BlackFlame Online Vol 1

by A P Gore

  Noah was ready with his spell. He cursed the orc with the fire ball curse and shot two poison orbs simultaneously at the monster. The fire balls surprised the orc, and the impact pushed him backward. Noah’s poison orbs missed the orc because of the sudden movement, wasting 50 spirit.

  Mathial was back in the leading role. He charged, ax forward, and activated some skill which pushed him toward the orc in a blur, hitting the orc with the head of the ax. The orc lost his balance and dropped, but grabbed the head of Mathial’s ax and pulled Mathial down with him. They both hit the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

  Noah struggled not to laugh, as both heavy fighters looked like a happily kissing couple when the dust settled. The orc had Mathial in a bear hug. But he pulled his act together when he spotted Mathial’s life going down. Within seconds, Mathial’s life was below half. The orc had done something, and if he could bring Mathial’s buffed life to half, then he could kill Noah in a fraction of a second. Fear clenched his balls and squeezed them hard.

  Mathial put his hands on the orc’s chest and pushed himself out of the bear hug. His life was at 250 when he broke free. The orc stood; he was at 820 life.

  Noah threw a fire ball curse, but it only took 70 life from the orc, bringing it down to 750. Even with his passive skill of -10% enemy fire resistance, the orc was putting up a tough fight.

  “Let me join your party and finish up the brute once and for all.” A now familiar voice echoed from their backs. Noah turned to face Rihala, who stood behind him with an ashamed face. There was a guilt inside those lavender eyes.

  Noah sent a party invitation to her, which she instantly accepted. She nocked an arrow and closed her eyes. After a moment, her arrow started glowing with frost at the tip; the frost quickly covered the arrow, and when it was about to extend to her hand, she shot it toward the orc charging Mathial. The arrow hit the orc at the base of his neck just before two poison orbs hit the same spot. It was a critical damage spot. The orc’s health spiraled, hitting the 400 mark. Her arrow had done 150 damage.

  “That was great! Ready to pull another one?” Noah asked, beaming at her. But the smile retreated when he spotted the orc’s life going back up, reaching the 700 mark once again. “What was that?”

  The orc jumped forward, engaging Mathial in fierce combat. Both were furiously swinging their weapons at each other, taking pieces of their flesh here and there.

  “Do you have anything to pull him down?” Noah asked, worried about Mathial’s life.

  “No. I have something that will crit him for triple damage, but I need a clear shot. Right now, I may hit your demon friend.”

  “Will he regenerate his life if we bring it down again?”

  “No, the toughness title only allows a one-time recharge.”

  Noah nodded and watched Mathial do some activity that increased his speed. He was holding his own against the orc, but for how much longer? His life was slowly ticking down toward one quarter of his total life, and soon fatigue and other effects would kick in.

  Noah glanced at his spirit reserve. It was hovering around the 50 mark. He couldn’t cast another round of curses, but it was enough for a couple of different skills. “I have an idea. Let me separate him from the orc. Shoot your special arrow even if I’m in the way. Worst case, I’ll die with the orc, but I’ll come back.”

  Noah ran toward the fight, increasing his speed with the spirit run ability. He also activated his poison shield. He readied his dagger to hit the orc, but ended up ducking as the backward spin of the orc’s club almost took his face off.

  Noah clenched his fingers around the cold dagger hilt and sliced it upward, piercing the orc’s gut where Rihala’s arrow had previously bored a hole in his armor. He used his all might to shove the dagger into the orc, until only the hilt of the dagger remained in the open air.

  The orc didn’t even flinch. He was a tough bastard.

  Noah used the remainder of his spirit and hit the orc with a point-blank poison orb.

  The orc turned to look at the pest who disturbed him. Before Noah could flee, he grabbed Noah by the throat and lifted him in the air.

  Noah strengthened his neck muscles with his remaining bits of spirit energy and yelled, “Rihala, now!”

