by Tim Johnson
“An ideal chance for you two to level,” he called out to them as the team backed away from them into the tunnel and out the way they had come.
They’ve abandoned us.
The monster turned around to face the pair of them
Christian swallowed.
Shit.
It stepped forward, licking its lips like Christian and Alexia would be an easy snack. The monster now stood directly under the big stalactite. Christian quickly equipped the glowing bauble bomb and took a calming breath.
Like a baseball pitcher, he loaded his throw and heaved the bauble straight and true at the stalactite. The explosion rocked the cavern and debris showering down. But the stalactite somehow still stood still, very attached to the cavern ceiling.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
With quick steps the Savage paced towards them. It had around half its health left. Christian ran the math, that was around 500 HP or more, and he was causing 30 HP damage if he used Ice Strike and about 24 if he wasn’t. He needed 20 good blows.
His own health had slowly crept up to just 30/100 HP.
So, he also couldn’t get hit once and needed to hit the big bastard twenty times. Christian didn’t fancy his chances. Not at all.
He grabbed Alexia. “Listen, I’ll distract it. You escape.”
Christian leapt down from the ledge while the monster ran at them.
He landed hard and had to immediately throw himself out the way to dodge the creature’s charge. The monster slammed into the back of the cavern, causing more debris to fall from the cavern ceiling.
We are going to bring this whole place down on us if we are not careful.
Christian used the distraction to open that dark icy pit inside of him and struck the creature with his Ice Strike attack causing 30 damage. A blue bar under his health dropped down.
Ice Strike I
Damage: 30
Mana Cost: 25
Mana: 50/100
He had 50 mana left, enough for two more Ice Strikes exactly.
The creature turned, and now it was focused on Christian, with its back to the cavern wall.
“Alexia, get out of here!”
“Shut up!”
From her quiver she brought up another arrow and fired it at the Goblin. It exploded on the monster’s back, causing 20 damage, then she continued, each regular arrow causing between 6-10 damage, chipping away at its health.
The creature ignored Alexia and followed Christian, saliva swinging from its jaw.
Christian paced back as far as he could, until his back met the side wall of the cavern.
The Savage lifted its war hammer and closed the distance between them with great lumbering strides. Christian waited until the final second and then threw himself flat on the ground, hoping the swing would pass overhead.
But the blow missed but the Goblin’s foot didn’t. Christian felt the air in his lungs leave him as he sailed against the cavern wall.
Damage: 23 HP
Christian’s Health: 7/100
He didn’t need the notification. He could feel how bad it was. He looked down to see his sword arm twisted at an obscene angel. Useless. It felt like everything on his right side was broken. Perhaps he had only survived because it wasn’t deemed an official attack.
The creature bore a toothy smile of triumph, salivating, and lumbered towards Christian hungrily.
Damn Sulfur. He thought of Sulfur’s smiling face as he abandoned them with his last words. “Level up.”
Level up, he thought with a start. Level up!
Christian opened his Status Screen and quickly scrolled to his new ability:
Frost Bolt I
You channel your frost magic into a bolt of rock-hard projected ice. If successful, the frost bolt deals 40+ ice damage, more if opponents have a weakness to ice.
Range: 10-60 feet.
Cost: 30 mana
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
He had 50 mana left. Enough for one shot.
The creature was almost on him.
Christian managed to stand. Deep inside he knew how to do this. The knowledge was already part of him.
He held his unbroken left hand out in front of him and ice magic began to swirl around his palm. He then launched it at the stalactite that hung above the goblin savage’s head.
And missed.
The Frost Bolt hurtled past and smashed into the cavern ceiling just beyond, and a cascade of debris fell near the entrance to the cavern.
The monster gurgled a laugh as it stepped towards Christian. But the falling debris didn’t stop, in fact they got louder as larger and larger chunks of the ceiling poured down filling the entrance with rock.
The monster turned and looked at the entrance and then swung its head back at Christian. Christian could see fear in its small pig-like eyes.
In a great movement, like an inverted tidal wave the cavern ceiling caved in, the rocks smashing down like meteors. A huge rock wave swept the monster from its feet, and on its back, it became buried beneath a mass of rubble.
Christian covered up, pressing his back against the wall, expecting the rest of the celling to fall in and kill him too, but it was over.
He coughed in the dust and squinted up to see the stubborn stalactite still hanging from the remaining cave ceiling as dust clogged the air around it.
A rumble from the pile of rocks in front of him snapped Christian’s attention back ahead.
It can’t still be alive.
He bent down and picked up his sword with his left hand.
The rocks shifted, and the great arching back of the Goblin Savage lifted. Its big head rose from the rubble and its black eyes met Christian’s own.
Just then, the stalactite finally fell. It dropped and pierced the Goblin Savage’s back like a giant icepick, finally killing the boss creature.
Christian breathed a sigh of relief. The dust cleared and he could see the Savage’s eyes were open but unseeing.
A small trumpet sounded in Christian’s ears.
You Killed the Goblin Savage!
