The Tale of The Outcasts - Vagabonds

[tomoki260]

This is my first time posting and also my first time writing a story so please pardon me. Please comment and give advice on how to improve it. If you guys don't like it, I'll stop posting anymore.

Credits: Half of it goes to VanillaCok3.

The characters:The characters: Uriel(Main character) Jacob Sariel and Puruel

The Tale Of the Outcasts – Vagabond

Prologue-Long ago, there were four nations in Isya. Each nation was categorized by the skills they possessed. One, the ability to manipulate magic in the body to create devastating power. Another, the ability to manipulate magic in the surrounding to form projectiles. These belonged to a race defined as Elves. The other two were classified as humans. One could create magic using the “chi” in their body to heal people. Last but not least, the nation that used brawns but not brains, the fighter.
They were considered the fittest yet the worst in combat. They possessed no magic and their king simply would not condone magic. Thus, the fighters nightmare began as everywhere, everyone laughed at them for their inability. There was ,however, a way to resurrect them. That is the story of the Outcasts, a group of fighters who gained the ability to absorb inexplicable amounts of magic and projecting it out.

Chapter 1- The Hunt

Uriel anxiously grabbed his backpack, containing a few lunch boxes and his research projects,eight orbs. He quickly fished out a mask from the chest beside his bed and wore it. Then, head bowing down, he stepped out of his house. He checked his watch. Two O’clock. He had to meet the others by three in the park. The chase was on. The king received news that there were people in his country trying to produce magic. He immediately launched a massacre to kill anyone who possesses anything which contains magic – the orbs.

Uriel took a stroll in the park and spotted two shadowed figures tailing him. They were extremely short. Uriel chuckled. They were either kleptomaniac dwarfs or some plump fighters the king sent to assassinate him. He took out the orbs, and wore them using gauntlets that were attached to them. Time to put them to the test. He grabbed two capsules from his pocket. The magic was enough to be able to cast a high level spell. Probably till degree number 3. The second highest level known to people. He thanked a late magician for the magic. Uriel ransacked his brains for a suitable spell as he walked. Not many were effective against those barbarians. He sighed. This would surely alarm a few people. “I seek upon thou, Magic Blast,” he threw the capsules at them. In a mere second, a brilliant light gathered before them, a magic shock.

Magic shocks were different from electric shocks. Electric shocks merely zapped you, but magic shocks fried your guts completely. Only some creatures were strong enough to withstand it and those would be stunned for seconds.

He shook his head as he walked away, leaving those two assassins to die.

Chapter 2 – The Gates of No Return.

“Jacob, Sariel and Puruel, time to leave,” Uriel opened his mask. Together, the four lengthy youths headed towards the gates, planning to leave, not expecting an ambush.

Puruel panted. A long hike to the gates, about two thousand flights of stairs.

They reached the gate. As he walked out of the town with his friends, he distinctively heard chuckling. Suspicion arose in his throat. His heart thumped.

“Charge!” the soldiers released their battle cry. “Haerykin!” Uriel took out a capsule and pointed towards the sky. Immediately a pitch black dome surrounded them, covering about a 5-metre radius, rejecting every hostile object.

“This will only last for 5 minutes, we have to make up a plan before it runs out,” Uriel told his group," my new invention."

After everyone congratulated Uriel on success, they sat there, thinking... 1 minute… 2 minutes… Bingo! Uriel stood up, reassured everyone ,” I have a plan” and walked out of the dome.

Facing the king, Uriel spoke in a casual tone, “Hi everyone. Oh hello king. Please pay attention to what I am speaking and not whisper among yourselves. Thank you. Good Morning king. This gate is surrounded by your army. Of course, there are many other gates, but I guess I have no way out. Returning back to the country would be a dream. But there must be a way, is there?”

“Hmm… Since you asked. I will mercifully give you a choice. You can die here or exit through the gates of returns. No bargaining. Take it or leave it. So?”

The dome behind Uriel shattered. “Take it,” Uriel answered.

“How’d you do that?” Sariel asked.

“Simple. I said, ‘This gate is surrounded by your army. Of course, there are many other gates, but I guess I have no way out. Returning back to the country would be a dream.’ Do you see?” Uriel replied.

“Very smart. But now we are outcasts, equal to dead. I bet there’ll be some rogues or bandits who will rob and even kill us. So what is the plan smart boy, and we don’t even know what are you doing,” Puruel provoked.

“First of all, call me Uriel. Not smart boy. Secondly, we are heading to roumen. A long hike there but we’ll reach it. Thirdly, didn’t you guys keep grumbling about how you were bullied? Well I found a way, a way the king will not like. But I cannot care less, he won’t be able to even touch a hair on my body if this succeeds, so, in for it?” Uriel smiled in anticipation of success, unaware of the consternation he had caused.

[john99944]

Not bad at all for a newbie poster. I encourage you to continue.

[tomoki260]

Chapter 3 – Harkan

“There are three ways of sparring, one, using slicing techniques, like a sword cutting the neck of a goblin, idiot-proof. Another is the ability to manipulate magic through will, blasting the opponent into pieces. The last one is to attack the enemy from without getting hit or just running while using a skill, thus causing no delay in action. A complex technique. The purpose is to run away from the target before using a sharp arrow or long range skill to pierce it from far and then sprinting off again. Quite useless to me, but you get practically no damage from the enemy at all. In order to achieve extraordinary powers, one has to master all of them. However, no one in the world has ever achieved that. My job as a scientist is to create the last way of fighting needed for fighters, magic.”