  The orc tightened his grip, overcoming Noah’s strengthened muscle resistance. His air pipe was collapsing, and his red life bar started falling. Before everything went black, he heard a whoosh sound coming from Rihala’s direction. He knew it was her special arrow, and he hoped it would kill the orc and save both of their lives.

  But there is always a moment of strength you receive before dying in vain. Noah received one too. He pushed his leg against the hilt of the dagger he had planted in the orc’s gut. The dagger slid deeper inside the orc’s gut.

  The orc roared in pain, losing his grip on Noah’s neck.

  That one moment of weakness was enough for Noah to dig his fingers inside the orc’s grip and pull himself out of the monster’s hand. The moment his feet hit the ground, he activated his spirit run skill and ran away from the orc with all the speed he could muster. Unfortunately, he was caught in the ice trail left by Rihala's arrow. Ice washed over his back and froze his skin below the neck as he landed face down on the ground. His life instantly dropped to 30, and fatigue washed over him. He closed his eyes with every expectation of opening them in respawn room.

  9. Final Nail in the coffin

  Instead of the respawn room, Noah opened his eyes below the large nut tree, spreading its branches over the horizon like a mother would spread her arms for her child. Noah was hanging on to the game world with a mere 30 life. The pain was excruciating. and the ice-bites were itching all over the places. The ice had left multiple cuts on his back, and small, rough dust particles were piercing through them, but he was alive and had been spared the trauma of death—so far.

  He blinked to focus and read the notifications that had piled up.

  Your party member Rihala has killed the orc of toughness.

  You have received 1250 experience.

  He clicked on the plus sign to see how he got so much experience.

  The orc gave 500 base experience which was multiplied by the party size, and then by 5—which had a tool tip - it mentioned about capped multiplies for the level difference. That brought the total to 7500. Then the total experience had a -3000 penalty for the party member level difference. Because of his contribution to the kill, he received 1250 out of that 4000, which was pretty good.

  Congratulations! You have learned the new sub-spell Spirit Strengthening. You can now strengthen a single part of your body with the spirit cycling technique. +1 to spirit strengthening. This skill can’t be increased by investing skill points. Each level will provide +2% strengthening effect for the body part.

  Congratulations! As you have demonstrated the courage to jump in to save a party member, +1 to Intelligence, and -1 to Wisdom.

  Congratulations! You have reached a new level in the poison shield due to progression.

  Congratulations! As you have continuously used your spirit energy in multiple skills you have received +1 to wisdom.

  Congratulations! You fought with the demon archer Rihala, back to back, blood mixed with blood. Your reputation with her increases by +5000. New reputation with Rihala: Considerate.

  Noah wasn’t sure if he should be happy or sad. Negative wisdom? The game was playing with him now.

  He pulled up his delta character sheet to see all the effects in detail.

  Name : Noah

  Class : Cursemancer

  Second Class : Zombiemancer

  Stats

  Strength 12

  Dexterity 8

  Constitution 13

  Wisdom 29

  Intelligence 7

  Charisma 6

  Chance 5

  Health: 30/410

  Stamina: 230 (6.68/sec)

  Spirit: 290 (13.41/sec)

  Mana 70 (5.49/sec)

  Skills

  Poison
Shield (Level 4): Absorb 40 damage. Maintenance cost: 6 spirit/sec. Skill Progression: 0%

  Poison Orb (Level 5): Damage 32.5. Require 25 spirit per cast. Skill Progression: 50%

  Curse of Fire Ball: Damage 65. Requires 100 spirit per cast. Charges Left 30/50 Skill Progression: 60%

  Spirit Cycling (Level 8)

  Micro Spirit Cycling (Level 1)

  Spirit Strengthening (Level 1)

  Spirit Run (Level 1)

  Current Experience: 10760/13000

  Noah only needed about 2300 experience to level up. Zombies were coming closer, baby.

  He turned his head to look at the place where the orc had died. The orc’s body had dissolved into skin and meat pieces, along with a couple of gear pieces and a monster crystal. He was about to move to check it when Rihala picked it up.

