Author's Note: Woop woop—! I'm back again writing. Now ladies and gentlemen, make way for our swordwoman to take over the chapter.
Disclaimer: Ragnarok Online belongs to Gravity and Lee-Myoung-Jin, the one and only.
'You just need to work a little harder, Tracy. The world out there is unforgiving.'
A silhoutte of a man clad in seemingly expensive formal suits whispering to a young woman who stood merely distance away from him. They were engaging in a serious conversation, surrounded with slow music and people's chattering.
The girl, with ponytail heaved a deep breath while playing with the wine glass on the countertop.
'... I have worked harder than you would imagined, Bryan. So, why lecturing me in Elena's birthday? I got it handled.'
The man, presumably in his mid 20s, sighed. The air around them gradually grew stuffy.
'Look, I'm not kidding alright. You have less than a year to graduate and I can't have you fooling around with your study.' — 'Quit those games you're playing right now. You've spent too much time mingling with virtual reality friends while you should have put much effort in your study.'
''With this lackadaisical attitude, you stand no chance to survive in the outside world.' — 'Who would bailed you out again next time, Tracy?'
There he goes again. Another long winding blabbering session that would ended up nowhere, has dragged Tracy to the point of near-exploding. She was having great time in her friend's birthday, and all her dearly beloved — Bryan can do is to lecture her from the start to the end of party? That's absurd, she thought for a second.
Her mind just couldn't think straight during those times; it might be the work of the alcohol she sipped, and more often than not — she can't stand taking more of those lectures from Bryan. She then took the glass, straighten her dress and walked away. Never looking back again.
— CRACK
The sound of branches crackled when Destins stepped carefully out of the trap laid by another adventurer of Hunter class, had snapped me back to reality.
"Geez... why am I having those thoughts right now...?" said me, under my breath.
You guessed it right. Bryan is my other half in the reality. We complimented each other so well that everyone sees us as if we're the next 'Royal Couple of the Year' but truth to be told, our relationship has been falling apart these recent years.
I can't helped it each time when reminiscing the old days, and it pains my heart to no end. I hide the tears away, while contemplating the vague future awaiting me in this world of Rune-Midgard.
I do, however, thought about Bryan's welfare all the time even now. Despite we have clashed opinions, fought a lot and made up again; I am still hoping he would come to my rescue and scooped me up in his sturdy arms, and then bring me out of this place.
But those are just wishful thinking anyway.
"You okay, Leya?" a familiar voice rings clearly beside me. I jumped, embarassed at myself for spacing out again. "My apologies, Destins. I'm so sorry that I spaced out when we're supposed to be training..."
The redhead smiled softly and walked forward. "No sweat about it. Now, let's look for a spot to camp and call it a day. We have been walking since this morning."
I looked at my boots that already six inch deep in the mud. Perhaps, we had reached somewhere middle in the forest, judging by the outlook of it. Clear amber skies, forest creatures' chimed vividly like a lullaby to our ears, and sunset rays illuminating the pathway we striding, clearly indicating it's past evening now.
"Here. We should camp here by night." said Destins, as he laid his bag close to a fallen tree trunk. I too, followed suit.
As the dark skies slowly pulling over, and twinkling stars blanketing the space — we had done prepared small dinner consisting of roasted meat of Lunatic and some wild berries found along the journey.
The young assassin offered to take up the night watch job for now, till I leveled past 35; which is not impossible. As we're saying this, I am already in level 28. The training and power-leveling indeed gives me plenty of points to allocate and strengthen my skills.
And, I would be level 40 in no time. Once my job level hit the said requirement, I would return to Prontera and sign up for a class upgrade. Thinking about job advancement and more things lie ahead, just made my little girl's heart pumped with giddyness and excitement.
Watching the bonfire crackling slowly, my body finally succumbed to fatigue and tiredness. Ever since I started my training with Destins, everything went really fast-paced. The young man didn't wait or procrastinates at all. Guess I'm still not used to this style of living, yet. I mean — camping out, fighting monsters, walking more than few miles a day while the most tiresome thing I did in my past life, was burning midnight oil for assignment...
Yeah I know. I may sound like a Gen Y spoiled brat. But I guess, living as Leya somehow taught me things that I didn't get to know in the past. I wouldn't be so independent as I am now.
"So, Leya... Where do you come from?" Destins broke the silence as he threw another wood into the bonfire. Startled by his question, I paused for a brief moment.
"Izlude" I replied, with false confidence in my voice. "Oh, I see..." Destins' response trailed off in a sudden. He then looked at me again, his eyes reflecting a glint of sadness but concealed with the tinge of fiery red from the firewood.
