I woke up early in the morning, and set out to go do my part for this plan. Walking onto the street, I saw it was already starting to become busy as people started their daily activities.

I started down the main road and headed to the centre of the town, where the statue of the angel was. All around, players were sitting, enjoying the early morning as well as new players shining into the world and looking around at their new environment.

Those new players, would be my tools.

“Hello there! How are you.” Calling out to one of the players that just came in I put on my friendliest face and walked towards her. She looked to be about 16 albeit a bit short, and she had short hazel hair that came down to her shoulder.

“Umm, I’m good thank you. How are you?” She seemed rather uncomfortable being called out after just coming into the game, and frankly I don’t blame her.

“I’m doing well thankyou. You are new to the game, correct?” Wanting to make sure that she wasn’t someone who had reset her character, and was actually brand new to the game, I approached the subject with some caution.

“Yes, I am. Do you need something from me?” She slowly positioned herself in such a way that she could run in necessary.

“I don’t need anything, but I do have something to offer.” I said this while circling around her to sit on the edge of the fountain.

“Offer me? I’m sorry but this seems rather suspicious.” She finally voiced her concerns, but she wasn’t being rude with them thankfully.

“I understand it is suspicious, but after hearing my offer you can choose whether to take it or not. If you say no then I will just offer it to some other new player.” I tried to coax her into at least hearing me out, as forcing her to listen would raise too many suspicions from those around me.

“Okay, I will listen, but we have to talk here.”

“Perfect! My name is Pride by the way might I ask what yours is?”

“I’m Kelpy. So Pride, what is your offer?” She said this while sitting down a few feet beside me on the fountain.

“Well I am a body artist, or tattoo artist if you prefer, and I wish to try out a new design. The thing with tattoos in this game is that they can give various buffs and debuffs to the person who has them, so to test new ones is rather crucial. Normal citizens have a chance of being harmed, but us players can’t die, which makes things safer.” I outlined the general bits about tattoos to her before she then spoke once more.

“If you give me a bad tattoo though, won’t it be permanent, that seems like an awfully big risk to me.” She voiced a very good point, but It wasn’t too hard to answer against.

“There are various seals for tattoos, so all I have to do is choose a temporary one.”

“Hmm alright, continue.” She thought about it for a moment, and hearing her give me the go-ahead to keep speaking was a nice sign.

“The design that I would like to try is actually made up of a couple separate tattoos, that would then be combined into one big scene. It would be on your back, since it has the largest open area, and If the effect is negative then I will give you a positive tattoo of your choice for free.”

Kelpy thought about my offer for a bit and then spoke. “That seems fair. I assume you have a parlour in town?”

“Yes I do, if you would please follow me.” With that I lead her to the parlour and began work on her tattoo.

The design I intended to use was a battle scene between an orc, a human, and an elf. It would be like something out of a picture book, with them fighting each other in a battle royale.

I first started with the orc, menacingly lifting his club into the air towards where the human would be placed, while stretching his palm towards the elf. The human was next, and I chose to make him into a knight, with his shield up and pointed towards the club, while his sword went towards the elf. The elf was then put with a staff in her hand, firing a fireball towards the orc, while blocking the sword with it’s wood.

After getting their basic outline, I put in details such as injuries, folds and wrinkles in their clothes, and on all of their faces, I put a face showing resentment, hatred, pain, and despair.

Once done, Kelpy’s back depicted something akin to a scene out of hell. I then finished the tattoo with troll blood and with a bit of cursing due to drawing out the mana, I eventually managed to seal the tattoo and finish it.

Battlefield HellOwner:KelpyArtist:PrideQuality:GrandA tattoo depicting a scene of three races fighting each other, locked in struggle that would lead to their demise. Increases the owners strength and vitality, but decreases their wisdom and intelligence. Can put owner into a berserk state.

‘Perfect’, I thought to myself. Kelpy however, seemed a bit annoyed.

“This raises my strength and vitality, which is nice, but lowering my wisdom and intelligence sucks! I wanted to be a mage so I believe you should give me a good tattoo right?”

“True true, but first though we should test out the berserk ability. Although berserk itself is a battle skill that increases strength and vitality, the amount it increases can vary. Please follow me to where we can test it.” I explained this to her while putting away the tools from before, and with a nod the followed me out the door and towards the central square.

“Alright, we can test it here in the square.” I said this while turning to face towards Kelpy, who then bumped into my chest.

“Ow, don’t stop so suddenly. Also, what do you mean test it here, this is the center of town?”

“Exactly, since the is the center of town, everyone will see the effects of your tattoo, which will be advertising for me. As well as the area here is very open, so we don’t have to worry about you growing a bit and knocking stuff down.” I explained this while moving her off of my chest and towards the fountain.

“Okay then. How do I use the ability?” Kelpy agreed and asked for the final step of the plan here.

“Simply think of the area on your back, and use the idea of berserk.” Saying this I then turned around and headed to a safe distance before giving her the thumbs up.

With that signal, she activated her berserk, and all hell broke loose in the square.

Kelpy grew by about two feet, and her muscles thickened out like tree trunks. Her eyes started to cloud and with a loud yell she then pounced on the closest person, picking them up and throwing them into a wall at the opposite side of the square.

She appeared to have lost her sanity, and the guards around the area scrambled to stop her, only to meet a rather sudden death. Kelpy climbed towards the fountain, ripping it out of the ground and tossing it towards the players who were trying to help stop her. Finally, one of the guards gave the signal I was looking for and shot a flare magic into the sky, signalling for reinforcements.

Once I saw that I left the square and sprinted as quickly as I could past the people who were watching, and headed towards the docks.

Once there I saw Kallen waving me towards a small boat on the far side of the docks. I ran on board and we set off with the sight of gryphons descending unto the main square behind us. A few workers noticed our sudden departure, but none took serious note.

The guards that should've been watching this boat would have either been heading towards the distraction, or be knocked out in a crate.

“Seems your distraction worked Pride, good job.” Narvi said this with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, good job Pride!” From the Helm of the ship I heard Endal yell towards me.

I sat down at the back of the boat and admire the fact that I was flying. The window showing clouds passing by slowly as we headed North.

Next stop, Bahrst.

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