Be-Head-Dead

'Finally, I'm in the borderlands!' Kris finally arrived after that long travel, with that experience of his first player killing encounter, it was a huge help on him to find out how strong he became when dealing against other players.

Before he had enter, he wore a thick robe that covered his whole body and the projector so no one would notice him so he could avoid making a scene.

Kris had arrived at the Mercado Town. In the entrance, strangely the guards didn't seize him and just let him enter.

'This really is the power of the death mask.'

He proceed to enter the town and was greeted with dozens of players and NPCs strolling on the town.

"We sell good quality armors for warriors and leather armors for long ranged players!"

"Buying iron ore for a high price!"

"Selling all types of potion for a cheap price! Trading with items is also allowed!"

There were a bunch of players selling miscellaneous items on the left side while the right side was recruiting players for quests.

"Need level 200s Cleric to raid Lizard men's Lair! All types of Cleric items will be given for free!"

"Need 2 support type players with at least levels of 150 for a quest! Will eagerly pay 5 silvers every hour!"

Utmost everyone was trying to recruit support type users since it had a shortage of it.

For the last 2 years, no one liked support type players because they thought that it would be boring but when a war stood up against two kingdoms; the Canto Kingdom and the Noarse Kingdom. Two super guilds had to oppose each other just to maintain their territory; the Avengers Guild in Canto Kingdom and the Scavengers Guild in Noarse Kingdom.

The war made a great ripple effect to the game so someone had to oppose on each side just to stop them from becoming a calamity.

It was the Holy Maiden, Athena. A hidden support type player.

She burst out in the heavens and stopped their fights. She began to cast a wide area spell that made a barrier on innocent NPCs and on the heavens, golden swords rained on the ground killing all the players and NPCs and completely stopping the fight.

The result on this to superguilds was massive, they did not only lose a majority of their territory, their ranking as a super guild went down to a 2nd rate guild causing most of their members to disband.

They hated Athena at the core and wished for revenge but since that time, nobody knew of her whereabouts.

The footage was capture on that time and the video became a sensation to everyone in the world, and not one player doesn't know of that video.

This inspired other players to choose a support type class.

At that time, Athena was still on the level of 300s but 2 years had passed, experts speculate that her level should have surpassed the top rankers.

But this time of year, someone will be able to encounter her and not even knowing her actual identity and that someone was Kris.

***

Kris had arrived on a small house that seems to be a broken-down hut.

"*knock* knock Hello, its me Kris and I have returned the three pendants that you have asked me to find." Kris said while holding the three pendants on his left hand.

"*creak!* Oh Kris! Thank god! You had finally came back with the pendants! I owe you a thanks!" Jared shook Kris' hands happily and received the pendants.

Ding!

YOU HAVE FINISH THE QUEST!

+1 level

+3 gold and 40 silver coins

- Jared's prized possession

"Here you go as promised!" He gave me a small black box and inside was a stone which had light blue patterns engraved on it. It looked similar of a rune stone but with the peculiar patterns on it, it was hard to tell because of the differences.

"What is this?" Kris asks.

"Oh! Its something that I had find on the same fateful day my comrades had died." He gave a mournful look but Kris knew this was all nothing but an act.

"When I tried to identify its information, I couldn't appraise and I thought to myself that this rune stone was something valuable so I brought to a Jewelry Store to try and let them appraised it for me but the result was the same so I had no choice but to keep it. At that moment, I felt more energized when I was near the stone. After a long and tiring walk, when I go home and hold the stone, it felt like my fatigue had worn off in an instant so that's why I had kept it for petesake." He happily recalled the time he had with the stone but after hearing that the stone had energize and removed his fatigue, Kris couldn't remove the word energy from his head and was full in speculation.

'Energy? Could it be?' Kris began to look at the patterns engraved on the stone and he had sensed a feeling of familiarity.

'There is no doubt that this stone is connected with my class!'His eyes glimmered in excitement and began to appraise the stone.

"Identify!"

"What did I tell you, it won't work, khouk? What?" Jared couldn't believe his eyes, he could see the window panel in front of Kris and couldn't help but ask.

"How are you able to appraise it that not even the best appraisers couldn't?" Jared asked.

"Shhhh, its a secret I can't tell." Kris said who was carefully looking at the window panel.

