《Metempsukhosis (En)》 Prologue ¡°Die, you fool! It¡¯s your last breath!¡± ¡°As if! Breathing undead one day, breathing everyday!¡± In the tunnels lit by a few luminescent mushrooms, a battle rages for 2 hours. Everywhere, fighter corpses, either warriors or undead. It¡¯s coming to an end. On one side, an armoured knight, stained with blood, mud and dust, exhausted from the already long battle. On the other side, an enormous zombie, a ghoul, nearly 2 meters tall, clothes completely torn, notches on the whole body. Forehand drive. Dark punch. The knight blade sank deeply in the enormous belly of the ghoul just before a powerful punch makes him fly away. ¡°I¡¯ve not said my last word.¡± ¡°It would have given me some rest!¡± Standing up with great pain, vision obscured by a silver veil and luminous dots going around randomly in his field of vision, the knight took from under his pants a dagger which blade lightened in the cave obscurity. In front of him, the ghoul took off the blade sank in his body and came walking slowly. In a few steps, the knight is on the ghoul and presses the daggers in its belly, with a resplendent light. The sword is stuck in his shoulder, forcing his hand to open, letting the dagger go away. ¡°It¡¯s over.¡± ¡°You should look behind you!¡± Next to them, a scythe on a hand, a fluorescent rock on the other hand, a dark shadow suddenly appears. Death in his soul, the knight looks at the newcomer and breaths with great pain. ¡°Just my luck. If only things had been a little bit different¡­ ¡°But things are not different! *** ¡°I would never have bet on Jules.¡± ¡°Who would have bet on Narcisse?¡± ¡°What was doing Jean during this whole time?¡± In the soul kingdom, those dead in the battle between Komyshany and Kherson town are commenting their reciprocal feats. What should have been at the beginning a simple skirmish soon transformed in a punitive expedition and next into a global conflict, with unpredicted monsters taking part of it and neighbour villages of other races that should have stayed home. ¡°At the very least, I didn¡¯t think I would be doing so many round trips between the two worlds! Usually, the ends of battle are really boring, when we die. But this time!¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s great to be able to come back to battle. Undead are so the best!¡± ¡°You did what?¡± Between the two sides, even if they fight together during the battle, it¡¯s just past story when they¡¯re dead. ¡°You know, the necromancers? They allowed us to come back to battle, after our death!¡± ¡°Yes, ghosts, zombies, mummies¡­ it¡¯s great, after being killed, to come back and kill the knights who sent us here!¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s why you seemed to be so many!¡± ¡°The fight between the ghoul and the knight was only the end of a very long battle. The souls were impatiently waiting to know who from both of them would join them, and who would win the battle! ¡°Oh, nice, it seems I¡¯m called back! See you khersonits! It¡¯s time to burn down your town!¡± Soon, a part of the souls disappeared from the sight of the other, as a new one just arrived. *** Alter Life. A world filled with fantastic creatures. A medieval fantastic universe, in which evolves all sorts of humans, elves, orcs, goblins, trolls, undead, aquatic and flying creatures¡­This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Alter Life is my playground , now. Death here is only a short time path before going back to life. Unceasing war always burst and conflicts are solved only during the weekend, in countless blood baths. Quantities of artisans work to increase both offensive and defensive strength of each side. Crowds of merchants risk their lives looking for profit, toggling powers, sometime to the glory side, sometime to the annihilation side. Monsters of all kind are used by every side to display an every time more devastating power against enemies emerging from everywhere, even inside the safest places. And of course, new armies appear everyday, ready to die for honour or glory, for ephemeral countries or powerful empires. Heroes are legion, but memory is short sighted. Who remembers mammoth killers? Feathered snake, giant kangaroos, or lava flames dragon killers? Anyway, those species are extinct, and the world destruction keeps aggravating. The world is bleeding. The world is burning. The world is dying. It¡¯s my place of life, my workplace, my development place. I¡¯m happy. Yes, I¡¯m happy to live here and there, it¡¯s wonderful! Nothing would make me happier. I¡¯m surrounded with friends, I¡¯ve got a goal in life, people love me. Yes, for me, Alter Life, it¡¯s happiness! *** ¡°I tell you it¡¯s him !¡± ¡°It¡¯s im-pos-si-ble !¡± ¡°It must be, it should be his reincarnation! He has his competences!¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t know how to use them! If it were him, he would have reduced his enemy to ashes in no time!¡± Alter Life designers are members of Alt F4 society. This weekend, a rare entertainment offered up for them. A duel at the top between the young cousin of Aquilas and the internship of Priscille. ¡°Gandock¡¯s knight got reincarnated!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not Gandock¡¯s knight!¡± ¡°He must be! Do you know how much time has passed since we last saw a soul judge?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t make any sense, and if you were in my service, you would know it!¡± A raging battle to know who really were those famous opponents. The knight, the ghoul and the reaper¡­ Suddenly, the team director came in the room. ¡°I thought I told you I want to never ever again here about Gandock for the rest of my life. Do you know how much time we spent to create monster he banished from the world?¡± Deep silence in the team, with a palpable tension. ¡°Aquilas, Priscille, in my office.¡± ¡°Boss, I didn¡¯t know it would look this way!¡± ¡°Silence! Aquilas, loosers have to shut up! Why did this battle take place?¡± Instant of silence. ¡°Priscille wanted for my nephew and her intern to fight together.¡± ¡°And¡­?¡± ¡°She won.¡± ¡°Priscille.¡± ¡°Yes madam?¡± ¡°I give you a promotion. Congratulations.¡± ¡°Thanks madam.¡± *** Deep inside a clearing, two knights are sitting, eating sausages and cheese. Dogs are jumping around. In the sky, smokes clouds are rising up. ¡°War raged roughly this weekend.¡± ¡°Yes, I wonder how your protected is.¡± ¡°Good, I hope. He will become an excellent squire, before becoming a good successor.¡± ¡°Gandock.¡± ¡°Yes, Emile?¡± ¡°Time has come.¡± ¡°Already?¡± ¡°Yes, all conditions are met.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s maybe time for our comeback.¡± ¡°Our absence was long enough. It¡¯s time to restore the empire. Silence. ¡°Kingdoms held the shock?¡± ¡°No, perpetual wars weakened all the great powerhouses. Souabe kingdom is close to bankruptcy.¡± ¡°Good, Jules is not ready yet, but with Priscille help, everything shall be good. It¡¯s time to finish with Alter Life as we know it.¡± ¡°You really want to take the risk of being imprisoned by the designers?¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be able of anything against me. It¡¯s Jules who will lead armies to victory. Soon, he will be an overlord.¡± ¡°An overlord? Unlikely.¡± ¡°All the contrary, trust me, an imperial overlord. A new adventure just began. Just some time, and Jules will judge Alter Life.¡± ¡°You might loose everything.¡± ¡°I have nothing to loose.¡± ¡°The last judgement?¡± ¡°The end of this world announces the beginning of the next one.¡± The two men have finished to eat. They go away on their horses. A new adventure begins! Alter Life School year has just finished. Finally ! Jules waited for it for so long ! Why ? Not to profit from the sun, that is absolutely too hot for God knows how many years. Heat waves are so powerful for the most part of the planet. Not to travel abroad, to another country, as it is so hard to travel after the boundaries have been much more closed, due to the big new epidemics, as we call them nowadays. Not to find a job and earn pocket money. Jules has something much better to do. For a week, Jules is 15 years-old. That means he has the minimum age required to join Alter Life, the virtual world in which it¡¯s possible to be projected via the connection to a capsule. You just need to lie down inside, and the machine does the rest. Hands slide inside the gloves clad with sensors, foot in boots of the same kind, and the mask posed on the whole of the face and beside the head, connected to the neuronal system to send information directly inside the brain. How Jules is going to get one of those precious capsule? He can¡¯t. But his aunt, Priscille, works in the head office of the company which has produced Alter Life, and she found him an internship that consists simply in testing what he considers a game, and to tell her everything that he thinks about it. Simply put: playing the whole day, for free. A dream come true! Despite the reluctance from his mother, that thinks that summer is here to change one¡¯s ideas, and not staying in a capsule, Jules achieved to get the approval from his daddy and his mummy, under one condition, to obey at what aunty Priscy says, like she is called at home. *** ¡°You found a way to play Alter Life during the whole summer? That¡¯s great!¡± ¡°Yes, but my aunty told me that she needed me to do something that would take my whole time¡­¡± ¡°As long as you can keep on playing, it¡¯s ok, no?¡± ¡°Yes, furthermore, the weekend, I should be free, so I will be able to continue playing without having anything to do for her.¡± ¡°Nice! The weekend, it¡¯s when wars between kingdoms take place! As soon as you join an armed group, you can conquer castles and other territories! It¡¯s really a golden opportunity if you want to take the maximum of profit from the game!¡± ¡°You will give me your username, so that I would be able to add you on my friend list? I will take Cesar Leroidescoqs, as usual.¡± ¡°Oh, you know me, I already play with the username Jean Bondepays. It¡¯s not because I go inside virtual reality that it will change.¡± That, it was my last discussion with John, my best friend, forever. We made together all the fooleries that can exist in the world, and he has already begun to play Alter Life for the past few weeks. We spent hours to discuss together when he was just testing the game and as I talked to him from my bedroom. The share of view and sound, even in virtual reality, works as in old long streaming systems. In our classroom, we all connected to his account, to benefit from the game in preview, through him. Vicariously life, says mummy¡­ But soon enough, I will be a streaming star! To become the biggest streamer of Alter Life¡­ it¡¯s my dream! *** ¡° You¡¯re here, finally!¡± ¡°Yes, aunty, the bus was a little bit late, but I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Never mind, I already knew where you were, as I followed your position in real time. I told my colleagues I would take a break now.¡± Coming inside the glass building, I knew I was coming inside the big league.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A 40 floors building, just for the company that developed Alter Life. Alt F4, the company with the highest growth rate for the last 5 years. A monster in the world of entertainment. I greeted kindly the reception staff, and recovered the sesame that would open the world of this company: the badge to open the ground floor portal. ¡°You can come any when during the day or the night, the weekend, even during days off. If there is anything, you tell me.¡± ¡°With this, I have an access for the whole building?¡± ¡°No, only the five first levels, and 2 underground levels. It¡¯s there that you will find the capsule I found you.¡± ¡°Thanks, aunty, you¡¯re really the best! ¡°As I told you, it won¡¯t be for free, you work for me.¡± ¡°Of course. You received my internship documents for the internship agreement?¡± ¡°Everything is ok for the administrative part. Don¡¯t worry about anything.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really the best, aunty!¡± ¡°Wait a little bit to see the work I have for you before getting so grateful!¡± *** Head office of Alt F4, 21st floor Sat on a sofa, with documents in front of me, I¡¯m taking a hot chocolate that is still burning. Aunty Priscy is finishing to settle the projector, when a large screen is displayed on the big white wall at the bottom of the conference room, where we are only two people present. ¡°Here is a map of the principal continent of Alter Life. You will join the ranks of Baron Eginhard. It¡¯s human people, all the most classic, which is the majority race in Alter Life.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t join the undead?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t during the time you owe me. From 8AM to midday. What you do the rest of the time is none of my concern.¡± After a quick head calculation, Jules asked: ¡°It means that both afternoon and weekends, I can spend time with the undead army? Does that mean I will be perceived as a bad by from humans?¡± ¡°All your actions in-game can have an influence, specially if you kill people or monsters. Hopefully, with the m¨¦tempsukh?sis, you can be a character, and a very different one, that will live very different stories that can be completely independent.¡± ¡°Super! But¡­ what is¡­ the meta¡­¡± ¡°Reincarnation, or soul flux, it¡¯s the character you choose to become. The first one is at the beginning of the game, and here are the characteristics I want you to get.¡± I take the paper she gives me. Human, warrior, Souabe kingdom, Offenburg village, meet Gandock knight¡­ *** Head office of Alt F4, 2nd level underground ¡°So, normally, I told you everything. If you have questions, keep them for midday. I will take lunch together, you will tell me what you think of the whole of this. ¡°So I just lie on the capsule, and that¡¯s all?¡± ¡°Yes, but first, go to the room down the hall, and get scanned. After getting undressed, of course.¡± ¡°Undressed?¡± Jules turned pale. ¡°You think I never saw you naked? I can still remember when I gave you your bath 13 years ago! The whole of this doesn¡¯t make me any younger¡­¡± ¡°Hey, mammy Priscy, I am no longer 2 years-old¡­¡± ¡°Yes¡­ and you can keep your underwear, my little baby.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s okay, if I can¡¯t have fun with my adorable little nephew that piss in his bath.¡± I knew it was not a good idea to take my aunt as an internship supervisor, but it was my only way to get an access to Alter Life¡­ After going inside the cabin to¡­ get changed¡­ an integral scan of my body is done in no time. Red lasers go on my body, I don¡¯t sense anything, and soon, in front of me, appears a doppelg?nger that turns on himself, motionless on a platform that turns on itself. I see me... Soon, the double disappears, and a card goes out of a machine.
Name Jules
Username Cesar Leroidescoqs
Date 30/06/xx
Age 15 years-old
? Don¡¯t forget to update your card every year. ? After having heard the voice of the machine, I dress again and come back to a capsule. Aunty Priscy is already gone. I put my card on a born, the light changes from green to red. I lie down, close my eyes, and soon, a voice is to be heard: ¡°Welcome to Alter Life. Your new life begins today...¡± New life A vast room, sky blue, circular, empty. Light effects really sweet and eery. The impression to live in a body that is not his for the first time¡­ Jules is a little bit lost. Soon appears in front of him someone wearing the colours of Alter Life¡¯s logo : brown for the pants, red for the belt, the shirt and the jacket light grey with golden buttons. ¡°Welcome in Alter Life. I¡¯m Peter the butler. From now on, I will be your guide in the first phase of the game. Do you want to follow the tutorial?¡± A screen appeared in front of Jules:
Main quest 1: Complete the tutorial. Alter Life is a virtual world with complex mechanics. Newcomers might get lost. Peter propose to accompany you in your first steps. Do you want his help? You just have to answer by yes or no.
¡°Is it going to be long. I prefer to play right now.¡± ¡°The tutorial can be stopped whenever you want. It can also be taken back after. Skipping it might prevent you from benefiting of some options displayed by the game.¡± Remembering the instructions given by his aunt, Jules chose not to loose another minute and declined the offer. ¡°It¡¯s nice from you, but I will manage on my own.¡± ¡°It¡¯s OK, Freedom is one of the top values in Alter Life. I stay available if you need, you just have to ask.¡± Peter disappeared in a light fully enveloping him. ¡°Excellent, now, I can begin the real thing!¡± *** A new screen appeared in front of him, like the previous one:
Choose your race. Right now, available races are: human, orc, undead, troll, elf, undine, salamander, sylph, gnome, werewolves, goblin, skaven. Others will be available when they will be unlocked.
It¡¯s a dozen races living in Alter Life, if you count only those available for the players, right now. Every one has its own history, its cultural background, its pros and cons, its territories, its specific quests... Jules knows very well what he wants, because he has to follow his aunt instructions. ¡°I will take a human, warrior class, living in Souabe kingdom, in Offenburg village. Is it possible?¡± The voice of Peter answered, although he was no longer visible. ¡°Of course. You will appear in Offenburg village. Are you ready?¡± Jules got a twinge. He spent quite some time studying various species quite deeply, and he had a weak for undead. Black energy used by necromancers allows them to move undead armies. This energy can concentrate to reinforce considerably the strength and resistance of undead units, and can reanimate any unit lost in battle. No ageing, no loyalty problem, no tiredness, natural resistance to fear, to multiple poisons, and many other assets¡­ The downside is huge: undead are enemies of nearly all the living, and healing magic, widely used by them, is a killer for any unit coming back to haunt the living. Jules got another twinge. He had so many questions to ask, and his aunt insisted for joining as soon as possible Gandock knight, and he didn¡¯t know how he would recognize him... ***This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The world disappeared around Jules, and a new scenery appeared. A small village, maybe 30 houses, in a really rustic style. Everything seemed even more archaic than in the ideas he got about middle age: the tallest building was not more than 2 floor, no terrace could be seen in height, windows where square and small, walls were covered with white lime, but a dirty white, seemingly falling apart¡­ Like any other beginner, Jules began trying to move his fingers, arms, to move a little bit, to take a deep breath... ¡°That¡¯s it! Alter Life, here I am!¡± Some walking people looked at him, with an amused smile. Some characters had a symbol on the top of their head: yellow exclamation marks for most of them, a green question mark for an old man, and nothing for others that seemed to have important things to do. Jules got close to the man with a question mark. ¡°Oh, a newcomer! I suppose you came to help our village? If you do what I ask you, you will be well rewarded!¡± ¡°Well, truth would be I¡¯m looking for a certain knight. Have you ever heard of a so-called Gandock?¡± ¡°Gandock? Of course! He is just behind you!¡± Turning around, Jules faced a man, about forty, salt and pepper hair but already white for a large part, heat-worked face, seeming to have seen many things¡­ Next to him, a little bit behind, another man, looking barely younger, with round glasses and a serious face. ¡°You should be Jules, son of man?¡± *** In his head, Jules couldn¡¯t understand what just happened. His mission consisted in¡­ spying¡­ a knight by getting close to him. Before two minutes passed in this village, this very knight fell on him, and his imposing air had something oppressive. ¡°Gandock knight, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Oh, this young boy answers to questions with other questions¡­ that might get interesting. Sure, I am Si Gandock, and here is Emile, my faithful right arm. Lady Priscilla told me she would appoint me a squire, it must be you, isn¡¯t it?¡± A squire? Me? Am I daydreaming? ¡°Aunty Priscy told you what?¡± ¡°Emile, he matches with the description, don¡¯t you think so? Little newbie lost, discovering Alter Life for the first time, and with a strong head.¡± Newbie? A noob is a new gamer, but it¡¯s pejorative. It¡¯s not really kind. For the strong head part, we just met not two minutes ago. Oh, and I¡¯m not lost at all! ¡°Hey, you must be mistaking, I¡¯m not lost. I had to find you, and you know what? It¡¯s done. I think I¡¯m quite efficient.¡± Gandock burst out laughing, and Emile seemed to smile so strongly that it had to make his zygomatic suffer. ¡°I¡¯m asked to babysit, and the little chick I have to take care of is already seeing himself as an great eagle? Lady Priscilla told me you would do the trick as a squire, but it remains to be proven. Would you take my challenges?¡± A screen appeared in front of Jules, like the one in the character choice room.
Gandock quest: Becoming a squire Are you ready to face sir Gandock challenges?
