Project Alpha

by R. A. Mejia

  I can tell that Lillian wasn’t expecting that particular phrase to come from me. Her face has gone red, and her lips are pressed together trying to hold back a laugh. The sight brings a genuine smile to my lips, and I continue, “I finally thought that I’d be able to stick it to that rich jerk and instead not only do I lose the fight but he steals one of my major abilities. It all just seems so unfair. I worked my butt off to get to this level and get that ability. But in the space of a few minutes, I lost it.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better there are plenty of people at a higher level than you that wouldn’t have done nearly as well against Auden.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, that jerk has been stealing abilities and spells from his enemies for years. No one even thinks to challenge him or his family anymore. They’re all too afraid to lose the one or two abilities they may have.”

  I hadn’t thought about what it must feel like to have the only ability you have stolen from you. I’m at least lucky that I have a lot of other abilities to fall back on and a way to get more.

  Lillian pats my arm. “Also, you probably didn’t notice it, but the crowd was cheering for you near the end of the fight too. There are a lot of people who hold a grudge against the Arschlochs and especially Auden. That family has misused that ability for decades, and they’ve made a lot of enemies.” She grins and adds, “I’ve already had two offers of support for the upcoming System Games if I promise not to let the Arschlochs win.”

  “Well, at least something good has come out of my humiliation.”

  Lillian hits my arm playfully. “You still don’t get it, do you? You almost won. If you’d been able to put out more damage, or if he’d just had a little less health, you would have beat him. No one thought a newbie like you stood a chance. The bets gave you a 10:1 odds that you’d even be able to hurt him. Instead, you pull some weird combination of moves that let you take him down past half health.”

  “Yeah, but all my fancy abilities didn’t let me win.”

  “That’s not the point. The point is that with a little more training and leveling, you could beat that guy; Even if he does have some inherited cheat ability. No one outside some high-level Users I know would even consider standing up to that guy, much less fight him and stand a chance at winning.”

  “So, you think I could beat him? But why did you try to stop me from fighting him?”

  “I only tried to stop you because you didn’t know about his Steal ability. I knew you had an advantage with all the abilities you have and that you could get more even if he stole one or two.” She tilts her head and admits, “I didn’t want to reveal your powers until the System Games. For fear that Auden and other people like him would figure out some way to get rid of you or buy you off. But it’s worked out for the best.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Now we’ve shown everyone that we’re not weak. We’re willing to stand up to guys like Auden and the Arschloch Corporation. That fight gained us more support than months of my campaigning and networking.”

  “Well, when you put it like that, it’s almost like I didn’t lose after all.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not getting off that easy. You made some serious rookie mistakes in that fight. We have a lot of training and level grinding to do before the System Games.” Then she sighs and admits dramatically, “But yeah, the fight wasn’t a loss as much as a taste of what it’s like to fight other Users. It’s a lot different than fighting monsters in the dungeons. Now you know. Now you can train and prepare.”

  I nod in agreement and realize that talking about this has made me feel better. Maybe the rich jerks don’t always win after all.

  After discussing a tentative plan to train and dungeon dive, Lillian gives me a quick hug and exits back to her place through the portal door.

  I fall asleep that night, a little less worried about my place as a User, and determined not to lose my next fight with Auden Arschloch III.

  Chapter 32

  The next five months pass by quickly. It’s filled with school work, work work, and dungeon work, not to mention the mandatory holiday family time.

  I take my first college midterms at the beginning of November. With my enhanced Intelligence, Wisdom, and the variety of academic skills I have, the tests are easy. The Anthropology midterm is the easiest—it’s a paper and presentation that analyses how Jack Skellington was a great anthropologist in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The math midterm covers everything we’ve learned in the class so far, including functions, graphs, linear equations, transformations, quadratic equations, quadratic functions, linear inequalities, and polynomial functions. The English midterm is a combination of fill in the blank and essay questions. The Biology midterm is mostly multiple-choice questions but covers topics like hierarchical structure of life from atom to ecosystem, the scientific method, basic chemistry concepts, cell structure, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration.

  My work at the convenience store is starting to feel a bit tedious compared to the dungeon diving I do. But it’s steady income, and I feel like I owe Mr. Smith for giving me the job and helping out my family. So, I stick it out and make the most of my time there. When business is slow, I either finish up homework or just practice the System skills I have. Improving the skills is just a matter of putting in the time to practice. The higher the skill, the more practice is required.

  Dungeon diving starts to become a regular part of my schedule too. Now that Lillian and I are closer in level, the two of us can work together in a group to clear dungeons. The contacts that Lillian made at that Halloween party work for our benefit, and we get tips on some small new dungeons. While these smaller dungeons aren’t particularly challenging, they provide enough XP to get me back to level 8.

