《The Legendary Bard》Chapter 26: Infamous
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:: Kai ::
I tottered through the forest outside the dungeon for about a half hour until I reached the forests end.
The forest opened up into a stretch of plains, which were filled up with a variety of farms and small shacks.
My plan was to regroup with the girls on my way back to Lachlan, but they sent a cryptic message earlier.
Shiroe: Gonna get stronger before we meet again!
I knew that they were somewhat ashamed for dying in the middle of the dungeon, but it didn’t actually bother me that much…besides losing my mind and going berserk.
I pushed my hands in front of me from side to side as I crossed through the last wheat field before I reach Lachlan.
Looking up at the two sexist guards that watched the main gate….I let my mind wander back before I left the dungeon.
*Flashback*
New Titles: Dungeon Master, Like A Boss
The two new titles flashed across my screen and I decided to check out what perks they provided.
The first title seemed self-explanatory…I created a dungeon, but the second one seemed like a event title…maybe?
I opened the descriptions with the flick of my finger…
Dungeon Master: Is a rare title given to those who successfully create a dungeon. It grants a 50% increase in stats and skills while inside of the dungeon and gives you absolute dominion over the dungeons inhabitants.
Like A Boss: Is a extremely rare title given to the first person to make a true boss monster. Grants the user the unique skill [Summon: Dungeon Beast].
My eyes were glued to the screen for a moment as I read over what the second title gave me…It provided no stat increases, but an actual skill.
I pulled up my console with my hand and scrolled down to my skill section. If this skill was what I think it is…then I am going to lose my mind…with happiness.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Summon: Dungeon BestNovice112%Summon: Dungeon Beast is a rare summoning skill that can only be acquired by those who hold dominion over a dungeon. It allows the user to summon a basic creature from the dungeon for a span of 10 minutes. Cost 500 Mana.
*Flashback End*
So obviously I tested the skill whenever I could…but with the short span of time since I left the dungeon I was only able to use it twice.
The mana consumption is a bit annoying, but it would probably be worth it if I grinded the skill up to the intermediate and advanced levels.
Who knows…maybe I’ll summon a mini-boss at some point.
The distance from the edge of the field and the entrance of the town was short. I was standing in front of the guards after a few short breaths.
I started to walk leisurely through the gates, but a pair of crossing spears immediately cut off my path.
“Unmarked slaves are not allowed to enter town.” Greta spoke roughly.
I rolled my eyes…I knew they were trying to get back at me for earlier.
“You know my status with the Valkyries and yet you still block my path…that’s bold.” I tried to act pompous in hopes it would scare them into submission.
“Trash like you should not be near the Valkyries!” Hyr exclaimed.
“You must have used some sort of mind magic one them!” Greta roared in reply.
I suck inn a deep breath of fresh of air in order to calm my nerves…the guards were beginning to test my patience.
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“Mind magic…I should look into that.” I said absent-mindedly.
Mind magic would probably be something that a Bard was particularly good at.
“The heathen admits his treason.” Greta stammered as she misheard my words.
“Huh?” I looked up with a confused look.
“Arrest him and put him in chains.” Hyr ordered and several members of the Valkyrian order started to pour out of the guardhouse.
“Fuck…” I muttered.
Greta lunged at me with her spear and I had to jump backwards out of the weapons range.
“Come on…we can talk this out.” I said quickly, but the only reply that came was an arrow narrowly missing my head.
“Empower…Strength…Speed.” I used my newly acquired voice magic to supply a few combat buffs to myself.
I kicked my back foot into the ground and lunged forward…before Greta was able to move in for a second strike my fist collided with her head.
I could feel the crunching of muscle and bone from the impact of my fist.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
“What the fuck…” I was completely baffled that my first strike was able to kill the guard-woman.
I was used to fighting against monster and they didn’t die this easily. Were humans always this frail?
