Strings

Leonila Loruk.

A Native Mercenary.

Her true identity was unknown to many, but Zypher knew her from the first time he saw her.

She is one of New Braves who appeared when the 7th Apostle died.

And it was too far away from this timeline.

Right now, she is in front of her four companions.

In truth, the four before him are classmates of her back in her academy days.

The party of her was called Accelerated Dragons.

They were the five top students of the Empire who jumped grades, and graduated inside 3 years of Academy.

From her right, was a lanky guy with glasses, and hair is a bit long and messy. He is the spearman of the group, Gerard Loruk.

The next is a woman with white skin, a baseball cap and two guns in her waist. This is Kard Loruk.

The next is a man with long hair in a bun behind his back, beard and mustache that are not so thick, aloof face and a longsword on his back. This man is Khan Loruk.

And lastly, the magician with glasses and pink hair, with hat, fair skin and freckles on her face: Adelaide Loruk.

"Onee-chan, do you think he will come?" Having his chin on the table, Gerard asked as he looked at the still cleaning the glasses Leonila.

"Don't worry, Gear, I asked Father for an oracle. The message will arrive anytime soon."

After saying that, a shadow appeared behind Leonila. The shadow grew larger and a person came out of it.

"May the Light of Loruk be with you." The shadow said.

"And the darkness will always stay away." Leonila answered as the person from the shadow handed over a letter.

"That is a personal letter from your father, and I have a separate report." The shadow said as he knelt down before Leonila.

"Go on." Leonila said as she opened the envelope with a knife and read the letter inside.

"The Heltern Empire is calling all it's talent for the decennial Heltern Gathering. Prince Ethan, your four siblings, and you are invited. You can bring one more person, so you can have a full party of seven."

"What's the catch?" Leonila asked as she read the contents of the letter.

Ethan Loruk.

He looks like an ambitious arrogant man, hiding a secret in his heart.

"Tell my bastard of a brother that we won't be coming." Leonila said as she burned the letter on the candle.

The sweet scent of the ink used in the paper created an elegant atmosphere, but the scenario happening is saying otherwise.

"May I ask why, Your Highness?"

"Hey messenger, the miss says no, is there any reason that you ask her reasons?" Adelaide asked, with a condescending tone, that irked the messenger.

"I dare not." The messenger, although offended, just chose to bow his head.

"I have a deal to keep, and it may impact him if I leave it." Leonila just said as she burned the letter in the candle.

The scent of the ink being burnt created a sweet air, different from the air in between ghe parties that is bitter.

"Your words will be conveyed." The messenger then again, melded into the shadow, his presence becoming faint.

With a sigh, the silence was broken, as the five was surprised by it.

"Politics isn't an easy thing, Sis Leonie."

Surprise colored the faces of the five, as they did not feel the presence of the said person.

Though newbie, his experience is always a notch higher than the players of today, as he was the brain of a guild, and it almost dominated the game.

"Eavesdropping is never a good thing." Leonila said as she took her coat and went out of the bar table.

"And what? Making myself involved in others' conversation is?" Zypher said as he stood up from the end part of the table.

"Did you hear the phrase 'knock before you enter'?" Leonila said as they were walking on the isle, straight to the door.

"I'll do it next time then." Zypher said, as the four now began to stand up and follow the two.

Adelaide is still skeptical about Zypher, but Leonila decided to help this man, so she have no reason to decline.

As the light of the moons were visible, they looked up to those and saw the beauty of Arkraian night.

In those "moons" were civilizations, known for their ferociousness and other things, but they can't enter the atmosphere of the planet.

They were like hungry wolves, waiting for their prey to fatten up before they lunge themselves into the fray.

But, it was only a lore in the game, but it wasn't even met up until the 20th year of the launch.

One enemy for humanity is too hard, that it made it impossible to follow the lore.

But then, it isn't too hard for a veteran like Zypher to get rid of the enemy. A brain works, and the body works.

"Halt!" A soldier came as they saw the party of six going towards the dungeon.

"We are Orbital Kiss Mercenaries, and we came here as scouts for the dungeon." Leonila said as she walked over.

Trakiz, who was planning, heard it and went out of the tent.

He saw the six people, and was surprised to find that the one he laughed at yesterday is with other five.

"Ha! A newbie mercenary wants to scout? Fine, get yourself beat up, and don't cry to me later." Trakiz shouted as he didn't care what happens.

The people guarding the dungeon all made a way for them, but then, a Skeleton Knight went out of the dungeon suddenly.

As the Skeleton Knight was running towards the six, a spear flew towards it, and impaled it before it went out completely.

After that, a tiny knife pierced it's head, and a rather satisfying explosion happened.

The skeleton died without a fight, and the six arrived at the dungeon gate.

What surprised everyone is that the level 1 Blacksmith killed a skeleton knight with just one knife, or bomb, or whatever it is.

