Travis scrambled and did some final tests to confirm what he was seeing.
It was true! He was somehow transported three years back!
He knew this because of a webpage left open on his laptop. It was the upcoming release of A World's Legacy. The game he had been betrayed on.
The only thing was that he had an extended amount of knowledge about the game. More than any player! If he played his cards right he would stand far above his previous enemies. Hidden quests, stat reward crystals. Several guides had been created for beginners, he had watched many when he was bored.
This was a one-in-a-million chance for him. Once the first competition finished, he would not have to worry about money.
Knowing this, he ordered a VR headset.
After a week the official release of A World's Legacy was announced. Travis was among the first to join the launch. He quickly created his character, for now human would be the best option race wise. There would be a secret race in the future he would obtain, called Cosmic Trace. The abilities of this race seemed tailor fit for his play style. He had been this race before. However that wouldn't come until level 600.
He chose Two Tries as his name. His previous name had been Try Only Once. He thought it was fitting.
He chose warrior as his beginner class, it wasn't his first choice. However the class he wanted wouldn't be available anytime soon.
Upon logging in he took a moment to relish the beginning village's atmosphere. Deja vu assaulted his senses as he looked around.
He quickly gathered info around him. Currently the beginning village he was in was Pink Berry. He nodded in satisfaction, Pink Berry was home to a particular Berserk skill he wouldn't mind taking. The previous owner of this Berserk skill was some player who chanced upon it when the second edition headset was released.
Of course as a new player they heavily bragged about the skill, showing off its abilities. Even going as far to give instructions on how to obtain it. Just to tease all those who tried and failed.
Travis had no guilt on taking the skill, it would be useful to him for a long while. However he needed to obtain some basic equipment and gain some quick levels.
Players usually would attempt either kill quests or fetch quests as a beginners task. Those who chose kill quests would soon found out that some levels would be needed to attempt any kill quests.
Of course Travis didn't choose either, instead taking a low rewards quest many players would skip over. It was a delivery quest, he would need to deliver some medicine to an old man who lived a decent way away from the village.
This quest was easy, however with the right words a player could obtain a hidden quest from the old man.
Travis soon delivered the medicine pretending to take a look around he then said, "You sure it's fine living alone, out here?"
The old man sighed, "It is sometimes quite dangerous, I haven't been able to sweep my wife's tomb because of the monsters."
This was the line Travis wanted to hear, "I can do that for you."
The old man brightened up, "You will? I appreciate it young man."
Travis accepted the quest and traveled to the tomb, it was a small manner to sweep the tomb. What came next was the small challenge.
Once the tomb was dusted off some wolves came bursting through the surrounding brush, baring their teeth.
Travis grinned and readied his beginners sword. All beginning monsters had a mechanical feel to them. Their patterns were basic, the A.I. would get harder the further one progressed.
Easily dodging and continuing to slash at the wolves, eventually the final one fell. Collecting the basic materials he made his way back to the old man.
"Your wife's tomb had been swept." Travis said politely.
"Thank you very much, here take this. I found it a long time ago. You can keep it."
While obtaining a few levels Travis accepted the item. It was a stat boost crystal. This singular crystal was on par of obtaining five levels. Even more so considering it added to every stat!
It was the most basic of crystals, stat crystals ranged from a few different rarities. Basic ones gave around 10 stat points, these were the most common yet still rare stat crystals. Some of these only add to a specific stat, an all rounder was considered the top of the basic stat crystal. Charged Stat Crystals were the next tier rarity, these gave 20 stats. The same rules apply for the basic stat crystal. Generous Stat Crystals gave a whopping 50 to all stats. These were exceedingly rare, unlike the previous two this one was guaranteed to add to all stats. Finding this crystal was akin to receiving a blessing from Lady Luck directly.
Travis used the stat crystal and added his few stat points accordingly. This was the beginning of his master plan. If he only acquired stat crystal quests then his basic stats would rise to the point where no player would reach.
However first, he had a Berserk skill to acquire.
~ ~ ~
Akiol kicked down a mannequin, this dungeon was annoying. He hadn't felt so much distaste for something for a long time. This dungeon was called [Fashion Crises in the Theatre!].
It was highly recommended by players due to the large amount of mobs to cut down for experience. However if Akiol knew that the mannequins were the mobs, he would have thought twice!
It was worth mentioning Akiol despised mannequins. In his previous world they always seemed to move when he wasn't watching, none of the party members felt the same however. He always had a nagging feeling about mannequins. Now there were tons!
The mannequins would collapse into several parts after taking some damage, after a short while they would put themselves back together and continue rushing to attack a player. This repeated three times before the mannequin was fully dead.
This wouldn't be a problem, if there weren't hundreds of mannequins.
The party managed to funnel the horde into a small doorway, giving them some breathing room and reducing pressure.
Kan'na released a spell, a wall of lightning struck in front of the door way. Scorching any mannequin who squeezed their way through.
"This is a fantastic dungeon Akiol! Look at all the experience!" Yielya praised.
"I can't tell if that is genuine or sarcastic." Akiol commented.
Yielya was about to respond, until the roof crashed down and a mannequin dressed in a officer suit brandished their sword at the party. This was one of the few mini bosses in the dungeon. Occasionally a fancily dressed mannequin would join the fight, these mannequins took much longer to fall apart while dealing far more damage.
Wrock reacted quickly, as he began his combos he asked, "So are we going to fight through all these or figure out what's causing this?"
"That really depends, there is a lot of exp here. Are we really willing on passing this up?" Akiol replied.
No response, everyone wanted to grow stronger so exp was the answer.
Staff continued the chain lightning attack. AOE attacks were the most effective here. After half an hour of constant fighting there was a clear decrease in the mannequin horde. Akiol exasperated, "Who needs so many mannequins anyway?"
After ten more minutes the final mannequin fell, the pieces everywhere decorated the room. There was a collective sigh of relief.
"This is indeed worth a lot of experience. To think my levels increased this much." Tilia complimented.
Everyone checked their status page and were similarly pleased.
Then the ground started shaking, the scattered mannequin pieces vibrated and began sliding together. All coming together a large several story high mannequin crashed through the ceiling.
Akiol made a face, "Oh you have got to be kidding me..."
~ ~ ~
Travis placed the final piece in his square. He had to do four separate quests to obtain the necessary pieces. Then a final fifth quest to obtain access to the room he needed.
The piece lit up and a dark swirling flame began to rise. After five minutes of a brilliant show all that remained was a dark orb. Travis touched the orb and his hand absorbed the dark sphere.
[Abyssal Surge:
The depths of the abyss support your path to the top. The depths power you in your quest.
Cost: 500MP
Effects: +200% to all stats, +25% damage, Attacks cause abyss magic damage.]
Travis nodded, the description matched the one he had seen before perfectly. Abyss magic damage just acted like an additional buff. Every time a player was hit with abyss magic their stats would drop slightly, roughly 1% each strike. The maximum was 25%, meaning technically the buff not only gave him and additional 200% stat buff, but he could obtain up to an extra 50% damage buff on top.
This was a top tier berserk skill, Travis knew he wouldn't abandon the skill anytime soon. Berserk skills with no drawback were always considered the best. Now all he had to do was obtain the stats to use it.
Travis excitedly exhaled, this was the start of a new page in his book. Things would be better from now on.