The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1)

by Craig Kobayashi

  "I think you're right," Garath noted, impressed with their efficiency. "Well," he said, parking his butt in the sand, "this would be a wonderful time for a Corona."

  "Cheers to that," Athios agreed and took a seat in the sand next to him, then gestured to Daisy to join them. The little Elementalist eyed Garath suspiciously before sitting in the sand with Athios between her and the Raid Leader.

  "That's a pretty cool way to use your Skill," said Garath. "How did you think of that?"

  Daisy looked at Athios, who nodded comfortingly, before replying. The words flowed from Daisy’s mouth at the speed of sound.

  “I didn't know it would kill the fish. I just got mad because Gary caught one and I wanted to catch one but we were just sitting there for EVER and Gary's like, 'be patient' and I'm like, 'how do the fishes know if I'm being patient' you know? So then I got super mad and used blast and they popped up dead in the water like that. Gary said people do that kind of thing on purpose with dynamite and he thought it was funny that blast fishing is what they call it. But like, if people can just do that on purpose, why do people just sit there for EVER with bait on a hook in the water?"

  Garath made a face. "How did you even say all of that without breathing? You know what, never mind. I have a long answer and a short answer," he told her.

  "Short answer," Daisy decided, nearly instantly.

  "It's cheating."

  "Cheating? Don't we need to get fish so that people can eat? Who are we cheating?" she asked indignantly, her hands flying out to her sides.

  Garath gave that a moment's thought and laughed. "Well, it WAS cheating. Back when we could just buy fish at the grocery store..."

  "That's a really good point," Daisy agreed fervently. "You can just buy fish at the store! Why do people even go fishing at all?"

  "That one I can answer, but there isn't a short one and a long one. Just a long one," Gary chimed in, still supervising his boys from the shore and, much to Daisy's relief, had his shirt back on.

  "I don't really care that much," Daisy said. She yawned expansively and laid back into the warm sand.

  "So G," said Athios, who had been listening quietly and tugging on a lock of shiny black hair, "why don't you pull out that egg and let us have a look?"

  Daisy sat back up with a start and looked inquiringly at the Necrologist. "Egg?"

  "Yeah, I got a reward for being the Raid Leader of a group that defeated over one-thousand monsters without any members dying. It's an egg. The description said it would stay in stasis if I left it in my Items panel but would hatch if taken out and cared for. Thing is, I don't know how to 'care for' some mystery egg so I was kind of nervous about taking it out," Garath explained.

  "Wait," Daisy said, her expression perplexed. "Didn't YOU die?"

  "That's right. You did die," Athios agreed, nodding.

  "I got better..." Garath said, shoulders dropping slightly.

  "Can we see it?" Daisy asked.

  "Yeah! Can we see it?" Athios seconded.

  "Can we? Can we?" Gary asked in a mocking high-pitched voice with both hands under his chin, cradling his bearded face. Everyone burst out in a fit of laughter at the burly man.

  "Alright," Garath conceded. "If you guys help me figure out whatever caring for it means, then I'll pull it out. Deal?"

  "Deal," said Daisy before Garath even finished proposing the deal.

  "Deal," Athios said.

  "No deal, eggs aren't my thing. I just want to see it," said Gary honestly and shrugged.

  Garath smiled and willed his MENU panels into existence. A holographic, semi-transparent set of panels panned across his vision, split vertically into three sections. In the middle were listed the MENU options.

  MENU

  Items

  Profile

  Profession

  Skills

  Summoned Creatures

  BeastScape

  Friends

  World

  He focused on the Items panel and a nearly empty grid-space appeared in the right third of his vision. Beside the useless staff and silly hat that he had acquired for choosing the Necrologist class was the little, silver Egg icon. He mentally expressed his desire to retrieve the Egg, then reached into the fold in space that appeared in response. Garath pulled his hand from the black disk and it disappeared. He dismissed his Menu panels, then looked down at his open palm.

  The miniscule silver egg lying in his palm was the last thing he expected. It was only the size of his thumbnail and felt warm to the touch. A faint silvery glow surrounded it and Garath could swear he felt a weak pulse, the world’s tiniest heartbeat. A strong feeling of connection swept over him, like whatever would hatch from the egg was truly meant for him personally - not just any Raid Leader that had accomplished the same feat. No sooner than he started to think of how to care for the egg, a prompt appeared.

  You have found a Consecrated Egg. Plant it in nutrient rich soil and water it each morning at sunrise for three consecutive days.

  Note: the placement of its planting and the purity of the water provided will affect the creature inside for its entire life, choose well.

  Quest: Water for the Egg

  It is clear that your Egg is from another world. To integrate successfully to Earth, its inhabitant requires fresh, spring water. Acquire fresh, spring water, plant the egg, and water it each morning at sunrise for three consecutive days.

  Success rewards: unknown

  Failure penalty: none

  Garath just sat in the sand silently with a confused expression, staring down at the little egg. He had expected it to hatch after he walked a certain distance with it, or kept it near his body heat, or ... well, pretty much anything except planting it. Daisy and Athios had moved in and were both leaning over his open palm, looking down at the silver, pulsating egg in wonder.

