Fate Online: Shadow

When Michael appeared at the temple, the first sound he heard was a feminine voice.

He looked around him to see who had spoken, but no one’s there except for him.

"Gladly!" he just answered, thinking that it must be the A.I in the game.

< Please select the name of your avatar. >

"Shadow!"

< Please select your class specification. >

With a brilliant flash of light, 5 statues appeared floating in front of him.

Michael curiously walked up to them and read their own class descriptions.

[Barbarians - Barbarians are savage wanderers who never flinch from close-quarters combat. Mighty ground stomps, leaping attacks and dual-wielded slashes leave a barbarian’s enemies dead in their boots and send any survivors fleeing for cover.]

[Assassin - Free from the constraints of a conscience, these mercenaries rely on brutal and efficient tactics. Lethal assassins, masters of stealth and hidden weaponry, they will approach their marks from behind, piercing a vital organ and vanishing into the shadows before the victim hits the ground]

[Hunters - From an early age, the call of the wild draws some adventurers from the comfort of their homes into the unforgiving primal world outside. Those who endure, become hunters. Masters of their environment, they are able to slip like ghosts through the trees and lay traps in the paths of their enemies]

[Wizard - Students gifted with a keen intellect and unwavering discipline may walk the path of the mage. The arcane magic available to wizards is both great and dangerous, and thus is revealed only to the most devoted practitioners. To avoid interference with their spellcasting, wizards only wear cloth armor, but arcane shields and enchantments give them additional protection. To keep enemies at bay, wizards can summon bursts of fire to incinerate distant targets and cause entire areas to erupt, setting groups of foes ablaze]

[Priest - Priests are devoted to the spiritual, and express their unwavering faith by serving the people. For millennia, they have left behind the confines of their temples and the comfort of their shrines so they can support their allies in war-torn lands. In the midst of terrible conflict, no hero questions the value of the priestly orders]

"Wow, every single of these classes are amazing but still.. I’ll choose Assassin!" Michael was amazed on how descriptive the every classes are but in the end he still chose the thing he’s most proficient in, Assassination.

< Do you want to alter your appearance by 10%? >

"Yes!"

[Your account has been activated. All your initial stats will be determined by your current physical state]

[Please pick a city, town or village and a kingdom to start in]

"Random"

<City of Haven, Thor Kingdom has been randomly chosen. >

< Welcome to the World of Norlan >

"Pass!"

Afraid to even waste a single second, Michael hurriedly skipped the introduction story, he had already seen it countless times before. Currently, a $300 monthly bill for this game is a great expense for him.

In Fate Online, players can play asleep for two whole days in the game while only a day would passed in the real world, It was implemented to accommodate the working people.

Every player can choose where their starting point would, either the capital of a kingdom, a major city or even a village.

In a flash of light, he appeared in the square of Haven City.

"Holy!"

Michael was shocked by how realistic this game is, with buildings made out of bricks, it was like in the middle ages but cleaner. Astonished, Michael looked around with unbelieving eyes. There were players like him with the same attire of white shirt, black pants, a pair of shabby shoe and their respective weapons from their classes, as they also curiously looked around with shock in their eyes.

He had been bewildered, but it was only for a temporary moment and he soon calmed down.

Michael clenched his first, ’this is my time and I will become the greatest assassin the game world has ever seen’ he thought.

"Based on the knowledge I had of RPG games I’ve played before, It’s either the mayor of the city or town that would first issue a quest but sometimes the gate guards would also do it" Michael mumbled as he racked his brains from the knowledge he had while playing RPG games before.

"Let’s head to the Guards first for now" Michael decided but it seems the other users didn’t had the same thought as him and they headed towards the middle of the city, Michael looked at them and shrugged his shoulders and ran towards the nearest gate. "After all, this game is almost a reality, is it really that easy to meet the mayor or city lord with how shabbily dressed they are?" thought Michael.

* * * * *

"Yes!" Michael shouted in joy as he saw the flashing yellow light above one of the gate guards and so, he immediately ran over.

Michael stopped beside the guard and politely said: "Hello there sir, is there anything I can help you with?"

The guard looked at him as he started scrutinizing Michael. Wow, this NPC’s really acts like real people, Michael thought, not even bothered from the gaze of the guard.

