by Aaron Oster
They were both grieving, and while they were each dealing with it differently, it seemed violence was a universal form of therapy that transcended worlds. By the third day, Talia was a lot more talkative and Hopps even cracked a joke.
There were other upsides to fighting, as both he and Hopps gained a couple of levels each, and Talia reached level 15. She didn’t choose a Class, as he’d been expecting, and when he’d asked her about it, she said that she was waiting until level 18. There was a Tier 4 Class she’d been working toward ever since she started training, and if she’d held out this long, she wasn’t going to crack now.
Aside from gaining levels, Arthur’s skills and abilities improved as well, and one of his Racial Bonuses finally reached Tier 2. The message had been quite exciting when it had come through. He’d been wondering how it would improve.
Tier Rank Up!
Congratulations! Your Racial Bonus Skill: Poison Touch has reached Tier 2. The Bonus has now been upgraded. Please check your status to see the new requirements.
Arthur had, of course, immediately checked to see how it had improved. He was not disappointed.
Poison Touch
Tier: 2
Cost: 10 MP
Cooldown: 5 Seconds
Effect: Your touch will cause -2 poison damage per second for 10 seconds
Tier 2 Effect: 40% resistance to poisons
Requirements to next Tier: Use Poison Touch 200 times - 0/200, Kill 50 enemies using Poison Touch - 0/50
Sure, the cost had doubled, but so had the damage. Plus, his resistance to poisons had increased.
He’d also taken the chance to ask Talia about the Tier system for Racial Bonuses and was surprised to discover that she didn’t have one above Tier 3.
“Racial Bonuses become harder to increase as you go. Some have such specific requirements that it can literally be impossible to go any higher at some point. For example, the Bonus may require you to hit a certain level at the exact same time as filling out the other requirements. And, if you’ve already made it past that level, or haven’t quite made it, the Bonus becomes stuck at that Tier.
“That’s why you rarely hear of anyone with a Bonus past Tier 5. I think I’ve heard of maybe three people with a Tier 8 Bonus and they’re supposed to be insanely strong,” she explained.
“My bonus just doubled the damage output. Does it really make that much of a difference?”
“Bonuses drastically increase in power every other Tier. So, while Tier 2 might not seem like much, Tier 3 will be a huge change.”
He thanked her for explaining it all and then had gone back to thinking about how he could quickly make it to the next Tier with his Poison Touch.
He’d also checked out the Class options for the Tier 1 and 2 Classes he had available. But as Hopps had said, there was nothing really good. He’d been offered Thief, Tank, and Fighter at the 1st Tier. They all sounded interesting but did nothing more than boost his attributes and give him small bonuses to certain skills.
Arthur had been surprised to have been offered Tank, but as it turned out, all he’d needed was 15 points in Constitution to qualify for the Class.
Tier 2 was a little more interesting, offering him Rogue, Boxer, Kicker, and Poisoner. But, after reading them all over, he still wasn’t very impressed. He’d qualified for Kicker and Boxer due to his Unarmed Frog-Bat skill, alongside his two unarmed abilities.
The Rogue had been for his 20+ Agility, and Poisoner had been offered because of his Tier 2 Poison Touch Bonus. None were good enough for him to choose it, though. He was just two levels away from 15, and that was when he’d start seeing the really good Classes. He had assigned his attribute points, reluctantly adding to his Intelligence so he could use his Poison Touch a couple more times in a fight.
He was very happy with how he was progressing, and with the ring he’d gotten from Claudia, he was getting closer and closer to being able to wield the Epic dagger.
Character Status
Name: Arthur
Race: Humanoid - Poison Frog
Class: None
Level: 13
XP: 6,170/13,000
AP: 0
Survivability
HP: 160/160
MP: 100/100
STA: 400/400
Armor Rating: 6
Attributes
Strength - 5
Constitution - 16
Endurance - 40 (Base: 34) (+4)
Agility - 50 (Base: 44) (+4)
Intelligence - 10 (+2)
Wisdom - 10
Charisma - 12
Luck - 12 (Base: 10)
Skills
6/8
Unarmed Frog-Bat: Level 10
Perception: Level 13
Knife Wielding: Level 9
Acrobatics: Level 8
Critical Strike: Level 7
Sixth Sense (A): Level 5
Abilities
5/8
Tae-Frog-Do: Level 9
Frog Slicer: Level 5
Parry: Level 1
Frog-Sassinate: Level 4
Drilling Blows: Level 5
Racial Bonus
Poison Touch: Tier 2
Spring: Tier 1
Arthur noted that a few of his skills and abilities were getting close to level 11, where they would increase in power. He’d also gotten a nice surprise. When he reached 50 points in Agility, his body had changed slightly. His frame had become leaner and just a bit more muscular. And, when he moved, he found that he moved much more gracefully than he could before.
His movements were smoother and flowed better when he attacked. His damage hadn’t gone up – except for the abilities that relied on Agility – but his improved movement made hitting his target easier. He was also able to hit them with more attacks in a shorter amount of time. This resulted in higher damage output, making that much more deadly in a fight.
