《Arcane Universe[AU]》Ch 3: First Missions
Advertisement
first missions
Aizen left the merchants' guild and headed towards the city gate. At the city gate, a chief guard was delivering missions to players. The guard was confused when he saw several players wanting to complete orders. He decided to use this opportunity to exterminate the monsters that were in the Forest of Born. The Forest of Born was a level 1-10 area.
"Kill 10 monsters and I'll give you 20 copper coins."
>Mission: Kill 10 monsters in Born Forest.
Reward: 20 Copper Coins, XP
>Accept?
Aizen accepted the mission and set off towards the Born Forest. The forest was not far from the city, just 10 minutes walking.
-
"So it's here." Beyond the green plain, a vast forest stretched out. Deep in the forest, wide mountains with peaks that touched the clouds in the sky. Aizen entered the forest in search of some monster. Walking for some time, he heard strange noises.
'...Goblins.'
4 green-skinned monsters appeared in front of Aizen. They were goblins, the enemies any roleplaying player knew. Green skin, pointy ears, a small body, a long nose, and an ugly face. They all carried wooden clubs in their hands.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>Goblin
Level: 3
Information: Goblin is a monster that lives in areas of least danger. They are monsters with low intelligence and extremely vicious in general.
Alignment: Chaotic
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
'2 levels above mine. It shouldn't be that hard.'
Despite having no weapon, he was confident he would win. However, to test the pain system, Aizen waited for the Goblin to attack.
A goblin strode towards Aizen and slashed with his club. Aizen raised his left arm to block the attack.
*Bam!*
'Hm… their strength is no big deal.' Aizen could still feel the pain of the blows, but it's like a child hit you with a club.
Advertisement
"My turn." Aizen clenched his fists and punched the Goblin in the face.
*BAM!*
The punch was so hard it blew up the Goblin's skull. Blood spurts in all directions, staining Aizen's clothing.
'Disgusting.'
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>goblin dead
>XP gained
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
'Looks like he doesn't drop anything interesting.' Aizen lost interest in these goblins and decided to finish them off. The HP system didn't exist in the game, however, the player could deduce when something was dead or not. The monster defeated warning would also appear.
*BAM!* *BAM!* ….
Just one punch was enough to defeat each of them. When he finished killing the goblins, he went deeper into the forest. From a distance, he could see several players fighting the goblins. Most players were still at level 1. Many of them form groups to level up faster.
The strength of the players was not exactly equal, even though they were at the same level. There are several factors that influence player power, for example, a boxing champion would have an advantage over an inexperienced player in combat. Arcane Universe is 100% immersive, so real-life experiences play into the game as well.
Aizen ignored the players and continued walking deeper into the forest. He ended up running into higher-level goblins, but it was still easy to finish them off. He ended up completing the quest while going deeper into the forest, but he decided not to go back yet.
>Level up
-
*steps!* *steps!*
>You have entered a level 10 area
"Here is the end of the forest." Aizen could see the great mountains that lay at the end of the forest.
'So beautiful.' He thought of the view he would have if he were up there.
*Howl!*
"Huh? Wolves?" Aizen heard a wolf howl coming from the far end of the forest. He thought it would be a new enemy, so he decided to check it out.
Advertisement
*Howl!*
Aizen watched the small wolf that was lying on the ground, hurt. The wolf looked to be in pretty bad shape.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
> Black Wolf Prince
Level: 10
Current Conditions: Vulnerable, Critical Status.
Information: Black wolves are a species of wolves that live in forested areas. It has relatively low intelligence, but it varies in certain situations. Friendly in certain situations.
Alignment: Neutral
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
*Howl!*
'Free XP?' That was the first thing that came to Aizen's mind. A crit level 10 monster = easy XP.
'This situation is strange.' Aizen couldn't see any players in that area. How was this wolf injured?
Well, not having any players in that area was understandable, because not everyone goes to a level 10 area at level 2. The death penalty in this game was high and none of the players wanted to die for silly reasons. The death penalty is the loss of XP and possible loss of items, however, if you die many times in a row you are unable to play the game for a certain time (a few hours or days).
Even though Aizen found it easy to get to the end of the forest, the other players wouldn't think the same way.
'Could this be… a secret mission?' Aizen found this possibility plausible. He approached the wolf cautiously. The wolf, seeing a human approaching, began to growl. He was trying to threaten Aizen, however, his attempts were unsuccessful.
