by A O Storm
Bandit was another one, that class combined the skills of the fighter with some of the hunter and rogue classes. They specialized in armed robbery, whether it took place in the city proper, a small village or some dusty road in between. Kano noted that each of the classes had various alignment attributes and this one was the first he had seen with a symbol that marked evil characters only on it.
Last, he saw an option to be an inventor or alchemist, another option he couldn't recall from standard RPGs he'd played. However unfamiliar it was the option sounded very interesting. With this class, it seemed like he could leverage natural resources similar to a wizard or cleric and achieve the same effects. Explosions, healing and long distance attacks, the possibilities were very interesting. Kano had enjoyed tinkering with a lot of things since he was a child and this novel class sounded like it was tailor made to his personality profile.
Done with reading through the existing options, of them all, the inventor character class sounded the most interesting to Kano. Violence, despite the necessity with the challenges he'd faced, was not Kano's cup of tea. Creating something new, exploring the boundaries of this world and enabling people to grow their society, living better than before, well, that sounded fun.
Finished reading about the character classes in his heads up display, Kano dismissed the sub menu and noticed the Skills and Skill Ranks icon in the corner of his vision, next to his avatar. "Interesting, let's take a look," he muttered to himself.
Skill
Current Rank
Next Rank
Current Points
Next Rank Points
Snowboarding
Expert
Master
1,000,000
10,000,000
Sword Fighting
Ignorant
Initiate
0
100
Hand to Hand Combat
Ignorant
Initiate
60
100
Business
Novice
Adept
1,000
10,000
Cooking
Novice
Adept
1,000
10,000
Running
Ignorant
Initiate
0
100
"Fascinating," he said aloud as he read through the skills. Several were clearly from his life before the game and the Sword Fighting skill surprised him. Playing around with a foil in high school and taking a few fencing classes apparently qualified to get him the skill, even if he had skipped class more often than not to smoke weed with a girl he was really into. A friend of his had become a bonafide kenjutsu expert after years spent studying the martial art and now Kano was kicking himself he had not picked up the same hobby. He had never been very interested in martial arts so wasn't at all skilled.
Between the increase in size and muscles, and the skill I’ve already got, I feel like I have a better chance at surviving here than some people would. Grinning, he had a brief thought of some of the motorized cart drivers he'd seen in shopping malls who were just too large to walk. If one of those people ended up here, they wouldn't last long. At all.
He dismissed the skills and skill ranks menu after telling himself he would look into how to grow those skills, and add new ones, when he could. Reviewing his attribute scores again, Kano noted the experience gain was larger for the second challenge than the first. Despite needing to fight one more time in the arena, the former snowboard teacher was curious to see if the third challenge would provide another step function increase in experience and increase in level.
A thunderous roar from the crowd interrupted his introspection. The farthest wooden door from where he stood exploded, drawing his full attention as Kano wondered what the final challenge would be. Despite the rush of power and energy from the increase in attributes and strength, Kano was genuinely scared for the first time when the creature emerged into the open.
The thing resembled a bear, only if a bear was twice as large as nature produced with Wolverine from the X-Men style claws. The creature was stacked with the kind of muscularity associated with body builders or King Kong. A huge snout over massive jaws, with sharp teeth that could bite him in half, was drooling as the creature lumbered into the arena.
"Thrice challenged, thrice accepted," the noble chanted, just as the ogre bear entered the arena in full glory. "Kano, as you should know, thrice won, all won," he said. "It's never been done before." The noble smiled, draining the last of his golden cup. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible! Good luck, Kano."
The gigantic ogre bear let out a furious roar and rose up on its hind legs. Kano gulped when he could see the creature was more than three times his own height in that pose. The urge to relieve himself was so powerful he didn't look down for fear his pants showed a wet spot.
"Let the final challenge begin!" The noble's words rang out strongly just as the creature dropped down to all fours and started to charge. A queasy feeling filled Kano's gut as the sunlight glittered on the ogre bears sword like claws as it ran toward him.
"Oh, shi-!" Kano grunted, flexing his legs.
The beast roared.
Eight - Bestial Battle
Jumping backwards and out of the beast's charge, Kano slid across the packed clay earth nearly five yards away. Kicking up a dust cloud from sliding, his boots and feet grew hot from the friction. Sweating, feeling a drip fall free from his nose, he blinked, lowering a hand to balance himself. As he stopped, Kano risked a glance to see how much distance he had put between himself and the massive monster.
Heart pounding, Kano heard the beast growl as he saw it too slide on the clay earth, attempting to change course.
"Alright," Kano muttered to himself, seeing the massive beast skid and for the first time, believing he truly had a chance to win.
Watching for a moment to formulate a plan, Kano saw the ogre bear continue to charge in a wider circle now, albeit at a slower pace than it started. The creature was determined to run him down. Inspiration struck and Kano grabbed two handfuls of the dusty, clay ground. When the beast was in range, he threw the handfuls of dirt and dust, nailing it in the face. The creature’s eyes closed and it roared in frustration, nearly tripping.