“However, when one masters all of them, they will not be able to get stronger no matter how hard they train. There is one way, however. It is the ability to generate insurmountable strength from huge energy sources, or the vice versa, producing enough instant magic from you to form tiny powerful silver spiritual balls. That’s the only way to achieve god-like powers,” Uriel finished.

Instant magic was altogether a different type of magic. Casting magic and production magic was practically the same thing. Many prefer to classify them both as casting energy. Many often mix up instant magic and casting energy. Instant magic was the amount of magic you could generate at that second, as time goes by your amount of magic in your body gets less and of course the amount of instant magic plummets, but every day, after you sleep, you obtain more energy, thus filling up the empty tank of magic. Casting energy was the energy you generated from the surroundings per second. One could always obtain the ability to generate more casting energy per second by meditating. Often, people do not have enough instant magic to cast a spell, which is why, three-quarters of it is made up of casting energy. The strength of the magic is the same though, only the delay in time is different. Lots of people say mages’ spells are completely made up of instant magic. Untrue. This would be explained in the later segment. Rumor said that as you grow, the maximum amount of magic you held increased.

“Are you out of your mind? You dragged us here for this?” Sariel hollered. “It’s already too late, here are six orbs, take two each. They’ll give you the ability to manipulate magic. Pity we do not have any magic,” Uriel said, handing them six orbs which inside was grey. Empty, completely void of magic like his.

Uriel glanced at the map again; they had finished almost half of the journey. All they needed to do was go to Elderine and take a flight to Roumen. A flight to Roumen didn’t cost much, they only cost two silvers for each person. Uriel looked up at the sky. A veil of mist covered the sun. Perfect, just what Uriel wanted, an indoor journey. There were trees in this area but the ground was all sand. People called it collapsed prison as rumor said that this was a prison for evil Isyans before all of them mysteriously disappeared. However, the next day, the whole place was swarmed with weird creatures. Uriel shuddered as he recalled that. They did not need a hit in the back from a monster.

Out of the blue, a deafening roar reverberated through their eardrums. They stopped in their tracks and turned to the right. There stood a humongous giant, whose hands seemed to be able to snap the members like twigs. They stared in muted horror, mouth agape as the monster gave another loud growl. The thought of dying suddenly struck the four.

They had to react fast before the monster, which was known as harkan, smashed its fist into their hearts. Clearly, the new spell Uriel created, Haerykin, was of no use against this foul beast.

“Run!” was all that Uriel could say as the group dispersed in all directions. Uriel took out another capsule, his arsenal of magic was quickly depleting. He reminded himself that he should only use the last capsule in emergencies.

“I seek help, Nova,” Uriel muttered.

The huge monster froze immediately. A circle of ice was visible on the ground. Magic,
a powerful matter. There was still a little magic left in the capsule. Uriel picked up a stick from the ground.

Pointing it towards the ice, he said,” Power hit.” And the stick sliced the block of ice into half.

Chapter 4 – Hellgait

The shuffling of feet, panting and the distinctive sound of what seemed to be animals growling. There was a horde of monsters on their trail. Dead end.

Sariel turned and shouted,” Can’t you use some of your capsules?”

“Can’t, I only have one left,” Uriel replied.

Suddenly, a green circle materialized in front of them. A portal, magical portal. Uriel skimmed the surface with a twig. It flashed and disappeared in a mere second. A look of astonishment appeared on his face.

“Jump In!” a voice came from the crowd. A hooded figure holding a giant sword showed itself. The sword he wielded seemed heavy and big. Doubtless it needed two hands to wield it. However, weird it may seem, the warrior held it in a single hand while in the other hand he held a huge shield,” I’ll take care of them. Run into the portal, it’ll take you to Vine Tomb, you will be safe there for a while. Be on your guard for thieves though. The other portal at the other end is to elderine but it is too far, thus, you have no choice but to go to Roumen through Vine Tomb, the long way out.” The harkans and ogres beside him looked elated, probably excited that they had another prey.

Uriel wondered, how did he know their plans? Anyway, this was not a time for thinking, they had to run. “Wait! What is your name?” He inquired.

“My name’s Hellgait,” the man replied. The group disappeared in a flash of green light.

[tomoki260]

Chapter 5 – Captured

“Reporting my lord,” a man with great physique said. He was in a room, surrounded by four pillars.

“Have you done everything as ordered?” a ghastly voice sounded through one of the four walls.

“Yes, sir. I have murdered the leader of the bandits and took his form. Tonight they’ll strike,” the man stammered.

“My lord, Sariel reporting, my lord, Puruel reporting, my lord, Jacob reporting,” three voices droned outside the room

“Very good, my creations, leave this dimension, and put the plan into action. Remember, if you dare to defy me, I’ll destroy you,” the deep voice laughed.

Uriel glanced up at the sky. An eerie moon hung in the sky, an ominous sign. The four continued their journey. They were worn out, and considering the injuries they suffered during the teleportation, they might faint half-way.