And I was about to ask why, before he added;
"... I just found that you look familiar but I guess I was wrong after all." — "You seems so foreign here despite you are from Izlude." said him.
Trying hard as not to let my cover blown, I assured him that I am part of this kingdom.
My lips curved into a sheepish smile, "Surely you jest, Destins. I'm from Izlude and just started out. Therefore, there are so many things I didn't know and I'm going to learn from your guidance."
The young man then crossed his arms, laying against the dried tree trunk where we camping out tonight. A small sigh escaped from his lips, "Hmmm... Never mind. You best get some rest early. We'll go for Wheat farming tomorrow."
I yawned briskly. Fatigue indeed took over me and I really can't helped it. Somehow, camping out in the forest, under beautiful starry night sky has put some sleeping spell on me. My eyes suddenly grew heavier.
"... You know... where to find the item...?" I asked. Destins kept himself busy by checking up the quest details at the same time I inquired about the task. 2 left, the redhead friend of mine whispered in a soft voice.
"We have exactly less than 36 hours to go. Thanks to this amulet, the droprate of Wolf's Blood gotten way easier. As I expected from Wazir, who sold me this charm—" by the time I was listening to those words, I dozed off in silence; surrendering myself to the sleep that I have deprived of since the day of my arrival here.
— 3rd Person's Perspective —
Destins found himself sat close to the dying bonfire, surrounded by thick cold fog. It wasn't the same like the forest he camped out and night-watching; rather, uncanny vibes creeping in as his eyes started getting heavier and he couldn't helped it but to feel terribly sleepy — until, a dreamy-like voice rings into his ears clearly, nudging him in surprise.
"Hey, Destins! Wakey-wakey!" a rather familiar ones, he hummed. The young man rubbed his eyes, and looked around.
"Have you forgotten what's special today?"
The burgundy-haired assassin shook his head, uncertain over the situation that just happened. "It's my birthday, you dummy!" the feminine voice echoed softly, and from the way she sounds — she seems to be quite an eccentric ones.
"O-oh! Right! Man... how could I forget about this...?" Destins stood firmly, while dusting off his pants. The fog finally diminished and slowly unveiled the surrounding; the young assassin gasped, finding the scenery to be quite familiar — eeriely familiar to be frank. Like a deja vu.
... And he was right. It was Prontera South.
Destins scanned through the field. A young woman with silky cobalt hair donned in Crusader armour, walked gracefully towards him. "... You didn't forget about me, right...?" Her face was entirely illuminating, like a goddess descends from heaven.
How could he forget about her, that's absurd! He thought for a second. "No, no — Divy, I—" before he could reach up to her, the figure completely dispersed into thousands of tiny flickering lights.
— "Destins! Wake up!"
"Hey! Wake up please!" God forbids, what are these ear-piercing sound coming through his head, he cursed silently.
His eyes shot open, and at that moment — he realized, trouble already brewing near to his side.
— Leya's POV —
I drew my sword out as I can't stood still waiting for the assassin friend of mine to be fully awake from sweet dreams.
"Gosh... We are outnumbered!" gritting my teeth, I knew I have no other option but to defend myself from the monster horde.
These creatures poised unusual vibes around them. More violent, more vicious than the other types I have encountered in the previous map. I do not have any single idea about the place here, but right after the night we spent here and Destins finally fallen asleep, the forest environment changed.
Like, totally 360 different.
Birds stopped singing, insects stopped chirping, and no leaves rustling under daylight.
And I swear the redhead seems to be unusually sounds asleep too. My voice couldn't reach him at all, and I fear the worst would happened.
What if, this forest is cursed? What if we walked into a place that has voodoo sorcery or some sort?
I hold onto the last fort as much as possible, not wanting any monster came near me and my friend here.
Thinking no more, I lunged forth with full strength. "Bash!" At level 28 now, my damage increased a lot. Just enough to cover me self.
The creature did not budged. Instead, their eyes focused on me like I'm sort of food serving right onto their plate; and now, they are about to devour me in no time. Worst part of the story, they were enraged by my attack and grew even aggressive than before.
"Shoot!"
The monsters horde encircled us in no less than 10 meters away. "Magnum Break!" the impact is just right as the skill level only hit first stage, but it is sufficient enough to draw them out of our proximity. The creatures scattered, however soon reinforced quickly into much offensive position. This would take longer than I expected, I groaned under the breath.
Destins still in his spellbound la-la land and I haven't enough SP left to cast next skill. Dreading about my fate here, I shuddered to think what awaits me soon.
Death, again?
