Opening my eyes, I looked around and everywhere there was nothing but a gray fog, almost as if it made up the entire world. I looked down, and I could only make out the soft shadows of my own feet, however, I looked like I was dressed in what could only be considered the clothing of a poor commoner. The dark brown fabric felt as if it was made of wool, and just as itchy.

Wary of what was going on I attempted to move, but it seemed like I was stuck in place. I was only able to move my head to look around as panic started to set in. I began to think that I might be stuck in this featureless world that was filled with nothing but this gray fog and it could be that the VR pod was bugged.

In what seemed like an eternity and just a fraction of a second all rolled into one, a voice called out from the fog, deep but feminine, her voice promising both pain and comfort.

“My child, you have chosen to become one of my champions within the World of the Veil. You will need to face many challenges on your journey, but you must never forget your mission.”

Looking around, I tried to find out where this voice was coming from, when out from the corner of my eye, I spotted a being that was walking, or perhaps even floating, towards me. This being was fitted with a dark, black cloak with a golden aura, signifying that she was a deity.

As she neared, I noticed the gold trim that surrounded the edges of her cloak and the black tendrils moving through her shadow as she walked towards me. I noticed that she had two curved daggers that matched each other at her side, both giving off the same golden aura. However, that aura was laced with a poisonous, green hue. I knew exactly who this being was.

“Noctis…” I whispered.

“Yes my child. I am the deity known to your kind as Noctis, the Goddess of Shadows. And you my Dark Elf child, a rogue, but yet, such a curious being. You are one that I have never come across before,” Noctis replied to my whisper.

Just as Noctis stepped within an arms reach of me, she reached out and touched my chest, just above my right breast, over my heart.

“What shall the Fates have for you? What path will you take on your journey? Will you quit this long and arduous course that you have chosen, instead trying to find peace? Or you will you fight against all odds and become one of my champions, as unique as you are, and AWAKEN!” Noctis shouted as she violently pushed me back.

As I felt myself falling, now able to move, I tried to catch my fall. However, the world faded into blackness once again.

Suddenly waking up, my head was pounding from meeting Noctis within the dreamworld. Not only that, but it felt like my chest was burning with a violent fury from where Noctis had touched me before she had pushed me out of the dreamworld.

Sitting up in the hay covered bed, a woolen blanket was covering my legs. I looked around the room I woke up in and it had the smell of oak. There was a fire burning in the fireplace which was on the far side of the room.

The room itself was fairly small, with just the basic furnishings. There was the bed that I was currently sitting in with a small standing closet next to it and the fireplace. However, there was also a window with a milky white curtain that was flapping from the wind. The window itself must have been opened, as I could feel the light breeze and hear the ambient noise coming from outside. I also saw a basic, wooden door that led outside of the room which was closed.

From just the sounds, it seemed like this must be a small village, and I could hear some children outside shouting incoherently at each other, but there was none of the other sounds that one would associate with a large city.

Suddenly, my eyes went wide, as I finally realized that my first sense in this world was the smell. Modern VR equipment was just never able to get the sense of smell right, so many developers ended up just giving up on the idea to bring that sense into their games.

The aspect of this made me feel extremely excited, since this was just one of the things that hundreds of millions of people all wanted. The sense of smell was just one of those things that was needed in order to feel like you were truly in this world of fantasy, and not just some avatar that was inside of a game.

Leaping from the bed, I ran to the wooden door that led outside of the room.

“I should probably look around for some equipment,” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed the door’s iron handle.

Smiling, I looked around as my eyes were drawn to the small closet, and I walked over to it. However, to my disappointment, there was only a brown leather vest and some tattered, brown pants in the closet. Looking at the vest, I said out loud, “Show stats.”

A semi-transparent, orange window appeared above both the vest and the pants, giving me an overview of the stats for both pieces of equipment:

Rawhide Leather Vest Level: 1 Armor: 3 Weight: 0.45 Rawhide Leather Pants Level: 1 Armor: 2 Weight: 0.25

“Hide stats,” I said while sighing, closing the stats window. It was a far cry from what I would have normally used on my real character, although, what should I expect for only being level 1? “Open available skills,” I said in order to bring up the skills that I could invest in.

Available Skill Points: 3 Backstab: 1 Performs an attack that does 150% weapon damage to an enemy. Further development in this skill raises the damage by 2% per level. Requirement: Must be behind the enemy. Pickpocket: 1 Attempts to steal a random item or coin from a target. Further development in this skill raises the chance to steal an item by 5% per level. Stealth: 1 Allows the caster to step into the shadows. Further development in this skill increases movement speed while stealthed by 5%.

