When Akiol awoke it was already dark, checking the time he found out it was 5:15 am. Getting up and doing some stretches Akiol walked towards his laptop. After turning it on he then went straight to the forums, there was still no update notes. Getting dressed be began his morning training. A quick run to steadily raise his stamina, and some standard exercises.
This took the majority of his morning. By the time he was finished the sun had well risen and sunlight graced the world. Upon refueling his body with another meal he opened the laptop to do some more research. As more information became known he could come across hints of his party members.
Akiol checked the forums again, and there was the update notes. Published 37 minutes ago. Akiol read through the notes and it could be summarized in a few key points:
First, they fixed an issue with skills being used by thinking of them passively. Many players complained about them accidentally using spells and such without meaning to. Akiol also had an issue with this, and was relieved to find it fixed.
Next, they tuned the Player Killing punishment system, or the PK system. Before players could kill other players three times before getting a bounty. Now it was reduced to two, and the bounty was increased.
Finally, the main part of the update. Players could now teleport between towns and villages with the right teleport scroll. The scrolls price would increase as the player unlocked the ability to travel to higher tier towns and kingdoms. Any player can buy these scrolls once they reach level 25.
The notes ended with a thank you to the players and a wish for fun.
It was a simple patch, most likely there was some unstated issues that rapidly needed to be fixed. Akiol was one such person who suffered from these unexplainable issues. After all his race became a slime somehow. Returning to the VR headset and logging into A World's Legacy. His view was greeted with Red Bush Village.
Nothing much changed, except there were more players bustling about. Akiol walked towards the town hall as it was his initial goal before being interrupted by the update. Entering through the doors he saw a bunch of players mostly within groups.
They were obviously parties, doing quests and such. Akiol walked towards the quest board and took a look.
There were so many quests, for everything and anything. A quest to find a little girl's cat to killing a legendary wolf that has been eating their sheep. One was even finding a unique stone someone dropped in the mines. The amount and variety was ridiculous.
Overwhelmed with choices Akiol picked an escort quest. Not a escort carriage quest, but rather escorting someone to the mines.
Akiol loved to help when he could, it was born in him, how else would he be the hero? Akiol touched the request, it magically tore itself in half and a notification popped up.
Reward: +50% experience, 15 gold.> Akiol soon arrived at the Veryl's house. Knocking at the door Akiol asked, "Is Veryl here?" Slowly the door creaked open and there was an old man, not the kind who you would help cross the street though. He looked like someone you would call sensei and if you fought him, you would be on the ground in record time. "Who are you?" Asked Veryl "I am Akiol, here for your escort request." "Ah, please wait a moment, I need to gather some things." Without waiting for a response the old man headed back into the house, closing the door behind him. Akiol waited patiently outside... For two hours. Not wanting to seem rude, while also feeling concerned Akiol never left where he was. Some players walked by him and questioned his sanity. "Wasn't he standing when we left?" "Yeah, I remember that hair." "When was that?" "About..." the player checked the time, "an hour and a half ago." "Is he crazy?!" Ignoring the remarks players made, Akiol continued to wait. After another fifteen minutes the old man opened the door again. "Ah, I am so sorry youngster. I fell asleep looking for an item." Akiol told him not to worry about it and asked to lead the way. He followed Veryl down a beaten down path, it looked like a hiking trail. As he followed diligently the old man told some stories. "You know, when I was around your age I certainly was in my fair share of battles. The worst thing I ever fought was..." before he could finish his story however a group of masked people jumped from the bushes. "You darn old man, we finally caught you." One of the masked people said. Akiol already has his sword out as soon as the bush rustled however. He took a look above the people's head. They all said: Well they had the number and level advantage. Akiol didn't have a status appraisal skill, or anything similar, so he could not tell the stats of the bandits. This did not matter, for Akiol had a quest to do. Stepping in front of Veryl he then shouted. "Keep your distance! I do not wish to use violence." The bandits, who numbered seven, were silent. Just as Akiol thought they were going to back off, they laughed. "That's the funniest thing I ever heard!" Another said, "Just you are going to fight all of us?" "You're making us laugh, stop it!" Akiol wasn't going to entertain these jokes. His quest regarded escorting Veryl, and that would mean protecting him from these bandits. Thus he would have to fight them, despite his inconsistent measure of his own strength. The bandits saw he was being serious and stopped laughing. Raising their weapons and getting in a basic formation. The one thing Akiol was grateful for, was the fact that the enemy's didn't have classes like the players did. Or at least the small fry didn't. For there was three with one-handed swords, one was holding two daggers, two were holding spears, the final one was wielding a large two-handed sword. Akiol swung his sword, initiating the fight. The front bandit blocked the attack easily and another bandit swung his sword at Akiol's free arm. Akiol used [Absorb] on the Steel Sword and used [Dispel] on his free hand, efficiently swapping his sword hand. Clang! The two blades met, all the bandits were startled at what they witnessed, in fact they weren't sure what they witnessed. Akiol then used the same technique and slashed at the first bandit's chest. <-10hp> Akiol slightly frowned at this, theoretically his damage should be his weapons damage plus his strength, which would equal thirty. However the armor on the bandits took two-thirds off the total damage! Even the five he fought previously only took five damage off. After Akiol attacked the bandits snapped out of their daze. Roaring the two-handed sword bandit swung horizontally at Akiol. When dealing with large weapons with someone who was stronger, the answer was simple. Dodge whatever you can! With this conclusion Akiol jumped and did a barrel roll. Dodging the swing cleanly. Akiol sliced one of the two-handed bandit's hand. Making them loosen their grip on their sword. Landing then dashing forward, Akiol chopped their neck, nearly decapitating the bandit. 'That's more doable.' The two-handed weapon bandit gurgled, unable to speak due to his vocal cords being cut. Akiol then stabbed his head, a no mercy blow. The bandits all took a step back from the brutality. As bandits, while they did kill, they never mercilessly executed someone like that. Akiol stared at them, shouting, "Leave now and I will spare your life!" The bandits didn't need to be told twice, fleeing for their lives. Akiol then absorbed his sword, sighing. He let all that experience go, what a waste. He did not notice however, that Veryl was watching him with an interested look.