Information was they key to success. But David needed it more then anyone as he stood alone in the wilderness without a clue what to do next.
'I need to find more of those hearts but I have no idea how to find them.'
After ingesting the first heart and evolving it was logical to say that the more hearts that were collected the more likely they would trigger an evolution.
But it was like finding a needle in five of the largest haystacks known to man.
Each of the five Kingdoms were the equivalent to 56 football fields in land. However Lady Luck threw David a bone as he saw a half buried chest next to a skeleton.
[You have Opened a Lost Adventurer's chest]
[You have found the Frozen Heart of Exile]
[You have found the Burning Heart of Rage]
[You have found the Radiant Heart of Love]
[You have found a Adventurerer's last Note]
"…Am I dreaming?"
Even the development team was shocked before they all turned to Jim Kirk.
"What? You guys don't know how hard it is to spread these things and hide them so well. I got lazy when it came to the last three so I put them in a box."
David however was stil contemplating reality as he blindly starred at the three hearts.
"Time to dig in I guess."
After just one bite into the first heart the flavours overwhelmed him. It tasted better then anything he had ever eaten even if it was one of the hundreds of hearts cut from a King of Dragons.
[You have Consumed the Frozen Heart of Exile]
[+1% chance to place a Curse on your enemies]
[Your Status had changed due to the consumption of the Dragon Kings heart]
[You have Consumed the Burning Heart of Rage]
[+2x Likelihood of hitting a weakness]
[Your Status had changed due to the consumption of the Dragon Kings heart]
[You have Consumed the Radiant Heart of Love]
[+10% Affinity gained with certain NPC's]
[Your Status had changed due to the consumption of the Dragon Kings heart]
[Conditions have been met for Metamorphosis]
"Before I start my Metamorphosis let's have a look at what my status is. status."
[Tiamat-Lv.60][Global Ranking:#1,998,236]
[Class: Dragon Kings Decsendant]
[Guild:Unaffiliated]
[Race:Dragon Born]
[Title:Kings Last Decsendant and Two others]
[Health:220/220(+100)]
[Mana:120/120(+100)]
[Stamina:150/150(+100)]
[Strength:225(+100)]
[Agility:120+100)]
[Dexerity:165(+100)]
[Intelligence:184(+100)]
[Unassigned Status Points:0]
[*Metamorphosis is ready*]
[Skills:Frost Blast, Dragons Rage, Path of Exile, Radiant Roar]
[(Class-Skill)Dragons Rage Lv.1]
[Fuel the fires of your rage and let it empower you]
[+25% to all stats for 30 seconds]
[Cooldown:72 Hours]
[Mana Consumption:100]
[(Class-Skill)Path of Exile Lv.1]
[Shame your enemies with their own actions and force them to be exiled onto the road of repentance]
[Inflict a Curse onto the Target equivalent to the Casters Level]
[Curse effects are random for 1 Minute]
[Cooldown:3 Hours]
[Mana Consumption:400]
[(Class-Skill)Radiant Roar Lv.1]
[Shine your radiant light onto your enemies]
[Blind your enemies sight for 10 seconds]
[Skill will transform into [Judgments Light] if the target is Undead]
[Cooldown:10 Minutes]
[Mana Consumption:200]
"Holy cow!"
*MOO!*
"…"
David felt on edge as a random cow dressed in fancy white and red robes was walking by him.
Even the development team was confused, Jim included.
That was until a group of Players chased after the cow.
"Capture that cow! Once we do we'll have all we need to get the reward from the pope!"
There was little time so David stuffed the Adventurers note in his mouth and hid from the players.
It was truly laughable that see but David had started to read the note once he was safe.
'If you are reading this then it means my life hasn't been for nothing. My name is Del Silverstone, I was charged with high treason to the Kingdom of Blumin. But I was framed by the ones I thought were loyal to my order.'
Betrayed and hunted down by those he had faith in. It was an end no one wished for.
'My order was charged with the sacred duty to protect the last remnants of our founding King. We watched from the shadows hoping that one day the Dragon King's Successor would come and free us. Only the Dragon King's Descendant will be able to open this chest'
Everything began to make sense as to why this random adventurer had the three hearts locked away.
'They were waiting for me… so the Kingdom of Blumin… I'll have to go there if for no other reason then to find out more information of this order.'
