With a guttural scream Eric gained control of himself before speaking up in a rasping dry voice “What the ever-loving fuck was that bullshit Nero?” Now standing from his prone state.
Nero gave a purring chuckle “Forgot to warn you before you hit the button. My bad kiddo.”
Shaking his head and cursing under his breath Eric finally noticed a blinking name field and a floating iridescent keyboard in front of him composed of the same material as the buttons before. It took him only a moment to figure out what was expected of him as he sidled up to the keyboard and after only the briefest of thoughts typed out his usual game name of Dante Alexander hitting the ‘Enter’ key to finalize his choice. A small screen popped in front of him with the scrawling words saying ‘Welcome to Kingdoms Reborn Dante Alexander’ before the window faded away.
Nodding approval Nero continued “Now for the fun part, picking the class” his words punctuated by another window popping up in front of Eric with a scroll bar and arrows on either side of it.
Bordered with a white line the window had a small picture of a man holding a sword and shield and the information describing the class.
Warrior
Trained in the field to fight off beasts and men alike the warrior class utilizes his sword and shield to attack, stun, and defend not only to protect himself but those who join him in battle. Having been trained only in the physical arts the warrior does take extra damage from magical attacks but with a strong defense and good preparation anyone utilizing this class can overcome all foes standing before them.
Dante read over the description and moved on to the next preferring to use wits over brute force. This sword and board sort of class was not really his style or forte in most games he played. Deftly he clicked the next arrow reading over the words presented to him.
Wizard
Using elemental magic’s you deal high amounts of arcane damage, often times quickly dispatching your enemies. Keeping this in mind you take elevated amounts of physical damage since you have not strengthened your body with physical or martial arts.
This was a pretty standard class in most games, and he had played it once or twice enjoying the high DPS of it but wanted to keep it as a backup choice knowing how he also enjoyed the front lines and would likely take too much damage with this class and his standard play style. After that was the witch class which was grayed out with the ‘Select’ button also grayed letting him know that it was not an option due to a restriction. For the most part it mirrored the wizards' description, so he moved on. Following this one was another standard in gaming.
Paladin
Armed with the sturdy mace and shield you rely on the power of the God of Light Ashira to grant you healing buffs and higher damage than standard warriors. With this you have more diverse abilities than the standard warriors but are also bound by the rules and laws of the Ashira which can penalize you for not obeying the writs of her laws.
Quickly moving on knowing that this class went against his nature when gaming Dante didn’t even consider it a real choice for him. Next was one depicting a female with floating blades surrounded by sparks of magic as the picture and ‘Select’ button were grayed out Dante read it over with his anger mounting.
Knight Mage
A master of both the arts of magic and blades the knight mage is a deviated clan of elves who broke away from the main tribes in order to pursue their desire for knowledge. This led them to learn to combine their unique blade skills and the power of chaos magic to create a new fighting form.
Restricted by gender and race
Race restriction met
At the sight of the gender lock and restrictions Dante’s anger became palpable to even Nero who hissed nearby. Not thinking Dante punched the ‘Select’ button willing it to accept his choice and the consequences be damned. He was surprised as the button depressed and the window disappeared raining down sparks of purple and gray magic onto him and pooling into a pile on the ground which took the form of black and gray leather armor covered in plates of obsidian metal topped with two crossing intricately ornate blades that still continued to shimmer with the purple and gray magic that formed them. Filled with both relief and shock Dante fell backwards landing on his still bare backside as he looked first to what was sitting in front of him then to Nero who was purring with laughter again.
“Oh this will be interesting” Nero chuckled now cleaning the side of his face with a deft paw before nodding to the pile of items on the ground in front of Dante “You’d better pick that up before it disappears.”
Scrambling over to the pile on hands and knees Dante reached out to grab the items and as his hand touched them they vanished only to reappear equipped to him. The armor fit snugly but comfortably while the blades were on either side of his waist sheathed and attached to his belt. Magic flowed through him as he had finally accepted his class by equipping the gear. The surge of energy was akin to adrenaline though more intense as it flowed through him lingering in the very fiber of his being. With a smile he turned to talk to Nero more only to find he was alone now.
“Head west and gain some levels. When you need me I’ll show up of course, but try to be as independent and self-reliant as possible if you could. Any menus you need to access you can do so with a thought. This includes the skill menus, character profile, and inventory.” Nero’s disembodied voice spoke out fading away leaving Dante looking around for a glimpse of his old black furred companion before shrugging and heading off towards the setting sun all the while muttering under his breath something along the lines of “Really? Just gonna leave me standing alone in a strange world. Guess we’re off to see the wizard.” the end of the statement beginning the hum to an old film favorite of his.
