Starting from Zero Volume 3 Chapter 27

Book 3, Chapter 27

    "Sorry friend, I don't want to sit jail, because I'd probably never get out with how many people I've killed. So..."

    I tossed a lightning ball at the wizard which blasted him pretty far away. Since I'm dressed like a warrior, the poor guy was never prepared to take a spell to the face instead. Without his shield his HP bar was reduced by more than half. I finished him off with a quick follow-up stab before he can react. He looked like a high level wizard, but he's fragile nonetheless.

    I quickly tried to contact Rose, only to be told that I cannot private chat with a player who's in jail.

    Damn it. I was hoping to spend a good day with Rose.

    I called Wayne. "Wayne! Got time?"

    "Boss? What is it?"

    "A little help!"

    "Speak it. "

    "I ran into a bounty hunter!"

    "You weren't caught right? Your level is low but it shouldn't be that easy to catch you. Your teleport should be enough to deal with anyone, no?"

    "I wasn't caught. But your dear sister is! Someone ambushed us."

    "I see. Tell me. What do I need to do? Just in case, don't ask me to break a jail. I may be a super powerful hidden mage class but I can't take on all the guards! Maybe I can survive for just a couple of seconds."

    "That's not what I meant. Assaulting the place is my own job anyway, I need you to locate Rose for me. I don't know which room or block she's in, it'll be embarrassing if I get lost. And I can't scout myself since I can't go into cities!"

    "Easy then. Tell me which city."

    "Duh, I won't be asking you if I know it. "

    "You mean you want me to search through cities one by one? There are lot of them, it will take months! And I'm broke, you give me the teleport fees!"

    "Right. As long as you give me the result!"

    "Alright. Just wait. Oh and, tell me where it happened! She should be in a city not far from you."

    I went back to the Lost City after telling Wayne everything. He just reminded me that I still have two hidden classes that I need to figure out. I didn't have enough levels before, it should be good now. Plus I need the extra power to save Rose! 

    The question is, where do I go?

     I searched in my bracelet for quite some time before I took out the two scrolls. Ever since I got this super inventory I never bothered to organize it because it will never get full. Now I'm facing the consequences.

    First, I spread the Demonized Fighter scroll.  Crap. Only the first one or two lines are introductions, the rest are all instruction. Looks like this is one of the NPC-less quests, they usually got such kind of complex directions.
    Ok, I just need to follow the steps. "First, find some place wide and safe." 

    Wide and safe? I looked at the streets. It's pretty safe in here but hardly wide. Yes, the grassland outside. It's big and there aren't many monsters. I rushed until I'm far enough from the city. This place looks big enough.

    "Step 2: Summon two dark-affinity companions." 

    Dark-affinity huh. My companions are all somewhat blackened when I got them. They are all Dark. 

    There is a note: "A Demonized Fighter can have many possible final forms, which is dependent on the companions you choose." 

    What does that mean? Will I turn into a dark monster myself? Whatever. I'll do it. 

    I considered for a moment and decided to summon Loong'er and Phiona. Nothing bad would happen with this combination. (*)

    "Step 3: Drop you own blood on the scroll and speak the prayer following behind." 

    Here goes nothing. I cut my finger and did as told. The scroll started to burn, and some strange words appeared inside my mind. 

    "I embrace the darkness root. 

     I abandon the way of good. 

     I call upon the power of dark with my soul, 

     I leave the beckoning of light unheard. 

     I vow to become the speaker of the underworld. 

    Grant me the power of destruction, the power to murder!" 

    A black ring began to spin around me faster and faster. It expanded, with more and more cracks showed up on its surface, before it finally exploded to countless shreds. The broken pieces all went to Loong'er and Phiona instead of flying away. Then two black orbs reappeared from their bodies and flew inside me.

    "Congratulations, player Ziri has successfully transferred into Demonized D&P Rider. Please designate your mount. You cannot choose the two companions used in the ritual, select one other than these two." (**)

    "Night Shade!"

    "You have selected Night Shade as your mount. You have acquired skills: [Rider Charge], [Pole Pick], [Heavy Smash], [Weapon Parry], [Pierce], [Intimidate]. Because of your current class, your Servants will be limited to Rider-type only."

    Rider? I checked the help texts. It means I can only capture humanoid, rider-class NPCs as my servants from now on.

    Shite! Rider NPCs are usually high-level knights and are highly organized. If you ran into any you will be dealing with a large group of them, in which case the best choice would be running away. Even if someone is higher leveled, a group charge performed by hundreds of those knights can still kill him easily.

    Wait a second... My sworn brother! Domergor got a bunch of underlings right? He's the leader of the dark legion for god's sake. It won't be hard to ask for several helpers from him. 

    Ahhaha! I'm a genius!

    I summoned Night Shade and told him to travel towards brother's territory, while I checked how to use the other scroll.

    After some reading I only figured out one thing: The process for switching into a Soul Manipulator requires the player to go to a certain NPC in a place called the Dragon State. And it's considered a city too, which means I'll put it aside for now.

    Wayne called me when I just entered the valley range. "Hey boss, I got it! I visited the prison in Bright City and saw Rose in there. The gate is always open but red players can't get out once they're in. I talked with Rose and she told you to not come. Everything is fine in there except you can't go outside. And your Evilness drops faster."

    "Alright. Tell me the coordinate of the city gate. Oh and tell Rose I won't leave her alone." 

    I cut the chat and told Night Shade to ran faster. 

    The guards even remembered me. They are not as courteous as last time when I brought Clark's message, but at least they didn't chop at me on the spot.

    "Excuse me, can I see my brother Domergor?"

    "Wait here!" He ran inside. Then returned soon, with an obviously better attitude. "Follow me please." 

    I followed the guard for a long way again to where Domergor stays.

    "Hello brother."

    "What brought you here? That old snake told me he broke your Dragon Lord set into pieces. Aren't you going to repair it?"

    "I have something to discuss with you."

    "What is it? Anything I can help." 

    I love his frankness!

    I told him how Rose was captured. "I'm going to save her now, but you know the city guards are all above level 800. Players out there are usually below 500 for now, and I haven't even reached 300. I don't have any chance against the guards."

    "That sounds terrible alright. But how can I help you with that? We're regulated by the laws. We are not allowed to help you attack a city." 

    "That's not what I meant.  I just became a Demonized D&P Rider and it restricted me to recruit Riders as servants only, can you appoint several men for me?"

    "Is that so?..." He signaled his soldiers to leave the room. 

    Domergor made sure no one can hear us before he whispered: "I happen to have several...subordinate under my command. They are a little troublesome though. It'll be nice of you if you can take them away, actually."

    "Trouble? Is their level too low to help me?"

(*) See .

(**) The original class name would be something like "Demoninzed Dragon & Phoenix Rider", which is awkward however I put it. But again, they won't appear often in the future.

Chapter end