by Tao Wong
I exhale slowly, carefully and pull the trigger. When the shot finally comes, it’s a surprise that makes me lose a few precious seconds, the tubular shotgun that Richard lent me going off with a hiss rather than a bang. The other eagle that I wasn’t aiming at takes off while I recover, making it well out of range before I can even try to take a shot. I stand swiftly and walk over to my netted target as it struggles, attempting to free itself from the slowly constricting metallic net that covers its body.
The bald eagle is definitely mutated. For one thing, it’s about six feet tall and on top of that, I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with its wings – the way the air ripples around them now and when it was landing seems to indicate something more is going on. Thankfully, the netting and gun were bought from the Shop especially for Beast Tamers looking to capture new pets so it can’t get out.
I can see Richard and Mikito scrambling up the cliff now that I’ve taken my shot. The other bald eagle that fled is circling high above me, it’s unmutated form watching what we are doing to its sibling. I’d feel sorry for it but I just spent the last three hours squatting in a crudely built camouflaged dugout, hiding from it and its brother till they returned to their nests. Seems like neither Mikito nor Richard had bothered to learn any Stealth skills as yet, something we’ll have to fix if we are to work together.
When Richard does make it up, what he does next is truly mystical. He squats down next to the eagle, meets its eyes and they engage a staring contest. That goes on for nearly ten minutes before he finally breaks away and starts untying his new pet. Yup, real mystical.
With most of the day spent getting Richard a new pet, one that he quickly names Orel, we don’t have a huge amount of time to hunt. With that in consideration, we decide to head straight along the river, moving across the trails that line Miles Canyon in search of prey. Richard sends Orel in the air and keeps the Huskies ranging in front of us. Ali’s almost superfluous in the beginning with Richard’s pets in play, Orel sending us in the direction of potential prey and the Huskies running them down. The dogs are well trained though, often just hounding the monsters till we arrive so that we can finish them off and get the experience as a group. Otherwise, Richard would just be getting all the experience.
We don’t get very far, even with all three of us having a high enough Constitution that we’re moving at a brisk walk the whole time. We still have to fight and kill the monsters and we stop every single time to firstly loot and then butcher the monsters to let a Husky bring the butchered carcass back. It’s an efficient method of transportation, though it does mean that we run out of puppies after a while. Ali takes over guiding us to the prey that Orel spots from above and he even drags us off to deal with some monsters that the eagle misses. Without his pets in play, Richard isn’t as useful so both Mikito and I get a chance to shine, fighting the monsters in close combat. Sad to say, it is quite obvious quite quickly who is better at that - and it’s not me. Unfortunately, once we kill a few of the monsters, we realise we still have to wait for a puppy to get back which means we still have to wait anyway. As frustrating as it is, we’re all conscious enough of the food situation back in Whitehorse that no one even voices the option of leaving the carcasses behind.
The fights themselves are interesting as it’s clear that Mikito and Richard have worked out a system to deal with monsters. Richard stays back, opening fire immediately with his shotgun-ish weapon in battle, using a somewhat more traditional shell and ball bearing load out. According to him, other than nets, he’s also got shells for instaset glue, explosives, electricity and even a grappling hook. Seems like if you could think about it, you could buy a shell for his weapon in the Shop.
Mikito on the other hand still uses her naginata, wielding it in close combat and taking on the monsters directly. Since we last fought together, she has gained a new Skill that causes the head of her weapon to glow red hot with each strike, sizzling through flesh and bone. I wonder if we could use the blade as a hot plate for cooking but I’m too scared and too smart to ask. In battle, the quiet Japanese woman becomes a focused whirlwind-of-death, sliding past attacks with ease and crippling creatures with swift, accurate strikes before moving to the next monster while Richard finishes off the cripple.
For the first few battles, I watch them fight without taking part. I watch how Richard focuses on commanding the dogs when they are around and how the dogs work with Mikito to take down the monsters they face. Once I get the gist of the idea, I step in and try to help and let’s just say I’m more of a hindrance than help. I’m in the wrong place for Mikito’s strikes, I pre-empt the attacks by the dogs forcing the monsters to move in the wrong direction, I even dodged straight into one of the animals in an attempt to get away from an attack. I’m all wrong for a party fight like this.
Who’d have thought that the fact that you could hurt your friends would make such a difference in combat? Mixing up melee and ranged fighters in a swirling arena of blades and teeth seems to require a lot more co-ordination than I’d have expected. Damn movies, making it seem so easy.
When we get back to my house, we agree to postpone dealing with the spiders for at least a day. Better to stay close to town and work on our teamwork. It would be tragic to be shot in the back by a friend in the middle of combat against the spiders. Or elbow a party member in the face. Or cut one of the puppies. Purely as an example.
In the evening, when the others have broken off to do their own thing, I join Lana in washing the dishes. She has her hair in a bun, in a tight blouse and jeans, bright evening sunlight highlighting her hair and cute button nose. For a moment, I just admire her from the side before I forcefully remind myself of an earlier promise.
“Lana, can you tell me about the town?” I begin.
