by Dakota Krout
“That’s-great-thanks-bye!” Alexis turned and scampered away.
“…See you then?” Joe called after her in confusion. What a strange day. He went to his room and worked on his puzzle cube for an hour then worked to study, optimize, and memorize more information from his book on rituals. Deciding to go to bed early for once to appease his burning eyes and throbbing head, he returned to the nearby inn and went to sleep. Joe checked his notifications with a smile right before closing his eyes.
Characteristic point training completed! +1 to intelligence, wisdom, perception, and dexterity! These stats cannot be increased further by any means other than system rewards for twenty-four hours game time.
~ Chapter Ten ~
Joe’s eyes flew open, and he looked at the time in full panic mode. He had overslept! Gah! This is what he gets for going to bed at a normal, healthy time; his body takes advantage of his thoughtfulness! Joe looked out of his window and contemplated trying to find a way down. He was on the second floor of the building, so it wasn’t a great option, but going downstairs and around the block just to get to this street again was going to cost him almost ten minutes.
Wait… why not go out the window? He was only ten feet off the ground, and he was a Master jumper. If that failed too badly, well then, he was also a healer that could fix broken bones. Joe opened the window, stepped out on the ledge, and closed the window carefully. A well-aimed shadow spike hitting the metal clasp locked the window, and Joe prepared to jump down while considering a life of crime. Taking a deep breath and preparing for pain, Joe jumped! His body aligned itself without conscious assistance, and just before landing, he did a flip that ate up most of his momentum. He landed heavily but only lost a single point of health due to true damage from impacting terrain.
“That was awesome!” Joe whooped and laughed, then took a single step forward and collapsed. His stamina was entirely depleted, likely from the fancy acrobatics. Wait, definitely from the acrobatics!
Skill gained: Aerial Acrobatics (Novice I). This is a subskill of ‘Jump’ and boosts the effectiveness of any mid-air movements. Masters of this skill have been known to remain in the air long enough to cross canyons, and Sages are rumored to be able to walk on clouds. You though… you can do a flip. Effect: Ease of movement while in the air increases by 2% until the end of the Beginner ranks.
It took almost ten seconds until Joe could stop wheezing and start walking. Still faster than leaving the front of the building! At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. Joe hurried to the east gate, waving at the two groups of people that were standing a little bit away from each other. “Jaxon, Bard, this is Alexis. She is going to be trying out for a position on our team as a ranged damage dealer.”
Bard grunted, and Jaxon nodded in her direction politely if a bit thoughtlessly. It was obvious that they both had other things that they were thinking about. From the way Jaxon’s hands were moving, Joe could see that the Monk wanted to get back to trying to adjust the world; Bard remained as inscrutable as ever. Just as the group started to depart, they were halted by a guild member running up to them with a letter.
“From Aten,” the messenger told Joe breathlessly. “He said that we have a good location, but there is something strange going on and we need a strange person to look into it. Then he said to just tell you to look into it and not tell you that he called you… strange…” The messenger coughed and looked away, obviously a bit embarrassed.
“Thanks?” Joe opened the letter as the man wobbled off muttering about his running skill stagnating. The messenger did not get a tip. There was a pause as Joe read over the missive, but then he snorted and looked at the notification that appeared.
Your guild leader has shared a secret quest with you! If you complete it, you will gain the rewards while the guild receives the renown. Accept? Yes / No
There was no other information about the quest besides the letter unfolding to show a crude map that he’d have to follow. Joe accepted the quest and a proper notification appeared.
Quest alert: The Secret of Sir Bearington. A town that fits the needs of your guild has been found, but the locals are somewhat hostile to outsiders. Their mayor, Sir Bearington, has refused to let the town fall back under the banner of Ardania. He says it is because they aren’t needed and never have been, but something strange is going on! *Note: This is a secret quest and has many possible routes to completion. Rewards will be given based on the information you find… as well as how you use it.
