by R K Billiau
Jumping 10/100: Average Jumping, you know how to jump without getting hurt. -10% damage from fall damage of average height.
Jumping skill maximum reached, slot this skill as a secondary or personal skill to increase it further.
What a great time to get a bunch of system messages to read! I ignored them and tried to get dislodge myself when I felt the teeth sink into me again, the Pain debuff maxed out and I went crazy with pain, unable to do anything but scream as the zombies ripped into me. The pain fled as my vision swirled and I found myself in the all too familiar Death Tunnel once again.
Chapter 7
Darkness again. Why had the Death Maze been lit up that one time I had gone through it? I tried to remember if anything strange had surrounded that death but came up blank. I forced my will away from the light and followed the path I knew as fast as I could. I didn’t know whether this would lead to anything, or if it was simply here to keep people occupied. I only knew I had to explore it as much as possible between each death. I might have thought to just kill myself over and over to explore this maze, but my gear would take durability hits and end up destroyed. I guess I could always leave it behind but dying also hurt. Not just a fleeting pain, but an agony that was best to just avoid.
Ah well, I was here now so I would make good use of my time. I got to my furthest point and paused. I felt like I was being tugged in a certain direction. The feeling differed from that of the light trying to get me out of the place; I had a hunch that something was in here.
You have gained a point in Hunch!
Nice of the game to clarify that for me! The feeling was pulling me in a general direction, and I made my way down the closest tunnels toward it. Time was running out, and the feeling hadn’t gotten any stronger or weaker. It felt like it was pointing me in an overall direction though and not guiding me through the twists and turns of the tunnels. I didn’t get a sense of which path to take whenever I came to a crossroads, so even though I knew there was something in here, maybe treasure, I didn’t know much more than that.
I could feel the unrelenting light pulling me into its embrace when I thought of something. My mini-map had not shown up in here. Before I got ejected back into reality... er… virtuality? I tried to open my mini-map. There it was! I zoomed out as far as I could, and I saw it! The paths I’d already explored showed up in the mini-map. I committed to memory as much as I could as the darkness swirled away to reveal the small glade of trees I was now standing in.
Before doing anything else I grabbed my Infinite Notebook and drew out what I knew of the Death Maze. I didn’t know how correct it was, and I wasn’t about to go and die to find out, but now that I could get overhead pictures, I could map it out. I would have to confirm what I knew the next time I went.
You have gained a point in Archive!
I snapped the book shut with a grin. I brought up my log and read that message that had come at such a great moment before I died. My jumping made it to 10 and I couldn’t increase it any further without using up a precious secondary or personal slot. I guess that would explain why I hadn’t seen any skill increases for running either. Well, no more randomly skipping for me I guessed.
I looked around. Once again, I had to activate my mini-map. I guessed that might be a property of dying or entering new zones or something. I was in the middle of a small clearing in what looked to be a sparsely populated forest of trees in the pine family. I could see the edge of the forest, and in a short walk reached it. I was looking down into the valley I had died in, albeit from another direction. This was frustrating. I was lost. I tried to use landmarks to find where I was compared to where I had been, but either my Survival skill wasn’t high enough, or I was just too far from where I was.
With little recourse I picked a destination and walked, clearing out another couple of rabbit nests as I went. I collected a small amount of loot from each and had received 20 XP when I saw another person off in the distance. I dropped down to watch, careful this time, wanting to see if it was another zombie. This time it was a female, but also in Hunter attire. I watched as the person made a slow walk in my direction. I couldn’t tell where she was going, and I still couldn’t get a close enough look to see if she was a zombie, but by her slow, purposeless walk.
I lay there in the tall grass, and waited, looking out for any other zombies that might jump me. It was going to piss me right off if this world was just full of zombies. Finding none, I crept closer. When I got within a good range of the female, I launched a heavy rock at its head, knocking it askew. As soon as I stood up, the creature spun towards me. Yeah, a zombie, you could tell because something had eaten the eyes out of its face. If that mattered at all to the zombie, it didn’t show it.
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
Congratulations! You have increased your Sucker Punch skill!
It charged right at me. Damn, I had been hoping that would be enough to kill it. I couldn’t tell how much I had hurt it because it was already so mangled looking. I continued to throw rocks at it, missing more often than hitting. It was slow, so I kited it pretty well, having my mini-map up helped me to avoid any large obstacles or other creatures. My Stamina bar was depleting though, it seemed running backwards while trying to scoop up rocks and throw them was a real drain. I bet it looked real stupid too. At least it got me a few points in Throwing Mastery.
I stumbled through a nest of rabbits, avoiding hurting any of them. The rabbits for their part just scattered out of the way. The happy little creatures contentedly kept eating their grass until the zombie I was kiting also made it into their threat zone. I didn’t even know rabbits could scream but scream they did and en masse attacked the zombie! Five little fuzzballs with cute fluffy tails latched on to the walking corpse, biting furiously.
The zombie stopped coming after me to bat at the rabbits. It was pretty damn hilarious. I think it was causing more damage to itself than the rabbits were. I stopped chuckling when the zombie knocked one rabbit to the ground.
