Chapter 3 - New Players With New Rumors

Magic Mastery levels up to 3

Focus Stat Added

This stops a player from being distracted with whatever an action he is performing.

The higher the stat the more effectively an action can be performed, even allowing more than one action to be performed at the same time successfully.

High focus lowers chances of spells backfiring and casting failure.

The stat will increase by itself when an action is completed well under difficult conditions or when a player performs actions demanding high concentration.

You Have Completed the Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 16"

Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)

It was morning, the third day since he began playing. Twelve days passed in game time.

Thanks to the "Scholar's Brew" that Unknownadd, the library bookkeeper, gave Jon, he was able to go through the books at an incredibly fast pace.

And since all Jon did during the past eleven days was reading and practicing his magic he was now one step closer to the purple magic he so longed for.

Gorge found what he was looking for and Jon now knew what that magic was and the requirement for it. The information came with a warning though.

Gorge urged him to stay as far away as possible from those who use it.

Apparently purple magic was a taboo in Royal Road and mage guilds banned it completely.

Jon didn’t care for it, but to reassure Gorge, he agreed to run away if he ever saw someone use purple magic.

That didn't mean Jon wasn't going to use purple magic himself though. Now that he knew what he needed to do, he wasted no time.

In the sixteen volumes he had already read through, purple magic had been mentioned only once and only in passing.

In the third volume an evil mage by the name of Bar-Khan was said to have used purple magic. All it said was that the heroic mage and his brave knights defeated Bar-Khan and the horrible purple colored magic, thus saving the kingdom from destruction.

Jon doubted he would find any other mention of it in the books, but that was no longer why he read the books.

He needed to practice his magic and he needed something to do while he waited for his mana to return.

He could now keep the ball of mana safe for almost a minute. He was also able to float it around his hand, weaving patters of blue light through his fingers.

Volume seventeen was opened before him but this time he wasn't waiting for the mana bar to replenish. He was waiting for one of the other players to go into the sea of bookshelves. Thanks to his newly leveled up Magic Mastery skill, a small blue marble of light was floating over the pages. The black ink of the letters reflected the light, covering Jon's face with a pattern of blue colored dots.

A chair scraped the floor as the player who sat on it got up.

Jon's eyes followed him immediately and he saw him disappear behind the bookshelves heading into the deep of the library.

He broke off the magic he had been maintaining for the past ten minutes, closed the book and stood up.

He followed the player. There weren’t many people in the library and those who were there, kept to themselves.

The one he was looking for was busy searching for a book; he was short and very thin.

-'Most likely an aspiring mage earning easy int stats.'-

Jon walked up to the boy from behind, silently.

You have killed a player!

Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)

A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 6 hours.

Jon was back in his seat reading, as if he had never even left.

The ball of light was the only thing that suggested something had happened. It was in the air once again but not over the books pages.

It now floated close to Jon's forehead, behind it was hidden the red mark he had just earned.

-'Twenty three more to go.'- he thought and waited for another player to get up.

Jon's fame was now at negative fifty five. He needed negative five-hundred, which meant he either burnt Serabourg Citadel or something crazy as that, or simply killed twenty-three more players.

Jon stood up and followed another player to the shadows of the books, a minute later he was back in his seat reading.

-'Twenty two.'- Jon was enjoying himself for the first time, in a very long time. No longer was he bored.

-'Twenty one.'-

-'Twenty.'-

-'Nineteen.'-

All of them silent kills. Fast and precise, the victim had never even seen his face.

The fifth person to die in the library never knew what happened as well. One moment he was looking for a book, and the next he was staring at the interior of his own capsule. It was so sudden he thought the game disconnected, so he tried to log back in again, only the game wouldn't allow him.

A pleasant female voice said: "You have died. You can log back into the game in 24 four hours."

You have killed a player!

Fame is decreased by 20 points. (-20 Fame)

A red mark has appeared on your forehead, it will disappear in 21 hours.

Level Up

Class Change Notice

You can change you profession to an Assassin.

Yes? No?

-'Yes.'- Jon didn't care what his profession was.

You have changed you profession to an Assassin.

The killer of the night, the assassin feels at home in the shadows.

He moves swiftly and silently, killing his target unseen and undetected.

The assassin specializes in the element of surprise and will avoid open battle.

The assassin profession grants a bonus to dexterity and luck.

+30 Dexterity

+15 Luck

Sneak Mastery acquired

Helps a player hide his presence and blend into the surroundings.

The grandmaster sneak is even able to hide himself in plain sight.

Level 1 effect: You are 5% harder to detect.

Surprise Attack Skill learned.

This skill can only be used if the target is unaware of your presence.

The skill works with weapons, magic and hand to hand combat.

