Map:

Spoiler :

For those that want to see, I have temporarily made a map in paint. Click the image for a full view.

It's not 'good' it's just got enough information for those that wish to know the general layout.

Each red dot in Anderon is a city and the whereabouts. Each city in Anderon is literally the only settlement. There are no villages and such currently in existence around the territories. That is something for players to work with later when the territories start turning into actual countries again and Players start conquering the world and building their own settlements.

Deniya's territory is bigger than the UK. Just for an example of size. I don't have exact measurements and the map isn't to scale but it's fairly accurate for a job done in paint.

I have an artist working on other pictures such as Tobi, Lucy, Selene, Joe Heartless - maybe Niamh.

Will see what happens with that when he mails them to me.

Chapter 10: Return of the Travelers. [Part 2]

Armistice

Seeing a dozen or so people milling together and forming parties, Armistice smiled. There wasn't many people that could handle starting as a Dark Elf and she was proud to be one of those that had survived. They were by far the hardest race to start as.

Unlike other races that had cushy starter villages, low level monsters to gain levels on and training halls. Dark Elves started in whispering wood. The lowest level respawning monster near her tribe was level 50. As a level one, it was pretty much impossible. To make it worse, Whispering Wood was always shrouded in darkness creating a perpetual night-time. Many of the monsters gained bonuses at night so the fact they were level 50 was misleading.

Fortunately, Dark Elves gained the same night bonus as monsters so they weren't at a real disadvantage. Other problems occurred soon after. She had not been too bothered about the rewards she received from quests because she thought they were just junk items. Turned out that Dark Elves didn't trade in money and she'd been wasting the Dark Elf equivalent of currency.

Her starting location had been on a platform high in a tree with three wooden bridges leading to other trees. Small cocoon-like huts either hung from branches or were built onto the side of trees. Wandering around aimlessly, she tried to find NPC's to explain things to her and guide her. Sadly, Dark Elves were not very friendly even to each other.

She'd finally managed to get an older Elf to give her a little of his time after a day of trying to talk to NPC's. The man asked her to gather some berries from the base of the trees. Climbing down and up again was only half the problem. The monsters below were the other half. She'd died twice trying to complete the quest and had considered deleting her character and starting over. What was the point in Dark Elves when it was impossible to survive? She spent more time logged off for being dead than logged in.

Giving it one last try, she watched children of the Dark Elves perform the same berry gathering task. Armistice realized her mistake. Working alone at low levels was impossible. You had to have one person distract the monsters whilst you went down and took the berries - so that's what she did. Following the children, she waited until several distracted the beasts and followed the rest to gather berries.

Her first success.

Pleased, the old Elf told her of one of his friends that also needed someone capable to help with some odd-jobs. That's how her life as a Dark Elf began.

After explaining about Dark Elves to her fiancé in the real world, he in turn told her about Racians. After the pair of them had done quests for several days - which was weeks in the game, he finally told her about stat gains from training. By this point, he was level 9 and she was level 3. from that moment on, she trained no matter what else she was doing. Traveling from one tree to another was no longer a walk across a bridge high in the trees; she climbed to the floor, ran to the next tree and climbed up it.

Things got more interesting later. With all the quests she'd been doing for the tribe, she was asked to join a hunting party for food for the village. It was her first quest that would involve fighting and they gave her a basic bow with arrows.

Fun. That was the only word she had for it. The more she used her bow, the more fun it became. The system assist was incredible. Shooting arrows from the safety of the trees, her archer skills developed and her levels went up quickly. She didn't get too much experience per monster because she didn't do much damage, but the NPC hunting party were capturing and killing loads so she gained levels like crazy. By the time the quest finished, she'd shot from level 7 to 41.

It seemed like a bit of a cheat for the NPC's to boost you to a higher level, but it was necessary. How long would she have been stuck in tree village before she was able to hunt monsters on the ground?

When Joe told her about not using system-assist, she ventured off alone from her village and tried it out. She didn't go too far, just far enough that she could practice in peace.

Firing the bow without system assist was easy; hitting the target was not. She couldn't reload as fast either and it took genuine effort just to get the arrow onto the bow string. More than fifty basic arrows were fired before she worked out a couple of simple semi-assisted methods. Using system assist for notching an arrow, she worked out how to fire the arrows whilst activating a skill. Saying the skill out loud as you attempted it helped, but the real issue was the motions.

Twin-Shot was basically firing two arrows at the exact same point in the space of a second. Doing it alone was impossible for her. With system-assisted reload though, she could at least fire that fast; so that's what she did. That's when she discovered the trick.

Joe had said it was about the positioning of your body and then applying your mana, power, rage or whatever it was your class used for activating skills. By doing that, you could maintain control of your body and cancel the skill rather than being stuck casting it and becoming vulnerable.

Remembering her bodies form when using system assist, Armistice drew her bow and tried to hold her position in the same form system assist had used. Applying mana was the harder part. She remembered how it felt during the assist, but didn't know how to do it alone. Holding her form and trying to draw on the sensation assist had used, she saw something in the distance. Only briefly, but she'd definitely seen it.

Trying again, she saw it once more: A red dot in the distance. Applying more mana and holding her form, she could almost make out the faint outline of the arrows intended trajectory. She could definitely see the dot in the tree opposite where the arrow would strike.

Loosing the arrow, it hit almost exactly where the red dot had been. Trying again, she included the system assist reload and fired two arrows. The second arrow just about failed to split the first. Using assisted reloaded after assisted reload, she fired off multiple arrows until her mana ran out. Three out of every four hit close to where she intended. Close but not precision perfect.

Guessing there were other factors involved such as Dexterity, Strength, Agility, the bow itself, the distance and maybe even the arrows used; Armistice wandered around collecting her arrows. She was definitely going to master the bow without system assist. The only thing she would keep using is the system assisted reload - no human could hope to compete with that speed. She doubted she was using it the way developers had intended, but you take advantage of the tricks you learn, right? Twin Shot let off two arrows, but her method of only using the reload from Twin Shot and not actually using the skill - she could fire off as many as eight in 5 seconds. She wanted to increase that by as many as she could.