They trudged through the dew-laden grass. Uriel was leaden with guilt, he pondered if that kind gentleman was killed… The teleportation was extremely painful though. It was a mixture of relief and excitement before they entered. But after they entered the portal, waves of excruciating pain swept over them. It was like needles piercing your body while it spilt into pieces, and then being burned and frozen at the same time. The group suffered minor bruises and cuts. Obviously, it was only for people with great vitality or unless you have special suits. Uriel made a mental note, special suits. Something to work on.

Uriel heard the rustling of the bushes, it somehow had that effect. "Hold on guys, I need to answer nature's call. You guys wait here."

"Hold on, I'm going too!" Puruel raised his hands in a bid to stop Uriel.

"Sure, but don't get too close to me okay?"

The bandits advanced towards the girls. They felt fortunate that they had dashed to another bush in time, evading Uriel and his friend, they had to capture each of them two by two. First the two girls. They picked a angle totally behind them so as to ambush them. Sariel and Puruel shivered as the cold wind brushed their bare skins. They wore thick clothes but were still equally cold. The bandits rushed forward and activated their plan, muffling the two girls’ mouths and nose with a handkerchief, consequently suffocating them. Then they dragged them back to their base.

Chapter 6 – Another captured

By the time Uriel and Jacob had finished their business, Sariel and Puruel had already seemingly disappeared. Jacob was completely puzzled. Uriel, on the other hand, knew that it would happen and smiled a Cheshire cat’s smile.

“Let’s get going, to rescue Sariel and Puruel,” Uriel rubbed his hands in delight.

“You know where they are?” Jacob scratched his head.

“See these four thick lines here? They are probably Sariel’s and Puruel’s shoe markings when they were dragged. Obviously we are dealing with people whose brains are the size of a pea. All we need to do now is to grab a weapon and follow the trail,” Uriel said.

Jacob grabbed a thick branch and a few mushrooms. Uriel, however, took a branch and invoked a porcupine to donate some of its quills generously to the tip of the branch.

Together, they set off, following the trail that the bandits left behind.

Meanwhile, Sariel and Puruel were tied together. Four humans materialised in front of them. The mysterious man, posed as the leader of the bandits, stared at the door as two of them each entered one of the girls through their eyes, living in the two humans forever. No worries, they are not possessed.

“We shall wait for them. They are sure to come, that is, if you had purposely left the trail. You did, right?” the same man who was called Uriel too queried one of the bandits. “Yes, we have.”

Uriel and Jacob reached an old forgotten hut. The hut was completely pitch black, probably a trick so they could not see what was in the hut while they tried to rescue the damsels in distress. Jacob, however, was completely oblivious to the trick and foolishly charged into the trap, only to be knocked out by a elbow in the dark. Uriel stared intensely into the hut, to spot any loopholes in the plan. A glint of a pair of mischievous eyes was found in the pitch black darkness.

Uriel hid behind a bush and sat down in the lotus formation and meditated. He ransacked his brains for a possible flawless plan. After a minute, he opened his eyes. An idea brewed in his head, it was not exactly flawless and not even close to perfect. Uriel yanked out a clump of grass. This had to be carefully aimed at, just before the door. With precise aim, he threw the grass. A man stepped out of the door, a blinding light slicing the deadly silence, the man was fooled. Uriel smirked. He hurled his spiky stick at the mysterious man and it hit him squarely on the chest, the quills piercing through his chest piece and simultaneously pierced his heart. Then, Uriel rushed towards the man, trying to body slam him. Although Uriel had aimed correctly, he just dashed through both the man and his weapon. Puzzled Uriel had no time to think what had happened, he released the ropes tying Jacob, Sariel and Puruel.

The four escaped the hut successfully, evading all the bandits that obstructed them. The other man was long gone. Uriel sighed. That means he just lost an opportunity to do an experiment on that man.

[tomoki260]

Chapter 7 – A ghostly encounter

They were reaching Elderine. Now they had escaped the bandits and their weird mastermind, they were in moonlight tomb, they had to go through another portal to get to Elderine. Uriel shuddered as a chill raced down his spine, the last experience was bad enough.

A green light was seen from far. A mist seemed to sweep over it and it suddenly disappeared. “No! The portal!” Uriel reached out his hand. The surprised four chased after the portal and only to bump into thin air. Sariel lifted up her head. An apparition stood in front of them. Jacob tilted his head to the left and saw the portal. The portal did not disappear. The ghost had blocked it.

Uriel stammered,” Hi.” The ghost smiled, a creepy and ghastly smile. A blinding light enveloped them as Uriel charged at the ghost, halfway punching it. The ghost merely absorbed that kinetic energy and used it to project a loud shriek to blow everyone off their feet. Uriel got up and found himself standing in front of the portal. The ghost had directed its attention towards the other three, turning back to help his friends, Uriel resisted the temptation to leave his friend in the lurch. His friends did not prove to be of any use after all, but thought the better of it immediately. They could be guinea pigs.