After a few seconds, the guard suddenly smiled and said: "Brave young warrior, I"m the Bruno, the Guard Captain of the East Gate! Recently, the Wolves on the Eastern Forest has been causing a lot of trouble to people coming in and out of the city and because of the sudden surge of population within the city, almost all the city guards have been mobilize to patrol around and we don’t have any spare guards to send to take care of these Wolves, Are you brave enough to kill 25 of them?

[Quest Alert!]

[Kill 25 Wolves at the Eastern Forest! Difficulty: E]

[Bruno, Guard Captain of the East Gate has issued a task for you to kill 25 Wolves at the Eastern Forest that has been causing troubles around the city. Finished the task and get the following rewards.]

[Rewards: 100 Exp. Points, 1 Silver and +10 Reputation Points in Haven City.]

"Wow, he’s probably talking about the surge of users appearing in the city" Michael can’t still get use to how realistic these NPC’s are.

"I’ll gladly help!" Michael said in a resolute tone.

< You have accepted the quest >

"I await for your good news lad" Bruno said to him.

What Michael didn’t know is that the quest he had accepted is actually the most difficult quest right now for the beginners.

Michael trotted pass the gate and saw the Eastern Forest just over 100 meters away from the gate and walked there while he would passed by some merchants entering the city who nodded at him, he then opened his "Status Window" while walking.

[ Player Status ]

Affiliation: Haven City

Name: Shadow

Level: 1

Title: None

Class: Assassin

HP: 140/140 MP: 150/150

Strength: 10 Intellect: 10

Agility: 10 Vitality: 10

Luck: 10 Perception: 10

Free Attribute Points: 0

Skills Points: 0

Reputation:

Haven City: 0

Magic Resistance: 0%

Attack Damage: 1-3

Magic Damage: 5

Health Regeneration: 5 (per minute)

Mana Regeneration: 2 (per minute)

Detection: 5

Defense: 3

Attack Speed: 5

Movement Speed: 5

Skills:

Ambush (Passive Skill)

Level 1 Stealth (Active Skill)

Level 1 Bleed (Active Skill)

"Wow! All of it are perfect ten, I didn’t know my physique is already this good even before I became an assassin but Intellect? Even I know that I’m not that kind of an Intellectual guy, it must be because of how easy for me to learn martial arts and Luck, hmmm...I’m probably the luckiest guy alive right now, like who even had the chance at coming back on their younger years? 1 out of 300 billion of people maybe?" Michael thought when he saw how high his stats are while shaking his head, before coming to a halt as he arrived at the edge of a forest where his quest location is.

Before stepping inside the Forest, Michael made sure to check his equipment and skills first.

[Ordinary Shirt (Normal)]

Defense: 1

Level Requirement: 1

[Ordinary Pants (Normal)]

Defense: 1

Level Requirement: 1

[Ordinary Shoes (Normal)]

Defense: 1

Level Requirement: 1

[Old Dagger (Normal)]

Attack Damage: 1 - 3

Level Requirement: 1

"How lousy, I guess it’s better than nothing but still lousy though" Michael said as he shook his head and then he opened the "Skill List".

[Ambush (Passive Skill)]: 25% bonus Attack Damage when attacking an enemy undetected.

[Level 1] Stealth: Ability to hide one’s presence in the darkness. Only monsters or players with 5 levels above the stealth player could detect the player’s presence within a 4-meter distance. Ability would be disabled if attacked or discovered. Cooldown: 3 minutes]

In the game, all items are ranked by Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Ancient and Legendary. The higher the rank of the item, there would be more additional options that it would provide and a higher attack damage.

"Heok! Both Skills are passive?" Michael was surprised for a moment probably because he thought he should have at least one active skill.

"Thinking about it. It makes sense, after all I’m an Assassin. Tsk! It’s not like I need an active skill to kill a wolf" Michael snorted, sounding really arrogant right now.

Michael hurriedly entered the forest because he realized he had been taking too much time as the other users must have already realized by now that they can’t get or even meet the city lord for a quest.

"I need to finish this quest fast before the others finds Bruno" Michael thought as he slowly sneaked behind a lone wolf before pouncing on it like a Tiger pouncing on its prey.

Sadly, this idiot still thinks that the quest for Bruno is the only beginner quest in the city and didn’t know that there are a lot of Quest NPC’s scattered in the city.

Michael repeatedly stab the neck of wolf 3 times as Red Numbers appeared above its head.

- 20 -20 - 20

All of it was critical hits, the wolf probably didn’t even know how it died from just how fast Michael executed it. Just what you’d expect of the former number one Assassin, killing its prey within seconds even in the game.

