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Encounters

Page 29

by A O Storm


  And don’t forget your friends, Abnoba’s voice drifted through his thoughts, a soothing sound compared to the monster’s screams in his skull.

  “Now you’re just rubbing salt in the woun-”, Kano started to reply to her and he grabbed the pack resting nearby. He pulled out the jar he’d bought in Boon Peak. Pulling the cork quickly, he dumped the entire contents of the sea salt on the road, and then dropped the bottle.

  MAGIC CANNOT HURT ME MORTAL. WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHOOSE WHICH LEG I TAKE FIRST? OR WOULD YOU PREFER A SURPRISE? YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT TO CARTHUN, YOUR TIME ENDS NOW. Kano ignored the taunts, standing firm in front of the creature. Xritzka’s eye opened wider and its mouth flexed a jaw large enough to swallow him whole.

  The thing was close enough Kano could feel its breath on his skin, and smell the musty stench surrounding the creature. It was at that moment Kano cast Air Elemental I a second time, blasting a huge pile of loose salt directly into the beast’s central eye.

  Xritzka flailed back and screamed out a roar of pain that was mirrored in Kano’s head, causing him to grab his ears with both hands as if his skull would burst apart from the sound. Pushing through the pain, Kano reached for his sword and drew it while readying himself to charge in for the kill.

  “For the goddess!” Larry screamed from behind the creature, ramming his sword into the side of the monster. It spun in pain, unable to open its eye. However, the fleshball wasn’t defenseless, and while Larry’s sword stuck, buried deep, one of the tentacles flashed red. The ruddy glow bathed Larry in a cone of crimson. He only had time to begin a high pitch scream before his body melted into a puddle of skin and bone.

  “LARRY!” Kano screamed in rage, running toward the creature, which had stopped moving, hovering over his friend’s mutilated remains. The eye was still clamped shut but spun to face him as Kano covered the distance.

  Five paces from his foe, Kano gripped the hilt of his sword, winding up like he was a pitcher in a ball game. Balancing on his good leg, he twisted, hurling the sword. The blade flashed, spinning end over end as it sailed forward. Tip first, the blade stabbed deep into the beast’s central, closed eye. A mindless scream pierced Kano’s skull as his sword struck home.

  In a fluid movement, he dashed back, not stopping until he was far beyond a safe distance from the glowing tentacles. Just as Kano moved beyond range the tentacle flashed crimson once again, turning a section of fencing to dust. The telepathic screams were too much for Kano and he stumbled, landing in a heap, his injuries combining with the beast’s telepathic cries to make him writhe in pain on the ground. His eyeballs feel like they were vibrating inside his skull.

  And then it stopped.

  Xritzka’s death rattle ended with its body falling from the air, no longer suspended by whatever mystical forces that enabled it to float. Black fluids streamed from the gruesome wound in its eye. The massive eyelid was almost sliced in two, the sword still pinning it in place. Steam rose from the fluids pooling on the ground where its massive tongue had fallen from its mouth.

  Kano’s notification screen flashed at him but he was focused on the corpse behind where the dead creature rested. He knew that thing was coming for me. If I stay, everyone else might die too, just like Larry.

  Randy came wobbling up the street, finally recovered from being knocked unconscious by the fleshball’s first kinetic blast. He dropped to his knees next to the pile of bones and dust that used to be his last living brother, visibly sobbing and holding his head in his hands. A lump caught in Kano’s throat as he watched. Just as he was about to offer Randy some words of comfort, he was distracted.

  Violet light sprung up around the fallen monster in a luminescent aura, growing in brightness and intensity until it became solid flames. Randy lurched away, frightened.

  Orange, red and violet lights swirled around, hiding the beast inside. The flames grew brighter, hotter, until Kano was forced to shield his eyes and look away. When he blinked and looked back, feeling the heat disappear, what was left of the monster was gone. Kano and Larry’s swords had fallen to the ground, covered in soot and blackened from the flames.

  Of the creature there was no sign, other than the death and destruction left behind.

