Irrelevant Jack 2

by Prax Venter

  Jack opened his menu and reassigned Sol instantly. Demi might be short-staffed for a while, but Ryea also needed the help.

  “Done,” Jack said, then Inspected the defeated man. He hoped he’d find that his proficiency at farming wasn’t horrible, but it was actually better than working at the Inn.

  Sol - Townsfolk: Farmer | 66% Proficiency

  [Health: 5/5]

  Relationship -

  [Disposition: Amicable]

  “Just like that?” Sol asked, one of his angular eyebrows raised. “No request for compensation? I don’t say this lightly, and to be honest, I don’t remember the last time I’ve even said it… you are a good friend, Jack. If your bizarre Hero Class accurately described you, it would be Most Relevant.”

  Jack felt slapped in the face.

  “Thanks, Sol. I just try to do what feels right.”

  The other man nodded. “And maybe attending to the basic needs of animals will help me start to reorient my own perspective on what should feel right.”

  They sat in silence for a short while before Sol spoke again.

  “Jack, I give my consent for you to take Haylee into the Tower with the intent to make her stronger. It goes against everything I think is right, but I know she wants this, I know you want this, and I know it is what’s best for Blackmoor. So… mathematically, I’m obviously in the wrong again.”

  Jack clapped the tall man on the shoulder once more.

  “I give you my word that her safety will always be at the front of my mind.”

  “I believe you.”

  It was getting late, and the two men went their separate ways. Lex was up and waiting for him when he entered their room.

  “I don’t know what you see in that vile man,” she said once the door was closed.

  He gave her a shrug. “It’s my job to see.”

  “Did you get anywhere with him?”

  “Well, Haylee will be joining us in the Tower. I’d call that a win.”

  “Tomorrow?” Lex said, lifting the blanket for him to crawl in next to her.

  Jack kissed the woman he loved on the forehead before answering.

  “No, I want to do this right. Tomorrow she trains with your father. Then, after she has a proper rest bonus, we’ll take her up 5 Floors at a time.”

  She locked her golden eyes on his and radiated pure contentment.

  “You’ve come a long way since I found you naked and bleeding by the Tower, Jack, not knowing your Off-Hand from your Inventory. You’ve truly become our leader, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

  - 14 -

  A savage pounding rattled their door that sent Jack clawing up to consciousness and scrambling from bed as he frantically equipped his gear. This had to be a massive attack on the Town- he was sure of it. He was moving his pants onto his Legs slot when he heard Ryea’s muffled voice from the other side.

  “I don’t care what you two are up to in there, I need a word with our new Mayor!”

  He turned to see Lex equipping her cloak and moving to open the door.

  “What in the Mother of Demons do you think you are doing?” the angry Bastion demanded.

  “Sol! He’s the one you sent to help me on the Farm? Certainly, there’s someone else! Anyone else. His sour puss will spook my new calves, much less what he’ll do to my sprouts.”

  Jack rubbed his hands over his face. “Calm down, Ryea. Just have him pick up manure or something.”

  “Pick up what? Is this more of your nonsense, Jack?”

  He peeked at the riled-up farmer between his fingers as he remembered there was no biological waste in this world.

  Jack sighed. “I know you would have preferred a beefy young farmhand to do your bidding, but you got Sol. Put him to work, make him do what you don’t want to.”

  “Beefy farmhand? If you think you can just keep spouting nonsense… you could’ve at least given me some warning you wanted to punish me by punishing him.”

  “Look, he’s trying to change. He asked to be put on the Farm. You’re a down-to-earth kinda gal, Ryea. Make him work hard and appreciate the virtues of a Farmer’s life.”

  The freckled woman looked over to Lex for support, who responded by stepping up alongside Jack and rubbing her hand on his back.

  Ryea nodded and sighed.

  “This makes us even for making me Farmer,” she said, then turned to leave, but as she walked down the hall of the Inn, she had more to add over her shoulder. “You keep popping that man around Blackmoor, looking for a fit, perhaps it’d be best someone pops him right out to sea.”