“HYYYAAAAAA!” Hyr scream at me with bloodshot eyes as she saw her friend fall to the ground like a lifeless corpse.
Overcome by an insatiable thirst for revenge she ran straight towards me as if she was trying to tackle me.
I swung my leg upwards and planted it directly into her chest. The impact from kick sent her flying backwards into the wall that surrounded the town.
A disturbing cracking noise could be heard on the moment of impact.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
“Why are they so weak?” I was incredibly confused. His master had forged his body into weapon, but this was the first time he had witness such promising results.
A loud voice suddenly pulled my out of my baffled stupor.
“By order of the Vice-Commander Jihaaka…Surrender or Die!” A loud feminine voice proclaimed for all to hear.
I looked up at the walls and it was covered in archers and he was gradually being surrounded by Valkyrian troops.
“I might drop my new arm guards if I die.” I whispered as I glanced down at my arms. The last loot that you had obtained had the highest probability of dropping.
I clenched my fists and tensed the muscles in my shoulders. “I never liked being a hero anyway.” I said in reference to my fame to infamy ratio.
“I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink. I'm so tired; my mind is on the blink. I wonder, should I get up and fix myself a drink…No no no.” I sang the words as I pulsed the mana through my lungs and up and out of my throat.
Activating the Song of the Slumbering I was able to put up a quick movement debuff on all of the Valkyries that were surrounding me.
I could feel a rapid consumption of mana in my body, but I didn’t need mana any longer…I would win with my fists.
The Valkyrie took my song as a sign of defiance and immediately decided charge me.
The Song of the Slumbering had made many of the foot soldiers sluggish, but it wasn’t enough to help me avoid so many attacks.
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-7 HP. Scratched Arm.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
-11 HP. Stabbed Torso.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
-8 HP. Twisted Knee.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
-20 HP. Injured Leg.
Killed a town guard – Alignment Good. +200 Infamy
…..
A series of messages berated my screen as I fought with a mob of Valkyrian soldiers. They slowly whittled away my health as I decimated the town’s vanguard.
“Vanguard…Retreat!” I heard a strangled order as if the person couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“Archers…Bombardment!” Anger had coalesced into the Vice-Commanders voice.
I felt the prickle of arrows denting into my iron skin. “KAAIIII’THAAAKKK!” I bellowed out using my voice manipulation.
A wave of debuffs flashed across the town guards as I voiced my annoyance.
They wanted to see a vagabond…a merciless and soulless man with no morals…then that’s what I will give them.
“Burn out the day. Burn out the night. I can't see no reason to put up a fight. I'm living for giving the devil his due. And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you.” I sang the words for all to hear as I let the monster inside me out of its cage.
A monster born from the simplest of emotions, but one with the most power for pure destruction.
The Song of the Berserker took hold of my very being. It was like I was watching the battle in third person now…I had little to no control over my actions.
The berserker merely followed my emotions. I gave it one simple goal. Survive.
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You know that feeling when you wake up in a place that you didn’t remember falling asleep and for a brief moment you feel incredible fear…
I had that feeling…right now.
I woke up in a damp black room. The floor felt like it was made out of some type of stone or concrete.
‘Did I get killed and ejected…or captured.’ I thought rapidly as my mind went over all the possible occurrences.
I struggled to get up, but found myself wrapped up in metal chains.
After a few minutes my eyes started to adjust and I could make out a few shadows in my surroundings.
I was definitely in some sort of prison cell and I wasn’t actually chained to the ground. I must have jerked around a lot while I slept to wrap myself so tightly in the chain that was attached to my right arm.
I took a few short breaths and called up my status screen to try and figure out my current state.
I had the ‘Fatigued’ and ‘Injured’ icons flashing right next to my health bar, but what was even more surprising was the notification icon.
I had over three dozen notifications.
Clicking on the flashing notification icon a series of blue windows bombarded my screen.
Their was quite a few level up notifications…did killing guards really give this much experience.