“Huh?” Lana turns to me, puzzled by the generic question. I quickly clarify, “How are the people? The microloan programs? What’s the City Council managing to do and what are they failing at?”
“Oh… not asking for much are you,” she smiles at me before handing me another plate to dry. “I really miss dishwashers you know. Where do we start? Things are getting… better. People are moving around more, focusing on what they can do. Even if it’s nothing more than taking apart a door and putting up again, now that they know they can level and do something to improve themselves, it’s helping. We’ve got a few people working as lumberjacks, fishers, carpenters. All of that. We still don’t have enough guards and things are still dangerous, but people are I guess, getting used to the world.
“The loans are working well, we’re getting more and more of the hunters to sell the materials to us. Profits are abysmal, but the training is more important. Once they level their Skills up and produce better quality items, the amount we’ll make will improve. A few of the workers have even reported getting specific quests, pieces that they need to make.
“The Council… well, they’re organising the guards and the food. Until your announcement, they were really focused on the food situation so they had the farmers organised at the parks and the garden. Now, I think they’re looking at the housing situation more closely and are trying to work out who is still alive and what buildings to buy next.
“The problem at the end of the day is money, John. Credits. No one has enough and as much as people want to help, there’s only so much they are willing to give.”
She falls silent, the spiel coming to an end. The bright, bubbly personality is gone, the worried sister and citizen making a showing. “We just don’t have enough, not for everyone. Those that don’t hunt are rationed, those that do get double portions and often supplement with the Credits they earn from looting. That makes everyone else angry, especially the Citizens who don’t have a class that automatically gives them a way to earn Credits. Teachers, doctors, scholars - those classes can level their skills but they are dependent on an economy that we just don’t have. Worst, we’ve got people who are still in shock and people are still disappearing. The hunters report a few
bodies every day in the river…”
Lana has stopped washing, her hands clutched around a plate. I hesitate before closing a hand around hers, squeezing it and she looks up at me, unshed tears in her eyes, “I don’t know how you do it. The hunters, even Mikito and Richard aren’t willing to go as far out as you did. You just drove all the way to Carcross as if the monsters didn’t matter, that it was just another day before this shit happened. And the rest of us, we’re just trying to get through another day.”
I blink for a moment, staring out the window at the lounging puppies and fox as I attempt to answer her, “I… I guess I’m just too stupid to know better.”
“Don’t you feel anything? Didn’t you lose anyone?” she pulls her hand away from me to stare at my face, searching it.
“I…,” I struggle for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain my own complicated life. “I did. I think. But…” how to explain my relationship with them, the dearth of love and the parade of nannies and then later, boarding school. How I barely saw my father through my youth, and even less as an adult while my mother had left when I was born. I’ve never even met her. Of all of them, only my sister had ever been close to me and even we had drifted apart as she grew older. How to explain the irrational grief for something that I never really had, the way I learnt to tune it all out just to get through another day. Better not to. “It’s over. I can’t do anything for them even if they were alive, not from here.”
She shakes her head, sitting back down at the dining room table. I watch her for a moment as she collects herself, uncomfortable in the silence so I get back to washing the dishes. I’m nearly done when she speaks again, her voice soft. “We have thousands of people, and nearly half of them are combat classes but so few dare to go out. It’s too much, too dangerous and we keep losing people, here and there. The hunting groups get smaller, the food gets less and people get more and more scared.”
I frown, shaking my head and I stare into the distance. Shit, that doesn’t sound great. In an MMO, in a game, there’d be noob training grounds, places where people could start fighting monsters that were level appropriate. Maybe go out on quests and kill 10 rats or something.
Here though, we’re stuck in the real world and even the zone around Whitehorse is in the 10’s to 20’s. Sure, there are monsters that are lower leveled, in fact, the vast majority are low-level mutations but now that it’s been over a week and a half since the System came into play, even the mutations aren’t in single digits anymore.
I can’t blame them, can’t blame the citizens for not wanting to go out. We aren’t used to this, fighting and killing. I’m not used to this - but I can’t sit around either. Caught up in our own dark thoughts, the two of us sit quietly as the evening comes to a close, sharing some chocolate.
Chapter 13
In the morning, as we pass by the school, I spot the Constable heading out.
Amelia Olmstead (Level 14 Guardian)
HP: 410/410
“Still Level 14 eh?” I mutter and wave to the Constable. My companions look at me, wondering what I’m up to as Amelia trudges over, looking exhausted.
“Amelia, that your weapon?” I point to her beam rifle and Ali snorts, muttering something about how you couldn’t call that a weapon. I ignore him as she nods, thankful the little bastard is not visible or audible.
“Good. Come on, we’re going hunting,” I jerk my thumb to the trail that heads out to Long Lake, our current hunting ground.
“What? No! I just got off a shift,” she protests.
“Yeah, but you’re tough. A few hours, come on,” I reach out and grab her arm and start dragging her along the trail. She tries to yank her arm out of my grip and finds she’s unable to, while I continue to speak. “Look, Amelia, you want to get stronger, right? Protect people and all that jazz?”
“All that jazz? What are you? A ’50 crooner?” Ali next to me snorts.
“I… well… yes,” answering me, Amelia forgets about fighting me.
