I quickly found myself outside the city walls. I was still burning with rage at this whole situation. I needed to vent this frustration, and luckily, there were plenty of little rabbits around. I want to scream my spells out, but that won't do, I can't scare away any potential teammates. I don't wanna seem crazy I gotta whisper. I target the nearest bunny, around 15 yards from me, and hold my orb out towards it.

“Weaken, Weaken, Weaken. Impact...impact...impact...impact... impact.”

After the first [Weaken], the rabbit began running towards me. the first [impact] slowed it down, but it kept coming. after the fifth [impact], the rabbit died, mid leap towards my face. I collided face first with the bloody mess.

Best I could tell, my [Impact] spell is basically a hit similar to a punch, only at long range, and based of magical power. I need to improve my magical power. i think that means I need to raise my wisdom. But I’ll do it later. Slaughter bunnies NOW.

20 minutes later, I feel my anger finally cool off completely. That's dangerous, I can't afford to have temper tantrums over setbacks. Although, that was a pretty big setback, and taking over the game world has gotten at least twice as hard. Suddenly, Status windows began popping up .

Level up x3

New Title: The Whisperer

You are the first to realize the value in keeping your spells hidden from the enemy.

When whispering, your spells become silent

+200 fame

Weaken has reached Basic Level 2

Impact has reached Basic Level 3

Damage goes up to 12

Wow, that whole thing with the whispering was complete luck. anyway, now to invest these stat points. looks like I got 10 per level. I think I’ll dump all 30 into WIS. It’ll let me hit a little harder. My debuffs and buffs, even when fully stacked, are weaker than that of a dark mage or cleric, my attack, [Impact] is pitiful. It has a little knockback, but a pyromancer could to shot a rabbit at level 1, and that's without having to apply debuffs like I did. I think…. it is pretty much impossible for me to hunt anything that's actually strong solo. Swallowing my frustration, I move on.

Time to start phase 2 of the plan, it's long overdue. I see lone archer shooting at some foxes. She’s somewhat tall for a woman, with a very toned and athletic body that could be seen through her tight clothing. She’s more cute than what you might call beautiful, but that's irrelevant. But I gotta say, she’s doing kinda bad at shooting rabbits. Every now and then, she hits one, and then it rushes to attack her. she panics and her shots become less accurate, until finally she shoots it lethally when it's 5 feet from her. She’ll do.

When I approached her, she was already in the shooting wildly phase of her fox killing process. I stick my orb out and hit the fox in the mid section. Amazingly, I nudge it just enough to be in the hit range of one of the chick’s hastily shot arrows, and it dies when the shaft pierces it. She looks around surprised, so i wave as I walk up to her.

“T-thank you. i’m not always a bad shot, I have a good eye, i swear!” She says.I wonder why she’s so rattled.

“Hahaha, umm ok. By the way, I’m Linderman, wanna form a party?” I ask nervously. I’m not exactly used to this, but she seems like she doesn't want to play alone, so i think she’ll agree.

“Umm really? You saw that just now, right? I’m only level 3 you know…”

“It's cool, I’m only level 4”

“Ok, I’m uh Moxxie. With two x’s.”

“Right, it looks like we have to be friends to party, so ummm, would you like to be my friend?”

“Yes! OMG you're my first friend on here! “

Friend request accepted!

Sending party request...

Party request accepted

Party WindowLeaderLindermanMembersMoxxie-lvl.3

“You're mine too. you ready to hunt a little?” i ask. With an enthusiastic nod from Moxxie, we depart. we start with rabbits. I weaken them, and draw them in, and she shoots at them. It was too slow trying to kill them one at a time, so we draw around three. As expected, it's a bit hard to deal with three rabbits, as even with us both shooting at them, neither one of us are a hundred percent accurate. Rabbits are fast little critters. They often get in close on me and start biting. thankfully due to weaken and my high hp stat, i can take the bites of a few lvl 1 and 2 rabbits. But as expected, without a warrior’s Endurance stat, it starts to wear down on my health after a few minutes. We need a proper tank.

After a few more minutes hunting, we begin to hear laughter coming from the north, further away from city gates. We head in that direction and see what everyone's laughin at. There a hulking swordsman running from a small crowd of bunnies and foxes. He’ll do.