Looking at the three initial skills that I could access with my measly 3 skill points, I decided to allocate one of my skill points into Stealth and another into Backstab, which left me with 1 unused skill point.

Since I was planning to become an assassin, Backstab wouldn’t do me any good in the long term, since I really only soloed and there were better skills to use down the road. However, for the beginning mobs that I would need to kill in order to drag my ass to level 5, I would need something that packed a punch. Seeing as how Backstab would do 150% weapon damage as long as I could get behind the target, that would be my opening skill. Easy enough to do while stealthed. If I did join a group, it would still be a decent skill due to the damage modifier, even if I didn’t invest any points into it as long as I had weapons that were good enough.

Closing the skill list, I looked around the room to see if I could find anything else that might be of further use. To my utter disappointment I couldn’t find any weapons that I could equip before leaving, although I was able to find a coin purse that had 5 silver in it on the top shelf of the cabinet. Reaching up for the coin purse, I quickly opened my inventory by giving the system command, “Open Inventory,” and added it to my current inventory. A coin purse appeared at my side that was attached to the belt on my pants.

Finally outfitted, at least partially, I walked back to the door and opened it. Outside, I saw that the exit to my small room led to a hallway with several rooms next to mine. To the left, the hallway led to some steps that went down to the floor below this one. On the opposite side, the hallway ended with a large window that led outside.

“Seems like this is the starting inn for the Dark Elves,” I thought to myself.

Closing the door to my room and hearing the lock shut, I started walking towards the steps.

“I hear you up there miss, come on down and let me take a look at you,” an older Dark Elf lady yelled up at me as I started walking down the steps to what I presumed was the inn’s lobby. “Don’t know where you came from, but I found you outside by my door passed out. Come on now, come talk to old Isbeil.”

As I finished walking down the steps, not really feeling like talking to random NPCs, I paused as I glanced around the lobby before greeting my so called rescuer. The lobby itself was very homey and inviting, without a hint of extravagance. To my left, in the center of the lobby, was a large, fur rug, surrounded by wooden chairs arranged in a semi-circle in front of a fireplace. This was definitely a place for travelers that just needed a few nights stay while visiting the village.

There was a small counter that was offset from the wall that was in front and to the right of me. Isbeil was standing behind the counter while looking at me and smiling. The exit of the lobby went right past her, obviously so she could meet and greet anyone that decided to stay at the inn.

“Good morning innkeeper, thank you for taking me in, but I really think that I need to get going,” I said in a soft, but clearly monotone voice.

I walked past the elderly lady that was a bit on the chubby side, her hair silver with age. I didn’t really meet any Dark Elf NPCs before, since I mainly stuck to the Human continent, but I had assumed that most where lithe creatures. I suppose though, you know what they say about making assumptions. I was anxious to go outside and at least explore this village that I woke up in and wanted to see if I could get a couple of quests to kill the local pests so that I could level up.

“Oh come now. You can at least tell me your name, and what you plan on doing,” Isbeil said, clearly irritated at my dismissive tone.

Turning around, I forced a small smile that could be easily mistaken as a smirk.

“My name is Raven, and I am just a wandering Dark Elf, though, it seems that I must of misplaced my dagger, as it was not in my room,” I said as I eyed the innkeeper, letting my suspicious nature show itself.

Isbeil looked at me thoughtfully for a minute, ignoring the look that I was giving her.

“I might know where you can get a new dagger, but I would suggest you look for a few other people before wandering out of the village again. If you go to the blacksmith’s shop that is across the road, there might be a dagger there you can purchase.”

A quest window appeared in front of me after she said this:

Quest: Meet the Townsfolk Quest Reward: 25XP Quest Objectives: Meet the people of the town that hold various positions. Do you wish to accept? (Yes/No)

Mmm, perhaps it wasn’t such a waste of time to talk to her. After mentally accepting the quest, I begrudgingly thanked the innkeeper and walked outside, the quest objectives updating to show that I had met 1 out of 5 NPCs.

Looking around the village from just outside of the inn’s entrance, it seemed that I was now in what looked like a town square, although it seemed oval in shape. There were a few outdoor stalls with merchants selling their merchandise, and from what I could see, they had everything from food to different types of potions, and there was even a tall, skinny dark elf with gray hair and regal clothing was selling rolls of cloth of various types. It seemed like a little over the top considering that this was an out of the way starting town, however, players did come through these areas, so I guess the developers needed to account for that.

There was also four dirt roads that led further into the village, looking as if it was a crossroad of sorts. The inn was just along one of the dirt roads, and further down this road was the stone entrance to the village. To each side of the entrance was a guard that was wearing silver plate armor, each armed with a polearm.