---

Between the training and hunting, Armistice completely lost track of her goals. She'd become completely obsessed with perfecting her abilities. When she'd wandered far from her village to find a river or lake to learn to swim -at Joe's recommendation- she finally came across some other Dark Elves; Elves that weren't part of her tribe. Stupidly, she'd said hi and waved. Waking up in her Dive Unit moments later was the most confusing moment since her starting days.

Eventually she found out that every tribe was at war with almost every other tribe. There were even Dark Elves that ate humans. Truly thankful she wasn't part of that tribe and half wondered if it would still count as cannibalism. After a few moments thought, she actually hoped she would never see such a thing. That kind of scene would be too graphic and sickening.

She wanted vengeance though. They'd messed with her training and made her log out for a full 24 hours. It wasn't like she got much time to play in the first place either. As a school teacher, she only really got to play a few hours a night and on nights she slept in her Dive Unit. They'd really cut into her play time and she wasn't happy about it.

After spending three in-game weeks training the low level noobs that were starting as Dark Elves and complaining about the difficulty, Armistice went for her revenge. The little pawns she'd trained were just sacrifices; the real goal was to kill as many of the enemy tribe as possible. When the NPC's overheard their plan to attack the other tribe, the tree-village came to life. It seemed that almost all the NPC's wanted to join in too. Even the old Elf from her starter days went to get his bow and arrows.

With 80 Dark Elves silently sneaking through the trees -both on the ground and in the branches- Armistice felt true excitement for the first time. It was how she imagined it to be for Joe when he'd taken part in the Championship Tournament thing he'd talked about. There was something electric and thrilling about hunting other people. Definitely a sensation she could get addicted to.

Wondering if it was that very sensation that turned people into Player Killers, Armistice held a hand up to stop the advance. Several members of the enemy tribe were gathering water just ahead. If they were gathering water, there must be scouts nearby to keep the monsters away. They were pretty lucky for just making it that far without any monster problems of their own. Accidentally bumping into a mob of monsters level 100+ was not an uncommon occurrence in Whispering Wood; it was part of why Dark Elves had it so bad. Only the territory owned by a Dark Elf could be considered close to safe. And safe for the territory was the same as saying: "Dungeon for level 50 players and higher"

Spotting several Black-Hawks on a branch in the distance, Armistice knew the scouts were definitely nearby. NPC Dark Elf hunters would often have some kind of animal as a companion. Players were still trying to figure it out, but the level 60+ Black-Hawk birds were a common companion. They helped keep away monsters that were capable of climbing trees or flying.

Signalling to several NPC hunters of her own, she pointed out the Black-Hawks. The hunters nodded and vanished into Darkness. The Dark Elf stealth spell was one she wanted a lot but hadn't yet found out how to unlock it. The moment the birds were riddled with arrows, chaos erupted.

The war was a success, but not without casualties. The territory had been expanded, but they no longer had enough people to maintain it. Eventually, the NPC's gave up the territory and returned home. Only players remained to make the area their own. Armistice was made Village leader and a new tribe was born. A tribe of players and the Dark-Elf equivalent of a guild.

Things were different now though; it was almost time to head to Anderon and meet Joe. She had to hand over her titles of Village leader if she left. She could stay as the Tribe leader though; she just had to give the new Village Leader the right to initiate people into the tribe. She considered asking the tribe to go with her, but they'd never really been that kind of tribe. They were really just players that protected a single area and used it as a base camp. Together they could survive in the dangerous wood - whereas alone they would definitely die.

As fun as it had been, surviving wasn't what Armistice wanted. She wanted to adventure and have fun. She wanted to meet up with Joe in Anderon and explore the world. More than anything, she wanted to test her skills against other players. Almost equally, she wanted to leave Whispering Wood. The sporadic levels of monsters was too insane. Even if you only considered the spawning monsters - if you left them alone, they would soon be a level that was a threat to the village. Just leaving the area was considered an achievement.

In all her time since she started, she'd probably never traveled more than 100 miles from the tree-village she originally started in. For a level 88 player, she felt she was missing out on too much of the world. That's why she had to go back to her original village though. There was an NPC hunting party in the starter village that knew the way to Lybernia.

As she finished packing her items for the journey, several players came running in. She recognized them all but couldn't remember any of their names.

"Armistice, we have a problem!"

Putting her pack down she asked what it was.

"Dire Wolves have moved in at the north end of our borders. It must have happened when the server was closed. A party went to wipe them out but only one came back alive. He said they are only level 60 at the mouth, but once they got inside it claimed the Den was a dungeon. They got slaughtered by level 75 Dire Wolves."

"So do what we did last time wolves tried to move in. Form parties in the trees around the mouth and kill them as they come out."

The man shook his head enough to make his locks swing across his face, "You don't understand. It's a dungeon! To subjugate them we'll have to kill the boss and fill it in. Otherwise they will just keep respawning inside. They will never end."

Sighing, Armistice grabbed her bow. "Has anyone confirmed the level they are when they respawn?"

The group shook their heads. Nodding, Armistice grabbed her quiver and walked out of her hut.

***

Tobi

Strength has gone up by one.

Endurance has gone up by one.

Agility has gone up by one.

Stamina has gone up by one.

Panting and dragging himself out of the water, Tobi couldn't believe how amazing swimming was for stats. At least it seemed for be for the minute. There was a bit of a trick to it though. If he swam half a length and stopped, then repeated it back and stopped. The only thing to rise was Endurance. If he swam non-stop however until his energy depleted, the gains were completely different.

It kind of reminded him of when he gained defense levels (How you did the task effected the gains).

The trick for defense wasn't in taking damage, but in absorbing it. To prove the point, Vallen had thrown a medicine ball type object at him which inflicted 10 damage. On the second attempt, he caught the ball and received 1 damage. Several attempts later, he got the knack of catching it without receiving damage and his defense stat rose by one point.

He'd completely forgotten to purchase a ball for continuing to raise his defense, but Vallen said it only worked to 20 or so defense anyway. As he'd reached 17, there wasn't much left for him to do with the ball. He needed something else for his defense stats.

