Dexterity Build: A LitRPG Saga (The Complete Dexterity Build Cycle)

by Steven J Shelley

  Nick didn’t have the brain capacity to process that right now. All that mattered was his survival.

  He’d won.

  “Emily …” he said, remembering his whole reason for returning to Oakshield Junction.

  “You need to go to her,” Lee said a little awkwardly.

  “She works in a small hamlet to the south,” Janel offered. “Oakshield Junction. Most folks have evacuated. Not her.”

  Nick looked at Lee, his head clearing. Her eyes were wide with wonder.

  “Let’s go, Nick,” she said. “She’s waited long enough.”

  Oakshield Junction was smaller than Nick expected. Essentially the intersection between two royal mail routes, it consisted of an inn, a stable, a chapel and a collection of ramshackle dwellings. Without a blacksmith or weapons dealer, it was the kind of place Nick would barely have noticed. Due to the kobold siege at the castle, the place had been abandoned for weeks.

  Nick and Lee wandered down a deserted street with strangely heavy hearts.

  “I always wondered what Oakshield Junction meant,” Nick said. “This place isn’t even marked on the map.”

  “It’s perfect,” Lee said. “Nothing happens here but everything happens.”

  Nick knew what she meant. The small, unassuming hamlet had a strange feeling to it, a weight of history he couldn’t explain.

  In the distance they could hear raucous cheering as thousands of common folk converged on the castle. Durandor was free once more, but at a tremendous cost. The intense joy of victory would soon give way to grief and bitterness. The NPCs of Oakshield Junction were all too human.

  “Through here,” Lee said, turning into a side alley.

  The pair found a quiet, peaceful cemetery on the north edge of the tiny village. Peppered with elder oak trees, the overgrown graveyard had a sombre yet soothing vibe. Nick was overcome with a profound sense of deja vu.

  “There’s strange magic at play here,” Lee said. “It’s dormant, just under the surface.”

  “I can feel it too,” Nick said. “It isn’t malevolent. At least, not today.”

  Lee nodded. Whatever Oakshield Junction kept hidden was in hibernation.

  “Just visiting?”

  The voice tore Nick’s heart apart. Emily Lambert was standing under the shade of an elder oak with a basket of wildflowers.

  “Emily …” Nick said, stepping forward involuntarily.

  “My name is Rachael,” Emily said. “I tend to the graves.”

  “Some things never change,” Nick said softly.

  “Pardon?”

  “Nothing. Rachael, I’m here to take you home.”

  “I am home, silly. Can’t you feel it?”

  Nick paused, unsure how to answer that question. He moved close enough to see the unmitigated genius of Emily’s design. She was so hauntingly life-like he wanted to cry. Her frown suggested she’d seen something familiar in his eyes also.

  “Have we met before?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “Come home, Emily,” Nick said softly, taking her hand. “It’s time to leave Oakshield Junction.”

  The last thing Nick saw as everything faded was the light of discovery in Emily’s eyes.

  Nick burst through the surface of his Immersion Tank to the sounds of raucous laughter. Mike and his Slovakians were already drunk. The kitchen was strewn with empty vodka bottles and overflowing ashtrays.

  “You won, boy!” Mike said warmly, hauling Nick from his tank and squeezing the life out of him. “Not little girl after all!”

  Joe the technician shook Nick’s hand.

  “Syndicate’s gonna flip,” he said with a grin. “I’d better head back and help deal with the fallout.”

  “Thanks for your support, Joe,” Nick said, realizing he was naked and needed a towel.

  Lee climbed down from her tank with a surprisingly sombre expression.

  “We did it, Lee,” Nick said quietly, wishing he had more privacy. “The two of us.”

  Lee smiled, but something wasn’t quite right. Mike gallantly handed her a towel, and she disappeared into one of the spare bedrooms.

  Nick felt thoroughly deflated as he wormed his way through the forest of handshakes offered by Mike’s cronies. Like Lee, he retreated to his bedroom. He hadn’t expected this moment to be so bittersweet. Why couldn’t Lee just be normal for once? They’d just pulled off one of the greatest ever victories on Oakshield Junction! Better still, he’d rescued Inez and Emily into the bargain. Best of all, he was free. He didn’t have to go back into that seductive, dangerous world if he didn’t want to. And he didn’t. So why did he feel so down?

  Not even a long, hot shower improved Nick’s mood. He spent a few minutes reclining on his bed, idly flicking through his messages. Predictably, there were thousands of them. Even though he appreciated his fans’ support, he wasn’t in the mood for hysteria. He wondered if Emily had been released by the Syndicate as promised. Mike was well connected and would let him know soon enough.

  Nick was just about to switch off his wrist pad when a message caught his eye - it was from Jake Tiller, one of his few childhood friends. In their early teen years Jake had been lucky enough to come by some money, though he never liked to say where he’d gotten it from. He used the funds to escape the west coast and moved to Berlin of all places.

  These days it seemed Jake was happily working as an engineer but ran a vintage video game club in his spare time. Nick felt he do a lot worse than go and spend some time with his old friend. They’d played a lot of video games together. He immediately thought of Lee, and whether he should stay, but he was tired of trying to second-guess what she wanted. He sensed that the more he pressured her into a relationship, the stronger her resistance. The answer was simple - he would do what he wanted to do and let the chips fall where they may.

  Comfortable with his decision, he accessed his bank account and almost fell off the bed when he saw how much money he had. Suffice to say, it was enough for a long stay in Europe. Perhaps a permanent stay.

