Monster Soul Online Chapter 31

Note: This chapter is not yet to be edited by my editor.
Chapter 31: Farewell Beginning Island - First Part
 

Sila used Invitation Card to Bamboo Hut to add his teacher's name into his NPC list and to tell his teacher that he was about to leave Beginning Island.
 
The old man smiled happily and allowed Sila to do so, thinking that it could help Sila to come to this place less often. He also told Sila that if it isn't something urgent, Sila should contact him by calling instead of coming here.
 
Afterward, Sila came back to town. Everything seemed normal. Sila walked slowly toward the harbor at north. In the morning like this, there were not many players around the port. Actually, players usually don't hang out around the port if it isn't a departure day. Well, today was a departure day so there were few.
 
Sila went to buy ticket amounting 2,000 silver coins before walking around, trying to shop through the stalls set up by the players.
 
One female merchant noticed Sila and beckoned him. "Bro, Bro, do you want to buy something?"
 
Sila went over and looked at her products. Her shop displayed miscellaneous items ranging from potion to armor. There were not many products. They might all have dropped from monsters.
 
Sila didn't know what to buy so he asked for female merchant's advice.
 
"You're playing qi type, right? Are you interested in this steel sword? It's quite good." She suggested.
 
"I'm planning to play using bare hand though."
 
"Aww, using bare hand is hard, you know? Only Lone Wolf, the Qi Emperor, is decent playing this way. The rest are all using sword. Are you really not into sword?" She was still trying to sell her goods.
 
Sila would like to tell her that Right Arm of the Sealed One had prevented him from using weapon. Sure, he could s.n.a.t.c.h weapon from enemy and use it temporary, but he wouldn't get supportive skill like "Sword Mastery" so he chose not to use it.
 
"Is your arm hurt? Or is it poisoned? Do you want antidote?" She was looking at Sila's right arm that was wrapped by bandages.
 
"It isn't poisoned. By the way, do you sell bandages?" Sila noticed that his bandages on his right arm started to look old and dirty.
 
The female merchant nodded and took a new roll of bandages out. Sila picked it up and handed 200 silver coins to her.
 
"Oh, do you have an accessory that can be used to keep a pet?" Sila said when Lookhin landed on his shoulder.
 
The female merchant opened her System Window and took one small golden ring out.
 
"I have only this one, Bro. I don't know whether it has that ability or not though. It was dropped from an elf in Illusion Forest but still hasn't been unsealed yet so no one knows its ability. I bought it at 3,000 silver coins so I will sell you at 3,500 silver coins since I don't know whether it's what you want."
 
Sila thought that its price didn't expensive so he paid for it. Then, he went to a corner and used his "Unseal" skill. The ring turned into golden ring trimmed with white jewel in triangle shape.
 
Sila opened his system window to inspect its ability.
 
(B) Three World Ring
Increases magical defense by 300 points.
Can be used to keep three pets inside.
Pet that was kept inside will have 20% more recovery rate.
Provided user the artificial skill: Light of Forest [This skill will be lost if this item is no longer equipped.]
 
Artificial Skill: Light of Forest
Generates light. The light's intensity depends on magic point used.
 
Sila was glad that it was a ring he was looking for. It even provided him a skill that consumes magic point which previously was a useless stat to him.
 
There were four types of ring that can be dropped form elves in Illusion Forest. First is E-grade Light Ring which had a very high chance of dropping. Second is C-grade Ring of Illusion Forest that can be used to keep one pet inside; its drop rate was decent. Third is the one that Sila had gotten, B-grade Three World Ring that can be used to keep one pet inside and provide player an artificial skill; its drop rate was quite low. The last and rarest one is Ring of Elven; its ability far surpa.s.ses three previous rings.
 
All of these rings have the same appearance when they are yet to be unsealed. Due to the fact that the cost of unsealing process is 100 silver coins and they are mostly turned into low-value Light Ring, merchants often sell them in unsealed state and let the buyers test their luck. Thus, Sila was considered lucky. But it was a chance that can happen to anybody anyway.
 
Sila wore his newly acquired ring on the middle finger of his left hand, next to Couple Ring of Commitment. It shrunk and fit to his finger. Sila looked at Lookhin that was flying happily in the sky and didn't feel like keeping it into the ring yet. There was one hour left before the s.h.i.+p to depart so he let it enjoy the wide s.p.a.ce for now.
 
