Soulcatcher

by Sergey Zaytsev

  "Phantasmer"

  Level 3

  HP: 220

  A tall incorporeal, almost transparent, figure resembling a man in a shapeless robe appeared out of nowhere. It obviously got to the battlefield under invisibility. However, instead of attacking the player, the agent of Death clashed with its natural mortal enemy - the element of Life.

  It was a literal fight between Life and Death. And it was a pleasure to look at.

  The "Treant's" tactic consisted of lunges and attempts to entangle the enemy with its roots. The "Phantasmer" tore out and slipped away, hitting with outstretched claws. Both monsters were silent, one could only hear the crackling of wood and tight slaps of hardy blows. One of "Phantasmer's" successful attacks tore off one of the "Treant's" roots and tossed it to the side. The "Treant" returned the favor. Its roots flashed with poisonous green light and engulfed the opponent, tightly crisscrossing its torso. The "Phantasmer" twitched, as if in pain and his health bar sank considerably. Then it inflicted its special blow. "Treant's" roots got enveloped by some kind of black fog and crumbled to ashes, releasing the enemy from their tight grip.

  Life always had means against Death. And vice versa.

  With a crooked grin, I sat down and placed the "Uniq" across my knees. The circus was in town and I was without snacks. I could really use some now, but I had no food in the backpack. I could, of course, look in Grant's backpack, but bothering him wasn't worth it. I didn't want all this effort to go to waste because of something so silly.

  So I sat and carefully watched the battle as I waited for my moment.

  I wondered if the system would award me victory if they killed each other. It was better not to risk it. The battle lasted no more than a minute but it allowed me to restore a bit more mana. Exhausted by the fight, the opponents were barely moving; their existence displayed by a glimmer of their last HP. It was time.

  I calmly walked towards them and finished them off with a few basic strikes.

  The system happily reported that I was awarded another five hundred experience points.

  Fortunately, I managed to catch my breath as the time has come for the main event.

  Winking at Grant, who was following me closely, I threw the "Uniq" over my shoulder and went straight to the lake. The time has come to finish this.

  Game worlds were always quite densely populated and absolutely lifeless spaces weren't a common occurrence as you needed place where players would gain experience and level their skills. And such a secluded place, as the lake was, just couldn't be empty. A lake, a pool, or a swamp were perfect areas for a mini-boss or an elite mob, that is, mobs stronger than the regular ones. Not to mention that I was warned about it which meant that I should be ready for everything.

  As soon as I approached the shore, the center of the lake started to ripple. The map finally displayed the name of the location: "Lake of the Underwater Lord." Convenient. Any monster could be hiding in there. It only got the title of the "Lord" because it lived at the bottom of the lake. Grinning, I picked up some driftwood and threw it.

  It hit the water with a satisfying splash. The ripples intensified and water moved from the center in rapidly expanding circles. Clamping my nose with my fingers to block the stench of rotten eggs, I peered into the depth. However, the reflective surface of the lake prevented me from seeing anything. Where are you, you mysterious thing, living in the depths of the lake? Show yourself. We'll get to know each other. However, I can't promise that the acquaintance will be mutually pleasant. Still, it would certainly be interesting –for me, that is.

  I had just pulled the "Uniq" off my shoulder, when the rose in a raging wave. Something dark and huge, the size of a rhino, rushed towards me, crushing the sedge bushes with massive fin like feet and ploughing a wide fissure in the mud with its body.

  The attack was so swift that it blurred my vision, making it hard to see. Realizing that the bulldozer like beast could simply crush me, I let out an involuntary cry and tumbled sideways. And yet I didn't dodge it in time. The incoming blow hit hard enough to throw me a dozen or two feet away. Not managing to stay on my feet, I collapsed onto my side and slid down the slippery slope right towards the foaming water. Barely succeeding to slow down at the edge of the shore, my boots sunk halfway into the mud.

  Truth be told, despite the shock, the pain was not too strong. The blow landed onto my right thigh, which was now burning, as if hit with a stick. It was quite tolerable. With a slurping sound, I pulled my feet out of the mud and jumped up. Weapon in hand, I turned to face the enemy. The enemy? Since that was Grant's future pet, I couldn't slay it. Not that I could, even if I wanted to.

