Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Some fails and bad ideas on this chapter! Too long without screwing something up!

ANYWAY, I plan on going back to chapter 18 and change Arcus class to Berserker, so I will leave this warning here so nobody finds it strange.

ALSO, the chapter is, once again, a bit on the short side, but I have a movie to watch, and the release would be too late for my tastes, so…

ALSO(2), BROTHERS AND SISTERS, the church of Cygnas is now, almost reaching 300 followers! CYGNAS BE PRAISED!

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As I made my way to the fields, I saw some small animals like the rabbits here and there, hopping happily, even when the night had already fallen. Although this doesn’t make much sense biologically, game-wise it does, since the beginners need some kind of animal for they to learn how to play.

To tell the truth, I could go search for some stronger monsters to test my bow, but that’s not a good idea. As I said earlier, never test a new monster with a new weapon, for that reason, these cute little bunnies would have to become the sacrifice for me to learn my archery skills!

Your lives will not be forgotten, bunnies!

…

Bah, who am I kidding? I don’t give one day before I completely forget about them. So without much further ado, let’s start the slaughter!

I took the bow from my back and held it in a more comfortable position. Then I stretched my left arm while my right arm went to the arrows…

Arrows…

Arrows…

Dear readers, I probably have already said this before, but let me reinstate here. I am an idiot.

I somehow wanted to go and train archery without buying any arrow.

I dejectedly walked back to the city, wondering how I would get my hand into some arrows at this time. Probably, all the stores were closed by now.

Well, at least NPC stores…

I quickly opened my friend lists and there I see the name in a green color: Argento.

[Me]: Hey, Argento, you there?

It took him a moment, but the answer came.

[Argento]: If it isn’t my favorite crafter! How can I help you?

[Me]: Well, I wanted to try a bit of archery in the game, but forgot to buy arrows, do you have some with you?

[Argento]: Sure, many crafters makes them to level up, so I buy them dirty cheap. I’m at the same place.

[Me]: Ok, coming.

I closed the chat and made my way towards the main elevator towards the crafting sector, then retraced my steps to the place where I first had met the gnome. He was still there in his same table and bench. When he saw me he put a wide smile in his face.

He had already laid a few bundles of arrows on the table for me, so our transition was fairly fast. He also asked me if I wanted to buy a quiver, it links with my inventory and automatically pull the arrows from there, so I don’t need to keep picking them one by one.

I could make a quiver for me if I wanted, but I would need to gather some leather and such, so I left it as is and bought directly from him. Doing that, I went to the equipment menu and decided to equip the quiver, however…

Do I equip it together with the bow in main weapon, or do I have to put it into the auxiliary slot?

Actually, what is this auxiliary slot? I had seen it earlier when equipping my gear and such, but I have absolutely no idea on how it works. I tried putting the quiver into the auxiliary slot, but I received an error message. Quickly closing it, I put it on the second of the main weapon slot, and it worked.

But still wondering about it, I turned to the vendor and asked him.

“What, you don’t know? That’s a slot for putting some small arms like daggers and throwing knifes. Things for when the situation gets a bit abnormal. But anything bigger than a small dagger is rejected.”

I nodded, if what he said is true… I tried dragging one of the many daggers I made back when leveling my blacksmithing, and surprisingly, and it worked. The dagger was fairly simple, since I wasn’t too bothered with quality, but still gave me two agility and one strength point.

Also, I guess that it’s more than enough time for me to explain how equipping works in this game. You see, there are two kinds of equipping in here. The first is when you drag the item from your inventory to the slot, and this adds the status from the item. The second, is when you materialize the item and then wear it.

While you can materialize the item without equipping in the character window, you can’t use them as equipment. Even if you materialize a sword without equipping, it does not count as a weapon, and would be no different as swinging a stick around. Similar things happens when you equip the item, as long as it is not materialized, its stats won’t add to your status pool. The only exception to this rule is the helmet slot, where you can equip it without wearing it and still have the status, but this is mostly for cosmetic purposes. In addition, materializing items that are already equipped makes they appear as if you were wearing then, so it is highly convenient.

This two layers system is, apparently, mostly to avoid exploits, since the player is still able to materialize items from their inventories in the middle of the battle, there would be some players that would keep changing their equipment every few seconds to match their situation. However, you cannot change equipped items in the middle of a battle, so it becomes useless to try and have ten different weapons to keep changing in the middle of a fight.

