《Alternative Reality Vol. 1》Chapter 5
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Bandits Folly
Quest description: Bandit Bob tells you about a hidden tomb deep in the Dark Forest. The tomb belonged to a very influential man, who right before death – ordered the construction of the eternal resting place. Many say, that he hid most of his valuables there, together with his own remains. Help Bob reach the end of the dungeon - Tomb of Borelus.
Difficulty level: C
Requirements: At least 50 negative reputation. Intimacy with Bob the bandit.
Reward: Unknown.
Penalty for failure: Relations with the local bandits will be significantly reduced.
Penalty for refusing: Bob won’t hang out with you anymore. Intimacy will be lost. Relations with local bandits will be reduced by 20.
A quest from bandits! Wail struck gold. His mother once told him, that those that don’t give up will eventually be rewarded. A moment of truth has finally arrived.
“Of course, I’ll gladly help you with this venture!” – He quickly replied, without giving it much thought. A wide, rotten smile plastered on the face.
Quest accepted!
+10 Fame.
“But you’ll have to share the loot with me, buddies” – He soon added, giving a friendly nudge with his elbow to the nearest bandit. As a bonus, he even added a few cliché winks.
Intimacy with the bandits reduced.
…
Wail should have known. Their strong bond came from a common interest or purpose - greed for money and power. Luckily, things didn’t fall apart and the bandits agreed. Though his attempts at breaking the ice failed, which did make him slightly sad. Socializing is hard even with computer programs.
Bob and his bandits have joined your party:
All experience gained will be shared
Current experience gain from kills made by you or your party members – 20%
*Leadership increased by 5
*Charisma increased by 1
*Luck increased by 1
*Intimacy with the bandit group slightly increased.
Now that the bandits joined his party, Wail would be getting reduced experience gain, which was quite a shock. But! His new colleagues were the same or even of a higher level, than Wail. Which in turn meant that the speed at which creatures full of delicious experience could be hunted, will increase. A lot.
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Thus while on the way to the dungeon, Wail made sure to thoroughly clean up the neighborhood.
High intimacy, 16 Leadership and similar levels - Wail could order around his new lackeys with barely a single dissatisfied grunt thrown at his direction. Due to all that – new opportunities opened up. Larger wolf packs. Spider nests. Groups of your generalized killable monsters.
Spider nests were particularly fun to attack for Wail, since he simply set it on fire and watched the spreading inferno. Previously - when he tried something like that, the escaping spiders almost overwhelmed poor Wail and he barely escaped alive. Now? His beloved meat-shields successfully managed to hold off any escaping spiders. Though how the situation didn’t turn into a large forest-fire was beyond Wail. By now, he speculated that the game had some sort of an environment protection program initiated. Just so that the players wouldn’t destroy the whole continent. Power was a hard thing to manage after all. Especially to frustrated, awkward people who could not or would not fit in with their peers or the world in general. Of course, that sounded absolutely nothing like Wail.
Due to all that, the inevitable happened…
Due to constantly tormenting your foes with wide-area fires, you have learned a new skill!
Inferno – Beginner level 1 (0.00%)
Description: Sets fire to a large area, dealing fire-damage and lowering the morale of anyone caught in its blazing fury.
Base area damage – 25-40
Damage over time – 10 damage/sec
Mana cost – 70
Casting time – 5 seconds.
Cooldown – 15 seconds.
*Damage increased by 3% due to Wisdom.
*Mana cost reduced by 4% due to Intellect.
*Casting time reduced by 4% due to Intellect.
Again, Wail’s hard worked paid off. He got a new skill without spending a single dime. Not only that, but quite a useful one as well. His “Fire Mastery” and “Fireball” finally reached intermediate level as well. The instant bonuses both spells got were extraordinary. First of all – Fire mastery got an increase in damage by 10% and a reduction in mana cost by 5%. Fireball on the other hand got quite a chunk of bonus damage, with reduced casting time, increased over-time effect. Only good things seemed to be happening after joining the bandits.
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As the party neared a mountainous area – every now and then they encountered small groups of goblins. Ugly little things - green skin, bloodlust beady eyes, disgusting bald mugs for heads. They were short little creatures, only half the size of Wail. Usually with no armor and crudely made weapons – mostly made out of stone and wood. Though every now and then they carried around weapons stolen from humans or other players. Surely, if they knew how to use those weapons properly, they might prove quite dangerous.
Some would say - them running around half-naked was already something dangerous, in a different manner. Cases of temporary blindness have been recorded.
It was local knowledge, that goblins only posed a real threat when in large numbers. Groups of three-four level 42 goblins barely slowed Wail down.
