Quick Change Volume 1: Slyborn

by C. T. O'Leary

  She’d asked a couple of questions about his life on Earth, but his answers had just seemed to confuse her more. It didn’t help that his magical translation ability struggled to translate many words, especially those relating to modern technology. He’d nearly hit himself in the face when he’d tried to tell her about driving his car, and it had come out something akin to high-speed metal horseless carriage.

  After getting caught up on his situation, Aurora told Seth she would answer some questions for him, if he had any. He pondered for a few silent beats, knowing he could probably riddle her with questions for days straight. He wanted to squeeze in the best or most impactful questions he could in the limited time he had to talk to her. Seth decided to lead with, “Can you share what you know about adventurers?”

  She scanned his face with a hard glare, looking for deception again, before launching into her tale. “People typically mean two things when they talk about adventurers. Nowadays, the term adventurer is most often used to talk about members of the Adventurers’ Guild, a large organization that spans the entire continent, independent of any country or governance, and the organization I have dedicated my life to.

  “The reason it’s called the Adventurers’ Guild in the first place, though, harkens back to the other adventurers, so let me tell you of them first. Scholars can’t agree on how long ago the adventurers left, but many hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years ago, a subset of humans lived in Morgenheim. They were known as the adventurers, and their main difference from typical humans was their ability to resurrect. It’s said that when a person with sufficient adventurer heritage perished, they reappeared, alive and well in one of the many ancient ruins that still dot the landscape to this day. Because of this fact, adventurers would often take up the most dangerous jobs in society and were rewarded very handsomely for this service.

  “It was easy for an adventurer to seek out a territory with no or low adventurer presence and make a very comfortable living by doing various types of more dangerous work, from digging up buried treasure to slaying monsters that became too brave and attacked villages. Adventurers would often take up jobs as town guards, caravan guards, or bodyguards, and their willingness to go to their deaths in the line of duty made them excellent at it.”

  She paused and looked at Seth, and he realized his mouth hung open in astonishment and quickly snapped his jaw shut. She continued, “Adventurers also gained levels rather quickly, as their propensity for reckless behavior and occupations involving combat put them in many situations to fight monsters and complete difficult tasks to serve others. This meant that adventurers were typically very powerful individuals, be it directly powerful like those of a rich noble family, or indirectly powerful like an old spook that was beloved by the entire village for saving them from almost certain death at the hands of the monsters of the wilderness.”

  “Then, one day the legends say that someone tricked Djinia, the patron goddess of adventurers, into leaving Morgenheim, taking all of her adventurer children with her. In an instant, many powerful noble families, oldest grandfather to youngest babe simply disappeared. The vast majority of town guards disappeared, and as not many regular folks had ever bothered to level up and increase their combat capabilities, the world almost devolved into utter chaos.”

  Aurora was silent for a moment, looking straight ahead as she walked. After a few beats, she continued, “During those dark times, one man, simply known as Utgar, put together a group of the highest level people he could find, with the mission of providing a group to fill the gap in society that had been left when the adventurers disappeared. Utgar’s group became the basis for what is now known simply as the Adventurers’ Guild.

  “The prime directive of our guild is to provide a safe and structured place for would-be members to level up, gaining combat experience and refining their skills, before being initiated as true members and assigned a territory by the Administration Office. Once assigned a territory, members must spend at least three fourths of the year in their provided territory for the duration of their contracts, usually between five and ten years, and answer the call of any locals who need help with the many creatures and monsters that we share this world with.

  “Three years ago, I was assigned to Bosqovar and the surrounding area the day after I graduated to full guild membership status. In another three years’ time, I’ll be given the chance to either renew my contract, request a transfer to another region or training office, or not renew with the Guild at all if my services here have paid back the debt I owe for my years of training.

  “The Adventurers’ Guild typically only fulfills that role, fighting monsters and protecting a given area, but we aren’t the only major guild. The Transportation Guild also sprung up around the same time of absolute madness after all of the adventurers disappeared. They similarly train up combatants, but focus on getting caravans and travelers safely from one place to another.

  “City Guards and bodyguards don’t have a single dominating guild like the other professions, there are some smaller regional groups that provide guards to towns or individuals for a price, but city guards are just as often just skilled individuals, ex-Adventurer, or ex-Transportation guild members.” She finished and glanced at Seth, trying to gauge his reaction.

  “Wow,” he replied, dumbstruck. “That was a ton of information, but I appreciate it. I think I met Djinia, or at least viewed a projection from her right before I showed up here.” He tried to think of what he wanted to ask her next, and decided on, “Can you tell me more about leveling up?”

  “Sure,” she replied, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what level were you in your world before you came here?”

  Seth felt his eyebrows crawl up his forehead as he took in her question, not even able to comprehend how it must have been growing up in a world where the laws of the universe were so fundamentally different. “Oh, wow, that’s funny that you ask. There were no levels in my world. When you wanted to get better at something you just practiced a lot. If you wanted to get stronger or faster you just had to lift heavy weights over a long period of time, or run often. The markers of your progress were much blurrier on Earth.”

