After reaching the fork in the road Eli paused, staring south. The small trail split in two direction. South-west, towards his cabin and northwest, towards a small mountain pass called the fingers. For a brief moment, he considered taking the southern pat, longing to check on his family. Slight vibrations shook his arm as his hand twitched. Yearning for closure, he nearly started moving down the familiar path.
Gathering himself, he forced himself to turn north, and spoke, “We have to head north, then follow a small river through a clearing in the fingers. It’s an old trade route or something that leads to the temple. But, we have to watch ourselves, there’s all kinds of weird creatures that start popping up the closer we get.”
After turning towards their destination, Eli began to ask questions and arrange his thoughts. They talked about skills and abilities. What Eli found out was that he could learn new skills in several ways. The most common was by practicing or repeatedly using the skill. Essentially, the more you chopped wood, the higher your lumberjack skill would be. Or, one could gain a few levels quickly by being taught by a skills trainer, but they could only teach so much. This way usually costs money unless you had a high reputation with the trainer, or it was a part of a quest.
Don also let him know that it wasn’t clear what happened when someone put stat points directly into their attributes. Some people said that it didn’t feel like anything. Their stats increased with no physical or mental ramifications. Others, mostly those with expensive pods, as he called them, saw and felt real changes. Some even said that their physical bodies changed outside of the capsules.
“Attributes can increase in a similar fashion as skills. The more you swing an axe and haul lumber, the stronger you get. The more you read, do puzzles or attend scholarly classes, the more intelligence you gain, and so on.” Don said, explaining how a person can naturally raise their Attributes. “You can also hit a gym and hire personal attribute trainers, but this costs some serious coin and isn’t that much faster than doing it yourself.”
Eli asked about charisma, spirit, and luck specifically, but Don had less information on those stats than the others. They seemed to be harder to increase without putting points into them, and less was known about what worked and what didn’t.
Charisma was thought to increase with reputation, better grooming, and better social skills, such as being nice or charming. Spirit was said to increase via meditation, prayer, one’s strength of willpower, or by performing actions that show faith in one’s self, or others. Don stated that he was able to break the fear debuff early when he saw what was about to happen to Eli. He was rewarded with an increase in their Spirit.
As for Luck, no one knew about that. It seemed to only go up after getting really lucky, or randomly after some strange occurrence. After hearing about luck, he told Don about his increase mid-battle, when he jammed the spike into the bear’s eye. They both shivered a little and went silent, realizing that he was closer to being bear food than he first thought.
After several hours of uneventful walking and talking, Eli was starting to see familiar signs of his old hunting grounds. Taking notice of their change in scenery, Eli started to bring the conversation to a close. Don’s lecture concluded with abilities and how damage calculations worked, explaining that Abilities could be earned via class quests when selecting a class, or by raising certain skills to specific levels.
He used his martial healing ability as an example. Don’s ability was gained via three skills and subskills: Martial arts, a sub-skill of unarmed combat, Medicine and its subskill, Anatomy. When he finally reached level twenty in all three, he learned the skill of martial healing, an ability that drew both mana and stamina to heal wounds and physical ailment. As they both learned, it was used by channeling his energy into his target and could be extremely dangerous.
Damage calculations were straightforward as it was a simple formula of weapon damage plus all skill and sub-skill bonuses, combined with whatever effects the weapon had. Since Eli had the lumberjack skill, its skill level was added to the damage done with an axe, or large bladed weapon. It also allowed him to learn the ability of Planted Feet. With most of his questions answered, they fell mostly silent, only speaking up to plan their route and notify each-other of possible signs of danger.
Chapter 22
The two walked in silence, the long day of travel wearing on them. For most of their journey, Eli remained quiet, too wrapped up in his thoughts to even notice that his friend was still following him. He had been struggling with telling Don his full story about who he was and his past. At least what he knew as his past. Unable to find the right words, he remained silent. How could someone from Don’s world understand what he was going through? He had a hard time believing that his friend would even believe him. So, he traveled in silence.
