Gii watched emotionlessly as Marion gripped his throat and tried to stop the bleeding. He gasped and reached for the glass flask but was stopped when Gii stabbed his hand.

[-10]

Marion tried to scream but all that came out was a gurgling sound as blood continued to pour out of the gash in his throat and pool onto the ground. The bleeding status had been inflicted from Gii’s critical hit so he was constantly losing health every few seconds.

[-5]

[-5]

[-5]

Gii bent over and Picked up Marion who was now too weak to resist and forcefully laid him on the altar. As Marion lay with his back on the altar looking up at the divine visage of his god, Gii plunged the dagger deeply into his chest.

[Critical Hit!]

[-22]

[Level up!]

You have slain a member of Crassius’s Church!

Reputation with the Church of Crassius : -100

Karma: -100

As life left Marion, Gii continued to use the dagger to cut into his chest cavity. He hacked away at the bone and flesh until the chest cavity was completely exposed. Once it was opened up he began to cut away the remaining flesh that was there until finally he had cut away the heart. He put his dagger away and then reached in to pull out Marion’s heart which was still twitching and spasming with remnant signals.

He took the heart and brought it above the chalice he had put down on the side of the altar, then squeezed the blood into it so it would mix with the holy water that had been poured in. As the blood and holy water mixed, the color turned darker and darker until it eventually turned into a deep black liquid. Gii then took the chalice and threw the contents on the mural showing Crassius, splashing the blackened liquid everywhere.

You have Desecrated a Temple to Crassius!

Reputation with the Church of Crassius : -1000

Karma: -500

As Gii stood on the altar with blood and black liquid dripping everywhere, he turned to look at the entrance when he heard the door open. Standing in the entrance to the chapel was the Paladin who had run off, a look of Horror flashed across her face before it quickly changed into pure rage.

“YOU FIEND! HOW COULD YOU!”

Gii watched as the previously green name above her head changed to bright red. As Marion’s body turned into white particles, Mina charged at him with a speed he could barely follow. Before Gii had any chance to react, her greatsword was stabbed through his chest and he was pinned against the back wall. His entire HP bar was depleted and multiple notifications flashed before him

[-60]

[You have died!]

You have incurred the wrath of the Divine God of Punishment Crassius!

Gained cursed status: Torment of Crassius

Due to the cursed status “Torment of Crassius” you have lost 10% more soul energy upon death.

Gii watched these messages and the grieving face of Mina as his vision faded to black. The next second his vision slowly expanded and he was met with a familiar site of the scarleaf hills. Any time a player died they would respawn at the Gate they chose as a respawn point.

Gii took a moment to compose himself as he sat down next to the Gate.

“Whew~”

Honestly that was much harder to get through than I thought…

Gii was just a normal person in real life, so it was difficult for him to keep his composure after what he had just done. The level of realism in Listonia was extremely detailed, which is one of the main reasons the players who were part of the “Evil Faction” in his previous life were always outnumbered. Many people would end up feeling sympathy for the NPC’s or extreme disgust at their actions, especially if they had to witness a gruesome scene like that.

There would always be a few players that would go around causing chaos, but the majority of the player base were trying to play hero and didn’t find it appealing to commit heinous acts. After taking a few minutes to compose himself, Gii then pulled up his character window.

Character Name: Gii

Level: 3

Race: Wood Elf

Title: None

Health Points(HP): 60

Skill Points(SP): 3

Characteristic Points:5

Experience: 3%

Karma: -600

Soul Energy: 80%

Vitality: -

Agility: -

Chance: -

Strength: 5

Intelligence: -

Wisdom: -

After adding his newly acquired characteristic points to Strength, he then pulled up the information window for his new Curse.

Curse: Torment of Crassius

Effects:

+10% more soul energy loss upon death

Effectiveness with all weapons -5%

It’s about what I expected.

Gii had taken these actions fully expecting to receive some pretty harsh penalties. Soul energy was something that was depleted when your character died, the base amount being 10%. This gave the players a penalty but wasn't too harsh. However, when your soul energy was completely depleted to 0%, your soul would be transported to the afterlife instead of being revived at a Gate.

There were 3 different afterlife’s you would be transported to depending on your karma level. Players tried to avoid losing all of their soul energy because they would be forced to do extra quests with no other reward but to be revived back to normal and get out of the afterlife. In addition, if you went to the afterlife and came back, you would get a 50% experience penalty for 2 in-game days.

Gii gathered himself up after resting for a bit and began to head east toward his next destination.

***

The golden light of dusk peeked over a rocky mountain cliff as a winding mountain path that was carved into the mountainside snaked its way through the difficult terrain.Trudging on this mountain path was a lone wood elf wearing a green shirt and brown trousers and using a green bandana to hold back his bangs.

