VRMMORPG: Dragomancer Reborn

Arthur walked away from the bandits casually, but he soon sped up and burst into a sprint.

Only when Arthur was far enough from the Bandits did he pause to calm down.

"That was way too close…" Arthur said while panting.

He had bet on the Veil of thousand skins working in his favor and it had done that. In a way, this was the first test Arthur had done with the NPCs, and knew that it could fool pretty much everyone.

After all, it was an item given by the Trickster God himself. It was bound to be strong enough to fool mere NPCs.

But that was all that had allowed Arthur to survive this situation. It was also his knowledge about the game itself.

\'Thankfully they knew about the Pentadagger Mercenaries too… That made it easier.\' Arthur was hoping that these bandits were high enough in the bandit group to know about them.

If it was just some basic bandits, there was a chance they wouldn\'t know about them.

"Still… this will probably trigger Dozla to take an interest. He might even inquire about \'Gabriel\'." Arthur muttered a frown appearing on his face. "No, there\'s a chance he might not have the time for that. With the cultists working with him, I don\'t think he can move around much." He hoped.

Using the name of the Pentadagger Mercenaries was risky, but it was the only thing that held enough weight to prevent the bandits from attacking Arthur. For even with Brambles being there, Arthur would have inevitably died.

It wasn\'t a matter of individual strength at that point either, since the Bandits had numbers. Not to mention, they had Mages!

They were the one thing that could cause the most issues for Arthur. After all, he didn\'t have armor that could prevent damage from Spells.

\'It would have been fine if they had physical damage spells from the Earth or Ice element. But they had fire spells… those are the most problematic to deal with if I don\'t have the right defensive items.\' Arthur thought to himself.

Arthur had used Dragon\'s Insight on all of the bandits and thus knew exactly what their capabilities were. 

And other than the Mages, the Bandit Captain was also a concerning foe. Arthur looked at the information window that was still hovering in the corner of his vision.

~DING~

——

Name: Bandit Captain 

Level: 21

Race: Human (NPC)

Class: Warrior 

***

HP: 100%

MP: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Hunger: 100%

***

<Physical Stats>

Strength: 21

Toughness: 18 

Agility: 15

Dexterity: 13 

Vitality:  15

<Non-Physical Stats>

Wisdom:  4

Intelligence:  4

Will: 6 

——

<Skills>

1. Triple Slash 

Info: The user slashes at the foe three times in rapid succession.

Cooldown: None

Cost: 5% Mana with every use.

2. Warrior\'s Resolve (Passive)

Info: The user is resistant to intimidation and has a chance to burst out in power when pushed to the limit.

Cooldown: None

3. Heavy Cleave

Info: The user reinforces their arms with mana before cleaving at a foe with full power. (This can be used with both Swords and Axes.)

Cooldown: 4 minutes

Cost: 25% Mana with every use.

——

Not only were the Bandit captain\'s stats rather high, he also had skills that could pose a lot of problems to Arthur. So far, he hadn\'t obtained any other skills than Skewer, thus it limited Arthur\'s direct offensive capabilities.

Triple Slash was something that would be hard to deal against if the user continually used it without caring for Mana. Then there was the Heavy Cleave which could deal a lot of damage at once and even kill a foe in one hit if they were lucky.

Being surrounded by the other bandits, Arthur could imagine the Bandit Captain using it to end him quickly and unable to defend himself. Even Brambles would be occupied by the others, leaving Arthur defenseless.

The Passive skill of the Bandit Captain though, was something Arthur hadn\'t expected him to have. 

\'Warrior\'s Resolve is not easy to obtain. If he has it, it means he has fought enough to have fulfilled the condition for it. It\'s a passive that cannot be taught, only learned by one\'s own effort.\' Arthur thought.

It was a skill that could very easily flip a fight and pose trouble.

And this was just from a single person!

There were still nineteen other foes Arthur would have to clash against.

\'I\'ll need to be even more careful about saving the free stats.\' Arthur noted.

If his trick against the Bandits was not going to work, Arthur was fully ready to pour all his free stats into agility and simply run away. While it would be a bit of a waste, it would still be a lot better than wasting his life.

"Thankfully it worked." Arthur let out a breath of relief. \'As long as they don\'t talk to the Pentadagger Mercenaries it\'ll be perfect.\'

The Pentadagger Mercenaries were one of the major factions in the region and were considered relatively neutral. They dealt with both good and hostile factions, like bandits.

Since they worked for money, anyone could hire them and many times, the kingdom and its nobles did the same. Since they had usefulness, they were tolerated and allowed to exist.

Even players could join them if they wished. In fact, it was one of the ways that players who had offended the \'good\' factions could last. Since the NPCs would be hostile to such players within settlements, they could only leave and go to a neutral territory.

The Pentadagger Mercenaries provided such shelter and had a presence in several towns and cities. Of course, for the players to discover them, it would still take some time.

\'Once they arrive at the first city, they\'ll have the opportunity to interact with them.\' Arthur recalled.

The Pentadagger Mercenaries were actually one of the important factions that were part of Arthur\'s plans. 

"The quests they give out are going to be necessary… Especially considering my class." Arthur said while continuing his journey back to the town.

Since Arthur needed to kill Dragons as his class quest, he would have to eventually meet the Pentadagger Mercenaries. This was due to the fact that they provided a quest that would eventually lead to clues about a Dragon\'s location.

Of course, Arthur knew about the location from his past life, but the issue was that the Dragon had been found nearly a year after the game\'s launch. 

\'There\'s no telling if the Dragon\'s location changed or not.\' Arthur would still try to go to the known location first, but if that didn\'t work, he would have to rely on the quest to obtain it.

It was important for Arthur as it was possibly the weakest Dragon one could find. There were other Dragons that Arthur knew about as well as their locations, but going after them was the same as suicide.

They were far too strong and even getting to the locations was a dangerous challenge. 

Rather than hitting for the tall peaks right from the start, it made much more sense to climb smaller hills first.

~Sigh~

"So many things to do…" Arthur muttered while continuing to think about his plans.

He also thought about the reason for the bandits to be wandering here, despite the chance of getting caught by the patrols.

\'If they were looking for the exiles. It meant that they weren\'t exactly normal exiles. They probably ran away on their own considering the lack of items. Which means… they had something to fear and knew something that could cause issues to the Bandit group.\' Arthur analyzed what could have happened.

His first guess was that the cultists had something to do with it. He also didn\'t forget the letter he had seen from Dozla that threatened the other bandits to be handed to the cultists for testing if they failed in their work.

\'The bandits definitely have some fear of the cultists. It would make sense that the weaker ones or the ones that offend the chief would get in trouble with them.\' Arthur guessed. "I\'ll have to talk to Fredric about this. He might have some idea." He reckoned.

While thinking about all this time passed quickly and Arthur eventually arrived at Roran town. It was just a short time before sunset and all the places were still open for one to access.

"Fuck!" but just as Arthur looked at the town gate, he realized something. \'I need to get rid of the disguise.\' 

Quickly changing his direction, Arthur hid behind some trees in the distance.

"Now then… how do I deactivate this?" Arthur wondered. "Umm… Deactivate the Veil of Thousand Skins?" he commanded.

~Tremble~

It seemed to do the trick, and Arthur felt his entire body quiver. Then a strange crawling feeling covered him. He felt as if dried glue was being peeled off his skin. It was not painful, but certainly uncomfortable, as well as gross on some level.

Thankfully, it was a short lasting feeling as the Veil of Thousand Skins soon deactivated, shrinking back into its square sheet form.