It was midday when they passed through the foothills, known as the fingers, and Don called them to a halt. Don felt, more than heard, Eli’s suffering, and at that moment, he knew that this was more than just a game to him; to his new friend, this was real. He had seen this before. He had felt pain. He also knew that there wasn’t much he could do to help. So, he placed his hand on Eli’s shoulder and said, “I don’t know what’s up or what’s eating at you, but I’m here for ya'. I may not understand completely, but when you’re ready, just let me know.”
To Don, it was as if the trees and animals knew that Eli was in a fragile state and kept as quiet as possible. Having traveled several uneventful miles in silence, Don was ready for a break. Only keeping up the pace for his companion, waiting for him to let him know he was ready. He thought back on everything he had seen, how Eli had reacted, and how little the man seemed to know about the game, and real life. Something was off, but what it was, he did not understand. He just knew that the man he was following was in genuine pain, and his earlier explanation did not make much sense.
It was the same agony that he felt hearing that his mother had cancer. It led him to join the UWG Marines, to become a medic, and to watch helplessly as his best friend died in his arms. To him, it was all too familiar. It was that misery and suffering that led him to drink, to attempt suicide, to being locked in the game by the military. They called it prolonged exposure. It was supposed to treat his PTSD. The experimental version of therapy was used to normalize the trauma and teach him how to handle his flashbacks. When combined with the mood-stabilizing effects of the neural link, it was supposed to be a cure. He knew it was doing something. What he struggled with was how he could help his friend, especially when he was looking for answers himself.
It was dark before the two stopped and nocturnal animals, sensing a slight release in the tension scuffled about to move out of the adventurers’ paths. To signal his intention to break for the night, Eli threw down his broken axe, grunted, and started clearing an area to make camp. Less than ten minutes later, they had a clear area and a fire going. The task went quickly, as the two kept to themselves, craftin makeshift bedding from leaves and soft earth. Having left their bedrolls and a tarp behind, the night would be less than comfortable.
The sounds of animals had stopped while they made camp, being replaced by the songs of hundreds of chirping insects. To Eli, it was both calming and slightly unnerving. While serene, the situation reminded both travelers of the night before. The idea that there could be more bears waiting to attack them caused them to be on guard. Bears were not what frightened Eli, and he knew that there were far greater dangers ahead. With every step forward, they were moving closer to danger.
“We need to rest, to get ready,” Eli spoke his first real words for the first time in hours. “That bear will soon be the least of our problems.”
To Eli’s surprise, Don didn’t respond. He threw a trail ration over the fire and sat in silence for a long moment.
After removing a piece of jerky from the fire, and scanning their spartan campsite the Turta spoke, “Look, man, I don’t know what happened to you or why you’re so pissed all the time. I just want yo
u to know that you’re not alone. We all have problems, and we all deal with them differently. Whenever you’re ready to talk about some real shit, I’m all ears. All of this,” he waved his hands around the camp, “It is what it is. This is our life, and for now, we have to deal with it as it comes. But we are all we got. Right here, at this moment, it’s just you and me. We’re battle buddies now if you like it or not. That means we got each other’s back, in or out of the shit.” Eli opened his mouth, but Don kept talking, not giving him a chance to speak. “I’m not finished. You saved my ass back there with that bear. I’m not going to forget that. Whatever you’re going through, you gotta get that shit out. I’ve felt pain, and not getting it out landed me here.” He stood and walked over to Eli, stretching out his hand. “As I’ve said, you’re the only friend I’ve got in this game. Scratch that, you’re one of the few friends I have left, period. I mean, we’ve been together for a few days now. Do you see anyone coming to visit me, or even messaging me? Nope. So I’m not going anywhere. We’re in this together, all of it.”
Eli reciprocated his friend’s handshake, with a newfound admiration, and gripped it tightly, “Seems like we’re all each other got. Besides, I need you to explain this game, and I need to understand exactly what’s going on. If we’re going to save those people back in Dawnport, I need to know everything I can.”
Shaking his hand, a grin on his face, Don settled the matter, “I’ll do my best, but first, let’s get some rest. Because we’ve got to get up early if we plan on making it to that temple.”
