009 Friends….Maybe

The battle against the forest wolves had been over for about 5 minutes now and both Ancef and Kye were still huffing and gasping for breath as they lay on the ground in the middle of the blood stained forest.

With the trees, shrubs, and weeds surrounding them all dyed several shades of crimson and scarlet, it looked like a scene from a horror film. For some it may be to gruesome but this high degree of reality made many fans of SOS.

Since the pair of brothers' stats were not as high as Illio's,they struggled to get up after the fight. After a few failed attempts by the two, they decided to keep waiting since it would be a little while longer before they recovered from the depleted stamina.

Illio was the first to get up from the ground having recovered the bare minimum of stamina needed to function. His stats were higher than the helpful pair and more so now after the tremendous 4 level ups he received. This meant that his recovery rate was also faster than theirs by miles.

While the ones he mistakenly believed were called 'Ant self' and 'Kite' were still on the ground exhausted, he opened his inventory and pulled out the steel sword they had given him. Illio would have experienced bitter death if not for them and this weapon.

After giving it a final look of fondness and appreciation, Illio laid the weapon next to 'Ant Self'.

"Thanks…I'll repay this…Somehow…." Illio had never gotten favors before so he didn't know how to express his gratitude.

Ancef issued a nod of acknowledgment in between his gasping for air before Illio walked over to the nearby tree to check his menu.

A conversation was in order and he needed to give the two men some more time to recover before it could be had.

Simply issuing a single thought the menu opened and Illio took a look at his newly gained power.

Level : 5

Class : Master Of Fate

Title(s) : None

Class Ability : Worldly Manipulation

[Worldly Manipulation : Gathering]

[Worldly Manipulation : Gathering] when used, directly changes the spawn rate of closest mobs (Inclusive to Boss Mobs) and summons them to the field instantly. Range : 0.02% - 100% increase.

[Worldly Manipulation : Reign Of The Absolute]

Your hunger for power overturns reason. Every 30 seconds for 2 minutes your stats receive 0%-30% boost. Stacks. Consumes 100 Mana initially. Doubles consumption every time a new boost is applied within the 2 minutes.

[Can manipulate with the probability of everything]

[Daily Limit 10] [Current : 8/10

[Gain proficiency to break this shackle]

Strength : 33

Stamina : 33

Agility : 33

Intelligence: 58

Allocatable Stat Points : (8)

Skill(s) : Ancient Swordsmanship (F) (Passive)

Attack damage increases by 25% when a sword type weapon is equipped.

Ancient Swordsmanship (Passive)

[After obtaining the Will of The First and only Master Of Fate, you have gained his unique ability and with it his legendary swordsmanship from a time long forgotten. His knowledge is automatically applied in combat. Master it to gain proficiency.]

Ancient Swordsmanship (Active)

Ancient Swordsmanship (Lost Techniques) :

Ancient Swordsmanship (Forbidden) :

??????? Swordsmanship (Forgotten) :

Glee was reflected on Illio's face as he toggled through the different menus. He had managed to level up 4 times in a single day.

That was ridiculously fast. Sure when one starts off, leveling up doesn't take as long but once you hit around level 10 or so, the level up speed slows down significantly because of the amount of experience needed.

This would be one of the many hinderances he would have to jump over if he wanted any chance at catching up with the high ranking players.

After a brief minute of thought Illio wondered if once he gained a decent amount of strength, could he use 'Worldly Manipulation : Gathering' to boost his experience grind and combat the large amounts of expertise needed to level up?

Would it allow him to level up fast and catch up to those who have been playing for the past 5 years?

Initially one would think yes because it can help power level the individual but after this experience of nearly dying to the unreasonable amount of wolves summoned….The skill was looking to be far more dangerous than helpful.

The probability manipulation took effect but the amount increased wasn't set and instead was up to chance to decide. If he were in a high level area and got hit again with a x100 multiplier which would summon thousands of mobs, could he deal with it and survive?

Probably not…perhaps however, if Illio gained more proficiency in it maybe then He could also control the amount by which probability is affected? He had no clue the direction of growth of this legendary class. It was the first and perhaps only of its kind. However this thought was intriguing.

"Controlling probability to its full extent…If that happens then I really would be over powered."

Illio caught himself whispering his thoughts and immediately silenced his mouth. Information was valuable and revealing too much of it especially when it came to oneself could be his downfall.

Instead of continuing to speak, Illio began imagining the new definition of 'Broken' that he would set with this ability while shifting menus.

With a change in his interface, Illio opened up and glanced over to the inventory section and pulled up the amount of loot gained from this tremendous battle only to be flabbergasted from the numbers and items reflected back at him.

[Wolf Pelt : 611/10]

Fresh, soft, and fuzzy wolf pelts. They have many uses.

[Quest Item] : Turn in to Village Chief to progress

"That is way too many pelts! Should I give them all to the village chief? Will he take them? Maybe I can sell the extra and make some money!"

The thought of already scoring potential cash in his first day playing excited Illio.

"This game truly is my future!"

He continued to scroll down seeing the next items.

[Wolf Fang (D) ]

A white long sword. It's thin blade allows for maximum sharpness. This weapon only has a chance to drop by those who turn passion into obsession and slay more than 800 wolves]

Attack power : 25

Durability : 50/50

Skill : [Bite Of The Wolf]

3 consecutive strikes towards the target. 10% chance to paralyze target. Consumes 50 Mana

Illio's eyes bulged in shock! He needed a new weapon after his initial one was destroyed and here was this! He hadn't yet figured out how to make the money to purchase new equipment but for the sword at least it was taken care of.