“Good, then come on. Only way to level up in this crazy ass world is to go all murder happy,” I suddenly chuckle and the three others stare at me as I begin to giggle, doing my best to explain. “Constable. Murder happy.”
“Baka!” Mikito mutters stomping pass me as I continue to giggle and pull Amelia along while she keeps casting very worried glances at me. She can’t escape my grip and after a while stops trying to which is good since I wasn’t really going to drag her the entire way. Only so much forcing I’m willing to do.
Amelia does well, though, by the time we pass the third hour, she’s nearly falling off her feet. I let her go then, smirking as I watch her glowing Status. Yeah, Level Up as promised. We escort her back of course and help drag the meat with us and when some guards hear about what we did, they quickly ask us to help out. For the next few hours, we cycle back and forth dropping off new low-level volunteers in our party, occasionally lending out weapons for them to use. Mostly we do our best to ensure they stay safe, though my Minor Heal spell comes into use more than once. After a quick discussion, we get an on-going agreement where we keep most of the Loot drops except three from the escorted parties. We leave them with a little since that’ll give them something to sell and buy in the Shop and at least helps pay for our time a bit.
Over the next few days, we spend most of the day playing escort for new guards and hunters, helping them slowly level up and learn to fight the monsters. With the three of us on-hand, we can keep even the Level 1’s safe which means we focus on bringing those volunteers with us as much as possible, giving them a quick level up. It’s slow going though - most of them don’t have the stamina that we have, at least until they get their first few levels. In the evenings though, Mikito, Richard and I spend time hunting by ourselves and learning how to fight together. It’s also when we can make the most money as we target bigger and nastier monsters.
Standing in the Shop, it feels like it has been ages since I’ve been in. I know exactly what I want to purchase this time though which is good because I don’t have that much to spend. Unfortunately, while fighting weaker monsters is great for our teamwork and the cooking pot, it doesn’t do much for our wallets.
To start, I pull up information about electromechanical force. The costs for simple, college level knowledge about the force is quite low, only a couple hundred credits. However, costs keep going up after that in leaps and bounds and there’s even a notation that leads me to information about the elemental affinity itself. My jaw drops at the price though – a million credits!?! Definitely buying the basic physics understanding of electromechanical force, I’ll leave the understanding of the affinity aside for when I’m rolling in riches. As it stands, I can, if I work real hard, actually feel the force for a brief 10-second window.
Since I’m thinking of spells, I spend a few minutes perusing the spell lists. I’ve been feeling rather naked without a ranged offensive option, though the only spell I can afford is something called ‘Mana Dart’. Not exactly thrilling and the details on the spell itself is less than inspiring.
Mana Dart
Effect: Creates a dart out of pure mana which can be directed to damage a target. Does 10 damage. Cooldown 10 seconds
Cost: 25 Mana
I could flick my finger at a monster and do more damage! Okay, probably an exaggeration and I guess it is a beginner offensive spell, which makes it one more offensive spell than I have and it’s ranged too. Still not thrilled but it’s better than nothing.
Noting that Ali is finally coming to a conclusion in his haggling from the tone of their voices, I skip over to what I came here to buy – a sidearm. I scan through the various options, finally selecting one that meets all my criteria.
Silversmith Mark II Beam Pistol (Upgradeable)
Base Damage: 18
Battery Capacity: 24/24
Recharge Rate: 2 per hour per GMU
Cost: 1,400 Credits
It’s not a great damage dealer, but the Silversmith can be upgr
aded which means that I’ll actually be able to use it in the future. It’s a good backup short-ranged weapon at least. As Ali concludes his haggling, he flicks the total over to me and I let out a low whistle. He might scream, shout and throw a tantrum, but his results are impressive. I still don’t have enough money to buy a Class Skill, not with the way my funds keep draining but at least now I’ve got more offensive weaponry.
Breakfast is sober in the morning. This is our first real test as a group, the Wexlix spiders significantly more dangerous than anything we’ve dealt with so far. On the other hand, the half dozen or so that I spotted shouldn’t be impossible. I’ve got my new pistol strapped to my thigh and I’m somewhat comfortable with it now after spending the previous evening practicing. I’m no crack shot, but I can hit a barn door at twenty paces.
Just as we’re about to leave, Lana moves to give Richard a particularly hard hug and whispers into his ear. Richard nods firmly while Mikito escapes from the culturally inappropriate touching by virtue of using her naginata. The two of them headed out, Lana corners me and pokes a finger into my chest, “Don’t you dare let my brother get injured, do you hear me?”
I nod, a slight smile twisting my lips, “Did you tell him to abandon us if it got too dangerous?”
She snorts, obviously not finding me amusing right now, “No. I told him not to die.”
Impulsively, I give her a hug and whisper, “I promise to send him running first if things get bad.”
Lana’s stiff at first but relaxes after a moment, pleasant squishiness reminding me suddenly that it’s been a while since I’ve actually touched another human being in this way. I release her quickly, flash her a smile and beat a hasty retreat. I’ll deal with that later, it’s time to go kill some monsters. A little trick of anger runs through me, a vicious streak that demands I take revenge.