Chapter 19

From Above, From Below

Without even truly noticing, Jay had already done enough damage to the Black Ooze for it to become panicked. He stopped his attack for a moment and looked at the amorphous black blob coming towards him; it was increasing its speed as its body's mass was being reduced. And now, the Black Ooze was transforming in a way that made Jay feel an urgent sense of danger. He tossed another lit flask of oil, shattering it, spraying the Black Ooze with flames. Then he turned around and picked up his pace, running for a few seconds to distance himself from whatever the Black Ooze was doing.

And it turned out he had been right in his assumption that something dangerous was about to happen. Just as he felt he had gone far enough away from it to be safe, Jay's whole body shivered. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, Jay saw that the Black Ooze had turned into something completely different from its earlier shape. It had gone from being a slowly surging, sloshing, round blob of viscous black liquid into something out of a nightmare. Now it looked more like an octopus with hundreds of thin arms stretching out in all directions, holding up its morphing spherical body in the middle of the corridor. Its thin arms stretched out, touching floor, ceiling and both walls, and in between the arms a dark black smoke was swirling around, obscuring its shape in darkness.

Jay picked up his pace even more, tossing out three lit bottles of oil in succession, letting them fall on the ground to create a sea of flames to impede the Black Ooze, but that did nothing to hinder it. And right as Jay was thinking about how to handle this new change in the creature, a thick black tendril shot out from the Black Ooze straight at Jay.

He jumped to the side, rolling into the wall, and was he barely able to avoid being hit. Cold sweat covered every part of Jay's body. He stood back up instantly and began running backwards, keeping a vigilant eye on the Black Ooze. Somehow, his earlier assumption that everything was going well had turned around, and because he hadn't been able to do as much damage as he did earlier the Black Ooze was now healing itself faster than the lingering damage the burning oil had done. Things were not looking good, but Jay still had his final trump-card, the fire-rocks; he only hoped they would do as much damage as he assumed earlier.

Another thick black tendril shot out from the Black Ooze and Jay barely escaped being hit only because he had distanced himself from it even further. Now there was at least thirty meters between Jay and the Black Ooze, but Jay still felt it was too close to him.

He ran as fast as he could backwards, looking for any indication of the Black Ooze's incoming attack. He increased his speed, trotting backwards, but just as he had gone outside what he assumed was the Black Ooze's attack range he felt a weird, light feeling, in his head. He tripped on his heals, falling down on his ass, his back hitting the floor, followed by his head smashing into the stone. It hurt, white spots danced in his vision, but what was worse was the lethargic feeling spreading through his limbs. Jay tried pushing himself up on his elbows, but his body felt heavy and it was slow progress getting up again. Ping!

You are suffering from light Sleep Deprivation. All Stats are Decreased by 20%

Jay's head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, his thoughts moving slowly, if at all. Activating Enduring Willpower, feeling his Mana plummet quickly, he pushed himself up and backed away from the Black Ooze as fast as he could. Seriously?! ... Why now? Why did this happen now? I'm sleep deprived because I haven't slept; I can accept that, sure... but why now? Jay thought to himself

What are you talking about? Aren't you only seeing things because you're tired? Claudine asked, not helping one bit.

Jay didn't know if he should laugh or cry, but did neither. Seriously!?! Claudine, you've become awfully willful lately. Aren't you supposed to help me?

Help me help you, Claudine said in a solemn tone. I don't like this any more than you do, you know. I feel strange, my thoughts are slower than normal and I'm easily distracted. And anyway, it's all your fault I'm like this.

What? How come? Jay asked in his thoughts. He had to tried and understand Claudine, but she was turning more and more into something that had its own personality, and Jay wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

You completed the first two requisites for my awakening, Claudine said.

Every time he tried to understand Claudine, all he got were more questions. And those were?

You gave me a name on the day of my conception. You cleared my thoughts of unnecessary looping queries, Claudine said. Those made me able to become a bit more myself.

Are there any more ways of making you more yourself? Jay had to ask, it wasn't that he really wanted Claudine to become more independent, but he had to understand Claudine if he wanted to use her abilities.

