Forced Login

by R K Billiau

  Yes/No

  I hesitated. The Adjudicator had answered all my questions, but I still felt like this was a big deal. A second went by, I took a deep breath then selected YES.

  You have become a vassal of an Archon! You have earned the Title “Vassal of the Adjudicator”. You may only have one active title at a time.

  Title: Vassal of the Adjudicator grants you access to the unique skill “Character Scan”.

  Unique skill: Character Scan - This skill has no levels, upon use you may see a limited version of another Viator’s character sheet. Some Viators may have the ability to hide this or change how it looks. Cost: 10 Spirit per use.

  A title? This was something new. I was just about to ask the Adjudicator about it when another System message flashed across my screen. This time it was bright blue, a color I had never seen before.

  World Event! The Archon; The Adjudicator, has selected a vassal!

  Welcome the first Archon of PrimeVerse!

  “Well, that’s new,” I said. “I haven’t seen a System message that looked like that before.”

  “Yes, the message was a world event message, all Viators could see it. As well as all the other Archons.”

  “It didn’t say much though, so most of us... uh... Viators... still won’t know what it means.”

  “This is true. The other Archons however are now aware and know how to find out who you are.”

  “Is there like a ‘War of the Archons’ or something I should be concerned with?” I probably should have asked more about that before accepting the position, but too late for that now.

  It laughed again. “No, no, not a war. Suffice to say, there are other Archons whose portfolios do not allow them to accept losing gracefully, and by becoming the first Archon with a vassal, I have just bested them in this.”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t like I was planning on living an easy life, anyway. “Now what? How do I become a Quaesitor?”

  It placed its hand on my shoulder, and a light flashed in its eyes, going from a dark blue to brilliant white. I was blinded for a moment, like I was reliving the class selection room I had gone into straight out of the tutorial zone, with its pure, bright surroundings.

  You have been offered a new class; Quaesitor; Advanced Unique class. Requirement: Vassal of The Adjudicator.

  Do you accept this class? Yes/No?

  With no hesitation whatsoever this time, I selected YES. Like leveling up I rose into the air while a light, this time blue instead of white, flashed out from me.

  You have become a Quaesitor!

  You have been granted the skill; Audeo

  All known skills have been increased to 10!

  I blinked as a flurry of skill milestones scrolled by. Many were just average bonuses, but a few stood out.

  Congratulations! You have achieved a milestone in your Sucker Punch skill!

  Sucker Punch - +10% chance of critical hit on a successful Sucker Punch

  Congratulations! You have achieved a milestone in your Toughness skill!

  Toughness–Walk it off: If you have any injuries, walking for a minimum of 5 minutes will give you a 10% chance to remove the injury.

  Congratulations! You have achieved a milestone in your Lucky Find skill!

  Lucky Find–You have a 10% chance to loot something off the rare loot table when using Lucky Find.

  Milestones were nothing to sneeze at, I couldn’t wait to unlock more skill slots.

  Warning! You have more class skills than allowed by your class tier, please select one to remove:

  Hunch

  Illugraphy

  Driven

  Lucky Find

  Damn, I had been hoping that I wouldn’t have to drop a skill. What was the rule for skills again? I could assign whatever skill I dropped as a personal skill, and since none of mine were over level 30, I wouldn’t lose any functionality. I selected Driven; it was useful but too situational.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 10 in Audeo! You have reached a milestone!

  Audeo–When not affected by any kind of debuff, new skills may be learned much easier.

  That was a great milestone ability, I would get plenty of use out of it.

  Being knocked down to level 1 sure sucked, but at least you didn’t lose skill levels when that happened. Although my skills were grayed out, showing I wouldn’t be able to level them until I got back to positive in terms of experience. No use crying over that one, for now, I just needed to get out of the death trap.

  “Hey Adjudicator, can you offer me any kind of help with this situation?” I laid out for him the trap that I was in.

  The Adjudicator gave it some thought. “That is diabolical, though should be preventable when you have gotten past using the wilderness spawn points. It is not within my power to help you get past this, although I can refer you to a piece of advice, ‘Intention is Everything.’ Contemplate that as you attempt to escape.”

  I snapped my fingers in disgust. Powerful Archon. Sure. Well, I could come up with something, I would have to. “How much time do I have left here, anyway? I don’t feel the pull of the light.”

  “Once you enter this place, the light will not pull you until the full time has passed, then you will be forced to leave. As it stands, we have a few minutes yet. Would you like to see what pulled you here in the first place?”

  “What are you talking about, I thought it was you…” I glanced at my buff window, Hunch and Driven were still going! I had totally forgotten! “Do you mean to tell me there is treasure here too!?”

  “Of course, there are some who will make it here without having the option of becoming my vassal, there is a prize for all that work. Come, follow.” With that it turned and strode to a side room, I followed, curious and excited. I was not disappointed.

  When I stepped over the threshold, it was if I had entered another realm again. Gone were the cathedral looking walls, alcoves full of light. This room was circular, with walls made of gold, glowing runes carved into them lit up with mystical energy. The ceiling was a glass dome looking out into a galaxy of stars, shifting and spiraling.