*** Why having answered yes so quickly? Why going head on first when you don¡¯t know what is gonna happen? And why having to hit with a wooden sword on a straw dummy teasing with buttons made eyes? All the charm of Alter Life is in adventure, discovery of new places and fight against monster, isn¡¯t it? What am I doing in this courtyard, repeating the same move, again and again? ¡°90¡­ is it going to keep on going for long?¡± ¡°Ten more hits, and it should be OK.¡± Gandock also hit on a dummy, with a wooden sword, but this one was more like a big trunk. Each stroke notched the wood and made visible the sapwood inside. If you had to compare it to Jules, this one seemed powerless in front of his straw dummy teasing him silently, with his two buttons eyes¡­ ¡°And why do I have to remove my notifications, and even effects on characters for interactions?¡± ¡°If you want to become my squire, you have to follow my way of living. I put you in the same conditions as me¡­ look, it¡¯s 100, it seems you have something in your arms, after all. Do you want to go in the big bath, now? ¡°I¡¯m not here to be considered as a baby! Hitting stupidely on a dummy is meaningless. I wan¡¯t a real challenge!¡± ¡°Very good, follow me.¡± Next to the village was a little lake, filled with creatures unknown for Jules. ¡°You want to do things more interesting?¡± ¡°For sure!¡± ¡°If you swim to the other side of the lake, we will!¡± ¡­ ¡­ ... ... I don''t know how to swim! First crossing If I had known¡­ Oh, yes, I¡¯ve crossed the lake. After all, it was not that hard¡­ Yes, I even learned how to swim. Just that! And I even made new friends! Even a beautiful girl. Yes¡­ Well, water was good. It was at least it. I don¡¯t really like my body. I don¡¯t really like water too. And I undressed once more, as Emile was ready to keep my clothes. And¡­ hop! My 90 kilos in the water. I have maybe not finished to grow, but I already reached 1m80. A water in the water, and another one, and it¡¯s a little Jules in underpants that is walking on the bottom of the lake. Up to the point where I couldn¡¯t walk any more, it was too deep. So far, a few fishes went to tickle my legs, but it was OK. The Offenburg lake is a place where one cannot find monsters, normally, so I thought I had nothing to fear. ¡°Knight Gandock, what do I do, now?¡± ¡°You just have to swim, I will show you how.¡± In an instant, he had removed his boots, his skirt, his pants and was also in underpants. The body of Gandock was filled with scars. The most impressive was on his pectorals, left side. A scratch from a big animal, that no one would like to encounter without being prepared. And¡­ plouf! Gandock had done the big dive, and swam underwater without surfacing during 5, 10¡­ 30 seconds¡­ He emerged on the other side of the lake and told me: ¡°Beware, Watrila is coming!¡± A shadow drove me underwater... *** I got panicked. The Alter Life system takes everything into account for an optimal game experience. So there is no risk to die suffocating in the capsule. This being said, there is no zero-risk situation. If someone stops breathing, even if it¡¯s in the game, it will have an influence on the real body. Maybe not immediately, but when the person will be back in the real world, if he thinks back of his in-game experience, he risks to lack air, and might as well suffocate, even with enough air around him. For the sleeping part, there is not too much risk. With all the technological and medecine progress, Sleep Apnea is well taken care of, and a lot of other health issue by checking all the time cardiac rhythm, number of breath per minute, pressure¡­ But if someone block its respiration, there are only a few minutes to act before he dies. Even one minute is sometime enough to deal irreversible damages. That¡¯s why it¡¯s possible to breath normally underwater in Alter Life, with an air bubble appearing in front of the mouth as soon as the head goes underwater.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Drove by a force that gripped both of my legs and making me fall behind in the water, I was surprised to realize that I could breath really well. It was the first time I saw that well underwater, it was beautifull, but I was too scary to enjoy the moment. A creature halfway between a young girl and a dolphin was turning around me after having released me and having helped me going back to the surface because I wasn¡¯t reacting. ¡°Hello, you!¡± *** I took a deep breath, which was a little bit stupid, as I had not the feeling of lacking air during my time underwater. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name, you?¡± ¡°Wow, are you crazy! Do you often put people you don¡¯t know underwater?¡± ¡°But, Gangan told me I could play with you!¡± I looked on the other side of the bank, only to see Gandock knight bursting out laughing, soon surrounded by two creatures that looked like lot the one next to me. ¡°So, little son of man? You¡¯re not listening when I tell you that you have visit?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me anything!¡± ¡°Watrila, did I, yes or no, announce you?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Dots connected in my head. ¡°You are Watrila?¡± ¡°Of course, once again! And there, it¡¯s my two best friends, Ryuseimar and Nuteroa. Come on, guys!¡± The two aquatic creatures put their head underwater and raced in our direction. In no time, they were re-emerging next to me. ¡°I am Ryuseimar, and him, it¡¯s Nuteroa. We are undines, like Watrila. You, what are you called?¡± ¡°Me, I¡¯m Jules. I just arrived in Alter Life.¡± And at this moment, I saw the most surprising possible reaction, at least the one I could least expect from the moment I arrived in this virtual world¡­ ¡°Alter Life? Never heard. What is it¡­¡± Both of the two other undines seemed not to understand either... *** In Alter Life, there are two kinds of characters to put it simply: human people embodying a character, those are players from the real world; and non-player characters, or NPC, that have an AI. Peter the butler is an NPC, as well as my three new friends, the undines, or as the old man I met when I arrived in Offenburg. Gandock and Emile seem to be NPC, but they know very well what Alter Life is as they told me about it first¡­ When a player talks to a character born in-game about Alter Life, he doesn¡¯t understand what he is talking about, as they live in a beliefs system including the fact that people can appear from nowhere, just like that. ¡°Jules uses the m¨¦tempsuks?sis. It¡¯s normal that he speaks weirdly. He has come to become my squire, thanks to lady Priscilla.¡± ¡°Gangan, are you telling me that Pripri the kitty promised you an apprentice?¡± ¡°Better than an apprentice, a squire, but only the time during which m¨¦tempsukh?sis works. After that, he will go away, so enjoy the time you spend with him!¡± Why do I have the feeling they are talking about me as if I were not here? ¡°Hey, Watrila, who are Gangan and Pripri?¡± ¡°Well, Gangan, it¡¯s my best human friend, your knight, there. And Pripri, it¡¯s an exasperating hair fur¡­¡± ¡°Faith of Ryuseimar, a cat-woman, it¡¯s really annoying. Gangan calls her Lady Priscilla, but between us, it¡¯s only Pripri, it¡¯s more cool!¡± Wait¡­ what? My aunty Priscy sent me to a world where everyone knows her, and where she is taken as a cat-woman? What is that story! *** Nuteroa supports me a little bit to help me swimming, when Ryuseimar shows me the moves and as Watrila gives me a bunch of advice on the posture and the breathing. I just begin to understand the breaststroke moves when I arrive on the bank, next to Gandock. I hope I will remember everything if I have one day to swim in the real world. After all, virtual reality was first developed for training: it¡¯s way easier to learn by doing and watching than by listening or reading¡­ ¡°That¡¯s it, challenge complete!¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good thing, the first of the 8 steps to become officially my squire. We take a break as I need to swim, it¡¯s excellent for a good vitality. Any knight has to be able to take a huge amount of blows, and also to carry very heavy items. For this, the best, it¡¯s good big muscles!¡± ¡°Me, I am very muscled! Tihihi!¡± Watrila is an undine is a graceful form, she seems frail, fragile¡­ ¡°But, you don¡¯t seem to be that muscled...¡± ¡°You think so? You want to challenge me? The first one to see orange as he is punched by Ryu or Nut has lost. You choose the one to beat you, they are about as fast and as strong.¡± Gandock intervene: ¡°Take care! He has just arrived. Even with simple punches, you can easily put him on a KO.¡± But Jules told: ¡°I take on the challenge!¡± KO ? ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have taken on the challenge¡­¡± ¡°At least you know what happens!¡± ¡°Why did I loose so quickly?¡± ¡°Because you just arrived! Look¡­ Full scan.¡± Gandock showed up in front of me a blue screen with my main characteristics:
Jules 1 day
Human Origin: Offenburg
No class No job
No group No title
Level 1 No reputation
Health points:40/160 Mana points:110/110
Technique points: 110/110 Run speed: 7,7km/h
Damages: +5,1 Attacks per minute: 20
Defence: 1+0,1% Resistance: 1+0,1%
Accuracy: +1% Dodge: +1%
Critical rate: 1% Critical damages: +151%
Physical penetration: 1+0,1% Magical penetration: 1+0,1%
Health regeneration: 0.1 HP-MP-TP/s Drain: 0.1%HP ¨C 0.1%MP ¨C 0.1%TP (Off)
Luck: 1 Carry Ability: 32 kg
Then, he showed up another screen with my characteristic points:
Vitality: 60 Strenght: 51
Health: 10 Intelligence: 10
Technique: 10 Speed: 10
Defence: 10 Wisdom: 10
¡°As you only have 60 vitality points and 10 defence points, it gives you 160 health points and you remove 1 damage per attack. Our undine friends are between level 10 and 20, they have around 200 vitality points and 30 defence points, which makes easily 300 health points and you remove 3 damages per attack. You go way faster below the 50% level, the orange zone.¡± So that was it, the orange light I saw after a few punches! *** Ryuseimar seemed a little bit stronger, with larger shoulders. Well, Nuteroa is as strong, he gives good punches too. ¡°I hve note understood everything, but it¡¯s whenever you want. I choose Ryuseimar!¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Ok, but don¡¯t comme crying after that! Tihihi!¡± Before I could say anything, Nuteroa was already punching violently this poor Watrila, but I had a way more urgent problem that I had to deal with before. ¡°I hope you¡¯re ready, because you¡¯re gonna suffer!¡± Hopefully the pain level is reduced compared to the real world, because the first punch directly in the nose and the second one on my belly had stunned me, and I already wanted to vomit. My vision became fully orange in a few other seconds. ¡°Stop!!!¡± Gandock rushed toward me, as Ryuseimar¡¯s punch blocked a few cms from my face, blocked by a light surface appearing from nowhere. ¡°He has lost, you can stop!¡± ¡°But, I¡¯ve just begun. Watrila can take on for at least¡­ 30 more seconds¡­¡± ¡°Jules is living his first fight! It¡¯s as if you punched a straw dummy!¡± Once again, they¡¯re talking about me as if I wasn¡¯t here¡­ It¡¯s a lot of humiliations in a short span of time¡­ I don¡¯t know if I will be able to endure it in this game at this rate¡­ ¡°Hey, what about telling I won? Tihihi¡­¡± Watrila seemed delighted to see me writhing in pain. Girls¡­ can be so cruel¡­ sometime... *** ¡°Of course, if you want to become my squire, you have to work a lot more. For now, you¡¯re just as a baby¡­¡± ¡°If I were in the real world, I would have carried on for much longer¡­¡± ¡°Yes, but in Alter Life, Maths mecanics are absolute. 7 damage points minus 1 defence points, it¡¯s 6 damages. In 30 attacks, you exceed the 160 health points you have and you are ready to go to the closest shrine in our case, the one of Offenburg, in the small church next to the courtyard where you trained, before.¡± ¡°How do I become stronger?¡± I know how to become stronger: killing monsters, having good weapons, training¡­ ¡°You have to follow my lead. A good knight must endure a lot of hits wearing heavy armours, so you need an excellent vitality. So, swimming. And you have to fight in close range battles, so you need strenght. So, straw dummy training right now. You can finish the day swimming, I want a solid squire, not a week reed that breaks in a single hit¡­¡± Hurt in my pride, I sighed before answering: ¡°OK, I¡¯ll swim¡­ Watrila, can we swim together again?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t give me proper excuses, mister ¡°other people don¡¯t seem that muscled¡±¡­¡± ¡°Jules, ask her for forgiveness.¡± ¡°I¡­ am sorry Watrila¡­¡± ¡°Tihihi, it¡¯s OK! Let¡¯s go swimming!¡± And once again, Ryuseimar and Nuteroa helped me swimming with the beautiful Watrila, while Gandock swam on his own side. *** Time goes by diferently in Alter Life. If an earth day is of 24 hours, here, they are of only 8 hours. It allows those who play a long sessino to see a full in Alter Life. Years go way faster too: 4 months of 20 days. This way, seasons pass quickly, but it has also another advantage: plant, animal, monster and even human growth are inmeasurably faster! Take a human family: 60 days of 8 hours per pregnancy, instead of 270 days of 24 hours, it¡¯s 13 times and a half more birth! Youngsters become adults at 15 years, which is done in 640 hours, so less than 30 days in the real world. Said in a different way, it¡¯s possible to see generation succeeding. On the other side, life expectancy is maintained as in the real world, so as someone can in theory live about 80 real years, someone can live more than 300 years in Alter Life! It¡¯s a little bit disturbing at the beginning, but it¡¯s so cool! In no time, I finished my first day in-game, and my 4 hour session went to an end as sun was setting on the horizon. ¡°It¡¯s spring, days are as long as nights, we shall take a break. How did you find your first day? ¡°Awesome! A little bit disturbing, some bad events happened, but Alter Life is so cool!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s meet again in 3 days, then. To leave Alter Life, you just have to say: disconnection¡± ¡°Disconnection!¡± The world faded away around me. *** I was back in the capsule. It opened by itself, the mask going away from my face alone, my glove coming off, my boots opening in half in the length side. I was back in 2nd level underground, in Alt F4 building. I took back my card and saw that I had phone messages. Aunty Priscy was telling me that I had to wait for her in the waiting room, in the fifth level. As I took the elevator, I sent a few messages to John, who was looking forward to get my first impressions. He was going to lunch, so he was out of his capsule. He is a human magician, quite low level, not much more than 10. It¡¯s quite easy to gain levels at the beginning of the game, with the NPC quests you get, talking to the NPCs in the village. We decided that we would play together after lunch with each a new character, an undead one: Zombi for me, occult adept for him. Aunty Priscy joined with me and led me to the 21st floor, in her office, after having taken a coffee. ¡°I will be direct: Gandock knight is a mysterious character that doesn¡¯t work as any other. I think the R&D service is facing a huge bug, but I don¡¯t have access to all of the information. Your mission consists in reporting me anything you learn about him, but discreetly. Else, I would get problems, and you can say adios to your account! ¡°I oredered sushis, you want some?¡± A mysterious character? Bug? In what story did I get involved in again, poor little me?¡± Reporting! ¡°So, what do you think of this knight?¡± ¡°Gandock? He¡¯s kinda weird. He has a lot of scars all over his body!¡± ¡°You met him, and the first day, you go the bath together?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t go to the bath! We went swimming in the lake!¡± ¡°Great! So¡­ then?¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯s nice. He mocks me a lot, but he seems to be a good guy.¡± ¡°A good guy? He is inside numerous problems in the games. I want you to follow him, and to report me anything you think might interest me.¡± ¡°Problems? What kind of problems?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see. So, what did you do together?¡± I report her back everything, from the moment he found me up to the evening, the dummy part, the encountering with the undines and the challenge, even the scan of my character. ¡°I want the full access to all of your videos in-game. It can help me to get a better understanding on who he is. You said there was a scan?¡± ¡°Yes, very detailed.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­¡± On the wall appeared the first things I saw after I came in the capsule. On the 4 hours of videos, Aunty Priscy came from one to another, up to when we saw the scan. ¡°It ¡®s a full scan. Not easy to get for a beginner. How did you get it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Gandock who made it, not me.¡± ¡°NPC can¡¯t scan.¡± And it was only the beginning of our problems! *** Gandock must be a NPC, because he gave me a quest, but at the same time, he can¡¯t be because of the scan. Everything is alright¡­ ¡°This Gandock makes me crazy! A NPC shouldn¡¯t have access to this possibility!¡± ¡°Are you sure he is a NPC? He seems to know quite well the real world!¡± ¡°No, he doesn¡¯t know a thing on the world as he is right now, only remnants of the past. And he is connected 24/7, he uses the m¨¦tempsukh?sis. Well, NPC can use the m¨¦tempsuch?sis, but he doesn¡¯t act as the others. It makes me feel unease¡­¡± ¡°He seems to know you. Lady Priscy here, Pripri there from Watrila¡­ you met him?¡± Yes, several times, but my scope is too limited. I have to keep some distance if I don¡¯t want to have problems with my colleagues. Truth is¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Nothing, you¡¯ll see later. But yes, I know him quite well¡­¡± I¡¯ve never seen Aunty Priscy in this state¡­ Looking far away, fixing a point somewhere far away¡­ A memory, maybe, heavy¡­ What is the link between those two? ¡°Well, sushi have arrived. Tell me what you want to do this afternoon, it will change my mind, and I might give you a few pieces of advice!¡± Opening the door, she took a box that was there, with the lunch inside, that we shared while talking about undeads. She gave me a lot of little tricks, that might help me also when I will meet Gandock. After all, Aunty Priscy knows where she goes: the better I play, the closer I will be to Gandock, the more I will learn from him. Smarty my aunty! *** ¡°Do you want to take back a character already existing, or do you want to create another one?¡± I¡¯m back in the room I saw on my first connexion, the blue one. Peter the butler is here, and on the left, my human avatar can be seen, the one I used this morning. ¡°I want to create another one, but first, I¡¯d like to add Jean Bondepays on my friend list. We¡¯d like to begin a game on the same place.¡± A notification appeared in front of me: Sending a friend request from Cesar Leroidescoqs to Jean Bondepays. Do you confirm? ¡°Yes, I confirm.¡± Request sent. Request accepted. Do you want to share the connexion? You will be together in the same connexion room. ¡°Share the connexion.¡± John appeared in front of me, as if he was real, in the flesh! ¡°Ah, Jules, it¡¯s so cool you¡¯re here! We will have so much fun!¡± ¡°Janjan, I¡¯m so happy to see you! Ready to haunt Alter Life?¡± ¡°Sure I am! Peter, I want to become an occult adept, is it possible?¡± ¡°Of course. You will join the undead. Your friend must also choose an undead if you want to share the same spawning place. Do you know which character you want to become?¡± A few monsters appeared in front of me. First, a skeleton, next a zombie, a ghost, and a very skinny character, with a black robe freyed and holey¡­ ¡°I want a zombie.¡± ¡°Hey, Jules, it¡¯s better to play the tutorial if you don¡¯t want to get lost later on.¡± ¡°Well, OK¡­ Peter, we¡¯d like to do the tutorial.¡± ¡°Very well!¡± And the room dissipated. *** Instead of the previous d¨¦cor, we were right now in a fortified castle room, with staircase in front of us.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Well, I will be your guest for this tutorial. ¡°First of all, please know that moving is as in the real world. Both zombies and occult adepts walk normally. ¡°To continue, please proceed using the staircase for the next floor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s useless, this tutorial. Are you sure we have to do it? I already read many things on the internet¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see, it¡¯s an easy quest to do to earn a little bit of experience. With this, we can go faster later on! ¡°OK, OK...¡± *** On the next floor, there was simply a bi mirror on the wall, and staircase in front of us, but closed with a prison gate. ¡°To know your character¡¯s information, you can use the scan spell. It¡¯s shared with all the classes, and costs differently depending on your spell level and what you analyse. Place yourself in front of a mirror to get the information with scan. Simply say scan looking at yourself.¡± In front of the mirror, I saw Jean¡¯s reflexion, a skinny mage wearing an old robe with a cap, ruined, and a zombie with pants in pieces, and a dirty torned shirt. So, I look like this... ? Scan ! ?
Jules Zombie, level 1
Technique point : 120/120
Defence : 2+0,2 % Resistance : 1+0,1 %
Critique rate : 1 % Dark energy : 1/1
Pressing on the blue screen, a new window appeared next to it:
Intelligence : 10
Technique : 10
Defence : 20 Wisdom : 10
Quite limited. What can be the scan level of Gandock¡­ When Jean used his scan, the prison gate disappeared. ¡°Zombie is a close-combat unit, good for taking many hits. ¡°Occult adept is a long-range unit, it can invoke other creatures to protect itself and use spells on distance to attack.¡± ¡°Undead have no luck stat, but they can get dark energy that increase all of your characteristics from this value. Under some circumstances, you can increase them much and get really powerful.¡± ? Scan ! ?
Jean Occult adept
Mana point : 130/140
¡°It¡¯s all I can see when I use scan on you?¡± ¡°Of course, you have the minimum level. It¡¯s only HP and MP you can see. Take a look on screen with my competence points:¡±
Intelligence : 40
Technique : 20
Defence : 10 Wisdom : 40
¡°Let¡¯s go upstairs.¡± *** ¡°Good. To continue the tutorial, kill the dummy. A notification appeared:
Tutorial quest: Kill the dummy Use any mean to finish him. Reward: +25XP
¡°Zombies can scratch, bite, or punch. ¡°Occult adept can use the following spells: Shards of ice or vortex by pointing the target with your index and naming the spell. ¡°To find available spells, just say menu, then select spells. You will find your spell list.¡± ¡°Ready to attack?¡± ¡°Wait¡­ scan!¡± Hopefully we can share scan information...
Straw dummy
If it¡¯s to learn this¡­ ¡°Attack!¡± The poor dummy I faced succumbed in a few hits. He fell apart at the least contact! The one John faced got hole from ice shard, and vortex smashed it to the ground. I saw a ¡°+25XP¡± in green over my dummy when I finished it. Then, a notification appeared:
Quest finished: you defeated the dummy. +25XP
Then, another:
Congratulation on having finished your first quest! +50XP
And again:
Level up!