Swimming on the other hand - he could do it all day for these kinds of gains. Even if he was a mage, there was nothing wrong with great physical stats. Technically his class wasn't chosen, but he was definitely a mage in the making. Vallen told him not to worry about his class though. More often than not, a class was only your profession. A Knight for example was literally a Knight. Paladin worked as a Paladin, Mason worked as a Mason, Archer worked as an Archer, Scout as a Scout ... the list went on. Even Thief was a class and could be considered their profession.

Deedee and Galven were examples too. Both had the class of grand mage but both also worked as Grand Mages.

Drying himself off with a towel, Tobi asked Selene what she was working on. She'd been messing with something since he went swimming.

"Secret."

Interested but too lost in his thoughts to press the issue, Tobi took some supplies out of his bag and started work on Lunch. He was getting close to his next Cooking level so kept trying new recipes. The BLT they had for breakfast was a good example of that. For Lunch, he wasn't sure what to make. Cooking over a camp fire was a new experience and not nearly as easy.

Deciding to make soup as he'd only made it a few times before and it was easy to make over the fire, Tobi hoped his pan would be big enough. Whether it was a pan or not he couldn't actually decide. It was a deep metal dish with handles on the top. Kind of like a wok that was far too deep. The seller in the shop called it an outdoor all purpose pan, but on inspection - it just said 'Outdoor cooking utensil.' The stupid thing didn't even fit in his backpack so it had to be carried as an extra on a hook on his bag.

With the water boiling in Aevitas record time, Tobi immediately started adding the ingredients. He'd never actually learned how to make soup so he just added everything at once. It worked on the oven-cooker-thing in the mage guild so it should work here too.

"Selene?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know any good methods of raising defense? Mine is pretty bad."

Pausing what she was doing and thinking about it, Selene nodded, "I know a few but we can't do them here. Remind me about it when we are near some hills."

Raising an eyebrow, Tobi wondered what she might have him doing. If it was something stupid like Roly-Poly's, he wasn't sure he'd be willing to believe her.

"Tobi, remember that spell you used in Samson's training hall?"

Nodding as he added more vegetables to the soup, Tobi recalled the incident and the pain. He'd really thought he'd blown his hand off that day.

"I've been thinking about it since. I have a really old memory of something similar but I couldn't put my mind on it. I think I know what it was though."

Looking up from his soup and eager for any information about his magic, Tobi asked what the memory was.

"There was a fire mage in Lybernia who wanted to - well, that doesn't matter. Point is, he had an apprentice with him who was constantly setting things on fire by accident and making mistakes. The guy was a complete idiot and had no business messing with fire let alone magic. His master told him to make a fist and then put flames around it - then he was to punch the scarecrow leaning against the barn door. I don't really get fire magic but I watched with interest at the time.

What the novice ended up doing was lighting the fire magic inside his actual hand. After punching the scarecrow, the effect was similar to yours. He nearly blew his hand up. The explosion went into the scarecrow how it was supposed to, but because he applied it the wrong way, the recoil hit him too. I can't help but think yours went the same way.

When you blasted the dummy from afar, you didn't do damage to yourself and nothing but the target was damage. When you physically punched it though, the blast encompassed the area and hurt you and the area around it."

Tobi nodded at the memory and asked what she was getting at.

"I am thinking that you did the same thing as the novice. You put the magic inside your hand rather than around it. As a result, you took damage along with your target."

Remembering back to the scene, Tobi knew she was right. That didn't mean things would be different if he applied it a different way. Using magic without knowing the proper application and method was no different to when he'd jumped off the pier. Knowing and doing was different. With swimming, he knew how and yet couldn't. With magic, he knew how to call on it but not apply it. As with swimming, he'd learned his lesson: Practicing was dangerous.

"So you think I should practice different methods?" Tobi asked at last to confirm why she'd brought it up.

Selene nodded without hesitation, "Whoever used magic first didn't have a teacher. That person passed on what they knew and it has come a long way. There is nothing to say you can't learn the same way."

"Maybe the Gods taught them," Tobi countered.

"No, I don't think so. When humans started using magic, the Gods were angry. It was a long time before the Gods allowed the use of magic."

Although he did want to practice his magic, he hadn't yet worked out how to control it and it scared him. If he could respawn like other Travelers, he'd been playing with it no matter how many times he died. As it was, he felt like he was holding a grenade with the pin missing. With the exception of Elven Carpentry and Sonic Boom [Lions Roar], he didn't trust his magic at all.

Sonic Boom was just as bad though. There was something weird about it. The damage he'd caused in his shop had been great, yet the man had definitely walked away from it. There was a mystery there that needed to be solved. If it turned out the ability was useless in actual battle, he was not going to be happy. It was currently his only offensive ability that could be used.

Pouring out the soup, Tobi ripped a loaf in half and carried Selene's portion over, "Lunch, my lady."

With a mock bow in reply, Selene accepted gratefully.

To think that the young-looking girl that he could vaguely remember was now this priestess in a white robe - it was hard to imagine. If he looked at himself in a mirror, he hadn't changed at all. Not knowing if his appearance would ever change, he wondered how long it would be until Selene noticed.

***

Lucy / Calamity

Logging into Aevitas, Lucy's alter-ego Calamity smiled and spread her arms wide. She was finally back in Aevitas and she'd finally be able to track down and meet her brother.

Taking a deep breath of fresh Aevitas air; she choked and gagged.

What the hell is that smell?

Eyes watering and stomach wretching, Calamity cupped her mouth and nose to cover the smell. Realizing the stench came from her bag, she slipped it off her shoulders and took several steps back. She had no idea what could be in there for such a foul smell but she knew she'd have to get rid of it.

Walking over cautiously as though the smell could actually harm her; she flipped the bag open and tentatively looked inside. Rotten body parts, stale food and contaminated loot filled the space within.

Looking around the area, she remembered what they had been doing before they logged off and the servers closed. She was a little north-east of Ardene near the border. Her entire guild was part of a clearing quest to subjugate monsters coming over the border. Trogs mostly but there were others too. Creatures that were becoming too numerous to stay in their normal territories.

Along with 37 of her guild members, they'd been fighting their way to the border and planned to be the first people to cross into a new country. That was the plan at least. Things proved to be far more difficult. The Trogs alone were giving them a hard time due to their levels, but the general monsters were just as bad.

