Chapter 1
Level 1
-:-
"Well… Shit" -?-
These were the first words that escaped from Vacio's lips as he stood in the middle of a valley covered in light mist.
He was confused….
No… confusion would be an insult to the chaos that was happening within his mind
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" –Vacio-
He was pretty damn sure he wasn't in a valley a few seconds earlier. If he could recall correctly, he was in the underground "Midgard City" where all newly created Human players start out.
Vacio was once an avid player of Yggdrasil but real life circumstances forced him to reluctantly quit the game. Seeing how he was never going to get an opportunity to play the game again, he decided to sell his fairly high spec character for a decent sum of money.
All those years spent on Yggdrasil went down the drain.
He cried a fair bit after that.
One does not simply sink thousands of hours into a game and not develop a strong attachment to it.
However, 6 months later, he received news that Yggdrasil would be ending its service.
Due to the difficulty of getting internet service in his current location, he needed 3 days before he could log in to Yggdrasil one last time. He able to log in one hour prior to the server shutdown.
He spent the last hour walking around the Shadow City while reminiscing the good old days. He tried PMing his old comrades, but sadly no one was playing anymore. It was understandable considering that everyone had more important priorities in life.
Even Vacio had more important things than wasting one hour within Yggdrasil. Due to his last minute schedule change, he was forced to ditch work in order to say farewell to his beloved Yggdrasil.
He was pretty sure his boss will bitch slap him the next time they meet, but he wasn't going to miss out on sending off the game that has been part of his life for so many years.
Since he already sold his original account, he created a new one for the sole purpose of reminiscing the past.
And now, he was in current predicament.
No matter how much he tried to search his memories, he didn't remember logging out, thus it was safe to assume that he was still in the game. However, this theory was quickly disproven because he could not access any of the menus that were normally within the game.
Not only that, he could smell the grass covered in the early morning dew. He could feel the cool gentle wind brush against his skin. He picked some grass and ate it... and it actually tastes like dirt!
No matter how advanced computer technology has become, it was still impossible for virtual reality to completely replicate the five senses. The hardware required to emulate the senses perfectly would probably take up a space equal to an entire building. Even if the technology does exist, strict government laws unilaterally banned such things from ever hitting cyberspace.
This was in order to avoid a "Sword Art Online" incident. No company was exempted from this rule. It goes without saying that Yggdrasil was also forced to follow these guidelines.
For this reason, Vacio completely ruled out the possibility that he was in the rumored Yggdrasil 2. If he was, his senses wouldn't be as realistic as he was experiencing right now.
"I was transported into a fantasy world? Impossible…" –Vacio-
However, there was one irrefutable proof that he was indeed in a fantasy world…. And that was his body
The PC Vacio, similar to his original PC, was of the Human race. The PC he created was a slightly altered version of one of the premade templates. The template was that of an old man with dark gray crew cut hair, light brown skin and a muscular build was the original template. He added some bits and pieces but the general look didn't change.
Aside from the muscular build and hip hairstyle, the template was a fairly good representation of Vacio.
However, his current body didn't reflect the character he created a few minutes ago. His general look remained was there, but the size and body structure was that of a 13 year old kid.
Why?
He didn't know.
He really would like to know but the answers were beyond him.
If he knew that this was going to happen to him, he would have made his hair black! Now he was stuck with dark gray hair. A kid with such hair color was weird beyond words.
That mystery can be explored at a later date. He needed to do something before anything.
In order to be absolutely sure that he was indeed in a fantasy world, he decided to take the ultimate test. He approached a fairly big rock that happened to be nearby. He gathered all of his will power, and with the aim of a sniper, he smashed his toe into the rock.
"GODF*CKINGDAMNF*CKINGJAUNCLAUDVANF*CKINGDAMN! COCKF*CKINGMOTHERF*CKINGASSF*CK!" –Vacio-
Pain was one of the senses that were completely removed from modern day DMMORPGs. Quite simply, no sane gamer would play a game that would cause them physical agony. It was bad for business and it was potentially fatal.
Imagine the pain of having a sword driven into your gut. Some people would die simply from experiencing the pain alone.
While Vacio didn't really need to subject his poor toe to such pains, it was necessary that he experienced enough agony to completely remove the theory that he was still within a DMMORPG.
Pain is bad for business. All DMMORPGs are businesses. If a certain mechanism hinders them from earning money, it would be replaced or removed ASAP.
He rolled around for a few seconds while cursing every god he could think of for his idiotic actions.
Eventually he calmed down somewhat and began analyzing his situation.
First and foremost, he unintentionally shot himself in the leg.
If his body was an equivalent of the character he created a few minutes ago, that meant he had no armor, no money, no items, no level and no advantage.
If this was an RPG world, he has successfully royally screwed himself months ago.
No one could have possibly predicted being dragged into a fantasy world after their favorite game goes offline permanently.
If he knew this was going to happen, he would have never sold his old account.
"*sigh* …. No use crying over spilled milk. My first priority is to stay alive… man... It's been more than 4 decades since I last flexed my boyscout muscles. I hope I'm not too rusty. " -Vacio-
For everyone's info, Vacio was probably one of the oldest players in Yggdrasil. At the moment, he was already a few years above the retirement age and was still very much active in the gaming industry until his job suddenly went into overdrive.
Sounds unbelievable?
Not really.
If a child grew up in a home with at least 1 parent that was a video game enthusiast, it wouldn't be surprising if the child would follow the parent's footsteps.
Vacio was such a person.
He did stop playing video games after getting married and having a child, but he went back after a painful divorce and nearly everything he owned taken away from him by his whore-of-a-wife.
Ex-wife left him for a younger, more attractive man.
Well, Vacio didn't age gracefully, so he kind of understood Ex-wife's motivation. He would even part with her in peaceful terms if she didn't go for the money grab with the divorce. While he didn't really suffer that much and simply returned to his minimalistic lifestyle during his early years, the very idea that his years of savings evaporated in an instant was a low blow.
While Vacio was pissed off and wanted to slowly feed Ex-wife into a grinder, he was the winner in the end.
Ex-wife's rampant sexual escapades eventually led to one of the most dreaded disease known to man: AIDS
Even if she was drop dead gorgeous, very few came to her rescue when they discovered she had AIDS. While her parents did help a little, they were simply did not have the financial resources to shell out.
Vacio was a pilot for a commercial airline. Even if ex-wife took a large chunk of his bank account, he was able to earn back some of his financial might. It was also the main reason why ex-wife came to him in her darkest hour.
It was gratifying how ex-wife begged for him to help her. Watching her grovel was one of the highlights of Vacio's life.
Did he help her?
Heavens no!
After her legally getting away with robbery? No way in hell!
He gave her a home and money for food, but that was the most she got out of him. While he did love her once upon a time, he viewed her as his most hated enemy.
At her death bed, Vacio was the only one there. They didn't even talk. Vacio was only there to watch her die.
When she asked for forgiveness, he replied "Go to Hell"
That was the last time they ever spoke before ex-wife croaked. She was cremated and her remains were sent to her family.
Cruel?
Yes it was.
But after losing nearly everything he worked for just because his ex-wife preferred a more handsome husband, there was no way Vacio would be able to forgive ex-wife.
But then again, that was more than 30 years ago. Ancient history.
The freedom he gained after that was so great that it was shocking.
No wonder people call marriage as a 'ball-n-chain'. Once the shackles came off, the liberation was so good that it was scary.
The only real downside of the whole affair was his relationship with his child. Naturally, the kid hated Vacio's guts for not doing more to save ex-wife. They never spoke to each other since then.
While Vacio loved his child very much, he couldn't help but laugh at the kid's utter lack of life experience. Vacio was sure that the brat would eventually see the light after the years rolled by.
Until then, Vacio worked hard and played even harder. He went back to his computer gaming ways…. And that's how he landed in this particular situation.
