Sky World Vol 1 Chapter 1.6

 

VOLUME 1

 

 

Chapter 1: Altaria Island
Part 6

 

 

The next day, on a whim, Jun went to watch the Homana Graveyard from a nearby hill.

 

 

Homana Graveyard, only an hour away using the magic technique Long Walk, was an ancient ruin in the forest that included a moss-covered sphinx looking like it came straight from Egypt.

 

 

Yesterday, Jun had visited these ruins for a quest. Just as he approached the ruins, the Sphinx came to life and started to ask him a question.

 

 

“Beest thou the rightful successor of the Margrave of Gudonay?”

 

 

The Margrave of Gudonay was an ancient civilization.

 

 

People of that era fought many wars. The Margrave of Gudonay created a barrier around Altaria Island to protect the island. Because it was able to avoid going to war with others, Altaria Island prospered.

 

 

However, the times were changing. Airships rarely went to Altaria Island due to the remnants of the barrier. Now, in the era of aviation, Altaria Island’s growth and cultural exchange had stagnated while ties between other, more prosperous islands had become stronger.

 

 

Quests were now the backbone of Altaria Island.

 

 

Jun responded “no” to the Sphinx’s question and continued on his way. This was because his quest only required him to make contact with a fairy hidden in the vicinity of the graveyard. Jun, having received the Blessing of Delicious Bread from the twenty inch tall fairy and successfully creating an Ultimate Fluffy Bread Roll, was able to increase his maximum cooking level as a bonus. His max cooking level was raised from 100, what it was before, to 105.

 

 

“This will make me stronger. Soon, when I reach that level, in order to further increase my max cooking level, I’ll have to do some special quests. Even people who aren’t that good at games, like Kasumi, ought to try capping out their skill levels.”

 

 

Since skills like cooking were originally not very popular (now, they were indispensable to adventurers), very few people had found the quests required to increase their maximum levels of those skills.

 

 

“n.o.body taught cooks how to do their jobs.”

 

 

Because there were still quests that he could not clear, Jun did not think too much about leveling up his cooking skill. Rather, remembering the faces of some acquaintances of his who genuinely enjoyed cooking, Jun thought about what he would do after leaving the island. Information about these life skill max level increase quests would be quite valuable, but adventurers often helped each other complete quests. People were of the mindset that those who receive a.s.sistance ought to return the favor someday. Relationships between people became more important than even money and skills.

 

 

Noon.

 

 

While thinking about all that, Jun climbed up a hill to look down at the Homana Cemetery in his default schoolboy clothing. There were also other players who sported fashion similar to Jun’s casual clothing style. When these people met each other, they were able to communicate easily. People dressed up in clothing reminiscent of the world they came from, such as school uniforms, appeared far more friendly and approachable than people wearing clunky armor and holding weapons.

 

 

That was the reason Eri and Kasumi had approached Jun earlier in their school uniforms.

 

 

He heard the sounds of weapons. From the top of the hill, Jun looked around for the Sphinx. He immediately saw the five-meter high Sphinx. In a open plain near the hill, a fierce battle was taking place.

 

 

About 20 adventurers were attacking the huge Sphinx, which was larger than even a tank.

 

 

All of them were women.

 

 

“So it was a guild of only women&h.e.l.lip; What a waste of time coming to meet them.”

 

 

He guessed that they had purposefully withheld that fact. Generally, this type of guild would have a strong sense of togetherness.

 

 

Jun noticed Kasumi and Eri in the crowd. Kasumi was on the front lines, while Eri was in the back casting support magic.

 

 

“Eri Inui is a white magician huh.”

 

 

Sky World was a MMORPG with a cla.s.s system.

 

 

In the beginning, players chose cla.s.ses. Cla.s.ses could not be changed at any point in the game. Players picked one cla.s.s from the fifteen adventurer cla.s.ses and played as those cla.s.ses their entire Sky World lives.

 

 

Different cla.s.ses had very different abilities. Adventurers of different cla.s.ses that complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses usually came together to form groups. Groups were made up of five or six people that adventured together.

 

 

Ideally, a single group would have a good balance between the different roles: attackers, tanks, and healers.

 

 

For example, Kasumi’s cla.s.s, the light warrior, was cla.s.sified as a tank. Its raw attack power was not very high, but it could attract enemy attacks. Attacker type cla.s.ses used all of their power to deal damage, and healers were charged with the responsibility of keeping everybody in the group alive.

