The Scout of Artemis (LitRPG Series): Press X to Loot Book 1

by Gregg Horlock

  The woodland in front of me was pitch black now, with not even the glow of Burrs’ tails to illuminate it. The moon was in the sky, somewhere, though a cloud had smothered it. Waves crashed on the beach behind me, and I wondered if each one swept in the wooden debris from our ship. The darkness around me became thick, as if tension seeped into it to create a pitch black that I’d have to wade through.

  I walked over to the alcove cut into the hill. ‘Prepare for the wave’. The techie had told me to be careful at night. There were rumors online of something the programmers had coded into the day/night cycle of Artemis that wasn’t present in the Pana mainland. Somehow, I doubted that the wave meant I was in for a spot of surfing. Besides, I’d already had enough of water. This wave, whatever it was, would be made up of aggressive creatures.

  I went as far into the alcove as I could. Right now, it was only cut a meter and a half into the hillside. With hard work, and if I met someone with a mining skill, it could be expanded. If I could choose this snug hole as my official shelter, then it would offer me upgrade opportunities. The problem was that to do that I’d have to set a respawn rune here. My runes were currently hanging out with the clams at the bottom of the sea. Or whatever the Artemis versions of clams were. They probably had meter-long teeth and breathed out liquid anthrax.

  I heard sounds come from deep within the woodland. The area around became quieter when night fell. It was as if even the forest birds and the roaming Burrs knew enough to keep quiet when the sun disappeared. The cry I heard now was different from the rest of the wildlife. There was something wicked and feral in it, as if it was made by some wild beast with dark intentions.

  I realized that the embers of my fire were still burning. I got out of the shelter, walked over to it and then stamped it out. I heard another cry, and again I was struck with how terrible it was. This one sounded closer, and it was soon joined by another, then another.

  Where were they? It was like being in an echo chamber. I could hear the cries sound out in every direction, moving toward me as the seconds went on. All well and good hearing them, but I needed to be able to pick out exactly where they were.

  Skill Gained – Awareness [Int, Cha]. Do you accept?

  This was a scout skill, alright. With my secondary slots taken by Sneak and Trap, Awareness would get pride of place as one of my primary skills. Each level of Awareness would boost my intelligence - which helped with trap-making - and my charisma. That was good. Right now, I was as charismatic as a divorced librarian suffering a mid-life crisis.

  I heard the cries of the creatures better now, and I realized that they weren’t all around me. It seemed that when I gained the Awareness skill, my hearing had been boosted. I wondered what rewards waited for me further up the skill tree. Now, though, I had more pressing matters.

  Four or five of the wave creatures were prowling through the woodland. My awareness didn’t just let me hear their cries better. It allowed me to hear their feet hitting the floor, and I could tell that some of them walked on all fours like wolves. Others, it seemed, walked on two legs. It was strange for an animal to make use of 2 legs or 4 legs whenever they saw fit. Most stuck to one method and ran with it. Could you imagine a dog deciding it was time to start walking like a person, then running at you on its hind legs? An animal that walked on two legs was usually something to fear; bears, kangaroos, raptors. In the case of the animal world, the rule was very much four legs good, two legs bad.

  I touched the wall of my shelter to reassure myself that it was still there. I started to doubt the wisdom of staying there. If I had to survive until morning with the creatures prowling around, it didn’t help to back myself into a corner. Then again, at least I was hidden. Out in the open, I might as well have worn a ‘Come and make me respawn’ sign.

  As I listened to the creatures walk through the woods, I heard something else. At first, I thought I must have been imagining it. I held my breath so that not even my own intake of air could be heard, and I listened.

  I heard it again. It wasn’t one of the creatures; it was something different. It was a person shouting something.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was like turning up early at a party before all your friends, and sitting there trying not to look lonely. Then you see one of them turn up, and everything is good again. The person shouting sounded like Rex, but to be honest I didn’t care who it was. Since I’d chartered a private ship, I’d arrived in Artemis before the public players. That made it a lonely island, and I wasn’t looking forward to starring in a digital retelling of Robinson Crusoe.

  Whoever it was, sounded like they were somewhere east. The stream was immediately west, then there were the woods. Further east, I knew from memory, was the village of Dostooth. Rex sounded like he was somewhere to the right of that.

  With my Sneak and Awareness skills, I could chance leaving the shelter. After all, the other option was to wait here and hope that Rex, wherever he was, survived the first night alone. He was a barbarian. I doubted he had sneak skills, and he wouldn’t have had the chance to level up enough to face the wave creatures alone. But I couldn’t just wander out into the night with nothing to fight with. I needed a weapon. A machine gun would have been nice, but I’d have settled for an axe.

  Skill gained – Crafting [Int]. Do you accept?

  I only had one skill slot left now, and it was a primary. I decided that it would be foolish to fill up all my slots within hours of arriving on the island. There had to be skills that would be more useful in finding Helder’s Bane. Hoping I didn’t regret it, I declined the skill. That meant that the only weapon to hand was a stick which I found on the floor.