  Jack took a few precious moments to embrace Lex before making his morning rounds. Now that he was up, there was no getting back to sleep. The Bastion had no such problems, and he watched Lex pull the soft blanket over her pointed ears as he quietly shut the door to their room. He flopped his boots down the stairs into the common room and found Haylee sitting alone at the bar, her serious eyes locked on his.

  “I am ready for battle,” she said, hopping off the stool.

  “I don’t doubt it,” Jack said as he stretched out his back, “but you have no real training and no Rest Bonus. Today will be preparation for tomorrow’s climb.”

  The Dark Prism crossed her arms, the white ruffles of her dress pulling back up her slender forearms.

  “I’ve watched that old fool for years as he’s screamed himself red in The Yard. I am ready to fight now.”

  Jack wanted to walk right up to the young girl’s face and yell at her to shut up and listen, but he quickly realized that was obviously the wrong move with her. Instead, he stayed near the bottom of the stairs and pretended to check his armor.

  “Calling a master of their trade, and my friend, a fool? You sound just like your father.”

  “I am nothing like that monster!”

  Jack looked up and saw raw emotion welling up in her and realized it was his job to teach her how to temper that rage and determination into a weapon- just like this Town had done for his impulsiveness.

  “Glad to hear it,” Jack said calmly. “Tell me, have you ever fired a bow?”

  Her delicate brow came down. “No.”

  Jack motioned to the door with his head. “Will you come for a walk with me?” He didn’t wait for a response before moving for the exit. Haylee narrowed her eyes but followed him outside into the chilly morning air. They walked down to the crossroads and hooked around the Inn back south, toward the Wall. Nestled between the Inn and the Farm was the Town’s new governance building, a small stone hut. Although he was Mayor of Blackmoor, he didn’t expect to spend any time inside the Town Hall. A few strides later, two huge new fields of upgraded farmland come into view. In the distance, he saw Sol on his knees and working at something in the dirt.

  Jack turned to the man’s daughter walking at his side.

  “I’ve always wanted to ask you something, why did you help me all those days ago- when Harrak was testing me in The Yard?”

  “Because I didn’t want to die to the Corruption. Your success with helping Lex in the Tower depended on that.”

  Jack nodded. “How did you know that running away was the right answer to the test?”

  “I heard them talking about it beforehand.”

  “Ah, you cheated.”

  She turned her deep gray eyes up to his. “If I understand correctly, everything you do is cheating.”

  Jack sighed. This was going to be tougher than he thought. But he couldn’t help smiling.

  “You’re right, and you are a very clever girl, Haylee.”

  “Very clever,” Alt echoed in his mind.

  “I’m just going to shoot straight with you,” Jack began. “Not only am I responsible for your life in that Tower, but you are responsible for mine. You are also responsible for anyone on our team, like say… oh, the woman I love more than anything. Before I bring you in there- which I plan on doing tomorrow, I remind you, I need to make sure you can physically back up those big words of yours. You could say our team�
�s success in the Tower depends on it. Sound familiar?”

  There was a pause and then a begrudging, “Yes.”

  “Understanding a thing and doing it reliably are vastly different things. Tell me, smarty pants, do you know what muscle memory is?”

  The phrase “smarty pants” got a small smile from the girl, but when she didn’t have the answer, her impatient frown was back. Haylee shook her head.

  “It’s a part of combat that allows you to strike without thinking. By performing an action over and over, your muscles remember on their own, making the process instant, smooth, and precise. If you are going to be shooting Light Rays everywhere, I need you to be precise.”

  She looked up at him again. “I haven’t told anyone. How do you know-”

  “Cheating,” Jack said, interrupting her and tapping his forehead. “As you guessed, I am all about cheating. I see stellar potential in you, Haylee. My cheating is what promoted you from Townsfolk to Hero, and I truly cannot wait to get you in the Tower and level you quickly. Nothing is going to stop us from getting to Hero Level 100, and we are going to cheat the whole way.”

