From Player To Npc

Chapter 19: The Ambush

Ameanum, Tycoon, and Phoenix were ready to get in the cave since no goblins were outside. As long as they didn't go too far in, they wouldn't encounter any of the traps.

"Shingi, you seem to be familiar with the place." [Wild Tycoon]

Tycoon had noticed that Ameanum led them to quiet quickly through the forest and got in the cave way more comfortable and faster than usual. They didn't encounter even one wild beast like a wolf or bear that sometimes you could face in the forest.

But how could she know that Ameanum knows the whole forest like the back of his hand. He had spent a lot of time as there were some secret quests in this forest and he had some friends in the town, so he visited it quite a few times.

"I have been here a few times. We should be careful not to go too far as things get trickier and one wrong move can lead to our death." [Ameanum]

Tycoon seemed to be in serious mode and ready for a fight, not with Ameanum.

"But first, I have to ask. What kind of play-style you are going with Phoenix?" [Ameanum]

Phoenix looked at him with a face full of confusion.

"Well... I am a Mage, so I guess ... casting spells?" [Little Phoenix]

"What I mean is what kind of magic you are more interested in. More offensive, one to help others or something in between?"[Ameanum]

Phoenix seemed to start thinking it through quite seriously.

"She is still level 1, and it is her first game like that. She still has time to think it over." [Wild Tycoon]

Ameanum looked at her and sighed at what she said. I was like she said the stupidest thing she could say, which made her ready to slash him up but kept herself calm.

"The future development of someone's class starts from early one. If you aren't careful, you are going to miss important ways that would help at her Mana Tree development." [Ameanum]

"Well, what does that have to do with what we are doing now? Shouldn't that be something to think about after getting a couple of levels and go to the library to learn the appropriate for her style spells?"[Wild Tycoon]

Some towns had libraries containing mostly Low Graded Spells for players to learn for the right price. They had other requirements, like specific level, skill ranks, or mana element type.

"That would be what most would do, but all of them would get the real power of their class. If you don't start the right development from early on, some secret skill of the class won't become available." [Ameanum]

"Secret skills?!? How early we are talking about?" [Wild Tycoon]

Ameanum smiled at it as he knew what Tycoon was going on. She could tell that he too was a Warrior, and if he did have that knowledge for another class, wouldn't he had for theirs also?

"What level are you?" [Ameanum]

Ameanum didn't have to ask cause he already knew, cause of his Eagle Eyes. Tycoon didn't know about it, and he wasn't going to reveal this skill to anyone any time soon.

"Level 12. Is that too late?!?" [Wild Tycoon]

"Not really. If you were higher than 15, it would be pretty much impossible, but after level 10, it is harder but not impossible." [Ameanum]

Tycoon seemed to be happy to hear about it, and even if Ameanum hadn't shown any proofs in her eyes, he was an all known man for some reason. Even if he was a little rude and maybe somewhat arrogant here and there, he seemed to know more than an average player.

"I am guessing you want to focus more on power? Damage dealing and possible defense boosting without the need for a shield. Am I right?" [Ameanum]

Tycoon nodded to approve on it right away.

"Well, at that point, you probably can get one skill only that would fit you. To unlock it, you have to repeat a specific action over and over again, so you should be ready for it." [Ameanum]

Tycoon got closer and had her ears open, not to miss a single word of Ameanum on the way to unlock the specific skill.

"Every monster that you kill from now on has to hit you more times than you hit it, and no one else has to damage it even once. During combat, you should use no type of healing like potions or even healed by magic. Getting 100 kills or so should do it, but the monsters have not to be lower than yours or are not more than two levels of difference. Fortunately, here we should easily find level 10 and higher goblins."[Ameanum]

Hearing how to unlock the skill made her think he was messing with her, but she thought it was supposed to be hard.

