The Orchard was as peaceful as ever. The elves welcomed him, though much less ceremoniously than before. They had gotten somewhat used to having him around by now.
The elven leader was delighted to learn of the defeat of the Fallen Knight, though Kyle chose not to mention the small detail of having her as a summon. His gut told him to keep quiet about it.
When he asked about the blade he found, the elf simply shook his head. He didn’t know what it was, though he warned Kyle not to touch the blade, lest he get cursed. “Anything that belonged to the Fallen must be handled with care.” He warned Kyle before the young man left with his reward: a pure mana crystal.
Kyle stored it safely in his inventory before heading back to Cacophus’ cave. Tomorrow, he was going to go and clear some camps on his own.
And as such, days passed with no news from the elves, and no issues from players at all. Kyle focused his efforts on levelling up. He cleared camp after camp
The ruins of the temple Igna talked about weren’t too far from here, but they still had to walk for an hour or so. “What have you been up to?” Igna asked as they followed a beaten dirt path. The rolling hills slowly smoothed, and the terrain became less rough as more trees decorated their surroundings. “Levelling up, just enjoying life.” Kyle said with a smile. “I take it you’re still rank 1?” Igna smirked. “Of course!” She said with a proud expression, though her smile vanished soon after. “Though a particular group of players are very quickly advancing lately. It’s getting disturbing.” “Oh,” Kyle muttered as he absentmindedly opened his character sheet. ‘Kyle – Lv. 32 Summoner INT 20 | WIS 17 | DEX 10 | STR 10 | CON 18 Mana:200 Available Points: 8 Skill Points: 9 Achievements: Lich Killer, Topple the Mountain L
‘Kamahiri, The Praying Mantis – Lvl 50’ The text that floated above the creature’s head made Kyle feel rather… weak. “Level fifty?!” He exclaimed in shock. “You didn’t tell me about this!” Igna pursed her lips. “Ah, yeah. I forgot. Whoops.” She then smirked. “Let’s try and get this done quickly, eh?” Kyle let out a sigh. “Yeah.” The Fallen Knight Aoris walked forward. The clatter of her armoured boots as she stepped forth was the only noise around. She reached for her claymore and unsheathed the heavy blade with no trouble at all. She held it firmly as she bent her knees ever so slightly and slouched forward just a bit. “Let’s get this started.” Kyle said as he pointed at the creature. “Bolt of light!” As soon as the words left his mouth, the Fallen Knight dashed towards the gigantic praying mantis. She swung her blade with an upward cut, aiming for the bug’s softer underbelly. The Praying Mantis hopped away, causing he
The Fallen Knight Aoris’ words were proven right about ten seconds after Kyle and Igna left the temple. As they walked down the stairs leading from the entrance, the building burst into flames. “My goodness…” Igna muttered as The Fallen Knight only glanced back over her shoulder and nodded upon seeing the flames. “I would have stayed inside and died.” Igna sighed. “Thanks, you saved us.” “I am simply performing my duties.” The Fallen Knight said as she dumped all the loot onto the ground outside. “This place seems safe for the moment. Please use your raven to scout the area still, Summoner.” With that, she vanished in a puff of magic. “She does have a mind of her own!” Igna exclaimed as soon as the Fallen Knight vanished. Kyle summoned the raven and sent it off to scout their surroundings before sighing a deep breath. “It certainly feels like it. It’s very odd having her as a summon. I think she hates me.” Igna chuckled. “If she hated you, she w
The temple was huge. It was gigantic, and Kyle already hated the architect who designed this place. “It’s like a damn labyrinth.” He whined as they passed through the same room for the third time. Igna chuckled and nodded. “It really is. Reminds me of those old games, where they made the dungeons as convoluted as possible to drag the play time out.” She laughed, her laughter echoed throughout the empty, silent hallways. “Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be so loud.” She softly spoke a few moments later. Kyle awkwardly chuckled. He couldn’t help but feel on edge in this place. What if there were secret rooms filled with dangerous enemies? He was nowhere near high enough level for this place. It was more than likely that a single hit from a strong enemy could kill him in an instant. He considered summoning the Fallen Knight Aoris, but ultimately decided not to. Igna didn’t seem to feel quite comfortable with the summoned knight around, and Kyle himself was always
“So…” Igna let out a sigh. “What happens next?” She shot Kyle a quick glance. The young man shrugged, how should he know? He was nothing but “Was that part of a quest chain?” He asked after a few moments of silence. Igna nodded. “Then you’ll have to go back and see if the next quest in the chain is available. They tend to pop up every few days,” He added, remembering the Elven Orchard’s questline. Igna nodded with a thoughtful expression. “I’ll do just that.” She let out a deep sigh, took a handful of grain and placed it in her inventory, then turned her back on the vessel full of grain. “It’s getting late I think,” She said, checking her system interface momentarily. “I should head out soon, but I’d like to get back to Arceum first. Do you want to come along?” Kyle hesitate. “I’d better not.” He said, scratching his head. “I may have pissed off a couple of players the other day. It’s best if I lay low for a while.” “It
If anyone had been looking north of the mountain near the city of Arceum, their jaw would drop upon seeing the convoy moving north. A young man, accompanied by an armoured warrior was heading north, through the trodden dirt road that nearly no one used anymore. About four dozen skeletons followed the two of them. Pickaxes and large baskets in hand, they slowly made their way up north, towards the Cloudrest mountains that floated in the distance. “So,” Kyle muttered as the distant mountains entered his view shortly after noon. “How are we supposed to even get up there?” He massaged his temples and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was actually seeing things as they were. It wasn’t just his imagination, was it? No. No, there definitely were about half a dozen mountains floating in the air. They reminded him of pictures of the icebergs he had seen in magazines. The mountains looked like those. The part that would normally be hidden underground was so, so m
There was something majestic about massive mountains simply floating in the air. Kyle stood at the very edge of a cliff. Below the mountains was a large sea of dark purple liquid, and above it, the mountains floated. It was breath taking. And it was terrifying as well. “The bridge has snapped.” Aoris’ unfazed voice reached his ears. “We have no way of heading up to the mountains anymore.” Kyle blinked a few times. Right, they needed to get moving, didn’t they? It was hard to take his eyes off of the floating mountain. “What do you suggest we do then?” He asked, trying to focus on the problem at hand. The Fallen Knight shrugged. She didn’t say anything else and walked away to stand watch instead. Kyle let out a sigh and stepped away from the edge. The Fallen Knight was clearly not going to help him right now – he needed to find a way up the mountains on his own. He began walking along the edge of the cliff. If th
The hostile gazes didn’t cease. The man who had spoken up before pushed his chair back and stood up. He stepped towards Kyle’s table and folded his arms. “I said it’s none of your business.” He growled, red faced with anger. Kyle shot him a blank look. “If you get any angrier, you’ll break a vein.” He leaned back on his chair. “And I would suggest you think twice before sending someone who can actually help away.” He shot a glance at the others. They didn’t seem quite so hostile, nor had they made any moves to try and kick him out. “We don’t trust no outsider!” The man shouted at the top of his lungs. “Saying the same thing over and over again but louder isn’t going to change anything.” Kyle said with a sigh. “Look, I’m not asking for money in return to solve your problems. I’m not asking for anything. You’ve quite literally got nothing to lose.” He shrugged. “Are you seriously going to just chase me away?” The man clenched his fists. Kyle cou