  Aurora’s stern facade cracked and she gaped at Seth, apparently in complete disbelief. They were both silent for a time before she said, “Well, you have convinced me that you are actually from another world. I cannot even imagine what that would be like. It must be infuriating to never know how much you have progressed.”

  Seth said, “It can be super frustrating, but you find other ways to track your progress.”

  She replied, “Well, I can do my best to explain it. Leveling up happens when you gain experience. After each level you gain, the next one requires even more experience. You can gain experience in several ways. Fastest, but probably most difficult, is by fighting and defeating monsters in the wilderness. The stronger the monster, the more experience you gain.

  “Secondly, you can complete quests for other people. They give up a small amount of experience to request your assistance with a task, and the gods decide how much experience to reward you with upon completion. For instance, when we left my house, I willed a quest be created. I gave up twenty experience points, regardless of if you accepted or not, and then the gods or their minions judged the difficulty of the task and provided you with the information on how much experience to give you. The amount I gave up was based on your level, you have to offer up more experience to request services from more powerful people. How much experience will you get, by the way, for completing my quest?”

  Seth looked back over the logs and answered, “Looks like I’ll be given three hundred for helping you retrieve the artifact from the cave. This leveling thing isn’t too hard, but it’s kind of tiresome.” He glanced up at the knight and caught her look of surprise.

  She blurted out, “Three HUNDRED?! I would have thought you’d be rewarded with twenty, maybe thirty experience for this quest. How is that possible? Do you have some divine blessin
g or something?”

  As if prompted by her question, or more likely Seth’s wondering at her question, a window he hadn’t yet seen appeared in his vision.

  Active Effects

  Djinia’s Blessing - 140 hours remaining

  The patron goddess of adventurers, Djinia, has granted you her blessing. For seven days after receiving this blessing, you’ll earn ten times experience. Use this gift well, you have a long way to go to balance things in Morgenheim. The adventurers must flourish and take back their place in this world! Don’t screw this up!

  Seth imagined the commanding woman in the business suit as he read the message, and actually flinched when he read the last sentence. He informed Aurora that she’d been correct, and he really did have a divine blessing, and she increased her pace, no longer leisurely walking but practically power walking down the dirt path through the trees. Seth marveled at her ability to stride so quickly in her bulky armor.

  “Change of plans,” she said, words spilling out of her mouth faster and faster, “This blessing warrants some special treatment. We need to squeeze out every last drop of experience we can as long as this lasts. This is the chance of a lifetime. Do you know how many years it took me to reach level twenty-seven? More than a decade of exercises with the guild! Fighting monsters just slightly stronger than myself, healers backing me up all the time so they wouldn’t risk my death. With my healing skills from my secondary class and your ability to come back from the dead, we can pit you against some strong monsters and really get you leveled up!”

  Seth tried to speak up that he wasn’t keen on testing the whole immortality thing, but she cut him off as her head snapped to the left, eyes locking onto something he couldn’t see through the trees.

  “There,” she said, “you can fight that.” She put two fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle, and Seth heard something crashing through the underbrush.

  Seth almost fainted as a giant wild boar, easily the size of a PT Cruiser came barreling out of the forest, straight at Aurora. She laughed, the first one Seth had heard, as she scrambled backwards, putting him right between her and the raging animal. “Just don’t die in one hit,” she said, giving him a slight shove forward. “I can’t heal that.”

  Chapter 8

  The boar was practically on top of Seth in an instant. It lowered its tusked face a few feet before collision and bucked Seth into the air. He let loose a rather unflattering screech as he felt his ribs crack with the impact.

  Level 9 Enraged Boar hits you with Buck for 97 health points.

  Seth’s health bar faded into existence and plummeted to a sliver, but before the pain could really register, a familiar flash of gold whirled around him and his health bar rocketed back to full. Seth landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him, but his ribs feeling perfectly healthy.

  The boar continued its charge well past Seth before finally coming to a stop and whirling around, preparing to charge again, pawing dirt with a front hoof before hurtling at him again. He gained his feet and pulled his sword out, eyes scanning for Aurora, wondering when she was going to step in and put the beast down. Seth spotted her retreating behind him again, and she called out, “Dodge to the side as it charges, and stab it in the flanks when it goes by!”

  Seth heard thundering hooves again as the monster approached, and whipped around, preparing to try and follow Aurora’s advice. It seemed like she intended Seth to take it on completely alone. The boar’s speed was incredible, and he almost wasn’t able to dodge it for a second time. Just as it lowered its head to buck him into the air like a ragdoll again, Seth lunged to his right, rolling over his shoulder and praying he didn’t impale himself on his sword as he felt the creature go by like a train passing.

