Return Of Aegis

In Aegis, one could get skills in two ways. The easiest way was to buy skill books from players, merchants or to get them from boss drops. The harder method, but produced higher quality skills, was to make your own that the system could recognize.

There were 3 tiers to skills: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced. The higher the tier of the skill the more powerful it would be, but of course, it would cost an arm or a kidney.

As for skills self made, that was different and a lot more complex. One would have to repeat an action over and over again until the system recognized the action.

ZeRen didn't buy any, instead, he spent the last 10 hours, doing short bursts of speed, from one end of the square to the other. In the first 5 hours, he created his 1st active skill - {Dash}.

{Dash (Lv 1/10)

Cost: 1 stamina per activation

User can dash forward 100 meters. 100% immune to all control skills and physical damage while dashing.}

The next skill he made was {Roll}. It could only be used as a follow up from using {Dash}. {Roll} was used to further evade attacks. Some bosses in Aegis had two-step attacks, so it was important to have a skill that could assist him in evading twice.

{Roll (Lv 1/5)

Cost: 1 stamina per activation

Follow up skill after using {Dash}. 100% immune to all control skills and physical damage while rolling.}

Once he had these two skills, he set off to look for Slyph, he needed a bow to start hunting monsters. Didn't take him long to find Slyph, now that he knew what Slyph looked like.

"Slyph I need a bow and some arrows, you didn't give me one!" yelled ZeRen across the block, startling everyone on the block. Many were still looking for "Lady Slyph" for their class change quest.

"Jeez, keep your voice down, I just found this spot!" muttered Slyph just loud enough for ZeRen to hear him.

Thankfully however, the other players thought Slyph was just another player, not the "Lady" they were seeking.

Slyph didn't say anything, he just handed over a composite bow and 5 quivers. Quivers were very magical in Aegis. Each quiver came fully loaded with 50~100 arrows, depending on the type you got. These beginner ones Slyph gave him, only had 100 arrows in each. ZeRen thought that Slyph was being very stingy. Had other players see his thoughts, they would vomit blood. Normal archers would only get 10~50 arrows per quiver. Slyph had given him slightly better ones because of his record shattering score at the shooting range.

ZeRen needed to level up til level 10, the map he needed to get to had a level restriction. The item ZeLin needed for forging the next equipment, could only be found from mobs hunted in that map.

ZeRen left the elf village, then headed west into the plains. The plains only housed creatures below level 5, anything higher would be eliminated by the elf guards.

The first creature he came across was a rodent like creature the size of a golden retriever. Staying still, ZeRen nocked an arrow, and took aim at the creature's eyes. The creature had eyes the size of teacups, made it a lot easier to target.

ZeRen observed the creature, watched its pace, silently drawing his bow, ZeRen let the arrow loose.

- 220

[Ding! Forest Rodent killed | 5 EXP gained | Meat inedible | Leather x1]

The creature died without even knowing how it died. With just one well placed arrow, the forest rodent died.

Because he was the first one out of the village, there wasn't anyone else to compete for EXP with him.

Finding his next target, another forest rodent, ZeRen took aim, and fired.

- 110

[Ding! Forest Rodent killed | 5 EXP gained | Meat inedible | Leather x1]

ZeRen repeated this 18 more times, finally leveling up. He had also gained 2 more skills - {Observe} and {Precise Shot}.

{Observe} allowed him to see the name and the stats of the creatures, as well as its level and skills. {Precise Shot} was a guaranteed critical hit that dealt 200% of his normal attack, it however, cost 5 stamina to use.

Character Name: ZeRen

Level: 2 ( 0 / 200 )

Title: Surpassor (All Stats +10%)

Stats:

Strength = 14 (13+1)

Dexterity = 12 (5+1+6)

Intelligence = 6 (5+1)

Luck = 1

Stamina: 140 / 240

Upon leveling up, ZeRen was given 3 stat points. He straight away place all of it into Strength. Wanting to test his strength, he looked around for another forest rodent.

| Forest Rodent (Lv 2) |

| HP: 100/100 |

| Common rodent infesting the forest |

- 140

[Ding! Forest Rodent killed | 5 EXP gained | Meat inedible | Leather x1]

"Not bad, 1 normal attack can now kill a rodent. Won't have to use {Precision Shot} for now." thought ZeRen to himself.

ZeRen went on a rodent extermination killing spree. Only stopping when the rodents no longer gave him any experience points.

Character Name: ZeRen

Level: 5 ( 15 / 500 )

Title: Surpassor (All Stats +10%)

Stats:

Strength = 24 (22+2)

Dexterity = 18 (5+1+12)

Intelligence = 6 (5+1)

Luck = 1

Stamina: 360 / 360

His inventory was filled up with leathers from 203 forest rodents that he killed. ZeRen decided to head back to the village to sell his wares. He had no trouble locating the market as he knew the village like the back of his hand, having flown all over the place looking for Sif and Slyph.

As he was entering the village, he overheard a bunch of elves complaining.

"Even with 2 warriors and 2 earth elemental elves, we still can't kill that rodent king. This is getting frustrating! How are we to get first kill before anyone else? It's just not possible!" complained the shortest elf.

"We should try once more, if we really can't then we should go look for someone else to help us." consoled one of the elves.

"Ok, let's head North and straight to the cave." without further ado, the four of them left. Unaware someone else had hear their conversation.

First kills were always highly sought after, it was a platform to advertise oneself or your guild. If you took a sponsorship, you could use the first clear message to promote the company which sponsored you. Leading Holy Empire, they had their share of first kills and the sponsorsh.i.p.s.

"I should prepare a little, maybe I can get that first kill on the rodent king. I don't remember any special drops though." thought ZeRen to himself. Selling all the leather, he got 20 silvers and 3 coppers.

ZeRen then spent some silver on lesser health potions, before too heading North. He didn't know the way, but he could just follow their tracks.

The walk wasn't far, it was easy to track the 4 who left earlier, they were amateurs, leaving a wake of destruction to both flora and fauna. Soon ZeRen could hear fighting up ahead. He choose to stay in the shadows and used {Observe} to see the stats of the Rodent King.