I don't know, probably? Claudine said. All I know is that there are more things you can do to help me become my true self again.

Jay didn't even know how to respond. And he didn't have time to either. He had to shelve this conversation until a better time. During his fall and slight confusion, the Black Ooze had gained on him and was closing in faster than Jay felt comfortable with.

Suddenly, the Black Ooze surged forward, increasing its speed, more than doubling it. The gaseous substance it spewed out was thickening around it and when Jay looked up he saw that a dense black smoke lingered at ceiling-level, growing thicker and slowly drifting down towards the floor. Soon it wouldn't be possible to even run away without crouching down. With all that had happened, Jay only had one thought: it was time to go all out.

Jay brought out bottle after bottle of lamp oil, not lighting them this time, only tossing them to shatter in the path of the Black Ooze. When the Black Ooze neared the pools of lamp oil Jay shot out match-stick after match-stick, hitting the rough stone, trying to set the entire corridor on fire to slow the creature down. It worked, but Jay still had to run backwards and the fire was only barely doing enough damage to keep up with the Black Ooze's regeneration.

Soon there was a dim light at the end of the corridor, and he arrived in a more open area with a few slightly glowing stones embedded in the walls. Looking around he saw that the large room he had entered looked like the rooms he had encountered on the upper floors that lead down into the lower floors. All around him were doorways leading out to other corridors—the room was large too, almost fifty meters in diameter. Where the staircase should have been in this room, though, there was only a large round black stone inset in the floor. He could barely see that the black stone had some kind of pattern on it.

Right now, however, he didn't have time to think about anything else than the Black Ooze. As he backed into the large round room, Jay tossed out the last of his flasks of oil in anticipation of lighting the oil when the Black Ooze came through the doorway. Taking out his four fire-rocks from his Inventory, Jay stood in the middle of the room, waiting for the time to act. And it wasn't long before the Black Ooze came in through the doorway. Jay threw a lit torch with all his might into a pool of oil and lit it, causing a cascade-effect, creating a large conflagration in front of the corridor that reached into the room, making the Black Ooze shy back slightly. But soon, it advanced once more.

As the Black Ooze entered the room, it scuttled over the flaming oil as if it didn't care about how the heat made its liquid body bubble and hiss, releasing black smoke even quicker. The black cloud of dense smoke followed it, spreading out in all directions, but mostly floating up, covering the upper parts of the room quickly. The smoke was slowly descending, but this room had a higher ceiling than the corridors, so Jay didn't feel as threatened by it. He was only glad that the black smoke wasn't like the other black smoke that had come from the Black Ooze earlier—the smoke that had slid across the floor almost like a liquid. If that had been the case, Jay wouldn't even have a chance to kill the Black Ooze any more.

Tossing a fire-rock into the air, Jay caught it with a thread of Mana from his Mana Manipulation, then forced the thread to grow thicker, denser, giving the fire-rock his Mana, lighting it on fire, an orange reddish light flared through the air. With the fire-stone as its center, a ball of red flames sprang into being, and Jay, as he had predicted, could easily move it around with his Mana Manipulation however he wanted. The only downside was that it consumed his Mana quicker than he had thought it would. He flung the ball of fire towards the Black Ooze, hovering the fire close to the Black Ooze's body without touching it, seeing the flaming ball do more damage than the lamp oil had by a large margin; it was a pleasant surprise.

Keeping his eye on his quickly depleting Mana, Jay drank a Mana Potion, the ephemeral liquid evaporating in his mouth, filling both his lungs and stomach as he drank it. A surge of alertness flashed in his mind, but was gone as fast as it came. He drank another Mana Potion, then another, filling up his Mana to the Max again.

Then he tossed another fire-rock into the air, lighting it on fire with his Mana, sending it out toward the Black Ooze that was now trying to avoid the first fire-rock.

When the second fire-rock came close to the Black Ooze, it seemed to show the first sign of what could only be described as some sort of primal fear. It shuddered and backed away from Jay towards a wall, spewing out dense dark smoke as its body boiled. Had Jay known that the fire-rocks would be this effective, he would have used them earlier. Just as he thought everything was going well, the Black Ooze hissed out an ear-piercing noise and small drops of black liquid shot from it in all directions.

