Testing of Strength

Travis flexed his fingers, he had finished the last bit of quests he wanted to accomplish. His stats reached a new level, twirling his sword he began reading the forums.

The first competition had begun, this would lead to the turning point in his life. Having gathered tons of high quality gear he planned on auctioning them as soon as the competition ended.

However a post drew his attention, there seemed to be a large scale undead event going on at one of the towns. This was extremely odd because he certainly didn't remember any large events taking place during the competition.

Purchasing a teleport scroll he explored Goldlight. Gathering information he realized what had happened, yet this confused him further!

The undead attacking Goldlight didn't appear until far into the future in his timeline. He believed it might be the so called 'butterfly' effect, yet it may also be something else. Travis was unclear on the matter, what he was clear on was the opportunities the event could offer.

Travis didn't care about the contribution points, the rewards wouldn't prove to be of any use to him. It was the players participating that would. This was a grand opportunity to challenge future powerhouse players. All he had to do was find them.

This didn't take very long, Travis only had to search for large player gatherings. Many of the future solo powerhouses wouldn't appear until a certain threshold had been passed. However guild funded players would be easier to find in this environment.

He had found his target, two players stood chatting. These players were part of the Deity Circle, people he wouldn't have dared to offend in the past. They haven't reached the point of strength he was used to, but he wanted to test his strength anyway.

As he walked towards them he flung a dagger towards their direction. He had obtained a few from the cult's treasure room. One of the berserker players, Ox, deflected it with his axe with insane reaction speed.

Travis ignored their shouting, Ox charged towards him with extreme speed. Although to Travis it was only a decent pace so he swung his sword to block the incoming axe. Travis' sword failed to budge as it blocked the axe, raising his hand he used one of his newest skills [Depth's Beam]

[Depth's Beam: Channeling your mana you fire a beam of varying strength. With enough mana this beam can even open the gates to the infinite abyss.

Cost: MP

Special Ability (Charge): The more MP the user channels into the attack, the more damage the beam will do.]

Travis used only a bit of his MP, he didn't know the limit just yet so starting small would be best.

Ox was sent flying back, after a quick chat he began to charge back towards Travis. A few fireballs flew towards him, but it was a small matter to cut down the attacks. Cutting down the final one Ox appeared and slammed his axe towards the ground, several spikes made their way towards Travis. Using [Depth's Beam] he stopped the attack.

Noticing a handful of flame lances heading his way he retreated slightly, the moment they passed he charged towards Ox.

Ox spun his axe moving at great speeds for any player. Yet it wasn't as fast in Travis' eyes. Travis swung his sword and changed the direction of the axe. Grabbing the face of Ox he released a bit of MP into [Depth's Beam].

Ox fell to the ground, Travis knew that he hadn't finished off the berserker but he wanted to check on the mage. The moment Travis' eyes left Ox the berserker sprang up and charged towards him. It only took a small sidestep to dodge.

Ox turned violently and began a flurry of attacks. It was easy to fend off, the attacks seemed a bit off to Travis. Now gaining a further understanding of his strength Travis sent the Berserker flying with a slash. This slash barely cut into Ox meaning the damage wasn't much. Yet the force behind it was greater than Ox could handle.

This was a strange interaction. Damage to other players could vary depending on a few minor changes. If a sword simply scratched a player it would only do a small amount of damage. However if a player with a large gap in strength were to do this, the force behind the attack would still be effective. Low damage for a large knock back, using this was a strategy for players for a while.

Ox was sent gliding across the dirt, Travis then heard the mage say something but his mind only focused on two words. [Napalm Explosion], a high level skill that normally wouldn't be used just yet. Unlike ordinary spells that took a set number of MP, this one took a large percentage of MP. Percent spells were favorable early game, but were eventually forgotten for more useful spells.

A large flaming ball appeared above Travis and began to descend at a rapid pace. Travis quickly fired a [Depth's Beam] to explode it mid air.

To his surprise this failed, sheathing his sword he fired off another. This time attempting to slow if not stop the spell. This also proved ineffective. The flaming ball made contact with his hands and exploded in a brilliant light.

The damage was far less than expected, Travis felt a little embarrassed with his overreaction. Early players wouldn't have high enough stats to do any major damage to him just yet.

This battle provided much needed information for Travis. Taking a quick look at the reactions of his opponents he began to flee. Perhaps a proper term would be, tactical retreat.

There was no need to snag their reputation over this battle. He would need to fight them in the future.

Yet this was exhilarating, he had trumped two previous powerhouses with ease! He wanted to find more, wanted to fight more. His strength would far surpass his previous with ease, he would stand as a feared player of even the best guilds. His life will be in luxury and comfort.

Travis would make sure this comes true.

~ ~ ~

Akiol turned in a completed quest, the party had finished their dungeons and most had logged off. Akiol had nothing to do so he decided to complete some quests.

Nothing extraordinary happened this past few weeks. Besides the parties constant grind for levels it had been rather uneventful. This caused Akiol to become a tad bored, only the leveling maniacs would grind continuously. Akiol only played the game to find his party, now it had become a hobby.

His skills from his previous world would become near useless in this world, he could only prosper in games like these.

Akiol didn't wish to complete any further quests, so he took a stroll outside the city. Perhaps he would encounter some event.

This did not happen, Akiol walked and fought the occasional angry mob for two hours. He had half expected this, hidden quests weren't easy to find.

Following an offbeat path a small village came into sight. Akiol had thought he managed to come across one of the beginner villages. Quickening his pace he made his way to the village.

"Stop right there!" Someone shouted as they jumped out of a nearby bush.

Akiol stopped in his tracks and eyed the person, by the looks of them they were either a player or an exotic NPC. A dagger was pointed towards Akiol as the person began to order, "Drop your gear if you don't wanna lose a few levels."

Akiol replied calmly, "A few levels certainly sounds a lot better than gear."

The individual began to mock, "A feW lEveLs cErtAinLy- you think only a small amount of levels would be lost?! Don't you know this place?"

"No." Akiol replied, he had made the conclusion that this was a player. Meaning there could be more.

"Oh that explains it, well let me enlighten you. This is the cursed town called Gorvon Jiien, any player who dies here is forced to respawn at the place. Along with a double death penalty."

Akiol was surprised, to think there was such a guy who would both attempt to rob and give information. What a pal!

"Now you understand the consequences of you not dropping your gear. I am willingly to let you go for only your equipment, quite a deal if I do say so myself!"

Akiol was further moved, even going as far as to provide a worthwhile deal! This is how robberies should be done.

"Well that's cool and all, but I don't feel like giving you my stuff. I'll just leave." Akiol replied, just because the robbery was nice didn't mean he would go along with it.

"Well you're not going anywhere."

Akiol's eyes narrowed, this was a stereotype line for low level bandits. With such confidence it could only mean-!

Many players jumped out from the surrounding brush. Surrounding Akiol they laughed, mocking him. Filled with confidence, most likely fueled from their numbers and previous successful robberies. Quickly sizing them up Akiol deemed them to not be much of a threat. The way they held their weapons screamed amateur, and their overly cocky nature stemmed from their numbers instead of their capabilities.

Dispelling his sword Akiol held it up in a stance, this wouldn't be much of a challenge.