The Luckless: A MMORPG and LitRPG Online Adventure (Second Age of Retha Book 1)

by A. M. Sohma

  Vic stabbed a finger at Gil. “I don’t think he would.”

  “You probably wouldn’t either, Vic.” Cookie said.

  “Of course,” Vic sniffed.

  “Yeah,” Kit said. “You’d kill it before it could reach you.”

  “That’s not the reason at all,” Vic said. “I would survive because I would throw Cookie in the fiend’s path and run.”

  Gil eyed Cookie and Vic. “Are you certain you two really are friends?”

  “Totally!” Cookie chirped. “We’re besties! Vic just doesn’t know how to express affection without using sarcasm.”

  “That was not sarcasm,” Vic said.

  Kit combed her fingers through the low ponytail of her champagne pink hair. A glance at the fighter revealed his name, Axellent; class, fighter; and level, nine. While the guy was not winning any personality prizes, a warrior would be able to take more damage than a night stalker or wizard. And as they lacked the healer, extra damage and resilience was their best hope. And who knows, by the time we reach Luminos, maybe he’ll understand how weird all this is.

  She gave him a friendly smile. “You can come with us if you want,” she said as she sent him a party invitation.

  Axellent accepted. “I’ll hold the front lines,” he promised.

  “Welcome to the group, Axellent.” Gil smiled at the warrior and shook his hand. Though Gil was thick through the shoulders and Axellent had more of a lithe build, both players were similar heights and stood eye to eye. (Kit wryly noticed she was as tall as them—perhaps even a bit taller—which would explain why the extra height her elf character boasted had thrown her when she first started.)

  “You will be called Axel,” Vic declared.

  “What? No way! My name is Axellent! It’s a legitimately cool name!”

  “Do you really think so? Then I pity you. And it doesn’t matter. I would be absolutely embarrassed to call you Axellent in public. Moreover, it is unnecessarily long,” Vic said as they started walking again.

  “Choosing a name that isn’t already taken can be pretty difficult—that’s why so many players now have last names as well,” Kit said. She purposely curved their path a little, aiming for the road that ran between Luminos and Vippa—the outpost town she had visited earlier.

  “You mentioned previously that you’ve played Retha before,” Gil said. “I assume Kitten Lovemuch is your second character?”

  “You could say that,” Kit said wryly.

  Axel adjusted his sword on his back. “Why would you ever choose a dancer as your character class?”

  “Let’s just say it wasn’t my choice.”

  Kit switched her attention back and forth from glancing at the party members’ health bars to watching Cookie and Axel fight with a small group of gelatas.

  The warrior and night stalker were making quick work of them, but both Cookie and Axel’s health were dipping down past half way, and their teamwork was a little rough.

  “You’re a kill stealer, night stalker,” Axel growled when Cookie sliced cleanly through a gelata he had been attacking and slayed it.

  “Sorry. I thought we were trying to kill these monsters as fast as possible.” Cookie said.

  Kit noticed a gelata rolling towards Vic and automatically made a few of the gestures she used on her old main character to jump-start a spell. When nothing happened, she shook her head. I’m a different class, now. No damage skills for me—as maddening as it is! She cleared her throat and announced, “A gelata is going for Vic.” She meant to tell Gil who would taunt the monster and draw its attention, but Cookie pounced on the glob before it reached the wizard, leaving Axel surrounded by four gelata that immediately convened on him.

  “Hey!” he growled.

  Cookie was back in an instant. “Sorry.”

  Axel stabbed two gelata with one strike. “I’m never trusting you with my back.”

  “Miss Kit, look out!”

  Kit turned around and yelped when she saw the emberling—a wisp-like creature of flames that had a jack-o’-lantern smile—bearing down on her. She started running when the creature spat a fireball at her, setting her gauzy skirt on fire.

  She almost collided with Gil but managed to sidestep him at the last moment. The crusader tried to punch the emberling, but the creature bobbed over his fist and continued pursuing Kit.

