Supreme Lord of Soulnight

Hybrid Sidhe

Blade followed with a stab on the spot between the monster’s head and shoulders. His sword sank on the Pincher’s flesh with no resistance, smooth as butter. It’s the only spot on the Pincher’s body that is not covered with a hard shell. Compared to the rest of it’s body, it’s softer and easily damaged. It is the only vulnerable spot, only to those who knows how to access it.

Fortunately in Liwan’s case, his experience from the future taught him the trick. Thus RagingInferno’s attack provided a timely diversion. Since it’s attention was focused on the other, the Pincher left it’s vulnerable spot unprotected. That’s the chance Liwan was waiting for.

The Pincher shrieked, swaying it’s head to and fro in an attempt to dislodge the foreign object that was Blade’s sword. RagingInferno on it’s back, trying to maintain his balance. But Blade’s sword was in too deep, half of it’s length inside the Pincher’s flesh. The monster swiped it’s main arm towards Blade so Liwan made him release his hold on the sword. Blade ducked and rolled away from the monster’s reach.

But Blade did not roll away from the monster’s attack just for the sake of being safe. He needs to bid his time to deliver the finishing blow. And that opportunity came quickly as a blink of an eye. When the monster noticed that it’s no longer dealing with two enemies, it focused it’s attention to the annoyance on it’s back—RagingInferno. It gave off another pained screeched, directing it’s rage to Jayson’s character.

The monster now distracted, Blade rolled back to the front of the monster. He then grabbed the hilt of the sword stuck between the monster’s soft spot, and gave the sword a twist. The Pincher’s eyes located at the base of it’s antennae just bulged. It’s mouth opened but no sounds came out. Liwan smiled and snapped his fingers. The monster collapsed on the grass, it’s lifeless form unmoving.

“Incoming!” Denver yelled.

By instinct, Liwan’s fingers moved over his keyboard, his hand on the mouse pairing his movements simultaneously. His camera view shifted and he made Blade dash to his right. Jayson’s RagingInferno made the same move, only to the opposite direction. A bedraggled Pincher plopped on the same spot where the two players were at, just beside the monster that Blade killed recently.

There was no time to rest. As soon as Shadowstrikes joined them, the rest of the Pinchers immediately surrounded the three. The one which came flying from a distance, thanks to Shadowstrikes, is now recovering and on it’s feet albeit it’s stance wobbly.

All the while Blade and RagingInferno were teaming against that one Pincher, Shadowstrikes lured the others away from the two. His speed enabled him to run circles around the Pinchers while Blade and RagingInferno took care of the leader of the mob.

“Let’s finish this, guys. Our target might go offline anytime soon,” Liwan reminded his friends.

Out of ten Pinchers, they had already got rid of one. They’re left with nine to deal with as soon as possible before their real target slips away. And it is imperative that they succeed their mission today. Integrating that person in their team before they reach level one hundred is important. He’s establishing his core team and cohesion is very important for quests, hunts and server events.

The three moved simultaneously, each picking targets of their own. While battling, Liwan was conscious of the health bars of the monsters. And as soon as one of the monster’s health bars drops to twenty percent, Blade would slip away from his own target and deliver the killing blow to the one with the low health percentage. They kept at it for a while until the last dying screech of the Pincher mob faded into their ears.

RagingInferno and Shadowstrikes collected their loots while Blade watched on the side, not moving an inch. A soft breeze lifted his hair as he waited for his peers to finish. At this stage, they’re still considered poor. So collecting drops from regular monsters they kill could help them in their finances within the land of Soulnight. Coins in particular is very much a necessity to purchase potions that would aid them in battle and grinding experience.

Liwan lifted his hand from the mouse and keyboard, clenching his fingers, expecting the numbness to come. To his surprise, none came. He glanced at his hands, realization immediately dawning on him. Right. He’s sixteen, not twenty four. The biggest reason why he was left behind by his peers was his declining CPS rate over the years. At twenty four, Liwan’s CPS rate is an average of seven. It is an acceptable rate, for a normal person. But to a gamer, it’s rather sad. Experience gamers could touch up to fifteen.

“Li? What next?” He heard Jayson on the communication link.

Liwan shook his head.

“North.”

“What are we looking for exactly?” Denver asked.

“A player named Valeria, a Sidhe.”

“Is that the one you’re talking about last week?” Jayson quipped.

“Yes. She’s currently grinding experience with a Pugilist named B-Champ.”

“How do you know all these things?” Jayson asked.

He couldn’t tell his friends. Not yet at least. He might tell them in the future, when his plans are in place. For now, he’d keep it to himself.

“Hanging around the forums, how else?”

Liwan’s pretext offered no holes for exploration and possible follow-up questions. He has already established the habit of visiting the forums early on so his friends does not suspect anything.

“’Kay.”

“Get moving,” Liwan commanded.

The three characters burst into a run heading north. In Soulnight, direction is not a problem as long as you know how to read coordinates. Every character is equipped with a visual compass each time one pulls up the virtual map. And each time a character moves, the coordinates on the bottom of the map changes too. Players identify locations in the format: map-visual location/monsters present-coordinates. For example, if you ask a player for his or her location, you would get an answer like Enorcal-cemetery-105:289. Or Rionas-Pinchers-1905:3004.

The trio has been running for almost ten minutes now when Blade suddenly stopped. RagingInferno and Shadowstrikes halted too. Denver’s voice came through the communication channel.

“Why are we stopping?”

“I’m looking for them,” Liwan answered, rotating Blade’s view.

“There’s no one around, man. We’re the only people here,” Jayson said.

“And a bunch of Swarms up ahead,” Denver noted.

True enough, Liwan saw through Blade’s view the mob of Swarms ganging on a human-shape bulk in their midst. That figure remained immobile even when assaulted by the Swarms. The monster’s stingers shot green, thick liquid at the unknown player while some chose to stick their selves like flies to fly paper. From time to time, a white glow covers the player. Liwan secretly smiled. Someone is healing the player from a distance. But what impressed him was the fact that he couldn’t see the healer doing the healing.

Nice. Camouflaging while healing, if that’s ain’t swell.

Healer Sidhes has the intermediate ability to hide themselves, but not all players uses this. Because this skill has two requirements: agility and mana, the usual build for a Hybrid Sidhe. For healer Sidhes, the higher mana points means stronger skills. Not everyone would sacrifice mana points to allot to agility points just to meet the pre-requisites of Camouflage. Most people leans on stronger healing skills so they tend to disregard Camouflage. But Valeria from the future is known as the Queen Sidhe among the players. Her agility is perfectly balanced with the rest of her stat points to enable her to use Camouflage, and perform needed healing vital in each battle she choses to participate. Her Camouflage made her almost invincible from attacks.

For Liwan, Valeria’s level of healing is enough to turn the tide in whatever battle they might encounter in the future. Sure, Valeria’s healing is not comparable to a pure maximum level Healer Sidhe who can heal a player in a flash. But with the right team synergy and battle plan, Valeria’s healing skills can never be considered sub-par. If alone, her being build as a Hybrid Sidhe is a mistake. But once she’s in a good team, it becomes her strength. Liwan is not going to let the opportunity of recruiting Valeria pass. He pulled the chat box up and typed Valeria’s name. He then sent her a message, asking her if they can talk.

Three seconds later, Valeria replied.

Buzz off.