some sort, possibly a demigod."

"Ah," I say, then look out across the town from the top of the steps, the City that will likely soon fall. "Well, just so you know, I've decided to be that person, because there is no way in hell I'm letting myself die again. I don't even know what I did the first time to let me die, but it ain't happening again. So I'm going to get strong, I'm going to restore a City Barrier, and I'm going to kick ass.

"While I do have a desire to get strong as quickly as possible," I look at Nik. "I also don't plan on dying anytime soon, and you seem to be quite knowledge and wise. Where should I start with killing shit?"

"Starting off?" He asks. "I'd suggest Slimes in the pass until you have Sword Mastery, or you can train at the Warrior Barracks here in town to gain Sword Mastery. I'd recommend waiting until around Level 5 to try the Goblins, though, so that you get a feel for combat. Slimes are much easier, and they don't require much strategy or Stats to kill, if you go after the low-Level ones."

"Can't tell what their Levels are without Appraisal."

"It's easy to gain the first Level of it," he says. "And it's passive on Monsters and Adventurers. Just focus on items for awhile, and you'll eventually gain it."

"Okay," I say.

New Skill! Appraisal Resistance Active Grants resistance to Appraisal of or lower than the same Level.

"Huh," I say. "That really is a Skill."

"What is?" He asks.

"Appraisal Resistance," I answer. "I decided to see if I could resist your Appraisal."

"Mine's a fair bit higher than Level 1."

"I still gained it," I grin. "So what do you recommend for me?"

"You're worthy of being a Dark Knight," he says. "So there isn't a chance in the Boundary that you'd listen if someone said to go into the deeper territory and live a life as a kid until you're older. You're itching for combat. I'd recommend fighting Slimes and getting stronger, and just doing you."

"Alright," I say. "Thanks, Nik! I'll come see you in a month!"

Nik snorts, and I skip down the steps and make my way to the West Gate, to the Trading Post, so that I may gain my first weapons.