There was something about the way that Pepper Flame led her squadron that was commanding, jarring, and enchanting all at the same time. She peeled away from the larger crowd but was still flanked by the two goons from before. As the space between us shortened, I felt my pulse quicken.

“Long time no see.” She said with a grin on her face.

“Yeah, you too,” I responded without thinking. Somehow, the way that her soft face reflected the sunlight of this dismal battlefield made me feel at peace. “I mean it’s good to see you as well,” I said quickly catching myself. “So, uh what are you doing here? I thought your boss said you guys couldn’t participate in the fight.”

“Yeah, I changed my mind though. I think the situation will provide us a great opportunity to get some quick levels. Also, I think this is a good chance for me to make a name for myself and move up in the ranks.” I got the impression that she was more power hungry than anything, but who was I to judge.

A soft ping, and then a window appeared.

Pepper Flame has invited you to a party, do you accept?

Party has 4/5 members

“Why are you inviting me?” I asked.

“I have a hunch that you will be important somehow, besides it looks like you need some help leveling anyway.” She winked at me as she walked by, afterwards I looked over and saw her two fanboys glaring daggers into me. If looks could kill.

I accepted the invite, and saw our party:

Leader: Lvl 7 Sorcerer

Lvl 6 Sorcerer

Lvl 6 Sorcerer

Lvl 6 sorcerer

Lvl 1 sorcerer

I instantly felt inferior and the idea of crawling into a small hole crossed my mind.

“Pepper! Why did you invite this loser to our party! He’s only going to slow us down!” Jack Grass proclaimed.

“Yeah Pepper, he’s only going to get in our way!” Viper Bane echoed.

“If you don’t like it then leave.” She responded matter-of-factly. That instantly shut them up.

Pepper Flame turned around and began addressing the large group.

“Ok everyone, listen up.” Authority oozed out of every pore of her being, “Five minutes till go time, I want everyone to make sure you have sufficient health and mana potions. Make sure that your armor and weapons are at max durability.”

Most of the individuals in the group were already prepared, but there were a few odds and ends for some individuals to see to.

Pepper Flame walked over to me and opened a trade window. She put 20 health potions in on her end and pushed accept.

“Um, I’m sorry but I don’t have any money to pay you.” I said meekly.

“No worries, you can pay me back after we won,” she responded. Her confidence made me jealous.

I accepted the trade and the potions appeared in my inventory.

20x

Restores 100 health points. 60 second cooldown

“I would give you some mana potions, but I don’t think you could use them.” She said while chuckling slyly.

“You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use spells.” I responded with my own smug grin this time.

“Really! How do you do it!” she questioned me excitedly.

“Let’s just say it’s a secret, but unfortunately I can only use one spell a minute.” I added begrudgingly at the end. The excitement in her eyes dulled down a notch, but she still looked at me inquisitively.

“Suite yourself,” she said, “But just try not to get killed.

“I’ll be right back!” I said while sprinting off into the town. While working all day at my job, I had been thinking about what to do with my new mana crystal. I’m not sure if it will work, but I think I can place my mana crystal in a setting, and then put it in a necklace or a ring.

I’m going to go with the necklace for now, that way I can hide it under my cloak. If I’m right, these mana crystals might be able to make me a good bit of money, so I want to keep them a secret for as long as I can.

I Ran into a blacksmith shop and walked over to a forge. I smelted the 12 copper ore into 6 copper bars, this process only took a couple of seconds. Next, I made a [Simple Copper Setting] which only required 1 bar of copper. The end result was 4 prongs coming out of a single source. I very carefully placed the mana crystal in the middle while the copper was still flexible, and then molded the prongs over the top to hold the gem in place.

Next, I used 2 bars of copper and created a [Simple copper Ring]. This process was almost instantaneous.

Congratulations, you have made a Simple Copper Ring!

Would you like to equip your new ring? Y/N ?

“Yes!” I said confidently.

Since that was done now, I made my necklace. The [Simple Copper Necklace] requires 3 bars of copper, which I’m guessing is to make some of the chain. Just like the ring, it only took a moment.

Congratulations, you have made a Simple Copper Necklace!

Would you like to equip your new necklace? Y/N ?

“No.” I replied. I took the new necklace in my hands and careful attached my setting with the crystal in it. Once again, the game does all the work, so it was instantaneous.

Nothing crazy happened when I attached the crystal, but at least it held in place. I put on the necklace and checked my character window. Both the copper ring and the copper necklace come with +1 random stat, when created. The random stat that was generated when I made the ring and necklace was agility.

I would have definitely preferred Intellect, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I quickly ran back to where our party was meeting, and I arrived just in time for another Pepper pep talk.

“After analyzing the situation, I think it would be best to concentrate our forces on the flanks and reinforce the other players. Groups 1-4 will be led by myself over here on the eastern front, while groups 5-8 will be led by .” She paused to make sure that everyone was paying attention.