¡°Your competence points are automatically assigned. ¡°Through your game actions, you can increase up to a certain point your competence points. ¡°Right now, you can train to earn various points in any competence. A star will show when you reach the maximum at a level. For example, vitality for a level 2 zombie can easily increase to 87, and then by various mean, you can increase it again to a maximum of 175. To continue, you need to level up. ¡°Changing class can also increase the maximum level of your competences. Having a m¨¦tempsuch?sis having already reached a higher level can also increase it up to the same level. ¡°To continue, please take the teleporter, just here, and go see the quest responsible at Zymivnyk village, next to Kosheva river. A blue vortex appeared in the room. ¡°Shall we go?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Ah! My first real big adventure begins! Inside the undead kingdom We found ourselves in a huge cavern, with purple light-emitting mushrooms enlightening it. In the centre, a big lake surrounded by small houses, in big stones simply put one over the others, a little bit like an igloo. The atmosphere was very different from the one in Offenburg: the sun couldn¡¯t be seen, impossible to say what hour it is; characters present were either undead, then quiet, either occult adepts, then quiet mages. The feeling of quietness and calm could be sensed, noises reverberated inside the cave, like footsteps, or sometime few disturbing people talking together. An old man with few long white hair was watching us, under his green question mark. The quest instructor! ¡°You two, there, come, I need you¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You came to help the village, isn¡¯t it? If you do as I say, you will be well rewarded.¡± It¡¯s at this step that I stopped in Offenburg, because of Gandock. ¡°Jules, we absolutely need to fulfil these quests, they are easy, quick, and allow us to get the minimum equipment, and also to understand where we are.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what I wanted to do. We accept your request, we wish to help the village.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good thing¡­ Go look for 10 luminescent mushrooms each, from outside this cavern. Take the tunnel at the bottom, and bring back what we need to get enlightened!¡±
Main quest 1: Finish the tutorial / next step. (Peasant) The village is enlightened with luminescent mushrooms. Like electric bulbs, at a certain moment, they stop working. Go look for new ones so that the village can operate well! Quest advancement state: 0/10 luminescent mushrooms Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
*** The tunnel was quite dark, simply enlightened from place to place by very small purple mushrooms, too little to be picked. The ground was uneven, with many little stones on which it¡¯s possible to stumble. Although it¡¯s so dark, we could see as in full light day because undead have an incredible night vision. Just as real cats! In a small crevasse, on the wall, a stronger purple light than the others was emitting intermittently. ¡°Be cautious, Jules, there are dark slimes that run in. They eat the luminescent muschrooms. They are very weak, but they can fight anyway.¡± ¡°Very well, let¡¯s fight! This one won¡¯t eat our mushrooms, isn¡¯t it?¡± Too late. Before we arrived, the light went off, the slime ate it. A slime? A gelatinous creature, round, without eyes or ears visible, no nose either, just an opening for the mouth. This one is completely black and eats mushrooms. ¡°Scan!¡±
Black Slime Health point : 10/10
Well¡­ this scan is not vey useful¡­ ¡°Attack!¡± The slime reacted to my punch by jumping on me. The impact didn¡¯t hurt, but I moved back anyway. ¡°Ice shards!¡± At the very moment the spell touched the slime, it deflated as a burst balloon, leaking on the ground a black liquid and leaving behind him a purple mushroom. XP+1 ¡°We get less than with the dummy¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we had to do the tutorial. Take the mushrooms, you are stronger than me. ¡°And how do I do, I have no bag.¡± ¡°Hum¡­ I don¡¯t know, put them in your skirt?¡± *** ? Scan ! ?
Luminescent mushroom
Scan scanThe narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Don¡¯t feel as if you can¡¯t use it again!
Not bad, I didn¡¯t think it would happen. An occult adept and a zombie with a big bump on the back where walking in the corridor, hunting black slimes and collecting mushrooms. The mushroom base is sticky, so if I just put it on a part of my body, it won¡¯t fall. And it¡¯s filled with twenty mushrooms on my back that we came back to the quest instructor. ¡°Oh, I see you have the mushrooms! Thank you very much! Put them here!¡±
Quest finished: you brought back the luminescent mushrooms. We will be able to enlighten the place for a little bit longer, here! +25XP +1 affinity with the instructor +1 in picking
Congratulations! You finished your first undead quest! +50XP +5 affinity with undead
¡°Truth would be¡­ I¡¯d like you to help once again the community. Can you go get some more luminescent mushrooms, and replace the one that no longer emit?¡± ¡°Hey, old pal, how can we transport the mushrooms, and how do we replace them?¡± ¡°Hm¡­ I see you don¡¯t have backpack¡­ well, take this.¡±
You received an old canvas bag. Capacity : 10L / 1kg It¡¯s rather fragile, don¡¯t overuse it!
¡­this equipment is so decayed... *** ¡°Do you think we are going to get more interesting quests?¡± ¡°Be patient! After having filled a few conditions, you can unlock much better ones! Those that take the time to finish all the quest someone gives usually unlocks some new quests much more difficult!¡± ¡°Yes, but right now¡­¡± Right now, we had to: pick mushrooms, replace used mushrooms by new ones, kill some slime that seemed lost and that blocked a corridor, but we don¡¯t know where it goes to, collect algae in the lake, and we are moving stones to fix a house. ¡°Doing the whole of this helps us understanding how the game works! Picking is a competence for the peasant job; fixing lights is repairing, a handyman job competence; hunting monsters blocking the way is for the hunter job, and as we are moving rocks to fix a house, it¡¯s for the architect job.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, anyway¡­ at least, it¡¯s true to say that it¡¯s cool to see the old man happy.¡± ¡°True enough, and normally, with the fifth quest, we can unlock new ones more interesting!¡± Which was a good thing, we just finished to move the rocks for the second house.
The village is composed of houses made from big stones. As time passes, rocks fell and it needs some repairs. Just as I say that, there are a few one you can fix! Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
It¡¯s time to meet back the instructor. ¡°Nice! Those houses really needed a renovation! Thank you very much!¡±
+25XP +1 affinity with the instructor +1 DEF
¡°Good! It¡¯s time for me to go to bed! You worked well, guys, see you soon!¡± *** As he was saying that, an unexpected event happened. At about the same time, all the luminescent mushrooms changed from a purple shade to a blue one, quite light. It¡¯s the day mode in the underworld, in Alter World. We don¡¯t know what time it is, but for players, at least, it¡¯s possible to know that time passes, and it justifies that NPC close the stores and go to bed¡­ Going to bed when it¡¯s day outside? ¡°Undead creatures live during the night, they prefer to sleep during the day. Anyway, it doesn¡¯t change a thing for us, the quest instructor just needs to be woken up!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a problem to wake up a NPC while he¡¯s sleeping?¡± ¡°They are here for us, no problem. Look, I will show you.¡± And Jean touched the old man shoulder, he jumped. ¡°Hey! What do you want?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t give us the next quest. Do your job!¡± ¡°OK, OK¡­ I give you three quests at once, so do them in the order you wish, and go back when you have finished them. But leave me alone!
The village has its own shrine for the necros idol. It¡¯s there where you go when you die. Find it! Quest advancement state: 0/1 shrine found Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
Main quest 1: Finish the tutorial / next step. (Rune engraver) Quest advancement state: 0/1 rune deciphered Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
And the NPC went back to its sleep mode. Necros altar ¡°So, it¡¯s 4PM in the real world, we can still play for 2 hours. Where are we going to find this stupid altar?" ¡°The wrong thing to do is to die, which would lead to be teleported there. We ca ask to people, they might help us. We just come back from the weaver who¡¯s house just got repaired. Let¡¯s go there.¡± On Jean¡¯s good advice, we went to the house we just had repaired. Someone was inside. Someone¡­ or something¡­ Someone that seemed to be dead for a long time, but in the same time that seemed energetic. A very little skeleton, working with bone needles and machines covered by threads, in a mix of mushrooms off and dried seaweed. In a corner, pants, shirts, canvas bag¡­ made from mushrooms? ¡°Oh, so nice! You two must be the architects who repaired my house! Sit down, sit down¡­ I don¡¯t offer anything to drink, I¡¯m not thirsty. What can I do for you, dear¡­ clients?¡± Removing belongings from two stones more or less flat and throwing on the ground the clothes he had made, he invited us to sit on those. ¡°We are here because we are gathering information.¡± ¡°Information? What kind of information? It¡¯s not free, but for people who helped me so much, I might give you a discount.¡± He was rubbing his hands, as if a good business opportunity was in front of him. Maybe he was already wanting to fool us? ¡°Necros Altar. Do you know where it is? We want to put a tablecloth on it.¡± ¡°Mh¡­ that is an information that won¡¯t cost much. To tell the truth, for me also it¡¯s a problem that there might be no tablecloth on it, it¡¯s not very serious¡­ If you give me 10 luminescent mushrooms, 5 fibrous algae, I will make the tablecloth for you. Only one condition, though, give me also a luminescent mushroom in a good state. To find the altar, go through this gallery, and continue up to the end. You will find black slimes on the road, but they won¡¯t attack if you don¡¯t attack them.¡± ¡°OK, thank you very much!¡±
The village has its own shrine for the Necros idol. It¡¯s there where you go when you die. Find it! (Update) It seems that it¡¯s down the gallery with black slimes. Quest advancement state: 0/1 shrine found Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
Difficulty: G+ Reward: +25XP Update: +15XP more
*** ¡°I feel like I¡¯m always doing the same things¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s how quests work, it has something repetitive on it. But in the same time, we should know quite well the village after that.¡± ¡°Who do you think was this little skeleton, before becoming one of those village inhabitant? He¡¯s so short!¡± ¡°Most of the time, it¡¯s goblins who take the weavers job. If he kept memories from his previous life, he can retain most of his technique. Occults adepts are happy to have them for their hooded dress. Goblins¡­ Even after their death, they can still use their hands very quickly. In Alter Life, we meet them on textile and leather jobs, mostly, they are as fast as thunder. With a weaving workshop or needles, a piece of thread, a good will, the can prepare any kind of cloth, fabric, or things like that in a record time. With a little bit more material, they can dry skins and prepare them to make boots, gloves, and even casks or leather armour, very resistant to arrows, lances, crossbow bolts¡­Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. This way, undead can benefit from the talents of all the other races? That gives ideas! A civilisation able to make people from very different races living together and make them work in harmony? Undead! If we can still call this ¡°living¡± together¡­ ¡°Well, let¡¯s walk through this gallery once more, then...¡± *** In Alter Life, there is consecutive quests. The more you go, the deeper you get in the game story, and the better the reward you can get at the end, even if intermediate steps are not that money making. In this tutorial, everything is linked together: you have to get resources and repair lights in order to make the tablecloth, which will be used on the Necros idol altar, for a beautiful look. Normally, at the end, it gives satisfaction as one get the feeling that he is mastering something. ¡°
Quest advancement state: 1/1 shrine found Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
¡°Jules, look closer at this skull, there seems to be symbols on it¡­¡± Behind the skull, letter embedded letters formed a name: Mal Tharek. ¡°It looks like embedded letters written by a 5 years old kid putting his name¡­ Mal Tharek?¡±
Main quest 1: Finish the tutorial / next step. (Rune engraver) Mal Tharek Quest advancement state: 1/1 rune deciphered Difficulty: G Reward: +25XP
¡°This quest was not too hard.¡± ¡°Sometime, you might have to decipher runes in other alphabets. No choice, in those cases, you need to find books, sometime of very ancient languages, or completely exotic! This time, we are lucky.¡± ¡°OK, let¡¯s gather the remaining ingredients for the weaver!¡± *** ¡°And here is the last algae! You have all that is required?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s perfect. Put the mushrooms there, and I will be able to make those tablecloths.¡± ¡°Is it going to be long?¡± ¡°No, by the way, take this¡­¡± The skeleton lifted a bunch of old clothes and took two tablecloths, of a very dirty grey.¡± ¡°Take those, it should be good. Thank you very much for all your efforts! Necros will be grateful for what you did!¡± ¡°You are not going to give us all tablecloths when we brought you new raw goods?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not important, really, and it would take too much time. Go away! Necros can¡¯t wait any longer!¡± I feel¡­ as if I got tricked. As if I give floor to a baker and he gives me stale bread¡­ or metal to a blacksmith and he gives me an old rusty sword... ¡°It¡¯s OK, Jules, let¡¯s go back to the altar. We should have just the time to finish the quest before logging out.¡± On the way, I look a little bit closer to what is around us, and I realise that it¡¯s beginning to be more animated, with talkative undead that either go looking for the instructor to get quests, or that are in the water looking for algaes, or walking with shining mushrooms in their bags. Houses falling on themselves alone, sometime mushrooms turn off after twinkling a little bit. After having placed the tablecloths under the skull, red light came out of the eyes sockets and it began to talk: ¡° The red lights disappeared, and the skull ceased to move. ¡°
Difficulty: G+
Beginners ! ? Hey, old pal ! We are here to report the achievement of the quests you gave us.¡± We took him out of his sleep once more. ¡°Mh? Oh, nice! Tell me everything¡­¡± ¡­ ¡°Mal Tharek? Yes, it¡¯s seems possible¡­ but who is he?¡± ¡°That, we don¡¯t know!¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s begin by giving you your rewards
+90XP +3 affinity with undead
Congratulations! You¡¯ve finished the first quest level in the undead realm! +50XP +5 affinity with undead Title: Undead beginner (+5 affinity with undead as long as the title is put on, -5 affinity with other races, +1 in each competence)
Level up! VIT+5 ; STR+3 ; HEA+2 ; INT +1 ; TEC+1 ; SPE+1 ; DEF+2 ; WIS+1
Here I go! It¡¯s a pleasure! Another level! And with a title, good catch! ¡°Well, my job is nearly over¡­ to continue the tutorial, you can go to Komyshany town, and find the instructor there. It¡¯s Elongoic, who is not far from the Necros altar. You will recognize her easily as she has a purple robe and is pale as a shroud. She will tell you more on Mal Tharek. ¡°Oh, as I am at it, you met Pruurg, our village weaver. He can also give you quests. Good luck!¡± ¡°Thanks old pal!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go to Komyshany!¡± ¡°It¡¯s time to disconnect. A little scan, and it¡¯s over for today.¡± *** The lake reflects my face¡­ perfect. ? Scan ! ?
