by Rick Scott
I check Sheeba’s hp and see it’s now down to 85%.
Holy Crap! It worked!
I can do this!
I keep the strategy going. 75%...65%... 55%.
It feels like I’ve been going at this for over an hour, but truly I no longer have a sense of time. Reality is now measured in cycles of Thunder Roar and keeping myself alive in between. I memorize the attack cycle and the slight variations that come with it. I’m in a self-induced trace by the time I glance at Sheeba’s health bar to see it’s down to 15%.
Two more rounds!
My adrenaline starts to spike again as the end nears. Sheeba does Thunder Roar and I squeeze in enough hits to get it down to 6%.
One more! One more!
I keep dodging and recast Shadow Copy early in anticipation, making sure I have it up for the final victory.
And then something disastrous happens.
Sheeba uses Savage.
You shadow absorbs the attack!
What the...! I didn’t mean for it to do that!
I know the cycle by heart now. I’ve got about five seconds before it uses Thunder Roar and there are 11 seconds still left on my recast timer for Shadow Copy. I can’t believe this! I’ve screwed up at the very last moment. I’m about to die!
6%!
I try doing damage to kill it faster but it’s no use. I’d need to backstab it right now to kill it fast enough. A thought pops into my mind and I have no idea if it will work, but it’s the only chance I got.
I turn and run.
I sprint for the treeline and the ground shakes beneath me as the beast gives chase. I jump onto a tree trunk and sprint up it, before arching back and jumping off again. In midair I see Sheeba below me, rearing its head.
Sheeba readies Thunder Roar.
I use Retreat and perform a flying backflip in midair that places me directly behind the beast. As my feet hit the ground I use hide, triggering the permissive for backstab. I go for it! Twin Kunai pierce Sheeba’s haunches as I jab her with all my might and pray that it’s enough.
An area wide message appears.
Reece has defeated Sheeba!
You defeated Sheeba.
You gain 500,000 experience points.
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
Congratulations! You have gained a level!
You are now level 48.
You find a Sheeba’s Fang.
Congratulations! You have earned a new title: Sheeba Slayer
Congratulation! You have unlocked a perk: Plush Sheeba
I’m trembling.
I’m exhausted.
I collapse to my knees and the air fills with the roar of massive applause and cheers. I stare around me to see not the raiding party, but over a hundred players gathered all about. The air is abuzz with their excitement as they run in to slap me on the back.
“That was amazing!”
“How you do that?”
“You’re better than Aiko!”
“What’s you’re agility at?”
“Must be 1000!”
“Zero hits!”
“Pro dude! GG!”
In all the confusion I sense something and see a tall Elven woman standing on a tree branch above me. Aiko. Our eyes meet and I’m not sure how to react. Her face is unreadable. At first I think she might smile, or perhaps even give a nod of acknowledgment, but she doesn’t. So I do so first.
At that point, she cuts her eyes at me and fast travels away.
Chapter 26 Taste of Victory
I’m still reeling with emotions when I log off to give my senses a rest. The thrill of what I’ve just accomplished has me on a high like I’ve never experienced before in my life. I actually feel like I’ve just cheated death. I check my live stream page and see it has over five hundred subscribers now and over a hundred new messages. I’ve become a celebrity overnight. I spend a few minutes to read them, continuing the celebration which started in the forest and that lasted almost twenty minutes.
Most of the messages are adulations for soloing Sheeba. A few are from high level thieves offering to buy the fang for upwards of 200k! I put those to the side for consideration later. Then I see a couple from what has to be from Aiko supporters, who tell me it was pure luck or that I’m a hacker. I junk those ones.
But then I see one I can’t ignore.
From: Aiko
Don’t go thinking you’re such hot stuff from what you did today. Few people know this, but it’s actually easier to solo a boss than to kill it with a party. Plus that was a low level LM with only one AOE. We’ll see how you do against the Beast Kings to see if you’re really any good.
A sickness fills my stomach as I read her message and I’m reminded of that nasty look she gave me in the jungle. I want to ignore it. Like it’s sour grapes and she’s just writing something nasty to tear me down. And if so it’s working pretty well. But what she says both makes sense to me and it doesn’t. And that has me feeling uneasy inside.
She’s right about that one AOE. If Sheeba had had more, then I definitely would have been screwed. But what did she mean by it’s easier to solo than fight with a party? If it’s true than that means I have a knowledge gap. And I need to figure out what I’m missing here.
I still feel really crummy though. Like maybe it was easy or just luck. But it sure didn’t feel like it. It amazes me for a second. How one person’s message can negate the effect of hundreds of others. It makes me mad and insecure all at once.
I reach out to the one person who I know can help me interpret what Aiko sent.
Me: Hey, Val, are you there?
Val Helena: Yes
Me: Can I see you for a sec?
Val Helena: For the great Sheeba Slayer? ; ) Of course.
