Respawning at Locked Position

3/100 Respawns used.

Quest Failed:

“To Be a Hero”

The Winter Family Farm has burned.

Quest Failed:

“Weeping Willow”

You lost to Tristan Willow, his curse continues.

Respawning at Locked Position

4/100 Respawns used.

Quest Failed:

“To Be a Hero”

The Winter Family Farm has burned.

Quest Failed:

“Weeping Willow”

You lost to Tristan Willow, his curse continues.

Respawning at Locked Position

5/100 Respawns used.

Quest Failed:

“To Be a Hero”

The Winter Family Farm has burned.

Quest Failed:

“Weeping Willow”

You lost to Tristan Willow, his curse continues.

Respawning at Locked Position

6/100 Respawns used.

Quest Failed:

“To Be a Hero”

The Winter Family Farm has burned.

Quest Failed:

“Weeping Willow”

You lost to Tristan Willow, his curse continues.

***

Time passed, try after try kept Raven in a monotonous pattern of arriving at that crucial moment with Tristan before being killed but the superior fighter. He was able to learn a few things through his painful repetition however, the most important being about multiple reward choices.

Everytime he got back to Tristan he was offered the same three Skills to learn, but because he kept his skills after death he was able to acquire them all at this point. Which was a spectacular way to abuse his respawning power.

Skill Learned:

Perfect Parry: Costs 1 Concentration, Cooldown- 2 minutes (1 Minute 55 Seconds)

For the next 2 Seconds you move with quick and instinctive speed, able to block and turn aside all Physical Attacks that target you. You cannot attack while using Perfect Parry.

Skill Learned:

Sky Piercer: Costs 1 Concentration, Cooldown- 10 minutes (9 Minutes 55 Seconds)

You channel power into the front of your weapon, and move forward with incredible speed to attack an enemy at one of their weakest points. If the target is a monster you deal damage equal to three times your level plus three times your Strength. If the target is a non-monstrous target then you deal damage equal to your level plus twice your Strength.

He discovered that Tristan respects choosing Sky Piercer the most, so he just said he wanted that one every time now which led to an increase in Tristan's favorability. Raven also discovered that if he had high relations with an NPC before a death, they would be more inclined to like him faster in the current life. Which made it a lot easier to befriend Tristan again and again.

He was also able to continuously make further progress in his fight with Tristan each time he tried again. One time he tried not using the Crystal Dagger in the fight with De’rune, so he could use it against Tristan, but he just ended up getting squashed by the oversized tree. His biggest disadvantage currently was that he couldn't level up anymore which means he was stuck trying to just avoid Tristan until he could land a solid hit.

He figured out that Tristan was around level 40 based on his Skills and Concentration levels, and Raven just couldn't beat him fast enough before his defensive skills were back up. He was stuck…

The bed felt stiff under him as he fell down into it, rubbing at his temples in thought as he stared up at the farmhouse ceiling above him.

‘I’ve tried everything I can think of, besides going somewhere else. But I have no guarantees that I’ll find someone who will teach elsewhere. Plus, I doubt anyone else could beat having a Heroic Knight as a teacher. Plus Tristan will be a strong ally that I may not be able to meet somewhere else if I go to another location, meaning I’d have to waste a life before coming back again. What else can I do to get stronger...’ he thought to himself, the various thoughts running through his mind all at once.

He passively opened up his Character Status Window to stare at it blankly, hoping something would jump out at him:

Available Attributes: 0 Points

Name: Raven Winter Level: 10 (0/4,000 EXP) Ranks: 2 (Farmer)

Health: 74/74 Concentrated Power: 2

Strength: 20 Willpower: 20 Agility: 20 Concentration: 20

Endurance: 20 Charm: 12

Luck: 30

Skills:

Titans Blessing- Shifting Fate

Quick Slash

Perfect Parry

Sky Piercer

Ranks:

Farmer - Rank(s): 2

Rank 1: A farmer is used to wear and tear and bad weather! +25% resistance to harsh weather conditions. Rank 2: A farmer is never down for the count when there is work to be done! +5 Health.

‘All the ways I know that can make me stronger require me to be at least level 20 in an actual class. I have three more slots for Ranks. I could try to get some unique combinations..’

In the game Ranks were like mini classes that gave benefits as you increased them, each one could go to Rank 5. If you were lucky though, and had two different kinds of Ranks that worked well with each other, they could combine to form a new and more unique Rank. This would lead to you gaining benefits from both Ranks as well as more abilities from the new Rank it formed, as well as freeing a slot up where you could get another Rank; as each person was limited to a total of four Ranks. It was a pretty good way to get the edge on people, since Ranks couldn't be seen by outside sources, and were hard to guess if you didn't know what to look for.

While thinking back about what he knew about Ranks, he slowly sat up as his gaze moved to the Rank 2 Farmer he possessed, he still had three Ranks he could unlock. The only problem there was that this was one he was unfamiliar with, but he did have to admit the two benefits he had already were incredibly useful compared to other beginner Ranks.

“Last time it took me a week of farm work to get a rank up, I could stick around for the majority of the week, leave before the attack, then pick up farming somewhere else until I maxed it out.” he thought aloud quietly to himself, nodding his head gently as he decided on the course of action.

It would be another use of a life, but if everything worked out he would be as strong as he could at the current moment in time. So he could gauge his chances of success against Tristan after that.

