章 7: 007 Misunderstandings And Mishaps
The two unknown players had trailed behind Illio this entire time. They watched as he explored the menu, got acquainted with a very different type of swordsmanship from what either of them had seen any player display before, and finally the two saw him disappear into the forest from a short distance behind.
As they neared the forest entrance, sounds of combat could be heard, which were shortly followed by defeated yelps and then silence.
Trying to hide in the tall grass nearby, they caught glimpses of the fight as they stood still. After waiting a couple of minutes after Illio had walked into the forest and disappeared in its foliage, they began approaching the entrance.
The two strangers walked up and cautiously followed the trail of violence left behind after the recent battle in an attempt to decipher what type of person this man was.
"Look at all this blood…who fights like this? Kye, do you think he is one of those mad players who enjoys extreme violence and slaughter? If he is, he may not be someone we want. With that behavior pattern there is a 82% chance that greed and lack of judgement are big leading personalities with him. Not to mention a potential for betrayal that stems from that combination."
"Relax Ancef, you have a bad habit of conjuring up the worse case scenario. Besides there would be a lot more blood present if that were the case. This aftermath is pretty tame."
"I guess you do have a point…"
"Plus, don't you remember how short the encounter was? Most players would struggle for at least 30 minutes alone against 2 wolves. That man took on 4 at the same time and won in less than 5 minutes."
"You're right Kye. Mental health aside, Do you think he is a rare breed who unlike us has genuine talent."
Kye rolled his eyes as the two men removed their hooded cloaks as they stood side by side.
"I think he may be the one we need to rely on Ancef."
Now exposing their appearance, the wind came by, blowing across their blonde hair. In a snapshot of this moment, it looked like two skilled and dangerous adventurers were standing wisely in wait for their prey. Their green eyes seemed to hold a depth of forbidden knowledge from their countless encounters with death, while their toned and hardened bodies yelled out a message of 'Don't mess with me'.
Both good looking yet with an edge of arrogance, but what was the truth?
Ancef and Kye weren't dangerous at all and while their combat skill fell average among most players the both of them possessed keen eyes and high intelligence which allowed them a hefty advantage when it came to strategizing over the game.
They had joined SOS after their abusive dad left them and their sickly mother in ruin while he enjoyed a promiscuous lifestyle away from them.
He had been the only one bringing in a paycheck to the household and he manipulated the three of them into believing that without him, they would be and have nothing. So they put up with the abuse until his sudden leave.
While most in this situation would wallow in grief, Ancef and Kye both possessed brilliant minds and through their collective effort they managed to obtain part time jobs as high level tutors within the university. As promising university students with full academic financial rides, Ancef and Kye had limited personal time as education, studying, and working took imperative precedence everyday.
Despite this they used what little time they had and even sacrificed sleep to get better at SOS. It was blatantly obvious that in game success and fame was the quickest path to a better and more secure future.
This is why both of them needed to walk this road since it meant that they would have the means to care of their sickly mother.
While most would think having a high level educational degree would allow them a successful livelihood in reality, both Ancef and Kye knew that was a lie. Since Chronos dropped the Chronosphere, the direction and norm of the world shifted.
Yes there was an all time high demand in the technological sector thanks to Chronos but there was no such thing as living in true security by following a doctrine of work that would spit you up as fast as it chewed you up.
The only path to follow was the one you carved with your bare hands.
Based on this conclusion they logically chose to invest their time and what little money they scrounged together to explore the possibility of hope that SOS could provide.
In their hearts the both hoped to gain breakthrough in the game and lavish their mother with a life of comfort and health after all she had gone through and done for them. Thus they had spent the last several weeks attempting to get better at SOS Whilst scouting out potential new players who could permanently join them in their adventures.
With the brutally high difficulty, the game basically forced everyone into partnerships and groups to survive and progress. Otherwise with the harsh death penalties, one wouldn't make it.
Several players had seemed promising but none had caught their eye until now. After witnessing the aftermath of the wolf destruction before them, both Ancef and Kye were even more intrigued.
"Does he have enough innate talent Kye?"
"…..perhaps and if that's the case then maybe combined with our intellectual prowess…we could become form a party to upheave the current flawed structure of the game and leave our name stamped in the hearts of everyone."
"Well let's find out."
Kye and Ancef then proceeded to follow in.
….
Their conclusions quickly plummeted to the ground in flames as they witnessed that the player they had been following couldn't even complete the very first quest of the game.
With several supercomputers controlling the AI of NPC's and Monsters in SOS, they had high level responses. As such it was natural to cower and hide after seeing your fellow wolves slaughtered In mere minutes.
The fact that this unknown player couldn't figure this out after 10 in game hours of wandering and uselessly complaining meant that he clearly could not meet their expectation.
"Kye let's just go, he is never going to figure this out."
"Give him a second Ancef, I….I have a feeling things are going to change soon."
"Give him a second! Kye! We've been following him for 10 hours! If he cant even finish this then there is no hope for him! I can't believe we thought he-"
Ancef didn't get to finish that sentence before hundreds and hundreds of wolves appeared from no where.
"What the hell! What is this!? What's going on Kye? Wolves don't spawn in this amount!"
