“We didn’t know what we were going to be facing,” Jason argued, with a shrug. “The next time should be easier. We can think through how we should tackle the room.”
Rex frowned at him. “Oh really? And you think that you are always going to get a chance to test out a fight first? Maybe you can just die a few times like lemmings until some miraculous plan occurs to you?” He rose and paced toward the pair, giving Jason a meaningful look. “Or did you forget that some of us who follow you don’t come back?”
Jason didn’t really have a good retort for that, so he decided to keep his mouth shut and sheepishly looked away.
“Good,” Rex said as he observed Jason. “At least maybe now you’re ready to listen. Let’s get a good look at what we’re working with. We’ll tackle Riley next. Go ahead and bring up your Character Status.”
Jason did as he was asked, tapping through the game’s menus and pulling up his Character Status window.
Character Status
Name:
Jason
Gender:
Male
Level:
165
Class:
Necromancer
Race:
Shade
Alignment:
Chaotic-Evil
Fame:
0
Infamy:
16,200
Health:
0
H-Regen/Sec:
1.60
Mana:
13,675
M-Regen/Sec:
55.95
Stamina
1,220
S-Regen/Sec:
4.00
Strength:
12
Dexterity:
20
Vitality:
36
Endurance:
40
Intelligence:
80
Willpower:
899
Affinities
Dark:
57%
Light:
7%
Fire:
3%
Water:
4%
Air:
4%
Earth:
6%
“Good gods, boy. Did you put enough points into Willpower?” Rex demanded as he scanned down the chart.
Jason assumed the question was rhetorical, but he decided to address it anyway. “Up until now, summoning as many creatures as possible has always seemed like a priority. I’ve been in several large-scale engagements. I can always hide, but more numbers were what usually swayed the battle.”
Rex shook his head again, his eyes still focused on the sheet as though he was able to see more information than was directly available. “I can’t really argue with that. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t made that call. But hiding won’t work in the long run. A leader must lead – he can’t hide in the bushes while his army marches to war. Or, as you found with Thorn, you can easily be caught off-guard and killed.
The former general sighed. “I won’t sugar coat it for you, these challenges are going to be rough with your skillset and stats. We’ll need to try to compensate for your weaknesses and make up for lost ground.”
“By doing what?” Jason asked, curiosity lacing his voice.
“By training, boy! Did you replace your brain with marbles after I died?”
Riley chuckled at that comment and Rex whirled on her. “Oh, you think that’s funny do you? You certainly fared better than our idiot overlord over there. Nearly eight times his kills, right? Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?”
“I think I did okay,” Riley answered defiantly.
Rex just stared at her for a moment. “What was the first thing you did in that fight?”
“I… uh, found high ground and provided covering fire,” Riley offered, but she didn’t seem as confident in her response as Rex glared at her. “I mean, I’m an archer…”
“You mean you, a Soul Guard tasked with defending your Keeper, immediately abandoned him?” Rex demanded. “You were the superior fighter. You knew that he couldn’t dodge or avoid those Death Knights, but you didn’t stay to protect him.”
Rex stabbed a finger at her. “And what was that nonsense when Jason was on the ground and getting attacked. You could have taken out that Death Knight at his rear instead of letting him get hit.” Jason’s eyes widened, and he stared at Riley in confusion. He had missed that part in the heat of battle.
Irritation flashed in Riley’s eyes as she saw Jason staring at her. “I made a judgment call. It looked like he could handle it. It didn’t seem like a big deal.”
Jason winced at her word choice. Then his own anger flashed into existence. Riley was the one that had looked troubled when he brought up their almost-kiss – he had just been trying to change the subject since it looked like it was making her uncomfortable. And now she was going throw his words back in his face?
Rex interjected before Jason could say anything. “Well, it was a shit call,” he said bluntly. “The goal of this trial wasn’t ‘get the most kills.’ It was ‘survive’ – that’s it. And as a Soul Guard, you only have one goal. You keep him,” he said, pointing at Jason, “alive for as long as you can. Nothing else matters.”
“Nothing?” Riley asked with an arched eyebrow. Jason could tell she was thinking that she might have been better off solo in that fight.
“Nothing,” Rex said firmly. “If this were a real battle, the fight would have been over when he died. All of Jason’s silly little skeletons would have gone limp, and that’s ignoring the strategic and morale implications of an army’s leader being taken out. What happens when the troops realize that Jason’s dead? Now, our line is faltering and likely to rout. Who is going to take over and lead in his absence, and how long will it take for that person to assume command?”
Rex leaned forward, his dark eyes drilling into her. “Do you understand?”
Riley lapsed into silence, her gaze shifting to the ground. She still seemed irritated, but she nodded curtly. Jason could sympathize since he had just undergone a similar browbeating. However, he still couldn’t help but mull over how Riley had let him get hit. Or how she had made a barbed comment at his expense. In a way, it felt good to see Rex call her out.