The wolf watched Aizen warily. He couldn't move his body so the only thing he could do was a growl.
*HOWL!*
"Calm down boy, I don't want to hurt you." Aizen tried to reassure the wolf.
'It's not like he can understand me.'
Aizen wasn't wrong, the wolf couldn't understand him, but he could detect his intention.
*grunts!*
The wolf began to growl in pain. Aizen knew he must act or it would be too late. He accessed his inventory and grabbed a health potion. All new players have gained some basic items (food, clothing, etc) for survival, including a health potion. Aizen only had one, but he didn't mind using it.
"Stay calm, little boy." He looked at the wolf's belly and saw a giant wound.
'Claws… was he fighting another animal?'
Aizen poured the potion into the wolf's wound. The effect started to appear a few seconds later.
'It's working-'
*Howl!*
"!!!!"
*Slash!*
A huge claw slashed towards Aizen, but he quickly dodged the attack. The attack did not come from the wounded wolf, but other wolves.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>Black Wolf
Level: 10
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
5 wolves emerged. They stood in front of the injured wolf, trying to protect him. Aizen understood the situation immediately. These wolves came to help the wounded wolf.
*Growl!*
The 5 wolves growled at Aizen trying to intimidate him. In fact, the sense of danger these wolves emit is far above that of goblins. The wolves' appearance was also more intimidating. Its height was 1.60 m.
'These wolves are much stronger than goblins.' Although he encountered level 7 goblins, these goblins were much weaker than wolves. Were 3 levels enough to make such a huge difference? Facing 3 tier 7 goblins would be easier than facing a tier 10 wolf.
'Maybe it's not just the level.' Aizen surmised that other factors can influence someone's power. Maybe the race? Species?
Aizen didn't have time to continue his thoughts, because two of the wolves came running towards him.
Advertisement
- End870 Chapters
Immortal Devil Transformation
Sixty years ago, a middle-aged uncle entered Central Continent's Imperial City, bringing with him a qilin that looked like a sick dog and a mandarin duck. That year, this middle-aged uncle made his way through the Sea of Mountains, passed through Four Season Plains, and then entered Green Luan Academy. Sixty years later, Lin Xi, a carefree seventeen or eighteen year old youngster, traveled from Deerwood Town through half of Yunqin Empire in a shabby carriage, heading north towards Green Luan Academy. This is a story about empire and glory, loyalty and betrayal, youth and hot-bloodedness, a story of a young man who sees the world through a different perspective in a powerful cultivation academy.
8 932 - In Serial144 Chapters
The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox
Fox spirits are infamous as troublemakers, Piri the nine-tailed fox perhaps more so than most. After she follows an order from Heaven to destroy a dynasty with more enthusiasm than the gods can accept, she is sentenced to death by the Jade Emperor himself. Executed via her best-known torture device, she is cast into the cycle of reincarnation, starting at the very bottom – as a worm. While she slowly accumulates positive karma and earns reincarnation as higher life forms, she also has to navigate inflexible clerks, bureaucratic corruption, and the whims of the gods themselves. Will Piri ever reincarnate as a fox again? And once she does, will she be content to stay one? Cover art by Daniela.
8 232 - In Serial106 Chapters
Dungeon Core Chat Room.