* * *
We agree to meet up in Swifttide at the Saltwash Inn. It’s one of the main hubs in the Shard where players often go to celebrate after raids. When I enter, sea shanty music fills the air as does the subtle murmur of pleasant conversation and laughter, along with the clinking of mugs of frothy ale. The sweet aroma of baked fish pies and roasted meat hits me next and makes my stomach growl. I recall it must be past lunch time now and I’m probably hungry in real life.
You can actually eat food in game, and while it does taste like food and give you buffs, it unfortunately doesn’t fill your stomach. If it did that, then I don’t think anyone would ever log out of Crystal Shards. I see Val Helena in the corner of the tavern in paladin mode, but seated with her is the entire guild!
They all stand as I approach and let out cheers and applause.
“The Sheeba Slayer!” Zeke raises his mug to me and then thrusts one into my hand. “You kicked butt man!”
“Well done, Reece!” Silvi claps for me.
The three dwarfs of Team SVR each smash their mugs sloppily against mine and congratulate me in turn.
“Tops yo!”
“To the no hit wonder!!”
“You owned that thing!”
A smile is on my face before I know it. “Thanks you guys!”
Val Helena smiles at me from across the large round table as we all sit. “Sorry,” she says. “I was planning to surprise you with this later, but when you messaged I figured no sense in waiting. You did something pretty amazing, Reece. Congratulations.”
I really hope she thinks so. “Thanks.”
“I don’t know how you did it,” Jax says. “I was watching your stream and I know I would have totally screwed that up.”
“You’re on my stream?” I ask.
Val Helena gives a goddess laugh. “We all are.”
That takes me back a second.
“But a pro
per cheer!” Val Helena raises her mug. “To Reece, Ragnarok’s first Dodge Tank and the Solo’er of Sheeba!”
“To Reece!” they all shout.
We clink mugs and chug at the ale. It tastes really weird and bitter to me since I don’t drink at all, but I get a buff that lasts thirty minutes that’s a plus to TP regen. This wasn’t the kind of meeting I was expecting, but it starts to feel like the one I needed, when the conversation starts to flow.
I give a play by play recount of what happened and actually get a rush from reliving the story. Everyone else seems to as well. We order another round of ale and food to enjoy on top of that. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this in game and I have to admit it’s more enjoyable than I imagined it would be. I knew there were entire guilds that did nothing but this kind of stuff, socialize more than adventuring, and now I’m understanding why.
This is actually kind of fun.
After a while, Val Helena gets up and then comes over to me. She rests a hand on my shoulder as she stoops to whisper in my ear. “You wanted to talk about something?”
She then motioned her head to a side table and we leave the rest of the guild as they continue to have a blast; team SVR entertaining everyone by bickering over which of them does the most damage. We move a few tables away and Val Helena takes a seat across from me, folding her hands atop the table. “So, what’s going on?”
“Um… nothing really,” I say for fear that maybe I’m making too big a deal out of it. Or maybe the guild has just cheered me up so much that it doesn’t really matter anymore.
“Well you messaged me for something. What is it?”
I sigh and then forward her the message. “Aiko sent me that. Maybe I’m being thin skinned about it, but what do you make of it? Is what she’s saying true?”
Val Helena’s smokey gray eyes shift back and forth as she reads the message in her HUD. She doesn’t say anything for a moment and then she shifts her eyes to me. “What she says is true. It is sometimes easier to solo, but don’t let that diminish what you’ve accomplished, Reece. Not one bit.”
I have mixed feelings about her reply.
She must sense it because she reaches over the table to place both my hands in hers. “Hey. What you did today was nothing short of amazing. You understand? It was your skill and reflexes that got you through that. But more than that, it was your determination. You never quit. Even when you thought you had blown it, you found another way to survive. That’s not experience. That’s instinct. Talent.”
I’m speechless.
“You’ve taken a career path that’s different than a lot of players, Reece. For you. You can’t fail and that’s what Aiko saw in that fight. And knowing her? Yeah. It probably scared the crap out of her.”
“Are you serious?”
“Look, you’ve never done this before so you got no frame of reference. But not everyone can do what you did, even with that scroll.”
“Really?”
“Who knows? Maybe getting yourself fixed up had some kind of added beneficial effect. It was a nano process, right?”
“Yeah, is was…” But what was she saying? “You mean it gave me some kind of in-game super power?”
She laughs. “I don’t know about all that. But hey, it’s nano so anything’s possible. Or maybe your reflexes are really just that good. I mean you were looking like Maxis out there.”
“Who?”
“Maxis, he’s like the top player on the PVP shards. Those games are all reflex based and he plays one of the toughest classes to master. And you were moving like him.”
“I’ve never even heard of him.”
She chuckles. “I keep forgetting your whole career until now has been spent in the mines.”
“But you said she was right though, about soloing being easier? How can that be?”
“Hmmm…” Val Helena leans back in her chair in thought, crossing her massive legs to rest her hands atop her armor plated knees. “You had power attack on warrior, right?”