Jules Zombie level 4 (12/173)
Mana point : 106/116
Defence : 2,8+0,28 % Resistance : 1,5+0,15 %
Critique rate : 1,5 % Dark energy : 1/1
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Technique : 15
Wisdom : 15
Title: Undead beginner (+5 affinity with undead as long as the title is put on, -5 affinity with other races, +1 in each competence)
¡°Well, it was so cool to play together, Jean Bondepays. Let¡¯s play again tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yes, and we¡¯ll go out of this small village to visit the town a little bit further. We¡¯ll reappear at the Necros Altar, it¡¯s our teleportation beacon right now¡± ¡°OK, see you!¡± ¡°Ciao!¡± Disconnection *** ¡°Aunty? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°You could at least escort him!¡± ¡°Hey, ho! I know when he goes in the machine, I don¡¯t know when he goes out! And¡­ he seemed to have so much fun!¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° *** ¡°So, now, tell me what you thought about those little cheese croissants, and those mini goat cheese tart with honey and nuts!¡± ¡°Daddy, why did you put so much mustard on the croissants? It¡¯s burning!¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have prepared the tarts this way. The pastry is not baked, and the honey is burnt on top! You should have lowered the temperature and put them lower inside the oven!¡± ¡°At least, cokes are fresh. Sweetheart, it¡¯s very kind of you, but we can see that¡­ mini bakery¡­ for it, you are still a beginner!¡± Poor daddy! It will be better next time! ¡°Well, well¡­ so, what do you plan to do for next weeks? You know that as long as heat wave continue, it¡¯s not possible to travel¡­¡± ¡°I planned everything for my lovely nephew: Jules works for me 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, I take care of lunch, and he can play the rest of the time. If you leave him going back home around 9 PM, he should be able to really benefit from the game and do a good work for me. My parents looked at each other, pensive... ¡°In itself, it doesn¡¯t bother us. A good experience in Alter Life, it should open his mind a little. But it won¡¯t make vacation homework.¡± ¡°Daddy! I don¡¯t have homework!¡± ¡° ¡° *** Evening finished quietly, and I didn¡¯t go to bed too late, after having taken a look on the internet. After all, this conversation with aunty and my parents put me under pressure. Since the beginning of previous century, many things have changed¡­ He doesn¡¯t leave a trace! Unpleasant surprise ¡°Servant of darkness, you¡¯re gonna die!¡± Sometimes, one can say himself he shouldn¡¯t have woken up during the morning. It¡¯s quite the effect it made me, after a few seconds of connection in Alter World. This knight is crazy! A madman! I¡¯m suffocating! I didn¡¯t have the time to realize what happened, I just connected and I was already under attack! Gandock was holding me in the air, by the throat, and I was beginning to lack oxygen. ¡°Aunty¡­¡± With a very aggressive look Gandock told me with a low voice : ¡° You will choose menu, next profil, titles, and you remove from your profil this Undead beginner title... ¡° And just after, aloud, in front of all the people that had staff, forks, or hatchet in their hands : ? Undead are not welcome here in Offenburg, and nowhere inside Souabe kingdom ! Those who befriend with darkness powers shall die ! ? And once again, in a low voice : ? Come on ! Tell menu, profil, titles, remove, yes. Hurry up ! ? In a breath, I followed his instructions, and suddenly, he removed his grasp. Just what happened here ? Suddenly, someone appeared in a ray of light inside the courtyard, and even before I could understand anything, she was jumping on Gandock. It was chimera, half-woman, half-cat. Usually, there are no monsters like this, around here. On her back, above her pants, a red tail could be seen moving. Ears too large and recovered by fur. Claws as long as phalanges at the extremity of each hand ¡°Gandock, you are gonna die !¡± *** ¡°If it was just for this, you didn¡¯t have to bother me !¡± ¡°But, aunty ! I was dying even before I could understand what was happening to me !¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. Furthermore, you should have told the boy to remove his titles before¡­¡± ¡°Oh, you, leave me with that !¡± It seems that aunty Priscy not only squabbles with mummy, but also with Gandock¡­ What came to your mind so that you attacked me lovely nephew as soon as he connects ? Says the one you attacks me as soon as she connects ! Answer ! Undead beginner ? It¡¯s that, that you send me to become a squire ? A servant of the darkness ? Don¡¯t act as if you didn¡¯t have metempsukhosis from the undead ! I am a Souabe knight, I don¡¯t wear titles that I might have gotten in an hypothetical metempsukhosis in the undead realm ! Pffh¡­ Whatever, I tell you, he is the only squire candidate I can find you. And you better have to take care of him! He¡¯s not some NPC!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but he¡¯s alright.¡± Once again, talking about me¡­ when I¡¯m here¡­ as if I was not¡­ ¡°Hey, please, sorry to disturb, but¡­ you know each other?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Just for a brief instant, I felt as If I had told the most stupid thing ever¡­ My aunty froze, mouth open, while Gandock burst out laugh, enough to make trees tremble! ¡°So what, you didn¡¯t tell him, Pripri?¡± *** Seriously¡­ I don¡¯t understand a thing to adults. After getting as red as a peony and telling me that we would meet for lunch, aunty disconnected. Meanwhile, Gandock was looking for his breath, and soon gave me some bread filled with cheese, and a piece of ham. ¡°Eat this, you got nothing for 3 whole days, or at least one day in-game. At this rate, you will first loose all your technique points, and progressively you will loose your life, up to starving to death.¡± What? ¡°And we will benefit from this break to talk a little bit, both of us. Don¡¯t pay attention to Emile, whatever I know, he can know it too. He¡¯s very¡­ discreet.¡± I had not even realized that he was here¡­ While I was peacefully eating my sandwich¡­ ¡°If you want to become my squire, you will have not to take titles linked to anything else than what we do together. Your others metempsukhosis stay where they are. Furthermore, all the progress you make somewhere else as an influence here. Which character did you take?¡± ¡°A zombie¡­¡± ¡°Very well. In this case, take this little book.¡± The way of the legendary meat bag, Gandock. Do you want to add this extension to your menu. ¡°If you choose yes, you will have access granted to new quests that will appear only under some circumstances. In this case, it will be taking the way to become the most sturdy zombies of all. It¡¯s the way to get the maximum level of constitution. I will explain everything when time comes, but it means that here, you will have to spend much time in the water! Let¡¯s get to the next step for your training...¡± *** The poor dummy won¡¯t give in under my attacks. ¡°Aaaah! You told me that if I could cross the river, we would do more interesting things!¡± ¡°Finish your 100 hits, and we talk about it again. To give hits with more power, all the arm has to hit, not only your forearm, but the whole arm. Smash with your biceps!¡± I do what I can, but it¡¯s not very strong right now. ¡°90...95...100! Phiouh! It¡¯s over!¡± ¡°Nice, well done, we can begin a little bit of meditation.¡± ¡°Of what?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve never done meditation? To get your competence points, you have to wait a certain amount of time after having done repetitive actions. It¡¯s not because you train that you get stronger, but because you take some rest after having trained. Rest is the most important part!¡± ¡°But then, why training when I can just rest?¡± ¡°Because the effort your muscle gives is realized only after the rest you take after this effort.¡± The Alter World system looks like a lot the real world under this aspect, he just calls it integration. ¡°Your body is still tired from the natation of the other day, and your arm loose in efficiency. Your last hits were much less energetic than the first ones! Sit cross-legged, and follow my instructions.¡±
New competence acquired: Simple meditation. Mastering your breathing and your emotions allows you to loosen your body and concentrate your energy on regeneration. You integrate faster what you¡¯ve learned when you are really loosened. When simple meditation is activated: Integration x2, HP/s +10%, MP/s +10%, TP/s +10% HEA +1
*** ¡°I¡¯m getting tired of hitting this poor dummy, it doesn¡¯t mean anything! Why don¡¯t I level up? Or why don¡¯t you teach me new competences? I can also finish quests to get stronger!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t go too fast, spirited youth! A stable basis is more worthy than a disorganized growth. A good squire must know how to use a sword proficiently. If you don¡¯t know how to do it, forget the rest!¡± Finally, I reach 100 other hits. ¡°Good, take this apple, and get ready. Emile! My horse! We¡¯re moving to Durbach!¡± Emile came back on a horse, holding reins of another one. Gandock made me climb on the saddle, then climbed himself, just before me. ¡°The other day, we met undines, and thanks to natation, you made significant progress either in swimming and for your constitution. Today, I propose you to get to know salamanders, the fire masters, and to get accustomed to hunting for your strength. You should like it!¡± Salamanders are half-reptile and half-human creatures. If undines are masters of water, both in rivers and seas down to the abysses, salamanders are heat masters, both in the most burning deserts and in still in activity volcanoes. When one wants work done on molten metals, he has to get in touch with salamanders. After a few minutes speeding on our horses, we stopped in the middle of a clearing. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived!¡± At this very moment, coming from everywhere, tens of small dogs began to bark in chorus¡­ I¡¯m afraid of dogs! The hound I don¡¯t know if you like dogs, but if you know them, this first contact with the hounds was stiriking. Chihuahua, dwarf spitz, Maltese or Frize bichon, Shih tzu, Yorkshire terrier, small Brabant¡­ It looked like a small dogs collection, that were not more than 30 cm long. They were moving forward slowly, threatening, barking, who better better¡­ Honestly¡­ My heart balanced between the ridiculous and the frankly hilarious: those dogs are so small that I am afraid of crushing them by mistake! On the other side, the coming of half a dozen salamanders, armed with a shield covered with green metal scales and a 1.50m long spear well sharp made me keep my breath. Looking at their appearance, they must be hunters: very little dressed, dirty, protruding muscles, slim and slender¡­ They must be formidable in a marathon! I moved toward Gandock, who was still not moving on his horse. ¡°Don¡¯t move, Jules, I wouldn¡¯t like you get yourself eaten by a dog hounds, neither you finish as a salamander food¡­¡± Well, thank you! That is all the esteem he as for me! The dogs hubbub was soon covered by a song intoned by the salamanders, serious and deaf. I thought hunters have to stay discreet and silent¡­ Here, it¡¯s all the contrary! A salamander moved toward us, straight, tells us: ¡°The prey is no longer that much abundant around. The dog hounds is hungry. Puppies want meat. You should do the trick.¡± Jumping to the ground, Gandock came closer to him and answered: ¡°It¡¯s alright!¡± And dogs jumped on him! *** I didn¡¯t know that dogs can drool that uch. On his knees, surrounded by all those small puppies, Gandock seemed in heaven. ¡°Khla, I missed you so much, you have a pretty jaw¡­ and you, ko, were you wise? My little lovely Chab, I see you have a better voice since last time! And you, Neak, you look great!¡± ¡°What happened? They didn¡¯t want to eat you? ¡°Of course not, Jules! I present you Vashslar, my hound . He¡¯s in charge of my little puppies when I can¡¯t take care of them. His principle mission is hunting hares, rats, nutrias, and other species of herbivores or small omnivores that can be around. Vashslar, I present you Jules, who will soon become my squire. I would like you to teach him the basics of hunting with hounds.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, young boy. Gandock¡¯s friendszzz, the hound masssster, are our friendszzz.¡± ¡°Well, nice to meet you too¡­¡± ¡°The hounds, it¡¯s all the dogs I¡¯ve raised and that help me regulate the ecocsystem of the area. Sometime, we even go hunting boars, but roes and dears, it¡¯s already enough. Under the teachings of master Vashslar, you will soon understand how to trap animals and finish them!¡± That¡¯s it, my first contact with salamanders and Gandock¡¯s hound. It¡¯s really too much emotions for too little time. ¡°You should use your scan on each and every animal, it will help you remind their name!¡± ***
Tcheam Frize bichon
Master : Gandock Health point : 16/16
Maybe my favorite...
KhlaThis story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Little lion dog
Master : Gandock Health point : 17/17
Ko Maltese bichon
Master : Gandock Health point : 16/16
Chab Yorkshire terrier
Master : Gandock Health point : 15/15
Neak Shih Tzu
Master : Gandock Health point : 16/16
And after the fifth dog, a good surprise appeared under my eyes with a ting!
Scan Level up! For having used numerous times the scan on similar animals, you are better at finding the differences between each other. Now, you can improve the scan cost to acquire more detailed informations. Advanced scan INT+2
If I was waiting for this! ¡°Use the advanced scan on all the hounds dogs. At least up to the point where you no longer have MP, which should arrive soon. Try again as soon as you have recovered enough. Up to this moment, let¡¯s go hunting, it will be good for you.¡± ¡°Do you know how to uzzze a spear?¡± ¡°Vashslar, look, he is a novice! Don¡¯t rush him! Right now, we will just track rats and finish animals fallen in our traps. ¡°Hey, I want to hunt too! It seems so much fun!¡± ¡°If he wantsss to face beastsss, why preventing him?¡± ¡°Come on, Gandock, It¡¯s you who want me to learn hunting!¡± ¡°OK, OK¡­ choose a dog, he will be with you right now. If by any mean you are in danger, we will inform me of what is happening.¡± *** Choosing a dog? From this fluffy hounds? Tcheam looks like a lamb, I would like one that seems more sturdy, but not Yok, the Brabant, who seems too clumsy... ? Kanhchrong ? ? It¡¯s a dwarf spitz, terribly cute, a little bit red¡­ Truth would be, when I look at him, and he looks at me with his two big eyes, I just want to cover him with kisses. When I am afraid of dogs! It¡¯s just to tell up to which point, in the cute categroy, where nearly all of the puppies of Gandck¡¯s hound can compete for the number 1 title in cuteness of the whole game, Kahnchrong is out of league! Look at him lick his small paw with his pinky tongue¡­ ¡°You want to take Kanhchrong? It¡¯s the smartest dog I¡¯ve ever trained, he could easily go on a m¨¦tempsukh?sis to restart his developpement as a¡­ bigger animal.¡± ¡°What? No! He¡¯s so cute! He has to stay small! Small is beautiful! It would be a pain unimaginable if you loose the mascot of the group!¡± ¡°Cutenessss is uselessss to hunt¡­ and Kanhchrong is an excssselent hunter. He trackssss birds as no other. A good climber and a talented treasure hunter!¡± ¡°I thought doing it a morph, a creature able to switch his form to a human one, but it can wait. If you really want him, you have to make a blood pact with him.¡± Blood pact? This day is really too filled with emotions! ¡°What is a blood pact?¡± *** Here comes the blood pact story. ¡°A long time ago, when first clever species emerged, some decided to ally with animals and monsters. ¡°Multiple tries were made, but as soon as there was a risk for the life of one or the other, they fled leaving the others behind. ¡°One day, a hunter hunted with his dog and they fought against a grizzly. ¡°The fight was epic and tragic, victory being gained only at the price of numerous wounds, deep, and without the possibility to benefit from the corpse of the defeated beast as he fell from a very high cliff. ¡°The hunter could no longer move because his two legs and one of his arm were broken, without taking into account the important losses of blood due to his injuries. ¡°The dog came to him and licked his wounds. ¡°The dog wounds, not as heavy as the one of the hunter, were closing visibly. ¡°Blood for blood, the dog gave his own blood to be drunk, leaking from his belly, were a deep notch was made not far from his vitals points. ¡°From this day on, an indestructible link united those two beings, who had formed the first blood pact of history. ¡°Any person giving his blood to drink and drinking the blood of an other one becomes so deeply united that what benefits one also benefits the other, the suffering of one also makes the other suffer. ¡°The rupture of a blood pact can¡¯t be done without loosing a part of oneself. ¡°Do you want to make a blood pact with Kanhchrong? Your sools will be misteriously linked, and he will serve you faithfully beyond m¨¦tempsukh?sis.¡± ¡°Yes, I want it!¡± Muscles! At first, I thought that hunting was mostly a question of stamina, a little bit of technique, so¡­ something like swimming. It¡¯s not this way with Alter Life hound hunt. It¡¯s more... ? Wouaf ! Wouaf, worf ! ? ? Wouf ! Wouf ! ? ? Rrhh... ? They say that, as I am minor in the real world, they put me a soft version of the game in which there is not too much violence. Not too much¡­ To see a poor ram walking freely being jumped on by about ten dogs, on both paws, throat, face¡­ And next having myself to slaughter this poor animal¡­ ¡°Go on, Jules! Here we go! Take the wool on one hand to raise the head and cut the throat with the other hand!¡± I turn pale, gather my strengths, use the dagger Gandock gave me, and try to hold back this head moving on all sides, watering me with blood with generosity¡­ ¡°It¡¯s nearly no longer moving, keep on the good work until he stops!¡± The truth would be, keeping this poor beast on the spot, it requires a huge amount of strength! The hound was in charge of putting the beasts on the ground, but after that it¡¯s required to hang on, empty them from their blood and once dead, going on the next step¡­ ¡°Here we go! Your first hunting trophy!¡±
Job hunter unlocked. Hunter is the most common job in Alter Life. It allows you to get meat and several raw goods. You acquired your first prey. STR +1
¡°And now, butchering!¡± *** ¡°Thissss, you can give it to the dogszzz, it won¡¯t be of any uszzze here, but it¡¯ssss nicssse if you want to prepare good ssssausages.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s disgusting!¡± ¡°It¡¯s nature, my little Jules. Man is an omnivore, and so a carnivore! That¡¯s what did our ancestors!¡± ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s still disgusting!¡± I opened the ram from the throat to the pelvis. Insides are a reward for the little puppies, who transforms themselves from small lovely cuties puppies to bloodthirsty carnivores. I believe I¡¯m going to have nightmares because of this¡­ ¡°With thissss knife, you remove the skin thisss way¡­¡± Nothing is lost, as they say. The ram skin will be used to make leather, quite mediocre quality, and as Gandock wants me to work as a leatherworker, I will see the end of this story, I will know where these leather clothes comes from as I make them. ¡°Good, now, we will take the meat and put it in this bag.¡± Not really a bag, more a bundle. The butcher work, in a clearing area, in the middle of the forest, it¡¯s not what I was thinking about when I connected this morning¡­ ¡°We are not at half a kilo close. The most interesting parts, we take them, the rest, it will be for the dogs.¡± I understand better why they seem so enthusiastic¡­ I thought they just loved running after other animals, but truth would be that dogs are born hunters who really love meat! ¡°You see this crystal? When you will be an undead, it¡¯s what will really be of interest for you. It¡¯s what you have to eat¡­¡± Still leaking blood, Gandock took from the ram head a small crystal. The monster crystal.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. *** ¡°Each and every monster and animal has in its head or somewhere in its body a crystal. Sometime it¡¯s the heart. ¡°The monster crystal contains usually the soul of the monster and a part of its energy. ¡°Of course, every dog of my hounds has its own crystal! But don¡¯t touch! ¡°When one wants to force a m¨¦tempsukh?sis from a dead to a newborn, one has to use magic to transfer vital and spiritual energy from the monster crystal to the forming crystal of the newborn.¡± ¡°It means there are two souls in the baby body?¡± ¡°No, it means that the spirit of the newborn will disappear leaving the previous monster alone. The newborn soul can go to another forming crystal somewhere else. ¡°There are many advantages to keep the same spirit on various lives: a part of the memory is kept, a part of the experiences, learning of anything already learnt in a previous life goes much faster¡­¡± ¡°So why did you tell me to eat them when I am a zombie?¡± ¡°To get the vital energy! ¡°It¡¯s considered a violation of nature laws, so you won¡¯t make yourself only friends, but it¡¯s undead work, isn¡¯t it? ¡°they have their own role in the nature equilibrium: when a race ¡°has¡± too many sools, it¡¯s undead work to collect them. ¡°Zombies can seize the body energy, psukh?pomps absorb souls. It allows new souls to get space and the cycle starts again.¡± ¡°Psukh?pomps?¡± ¡°If you find a black mage, ask him to follow the psukh?stasis way!¡± *** This small interlude only last a moment. After having taken all the necessary on this poor ram corpse, and stowed preciously its crystal, we kept on hunting with a few more kilos of meat on our back, and went for hares, nutrias, marmots, even small grass snakes¡­ ¡°Keep thhhhem well! Hey, you¡¯re gonna let thhhhem flee!¡± Vashslar is of course always here to coach me. Keeping on the animals struggling, it¡¯s really tiring. Each time I get cramps on my arm, it¡¯s the same ritual that keep on going¡­ ¡°Okay, everyone in circle, it¡¯s meditation time!¡± On a hand, seeing blood leaking along the puppies mouth is nightmarish. On the other hand, seeing them a moment later sitting kindly, pulling out the tongue and entering meditation, it¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s so cute! I fall for those balls of fur. I want so much to cuddle them! Yes, it seems my fear for dogs went away. But you have to watch their boil! ¡°Concentrate a little! You have to imagine the energy coming from your heart and going to the places where your muscles are the most tired.¡± ¡°But I already try!¡± ¡°We don¡¯t ask you to try but to succeed. It¡¯s quite easy, at work!¡± I really feel them, my muscles. It¡¯s pulling strongly, stronger than I am used to in the real world. Especially biceps and triceps, my arms pull terribly¡­ My forearms too. But as I breath deeply, realizing where it hurts¡­ It already nearly no longer hurts. ¡°Okay, one last prey for today!¡± *** One last prey¡­ My eye! A prey, but which prey! ¡°It weighs at least on ton¡­!¡± ¡°No, 250 kgs max. Keep well your feet on the ground, and take the shock! It won¡¯t kill you!¡± ¡°Mummy!¡± It¡¯s not a bear, not even a bull, nearly a boar. A wild pig. Solitary, hopefully. He must not be an adult yet, or else, he couldn¡¯t find a female! The problem began when he tried to flee from the dogs. Dogs who where on the other side of the wild pig, compared to me. So the wild pig charged on me. BOOM ! ¡°I think something broke, maybe a bone¡­¡± ¡°No, certainly nothing! Stand up and catch up to him!¡± With two dogs on each leg, he can¡¯t go far. But still, I¡¯m rang. He must have propelled me for at least two meters. ¡°If you where more stable on your feets, you would have stopped it, he wasn¡¯t that fast! Stand up!¡± I stand up, go for the wild pig that is fighting with the dogs, and jump on it, pulling the dagger in its throat. It doesn¡¯t let me go, so he turns on every side, throwing me in front of me, which allows me to open fully its carotide. I have to go on three times, being bitten twice at least¡­ ¡°It won¡¯t leave you any scar, so don¡¯t be afraid!¡± A last startle, and the pig definitely cease moving. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve done it!¡± ¡°Congratulations! It¡¯s over for today! Good work!¡± Daily quests ¡°What is psukh?stasis?¡± Aunty Priscy looks at me, surprised. It¡¯s as if I had told something really weird, as if¡­ I shouldn¡¯t know this word. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me Gandock asked you to follow the psukh?stasis way?¡± ¡°No, not for me, but Jean could follow it, it¡¯s a dark mage who is playing with me. But I don¡¯t know what it is.¡± Aunty hesitated a bit, took a deep breath, and finally tells me: ¡°Reapers, as in grim reapers, are creatures collecting souls from the deceased. Then, we call them psukh?pomps. If they have a scythe on one hand, they usually have a lantern on the other hand, which collects souls.¡± ¡°Why couldn¡¯t I find any information on it on the forums? ¡° ¡°It¡¯s not really confidential intel, but it¡¯s not spread. It¡¯s a way followed by very few monsters, very few NPC in Alter Life, and they have many cons for players. Their growth is quite low, you have to spend much time looking for monsters souls.¡± ¡°Then why did Gandock told me to associate with a psukh?pomp if I choose to eat monsters crystals?¡± ¡°You want to become a ghoul?¡± ¡°Gandock told me it would be the best for me.¡± Aunty looked at me silently for a little bit, and then: ¡°If you become a psukh?phage, a soul eater, then the psukh?stasis allows you to maintain the nature equilibrium, as if nothing happened...¡± *** We continued to eat quietly, talking about many things around ecosystems and equilibriums in Alter Life. Gandock is a knight who heartily maintains equilibriums, a certain order in the world. Why? It¡¯s one of the mystery my aunty tries to pierce. She looked for as much information as possible in the R&D service, but ecosystem intel is too sensitive, she doesn¡¯t have the access. She looks afraid for me, if I choose to follow the monster eater path. The fact that the psukh?stasis, the weighing of souls, can play a role in the equilibrium of souls in Alter Life is still mysterious for her. But for the equilibrium linked to the hunting done this morning, I can understand a bit. When players began to come in Alter Life¡¯s world, they began to hunt many carnivores, big animals. Their prey, many herbivores and small omnivores began to proliferate, threatening the forest, field¡­ quite every equilibrium. Hunting reduces the number of those animals and protects plants and small animals. There is more: places with many herbivores attracts bigger monsters, who are threats for human villages, mainly NPC. Gandock is doing an invisible work which produces a certain peace in the area. Nearly anywhere else, the world is burning is bleeding due to many monsters invasions, goblins proliferate, as well as orcs, sanguinary wolves, giant bears, and many other monsters which can find abundant preys where, before, there were much fewer. This virtual world is more complex than it seems... *** ¡°So, Jules, what¡¯s up since last time?¡± ¡°Oh, I hunted quite much. Gandock knight gave me chained quests. Look, just connecting, I already have three that appeared.¡±
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 1/3): Finish all the daily quests given by the quest masters (right now, you know 1 quest master) Completing daily quests gives special rewards. State of quest: 0/4 daily questUnauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Difficulty: G Reward: Unknown
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 2/3): Devour 100 crystals of the same monster Don¡¯t loose too much time with this quest. It¡¯s better swallowing new monsters, but swallowing weak monsters is still interesting. State of quest: 0/100 crystals eaten Difficulty: G Reward: Unknown
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 3/3): Take 1,000 damage, give 1,000, use a competence 100 times. If you have no competence, learn the guard from the first quest master you¡¯ve met. State of quest: 0/1,000 damage taken; 0/1,000 damage given; 0/100 same competence used Difficulty: G Reward: Unknown
¡°That¡¯s weird!¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s begin looking for the quest master?¡± ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do those daily quests before looking for the Komyshany .¡± ¡°Oh, do you want to follow the way of the psukh?stasis? They say it can do a good synergy with the development I want to follow as a soul eater.¡± ¡°Why not? The name is cool!¡± And that¡¯s how Jean chose his undead class! *** Guard competence is very easy to learn. You just have to your fists or a shield and hit a monster when it attacks you. Learning it was a piece of cake. As for the daily quests given by the quest master, it was most simple. A few monsters to hunt, some mushrooms to pick, a napkin to put on the Necros altar¡­ Really the minimum to at the same time taking part of the village life, and at the same part not really taking part of its development. When we finished our quests, something weird occurred. ¡°The quest Gandock gave me says 4 quests, but I only did 3, and I¡¯m not given more. ¡°Hey, old pal! What is this last daily quest you didn¡¯t give me?¡± ¡°A last daily quest? Oh, you might be talking about Pruurg quest! Go see him for me, after all, it¡¯s for Zymivnyk village development.¡± Nothing really original in the weaver quest, just collecting some mushrooms and algae, and then doing oneself a napkin. Next next, instead of making one twice, I will begin by this quest on the spot¡­ Fortunately, it¡¯s really quick, in no time it wwas done. ¡°Thank you very much! Thanks to you, I will be able to develop my activity, and begin to sell my products to Komyshany town!¡±
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 1/3 finished): Finish all the daily quests given by the quest masters (right now, you know 1 quest master) You have finished all the daily quests of Zymivnyk village State of quest: 4/4 daily quest Difficulty: G Reward: Your affinity with the quest master is enough to get the title friend of the village. Goods transport quests for the closest town are unlocked. You can claim to the quest mater the minimal equipment.
