I went to the front counter of the guild hall. I decided a dungeon raid would be the best way to complete the quest and get experience from the raid. We needed the raid experience to work together as a team. I had the sinking feeling that we were going to be a party for the remainder of our time in school. "Good evening Sir, how many I assist you?"
"I need information on goblins. Any villages or caves that they inhabit."
"I have two locations for you to choose from. There is an abandoned village south of here, the goblin chief is ranked Iron or higher, I recommend taking a party with you before attempting to clear it. There is also a cave that beginner Adventurers go to learn how to fight."
"Ill take the Village, I have a party." The receptionist didn't bother asking any questions. She handed me a sheet of paper. "The details of the Village are on this. Just add it to your manual and the quest will become active for you."
I opened my manual and slid the sheet of paper into the spot behind my classes.
[Quest added.
Clear the Abandoned Village.
Clear condition: All Goblins are subjugated
Fail Condition : All Party members have fallen.
Quest reward : Bowgun recipe unlocked]
Now that is an intriguing reward. I went back to the classroom and straight to my team.
"We have a good raid. I believe we can complete it as long as we work together as a team.
Formation remains the same. Will, this will test your tanking skills to the max. Rachel your job will be to keep Will from being swarmed. Seph, you are in charge of healing Will if he needs it. Try to save MP for the boss though. We need to prepare, go to the market and stock up on health potions, Mana potions and Antidotes. We need to be prepared for everything they might throw at us."
The group nodded. "Where are we going?"
I glanced to Michael, who was paying attention to us.
"Ill text you the info, send me a friend request and I'll clue everyone in
Remember, this is strictly our teams information. Nobody else should know this information." I pinned both Will and Rachel. I didn't have to tell Seph. She knew that I was the only one keeping her safe at this point.
"Don't worry Boss, we don't like them anyway." Will smirked knowingly.
Rachel glared at Michael, who came up to our table because I wouldn't tell them what our raid was about. "Hey guys, what quest did you get?"
I sighed and turned to him. "Its against the rules to answer that. We have to use our own knowledge and skills to complete quests, no outside help is allowed."
"I'm a member of our guild, surely that would allow me to help you?"
"No help is allowed from the upperclassmen, it's against school rules. We can handle this ourselves." I stood up. "C'mon guys, let's go get ready for the quest." My team stood up with me and we left the classroom.
"He looks pissed." Will spoke to me softly. I chuckled. "Meet me at the gate once you have your supplies. I have a feeling he will try following us."
"That would be bad. We aren't supposed to do quests with the upperclassmen."
"I think that is his end game. I have a skill that will make following us impossible, but I have to be touching you." Will gave me a look that said I was being creepy.
"Not like that, I'll have to hold your hand and you'll have to hold Rachel's , I'll have Seph on my other side. Just until we reach the woods. I don't have enough MP for the whole route, yet."
"It's scary how awesome that skill sounds. What is it called?"
"Shadow Walk, I can become one with the shadows around me as long as I have the MP to do it."
"Ok, how high is your MP?"
"55, that gives me 11 seconds. You might have to carry us there."
"Not quite, I have a skill that acts as a decoy, if I take too much damage. I can use it to make him think we are going one way when we are going the other, but we have to time it perfectly."
I took a second to think. "Can you carry Rachel and sprint at the same time?"
"Yeah, but only her."
"I'll use shadow walk on me and Seph, you use decoy and run towards the Woods, I'll follow. That should work. The timing must be perfect. This should confuse them."
Will nodded and left me to meet up with Rachel. I took Persephone's hand and we made our way to the merchant.
I bought the necessary potions and waited for Seph to buy hers. Michael stepped in the shop with his team. Just great. The redhead tried to shove Persephone out of her way, but I stood close enough to stop her. "Its against game rules to attack Players in a neutral zone, it's against guild rules to attack guild members at all. Should I tell the Guild Master?" The store clerk spoke immediately. The A.I. was programmed to report all misconduct immediately. "Yes, please. My friend was just going to buy her supplies. There is no reason for the hostility."
The redhead glared at me and then a red warning appeared above her head.
[Unauthorized attack against a player in a neutral zone: 1 hr ban from playing initiated.
Unauthorized attack of a guild member: your guild master has been notified.]
I smiled and waved as the redhead was forced to log out.
"Behave Michael, the rules are very strict in here." I warned him as he watched in shock.
Persephone finished her purchase and we left him glaring at us.
I texted the other two.
[I may have kicked the hornets nest, hustle to the woods. Now is our chance.]
[Will: The hell man!? I thought we had a plan!]
[Rachel: On my way.]
I took Persephone's hand and lead her to the gates. I didn't look behind us, I could feel Michael trying to follow but, unlike the would be warrior, I have a few asshole skills. I used Shadow Walk and slipped through the alleys.
I met Will and Rachel next to the forest. Will had a twitch going.
"What happened to change the plan Boss?"
"Micheal's girlfriend decided to try me. In the merchant shop. She was caught and Banned for an hour. Michael tried to follow me but I have asshole level skills, so I lost him on Market Street."
"So, what's the quest?" Rachel spoke coldly.
"Clearing an abandoned village. Rewards are recipes geared towards your Sub-Class."
I pulled out my manual and shared the quest information with the party.
Rachel looked impressed. "The hard part is we have to clear it completely out, I bet this is a chain quest if we pull it off right." She actually spoke more than a couple of words. "My thoughts are the same. I think Michael wants to clear it without having to do the work himself. But he'd need the quest information to start and the game is designed to make quests only once, so this quest won't happen again."
