by I. Felix
"Hey! Share it, will you?!" Blake screamed and tried to take it from Arche. May started laughing. Arche eventually gave in and handed it to him, who started eating like if he hadn't eaten in days.
"And it tastes amazing too! Thank you developers for tricking my brain into thinking I'm actually eating!" Blake exclaimed. "I guess my body is only receiving the nutrients from an IV or something, not quite as nice."
"Definitely not," May giggled again.
"So, does this mean that I could order anything, like, anything in the whole world and they could make it?"
"You bet," May said.
"Hey, Lunia!" Blake exclaimed and the NPC appeared instantly by his side. "Could you make me a Filet-o-Fish? From McDonald's?"
"Right away, sir," Lunia said and disappeared going to the "kitchen".
"This is the best decision I've ever taken in my life," Blake same, dreamily, while petting Oliver.
"What? The Filet-o-Fish?" Arche asked, frowning.
"No! Coming into this game!" right when he finished exclaiming that, Lunia reappeared carrying a perfect filet-o-fish on a tray. The sandwich looked unbelievable. The bun was golden and smooth, the tarter sauce was almost spilling from it from how much there was, the fish looked crunchy and delicious. Blake was drooling when Lunia placed it in front of him.
"How come it's even better than the real thing?" Blake asked after taking the first bite. He closed his eyes with the explosion of tartar sauce flavor inside his mouth.
"Well, the algorithm uses your best affective memory for reproducing the flavor, so you're imagining it's the tastier filet-o-fish burger you've ever had," May said.
"I also can't gain weight, right?!" Blake asked, his eyes sparkling. "There's no diabetes or things like that. So I can eat as much as I want without fearing to have a heart attack."
This wasn't a good discovery for Arche and May. Blake refused to get up from the table before he ate at least ten filet-o-fish. Arche got sick of waiting for him to finish and went up, to explore the bar, and May lay her head on the table as if she was going to sleep.
"There's a limit, I feel myself getting fuller, however, my taste buds refuse to let me stop," Blake said, with two sandwiches, one in one hand, another one in the other. "Won't you order anything?"
"Nah. After one decade of doing like you're doing, things kinda lose their fun. There have been some years where I didn't even get out of bed. I didn't feel like leveling up or doing anything. I was sick of living here."
"Oh..." Blake exclaimed, while still eating. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah. Sometimes life loses its flavor when you can do anything you want and not die, ya know?"
"Well, it must suck. I guess it’s in my future but if you don’t mind, I’ll focus on the present.”
"Hey, you two!" Arche called. "Has Blake finished the mukbang already? I want to show you something!"
"Let's go!" May exclaimed, getting back to her full energy.
"Are you feeling okay?" Blake murmured, worried about his friend.
"Yeah. Now I don't feel as lonely anymore," May smiled, with her eyes closed, in a genuine way. Blake felt like hugging her. However, he put the rest of the sandwiches in his mouth and they both followed to join Arche.
Arche was in front of a huge bookshelf. It was full of thick books with some rolled parchments and it glowed just like if some fireflies were flying around the shelf, even though there were no fireflies there.
"Of course we would find Arche in front of a bookshelf," Blake said, rolling his eyes. Arche punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"It seems to have a quest in here," he said, his green eyes glowing a little purple, illuminated by the fireflies. "Should we get it?"
"I thought we were here to rest and then go to the place where we can find the jackalopes," Blake said.
"Yes, but I've read through the quest available and it seems so good! We have to find some lost spell books and return them to the shelf. We'll gain money," Arche said, almost like a spoiled child that wanted something.
"Hm, I guess we do need money. We're level 12 already and using gear from level 1," Blake said.
"I could help with that," May said. "But this quest sounds cool. It's in the Arcedy Tower. I've been there sometimes and it's very stylish and has some fun monsters to kill."
"So, you're saying that we should do it?" Blake asked.
"You've eaten twenty burgers already, you should be happy enough to accept to move on," Arche said. "We don't actually need to rest, remember?"
