After a couple of failed attempts of getting out the hole (mostly because my concussion and shaky legs) I finally got lucky and managed to get out. Normally, I’d consider that an achievement and pat myself in the back but not today. That was because, as soon as I got out the cave, I got greeted by seemingly endless woods.

I look back at the hole where I came from, considering jumping in it again. If I die here I’ll probably spawn back in Altair. No, no that’s out of the question. The penalties are too severe. 24-hour login ban, loss of several levels ranging from 1 to 4, loss of skill proficiency.

Ah, fuck. What should I do? I sit down near a tree at the edge of the hole and look around me. The forest was quiet. No footsteps, no monsters, nothing. Quite weird since monsters are much more aggressive on full moons.

I’m stuck in the middle of the woods, half of my equipment broken, the other half unusable. Not to mention I just switched to a class I’m not familiar with at all. Now that I think of it, what are my stats anyway? I think it’d be wise to take some time to get familiar with the class.

A Vitality of 10 huh... so my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Fuck. With 100 HP even a common red fox, the kind newbies fight when they’re level 1-10, can easily kill me. Hell, even scratch damage can fatally wound me. Oh god, why do you do this to me? What horrible thing did I do during my past life to deserve this? No, no I shouldn’t complain. I chose this path myself. I’m going to bear the consequences.

The annotation boxes mentioned a couple of other strange stuff too. I also got a ton of skills and a title as well but I’m going to check those out later. What really stuck with me was that strange thing about points invested into strength yielding better results. What was that about? I try investing a skill point into strength.

My strength goes from 460 to 465.

I stare at my stat window in awe. Is this a glitch? No, no that’s impossible. A glitch in a VRMMO game is unheard of. Then… it must be the effect that the annotation box was talking about. But 5 strength for 1 skill point… Normally you’d only get 1 strength per skill point. There were no exceptions. Swordsman, berserker whatever your profession was that didn’t change. It was a fixed value.

But this unique profession of mine seemingly changes that. On top of that it locked my Vitality at 10, lowered all my resistances to 0% and gave me an ass ton of skills and a strange stat. What should I invest these skill points in? I remember something he said to me “Instead of wasting your points by raising low stats to become an all-rounder, invest them on your highest stat instead so you specialize in that field.” Going by that philosophy I invested 500 points into strength and 100 into agility, bringing them up to 2960 and 270 respectively. I press confirm. It is done now. It is done now.

The boxes also mentioned something about increasing damage with all weapons, removing weapon penalties and being able to learn all weapon mastery skills up to master. The increased damage I understand but the removed penalties… hmm.

If it is what I think it is this basically means that weapon class restrictions are removed completely. Many weapons had class restrictions and all of them had penalties if used by the wrong class. You can create a bow-wielding paladin if you like but it would be highly inefficient as the bow wouldn’t do as much damage and wouldn’t be as accurate as when used by an archer. Also, the requirements to use said bow would be higher.

The same could be said about skills. Swordsmanship and other combat skills improved slower for construction classes than it did for combat classes, gave fewer bonuses and capped off at Advanced. This didn’t stop users from becoming jacks of all trades though since the max skill cap in Mortal Coil was a humongous 50 skills. Of course there’s also the thing that there’s more than 100000 skills in the game as confirmed by the developers and that grinding to actually raise skill level was very difficult.

But removing those restrictions means I can basically use any class of weapon I want! There are about 8 major weapon classes in the game not including the miscellaneous things. They are: Blunt weapons, swords, daggers, whips, bows, unarmed, axes, spears and throwables, each with their own strengths. If I can use all of them I’d be invincible!

But… something has been bothering me. I wonder what my core skill is. The developers said that master level of a profession can be achieved by mastering your core skill and going on a special quest.. Swordsmen had swordsmanship, archers archery, sailors sailing etc. but what about me? Normally a class will give you the core skill when you acquire it but the skills I got didn’t look like core skills. Could it be that…? No, no that’s impossible. I mean who would expect someone to be able to do that? It would be an unreasonable request by the developers. Yeah, that’s impossible!

I should just stop worrying my stupid little head about it and focus on what’s in front of me.

Now, let’s check what this new stat I got does. I tap the murderous spirit stat.

