On the way to the village, we had to run a lot because of the monsters around here, they are around level 100 ~ 300… thanks god that they are slow. After running a lot, we found a lake and we rest there while eating something (My bread), then, after I got my stamina back, I went for a swim, I even generated the skill after some time.
- You have learnt a new Skill! Swimming. +5 Stamina +2 Strength. Do you want to see the Skill description?
"Yes"
- Skill: Swimming (Passive) Beginner Level 1: 1%
It allows the user to swim freely, with less wasted movements and increasing the speed. This skill allows diving for 100 seconds before suffocating.
- 20% Speed in swimming
- Increase stamina by 2 per level
- Increase strength by 1 per level
It consumes 100 stamina per hour.
'Wow, the stamina consumption is quite high'
Zenith and Peko are watching me in awe, it looks like they don't know how to swim so we finish for the day with me teaching them the basics of swimming, Zenith learnt really fast and Peko got to swim and float too, but her swimming style was doggy style… well, soon she will learn front crawl, I hope…
At night I see Peko burning some dried logs to make a small bonfire with magic, so I ask her if she could teach me, Zenith also went and started to try teaching me… but he sucks at explaining. Seems he is more of an instinctive person, but his presence is really… eerie as I would put it.
As I start concentrating with Peko's advice and ignoring Zenith's, I create a ball of light in a second.
I start focusing more, trying to change its properties to fire, water, earth, ice, lightning, so on and so forth
And thus, I learnt magic mastery.
- You have created a new stat! Concentration. +10 Concentration.
'Huh? Well, seems I got a useful stat right here'
- You have learnt a new Skill! Magic Mastery. +10 Intelligence +5 Wisdom. Do you want to see the Skill description?
- You have learnt a new Skill! Element Mastery. +10 Intelligence +5 Wisdom. Do you want to see the Skill description?
'Hoho, I got two skills, seems that Parallel is versatile with magic, as I should have needed a spell book and some Intelligence to have created that skill in normal games. Here I was thinking it restricted us too much for us to search someone to teach us skills' I think while being amused
"Yes" I say as I didn't notice Peko watching me impressed how I learnt the skill so fast. Well I know the basics of it too, but for it to generate I need someone with the skill to teach me… that's one of the basic rules of the game or you must be fundamentally connected with it, but there must be other ways...
- Skill: Magic Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 1: 89%
Allows the user to use magic freely.
- 10% decrease in mana consumption at using magic.
- Allows user to use up to Basic to Intermediate magic, the later will cause some penalties depending of the spell.
- 10% increase at the magic's speed.
+2 Intelligence per level.
+1 Wisdom per level.
Mana consumption depends on the skill used.
Skill: Elemental Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 1: 21%
Allows user to use Elemental magic. This skill is one of the roots of Magic mastery, so when using this skill, it will also increase the first one.
- 10% Increase decrease in mana consumption at using elemental magic.
- Allows user to use up to Basic to Intermediate elemental magic, the later will cause some penalties depending of the spell.
- 10% increase at the elements power and versatility.
+2 Intelligence per level.
+1 Wisdom per level.
Mana consumption depends on the skill used.
Concentration.
This stat was created after extreme focus, allows the user to enter a state of high concentration easily. The increase of it will allow further advantages. Its effects also depend on the person using it and the goal.
You cannot put any point to this stat. It will increase by itself. It will only come to play when the user focuses. The stat will increase accordingly, depending on the user's actions
'This will help me a lot in the future, a moment of carelessness can bring death, so being able to focus more efficiently is great' I am thinking, feeling happy for these new things I got.
"So, you got the Skill?" Asks Zenith, as Peko is quiet for now.
"Yep, also got Elemental Mastery" I hid the concentration stat from them, as they are still NPCs it might be a problem if I say something like stats.
"Well, it comes in handy that skill too, but you would have gotten it sooner or later as you improve with magic" Says Zenith.
"Woah! that's some fast learning, Ardha!" Exclaims Peko, surprised.
"Thanks…" I say kind of embarrassed.
And we go to sleep, I log out to stretch a bit and make lunch.
As I am eating, I get a call from Nicolas.
"Yo~"
"What's up?" I ask him.
"Well, was calling to check out on you, and to tell you I'm in Putre kingdom in the city of Vicuña" Says
Nicolas adding "So, where are you, buddy?"
"Wasn't that the smallest kingdom? And that is quite a small city, I thought you would go to Arapi Kingdom and go to one of its largest cities and say something like, I'm gonna conquer this Kingdom and then the World!"
"Ha!... emm, well I thought how about starting low in a small Kingdom and then rising it up"
'So, I hit bullseye with that comment of mine'
"Hmm, well then, good luck with that" I tell him about to hung up.
"Wait! You didn't answer my question!"
"Oh yeah, forgot about it, sorry. Well I'm kind of lost, so the system gave me a map to the nearest village, it's called Hellish Village" I tell him.
