Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the plot and the cast. Everything else belongs to Wizet, Asiasoft, etc.
A/N: Good to know that the story is being well-received, I hope this chapter meets your expectations as well! This chapter revolves around Ryden becoming a warrior, and cementing the foundation of his life in Victoria Island. Also, he encounters an old friend...
Chapter 2: HellRyder
"So you want to be a warrior, huh?" The tribally dressed dark-skinned man known as Dances with Balrog asked Ryden.
"Yes, Sir." Ryden replied respectfully, keeping himself down on one knee and bowing his head respectfully to the Chief of Perion.
Dances with Balrog scrutinized Ryden carefully for several seconds, before breaking out in a deep, throaty laugh.
"Good, good! I knew I recognized the spirit of a warrior within you the moment you stepped inside this chamber! Say, you look kind of familiar. Who was your father again?"
"Dracon, Sir. I believe you knew him as the 'Almost-Dragon-Knight'?" Ryden said.
"Ah, yes! Now I remember him. His friends used to nickname him Bahamut, the King of Dragons. An astounding Dragon Knight, he would have become, had he chosen the path of the spearman instead of the fighter."
Ryden knew all of this; during his spare time at home back on Maple Island his mother used to regale him with tales of his father and his bravery. Apparently Dracon had built up quite a reputation as a dragon-slayer, and Dances with Balrog – no, the whole of Perion expected 'Bahamut' to become a Dragon Knight. Imagine, to the entire town's surprise when Dracon chose the path as the Fighter instead of the Spearman. Apparently Dracon was something of a loner, and the first person to ever coax him to join a hunting party was a promising Cleric and his future wife, Ceil.
"So, I take it that you want to become a Crusader, like your father?" Dances with Balrog asked Ryden.
The son of Dracon nodded his head, and Dances with Balrog's countenance took on a more serious expression.
"All right, then we shall begin the ceremony. Just kneel down in this circle of power here…" Dances with Balrog drew a circle in the air, murmuring an incantation, and suddenly a circle of light appeared on the chamber floor. Ryden followed his instructions and knelt down within the circle, its outline flaring with power as he stepped inside.
Dances with Balrog continued muttering incantations under his breath until he suddenly stopped, got to his feet, drew in a deep breath and, thrusting out both palms in Ryden's direction, let out a mighty "Haaaaaaap!!!"
Twin red beams shot out of his palms and impacted against Ryden, but to the budding warrior's surprise he felt no pain; rather, an incredible rush of strength filled him, and he felt much sturdier than before.
The beams ceased to emit from Dances with Balrog's palms, and he exhaled deeply before sitting back down on his mat.
"I have just transferred some of my power to you. Ryden, son of Dracon, you are now officially a warrior, one of the noble defenders of Victoria Island and a citizen of Perion. Welcome to the club." The chief warrior stated with a wide grin on his face. He handed a thick book to Ryden, indicating that it was a skill book for all starting warriors, and that he should put the skills taught by the book to good use.
Ryden nodded his thanks and, with a reverent bow, left the chamber. As he exited the building and entered the cold, mountainous climate of Perion, he opened the skill book and browsed through the various techniques featured in it. Apparently he was currently limited to increasing a skill by only one level, and he scanned through the various abilities before one caught his eye. This 'Improving HP Recovery' could come in handy in the long term…
Ryden looked through it, thoroughly reading through the techniques and following the exercises that taught him how to allow his wounds to heal faster. Once he had finished he briefly looked himself over, and he noted with pleasure that the small scratches he had taken from the snails on the way here were now gone. Ryden snapped the book shut and, after a few minutes at the weapon shop buying a rusty set of armor (He didn't need a new weapon because Astella's good-bye gift to him was a polished Longsword), he left for Perion's Street Corner to start training up.
Five months from then Ryden had earned himself quite a name for himself in Perion. Warriors who had reached their 2nd or 3rd job advancement referred to him as the 'SuperNoob', but among his circle of friends who were around his level, he was known as HellRyder, for he had a tendency to just charge his way through hordes of monsters as if he was on a roller coaster ride from hell. Hence, the nickname.
Speaking of his immediate circle of friends, it became apparent that Ryden hadn't inherited his father's loner trait; instead, he was more sociable, like his mother, and he made quite a few friends during his training.
