Chapter 7 Disguise

- Go first Anna, and look after Percival. I will need to talk to the others.

- But…

Anna tried to object at first, but she saw a resolute yet sad glint in the eyes of her older friend. She hesitated for a moment before wishing him good luck and going to the rest of the party. Alex took a breath and opened the friend window and called for Julia. Even if it wasn’t for long, he knew her better than the two others.

- Julia speaking! What do you want? Are you lost and can’t come back?

- Julia. There’s something we need to talk about. Can you bring Bob and Kordur too? Anna is going to you to stay with Percival for the time being.

- What? Why do you…

- Please Julia. I will explain as much as I can to the three of you.

Ten minutes later, those three were here and were sending strange looks in the direction of Alex. Kordur was more gloomy than usual, Bob was just intrigued and Julia was worried.

- What did you want to talk about, asked Bob on whom the heavy atmosphere did not have any effect?

- First, I want to say I was glad to have met you, and was sincerely happy when you asked for me to party with you all…

Julia and Kordur grew darker, understanding where this conversation could lead. Bob on the other hand was simply pleased by this declaration:

- We’re happy to have met you too, pal!

- But I think it’s better if I go my way alone now…

- Why, asked the elf surprised?

- I pondered a long time, and decided against leaving without a word. For one, I wanted to express my thanks to you…

- And for two?

Alex paused a moment, unsure of how he could say it. Finally deciding to be as frank as he could be, he heaved a sigh:

- It could be detrimental for Percival if you were not able to understand what he is going through.

- What?!

The three shouted simultaneously. They were waiting for a lot of reasons, but didn’t think the strange reactions of their guild master to be due to their last recruit. But Alex did not let them the time to ask question and continued:

- I can’t explain it all. I don’t think I have ever met him. I can’t be sure because of the changes you can make on your avatar…

- He told me he did not change his self, whispered Julia quietly, having troubles organizing her thought.

- What did you do to him?

Alex just stepped aside, avoiding an axe that ripped through the earth. The strong elf looked at him with an incredible fury, but he was stopped by Kordur.

- Let him talk! We could still kill him later, but we need to know all there is to know in order to help Percival.

- If he did not change his avatar, told Alex as if nothing happened, I can be sure I never wronged him. I can’t tell you details, because you would be in danger if you were to know all, but here are the important things: for some reasons, Percival is deadly afraid of me. I met him first in the city nearly six days ago, and it’s apparently when he began to go strange.

- You don’t act like that if you’re afraid of something, tried to tell Bob…

- He is not just afraid, contradicted Julia. He is terrorized. That sure explains his actions. But what can we do?

- Be there for him during the following day! That’s all he need from us, answered Kordur.

Seeing them talking about the necessary things, Alex decided to step back, but he was caught by the iron grip of the axe-wielder.

- Still wanting to kill me… I’m ready to accept it…

- Don’t accept death so easily, shouted Bob, knocking him on the head. And I’m sorry for my earlier reaction. It would appear I’m a little too hot-blooded. I can see now that you did not wish for what’s happening with Percy. So there’s no need to overponder about it.

- Thanks, but why are you holding me back in that case?

- Because Percy might need you…

- He is terrified when I’m around!

- So he is, and so he will be until he deals with it. It’s something he will need to do, one way or another. It’s better to do it as soon as possible!

Then, Bob spoke loudly, so Julia and Kordur will listen to him:

- Percy will stay like that until he is able to deal with it! That’s why Alex needs to come back with us, be he wanting it or not!

- Are you mad, shouted Julia? You saw how much he suffered earlier on. We just need to help him overcome it little by little! I’m sorry, she told to Alex, I was the one to bring you here, but I know it would be better if you were to leave.

- Nothing to worry about, answered Alex…

- A Man shall fight his fear head on, yelled the elf!

- A friend shall protect him instead of spouting nonsense, opposed Julia.

- Without fight, no recovery!

- Recovery is a long and patient thing! No need to rub salt on his wounds.

- Medicines can be bitter, but the bitter it is, the more effective it is!

- That’s not some bitter juice, but dead on sulfuric acid you try to make him shallow.

Bob and Julia would have probably continued to fight like that if the dwarf had not made himself known with some coughs. He then talked:

- You’re point of view are both true in some ways, but you’re forgetting something. The most important thing for recovery is the desire of the patient. We should just ask Percival of his thoughts. If Alex is not with us at the time, he should be able to answer with his usual calmness and cleverness.