Before Jay could even react he had been hit by a couple of drops of liquid and lost more than half his Health from that small attack. Gulping, Jay backed away, taking a Health Potion from his string-belt and drinking it, replenishing his Health to full again in a few seconds.

He had hoped to save at least one fire-rock, but now that the Black Ooze was throwing out attacks that wasn't possible to dodge, Jay felt the impending danger becoming greater and greater. He drank another two Mana Potions replenishing his Mana to almost full again, then tossed the last two fire-rocks into the air, catching them with his Mana Manipulation, infusing them with Mana and lighting them on fire too.

It took all his focus and concentration to guide the last two flaming fireballs toward the Black Ooze. Especially since he had to gulp down more than one Mana Potion per minute. The drain on his Mana was too great, he could only keep up this attack for a couple of minutes more.

Looking at the Black Ooze, or what little he could see of it—the black smoke was covering almost all of its body now—Jay believed that he would be able to kill the Black Ooze before long. It seemed to have turned almost completely into dark smoke rising to the ceiling, as if it was trying to hide its body within the cloud of black smoke.

A burnt disgusting scent wafted down from above Jay, and he ducked down on instinct, looking up. What he saw did not give him any relief. Above him, the dark dense smoke had slowly come down and covered the room's ceiling all around him. He hadn't noticed it earlier because the smoke was so close to black darkness that it wasn't easy to discern, and he had been focused completely on keeping the four fire-rocks at an attacking distance from the Black Ooze. Now, however, he saw that all around him was a sea of seething black smoke.

He touched his head only to notice that some of his hair had burnt away. As he touched his head, a thin tendril of smoke wafted out of the smoke and barely touched his hand. Jay's glove melted and a fierce pain surged from his hand up his arm. Looking at his Health-bar Jay could see that the slightest touch of that smoke took away almost ten percent of his Health. And the black smoke was all around him.

Crouching down on all four on the floor, Jay crawled away from where the smoke seemed more active, all the while keeping an eye on the four fire-rocks hovering around the Black Ooze.

The smoke slowly came closer as if being drawn toward Jay. He increased his Mana-output to the fire-rocks and gulped down Mana Potions even quicker. He had no choice, it was either kill the Black Ooze within a short amount of time, or be engulfed by the black corrosive smoke. It didn't look good. All he could do was try and get to a doorway and leave before he was engulfed by the smoke. So, he went toward the closest doorway he could see.

Crawling soon became slithering as Jay lay flat on his stomach to avoid the dense dark smoke floating towards him. He could only think he was done for, despair filled him and he regretted not being more cautious. Had his thoughts been corrupted by his lack of sleep? He felt it was difficult discerning if that was true or not. Then, when despair almost claimed him, a message-window popped up.

You have killed the Legion's Black Poisonous Ooze You have earned 30000 Experience Points You advance to Level 18

Quest Updated Go to Rolan Fairwater to claim your rewards.

Quest Updated

Yes! Finally, Jay thought. I did it! He looked around, but as far as he could see the black smoke didn't go away. The only good thing was that it wasn't coming any closer now, and Jay had a bit more than forty centimeters of clean air below the smoke to crawl wherever he wanted to go. He crawled toward where the four fire-rocks were still burning bright, toward the only light that penetrated the black darkness.

He stopped feeding the fire-rocks Mana, extinguishing the fires, and pulled the fire-rocks back towards him. Before the fire-rocks could even reach him, his grasp on them with his Mana Manipulation disappeared, as if the fire-rocks had disappeared. What happened?

The fire-rocks were dissolved by the corrosive black smoke, Claudine said. You should have kept them burning if you wanted to bring them through the smoke and back to you. But now they have completely melted. It's too late for regrets.

Thanks... shouldn't you have told me that before I extinguished them? Jay thought.

How could I? You didn't ask, Claudine said. And even so, my memory is limited in a way I don't understand. I only know things I've seen, but when I've seen something I have more knowledge about whatever it was I saw than what could be gleamed from the instance when I saw something. It's very troubling. I know I should know a lot more, but I can't remember anything I think I should know. It's very, very confusing, I tell you.

