Tournament Lord

by Felix Craft

  I looked at my band members, wondering if they’d stand by me if it came to blows. “Leesha, if you’ll just wait, I’ll explain —”

  “Explain what, exactly?” she interrupted. “How you turned in —” She stopped, suddenly seeming to notice my bandmates around me. “Scram, noobs!”

  “Er, we’ll start looting …” Garrett said with a shamefaced look at me, then he and the other two turned away.

  I sighed. Things weren’t looking good if Leesha did attack me.

  My companion methodically tied up her horse, then stalked over to me. I didn’t cringe or back down, but stood with a straight back and levelled gaze, so that she had to look up at me as she came close. Strangely enough, I couldn’t help but notice she looked pretty when she was angry. Her nose got these little crinkles in it that I couldn’t help staring at.

  She punched me in the arm.

  “Ouch,” I said sarcastically, though I did rub it. She packed quite the punch.

  “How could you do this?” she said in a low voice, eyes angry and flashing. “We had a deal. I helped you out so much, spent days getting you where you are. How could you just turn around and stab me in the back?”

  If I thought I’d felt guilty before, it was nothing to what I was feeling now. “Leesha, listen, I—” I hoped she would cut me off, save me trying to fumble my way through an explanation, but she didn’t. She just waited expectantly, as if she knew she’d be disappointed, but some part of her couldn’t help but hope there was still a good reason. Or maybe I was just reading into it, wishing for some scrap of forgiveness.

  I swallowed hard and tried again. “I know I turned on you, but I had to. You know I’m trapped in here, right? As in I can’t leave MythRune. My body’s sitting in some machine right now, probably going to mush because I can’t get out of this stupid game. I could die.” Even though I said the words, I hadn’t really thought about it, what death would be like. I suppressed and shudder and kept the thoughts away now, too. “I didn’t want to betray you, but I couldn’t see any other way to get the token and enter the tournament. I hope you can see I had to do this.”

  I stopped jabbering and watched her carefully, waiting for a response. Leesha had looked aside, and she didn’t say anything for a minute. “I was going to find a way. If you had just been patient and let me work it out —”

  “I don’t have time to be patient!” The ticking clock on registering for the tournament suddenly bore down on me. I didn’t have time for this pointless conversation, either. But I tried to rein in my impatience and speak rationally. “Look, I know you were trying to help me, I really do. But if this is my best chance to get out, I have to take it.”

  “You sure you want to get out?”

  “Duh,” I said automatically. But chills went up my spine at how her words echoed some of my earlier thoughts.

  Leesha shrugged then smiled, but there was an edge to the smile. “Well, good luck then.” She held out a hand, and I stared at it, confused. “But I’ll be having back all the items I helped you win. Now.”

  “You’re kidding.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “Not even a bit.” She stepped close and stared me hard in the eyes. “Even if your little noob band tries to stand up for you, I’m Level 12 now, and they’re 4s and a 5. I’ll barely break a sweat beating down the lot of you.”

  I remembered how easily she had beat me down the first time. Even though I’d been Level 2 and fresh to the game, it didn’t make me any more confident facing her now. I thrust out the battle-axe in my hands, the black metal one that had served me well. “Fine. Take it. I’ll just get stuff from these bandits.”

  “Fine.” She gestured to the rest of me. “And the rest of it.”

  It was all I could do not to spring on her then and there. Blowing out a frustrated breath, I unequipped all my armor and, drawing it out of my inventory, threw it on the ground. Then I started drawing out the other items I’d gathered during my travels with her, though I saved a few, including a knife and a pair of pants. From her look, I think Leesha had been keeping track of my items, but she let me retain that future scrap of dignity, at least.

  But even when all the items were on the ground, she still held out her hand. “And your Runecoins.”

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” I muttered. I withdrew half of my Rc 2252, which totaled… way more than I cared to give her. “I’ll give half. It’s not like I didn’t fight too.”

  “If you call that fighting, sure,” she sneered, but she took the purse the coins had appeared in and didn’t fish for the rest.