  Epilogue

  By noon that day, Kano was awake enough to tackle the day. He packed up everything he owned, and when finished, signed over the inn to Bertha. Smiling, he thought for a moment about all the things she taught him and knew the White Rabbit would be in good hands. His character screen had been lighting up all morning with notifications but he was in a hurry to get away from the town before something else showed up.

  Carthun, he discovered, was a neighboring kingdom, only reachable through the mountain passes. The one river he had not yet explored in Three Rivers, Irenwe, originated from the steep slopes between Tropiana and Carthun. The trip was supposed to be thirty days on horseback as long as the weather held. Late Spring, Kano was not worried about rains, despite Thomas’s promise of rain, he hadn’t seen any so far.

  “Are ya’ sure I can’t talk you into bringing a horse, Kano?” Bertha’s voice interrupted him as he strode down the stairs into the common room.

  “Thank you, Bertha. I’ve got that handled,” he said, smiling in appreciation. “Actually, here, check this out,” Kano grabbed his sandboard and motioned for Bertha to follow him out the door and over to the road.

  He quickly strapped in his feet and stood up facing her. “Alright, so I sort of exploited this boating enchantment to work for my board. See the plate in front of my front foot?” Bertha nodded, watching closely. “Well, when I shift my weight onto my front foot like this,” Kano slightly lifted his back foot from the ground, angling the board forward, and he glided forward ten paces rapidly before putting his back foot down. Bertha was impressed and stared at the board in wonder. “See? And when I shift back the other way like so,” Kano shifted his weight to his back leg and the board gently moved backward a few paces. “Cool stuff, huh?”

  “It seems a lot more dangerous and difficult to carry things on that toy than a horse, but I suppose you won’t have to feed it,” Bertha mused.

  “Ha! You are one of my favorites here, Bertha. Take care of the inn.”

  Kano spent another hour saying his goodbyes and making them all understand he was leaving for the safety of the town. This way, if anybody asks about me, they will find out fast I’m not here, and Three Rivers should stay safe. The mayor was the only one who truly seemed pleased with his reasoning, but it was in character for the man, so he didn’t sweat it. Randy had been a hard goodbye for him after the tragedy.

  “Why can’t I come with you?” Randy pleaded.

  Kano sighed, “It’s because I care about you. If one of these men chasing me finds me, they’ll hurt you to get to me. I can’t lose another friend.”

  Randy choked back a sob and nodded his head in agreement. He locked arms with Kano and the man gave him a sheepish look in return before puffing up his chest and folding his arms. “Well, you don’t get yourself killed either, Kano. You’re always welcome back here when the danger is passed.”

  “Thank you, Randy. That means a lot to me,” Kano said, and then smiled, nodding toward the inn and Bertha. “Besides, with me gone, Bertha will need somebody to help run the inn. What do you think?”

  “Really, Kano?” Randy asked, a smile finally gracing his face through the unshed tears.

  “Of course! I’ve already spoken to her about it, Bertha said to stop by whenever you’re ready, and she’ll put you to work.”

  On that hopeful note, Kano smiled and waved his friend by once more before settling his pack on his shoulders, ready to leave. The sun was still high in the sky while afternoon gave way to evening and Kano was determined to make as much progress as he could his first day out of Three Rivers. Even without a horse, he figured once he got beyond the last few farms he could try out the modified board. Bertha had noted how strange it would look to see a man sandboarding across the prairies toward th
e mountains.

  Attracting less attention was important but so was protecting the village. This was why, as the last farm disappeared behind him, Kano strapped on the board. Whichever farmers lived there could still see him as he mounted up. Balancing himself carefully, Kano leaned forward, the board slipping across the tall grass with ease. He smiled, leaning, the board moving faster as the wind picked up, blowing in his face as he sailed across the prairie.

  Nearly an hour passed as Kano reached the foothills, Three Rivers far behind him. The board worked well enough he traveled twice the distance a horse could cover in the same time. He smiled to himself despite the magic charge running low. Daily, the plate functioned for an hour until it needed to recharge and he did not mind walking for part of the day, especially after eating up so much distance on the board.

