The Unknown God

Both men slowly finished their drinks. The sword sat on the desk in between them. Sir Alvyn broke the silence first.

"The Eternal Empire possesses a lot of different knightly order which swear loyalty to the Empire. Although they all have different beliefs, they guard the realm of all those who dared to cause harm to the empire. The greatest of these orders are the Order of Imperial Knights, the Order of the Golden Dragon and the Order of Zakir."

He retrieved a golden token from within a locked drawer. The captain inspected it before placing it alongside Narsil. The circular token appeared to be made of solid gold. A majestic dragon had been engraved into the material. It was twice the size of a regular gold coin.

"It's interesting to hear all that but, how does this relate back to my new a sword? Last I checked, we are the first to come to this continent. Granted, it was weird enough to find a sword inside a demonic creature -wait... when I bonded with the sword I was teleported... to another place. Now that I think about it that guy never told me his name."

"Golden eyes?"

"Yeah..."

"So you met him. Well, I guess he chose you, may as well explain it to you. The man you met was the prodigal prince of the Eternal Empire, the Crown Prince, heir to the Eternal Throne. A few months ago, his energy increased tenfold, before suddenly disappearing totally. Which was probably the result of the creation of this artefact. A black artefact is both a boon and a curse. It requires an enormous amount of experience point to evolve. The welder needs to constantly feed powerful souls to it or face the backlash. If the artefact was to runs out of soul energy it will consume the user soul. That is why people tend to store such artefact away. Hidden. Dark and deep in vaults, not to be used, unless, at the uttermost end of need."

'That explains. With the amount of experience I gain by the steel predator, I should have been at least level 300ish. It may have actually been heavily injured after its fight with the prince.'

"Come back tomorrow afternoon, I will have more information for you then. If you are looking for a room, Durnan should have one available."

"Thanks."

---

After a quick word with the innkeeper, Simply entered the antic. Durnan had agreed to rent the antic to Simply for a few weeks. As of now, this small space was his little space in this massive game, a place that he would call home until the construction of his shop/house.

Alex had been playing for a long time and decided to log off. After all, sleep is crucial in a balanced lifestyle.

---

The next morning, Alex logged back in. Refreshed and ready to grind some gold to fund his shop. His first location: the Militia HQ.

The guards on duty nodded their heads towards him when he entered the building. The receptionist sat up from his seat and greeted Simply with a small bow.

"Good morning, sir. Captain Ironfury is expecting you in his office. Please follow me."

The captain's office was on the second floor. The large office was comfortable yet not overly furniture. An ornate desk took centre stage while large bookshelves covered the b.a.r.e walls. A man stood behind the chair, observing the new recruits' training outside. He was both tall and lean. His silky chocolate skin contrasted by his long, wavy grey hair. He turned around. His bright green eyes studied Simply's reaction to his disfigured face. An unfinished falcon tattoo added to the captain's intimating look. Simply, simply smiled and greeted him.

"So you are the new adventurer who defeated the Steel Predator. I'll tell it to your face, don't get c.o.c.ky just because you got lucky. Once you have defeated three of such beast, only then will you earn my respect. Now give me your Adventurer Badge."

"Yes, Sir. Here you go."

He took it and placed it on a bizarre object on his desk. A complex magical array appeared. After a few adjustments to the array, Captain Ironfury returned it to Simply.

[Eternal Landing Adventurer Badge] (Steel rank) (0/1000)

User restriction: Simply Umbra

The Militia Badge is the token of your adventurer rank within the Eternal Landing Militia. All Attributes +5.

---

Twenty minutes later, Simply was in a random party. He had been accosted by the leader of this party. The leader, who played a monk, when by the ultimate name of Ninja Ass. He was very extrovert and loud. He never stopped talking on his friend lack of alcohol tolerance and how he had passed out at last nights party. His friend, an archer just smiled at the allegations. The other members of this small party were a shield warrior and a spearman. They had also been added on the fly.

The Ranger, Kenshi abruptly halted, dropping to one knee in a swift motion. He motioned the party to imitate him. His sharp forest green eyes concentrated on the forest ground. His athletic physique relaxed. He reported in a low voice the situation.

