“Ahhh what a good rest which I haven't had for awhile.” I exclaimed.

We did not choose to do sentry duty this night as we have considerably dwindled down the enemy forces yesterday and decided that a good night's sleep would be worth the risk. Just as I was getting up, I saw a snake wrapped around my dick.

“FUCK! FIRE ARMOUR FULL POWER”

I used all my mana at once to focus it onto my weener and suddenly I saw a six foot Breadtalk appear on top of my abdomen, covered in flames.

“HELPPPPPPPPPPP!”

“What? How?”

“HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”

“I'm not helping until you tell me how.”

“HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”

The mini inferno I used has caused Breadtalk quite some damage. I looked at his hp bar go down as quickly as a torrent file with many seeders.

Wait if I kill him.. It would be bad for our upcoming raid and I will have a killers mark right? But I get to kill Breadtalk. It's like something I wanted a dark part of my heart secretly wanted to do all along. Killing him would be so fun. Ah nevermind. Maybe next time.

“Aqua gush.”

A small waterfall of water doused Breadtalk and the fires were put out. Apparently I took quite some time to consider my choices and he had about 10% hp left. It was also a good way to wake up Soup who was busy laughing and Beathoven who was rubbing his eyes like it was a good dream and he haven't woke up yet.

“So. Explain.”

“My Shapeshift skill reached intermediate level 1 after yesterday and it said I could now transform into small animals. I decided to try that out and what the hell man. Thanks for your flaming sausage in my face bro.”

“YOU PUT YOUR FACE THERE.”

“How is that thing even functioning after that? It became like a penis shaped sun. Are you sure you are still fertile?”

“My own spells won't hurt me dumbass.”

“Ohhhhh. Alright. Loki gave me a 6 for that anyway so it looked like he enjoyed himself. He used Loki's Armory and the familiar pair of shining gleaming daggers came out. However, the daggers were now almost triple the length.

“WHAT? Shapeshift can be used on weapons?” I asked.

“Hey thanks for the idea I should try that out and make it look like I'm holding a chicken when I'm fighting or something. But no, my Loki's armory skill levelled up to intermediate level 1 as well. Looks like it affects the weapon I generate.”

It dawned on me that all the fighting should have improved our skills quite a bit. The jump from beginner to intermediate levels in proficiency should have helped us quite a bit. I decided to call for another meeting to find out how much exactly have we improved.

“Guys before we venture into the northern forest today lets just take a look at how much stronger we've become. Guess I'll go first. Open Stat Window. Open Skill Window.”

Stat Window[quart=Character name,Alignment]Jinx,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Class]88,Elemental Swordsman[/quart][quart=Title,Race]N/A,Human[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]10,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]1600,4500[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexterity]100,95[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]50,350[/quart][quart=Vitality,Affinity to Nature]80,18%[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Perseverance,Sustenance]80,80[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]100,69[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit,Magic Resistance]200,5%[/quart]Elemental AffinitiesFire +5% Ice +5% Water +5% Wind +5% Lightning +5% Earth+5% Gravity+5% Light +10% Dark +5Class Bonuses

Ability to wield any swords and use up to leather armour

+500 Health

+1000 Mana

Able to use magic and swordplay simultaneously

No miscast penalty due to spell failure due to absence of magic circles

Member of both the Intelligence and Warrior Guilds

Fast Reader | Intermediate level 2 (33%). Finishes books 42% faster.Mana Manipulation | Intermediate level 2 (37%). Affinity to Nature +18%. Mana Cost - 2%Flare | Beginner level 1 (5%). Summons a small source of light.Katana Mastery | Intermediate level 4 (50%). Increases attack power with a katana +160% and attack speed +45%.Gravity Crush | Beginner level 8 (70%). Weapon Atk +580% (Dependent on Gravity Affinity)Wind Steps | Beginner level 9 (80%). Increases movement speed +29% (Dependent on Wind Affinity)Electrical Synapse | Beginner level 9 (90%). Increases reaction time by 0.13s (Dependent on Lightning Affinity)Adrenaline Rush | Beginner level 1 (5%). Increases time perception by 5% when HP is below 10%.Cooking | Beginner level 9 (80%). Enables you to prepare meals.Rooted | Beginner level 6 (50%). Immobilises enemy by restraining their movement. (Dependent on element's affinity).Divine Judgement | Beginner level 6 (40%). Concentrates a huge amount of mana into a sword which drops down onto the enemy. High critical rate. Damage depends on mana used and type of mana.[full]Dispel | Beginner level 3 (40%). Has a chance to heal status effects.Lesser Heal | Beginner level 2 (50%). Heals ally for a certain amount of health. Damages undead in the surrounding area.Elemental Armour | Beginner level 3 (0%). Creates an elemental armour of different affinities that wraps around the user.