- You’re right, recognized Bob.

- It’s true, accepted Julia.

- I take it you’re ready to help us if we decide to go with the shock method, asked Kordur to Alex?

- If it’s his choice, I’ll comply.

- I’ll send back Anna. The next talk will take a little time, and we’ll probably go hunt just the four of us to calm down a little. You should do the same with Anna and gain some level. You’ll need to have some more if we ever go together later on.

- Thanks!

The three then went back to the place where their guild master was left with the young summoner.

***

Alex and Anna had gone and fought more ermines and had even had a few encounters with goblins younglings of level 24. Alex’s levels quickly grew, and even Anna gained two more levels before he receives a new call from Julia. He was now at level 14 and had also gain some proficiency in “Inner Control”, “Seikuken” and “Tsuuhaiken”. For the last technique, he now had enough mana to use it if he used the “Inner Control” active effect. The fight also brought him eleven fighting spirit points.

- Alex. We decided on some ways for you to stay with the party. Percival asked for it too. Will you comply?

- Of course!

- Then meet me at the entry of the city.

Just like that, Alex and Anna left the forest and went once more to the city. There was waiting Julia, smiling happily and bouncing around with so much eagerness that Alex considered for a second to flee. He would later regret not having followed his natural instinct.

- Come on. Come on, told Julia when she saw the. We have a lot to do. Follow me!

Without letting them say a single word, she brought them in the city, at a tailor shop. There she turned and looked at them once more:

- Anna is a new member of our guild, so we decided to pay her better equipment. And by talking with Percival, we have understood what his problem was. Apparently, your appearance is problematic Alex. So you will have to change attires. We have already talked to the master here what is needed. Just explain to him the way you fight and he’ll adapt the clothes so that it fits your style.

- I’m first, said Anna with a great smile.

Alex had no objection on such a point. He just waited patiently, really patiently. When the girls come back from the inner shop, he could see the new attire of the young summoner. She had a white and black striped robe, black boots and white gloves. She also had an iron tiara with a blue gem in. She spun once to show off to Alex, and he smiled and patted her head before going inside.

There stood the tailor. He was a young looking halfling. But the glint in his eyes and his demeanor showed he was older than what he looked like. He had round golden eyes and brown curly hairs.

- So you are the one. Good! It’ll be a fun work. So tell me about you. Race and level first.

- I’m a level 14 nephilim.

- Oh. A nephilim. First time I work for one. Classes and profession.

- None! Trying for Taoist.

- Taoist. I’ve heard about such a name, but how do you fight?

- Barehanded fighting.

- A kind of monk then. Need to move easily. What are your stats?

- Show stats!

Primary AttributesStrength (STR)38Agility (AGI)48Dexterity (DEX)48Vitality (VIT)48Intellect (INT)38Wisdom (WIS)38

Secondary AttributesReading (REA)28Focus (FOC)73Willpower (WIL)57Asceticism (ASC)34Perseverance (PER)31Fighting Spirit (FS)21

- Oh! Really good stats for your level. Long time I’ve not seen such a promising youth! And now last but not least, what color would you prefer? Red, green, purple, yellow or black?

- Can’t you just do brown, asked Alex?

- Don’t want to.

Alex pondered for a minute. He refused to use the black or red ones. They were the colors of the Dark Lord. But he truly had no idea of what he would look like with other colors.

- Don’t use red or black. But do as you would see fit except for that.

- Fine. I’ll be finished in a few minutes. Just wait a little.

And Alex waited. The tailor was quick and it did not take him much time to finish his work. He saw dark mauve boots, pants, arms protector and also another piece of clothes. There was also an ochre short-sleeved shirt. He put them. The pants and shirts were loose in order for him to move adequately. But there was still the last piece of clothes. Alex looked at the smiling halfling and shivered.

- It’s a mask, the tailor said. You put it on your face and tie it on the back of your head.

- Why?

- Your friend asked for it.

Alex went out and looked at Julia, showing her the last part of his attire.

- Why?

- Your features seemed to be the problem. It’s possible to change them, but it is really expensive, and it would also be a shame. So we all decided you need a mask.