"There is a pack of two-five wolves that passed through here five minutes ago. They are moving slowly, most likely tracking prey. I'd say they are 200 meters away if they maintained their speed. They will detect us once we are within a hundred meters."

"Awesome. I'll initiate the attack. Any questions?"

"Nope."

"Alright."

The party drew their weapons. The wolves were devouring a half eaten deer beside a cave. There was five of them. The alpha, the biggest, instantly noticed the intruders. With a snarl, he alerted his pack. Ninja A.s.s rushed towards them.

The alpha stayed behind as two of his pack rushed toward the monk, while the other two flanked him. No messy clash occurred. The two frontal attacks only tasted air as Ninja A.s.s dived under their leap. The other wolves met the spear and mace of FantasticAvocado and Titan. Surprisingly all the enemies that had engaged first had received severe injuries without even touching anyone.

Ninja A.s.s had successfully dodged the combined attacks and followed with a well-executed counter using the wolves' momentum. Dealing two devastating blow with his fists, that rendered them immobile: the neck vertebrae.

FantasticAvocado and Titan had capitalized on the wolves focus on flanking to each land a fatal blow. Titan wrecked the wolf's skull with a massive blow from his mace. FantasticAvocado on the other hand elegantly dispatched his wolf with a well-timed, well-placed stab from his spear that neatly pierced through the head.

Four down, one left. The random party actually contained a lot of hidden tigers.

However, the battle hasn't even started yet. The Alpha howls. Ten wolves answer his call appearing from within the cave behind him. They were bigger than their recently killed kin.

"Charge"

Epic music started playing in the background, everything began to slow down. Both sides charge towards each other... CLASH, CRUNCH, PLACK.

'GG guys, what a disaster! Recklessly rushing without any formation nor plan, just gives the Wolves an advantage due to their larger numbers.'

Titan missed his swing and got his arm bitten. FantasticAvocado managed to land a blow on two wolves simultaneously with a swipe of his spear but got overrun by the another two. Kenshi who fired an arrow, closely missing the heart, managed to damage one. But was quickly forced to roll away as a wolf went in for a fatal bite to his neck. Ninja A.s.s engaged the feral enemy, gracefully dodging multiple attacks before getting flanked and ending up bitten by three wolves before managing to retreat. Fortunately, the wolves did not manage to get a firm bite nor did they pursue the retreating party. Simply who had yet to draw his blade received the disheartened party.

"Carelessly rushing the enemy that outnumber you two to one is kind off rash and senseless. Titan, you are in charge of tanking the enemy attacks while pummeling them with your mase and for god sake, use your shield. FantasticAvocado, coordinate with Titan, keep stabbing the wolves he tanks. And Ninja Ass, work on your spacial awareness. Death Be Thy Name. "

Simply drew his sword, drawing his party's stare by its pristine appearance. The soft silver aura which shrouded the blade did not help. This solidified Simply's leadership role.

Kenshi drew his bow and fired volley after volley, pressuring the enemy who retaliated by charging towards them. Titan received the assault with his shield. He got slightly pushed back by the sheer force of the beasts colliding against his shield. Once the wolves charge had been halted, Simply vaulted over Titan's shoulder and massacred the stunned wolves.

Severing the closest exposed neck, following it with a reversed stab which pierced the eyeball, the brain and the back of the head of the unfortunate wolf. Simply flourished Narsil before quickly chopping the foreleg of another before finishing the target with a fatal cut to the throat. Blood gushed all over his arms.

From behind the protection of a shield, two deathly weapons struck out, thirsty for blood, making quick work of two doomed wolves. An arrow flew true, burying itself deep within the head of another.

Six dead, five left. The only wolf that wasn't stunned abandoned his two dazed kin. He withdrew beside the Alpha.

Simply approached the dazed wolves. Looking at the Alpha, he flicked his wrist. The heads landed on the forest floor, the Alpha enraged rushed towards him.

A smirk materializes on Simply's face.

The Alpha leapt towards him radiating killing intent. Simply shifted his body out of the Alpha's way, replacing it with Narsil. Blind with rage and unable to change his momentum due to his leap, Narsil tasted its first shish kebab. The last two enemies attempted to run away but were promptly killed by an arrow and flying spear.