He still couldn’t hold a candle to Talia, though she’d refused to tell him what her Strength attribute was. She did tell him that one of her Racial Bonuses increased her Strength, while giving her a bonus point to Agility after she’d put in a certain amount of points.
After she’d explained that, it finally made sense of how she was able to hit anything at all in a fight. Had she only been putting points into a single attribute, she wouldn’t have been fast enough to hit anything. After all, you could be the strongest person in the world, but if you couldn’t hit your target, you may as well be the weakest.
It was the fourth day of their trip when the trees around them finally began to thin, and the first signs of a path became visible through the undergrowth. It had rained the entire previous day, and the trail they’d been following had been washed away. Luckily for them, Talia recognized where they were and was able to keep leading them in the right direction.
“Well, it looks like we made it,” she said, pointing ahead.
Arthur squinted through the brush, but he was having a hard time spotting anything.
“Where? I can’t see anything,” he said, getting up on his tiptoes.
“I forgot you were so short, frog boy,” Talia said with a snort of laughter. “Would you like me to pick you up so you can see?”
Arthur shot her a withering glare. It seemed that she was mostly back to her usual self, which meant she was back to poking fun of his short stature.
“Don’t. You. Dare,” he said, and Talia raised her hands in surrender, though a smirk was playing around the corners of her black lips.
“Wow! It looks huge,” Hopps said, leaping into the air to get a good look.
Arthur could have smacked himself. Why hadn’t he thought of that?
Crouching low, he leaped into the air. Due to his high Agility and the fact that his body was made for jumping, he got a good five feet into the air, without even having to use his Spring. A massive stone wall loomed on the horizon as he became airborne, but it was semi-hard to see the wall because it fit in perfectly with its surroundings.
The stone was o
ld, weathered and black. Covered in green moss, choking vines and ivy, it looked more like a ruin than an actual city. He’d also spotted several other paths leading up to the walls. He landed, then jumped back up again.
This time, he spotted no less than six different gates spaced along the wall. And that was only what he could see from where he was standing. Judging by the sheer scale, the city would have to be massive. So large, in fact, that he doubted they could walk from one end to the other in an entire day.
22
“What’s your business in Raya, lower lifeforms?”
Arthur suppressed the urge to pound the pretty kitty’s face in as she and three other Feline guards sneered down at them. They’d been kept waiting for well over an hour, the guards ignoring them and talking amongst themselves.
They’d clearly seen the growing line but had steadfastly ignored them for no other reason than that they could. And, when they’d finally started allowing people in, they’d done all they could to hold them up. Now that it was finally their turn, he was at the end of his patience.
Luckily for him, they’d agreed to allow Talia to do all the talking since she’d been here before.
“We’re here to buy some supplies,” Talia replied evenly, apparently having expected the long wait and, therefore, not as annoyed as him.
“Is that so?” she sneered. “Then I’m guessing you’ll be able to pay the tax for non-Felines entering the city?”
“Of course,” Talia answered, reaching to her waist for the coin pouch sitting there.
Her hand was knocked aside as the Feline guard tore the entire pouch from her belt.
“I think that should be about right,” she said with a smirk, weighing the bag in her paw.
Arthur took an angry step forward, but Talia shot him a warning glance, and he stopped. It was just in time, too, as the Feline guard looked back to them, her face twisting into an unpleasant sneer.
“You’re free to pass. Just make sure you stick to the parts of the city where your kind are allowed. Otherwise…” she trailed off, allowing the threat to linger.
“We’ll make sure to follow the rules,” Talia said.
The guard let out one last snort, then she and her compatriots moved aside and allowed them to enter the city.
Arthur kept his mouth shut until he was sure they wouldn’t overhear him, then he grabbed Talia by her shoulder and tried to pull her around. His low Strength once again betrayed him, as she didn’t so much as budge. But she did turn and raise an eyebrow.
“What the hell was all that about?” he hissed, careful to keep his voice down. “You just let them walk all over you!”
“Calm down, frog boy,” Talia said, the corner of one lip pulling up into a smirk.
She then reached into her shirt and removed a similar-looking coin pouch and shook it at him. The sound of jangling coins reached his ears, showing that this coin pouch was much heavier than the one the guard had taken.
“You’ve just gotta let them think that they’ve won. It’s called misdirection. Now come on, let’s go. It’s about a mile to the market, and with a city this crowded, it’ll take us at least an hour to get there.”
Arthur nodded, suddenly feeling much better about what had just happened. It seemed that Talia knew what she was doing. He wouldn’t make the mistake of doubting her again.
“That girl’s one clever bugger,” Hopps said, eyeing the girl in admiration.
“Please, tell me more,” she threw back over her shoulder, sounding pleased at the compliment.
Hopps shot him a sideways look, shaking his head in mock sorrow.
“You give a girl a compliment, and she starts making demands. It’s a sad world we live in, Arthur.”
Arthur let out a snort of laughter as Talia whirled, lashing out with a slap that Hopps barely managed to dodge. This attracted the attention of several ani-humans and Intelligents, but after seeing that she wasn’t really attacking anyone, they went back to their own tasks.