Huh? That does sound a bit troublesome, Jay thought back. How come you know so much about the town of Garam's Gorge then? Earlier, you told me about things I had not seen, and by what you said, you had not seen either.

When I was attached to you all my memories were locked away, except information about the town you arrived in, Claudine explained. Even my real sensory perception abilities were sealed. And now I can only use your senses to perceive reality, and those are worse than anything I could have imagined. I really can't understand how you can cope with the world with your limited senses.

Okay? Jay was becoming more confused every time he talked to Claudine. And right now he even felt his mind working slower than he thought it should. It was as if he couldn't focus on something completely or discern things that should be obvious. It disturbed him to no end. Let's shelve this conversation to later Claudine. Now I need to check out whatever loot I got from the Black Ooze.

Yes, Jay, Claudine answered.

Crawling to where the Black Ooze had died, Jay found nothing that really stood out at first. Looking closer, he still saw nothing but the gravelly floor. There were small stones laying everywhere. The only thing that stood out was a slightly larger black rock; it was almost as big as his thumb's fingernail and completely round with a large crack on its side. Beside the round rock lay four slivers of some blackish green crystal, the rock-slivers looked a lot like the little grains of Mana Crystal he had found in the smaller Slimes earlier, only larger, and he assumed that the slivers of crystal was just that, Mana Crystals. So, first he looked at the round black rock. Observe.

Minor Black Slime Core Crystal (Mana Crystal Gem) (3.2g) Gives the holder the ability to manipulate and direct the corrosive black smoke from this Slime Core's Slime for thirty minutes. The further away from the holder the smoke is, the less control the holder has over the smoke. Requires 80 Wisdom to use. If consumed: Permanently Increases Acid Resistance by 6. Permanently Increases Poison Resistance by 4. Permanently Increases Vitality by 1. Poisons you for 6000 HP per minute for 1200 minutes.

Jay didn't know if this thing was good or bad, but it at least relieved him of the question of how to get rid of the black smoke that was floating about all around him. He had noticed the smoke was no longer following him, but it had also stopped being confined to the ceiling and was slowly dropping down to the floor at some places. It made Jay feel more than a little frightened, since if the smoke came down on him, he wouldn't survive however much he wish to.

Holding the small round stone in his hand Jay didn't know how to use it, so he tried the most simplistic thing he could think of to try out it abilities. Rise, was all he thought. And to his delight, everywhere around him the black smoke started rising slowly. Now he just had to wait for a little while and he could stand up again.

While waiting he looked at the four small slivers of crystal that he assumed the Black Ooze had dropped. Observe.

Minor Mana Crystal (0.2g) A crystal infused with solid Mana. It was part of the core of a black green Slime. If consumed: Increases Poison Resistance by 2 for 1 hour. Poisons you for 100 HP per minute for 60 minutes.

Jay couldn't complain about this loot. He had hoped for something better, but not everything could go as he wished. The Experience he had gained from killing the Black Ooze was the best thing from the kill. He wasn't disappointed, but he had truly hoped for something more useful. He had noticed that all creatures he had killed so far only gave crafting items, and had hoped that this Boss would at least give him some equipment to use or sell, but it seemed that wasn't going to be the case.

Well, whatever, he thought. I should probably check out the Black Ooze's lair. Maybe there's something more there.

Yes, Jay, Claudine chimed in. You should take that piece of metal in the Black Ooze's lair. Because the Black Ooze was lying on it for such a long time without it disappearing from the constant exposure to acid, it could be a good crafting metal.

Oh? Thanks for that tip, Claudine, Jay thought. Once more Claudine had been helpful, but somehow their communication was still askew. So, you told me earlier to help you help me. How can I do that? By giving you a name and helping you unclutter your mind from looping questions you became more self-aware and you now have the freedom to think your own thoughts if I don't misunderstood your earlier statement. So, my question is, how has that changed you?

Not much... Claudine hesitated. I can only do what I've always been able to do, but maybe I can change, I don't know.