"Huh? that wasn't in the list of locations to start in, maybe it's an undiscovered village! And how the hell do you get lost!? The system should've sent you to some city and you can't really leave the place until the restriction is lifted!" Says Nicolas with a surprised voice. It seems he doesn't really care about the name of the village…
"Well, I kind of blurted out I wanted to go to the person with most growth rate, and it accepted my request, so now I'm travelling with two people towards this village, if I don't get in 3 more days, I will be penalized…" *munch* *munch*
"So, the system accepted that kind of request?" Asks Nicolas, surprised by my answer
"Well, I was the first one to buy the capsule after all" I say shrugging. *munch*
"Hmmm, maybe that's why it didn't teleport you right away"
"Maybe" *munch* *munch*
"Well then, I'll ask about that village of yours"
"Okay, call me if you get any information about it"
"Ok~~ Oh yeah, when will you log off again?"
"Hmm, at around 8 to 9 pm for dinner"
"Gotcha~" And Nicolas hung up.
I finish my lunch and log in again, it has been almost 2 hours in real life, that means they should or will be awake soon.
As I log in, I see Zenith awake and Peko still sleeping
He is watching her sleeping, seems someone has a crush.
"Yo, Zenith~" I say in a quiet voice.
He gets startled by my voice and suddenly looks my way "M-morning" he stutters a bit.
"Didn't know you were keen on watching a damsel sleeping" I said teasingly. What? I'm like this too.
"Ugh, well, uh, I was about to wake her up!" says Zenith with a faint blush.
"Hahahahahhaha! Yeah right, well I'll keep it a secret for you~"
*Sigh* "Thanks…" says Zenith in a defeated voice.
After ten minutes of me talking with Zenith about stuff, Peko wakes up while yawning, so we eat some bread again and drink some water…
And we resume our running for our life from the monsters
In the afternoon we encountered a wolf alone by itself.
"Ohhh, a wolf, should we hunt it?" I ask first, because a wolf for a bunch of weak people might be a bit of a gamble.
"Yeah! I'll curse it while you two kill it!" Says Peko in an excited voice.
"Good for me, I'll throw some spells to it, and if it comes to worst, I'll use the white sword" says Zenith, with hidden excitement.
"Okay, here you go, I'll use the black one for it" and then we get in position, we wait for Peko to curse the wolf before attacking it.
"You shitty dog, slow down!" She curses…
'Huh?'
The wolf seems to notice something and looks at our direction with an angry look, its legs starting to move towards us, but in a seemingly slow motion.
'It worked!?'
Zenith and I start making fireballs to throw at the wolf which is now coming toward us.
'Even with a speed curse, it is still damned fast!' I thought while I release the fireball alongside Zenith to the wolf, as the fireballs came from a blind spot, they both hit it making it whine a bit.
"You wimpy puppy, weaken!" starts cursing Peko again when the do- wolf gets to us
I bring out the black sword and distract it from Peko and Zenith
I start slashing at it and evading its attack. Thank god I got some agility and strength from those skills…
"You defenseless sandbag, weakens" comes a curse from Peko and an Earth attack from Zenith to the poor wolf.
As I am focusing a lot with the wolf as to not receive an attack and die, my mind and movements become sharper, but even so, it is impossible to evade all attacks, so I ended receiving a bit from it in my left arm.
- 80 Hp. You are bleeding, will lose 2% of HP per minute and your left arm movement will be duller until wound is healed.
'One more attack and I'm dead!'
Zenith realizing about the fact, comes to help me at the same time as releasing another fireball, getting the sword out he stabs the wolf.
Making use of the moment, I slash the wolf's right leg, hindering its movement even further, and then, a lightning hits the beast, it was from Peko.
Now with the wolf weakened and movements restricted it ended up dying quite easily from our united attacks.
- Level Up X2!
Ignoring the message, I get some bandages out that came from the novice bag and bandaged my wound. It didn't generate the skill, but the bleeding seems to be stopping as it is draining just 1% per minute and soon it completely stops.
We collect the loot which thankfully had wolf meat and leather along with a claw.
I put 7 points to Agi and 3 to Str.
We rest for a bit and start hunting more wolves one by one, then, after getting stronger we went for 2.
At night we stopped and 'cooked' some meat to eat in a safe spot for us to rest, Peko has a variety of helpful spell, along with an illusion one to help us in resting places.
After a while, they go to sleep, and I log out.
As I make dinner to eat, I get another call from Nicolas and I answer it.
"Hey! I discovered some stuff about that village of yours!" He says with a sudden smirk that you could feel it at the other side of the phone.
"Really? Tell me about it"
"Yup, seems you are up to some hell, Bahahaha"
"Huh? Why?" I ask now a bit worried.
"Well, it is a village near the border of the Underworld sealed portal, it is said that it has dangerous monsters around and the people that reside in it are monsters as they are all veteran in fighting" Says Nicolas with a contained laugh.