Next to the inn itself was a horse stall, with several horses and a stable boy that was currently grooming one of the horses. Several children were running around, with one holding something as he was being chased by the others. Those children were probably the ones that I heard earlier this morning. In the distance I saw a large manor that looked like it was made from stone and wood. The manor was probably the residence of the village’s mayor.

I tried inspecting the NPCs, however their names or health bars didn’t show up. I frowned a bit, but hopefully it wouldn’t be a huge deal, and Wuang did tell me that the interface wasn’t entirely complete yet.

I started walking towards the road that was off to my left, the dirt road not being very comfortable under my bare feet. “Ah, the problems of only being level 1 without any gear,” I thought to myself as I cringed with each step I took, the small stones from the dirt digging into my feet as I walked. Even though the pain sensors was dialed down, I still had the feeling of being uncomfortable.

As I neared the crossroads that I was walking towards, I did manage a smile, as along the road to the left sat buildings to on each side with signs indicating what types of treats lay inside to those brave enough to enter. The first building to my left had an engraved sign that was hanging over it’s door that read, “Timberdenn’s Tavern.” I gave a Cheshire type of grin, as I would most definitely be a frequent visitor to that particular shop for my stay in this small village. Judging by how the developers of this VR platform got the smells of the village, I was looking forward to what they could do with the sense of taste.

To my right, was the shop that Isbeil mentioned, the blacksmith. “Open quest log,” I said out loud so that I could review the details of the quest. Not only did I need to purchase a weapon, I also needed to speak with the blacksmith of the village as well. There was a line through one of the requests, “Speak to the Innkeeper,” as I had already met Isbeil, to my annoyance. Giving the command to hide the quest log, the window faded from my view.

Satisfied, I immediately started walking towards the entrance of the blacksmith’s store, which had a wooden sign next to it with a carved engraving that showed a sword and axe crossed over an anvil. I also took notice of the other signs from the other buildings. It seemed that this was the market street, as I saw signs that indicated that there was an apothecary, trader, and even a small bank.

“What is that awful smell,” I commented as I entered the store, my nose wrinkling from the soot that permeated throughout. In front of me was a U-shaped counter, behind it, a variety of weapons and shields that were showcased on several shelves and on the walls. There was also an door that was opened behind the counter leading further into the building.

“What? You never smelled the inside of a blacksmith’s shop before, stranger?” a woman asked as she came out from the back of the building, wiping her hands off on her heavy, brown apron.

Frowning, the young dark elf leaned up towards the counter, putting her hands and elbows on it. Her hair was black with gray powder that could only be ash was crusted within her hair, and a blacksmith’s hammer was securely lashed to her belt by her hip.

“You are..” I asked the woman behind the counter.

“The name’s Moire, and I’m the local blacksmith for Timberdenn. If you ever need some actual equipment rather than that rawhide you’re wearing, just let me know and I’ll have it made for you. And girl, get some damn shoes on!”

Looking behind the counter, I saw a rusted dagger that was sitting on one of the shelves, seemingly forgotten.

“Raven, and I’m actually new to this area. I’m curious, but is it common for most villages to have woman working as their blacksmith?” I asked as I raised my eyebrow.

It was odd that the developers made the NPC a female, as with all of the human cities that I visited with my main character were all male. I was curious that this might be a Dark Elf culture thing.

Raising an eyebrow, Moire responded in kind, “I’m not sure about other villages, but I’m the best one this town has seen in ages. So, Raven, did you want to place an order, or does something catch your eye? Depending on the item, I can give you a great price for it, though, looking at you, I’m not sure if you can afford the prices.”

I cringed when she said this, since it was obvious that I was almost penniless, comparatively speaking.

“Well, yes. Outside of town I ran into some trouble, and I seemed to have dropped my dagger somewhere. I was hoping you had one for cheap that I could purchase?”

Moire stood up straight and put her fist up to her chin, thinking. Grabbing the rusted dagger off the shelf behind her and a worn out sheathe that looked like it wouldn’t hold anything, let alone a dagger, Moire laid both on the counter. It was clearly not as forgotten as I had thought it was.

“I suppose I could give away this dagger. Let’s say, for 50 copper,” she asked, going for bartering rather than a straight sale.

“I can go as high as 25 copper since it’s just the one and not the set, let alone it’s rusted…” I said as I started to lean on the counter.

“Are you sure you’re a blacksmith,” I added with a smile.

Moire squinted her eyes as she looked at me, her lips going from a tight smirk to frowning.

“Fine, take this garbage out of my hands. Perhaps if I had some iron ore from the mines, you would be surprised at what I could forge that might be in your price range.”

“Negotiation increased to level 1,” a voice informed me.

