They were definitely coming for us, I realized. It was a good thing we stopped them.
A system prompt popped up.
You found a map piece. Would you like to add it to your personal map? Yes/No
I confirmed.
The map piece turned to dust in my hand, and its details were added to my own game map.
I walked over to the edge of the precipice and looked down.
Damn that is a long fall.
I couldn’t see the bodies that were thrown off, and it was probably a bad idea to send the goblins to roam blindly around the mountain side, looking for them.
Crap. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
There was no doubt we would have lost the fight if we hadn’t picked our ground and used the element of surprise. Using the cliff enabled us to overcome the superior hobgoblin force. It was too bad that tactic also lost us most of the loot.
After we finished recovering everything useful, the looted bodies dematerialized, absorbed by the game.
I put as many of the weapons as I could carry into my inventory without being encumbered and ordered my troops to carry the rest. The Greataxe alone required two goblin warriors to carry, since it was too big to fit inside a goblin’s inventory. With everyone overburdened, we slowly made our way back to the clan.
While we walked, Vic’s voice sounded in my mind.
“So you can still do that, even while you are controlling another body?” I asked in surprise.
“That’s a relief.” I felt a bit better knowing the connection to the game, provided by Vic, was secure. “It’s good to know. Please show me the messages I’ve missed”
Mana Shield skill level increased to 11
Congratulations! You acquired a new skill rank: Apprentice.
As an Apprentice Mana Shield user, you have learned to better control your shield. You may now move slowly while the shield is active.
Congratulations! You acquired a new skill rank: Apprentice.
As an Apprentice Blood Wrath user, you learned a new effect.
Piercing Attack: you may channel the force as a piercing narrow beam. Damage: 3-5 per skill level.
New skill acquired: War Party Leader(*) [passive, monster race]
You know how to command and lead troops to victory.
Current level 1: Novice.
Effects I: lead up to 11 warriors.
Effect II: All party members under you gain 5% to defense and attack.
Effect III: 5% XP bonus to party
War Party: Vrick gained 1 level
War Party: Goblin Warrior gained 2 levels
War Party: Goblin Warrior gained 2 levels
War Party: Goblin Warrior gained 2 levels
Level up! You have reached Character Level 6. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
That battle was a close call, but damn it was worth it. I grinned as I browsed through the messages.
I gained a brand-new skill, reached the Apprentice rank in two others, and leveled up. Not bad at all. My overall power has significantly increased. To top it all, I completed the quest to stop the invading hobgoblins.
Wait a minute…. My triumphant grin turned into a puzzled frown. I didn’t receive a quest completed notification.
I brought up my quest log, and saw that the quest ‘Defeat the Hobgoblin Raid’ was still active. Even more alarming, was the countdown counter now showing only 55 minutes remaining.
Shit!!
My excitement was forgotten in an instant as a sense of dread spread over me. The only explanation was that my original vision had shown me the truth all along. There were two dozen hobgoblins, they must have divided their forces to attack the clan on two fronts, and we had only defeated one of the groups. The other one must have marched along a different route to the clan.
I suddenly understood the meaning of the message the lieutenant received. ‘H90-2GO...’ - H-90… H-hour 90.... 90 minutes 2GO. Ninety minutes to attack. I only had 54 minutes remaining.
Shit!
I glanced at the overburdened and still wounded goblins. They were in no shape for another fight, and running all the way back would make it worse.
There was still a chance to thwart the attack. I was fully healed by now, if I ran as fast as I could, maybe I would make it back on time, and maybe the chieftain and I could repel the attack.
“Vrick” I turned to my second in command. “Get back to the cave as quickly as you can, I will meet you there. But don’t overexert yourself. We need you ready to fight when you get there.”
Not one for many words, Vrick nodded his understanding.
“I’ll see you back at the cave.” I made to run down the path.
“Here,” grunted Hob-Vic. His burly arms grabbed a hold of me. Without any discernable effort, he lifted me and placed me over his back.
“Hold on tight boss” he growled, “This puppet can run much faster than you”.
“Alright, Vic.” I replied, trying to ignore the proximity to his crushed skull to my face.
He started running. Slowly, at first, but as he found his rhythm, his pounding gait gradually increased. Soon he was sprinting at full throttle, the downward slope adding to his speed. It was all I could do to hold onto him.
We had covered about half the distance, when Hob-Vic halted abruptly and put me down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him in bewilderment.
Instead of answering, he stumbled, falling down to the ground.
“Vic!” I cried in alarm.
