Chapter 7

The Orc Plains Party

Contrary to how Link’s group seemed, he was not the leader. The leader was a woman named Tif, a level 98 thief. Tif was Link’s sister in the real world, and the other three members were Tif’s friends in the real world. One was a tall woman named Dawn of the Barbarian race and the warrior class. The other was a petite half-elf priest named Chris. The last was a human bard named Sunny. Each was beautiful in a different way.

Tif sat across from me and said, “I have no problem with you joining our party but I would like to see you in action before we do any quests. You have ready to hunt some orcs?”

I showed an amused smiled and answered, “Of course.”

With that the group set out without another word to the orc plains.

The plains themselves are very dangerous to explore because orc groups of various levels and sizes roam around in set territories. Walk through unknowingly and you may encounter an orc raid party of fifty members between level 150 and 220. Such things are actually common occurrences.

I was relieved to see that the territory Tif lead the party was to where small orc groups around level 110 tend to congregate. One such orc party of ten members was spotted. Chris cast holy protection buffs that raised physical defense and Sunny played a song in her lute that raised attack.

Tif and Dawn ran over to attack all the orcs. I stayed back with Link and the others and waited for them to deal first damage. Dawn had an enormous cudgel that matched her size and used it to bash one of the orc in the head. The others yelled and attacked, but they directed their attacks on her. I started casting Dark call and Link used Orc bane shot while Sunny put away her instrument and got out a shortsword. Chris used the spell Healing Hand whenever Dawn’s health got too low and Tif snuck through the group Dawn had aggarvated dealing critical hits.

The team itself worked well and I fit in snugly. There was a good chance that Dark Call would would put a curse on the orc that either lowered defense, increased critical damage received, or both. In other words when Tif attacked Orcs I cursed she did more damage than usual.

Eventually the multiple arrows to the head and the curses being cast on them made some of the orcs realize that more than just a barbarian attacking them. Five of the orcs turned towards our group and split off to attack us. Tif used backstab on one of them, killing it, but was too preoccupied by two orcs that noticed her to chase the other four on their way to us.

Link used orc bane shot, first targeting the orcs I had cursed. I used Dark Bolt and focused all five bolts on one orc, killing it. Neither of the remaining two orcs closing the distance were cursed.

Out of the group, Sunny and Chris had not dealt damage so the orcs didn’t care about them. Link and I however had a lot of hate coming our way, but I was closer so both charged me.

Sunny saw this and came to defend me with her shortsword but I used the remaining time left before they got close enough to cast psychokinesis to throw them both up into the air. They didn’t go up more than a few feet but it bought enough time for me to recast psychokinesis for a longer time for a more complex use. By the time they got back to their feet and charged me again the spell finished and I raised them into the air and kept them there.

Considering how heavy orcs are, keeping two of them in the air cost me a fair amount of mana. About 200 per second. After casting my other spells I could not hold them for even half a minute.

Link used Rapid shot to fire arrow after arrow into one of the orcs until it died. My armlet cannot cast others spells while holding psychokinesis so I could only wait. My mana however ran out before Link killed the second orc which got down and charged me. Sunny ran between us and cut down its remaining health before it reached me.

Without any mana I could do little so I sat down and Sunny got out her lute again and cast a spell song that raised my mana regeneration a little bit. I smiled in thanks to her and we both turned to watch the other fight.

Tif had killed three of the remaining five orcs and struck the other two from behind with hit and away tactics while Dawn held their attention with her constant reckless attacks. The final pair died within a minute.

Tif walked over to me as I sat and recovered my mana. “You did pretty good. Sunny would have protected you but it seemed like you really didn’t need it.”

I smiled, “Not at all, I still ran out of mana keeping those orcs afloat. I need more practice.”

Tif smirked, “Well, you’re welcome to stay with our group for as long as you want.”

After that things went smoothly. Tif and Link had been in the town for a month and knew many of the NPCs well enough to acquire good quests.

I even helped them out a bit on that front by pointing out the hints that lead to a few of the more lucrative, but not so obvious quests.

“I heard a rumor in the bar that the spearman gate guard has mother who has a problem, and the quest rewards a lot of familiarity from the town NPCs.”

Dawn looked oddly at me, “His mother has a quest? How do we get that?”

I answered, “We ask him about his mother. We can only get the quest if he refers us to her.”

Tif looked over at Link and Dawn and said, “What do you think?”

Link said, “The more familiarity, the more quests. I see no problem.”

Dawn answered, “We’ll see what Chris and Sunny say when they log in, but I don’t see any problems.”

