Day 11 - November 01:02

Faith 4 / 50

One was furious about the outcome of this “godly” item. Why would the game throw him back, again and again? He was quite sure taking the ring off would only result in him being thrown into a much worse death scenario right away. A classic bullying scheme, where he could either suffer through it, or take it off most likely resulting in him being punished much more severely.

The game was constantly trying to lure him into obvious choices though. Take the ring off, die and come back to life in Helheim, right where he was now would be a possibility too, although he would basically discard a godly grade item this way. Maybe there was a way to purify it? Lift the curse or use a handicraft skill to upgrade it into something useful? Ten percent damage reduction would be something that he could take if it resulted into something good in the end. One approached the goddess again. “How does this ring work? Is there something that can lift this curse? What happens if I take it off?”

Hel glared at him with her differently coloured eyes. It was hard to get used to her look, as it seemed so unnatural, yet so frighteningly realistic. Then she cursed at him in a quiet and cold voice. “Silence.”

[You have been silenced. Duration: 60 seconds.]

One wanted to start to curse, but not a single word left his lips. Now he was not even allowed to ask any questions anymore? That damn bitch! When he tried to walk outside she spoke again.

“Sit.” And One obeyed.

[You have been bound.]

“You have been alive for 10 days. Death rewards you for that. Decide what to do now. Either go and fight your way out of Helheim to be reborn again, or stay here and serve me.” Hel reached for a coin on her table and flipped it towards him.

[You received 10x [Token of Life].]

“Now, GO.” She made a dismissive hand sign and he was literally thrown out of her tent. He bounced off the ground a couple of times and came to a halt a couple hundred of meters away.

[You took 62 damage.]

The NPCs in this game were really not taking any jokes. But it’s not like One had anything to lose dying here. At least he assumed as much. The way towards her tent was heavily guarded. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of undead warriors stood in the near proximity of Hel’s home. Dark, black armor and every weapon a person could imagine covered their pale, white and rotten skin. Swords, daggers, shields as well as axes, bows and greatswords. Huge warhammers, glaives, spears and undead horses. The army of the dead. And all of them standing inside of an invisible circle, guarding her forever.

One walked towards the invisible border and attempted to cross it. Immediately their heads turned towards him. Archers knocked their arrows, warriors drew their weapons. It was a frightening feeling, seeing all these intimidating creatures turn against him. Quickly One decided to retreat and a couple of steps backwards let the guards calm down again. Seems like he would not be able to talk to the goddess again.

After looking around One quickly grasped the concept of Helheim. A huge cavern, filled with an undead army, that guarded Hel herself. Green, red and violet crystals gave the cavern a feeling of danger. Undead warriors were patrolling everywhere and only a couple of houses formed a small village. The cavern walls had countless tunnels that led away. Maybe deeper stages of hell? Or a way towards revival?

The punishment for death was not so bad so far. Aside from the negative effects the present provided, One had not lost anything. Maybe later on just being unable to enter dungeons, or build and play in Midgard would be providing enough of a disadvantage? If that was the case, dying early like this would not be so bad.

The ten [Token of Life] he had received just now could maybe bring him some advantages too. He needed to investigate. The small village seemed like a good place to start and soon it was clear that every house inhabited a undead master. A master for building, a swordmaster, a master of woodcutting and so on and so forth. A whole village of long lost perfection. This was perfect. Maybe he could learn something valuable here? One approached a huge, tall warrior with two swords on his back. His pale, scarred skin and the countless long healed cuts spoke of a lifetime of battle.

Theokoles, the Shadow of Death. What a name for such a giant fighter. [Grandmaster] was right below every single NPCs name in sight. A stage One could only dream of so far. He was a beginner in everything. “Can you teach me?” One asked without concerning himself with manners. He was dead after all. What could this NPC do? Kill him? And deceiving them would not grant him any favours, One was pretty sure they did only serve the purpose of spending his tokens after all.

Theokoles looked down at him and answered with a voice, that could only be called deadly. Every muscle he moved was a threat, a promise to giftwrap death for One. “Yes, I can teach you. If you have tokens of life that is. Otherwise, be gone.” And every word cut deep into One’s consciousness. A walking, talking threat. Seeing this NPC in battle would be epic, that much was certain. Then a popup appeared. A good old merchant’s window, One knew from so many of his games. Immediately he felt better and much less intimidated.

[Theokoles Pride]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Beginner I] 1x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Beginner II] 2x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Beginner III] 4x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Intermediate I] 8x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Intermediate II] 16x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Intermediate III] 32x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Expert I] 64x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Expert II] 128x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Expert III] 256x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Master I] 512x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Master II] 1.024x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Master III] 2.048x [Token of Life]

Wow. Hel was the best place One came to so far. Here he could gain a lot of new skills and customize his character according to his preferences. And if he would be able to find quest’s that gained him tokens of life, he really could get a huge advantage over other players. After all he had the advantage of playing 24/7. Others would not be able to quest more than him and at some point he would be so far ahead no one could ever catch up.

The next page of the shop contained even more awesome skill books.