________________________________________________

STAT: Murderous Spirit

You emit a murderous intent that scares monsters away from you.

This also makes intimidation easier and more effective.

You cannot invest skill points into this stat.

This stat can be toggled on and off.

The higher the stat the more effective it is.

_____________________________________________

Wait, isn’t this the same with my Fighting Spirit stat?

______________________________________________

STAT: Fighting Spirit

The fighting spirit you emit makes monsters not want to fight you

The higher the stat the more effective it is.

You cannot invest skill points into this stat.

_____________________________________________

These two are virtually the same! I wonder if I can merge them…

“Merge murderous spirit stat with fighting spirit stat!”

*Ting*

_________________________________

Merge successful!

New stat created: Warrior’s Spirit.

Wherever you go you emit a strong spirit.

Monsters are less likely to attack you.

Weaker monsters get scared by your presence and run off.

Intimidation is easier and more effective.

This stat cannot be toggled off.

The higher the stat, the more effective it is.

You cannot invest skill points into this stat.

Stat points set to 110 due to merging.

________________________________________

Holy shit it actually worked! And I got a badass stat out of it! Nice! I wonder if I can get rid of some useless stats too.

Well, toughness, I’m not going to need anymore since I die if someone sneezes on me. Might as well get some skill points out of it.

“Delete ‘Toughness’ stat!”

____________________________

Stat deleted!

You have gained 0 skill points!

_______________________________

Yeah, though so. Gaining skill points by deleting stats is a very rare occurrence and even if you do get lucky you’ll get maybe 3 skill points max. Well, whatever. I freed up a stat slot anyway so it was worth it. Merging and deleting stats existed because you could only have 25 stats at any given time.

Well, let’s move on to my title and skills. After examining those I should get moving since I’ve been staying here for quite a while.

_________________________________

TITLE: A Very Lucky Man, Who Against All Odds, Wins.

You killed a monster with a much higher level than you! Congratulations!

Fame increased by 500.

Luck increased by 45.

+15% more damage against monsters that are much higher leveled.

_____________________________________________________

I got this when I killed the gargoyle. It’s a decent title, although the name is unnecessarily long. The extra fame is a nice addition too.

Now it’s time for the main dish. I open my skill menu.

“Open skill window!”

______________________________________________________________

Swordsmanship (Beginner, Level 9 | 78%)

Identification (Beginner, Level 4 | 21%)

First Aid (Beginner, Level 2 | 16%)

Extreme Counter (Beginner, Level 1 | 0%)

Extreme counter is a very dangerous skill developed by Roderick, the legendary hero.

He developed this skill accidentally when he found out that every swordsman creates a gap in their defenses when attacking, however small that gap is.

The danger in this skill stands that you must attack the enemy as he is swinging his weapon, which requires perfect reflexes. When this technique succeeds however, the damage delivered is catastrophically high.

+350% damage delivered.

Health Burn.

A forbidden skill developed by Roderick de Azan in a last-ditch effort to defeat the demon king.

It sucks up all the vitality in the user’s body and converts it into destructive power, leaving just enough vitality so the user doesn’t drop dead immediately. Legend has it that Roderick developed this technique by copying abyss magic in a desperate effort to kill the Demon King. In the battle he used a more advanced version of the skill called “Spirit Burn”. However, the usage of that technique left him crippled for life. That skill got sealed off and cursed by sunlight god Alanus along with any knowledge of abyss magic in a far off place, in hopes it would never fall into human hands again.

While Health Burn is not nearly as dangerous or powerful as “Spirit Burn”, it is still a lesser form of Abyss Magic.

Due to the technique’s demonic traits, every time it is used your demonic nature stat rises by 100. Every time this stat rises changes will occur to your character. If this stat ever reaches 1000, an irredeemable change will occur. Also, if any member of the clergy sees you using this skill, you will be branded a heretic.

Mana consumption: 5000.

Lowers HP to 0.1.

Drastically increases attack damage.

Mobility becomes limited when skill is in use.

If not healed within 5 minutes of skill activating you will die.

Demonic nature stat increases by 100 each time you use this skill.

This skill can only be used once every two weeks.

After usage user will get inflicted with serious debuffs due to the curse Alanus placed on this skill.