Vacio did some stretches and a bit of running at top speed to check his body's condition. True enough, this was clearly not his old 60+ years old body. He didn't feel any of the joint pains and backaches that tormented him for years.
He didn't feel exhausted despite all of the running he did.
Hell, he was pretty sure that a kid his current body's age couldn't run as fast and as long as he just did.
He still had a fair bit of doubts of being transported in a fantasy world because it simply sounded stupid and impossible. However, a body that was clearly not his was making the idiotic theory look like fact.
Either way, survival was top priority.
Like any civilized person, Vacio needed to secure food, water and shelter.
It didn't take him long to find food. He was in a fairly thick forest and only had to walk a few minutes before stumbling on some unfamiliar looking berries of sorts.
He wasn't sure if they were safe just by looking at them. He racked his brain for any info regarding eating unknown food, but sadly, the knowledge has long been forgotten.
With no way of testing the safety level of the berries, Vacio decided that a stable source of food was worth the risk of food poisoning. The berries were available in large quantities, thus he would really love if the berries became part of his food stocks.
He ate a mouthful and moved on. If he was fine after a few hours, then he could live off the berries for a few days. If his experiences stomach aches later on, then he could only blame himself for his stupidity.
Water was surprisingly easy to find as well. Maybe because there was barely any noise in the calm forest, Vacio was able to hear the sound of flowing water. The river was fairly big in size and the current was calm. Perfect for fishing.
The last thing was shelter. Now this was a bit of a pickle.
Caves were out of the question.
While they were ideal shelters for humans, same logic also applied to animals. An empty cave might be a beast's lair with its owner currently out. If the beast returns while a human was sleeping inside, the beast gets a free meal.
Vacio decided the best approach was to make camp on top of a tree.
While the risk of falling a few feet and breaking a couple of bones was present, the height allowed him to stay clear of most animals that could easily maul him to death. He just hoped that the animals in this forest were not capable of climbing trees.
He gathered some branches and fairly strong rope-like vines. He tied the branches and pulled them up a large solid looking tree. He then made a makeshift nest by tying branches and vines together.
The simple nest took him 7 hours of effort but it was all worth it in the end. It was slow and sloppy work, but he was quite proud of it. He was no handyman nor possessed any skill in making things by hand, but the quality of the nest was more than what a complete amateur survivalist could have ever hope to make.
Next thing on the to-do list was making fire.
He gathered some dried branches, tinder and a few rocks. By striking to rocks together to make a spark, he was able to start a fire with a bit of effort.
Being a fan of survival shows paid off in spades. His favorite was Man VS Wild even though he knew quite a bit of it was faked.
Last but not the least, he wanted to eat meat!
Since he wasn't experiencing any bowel pains, he was pretty sure that the berries weren't poisonous. Their large availability ensured that he wouldn't go hungry any time soon.
However, he wants meat!
Why?
Because he is a MAN!
MAN = MEAT!
MEAT = MAN!
Those of the male gender who doesn't it meat are not MEN!
However, he had to be realistic.
For the past few hours, he hasn't met a single beast or monster. He could count this as a blessing since the work on his temporary home went uninterrupted.
However, there was a downside to this peace as well. Due to the lack of any encounters, he wasn't able to gather any info on any of the wildlife.
What if a lowly rabbit was actually strong enough to kick his ass? Not only would it hurt his body, it would also hurt his pride. Can you imagine someone having his ass handed to him by a cute fluffy creature?
Vacio would probably curl up into fetal position and quietly fade from existence.
Pride aside, he was pretty sure that there were countless beasts that he had no knowledge off that could easily tear him to shreds
And so, he decided to try something he has never done before…. Fishing.
He made a makeshift fishing rod with a branch and the thin vine that he used earlier. The hook was a rock that he chipped into shape. It wasn't pretty but it was durable enough
He went back to the river he spotted earlier and chose a spot where there were no signs of animals. He casted a line and after 10 minutes….
"This is hopeless…."
As you'd expect of someone who has never done this activity before, Vacio had no patience on the meditative sport of fishing.
He was fine with making stuff out of raw materials. At the very least, he could slowly see his efforts pay off.
However, the idea of doing nothing except wait for the fishes to bite was torture.
There was the big possibility that he chose a crappy fishing spot. His woeful lack of knowledge in the art of fishing was the prime contributor to this. Never the less, he had no patience in learning through experience.
Fishing was like watching paint dry, except fishing was done in the wild.
And besides, he had no time to waste on fishing. He had more important things to do. For now, he drank from the river in order to quench his thirst.
As he began packing up, he spotted a sight that blew all his 'transported-into-another-world' doubts away.
On the other side of the river was a white horse drinking from the river. It looked like any other horse, except every hair on its body was made of fire. The fire burned fiercely yet it didn't look like the horse was in any sort of pain.
As the horse bent down to take a sip from the river, its fiery red hair touched the water. Steam resulted in the collision between its hair and the water. This was a bit of an annoyance to the stallion since the water evaporated as the he drank.
Suddenly, a large 9 headed hydra popped out of the water and attacked the fiery stallion. It conflict didn't even last a second as the hydra quickly dragged the horse into the water.
"….Holy…."Vacio-
Any desire of taking a bath in the river was quickly flushed down the toilet. While cleanliness was one of Vacio's primary desires, he was not going to risk being hydra food just so he could smell a little better.
As to why the hydra didn't attack Vacio while he was drinking, it was probably because the horse was a more scrumptious meal. Vacio's 13 year old body wasn't even an appetizer.
"*sigh*…. Looks like I really am in a fantasy world…. Damn it"-Vacio-
He made his return to his makeshift nest as quietly and stealthy as possible.
The sudden display of fantasy violence made Vacio a bit jumpy. He wasn't sure what else lurked within the misty forest, and he was sure hell not excited at the prospect of meeting any of them.
He grabbed whatever fruit on the way and quickly made his way back to the nest.
He put out the fire he painstakingly started out of the fear of attracting god knows what monsters were in the forest.
For his peace of mind, he made a weapon. He chipped a rock until it had a sharp edge and tied it to a decently tough branch. The end result was a primitive javelin. He made 5 javelins for good measure.
It wasn't much, but it was definitely better than nothing.
He climbed back up the tree and tried to get some rest. He maintained a constant state of alert while eating his berries.
So far, no fantasy creatures approached his little adobe. Thank god.
As the sun began to set, the prolonged state of paranoia has taxed his mental endurance a fair bit. While he was still terrified of a sudden encounter, he decided to get some shut eye to calm his grating nerves.
As Vacio began his journey to the realm of dreams, a familiar image popped into his mind that blew exhaustion right out of him.
He sat up straight and wondered if that was just an illusion from exhaustion. Once again he relaxed himself and closed his eyes.
On que, the familiar image was right there.
It was Yggdrasil's character status page screen!
Name: Vacio
Alignment: Neutral
Sense of Jutice: 0
Racial Level: None
Job Level: Novice- lvl 1
HP: 3
MP: 3
Phy. Atk: 3
Phy. Def: 3
Agility: 3
Mag Atk: 3
Mag Def: 3
Resist: 3
Special: 3
It was the typical starting stats of the Human Race. It was balanced evenly on all areas with no particular strong point or weakness.
The Novice Class was nothing more than a placeholder class with no skills or abilities. Everyone starts as a Novice before changing to another class after getting enough experience for a level up.
At the moment, Vacio's EXP bar stated that he had enough exp to go up to level 4. Going up 4 levels in one go might look amazing, but that was actually quite slow in Yggdrasil standards.
Leveling Up in Yggdrasil was extremely easy! This was more apparent in the low levels.
A normal player with no experience in Yggdrasil can go straight up to level 15-20 in a single day. An experienced Yggdrasil player can go up to 25-30 without any outside help. Those who had friends that were willing to help them level up could reach 35-40 in a single day.