Smiling, I took out 25 copper coins from my inventory and slid them towards Moire, after which, I grabbed the dagger and it’s sheathe.

“I might be able to get that ore for you, how much do you need,” I asked while strapping on the dagger’s sheathe.

“Mm, let’s say 5 iron ore for a single dagger. Get me 15 of them, I’ll make you a set of iron daggers. Though, you might want to take a few people with you to the mines. I heard that there are some goblin miners and an overseer in there, not too mention all the rats.”

A new quest window appeared in front of me:

Quest: Moire’s Proof Quest Reward: Iron Dagger (x2) Quest Objectives: Obtain 15 Iron Ore from Timberdenn Mines and deliver them to Moire. Do you wish to accept? (Yes/No)

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” I replied, accepting the new quest.

With a weapon at my side, albeit a rusted dagger that seemed like it might crumble away at any moment, I finally felt like myself as I walked towards my next stop, the apothecary.

I went inside of the apothecary, and I almost felt as if I was back in the dreamworld, with how much smoke filled the air. However, it didn’t smell like smoke from a fire, but almost had the smell of metal mixed with various types of flowers. It both amused me and irritated me how the developers came up with this.

There was a tall, stone pedestal off to the side of the wall, with an elderly woman that looked to be mixing things with a mortar and pestle, and to the side of her was a table with an alchemy set which held a flask that was over a fire; green liquid boiling inside.

“Excuse me, are you the local alchemist,” I asked the woman who was clearly focused on what she was doing.

She stopped what she was doing and set the mortar and pestle on the pedestal and turned around. She looked at me with disgust.

“Yes I am, now go away. I was trying to get this order completed before I was rudely interrupted.”

I was stunned to say the least. How rude! I hoped that not everyone I met in this town wasn’t like this. How did she expect to run a business with that kind of attitude was beyond me. I breathed in and out, clearing my head of evil thoughts, like the one urging me to break her legs.

“I do see you’re busy, do you need any help,” I asked as kindly as I could.

“Fine, fine! Go to the fields outside and get me some fangs from those blasted wolves that are running around. Three of them should be fine,” the alchemist told me, giving me another quest, “From Their Dead, Cold Jaws.” At least it showed me that the alchemist’s name was Moleari and that I would be rewarded with 25xp.

I left the alchemist’s store a bit perturbed with her attitude towards me. Sighing, I reviewed the meet and greet quest. I still had to meet with the barkeep and the trader.

After meeting with the two people in the village, I automatically completed the meet and greet quest and was rewarded 25xp for my trouble. I then decided to head outside so that I could kill a few wolves and get their fangs. As I neared the exit of the village though, one of the guards called out to me.

“Veil-walker! If you are leaving the village, could I ask you to kill five wolves for us? They are starting to attack the traders’ caravans.”

Quest: Culling the Wolves Quest Reward: 1 Silver and 50XP Quest Objectives: Kill 5 wolves outside of Timberdenn. Do you wish to accept? (Yes/No)

I quickly accepted the quest before deciding to leave the village and start the quests that I had so far. Hopefully the wolf quests and experience for killing them would get me to level 5. Smiling at the thought of doing some simple tasks, I thought to myself, “Let the games begin!” as I walked out of the town with a swagger.

Immediately after I left the town, I activated Stealth. Although the wolves might be able to sense me since they were classified as Beasts, the range which they would engage would be significantly reduced, allowing me to scout out potential hunting spots before attacking. The only real problem with using Stealth at these low levels was the run speed, which was a craaawl. Once I had 20 points into the skill though, I would be able to walk at normal speeds, and above that, even become faster when I was stealthed.

After exiting, I looked around and from what I saw, it seemed like this village was in a mountain region. There were various types of very tall and lush pine, spruce, and fir trees, which smelled exquisite. I started to wonder if the game took into account my Dark Elf race and made the scents stronger. It did seem like it did.

The dirt itself was packed, and I wanted to get off the path as soon as possible, since it was still as uncomfortable as it was in the village. Hopefully the grass would be much more comfortable in my current state. I went to the side of the road, not yet into the forest area, but followed the path until I could barely see the village.

I got to an area in the road where it started gently curving and sloping downwards, and a hill to the side. What caught my eyes though was an overturned cart, and what could only be dried blood covering the ground in front of it. I immediately realized that this would be an ambush point that the wolves would use, and I didn’t see any bodies on the ground. I really wasn’t looking forward to that with my heightened senses.

Both sides of the road had trees and other foliage that went deeper into the forest, and I silently made my way towards the hill that went higher, since it would give the wolves an advantage when attacking the caravans that were on the path.

