Nate shook his head. “It’s okay, mate. We’ve already talked it over and decided that I would pick Front Line.” He lowered his head to look down at the girl by his side. “As to Alyson, she’s already gotten her memories back. She told me that she’s not very good at online games, but she likes to play with other people. So she usually stays back and heals her teammates while they fight mobs.”
“Has she gotten here the same way we have?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Nate said. “Alyson launched The Weaponized on her PC and put on her Macro Envision headset. When she pressed the START GAME button, she passed out and woke up here.”
The girl’s expression became very sad, so I decided to change the subject.
“So you like to play as a healer?” I asked as I shifted my gaze to the girl.
She met my eyes and immediately, averted her eyes away from me. She said something so quietly I could not make out a single word of what she had said.
“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t catch that.”
Still not looking at me, the girl said a bit louder, “I said ‘Yes, I like to play as a healer.’”
Her voice was barely above a whisper. If I had not been straining my ears to pick up her voice at that moment, I would not have been able to hear her.
“So your name is Alyson,” I said as I looked at the girl standing by Nate’s side. “It’s nice to meet you, Alyson. I’m David. You can call me Dave. That’s what friends call me.”
“I’m gonna call you Dave then too,” Vlad said with a grin.
Ignoring him, I held out my hand to the girl. She looked at it as if uncertain what to do. Then the girl put her hand in mine and gripped it ever so lightly.
A blush spread over her cheeks as Alyson smiled at me. For a beat, her eyes met mine, and then the girl turned her eyes away from me self-consciously.
“Alyson’s a little bit shy,” Nate said.
“Oh, really?” Vlad said sarcastically. “You could’ve fooled me.”
Nate shot him a stern look and continued, “So I expect you guys to be nice to her.”
Though he had said ‘guys’, it was obvious that he was mainly addressing Vlad. He was staring the blond Russian down, waiting for him to reply.
“I take it you’ve already become an item,” Vlad said with a sly smile on his thin lips. “Are you gonna share, buddy?”
Nate’s face hardened. “You didn’t hear what I just said or what?”
“I heard you all right,” Vlad said. “Take it easy, man. I’m just messing with you.”
“You can make jokes at my expense whenever you want,” Nate said. “But I’m not going to tolerate you mistreating Alyson. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Vlad said. “Relax, buddy. I can be a gentleman too.” He shifted his eyes to the girl and asked, “Where are you from, sweetheart?”
“Australia,” she replied, blushing at the term of endearment.
“Australia?” he asked. “Where did you learn English then?”
Alyson, Nate, and I simultaneously turned our heads to look at him.
“What?” The blond Russian said. “They speak Australian in Australia, don’t they?”
“There’s no such language as Australian,” Nate said.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“What language do they speak in Australia then?”
“Guess.”
Vlad just watched him for a moment. Then he said, “Don’t tell me they speak English in Australia.”
“Yes,” Nate said. “Most of the people living in Australia speak English.”
Vlad raised an eyebrow and repeated his dumb question, “Really?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know that,” I said.
“Of course, I knew it,” Vlad said as he rolled his eyes. “Do you really think I’m that dumb? Duh. I’m just fucking with you, guys.”
“Please, don’t,” Nate said.
However, it was really hard to tell if Vlad was just pretending to be that dumb or really was.
“How come there are so many English-speaking countries anyway?” Vlad asked.
“Thank the British Empire for that,” Nate said.
“The British Empire?” Vlad said. “Oh, I remember. Is that where you live, right?”
“Oh my gosh,” I said. “Are you for real?”
Vlad shot me an angry look. “What’s wrong?”
“I live in the United Kingdom,” Nate said calmly. “Particularly, in Great Britain.”
“Isn’t it the same thing?” Vlad asked.
“What is the same thing?”
“The British Empire, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom,” Vlad said. “Are they just different names for the same country?”
“No,” Nate said, exercising surprising patience. “And by the way, the British Empire no longer exists.”
Vlad looked at him as if he thought Nate was just messing with him.
“Really?” He asked, suspiciously looking at Nate as if trying to determine if he was just messing with him.
At that moment, Vlad had such a stupid look on his face, Alyson actually laughed.
“Don’t you fucking dare to laugh at me,” Vlad suddenly exploded with fury.
Alyson immediately went silent and stepped behind Nate.
“I’m sorry,” she squealed.
“Hey, don’t yell at her,” I said.
“Don’t tell me what to do, mudak,” Vlad snapped.
I did not know what a mudak was, but my educated guess was it was some sort of Russian insult.
Anger rose in me again. Not because he had just insulted me, but because I was fed up with Vlad and could no longer put up with him.
I took a step toward him, but then Nate stopped me by placing his hand on my shoulder.