With a mischievous smile Kye looked back at Ancef.
"Keep it together Ancef! Looks like he may have triggered some kind of special event. See, I knew something was going to happen."
"Special event?! It's been 5 years since the game started, you would think if that were the case then someone would have already found out if there was a trap to summon the wolf-pacolypse!"
"Look we will worry about that later, we have to hurry and mow through these mobs to get to him! We can't afford to miss out on what that guy is doing."
"Kye we are only level 3! It's not going to be easy to get past all these monsters."
"We have to try Ancef! I'm sure if it now! If we don't befriend him, we lose the only opportunity we will get!"
The both of the cloaked men drew their swords and began struggling against the summoned wolves.
Mowing down wolf after wolf there was no end in sight but they continued. Deep inside the both of them knew that that stranger they saw would be key to not just their future, but to changing the world.
….
"Worldly Manipulation: increase enemy appearance!"
[Command Issued]
[Checking Stat Values]
[Values Sufficient]
[System Adjustment Needed To Translate Intention]
[Translation Completed]
[Skill Created]
[Worldly Manipulation : Gathering]
[Worldly Manipulation : Gathering] when used, directly changes the spawn rate of closest mobs (Includes Boss Mobs) and summons them to the field instantly. Range : 0.02% - 100% increase.
[Due to low proficiency of class ability the probability increase may be higher or lower than intended]
[Raise proficiency to gain control of skill]
[Probability Manipulation successful]
[Forcibly Raising Enemy Spawn Rate x100%]
[Daily Use 9/10]
Illio took a quick second to compose himself after the shock of the quickly rising of notifications.
A purple haze of smoke had come from no where and surrounded Illio along with the forest. It was the activation of his skill.
The dark purple formed clouds and within them shadows of creatures forming could be seen.
Just as quickly as it came, the smoke left and in its place were thousands of newly summoned wolves.
"Well…..I think this skill may work a bit too well….or maybe I just got lucky….no I don't get lucky because if I did I wouldn't be put in a situation where I'm going to die already!"
He grit his teeth and gave off a slight chuckle As he once again drew his sword. Illio was ready to commit genocide against the summoned wolves.
"Come at me you bags of experience! I'll destroy you and get stronger!"
With no hesitation, the enemies pounced on him as he began fighting back. While Illio had been in fights before and knew basic footwork, this was on another scale. The system was guiding him as he began getting used to the [Ancient Swordsmanship]. Glowing markers in his sight would indicate where he needed to turn his body or step with his feet. All the while his sword never stopped swinging, accumulating more and more wear as the massive wolf pack was slowly being reduced.
He was following this dance as best he could.
A wolf jumped behind him and he flipped his sword backwards, allowing the monster to spear itself.
With a vicious horizontal slash he tossed the embedded body to the side as he struck several other wolves across their faces.
Illio Aimed for what he thought would be vital or critical spots such as the neck, eyes, even the legs if it meant immobilizing the wolves.
While he did have high stats and the monsters of SOS were all abnormally resilient, his lack of true fighting experience combined with his poor equipment meant that he couldn't take proper advantage of his stats and found himself not dealing enough damage or enough decisive damage to kill the wolves in one blow.
Injuries accumulated across his body and soon the overwhelming number of enemies was beginning to prove to be a bigger challenge for the novice Illio than he first thought.
Stamina loss was a real thing here in SOS. It would come to no one's surprise that Illio was breathing heavy. Using skills, fighting and even taking damage affected the stamina one had and Illio's was stamina was rapidly declining in the midst of this fight.
After thinking briefly he came up with a solution. He knew he was too inexperienced to last much longer despite the higher than normal starting stats. So he had to put himself in an advantageous position using the same method that screwed him over just now.
Boosting his stats was the only solution.
He was gaining rapid amounts of experience but that wasn't going to help him currently. He needed a buff type skill to increase damage and survivability so why not increase the odds of him gaining a buff.
Since he basically had no skills of any kind, the probability of him activating a buff skill was fixed at 0%. However what if he could create a skill which allowed that to change?
"Worldly Manipulation : increase my stats!"
[Cannot Comply]
[Skill Is Too Ambiguous]
[Clarification is needed]
"Clarify! I'm in the middle of dying and you want me to ahhhhhh-"
A wolf had but his right calf and another slashed his shoulders with its razor claws. Illio was running out of time so he decided to stop whining and comply.
"Worldly Manipulation : temporary stat buff increase…I think?"
[Command Issued]
[Translating Intentions]
[Intelligence Values Confirmed]
[Skill Acquired]
[Worldly Manipulation : Reign Of The Absolute]
[Daily Use 8/10]
Instantly a red glow surrounded Illio as he received a buff. Upon reading the notifications he felt elated as he was coming to an understanding of how broken this class actually was.
Moving quicker than before, he dodged the incoming strikes from all directions and jumped high in the air. Using every bit of strength he could muster, Illio swung his battered sword and the sheer force of wind created from this motion caused despair destruction to fall onto the wolves.
Unbeknownst to Illio, two figures a short distance we're currently jaw dropped watching the scene unfold.
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