 

 

Eri’s cla.s.s, the white magician, specialized in healing magic. Out of the six cla.s.ses that could use healing magic, the white magician was the one that used it with the most facility and effectiveness. With a single cast of the spell Maximum Heal, a white magician could heal people all the way up to their maximum health points. Other spells healed over time, increased maximum health, or even brought people back to life after being killed. White magicians were essential parts of groups and guilds.

 

 

Naturally, attackers, like magic swordsmen, could reliably and consistently deal damage.

 

 

Because this island was located on the lowest island ring, the eighth, Jun wandered around as a solo player. As long as he stayed away from the few exceptionally strong monsters, he could comfortably beat any monster on this island.

 

 

One of those exceptionally strong monsters was the Dread Sphinx that Kasumi and Eri’s guild was fighting right now.

 

 

Some monsters were categorized as raid level monsters.

 

 

If solo players could fight normal level monsters on their own, they would not be able to fight so-called group level monsters. Even higher than those were raid level monsters that had to be fought by multiple groups of players in order to have a chance at victory.

 

 

One of its. .h.i.ts on a heavy warrior, one of the most robust cla.s.ses, managed to wipe out about than 20% of her health. Even with fifteen people attacking simultaneously, the Dread Sphinx still had more than 80% of its health remaining.

 

 

Eri, though trying her best to keep everybody’s health up, was unable to keep up with the damage dealt, and the heavy warrior’s health was already at a dangerous level.

 

 

“They’re going to lose,” Jun predicted while watching from the top of the hill. Having taken many strong attacks from the Dread Sphinx, the heavy warrior’s health dropped to zero.

 

 

The rear guard continued healing the Dread Sphinx’s new targets. Cla.s.ses with low defense ability, such as white magicians, stood no chance against the Dread Sphinx’s deadly attacks. They would be killed within seconds of being targeted.

 

 

At this point, victory or defeat would be determined by the ability for the healers to keep up with damage dealt.

 

 

Finally, Kasumi too was targeted. Now lacking their primary healer, the rest of the guild fell in just 15 seconds.

 

 

The Dread Sphinx’s health bar was still more than half full.

 

 

With a sigh, he looked away from Eri’s dead body. Even though he knew that Eri was not actually dead, he still wasn’t comfortable staring at a dead body.

 

 

Then, the girls returned to their home points. In Sky World, death was not absolute. Adventurers just revived with a small stat penalty and a 1/3 battery reduction of their tablet.

 

 

Leaving the tablet alone for just a day would cause it to gain 1% battery. Dying three times in a row would bring it down to 0%.

 

 

As for what happens when it went down to 0%&h.e.l.lip;

 

 

There was a person who tried doing just that. After his final death, he did not return to his home point. He disappeared, leaving his equipment on the ground.

 

 

n.o.body knew what happened to him. He could have returned to the real world, or&h.e.l.lip; he could have ‘died’ for real.

 

 

However, the girls’ kind of death was not that dangerous. Their home point was safe. It was a designated sanctuary, so monsters could not attack it.

 

 

Jun wanted to leave the battlefield.

 

 

“No. Wait up.”

 

 

Suddenly, he realized something. Some time ago, near the top of the hill, he saw a stone with the mark of a bind point. Around it were dozens of brand new cloaks, as if set up there in advance for a ma.s.s revival.

 

 

Turning around, he saw a line of naked women.

 

 

“Oh&h.e.l.lip;”

 

 

In Sky World, dead characters revived at their home points naked.

 

 

Back when it was still a MMORPG, they would revive with a piece of cloth. Now that Sky World had become reality, they did not revive with anything.

 

 

Jun and the girls’ eyes met.

 

 

 

“WAAAAAAAAH!!!!””

 

 

After a short silence, the girls let out a piercing shriek.

 

 

“You’re the worst! I’ll sue you for hara.s.sment!” the guild leader, a girl in gla.s.ses, called out.

 

 

She appeared to be a college student. Although a college student, she had the most adult-like body out of all of the guild members. Seeing her hysterically shouting, Jun questioned her maturity.

 

 

Calming down, the guild members wrapped themselves in blankets. It was not possible to change clothing immediately after death. Many of the girls shot icy glares at Jun.

 

 

Then, Jun was interrogated by the older gla.s.ses girl about why he was there at all and whether he, having found out that the girls had set their home point to that stone, was trying to sneak a peek. She spoke in a very condescending tone. Jun cringed.

 

 

“Leader, you’re mistaken, I told him to come here!”

 

 

It was Eri, hastily forcing herself through.

 

 

Holding onto her cloak with her hand, she was accompanied by Kasumi. They explained what had happened the previous day to the gla.s.ses girl.

