"You're little girl still. Why would they want someone like you in the guild?" The man was tall, overly muscled and annoying. He was, like everyone else, misguided by my illusions. Yes, I looked like a teenager with my illusions, but making statements about my guild made my blood boil. We had variety of levels in our guild, some even were under fifty still.
"So you would be better fit for it than me?" Sometimes wearing the guild mark was not very likable and we recommended for everyone to stay in pairs, just in case they would run into morons like this one.
I had just logged in to the game, gotten surprised by the Labyrinths boss, killed it and ported to the largest city on the floor. I had been minding my own business trying look up a mission I could do while I waited for my companion to join in on the game, when this idiot decided to pick a fight with me.
"Hell yeah, I would be. I'm strong and obviously higher level than you could count," he had a gruffly voice and his chuckle was not something anyone wanted to hear. I wondered how he had tuned his voice to that. My voice, even with illusions on, didn't change much. It was sweet, loving and yet commanding, that's what everyone said. I did had to admit that my voice sounded like twelve years old in the game, at least when I whined.
"So, let me get this straight," I smiled sweetly at him, getting his attention from his own thoughts. "Just because you're higher leveled than me and strong. You should be in this guild not me?" He nodded eagerly forming a triumphant smile of his own. "Still somehow I'm in and you're not? That must be really hard on you. To think a lower leveled player is better than you." Girlish giggle escaped my lips, I couldn't help myself. This was one of the things every player, without real experience, thought. Lower level player always had to be worse than higher level player, which wasn't at all true. If it was the case, there would actually be a level cap in the game.
"I demand a duel!" His shriek got the by passers attention, they were now sizing us both and making silent agreements among themselves of who of us would win. He scrolled through the menu until he found what he wanted. I couldn't back down now and in anyway I wouldn't have.
The duel invite came quickly enough, it was fight till death, surprise in there. His smug smile told me he was sure of his win. I noticed he was using a greatsword which would hit hard if it hit the target. Choosing couple of daggers for myself, I accepted the duel.
We got into our positions, watching as the seconds went down from five till it hit zero. He started to come towards me, swinging his sword, ready to swing it at me. But he didn't count on the fact that I was quicker and more experienced. I leaped in the air so quickly that when I landed behind him, he noticed me when my daggers were in his sides. He dropped down to almost half his health and while he tried to get a grip of the situation I backed away slowly, my daggers ready for another hit.
Couple of the onlookers moved so they weren't in the fire line. The big guy, now angry and embarrassed charged at me in his full speed. I could see him too perfectly, he hadn't trained his speed at all. As he swung at me, I quickly got out of the way, cutting through his side.
He swung his sword blindly trying to hit me at least once but I was quick and experienced at dodging. Because I didn't want anyone to realize my true strength, I lowered his health slowly with little cuts here and there. Soon enough he was dead and the break down window came up. He hadn't hit me at all.
"Don't ever underestimate lower level people, do you hear me?" The guy, who now looked pissed of and ashamed, only nodded and left. Now I noticed every on lookers eyes were on me, with variety of expressions. I quickly bowed a little and left the scene, I hated attention.
"Aren't you trying to be cleric class?" I turned around to see Merlo, who was grinning down on me. I grabber his hand quickly and started dragging him with me.
"I am a cleric," I smiled, "but who has said I couldn't have few tricks up my bag?" His response was only laughter. "So what are you doing here this early?" They usually came online after five pm and he was a hour early.
"I got early away from class, so I decided to get some supplies before others came online," he said, "but it seems you're already here, only Ragdon and Sefiest are offline." I saw the little cafe that served extremely good pastries. I pointed him to it's direction.
"Well, let's have little coffee before they come then!" I walked quickly inside the cafe. The barrister was npc, elderly looking lady with kind smile. Buying quickly what I wanted and what Em wanted, we went to sit on a table that was behind the cafe. Far from privy eyes and eager ears.
I quickly shuffled the delicious chocolate goodness to my mouth. The triple chocolate cake in the game was something I wished I knew how to make in real life, it was that good. I had tried many times but it never tasted as good. Merlo coughed, getting me out of my euphoria.
