Weiss crouched on the tree branch, with his back leaned up against the trunk. He had a slightly dazed expression on his face as he stared off into the distance. The expression had come upon him from an hour of being in this exact position. Below him a few small growls and an occasional howl could be heard from around the base of the tree. The Banal wolves had not left and continuously paced around the tree, waiting for him to come down.

The reason they had fallen into this stalemate was because Weiss was too scared to try and execute his escape plan. He knew that if he failed he would most likely revive in either the other plane of existence, or in Morata. It was something he wasn’t too keen on figuring out. What he was interested in, was how long he could survive in a zone that wasn’t meant to be quested through until at least a year from now.

“ffucckk,”

Weiss sighed as he looked back down again. Then he looked up at the sky, his vacant expression focused and became a frown.

“Well I guess there’s nothing to it, but to do it…..arghh this really sucks!”

He slapped himself across the face as he stood up. The branch was quite thick, as were most of the branches in the forest. The entire area had not seen a single logger in over a thousand years so all of the trees had naturally grown to a size that was rarely ever seen on earth. This was in fact a critical part of his plan. He needed all the branches to be this large, so large that he could jump on them and not lose his balance.

He walked towards the edge of the branch he was currently on. A few feet away and towards the left of him was a branch that led to the tree in front of him. He then paced back along the branch he was on, after examining the other branch carefully. After turning around again, he gave his legs a shake and rolled his neck. Then, with a grunt, he started running as fast as he could while maintaining balance. When he came to the end he leapt forward and to the left. He had to duck his head mid-flight to avoid a hanging branch from above. Finally he landed, it seemed he had been in the air for an eternity though it really only lasted about two seconds. He gripped tightly onto the branch in fright, terrified he’d fall. Nothing happened and after a while his muscles un-tensed so he could move. Below he could hear the angry baying of the Banal Wolves. Weiss looked down upon them.

“One down,” he looked towards where his approximation of the ruins of Rosenheim was, “A billion more to go…..”

He gave his arms and legs a shake before he began moving faster now along the branch.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Sweat drenched Weiss’s shirt. For the past two days in the game world he had done nothing but climb and jump from tree to tree. He had gained some stats for his effort but he had turned off the notification option, if a blaring notification popped up in the middle of a jump it could be disastrous. But he had noticed that the whole affair was becoming gradually easier.

“I will shit bricks if I gained something like a tree climbing skill.”

The mutter was replied in kind with the furious howls and snarls of the Banal Wolves below. They were the only observers of his treetop antics. This audience had grown as it got progressively angrier over the past few hours.

Weiss elected this as a good time to check where he was. He’d been doing it every so often to make sure he didn’t go off track. His redhead once again poked up out of the tree cover.

‘Hmmmm, it seems I’ve been going too far to the right. Fuuugg…this sucks.’

He frowned as he descended below and continued. After another few hours, he judged he was over halfway to the ruins.

“Alright! Break time!”

He logged out.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jack opened eyes.

“Shit!”

He ran to the bathroom. After a longer than usual time had passed he came out.

‘That….that’s much better!’

He shuffled down to the kitchen. It was the middle of the night and no one else appeared to be up. He turned on the minimum number of lights he needed to get around the kitchen. He put a kettle on the stove and grabbed an apple.

‘I need all the sugar and caffeine I can get.’

His parents didn’t allow regular sweets into the house. There was chocolate, but after years of perusing around on the internet he had found out that one apple would do more for him that three bars of chocolate.

‘Besides, mom would kill me if I ate that much.’

The chocolate was allowed on the simple reason that his mother loved it, to the extent that she was visibly displeased whenever someone in the house was eating it in front of her.

*TOOOOOOOOT!*

Jack hurriedly took the kettle off the stove, not wanting to wake his parents. He poured himself a cup of black tea, adding honey and a bit of cream. Normally he’d avoid adding the cream but he wanted something to cool it down. After it had finished brewing, he downed it quickly. Then rushed back up to his room, after cleaning up the kitchen so that it appeared he hadn’t been there.

Inside his room, Jack powered up his computer. He found the live stream of the events that were taking place in the cities that were being reclaimed. He witnessed the Geomchis crushing everything in their path, regardless of what city they were in. He caught glimpses of the final 5 that had survived the apocalypse, except for Seoyoon. She and Weed were oddly absent; this caused Jack to grit his teeth.

‘If you have already died…it will make me question making you my goal.’