Coughing and hacking, the ogre bear choked and Kano grinned, sprinting away from the creature. "Eat my dust," Kano chuckled, seeing over his shoulder the vicious beast sneeze once, then twice, interrupting its attempt to resume the chase. Kano risked a look around the stadium, hearing the crowd cheer.
When he felt the ground shake as the beast resumed a sprint toward him, Kano took off running once more. By dodging and going wide, he reached the center of the ring.
There Kano was, almost in the same spot he had stood as the ogre bear blew apart the door to make an entrance into the arena. He knew that winning the challenges was one thing. However, gaining support from the audience seemed as important or even more so. When teaching, Kano knew that being able to communicate, empathize and understand the pupil's perspective made a world of difference. He figured developing a rapport with the audience could prove to be an asset or skill that would come in handy later. Also Kano reasoned, if there was no point in making an impression, why was the audience there, interacting with the challenges?
Smiling to himself, Kano relished in a moment of freedom as the ogre bear raced toward him. Jaws open wide; the creature’s dark eyes were red tinted from the dust and irritation. He knelt down, grabbing two more handfuls of dirt, and tempted fate by trying the same move again. Luckily, the dust flew true once more and the ogre beast got a face full, stumbling and failing to stay on foot. Kano flexed his knees to keep from falling when the crash shook the ground as hard as an earthquake.
Then, Kano raised his arms to the sky, flexing his newly improved muscles and turning slowly around the arena, to ensure every member of the crowd felt like he’d made eye contact with them personally, his dark eyes gazing i
nto their souls.
"Are you not entertained?" he roared. "If you are, gimme a hellz yeah!"
The arena fell silent, confused. Kano pumped his arms into the air again and repeated the phrase. The ogre bear was almost on foot once again and he really wanted them to participate in the chant.
Kano shook his head a little and then shouted again, "Say, 'Hellz Yeah!'" He had never seen a main character have this much trouble motivating a crowd. After a brief moment the ogre bear rose up and started charging Kano again, then the crowd finally got the idea.
"Hellz-Yeah!" The crowd roared.
Or maybe they were more interested in cheering for the ogre bear?
Their shout seemed to rattle the stadium and Kano could feel their encouragement, funneling those feelings as fuel to make his booted fly even faster. Once he had enough distance to feel safe again, he turned to face the creature, amazed at his own endurance. "Must be those attribute increases," he muttered to himself, "As well as those level ups." I feel good, even if that thing is trying to eat me, Kano chuckled to himself with a small grin.
"Can I get a hellz-yeah!" he shouted, fists raised to the crowd once more as he ran.
"HELLZ-YEAH!" The responding roar was even louder than last time, and clearly directed at the snowboarder.
Skill Acquired: Public speaking, current rank Ignorant, +10 skill points gained
While Kano momentarily fixated on and dismissed the notification within a second, his enemy was still very much a threat. The creature had stumbled less than ten yards from where Kano stood, pumping his fists. The creature let out a massive roar as if in challenge to the arena crowd whose allegiance had shifted to the human. Then the chase was on once more.
"Say what!" Kano shouted, smirking, as the ogre bear charged again and he continued to outpace the creature.
"What?" a fraction of the crowd roared back a moment later, confusion evident in their tone.
The snowboarder was shocked at the crowd's shouts but happy about the newly acquired skill. I didn’t mean they should shout what, he thought. Kano didn't spend too much time thinking about it, however, as he knew he needed every advantage he could beg, borrow or steal to defeat the massively oversized carnivore.
The ogre bear snapped massive jaws as it charged. At this point, Kano had nothing left. No ideas and even worse, no extra equipment like the round, Romanesque shield he'd used to finish off the second round of combatants.
The beast roared mid-charge and he could feel it vibrate the ground. Kano knew he could not run forever, even if the thing was a little slower now, and was certain the beast's claws would rip his enforced leather armor to shreds.
As the ogre bear ran, the differences between it and the bears Kano had seen in movies were clearer. The head, for one, was at least three times larger than a bear with massive jaws and an overbite that would make a saber-tooth tiger jealous. The frame, too, was more muscular, and shaped more in line with a feline species like a leopard or cheetah, only super-sized. Kano flicked his eyes towards the claws as the massive creature closed to less than ten feet. Those bad boys would give an X-Man mutant jealous palpitations.
Despite his anxiety over the chances of the massive claws ripping him into shreds, Kano knew there must be something he could do to hurt the creature. It's not like the system would give me an impossible task, right? Everything must have a weakness of some kind. If only he had a weapon other than his fists!
