You have killed Malik, another player. You have been awarded 10 EXP. A sturdy leather belt and 75 copper have dropped upon death.

Due to killing another player outside of a player-versus-player event, you have been flagged red. Players will easily be able to identify you as a player killer by the red halo above your head for 24 in-game hours or until you die. This is something that only players will be able to identify, not NPCs. You will also drop twice as much loot and lose twice as much experience upon death. Any player who kills you will not suffer this penalty.

For killing your first player, you have been awarded the suffix “the Murderer.” This suffix has no effect. It is simply added to one’s name.

“What the . . . What in the Sam Hill, Negative?!” Nick shouted. He turned and charged straight at Lucas with his shield raised and his holy mace in hand. Valerie also stopped her assault on Dawn and turned her attention to Lucas, her daggers held in an awkward reverse grip as if she were wielding icepicks instead of knives.

Lucas channeled another spell and aimed a Firebolt at the ground in front of the pair as they started toward him. He knew that Valerie would likely dodge the spell if it were aimed at her, but the ground wouldn’t move—and that made it the perfect target for his area-of-effect spell. Lucas began readying a second spell the moment the first was cast, but Nick surprised him. The moment the second Firebolt left his staff, Nick created a Force Shield halfway between them. The flaming ball crashed into the barrier of holy magic and splashed back toward Lucas. The flames licked around him, singing the hair on his arms and stripping away 20% of his health.

“I was too careless,” Lucas grumbled.

The magic shield dropped, and the two players ran through the spot where it had been, meaning that they were already too close for him to effectively use another Firebolt. Zap would take too long to cast before they reached him, and Earth Spike would only hit one of them, so Lucas focused his Arcane Energy into the least-used spell in the game: Frost Breath.

Frost Breath was relatively useless due to its low damage, and it was rarely used since most groups had someone to tank and someone to heal, but when it came to fighting melee enemies, it did have one thing that gave it an incredible advantage: it could snare an opponent and drastically reduce his movement speed.