Now this was assuming that the player didn't perform any exp sacrificing rituals, didn't die (minus 5 levels + item drop) and concentrated on leveling up for at least 8 hours.
The 4 levels Vacio attained in his first day was pitifully slow in comparison.
However, a question popped up in Vacio's mind.
"How did I get 4 levels worth of EXP?" –Vacio-
There are 4 ways to gain EXP in Yggdrasil: Manufacturing, Learning New Lore, Killing Monsters, Quests.
The slowest one was Manufacturing. This included blacksmithing, armorsmithing, enchantment, alchemy, leatherworks, cooking, harvesting herbs, mining, etc. The more complex the item you are creating, the larger the experience gained.
Sadly, Manufacturing was time consuming and resource intensive, thus making it the most cost inneficient method of gaining exp.
Learning New Lore was faster than manufacturing. All the player needed to do was go around and see new sights, encounter new monsters, taste unfamiliar food, talk to new npcs, go through the ever expanding story of Yggdrasil, etc. In short, just go on an adventure!
The EXP gained from Lore Hunting was quite big.
Sadly, once you have attained a specific Lore, you'll never gain EXP from the same Lore ever again. While Learning New Lore was fun, it was also time consuming to traverse the massive Yggdrasil maps.
Killing Monsters has been the bread and butter of all RPGs since the pen and paper days. It goes without saying that Yggdrasil was no exception to this. It gives an immediate gratification of EXP and items to the player, thus making the grind as one of the most popular EXP earning methods.
However, Killing Monsters was still not the fastest and most efficient method for leveling up.
That crown was held by Quests.
If you look at the Quest rewards alone, it wouldn't be surprising of most people would prefer the killing monster method because Quests are time consuming and their rewards are slightly less of what you get if you simply grinded the entire time.
However, Yggdrasil was a game that encouraged people to explore the vastness of the world. Doing Quests was the games incentive to the players.
The main reason why Questing was the fastest leveling up mechanism in Yggdrasil was not because of the EXP reward (which was still fairly big) but because of the things you had to do in order to complete the quest.
More often than not, a single Quest would employ 2 or more of the previously mention leveling methods.
Simple fetch quests would force the player to go to unfamiliar locations, kill monsters, harvest/mine for items and meet new NPCs for the first time.
The more complicated the Quest is, the larger the reward it has in the end.
Quests may not give the instant gratification that Killing Monsters offer, however, the little EXPs and items along the way add up into something much larger than what a regular grind could accomplish.
In Vacio's case, it was probably a combination of the Manufacturing, Lore and Quest.
Since there was no Quest Log, he could only make theories.
He didn't take out any monsters so monster hunting was out of the picture.
The fishing rod, makeshift nest and spears were technically crafting, so that could be it.
Learning New Lore… if he thought about it, he was in a world where he knew nothing about. Pretty much everything in this world was as good as lore to him.
And then there were the Quests.
There was no way he could get 4 levels worth of EXP with only crafting and lore alone. Quests were the only ones that could give him such large EXPs to justify the 4 levels.
Building a home, securing food and making weapons. If he considered those 3 as separate quests, gaining 4 levels was within reason. That's how easy the grind was at low levels in Yggdrasil.
Sadly, this isn't Yggdrasil so he cant be sure.
Never the less, he was surprised and excited for the possibility of leveling up.
If this was a 'game-like world' based on Yggdrasil, then his years' worth of knowledge would serve him well.
Without further ado, he decided to level up. As if reacting to his thoughts, the screen changed into the classes that he can change into. And true to Yggdrasil fashion, there were a dizzying number of them.
Vacio was the type of player that would make multiple PCs in order to experience different playstyles. Naturally, this result in delaying the rise to power of all his PCs. In testament to this, Vacio had 13 PCs with different classes and various experimental builds.
Out of the 13, only 6 were viable in high level gameplay. Out of the 6, only 2 were able to reach the point where they could be called 'Strong'.
Mind you, none of Vacio's PCs could be crowned as the 'strongest' in anything. However, those 2 PCs could perform their assigned role at an expert level.
Vacio wanted to choose a primary class and playstyle that would work well in his current situation. Given that he has no idea what exactly his situation is, he wanted to be versatile enough to be able to function no matter what shit he would eventually land in.
With that in mind, there were 4 classes that fitted the bill.
Bard, Cleric, Druid and Ranger
He decided to remove the Rouge from the list due to its weak survivability. While the Rouge had stealth and many miscellaneous abilities, it was lacking in survivability. It lacked armor at the early levels and the inability to heal itself was a big minus.
Vacio wasn't sure what he was up against in the early levels, thus every bit of survivability was required.
The Druid was out as well. Druids, like any Magic Casters, were only strong when they have MP. The second they lose it, they become over glorified punching bags.
This weakness was not as apparent in high level combat due to the many skills and abilities the Druid can use to compensate. In low levels, however, any Magic Caster immediately runs empty after a few shots.
Magic Caster's overwhelming (and extremely cool) might was not a good tradeoff for early level survivability.
That leaves the Cleric and the Bard.
Sadly, the Cleric was out.
The Cleric was one of the last builds Vacio attempted. The highest level he was able to get his Cleric was at the mid 40s because he started concentrating on his 2 PCs that was able to become strong.
His knowledge of Clerics was severely lacking and he didn't have the confidence to perform a successful experiment in his current predicament.
And all that's left was one of the 2 classes that he had complete confidence in: the Bard.
Out of all the PCs he had created, the most successful were his Bard and his Priest.
His most powerful PC was his Priest that was built on the idea of the 'ideal full support' build. Every class and every item was specially selected to outlast anyone in the healing field. He may not have the strongest burst heal, but his massive mana pool can keep his team alive for a loooooooooooooong time. With many buffs and crowd control skills in the repertoire, he was unofficially one of the top 20 supports in Yggdrasil.
Naturally, his Priest had quite a few weaknesses.
For one, he was extremely fragile. While he had a few 'panic button' skills, it wouldn't take much to beat him into a bloody pulp.
Another one of his many weaknesses was his subpar offense. As you'd expect of a full support character, his DPS was laughable. While his usefulness in a party allowed him to level up at a rapid pace, he had no hope going solo.
With this in mind, Vacio completely removed the Priest from his choices despite his mastery of it.
And besides, Priests were like any other Magic Caster at low levels. Their offense was non-existent once they burned through their MP. For the Priest class that was naturally not offense oriented, this was a fatal weakness.
He could change his build, but once again, he had no confidence in trying an experiment in his current situation.
And that's how he decided on the Bard.
The Bard was his very first PC in Yggdrasil. This meant that his understanding for the class outstripped even that of his Priest. Sadly, since the Bard was his first PC, this was also the time when he had absolutely no idea on builds, min-maxing or how Yggdrasil worked.
The Bard was his experimental hotbed and a pitiful mess of a PC.
However, he accidentally became strong due to a few classes that somehow synergized with each other.
It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Vacio's other builds came from the accidental discoveries made from the Bard. Even his full support Priest came from the Bard.
Vacio did plan to make a proper Bard build in the past, however, his curiosity for other classes got the better of him. Along with IRL situations, the idea of making a proper Bard build got delayed even further.
"I guess there's no time like the present" –Vacio
He took the Bard class and learned a few skills and spells.
In Yggdrasil, any PC with some Magic Caster abilities can learn 3 spells per level. The number of spells could be increased if the player performed an EXP sacrificing ritual. Sadly, that required the player to be at a certain level and have an evil alignment.
He wasn't sure if the alignment system still worked, but if it did, he would definitely go down the evil path. There were just too many benefits of being bad.
The 3 spells he learned were Light Heal, Message and Lesser Strength.
All were fairly weak but that's to be expected from the lowest tier of Bardic Magic.
The following 2 classes where merely stepping stones for more powerful versions of them down the road.