It would be a lie to say Jack wasn’t absolutely determined to beat Weed. He had grown up respecting him, his battles had been almost like a replacement for Saturday morning cartoons for him. But as he got older and matured, he began questioning him. As he went over the videos with a more critical eye he began wondering whether Weed was actually a good person or not. This conflict had been left unresolved since he had no way of communicating with a person so powerful, that he possibly held more political clout than the leaders of some small nations. But with New Roads, he now had a more level playing field where he could gain the power to challenge Weed and figure this all out once and for all.

Abruptly, Jack stood up after powering his computer down. He then powered up the Accessor Gear and re-connected.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Weiss opened his eyes. The Banal Wolves had finally left; their prey suddenly disappearing was probably what caused it. A smile broke out on his face before quickly being replaced by a more serious one. He needed to concentrate, he wanted to pick up the pace and get there before another two days had passed.

Without the distraction of the Banal Wolves the trip became much more pleasant. Eventually Weiss began to enjoy himself. Whatever skills and stats he was picking up seemed to be making everything way easier than it had previously been. By about mid-day on his third day, since he had started his treetop journey, he came to a stop.

“Damnit!”

His stomach began churning in worry. He realized that over the past several hours he hadn’t checked where he was going. Because of that he had no idea if he had stayed on course or not.

Nervously, Weiss clambered up the tree he was currently on and stuck his head out above the sea of green. Before him, the forest stretched out beautifully but his expression showed that he had no care for the wonderful site before his eyes. He punched the branch he was resting on. He had traveled too far to the right.

‘I’ve probably added another mile or two to this goddamn journey.’

He let a sigh escape before climbing back down to the lower branches. After adjusting his course, he continued to run along the branches.

Unlike the other two nights, he continued to run through the darkest part of the night. During which he had to rely on his other senses to tell him where he was going. The going was slower, but Weiss was impatient to get out of the woods. Right around dawn he was stopped by something, it was a thin mesh of some kind and very sticky. He stopped instantly, fortunately only his hand had gotten stuck. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he waited, standing in the darkness before dawn.

Weiss’s ears strained to hear anything and everything. If what was in front of him was what he thought it was, then eventually he’d be getting an unwelcome visitor. Sure enough, just as dawn’s light was filtering through the trees he heard it.

*SHUS, SHUS, SHUS….*

It was the quiet whirr of multiple legs moving along the tree branches. Then a low hiss reached his ears as a shadow came into view in front of him.

“Shit.”

It was a spider! Above its head floated the name: Steel-Fanged Arachnid. True to its name, its fangs were huge and the morning sunlight glinted off of them. After it spotted Weiss with its vibrant red eyes, it picked up the pace. Its grotesquely furred body making a swishing noise as it delicately moved about its webs.

“Attercop…”

Weiss breathed out before struggling to get his hand free. However nothing seemed to work and the oversized tarantula was nearly open him.

“Wolves sound better right now!”

He jumped off the branch, hoping that his weight would be enough to force his hand free.

With a sharp intake of breath he fell to the forest floor.

-20 Health

Apparently status messages about his health couldn’t be ignored.

He picked himself up and began running in the direction he had been going. Above him he could hear multiple rustlings and the cracking of branches. When he heard multiple hisses going off at the same time he redoubled his efforts at escape. Apparently the initial spider had decided to hunt with his buddies.

“Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck!”

He began to hear large thuds behind him as spiders dropped to the ground in order to give chase. Luckily for him, despite their agility they were not all that great in straight out sprints. This leveled the playing field somewhat.

‘Thank you stat raises!’

Weiss knew that if he still had the base starter stats he would be screwed. He could only thank the time he had spent up in the trees for his current ability to escape.

As he duck and wove through the undergrowth, he had to keep reminding himself to keep going. Every muscle on his body ached, his breath tore out of his throat in ragged gasps. Sprinting for roughly a mile would do that. But he knew he couldn’t stop the crashing and hisses behind him were a constant reminder that to stop was to die.

‘It’s just a game, it’s just a game, it’s just a game….’

This was his mantra to keep himself moving, he kept reminding himself that he wouldn’t actually die if he kept sprinting at this pace. He also knew that it wasn’t too far till he was out of the trees. The last time he checked, it seemed as if he had only needed three or so miles to go and he had already covered half of that.

*HOWL!*

In front of him came the sound of what he thought he had left behind!