  Within the room were four chests an arm-span length apart from each other. The first chest was made of stone, it was squat and ugly, but looked impenetrable. The next chest was metal, but covered in intricate interlocking gears, it had a button to press that presumably would open it somehow. The third chest was made of wood with beautiful carvings, telling the story of its own creation. The art was so moving it pulled at my emotions. The last chest was glass and wood, rather plain looking, but giving a peek to what it contained inside as if the chest was not the part to be concerned with. It contained a pulsating, glowing energy.

  “Your treasure, Viator, for making it through the Labyrinth. You must choose.”

  “Any hints?” I asked. It only smiled and gestured towards the chests.

  “Time runs out, choose.”

  I walked toward the chests. “Do I get to keep opening chests every time I come back?”

  It chuckled at me, shaking its head. “A Viator only enter this room a single time.” Right, so I had to pick carefully.

  I got the impression that the four chests corresponded with the four attribute trees; Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul. With that in mind I skipped the first two. I felt like I had a good handle on Body and Mind and wanted to address some of my weaknesses. The wooden box with the carvings elicited a powerful emotional response from me and drew me to it. I placed my hand on the lid, letting my fingers trace over the carvings, a tree as it grew throughout the seasons. I had no idea what I would get out of these chests, but I felt that this one would give me something to help with relationships. If it was emotion based, then emotions were from people, right?

  Looking at those attribute trees in the primer, I contemplated.

  Heart - Zeal pool = total heart points

  Empathy - Empathy determines your ability to recognize or vicariously experience the feelings of others. The higher your Empathy the more use
ful your social skills become, and the easier it is for spells or skills that affect what another person might do, to be effective.

  Projection - Projection is your ability to manifest your feelings and have others feel what you are feeling. Projection affects spell or skill range and targets, how fast you recover your Zeal, and grants you an XP bonus for personal skills.

  Emotion - Emotions are your base feelings. The higher your Emotion attribute, the more protected you are from opposing spells or skills that attempt to affect your emotions, and the better you are at resisting social skills.

  Soul - Spirit Pool = total Soul points

  Self - This attribute is a measurement of how sure you are of yourself. The higher your Self attribute the harder it will be for others to affect you with spells or skills that try to change you. Also grants you an XP bonus for secondary skills.

  Aura - Your Aura attribute is a measurement of how your inner energy radiates out of you. The higher your Aura the more you can affect things close to you.

  Connection - Your Connection is reflective of your soul connection with all things. Raising your Connection will increase the chances that your skills will be effective and grants you an XP bonus to secondary skills.

  Both attribute trees seemed to have some touchy-feely components to them, stuff I was never all that good with in my previous life. I wanted to be better balanced in this new life but had to admit I felt a sense of...trepidation towards emotional stuff. It was time to make a choice. I took my hand off the lid of the chest I was touching and lifted the lid to the soul box, the chest made of wood and glass, and as it opened the other three chests disappeared in a puff of light.

  Congratulations! You have learned the Core Manipulation skill!

  Core Manipulation - Using cores, you may now summon and control creatures from any core you have.

  Audeo - Core Manipulation has been increased to level 10.

  Congratulations! You have achieved a milestone in your Core Manipulation skill!

  You now have an increased chance to find cores in defeated enemies.

  I didn’t know if the game modified chests for the situations you were in, but this felt a little on the nose.

  “Adjudicator, what gives with this chest? I’m not complaining, but it feels coincidental that I would get something that I need right now...” You’re not paranoid if they are out to get you, right?

  “I am the Adjudicator; I judge based upon your actions and needs and what best fits the situation. I gave you four choices, each of which would have helped you now, and in the future.” I was grateful, but still curious.

  “So, you decided what went into the chests? Would you tell me what was in the others?”

  “Yes, I decided. It is within my power to tell you, however is it knowledge you would want? Would you forever regret knowing?” It arched an eyebrow at me and I gave it some thought.

  “Well, maybe just tell me what was in the ‘Body’ chest?” I hazarded the question.

  “Very well, that chest contained the skill; Healing Factor, which would heal you quickly even while in combat, and would repair wounds.”

  I frowned. That would have been awesome. “Okay, don’t tell me any more.” I would let ignorance be bliss and be happy with what I got. I slotted Core Manipulation into my personal skill slot. The Adjudicator nodded, a smirk on his face.

  “Time runs short, you must prepare to leave. You have but a moment.”

  How was I going to prepare? I had to think of some way to break out of the trap.

  Chapter 23

  I tried to give it some serious thought but was defeated by being wrenched from the room back into the world and surrounded by zombies again. My only thought was to go down swinging, and I fought with everything in me to keep them off. In a moment of clarity, I realized I needed to not just flail about, and I intentionally thought about fighting them off with my fists and feet, willing myself to learn some other combat skill that could help. With visions of Kai and me duking it out back to back as Martial Artists, I violently died.

  Death 90

  The Adjudicator chuckled as I arrived screaming, in mid-kick onto the floor of his temple. I stood up and brushed myself off. “That was fast,” it said.