This little note was of great help as David now knew where to go next however it wasn't an option for the moment.
'Even the simple Mobs are over Level 200. I'll need to prepare and look for any remaining hearts in the Elemental Kingdom first.'
It would take quite awhile before David was ready to cross the Kingdom of Helvin to arrive at the Kingdom of Blumin.
[Metamorphosis is ready]
[Time until Evolution is completed:3 Hours 59 minutes 51 Seconds]
Fortunately for David the egg around him while the Metamorphosis took action made him seem like a boulder. So even if someone were to see David they would only see a stone.
Jim Kirk was excited for a number of reasons as he waited for David to emerge.
[Time until Evolution is completed: 11 Seconds]
This was the proudest moment for Jim Kirk as David's vision returned. The Metamorphosis was complete and David emerged from the egg shell.
"Ah that's better. Hmm?…I'm …I'm a chicken?!"
David sat down at a lake and started at his reflection and thought he had turned into a chicken until he recognized the beast he was.
'No that's not a Chicken but a Cockatrice… I guess it's still better then being a Gecko.'
Cockatrice were large birds with some similarities to a chicken but they were quite strong.
'The Cockatrice hunting grounds have Level 80 to 100. Maybe I can use this to my advantage.'
However it was easier said then done as that was one of the prime hunting grounds.
Hundreds of thousands of players use these hunting grounds and since they weren't part of a dungeon anything can happen.
But why would they need to hunt in an overcrowded place? It was because of the first awakening at Level 100.
If David were Level 99 it would take him about over 300 successive hunts in the Cockatrice area to advance.
At least for the moment David didn't need to worry himself about the awakening for the moment.
Another useful bonus to achieving the form of the Cockatrice was the inventory function.
[Inventory Slots have been opened]
Cockatrice were sneaky thieves that would steal anything that was shiny which is another reason why people constantly hunt them.
'Now that I can have inventory space I'll have to sell some gear if I come across any.'
[You have taken 11 Damage]
[Player Vs Player Combat has started]
Although the Cockatrice hunting grounds were a ways away that didn't stop the group that were chasing that cow to attack David on sight as David plucked a hand crafted arrow from his back.
Ever since his rebirth so to speak David had been anxious about fighting other players but now it was different.
"Hey! Did you guys just attack me!?"
The group however was too far away to see David's Name but they could clearly hear him talking.
"Huh? A speaking Cockatrice? Is it a named Boss?"
"That can't be the case. The Cockatrice hunting grounds is too far for a named boss to appear here."
First they attacked him unprovoked and now they ignored him? That was the final straw.
"You don't want to finish what you started? Fine! Dragons Rage!"
[All stats have been increased by 25% for 30 seconds]
Their highest level looked to be a Level 70 Mage so once David was within range he smiled as the temperature dropped.
"Your already dead when you attacked me first. Frost Blast."
[(Class-Skill)Frost Blast Lv.4]
[Harness the power of Cold into a breath attack]
[5% chance to inflict Slowness for 5 seconds]
[Mana Consumption:20]
After repeated use of Frost Blast against Hob-Goblins David had raised it to Level 4 where both its power and effectiveness were almost doubled.
[You have dealt 87 Damage to player…]
[You have dealt 62 Damage to player…]
[You have dealt 99 Damage to player…]
[You have dealt 79 Damage to player…]
[You have dealt 107 Damage to player…]
Their combat tactics were seen through easily as David did just enough damage to cause them to use a potion.
Not one of them could land a single hit on David as his running speeds were faster then normal Cockatrice's.
"I can't hit him! We need to lock its feet down! Fireb-"
"Your dead already so just give up and give me some good items."
[You have Landed a Critical Strike!]
[You have Dealt 248 Damage]
[You have Killed Player KittenWhiskey]
David only have ten seconds left to Dragons Rage but that was more then enough to kill off the rest of them since they ran out of potions and their mage had just died.
'Hmm… they had some deep pockets. Over 9,000 gold and some Rare items of decent quality.'
After selling off the items into the marketplace David's total Gold amount totaled to over 15,000.
'That's $1,500! Which was like two weeks of pay from my old job in just a few seconds! Maybe I ought to do this more often.'
Selling off other players items was why a majority of players became PK Hunters.
Even the development team was scared of the monster that Jim had made all while Jim had a devilish look on his face.