I did my research on this game. I believed that me and Persephone were the only two people who reincarnated here. The others were probably born with this information so I had to study up. "Formation doesn't change. I'll deal damage with Rachel, Will Tanks and Seph is our healer. We protect the healer, she goes, we go. Got it?"
The all nodded. Persephone frowned but nodded. "Don't worry Seph, I got you."
Will smiled reassuringly at her. I squeezed her hand. "Lets go. Will on point Seph in the middle, Rachel on her left flank and I'll be on the right."
We did pretty well with this Formation. Will took care of anything in front of us and Rachel and I took care of the sides and rear, Persephone healed us when necessary and buffed Will as needed. So far we were doing pretty good. Before we knew it we had each leveled up twice.
I took a second to allocate my points then I told Persephone to dump her points into defense and Magic. I wanted her to be extremely hard to kill.
[Name: Mordecai Ferdilance Morningstar
Hp: 105
Mp: 58
Str: 23
Def:16
Dex: 26
Stamina: 55
Int: 55
Luck: 25
Sp:0
Guild Rank: Copper
Class: Archer
Level: 3/???
Exp: 0/100
SP:
Skills: 9 (press tab to open)
Sub-Class: Alchemist
Sub-Class: Blacksmith (4/10)]
My level jumped to three and my stats equal that of level six. Seems legit.
"Alright, we rest here for a minute. Replenish your MP before we reach the clearing."
"What about you, Boss? Archers use mana to shoot right?"
"Wrong, I use arrows. I made a shit load so I can gain the skill for my Sub-Class. I can make arrows as I go." Will almost looked like I killed his dream of me using Mana like a mage.
"Hey Cai, where should I put my points?" Rachel asked me as she went over her Manual.
I glanced at her class then answered. "put 4 into strength and Defense and the rest into magic. If you do this right you can build a completely new class. Remember that your base class changes as your stats go up. I'm thinking we need to hit a level threshold before class ups become available. Or we get class quests to help us."
I planned to be an assassin type class, so most of my build will center around Dexterity, Stamina and intelligence. But there was no point telling them that.
"Why is Seph dumping her points into Defense, if she is going to be the healer?"
"That's because right now I don't have the ability to protect her and kill mobs at the same time. To keep my Seph safe, I need her defense to come up." I stood up. "We ready? Next is taking on the Village. I want to use Guerilla Warfare here. Rachel do you know a spell that acts like an arrow"
She thought for a moment. "I have [Ice Spear] it does the same thing as an arrow but the mp burn is high."
"Prioritize that spell, I'll handle the rest. Will your job is to lead the mobs into a kill box so we can take them out." I then went into detail about the plan. When we have high numbers, we create a kill box, funneling the enemy into a designated location that will become there grave.
"Last to die is the boss, we have to conserve our potions for him. We prioritize our DPS and Healer, sorry Will, that way we can do the most damage. Will, you'll have to create a wall between us and the mobs. Rachel and I will thin out the heard. Persephone, stay behind me at all times. I can't watch you and the battle at the same time." Seph nodded. I smiled at her trying to convey that it's going to be alright as long as she stays where I have her safest.
I knew that unlike the others, this was very real for me and Persephone. The game was our reality. We would die if we were killed in game.
I would have to finish this quick so she has a less of a chance of getting hurt.
Rachel moved off to her position on one side of the gate. I slid quietly into the shadows on the other side. Will stood between us, he raised his sword and shield into the ready position. The deafening roar he made had to have been heard throughout the entire village.
Good.
The onslaught of goblins that rushed the main gate was beyond the number required for the party quest. But I didn't care. Rachel and I released volley after volley into the horde. Will took a lot of the aggro off of us as he could. Seph buffed Will's defense and Strength so he could take more damage and deal it in turn. We were battling non stop for an hour. "Still no sign of the Goblin Chief." I yelled to Will as I killed another goblin shaman trying to heal the horde. "He might be waiting for the horde to tire us out!"
He had a good point. I glanced at Rachel as she used another mana potion to recover. Then she sent another ice spear into the eye socket of a goblin.
"So far, we have an advantage, but it won't last if this horde isn't dealt with."
I didn't want to use them yet but I'm out of options. "Rachel and Seph, shield Will. I have an AOE skill that will thin out the horde faster."
Rachel dropped a defensive buff on herself and then on Will. Seph did the same. I climbed up to the top of the gate. Then charged my skill.
I aimed my bow straight up. The arrow began to glow. I applied a new trap I designed to the arrowhead.
[Skill acquired: Death's tears. Fire an arrow into the sky using half you HP in place of MP to cast an Instant Death on all enemies with your eyesight.]
I felt my HP drop to half as I fired the shot.
Rain began to pour down on us. Then it changed to Arrows and the sound of a woman weeping. The Goblins were impaled by the arrows and died on the spot.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
.
.
.
.
I leveled up ten times for one shot.
[Name: Mordecai Ferdilance Morningstar
Hp: 052/105
Mp: 58
Str: 23
Def:16
Dex: 26
Stamina: 55
Int: 55
Luck: 25
Sp:50
Guild Rank: Copper
Class: Archer
Level: 13/???
Exp: 0/1300
SP: 0
Skills: 9 (press tab to open)
Sub-Class: Alchemist
Sub-Class: Blacksmith (4/10)]