***
Title: Zymivnyk village friend (+5 affinity with Undead when the title is wore, -5 affinity with other races, +5 affinity with Zymivnyk habitants; +2 affinity with quest masters even if the title is not wore)
¡°Wow! My second title! I will become super friend with Undead!¡± ¡°It¡¯s useful to unlock new quests. You need a minimum affinity level before being able to unlock more interesting ones.¡± ¡°I just have to put back my title when I come back, and remove them as I change avatar. Else, I will get attacked again by Gandock, like last time.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, it happends to me every time as I reconnect!¡± Seriously, Jean¡­ we really look alike a lot. ¡°Hey, old pal! We want the basic equipment! And we would like to know what it is, goods transport quests!¡± ¡°Oh, well, take this...¡±
You received a bonnet, a skirt, gloves, pants, all in old used canvas. PV +10, DEF +5 It¡¯s fragile, don¡¯t overuse it!
¡°It¡¯s the best we can do around here! If you spoil them to much, just ask Pruurg to repair them! ¡°Good timing, as I¡¯m talking about him, now, you can transport for him his production to the weaver guild, in Komyshany town. It¡¯s a quest that will increase our village reputation!¡± If everything he produces is as broken as the clothes we just got, we are not going very far... Psukh?phage ¡° ¡° ¡° I don¡¯t have any idea¡­ At the end of one of the tunnels going from the village, there is a large space with luminescent mushrooms, black slimes emerging regularly from about everywhere, and bats on the ceiling. Slimes which eat enough mushrooms then go in the galleries, up to the surface, or to the bottom. It¡¯s the mushroom field. Ideal place for fighting, for beginners. ¡° ¡° Scan
Black slime Health point : 10/10
Gandock¡¯s note : There is no crystal on low level slimes, there soul is only vegetative, with a primitive way to fight. To absorb their energy, one has to drink the black liquid forming their body before it goes away. To collect their soul, one just has to put a little bit of mana on a monster crystal. A level one crystal can stock up to 100 black slime souls.
I think I can try something... ***
Flying fox Health point : 15/15
Gandock¡¯s note: Low level monster without interest. Give a level 1 monster crystal. A level 1 crystal can stock up to 30 flying fox souls.
¡° Ice shard. And now that I have my guard, my protection competence, even if I fight against ten of them, it should still be alright. This one was quite easy to deal with, but bats are reputed to be formidable enemies because they can live in colonies of hundreads of individuals! I wouldn¡¯t like to have to fight against that, I¡¯m only a mage!¡± ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Scan
Level 1 crystal, flying fox souls State : 1/30
It seems okay.¡± ¡° ¡° If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The following hour saw a zombie and a dark mage fighting against tens of flying foxes and hundreads of black slimes. Flying fox reproduce real quick, but their number is limited in the mushroom field, whereas slimes appear regularly and become more consistent enemies after having eaten and digested a few mushrooms. The zombie drunk slime¡¯s blood and ate flying foxes, sometime still alive. The mage sent ice shards spells as often as he could, and collected monsters crystals on defeated flying foxes. For each defeated monster, the mage made blowing a little crystal, changing depending on the type of monster or when he had made it blow too many times. The zombie sometime voluntarily got hurt, but most of the time, he protected himself against attacks with his fists. As people are not used to go there, those two undead were not disturbed during this whole time. It would have surprised anyone to see those two players training against so weak enemies and doing it without having to fill a quest given by the quest giver, who would have been responsible for this weird behaviour. The zombie gloves tore first, followed by the shirt and the bonnet. What a bad idea to fight with an outfit in so poor condition! At the beginning, numerous slimes escaped from the field, and flying foxes came in and out. At the end, rare were the leaving slimes, and one could only view flying foxes entering and installing themselves in free places on the ceiling. ¡°Okay, I believe it¡¯s alright for the second quest!¡±
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 2/3 finished): Devour 100 crystals of the same monster State of quest: 100/100 black slime crystals eaten Difficulty: G
Talent : Slime killer (+10% efficiency with slimes, HP+1) Jelly eater (+10% efficiency with slimes, HP+5) Capacity: Essence tank (HP+5, Black energy +1 if Undead race and unlocks quests to get the Psukh?phage class, else LUC+1)
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°
Talent : Slime killer (+10% efficiency with slimes, HP+1) Jelly collector (+10% efficiency with slimes, MP+5) Capacity: Essence weigher (PM+5, Black energy +1 if Undead race and unlocks quests to get the Psukh?pomp class, else LUC+1)
¡°phage and psukh?pomp. You talked me about it, and it looks like a hidden quest: that¡¯s cool!¡± ¡° *** Here we go for the third quest!¡±
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 3/3 finished): Fighting State of quest: 1,000/1,000 damage taken; 1,000/1,000 damage given; 100/100 guard Difficulty: G Reward: You have fought enough to get Competence novice, Blow receiver, Blow dealer, Novice guardian
Title: Competence novice (TP+5, TEC+1) Capacity: Blow receiver (HP+5, CON+1) Blow dealer (Damage +0,5, STR+1) guardguard successful guard
¡° ¡° I hesitate. On one side, Jean is my best friend, I can¡¯t hide anything from him. On another side, I¡¯m afraid to do a mistake with aunty Priscy, and to unveil things that should stay secrets¡­ ¡° The answer was not long to get. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Komyshany ¡°This is Komyshany?¡± I was expecting to arrive in one of those cities you encounter at the beginning of video games, with plenty of people, stores, houses¡­ Instead, it¡¯s hardly more impressive than Zymivnyk. There a larger lake, with a few barques on it, but more peculiar, undead going inside and emerging from it. Small stone houses are in some places put together, leaving a courtyard inside, and many small grapes of houses around the lake. Where the houses are more dense, we can find a few bigger ones, with cement that makes the stone fit together, sometime bricks, and dark wood on the openings. The height of the ceiling, of the cave, goes up to about ten meters. Luminescent mushroom there are much bigger, with an upside down hat that seemingly gives a place for not only baby flying bats but also small firefly, living together peacefully. On the biggest houses, panels give the stores names. A market with various stalls has a whole population of people already dead for a long time looking for black substance, pills or small items. We also find a few schools, which are more just a classroom with a teacher struggling to find students, but who teach fighting competence, magic knowledge, techniques, jobs... In one of the small stores, I finally find what I was looking for: a weaver! ¡°Oh, you must be Jules! Pruurg talked to me a lot about you!¡± *** ¡°Yes, so talkative, those goblins!¡± ¡°Up to the point of thinking that they only have this to do in life: talking!¡± ¡°Hey, did I tell you that time when I had to deliver an item to a still living goblin? He talked to me for 20 minutes! I could not find how to disconnect!¡± ¡°At least it¡¯s done¡­!¡± To help on the guild expansion, it¡¯s necessary to look for various raw materials, that change from one place to another one, but also locally from one village to another one. Sometimes, for the same goods, there is plenty on a place and nearly not on another one, and stocks but be refilled. Producing much is also important. For this, guild members in small villages can also produce many simple items that earn little money, but enough to make a living. On the other side, they receive raw material unlikely found where they are, to diversify their production and even sell more interesting items. And if we stay on the sell aspect, towns have more people going threw them than villages: there is always more requests, so offers has to always get renewed. The guild system allows the hard workers and talented one to climb the guild ladder and get an always more interesting role. Different guilds are not really rivals, it¡¯s more everyone has its place, and they often cooperate. Sometimes, they compete to get good selling places on markets, or to offer quests to adventurers, but it stay quite cordial. *** ¡°Yes, no¡­ mh¡­ wait, you know who Mal Tharek is?¡± ¡°Of course! This old lazy idiot who prefer to hide in a small village where he welcomes newcomers instead of fighting on my side to extend the darkness powers all around the black sea. What a slacker!¡± ¡°You mean¡­ the old man¡­ and Mal Tharek¡­ are only one guy?¡± ¡°For sure!¡± ¡°So he is the one who built the Necros altar?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°The Zymivnyk alter, yes. And many more, but most of them were destroyed by trolls. I think it took away from him all his good will.¡± ¡°Wait, you also say that the old man fought against trolls?¡± ¡°Fight¡­ yes, he came once with me on the battle field. But after a few hits, he reconverted on altar maker. When he saw too many get destroyed, he finished by stopping everything. He¡¯s slack¡­ ¡°Enough with the talk about him, tell me more about you: which good wind made you come here?¡± ¡°We want to continue the tutorial.¡± ¡°Perfect! Which direction do you want to follow? The way of warriors? Merchants? Artisans? Leaders? Just when I was going to say warrior, a window popped up in front of me¡­
Quest of the legendary meat bag (Way 1/4): Becoming a corporal To become a legend, you have to lead an army! Ask the instructor the leader way! Difficulty: G
¡° *** There are 4 main ways to play Alter Life, depending on everyone style. Warriors are all the fighting classes. In some games, warriors with weapons are on a side, mages on another side, sometimes even adventurers separated¡­ Here, they are sub-guilds that groups together people, either monster hunters or war amateurs. Most of the time, Alter Life is played for this! Merchants buy and sell quantities of goods, with bags, carts, guild contracts caravans¡­ Biggest merchant sell very precious items, have huge stores, or retail chain, sometimes cities dedicated to commerce. Some of them pay for mercenaries armies competing with the biggest warriors armies¡­ Artisans are producers. We can find all of the raw material extractors, makers, fixers, enhancers¡­ Best artisans sell their production at a very high price, with a huge demand! Leaders don¡¯t always fight themselves, or sell, or produce, but they¡­ lead¡­ Strategists and army commanders lead armies to war, for territory conquest. Guild leaders and corporate leaders lead economic structures to conquer new markets. Master artisans and factory manager lead fabrics or factories to produce new items. And of course, those who lead everyone are on the top of the scale, village mayors, barons, earls, marquis, dukes, princes, kings¡­ and emperors! Those who become the best warriors lead sometime territories, but there are few of them. Why does Gandock want me to follow this path?¡± *** ¡°Leader? For a first way, it¡¯s ambitious¡­ most of the time, people choose one of the three other. Are you sure you want to become both of you leaders?¡± ¡°Yes, we want to become corporals!¡± Elongoic stopped for a moment. She looked at me, next at Jean, closed her eyes, and seemed to think at something difficult. It¡¯s a kind little granny, who certainly is more than a hundred years for a long time. Her purple robe is impeccable, immaculate, and her skin is white as snow. Deep wrinkles dig her face, but she looks like a 15 years old girl when you just focus on her energy... In a serious tone, she says: ¡°If you are able to convince 3 creatures to follow you, each, not only will I name you corporal, but I will allow you to lead as many creatures as a corporal chief in my army.¡± Truth is, corporal chief, it¡¯s just the next grade, so leader a dozen creatures, 3 corporals leading 3 soldiers each.
Main quest 2: Complete the tutorial/next step (Corporal) To become a corporal, you must convince 3 creatures to follow you. State of quest: 0/3 creatures Difficulty: F
A second window appeared and surprised me:
Quest of the legendary meat bag (Way 1/4): Becoming corporal (next step) To lead an army, you need troops! Submit 3 black slimes with submission capacity. Ask the instructor to teach you, and next use it on slime with less than 5 HP. Difficulty: G
¡°How do we use the capacity submission?¡± ¡°Look at the creature, put your hand on its head, and simply say submission.¡± Ok, then¡­ let¡¯s go! Just corporal? A black slime was eating quietly a luminescent mushroom. Appeared at the end of a dark corridor, he enjoys the quietness of the place that allows him to take meal after meal. After its 20th mushroom, he became at least twice as big as what it was before eating its first one. This diet is simple, goes with a few water drops oozing from the rocks, and allows this slime to reinforce its core, liberating during the process dark energy in the air. Scan
Black slime Level 3
Health point : 11 Submission : 0/100
The meal goes on, the slime not noticing the zombie and the occult adept watching him from far away. They got closer without making too much noise. ¡°I try first. If it doesn¡¯t work¡­ send him spells to maintain him where he is.¡± A simple plan. The zombie jumps on the poor slime and lacerates it with its claws. The slime reacts charging, but it hits the fists of its opponent. Guard. Another scratch puts it in a critical position. It jumps on the zombie left arm to bite him. The shirt protects the arm a little bit, but gets hurt during the process. A hand lands on its head with strength. Submission. The zombie looks at the slime. The slime looks at the zombie. It releases the zombie arm, falls down, the hand still on its head. Less than 10 seconds later, it¡¯s finished. Now, this little slime is the first creature tamed by the zombie. It will be followed by a multitude of other slimes, and much more impressive creatures... *** Soon, Jules and Jean have submitted 3 slimes each. They quickly realized that even without attacking, it¡¯s possible to submit a so weak creature, simply in 10 seconds, even without having to fight. It¡¯s just a little bit more aggressive during the process, but how much damage can deal a simple slime? All considered, our two friends gets their HP back just by waiting, and some time. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that this quest would be so easy. I don¡¯t know why Gandock wants me to do it¡­¡± ¡°We are at the beginning of the game, it¡¯s normal that it¡¯s simple. But I¡¯m curious too to know what we can do with those slimes. For fights, they¡¯re zero!¡± ¡°Yes, and it doesn¡¯t produce anything, it only eats mushrooms all day long, and they are weaker than flying foxes! We could have tamed stronger monsters!¡± ¡°Hey, you know, beginning with what is the easiest is a good strategy. It allows you to catch the thing and to get prepared for harder challenges. We will get them soon enough.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s report to Elongoic.¡± On the way back to the town, a bad surprise awaited them. A shadow got out of the rocks and jumped on our slimes! A kind of raccoon killed the last slime we submitted, and another one, and before we could react correctly and pushed him back, he had killed nearly 5 of them! Scan !
Raccoon Health point : 11/15
Gandock¡¯s note: Weak monster, troublesome because it can eat slimes and baby flying fowes. Gives a level 1 crystal monster. A level 1 crystal can stock up to 30 raccoon souls.
*** After the little misadventure with the raccoon, it was necessary to tame a few more slimes and to get back to town taking care of not having them eliminated. Our dear slimes souls were not lost, as we had a monster¡¯s crystal to collect them, but we didn¡¯t know what to do with them. Also, the appearance of this new monster was quite a good news, whatever says the Gandock¡¯s note: there are way too many slimes around here, it will reduce their number a little bit. I don¡¯t understand this comment: troublesome¡­ Whatever, people were looking at us awkwardly, us and our black slime escort. At least, people were not attacking them. As long as they don¡¯t eat the mushrooms producing the town light, they shouldn¡¯t be a problem¡­Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ? Ah ah ah ! Whuahah ! ? We could have expected a reaction a little bit more measured¡­ ¡°That¡¯s it? Those are the monsters you¡¯ve submitted? Ah ah ah!¡± The first time I saw Elongoic, she seemed old and a little bit stern. Here¡­ ¡°You want to eat all the town luminescent mushrooms so that we are put in the darkness, isn¡¯t it? Ah ah¡­ oh¡­ it¡¯s been such a long time since last time I¡¯ve laughed so much!¡± ¡°So, we can become corporals?¡± ¡°Of course! Slime corporales! Ah ah ah¡­¡± A few windows popped up one after the other in front of me.
Main quest 2: Complete the tutorial/next step finished (Corporal) To become a corporal, you must convince 3 creatures to follow you. State of quest: 3/3 creatures Difficulty: F
submission Difficulty: G
A dark slime is first of all a dark energy generator. And to become a legend, you will need a lot of energy! Ask your instructor for the artisan path! Note: If you team up with a soul raiser, effects can multiply Difficulty: G
¡° *** A monster raiser is not an army leader. The principal difference lays in the way to see creatures: a leader manages troops to battle, a monster raiser¡­ raises monsters so they get bigger, stronger, more¡­ it depends on monsters. For as much as I know, nobody raises slimes. They are not interesting in fights, can¡¯t produce anything, and eliminating them doesn¡¯t even give a level 1 monster crystal. This being said, they are easy to raise: they eat only mushrooms, drink a little bit of water, that¡¯s all. They are like a plant: if you give it the minimum attention, in return, you get limited results. They don¡¯t even stock dark energy: after having eaten a mushroom, which lasts about ten minutes, they get one unit of energy. If they already have one, eating another mushroom won¡¯t profit them more than 2 minutes during which they have a modest bonus, but all this dark energy will dissipate in the air. Dark energy is an exchange unit for undead: they use it as food, can convert it in HP or devastating attacks, or, if there is enough in the air, it forms a miasma that gives bonuses for undead and penalties for living beings. Raising slimes, it¡¯s just like having a power station: as long as you give mushrooms, you get energy. The problem, after, it¡¯s what to do with it¡­ A soul raiser is very different, his job has nearly no information on it on the internet, because nobody understands what it serves as. But if a monster raiser can get new monsters with a great potential... *** ¡°Here we go, my friends! As you your following monsters, and you have monsters souls in monster crystals, I give you right now your jobs!¡±
To become a monster raiser, you have to submit 3 monsters. State of quest: 3/3 monsters Difficulty: F Job: Monster raiser: You have the authorization to raise monsters. Don¡¯t forget to suscribe to the guild!
