11

Name: Vindictus

Race: Human

Class: Ranger

Sub-class: Archer

Level: 9 EXP: 4300/4500

Health: 208/208

Mana: 180/180

Strength 18

Vitality 16

Agility 18

Dexterity 10

Intelligence 10

Speed 16

Points available: 0

Skill Points: 3

[Boost Summon – Level 1]

[Harvester Skill – Level 3]

[Alchemy – Level 1]

[Smithing – Level 3]

[Leatherworking – Level 4]

[Eagle Eye – Level 1]

[Power Shot – Level 1]

Vindictus used the key and opened the gate to the tomb. The temperature seemed to drop by twenty degrees all around him in a heartbeat. Without any hesitation he stepped into through the opening and into the crypt.

[Congratulations on discovering the Dean Family Crypt Dungeon. All Exp and Loot drops will be doubled on the first exploration as the first person to enter the dungeon. Based on current quests dungeon is automatically set to Hard Mode and cannot be lowered.]

Vindictus noticed that it said that it cannot be lowered but he wondered if it would let him raise it. He thought about it for just a few seconds and then quickly dismissed the idea. If he was a swordman's class or had his hidden class, then this would be no problem but as a ranger he did not want to risk the bonus stuff that he would get and just ran with the hard mode instead of upgrading to the hell mode. He would bring the young players back tomorrow or the next day and take on the higher level.

With both his fire and holy arrows stored he headed into the dungeon. The fog in front of him slowly peeled back as he went deeper and by the time that he was at the bottom of the stairs the moonlight was not available behind him. The rest of the hall was dimly lit with random sconces on the wall. He was looking at three paths in front of him and he knew where they all went. He knew the layout of this dungeon like the back of his hand. The maze-like layout of the place would not be a problem, his problem was going to killing all of the skeletons and getting to the end before the sun came up and the hidden boss disappeared until the following night. He showed up all the time in hell mode but only during the night in hard mode. He did not have to kill every skeleton in here but he did not want to waste the double experience.

If time started becoming an issue, he would just skip the small fries and take out only what he had to, to get to the bosses. He started down the left bath and after three turns he ran into his first set of skeletons. He tested their strength with a regular arrow and was excited when the damage popped up. After he finished the first group of four the double exp showed and he leveled up.

[Level 10

Congratulations for being the first player in Earth: Reboot to reach level ten. Would you like to announce this to the world?

Yes/No]

Vindictus quickly hit no, but that only meant that his name would be hidden not that an announcement would not be made. Suddenly every player in the game heard the exact same message three times in a row.

[Congratulations player ***** for being the first player in Earth: Reboot to make level ten. Player *****will be awarded ten gold coins, a skill point and +1000 reputation within their region and +100 reputation in the world.]

This announcement sent shock waves through the entire game. A few players even died when they were distracted by the worldwide announcement. The complaint department of the game developers was quickly over-ran with complaints. So many in fact that they posted an announcement on their home page address the issue. 'Dear players, we at Future Tech were just as surprised as you that a player has reached level ten this quickly. But when we asked the closed AI about the issue, we were informed that the player in question did absolutely nothing illegal and hacking was not a possibility. She informed us that he made some breakthroughs in both combat and lifestyle skills that he was awarded bonus experience for. We are taking this matter seriously and have requested the AI to specifically monitor that individual and will update you if anything out of line is discovered. Please enjoy the game.'

Vindictus, who had created the commotion that almost crashed the game developer's network, had no clue that his actions were causing this big of a deal. In all honestly as he remembered it, the person that did it the first time would accomplish it tomorrow. So, it was not a big deal in the long run. But that was when he got the title notification.

[Title Awarded: First

This title is awarded to the first player to reach level ten, level fifty and level one hundred in the game Earth: Reboot. Player is awarded +5 to all stats, one extra skill point, 100 gold coins, +5000 reputation in their region and +1000 reputation in the world.]