After getting to the top of the hill, I spotted a pack of three wolves in the distance. The lead wolf was walking in the front, with 2 other wolves walking behind it in what appeared to be a V formation. The feeling of being on the hunt within the forest gave me the chills. It was never this intense with my crap VR equipment that I owned! The only bad thing was that I wasn’t able to tell what their health was at, however, with this being a level 1 quest, it didn’t really bother me. One thing that did bother me though was that I didn’t have the damage log that would have normally been on the left of my peripheral view, so I wouldn’t know how much damage I would be doing. No matter though.

I made my way behind the wolves, and allowed them to walk in front of me as I pulled out my rusted dagger. I hoped that they wouldn’t be able to sense me before I could use Backstab against the one that was now on my right in front of me. They were moving a bit more slowly than I was thankfully, and I was able to get within melee range.

Just as I was within striking range, the wolf stopped and was starting to turn around just as I performed Backstab. Luckily, the attack was successful, and I stabbed the wolf. It yelped and turned to face me. As luck would have it, the other two wolves kept walking and were now outside of aggro range, so I just had to deal with this one wolf.

Since I didn’t have any other abilities, I just slashed and thrusted at the wolf wildly as it attacked me back. I must have done some decent damage with my Backstab, as the wolf died shortly after. I did notice that when the attack was able to bite me, I was able to feel a throbbing sensation from where it attacked.

Since I couldn’t see my health, stamina, or mana bars that I would normally have, I pulled up my character stats screen to see where I was at. It showed that I had 619/825 health and 775/875 stamina remaining. I also had 35xp which meant that the wolf was worth 10xp each. I should be able to get to level 2 by just this one wolf pack.

The wolf had a feint white glow around it signifying that I was able to loot it, and when I inspected the dead wolf, I saw that it had one Wolf Fang that I could take, which I did and deposited it into my inventory.

I reactivated Stealth and sat down so that I could regenerate my health faster and opened my stats window so that I could keep an eye out on it. I didn’t want to risk a death, especially at this stage. What type of assassin would I be if I died to a level 1 mob?

“I should be a damn zen master with as much patience that playing an assassin, or even a low level rogue, takes,” I thought to myself with a smile as I waited.

A minute later, I was back up to full health, so I closed the stats window and started stalking my prey once again. I could see the remaining two wolves in the distance, and it looked like stopped walking. I began my slow walk towards them once again, silently cursing the slow speed which I moved at when stealthed.

Before I could perform Backstab this time however, the wolf that I attacked was able to turn around and sniffed at the air and then growled. It obviously detected me, so I took the initiative and attacked him with just a normal attack. At least I was able to pull the wolf away from the pack’s leader.

This time around, I tried to strafe around the wolf, hoping that it would increase the chances to evade it’s attacks. While strafing around the wolf, I hoped that I was slowly eating into his health. I did manage to kill the wolf, as I knew I would be able to, but I could tell that my health was fairly low, at least below 25%, since my vision dropped into the red, as if there was a haze over my eyes.

I opened my stats window to confirm, and as I expected, my health was now at 198/825. At least in one more kill I would be level 2 and I would be able to pick up a couple of skills that I could use use when out of stealth, and actually do some decent damage. After looting this new corpse of it’s fang, I re-activated Stealth and sat down again, waiting for my health to regenerate.

As I waited, I let my thoughts wander, and felt the wind move across my skin, the damp grass against my feet. The smell of the forest was extremely pleasant, and as I was in awe, I thought to myself that I could do this forever, just live inside the game. It beat my real life by far. The freedom of the game and it’s visceral way of life called to me. The real world in comparison was dull and lifeless.

After about five minutes, my health was at 100%, and the pack’s leader was making its way back to where I had killed the first wolf. I stood up and stalked towards it when it stopped and smelled the ground where the dead wolf was at, not yet disappearing. It almost seemed like it was trying to find the enemy that killed on of it’s pack.

As it was sniffing the corpse and looking up, I was able to make my way behind it without the wolf noticing. Getting into range again, I performed Backstab, which was successful. As before, the wolf yelped, growled, and turned around to attack me. Just like with the second wolf, I started strafing while attacking with my dagger, the wolf returning my attacks. After a few rounds of this, my eyesight started to go into the red again, and I wasn’t sure how much health the wolf had.

“Shit, shit, and triple shit,” I started to say, repeating it as if it was my own personal mantra.

The pack leader stopped attacking and leapt backwards a few feet, digging it’s back legs into the ground. I could tell that it was going to leap towards me with a special attack which was worrisome. I crouched down as well and yelled at the wolf, “Bring it on, mutt!”

