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Time: 8:00 AM
"Good morning, Ate!" Nico greeted Lila as he stopped at the front counter.
"Good morning to you too!" Lila greeted back with a smile "Welcome to the real world!"
"Thanks!" Nico couldn't help but laugh.
"Anyway the Boss is waiting for you at his office" Lila said before she started walking to assist another customer.
"Thanks Ate, see yah later!" Nico said before leaving the counter and headed to Joseph's office which was located at the back of the Internet cafe.
Reaching the office, he knocked twice then opened the door then peaked inside"Kuya?". He saw Joseph sitting behind his computer, looking very concentrated, as he studies something on the screen. When he heard Nico, he turned his head to him and his expression changed to a much more relaxed one.
"What are you waiting for, come in" Joseph said with a huge grin on his face.
Nico entered the office and shut the door quietly behind him. He walked towards one of the couches and sat, placed his laptop bag on the coffee table and fished out his laptop. After switching his laptop on, he imminently logged into Rampage.
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9:30 AM, Philippine time | Asia Server
Right after Nico logged in and loaded CherishedSong into the game, he opened his inventory and just took the time to admire the Pearl grade item that is in it. Then suddenly a private message popped out, starling him. When he checked who was the sender it was LifeSaver.
"Sir Expert! you're here!"
"Hi!" Nico replied, with a waving emoticon.
Instead of replying with words, LifeSaver replied with multiple crying emoticon.
"What's up?" Nico sent with a question mark emoticon.
"Sir Expert, please help us!" LifeSaver sent again with a crying emoticon.
"The players that we played with, that left us in the dungeon the other day are bullying and kept killing us!" *Crying Emoticon*
"What?! Why?" Nico immediately straighten up.
"They saw that system announcement..... They were so angry *Crying emoticon* They demanded for the items that we got! We gave them the items because they kept threatening us, but they also wanted ValianSword's sword...ValiantSword refused, we thought they'd let us go but when we walked outside of the city, they surrounded us and started killing us! *Crying Emoticon*. ValiantSword hasn't been online since they stole his sword." LifeSaver explained, But just by looking at the message and emoticons, they were really deeply traumatized by the experience.
There is nothing more that Nico hates than PKs, who bullies and preys on the weak, to show once superiority; it just makes his blood boil.
"Kuya, Can you help me with something?" Nico said, his tone was so out of character that it immediately caught Joseph's attention.
"Who are we teaching a lesson this time?"Joseph asked, already knowing why Nico asked for his help, from the tone of his voice. With Nico's laid back and shy personality, he rarely gets mad, and when someone pisses him off, you'll immediately know. He waited for Nico's response as he logs into the game.
"Where are they?" Nico asked in the private chat.
"They should be waiting for us outside the city gate" LifeSaver replied, "Sir Expert please help avenge what they did to ValiantSword!" with a begging emoticon.
"Wait for me at the city entrance" CherishedSong instructed.
"Thank you!" LifeSaver typed back with a bowing emoticon.
"So where should I meet you?" Joseph asked, as his character loaded into the game.
"Thousand Lotus Kingdom, Front gate."
"Okay, be there in a jiffy" Joseph said, as he moves his character to the teleportation pillar.
Meanwhile Nico already saw LifeSaver waiting at the front gate, when he arrived. When LifeSaver saw CherishedSong, she did a wave, looking very happy to see him.
"Sir Expert, thank you for coming!" LifeSaver used the voice chat instead of the normal chat.
"No problem, but can you wait just a moment, I'm still waiting for my friend." Nico sent in the chat.
"Sure, no problem" LifeSaver immediately respond without complaint, sounding very grateful.
"I can see you guys" Joseph sent Nico a private chat.
"My friend is here" Nico informed LifeSaver.
Both CherishedSong and LifeSaver turned to see a male character, wearing an elegant looking coat and fedora, running towards their direction. When the character got a little closer, LifeSaver was able to read the character's name: "SavageGentleman".
"LifeSaver meet my friend 'SavageGentlman'" Nico introduced in the general chat.
"It's a pleasure to meet you" LifeSaver said, while her character did a bowing gesture.
"The pleasure's all mine" Joseph typed and also did a bowing gesture.
"Where are those punks? We need to finish this quick, I still have some work to do" Joseph said, informing Nico as Joseph took a sip from his mug, his eyes not leaving his monitor screen.
"Let's go" Nico typed out in the general chat.
The three of them, then started walking. When they crossed the boarder going to field zone, LifeSaver started getting anxious. She stuck close to CherishedSong and SavageGentleman as her character kept looking left and right, in high alert, afraid that there might be an ambush.
They just kept walking and walking until CherishedSong suddenly stopped walking, making LifeSaver bump on his back. SavageGentleman stopped as well, making LifeSaver's heart beat faster.