Just as the thought struck him, he saw a pair of swords on the far side of the arena. Blinking in disbelief for a moment, he started to run in that direction, dodging as the ogre bear charged, sprinting for all he was worth. Kano’s chest heaved as he reached the two swords sticking out of the ground. He picked them up and smiled, not knowing where they came from and not caring. Kano turned to see how much distance remained between him and the massive monster.
Skill improved: Running, +50 skill points gained
Seriously, he thought as the skill notification flashed, something related to using these swords might have been nice.
Sweat dripped down his face as he readied his weapons and shifted his stance, dismissing the notification to ensure he wouldn’t be distracted. Flexing and waving the swords around he watched the creature charging closer and closer.
The arm movements, flashing the swords in the air, were just for show. His feet loosened the clay earth and dirt so Kano could create a much, much larger dust cloud than before. Despite his newly acquired blades, he knew that the beast's claws would slice him to bits if it got within range. So when the ogre bear drew close enough, Kano kicked sand in its face, one boot after another. Then as the beast roared and started to slip, Kano threw one of his swords at the creature. These weapons are much heavier than the fencing blades he thought, watching in satisfaction as the sword struck.
Skill Acquired: Throw Weapon, current rank Ignorant, +10 skill points
gained
The crowd went nuts, even if the ogre bear didn't appreciate his effort. The thing skidded to a halt, letting out a massive bellow and pawing at the spot where the sword had bounced off its thick fur. While the stadium roared in approval, Kano took advantage of the ogre bear’s pause to once again run further away and think. His heads up display had been dormant during most of his time in the arena. However, after Kano acquired the latest skill, he saw another blinking icon and decided to take a look.
Risking a glance at the character sheet, Kano saw something that surprised him. His earlier wish to have a skill related to the swords he picked up was granted. The Sword Fighting skill now showed a submenu and was selectable. Once Kano selected the submenu for Sword Fighting, he saw a new view that contained a Skill Tree, with Throw Weapon as the first unlocked skill. There was space below the Throw Weapon skill and he quickly understood that if he learned more about Sword Fighting, he could unlock more of the skill tree.
Sword Fighting Skill Tree
Current Rank
Next Rank
Current Points
Next Rank Points
Sword Fighting
Ignorant
Initiate
10
100
Throw Weapon
Ignorant
Initiate
10
100
Wow. Kano thought about the notifications he’d seen and remembered that, so far the Sword Fighting skill had not received any points. That means if I get points for a subskill, the main skill also earns points. Good to know. He started to try and correlate the points earned versus effort when he heard the ogre bear running, growing closer once more, remembering he was in the middle of a life and death struggle. I have to dismiss this menu, Kano thought. Just as soon as Kano dismissed the heads up display he felt the ogre bear swipe him to the side.
"No!" Kano shouted, ribs cracking as he took flight. Kano flew into the far stone wall of the arena, slamming into the sun-warmed stones with a loud thud. "Ungh," he grunted on impact. Kano then started rolling down the wall, landing on the hard clay dirt in a heap.
The ogre bear took the breathing room to growl his victory and reared back on its hind legs, roaring to the heavens.
Vision blurred, Kano watched as the ogre bear dropped to all fours and started charging him once again. The crowd had gone silent and Kano stood, wobbly, near certain he was about to get crushed. The sword he'd discovered wasn’t on the ground next to him and he looked around, hoping to find the weapon before the beast could maul him again.
There it is, Kano thought, smiling inwardly, if I have a weapon, I have a chance.
Only trouble was first he had to dodge or avoid the ogre bear to get to the sword. He wasn't sure it would give much in the way of attack power, especially after the first one had just bounced off of the ogre bear’s thick hide, but, it was far better than bare fists. With the crash into the wall, Kano was feeling wobbly and not certain he could dodge again as skillfully as before.
Kano had an idea as the ogre bear charged. "Olé!" he shouted, leap
ing to the side and ducking into a roll to avoid a swipe of the massive paw. The ogre bear bellowed in rage as Kano spun back to his feet and started to run. First three, then six yards away from the creature he started to smile.
Its razor sharp claws slashed through his hamstring a moment later, leaving him stumbling, planting face first with one leg no longer functional. He sprawled on the dirt, the sword still precious feet away. Biting back the blazing agony from his left leg, Kano knew his only chance at victory lay in reclaiming his weapon.
"You're tough," Kano grunted, shouldering his way to the sword as the ogre bear grew closer to gnaw him in half. At last, his hand wrapped around the hilt just as he felt the creature’s hot, fetid breath on his back. Kano’s nostrils flared, disgusted at the scent, and he felt a thick droplet of saliva splash down into his wound. I hope that’s not going to cause an infection, he thought, readying himself for the ogre beasts jaws to come down, ready to snap him in half.
Eyes still bloodshot from Kano’s repeated use of dirt and dust, the ogre bear bellowed, then opened its jaw wide, taking its time in devouring the prone human. Kano felt the burst of warm air, timing his strike.