“Wait, David,” he said.
I looked at him over my shoulder. The big British guy looked down at the girl still hiding behind his back and said softly, “Don’t apologize to him, Alyson. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s not your fault he’s such a dumbass.”
Nate looked at me and shook his head. He then turned and walked up to Vlad. The British guy was so big the smaller Russian was completely blocked from my view by Nate’s wide back.
Nate began talking to Vlad. He kept his voice low, so I could not make out most of the words he was saying. I had a general idea of what he was saying to him, though. Nate was basically telling Vlad that if he yelled at Alyson or made fun of her one more time, Nate would work him over real bad.
The big British guy must have been very intimidating because when he finally turned around and walked away from Vlad, I saw that the Russian’s face was white as snow. However, as soon as he realized Nate was not going to beat him up at the moment, Vlad’s composure began to return. His expression changed and anger flashed in his eyes. Though he did not say or do anything, it was obvious that he was not going to forget this anytime soon. We had better watch him from now on.
“Just to remind you, warriors,” Echo said. “You can apply your skill points now.”
The AI seemed to be completely uninterested in our quarrel. He did not comment on it at all.
I realized I had no idea how to apply my skill point.
“How to do it?” I asked.
“You need to call up the Class Menu,” Echo said. “To do it, just think of it.”
As it turned out, it was very easy to bring up the Class Menu. As soon as I gave a mental command, a translucent holographic screen popped up in front of me. It was the Class Menu. It was about a foot and a half in width and about three feet in height.
For a second, I thought that only I could see it, but then I saw that a similar holographic screen appeared in front of each of my teammates. Vlad stood a few meters in front of me. I could see him through the holographic screen hovering before the guy, yet I could not see what was displayed on his screen. I fi
gured that information was visible only on the front side of a holographic screen.
I shifted my attention back to my own Class Menu. At the top, there were three tabs: Flanker Description, Flanker Skill Tree, and Your Currents Stats.
I had already read the description of each class, yet I decided to take some time to re-read the information on my class. So I tapped the first tab.
A piece of info appeared on the screen.
Flanker
Class Description: Flank warriors are exceptionally good at both damage and mobility. They excel at sudden attacks, quick disappearances, and chasing enemies.
Abilities: Blink (Active Ability), Sixth Sense (Passive Ability), Teleport (Ultimate Ability)
(Do you want to expand the tab to see the Flanker’s Abilities: Yes/No)
I pressed the Yes button, and three more tabs popped up.
Green Rune (Active Ability) — Blink
Description: Teleport forward a short distance.
Maximum distance: 15 meters
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Blue Rune (Passive Ability) — Sixth Sense
Description: The spectral Voice warns you when there is danger within the effective range when you are not aware of it.
Effective range: 25 meters around
Cooldown: 6 seconds
Red Rune (Ultimate Ability) — Teleport
Description: Allows you to create a teleportation tunnel that you and your allies can use. When the Ultimate Ability is active, you move with increased speed. Moreover, you become half-invisible but leave a trace of light behind that lasts for a few seconds. Moreover, when you activate the Ultimate Ability to create a teleportation tunnel, you enter the void space, which means that you cannot attack and cannot be attacked.
Maximum length: 50 meters
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 10 minutes
I then switched to the Flanker Skill Tree, and the screen refreshed. Three more tabs popped up: Green Rune (Active Ability), Blue Rune (Passive Ability), and Red Rune (Ultimate Ability).
I tapped the first one, the Active Ability, and the tab got expanded.
Green Rune (Active Ability) — Blink
All the skills except for the three at the top of the skill tree—the First Branch of the Active Ability—were grayed-out. When I tapped at one of the three available skills, a smaller widow containing a piece of descriptive info popped up.
The First Branch of the Active Ability:
Name: Ready for Action
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Active Ability.
Recharge delay: -10 seconds (Current: 60 seconds)
Status: 0/3
Name: Unstoppable 1
Description: You gain an additional Blink charge. While the Active Ability can be used several times before going on Cooldown, after you use the Active Ability, you will have to wait some time before you can Blink again.
Recharge delay: 3 seconds
Status: 0/2
Name: Reacher
Description: Increases the distance of the Active Ability.
Blink Distance: +5 meters (Current: 15 meters)
Status: 0/3
I then switched to the Blue Rune (Passive Ability) tab, and the information on the holographic screen refreshed.
Blue Rune (Passive Ability) — Sixth Sense
The First Branch of the Passive Ability had only two skills available for unlocking at the moment. I examined each of them in turn.
The First Branch of the Passive Ability:
Name: Guardian Angel
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Passive Ability.
Recharge delay: -1 seconds (Current: 6 seconds)
Status: 0/5
Name: Speed Maniac
Description: Increases your overall movement speed.