  Seth stood from the roll and jabbed his sword into the rapidly retreating rump of the boar, scoring a hit and seeing its health bar fade into existence above its head. His thrust appeared to have done less than five percent damage to the monstrous swine. Seth readied himself for another pass.

  After almost twenty more passes, three more bucks that sent him pinwheeling through the air, and innumerable curses, Seth brought the boar down. It was incredibly difficult, and he was panting and dripping sweat by the time it was over. He had felt bad for the monstrous animal as he took its life, but it had never backed down and tried to escape. It just kept coming after Seth again and again. He glanced at the notification as it appeared, sitting down on the hard dirt as he read.

  You’ve slain Enraged Boar, +1,236 experience, you’ve reached level 5, 862 experience until level 6.

  Seth glanced at Aurora, who at this point was leaning against a tree ten yards away looking unconcerned. He said, “I skipped level four entirely, I’m already level five!” Seth had been planning on berating her the entire fight for pitting him against the monster, but the shocking amount of experience had done a good job at redirecting his emotions.

  The knight pulled a slightly disbelieving face and then shook her head. She said, “Even when I expect it, that amount of experience is absolutely astounding. Your goddess has given you something extremely powerful. Were I in your shoes, I’d be sleeping two hours a night until that blessing expired. Anyway, I really do need to make it to that kobold cave, so we should keep moving. I hope you’re up for some more fighting along the way though. I just can’t stand to let that blessing go to waste.”

  Seth said, “How am I supposed to fight anything else today, I can barely walk!”

  “Did you not just gain a level? You should feel in top shape.” She said flatly, and Seth wondered if she was already growing tiresome of being around someone who knew hardly anything about the world they lived in.

  Seth put his palms to the dirt and pushed himself to his feet, finding that the woman was right. Aside from the sweat and dirt clinging to his new clothes, and feeling a bit out of breath, Seth felt great. He mumbled, “I guess you’re right.”

  She pushed off from the tree and started up the path, saying, “In Adventurers’ Guild training, we would go after the biggest monsters we could handle on days we were close to leveling up. We knew that if we could hit the new level around midday, we would feel like new and be able to get even more out of the second half of the day. It’s another gift from the gods, rewarding us when we hit a new goal. You weren’t missing any health because of my healing, but if you had been wounded you would have found all of your wounds closed. Similarly, if you had any mana, you would find it completely restored upon gaining a new level. Depending on the circumstances, it can turn the tide of a battle if a strong individual gains a level mid-fight. I’ve even heard of mercenaries who purposefully get close to a new level, and then avoid gaining experience at all costs, demanding increased rates since they could potentially fight doubly as long as a regular person. Now, let’s see what else feels like fighting out here.”

  Seth stood and followed, not terribly excited for another marathon pig fight.

  *

  Seth faced seven more boars before they reached the entrance to the Kobold’s cave. The fights had gotten easier as he’d gained experience and levels. He’d also found that fighting them was quite easy if he treated it more like a bull fight, waiting until the last moment to quickly step out of the path of their charges and run his sword down their entire flanks.

  As they neared their destination, Aurora put her finger to her lips and nodded ahead to where the path turned around a sharp outcropping of rock. She pointed to some bushes, and they made their way to them, crouching down.

  The knight whispered, “You stay here for a moment. I’m going to go ahead and count how many are standing guard outside. We’ll need to take them all out pretty quickly to avoid sounding the alarm.” Seth nodded and she moved away. He took advantage of the break to glance at the last notification in his queue, wondering what level he’d made it to.

  You’ve slain Enraged Boar, +1,236 experience, you’ve reached level 10, 1,910 experience until level 11.

  Seth marveled at his
rate of level increase. In just a few encounters, terrifying or not, he’d reached and surpassed the level that most citizens of this world would gain over their entire lives. He felt a mix of emotions, from guilt at cheating to elation at the fact that he could at least defend himself. He’d gained three new skills with the rapid-fire level ups, and he opened a panel containing all of his skills with a thought.

  Skills

  Deliberate Strike - Cost: 10 Fury - Cooldown: 4 seconds You take aim and strike your opponent in a calculated location. Inflicts 80% weapon damage and adds Vulnerable debuff for 10 seconds. Vulnerable targets have a penalty to defense.

  Expose Breach - Cost: 15 Fury - Cooldown: 5 seconds You take advantage of a Vulnerable target, targeting an area exposed by their weakened defense. Inflicts 115% weapon damage and adds Impaired debuff for 8 seconds. Impaired targets have a penalty to accuracy.

  Onslaught - Cost: 20 Fury - Cooldown: 15 seconds You hammer an Impaired opponent with all of your might. Inflicts 210% weapon damage. Chance to stun or knock down.

  Charge - Cost: none - Cooldown: 30 seconds You propel yourself toward your target at frightening speed, stunning your target for 3 seconds upon impact. Must be at least 15 yards, but no more than 30 yards from the target.

  Quick Change - Cost: none - Cooldown: none Instantly switch between two outfits.