At that thought, Jason’s gaze shifted back to the former general. His skeletal frame was imposing, towering over Riley. Despite the way his ghost-like body rippled and contorted, he looked fierce. Jason always looked back fondly on his memories of Rex, but it was sometimes difficult to remember that the man had been a merciless instructor and an incredibly competent fighter in his own right.
“Okay, now that you two have gotten that nonsense out of your system, we can get to work,” Rex grumbled. “I understand that we don’t have much time.”
“I’m ready to go again,” Jason offered quietly.
This just earned him a barked laugh from the undead soldier. “Oh, no. That would be pointless. I mean we need to start some real training. You’re both going to go back into that other room, and you aren’t coming out until you’ve raised your Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance by fifty points each.”
“Fifty points?” Jason muttered in shock and he saw his expression mirrored on Riley’s face. He had trained briefly with Jerry when he had first started playing, but that had only earned him a handful of stat points – and it hadn’t felt like the thief had gone easy on him. Far from it, actually.
“Isn’t there a limit on many stat points we can gain by training?” Riley asked in confusion.
Rex nodded. “Sort of. Extensive training will cause you to become fatigued, making it impossible to gain stats by training until the debuff wears off – usually a few hours. There’s also a hard limit where you will stop improving from training alone. But the two of you are nowhere near that point. Wonder Boy over here had one training session with Jerry, and you’ve got maybe half a dozen under your belt? You both have plenty of room to grow.”
“So, what exactly do you want u
s to do?” Jason asked. He was surprised at how Rex had clarified the training system. Between this and the Old Man’s explanation of how people learned magic, Jason was starting to think that he didn’t understand the game nearly as well as he thought he did.
“I’ll work up a schedule and post it in the training room,” Rex said with a grimace. “The voices tell me that’s something I can do. You’ll be doing a mixture of ordinary endurance and weight training combined with martial weapon practice. You will need to use the manuals in the library to learn weapons stances and fighting tactics since I’m a bit transparent at the moment.”
He cocked his head as if listening to something before continuing, “There is an orb similar to the one in this challenge room near the dummies that you can use to summon me – and I can help comment and improve on your form.”
“Got it?” Rex demanded, looking at the two them.
They both nodded, and Rex barked, “Then get to work!”
Riley and Jason turned to leave, and Rex spoke up again, “A moment, Jason.”
He turned back to Rex, Riley barely glancing in his direction before vanishing into the training area. Rex’s expression softened as he looked at Jason, the drill-sergeant demeanor vanishing. “What’s the deal, boy?”
“I-I’m not sure what you mean,” Jason replied, not quite able to meet the undead man’s gaze.
“I’m dead, not blind,” Rex answered dryly. “Something is up between you and the girl. Can’t say I’m displeased that you finally made a move – even if it seems to have blown up in your face. But you both need your head screwed on straight. This isn’t going to be easy. The voices tell me that this process sometimes took years. Years,” he repeated. “While you might have more experience than the typical novice Keeper, this is still going to be rough. I can assure you it doesn’t get easier from here.”
“It’s…well…,” Jason began, trying to figure out how to explain the situation and coming up empty. He let out a sigh. “Let’s just say a lot happened after you died.”
Rex didn’t say anything immediately, just staring at Jason. “Fine. It’s not really my business and you don’t have to tell me. As your instructor, however, I’m telling you to work it out. You can fight with your girlfriend, but you need your brothers – or sisters – in arms to have your back. There can’t be any hesitation.
“Plus, that girl over there is about a mile ahead of you in terms of raw combat ability. I doubt you will ever really catch up.” He looked at Jason, his expression sober. “You will need her to make it through the challenges.”
“I’ve got it,” Jason said, Rex’s words stinging his already wounded pride despite the truth he sensed there. Unfortunately, he had no idea of how to resolve things between himself and Riley. He wasn’t even sure how they had gotten to this point. A voice in the back of his mind provided an answer – one that he didn’t really like. Because you’re an idiot, it whispered. He decided abruptly that the voice didn’t know what the hell it was talking about.
“Good,” Rex continued, “because you two have four days to accomplish the gains I requested,” he added with a menacing grin, his jaw clacking slightly.
“Four days,” Jason repeated numbly, glancing up at Rex. However, the man had already disappeared, faint eddies of mist the only indication that he had been standing there a moment ago. He thought he could detect an echo of amused laughter.
That deadline seemed impossible. That was only about a day in the real world. Even if they trained every moment and didn’t sleep, he didn’t expect to see those sorts of gains in such a short time. Although, as Jason considered it, he realized that he might be dwelling on the wrong problem.
What exactly would Rex be asking them to do that would increase their stats that quickly?
Chapter 10 - Feral
Frank sat stride a skeletal wolf, the creature loping and bounding down the road in an irregular rhythm. He had never ridden a horse before, but he imagined that the undead hounds were a different experience. His gaze shifted to the area around him, and he noted the several dozen undead riding similar skeletal wolves – the group racing through the dead forest to the drumbeat of ivory feet pounding the dirt road.