She then continued,” Make sure you concentrate your arcane barrage on areas that aren’t covered by armor. The formation we will use will be two rows of ten. The front row will put on their mana shield, while the back row will provide suppressive fire. Once the mana shield of the person in front is broken, the person behind them will switch spots with the person in front. As many of you know, your mana shield can last up to 30 seconds, and only has a 20 second cooldown, so if you time it well enough you can activate your mana shield, wait 20 seconds then switch. Once you take damage and your shield is broken, you can immediately reactive mana shield because it will be off cooldown.”

So simple and yet so perfect at the same time. Thinking back to watching the other players struggle to fight boars, and now being in this group, it made me shiver. These people were head and shoulders above me, and it made me feel ashamed to even be here.

I clenched my fist to keep from yelling out in frustration, one day I would be just as good as them, one day I would rise to the top. But for now, I will do whatever it takes to learn to get there.

“Let’s go!” she cried out while raising up her staff. There was a loud roar in response to her shout as everyone went to their appropriate places.

We rushed over to the front lines. I quickly outpaced the rest of the group and arrived first. A group of players were slowly being overrun by kobold warriors. Just as I had seen Malfin the Wise do on the first day. In my left hand I opened my book and flipped through it, the book stopped on its own. Runes that had never been there appeared suddenly and began to glow as energy surged within me. I stretched out my right arm towards a distracted kobold. He wasn’t wearing a helmet so I aimed for his head.

“Arcane Barrage!” I screamed it out and I didn’t care who heard. The struggles that I had gone through to get to this point made my blood boil with rage. I was tired of being useless, helpless, and defenseless.

Small gray particles of energy sprang from my hand and bombarded the unsuspecting skull of my enemy.

191!

208!

215!

All three missiles found their target, and all three were critical hits. The kobold fell to the floor and dematerialized into particles. I stood their dumfounded. I was too confused to react, and too excited to breathe.

“What the hell.” Said a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Pepper Flame and the other 18 members of our squad. “How did you do that?” she questioned me.

I felt it surge within me like a torrent, it was pride. Before I could answer I heard her cry out, “Watch out!” I turned and saw a spear aimed at my face. For the first time since playing this game, my reflexes took over. My body didn’t feel as sluggishness that it had before, and I barely dodged it. My body angled down and my neck craned to the side.

I’m not sure if it was pride over being exonerated, or the adrenaline pumping through my blood, but I recovered my balance and took a step forward, punching the kobold square in the face.

5!

The kobold flew backwards and sprawled on the ground, stunned. I stood up and looked back at the rest of the group. “Are you guys going to just stand there?”

The shock only lasted a second longer, before the group got into their assigned formation. Pepper Flame knew that I couldn’t cast spells quick enough to be in the rotation, so she let me do whatever I wanted.

The barrage of missiles from the high-level group instantly cleared out a group of 3 kobolds. This reprieve was exactly what the other players had desperately needed. Slowly the front lines began to stabilize. It was no longer a losing battle, it was a stalemate.

The wave of kobolds came one after the other, at first they were confused and shaken by the turn of events, but now evermore furious to avenge their fallen comrades. There was something about the addition of the 2 agility points that made me a tad bit quicker, and so I used that to my advantage. I waited behind the wall of elite players for my crystals cooldown to end. All the while surveying the field.

First, I would find my target. This would be a kobold causing trouble for any of the front-line players. Next, I would sprint over to my target whenever there was 10 seconds left on my cooldown. It wasn’t hard to evade the distracted kobolds, so I easily slipped by them.

From point blank range I would unleash my arcane barrage on my helpless foe. Because I was right next to them they couldn’t dodge, and because I was so close I could always aim for an unprotected area. The result, was a death each and every time. Three missiles each criting for approximately 200 each. As soon as my assassination was complete I would dodge back behind the wall of friendly players once again.

After 15 minutes, and approximately 11 personal kills. My party had received enough experience for me to level up.

Congratulations you have reached lvl 2!

How would you like to distribute your 5 attribute points?

A smug grin crept across my face. Without hesitation I responded, “All agility.”

A soft ding sound and light appeared all around me. My body felt lighter. I looked down at my necklace tucked away in my shirt. 36 charges remained, and 24 seconds left on my cooldown.

I looked over at a kobold commander who was 50 rows behind his troops. I had been contemplating this moment for a while, if I could disrupt the chain of command, then we might stand a chance at getting some momentum.

The Kobold invasion force was separated into battalions. Each battalion had 2000 kobolds made in rows of 20x50. Every 5 battalions had a commander. It was hard to tell exactly how many commanders there were, but just by glancing across the battlefield, I could make out at least 5.

I slowly hopped up and down, yes, I was definitely much much lighter. I steeled myself for what I was going to do. A nervous energy crept over me. This was potential suicidal and that would mean risking my precious level. A wild excitement took over and I sprinted forward before I could stop myself.