Yes this chapter is relevant to the story, don't knock it off just yet. From Stagola's perspective obviously, not a side story.

Stagola and the 3 kids watched as Emperor ran up the wall and climbed into the spiked cage. He seemed to slip at the last second but managed to get a hold of one of the branches and crawled in. There was a bit of a ruckus inside and a smash.

'That was kinda cool but what the heck is going on inside!?'

The noise from inside died down mysteriously prompting an eerie silence. Soon Keith yelled at the top of his voice into the cage.

'Ouch, that was right next to me, my ear hurts now.'

Stagola stuck his finger into his ear rubbing it as though that would help somehow. While he did this Emperor told them to train while we go and train in the tunnels. They decided to listen to him and returned to the tunnel. Stagola followed these orders because he was too lazy to help Emperor, while the kids seemed to trust his word.

In the tunnels they trained for a while. They set up ambushes whenever a mosquito sounded like it was about to turn the corner. Since most of them were the smaller ones they managed with just themselves. Since Emporor wasn't there to tank they sometimes got injured forcing them to take rests quite often. This wasn't a problem since they were in a place where the enemies came regularly but not overwhelmingly. They didn't have to pull or aggro enemies so it was quite easy but Stagola still leveled up steadily. He put most of his points into agility and endurance so he could dodge enemies and recover quickly. He was matching up well to his title of cockroach.

Sometimes the kids would get injured too and they healed much slower than Stagola. Since Stagola was the only one in the group that was clever enough to bring clothe he was tasked with patching them up. He managed to find the clothe lying around Sicheren Untergang, the battlefield in the forest as loot when the villagers' armour broke, and by ripping off parts of his beginner's armour that he doesn't need like the sleeves. He secretly thought he looked cool without sleeves. Eventually while patching up one of the kids a window popped up.

Skill: First Aid acquired

'Aww a sh*tty support skill, whatever it'll make this easier.'

-First Aid

Stagola continues patching up the cut while activating the skill. A vivid green light appears from the bandage and entances the eyes. Stagola looks closely at the green glow and time seems to slow down. Leaves appear before his sight flowing through the wind freely. Unlike leaves in fall that're brown, red, and yellow and seem dead they're all a green color identical to the light. He looks closer to see all of the veins sticking out on a leaf and then a tiny bit of moisture flows down the leaf following its irregular shape and texture before falling off and dissipating.

Then he feels something is wrong. Some of the leaves start to burn, others rip to pieces, some change color and dissipate, while the remaining hit the ground and slowly whither and rot. From the rot sprouts a new tiny sapling. It grows into a new tree experiencing many difficulties before finally releasing its own leaves.

Stagola comes back to his senses with a bunch of windows in his face.

Understanding of life magic increased, Skill upgraded to Spiritual Healing, Skill leveled up, new title: Spiritualist

Keith before him, who he was patching up, removed the bandage quickly to reveal himself completely healed. Even the wounds previously patched up and ones not patched up yet were removed.

'Sh*t that was weird but I got a bunch of stuff from it'

-Show skill Spiritual Healing and title Spiritualist

Skill: Spiritual Healing

Rarity: 1 Star

Level: 2

Requires: 100 mana

You've gained an intense understanding of life magicks with an out of body experience. Advanced healing technique that heals both the body and mind. Medium chance of debuffing during healing. Restores both health and stamina. Uses the power of nature and life to restore a person. Rather than reversing the body to an earlier state it speeds up the body's natural regeneration temporalily. Effects increase with each level.

Title: Spiritualist

Rarity: 1 star

You've gained an intense understanding of life magicks with an out of body experience. Those closely related to nature will respect you while the forces of evil will despise you

Benefits: +100 reputation, +40 Intelligence, +40 Wisdom

Disadvantages: -100 reputation, -5% affinity to dark magicks, -10% resistance to dark and fire magicks

'My first star skill and title are support variations!? Trying to force a healing class down my throat game? This must be the LMS and Skyrim influences on the game. You get set on a certain ideal character and get sidetracked.'

Stagola noticing the other two kids looking at him with expectant faces he decided to heal them too.

'It's useful for right now, why not grind the hell out of it for when it'll come in handy for myself.'

A few more hours later he told the kids to hide and logged off

~Real Life~

Eugene, Stagola's real name, rubbed his eyes after logging off. He rmoved the body restraints on him and then lifted his legs out of the Coma.

'Today was a good day but nothing interesting enough to make a profit. I guess I'll grab a snack then hit the hay.'

Eugene lifted himself out of his Coma then lowered himself into his wheelchair. His disability forced him to take odd jobs on the internet thanks to his expertise. After Fantasy Chronicles came out he decided to try out being a Dark Gamer that he's heard so much about. So far it's working out quite well due to Emperor.

'That event NPC gave out some annoying titles but he's given me a decent start.'

~6 hours later~

Eugene woke up from insomnia and decided to play Fantasy Chronicles some more. He transferred himself from his bed to his wheelchair and then later to his Coma.

log-in procedure initiated

Stagola appeared with a flash of light and went to the kids hiding spot. They came out and looked at him with the same respect they gave Emperor. Stagola found himself tearing up a little but quickly turned away from the kids and said

-C'mon we're going to destroy these mosquitos one at a time. I'll heal any wounds so feel free to go a little overboard. It's hard to learn how to fight if you're too scared to get hit, I know this from experience...

'Too much experience' thought Stagola but he didn't say.

~around 30 minutes before Emperor met up with them~

After killing a mosquito Stagola thought to himself 'They're becoming a breeze but since my skill also restores stamina I can still grind it'

Then the ground started to rumble and buzzing was heard everywhere.

-Hide!

Stagola and the three kids rushed to their hiding places as a swarm of mosquitos passed by them. They were the larger mosquitos found near the roof of the lake chamber while being everywhere in the labyrinth chamber. After a little bit they all passed by without even a hint of wariness as though that noise was more important than defending their home.

"What should we do!?" (Keith)

"I don't know, why ask me?" (Kyle)

"..." (Katy)

-Calm your hormones brats, something is happening here as in this dungeon so let's leave it

The kids agreed and they followed Stagola as he went towards the lake chamber. The going was painfully slow as they had to hide constantly as hordes of mosquitos passed by irregularly. Eventually Emperor and the others caught up.

'D*mn i missed a bunch of action, he already rescued a bunch of villagers and a Minotaur!?'

~Before the battle~

"Okay so you 5 go gather supplies from outside while me and Khan lead the battle-" Emperor was saying before Stagola tuned him out as a window appeared before him.

Hidden Quest: Origins of the Marathon

Difficulty: D

Time limit: Before the battle ends

There's a big battle upcoming in the Sangre Caverns that your side is almost guaranteed to fail. As you are the fastest of those participating in the battle return to Sicheren Untergang for reinforcements.

Rewards: Unknown

Failure: Battle ends before reinforcements arrive, you die on the way, no one agrees to reinforce your side

Effects of Failure: Incalculable

Stagola smirked and slipped away from the meeting and set off for Sicheren Untergang. But not before making sure he was in the group of fighters in the battle so he'd receive free experience.

I noticed lots of hatred for Stagola so I gave him some more backstory. But of course I'm not going to make him Mr. Secretly really nice but just tsundere, he's got his dark side. I just wanted to justify his dark side a little bit. Chapter 20 will go back to the battle.

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