"Yeah, I do remember, but your argument makes no sense. Eating just made me want to sleep even more," Blake said, sarcastically. "Whatever. Let's do it."
A box popped up in front of his eyes. "Accept the Lost Spell Books quest? Yes/No. Quest description: find the lost spell books that were stolen by mimics inside the Arcedy Tower. Return to the Bookshelf to get your reward."
Blake selected yes, with a sigh.
"Nice!" Arche celebrated.
They followed to the outside of the tavern without paying for it, something that was seeming rather normal. They didn't need to pay for food or drinks.
"Why don't we need to pay for all of those filet-o-fishes? I mean, I'm glad I don't. But why?"
"We only have to pay for esSentinell stuff like gear and potions. These are more like game treats."
"Oh, thank goodness," Blake sighed and they laughed.
They followed to the middle of the town. Blake was trying to absorb every detail he could find, from the cute fireflies to the beautiful architecture, and even the way the mages there behaved. They all looked polite, refined, they walked around with open books, and sometimes they could see some mages using staffs and wands to conjure lightning magic.
"Maybe I should have chosen Mage," Blake murmured.
"Oh, yeah, you would love to spend hours studying to learn all the spells that you need," Arche said, ironic. Blake didn't answer. Thief was more like him anyway.
In the middle of the city, there was a tower. It had around seven floors, Blake could count the windows, and it was made entirely of stone. It wasn't as majestic as the rest of the city.
"Technically, this is a cursed tower. The legend says that the Mage used so much magic to build this place that the energy required made some monsters invade the city. Then, the powerful citizens locked the monsters in this tower. Sometimes they escape and, like now, steal some stuff. When I was a mage, we used to train here. They defeat the monsters to practice and level up too."
"Nothing comes without a price," said Arche, staring at the top of the building. It looked dark, like if it irradiated some bad energy.
"Let's get inside," May said and they started to carefully approach it. The huge entrance door was closed but it had a swirling portal in front of it, like if they were to change maps. The group didn't think twice and stepped on it.
Everything went white and they appeared inside the tower.
As predicted, it was dark inside but not as dark that they couldn't see. It was also surprising, for it was big. It seemed as if some royal family had built it for their living. It had a giant red carpet, some furniture, a creepy sound of a piano in the back, and some candelabra coming from the ceiling. It also had spiral staircases that led to the other floors, but at the end of each one had a swirling portal.
"So the monsters from the second floor can't come to the first floor," Arche remarked, pointing there. May nodded.
"Yeah. Each floor gets harder and harder. We need to defeat some mimics, so I think this floor has enough of those."
They didn't need to walk much further to find if that was the case or not. As soon as they started walking, entering the big hall, the first monsters appeared.
The mimic was a very weird monster. It was a treasure chest with teeth, some arms that helped him crawl around, and menacing red eyes. It looked almost gimmick but also extremely scary. Just like when a kid looks at a clown and sees a monster instead.
The mimic was also aggressive. It didn't w
ait one second before it went in their direction, using its arms to crawl to the floor, going to where they were, and with its chest's open, showing the shark teeth and a disgusting tongue inside.
Blake got his dagger, Arche got his hammer, and May stepped forward to help as a tank.
"If I kill him, you guys won't get any experience, so good luck. I'm not sure if he changes targets, so stay tuned, and don't forget to use the potions when you need it," May said while the mimic tried to bite her. She was too strong to be hurt by a monster with that level, so all the mimic could do was a miss.
Blake decided he would experience his Shadow Hiding skill for the first time. He thought about activating it and he disappeared. Arche was already hitting the monster, so he barely had time to process what his friend was doing. Blake was pretty sure none of them could see him anymore. He couldn't either, his body had disappeared and it looked as if he was watching the game in the third person, instead of first.
Then, when he got near the monster, he felt his arm being propelled forward in a major blow. He appeared again, going back to his body, and a "Critical Hit" appeared on top of the mimic's head. "That shit is powerful," he thought as he kept attacking the mimic with Arche. In some seconds, the mimic died. When it died, its chest lay opened on the floor before it disappeared, leaving the loot behind.
