Some Truths

Kurai felt like he was in a daze as he kept on fighting while trying to locate Hozumi.

He knew she wasn't dead because his profile merely listed her as injured, but he hadn't been able to locate her in the healers' tent or even close to one of the healers.

Even Lin's visit had merely been a brief update on the things that were happening outside once the battle ended for the day and it hadn't painted a pretty picture when she revealed that the Military had somehow managed to convince the families connected to the players that they had to be quarantined to keep their bodies in a stress-free state until they figured out what was wrong.

No one was really questioning the military's fast response to the issue and the people from Zenomitec were acting like they just met the guys from the military instead of both having been working together for months, if not years.

His parents were also still MIA for some reason and Kurai didn't know why it bothered him so much, given that they tended to do so at the most random times in the past as well.

Luckily he'd managed to locate quite of few of their guildmates and the group from the training hall and they had reassured him that they were all right except for a minor injury here and there.

Kurai was still deep in thought as he cut through the enemy forces with a mix of his new arsenal and he finally realized why the knight class hadn't suited him when he took a look at his abilities and the new allocation of his character as the battle winded down again:

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Avatar Name: Kurai Tachi

Class: Assassin

Level: 16

Chosen Occupation: Cultivator

Guardian: Hozumi Sasaki (moderately injured)

Main Story Quest: You are the last heir of a prestigious clan, and you have been tasked to discover the truth about the Missing Eons. Due to the danger of the quest, you will be accompanied by a guardian.

Quest Status: 8% complete

Clan Renown Status: 75 renown

Inheritance Status: Locked (15% progress made)

Avatar Statistics:

- Strength: 12 (3) > <

- Endurance: 18 (5) > <

- Agility: 21 (5) > <

- Intelligence: 19 (6) > <

- Vitality: 19 (5) > <

- Dexterity: 18 (4) > <

Points Available: 66

Passive Skills: -

Active Skills: Seraph's Blessing, Seraph's Form, Cyberblink

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The progress on the main quest bothered him quite a bit, seeing as he had no way of knowing what allows it to progress as it did, though he had a hunch that his guild had something to do with it, as well as the latest strange happenings surrounding the images of his parents.

Finally, he focused on the fact that he'd gained 6 levels since the war began.

It didn't make sense, since he'd mostly been on the sidelines or protected in the center, but apparently, it still counted so he decided to make the most of his new abilities by cutting down the groups that seemed to like to gang up on those that seemed weaker.

He also received quite a shock as he witnessed how Taya and Reese worked in tandem with their abilities as one would do damage before sending the target towards the other, efficiently disorientating them and not leaving any chance for the enemy to block before they finished them off.

A sudden pulse of energy made Kurai freeze as he slowly glanced toward the direction it came from in shock and horror.

It had been Hozumi's energy and it came from the mountain, which meant that she could have been captured.

It wasn't long after that, that the other guilds started reporting missing members, mainly healers and mages, as well, and it didn't take much to figure out what had happened.

Kurai wanted to rush in as soon as possible to save her, but he realized how futile it would be if he went there during the daytime.

They would slaughter him without asking what he was doing in their territory.

As a result, the guilds spent most of the evening looking for their missing members in the surrounding area before giving up for the night to get some rest.

Though it wasn't long before the guards cried out a warning and the Demorothians were upon them once more as their sneak attack failed.

Kurai, now easily able to deal with most of their attackers after his class change and some extra lessons from Satoru, didn't intend to leave anyone alive, but then an idea struck him.

So, when another person tried to attack him, Kurai dealt with them swiftly using 'Cyberblink', though he did not kill them yet.

He needed information so he knocked the guy out instead and carried him towards the back of the camp before reviving him.

Though it was obvious from the start that the man was simply a pawn because he couldn't give Kurai the answers he sought and this left Kurai with a problem.

He still wasn't very used to killing in cold blood, though it was easier when someone was actively trying to kill him, killing a helpless captive was not something he really wanted to do, but he knew if the man got back to his own camp then it might put Hozumi in even more danger if she was truly being held captive.

He steeled his resolve and lifted his sword, only to find that the man was already foaming at the mouth after ingesting a poison of some sort.

He didn't even bother to move the body as the fields around them were already littered with corpses and the stench of dead bodies was something he knew he wouldn't be able to describe to anyone.