For the rest of the night, the two spent their time making idle chatter, filling their stomachs with stale travel rations, and securing their sleeping area. As they sat, enjoying their peaceful evening, a warm breeze filled their small campsite with the scents of oak-moss, pine, and a smoldering fire instead of death and rotting flesh. For the first time since Eli was remade, his mind felt at ease. Moments later, both adventurers crashed from nearly two days of non-stop travel as their weary heads hit their makeshift pillows.
In the early morning, a loud pop sounded off at the campsite, waking Eli from his dreamless slumber. With his frayed nerves still on high alert, he opened his eyes and prepared for combat. In an instant, his broken axe was in hand, and he was on his feet, albeit halfway in his bedroll and still in his small-clothes. It was still somewhat dark, as the sun had yet to peek over the eastern hills. After taking a second to steady his nerves, he noticed that it was still about an hour or two before dawn. His eyes adjusted to the dim light as he scanned the area in a panic, but found no enemies. Instead, and to his surprise, he found that Don was already awake, had a small cooking fire going on the other side of camp, and he was making breakfast. If you could call the warmed up expired rations, and a quarter loaf of brick-like bread breakfast. Another loud pop sounded off as a log let off super-heated air.
“Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Don spoke softly. “I woke up and got restless. I can’t shake this feeling that something is watching us.” He pulled the dried and salted mystery meat off of a stick and tossed it at Eli, making him drop what was left of his axe, “I haven’t seen anything, it’s still. Oh, and we have a problem. We’re almost out of food. If we’re going to avoid the starvation debuff, we need to hunt and forage from here on out.” With a frown, he pulled his chunk of strange-looking meat off of a stick, jammed it into the center of warm stale bread, and wolfed it down, “Oh, and we’re almost out of water too. We should have asked Alyssa for more supplies.”
Eli mimicked his friend and inhaled his meal, “There’s plenty of small game on the way, and there’s that river we need to follow to get to the temple, anyway.” His words stumbled out between bites, “Besides, she wouldn’t have given us anything anyway, they’re almost out of everything. I checked.” He looked back towards the direction of his former cabin longingly, and sighed, “I wish we would have stopped by my old cabin, but we have about another day ahead of us, and we’re already cutting it close.” He shifted his feet and inspected his surroundings, trying to see if he could see what Don was talking about, “But if you think something is following or watching us, we should keep a sharp eye. There have been reports of the Blight landing on the northern edge of Scorn, and from what we know, they are true. It may have made its way to the temple. The last time I went out there, I saw some strange bi-pedal tracks and these weird stick goblins.”
The rest of the morning flew by as they hurriedly finished the last of their food and packed up their campsite before heading deeper into the Wildwood. If they wanted to gain on their prey, they had to head northeast for roughly half a day, skirting the hills that his cabin was backed up against. After running into a river that split the middle of what was once a small mountain, they would turn further west until they reached the temple.
They traveled at a slow jog, conserving energy while they talked. Eli’s mind was still reeling from what Don had said, but a new focus on understanding his situation filled his mind. He had a lot of questions about leveling up, the rest of the game system, and his place in the game. If he could cure the blight and find out what was going on with his code, this would be his life, possibly forever. Being an adventurer was both thrilling and terrifying. All he had ever known was an urge to grow old and happy with his family, tucked away in their cabin in the woods. Now, that was no longer an option. He needed something to live for. Maybe that would be his new friends and the people of the slums.
The sun, having broken the crest of the mountains, washed over the hiking trail that Eli had used to get to the ruins. Streams of daylight and warmth cascaded through the forest, the sight filling him with hope. Eli slowed his steps and looked over his body with hesitation. “So, the first thing I need to know about is attributes. I know what they do, my guide Aida and you told me, but I have some points to distribute, and the thought of messing with the physical and mental properties of my body seems disturbing. I’ve only used two so far.” Eli’s words were hesitant as if even thinking about increasing his strength would turn him into some hulking beast. Then he dug into the heart of his issues, “I mean, does it hurt?”
