Chapter 47 - Beginner Village Massacre

While Arthur was choosing his skills, Azure Dragon had the iron sword in his hands, testing it out by hitting the air.

At one point he almost hit Arthur, who had to duck to avoid the swing.

"Hey, watch out," Arthur said.

"Sorry, boss."

Arthur had an idea of what skills he wanted to choose from the Swordsman class, so it didn’t take him long.

The first one was:

[Blade Dash - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Dash toward a target and deliver a powerful slash.]

[Effect: Deals 170% Weapon Damage + 75% Agility + 15% Strength as Physical Damage.]

[MP Cost: 10 MP]

[Cooldown: 10s]

A skill with good damage, a low cooldown, and it even acted as a movement technique, granting him a quick dash to reach the desired targets. Pretty decent, and basically one of the best skills from the class.

It was one of those skills you could learn early and upgrade all the way until late game, and it would still be useful.

The second skill had a longer cooldown, and it was designed to deal the highest damage when in melee range.

[Phantom Slash - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Unleash a series of fast slashes, attacking the target multiple times in a short period of time.]

[Effect: Deals 70% Weapon Damage + 35% Agility + 7% Strength as Physical Damage per hit. Strikes 4 times.]

[MP Cost: 20 MP]

[Cooldown: 24s]

[Total Damage: 280% Weapon Damage + 140% Agility + 28% Strength]

That skill was pretty powerful if one had a decent weapon. The scaling on weapon damage was pretty damn good, and that was with the skill being at Lv. 1! Arthur, as well as the rest of the players, would soon unlock the trainers, so perhaps he would be able to improve those skills pretty soon.

As for the last skill, it was a defensive one, and basically the core of the class. Unlike the Rogue, the Swordsman could use medium and even heavy armor, so they had more defense and more HP as well, as these types of armor granted more HP than light armor.

But that wasn’t the only thing. They also had a skill called Sword Guard.

[Sword Guard - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Raise your sword and enter a defensive stance, reducing damage taken from incoming attacks.]

[Effect: Reduces damage taken from frontal attacks by 50% for 4 seconds. Each successful block increases the damage of your next sword attack by 30% + 20% Agility. This effect can trigger up to 3 times.]

[MP Cost: 15 MP]

[Cooldown: 28s]

Many other skills from the class even had a requirement to be used: use right after successfully blocking an attack. So Arthur couldn’t get the Swordsman class and let that skill pass.

With it, he had 6 skills, with one being that passive from the Ranger class. And also the Stealth skill from the Rogue class!

The build was complete, for now. This would be one he would rock for a while. It was finally time to start leveling up and exploring the vast world.

"I’ll message you when I get close to level 10. Now I want to level up as fast as I can to reach my sister. She can’t be a higher level than me! I should have started playing days ago, damn it..." Azure Dragon said as he left the cabin, running toward the empty fields to kill monsters.

Arthur also left the abandoned cabin, going outside and back to the main road. He wanted to go to the elven village to get some blueprints for his new level 15 and 20 items.

He remembered it was a good place to get blueprints, and the monsters in the area would be at a similar level to his, so Arthur wouldn’t suffer much going there.

Anyway, when he was outside, a group of players showed up to confront him. This time there were 20 players, ranging from level 1 to 2, so they were newbies.

These players weren’t part of that guild that tried to assassinate him. They were just players who decided to form a group to confront him for some reason.

"Cinder," they yelled, "we know it’s you. We’re glad you came to us. This will make our job even easier."

Arthur frowned. The players that were leveling up in the area all stopped to watch the scene. Even Azure Dragon, who moments ago was excited to go kill monsters, was watching.

’What are they trying to do to my boss? Should I jump in and help?’ Azure Dragon thought.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Arthur said coldly, staring at that group of players. "Are you recording to farm a clip or something?"

The person who organized that group laughed.

"Hell yeah. Killing you will get us some nice views. You’re like a gold mine, kid."

"Oh? Really? What makes you think you can win a fight against me? Aren’t you just new players who know shit? Level 1 and 2, really?"

The players weren’t backing down, and for a reason. Even if a player was strong, like being level 10 against that many players, they wouldn’t stand a chance against 20 players.

Arthur, though, was different. He had an AOE skill, and a bow with elemental damage. While talking, Arthur was already calculating in his mind, imagining scenarios of how the fight would break down.

He was optimistic.

’I think I can one shot almost all of them with one skill.’

Maybe he could even one shot all of them.

"Cut the crap," the player nicknamed Curry6767 shouted again. "You can’t tank all of our hits. You’ll die today, and lose your precious EXP. And maybe even drop some loot for us, hehe."

Arthur couldn’t believe a player named Curry6767 was actually threatening him. Like, what the fuck? He couldn’t die to that player. It was an honor thing.

"Also, it’s not like you’re strong, aren’t you?" Curry6767 said. "When they tried to kill you, that woman protected you, didn’t she? I bet you can’t even fight properly."

Arthur equipped some arrows he had crafted with the bow, just basic iron ones. They increased his bow damage by 10%, which was good, but there were better arrows out there.

Curry6767 frowned.

"A bow? You can’t even equip this. What the fuck are you doing?"

Some players watching were whispering.

"I think this time Cinder will finally die. Will this be the end of his fame?"

Another one said, "Even if he dies, 20 players versus 1 isn’t fair. This won’t make Cinder look bad. His reputation won’t be damaged."

They thought he was just showing off his weapon, but no, Arthur equipped the bow and the quiver. Then, he put one arrow into the string, activating his skill.

[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]

After activating it, he felt the mana empower his body as he shot arrows non-stop. He aimed at the sky, and then, the arrows fell down directly onto those 20 players, literally like an arrow rain.

The damage was absurd. Arthur had a high agility stat all thanks to his bloodline. He didn’t even use his free points yet.

With his bow having 105 damage, +30 elemental damage, and an augment increasing his damage by 15% if he was far away from the target, his damage was fucking high.

Also, his bow granted him +20 AGI when equipped, pushing his damage even higher.

Each rain of arrows was dealing close to 150 damage! With just 2 ticks of the skill, almost all the players were dead. Only the tanks were still standing.

Curry6767 died after the second tick, his body falling to the ground as he cursed, "F-Fucking Cinder..."

Some tried to run away, but with the movement speed debuff, it just wasn’t enough.

But then came the 3rd tick to finish off all of them. All 20 players were dead.

Every player watching the scene couldn’t mutter a word.

They were whispering before, saying how Cinder might finally lose a fight and die. All of them were recording it, trying to get some views for themselves, just like Curry6767 did.

But things went completely the opposite of what they were thinking moments ago.

Arthur was joyful inside.

’My damage was pretty good. This elemental damage is fucking OP at this stage.’

His bow had a base damage of 105, so 30 elemental damage on top of that was a huge boost.

And he wasn’t just happy about his damage. Arthur was also recording his POV to post on the forums.

’I’m sure this will blow up.’

And he was right. Millions of players watched the fight through his eyes, seeing how he shot those arrows into the sky, ending the lives of 20 players alone.

Rangers complained about it.

"My Ranger doesn’t do this much damage. Also, how is he a Ranger, yet has a sword on his back too? And wasn’t he a Rogue? What’s going on?"

People were starting to realize Arthur’s class wasn’t normal. His reputation grew again.

Of course, he wasn’t reading all of those comments. He just posted the video and left the beginner village, going toward the elven settlement in the forest.

Time wasn’t something he had the luxury to waste.