BladeDust Online: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 1)

by Corey Thompson

  “Look closer,” the mage replied.

  I got closer to the shield and noticed that it sparkled. “Oh yea. I do see something. It's a little sparkly,” I replied.

  The mage tucked his hands behind his back and began to walk away. “This was very simple. But, this is only one method for enchantment. It is a much weaker method than some of the more advanced techniques.”

  We followed the mage back inside of his home. “So how do I use this shield? Tell me exactly how it works.”

  “The shield will actually absorb your opponent's NightFall Magic. But, it only works when he uses the magic against you. You will need to make sure that you use your shield to defend against the magic.”

  “So if I use the shield, the shield will begin to collect the magic?”

  “That's correct,” the mage replied.

  Nice. I liked this a lot. “So I basically just drain all of his magic?”

  “Yes. But there is more. Once your shield absorbs the magic, you can actually use his own magic against him.”

  Shit. This was the part I was waiting for. “How? How do I do that?”

  “The shield will begin to collect dust on it each time you use it against his magic. So, the more magic he uses against you, the more magic you absorb potentially.”

  “So I basically just need to play defense? If I play defense, I can absorb all of his magic?”

  The mage nodded. “Yes. A thin layer of dust will collect on the shield after you use it to defend his magic. The more often he hits your shield with his magic, the more magic you collect.”

  “But how do I use the magic against him?” I asked.

  The mage looked excited. “You need to collect the dust off your shield and rub it on to your sword. Once your blade is laced with the dust, you can deliver a much stronger attack to your opponent. The more dust you collect, the stronger the effect. Understand?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “That makes sense.”

  Douglas looked like he was growing a bit bored with everything. “Are you okay over there?” I asked.

  “Yes. I was just trying to stay focused.”

  I looked at the mage. “Thank you. Thanks for all of the help.”

  “You are welcome,” he replied.

  I looked at Douglas and knew he was ready to leave. “Okay. I guess we got everything we need.”

  Douglas suddenly came back to life. “Thanks for the help,” he yelled back to the mage.

  We made our way out of the mage's home. Once outside, We just stood for a moment. I looked all around as Douglas did the same. “How much longer do you think we have?” I asked.

  “A little bit of time. Not much though.”

  We both walked back towards the center of FlatFall. But, before we could get there, a guard ran up to us. “Your free time is up for today,” he said.

  Chapter Thirty One

  I paced back and forth in my cell. Usually, I was only bored. But, my boredom was replaced with a nervous energy. All I could do was wait. Wait until the day of the fight. I was confident I could beat Cosmo, but I also worried that I couldn't. I didn't have any experience with the shield and worried it would be harder to use than I expected. I looked over at Douglas as he pointed at the barred window above us. “He won't be coming back. Isn't that great?”

  “Sure is,” I replied.

  Douglas walked closer to me and had an odd look on his face. “You look nervous. Why are you nervous?”

  I tried to pretend his question wasn't valid, but it was. I shrugged my shoulders before sitting down and leaning against the bars. “I just don't know how well this shield is going to work. What if it takes forever to accumulate the magic?”

  “It will work. You just need to believe in yourself. Know that you are a future champion. That is what I do.”

  Douglas was always positive, but I had witnessed him receive an ass kicking. So, I knew his positive mindset didn't always work. Still, I appreciated his confidence. There was a small part of me that feared dying in the coliseum. Everything was so real here, and I knew death would most likely feel like death in real life. I couldn't think that way though. I quickly dismissed the thoughts and tried to become more confident. “You are right. I am a future champion. I just gotta believe and know it. All Cosmo has is his magic, and I know how to use it against him.”

  “That's right,” Douglas yelled while clapping his hands. “You said he is weak without his magic. So, you just need to take it away from him.”

  In the distance, I could hear the sound of incoming footsteps. The steps got closer and closer until a guard appeared in front of our cell. His eyes shot over to me. “I am here to inform you of your next coliseum fight.”

  “Okay. It's against the player named Cosmo, right?”

  “Yes. You are scheduled to fight him late tomorrow night.”

  “Good. That is good.”

  “There are some limitations to this particular fight. You can only bring one weapon. Also, each fighter will be limited to six basic healing potions. And, you cannot have any more than one basic mana potion.”

  “Six basic healing potions?”

  “Yes. That is all that you will be able to use. All weapons, armors and use of magic are permitted for this fight. The only restrictions are those that were previously mentioned.”

  The guard turned around and walked away into the distance. I looked at Douglas. “What healing potions are considered basic?”

  “Basic potions usually only restore around 25% of your health status. There are many different ones, but they all have the same results. Dust of Life would work fine. It's probably the cheapest too.”