  I set out with my mighty twig, which I christened Death Bringer, in hand. The wave creatures in the woodland sounded closer now. Through listening carefully, I could tell they were moving parallel to me, rather than heading in my direction. As I headed toward where I’d heard Rex, I concentrated on each step, making sure that I didn’t make a sound.

  The wave creatures weren’t as careful. Together with my advanced hearing, I was able to get a good idea of where they roamed, even if I couldn’t see them. I tried to get a look at them, but when I turned in the direction of their howls, I saw nothing but darkness. It was as if the wave creatures were so black that they just melded right into the shadows around them.

  Sneak increased by 20% (70% until level 2)

  Awareness increased by 20% (80% until level 2)

  The forest was alive with screams and shrieks. Their howls stretched out 30 seconds at a time, as though they were letting the whole island know they were here. There was something so haunting about it that it made me shiver. I wondered if I was crazy to have left my shelter to walk through a woodland, where the trees watched me from each side and the darkness curled a finger at me and beckoned me on.

  I realized that I hadn’t heard Rex in a while. Did that mean that one of the creatures had got him? If so, then I needed to find out soon. There was no use me wandering around alone, because there was no way I could avoid the creatures until day break. This seemed like a callous attitude, but I knew that if Rex wasn’t in the game, it wasn’t the end. He’d respawn on the Pana mainland in 8 hours, and then he’d come over on a public ship.

  I had suspicions that Terence had sent his son here to keep an eye on us and report things back to him. He clearly didn’t trust us with his money. If that was the case, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to be rid of him. Still, for all I knew, Rex had washed up on the shores of Artemis with all our gear, or maybe even a respawn point. I had to take the risk.

  I heard a footstep to my right. It was the sound of something snapping the twigs that littered the forest floor. I silently moved to my left and then stood with my back against a tree that was twice my width. I listened, trying to discern which direction the noise came from.

  Maybe it had gone. It was impossible to tell in the darkness. I thought that hands would reach around the tree and grab my throat from behind. I held D
eath Bringer in my hand, squeezing the stick and wondering if it was even sharp enough to kill a rat.

  As the figure moved closer, I got the overwhelming smell of sulphur in my nostrils. It was like someone was striking matches near me and letting them burn out. The aroma grew stronger as the footsteps approached. I didn’t know what the deal was with these creatures, but they needed a bath.

  The footsteps were just feet away now. I held my breath. I still couldn’t pick the outline of the creature out through the darkness, but I heard it sniff the air. It sensed me, I knew. I wondered what level it was, and I had no doubt that its method of attack was better than waving a stick.

  I thought about sneaking away, but my skill wasn’t developed enough to take a chance on with it being so close to me. I considered a preemptive attack, but I decided I didn’t want to spend the next 8 hours waiting to respawn.

  There was nothing I could do. I thought back to what my father had told me about bears. With black bears, there was little option but to fight back with everything you had. Bite the beast, scratch it, give it an uppercut on its jowly jaw. A black bear wouldn’t leave until the fight was done. Grizzly bears, on the other hand, were different. It was inadvisable to run, since a big light would flash in their heads telling them ‘this guy is prey. Chase him!’ But, if you stood your ground, you had a chance. If the bear still attacked, playing dead was known to work. It was a cliché, and it would get you murdered if you faced a black bear. Grizzlies were easier to trick.

  ‘So, are you a black wave creature, or a grizzly wave creature?’ I thought to myself. I briefly wondered how many of my subscribers were awake, and if they were enjoying the show. I wondered if they would turn up the brightness on their TVs and monitors, allowing them to better view in the darkness.

  Another twig snapped. The sulphur smell lingered. I tightened my grip on Death Bringer, trusting its sharpness and twiginess with a level of faith only matched by King Arthur’s love for Excalibur.

  As I took a deep breath and held it in, the creature moved. I couldn’t see it, so I listened to its footsteps. I heard its feet disturb the bracken on the forest floor, and I wondered if this was my final moment on Artemis. For the next 8 hours, at least.

  And then it moved away.

  Sneak skill increased by 10%! (60% until level 2)

  There was a reason why action movies never showed the hero stood against a tree, holding his breath and clutching a twig. My subscribers were hardly getting treated to Die Hard by tuning into my feed.

  “It’ll get better,” I told them, keeping my voice low. “Keep watching.”

  I had the faint idea that having subscribers would come in handy. They had to be good for something, after all. I made a mental note that I should pull up the Pana forums when day broke and see if there was a subscriber section. Handily, the developers of the game had built a web browser into the game interface. I wouldn’t even have to log out.

  Just as I straightened up to move, something stabbed me in the back. It felt like a drawing pin had been pressed against my skin. I turned around and held Death Bringer, as if it was any use in a fight.

  There was nothing behind me except the tree. Then, looking closer, I realized that there was a hole in the middle of it. The trunk of this elm was at least double my width even if I stretched my arms out at my sides. Inside the trunk, peering out at me, were two young Burrs.