Level 1: Deal 10% more damage.

Cost: 50 Mp

Not interested, Jon skipped through the windows pooping up in front of him reading only the headlines.

-'Surprise attack?'- He opened his skill menu. –'Useful.'-.

He picked up a silver coin that fell from his kill, distributed the stat points to dexterity and went back to reading.

Stat Window

Avatar: Jon Type: Evil

Level: 5 Class: Assassin

Title: None Fame: -135

Life: 280 Mana: 150

Strength: 10 Dexterity: 50 Vitality: 10

Wisdom: 28 Intelligence: 10 Focus: 4

Leadership: 0 Luck: 15

Offence: 3 Defense: 0

Resistance to magic: None

The sun went down and the only three people stayed in it.

Unknowadd was busy taking care of an old book at his table so Jon was alone with the third person.

He was sitting at his usual spot. Hidden behind a slowly growing pile of books Jon could see the whole reading area without being noticed.

He no longer used a candle but a magic orb instead. The other person could only see a faint blue radiance shining through the wall of books surrounding Jon.

The woman lit by candle light was reading a book thick enough to be mistaken for a small stool.

Jon had been waiting for this moment. The last person left a while ago and it was unlikely he would come back. The two of them were alone and Jon wasted no more time.

He slipped into the darkness and made his way through the maze of bookshelves. He used the light of her candle as a landmark and was soon standing behind her. He kept himself out of the candle light, waiting to see if she would notice.

She didn't.

The blue ball of light was still floating where he left it.

He walked up to her. Looking over her shoulder he read the first couple of sentences. It was in a different language so he understood nothing.

He lifted the seventeenth volume he was reading during the whole day and got into position.

-'Surprise Attack'- He invoked the skill for the first time. Fifty Mp points disappeared.

The moment the skill was triggered, the blue light disappeared.

The woman looked up, noticing a sudden change.

This worked to Jon's advantage, distracting her from the sound of the book slashing the air.

The edge of the book connected with the back of her neck, breaking it with a loud snap.

Critical Hit

Focus Rises by 1 (+1 Fos)

He waited for her to turn gray and disappear just like the others, but she didn't.

Instead of disappearing, her body slowly slid of the chair to the floor. It fell with a thud.

-'Npc…'- Jon was unfazed. It mattered not to him who she was.

He summoned the blue ball and made his way back to his seat.

The woman's body left to lie there, nothing more than a waste of time to him.

You Have Completed A Book: "Mages through the Ages, vol 17"

Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)

Morning arrived people started to appear again. There were half a dozen of them at the moment the body was discovered.

Jon was watching through the cracks in his wall of books. He knew it had been discovered much earlier.

The second person to arrive noticed her on the floor. He said nothing and after looking around to see if anyone was watching him he stripped her of her possessions. Taking even the dress she was wearing.

He was clearly a player. Jon saw how he put the things inside his inventory. The only thing he left outside was the ring she was wearing; now resting comfortably on his finger.

He left the library immediately after. Whatever it was he came for, was no longer important.

Word of the body traveled and soon the library was full of curious players and Npcs alike.

Jon left the crowd inside to join the one outside.

You have stolen three books!

Fame decreased by 3. (-3 Fame)

He was almost out of rye-bread and he needed to stock up on some food.

He was walking to the market and he noticed people were staring at him. Not just Npcs but players as well.

The red mark on his forehead was attracting attention, while his negative fame put Npcs on their guard.

Thankfully the guard left him alone for now, however their gaze never left him.

He entered a grocery store and was kicked out by the merchant.

"I need no PKer’s money!" he yelled.

He went to the market stalls this time, searching for an Npc to buy from.

This too was fruitless. His negative fame made Npc merchants raise their prices so high he could hardly buy even a load of bread.

Jon opened the map menu and looked at the citadels layout.

After a short walk his was at his destination, no one bothered to look at him here.

He was walking around in the slums of the city. This place wasn't clean and shiny like the areas around the market square.

Players avoided these parts of the citadel unless a quest took them here.

The houses were run down, the streets covered with filth and the people dirty. The majority were crippled old men and the few kids that were running about had a at least one hand missing. Punishment for getting caught stealing.

Women were nowhere to be seen.

Jon grabbed a passing kid and jingled some coins before him.

The sound of coins made the whole street freeze up.

"Food." he said.

Jealous gazes penetrated Jon from all direction. Tiny cracks appeared in doors and windows, the residents eyed Jon from inside.

"After me, sir." The kid spoke quickly, grabbing and pulling him after him.

The boy took him, following the border of the slums.

They stopped suddenly and the boy extended his good hand.

Jon put a copper coin in it.