By now, the average level of the group was 45. Wail was level 48 already, with Bob just one number behind. Things were going really well. Too well, the fearless leader was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“This is the place, the entrance should be somewhere here” – Bob suddenly said, as he ran to a cliff-side, carefully feeling the rock, like some sexual deviant. Of course, unsurprisingly, Bob found what he’s been looking for – a hole.
“Here, found the keyhole. We’re a few steps away from being rich!” – He continued, while taking out a small silver key.
“Wait!” – Wail suddenly stopped Bob – “Surely, before entering such a dangerous place, we must first rest up. After all, big challenges should best be taken while in top condition, don’t you agree?” – He asked the group, eyeing everyone with absolutely honest concern. Straining his acting abilities to the maximum.
Suspicion took hold, as the bandits exchanged a few unsteady glances. Luckily, the high intimacy and bond of trust Wail managed to build up prevailed.
“Dang, you’re right. Let’s build a bonfire and rest up. You better share some of that bread with us again!” – Bob replied with a laugh, followed by the positive mumbling of his fellow criminal.
Success!
The truth of the matter – Wail needed to get some sleep. He’s been online for at least 8 hours real-time, now. If the dungeon is indeed unexplored as he guessed, staying online for another 42 hours, to reap as much benefit as possible - would be simply insane. Even he didn’t have that in him. Thus regrettably - he decided to log off, after bitterly giving his fellow outlaws one loaf of bread each.
Wail didn’t mind sharing his food, but if he squandered his fortune like air, he’d be broke before the day was over. One loaf might cost just 2 coppers, but he already gave away 5 loafs. That’s 10 coppers. Until now – that wasn’t an issue. But! He was forced to give away another 5. That’s 20 copper coins overall – the loss was pilling up. Wail was walking on thin ice.
With these thoughts in mind, he disappeared from Alternative Reality and came back to his small, dark apartment. Preparations were needed. Luke felt excited.
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Rulers
Arnold Ryu is a god-like fighter who excells at combat, after he finds out that his parents died at the hand of a conlfict between Mitsurtin delinquents and the police in Japan, he moves to Japan and enrolls in Mitsurin Highschool so he can find out about how his parents died and vows to start a new "Era for Delinquency"! (Story contains GORE and PROFANITY).
8 150Age of Divinity - Defender of Faith
Qilen has defied fate his entire life. Destined to die at a tender age, he became the world's youngest Keeper and warded away death. In turn, he was burdened with an age-old responsibility. Now, years after his baptism as Keeper, he arrives at an insignificant hamlet. . .
8 160The Nightmare Mage
Shinzu Kaname was 22 when he quit playing [ EdelWeiss Online ] A popular game that was sold over 100,000,000+ copies worldwide, the package of the game contain a cd disc. And after Inserting it into your computer, you will be transported to a fantasy world, where millions of players will receive a message from the system and ordering them to do a quest. Only 600,000 players were chosen to have a different message and a task from the system. Shinzu wasn't chosen at that time, but he had fun playing EdelWeiss Online for 5 years, and after 1 year, he quit playing Edelweiss Online, and he started to focus on his job to be an illustrator to earn a little income. At that time, his older sister was missing in her apartment, Shinzu then entered to her apartment, and he saw her computer charging while it was opened. Shinzu saw her sister status through the monitor, and was shock when he saw His sister potential was marked As [ Unknown ] It was night when Shinzu got back home, and thinking, If chosen players will come back to the real world, and will he return and play EdelWeiss Online again?.
8 171Realm of Learning: Adventures of Eternium
Life is all about enjoyment, what will happen when people are offered a second life in the new 99% real VR game, follow our protagonist in a world of swords arrows and magic as he begins his journey to become a top player in the new game of the century, while having as much fun as possible.-Updating tables, up to chapter 6, stop reading there if it bothers you, more will be done after the 5th of June.-I have changed a few of the things in chapter 6, I suggest you go look at the tables there.
8 113Songs of Legacies: Cavaron [Complete Draft]
Cavaron follows the story of a man as he travels worlds* or gets kidna-- er, summoned against his will on multiple occasions. As Cavaron travels or gets kidna-- summoned, we will see his fairly chaotic life. *Yes, WORLDS. As in many and not just one. Ever wonder what would happen if a summoned """"hero"""" gets kid-- summoned multiple times? Will they ever get tired of it? ***I re-read the first 16 chapters and figured I should rewrite it when I get a new PC. Yes, I'm not writing this on a PC, but on my mobile. Everything on mobile, so pardon the quality since my thumbs are bigger than the keys, and will be bound to have quite a lot of mistakes. ***Getting lazy to fix the first 16. If you want to PR them, PM me with your edits. ------------------ KaosChild is my previous name. I now go as, Gyfera.
8 138Idyllic | jjk.kth
→in which tae slowly realizes that their relationship is getting toxic day by day.©jjksvnte 2022
8 169