  I showed them my stick, giving them a warning about what they’d face if they attacked. It seemed that none of them had the appetite for a fight, and I guessed that they feared the wave creatures. If this had been broad daylight, they’d have raised their tails and tried to put barbequed scout on the menu.

  I needed to remember this. If the programmers of Pana coded such complex behavior into the NPCs, tactics were important. It was clear that as much as I hadn’t wanted Rex with me, he would be useful. I was a scout and Jack was a gambler, so we’d need a melee fighter with us.

  I hurried through the woods in the direction of where I’d last heard Rex. From time to time I’d hear the lonely howl of a wave creature. My enhanced hearing treated me to the sounds of their feet scraping on the ground as they prowled the area, looking for me. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the idea that they walked on two legs, rather than all fours. The image made my skin itch.

  Finally, I heard Rex again. He was less than 20 feet away now. My eyes had long-ago adjusted to the darkness. I saw that Rex was stood underneath a tree that stretched out in an arc above him. The trunk of the tree was so curved that it seemed like a hurricane had hit it and bent it out of shape. Rex was below it, sword drawn, and he was turning from side to side, making sure to face each direction only for a second.

  I had the sickening realization that 2 wave creatures were closing in on the barbarian.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Despite finding my night eyes, I still couldn’t make out what they looked like. I could see their outlines, but the dark of night latched onto their skin and made it impossible to see them. It was as if I was trying to focus on a blur. What the hell were these things?

  The smell of sulphur hit me now. Not content at creeping into my nostrils, the aroma of spent matches worked its way into my throat. All at once, Rex and the wave creatures looked at me. I couldn’t see their faces, but somehow, I knew that they looked in my direction.

  It didn’t matter about my combat skill or level anymore; I had to help Rex. Even if I tried to flee, I knew that the wave creatures would kill Rex. After that, they’d spend the next five hours stalking me through the forest. Besides, I was never one to run away. Not when someone else was in danger.

  “Columbus?” said Rex, peering at me.

  The wave creatures moved toward him. I gripped Death Bringer and held it at my side, ready to stab it into the first creature that came my way.

  As I rushed over to them, one of the creatures tried to strike Rex. The barbarian raised his sword clumsily. He didn’t look like the most finessed of fighters, but it was enough to parry the blow.

  I knew that I couldn’t realistically hope to do much damage to the creatures, but Rex could. His strength and combat skills would be far better than mine. I needed to give him chance to use them. He wouldn’t be able to strike blows of his own if he was defending theirs.

  Trusting in my agility, I got as close as I could to the first wave creature. Up close, the smell of sulphur was strong enough to make my eyes water. Every inch of my skin was under attack from the sour aroma, and I was drowning it in like an over-watered plant. Ignoring it, I raised Death Bringer.

  It was time for my weapon to shine. The most unlikely occurrences come from the most improbable things. I wondered if, aimed at the right spot, Death Bringer could kill a wave creature. I imagined the glory my twig would gain. I pictured the Pana forums full of people talking about the stick that brought down a wave creature.

  I plunged Death Bringer hard into the wave creature’s side, shouting out in aggression. Death Bringer’s tip hit the black mass before me….

  ….and snapped.

  1HP Lost (Total: 75/123)

  Not only had it broken, but one of the splinters scratched my thumb and knocked a hit point off me. This left me with a broken twig in my hand, and an irritated, hulking black mass in front of me. Even so close, near enough that its putrid odor made my throat burn, I couldn’t make out any of its features. I saw its vague outline. It was indeed walking on all fours, but it was as though a sheet of fog covered it, making it impossible to see in more detail.

  I wasn’t left with much time for zoology, because I heard Rex grunt and then saw his sword crash down on the creature’s head. I heard a sickening crack as the metal smashed through its skull, and the beast fell to the floor.

  I stood back. I could hardly believe that one attack had been enough to kill it. But then, it had been an attack from behind, and it might have been a critical hit. I bent down to the floor beside the creature. I knew that when something died in Pana, it dropped loot.
The wave creatures were a cut above generic NPC monsters. I guessed that the loot they offered would be valuable.

  As I reached out to loot the creature, it moved. It had been so still until now that it took me by surprise, and I felt a searing pain down my right arm.

  15 EXP lost! (Total: 45)

  20 HP lost! (Total: 55/123)

  Despite scratching me, the creature was obviously hurt. It wheezed and then moved into another attack position. I stood up and swung my foot at its head, putting as much force into it as my measly 1 strength point would allow. My foot connected with its skull, and I felt its already-damaged bones crunch under the force. The creature shrieked out, flopped onto its back, and then was still.

  30 EXP gained!

  Easy come, easy go, I thought. The creature had drained exp off me with its attack, but I’d taken it back now. This worried me, though. A monster with powerful attacks was one thing. A beast that drained EXP with its attacks was something else. The Pana coders weren’t messing around when they created Artemis.