The Ancients World

[I've released the first chapter of my new story, go and check it out. Its called The Pillars, let me know what you guys think!]

I have everything I need for this trip. It would be fast if I had a mount, but I'm running for now. If I go full speed I can probably get there by tomorrow morning if I pull another all nighter. However, pulling all nighters back to back isn't something that I'm fond of. So I'll go until nightfall today and get a full nights rest tonight. The place I'm going has a very deceiving name, despite being called Flower Forest. Many would think that its a harmless forest full of flowers, however this forest is particularly nasty in the fact that the flora tries to kill you. A mages experiment went wrong and destroyed the peace of the forest. Now anything that goes in usually doesn't come out.

The history of the mage that did this isn't well known, only that he was a master mage studying the effects of Grey Lizard spinal fluid on the plants. I don't know what he did or how he did it, but the result was a forest full of pissed off plants. I can see why mages are generally disliked, they aren't treat like a plague or lepers. Although if you have the slightest stain on your reputation as a mage then you will be treated differently. It really depends on the severity of the act, I'm sure whomever did the experiment in the Flower Forest was casted out of society.

I've been running for only a few minutes, but I'm already bored. Hopefully I run into some action on my way to the first hidden dungeon. This trip will be extremely boring, but I'm glad that I wont need a map to find the other 2 since they are a double dungeon. A double dungeon is exactly how it sounds, but one important piece of information is that double dungeons need a way to activate. They don't just happen randomly, the first half of the key for the double dungeon is located in the dungeon bosses room in the Flower Forest. Double dungeons are very rare since most bosses don't like to share their territories. Only a powerful boss can suppress another in a dungeon, and the funny part is I'll still have to kill the hidden boss in another location.

Story quests are meant to be long and grueling tasks since they affect the world. Most don't know this yet, but if you do complete a story quest you will have access to better quests as you level up. That is a problem for me since I have no information about them. Once I start doing those special quests I'll have to find the answers on my own. I got lucky that Flint had what I needed for my legendary quest, the worst part about all this is the half exp. If I didn't have to deal with half exp I would be in the 60s by now. I cant see how Blue Chaos did this all by himself, either he had help or he never left the game to rest. He never posted deep lore about the class, but he always posted things about the tier up quests and how he overcame certain obstacles.

I will surely find things out about the class that was never posted. I can see why so many were jealous of him. He didn't reveal his identity, he was sold out just like Stubbed Toe was. I wont make the same mistake, they thought playing solo wasn't necessary at one point and they had made friends. They were wrong about that, I get playing solo in any game is a challenge no matter what MMO it is. Onto another topic that caused much distrust in the communities are the old titans of the game industry. One of the biggest titans of the gaming industry fell because of their bad reputation. That was over 150 year ago though, I believe it was called Activision. I have read many old articles about the fall of Activision and how bad they really were. They almost fell as hard as 2K, but that is a story about greed.

The reason for all the distrust among players comes from the history of game development. There are new laws in place to stop what happened, but even a century and a half later a bad taste is still left in peoples mouths. I have trust issues as well, I was backstabbed and betrayed in my old future as well. I learned that you cant trust anyone that plays Ancients World, because they are trying to make a living just like you. NPC followers will eventually be unlocked, but that's at level 200. I take my mind off of the thought numbing run and think about other things.

Time passes and I finally come across some action. Monsters fighting a group of players on the tree lines border of a forest. I have to cut through multiple forests to get to my destination, and this is the first one. Looks like they got over run and left the forest thinking they wouldn't follow. They are sorely mistaken, I'm just going to wait till they all get killed and finish what they started. I'm not in the mood to deal with players trying to befriend someone stronger than them. I get low in the tall grass and watch the fight unfold. They seem to be lower levels, probably coming to a place with higher enemies to power level. As I watch, a world announcement goes off.

[World-wide Announcement: The orc armies have openly declared war on humanity! Once you are level 50 tier 1 you can participate in the war!]