She'd been surprised at first when the respawned monsters had been such a lower level than the ones they killed. Level 90 bears were respawning at level 30, level 85 wolves were respawning at levels 15-30; the Trogs didn't respawn at all; or if they did, they were spawning back wherever they came from at whatever level they would have normally been.

Tipping her bag upside down, Calamity held her breath as everything tumbled out. As a rotten and moldy looking Trogs head rolled across the floor, she wondered why she'd bothered to grab it in the first place. There had definitely been a reason at the time but she didn't know what it could be now. Trogs didn't smell too pleasant in the first place, but the rotten head was a whole other level of stink.

Looking at the items now scattered on the floor, there was not much she actually wanted to keep. Couple of shields, low level daggers, some drop items that weren't worth much and a lot of food that had gone rotten.

Hell with it...

Leaving her foul smelling bag on the floor along with the items, Calamity set off. As long as she had her weapons, armor and money; there wasn't much else she actually needed. The total value of her bag and items probably came to 270Gold, but what did that matter? She earned almost as much from a single bounty once.

Smiling at the memory, Calamity set off down a trail she thought led South. Without the bag, she also felt much lighter; more free. The sensation of freedom tingled through her body.

Along with the excitement of being back in the game, the excitement of finding and meeting her brother and the anxiety of how he was doing; her emotions took charge and she started to run; slow at first but getting faster and faster. When at last she was pushing herself to her limits, she was breaking a speed she could never manage in real life. Calamity smiled with wild joy as tree's seemed to almost blur past. She wasn't yet able to run as fast as professional athletes, but she was getting close.

Not sure how long she could keep up the speed, she activated her Energy and Satiety bars so she could keep an eye on them both. It wouldn't be the first time she ran herself empty and ended up killed by a monster because of it.

Being killed by a monster was bad enough, but the time she was almost killed by a player because of low energy was worse. She'd never lost a PVP fight so it had been frightening at the time. The worst part about a reputation is maintaining it. She would only have to lose a PVP fight once and all her online fame would be destroyed. No matter what happened, she refused to lose in PVP.

Jumping a small log in her path, Calamity felt a little bad for abandoning her guild. She didn't know where they were or what they would do next, but her priority was Tobi. She'd leaked information about Tobi being her brother in order to scare people away from him. What she hadn't thought about was the people who would kill him for that very reason. Many didn't believe he would really die if he died in game, even her - but she wasn't willing to take that chance. She had to go and protect him.

There had been a Knight once who'd vowed to kill all of her friends in the game as vengeance for his death. At the time she'd only laughed. Such threats didn't seem funny anymore though.

The Knight had actually been the biggest bounty she'd ever had. 130Gold he was worth and the fight had been a draw. Her agility, strength and dexterity put his to shame, but his armor and defense mocked her constantly. She couldn't do any damage and every one of his attacks that managed to land took chunks out of her health.

After a long battle, they were both low on energy and health. Neither wanted to be the loser and they backed off as a draw. Giving up wasn't in her nature though. She'd continued to track and follow him for days whilst she tried to work out methods to raise her defense. In the end, she didn't even need to. The Knight had dropped his guard whilst looking at two creatures fight at the bottom of a small cliff.

Sneaking up behind him, she pushed him off. For all his defense, it did nothing against fall damage. It was cheap, but she didn't care. Most of her PVP battles had been cheap victories that used the environment and surroundings. The game had such a thing as indirect damage and she had no problem with taking advantage of that fact. Slipping down the cliff face as fast as she could, she finished off the stunned Knight before he recovered. It was beautiful, and thanks to her class - she received 260Gold instead of the offered 130.

Defeating the Knight had been her 1,000th Bounty and earned her the title of Bounty Hunter. As all the bounties had been in or around Ardene, her familiarity with the people was also maxed out. She'd even get free gifts and food in most of the places she went. That's when the lord of Ardene requested for her to clear out a locked dungeon. The only way you could find or enter the dungeon was by receiving the quest.

The quest recommended 40 people level 60+ and no NPC's were provided. Since her mom got the inquisitor class, Calamity had been a solo player. Having a mom that you couldn't lie to was too cruel so she'd broken out alone. Now that she needed help with a quest, she regretted that she'd never bothered making any friends in the game. All her classmates were in places like Camlann and Deniya, she was literally alone and stuck with a quest she couldn't handle.

Refusing to ask her Parents for help or getting their guild involved, Calamity advertised the quest and the rewards. She hoped that it would be enough to entice 40 people a high enough level.

When lines of people beyond counting gathered, Calamity readjusted her thoughts. Just to get a chance at joining her for the quest, they had to show their user windows to her.

Smiling at the memory, Calamity called them all 'Noobs' in her head. Every single one of them had close to the basic stats. Many of them didn't even have professions for bonus stats. There was a mage called Lauren at level 69 that had a grand total of 422 stat points. Consider you started with 1 point in 8 stats and 40 Distributable points, that would mean the 68 following levels added to 340 distributable points. Her most basic stat amount possible was 388.

After asking her how she'd managed to have such bad stats, the girl had become offended. She was adamant that her stats were well balanced and about right for her level. Calamity strongly disagreed and put her on the 'maybe but probably not' list.

Lauren had been the first window she'd seen though. Pretty soon, she realized that most people were just as terribly bad. No wonder Player Killers were so good at what they did - half the players in the world were complete idiots.

Choosing 40 people based on their classes rather than levels, Calamity had told them they had to undergo training before they could begin the quest. All agreed. What they didn't know was that Calamity meant it in a literal sense and soon had them running laps around the city. She made them all learn Linguistics, Swimming and professions that gave stat gains to their respective classes.

As the 40 players started to realize how much stronger they were getting, complaints stopped. They listened to Calamities every word and obeyed without question. After three weeks preparing, Calamity finally took them into the dungeon.

Those 40 people eventually became her guild and they were rarely separated since. Training, Quests, Bounties and Mercenary jobs from other players. They did it all together. Even the great guilds like Thunder Dynasty, Renegades and Team Anderon hired them to help with monster subjugation's and dungeon clearing.

Life was great.