  Having sprinted a few dozen feet the creature barely managed to stop its massive form. Dirt and grass sprayed from under the wide grasping feet like a fountain. And, with amazing clumsiness, the beast began to turn towards me…

  What was the beast like, you ask? It was an oversized turtle. However, its size did inspire involuntary awe. Its black shell, overgrown with dirty green kelp, seemed no less than seven feet long and three and a half feet wide. What's more, the creature had two heads. Perched on long, flexible necks, thick lipped and sharp toothed, they peered from underneath the shell. Two pairs of angry black eyes stared at me. Both mouths hissed loudly.

  The tooltip, which appeared slightly on the side, had no valuable information.

  "Turtangle"

  Level 5

  HP: 550

  A stylized crown with three prongs was displayed before the name indicating that the mob was an elite one. Without waiting for the slow creature to turn around completely, or for its ability to recharge, I let out a battle cry. I rushed towards the "Turtangle" and slashed its left neck as hard as I could. As expected, the sword barely cut through the black skin, leaving behind only a thin strip of blood.

  I bounced off, building up distance.

  It was barely a scratch, let alone a hit; all due to the significant difference in levels. Victory would, of course, bring solid experience, but I had a different task. The main thing was to focus the "Turtangle's" attention on me.

  Turning away, I rushed across the plowed ground towards the "Altar". One needed to follow their mentor's instructions to the letter. A heavy, thumping sound came from behind me and the ground trembled. I couldn't stumble now, or else it would run me over like a steamroller.

  I ran past the "Altar" and stood behind Grant's back.

  The "Turtangle" steadily stomped towards us resembling a bony island with four feet and two skulls. Its heads swayed in the rhythm of its steps. Judging by the bristles on its jaws, I could bet that it had been sleeping blissfully at the bottom of the lake for a while now. Snoring with its four nostrils, it listened to the cozy rustle of the rain on the surface... And then a player came out of nowhere and disturbed its slumber. I understood it very well.

  Thirty feet... fifteen.…

  Feeling tension, I gripped the sword tightly, preparing to leap backwards. If Grant was wrong, the monster would just trample the "Altar" and then smear the mentor and me across the ground.

  The moment of truth!

  The massive body collided with the "Altar"…

  ...and the "Pet Seed" flashed with a rainbow glow! Six crystals shot thin threads towards the monster's head, instantly paralyzing the mighty creature. The "Turtangle's" legs bent and it dropped onto its bone belly. Carried by inertia, it kept sliding towards us.

  A moment before the collision, Grant rolled to one side, and I jumped to the other. Like an icebreaker, the "Turtangle" slid a dozen feet more before it came to a halt. The "Seed" began the process of genetically binding the creature to its new owner. The grass around the massive carcass started to turn gray and wither right before our eyes. The transformation harvested energy from the surrounding nature.

  Congratulations! You completed the first stage of the story related quest "Loyal friend"- "Attack of the Elements"!

  XP earned: 2000

  Congratulations! You reached level 3! />
  Current XP: 1238/2250

  You receive 2 skill points. Use the skill tree to distribute them.

  Added entry to the bestiary…

  "Mighty fine resolve you have there, Wise," Grant let out a relieved laugh, giving me a mighty pat on the shoulder. I could take such a friendly beating this time around. My mentor's face was wet from sweat but radiating happiness. "By the way, you look like a beggar."

  "Look who's talking," panting, I couldn't hold back the goofy grin which stretched from ear to ear. Euphoria, a wonderful feeling of a job well done, drove away the fatigue and dampened the pain from scratches and bruises.

  "Yeah," he nodded, "My clothes are so wet that you could squeeze the sweat out of them. Let's go take a bath in the lake."

  "Won't the 'Turtangle's' lovely neighbor crawl out?" Extremely suspicious, I was unwilling to get involved in a new adventure. "How fast does it respawn?"

  "The beast is rare, and since I've tamed it, not killed it, it will not respawn," Grant wearily waved his hand. "The lake will be empty for some time, and then some rare animal will settle in. When that time comes, if everything goes according to my plan, we'll no longer be in this location. The lake's new resident will not concern us."

