Lvl 9 Elite

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

Health: ???

Rage: ?

Skills: [Rally], [Charge], [Throw], [Leap], [Whirlwind]

I stared at the status screen in disbelief. How was anyone supposed to be able to fight this thing.

As my attention slammed back into reality, I quickly dashed away from the three executioners that had been chasing after me. Instead of continuing to chase me, they stood there shaking.

Overcome with fear, one of the guards began forming a small yellow puddle beneath his feet. My assailants quickly left the area and moments later I found out why.

At first it was the quiet rattling of bones, but then it became the crushing of bones. The Kobold King was stirring from his slumber. I quietly cursed underneath my breath and looked around for anything that could help me.

Inside of the dimly lit opening I couldn’t make out much. Suddenly, two piercing red eyes appeared from the massive figure. My blood froze within my veins.

The Kobold King rose from his bleached throne. Leisurely he leaned down and picked a large weapon that I hadn’t noticed before.

It was a humungous two-handed scimitar that was at least ten feet long. As if stretching his muscles, he began whirling it around with only one arm.

Fear gripped my heart and paralyzed my body. Like a mouse that had been caught by a viper, I couldn’t move. If I was a strong man, I would have been able to run. If I was a courageous man, I would have been able to fight. But I was neither, I was just me.

Tired of delaying the inevitable, the king of the kobolds swiftly leaped down from his mountain.

Even if I was brave enough to react, I don’t know if I would have avoided the lightning fast attack.

The scimitar ripped through my body as if it was made of butter.

349!

My fear seemed to wash away as my soul torn from my body.

You have died

My surroundings faded away as I teleported to the graveyard near New Hope Village.

Suddenly a large notification appeared in front of me.

WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT:

The kobold race has patiently waited for the return of their king. Due to the player , the great Kobold King has been awaked from his two-hundred-year slumber. The kobold armies are amassing and will ransack the starting town of . The army will begin their invasion tomorrow at 12:01 am.

All players from New Hope Village are given a mandatory quest.

A new window appeared in front of me.

Manditory Quest: Kobold Invasion(A): Thousands of kobolds will invade the town of New Hope. The only way to stop the invasion is to kill the king.

Rules of invasion:

During the invasion players may form up to 5 man teams (also known as parties).

Experience gained from killing kobolds during the invasion is doubled.

Level 1 players that die may resurrect with only a 15-min waiting period as opposed to the normal 2 hours.

Rewards are based on contribution.

Failure to defeat the kobold king results in the permanent destruction of New Hope Village.

“Oh crap!” I blurted out.

Interrupting my thoughts, a window appeared in front of me:

Pepper Flame would like to be your friend. Do you accept?

“Uh, sure?” I replied bewildered.

Two seconds later I heard her voice for the second time that day.

“What the crap did you do?” she said.

“Umm, I’m not sure.” I replied.

“What do you mean you’re not sure! You literally started a war with our entire village!” she paused and then took a deep breathe. More calmly she said, “Tell me everything that happened.”

So, I told her everything that had happened, minus the part about the bunny. No sense in making her think that I was crazy.

“Hmm, that’s interesting. I’ll have to talk to the higher ups in the guild about this.” She said as if talking to herself out loud.

“What guild are you in?” I asked. Although guilds couldn’t officially be formed until the players reached one of the great cities, many of the large guilds were known in different video games.

“Blue Dragons” She said flippantly. I almost died of a heart attack. Blue Dragons was the most famous guild in all of North America. With over one hundred thousand registered members, it could be considered a business in and of itself.

“Stay out of trouble and I will contact you later,” she finished.

Immediately a notice appeared.

Friend: Pepper Flame has gone offline

The gray world of the dead surrounded me. I stood bewildered for the millionth time that day.

An arrow appeared beneath my feet pointing towards my dead body. I looked around the graveyard and saw a white angel floating above one of the graves. I walked over towards it.