In the meantime, both armies had retreated to their respective camps once more, but Kurai simply wandered into their guilds' tent before he started planning how he would need to infiltrate the place.

A part of him knew that he was about to pull off something stupid, so he opened his character profile once more and allocated the points he'd saved up:

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Avatar Name: Kurai Tachi

Class: Assassin

Level: 16

Chosen Occupation: Cultivator

Guardian: Hozumi Sasaki (moderately injured)

Main Story Quest: You are the last heir of a prestigious clan, and you have been tasked to discover the truth about the Missing Eons. Due to the danger of the quest, you will be accompanied by a guardian.

Quest Status: 8% complete

Clan Renown Status: 75 renown

Inheritance Status: Locked (15% progress made)

Avatar Statistics:

- Strength: 20 (11) > <

- Endurance: 29 (16) > <

- Agility: 35 (19) > <

- Intelligence: 30 (17) > <

- Vitality: 30 (16) > <

- Dexterity: 29 (15) > <

Points Available: 0

Passive Skills: -

Active Skills: Seraph's Blessing, Seraph's Form, Cyberblink

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He knew that agility was needed to lengthen the time that he could use 'Cyberblink' so he mostly focused on that, but he also knew that intelligence and vitality were needed to boost his HP and Mana to be able to use the attacks, but he was pleasantly surprised when three consecutive notifications popped up:

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Congratulations: You have 30 or more points allocated to 'Agility'. A new Passive Skill, 'Stealth', has been added.

'Stealth': When using skills that require agility, the player has a higher chance of moving around undetected. Attacking while in 'Stealth' will cause the resulting damage to double.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurai's eyes went wide as he read through the description. It was as if the game knew that he was going to do something stupid and that it was giving him a way to better survive. He closed it and glanced at the next notification:

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Congratulations: You have 30 or more points allocated to 'Intelligence'. A new Passive Skill, 'Calm', has been added.

'Calm': A steady mind ensures a steady attack. Attacks using mana will now double in number and the range of attacks that cover a wider area are now tripled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kurai knew that it would help him a lot, especially when using 'Seraph's Blessing' to either heal or do damage. He then selected the last notification:

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Congratulations: You have 30 or more points allocated to 'Vitality'. A new Passive Skill, 'Second-chance', has been added.

'Second-chance': Can be activated once a day in game. If the player's HP drops down to 10%, HP and Mana will automatically refill to 100%.

Countdown before use: 24:00:00

Countdown before use: 23:59:59

Countdown before use: 23:59:58

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a moment, he didn't believe what he was seeing. It was basically a daily resurrection ticket, but it was unfortunate that he would have to wait 24 hours for it to become active.

A part of him was a bit skeptical about it though, unless…that was why players were only given a single resurrection ticket at the start since most people would probably boost their HP to ensure that they survive.

He still needed to find other players to verify the information though, so he focused on the mission at hand.

Logically it would be best to wait 23 hours 41 minutes and 2 seconds for his new ability to unlock, but then he thought about the wave of energy that he'd felt earlier and he knew he had to do something fast.

If the enemy were truly looking for healers, then Hozumi wouldn't be of any use to them anymore, since she had passed the skill onto Kurai.

He knew she was an amazing knight, but he also knew that she would never wield her sword for the enemy because of how seriously she took her oath as a knight, and as a result, the enemy would have no choice but to either detain her indefinitely to try and break her, or to kill her.

And Kurai refused to accept either of those options.

He resolutely placed a few of his things and some rations he'd saved up in a travel bag, hoping to sneak out during the dead of night, but the sound of the tent flap opening startled him, and he froze as his head lifted to see Satoru standing there with his hands on his hips.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I knew you were going to do something like this if you found out."

Kurai didn't know what to say in return, but the man didn't seem to expect him to answer as he continued, "I know that you've somehow managed to gain a class that suits you, but is this really something you want to do? There's no guarantee that you will survive dying twice, that is, if you still have your resurrection ticket."

Something in Kurai stilled as his eyes widened in realization, "You're a player!"

Satoru playfully rolled his eyes, "I thought that would've been obvious, but it seems I was able to play my part well enough."

Kurai frowned, "What do you mean?"

Satoru motioned around them, "The game was made in a way that would ensure that each player had their own story to follow instead of everyone doing the same quests and having the same expectations. It's quite ingenious really since no one would be able to spoil the game for someone else, but it also makes recognizing other players a bit difficult, as you yourself have experienced."