"That good?" He was smirking at me, slowly eating the pastry he had taken. I narrowed my eyes at him. "You have to admit you looked like someone with the biggest pot storage ever."
I laughed out loud, "Pot, really? I only need chocolate to get high!"
"I'll give you that." He chuckled, flipping his hair away from face.
"I do wonder why you went for a female char, doesn't it make you little uncomfortable?" I never had understood it at all.
He looked behind me, thinking. "I guess it's got to do more with physique of female than anything else really. Mostly everyone picks it because it's nice to have own boobs to touch," he winked playfully, "Not that I say I mind it. But girls in this have better advantage in away, smaller physique is easily evading. And well, I'm kinda big guy in real life."
I think my face gave away something, "No, no no. I don't mean I'm fat or anything. Not that there is anything wrong with being fat." The words left his mouth quickly but clearly. "My physique is just big and I'm well trained."
Giving a little giggle to his embarrassed face, I smiled in understanding.
"So what's your reason?" He quirked his eyebrow at me. What could I say? And before I could come up with something, he continued. "Now we both know you're actually a girl in real life, no questions asked."
I crossed my arms, defying him to elaborate his statement. "How so?"
"Well it's your carefree attitude on everything and you just have this way of speaking like a girl. Unless of course you're actually a guy who's gay," his smile was warm, "and well, even if you're really skilled, I know for a fact that sometimes girls are better than guys."
"How have you come to that conclusion?" I asked curiously. Supporting my head with my hands I leaned on the table. He looked at me with a knowing smirk, I had just confirmed his assumption of me being a girl.
"My little sister used to play this game," his voice held a certain kind of sadness, "She stopped months ago when her friend had some kind of traumatic experience. My mom told me some about it, it had something to do with her boyfriend, I guess, and what ever it was made them both just quit playing." He had a far away look in his eyes before he turned his eyes back to me.
"They both were in the same guild which kept them busy, so the plan we had first didn't really work." He smiled, "We were supposed to keep in contact through the game while I was in college, she got me introduced to the game, she and her friend were few of the third phase beta players." Deep in thought, his frown deepened.
"Anyway, once I actually met her in the game, accidentally mind you. She had a busy schedule because of the guild she was in, I still don't know the name of it," He shook his head, "So we dueled a little, I thought I could beat her with her being a cleric but she surprised the hell out of me! She had learned to be a mage too." He for the first time laughed out loud, his eyes twinkling.
"You haven't kept in contact with her in real life?"
"I have every time I visit mom and dad. But it's not very often and we used to be really close. So it's hard on both of us." He fell silent, clearly not wanting speak about it anymore.
"Sorry, my curiosity sometimes gets the better of me." I didn't like seeing him so sad and I felt my this was my fault.
"Don't be, I just realized with classes and part time work, I forgot to call her," His frowned more deeply, "I should do that after, I heard from mom she's having rough time at school." Looking at him intently, I realized he cared deeply for his sister.
"I don't want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, but maybe you should visit your family?" It sounded more better in my head than out loud. I started to apologize, but he cut me off.
"That actually sounds like a good idea you know. I have the Friday off from school, so extended weekend with my family sound great, " he smiled to himself, "Thanks."
"No problem," I was happy now and so was he.
Soon enough our talking had to stop. Ragdon and Sefiest had come online and we were going to explore the Mystic Forest in floor 42. It was known for it's changing layout and the boss that was in the middle of it. Everyone needed a portal stone just in case we got lost in there and a lot of luck.
The floor 42's main city was buzzing with people and npc's, everyone doing their own thing. We made our way out of the city quickly but silently. Not wanting anyone to see us, Mystic Forest was known place for dark guild's killings. Because of them, it was so much more dangerous going in there. But the guys had wanted to explore it and I wanted the rare cooking ingredient that a creature dropped in there.
"So, what's the plan once we get there?"Ragdon asked worriedly.
"Have you ever been there before Enthy?" Merlo was watching me curiously, like he was trying to put puzzle pieces together. Sefiest noticed this but quickly looked away. I decided a honest answer was the way to go this time.
