Blood Mark

[You've earned 250,000 Lograms! The Great Valley Auction house has decided to waver the 5% auction house fee for your first transaction! Please choose us next time!]

"So-so much… It' sso much."

"They're coming!" May looked around for a rock to equip. "Damn it! I don't have a weapon! What do you have."

"A level 3 sword, 50 of them. Do you want one?" Harvard had gotten 50 Slime Bamboo Swords. "They only go for one Logram, but I kept them for sentimental value."

"You-you have 50 of them? Don't you have anything better?" May finally saw one of the monsters rushing down the tunnel.

Because of the flickering torches on the wall, they had massive shadows, but they really were tiny beings. Harvard focused on one and saw its name.

[Sand Crab Ghoul]

[Level 18]

It had two silver claws and a hard exterior body with a small white flame in each of its tiny eyes. Charging at its maximum speed, it looked like a small tank.

"We're doomed! We're so doomed!" May tossed a rock at the Sand Crab Ghoul before it rushed towards her. "Damn it! We aren't going to be allowed to leave this cavern until we defeat it! Why did I follow you?"

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" A small boy looked up at May with a large sword on his back. He had a completely bald head and seemed to be unaware of the incoming monsters. "It's rude to take someone's tunnel when they're leveling. Damn it. Wait, why do you look so familiar, dude? Where did I see you before."

"I-I killed 10,000 slimes," Harvard smiled and looked at the small boy. "Any chance we can join your party? I promise I'll make it worth your while."

"Sure, I'll let you take my drops! Hell no, just stay behind me and watch!" The irritated boy turned and swung his massive sword. He seemed to be some type of heavy sword class from a faraway land. Even though there were 3 local territories nearby, all together there had to be hundreds of classes available to select in planet

"This will be quick! I can't fall behind Red Nova! That man is always passing me on the leader board."

"Hold on. You're on the leaderboard?" May said with disbelief. "No way. If you're on the leaderboard, then that means your level 21. Only 10 players out of millions are level 21. You're telling me I just ran into one of the top players?"

"Yup, and I just spent all my Lograms to buy a single experience potion! Heh, whatever idiot sold that has no idea how valuable it will be at level 30! Hahahaha! Best money I ever invested in my entire life!"

###

"I'm sure whoever did it will have a backup plan at level 30." Harvard tensed with an awkward smile. "Heh, what happens at level 30 anyway?"

"You never heard?" May laughed, "You need to complete 5 challenges in order to get your second class! With the experience potion, you can probably skin to level 31"

"I see," Harvard looked down at his wrist. "I-I hadn't got my first class yet, so I had no idea there was a second. That person must feel like an idiot right now. However, I'm sure if you put the experience potion on the market. He'd buy it back." Harvard briskly nodded ihs head.

He hadn't got to learn many things because of killing ghost slimes for 3 days. He only got to complete 3 quests while others probably completed hundreds. Harvard didn't even know if he was in a dungeon or how many people could join a party.

[Alpha Thunder has invited you to join a party.]

[Join the party?]

"Yes!" Harvard joined the party, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least he hadn't gotten killed by another player, or robbed blind. Well, he sort of did get robbed blnd for his experience potion, but that wasn't the point! He felt confident that today was a new day, and he would find a new treasure to sell on the auction house that would make him the envy of all players!

[May Tape has joined the party!]

[Party window]

[Alpha Thunder level 21] (Banshee Fighter)

[May Tape level 15] (No class)

[Hamlord level 18] (No class)

A party window appeared and Alpha Thunder looked surprised. He stared at May's beautiful white eyes and then at Harvard once to try and size them up.

"You two aren't bad. Wow, but what's with the level 3 slime conqueror sword? I heard those are rare."

Harvard had found one rare item from the 100,000 ghost slime's he killed. It was a one in a million rare item, but because it was level 3 really didn't do a lot of damage.