I raise my or and immediately hit him with four [strengthen] spells. Then I start my [Health Channelling]. Seeing me help the guy, Moxxie joins in. for the first time, I see her activate a skill, [Homing Shot]. I wonder why she never used them before, but I soon realize why. After five [homing shots], she runs out of stamina. Panting, she screams at the warrior “Fight Back!!” He continues running with fear all over his face. however, thanks to Moxxie taking out five of the creatures chasing the man, and my [Health Channelling], he isn't in danger of dying soon.

I begin shooting my [impact] spell at the line of creatures. Moxxie joins in, but she’s still pretty tired. But 2 minutes, and all my mana later, the man is safe. Myself and Moxxie are laid out on the ground with our [Rest] skill on. God I feel like I'm hungover, I certainly won't be using all my mana up again in the future if I can help it, I imagine Moxxie is feeling the same. Suddenly, a few minutes later, I heard footsteps. The man approached us with tears still in his eyes.

“Uh thank you for your assistance. I-I’m Raknar, the mighty.” He said, attempting to put on a brave face.The few players who were still there began chuckling, and making fun of him. He looked like he was about to start crying again. Groaning, I got up, and helped Moxxie do the same.I gestured to the man to follow us, which he did, eyes never leaving the floor.

“So why did we save this guy? you know him?” Moxxie asked wearily.

“He has potential.” I say

“What? Potential where? All he did is attack a herd of animals then run. Like what was he thinking?!”

“I… I just thought it would be kinda cool…” Raknar said in a low voice.

“I know you did Raknar.” I said looking at the swordsman. He had a huge tanned body, standing at least 6’8, with rippling muscles, long rugged hair, and a thuggish looking face. But I understood the moment I saw him, all of it was probably fake. He was most likely someone very similar, no, worse off than me. But because of that, I knew exactly what words to say to him.

“Hey man, don't worry about what happened back there. if you would have pulled it off, it definitely would have been cool. But I gotta say man, I don't think attacking head on is for you.” his face goes through quite a few emotions, before settling on grim acceptance. He nodded in agreement.

“But that doesn't mean you can't be a warrior Raknar. After all, What is a warrior ? He's somebody who protects. Why don't you join our party, and protect us Raknar?” I ask. it was slightly corny, but he smiles, and nods. A little encouragement is all some people need. I look over at Moxxie who looks like she wants to voice a complaint, but instead she just sighs and nods.

After adding Raknar to the party, we take off in search of foxes. Rabbits aren't cutting it anymore experience wise. I've only grown one lvl since joining up with moxxie, though I'm almost to lvl 6 after taking out that group of animals to save Raknar. I look at our Party Window.

[tr]Party WindowLeaderLinderman-lvl.6MembersMoxxie-lvl.5

Raknar-lvl.3

“Remember Raknar, Don't move. Hit back if you can, but you don't have to, Just protect us. I know you can do it,” i say as we close in on two foxes. He nods, full of determination. He walked up to the foxes and with a nervous shout, he struck at one. they both began attacking him. he retreated a few steps, and I was afraid he might run again, but he didn't. He stood his ground, with fear in his eyes and trembling knees. People can say whatever they want, but right now, he’s portraying true courage. Not missing the opportunity, Moxxie and I dealt with the foxes quickly. I approach Raknar , and put a hand on his shoulder.

“So, how does it feel, winning I mean?”

“It… it feels great. I think I can do this.” he says. We repeat this whole process for a few minutes, smoothing out the chinks in our teamwork. Raknar is improving rapidly, he even attacks too now, which makes hunting a lot easier. We head back towards the gates to rest a little. There are quite a few players there doing the same thing. Upon my approach, a few players wave and greet me.

“Ayye you're the quiet one!”

“Yeah that dude who totally massacred those rabbits when he left the city”

“Yeah, I saw that shit too, but they were just rabbits you know. remember that pyromancer roasted like ten foxes in 2 seconds”

“True, but it was still cool, everytime he got within 30 yards of a rabbit, it would run toward him and die only a few feet from him! Hey quiet one you looking for a party man?”

I gotta say, I was lovin the praise. Even if they didn't understand I was just spamming skills they couldn't hear. But where they calling me that?

“Hey why are you guys calling me that? my title is the whisperer...” I say. Everyone pauses for a second.