One of his closer friends was an amiable warrior named Korsair, who told him that he aspired to be a Dragon Knight one day. In their earlier levels Ryden and Korsair were often seen tag-teaming against the Axe Stumps at Perion Street corner, but as Ryden neared level 15 he began to see less and less of the aspiring Spearman. It was quite the contrary for his other, current best friend – a friendly and compliant but somewhat naïve magician.
When he had first met Roxi it had been at Ellinia's Slime Tree, when they were both experience level 13. At first she had struck him as just another magician; one who was used to being able to one-hit-kill Slimes from a distance and made a hobby out of kill-stealing warriors like him.
It came as a surprise when he realized that she was quite pleasant and actually disliked kill-stealing people in general. As Ryden passed level 15 he started to train often with Roxi, and more than half the time they were together as part of a hunting party.
Another one of Ryden's friends, whom he hardly saw nowadays, was a flirtatious magician who loved to fraternize with members of the opposite sex. In fact, she had once asked if he wouldn't mind being her boyfriend; Ryden, thoroughly embarrassed, politely declined the offer, the memory of a certain girl nagging at his mind.
It had been so long since he had seen… what was her name again? Every time Ryden tried to recall her he was unable to put his finger on her name. All he remembered was that he had met her on Maple Island, but the life he led on that floating piece of land seemed like a scattered dream now – almost as if someone else had lived that life instead of himself.
Ryden was now waiting outside Ellinia's Slime Tree for Roxi; it had become almost a regular schedule for them to meet outside the tree dungeon early in the morning and keep training until the evening where they both had to depart for their respective hometowns. It was almost an unspoken agreement that one could start training early if the other was late, and Ryden told himself that he would wait for only one more minute before he started without her.
A minute passed, and there was still no sign of his friend. Ryden sighed, and entered the tree dungeon by himself. His shiny Steel Corporal set stood out like a sore thumb against the bright green of the tree's inner dungeon, and the Slimes that could see him immediately rushed towards him, intent on pummeling the interloper into unconsciousness.
But at experience level 18, Ryden had no problems in dealing with such monsters. He slashed at the closest Slime with a mighty blow from his saber, and it died with a single strike. Shouldering his way past another slime with his Steel Shield, he leapt over the others that tried to run into him, and landing behind them he spun around and wound his arm backwards for a split-second, gathering strength for a deadly Power Strike.
His blade blurred forward and was about to slay the Slime that was charging him when a sudden flash of light flared out from towards his right. An azure bolt of energy impacted against the side of the Slime before his saber could connect, and the locomotive bag of gel withered and collapsed within itself.
Ryden immediately knew it was a magician that wasn't Roxi, so he promptly rounded on the KS-er with a furious look on his face.
The KS-er in question was a girl with messy brown hair dressed in level 10 magician clothing, and she looked oddly familiar. This didn't dissuade Ryden one bit however, and he growled out, "Hey, that was mine. Go KS somebody else, mage. We warriors already have it tough enough already."
To Ryden's surprise the girl gasped and looked at him in wonder. "Ryden, don't recognize me? It's me, Astella!"
Now it was Ryden's turn to gape, as he stared at his past that was standing right in front of him. He continued to gawk before uttering a small "Wow."
Astella blushed and started fiddling with her hardwood wand. Ryden looked her over once again, and noticed that she had developed very much since he had last seen her on Maple Island.
Her body was no longer skinny; instead she now possessed a slim, ethereal build that just radiated magical power. Her presence didn't feel as strong as Roxi's, but that was probably attributed to her lower level. She still retained her 'cutie' look, but seemed more mature.
"It's been a while, Astella. What are you doing here?" Ryden asked as soon as he managed to close his mouth and articulate coherent words.
The magician smiled and said, "I've been looking for you, duh! I heard that the Slime Tree was a good training spot for people who had just made their job advancement, so I figured I'd find you here!"
Ryden opened his mouth to reply that she'd probably have come here anyway when a familiar voice interrupted him.
"Hey HellRyder!" The swordsman turned his head in the direction of the voice and was greeted by the familiar sight of Roxi, running towards him and clad in brand new level 15 equips. She also clutched a Sapphire Staff in hands that were currently only just able to wield it. Roxi was now experience level 15, three levels behind Ryden only due to a warrior's naturally fast leveling rate at the start.
"Roxi, it's about time you got here." Ryden remarked good-naturedly as Roxi glanced at Astella.
"Who's this?" She asked.