Many of the player are going to be excited about the opportunity to level up and get stronger using the war. The NPC's on the other hand are going to have it rough till this war ends, if I knew how to end the war before it starts I would've. The forums had no answer for this event, so I guess once I'm level 50 and finished my tier 1 quest I can help in the war. Zeniths war has come to a standstill from what I have noticed, there have been no updates as of late. Guess the king of Zenith is smarter than he let on.

The players that were fighting the monsters got distracted and died. They should've focused on the fight and not the world announcement. Now that they are gone I can take the leftovers and gain some exp. I rush out of the tall grass and draw The Witness. I recognize these monsters as Bloated Pigmen, scouts for the orc armies. Probably looking for weaknesses in the cities they are going to attack. As I reach them and start killing I activate double strike and the 15 seconds start.

[Bloated Pigmen Lvl.25]

18,000/18,000 HP

[You have ignored armor]

[You have struck four times]

-8850

-8850

-8850

-8850

+200 exp

I used two normal attacks and that stacked to four with double strike. I have 3 more targets left and continue my assault. They are all the same level so this should go by fast.

[Bloated Pigmen Lvl.25]

18,000/18,000 HP

[You have dismember the targets torso]

[You have ignored armor]

[You have struck four times]

-8850

-8850

-8850

-8850

+200 exp

[Bloated Pigmen Lvl.25]

18,000/18,000 HP

[You have dismembered the targets waist]

[You have ignored armor]

[You have struck four times]

-8850

-8850

-8850

-8850

+200 exp

[Bloated Pigmen Lvl.25]

18,000/18,000 HP

[You have dismembered the targets upper chest]

[You have ignored armor]

[You have struck four times]

-8850

-8850

-8850

-8850

+200 exp

I have eliminated all the scouts just as my double strike ends. This takes the effort out of prolonged combat and I love it. I want to see where my exp is at and I open my stat panel.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.22]

[Exp: 13,750/24,000]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 895] [Endurance - 845] [Dexterity - 850] [Speed - 965] [Focus - 7345]

[Health: 6,960/6,960] [Mana: 73450/73450]

[Stat Points: 60] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.11 900/2000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]

I got almost a thousand exp for that. These are one of the weakest soldiers in the orc army, the army is obviously ready for war. I can see why so many are worried about them, I hate goblins in particular. Disgusting little things, I'll take pleasure in killing any goblin. Their lore complements their disgusting behavior and nature. I won't go into it now, I still need to cover distance before night fall. It has already been a few hours getting to this tree line, I'll have to make sure to find a place of high ground once inside the forest so I don't get killed when I log off.

I could take the items they dropped, but these players were very weak. As I continue to look around I notice a note that one of the Bloated Pigmen dropped. I pick it up and immediately notice that these are instructions on defenses and formations of neighboring cities and of Glendar. This is valuable information, after a couple seconds of reading I get a system notification.

[Quest: A Devastating Blow]

[Description: You have found a valuable piece of information on the upcoming war. These orders were given by an orc general by the name of Glu. If you eliminate him before the war starts a crippling blow will be dealt to the orcs army.]

[Warning: Target is a much higher level than you. You have the power to kill him, but you will more than likely die.]

[Objective 1: Head to the hidden camp marked on your map]

[Objective 2: Kill General Glu of the orc armies]

[Quality: Savior (Hidden)]

[Rewards: Hidden]

[Do you wish to accept the quest? Y/N]

I have a very strange feeling about this whole situation, why would this show up right after my previous desire to end the war before is began. The fact that its a Savior difficulty worries me, it is a difficulty between legendary and Divine. The Quality only appears in the form of quests, I heard that it can be harder or easier than a legendary quest. It really comes down to your choices. I look at the camp on my map and its coincidently on the way to my goal. This is pretty fishy, either a higher being is pulling some strings or I have stupid luck. My divine class does give me access to special mission only I can do. Maybe this one of them, I think yes and a new quest is added to my interface.