ENERGY STONE

Rate: Guardian

+5 Energy

+10 points to all status

- A phenomenon will happen if the user is able to find 10 energy stones (1/10)

Energy stones are very rare to find, its like finding needle on a haystack. Every Kingdom has one energy stone but it might have been already found by wanderers or someone with high luck making it more hard to find.

'I guess I was lucky that I found an energy stone. Damn, I feel guilty that I'd have to kill this guy.' Kris looked at Jared who was happily checking the pendants.

"You seemed to be okay now, I thought you were sick." Kris asks Jared.

"Ah, uhmm, I mean it might be because of that stone. He he he.." Jared was stuttering, if he was to find out that he was lying.

"Care to ask, I did found that pendant that almost cost me my life. What will you do with it?" Kris draw his sword and began to clean the blade using the cloth on his robe.

'This brat! Why the hell does he care? Their heavenly beings yet his scared to die.' Jared couldn't help but make a stiff expression.

"Uhmmm, its my obligation as a knight to give it to the royal family.." He gave a weird smile like he wasn't sure about what he said.

"Oh? I thought that you got stripped from your duties as a knight because you had lost 3 very valuable knights but when you said that they have been killed, the royal family didn't believe you and you needed proof and the best proof is the pendant since it records a Knight's history?" Kris said after finishing on wiping off the blood from his sword.

'Wait, how does this kid know?' No one knows that idea except for the knights so he couldn't help but be weirded out by Kris.

"Where did you get that?" Jared's smiling face had became serious, he was about to hold the handle on his sword but then Kris spoke.

"I think you know them, Zando, Jeremiah and Stan doesn't that ring a bell?" Kris began to wave the two swords at the air as means to provoke.

"Their alive!?" Jared's eyes grew widened, he was scared that they themselves would go and kill him for his betrayal.

"Dont be scared, its just me here, their still in the forest but they did ask me for one favor."

Kris looked at the reflection of the sword.

"And what is it?" He looked at Kris who had looked at the sword causing him to not see his eyes.

'Death Mask.' Kris' eyes glowed in red.

"Your head."

"My head? Khuoook!?" The sword on his right hand quickly swung on his neck.

He couldn't avoid it causing for his head to fell of his body.

YOU HAVE DEALT A LETHAL BLOW

[-46,000]

YOU HAVE KILLED RETIRED KNIGHT, JARED

[+2 STRENGTH]

The reason why Jared got killed with one slash is because he had been weakened after he resigned.

Ring! Ring!

The pendant on Jared began to glow in crimson yellow.

Wwaaaaanngg!! Waaaaannng!!

A loud horn blasted all over the town.

"Ah my ears! What the hell is this?" A ranger asks who was in the market.

The NPCs went running and returned to their houses.

"Why are the NPCs running?" A warrior asks.

"A player has murdered an NPC! The knights will be here soon!"

Ding!

TOWN QUEST!

Capture the unknown player who has killed the retired knight, Jared before the murderer escapes! Rewards will be given if successfully captured.

The murderer will have a red dot above its head. A notification alert will be sent if the player has been killed or captured.

Rewards.

If captured: +1 level, 2 gold and 1 rare item

If killed: 1 gold and 1 rare item

Penalty.

- Morality and safety of Mercado Town will decrease by 30% resulting on towns shortage of quest and monsters will be able to invade the town.

"This reward is amazing! Let's go find this player!" A swordsman said and all of the players where also pumped up by the town quest.

Sshhoounn!!

A red pillar struck down to one of the area of the town.

"There! The criminal is in that place!" An archer shouted. The players began to rush towards that place.

*****

Ding!

YOU HAVE BEEN MARKED AS A MURDERER!

FUGITIVE'S QUEST

Escape Resailess Kingdom and never come back!

Players and Knights will try and capture you so you must quickly avoid them.

If you are successfully captured, a heavy penalty will be received.

Rewards: -500 reputation in Resailess Kingdom, criminals will acknowledge you and will give quests, you are completely hostile to Resailess Kingdom and if the guards see you, they will not hesitate to seize you.

Penalty: 1 year in prison, every NPC will avoid you, your experience gain will be greatly lessened, all status will decrease by 50% for 2 months after released in prison.

"No wonder this is an A difficulty quest." Kris said to himself. He placed the head of Jared into a sack and tied it in his belt.

This was the difference between monsters and NPCs. When monsters are killed, they turn into dust while if NPCs are killed, their corpse will remain like a real human.

Because of this horrible penalty, players would rarely commit crime or never actually.