Surface- Shinning Hills Region

Kingdom of Arang'more- Fortress of Stalwart Hill

"HEY!! Are you here with me?' Gregory asked after smacking Alex on the back of the head. 'If you aren't, you don't need to be practicing with throwing knives, you can get you or others seriously hurt." the Corporal admonished him.

"Sorry, I have been distracted this morning, it won't happen again," Alex replied as he closed his eyes and pushed his worries away and concentrated on the target in front of him. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the small dagger speeding towards the target...and the handle hit it off-center.

Gregory snickered, "Try again. Remember concentrate and its all in one motion." he told Alex who nodded and drew another throwing dagger and activated Aim as he stepped forward and released it. This time the point embedded itself in the wood, but it was still off target. Two out of four were not bad, but it was still far from Corporal Young's expectations and his own. Alex quickly retrieved the four throwing knives before returning to his original position to start all over again.

An hour later he was in the small warehouse again, this time they were not in the darkroom practicing Stealth, or at the Agility Course, they were in another room with several doors and various chests. "Lock picking is an art form, like Stealth it takes finesse, not brute force. It has to be handled carefully and with precision, otherwise, you risk breaking your lock picks. Take your time, feel the locks, don't just blunder into it and use brute force." Corporal Young advised as Alex worked.

Finally, with a click it opened revealing the empty container within, "Congrats, it only took you about ten minutes. Again, this time do it in nine minutes." He stated as he gestured to the next chest. Alex scrambled over too the nex chest and took a breath as he slid the two Lock Picks into the lock. One of them got caught and Alex slowly withdrew both and looked into the lock itself to get a sense of the new lock and admonished himself for not doing it in the first place before trying it again. "So what is going on?" Gregory asked as they sat and ate in the mess hall.

"My father sent me a message. I have not read it yet, but I am pretty sure he will threaten and promise retribution for not toeing the family line." Alex responded as he picked at his food.

"So where are they?" Corporal Young asked.

Alex frowned, "If everyone followed my fathers' plan, and they always do, my mother, aunt, and sister are with the Drow, my father, uncle, and brother are with the Duergar. I was supposed to go with my mother, but life as a male with the Drow isn't exactly the best life." Alex told him and the Corporal frowned.

"The Drow and Duergar are dangerous people, they might not be enjoying their time there," Gregory responded causing Alex to snort in amusement.

"Believe me, they are right at home with the scheming and backstabbing. The only reason I became a Rogue was if I needed to run and hide, it gave me the best shot at both." Alex told him and Gregory nodded his head in understanding.

"So I heard from rumors going around, your world is dying and that a bunch of new Immortals is coming here. Is that true?" the Corporal asked in a low voice.

Alex nodded as he remembered the first news reports and mushroom clouds of the nuclear explosions, "Yes our world is dying and it's our fault. Millions will be coming to this world in an attempt to survive so don't be surprised if you see more new Immortals coming in the next couple weeks." Alex told him.

"Well once you advance to the point you can unlock your Primary Class, I would recommend you join either an Immortal Guild or if you become a Thief or Assassin, you join either of those Guilds. They will provide you with some protection and cover from your family.' Gregory recommended. 'Now we are going to practice a few more things and unlock a few more Skills for you, once that is done, you will be free for the rest of the day." Dual Wielding and Pick Pocket Skill training. This should be fun Alex thought as he finished up his food. By the time they got done training, it was too close to nightfall to be able to go out and finish up some quests and get back inside the fortress in time before they locked up. So Alex stayed inside and did a couple of Reputations Quests and a few Runner Quests that gave minimal rewards, but it ate up the time to nightfall and earned him a few more pieces of crappy gear, but it was better than the nothing he had. If they had a Shody Leather Armor set, he would have the full set that was for certain. He could hear soldiers and people of the fortress drinking, eating, and enjoying themselves in the common area of the Hardboiled Inn, but he was contemplating on opening the message from his father. "Do it. It will bug you until you read it." Gregory stated before moving off and Alex nodded his head in agreement.

Alex quickly finished up his meal and headed towards the nearby barracks, as soon as he got in his room he stripped down and placed his armor into the Wardrobe to clean and repair it. Due to it being Light Armor, the Wardrobe would repair it, if it was Medium or Heavy, you had to take it to a Leather Worker or Smith to get it repaired. So the only thing he had to see any repairs about would be for his weapons currently. The bed that was built from straw, was pretty comfortable despite the shoddy craftsmanship. With a deep breath, Alex opened the message and winced.

