NOVEL WEB 36: Over the Week
Liz had enjoyed speaking with her sister before logging back into ELO. She really did hate how much she couldn't see her; it was hardly different from when she had been working in any of her other jobs, but she had honestly expected things to be different now that she was making more than enough money to live sustainably.
A job is a job I suppose... Liz thought as her sight changed from the inside of a visor to the inn room she had rented. Maybe I should get one of those capsule things.
The past week had been a fun breather for Liz; she had been incredibly wrapped up in her quest so much that she had not been able to really enjoy the game. Something she took the time to do while waiting for her quest to be ready.
She mostly stuck around the capital, but still found some impressive dungeons to hunt in since there were hardly any monster fields around the capital - besides the [Grass Sea]. She and her party (Nina and Gloria) increased their level while waiting for the quest to be ready; Liz surpassing level 80 (reaching 86) to gain the [Summon - Skeleton Mage (1) (D-)] skill and finally acquiring a magical summon.
The mages wore long, black, tattered robes that covered an otherwise normal skeleton that were incredibly physically weak, even more so than the warriors who were 2 ranks lower than them. Despite this they were still exceptionally useful thanks to their innate magic skill [Dark Arrow] that shot out (as expected) an arrow of darkness at an enemy making them an incredibly powerful force of glass cannons even if Liz could only use 5 of them at level 1.
One other quirk Liz had found about them was their mana stores. Normally each mage had enough mana to cast 20 [Dark Arrow]s, but Liz discovered hers didn't have that same limit thanks - once again - to her skill [Voodooist] allowing them to use her own mana as substitute. Liz began to wonder if she should start praying to the [Voodooist] skill every morning for all the good fortune it has brought her, but decided to put it off for the time being.
Gloria had reached level 65, gaining the skill [Demise Slash (D)] that massively empowered a single attack with a potent corrosive-type dark magic. A useful skill, but unfortunately one she was not very well specced for as it mostly scaled with INT - her lowest stat.
Nina also increased her level to 80 just the last time the 3 had been logged onto ELO and gained the skill [Curtain Call (1) (B)] at level 70, which was a skill that would increase Nina's chance of getting a critical hit by 15%, but inflicted her with stacks of a [Fatigue] debuff whenever she failed.
(A/N: Fatigue increases amount of energy required for attacks, mana and stamina which isn't displayed, but felt - a hidden stat)
The skill Nina received at level 80 was also quite impressive:
[Fan Favourite (1) (D+): Enemies have an increased chance to hesitate when attacking the user for 1 minute. Scales with CHA and skill level. Cooldown - 5 minutes]
Liz (and the girls) had also spent time increasing the levels of old skills. [Leach Bolt] had jumped in levels greatly to reach level 8; [Summon - Skeleton Warrior] reached level 7; her summoning skills for her soldiers, archers, hounds and even golems all reached level 6 and many more had improved as well.
(A/N: [Raise Horde] › lvl 4. [Blood Donor] › lvl 3. [Soul Sight] › 21%. Most of her miscellaneous skills improved as well, but they're not all that important)
The biggest increases in her skills were not even class skills, they were her other skills [Multitask] which had reached 98% percent - the skill potency had reached a point where Liz could be having a full conversation with Nina while also playing multiple separate chess matches, it was like she had grew more minds. The other massive increased skill was [Doll Maker], however, this was not because she was all that interested in it. No, this was as a direct response to another of her skills: [Soul String].
Over the week, Liz had practised non-stop with [Soul String] and only raised it to 6% proficiency; but even that was enough for Liz to realise how incredibly powerful it was. At first, forming the string had been one of the most uncomfortable experiences she had even encountered, like sleeping in a tub of worms as they writhed all around her, but by getting over it she witnessed its power.
Her first targets had been corpses and upon taking control over one it was as though she had 2 bodies. This caused another awful feeling as the connection was instantly cut and Liz was forced to log out where she spent the next 5 minutes puking all over her room; it took a while for that phase to end, but it eventually passed. When she was fully capable of being inside of a vessel without being forcefully logged out, Liz then had to learn to control it.
(A/N: This isn't a split screen type situation. Liz literally has 2 bodies with 2 sets of eyes kind of like playing VR and seeing yourself. Not the best analogy but I hope u get it.)
Humanoid bodies weren't too bad since Liz had experience controlling those, but the bestial ones were nowhere near as easy - even if she eventually got the hang of it. She didn't dare attempt to control an insect's body since walking on 4 legs or flying as a bird were hard enough. This was what allowed her [Multitask] skill to improve rapidly as it quite literally needed to.
While bound to a vessel Liz could use it as she had [Puppet Hand], making it a multicasting skill; but one holding much higher potential. [Puppet Hand] was bound by how many hands the skill permitted to be summoned, but [Soul String] didn't have such a limitation as it was instead bound by her SOU stat. Liz found she couldn't increase the stat with skill points, but knew that increasing the skill was possible and when she did the number of vessels she could control would be functionally limitless.
The skill was exceptional as it gave Liz complete control of any object, but she soon found that corpses may not be the best option when binding her soul. Her skill did nothing to slow decomposition of the body - what she needed was a body that did not rot, spurring her interest in the next of her skills to achieve a massive growth spurt: [Doll Maker].
Liz figured that she could make something capable of combat like a cyborg guy she had seen in a very old show, something called Invulnerable or Indestructible - she couldn't remember.
