Chapter 3

War Chanter

"So, what's a War Chanter?" Raylight asked as she tilted her head. The two seniors sighed as they looked at Pristine.

"Nothing is known about the War Chanter except that it's a versatile class archetype with low stat growth compensating it's supposed huge battle potential," Rhinestone answered. "I said 'supposed' because until now, no one has appeared with the War Chanter class."

"The chance of getting it through the randomization feature during character creation is incredibly low," Firequeen added. "For it to exist in character creation also means that there is an NPC who can teach that class archetype, except that no one has found him yet."

"The trainer is probably somewhere in the unexplored lands." Rhinestone sighed again. "For that reason, let's do our best in club activities."

"Promoting club activities out of nowhere is just like you."

"I also randomized and I got this Scout. It's not as rare as your class, but this play style actually suits me well!" Raylight said as she spun once to show off her appearance. The two seniors smiled wryly, and Pristine seeing their expressions understood what they were thinking. A scout should be inconspicuous, and Raylight was the complete opposite of it.

The party of four left the bar and continued walking east.

"There's an unexplored dungeon east of Alfao. We'll take the two of you there to test your abilities. Don't worry, we'll provide backup when needed. Otherwise the two of you need to clear it on your own. Even if you perform badly, you can still join the club and the guild. If you perform well, we can even provide you with amazing equipments from the guild storage. That will make your life easier here in Tataria." Rhinestone explained to the two some basic safety measures when exploring dungeons.

"This will be your first exploration experience as unofficial members of the Adventure Club. Once we're done here, you will be recognized as official members and be invited into the guild."

Firequeen Anna handed them potions and said, "Potions don't have instantaneous effects. Just like medicine, it will take time for it to fully work. Make sure you stay safe during combat. Combat here in Tataria is very realistic. If your head gets cut off, even if you have full health, you'll die."

"I-I know that," Raylight said. She kept some of the potions in her pouch, and some on her belt. Pristine copied her after realizing that keeping all the potions inside the pouch was a foolish thing to do, as taking a potion from the pouch while in combat will take too much time.

"Don't you need a weapon?" Rhinestone asked Pristine.

"No, I'm fine. I actually know some hand to hand combat in reality."

"Oh, that's pretty good, but be careful, since you're still a character fresh from the oven, you'll damage yourself because of your low Endurance stat." She then searched her inventory for something, then took out a pair of chain mail gloves. "Here, take this. It's better than nothing."

"Thank you." She took the gloves and equipped them.

Chain Mail Gloves

Provides protection for the hands from bladed weapons.

Slash Damage Reduction: 50%

Pierce Damage Reduction: 20%

* * *

Pristine and Raylight stood in front of the dungeon. There was small entrance to a cave hidden by shrubs. Looking at the ground, animal foot prints could be seen.

"I-I-I'll go check what type of mobs are in there, first," Raylight said as she suddenly sprinted towards the cave entrance. With a sigh, Rhinestone grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her back.

"Calm down, first," she said. "You forgot to cast a concealment spell on yourself. You'll be thrashed by the mobs inside before you could even say 'Hello.'"

"Yes." With a depressed look, Raylight cast 'Celumbra', and as her figure slowly faded, she walked slowly into the dungeon.

"Will she be alright?" Pristine asked the two seniors behind her.

"I think she'll be fine?" Firequeen answered with a worrying tone.

"Well, unlike you, she has been playing the game for a while now. Despite the quirks in her personality, I think she at least has some basic common sense with regards to the game."

"I see."

"Will you be alright, though?" Firequeen directed the question to her. "You're still a beginner still clad in beginner equipment. Aside from the gloves Rhine gave you, you don't have any better equipments, right?"

"Actually, I---" Before Pristine could say something, Raylight appeared.

"There are a few parties of Shadow Wolves inside!" She made the report while performing a salute. The action suited her strangely well.

"Seems suitable enough," Rhinestone said. "Good luck, you two."

"Take care. We're right behind you to help you if something troublesome occurs." Firequeen gave them a thumbs up.

The two walked into the dungeon, with Pristine in front and Raylight behind her, an arrow knocked in her bow and ready to shoot. Shortly after they entered, the two seniors followed and kept their distance from them.