Chapter Three
Looking through the skills listed while ambling through the forest Dante noticed that like the game the first basic attack was free. It was just a double swipe of the blades that did one hundred and twenty percent of the attack power of his full weapon power as damage. With this came a few small passives that mitigated five percent magic and physical damage as well as boosting his magical and physical damage by five percent. Other than that everything else was grayed out and strangely unlike the game none of the grayed out skills gave a description and instead showed ??? in the name and descriptions alike. Too small to really tell anything from the picture alone he just shrugged out of the skills menu excited to see what he could do. As he was pondering his skills and wandering through the forest Dante was too preoccupied to notice he had stumbled across a level one forest beetle along with a weasel wandering around foraging which lead to him stepping on the latter.
Annoyed the weasel turned and bit Dante causing a yelp to escape from him as a searing pain shot through his leg where it bit him. In the top left of his screen he could see his health and mana bars and the red one just lost about 5% from the bite. Quickly responding Dante instinctively activated his first ability and the two swords flew from their scabbards at his waist and appeared in his hands as they struck out taking the weasel down in one hit before turning to the fleeing beetle and doing the same. Standing there and breathing heavily as the adrenaline left his system and his health started to restore slowly of its own accord.
“Well that was easier than I thought it would be” looking over his character screen and eyeing his basic information more keenly than before.
Dante Alexander: Knight Mage
Level: 1.63
Attack Power: 30
Defense Power: 22
Health: 205/210
Mana: 150/150
Stamina: 97/97
Attack Speed +0
Casting Speed +0
Critical Hit +0
Movement Speed +0
Seeing he was already almost to the next level Dante decided to scout around and kill off every beetle and weasel he could find. In no time he was at level five and ready to try out his newest skill which was described as throwing out the blades in a cascade of magic drawing the
caster towards it in a flash. This skill had a twenty second cool down and was an instant cast in its first level and did two hundred and twelve percent of the base attack power of the player for damage. While searching for a test subject he found himself stumbling into an imp encampment with seven level eight imps who jumped to attention.
Bolts of fire shot at him and though he moved quickly to the side one of the fireballs clipped his side doing a good fifty damage to him causing a quick intake of breath. In the next moment though Dante was able to pick the imp shaman out of the crowd and cast the new spell titled Scatter Blades and instantly his arms shot forward launching the blades streaking with the gray and purple magic deftly hitting and killing the imp and teleporting Dante to the now dead imps location. He stood drawing the blades from the imp shaman and began methodically and quickly killing the others using his basic attack. Throughout the fight he had taken a few more hits which led to him being reduced to half health, but in the end he survived the battle and was no worse for wear. Plopping down where he was Dante rested while regaining his health and seeing that he had gained another two levels and some more passive abilities to put his skill points into.
One was the Chaotic Shield passive that increased his magical and physical mitigation up to five percent and the other passive called Hidden Power which at this level increased his magical and physical damage both by eight percent. With his current attack power of thirty and defense power of twenty-two he knew that it would not take long for his level to outgrow his gear normally. That worry though was quickly allayed as he was looting the dead mobs and he saw a pair of gloves that would take up the empty slot in his equipment on his hands. Reaching out to them the armor he currently wore seemed to absorb them and gloves made of the same black leather and obsidian metal that made up his armor were now covering his hands and the slot showed a pair of gloves that seemed to mirror the stats of the ones destroyed adding another five defense power to his stats bringing his defense up to twenty-seven.
Looking them over he shrugged figuring that the armor paired with his class might be unique due to his situation. “Welp let's hope this armor isn’t like the black space goop that Spidey had to deal with or it might just try to eat me as well.” Chuckling with a bit of apprehension before saying to no one in particular “In for a penny in for a pound I guess.”
Following his earlier pattern of seeking out mobs while heading further west he came across other small encampments of imps that ranged from level eight to level twelve. Each time Dante saw a caster he used his Shatter Blade attack to bring them down quickly before turning to the non-casters to decimate them with his basic attack. There were a few times when more than one caster was present but with swift movements he avoided most the damage while making sure to take them out first. Throughout his grinding he had managed to travel a few miles before coming across a well-worn road that lead Southwest and Northeast. Only stopping a moment to think it over he headed Southwest along the road knowing that it would lead more in the direction of whatever his goal may be.
Having decided he was tired of stumbling into trouble he decided to move along the road cautiously while keeping his eyes peeled. He had not come across any trouble for the first mile, so he moved a little quicker though still with caution. Luck being what it was things could not stay safe or quiet forever in this world as he came across some bandits attacking a small carriage with a child screaming and a woman crying inside it while a man was fighting the group of men who were trying to get inside. There were only three bandits, and they were each a level or two above Dante’s level twelve, so he figured he could lend a hand if he played it safe.