I shook my head. Cold sweat started leaking off my forehead and I could feel my legs about to give in.
Please—! I can't be killed here! Not here!
A vicious looking wolf then jumped at me, snapping my sword away. Knowing this is the chance to gnawl its prey, the monster immediately charge forward. "Get away from me—!!!" I closed my eyes, and silence soon falls in.
"Sonic Blow!"
Red scarf flowing like gentle gust; his blades dancing elegantly in the midst of ferocious battle, like razory sharp leaves; silent but dangerous.
It was indeed, a beautiful yet deadly dance.
My lips curled into a relieved smile as soon my eyes laid on the familiar figure.
"Heh, sorry I'm late," the redhead assassin apologized. His eyes were as clear as crystal, focusing sharply onto his enemies. "I'll be taking over now, Leya. Go and rest up." said Destins, as the blade danced through the creature's throat such effortlessly. I nodded to acknowledged his order, and retreated immediately to his back — a little further from his battle zone.
These monsters that came in a group were no more than level 40 mutant Wolf, Savage, Green Petite and Mandragora. According to Destins, the creatures here mostly are passive but something must have entranced them; hence, the aggressiveness and mutated-looking were the distinctive part of the monsters, compared to their original counterpart.
Now, the question arise.
What 'ticked' these poor creatures to such degree?
"Grimtooth!" Destins casted another ominous skill that goes piercing each monster to half. As gruesome as it sounds, I can't deny that I was shaken by the looks of it too.
Destins seems like a different person once in battlefield. I watched and studied his movement extra carefully. For a level 55, he could have been progressed to higher level, offered with class upgrade and should have transcended his job by now.
But, why does he stayed this way?
As the final blade sliced an entranced Savage to half, Destins wiped the blood off his face and puts his daggers away. I noticed the changes he had, whenever danger draws near me. He became some sort of different person than I knew — a much serious air emits from him, I daresay; unlike the laidback one I trained with the day before.
"You alright, Leya? Did you got hurt?" he asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
"N—no, I'm fine..." I assured him, but my legs just gave in right at that moment. What a bummer. Of all the fancy toughness I can pull up with, it has to be this time that I fell on my knees, shaken.
"...Hahahaha..." — "Can't blame you... It's your first hard battle anyway." Destins chuckled softly, while pulling me up. I flustered, possibly embarassed at his comment and on the failed attempt to act tough because the truth is — I'm not used to this huge battle involving horde of monsters yet.
The assassin then took out a potion bottle and started sprinkling some water on the ground. I approached him closely from behind and observed in silence. "We have walked into the depth of the Labyrinth." Destins' face grimmed. "Not that it matters as I have been here thousand of times. But those monsters, they were unusual."
I glanced at him quizzically. "Labyrinth? So, in other words, we're lost?"
"Not entirely. It's just a maze. Labyrinth is part of Prontera Forest, but with tricky routes and often confused those who walked into it, especially newbies." — "Seasoned adventurers and trackers like, a hunter here for example—" Destins explained slowly as he plucked out a small trap hidden nearby and dispelled it.
"... would have no issue of coming here to farm loots and materials for crafting and quests."
"Though it would be quite unwise to gather materials particularly in the Labyrinth, as there are better places out there offered the same thing as well." he added again.
I nodded, acknowledging Destins' word of advice. However, something just seems off with the forest, and I hardly relaxed from the moment we stepped into this area. "But... What about those dreams we had? I mean, we were put to deep sleep and if we were not careful back then..." I pursed my lips, and shuddered to think the rest.
The redhead paused for a moment. His eyebrow arched in such tense. "Indeed. Well, you are quick to detect things for someone just hit level 28."
Hah, called it a gamer's instinct. Of course, I wouldn't tell the redhead friend of mine that I am a 'living' corpse walking around who once had a life back in the reality.
"Yeah... I heard stories of people getting lost in such forest. I wondered if this related to the mutant creatures and the unusual deep sleep we had, like we have been charmed or entranced or something..."
Destins stopped his step in a hush — which to my surprise of course. "Hey, what's that—" And voila, we found 3 different roads leading to varied direction just in front of us.
The redhead assassin didn't faltered any longer, and quickly moved closer to a tiny tree covered with vines and bushes, and brushed the foliage away to reveal a manmade arrow indicator painted in red.
"There. The mark." said him, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Each time when I'm down here, I'd be leaving a mark just so we wouldn't get lost in the midst of nowhere. Sometime it was done by other adventurers. It's a win-win gain for all, helping out those who in need if they happened lost their way here."
I followed the redhead closely behind and listened to his explanation about the Labyrinth carefully.