We gathered around my stat table and noticed a few changes. First of all my mana manipulation going to intermediate unlocked a new attribute. It reduces the mana cost of my spells by 2%. It might not be alot but in the future when spells cost a few thousand mana, it may just proves its usefulness. I'm guessing I've grown to learnt to use mana more efficiently thus the new perk. There wasn't much changes to my skills though. My stats I just kept focusing on intellect to raise my mana pool as well as potency of spells. However what really matters I feel is the affinity which unlocks spells and at the same time lets me put them to better use. I have gained a few stats in sustenance, perseverance, fighting spirit, vitality, strength and dexterity through nothing but grinding monsters and especially against the king cobra i feel. Then we proceeded to look at the next member's information.

Stat Window[quart=Character name,Alignment]Soup,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Class]95,Gladiator[/quart][quart=Title,Race]N/A,Human[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]1000,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]5000,200[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexterity]250,150[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]20,20[/quart][quart=Vitality,Affinity to Nature]300,0%[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Perseverance,Sustenance]200,250[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]350,250[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit,Magic Resistance]220,0%[/quart]Elemental AffinitiesN/AClass Bonuses

Ability to wield up to Heavy weapons and armour

+2000 Health

Reduction of 5% of incoming damage regardless of type

Higher propensity for perseverance,sustenance and vitality to gain stats

Able to use any kind of weapon

Member of the Warrior Guild

Repair | Beginner level 9 (50%). Repairs items with worn out durability.Berserker's Call | Intermediate level 2 (33%). Aggro's nearby monsters within the range of 12m. Defence + 220% for 15 seconds.Power Strike | Intermediate level 2 (37%). Swings down your weapon with great force. Weapon atk + 500%.Gladiator's Will (Passive) | Intermediate level 5 (60%). Whenever you suffer damage, you gain 3.0% of the incoming damage as defence for 1 minute.Greatsword Mastery | Intermediate level 6 (20%). Increases attack power with a greatsword +200% and attack speed +55%.Gladiator's rage | Beginner level 8 (70%). When active, for every 10 seconds this skill has been activated, +0.7 attack. For every monster killed during the activation of the skill, +0.7% Max HP. Skill lasts 30 minutes. Every monster killed will add 10 seconds to the skill time. Max duration : 6 hours.

Soup as a gladiator was meant to be a solo class. However he was in a party with us. There were certain problems which you could tell at a glance. His bread and butter skill, Gladiator's Rage, only counted monsters that were slain by him, meaning he has to take the last hit at the monster before it counts as his kill. However, the class also could make a pretty good tank. Berserker's call could lift all the aggro of the monsters from the rest of us and his defence and health was extremely high. Looking at his stats and skills, it was really a straightforward class to play. Just like Soup himself, a straightforward guy who likes to tank everything and man up. His berserker's call would be very helpful in a siege if many skeleton warriors were present and I could just blow them all up with an AOE (Area of Effect) spell while they were focused on Soup.

We discussed about his stats and skills slightly before we reached the next person who was obviously the one with the most complicated and unpredictable class.