  "So we did it? It worked?"

  "Hell yea it worked, Wise, my man. We have a 'tank' now. And, by the way," Grant chuckled shyly, fiddling with his beard, "Any idea how to name it? Nothing original comes to mind..."

  Chapter 7

  "A short rest"

  I stayed behind for a bit in order to assess my condition. When I caught up with Grant, he was already sitting at the lake, smoking a pipe. Evading the mud that rose from the bottom, I went into the water, washed away the sweat and dirt from my face, neck and hands. When I got out and sat down, the first question my mentor had was about the crystals.

  "Did you pick up everything?"

  "Yes," I fumbled through my bag and presented to him the six smoky-gray crystal hexagons which I had picked up from the bodies of my vanquished opponents. Putting them back into the bag, I enviously glanced at his pipe. "I thought you said that the 'sandbox' doesn't have an economic system and that mobs only drop thrash. But you have things that don't fit your class; like the dagger and the pipe. Where did you get them?"

  "Well, it's not always thrash. Sometimes you can get soul crystals. Like the ones you got during this quest. However, you mustn't spend these. Crystals from other mobs are good for barter with the 'Watchers' and Mr. Esco. You can get a lot of useful things from them."

  "The pipe is from Mr. Esco then?"

  "Just the dagger. The pipe and the tobacco are from Ears, "Tincture of Health", too. He is a herbalist, an alchemist and an artificer who knows what to collect and where to find it. Here, only the 'Watchers' have professions. If you need anything, tell me, and I'll point you to the right person. Here, have a smoke."

  I didn't refuse, as I really wanted to taste the local tobacco. Perhaps I was an avid a smoker in my past life, and maybe old habits really died hard. I took the pipe from Grant and sucked on the mouthpiece. Taking a deep breath was bad idea. I coughed, eyes filled with burning tears. It felt as if I had scalded my lungs with boiling water. However, I felt much better the next moment. The cough subsided and my muscles relaxed. My head felt lighter, and the surrounding light seemed brighter. No, wait, the morning was nearing. Messing with the quest took all night, but my mentor had kept his promise - I gained two levels.

  "This is great, I should go see Ears and get something similar," I regretfully returned the pipe to Grant. "What do the 'Caretakers' do with the crystals?"

  "They are expendable so they use them as batteries. The crystals power up everything. For example, it takes at least five crystals to resurrect an avatar in the 'Replicator'. Ok, enough for now. We'll talk later. Did you allocate your skill and stat points? Do that now. As soon as the 'Turtangle' wakes up, we move to the 'Outpost'. We need to level up while we are ahead."

  He had a point there. We should use this resting time to take care of the skill points. It was an interesting activity in any case.

  Currently, I had 160 health and energy points, 100 mana points and all of my basic stats had increased to 12. The "Uniq" didn't just become more powerful, having increased its slashing and cutting damage from 21 to 25 and 24 to 30 respectively; it also changed its name. Dropping the "old" from its title, it was now just "The Sword of the Fallen Warrior". At first glance, however, its exterior seemed unchanged. I put it on my knees and gave it a closer look. The steel did, upon closer inspection, appear less rough, as if someone recently tried to polish it, but gave up halfway. It was very curious. Dare I say, fascinating, even. The sword really improved as I did.

  Now to deal with the rest of the goodies. I kept it simple with the skill points. After toying with it for a bit, I found out that no matter which window you put the new skills in, no new skills would appear in the "roots" section. Frustrated, invested one point in both passives: "Elemental Precision", now rank 2, allowed non-physical attacks to ignore 4% of the target's resistance; and "Elemental Power", still at rank 1 increased the chance to trigger blade buffs by 3%. Well, those two were currently my bread and butter. I had already figured out that the passive skill ranks were limited by points invested and had a limit, and that active skills improved with the player's level. The more one uses the skill, the better it got. I had no trouble deciding where to put ten main characteristics points. "Shield of the Novice" still blocked 70% of incoming damage. Judging by the results of the previous battles, I had enough natural agility, and no matter how much one raised their mana, it would never be enough. That is, it would always get drained at the beginning of the battle, no matter if you tried to save it or not. That wouldn't be a problem in the case of a short fight, but in the case of a longer one… I concluded that he best course of action would be to maximize my physical damage, as the sword would never fail. So I put it all of the points in the good old strength.