"Three Shadow Wolves spotted," Raylight whispered to Pristine. From a distance within the cave, three black figures where sprawled on the ground. The Shadow Wolves have very dark fur and made them almost invisible in the dark dungeon. What gave them away were the traces of red that lined their bodies.

"I can slow one of them down and take it out while you hold the other two back. Can you do that?" Raylight asked.

"Sure, but wait a second as I prepare my skills." Pristine opened her skill panel and tried to cast 'Impetu Parvu' and 'Munio Parvu'. She received error messages.

The War Chant Impetu Parvu failed to meet the following requirements for activation:

Combat State

One Enemy Killed

The War Chant Munio Parvu failed to meet the following requirements for activation:

Combat State

Receive damage while Vitality below 50%

Pristine felt a bit surprised. After the praises she got from the two seniors about the War Chanter class archetype, she didn't expect her skills to have such constraints. 'But that makes it more interesting,' she thought and smiled. High risk meant high rewards.

"Let's go," she said as she slowly approached the wolf party with her open fists raised in front of her.

A glowing arrow zoomed past her and hit one of the wolves near it's neck. This alerted the two other wolves, and they stood up and searched for the intruders. Another arrow quickly flew as it hit the same wolf on it's leg. Finally, they were spotted, and the two uninjured wolves rushed at them, their red eyes filled with rage. The red lines on their body seemed to glow as they suddenly increased their speed.

With a start, Pristine also dashed at them. The closest wolf pounced at her. With subtle hand movement, she hit the wolf in midair below its jaw with her left hand as she dodged to the right, then grappled its neck with her right arm. Twisting her body, she spun around carrying the momentum of the wolf's attack, smashing it to the other approaching wolf. The two wolves fell back and glared at her. Her quick and precise movements caused them to be wary.

'It didn't seem like I dealt any damage, but at least I got them to be wary of me,' she thought. A whimper was heard as the first injured wolf died from successive arrow hits.

"Good job holding them off, let's finish this!" Raylight said pumped up. She then shot her arrows at the wolf to the left. Taking that as a signal, Pristine rushed to the right. The wolves caught off guard where easily dealt with. Raylight pierced her target with a barrage of arrows, while Pristine broke the neck of the other wolf.

"Wow, you're so savage!" Raylight said as she took a carving knife from her waist and started dismembering the wolves.

'Look who's talking,' Pristine retorted in her mind as she watched the twin tail girl took some of the wolf meat and leather into her bag.

"Here." Raylight handed her three small pieces of red orb. "It's your share of the loot. Since you don't have a leather crafting skill, I'll take all the leather."

"What's this?" she asked as an icon blinked beside the orb in her view.

"You can sell those to NPCs for some cheap change."

Shadow Wolf Core

A core taken from a Shadow Wolf. You can sense a small amount of magic seeping from within it.

Monsters in Tataria were originally normal beasts. The appearance of the travelers 20 years ago caused a change in the magical foundation of the world's atmosphere. This caused some of the magic sensitive beasts to mutate, turning them into wild monsters. Monsters generally have a magic core within their body, improving their abilities.

"I see. Thanks."

"No need to be grateful. It's your share of the work! We make up a pretty good team, don't we?"

"Yeah. Don't let your guard down, now."

The two proceeded into the dungeon without trouble. They got used to fighting the Shadow Wolves and easily dealt with them. After roughly two hours, they reached an entrance to a wide space.

"It's the boss room," Raylight said with a pale after scouting the area. "There are ten regular Shadow Wolves inside aside from the boss, Three-eyed Shadow Wolf."

"You think you can handle it on your own?" Rhinestone asked from behind them.

"W-w-we can give it a try. In case we can't handle it, we'll leave the rest to you!" Raylight was extremely panicked.

"Calm down, we can do this," Pristine said with confidence. "I have a plan," she said as she checked her status.

Name:Pristine VoidClass:War Chanter

StatsStrength:Beginner ( 66% )Agility:Beginner ( 89% )Dexterity:Beginner ( 72% )Endurance:Beginner ( 51% )Intelligence:Beginner ( 10% )Wisdom:Beginner ( 9% )

SkillsUnique Skills

War Chant: Beginner ( 15% )

Impetu Parvu: Beginner ( 15% )

Munio Parvu: Beginner (11%)Non-unique Skills

Combat Mastery: Beginner ( 92% )

Unarmed Combat: Beginner ( 81% )

* * *

With the concealment spell, Raylight slowly traced the walls of the boss dungeon hall.