Just as the large jaws of the wolf, which I could easily fit my head into closed in on me, I felt myself slide to the side of the wolf, the system automatically making me evade the attack. As it started to pass me, I sliced at the wolf’s neck which connected. Since it was an attack to a weak spot, it would guarantee a critical strike, even if I couldn’t see the damage it did.

The wolf landed with a thud, clear that this battle was over. I somehow got lucky and manage to kill the wolf. I had the feeling that since it was the pack’s leader, the difficulty of the mob was at least one level higher than the other two. In the World of the Veil, mobs could fall under four difficulty levels. Those levels being Easy, Normal, Hard, and Elite.

Regardless though, as the wolf landed as a corpse, I was surrounded by a soft, golden glow before it quickly dissipated. I heard the system’s voice ring out, “Congratulations, you are now level 2!”

I looted the wolf’s corpse and was pleased to find that not only did I get my Wolf’s Fang, but also it dropped two pieces of Rawhide Leather. “Now, let’s see about my new stats and skills,” I thought to myself. I opened my available skill list and saw the skills that I could either purchase or upgrade:

Available Skill Points: 4

Backstab (Level 2): Performs an attack that does 150% weapon damage to an enemy. Further development in this skill raises the damage by 2% per level. Requirement: Must be behind the enemy.

Pickpocket (Level 1): Attempts to steal a random item or coin from a target. Further development in this skill raises the chance to steal an item by 5% per level.

Stealth (Level 2): Allows the caster to step into the shadows. Further development in this skill increases movement speed while stealthed by 5% per level.

Eviscerate (Level 1): Performs an attack causing 100% weapon damage and inflicts 2% bleeding damage every 0.5 seconds over 2 seconds. Further development in this skill raises bleeding duration by 5% per level.

Garrote (Level 1): Performs an attack causing 100% weapon damage and silences the target for 2 seconds. Further development in this skill increases the duration of Silence by 5% per level.

Pick Lock (Level 1): Attempts to pick the lock of any treasure chest with a 10% success rate. A recently attempted lock cannot be reattempted. Further development in this skill raises the chance to pick the lock by 2% per level.

I knew exactly what I was going to do with my skills. Since I wouldn’t be running into any caster types of mobs until at least level 10, and while my low speed while I was stealthed was an inconvenience but not exactly detrimental, I used all four skill points on Eviscerate, which would bleed the target for 2.2 seconds. The damage itself would be applied every 0.5 seconds, and would do 2% of the target’s health per tick.

I also had a plan for my stat points as well. With each level, I would gain 5 stat points that I could increase my base stats with. On ShadowBlood, I sort of went everywhere with them in the beginning since I was a noob at the class and didn’t do any research. Now though, I knew what I was doing.

I brought up my character’s stats window, and added 2 points into both Strength and Agility. I would then alternate between Dexterity and Vitality every other level. I now looked at my stats:

Character: Raven Occupation: Rogue Level: 2 (60/105) Currency: 0c Health: 825 Stamina: 925 Mana: 600 Stats Strength: 17 Weapon Damage: 64 - 128 Dexterity: 16 Critical Hit Chance: 12% Agility: 22 Critical Hit Damage: 76 - 140 Vitality: 15 Armor: 5 Wisdom: 10 Evade Rate: 2%

I closed my stats window, pleased with my build decisions. I might need to ask Wuang if it would be possible to keep this character, depending on how far I got. Smiling, I stood up. It was now time to finish this quest and turn it in.

Walking further into the forest, I spotted another pack of three wolves, walking in the same formation as the previous ones. I decided to stick with the same strategy as the first pack, and walked in a wide circle behind the wolves. Since I was now level 2 and the wolves where only level 1, I was able to get off my Backstab without being noticed. Instantly, I followed up with Eviscerate before the wolf could turn around and attack me.

“So much better than the random auto-attacks,” I thought to myself as I started to slice at the wolf.

The wolf was able to attack me, biting my arm as I finished my slice. Before my next attack could land though, the wolf died from the bleeding damage it received from my Eviscerate. I bent down to loot the wolf’s corpse, and instead of resting, I re-activated Stealth and started stalking towards the next wolf.

I was pretty sure that I almost got off a significant critical hit with my Backstab on this wolf, since as I connected with Eviscerate, the wolf died. Feeling much better about my damage, I smiled as I collected yet another Fang. After looting it, I got a small notification window that informed me that I was finished with my quest from Moleari and just needed to return to the village and turn it in.

After activating Stealth again, I brought up my stats window and looked at my health, which was at 700/825. I closed the stats window, and instead of resting, I started stalking towards the last wolf, the pack leader.

