Fate Online: Shadow

Ting! Ting! Tang! Tang!

Michael started mining again after killing the group of goblins and hobgoblins occupying the space where he arrived at and the area he’s at have wheelbarrows and pickaxes lying around.

"Nice!" Michael exclaimed as he picked up his seventeenth black mithril ore, and immediately put it inside his storage space and continued mining, as he struck down hard at the rock walls, revealing other common ores that can be found inside which he immediately threw inside his storage space.

As he plans to sell them later at either to the blacksmith NPCs or at the virtual auction, also known to the players as the Item Trading site.

"I wonder how much I can sell these ores for?" Michael mumbled as he continued mining, and while doing that, he didn’t even notice that an assassin is sneaking up from behind him.

’This idiot, who uses a cloak while mining for ores?’ the unknown Level 10 Assassin criticized Michael inside his mind, and at the same time, and even with the questions marks above Michael, this unknown assassin felt like this person is actually of the same level as him as he knows full well that players below Level 10 would barred from entering this mine by the NPCs hanging out outside the entrance of Augur Mine.

"Die!" the assassin yelled in glee as his dagger shone with dark silvery light as he stabbed towards Michael’s neck!

But just as the dagger was about to stab through his neck, Michael suddenly disappeared and appeared behind his unknown assailant!

[Player Shendelzare has initiated an attack on you, you are now free to retaliate within 10 minutes without suffering any penalties!]

"Graah!"

"Hmmp!" he just snorted, and activated Backstab and Bleed simultaneously, as the player known as Shendelzare screamed in pain, it was because he adjusted his pain threshold to eighty percent, so every attack would feel like you’re being attacked in real life with a threshold that high!

Then Michael sent a powerful kick at Shendelzare at the side of his neck, as Shendelzare stumbled forward as he suddenly suffered from a Dizzy status.

Michael didn’t even bother giving the guy some breather as he immediately followed behind him, as he once again kicked Shendelzare on his back as he slammed on the rock wall, resulting in him getting a critical hit!

CRITICAL HIT!

A message window that was visible only to Michael popped up at his side.

’Dammit! What the heck is this!? Who plays like this!?’ Shendelzare is screaming inside when he saw that he was only left with a pitiful fifteen percent health, and he didn’t even know that someone could actually play like this without even using their skills, as Michael just kept attacking him like it was some street brawl!

Shendelzare hurriedly adjusted his pain threshold to zero as he could feel the scream pain in his body, and only when he lowered it did the pain disappear!

But it wasn’t over for him yet, as Michael suddenly stabbed his back and slashed it upwards his neck, producing a couple of critical hits!

Shendelzare just shuddered in horror as he didn’t expect that this player is this brutal, and just imagining the pain he would be feeling right now if he didn’t adjust his pain threshold is already making him shake in his boots!

But at the same time, he also felt like he was suddenly enlightened when he saw how this player fights like this wasn’t a game at all, and instead like it was the real world, as every attack that Michael executed so far is calculated and deadly.

[Player Shadow has killed you! You have lose 30% of your current experience points!]

’Damn! So it was actually him!’ Shendelzare cursed his luck as he didn’t expect that the new player who’s been making a huge ruckus in the game recently is actually here!

"Dammit! What shit luck! How did Shadow get here? Isn’t he from Haven City!? I thought players are only allowed to leave their beginner areas after 24 hours? Does that mean It’s already okay to leave? Wait...maybe it’s only for Level 10 players like us?"

"I just leveled to Level 10, and got my class advancement, grinded for two hours and now I just freaking wasted those two hours of grinding! Ahh! Why did I even think of going to Augur Mine!?" Shendelzare yelled in frustration attracting the attention of the NPCs and players alike from around him, and then he sighed as he looked at his almost depleted Exp. Bar, and then he slowly headed outside of Timor village, with no plans of ever going back to Augur Mine, he was just thankful that he didn’t drop anything upon death, after learning a quick lesson from an Elite Hobgoblin before he met Michael.

He is also a Chaser similar to Michael, but didn’t have the same skills as him or even in equipment, else he would have at least last a bit longer when he faced Michael.

But what Shendelzare didn’t know is that he would actually become one of the most powerful players in the game in the near future because of the "lesson" that Michael had taught him, which he would actually incorporate in the game which would players label him as the "Brutal Killer" because of how he kills his opponents like this wasn’t a game at all, but like a calculated beast.

Shendelzare would then become Michael’s number one fan and someone who was even shameless enough to call himself as Michael’s disciple!

Of course, Shendelzare wasn’t the only player who would realized that they could use their skills in the game from real life, as Michael would also face a lot of enemies in the future, but that doesn’t mean everyone could do what they could do.

And the reason Shendelzare could do it is also because he’s also a pretty skilled player, and if there is a Top 300 in the World Player Rankings, then he would be one of them.

And 1 out of 10 people are the only one who could do it, and it was because a game characters body isn’t the same as their real life bodies, even Michael isn’t confident that he could incorporate all of his former abilities inside the game with the restrictions of his character’s stats.

Meanwhile.

[You have leveled up!]

Michael already had two level ups while inside the mine, immediately rising from Level 10 to Level 12.

"So someone already reached Level 10 earlier, huh? They were at least three hours behind me" Michael murmured as he picked up the item from the ground and slowly made his way out of the mine after mining all thirty Mithril Ores.