17 - Survival Skills

As they slowly head to the top of the mountain, Magnus went to off track once in a while. He would collect herbs, it was for the Healing Potions. Though Magnus has yet to learn Apothecary Skill, he already learned a Survival Skill - [Collecting] by accident.

As of now, he was still at Novice Level and a few more collecting would soon bring him to Beginner level. Once he reaches to Master Level he would gain a skill called [Delicate Hands], the effect of this skill is 50% more hand speed and hand coordination. As what is that for, it would increase his mastu...erm...collection speed. Even dismantling traps, dismembering corpse(for getting certain items),and even attack speed could be affected by it.

Survival skills could be learn through every ways, if you tried to swim you would learn a skill called [Swimming]. The same for other skills such as [Mining], [Decomposing], [Logging], etc.

As for the purpose of this skills, it simply improves one's efficiency. It could be use for battle and for crafting. For example, if one reach Master Level on [Swimming] one could move freely and faster underwater even without mount. Thus resulting in advantages in battle that involves diving in the water.

Also if one has the skill [Logging], [Mining], or [Collecting] one's efficiency on those crafts would immensely increase. There's also a chance getting two time than usual amount.

This skill is crucial for Lifestyle Classes improvement speed. If they mastered a lot of different Survival Skills their efficiency on levelling up would vastly increase. Making Survival Skills to be must-have skills.

It also a free to learn skill, so everyone, both fighters and crafters could enjoy its benefits. There's also no limits on how many Survival skills you learn. You can even learn all of them.

Magnus' Level is currently at 84% before he reach Beginner Level in [Collecting]. Another 5 hours has passed and Magnus is already at 23% in Beginner Level. As for the herbs he collected, it was now enough to craft at least 2,000+ Small Healing Potions.

In order to craft one he would only need two herbs, namely Red Dragon Leaf and Sunshine Flower. He only need one each to craft a small healing potion, and also a bit of water. His stacks of this items has already reach over 20 stacks and each stack has 128 items. As for his inventory space he already emptied it before they start the journey. Every inventory has only 128 slots.

In that five hours of walk both them avoided battle, only Magnus would sometimes collect some herbs, but this didn't affect their journey a bit. A few more minutes and they would reach the peak of the mountain.

Suddenly, as Magnus was, again, collecting some herbs he sensed danger. Unconsciously docking, he dodge an arrow that was supposed to be impaling his head by now.

He looked around and spotted the archer, no the archers. He avoided their sight, and creep to Moonlight who was resting under a tree.

"Moonlight there's an ambush. A lot of archers are waiting for us in that direction. As for how many are them,its at least dozens." Magnus said in low voice. He hid himself a few meters away from Moonlight and messaged her.

Instead replying with a voice message she typed her reply. The two of them are currently surrounded by archers, and the opponents surely knows their position. She just acted like nothing happened, and no archers are suspecting her now. As for Magnus, dozens of archers are currently trying their best locate him now.

"What do we do?" Moonlight's reply.

"We could face a dozen of them, but I don't think dozens. We'll escape, after my signal run to the trees on your left. On three...1...2...3!" As he count to three Magnus came out from the log where he was hiding and shouted "Morons!"

This immediately startled the Archers, they stared at him and unconsciously fired arrows. No one payed attention to Moonlight's escape, or should I say no one noticed her escape.

As for Magnus he already dove back in the log, he then tossed a grass dummy he made beforehand. It immediately drew everyone's aggro and shoot at it, while Magnus crawl to his escape following the direction Moonlight headed.

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Every archers was tricked, it was very humiliating. They couldn't even kill two targets even 100 or so of em' teamed up. Luckily one them saw the silhouette of the sword manage to tail them.

This annoying sword can't be stored in Magnus' inventory and only floated behind him like a pet. It was as if protecting him, which isn't true at all. It only said that this item would not drop, but fortunately its still tradable. He tried to wield it once, but the results aren't satisfying at all. It would damage him every once in a while.

Thanks to this sword, the opponents managed to follow them. But, now they had the terrain advantage. Trees could hide their shadows, though only Moonlight could fight back occasionally Magnus still has different ways of dealing to his pursuers.

As Magnus and Moonlight ran, Moonlight would occasionally fire an arrow while Magnus would attract monsters.

This actions of his made an illusion of monsters pursuing him. Thus making the archers feel ecstatic. As the run took 10 minutes of their time, Magnus already has several high level monster pursuing him. Luckily Magnus' AGI has reach 400 after using all the additional attribute points in one go. No monster could catch up to him, much more the archers.

Moonlight's speed is also great, she also has this skill that could double her movement speed for ten seconds. She didn't use it because she's worried that if she were to use it she would leave Magnus in dust, making him the only target of the archers. She asked why Magnus attracted a lot of monsters, which Magnus obviously explained to her.