  Dust of Life? I liked the name. “That's what I will get then.”

  I would get the healing potions as soon as I could. As far as mana went, I really didn't see a need for it. I didn't know any skills to use it with. In the meantime, all I could do was wait. Wait until the next day. Douglas spent many hours trying to pump me up. He told me one day everything would be different. Told me that we would be great warriors and live outside of the dungeon. It seemed exciting, but I wondered how long it would take. He also told me that we would live together in our own home. But, I wasn't sure about it. I wasn't sure that I wanted a roommate. If was nothing against him, but I preferred to live alone. Douglas continued to ramble as his excitement built. Then, I had an alert pop up. It wasn't a new message alert though. It was a system alert:

  BladeDust Online System Alert:

  UPDATE ON TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

  Note to User: Our team is working hard to fix the current log out issues. We have informed all of your family members and friends of the current problem. Please bare with us as we continue working on the current issue. We hope to have it resolved as soon as possible.

  Thank you.

  Informed all of my friends and family? I laughed as I knew I didn't have any friends or family. I looked over at Douglas. “Did you just get the system alert?”

  “Yea. It's fucked up isn't it?”

  “Yea. How the hell can this even happen?”

  “I don't know,” Douglas replied. “Just be extra careful. You don't wanna become a lost soul during a time like this.”

  I nodded. He was right. Becoming a lost soul right now would suck. We both just stared at the wall. This whole experience was starting to become more crazy than I would have ever predicted. I came into this game with the intentions of having fun and earning money. But now, it seemed so different. As far as I was concerned, this was real. This was a real world and I was living in it. I lowered my head as my thoughts began to slow down. Slowly, I began to drift off to sleep. I knew Douglas was watching me, but I didn't care. If that was what made him happy, I was okay with it. Happiness was something that could be hard to find while sitting in this cell. Besides, I was getting used to it, and it no longer bothered me like it did in the beginning.

  My world became dark as I fell into a deep sleep. It seemed like no time had passed when I finally awoke the next day.
“Feeding time,” the guard yelled as two bowls slid into our cell.

  I jumped up and ran over to one of the bowls. “Where's our water?” I asked with urgency.

  “It's coming. Just wait.”

  The guard placed two cups into the cell. I grabbed a cup and chugged it. Damn, this water tasted good. The guard walked away as I looked at my bowl. Rice again? Was that all they fed us here? I picked the bowl up and dumped it into my mouth. I began to cough and realized I was eating my rice too fast. “It's feeding time already?” Douglas asked from behind me.

  “Yea. The rice is a little softer than usual. That's pretty cool, but I am getting tired of eating rice.”

  “Douglas rushed over to his food. His mouth began to quiver and he snarled a little. There were some odd sounding grunts that came from him before he lunged into his bowl. Damn. He was a hungry little beast. “This is good. This is real good,” he said with a trembling voice.

  Within seconds, he had eaten all of his rice. He picked up his water and pounded it down. “All done,” he screamed with a way too loud voice.

  It was almost annoying how intense he could be sometimes. “Today's the big day,” he said. “Are you ready? Feeling excited yet?”

  “Yea. I'm pretty excited.”

  “You should go and learn a new skill. Something that will surprise your opponent.”

  “That's a good idea actually. I should do everything I can to prepare for the fight.”

  Douglas's head bounced up and down. “I'm going to be cheering for you. You know that don't you?”

  “Of course,” I replied. “I would expect nothing less.”

  Douglas began to laugh. He ran from side to side as he touched each wall. “You gotta stay in shape while you are in here,” he yelled while running back and forth. “These are called wall touches. You should start doing them.”

  My eyes followed his body as he bounced from wall to wall. Shit, this was going to drive me crazy. “Dude. Come on. You can't do this while I am in here. It's an invasion of my space.”

  Douglas stopped running. “You can do the same. If we wanna be the best, we gotta stay in shape. This raises your stamina levels over time. Besides, you wanna be the best don't you?”

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  “Then we gotta start using our time more wisely,” he replied before running from wall to wall again.

  I looked at the ground and tried to ignore him. He was right, but it was so annoying. Within moments, I heard incoming footsteps. Putting both hands around the bars, I eagerly awaited for the guard. “It's time to visit FlatFall,” a guard said.

  “Hell yea,” I replied. “You couldn't have come at a better time.”

  Douglas stopped running and the guards led us out of our cells. Once we got to Flatfall, I couldn't help but wonder where Tommy and the others were. I took in a deep breath of air and looked around at the city. A smile came to my face. It felt so good to be free. FlatFall seemed so full of life compared to the dungeon. Douglas pointed at the water fountain ahead of us. “I drink water from that sometimes,” he said.