Speed increase: +10%
Status: 0/5
Finally, I switched to the third tab and examined the last skill tree: Red Rune (Ultimate Ability).
Red Rune (Ultimate Ability) — Teleport
The First Branch of the Ultimate Ability:
Name: Teleporter
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Ultimate Ability.
Recharge delay: -60 seconds (Current: 10 minutes)
Status: 0/5
Name: Reach Farther
Description: Increases the length of your teleportation tunnel.
Length: +50 metres (Current: 50 meters)
Status: 0/5
So I had three available skills on the First Branch of the Green Rune (Active Ability): Ready for Action, Unstoppable 1, and Reacher; two skills on the First Branch of the Blue Rune (Passive Ability): Guardian Angel and Speed Maniac; and two skills on the First Branch of the Red Rune (Ultimate Ability): Teleporter and Reach Farther. Overall, I had seven skills to choose from.
Moreover, the Ready for Action skill could take three skill points, Unstoppable 1 two, Reacher three, Guardian Angel five, Speed Maniac five, Teleporter five, and Reach Farther five. And I had only one unused skill point to apply.
I gave the matter some thought. Each of the seven skills available for learning seemed to be very important. After thinking it over, I decided to put my only skill point into the Ready for Action skill. Since Blink was the Active Ability, I figured I would be using this ability a lot. It was a good idea to reduce the cooldown of Blink, so I allocated the skill point into the Ready for Action skill from the First Branch of the Green Rune.
After that, I switched to the Your Current Stats tab, and the information on the Class Menu window refreshed.
Your Current Stats:
Your Current Level: 1
Experience Points: 0
Experience Points to Level 2: 50
Abilities:
Green Rune (Active Ability) — Blink
Maximum distance: 15 meters (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Cooldown: 50 seconds (Learned Skills: Ready for Action 1/3)
Blue Rune (Passive Ability) — Sixth Sense
Effective range: 25 meters around (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Cooldown: 6 seconds (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Red Rune (Ultimate Ability) — Teleport
Maximum length: 50 meters (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Duration: 30 seconds (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Cooldown: 10 minutes (Learned Skills: No Skills Learned Yet)
Learned Skills:
Green Rune (Active Ability) — Blink
The First Branch of the Active Ability:
Name: Ready for Action
Description: You gain improved recharge delay for the Active Ability.
Recharge delay: -10 seconds (Current: 50 seconds)
Status: 1/3
After studying the information, I closed the Class Menu with a thought, and the holographic screen before me disappeared. I looked around. My teammates were still studying their own Class Menus. Vlad was frowning so hard as if he were trying to solve differential equations.
I turned to face Nate and Alyson. They stood next to each other, looking at a holographic screen hovering before them. I figured it was Alyson’s Class Menu because it was closer to her and Nate was pointing at something on the screen and explaining something to the girl.
I began walking toward them. By the time I reached my two teammates, Alyson had already closed her Class Menu. Nate saw me and asked, “Have you allocated your skill point yet, David?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “What about you, guys?”
“We, too,” Nate said.
“What skills did you unlock?” I asked.
“Just some skills improving cooldowns of our abilities for now,” Nate replied. “And you?”
“Same here,” I said and turned my head to look at Vlad. “What about him?”
The blond Russian was still studying his Class Me
nu. I wondered what was taking him so long to decide which skill to allocate his skill point into. But I was not curious enough to come over to him and ask him that question.
“Are you done yet?” Nate asked of Vlad.
The Russian ignored him. He eyed his Class Menu with an almost painful expression on his face for a few more seconds.
“Hey Echo,” he said. “Are you here?”
“Alway,” the AI answered at once. “What can I do for you, warrior?”
Vlad was an asshole, but Echo did not seem to be bothered by it one bit. It was totally understandable. After all, he was an AI and not a real person. Still, it kind of hurt that he treated Vlad the same way he treated the rest of us. He did not differentiate us at all.
“How come I can only see the skills on the First Branch of my Active Ability?” Vlad asked. “All the rest are grayed-out. How do I unlock the skills on the Second Branch?”
“Guess you need to learn and fully upgrade some of the skills on the First Branch of one of your abilities before the skills on the next branch gets unlocked,” Nate said. “Am I right, Echo?”
“Not exactly,” the AI replied. “You don’t need to fully upgrade skills on one branch to get the skills on the next one to become available for learning. To unlock the Second Branch of the Active Ability, you need to allocate at least five skill points into skills on the First Branch. To unlock the Third Branch, you need to allocate at least ten skill points into skills on the previous branches. To unlock the Fourth Branch, you need to allocate at least fifteen skill points—”
The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series Page 6