  Jack saw her nod slightly, and it felt like he was getting through to her. They were about halfway to the Wall and on that slight rise with a good vantage on the whole Town. Jack imagined it would be a fantastic place for a Watchtower. He stopped walking, and the girl in burgundy dress also stopped and turned to face him. It was time to hit her with his big finisher.

  “The Watchtower idea is duly noted,” Alt responded quickly. “Also, your first 4 inventory slots now contain the best Floor 1 equipment I’ve been holding for her.”

  Jack mentally thanked the AI tethered to his thoughts.

  “I have a present for you,” he said and opened both a trade window with Haylee and his Inventory. Jack glanced at each one as he moved them over to the side labeled ‘Offered by Jack’.

  Worn Short Bow - [Bow | Value: 3]

  | Dmg: 3 |

  Motheaten Boots - [Feet | Value: 3]

  | Def: 1 |

  | Max MP +1 |

  | Magic Power +2 |

  Discarded Robe - [Chest | Value: 3]

  | Def: 1 |

  | Max MP +3 |

  | Magic Power +2 |

  Ripped Velvet Trousers - [Legs | Value: 2]

  | Def: 1 |

  | Max HP +3 |

  Jack closed his inventory to see her reaction, and Haylee’s eyes were huge. He hit accept, hoping this uptight girl wearing relatively lavish clothes wouldn’t turn her nose up at these low-grade, first-Floor items.

  She focused her intense eyes on his.

  “These are for me? No catch? No cost?”

  Jack smiled. No matter what either of them said, she was very much like her father.

  “The cost is a promise. If you accept these, your childhood is over, and you will spend your days fighting real monsters for loot- and not with dolls or sticks. I want you to promise me you’ll enter the Tower tomorrow as an adult and part of my team. I want you to promise to become a Dark Prism, a Hero that strikes fear into the hearts of Demons.”

  She stared at him for a moment then snapped her mouth shut and selected accept on the trade. The panel flashed green then disappeared. A moment later, her dress was replaced with a gray, hooded robe that ended at her knees. Then her pink shoes flipped to thick woolen boots with sagging cuffs, and then a child-sized, wooden bow appeared in her fist. Haylee used both hands to cradle it gently as the sea-born breeze of Blackmoor Cove pushed against her curly brown hair.

  She turned her intense eyes up to his, and Jack physically felt the power behind her gaze.

  “I promise.”

  Jack nodded, accepting her vow with a tingle of excitement running down his spine.

  “Oh, we’re going to do so much damage, you and I. Come on, time to see how much of it you can do to that walking pile of metal we like to call Kron.”

  He continued to lead the new Hero south toward the Wall. Now that he was paying attention to what was in front of him and not on the too-wise firecracker next to him, he noticed that the stone structure now spread in a massive half-circle around the Town. It ended in the forest to the west and around the Farm almost to the cliffs behind them.

  He also noticed a whole new building attached to the inside of the defensive barrier that must be a type of barracks. Two guards were hitting each other with wooden swords within The Yard while Harrak stood close by, yelling out corrections for their “disturbingly pathetic prancing”.

  It was hard to tell until he was up close, but the sparring arena also seemed to be twice as big as he remembered. Having been violently and painfully slammed over its length by Lex’s father multiple times gave him the confidence to trust his gut on its new size.

  Jack stopped a few steps away and continued to watch the man work, wondering what his lessons would be like now that he officially held the role of Combat Master and was actually sober.

  One of the trainees swung wildly and missed while his foe stumbled onto his backside trying to evade the poor attack. Harrak, not enjoying the display at all, yelled out a series of creatively filthy insults.

  Jack cleared his throat to get Harrak’s attention while there was a lull in the training, and the old Bygone Hero spun to face him. Lex’s father gave Jack a huge, yellow-toothed grin and then noticed Sol’s daughter standing by his side. His smile instantly faltered.

  “Darling… I wish I knew you were behind me. No child should have ’ta hear such language.”

  Jack quickly cut his hand through the air.

  “This is no child, Combat Master. This is a Hero of Blackmoor Cove, and I expect you to treat her no differently. I expect you to hone her natural talents as you did for me.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Haylee hold her chin high after Jack’s words. He knew that if he kept his promise, she would keep hers.

