Chapter 45 - Permanent Rewards After Gifting the Daggers

[Sniping Shot - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Focus for up to 3 seconds before combat to fire a powerful, precise shot at an unaware target.]

[Effect: Deals 250% Weapon Damage + 80% Agility as Physical Damage. Guarantees a Critical Hit and ignores 50% Armor if used out of combat.]

[MP Cost: 20 MP]

[Cooldown: 90s]

-

[Arrow Rain - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Fire a large number of arrows into the air, covering an 8m area with attacks for 4 seconds.]

[Effect: Deals 50% Weapon Damage + 20% Agility every 0.5s to all targets inside the area, hitting up to 8 times. Slows their movement by 40%.]

[MP Cost: 25 MP]

[Cooldown: 24s]

-

[Swift Stalker - Passive Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Improve body coordination and footwork, increasing movement speed and reflexes.]

[Effect: Increases Movement Speed by 10%, Attack Speed by 12%, and Dodge Chance by 8%.]

[MP Cost: None]

[Cooldown: None]

Arthur took a look at all the Ranger skills and decided to pick those 3 specific ones.

One to deal high damage before combat even started, which was essential. Even with the high cooldown, the damage was massive, and it would already cut down a good chunk of the target’s health before the fight even began.

The other one was more focused on AOE, which would be important in the Dungeons coming up soon.

He already knew the Swordsman class he planned to pick didn’t have that many area attacks, so having at least one would be pretty interesting.

And the passive, well, it would be useful both for ranged combat and for close combat with the sword. Sure, Arthur was passing up an active skill, but he believed the passive would make up for it.

’I don’t need that many skills, just the right ones. After all, most of my power comes from my items anyway. And plus, soon I’ll have Yuki to help me in combat.’

While Arthur was choosing the skills he would take, Point Blank was all excited with her new bow equipped, dying to get out of the shop and test it against some monsters.

"I’ll deal way more damage with this," she said, smiling from ear to ear. "It’ll help me level up way faster, even with you leeching a bit of my EXP."

She shot him a sharp look, but she wasn’t mad, just teasing him.

"What are your future plans?" Arthur asked. "Do Tower and Suzy have some quest or are they doing something?"

When Arthur mentioned that, it seemed like Point Blank finally remembered she wanted to talk to him about something else.

"We do have a quest, but it’s... How can I put it... a bit complicated and hard to complete?"

That made him curious right away. From the way she was talking, it seemed like the quest was something special.

"Care to elaborate? Maybe we can work together to complete it. I could join in, or is the quest locked to your current group?"

Some quests required groups, others didn’t. Some were locked to the group that found the quest, with no sharing allowed, while others could be shared and have more people added.

Arthur had no idea what this quest that Point Blank and her group had found was like.

"I think we can share it," she replied. "The quest requires all of us to be at least level 15, and apparently we have to infiltrate the neighboring kingdom to destroy a fortress on the border."

Now that was an interesting quest! The game focused a lot on the war between kingdoms, making players from each kingdom go against the others.

Only in the future would it become common for kingdoms to team up to complete quests, like with the dragon expansion.

That didn’t stop players from entering other kingdoms without being attacked, but it usually required a lot more care, often even a disguise. It wasn’t the simplest thing in the world.

What shocked Arthur the most was the quest showing up so early. He didn’t remember the battles between kingdoms starting at level 15, but at 20 and beyond. Apparently, Point Blank and the rest of the group had found this special quest earlier than normal.

That could be a good thing or a bad thing. Arthur had no idea. Quests like that were hard to complete and had big consequences.

Maybe the war between kingdoms would start earlier, and that could affect a lot of things in the game. The economy would be affected, player invasions, constant fights at the border, and even elaborate attacks on specific locations inside the kingdom.

Despite all of that, the quest was simply fantastic. Just imagining the invasion of the fortress, Arthur was already getting excited.

"I want in on that madness," Arthur said, smiling and pacing around the office, unable to hold back his excitement.

"Do you think you can reach level 15 quickly? I don’t even know what level you are right now."

Arthur had hidden the level that appeared above his nickname. He turned it back on just for Point Blank to see, and to shock her.

