I was currently sitting in the middle of an open field. The corpses of Vigorous Pythons and Horned Rabbits lay scattered around for almost a quarter of a mile.

My health was dangerously low…my blade completely soaked in the blood of the prey I was forced to hunt.

I was weak and my body was covered in bite marks from head to toe. My head was delirious from all the poison that I had injected into me by the snakes. If it wasn’t for my strong will…well I doubt that I would be standing now.

I had hunted through the night and taken a short break in the morning in order to catch up on my sleep.

I returned to the game in the early afternoon and continued my restless hunt and now I was standing in a field barren of life, but full of corpses.

A series of blinking blue lights lit up the side of my vision. I tapped my finger against them and a bunch of boxes appeared.

Level Up +1

For accomplishing an amazing feat under level 10. +2 to all stats.

Level Up. +2

New Skill: Rapid Thrust

Level Up. +3

Quest: Two Types of Farming. Complete.

I stopped about midway down the list in order to review each of the boxes individually.

I was pleased at the rate in which I was leveling. I had worked out proper methods and strategies to fight the vigorous pythons and the horned rabbits.

As soon as I had them down. I was able to grind a lot faster than when I started…well with a lot of help from Song of the Slumbering.

I was especially excited about the new sword skill that I learned. I knew that by not having a fighting or sword related class the rate of acquiring those skills would be slower.

I zero-ed in on the sword skill and called up a better description. “Description: Rapid Thrust.”

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Rapid ThrustNovice213%Rapid Thrust is low tier skill belonging to the piercing style of swordsmanship. It is typically used by those who wield Estocs or Rapiers. By applying mana to the blade to make it lighter the user is able to perform a series of rapid thrusts in the time it takes to perform one. Cost 30 Mana.

I wasn’t that excited about the name of the skill, but I am a teenager and to me everything seems perverted.

I took a few deep breaths and felt the tingling sensation of my mana moving from my chest to the tip of my left arm.

It left the through the ends of my fingers and almost seemed to soak into my blade. I performed a few quick thrusts and felt like there was no resistance at all.

It was almost like someone had turned the gravity off or stopped the wind from blowing all so I could thrust my rapier forward.

I felt like a true musketeer. I sheathed the rapier by my side and continued to peruse through the multitude of blue boxes that were left.

I had received a huge boost in my manipulation skills, especially Song Manipulation, because of how many times I had to spam Song of the Slumbering and Song of Renewal in the past two days.

The rest of my skills had a few small boosts here and their. One of my skills even managed to break through the novice rank and hit intermediate.

Tough Skin has reached Novice Lvl 10 and has become Intermediate Lvl 1

I was curious about the changes to the skill. I knew from my master that skills got slightly more powerful when they broke through the bottleneck and reached the next stage…whether they were E-skills or not.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Tough SkinIntermediate114%Tough Skin is an evolutionary skill that isn’t acquired by the feint of heart. For every level the player gains +3 Defense and +1 to Physical Resistances. Can apply mana to temporarily increase defense by 5%. Cost 45 Mana.

Tough Skin was one of the two evolutionary skills that I learned directly from my master.

If I steadily level these skills then I will be able to tank alongside even the most well armored warriors.

The rest of the messages were details about loot that I had picked up and a few small increases in my skills.

I only cared about the money for the most part. The rest of the loot was low quality and I would sell it the moment I got back to town.

Speaking of quality. I looked down at the beginner garb that I was still sporting thanks to being kidnapped by Gor’thak almost a week ago.

The only fancy thing I had was the Swift Iron Rapier and the leather belt and sheath that was holding my sword in place…and even they were about to break because of the massive amount of grinding I was forced to do.

I had about…4 gold 67 silver and 94 copper. I didn’t know whether or not this would be considered a lot of money to a low level adventurer.

The system was rather self-explanatory. I had figured it out by collecting loot. 100 copper coins equaled 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins equaled 1 gold coin.

I didn’t know if Ethaessa had a standard of currency above gold, but I wasn’t going to find out for a long time if I continued to use the same strategy of…wait and see.

