5

Izak looked around him and saw that he was back in the world where he had spent the last decade and a smile lit up his face. He looked around and realized that this was East Haven the town where he could get the hidden class that he wanted a lot faster. With that in mind he quickly pulled up his stat screen and gave it a once over.

Name: Vindictus

Race: Human

Class: Ranger

Sub-class: Archer

Level: 1 EXP: 0/100

Health: 110/110

Mana: 100/100

Strength 13

Vitality 12

Agility 13

Dexterity 10

Intelligence 10

Speed 14

Points available: 0

Skill: Boost Summon – Level 1 increases the stats and abilities of bonded summon by 10% for 10 minutes. Stat boost will increase and mana cost will decrease at higher levels. Cost 25 Mana Cool Down 30 minutes

Izak looked over his stats and then he clicked over to see what was in his inventory. The bow and arrows were expected but there were two things that he was not expecting. First was instead of the fifty copper that all players started with he had ten gold. Now it might not seem like a lot but he was almost positive that it was most of a month before the first gold piece showed up in his account last time. Hell, even a few guilds took most of a week to get a full gold after pooling all their money. Now he had enough to not only start his own guild but also the funds necessary to get the hidden quest. There was also a ring.

[Ring of Mystery – Wearer of this ring can completely hide their identity from everyone but the AI of the system. No spell of any player or NPC can reveal the wearer's identity. Wearer can also control the information that everyone sees. This item does not allow the wearer to change appearance so physical recognition is possible. Ring bonded to Player Vindictus and cannot be sold, traded, stolen, or dropped.]

Without any hesitation Izak put the ring on and changed his name a few times with just a thought so that he could get used to it. After reading the description, another item that he now wanted popped into his head. It was another ring that would go perfectly with this one. It was one that would allow him to change his appearance. It would not be available for a few days as the area that held the ring would not be opened until enough players made level ten and the beginner villages opened up. He made a note of it and headed to find the village chief.

"Greetings young man. I see you carrying a bow would you be willing to assist the village in its time of need?"

"Of course, elder. How can I help the village?"

"There are some young wolves that are running amuck around the outside of the village. If you could kill ten of them it would greatly decrease the burden on the guards of the village."

"I will take care of it elder, please rest assured." Izak stopped by three more shops and picked up more missions. Two of them involved wolves or at least part of the wolves and the last one was an herb that was needed by the alchemist and only grew in the area where the wolves were. He would knock out four missions at the same time. This was a lot harder when the game opened since there would be some many players would be trying to get each of the mission. By the time that he got through all of them the first time it had taken days. Without the competition of all the other players he could quickly knock this out and then start taking the higher-level missions.

Just as he was about to leave the village, he remembered one last thing and opened up his setting. He turned the control from system assisted too independent and pulled out his bow. The dot that would normally pop up for an archer was not there but the sites on the bow were now visible. He knew how to use a bow so he was not concerned. He would be safe enough for the time being. This area was set up specifically for players to learn how to control everything.

It only took him a few minutes to find the troublesome wolves. He pulled an arrow out and with one smooth motion he went to full draw and picked his first target. He picked a wolf that was just far enough away from the others to now draw the aggro of more than one. At least he was not ready for that yet. He let the first arrow fly and it landed just a little short of the wolf, who went on high alert and started looking for the threat. It spotted Izak quickly and started towards him.

The second arrow was a little easier now that he had the bow gaged. He should not have been in such a rush and went to the range in town to get used to the bow. The second arrow hit the moving wolf.

[-25]

The health bar over the wolf's head dropped just a little and Iazk knew that he would need either a critical or five more arrows before he dropped this wolf and based on its speed, he might get one more before the wolf was close. He drew the third arrow and let it fly and without watching it he started running.

[-30]

Izak kept moving and realized that with his boosted speed at the start he was actually a little faster than the wolf. He knew that in real life maybe one person in a million could keep their distance from a wolf and that was only for a few seconds but this was a game. The wolves were faster than normal players and had to be taken in a group most of the time but that is also why they tended to show up in small packs. He got just out of the range of the wolf and fired his fourth shot.

[-60 critical hit, bleeding effect]

[-1]

Izak smiled and drew out another arrow knowing that after the ten second bleed time one more arrow would be enough to kill the wolf. He sprinted forward and then turned and fired his last shot. The wolf let out a yelp as the arrow hit.

[-29]

The wolf's HP bar dropped to the bottom and Izak slowed down and waited for five seconds that it took for the wolf to bleed out.

[EXP 10]

Once it dropped, he pulled out the skinning knife that he got from the tanner for one of his missions and started skinning the wolf. Since he was in independent mode, he had to do a lot more work than a player in assisted mode but the chances for a higher quality pelt were worth the extra work. He also pulled out the fangs and claws that were requested by the blacksmith. Once the main things were pulled, he got the notification to collect the remains and wolf meat and wolf heart were added to his inventory. These were not quest items for him but they would be of great use later and since they were in the inventory, they would not go bad.

[Harvester Skill – Level 1 this skill increases the chances of successfully harvesting from plants and animals. Higher level skill is required to harvest higher level plants and animals. Quality of harvest can also increase as level increases.]

After he killed the ten wolves that the village elder required, he hit level 2. He was surprised when the one stat point that he should have gotten was two just like during character creation. Just like first level he put one in strength and one in agility. That would give him two extra points of damage and just make him a little harder to hit.

It took him a lot longer to gather the pelts, since he destroyed a few of them in independent mode, than killing the wolves the elder requested but he did not mind. The last few the pelts came out perfect so they would be worth twice as much and if he was not mistaken a few perfect pelts would be enough for him to get a bonus and there was the possibility that he would get the offer to be trained as a leather worker. The fangs and claws were already collected but he would take these anyways since he could always use or sell the extra. The pelt came out perfect one final time and he had enough to complete the quest.

Once it was in his inventory, he got the alert that the quest was ready for turn in. He took a few steps and picked up the last few herbs he needed. With that he heard the ding and all four of his quests were ready to turn in. He saw a few more herbs that he could use and with the respawn rate of the wolves he had enough time to grab them and go. After he grabbed the last two, he took off at a dead run for the village. He knew that when they updated the game in about a month that stamina would become part of the game so he had to take advantage while he could. He dodged around a couple of wolves that popped up on his way back and was in the town without any further issues.