by Aaron Oster
Arthur’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he examined the three items.
All this value, and it was just his share of the loot.
He could hardly imagine what these were worth. It was staggering. Moreover, it seemed that the items dropped were oddly specific for the path he was following. That meant that either the system had been designed to give items that would actively help players, or that whoever had trapped him here was watching his every move.
The latter option made him shudder involuntarily. He quickly squashed the thought by taking the dagger handle he had and fusing it to the claw. The end sealed around the black handle, and a ripple of force seemed to spread across the room.
The dagger was beautiful, the complete opposite of his gruesome-looking Carver. Where the Carver was jagged, meant for tearing and ripping, the new dagger was elegant and clearly designed to be used as a stabbing weapon. The stark white blade was eight inches long and had no edge. It met the black, opal hilt, merging seamlessly into a perfect instrument of death. And while there was no edge, the tip glowed with a soft yellow light, which he’d come to associate with Epic class weapons back in the old AKO.
Item Found!
Name: Claudia’s Poniard
Durability: 145/145
Rarity: Epic
Weapon Type: Small Blade - Dagger
Damage: 16 - 20 + 6 - 10 Force Damage
Restrictions: Agility - 65+, Knife Wielding - Level 11
Arthur let out a forlorn sigh. He hadn’t checked his status, but he didn’t need to, to know that he didn’t have the prerequisites to wield the awesome weapon. With regret, he tucked the Epic weapon back into his Bag of Holding, consoling himself with the fact that eventually, he would be able to use it.
In the meantime, he slipped the ring onto his finger, immediately feeling the difference. He didn’t know what the Luck attribute would do- no one did- but it couldn’t hurt to have it boosted by two. Next, he picked up the scroll and checked to see what it would do. After all, an Epic quality scroll would have to contain an equally epic ability!
Drilling Blows
Pound
Ability Level: 1
Cost: 30 Stamina
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Damage: Variable
Effect: Deliver a flurry of blows (Currently 1 per 5 Agility). Aiming for a specific area will result in a drastic damage increase.
“Holy crap!” Arthur exclaimed, not able to hold back his excitement.
Of all the items he’d received, Epic dagger included, this had to be the most valuable one. This ability seemed to be specifically tailored to him. He’d already decided that he would be supplementing his dagger fighting with hand to hand combat – Frog-Bat. Until now, the only unarmed damaging ability had been his Tae-Frog-Do. But now…
The scroll crumbled in his hands as he learned the ability, a huge, very stupid looking grin stretch his features.
“Ooo, that look definitely suits you, frog boy,” Talia said with a snicker as she stepped into the room.
Her snarky comment couldn’t ruin his good mood now, though.
“I’m sure you already looked through the items before handing them over. You already know why I’m so excited.”
“Yeah, yeah, Hopps mentioned something about you fighting unarmed. Waste of time, if you ask me, but hey,” she shrugged, “some ani-humans are just too small to handle a big weapon.”
She glanced meaningfully down at his lap when she said this, but Arthur once again ignored her. He knew she was just trying to get a rise out of him, and he wasn’t going to fall for it. He hadn’t known her long, but he was already getting a pretty good feel for her personality. She respected strength, and despite the way she was acting, he knew she respected him. Likewise, he respected her.
Who wouldn’t, after the insane fight they’d gone through together the previous night?
“Is this the strapping frog that saved our darling Hoppsy Woppsy?”
Arthur looked up as a pair of truly massive frogs squeezed into the room, followed by a mortified looking Hopps.
“Mom! Not in front of my friends!” he hissed.
Arthur took a moment to examine Hopps’s parents. His mother was a dark green and about his height, about twice as tall and long as Hopps himself. She also had a feminine quality to her that immediately told him she was a female. There weren’t any visual cues. He just…knew.
His father, on the other hand, was a whole other story. He was massive, towering even taller than Talia, at nearly six feet tall and looking as though he weighed at least ton, if not more! His lighter green-brown skin body was covered in scars and rippling muscles, which looked very odd on a frog. But that wasn’t the weirdest part. That was reserved for the long gray-black beard extending from the frog’s chin.
The entire scene seemed oddly surreal. The spell was finally broken by Talia, who burst out laughing at Hopps’s expense.
“Don’t talk to your mother like that, Jeremy!” his father said sternly. “You’re still in trouble for running off like that. Scared us half to death!”
Hopps seemed to wilt under his father’s glare, and Arthur was quick to come to his defense.
“It wasn’t his fault, sir,” Arthur said in as a respectful tone as he could manage. “A bunch of poachers nabbed him from the pond. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“Is that what he told you?” Hopps’s mother said, her eyes narrowing.
Hopps wilted even further under their combined glare.
“Um… Well, you see… That is…”
“Jeremy decided to go exploring off on his own,” his father said, not taking his eyes off his son. “If he’d been in the pond, where he was supposed to be, an entire group of poachers wouldn’t have been able to take him.”
It was only once he said that, that Arthur thought to examine the massive frog.