  Dismounting, he put the board back into his magic bag, still carefully hidden in his pack, and looked at the road ahead. The worn path through the mountains was in surprisingly good condition for a country road, with only shallow tracks marking the smooth, graveled surface.

  As he walked uphill, he brought up his character sheet curious to see how he had progressed. Then he recalled how he had yet to spend the new attribute points from just before the battle with the flying fleshball. Determined to update his stats, he started with the overview sheet and was surprised by what he saw.

  Character name:

  Kano

  Profession:

  Adventurer

  Class:

  Druid

  Level:

  6

  Experience Points:

  15,100

  Next Level:

  20,000

  Energy Points (Max)

  65 (70)

  Health Points (Max):

  110 (110)

  Mana points (Max):

  130 (130)

  Complications:

  None

  “That last fight put me over the next level, too,” Kano said, smiling. “And I’m an Adventurer now?” His smile grew wider. “Interesting.”

  “Before I spend the twenty new points, let’s see where I am.” He looked at his attributes for a moment, contemplating a few choices on his build.

  Attributes and Scores

  Physical

  Score

  Mental

  Score

  Strength

  73

  Intelligence

  59

  Speed

  73

  Wisdom

  59

  Endurance

  73

  Memory

  59

  Constitution

  73

  Magic

  65

  Beauty

  61

  Linguistics

  57

  “Let’s see.” Going to a new country, hm, I should update my linguistics score to even with the other mental scores, at least. That’s only two points, though. If I then use four points on each, that’s eighteen total, and I’ll have two left. I think I’ll put one each into Endurance and Constitution, after all, it’s supposed to be about a month to get to Carthun.

  He spent the points and then looked at the scores once more.

  Attributes and Scores

  Physical

  Score

  Mental

  Score

  Strength

  73

  Intelligence

  63

  Speed

  73

  Wisdom

  63

  Endurance

  74

  Memory

  63

  Constitution

  74

  Magic

  65

  Beauty

  61

  Linguistics

  63

  Next level, I’ll dump more into my magic score, then more of the physical stats again, Kano thought to himself, happy with his progress. Maybe I’ll meet some players in Carthun that can help me understand more of how things work. Abnoba, for all she’s been helpful, is also just too strange to fully trust, since she’s part of the same system as Morrigan, who lied to me.

  Let’s see how my skills look, he thought, bringing up the screen next.

  Skill

  Current Rank

  Next Rank

  Current Points

  Next Rank Points

  Snowboarding

  Expert

  Master

  1,000,200

  10,000,000

  Sword Fighting

  Initiate

  Novice

  350

  1,000

  Hand to Hand Combat

  Initiate

  Novice

  400

  1,000

  Business

  Novice

  Adept

  1,030

  10,000

  Cooking

  Novice

  Adept

  1,320

  10,000

  Running

  Initiate

  Novice

  120

  1,000

  Public Speaking

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  60

  100

  Acrobatics

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  10

  100

  Botany

  Initiate

  Novice

  150

  1,000

  Natural Recovery

  Initiate

  Novice

  40

  100

  Knife Fighting

  Initiate

  Novice

  100

  1,000

  Stealth

  Initiate

  Novice

  100

  1,000

  Carpentry

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  80

  100

  Smithing

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  50

  100

  Fletching

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  50

  100

  Archery

  Initiate

  Novice

  260

  1,000

  Tracking

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  60

  100

  “Looks like both snowboarding and Hand to Hand Combat have skill trees now, interesting,” he said, flicking to the individual tree menus and reviewing each.

  Hand to Hand Combat Skill Tree

  Current Rank

  Next Rank

  Current Points

  Next Rank Points

  Hand to Hand Combat

  Initiate

  Novice

  400

  1000

  Dodge

  Ignorant

  Initiate

  60

  100

  Punch*

  N/A

  N/A

  N/A

  N/A

  Kick*

  N/A

  N/A

  N/A

  N/A

 

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