by Arthur Stone
Dark didn’t mind the food shortage. He was old enough to feed himself.
Besides, this place contained the real treasure of the land: hundreds of copper ingots. Plus leather and fabric, which surprised him, since mines did not produce these materials. But maybe the Ethrians had segregated their industries different than humans were accustomed to doing. Weavers and tanners might have worked in the buildings which now lay destroyed in this complex.
Regardless, his exploration here was done for now, and it was time to approach the locked door.
Chapter 27
The Tower
Total stat levels: 13.
Character level: 2.
Mastery level: 0
Three empty barrels sat stacked, two on the bottom and one on top, under the window. It was a shaky setup, but if it collapsed the fall was unlikely to be fatal.
Dark climbed up onto the top, pushed the barred shutter out of the way, and planted his spear—the one he had crafted before setting off to find the mine—onto the window-sill. Primitive, but it was his only melee weapon, and he doubted that entering a suspiciously locked tower with nothing but a beat-up slingshot in hand was a good idea.
He had no problems climbing into the window, except that when he pushed himself inside, the barrel stairs collapsed behind him. If he had to run away, he’d be faced with a leap down onto the stone-covered ground. Barefoot.
Dark crouched on the inner window-sill and peered into the gloom. He could see the outline of some kind of cabinetry or shelving, a table and a couple of chairs, and a descending railing, like that of a staircase. It probably ran down to the locked door.
Another staircase sat opposite, leading up. Dark wouldn’t be able to get any kind of look up there without ascending himself.
Sliding inside the building, he tested the cold stone floor with his bare feet before committing and releasing the sill. Next, he moved quickly around the perimeter, opening one window and shutter after another.
Soon the room was much brighter, allowing Dark to see the body in the middle of the floor. More accurately, the skeleton. It was robed in a full-length dark gown. An unsightly bronze helmet protected its skull, and a massive spiked iron battle ax rested near its bony arm.
Was this the Ethrian who had closed and locked the door from the inside centuries ago? What had killed him? There were no signs of skeletal trauma. He should have considered how poor Dark would have to scramble up to the window on wobbling barrels. Then perhaps he would have left the door unlocked.
In the shadow of the stairs leading down, the two furious lights of some creature’s red eyes came to light and approached. They belonged to a rat the size of a dog. A small dog, but still a dog.
The man was both apprehensive and relieved at the creature’s appearance. He had felt that something was amiss during his search. Some hint that danger awaited him. Now, he was thankful that his weapon was at hand.
He charged in for the attack.
You deal 11 damage to Mine Rat.
Excellent. A decent start.
Dark’s aggression stunned the overgrown rat, but not for long. It dodged his second strike, then sank its teeth into his thigh.
Mine Rat deals you 20 damage.
That was unfortunate. It hurt like hell, and he lost more hit points than he had taken from the mob. Experience had taught him that when this exchange was equal, it was still possible to lose. When the numbers were this different, victory was a distant dream.
But I won’t give up. He continued the fight, but not as directly. The whole area of the room was his to use. Jumping right and then left, he somersaulted behind the creature and managed to deal a more powerful blow while it turned to face him. Game mechanics aside, an experienced fighter in real life could often apply what he knew in the world of X, too. Primitive AIs and their patterned responses were unable to deal effectively with diverse athletic and combat techniques. They attacked head on, every time, with almost no sense of tactics.
Mine Rat deals you 24 damage.
The rodent’s eyes flashed red as Dark’s knee exploded in pain. Hastily retreating as he looked at the abilities panel, he cursed himself for not activating the skill earlier. His life bar was sinking fast. A few more solid bites and he’d be sitting up against that inscribed post situated along the abandoned road.
Stream of Regeneration! That would refill 150 hit points at the maximum healing speed the game allowed. But it would also drain every last bit of his mana. Mana came back at four units per minute, and this battle would not last long.
The bloody haze in his eyes cleared, and he stabbed at the rat, taking the beast in the eye with his spear.
Critical! You deal 23 damage to Mine Rat. Mine Rat is blinded in the right eye.
Ceasing its advance, the beast backpedaled and shook its head to recover. A decent blow.
Refusing to give the animal quarter, Dark charged. One, two, three hits...
Your spear has broken.
Damn! This was the worst time for a break!
He attacked with the broken splinters in desperation. Yes, a spear shaft made a poor club, but it still dealt more damage than bare firsts. Not enough damage to win.
No, I will not be sent all the way back to that forest! He took another swing as he moved past, rolling backwards toward the stairs and out of the rat’s reach. The rodent missed and rushed at him with a fierce squeal.
Dark stooped down and grabbed the weapon of the dead man on the floor.
Two-handed Battle Ax. Class: primitive. A heavy weapon for a strong warrior. It’s in good condition but could use some sharpening. Melee weapon. Durability: 15/16. Base damage: 8 x (1 + Strength). Current damage: 8 x (1 + Strength). Required level: 7. Estimated value: many merchants would pay a few coins for a weapon like this. A blacksmith may give you more, since he can reforge the old iron.