I walked to the edge of the field were my master originally dropped me off. I looked around in the forest to if Gor’thak was waiting for me.

I couldn’t find him. So I decided to wait…and that lasted about ten minutes until I decided to find my own way back.

I could figure out the general direction of the cottage, because of the way Gor’thak had travelled before.

The field was owned by one of Gor’thaks friends. I presumed the farmer was a cherub given the fact that Gor’thak was the protector of these lands.

The distance couldn’t have been more than a few miles…

I couldn’t of been more wrong. Ten miles later I could finally make out the old stone ruins in the distance.

I was always a fan of hiking and being out in nature, but not to that extent. I could feel my clothes sticking to my skin, because of the amount of sweat I was producing.

I grumbled under my breath. I had cursed my unreasonable master the whole way back. ‘That man should just drop fuckin’ dead.’ I thought to myself.

On the inside I knew that I wasn’t that mad about the walk. I was mad about not being able to turn the quest in right away and getting the rewards.

I was so excited when I finished the quest, but after so many hours of walking my spirits had greatly diminished.

Finally I reached the open clearing. The back of the wooden cottage could be seen only a few meters away.

I could hear the sound of the trickling water…it was a sound that put me at ease. No matter how fuming I was.

I circled around the cabin and noticed that the hammock in front of the cottage had someone sleeping inside of it.

“Hohoho.” I silently laughed as I took a few steps back and retreated back to the pond.

I grabbed the wooden bucket that was lying next to the pond. It was used to bring fresh water in for cooking and the like.

Dipping the bucket into the pond I filled it up with water and crept around the house to were my master was sleeping in the hammock.

I silently stalked up behind him and poured the bucket of water over his face. I tossed the bucket to the side and began running in the opposite direction. “Haha…finally gotten my revenge.”

I turned around expecting to see my master’s angry face, but I was greeted with…nothing.

‘Was that not enough to wake him up.’ I thought to myself as I retraced my steps back to the hammock.

Gor’thaks eyes were still closed and the water was slowly trickling down his face.

I grabbed the side of the hammock and shook it gently. Then I shook it hard. I finally ended up smacking my master in the head.

He didn’t respond.

“Master….WAKE UP!” I yelled in his ear, releasing all my pent up frustration.

He didn’t respond.

“WAKE UPPPPP!” I yelled again…this time much louder.

He didn’t respond.

I finally resorted to my master’s favorite war cry. Using my mana to enhance my voice.

“GOOOR’THAKKKKK!”

He didn’t respond.

My vision started to get blurry and I touched my face. ‘That’s odd.’ I thought. My face was all wet.

‘When did my face get wet?’ I thought to myself. ‘Did I spill some of the water on myself.’

“Maybe it’s raining…yeah its got to be rain.” I looked up at the sky. It was a clear blue day.

That was the last straw…my mind crumpled. I was unable to feed my denial any longer.

Gor’thak was dead…my master was gone…and I was lost.

Chapter 9: Status

Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NuetralLevel:12Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesNoneFame:70Infamy:1000-Health:250 / 250Health Regen:2.0 / SecMana:300 / 300Mana Regen:2.5 / SecStamina:400 / 400Stamina Regen:4.5 / Sec-Strength:23 (+18)Agility:28Vitality:27Intelligence:29Wisdom:39Endurance:42Luck:2 (+18)-Attack:1-2Defense:15 (+42)Physical ResistancesSlashing:10 (+14)Piercing:10 (+14)Crushing:15 (+14)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler : Tough Skin: Intermediate Lvl 1 (14%)

Willpower: Novice Lvl 9 (31%)

Seven Pathways Meditation: Novice Lvl 5 (82%)

Mana Manipulation: Novice Lvl 7 (23%)

Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 3 (51%)

Song Manipulation: Novice Lvl 6 (78%)

-Song of Renewal: Novice Lvl 8 (24%)

-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 3 (33%)

Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (35%)

-Rapier Mastery: Novice Lvl 8 (11%)

+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 2 (13%)