  "Well?" Athios said, shaking the Necrologist from his perplexed silence.

  Without an answer from the befuddled Raid leader, Gary spoke up. "Maybe we could make a tiny omelette?"

  Garath looked up at him in horror as he gently but protectively closed his hand around the tiny egg and pulled it away from the bearded man.

  "I have to plant it," he told them, still eyeing Gary dubiously. "And I got a quest."

  "Plant it?" Daisy asked. “An egg? Isn't that weird?"

  "Yeah, it is a bit. I'm not sure what to make of it," said Garath.

  "So your egg is a seed," Athios deduced. "Is it going to be a plant?"

  "Didn't say," Garath told her. "It only referred to what is inside as the 'egg's inhabitant'."

  "Hmm," Athios hmm'd. "What's the quest?"

  "I haven't got a quest yet, I want a quest..." Daisy pouted, her shoulders sinking.

  "Well, the Item description said to plant it in nutrient rich soil and then water it with spring water each morning at sunrise for three days. Then mentioned that higher quality water would yield better rewards. The quest is to get high quality spring water," Garath relayed the information to them, wondering where the closest fresh water spring was.

  "You're in luck," said Gary. "The artesian spring in Lynnwood has the best drinking water on Earth, some say."

  "Off 164th?" Athios asked.

  "That's the one. Free water, but there's always a huge line... Though, I guess probably less now." Gary scratched his beard thoughtfully.

  The five boys, now finished hauling in the salmon, rested happily in the sand, letting the last warm rays of golden sun dry the salty water from their skin. Braden tied the four corners of the fish filled blanket together, creating a convenient, albeit heavy, sack to carry the fish back to BOTH HQ before joining his brother and cousins on the beach.

  After an hour or so of discussing the egg and G's quest, Athios' Ally Transport Skill aided the group in getting back to HQ in thirty-meter increments - but transporting herself and eight party members drained her Mana significantly faster than it had to transport just herself and the Raid Leader. She did manage to get them within a fe
w blocks of the converted school building before bottoming out. Her head fuzzy and pounding from the fast depletion of Mana, the Dimensionalist sunk to her knees.

  "Are you okay?" Garath asked urgently as Athios knelt, dazed, on the asphalt.

  "Yeah, just..." she trailed off.

  "Mana depletion." He recognized the symptoms and understood. "We can hoof it the rest of the way. Can you walk?"

  "You guys go ahead. I’ll be right behind you," said Athios, struggling to clear her head.

  Garath looked at her through concerned and glowing eyes. "Just go Cat form, I'll carry you back."

  She looked up at him, the twilight hour and the Necrologist's intense appearance - coupled with a mind addled from Mana depletion - made her feel like she was truly living in a game. He could have been a quest-issuing NPC or even the evil wizard awaiting her at the end of a dungeon.

  "Athios?" he asked.

  "Yeah, cat form. Thanks," she said. She activated her BeastScape Ability, that thankfully didn't come with a Mana cost, and transformed. In her feline form, Athios was a scrawny, orange-and-white tortoiseshell with short, wiry hair.

  Garath leaned over and scooped Athios into his arms. Her slight form felt boney and fragile to the Necrologist, like he may break her if he squeezed too tight. He cradled her close to his chest and they set off.

  Athios dozed, unintentionally purring in his embrace as he, Daisy, Gary, and the boys made their way through the empty city streets. For reasons she didn't understand, being in his arms comforted the Dimensionalist. This man she had met only days ago. They had fought together, laughed desperately together, and survived together. His sense of humor and inspiring confidence, even in the direst of circumstances, had endeared the Necrologist to her. Though her headache had eased and her mind was clearing, Athios remained in House Cat form, comfortable in his arms for the remainder of the walk.

  Chapter 25

  Guild?

  Garath sat alone with his back to the wall in the old classroom he and Warrion were sharing as living quarters. He would have preferred his own room of course but, even in the spacious three-story building, with more survivors coming to BOTH HQ each day seeking shelter, food, and safety, space was quickly becoming a premium. Warrion wasn't such a bad roommate, Garath decided after a few days. With his two-decade gamer's education, the Necrologist had actually found himself enjoying spending the time between retiring for the night and actually falling asleep on the hard linoleum flooring discussing the new world mechanics with the gangly Assassin.

  The last remnant of sunlight had left the sky, sinking into the Pacific ocean on the horizon, but the Necrologist could see easily in the pale blue light of the summer sky pouring in from the room's west facing window. His cat, Tarzan - a massive, black Maine coon who had spent the majority of The Culling sleeping without a worry in the world inside of Garath's gym bag - had just eaten her weight in salmon and now lay, huddled and bloated, purring contentedly against his leg. Garath figured it was as good a time as any to allocate the APs he had gained for hitting Level 22.