  November also brings Thanksgiving, a special holiday for my family. During Thanksgiving, all the extended family gets together. That means uncles, aunts, great aunts, great uncles, and of course the myriad of cousins. I’ve known some Hispanic families where Thanksgiving looks like a family reunion with hundreds of people attending. Our Thanksgiving isn’t nearly that big, but there are still close to fifty people who attend every year. I know that other families have turkey and mashed potatoes, but one of the delicious staples of the Hispanic version of the holiday are the tamales. All the women get together to form a tamale making line the night before, and there are hundreds of tamales made with a variety of fillings. Red and green sauces combined with pork, chicken, beef, and cheese. There are also a huge variety of other dishes. Spanish rice, beans, chili beans, enchiladas, corn on the cob, and more.

  My college finals happen right before Christmas break. Most of my finals are simply harder versions of the midterms. However, the Anthropology final is interesting. It’s another presentation project, but this time it required a lot of study and observation. The project requires a 5-7 page paper and a presentation. It’s a mini-study on one culture, and it’s practices. Such things like marriage practices, burial customs, ritual activities, or subsistence systems were all fair game to research.

  I chose to look at the Gaelic speaking communities of the Republic of Ireland. I’ve always wanted to visit there since I saw the movie The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I used the portal system to establish a connection to an out of the way location in the Gaeltacht a collection of small communities where Gaelic is a primary language. Specifically, I went to Donegal. Yes, it was expensive to get the portal information, but with Lillian’s connections, it wasn’t too hard. The actual portal fee was the least expensive part. Still, I justify it to myself because it’s for school.

  The visit to Donegal was fantastic. There were castles, and the scenery was amazing. I walked everywhere and found that everyone really does speak Gaelic. I mean, they speak English too, but the everyday language is Gaelic. It was just fun to sit somewhere and listen to people. I bought a program for my phone that tried to teach me some Gaelic so I wouldn’t sound like a complete tourist b
ut I’m afraid my Gaelic was so terrible it made several pretty women fall over with laughter. Still, I made some good observations about the community. Even though the area is tourist friendly, there’s always a different relationship between residents. Everyone seems to know everyone, and a personal recommendation means more there. Also, when trouble starts, as was the case when I saw a bar fight started, the battle lines were very clearly drawn between locals and tourists. There is pride in the area and the country's history as well as deep pride that they’ve kept the national language alive. In my presentation, I emphasized that more than anything that helps define this community. Language, our ability to convey ideas and thoughts, is a fundamental binding force culturally. So, it makes sense that a community that’s dedicated itself to keeping alive an ancient language in everyday speech is bound together.

  Of course, I got an A on the Anthropology final. After all, I made a montage video of it including background music by Flogging Molly.

  The last college final marks the end of the Fall semester and the beginning of my Christmas break, a two-week holiday period until the beginning of the next semester.

  While I still have to work, it’s nice to have a small break from school. However, there’s no rest when it comes to clearing dungeons.

  Lillian and I head to a mall in Kansas where there are reports of some unusually aggressive shoppers. There we find a dungeon with a twisted version of the north pole. The two of us fight a myriad of monstrous Christmas figures, including a rabid Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, a murderous Frosty the Snowman, and some very stabby elves. The final boss isn’t St. Nick, but Krampus, the folklore counterpart to Santa Claus. The seven-foot half goat, half demon creature is covered in chains that jingle whenever he moves and a wicker basket on his back. He throws flaming coal as a ranged attack and has a nasty area of effect debuff called ‘Naughty Children’ that he starts the fight with. His main weapon is this massive two-handed birch branch that does some serious damage when it hits. When Lillian and I finally get him down to 10% health, two pale, creepy red-eyed children crawl out from under the wicker basket and attack us. When the fight is over Lillian, and I are more than happy to leave the dungeon. I luck out on the Absorption of the monsters. I get a spell called Ice Needle that doesn’t do major damage but slows an opponent’s run down when it hits. I also get Krampus’ amazing debuff ability.

  Ice Needle - Level 1

  G

  Active

  You gather the cold around you to form ice in the shape of a thin needle. The ability does minor damage, but also slows the damaged opponent down. As the ability grows, so the does the size of the needle, the damage done, and the amount an opponent is slowed.

  Naughty Children - Level 1

  E

  Active

  Krampus punishes naughty children. When activated, this debuff affects all enemies in a ten-foot radius, causing a living being to cower and beg for forgiveness. It allows spell resistance, and a will save. On a failed save the creature cowers in fear. On a successful save, it's shaken for a brief time.

  Reading the magical ability, I’m glad that both Lillian and I have high Wisdom stats. That helped save us from the debilitating effects of a failed save. Though even when we saved, we still lost some of our attack power.

  In addition to gaining a new ability, I get 2223 XP and 750 credits from clearing the dungeon. Lillian is happy to convert the credits to dollars, and I find myself $1125 richer. The extra money is helpful since I still haven’t finished my Christmas shopping.