Not noticing Dante having come up the road they didn’t see him activate his skill Shadow of Chaos which cloaked him in darkness making him invisible to others while offering a night vision effect that tinted the world in a shade of purple allowing him to see every detail. Using the small increase to movement speed the skill added with the ten second countdown before he would come out of his stealth he moved behind the three men activating his area of effect stun Cascading Blades which knocked all three to the ground and exposed their backs which would allow for double damage. Swiftly taking the hint of help the lightly armored man who’d been otherwise fighting them alone worked with him to destroy the bandits before holding his pike towards Dante wearily.
With trepidation the man spoke up in a thick accent “Who ya be boy an whatcha thin’ you gonna do now?”
With a hope that the man would see him as non-threatening Dante sheathed his blades stepping back and holding up his hands “I saw you folks were in need of help while wandering down the road. Only did what any decent person should and made sure you survived the encounter.”
Seeming placated by that response the man lowered his weapon with a nod and a sincere smile while scratching the back of his helmed head “Sorry abou’ tha’ young un. I nay forgo’ me manners an bou’ skewered you afta you dun saved me and ma own. Hope’n ya able ta’ forgive a jumpy ol’ man for ‘is actions.”
Barely able to make out the words Dante nodded offering a hand for the man to shake “No harm no foul sir. My name is Dante and if you happen to be continuing to somewhere safer down towards the west I would be happy to keep you company and play the part of an extra guard if you need.”
With a chuckle the man took his hand with a strong grip shaking it saying “Then ah thin’ we can do etch a solid and travel together. Names Shay by the by and I will try no’ ta ask too much of a lower leveled person such as ya’self. Tha’ in mind you held ya own ou’ there fairly well so anythin’ you be find’n on those bandits there is all yours fer the trouble of et all.” taking his hand back and pointing at the bodies nearby.
“Sounds good to me sir” Dante agreed before looting the three seeing that he had a hefty thirty gold to add to his small bit of gold now, even more glad that the game's mechanics which caused items to disappear into his inventory as he picked it up functioning the same as they had when he had only been a player in this world.
Shay ushered Dante up to the seat next to him as the child in the back of the carriage seemed to sense the danger was over and it quieted down almost immediately. Calmly the women holding the child close to her leaned towards the window facing the front quietly thanking Dante before sitting back coddling the infant as it finally began to fall asleep to her soft humming voice. Not wanting to be rude but hoping to get a bit more information Dante focused and was able to see their levels and names above their heads. It would seem Shay was short for Seamus, and he was level twenty while the women whose name showed up as Mariann was only level nine and the young boy who went by Colby showed up as level one in Dante's vision before he was shaken out of his thoughtful stupor by the movement of the carriage.
Not long after they were on their way lights could be seen down the road as a small village came into view. Upon inquiry from Shay, Dante was informed the name of the town was simply Fort having once been a small encampment for a forward guard a long time back when the soldiers there had decided to make it a permanent home. Thinking back Dante could easily remember a small fort around this area called Fort Mace when he had played the game. At that time the fort was named after the commanding officer's favorite weapon though for the life of him Dante could not remember the name of the commanding officer.
Once they arrived at the settlement Shay had insisted that Dante stay at his house in the spare room. The house wasn’t large, only being big enough for a small family and a place in the back to keep the horse and wagon along with a coop full of sleeping chickens. Dante found himself passing out quickly in the rather lumpy old bed due to the exhaustion of the day thinking as he did so that he hoped that when he woke the next day it would all prove to be real and not just some strange elaborate dream.
Dante Alexander: Knight Mage
Level: 15.43
Attack Power: 30
Defense Power: 27
Health: 516/516
Mana: 234/234
> Stamina: 226/226
Attack Speed +0
Casting Speed +0
Critical Hit +0
Movement Speed +0
Gear:
Main Hand
+14 Blade of Chaos
Off Hand
+14 Short Sword of Chaos
Helm
+14 Hidden Circlet of Chaos
Armor
+14 Leather Breastplate of Chaos
Gloves
+14 Leather Gloves of Chaos
Shoes
+14 Leather Shoes of Chaos
L Earring slot Empty
R Earring slot Empty
L Ring slot Empty
R Ring slot Empty
Necklace slot Empty
Belt slot Empty
Skills:
Basic Attack
Cascading Blades
Scatter Blades
Chaotic Shield
Hidden Power
Cycle of Fate
Chaos Hold
Shadows of Chaos
Chapter Four
Distant sounds of the active little town could be heard outside the nearby window when Dante woke that morning. Well rested though a little groggy he was surprised to wake fully clothed in the gray leather armor of the night before instead of his normal pajama pants. He looked around in hopes of seeing Nero but the little black cat was nowhere to be seen though he could have sworn he had heard purring upon waking. Stretching a bit and letting out a content sigh he crept out of the room hoping not to wake anyone else only to find that Shay and his wife were sitting out in the main room at a small dining table where they had only moments before been talking rather quietly as Shay’s wife was breastfeeding the little one.
From the Beginning Page 2
