by Aaron Oster
PENDRACKON
The Rules
Book Two
AARON OSTER
For my brother. I know we planned on writing this together, but you’ll just have to read it like everyone else.
Prologue
A wild wind blew across the mountaintop, bringing with it the chill of autumn. Lightning flashed in the distance and thunder rumbled, heralding the arrival of a storm. The sky was tinted an eerie green, suggesting that this storm would not be a normal one created by mundane means. Despite all of this, the man standing at the very tip of the mountain didn’t so much as flinch.
The wind tore at his long robes, sending them flapping and billowing around him. His eyes turned westward as the wind picked up, ruffling his long white hair and sending his fine beard whipping over his shoulder. Despite his apparent age, his back remained straight and firm, unbending in the face of this monster of a storm.
The old man breathed in deeply, scenting the cause of this disturbance. A level ninety water dragon had grown restless some three-hundred miles away and was rising from its eon’s long slumber. His eyes narrowed, focusing on the beast in question. There, under the waves of the Galeing Ocean, a form nearly a mile long was thrashing about and slowly rising to the surface.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t intervene, but there was no one strong enough to stop it within a thousand miles of here. And by the time someone was summoned, the monster would have destroyed half a continent. The ones who would suffer the most would be the sheepkin, and seeing as their race was mostly contained to a single area, it would be devastating.
Not only their race would suffer, as the overlap could devastate the Fallen Gorge, killing potentially millions of dwarves. It might even wipe out an entire sub-species of the race, seeing as a few lived exclusively beneath the ground. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
Reaching for his power, the old man pushed back the sleeves of his robe, allowing the top to fall back, supported by his belt. Bulging muscles rippled across the old man’s frame, belying his apparent age. They stood out in corded lines as he stretched, limbering up for what he was about to do. Usually, he’d use magic to strike down a beast like this. Dragons were different, however. They were highly resistant to magic.
Should he use a spell powerful enough to eradicate it, he would cause more damage than the dragon potentially could. So, instead, he held his hand out to the side, a gleaming red spear materializing from thin air. Taking a moment to aim, the old man pulled his arm back, then hurled the spear with all his might.
A sonic boom echoed as the spear flashed away, disappearing into the distance. Though any average person would have lost sight of the weapon, the old man tracked it as it streaked across the land, traveling fast enough to collect an air tide in its wake. Had he thrown the spear closer to the ground, it would have torn a furrow nearly a hundred feet deep as it passed, killing thousands.
Instead, it streaked through the sky, arching beautifully and slamming into the water dragon’s eye just as it emerged from the ocean. The weapon contained such force that it punched straight through the monster’s skull, emerging from the other eye and killing the level ninety creature on the spot.
The man frowned, noting that his aim had been a bit off. Just a few years ago, he’d have hit dead center, through both pupils. Now, his shot had been a bit too far to the right, taking it through the sclera and barely avoiding the bone ridge when it had come out the other side.
He let out a long sigh, suddenly feeling his age very much. It had been eons since he’d been born, so long ago that he could no longer remember it. He’d lived on countless worlds, fought dangerous monsters of all species that one could only imagine, and attained immortality. However, no immortal, no matter how powerful, could truly live on forever.
He would never entirely die, as his soul would always remain intact, but his mind and body would give out long before that. There was only so much one could do to keep going, especially when they didn’t have much reason to. However, there was a slim hope. His eyes darted around the planet, noting the hundred and one individuals transported here.
Nearly half were already dead, their souls drifting along aimlessly until their collectors came by. But the ones who were still alive were gaining power, and far faster than the denizens of his world ever had. Earth had always been an exciting world. It was because of their resilience and cunning that he’d created humans in the first place.
However, the humans lacked the same cunning and ferocity as those who were originally from Earth. His eyes flicked northward, concentrating on a specific man. This one showed some real promise, having picked up one of the few rare items he’d personally placed on Somerset. But only time would tell. For now, he needed to get back inside. He could sense another challenger approaching, and what kind of Supreme Overlord would he be if he wasn’t there to face them?
1
Sam tipped the contents of the red vial back, his toast to the Overlord complete. As soon as the contents hit his tongue, he had to suppress the urge to gag. The liquid had a consistency of milk which had begun to turn to cheese and tasted just about how one would expect of a substance like that.
Fighting back the urge to spit it out, Sam swallowed the entire vial, cursing the Overlord with every fiber of his being. He hadn’t been expecting cherries and rainbows, but the least the asshole could have done was flavor it with something other than ‘essence of dogshit.’
“When I find that guy, I’m going to force him to eat literal shit,” Sam muttered, hurling the now empty glass vial across the room in a show of impotent rage.
Unfortunately, his abysmal Strength score didn’t quite give the glass the force necessary to run out its durability and shatter, so Sam was left to stare at the still fully intact vial in dissatisfaction. He wanted to complain to someone, but seeing as it was past midnight, everyone was already asleep.