  Kit could feel it gaining on her, the sparks it shed hitting the bare skin on her lower back. “Can I get a little help?” She shouted.

  Cookie jumped a gelata and ran at her, but Vic beat her to it. “Bubble Barrage!” The wizard traced her finger through the air, creating a glowing symbol, then thrust her pointer finger at the emberling. A river of bubbles slammed into the creature, putting it out with a puff of smoke. “That was a surprisingly effective skill, despite its pathetic name,” Vic said.

  Kit gratefully stopped running and finished slapping out the last tiny bits of flames that ate at the singed hem of her skirt. “Thanks, Vic,” she said as Axel finished off the last gelata.

  Vic nodded queenly, though she jumped when a thundercloud formed directly over her head and lightning rained down around her. Similarly, black shadows swirled around Cookie, and rainbow-colored lights and white musical notes poured down on Kit like a waterfall. Simultaneously, big, beveled, golden letters formed over the three girls’ heads, reading: “LEVEL UP.”

  Kit smoothed her bangs as her character panel automatically popped up.

  Congratulations! You have learned the dancer skill: Battlefield March

  Your beauty and poise in battle heartens those around you.

  Skill Effect: Increases party members’ physical attack and defense power. Can be interrupted.

  Kit felt as weary as an old woman as she gazed off listlessly into the horizon. “Ahh, yes, a buff, as expected of a support character. An attack skill was too much to hope for, I see.” She flicked the screen away. “Did you get any new skills, Cookie, Vic?”

  Cookie shook her head and holstered her daggers. “Nothing for me.”

  “I finally have a useful skill: Fireball,” Vic said.

  “But Bubble Barrage was quite powerful,” Cookie said.

  “It’s most effective against flame-based monsters,” Vic said. “Otherwise, I would’ve tried smothering you with it hours ago.”

  “Aw, I love you too, bestie!”

  “I apologize, Miss Kit, for my failure in keeping the emberling’s attention on me,” Gil said. He furrowed his eyebrows, making his weathered features appear even harder than usual.

  “It’s not your fault,” Kit said.

  “But it is,” Gil insisted. “My entire role is to keep monsters from attacking other members of the party.”

  “Yeah, but you’re only level eight, and we’re still a pretty inexperienced party. Of course, someone’s going to pull aggro off you,” Kit said. Tanks were designed to hold the attention of monsters—it’s why they were immovable walls of health. However, monsters could still drift away if another party member put out too much damage, taking on that monster’s aggression—or aggro. Monsters would attack players besides the tank, though, for other reasons as well.

  “The dancer is right,” Axel said, as if he could hear her thoughts. “Monsters are always drawn to the weakest member of the party. In Kit’s case, it’s even worse than usual because she can’t fight back or even heal. Basically, she is a bleeding, wounded seal frolicking through a swarm of sharks.”

  “Thank you, Axel, for that complimentary review of my character,” Kit said wryly.

  “What? Everyone knows support characters are a royal pain to keep alive.”

  “You seem to know quite a bit about game mechanics,” Gil said.

  Axel shrugged and sheathed his sword. “I played Beast Master a lot. But it’s gotten so abandoned, they’re shutting it down in a couple months, so I thought I’d give Retha a try.”

  “Beast Master?” Vic said, her voice acidic with disdain.

  “It’s a good game!”
/>   “Uh-huh. I bet.”

  Kit used her superior elf eyesight to peer off into the distance. She’d been able to see Luminos for a while—it was impossible to overlook as it was a brilliant white spot in the middle of the rolling plains. “Hey Cookie, can you see Luminos yet?”

  The night stalker joined her. “That blob on the horizon? Yep, I see it finally.”

  “Good. We’re almost there. I’m pretty confident we’ll reach it before nightfall.” Kit marched toward the city, her new friends following behind her.

  “I’m glad to hear it; particularly given that neither the community tab nor our log off capabilities have returned,” Gil said.

  Kit bit her lip, internally agreeing with the crusader. Despite Bryce’s letter, she had hoped the EC geniuses would be able to get them transferred back to the main server. It’s probably been half an hour outside of the game. We still have time. The reassurance seemed paper thin, but Kit wasn’t very eager to organize a raid to throw themselves at Malignus.