That was then though, this was now. She had to get to Ardene and meet her parents. It would be the first time she met her parents in game since her mother unlocked Inquisitor. After that, they were heading straight for Gilleous through the wilds. They'd debated about the path a little but Calamity refused to take the roads. She was convinced that the safer path would take longer. Once they reached the coast, they only needed to follow it all the way to Gilleous to resupply, then take the road to Cohol.

Niamh had been hoping to meet them along the way, but thanks to Calamity changing the route they were on, she wouldn't catch up before Cohol. Had they taken the safer roads, they'd have traveled to Savan, then Brackley and finally Cohol. Niamh would have met them in Brackley.

Niamh was in Deniya and would have to skirt the edge of the most dangerous forest in Anderon (Deniya Wood). That would take her to Camlann. From Camlann, she would go south to Brackley. Based on the roads, the distance was around the same, roughly, so they would have likely ended up in Brackley within a day or two of each other -depending on time spent in the game.

Noticing her energy bar dropping to 40, Calamity stopped her run and began to walk. She couldn't quite remember how far from Ardene she was. The northern border of Ardene's territory was the start of Whispering wood - that's where most of the Thunder Dynasty guild were focusing their efforts before the server shut. That's about a weeks fast travel from the city 'Ardene'. She was nowhere near that far north, but she was also more eastward. With any luck, she'd be back in Ardene within 2-3 days.

The biggest problem with Anderon was the lack of settlements. There was 12 territories with 1 city in each territory. Everything from the time they were countries was either gone or in ruins. Most ruins were now dungeon zones or danger zones. The rest was long since replaced by woods, wilds, forests and swamps.

"Open Advanced User Window."

Name: Calamity

Level101Health: 1535/1535Power: 1336/1336Energy: 40/100Satiety: 83/100

TITLESthe Mercenary

Bounty Hunter

[td100]STATS[/tds]Distributable Points0 (540 used)Health Points102Intelligence57Strength241Wisdom45Attack219Dexterity212Agility213Defense187Leadership121Piety11Charm77Charisma89???-Stamina233???-???-???-Endurance221Speed69???-

[td100]Additional Information[/tds]RaceHumanGenderFemaleAlignmentGood; Heroic;ClassEnforcerAffinityBlood; Light; Air; EarthAllegianceUndeclared

Professions [+Others+]Fishing: Intermediate 1 (+51 Health Points)

Carving: Intermediate 12 (+64 Dexterity)

Lumberjack: Intermediate 12 (+62 Strength)

Miner: Intermediate 8 (+29 Strength; +29 Attack)

Blacksmith: Intermediate 6 (+56 Strength; +56 Defense)

Cooking: Beginner 50 (+50 Health Points)

++Others++

Linguistics Beginner 26

- Known Languages: Elven, [Human]

Swimming: Beginner 47

Noting that she still had one profession she could add to her list, Calamity bit her lip and wondered which one to get. All her armor she'd made herself but Lauren had made her the clothes. If there was anyone from the Guild she wished was traveling with her, it was definitely the mage she'd put as second in command. The girl was shy in person but once you got her on the battlefield, she turned into a Possessed Demon of War. A totally crazy battle freak. Calamity loved her to bits - they'd definitely get along well in real life.

Spotting a movement through the semi-transparent stats window, Calamity closed it and pulled her sword from the back of her shield. She didn't even care what kind of creature it might turn out to be. Her food had been ruined and the road to Ardene could take a while. Almost any animal could be turned into food - even some monsters that you couldn't really class as animals could be food.

Whatever it was that moved, she planned to make dinner out of it.

Oh wait, I left my tinder box and pan back with my bag. How will I cook it?

***

Tobi

You have reached Swimming Beginner level 5.

Resistance to the sea environment has increased; your energy will not reduce quite so quickly.

You have become more bouyant in water, swimming will become easier.

Silently celebrating, Tobi quickly closed the notification window and prepared to do another lap.

"Ouch!"

You have received 5 damage.

Feeling down near his calf where it felt like he'd received a bee sting, Tobi looked into the water. Spotting the worlds smallest jelly-fish hovering near his leg, he couldn't believe the tiny critter did five damage. That would be like getting 5 damage from an ant for crying out; "Ouch!"

Receiving another 5 damage, Tobi spotted another -slightly large- jelly fish behind him. Edging towards the shore, he heard Selene shout something. Looking in her direction, she shouted again.

"Get out of the water!"

Speeding up the process, Tobi started rushing to shore as he looked around. Jelly-fish were appearing everywhere. By the time he got to knee-deep water, they appeared to be everywhere. There was also a lot of splashing going on further out to sea.

Speeding up and getting out of the water as fast as he could, he asked Selene what was going on.

"Snapping Turtles. They don't normally come this far in land but something is scaring them and driving them to shore."

As she said it, she pointed down the beach where several Giant turtles crawled out of the water. Even calling them Giant seemed inadequate. Their heads alone were bigger than Tobi.

"What could scare them to land? Sharks?"

"Sharks?" Selene replied puzzled, "Not many sharks are brave enough to take on a snapping turtle. Not according to the books I've read anyway. Only four creatures prey on snapping turtles."

"...Well? Which three?" Tobi asked when he realized she'd finished speaking.

"We better get off the beach."

Rushing to grab as much stuff as she could carry, Tobi followed and started grabbing everything he could too.

"Will you tell me what's going?" Tobi shouted as he raced down the beach after her.

"If we're lucky, I am wrong and we'd be fine on the beach. Snapping Turtles are pretty friendly if you don't annoy them. What hunts them are not so friendly. Two of them can come on land."

Panting as she ran around an outcropping of rocks, she made straight for Cohol Harbor ahead. Tobi could see sailors shouting and running all over the place. There was even ships turning around and coming back to land.

Reaching the harbor, Selene asked a Sailor what was coming.

"Looks like a group of Axolotl's."

Without another word the sailor ran into the city as several people came running out with weapons and armor. Others were shouting for people to get the Mage's and Priests whilst Guards started closing the main gates.

"What's an Axolotl?" Tobi asked, watching the pandemonium.

"Sea Salamanders, to put it simply. When Cohol was being rebuilt, the history books say that they attacked every year. One year they didn't show up and they haven't been since. The religious texts say that Feros was annoyed with Seborh for laughing at the men who struggled to rebuild. As a result, he cast a protection to keep the Axolotl away. History books don't say any of that though, they just say the Axolotl didn't show up one year and they haven't shown up any year since."