Glass Sword (Beginner, Level 1 | 0%)

A special skill that the legendary hero Roderick created while tinkering with sword techniques.

This skill, when activated, cuts the enemy in a special way by injecting mana into the blade that is designed to maximize damage. However, doing this will break the sword in a way that it can’t be repaired. The damage this skill deals is directly related to the quality of the sword.

Mana Consumption: 1200

Reckless Charge (Comprehension, 0%)

A special sword technique developed by the legendary hero. It involves 4 movements, all of which are attacks. It is considered the strangest sword technique ever to be created as it involves a lot of spins and other bizarre stances but its power cannot be denied.

As the comprehension of this technique rises you’ll be able to execute it faster and stronger.

The first movement involves keeping the sword horizontally and bringing it as close to your side as possible. Then you charge at the enemy and deliver a horizontal slash with all your body weight behind it.

Mana Consumption: 400

The second movement involves using the momentum from the first slash to spin around quickly and deliver an overhead diagonal slash.

Mana Consumption: 500

The third movement involves using the momentum again this time to spin around and deliver a strike from below.

Mana Consumption: 800

The fourth and final movement involves spinning around while turning the sword vertically, taking a step forward and thrusting right towards the opponent’s chest. If done correctly it should damage the enemy greatly.

Mana Consumption: 1000

Endless Steps (Comprehension, 0%)

A special movement technique developed by the hero Roderick. It was considered by many at the time as an impossible technique to perform due to its insane difficulty.

The technique revolves around dodging enemy attacks at the last second by quickly shifting your weight from one leg to another. Performing this technique correctly gives you a major advantage as you have more time to counter attack but nobody has been able to do so besides Roderick himself and his master.

This technique has no mana consumption.

_________________________________________________________

Holy shit these skills are crazy! They’re suicidal! 0.1 HP, how is that even possible? It’s illogical! The other skills too! Glass sword breaks your sword, extreme counter comes with the off-chance you’ll get countered yourself and Health burn… that’s just another plane of crazy! And the cost to use these skills and techniques is insane! 5000 MP to activate Health burn, bitch are you fucking crazy!?! What kind of melee class has that much MP! What have I done to myself!

No, no I should stop complaining and calm down. What’s done is done. I can’t reverse it now. I should instead focus on getting out of this forest. My satiety and thirst levels are getting pretty low too and I only have so many supplies in my inventory.

I get up and look around. How am I going to get out of this forest? Let’s see, I should have a map of Soleris somewhere in my inventory. I open up my inventory and look for the map. Ah, there it is. My trusty old map I bought for 1 silver off a mapmaker.

I open it up. The map, although old, was surprisingly detailed with each and every town, plain, forest in Soleris showing up. It was a very good map, and a good map is vital to any adventurer that doesn’t want to wander the world for ages never reaching their destination.

Ok, here’s Altair Forest and here’s Altair. Altair is east of the forest so if I face towards the moon… yeah, Altair should be to my right. I look to my right but the forest just seems to go on forever. So, do I trust geography or my petty human eyes? Science, always science. I head off to my right.

***

A couple of food breaks later and before me stands the plain near Altair, full of newbies hunting foxes, rabbits and the such. My concussion was still as strong as ever too. I was still seeing doubles and my head hurt. Fortunately, since this was just a game it didn’t affect my thinking abilities.

I was lucky when crossing the forests. I only encountered the occasional pack of wolves and they all ran away scared thanks to my awesome new stat. Thank god I didn’t encounter some of the stronger monsters like the minotaurs or the Zoe spiders. Actually, now that I think about it minotaurs would be relatively easy to kill since they’re big and slow and now that my damage is through the roof it shouldn’t even be that hard to turn them into toothpaste. The Zoe spiders on the other hand… they’re small and live in big packs and they latch to your skin to suck your blood. For a normal player they’d just brush them off but with my 100 HP, I’d die in seconds. It’s quite funny, the small guys pose a bigger threat than the level 200 minotaurs. Ah, this profession of mine is so crooked.

I start walking towards the entrance of Altair, finding it a bit amusing how rabbits and foxes start to run away at full speed as soon as I’m in a 10-meter radius of them. Haha, this is really fun, just walking through. I feel like Moses, parting the red sea!