  I also noticed that the amount of XP required to get to the next level was always one and a half times more than for the previous one. I tried to calculate how much one would have to suffer in order to get to level six, but quickly got lost. Math was not my strong side. Then again, I could just ask…

  "Grant, how much XP do you need to reach level eight?"

  "Eleven thousand and something. Did you sort it out? Good, save it."

  "How do I do that?"

  "Sit quietly for a minute. Try to relax and clear your mind of any unnecessary thoughts. Just do as I say, you'll understand why."

  I closed my eyes.

  It was a solid advice. Although I had calmed down after the fight, my muscles still trembled with stress and adrenaline. One more drag from the pipe wouldn't hurt. It was easy to say "clear your mind of any unnecessary thoughts" but when you had so many of those…

  So much had happened in such a short time, leaving me overwhelmed and mentally fatigued. Physically, I was more or less fine. Though, it would be nice to go to the inn and have a rest. However, Grant was right, we were on the clock and we had to level up while we still could. Rest will have to wait. I should also remember to officially introduce myself to Mr. Esco by midnight. A formality, but it was better not to neglect it. He was also the one who let me complete the second stage of the quest "A Loyal Friend" – "A Battle Trophy". I scrolled through the bestiary, but found nothing useful in the monsters' descriptions. All I needed to know I had already learned in battle…

  I cursed under my breath. I could lie to myself all I wanted but my thoughts still revolved around that damn letter. It was useless to complain that this was happening, and to wonder who I had annoyed so much in that other world. None of that mattered here. I drew some conclusions out of Grant's explanation of the game's penal system. Pretending to be someone else, as I had advised myself in the letter, wouldn't work. The warning came late; my own attitude would betray me. With the sassy nickname that I had it was useless to pretend to be Mr. Goodie-two-shoes.


  Therefore, I had two options – to be either passive or aggressive. I could either wait to be attacked and allow myself to get killed for the second time; or kill my attacker before he kills me. In the first scenario, as shitty as it was, I'd have one more life left and would stay in the "sandbox" while my assassin would be sent to the ""Inferno. Laws of the game were the same for everyone, after all. In the second scenario, which was no less shittier than the first, I kill my killer and get sent to the "Inferno". The killer could, if he was crazy enough to do so, follow me there but chances that he'd be sent to the same world as me were close to zero. The "Inferno", after all, picked one of the infinite number of worlds at random.

  However, there was a third scenario.

  Not only could my personal assassin kill me, other players could too. The mobs would not be any less merciful. "Servants of the Destroyer" were dangerous creatures, especially the ones in the dungeon which were much stronger than those roaming the surface. Chance of getting killed by them was much higher. As soon as the number of saves decreased, I would become extremely vulnerable.

  If I understood the situation correctly, the best strategy was to kill the player while they had only one life left: The killer would lose only one save and avoid the "Inferno". I should not let that happen. I wanted all of my lives to be safe and sound. I should also get more of those. Having leveled twice, I have already accumulated twenty save points. I needed to find out what other jobs one could do to earn them and saving up for another save.

  Foxy and Pops. Only they appeared in the "sandbox" at the same time as me. Pops was a seasoned man. Why couldn't he be my assassin? But the girl should not be ignored, either. A savvy killer should look harmless, and people rarely suspected the girl. The harmless ones were always the most dangerous – you could never guess when they would backstab you.

  I raised my hand and, wiggling my fingers, gazed thoughtfully at the papillary lines on my palm. A real body, not a virtual one. I still couldn't get used to the idea. I had memory issues, that was a fact. Was my memory artificially altered? I don't recall such advanced technology existing in the world I was snatched out of. Well, I didn't remember a damn thing about that world. Or about myself. Where was I born? How did I get created in the "Replicator"? I couldn't alter my own mind, but someone else could. No, nothing like that existed in my reality. Was it something experimental then? Did the other "me", the one pulling the strings, sign me up for this? Did he create the avatar? I hope he was at least getting a good pay for this.