  He willed his MENU panel into semi-transparency in front of him and opened the Profile panel. A player profile filled his vision to the right of the center panel that listed the options. An avatar of the twenty-nine-year-old gamer took up most of the panel, complete with glowing eyes, useless staff, and pointed hat. To the side of his avatar, on the same panel, his stats were listed in a vertical row.

  Garath

  Race: Human

  Class: Necrologist

  Level: 22

  Age: 29

  Health: 830/830

  (base: 720; APs: +110)

  Stamina: 100/100

  Mana: 840/840

  (base: 720; APs: +90 items: +30)

  Exp to next Level: 32,185/75,000

  Attributes

  Vitality: 83 - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.

  Wisdom: 81 - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.

  Regeneration: 40 - As a Necrologist, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +1.11 per second; Health recovery rate by +.25 per second; and recovery from injury by +2%.

  Strength: 5 - In addition to making one stronger, each point of Strength increases physical attack damage by 1% and reduces damage received from physical attacks by .25%.

  Dexterity: 10 - In addition to making one more agile, each point of Dexterity improves the critical strike chance of physical attacks by +.3%; the critical strike damage of physical attacks by +3%; and improves chance to dodge by +.5%.

  Unused Attribute Points: 3

  Having not invested a single point into Strength, Garath pondered the usefulness of the stat for a Necrologist. It probably wouldn't be much help to him in combat, as all of his damaging spells were Mana dependant and only gained power from Wisdom, but after his fatal battle with the Ice Drake, Aldrasyl (where he had taken advantage of the real-world combat aspect to overcome a foe that was far beyond him), it just seemed negligent to continue ignoring the Attribute - it was reasonable to think that a time would arise that his relatively adorable Strength wouldn't be enough to take advantage of the real-world aspect of this new Earth. Happy with where his Vit and Wis Attributes stood after the automatic three points each for leveling, Garath distributed all three points into Strength, then confirmed his decision and felt a surge of power wash over his body. His muscles tightened. He felt the effect of the increased Strength immediately, and in a more profound way than he had after boosting any of his other Attributes.

  Satisfied with his decision, Garath flexed the muscles in his arms and was looking around the room for something heavy to pick up when there was a knock on the door.

  "Come in," he said, still seated next to the sleeping feline. Garath knew it was bad manners not to come to the door, and his mother would definitely scold him for it had she been there, but Tarzan was sleeping comfortably and he didn't want her to hate him. When Warrion opened the door and entered, Garath cocked his head and raised one eyebrow in question. "This is your room too, dude. You don't have to knock..."

  "Nooooo thank you. After seeing you get frisky with Aldrasyl, I do NOT wanna walk in and see you doing... whatever it is you do in here when you're by yourself."

  “That was ONE time!” Garath’s face took on an injured expression. "And I was just distributing APs," he said defensively. "If I wanted to do something more… private? I'd find a private place. Wait…” He paused to think about it. “You haven't been spanking it in here, have you?"

  "I mean, a few times. Yeah," Warrion admitted unabashed. "But as much as I know you want to just sit here and talk about my personal habits, that's not what I came for," Warrion said, then stopped. His eyebrows came together as he ran the words through his mind again, then nodded with a wry smile at his own accidental cleverness before continuing. "Athios told me you got a quest and only have 48 hours or some shit. We gonna do it tomorrow?"

  "Okay, one: nice one on the 'came' joke. That was pretty solid. Two: I did get a quest and yes, I'm going to do it tomorrow, but you don't have to go. It's for the egg," Garath explained. He noticed the Assassin's shoulders slump slightly. "You are welcome to come, of course. More the merrier and all that."

  "Well, I'm not doing anyone much good here. Gary and his little construction crew have been handling most of the real 'to-do' items around HQ. And fishing is a hard nope for me… it's just ultra boring, you know?"

  "You've never been fishing with Daisy.” Garath laughed.

  "Daisy?"

  "Yeah, little blond girl. Here with her grandma. Blasted the doors open when we got here. Ringing any bells?"

  "Oh, Daisy. Dude, that kid's bat-shit."

  "You're telling me," Garath agreed with a smile. Even though the little Elementalist didn't like him much, he found that he quite liked when she was around. The shit that came out of her mouth was rich with an innocent hilarity that somehow renewed his hope for humanity.

  "So, what's the quest?" Warrion aske
d.

  Garath went over the prompt he had received after retrieving the egg from his Items panel and told the Assassin about the artesian well in Lynnwood that supposedly had the best drinking water on Earth.

  "Who's going?" Warrion wanted to know after the Necrologist had brought him up to speed.

  "So far? Me and you homie," said Garath. "I was going to head downstairs and see if anyone else wanted to come along. I noticed a dungeon on the map too. It’s actually not far from the well, coincidentally. Maybe we can even kill two birds with one stone."

  "A dungeon? I thought the only dungeon near us was the Space Needle, the tower of something or other..."

  "That's the only capital D dungeon near us, yeah. I saw a handful of lowercase D dungeons around though," Garath explained. "It's probably a good idea to get some gear and level up a bit in a few of the lowercase ones before the Space Needle anyways. The one I have in mind is actually at the Alderwood Mall."