I faintly recall the power. “Yeah…”
“Well, all mobs have the same kind of thing. When it’s just you fighting it, they don’t gain a lot of rage, but when you got a damage team going all out, they build rage really fast and can use their special attacks more often.”
“Ah…” I’m getting the picture now. “So if people were helping me kill it, I never would have been able to predict when it would do its special attacks.”
“Right. And it would do them more often too. But also, tanking is not just about avoiding damage, it’s about making sure the mob stays on you and doesn’t attack the rest of the party.”
“Like using warcry?”
“Yes, that’s the main skill, but you also need other ways to make sure it keeps seeing you as a threat.”
“Like how?”
“Doing more damage, magic attacks.”
“Magic?”
“Yeah, I’m surprised you weren’t using any Shadow Magic. That’s what made it even more impressive really.”
I got no clue what she’s talking about. But then I remember my boss fight to unlock ninja. “Oh wait! Like that purple mist that ninja frog guy used to poison and paralyze me?”
“Yes, exactly. Ninja has a lot of debuff magic like that that to help with both tanking and keeping threat.”
“Geez, so I could have been using that? Man the fight would have been a lot easier if I could have paralyzed it every now and then.”
“Yup. So again. Your ignorance has been the best schoolmaster for you, Reece.”
She cracks a laugh and I chuckle with her. “I guess so. She also mentioned multiple AOEs. How am I supposed to handle those?”
“I dunno.” She shrugs. “I’m no ninja, but maybe upping your Int to reduce the recast time?”
I’d never thought of that.
“But I don’t know if it’s worth wasting points on. You need like 50 in a stat to see any decent reduction.”
“Yeah, I’ll really need to think about that.”
“Ok let’s get back to the party.” Val Helena stands. “We’re being too anti-social over here.”
I check the time. I’ve spent well over an hours in here already. “Actually I probably need to get going.”
“Hey I know you’re on a timeline, but you gained what? 14 levels today? You can work on it tomorrow. Come have some fun.”
I’m reminded of my new deadline and the fact that I can’t even share with Val Helena any details of why I need to progress to 85 in just a couple days. But at least I could share with Gilly when I meet her off line. Oh crap! That’s just a few hours away, as well. And I still haven’t given any thought of what to wear.
“Um, actually. I got to go for another reason.”
“Oh. Real life stuff?”
“Kinda,” I say and then look up at Val Helena sheepishly. “Hey, Val? Do you kinda know what’s appropriate to wear on a date?”
Her eyes go wide a second. “What?”
I let out a sigh. “I’m going to meet Gilly for the first time in a few hours and I have no idea what to wear.”
She lets out a laugh. “No kidding! Wow you two really are special.”
“I know it’s stupid to have asked you. I’m sorry.”
She looks over her shoulder and yells. “Guys! Keep the party going. I’ll be right back.”
Val Helena then shoots me a party request. “Come with me.”
Chapter 27 Shopping at Bloomingdales
Val Helena and I head to the center of Swifttide where the main spawn point is located.
“Check your map,” she says. “You should see another spawn point option here that says Nexus.”
I do so and when I focus on it I fast travel along with Val Helena.
I materialize in a white marble tiled hallway that’s filled with glowing blue portals on either side. It bends in a curve and above each portal I can see the name for various different shards inside the game world.
[You have e
ntered the Nexus]
[All game attributes and abilities are now disabled.]
[When entering a new shard some abilities may be restricted]
“What is this place?”
“A shortcut,” Val Helena says. “You can cut between shards using this without having to logout and back in again. I’m surprised how many people don’t even know about it.”
“Oh…” I say. “Cool. So where are we going?”
“A place where you can try on some real clothes.”
We walk around the bend of the vacant corridor and I wonder if it isn’t more of a ring with how tight the curvature is. We pass by portals labeled Steamwerks, Galaxia, and Apocalypse-Z. I don’t know the game genres for certain, but the names seem pretty obvious. We finally stop at one marked Urbania and we enter.
We rematerialize on a street corner of what looks like a major city in prewar America, New York, I think. It’s nighttime and honking traffic moves steadily on the well paved streets that are lined with flashing signals and flanked by high rises. People bustle past us on the sidewalk and I can’t tell if they’re NPCs or players.
[Welcome to the True Life shard of Urbania]
[All combat abilities are disabled.]
“No combat?” I say. “What kind of game is this?”
“It’s a life sim,” Val Helena says and I see her clothing has changed. Gone is the paladin armor to be replaced by a knee length gray skirt, low heels and a white silk blouse. Her eight foot tall figure looks even more stunning in regular clothes than she does her battle armor!
“Most of the population spends their time in here,” she says. “Some people never even leave.”
“What?”
“Nevermind, this way.”
Val Helena leads me through the crowded streets and we past a couple of people who wrinkle their noses at us. They must be players, because I overhear one of them mutter something derogatory about gamers as she eyeballs me.