This auxiliary weapon seems to also be a case of an item where I can still add the points even if you don’t materialize them, since they aren’t part of your main equipment.

After I equipped the dagger, I remembered of the other items I made, and dropped them all in the table. I saw Argento’s eyes become a pair of gold coins as he stared at the items.

In the end, I bought all my arrows and got myself a few extra gold coins, so I became a happy man. Or golem.

Taking a look at his stall, I also saw that he sold some small bottles with a red liquid. Of course, they were health potions. Since I had a severe lack of means for healing, and I planned on doing nothing to correct it, I decided to buy some of these pots in case of an emergency. But they were a bit expensive, at one silver each. This is not very buyer friendly, so maybe I’ll take alchemy too?

But… having to walk all the way to the elevator every time I want to leave is kind of a pain… Isn’t there a faster way to go down?

While walking and thinking of an idiotic plan to somehow skip the elevator, I was back at the entrance floor. However, a peculiar sight greeted me. I saw some players walking furiously from one side to the other while a huge cyclops stood in the middle of the street giving them orders.

Isn’t he that guy who tried to PK me earlier? What is he doing here?

Just as I thought that, the group all gathered around him and they started to speak one by one to the cyclops. He visibly became furious as his clenched hands, then suddenly his voice boomed.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T FIND HIM? THAT (bleep) GOLEM MADE FUN OF US, AND YOU WANT TO SIMPLY LET HIM GO? SEARCH AGAIN! WE ARE GOING TO TURN THIS CITY UPSIDE DOWN IF WE NEED!”

So, he was looking for me?

…

Do you know that saying about kicking a hornet’s nest?

I looked at the two remaining flash bombs I had tied to my belt, and I felt a wicked smile appearing in my face as a plan started to form in my mind. I picked one of the flash-bombs and tried the delayed activation modifier. A window appeared before me asking the time. I set it to two seconds.

I slowly prowled towards their gathering area, making sure none of them would see me, and when I was close enough, I ran away from cover and activated the bomb right before throwing it.

Then:

“HEY, FAT EYE! I’M HERE!”

I shouted gathering all their attention at me at the same time. Time, which the flash bomb got right in front of them and exploded.

I heard their agony throes of agony as they became blinded again by the same trick. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired from this.

Since the bomb don’t actually deal any damage, I wasn’t flagged as a red player, so I had no need to worry about the guards turning on me.

I stood around enough time for me to see some of them recovering, and looking at me in pure anger.

“Beep-Beep!”

I made my best road-runner personification and ran back to the main elevator, getting it just in time to see they arriving to pick the next. I made sure to tell them my destination.

“See you at the forging sector!”

You guys do remember what happened to me when I first arrived there, right? The heat and all?

What can I say, I’m an evil person!

As soon as the elevator arrived at the floor, I darted away, barely managing to see their group arriving on the floor. I wasn’t about to wait for them to chase me, because I saw a mage and a archer in their group, so I didn’t want to subject myself to be their pincushion.

It didn’t take more than two minutes of the continuous running for their group to start to fall exhausted. It’s actually kind of funny, how even with the satiety and health full, they started to fall down like flies.

The one, and only one, who was still hunting me to no end was a cloaked fire elemental that seemed immune to the heat. Do they have a passive that makes them immune to the environment debuffs?

Oh, there was also that Cyclops, their boss, but he was almost dragging his knees on the ground by now… And he’s down.

Now, what do I do about this elemental?

While taking a turn into some alley and jumping over a few boxes, I started to think about a plan. I could always use the last flash bomb, but I just didn’t feel like using it. Hmm, this is complicated…

“Hey! Why are you still hunting me anyway?” I tried asking.

“The boss said that you are a hindrance.” Said a furious voice. Wow, that’s some fervor right there!

“And why the hell would I be a hindrance? They tried to PK me and failed. Go to the next one already! Leave me alone!”

“PK? What’s that?” The elemental sounded surprised for a moment. Is he a noob? Rather, is he an NPC? You know a game is good when you are unable to differentiate an AI from a player. Turing would be so proud. Rather, why would a NPC be with a bunch of players? “No matter, the boss said to kill you, so I will kill you.”