¡° ¡° ¡°
Commerce will allow you to finance wars, and for this, nothing is as good as producing your own money! Ask the instructor for the merchant way! Note: If you team up with an infuser, effects can multiply Difficulty: G
*** ¡°Here, take those copper rings and this bronze coin. ¡°When you put many on top of each other, it gives you a copper pile. It becomes a currency if you take the energy of a black slime and put it on a ring. ¡°If you infuse energy from a pile to a bronze piece, it concentrates the energy. ¡°Around here, we trade essentially with copper rings, but you can also easily trade bronze pieces. ¡°For more precious items or in bigger towns, you will need silver discs or gold rings. ¡°They are all about the same size, with a hole on the centre, allowing you to put them on your belt. ¡°The coin maker guild loves currency generators, they will provide you with plenty of copper rings and pieces.¡± So this is how the monetary system works in Alter Life, for the undead¡­ Usually, currency generators have to follow slimes to get their dark energy, but right now, I only have to ask my slimes to open their mouth and to take the little dark bubble next to their core. Putting it on a copper ring, I generated my first coin. ¡°I can¡¯t do it like you!¡± ¡°That¡¯s weird, because if I try with your slimes, It works without problem¡­¡± Slimes only obey to monster raisers, not to a leader or a soul raiser¡­ ¡°Whoh! To infuse one bronze piece, we will need 20 copper rings!¡± ¡°I can give you them, already charged with dark energy.¡± Thanks Elongoic! And here it is, our first bronze coin infused... The warriors path ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since last time I¡¯ve seen someone keep on going doing quests that fast to choose the available ways in this world. I suppose you are going to choose one of the warrior¡¯s path, right now?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why we¡¯re here! ¡°What does this little zombie want to become? A zombie archer? A Ghoul? A mummy maybe? Ah ah! A plagued? Maybe a zombie knight?¡± There is a large variety of development paths available in Alter Life, but we can regroup them in a few huge families. Tanks: no reservoirs, but blows takers, the best of all. The ghoul is the most tanky as it has many health points, the power of regenerating while eating corpses, a superior magic resistance for the undead races. Dealers, or Damage Per Second, or DPS: those who deal damages of course. Zombie archers attack from far away, under cover. Zombie knights are a mix between a tank and a dealer, a warrior, quite useful for duels. In one vs one, the zombie knight is a formidable opponent, as he has enough health points to carry on the damages of a dealer, and enough attack power to eliminate even a tank. Useful guys, or support: those who modify the behaviour of either allies or enemies. The plagued has a great palette of poison or curse magic, it¡¯s a really difficult class to manage but when poisons accumulate, enemies fall like flies. Mummies are a mix between a tank and a support, because they paralyse their enemies with their strips. ¡°A ghoul!¡± *** ¡°And you, little occult adept, what do you wish to become? A black mage? A necromancer? A plagued? A reaper?¡± Black mages use increasingly powerful magic: the basic dealer, with both individual or with Area of Effect (AoE) attacks. Necromancers would be more like supports: they invoke armies who fight for them, but they stay back, leading crowds of monsters. Both zombies and adepts can become plagued, but some will be more carried toward the transformation of dead people in a zombie army, while others will use and abuse poison magic. As for reapers, they are dealers incredibly difficult to play: they inflict huge magic damage, but with close combat attacks, with their scythe. ¡°I¡¯d like to become a psukh?pomp. Do you know which class I have to choose first?¡± ¡°Of course! It¡¯s a special class for reapers.¡± A reaper, not really what Jean would have chosen spontaneously¡­ ¡°Jules, are sure I have to choose the reaper way?¡± ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry, you will still be able to send spells¡­¡± ¡°I would be more comfortable with a necromancer: I¡¯m already a soul raiser and an infuser¡­ it will be great together!¡± ¡°I can guaranty you that with me as a ghoul, I will be good enough to take the blows, and as a monster raiser, we will always be well surrounded! ¡°And yes, the same way it¡¯s necessary to be a ghoul to get the psukh?phage special class, it¡¯s necessary to be a reaper to get the psukh?pomp class.¡± ¡°Okay, then, a reaper class for me¡­¡± Jean sighed deeply... ***
To become a legend, you need a legendary class! Ask the instructor the ghoul¡¯s way, and you will be able to get the psukh?phage class after! Difficulty: GIf you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Main quest 3: Complete the tutorial/next step (Class) To become a warrior, master the competence of the desired class. You will find the instructors at the warrior¡¯s guild. State of quest: 0/4 competences Difficulty: F Class: Ghoul: You transform into a big zombie. Gandock¡¯s note: It¡¯s the tankiest class for undead beginners, and it¡¯s needed to become a psukh?phage.
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Elongoic couldn¡¯t help but rub one¡¯s hand. There are quantities of beginner players who came through this town, but nobody was like those two young folks. They seemed to follow a path they could not understand, but that would be a huge help for the town. After all, people who invest in the development of a village like Zymivnyk are a good omen for Komyshany town. ¡° *** ¡°Okay, you come on behalf of Elongoic and you want to become a ghoul? You are at the right place! A dirty house, in stones like any other, hosting a big stinking ghoul sat on a rock. For sure, as he is so fat, he would break any chair on which he would sit¡­ If the zombie is thinner than a human, as his belly is usually tucked in the belly and would even stick to the bones, the ghoul is a very big undead, dripping meat from everywhere. Burk. ¡°The first competence is very simple! The niom! It allows you to swallow your opponent. Well... if he moves too much, it can get complicated, so just go training on corpses!¡± ¡°So it¡¯s useless on real fights?¡± ¡°Think again! It¡¯s a competence that allows you to restore your health points, and depending on what you eat, you can also get back dark energy. Very useful! ¡°And it costs nearly no mana! Only 20 PM! ¡°Try using it on one of your slimes!¡± Well¡­ I don¡¯t have anything to loose. Niom ! A window appeared:
You swallowed one of your own slimes! You recover 11HP in 10 seconds and 1 dark energy unit.
Black slime Level 3
Health points: 11 Submission : 100/100
Gandock¡¯s note: Never ever eat a slime you trained! Only those you just submitted.
¡°And that¡¯s it! You acquired your first competence!¡± *** ¡°The second competence is a little bit more technique, it¡¯s the dark punch. You have to concentrate your dark energy in your fist, and hit the target. Guaranteed damage!¡± ¡°It consumes dark energy, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes, this energy dissipates in the air. If you train well, you can transfer it in the body of your opponent, and at this moment¡­ ouch, ouch, ouch!¡± ¡°Just try it on me. You are just a so little beginner ghoul, you don¡¯t frighten me!¡± All my body was exuding a black smoke that must be the dark energy coming from my poor slime. No big deal, with my essence tank competence, I can have up to 2 dark energy units, so I have 2 trials for this punch. The same way as while meditating, when I put my attention to a place in which I suffered, I think right now real hard at my fist, feel it, close it on itself. It¡¯s as if all of my strength was inside. BOOM! Even if I hit with all my strength in the ghoul belly, it¡¯s as if I had just touched it. ¡°No pain! But that was a beautiful punch, you have acquired the second competence! ¡°The third one is the one I just used, it also requires dark energy, the black skin. You have to concentrate your dark energy not in your fist, but in a place in your body that becomes a very efficient shield!¡± ¡°Here also, dark energy dissipates into thin air?¡± ¡°Not immediately. After having absorbed the shock and so reduced the damage, the dark energy is absorbed by the body to regenerate, leaving only after this energy evading from the body. ¡°So, now is my turn.¡± Sorry? Becoming a ghoul Why is this teacher mad? I rolled on the ground, my belly in my very two hands. ¡°Are you crazy!?¡± I must have received at least 100 damage with this one hit! ¡°Hey, sissi, you have to concentrate your attention on the place you have to protect, eat a slime and ask to another one if it can attack you slowly.¡± No sooner said than done. What is a slime attack next to one of the teacher punch¡­ Even if I took a few damage from the slime attack, it was painless, thanks to the protection given by the black skin. ¡°Nice, now, last competence: laceration! A big paw kick, all claws outside. It¡¯s quite like the dark punch, but it tears apart! On some enemies who are strong against blunt attacks, a good tearing attack can only do good things!¡± Blunt: a knocking attack, like a mace, a punch, a stone¡­ Curiously, laceration doesn¡¯t require dark energy, which is quite the good news, as it will allow me to use it without having to recharge my battery every time I want to use it. Fortunately, I don¡¯t have to fight against the teacher for real, and that he accepts to get hit without retaliating... ¡°That¡¯s it! Perfect! You master the 4 basic competences of the good little ghoul! ¡°You just have to meet Elongoic to validate the quest!¡± ¡°Great, thanks! By the way, do you know what one has to do to become a psukh?phage?¡± No answer. The big ghoul who was my teacher looks at me with a dark air¡­ ¡°You¡¯re not gonna choose the forbidden class?¡± Forbidden class? *** Jean came quietly learn a few spells thanks to the appropriate teacher while I go to the market. There are many little black pills to be sold, some consumable dark energy reserves. Most of them serve to regenerate only one unit, but as many undead beginners can¡¯t stock more than one at once, it¡¯s okay. Many clothes are in a lamentable state, just like those Pruurg makes¡­ A few mushrooms of different kinds, all sprouting in the caves. Next to the luminescent ones, we can find some small in white, and red one with turquoise dots. A few algae, some big transparent fishes showing their bones or smaller ones with a bulb linked to the forehead by a kind of a rod. A place with armours made in a very poor quality leather, broken shields, ripped boots, dented casks¡­ Rust swords, maces with handles full of splinters, bows with only the string that seems in a good state, tissue bands with threads going in all directions¡­ A change table with bronze or pieces coming from different places, as it can be seen from the different faces inscribed on them. ¡°Are you interested by my pieces?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m a coin maker, but I still don¡¯t know very well how to do things¡­¡± ¡°Coins? Wonderful! It¡¯s your slime, behind you?¡± The only survivor from the visit to the ghoul¡­ ¡°Yes, why?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want to put the little dark bubble on one of my copper ring? 3 rings in exchange and a mushroom as a gift!¡± High five! Hop! For the slime, the mushroom! *** ¡°Ah, both of you are there! Congratulations! You can change your class!
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Difficulty: F Class: Ghoul: You are now a big zombie. CON +4 STR +2 HEA +2 DEF +1 HP +10 Gandock¡¯s note: Congratulations! Nearly a psukh?phage.
To become a legend, you need a legendary class! Become a psukh?phage! To do it, eat 10 zombies while being a ghoul. Difficulty: F
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Taboo: that must not be talked about¡­ ¡° In a sigh¡­ ¡° *** ¡°Well, toady was a good day! We did a great work!¡± ¡°Yes, I took advantage from being in the village to learn the necromancer spells, as well as plagued ones, and even black mage ones, you never no¡­¡± ¡°Why learning so many?¡± ¡°You know me! I have the collectionnite! Whatever I can collect, I take it! Also, competences can be very useful! You know how you are going to eat zombies?¡± Not really¡­ If I attack other players, I make enemies¡­ If I attack NPC, I¡¯m gonna be hated by everyone in the town¡­ And, there are not many zombies around here¡­ ¡°I have a solution!¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Ah ah! You just have to produce them yourself!¡± ¡°Oh, and how do you make a zombie?¡± ¡°Very easy! You just need a corpse, a little plagued spell, and bim! A zombie!¡± ¡°Just like this?¡± ¡°Just like this!¡± I wouldn¡¯t have thought about it¡­ Astute, this Jean! ¡°Okay, and how do you find a corpse?¡± ¡°Whatever the animal is good, even a flying fox¡­ though¡­ but¡­ I think it would be better to go back up to the surface. Or finding cave trolls. We will do it tomorrow.¡± ¡°Oh, yes, it¡¯s beginning to be late!¡± ¡°What is the name of the village in which you meet Gandock?¡± ¡°Mmh¡­ Offenburg, Souabe kingdom¡­¡± ¡°Okay, it¡¯s great! Bye, see you tomorrow, Jules!¡± ¡°Yup, tomorrow Jean!¡± Disconnection. *** Aunty Priscy was really busy, so I came back home directly. With everything that just happened, I¡¯m happy to just sit in the bus. I don¡¯t even put music in my ears, too tired. If I didn¡¯t live in a place so lost, I would have taken the city loop, but right now, I have to take the bus. I love the city loop! The urban transport that supplanted the subway, but even more the tram in most of the cities in the second part of 21th century. Individual capsules, in tubes, monitored by artificial intelligence, with 80km/h air inside. Anyone who has enough money live next to a urban loop station, in suburbs far from many kilometres of the downtown. Your position is semi-recumbent, it¡¯s possible to have a good bag with you so it¡¯s easy to go shopping¡­ Later, I want to no longer take the buses, I want that! Who still uses cars today? The haves much. Nearly no one has its driver¡¯s license. My father is a taxi driver, he works only for clients who want to show that they are able to afford that. One of the few who still knows how to drive. Me, I¡¯m not in a hurry to learn! ¡°It¡¯s me!¡± Our house is at about twenty stations from the Alt F4 head office, but as buses are extremely fast, and as there is close to no circulation, it¡¯s okay. And that¡¯s it! Another good day of work! After having dinner, I don¡¯t last long. Tomorrow, who knows what is awaiting me? At least not me! Race wars Alt F4 Headquarter, 7:30 AM ¡°So, little Priscy, it seems your nephew became an intern? What can he do? Coffee?¡± She hates this guy. Banal physique, a little bit taller than her, a long nose vaulted in two. ¡°Thanks Aquila, but coffee machines are capable enough to prepare really proper coffee. I don¡¯t need to ask my nephew to make me one. Maybe you want me to prepare you one? You forgot how to do it, maybe.¡± Brief and small laugh. ¡°If it¡¯s from you, I can¡¯t say no.¡± Badge move in front of the sensor. ¡°Espresso, of course. Black as usual, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It is.¡± The coffee sank slowly in the biodegradable carton cup. ¡°You are not used to come so early in the morning, usually. Thanks for the coffee. What can I do for you?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to know more on the psukh?stase role on environments.¡± The movement of putting coffee to the mouth stopped at the lips limit. ¡°Confidential. At least, I don¡¯t have to tell you, you are not in the design service that runs Alter Life invisible aspects, even more on this so sensible subject that is intelligent ecosystems¡­¡± ¡°And what would make you obliged to tell me?¡± Short laugh a little bit less brief. ¡°I think¡­ that a little entertainment wouldn¡¯t be bad. What about a challenge?¡± She hold the gaze. ¡°What kind of challenge?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a little cousin that plays not far from the black sea. What about a race war with you nephew?¡± Silence. ¡°Challenge accepted¡± ¡°I like it.¡± *** Alt F4 Headquarter, ground floor, 7:50 AM I¡¯d love to say that coming inside this building is now for me an everyday routine, but no. It¡¯s really huge. Passing by the reception desk, just when I was about to take my badge, my aunty ran into me. ¡°Jules, we need to talk.¡± ¡°Good morning aunty. You offer me a hot chocolate, then?¡± ¡°Proposition granted. Come. ¡°It was funny, your game, yesterday?¡± ¡°Oh, yes! I progressed much in no time! I unlocked many competences, I made a few quests, I discovered the town. It was so much fun!¡± The elevator was going to the floor where my aunty made the presentation. ¡°Nice. You changed class?¡± ¡°Yes, I became a ghoul.¡± People in the elevator either looked at me weirdly, either were like they had not heard anything. ¡®Mmh, quite unusual. Good. Do you like it?¡± ¡°Yes, but there are so many things to eat if I want it to become more interesting. Do you know what I have to do to get the legendary class?¡± She looked at me straight in the eyes, making big eyes, the sign I had to shut up. ¡°No, but I suppose you have a lead. It¡¯s extremely difficult to get information on it, it¡¯s not me who will be able to inform you.¡± Exiting the elevator, we enter her office. ¡°I have to eat 10 zombies!¡± ¡°Never ever talk about it in front of anyone but me!¡± She seems angry.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s confidential! It¡¯s a for-bi-den class!¡± She insists on each syllable. ¡°Who told you about it?¡± ¡°Guess who?¡± Silence¡­ ? Gandock ! ? ? Gandock ? ? *** Alone in her office, Priscille looks pensively through the window. It¡¯s been a few years now that she works in virtual reality. Alter Life, it will soon be a year. A year full of projects to design the game architecture, places, development of places filled with monsters, fantastic creatures, manage flying cities or those in the sea abysses. Alter Life should not have a secret for her. But no, there are. And as time goes by, they accumulate. ¡°Forbidden class, huh?¡± Just this: why is it forbidden to communicate on those classes which are not interesting in battles, or for the game stories? ¡°Ecosystems¡­¡± Alter Life made the choice to not let monsters or items appear from nowhere, so it complicates considerably the game mechanics, but in return it promotes players imagination. ¡°Psukh?phage and psukh?stase¡­¡± Undead are most certainly the hardest race to deal with. How to balance the game so that they don¡¯t dominate the world, but in the same time leave this option open for players who play undead to still be able to do conquer it!¡± ? Gandock... ? Cursed Gandock! How does he know for the forbidden classes! Worse than this: why proposing me, her nephew, to take one? Worst in the worse: why stopping at this point? He proposed to her nephew¡¯s friend to take another one! ¡°A race war, mmh?¡± If Aquila wants war, then so be it. After all, does he know that a war against her nephew, it¡¯s a war against Gandock? And against her! *** Offenburg, by a beautiful spring day. Next to the courtyard, the same small chapel, with stained glass, not figurative, letting warm colours going throw. In the courtyard, the dummies for the training. And three people having a snack and laughing together. ¡°And at this moment, he tells me to become a reaper! When I am a mage! It¡¯s really because it¡¯s needed to become a psukh?pomp!¡± ¡°Yes, you will see, the best from this point, it¡¯s to go downright to become a ghost. But you will see everything on the extension I just gave you. So that there is no confusion, you will have the quests Emile followed, it¡¯s him who experimented everything I put inside, even if I had done them before him.¡± ¡°You were a reaper?¡± ¡°It¡¯s long story. Just look who is here! Your best friend! Jules, sit down, eat something, the day will be long! Undead don¡¯t have to eat, but humans yes!¡± ¡°I see you got acquainted¡­¡± My little Kanhchrong jumps on me as soon as he sees me. It¡¯s nice to have a little dog! ¡°Eat some porridge and a good bread slice, filled with grains, as you tell us your stories in zombieland!¡± ¡°Well, good timing, I think I¡¯m just about to begin a bigger adventure¡­¡± The three look at me. ¡°My aunty received a challenge.¡± ¡°What kind of challenge?¡± ¡°I have to defeat a guy during the race war, this weekend.¡± Gandock looks at me deeply. ¡°You want to take part in the race war?¡± *** ¡°¡­ and everything should be alright.¡± Bwof, these explanations are not reassuring me¡­ ¡°Whatever, we will continue your training, and you know what we are going to do that will be all the most useful?¡± ¡°Train?¡± ¡°Yes, but you will learn a new job!¡± Blacksmith? Lumberjack? Engraver? ¡°Miner!¡± ¡°Why? It¡¯s useless!¡± ¡°You will soon understand. Furthermore, caves are a place of great intensity during the race wars!¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°At the mine entry, several races fight to control the exterior border. Putting your hand on underground resources as well as supplying with food thanks to the outdoor places, it¡¯s of essence. So, outside, it¡¯s war!¡± ¡°And inside?¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming! Undead like underground corridors, but also dwarves, cave trolls, golems. With outdoors orcs and goblins, diplomatic relations are very complex! ¡°Our undead village is next to the black sea. There are links with sea creatures?¡± ¡°Sometimes, yes. Underground rivers and lakes can be linked to the sea. It¡¯s possible to circulate from one to the others. And undines can also trade or even found underground counters!¡± My universe of possibilities widened in an instant. ¡°How do I know if a lake is linked to the outside?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s a river, you just have to follow the flow. It¡¯s fresh water. But if it¡¯s a salted lake: bingo! It¡¯s linked to the sea. Try it next time! ¡­ okay! The mine ¡°And there are many in Souabe kingdom?¡± ¡°Yes, many coal mines, quite some iron mines, but we won¡¯t go for them right now. Some tin and copper mines. Those last one are the interesting one right now!¡± We are in front of a copper mine, the lowest level metal in Alter Life. Easy tools made from easily mined metal, but with low durability. I¡¯m happy that the dummy training session didn¡¯t last more than the one from yesterday, but I feel like it won¡¯t be long before I sweat much¡­ ¡°You can get shirtless, it¡¯s gonna be physical! It won¡¯t be long before you get hot! Take each a pickaxe, and let¡¯s go to the second underground level, there are good veins to mine.¡± Gandock took three pickaxes, Emile went to guard horses outside. ¡°We should be able to bring back 200 kilos easily. I hope you are ready to work!¡± ¡°And how are we gonna bring them back to surface?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got bags in vegetal fibres. It¡¯s resistant, it can support heavy loads. After that, we take everything to one of the chimney, and thanks to the pulley and the rope, we can get everything to the surface. There, we will sort what has value and worth nothing.¡± It¡¯s really artisanal. What¡¯s weird for me, it¡¯s the absence of monsters. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we are in the middle of Souabe kingdom. If you want to see monsters, they will come from inside the cave!¡± ¡°What kind of monsters?¡± ¡°Trolls, golems, or worse!¡± Reassuring... *** ¡°You take firmly the handle, and you hit like this!¡± And bim! A pickaxe hit in the wall makes a few stones fall from the wall. Some small rock creatures begin to hit Gandock. ¡°Ignore them right now. At work!¡± Kanhchrong hunts the small stone and metal little monsters and KO¡¯s them in one hit. ¡°Hey, it can hurt!¡± The more we hit the wall, the more there are monsters, the bigger they get. ¡°When half your health will be lost, we will eliminate golems and harvest what you will have collected.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we destroy them as soon as they appear?¡± ¡°Because you have to work! And this is part of your training.¡± Pardon me? ¡°The more you receive attacks, the more you loose life, the more you get durable. It¡¯s like the horn you get when you play the guitar.¡± ¡°The horn?¡± ¡°The horny layer of your skin that hardens and thickens by rubbing. It¡¯s also why the foot plant is thicker, even more for barefoot walkers!¡± ¡°You mean that if we let monsters hit us¡­ we get tougher?¡± ¡°To physical shocks, yes! And the more your defence increases, the more you can endure hits! As they are very small monsters, they deal nearly no damage. Quickly, you¡¯ll get immune: even if they attack, you won¡¯t feel anything! ¡°And now, work!¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. *** Scratches, cuts, bruises¡­ Our body are quickly covered by traces of our work, under a layer of dirt mixed with sweat. ¡°You are already at half your health? Truth is that you could go up to 25%, but he will have a break now. As our watch dog eliminates the last appeared monsters, put everything you gathered in the bags.¡± Monsters are so many to appear that Kanhchrong didn¡¯t even finished his work as we close our bags. ¡°Let¡¯s go to where Emile is, on surface.¡± Crossing by the chimney to ride up the bags, and here we are outside, black from dirt, finally enjoying the refreshing light breeze. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s switch the tools! Take a hammer and break the blocks. The dirt is of no interest, what we want is the green metal. ¡°It¡¯s heavier than the rest, so we will pass through a sieve the smaller blocks to finish reducing them keep the nuggets!¡± Copper nuggets¡­ not enough to celebrate! Originally, in Alter Life, there were no steel tools, nor in iron, or in any other metal. Finding flints, the first intelligent creatures could create fire. Finding copper mines, and with the flint help, they extracted their first metal, used for rudimentaries tools. Some creatures use only bronze, others only copper. They are not the most efficient. The superior races try to use the best metals, but those who have other very tough materials, but uncommon. We have what it takes to be a good gold digger¡­ looking for green metal. It pities me... ***