He took up the Fighter class just for the weapon and armor proficiencies. This meant that he was able to wield nearly every weapons and armors except for the class specific ones (grimoire, voodoo dolls, etc)
The other class he took up was the Alchemist. Aside from crafting the all-important healing potions, high level Alchemist also had access to the 'Transmutation' aka 'turning one stuff into something completely different'. This ability was extremely important in the crafting of weapons and armors.
The last class he took up in order to replace his Novice class was another level of his favorite Bard class. He added 3 more spells to his repertoire: Minor Heal, Disorienting Noise and Resistance
He reviewed his stats, skills and magic one last time before making his choices permanent. Satisfied with his current loadout, he decided to get some much needed sleep.
-:-
THE NEXT DAY
'What the-? It's morning already?!' –Vacio-
He was probably that tired. Mental fatigue was just as exhausting as physical fatigue. Fearing for one's life for hours on end can do that to a person.
After making sure that the area was safe, he jumped down his nest and began testing out his new abilities…. Or at least he wanted to make sure that he didn't hallucinate all of it due to paranoia and stress.
Immediately his worries were found unnecessary when one of the Bard's signature skills started working: Bardic Lore.
Information flowed into his mind simply by looking at stuff. The berries he ate earlier were named 'Animals Droppings' because it is exactly what it looks like. Fortunately, Vacio has a fairly strong stomach. Eating things that look like something ejected from someone's backside.
It was like the spell 'Identify' was constantly active.
He took a look at the Javelin he made and was surprised of the description.
Item Name: Javelin made by Vacio
Item Rank: Low
Item Quality: Shit
"WELL IM SORRY FOR MY SHITTY SMITHING SKILLS!" –Vacio-
Well…. at least the item description has a sense of humor.
Another experiment he performed was to make more of javelins. Much to his surprise, thanks to the Alchemist class, the 5 additional javelins he made with the same materials resulted in a much better quality. It actually looked like a professionally made weapon instead of a tree branch with a sharpened rock at the tip.
Not only that, Vacio finished the javelins in 10 minutes unlike the 1 hour+ that he spent on the first set.
How is that possible?
No clue.
His hands just moves at insane speed with insane precision.
Now that's out of the way, Vacio decided to head out and explore his environment. It would be counterproductive if he simply stayed hidden and expect everything would be alright.
However, with no idea where to go or how to even get there, Vacio decided to use video game logic to set his course.
In these types of scenarios, going to an inn or an adventurer's guild would be ideal. That's just how these 'transported into a game-like fantasy world' genres work.
However, his starting spot was anything but safe. The only choice was to go to town.
Where was the nearest town?
Historically, all civilizations start near bodies of water. No one can survive a day without water. This was a fact.
And so, Vacio decided to follow the river that he saw earlier. He wasn't sure if it would actually lead to a town, but it was better than wondering aimlessly.
For the next 2 hours, he stayed near enough the river to keep it in sight, but far enough to avoid any potential violent encounters.
His decision was right on the money because he saw a few monsters beating each other to death near the river. The most shocking was a stag with zebra stripes mauling 3 gorillas with bloody impunity.
Vacio wasn't sure what level they were at, but he was pretty sure a level 4 like him wouldn't even be a warm up.
He stayed in the shadows just to be safe.
Another hour of nerve grinding nature walk passed and he finally saw the first signs of civilization.
It was a simple dirt road, but it was a road never the less.
He was finally making progress.
He followed the road for about 30 minutes before he entered the cruel introduction of this brutal new world.
10 meters from his hiding spot was a damaged carriage with a few bodies of varying age, gender and race littered around it.
Most of the bodies, about 10 of them, belonged to the oh so familiar goblin race.
3 other corpses belonged to what seemed to be humans. 1 male and 2 female. They were beaten and stabbed to death.
Aside from those, there were 5 living goblins that were pinning down a naked female. The goblins were doing what monsters do and violating the lone female.
Vacio was tempted to just simply sneak away and never look back. This may sound heartless but logically speaking, the best course of action was to leave the female to her fate.
Vacio was outnumbered and he wasn't sure if his enemies were at the level that he could handle. If he went in and save the girl, odds are, he was going to be surrounded and beaten to death.
"But then again, this might be the perfect opportunity to test my strength against the creatures of this world… and the goblins looked weak enough… and those dead guys look like they have some decent gear…" –Vacio-
He was going to fight sooner or later. He might as well do it now.
He took one of the crappy javelins he made, aimed at the goblin that was currently enjoying the woman and threw the weapon has hard as his body could muster
The projectile flew beautifully and pierced the goblin right in the head.
This surprised Vacio quite a bit. He has never thrown anything as heavy as a javelin before. Even if he had the opportunity, there was no way he could throw it 10 meters with pinpoint accuracy.
He wasn't sure how that happened, but he didn't have time to figure it out. He needed to attack while he still had the element of surprise.
The goblins was still in a state of shock of their comrade's death when Vacio landed another lethal throw on the goblin that was holding down the female's left arm.
The goblin let go of the female, grabbed their clubs and made a mad dash to Vacio.
Vacio threw another one but the goblins this time were prepared this time around. They dodged his attacks like they were nothing.
"So much for the element of surprise" –Vacio-
Without the initiative, he decided to prepare himself for the inevitable melee.
"Activate Song: Inspire, Resistance "
Activate Song was the Bards signature skill. It gave a certain bonus depending on which song was active. The beauty of it was the fact that it was semi-permanent. The only time it stops giving the buff was when the Bard ends the skill.
Inspire was the Bard's very first song. It gave bonus damage to the player and every ally within the area. The effect gets stronger as the Bard levels up.
It wasn't Vacio's favorite song but this was all he got. Better use it.
Oh, by the way, the second he activated Inspire, some mysterious BGM has been playing. He has no clue where it was coming from. He'll have to investigate that on a later date.
Resistance on the other hand was a 2nd Tier magic that gave Vacio a small boost in his Saves.
For those who don't know what a Save is, it is the chance to avoid (fully or partially) damage and status effects. It works with Physical Def, Magic Def and Resist stats in order to reduce or completely avoid harmful effects to the player.
It doesn't look like much in low levels, but every bit of help was welcome in Vacio's situation.
He waited until most of the goblins entered the range of his spell, then…
"Disorienting Noise!"
A high pitch sound similar to a distortion of an electric guitar was heard.
The nearest goblin, about 2 meters from Vacio, suddenly tripped and was unable to stand. The second goblin, about 5 meters away, began swaying as if it was drunk. The third goblins was 10 meters away thus was not hit by the spell.
Disorienting Noise was a root-type AOE spell. Depending on the distance and the enemy's resistance, it would induce effects ranging extreme drunkenness to being at the level where a person couldn't walk in a straight line. It doesn't do any damage and has a small AOE but it was perfect for emergency crowd control.
Vacio threw a javelin at the second goblin. Since it was too dizzy to defend itself, the spear punched through its heart, effectively killing it.
Vacio grabbed another javelin and stabbed the first goblin right in the head.
Viva La Disablers!
By this time, the third goblin was already right in front of him. It raised its club and swung down with full force.
Vacio repelled it with his javelin. Thanks to the javelin's length, Vacio was able bash the goblin in the face with the butt of the shaft.
As the goblin wobbled, Vacio swung the javelin like a baseball bat into its face. Sadly, the javelin disintegrated on impact. It was one of his crappy works after all. However, the unexpected benefit was the shrapnel that punctured the goblin's face.
While the goblin screamed in agony, Vacio grabbed one of his better javelins and impaled the goblin in the chest. He pushed it into a tree, then took another javelin and stabbed it in the face.
"*sigh*…. Such an intense battle against a bunch of bottom feeders… how far the mighty has fallen…" -Vacio-
Vacio couldn't help but laugh bitterly at his situation. He would be godlike right about now if he still had his old acount.