Level Up. +6
“That’s slightly ridiculous…” I muttered.
I called up the help menu to see if it was some kind of bug…not that I was complaining, but I wanted to know if it was something I could exploit in the future.
“Hey…Ethaessa why did I get so much experience?”
For killing a lot of people.
The system responded to me in such a simple way that I almost lost my patience.
“I meant why did normal people give me three times the experience monsters do?” A hint of irritation in my voice.
The experience was influenced by the notoriety system. For example, if you had a lot of fame and you killed monsters or ‘evil’ people than you would gain experience at a much faster rate. The reverse is also true. You have a lot of infamy and gained a lot of experience for terrorizing a town.
I nodded my head at what she was saying…who knew such a convenient exploit existed. I guess it wasn’t on the forums because the game is still relatively new.
Speaking of which…how much infamy do I have?
I pulled up the window.
Infamy: 21,350
“Motherfu….what!?” My infamy was twenty times what it was just a day ago.
The moment I called up infamy three titles popped up in front of my screen.
10-Man Slayer: Is an ordinary chaotic title given to those who have slain ten neutral or good aligned NPCs or users in a short period of time. Provides a 5% increase in attack and 10% increase in killing intent when fighting good aligned users and NPCs.
100-Man Slayer: Is an rare chaotic title given to those who have slain one-hundred neutral or good aligned NPCs or users in a short period of time. Provides a 15% increase in attack and 20% increase in killing intent when fighting good aligned users and NPCs.
Notorious: Is a common title given to those who have gained more than 10,000 fame or infamy. It gives you a higher chance of getting better deals and raising intimacy with the specific type of people your notoriety effects and a higher chance of being ignored by the type of people your notoriety does not effect.
Infamous: Is a rare title given to those who have gained more than 20,000 fame or infamy. It gives you a extremely high chance of getting better deals and raising intimacy with chaotically-aligned people and a higher chance of being attacked on sight by good-aligned people.
“Fuck…its like I became the demon king.”
Status: Chapter 26
Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NeutralLevel:32Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesSongscryer – The One True Thak - Dungeon Master – Like A Boss – 10-Man Slayer – 100-Man Slayer – Notorious - InfamousFame:120Infamy:21,350-Health:650 / 650Health Regen:6.0 / SecMana:750 / 750Mana Regen:6.0 / SecStamina:900 / 900Stamina Regen:6.0 / Sec-Strength:70 (+63)Agility:70Vitality:73Intelligence:75 (+5)Wisdom:80 (+5)Endurance:93Luck:44 (+63)-Attack:0 (+?)Defense:0 (+90)Physical ResistancesSlashing:37 (+54)Piercing:37 (+54)Crushing:42 (+54)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%
Skills/Abilities:
Spoiler : Iron Skin: Intermediate Lvl 8 (21%)
Willpower III: Intermediate Lvl 7 (34%)
Seven Pathways Meditation: Intermediate Lvl 2 (3%)
Mana Manipulation: Intermediate Lvl 4 (15%)
Telepathy: Novice Lvl 1 (0%)
Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 9 (26%)
-Empower: Novice Lvl 3 (23%)
Music Mastery: Novice Lvl 8 (52%)
-Song of Renewal: Intermediate Lvl 2 (54%)
-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 7 (5%)
-Song of Sorrow: Novice Lvl 3 (26%)
-Song of the Berserker: Novice Lvl 3 (43%)
Bare-Handed Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 2 (1%)
Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 7 (50%)
-Rapier Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 3 (82%)
+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 7 (21%)
Illusion Magic Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (85%)
-Disguise: Novice Lvl 7 (11%)
-Glamour: Novice Lvl 2 (27%)
-Clone: Novice Lvl 1 (0%)
Summon (Dungeon Beast): Novice Lvl 3 (33%)
Equipment:
Spoiler : Prisoner Rags (+10%) Foul Stench – (3/5) Durability
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