Level 1 Fallen

"Wisteria, show Diane around." Erebus said as the crowd began to disperse. "Make sure she knows the rules of the League, and how to operate as a member. Drake, you come with me."

After he said that, he turned to walk back through the same all that we entered from. I looked over at Diane briefly, before turning to chase after him. Thankfully, he wasn't trying to hide his presence or anything like that as he led me through the corridors. There were paintings of similar black-robed figures after we turned one corridor, walking towards a large door at the end of the hall.

The door opened to what appeared to be Erebus's office, a large, circular room with a circular desk directly in the center. The walls were lined with bookshelves, filled with various tomes. Erebus made his way to the desk, vaulting over it to sit in the center. "Take a seat." He told me, gesturing towards the seat closest to the door.

I nodded my head, sitting down and waiting for him to speak. There had to be a good reason behind why he brought me here like this, away from everyone else. Or, rather, away from Diane. It seemed far too intentional for him to split the two of us up to talk at this time.

"You've chosen quite the thorny road, Drake." The Guildmaster said with a long sigh. "A ten star trait that negates all mana costs, and another trait that prevents you from using magic normally. That's why you had to enchant your fists, right? If you had a different negative, you could have simply conjured your wolf army from the onset of the fight."

"That's right, sir." I nodded again. There was no point in denying it, after everything that he had seen.

"If you had chosen to live like a normal NPC, you might have been able to open your own business. Though, with that dragon flying about, looking for you, I suppose trouble would have found you, one way or the other." He said with a shake of his head. "There are a few things that you need to know, with your situation. Some mechanics that most NPCs aren't aware of. Only those high-ranking in various organizations will have realized this information."

"You are familiar with the concept of bosses, correct?" He asked, to which I nodded my head. "Are you aware of their origins?"

I gave another nod. "There are Chosen among the monsters, Players getting the option to become them. Bosses should be the equivalent of their Fallen."

"Yes and no." He leaned back in his seat, eyes narrowing. "Though it's good that you at least know that much. It will make the rest of the explanation easier. What most people refer to as bosses are, as you said, simply Fallen monsters. However, these are not the true 'bosses'. There are higher levels of bosses, referred to by most players as Raid Bosses or World Bosses. These bosses have power far beyond their level, often thanks to a powerful trait, and promise incredible loot when slain."

"I am one of these World Bosses, as the leader of the League of Assassins." The man revealed, causing me to widen my eyes. "That's right. World Bosses are not limited to monsters. True bosses are simply Fallen that don't stop growing in power after they were abandoned. My trait, the Chosen of Shadows, allows me to instantly learn any shadow skill I see, and I can use it at a reduced cost. This has allowed me to vastly increase my combat power over the years, even though my level has remained stagnant."

"A true boss's strength is measured with two factors. The first is their true level. In your case, this would be one. The second is the 'threat' level, which is the star rank of your most powerful skill, referred to by players as your 'ultimate'. By my understanding, you should have numerous ten-star skills, correct?"

"That's… right, sir." I nodded my head, not quite liking where this was going.

"The minimum requirement to be considered a true boss is to have killed enemies more than fifty levels higher than yourself. At that point, the world acknowledges that you are able to fight far beyond your level, and certain things are adjusted accordingly. The amount of loot you receive from others is not affected, but the amount of loot they receive from you is."

"The saving grace in your case is that this loot adjustment is stronger the closer the enemy is to your true level. That's why bosses will drop more loot than you would expect from a regular monster. In other words, if you were somehow killed by another level one with a similarly powerful trait, there is about a one in ten chance that your positive trait will drop, rather than one in several thousand."

"As I said, this adjustment is lessened the higher the level of your opponent. A way to deter powerful players from farming low level bosses. However, even at the lowest adjustment, your trait and powerful skills will still have their drop rate increased by ten times. From now on, you can expect multiple items to drop from your inventory, rather than the normal death penalty."

I couldn't help but gulp at that, my eyes widening. I had been trying to avoid death already, but now there was a far more pressing reason why. Though, there was one thing that I had to clarify. "Does that include my negative trait, sir?"

"No." Erebus answered coldly, pouring cold water on my slim hopes. "A boss's loot is based on what is valuable to their identity, what a player could make use of. Although your negative trait has a chance to drop, its drop rate has not been adjusted like your positive trait. I know you're probably thinking of having someone farm your death to get rid of that, but don't. It's not worth it."

With a sigh, I nodded my head in agreement. If there was a similar adjustment for my negative trait, and it only took five deaths to lose it, I could endure that. "Is there anything else, sir?"

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"You're taking this surprisingly well." Erebus said in an amused tone.

The only answer I had for that was a shrug. "It was always my plan not to die, that way I can be strong enough to protect what I have. In that sense, nothing has changed. There is just even more reason not to do so now. Unless, of course, there is a way for players to identify bosses?"

"Only through their fame." Erebus informed me, and I was rather thankful of that. "My analysis skill can't see your race, but from what I know of the bounty… you should be the half-orc, correct? Your disguise is quite good, but it is not good enough to hide your information from those able to observe it. Doing so requires either a specialized skill, or a fully evolved disguise skill. Once you have that, it will simply be a battle between your disguise and the opponent's analysis."