Purple goo seeped out of his ears, mouth and nostrils. The tendrils coalesced into, a now familiar, purple mass, then reformed, back into Vic’s purple goblin shape.
“Sorry boss,” he replied, “The duration to possess the body is over, we gotta run on our own the rest of the way.”
“Okay Vic.”
Crog’s body evaporated as Vic morphed back into his Vicloack shape around my shoulders, and I started running.
“Vic, I’m going to open my character sheet, make it partially transparent, ok?”
I assigned the Attribute point I gained from the level up, into Mental, then checked my character screen.
Title: Dripper’s clan Totem
Level: 6, (45%)
Race: Monster Race [Goblin]
Type: Boss I [Totem]
Deity: Corgoram
Attributes: [0 points available]
- Physical 2
- Mental 8
- Social 0
Pools:
- Hit Points: 112
- Mana: 190
- Armor: 7
Skills:
- Murphy’s Bitch 3 (75%) (Prime)
- Analyze 3 (25%)
- Tracking 1 (20%)
- War Party Leader 1 (0%)
Skills (Spells):
- Mana Manipulation 2 (71%)
- Drilling Arrow 2 (32%) (Prime)
- Mana Shield 11 (10%)
- Blood Wrath 11 (5%)
Traits:
- Goblinoid (+1 Physical, -1 Social)
- Quick learner +20%
- Boss boon I
- Soul Companion: Vic
My hit points and mana had gone up, and I was showing good progress in most of my skills.
A few more s
kirmishes like that and I would have been able to defeat DurDur on my own.
The battle made it clear that, for the moment, my role was as a support type. I didn’t have access to powerful damage dealing skills yet. The Blood Wrath ability was indeed powerful, but activating it was tricky, I couldn’t use it at will so it was unwise to depend on it for future fights. I had to develop my own damage potential and maybe some crowd control abilities.
I checked the quest timer, we had 30 minutes remaining. We can make it!
I began to tire from running at top speed. Very soon I’d have to take a break and walk. But if I do that, we’ll be too late. Even if I kept running and made it all the way back to the cave without collapsing, I would be in no shape for a fight.
Damn! It seems like failure is inevitable.
That was an interesting notion. I had done something similar in desperation when I was inside Vatras’ imprisonment pearl. But that wild use of mana was dangerous, swapping the body’s energy with raw magical power had explosive potential. Literally. To my knowledge, no one ever tried using mana to support themselves physically for extended periods of time.
“Is it even possible?” I asked doubtfully.
Vic gave a sort of a mental shrug
I considered it as I continued running.
Well…. Why not? I am a mana master after all.
I accessed my mana and circulated it inside my body as I ran. My entire body began glowing with a soft blue light.
I pictured my body absorbing the energy back into worn muscles. The glow diminished and I felt significant relief, my exhausted body was recharged with energy. It actually worked.
Mana Manipulation Skill level increased to 3
New Skill acquired: Mana infusion(M) [active, monster race]
When active, mana is used to energize your physical body. You can run and perform other strenuous activities without getting tired, as long as you have enough mana to support it.
Current level 1: Novice.
Effects: mana drain rate 199%
Prime badge: As the first player to unlock this skill you gain 50% increased rate and can teach it to others.
That’s a useful skill.
Another Prime badge! I thought happily.
How come it never occurred to me to invent such skill until now? I wondered. Then I realized, probably because I never had a clan to save before.
I ignored him. Playing as Arladen, I never really found myself in such dire circumstances. I could always rely on my guild, or hire mercenaries to do my dirty work. I never actually had to ‘rough’ it on my own, so nothing pushed me to invent such a skill.
The clan’s main entrance came into my view in the distance, lit by the torches within. The quest log showed eight more minutes till the hobgoblin force arrived.
My mana regeneration rate was higher than the drain of the Mana Infusion skill, so my mana was still full. I was ready for another fight.
I was almost at the entrance when I received another pleasant surprise.
Mana Infusion skill level increased to 2
I reached the cave entrance with five minutes to spare. There was no time to lose. I entered the cavern shouting “HOBGOBLIN SOLDIERS APPROACHING!”
I was about to run in and look for the chieftain, when Vic made a
“What!?” I exclaimed in surprise
Vic’s tone was somewhat aggrieved
His voice was followed by a system message.
New Era Online [Internal messaging service]:
From: SuperWolf#23
Subject: please stand still
-
A reply from Tal. Finally. It took him long enough, it had been nearly eight hours since I messaged him.
But why is he messaging me to stand still? I frowned.