"I have, with some guildies about 5 months ago," I tried to choose my words carefully, not giving them all the details. "It's the place many dark guilders hang out, so we need to be careful and silent. Every creature in there has a different way of attacking, most of them come from the shadows and sometimes the trees attack you too."
"And please do not at any moment stop to think. It's filled with fairies that are cruel little creatures." I kept my voice calm but serious. We had one chance at getting there easily. If any of us died, the whole lay out of the forest would change drastically and we would have to come up with a new approach. "And please when in crossroads stay to the right side all the time. That should lead us to the boss."
They all nodded in understanding. We were now looking at the entrance, checking my inventory quickly for everything I needed, I got my staff out.
"Sefiest, stay close to me. And Ragdon lead the party, Merlo will be in the middle."
"So you're battle planner now?" Sefiest smirked down at me, his tall avatar making it possible for me to feel short with this illusory avatar.
Merlo laughed, "I think we should just trust him, he has been here, we haven't."
"Aww, Em! Can't we just once grill him?" Ragdon chuckled. I just shook my head at them motioning for them to go in. The entrance closed behind us, making the guys stop in their tracks.
"Move and don't at any moment look back," I ordered, "I have no intention of coming here again today or anytime soon if we fail."
We kept moving silently, fighting little monsters every now and then. I kept a watching the scenery, in case there were others in here. The trees moved, we moved and the path we were on changed direction all the time.
Sefiest slowed his pace to match mine, "You sure we're on the right path?" I quickly looked around, noticing how the trees were darker than at the beginning.
"Yes," I whispered back, "Now we just need to be careful for the boss."
"Is it going to be hard?" Ragdons question made me pause a little. It was going to be hard, the boss had 5 known shapes, 3 special attacks and an installment that made it attack the player with most magic usage.
"It's going to be fine, I'll be here healing us all. So just attack it." I knew for sure it would target me like it did the last time but me being the healer, it would go well as long as they just concentrated on hitting the boss.
Beep, beep, beep. I quickly opened the mail I got. It was Jane informing me that there would be a late night meeting with guild leaders tonight. Quickly reading through the info, I closed it just in time to notice we almost had walked right past the hidden opening.
"Guys stop," as they turned to look at me, I stepped through the little opening. They followed me instinctively. The boss was a big greenish jungle cat. It looked like lab experiment that had gone terrible wrong. "Just attack." I said it more to myself than them but they took action immediately.
Ragdon was a shielder with better dodging rate than blocking rate. I wondered why he used shield in the first place but at some vital points it was the only thing that kept him alive. He would need to learn more magic on the trainee month. Merlo went in from the side with his baton. Every swing could be seen, every hit heard and the boss roared and clawed right back.
My automatic skill casting began, I knew what to use and in what order. Not one buff lasted long if the targets didn't have much magic points. Protection, group regeneration and critical buff. Every skill of these were hard to learn but after you got it right once, you got it right all the time. Sefiest used his bow to stay clear from the boss attacks, which was a good choice.
The easiest part was over. At half health it started a roar stun that was difficult to get rid off. "Be ready for a stun guys," I yelled, just in time for Ragdon to dodge the roar but it didn't help
Merlo who was behind him. The purification skill sign was easy to remember, the bad part was, that it took 5 seconds to take effect and by doing this spell I would officially become the target. Now this was something I had gotten used to by now but sometimes you wished you didn't have to run around like a fool.
At the same time as Merlo finally got purified the cat choose to step away from Ragdon and come at full speed towards me. Casting quickly a new set of regeneration to others and to myself, I started to run. "Switch to ranged weapons!" The boss area was a big circle which helped a little with the running, "Stay in the middle and just shoot at it." They didn't take a second to think it over, they did exactly as I told them which I found to be a good thing, they were easy to coordinate.
"Are you fine running?"
I nodded quickly, knowing that what I was about to do was going to be reckless. The boss had only fifth of his health mostly due to the poison in Sefiest arrows. A fire spell was all I needed to do now and it would be over. I turned towards the boss and cast a firestorm spell at it. The boss distorted to million little pieces that read defeated, a little flames surrounded the area where it died.
"You are full of surprises!" Merlon yelled loudly, while the others looked at me disbelieving. "Now why didn't you tell me you could do that kinda spells too?"