"Welp…. No use crying over spilled milk" –Vacio-
He collected all the javelins and headed to the female's location.
A quick look and Vacio could tell that the girl wasn't in the best shape. She was in a state of what you'd expect from someone who suffered from rape. Her face got bashed in a fair bit along with many other wounds on various parts of her body. It wasn't a sight anyone would look at willingly.
"Lesser Heal" –Vacio-
The females began revealing her true appearance as her wounds disappeared. Age wise, she was in her mid-teens. Her flawless pearl white skin, lean build, short black hair and deep violet eyes perfectly complemented each other. She was drop dead gorgeous by any standards.
She was also not human.
She looked like one of those demi human races in Yggdrasil named the 'Viera'. Quite simply they are Bunny Girls. Plain and simple.
As Vacio continued to heal her, 2 black fluffy bunny ears sprouted from her head. Looks like the goblins ripped them off while violating her.
This made Vacio regret that he killed the goblins too quickly. Personally, he despised torture of any kind. He considered rape as a form of torture.
However, he wouldn't mind letting out his inner sadist out on those whom he feel that deserves it.
His ex-wife was a prime example of this. Watching her futile struggle to survive was quite satisfying.
The goblins would probably give him the same satisfaction if Vacio was given the opportunity to play with them.
It took a few seconds for Vacio to completely heal the bunny girl.
The naked bunny girl was conscious but remained motionless on the ground. Quite understandable considering what she just went through.
Vacio decided to give her some time to get her act together.
He turned to the other corpses for some much needed gear upgrade.
The man had a bit of blubber in him and he wore some decent silk robes. This was a clear sign that the man has never fought his entire life.
The two females were of the human race and both of them were armed. It looked like they were armed guards hired by the man to guard his cart.
One thing Vacio found perplexing though. Based on the bunny girl, the 3 corpses appearance and their clothing, it seemed that they were Chinese in origin.
Another proof that solidified Vacio's theory that he might be in a Chinese theme world was the weapon he got from one of the ladies.
It was the most overly popularized weapon in Chinese movies. It was called the 'Jian', aka the Chinese Double Edge Straight Sword.
Vacio cringed at the sight of it. He may not have a deep knowledge of weapons, but he found the Jian an extremely flimsy weapon. It looked like it would bend and break if it was forced to block a heavier weapon.
More importantly, didn't appeal to his sense of aesthetics. It was not manly enough!
And besides, Vacio wasn't a sword person to begin with. Swords may be the most versatile melee weapon out there, but there was a good reason why it wasn't the to-go-to weapon at times of war.
And it was not manly enough!
Annoyingly, the other female also used the same weapon.
"Looks like I'm stuck with my handmade spears…. What a pain" –Vacio-
The more frustrating part was their lack of armor.
Now that Vacio thought about it, when did martial artists ever wear armor?
As person who celebrated what it means to be a man, he preferred heavy weapons and armors. The lightweight fighting style of the martial artists did not please his sense of aesthetics.
If he was truly in a Chinese Martial Arts themed world, then he cant expect any heavy armors any time soon. Him taking the alchemist class was the right thing after all.
"I'm going to have to make my own stuff…. Great…Just Great" –Vacio-
After looting, he went to the cart to check what he could salvage.
There were clothes, silk, herbs, food and other materials that could be used for crafting. He dumped it all in his item inventory.
On the subject of Item Inventory, Vacio had to carry all of his javelins on his back because he couldn't access his inventory during combat. There was an item that allows switching of items straight from the inventory during battle, but those were cash items.
Seeing how Vacio had nothing from Yggdrasil, he'll have to make do with what was available at hand. Anything and everything may have some use in the future, thus he took everything from the cart.
And besides, the owners were already in the afterlife. They wont be needing it anytime soon.
After taking everything, Vacio took another look at the bunny girl.
"Still not moving huh…. I guess I have some time then" –Vacio-
He closed his eyes and checked if he had enough EXP for level up.
True enough he had enough for 2 levels.
As expected of the two of the bread and butter of RPGs, the combination of killing monsters and doing quests giving worked best.
Since he was still in an area where many things that could potentially kill him, he decided to take more Bard levels for survival purposes.
Tier 3 Spells:, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Acid Javelin
Tier 4 Spells: Invisibility, Illusion, Force Push
Vacio couldn't help but sigh in relief. Finally, his burst damage got some upgrade with the cheap-to-cast Force Push and the splash damage Acid Javelin.
Mind you, these 2 spells were nothing compared to the assortment a pure mage had, but they help out immensely to support oriented class like the Bard.
After leveling up, he opened his eyes and spotted the bunny girl finally out of her trauma induced trance.
Vacio approached but this caused the bunny girl to shrink back in fright. It was annoying but understandable reaction.
Vacio kept his distance, opened his inventory and threw some clothes he looted from the cart
"I don't mind the eye candy but there are moral codes that we have to follow. Get dressed. We're getting out of here as fast as possible." –Vacio-
He might be a little forceful when speaking to the obviously traumatized bunny girl, but right now, their safety is much more important.
She noticed her appearance and quickly got dressed
"W-who are you?" –Bunny Girl-
The bunny girl acted meekly in front of a child that was obviously younger than her. Honestly it was quite cute.
"Just some random passerby that decided to save you. Naturally I expect compensation." –Vacio-
The bunny girl shrank back.
"I thank you and I would gladly return the favor. However, as you can see, I have nothing of value to offer. I could offer you everything in the cart but it seems that the goblins already looted it all" –Bunny Girl-
It looked like the girl didn't see Vacio loot the cart.
Very good.
He didn't want to debate on the morality of looting from the dead.
"That's fine. I actually just want the directions to the nearest town. Lead me there and consider your debts paid in full" –Vacio-
This was the main reason why he bothered saving the bunny girl.
While he could remain in the wild and make a life for himself, the information he could get about the world from a town was invaluable.
The ideas of being able to sleep peacefully and take a bath without the threat of being eaten were bonuses he desperately needed.
The girl cupped her hands like one of those martial artists in Chinese films.
"I swear I will lead you to Bastion City without a fail, but please help me save my sister! She was taken by the goblins to their nest earlier! I know I'm being unreasonable but please help me save my sister!" –Bunny Girl-
The girl dropped to her knees and begged.
Truth be told, Vacio wanted to reject her. The word 'Nest' meant that he had to go up against the goblins in their home court. That doesn't bode well at all.
However, he wasn't sure if he could find another guide any time soon. Odds are this was the only chance he had.
And the bunny girl was obviously giving him a quest. A fairly big one as a matter of fact. The EXP reward should match the effort, right?
As he weighed the pros and cons, the bunny girl became nervous of his sudden silence.
"Do you know where they took her?"-Vacio-
The bunny girl's face instantly lighted up.
Vacio might sound like a broken record but the girl was absolutely adorable. Give the girl a few years to grow and she'll have legions of men lusting for her.
"Yes! Prior to our departure, we were told to avoid a certain area because of the existence of the goblins. The merchant that hired us didn't listen and decided to take this route because it saves us 5 days of travel. Now look at us…." –Bunny Girl-
The bunny girl was so angry at the fat man that she kicked the corpse in order to vent. She kicked so hard that the fat man's skull deformed from the impact.
"You don't seem too affected with the death of your comrades" –Vacio-
He threw the look at the 2 female corpses. Both were violated like the Bunny Girl but they experienced much less torture. From the looks of it, they were killed quickly, thus their bodies were subjected to less injury.
"Aside from my sister, this was the first time I ever met the others. I don't know them well enough to mourn for their deaths. And besides, those two were weak. They only wanted to get close to the merchant so that they could milk him for money…. Stupid gold digging whores!" –Bunny Girl-
This time, Bunny Girl crushed one of the female head with a fairly brutal stomp.
Vacio could relate very well. Gold diggers were nothing but annoyances.
