Soulbound Online
"Ehem. Greetings, Adventurer." Guard captain Markos of Cobblestone town stoically spoke. "Are you here to help our garrison with the pesky slimes?" He questioned, recalling the embarrassing memory of when the slimy bastards had devoured one of his smelly boots.
He had to take the plunge on one foot all the way back to town!
Evan wasn't sure if he wanted to participate in some menial task. Sure, he wanted to explore the vast world of Aerth, but why not gain a few tasty carrots along the way?
"Um, isn't that the townsguard's duty?" Evan inquired.
Markos nodded with chagrin. "Normally that would be the case, good sir. However, with an increasingly larger population on Aerth, monsters and cataclysms, too, have begun spreading throughout her lands.
We, the townsguard, under Lord Brickwell's banner, reward brave adventurers with a Heroic Merit to whomever able to eradicate the slimes infesting the outskirts of Cobblestone. Are you up for the task?"
"Can you tell me more about these Heroic Merits?" Evan requested.
"Ah, you see. The King has declared the nobility the right to offer young adventurers such as yourself Heroic Merits based on your good deeds.
While Aerth coins can buy you potions, weapons, and fancy artifacts, Merits have a more specialized use."
"And what's that?"
"You're asking the wrong person, sadly. I'm but a mere guard captain. However, I've been told that Merits hold great value to patrons chosen by the Seven Guardians."
—
Reward: 1 Heroic Merit
Do you accept? Yes/No>
—
'Well, I'm headed out of town to level up anyway,' Evan thought. 'Killing a few slimes along the way is like killing two birds with one stone.'
—
—
As its name suggested, Cobblestone town was a small town with facilities such as towers and housing mainly built up of cobblestone. Even the roads were paved with cobblestone.
In his inventory, aside from the rewards he received from solving the Nigh Impossible riddle, Evan found five minor healing potions, each able to heal up to 10 HP when drank.
There were also 20 Makeshift Grenades and 10 Unstable Mines in his inventory. The name of the latter made Evan reconsider his class choices.
He stopped at a crowded marketplace where other human players were busy with their agendas. Some were trying to form parties, while others were looking through the NPCs' wares.
Evan then swapped out his beginner clothing and beginner weapon with the items he had painstakingly earned from Raphael's riddle, namely the placeholder items.
Each placeholder item could be magically traded for an item of its type. In Evan's case, he could trade his weapon placeholder for something simple like a longsword that suited the Warrior class.
Instead, for his Unique weapon placeholder, he chose the standard weapon for his class specialization route, a Ricochet-type weapon, since his chosen proficiencies could display efficiency that way.
—
Experience: 0/200
Type: Ricochet weapon
– A well-crafted boomerang made by a skilled blacksmith apprentice. After adding an unknown ingredient by accident, the weapon has been blessed with growth potential.
Attack power (+5) at player level (1). Can ricochet up to (2) times after hitting its first intended target.>
—
Even though it was a Unique weapon with growth potential, the attack power wasn't that much better than his starting weapon which had +3 attack power at level 1. Though the upgrade from 1 to 2 ricochets was a welcomed sight.
The standard for warriors was that they could wield up to medium-type armors unless they chose additional proficiencies. Evan chose to swap his Epic Armor set placeholder with a medium armor equivalent.
According to Raphael, the 2G growth potential would allow a Unique item to grow into an Epic item, and finally a Legendary item each time the experience threshold was exceeded.
However, the Twig-Leaf Boomerang was only a low-leveled item, ranging from level 1 to 15. So the weapon would no longer be equipable once Evan reached level 16.
Once he reached level 21, the same would apply to his full set of medium-type Epic armor, consisting of five types of armor, covering his head, hands, feet, and upper and lower body.
Evan felt that the metal helmet made him look like an absolute moron, so he decided to make it invisible through the system settings, while still offering the defense benefits it provided.
He could do the same for the rest of his gear but that would leave him only wearing a plain shirt and trousers, making it look like he didn't know what the heck he was doing. Plus, his Unique weapon and armor set gave off slight auras, so it wasn't that bad-looking.
