Encounters
Page 7
The downed man's head cracked with a disturbing sound under the impact and Kano ignored the sight, looking up to see where the bearded man had gone. He was now sprinting toward Kano, less than a few feet away when the snowboarder saw him. Snarling, the bearded man closed the distance, leading with his shield. He didn't try to hit Kano so much as body slam him. Bracing himself, Kano tried to stay upright with no luck as the shield spike rammed into his body.
Flying back, Kano landed ten feet from where he'd kicked the bald man to death. Kano knew he should feel bad about that in some way but during the fight, with his adrenaline pumping, mercy and feelings were the least of his concerns. Despite the promise of being able to respawn, Kano had no desire to test that theory. Kano knew it was a video game, but it felt like reality to him. As such, Kano knew he didn't want to try dying. Not to mention, when the shield hit and he'd landed on the ground, he could feel aches and pains like nothing he had ever imagined before.
Knowing this was an elaborate next generation game did nothing to soothe his sore ribs or aching back. His teeth felt like they were about to come loose, and Kano couldn't tell if he had chipped one or not when he landed. Shaking his head to focus, Kano tried to roll over and up before the bearded man got too close.
His timing was lucky enough when the bearded man drew back his foot to kick Kano in the ribs, he moved, narrowly missing the chance to feel what it was like to be a human football. Kano stood, nothing broken, and then rushed at the bearded kicker. He grabbed and pulled at the shield, but straps kept it attached to the brute’s arm. Kano spun the man as he pulled at his arm and then ran past him to get some space. He didn’t have the armor to deal with the spike in the shield, and Kano suspected if the man bashed him a second time, that would be his last. The large man stumbled from Kano’s attempt to spin him like a top but seemed to shrug it off. He started to chase the fleeing Kano, the crowd booing as he did.
Shit, these people just want to see someone die, he thought, risking a brief glance toward the nobility section. The blonde woman who had egged him on before looked concerned and somehow that motivated him even more, giving his legs extra speed. He created enough distance between himself and the bearded man, who was still chasing him, to start planning out his next move. Risking a glance over his shoulder, Kano smiled at what he saw.
Though the man was still running, his cheeks were red, and sweat was dripping down his face. Kano's opponent looked out of breath. The extra endurance is giving me an advantage, Kano thought, smiling. Kano was breathing hard as well but felt like he could keep going for an hour, or more, and the bearded man was growing tired, fast.
Maybe that shield is heavy, Kano mused, coming to a stop and turning in a fighting stance, waiting for the bearded man's charge. The bearded man attempted the same move with the shield, only this time Kano dodged to the side and started sprinting again, acting like he was a Matador and the bearded man the bull.
"Olé!" Kano shouted, inspired. He raised his arms to the crowd, trying to get them back on his side.
The crowd roared again along with some scattered laughter, and the bearded man bellowed in rage. He started to chase once again, but Kano managed to put even more distance between them. When Kano had enough space, he changed direction and made for the bald man he took out first.
Kano knelt down, trying to pull the shield off of the bald man’s arm. He twisted the shield in his hands and saw the buckles, which he loosened quickly. When Kano got the final one free, he pulled the shield and ran, without looking back, toward the far wall.
The bearded man shouted as Kano poured on the speed, now armed and still just out of reach. Sprinting once more, Kano ran toward the wall and then, turning slightly, ran a few yards along the perimeter. When he looked back toward the bearded man, who was less than fifteen feet away, Kano smirked in exaltation that he was still ahead.
Throwing the shield when he saw the man hesitate, Kano aimed for his knees. The shield flew like a Frisbee, successfully knocking the bearded man's legs out from under him. That surprised Kano, who hoped if he got lucky, the shield would slow the other man down.
The crowd roared and Kano could not help himself, throwing a fist in the air. "Yeah!" he shouted, charging the prone man. Kano leapt into the air, intending to come down on top of the bearded man like a professional wrestler.
When he reached the zenith of his leap, however, the other man copied his move, throwing his own shield. The metal disc flew into Kano mid-air and he took the blunt object in the stomach. He crumpled slightly, landing on top of the bearded man with an ”Oof," rather than a crippling blow.
Scrambling away, wind almost knocked out, Kano moved toward the closer of the two shields. He grabbed one, just as the other man had climbed up to stand on his feet.
"I'm going to squash your grapes," the man grunted, lunging. The bearded man grabbed onto Kano’s feet. Kicking, Kano attempted to dislodge the man, or if not, at least hit him in the face with his boot.
Shield in hand, Kano tried to adjust an arm into the leather shield strap, still kicking at the bearded man who wouldn’t let go. When he knew he had a solid grip on the leather straps he twisted to the side, ready to smack the bearded vandal with the blunt shield spike.