"The first scroll!" Arche said, pointing to where the mimic was before. Arche got it and one box appeared on the group's eye vision.
"1/20 Quest Scroll acquired."
"I also got 3% XP. So, this is a stronger monster, right?" Blake asked May, who nodded.
"Yep, but no so strong that it would make you level up too fast," May said. "Come, and be careful."
"Why?" Blake asked.
"There are some other monsters in here," she said, looking around like she feared something. "It's been so long since I last came here. I can't remember... there's a catch. I know it's not as simple as it looks."
"What do you mean? A catch?" Arche asked.
"This tower likes to play tricks. So, we need to advance carefully," she said.
"Oh, great, just great," Blake complained while walking forward.
Soon they found out what the catch was.
Blake fell into a hole. Then, he realized he wasn't on his feet anymore, he was upside down. Then, he looked up and saw that he was stepping on the ceiling and his friends were below him, screaming his name.
"What the fuck!" he screamed, while his friends looked up.
"Oh, it's the mirror illusion. It's an illusion, Blake!" May screamed. "See if you have any items to break it!"
Blake realized that at the corner of his vision, there was a small square. The square had the description: "Mirror Effect. Everything will look the opposite of what it really is. 1 minute left."
"Ugh, a whole minute! I'll throw up," he said, starting to get nauseous. "I never liked shit like this!" he screamed. "Not even rollercoasters!"
"Blake, see if any of the rainbow vegetables that you stole from the garden have the annulling effect! I think the carrot does that!" Arche screamed.
Blake opened his inventory, still feeling like he would throw up at any second, and got the rainbow carrot. He clicked on it and his mouth got the taste of a carrot, which he wasn't really fond of either, but the square disappeared and before he could see, he was back on the floor, not upside down anymore.
"Ugh, I still feel like throwing up," he said, laying down. Oliver stepped on his belly to sleep. Apparently, the displacer cat wasn't really worried about his owner's fate.
"That's the catch. The Tower is full of places that give us bad stats when we step on it."
"And how on Earth will we know?" Blake said, with his eyes closed and his world still spinning.
"There's no way to know," May said. "Guys, this is going to be harder than I thought."
"I love a challenge," Arche said, smiling. Blake opened his eyes just to stare at him funny.
"Yeah, it wasn't you who was thrown on the ceiling like a balloon."
"Blake… if Oliver didn't go with you, only humans feel the effects..." Arche said. "Maybe you could give your mount to him while we are here, May? So, even if he gets any other effects, he'll still be safe on the mount, who will know where to go."
"Brilliant!" May exclaimed and the pikupiku mount appeared by her side, the giant colorful ostrich-like creature. Blake got on its back.
"Now, I'll be controlling the mount, as you don't have this skill, but you'll probably not fall," May said.
"Probably?!" Blake exclaimed. "Oh, well. We're here already. Let's go."
Chapter 9 - The Scroll Quest
They kept walking, carefully looking at the ground. They realized the tiles were a little different in the places where it would have an effect if they stepped on it, so they had to keep advancing very slowly. It was all good till they found the next monster.
And it was probably the biggest monster that Blake and Arche had seen so far.
It looked like a black gorilla but without fur. The consistency of its skin was more like leather. If they dropped water on it, it seemed it would go directly to the ground. Its face was painted white, like if it wore a mask. His eyes and mouth were smiling, but the boys knew he was anything but friendly.
"This is Sadness," May said and her voice sounded a bit scared. It never happened, she always sounded like she was in charge of the situation.
Sadness didn't wait to attack. It jumped on the ground and that produced a small earthquake. Arche fell down and the pikupiku ran away with Blake on its back.
"Go back, go back!" Blake exclaimed to the pikupiku. "I need to help my friends!"