“Looks like we have a new plan, everyone. I’m going on a quest, and I need my team with me so I hope you all have free time!” Joe told the others triumphantly, calming down a bit when he remembered that they were all in the trial phase. “I do understand if you don’t want to go, but it's for the guild and if we complete it… let’s just say you might be accepted by the others a little easier.”
No one decided to stay behind, which suited Joe’s purposes perfectly. It was hard to get to know someone with only a few short, action-packed hours. Now they would have an overnight expedition to really talk! … An hour of walking through the forest later, no one had said anything beyond pointing out monsters followed by a short monologue about bone structure from Jaxon. Joe was feeling a bit put out, but perhaps he hadn’t thought about the ramifications of creating a party composed of introverts, experts, and expert introverts. He decided that as the team leader, it was up to him to get to know his minions. Teammates. Same difference.
“So, Alexis!” Joe started brightly, startling the others and making them look for whatever was attacking them. “Can you tell us a little bit about your class and abilities? What does an ‘Aromatic Artificer’ do?”
“I’m. Um. I use crossbows and… bolts.” Alexis looked down at the ground. “The ‘aromatic’ part of it is… misleading. It’s a specialization usually associated with people like candle makers. But… with me… it’s…”
The others waited, some more patiently than others. Bard loudly voiced his thoughts, and a touch of mana colored his word, “Ach! Jus’ goo head and spit it out, lass! No one here’s gon’ bite yer head off!”
Contrary to Joe’s expectations, Bard’s ‘kind’ words had the intended effect. Had he given her a buff? Alexis rubbed her neck and spoke a little more boldly, “Well, I specialized into this class because of the massive bonuses to area of effect that I get. Instead of vaporizing wax and allowing pretty smells to make their way to people’s noses… my artificed weapons release a cloud of poison gas that rapidly expands and expends itself. Exceptionally potent against tightly-packed groups.”
“How do we avoid being caught in the poison?” Jaxon voiced his first question of the day that did not relate to anatomy.
Alexis blushed and hesitated a little. “You… don’t. I just need to make sure not to use these arrows when you are too close to the enemy. I’ll soften them up at a distance and then switch to standard arrows.”
“How deadly is the poison?” Joe interrupted thoughtfully. “I have a spell that lets me heal poison over time, but it might be a somewhat underpowered ability if your abilities match your level.”
“The size of the arrow is the determining factor; it impacts how much poison I can put into it,” Alexis informed them, voice beginning to get soft again. “More poison means more spread, but poison can be time-consuming and difficult to make. This means that my smallest poison arrows have the most deadly and concentrated versions, but those also usually get injected. The most dangerous variant is a student-ranked poison, though my weakest is still beginner ranked.”
“So what I really need to worry about clearing is beginner-ranked right now?” Joe thought over her words. “It’ll take some practice, but I should be able to clear it out if we get hit by it. If not, I can heal you up and try again.”
“Yeah, thanks…” Alexis was getting close to hyperventilating, so Joe decided to move the conversation onward.
“What did you all pick as your professions at level five?” Joe looke
d around, mainly getting shrugs in answer. Joe glared at the group until they started to crack from the building pressure.
Bard finally decided to bite the bullet and speak. “Ah took ‘performer’. Boosts mah effect when ah chant, speak, dance, or act.”
“Should be no surprise to anyone else, but I took ‘Chiropractor’,” Jaxon announced. “It helps me-”
Jaxon was driven to the ground as a black streak slammed into him from above. There was a rumbling growl coming from what turned out to be a bear, and it was biting Jaxon as hard as it could. As the others turned to fight it off, Alexis beat them to the punch by screaming and using an ability. “Pinning shot!” she yelped in an almost surprised tone, pulling at a strap on her shirt. An oversized crossbow–which looked more similar to a ballista than anything–unhooked from her back, flipped up and snapped into place on her shoulder, instantly launching a bolt as long as her arm.