  Axel grunted. “I still say you’re all just worriers.”

  “What will we do when we reach Luminos?” Vic asked.

  “The marketplace is a good spot to hear local gossip,” Kit said. “But the Guildhall will be where all the big players are. If we really want to figure out what’s going on, the Guildhall is our best bet.”

  Cookie adjusted her black armguards. “Then we’ll go straight to the Guildhall?”

  Kit squinted, able to make out the nearest entrance to Luminos, a giant drawbridge that was lined with guards. “Not exactly.”

  Vic frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t enter Luminos through the main gates; I’ll have to get in a different way. But all of you can walk right in. So we’ll split up. You four head on in, and I’ll meet you at the marketplace—which is in the center of the city. It will give you a chance to repair your weapons and restock up on any supplies you need. The Guildhall is north of it, so it won’t take us out of our way.”

  Gil tilted his head. “Why can’t you go through the main gates?”

  “The Imperials don’t really like me.”

  “Then you’re allied with the Court of the Rogue? How did you pull that off at such a low level?” Cookie asked. “Before logging on the game, I read that it took a while before you gathered enough reputation with them to make the Imperials dislike you.”

  “I’m not allied with the Court of the Rogue, either,” Kit said. “They hate me, too.”

  Axel whistled. “What did you do to tick off both of them at the same time?”

  Kit’s shoulders slumped. “It’s complicated.”

  “If you can’t get in through the gates, how do you expect to enter Luminos?” Vic asked.

  “There are a few backdoor methods,” Kit said. “None of them are really appealing, but I don’t have a choice.”

  The furrow of Gil’s brow deepened. “I don’t think you should go alone.”

  Kit patted the crusader on his pauldrons. “Don’t worry about it. It can’t be helped. I’ll be fine; the method I’m considering isn’t really dangerous—just super annoying. And smelly.”

  “Still...”

  Cookie unsheathed one of her daggers and tossed it in the air. “Not to worry, Gil! I’ll go with Kit.”

  “It’s really not necessary,” Kit said as the city grew larger on the horizon.

  “Maybe not, but you should still have someone there to help if things get rough—especially since you’re a support character,” Cookie said.

  “She’s got a point, shark-bait,” Axel said.

  “Maybe you should wait to officially offer help until you hear how I’m getting in,” Kit said.

  “Nonsense. Together, I’m sure we will be able to handle it.” Cookie gave her a thumbs up and a brilliant smile.

  “Then it’s settled,” Gil said. “Vic, Axel, and I will meet you two at the marketplace.”

  “How about at the mermaid statue in the marketplace? It’s a pretty sprawling area, so it would take a while for us to meet up even though all party members are marked on our mini-maps,” Kit said.

  “The mermaid fountain in the marketplace. Understood,” Gil said.

  “This is going to be great fun,” Cookie said. “And it will be good practice for avoiding guards.”

  Kit was not convinced. “We’ll see.”

  After all, she knew there were several secret ways to get into Luminos. But the only one she thought she could pull off as a dancer…was going up a garbage chute.

  4

  Luminos

  Kit put her hand on a rancid piece of meat, and tried not to gag when a maggot wiggled against her thumb.

  “You okay back there?” Cookie was farther up the garbage chute, having crawled through the horizontal chute with the slipperiness of an eel and popped into a vertical shaft.

  The walls of the chute narrowed as Kit climbed forward on her hands and knees. “I’m managing.”

  “The intersection where you go from a horizontal to vertical position might be tough for you,” Cookie said.

  Kit breathed shallowly through her mouth so she wouldn’t gag from the rotten, overwhelming stench of garbage that filled the chute. “Why? I’m pretty nimble as an elf.”

  “But you’re also tall,” Cookie said. “And it’s your height that might make it difficult.”