Level Up!
Congratulations you are level 4!
+5 Stat points to distribute.
Level Up!
Congratulations you are level 5!
+5 Stat points to distribute.
Christian let out a crazed laugh and looked up to see Alexia peering down, her dark hair framing her face. She was beaming.
“We killed it!” she called.
Christian took a moment and leant back against the rock face. “Yeah, we did.”
“Loot the body. Hold your hand out towards it.”
Christian did what she said.
Loot Goblin Savage?
He thought ‘yes’.
Items received:
1 x Goblin Ruby
1 x Goblin Savage Heart
1 x Soul Crystal
Just then Kari’s little floating bauble blinked out, plunging them into complete and total pitch black.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Alexia yelled in the darkness.
12
Christian leant against the wall, clutching his messed-up arm in the pitch black, when he remembered he had his torch. He equipped it and it appeared, still burning, in his good hand.
“Nice,” Alexia said. “I’ve got something for you.”
She dropped him a Minor Healing Potion.
Christian laid the torch down and drunk the potion. The Healing Potion tasted flowery and refreshing and gave him 35 health back. It also mended his arm.
Incredible.
He flexed it, taking a moment to relish the recovery. His health was now at a much less critical 42 out of 100.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Now I am. What’s up with the sudden healing? One minute my arm was smashed, the next it was fine.”
“Once your health gets to critical, that’s below 10%, all bets are off. You can lose fingers, arms, get cut up, break bones.” She shrugged. “I know it doesn
’t make sense but that is how the world works here. However, once you’re out of combat your body will regenerate fast and you’ll naturally regain your health back and repair.”
“Right,” Christian said, remembering little Arthur Podsworth. “So, if I had lost my arm back there, it would grow back?”
“I don’t know,” Alexia said. “Do you want to find out?”
“No,” Christian said.
This world is nuts.
He picked up the torch and climbed up to the ledge where Alexia was. He inspected the tunnel at the top. The same tunnel that the little Goblin who had led them into this place had slithered into to escape.
If it escaped the cavern this way, perhaps we can too.
Christian kneeled and extended his burning torch as far as he could into the tunnel. It was tight, craggy and dark.
We should be able to fit in there, just.
He turned back to Alexia. “At least it’s a way out.
Alexia’s brow furrowed. “Christian, how did you know your icicle bomb would cave in the cavern? I didn’t know you even had that ability.”
“It’s called a Frost Bolt. I knew because I’m special forces, Alexia. That’s what we do.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, that’s your response? To growl that you’re special forces. Seriously? So, it wasn’t all just luck?”
Christian leaned back on the cavern wall. “No, just precise… aiming.”
“Sure,” Alexia said, “well, and I’m just a scientist, but I would say what you pulled off was statistically near-impossible and lucky as hell.”
I like this girl.
They stood in silence for a moment.
“You’re not just a scientist,” Christian said. “You’re a fighter too. You kicked all kinds of ass back there. You’re incredible with that bow.”
“Thanks. Well, I miss the days of being just a scientist.” She leant on the cavern wall next to him and followed his gaze back to the pile of rubble. “I’ve never been one for exploring dark caves, let alone forced down a dungeon where everything wants to kill us.”
Christian had not left his neighborhood until he signed up with the military. After that he travelled everywhere, moving from base to base. Before relations had soured with the Asian republic he had trained there. He had seen some incredible, tropical places with caves and waterfalls. Memories flashed in his mind of the service men and women bombing into the water, splashing around and letting off steam.
Christian had felt most at home in the mountains, with the fresh air, frosted peaks and the blunt honesty of the Altai people. However, he imagined that Alexia had got around much more, what with her fancy degrees and education.
“I didn’t travel at all,” Alexia said. “My dad passed away when I was six. My mom worked a tough, manual level-eight gig in New London. You know the PT?”
“Yeah, of course,” Christian said.
The PT were the pulse-trains; the quad-deck propulsion train network that powered though the American republic and stitched the great continent together. From the bottom of old-world Chile to the top of what used to be Canada, the train powered through desert and snow with equal unstoppable power.
Alexia continued. “My mom cleaned the hyper-conductors. Brutal work. She picked up every extra shift that she could to put me through school. If I ever wasn’t working hard enough, I’d think about her, hauling the conductors out one at a time, her hands cracked-through and bleeding from the chems. I just put my head down and worked and worked. Went straight to New London State Academy, stayed there through to my PhD and I jumped at the chance to work with your uncle. Did you know he volunteered, teaching a night class there? Giving back to the poor city kids. After all those years researching for free, I would be finally paid, and your uncle fought for me, he really did. I was paid well.”
He gave back to the kids without hope… kids like me.
Christian could see Alexia’s eyes start to shine with tears.