"Now… with that talk out of the way, I can inform you of the same information that Wisteria is telling your partner. The rules of the League are simple. We go after Players, Chosen, and Fallen that have committed crimes. We do not, ever, target an NPC. Our goal is to punish those who see death as an excuse to take a sick day."

"Whenever you receive a mission, we will tell you who your target is, and how many times you are required to kill them. There may be conditions attached, such as killing someone until they drop a certain item or trait. In cases like this, we will provide you with a portable respawn point."

"Completing missions will allow you to earn points in the League, which can be traded for favors, such as powerful equipment or skills. You can also use your points to request special missions against a target, assuming you have a valid reason for wanting them targeted. Do you have any questions so far?"

I have… one, actually." I nodded my head, and he gestured for me to continue. "We're not in Farro anymore, are we, sir?"

There was a faint chuckle beneath the hood. "No, we are not. There is a Gate enchantment on the wall that you used to get here. It is our connection point to the northern half of your continent. We have two or three such points on every continent, aside from the Demon Continent. Our connection point there was destroyed years ago, and we haven't had the resources to set up a new one."

"Before you ask, no. You can't use the Gate to easily get around. Whenever you enter, it remembers the passage that you used, and will only send you out through the same passage. Anything else?"

I nodded my head again. "You mentioned that we were low-level members. Does that mean that there is a promotion system in place?"

"When I said low level, I meant exactly that." Erebus said with a chuckle. "The minimum level to take the entrance trial is seventy. We adjusted the difficulty to level one hundred because there were two of you, and frankly, we wanted to chase you away. If your only strength was your stealth, there would be no place for you here."

"Granted, we do let in low level Fallen, and even Failures at times. However, they are not combat personnel. Instead, they run businesses as our eyes and ears, looking for promising recruits and listening for anyone that should be a target of our missions. For that reason, low-level Fallen are let in only by recommendation, with your case being quite the exception."

"Once you are capable of fighting at level two hundred, you will be considered a mid-level member. At four hundred, we will consider you a high-level member. Any higher, and you'll need to prove yourself against the officers to try to take their place."

I felt my eye twitch upon hearing this. I thought that my strength had actually come a long way. But now, hearing that I was still considered low level was rather shocking. "Oh, and one more thing." Erebus said as he stood. "Since you're using a disguise, you should be under an alias, correct? I'll register you as your alias, just in case there are any spies, and adjust your entry date so that it looks like you got in by recommendation a week from now. That should make it harder for anyone to use the organization's information to find you."

"That… would be appreciated. It's Rudy." Of course, I wasn't going to mention the fact that he had openly said my name in front of so many people just now. He had made the threat to them very clear on what would happen if they told anyone. Furthermore, they likely had their own spies in various information groups, so anyone that revealed anything this confidential had to be ready to completely cut ties.

"In that case, you are free to go. I'm sure that your friend is starting to get worried at me keeping you for so long." Erebus said, giving me a dismissive wave. With another nod, I stood up from my seat, turning to leave.

Diane's conversation with Wisteria must have already ended, because I soon found her walking the halls unattended. When she saw me, she rushed over. "Everything ok?" She asked in a solemn tone. When I nodded my head, she let out a relieved sigh. "Now… what did you learn about the skill?"

When this subject was brought up, I was genuinely excited. I couldn't help but clench my fists. "The backlash from the initial enchantment is still fairly high, but it is entirely focused on my arms. However, once I've done the enchantment, it remains until I disable the skill. It's just… if you activate an enchantment in rapid succession, it causes damage to the enchanted equipment."

"According to my tests, the general safe rule is to use an enchantment no more than once a second, to avoid losing durability. The same is true here, because if I cast it too fast, it will start to tear up my arms from the inside."

Diane's eyes narrowed more and more as she listened to me talk. "You knew that, and you cast hundreds of shadow wolves?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, scratching the back of my head. "I got a little carried away, I will admit. I was mostly fueled by adrenaline at that point, and I kept activating my healing skill to repair the damage as it occurred."

Diane glared at me for several more seconds, before finally shaking her head. "It sounds like you can only have one skill enchanted onto your fists for now. Are you keeping Animate Shadow, or do you plan to swap it out for another one? It's best to decide now, rather than when we are already in a fight."

I had to take a moment to think about that. "Currently, my strongest offensive magic skills are Fireball and Arcane Arrow. Now that I have the option, I'd like to pick up some new magic, because Arcane Arrow is a bit awkward to consider using with my fists, and Fireball has too much area effect. I don't want to accidentally hit you with it when you're in stealth."

"Appreciated." Diane nodded her agreement. "Anything you want specifically? I can check where to find it when I log out."

"I think… something with either ice or wood. Preferably a single target spell. Oh, but it has to be a basic spell. I still want the chance to train it up to a higher form."

Diane simply sighed, nodding her head and making a mental note of it. "I'll look into it."