It was the morning of the second day since his journey started as Gii had traveled through the night to get here. Along the way he had already registered 4 other gate locations. He was fortunate to have not run into any other players during his traveling, nor did he commit any other atrocious acts.

As he finally reached the top of the mountain trail, he spotted a large archway with magical runes coming out from one of the cliff faces. This time, instead of the desolate area he expected, there was a tent and campsite about 40-50ft away from where the Gate was. Gii could see a burly and stout dwarf character currently cooking food over a fire.

Gii kept a watchful eye and walked calmly towards the Gate. As he was approaching a human male with brown hair and wearing a basic set of leather armor, stepped out of the tent. He noticed Gii right away and began to wave frantically which caused the dwarf to turn back and notice him as well.

“Hey Friend! Coming to register the Gate?”

Gii smiled and waved back as he continued to approach.

“Don’t mind me, i’m going to be teleporting back. That was a long trek.”

“Don’t be like that, come and sit-”

The human stopped speaking as he watch Gii ignore him and get enveloped in blue light before disappearing from the Gate.

“What that heck, isn’t that rude?”

The Dwarf just laughed heartily

“HAHAHA don’t mind it man. He’s probably a distance runner.”

“Huh? Oh you mean one of those people who try to register all the gates right away?”

“Yep yep, he’s probably still got a long way to travel so it’s no surprise he’s in a rush. C’mon eat some cooking and we can continue exploring.”

Gii had teleported back to the Inglasses fields, which was not far outside the City of Amakna. Truthfully he had traveled quite a distance out of his way to get that Gate, but it was worth it because it was close to multiple good dungeons and hunting grounds.

As he traveled north from the Gate he exited, a notification popped up in front of his face.

You have been playing for an extended period of time, Please make sure you are taking care of your body.

This was a default notification that would pop up every 6 hours of real time play. Since the gaming capsule did not have any way to keep players hydrated and eating, Origin Entertainment had opted for this message to be displayed. It was possible to turn it off or change the frequency but Gii preferred to keep the default since it was a good way to keep himself in check. It was easy to become absorbed in the game and forget the passage of time.

Gii logged out of the game to take care of his bodily needs and make sure he ate something. After re-hydrating and eating he was back in the capsule within 20 minutes and continued heading towards the City he could now see in the distance.

As he finally started approaching the city, Gii brought up the in game chat function and began to type out a message.

[Gii: Yo old man, you’re in Amakna right?]

[OldManRalph: Hey Gii! I thought you quit playing?]

[Gii: I got cold feet…]

[OldManRalph: LMAO i knew you’d be back! It wasn’t even a month man!]

[Gii: Make fun of me all you want, you gonna answer my question?]

[OldManRalph: Yea, I’m in Amakna]

[Gii: Great, can you spare some time to meet up? I got a proposition for you.]

[OldManRalph: Sure, I set up a stall near the blacksmith. You remember where right?]

[Gii: I’ve only been gone a month man….yea I remember. I’ll be there in a bit.]

[OldManRalph: Alright see you then!]

After closing the chat with OldManRalph, Gii began to enter into the city and reminisce about his past life.Truthfully during the beta, Gii was pretty close to this player. Although he had never met him in real life they got along really well and before he knew it they were somewhat of a team. Both of them were fairly casual players so they never felt any pressure like you might from players who were serious about playing.

In his past life he had basically fallen out of contact with OldManRalph after he started school. When he stopped playing completely he didn't speak to him for almost a year. By the time he started playing again, OldManRalph had already moved on and joined a reputable guild as one of their top crafters.

Gii had always regretted this action as he felt like he lost a good friend. However the other reason he regretted it was because OldManRalph became one of the top leatherworkers and tailors in the game. The importance of the crafting professions were not felt until the mid to late game for Listonia.

Up until about level 100, which was the peak of tier 2, equipment would drop from enemies that might be usable. However for any high tier equipment from tier 3 onwards, it always had to be crafted by high leveled craftsmen. The biggest grind in tier 3 wasn’t the levels, it was always for rare material drops so that high leveled equipment could be made!

Gii registered the Gate in Amakna center and then made his way towards the area of town he remembered the blacksmith was in. As he walked past the blacksmith shop, he saw a leather mat laid out with a number of different goods on it. Sitting behind the makeshift stall was a burly human with a large white beard and a bald head. His head was currently nodding up and down like he was struggling to stay awake.

“Ralph!”

The old man startled awake and then looked over at Gii. He was confused at first but then noticed the name above Gii’s head.

“Gii! I didn’t recognize you!”

The old man stood up and then walked over to Gii and enveloped him in a bear hug.

“I missed you man! HAHA! Lets catch up at the bar, give me a few minutes to pack up.”

Gii smiled wryly as he watched his friend pack up and tried to bury the bittersweet feeling that was welling up into his chest.