Before he could bash the bearded man’s head in, he felt a large hand grasp between his legs, reaching his testicles. “Ahhhh!” Kano screamed, swinging the shield as hard as he could when the man started to squeeze. Aiming at the bearded man’s head, Kano successfully smashed the man’s skull. The shield spike connected with a dull thud and the man toppled over to the side. The threat to his softer parts propelled him into a rampage of blows until his opponent lay still with blood pooling around his beard.
"That sucked," Kano thought, about to vomit. He heard the crowd chanting his name once more and sat down on the hard, packed earth. Kano didn't know what was going to happen next, but at that moment, he couldn't care less. A notification interrupted him and he read it quickly.
Skill Improved: Hand to hand combat, +50 skill points gained
“Cool,” Kano sighed, happy that he’d gained something from the fight, breathing hard and feeling exhausted. With Kano's victory clear the crowd erupted into a mighty cheer.
Seven - Upgrades are Mandatory
The crowd's roar lasted for a full minute before dying down to a dull simmer. During that time, the same four men entered the arena carrying a stretcher. After they piled both of the bodies onto the device, one of the men walked over to Kano and ripped the shield out of his hands as he was still dazed, lying on the ground. The men disappeared, leaving only bloody smears where the two combatants had been.
Another few seconds later, Kano managed to get up, staggering to his feet unsteadily, his sweets sore. "Bastard," he thought, and then regretted saying it. In a fight, sometimes it was simply a choice between win or lose. That meant doing things gentlemen would never do, as Kano had quickly discovered.
When snowboarding, he had to be willing to risk injury to perfect certain moves. With the fights so far, Kano had experienced a level of pain that was brand new to him. However, it was still similar to the times he'd nearly been concussed from attempting too crazy or advanced of a spin or flip.
"Well done!" The same noble, at least Kano kept thinking of group with the expensive looking seats as nobles, declared, once the crowd noises had died down and he could be heard across the stadium. "Very well done indeed, Kano the Giantslayer!"
The crowd erupted in a cheer once more, clapping and stomping their feet. The cacophony was loud, echoing into the air with almost physical force.
"He was big, but he wasn't a giant, right?" Kano thought, limping to stand closer to the nobles' section of the arena. "Besides, those other two dudes were definitely smaller."
The noble ignored him and gestured to quiet the crowd once more. "Now, Kano, prepare yourself."
"What?" That was three, wasn't it? Why is there something else? Oh, crap. Maybe there are three rounds of challenges, not ne
cessarily three opponents.
The noble raised his hands, looking around the arena imploringly. "Do you believe?" he shouted, raising his hands. "Do you BELIEVE?" he cried even louder, raising two fists to the heavens, as he turned slowly to look over the whole audience.
"We believe," the crowd roared.
"I can't hear you!" the drunk noble said, swaying on his feet and putting one hand to his ear.
"WE BELIEVE," came the answering shout, stunning Kano with its ferocity. My God, the developers have some corny dialogue in this one. I wonder if everyone get’s the same script or if it’s different? Kano smiled and shook his head trying to remember it was just a game. Still freaking hurts, though.
Kano wasn't sure what they believed, but at that point, he believed his survival odds were going down; the longer these wackos had their say.
"Kano," the noble intoned, "Prepare yourself."
"Seriously?" He looked left and right, seeing none of the various doors open. "Prepare myself for what?"
"Three times, said the goddess," the noble said. "Three times, man answered," he continued. "The first was to test you. The second was to be sure. The third was to understand, could you do what's never been done before?"
"It is his destiny!" The answering shout came from the entire arena, stunning Kano and making him cover his ears, so loud was the response. He'd never been one for religion, but had enough experience to recognize the ritualistic nature of the call and response from the crowd and the noble. With his basic understanding, and hearing the ritualistic sounding euphemisms from the drunk noble as well as the predictable response from the arena, Kano was growing extra nervous about the next challenge.
Do they have gods in this game and if so, are they more hands off or do they interfere like the Greco-Roman or Viking pantheons?
"Another challenger?" He groaned, balls aching, nearly unable to stand. Despite the second round only lasting minutes, Kano felt the same exhaustion as if he'd boarded a black diamond route twice as long as normal.
"None of the other petitioners have cleared the second round. Truly, Kano," the noble intoned, sloshing his drink to the side again and spilling, "You are a unique specimen." The man squinted at him and Kano had the eerie sense that the noble was checking his stats, just as Kano had been doing earlier.
"Uh, thank you?" Kano said, less loudly.
"Prepare yourself," the noble said again, using volume that reached everybody in the arena once more. "Kano, you have three minutes, glory to the goddess, until the next challenge." He paused, gesturing. "You have survived a giant, you have beaten skilled men, but can you survive the savage beasts of this world?"
Kano was inwardly growing fearful. His head hurt from paying attention and his injuries were getting no better. Kano didn't want to die and respawn, nor test that this, in fact, was the same as any other game, where you could come back. The clue as to his next opponent, Kano guessed, meant that the next fight was with something nonhuman. And, if the difficulty of the second challenge was any indication, it would be the biggest struggle of the lot.