Uriel reached for his pockets and took out the last capsule. If there was an emergency, it would obviously be now. He willed the capsule to spin between his palms,” Guys, buy me some time, I’m going to blast it.” The idea was simple he would use a quarter of the magic in the capsule to create a smaller version of a magic blast, then, he would generate enough casting energy to create the genuine magic blast. The ghost will absorb it and then, due to too much energy in it, it will overload and explode. He breathed deeply, electricity running through his spinal cord. They did not have instant magic now but it did not mean they could not generate casting energy. The magic blast continued to grow bigger, so did the hazel pupils in his eyes. The ghost forcefully swiped Jacob and Puruel away, Uriel shot them a glance, only to see cold, soulless eyes staring back at him. The ghost was currently brawling with the weak and meek Sariel. He shot the huge ball at the ghost, and Sariel quickly dropped down. She glared daggers at him. Oops, he almost killed her. The ghost exploded and Uriel felt stronger momentarily but that feeling subsided. A foster feeling of power. He sank his knees into the wet soil and panted.

Chapter 8 – Swords and bolts

Uriel got to his feet. A loud growl shook him and Sariel. They stood there, stock-still. There was deadly silence. Then, there was a thundering of footsteps and a gigantic beast holding two swords appeared in front of them. The swords gave of such enormous magic and chi that they glowed an immense aura. One blue, to represent chi, the other red to represent magic. One could almost feel oneself melting if one stood beside it. The beast used the red blade on his right hand to strike Uriel vertically and he stepped to his left to evade the beast’s attack by mere inches. The wall behind Uriel was imprinted with a long oval. Unbelievable. The swords’ cores had such power that it sucked huge amounts of that beast’s magic and then magnify the strength of each attack by almost 10 times, thus creating the unimaginable dent in the wall. Uriel thought. The beast used his right blade to cut Uriel again, this time horizontally. He made the wrong choice to step to the right. He merely gave it a golden opportunity to kill him; he was definitely going to be striked. One blow and not only would his bones be shattered, the magic would enter his organs and burn them. He closed his eyes, prepared for his destiny.

One second… Two seconds… Three seconds… Nothing happened. Uriel opened his eyes nervously, only to see Jacob and Puruel in front of him, one gripping the red sword and the other gripping the blue sword. Jacob turned back to look at Uriel, Then, in unison, they yanked the swords out of the beast’s hands, tripping it, face down. Uriel thanked them secretly, so much for their uselessness. He turned back to face them, but something was wrong. Jacob, who was holding the red sword started to glow red. Sariel, who was holding the blue sword started to glow blue. They dropped the swords consecutively. The sword miraculously remained in their hands. On closer inspection, Uriel found that there were four swords in total - two on the ground, one in Jacob’s and one in Puruel’s hands. I see, thought Uriel, the orbs have recognized the swords cores and have made flawless replicas of them, but only the cores and not the weapon skins. Which means that they were spiritual swords, spiritual swords that could still serve its purpose in killing due to the orbs, that is. Uriel spoke in his heart. Jacob and Puruel sliced the beast which now looked seemingly harmless. The beast disappeared together with his two swords. Puruel and Jacob both fainted promptly.

Uriel dragged them to the portal. “Uriel, watch out!” Sariel yelled. She used her body to shield a lightning monster’s lightning bolt. The bolt struck directly into her heart and she started to grip her chest. Slowly, another lightning bolt had appeared in her hand. Her other hand glowed red and she shot a fire ball at the monster, whose name was Lightning Vivi. It turned grey, losing its vibrant green and dropped down. The creatures started to surround them advanced towards them. Sariel called upon a malediction on them and the monsters started to run in all directions.

Sariel threw the two unconscious men into the portal with a flick of her fingers. She was strong. Uriel jumped into the portal, right after Sariel.

The four had reached Elderine, panting in front of the fountain which was not far and the bustling marketplace.

[john99944]

No offense, but Uriel is feminine, not masculine. Still, pretty good.

[tomoki260]

Chapter 9 – The trip to Roumen

Shortly after, Puruel and Jacob regained their consciousness.

The first intuition was to shout out loud or heave a sigh of relief with a feeling of accomplishment, but instead, they strolled around town. Looking at the other vendors shouting what they were selling and looking at all the legal shops place orderly in line, Uriel smiled. They had survived after a long and arduous journey. They had no time to spare and literally no money to spend. They had only enough money to take the flight to Roumen.

“Shutian is the person we are looking for, if my premonition is right, he should be there,” Uriel pointed towards a huge fountain where a huge crowd had gathered.

“Good morning Shutian, we are here to…” Uriel squeezed into the exodus. “Oh gods, don’t tell me. You want to take a transport to Roumen too, right? Well, the answer is the same as the answer I gave to the crowd, no. So you and your friends help me disperse this crowd and get lost.” “Look here, either you let us know where the plane to Roumen is or you will die,” Uriel narrowed his bloodshot eyes. “Walk further up front, then take a left turn, you’ll see a grouchy old hag. Tell her you want to take a ride to Roumen and remember, pay her before you step on board that vehicle, if not I’ll guess you’ll be eating your guts for lunch. Oh and do not call me Shutian. Call me Captain or sir, if not I’ll personally dig out your brains and let the goblins eat it for breakfast.” Uriel was interrupted by Captain Shutian who was intimidated by Uriel.