  I didn’t know how affected by a glare it could be, but I tried anyway. No effect. It continued to smile at me. “Yeah, well, there are a crap ton of zombies out there, I’m going to keep trying stuff to get past them. I was hoping my new skill that helps me learn skills-”

  “Audeo,” it said, interrupting me.

  “Yeah, that. I was hoping-”

  “You must have no active debuffs for it to work,” it interrupted again.

  “Okay, I remember now, but man, you gotta let me talk, interrupting is rude.”

  “Apologies Quaesitor, I believe I mentioned my lack of opportunity to enhance my social skills before, yes? I will endeavor to do better.” It arched an eyebrow.

  “Whatever,” I said. I accept the light’s embrace and entered the world again. This time, surrounded, I checked my buffs, sure enough there was the movement speed buff from Epicurean. I tried shoving and running and pushing my way through but found that being able to move faster doesn’t help when you’re pressed on all sides by a mass of walking corpses.

  Death 91

  I concentrated on attempting to Dodge and evade the undead. That lasted about a second before they brought me down.

  Death 92

  This time before I even made it back into the temple, I took the light, hoping to catch the undead bastards by surprise. Let me tell you, if you ever happen to see a horde of zombies feasting on your corpse, don’t pause in shock.

  Death 93

  Once again, I jumped right into it, this time, not paying too close attention to the fresh me corpses on the ground. I concentrated again on kicking and punching, I felt like this would be my key out of this mess, getting a combat skill powerful enough to let me fight past.

  Death 94

  I took a breather in the temple. The Adjudicator was nice enough to provide a meal for me. “It is interesting watching you struggle,” it said.

  “You can see me? Can you see whatever you want?” He waved his hand and the huge stained-glass window turned into a viewing screen, with us in the center. I waved and watched as my larger self on the screen waved. I looked around trying to spot a camera or anything, forgetting for a moment that it was just some code allowing it to happen.

  “I cannot see whatever I want, but I can watch you, as my vassal. I can gain some limited knowledge from the outside world, but only through my vassals can I watch it.”

  “That’s not creepy or anything. You’re not going to watch me when I, like…. go to the bathroom or anything are you?”

  “Is there some reason I should not? I find all aspect of life fascinating.” It looked at me quizzically.

  “Oh man! No! You should not watch that! You should have told me about that as part of the deal. I don’t want you watching everything I do!” I doubt I would have changed my mind about accepting the deal, but it would have been nice to know.

  “Apologies vassal, I hold this power as part of our agreement. Although, there are many times when I cannot watch you as my duties prevent it. Does that make you feel more comfortable?”

  “Not really no, I just… look, just don’t watch me doing my uh… biological necessities you know?” Ironic, now that I wasn’t biological anymore. “And um, if I’m going to be having private time with a woman, don’t watch that or even private time with my… wait is there a way I can just turn off that ability?”

  It frowned at me. “Quaesitor, if there are moments you wish me not to see I can be accommodating. This is that social norm of privacy I assume.”

  It was then that I realized that, as human as it looked, it most decidedly was not. “Yes,” I said, “there are plenty of times I don’t want to be watched. Is there something I can do about that?

  It cocked its head in thought. “I can do this for yo
u.” It grabbed my hand and lifted my arm, placing two fingers on my left wrist. It lifted its fingers off and the image of a glowing eye surrounded in a circle and then a triangle appeared burned into my flesh.

  You have gained a Mystical Tattoo!

  Mystical Tattoo: Eye of the Adjudicator - Activate this tattoo to prevent scrying

  “What the heck!? Mystical Tattoos? That’s awesome! Activating this will prevent you from watching me?”

  “Yes, it is a gift that I can give my vassals, I see it may be something that I will need to give out as part of vassal-hood. I understand I should also relay to them that I can watch.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said.

  “Will you be returning now?”

  I sighed and embraced the light.

  Death 95

  I entered the world once again in the horde’s center. I kept up with my tactic, visualizing combat side by side with Kai. I felt like a got a few good hits in this time before they ripped me apart.

  Death 96

  This time I got a System message when I entered the temple.

  Congratulations! You have learned a new skill!

  You have learned: Brawling - All combat without weapons does +10% damage.

  Audeo - Brawling has been increased to level 10.

  Brawling. That was not what I was going for. It didn’t even have a level 10 milestone. Lame. I guess I couldn’t be a chooser, really. “Hopefully that helps a bit.”

  The Adjudicator smiled. “You have been entertaining for me already, my vassal. You are learning the ways of the world.”

  I grimaced at it and embraced the light.

  Death 97

  This would be it; I could tell, I would escape. I opened with a haymaker, crashing my fists into a zombie and sending it flying. This was awesome! I kicked and punched, trying to launch another haymaker but saw in my buff window it was on a cool down, only a couple seconds, but it was enough. I couldn’t get another zombie off me and it bit into my throat, ripping out a chunk of my flesh and sending me bleeding to the ground.

  Death 98

  “DAMNIT!” I shouted. “There’s just too many of them!” I was furious and wanted to take my anger out on something that wouldn’t kill me almost instantly.