Irrelevant Jack

by Prax Venter

  He found three paths leading through the crystals and out of the circular open patch he was standing in. Picking one at random, he started to creep forward. Clumps of crystal jutted from the ground all around him, hemming him in, and when Jack came to a fork in the path, he felt like a rat in a maze. He searched for any indication for which direction to pick. Left, or right?

  Jack froze before he reached the intersection when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was a white ribbon fluttering in the wind, partially hidden by the ten-foot crystal wall on his right.

  But there was no wind. The air was still and silent. The obnoxious crunching his boots had recently been making suddenly caused Jack to feel very exposed, and he quietly pushed his back against the crystal outcropping as he kept his eye on the dancing white ribbon.

  The cloth fluttered around near the ground for a moment and then moved up to hover above the path again- as if it were looking for something. He watched it for a while before deciding to get a better look. Nothing was going to get done just standing there. Jack pulled his rusty iron sword from his decorative scabbard and slowly placed one foot in front of the other, trying not to make a sound. He edged forward with careful side steps while pressed against the glassy shards on the right side of the path.

  As he got closer, he was able to peek around the corner and see more clearly what exactly was flapping through the air. It was a snake. A pure white, flat snake with black eyes. It was picking up bits of crystal gravel with its mouth, floating back up a few feet and then spitting them out onto the middle of the path. It reminded Jack of a goldfish he saw once doing the same thing while waiting for his fried dumplings. The strangest part was its flowing body just undulating in midair as if moving through water.

  A brief flash of suffocation washed over him as his brain tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Distracted by his sense of reality flatlining, Jack hadn’t noticed that the snake was now facing him, slowly moving his way.

  He returned his focus on the creature and stepped away from the wall.

  It opened its tiny mouth, making an equally tiny hissing sound as it wove back and forth in the air towards him. Its long, flat body was much harder to see when it faced forward.

  Jack planted his feet and raised his rusty sword, ready to stand his ground.

  When he stopped, the snake stopped. It waved in the air for a moment before flicking its tail and darting forward. Jack saw its mouth full of needles rushing towards his face, and his arm reacted. With an awkward upward swing, he was just a bit slow and caught the snake near the end of its body. He felt his sword meet resistance and slice its underside just as it sliced open his cheek.

  The snake quickly zipped behind Jack, and he spun to keep the enemy in front of him.

  19/20 HP

  He was pissed that he took damage already and wondered how much life was left on the hissing, fanged creature waving in midair a few feet away.

  Jack decided to bring the fight to it instead of waiting. He stepped forward and swung his sword diagonally to try for the most surface area, but the creature swirled in the air and dodged the attack. The thing noticed that his over-extended attack had created an opening and darted forward, quickly sinking its teeth into his shoulder before flapping back out of range.

  “Damn it!” Jack shouted more at himself than at the snake.

  17/20 HP

  Jack weakly faked another attack testing its reaction, and the snake rushed in again, rows of sharp white fangs going for his face. Jack was ready for it this time and reversed his swing right into its head. The creature screeched, and its body slowly faded away while making an electronic-sounding, low hum.

  An object dropped onto the ground in front of Jack. He looked around to see if anything else was around, and when he was sure the coast was clear, he bent down to inspect the loot drop. It was a solid-bronze sword with a wide blade and white leather wrapped around its hilt. Jack looked deeper into the weapon resting on the crushed crystal ground.

  Ancient Bronze Gladius - [Sword | Value: 3]

  | Dmg: 1 |

  | Hit Chance + 0.02 |

  “An upgrade already!” He put his sword back in his scabbard and picked up the new item but was careful to keep his intent clear- he wasn’t trying to equip it, just pick it up.

  Jack held it in his hand and realized he would need to unequip his current sword before he could use his new weapon. He opened his character interface and gave one more attempt to remove the scabbard in his main hand-slot. The rusty sword Demi had given him was depicted as inside the sheath, and he still couldn’t do anything with either.

  Frustrated, he put the Ancient Bronze Gladius into his inventory and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Equipping new items seemed to be immensely important to his current situation. Not wanting to give up, he tried moving the new sword from his inventory directly onto the Main Hand slot, hoping it would just replace what was already in there. Instead, another flash of light originating from the scabbard at his side sent his arm over his eyes.

  When he opened them and looked down, he saw a change in the sword. The hilt now had the same white leather wrapping he had seen on the gladius. He inspected the item in his weapon slot.