- I…

- You said you wanted to help, continued Julia. That is the way you can do it!

Alex sighed once more. He had no escape way. So he just put the mask on, hiding all of the upper part of his face, except for the eyes. Julia giggled looking at him, but Anna just blushed. Seeing there was at least one person who would not mock him, he patted her head.

- One last thing also. It would appear your name sounds a lot like one from the outside, so we decide you need a nickname to be called.

- What?

- Is there one you would like?

Alex thought for a minute, but nearly all his nicknames were link to his fights in the arena and were no good. And he could not remember his old name. However, even if he had remembered this one, he would have probably refused to use it.

- I have no idea. Do you have an idea of how I should be called Anna?

Alex asked the young summoner, because he knew Julia would use this chance to torment him.

- It needs to be heroic, said the young girl with stars in her eyes.

Julia took the chance to talk to Anna and convince of her own choice. And to Alex despair, it would seem the name pleased her.

- We have decided, she said. You’ll be the Colonel.

- …

Alex just did not know how to answer, especially with the hopeful and happy way the young girl was looking at him. Julia had a mischievous smile and decided to add a little:

- Doesn’t it please you? It is quite a heroic name for a masked fighter. Or perhaps it is that you have a better idea.

Fully knowing he had no chance to escape from this fate, he finally conceded the victory to the playful witch. He went with the other two, learned how to sell his japtem and also bought two short swords he put at his sides. He explained to Julia, who was curious, that he would prefer not having to use them, but that it could prove useful depending on the adversaries. And then, they went to the rest of the group.

***

Percival was waiting with Bob and Kordur. When his three friends had talked to him, he decided to explain to them why he was afraid. But he did not managed to talk about the most frightening part. They just understood that when he was younger, he had seen a fight from a well-known champion, and that this display had frightened him. They did not heard about what kind of display it was, so they just assumed Alex was a widely recognize sportsman, or martial artist.

Under the advice of Bob, he finally accepted to take this chance to finally go past this experience. And Kordur told him to go slowly, step by step. They all agreed when Julia finally thought of disguising the origin of fear, but they weren’t sure he would be easy to convince. But Julia was eager to try and left them waiting, taking care of the situation.

Now Percival was trying to convince himself that his new party member was not frightening.

Imagine he is a teddy bear. Nobody is afraid of a teddy bear. A big fluffy teddy bear. With round eyes. And sharps teeth. A big bad brown grizzly bear which just woke up from slumber. In bad mood… No! Stop with that. Think of some other things. Some kind thing that likes children. Like this orange monster, that was dancing and singing. What was it? Some kind of dinosaur? Heee… A tyrannosaur dark lord… That’s frightening! I should just stop thinking about that.

- Where should we go, asked Kordur?

Percival was really grateful for the helping hand. They would have normally waited for Julia to come back before talking about his matter, but he really need to talk about something at the time being.

- I don’t really know. Can you ask Julia about their level and all?

Kordur whispered with Julia and then looked up.

- Anna was ready. She told she was using her tiger, which had a high offensive, and usually a golem. She would soon unlock her second special invocation which should have a great defensive ability, or so she said. The guy is a martial artist. He fights at zero point range.

- Fine. What levels have they now?

- 23 and 14. But they already fought goblins younglings…

- So we should just go to the goblins’ den, interrupted Bob. If they can fight the younglings with just the two of them, they should be able to confront goblins and goblins marauders with the help of the party. That would help them growing faster.

- Not bad, recognized Kordur. But we could also do the spider…

- Not the spiders, told Percival. I don’t think it would be wise to bring Anna in there. At least not before she told us she’s ready herself. We don’t need two of our members to be hinder by fear.

- Right, Kordur told. The goblins would be better in order to learn to work together, but I think it could be good to go to the hills of Lugdunum later on.

- It would be quite hard on both of them, remarked Bob. None truly have a way to fight those beasts…

- That’s why it’s a good training, answered Kordur.

- I don’t think it would be so. Anna probably has other summons, and I don’t worry ab… about “him”, finished with some difficulty Percival.

Then they discussed about their own training and other subject as the major guilds and the strongest players. At that time, the three who had gone to the city finally came back. Percival, hearing them coming from behind him, straightened his back and gathered his courage, and finally looked. Then he just stood motionless, unable to understand what his eyes were seeing. Kordur and Bob had their hands before their mouth, hiding their smile.