Don chuckled, “Nah, man, it feels great if you feel anything at all, but don’t go spending those points willy nilly, you’re going to need them. You gain stats by working out and shit right, but some grow more slowly than others. For example, spirit and intelligence can take forever to level up, especially early on, or if all you’re doing is fighting. You don’t get a lot of book learning done, or time to pray while killing zombies and wild animals, but you get buff as hell.” He placed an arm on a fallen tree then leaped over it like a gymnast, “Do you know what build you want to do? I mean, have you thought about what class you want to be?”
Eli followed suit, albeit in a far less graceful manner than the agile monk, “Not really, I mean I don’t even know what classes there are, or what they do?”
Don clapped. “Well, this will take a minute. So, pay attention because the options are nearly endless. But don’t worry because they come down to a few standard types. You have your melee fighters, like me. Their job is to do a ton of damage, take a bunch of damage, or sometimes buff or debuff. There're knights, fighters, and barbarians who can stand toe to toe with just about anything out there and hold them off for as long as it takes, or there are sneaky rogues who pop out of the shadows and murder shit in one hit.”
“Okay, so I guess I’m a fighter because I use an axe and fight up close?” Eli asked, unease in his voice. “Or I used to at least.” He said, placing a hand on his broken weapon.
“Nah, man, let me finish. You’ve also got your ranged damage dealers. These are archers, crossbowmen, and certain types of assassins and ninjas that use exotic weapons like kunai and blowguns. Anyone can make ranged attacks by throwing things or picking up a bow, but a Ranger with a longbow or a Combat Engineer with a repeating crossbow will lay down the hurt from a distance. Shit, most of the time, you’ll just die and not know what hit you.” He mimicked the
actions of an archer stalking through the woods, before nearly tripping on an exposed root. “Take that Elf dude, as an example. He was probably going for a sniper, or assassin build. Silent, quick, and deadly.”
“Then you have magic users. You know wizards and the like. Fireballs that wipe out an entire area, magic missiles that rain death from a distance, and lightning bolts that zap the shit out of anyone standing too close to each other. There is a bunch of different magic and even more ways to practice it. The main types are arcane, nature, and spiritual. Arcane is your standard Wizard, Spell-Blade, or Sorcerer. They shape mana with their mind to do basically whatever the hell they want.” Don pressed his hands together, before pretending to shoot something out of his palm while making an explosion noise, “Druids, Rangers, Shifters, and Naturalists are the type that bends nature to their will. They can create water from thin air, bring trees to life, heal, call down a plague of poisonous insects, or straight up turn into huge beasts and eat your ass. Next, you have spiritual magic users, and these are your priests, paladins, clerics, Summoners, and certain monks. These are your healers, buffers, and divine damage dealers. If you have a horde of undead on your hands, get ahold of a cleric and a paladin, bam, consider that shit handled. You want someone to summon angels, demons, or strange ass marshmallow looking healer pets call a summoner. I’ve heard that those fuckers can even summon dragons and shit when they get strong enough.”
“There are a lot of other classes and playstyles too. I’m going for a monk build, you know punchy-punchy, it’s both melee and spiritual. But there’s this spiritual healer class that seems right up my alley. It’s got damage, debuffs, and close-quarters heals that have low mana and stamina costs with low cooldowns. The problem is, no one has found an instant heal, only channeling. Oh, and I have to give up stamina and mana, on top of needing to touch my target physically.” He shot a few fists out, snapping off a low hanging cluster of pine needles. “Kind of like a Shaolin Monk, but way more badass.” Don’s voice grew somber, “I don’t like to fight unless I have to, or someone really deserves an ass-kicking. So I’m trying to find a way to keep my buddies alive while being able to protect myself.” As he spoke, a solemn look fell over Dons' face for the briefest of moments. Like he had seen a ghost. “For a second, I thought about going the scorching soul route, laser beams from the hands, a cloak of fire and shit. You know what I’m talking about,” He said, raising his hands in front of his chest, forming a V shape and screaming, “Kah-Meh,” before chuckling under his breath. “But, that’s not my style. This isn’t some crazy anime.”
Ascension Page 29