Some of the newbies looked confused wondering why their prey is running away so suddenly. Haha, I’m sorry guys but this stat can’t be turned off. You’re gonna have to chase them.

While torturing beginners is surprisingly tons of fun I rush to the gates. I want to know what happened to the soldiers. Did they escape safely? If they didn’t, Oscar’s sacrifice would be in vain…

My worries vanish however when I see them at the city gates… being constrained by city guards. I run towards them. They were about 100 meters away but due to my now increased agility, I rush towards them at breakneck speed, covering the distance in less than 7 seconds. Surprised at my own speed, I barely manage to stop before crashing into them. The guards look dumbfounded.

“What is going on here?”

The soldiers recognize me and cheer.

“He’s alive! Captain Jack’s alive!”

A guard with a rough-looking face walks up to me.

“I assume you’re the captain?”

“Yes, I am. Can you explain to me what is happening here?”

“These men refused to move from here so we had to use force. They were saying something about sending an excavating force to a random cave they explored saying Oscar, their commander, and Captain Jack were trapped in there. While Oscar was a fine soldier and an acquaintance of mine, sending a whole excavation force for two men is unheard of! But it seems doing that is unnecessary. You seem to be unscathed and I assume so is Oscar.” He motioned to the guards to release the soldiers.

“Oscar’s dead.” As soon as I said that the soldiers looked as if lightning had struck them.

“H… how?” One of the soldiers asked.

“While you were escaping, the gargoyle fatally wounded him and in the last moments of his life he decided to seal off the entrance by making the roof collapse.”

“A gargoyle… so they were telling the truth. Tell me, what happened to this gargoyle?” said the rough looking guard.

“It is dead. I killed it.”

He looked into my eyes for a second. I didn’t avert my stare one bit.

“Haha, it seems you are telling the truth. You have the eyes of a man who has faced death more than once these past hours. I believe you.”

“Thank you.”

“But to think a gargoyle of all beings… how did it end up there?”

“Actually it was summoned by a cultist that said he worshiped the Eldritch Abomination Corrazgus.”

“I see… it’s just as we feared. We must inform the king immediately.” He looks at me and the soldiers. “You are dismissed. Go home, get some rest. I assume the king’s gonna want to see you.”

The man and some of the guards walk away. The soldiers approached me.

“Is… is he really dead?”

“Yes, I believe so. But do not worry. He died a hero. I am sure he’s in a better place now. You should all go home and rest. It’s been a long night.”

The soldiers nod solemnly, sadness showing openly on their face.

“Come on guys. Let’s go” says one of the soldiers and they all start moving.

“I feel sorry for his wife, Miss Matilda. She is going to be distraught when she hears this.” murmurs one of the soldiers.

He had a family huh… God fucking dammit gargoyle. From now on gargoyles are my number one enemy. If I even see another gargoyle I’m going to bash its face in until it turns into mush. Huuh…

But now what should I do? My sword’s broken and I can’t wear my armor anymore. Well… I might as well give this armor back to Ace. It’s of no use to me now. Or maybe I can sell it? … Nah, that’s too dickish even for me.

He should still be in town. I just need to find him. And I need to get another sword from the blacksmith. I haven’t fought once since I got this profession and I’d like to try that out. But it’s going to be expensive getting a new sword. Heh, guess there’s no rest for the damned huh?

***

“Hey, Mr. Adventurer. Some blue-haired fella dropped off this armor and said it was for you. Oh, he also left a note” The innkeeper said these things to me.

Blue hair? Armor? No, it can’t be!

He pulls something from behind the counter. Holy shit! It’s my Armor of Thorns!

I go over to the innkeeper in an instant and look at the armor. It’s not a fake! There are some scratches here and there but it seems like it’s been repaired lately!

I immediately open the note.

Dear Ace,

Sorry for publicly humiliating you and stealing your armor. It was very useful to me but I’m giving it back. I even repaired it! Again, sorry for humiliating you.

Best Regards, Jack.

Really… if that guy asked me honestly I would have lent it to him. But… wait a second… where’s the helmet? I look at the note again. There was something written at the bottom.

P.S: I accidentally broke the helmet. Teehee!

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT JACK!!!!!!!!!!!