  “Can I get dressed now, your highness?” I asked sarcastically.

  She sniffed and turned back to Charlotte. “The sooner the better. You’re not exactly a looker, Z.”

  “Now you’re just being mean,” I called after her. I didn’t know why I was being so friendly with her, not when she’d just robbed me blind.

  She didn’t say anything, just untied her horse and mounted her, then spurred her up the hill. I watched until she went out of sight over the lip. Probably the last time I’d see her, unless she still tried to get in the tournament. I shrugged. She’d mostly been trouble, anyway.

  Garrett came up to me. “Girls, huh?”

  I shook my head. “Just this one.” Then I started to put on pants again.

  Once I’d looted the bandits for a mishmash of clothes and armor and equipped it, I hung the hatchet I’d found from my waist and turned to my band. “Let’s go get our reward, shall we?”

  The others, who’d looted the bodies to their heart’s content, agreed, and we started back for the hapless NPC and his broken-down cart. When we reached it and assured him the bandits had paid for their sin, the cartman broke down crying and thanked us profusely through his sobs.

  You have completed a quest: Defenders of the Downtrodden! +1500 XP, +100 Rc

  The message was immediately followed by another.

  Congratulations, adventurer! You have reached Level 7! Boost your stats by 10 HP, 10 SP, or 10 MP and assign 2 AP (Tier 1) and 1 AP (Tier 2) within your ability trees.

  “Whoa! A level up!” Garrett said. His eyes unfocused as he started assigning his newly attained points. I sighed, and though my head was full of distracting thoughts, I followed his lead and pulled up my own stats:

  Name: Zane_SD21

  Level: 7

  Profession: —

  Faction: —

  Runecoins: 1226

  - HP: 140/140

  - SP: 110/110

  - MP: —/100

  Affinities:

  - Battle-axe: Level 5 - 98%

  - Sneak: Level 3 - 37%

  - Javelin: Level 1 - 32%

  - Heavy Armor: Level 1 - 62%

  - Tracking: Level 1 - 20%

  Ability Trees:

  - Combat

  - Tier 1

  Battle-axe: Damage +15% (3)

  Battle-axe: Swing Speed +10% (2)

  Battle-axe: Block +5% (1)

  Heavy Armor: Defense +10% (2)

  - Tier 2

  Battle-axe: Hook & Hack +5% (1)

  - Calisthenics

  - Tier 1

  Dodge +10% (2)

  - Tier 2

  Disarm +5% (1)

  - Survival

  - Industry

  - Civil (available at level 20)

  - Magic (available at level 20)

  This time, I put my 10 points into SP. It’d keep me going longer in a fight, something I definitely needed. For my traits, I increased my two most dependable stats, battle-axe damage and heavy armor defense. As for my Tier 2 ability, the active skills had come in incredibly handy. Unfortunately, I could only get one at this point. Scanning the options, I finally decided on a heavy armor skill called Shell. I wasn’t quite sure how this would work, but according to the description, Shell was supposed to lower damage taken if I braced myself for it using a particular hunched posture while wearing metal armor. It wouldn’t do me much good at the moment, but I
had faith I’d find something before the tournament that could make use of it.

  “All good?” Garrett asked

  I dismissed my menu with a command then nodded. “Let’s go. Just a day more to Mythgard, right?”

  “Yup. We’re getting close!” The sandy-haired boy eyed me. “You’re not mad we did the quest, are you?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “It was a group decision. Besides, it was good to level up. Now come on — I don’t want to be late.”

  I set off walking, and the others followed. I kept a few paces ahead, eyes on the horizon. I was almost there. Once I reached Mythgard and entered the tournament, I’d be one step closer to getting out of this place.

  23

  Reunited and Shopping

  We reached Mythgard the next day.

  I stared up at it, feeling a bit like I had walking up to Germaine Studios HQ for that fateful reunion with Danny. But given my situation, everything I saw made my bitterness deepen, even as it awed me and made me feel small.