"So what do you think? Feros protection ended? It was broken? Never existed? What?"

Selene shrugged, "I always liked to believe it existed. If it did, I'd hate to know what broke it. I would think only another God could do that."

Frowning, Tobi asked if she'd prayed or not since their last talk about the Gods.

"Yes, I prayed to Feros. He was the one I would have prayed to next if I was still an acolyte. That's what you wanted me to do, right? You think that's why?"

Tobi shrugged, It was possible; but why would praying to the one who put up the protection have it taken down? Unless it was purely a coincidence. He only thought of it at all because she mentioned the religious texts. He didn't really believe the Gods had such powers in the first place. If they did, he definitely doesn't want to meet a dragon. How stupidly powerful would they be if they were equal to Gods?!

Watching as countless turtles walked onto the beach, Tobi asked Selene if they'd be safe at the harbor. She didn't reply as her attention seemed to be elsewhere. Turning to look, he watched as more than 200 armed men marched out of the city in Armor and Uniform. Behind them followed countless people wearing all kinds of crazy outfits and armors.

"Are those ... Travelers?" Selene asked in doubt.

Surprised, Tobi moved around for a better look, "Looks like it. I guess they're finally back."

As hundreds of people seemed to cheer in delight, Tobi and Selene moved out of the way. The soldiers were busy forming ranks, but the Travelers didn't seem to care. They were all shouting things like 're-opening event' and talking about a quest to save the city.

Spotting Vallen and several mages walk from the gates with more than two-dozen Priests following, Tobi resisted the urge to run over.

"I want a better view!" Selene suddenly shouted full of excitement. She practically ripped his arm off as she started dragging him off to a distant hill on the north side of the beach.

Reaching the hill out of breath, Selene's excitement only seemed to grow. Tobi was still trying to make sense of things as the Travelers started forming ranks on the beach and shouting orders. Around 100 archers seemed to be running at the turtles.

Thinking they planned to attack the turtles, it was with surprise when he watched a lone archer run to one; he seemed to be talking to it. Seconds later the turtle nodded and the archers cheered. Gobsmacked by the sight of archers climbing onto the turtles backs, he asked Selene if Snapping Turtles could talk.

"They can't speak, but they seem to understand us. They can only nod and shake their heads though. Like I said, they are pretty friendly if you don't annoy them."

Starting to feel the excitement himself, Tobi scouted the crowds for Vallen. He'd always wanted to see the best mage in Anderon use his magic in real battle. Of course, he didn't know if Vallen was the best or not, but that's what he believed. He'd taught half of the grand mages everything they knew; who could be better than him?

As all eyes faced the sea, Tobi looked up. About a hundred yards out, a bubble of water appeared. Slipping off the surface like a waterfall, a pink head slowly emerged. When the head was finally in view, Tobi's jaw fell.

The creature had a face!

The head was huge, far bigger than the turtles. Several more bubbles of water appeared scattered around the area. One by one, eyes and heads started to emerge from the sea and look at the scene before them. They were definitely intelligent to some degree because they were assessing the situation before advancing.

Gripping Tobi's arm with an iron-like grip, Selene squealed and pointed off to the distance. Another had emerged but was already coming out of the water. It seemed to be walking straight out of the water like a newt or something. When more than half of it's body was out of the sea, Tobi realized that it was still about 40 yards from the shoreline.

Already so big and yet still so far out.

"Just how big are they?" He asked as the second half started to break free of the water too, "What the hell? It looks like a mudkip."

"What's a mudkip?" Selene asked - giving him her attention of a brief moment.

"Never mind." Tobi replied trying to watch everything at once and already forgetting what he'd said.

Hearing a horn blast in the distance, several parties of around twenty started rushing toward the Axolotl thing that was almost entirely out of the water. Moments later, blasts of Lighting and Fire flew at the Axolotl followed by a volley of arrows.

Everything looked so amazing, it was with complete morale-shattering devastation that Tobi realized how little an effect the attack had achieved. The people involved didn't seem surprised at all and just let loose another volley of arrows and magic.

When the creature finally reached the shoreline, Tobi spotted the fin-like tail it dragged along the floor. He was willing to bet a hundred gold that the tail would be a vulnerable weak spot; it looked like it was made of jelly.

He didn't seem to be the only one to think so as a dozen or so Travelers made their way behind the creature. Several Giant Snapping Turtles turned and formed their own ranks to face the creature.

Seeing the Turtles faced side-on, the remaining Salamander creatures started rushing out of the water. Compared to the slow pace shown by the first one, Tobi guessed they were running and was charging in at full speed.

Right on cue, Trebuchets from behind the city walls fired; sending boulders falling around them. One seemed to hit but it was only a glancing blow and barely slowed it at all. Tobi thought the move was dangerous and didn't expect any more boulders to fly around. There was too much risk in hitting their own people. Worse than that, how didn't the boulder do more damage?

"How do you defeat them? This is going to be a massacre."

Selene laughed and shook her head, "No. It will get more interesting the further in land they get. I read so many stories about these battles. I can't believe I am actually seeing one. According to the history books, we only lost against the Axolotl on the first two encounters. Every single battle is recorded in books and passed on as legends."

Tobi didn't like to doubt Selene, but he just watched one get hit by two attacks and not even blink. He then watched another get hit by a flying boulder and shrug it off. To top it off, there was now nine of them fully on the beach.

Watching as the 63 Turtles split into perfect formations of 7 vs 1, Tobi realized what Selene had been getting at. The reason the Turtles came on land wasn't just fear: Land gave them the tactical advantage. Without the buoyancy of the sea, the Salamanders were struggling to flip them on their backs; meanwhile, the Axolotl were under a constant assault from turtles and their human allies.

Spotting Vallen, Tobi silently cheered and watched. He seemed to be chanting something with his arms in the air. Not just him either; his companions were also doing the same thing.

Watching as their arms circled down to their waists, he waited for whatever magic was about to appear. All of their arms shot up together before slamming back down. At the same time as their arms slamming downward, streaks of lighting and balls of fire blast through the air and hit an Axolotl on its flank.