“Geez… Quite the fanatic, aren’t you?” Just as I said that, I saw a small knife zooning right next to my ear, making me go pale… Or I would I weren’t made of stone. “No need to feel so touchy!” I screamed in panic.

I made another random turn into a random alley to see if I could find something to help me escape the guy, but my luck hates me, and does the most cliché things ever.

Yup, a dead-end.

Oh, bleepers.

I tried turning back, but just in time the elemental appeared from the corner while swinging a dagger at me. I barely managed to dodge the edge by jumping aside.

Barely had I landed, he spun around and tried to slice me with his other dagger, but I managed to deflect it with my chain-mail gloves.

I wish I had my sword equipped right now. Since we had already traded blow, the game considered this as if we had already entered combat, and earlier while running away I didn’t exactly have time for me to change my weapons, so now I was stuck with a skill-less bow.

At least, the fact that now most of my equipment was made of leather helped me a great deal, since I was a little lighter and could dodge with some more ease.

The elemental kept attacking with unending fury, and I could barely keep avoiding them, but from time to time an attack would land, and…

-6 (384/390)

-12 (372/390)

-8 (364/390)

My life was slowly being shaved away, but it seems that the elemental was shocked at how little damage his weapon was doing. I guess that investing all that time in some good gear made a difference.

But I still had a problem.

I was slowly being cornered in the dead end.

As soon as I felt my back hitting the stone wall, a cold shiver ran down my spine, and a small smirk appeared on the elemental lips. He made a powerful stab towards me.

I had no place to dodge now, so I was kind of stuck in this situation, but barely managed to block the dagger with my left arm, however the price was a piercing pain that almost made me faint, however I gritted my teeth and stood my ground. Taking advantage of his surprise, I used my right hand to hold his head and pull it into a head-butt.

-20 (344/390)

-6 (404/410)

This knocked him back in surprise, and he let go of his dagger in my arm, I used this time to land a kick in his chest and make him take a couple of steps back. However he recovered too fast, and came back at me with his remaining dagger, aiming for my throat.

I barely managed to dodge the hit by twisting my body out of the way, but he used his free hand to punch me in the guts.

-2 (342/390)

I took a few steps back and curved myself in pain, I could see a smile in his lips as he readied his weapons and some kind of light gathered around it.

Crap, a skill.

I had to dodge it somehow… But how…

Roll!

Remembering the skill I had earned after so much effort, I activated it.

Even when I was almost falling to the ground in pain, I felt some force taking control of my body and forcing me to drop forwards while rotating my body so I would land on the back of my shoulders.

Just in time, as I saw his daggers passing right above me, followed by a spiral of some kind of dark energy, similar to the ones the Red-claw lynxes used.

The system assisted roll made me automatically finish while standing, something that left me surprised, but grateful for. The elemental was about as surprised as me, as he stood still for a brief moment trying to understand what happened.

I took advantage of this moment, by grabbing his neck from behind and then slamming him with my shoulder against a nearby wall. I heard a low sound as he gasped for air, but before he could recover I punched him in the ribs, making him yelp in pain.

I could have gone for some more time doing that, but my lack of weapon left me in a sever disadvantage should he recover, so I took my last flash bomb and held it in my hand while taking a step back. The elemental turned furiously trying to slash me, but I had already taken a good distance from him.

I activated the flash bomb as soon as I knew he was turned in my direction.

Although he was still caught in surprise, I had a feeling that this bomb wouldn’t be as effective as the first, so I took my time to quickly run away, leaving him alone in the alley. I also threw away his dagger while running.

I was afraid that the pool of blood dripping from my hand would give away my position, so I took one of the potions from my inventory and tried drinking it. Although the injury didn’t heal right away, both the pain and the bleeding stopped almost immediately, which was good for now. I could also feel a slightly tingling

sensation around my arm, so I guess it’s still doing its work.

I reached the elevator just in time to hear the elemental shouting in anger.

Remember what I said about the hornet’s nest?

It is not a good idea.

Never.

Ever.

…

I don’t think it will take that long for me to do something idiotic again, though.

I made sure to take a different exit from the one I used before, so that even if they looked for me, they wouldn’t find me there.

Things would have been so much better if I had at least a melee weapon like a sword or dagger…

Yeah, I’m an idiot.