"You noticed too, huh?" Joseph said, not surprised at all. He knew that Nico might have noticed it far earlier that he did, but wanted to say it anyway.
"Mhm" Nico nodded. "They have been following us since we crossed to the field zone, but they haven't made any move and just followed us quietly." What Nico said just confirmed Joseph's thoughts.
"Shall we welcome our guests?" Joseph asked, his lips turned up into a wicked smile and his eyes glinted with mischievous excitement.
"Kuya..... You're getting too excited." Nico said, amused by Joseph's obvious excitement.
"What?! Me? No! Who says, I'm excited? Why am I suppose to be excited?" Joseph immediately denies, refusing to admit the obviouse excited expression that he had on his face. Even the way he started defending himself, busted him from the get go.
Joseph haven't had the time to login in lately because of his schedule that's starting to get busier and busier. The stresses of having deadlines has taken its toll on Joseph making him loose his charming playful attitude; which is not Joseph at all. The only way for him to relax is usually by PVP. It doesn't matter whether it's in the arena, or out in the field, as long as he can do some slicing and dicing then he is good. That's why Nico always asks Joseph for help, when it comes to dealing with PKs, because he knew that there is nothing more that could refresh Joseph than a good ol' fashion PVP. In the end not only did Nico benefited from not wasting energy on PKs, but also benefited Joseph with his much needed PVP time.
"Um? Sir experts?" LifeSaver typed out in their group chat. Ever since Nico and Joseph stopped walking, their characters has just been standing in place without motion. LifeSaver's hands started getting drenched in sweat as a wave of negative thoughts assaults her mind. Her mind kept having the notion that she could possible be ditched by the experts who told her they would help, only for them to toss her in a pack of wolves to be eaten; when in reality they were just talking with one another in real life. She tried countering those negative thoughts with positive ones. In the end she was really about to have a mental break down if she still hasn't heard from the two experts.
"Sorry *Sorry emoticon* we were just talking about noticing some people who are following us" Nico sent in the group chat.
"Someone's following us?!" LifeSaver yelp in surprise, then started scanning the area, putting her guard up.
"Yup, but they're not really good at hiding" Joseph typed with a hysterical laughing emoticon.
LifeSaver couldn't understand how this two players could be so calm and even had the time to laugh, when she's moments away from having a heart attack.
"You can come out now! We know you're following us!" CherishedSong typed out in the general chat, making a chat bubble appear on top of him.
As soon as the chat bubble appeared a loud laugh erupted from somewhere in the forest.
"LifeSaver you actually manage to hire some decent players" OneKill said while clapping, as he walked out from behind a tree. His companions also started showing themselves, as they walked out form their hiding spots and surrounded CherishedSong's group.
If LifeSaver was scared before, she was terrified now, when she noticed that they have one more player added to their group, named "GunPowder" who's a Rebellion.
"Decent? Wow! This guy's on a whole different level of cockiness" Joseph said, taken aback by OneKill's over flowing arrogance.
"Let's get straight to the point. You will give the sword that you stole form ValiantSword, right now and no body gets hurt" Nico typed in the general chat, which made OneKill and his companions burst with laughter.
"Are you f(*beep*)ing with me right now? Do you thinks I'm stupid?" OneKill bellowed, who couldn't stop laughing hysterically.
"How about this? You're all dead!" OneKill said scornfully, as his companions readied themselves to attack at his signal.
LifeSaver couldn't help but be in awe at how calm and brave this two experts that she was with, but at the same time she wanted to scream at them to finish these guys off so she can finally breathe peacefully.
"Shall I?" Joseph typed out with smirking emoticon. He clearly couldn't wait to get his PKK on.
"Please" Nico typed back with a sigh emoticon followed by a thumbs up emoticon, giving him the go signal.
Joseph cracked his neck and knuckles, positioned his hands on the keyboard and mouse, and let out a sinister laugh.
"Didn't your parents thought you to respect those who are older that you?" Joseph typed out in the general chat.
As soon as SavageGentleman's hand held the hilt of his sword, his character suddenly disappeared then reappeared behind GunPowder. SavageGentleman unsheathed his sword and swung his sword in an arc, followed by multiple blinding stabs, swiftly eliminating GunPowder just like that.
Everyone was stunned, except for Nico, when they saw GunPowder drop dead and got killed so fast. Their brains didn't even had the time to register what was happening, and the next thing they knew GunPowder's HP hit 0 already.
"H..How is that possible?" OneKill said, his previews confidence was nowhere to be seen.
"Soul Dash, Soul Cutter, Soul Strike. These are very common skills of a Soul Sword, any veteran player could at least counter them. But your biggest mistake was challenging someone without any information on who your opponent was." Nico typed out in the general chat with a sighing emoticon.