“I gave my first cheque straight to my mom. But she told me to keep it. She was so proud and told me all she had thought of was me and my future, how each conductor she cleaned was putting me that one step forward. But what she didn’t know was that I just needed to save a few more cheques, then I could take her away. I wanted us to both leave the city, for the first time together. I wanted her to ride the PT first class. Eat that fine food and watch the republic go by. We would go somewhere, anywhere out of the smog and dirt of New London. But then she got sick. By the time I had saved up the credits to take her, she was too ill to go.”
A tear slid down Alexia’s cheek.
“She died. Then James brought me into his secret. He had found the message, the call to Valeria. In the end, I never left New London.”
Christian gently put his hand on her shoulder. “You may not have left New London, but you discovered Valeria. You found an entire new world.”
“I’ve helped open a gate to hell, Christian,” Alexia answered. “That’s all I’ve done. My mom wasted her life trying to better things for me. All I have done is make everything worse.”
She swallowed and wiped her tears away. She gave a little sigh and straightened up. The moment was over. Christian could see her focus and Alexia the scientist re-emerge.
“Enough about me. We are wasting time. I still need to get you up to speed on the game mechanics of this place. Now we’ve both leveled up, there might be ways we can work together better that will help get us out of here. You have two special abilities, the strike with the sword and the icicle shot, right?”
“Ice Strike and Frost Bolt,” Christian corrected her.
“Okay, open your Status Screen and read me everything you see.”
Christian began to read:
Christian Lawson
Level 5
Build: KnightAffinity: Ice
Health: 42/100Mana 100/100
XP: 1425/1500
Stats:
Points to Distribute: 15
Strength 7 – Stamina 5 – Intelligence 8 – Dexterity 5 – Willpower 5
“Okay, nice,” Alexia said. “You’re almost at level 6 already. And you have 15 points to distribute… beating that damn Goblin Savage really was the best thing to happen to us. So, you’ve been putting most of your points in Intelligence?”
“The ice magic seems to catch people off guard. But I put points in Strength too, I need to get strong enough to cut Sulfur’s head off.”
“A Knight with ice magic…” Alexia said. “The only elemental knight I’ve heard of is the Fire Knight. He is one of Sarks’ most powerful weapons. I’ve heard people talk of the damage he can do. Yeah okay, I think that’s smart – keep investing in your Intelligence. But you fight with a one-handed blade, not a broadsword or a blunt weapon – so you should be investing in Dexterity not Strength. It’s important for you to be quick, and, Christian, just to check your expectations, the way we survive this is escaping from Sulfur. Trying to kill him only winds-up with us both being dead, again.”
“I need more health,” Christian said. “I’m getting smashed out there.”
“You won’t need more health if can avoid getting hit,” Alexia countered. “Here is where I am at.” She listed out her levels and abilities.
As Christian had suspected in the fighting pit, it turned out Alexia also had an affinity to the Blight magic. Acidic Blood gave her an immunity to poison and a significant resistance to damage from Blight.
Could this be because of her background? As a bio-mechanical engineer in our world, perhaps Valeria has carried her skills or experience across. And it certainly carried across things from me with the ice.
Alexia was now level 7. In terms of skills she had Searing Shot which gave her the powerful explosive arrows he had seen her use. Arrow Rain was an area attack allowing her to fire arrows super-fast, and Blind, which was an arrow that emitted smoke.
Since she had leveled up, she had just unlocked Blight I.
Just the thought of the Blight spell
made Christian’s skin crawl. It was a terrible way to die.
Alexia also had 5 points to distribute.
“Okay,” Christian said. “So, we should both put our points mostly in Intelligence and Dexterity. We are team of two behind enemy lines, and we don’t know what we are up against. Charging into the fight isn’t going to help us. We are going to have to be stealthy, in and out. If we get in trouble, we need to make sure our magic tricks can pack a punch.”
Alexia snorted. “Magic tricks? You want to shuffle cards in front of these Goblins?”
“Skills, powers, whatever,” Christian said, though he smiled back at her.
I do need more health though. Despite what Alexia said, he didn’t trust that he wouldn’t face Sulfur someday, and he needed to be able to at least take that 200 damage from the laser sword.
He recalled reading the descriptions of each stat: twenty health per stamina point and twenty mana per wisdom point.
So, I would need to put six or seven points in stamina to get to 220+ health. That’s almost half my points.
That was too much. Alexia was right, he did need to be better in combat.
God damn this is hard.
Christian made his decision. “I’m going to put 5 in Intelligence, 5 in Dexterity and 5 in Stamina. I’m one Goblin kill away from levelling up. When I do, I’m going to put one point in Stamina and split the rest between Dexterity and Intelligence.”
“I’m investing all mine in Intelligence and Dexterity,” Alexia said.
There was a moment of silence as they added their stat points. Christian took a moment to admire his new stat screen.
Christian Lawson
Level 5
Build: KnightAffinity: Ice
Health: 48/200Mana 100/100
XP: 1425/1500
Stats:
Points to Distribute: 0
Strength 7 – Stamina 10 – Intelligence 13 – Dexterity 10 – Willpower 5
Christian noticed that his MP and HP were refilling slowly while they had strategized and that wasn’t bad either.