I hurt all over. My body felt drained and if Will hadn't have caught me, I might have fallen to the ground. "Seph, come help Cai!" I heard the sound of feet running and then her soft hands were on me. "Cai, are you all right? What was that skill, it nearly killed you."
I smiled at her worried tone. "I'm okay Seph, it was a new one I picked up. Nothing to worry about." A warm glow enveloped me and I could feel my self inflicted injuries heal under the light. Her healing magic was no joke. "Don't do that to me Cai. I can't do this without you." I knew the other two would take her words to mean something else, because they didn't know that we only have this one life left to us. But at the moment, I can't seem to care. "I promise, I won't leave you alone. You know I would never break a promise."
Persephone hummed in response as she concentrated on healing me. As soon as the warm light faded, I stood back up and rolled my shoulders. The boss was next. "Everyone needs to heal up and use a mana potion. The boss is coming up and I want everyone ready for this." Rachel and Will listened to me immediately. Persephone was already drinking a mana potion before I could tell her to. I took a second to check my stats.
[Name: Mordecai Ferdilance Morningstar
Hp: 114
Mp: 66
Str: 31
Def:24
Dex: 34
Stamina: 63
Int: 63
Luck: 25
Sp: 50
Guild Rank: Copper
Class: Archer
Level: 23/???
Exp: 400/2300
SP: 0
Skills: 10 (press tab to open)
Sub-Class: Alchemist (1/10)
Sub-Class: Blacksmith (4/10)]
I evenly distributed my points into my stats.
Now that I was above level 20, I should be receiving a class upgrade quest soon. But I wasn't worried about that right now. I could hear the roar of the boss as it just realized that all it's minions were dead. A boss with no support would be easy to handle. "Okay, guys. It's time to put our practice into action. Start with phlanax formation. Once it's hp is low enough be ready for it to try anything. Think worst case and go from there. Will, Tank him. Keep him focused on you. Seph, keep him alive. Rachel and I will deal damage to him."
Will and Rachel moved immediately into formation. Will took the point and I took the right flank as Rachel took the left. Persephone moved to stand behind and back, creating a diamond pattern. In this position she can heal us from a distance and keep adding a defense buff to Will. The ground began to shake again as the boss came out to meet us. Will drew his sword again and readied his massive shield. Rachel lifted her staff in the ready position as I laid an arrow on my bow. Persephone cast a party wide defense buff on us and focused her attention on Will. I could feel the calm settle as we prepared ourselves for a battle.
The goblin lord appeared and brandished a war axe at us. He roared in challenge. Will roared back using his agro skill to pull the boss his way. Rachel cast a cold spell that froze the ground and air around the boss make it difficult to breathe. I fired as many arrows as I could at it. The boss swung his axe at Will. The shield came up and took the blow deflecting it away and Will swung his sword in a diagonal upper cut that sliced clean into the chest. Rachel took the opening to fire a fire ball into the wound, carterizing it as my last arrow penetrated the left eye socket. The beast screamed in pain swinging it's axe in a frenzy to hit anything around it. Will saw that as an opportunity to grab the axe handle as it went up. He let go of it and brought his sword down in a practiced slash, taking the goblin's head clean off.
[Quest complete!
Rewards will be distributed...]
[Reward, gun recipe added to inventory!]
I beamed with joy. My next weapon was decided.
Persephone tugged on my shoulder. "I got a weapon recipe. How about you?"
"Same. This had to be what Michael was after. Weapon recipes could be used to make new gear without having to find the weapon first. Basic gear is earned through the secondary classes, but advanced gear are quest rewards." I looked at Rachel and Will. "What did y'all get?"
"A recipe for a new spell tome that compliments my staff." Rachel spoke happily.
"A recipe to make a battle axe." Will was grinning like an idiot. I was right. The rewards were a class based weapon. "Let's return to the guild and turn in the quests."
Everyone was in good spirits as we made it back to town. Guild Master Wolfe was waiting for us in the guild hall when we arrived to turn in the quests. "Ah, the Morningstar party. How goes the quest?"
Rachel and Will beamed with joy. Persephone and I smiled at each other. "It's done, we just need to turn in for the rewards and grab some new gear and quests before we head back out. Though we might take a break for the rest of the day." My friends readily agreed with me.
"Good work team, there might be a promotion in your futures. Keep up the good work." She patted my shoulder and nodded to the others. We gasped at her in shock. "Did she say promotion?"
Will whispered to me. I nodded slowly then left to turn in our quests.
The lovely receptionist beamed as I approached her. "Good afternoon Mr. Morningstar, how many I assist you today?"
"I'm turning in my party's quests." I pulled out my guide book and opened it to the quest page. She picked it up to read the information and then picked up the silver wolf stamp and tapped it to each quest. The words 'Completed' appeared under a silver wolf insignia. "Have your party come forward to receive their completion rewards and an update to their books." I waved the gang forward and the receptionist stamped their books. "Alright, as a bonus reward for clearing the goblin village you will each be promoted to Iron Rank, skipping Bronze Rank due to the high difficulty level of the quest. Miss Wolf found out that the clear quest was posted with the wrong rank. It was supposed to be Iron due to the high level of the boss. Because of this, it will be considered your rank up assignment and the rank up given as the reward. Congratulations! The Morningstar party now has the chance to enroll as a permanent party. If you wish to apply, here is the form. Just have each member of the party transfer their basic information to the form and submit it to Miss Wolfe for assessment."
We gasped at her. We reached rank Iron without even trying to hard. All it took was my basic understanding of video games to get us through the fight and now we get to apply to be permanent and skip over the rank up quest. This was too sweet a reward.
I turned to my friends. "What do you think, guys. Should we?" Rachel and Will glanced at each other before nodding to me. Persephone moved closer. "I'm okay with whatever you want us to do Cai." I picked up the form. "Okay, but we need a different name. How about Black Rose. It suits my patron God." Persephone nodded in agreement then the other two did as well and we transferred our information onto the form. I turned to the receptionist. "Can you help me hand this in to the Guild Master? We need to go upgrade our gear." She nodded and went thanked her before we walked out the door.
Now I had the best possible party to survive this fucked up world. I wonder what kind of mischief I can create now?