Talia and Hopps began arguing good-naturedly, and Arthur had to suppress a smile. It was good to see the two of them doing better, after what had happened back at the village. He knew they were still hurting, but this was a step in the right direction.
His attention then turned to the city around him, as it was like nothing he’d ever seen before. In the old AKO, the cities looked like regular fantasy cities, made of stone buildings and streets. The city of Raya was a whole other story.
There were no paved streets, and grass and loose stones poked his bare feet as he walked. Trees grew randomly throughout, with wooden structures built high in their branches. Some buildings were made of wood, others of mossy stone, and others still resembled tall mounds of earth.
Ani-humans and Intelligents of all Races walked the grassy streets, talking to one another, working various jobs, or just heading to their destinations. There weren’t many children, but Arthur figured that the patrols of Feline guards in shining armor constantly marching through the streets made parents wary of leaving them on their own.
It didn’t escape his notice how much of a wide berth the guards were given. Whenever a patrol would pass, everyone would move to give them as much room as they could, which gave the appearance of the guards having an invisible barrier that would part the thick crowds as they passed.
The city wasn’t flat, as he’d assumed it to be earlier, but rather sloped with the center being the highest point. His eyes traveled up until they landed on a second wall surrounding what looked like a much nicer part of the city. And, at the very tallest point, set on top of a massive boulder with a huge protruding stone shelf, stood a palace.
It couldn’t have been anything but a palace with the way it looked. Tall spires reached into the sky, seeming to shadow the entire city, like a looming dark presence. Arthur shivered, despite the warmth, feeling a distinct sense of foreboding as he looked up at that castle.
“Hey, Talia, why is there another wall up there, and who lives in that castle?” Arthur asked, speeding up to walk alongside her and Hopps.
Talia’s eyes flicked up to the castle, and a look of distaste came onto her face.
“That’s where the Baron lives. He’s the one in charge of Raya. I don’t actually know his name, but I know that he’s not a good guy.”
“Yeah, I gathered that much, seeing as he’s a Feline and all,” Arthur said, looking back to the palace.
“As for the wall, I thought it would be obvious. It’s there to separate us from them. The Felines all live in the interior, forcing all others to live out here.”
“Is that what the guard meant when she threatened us to stay where we belonged?”
“Yup,” Talia said with a sigh. “If anyone other than a Feline is caught in there, they’ll be killed on the spot. Well, either that or thrown in the pits to fight for their entertainment.”
“What is it with dictators and fighting pits?” Hopps wondered. “The wankers seem to have a really unhealthy obsession with them.”
Arthur and Talia both snorted at that but quickly hid their smiles as a Feline patrol approached. They moved to the side along with everyone else, keeping their gazes averted as they passed.
Arthur watched them out of the corner of his eye, wondering if any of them had taken part in the attack on the village.
“Where exactly are we going?” he asked once the guards had passed.
“We’re going to talk with a merchant friend of mine. If anyone knows where to get info, it’ll be him.”
Just as Talia had predicted, it took them nearly an hour to make their way to the market district. The city was so crowded that it was hard to move in some parts. More than once, Arthur had looked up to the flying ani-humans and Intelligents with jealously, wishing he’d have chosen a Race that could fly.
At the same time, he was looking out for Sqwak. Not that he thought the traitor would be so careless, but he just couldn’t help it. That damned bird-man would pay with his life for what he’d done.
; The market was bustling with people and merchants. Smoke billowed up from more than one food stand, filling the air with a mix of mouth-watering aromas. Arthur’s stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday, when he and Hopps had come across a swarm of particularly slow flies.
Talia hadn’t stayed to watch them eat, her skin going a bit green, and she had walked away. It was only after they’d eaten that he’d remembered that she was part insect and would probably be uncomfortable watching them eat her kind. Whenever she’d become hungry, she’d just reached out and grabbed a handful of leaves, cramming them into her mouth.
“Where’s this merchant?” he asked, looking around.
“There.” She nodded her head in the direction of a booth selling various bits of armor.
Arthur couldn’t make out who oversaw the booth, but as they forced their way through the crowd toward said booth, he could begin to make out the salesperson.
It was a bug — a praying mantis, to be exact.
“Tally! It’s good to see you again, bubbeleh!” the mantis said as they approached, sounding much older than he looked.
The mantis was only about a foot long, so he’d just assumed he was on the younger side. Then again, maybe not all Intelligents grew as they leveled.
“Marty, you old scammer! How have you been?” Talia asked, a grin stretching her lips.
“Oh, you know, business is tough, especially with those thieves constantly taxing everything. But what can you do? Nowhere else for an honest mantis to make a living.”
Talia snorted out a laugh at that.
“Yeah, Marty, I’m sure they’re always getting the exact taxes they’re supposed to get.”
“Ey! Are you accusing me of cheating our illustrious Feline overlords?” Marty asked, leaning forward and shaking one of his spiny arms at her. “Because if you are, you’re definitely right.”
He let out a bark of laughter and scuttled back behind the counter.
“Alright, enough with the small talk. What are you here for?”