You mean that all I get in return for freeing your mind is that I now have a weird voice with its own personality in my head and I can't get rid of it? How is that anything good? Jay didn't really know how to feel about this. Shouldn't there be some greater benefit?

Isn't that good enough? Claudine's tone was as close to petulant and sulking as Jay had ever heard. It seemed her ability to emote had become greater with time. She continued, well, maybe I can improve and become more useful?

How would you do that? Jay asked, thinking they were now getting on the right track.

Maybe you can get me some useful Skill or Spell? Claudine answered in a questioning tone, as if not knowing if that was really an answer to Jay's question or not. I just have a feeling that I might be able to learn some Skills or Spells.

You can use Spells and Skills? Jay was astonished once more about how little he knew about his Guiding Spirit. It seemed Claudine could be used for more than information. Do you have any Spells and Skills right now? And how do you use them? Do you have Mana?

Yes. Same as you, I activate them by thought. And yes, Claudine answered.

Elaborate? What Spells or Skills do you have? And how do you have Mana? Jay had some time to spend before the black smoke was dispersed, so he felt it was a good time to talk to Claudine about these things now.

I already have a few Spells and Skills, Claudine said with a hint of pride in her voice, as if she was finally feeling that she was being appreciated. I have Observe, Perfect Recollection, Link to the Watchers' Vault, Curse Memory, Incorporeality, Illusion Mastery and Light Manipulation.

That's something you probably should have told me about earlier, right? Jay had a feeling this question would bring no real answer, but he had to ask.

Why? Claudine asked, puzzled. You didn't ask about it until now.

He knew it, there was really something wrong with Claudine, but Jay probably was at fault for not asking the right questions too, so he let it slide. And where do you get the Mana for those Spells and Skills? How much Mana do you have?

My maximum Mana is 25320, Claudine answered. And whenever I need Mana I take it from you. Whenever your Mana is full, I siphon off some for my own use and refill and increase my Mana-pool. It's a good thing that my Skills and Spells have a really high level, so I don't need to use very much Mana when using them. And you don't even notice it when I slowly siphon off of your surplus when you're not using your Mana. So, no hard feelings, right?

Ehm, okay... Jay was swamped with questions from that comment. Was Claudine some sort of parasite? She actually took his Mana and used it as her own? And how did she have so much more Mana than him? It was slightly mind-boggling. Well, it didn't matter, it was all good as long as she only took Mana when he had full Mana and his Regeneration couldn't fill up his own Mana-pool anymore. He stopped thinking about those things, he had to ask about what was more important. What kind of Spells or Skills do you think you can learn then?

I don't know... Probably not attack Spells, probably no defense Spells either, but maybe support Spells and information gathering Spells? Claudine sounded really uncertain, like she was only guessing or maybe even didn't know herself what her limits were. All I know is that the Spellscroll has to be top-quality for me to be able to use it.

There's a difference in Spellscroll quality? Jay thought that was something he should know about; it might greatly influence his path to becoming a Magician.

Yes, Claudine answered, once more not giving any real information when it counted.

And Skills? How do you learn those? Jay asked. Claudine had only mentioned Spells for some reason.

I don't have a body, Claudine said. How could I learn new Skills without a body?

But you have Skills now? Jay asked, thinking about the implications of that statement. Does that mean you once had a body? And if so, how do I get you one?

I don't know, Claudine said, sounding frustrated.

Fine, let's drop this topic till later, Jay thought. He had finally noticed that the black smoke had dispersed and flown up somewhere out of sight. It was time to go back to the Black Ooze's lair and see if he couldn't find something useful there.

A couple of minutes running had him back at the cavern where the Black Ooze once made its lair. In the room he saw that there wasn't any smoke, like there had been before. And the indentation in the floor was a lot deeper than Jay had earlier thought. All that was different from before was a lingering feted smell of oily smoke, and black smudges were spread out on the walls.

In the middle of the hole in the floor stood a pole of a silvery metal with tints of a coppery sheen; it looked like a melted candle, though, but its lustrous surface shone brightly even in the minuscule illumination from Jay's torch.

