Starting from Zero

------------------

"What the hell is this?" I questioned the old man.

"I\'m sorry! We must have confused something up in the process. I think we accidentally summoned the soul of an eastern ryu rather than a western dragon. But that will make do. They\'re not that different."

"Make do??" I pressed my nose against the old man\'s face. "Now how do you explain your technical mistake, sir?"

He stuttered: "Calm down friend, it\'s actually better than planned. A ryu\'s soul is usually more violent than a dragon\'s. Your Artifact even acquired an additional skill out of it!"

"Seriously?"

True. I noticed a new attribute in my status bar.

[Shinryuu\'s Deterrence]: Advanced version of [Intimidate]. Greatly reduces the Reaction Speed and Accuracy of enemies within your surrounding area, with a chance to interrupt any spell casting actions.

"Ummm. Neat. Fine, I\'ll let it slip since nothing bad happened."

The old man grinned again. "To apologize, we can give you an extra quest where you can obtain a new companion. Do note that this quest is very hard, we will not be responsible if you fail it."

"That will be nice! What kind of quest?" Harder quest means better reward!

"I...do not know the details." He took out a small, greenish object. I checked it over and over, the only thing I made out is that the stuff looks like an almond.

"It\'s used to trigger a quest. Bring it to the Garden of Life if you decide to do it."

"Understood."

I put it away and left the trading center. Man this place is scary. One visit cost me a dozen levels!

When we walked for a while I called Clark. "Come here, I just found something!"

"Umm?"

I showed him my gauntlet. "Check this out!"

"A...crossbow? What\'s wrong with that?"

"There was no crossbow on the gauntlet before. I just realized this thing is the same as my Revenger I lost before!"

"That\'s simple," He explained, "You already know Artifacts got souls in them. A soul will not want to vanish, your crossbow was shattered in that fight so its soul chose to fuse into your gauntlet to keep itself alive. This was not shown until your gauntlet is repaired. Now they\'re revived together. Speaking of which, why the hell are you always finding free Artifacts??"

"Ha! The merit of having a good \'Luck\'!"

With my full Dark Dragon Lord set, I\'m starting to like my own handsome look. Crap, am I turning into a narcissist?

Forget it. I still have something to ask Clark.

"Can you make combat armors for horses?"

"You mean...bardings for war steeds?"

Oh, so that\'s the professional name.

"Yup that\'s what I mean."

I summoned my ten Phantom Knights. Each one of them is wearing full black armors, heavy ones. Their entire bodies are covered, with only the eyes exposed. They are wearing really long capes too. The inner part of the cape is blood red, the outside is black, with golden fringes. Even their mounts are cladded in irons. I can only see the eyes and tails of these really large steeds.

They were in this formation when I was trying to capture them at Domergor\'s place. And wow I was impressed!

So imposing, such awesomeness!

If they charge at someone as a group, their target may just surrender on the spot!

On the other hand, I\'m crap compared to them. I was wearing common gear borrowed from Clark. And I looked like some kind of errand boy! My only noticeable point is that Night Shade is even bigger than their mounts. I didn\'t notice this before, Night Shade is actually way stronger than ordinary horses. Buuut...He got no protections. That\'s when I made up my mind to find some armors for him.

I pointed at the knights I just summoned. "I want a set of armor like these ones." Then I summoned Night Shade to show him the size.

Clark approached Night Shade and lifted one of his hooves. "I have some of these armors stocked up but...Your companion here is taller than anyone I\'ve ever seen. Actually you just re-defined what I know about war steeds. That ten buddies over there are already the largest size of all horses. This Nightmare is even bigger, by a large amount. Let\'s see. You go mind your own business for now. I\'ll try to craft one for you."

"What\'s the price? I need to pay you something. You didn\'t even ask for any for repairing my armor."

"I\'m not in a hurry with money. Just remember to pay it back when you can."

I left the Lost City while planning on my next step. I\'ll log out for now. Will try to grind harder during the next two days and try to reach over level 265. When Clark finishes Night Shade\'s armor, I\'ll go into the Dragon State city and get my Soul Manipulator title. It will be practice too. Gotta know how to break into a city first before I can save Rose!

I had breakfast with Rose the next morning. She told me that her projects were just approved by the college. She will need to spend the time allowance carefully to finish her experiments so she may not be playing the game for the next week. That\'s fine with me. I may as well take the chance and get a couple of more levels, to ensure my rescuing plan doesn\'t go south easily.

I went back into the game after driving Rose to the lab. Grinding sounds a really dull process for most people. Not for me though. I love the feeling of it. Besides, this is for saving my princess!

I reached 301 after six days. All companions stayed close expect Loong\'er (300). I\'m impressed with myself! My speed for clearing mobs obviously became way faster since I got my outfit back. With my high Defense I can look for monsters 100 levels above me, which means my progress is better than anyone can expect.

Rose will be back in two days. Gotta take actions now!

I went back to the Lost City and received Night Shade\'s barding from Clark. He\'s quite the fast worker. I took Night Shade to the open ground outside the city to try it on.

It mostly fits, but there is one problem: Clark forgot to leave a hole on the forehead! He only made a larger sized horse armor based on the ones he already have, but he forgot Nightmare\'s horn, now I can\'t get it on.

It took another afternoon for him to fix it. This time I\'m much satisfied. This full plate armor on Night Shade made him even more intimidating than the Phantom Knights.

Before I leave, Clark stopped me. "Hold it. I think I have something else you may find useful."

He ran away and came back with an object in his arms. "Try it!" He threw it on the ground.

Saddles?

"Something I used before. Pretty good quality. I no longer ride horses. Might as well give them to someone."

I fixed it onto Night Shade\'s back and hopped on. This feels really nice! I also noticed that Night Shade\'s speed didn\'t go down. From the walkthroughs, mounts will become slower depending on how much weight they\'re carrying. While the riding skills of their riders will improve the situation. Though I never learned that skill. Besides I never heard of any riding skill that totally nullifies this speed penalty.

Is that because of the saddle? I opened Night Shade\'s equipment window. He is now wearing a collar, a set of barding, a saddle, four horseshoes.

Collar is the reward I got earlier in the game. Every companion has one.

The barding is just made by Clark. It increases his Defense by 200 and gives him a skill [Charge]. The skill is similar to a Fighter\'s [Violent Dash]. It basically is used to bump the target off its original position and sometimes stun it.

The four horseshoes are not the common ones you pick up on the streets. They got spikes on them, for causing damage when kicking or stomping on enemies. They add 200 Attack, 1 Speed for Night Shade while doubling the effect for [Charge]. Where did Clark get these things?

I looked at the saddle last. Yep, it got a bonus: Ignores weight load! It means Night Shade will keep his full speed whether someone is riding on him or not. He\'s already fast enough, no one would ever catch me at this rate!

I then went to King Chemist\'s pharmacy to restock my medicine supplies. His meds are really effective in emergency situations, having more will surely improve my chances.

Kay, all done now. I activated my ring, teleported to the plains just outside Dragon State city and logged off. Got to have a nice sleep tonight. Tomorrow will be the day to get into the city, finish my Soul Manipulator job change, and see if I\'m good enough to get past the city guards while I\'m at it!