  The biggest thing was how damn tall everything was. Staring into it through the main gates, a clusterfuck of sky-scraping towers, pillars, and who knew what else crowded into the sight, blocking out any view of sky.

  Contributing to this height issue was that the city was built in tiers, like Gondor on some serious ’roids. I counted seven before I couldn’t distinguish any more, but I didn’t doubt they continued on. This city had to be bigger than New York, bigger than Shanghai, or whatever the biggest city on Earth was. I had to admit, Danny impressed me with MythRune.

  Still, I couldn’t figure out how he could build a massive world like this and want to tear it down. Nor did it compute that this could all function seamlessly, but I had a serious glitch that wouldn’t let me log out. He had some serious things to answer to when I finally reached him.

  “Look at everything!” Garrett said, smiling wide as he looked around him. Sylvia, wide-eyed, and Bone, wearing a creepy smile, looked similarly thrilled. The brothels were where he’d be heading. I didn’t doubt. Maybe under other circumstances, all the possibilities brimming under the surface of the city could have been exciting, but I just wanted to get to the tournament and get out.

  “Which way to the arena or whatever?” I asked. “Where the tournament’s being held.”

  The sandy-haired boy looked a bit put off, but he shrugged. “I guess there’s time to explore later. I don’t know, though. We’ll have to ask around.”

  Suspecting that might be a fruitless pursuit in a city this big, I checked my map on the off chance it would give us a break. As luck would have it, it did. While areas weren’t colored or bright like they were for areas where I’d explored, the outline of the city was laid out. My eyes nearly popped out of my head seeing it. Mythgard was nearly as wide across as the distance I’d traveled this whole time! For a moment, I despaired of even finding the arena on the map, until one circle near the city center popped out at me. Pinching to zoom, I saw that, sure enough, it was the arena. MythRune Coliseum, it declared itself, and in parentheses, it said, Location of Lord MythRune’s tournaments.

  “Look at your maps,” I instructed my band members. “Near the middle.”

  All of their eyes unfocused as they looked at their own private projections.

  “Holy shit,” Bone muttered. “That’s one huge-ass metropolis!”

  “I didn’t think you knew that word,” Sylvia quipped.

  “Hardy-har.”

  “How are we supposed to get there in time?” My voice rose with my anxiety, much as I tried to prevent it. “There’s no way we can get there today. Probably not even tomorrow. Is there a way to, I don’t know, sign up from here?” I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. After all, this was all built in a computer system. Surely simple messaging features were included.

  “Chill, man.” Bone smirked at me.

  I almost punched him out, but Garrett, seeing my fury, quickly stepped in between us. “He’s just pushing your buttons, Zane. There’s a portal network throughout the city. We can use it to get there in minutes.”

  I exhaled heavily, trying to let go of the rage that had suddenly boiled up inside of me. It didn’t help that Bone watched me with amusement plain on his face.

  “Good,” was all I could manage.

  Sylvia shook her head. “Well, what are we waiting for? Registration ends soon, right?”

  Garrett started us towards it.

  Bone eyed me and asked the obvious question. “Why the hell are we bothering with this shit? None of us is Level 10, anyway. We can’t enter. Not even you, hotshot.”

  I ignored him, but Garrett and Sylvia looked uncomfortably at me.

  “Let’s just get to the portals,” I said.

  We wove our way down the paved stone streets, which were far cleaner than they should have been with so many people walking down them, following Garrett’s lead toward where the portals were supposed to be. Sure enough, down a road branching from the main one — High Way still, I supposed — and led to a narrow bridge up to a raised plateau. All around the edge of the plateau were stone archways that could have been part of Stonehenge, except that they glowed blue when you’d passed under them. As I watched, a person walked up to one and, without a moment’s hesitation, walked through it, even though all that waited for them was air on the other side. But instead of splatting to the ground below, the blue light shimmered to rainbow hues, and the person suddenly disappeared. It was no stranger than anything in this world, but it still gave me the creeps to see.