Jay jumped down into the indentation after being completely certain there wasn't any dangerous residue left from when the Black Ooze had stayed here. And soon stood looking by the metal pole. It looked like the shaft of a spear or pole-arm, but it was difficult to know anything about it because it had truly not faired well being inside the Black Ooze for who knew how long.

Jay reached out, grasping it, pulling on it to see if he could pry it loose, and to his surprise it easily slid out of a small hole in the floor. Observe, he looked at the metallic pole.

Broken Shaft of Some Spear (2856g) Attack: 9-11 Durability: 26 / 120 Made from a combination of several unknown metals. This pole was once part of a spear of unknown origin. Requires 140 Strength to use. Requires 300 Dexterity to use.

All he could hope for with this thing was to give it to someone that could smelt it down into raw materials to use in creating something else. The metallic pole should be made from some fairly good materials since its Stats and requirements were quite strange.

Jay looked around some more in the Black Ooze's former lair, but after almost ten minutes he found nothing, and stopped looking around since he felt that he had combed through every part of the lair very thoroughly.

So, all he had to do now was to go back to Rolan Fairwater and prove that he had killed the Black Ooze. He was finally finished with this Quest and had gotten some fairly good rewards already. Though Jay had the feeling that what he would get from Rolan was more useful than the items here, a Magician's Shirt and the possibility of showing someone in the Magician's Guild that he could be useful was the best rewards from the Quest. It was even possible that Rolan would give him another Quest.

Jay was truly looking forward to completing the Quest. Now that his power had increased quite a bit, he felt that it was time to broaden his horizons and go outside the town and explore some. Especially now that he had gotten a Level above 16 and could get a Profession too. Everything was looking better and better. Jay was truly happy. Ping!

You have killed the person Magma Maniac Your Alignment is reduced by 100 You have earned 4941 Experience Points

What?! Jay was more than astonished. How had he killed someone?

Ping!

You have killed the person Sardon Your Alignment is reduced by 100 You have earned 8463 Experience Points

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!...

Window after window popped up, overlapping each other before Jay could even read them, informing him that he had killed person after person. An overwhelming feeling of hopelessness intruded in his mind. He fell down to his knees, not knowing what had happened or how it was possible that he had killed someone, not to mention the multitude of people that he was now rapidly being informed about having killed. He started laughing. Something in his head snapped, a clarity came to his mind, as if a veil of some illusion had been pulled away from his eyes. How could this happen?

You ordered that black smoke to go rise, Claudine explained in a flat voice. It probably rose to the Magician's Guild compound up above and poisoned a lot of people. Didn't you think of that? I thought it was a great idea. Can't you see your Level rising very fast? You're already Level 31, and you're still killing people with the black smoke.

What? Jay stared blankly at the floor, not knowing what do to. He was overwhelmed. Come back black smoke! Jay was desperately trying to mend his now dire situation, but he knew it wouldn't matter. And it seemed the black smoke wasn't listening to him either, since he couldn't see any black smoke coming back to him. Everything had gone awry.

His maniacal laugh sounded out in the cavernous room. He had never thought of killing people in the game to gain Experience. He hadn't even known it was possible. He looked at the latest message, seeing that his alignment once more was reduced by 100. Claudine, what does alignment do?

Alignment is the moral value of your character in a certain area, most often a country. It is your alignment to good or evil, Claudine explained. Your alignment can easily be seen by others and they will treat you according to how theirs and your alignment differ. If you have a really low negative alignment you will even be killed on sight by most lawful beings.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....” Jay screamed out in his frustration. Doesn't that mean my life has just gotten incredibly dangerous and complicated?

Only here, Claudine said, not seeming to notice Jay's distress. In some places a negative alignment makes other fear you and they will go out of their way to help you because they don't want you to kill them.

Jay could only laugh in a crazy manner. He had tried to follow some goodly self-imposed laws, to not draw attention to himself, because he didn't want to ruffle anyone's feathers or make trouble for anyone else. He had tried to do things according to the arbitrary laws he thought governed this realty, but now it was all for naught. He didn't know what he would do now. Ping!