Simple meditation level up! A better grasp of breathing and emotions enables you to loosen the body faster and to concentrate your energy on regeneration. You integrate faster what you¡¯ve learned when you are really relaxed. When simple meditation is activated: integration x2.2, HP/s +11%, MP/s +11%, TP/s +11% CON+2
¡°Cool !¡± ¡°It¡¯s really useful to increase your competences. As regeneration really works only when you rest, it allows you to start working again quickly.¡± ¡°What do you mean by rest?¡± ¡°In combat phase, effort, run¡­ the recovering ability is divided by 10. As you recover a little bit more than one HP per second, you would need about 8 second during a battle to recover 1.¡± ¡°It really sucks!¡± ¡°It¡¯s to avoid invincible creatures because of a too high health regeneration. To avoid them from recovering, you just have to harass them. This being said, easier said than done.¡± ¡°So when we work in the mine¡­¡± ¡°Yes, every attack is ridiculous: less than 3 HP! But as they are many, because of the number of enemies, and because you don¡¯t recover quickly your health, you have to get breaks. But the faster you dig, the faster you will get attacked!¡± ¡°So the better we get, the less we can work?¡± ¡°The tougher you get, the longer you can work. Quickly, it will alleviate your increased speed in metal digging!¡± ¡°So we have to get better, but not too much?¡± ¡°But if! Well, let¡¯s get back to work!¡± *** The day passed by quietly alternating digging phase, bags riding up, rocks and metal separation, meditation and return to the mine. Without realizing it, our bodies got tougher, and the time spent on green metal extraction increased. ¡°Why are we alone?¡± ¡°Because humans prefer from far the iron to the copper. With a little bit of coil, you can get a very resistant steel. That¡¯s why the copper mine is abandonned.¡± ¡°So, why don¡¯t we go mining iron?¡± ¡°The small golems, the creatures that appear as things progress, are way more hurtful in iron mines. That¡¯s why there are always so many people in iron mines: dangerous monsters appear permanently and hurt severely miners!¡± ¡°And what is there, further in the mine?¡± ¡°Oh, we can go there now.¡± Gandock explained us how to orient oneself underground, by looking at the walls and the direction of traces on the walls. He profited of it to give us many small tips, very precious for when we would get back to the undead. At the end of a corridor, in a dead end, we faced a completely green wall. ¡°Whoh! Tons of copper!¡± A few pickaxe hits, and big copper nuggets fell from the wall! ¡°We should have came here asap!¡± Kanhchrong barked. A green golem, three metres tall, broke away from the wall. ¡°That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t come here first!¡± Copper golem Groork-Torg is not a simple golem. It¡¯s a metal golem. Certainly, only a copper golem, but it makes the difference when you compare with earth golems, mud golems, or even rock golems. A metal golem is a creature with an excellent defence, but a low resistance. It¡¯s a non-living creature, like undead. A little bit like a robot, actually. Each part of the body is autonomous, but they submit freely to the core orders, which makes that 14 parts can obey to only one of them. As there exists different golem size, and for each size, the possibility for different golems to put themselves together, they can form one a the size above. Groork-Torg is about 3 metres tall. It¡¯s as if there were more than 200 golems of 30 cm that agree together to obey to the one concentrating the energy. Groork-Torg was born after the depart of humans from the mine, but many parts of its body keep memories of the period when they were small copper golems walking freely in the mine, avoiding being caught by humans. Some of them even went out of the mine, and obtained a little fight experience, but usually, monsters don¡¯t attack each other if it¡¯s not about food. Groork-Torg worked much in gathering big quantities of copper in the end of its corridor, so the wall is green. Green of golems. An army of 1 m golems, that is not yet awoken. Only Groork-Torg woke up. Because of pickaxe hits. Damn humans! *** Golems don¡¯t understand human language. Three humans, for flesh beings. A dog barks, but soon, receiving orders from the oldest of them, it goes up to the surface. One less opponent. The big golem jumps on the oldest man, fists first. Dodge. Fire punch. What is a human punch to a golem? An insignificant flick. And a fire attack? A little bit of hot air. The two youngsters seem flabbergasted to see me. First, taking care of the one who seem the most dangerous. Forward roll. Dodge. Fire punch. Golem punch. Dodge. This piece of flesh and bone is a true eel. What is the use of moving one¡¯s ton, if it can¡¯t touch the target? Golems are huge tanks, really favoured in large scale battle, castle capture or defence, and to protect some private properties. Fire ball. The attack comes from the small boy, rickety next to his healthy neighbour. They dropped their pickaxe, and look like two lousy, really dirty, weaponless. But the one who looks to be the weakest knows how to use magic? Forward roll. The distance separating the golem and the two youngsters gets ridiculous, when they jump to the side avoiding being rolled over. Fire ball.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The hit comes from the old man. That¡¯s it, there are several magicians. Call of brothers. Golems come from the wall. 5 medium size, around twenty small size. Humans are surrounded, it will be possible to give them a good punch and get rid of them. *** Avoiding the big golem, puny humans face the other golems and have to deal with the shocks. Hits shower from everywhere, on both sides. Small golems are quickly knocked out, because of magic. Of course, fire magic is not very efficient against golems, but the copper melts around 1,100¡ãC, and fire attacks are around this temperature. Even if the weakest don¡¯t go much further 700¡ãC, like the young human ones, the old man achieve easily 1.500¡ãC, even in his punches. Small golems are knocked out in just one punch, medium size have at least 2 or 3 parts of them knocked out after just one attack. Call of brother. A second wave of golems comes from the wall, with a strategy a little bit different from the previous one. From everywhere, golems roll in a ball to the humans, trying to hurt them as fast as possible. But those puny and delicate creatures are just too nimble! And golems finish getting hit by attacks nonetheless. Even if they deal less damage as golems are moving, because the fire doesn¡¯t have time to soften the copper forming the golems, the core is reached anyway. Dance with the humans. Desperately, Groork-Torg see only one thing to do. Call of brothers. Golems begin to come out of the wall, just to be thrown by the bigger one on the humans. The golem launch is more efficient than rolling! And soon, humans receive projectile of hundreds of kilos¡­ *** What is the principal advantage of a living being over an inorganic? The not living one has nearly no regeneration ability. Instead, they have resilience: ability to recover their original form after alteration. When a metal cools down after being heated, it doesn¡¯t recover exactly the previous form. Grook-Torg knows very well that copper golems have low resilience. The 3 humans, on the other hand, have a very good survivability. Magic shield. Heal. They need only about 30 seconds to recover fully their lost life from a golem launch. And even¡­ Their magic absorbs a part of the damage because of the shield. As the battle goes on, it doesn¡¯t benefit the golem side. There is no more golem in reserve within easy reach. The number of fighting golem is decreasing visibly. The hits Groork-Torg tries to deal continue being dodged by the old man. The right arm is inoperative because of the melted metal inside. Too many flamed punches received¡­ That¡¯s why humans could dominate many races since their appearance¡­ Magic control. Golems got relegated to secondary creatures on the world scene. Today¡¯s battle proves it once more. What is so much strength in front of a little bit of magic? What Groork-Torg doesn¡¯t know, it¡¯s that he¡¯s facing Gandock knight, who exterminated giant steel golems. It would have been better for him to burst in many small golems and hide instead of facing a that coriaceous opponent. Self-destruction! A detonation¡­ The golem body disappears, propelling small golem everywhere... *** ¡°That¡¯s why we didn¡¯t come to the bottom of the mine from the beginning: so that you get used to fight golems before fighting a big one!¡± ¡°I thought I would die when this golem went boom!¡± ¡°The same for me, thank you very much for the shields, they are mighty and efficient!¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nothing, you will see much better one invoked by magicians who have the good equipment.¡± ¡°What do we do of all the golem rests? We should have quite much copper with all this!¡± ¡°We wait for Kanhchrong.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°When talking about the wolf¡­¡± My favorite puppy comes back after the end of the battle, dragging bags. ¡°I didn¡¯t make him flee the battle nor look for reinforcement: I sent him look for what would help us gather all this copper!¡± And copper, there is quite much. Even if the last golems, both medium and small size, went back in the wall after the suicide of the big one, the rests of the others still makes a little mountain of loot. ¡°With all this copper, we¡¯re gonna get rich!¡± ¡°Sorry to deceive you, but copper pieces means nearly nothing. Even bronze pieces are of little value between humans¡­¡± ¡°So, why did we do the whole of this?¡± ¡°For training purpose, of course! At work! Gather as much copper as possible!¡± And that¡¯s how my day with Gandock finished: gathering copper from golem remnants in the bottom of the mine. Quickly, a shower! Light ¡°You did what?¡± ¡°Well, I fought against a big copper golem¡­¡± ¡°This, eventually, okay, but without weapon nor armour?¡± ¡°Well, it was kinda easy, you just had to avoid hits while Gandock fought! But he was also weaponless, so he used his fists!¡± ¡°Wait a second, I¡¯m looking for it¡­¡± Arriving in the room with the projector, Aunty Priscy put the lunch on the table before starting the video of my day. The speed was accelerated, beginning with the meal with Gandock, Emile and Jean, then our training against the dummy with the wooden sword, the travel on the horse to the mine on the stoned road and under the shadows of the forest trees, the preparations to enter the mine, the copper extraction, and finally the second level underground. The light came from the walls, in a turquoise blue colour a little bit eery. ¡°Did you know that I was the one who came with the idea for the light in the mines?¡± ¡°Well, no, where does it come from?¡± ¡°It¡¯s golem cores. The more monster there are in the mine, the stronger the light gets. And for them to appear, they just need space in contact with the walls, ceiling or ground of course.¡± ¡°And they appear just like that?¡± ¡°Yes, for the details on their birth, and so on, you will have to ask the concerned service. I don¡¯t know how it works¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask Gandock.¡± ¡°You think he knows everything?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t loose anything in asking him. Oh, look, it¡¯s here!¡± My fight with the copper golem. *** Mood change. Where there was still light coming from big chimneys going up to the outside, there is just light emitted from the golem cores. We can hear the echo from the footsteps, then my pickaxes hits in the big back wall. The space got largely bigger, and the ceiling goes up to 5-6 m high. It¡¯s weird to see me like this, from outside. ¡°And you go on the wall like that? At least you knew there was a mini boss who would come from it?¡± ¡°No, nothing. Gandock explained me what to do if I met medium or big size golems, but not that I would fight one!¡± The big golem came from the wall, the core visible, illuminating the whole gallery. ¡°It¡¯s quite the golem, made of copper. In your undead corridors, you will most certainly get in touch with limestone golems, but they¡¯re much more brittle. The rock the most brittle! Here, it¡¯s true metal!¡± ¡°There are golems in Komyshany?¡± ¡°Of course! Ask your favourite knight how to make them appear!¡± ¡°What is the use of limestone?¡± ¡°A long time ago, students used to write on slates with chalks, and teachers kept on writing with it even a long time after the discovery of notebooks and pens, on blackboards. You can make chalks from limestone!¡± ¡°Cool!¡± ¡°I understand better what you told me: you didn¡¯t fought, Gandock did everything!¡± The fight was reaching its climax! *** ¡°Bof, deceiving, not that incredible, really¡­¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°It¡¯s you who kept being surprised! For me, it was normal!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not normal to face a metal golem after three days ingame! That is incredible! But the fight in itself¡­¡± The golem is most useful to take hits, but not against someone like Gandock. As for us, we just had to avoid the hits running in all directions. Golems, so slow creatures! ¡°So, anyway, did you tell him you would take part in the races war?¡± ¡°Yes, he gave me plenty of advices¡­ But I will keep on doing the quests he gave me with the extension until tomorrow night. We wait for Friday before really preparing it.¡± ¡°Mmh¡­ okay, I trust you guys on this one. I really need these information! I trust you!¡± ¡°I will do what I can¡­¡± ¡°No! You have to succeed! And prepare yourself to receive a really good present if I learn more on the psukh?stasis, I will be able to improve the last projects I work on. The next game extension is already done for the level and place design, we are already working on the one after.¡± ¡°And why would the psukh?stasis help you?¡± ¡°To better understand the ecosystems. I have plenty of ideas but not technically realistic, as 9 times over 10, they tell me ¡°technically impossible!¡± I¡¯m fed up with it! I want to make huge things! But I go wrong with the technique¡­¡± ¡°And with ecosystems¡­¡± ¡°I want to design levels integrating this question. It¡¯s real challenge!¡± *** The return to the undead is in Zymivnyk. I note for the first time that the walls are really different from the ones of the mine¡­ The only light comes from the mushrooms. My eyesight is much better in the dark when I am an undead. In a corner of this corridor dead end, a few motionless undead are waiting that someone connects to play in their body. There is an auto mode that allows someone in safe zones to disconnect, and the avatar walks alone to the checkpoint altar, or at least the closest one. The road between Zymivnyk and Komyshany is safe, so my ghoul must have moved alone up to here. Jean is as usual connected before me. He plays with our slimes, who try in vain to eat the mushrooms on the ceiling. ¡°Wow, you took your time for sure!¡± ¡°My aunty is super talkative. We watched together our fight against the golems too.¡± ¡°I impressed you, isn¡¯t it! ¡°I have to confess that I didn¡¯t know you could send spells without a wand!¡± ¡°Stop mocking me¡­ spells are much more destructive when you have the appropriate material, but I can send a spell without any item to concentrate my mana¡­¡± ¡°Cool!¡± ¡°What do we do today?¡± ¡°I have the daily quests, of course, but first, I¡¯m curious to know why Mal Tharek became amnesic.¡± ¡°Is it not because he came to war?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Let¡¯s ask him.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡°Mal Tharek, here we come!¡± *** ¡°I am Mal Tharek?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s what Elongoic told us!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not possible. I¡¯m nameless. And past less too¡­¡± ¡°Of course yes! You were altar builder! It¡¯s so cool, all what you did!¡± The old man looks vaguely into space, staring, lost, off. It¡¯s crazy to be amnesic like that! ¡°Listen, if I really was an altar builder, then it¡¯s necessary that I improve the village altar! Would you like to help me on this challenge?¡±
Zymivnyk quest: Becoming a town. Zymivnyk is maybe a village today, but with Mal Tharek as an altar builder, it could become a town sooner than later! The first step is to get a real chapel. State of quest: Capel 10/100 (Altar 10/10; Seats 0/40; Building 0/50) Difficulty: F Reward: +100XP
¡°You unlocked a quest for every inhabitant of the village, and for those who want to help. You can get help from architects, the chapel plan is quite simple. It¡¯s twice as big as a stone house, with a few openings. The seats are just flat pebbles.¡± ¡°Okay, leave it to us, and we will transform this little quiet village in a big town like Komyshany!¡± This quest was going to open fully new possibilities to interact with other players, as well as NPC. Up till now, with Jean, we preferred to play leisurely together, but to build a chapel, we will need much help. It will have to fight against one of my most painful flaw, that Jean also shares a little: the shyness to go to people I don¡¯t know yet! What a night... Georges is tired of life. Youth dynamic who has already restored 3 houses he bought and then sold, he exhausted himself at work, and went up to getting hospitalized. Despite forced rest, he wanted to benefit from the virtual fitness program assisted by virtual reality. Alter Life was at this moment the last available virtual world, so he hurried to create an avatar in this world. Tempted by a resumption of activity in an intense mode, his coaches quickly made him understand he needed much rest. Tired by the morn and monotone life of virtual big cities, then isolated small villages, and finally walks in the countryside with no battle against monsters, Georges chose the undead world. Matching with his mood, he chose to become a mummy in the small underground lost village of Komyshany. Who knows this village? Nobody, but those who appeared their as they connected with an avatar. Deprived of the possibility to do individual quest by the system, to force him to stay calm, Georges spent most of his time looking at the lake and at characters living around. Most of the players never come back to the village, it¡¯s simply a starting point to them, not a place where they want to live. But recently, two players invested quite much around. Scan
Jean Reaper level 6
Health points : 157/157 Mana points : 173/173
Scan
Jules Ghoul level 6
Health points : 217/217 Mana points : 121/121
And the weirdest with them, it¡¯s those slimes following them. But mostly¡­ They unlocked a collective quest, not an individual one! *** To get around the rules¡­ This is Georges speciality. Barely did the two players leave from the NPC responsible for the quests, Georges went to see him. ¡°What is it, this collective quest?¡¯ ¡°We need to get a new chapel built in our village, on the place of the Necros altar.¡± A chapel¡­ Georges saw tens of different chapels in big cities and in the countryside, of different races. The biggest he saw was a basilica for Ph?s, the light idol. But it wouldn¡¯t word here: each idol has its specific universe. Necros is a dark idol, using black stones, and bitumen to make everything hold together. ¡°Can I participate on this quest?¡± ¡°Of course! No restriction on this one! Go on get help by as many people as possible, and transform Komyshany!¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± Those two play who made Georges leave his torpor have to be congratulated. A challenge! But the players already left¡­This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Never mind. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, undead, or not quite yet, hour has come to invest yourself in our beloved village! We have to build a new chapel!¡± Several players got closer, interested to see Georges make an announcement. ¡°I¡¯m an architect, and I know exactly what has to be done to achieve this quest! We need tar, available on the surface, at the fisher village. We also need pickaxes, available at the dwarf village. And people to use them!¡± And that¡¯s how the chapel construction organizes itself. *** Pryozerne village is a small fisher village that suffers for a few weeks from undead attacks. As they come to the village, usually at the beginning of the night, fishers take their family with them and climb into boats. Usually, undead use the tools, steal a few items, but they don¡¯t care about assaulting fishers. Pets, yes. So, no dog, nor breeding animal. Fishers seriously think about moving to another place, but as they reported to the local lord, Kherson baron, the undead attacks, they hope a military intervention can free them. This night, though, a weird phenomenon occurred. Zombies and ghosts gathered around the tar oven. Arrived with resin and root buckets, as well as wood to feed the oven, they began to use the oven. One of the fishers, responsible of the caulking of hulls, this means putting tar on the boats hulls to prevent the water to come into the boats, got really surprised to see those creatures of the night use his oven. Worried to see those unknown people badly use his precious work tool, he left wife and children, took the plunge, and called the undead. ¡°Hola! That¡¯s not the way to use this oven!¡± Hustling a zombie who let it go, and pushing aside a mummy in passing, he took the place of a ghost, and with a wooden stick, began to stir the mix of root and resin. ¡°Here, slowly. It¡¯s a job, it can¡¯t be improvized!¡± Putting a hand on his shoulder, a zombie looked at him straight in his eyes, brought closer his mouth to his jaw. ¡°Help! Mamma!¡± *** Have you ever received a zombie kiss? Not only from a zombie, but also from each and every ghost present this night, the tar maker received a kiss. Stinking for the first one, freezing for the following. But at least, the tar is ready! ¡°Here we go, kiddoes, this is the way to do it! And next time, warn before coming. You can bring your resin, your roots, and your wood for the preparation. I will get paid in raw materials, don¡¯t worry! Mummy roar. ? Mmmeummmoh ! ? Not exactly the sound of a cow, but quite the same. The undead left with their buckets still hot, filled with tar, and sticks to toss. Fisher men came back with their family on the bank. ¡°Whouh, you got us so afraid! We all thought you would never leave from it alive!¡± ¡°Me too, during a moment, I thought I would die! But noting is as important as a work correctly done. I¡¯m proud of my tar, and I think that those creatures will be satisfied of the result!¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s the first time I hear about a collaboration between undead and humans. But the dark mages, of course. Do you think they will come back?¡± ¡°If they need tar, of course! I think we got ourselves new clients!¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to know what they will do with their tar¡­¡± ¡°Curious guy! If you want to know that much, just go with them!¡± ¡°Thanks, not really¡­¡± What a night, at Pryozerne... *** Inzhenerne is a dwarf camp, at the limit between the outside world and the underground world. Dwarves fight for a long time against undead from the place around, but they always stay on the defensive. Lately, undead do more outings. Some occult adepts even come to barter. This night, under the moonlight, several of them come to get pickaxes. ¡°Hola, friends of the deads! I hope you have something interesting to propose in exchange!¡± ¡°What would interest you?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have a few pretty stones at the bottom of your caves? Or monsters cores? Maybe a little bit or fur or food?¡± ¡°Galleries in which we live are surprisingly poor in resources. But I have a few rabbits, caught with traps. They are all fresh! We just killed them!¡± ¡°Mmh¡­ two pickaxes.¡± ¡°Three!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have a few monsters cores?¡± ¡°I have four of small golems. It shines in the dark, it¡¯s useful.¡± ¡°And I caught an ibex. I can give you its monster core.¡± ¡°Nice, three pickaxes, then!¡± ¡°Excellent, we will return do business!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t come back too soon, nor too often. Other dwarves are not really happy of your presence here. And humans are more and more hostile and violent. If they see you around, they will have a good pretext to attack us.¡± ¡°No problem, we will be discreet! Thanks again!¡± As the adepts moved away, the dwarf looked at them leaving. What a night, at Inzhenerne ! ...but which night! ¡° ¡° *** Jules and Jean chose to begin with the quests of Komyshany city, before coming back to complete the quests of Zymivnyk, but the ones of Pruurg weaver, consisting in the transport of a few products to the weaver guild. Because the city is quite advanced in everything related to activity, quests received were quite specific to our two friends jobs. Preparing copper rings with black energy for one, infusing dark energy from the rings to the bronze pieces for the other. A way to enrich the city easily. Taming beasts in the surrounding area for one, estimating the monster potential and selecting the most interesting for the other. A way to improve the defensive and offensive potential of the city. Managing the training of militia troops of Komyshany, zombies for one, mages for the other. A way to prepare battles that will take place this weekend! And soon, it was the hour to come back to Zymivnyk, not without a detour through the mushroom fields to fight against a few raccoons, many slimes, and more than anything, lots of flying foxes.