"Oh, sorry. I completely forgot about introductions. Roxi, Astella. And vice versa." Roxi chuckled at her friend's wit while Astella merely smiled sweetly and extended a hand to Roxi, who grasped it and shook it firmly.
"Pleasure to meet you, Roxi. I'm Ryden's old friend from Maple Island." Roxi smiled back and introduced herself as well.
The rest of the day was pretty much the same for Ryden and Roxi; endless slaughtering of Slimes at the tree dungeon, except for one addition to their party.
Astella may have been lower-leveled than them, but she was no hindrance to the party; in fact, having a third person in the party wasn't so bad. There were more people to cover territory, less worries about kill-stealers, and if anybody tried to muscle their way into their spot they could join up and drive the KS-er away.
The rate at which they gained EXP had increased noticeably too. Within half the day Ryden had gone up one level, and Roxi was well on her way to the next. Astella had benefited the most, though; she was boosted up two levels with the help of her higher-leveled friends.
By the end of the day Ryden was thoroughly satisfied with his new mob skill, Slash Blast – according to the skill book it was a devastating skill that allowed him to slash at the ground or at a monster and deliver a powerful shockwave of energy that hit all surrounding enemies. At its current skill level it also weakened his damage to each individual monster, but Ryden didn't mind much; he was tired of having to slash at each individual monster each time he wanted to kill a mob, and now he could save himself the trouble.
His Power Strike was also half-mastered, now at Skill Level 10, and with a maxed-out Improving HP Increase, his HP was far higher than either Roxi's or Astella's, standing at a formidable 1000+ points. Contrary to his earlier thoughts he didn't find the Improving HP Recovery skill very useful; the Relaxer that Pio made for him back on Maple Island was so much better at recovering health.
Roxi wasn't as sturdy as her warrior friend, but she made up for it with highly superior amounts of mana and was now attempting to master the first level of Magic Claw. Astella was pretty much a slightly weaker version of Roxi; she was still attempting to master Improving Max MP Increase.
Once the sun had set the three left the tree dungeon, thoroughly exhausted but satisfied with the rate at which they had gained experience. Ryden bade goodbye to his two friends at the north gate of Ellinia, heading off back to Perion, while Roxi and Astella stayed behind in the tree village.
As Ryden left through the gates, Roxi turned to Astella with a small grin on her face.
"You like him, don't you?" Roxi asked her, barely able to keep the smile out of her voice. Astella blushed furiously and muttered that she and Ryden were only friends.
Roxi snorted and replied, "Yeah right, and we're worst enemies. Come on, 'Stella, you can tell me. It's obvious enough, judging from the dreamy way you look at him."
The flustered magician's blush turned an even deeper shade of crimson as she muttered something unintelligible and dashed off back into the town. Roxi chuckled and shook her head.
Ryden could be so clueless sometimes…
Ryden dragged his heavy backpack to Arturo's potion shop on one of the higher ledges of the Perion plateu. Dropping bag onto the counter, he yanked off the straps holding down the cover and started emptying out whatsoever loots he had obtained during the afternoon's hunting session. Arturo took a quick check on the items, and then handed him a thick wad of meso notes and a carton of potions.
"Good time hunting?" asked the potioner, looking up from his latest stew brewing in the large cauldron behind the counter.
"You could say so," came the reply.
"You're growing fast," said Arturo, stepping out of the counter, "You going to join a guild anytime soon?"
Guild... Ryden held onto that word for a few moments. He had heard around that one particular guild was fast rising in power. Through strategic mergers, assasinations, blackmail, control over the arms market and vigorous recruitment campaigns, they had become the most powerful faction in less than half a year. This caused other guilds to take drastic actions, which included forging alliances and becoming increasingly hostile towards other guilds.
"I can get you into several local guilds here in Perion. Priviledge of the monopoly over the potions market at these parts you could call it," teased Arturo, with a hint of mischief in his eye.
Ryden grabbed his now-empty backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He then retreated into his own private room which he rented at the back of the shop.
"I'll consider your offer."
A/N: Now, for the credits to the new characters that were mentioned in this chapter...
Korsair: Based on a level 20 friend of mine whose job I can't remember which one it was. His ID is HolyKorsair; he's very inactive as well.
Roxi: Based on a level 35 Cleric friend of mine. Her ID is magicroxmi, but I think her buddy list is full at the moment.