As Leonila walked, Zypher stopped her and jumped towards the front of the gate.

He tapped it twice with his knuckle, and looked at Leonila.

"Knock before we enter."

The party laughed while they entered the dungeon, not knowing that their lives were in danger.

----------

There are three known difficulties in a dungeon: Normal, Hard, and Nightmare.

The Normal Difficulty is almost always cleared when you have sufficient levels.

For example, a dungeon with the requirement level of 15 can be cleared easily of level 15 and higher.

The Hard Difficulty means that even if you are level 15, you have to have at least decent equipment.

Nightmare Difficulty makes everything different. There are only a few Nightmare Difficulty clears, and all of them have high mortality rate.

Because once you die inside a dungeon, you will respawn outside of it.

But then, overpowering a dungeon can make it crumble on it's own, as it is connected to somewhere, and having a large attack to a small dungeon can make the dungeon disappear forever.

So, there is always a cap of 5 levels.

And what makes the game more difficult is that, even with items, power ups, and other things that boosts power, the AI of the dungeon changes.

But, there are exceptions to the rule: Double Dungeon and Dungeon Outbreak.

Double Dungeon means a dungeon inside a dungeon, where a certain Shadow Monarch got its power.

Double dungeon boasts its ability to wipe legions of players, and the second dungeon inside is much harder.

While the Dungeon Outbreak become more difficult as the energy from the host planet and the energy from the Bridging Realm mixes, creating powerful monsters.

The Host Planet is their planrt right now, and the Bridging Realm is where the monsters come from.

Their host planet, is filled with strange mix of energies from other dimensions, and such energies mix with the ones in the dungeons, and so they evolve.

This kind of difficulties require a hundred to a thousand people to clear, but not in this moment.

A Level 1 Balcksmith player, is farming these evolved monsters by just using knives and a slingshot.

Yes, in the surprise of Leonila and co, Zypher is busy clearing up the mobs, but what's more surprising is that his level doesn't go up, even if he is fighting alone.

When they entered, Zypher said that he will scout ahead of them, but in truth, he just wanted to monopolize everything.

Now, he already have so many materials from the skeletons and other undeads.

But, the most surprising is, that he can kill the wraiths, phantoms and ghosts that appear from time to time.

The Dungeon is named as the Wraith Queen's Castle, so it is not surprising, but the slingshot bullet he have makes the wraiths and ghosts run away.

By mixing Sonar Dust, Brittle Gold and Adamantine Shavings, plus a little bit of gunpowder, and making small balls of brittle iron, he creates a hollow iron and puts the things inside.

Then, if he fires the bullets, by just travelling mid air, the small ball creates friction inside, igniting the gunpowder, making the sonar dust create a large impact, paralyzing the enemies, and scrambling the other mixture inside, which is the bane of soul type mobs.

As such, they have already finished the first floor of the said castle.

The Castle has three floors, and the wraith and other soul type monsters appear more in the higher floors.

As such, Zypher did not use all his supplies unless necessary.

And after a few minutes of farming the first floor, he got things he need.

A Soul Weapon. In addition to his Shadow Weapon, and Blood Weapon, combining the three can create a weapon that is only for the player.

Although small weapons work, the power is based on the power of the player.

A notification appeared in his face.

"Not yet, Edith, I need one more thing before I go." Zypher said as he opened his inventory and took out three books he got from the first floor.

First is the Necromancer Skill Book: Summon Undead. This summons an undead and let's the player use them as their companion, but Zypher is not a Necromancer, though he can use it.

Skill books are different from Skill Trees.

Skill Trees are from Legacies, and all of their skills are unique. For example, an Epic Class Lich has Summon Warrior Skeleton, and a Unique Class Necromancer just have Summon Skeleton.

Against a Lich, the Necromancer has fewer power, and although Necromancers can summon more, Liches can control a skeleton and make it his.

The second book is Blood Offering, which makes a mob who you killed tamed by offering your own blood, like a vampire.

And the last one is Shadow Awaken. This makes a shadow of a mob you killed become your follower.

With these three, Zypher wanted to build a formidable force that he can use for other purposes, and so, he learned them all.

After learning the three, something came out of the notifications that surprised Zypher.

It appeared three times, as he got three skill books.

"Create."

After a moment, a shining light came out of Zypher's forehead.

It was a skill book with golden designs and a white color.

A page flew out and a notification appeared in his face.

[Spirit Magic]

A magic created by Spirits, for Spirits to counter the corruption. This is created by the Spirit King of Light, with the Spirit King of Darkness to fight it.

After that, a series of notification appeared in his face, but Leonila appeared beside him, making him surprised.

"What's with the sudden pause?" Kard said as he and the others walked towards the stairway.

But, Zypher has a different smile on his face.

If he got this now, then he can be different from before.