Banal Wolves!

A large pack of them were ahead! Their dark leathery forms swiftly wove through the trees. They had picked up on the scent of both Weiss and the spiders and had come running. Still fearing for his continued existence, Weiss hurriedly ran up a trunk and desperately grabbed the lowest branch. Without pausing to look below he ascended into the canopy of the forest. He needn’t have worried though, with the appearance of the Banal wolves the Steel-Fanged Arachnids lost all interest in him. They now had to worry about the wolves rushing towards them. Normally they wouldn’t be bothered by the wolves and would usually attack them. But now they were on the ground and the wolves decided to take advantage of this to get revenge!

*GROWL!*

*HISS!*

As he swiftly moved through the forest, the sounds of the fight slowly faded.

Satiety has fallen below 50%

-5 to all stats

Weiss collapsed into the trunk of the next tree he landed on. His breathing nothing more than ragged gasps as he attempted to recover. He pulled another piece of the horrible bread from his inventory and consumed just enough to remove the status effects. Then he rested his head against the tree and closed his eyes. As he sat there, he just let the events of the past few minutes role over him.

“Dear god, what have I gotten myself into…………………………………………….”

*SIGH*

“Might as well check where I am.”

He clambered up to above the treetops. The morning sun shined brightly as Weiss squinted into the distance. He was rewarded with a beautiful sight! The ruins of the Serabourg of Rosenheim were very near! He quickly made his way back down the tree before swinging to the ground. He began a steady jog after that. Luckily for him nothing else seemed to be lurking in the slowly thinning forest.

He continued running right up to the ruined walls. Once there, he paused to nibble on some more of the tasteless bread as he looked around. Where he stood, the wall was nothing more than a five foot high bump, and like most things in the area it seemed that it was slowly being consumed by the forest. Along the wall he saw several trees that straddled it, like eternal besiegers that broke the wall down a speck of dust at a time.

He was about to step over the barrier when…

*DING, DING, DING!*

Alarm: Time For Work

Snooze or logout?

“FUCK!”

……………….

“logout.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jack ripped the Accessor gear off and quickly changed into his work uniform. After struggling into his shoes he bolted out of the door and through the house and out into the driveway. He hurriedly hopped into his car and sped away from the house.

All through traffic he exhibited extreme road rage. He was furious, he had finally gotten to a good point in the game and he was forced to leave for his stupid job! After he reached the mall he worked at, he slammed his door after he got out of the car and began hurriedly walking across the parking lot to the entrance. By the time he got there, he had managed to calm down. He reminded himself that it was this job that was paying for the game whenever his parents stopped paying for it, and that it would also be paying for anything fun he wanted to do.

After successfully navigating the mall, he reached his final destination……Starbacks. His shoulders visibly slumped as he looked up at the sign before walking in. He had never been a fan of the company and actually hated just about everything on their menu. However, they surprisingly gave the best pay and that was all that Jack needed. It also helped that all of the baristas there were attractive.

‘they DEFINITELY didn’t discriminate during the hiring process.’

Jack didn’t mind though, he had managed to get a job and that was all he cared about. He went through the staff door, grabbed an apron, and punched in. He then plastered a smile on his face and went out to the front to begin serving coffee, however…..

“Wow, there are not a lot of people.”

“No shit Sherlock”

The girl who replied to his comment was a cold beauty. She was taller than the average girl and was what could be only called just shy of filled out. She also wore a sharp pair of jet black glasses, the color of her hair also happened to be the same. Her name was Meg, she and Jack had probably the best working relationship out of all the Starbacks workers.

“Wow good to see you too Watson.”

She rolled her eyes at him before resuming her position at the register with her head supported by her hand. After a while…

“Obviously most people are playing New Roads right now. Look around here! It’s practically a senior convention!”

Jack looked up from where he had been cleaning around the espresso machine. Meg was right, only a few scattered groups of people were in the lounge area and all of them could be described as old. As usual, when it came to new technology, the old were left behind. But something was still confusing him.

“But what about the early morning rush? Shouldn’t there be at least a few people that work in the offices around here getting coffee?”

Meg shook her head.

“Jack, ya need to look at the big picture. We live in a……rich area right?”

“right”

“Which means lots of people can afford New Roads, especially with the Accessor gear now right?”

“right”

“Also it’s estimated that 1 in 6 people have bought the game. However, looking at age groups, most players will be in the 13 to 40 range right?”