The recoil of the bolt launching sent her staggering backward, but the bear had it far worse. The projectile caught the beast in the side and sent it flying into a tree trunk several feet from its starting location. The bolt dug into the wood, pinning the bear against the tree a few feet above the ground. A soft explosion followed, the arrow exhaling a puff of smoke that quickly spread away from the impact site. It dissipated after a single second, but unfortunately, the fallen Jaxon was still caught within the area of effect.
As soon as the smoke vanished, Joe was at Jaxon’s side with a healing spell to stabilize him. It was obvious to all that Jaxon’s health was falling rapidly, mainly from the potent poison he had just inhaled, but also from the sudden damage and perhaps a broken neck. Joe activated Cleanse and worked to combat the poison directly. His Cleanse skill was only ranked at beginner zero, but he had a ten percent bonus effectiveness against poison and toxins that were affecting a person so he slowly started to win. Clearing out the poison took a long minute, but Joe was able to stave off the damage for long enough that the blood-curdling effect petered out. He was a little frustrated that he hadn’t been able to clear it out directly, but Jaxon had survived and that was what really mattered here.
Skill increase: Cleanse (Beginner I). Working to clear out deadly poison is a great way to gain experience cleansing someone! Remember, poisoning your friends isn’t a bad thing… if it is for experience!
Jaxon weakly reached up and grabbed his own head. With a sickening twist and several popping sounds, his bones realigned. His voice rasped like a chain smoker, “Don’t suppose you can heal these bones? I set them… so…”
Bard gagged and Alexis seemed to be in shock. Joe–though pale–nodded and cast mend on the Monk. Soon he was back on his feet, doing disturbing stretches. “Hmm. Range of motion has not suffered. Good. I am quite thirsty though.”
“I have water…” Joe paused as he remembered one of the most underused functions of his cleansing ability. “Let me do this directly, if that's okay. Let your neck take a few minutes off.” He channeled Cleanse into the Monk, and soon, Jaxon was commenting on the ‘well-hydrated’ buff. So much so that Joe soon fed water into himself and the other members of the party to ensure that they were all at peak performance.
“That was the cub of the bear we had to fight yesterday,” Jaxon mentioned offhandedly. “At least, it had the same bone structure and markings. Perhaps that is a hidden function of fighting bears? If you kill the mother bear and they have a spawn out in the wild it will hunt you down and attempt an assassination at an unknown time?”
“So you are saying that if we kill one, we’re going to have to kill their whole family?” Alexis seemed aghast and was twisting a chunk of cloth between her fingers. “I’m not sure I like the combat mechanics in this game.”
“Was tha’ yer normal weapon?” Bard waved at the massive crossbow that was once again hidden on her back.
“Hmm? Bertha? No, that’s my… I like to think of it as my ultimate ability?” Alexis seemed to be breathing easier around them. She showed two small crossbows that were in holsters like pistols and pulled them out. “These are my normal armaments, but when I’m startled, or stressed… I tend to go overboard and throw everything I have at my target.”
“Overkill is the best kind of kill.” Joe chuckled as they finally found something to chat about. For the next hour of their walk, they discussed their favorite ways to finish off an opponent. It was a good time.
~ Chapter Eleven ~
Joe had never traveled in this direction before; at the very least, he had never gone this far to the east. They had swiftly passed through the plains surrounding the city of Ardania. After discussing the quest for a while, they lapsed back into silence. Finally, after a full day of walking, they broke through the dense forests where the majority of animal enemies lived. Now they were walking down a path through cultivated fields, approaching their destination after about ten hours of constant movement. The journey should have been more difficult, but Joe had set his class to ‘Mage’ and therefore was able to devote plenty of mana to his tiny yet potent repertoire of offensive spells.
“Have any of you been to another town outside of Ardania?” Joe nervously eyed yet another farmer who seemed inexplicably hostile to them as they walked by.