The situation was too urgent to read everything, but Dark could tell that the weapon’s level requirement wasn’t overly high, its condition was good, and his current damage with it was 16—much more than with a spear.
Perhaps it would defeat the dograt.
He swung at the rat’s head, making no effort to conserve his Stamina.
Critical! You deal 43 damage to Mine Rat. Mine Rat is stunned.
Nice! Dark went in for a repeat blow before the mob regained its senses. The stun would vanish in a couple of seconds and be followed by a quick attack.
With the second blow, his hands trembled and dropped the ax. Maybe this was due to the level difference, or maybe his rock-bottom Stamina prevented him from wielding such a heavy weapon. Now he was empty handed. Behind him lay the stairs and the narrow hallway running to the door. That would eliminate all of his space to maneuver. He’d be trapped, in a dead end.
But it was the only way to go. The rat changed its tactics and jumped at him. Dark lost his balance and fell backward into the stairwell. His spine set to work counting each and every step. The screaming creature bit his shoulder, then released, clearly intending to go for his throat.
Reflex was all that Dark had left.
He jabbed his finger into the surviving eye, gripped the rat’s head by this new handhold, and rolled it to the side. Now he was the one on top. He pressed the rat into the stairs, crushing it as they slid down.
Then his other hand dealt one blow after another to its temple.
Reaching the bottom, they slammed into the locked door. So hard, in fact, that Dark failed to notice himself letting go of the rat. He groaned in pain, the hit taken to his head.
Note: Personal victory! Mine Rat killed! Weak mob. Level 4. Location sensation level: 40%. Personal sensation level: 90%. 46 progress points received. 4 distributable progress points received. The following skills played a significant role in the fight: Athletics, Heavy Weapons, Physical Attack, Acrobatics, Physical Evasion, Speed, Reaction, Accuracy, Physical Critical Hit, Luck, Tolerance, Tirelessness, Unarmored Combat, Hand-to-Hand, Physical Defense, Magic Accuracy.
Progress po
ints distributed.
+1 Athletics progress point.
+8 Heavy Weapons progress points.
+8 Physical Attack progress points.
+2 Acrobatics progress points.
+2 Physical Evasion progress points.
+2 Speed progress points.
+2 Reaction progress points.
+2 Accuracy progress points.
+4 Physical Critical Hit progress points.
+2 Luck progress points.
+1 Tolerance progress point.
+1 Tirelessness progress point.
+1 Unarmored Combat progress point.
+1 Hand-to-Hand progress point.
+1 Physical Defense progress point.
+7 Magic Accuracy progress points.
He won! That was his first victory over a level 4 opponent. Dark’s adrenaline was pumping so hard that he didn’t even complain about the relatively small reward. He could have earned much more experience with much less effort by killing hesh’ells.
Without any pain involved.
Dark examined the results and cursed his idiocy again. He had looked straight at the forge and seen the hammers before deciding to enter the tower.
Hammers were not just tools, they were also decent weapons. Sure, they had a level requirement that was greater than 1, but what did he care? The difference wasn’t that huge.
There had also been two level-6 copper pickaxes in the warehouse. Somehow Dark had failed to realize they could be of more use in battle than a brittle spear.
What had he been thinking?
He had become used to fighting exclusively with items of his own manufacturing.
And he would have been dead if not for that ax.
There was something he didn’t understand in the message: why had Magic Accuracy gotten so many points? Stream of Regeneration was his only real magic ability. And it was definitely not an offensive skill. He knew from the forum that healers regenerating other characters during a battle got progress points for three different magical skills, but none of those were Magic Accuracy.
Perhaps Dark’s skill was buggy, since it had been abandoned, never finished.
Whatever the case, it was not good news. If his skill worked as expected, it would have pumped up to three magic skills without him needing to spend valuable distributable points on them. At least he would get another skill at level 3.
Whether it would compensate for this one, he didn’t know.
When would he reach level 3, anyway?
Nothing insurmountable was impeding his progress. He might level up as soon as the next day.
How was he so confident when just a few days before he had been despondent?
Level 1 had unlocked so many game features for him. Thanks to those, he had worked up 102 distributable progress points from the hesh’ells and the rat. Enough to boost any skill from level 0 to level 4.
His Dexterity was now up to level 2 on its own, and spending 40 progress points had allowed him to push his Strength to 2, as well. Since he was level 1 now, his level was the sum of his stats divided by 6, with no other limitations.
So he had poured the rest of his distributable points into Strength. Level 3. He did not regret that. The fight he had just finished had proved the importance of dealing more damage.
Strength boosted damage, as long as it was physical damage, not magical.
Now, his skill levels added up to 16. Two more points, and he’d be at 18 and thus at level 3.
How many distributable points did he need for that? Just 60, if he was willing to boost Adaptability. Dexterity was easy enough to level up on its own. Only Light Weapons still held it back. One flimsy flint knife and thirty minutes killing hesh’ells would be enough to promote that skill.
