Chapter 22

~ The Vampire’s Vengeance ~

SW/SW/SW

“Ice Ball!” a small ball of freezing ice flew at a distracted orc, impaling him at his middle. The chilling spell prevented him from regenerating and his dead was an agonizingly slow one.

One orc, enraged that his friend was dead, charged at Ace. The attack hit the summoner’s barrier, which was instantly destroyed due its low level. The impact left the orc vulnerable.

Ace called a dagger from his inventory with a thought and slashed the orc’s left hand. Agriella was busy dealing with three orcs, so he had to defend himself.

“Woah!” the orc’s kick caught him off guard and the attack connected with his stomach.

Ace doubled over and quickly stood on his feet, only to see the orc charging at him. Its face was contorted in anger that Ace cringed.

“Th-Thunder Ball!” this time, a ball of crackling thunder went to the orc.

Just because it was a low tier magic didn’t mean that it was weak. It sent the orc flying to the nearby tree.

Ace’s Thunder Ball was level seven, after all, and the orc was level five. It was all thanks to the multiple Thunder Ball books QueeN gave him. It took him a long time to read them all, but once he did, his Thunder Ball spell level rocketed.

Yep, they were bunch of weak orcs. In human’s terms, they were just greenhorns, teenagers. Not an adult orcs.

Ace finished the orc with a Fire Ball. The spell leveled up from four to five.

By the time Ace was done dealing with the orc, Agriella was also finished with her task. Two orcs were lying on the ground, lifeless.

He wiped the barely existent sweat from his forehead and grinned ear to ear, “Good work!”

“Thank you, Master,” she bowed.

Ace looked at the remains and held the urge to vomit. The pool of blood sickened him, twisting his stomach around and around.

After looting everything, Ace opened his friend list. There were three people in his friend list, namely Elvaria, Maria, and TongsisQueeN. All of them were offline.

Were they doing their homework? It could be, since it was around seven in the real world.

That sucked.

He sighed.

What did Hilda do right now? Was she doing her homework? Or was she studying instead? Did she play GeaOnline?

Pfft, the last question sounded so stupid. Hilda looked like a normal girl. She must be thinking that games were just a waste of time.

There was no way she’d play games, much less online games!

Oh, Elvaria just logged on!

Ace snickered. She was still level two while he was way above her. Giddy with mischief, Ace finished his rest and returned to town with Agriella in tow.

Just by looking at the player location in the friend list window, Ace easily found Elvaria. She was hanging around in the guild room.

When Ace stepped inside, the spacious guild interior was filled by members of Travonka.

“Woah…” he let out a gasp of amazement as he saw different kinds of players inside. This place just like a pot filled with different kinds of ingredients—ah, no… races.

Ace wasn’t able to tell exactly their levels, but he had a feeling that most of them were level 67 above.

From what he understood from this game was that the more intricate the equipment worn by a player, the higher their level was.

The world of online games was clearly different from RPG games.

How fascinating…

0000

“That brainless, buttface maggot!” a vampire screamed, hurling a stone at a lake. It travelled above its surface for a while before the depth of the lake swallowed it. “How dare he…?! How dare that stupid summoner harm me?! Harmed my beloved rare armor?! I swear, the next time I see him I’ll kill him!”

“Calm down,” the draconian behind him turned his head around, “shouting like that will only heat your brain even more. Besides, you’re making my meat taste awful.”

“The hell?” the vampire spat, “GeaOnline doesn’t support taste and smell yet, you idiot.”

“Well, I was joking. Don’t take everything seriously. Just come here and sit down, man. You’ll feel better.”

The vampire took a deep breath and sat on a stump near the draconian. He sat in silence, obviously trying to cleanse his thought from the raging hatred. Several minutes later, he felt his mind beginning to get clearer.

“Ah, now that I think about it, that summoner looks like someone I know…” the vampire murmured, more to himself.

“Your real world friend? Well, it’s not that surprising to have a player who look-alike to someone in the real world.”

“No, not a friend,” the vampire shook his head, a wry smile on his lips, “no, more like… an acquaintance. We go to the same school, but in different classes. He’s your average guy.”

“Ha! You’re being paranoid, Reeve. He can’t be your acquaintance! What kind of idiot plays a game with a character modeled after his real world self? That’s so lame!”

Reeve the vampire laughed, “You’re right! They’re just an idiot!”

0000

Ace sneezed.

Covering his mouth with the hem of his robe, he looked around to see if there was anyone who was talking behind his back.

“Hello, Ace,” Elvaria greeted.

Her smile was contagious and Ace felt his mouth moving, “’Sup, Elvaria? What level are you now?”

“Oh, umm… still two. I haven’t had the time to log in recently,” sheepishly she answered.

“Pfft! I’m already level seven and you’re still two?” Ace patted her shoulder sympathetically, “I perfectly understand. You have your boyfriend to care about…”

Elvaria’s face went redder as she stammered, “I-I-I don’t have a boyfriend! I rarely online because of cram school! S-Stop teasing me…!”

Ace still had his snicker on his face, “I know, I know. Well, now that you’re here, how about questing? I’ll help you level up so that you can spend quality times with your boyfriend.”