Walking towards them I gave a little laugh, "What would be the point of that! I like to surprise people," I winked.
"Were you even sure you could do it?" Sefiest asked baffled.
"Nope. But I just wanted to show you what you're going to learn in the guild." That much was true. If they knew what to expect, they would gladly learn more readily.
"We can actually learn to do magic?" Ragdon was little skeptical. I just smiled sweetly at him while opening the boss chest. It had the ingredient I wanted.
"I got it, I got it!" Only taking it from the chest I started to do my little victory dance, until I realized I actually had a male audience. Shaking their heads they looked over the list to get what they wanted, dividing the rest evenly between the four of us. I almost didn't take mine share but decided that the equips would help on the training days.
"So what is it that you so badly wanted?" Sefiest quirked his eyebrow at me, watching me closely.
"A rare potion ingredient! Jungle cats blood, it's the most expensive thing in the market nowadays but no one really knows how to use it except," well I, but they weren't suppose to know it," Night Blade." He gave me a disapproving look that told me he knew I had kept something to myself. I tried to smile sweetly but I knew that wouldn't fool him.
"What does it do?" Ragdon asked, "what potion, I mean."
"Well it has something to do with our guilds land, I think you get to know everything about it later. I'm not really that good at explaining." A total lie. I knew everything but right know, they were still on the need to know list. Only on Saturday would everything unravel perhaps.
We teleported to a little town on the same floor to sell stuff and to purchase things we used. I told them that I couldn't come tomorrow, I had real life plans for once and that I would see them on Wednesday. I logged of just in time to start making food before Charlie got home.
oO OO Oo
"So, got any friends at school?" Charlie asked while taking another plateful.
"Actually yes," I answered, "I'm actually going to one of them tomorrow after school, so don't wonder if I'm not at home."
"Mind if I ask who this person is?"
"Dad!" I laughed, "Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale." He always needed to know everything, just in case his little girl was in the wrong crowd. He gave his famous nod of approval and continued to eat.
oO OO Oo
The big court room on the floor 50 was the meeting place and it was perfect for it. It had big round table in the middle and audience place for the little guys that wanted to hear what was going on. For every meeting as Night Blade I was armored by black armor, with black hair and eyes. I looked dangerous and as much of a thief as I should. I noticed that everyone else was there already, busy talking about what ever it was.
Silently walking to my place on the table that was next to Jane, I sat down.
"Well look who decides to show up," the most idiotic person in this game Vrex, the so called 'fifth knight' decided to take a swing at me again.
"Atleast some of us want to actually lead a guild properly." Everyone laughed. Vrex's guild was known for it's bad habits for slacking everything. I wasn't denying the fact that Vrex was a skilled player, he just wasn't that good and lacked leadership. His scowl told me he wasn't done with me at all but didn't want the audience for that.
"We were talking about the boss on floor 54." Jane said, "We think we might need more people for it." This was the usual problem with bosses, there weren't enough qualified players to come to a boss fight. And even if there were, many of them didn't know how to fight in a big group.
"We actually think we might need to wait two months, at least until some of our guilds have grown a little more." Denerus was the fourth knight of our little team, "What do you think Night?" He was smart man and a strategist that showed he wasn't as young as some of the people in the game.
"I think it's a good way to do it, I'm anyway going to need time off from the front lines to train the newcomers in my guild." Two months would give me enough time to train my guildies to the best formation and more. "Of course I do hope there will be people testing out the boss while some of us can't?"
"We are going to make a time table for it, every guild gets a day to test it and after the day to report to everyone the findings. It's a big labyrinth, what I've seen of it, it might take two to three hours just to find the boss." Alec mused aloud, while the much smaller guild leaders were arguing around.
"That's going to take a toll on the small guilds," Jane said, "It might be better to team some of them up."
"Just remember to watch carefully for the guilds that have problems between them. It might help for the big fight."
"I suppose you're going to make the time table?" I asked Denerus, following a little the fight that might just ensue at the other side of the table.
"I'll shall do that." He answered, "The meeting is over. Information will be send to you tomorrow, everyone must do as best as they can. Thank you."
Saying a quiet thank you and goodbye I left the building before anything bad happened.