Azrael once again stepped out of the town onto the beaten dirt path. His gaze was met with the familiar sight of noobs attempting to do battle with the hordes of chaos. (Bunnies and Foxes)

He hastily followed the map provided by Auruk, and was soon surrounded by dense forests on both sides. All manner of woodland creatures frolicked to and fro around him, and he was truly at peace.

"Travelling is indeed a good thing." Thought Azrael, while wearing a gentle smile.

As Azrael journeyed further, he was taken aback at the beauty of this world. Various ruins and other areas of interest started to appear all around him, and he made sure to jot them down on the map so that he may return later for some dungeon delving and exploration!

Night quickly fell, and he once again heard the familiar howl of wolves in the distance. It was then he knew that he would not be resting much on this journey. Before he could dwell further on his thoughts, he was surrounded.

The wolves gave him no time to draw his sword, and jumped at his face. Azrael quickly smashed the ground with his "leg of power", and yelled, "Stomp!" The area under his leg indented slightly, and a small, orange wave of force expanded from the area of impact. A couple of the wolves tripped, and a few were stunned. Azrael's intent to slaughter further scared the wolves, and it was then that Azrael quickly drew his blade.

As the wolves began to rise, Azrael dashed forward with a mad grin on his face. He then brought his blade down through the first one, and quickly pulled it out with a sickening sound.It yelped as it turned grey. Blood rained down upon all spectators, and Azrael grinned menacingly. The five remaining wolves felt his killing intent, and stepped back for a second. After calming themselves they attacked together, and became a whirlwind of teeth and claw. Azrael dodged, swung, rolled, and repeated until finally all the wolves collapsed. Azrael noticed he only had ten percent remaining health when he heard two dings.

Level Up

You've gained 4 Fighting Spirit.

"Nice! Note to self though - Do NOT fight groups of stronger enemies at night while alone yet..." Mumbled Azrael as he began to rest.

The rest of his nights became progressively harder as he neared his destination, and by the time he had reached the area of the trial he was physically and mentally exhausted.

"As to be expect of a C rank quest." Huffed Azrael as he set up a small camp.

Although the journey was taxing he had gained three levels and a decent amount of mastery, not to mention some fighting spirit, sustenance, and endurance. The loot was pretty much useless though...A bunch of fur he couldn't use, and raw meat. He attempted to cook the meat, but only ended up with charred black lumps of matter.

"Well, I wish I could hire a chef to come along with me..." Thought Azrael, as he once again returned to chewing the rock bread.

He spent the rest of the night relaxing and getting some good sleep. This night at least he was uninterrupted.

In the morning, Azrael headed into the ruins. As he walked into the ancient corridor many torches sprung to life , likely imbued with some sort of spell. The air was musty, and this place had likely not seen a human for quite a long time.

"What kind of monster was Auruk to enter this place as young as he was?" Mumbled Azrael, as he delved deeper into the ruins.

The inside was of the finest marble, and ornately decorated. Like Auruk's training hall, it consisted of paintings and carvings of mighty beasts. Although, in its current state it wasn't much to look like. It was overgrown with weeds, and destroyed in most areas.

Azrael heard odd sounds here and there as he made his way into the depths, but caught no signs of anything suspicious. Finally, as he neared a corner, he could hear a beast and knew a battle drew close. He was shaking slightly, this place was off. Something about these ruins just didn't sit right with him. As he was lost in thought, he then heard a deafening roar. As he was wondering what the source of the roar could be, around the corner tiptoed a beast that was about the size of a small horse. It had soft tan fur, and a great ring of hair around its head.

"Oh great...Lions, this place contains lions..." Stuttered Azrael, as he drew his sword.

Lions were not a very hard monster in Royal Road, but were at least twenty to thirty levels higher than Azrael. Simply one or two well placed hits from the beast would easily send Azrael on a one way trip back to reality for a day. If he faced a group of these beasts, he would be slain with haste, hence he had to be cautious. As the lion drew close, Azrael took a back stepped and tripped as he heard an unfamiliar *click* noise. He tripped and fell down. As he did, he saw three arrows fly above his head and *thwack* the other wall.

"Oh great...there's deadly traps as well. Fantastic." Stammered Azrael.

He had yet to even begin fighting, and his morale began to plunge. This task seemed impossible.

As the lion was almost upon him, Azrael took a low stance and awaited the beast's attack. As the lion pounced, he tumbled. It deftly turned and began to slash at him. He barely managed to tumble to safety a second time.

"Shit! I'm screwed, this thing is fast!" Thought Azrael, as he barely managed to dodge another two attacks.

As the lion came again, Azrael tried something new. He feinted and pretended to start attacking. As the lion moved to dodge it was too late. Azrael spun a full 360* and cleaved the lion with a hellish strength.

Critical!

"Yes!" Thought Azrael, as the lion stood up.

"Uh oh..." He thought.

The lion roared, but immediately sat down again. Its leg was maimed. It could only look fierce, but it knew the game was done.

Azrael grinned the Devil's grin once more, and walked to the beast. It growled at his approach.

"Let's see how you like successive attacks, you overgrown tabby." Screamed Azrael.

Now, being the animal lover Azrael was, he swung down repeatedly to end the beast's life peacefully.

Critical!

Critical!

Critical!

Critical!

Critical!

Critical!

Level up

"*Cough* I May have overdone it a bit..." Said Azrael, as he wiped himself clean and proceeded to pick up the loot.

Luckily his inflated stats and training leveled the playing field, but just as he was celebrating his victory over the beast, two more appeared around the corner...

"Ugh...This is going to be hell..." Sighed Azrael, as he prepared himself.

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3 weeks later

Azrael had slain countless beasts, and avoided numerous traps. In these three weeks, his level had risen by 12. From all the fighting, he had gained two levels in sword mastery, two levels in tumble, and one level in stomp. After repairing his equipment countless times, even handicraft and repair had risen by one and two, respectively. From taking so many hits, he had also gained at least 13 in endurance, and from the constant fighting, he had risen 20 points in fighting spirit, and 10 in sustenance.

Azrael was sad, as overall, his ability to dodge and take hits increased, but his overall ability to deal damage was still quite low. Not to mention the constant repairing had lowered the max durability of his blade considerably. It would seem the longer this expedition went on, the more worn out and useless his gear became. He felt his class was gearing more towards a punching bag, rather than a damage dealer. After distributing all the stat points he had saved up, Azrael checked his stats.

"Stats!" Exclaimed Azrael.

NameAzraelPrimary ClassNoneHealth2180Mana860Level28Health Regen/Sec3.2/sMana Regen/Sec.9/sStrength98(+5)Agility79Wisdom25Intelligence25Stamina115Vitality81(+5)Attack35-40Defense5Endurance30Sustenance26Fighting Spirit60Magic ResistanceFire0%Water0%Earth4%Electric0%Dark0%N/ASkill points left to distribute: 0

"Not bad, not bad...To truly take advantage of the stat bonuses I received, I will need to get a class though. I am simply just surviving longer at this point." Thought Azrael.

As Azrael was thinking, he had finally arrived at a large set of ornate iron doors.

"Screw that, I am resting before entering there. God only knows what's on the other side!" Thought Azrael.

He then sat down, and ate the best of the food he had brought. Tasteless soup. But it was worlds above rock bread! It slid down the throat with ease, and even conferred minor health and mana bonuses!

As he opened the doors, he took a deep breath and began to look around.