Because you have killed over 100 people in less than 4 minutes your very being has been stained by the atrocities you have wrought. Bloodthirst has permeated your soul and mind. You have gained the Title 'Manslayer' You have learned the Skill 'Murderous Aura'

“Hahahahahahaha...” Jay couldn't stop laughing, for if he did, he thought he might start crying. A dark red light started glowing from his skin, shining through his clothes. Claudine, if I have -10000 in alignment, what will happen when I leave the sewers and go into town?

You will be killed on sight by any goodly people, Claudine explained as if it was obvious. You have probably even gotten a large bounty on your head by now. And a kill on sight order should have been issued to all guards and organizations in Garam's Gorge.

Something inside Jay's head snapped, his mind was reeling. If he was killed in this game, he would die for real. And now everyone in the city was hunting him? He couldn't think of any way of surmounting this difficulty. The only option he had was to flee. He had to flee.

Everything he had once thought about how to act in this game was turned on its head. And with his newfound clarity of thought, he now also had a nefarious idea. Since I already have such a low alignment, couldn't I just kill people wantonly to gain Experience now? What if I killed everyone in Garam's Gorge with the black smoke? Wouldn't I get a massive amount of Experience? He somehow felt that there really wasn't any other choice, he needed to become so powerful that no-one would even think of trying to kill him. And he had already reached Level 36 now from killing lots of people, he might as well continue.

That isn't a good idea, Claudine said. Or at least not that last part of slaughtering the entire town. In Garam's Gorge there are two Ageless Protectors. One is in the Magician's Guild, the other is in the Blacksmith's Guild. They are both over Level 300 and if you kill too many in their territory they might just take notice and come after you.

How do you know that? Jay asked. Have I already caught their attention? Do I need to look out for some monstrous being coming after me now?

I don't think that will be the case, Claudine said. Killing only a hundred or so people in a town of thousands wouldn't really matter to the Protectors. Those beings are not really concerned with the goings on of normal mortals. But if you wiped clean the entire town of people, they would care. They are, after all, the founders of this town. And, I know this because I know everything that has happened in Garam's Gorge since this town was created. I even have memories of the two Protectors cooperating, creating the first structures in this town.

Jay sat silent for a while. The windows informing him of having killed someone new didn't come as often anymore, and after a few minutes more no new messages came. He had reached Level 38. Just when he thought he would finally be able to get rid of the message-windows a truly horrible one flashed into his view. Ping!

You have killed the person Rolan Fairwater Your Alignment is reduced by 100 You have become a mortal enemy of the Magician's Guild You have earned 58731 Experience Points You have advanced to Level 39

Quest Failed

Jay laughed until his stomach hurt, then stood. A light of insanity coloring his eyes. He now knew he had no available options left in Garam's Gorge. He had to flee, and as quickly as possible. There were still a few minutes left during which he could use the stone to manipulate the black smoke, so he had to leave the town while he could use the smoke to protect his life. He came to a conclusion, he would flee into the wilderness.

Walking sluggishly to the ventilation shaft he had now used to enter and exit the sewers on multiple occasions, Jay pulled himself up and started crawling through it towards the exit.

It was best to leave the sewers and come up at a place where few people were likely to be. He truly had no choices left, all he could think of was to flee, to go outside the town and find a place where he could spend his time becoming more powerful. In time, he would be back, and with his new perspective, he would be back to hunt people for the abundant Experience they gave.

Author's Note: Hello all my readers. I hope you've had an enjoyable holiday, and will have a great new year's celebration. I'd like to thank you all for reading and hope you have enjoyed the story so far.

I've had fun these few months while posting this story here and I'm looking forward to continuing in 2016. So, to all of you, I wish you a happy new year and hope to see you back here reading my writing in 2016 :)

As a side-note: now that I've gotten a new writing-laptop with the ability to access the Internet again I'll be back and more active on the blog as soon as my back-injury has healed some more. I appreciate your patience about my absence. I'll also fix some minor things on the blog, such as links in the coming week. My back-injury has become much better the last few days.

I would also appreciate it if you would post a comment about what you think about the story so far if you're so inclined. Any input will be greatly appreciated, as I'd like to know what you think about the story, good or bad.