  “If you don’t mind, can I look at the crystal?” he asked. She could refuse, and he wouldn’t be able to stop her, but he hoped their improved reputation would give him some bargaining power.

  Rihala studied the crystal, swirling it in her hand before looking at him with wide eyes. She blinked, contemplating. “This is a costly crystal, a copper - II level, and it will fetch me at least fifty gold.”

  That was the exact crystal Noah needed for the second antidote. But fifty gold was a huge number, and why would a stranger give him something so valuable? Noah’s hope drowned in the river of broken hearts. He didn’t even have that much gold to spare. “I need to save the girl I mentioned previously, and that crystal is part of her antidote.” Sadness leaked into his voice.

  Rihala froze in place, staring at Noah and Mathial alternately. “If you let me take the orc’s club, I’ll give you the crystal. Deal?”

  Noah’s eyes darted to the club, which glowed with a faint blue color, indicating it had some special property. An urge sprung to mind to identify that club using his new device, but he pushed it aside. The crystal was more important. He would get thousands of such clubs, but not another Thia. “Sure, go ahead.”

  Mathial too nodded at her.

  A gorgeous smile lit Rihala’s dusty face, revealing a dimple on her left cheek. She grabbed the club, put it inside her bag, and walked over to Noah with the crystal. But just before she reached him, she tripped over a small stone and fell on him again. Her bow twisted and pierced a hole in his gut with one of the corners. Before he realized what was happening, her breasts were pressed tightly against his chest and her lips were inches away from his own; his brain went into hyperdrive and sent all the wrong signals toward his organ when he felt the softness of her body—and then he died.

  His vision was filled with a big red notification.

  You have taken 30 damage from Rihala’s sudden fall on you. Once more, you have found a stupid way to die. I can’t stop laughing at you. +1 to chance, just because you got a glimpse of what the game could offer you. +1 to charisma for successfully convincing Rihala to hand you the crystal.

  The death was brutal and left him in a hazy state for few minutes, but this time he had the pleasant memory of Rihala’s body pressed against his, and it was enough to pull him out of the death fugue.

  Noah facepalmed and changed his clothes just before Sumara popped into the room.

  “Where’s my coffee?” she asked.

  Though annoyed, Noah willed five coffee cups to appear on the table, then ordered a masala tea for himself. He’d earned a break.

  While the goddess enjoyed her coffee, he pulled his crystal mold out and opened it.

  A bright golden light emerged from the mold, blinding him briefly. When the light dimmed, a tear-shaped crystal core floated out of the mold and swirled around itself. The core emitted faint blue light and had the pleasant scent of a Jasmine, a flower his dad used to grow on the farm. Memories of freedom and love were associated with that aroma.

  Noah touched the core and felt a divine feeling. The crystal once again glowed with a golden color and threw another stream of golden rays out of it. The rays fell on his hand, and he instantly gained +2 to all his stats for the next ten hours. Too bad he would be stuck in the respawn room for most of that time. He could have used it to do something good in the town. Damn!

  A gold notification popped up.

  Congratulations! You have created a unique spellgem.

  Unique Spellgem of Multiplication

  Required level: 7

  Add to a spell to turn it into deathly balls of radiance.

  Effect added: Spell generates ten extra projectiles. All of them revolve around one large projectile at the middle.

  -3 to level requirement.

  Charges required: Ten charges required to cast the unique spell. One charge is gained every one hour.

  Experience gained: 2000 for creation of a unique item.

  “Woohoo.” He jumped out of his chair, stumbling and fumbling as realization set in. He just got a unique item, and his experience jumped to 12760, just 300 points shy from fifth level. The zombies were practically in the door frame.

  “Good for you. I see my presence has increased your chance stat, and you gained a unique item.” Sumara pulled him out of his thoughts. “That’s a low-level unique, but it’s a spellgem. If you add it to any of your spells, you will gain a special effect. Use it wisely and you may kill the orc yourself next time.” The goddess winked and vanished, leaving the empty coffee cups behind.

