It was late in the night, and the whole village assembled themselves at the Congress Hall that was in the Mayor's first floor. The news that a military force would come here from a messenger of the kingdom alarmed them, not to make them worry about their life, but more importantly about the spot they were safeguarding. Hellish Village was one of the points of the seal between the Underworld and Earth realm. The children were soundly sleeping as they were so tired that not even a thunderstorm would wake them up.
So, they discussed about this, after all, the military force that would come was from Savato's Kingdom, the second biggest Kingdom. It seemed their greed on the Underworld's material were blinding them, as the message in the letter was read aloud. It was mainly offering them to become a special force for the Kingdom, they would be given riches, fame and land, whatever they desired. For that, the village should give them this land and the control over the seal that was created by Vermillion's parents before dying along with many others to divide the realms.
At this, Plate plainly rejected the offer, after all, he knew that the greedy King and his counsels would make a mess of the world, creating another War between realms, as the seal wasn't just for the division of the realms, it was mainly to seal away the Monsters that ruled both. Of course, the seal wouldn't be preserved forever, and this war was kind of inevitable, so, preparing and breaking the seal themselves would give them the element of surprise, and would catch the Underworld realm in surprise, but they weren't weak at all, it would just be a temporary advantage!
But it wasn't just that because Plate rejected the offer, there were many demons that lived in Hellish village too. In fact, Thane and Tact Hand were demons, and some other were Undead and so on and so forth. This village coexisted strong individuals that just wanted a place to live calmly, everyone had their own share of battles and bloodlust. It took time, but the hate between each of them and transformed this place into a neutral faction.
But this time, the Kingdom wouldn't retreat, as Putre Kingdom wouldn't be able to protect the village as it is having its own kind of troubles, they had almost a free pass. And thus, the messenger went away with a threat. "A raid will come soon to take over this place, if you haven't surrendered it by then, you will die with it for the reason of treason"
It seemed he didn't think the Village would reject the offer so strongly, he was confident in his Kingdom strength and he was promised great rewards if he managed to convince them, but it seemed he was ignorant why this place was so important for the future of the continent.
'The King must have used this person to just get a reason to attack us' Plate mused.
The raid was coming to the village; it was a huge army of thousands of warriors, mages and clerics, they were prepared for war against this single medium sized village. They were going to arrive here in a month, estimated our fellow rangers. As the citizens couldn't really go outside the village as they were quite hostile to all forces because of the village's protection. It would be seen as a mobilization to attack and declare war, and then more reasons would come for demise. But that wasn't what concerned Plate the most, as he trusted his fellow companions' strength.
His concern were the children, they would get into a war they shouldn't be, and as they aren't really seen as citizen, they would be recognized as traitors to the other Kingdom. He had to come with a way to send them off. At least until the raid ended, but he couldn't think of a reason.
But a notice came about a cave that was about a week from here was getting heated with monsters, maybe the work of a demon that slipped by. But at this he also remembered the restriction of his disciple that would come off in a bit more of a week.
With this sudden realization, he smiled, and formulated a plan. If they were to send the children off, better to do it with their own Skills. Time was running short, and him along with Vermillion and Drakon weren't what they used to be. They had grown old, and their powers diluted with time. Strength came with a price, and even if they survived for long enough to protect the seal for a couple hundreds of years, they weren't immortals.
And so, Plate met up with his two friends to discuss about the plan. It was about to give them their own skills, but they also had to do it fast. He told them that his disciple's restriction would come off soon and planned a quest for them to go out for a while. He told them about the cave's situation and how it was the perfect excuse to send them off to train their skills and clean the cave in a couple of months. That would make them miss the sudden invasion without being suspicious.
They knew how their student were. Stubborn! even Zenith, who seemed the most aloof of them, had his pride and was quite a character when committed. But they also made another rule to spice things up for them, if they don't complete this basic training, they will be kicked out of the village. Of course, the training became harder than what they had until now, it was the skills they honed during years of training, and they were supposed to complete them in a week time.
And so, they set up their torture plan.
Their training went by smoothly… which meant countless screams of pains and dead tired bodies in the ground. But whatever, they were learning!
And the children learnt their skills! Today was their last day, and they would give them something good to send them off, because they might not be here when their disciples return.
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It was our last day, I logged on and saw Peko and Zenith coming out of their rooms, they were quite happy they finished their own trainings and so was I… if you can call that training. The skill I learnt was Elemental enhancing. Peko and Zenith skills were Sacred Infliction and Heaven Splitter.
But all our skills are sealed for now, until today that is. Soon we will begin our adventure with these new skills and powers after that gruesome training. The fruits of our efforts must be huge… I hope…
- You have learnt a new Skill! Elemental Enhancing. +10% Elemental affinity to all Elements. Do you want to see the skill description?
- Skill: Elemental Enhancing (Active & Passive) Beginner Level 1: 0% (Sealed)
Allows user to do elemental enhancing on his own or in different bodies, as he can master the elements itself. Allows up to the basic use of the elements, more than that and the body might break.
Allows up to 10% power output of the elements
1% Increase in Elemental Affinity per level
The Skill increases by the use and understanding of the skill.
It seems all our skill has something to do with buffing, even Zenith's that seems like an active sword skill, it is way more than that, as it enhances his body to unparalleled levels and can even split life! But that is in advanced level. As all of them are in their beginner level, our skills aren't even a tenth of what our masters can do.
So, we smiled at each other, and went downstairs. Our three masters were waiting for us there and signaled us to go to the training hall I usually train.