  “Very well,” Harrak nodded, his curly gray beard sliding up and down his barrel of a chest. The Combat Master locked his eyes on the newly minted Hero.

  Behind Harrak, the massive man in the horned helm came stomping from the other side of the arched hole in the Wall, and when he saw Jack, he quickened his strides. The Guardian didn’t stop until his shadow fell on top of him. Then, his thickly mailed gauntlet vanished, and the man’s thick, hairy hand was offered in greeting.

  Jack took it as the stoic Kron grinned from horn to horn.

  “Look what you’ve done to my gate,” was all he said. Jack looked past the giant of a man and nodded.

  “Seems like someone’s been stacking stones while I wasn’t looking.”

  Kron pulled back and re-equipped his Hand Slot gear and then seemed to notice Haylee for the first time. His sharp eyes moved across her equipped items, and his face grew serious once again.

  “Fight well, little one. The future of this Town now rests in your hands.”

  A loud thwack of wood on metal pulled everyone’s attention to the two men who, despite their earlier fumbling, seemed to both be putting up a good fight.

  “Enough!” Harrak yelled, and the sparring partners stopped to look at him. “You two, go race around the Wall. Last one to pass the gate gets to make one more lap alone. Now move!”

  Jack rubbed his hands together. He was looking forward to seeing Haylee in action and figured he’d hang out long enough to see her pelt Kron a few times before continuing his rounds. He wanted to visit Pan and Meri, Sol, and the new Dock Master before breakfast. That was when the Combat Master spun back to face him.

  “Jack, Haylee, get in the ring. Let’s find out what kind of punishment our new Hero can dish out.”

  Jack’s mouth hung open.

  “Me?” he confirmed, pointing to his own chest like an idiot.

  Harrak crossed his thick arms, amusement flashing in his eyes.

  “You’re going to be fighting by her side in the Tower as a team, and supposedly making good judgment calls about tactics. Now get in there and get some firsthand experience.” H
arrak then turned to Haylee. “You, do your best to tag our new Mayor with an arrow or two.”

  When he first arrived in this world, Lex had told him her father was known to not only train Heroes, but whole groups. In the end, Jack couldn’t argue with the logic of this match-up, and as he stepped over the rope into the much-larger sparring area, he resolved to show Haylee that she truly needed training by dodging every shot she fired. His eyes moved up to the status effect icon that always appeared on entry.

  Sparring Yard -

  No negative effects from attacking Heroes or Townsfolk.

  HP will not drop below 1.

  HP/MP lost will be restored on exit.

  Cannot be dispelled while inside Sparring Yard.

  ~ Power is wasted without control.

  The Dark Prism across from him looked so small, and fragile, but the intensity of her determined gray eyes told a different story. Jack rocked his boots into the dirt, as he did before every battle, and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. He knew he’d need to use every trick he had if he were going to dodge beams of light.

  “Well?” Harrak said. “Shoot him!”

  Haylee raised her bow and pulled back an unloaded bowstring while Jack began to shift left and right, giving her a slightly moving target. He heard mumbling from the guards gathered to watch about her missing something important, but he shut them out. They’d all learn what a Dark Prism was all about soon enough- especially him. She closed one of her gray eyes and let go of the string.

  As she did, a bright flash emitted from her hand, and a white beam of sharp, solid light appeared by his right cheek. Jack was able to turn and follow the straight line from where her bow had been to a point in midair above the boundary of The Yard. It lasted for a heartbeat, then it faded away.

  He turned back to smile at Haylee, but when he saw her draw again, he ducked just in time to miss another perfect line of pure light.

  “Demons take me now…” he heard Harrak mumble as everyone silently watched Jack duck and dive ray after ray. He took advantage of her inexperience with head fakes and other tricks and quickly learned that her thin eyebrows shot up the moment before she fired. Haylee was getting frustrated and her instant shots started going even farther off their mark. She only had 10 more rays before draining her entire Mana pool, and just as Jack was wondering if he should take the last one on purpose, the new Hero grit her teeth and lowered her weapon.