*Sigh* "Well, no risk no glory, and it seems kind of fun in its own way"
"Well, you are used to some hell training in the real world, so keep it up buddy! Oh yeah, one more thing"
"What?"
"That village it's at the west, near of Putre Kingdom, so we might see each other in game after a while~"
"Cool" I say, after all, Nicolas is my friend and one of the few people who can go at my rhythm.
"See ya~" and he hangs up.
I eat my dinner and watch some of the news, it was about the players in Parallel.
I turn it off before they got about the players ranking.
I log in.
-------------------------------------
"Now let's welcome our special guest, one of the representative of Insanity Corporation, happy to have you with us, Mr. Steven" Says the female locutor, her name is Virginia and is also one of the players in Parallel, she, as many others, were anxiously waiting for this event as it may contain important information for the future.
"Thank you, Ms. Virginia," Says the representative with a cool smile and voice.
"So, may I start by making some question?" asks Virginia.
"Do so, I'll answer as much as I can" Says Steven with a smile.
After a series of question regarding the game and several avoided answers, Steven finally says something that picked the interest of everyone.
"Well, as a representative of Insanity Corporation, I have come to say that we will make a ranking list of levels of the people playing the game, and it will be updated once a week"
This news surprises everyone, knowing the levels of their competitors was a blessing, yet, at the same time, it added a lot of pressure on everyone, intensifying the competitive self of them. At the same time, it would test the players, knowing that to increase one's levels, skills should be on par.
"May I ask when will the ranking be uploaded?" Asks Virginia with anxiousness.
"We will post it here in this channel for about 5 minutes, then in our webpage" Says Steven coolly about the rating bomb he had just delivered.
Just as he said that, the ranking post was uploaded, the rating raising furiously and the staff of Life's media shouting in joy with the higher ups saying it was totally worth it the huge money contract they made with Insanity Corporation.
But soon everyone looked the ranking in surprise, even the representative got shaken up when he saw the list. There are many level 2 players and some level 3, but the one they are seeing is in that number 1 with a highlight spot.
Rank 1 User name: Ardha Level: 11
Rank 2 User name: Vladi Level: 3
The difference in level between the top spot is a whopping 8 levels, it might have been already incredible if the 1-month restriction wasn't in play, but it was.
And the ranking list disappears as an uproar starts to search the user with level 11.
-----------------------------------
When I logged in, Peko and Zenith were already awake, waiting for me, so we resumed our way. We sprinted and killed every wolf that came to our view, it looks like we are getting near the village as more wolves start appearing. I even got the Sword mastery and a new stat!
- You have created a new Stat! Endurance. +10 Endurance.
- You have learnt a new Skill! Sword Mastery. +5 Strength +5 Agility +5 Stamina. Do you want to see the Skill description?
- Skill: Sword Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 1: 23%
Facilitate the handling of swords for the user, allowing sharper and more accurate movements.
- 10% Increase attack power with swords.
- 3% Increase attack speed with swords.
- 5% decrease in mana and stamina consumption for sword skills.
- Increase 1 stat for Strength, Agility and Stamina per level.
- Endurance.
It reduces physical damage and increases life in small amounts. It does not stack with Vitality.
Decreases stamina usage.
You cannot put points to this stat. It will increase by itself.
So, along with killing every wolf we saw, we got a lot of loot and meat, lots of meat!
After devouring wolf meat and continuing our way, we finally see a glimpse of a village. At the sight of it we start sprinting even faster and finally stop when we get to the front of a medium sized village, there are many people of different races walking and, when we got inside, a sudden message appears.
- You are the first user to come to Hellish Village!
+100 Fame
10% permanent discount at buying items in this village, unless you gain the hostility of its citizens.
- Restriction placed, you can't leave this village until the month is over.
'Finally!' I exclaim in my mind and then I see that an Orc-like man comes to us, he says.
"Welcome adventurers to Hellish Village!" Says the man with a welcoming smile "I am Drakon, I have never seen you guys before, are you one of the so-called Foreigner that we have heard of?"
"Yes" I say to the man in front of me.
"Hoho, and may I ask to these Demi-Humans here, what is your business here?"
At this we freeze up in the spot. If this man were to go against us, we wouldn't only be doomed, these two might also get captured and tortured.
I readied myself to die if I had to, at this the man gets surprised and starts laughing.
"Hahahahahahahaha, relax kid. I won't attack you, if I so wanted, I could have restrained you the moment you stepped foot here" Says Drakon heartily to us.
"Well, we were sent by my parents to train and learn from the human world" Says Zenith with a cold sweat, abandoning the option of running away.
"I'm Peko, this is Zenith and here is Ardha" Says Peko introducing us.
"Oh well, I'll let you pass, we would have gotten hostile if you tried to run away or attack us, come, let's go see the general" Says Drakon making a sign to follow him.
And thus, our adventure in this Hell of a place started, I remembered the words of Zenith a few days ago when he read the name of the village 'Sounds like home'.