But May seemed to be the one that was keeping him away. Sadness advanced to step on Arche, who closed his eyes, unable to think fast enough about what he could do. When he realized he wasn't dead, he opened his eyes and saw that May conjured a shield in front of him. He got to his feet right away.
"I'll tank him. Attack!" May exclaimed. Arche didn't think twice, he got his skill tab and thought about using the Large Blow. He felt his hands moving without him doing anything, he grabbed his hammer, and with all his strength, he deferred the attack on Sadness. The monster got a hit and lost 20% of his HP. It closed its eyes and stammered to the side. However, that made him even angrier, so he decided to come for him with all his strength. He conjured a ball of purple energy and aimed at Arche, who tried to jump away but it was too late, the ball was too fast, and he could barely realize what he was doing before the ball of energy hit... May!
"I said I'd tank!" May exclaimed, losing 15% of her HP. "This is his strongest blow. If it hits you, you're dead!"
Arche nodded, concentrated on the battle. He regretted for a second not investing more of his skill points in an offensive movement. All he had was those stupid potions... then, it hit him. He had seen in the potion creation tab that there was a killing potion, that when it hit his enemies, they started to get on fire. But he wouldn't have time to craft that now... if only he had crafted it earlier. He used the Large Blown again. The sensation of having his arms pulled forward without him choosing to move was really weird but it made it easier for him, as he didn't need to do anything, just roll with it. This time, it hit sadness with a blow that got 30% of his HP.
"Halfway to go," Arche murmured while Sadness bit May again, with such strength that could rip off her arm, even though it only caused a hit of 5%. May was too strong.
Arche was going to attack again. He thought about the skill, just like he had done the other times. However, this time, nothing was happening. He realized his mana bar was only at 5% and he needed much more to use the Large Blow.
"I'm without mana! We're damned!" he screamed but they didn't have time for much more. Out of nowhere, Sadness got a blow of 10%, then Blake appeared, for he was using his Shadow Hiding, then, in a combo, he started deferring Double Attack, one after the other, as it didn't use as much mana. He attacked faster than his friends could see and before they noticed, Sadnes
s monster had only 5% of HP left. Arche attacked with the Large Blow and Sadness died with a loud cry.
Its body melted in a puddle and disappeared, leaving behind two scrolls and two other items.
Arche and Blake sat down, exhausted. At the same time, the light appeared around them with the angel singing sound. They had leveled up.
"We did it!" Blake exclaimed and high-fived Arche. "Level 13 it is!"
"You bet," he said, also smiling. He got the two scrolls and the other items.
"1x Dark Cloak,"
"1x Rope,"
Arche opened the Dark Cloak information.
"Dark Cloak. Enhance Shadow attribute. Give a bonus of 3% defense and +1 permanent bonus for players that have the Shadow property."
"You're too lucky," Arche said, got the cloak from his inventory, and handed it to Blake, who looked confused, till he opened the information tab himself and read it. He immediately equipped it after reading. Blake was choosing which skill he would put his new skill point. He decided to go for Improve Dodge, as that was the one he didn't have any points allocated. Also, the stat was automatically put in agility, making him have Agility 6+6. Now, all his other stats had +1 of the Shadow Cloak.
"Wow, that's amazing!" he exclaimed. "Thank you, bro."
"Well, I guess we wouldn't be able to kill Sadness without you, so, it's yours. And, thank you, May. Without your tanking, this could have never been possible."
"Yeah, thank you! I'm so glad we met!" Blake exclaimed, excited.
"Oh, it was nothing, guys. I love that we've met too. I was so lonely..."
"Let's stop for a second so I can put my skill point, and I also want to make some potions. There's this one called Fireball and it basically only needs those moss that we got plus a match. We got matches in the basic apprentice kit, so I should be good to go," Arche said. They agreed. Arche opened his skills tab and put his point on Cart Revolution, another offensive skill in which he used his cart to attack. He also opened the potion-making skill tab, got the items he needed, and conjured it to make the Fireball Potion.
"Blake, how did you learn to control pikupiku?" May asked while they waited for Arche.