They had boarded the pod-shaped vehicle in no less than a minute. There were about ten people in here. “Talk about rudeness, that old hag grabbed my eight silvers!” Uriel retorted. “Please put on your radiation suits for we are going into a nuclear supersonic underground trip and the radioactive waves might fry your brains before we even reach there,” a mechanical voice reverberated throughout the pod. “Underground? Whoever said about underground? I thought we were going to travel in air!” Jacob and another man grumbled in unison. “The reason why we travel underground is because there is turbulence in the air and underground, there are only magma flares which will barbeque you into fried chicken which is not a big deal, now if you want to get out of this vehicle in one piece, put on your radiation suits!” the voice answered. “Is everyone in Isya so unfriendly?” another man complained. “Switching to hyper drive, we are going in supersonic. I am now going to press the button.” “Press that button or I’ll ram it with your head!” Uriel shouted, obviously angry at the old hag for snatching his eight silvers. There was sure a huge commotion going on in the vehicle.

The suburban pod reached Roumen in exactly eight point seven seconds. Pretty slow for today’s 2096 technology.

“Well, you could say that trip was worth my two silvers, except for that motion sickness part,” Uriel puked again after alighting the pod.

“Okay according to the book for newbies to Isya, we should head to Helper Remi to brief us a tutorial on Isya and classes and blah blah blah. Oh and she’s giving away freebies!” Sariel opened the brochure that was supplied on the pod.

Chapter 10 – The introduction

Together as one, the four, Sariel, Jacob, Puruel and Uriel marched towards Remi, demanding for their freebies and their tutorial.

“Okay, I’ll introduce myself. I am Remi the friendly helper. I will now brief you on Isya and what problems you will face. However, I must first understand what class you are, fighter, cleric, archer, or mage. A free weapon will be given according to what class you are.”
After explaining that they did not need any weapons and that they had the orbs which gave them their own unique weapons, Remi continued after giving Uriel an aluminum foil sword as he did not have a weapon. Uriel accepted it ungraciously.
“First of all I shall give you these,” Remi passed them each a pair of contact lenses,” Once you put them on, you’ll be able to see any player’s health points, spirit points which is also dubbed mana points and also the person’s level. Level means the degree or intensity of your physical and mental fitness and my goodness, you all are already level 10!” “Well, on our way to Roumen, we did fight tons of creatures,” Puruel replied. “Didn’t you guys take a teleportation to Elderine and then a underground trip to Roumen? There is a teleportation zone outside each class’s city.” “Uriel….” everyone glared daggers at him. He smiled sheepishly.

“The bottom right hand corner has a yellow bar, it tells you your experience points and the bottom left hand corner is your level,” Remi told them after they put on their contact lenses. She handed them each two pouches, one brown one red and also a potion. “This potion will increase your overall fitness and your brain capacity, also, it will produce a cell which will gradually spilt through cell division and then form into an organ, that organ is called the Cigam gland, it is literally a gland for storing and producing magic. Found just below the heart, it will grow as you get stronger, increasing your maximum capacity and its magic will replenish every day. The brown pouch is your inventory. It can store almost anything. Do not belittle it. It has 40 boxes inside and each box can store up to 50 similar items. The red pouch is a pouch to store your stones and also tells you what class the player is, red for fighter, blue for cleric, green for archer and white for mage,” she handed them two stones each, one red and one blue,” These stones will restore your vitality or your magic, blue for the latter and red for the former. You can just press the stones to your heart and they’ll restore your power. You could also concentrate hard and your power would be restored too, but it’ll be harder as you need to concentrate and of course, they amount would be less. However, be aware that if you put anything else into the pouch, it will completely disintegrate. You can now proceed to Julia to continue the tutorial. Thank you for your valuable time.”

They marched to Healer Julia, with their pouches, their lenses worn and their potions drank. “Good morning, my healthy and living students. My name is Julia. Here,” Healer Julia passed them a small map and a green scroll with a circle in the middle. In the circle was a Chinese word ‘tu’, which was earth in English. “This green scroll here is a teleportation scroll. You just need to step on it and then a circle with all ten elements, earth, fire, water, air, light, darkness, gold, metal, ice and spirit will form around your feet, transporting you to any of the three cities in Isya, Roumen Elderine and Uruga. This map shows you the whole of Isya and if you turn it, you get to see the whole area of the place you are, including the dungeons. This is another three items. These two items are a small speaker and a earpiece, you only need to think of what way you want to talk, then speak into the microphone. You can attend a course on equipment at nine in the morning, tomorrow,” Healer Julia gave the adventurers a small microphone, a earpiece and a watch. This was no ordinary watch. It was just a thin strip of metal, with a small screen in HD. However, the mechanics inside could fill up a whole house. They put their watches on and they immediately bonded and shrank into their skin and now, they were their permanent owners. “This beauty is the most advanced technology the world can supply. You are the first few people to receive this watch. It reviews your quest log, health, mana, chat box, skill list, community and a few games. It also shows the whole blue print of Roumen, Elderine and Uruga and lists down quests through voice. Obviously, a watch will tell you the time. Now, I hereby give you a quest. That is to take a little visit to Ruby, James and Zach. They are the skill master, blacksmith and weapon title master respectively. Now go.” The four’s watches beeped simultaneously.