Stat Window[quart=Character name,Alignment]Breadtalk,Holy[/quart][quart=Level,Class]88,Trickster[/quart][quart=Title,Race]N/A,Human[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]1000,550[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]2800,2100[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexterity]120,125[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]100,110[/quart][quart=Vitality,Affinity to Nature]180,0%[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,1110[/quart][quart=Perseverance,Sustenance]160,160[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]110,110[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit,Magic Resistance]260,0%[/quart]Elemental AffinitiesN/AClass Bonuses

Ability to wield any weapon and use up to leather armour

+1000 Health

+1000 Mana

+300 Luck

Able to be telepathically linked with Loki

Members of churches of Loki will be friendlier with you and members of other churches like Freya will be neutral to you.

Member of the Church of Loki

Chance to gain stats upon doing ridiculous actions

Loki's Entourage | Intermediate level 2 (33%). Gets a score from Loki whenever you do a prank. Lasts 24 hours. Score you get adds to all your stats x10.Loki's Armoury | Intermediate level 2 (33%). Call's forth a weapon from Loki's armoury based on the score from Loki's Entourage.Shapeshift | Intermediate level 1 (10%). Grants you the ability to change your appearance. Degree of change depends on proficiency of skill.Clown Gun Mastery | Beginner level 2 (50%). Increases attack power with Loki's Clown Gun +20% and attack speed +6%.Exploding Spear Mastery | Beginner level 5 (70%). Increases attack power with Loki's Exploding Spear +50% and attack speed +15%Dual Poison Daggers Mastery | Beginner level 3 (50%). Increases attack power with Loki's Dual Poison Dagger's +30% and attack speed +9%.Bursting Ballhammer Mastery | Beginner level 3 (70%). Increases attack power with Loki's Bursting Ballhammer +30% and attack speed +9%

“What's with your fame levels?”

“What's with your number of masteries?”

“WHAT'S UP WITH YOUR INFLATED STATS?!”

Breadtalk had quite a reputation because he helped out a lot during the first 30 days in the church of Loki. His infamy came when he took on the class change quest which obviously left a bad taste in the mouth quite literally for some people. His stats looked inflated at first which was way off the charts but then I realised it was because of Loki's Entourage. He had a 6 so all his stats had a +60 bonus. Guess he really did spend all his stats solely on luck. It was the first time I had seen someone less than level 100 have a stat that exceeded 3 digits. Most people need to reach about level 200-300 before they could have a stat in the 4 digit range. His masteries were extremely interesting though. They were not for the weapon type but for the specific weapon of Loki's instead. Usually a person would just get gun mastery, spear mastery etc but his masteries were specific as hell.

“Say.. You think these specific masteries might unlock more potential to the special moves of the weapon itself?”

“You mean like the explosions of the spear might become more potent etc?”

“Yeah. It might have even more special attributes hidden in them!”

The downside was it was a long way away before we could ever find out what the mastery could unlock for the weapon. Due to the low mastery levels, it balanced out his stats which were too broken as well. I did not know whether to consider his class overpowered or not.

Last but not least, Beathoven was the only one left to show us his improved abilities.

Stat Window[quart=Character name,Alignment]Beathoven,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Class]92,Bard[/quart][quart=Title,Race]N/A,Human[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]10,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]2000,2000[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexterity]50,150[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]100,50[/quart][quart=Vitality,Art]50,350[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Perseverance,Sustenance]100,100[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]10,10[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit,Magic Resistance]200,5%[/quart]Elemental AffinitiesN/AClass Bonuses

Ability to wield any instrument and use up to leather armour

+1500 Health

+1500 Mana

Ability to concentrate more easily in order to play music

Music can only buff party members and/or debuff monsters

Member of the Musician's Guild

Music Mastery | Intermediate level 8 (12%). Increases duration of buffs and debuffs. Effects last 180% longer. Allows for one debuff and one buff song to be active.Instrument Smash | Beginner level 1 (0%). Smashes your instrument at the enemy. Effects unknown.Chaotic Melody(Special Party Buff Song) | Intermediate level 4 (33%). Increases HP regen +200/s, Mana regen +200/s and 200 teamwork.Impedity | Beginner level 6 (37%). Slows down enemy movement speed by 12%Heavy Heavy Heavy | Beginner level 6 (5%). Slows down enemy attack speed by 12%.Destruction | Beginner level 4 (50%). Decreases enemy defence by 8%.Enfeeble | Beginner level 5 (70%). Decreases enemy attack by 10%.Flight of the Bumblebee | Beginner level 5 (80%). Increases party movement speed +15%.Chop Chop | Beginner level 5 (90%). Increases party attack speed +15%.What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger | Beginner level 3 (5%). Increases party defence +9%Roar | Beginner level 5 (80%). Increases party attack +15%

