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nYou earned 1000 XP.

nYou earned 3 Class Points.

nYou obtained ‘Dagger of Obsession Masterpiece’.

nYou unlocked ‘Path to Class Quest’. Visit a Shaman or an Advanced Mage to learn more about your psychic powers.

n‘Ah! So, the mystery reward was the item I was going to forge myself. That means I got all the possible rewards from that mission.’ Kaizen thought and looked around him.

nThe Medullar Forge was so quiet now that Kaizen didn’t even know how to feel. Everything seemed different without his master around.

nShould he be sad because he would never see Therkara Ironstone again or happy as he could now explore the world of Rise Online even more willingly?

nKaizen looked at the Dagger of Obsession, smiled, and opened his inventory.

n‘I think the best thing to do now is to put that away. Tomorrow, after work, I’ll explore this village further and go back to Holinda. Maybe I can get some good items here…’

nHowever, as soon as Kaizen opened the inventory, an arrow was shot with speed from the giant door of the Medullar Forge. The arrow precisely hit Kaizen’s shoulder, causing him enormous pain with the piercing, something he had not yet experienced in Rise Online.

n“What the fu–!!!”

nHe looked in the direction where the arrow came from and saw a group of three men and one woman. They were all wearing black leather armor and long green cloaks that covered them at least up to their waists.

nThe woman was the one who shot him. She had curly brown hair, dark skin, and a longbow in her hands. Next to her were the three men, all smiling wickedly.𝓞𝒱𝐞𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t

nThe tall man with crossed arms had dense muscles and a bald head. From his posture, standing out from the others, he seemed like the one leading.

nThe other two men looked like twins because of their generic and standard avatars.

n“What are you guys doing?!” Kaizen exclaimed, confused, as he took out the arrow stuck in him.

n“Don’t talk to him! Don’t let him get away! The Boss’s Respawn and the sale of the map of that region will be ours!” Their leader ordered the others, waving his right arm forward.

n“Yes, Boss!” The twin men shouted in unison and began running toward Kaizen.

n“Looks like they won’t listen to me…” With eyes drooping like a dead fish, Kaizen muttered with dismay. ‘Damn, I just wanted to log out in peace.”

nIf these people were going to attack Kaizen for something as silly as that he was waiting for the Scarlet Demon Spider to resurface, Kaizen would not take it easy on them. He knew that these guys were only being so rude because he was obviously a low-level. Anyway, this was a good way for Klaus to test how strong he was.

n‘It seems like eons since I’ve fought.’

nAs the twins were running toward him, the first target of the was them.

n‘Liziel and Onboard are their nicknames, right? The two of them are level 13, great… Lumberjack and Warrior class, respectively. That explains why they use those little axes. Hehe… Their PR is average, but their many points of strength and agility probably make up for this. Okay, that’s not even enough to get me excited.’

nEven as Liziel and Onboard quickly approached, Kaizen did not enter a battle pose or become desperate. He kept his inventory open, put away the Dagger of Obsession as he couldn’t even use it due to level blocking, and he used all the time he had to search his long inventory list. Looking for something useful.

n‘Gee, I have to clean up this mess, maybe even throw some things away. I’m still on slowness debuff from this weight.’ Kaizen concluded. Indeed, his inventory was overstuffed.

nWhen the two Short Range Class users got close enough to brandish their axes against Kaizen, they did just that.

n*Timm*

nA clank echoed through the chamber, and before Liziel and Onboard noticed, they were pushed back hard.

nThe soles of their boots slid on the thick layer of dust on the metal floor of the Medullar Forge, but they were still standing. Immediately, Liziel and Onboard looked at the man in novice clothes with a desire to understand what had happened.

nKaizen was finishing the spin move he used to defend himself with the Spear of Theus he drew from his inventory.

n“If you insist on attacking me, I will defend myself. You can bet on that.” Kaizen said and slammed the tipless end of the spear into the ground.

nThe identically patterned avatar men bit their teeth in anger.

n“What are you guys waiting for? Finish him off soon.” Their leader shouted, trying to hide the nervousness that plagued him upon seeing Kaizen’s movements. ‘He’s not a Smurf, is he? No, he would have been manually banished by now.’

nThe bald man was right. Few experienced people can withstand the three-level barrier required to make it past the borders of the early game’s cities. Those who can are either banned early on because they already have another Rise Online account on the same NeuroGear or later banned by Hollie Rees, the Rise Online Operational Team Leader.

nHowever, this group of unknown people was out of luck, as Kaizen was not a smurf.

nLiziel and Onboard charged toward Kaizen, who was already almost exhausted after forging for a whole day, so he was so lazy that he dodged both attacks with minimal movement, barely escaping the two axes.

n“Huf… You just got lucky to dodge me!” Liziel stated to the rookie.

nOnboard felt offended by his colleague’s phrase, because he was the one who attacked first, giving Liziel enough space to strike. “No, you missed, man. He wanted to dodge me first!”

n“What are you talking about, you jealous bitch?!”

n“Jealous? Look in the mirror, asshole!”

nThe twins began to argue, leaving Kaizen with a more pronounced look of boredom.

n“Are you guys going to keep **-talking each other or are you two going to try to attack me? If you can hit me like your friend, I’ll take this fight a little more seriously.” Kaizen teased them. That way, maybe they would make an effort to get him a little excited.

nAfter exchanging glances and nodding, Onboard and Liziel looked at Kaizen with determination. They agreed that they could put an end to this arrogant man.

nThe bald man, who had only watched from the place’s entrance, started walking toward the three.

n“You two are useless. I knew I shouldn’t have brought you two just because Korgrak asked…” said Kerplunk, snapping the fingers of his hands as he walked. “Now get out of the way soon. I’ll be the one to finish off that meddling rookie.” He grinned confidently and sadistically.

nKaizen looked at the man named Kerplunk, and instead of being intimidated by his opponent’s imposing muscles as expected, he reacted in a way no one expected.

n“Puftt! You talk like you’re so much stronger than the others…” Kaizen said, holding himself back from laughing.

n“What are you talking about, damn you? Of course, I’m stronger than them, I’m almost level 17.” The look on Kerplunk’s face changed immediately, and he hunted with his eyes for his two companions, Onboard and Liziel, to see how they reacted to the accusation.

n“Yeah! The boss is very strong!” exclaimed Onboard.

n“Well, if that’s what you guys believe~. Just watch your boss fight as he asked.” Negotiated Kaizen, using the twins’ exacerbated confidence to his advantage.

n“Right!” The twins affirmed in unison.

nKerplunk’s eyes were lost for a second. His pride would not allow him to reveal that, in fact, his strength attribute was below 10. He also did not want to ask for help from the other three, because that would mean that Kaizen was right in claiming that he was weaker than the idiots Onboard and Liziel. His only alternative was to fight in 1 versus 1 against Kaizen.

n…

nEdited by: DrHitsuji

nIf you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com

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nMore character images in:

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