RagingFlames immediately checked SavageGentleman's info, making his heart sank to his stomach. Then he went and checked CherishedSong's info, making his heart sank to the ground. Then when he checked both of their equipment, he wanted to cry. SavageGenlteman is currently wearing five Diamond Type (SSS-Rare) equipment, including his sword, and also a self made Avatar (Costume); While CherishedSong is wearing seven Diamond Typed equipment, including his Weapon, and also a self made Avatar.
"Retreat!" RagingFlames shouted, as he already started running for his life.
"Well, that's just rude" Joseph huff, as he controlled SavageGentleman to run after RagingFlames.
SavageGentleman disappeared once again using Soul Dash, appearing in front of Raging flames, then followed up with a high level skill "Soul Singe". SavageGentleman released a purple flame aura around him, then stabbed RagingFlames straight through the chest. After retracting his sword, RagingFlame's body erupted in purple flames, suffering form an extremely high DoT that eventually ate the last of his remaining HP. Soul Singe deals damage in two parts, The first is the stab which deals instant physical damage, then the Soul Burn effect will follow, which deals an extremely high amount of magical Dot.
SavageGentleman didn't even wait for RagingFlames to die as he swiftly moves onto his next target. As LifeSaver watches, she felt like she was watching a horror movie as the invisible monster massacres the helpless. She only had two words in her mind that could explain the current situation, "Blood Bath".
When everyone of OneKill's party has already been eliminated, SavageGentleman walked towards OneKill.
"Wait, we can negotiate! I'll give you the sword just let me go!" OneKill begged, as he slowly backed away from the approaching SavageGentleman.
While backing away, OneKill embarrassingly tripped on a small rock, crashing on the ground.
"Ple-!"
OneKill didn't get the chance to beg even further as SavageGentleman swung his sword and instantly drained OneKill's HP.
"One hit?" LifeSaver said, her voice shaking.
"Soul Sword's level 80 skill, Soul Eater. It's a very risky and dangerous skill, not only for the opponent but for the user as well. Soul Eater, eats away the user's HP and converts it to true damage plus the user's physical and magical attack. The higher HP that's sacrificed the higher that damage will be." Nico typed out in the chat, explaining it to LifeSaver .
When LifeSaver understood the skill, LifeSaver immediately checked SavageGentleman's HP. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw that that only 1 HP was left on SavageGentleman's HP. Knowing that SavageGenlteman was high leveled character, his HP would obviously would be very high as well, but only leaving 1 HP left? He must really be in a hurry and wanted to finish of OneKill with one hit.
"I told you kuya, stop using that skill!" Nico typed, sounding more tired that annoyed, as CherishedSong casts Healing Sound, healing SavageGentleman.
"What? I know you got my back." Joseph typed, with a winky emoticon.
Nico could only sigh, because what Joseph said was true, he does got his back. LifeSaver was just speechless. Too many emotions war inside her, making her unable to react accordingly. She just sat in front of her screen motionless, as her brain tries to catch up with the events. but it looked like CherishedSong and SavageGenltman were really in a hurry because even before her brain could could completely process everything, a message bubble popped up on top of CherishedSong.
"We gotta go. Give this to ValiantSword, tell him we couldn't recover his stolen sword."
Then a system message popped up in front of LifeSaver.
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"If you need help in the future, don't hesitate to send me a PM" CherishedSong typed out. "We're going now! Later!" Then another message popped up on top of CherishedSong with a waving emoticon.
SavageGenltman and CherishedSong logged out second after, not giving LifeSaver the chance to even say anything. Her character just stood there motionless, all alone. When she noticed that she was in fact all alone, she snapped out of her dazed state. She didn't get the chance to say "Thank you" to the experts that helped her today, but she had a feeling that it won't be the last time that she would see them. There was a smile on her face as she immediately teleported back to Thousand Lotus Kingdom.
Notes:
- *PK (Short for Player Killers) - Players who kills other player to steal something from them or just for fun.
-*PKK (Short for Player Killer Killers) - Players who kills Player Killers.
-*PVP (Short for Player versus Player) - It is a match between players to players, which either can be an official match in the arena or a match outside out in the field zone, where there is a lot more at stake.
-*DoT (Short for Damage over Time) - Damage that is distributed over a period of time. (E.g. - Poison, Burn, Chill, Etc.)
-*HP (Short for Health Points)
-*Diamond Type Items (SSS-Rare) - Items that are only self made.
-*Avatar(s) - Are in game cosmetics that gives a character a unique appearance; that can be either be bought in game or self created. It can be through clothing or altering the body (E.g. - Cat ears, Tails, Wings, Etc.). Avatar(s) does not affect the stats of the character and is mainly just for cosmetic purposes.