“I-I told you already; I don’t have a boyfriend!” Elvaria shouted as she followed Ace out of the guild building.

After a quick searching, Ace decided to do a Hunting Quest. He had gotten himself a nice quest that involved slaying a boar. It was a common enemy in the forest near Dragonis.

“A boar? Aren’t they brown, vile tempered pigs that love to headbutt strangers?”

“That’s… some kind of definition you have, but you’re right. They love to ram intruders, so we have to be on guard.”

“Oh, wait!” Elvaria stopped in her track. She had her finger pointed in a direction. “Can I pick that herb? I promise I’ll be quick.”

Ace arched his brow, “Yeah. Go on. I’ll wait here, but be careful.”

This girl was being too polite sometimes…

After waiting for approximately ten minutes, Agriella asked, “Master, aren’t you hot? You are wearing too much clothes for this early summer.”

Ace looked at his own clothes. They were rare equipment, given by Maria. A dark blue robe with delicate embroideries on several parts of the robe, a dark green turtleneck knit vest, a pair of black pants, and black shoes.

Yep, he looked like he was ready for winter.

“Nah, I don’t feel anything. Besides, I don’t have summer in my town, so I don’t know how hot summer actually is.”

“Oh, by the gods! You don’t have summer? How about autumn? Spring? Or winter? You don’t have seasons?

He scratched his head, “Well, it’s not like we don’t have them. We just have two seasons: dry and wet. In the dry season you don’t get much rain.”

“So it rains frequently in the wet season?”

“Yep. It could rain every day. Actually we have a season somewhere in the middle of them. In the morning until noon, it’s so very hot, but in the evening it’s freezing. Oh, and also it’s the time for people to easily get sick due to the extreme weather change.”

“Oh, how interesting!”

0000

Thinking that it was quite enough, Elvaria left the herb patches and returned to where Ace was waiting. In the middle of the way, she noticed that the summoner was… talking to his Summon Beast.

Curious, she hid behind a tree and eavesdropped. Ace apparently was talking about seasons and whatnot.

“Nah, I don’t feel anything. Besides, I don’t have summer in my town, so I don’t know how hot summer actually is.”

Agriella said, “I will defeat those who oppose you, Master!”

He scratched his head, “Well, it’s not like we don’t have them. We just have two seasons: dry and wet. In dry season you don’t get much rain.”

“Leave the enemies to me, Master!”

“Yep. It could rain every day. Actually we have a season somewhere in—”

Elvaria gulped in fear. Who was he talking to? Was he… normal? The Summon Beast was repeating those words, yet he… yet he talked as if she understood him.

Was he normal…?

…

Was he sane?

Elvaria wiped her fear and came out from her hiding place. As soon as she was within Ace’s sight, they stopped talking. Only once in a while did Agriella spoke and it was the same phrases that left her lips. Elvaria caught Ace secretly nod.

“Done already?” he asked with a smile.

“Yes, thank you for waiting.”

Elvaria made a mental note to ask QueeN about this…

0000

“Hey, Reeve,” a draconian called. “Isn’t that the summoner you talked about?”

Reeve the vampire came and silently peeked behind thick bushes. His eyes caught sight of a familiar summoner in the distance with an equally familiar-looking elf. He licked his lips and murmured evilly,

Spoiler: Status

AceKivras

EXP Chart*

Atk: 8

HP (230/230)

Level 7

3210/4569

Def: 19

MP(330/360)

Human

1359 to lv. 8

M.Atk: 66

Eiredrahl the Impure*

Summoner

760 Coins

M. Def: 33

Travonka

4 Black Coins

Minimum piety

ATTRIBUTES

POTENTIAL

Equipment

Ancient Force

STR

6

Worst

Head

Ranagaad's Circlet {Rare} [4 INT, 8 M.ATK]

VIT

9

Bad

Neck

Amulet of Wisdom [2 INT]

DEX

9

Bad

Body

Valende's Runed Robe {Rare} [8 DEF, 18 M.DEF, 5 M.ATK]

PER

9

Bad

Back

-

INT

30

Superb

Arm (main)

Halcyon Staff [3 ATK, 6 M.ATK]

WIS

11

Best

Arm

-

WILL

12

Best

Waist

-

CHA

21

Superb

Legs

Black Pants [3 DEF]

* (tap to see)

Feet

Magician's Shoes {Rare} [2 DEF, 5 M.ATK]

(Help)

Skill

Description

Level

Healing

VIT

Lets you recover your HP over time

4.521

Staff

VIT

How proficient you are swinging your staff

3.112

Running

VIT

Affects your running speed

4.785

Light Armor

DEX

How effectively you act while wearing Light Armor

10,472

Evasion

DEX

Helps you to evade attacks easily

9.125

Casting

INT

This skill helps you power up your spells

8.153

Meditation

INT

Gradually recovers your MP

7.579

Herbology

INT

Lets you identify any herb to its fullest potential

8.053

Control Magic

WIS

Prevents your ally to get hit by your spells

5.609

Memorization

WIS

This skill slows down the decay of your unused skills

4.094

Literacy

WIS

Allows you to read more difficult spellbooks

12.578

Control Beast

CHA

Lets you control higher-level Summon Beasts

10.105