"These after." He held up two more coppers.

The boy went on.

As they got to where the main street, the one that cut through the Citadel in half, passed into the slums Jon saw a crowd of people.

More an more people were flooding, coming out of numerous alleys. They walked up and joined what turned out to be a line of people.

"You better hurry, before it runs out." The boy said and locked his way.

Jon gave him the coins and the boy ran away.

Jon took his place in the line and waited for his turn.

"The hell man? Why didn't you bring him here?" a big tanned kid said as the boy who escorted Jon a moment ago came close.

"That guy's crazy." He looked back at Jon.

"Wha?" three more kids spoke at the same time.

"Yeah, I thought he was easy pray at first too. But not anymore…"

"What did he do man?" the tanned kid asked.

"Remember the black clothed man we tried to jump?"

"Don’t you dare bring him up!" the one who acted like the leader got up and grabbed him by the throat.

"Let go! Let go man!"

"Sorry…"

"Don't be. He killed my brother as well. Or did you forget that the other ten we buried were my friends as well?"

The five boys looked at the floor in silence.

"You see him?" He pointed at Jon. "This guy felt even more dangerous than the one we swore to kill."

The other four stared wide eyed at Jon.

"That's crazy man!"

"Hey maybe Yarel will get him?"

"That bitch? No chance."

"Yeah all she ever does is look down at us."

"Fucking slut. Thinks coz she has all that money she's better than us."

"I'd kill her in a second if she wasn't useful. Brings us food, trying to be all saint and shit."

"I heard she's only doing this to look good in front of the church."

"We should get her too one day, her armor must be worth a fortune."

"Whatever, guys. Let’s get something to eat" He lifted the coins he got."

"You bastard. Give me those."

"Take it if you can," he said already sprinting away."

"Get him." They chased after him laughing.

Jon stood in line waited to get a share of food.

While waiting he summoned the ball of light again. In the strong afternoon sun, the faint blue light it radiated was unnoticeable. He was spinning it around his finger and moving it from one hand to the other.

This has already become second nature to him. With his magic mastery almost at level four, controlling this spell, intended for aspiring mages as a means of learning to control their MP has become nothing more than a habit. Nonetheless, even though it wasn't his intention the use of magic still trained his magic mastery skill.

Intelligence Rises by 1 (+1 Int)

More than that, the constant use of magic also raised his Int stat.

Although it was getting harder to raise it like that. This time it took twenty four hours for it to increase. Last time it was eighteen and only fifteen the time before that.

He was getting closer. He finally saw who was giving the food away.

He knew she was female from the voice he heard but now he could see she was wearing the most outrageously exaggerated armor possible.

Things dangled from it, stuff poked out of it and all of the pointless additions made to it made it twice as big as it needed to be.

The fleshy sword at her him seemed pale in comparison to the decorative shield she had slung on her back.

A huge helm covered her head, holding her blond hair in place.

She looked out of place in the gray slum with all her shiny gear.

"Here, take this. It was very expensive." She said with a condescending tone and a fake smile plastered on her face.

The line moved and it was Jon's turn.

"Here, for you si…" her eyes wandered to Jon's face noticing the red mark stuck in the middle of it.

"A player?" She smiled for real now. "How can you be so worthless that you need to bag for food when you’re a player?" The smile was now a smirk.

"A PKer begging for food. You're luck I'm such a good person."

"…"

"Take this." She handed him an expensive looking pastry which Jon took quietly.

"I would never it something so simple, but for a player who kills others it should be enough." She said to his back.

"Hypocrite." Jon uttered.

"What did you say?!" her voice rose. "Say that again to my face, coward."

"Hypocrite." Jon said without a moments delay.

"Me? A hypocrite? Does PKing make one stupid?"

"I, who is so busy with quests from the church of Freya, take the time to feed the Citadel beggars and you dare call me a hypocrite! Prepare for battle!" She held up her shield and took out her sword.

You have been invited to dual.

Do you accept?

Yes? No?

Jon didn't want this. She reminded him of the way his former feeders talked to him. A dual against someone like her was pointless.

"What are you waiting for, scum?" she yelled. "Be honored you get to fight the me. Yarel, the holy knight will one day be a name spoken by all. Later you can brag to your friends how you were lucky enough to be slain by my hand." She banged on her shield once she finished talking.

"…"

"Accept."

"Are you afraid of me?" She laughed. "It's understandable. Don't be fooled by my incredible equipment. I'm still only level twenty. More than enough, however, to defeat you without using my awesome skills." She extended her sword with a shaking hand.

Jon was hungry and she was distracting him.

-'It'll end faster if I accept.'-

The second he accepted the dual Yarel sprang to action. She wanted to lay the first hit and was slowly moving closer to Jon while talking.