'Crazy plan,' she thought as she found what she was searching for. With very slow movements to avoid making any noise, she grasped for any indentations on the cave walls and climbed up. Reaching a height where one could die if a mistake was made, Raylight entered a small space hidden on the wall.

"Hiii---!" she almost screamed out loud. There was a skeleton of a human inside the hole. He was wearing a broken metal armor. A tattered book and a simple dark tinted longsword lay by his side.

Unknown Longsword

Tattered Journal

Raylight picked up the Tattered Journal and opened it. Most of the pages were already rotting, and some were unreadable because of dried bloodstains. The most recent entries were visible.

Found a hidden cave in the forest east of town. Might be treasures inside. If I struck it rich, Zen's father will surely allow me to marry her!

Weak shadow wolves inside the cave.

They caught me off guard. I was ambushed from behind! These damnable mutts!

Managed to escape and hide. Found a huge space deep inside.

Heavily injured. I managed to climb up the wall and found a hole to hide in. I won't last long.

If anybody finds this journal, please take revenge for me! The three-eyed wolf can see what the other wolves can see. This means that it has no blind spots. It's better to kill all the other mutts first. This is the only advice I can give you!

Zen, I love you. I'm sorry.

Raylight almost cried! She took the journal and placed it in her pouch. There's a chance that this Zen girl is still alive somewhere, probably in Alfao. Strengthening her resolution, Raylight decided to exact revenge for this pitiful man's soul.

Removing her concealment magic, she leaned out of the hole and peered towards the entrance of the hall.

* * *

'A war chant consumes 5% of my mana, and only lasts 30 seconds,' Pristine recited in her mind as she peeked through the cavern hall's entrance. She was reviewing the information she gathered regarding her skills based on the battles they had earlier against the Shadow Wolves while waiting for Raylight's signal. 'If i cast the same war chant, the duration refreshes back to 30 seconds and the effects stack up. When the amount of stacks is greater than one, after 30 seconds, the stack decreases by one and the duration is refreshed but reduced by 3 seconds. I still don't know the maximum amount I can stack up.'

She heard a sound as an arrow hit the wall opposite the entrance of the hall. That was the signal. Almost all the wolves inside looked at where the sound came from, except for the boss monster which continued to lie down in the middle of the hall with its two eyes closed. Only the eye on it's forehead was open. There was one other wolf which that continued to pay attention at the entrance of the hall.

Seeing that there was only one wolf paying attention, Pristine dashed as fast as she could towards it, but before she could reach it the Three-eyed Shadow Wolf suddenly stood and pounced at her with frightening speed. She rolled to the side to dodge.

It was a size larger than the other wolves, and its entire body was covered with long black fur. The red lines that covered it's body glowed brightly as it made a growling sound. Half of the wolves turned to face her, while the other half kept watch on the surroundings.

'It's quite vigilant, isn't it?' Pristine thought. A barrage of arrows came from a hidden area on the wall of the cave towards the three-eyed monster, but it dodged nimbly without even looking.

"It can see through the eyes of the other wolves!" She heard Raylight's voice. "Kill all the other wolves first!"

"Isn't that the original plan?" Six of the wolves chased after her as she made a mad dash around the wide hall. The boss stood in the middle and watched as if observing some ants. The remaining four wolves stood around the boss and kept watch over the hole in the wall.

Arrows struck the legs of the wolves chasing Pristine, slowing them down. This gave her some breathing space and allowed her to think of a plan for the current situation.

'I can try to take some damage and then stack up some Munio Parvu, but that would be risky with the boss just standing there. No, it's waiting for my vitality to lower, and then it will deal the killing blow. I need to think up of a safer and effective plan.'

The chase around the hall took a very long time. With the help of Raylight's continuous barrage of arrows, the chasing wolves vitalities dropped to critical levels. They were finally able to surround Pristine as she tried to catch her breath.

'That took longer than expected,' Pristine thought. She still had around 80% vitality. Watching the six wolves in front of her, she couldn't help but smile inwardly. Earlier she was being treated as prey. Now she was the predator.