“….I guess so?”

“They are. So, who do you think the bulk of our customers are in the morning?”

“people in that range?”

“Good, now what day is it today?”

“Sunday?......oh”

“Ya figured it out! Congratulations!”

“Shut up!”

Jack grimaced in annoyance. Meg loved lording things over him whenever she got the chance. She was planning to go to college and major in business. She also happened to be a bit of an overachiever so it was no surprise that she would know these kinds of things.

He gave the espresso machine one last vicious swipe before putting the now dirty rag away. He then resigned himself to standing at the machines, completely and utterly bored. That was until…..

“Hey, make me a frappe.”

“…..”

“Jack, I said----“

Meg cut herself off when she turned around to yell at Jack, he was wearing a malicious smile on his face.

“Now, now, that’s no way to ask. What do we say?”

“Make me a frappe…..please.”

“And what about earlier?”

She frowned as Jacks smile just grew wider, bordering on scary.

“Sorry.”

“Good! So the brute does have manners!”

Jack happily set about making the frappe. Meg couldn’t do this herself because she had been barred by anyone that worked the same shifts as her from touching the machines. She had literally wrecked one so bad they had needed to get a replacement, though no one was sure how she had done it.

Jacks shift continued like that until a few hours after lunch. Meg had finished her shift earlier with a few people that were in the back. They had been the ones to open. Now it was his turn to be done!

He nearly sprinted to his car before speeding down the highway back to his house. When he got there, he pounded up the stairs to his room and crammed his Accessor gear on his head.

Then…….

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Weiss opened his eyes and looked around, it was dark out now.

‘Must be the night before the fourth day in the cycle.’

The moonlight filtered in through the trees and further aided his enhanced vision.

‘Which reminds me; just what kind of skills did I get?’

“Turn on positive status updates and show summary of updates since turned off.”

Vitality + 4

Strength + 5

New Stat: Endurance

Endurance: Reduces the loss of vitality and stamina. Stat points distribution is possible and depending on the character’s actions, it can increased by itself.

Endurance + 5 [window]

[window] Agility + 10

Intellect +2

Luck +10

New Skill: Acrobatics

New Skill: Sensory Perception

Your Acrobatics was increased to level 4

You’re movements become more fluid and precise. You also are able to perform greater feats of flexibility and agility!

-5% falling damage

+ 6 Agility

+4 Luck

Your Sensory Perception was increased to level 2

Your senses are expanded to their absolute limits and allow you to perceive the area around you in greater detail.

Increases resistance to blind 10 %

Increases night vision 10%

+3 Intellect

Weiss had a thoughtful expression on his face as he looked at the skills and stats he had gained.

“Not bad at all, stat window!”

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Weiss,Neutral[/quart]

[quart=Level,Class]1,none[/quart]

[quart=Race,Title]Human,none[/quart]Fame0[quart=Health,Mana]215,125[/quart]

[quart=Strength,Agility]15,26[/quart]

[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,15[/quart]

[quart=charm,Luck]0,14[/quart]

[quart=Vitality,Endurance]14,15[/quart]Resistance:

+10 % blindSpecial options:

+10% night vision

-5% falling damage

For most of the stats, Weiss wasn’t surprised. However, the abnormally high luck for his stage in the game interested him.

‘That’s probably why I’m still alive. If not for that, those spiders and wolves definitely should’ve gotten me!’

He knew very well that he was way in over his head here and was honestly surprised he made it this far.

‘Now what? Didn't think I’d make it here….so what to do………..’

Now that he was aware his enhanced perception was a skill, he decided to consciously apply it. As he gazed into the shadows inside the wall he began to get a clearer image of what was farther in. He flashed a grin as he began to walk into the Serabourg.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Huff, Huff*

*SLAM!*

*PPPHHHHHH*

*HHHHAAAAAaaaaahhhh*

Weiss attempted to forcibly slow his breathing. He had been running as fast as he could for the past hour. Since entering Serabourg he had been trying to stealthily explore the city. He had already been aware that monsters would be lurking thanks to the online posts he had seen whenever he took a break.

However, once again his luck seemingly ran out and he was spotted by a patrol of Ghouls after a few hours of peace. They had

said such things as

-Kill the human! Then we’ll eat him!

Or

-I call the leg!

Weiss hadn’t really been listening; he had run as soon as the glowing eyes of the undead had focused on him. That had resulted

in him now trying to stall his desperate gasps for air on the roof of a building; hoping that the Ghouls wouldn’t find him in this

place.

