บท 15: 15- Enchanted Bow

"Since you guys are enjoying this, I will take this a little bit more serious" Mark said to his chat as his eyes turned into a coin.

He then turned his head to the Elite Skeleton standing in front of him, he then dropped the torch he was holding.

*Psshhhh!

Mark took a deep breath and exhaled a pure white smoke from his mouth, the aura around him suddenly turned dark and his face was covered in the dark, only his red glowing eyes and his smile could only be seen.

The way he held the sword was also very loose, his body posture was straight and his chin was lifted high, his gaze never left the Elite Skeleton.

'My master Ken once said, swordsmanship is not all about strictly following the basics, the basics are the foundation, the next step is to find your own self in your sword, it doesnt matter how you hold the sword, it doesnt matter what your stance is, none of those matters, what matters is that your sword and yourself are one' Mark suddenly remembered his Swordmanship Master Ken words.

It was also funny since that old man only said those words because he was drunk and couldnt hold the sword properly.

But Mark learned many things from that, just like what it said, a single basic slash of a sword could create thousands of ways of different slash techniques, the same could be said for stabbing techniques to.

Mark smiled, "I cant move using this weak body, so I guess, I could use that technique for now" Mark thought, then a powerful shock wave exploded from his body.

"Abandonment" Mark murmured.

*Boom!

Abandonment, a skill that Mark created on his younger days, by removing all of the shackles that limits his power for example, he wont be able to feel the pain, his survival instincts.

With this technique, Mark was able to boost his physical prowess by 100% for a maximum of 1 minute, Mark was happy he could use these techniques, Alter Online really made it close to reality.

He could feel every fiber om his body, the flow of the blood and the beat of his heart.

Mark didnt want to waste his time and immediately charged towards the Elite Skeleton with a huge smile on his face.

Due to the abandonment technique, Mark's speed was faster than before, he dashed behind the skeleton while dodging the arrows going for him and stabbed it on its open area.

*Bang!

The skeleton was sent flying but Mark was not done yet, he immediately chased after it and while it was still on the air, Mark grabbed its head with his hand and smashed it on the ground.

*Boom!

The Elite Skeleton was smashed on the ground, Mark then stood up and brushed his hair up with his fingers.

Then stepped at the neck of the Elite Skeleton.

"That was a good exercise" Mark said in praise then smashed the neck of the Elite Skeleton.

*Crack!

[You have leveled up!]

[You have received an achievement, {Elite Bone Crusher} Achievement points +5]

[You have created a new skill {Abandonment}]

[You have received an Achievement, {The First Skill} Achievement points +5]

[...]

Mark received tons of notifications from the system that his ears rang with bells non-stop, thankfully, it didnt last long and he didnt receive any eye-catching announcement like last time.

Anyway, Mark was very happy that he leveled up two times from killing a level 15 Elite Skeleton, he also leveled up from killing the normal skeletons.

"And wow! it actually dropped bows and armor!" Mark exclaimed from happiness, 'Is this the joy of grinding?' he thought.

He happily picked all of the item drops, he was also lucky to have the skeleton drop its glowing bow, Mark could not help but get curious why it was glowing.

[Lv. 10 Enchanted Bow]

[Durability: 30/100]

[Damage: 10~20]

[Enchantments: Flame I, Curse of Vanishing]

"Whoa, this is so cool! so if I fire an arrow from this bow, it will burn up the enemies it hit, as for the curse of vanishing, it will disappear if I die!? damn, this is hardcore" Mark couldnt help but slap his forehead.

Getting this bow was a blessing for Mark, dying is not really a problem as long as he was careful and avoid dying, but according to his research of games.

Dying in game is pretty normal, they could just resurrect after waiting for a few hours or in some games, respawn immediately.

Alter Online has a punishment of being unable to log in for a day if a player dies, along with losing a level and dropping all the items in their inventory.

It was fine as long as Mark had Chris pick up his items when he dies but the bow has the curse of vanishing enchantment.

When he dies, it will completely disappear from the whole game.

"Well, that is a damn, I guess, I am stuck with this bow for now, but it doesnt say that I could not store it on a chest, so I guess that is a plus too" Mark carefully thought.

"But then putting it on a chest is risky too, if a thief got in and had his hands on the bow, I wont be able to take it back no matter what I do, guess I will hold on to it for now" Mark finally made his decision.

"Status" Mark called out.

[Name: Nevermore]

[Level: 5]

[Experience: 235/500]

[Health: 50/50]

[Hunger: 30/30]

[Thirst: 30/30]

[Energy: 98/150] (Refills 3 energy per 5 second)

[STR: 1](+)

[AGI: 2](+)

[INT: 1](+)

[VIT: 1](+)

[Stat Points: 4]

[Skill: Abandonment]

[Title: Tree Warrior]

Just as usual, Mark dumped all of his SP or stat points to agility, he then sighed and sat beside with his back leaning on the wall.

[Abandonment duration has ended]

The system notification rang on his ears, then immediately, an inexplicable pain assaulted his body.

Mark gritted his teeth as he endured the pain from his whole body, it was not the first time he used this technique but the pain after the skill was something that Mark could not get used to.

[Chat Box]

[Nevermore looks like he was in so much pain!]

[Man, he is really powerful! but that power also had its own price, just like the saying, nothing is free, but damn I want to learn that skill!]

[Same!]

[Teach us Nevermore!]