He made his final decision with a firm nod to himself as he closed his eyes, smiling softly. It would be nice to see his parents of this world again, he’d just snuck away in the night over and over again. It would be pleasant to actually spend some time with them, and break the monotony of his painful deaths against Tristan for a little bit.

A little bit of sitting in silence eventually led to a night of warm slumber, before the loud screech of that rooster woke him early in the morning…

***

Raven wiped sweat from his brow as he accepted a mug of water from his mother with a smile, panting slightly at the work he and his father had accomplished for the day.

“I’m not sure what's gotten into since your birthday but that's the fastest I've seen you get a week's work done!" His father praised with a hearty laugh as he too drank from a mug of cold water.

Rank Up!:You have reached Rank 3 Farmer, award rank 3 Farmer feature:

Rank 3: A Farmer of the land is hard to put down, Physical Resistance Increased by 5%.

'That's amazing… a Rank that can actually give me resistances. Those are some of the rarest ones! This Farmer Rank continues to surprise me. ' He thought to himself, before being lurched forward slightly from someone behind him.

He turned and smiled to himself as he accepted a firm slap on the back from his father, offering a small laugh in response to his comment. It had been three days, which meant he had another four before the attack took place. If he worked hard he might get lucky and rank up again, since working with his dad seemed to help him get Ranks a bit faster than if he were just trying to grind it out alone.

So he continued as he was, waking up early in the morning to hit the fields with his father. Due to his higher level and stats he was able to do a lot more work than before, so he asked his father for some of the more harder tasks. He hoped that the more difficult it was, the higher chance he had to rank it up.

With that thought process he continued, pushing his endurance to the max as he hooked up farm animals to tills and got farms in order. He worked so hard his father even started slacking off, leaving him to do all the heavy lifting. For four days he continued, dragging his tired and exhausted body out of bed to push forward until the end of that that fourth day when he collapsed onto bed and his eyes lit up and the blue screen that popped up in front of him.

Rank Up!:

You have achieved Rank 4 Farmer, awarding Rank 4 Farmer feature.

Rank 4: A farmer is always focused on their work, nothing can distract them from getting it done! Concentrated Power increased by 2.

‘WHAT! That’s ridiculously powerful! HA sorry I called you a stupid game.’ he thought excitedly as he shot up at the prompt. He had never heard of a Rank being able to increase Concentrated Power before, and for good reason. It was such a strong and valuable skill to be able to thread ability after ability together. Now he could do two more for just being a Farmer?! It was miraculous, once he was able to have more skills to use he could outpace almost anything at the same level as him.

‘If that’s the Rank 4 feature, I wonder what the Rank 5 one is...amazi-’ his thoughts were cut off as a flash of orange and red appeared in his vision outside his window. The sound of a gruff and commanding voice echoing from outside the house brought him slamming back to the reality of why he was trying to get stronger.

“Winter family! Please come on out so we can have a talk!” the voice called out, hearing it again made Raven flash back to the cold mud on his face, the sharp tip of a blade at the back of his skull...his first death in this world.

It was all happening again like a scene from a movie, except this time he knew they were there, and he knew he had no chance to deal with them. So, this time, instead of marching out the front door he quickly opened his bedroom window and slipped out as he heard the people outside grabbing his parents and wrestling them outside. He was instantly soaked as he landed in the mud outside, and the fierce storm above railed water down against him.

He was off after that, barefoot in slippery mud towards the back fence of their property. If he hurried he could beat the fire, but before he could get very far he felt the instinctive need to turn back. He spotted the platemail toting woman that had been his first killer glancing at him from the window. His eyes went wide at what else he saw though, something that he had missed the first time he had seen this all play out, something that he was happy to know before trying to fight off these invaders when he was actually strong enough.

His gaze caught the starry night sky through the stormy clouds that plagued the area, their milky light peeking through to reveal the home he was running from. That was how he was able to see them.

Two cloaked figures sat perched on the top of the roof of the farmhouse, black longbows in their hands that drew back in unison to send sharp broad headed arrows his direction. There were more than just the five people he had been planning for. There were at least seven…

That was the last thought that got to cross his mind in that life as he was flung to the ground by the force of the arrows colliding into him. Sharp pain raged through his whole back as he screamed out in shock. Maybe luckily for him one of the arrows had slammed right through his heart, ending him rather quickly and causing him to gasp as his eyes opened suddenly.

There he was standing in that room again, one week prior. A blue screen popped up in front of him and he read it as he slowly rolled his shoulders. The two spots where the arrows had hit were sore and throbbing.

Respawning at Locked Position

7/100 Respawns used.

Quest Failed:

“To Be a Hero”

The Winter Family Farm has burned.

He sighed lightly, another death, another go around where he couldn't get strong enough. It wasn't too big of a waste though, he conceded as he slowly sat down on the bed and moved to lay across it. He got two Ranks in Farmer, learned some valuable information about the attackers, and probably the best thing he had managed to learn was the position of the moon in the sky. He had glanced at it before the two arrows reached him...he knew exactly when they were going to attack.

All he had to do now was finish getting ready. He took in a slow breath as he rolled his neck and nestled down into his bed.

‘Get Rank 5 Farmer, then go from there. I’m close, I just have to stick it out a little longer.’ he assured himself as he slowly closed his eyes. He had dealt with a lot of stuff in his real life, it was almost ironic the power he had in this game world. He had been dying for three years before he got here, he would have given anything for a reset button back then. Now that he had one? He didn't care if they had an army with them, he was going to figure out how to win.