Fate Decided Encounters

Strange Smile's group wasn't incredibly skilled. Eventually they would be overwhelmed with the difference in numbers. Nimin did his utmost to prevent this from happening, his bullets no longer serving their purpose to deal damage. Rather their purpose was now to cancel any attacks the players were doing.

Gunner was a class that didn't need to really worry about resource management. Skills usually had low SP cost and low cooldowns, and there wasn't a need to worry about ammo. Bullets were infinite, you just needed to occasionally reload. It was only in long battles like this that Gunners would find their SP getting low.

Now with a fresh set of players, with their SP full, he could conserve what was left. To his amazement, despite the intense focus he needed to have, he was only feeling a bit fatigued. Sure enough youth was amazing! The amount of energy coursing through his body was incredible! Maybe he could. . . increase the pace?

His fingers began to move quicker as he pressed keys faster. Bullets began to fly at a faster pace, eventually he reached a point where he was able to cancel practically every player. Such a feat wouldn't be possible later, especially with Skills later gaining higher priority, and even Hyper Armor.

"Someone kill that Gunner!", a player had grown too furious.

"We've been trying! That's the whole reason we're here!!", another spat back.

Nimin's eyes began to glow, they were falling apart. The moment your teamwork falters any Pro player would be able to seize that opportunity! Bullets flew an increased pace, further angering the instigators.

Dead Silent seemed to step back and just watch. Currently wearing essentially all black the only visible thing they had was their Photon Katana, and the mask that covered a hooded face. The mask had a projection that hovered an inch away, the picture making a strange pattern. If Dead Silent used a Sticker the projection would temporarily turn into that Sticker before returning to the strange pattern.

The rest of Dead Silent's outfit was black cloak, like some sort of edgy ninja. A hooded tailcoat covered their body, tactical pants and gothic boots continued the overly black style. Adding a pair of fingerless gloves, the whole character screamed eighth grade.

The last player fell while screaming some muffled curses towards Critical Shot. Nimin exhaled and stared upwards. Although he felt his new youth before, this was simply another level! Even now the exhaustion he felt from playing so intently was already beginning to fade.

If it was like this. . . was there anything he couldn't do?

"No! I have to keep myself straight. Although Critical Shot was confident I mustn't let it affect me too!", Nimin slapped his cheeks.

Nimin reloaded his weapons while typing a message.

Critical Shot: Your assistance was timely. We were about to die.

Strange Smile laughed, "I can't believe you held off that many players. I suppose this alleyway helped but. . . it's still quite impressive."

Critical Shot turned towards Dead Silent. Nimin made Critical Shot do a shrugging action as he typed another message.

Critical Shot: Couldn't have done it without you. My thanks.

A person like this shouldn't be let go! Nimin sent a friend request, but watched as it wasn't accepted.

< Dead Silent has left the party. >

A sticker appeared above Dead Silent, then another almost immediately after. One was a Footsoldier staring upwards, the words "Fate Decides" below it. The other was a different class walking away while casually waving behind. The words "Let's meet again.", followed the chibi character's footsteps.

With all of the enemy players dead, the group was put out of combat. Dead Silent pulled out a cube and a projection was printed onto the floor. A hoverboard made of neon light came to view. Dead Silent hopped onto the hoverboard and sped off, not bothering to wait for a response.

Nimin watched as Dead Silent disappeared while murmuring, "Let fate decide if we meet again?"

What an odd person.

Strange Smile spoke once they left, "Level sixty-five? That's shouldn't be possible right?"

Critical Shot: Normally, unless you hunt down Red Zone Elites.

"With the average being fifty-five? Is that person insane?"

Critical Shot: Clearly it's working.

"I guess. . .", Strange Smile pondered the idea before tossing it aside, "So who exactly were these guys?"

Critical Shot: Opportunists.

Critical Shot: They caused trouble at that dungeon and started a brawl. They saw my items and decided to hunt me down instead.

"Ah, item hunters. I suppose new servers are where they're priced highest."

Critical Shot: Should've went for quantity instead of quality.