After several minutes his breathing had normalized and he realized he had heard nothing that sounded like a ghoul for the past

few minutes.

Weiss cautiously crept to the edge of the roof; the moon had set a short while ago. But his sensory perception skill had gone up

so he could barely make out the moving shapes that seemed to have come up against a barrier.

He remained motionless as he watched the forms attempt to rush the invisible line, only to falter and stop. He cocked his head

to the side

‘Seems they really can’t cross whatever is there. But then, what makes this place different?’

With this in mind, Weiss climbed down from his hiding spot and began to look around. He reasoned that he was safe, at least in

the vicinity of the buildings around him.

He ignored the shrieks, groans, and moans of the ghouls and began looking around the area. He could tell something was off but

he wasn’t sure what. By now, he had made his way to the edge of what he could reason was the barrier and tried to do a side by

side comparison. Though after a few minutes he still couldn’t tell what was different. The buildings inside and outside were

both in ruins and there was still the atmosphere of neglect and decay around them both.

He really couldn't tell what made this area different and was about to give up on physical indicators. That was until he saw

what looked to have been a house that was bisected by the ‘barrier’. The ghouls were on one side and him on the other.

‘Ah so that’s it!’

He finally could tell what had made him feel that there was a difference. The area within the barrier seemed to be free of some

kind of taint that was found outside of it. The air and buildings seemed brighter, as if they weren’t covered by a shadow. Weiss

could intuitively tell that when the sun came out, this section would seem as if it were receiving all of its rays; while the other

side would have an overcast and dreary feeling to it.

Weiss then wheeled around to face the ghouls that had been following him. He gave them a final smirk before turning around to

explore deeper into what he had decided to call the ‘purification zone’.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

It had been a few hours since Weiss had left the ghouls behind and had been exploring. He wasn’t sure if his skill level had gone up or if the sky was really getting brighter, but it was getting easier to see.

He had already circled around the perimeter of the barrier. It wasn’t very large, at least in comparison to the city as a whole.

The entire walk had taken him roughly an hour. Now he was moving about the interior. He was trying to find what exactly was

causing the barrier. If it was something that he could carry, he intended to take it.

Eventually he came upon a large building, larger than any of the others in the area. It also seemed to be more intact than those

around it. Weiss smiled, these were differences that he liked. It was almost like the place was screaming that it had something

inside. He of course was obliged to give it a look around.

He had some difficulty getting inside since the entrance was blocked by quite a bit of rubble. After looking around he found a

hole in the wall to the left of the entrance. His acrobatics skill came in handy here as he smoothly scaled the wall before

slipping inside.

*COUGH, COUGH*

The interior was filled with dust and made seeing and breathing difficult, even with the sensory perception skill. He slowly

began to walk around the interior. His movements were methodical; he wanted to be absolutely sure he had searched every

nook and cranny for the possible source of the barrier.

After a few minutes he had covered the first room. It was quite large but pretty simple. It was just a large square that took up

the majority of the building with a ceiling that ran to the top of the building. It had been well preserved. The floor had only a

few fractures in it and appeared to be made out of large slabs of stone. The walls were also made out of the same sturdy stone.

At about ten feet above the floor there were regularly spaced openings that he guessed had once been windows. The way the

room was set up it almost seemed like a high school gym.

‘All it needs now is some hoops.’

Weiss smirked as he kept looking around. Along the front and back walls there were what seemed to have once been racks, or at

least that’s what he guessed.

He narrowed his eyes in concentration as he did another sweep over the room. His eyes widened in surprise when he figured it

out.

“This is-!”

-The training hall.

Weiss whirled around, his heart pumping when he heard that voice. He found himself looking at a shimmering, mist-like form

that was slowly gaining more definition and starting to look decidedly orc like.

-It has been a while since someone has come here…….someone living at least.

The orc-ghost laughed at his on joke. Weiss grimaced, he wasn’t sure how to respond to this situation.

“Uhh…..”

-Ah, you must be confused. I guess you’re used to ghosts attacking you on sight. I and the others are a little different.

When the orc-ghost said, “others,” Weiss began scanning the room. Other ghosts began to take shape and surround him. He

visibly blanched.

-Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. You seem to be a foreigner; it is good to see that you have returned to Versailles once again.

You should know what has happened to a certain extent, but I’ll explain what happened here.

