Jaeger looked silently at the group of players in front of them. All Death Blade members had gathered in front of the former Village Chief’s house.
Jock and others returned with defeated expressions a few minutes ago.
“Are you certain it was the same person?” Jaeger asked with a stoic tone.
“Y-yes, sir!” Jock replied.
“So, he is obviously targeting us.” Jaeger said and grabbed the one-handed axe. He traced his finger against its sharp blade. “This was a targeted assault.”
“W-what should we do? Go after him with everyone?” Jock asked and cracked his knuckles.
He already felt excited about the idea of chasing after that bastard who killed them. He was trembling in excitement.
“Obviously not.” Jaeger looked at his second-in-command like he was a fool. “He wants the farm; let him keep it. We have much more to lose than him.
“If we kill him once, that’s it; he doesn’t lose much except items and gets his experience points halved. We, on the other hand, can lose everything we have worked hard for.”
Jaeger lifted the axe and smashed it into the wooden log. “If we all leave and another group of players comes here, then what?”
Jock turned speechless.
Jaeger looked at every Death Blade member and shouted. “Stop idling around; we have a lot left to do. This incident happened because we are still weak, but this is an important lesson that we can become way stronger!”
Everyone nodded and clenched their fists tightly. They swore to get stronger until they were strong enough to defeat all the enemies. The feeling was strongest with Jock and Miguel. They felt weaker than ever before.
However, they swore to have their revenge one day.
…
Ambrose stepped inside the abandoned house. The windows were shattered, and the walls had paintings of skull-faced blades. It was the insignia of the Death Blade.
“Cute, they did this all for me to make me scared.” Ambrose chuckled and sat on the porch of the house, enjoying the fresh air and scent of nature.
“Interface.” He spoke gently, and the interface appeared in front of him. He had twenty stat points to spend.
‘I have five skill scrolls. I should try creating more skills soon, but I have no time for that now. I should increase my intelligence, just in case. But I am about to fight with the Death Blade.
‘Am I strong enough to beat them? I doubt they sent their strongest members after me. They have a crazy advantage in numbers.’
Ambrose opened his inventory as well and took out one of the skill scrolls. “What kind of skill should I create? What could help me fight against many people at the same time? Kill is way too risky skill.
“I can’t waste too much time thinking about the skill. I have to get done with this before it gets too late. I will be busy tomorrow.”
He glanced at the interface and started assigning the stats. He put it all on intelligence, hoping it would help him create skills quicker.
***
[Name: Ambrose]
[Level: 32]
[Class: Suicide Swordsman]
[Title: ]
[XP: 700/2150]
[HP: 285/285]
[SP: 0]
[Silver: 12,050]
[STR: 100]
[CHA: 40]
[INT: 70]
[LUC: 20]
[AGI: 20]
[VIT: 20]
[DEX: 50]
[STA: 40]
***
“Come on, skill!” Ambrose looked at the skill scroll and creased his brows. He looked very concentrated while staring at the scroll, as if he were trying to drill a hole through it with his stare.
‘What kind of skill should I need?’ Ambrose pinched his glabella. He turned silent, as if the whole world around him had stopped moving.
On a nearby branch, the wings of the butterflies stopped moving.
Their colorful bodies were glowing, and they were looking at Ambrose with their big eyes.
‘Hmm?’ Ambrose opened his eyes, as he couldn’t hear the chirping of birds anymore.
He looked amazed at the sight that was happening in front of him.
There was a small leaf falling from the tree, but it looked like it was frozen in time.
‘What is this?’ He tried to stand up but also couldn’t move!
Suddenly, a hand popped out of his chest.
The hand looked delicate, and its skin was transparent and the color of azure.
Soon, a whole arm appeared from his chest before an entire person.
The person was floating in the air.
It turned around, and to his surprise, the person looked identical to him but was naked without any clothes on.
The person reached out his hand to Ambrose, and shockingly, his hand also moved and touched the doppleg?nger’s fingertips.
A bright light then followed, forcing Ambrose to shut his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, the figure was gone, and the world was moving again.
The leaf fell to the ground, and the butterflies flew away with the chirping of birds making their return.
“What the hell was that?” He wondered in shock, but then several notifications appeared in front of him.
[You have acquired the Ring of Nature!]
[Ring of Nature: Increasing the Effectiveness of Meditation in Nature by 50%]
[You Have Opened the First Gate!]
[First Gate of the Inner Power: Ability to Summon the Soul That Slumbers in Your Body]
‘Ring of Nature, First Gate of the Inner Power?’ Ambrose shook his head, not understanding what any of that meant.
He swiped his hand, made the notifications disappear, and then checked his inventory.
Not a single new item had appeared in the inventory, but then he took out the brown ring, which he had received from killing Narnia in the abandoned house.
This time, it showed a description.
[Ring of Nature: Increasing the Effectiveness of Meditation in Nature by 50%]
‘This is the Ring of Nature… I accidentally meditated? How can one accidentally meditate?’ Ambrose frowned and looked at the ring. ‘Did this ring make me meditate? I wasn’t even wearing it…’ 𝑜𝒱𝓛xt.𝐂𝔬
Ambrose put the ring slowly on his ring finger and felt it tighten. When he tried removing it, he no longer could. ‘It’s stuck. Great.’
He sarcastically thought and then began thinking about the Inner Power and the First Gate.
‘It said I could summon my soul now, but what good does that do?’ Ambrose shrugged his shoulders and decided to give it a try.
He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began breathing steadily.
“Iiiiiiiiiin… Ooouuuuut.”
The world again froze, and a transparent figure jumped out of his body.
The identical-looking figure looked around with a thoughtful expression.
‘Can you talk?’ Ambrose thought to himself, as he couldn’t speak.
He was trying to communicate with the soul, even though it sounded ridiculous.
‘Yes…’ The figure turned to Ambrose and replied.
Ambrose gulped, as this was absolutely mental.
If he shared this experience on forums, everyone would laugh at him and call him mad!
‘I am your subconsciousness. I can’t really think for myself, and I only say things that you would say in my position.’ The floating figure said.
‘I see.’ Ambrose rubbed his chin and had a crazy idea. He smiled and said in his mind. ‘Can you check the upstairs rooms to see whether they are empty?’
The floating figure didn’t answer back and instead phased through the upstairs wall and, after several seconds, returned with a shake of the head.
‘They are empty…’
‘Excellent!’ Ambrose grinned. ‘You may return.’
The floating figure didn’t answer and instead returned to Ambrose’s body. The world started moving again.
“Great, now I have a way to do surveillance without exposing myself.” Ambrose stood up and looked at the skill scroll in his hand. He tossed it back into his inventory, deciding to try to create a new skill later.
Now, he had more confidence in himself to be able to defeat Death Blade.
“Let’s do this!” Ambrose slapped his cheeks and unsheathed his Black Sword, then began walking away from the abandoned house.
He crossed a tall hill, and on the other side of the valley, he could already see Tonshen Village with its destroyed buildings.