These mounts were not bound to Jason. He had chosen to reanimate the wolves using Undead Devotion – as he had done with the minotaurs. This meant that the creatures required training and Jason had less flexibility to mold the bones of their shoulder blades and back to accommodate a rider. This problem had been short-lived, however. Cecil had managed to rig a serviceable saddle and Vera had quickly found someone to act as her new stable master.
It wasn’t comfortable, but it sure beat running. Frank couldn’t help but smile as he recalled their group’s first venture outside of the Twilight Throne – where Jason had forced them to run to Peccavi and had used Frank as bait to kill a pack of rogue werewolves. It seemed like an age had passed since then. He glanced down at himself and saw some evidence of the changes he had experienced, large blue veins riddling his muscled arms and a pair of massive axes swinging at his waist.
Not all of the changes had been physical, either. Although, that occasionally caused Frank some concern. It sometimes felt like he was an entirely different person, at least inside AO. At other times, he felt he was the same fat, scared nerd. He hated that other self. Loathed it, in fact. Even now, he could vividly recall the battle with Thorn and how useless he had been. Despite how far Frank had come, he hadn’t been able to hit the nimble man. Not even once. That thought still made him feel guilty. A part of him had jumped at the chance to get away from the Twilight Throne – or to run away.
His thoughts were interrupted as Vera raised a hand from her position beside him, and the pack slowed. The zombie woman was wearing dark chainmail and a helm that obscured most of her face. Yet her blinding white eyes were still visible beneath the metal, observing the woods around the group with a singular focus. Her hand rested cautiously on the hilt of her sword, prepared for any danger that might linger nearby.
“What…?” Frank began, but Vera hushed him.
As the group quieted, Frank could finally make out the sound that Vera had sensed. It was a strange noise – almost like grinding or chittering. It reminded him vaguely of a swarm of insects. He couldn’t help but glance at Vera in surprise. How had she even heard that when they were at a full gallop?
“What do you think it is?” Frank asked in a whisper.
“I don’t know,” Vera replied, her eyes troubled. “I’ve spent quite a bit of time outside of the Twilight Throne helping our recruits’ level, but this is a first for me.”
That didn’t do anything to ease his tension. It also didn’t help that the sound seemed to be growing louder. Vera must have been thinking the same thing. “Everyone, group up!” she suddenly shouted. “Dismount and circle formation. Archers and mages in the second line.”
The undead immediately followed her orders, leaping from their wolf-like mounts and forming a defensive circle in the center of the roadway. The wolves were herded into the center of the formation where Vera and Frank soon found themselves. Frank didn’t understand the purpose of the formation, but he wasn’t about to question Vera – especially not in front of the other Kin.
As they moved into position, the noise had grown louder until it almost seemed like a hoard of locusts had surrounded the group. The undead soldiers eyed the woods apprehensively. The jagged dead tree limbs seemed to loom more menacingly across the roadway than they had before. Frank’s knuckles were white as he gripped an axe in each hand. This was the part he hated the most – the calm before the storm – where his mind filled with worry and doubt. Even now, he had to fight the urge to bolt back to the relative safety of the Twilight Throne. With pure grit, he forced himself to remain standing in place, waiting for their unknown assailant to approach.
When the enemy arrived, it wasn’t a single creature that breached the shadowed woods; it was a swarm – its number difficult to pin down precisely as the mons
ters raced out of the woods all around the group. Frank was going to go with “a shitload.” The undead creatures moved as a pack, their skeletal feet making surprisingly little noise on the hard-packed dirt.
They appeared to be some sort of undead raptor, each creature running on a pair of bony legs with dark mana rippling across the surface like muscle. Raised to their full height, he assumed they must be five or six feet tall. Although, they kept their bodies low to the ground as they ran forward. They held their arms out ahead of them and each limb ended in vicious-looking claws. It was their head that captured Frank’s attention, however. The source of the chittering noise became immediately apparent as he noticed their prehensile mandibles, their jaws twitching and jumping – causing the bones to grind together.
He instinctively inspected one of the creatures, the gesture almost automatic at this point:
Wraithling – Level 150
Health – Unknown
Mana – Unknown
Equipment – Unknown
Resistances – Unknown
He took all of this in within mere moments as the front line of creatures crashed into the undead infantry. The Wraithlings ripped into the undead soldiers, their claws raking across decayed flesh and cracking bone. Frank saw one of the raptor-like creatures clutch at an undead soldier with its claws. Pulling her close, the Wraithling plunged its jaws into the zombie woman’s face, causing congealed blood and viscera to spray in every direction. The woman’s body fell limply to the ground.
The Kin were accustomed to combat and had spent weeks hunting in the lands around the Twilight Throne, and this loss did nothing to slow their reactions. Vera began calling out orders. The archers behind the front line entered the fray, their missiles and curses filling the air and the occasional Void Arrow causing an explosion among the ranks of Wraithlings to create a pocket for the infantry. The front line used these momentary respites to fill in the holes caused by their casualties before their blades sliced into the skeletal creatures in retaliation – severing arms and legs.
Awaken Online: Dominion Page 11