The idea he could potentially just die, quickly, and then face an easier opponent had a certain appeal. However, suicide was not something he could stomach the idea of and he dismissed the notion for good. Maybe it was the limited Catholic upbringing, but, despite his injuries, Kano would face this savage beast the man spoke of on his feet. Maybe it was more painful to struggle, to not give in and die trying than to just give up, but Kano knew what he had to do.
"I don't know," Kano said finally, looking up at the man, “if I am ready.” He was able to breathe easier now that the lingering testicular pain was fading.
"Well, if I may, Sir Kano," the noble said, licking his lips. "You have the time the goddess allows, why not use it to spend your new attribute points?"
"Good, ah, point," Kano said, smiling at the advice. The noble smiled back and Kano went to work, bringing up the display faster this time.
Surprised that the last two men had given him so many experience points, as he looked at the screen, he saw it was enough to level up once again. That meant Kano had more newly acquired attribute points to distribute, the same as the previous level up, and he quickly spent them the same way across the same abilities. Spending on strength, speed, endurance and constitution brought him over seventy on each, which he took to be a good sign. The improvements to intelligence and wisdom brought those stats to fifty-sixty as well, based on the display.
Character name:
Kano
Profession:
(Blank)
Class:
(Blank)
Level:
2
Experience Points:
1,350
Next Level:
2,500
Energy Points (Max)
30 (30)
Health Points (Max):
70 (70)
Attributes and Scores
Physical
Score
Mental
Score
Strength
72
Intelligence
50
Speed
72
Wisdom
56
Endurance
72
Memory
56
Constitution
72
Magic
50
Beauty
60
Linguistics
50
Kano noted that he had some natural advantages in the physical attributes from the first time he had seen the information. Or that perhaps the DNA map and drug thing Morrigan mentioned was at play? As a result, those particular stats were growing nicely. In either case, he greatly appreciated having those advantages over baseline. Otherwise, Kano was certain baldy or beardy would have been his first time tasting death in game and experiencing respawn. Shuddering, not wanting to think about something so gloomy, Kano focused on the rest of the details in his character sheet.
Inside the top details section he saw that his character class was blank. There was an option to learn more, in the display; the blank where his character class appeared was selectable. With the time he had, Kano decided to explore the character class options and perhaps accelerate his progress.
From role-playing games, he knew that basic choices were similar to warrior or fighter, somebody who specialized in combat. Then there was a mage, magician or wizard, somebody who practiced magic, similar to Kano's real world chemist or physicist. They played with similarly difficult to describe forces; only their outcomes had a non-mathematical rule set with obviously different physics. The combat class had bonuses for physical traits.
Kano snorted, wondering if magic could be added to the standard model in physics. That would be funny. He could tell that similar to other RPGs, mages would not get physical bonuses rather they'd gain mental ones to start and grow to near unstoppable toward the apex of their power.
Clerics or priests were another available class, those who blended some magical skills by way of their deity rather than manipulation of more natural forces. The cleric class was usually the only one with healing capabilities. Sure, some magicians or wizards could perform the same action, but at a higher cost and usually with less efficacy. A side benefit of this class tended to be improved combat skills over the average magician or wizard, as gods tended to want their faithful to be able to defend the flock.
Less savory but just as common, were the thief or rogue character classes, those who specialized in the criminal underbelly of a city. Less suited to rural environments, despite their extreme stealth skills, this class specialized in counterintelligence, stealthy operations and secrecy. Unfortunately, the reputation of those in this class was generally negative, which had a halo effect on other stats when dealing with player to player (P2P) or non-player interactions (NPI).
Hunter and ranger classes were also available, where the character had the fighter attributes and some skills with stealth in the woods,
unlike the rogue, as well as skill with animals, which was also unique. This tended to enable them to survive with basic hunting or fishing skills for long periods of time outside an urban environment. Kano chuckled to himself, thinking about the people he knew about who made their living selling firewood. If any modern day human was a Hunter or Ranger, it was somebody like them. Thousands of years after we probably cut down the first tree, as humans, we can still do that as a profession, Kano thought.
Despite the character class options being browsable, they were blocked. He read for a moment longer then nodded to himself. At level three, he could select a character class but he would need to advance to level five to be officially part of the class. What that meant, he learned, was that any class centric abilities that you gained your selection might not be available, or fully functional, until level five. Kano saw there were other, non-standard options for class and he started to read about those.
Musician or singer was the first non-standard class he read about. This class was suitable for urban environments and related to the rogue class, the main difference being where a rogue had no obvious cover identity and worked from the shadows, a musician or singer was a high-end criminal who wore two hats. In public, they gave great performances to the rich and well to do. At night, they robbed the same.