"Well then, lead the way er…." –Vacio-
"My name is Tu Zi. I am of the War Bunny Race."-Bunny Girl-
Vacio couldn't help but let out a groan.
"So it really is a Chinese themed fantasy world! DAMN IT!" –Vacio-
Aside from the old Jackie Chan movies and the classic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Vacio had next to nothing on Chinese Fantasy.
If its modern Chinese Culture than he has some idea. He did work in the mainland once…. For only 1 month…. Before leaving and swearing that he'll never come back. And he never did! Best decision of his life!
If the world was set in the typical European medieval ages, then he has no problem with that. That's where most of his gamer and inner weeboo knowledge revolved on.
If the world was set in Ancient Japan, he'll get into a fair bit of trouble but he was confident that his limited knowledge would power through. He did worked in Japan for the last 30 years after all.
But in a Chinese Fantasy themed world?
He was screwed. Royally Screwed
"Is there a problem?"-Tu Zi-
Tu Zi was shrank back a bit. She thought that the kid in front of her might have a racial bias to her kind.
Racism was fairly common in this portion of the world. The War Bunnies in particular infamous as one of the most violent of all the races in the country.
She cant really blame her savior for the bad rep that her race has incurred over the centuries.
However, the kid's response was not what she expected.
"Not really. I just realize that I'm not in a place I'm familiar with." –Vacio-
"Eh? You're from the Dragon Empire?" –Tu Zi-
"Yup. My name is Vacio and I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not from here. But enough about that. Let's go save your sister."-Vacio-
Vacio decided to cut the conversation there.
He wanted to avoid answering questions such as 'Where did you come from?' or 'How did you get here?' because he hasn't thought of a convincing lie to use as an answer.
Tu Zi nodded in agreement and led the way.
They scaled a nearby mountain for about 30 minutes until they reached the middle part of it. In small crevasse was the mouth of a decently sized cave. There were about 3 goblins guarding the entrance.
By 'guarding', Vacio meant sleeping on the job. Goblins were not known for their discipline.
"So do you have a plan?" –Vacio-
"Rush in and slaughter them all!" –Tu Zi
The way Tu Zi said it was with full dignity and belief that it was the right course of action.
Vacio thought that she was angry at the goblins for all the crap she suffered, but it seemed that this was not the case. Not a spec of rage was in her eyes. She simply wanted to kill them all.
Despite Tu Zi's perfect feminine beauty, she has the brain of a bull on steroids. Though Vacio attributed this to her race. She did say that she was a WAR Bunny.
"Let's not do that, shall we. Let's try a more tactical approach" –Vacio-
"Ha? Are you scared? And you call yourself a man?" -Tu Zi-
Tu Zi's teasing didn't really affect Vacio.
While he was a bit ticked off about her calling out his bravery as a man, something of which he happened to be proud off, he decided to brush it off.
Name calling decreases in effectivity as one gets older. Since Vacio was at the end of his lifespan, calling him names simply made him look at his opponents as childish
"Don't be stupid. Who knows how many goblins are in that cave. We're not even sure where your sister is. If we do attack, what if the goblins decide to use your sister as a hostage?"-Vacio-
Tu Zi clearly did not think anything through. She bowed her head in shame.
"Then let's hear your genius plan then." –Tu Zi-
"I'll sneak in and try to find your sister. When I find her, I need you to make a distraction to lure out the Goblins from the cave. I'll send you a Message when the time comes. Then I'll carry your sister out. Got that?"-Vacio-
Tu Zi's mouth hit the floor, much to Vacio's confusion.
"You can use 2nd tier Spells, have the ability to fight 5 goblins at once and plan a comprehensive strategy yet you're still below 15 years of age? Are you some son of a great general? Or maybe a peerless genius nurtured by a peerless expert? Can you please tell me what the level of your cultivation is at? Who is your master?" –Tu Zi-
"Da Faq are you talking about woman?" –Vacio-
Great General? Genius? Peerless Expert? Cultivation?
Those weren't words that Vacio was used to hearing. Those were probably some words specific to this particular lands.
Anyways, Vacio decided to sidestep the questions since he couldn't answer them anyway.
"Shut up! Your sister's life is in danger here. That's the only thing that matters right now. Everything else is irrelevant"-Vacio-
Tu Zi's excitement quickly cooled down. She then agreed to Vacio's plan.
Vacio gave Tu Zi the 2 Jians he looted earlier for the eventual battle ahead.
Tu Zi then position herself far enough from the cave to not be spotted by a roaming patrol, but close enough for her hit and run diversion later.
Vacio stealthily approached the cave.
"Invisibility" –Vacio-
His body faded to non-existence. Sadly this did not block out sound, so he still needed to be careful on how he moved.
He quietly walked into the cave and realized that the sneaky approach was the right decision.
The cave was divided into 4 sub caverns.
The largest one was at the very back. It was where all the goblins were concentrated. Probably their sleeping quarters/main hall.
The nearest one to the cave entrance was what seemed to be the place where they store their loot. Naturally, Vacio emptied it all into his inventory.
It was quite the harvest.
Aside from medicinal herbs, metal alloys and the usual useless junk, Vacio was able to get a weapon fit for a MAN!
It was a simple one hand mace made of iron. It may be a Low Rank item, but it was one hell of an upgrade compared to his javelins.
Sadly, still no armor. Damn it.
He moved to the next sub cavern... and he nearly had a heart attack.
It seemed that this was the private room of the boss of this not-so-merry band of monsters. Based on the info his Lore provided, this was a hob goblin. It was slightly large than Vacio's 13 year old body but it was muscular as hell!
Fortunately it was asleep and Vacio preferred it that way.
The last sub cavern was rage inducing to say the least
He did spot his target. Just like her sister, her rabbit was violated and her ears were ripped from her head.
Were War Bunny ears valuable or something?
However, that wasn't why Vacio was pissed off. The main reason was the existence of 3 other females…. And all of them were pregnant.
Clearly they have gone through hell during their captivity here.
Vacio removed his Invisibility and healed Tu Zi's sister. After that he approach the 3 females to check on their condition.
Compared to the War Bunny, the 3 much better off physically. There were no wounds whatsoever. However, he could tell that they have lost the will to live.
"Can you hear me?"-Vacio-
Only their eyes moved. While they no longer had the energy to talk, he could see the sorrow in their eyes.
After a few moments of silence, Vacio asked the ultimate question
"Do you want to die?"-Vacio-
Small streams of tears flowed from the female's eyes. They silently sobbed for a few seconds before giving Vacio a weak nod.
"I'll make this painless….. Lesser Strength"-Vacio-
He casted a buff to increase his strength. He raised his mace and smashed the females head like a tomato. He made sure to aim perfectly and use full strength so that the female could pass on without feeling anything.
Truth be told, he could have saved them, but he was doubtful that they wanted to be saved. Who knows how many times they were forced to give birth to goblins. They were better off dead that forced to endure the psychological trauma
Since his objective has been met, time to evacuate
"Message: Hey Bunny Girl, can you hear me? Start the diversion" –Vacio
"By the Huntress! That startled me! So this is what the Message spell fells like. Ha ha ha! Interesting! For a kid, you sure have a lot of tricks up yourself! Tell me-"-Tu Zi-
"Shut up and get on with the diversion! Your sister is unconscious and there's a lot of goblins in here. I cant sneak out safely while carrying your sister." –Vacio-
"Right right. Sorry about that. Time to dance!" -Tu Zi-
-:-
Tu Zi was hiding in a bush about 20 meters from the cave's entrance.
While she boasted to Vacio a distraction that would get the attention of the entire goblin nest, she was actually a bit scared.
There were a lot of goblins in that nest
The War Bunny culture was centered on the religion/philosophy of "The Wild Hunt". There were annoying traditions and what not that Tu Zi never bothered to care about, but the core philosophy was easy to understand.
The Strong Rules. The Weak Serves.