"If you were lower level, you would need to kill fewer monsters. Of course, their level could be lower than yours, but not many know about this, and you should keep it a secret cause the few who know this want it to keep it secret and don't like for their secrets to getting out." [Ameanum]

"Then how do you know it? Also, won't you get in trouble for revealing it?" [Wild Tycoon]

"Who said I wouldn't? But why would I be afraid? Being afraid of others before they come would lead to you just having nightmares?" [Ameanum]

At this point, Phoenix seemed to have finished her thinking and was ready to speak but was interrupted by Ameanum. He pushed her away as an arrow passed through the location where her head was.

Seeing that Tycoon drew her great axe and looked toward the general direction the arrow came from, which wasn't from the cave but the forest where they came from, but there was no one there.

Ameanum, at that point, focused all his senses on the forest and then picked a small stone and threw it.

He noticed that his IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON was available at his Player character now. It was currently at level 12 since he had not too long ago had passed Base Rank in his NPC. But none of his Mana Skills or Spells were available, probably cause his class restricted them.

He hit someone as a shout of pain was heard as the stone was lost in the trees. Ameanum threw five more rocks like that, each in a different direction, and each one hit someone with astonishing speed.

"Will you get out at some point, or do you want me to continue this all day?" [Ameanum]

And after few seconds, six Players walked out of the trees. Their equipment didn't seem any better than the ones Ameanum and the girls were wearing, and most was worse even if most of the Players were a little higher level than Tycoon. His Eagle Eyes had noticed them all and knew their names and level and even most of their equipment as the rest he knew what they were without using the skill. Also, he noticed another detail that made his skill even more important to use when meeting someone he was unfamiliar with.

Their names were red-colored.

A red-colored name meant that they had killed either player or innocent NPCs like townspeople or guards and such. These kinds of people weren't rare and weren't welcomed to towns, and if they killed one important person or too many, a bounty quest would be created by the system for them.

Ameanum was familiar with that kind of people and have encountered quite a few and knew few of the tactics they were using when they were in a group like that.

All 6 were male characters, and there seemed to be 2 of each of the main classes. One of the Warriors used a big sword, while the second seemed to be using a sword and a shield. From the Rogues, one was using a crossbow while the other used a longbow, and he seemed to be the one who shot Phoenix. As for the Mage ones, he couldn't tell much through their equipment, and since he didn't have access to his MANA SENSE with his Player Character, he couldn't feel anything about their mana.

Also, all of them had their hand over to their right eye, which was where Ameanum had hit them. With his PERCEPTION, they were like they were in front of him, and this even increased his IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON skill by two levels.

At that point, he motioned to the two girls to stay some distance behind him. The sword and Shield Warrior moved forward with his arms up without drawing his weapon to show that he was coming peacefully.

"Well, hello there. I want to apologize for my friend's arrow. He was mistaken that there were some goblins out and not some players." [Shield Warrior]

"Oh... I see." [Ameanum]

Of course, Ameanum knew that this wasn't the case. If he was able to aim that well to someone's head, one would be able to tell that their target was a monster or a player.

"Well, if this is the case, maybe I should ask for an apology." [Ameanum]

"You don't need to apologize for anything, my friend. I get why you did what you did, so no hard feeling needs to be between us." [Shield Warrior]

This response brought a smile to Ameanum's face.

"Then you won't mind my next action since you seem to be a man of logic." [Ameanum]

Then, without letting the man say anything, Ameanum turned and drew his sword with unnatural speed and made a horizontal swing in the air.

After a few seconds, a person's figure appeared being frozen. He had a dagger at his right hand and was heading towards the two girls behind Ameanum.

He was under the effect of an invisibility spell that even Ameanum's Eagle Eyes wasn't able to see. But this didn't mean he couldn't hear him or see how the ground and grass were reacting to his steps. And then the head of the figure fell from its body, and the body fell forward and started turning into particles, which was what happened when a player died.

