Second World

”Okay, Iʼm heading out. By the way, this is Domon, a martial arts instructor… this is John, an annoying dude,” Jack introduced Domon who stood behind him to John. Domon only nodded silently at John, to which John returned in kind.

”Letʼs go,” Jack said to Domon, but then he stopped when he saw Domon was staying still.

”Iʼm not going,” Domon told Jack.

”Why?” Jack asked.

”You should have known about my belief in martial arts. Using it for self-defense or a duel is all right, but It is not something to be used for war or deliberately attacking other human beings with the intention to kill. Doing those will just corrupt our arts. Martial arts is about the enlightenment of our bodies and minds. Unless absolutely necessary, we should maintain its purity..”

”The people out there wonʼt truly die if you kill them, you know?”

”Itʼs not about the result. Itʼs about the intention. If I said itʼs ok now, what prevents me from doing it again when they will truly die?”

”Where did you pick up this traditionalist geezer?” John asked.

”Hey, show some respect! This traditionalist geezer is my grandfather,” Jack said.

”Really?” Johnʼs eyes were wide with surprise.

”Afei, you go do what you must. I will stay here,” Domon said.

”Afei?” John asked.

”Thatʼs his name, Jack Fei, no?”

”Jack Fei? Hehe, I see,” John grinned.

”Hey, in this world, Iʼm called Storm Wind!” Jack declared.

”Donʼt be absurd, Iʼm not calling you by that ridiculous name,” Domon talked back.

”Thatʼs right, Jack Fei. You should listen to your gramps,” John said with a snicker.

ʼUgh, I can see this guy ridiculing my name for indefinite future already,ʼ Jack lamented, he then said to Domon. ”Fine! In that case, you stay here and protect this place. See that large stele there?”

Jack was pointing at their Guild Core. Domon turned to look at the one Jack was indicating.

”In case our enemies managed to intrude here, please make sure that no one damage that stele. This should be in line with your self-defense belief, right?” Jack asked.

”All right, I can do that,” Domon replied.

”While for this guy,” Jack pointed at John. ”You can let him get smacked one bit or two, but donʼt let him die.”

After leaving his messages, Jack left the hall with Peniel floating beside him.

John turned to Domon and said, ”I apologize for my rudeness before. I see you are also an elite class already, Iʼm impressed. Was the trial difficult?”

”Itʼs easy, nothing to write home about,” Domon answered.

”I can see now where Jackʼs tendency in playing down important matters comes from,” John commented.

Instead of running outside, Jack first went to the room that housed the Power Crystal. He was not that careless as to just barge out there without preparation. He paid contribution points to get the active buff from the crystal. He then ate a Sweet Dumpling and applied Poison Salve on both his Storm Breaker and Whirlwind Falchion.

While he was eating the dumpling, he said to Peniel, ”tell me about the three elite classes I will be dealing with at the outside. What inherent skills do they get after becoming elite classes? Also, the first standard skill and the exclusive skill they got for clearing the trial on the first try.”

”I will go with Assassin first then,” Peniel said. ”After becoming an assassin, his or her Critical chance when using short weapons such as daggers or fist weapons will be increased by 10%. They also get dual-wield expertise same as you, so they wonʼt suffer any penalty using their off-hand weapons. Every successful dodge will increase their next damage by 10% and attack speed by 20%, it is not stackable though. An assassin will be able to jump a height of 300% compared to normal.”

”Three times normal?” Jack commented. He only ever saw a native make such a superhuman jump. For players, even with stats as high as him, he could only manage to jump around one meter high only. That meant Red Death could now jump around three meters in height.

Peniel nodded, ”yes. As for skills, if they pass on the first try, they will receive Phase Strike skill. at its first level, it allows the user to teleport directly to the target, dealing 150% physical damage and 20% added critical chance. If they hit the targetʼs back, the hit will be guaranteed to be critical. This skill has a range of 3 meters and cooldown of 2 minutes.”

”For standard skill after becoming an Assassin, they get Poison Mastery. It adds 30% earth damage to each attack and a 10% chance to inflict poison on each strike. This skill is stackable with poison tools, such as your Poison Salve. Its duration is 3 minutes, cooldown at 10 minutes.”