“This is my first time outside of the city,” Alexis commented, quickly becoming uncomfortable as the others looked at her oddly. “What?”
“How in the world are you level ten?” Jaxon voiced the question the others were thinking.
“I completed quests, obviously. Beyond that, I also gain a ton of experience from making weapons and get bonus contribution experience when people use the things that I’ve made to kill enemies. Sure, no one can use my special weapons, but I can make augments and poisons for anyone.” Alexis kept her eyes on the road as the others exchanged astonished glances. “Fighting is… inefficient for leveling. We’ve only made one hundred and thirty-six experience this entire trip. That’s less than a tenth of what I can make in a normal eight hour work day.” From there, the conversation began drifting into irritation or awkward silences after a full day of discussing their differences, and they were all tired and in need of a nap.
“There’s the town!” Joe called with relief as the first two-story building they had seen since leaving the city came into view. The group had passed a few small farmhouses, but Joe was getting concerned by the dwindling daylight. If they hadn’t found a place to stay the night by the time full dark arrived, he would have had to make a ritual to ward off creatures while they slept. This was not the best option because this far away from the starter area there was a possibility that his ritual would actually draw in a creature at a level that they couldn’t hope to combat.
A few minutes of more energetic travel later, they passed through the gate of a wooden palisade that encircled the town. Far different from the people in the fields, here people seemed happy; they were smiling and going about their evening while chatting or calling out to each other. Their smiles and relaxed moods faltered as they saw the strangers that had entered their secluded part of the world. Hushed whispers and furtive glances came their way, and as Joe’s party moved through the town, the village folk scattered and emptied the streets ahead of them.
“This don’ bode well for making friends in tae area,” Bard subvocalized, locking eyes with Joe and pointing at a fleeing group with his chin.
“Was this attitude why the guild wanted us to come here?” Joe pondered aloud. He looked over his letter again and noticed that they only had three days before the entire guild showed up, so if they wanted the rewards they were going to need to work fast. They did have the Kingdom’s blessing to bring outlying towns under their control, and using force was an option unless they had already submitted. Not a good option, but it was an option. “We have a very limited time frame to do this correctly. Let’s get a couple of rooms and get an early start in the morning. I think we all need a break.”
They found an ‘inn’, which was a very nice way to say ‘dive bar with rooms’. The barte
nder was very reluctant to hand over keys to the room but did so after they paid his exorbitant fee. When they actually got into the rooms they turned right around and took a vote on if they would rather sleep outside. The beds had so many bugs in them that they were visibly moving.
The only reason that they didn’t leave and sleep in the open was the simple fact that they had needed to pay up front. At least the bartender repeating ‘no refunds’ so many times made sense now. The vote was set aside when Bard pointed out that it was better to be somewhere that had at least a modicum of protection from the elements and marauding creatures.
In an attempt not to be infested or contract whatever diseases were implanted in the bed, the group stepped out of the room and had Alexis fire an arrow into the mattress. A cloud of poison filled the entire space, lingering quite a bit longer than it would have done outside. Unsurprisingly, there was no window in the wall of the tiny room; that might have added some aspect of comfort. After the dangerous miasma dissipated, they stepped back into the room and looked things over.
The bed was no longer moving, but Joe had no interest in laying in it and bringing back bedbug eggs in his robe when he left this place. Using a broom handle, they carefully flipped the bed up against the wall and cleared the floor, lying directly on the ground in the now-open space. Between the poor comfort and the raucous bar scene, none of them slept soundly at all. Even still, morning came too soon.
“Coffee?” Joe was staring at a new bartender, but when the man responded, Joe simply didn’t know how to respond.
“No coffee in town.” The man shook his head in the negative. “Too expensive to import, and we can’t grow it ‘round here. I’ve got cornmeal or wheat meal. Milk to drink. Meat is extra.”
Joe’s eyes had dark circles under them. He tried to process the words coming out of this man’s mouth, but they simply didn’t have any meaning to him. “…Coffee?”