He briefly debated going to find Gordon and kicking him awake just to complain, but that would mean getting out of bed. In the end, laziness won out, and Sam stayed where he was. The flashing notification in the corner of his vision told him about his new upgrade, so he opened his status, viewing it in full.
He still had a ton of unallocated attribute points and decided that now was the time to put them to use. Seeing as he was now an Over-Mage, he’d suffer massive penalties to Strength, Agility, and Endurance, having to invest a full 5 points to raise his score by 1. Unfortunately, there were no other ways to raise them. He would get 3 points per level to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, though, so the tradeoff was perfectly fine in his book.
He had a total of 41 Attribute Points, or AP, to distribute, and he debated on that for a few minutes. Finally, he made up his mind, deciding not to invest any where he’d be losing the value of the points. He only got 5 AP per level, so if he was going to boost any of those attributes, he would do so with items. So, Sam did as he always did and assigned all his points but one, then examined status.
CHARACTER STATUS
Name: Sam
Race: Human
Level: 18
XP: 2,443/51,000
AP: 1
Class: Over-Mage
HP: 200/200 (Regen 2.0 Per Second)
MP: 600/600 (Regen 5.5 Per Second)
STA: 140/140 (Regen 1.4 Per Second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: 6 (7)
Constitution: 20 (+7)
Agility: 8
Endurance: 9 (14)
Intelligence: 60 (63) (15+3 Class)
Wisdom: 52 (55) (12+3 Class)
Charisma: 30 (6+3 Class)
Luck: 12
ABILITIES
Mana Shot: Beginner LV - 19 (31%)
Mana Burn: Beginner LV - 17 (5%)
Mana Flare: B
eginner LV - 15 (10%)
Mana Cloak: Novice LV - 10 (93%)
Mage Bolt: Novice LV - 5 (67%)
Speed Boost: Novice LV - 3 (28%)
Mage Shield: Novice LV - 1 (0%)
SKILLS
Sprint: Beginner LV - 16 (84%)
Stalker: Beginner LV - 15 (67%)
Inspect: Intermediate LV - 22 (19%)
Mind Over All: Advanced LV - 40 (41%)
Mental Manipulation: Beginner LV - 16 (57%)
Browbeat: Novice LV - 9 (12%)
Critical Strike: Beginner LV - 13 (81%)
Sucker Punch: Beginner LV - 12 (23%)
TITLES
Butcherer of Bunnies
Punching Bag
You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry
EQUIPPED ITEMS
Clothing
Farmer’s Canvas Shirt
Farmer’s Canvas Pants
Farmer’s Leather Boots
Mage’s Sash
Total Armor Rating: 10
Set Bonus: +1 Strength & Endurance
Other Items
Name: Silver Orb
Damage: +5-8
Name: Pendant of the Novice Mage
Effect: +3 Intelligence & Wisdom
Name: Ring of Endurance
Effect: +4 Endurance
Name: Ring of Fortitude
Effect: +50% Resistance to Mental Manipulation
RULE OF THE DAY
Do not kick any dogs
Sam was now infinitely glad that he’d let his laziness win out and hadn’t kicked Gordon awake. He didn’t much feel like being hit by a Divine Curse right now. His attributes were starting to look respectable, finally, and he no longer felt like such a wimp. He’d decided to drop a few points into Constitution for once, as he’d nearly died waaaay too many times.
The other points had gone mainly into Intelligence and Wisdom, though he did drop a few into Charisma. If his Class added points with every level, it would probably be important. He’d also noticed that he’d gained the level bonus for his sub-class even after leveling up, something for which he was very grateful.
With a mana pool of 600 and a regen of 5.5 per second, he would be unstoppable! Sam resisted the urge to rub his hands together and cackle evilly. It was too late for that anyway. His eyes flicked to the clock sitting in the corner of the room, and he decided it was probably time to go to sleep. He had a busy day tomorrow and would need his rest.
“Samuel, do wake up. It is time to be away. Rise while the sun is still low in the sky and get a jumpstart on your day!”
Sam cracked bleary eyes to see Gordon, his Canine Companion, sitting on the bed next to him, a cheery grin on his doggy face. His eyes next flicked to the window, which he’d cracked open to allow some air in during the night. As he’d suspected, the sky was a dull gray, and a quick glance at the clock confirmed what he’d already known.
“Eat me, you damn flea-biter. It’s not even six!”
“My word!” Gordon said, his nose turning up in indignation. “Why I never…How dare you insinuate…” The dog trailed off, then let out a loud huff and left the room.
Sam sighed, flipping onto his side and trying to go back to sleep. No matter how hard he tried to force his body to relax and go to sleep, he found that he was unable to. It was early enough that he didn’t yet want to get up but late enough that his body refused to allow him to go back to sleep, which he found quite strange. Back at school, he could have slept until noon, disturbances or not. But now, though he was still tired, he found that he just couldn’t go back to sleep.
“Damn dog and his wake-up calls,” he muttered, finally admitting defeat and getting out of bed.