- To avoid any problem, it has been decide that the name our last party member shall be called with, Julia added, will be “Colonel”.

Bob just rolled on the ground in laughter, while Kordur barely managed to keep from bursting loudly. Percival just blinked a few time. That was working even better than he could have imagined. He knew with certainty that the one facing him was his worst nightmare, the strongest and most ruthless killer, the Dark Lord, but he could not see it like that at all. The colorful clothes, the mask hiding the upper part of his face and his hair, and the name “Colonel”, everything was more worthy of a kid playing hero than a true dangerous fighter.

***

At first, Alex was annoyed seeing the face of the elf and dwarf. But when he remarked there was almost no fear, but just some prudence and amazement in the face of Percival, he just withstood the shame. It was not so different from masks of Lucha Libre, in a little less frightening. But he did not want to be frightening.

- Hello. And I’m so… sorry for earlier, finally said Percival.

Alex understood it was still too early to be really fearless, but the knight still manages to greet him, what was a great achievement, even if there would not be nor pop-up message neither gain of stats.

- There’s no problem. It’s nice to meet you. You can just call me Colonel, like the other.

- I’m Percival, and I’m… this guild leader. I ho… hope we will be able to w… work fine together.

- Good, said Bob, his face still red from too much laughter. For some reason, I’ll work as the party leader this time. Join me everybody!

You’ve been invited in a party. Do you accept?

Yes/No

- Yes.

Alex answered at the same time that the others and saw their names, life and mana bars appeared above their head.

- Option “Nicknames” On, shouted Bob!

Alex now saw the name change. Bob was now “PyroBarbarian”, Kordur was “QuietDwarf”, Anna became “Girly” and Julia “WittyMage”. Percival had become “SilverKnight while he was now “Colonel”. Now the basic preparations were done. And apparently, each of them, except for Anna, was familiar with those nicknames.

- Now that we are ready, continued Bob, I’ll talk about the formation and the dungeon. We are going to the goblins’ den. There will be a lot of enemies from level 30 to level 56 at the deeper levels. We will begin the explorations today and continue through the day tomorrow. After that it will be morning in the real world and we will log out and come back ten real hours after in order to continue the exploration. Are you fine with that?

Bob waited for a minute, but there was no objection.

- Now for the formation. We will go with a two wings attack. From the right side, Percy will agro the mobs and I will be the main damage dealer. From the left side, it will be Alex and Anna’s summons. You have learned to work together earlier on so I’ll let you see your role for the time being. If needed, we will change it later on. Julia will be in charge of buffs and healing. If needed she could use some spell, but first come the healing. Kordur will be our scout when traveling and long range damage dealer when fighting. During traveling, one attack group will be the front guard and the other the rear guard. Is that fine? Then follow me.

And Kordur went first, showing the way, followed by Percy and Bob, then Julia and Anna in the middle, and Alex was closing the group with Bai Hu. They soon went through the forest and arrived at the entry of a dark cave. The others went in, and he followed.

You’ve entered a dungeon.

You’ve entered Goblins’ Den.

Goblin monsters are 30% stronger in the dungeon

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NameAlex SandersRaceNephilimLevel14TitleØHealth (HP)1085/1085Stamina (SP)542/542Mana (MP)429/429Fame100Infamy0

Class 1ØNovice lvl 0Class 2ØNovice lvl 0Class 3ØNovice lvl 0

Profession 1ØNovice lvl 0Profession 2ØNovice lvl 0

Primary AttributesStrength (STR)38Agility (AGI)48Dexterity (DEX)48Vitality (VIT)48Intellect (INT)38Wisdom (WIS)38

Secondary AttributesReading (REA)28Focus (FOC)73Willpower (WIL)57Asceticism (ASC)34Perseverance (PER)31Fighting Spirit (FS)21

Magic Affinity/ResistanceEarth0Wind0Fire0Water0Light10Dark-10Nature0Lightning0Gravity0

Soul's SkillsUkemi Mastery (Passive)Novice lvl 1 12%Inner Control (Passive&Active)Novice lvl 8 81%Seikuken (Passive)Novice lvl 7 58%Seeker of Truth (Active)Novice lvl 3 97%Tsuuhaiken (Active)Novice lvl 3 06%