Vindictus had heard about a few of the titles being OP when he was playing but the few minor titles that he had did not have this kind of impact. He wanted to take the time to really look over his character but time was of the essence right now. He only opened his character sheet up enough that he could add skill points to his power shot skill. The he went right back to killing skeletons. He was methodical and efficient and in less than an hour he was standing right outside of the range of the first boss. He was lucky that since this was the first real dungeon in the game and it was for players to learn the bosses were not OP if you were smart about your approach. This also meant that they did not call-in minions to assist them.

Vindictus switched out his arrows and got three of them ready to shoot. He had one on the bow, one in his mouth and one with the tip sticking in the ground in easy reach. He took a long breath past the arrow and then started firing. All three arrows were in the air before the first one hit and Vindictus quickly took two steps forward and into the threat range of the boss. This huge skeleton was like a buffed-up version of the giant skeleton that was outside. And like the one outside it was practically impervious to damage when the player was not in their threat range. And just like that he had a full three arrows worth of damage the split second that he came into range.

Just like the skeleton outside it bellowed in rage and charged towards him. But this one knew the guardian skill charge and crossed the straight-line distance in a mere moment. If Vindictus had not reacted the instant that the skeleton started moving then there was no way that he would have been able to get out of the way. As soon as the skeleton started to move Vindictus activated his Power shot skill and started hammering the giant with arrows. They were so fast and after boosting the skill two levels the health bar over the giant was visibly dropping. But Vindictus stayed on the move and never let it get close. He had been counting and realized that the cool down of the charge skill was about to reset so he shuffled a few paces to his left and got into position.

The skeleton used its skill the moment that the cool down was over and charged at Vindictus. Vindictus saw the move coming and dove out of the way at the last second like before, but this time there was a stone pillar that was right behind him and the skeleton could not react and hit it head on. Instantly the stunned symbol appeared above the skeleton's head and Vindictus did not waste the opportunity and pepper it with more arrows. Before the skeleton could come out of the stunned state and go into the berserk state from health loss the arrows did enough damage to finish the creature off.

[Player is currently level locked at level ten until they depart the beginner village when 1,000 players in the world reach the required level. All EXP will be stored in the EXP pot in your inventory until such a time as you leave the beginner village and your level becomes unlocked.]

Vindictus looked in his inventory and saw a small purple container that looked like it was filled but he knew that it would appear that way if it was 1 exp or a million. He had read the inquiries about it when it first happened the last time. He never thought about how long he would have to wait until enough people made level ten, right now the highest level on the leaderboard was level 6 and he was well above that. He would have one full bottle by the time that the level lock was lifted.

Vindictus put his hand on the skeleton to trigger the rewards and the pile of stuff that the creature dropped made his jaw drop. Then he remembered that the first clear would drop double loot and it appeared that he had quite a bit of good luck. There were even two blue items which were heads and shoulders above the basic green items he was working with. He quickly picked everything up but he still needed to check everything.

Most of the stuff was common tier and was barely better than the starter equipment that he already had and no wear close to the stuff that he made. But the two blue items were a different story. The first one was not an item per se, it was a storage expansion for his inventory. It appeared this way in case a character wanted to sell or trade it if they already had one or did not feel it was necessary. But the best part was once it was added to his inventory it was bound and no one could steal it. Without any hesitation he bound the item and the size of his inventory went from twenty slots to one hundred slots. This was a very good day. This could be added later with a huge number of coins. The last item was also blue and this time it was something that was a bow above and beyond his current bow.

[Dead Man's Delight – Rare

Physical damage +50

Magical Damage +50

Drain – one critical hit any arrow fired from this bow takes on the vampiric quality and uses negative energy to drain 20% of the damage to the target and transfers it as health to the user.

This bow was created by a corrupted ranger who became a vampire lord before his death at the hands of the church.]

Vindictus quickly equipped the bow and smiled as he watched his damage almost double in an instant. His smile did not go anywhere as he collected the monetary part of his reward and added almost another gold coin to his personal funds.