When the others logged in the group left for the east gate where there was only one guard with a spear. Link knew him and started chatting.

“Hey Forn. How’s your mom?”

The gate guard shook his head and sighed, “Not good. She lost her.. Well.. She won’t stop crying. I can’t do anything for her.”

Tif spoke up, “Maybe we can help.”

Forn looked over to Tif and said, “You’d do that? Thanks. My mom lives near the northern wall at the end of the street with the apothecary.”

Tif responded, “Ok.”

The northern section of the city was home of the people who were ‘well off.’ The Northern wall was the highest and thickest thanks to the natural rock it was built around.

Tif knocked on the door. A middle aged woman answered, she had tear marks all over her face.

“I’m sorry dear, but I can’t entertain guests right now.”

“We were sent by your son to help you... Find what you lost.”

At this her face gleamed with hope. “Oh. Oh yes please. My precious angel, my little girl, she was taken by orcs. Oh please, please rescue her. She was going to be married tomorrow, but.. If she isn’t found soon.. “ She started crying again, tears rushing down her face like a crack in a fishbowl.

Tif frowned in remorse for the poor woman and said, “We’ll get your daughter back. Do you know what orcs took her?”

After a few more sobs the woman answered, “The leader, he had a red hand on his face. Like makeup. That one.. I’ve heard about him... He.. he... He is Going to eat her!”

The crying started again but it didn’t stop, no matter how much Tif and the others tried to calm her down. Tif left the woman promising to recover her daughter.

Quest Accepted: Lost Child

Recover the stolen child before she is eaten by orcs.

Rank D

Bonus Reward if returned before her wedding day.

When no longer in earshot Tif said, “The one she described is an orc captain. That will be tough.”

I said, “Is it in a dungeon or field.”

She answered, “His hideout is a cave. He is only there if you have a quest to fight him.”

The others were a bit down at this revelation as they knew that all monsters are 50% stronger in dungeons compared to outside on the field. Dungeon monsters also give 25% more experience when killed, but unless one is very skilled, the risk is not always worth the reward.

“If it is a dungeon, I can help.”

Everyone looked at me. Tif asked, “How?”

I smiled, “Trust me.”

The cave entrance was hidden in the shadows of some rocks. It could only be found if you knew where it was, but knowing that was a prerequisite for the guard referring the quest in the first place so it was not a big deal.

When we entered I cast Mana channeler on myself and cast Dungeon Enchant:Lower Monster Speed, Lower Monster Strength, Increase Monster Experience. I did not have to cast them all, much less stack them, but I wanted to show the group the Enchantment spell I ‘picked up from a quest.’

“The hell? My health and mana are dropping.”

“Mine too.”

“And mine.”

I answered the unspoken question, “While in the Enchanted area marked by these glowing lines on the walls health and mana are drained. But this affects monsters too as long as they aren’t too strong.”

“So it is a health and mana draining field?”

“No, that is a side effect. The spell’s effect is different. Let’s find a group of orcs.”

The rate at which health drained was a little more than twice the rate it was gained for natural regeneration. Meaning the faster one’s health regenerated, the faster it drained away. Overall however it would take the greater part of an hour for it to kill anyone of their group, but Orcs would likely die in less than half an hour. Their hardiness turned against them.

We however had a bard and her spell song increased health regeneration by 40 points per second. The just about negated the health regeneration and I used mana channeler, another enchantment I ‘picked up’ to negate half the mana decline.

Six orcs were found a few hallways down. Dawn, Tif, and Sunny ambushed them and killed them all in about seven minutes.

Tif said, “I don’t see a difference, what does this spell do?”

I smiled, “You don’t see the difference because you are comparing the orcs to the ones outside, these ones should be a half part stronger.”

Dawn revealed a shocked look. “You’re right. I didn’t notice.”

I continued, “Did you look at the experience?” Spells and abilities that increase experience are incredibly rare so they would not have looked.

“Holy shit.”

This coming from the diminutive priest caused Tif to burst out laughing. “Chris!”

Chris blushed at her language, “Sorry!”

Link continued from the point I was making, “So, you weaken monsters and increase experience in dungeons, though the dungeons themselves will kill you.”

I answered, “Yep, and at a bargain price of three thousand mana points.”

The others smirked at my sarcasm. After using Enchant dungeon with multistack I had enough mana left to kill a handful of monsters in this dungeon. After that I was defenseless with no mana until the spell ran out. Using this left me in a powerless state, but benefited everyone else.

For now anyways.

The rest of the quest proceeded well. In the time it took for me to regenerate my mana between casting Chris was able to heal everyone of their depleted health and Mana Channeler regained their mana.