“Hi, err. Skill Master Ruby?” Uriel greeted Skill Master Ruby. “My name’s Ruby! Get it into your head! Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! Now, what do you want? If there’s nothing, get lost!” “You see, Healer Julia asked me to visit you.” “Oh, I see. Beginners? Well let me introduce you to something. It is called an academy. You can easily sign up for one nearby. Also, this is a skill book. The skill inside the book can be learnt by combining with the magic inside the book. Don’t ask me questions! Ten push-ups! Now! Okay, I have a quest for you that is to clear up a small portion of Forest of Tides. The portal is at your north-west. If you succeed, your rewards will be little. However, if you fail, your head will drop, but this is your first hunting quest. Thus, your future reputation in questing will totally rely on it. When you fail, which you obviously will, I’ll crush you like grass beneath my boot! I’ll tear your heads off like dandelion flowers!” “Enough of the plant similes,” Uriel rubbed his temples. “Now get lost!” Ruby screeched at the four. “Talk about anger management issues,” they left Skill master Ruby.

Uriel and the others put on the rest of their equipment. Now, they proceeded toward Blacksmith James. “Good morning Blacksmith James,” Uriel greeted Blacksmith James, this time making sure he would address people in Isya formally in case of another lesson. “This is merely part of your quest and I have nothing to say at all now please leave,” Blacksmith James answered while hammering a sword and a green cylindrical stone together. The weapon and the stone glowed together, then, many strips of lines wrapped around them and the sword now gave of an immense dark purple aura. Strong, but obviously not as strong as the beast they met yesterday’s swords.

Glad they could avoid another lecture, they proceeded to Zach. “Morning Zach,” Uriel waved to Zach. “Hi. I know what you want. These are empowerment scrolls. They boost your vitality, mentality, speed, defense, magical defense, and agility, their colours are brown, green, light green, blue, light blue and turquoise respectively,” Zach handed them a few thinner-than-paper pieces of parchments. “Wrap them around your left hand, or the hand that is closer to your heart. They will only boost your abilities temporarily, thus, they will break after sixty minutes. Stronger empowerment scrolls require higher amounts of magic to react with the empowerment scroll’s magic. This is a small micro-chip; use this to update your watch. It actually summons your mushroom-shaped house. It looks small, but do not judge a book by its cover! It is almost as spacious as a mansion. When you guys get stronger, you can upgrade your house through Item Merchant Kenton in Elderine. Oh and I have a quest for you, which means I trust you. The objective is the same as Ruby’s, that is kill some monsters.”

So, the four heroes walked towards Forest of Tides, preparing a long, arduous battle, a battle against ten creatures that is.

[john99944]

They just became adventurers :O

[tomoki260]

Chapter 11 – A really simple battle

“Lunge at him! You idiot! Lunge! Not stab!” Uriel, being the supervisor of the team as he was the smartest of them all, yelled at Jacob.

Uriel touch the screen the watch projected out. “Two more speedy slimes.” “But we’ve already exhausted our stones! We can’t fight further!”

“You can gang up on one monster right? Use your brain, you idiot! Wow, how convenient. Two speedy slimes popping in front of… Uh oh,” Uriel stood and withdrew his aluminum foil sword. He got ready his stance, right foot in front and his left foot at the back, a fencing stance. The speedy slimes lunged at him. Uriel slashed wildly, one out of eleven strikes hit one of the speedy slimes. The other, grinning, pounced on Uriel’s chest. The impact made Uriel trip and fall. His head hit the ground mercilessly and the smell of blood flooded his nostrils. He took a glance at the speedy slimes. One was quite badly injured; just another strike would do, while the other was a bit more complicated. The uninjured slime step forward and leaped at Uriel. He acted on instinct. He rolled to his right and sprang to his feet. The slime missed and instead, crashed into the tree behind Uriel. The cunning injured slime slammed into his leg. The three-pound weight broke his shin bone and he fell face first, but also crushing the unfortunate slime. He checked his watch. Speedy Slime: 4/5. His party members, who were his friends, should receive it too. “Heal,” Uriel hissed. Many red strips gathered around his shin and shrank into his skin, immediately repairing all bone damages. He got back up to his feet, looking at the speedy slime straight in the eyes. The slime gave another giant leap, aiming for its head this time. Uriel threw his aluminum foil sword at the speedy slime and the tip of it pierced right in its tiny heart. The sword struck the tree behind the speedy slime, piercing through the slime simultaneously. “Quest accomplished. Please proceed to Skill Master Ruby and Weapon Title Zach to hand in your quest,” an automated voice sounded from his watch.

Chapter 12 – Spilt up

“Skill Master Ruby! Here is the quest you handed us!” Uriel and the others dashed to Ruby. “I heard you handed your quest to Zach before me. Is that right?” Skill Master Ruby scratched her chin. The four stammered,” Err… Err…” “Is it because Zach gave you much better rewards? Because of your greed, I’m now giving you nothing!” she fumed,” Fine, I’ll be merciful; I will give you your fame so others will hand you their duties!” “Did you just say duties?” Uriel questioned Ruby. “Err… Nope. Now, you! Go and fetch me some clam meat! You! Get me some pixie dust! You, yes, you little lass! I want you to kill a King Boogy! Where’s a King Boogy? Find it yourself! You, Uriel right? It seems… I have nothing for you… But I’ll be back… Now leave!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
The group immediately dispersed in all directions. Sariel needed to kill a King Boogy, Puruel needed to get pixie dust from pixies and Jacob needed to fetch some meat while Uriel strolled around Roumen, with nothing to do at all.

