Author’s Note:

Hey everyone, if you are following my blog you will be able to read my chapter earlier than on royalroad. So make sure you follow my blog. Thank you everyone who answered my last two polls, it really helped me a lot. I will post POVs of other characters when I see fit. But not that often so don’t worry. Also if you haven't noticed, I have finally made a book cover for the novel. Don't worry I didn't commit any copyright infringement. :) I updated the key, thank you FrankTobar for the suggestion.

Key:

Italics = thoughts/feels Examples: what he thinks about after someone tells him something, what he feels after getting hit in a fight, what he thinks about after he sees something)

‘Apostrophes’= Actions that JAMES does (This will not always be there when he performs an action. It’ll only be there when it will make my story flow better like when there’s a fighting scene)

{Braces} = Actions/sounds of things that happen around James, NOT James himself (Again this will not always be there, just when it will help the story flow better like during fighting scenes)

[Brackets] = System Notifications in game. Also when the MC attacks the enemy, Example: [10!]

|Pipes| = When the enemy attacks the MC, Example: |10!|

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True Identity

Chapter 7 – Cat Slayer!

[Do you want to accept the quest?]

“Yes!”

…

After I accepted the quest I ran toward the southern gate. But while I was running through the marketplace I noticed something that intrigued me. I walked up to a merchant named Francis. Francis was selling various things in his stall, but there only a couple things I wanted to buy.

“What can I help you with, young adventure?”

“I would like to buy some paper, a quill, and some ink.”

“Alright, that will cost you 43 copper.”

I handed Francis 43 copper and I only had 7 copper left. I started to leave when Francis suddenly called out to me.

“Wait young adventure. Can I ask you to do a favor for me?”

“What is the favor?”

“There’s recently been an increase in demand for leather armor because of all the new adventures coming about. But unfortunately I don’t have any pelts to make any leather armor. I need you to get me some pelts for me. If you do this favor for me I will teach you a skill that is worth more than money.”

Quest: The Animal HuntDifficulty:EDescription: The merchant Francis has asked you to do a favor for him, in return he will teach you a skill worth more than goldRequirements:Kill animals out in the wild and skin them. Collect 500 pelts and bring it back to Francis.

“Yes, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you young adventurer, I’ll give this to you so you can skin the animals.”

Francis' Skinning KnifeType:Quest ItemDurability:1000 / 1000Requirements:Recieve quest from Francis

I said my goodbyes to Francis and went on my way.

Past the southern gate was a dirt road that led into a forest, which seemed to go on forever. There were many players that were fighting mobs in the forest trying to gain precious experience points. There were also groups of people waiting outside the southern gates looking for random players to party up with.

I walked past the groups of people near the gate rather fast, many of them tried to ask me to party up but I just ignored them. I walked towards the forest and set my sights on a creature that was about to become my first prey.

Sly Cat [Rank: 1]Level:2Health:100 / 100Attack:8-10Defense:10Abilities:[Timelapse]

I walked up to the cat and when I was with 10 feet of the cat I dashed towards it and started to slash my sword at it. But every time I tried to hit the cat with my sword I missed.

[Miss!]

[Miss!]

[Miss!]

What the hell is going on?! I swear I’m swinging my sword where the cat is but I keep missing. After swinging several times my stamina started to drop closer to zero, I was getting tired from just hitting the ground! Seeing an opening, the cat started to attack me when I was getting tired. I tried to block the cats attacks with my sword but I wasn’t that successful.

|6!|

[Block!] |2!|

|7!|

|5!|

In the beginning of the fight I was on the offensive but now I’m on the defensive. How was the cat able to turn the tides so easily! The cat just kept on attacking while I kept trying to block it’s attacks.

|7!|

|5!|

|8!|

|Block!| |1!|

Seeing that if the situation kept persisting I would eventually die, I decided to run back towards the southern gates and try to get out of aggro range from the cat. While I was running back to the gate’s I heard snickering coming from the groups of players. They must have seen me fail at hitting the cat and then have to retreat from fear of death.

One person said, “Haha, I’m glad we didn’t invite that guy to our party. He would definitely just slow us down.”

Fuck! I just embarrassed myself in front of a bunch of scrubs, what is wrong with me. [I started to look at my sword.] I already know what the problem is, my fighting skills with a sword isn’t good enough. Also, I can’t use my wings while I fight yet because flying uses a lot of stamina which I’m particularly low of right now.

I was so confident in my fighting skills because I beat those three gangsters. I thought I could just stroll out here and defeat anything in my path, but I was sadly mistaken. Fuck! How could I make such a big mistake of comparing the skill of those lowly gangsters to the skill of these mighty cats!

After I was done being frustrated of my lack of weapon handling I decided that I would observe the cats for now from afar and also see how the other players that looked skilled fought the cats. After I observed the cats for a while, I finally discovered why I kept on missing my hits!

When the players tried to attack the cats, the cats teleport back to where they were exactly 2 seconds ago. This must be their ability [Timelapse]! The cat is always moving, making sure it was in a different location by the time the player tries to attack them. Then once the player tries to attack them, they activate their ability and then they teleport where they were 2 seconds ago, making the player miss! The cooldown on that ability must be very low because the cat is using it every time it’s about to get hit.

After acquiring my new found knowledge, I decided I would give fighting the cats another go. Again, once I was within 10 feet of the cat I dashed at the cat. I didn't attack the cat at first, I started to memorize the locations of the cat because it was constantly moving. Once I found it was time to strike, I swung my sword at the cat. {The cat used it ability.} Then I quickly changed the direction of my blade to where the cat was 2 seconds ago.

[12!]

I hit the cat! After I hit the cat, the cat landed on its side. I quickly kept attacking the cat afraid that it would get back up.