“Wait you have a title?! dude, we just didn't know what else to call you!”

“A title! only a few hundred people have one, hey does yours come with stats? i heard Erasion’s ‘First Murderer’ title came with like 50 STR and AGI!”

“Dude, dump those losers and come wit us.”

“Hey, I’m with , we could use you.”

“Isn't that the lame swordsman? You can do better bro. “

This is getting irritating. These people don't know the first thing about me or my teammates. Yet they have the gall to insult them. They want me, but they don't even know, I couldnt have done anything without my teammates. With a quick “lets go” to my partners, I depart the densely populated gate area, leaving many confused players behind. We stopped around 300 yards east along the wall from the gate and sat down while activating our [Rest] skill.

“Was that really ok Linderman? Those guys were better than us. We wouldn't be mad if you went with them, right big guy?” Moxxie said. Raknar only nodded. The confidence he had been building up with us had taken a big hit.

“Guys, I have no intention of going anywhere. Definitely not with people like them. We’re a team you know. I'm happy right where i'm at.” I put an arm over each of their shoulders. I had only known Moxxie around an hour, Raknar even less, but these were the first friends I had made here, and it might sound odd, but if it meant leaving them, there wasn't anyone I’d rather party with.

“Yes, that is the answer I wanted to hear!” A voice said out of nowhere, to our right, a man dressed in all black clothing appeared.

“I am the assassin, Dave. I come seeking a group worthy of pledging my blade to! Please allow me to join your party.”

“Assassin... Dave? Why Dave?” Moxxie asks

“An assassin does not need a fancy name, only a swift blade and fearless heart fair lady! Ah, you must require proof of my skills, wait just a moment!” The man known as Dave activated his stealth skill, which kinda blurred his outline, a ran to attack a lvl 4 fox by himself. Wow, he certainly is fast, but he made quite a bit of noise for an assassin. The fox noticed him, but it didn't matter. 4 quick movements of Dave’s hands, and it was dead. He ran back over.

“You're in!, he's in, right Linderman?” Moxxie says

“yeah, sure. You guys ready to get back at it?” i ask. Then we depart north . Now we’re getting further out onto the plains. Creatures like the lvl 5 feral dog and the lvl 7 giantLarge lizard. I see more players in the distance, entering the forest to the north-west. We’re still behind. Well, I kinda knew that, we've been hunting weak opponents the whole time.

We approach a few dog. Raknar readies himself, then attacks. I begin weakening them, then buff Dave who comes in from the side and finishes the dogs. We hunt like this for an hour, altering our formation little by little, getting used to each others movements. Surprisingly, the dogs don't drop anything.The rabbits dropped rabbit meat, and the foxes dropped both fox fangs and a few coppers from time to time. Seeing as they’re no longer lucrative, We switch to the Lizards. We really shouldn't have tried to takes 2 at once right off.

Moxxie drew them in from a distance while i stacked up my [weaken] spells. then I buffed Raknar as he prepared to intercept them. I seriously underestimated their damage output, rather, when we were observing them, they were rather slow, so I assumed that the main thing to worry about would be high defence. Anyway, both of them attacked Raknar at once, easily taking 15% of his health.

“Hihhh!!!” Raknar began to back up in fear.

“Courage my friend!” dave said, leaping over the swordsman, and striking at both the lizards.they began to whittle down the lizards’ health little by little, but even with me and Moxxie assisting, it still wasn't fast enough, Raknar’s health was going down, and Dave occasionally attracted the aggro of one of the lizards, causing him to get hit hard by it's tail before Raknar could draw it back in. I began [Health Channelling], and if i was just taking care of Raknar it would be fine, but with Dave too… I cursed this useless class. Then I had an idea

“Concentrate on the one on the left, and start backing up!” i yelled. The others followed my orders. The lizards began missing a few attacks here and there. Moxxie activated two skills at onc, [Piercing shot] and [Homing shot].The lizard collapsed with a rasping growl. I ceased my [Health Channelling] and began hitting the lizard with my attack spell. it took almost all my mana, but it died as well. We all came together, and collapsed. Raknar, Dave, and even I (due to channelling my health) are low on health. Moxxie’s low on stamina. suddenly, Raknar began chuckling. Then little by little, we all broke out into full blown laughter.