I killed the pack leader the same way I had the others, but due to the difficulty of the mob, it did take a few normal attacks and 2 Eviscerates, however, I didn’t lose as much health as I did with the previous pack leader when I was level 1. This one only took me down to 495 health, which was about 60% if my math was correct. As with the last pack leader, I was awarded with another Fang and 2 Rawhide Leather.

Since I was only 10xp away from level 3, I decided to kill another wolf pack. I had to look around for a few minutes before I found another pack, which I quickly dispatched. After killing the pack, I quickly looted the Fangs and the Rawhide Leather from the now dead wolves.

Instead of upgrading my character sheet and purchasing new skills however, I decided to go back to town and turn in the quests that I had. I really could use those daggers, and might even ask Moire if she could make something with the Rawhide Leather that I had.

The walk back to the village was peaceful, as I didn’t run into any aggressive mobs on the way. I did spot a few rabbits and squirrels that were running around, but the squirrels looked a little odd since they had two tails and sort of glittered. I chuckled to myself as I wondered if they were vampire squirrels, as they reminded me of one of those old movies from back in the 2000’s. Almost everything from that era was still archived and freely available on the Net.

Getting back to the village, I let the guard that gave me the quest to kill the wolves that it was completed, and was awarded with another 50xp and 1 silver, which immediately granted me yet another level. I was almost level 5! I walked back to Moire’s shop, almost skipping in glee towards it, which granted me some perplexed stares from the different NPC merchants that I passed by. Arriving at the blacksmith’s shop, I walked into the store.

“Oh, it’s you again. Did you get me my ore yet,” Moire asked me as soon as I walked in.

Rolling my eyes, I replied, “No Moire, I haven’t gotten your ore yet, but if you think you could get it quicker?”

Moire looked at me and scowled at me as I walked over to the counter and pulled out the 6 Rawhide Leather that I looted from the three wolf pack leaders, laying them on the counter. Moire’s eyes instantly went wide in surprise.

“So Moire, do you think you could do anything with these,” I asked. Moire looked up from the hides that were on her counter.

“I’m sure I could, with six of these, I could make you a cloak. Or I could use them to make some boots and gloves, since for those, I’ll only need three of each for them,” she replied.

I asked Moire to make the boots and gloves, and the irritating blacksmith told me that it would take an hour to create the items. Smiling at her, which I hoped disguised my irritation, I thanked her and then headed out to go to the apothecary. I also needed to turn in the quest for the fangs.

Entering the apothecary, I was again overcome by the stench of the various plants and metals that were being boiled down to create the potions that Moleari was making.

Looking behind her, Moleari smiled at me, which made me feel a little weird, since when I originally came here she disregarded me.

“I can sense that you brought the fangs that I need for these potions. You can lay them over there,” she said while pointing at a table.

I walked over to the table that she was directed me to and withdrew the fangs from my inventory and laid them down.

“Mm, since you brought extras, I suppose I could give you an additional 25 copper for each of them,” Moleari informed me.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I do need to get back to work. Seems that it never ends. Perhaps you should look for some more work yourself. Come back tomorrow and I’ll see what I have for you,” Moleari said, clearly dismissing me. I took the 1 silver and 25 copper from the counter that she laid the coins on, and walked out of the apothecary, unsure of how I felt about the old potion maker.

However, instead of contemplating Moleari’s dubious nature, I decided to go back to the inn to review my progress in peace. I had 2 levels worth of skills and stats to invest in. I probably should have killed another pack of wolves while I was out there since I only needed another 30xp for level 5. Oh well.

Sitting on my makeshift bed in my room at the inn, I first pulled up her ability window so that I could allocate my current stat points. I had 10 stat points to upgrade with, so I followed my plan, and increased my Strength by 4, Agility by 4, and increased both Dexterity and Vitality by 1. Next, I pulled up my skill list and reviewed it:

Available Skill Points: 6

Backstab (Level 2): Performs an attack that does 150% weapon damage to an enemy. Further development in this skill raises the damage by 2% per level. Requirement: Must be behind the enemy.

Pickpocket (Level 1): Attempts to steal a random item or coin from a target. Further development in this skill raises the chance to steal an item by 5% per level.

Stealth (Level 3): Allows the caster to step into the shadows. Further development in this skill increases movement speed while stealthed by 5% per level.

Eviscerate (Level 2): Performs an attack causing 100% weapon damage and inflicts 2% bleeding damage every 0.5 seconds over 2 seconds. Further development in this skill raises bleeding duration by 5% per level.

Garrote (Level 1): Performs an attack causing 100% weapon damage and silences the target for 2 seconds. Further development in this skill increases the duration of Silence by 5% per level.

