Ashes of the Fallen

With nothing else to do, I figured it was time to return to the town. My red name would fall off eventually but until then, I needed to avoid the large crowds out here. Out in the open I could be attacked at any time, but in a town with guards I was relatively safe from other players. Not entirely safe, but safe enough.

Right before I was about to leave though, my favorite duo appeared right in front of the dungeon portal. Without giving them the time to react, I pulled my axe and with one powerful blow, lodged the axe square in his face. The man dropped to the floor from one blow as I turned to the archer and put my right hand on his chest.

Electricity sparked around my hand as the archer tightened up and hunched over, squirming without a sound until he eventually fell to his knees gasping for air. I released the channel of my arc lightning and placed my hand on his shoulder instead, too physically close for others to see the tether of electricity. No one here would know my secrets, all they saw was a man falling helplessly to his knees.

"I thought I said, if I ever saw you again in the North, I would kill you," I stated clearly without much care to the surroundings. "Did you think I was bluffing?"

"You fucker, said you would only kill me once!" he barked back, clearly upset.

Well, that was true.

I did say that after all… oh well, I changed my mind.

No, that's not correct, I had already left and he came into my sight once again, it wouldn't be right if I made exceptions.

I'm a man of my word after all.

"Hmm, unfortunately for you, I saw you in the North," I said casually. "Those were the terms. My apologies, but I'm not as forgiving once I've lost my patience."

Activating the channel of [Arc Lightning] again, I kept it going until the archer curled into a ball and died in the fetal position. I couldn't help but think, what a baby.

I was nearly out of mana already from a few seconds of channeling, but I felt fairly confident. The others who were watching the scene stepped back and seemed more scared than eager to challenge me.

I dropped a player with one melee blow to the head, which as a surprise attack was considered somewhat normal… if not vicious and a bit low of character but it showed that I meant business. And then, I used a magic spell of some sort that they had never seen before to completely subdue and kill another player without taking a hit. Rather than getting angry or becoming anxious to fight, they were cautious and watched my every move.

I was a scary sight at the moment.

Then the atmosphere died instantly as Barik kicked the priest's corpse and laughed.

"Hah, these bogans," he said while chuckling.

The scene went from tense to comical in a heartbeat as the dwarf kicked the corpses a few times each while letting out a deep infectious laugh. I ended up joining him and started laughing as well, though I left the kicking to him. Meanwhile, the bystanders thought we had completely lost it and backed up even further, giving us plenty of separation and a degree of freedom to do whatever we wanted.

It wasn't a bad feeling, having the fear of the people.

That was alright with me.

Chapter 46: A Neutral Smith

(Saturday, May 29th Game Day / Friday, February 19th Real Day)

The sound of metal on metal rang sharply throughout the room as the man continued to hammer a slab of iron, forming it into shape. Drawing out the iron with repeated hits, the slab slowly started to elongate as the shape of a sword began to appear. Heating, hammering, adjusting, and repeating endlessly with a patience to be admired. Every swing of the hammer was an accurate one, precision combined with measured force.

With a pair of tongs in his left and a hammer in his right, he worked the iron while oblivious to the dozens of players lingering about watching his every move. To most players, a blacksmith's craft was one of mystery, our knowledge being borne from movies and games rather than first-hand experience, yet here we were watching what was believed to be an accurate representation of the art form, an honest portrayal performed before our very eyes.

It was captivating, maybe even enchanting, to watch the man laboriously pour every ounce of his focus into the work at hand while beads of sweat rolled down his face. He looked tired, but he was determined. I had been standing off to the side for nearly thirty minutes, simply observing while attempting to discern some secret of the trade. I was roughly familiar with the work, the process, but I was no expert.

There was a lot to learn about the world and its many machinations.

Knowledge was power anyhow, no matter how you cut it… and I believed it was time well spent. I had numerous plans, ideas, and theories even, that I wanted to put into practice. Though, without sufficient knowledge, there would be no way to successfully carry out said plans. So, I was now researching at the expense of my time.