Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

As the trees in the woods moved and a beautiful melody dulled his ears, Kaizen advanced impetuously against the two thieves who were still standing.

Both were simple in appearance and wore low-level leather armor, but Jayaa's warning about their coordination was not incorrect. As they were approaching, they split up. One thief went to the left and the other to the right. This was a common tactic, considering that they had the numerical advantage. Even so, as soon as they got close enough, Kaizen abandoned neutrality and fixed his eyes on a target.

The thief on the left felt enormous pressure when Kaizen's eyes landed on him.

This time Kaizen didn't smile with excitement, because he knew that this would not be exciting, nor a fair fight for a thief. Moreover, this would also be the first time he would kill a human NPC.

Using the Butterfly Bear Sword in his left hand, Kaizen swung it mightily at the thief while his quick steps on the ground squeezed the dry leaves.

'Huh?' The thief thought when suddenly the Psyker vanished from his vision and appeared moments later inches from him. His reflex was only enough to loosely raise his sword.

*Feen!*

The swords of the two combatants clashed and due to the level disparity between the two weapons, the thief's sword immediately cracked like a rock when hit by a shot. Then, skillfully Kaizen used a body twist to go to the side of the NPC and cut off his head.

*Tchof*

[You killed a Thief. you gained +200 XP].

Unlike all the other times Kaizen had killed beings in Rise Online, whether monsters, bosses, or players, this time the body of what he killed did not crumble in midair, but rather fell to the ground, producing a damaging thud. However, Kaizen could not afford to focus on this during a fight.

The second thief approached quickly and with great fury, swinging his sword like a madman in Kaizen's direction. The player tried to dodge at least three times, only for one of the attacks to graze him near his right elbow, where he had no protection from his armor.

[You took 10 damage.]

As if it came naturally to him, Kaizen increased his dodging speed and when dodging became too easy, he brandished his sword barehandedly at the thief, who tried to defend himself. The clash of the blades once again produced a clang, and in this fight the thief's sword only cracked, but also flew upwards. As soon as the sword fell to the forest floor, the second thief also fell with a blade embedded in his heart.

[You killed a Thief. You gained +200 XP].

Kaizen pulled his sword out of the man's chest and then threw it backwards, causing his sword to go through the chest of Deák Ferenc, who was approaching with stealthy steps.

"How did you...?" Deák Ferenc asked, as he fell to his knees. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth and his eyes expressed his shock.

The last thing he thought was that justice might delay, but it never failed. The last image that lingered in his mind was of the heap of bodies of the men, women and children he had killed. However, at least the last thing he would hear would be that beautiful melody that Jayaa played.

[You have killed a Thief, you have gained +200 XP].

Like a good blacksmith, after soiling his sword with so much blood, Kaizen brandished it to wipe off the excess and then pulled a cloth from his inventory to clean the blade more carefully.

Soon, he heard Jayaa's clumsy running footsteps and saw his group partner approaching.

"We did it! I can't believe we did it!" The bard exclaimed with animation.

"You're much better than you look, man. That ability to control the plants is pretty cool." Kaizen complimented him with a friendly smile.

Jayaa was pleased and cracked a huge smile of happiness. "Isn't it? At first, I needed to compose my own songs, but I acquired a skill called <Harmonic Composition> recently. Now, the words flow naturally and I can influence the environment around me."

"It must be a challenge to find decent cover to start singing, and there's also the fact that you need allies to protect you... That's the first totally supported class I've seen in this game."

"You're right. Even archers and mages, which are the most common support classes, can play in an aggressive way depending on their build and their attributes, but I focused on increasing my level and I can't increase my physical attributes considerably to play solo."

While unequipping his sword, Kaizen stated:

"That's because you've only been playing duo since you created your character and have only been training the support part with your girlfriend. To evolve your physical attributes in a game where you can't distribute attribute points, you need to physically train your body, just like in real life."

Jayaa was confused, because he had never heard someone say that before. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever been so tired and exhausted that you start taking damage because of it?" Kaizen inquired.

"Hum... Of course not? Is that even possible?"

Kaizen shook his head with disappointment, crouched down and began to rummage through the bodies of the thieves as he counted:

"Not only is it possible, but I've already experienced it once. On my first weekend, I took a mission to collect dozens of iron ores. Since I was thinking of asking for the $150 refund on Monday, I wanted to finish the mission as quickly as possible to be able to proceed quickly. So, I tried to get all the ores in a single night."

"You, Klaus, mining iron? That I'd like to watch."

"Actually, it was really cool at first. After my body got tired, I forced myself to keep going and so I got one warning after another that thanks to my effort my attributes would increase more than normal when I evolved. The point is: there is a fine line between effort and death, and knowing how to walk on it is what will make you evolve faster than most."