Clarissa waited patiently for Aegaeon and was worried he’d do something stupid. While she waited she figured that she’d pack her stuff into her inventory and collect her garden for transport. Picking the plants was entertaining, which turned to joy when she got some notifications.

Gardening up 3

Acrobatics up 2

Clarissa looked at her status screen and smiled at the sight of a new path.

Status Screen: Clarissa

Class: N/A

Level: N/A

Skills:

Dead Run Lvl:3, Acrobatics Lvl:18, Gardening Lvl:10, Potions Maker Lvl:3

PP: 5

Paths:

Path of Apothecaries 0/20, Dancers Build 0/40, Path of the Gardener 0/50

Completed Paths:

Path of the Botanist 15/15, Path of Acrobats 10/10,

Clarissa knew that Aegaeon progressed much faster than herself and she embraced that. Clarissa figured that for whatever reason, he embraced this whole new world with a different attitude than herself. And maybe that was her problem. Maybe she wasn’t too excited about this life? Maybe she wasn’t stoked at the prospect of grinding skills? For whatever reason, she just wasn’t as prepared for growth as Aegaeon.

While thinking this through, Clarissa wondered what Aegaeon could possibly be doing. Finding nothing within her capacities, she resolved to train what she could. Her Acrobatics and Dead Run skills. Starting with some light stretching, to boost Acrobatics and prepare Dead Run, Clarissa warmed herself up for a long run. Before long she was stretched out and ready, so she took off. Trying to take her mind off Aegaeon, Clarissa ran in the opposite direction of the lake.

Clarissa ran into the wooded area around their shelter. The ground had course grass underneath the towering pines. Focusing ahead, Clarissa didn’t even notice when suddenly the world shifted and she was running through a lush field of green soft grass. It wasn’t until she stopped running and was panting trying to catch her breath that she looked around. She didn’t recognize where she was or how she got there. Fear creeping into her heart, Clarissa checked her notifications.

Dead Run up 4

Acrobatics up 3

Congratulations! Seeing as a true monster was killed, the tutorial period has been completed. All travelers in this world will be fully initialized. Preparing...

Preparing...

Welcome Travelers, to the World of Kings. Each traveler has received the Class “Newbie” until another is acquired or one was already achieved. To assist each traveler, you have been spawned in zones that can build your current skills. This world requires strength, for those of you who falter, death will be your companion. Rise up, become strong, and challenge the thrones of power! Good Luck!

Aegaeon woke up to the sound of crashing waves. “This is weird,” muttering to himself. “The lake doesn’t have waves.” Sitting up suddenly Aegaeon saw that he wasn’t anywhere near the lake he had been in. The body of water next to him was massive! The water stretched on indefinitely, his vision not able to extend past the water. Looking behind him in a moment of panic, Aegaeon realized he was alone.

“Where am I? Where is Clarissa? How did I get here?” At his feet lay the carcass of the Amemasu Shark, which looked to be 12 feet in length. It’s body was a hulking mass of muscle. Aegaeon could see each of the stab wounds from his slow climb up it’s body. The edges of the wounds already discolored with the hint of rot. This wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

Feeling the breeze coming from the ocean before him soothed his worries and led Aegaeon to relax and ponder his situation. On the one hand, he was once again alone, luckily he wasn’t as weak as he had been the last time he was alone. Aegaeon was surprised that he wasn’t worried or concerned about being alone; his time with Clarissa was primarily him alone in the lake training. Before Aegaeon checked the carcass or decided what to do with it further, he first checked his notifications.

Deep Thought up 4

Dagger Work up 6

Assassin’s Intuition up 3

Perceptive Gaze up 4

Pain Tolerance up 2

Aquatic Agent up 8

Congratulations! Seeing as a true monster was killed, the tutorial period has been completed. All travelers in this world will be fully initialized. Preparing...

Preparing...

Welcome Travelers, to the World of Kings. Each traveler has received the Class “Newbie” until another is acquired or one was already achieved. To assist each traveler, you have been spawned in zones that can build your current skills. This world requires strength, for those of you who falter, death will be your companion. Rise up, become strong, and challenge the thrones of power! Good Luck!

Congratulations for being the first to kill a true monster you have raised your group of travelers with you. For being the first to accomplish this feat, you have been given a choice.

A)New Skill: Monsters Bane, deal additional damage to monsters per strike and receive additional experience for killing them; effect increases with skill level.

B)Upgrade Weapon: Neptune’s Wrath, will upgrade the weapon to a blade more fit for you. Also increases the damage that the weapon can deal. Damage is affected by skills, technique, stats, and inherent properties.

Aegaeon immediately accepted that he went to another new world, that had already happened to him recently and the perk is that this time he kept his memory. If anything, Aegaeon considered himself lucky to not have to move around and look for another place with water. Sure he wanted Clarissa with him, but he was alright without her. He had an ocean to explore and more monsters to kill. That brought him to his options.

One the one hand, Aegaeon could simply choose to get a static boost to killing monsters, that would play out nicely. It would certainly give him an edge leveling, but at the same time a better weapon could do as much. Thinking about it, a sudden thought struck Aegaeon; what if the people here weren’t friendly? What if monsters weren’t his only source of contention and battle? This thought moved his decision.

Equipping Neptune’s Wrath; Aegaeon looked at his dagger. It still looked wickedly sharp, and showed no signs of wear and tear. It was a beautiful blade that had server him well. He was only slightly hesitant to change his weapon, for nostalgias sake. Remembering the feel of drawing it for the first time in that pond, Aegaeon selected option B. Immediately the blade started to glow.

Neptune’s Wrath gave off a dark blue light, that was powerful enough to obscure the shape of the blade. Momentarily Aegaeon was concerned that his new weapon wouldn’t work as well, but quickly put away the concern with excitement for his new weapon. The glowing probably only lasted a moment, but before the light faded the dagger felt white hid in Aegaeon hand. He almost dropped it in shock but continued to hold his weapon through the pain. He didn’t want it’s constitution to be altered by dropping.

When the light faded, Aegaeon was no longer holding a dagger, but rather a sword. The serpent that used to make up the daggers spine had elongated to match the sword, it twisted and curved throughout the length of the blade. As before, the tail made the point of the blade with the serpents head as the hilt. As before the pommel was fitted with a dark blue gem, it was slightly larger than before as the weapon had somewhat grown. The scales of the serpent made the handle and provided more than enough grip for Aegaeon’s hand.

There wasn’t a cross guard on the sword but did have a slight bulge before the blade began, this was modeled after fins or wings tucked into the serpents side. The sword held a katana like appearance that matched his Merfolk Garb much better than the dagger did. Looking down at his weapon Aegaeon noticed that no longer was Neptune’s Wrath hovering over the sword, it was unnamed. Aegaeon held his new tool and felt power course through him. This was a weapon of destruction, and he wouldn’t let it down.