“Oh yeah... I should kill it.” I gathered my rocks and sidestepped around the zombie until I was behind it and threw a rock.
Congratulations! You have increased your Conscious attribute!
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
You have slain a zombie!
You have gained 20 experience points.
YES! It must have been a higher level than me, because of the higher experience gain. I kept myself ready to throw again eyeing the rabbits. They went back to their original placid demeanor however, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Excited, I looted the zombie, scoring a Lucky Find- another core.
Congratulations! You have increased your Lucky Find skill!
Undead Core: Zombie
Requires skill: Core Manipulation to activate
Charm Slot - Primitive Darkness attunement
Durability - Indestructible
Soulbound
Another core! I wish I knew how to figure them out. I put it in one of my empty charm slots next to the other ones. Now I had attunement to Light, Dark and Earth. Whatever that meant. The more attributes the better, right?
After archiving what I remembered about the zombie, I kept walking. Not much later I came across an area that looked familiar. Scanning down the valley I saw the rolling slope with the cave entrance. There was no smoke around it this time, but there was something even more alarming. People were fighting right outside the entrance! From this distance it was hard to tell what exactly was going on, but if there were real live people down there, I needed to go help! I ran as fast as my Stamina bar would let me. I took long strides, the tall grass lapping around my ankles. When I got close enough to make out details, I could tell there was a group of three people fighting off zombies. It would be a losing battle, though, as there were twice as many of the undead as there were the alive.
I scooped up rocks and ran into throwing range, pushing my Stamina bar to the max. The zombies had their b
acks to me so I hoped get a few Sucker Punches in. I inspected the melee of the living: there were two in Hunter class garb, a male and a female, but the third person really stood out. He wore a martial arts outfit, a bright red high-necked collared shirt with buttons going down one side, black silk pants, and those shoes that have the ties going all the way up the calf. This guy was not a Primitive class.
Putting my curiosity aside, I took aim and flung my rock at the zombie the karate guy was attacking.
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
You have slain a zombie!
Got it! No experience though, so there must be some other mechanic in play I didn’t know. As the zombie collapsed to the ground, the man in the uniform paused a second and nodded at me before launching into a complicated series of sweeping movements and then hit the closest zombie to him with a palm strike, sending it flying back a good ten feet.
“So cool!” I shouted at him and threw another rock at the zombie as it tried to get up.
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
You have slain a zombie!
Congratulations! You have increased your Sucker Punch skill!
The two Hunters were not having an easy time of it, as the four remaining zombies assaulted them from all sides. They also didn’t seem to coordinate their attacks in any meaningful way. The male blundered about with his spear, getting it caught in the female’s arm causing her to drop her weapon, and him to stumble. It was a terrible mistake and one they paid for in violent fashion. The zombies wasted no time pouncing where they saw weakness and in seconds had torn apart the male Hunter who died screaming. It was utterly brutal and having never witnessed anything like that in person, it shocked me and I froze up.
“Help! Don’t stand there!” The guy in the martial arts clothes shouted at me, snapping me out of my shock. He had charged the zombie closest to the female Hunter, performing an impressive leg sweep and dropping it backwards to the ground. He snatched up the spear the Huntress had dropped and slammed it home in the zombie’s head ending its life... death... whatever.
The Huntress stood there frozen like I had been, just watching her friend being ripped to pieces when one zombie looked up as if even fresher meat was on the table, staring right at her.
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
I didn’t kill this one as it had taken no damage yet but watching its head snap around from the blow was enough for the Huntress to move into action. She pulled free her dagger and slashed at the zombie. I threw another rock while she occupied it, hoping another Sucker Punch would land, but I missed. That was odd, with the accuracy buff that Sucker Punch gave I had yet to miss. I threw again, missed again. Crap, this was not very helpful for the Huntress. She screamed as the zombie bit into her, her eyes wide with a mix of pain and fear. I snatched another rock up and hurled at the zombie finally scoring a hit, but doing minimal damage, my Sucker Punch not going off again. I didn’t know what was going on, but it sucked.
Congratulations! You have increased your Throwing Mastery skill!
I was getting close to level 10 in Throwing Mastery, I wondered if there was a milestone bonus there. The Kung-Fu guy had engaged at this point, with a series of powerful punches and the zombie collapsed, dead…er. The two remaining zombies were enjoying their meal, oblivious to their comrades second demise. I threw a rock at one.
Sucker Punch! Your attack catches the opponent off guard!
Well, it worked that time. I did not understand why. It worked a little too well, actually. The zombie I hit aggroed on me, lumbering towards me in its zombie shuffle. I knew I could kite it though, and backed off, pelting it with rocks. Looking over the shoulder of the zombie I was kiting I could see the Huntress was curled up in the fetal position, and the Martial Artist was beating the crap out of the last zombie. I knew my Sucker Punch wouldn’t go off while I was the top priority on the zombies hate list so I made a wide circle, bringing it back around towards the group right as I saw the other zombie fall to the fists of fury.
Congratulations! You have increased your Throwing Mastery skill!
“I can’t take this guy down by myself!” I shouted. The Ninja guy sprang into action performing another one of those palm strikes on my zombie while I continued to rain rocks down on it. It fell to the ground and didn’t get back up.