DIDN’T I JUST EQUIP A FREAKING DAGGER TEN MINUTES AGO?

I hate myself some times…

...

Finally, back outside, bow in hands, quiver equipped and full, all set complete and the dagger on my waist in case of an emergency. Bunny hopping innocently ahead, unknowing of the fate that is about to befall him.

A quick look around, making sure there are no PK’s around hunting me like mad dogs.

Ok. Now, let’s try it again.

Pick an arrow from the quiver, nock it into the bow, put the bow back into its vertical position and set to the general direction of the bunny… Hey, it’s looking at me! Hi bunny! Pull back the bowstring and compensate for the distance. Deep-breathing to stabilize the aim, and FIRE!

NEW RECORD OF ONE METER BEFORE FALLING TO THE GROUND! HOORAY!

I sighed loudly. Let’s try again.

Pick an arrow, nock into the bow, pull the bowstring, and shoot!

Now… Was way too far. God dammit, this is harder than I thought.

Once again. Pick, nock, pull, release.

And I invented the curved-arrow! Hooray!

Ok, let’s try again… And again… And again… Again… again…

By the twentieth or thirtieth try I was pretty much frustrated, and there was a rabbit laying within a small arrow-fence while looking at me with curiosity.

“Look, Mr. bunny, I have absolutely nothing against you, you know? But… I had a very bad night up to now, so please, bear with it, okay?”

I said as I approached the bunny and picked one of the arrows beside it. Then I held him with my other hand and…

Let’s say that it was a fairly slow death, okay?

Due to animal abus… Due to repeated use of the bow and arrow, you have learned the skill: Bow mastery Skill: Bow mastery [lvl 1]

0% Increases damage done and ease of use of Bows.

Bonus Damage: 1%

“…Cygnas?”

No Cygnas here. By the way, unlocking the bow mastery skill, you have earned the Bow sub-skill: Power shot. Skill: Skill: Power Shot [lvl 1]

(levels increase with bow mastery) A simple, yet strong shot made from a fully strung bow.

DMG: 120% Cost: 25 Energy

How bored she actually is?

I decided to not delve much further in this question and focus on what’s important, I earned the skill, so now it should be easier to use the bow, right?

I decided to try my luck into another nearby unsuspecting rabbit, and this time, as soon as the arrow touched the bow, I felt as if some kind of force was gently guiding my hand and body on what moves I had to do. Although I still had to measure the aim myself, everything else seemed a lot smoother.

And when I let go of my arrow, I actually hit the critter!

-18 (24/42)

Then I grabbed another arrow from the quiver in my back and I tried the power shot. I didn’t even need to compensate the distance, as the arrow flew pretty much in a straight line.

-23 (01/42)

Then I finished it with a simple kick.

After that, I spent the rest of my night hunting rabbits to improve my bow mastery skill, and meanwhile I even found a few iron veins, getting myself a few ores and crystals to play later.

I quickly used the crystals to refill my flash-bomb stock, and decided to try something fun. Picking a few interesting combinations of crystals, I would grind them to a dust then put inside a leather ball. Afterwards, I would stab an arrow right trough it and then apply the delayed activation modifier.

Much to my surprise, it actually worked!

I would need to activate it with some good time before shooting it, after all I still had to nock the arrow, pull the string and all that story. Also, the arrows would become unbalanced and would be a bit harder to hit, but the effects actually worked really nicely.

For one, I could use a water and order mix to freeze the rabbit. The effect probably wouldn’t be that good on bigger targets, but would still be a nice addition.

I also could use a ranged flash-bomb! MUAHAHAHAA! ONE DAY I WILL STILL CONQUER THIS WORLD WITH MY FLASH-BOMBS!

For now, these were the two that were working best, but since my crystal reserves were a bit on the low side, I had to conform myself with only a couple of tests.

There were two HUGE downsides to it, though. Due to it being an irregular item, I couldn’t store the Crystal-arrows in the inventory. And they dealt no damage, since there was a soft leather ball on it’s tip.

I sighed loudly when I noticed this second fault. Not everything is perfect after all… If only I could remove the ball and keep the effects…

But then I would need to shape the crystals in the shape of arrow-heads…

And I’m not even sure whether they are moldable.

…

What about smelting them?

Like a child who just found his newest toy, I ran back to the forging sector.