  A gelatinous glop landed on Kit’s shoulder. She flicked it off, but it left an algae-ish slime behind. “I don’t think I get what you...oh.” Kit reached the end of the horizontal chute and poked her head into the vertical shaft. The horizontal chute made a T intersection with the vertical shaft, which fell at least ten or fifteen feet deep. Because of the sharp angles of the intersection and the tight width of the shaft, Kit could see she was going to have a difficult time maneuvering her body out without falling.

  Cookie was comfortably situated about four feet above Kit’s head. She was braced with her back pushed against one side of the shaft, and her feet on the other side. “Here!” She slid down a bit and offered her arms. “I’ll pull you up.”

  “Won’t I be too heavy for you?”

  “Nah. You’re an elf. Elves are always light as feathers. Come on!”

  Kit took the night stalker’s hands to steady herself, then inched to the end of the horizontal chute. With a surprisingly strong pull, Cookie yanked on her arms and popped her out of the chute like a cork coming out of a potion bottle. Kit dangled in mid-air for one terrifying moment, then scrambled to brace herself similarly to Cookie, heaving a sigh of relief when she was secured. She wiped off her forehead, grimacing at the sticky residue some of the trash remnants had left on her hands. “There has got to be an easier way to get inside Luminos without being discovered,” she said.

  “Maybe you can disguise yourself?” Cookie wriggled further up the shaft with enviable ease.

  “Maybe,” Kit agreed as she tried to follow her friend. Unfortunately, her sandals didn’t exactly make the greatest footwear for scaling walls, and she slipped. She threw her arms out to catch herself, banging her elbow in the process. Kit hissed out a breath of air, then squealed when she slipped down another few inches, this time smacking her head on the wall.

  With both her head and her funny bone smarting, she groaned. “Son of a biscuit! I hope the EC designer who came up with the pain scale is plagued by papercuts!”

  A cute little trumpet chord sounded, and sparks of red, purple, and blue light fizzed around her.

  Congratulations! You have learned the life skill: Swear Proficiently!

  Your salty tongue is creative enough to make a nun wallop you.

  Effect: Unknown

  PASSIVE SKILL

  Kit stared at the announcement, half stuck between being stunned and furious.

  In Chronicles of Retha, players were able to learn four different types of skills: class skills, which they received for leveling up their character’s class; crafting skills, which were awarded once players chose the two kinds of crafting they
would like to take and leveled up their crafting level; race skills, all of which were granted upon character creation and were different based on the race of the character; and life skills, which were learned naturally throughout the game and varied greatly from player to player.

  Life skills were meant to balance out characters to create a fair gameplay system. For instance, fighting and mage classes were normally given more passive skills that would do very little to help in battle. Things like “Bow gracefully,” “charismatic speaker,” or even “fast reader.” Healer and tank classes were often given more useful skills, like “quick learner,” “excellent observer,” or “fast walker.”

  The pool of possible life skills ranged in the hundreds of thousands, and the skills you were given depended heavily on the way you used your character, as well as your general character build. Players who shared the same character race and class would still receive different life skills. That was why typically the more fragile or non-combative classes received some of the most useful skills. As a dancer, Kit should have been a prime candidate for some amazing life skills. So to have her first life skill be “swear proficiently”?

  “Did I ever really find this game enjoyable? Or was I just being unknowingly traumatized?” Kit wondered.

  “Did you say something?” Cookie asked.

  “No. I was just musing over the curse of this character.”

  “Oh. Well if it makes you feel any better, I reached the end of the shaft.”

  “Really?” With renewed vigor, Kit tried crab-waddling her way up the shaft.

  “Yep! I’m going to pop out and make sure there aren’t any soldiers around.”

  “Great. I’ll see you soon.” Kit said.

  “Roger that, good buddy!”

  Kit shook her head, impressed with Cookie’s upbeat attitude even though they were squirming around in trash. She took in a shallow breath, then resumed inching her way up the shaft. With the promise of release just ahead, Kit didn’t even shudder when she touched the slime-coated wall and narrowly missed crushing a yellow-toothed rat who sat upon a brick that jutted out of the wall.