This is a slower-paced "experiment and dungeon building" web novel that tries to use the idea of peer-to-peer communication with Dungeon Cores instead of Dungeon to slave monster communication to break up the detailed dungeon building. Rank 1 description: (minimum met for system initialization...detailed description as follows) Each race was given a system by the gods to make up for their shortcomings and balance their place in this world. Humans: Abysmally bad at understanding and using magic unable to use more than the lowest of magic were given the "Skill System" magic in the form of premade skills with use, study, and mastery tied to experience. Elves: Intuitively understand magic and have long lives leading to vast knowledge and skill in their chosen fields. However, as a species, they have nearly zero sex drive and less than low fertility, so they were gifted the "World Tree System" with experience gained through the care of natural areas – gifting the chance of children to increase their numbers without dirty copulation. All “natural” or “wild” monsters are given an "Evolution system" designed around killing and consuming as many creatures as possible, slowly increasing strength and, at thresholds, allowing mutations to alter them multiple times. Dungeon cores are different. Unlike humans, they can see, manipulate and live off mana. Unlike Elves, they naturally crystallize after extended periods of time in high mana level areas. However, they cannot easily move or communicate and typically go insane without companionship. As a species other than the odd eccentric they are unimaginative. Brute forcing solutions without the drive to truly innovate. Thus they have been gifted with the "Dungeon Connection System" a magical version of the internet accessible by their peers that allows them to barter and sell: bait, traps, monsters, and knowledge, as well as entertain each other with “adventure streams” using exciting recorded battles and humorous reels of arrogant chumps biting off more than they can chew to often fatal effects. This is the casual story of a dungeon unluckily spawned far from potential adventurers forced to innovate beyond its peers to find its place in this world. Rank 2 Description: Justification. I've been on a dungeon core kick for months and while I love the genre – it's sparse with entries. Often the forced conflict gets repetitive and frantic solving of threats "power levels" the protagonist to god levels to progress the plot – taking away the nice steady progression fantasy I'm looking for. (Progression in this story is linked to how strong of monsters/traps/whatever he can create not his "level"...this is demonstrated by some of his newer monsters beating his older monsters not with discrete "this monster has 10 attack this one has 40") Additionally, the focus on 3rd parties with their drama takes away from the reason I’m reading dungeon core novels in the first place – I'm looking for magical crafting, experimentation and kingdom building – not defence from higher and higher levelled enemies looking to steal/destroy/control the MC. This novel is kind of just me writing the story I wish I could read. I like thinking about the experimentation that can be done in fantasy settings using 'mana' as an excuse to make up rules and try to keep them internally consistent. IE once I define how a rule works, I'm going to commit to keeping it – no breaking hard truths I've given when it's convenient, even if it backs me into a corner. Hopefully, that should make the story interesting to read even if it's SOL and less action-oriented. There will be problems to solve and a clear progression in strength (of created monsters and knowledge) however due to not wanting to force conflict for the sake of conflict the general theme will be closer to slice of life with few action sequences and no overarching goal so please keep that in mind when picking this up as the genre is not for everyone. Finally, I have a clear goal of what I want from this story (not an endless romp but a series of arcs and then a conclusion that's a couple of dozen medium-sized chapters long) I want to commit to finishing it or at least bringing it to a point of rest. I hate all the engaging stories that stop with a “hiatus” indefinitely so in the event I lose motivation I'll work to end this even if the ending becomes rushed/unsatisfying just to give a sense of closure. I’m planning on including several polls in terms of direction and taking feedback heavily into account if I get enough readers (but may choose to ignore it if it deviates too far from the direction I want to take this as in feedback like: “The MC needs a cartoonishly evil arch-enemy that wants to enslave him and force the mc to pump out magic items” or “the MC needs to make a body and learn teleportation then live with humans” will get shot down without consideration.)
8 258 - In Serial13 Chapters
From Fake Dreams
The Magus Killer was dying. He had done all he could to be a Hero and save as many people as he could. He killed his father to do it. He killed his adopted mother to do it. He killed his wife in the hopes to put an end to the need to do it ever again. He failed in rescuing his daughter as a result of his efforts. All he had left was a cursed and failing body, a sizable yet antiquated home in Fuyuki Japan, and his adoptive amnisiac son whose life he had destroyed in the first place. And then the dreams came. Dreams of War, Fire, Curses, unborn Gods, Heroes, and Monsters. Dreams of unresolved conflicts, promises, dreams, and tasks. Dreams with his nearly clueless son in the middle of it all. The Magus Killer was dying. But he could still prepare for what was to come. And fortunately, that was something he was still terrifyingly exceptional at. Currently at chapter 60 on FF.net
8 86 - In Serial6 Chapters
The First Half
"Kyran Hall, the Goddess Sada bestows you this gift." With those words, his life changed dramatically. He was granted a System, unique among all others, and abilities unseen before in the world. Granted boundless potential, he and his party would soon rise to prominence, becoming some of the greatest adventurers the world had ever see- *Ahem* Sorry, I've been told by the MC to say he's just an average guy. Nothing special about him. A traditional fantasy story with a (hopefully) new twist on the magic system. There's adventure, combat, monsters, magic, banter, and of course: pork belly. I'm new to writing fiction, and still learning to be more efficient in my brainstorming and editing process. If you have any feedback or suggestions, let me know! If you see any typos, mock me as much as you want because I should feel bad about it.
8 75 - In Serial37 Chapters
The Sable of Skapina
Nikolas knew he wasn't Fate's favorite. First in family, then in trade and finally in love. All that was about to change when he meets the sable of Skapina. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 77
Prev Chap
Next Chap
Chap List
Boy
Girl