He was currently in his room in The Classy, staying the night for free as thanks from the owner for finally freeing him from under Sirus and his gang’s collective thumbs. His already bad mood soured even further as he remembered Millicent, the girl he’d known as Milly, a gorgeous elf, up until she’d revealed herself to be a blue siren and tried to kill him.
Sighing at his perpetually horrible luck with women, Sam stripped out of his boxers and headed to the far corner of the room to fill the washbasin. They would be leaving the city today, and he doubted he’d have another opportunity to bathe for a while, so he was going to enjoy himself while he had the chance.
As Sam sank into the steaming tub, he let out a content sigh. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so hard on the dog after all. He’d have to apologize when he saw Gordon next, though he would have to insist he stop waking him up while the freaking roosters were still sleeping.
He sat in the bath until the water began to grow cool, then scrubbed himself vigorously with the scented soap. By the time he got out of the bath, he was well and truly awake.
Shivering, Sam quickly made his way across the room to grab a towel. For some reason, he hadn’t thought to bring one over to the bath and was now paying the price.
What kind of moron doesn’t leave towels near a bath? he thought, reaching for the towel.
“Hey, Sam, do you know why Gordon is all—”
Sam felt his heart leap into his throat as Emma barged in, and he quickly turned his back, reaching to snatch the towel.
“Have you ever heard of this new thing called knocking?!” he yelled, feeling his face flushing a deep crimson.
“Sorry,” Emma said, but instead of leaving as any normal person would, she simply continued into the room.
Sam turned to face her, a towel now firmly wrapped around his waist. He glared at her as she closed the door and gave him a wide smile. Emma was what the people back on Earth would call a perfect ten, and she knew it.
Long black hair framed a pale heart-shaped face, contrasting her striking green eyes and red-painted lips. Her body was athletic and toned, and her tight-fitting leather armor showed that she didn't lack in the chest or hips. She’d also made it clear to Sam that she liked him for some unfathomable reason, but Sam wasn’t going to be so quick to jump into another relationship, not after what had happened with Milly.
“If you were sorry, you wouldn’t have come in,” he said flatly, moving to grab another towel and dry his hair.
“Well, I did get a pretty good view,” she said with a shrug. “I’m not going to pretend to be upset about that.”
That was yet another thing that made no sense. Girls normally didn’t act so forward. Sure, he was all for women’s rights and them doing whatever they wanted, but even so, this was very out of the norm.
His mother’s voice sounded in his mind once again, calling him a misogynistic pig, but by now, he’d learned to ignore her. But, just for good measure…
Fuck you, hag! he thought, giving his mother the mental bird as he dropped the hair towel onto his bed.
“Great. You got what you wanted. Now leave, so I can get dressed.”
“I don’t have to…” Emma said, tugging at her collar with a suggestive wink.
“For the love of God!” Sam yelled.
“I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing, then sure. I can call you that.”
“Please, just…go,” Sam begged, wanting nothing more than for this to be over with.
Before Emma could say or do anything else, something slammed into the door before thumping to the ground below.
“I know you’re in there, you damn bitch!” Baron Von Tweet’s angry voice sounded through the door. “And I know what you did! If you don’t open this door right now, I won’t let you eat a single meal without shitting in it first!”
Startled, Emma looked back to the door.
“What did you do?” Sam asked, wondering what could have gotten the bird so angry.
“I may have spiked his breakfast with chili peppers,” Emma said with a grin. “But it looks like our fun is over…for now.”
She turned her back on him, giving her hips a little wiggle before leaving the room. He heard Barry’s indignant screech cut off as the door closed and breathed a sigh of relief. It was getting way too hot and heavy for him,
and it seemed he now owed both Gordon and Barry.
Lying back in the bed for a moment, Sam reflected that nearly all of the women he’d run into in this world were all smoking hot. That begged the question as to where the rest of the population had gotten off to. Did the Overlord squirrel them all away as soon as he heard he was coming? Or were they simply not created, so as not to damage his sensitive ego?
Or, the most likely case—that the Overlord was just a massive perv and liked women who acted provocatively for no apparent reason. Whatever the case, he wasn’t getting involved. Twice now he’d been taken in by women’s looks and both times he’d nearly died as a result. Granted, the second time was a twisted scheme hatched by a monster to get revenge, but that was beside the point.
The clock struck then, telling him it was already half-past seven and he quickly scrambled to get dressed. Sam made sure to lock the door this time before donning his gear. While he trusted that the first time was an accident, he didn’t need Emma “accidentally” coming in again while he was naked.
Sam pulled on his full set of Farmer’s Clothes, glad that this would be the last time. They were going to visit the guild after their morning stew to collect their rewards. He was due a full Legendary item set, Legendary weapon, 20 electrum coins, and a Spell Scroll. They hadn’t gone to collect them the previous night, but he was sure they’d be expected today.
After buttoning his shirt, Sam did one final check of the room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything, not that he had many items left after the whole debacle with Sirus and Milly. His only remaining possessions were his Overburn Spell Scroll and the Spatial wallet containing a little over 18 gold coins and a piece of jade.