As she heard the plan her Affinity to Magnus has increased, not the in-game one, the real one. She then lowered her speed matched Magnus'.

A few minutes more and the archers managed to catch up, in front of them are dozen of Level 60+ monster, and in front of the monsters are Magnus and Moonlight. They enthusiastically ran faster, using skills that could boost their movement speed while shooting a few arrows.

But a sudden unfortunate event happened. Magnus and Moonlight suddenly ran at their best speed leaving everyone behind, this made the monster lose their aggro and transfer it to the nearest player. Which 'coincidentally' the archers, they immediately stopped running and started to fight this monsters.

Unfortunately for them, the average level of this group of archers are only at 39 while the hight is Level 43. Though they won in number, they lose at damage. They're wiped out in just a couple of seconds.

Magnus and Moonlight on the other hand are already making their way at a carefree pace down the mountain. After running for an whole hour they achieved an achievement called 'Marathon Runner' which adds 20 points to their AGI.

Magnus' plan was simple, once he drew enough monsters the two of them would slow down. This will made an illusion of fatigue, making the pursuers enthusiastic and use all their movement speed skills.

But as soon as they reach a certain distance to the monster, Magnus and Moonlight would sprint till' they're out of breath, breaking the monsters aggro. It would then be the graveyard of the archers. A hundred or so players died just like that.

This brilliant idea of his made the lass like this side of him, the serious side. Thus she said with a blush and thumbs up, "That's cool!"

"Nah, its nothing." Magnus humbly accepted the compliment.

Their journey is now much peaceful and faster. A while back, Moonlight dropped her speed and match Magnus'. But, now thanks to the additional attribute points Magnus is now much faster than Moonlight. She could now unleash her true speed and Magnus would match hers, thus their journey down the mountain only took an hour. They could already the Arena of Legends, it was a huge coliseum made of pure white rock. A flag with the insignia of the eastern continents flaps as wind rises.

And ahead was a small village, called Viscor Village. The two entered the village and went to an inn to eat.

...

In the edges of Arena of Legends, Mad Man is greatly enraged. Hearing why a hundred elite Archers from their guild died in such way, he couldn't help but get red as smoke seems to exit his ears. He shouted on their Guild Channel, scolding not just the archers but everyone "Idiots! You d*mned morons! Two people! Two f*cking people!? Why couldn't you take care of them!? Head to City immediately, I want all of you here within 15 minutes!"

Since the plan of letting no one near the area already failed, then he would use thousands of players to outnumber their enemies both in terms of fighting and searching power. They finally activated their only brain cell.

Since the Arena of Legends is only 10 minutes away from their home city, gathering there would be ease.

How about the other players in that City, why don't they head to the Arena of Legends since its close? you may asked. Reason is simple, majority of players in that City are members of the Divine Hand guild while the remaining players are forcefully shooed away.

However, is gathering in the Arena of Legends help them in finding the clue for the Dungeon? Hmmm, who know?

...

Magnus and Moonlight were silently eating in the inn, no words from both them has been spoken. Reasons, Moonlight is too shy to initiate a conversation while Magnus has nothing to say. Thus they just enjoyed their meal silently.

A while after eating as they were about to pay their food, a man approached the two of em'. He seems to be a beggar. He has a long beard, a beer belly, and friendly face. He said with a smile "My friend, where did you get this sword of yours?" as he pointed at the floating sword near Magnus.

Magnus was quite shocked, then he answered with a friendly tone "Uncle[1], a friend gave me this sword."

Old guy was intrigued, he asked "May I know who's this friend of yours?"

"His name is Barthus, an Orc, he said that it was given to him by his mentor." Magnus replied calmly, Moonlight on the other hand just watched.

'I see, so that kid gave it to one of his student.' he mumbled. "Have you earned its trust?"

"Yes, but I still can't use it."

The old guy was flabbergasted, he himself once tried to wield this sword. He was the first wielder[2] of this sword, but he failed to tame it and only bring harm to him. Thus he decided to gift it to his best student, but it seems like his student also failed to tame it and gifted it randomly to a student. And now this guy in front of him, manage to tame it?

The notification sounded in a way only Magnus could hear. The Affinity went to Respect in an instant. But what shocked him the most was that this guy in front of him was a Blademaster. Another wandering Legendary Mentor, the same as Victor the Fisherman.

"I lived for over thousands of years, but no one except God of Combat Himself, has ever earned Retribution's trust. None under Him has earned its trust, not even me who's a God Servant. As for the reason why you couldn't wield it is simple, your soul isn't one as the blade. In order to properly wield a blade you must know why it is crafted first. As you're the only one who managed to earn Retribution's trust, I would like to offer you the way of the Blade." he said with slight bow.

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[1 - Uncle, In our country, Philippines, we call elderly Uncle/Auntie even if they're not our relative.]

[2 - Wielder, he's the first human to ever wield the sword.]