  We walked up to the narrow bridge where a line of people waited their turn at the portals. Fortunately, the line moved fast, and soon we were walking onto the plateau ourselves. I had somehow wound up in front, and I nervously looked around, not knowing which portal to choose. There were hundreds of options, and I didn’t see any obvious labels for their destinations.

  Garrett came up behind me and pointed at the top of the arches. “Where they go is there.”

  I squinted and finally saw the names — it spoke to how chaotic and confusing Mythgard was. “Right,” I muttered to myself, scanning the archways. Even with the names helping, there were a lot of options to sort through.

  This time it was Sylvia who came to the rescue. “There!”

  It seemed obvious once she’d pointed it out. The portal to MythRune Coliseum was one of the bigger ones, centrally located in the arc of portals. I smiled gratefully at her, then began moving toward it.

  After receiving many dirty looks from shouldering people aside, I finally stood in front of the portal. Now I saw how tall they were, some three times my height, and the Coliseum arch before me was four times. Knowing what I had to do, I took a breath and marched forward, straight at the bright blue surface, denying the emptiness on the other side.

  The world broke apart, similar to how it had after the mod had reset my account when I first entered MythRune, then formed back together. Feeling slightly queasy from the journey, I stepped out of the portal on unsteady legs and walked forward. I was standing under another archway on a different plateau, but instead of people going into the portals, most were streaming down the bridge and away. It was easy to see why. Rising before me, dwarfing even the huge buildings around me, was a gargantuan structure that could only be the arena. MythRune Coliseum easily occupied miles by itself, and maybe loomed out of the landscape like a mountain. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a mile high itself. Suddenly, I knew how much I’d been deluding myself. I couldn’t win a tournament in that. There had to be thousands of people entering, and some of them Level 15. How did I expect to win when I was Level 7? And that was if I could even find a Level 10 to sponsor me entering.

  My shoulders slumped and my head dropped. I wouldn’t get access to Danny this way.

  “Hey!” Garrett slapped a hand on my shoulder. “Whoa. Look at that! Holy shit, look at that!”

  “Yeah. Pretty impressive,” I said dully.

  Sylvia and Bone came up behind us
. “Huh,” Bone said. “Pretty big building.”

  “Pretty big?” Sylvia exclaimed. “Just pretty big? Like you’ve seen anything more impressive.”

  Their chatter wasn’t making me feel any better, but I knew my shitty situation wasn’t their fault. “Want a closer look?” I said as cheerfully as I could.

  My noob band all nodded more or less vigorously, and we headed toward it ourselves.

  The path there was the most crowded street I’d ever been on. The noisiest, too. I almost plugged my ears as I winced against the shouts, the random musical instruments people banged and strummed on along the sides of the streets, and the other noises masses of people make when they gather. I lost track of my band members and was tossed this way and that as people shouldered their way to their destinations. But I wasn’t above pushing myself, and with my destination looming before me, I forged a path to the entrance.

  After what seemed an eternity, I finally reached the front gates, a massive archway with metal bars blocking the way. To one side, an alcove had been carved out of the stone, and a weary and irritable-looking clerk stood behind it. Not waiting for the others of my band to materialize — if they even would out of that crowd — I stepped up to the counter, which was surprisingly empty. “Hello,” I said pleasantly, thrown back to my encounter with the receptionist at Germaine Studios HQ. Hopefully this encounter would go better than that one.

  From the look on the clerk’s face, it wouldn’t. “What do you want? Another low-level scrub looking to bribe your way in, from the look of you.”

  I resisted the urge to look down. Admittedly, since I was just wearing what I scrounged from those bandits, I looked even shabbier than I should have, but still. “Actually, no.” I produced the tournament token. “I can get in just fine, thanks.”

  Her eyes lit up when she saw the gold coin. “A token?” Her eyes went from the token, to me, then back to the token, her expression growing steadily more suspicious. “If I didn’t know these couldn’t be stolen or looted off other players, I would think…” She shook her head. “I guess you’re in then. Do you have a partner?”