There we have it. The ultimate support character. Beathoven could use his chaotic melody which was a special party buff to enhance our regen. It was extremely potent. However aside from that, after he plays chaotic melody, he can also play a song to debuff enemies as well as one to buff us due to his music mastery in the intermediate levels. He plays two distinct melodies with just his one flute. One to buff us and one to debuff the enemies. All of this while the chaotic melody buff is still active because it is classified as a special party buff. He was the only reason why we could have a shot at this super hard quest. Normally players wouldn't even consider the bard profession because you only just play music. Most players want to dive into the game and kill monsters and a bard can literally do nothing against monsters.

“Oh yeah guys the new song I've been working on is complete. Is this a good time to play?”

“No.”

“Sarcasm?”

“Noooooo.”

“Ok.”

Beathoven took out his lute and we all wondered what he composed for us. He tuned his lute to the appropriate settings and his fingers flew across the strings masterfully. The song started out slow at first, with a mysterious sound you never thought could come out from a lute. It then became faster and more lively but at the same time more distinct. Then what came which I assume was the chorus which was simple, upbeat, and as close to happy music as possible. It was like vanilla in my ears. Then the music went on reverse. From happy, it became less lively and less distinct before fading into slow and mysterious.

Received buff : Reunion.

This is an original song Beathoven the bard came up with after he got his inspiration at the Boar's Head, meeting his friends again after 30 days of time apart. The mystery in where their paths would lead, the journey of them getting stronger seperately for the sake of being competent as a group till the final moment of reunion could be heard from this tune. After the reunion however, what awaits them as they journey forward, this is also reflected in the song and thus making this a true masterpiece, not only taking into consideration what has happened but also what would happen.

Special Buff:

All stats +100

Ability to gain inspiration on how to tackle opponents from the past.

Ability to forsee danger as a party

Ability to freely transfer health and mana from one member of the party to another once every 5 minutes. Must have at least 1HP and 1MP remaining after transfer. Transferred HP and MP can overshot cap levels. For E.G, A passes all his mana to B who is already at full mana. Assuming both have 100 mana, A now has 1 mp left and B has 199/100mp.

Abilities can only be used when this buff is active. Upon replacement or expiry, the transferred health and mana will be lost.

*All special party song buffs last for 1 hour after they are heard. Cannot be stacked with another party song buff and will be replaced if another song is played.

What a player! He managed to create yet another special party song buff piece. This piece had significantly useful aspects as well. During normal fighting and boss fights, the chaotic melody which provides regen should be more helpful. However the abilities this song brings could be very useful in non familiar situations such as the one we were going to be up against. The ability to look into the past and future sounds tempting and the last ability could be abused.. If all of them gave me their mana, I could potentially have about 9000 mana or more if the affects can stack which would result in.. Well lets say a divine judgement of that caliber could have easily raped the king cobra. This song is very situational but it could definitely have its moments.

“Niceeeee~”

“Reunion? Dude are you secretly purple for all of us? You love us that much?”

“Go away before I set your penis on fire which I assure you will hurt unlike Jinx's case.”

“Peace. No more flaming penises. Please.”

Thus we all collated our skills and stats in preparation for the big day ahead. Xantos also contributed but she was a pet so she only had very limited skills which included dispel and heal like me but she also had basic nukes like gust and holy rays which I was also capable of using. Her main advantage was she was an aerial monster and all the monsters we have met so far are grounded so they couldnt even touch her.

We were left with one more portion to map and I assume we would all be level 100 after that so it would be our first milestone and what better way to celebrate it than to conquer a fucking castle. So we set off, towards the north, wondering what would await us.

End of Chapter 11