It even came with an ability! Most weapons did yes but no beginner arms or armor did. He still had to finish the tutorial village's quest line and this would be an even bigger advantage.

His luck was truly turning around here in SOS and it wasn't a reflection of reality. Plus this was the first time he heard of this weapon. To his knowledge this wasn't a known item.

Could he be the first player to acquire it? Given that most players rush through the tutorial, that line of reasoning isn't out of the question. However do only wolves drop this or if after one slays a certain amount of a mob, does a weapon drop for them?

Questions for later Illio thought as he checked the last item he obtained.

[Gold]

[Current 281]

In game currency that can be transferred into cash form in reality. Can be obtained through various means including dropped by slain monsters.

"281! That's so much money! It was only in one day too!"

The amount of money gained through battle was not very much however since Illio had been used to poverty most his life, this small amount was tremendous for him.

With the current exchange rate and CHRONOS doing their best to keep inflation down so that their game doesn't lose value-

1 gold was worth $2. It was a dream and only showed the world how one could make a living playing SOS.

Currently Thanks to the tremendous fight Illio had made $562.

A hunger known as greed began building up inside Illio as he quickly found himself wanting to go fight some more and earn even more money. However, unbeknownst to him, the pair, 'Ant Self' and 'Kite' were now on their feet and heading to him.

When they were close enough one of them caught Illio's attention.

"Hey, sorry about that earlier I know our timing was kind of off for a meeting."

'Ant Self' waved at Illio and Illio simply issued a brief smile in acknowledgment.

'Kite' chirped up

"Hi, I know it's a bit crude but as we mentioned before the wolf fiasco, I'm Kye and this is Ancef."

Ancef waived at Illio.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh

So that's what their names are…..

A slightly flushed Illio averted his eyes away from the pair for a few seconds out of embarrassment from not catching their names correctly.

Kye continued.

"Anyway, like I said, I know this is crude and you don't know is at all but if you didn't mind we would like to party with you."

A confused Illio responded.

"Why?"

"Well I'm not going to sugar coat anything, we saw your skills and realized you have innate talent for the game. I mean you triggered a hidden event that hasn't been discovered in 5 years by causing all those wolves to appear. It couldn't have been luck."

"Umm sure, I did do that….but I'm sure luck had more to do with it than you would think…."

Even having been given the awkward response Kye continued.

"Regardless, look I'm not good at this so I'm just gonna say it again. We want to party with you. This game is stupid difficult and-"

…

About 30 minutes went by. In the conversation that was had, both Ancef and Kye explained to Illio how they were in a tight situation where they needed to succeed in SOS for the sake of their mom. They spoke of their plans to hunt and grow efficiently and even shared some incredibly well thought out strategy that could propel them to the top some day.

All they wanted was to form a party and grow together with people who were powerful and trustworthy for mutual success.

It was a very convincing speech but at the end of it Illio refused. He had not known anyone who he could trust all his life and to him this was two strangers that could exploit him if they ever found the truth of his class. However as they were parting ways, the guilt of being indebted to them overtook Illio. He had to repay their kindness for helping him avoid death and so he sent them a friend request with the promise that if they need help he wouldn't mind coming over to aid them however he could.

The pair joyfully accepted and that was the end of that discussion.

Now moving faster than before, Illio arrived back at the village and headed straight to the chief to turn in the pelts. Would he accept them all? Illio sincerely hoped not because he could sell them for more money.

"Hello young hero, I see that you collected the pelts I requested. Why don't you hand them over and I'll give you your reward."

[Turn in Quest Items?]

"Yes"

[611 Wolf Pelts have been handed over]

Flabbergasted at the large amount the chief fell down in shock.

"Son, you just about committed genocide on the wolves to obtain this many! T-T-This is going to be incredibly helpful to the village economy when we sell these to the City of Fen. Let me give you the appropriate compensation for your troubles."

Illio was just a bit disappointed that he couldn't make even more money off of those items but that disappointment quickly left as if it were a lie when he saw the incoming notifications.

[Title Obtained : Hidden Hero]

A title!? One isn't able to get a title before leaving the tutorial village! This was massive!

Just before Illio had an opportunity to read the contents of the newly acquired title a server wide notice was issued.

It called forth the attention of all players.

At the same time, the same notice ran through every major news outlet in reality. There wasn't a single soul who was not going to be aware of this message.

[We gladly close our eyes in hopes that future generations can open theirs]

[Their final words, Long forgotten by humanity, but not by the enemy]

[Revenge and domination will be mine]

[Your sacrifice will be in vain]

[The incarnation of Evil known as [€\*]=%|,@"] [Name Undisclosed] is Weakening the seal of the Ancients]

[Luna cries out to her fallen champions]

[She shamelessly asks that her heroes stop their well deserved rest and rise to protect the world as they did long ago]

[Their myths are needed once more]

[Scattered Throughout Luna are 10 powers left behind by former Legends]

[Obtain this power to seal the Incarnation of Evil and save Luna]

[Powers Remaining : 0/10]

[Hunt those with Legendary Classes to claim their power]

[Those who are worthy of claiming their power have the right to rule supreme]

[Those who have claimed the power. Prove your right to reign]

Instantly a quest notification popped up before Illio.

[Proof Of Survival]

Find the origins of your power by Meeting with the former legend to inherit your full class, Unrestricted. Once your full class is obtained, it can never leave you.

Failure of this quest results in loss of class. Transferred to the one who felled you in combat.

A final server notice appeared.

[Starting in 2 hours Monsters get a permanent +50% stat buff. Permanently applied until the great Evil is sealed]

[A marker will be placed on the world map indicating the locations of the Powers or individuals possessing them]

[Good Luck]

[Or]

[Happy Hunting]