Quite a few of the people she has met called their tradition as brutal, savage and uncivilized.
Tu Zi felt that most people say that because they were weak. Unable to fend for themselves, thus can only bitch and moan about it.
Tu Zi and the War Bunnies in general were not like that. From their very childhood, they were taught how to destroy their opponents with deadly zeal.
But that doesn't mean War Bunnies charge into the fray like lunatics. Their bodies were not built that way. They were built for speed and agility.
Tu Zi herself was a buy product of this. Despite being only 15 years old, Tu Zi's cultivation was 7th rank of the Acolyte Realm (Note: Level 7). Her talent was excellent and her future was bright.
Her talents were so exceptional that, in the future, the Matriarch considered her as one of the potential successors. The other one being her sister who was more or less equal to Tu Zi in every way.
However, even her talents were inferior to the Hobgoblin inside the cave. Her estimates that it was in the 10th rank of the Acolyte Realm (Note: Level 10). It was only a step below the Advanced Realm, yet its appearance nearly annihilated them earlier.
Sure, it had a lot of weak goblins for back up, but it was smart enough to for tactics that not even the ferocity of Tu Zi and her sister could overcome.
"I hope little Vacio knows what he's doing" –Tu Zi-
Tu Zi felt that Vacio was not simple at all.
A puny 13 year old human killed 5 goblins with shoddy weaponry?
Definitely not normal for a human.
With that in mind, Tu Zi decided to bet on Vacio.
"May the prey be fat and plentiful….. Martial Arts: Pace of the Wind! Evasion!" –Tu Zi-
She charged at the lone guard.
Naturally, War Bunnies were fast runners. With the martial arts Pace of the Wind, Tu Zi's speed was taken up a notch.
By the time the goblin guard noticed her footsteps, Tu Zi already slashed her two swords. Both the goblins legs were lobbed off.
Naturally, the intense pain awakened the goblin.
"AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"-goblin guard-
Its high pitch scream was music to Tu Zi's ear.
"Come on! Scream! Scream for your brothers!"- Tu Zi-
She then spread the goblin's legs and brutally stepped on his nuts.
"HAHAHAHAHA! This is what your inferior race did to me earlier! Break break BREAK!" –Tu Zi-
A few seconds later, the earth shook as the goblin horde exited the cave in order to see what was going on.
Tu Zi stopped tormenting the goblin and launched herself to the first goblin that stepped out of the cave. Her sword stabbed straight into the goblin's skull before it could react. She hacked and slashed her way into the cave.
"WAR BUNNY!" –random goblin-
That single word caused the nest to awaken.
Tu Zi knew that the best way to lure these inferior beings was to use herself as bait.
War Bunnies, like Elves, were known for their exquisite beauty. Even the ugliest of the War Bunnies was above average in Human standards.
She had no idea why they were born beautiful. But this lesson was drilled to each and every one of the War Bunnies since childhood. This was in order to educate them that beauty was one of the many weapons that they could use.
As predicted, the entire goblin nest rushed after her with the intention of violating her.
Tu Zi kept charging into the cave, slaughtering every goblin in her path, until she felt that there were too many for her to fight.
Abusing the small size of the tunnels, Tu Zi slowly traveled back to the entrance while killing any goblin stupid enough to attack her.
However, she quickly ran the second she spotted the Hobgoblin. She was not strong enough to fight the Hobgoblin along with the goblin horde.
Her objective was accomplished as the entire goblin nest chased after her.
"The rest is up to you little Vacio" –Tu Zi-
-:-
Vacio was impressed. He thought Tu Zi was nothing more than a frenzied berserker that thought nothing but killing. He was wrong.
It took a couple of minutes before the nest was completely empty.
"Message: Well done girl. Well Done. Make sure that you don't get caught" –Vacio-
"Who do you think I am?! I could leave these low lives in the dust if I wanted to!" –Tu Zi-
"Good. Let's meet up at the spot we agreed on." –Vacio-
"See ya~!" –Tu Zi-
As per her usual cockiness, the message between Vacio and Tu Zi went dead.
Vacio carried Tu Zi's sister on his shoulder and started his trek to the rally point. Before he exited the cave, he was struck with a sudden bolt of inspiration.
He took out some herbs, a flask of water and some animal skin.
Using a process he had absolutely no idea how he did it, Vacio crafted an alchemic item called a Poison Fog Bomb. He made about 3 pieces in 5 minutes.
How he made those complicated bombs so quickly?
He had absolutely no idea. His hand moved as if he has made it a million times before.
Rather than ponder on something he'll never understand, Vacio decided to act.
He went to the largest sub cavern and observed it a bit. Just as he suspected, the air circulation was poor to say the least.
Good
He hid the bombs in a crevasse on the floor and punctured 1 small hole into each one of them. That allowed the poisonous gas to slowly escape.
He grabbed Sister Bunny Girl and ran as fast as he could.
The Poison Fog Bombs, or at least the stronger version of it, was one of Vacio's signature weapons in Yggdrasil.
It has a large AOE and average DOT but was relatively easy to make.
The Poison Fog Bomb was its weakest form. But in low levels, the bombs would be like insecticide to flies. If the other goblins were as weak as the once he faced earlier, then none of them would survive the night.
"Perfect" –Vacio-
He kept moving for an hour while carrying sister bunny girl. He couldn't help but be impressed of the endurance of his new body. A normal human would have died from exhaustion if forced to do what Vacio has been doing.
Clearly this was the fantasy world.
The rally point they set was a small lake.
It was very easy to get there from the goblin cave if a person traveled a straight line to it.
However, Vacio made Tu Zi travel a route that was dangerous on its own right.
Tu Zi demonstrated multiple times earlier that she could cross a monster infested river by hopping on rocks and floating woods.
It nearly gave Vacio a heart attack.
However, since she could do that, might as well use it to their advantage.
The plan was to lead the goblin horde into the river and let the river monsters reduce their numbers. Tu Zi was then going to make her get away while goblin horde was being eaten.
Simple yet effective.
However, once Vacio reached the rally point, he realized that things never go according to plan.
"Hey little Vacio, I kinda messed up. The Hobgoblin was faster than I thought. ~Sorry about that~" –Tu Zi
Tu Zi rushed towards the small lake with the Hobgoblin hot on his tail.
Vacio placed the unconscious sister bunny girl on a nearby tree then rushed to meet Tu Zi
"Form up! Follow my instructions and we'll get through this!"-Vacio-
"Ha?! I know I am cocky but I am not stupid! That Hobgoblin's cultivation is at the pinnacle of the Acolyte realm! We don't stand a chance!"-Tu Zi-
"Damn Chinese fantasy jargon! What the hell does even cultivation mean?! " –Vacio-
"Watch and be amazed bunny girl! Just follow my lead! Lesser Strength, Shield Wall, Reinforce Armor, Activate Song: Inspire!" –Vacio-
Vacio charged straight into the Hobgoblin as Tu Zi jumped over him.
The hobgoblin was too focused on the bunny girl's immature yet scrumptious ass to notice Vacio.
"Acid Javelin!"-Vacio-
The acid javelin landed on the hobgoblins left thigh.
The hobgoblin screamed in agony as his left leg buckled due to its inability to support his weight.
At this point, Vacio smashed his mace into the Hobgoblin's head with all the force his 13 year old body could muster.
The blow crushed the Hobgoblin's right eye…. And it was not happy.
The hobgoblin went into a frenzy as it swung its club with increasing ferocity.
A flurry hammered Vacio, but not one of them made a decent hit. While each blow was powerful enough to kill a normal human, Vacio was a very experienced defensive fighter.
Any big swings were dodged.
Those that could not be dodged were parried.
Those that could not be parried were blocked.
To the Hobgoblin, Vacio was an extremely thick wall that wont crumble no matter what.