You have slain a zombie!
You have gained 10 experience points
Aww lower XP. I was sure it had to be because of how the combat was working now. Just too many fighters attacking things and experience must have been divvied by hate level, or damage dealt or any number of things. Well, the important thing was combat was over now. I inspected the fighter before me, he seemed to be around 18, was about my height, five-foot ten-ish, and had a muscular build. His sleeveless Kung-Fu shirt showed powerful looking biceps. He had short close-cropped hair and a scar across his nose. He leaned over to see to the Huntress who uncoiled herself with care and sat up, tears running down her face.
“Uh, hello,” I said. Wow that was smooth.
Both looked at me, the Huntress cradling her bleeding arm.
“Hey, I’m Kai, did you just get out of the tutorial zone?” the man, Kai apparently, asked me.
“Yeah, I was there for well, I don’t know how long, but it was a bit of a vacation for me. I wasn’t in a hurry to get out,” I said.
Before Kai could say anything, the Huntress spoke. “Count your vacation over. This place is Hell!”
Kai grimaced. “That’s Cora, she uh, hasn’t been having an easy time out here in the wilds.”
“None of us have Kai, this place may as well be Hell for everyone stuck here living in misery!” Cora shouted. I couldn’t tell if it was the pain talking or what, but this did not sound great.
“Cora, it’s only been a few weeks, we hardly know how anything works. It’s not that bad!” Kai responded, obviously annoyed.
“Not that bad!? None of us got a Basic class like you, strong enough to defend yourself. I have died too many times already. All this world has been, is pain!” Cora said.
“Yeah,” I said, “the pain levels in here really suck. You got a Basic class, Kai? What are you?”
Kai squared his shoulders. “I got the Martial Artist class. I used to be an instructor before I got too old for it, then when I got to the tutorial zone, young and strong again, I practiced. It was amazing, and no matter the pain we have to go through, it’s worth it to feel this way again!” He flexed his arm and did a jump kick thing. “Looks like you got a Basic class too! What were you able to get?”
“Advanced class,” I said. Both of their expressions changed to one of well, not awe, but certainly surprise. “I got to pick from three classes, I picked this one, Treasure Hunter.”
“Treasure Hunter!? What good is that going to do us!?” Cora shouted, her face contorted in anger. “If you were a fighter or magic user or something you could have been useful.”
“Sorry for not taking your needs into consideration,” I said, deadpan. “I was more interested in picking something I knew I would enjoy. Why did you pick Hunter if you wanted to be a magic user? Why not Shaman?”
“I didn’t pick ANYTHING! I played around in the tutorial and when I left it assigned me this class,” Cora said.
“I think that’s the heart of the problem,” Kai said. “Cora and the rest, except for a few, didn’t get to pick a class. They came out of the tutorial automatically assigned to one. Not too many of them are happy about that.”
“Wait,” I said. “Others? How many of you are there?”
Kai grinned. “Well, you make 28. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Chapter 8
Cora stood up in a huff and shouldered her way past us into the cave.
“Wow,” I said, “she does not seem to like it here.”
Kai grimaced and gave a one shoulder shrug. “The sentiment isn’t that uncommon, you’ll see why.” He headed into the
cave while I followed.
The cave was narrow at first, but tall enough for us to walk in. After a few steps it widened out, and I witnessed a massive hollow, as if the entire hill existed as a facade for this large room. It stank. The smell of human sweat and bodies and... other things... almost knocked me over. I’m surprised I didn’t get a debuff.
“What the hell!?” I involuntarily exclaimed. I guess after being on my own for so long, my filter wasn’t working.
“You get used to it,” Kai said.
All around the room were groups of people looking… miserable. Cora was right. Everyone was filthy, wounded, laying on the ground as if they collapsed there and forgot to get back up. A few perked up to look at us as we walked in, their gazes scanning the newcomer up and down, but many just ignored us. It was a shock to see such misery.
Congratulations! You have increased your Empathy attribute!
A group of people to one side stood talking. When they saw me they rushed over. A woman in Shaman garb grabbed Cora and lifted her arm up to inspect it. The bloody, gaping wound had closed (thank you game mechanics) but now there was a swollen red mark where the wound had been.
“Cora...” the woman said. “You too now? How many wounds have you taken?”
Cora pulled her arm down, cradling it with the other. “Two wounds Sarah, they got us right outside the entrance. That bastard must have sent them to us.”
Sarah pulled Cora away towards another part of the cave while Kai pointed to a man in Chiefs garments. Beside the man was another Shaman and a Hunter. “Arnold, this is Hudson. He helped with the fight right outside the cave,” Kai spoke to the Chief, nodding his head towards me. “Hudson, this is Arnold, who has the Chief class, Wendel here is a Shaman, and this is Ernesto.”
Arnold made intense eye contact, holding his hand out for a greeting. I shook it, firm and strong, then the other two player’s hands. “What class are you Hudson?” Arnold asked.
I prepared myself, hoping this reaction wouldn’t be as bad as Cora’s had been. “I got to pick an Advanced class. Treasure Hunter.”