Quest of the legendary meat bag (daily 2/3 finished): Devour 100 crystals of the same monster State of quest: 100/100 flying foxes crystals eaten Difficulty: G
Talent : Flying fox killer (+10% efficiency with flying foxes, HP+1) Jelly eater (+10% efficiency with flying foxes, HP+5) Capacity: Crystal box (HP+5, Black energy +1 if Undead race and unlocks quests to get the Psukh?phage class, else LUC+1)
Wow! *** ¡° ¡°Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡° ¡° ¡° The environment in the village is not quite as usual. It seems that there is noise from the gallery going to the Necros Altar. Someone is waiting at the entrance. ¡° ¡°As you wish¡­¡± ¡°Hi! We are looking for some help for a quest. Would you mind helping us?¡± Georges, because it was him, looked at us with a bright smile. ¡°What can I do for you?¡± ¡°Well, you see¡­ we are not architects, but we would like to build a Chapel for the village. Would you, well, mind give us some help?¡± ¡°It would be a great pleasure to help you! I like this Chapel idea, it¡¯s a beautiful building! Come with me, we are gonna talk about it where it will be built!¡± Following Georges, noises increased. Soon, limestone golems were walking everywhere, fighting against plenty of slimes and a few warriors. ¡°Okay, we will take care of the golems!¡± ¡°No, please come first with me to the end of the tunnel.¡± ¡°Well¡­ okay¡­¡± And there, around a bend, we saw the Chapel, which walls were already finished and which ceiling was nearly finished. ¡°Whaoh! That¡¯s beautiful!¡± *** We just unlocked the quest. Next, everything was done without us. But now that we are here, it¡¯s going to go much faster! To begin with, our slimes fight in an organized way: always three slimes against a golem, and as soon as he¡¯s nearly overcome, one of the slime swallows the golem, paralyzing it and dissolving it¡¯s core. As slime get very tired at this moment, a mushroom, and after 5 minutes, here we go again! With 3 slimes each, it¡¯s every 5 minutes 6 golems knocked out, and a good growth for our little troop. To this, we have to add Jean¡¯s attacks who eliminates other golems attacking by surprise with a little spell. Me, I alternate between the work with the pickaxe and the stone transport, to place them on the ceiling level at first, inside the Chapel so that they serve as seats. A big zombie full of energy like me, it allows the work to be done quickly! And soon¡­ Two windows appeared...
Zymivnyk quest: Becoming a town. Zymivnyk was maybe a village yesterday, but with Mal Tharek as an altar builder, it became a town! The first step was to get a real chapel. State of quest: Chapel 100/100 (Altar 10/10; Seats 40/40; Building 50/50) Difficulty: F Reward: +100XP
Incredible! Taking part in a collective quest sure gives plenty of bonuses! ¡° ¡° ¡° *** ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Jean took a slime crystal, in which he put the best slimes souls he found, following his criteria: Health points, digesting speed, competence utilisation¡­ ¡° ¡°Take it, we don¡¯t need it. We don¡¯t know what to do with it, anyway¡­¡± It¡¯s half true. Gandock and Emile told us it would be useful for the altars, to get spirit guardians in each village. At our great surprise, it¡¯s a slime crystal they told us to vie to Mal Tharek¡­ ¡°Wait a second, I set to work.¡± Pulling out a small hammer and a , Mal Tharek sculpted a skull in a rock, in which he inserted from below the slime crystal, and after this, with a very fine chisel, he wrote his name and the name of the idol: Necros. ¡°Give me some slime energy.¡± I take one of my slimes, extract the little black bubble next to its core. When Mal Tharek put it on the skull, a black light dazzles us... Necros slime ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡°Tuber melanosporumSarcosoma globosumPeziza badia ¡° ¡° ¡°Myxomycetes ¡°AaaAAAaaaAAAaaah ! Help! Save me from this body of slime!¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Mal Tharek imposed himself. ¡°Silence!¡± *** 10 minutes. The time it took so that our slime Necros calms down. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll explain you very simply: if you want black matter, what you need his mushrooms. Not slimes! Well, slimes are not exactly mushrooms, but it doesn¡¯t matter. You need mushrooms that form bubbles full of concentrated energy, they liberate after¡­¡± ¡°The black slimes eat luminescent mushrooms to form dark energy¡­¡± ¡°Exactly! They eat other mushrooms! They convert it into black energy! They don¡¯t produce it directly!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to understand! Next time you want to produce dark energy, choose a more conveniant mushroom, not a¡­ blob¡­¡± ¡°The slime is also useful for fights, contrary to mushrooms!¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not born of the last rain. You don¡¯t know a thing of the damages mushrooms can cause, so stop believing that slimes are everything in life.¡± ¡°But we saw slimes swallowing golems!¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, very small golems! Metal eater mushrooms can even attack diamond, so calm down! What kind of golems are you talking about?¡± ¡­ ¡°Limestone golems¡­¡± ¡­ ¡°Bouhaha ! Oh no, this time! You¡¯re too funny! Ouhaha ! Oh ! Oh ! Ouh !¡­¡± ¡°So, are you gonna obey us? Silence.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The slime looks at us. ¡°Know your place. An idol knows only one rule. Do ut des. Do ut des ? Is this some kind of magic? *** ¡°Fortunately, fortunately you have affinity points with me, else, I would not even talk with you¡­ Have you ever studied law?¡± What is law even doing here? ¡°Do ut des is the simplest and the oldest rule of the world: I give you so that you give me. But it¡¯s faster in seven letters, of course. If you give me something, then I will give you something.¡± ¡°If we gave you existence, will you obey us?¡± ¡°Oh oh! Calm down kiddos! I am an idol! I come to existence thanks to Necros, I just participate of his life, here! I you want me to give you something, just pay the price!¡± ¡°What is your offer?¡± ¡°Very simple: first, the air here is lowly charged in dark energy. Level 1. I will establish a dome inside which the energy will be twice as concentrated. The level 2. A large part of the dark energy produced by slimes is lost in the air, it will stay inside the dome. The more energy, the bigger the dome. We shall begin with this chapel. Feed me!¡± ¡°Mmh¡­ so-so. We would prefer getting dark energy under the pill form.¡± ¡°Same rate: feed me. But it will be more difficult to stock dark energy. I can form a giant slime: storage capacity, 20 units. Enough to fill a bronze piece, at your level.¡± ¡°Not quite bad¡­ and we want you to protect the village.¡± New laugh burst. ¡°With slimes? Bouhahaha !¡± *** 5 minutes. He¡¯s definitely hard to calm down. ¡°If you want me to defend the village with slimes, I can protect you against slimes and limestone golems, not more. Eventually against flying foxes, but not in too many number. Well, they live quite well with slimes, I won¡¯t fight with them¡­ but not against adventurers or warriors!¡± ¡°Okay, we have a deal. I go back to the village. Meet me back there, I will give you the next missions to develop the village.¡± ¡°Okay, thanks Mal Tharek! See you soon!¡± Necros repeated what I just said on a mocking tone. ¡°Thanks Mal Tharek¡­ beurk! Ciao mini Tharek! And never ever invoke me again if it¡¯s to be a black slime!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not him who chooses, it¡¯s us.¡± ¡°By the way, who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Jules, and here¡¯s Jean. Oh, and there, it¡¯s Georges, the chapel architect.¡± ¡°Hi¡± ¡°Hi mister Necros.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, hi, hi. Okay, if you want to make this village a place worthy of me, you will have to feed me, beginning with an increase on the mushroom production. This field is too small. What do you plan to do?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t really know yet¡­¡± ¡°Okay, doesn¡¯t matter¡­ we will do with what is here¡­ it won¡¯t be much¡­¡± ¡°You can at least control the slimes so that they don¡¯t loose the dark energy of the mushrooms by going away?¡± ¡°I told you, I can nearly not store anything. But we have to begin with something!¡± *** To have an idol at a mushroom field has several advantages. First, slime control. As soon as we arrive, the idol gives orders to the monsters present around here, and as slimes are weak creatures, they obey immediately. About twenty slimes can be present, eating mushrooms, and as many can be immobilized in a corner to stock the dark energy they have on them. Second, slime improvement. With our competences, to invoke the Necros idol gives us a 20% bonus on slimes. Said differently, they eat faster, level up faster, are stronger in battles, and give more experience points when we fight them. At our level, it¡¯s already negligible, but for beginners, or even monsters, it¡¯s a precious gain of time. And if it¡¯s needed, the idol can select the best slime and leave the other go. A kind of genetic improvement, in a way. Third, event tracking. Information is of essence in many victories. A small business activity as this one needs information. The idol will give it us. But it will have a price. Do ut des The rule is absolute for idols. Giving a mushroom is enough right now, this field will give food to our slime idol. And the chapel will give him a place to live. But it should also give us quests, to improve its living conditions. Do ut des. It¡¯s true in both ways. Enough to establish a win-win relationship! But Gandock already gave us pieces of advices to break this rule! Yes, many things are not as absolute as they seem to be! Trolls and zombie trolls! ¡°Well, that was a weird experience¡­¡± ¡°Yes, I hope it will be more¡­ calm next times¡­¡± ¡°If only he knew¡­¡± ¡°What do you plan on doing, right now?¡± ¡°Oh, us¡­¡± If only Georges knew¡­ ¡°We are gonna make Mal Tharek work. He will get level 1 monster cores with dark slimes souls, and we will put on idol on every each village and mushroom fields that don¡¯t have village next to them.¡± ¡°And you need a chapel every time?¡± ¡°No¡­ but it would be better, though, so if you are interested, there is going to be some buildings to make.¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting, I play without the possibility of killing monsters nor doing individual quests. It¡¯s¡­ for personal reasons. But by doing collective quests, I earn experience points! And I meet quite the many players, I make this world evolve¡­ count me in!¡± And on this, we separated. ¡°Jules¡­¡± ¡°Mmh? What is it?¡± ¡°We have enough time to either go out to the outside world, so you finish your class quest, or either we can go deeper in the caves to the cave trolls. What do you prefer?¡± ¡°It seems better to me to make war against underground creatures. Let¡¯s go to the trolls?¡± ¡°Works.¡± And this way, we sank in the underground maze...¡± *** Ugg and Sark are two cave trolls. They are NPC, characters progressing next to a troll village where no player appear thus far. At least¡­ on the troll side¡­ Because many attacks were led by dwarves and undead. Players like those distant villages because there are few enemies, and when the village is destroyed, it¡¯s soon settled again by new troll families with low levels. Those two trolls are low level... Scan.
Ugg Cave troll level 4
Health Point : 121/121 Mana Point : 106/106
Scan
Sark Cave troll level 4
Health Point : 125/125 Mana Point : 105/105
If trolls have the reputation to be tough opponents, it¡¯s because of their aggressive technique. ¡°Hey, Sark, look there! Two undead!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s break their face!¡± A zombie and a reaper approach from the end of the tunnel, followed by dark slimes. Quite unexpected¡­ The first troll jumps on the zombie, and begins to hit punches. The second troll follows him closely, but when he is about to seize the reaper, the zombie blocks the way. ¡°Storming!¡± Two trolls against a zombie, the fight should have finished soon! Guard. Dark skin. Guard. Guard. The fight lasts, and the zombie acts weirdly. His skin darkens regularly. It¡¯s impossible to avoid him and attack the reaper. Spells rain from behind. Infusion. Infusion. Vortex.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Ice shard. The two trolls are quickly below 40 HP. ¡°Let¡¯s flee!¡± And they run like rabbits, without asking for their rest... *** After a two minutes break, the two trolls are already at their max HP. Trolls are terrifying because their regeneration speed for HP is one of the best in Alter Life. That¡¯s the reason why lightning assaults like the one they just did is the ideal tactic for any troll: empty the HP and MP of the enemy dealing as much damage as possible, and returning to the charge like new. The second assault looks like the first one. The zombie blocks the way. The slimes stay behind, with the reaper casting spells. Infusion. Vortex. Infusion. Mowing An attack reaching the enemy deeply. What does that mean? Between 25% and 100% HP, each HP lost reduces a little bit the regeneration rate for HP: at most 5% after having lost three forth of the life. It¡¯s also called green HP. Between 5% and 25%, it gets serious: 1% by percentage of life. It¡¯s called yellow HP. The mowing deals damages in the yellow HP zone. Between 0% and 5%, it¡¯s critic, 1% HP lost corresponds to 10% regeneration lost. Red HP, their loss comes with other handicaps. Trolls dislike more than anything to see their regeneration decrease, so they try not to go below 25% HP. When the trolls expect it the least, the reaper goes to Ugg with and unpredictable attack¡­ Dark execution. Ugg¡¯s head rolls on the ground, mowed like ripe wheat. *** Sark lost his life the same way, without understanding what just happened. ¡°It¡¯s quite good, this attack to finish the enemies.¡± ¡°Yes, but it costs much!¡± ¡°Oh yes? How much?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Jean does a quick mental arithmetic in his head. ¡°It¡¯s not the mana, the problem. This, I have more than enough. No, it¡¯s the dark energy the biggest problem. First, it costs me an unit to infuse dark energy in the body of my enemy. Next, I have to infuse another one in my scythe blade. And finally, I have to succeed on reaching my enemy at once, else, the energy dissipates.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah¡­ hopefully we have the slimes to refill our stocks!¡± Jules doesn¡¯t realize what a considerable advantage he has being followed by his loyal slimes. The mote dark energy he gets, the more his competences increase. For a battle against trolls, defence and regeneration rate are the most useful. In the same time, using dark energy allows him to either absorb many damage, either recover many HP. And as he can get back his energy just by feeding his slimes and extracting the dark energy they produce¡­ ¡°Now, second step of the plan! Get prepared to fight against zombies!¡± ¡°Whenever you want, I¡¯m ready!¡± Jean learnt all the spells a beginner necromancer can learn. The simplest way to get back to life is zombification. As the name suggests, it transforms a dead creature in a zombie. Here, a zombie troll. Zombification ! Scan.
Ugg Zombie troll level 1
Health point : 100/100 Mana point : 100/100
*** On the ground, Sark, Ugg¡¯s friend. In front of him, the zombie and the reaper, with their slimes. I thought I was dead¡­ Ugg remembers having lost his head, and it rolled on the ground, until it stopped. Before the thread of his thought also stopped. After having lost his consciousness, his soul floated in the cave, not seeing anything of the fight, but grey and black walls of the tunnel only. Sark¡¯s soul soon appeared, but impossible to discuss with it: a dark hand caught him and brought him back in his body. Now, ugg became a zombie. To obey a necromancer? The one that just killed him? Certainly not! A murderous rage seized Ugg who attacked the other zombie. The fight didn¡¯t last much. Ice shards. Dark punch. Ice shards. Niom. After a few attacks, the zombie-Ugg got eaten by the other zombie. Inside the stomach of his opponent, he continued on giving a few punches, but quickly, he lost consciousness again. His soul began to float again, and the same dark hand as before caught him, but this time to hook him on a monster core. The story of Ugg was quite short. The story of Sark was similar. Jules and Jean just defeated their two first trolls. They kept on facing solitary trolls, or groups of two or three. When Jules ate zombies, he got stomach aches. But the pain got insufferable on his tenth. ¡°Jean, I think I¡¯m getting an indigestion...¡± ¡°That¡¯s weird, however¡­ it¡¯s what you were asked to do to become a psukh?phage, isn¡¯t it?¡± Sweating abundantly, our zombie friend lied down, as feverish. Indigestion !