  Thankfully, I’m already at the mall, and Lillian is happy to help me pick out presents.

  Chapter 33

  Christmas isn’t as huge an event for my family as Thanksgiving is. Instead, it’s usually just my mom, Marie, and myself. My mom has always gone out of her way to make the holiday feel special for us. When I was younger, and we didn’t have much money, the three of us would make our decorations out of construction paper. The whole house would was covered in misshapen cutouts of Santa Claus, snowmen, Christmas trees, and gingerbread men. Along the ceiling, we’d hang colorful paper chains. Mom would then cook our favorite foods on Christmas morning, chilaquiles for me and sopa for Marie.

  This year’s not that different. Sure, we’re doing better financially, but Mom and Marie still spend days leading up to Christmas decorating the house. Marie’s craft skills have improved over the years, and she makes some very pretty ornaments out of popsicle sticks. Christmas morning, the three of us open our presents and I’m more excited to see how my mom and Marie react to what I got them than I am to open my gifts. Marie screams when she sees that I got her tickets to see a band she likes, 98 Backstreet Directions. Personally, I can’t stand the boy band. Mom opens her gift but doesn’t seem as pleased with it. I got her one of those Shiatsu foot massage machines.

  My mom asks to talk to me privately, away from Marie, and starts to question me about where I’m getting the money to buy all this stuff. She hedges around her concerns, but eventually asks if I’m selling drugs or doing something else illegal. I’m offended at first but realize how it must look from her point of view. Her son, who works at a convenience store and whose paycheck mostly goes to helping with household bills, suddenly has money to buy rather expensive presents. In this neighborhood, the easiest way to make that kind of extra money quick is to get involved with something illegal. Still, it hurts that my mom would think I’d go down that path.

  When I explain to her that I got another part-time job, she’s embarrassed that she questioned me. Though when she asks me about what kind of job I found, I’m not sure what to say. After all, I can’t exactly tell her that I’m fighting monsters in a dungeon. Instead, I tell her that I’m doing some clerical work for Lillian. My mom is surprised to hear that Lillian runs her own business and of course asks how that relationship is going. I almost panic, not sure how my mom knows that I’ve developed feelings for Lillian. Then I remember that Lillian told her that we were dating. I assure my mom that things are good for Lillian and I. My mom is pleased to hear that and leaves to make sure there’s enough food for Lillian when she comes over.

  Comes over? I guess it would be weird if my girlfriend didn’t visit during Christmas. I head to my room and call Lillian and explain that my mom expects her to come over. Lillian agrees, but makes me promise to attend her holiday office party. Within minutes, Lillian is knocking on our front door holding presents for my mom and Marie. When I ask Lillian where she got two last-minute gifts, she just pats my cheek and tells me not to worry about it. Christmas morning is spent with the four of us talking and eating. Lillian gets the third degree from Marie, who’s a little upset she’s the last person to know her brother finally has a girlfriend.

  Lillian and I leave the house around noon, under the pretext of having to set up for Lillian’s office party. The two of us walk around the corner and use the first door we see to port to Lillian’s office. Once there, she really does make me help set up for the office party which is only a couple hours away. In addition to John and me, Lillian has invited some of the people she met at the Halloween party, her friends, and a few business associates.

  I’d never been to a real holiday party before and am surprised at how dressy people get. Guys show up in slacks, dress shirts, and holiday sweaters. The ladies wear dresses. The only time I’d ever worn a suit was when my grandparents died, and I had to go to the funeral. I feel out of place in my jeans and Star Wars t-shirt. Still, the night is fun, and no one cares about my attire, especially once everyone starts to drink. John gets completely smashed and tries to tell me about the adventures that he and Lillian’s father had but everything he says slurs together. I laugh when he does and nod appreciatively when I think it’s appropriate, but honestly, I don’t understand half of what he says. I know he’s had way too much to drink when he tries to kiss my cheek when the two of us wander under the mistletoe. The party lets up about 1 am and everyone ports home. That’s one good thing about the System. No
one has to drive home drunk; they just port anywhere they need to go.

  Chapter 34

  January marks the end of the Christmas break and the beginning of the short, six-week Winter semester. Since it’s so short, I decided to only take two classes—Computers and English. Even though I haven’t decided on a major yet, English courses are a requirement for all of them. I’m taking computers just because it seems fun.

  In January, Lillian also registers the company officially for the System Games. So now everyone competing knows that I’ll be on her team.

  The college’s winter semester is intense because it only lasts six weeks. Before I know it by mid-February, it’s time for finals. The computer class I chose turned out to be way too easy, and I ended up finishing the final within half an hour. For the English final, I had to turn in a short story. They say to write what you know about, and the teacher loved my story about being trapped in a game world. She said the descriptions were very vivid and lifelike.