Damn, she got me good....not exactly sure how her weapon reached me....it was almost 5 inches away. Was it another shockwave but midair? No, I definitely remember the feeling of being stabbed. Maybe an illusion or possibly a skill that increased the range of her weapon.

Locke selected the respawn option. Since this was a PVP death, he was not locked out of the game for the death penalty. He acknowledged that caution is in order because if he dies again in the next two weeks the penalty would trigger.

His vision cleared up as he was now sitting on a cathedral pew. Nobody else was inside the building same as before. It was slight but he could tell this wasn't the same cathedral as before. This of course was expected since the other building was strictly for new players joining the continent.

Locke left the Cathedral and was met with an interesting but expected scene. Wolf was pulling a dagger out from the back of Mesmir's throat. The now dead body fell to the ground with a thud. Looking around he noticed the bodies of all three targets.

Interesting. It seems like the bodies will vanish if the player has the ability to respawn right away. Curious how well known this is, I have yet to read about it.

“Looks like you got all of them.”

Wolf looked over at Locke. “Of course....wait....what killed you?”

Scratching the back of his head. “Funny story, they had the help of two mercenaries...luckily I managed to kill the targets before they finished me off.”

Wolf shook his head. ”Now they definitely know you're a player.”

“Yeah....not much I can do about that now."

Locke wasn't worried because people would have figured it out sooner or later. Given how Mesmir and the others died the result would have been a PVP death. This meant they would be given to option to respawn as long as they haven't died in PVP recently. If an actual NPC killed them, it wouldn't be like that. Its possible people might have assumed that death by an NPC assassin inside of town was different, but that was a bit of a stretch.

“Let's head back to collect our reward, nothing in the job stated you needed to live through it.”

The job was done, their three targets were killed once at the bar and a second time at the Cathedral. This idea was brought up by Wolf during the meeting. There was no meaning in killing them just once if they were going to respawn and continue playing.

Locke thought it was somewhat harsh though it did send a stronger message. Granted he also believed they deserved the punishment. These three were not only extorting new players at the Cathedral several times this week but were also involved in tracking the people that didn't pay. Depending on how powerful the target looked they would either take care of the kill themselves or call one of their superiors.

The pair made their way back to the rendezvous point, it was an abandoned building not too far away. Vincent and two assassins were waiting for them.

Vincent stood up from his seated position. “I take it the mission is complete?”

“Yes, they have been killed twice,” Locke answered.

“I'm not talking to you.” Vincent looked at Wolf expectantly.

Wolf nodded.

“Good, very good. Are you two sure that chosen will not be able to revive for multiple weeks if killed twice? I still can't believe this to be true, this kind of knowledge shouldn't be unheard of.”

“You will just have to trust us on this one, maybe it's a new rule?” Locke replied.

“Hmm, new rule.....yes I suppose that is possible.”

This makes me wonder if there are still chosen NPC's kicking around. Based on the discussions with Vincent they should exist. Do they revive immediately when they are killed every time unlike us?

Everyone in the building got comfortable to discuss the success of the job. Locke explained the fight in full detail including the fact that Beatrix and Flamecaller intervened. He left out one thing though and that was his death. There wasn't any reason to explain that to the NPC's and hopefully, Wolf had enough discretion to not randomly bring it up.

One of the assassins spoke up. “I am surprised you were able to handle those two while completing your objective. I'm impressed.”

Vincent got up and put his hand on Locke's right shoulder “Looks like I wasn't wrong about you. The reward will be given to you when we get back to the guild.” He then returned to his seat.

“Must be pretty famous if they are this well known.”

Wolf decided to answer this time “Those two are indeed famous. They come from a group of chosen that call themselves The Dragons Cache. Their members are all extremely strong compared to the average person.”

Vincent added onto the explanation. “Strong may be an understatement if you compare them to the chosen who have been arriving recently. I doubt there are many that are stronger. They are mercenaries by trade that haven't formed a clan. From what my informants have gathered they will do almost anything for the right amount of gold similar to our assassin friends over here. Though my guards have yet to witness them do any crimes.”

He scratched his head and continued. “Now that I am on the subject are you sure it was them? They didn't strike me as the type.”

Locke described them in detail.

Vincent nodded. “That does sound like the reports. 2500 gold was enough to hire them to kill an assassin from the guild? Also, the person offering the money was from The Shifting Coin. I might have to change my opinion about them.”

“To be fair I don't know if many chosen know about the assassins guild. They might not have considered it a crime.”

Wait why am I defending them? They killed me.

“Nevertheless accepting jobs from The Shifting Coin puts a bad taste in my mouth. Also based on your story this isn't the first time.”

After a little bit more discussion on the subject, Wolf explained his side of the story before everyone left. Locke was shuttled to the guardians guild in a carriage. It was a bit annoying to have to enter and leave the place this way, but they had to keep up appearances.

As promised when they got back to the guild Vincent rewarded him with a quest complete. It was annoying that it was a random sigil scroll and not one of his choosing. He wasn't going to complain about it though as he would take what he can get at this point. Locke worked out a deal with Vincent and got access to one of the smaller training areas inside the guild. He was only allowed to use it after hours though.

The sigil scroll contained the primary shaping sigil for Mine. Based on the description the spell will create a rune on a surface you touch that will explode on contact. Locke currently had his perception boosted to 38 while he practiced learning the spell. The extra perception did seem to help. He was currently attempting to combine the Ice Element and Mine Sigils to create a new spell.

As expected it was a pain to learn how to create a spell when you had to actually spend mana to practice. Several hours passed before he finally had a stable spell cast in his right hand. It definitely felt a lot easier to learn compared to before. He chopped it up to his mana control passive being a higher rank as well as him knowing what he was doing.

Alright so now I just need to press this spell against a surface and then it will arm shortly after.

He found a suitable spot and touched the floor. There was no bright light or visible rune on the surface but he could not feel the mana in his hands any longer. He grabbed a random object he found in the room and tossed it on top of the rune.

What looked to be a wave of cold exploded from the room, it was cold enough to be visible to the naked eye. The explosion of cold happened at such speed that Locke knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it, even if he was prepared in advance.

Locke noticed the wave of cold didn't seem to go very far before dissipating into the air. Also, the mine didn't have much area of effect as most of the cold shot vertically. This meant that most of the damage will occur to the person stepping on the mine rather than the people close by.

He continued his practice until he created the lightning version as well and took a look at the spells in the game menus.

Glacial Mine – Ice Element/Mine – 25 base mana cost / maximum capacity 350 – Creates a rune on a surface that will activate upon any contact after 2 seconds of arming it. The activation will cause an explosion of ice element mana that will damage nearby players.

Lightning Mine – Lightning Element/Mine – 25 base mana cost / maximum capacity 300 - Creates a rune on a surface that will activate upon any contact after 2 seconds of arming it. The activation will cause an explosion of lightning element mana that will damage nearby players.

Looks like the runes will remain for 10 minutes by default. By using more mana I can increase the duration or damage of the spell. Also, the blast radius is about 5 feet and cannot be changed. I do remember there being an area of effect support Sigil, maybe that would increase the size of the explosion? ....... Interesting .... Finally some situational spells I can use.

Just a few more hours of practice before I hit the sack.