The types of items ranged from common, to uncommon, to rare, to epic to legendary to artifact to heirloom and they turned a certain hue depending on what item you found and their rarity. Common items got found 1 out of every 10 kills, uncommon 1 out of every 100 and epic items one out of every 10,000 times a monster got killed. Beyond legendary it got into the millions, and not a single person had found even a level 1 heirloom!

[Slime Conqueror Sword] (Legendary)

[level 3]

[Durability 250 / 250]

[Ability 1: Poison Slash]

[Imbues your attack with poison and causes an extra 5% damage]

'Hmm, it's flashing orange, I wonder what that means?' Harvard sighed and turned to May. "Do you know what it means when an item flashes?"

"Ugh, that mean's its upgradeable, right? Alpha Thunder. Do you know?" May watched Alpha Thunder scream and slash through dozens of Sand Crab Ghouls. He used an AOE attack called Slash of Innocents and created a massive vortex that pulled in five Sand Crab Ghouls before he finished each one with a powerful slash.

Alpha Thunder rushed through the cave and cleared all the monsters before they could finally leave Midnight Mountain. He smiled and walked Harvard and May to the other side of the tunnel.

"Yup, upgradeable items are rare. Anyways, once you two idiots get your first class, send me a message. I'm looking for people over level 15 to join my guild."

"The real idiot is the guy who sold the experience potion. I bet if he were here right now he'd be crying like a young child! I wish I could see that!" May smiled and looked into Harvards eyes. He seemed to be slightly crying, and his already pale skin had turned completely blue. "Ha, well anyways, thank you, Alpha Thunder! I'll root for you on the leadership board!"

"Good, Bane Root Mountain is about a mile that way," Alpha Thunder cleared his throat and pointed at a path with a few lamp posts along the road. "Get a class and then look up the Masked Thunder Guild. If you guys want, I'll do a dungeon raid with you to get you some better armor. I swear, even a slime could rob you blind."

"There is not a single slime I can't defeat," Harvard shook Alpha Thunder's hand. "About that experience potion. You sure I can't give you 300,000 Lograms for it?"

"Nope, never giving that back in a life time!" Alpha Thunder laughed awkwardly. He was roughly 1.6 meters tall with blonde hair. Unlike Harvard, his skin was not transparent and you could even see his pores. He had a pallid countenance with golden eyes that glowed when he turned and rushed back to the entrance of a mountain. "Anyways, I'm going to get first on the leaderboard. You just watch!"

"Will you take my hand? I'm scared," May trembled and grabbed Harvard's elbow. "Every time I get close to Bane Root Mountain I get robbed blind. Will you prowtect a innocwent girl?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll take advantage of you?" Harvard grabbed her supple hand and gulped. I may be a lawyer, but we have real functioning bodies again. I could take you into the woods and make you suffer.

"Naw, you won't do that!" May leaned her head against Harvard's shoulder. A few players rushed by and ran to a spawn of Sand Crab Ghouls as they began to walk forward down the path. "I've seen really evil players before! There names glow in blood ! When you see one run!"

"There are five over there," Harvard raised his finger and pointed at the players who passed by. "They are ignoring us. What is a blood mark?"

It was called a bloodmark because players named turned a sanguine hue when they slaughtered other adventurers. Normally, close to towns, attacking other Adventurers was off limits because the NPCs would attack and kill any bloodmarked players. However, Harvard realized out here, close to Midnight Mountain, it made perfect sense to slaughter other players.

Killing other players gave you experience, so it made sense they'd try to do it where they wouldn't get penalized if no NPCS happened to be around.

"Midnight Slash!" One player screamed and cut a Sand Crab in half. "Reckoning Blade!"

"You-you think they noticed us?" Harvard pulled May down the road, and felt the warm touch of her transparent body. "They didn't seem to care in my opinion."

"Hmph, probably are from a Heartless aligned guild. I heard some guilds are requiring their players to kill other players in order to join."