Sila planned to logout in the s.h.i.+p. This is a norm for everybody. Since the s.h.i.+p takes three days to arrive at Main Continent, most people use that time to logout and they will login again when the s.h.i.+p has arrived. Doing so, player will appear in the harbor at Main Continent.
 
Then, there was a clamor coming from the path to Beginner Town. Sila, who was playing around with Lookhin, took a look that way. He saw a group of players walking toward the harbor. He looked at them for a while before became disinterested.
 
'Maybe they're someone famous, I guess?' thought Sila.
 
However, while Sila was feeding bird food to Lookhin, that group of players stopped in front of him.
 
"Are you Mister Sila?" said one guy from that group.
 
Sila looked up at the person who had asked this seemingly popular question. Maybe he should put on a nameplate next time to prevent others to ask him this question.
 
In front of him was a silver-haired handsome man. Even without being able to adjust 30% of his look, this guy would still be quite handsome in real life. (Sila also thought that even with being able to adjust looks to 30%; there are still many players with savage face. This world is truly unfair.) This man was wearing silver set of armors. There was a saber at his left wrist. In conclude, his style was silver knight of the western kingdom.
 
Sila nodded to answer this guy's question while secretly using "G.o.d's Cathedral" to count the number of the opposing party.
 
'17… no it's 18 people. Those guys in the back don't seem strong. But this man is special.'
 
"My name is Shueria, one of the vice-leaders of Royal Armament guild. I have heard that my subordinates have troubled you last night." The silver-haired man said, causing a ruckus from the sides.
 
"I don't mind. You subordinates didn't cause me any trouble," replied Sila.
 
Those guys who had come at Sila last night become furious. Sila's sentence clearly meant that they are not worth mentioning.
 
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…" One of those guys tightly grabbed his weapon. But Shueria gestured his hand to stop him.
 
"If they're not causing you any trouble, that's good. By the way, can I ask Mister Sila something?" said Shueria.
 
"That's fine. However, before that, can I ask you one question first?" proposed Sila.
 
Shueria smiled, making Sila become wary. He wasn't good at dealing with this kind of person - the kind of person who is able to keep composure at any given situation. He was more proficient at dealing with hot-headed people.
 
"You're welcomed to ask any question, Mister Sila."
 
"Have I done something to your guild? Why are you guys targeting me?" Sila asked directly.
 
"If it's about last night behavior, it's my subordinates' fault. They are targeting you arbitrarily since your bounty is tempting them. Do not worry, I will punish them later." Shueria answered. "The real reason why we're putting you a bounty is due to Miss Varee."
 
"Varee?" Sila had guessed wrong. He had thought that he might accidentally kill someone related to this guild since he had killed many players during an event for couple. "How does Varee related to this matter?"
 
"About that, my leader has been interested in recruiting Miss Varee to enter our guild for a long time. And the fact that you come to this game makes thing more difficult to us." Shueria didn't directly tell Sila that his leader was head over heels for Varee but did tell Sila that he was in a way.
 
"I still can't see why this is related to me though," wondered Sila. Whatever guild Varee decides to enter clearly doesn't relate to him.
 
"Normally, Miss Varee is individual player so we can wait for her to make her decision to enter our guild. But now, your existent might affect her decision. My leader doesn't want things to become troublesome so he personally sent me to handle this."
 
"May I ask how you are going to 'handle' this?" asked Sila. His hand was still moving naturally to feed Lookhin.
 
"It's nothing much. I just want to invite you into our guild. With you being in our guild, the chance of Miss Varee entering our guild will increase. But if you refuse, I might need to make you quit playing this game."
 
"That didn't sound like an invitation to me."
 
"That depends on your decision."
 
At the end of the line, Shueria's "Mental Oppression" was started to focus on Sila.
 
Now, many players who listened to Sila and Shueria conversation realized what was about to happen. Merchants started to pack their items since they didn't want them to be ruined by the battle. However, the scene of Shueria fighting an opponent is rare. So, they were keeping their distance but still took a look at Sila's way. They were also contacting their friends about this story. Soon, this situation became a hot topic in game's forum.
 
Sila was circulating "Immediate Qi" constantly to defense against "Mental Oppression." That was why he hadn't been affected by it. However, once he tried to lower his qi, the pressure would make him felt very uncomfortable. Thus, it was like he was forced to keep circulating "Immediate Qi" all the time.
 
