“System, log out!” Klaus shouted while running from the hooded figure that was chasing him through the Misty Woods.

[Do you wish to log out? YES/NO.]

“Yes!”

[Are you sure you want to disconnect from Rise Online? YES/NO.]

Klaus was already starting to feel his chest heavy from his low stamina. “Of course… I do!”

[Disconnecting the player Kaizen…]

[…]

[It was not possible to disconnect. The reasons are:

– The user is too close to monsters.

– The user is in the middle of an action event.

– The user is not in a safe area].

‘Ha! It was obvious that something like this would happen to me!’ Klaus smiled wryly at his massive misfortune. `Okay, I have to think of a way to get out of this mess alive.’

Looking back briefly, Klaus Park couldn’t see a face in the figure chasing him, not because the thing didn’t have a face, but because the movements of that thing were too fast to identify.

‘At this pace, it will easily catch up with me.’ The rookie concluded.

It wasn’t hard for Klaus to notice a huge difference between his and the specter’s Speed Attributes. However, Klaus has always been the type of person who thinks better under pressure than when he is calm. It turns out that under pressure, he doesn’t usually have the luxury of leaving to act later.

Klaus Park’s concentrated eyes swept across his entire scope of vision, and although the fog covered part of his surroundings, he could notice several details of the terrain in a second.

Immediately, he started running towards a tree that appeared to be a bit thicker than the others and was a few meters ahead of him. A whirlwind of ideas about what to do with this large tree drenched his mind, but it didn’t delay him from deciding what he would do.

When he got close enough to the tree, he used even more of his stamina to momentarily increase his speed, which left him with his face extremely close to the massive tree trunk. At that moment, Klaus jumped up and used the tree as a springboard to climb a little higher while propelling himself to the left. The part of the trunk he was stepping on broke, but that didn’t stop him from propelling himself upwards like a rabbit.

The black hooded figure came very near to successfully grabbing him, but the unexpected movement surprised it.

With the force of the upward thrust, Klaus Park almost managed to get high enough to jump over a tree. However, the dry branches of the tree caught on his right trouser bar. Thanks to this, his right leg was scratched by the branches, causing him to lose ten of his hundred life points.

Klaus landed on the ground and instantly felt the sting of the cut. Obviously, he didn’t stay still, running back afterward.

However, no matter how much he sped up, slid under thick roots, and jumped trees, the hooded figure always remained close to catching up with him.

It’s not working. I need to find a way to confuse this thing,’ he thought. He thought. ‘All right… Have I used the terrain to my full advantage? No. There’s still one thing I can try to do.

Klaus Park took his eyes to the top left edge, where a small bar indicated how many mana points he had left. Usually, players wouldn’t notice this bar until after a few weeks of gameplay, because hardly anyone moved their eyes that much, but Klaus discovered it the day after he created the account.

‘My MP is at fifteen. Will that be enough? No, there’s no reason to hesitate now, if it’s not enough, I’ll push it.’ Klaus said to himself.

When the opportune moment came, Klaus looked back to check how far away the specter was and calculated how far he needed to run to increase the distance between them, even momentarily. After arriving at all that, he braked.

The sliding of the ordinary black boot on the gray-earth ground raised a little dust. At the same time, Klaus turned completely around, stretched his right-hand forward, and waited patiently for the hooded figure to pass a large tree. When it did, Klaus used <Telekinesis> and exhausted all his mana points knocking the tree down on top of the specter.

The tree trunk cracked, splintered in the middle, and finally gave way.

*THRUMM*

This time, the amount of earth lifted was hundreds of times greater than when Klaus slid down. The roar produced by the falling tree reverberated throughout the woods, alerting all creatures in the area once again. Less than three minutes had passed since the explosion.

On top of all this, Klaus Park’s heavy breathing and chest were the two main signs that his stamina was completely shot. He didn’t even have the strength to move, let alone keep running.

“Huf… Huf…” Klaus gasped. “I didn’t receive a notification of the right one, which means that…”𝑜𝐯𝓛xt.𝓬𝒐𝓂

From within the smoke, which mixed dust and mist, the hooded silhouette emerged, appearing to have not even a tear in its black cloak.

“You managed to dodge it.” Klaus continued.

That figure was as tall as Klaus, who was much larger than the average American man, making it even more intimidating. Slowly, the hooded figure pulled both arms out of the black cloak without sudden movements.

Klaus noticed that the two white, muscular arms were human and that the hands of that person were quite large, as were the thick fingers.

‘A man.’ Klaus thought, staring with a conspicuous countenance at the hooded man.

At that moment, the man brought both hands to the sides of his burrow and threw it back, revealing long, vivid brown hair soiled by a black layer of soot. The man’s face had no thick features as expected except for the slightly broad chin. His nose was thin, his eyelashes long, his mouth pink, and his eyebrow thin.

Whether Klaus Park realized it or not, his mouth was forming a wry smile, and no matter how much he looked at that tall and strong person, the more he was sure that this person was not a man, but a woman.

“Traveler, you don’t have to run from me. I promise I have no desire to hurt you!” The woman stated to the player with a certain eagerness.

Her feminine voice was the confirmation that Klaus’ theory was right.

“My name is Therkara Ironstone, I am a blacksmith, and I need your help.” She continued.

As she said that, a screen appeared before Klaus, and a bell rang briefly.

*PING*

[You have found a Hidden Quest].

[Mission Name: The Lost Links.

A blacksmith woman from the legendary Ironstone family has asked for your help.

Possible rewards upon completing this Quest:

– +1000 XP.

– Class Points (3x).

– +100 silver coins.

– Mysterious Reward (1x).

– Path to the Class Mission.

Do you wish to accept? YES/NO.]

Klaus Park, who was as surprised as he was tired, allowed himself to take a deep breath after being so tense. Just a few moments ago, he thought he was about to die, but the scenario was the opposite of what he expected.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

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

More character images in:

https:///bpqq9u4gS8

Like it? Add to library!

Don’t forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it…