I remained in place, contemplating this puzzling line.
Without warning, a shimmering black bubble appeared around me, completely blocking the view of the cave and silencing all noises.
8 - Lawyered
I was in a featureless round room, it had no exits or windows. I grasped the Totem Staff tightly as I stood there, waiting for something to happen.
What the hell is going on?
For some reason, I felt….good. No, better than good. I felt amazing. It was hard to explain, I felt light, unburdened, as if a weight I hadn’t noticed until now had been lifted from my shoulders.
As I was reveling in the sensation, a large table materialized in the center of the room. It was the kind of table found in bank managers’ and lawyers’ offices; heavy, intimidating, officious. Two comfortable looking office chairs appeared at the table. It all looked very un-game-like.
I shrugged and took a seat in the nearest chair.
I didn’t have time to respond before a flash of bright light filled the chair across from me. When the light subsided, a sober faced man was seated in it. He was dressed in a crisp, gray, two-piece suit with matching tie. His expression was cool and calculating, an ‘I am in charge’ demeanor. He looked like a stereotypical high-level bureaucrat. He reminded me of Agent Smith from ‘The Matrix’, except this guy wasn’t wearing sunglasses.
He smiled, revealing perfectly even, white teeth. His eyes emitted no warmth.
“Mr. Berman.” He greeted me in an even tone, placing some papers on the table. “My name is Mr. Emery, I’m an attorney for the company. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
He held out his hand for me to shake.
I shrugged and leaned over the table and shook it with my own small green hand.
Finally, someone is here to rescue me, took them long enough!
“As you no doubt guessed, we’re here to discuss your current circumstances.”
“Well, it’s about time.”
He nodded. “After you contacted your friend Mr. Weissman, he brought your predicament to our attention. You can imagine the level of alarm it raised. Our experts have been analyzing the system, investigating the cause of your current plight since we were alerted to the situation.” His voice was concerned but he was watching me with dispassionate eyes.
I decided to keep quiet for now and let him do the talking. Something about this didn’t feel right, my instincts were tingling, telling me something was going on besides the obvious.
“Yes, well, at any rate,” he continued after a few moments without a reply from me. “Following Mr. Weissman’s report of your exploits, we tracked down your personal character logs and reviewed them all, up until they ended abruptly. You see Mr. Berman, it appears you have, as some might say, become ‘lost in the machine’.”
That got my attention.
“What do you mean, lost?” I challenged him, “I’m right here. Why are you wasting time talking to me? You know where I am, log me out already.”
“Ah… you see Mr. Berman, you have touched the essence of the situation.”
I kept a steady expression, not giving him any ammunition to work off of.
After a long pause he continued, “Unfortunately, we cannot log you out. Not yet, anyway.”
“What do you mean by that? ” I demanded.
“I am not a technical expert, Mr. Berman. When we conclude our meeting, you will meet with a colleague who has a better grasp of the technical details. But from what I understand, the chain of events that followed your transformation into a
goblin, and your subsequent promotion to…Totem, caused the Game Artificial Intelligence to reclassify you as an NPC. As such, you no longer appear in the player database. Unfortunately, that means the emergency log out tools the company employs cannot locate you in the game, and so they cannot be used to log you out at this time.”
I looked at him suspiciously. I was sure he was leading up to something. “All right, then when?”
He relaxed back into his chair with a satisfied expression “Please understand Mr. Berman, our engineers are certain they can develop a workaround to locate and extract you. And just so that there is no question in your mind, I’m telling you upfront that your rescue is the company’s highest priority.”
That was frosting, sweet, pretty, and without real value.
“However...“ he paused, weighing his words carefully before giving me the stick. “The coding adjustment required is not a simple one. The current estimate for the work effort on the project is six months of development. Roughly. In real time.” He observed me carefully as I did the math and realized what his words actually meant.
“Y-you’re telling me I’m stuck in the game for the next six years…” I whispered in shock. How would I survive that long? Would I even stay sane? Or alive??
He nodded as he saw the realization dawn on me.
“I’m afraid so. I am told you have a technical background, so you probably know that these early estimates are frequently inaccurate, it could take as long as a year, per our worst-case scenario.”
My stomach lurched and I felt bile rise in my throat. I was dazed.
It was hard to accept the notion that I was going to be stuck in the game for years. What would my parents do? How would I pay my bills? How would my body survive that long?
He let me have a few moments to wallow as more despair creeped in, carefully observing my expression. When he judged the time was right, he offered the carrot.
Life Reset Page 15