After leaving the building, Arthur opened his inventory and pulled out the map Logus gave him. It contained the settlement and a 300-kilometer area around it with all of its details. Logus said that this particular map took decades of exploration and work to perfect and draw in such an accurate state.
However, as Arthur learned, the first floor was way bigger than that and contained far more secrets. Especially as one goes deeper into the north, the maps become less and less accurate as those areas are quite dangerous, and rarely does anyone reach them even for the seasoned warriors.
[Ding!]
[Map detected!]
[Would you like to integrate the map into the profile?]
[Yes.] [No.]
“Hmm, this is new. I didn’t know the paper map could be integrated into my own map. That’s convenient.”
Arthur hadn’t used a single map before except the one given to him in the game so this was quite a useful feature that he just discovered.
Upon tapping on the ‘Yes’ button, his map opened, revealing his current location. However, everything around him was grey and featureless. Slowly, that grey color shifted as more and more details started appearing on the map, expanding quickly as the map zoomed out.
In a matter of seconds, the grey area turned into an extremely detailed map of the first floor and the settlement. Arthur could zoom in and see individual buildings and individual trees and branches. That was how detailed it was. It was simply a work of geographical art.
“The settlement is really small compared to the rest of the map. Even the lake down south looks like it’s ten times bigger than this settlement.”
As he kept scrolling up and down, looking curiously around the map, his finger suddenly stopped when he noticed something weird really far north. The weird detail was a sudden bump in the map, visible even from above.
This elevated area was at the very edge of the map so he couldn’t see beyond it, but Arthur was certain that it stretched farther and farther away, perhaps going higher and higher into the air… In other words.
“A mountain?” Arthur muttered. “Is this the Frozen Peak I keep hearing about?”
Arthur was at first quite curious as to the origin of the name of the first floor of the mountain. However, it didn’t take him long to figure out that ‘Frozen Peak’ was the name of a humungous mountain up north. He had no information about it or how big it was, but he knew it existed and this area of the map only further solidified that this was no simple mountain.
“Interesting… I might need to move up north in the future to see what the fuss is all about.” Closing the map, Arthur had finally set his mind as to what he was supposed to do. Stretching his limbs a few more times to loosen up, he finally started moving again.
He headed toward the settlement gates down south as there were two main entrances, one south and one east. Reaching his destination, he passed through the mercenary patrol with a simple greeting and proof of his legitimacy that garnered him the same shocked looks he had seen several times at this point.
Then, he took a step outside and he found himself in a completely white world of snow. The wind blew through the open fields around him and the blue crystals fell from the sky like pearls, shining brightly in the clouded rays of the sun.
Behind him, the door closed, leaving Arthur alone in this open world. The boy felt a rush of excitement fill his mind as he drew a wide grin.
“Ok, time to work.”
Then, without any hesitation, Arthur channeled his mana before he dashed forward at top speed, leaving behind him a deep trial of snow. His speed wasn’t affected by the thick snow as the boost from his ‘Bearer Of The Broken Oath’ secondary class reduced the penalty of running in snow to a null state so he was as fast as he usually was.
Looking around him, all Arthur could see was stretches and stretches of land that ended in the woods on his left and right.
‘I can’t stop till I reach the la-‘
*Roar*
Before Arthur could even finish that thought, he heard several roars coming from an area nearby. Looking to the side, he noticed a considerably large group of giant deer running around. Their screeches sounded more like that of monsters than normal animals.
Immediately, Arthur stopped as he stared at the target. The monsters saw him too and they all stopped whatever they were doing.
‘Wow, I ran for a few minutes and I already found 10 monsters… If this is the rate of creatures here, I don’t want to even know how much I’m going to do.’ He licked his lips as he pulled his sword out.
As if that was a sign for them, the deer screeched again as they rushed toward Arthur quickly. The latter took that as their approval of this battle and he headed toward them too. Before clashing with them, Arthur summoned Blood Claws, Blood Arrows, and Frost Flame.
Then, he snapped his fingers, sending the blood arrows flying toward his target. The monsters were quite large so he knew they weren’t going to do much damage.
*CLING*
Explore more at empire
Several of the arrows hit the monsters, snapping with ease due to their thick skin. However, that only outraged the deer even more as they quickly surrounded Arthur and attacked him at the same time with their large antlers.
However, Arthur quickly and swiftly dodged the first set of antlers before he grabbed the monster by the head and stabbed it in the eye with his sword. His claws ripped into the monster’s skin with ease, drawing out blood.
*ROAR*
The monster screeched in pain as it tried to shake Arthur off. At the same time, the other deer closed the distance and attacked Arthur.
“No, no… Not good enough.” Arthur smiled as he manifested the Frozen Flame before he dropped it into the ground. The flame exploded, creating a sheet of ice that caught the three deer that attacked him.
Arthur then quickly drew his sword out of the monster’s head before he vanished at horrifying speed. In a split second, he cut a monster’s head with his sword, then stabbed another one in the neck before kicking the last one in the face. and slashing its eyes out with his Blood Claw.
‘Swift Swordmanship is insane! I’m a completely different beast with the sword now! My technique had evolved a lot!’ Arthur grinned widely as he admired the great work he was doing. This was the first time he had tried to use this new main skill he received and the result was simply shocking.
Not only was he faster and more lethal with the sword now, but he felt as if he was actually learning how to be a swordsman instead of the chaotic swinging he heavily relied on before. Arthur wasn’t the same with the sword anymore and the results were quickly showing.
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[You have 4 killed level 22…]
[+2 Health, +2 Mind.]
Arthur ignored all those messages as he quickly dashed to the side, dodging another monster. The rest chased after him, wrecking anything in their path as they tried to catch the boy.
‘This new class is really doing some work! I’m gaining points without trying too hard!’ Arthur thought to himself.
Four kills of lower-level monsters had garnered him 4 extra new points. Usually, he wouldn’t gain that much. But, the 20% bonus was already showing results and it was only going to snowball from there on out.
*BANG*
At that moment, one of the deer smashed its head into the ground, sending a large amount of snow toward Arthur. The latter quickly sidestepped, only to realize that another deer had taken that opportunity and charged at him.
*BANG*
“Ugh!”
‘Ok! I need to focus and stop thinking about pointless stuff!’ Clenching his teeth, Arthur grabbed into the monster’s antlers as he fought to make it stop. His almost 50 points in strength were nothing to scoff at, however, the monster wasn’t weak either.
“Don’t… test… your… LUCK!!” Having no other choice, Arthur shifted his grip on the sword and then stabbed it into the monster’s head. However, the sword could barely break through the skin as Arthur hit a very tough spot.
A few seconds passed with Arthur being dragged through the snow, smashing into the ground several times until eventually, the monster yanked its head, throwing him in the air.
The boy shifted his position mid-air as he grabbed the sword with two hands and aimed at the monster. “Oh, you are in so much trouble right now!”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3