  Noah kept staring at the spellgem until his eyes grew tired. Then he went online, checking the forums on spellgem usage. A few more topics were unlocked, and one of them was about spellgems.

  There were different types of spellgems available in BlackFlame Online.

  A spellgem was basically a monster core that could be used to modify a spell.

  Range Modifier: Allow modifying the spell range or multiplication. Spellgem slot opens at level 10.

  There was an example for a fireball spell, a fork spellgem that would split the fireball in two or more balls depending on the spellgem level and any special properties. So, if he was thinking correctly, the fork spellgem could turn his poison orb into five. His unique spellgem was a range modifier type. For melee attackers, these spellgems added extra slashes, or arrows for rangers. It was an awesome type of modification the game offered.

  Damage Modifiers: Allow modifying the spell damage. Spellgem slot opens at level 20.

  Attack Modifiers: Allow modifying the spell attack speed. Spellgem slot opens at level 30.

  Custom Modifiers: Allow modifying custom types of properties to the spell. Spellgem slot opens at level 50.

  This was an interesting category – custom modifiers - which contained various levels of mana/spirit/leech type crystals, allowing the user’s spell or attack to leech resources from his opponent. That was the only example, and he guessed it would have more types of spellgems available.

  There was one more category called Creature Modifiers, but it was locked for him.

  There wasn’t enough information. He needed more. He had created something groundbreaking, and his itching wouldn’t stop until he used it. He searched the wiki and found some information in a user guide.

  Every character could use three different spellgems for each spell, based on available slots, and unique powers he or she had. Every ten levels, a new slot would open and was capped at 3. Based on the character’s level, he could use different types of spellgem from the type he wanted. So, at level ten he could use tier 1 spellgems, which again had three sub-tiers for the rarity. At level twenty, he could use tier 2 spellgems and so on.

  It was still confusing, so he studied the example given in the wiki. They gave an example of the multiplier crystal type for three tiers.

  Tier 1 multiplier uncommon spellgem added 2 extra projectiles.

  Tier 2 multiplier uncommon spellgem added 3 extra projectiles.

  Tier 3 multiplier uncommon spellgem added 4 extra projectiles.

  There wasn’t anything about the rare tier 1 spellgems or unique tier 1 spellgems.

  Now he at least knew
what a tier 1 unique spellgem could do. It added ten projectiles and made the spell super strong but came with its own limitations.

  He checked his only ranged spell, Poison Orb. It had a plus button by it now, but it was grayed out. So, he would have to be level seven to use the unique spellgem. And who knows what new spells he would be getting at level seven. He would wait as long as he could to use his unique spellgem.

  10. Zombies

  The night was up, and shadows danced around the dark alleys, but they weren’t singing a scary song. Instead, it was a song of the morning to come. A song of zombies. Noah kicked a stone with his fur boots as he walked out of the respawn room. He swirled around a shadow, doing a dance step he had learned in his academy days, singing a tune long thought forgotten. He was one step closer to his goal of becoming a badass Zombimancer. While he slept in the respawn room, he dreamed of leading an army to the demon town and delivering it on a platter to the human king. One act of heroism should send earn their utmost respect.

  His good mood reached new heights when Mathial handed him the copper - II level monster crystal the orc dropped. He kissed the crystal, mentally thanking Rihala. She hadn’t betrayed him. Mathial told him how confused and frightened she’d been after Noah disappeared, giving her a nasty debuff. But she was happy when she heard he would be coming back and gave the crystal to Mathial. She would have handed it off herself, but she couldn’t enter the town and risk acquiring the curse. She was logical and coherent. Understood.

  Thia, his virtual daughter, added to his joy-filled heart by charging at him with newfound energy. She jumped on his chest, licking his face and pulling his nose and ears. Seeing her all fired up and lively tripled his joy. The girl was amazing. She never shied away from showing her emotions. Maybe he could learn something from her, something he should have learned forty years ago when his real daughter needed him the most. He’d acted like an ass, and it ate his heart out when he went over his memories again.