Chapter 3 Scheming a thousand years too soon
"That's..." Izroth attention was drawn to one of the swords in the very middle of the rack of weapons. It was a sword that looked lonely and desolate, it had no hilt and a blade that was around two meters long. One could feel a slight chill radiating off of it if they concentrated hard enough, that chill was killing intent!
Izroth was a bit shocked that something like this was in here! But what Izroth didn't know was that he unlocked one of the hidden features of the game for the Combat Master class! Because he created an A rank skill and was the very first Combat Master to complete his own tutorial, the AI that ran RML wouldn't be cheap and would reward him properly of course.
Izroth hand rested upon the sword and once it touched he got an alert from the system.
Ding! You have selected the 'Nameless Blade'... Displaying stats...
Weapon Name: Nameless Blade
Weapon Rank: Rare
Weapon Level: 10
Requirements: Become the first Combat Master to create a sword skill that is ranked A or higher.
Attack Damage: 30
Weapon Skill: Sword Force(Active) - Control sword force with the help of this blade in order to increase your next attack's damage by 200%.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
Strong! That was the first thing that came to Izroth's mind. This sword was simply monstrous and it was Rare! Probably the first Rare weapon in the game! Izroth knew from the memories he absorbed that if he were to sell this weapon, he would be rich and his mother could easily stop working 3 jobs! But he knew that if he did that, he may not be able to keep up with players who constantly progressed. He wanted to build something more solid, not something that could fall apart with ease.
"Just wait a bit longer... I promise I won't let you suffer much longer" Izroth said with a slightly serious face.
Ding! Do you wish to claim 'Nameless Blade' as your weapon?"
Without even having to glance at the other weapons Izroth responded, "Yes"
Ding! Congratulations, 'Nameless Blade' has been sent to your inventory.
Ding! Since no main weapon is equipped, system automatically equipping 'Nameless Blade'...
Suddenly on Izroth's back, a blade in its sheathe materialized as though it came out of nowhere.
"Congratulations on completing the Combat Master tutorial, Izroth. Since you seem to have some real talent, take this." Gear handed a worn out old book to Izroth.
"While you can create skills yourself, you can also learn it from skill books. What I've given you is a skill I personally created back in my prime days. Use it well, after all, it's just collecting more dust here." Gear seemed to be throwing away trash but when Izroth looked at the skill in the book his eyes couldn't help to reveal a shocked expression.
Skill Name: Flickering Steps
Skill Creator: Gear
Skill Level: 1/3
Skill Rank: A
Active - For the next 10 seconds, the user Agility is increased by 300%.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Description: A skill created by the Famous Adventurer, Gear of the Flickering Steps. His trademark move allowed him to remain untouched on battlefields and only a light flicker of his silhouette could be seen before a foe is slain just moments after.
Such a domineering skill! Gear may have sounded as though he was throwing away trash, but this skill was a true treasure! 300% Agility increase, that could save his life in many situations!
Izroth did a respectful slight bow with his fist cupped towards Gear, "Honored elder, thank you for such a treasure, I will never forget your kindness."
"Hahaha, don't thank me, young man. Thank that talent of yours, after all, I wouldn't have given that skill to just some talentless person after all. Alright, you've stayed around here long enough, go out and explore the world Izroth. Remember, determination and will overcome a great many things."
Gear finally went back out of the room with Izroth following him and resumed his position laying up against the run-down building walls with a flask in his hand. No one would ever think that someone like him was once known as a great adventurer! Given how large RML was, that was saying a great deal of that old man's true strength!
Izroth nodded his head towards Gear before leaving the building.
Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the Combat Master tutorial!
Ding! You have been awarded 50 EXP!
Ding! Since you are the first Combat Master to complete the tutorial, you receive 10 world fame!
So many things happened in the last few hours that Izroth didn't really get a chance to fully look at his character information, so he took a moment to glance it over.
Name: Izroth
EXP: 50/200
Level: 2(Stat Points: 3)
Title: None
Class: Combat Master
HP(Hit Points): 200/200
Energy: 100
ATK(Attack): 70(40+30)
DEFENSE(DEF): 20
AGILITY(AGI): 20
MAGIC(MAG): 0
Gear Equipped:
Nameless Blade - Main Weapon
Skills: (Skill Points: 1)
Breaker of Limits(Passive) Level: MAXED (S Class)
First Baneful Sword: Destruction(Active) Level: 1/3 (A Class)
Flickering Steps(Active) Level: 1/3 (A Class)
Inventory: (Gold: 0 Silver: 0 Bronze: 50)
Empty
Fame:
World Fame - 110
"For now I'll save my stat points and skill points. Since skill points are quite hard to come by, I should think carefully before spending them. For now, I need to level up and earn some currency"
Izroth made his decision before closing out his character window and walking towards the exit of the village into the plains. A bit further from the plains was a forest, but you would have a chance of running into higher level monsters and beast there.
As Izroth was walking towards the forest area a man looked a bit shocked staring at the weapon on Izroth back. It emitted a light glow that only rare weapons would emit! A rare weapon in this run-down village, how was that possible?!
"Hey, what's wrong Mick?" another man came out from inside the building next to Mick and caught him staring down someone.
"Ryder, I think I just came up with a little side quest for us" a small grin appeared on Mick's face.
"Side quest? Are there even such things in this little run down starter village? I want to leave here as soon as possible and get some real experience, skills, and gear" said a woman who came out with the building with Ryder.