At this we shuddered, remembering our hell training and thinking we didn't make it in time. But as we got upstairs Thane and Tact Hand were there, Ms. Jacy was also there too, in fact all the people we knew in the village stood in lines in the edges of the hall and at the center were our Masters with smiles on their faces.
"Stand before us, disciples" Plate told us, and we stood in front of them. Our three Masters put their index finger on our foreheads and said.
"We bestow upon you our Skills, and that makes you our successors" and suddenly a pop-up message appeared in front of me.
- You have completed the quest!
Fame +200. The Elemental Enhancing Skill is unsealed. +10% Elemental Affinity.
"We bestow upon you our titles; these will get upgraded during your journey depending on your path and achievements" Said the trio solemnly
- Elemental Novice title has been added to you title list.
+25% Elemental Affinity.
Allows the user to sense the elements
At these bonuses I got really surprised, after all, it was 25% Elemental Affinity! It was huge! But it seemed Master is going to continue.
"Ardha, do you wish to become an Elemental Warrior?" Asked to me my Master, adding "Along with this, you might get hunted down too as the rest of my people, I won't be offended if you reject it, in fact, I would be relieved" Said Plate with emotions on his face.
- You were offered the Hidden class Elemental Warrior, by the Legendary Plate. Do you wish to accept?
But at seeing my eyes he knew that I was going to accept, after all, I stayed serene with it. My resolution won't waver with a Kingdom or two going for my head.
And thus, I said "Yes!"
- As being the successor of Plate, your class has changed to Elemental Warrior.
+50 to all Status
+10% Elemental Affinity
Increases proficiency to elemental uses
You have acquired the Elemental Blending skill!
- Skill: Elemental Blending (Active) Level: Maxed
Allows the user to blend elements together, creating new forms and facilitating the understanding between them
The success of this depends on the user's skills.
Sighing, Plate said "Thane, Tact Hand, Jacy, Blink and Eroda, come forward" Blink was the owner of the library that Peko frequented and Eroda was the one that taught the spell books to Zenith.
At this, all five of them came forward, and handed us sets of leather armor, a Two-handed sword and two One-handed swords, along with some spell and history books, two daggers, a wand and a cooking book with so many recipes that the book was bigger than the history and spell books.
At this, we just stared in awe and divided the items by ourselves; I kept the One-handed swords with the cooking book as I am the only one who knows how to cook from this group…
The two daggers and wand were for Peko along with the history books
And the Broadsword was for Zenith along with the spell books that seemed more Mass destruction oriented… He will be a danger for the world, you know?
Along with these items, each of us received a set of leather armor, a white one for me, a black one for Zenith and a greenish one for Peko. Each parts of the set were excellent! High defenses and durability, and the set didn't hinder our movements as we move!
My swords were white and black with beautiful shapes, the black one was bigger and when I noticed, they were an exact copy of the Death's Swords, but these gave bonuses of +30 Strength and +30 Agility together, their attacks were of 40 and 25 too.
By the looks on Peko and Zenith's faces they were truly confused and at this Tact Hand said.
"Thane, me and a handful of other citizens are Demons" He said with a smile on his face to my fellow companions.
"So that's why… you guys must be strong demons for even us to not notice" Said Zenith amused
"You learn some tricks with time… and I know your family, which is why I remembered the shape of the swords too" said Tact Hand with a grin.
At this, Peko smiled at everyone and said "Thank you" it was quite a sight.
But a smile formed on our faces and we bowed down to them, after all they became our guardians and we were thankful to them.
At this, Plate said "Raise your heads, as I have a mission for you"
"There has been an exponential increase of monsters in the southeast area, the reason seems to be hidden is inside the cavern. Go and clean it up, after you finish it, come back to report! You have two and a half months to do it, or you will fail" Said Plate solemnly.
- New quest! Cleaning the cave
There has been a notice of an increase of monster in the southeast area, the mayor of the village has asked you to clean it out and exterminate the cause of this outburst of fiends.
Difficulty Level: D
Deadline: 70 days
Rewards
-Unknown
It was a whooping difficulty level D quest, for their levels it was suicide, and even if they were stronger, it would still be insanely difficult, but they wouldn't back down, after all, they survived a training that no normal being would have submitted to it and they still had a lot of time for training, so they nodded and said.
""" Will do""" And so, they set off, with a new adventure that will be a challenge bigger than they had ever faced before
At his companions, Ardha thought they seemed similar to the two people he knew, the ones who were his family, but, most of all, that will continue to move forward with him.
Name Ardha
Alignment Neutral
Race Human Level 15
Class Elemental Warrior
Title Elemental Novice
Fame 300 Infamy 0
Health 4504 Mana 2355
Strength 146 (+30) Agility 186 (+30)
Vitality 103 Stamina 132
Wisdom 91 Intelligence 108
Luck 60 Leadership 50
Concentration 100 Endurance 100
Perseverance 100 Fighting spirit 97
Attack 65 Defense 80
Magic resistance 21% to all elements
Elemental Affinity 35%
+50 to all status
Increase the proficiency in elemental uses.
- Skill list
Elemental Blending (Active) Level: Maxed
Elemental Enhancing (Active & Passive) Beginner Level 1: 0%
Sprint (Active & Passive) Beginner Level 3: 83%
Swimming (Passive) Beginner Level 2: 76%
Magic Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 3: 68%
Elemental Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 6: 71%
Sword Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 8: 16%
Fast recovery (Passive) Beginner Level 8: 11%
Hand-to-hand Mastery (Passive) Beginner Level 6: 54%
Tailoring (Passive) Beginner Level 3: 37%
Dual sword Mastery (Passive) Beginner level 4: 16%
Repair (Active) Beginner Level 2: 3%