Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

King Slayer first took out two books. He said "I am interested in the forging design, so if you are okay with this I take the design and you take the skill."

Fire Lance (D): Fire a lance that will explode upon impact, dealing 220% of your damage as fire damage to every enemy in a 5x5x5 meters zone. Cost: 300 MP

Unfortunately, this skill could only be learned by Elementalists. And even if it wasn't, Adam would only get 300 MP in a long time as he doesn't really intend on boosting his Intelligence.

Still, Adam accepted the deal since he could sell the skill for a good price, or use it as a bargaining chip too. It was only of a slightly lesser value compared to the forging design, so he didn't really lose out in the deal. As King Slayer was about to show the equipments they received a notification.

[Attention to all players from Rosewatch village, the monster attack will take place in 10 minutes! You can teleport back to Rosewatch for free during the next 10 minutes.]

King Slayer brushed it off and said "Don't worry, we still have plenty of time. And we need to find and open the chest of this dungeon."

He then said "Equipment wise, it wasn't so bad either. There's a pair of metal boots for Warriors and gloves for assassins. They are uncommon and both level 5." He took out a pair of boots which he handed to Adam and gloves appeared on his hands.

[Elven Boots] (Uncommon, Level 5)

Requirements: Level 5, Berserker

Defense: +20

Strength: +5

Agility: +3

King Slayer said "Those two equipments aren't bad, but the best one is the last."

He took out an amulet.

[Arda's Pendant] (Uncommon, Level 5)

All attributes: +5

Fire Breath: Breath out fire that burns everything three meters ahead of you for three seconds. Each second you deal 150% of your natural damage as fire damage. 1 minute.

King Slayer threw it over to Adam and said "Here, take it. Although you got a skill, I will use my forging design whereas you won't use the skill."

Adam accepted and put the pendant on. Then, he looked at his stats, curious.

Name: Valiant Heart

Level: 6 (75/6000 XP)

Title: None

Race: Northman

Class: Berserker

Rank: Iron

HP: 1080/1080

MP: 130/130

Strength (+3 per level): 33 (100)

Agility (+1 per level): 27 (35)

Endurance (+1 per level): 20 (57)

Intelligence: 10 (15)

Wisdom: 5 (10)

Free AP: 5

Skills: -Mighty Strike (E, Level 4/10)

-Charge (E, Level 3/10)

-Wind Blade (D, Level 1/10)

-Lunar Smite (C, Level 1/10)

His status was completely crazy, Adam was pretty sure that if he showed it on the kingdom's chat he would get insulted for being a cheater. His strength had reach the threshold of 100, his health was above 1000, and it wasn't shown but both his attack and defense are abnormally high because of his equipment.

(Author's note: If some of you like to count every bonus from every item, then maybe you have noticed that there is 2 points added to both Strength and Endurance that shouldn't be there, as well as 30 points of health. That's because the version of [Vest of Everwinter] you saw was level 5, and he has leveled up since then. I'll show the evolution of the equipment at the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy the novel.)

King Slayer pointed at the only other door in the room and said "The chest should be over there, let's go."

Adam nodded and they headed for the door. It was much smaller than the big gate from before, and yet it seemed so much more heavy, it was strange. Still, they didn't have any problem opening it. What greeted them was a simple wooden chest.

King Slayer approached it and began opening it. In Epoch, chests couldn't just be opened, they needed a certain amount of time, to make sure no one could just sneak past the boss and grab the loot.

After ten seconds, the chest opened. King Slayer suddenly started laughing. Adam looked at him curiously, what did he get?

King Slayer turned around and said "With what we got, this monster raid is going to be a joke!" He showed a withered scroll to Adam.

[Storm Release Scroll]

Allows the caster to use the spell Storm Release once.

Adam looked at King Slayer and asked "Is Storm Release strong?" King Slayer laughed and said "Strong? It releases a tornado, of course its strong! I assure you this is worth more than a level 10 Rare equipment!"

Adam nodded, but he was septic inside. The Rare rank was above uncommon, how could a single use scroll be above a rare equipment in value? King Slayer shook his head with a sigh and said "Sometimes you look like a rookie who never played a game. You will see later how powerful this is. Apart from that though, there isn't anything great."