Uriel opened his house again. He stepped inside, in his hands a clump of tea leaves. He had picked it up from Forest of Mist, a highly dangerous area for him. He threw the tea leaves in a glass kettle, poured some water, and let it boil. He sipped his cup of tea slowly, savoring the taste of his tea while watching his favourite television programme. Knock. Uriel stood up from his sofa and turned down the volume of the television. He opened the door. “Hello? Did anyone knock on my door?” Uriel peered outside. Nobody. But he spotted a green scroll on the floor just outside the door. Uriel returned his mushroom-house back to his watch. “I wonder where this does…” he punched the scroll. The ten elements surrounded his arm and sucked him into the hole in the air.

He materialized just outside the huge fountain of Elderine. He surveyed his surroundings. There was no one. He checked his watch and remembered it was still the siesta. Everyone was asleep. Thus, Uriel decided to explore a little bit of Elderine. Just after he started to take a step, he bumped into thin air. However, the impact was so strong that it knocked the wind out of him and he crashed into a wall which was supposed to be ten metres away from him. “Oww,” He massaged his head. “Hi,” A young lady showed herself, appearing out of thin air. “My name’s Bbkun. Nice to meet you Uriel,” an elf extended her hand. Uriel grabbed her hand, glancing at the word ‘Bbkun’ above the lady’s head,” Oh hi Bbkun. Nice to meet… You’re… You’re… You’re ten stars. That means.” “I’m Level 100. Thank you. I saw you materialize in front of me, so in reflex, I used Nature’s Protection against you to make myself invisible, and then you accidentally bumped into me. Probably because I’m ten times stronger than you, you crashed into the wall. Sorry.” “Nature’s Protection. You’re an archer? And not only a normal archer, a high-level archer!” Uriel doubled up in irresistible laughter. “What’s so funny?”Bbkun suddenly became very serious. “Oh, nothing. I just need your help.” “Help? What help can I be to you?” “Can you be my master?”Uriel dropped to his knees.

[john99944]

Ooh, Uriel has a master!

[tomoki260]

Chapter 13 – Acceptance

“Please! What can I do in order to convince you?” “Shush! You’re disturbing other’s sleep!” “Please Bbkun! Please! I beg you!” Uriel threw away his pride. “Fine, but you must do something for me,” Bbkun gave in. “What is it Master?” Uriel begun to get onto his feet. “I haven’t decided yet. However, I will inform you when I think of one! Now let’s go!” Bbkun grabbed Uriel’s hand and teleported just outside an old hut.

“Like it?” Bbkun rubbed a ring she wore on her little finger,”the Isyan King gave it to our family in gratitude for saving Isya. The contents of the story shan’t be revealed. Now let’s start our training tomorrow at 4 a.m.! This is your room,” Bbkun showed Uriel to a small, confined space. “You can summon your mushroom here, but for now, we have to learn some necessities.”

“Okay now I want you to sit in this box, slowly, yes,” she slammed the opening of the box shut. “Now I want you to meditate inside till six!”

Thus, the infuriated Uriel banged against the side of the box, trying to beat his way out of it. He could not of course, for he was not strong enough. After a few hours, Uriel checked his watch. Three O’clock. He sat in lotus position again. Imagining small particles of magic gathering around him, his orbs started to glow white and his body emitted a faint red aura. Small voices in his mind started to whisper a weird chant, Uriel started to realize he was chanting with them. However, his voice was not his normal and original voice, it was more of a snake hissing. A small bolt appeared in front of him. Then, it began to multiply, enveloping him in a layer of electricity. “Blast it!” he threw his arm high up in the air, also breaking two holes on the top of the box, he channeled the electricity to the box’s wood, the wood broke into small pieces, as though it was struck by a nuclear bomb.

“So? Had a good time? Oh my, you broke them! Well done. Now let’s go,” Bbkun walked out of her hut.

“Wait. You aren’t surprised?”

“This box is made of balsa, many layers of balsa that is. I applied it in a way so that you just have to exert 0.1 more strength than the maximum strength a human can exert. So a spark of magic would do it. Now let’s go.”

Thus, Bbkun and the astounded Uriel headed for the great field hidden in a forest which was behind the hut.

Bbkun passed Uriel a wooden bow and passed three arrows to him. These arrows were handmade, with the nock carved using a simple laser pen, the tip was actually part of the shaft, which means it was too made of carbon but was blunt. “I want you to shoot the arrow at a tree, but make sure it stays there. This requires a little bit of magic, however, it shouldn’t be difficult for you as you have already started the flow of your magic in your body, maybe a eighth only.”

Uriel aimed carefully at a tree. By right, I should push the bow while pulling the string right? Uriel pondered. He hesitated, then, he released his grip on the string. The arrow missed the tree trunk by metres, instead hitting another tree, the arrow knocked against the tree briefly, then landed on the ground. What happened? Uriel was shocked. “It was because you hesitated, without confidence and decisiveness, an archer will always miss the target, no matter how hard or how far he pulls the string. You can try again, you got two more arrows,” Bbkun talked casually as if she read Uriel’s mind.