With a quick step she reached Jon with ease, dropping her sword at Jon's head.

Jon just stood there looking at the blade go down.

-'Pathetic.'- Her armor was so heavy it looked like she was moving in slow motion.

All Jon did, was simply take a small step sideways and let the sword passed right next.

She did all the rest for him.

The sword dropped, missing her mark and pulling Yarel after it. The various additions on the armor jingled as she fell face first to the ground.

-'At least she didn't let go of her sword.'-

"Fight fairly you, Pker." she yelled from the ground.

She couldn't even get up. The armor weighed to much for her to lift herself with the strength of her arms and turning to her back was impossible due to the useless decorations.

Jon sat down on her back and began eating his pastry.

"I have lost. Kill me! You may have used trickery, but I have lost nonetheless."

He ignored her.

"Do it already, earn your honor."

This was why he didn't want to dual from the start. Winning duals earned you fame and this was exactly what he didn't need.

"No."

"You bastard! I demand you finish this. I refuse to have my honor stained this way." She struggled to get up.

Jon finished eating, ignoring her screams and protests.

Once she started crying, he kicked away her shield and sword.

The crowd immediately carried them away.

"What are you doing? Leave that alone!" she screamed at the Npc's.

"Is this how you repay my charity?" She was sobbing.

A rock flew from the crowd and hit her helm.

"That’s what I think of your charity, you spoiled slut!." Another rock came flying.

The crowd was moving closer and closer.

Jon took her belt knife as it was the only the useful thing she had. Unlike the jewel incrusted sword and the shiny shield which meant nothing more than decoration, the knife was simple.

Simple yet well made.

"I'll get my revenge. Daddy will by me the strongest equipment there is and I'll hunt you down to level one!" She was hysteric.

Jon stood up, wiped his hands on her clothes, tied the belt-knife around his waist and walked away.

The crowed lynched her as soon as he was out of sight.

She screamed as she was stripped and beaten.

"This will feed us for months."

"That's for looking down on us."

"Who's pitiful now ah?!"

She commanded the game to log her out, however, the system wasn't instantaneous.

Unless you were dead the game waited for ten seconds before bringing you back to the real world.

These ten seconds felt to Yarel like infinity as she was brutally beaten by the mob. Although one couldn't die playing, the pain felt in the game was real. And when she was finally safe inside her capsule she kept screaming her lungs out.

She swore to get her revenge as she exited the capsule, falling to the floor from exhaustion.

Your relationship with the beggars of Serabourd Citadel has increased.

They now respect and admire you.

He was still hungry.

-'I should've taken some of her food.'-

He was back at the market again. The pastry he had left him with an urge for more.

He go three silver coins from his kills in the library so he though he had enough, but the price raisin caused by his negative fame, was more than he had expected.

-'I'll need to start earning some money.'-

He went into the shop he was walking by and asked for a job.

Chased away from it and all the rest of the places he tried he was becoming hungrier by the minute.

The sun had already set, and when he passed by the library earlier it was still swarming with guards.

He entered the only restaurant he could find that was still open. It was a rich place but Jon didn't care. He had spent the past years in cages; jail would be a step up from it.

The head waiter did his job without asking questions. Jon was seated at one of the smaller tables close to the wall.

He ordered large quantities of meat and vegetables, and when that was finished he asked for more. When he was done, he got up and walked out the door.

A hand grabbed his shoulder the moment his stepped outside. Jon wasn't surprised.

"May I ask where sir is going?"

"…" Jon knew this would happen and was ready for it.

"Sir seems to have forgotten to pay for his food, nothing wrong with that. That’s why I'm here, to remind you of it."

"…"

"Where's the gold?" his tone changes.

"What's happening here?" another man came out.

"Dragon, sir. This man refuses to pay for his food."

"Does he now? Well, that's what I pay you for. Persuade him share his gold with us."

"With pleasure, sir." The brute made a fist with his free hand.

"No gold."

"We shall see about that."

He started to push Jon into his small booth. Jon tried to resist but felt powerless. The brute’s level was much higher than his. Even worse, his speed was useless as he was already captured.

"Just pay, it will be much faster." The man named Dragon said.

"Can't. No gold."

"No use in telling lies. It won't help you."

"…"

"Last chance."

"…" Jon gave in and stopped resisting. He walked slowly to the booth on his own.

"Wait."

"Sir?"

"I believe him."

"What?"

"Knock him out instead."

Bam! A giant fist connected with Jon's temple and everything went dark.

Jon was aware of the passing time and it seemed like he could still log out, but his screen stayed dark.

So he waited, the darkness was comforting to him.