Pick Lock (Level 1): Attempts to pick the lock of any treasure chest with a 10% success rate. A recently attempted lock cannot be reattempted. Further development in this skill raises the chance to pick the lock by 2% per level.

Throw Magical Dagger (Level 1): Throws a magical dagger at a target within 50 meters. Further development in this skill increases range by 10% per level.

Track Mark (Level 1): Allows the caster to place a mark on a target, allowing the caster to track them within 100 meters. Further development in this skill increases the distance which the target can be tracked by 25 meters per level.

Riposte (Level 1): Performs an attack that riposte's the target's attack after a successful evasion which causes 125% weapon damage. 5 second reuse timer. Further development in this skill raises the damage by 2% per level. Requirement: Must be performed after a successful evasion.

Crippling Slice (Level 1): Slices the target's legs, causing 100% weapon damage and slows the movement of the target by 25% for 5 seconds. Further development in this skill increases the duration of Slow by 5% per level.

Frontal Slice (Level 1): An attack that hits all targets that are in the front of the rogue, causing 100% weapon damage to each target. Further development in this skill increases the damage by 2% per level.

Kidney Strike (Level 1): Performs an attack the does 100% weapon damage to the target, causing the target to attack more slowly by 10% per level for 5 seconds.

Looking over the skills, I decided to add two points into Riposte and Stealth, bringing both of them to level 3, and added a point into both Garrote and Throw Magical Dagger. Throw Magical Dagger might seem like an odd choice, however, once I was able to specialize as an assassin, I knew that I would be able to access a Poison Weapons buff, which would allow me to poison enemies at a distance.

As far as Riposte, even if my evade rate was abysmally low, it would slowly raise with each level of Dexterity and the skill would do much higher damage when I evaded an attack. Closing my skills window, I opened my character stats window and invested the stat points that I had as well. I was slowly coming along.

“Hide stats,” I said, and with a satisfied grunt, knowing that I had to get ready to visit Moire, which I had conflicting emotions about. On one hand, I admired that developers made the NPC a young girl when they would usually make the NPC a gruff-looking man with a beard, but the AI that ran that NPC seemed a bit irritating, like she had something to prove to everyone. It frustrated me to even talk with her, but I needed to get my boots and gloves regardless. Those should give me a bit more armor, which would allow me to take a few more hits. Higher levels of armor would lower the damage that I would take from each hit, so until I could get a high level of evasion, I would need the stat.

Walking down to the inn’s lobby, Isbeil was kind enough to let me know that I needed to pay the inn’s fee for my room, which was 1 silver per week. I knew it wasn’t that bad since that in the major cities it could run up to 25 gold per night, and if a player actually wanted to own their own plot of land to avoid those fees, that could cost up to 250 platinum. At least I didn’t need to stay that long though.

I looked around, and at this time of night, the village seemed quiet, with only a few NPCs walking around, making it seem more busy than it actually was. As I walked towards the blacksmith though, I heard the feint sound of laughter. I looked towards the sound, I saw a couple of players hanging around the crossroads. I assumed that it was probably a group of players. Shrugging off my curiosity, continued on to Moire’s shop.

“Ooh, look at what the cat dragged in, a ruffian!” Moire almost shouted excitedly. “Come on over, I have those boots and gloves you requested,” she said while smiling.

I rubbed at my temple since I was already starting to get a migraine from this young blacksmith. I wondered if I could actually get a migraine, and from dealing with Moire, it sure seemed like it.

“Ok, let’s see what you have for me,” I said as I walked over to the counter.

Moire looked at me with a twinkle in her eye, thinking that she might amaze me with her craftsmanship as she reached under the counter. From under the counter, she pulled out a pair of rawhide boots and rawhide gloves.

“Not the best pieces mind you, but I only had some rawhide to use. Perhaps if you went to the mines like I asked you to, I could make something a bit more useful. Maybe you could get me some Draconic or Ephemeral Leather next,” she asked me with a grin.

“Right, I’ll see what I can do about that,” I replied. Draconic Leather was a level 90-100 material, and Ephemeral could make items that were 100 plus. I sincerely hoped she was actually joking with me.

Looking at the stats of the equipment, they were what I had expected. Each piece granted another point of armor, but neither raised my stats. At this point though, I would take what I could get.

“And yes, I haven’t forgotten about your ore Moire. In fact, I should probably be getting to it soon, and then we’ll see about those daggers,” I said offhandedly as I equipped my new armor.

Walking out of the shop, I walked along the dirt road towards the entrance of the village, thinking that I should kill another wolf pack to get to level 5, and then I could start on the task of getting the iron ore from the mines. I was unsure as to what to expect from the mine, so I set out towards the forest to grind wolves to get level 5.