"10??? How? I haven’t even seen you killing monsters. What kind of things have you been up to? Did killing those players give you EXP or what?"

"Nope. I just got the PK status out of it, actually. I leveled up with EXP from some quests. You guys aren’t the only ones getting good quests."

"Right. Always so mysterious. Are you like this in real life too, or what?" she asked.

Arthur said nothing, and just stared at her. Point Blank got a little embarrassed, her cheeks flushing.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry into your personal life. I figure you’ll share more when you feel like it."

They played together and were good friends in the game, but Arthur still didn’t want to share much of his personal life.

And it wasn’t even because of her, but because of what had happened to him. There was a trauma hidden deep in the back of his mind.

Arthur had been stabbed and killed by someone he didn’t even know. It was hard for him to trust people when it came to his personal life. Even trusting them with in-game information was already somewhat difficult for him.

Anyway, they talked a bit about the quest and already agreed that Arthur would join them. On top of that, Arthur agreed that he would craft a weapon for Tower.

"And what about Suzy?" Point Blank asked.

Arthur still couldn’t make good weapons for her class, a Priest, but crafting some jewelry that helped with mana regeneration would be possible, similar to the earring he made to give Myra as a gift.

"I’ll see what I can make for her," he said.

Point Blank left, dying to get out of the city and go level up using her new bow.

Arthur crafted the iron sword for Tower, and also 2 earrings and 1 ring for Suzy, all focused on mana regeneration.

’Maybe I should make some accessories for myself too, but there aren’t any good recipes available yet.’

Most of the accessories that were unlocked for crafting focused more on the magic classes, so Arthur needed to find new blueprints.

Anyway, with those things out of the way, he met up with Shadow Cloak, who had also come to the shop and went up to his office.

Inside, when she saw the new pair of daggers he had made, Shadow Cloak couldn’t help herself and got excited.

She grabbed the daggers and started swinging them through the air, with a smile that seemed to mix happiness with the urge to use the daggers to kill something...

Arthur just watched. She came over to him and gave him a peck on the lips.

’She’s trying to win me over with her looks and kisses. I can’t let her see that I’m enjoying it.’

He kept his composure.

"This item will work differently," he said. "I won’t make a contract this time. Instead, I’m giving you the weapon as a gift. The old contract will be canceled."

"Wait, what? But won’t that affect you too? I mean, you also get things from the contract, not just me."

"Yeah, I know. The reason is simple. I plan to switch and make a contract with a Swordsman. I believe learning some skills from that class would be more useful right now."

Shadow Cloak had already seen the videos of Arthur fighting and using skills from her class, so she already knew that the contract took a bit of the power from her class and passed it on to him.

"Well, my brother is playing the game too. He’s a really talented Swordsman in real life, and he’s starting in the same kingdom as us because of you, but he’s still back at the starting village. He just started playing. Maybe you could make a contract with him."

"What’s his nickname?"

Arthur wanted to know if it was a known name or not. He wasn’t prepared for what he heard.

"Azure Dragon. Kind of a silly name, I know, but he’s a good, hardworking guy."

’Silly!?’ Arthur thought, trying to hide the shock.

That player wasn’t just any Swordsman, but one who was among the top 5 in the entire game...

He was exactly the perfect person to make a contract with.

"I’ll find him and make the contract. Can you explain things to him over messages? That way, when I get to the starting village, he’ll already know the deal."

"Sure, sure. He’s going to freak out when he finds out, seriously. The guy practically worships you. Watch out he doesn’t try to grab you too."

Anyway, Arthur finally tried gifting the new daggers to Shadow Cloak, and luckily, it worked. The old contract was canceled, and he received some permanent bonuses.

[+5 permanent Agility]

[+2 points to all other attributes]

[Choose 1 skill from the Rogue class to unlock permanently. You can only have 1 permanent skill per class. It is possible to change it in the future]

’What??? I get to choose a skill too?’

Arthur started laughing like a madman. Shadow Cloak couldn’t understand anything. She was sending the message to her brother while staring at him.

"What a weirdo..." she whispered.