Alex Du'mass IV,

I thought I could trust you to do as you are told. I thought we had corrected your independent thinking long ago. Well do not worry, eventually, we will catch up too you and we will reeducate you on not doing as you are told. Despite you abandoning your family, we have not abandoned you, so feel free to continue to play your games. We will eventually find you and bring you back into the fold.

With Venom and Loathing your father,

Alex Du'mass III

Alex rolled over and scrambled for the washbasin as he tried to puke his dinner up. He knew exactly how caring and educating his father could be when he set his mind too it. Alex took a deep breath and gained control of his stomach as he looked into his own eyes. His hair color and eye color had been changed, but his facial features and scar were still the same. He had kept them as a reminder of his past and to not allow himself to be subjugated like that again. It could also be used to track him though and if his family got ahold of him, Alex shuddered to think of what they would do if they did. Surface- Shinning Hills Region

Kingdom of Arang'more- Oakwood Forest Area

The next day Alex was combing through the Oakwood Forest again, grinding and doing both collection and extermination quests again. Having more armor, even shoddy armor and a better weapon allowed the extermination to go by quicker. This time there were no plants involved, just meat, and tusks. However, he had to go slightly deeper into the woods due to the fact the Young Boar did not have them, only Mature and Elder Boar had them and they ranged from level four to level seven.

The wolves also grew in size and they also were in pairs deeper in the woods, proving problematic for Alex to take one without receiving damage in return. So far he had managed to get a few, but they were more difficult and coordinated their attacks, so Alex always lost at least a third of his health and his armor was starting to come apart even more. Alex considered his options when the notification popped up.

AREA ALERT...

Merchants on the Kings Road are being attacked, will you help defend them?? YES/NO

AREA ALERT...

Area Quest Issued: Highway Robbery

Description: Bandits, brigands, or thieves, whatever you want to call them, they are attacking a nearby merchant caravan. Go to their aid and assist in their defense!!!

Success: Slay the thieves and help save the Merchants

Failure: Do not slay the thieves or all the Merchants die

Rewards: 1,000 Experience, 1 Gold, Increased Reputation within the Shinning Hill Region, Increased Reputation with the Kingdom of Arang'more, Unknown

Alex dismissed the information as his map updated and a timer appeared in the corner of his vision. Alex cursed and took off at a sprint towards the road, hopefully, he would get there in time.

The merchants, guards, and a handful of soldiers were fighting against a force of bandits that slightly outnumbered them. Alex quickly studied the ongoing battle as his Stamina recovered from his sprint through the forest, he was lucky not being tripped up by the animals of the Oakwood, but they largely ignored him or ran from him when he surprised them. Alex quickly analyzed one of the nearby Mages and grumbled at what he saw.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Unknown Bandit

Level: 8

Base Class: Mage

Health: 600

Several Mages and archers were launching magic and missiles towards the distant combatants and were completely oblivious to him as he snuck closer to them. His first target was a Priest based on the way his hands glowed gold, if he took him down, the Bandits could no longer be healed, then he would move onto the other Mages then archers. Alex took a deep breath and drew his daggers once again he had acquired the Serrated Iron Dagger for killing all the wolves and lynx yesterday. Alex triggered Backstab as he dropped out of Stealth. Critical Hit, Flanking, and Bleeding Wound scrolled across his eyes as one of his knives slammed into the healers back. He tried to scream but Alex's off-hand weapons stabbed into the side of his throat and blood fountained out of the man's open mouth.

The Priests health bar appeared and was steadily draining away and was already below two thirds as Alex continued to stab and slash until it finally bottomed out and disappeared. Before he could freak out Alex activated Stealth again and disappeared into the underbrush as he moved as quietly as he could. His next target was flinging little balls of Fire and Ice towards the ongoing melee and was not watching his surroundings as Alex moved closer. His Backstab Skill was still on cooldown so Alex was going to have to be careful and stab him in a critical area, like his spine.

Alex flinched a little as his primary weapon drove through the spine and almost missed his followup strike too the lungs with his off-hand dagger. However, he stayed true and drove the dagger deep as he twisted both blades widening the wounds and causing blood to erupt from both. The Mage whimpered as he collapsed and Alex hovered over him as he continued to drive his daggers into his lungs, kidneys, and throat as he died. Alex almost puked but he kept it in as he dropped back into Stealth and moved onto his next opponent.