Uriel got ready his stance again. “Hey, wait! Your stance’s totally wrong. Right foot horizontal and the left foot diagonal. Yes, that’s right. Now shoot.” Alright. No hesitation. Uriel pulled the string and shot almost immediately. The arrow did not have enough energy and instead, dropped on Uriel’s feet. “Oww! Oww!” Uriel dropped the bow and started to hop. Bbkun sighed and pushed Uriel to the ground. “My my, you fell,” she hissed in an eerie voice. “Now get up!” she yelled at Uriel’s ear. “Is your sir name Lin?” Uriel asked while carefully pulling out the arrow, centimeter by centimeter.

“No why?” “Oh I thought you were the daughter of Ruby Lin, the skill master in Roumen,” Uriel taunted Bbkun. “How old exactly are you?” Bbkun helped Uriel get up to his feet. “Erm… Why? I’m 16.” “Can you be more mature?!” “Now relax. I can help you get a physiatrist; he will resolve your anger management problems. I really think you are the daughter of…” “Get shooting!” Bbkun almost unhinged her jaw.

“The reason behind why you shot your own leg is due to your lousy puny muscle strength,” Bbkun touched Uriel flabby arm fat,” You, an archer in training, must learn how to shoot. You can find tips on it by reading the book, Introduction to Archers In Training, by Juliet Bellin. In order to shoot nicely and properly, you have to pull and hold, remember to aim, then you can shoot with unerring accuracy.” “Hold on, give me a second,” Uriel pressed his earpiece,” Search the Library Database for Introduction to Archers In Training by Juliet Bellin.” “2 Books found.” The earpiece sounded. An image popped up in front of his eyes, the effect of the lens, ‘1. Introduction to Archers in Training: Borrowed. 2.Introduction to Archers in Training: NOT ON LOAN.’ “Borrow the second book. Find and magnify pull and aim,” Uriel whispered. A virtual digital book, which was projected from his watch, appeared in his hands. Then the book’s pages started to turn to page hundred and seventy.

“Okay, now I’m ready.” Uriel replied after devouring the seven-hundred-page book in mere ten seconds.

Chapter 14 – What archers do

“Well done, my pupil,” Bbkun gave Uriel a pat on the shoulder after he had successfully shot a bull eye. “You finally understand now. “Yeah, there are a whole lot of things to take note of. My stance, decisiveness, wisdom, strength and of course, magic.” Uriel replied.
Bbkun led Uriel further into the forest, there was a small round area and just beside it was a small stream. It didn’t really look like a forest now, but nowadays, everything was man-made, including the trees. In the middle of the circle was a wooden block. Bbkun handed Uriel a dagger,” Although an archer mainly shoots, he must also be able to do short-dsitance combat. He must have agility, dexterity, reflex and intelligence – the four main components in melee. This training will obviously require more than three days of continual work, so your agility and dexterity would be well built up. To start off the training, I want you to get at least a strike on that wooden block, remember the four values! You have two days to complete this.”

Uriel advanced towards the block. “Two days? That is so easy,” Uriel muttered to himself before charging towards the seemingly harmless block of wood. From the main block of wood stemmed another two cylinder blocks of wood, there was a hole in them. Two arrows flew from the wooden block’s ‘arms’ and brushed against Uriel’s cheeks. Uriel in surprise, staggered and fell down. “Heal,” the red stone’s power in his pouch started to heal him. “You have to do this until you get a strike on that block of wood, so use your stones carefully! You have only 18 stones left!” “Of course, I’m only level 10; wait was that part of intelligence?” Uriel dashed forward with all his might again. If I’m right, there should be a huge arsenal of weapons in that freaky block of wood. Uriel thought. He was right. Four more arms sprouted from the block, this time, two of them shot magic bolts and two of them flashed streaks of lightning. Uriel jumped up and then ducked in mid-air to avoid two lightning strikes, then he dropped to the floor to dodge two magic bolts which could have blasted his head off. Uriel got back up to his feet, only to realize two arrows piercing his shin. He dropped down. “I can’t lose like this… Heal!” he shouted out and stood again. The lady, Bbkun smiled as she folded her arms. He will not be able to get anywhere like this. Uriel had formulated a strategy in his mind. It was pretty simple, run, dodge, run and dodge, run some more then slash the block. Uriel started to put his plan to action. He darted to the right, a magic bolt missed him by inches. He halted and ducked and two arrows flew past his head. He ran like a bat out of hell, his plan was working! Uriel jumped up and ahead, to avoid two flashy streaks of lightning. Now was the time! He changed direction and instead, sped towards the block and then he put his hand back, ready to slash that piece of wood. However, he was completely oblivious to a magic bolt heading towards his leg. The wave of magic flipped him over and Uriel grabbed his red stone and pressed it to his heart. Red ribbons wrapped around his torso, Uriel got to his knees. Well, a full-frontal attack did not work very well. Uriel groaned. It was going to be a long day.

The pitch-black sky was lighted up by the rising sun. It was dawn and the crisp-cool atmosphere was cooled by the sunny temperature. Uriel had fought for 24-hours straight – without food or water. He drank dew from a leaf nearby and ate the leaf up. Never once did he realize that water was actually so reinvigorating. Uriel wet his cracked lips. Anyone in the vicinity could hear his heavy panting. He had exhausted strategies he could think of, which consisted of almost ten.