The orc-ghost went on to explain that during the final battle he and his comrades had all been slaughtered here. However due

to the uncontrollable dark magic that was running rampant through the continent and their intense desire to protect those that

were trying to make it to the road of light, they had become ghosts. Then after the final battle they had been able to lay claim

to a portion of the city and had waited. They had spent a thousand years waiting for someone to come and purify the city so

that they could finally rest.

-I watched my wife die before my eyes; I don’t want to live this cursed existence any longer. Please free us from this, purify this

city.

*TING!*

Purify the Citadel of Serabourg!

The ghosts of Serabourg wish to rest. They ask that you find some way to purify the city and end their curse.

Quest Difficulty: B

Quest Restrictions: must not have attacked the ghosts of Serabourg on sight

Rewards: unknown

“Uh, I could try but I don’t really know how to go about doing it. I don’t think I could defeat all the monsters in this city by

myself.”

-There is another way. The darkness can be gradually removed from the city by expanding the purified area.

“…..and how do I do that?”

-By repairing the city.

“What?”

Weiss couldn’t believe what he was hearing, to purify the city it needs to get renovated!? There’s still no way a single person

could do that. Not only that, but the strategy didn’t even make sense!

-The darkness has worked its way into every nook and cranny of the city. You might’ve noticed that there is distinctly less decay

in the purified area correct? The darkness only destroys and corrupts, by rebuilding and then using a purification spell you can

gradually weaken its influence.

‘Ah, so there is some other kind of spell involved. But still….ugh, I’ll just abandon it if I die or something.’

“Very well, I will push back the darkness and restore Serabourg!”

*TING!*

You have accepted the quest!

-We thank you foreigner! To complete this quest you will need certain skills. Allow those of us with the required knowledge to

help you!

Before Weiss could say anything, several ghosts detached themselves from the group behind the orc-ghost. They started moving

towards him rapidly –

“Hey! Wha---!”

Before he could even react they slammed into his body and were seemingly absorbed by it.

“What the hell?”

*TING!*

New Skill: Possessed skills!

Possessed skills are skills obtained when possessed by ghosts that had the skills during life. While skill growth is possible during possession, skills will not be retained after possession ends. All stat increases during possession will remain. Only one skill slot will be taken up for all possessed skills.

New Possessed Skill: Cooking Advanced Lv. 2 (20%)

Can create culinary masterpieces!

New Possessed Skill: Sculpting Intermediate Lv. 9 (90%)

Your sculptures are aesthetically pleasing

New Possessed Skill: Architect Advanced Lv. 1 (0%)

Able to draft masterpieces of architecture!

New Possessed Skill: Mining Intermediate Lv. 8 (50%)

You can find more and rarer ores and stone!

New Possessed Skill: Forestry Advanced Lv.1 (10%)

You are able to harvest more and rarer bounty from the forest!

New Possessed Skill: Blacksmithing Advance Lv.1 (20%)

Able to create better armor and weapons

New Possessed Skill: Tailoring Advanced Lv. 1 (4%)

Able to create stronger and more beautiful clothing

…………………………………………

‘What the fuck!?’

-While the darkness is still in this city, these ghosts will aid and guide you, they were once citizens of this city and wish to see it

brought back to its former glory!

“Ah….Thanks! I will do everything in my power to restore Serabourg!”

-Good! Hahaha!

The orc-ghost seemed to finally relax.

-There are some tools and other items in the back of this training hall, hopefully a few are still useable.

Weiss’s ears perked up at this. A cold grin swept over his face. Like any player he liked items, and if this was like any other

game the items that you find in ancient areas are always superior!

“Thank you, I will go and see what I can use.”

Weiss hurriedly moved towards the back of the hall and crawled through an opening in the wall. On the other side was a small

room with random items scattered about.

‘I said I’d help them…but this is going to take so long! Especially since I can only spend so much of my day playing.’

He frowned as he was looking about, most of the items were broken or only the metal parts remained, the wood long since

rotted away. Light began to filter in through the cracks on the walls.

“It’s morning huh….”

Then a glint caught his eye. There was a sword that he hadn’t noticed earlier in one of the corners of the room. It seemed to be

in better shape than the others he had seen scattered and broken on the ground. He quickly walked over to it and picked it up.

‘I didn’t get the identify skill, but since I have such a high black smith skill it should be fine.’

“Item information.”