"... The monsters hording these areas are usually the passive types, like Poporings, Lunatic, Yoyo and Wolves. But today, we have encountered Green Petite and to the extent of, Savages — which, is foreign to this land." said Destins, voice under his breath.
"And to think that the forest toyed with our feelings, is something I can't fathom at all..." That sentence caught me off guard. As I was about to ask further, the young assassin dismissed it and beckoned me to follow him immediately.
"We will get to the exit soon enough. Just stay close to me, Leya."
Well, guess there is no point lurking around here after all. One task done, two more to go, I chirped while swiping off the Quest screen away.
"Wheat is a green-marked item. In other words, a quest-bound material." I chucked down a bread under the hot daylight while listening to my assassin comrade explained. It's past noon anyway, and we have been out of the Labyrinth about an hour now.
Thanks to Destins' quick action, we finally get to see the blue skies again. It wasn't easy, but I trust his decision. He is a pro, after all.
"Green item? What does that mean?" My eyes fixed on him, curious.
"Phew, guess you are not familiar with this feature eh?" he sighed lightly, chewing a piece of ham as lunch at the same time.
"Well, you have a lot to learn, missy." the redhead added again.
"Once you're out as an adventurer, you gotta know that the materials and items each made up of various category and the purposes of using it before making a silly mistake by selling them away." — "For instance; open up your item bag screen and look at your equipments and loots." I patted the excessive bread crumbs away from my hand, and swipe up the Item Bag screen as per Destins' order.
"See those tiny coloured button at each side of your items? That's the indicator of the item's rarity."
Ahh, now I see it.
"But... What are these White, Green colour indicates as?" I inquired. Destins briefly approached my side and pointed at my Item Bag screen. It seems clear to me that my bag comprises plenty of White-marked materials and equipments, which means — newbie stuff and... junks, of course
"White represents Normal rate item. These loots or equipments are super easier to find and drop. Take Poring's loot for example — a Jellopy is a White-ranked item. You'd get that a lot from every monsters. Things you could sell away to the merchants nearby for meager zeny."
Hmm, now I see it even clearly.
"Green on the other hand, is the second next to Normal. Though— it is a specific material category that only obtainable through questing and establishing affinity with NPC." Destins elaborated further, and then swiped up his item bag screen instead.
"Look at mine here. You'd seen Blue, Orange, Purple and lastly, Gold." — "These are the top-tier rarity and obtainable through looting and crafting. Blue, indicates tier 1 rarity; Orange represents tier 2 while Purple, indicates tier 3 — Super Rare Item." I jotted down the points as the redhead spoke.
"And lastly — Gold. Well, we folks here dubbed it as SSR, meaning Super Super Rare Drop. God-tier, whatever it is. The chances to get these Gold item is about 0.001%. Only MVP carries those Gold-ranked items, especially cards and equipments."
I was in awe. Like, wow.
"The droprate based on luck anyway." Destins added again, and I caught a glimpse of a shining Gold-tagged item in his bag screen. "You have one, though." said me, eyes looking at him teasingly.
"Aha, you mean this?" He swiped it up, and took out a piece of gold-plated card. "It's Phreeoni Card. Super super rare drop from the MVP itself." — "I've got lucky anyway."
"Show-off." teases me again. Both of us can't helped it but to laughed heartilly over the statement I just made. "You could get it too, if you grind hard enough."
I stood up, stretching my arms and looked at the foreign tattoo etched at my hand under the bright sun. It served as a reminder to me that I have a job to accomplish here and I have less than 24 hours to go before the time's up.
Destins knew it too, for he shared the same quest as I do. He marched forward briskly, and commented, "Let's go now. To Payon."
I smiled at him and nodded. "There is a wheat farm I've known since my earlier days and we ought to try that area."
"Alrighty, let us be on our way then!" I clasped my hand eagerly. Destins replied with a gentle beam on his complexion. I guess he understood the reason and that we're on this together. Therefore, we would complete this quest in given time no matter what it costs.
"... To Payon!"
Chapter 5: Labyrinth of Feelings
Author's Footer Note: Yayy for a long chapter! Truth to be told, it only took me a full day to complete a chapter once I have my mojo and discipline back in place.
This story follows closely of Ragnarok Online original system, and added with few more tweaks that I knew from Ragnarok Mobile: Eternal Love, which I had the chance to play, to make it little bit ooomph per se. It's just that, it's fun and at the same time, challenging to write an old classic MMORPG in a 1st POV game-lit centered story.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading A Valkyrie's Oath and don't forget to SUBS, ADD TO FAVE as well!
See ya in next chapter!