“Hello” it said in a hollow voice. “Would you like to resurrect here”

A window appeared in front of me.

Would you like to resurrect at the graveyard? If you choose to do so, you will lose 10% of the current levels experience. You will also have a 90% stat debuff that lasts for 1 hour.

Considering I had no experience, and I would be sitting in the library for the next two hours, I accepted.

Just as before, right when I returned into the realm of the living a figure appeared in front of me.

Lvl ??? Grand Sorcerer

She touched my shoulder and glowing runes appeared below our feet.

We were teleported back into the library.

She started talking as she had before, but I just ignored her and opened up my inventory.

I had 58 copper ore and 2 sapphires. I nervously licked my lips in anticipation.

I began using my prospect skill. After 9 tries and 45 of my precious copper ore. I obtained an emerald, two rubies, and a diamond.

I put one of the rubies away in my bag and pulled out a sapphire. I now had all the components I needed to make my mana crystal.

I held the four precious gems in my hand and whispered, “Mana Crystal”. The four gems began levitating above my hands while glowing a brilliant gold.

They began to arrange in a square while circling around each other. As they spun they began picking up speed. Suddenly they crashed into each other in a brilliant display of light.

A small clear stone landed softly in my hands.

Congratulations, you have created 1x [Mana Crystal] Quality: poor.

You are the first person to make an A quality pattern, you receive +2 favor.

I inspected the mana crystal and a status window appeared.

A crystal infused with magic from the earth. Can cast spells that require up to 150 mana. The crystal has 50 uses, and can only be used once a minute.

“Yes!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Tears of joy streamed down my face.

While holding the stone in my right hand, I croaked out the words, “Mana shield”. For the first time since the game had started, I casted a spell.

A bubble enveloped me, and I continued to sob with happiness.

I checked the time, it was 5:15am (10:30). My heart sank. I would miss the start of the invasion that I had caused.

I had an hour and a half to kill, might as well get some more intellect. I deftly commanded the system to bring me Fundamentals of Mana Volume IV.

I pushed my reading skills to the limit so that I could finish the book before I was forced to log out.

At 5:45am (ll:30) a notice appeared in front of me.

Warning, you will be logged out in 30 minutes, please find a safe location.

I kept reading and at 5:55am (11:50) I finished the novel. Once again receiving a +2 intellect.

As if realizing this, a new window appeared.

Friend: Pepper Flame has logged in

I opened up the voice function and started talking to her.

“Hey Pepper, what did your guild end up saying?” I asked.

“Not good, they are afraid that this invasion will severely reduce the leveling of the 39 members we have in this region. I relayed the information you told me about the guards and the king, and they don’t think that we have a chance.” She said.

Dread filled me. This was all my fault.

She continued, “Which is why they ordered the 39 of us not to participate in this event.”

“But we need you.” I pleaded. “You are already level 7, you are one of the highest leveled sorcerers in the game. Without you we could be slaughtered.”

“You don’t understand,” she said curtly, “Orders are orders. It’s not my choice to make. Good luck to you though.”

I sat there in disbelief, and then everything went black.

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

My eyes opened. I felt the softness of my bed beneath me. I took off the helmet and sat up. The clock beside my bed showed 6:00 am.

I looked over at my roommate who was doing the same thing.

“Hey,” I said, “How did it go?”

“Bro it was sick. I’m an orc beserker and I’ve been tearing sh*t up all night with my giant axe.” Connor got out of bed and began doing some stretches.

“I feel great! Holy sh*t, I feel like I’ve slept for 12 hours strait.” He exclaimed.

I brought my thoughts back towards my own body and remarked at how I felt. I felt great.

“Oh hey, did you hear about that dumb*ss that is going to get that whole village destroyed. Haha I can’t believe it.” He started laughing hysterically.

“Yeah, that was me.” I said dryly. I stood up and walked toward the bathroom. Before he could reply, I had closed the door and turned the shower on.

Letting the water fall over me, I sighed. Today is going to be a long day.