"Heh, trust me on this Tina, if we pull this off we could be filthy rich!" Mick looked excited as he spoke.
The three of them were real life friends who formed a party together and was getting ready to go out and try to kill some monsters in the forest. They were already level 5 with their starter weapons and had their beginner class skills.
Mick is a Warrior class, Ryder a Rogue and Tina a Cleric. They had a decent line up for a party but was lacking a magic caster.
"Hey, you! Wait a moment, are you going towards the forest? How about we party together? After all, there are some high-level monsters there." Mick said with a smile on his face as he followed after and approached Izroth.
Ryder and Tina looked a bit shocked at first but when they realized that weapon on that guy back they finally realized what Mick meant. They glanced at each other and a small evil grin appeared on their lips. But they quickly turned it into a 'friendly smile' while approaching Izroth.
"Yeah, you should party up with us. We are missing a spell caster but... Since we can't find any we can invite you and share all the loot equally" Ryder decided to follow along and try to tempt Izroth more. After all, there were 3 of them and 1 of him, if he felt they were unfair or sensed their motives, they could lose a huge opportunity!
"Indeed, you look very strong. Our party would only become stronger and not weaker with you in it" Tina put on a gorgeous smile. She was quite pretty and had a nice body with curves in all the right places. She was making subtle gestures such as slightly leaning forward or tilting her head a little to the side to try and make herself seem more appealing to Izroth.
Izroth stopped and observed the people who walked up to him. While he may have been unclear of many things dealing with games and this world, he had the memories of a hardcore gamer inside of him! Add on to thousands of years of experiencing hardships, plots, and schemes; it was nearly impossible trick him without incredible planning and perfect execution.
Izroth decided to play along with the group. After all, he didn't believe that many people had his kind of advantages this early on in the game.
"Party? Is that like a group gathering or something?" Izroth decided to play ignorant.
A small light shone in Mick eyes, this was going to be as easy as taking candy from a baby! That same line also shone within Ryder and Tina eyes, this guy was for sure a noob! He might just be some rich kid who decided RML was cool and didn't know a thing about video games! An ideal target!
"Yes it's something like that, you see we work together as a team and fight monsters to complete a quest or gain experience. We'd be more than happy to teach you some things, of course, we'll still divide everything equally and fairly with you" Mick kept up his appearance with that friendly smile on his face.
Izroth seemed to be trying to decide what to do, as though he was making a tough decision.
"Okay, I'll be happy to join your party. I'll be in your care" Izroth did a slight bow, but before he could even finish his sentence a system alert popped up!
Ding! Player Mick would like to invite you to a party along with Player Ryder and Player Tina! Do you wish to accept?
"Accept" Izroth responded as he joined the party his teammate levels, HP and MP/Energy displayed on his interface.
Mick, Ryder, and Tina were all level 5!
"A warrior, a rogue, and a cleric huh...? All level 5... I might have to use some caution" Izroth thought to himself. Although he was confident in himself, dealing with 3 enemies at once that was more than twice his level would probably cause him some trouble.
Player Name: Mick
Class: Warrior
Level: 5
HP: 450
MP: 50
Player Name: Ryder
Class: Rogue
Level: 5
HP: 225
Energy: 100
Player Name: Tina
Class: Cleric
Level: 5
HP: 150
MP: 300
Player Name: Izroth
Class: Combat Master
Level: 2
HP: 200
Energy: 100
The instant the others saw Izroth's level and class they didn't know whether to feel sorry for him or burst out laughing to mock him. A Combat Master! This guy was actually a Combat Master and only level 2 at that! Forget being as easy as taking candy from a baby, this would be as easy as drinking water and breathing air!
A look of disdain appeared on all of their faces which didn't escape Izroth, but he chose to ignore it.
They had thought that he may pose a small threat, but that notion completely left their minds now. It was already impressive that he even managed to get to level 2, but it was all probably because of that rare weapon on his back! They had to have it!
Mick finally recovered a bit from his daze before regaining that friendly personality, "Level 2 is already quite impressive for a Combat Master, you must have a lot of talent" Ryder and Tina pretended to suck up to Izroth and agree with Mick, even though that look of contempt in their eyes was easily noticeable.
"Alright, Izroth right? I know you probably already know from the party interface, but I'm Mick, he's Ryder and she's Tina. Now that introductions are out of the way, we should start leveling up" Mick seemed like he couldn't wait any longer standing around.
Izroth nodded in agreement still looking quite clueless to the entire situation.
Mick along with Ryder and Tina began to walk towards the forest leading the way. To be honest, they didn't expect Izroth to contribute anything to the party, they just wanted his sword after all. So it didn't matter if he was in the front or back of the group. Though for some reason the three of them felt a small chill from behind them as though an ancient ferocious beast was about to devour them.
They couldn't help but feel cold sweat down their backs before turning around, still seeing that clueless Izroth there. It must've been their imagination, it was probably some strong monster hidden somewhere watching as they entered the forest but it was fine. Those type of monsters usually wouldn't attack this early and was only there for intimidation purposes.
A small grin appeared on Izroth's face as he thought to himself, "Just a bunch of people don't know the vastness of heaven and earth. You dare to try and scheme against me? Fine, but just know I show no mercy to those who scheme against me! You are scheming a thousand years too soon!" a cold look flashed across Izroth eyes for a moment.
They finally arrived inside the monster forest!
Ding! Player Izroth has discovered a new location 'Willowed Forest'!
Ding! Player Izroth has left the safe zone and can now be attacked!