He climbed back up to the window sill as he finished up his calculations. Now at least he could dive outside in case this tower housed more than one angry rat. And if any threat appeared outside, he would move back into the tower for refuge. While he thought through the best path forward for his character, his three meters—Health, Mana, and Stamina—were slowly refilling. They didn’t regenerate very quickly, but Mana and Stamina at least could fill up from 0 in eleven minutes. Life took much longer, but that made sense. Thanks to the work of Kim’s henchmen, he had a large number of hit points, for a beginner.
He waited, and nothing else happened. No new rats, no monsters from the mine.
So Dark jumped to the floor and seized the ax. It functioned poorly in the hands of a novice, but it still did much more damage than his spear had done even on its most mighty critical hits.
Only one stubby piece of wood remained from the spear.
Now for the rat. It was quite unimpressive, lying dead on the floor.
So was its loot: torn rat skin, teeth, and meat. Not that he expected anything more from a common level 4 mob. A million-dollar lottery was a more likely win.
Next, he touched the skeleton. Its level 12 helmet could be used to level up his Heavy Armor skill. A single bronze key was also on its person. That was odd, since he remembered no actual lock on the door. Perhaps something on the floor above was locked. Of course, this could just be a worthless trinket suitable only for melting down.
The final item was more interesting.
Novice Sorcerer’s Burlap Cloak. Class: none. A simple cloak is essential for novice mages since it does not impede spellcasting speed. Good condition. Durability: 4/5. Magic Defense (protection from Elemental Magic, Dark Magic, and Chaos Magic): 9. Magic Resist: 1.1% (this is the chance of reflecting a magic attack without suffering any consequences, or in the case of a critical hit, reducing damage and negative effects by half). Physical Defense: 3. Required level: 4. Approximate value: this is little more than a rug with holes cut into it. It might fetch a couple of coins at a market.
This skeleton had been a very strange mage. A heavy helmet, an ax, and ... a burlap magician’s cloak. Dark may have been inexperienced, but even he knew these items were not exactly compatible. A warrior wore armor, heavy or light. Or even none, defending on their fighting style. And a mage conjured with a staff, a rod, or some other wizardly weapon.
The mantle would work just fine for him. Not that he was a mage in any sense. But it would help him grind his stats.
Wearing the cloak in combat would increase one of his skills: Magical Robes. If it somehow defended him in combat, or otherwise helped even a little, it would give that skill some progress points. That, in turn, would save him some distributable progress points.
The final item was predictable: a bone. Dark had retrieved one from the dead skeleton near the stone phallus. In fact, he still had it. No use for it had come up.
Descending the stairs, he made sure that the door was indeed bolted. On the first floor, he browsed the shelves, the cabinets, and the table. No weapons, no armor, nothing else of any use in battle. There were numerous dishes, a writing set, brass candlesticks, blank sheets of parchment, and scrolls in an unknown script.
He proceeded up to the second floor. There, he found a bedroom. The bed looked soft and huge, and he wanted to throw caution to the wind and dive into its embrace. Assorted clothes were kept in a wardrobe. For him, the most valuable item in the entire tower thus far was a pair of rough leather shoes with wooden soles.
At last he could stop walking barefoot through fields of sharp objects. The game was brutal, but sometimes it also knew tremendous kindness. For example, he didn’t have to worry about shoe size. There was no such concept in the world of X. As long as the shoes didn’t belong to some giant, you could wear them comfortably. The boots were a great gift, of course, but he still had hopes that this monument held something else for him. Something much more valuable.
His hopes were not groundless: a huge chest wrapped with banding strips of bronze was positioned at the foot of the bed. Clearly it was not meant to hold dirty laundry. It had to contain the treasures of whoever slept here.
He pulled up on the bronze ring. Locked. In real life, he’d start to t
hink about how to break into it. But this was a game. Find key, chest nearby.
The lock turned as easily as if it had been oiled just the day before.
Dark was a little surprised to see a screen like mob loot collection appear as he raised the lid.
He began to sort through the items. A pair of reinforced leather boots. Light armor. They were meant for level 5 and up, but Dark was close enough to use them. A small artifact of necromancy seemed irrelevant to him. It was suitable for processing the soul of a dead mob so that it could be used for various kinds of dark magic. The topic was a popular one on the forums. A shirt of beaded silk was acceptable as loot. He might take it. No, it offered no protection against magic attacks, nor any against physical ones, but he might flaunt it in an interaction with an NPC since they respected players more when they were well dressed. But this area had no NPCs, and comfortable clothing slowed the progress of certain skills. His Simplicity was already at level 6, but Heat Resist and Cold Resist were at level 4. One silver chamber pot was present, valuable only for the metal it was made of. A merchant would happily buy it, paying for its weight.
Sadly, there were no living merchants here.
The light crossbow was more interesting. It was for a level 8 player, sadly, and reloading was slow. Still, its damage was fabulous, and it came with 20 bolts that could, in theory, each be used multiple times.
Yet the best find was neither piece of armor nor weapon. It was a plain-looking ring.
Gilded Copper Ring, with Rhinestone. Class: common. A simple craft made out of cheap material. It looks unworn. Durability: 5/5. Item bonus: +1 Intellect. Required level: 1. Approximate value: despite this item’s low quality of crafting and material, many merchants would be happy to buy it. For a low price, that is.