Meanwhile, Shueria was surprised but he didn't let it show in his face. Based on the information, Sila had just started playing this game for fortnight. There was no way his "Mental Oppression" will not work but now Sila was clearly able to endure it. Sila was even a qi-type player. Doesn't his progress should be slow?
 
"What method you're going to use to prevent me from playing this game?" asked Sila.
 
"I will kill you here and wait for you at the revive spot. Then, I will kill you again and again until you quit playing." Shueria said with a smile, although he didn't feel great about doing so inwardly.
 
"Are you able to do that? Or will you take my bird as a hostage to force me again?"
 
Shueria looked at the tiny sparrow. His System Window indicated that it was just a level 1 Brown Sparrow.
 
"I won't do that, of course. If someone in my guild takes that shameful action, dirtying the guild's name, I will personally punish him severely."
 
At the end of his sentence, one man who was behind him started to trembling. It seemed that 'severely punish' was indeed severely.
 
"That's good. However, your plan has two flaws, you know?" said Sila.
 
"Flaws?" Shueria wondered why Sila was being able to keep composure. A new player couldn't possibly stand up against him. Why does this man still seem confident?
 
"The first is; I'm an acquaintance of Varee in real life. If I just tell her about this action of yours, she will no doubt never enter your guild."
 
Sila didn't intend to do what he had just said though. But he aimed to buy some time so he had to keep talking. He knew his situation didn't contain much value in Varee's perspective.
 
Shueria had already predicted this problem. It could be easy to guess that Sila is acquainted with Varee in real life since Sila seemed to enter this game by Varee's invitation. However, there was no way a guy like him didn't prepare a solution.
 
Anyway, he now began to feel that Sila was trying to buy time. But he didn't know why. In fact, Sila would be in more disadvantageous position if their conversation was prolonged; since Shueria would have more time to gather guildmates.
 
"Mister Sila, there's some problem that a man has to handle by himself. There'll be no such man who takes this kind of problem to tell to a girl just because he can't handle it alone, won't you agree?"
 
The meaning behind Shueria's sentence was that if Sila had to escape this situation by depending on a woman, he shouldn't call himself a man anymore.
 
Sila nodded, "I thought so too. This is a problem between us. Others shouldn't interfere."
 
"Then, what about the other flaw you mentioned?" asked Shueria since he could guess the first one; but he couldn't antic.i.p.ate another weakness in his action.
 
"The other is; your plan revolves around you being able to kill me here. However, what if I can kill you here instead?" said Sila in cold voice.
 
Shueria's eyebrow was twitched by anger. He was a calm person but the thought of him who is a predator being insulted by a prey causing him to feel agitated. Well, he was agitated from the start by Cross's decision that order him to take care of this new player. However, he had to obey Cross's order.
 
'Just a littlbe bit more,' thought Sila.
 
"Do you really believe you can win against me, Silver Knight Shueria, who have fight alongside Sword Emperor in the last war event?" Shueria said slowly with a tone that everyone could easily realize that he was repressing his anger.
 
Sila stood up and said; "Seal Lookhin," then the brown bird turned into a light and went into his ring. He stared at Shueria for the first time.
 
'Time to push,' thought Sila.
 
"I just realize that Royal Armament Guild uses word to fight. You guys all say you have this or that oh-so-great nickname but your guys fighting ability don't even half of what you bragged about." He looked at Shueria arrogantly.
 
"You…"
 
"You all can come at me at once. I want to end this quickly. The s.h.i.+p is about to come." Sila further provoked Shueria.
 
"Don't you guys dare interfere. I'll kill him by myself." Shueria ordered his subordinates. Afterward, he turned his head to confront Sila. His eyes and his face were distorted by rage. "And you, just draw out your weapon so that you won't have any excuse when you die."
 
Shueria's aura completely changed unlike a gentle knight as he had used to be. He had lost his previous composure that Sila had been wary of.
 
"Fufu. Don't be conceit; I don't need a weapon for a guy like you."
 
This sentence of Sila was a signal for the battle to begin. Shueria drew out his saber from its sheath and rushed at Sila. Meanwhile, Sila was circulating qi throughout his body. His body was stood firmly.
 
The kind of opponent that he is most excel at dealing with was coming now.
 
T/N: Shueria is p.r.o.nounced as 'Chuu-ae-ria.'