"Bunny girl!" –Vacio-
At Vacio's word, Tu Zi rushed to hit the goblin at the side where it didn't hold a weapon.
The Hobgoblin noticed this and tried to block Tu Zi.
Bad Move
This created an opening for Vacio to exploit.
As the hobgoblin raised his club to block Tu Zi's swords, Vacio hammered its already damaged leg.
The hobgoblin howled in agony as it crumbled to the floor.
Tu Zi abused this opening with a massive flurry of slashes. Large amounts of hobgoblin blood was spilled, yet it was not enough to finish it off.
"Tenacious little bastard aren't you." –Vacio-
Vacio decided to make some distance in order to regroup.
"Force Push!"-Vacio-
The hobgoblin was blown 10 meters back and smashed into a tree.
Vacio observed the hobgoblin. While it did looked like it still had some energy left in it, a little more would most certainly finish it off.
"Time to up the DPS" –Vacio-
"Huh? What does that mean?"- Tu Zi-
"Just keep hitting it until it stops twitching"-Vacio-
"Then allow me to help. That hobgoblin ripped my ears off…. I would desire nothing more than a bit of revenge" -?-
Another person approached the two while the square off against the hobgoblin.
"Sis Tu Mei! Are you alright?"-Tu Zi-
"No problem older sister. I don't know why but all of my wounds seem to have disappeared." –Tu Mei-
The newcomer was sister bunny girl that Vacio carried from the cave. Based on looks alone, Tu Zi and Tu Mei were twins. The only main difference was that Tu Mei's obsidian black hair was at shoulders length compared to Tu Zi's bobcut.
However, their personalities where quite different.
The older Tu Zi was brash, unapologetic and extremely hyper. While the younger Tu Mei was more calm and reserved.
"Oh? Are you sure you can already move Bunny Girl #2? You were in a bad state when I found you"-Vacio-
"War Bunnies are built of sturdy stuff. A little rape and some torture only infuriate us more. May I ask for some weapons…. Er…." –Tu Mei
"His name is Vacio. He's one hell of a kid sis! He can use up to tier 3 spells and he can go head to head with that hobgoblin!" –Tu Zi
"Oh my! Such amazing talent for such a young age! To think the humans could give birth to such a genius. I am impressed"- Tu Mei-
Again with the genius crap.
Vacio was no genius. He was just an average old man that loved playing computer games a little too much. Being called a genius made his skin crawl.
Odds are, this 'Genius' tittle that has been thrown around probably had a different meaning or had different usage from the term Vacio knew about.
Having a different set of common sense from the world around him was really inconvenient.
Vacio decided to gather some info later. They have a hobgoblin that needed killing.
Vacio passed 2 of the better made javelins to Tu Mei.
"I hope you don't mind using those. That's the only type of weapon I have left"-Vacio-
"Of course! Spears and polearms happen to by my area of expertise"-Tu Mei
"Good. Then let's finish this one off. I'll keep it off you, so attack without holding back!"-Vacio-
Vacio charged forward.
Tu Mei actually wanted to stop Vacio. He was the youngest one out of the 3 of them. He was also a human, one of the weakest of the intelligent races.
However, she changed her mind when Tu Zi obediently followed Vacio's lead.
In terms of combat, Tu Zi had much better instincts than Tu Mei. If her older sister instinctively followed Vacio's commands, then the little human must have already gained her eccentric's older sister's approval as a warrior.
In combat, War Bunnies only follow the will of those who were stronger, smarter or better. They would never follow kings, queens or nobles that had no ability to back their prestige.
Since Tu Zi already recognized Vacio as her better, Tu Mei decided to believe in her older sister's judgement.
The three of them rushed towards the hobgoblin.
With a fairly damaged leg, the hobgoblin's mobility was as good as gone. It could only wait for the 3 to beat it to death. And naturally, it wasn't going to go down without a fight. It struck at the one nearest to it, namely Vacio.
The hobgoblin once again realized how futile it was to destroy Vacio. The blow was beautifully parried, leaving the hobgoblin open.
Vacio smashed his mace into the hobgoblin's right shoulder, causing it to drop its club.
With no threat of a weapon, the bunny sisters unleashed all their pent up rage unto the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin was sliced and diced into itsy tinny bite size pieces.
They even ripped its nuts off and forced the hobgoblin to eat it.
Vacio's manhood felt like it shrunk out of fear
A wise man once said: "Pain is a spice that enhances the flavor of vengeance."
"Welp… that's that."-Vacio-
Truth be told, Vacio was quite shock how calm he was in combat. The last time he ever fought in a braw was way back in college.
To think he could calmly make life or death judgements so precisely. Yet another mystery he needed to investigate.
While he was deep in thought, a particularly painful slap to the back forced him back to reality.
"Hahahaha! That was awesome! To think those shitty humans could produce someone like you! You could easily become a general for a Khan if we were up north!" –Tu Zi-
"I had my doubts at first, but you really are good. Way too good for anyone of your age of any race. May I ask what level is your current cultivation?" -Tu Mei-
"Argh! Again with the Chinese fantasy jargon! What the hell does that even mean?!" –Vacio-
Vacio was painfully aware that those who lacked the common sense of a certain place were prone to be abused by others. He was swindled a few times during his time in China because he didn't know how their crazy society worked
As much as he wanted to ask what the hell the bunny twins were talking about, his past experiences made him cautious.
While they looked trustworthy and Vacio believed that they were indeed trustworthy, that was exactly how his ex-wife appeared to be. The bunny twins' amazing beauty and their friendly aura caused alarm bells in Vacio's mind to activate.
For now, he needed information of this strange new world. Given the theme of the world he was in, he needed to be extra cautious with how he presented himself to the people.
"Let's talk about that later. Tu Zi promised me that she'll lead me to the closest town if I helped in the rescue effort. I assume that you're keep your word, right?"-Vacio-
"Of course! Since my sister is safe, I'll naturally honor my promise"-Tu Zi-
"I owe you my life as well. If there's anything you desire, just ask. We swear in the name of the Tu Family that we will help you in any way until we get to town."- Tu Mei
"Then by all means, lead the way" –Vacio-
"Good. I was able to avoid the topic. From this point onward, its information gathering time."-Vacio-
And thus Vacio took his very first steps into this confusing and unfamiliar world
-:-
Authors Notes
I dont like making Authors Notes. Dont expect another one anytime soon.
- First and foremost, I apologize for not being active for so many years. My life has been quite crazy the last few years and was forced to completely abandon writing in favor of IRL. Things have calmed down a bit at the moment and I'm not sure when shit will hit the fan again. This gave me a chance to do the hobby that I love so much.
-On to the story. You're probably asking 'Why Chinese Fantasy?'. The reason is I've been reading some chinese martial arts fantasy novels as of late, and I was impressed. They are badly written, painfully predictable, prone to deus ex ASS PULL and has a habit of repeating the same trick over and over again... yet they were entertaining as hell. For those who arent familiar with the whole Xianxai (chinese fantasy novel) genre and has no patience to read the novels that can reach up to a thousand chapters (no joke), I suggest reading manga/manhua like 'Tales of Gods and Demons' and 'Battle Through The Heavens'. That is more or less what I'm trying to make.
-In regards of the Yggdrasil styled leveling system. There is barely any info on anything about Yggdrasil, so I had to create something on my own. The skills, spells and overall functions of my version of Yggdrasil relied heavily on the following sources: Overlord (duh), Dungeons and Dragons, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Tyranny and pretty much every Xianxai novel I have read.
-I have no knowledge of the Chinese Language and have absolutely no intention of learning it. Do you have any idea how many characters they have in their alphabet?! 50000! I have no time nor patience to learn that monstrosity! And thus, google translate will be my best friend. If any of my readers know Chinese, just PM me for suggestions and corrections.
-Lastly, I havent flexed my writing muscles for a couple of years. Hopefully this work will allow me to get my mojo back