  He took a good look at his bedroom - the pristine white of the curtains, the designer king-size bed. It was time. Grinning, he booked himself a seat on the next shuttle to New York and a berth on the Atlantic Bullet to London. From there it would be a simple journey to Berlin.

  Thinking of Inez, he messaged her directly.

 

  He received an answer immediately.

 

  Nick actually blushed at that.

 

 

  Nick laughed out loud.

 

 

  Chuckling, Nick closed the conversation. Inez appeared to be in good hands. Better still, she’d found her gang. He suspected she’d be safe tucked away in her hackers’ den, but resolved to send her his address once he’d settled in Berlin.

  Growing more excited by the minute, Nick bounced down the hallway to tell Mike the news. The loyal Slovakian’s face dropped immediately, and Nick felt bad for him.

  “Boy need muscle,” Mike said firmly. “Otherwise get squashed.”

  “Fine,” Nick said, caving in. “But just you. And I need my own place.”

  Mike slapped him on the back - hard.

  “Just for you - I do,” the Slovakian said with a hearty chuckle.

  Nick extracted himself from Mike and knocked on Lee’s door.

  “Yeah?”

  Lee was getting dressed into her leathers.

  “Heading out?” he asked.

  She looked at him. “I just need to do my thing. You know?”

  “I know,” Nick said, genuinely understanding for the first time. He told her his plans. Her face grew paler with each word.

  “That sounds cool,” she said w
ith a blank expression. “Very cool.”

  Nick simply nodded, not wanting to ruin the moment. The moment he snagged her for good.

  “Have you heard the news?” she asked. “Most of the Syndicate’s programmers have quit to start their own company. Yul Sandor is going to sue them. Or kill them, knowing him. His public approval rating is at an all-time low. Investors are leaving in droves too.”

  Nick had to laugh. It felt so good to be free of that slimy world.

  “What does that mean for the Syndicate?”

  “They’ll re-invent themselves,” Lee shrugged. “You humiliated them, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Oakshield Junction.”

  “You done with the game?” Nick asked.

  “Yeah. I only came back for you.”

  Nick locked eyes with Lee, but only for a moment. There was a barrier between them, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome in time. Nick simply needed to be more decisive. Create a life for himself. He felt he knew the way to Lee’s heart. It might be a long road, perhaps one that took a few turns, but he was confident of getting there. One day.

  “Later, theblueraven,” he said, extending his hand.

  She stepped forward and enveloped him in a crushing embrace.

  “If you found me on your doorstep in Berlin,” she whispered in his ear, “what would you do?”

  “I’d kick you the fuck out,” Nick said.

  To his relief, Lee chuckled. An all-too-rare sound.

  “Good answer,” she said.

  Nick had one stop to make on his way to the Los Angeles shuttle terminal. At around 2200 hours he had a flyer take him to the modest Ocean Cemetery in New Sur. It wasn’t difficult to find his father’s grave, where he sat alone for a peaceful hour.

  He didn’t have any particular message for the dead - just being there was enough. A gentle night breeze rolled through the cemetery, no doubt generated by the atmos-control bubble that enclosed the space. Nick had paid a premium for the plot, and felt a little guilty it had taken this long to visit his late father.

  “Thought I’d find you here.”

  Nick spun around - it was Emily, looking lovelier than ever in the moonlight.

  You know me too well,” Nick said with the hint of a smile.

  “It’s good to see you,” she said a little nervously. “I’ve been picturing this moment for a while.”

  Nick strode into her waiting arms, holding her tightly for several minutes.

  “I knew you’d come for me,” she said. “As soon as they took me. I knew it.”

  “Where were you held?” Nick asked.

  “Tank facility just down the coast,” she said. “I don’t remember much about the last few days. I’m prepared to put it down as a learning experience and move on.”

  Nick looked at the nurse with open admiration. Emily had been kidnapped and held against her will in a fucking RPG. It was a mark of her character that she simply wanted to move forward. Ultimately, she cared more about other people than she did herself. She was also smart enough to know that “ordinary” citizens people never won against big corporations like Neutron Syndicate. Not unless their name was Nick Stanners.

  “Mike tells me your leaving,” Emily said with an expression Nick couldn’t read. “Is that true?”

  Nick nodded sheepishly.

  “Berlin,” he said. “Don’t ask me to explain it. Something I need to do.”

  “I know what you mean,” Emily said. “I’m heading to Botswana. To help with the new food tech movement.”

  “How did you …”

  “Applied for a scholarship months ago,” Emily said. “They accepted while I was inside that game.”

  Nick had to smile. Working in food technology for little to no money was classic Emily Lambert.

  “Pity you can’t come with me,” she said.

  Now that was unexpected.

  “I thought you …?”

  “I said I couldn’t be with you as long as you were running,” Emily said. “I assume you’re finished with that industry now, so …”

  Nick nodded, speechless. The truth was his heart belonged to someone else now. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell Emily that. In the end, he didn’t have to.

  “Bad timing, right?” she said with a forced smile, pressing her lips against his. It was a lingering kiss, filled with emotion.

  “Leadora Hill is cute. See you round, Nick.”

  “Good luck, Emily.”

  “Oh, and Nick …” she said, looking over her shoulder. “You remind me so much of your father. That’s a good thing.”

  Nick had nothing to say to that. He stayed on another fifteen minutes before calling a flyer. A message rolled in from Mike - he wanted to know if Nick needed the Immersion tanks transferred to Europe. After a few minutes of internal debate he told Mike to go ahead with it. He was no longer a runner, but he still loved games.

  Besides, he’d just seen a news story claiming that ex-Neutron programmers were planning a new open-world role-playing game. Hell, If he could play as a solo strength build, he was fucking there.

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