Adam asked "About the materials, will you use them for forging?" King Slayer nodded and said "I'll use some, yes. Don't worry, if I make an equipment and sell it I'll give you a share."

But Adam shook his head and said "You don't need to, they are barely worth a few Coppers anyway. Come, we should go back to the village."

But King Slayer stopped him and said "Wait, what do we do about the party?" Adam looked at him confused, so King Slayer said "Do we keep the party for the raid? Then how do we share the XP?"

Adam shrugged and said "Let's keep it the way it is for the raid." Then, the two teleported out of the chamber, into the village.

The two appeared on the main plaza, and from where they were they could see wooden walls had been built around the village. There were more and more players arriving every second too, teleporting in the town.

King Slayer went to put everything they got in the Auction House, as well as everything Adam had gotten until now and he didn't use, except for the [Basic Health Potion] he got from Harold, and Adam headed for the village chief's home. There were guards there though.

But the door was then opened by a tall man wearing expensive clothes. When he saw Adam, he said "Valiant Heart, here you are, I've been searching for you! Come in, come in."

The guards made way for Adam as he entered the house, curious about what the chief wanted with him. Apart from the chief, there was surprisingly also Arno, who had completely recovered from his injuries earlier.

The chief pointed at a chair next to Arno and as Adam sat the chief said "As you both know, a monster tide is on our way. It is very dangerous, and they have already destroyed the White Eagle Village." As he said that, Arno started frowning.

The chief continued "We need to organize our defense. Arno, you are the strongest in the village, I want you to take the command of the guard. Valiant Heart, you are the strongest adventurer in this village, I want you to lead the adventurers to battle. If some are reluctant, tell them there will be rewards to those who perform the best."

[Do you accept taking the position of commander of the defense of the village?]

Adam replied "I accept." Arno did the same. The village chief nodded and waved them off. The two got out of house, and once out Arno said "Good luck out there, try not to die." Adam smiled and said "I see you are now Level 8, don't die either."

The two separated and Adam saw King Slayer coming his way. The latter asked "How did you become our commander?" Adam smiled and said "I have a few tricks in my sleeve."

King Slayer shook his head and said "Whatever, if you don't want to say it then don't. Now you should go to the West side of the village, that's where the beasts will attack. Everyone is there already. Oh and if you are our commander, you should take this. I trust you should make good use of it." he took out the scroll for the [Storm Release] and gave it to Adam.

Adam put the scroll in his inventory and the two made their way to the west side of the village. As he arrived, Adam was outstanded by the number of players gathered out of the village, waiting for the monsters.

Adam walked past the wooden barrier and made his way through the crowd. As they saw his name they all made way, and they started becoming silent. By the time Adam arrived in front of the crowd of players, they had all become silent.

It was then that he realized he needed to make a speech. That wasn't part of the plan, but it was too late to step back now. Honestly, Adam didn't really believe in their chances of passing through this tide.

Although they had the help of the Level 5 guards, so did White Eagle Village. And yet, they were wiped to the ground. The only difference between White Eagle and Rosewood was the presence of Adam and King Slayer. But there were only two of them, could they really change anything by themselves on a fight of this scale?

That answer was no. Although King Slayer boasted the scroll was powerful, Adam knew better than putting his hope on an unknown item. That's why, the players needed to give everything they had. And in a war, the moral of the soldiers is very important. If he just stays silent and appear defeated, the mindset will spread and the battle will be lost before the fight even begin. That's why, he needed to rally the troops, raise the morals and transform these players into war machines ready to use everything they had against the monsters.

For those who want to see the stats of Everwinter:

[Vest of Everwinter] (Rare, Class Armor, Level 5-20)

Requirements: Berserker

Defense: +50 (53 for level 6- 70 for level 10- 150 for level 20)

HP: +500 (530 for level 6- 700 for level 10- 1500 for level 20)

Strength: +30 (32 for level 6- 45 for level 10- 90 for level 20)

Endurance: +30 (32 for level 6- 45 for level 10- 90 for level 20)

Everwinter: Forms a blizzard that freezes everything in a five meters radius (the number of meters depends on the level of the equipment). Frozen enemies are 70% slower, and all their attributes are 30% weaker. Cooldown: 2 hours