Ancient sword of the Rosenheim Guard

This is a ceremonial sword that was given to distinguished guardsmen. It was imbued with magic to help retain its quality. Though it could do with a sharpening and a polish

Durability: 800/1000

Damage: 8~10

Level Restriction: 200

Special Options:

+ 10% Leadership

+ 5% Charm

+20% resistance to abnormal status effects

………………..

Weiss frowned for a second. The sword was too high of a level for him. Eventually he just shrugged and stored it in his

inventory. It was then that he realized that it was nearly dinner time!

“log out.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jack sat at dinner. He was exhausted from his ordeal of reaching Serabourg and disheartened by how well everything seemed to be going for the twins. He sighed as he looked down at his plate. He was also multi-tasking by opening the Auction site on the official New Roads webpage.

‘might as well sell it.’

He placed the sword on the page after making an account. From extensively following Royal Road he felt he knew what would

be a fair price for the item and placed it in at $100 and left it up for bidding for two days.

It was after finishing this that he heard it..

“-Kami-“

“WHAT was that girl’s name again?”

He thought he had heard a familiar name, one that would always manage to stoke his competitive flame.

“Aaahh, how nice of you to come back to earth Jack.”

His father made the comment with a bemused expression on his face as his little sister looked at him with annoyance, since he had interrupted her story.

“What? Which girl’s name?”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall the bit of the conversation he was interested in.

“Uh, um, the one that stayed with you guys? Uhh, oh yeah. The one that would attack first!”

“oh, her character name was Kurokami.”

“….I see. So she made it into this game as well huh?”

Jack mumbled off the last bit as he began to finish off the rest of his meal with an intense enthusiasm. The rest of his family

looked at him curiously, throughout the entire meal he had seemed to be on autopilot so when he suddenly sprung back to life they

were naturally curious as to what caused it.

He gulped down the last of his food and then stared intently at his parents. There was a fire in his eyes. Their intensity was

something that his family was used to seeing only when he was playing soccer.

“Mom… Dad..”

“Yes?”

“I’m quitting my summer job. But don’t worry I can make money a different way.”

“WHAT!? What do you mean you’re quitting your job? How are you going to make money in a different way?”

His parents looked at him with very displeased expressions. Their expressions darkened further when an answer wasn’t forthcoming. Instead they saw Jack raise his hand, as if to say ‘wait’, and began fiddling with his smartphone with his other hand.

“I thought we told you no phones at the table.”

Jacks dad muttered, as he watched his eldest doing something with his smartphone.

“Here it is!”

With a triumphant look, Jack shoved his phone’s display is his parent’s direction. After reflexively flinching backwards, his mom took the phone out of his hand and looked at the information displayed on it. After that she passed it on to his dad so he could read what was on the screen. His dad then handed it back to him. His mom and dad exchanged glances before looking back at their son.

“Do you really think anyone is going to start with a bid that high at this point?”

His dad spoke for both himself and his wife. Jack looked down at his phone again before replying with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Somebody already has.”

His parents shared another glance before his dad replied.

“Alright, I think I understand what your plan is. IF you can keep this rate up, this could very well be quite lucrative for you. Which

means you’ll owe us less in the long run for housing for the next four years. So I think we agree that you can quit your job.”

“Yes, BUT there will still be play restrictions. I don’t want you becoming unhealthy because of that game. Also, if you can’t continue to earn more you will have to find a new summer job and you will be restricted from playing for the rest of the summer.”

His parents both had serious expressions on their faces. They wanted him to have fun in everything he was doing, including his job. However, they also wanted him to earn money since the deal between them was that, they would pay for tuition if he would pay for housing. He understood this and gladly accepted the new conditions.

“Alright, well then….may I excuse myself so I can get back to ‘work’?”

“No, the rest of us are still eating dinner and you need to talk to your family.”

Jack’s shoulders sagged slightly but then bounced back. He knew he’d have plenty of time tomorrow and for the rest of the summer.

‘Just you wait Kurokami, Weed. I’m going to rebuild an entire city and then I’m coming for both of you!’

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http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4613

HEEYYY!!!! I'm still alive, sorry for such a long wait. [th_093.gif] . ANYWAYS! I hope you enjoyed this, it's a bit longer than normal, consider it my apology. I'll try to get more chapters out but I can't guarantee when they will be out so bookmark or subscribe or whatever function this site has. Also PLEASE comment, comments and cookies always motivate me to write so please do. Until next time!