Titan Rising Online: World Breaker

Cole submitted the Jukiki apples and the horse thieves in the next town, netting himself 11,500 worth of exp, and 700 silvers. In all honesty he had forgotten the other bounty, and even more so forgot that he had one more stop to make at the town of Red Salvation. But then again it wasn't a stop per say, but an arrival to his destination.

Red Salvation was the first town in the frontier, or you could say it was the last town of the civilized lands before you stepped fully into the Wild West. And this was pretty much why they had a bandit problem. Cole was looking forward to the bounty though, after dealing with all of the creepy shit this floor had to offer, he'd very much prefer to deal with something a little bit more normal.

Either way through it all, Cole felt as if he was forgetting something, but for the life of him he couldn't quite place his fingers on it. either way he kept to a mostly western direction, and then he came upon a highway, finding dozens of people, most of them payers all in one mode of transportation or the other, heading for the frontier with quite a few of them also heading for Red salvation.

If this wasn't an event but a full game, then perhaps this would have been considered an event. But Cole saw the bounty, it was silver grade and would definitely need quite a few people participating to see it through to the end. And as someone with a little experience dealing with silver ranked bounties, he knew shit could go wrong very fast if care was not taken, and then he heard the most unexpected tidbit of information from a pair of aspirants that were hitching a ride in a farmer's wagon.

"The bounty has updated, apparently there are hundreds of bandits in that town. So that bounty is no longer just a silver rank, it has been increased to gold rank and the rewards increased appropriately too. And it's not just the amount of bandits in the town that's the problem, it's the fact that some big shot and very dangerous bandit group had set up shop in the town."

However there was something that was bugging Cole, and the aspirants speaking were not talking about it. He urged Morgan forwards, watching as the farmer as his very normal looking horse shifted in trepidation and a little bit of fear at Cole's approach. The aspirant's turned their attention to him.

"Hey how are you guys doing?" he spoke up, trying to be polite for once as being his normal brooding self would not win him any favors in his bid to fish for information.

"Hi!" "Hello!" "Sup."

"Sorry but I couldn't help but overhearing you as you spoke, if you don't mind me asking please… do you know why there are so many bandits in Red Salvation, and what could have possibly appeared that would have made them all gather there, prepared to fight in order to keep control of the town?" Unfortunately it was not the Aspirants that he was talking to that answered him, rather a voice spoke up from behind him.

"Why don't you let me handle this one boys…? Cole here should appreciate a familiar face… isn't that right World Breaker, 11th ranked Aspirant." Cole raised an eyebrow as he turned with a bored look on his face, not at all appreciating the fact that his identity was just laid bare, and now everyone on the road had their eyes turned to him, because beyond just being ranked 11th, he was the first player to leave the first floor and arrive on the second, plus his shows in real life were already taking the galaxy by storm.

"That was not cool Farida…. Now all eyes are on me." Cole said as he turned to the woman who he had met back at Titus Boris's farm. Of course their ill-fated meeting had seen her impaled at the end of his sword, but she was strong, almost if not just6 as strong as he was right now, which means she should be ranked really highly.

"Well that's payback and a little insurance. From what we have seen about you, you tend to be something of wild card, and while you dint relate with people much I don't think you would want everyone to hate you or gang up on you should you do something stupid. But that said, it is really nice to see you again…. Our last meeting was quite…. Educating."

Cole snickered amused as he turned his head to the side to talk to her. "If that is what you want to call it, then so be it." he didn't miss her eyelids twitching in annoyance, but Farida did not waste too much time dwelling on it, Her hijab flowing in the wind as she adjusted her seat on the massive ostrich like bird she was riding.

"A new dungeon has just been born within the depths of Red Salvation's mines. And a small time bandit group had found out about it and held the entire town hostage as they tried to clear if for its first clear bonus. Unfortunately, the big time bandit gang that they answered to, got wind of it, and came down upon them in full force, all 377 members, led ostentatiously by a man known as the Blood Lotus." Cole raised an eyebrow.

"His name is Blood Lotus or that's the name of his gang/group?" Cole asked just to clarify. But Farida shook her head as if to clear some imaginary cobwebs.

"I'm not sure Cole, the information we have is updating rapidly, I had found out earlier that he only had a ground of fifty, but as soon as the dungeon was discovered he had subsumed and taken over all the other gangs, building the small army he now has. Is he a friend of yours?" Farida asked as Cole turned his head away, and just before he rode on ahead he said to her.

"No….. He's my target."

With that he moved on, and he would have definitely given Farida a lot to think about, and not just her, he had noticed at least half a dozen people whispering to themselves about what he had just said. He didn't care though, unlike the rest of them who had no idea what was going on and what was at stake, he knew that he wasn't just playing a game, the benefits he gets from the system from completing this quest would keep his bloody ass safe and prepared when everything finally goes to shit.

And as it stands anybody looking to stand in his way should consider their lives, or at least one of its completely forfeit. But beyond that Cole felt as if he needed to slow down for a bit, he needed to get dinner, watch a movie…. Have sex…. Especially sex it has been so long. And then his thoughts shifted to Sarah.

His breath seemed to hitch in his chest as her face showed up, and then there was Tehilah's, his hands shook. Love was weird, it never leaves you alone, and then there was guilt, it too never left you alone, especially when you're the reason someone is now paralyzed from the waist down.

A lot of people would probably never blame him for not wanting to be with Tehilah, yes she was beautiful, extremely so. But at that point t she had been obsessive and her reactions to the things he did was forced, he could tell she wasn't really moved and the normal spectrum of emotions were beyond her. He realized now that even though he didn't love and would have been with someone else, he never tried to help, or teach her a way to manage it.

Like everyone else in her life he had seen her as a freak, judged her and fell for the next best thing. A blond bombshell with a nice ass. And then there was Sarah…. Perhaps she loved at some point… or maybe she never did and she was in it only for the money. But his family's disapproval or not, Cole should have done better, he had the skills to have gainful employment in society but he had chosen a dream as a pro gamer, and left her to suffer two years with him.

He fucked up, and while that doesn't excuse all that she did, he know he had not exactly been the most reliable partner to any of the women he has been with. He sighed and watches as the road seemed to diverge with the main highway continuing on to massive hills in the distance that looked to be the beginnings of a canyon.

It diverged to the left where a wooden sign pointed down into dip in the landscape, going through a series of hill with the top of bell tower seen in the distance. On the sign were the words [Red Salvation: 4 Kilometers]. Cole took a deep breath, guess it was on to the next fight.