"Almost a reality indeed" Michael said with a huge grin before picking up the loot dropped by the wolf.

1 Wolf Pelt, 1 Wolf Meat and 3 Copper Coins

Michael put all of it inside his Inventory before making his way to another lone wolf doing the same thing over and over again.

It took Michael 1 minute and 25 seconds before he finally killed the 25th Wolf. It took a bit longer because he accidentally aggro-ed 2 more wolves while he was trying to sneak up to another lone wolf.

"Hmmm..it seems my body here still can’t keep up. It just shows that this still a game. It seems levelling is still a must and I only gained 50 Exp from killing these wolves, looking at how low the Exp. on killing these monsters just made me realized that getting a level is hard, it seems there will be a lot of people that would be stuck below Level 5 in the upcoming days" Michael sighed as he looked at his Exp bar that was only halfway full.

Just as Michael came of out the forest, he saw a throng of people running towards his direction.

"Took them long enough" Michael chuckled as he passed by them and headed towards Bruno.

"I have successfully finished the task you’ve given me" Michael said.

"Well done, young warrior!" Bruno heartily laugh while tapping his shoulders.

< Quest Successfully Completed! >

< You have gained 100 Exp. Points, 1 Silver and +10 reputation in Haven City. >

< You have levelled up! Gained 1 Skill Points and 5 Additional Stats Points >

In Fate, the game currency are just like the norm, like in most RPG games out there. Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum. 100 Coppers = 1 Silver, 100 Silver = 1 Gold and 1000 Gold = 1 Platinum.

Opening his Inventory, he saw that "1" appeared beside the Silver logo.

"Thank you" Michael gave a slight bow before heading inside.

"Don’t forget to visit the Training Hall around the city square!"

Just as Michael only took his 9th step, he heard Bruno’s reminder. Turning back, he gave him another bow before continuing.

"Such pity, he would have a bright future ahead of him if he was a Warrior instead of a Nocturnal, becoming an Army General is not impossible. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen those eyes from a youngster, sharp and fiery. Hmmmmm..." Bruno mumbled looking at the slowly disappearing silhouette of Michael while stroking his beard.

"I actually planned to roam around to look for a place to learn skills associated to my class but it seems I just need to head towards the Training Hall at the square" Michael was mumbling as he looked at the bustling scene around him.

"Hey mister, if you invite me to your party and help me level up, I will give you my number!"

"I will give a $100 for a Silver Coin or $10 for 15 Coppers! Come to me if you have it!

"Silver Legion Guild is now recruiting members! No requirements needed! Join now before it’s too late! We won’t accept members after this!"

Michael just shook his head at this smiling and opened his "Status" and put all additional stats on his Agility. I didn’t know playing a virtual game would be this much fun, Michael thought.

Standing just inside the the Training Hall, Michael was dumbfounded at what he saw. He was expecting things like the place would have a training area where you could hit training dummies all day you want.

"This is a freaking bar where drunkards would get themselves drunk" Michael mumbled as he slowly walked towards a guy from out of the 6 people inside, who is dressed in all black with daggers strapped on his waist.

"Hello there, Is it possible for me to learn Assassin skills from you?" this time Michael didn’t talk politely to the person but more like a tone he had when making deals with his clients when he was an Assassin from his last life.

The person didn’t say anything and just took out two scrolls and placed it on the table in front of him.

Michael then saw the description of both skills the moment it was placed on the table.

[Backstab Lvl. 1 - Costs 10 Mana per level. Increases damage by 10% per level. Requires you to be behind target. Stunning them for 1 second. Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds. Cost: 1 Silver]

[Bleed Lvl. 1 : Costs 5 Mana per level. Ignore 2% Defense of your desired target per level, causes bleeding damage overtime for 15 seconds. Cost: 1 Silver]

Michael only thought for a few moment before picking the < Bleed > Skill and paid 1 silver where he immediately learned the skill.

< You have gained the skill < Bleed > It is now added on your Skill List >

Michael didn’t linger around and immediately left the place. The other class instructors just did their own business like nothing happened.

"For now, I don’t need the skill < Backstab > because I could do it on my own. < Bleed > is more suitable at my current situation right now" mumbled Michael and just as he just started walking at where his foot would lead him, he suddenly came to halt and his pupils constricted at what he saw.

"It’s him!"