[10!]

[12!]

[9!]

After a couple of more hits, the cat died. I picked up the cat corpse and 1 copper then put it into my inventory. Two windows appeared in from of me

Cat CorpseType:RawDurability:-Description:This is the corpse of a cat. If skinned, it can give you pelts and meat

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Understanding the Enemy (Passive)Novice10%Description:You have understood your enemy. As you level up this skill, you will be able to gather information of higher level enemies while others with the same level as you won’t.

Whoa, I don’t know what this skill really does but I just gained my first skill!

After I was done looking at the skill and putting the corpse in my inventory, I decided to kill a couple more cats with the same technique. I even used a technique that I saw a different player use in order to kill the cats. I would swing my sword at the cat, once the cat used it ability, I kicked the spot where the cat was 2 seconds ago. The cat would then fall to the ground on it side and I would keep attack it until it died.

The cat was surprisingly easy to kill once you get the technique down. This is because once you get the cat on it side and kept attack it, the cat couldn’t do anything. Even if the cat was using it’s ability, you couldn’t tell. This is because once the cat was on it’s side and it was there for 2 seconds already when I started attacking it again. So the cat could have been using it ability trying to dodged my attack while I was just stabbing the same spot killing it.

After killing 15 cats, I leveled up. I decided to put 6 points in strength and 4 points in agility

“Stats”

No TitleName:AxleLevel:2Class:WarriorHealth:110 / 110Mana:110 / 110Stamina:110 / 110Attack:25-27Magic Attack:10Defense:23Movement Speed:22Fame:0

Being proud of myself I shouted, “HAHA, my self given title was once Gangster Hunter, but now I shall call myself Cat Slayer!”

Everyone around me just stared at me. Their glares seemed as if they were saying “what a weirdo” or “a pervert?” But I didn’t care, I was proud of my new self given title!

After I was done checking out my new stats, I moved farther along the road towards Wildehedge Mine.

…

As I was travelling along the road, the difficulty of the mobs was getting harder and the number of players that were near me was slowly getting smaller. I have traveled about 15 minutes from the kingdom on the road but all I’ve seen so far are Sly Cats with higher levels. I’ve killed a total of 100 sly cats, which also means I have 100 sly cat corpses and 1.07 silver ( 1 silver 7 copper) in my inventory. I also leveled up 2 more times, I put 12 points in strength and 8 points in agility.

Self Proclaimed Title: Cat Slayer!Name:AxleLevel:4Class:WarriorHealth:120 / 120Mana:120 / 120Stamina:120 / 120Attack:34-36Magic Attack:20Defense:33Movement Speed:31Fame:0

It’s lucky that the inventory has some sort of power that lets you store more things in it then you would think. I don’t even feel that much heavier with 100 cat corpses in my inventory. This thing is amazing!

…

After traveling 15 more minutes I killed 125 more cats but I didn’t level up again. It seems if you keep killing the same monster, you don’t get as much experience points. Also, the number of people around me reduced to zero. Maybe they all died. Finally, I saw a different mob.

Hunger Fox[Rank 1]Level:7Health:225 / 225Attack:45Defense:20Abilities:[Impeding Bite]

After realizing that I couldn’t just sit back and observe the way the fox fights because the number of people around me had reduced to zero, I decided that I would fight the closet fox.

This time I would have to be more cautious considering that the fox is three levels higher than me. I moved slowly towards the Fox but once I got a little too close, the fox attacked me before I could react. {The fox bit me in the leg.}

|25!| |Your movement speed has temporarily reduced by 25% for 45 seconds|

What the fuck is this! This must be the fox ability [Impeding Bite]. ‘I slashed my sword at the fox in order to get the fox off my leg’

[24!]

[25!]

[23!]

[24!]

[27!]

After a couple of hits the fox let go of my leg. I wish I could attack the fox more while he was only my leg though but I couldn’t because my movement speed was impaired, The fox moved onto his next attack. It stuck out it’s paw and started to continuously scratch me, I tried to dodge the attacks but unfortunately my impaired movement speed only let me dodge some of them.

|23!|

|Miss!|

|Miss!|

|21!|

|20!|

[Your movement has gone back to normal] With my health rapidly approaching the red zone and movement speed going back to normal I swiftly attacked the fox.

[26!]

[28!]

[24!]

[27!]

With my swift consecutive strikes, I was able to kill the fox without dying. After the fox died I picked up a fox corpse and 4 copper. I also leveled up!

Author’s Note: I decided not to show the stats every time Axle levels up, it’ll get really frustrating for me. I’ll show it occasionally though.

Wow I gotta admit, I’m getting the hang of using a sword! My sword skills has definitely increased. I’ll be a master in no time! Just as I said that another window appeared in front of me.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Swordsmanship (Passive)Novice10%Description:As you get better at using the sword you will get bonuses and maybe even new skills

After travel 30 more minutes on the road I saw the Wildehedge Mine! While traveling I killed tons of foxes and leveled up twice to level 7, almost to level 8. ‘I started to observe the outside of the mine in order to make sure it was safe.’ The outside of the mine was completely free of monsters making it somewhat safe but the real question what were the monsters inside of the mine.

I checked my inventory before I entered the mine. I have a total of 225 cat corpses, 150 fox corpses, and 7 silver and 84 copper in my inventory. After concluding that there were no mobs at the entrance, I entered the mine.

[You have entered Wildehedge Mine, Beware!]

…

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Author’s Note:

Thanks for reading the chapter. I would greatly appreciate it if you visited my blog. I usually post the chapters 24 hours earlier than when I post them on royalroad. So if you want the chapters faster follow my blog!https://trueidentitynovel.wordpress.com

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