 

 

Having now heard their story, the girl known as “Leader” seemed to cool down.

 

 

“I understand. I did hear about a male adventurer coming to town recently&h.e.l.lip;”

 

 

She glared at Jun.

 

 

“Weren’t you just watching us get destroyed from the hilltop?”

 

 

“Sure.”

 

 

“If we had our home points set to the town, it would take a full hour to get back here. In that time, you could have stolen our hard work on the battlefield.”

 

 

In Sky World, like in several other MMOs, PKers (player killers) existed. However, since battles were not authorized in towns, only one item could be stolen. Characters that PK got marked as Player Killers in their status window. That mark lasted 3 days.

 

 

It was often not worth doing.

 

 

However, looting was a different issue. Players who died in the midst of a battle with a monster could have their equipment stolen. Very little evidence would remain. Guilds performing raids had to consider this, and they would usually have somebody on watch near the battlefield.

 

 

They probably didn’t think that far ahead. All of the guild members had taken part in the battle.

 

 

However, Jun was certainly not a fan of stealing.

 

 

“Stealing such c.r.a.ppy equipment wouldn’t do you any good .”

 

 

Jun, taking offense at that remark, spat at the ground. He glared back at the guild leader.

 

 

“Stop being so presumptuous. I have enough money. I’m not interested in your newbie equipment. You’ll only need to worry about thieves when it comes to rarity 7 or higher equipment.”

 

 

Rarity was an indicator of equipment’s grade. Rarity 1, the most common, equipment could be purchased in NPC stores. The highest known rarity was 9. Here, on the 8th ring, the best equipment rarity that could be found was 5.

 

 

“&h.e.l.lip;. Well then, you’re clearly trying to steal our drops.”

 

 

“You say that, but you didn’t even get close to defeating the Dread Sphinx.”

 

 

Jun knew that they were doing pretty well until their heavy warrior died. However, the heavy warrior’s death was another issue altogether. The fact of the matter was that they could not handle all of the damage dealt. In other words, they lacked tactics and strategy. The guild members were not cooperating to the best of their ability.

 

 

“How about I speak in simpler terms. You’re an incompetent leader.”

 

 

Jun glared at her.

 

 

“I can’t see any reason why you became guild leader other than the fact that you are older than the rest of them. Even if all of you teamed up, I would still be stronger.”

 

 

“Are you trying to make a fool out of us?”

 

 

“Huh?!”

 

 

Eri interrupted the conversation.

 

 

She was sneering. Jun glanced at Eri.

 

 

“We happened to witness Jun’s ultra strong magic swordsman powers and he probably would be stronger than the rest of us combined. ”

 

 

“What are you trying to say?”

 

 

“Well, why don’t you just prove your strength to the rest of us?”

 

 

Eri looked up at Jun and laughed.

 

 

Jun nodded. He felt a little bit uneasy.

 

 

“Show me that you can defeat the Dread Sphinx”

 

 

“Of course I can. What a bigmouth. I’ll show you&h.e.l.lip;”

 

 

“Hold on!” Kasumi called out hastily.

 

 

“Eri, that’s absurd! As strong as Mr. Jun is, he is still just only one person, and just one person would never be able to defeat such a monster&h.e.l.lip;”

 

 

The newbie girl, repeatedly making Xs with her arms, was fl.u.s.tered.

 

 

Eri, in order to get Jun’s attention, made weird facial expressions.

 

 

“Our princess here has a point. Are you OK with this?”

 

 

“Of course I am. I do have one condition. Eri, seeing as this was your idea, I want you to help out a bit.”

 

 

“That’s fine. However, because I am weak, as you can see, I can only buff or help out with recovery.”

 

 

“That’s alright. It won’t target you until I am defeated. The chances of that happening are very low.”

 

 

“You can’t run away if you’re too weak. I’ll die.”

 

 

“If I die two times in one day, I’ll really be in trouble. I won’t be able to die any more times after that.”

 

 

Dying three times within a short period of time meant that your tablet’s battery would go down to 0%.

 

 

People whose battery life was zero could never again revive.

 

 

n.o.body knew what happened after that. They would most likely disappear completely from Sky World, never again to return. It would be impossible to get in touch with them.

 

 

“Are you sure that you still want to do this?

 

 

“I understand the risk. I’ll do it.”

 

 

Her hands on her hips, Eri smiled fearlessly.

 

 

Jun nodded and turned towards Kasumi and the others.

 

 

“Ok. Let’s go!”

 

 

They left the dumbfounded guild members and set off.