Roaring in pain, the the creature turned and started a charge at Vallen.

Though slow in movement, the Turtles reacted as quickly as their bodies allowed and blocked the charge. Cheering for the turtles, Tobi threw his arms in the air and shouted a cheer to everyone below. Some passing Traveler heard him and gave a small wave before dashing off to join the fight. Surprised and laughing, Tobi looked for which fight looked like it was going best. Instead, he spotted the one closest that appeared to be going bad.

"He's going to flip it over!" Selene complained as a Turtle was turned almost entirely on it's side. A second turtle had crawled up its shell and was trying to push it back down. Though it was hard to see in the confusion, it appeared that several archers had been crushed in the struggle.

"I want to help it," Selene whined as she fidgeted.

Tobi's heart went out to it as well, but there was nothing he could do with his current abilities.

"Tobi, how much mana do you have now?"

"Around 1,400. Why?"

"How far do you think your punch thing will go?"

"You want me to try and fire it at that?! From here?! Last time it nearly blew my arm off!"

Watching as she fidgeted back and forth with her hands together in prayer, Tobi sighed and considered his options. There was no way he was going to try Arcane Strike from this distance. There was also no way he would use anywhere near close to his mana limit - not considering the fact that the backlash could kill him. The only thing he could safely use was Sonic Boom, but even then it probably wouldn't reach; there was about 60 yards from the hill to the beach, another 20 to the turtle. Even if it could reach that far, he'd have to have a perfect aim to miss the turtle.

Wait a minute ...

Grabbing Selene, Tobi told her to follow him. As they raced down to the beach, he told her to heal anyone she could find but to stay away from the battle. As she asked him what he was going to do, he smiled and told her he was going to help the turtle.

He had a theory about his spell since Selene had mentioned his Arcane Strike earlier that morning. It had got him thinking about the huge devastation his Lion Roar spell had caused in his shop. Whilst the building had been badly damaged, the spell didn't seem to do any damage to them physically. None at all. The damage they had received had been by falling through the floor or flying down the stairs. The spell itself had did nothing but blow up the building and create a huge shock-wave.

The shock-wave was his plan now. He didn't know the rules of his spell yet, but he knew that it could blow up wood and he had a feeling that it couldn't directly damage him. Now he just had to hope his plan worked.

Less than thirty yards from the turtle, he could see that it had passed tipping point. Whilst two turtles were frantically chomping at the axolotl's back legs and a third chomped on its tail, the Axolotl-thing continued to try and flip over the turtle. Two more were doing there best to stop it falling on its back whilst the seventh struggled to find space to help. All Tobi could assume was that being tipped on their back meant game over.

As he passed the turtles tail at a relatively safe distance, he couldn't believe how huge it really was. Not including the part that was digging a crater into the sand, it appeared to be around 40ft high and cast a shadow so big it sent a shiver a down his spine. Had he known earlier that 63 Giant Tirtles would be spread along the beach, he'd have never believed they would fit. Throw in nine salamanders that were even bigger and a few hundred people - he would have called you a liar.

Reaching a viewpoint that allowed him to see the creature forcing the turtle over, Tobi spotted a similar situation further down the beach. Almost every Axolotl was in the process of flipping a turtle on its back.

Trying to see a weak point on the creature, Tobi imagined it as a human. If it were a human flipping something over, there were plenty of spots to aim for. Inside the knee, the back shoulder, the ribs, the neck, the eyes, the jaw and half a dozen more places. Any of them would allow the center of gravity to be shifted and let the turtles push their friend back onto his belly.

Unfortunately, the newt-like creature wasn't human and he didn't know where he should aim for. The only thing he could trust was gravity. If he hit it in the right spot with enough force, the center of gravity should shift enough to sway the balance.

The only question was if he could manage enough force.

As one of the turtles was already biting at the back leg, Tobi ruled out a shot at the knee area. He couldn't actually see a knee but the leg was bent so there should have been one at least. He couldn't make out any ribs or genitals either, so both of those were out.

Gathering his mana, Tobi tried to take what he guessed was 90% of his maximum: the last thing he wanted was to kill himself by using too much mana. If he had to die, he wanted it to be in a cool way at least. Not blow himself up.

There was really only one place left to aim for that Tobi could see. From this angle, he should be able to hit under the armpit of the back arm; providing his spell could reach the distance anyway. That armpit was about 40ft up and the creature was about 20ft away. What did that even add to in distance?

Watching as the creature used the shoulder of it's other arm to lean into the shell of the turtle; Tobi decided it was now or never. The least he could do was try.

Confident he was only going to use 90%-ish of his mana and not all of it, Tobi took a deep breath: "Sonic. BOOM!"

He knew that it didn't change the power outage when he shouted louder, but mentally he couldn't get over that difference.

Feeling the power rush out of him all at once, he felt a little dizzy. No damage backlash though so all good. The half second it took to fly across to his target seemed to last forever. A single moment in time where everything stood still and held its breath.

The shock-wave came first. Not powerful from his distance, but enough to feel the hot air charge past him. The sight was another story. It was like watching a cannon of air hit the armpit in slow-motion. Ripples of skin wobbled as the blast expanded and caught the beast by surprise. The echoing boom that came back with the blast sounded like thunder and battered his ears.

He wasn't sure what came next. There was a brief image as time sped up and the Salamander jerked backward by a small fraction. As he expected, the spell had done zero damage, but it didn't need to. The small fraction of movement had been enough and the two turtles pushing their friend started to fall forward. It seemed slow at first but not a second later all three of them crashed to the floor the right way up. The Salamander-looking thing fell next and landed atop the three turtles.

Caught in a moment of surprise, joy and something unexplained, Tobi shielded himself from the blast of sand that buffeted him.

As the sand settled, Tobi's eyes locked onto that of the Axolotl. He knew without words that the creature was annoyed. Not at failing to flip the turtle, but annoyed with him. Annoyed with the puny ant that just dared to attack it. Annoyed that several minutes worth of effort and struggle had been undone with a cheap shot that didn't even count as a tickle.

Tobi ran.

No two ways about it. When a creature as big as a Dragon targets you; you don't wait for it to take the initiative. You turn tail and pray that your tiny legs have miracle powers that can guide you to safety.