The third rogue was at a higher level than the other six players. But he was too Low lever to withstand a hit of Ameanum, who was way more powerful even with the lower than what he usually had equipment. He noticed that some of the player's blood that stayed on the blade as it passed through its neck had disappeared. It was like the blade itself consumed it.

'Could this be a way to make it grow? Well, I guess this is a good way to find out.' [Ameanum]

He turned and kicked two stones that he had secretly moved in front of him without saying anything more. They hit the two mages, interrupting them from casting a spell they were secretly working on.

Ameanum enabled his ACCELERATION skill and charged at them as they could be the greatest threat. Since they weren't too far, he made it there before they were able to blink and made two more slashes, and two more heads were separated from their body.

Then he moved toward the ranged characters and dealt them the same way without any problems and so with the dual-wielding one. And so he was left with only one target, the Shield Warrior. He didn't attack him but instead moved back to the same space he talked with each other.

All these happened in less than 5 seconds, and no one could keep up with his speed. Their mind started reacting to what happened when Ameanum finished all his attacks and returned to his starting point.

The Shield Warrior would usually draw his shield against a monster kind of player like that; he knew that he couldn't do much. He also knew that he should also be dead but wasn't and wasn't entirely sure why.

"Before you say anything, I must warn you that I pay much attention to the words that leave someone's mouth, especially someone who had ill intentions against me and has lied to me." [Ameanum]

The player in front of him kneeled and bowed on the ground toward Ameanum.

"Master, I am too unworthy to take another look towards you and will accept any punishment and do anything to help." [Shield Warrior]

Ameanum then turned towards his two companions, who were still trying to understand what happened in front of them.

"What do you think we should do with him?" [Ameanum]

The girls seem to be surprised by asking their opinions on handling the situation since they didn't do anything to help.

"I guess we can let him go. It isn't that we will earn anything with killing him." [W.T.]

"You know that they almost shot your friend's head, and the first one I killed was probably trying to grapple her." [Ameanum]

"Well then we should kill the pervert to join the others" [W.T.]

Ameanum smiled at how easy Tycoon was changing her opinion, especially when it had something to do with Phoenix.

"What about you?"[Ameanum]

Phoenix seemed to be a little scared after Ameanum mentioned the two dangers he helped her to avoid.

"We should just let him go. This is a game, right?" [Little Phoenix]

Ameanum smiled on it and then vanished and reappeared next to the still bowing player who had Ameanum's sword through his neck and started turning in particles too.

Then Ameanum slashed the air a few times to remove any blood that was still on his sword. So he noticed that his blade was a little sharper now and a little lighter. Still, it would be barely noticeable for someone of less skill and being less perceptive than Ameanum. After that, he sheathed his sword and walked toward the two girls.

"Even if this is a game, some shouldn't just let anyone think that you are weak. An eye for an eye, or you will count your remaining with just one hand." [Ameanum]

The two girls were amazed at his skills and somewhat afraid of being his next target, but he seemed to like them otherwise; why was he helping them?

"Mister Shingi, can I ask you something?" [L.P.]

Ameanum kept walking towards the cave entrance for a few seconds and then turned his head towards Phoenix.

"What is it?" [Ameanum]

Phoenix seemed somewhat reluctant to say what she wanted to say, but she asked what she wanted after a few seconds.

"What is your level?" [Little Phoenix]

Tycoon was amazed at Phoenix's question and afraid of how Ameanum would react. He was clearly way higher level than them, but she didn't know why he was willing to help them or why he didn't have any equipment other than the sword and what they saw him buy at the auction house.

Ameanum's face didn't react at all at this question as he was expecting it.

"This is a secret I can't share, but I am far to be at the top." [Ameanum]

And that wasn't too far from the truth as even if he was one of the highest level characters, that was a long time ago, and others could have reached that point and even passed it.

And so, after noticing that Phoenix didn't want to ask anything more, he moved, and they finally entered the Goblin Cave.