The brigandine style armor, a mix of studded leather, insulated with a comfortable cloth, and metal plates covering vulnerable areas, offered a good combination of maneuverability and protection.
His gear even presented him with many stares of envy or praise among the players in the marketplace. Oblivious to the fact, some stares even came with malicious intentions.
Most of the players knew by looking at their own gear that Evan's stuff was at least one rank above theirs.
Once Evan passed the town's cobblestone gates, looming at least three meters above the ground, he slowly marched toward the nearest forest clearing where he saw merchants and travelers coming in and out.
At the edge of the clearing, players of all classes were busy getting rid of slimes threatening to move closer to Cobblestone town.
The problem was that for each slime present, there were at least two players. The spawn rate wasn't particularly fast either. In every cardinal direction, Evan witnessed players bickering with each other.
"Hey! That was my slime! "
"Get your own spot!"
"Oh yeah, make me!"
"I don't see your name marked anywhere."
It soon got even worse when parties got into quarrels with other parties. A mage class player had lost his temper and fired a spell at an opposing ranger, turning the spellcaster's player name red.
Everyone from the opposing party grinned at the mage's foolish actions. Even the ranger that got struck, but survived with half his HP intact, couldn't help but smirk wickedly.
Four players soon ganged up on the single red player and turned him into a streak of light, traveling upwards, before vanishing in the skies.
"Hah! What a fucking noob!"
"So stupid, hahaha! Why would he attack first, laughing my ass off!"
"Get this asshole's drops! Dips on his weapon. It'll fetch a nice price."
Since Evan hadn't turned 18 yet, some of the words were omitted from his hearing by the system, but he had a general idea of what had been pointed out.
Needless to say, the situation didn't get any better after the mage died. His party members hadn't joined the fight to help. Otherwise, their names would have turned red as well!
Stalemates all over the forest outlines had turned slime-killing into a bickering festival.
"What a joke," Evan openly sighed. "I'll have better luck deeper into the forest."
As Evan traversed further into the forest, fewer and fewer players were seen. Soon, other monsters also started popping up. Most noticeably, a sounder of hogs were chewing on random plants nearby.
—
Level: 2
HP: 30/30>
—
Evan evaluated the situation. 'I have no idea how this will work out, but I'm still level 1, so it doesn't really matter. And my name isn't red, so I don't have to worry about dropping items.'
Moments later, while sneaking closer to the hogs, Evan swung his boomerang, first hitting its initial target, before it bounced off, hitting another boar, then another, and flew back into his grasp again.
Three separate system messages floated above each stricken Swiney Hog.
[-7 HP]
[-5 HP]
[-3 HP]
He threw his boomerang a second time.
[-7 HP]
[Critical! -12 HP]
[-3 HP]
Then a third time.
[-7 HP]
[-5 HP]
[Dodged!]
Unfortunately, by now the hogs were aware of the immediate threat and started charging toward Evan in unison. Fortunately, Evan was prepared.
While catching his returning boomerang with his right hand, he threw a Makeshift Grenade with his left hand.
A small explosion caught two of the leading hogs.
[-14 HP]
[-12 HP]
The boomerang again flew out, this time killing the already heavily wounded hogs that were leading the charge.
[+4 EXP]
[+4 EXP]
Yet, another four hogs were still coming at him at full speed. In a matter of a few seconds, they would stomp him down like mashed potatoes.
Evan threw out his boomerang a fourth time and immediately began taking steps backward.
The boomerang went wide, missing its mark but nonetheless started flying toward its owner yet again. After catching his boomerang, he quickly dove behind a fallen tree.
BOOM!
[+4 EXP]
[+4 EXP]
[+4 EXP]
—
—
[+4 EXP]
The last boomerang throw had altered a flanking hog's course back to its initial path. This had essentially grouped them back in a tight formation, which literally and figuratively increased the impact of the Unstable Mine placed by Evan moments ago.
"Dang. That was pretty sick." Evan said while brushing off leaves and chaff from his messed-up hair.