Running for all his worth, Tobi didn't even dare look back. As Selene came into view, Tobi tried to shout for her to run too. Try as he might though, the words weren't coming out. When he finally reached her, he just grabbed her instead and forced her to start running too.

During the brief moment of grabbing Selene, he glanced back. The beast was still on his tail, but more surprising was the turtles. Two of them were firmly clamped on its back legs and refusing to let go. Both were being dragged behind as Tobi attempted to make his escape.

Seeing Vallen, Tobi chose a new path. To hell with the city walls, the gates were shut anyway.

The best thing to do when in danger? Run behind the strongest person you know.

The moment Vallens group spotted Tobi, they formed a line and started chanting a spell. As soon as he reached them, he glanced back to see if he'd gained any distance. He hadn't. The damn thing was closer now than it had been before.

Deciding that it was too dangerous even behind Vallen, Tobi told pushed Selene toward the city and told her to run.

Making sure the creature was still after him, Tobi turned toward the pier. It wouldn't offer much protection but his irrational mind was telling him to take cover. There was nowhere else that offered any kind of cover for him to take.

Hearing several booms as he approached the pier, Tobi hoped that the booms were aimed at the Axolotl chasing him.

As loud cheers erupted, Tobi glanced over his shoulder and stopped running. His energy was down to 7 and he was ready to collapse. Fortunately he didn't have to run anymore anyway. It turned out the booms came from Vallens group and the creature had lost a leg. Better still, the two Turtles that had been clinging to its back legs were now ripping out its throat.

The Axolotl is dead, you have gained 13,400 experience.

You have gained 7 levels:

-Mana increased by 35

-Health increased by 35

You are now level 8.

Surprised and confused, Tobi read the window several times. The little he knew about battles and experience had been explained by Lorry. Your experience was determined based on multiple factors; The three main factors (according to Lorry) were:

-Participation (the more you contribute the more your exp)

-Damage done (coincides with Participation)

-Level difference (between you, your party and the target)

Tobi's damage had been zero. His participation had been almost none but had swayed the balance of a situation in favor of the side that won. The only other factor was level difference but he didn't know what level the Axolotls were.

Looking around the beach, it seemed that several turtles were on their backs and dead. Most Travelers were dead too, along with around a hundred NPC's. There was only 1 Salamander remaining and it was being finished off by both Turtles and people.

Walking up to Vallen, Tobi asked what level the creatures were.

"These ones were still young, fortunately, so not that high. This one here that was chasing you was only level 130. They're probably just teenagers out on their first hunt."

"One-Hundred and Thirty? What level are the Snapping Turtles?"

"They're all different levels. That tough, old fella over there is the highest though. He is level 110."

Wide-eyed and struggling to process the information, Tobi decided he had to know one last thing; "What level are you, Vallen?"

Laughing, the man shrugged, "Levels aren't everything. Let's just say I couldn't defeat one of those by myself."

"So not 130." Tobi mumbled to himself deep in thought.

Vallen laughed again, "No, not 130. A little closer to 160. Like I said, levels aren't everything. I would run out of mana long before they ran out of life. And that would still be true if it wasn't for their huge defense and resistance to magic. Keep that in mind with your future battles. Level will tell you a lot, but not nearly enough."

Tobi nodded still lost in his thoughts. Remembering Selene, his eyes shot up and he looked to the castle. The relief that swept through him as he seen her coming back towards him was profound.

In that moment he knew. He had to get stronger. Even if not for himself, he had to protect her.

"Open Advanced User Window."

Name: Tobi

Level8Health: 650/650Mana: 1437/1437Energy: 8/100Satiety: 33/100

TITLESInventor

Inventor of Chess

Tobi of Brackley

Prophet

Gods Chosen

[td100]STATS[/tds]Distributable Points40 (35 used)Health Points61Intelligence139Strength74Wisdom76Attack55Dexterity112Agility69Defence17Leadership31Piety130Charm26Charisma31Logic81Stamina104Nobility43???-???-Endurance101???-???-

[td100]Additional Information[/tds]RaceHumanGenderMaleAlignmentDivine;ClassNoneAffinityArcane; Divine;AllegianceUndeclared

Professions [+Others+]Cooking: Intermediate 10 (+60 Health Points)

Elven Carpentry: Intermediate 1 (+51 Dexterity)

Lumberjack: Beginner 28 (+28 Strength)

Alchemy: Beginner 1 (+1 Intelligence)

Herbology: Beginner 20 (+20 Intelligence)

Tailor: Beginner 21 (+21 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence)

++Others++

Linguistics Beginner 31

- Known Languages: Elven, Malanchite, [Human]

Swimming: Beginner 5

Well. It's a start. A long way to go though... actually, that reminds me. Did I tell Lorry I was leaving?

As Selene finally reached him, she pulled him into a tight squeeze.

"You great idiot, never do anything like that again!"

Laughing, Tobi patted her back. To the look he received from Vallen; he said nothing.

---

Back to Main Page

Axolotl's really exist. They aren't quite the same as mine but I based them on this creature:

Spoiler :

Authors comments:

Spoiler :

Sorry for the delayed post. I wanted to post it yesterday but had technical issues. Whilst editing chapter 10 and also working on Chapter 11, my computer seemed to crash. Found out later it had started an update without notifying me which meant I lost the edited draft and would have to start editing all over again.

Instead - when I opened the file where my rough drafts are, both chapters 10 and 11 were missing. 1-9 and 12 upward are still there along with many 'notes' documents - but chapters 10 and 11 were gone. o.0

Unfortunately, that meant I had to rewrite this chapter from scratch so I worked on it through the night to post it now.

I am not as happy with the battle scene at the end as I was with the original and I am positive I have missed something out, but I can't remember what that is. Ah well.

Sorry if this chapter isn't up to the usual par but I tried to get it out quickly for you all and tried to get it as close to what was originally written as I could remember. I think I managed to maintain the usual standard, let me know if I didn't

Please also let me know if you notice any discrepancies or mistakes.

~Aspirer

Shout out to JerrytheCherry, thanks for the review <3

P.S. To those that noticed I posted something called c10 and then quickly deleted it: I meant to click "preview post" - sorry about that. <3 <3