”For Elementalist, their mana pool is increased by 20%. Critical chance of all elemental damages have an added 10%. Any magical weapons or tools that inflict elemental damage is increased further by 10%. An Elementalist receives an innate 10% on all elemental resistances.

”For the exclusive skill on passing the trial on the first try, the reward is Flame Shield spell. It creates a fiery aura with a radius of 1.5 meters around the caster, their defense is increased by 30% and fire resistance by 50%. Anyone other than the caster within the area of effect receives 10% fire damage each second. The duration is 1 minute and cooldown is 5 minutes.”

”Every Elementalist also receives Fireball spell. I guess you are familiar with this spell already. The created fireball deals 350% fire damage and has a 10% chance to inflict Burn. The spell range is 50 meters. Cooldown at 1 minute.”

”As for Berserker, this class increases all damages inflicted by axe-type weapons by 10% and ignores 10% of opponentʼs defense if using axe-type weapons. This class also receives dual-wield expertise. If this classʼ HP dip below 50%, its damage is increased by 2% for each 1% HP below the 50% threshold.

”Exclusive skill for passing berserker trial on the first try is Heavy Cleave. It deals 300% physical damage and reduces target defense by 50% for 10 seconds. Cooldown is 1 minute.”

”This classʼ standard skill is Berserk. Itʼs a buff that increases all physical damage by 30%, attack speed by 100%, movement speed by 50%, and an additional 20HP to body recovery skill during combat. But this skill also decreases the userʼs defense by 30%. The buffʼs duration is 3 minutes. Cooldown is 20 minutes.”

Jack tried to memorize all the info. Of course, he could not remember all the details, but he roughly grasp the skillsʼ essences. He had also completed his preparation by then.

He stored the Whirlwind Falchion and equipped his Rapid Dazing Staff before running towards the headquarterʼs exit.

Outside, the battle continued to rage on. Because of the terrain, there were several chokepoints John had used to halt the coalitionʼs advance. Everlasting Heavenly Legendsʼ guild members were spread amongst these chokepoints. With the help of the native soldiers, they barely could hold on.

The coalition was unable to utilize its full forces due to these chokepoints. However, the situation was not looking good for Everlasting Heavenly Legends. The coalition was pushing forward little by little. They could alternate between players who had been wounded with those who still had full health, while the defending players continued to build on fatigue.

”Hold on! Donʼt let any of them through!” Bowler shouted as he healed the players on the front line.

”Easy for you to say! You only stand there casting spells,” The Man complained as his two-handed axe clashed with the heavy mace of Goliath from the Warriors of Solidarity.

”Do you believe me if I say I will stop healing you if you keep on complaining?” Bowler threatened.

”Dude, didnʼt peg you to be such a moody person,” The Man retorted.

”You guys are noisy,” Goliath uttered as he used Power Strike and sent The Man reeling back.

Goliath was about to rush into the gap created from The Manʼs absence before a whistling sound was heard. A speeding arrow that left a shining light on its tail, as if a comet, flew directly at Goliath. Goliath only had the time to lift his mace for a parry when the arrow struck with a loud bang. Despite his large frame, he was still pushed back many steps from the impact.

Some of his underlings went forward to replace Goliath in crossing the gap but a green shadow rushed at them. They received damage when the shadow passed. One of them ignored the damage and continued to run forward, only to feel biting pain on his neck. A large green fur wolf with silver lines was clamping on his neck. It caused critical damage. The others who wanted to come to help were bombarded by successive arrow shots.

The one who had made the shot was Fierce Flame. The green wolf was her Savage Wind Wolf. The shot she had used to beat Goliath back was Power Shot, the standard skill he received after becoming Elite Marksman. It caused high damage in addition to strong pushback force, similar to Fighterʼs Power Strike. The skill also ignored defense by 30%.

Flameʼs arrow and Savage Wind Wolf had managed to buy time for one of the squire soldiers to cover the open gap. These trained soldiers had been the reason they had managed to hold down such large forces all this time. If it was only the players, they would have been run over a long time ago. However, many of the trained soldiers had also died due to the repeated usage of high-level spells from the enemyʼs magic scrolls.

The Man soon returned to defend his previous post.

As the battle raged on, Bowler received a message from John. ”Say what?” He asked with a surprised tone. ”You want us to let them through?”

😉