  “Really? They let you do that?”

  “Yea. It's really fun. Wanna drink some with me?”

  “Not right now,” I replied. “I need to find my friends and learn a new skill. I will catch up with you later.”

  Douglas still pointed at the water fountain. “Okay, but watch me drink the water. Just watch me. Okay?”

  Before I could answer, Douglas took off running towards the water fountain. Within seconds, he stood in front of it. Then, he turned around and looked at me. I smiled as he stuck his head into the water. I continued watching as I wondered why he wanted me to watch him. I rolled my eyes. He was weird. After sparing a few more seconds of my time, I turned around and began to look for Tommy and the others. But, I didn't see them anywhere. Surely they must have been out here? Suddenly, I realized I should send him a message. I quickly began to type my message:

  “Tommy. Are you guys in FlatFall right now? If you are, we can meet. We can meet at the Tavern. Let me know as soon as you get this.

  Walker.”

  I walked slowly as I looked at the different shops and merchant stands. I wanted to just relax and casually explore FlatFall, but I didn't have time. In fact, I had three things to do before my freedom was yanked away from me. The first thing I needed to do was buy some healing potions. Then, I needed to learn a new skill. After that, I would meet up with Tommy and the others. Where could I buy a healing potion at though? I looked at all the players running around. Everyone was always so busy, and never seemed to talk much. I knew why. They all had things to do before they were thrown back into the dungeon. Being on a limited time schedule made you view things differently. A small viking ran past me. “Where can I find some basic healing potions?” I yelled.

  “All sorts of places,” he yelled back without turning around.

  Another player ran past me. “What's the best place to buy healing potions?” I asked.

  “There's a general goods store a few doors down from the tavern,” he replied.

  “Thank you,” I yelled back.

  I knew my question seemed dumb, but I didn't care. I didn't have time to waste, and I didn't want to wander around the city aimlessly looking for a healing potion. I ran towards the tavern and began to look for any signs of a general goods store. My eyes scanned each building but didn't see it at first. Then, I saw a large wooden building with double doors. In front of the building was a sign with a picture of a barrel on it. I saw the words “Anything and Everything.”

  I pushed the doors open and ran towards the front counter. Behind the counter, stood an older man. I could barely see his brown eyes due to his saggy eyelids. “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Yes. I need a healing potion called The Dust of Life. Do you have it?”

  “You bet,” he said with a slap to the counter.

  “Okay. How much for 6 of them?”

  It'll be 25 gold.”

  “25 gold coins? Can't you cut me a deal or something?”

  His chin went into the air. “If you have something valuable for me to buy, I will buy it from you. What do you have?”

  I looked through my inventory and found my weasel suit. I was almost embarrassed to ask, but figured I would. “How much will you give me for a weasel suit?”

  “We don't buy weasel suits here,” he replied.

  Damn. I wanted to get rid of this suit. I shook my head and took out 25 gold coins. “Here you go.”

  He handed me 6 small bottles of clear liquid. I examined the stats:

  The Dust of Life

  Level: 1-20

  Weight: 0.2 lbs

  Health Recovery: 3-97% depending on character's level

  Value: 5 Gold Coins

  What did 3-97% mean? And this only worked for levels 1-20? I looked at the old man. “I don't understand. Is this potion going to heal me 3% or 97%?”

  “It will have a higher healing effect on low level characters while having less of an effect on higher level characters.”

  “I am a level 6. So, what can I expect?”

  The old man took a moment to think. “I would say around 20-30% of your health will be recovered.”

  I was confused with how the levels worked though. “Are there basic healing potions for characters above level 20?”

  “Yes. But, the price is higher. The effects are similar though. That's the way it works with basic healing potions in FlatFall. But, that is only how the basic potions work. There are many different ways to heal yourself.”

  My eyebrows went up as I felt slightly confused. I wanted to get into a deeper conversation about it, but knew I didn't have the time. I had my basic potions and it was time to learn a new skill. “Thank you. I will come back again in the future.”

  “Did you need anything else today?”

  I began to leave, but stopped. Did I need anything else? There was nothing I really needed. But, I did have a little extra gold. If the price was ri
ght, I might be interested in something else that could help me in the fight. “Do you have anything that could confuse someone? Maybe something that would temporarily daze them? Anything like that?”

  “I have a potion called Liquid Clouds.”

  “What does that do?”

  “It won't deliver any damage. But, it will create a thick cloud of white dust that can confuse your opponent. It can give you a chance to lower his defenses. Would you like one of those?”

  It sounded kinda lame, but figured it could potentially be useful. “How much?”