As such she had put a lot of effort into improving [Doll Maker] until it eventually reached 64% proficiency. But even then she wasn't capable of creating the types of dolls she wanted; what she could make however were dolls that could move.
Liz had run into some trouble with [Soul String] as even possessing an object, as she had come to call it, didn't mean it could suddenly move. A rock didn't suddenly grow legs since her soul was inside and even a table's legs couldn't exactly allow it to move as she wanted. As such Liz had to learn how to make joints for her dolls such that they could move. As of the present day, Liz was capable of making mannequin-looking dolls that could move even if they were slightly janky.
Ultimately, Liz had received an incredible boost in power. New summons, powerful skills and her teammates following close behind.
There were also other important events over the last week; a few announcements after plays achieved something, but only one really stuck around on the forums for any time:
|
[«WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT» Evolution has been achieved by a player for the first time] [Player: Gally has evolved from a {Goblin} into a {Elite Goblin}] [Reward: {+1000 Rep}, {+5000 Gold}, {+Ancestral Blood}, {+Big Book of Monsters (C)}] |
The very first evolution was quite big, putting Gally on the map - at least for a little while.
Even as a goblin there were some advantages, weaker races have lower evolution requirements; goblins to elite goblins merely have to meet a level requirement.
That was the biggest event of the week, but there were a few others worth mentioning.
The other 4 mega-guilds managed to establish real guilds in ELO, Golden Radiance came second with Flame Emperor's Terracotta Army coming in just after them. Flame Emperor also got a world announcement for being the first to complete an S-ranked quest; stealing that opportunity away from Liz even if she would still get one for beating a kingdom quest.
The final important part of the week was that the official level rankings were posted:
Player Level Rankings:
- [Miner] [lvl - 88]
- [Smokey] [lvl - 86]
- [Flame Emperor] [lvl - 85]
- [Golden Radiance] [lvl - 85]
- [Isla] [lvl - 85]
- [Unbreakable Star] [lvl - 84]
- [King] [lvl - 83]
- [Felon] [lvl 83]
- [Alex] [lvl - 82]
- [Nina] [lvl - 80]
(A/N: FYI, [Unbreakable Star] and [King] are the guild leaders of the other 2 mega-guilds that don't really matter - [Diamond Star] and [Dominators]. Only put them on the leaderboard since they are on the same level as [Isla], [Golden Monarch] and [Flame Emperor], wouldn't make sense for them to not be there.)
Liz honestly felt a little disappointed that she had not been the first ranked, but seeing the 1st place player she understood. [Miner] was a famous player across the scene as a grinding madman; people would see him in fields across games just grinding endlessly; not even bothering with quests or anything like it - only ever stopping when he needed to buy new equipment or log out for 3 hours of real sleep. He was a fanatic.
Nina was quite excited to be on the leaderboard, even if she was only 10th. Only for that to immediately change to irritation as a player called [BlezzBlezz] reached level 81.
"Dammit!" She cursed as Liz laughed slightly.
They were currently on their way to see the Marquise about the next part of their quest. Liz didn't see how they could possibly do any more prep and was expecting to begin the final stages of the quest: Putting an end to the coup once and for all.
Inside a dimly lit mansion in the capital city.
A lone man sat in a comfy-looking chair that faces a fireplace. Above the roaring fire was a large painting that depicted a strong, yet slim man in what looked like the attire of a military officer. His fine appearance and well-groom face would allow anyone to tell the man in the painting was a noble.
The painting perfectly resembled the man sitting in the chair in every aspect, but one: Their eyes were far from the same. Where the painting depicted a man with striking green eyes that could attract any woman, the man sat in the chair's eyes were a deep crimson - as if hiding something within the abyss of his iris'.
He sat, gently drinking from a crystal glass - one made from the scale of diamond wyrm, a rare and powerful draconic species - not even flinching as he sensed shadows taking the form of a human behind him. The shade gathered behind the chair, forming out of the flickering dance of damnation cast by the flames raging before the man in the chair until they revealed a single man waiting, head down, kneeling in reverence.
"Speak." The man in the chair commanded after some time, clearly more interested in his drink than the servant behind him.
"Yes, Milord." The shadow servant said, never rising or even lifting his head, "The Baron is dead, he has likely given up the information."
The room was silent again as the man sipped from his drink. Minutes passed with no sound beyond the crackling flame and the occasional sound of drinking.
"Good." The man said before finishing his drink and placing it onto the ornate table beside him, "Send word, we begin at noon."
"Understood, your Grace. Everything will be as you will it." The shadow servant spoke before dispersing into shadows once again.
The man in the chair once again stared into the dance of flames before him. But beside him a bottle floated into the air and poured another drink into the crystal glass, once full the man brought the glass to his lips and continued sipping.
For a moment that was all he did, sipping occasionally from the glass while staring into the flames until they began to die down - casting the man into darkness. Yet through that darkness his eyes glowed stark red, persisting through the abyss. Something evil danced through those eyes as the flames had just moments ago; but not a soul dared question the motives of someone so great as the Archduke of Kilgard.
The Archduke finished his drink once again before placing it back onto the table. He sat in silence - in the dark - for a moment more before looking up to his painting.
"Everything is proceeding as anticipated." With that a smile spread across his lips for the first time and he stood and walked to the door.
"For it is the destined path this kingdom must traverse such that greatness can be realised."
The door closed, leaving the room in silent darkness.
A coup was brewing in the heart of the kingdom - would it survive a day longer, or be swept up in the tides of betrayal?