After killing about fifty orcs over the course of four hours each of us leveled at least once, I leveled three times.

When we arrived at the entrance to the boss’s room Tif asked if I could use Enchant Dungeon before we went in, but I reminded her that strong monsters may not be affected and there was a prisoner inside who could be killed by that.

“Oh yea, I forgot we this was a rescue mission.”

“I wonder what she looks like, I mean she is getting married tomorrow right?”

I said nothing.

We entered where several orcs were stirring a pot and a larger one with a headband was standing over it. I cast Dark bolt as Link used Orc Bane shot and everyone else rushed in. When my spell activated all five shots were directed at the Orc captain. The boss’s class had an effect of strengthening all its subordinates so the faster it was killed the better. Though easier said than done as it was at least level 130.

Dawn smashed her cudgel against the boss but it took the hit without flinching and returned a strike with its glaive.

Chris cast healing hand to heal the wound, but the captain was already reeling back for its second strike.

Link shot another arrow at the orc’s arm and I finished casting Dark Call on the captain. Boss class monsters have curse resistance, but that only meant that it would receive less than four curses, not that it wouldn’t work at all. To make sure, I used Dark call again. While the spell was being cast, Tif was slashing at all the orcs in the room to draw their aggravation towards her. Since her agility was much higher than mine, she could dodge their strikes at least until the rest of us killed the captain. My spell finished casting and another round of curses fell on the boss. As long as they are not the same, a character without high resistance can have many curses on them.

The curses built up, slowing, weakening, and hurting the orc while Dawn smashed it again and again. Along with Link’s Orc Bane shot, the two dealt heavy damage to the cursed orc and eventually killed it.

I used Dark bolt on five different orcs to draw their attention off Tif. One the closest one I next cast Dark Claw. Link knew that it reduced defense so he targeted that one with another headshot, killing it.

The rest were killed over the course of seven minutes

Intellect has increased by 1. (+1 INT)

Something I forgot to mention. When a character spends a great deal of time on any activity in Royal Road, the system grants stats that make doing so easier. If you sprint for a long time, you gain Agility and Vitality. If you swing your sword for a long time, you gain Strength, Agility, and Vitality. And if you cast magic for a long time, over and over and over again. Yes, Intellect and Wisdom is not gained by reading books in Royal Road, it is gained by performing actions that require Intellect and Wisdom, the basis of magic.

When the final orc was slain, Tif asked aloud, “Where is she?”

The captured daughter was no where in sight. I was tempted to let them sweat over it for a bit, but I thought better of it. Instead, I ‘aimlessly’ wandered in the direction of a small wicker basket and opened it. I pulled out the small dog that was inside and held it for everyone to see.

“What?”

“Her precious child was a dog?”

“Wait, that dog is getting married? Can dogs do that?”

The dog licked my face affectionately.

We took the dog out of the dungeon and returned the dog to the woman.

Quest Complete: Lost Child

You have recovered the woman’s dog with time to spare.

Additional Reward:

You received an Invite to the dog’s wedding.You have leveled up!

“Oh, you brought her back! Oh who’s my little precious, who’s a good girl? That’s right, you’re a good girl.”

After her happy reunion she gave everyone a invite to the wedding. No one wanted to go, but I convinced them it would increase their familiarity with the NPCs of the town. After all, if our group was willing to go to a Orc Captain’s lair to rescue a dog, the NPCs would be more inclined to steer their own requests our way.

The wedding itself was as bad as you would think. It seemed her and another ‘well off’ person had the same dog breed but different genders, so they decided to marry them together.

As the guests of honor for the wedding our group received a standing ovation and 50 points of fame.

Overall the rewards for the quest was good in both the short and long term and I had become much stronger.

Status WindowExitAvatarCuriAlignmentNeutralTitleLucky ExplorerLevel97ClassFirelight EnchanterFame2168InfamyNoneHealth940Mana6550Strength18+20Agility121+20Wisdom240+20Intellect402+20Leadership0+20Luck101+20Vitality94+20Insight23Attack20Defense10Magic ResistancesNoneAll stats +20

Wisdom +50

Intelligence +50

Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.

Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.

Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.

I forgot to mention this, but during my months of sprinting I gained about 60 intellect and 60 wisdom points. Afterall, I did cast magic just as much as I ran, and casting magic over and over again is a method to raise Intellect and Wisdom without leveling up.

After the wedding our group received one quest after another. An endless supply of quests to use to level up and strengthen my skill levels through fighting stronger monsters. They were a good party so until I gained access to Dark Summon I would stick with them. For now anyways.

Chapter 8

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