'Four levels from one quest, and… a title?' He thought to himself.
Just then, shouts echoed from the town's direction, and was quickly spreading. It was certain that the guards were probably searching around, and it was slowly spreading out from the incident.
Ethan couldn't wait to examine his rewards, so he hastily made his way back to the Copper Mug, staying away from the streets as much as possible and moving in shadows as best he could. Times like these would make one wish they were of the assassin class.
Just when he made it back to his room, the town bells began to ring, raising alarm. He quickly checked to make sure that his door was locked, and hoped no one saw him enter through the window. He did check to make sure, but one could never know for certain.
After calming down a bit, his conscience spoke to him, after all, he really had just killed an actual human being, not just some lines of code, and he could feel it. He'd watch life leave Corvin's eyes, felt his blood on his hands.
He looked down at those very hands now, cleaned a bit with a rag from his inventory.
"It's done," he whispered to the empty room. "Can't take it back now. Forget him deserving it, it's get stronger or die in this accursed world, and I doubt I have a respawn." He strengthened himself.
Though he had been part of the online community that always chose self serving and egoistic characters and ideals as what a person should have, he was only like that online, in reality he was different. No matter how many horror games, toxic space or war games one played, it didn't make killing another human any easier, unless the person was already messed up in the head.
Luckily, he wasn't having the reaction he thought he would, he was surprisingly calm about what had happened, almost as though he had the mind of someone who didn't care about a murder, or maybe his emotions were being suppressed? He couldn't say.
"Seriously…" He collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
After lying there for a moment, he sat back up on the edge of his bed, his breath steady as the chaos outside his window continued. At such a moment, his calm didn't waver, and even his mind and the confused thoughts had waned. It was strange indeed. Perhaps the game made provisions knowing he would face such problems? He couldn't say.
With a thought, he pulled up his status window.
…
[Status]
Character: Yamamoto Odinson
Race: Human
Title: Hired Assassin
Class: Swordsman
Level: 4
HP: 200/200
MP: 150/150
Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Endurance: 2
Intelligence: 1
Vitality: 1
Free Stat Points: 21
[Weapon Mastery]
One-Handed Sword Mastery: Apprentice Rank – 5%
Two-Handed Sword Mastery: Apprentice Rank – 5%
Free Mastery Points: 5
…
Looking at his stat window and doing some calculations, everything indeed appeared to be in order.
He'd jumped from level 0 to level 4 in a single quest. The experience reward alone had pushed him through multiple levels, and each level-up granted 4 free stat points. So that was 16 points from leveling, plus the 5 bonus points from the quest reward, twenty-one free stat points total.
That was… that was insane. Most players grinding normally would need days to accumulate that many points.
His HP and MP had increased a bit too. Each level gave a base of 25 HP and 25 MP, and every point in Endurance increased HP by 50, and every point in Intelligence increased MP by 50.
Nevertheless, the real treasures were the mastery points.
In Lost World Online, mastery points were incredibly rare. You could grind weapon mastery by using weapons repeatedly—thousands of swings to inch your percentage up slowly. But free mastery points that you could allocate directly? Those came from special quests, achievements, and rare events—Five points was a windfall.
Ethan checked out the new title next, something that hadn't been part of the quest reward in the game, at least, it was never stated.
He selected it, and a description appeared:
…
[Title: Hired Assassin]
You have accepted payment to end a life. The underworld recognizes your willingness to do what others cannot.
Effect: Increases the likelihood of receiving assassination contracts. NPCs seeking violent solutions to their problems will be more inclined to approach you.
Can be hidden.
…
Ethan read it twice, unsure of what to feel by it. The title essentially marked him as someone willing to kill for money… It would make certain types of quests easier to access—the morally gray ones, the ones that paid well but came with blood on your hands… That was if Lost World Online had such mechanisms…
Then again, this was a title befitting of an assassin, unfortunately he wasn't one.
Not wanting to dwell on it, he just let it be for the time being, and he chose to hide it.
He thought back to the quest and the kill, thinking of how the feeling eased rather quickly, almost none existent. That certainly could not have been him, so he confirmed that it was the system, probably some kind of mental protection to keep players from breaking down?
He couldn't be sure, and part of him was grateful he didn't have to feel the full weight of it… but another part—a smaller, quieter part—was terrified by how easily his guilt had been managed, as if encouraging him.
'I'm sure the system's calming me down…' He thought to himself. The thought brought him to another reality, something else he couldn't ignore, and that was the fact that he had no idea if he could respawn.
In the game, death meant a small penalty and a trip back to different respawn points. If the whole realism thing was to be taken serious and all across the board, it meant that now, death might be permanent. It was so hard to determine what was real and what was still game-like.
The thought chilled him more than anything else.
Well, if he needed any resolve to calm his mind, it was the fact that he couldn't afford to be weak.
Ethan took a deep breath, feeling his resolve harden. He'd crossed a line tonight, and there was no going back. All he could do now was move forward.
Then again, it wasn't like he was planning to become some serial murderer, there were a lot of ways to get stronger after all.
He pulled up his inventory and selected the "Mysterious Leather Bundle", and with a thought, he unwrapped it.
There was no dramatic light show like he expected, instead it just felt like unwrapping any other thing.
The item that materialized in his hands was exactly what he'd expected it to be, though, this was his first time seeing it. It was a belt that looked kind of worn and weathered, made of dark leather, with intricate patterns etched into its surface. It didn't look particularly impressive, though. There were no glowing runes or dramatic obvious magical energy, but that was just a trade for something even better.
As he held it up, the information appeared before him.
…
[Belt of Grace] (Legendary)
A belt crafted by a forgotten artisan, imbued with the subtle magic of fortune. Those who wear it find that luck favors them in unexpected ways.
Durability: 200/200
Effect: Increases Luck by a certain margin.