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Master IV] 4.096x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Dual-Wielding: Master V] 8.192x [Token of Life]

[Skillbook: Twin Fury I] [locked]

[Skillbook: Twin Fury II] [locked]

[Skillbook: Dagger Wind I] [locked]

[Skillbook: Dagger Wind II] [locked]

The list continued with different skills, most of them requiring dual wielding skill of at least intermediate level. Only the [Twin Fury I] and [Dagger Wind I] skillbooks could be unlocked with a[Dual-Wielding: Beginner I] mastery. One decided to invest one of his tokens into the first mastery skill book. Quickly he activated it.

[You reached [Dual-Wielding: Beginner I]. Being taught how to use more than just one weapon, you are now able to use following weapons on your off-hand: [Dagger], [Sword], [Axe], [Fist-Weapons] or [Mace]. +5% Attack-Speed while using two offensive weapons.]

[Weapon Mastery: [Dagger: Beginner II] gained in strength. You are now able to use 4 daggers at the same time.]

Quickly One looked up the prices of the before locked skills. [Twin Fury I] and [Dagger Wind I] cost 4x [Token of Life] each now, while to higher skill book levels were still locked. Active skills seemed to be more valuable. One inspected the skillbooks further.

[Skillbook: Twin Fury I]

Teaches the skill [Twin Fury I]. Increases the Attack Speed by +60% for 6 seconds, if the user has either two swords, two axes or a combination of both equipped. Cooldown: 20seconds.

[Skillbook: Dagger Wind I]

Teaches the skill [Dagger Wind I]. Upon activation all dagger throwing skills are reduced to zero cooldown for 10 seconds. +100% Attack Speed for the duration. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

One did not need to hesitate for a second. Immediately he bought [Dagger Wind I] and activated it. Now he had five tokens left. [Twin Fury I] did not seem like a skill worth investing in. The priest class had a stealth skill, and daggers seemed be a good idea to combine. He ended the trade with Theokoles and continued his search for something useful. Quickly he found a blacksmith. It was a dwarf.

Dark hair and beard, skillfully crafted armor decorated his body and a huge war axe hung to his left. Zhrain, the Slayer of Svartalfaheim. There was a clear aura to the small dwarf. An aura, something like a silent warning and similar to Theokoles he was constantly giving off bad vibes. One remained at a respectful distance before he spoke to Zhrain. “Can you teach me?”

The dwarf did not seem very happy to help. “Hm. Alright.”

[Zhrain’s Creations]

[Silver Stinger] [locked]

[Moonlight Blade] [locked]

[Hellfire Axe] [locked]

[Black Bone Hammer] [locked]

The list continued for more than sixty pages. Every single weapon was locked, until One stumbled upon [Iron Tooth]. A dagger requiring only [Weapon Mastery: Dagger: Beginner II]. Apparently the blacksmith did craft strong weapons rather than weak ones. One bought the dagger for 1 [Token of Life], and equipped it. It had +40 Onhit damage, which would boost his [Flying Dagger: Pierce I] and it would take some time before the weapon was outdated.

Finding a dagger master took him quite a while as well. She was lying in a hammock a little outside of the village, tied up between two large boulders. One had walked past it three times. To be exact the hammock was hanging between the two glowing green crystals that were growing out of the large stones. Talaria, the Silent Night. She also had a wide range of skill books available. One quickly found the perfect skill. He bought [Skillbook: Flying Dagger: Binding I] for his four remaining tokens and activated the skill book immediately as well.

[Flying Dagger: Binding I]

The user throws his dagger towards his target. The target suffers a small portion of damage and is rooted for 2.0 seconds. After the thrown weapon hit the target it takes 2.5 seconds to reappear next to the user. Cooldown: 11.4 seconds.

After asking the assassin lady if it was possible to gain tokens somewhere else, she forwarded him to a tunnel on the other side of the cavern.

Shopping for skills had taken quite some time and the cavern was not so small. It was already Day 11 - November 02:37 and his Faith had increased to 8 / 50. One was thinking of trying out [Summon: Fenrir] before he would level up the [Stealth I] skill. Because the summoning skill cost 50 Faith he used the stealth skill twice. That way he would reach 50 straight and not waste two points. The skill mastery reached 92% just from using it twice. Seemingly it would be really easy to level this skill. One still decided to wait with that for after he tried to summon Fenrir once.

After crossing the cavern and avoiding the invisible barrier that kept the undead army in check he arrived at the tunnel the assassin Talaria described. Violet crystals covered the entry and the ground soon was covered in dark, black roots. They all came down the tunnel, and after a couple dozens of meters One entered a cave, filled with old, worn down darkwood trees. Seemingly you could even cut down trees in Helheim. The treetops were only covered in dark purple leaves and seemed to be very old. Inspecting them confirmed his suspicion.

[100%/100%]

[Darkwood Tree]

A very old tree, only growing in Helheim. Their wood is sturdier than steel and can be used for crafting powerful weapons.

Age: 12.728 Days.

A skilled woodcutter may find [Darkwood] aside from:

[Common Wood] 10.17%

[Normal Wood] 4.01 %

[Rare Wood] 0.97 %

[Legendary Wood] 84.85 %

Grown by: [Hel].

12.728 days. As a ingame day counted for a month, this tree was over a thousand years old. Hel herself had planted it. One’s fascination and greed for the darkwood was only overshadowed by a giant hound, sleeping a little further down in the small forest.

It was the quest NPC he would have to wake up. Garm. Hel’s hound.

The guardian towards the gates of Helheim.