Name: Chuck Bounce Croaksalot
Race: Mammoth-King Bullfrog
Level: 25
HP: 875/875
Class: Berserker
17
Arthur had to make a concerted effort not to gape. Chuck was level 25?! Not only that, but he was a Berserker. And he was a Race of frog he’d never even heard of, which told him that his race must have changed after he’d received his Class. He had so many questions now, not the least of which was how the Felines kept stealing people from the village with this monster here.
He had no idea what Tier of Class Berserker was, but he had to guess that it was at least a 3rd Tier as Hopps had advised not even considering one under that, and that he’d learned that from his parents.
“Something wrong, Arthur? You’re looking a little green.”
Arthur jumped as Chuck called out to him in a booming voice. He licked his lips nervously, knowing that this frog could squash him like a bug if he so chose, and there would be nothing he could do about it.
“Just surprised, is all,” he said weakly.
“Why?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
“It’s just…” Arthur trailed off, not sure how to put it. Finally, he just decided to be blunt. If they were going to kill him, they would have already done it. Right?
“You’re so strong. I just wasn’t expecting it, with the way Hopps described the village.”
It was true. The way Hopps had put it, he’d imagined a village full of cowering Intelligents and ani-humans. He hadn’t been expecting to see a single villager over level 10; 15 tops, after he’d met Talia, figuring she’d been sent to scout since she was so strong.
Chuck’s laughter echoed through the room, his throat expanding and deflating as he, literally, filled the room.
“If you think I’m strong,” Chuck said, wiping at one of his eyes, “you clearly haven’t checked my wife out yet. Which is good, I suppose. I’d hate to think you were eyeing my wife!”
Arthur flinched back reflexively at his booming voice.
“I would never…!” he began, before Chuck’s laughter resounded through
the room once again.
It took Arthur a long moment to realize that it had been a joke. But when a two-thousand-pound monster frog said something, you tended to take them seriously. He did, however, take the chance to examine Hopps’s mother.
Name: Flora Croaksalot
Race: Night-Stalker Frog
Level: 31
HP: 900/900
Class: Poisonmaster
Arthur had to work very hard not to allow the shock to show on his face. Never in a million years would he have guessed that Hopps’s mother was the real threat in the room! Then again, wasn’t the biggest threat the one you didn’t see coming? He bet that this same assumption about her had led many to their deaths. He had no clue what a Poisonmaster was, as the Class hadn’t existed previously. He thought he had a pretty good guess as to what it meant- the name was a dead giveaway.
“Anyway,” Chuck said, finally calming down and allowing his expression to become more serious. “We both owe you a debt for saving our son. If there’s anything we can do, just name it, and if it’s within our power, we will do what we can to help.”
Arthur’s mind immediately went to his brother.
“Would either of you have happened to see a Cheetah around here? He could be about my height and have more black than tan in his fur.”
The mood in the room instantly became hostile, and Arthur could sense a very dangerous undercurrent to Chuck’s next question.
“What business would you have with a Feline?”
Arthur had to force himself to meet the massive Bullfrog’s eyes. He couldn’t shy away, not when it came to his brother.
“He’s my brother.”
Arthur held his hand up to forestall the outburst he could see building up and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He did his best to mask the fear and continued.
“Let me explain. I don’t know if Hopps told you, but I’m not from this world. I was incarnated here in this body just a day ago, and I fear that my brother may have ended up here as well. Back in our world, we all look the same, but here, we’re all different. My brother’s incarnation in this world was the Cheetah I’ve just described to you. So, have you seen him or not?”
“I’m sorry to say we haven’t, dear,” Flora said, squeezing in next to her husband. “We haven’t seen any Felines around since the last incursion, about a month ago.”
Arthur’s shoulders slumped. Seeing that, Flora was quick to continue.
“But, if you were looking for a specific Feline, your best bet would be to visit Raya and ask around there.”
Arthur looked up in confusion.
“Isn’t that a Feline city? Will they even let us in?”
“Yes, the city is run by Felines,” Flora said. “But there are plenty of other Races living there. Sure, they’re treated as second-class citizens, but the security offered by the city is worth it for most.”
Arthur shook his head, having a hard time understanding exactly how this whole Feline thing worked.
“Wait. There are non-Felines living in Raya, yet they come here and raid the village? It makes no sense, especially if this is considered Feline territory.”
Chuck’s wide mouth turned down in a grimace at that.
“Yes, this is considered Feline territory. But the reason they come here to raid is simply because they can. They don’t treat those living in the city any better. Any non-Feline can find themselves imprisoned, enslaved, or thrown into the fighting pits for no reason whatsoever.”
“If it really is that bad here, why doesn’t every non-Feline just leave?”
Chuck let out a snort at that.
“If only it were so easy, dear,” Flora said sadly. “The entire continent is under Feline control. It would take months of traveling through dangerous terrain to even make it to the edge. Then, if we did manage to make it, we’d have to find a Feline captain willing to take us to one of the other continents.”
“The two of you are strong, though,” Arthur said, trying another angle. “There’s no way the Felines coming here can take either of you.”
