Second World

When Jack came out from the Warrior Academy, it was nighttime already. So he decided to go straight back to Amy's bakery to rest. On his way, he felt that the number of Players, or Outworlders as the NPCs called them, had increased in number.

Maybe it was just his imagination, he thought.

He walked past the major shopping street, the shops were mostly still operational even at night. He saw the shop where he had bought the lockpicks and decided to go stock on some. Now that he had many coins, he could buy more of the lockpicks. He ended up spending 10 silver coins for 100 lockpicks. After finishing the purchase, he continued on his way.

When he reached Amy's Bakery, the shop was closed just like the other evening when he brought Samantha back. The difference was this time he was alone, and he didn't have the key to the shop. He felt awkward standing outside. Should he knock? What if they had fallen asleep? If they had, wouldn't they get annoyed if he woke them up? He was after all just a guest, he would feel bad if he caused them inconvenience when they had given him free accommodation.

Thought of using the lockpicks he had just bought to unlock the door came to his mind. But he soon dismissed it, what if somebody saw him and reported him to the guards? Things might get even awkward with Amy and Samantha if they found out about it.

In the end, he decided not to think too much about it and just simply knocked on the door, which opened immediately even before he finished the third knock. Amy stood behind the door with a smile when she saw it was him.

What the hell? Did she stay behind the door just waiting for him? Jack thought.

"Uh, hi. Is the offer for me to stay for the night still valid?" Jack asked.

"Of course, we were even worried that you have decided to no longer want to stay here," she replied. "Where did you stay yesterday night?"

"Outside the city. My friends and I made camp at the foot of Siren Hill."

"Really? How exciting. Isn't it dangerous outside the city's wall? Are there many monsters?"

"Yes, there are, but we can take care of ourselves."

"Come in! We are just about to have dinner. Come join us and tell me all about it."

And so Jack joined Amy and Samantha for dinner. They chatted as if they were families. Jack even sort of forgot that this was a game world, it felt so normal. After the dinner, he went to his quarter.

Before he slept, he took out the two books that Gilbert had given him. The technique books containing the skill of Sword of Light and Life Burning Art. Now that he had become a Warrior class, he should be able to learn them. He put his consciousness into the book of Sword of Light, then saw a holographic interface asking if he would like to learn the skill.

Jack accepted. He heard a system notification voice, "congratulations, you have learned the skill: Sword of Light."

He then proceeded to the other book and learned the skill as well. Afterward, he checked them in his Skill page window.

Sword of Light, level 1/20 (Active skill, range, require melee weapon)

Sent sword energy in a linear direction, sword energy deals 200% physical damage. 30% added Critical Chance

Range: 10 meters

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Stamina: 50

Life burning art (Active skill)

Consume 30% HP to increase attributes by 100%.

While art is active, lose 1 HP each second

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 6 hours

The Sword of Light skill was pretty badass. It had the highest single damage output out of all his current skills that used a sword, and it could strike from a distance, which was an even longer distance than Charge. And it also had added effect on Critical Chance. This skill was obviously tailored to cover Warrior's weakness in range battle.

The Life Burning Art, on the other hand, was the only skill he had seen to have no level. Meaning he didn't need to waste skill points to improve it. It was already pretty powerful already thought, this skill can practically double up his attributes. But it would require him to sacrifice his life for it, as its name implied. He made some calculations, with his current HP, if he activated this skill and without consuming any restorative items, he would last a bit over seven minutes before he completely lost his HP. He would die first before the skill duration expired. It was a double-edged sword to use this skill.

But it was a good thing that this skill didn't need any skill point to be invested. There were already many skills to be upgraded from the basic skills, with the additions of the advanced class skills, he would need even more skill points. He had the Container of Souls, but till now he had not collected enough souls to even upgrade his basic skills.

He looked at his free skill points, he had 8 free skill points saved up till now. Since the basic skills would require fewer souls to upgrade, he would just leave those basic skills' upgrade later for the Container of Souls. He decided to use all the currently available free skill points for his new advanced skills. He invested 3 points on Charge and 5 points on Sword of Light.

Charge, level 4/20 (Active skill, melee, require melee weapon)

Charge through a direction. Dealing damage and knocking all within the direction

Deals 135% physical damage

245% movement speed

Range: 8 meters

Cooldown: 20 seconds

Stamina: 30

Sword of Light, level 6/20 (Active skill, range, require melee weapon)

Sent sword energy in a linear direction, sword energy deals 300% physical damage. 30% added Critical Chance

Range: 10 meters

Cooldown: 3 minutes

Stamina: 50

Charge skill got its movement speed increased in addition to the damage, this would be the skill to use when he needed to reach an opponent quickly. While the damage increase on Sword of Light was insane! With his current level, he could most likely kill a level 10 Ranger or Magician with low defense in a single hit. If he activated Life Burning Art, he could even do the same to higher-level ones.

"Gilbert gave you good stuff," Peniel commented.

"Yes, he did," Jack agreed. "Is the Body Double skill as good as this?"

"That skill doesn't do any damage."

"Huh? Then what good is it?"

"Get to Mage class soon and find out for yourself," Peniel replied.

Jack had learned that he would not get anything out of the Fairy if she did not intend to share the information from the start, so he just forgot about the matter. He closed his skill page window and went to sleep.

The next morning after Samantha's delicious breakfast, he went out to the shopping district and bought more cooking ingredients to stock. He had used most of them before they did John's quest. Afterward, he planned to go to the Adventurers Association to pick up a silver-grade quest. But Peniel told him to go to a different place instead.

"Hunters Association?" Jack repeated the place Peniel had asked him to go.

"Yes, asked the locals for direction," Peniel confirmed.

"Sounds similar to Adventurers Association, did they give out quests as well?"

"Yes."

"Then why invest in two associations? Might as well focus on one so I can increase my grade more quickly, won't I?" Jack argued.

"They have different functions. You can do them both. You will find out when you are there."

"Then why only go there today?" Jack continued to ask.

"Because you will need to be at least an advanced class in order to join the Hunters Association," Peniel replied. "Now stop wasting time and just do as I told you!"

"Fine, boss," Jack said helplessly.

He went and looked for NPCs who knew the way, then proceeded to go as directed. It turned out the building was not too far away from the Adventurers Association building, they were just two blocks apart.