“We’re alive bitches!’’ He shouted into the air.

“ Hahaha Yeah bitches!!!!” Moxxie screamed, throwing her middle finger in the air.

“B-b-b-bitches?” Dave said looking at me. I don't believe he approved of their use of language.

“Bitches.” I said, shrugging. We relaxed for a half an hour, recovering. It would have been less, but we we were attacked by wild dogs a few times, interrupting our recovery. We ended hunting for a few more hours while we slowly retired back to the city. it was getting dark, and monsters get stronger at night. We knew we couldn't handle that . We headed for a tavern in the middle of the city. It was full of other players gloating and fighting, and making fools of themselves hitting on women. Basically, a fairly good time.We grabbed a booth in the corner and began dividing the spoils of the day. I also took the opportunity to check my notifications, I had muted them all, they distract me in combat. But first, I look at our Party Window.

[tr]Party WindowLeaderLinderman-lvl 11MembersMoxxie-lvl.10 Dave-lvl10

Raknar-lvl.11

Being the party leader gets me a little bit of bonus exp. and Raknar keeps getting the First Strike bonus exp. so I think that why we’re ahead.

Level up x6

Leadership +15

Weaken has reached Basic lvl 5

Can now be stacked 4 times

Strengthen has reached Basic lvl 5

Now improves both attack and defense by 2.5% per stack

Impact has reached Basic lvl 6

Damage up to 15

Health Channelling has reached Basic lvl 3

New Skill: Magic Mastery (passive)

increases spell damage by 5%

Basic lvl 1

New Skill: Orb Mastery (passive)

Increases the effects of spells by 10%

Basic lvl 1

Two new skills huh? They're both passive though… oh well, I need all the help I can get. Looks like we got around 13 silvers each for all our combined kills, not counting the material goods which we also divided. Not bad. looking around the room with [Analyze], it seems like 9 is the average lvl in the tavern, so we’re a bit ahead there, I think. So now it's time to address a serious issue with my friends here.

“Guys, you need to change your classes.”

“What?! Why?’ Moxxie asks.

“ Because they don't fit you, Mox. You have a good eye, but I can tell you've never held a bow before. You're trying to compensate by putting your points in Luck and Dexterity, but it's not working for you, it's why your stamina is low. you need a class where you can throw your weapon. Raknar, please understand, the sword just isn't for you. A defensive class like Spearman or Shieldman would be much better for you. Dave… you're too loud for an assassin. and you don't like sneaking up on your enemies, so you lose out on the bonuses of your class. You should get a class that's still speed based, but less stealth based.”

‘O-oh yeah? Well what about you!?” moxxie said

“Yes, your class certainly doesn't fit you. you’re more of an attacker, but you're supporting, and healing. And I must say you're buffs do… leave a bit to be desired.” Dave said

“Basically they suck.” said Moxxie.

“They really do.” said Raknar.

“Truly.” Dave said.

I sighed “I know. trust me, I didn't choose this class. I got on an NPc’s nerves, and he did this to me, and I can’t change it.” I said, depressedly.

“Oh man, that sucks. You should see the tutor for your class though. If you’re going to be trash, be the best trash you can be! My tutor corrected my grip on the knife, taught me footwork, and created the powerful assassin you see before you today! She also said I should change classes…” Dave said, muttering the last part. I heard it anyway.

“So, we should split up, you guys should go get your class changes, I’ll go talk to my tutor, then we all take a small break. Meet back here in 3 real hours, deal?” I say. We all went our separate ways after that. Raknar went off towards the Training Ground. Dave showed Moxxie the way to the Rogue’s Tavern, And I went back towards the Library.

I have some bad memories in that place, but I can manage. my friends were all doing their best to become better after all. I think I finally know what kind of guild I want to make. We don't have to be big like , or individually powerful like . We’re going to make our way through teamwork. A guild where everyone supports each other, strengthens each other, and works together like cogs in a machine, I think I’ll call it . I smile as I walk towards the last place I want to be, knowing that I’m probably going to see the person I hate most in this game.

[tr]LindermanLevel11PrimaryClassChannellerHealth800Mana900Fame200Title(s)The WhispererLeadership15Charisma10Strength10Agility10Wisdom60Intelligence90Stamina100Vitality80Luck10