“Sweet. Can I see those abilities you mentioned before I leave, Master Swiftstrike?”
“Since you understand your manners and all, sure.”
The Weaponmaster waved his hand and gestured toward Atlas. A menu popped up in his vision.
Weaponmaster Leo Swiftstrike
Ability
Description
Blade Chase
Requirements: Level 3
Cost: 5 Silver
A 3 hit addition. Only useable following a successful Counter.
Fallback
Requirements: Level 3
Cost: 8 Silver
A retreating jump. Only useable following a Dodge. Increases the chance you can Flee from a battle.
Charge
Requirements: Level 4
Cost: 10 Silver
A dash to close the distance and disrupt spell casting. Rank 1 combo skill.
“I’ve got some leveling to do so I can take you up on those skills.”
“Yes. You do. Now get to work and come find me if you have more questions.” Leo told him with a dismissive gesture.
Atlas gave a slight bow and turned toward the forest. He checked his map and tried to find the most direct path back to his body. Not wanting to beg for supplies, he raced to his gear so he could pick up what he lost. Hopefully, he could get there before being attacked by anything.
He inhaled deeply and stared toward his goal in trepidation. The looming trees of the forest made him uneasy after dying at the paws of a squirrel.
Damn, it’s a game. I can’t let it win. He dashed full speed into the trees and wove through the brush. With no way to defend himself the direct path seemed like the best choice so he merely ignored all the crisscrossing game paths as he charged ahead. When he neared the sanctuary, he slowed his pace.
Peering into the clearing, he carefully searched for dangers. There was no way he could tell if the sanctuary was still hostile to him. Looking toward the location of his death, he saw a small gravestone sticking up from the grass. His foot crossed the threshold of the tree line and gently settled into the grass. Holding his breath, he waited for the dreaded message from before as he squeezed his eyes closed. After a few seconds, he visibly relaxed and opened his eyes. The calmness of the clearing settled back over him again and nothing tried to attack him. He took a few more cautious steps before his nerves settled and he returned to a normal walk.
The gravestone was a standard shape for most of those seen in cemeteries, but he had to admit it was an incredibly creepy feeling seeing his name on the object. Chills ran down his spine as he reached forward and touched it.
You have found the Gravestone of Atlas. Do you wish to take the contents? Yes/No.
Atlas mentally said Yes and the contents of the gravestone fell to the ground in a heap as the stone dissolved. He wasted no time and slung the bag back over his shoulder while grabbing his weapon. Checking the contents, he found everything was still intact. With his belongings restored, his attention turned to the Haeyna Sprig plants on the boulder.
It took him a solid hour of time, but he methodically dug up the plants. Seven intact Haeyna Sprigs dropped into his bag while he discarded two he damaged. He grimaced at the pain from the work.
Haeyna Sprig dealt 8 HP damage to you with Thorn.
Zaina wasn’t lying when she said those could be a pain to harvest. Glad I only pricked myself eight times. I don’t have enough health to do a lot of that.
Nothing else of interest was visible in the clearing, so Atlas examined his minimap. He didn’t want to venture too far from Kilthan when he was such a low level. Dismissing his map, he turned east and walked back into the forest. It took him four more hours of traveling and another ten failed attempts before he finally gathered the herbs he needed.
Armed with the new knowledge from the Weaponmaster, he quickly dispatched another ten squirrels and added their meat and fur to his bag. Luckily, he had lost no experience when he died, so he was only 25 short of his next level. He hadn’t escaped the fights unscathed and checked his status.
HP: 36/50
Mana: 18/50
I can stay out here and grind away the rest of the experience or go back to town and claim the quests. The decision warred in his mind until a message appeared.
You have 4 hours of game time left for this session.
Decision taken from him, he nodded to himself and checked his minimap. He picked the direct path for the town and ran through the trees.
That respawn I had to wait for really dug into my game time. I also spent too much time screwing around in town and playing with my character selection.
He wasn’t far from Kilthan, so the trip lasted less than half an hour. A light push and the door swung open. The bubbly voice of Zaina greeted him as he entered.
“Welcome to Zaina’s Herb Emporium,” she started before seeing who entered. “Oh, Atlas! Welcome back. Took you longer than I expected to get back, but good to see you here. Do you have the herbs?”
“I do,” Atlas said carefully before latching on to what she’d said. “Zaina, those things can be a hassle to find. They don’t exactly hang out near the beaten path.”
The young woman shook her head from side to side, “They are common in this area but can be tricky to find. You must’ve run into trouble since it took you longer than normal.”
“Had a minor accident. Took some time to recover from it.” Atlas told her.
Her face adopted a deep frown before she examined him carefully, “You’re a Reborn, right?”
“Yea.”
“Did you die?”
Atlas nodded slowly in response.
“That explains it. Guess you had to wait out the respawn?”
“Sadly, I did. Learned a valuable lesson about choosing my targets carefully.”
Zaina giggled at the answer, “That can happen. The respawn timer is an essential thing to keep Reborn from causing havoc with Spawn Beacons. One Reborn could wipe out an entire village if he could drop a beacon and immediately respawn when