“That’s the worst of it all,” Chuck growled. “We’re forbidden to fight anyone under our own levels. Sure, we can technically fight them off, and we’d probably succeed- for a while, anyway. Then one of the more powerful Feline Races would send their forces after us, and our small village would be ground to dust.”
Arthur was quickly becoming frustrated with the frogs’ attitudes towards their oppressors but forced himself to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. He wasn’t one to judge. He had no idea how their lives had been affected or how powerful the Felines really were. They were just making the best of a bad situation.
“Isn’t there anyone else who’d be willing to fight the Felines? Surely no one enjoys being treated this way.”
“There are,” Chuck admitted, “and there have been…talks…” He cut off as his wife shot him a warning look.
“That doesn’t matter right now, dear,” she said with a smile. “All we wanted to do was thank you for saving our little froglet. He’s so big now, I hardly recognize him!”
“Mom!” Hopps whined as she turned to pinch his cheeks.
Arthur’s interest had been piqued by what Chuck had said. Judging by the way Flora had cut him off, his level either wasn’t high enough or his reputation with the frogs needed to rise before he could be granted the obvious quest. For now, though, he knew his next destination.
He had no proof that Nate was here. And even if his brother was here, he could have ended up as a different Race than he’d used in AKO, like Arthur had. Right now, Arthur’s best chance was to go to the closest Feline city and look, despite the risks. Although, if he was going to go, he wanted to be a bit stronger.
“I think I’m going to take your advice and go to Raya. But I want to do a bit of training before I leave. Hopps said you might be able to help me?” he asked Chuck.
The massive frog seemed relieved by the change of topic. His eyes swept over him, examining and measuring him.
“Hmm, interesting. You seem to be built for speed, but there’s something else there, too.”
His eyes glowed gold for a moment, and when they faded back to their earlier black color, he gave Arthur an appraising look.
“That’s an interesting path you’ve decided on, Arthur. I can see that you haven’t accepted a Class yet, which is good. But instead of specializing in one, you seem to be going on two different paths- unarmed fighting and knife fighting.”
“Yeah,” Arthur said, suddenly feeling a lot less confident about his choices. “I thought it would be good to supplement my knife fighting with unarmed combat. Is that bad?”
The low chatter in the room had stilled by now, and everyone was looking at him, making him feel all the more uncomfortable.
“Not bad,” Chuck finally said, “just unorthodox. I’ve never met anyone who took that particular path before, let alone a Poison Frog that had. If you hadn’t already started down this path and likely chosen skills and abilities to supplement them, I’d have recommended trying to become a Poisonmaster, like my wife. That is what your Race is best suited for, after all.”
Arthur shuffled in the bed once again as Chuck went quiet. After a moment, he spoke up again.
“Come on. I know it’s late, but I think you’ve slept enough. I want to see how you move so I can better judge how to train you.”
As if that were her cue, Flora turned to leave, ushering Hopps along with her.
“Alright, we’ll be leaving then. It’s long past Jeremy’s bedtime. We’ll see you all in the morning.”
Arthur had to suppress a chuckle at Hopps’s protests as his mother ushered him out of the room. His eyes then turned to Talia, who was still leaning up against the back wall. She quirked an eyebrow at him.
“What? I’m coming to watch. It should be fun,” she said with a smirk.
Arthur shrugged and got out of bed, swaying slightly on his feet as he did so. It was only then that he rea
lized that he was still in what amounted to the Animal Kingdom’s version of pajamas.
“You wouldn’t happen to have my old clothes, would you?” he asked Chuck.
The massive frog shook his head in the negative.
“Your old clothes were too torn up to be salvageable. Just wear those for now, and we’ll replace them later.”
“Alright,” Arthur said, heading to grab his only piece of armor.
“Leave it,” Chuck called, turning for the door. “You won’t need it. Also, if you’ve got any items that would enhance your attributes, leave them here as well. They’ll only interfere.”
Sighing, Arthur removed the ring that was increasing his attributes and stored them in his Bad of Holding. He could already feel the difference as his body responded a bit more sluggishly.
“Excellent,” Chuck nodded approvingly. “Now, follow me, and we can begin.”
18
“The first thing I want to test is your Agility,” Chuck said a few minutes later.
They were standing in the center of a training ground on the outskirts of the village, which Arthur discovered wasn’t all that big. They had a population of somewhere around five hundred residents, comprised of ani-humans and Intelligents. Talia was standing off to the side, leaning against a wooden post padded with straw sacks around the top third and watching him appraisingly.
“What do all these have to do with testing?” Arthur asked, gesturing to the area in which he was standing.
Ten stout wooden poles, spaced about eight feet from one another, stood around him. They stood nearly twenty feet tall and were completely smooth- as far as he could tell.
“Simple,” Chuck said, gesturing to one of the poles. “You’re going to be jumping between the poles, making sure not to touch the ground, all the while climbing to the top. The exercise will end when you reach the top of one of the poles. The objective is to reach them in as few jumps as possible. I’m going to assume you have a Racial Bonus that helps with jumping?”