The six wolves moved in unison as they dashed towards her, but before they could even take the first step, Pristine made a mad dash towards the nearest wolf. Caught off guard, a crunching sound was heard as her fist hit the wolf's neck with extreme precision. That blow carried all her weight with it, and an exhilarating feeling surged in her body. It was the same feeling she got when she trained with her great-grandfather, the feeling of not holding back, being able to release all the pent up energy in her body.

"Impetu Parvu!" An icon for the Impetu Parvu buff appeared on the top right corner of her view along with the duration timer.

With the same hand that she used kill off the wolf, she grabbed it's neck and used its corpse to block the wolf attacking from the side. Another wolf took the place of the dead wolf and attacked from the front, pouncing in an attempt to push her down. She let go of the corpse and crouched beneath the pouncing wolf. She then grabbed it's hind legs and pulled it with her. Feeling its weight on her back, she made a throwing motion and smashed the wolf on the ground, before it could react to her actions. Its back hit a slab of stone, breaking its spine, and the wolf's head smashed the ground.

"Impetu Parvu!" The duration time refreshed and a number two appeared on the Impetu Parvu buff icon.

She swung the broken corpse of the wolf to the right and hit another one trying to jump at her. Before it could hit the ground, she jumped towards it, pinning it down as soon as they landed, and punched its neck, breaking it. She then rolled forwards while chanting Impetu Parvu, avoiding a wolf that attacked from behind. She turned around and caught its front legs, and with a sharp kick, she hit its neck with full force, twisting its head backwards.

"Impetu Parvu!" There were now four stacks. The remaining two wolves tried to run away, but their leg injuries from Raylight's arrows slowed them down. They were easily killed adding two more stacks of Impetu Parvu.

With the quick death of the six wolves, the three-eyed boss growled angrily as it dashed towards Pristine. She made a straight dash towards it, unafraid. And the reason for her courage was Raylight's arrows!

The boss dodge the arrows making its straight dash for Pristine lose its track. Pristine on the other hand dashed straight ahead with the arrows almost hitting her. She ignored the boss and headed for the four remaining wolves. They tried to escape, but arrows blocked their path and their legs were shot slowing them down. Whenever the boss attempt to attack Pristine from behind, Raylight's arrows would cover for her. With six stacks of Impetu Parvu, Pristine's powerful and precise attacks on the wolves vital areas easily dealt a killing blow.

You have completely made 10 stacking buffs of Impetu Parvu.

You will now receive a buff of Impetu Parvu that will last until you disengage from combat.

For the next permanent stacking buff, you need 20 stacking buffs of Impetu Parvu including the current bonus buff.

Pristine smiled at the notification message. She was having a problem of what to do during prolonged fights because the war chant buffs only last for 30 seconds. 'For every permanent buff, 10 more stacks is required.' Seeing this, Pristine finally understood why it was called the War Chanter. More enemies killed, the more powerful a War Chanter becomes. And this was only for the Impetu Parvu skill. What about the others that were still unlocked? Pristine grew excited with the thought.

With a wide smile, she dashed towards the Three-Eyed Shadow Wolf. She still had 10 stacking buffs of Impetu Parvu plus the permanent combat buff, which gave a total of 11 stacking buffs.

As if in a trance, she engaged the boss monster in close quarters combat. She dodge the attacks with the smallest amount of distance possible, sometimes even grazing her, and counter attacked. Her vitality had decreased to 30%, but she had kept on stacking Munio Parvu buffs every time an attack grazed her until her mana run out.

When the 30-second buff duration timer for Impetu Parvu was almost over, she finally dealt the killing blow. She dodged an attack and jumped to the side, then hopped on the wolf's back. She then strangled the wolf's neck with her arms. After a few seconds, the monster weakened from lack of air, and with a final crunching sound, it finally died.

Rank Up

Strength is now Apprentice Rank

Agility is now Apprentice Rank

Endurance is now Apprentice Rank

War Chant is now Apprentice Rank

Impetu Parvu is now Apprentice Rank

Munio Parvu is now Apprentice Rank

Combat Mastery is now Apprentice Rank

Unarmed Combat is now Apprentice Rank