"Well since you're here, wanna do a few dungeons?"

Critical Shot: Actually I wasn't planning on staying on for long. I just happened to log in during the trouble.

"No problem no problem, glad we could be of assistance at least."

Critical Shot: You all were lifesavers. If you wish I will be on for a while tomorrow if you wish to grind then.

"We shall see!"

Critical Shot: Okay! I'll head off for now.

Nimin logged out and leaned back into his chair. Reflecting on the battle he began to ponder what he could've done differently. The mistakes he made, and the improvements that could be applied. One of the first things that he thought about was the lack of air movement. Other classes usually had a Skill or two that could be used in the air to change directions. One good example was the Phaseblade's Waterfall Descent. With enough practice you could fall at an angle instead of directly down.

Gunners lacked this ability. A huge flaw with the Gunner class was their significant lack of mobility. After all if a class capable of attacking at a range was also capable of escaping close quarter combat easily, that would be a little too strong. Classes usually were designed to fulfill a certain role, and lacked tools to fulfill other roles.

"Well except that one class.", Nimin coughed.

Moving to his document he made a change to one of the weapons he planned to have. Doing a bit of extra research he sighed to himself. Levels was still a huge problem that needed to be rectified. Thinking upon Dead Silent's strangely high level, he murmured an idea, "Red Zone Elite hunting. . ."

Red Zones were dangerous territory. All enemy mobs inside Red Zones dealt increased damage, and had significantly more health. However the most dangerous aspect was that if you died in a Red Zone, you had a much greater chance of dropping any items on you, even if it wasn't by a player. Deaths by Players had an even higher chance of dropping items. In return the rewards for killing mobs in Red Zones was significantly greater.

In fact, a majority of materials came exclusively from Red Zones. Thus Nimin would eventually need to enter a Red Zone, he just hadn't considered doing so this early, especially just for experience.

"I'll sleep on it!"

Nimin shut down his computer and moved to a newly added bed to his apartment. There wasn't anything of note in his room, just bare essentials and very boring to look at. He figured if he had a mere two years to get everything together, then there was no point in making things look nice.

Collapsing onto the bed Nimin closed his eyes and prepared to sleep. Not knowing what was going on in his absence.

Meanwhile, at a bar in Fractured Worlds:

Slam-!

"Damn! I can't believe all of us died!", a player slammed his desk.

"Just who was this guy?"

"I don't know! Those items were unfamiliar, but to think he had such skill too. . . Aghh damn! Pisses me off just thinking about it."

A player seemed to hear the conversation going on and moved towards the bar. Taking a seat next to the aggravated player they asked, "Unfamiliar items?"

"Yeah, a pair of handguns. Black with golden engravings. I couldn't tell what pattern they were in though."

"Oh? Who was this player?"

"Some rando named Critical Shot. We woulda had him if his backup didn't arrive."

"Critical Shot huh, very interesting. Why not open a bounty?"

"And let the world know I got cooked by a single guy? Not a chance?"

"Okay, what about a personal bounty? I'll hunt him down."

"Why would I do that? I just gotta catch him when he's alone."

"You said when backup arrived didn't you? In other words, he 'was' alone."

". . . Who the hell are you?"

"A passerby. So what do you say?"

"Like I'm gonna trust some words of a stranger. Especially one who's been trash talking me this whole time.", the player then stood up, "Matter of fact, why don't I take your items instead?"

"That's not very wise."

"I think it's brilliant! Jump him!"

Various sounds came from the bar, it was so noisy it gathered the attention of a nearby player. Slowly moving towards the bar they were about to peek inside when someone stepped out. One of the player's arms moved like a machine. Several parts clicked together to hide a blade that replaced their arm. Returning to normal the player walked past without speaking.

"A Cybernetic? Moreover that level. . . how are they sixty-three already?"

A Cybernetic, a class designed around altering their bodies. Made of mostly mechanical parts this Cybernetic clearly had a Blade-arm as one of their chosen modifications. The player watched the Cybernetic leave before walking into the bar.

"Woah! There's so many items!"