  ARV Alternis - [Sword | Value: 4/10]

  | Dmg: 2 |

  | Hit Chance + 0.02 |

  “MORE,” boomed the voice, again.

  “Who are you?” Jack yelled into the sky, scanning it for any sense of an observer.

  He heard only silence and yelled again, “Answer me!”

  There was no response. Remembering where he was, Jack quickly looked up and down the path, checking to see if he drew more of those ribbon snakes. Fluttering in the still air were two of the creatures, slowly advancing on him from different sides of the crushed crystal intersection.

  Jack took a step back toward the Exit Orb, keeping his eyes locked on their movements, the gravel crunching under his feet the only sound. He slowly pulled his sword out from his permanent scabbard. The last thing he wanted to do was let Lex down- let the people of Blackmoor Cove down.

  Jack’s growing determination was broken when he noticed that the sword he had spent hours practicing with felt different in his hand. He found the weapon was both heavier and easier to wield. He didn’t have time to dwell on these changes as both ribbon snakes began to flap their bodies faster and hiss as they got closer. Jack switched his focus from one to the other and realized that unless he did something, they were going to surround him.

  His boots kicked up crushed crystal as he pushed off towards the one on the right. The upgraded blade flashed out, catching the fragile creature by surprise and slicing across its white, reptilian face. The attack was enough to defeat it, and the creature dissolved into nothing.

  Jack turned his head to locate the other snake when it sunk its needle teeth into the meat of his left palm. The stinging pain reminded him of when he fell off his bike on his asphalt driveway as a kid.

  The creature shook violently before letting go, and Jack swung his sword after its tail, but it flapped out of his reach. He missed but kept his balance, resettling his stance and holding the sword in front of him.

  He risked a look down at his empty hand and was surprised to see there was no damage. No blood, no torn flesh. Even the intense pain he had felt earlier was starting to fade. Jack snapped his head up and faked an attack when he noticed the ribbon snake was floating closer. It twisted in the still air, violently performing evasive maneuvers for an attack that never came.

  Jack realized he hadn’t used any of his abilities yet. He lunged at the second snake, and without having to try very hard at all, Jack initiated his Double Strike ability. He brought his sword down in front of him at an angle, and it whiffed right under the agile ribbon snake. Then, surprising both himself and the tiny monster, Jack’s arm seemed to instantly skip back in time, reappear at the start of his swing, and come back down at the same angle. The swiftly flapping creature was in
a slightly different position, and his sword caught it right in the middle, cutting the thing in half. It faded to static, and a pair of boots landed on the ground below where it had been swishing in midair a moment ago.

  “So that’s how that works,” Jack mused to himself while looking at his bronze short-sword. Double Strike suddenly seemed much more useful than he had initially thought. Jack spared a glance up toward his life and mana display.

  15/20 HP

  26/30 MP

  He had used five Mana but earned one back for killing his enemy. He could only do that six more times before he was out. Alternatively, he could save most of it for a major beam attack on the Boss. His eyes darted to the Rest Bonus icon in the corner of his vision, and as he focused on the blue eye in the white square, its information panel reappeared.

  Rest Bonus 1 - [+10 Health | +10 Mana | Gain 1 mana per kill | Duration: Exit]

  ~ Start your climb off right

  Killing enemies would give him some of the lost Mana back, and they dropped items, so finding and destroying everything on the floor seemed well worth it- that is, if he could survive.

  Jack decided he would just have to take it as it came and try not to face more than one of these at a time if he could help it.

  Looking down, he inspected the pair of boots resting in sparkling crystal shards, and a panel opened.

  Brass-Banded Boots - [Feet | Value: 2]

  | Def: 3 |

  The item had a red tint along the edges, indicating he wasn’t going to be able to wear this type of armor. He picked up the boots and put them in his inventory. They sat alone on the upper left corner of the display, a vast empty space to fill with items for the Town. His attention was drawn to the ridiculous item limit he seemed to have. Plenty of space, indeed. He looked on the ground for any items that might have dropped from the other creature, but he didn’t see anything other than crushed crystal.

  Jack focused on his new and improved sword and noticed it now had ‘4/10’ in the Value stat. Jack wondered what would happen if he got to 10/10 value.

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts- he had a job to do. With fresh determination and an upgraded sword, Jack carefully returned to the intersection. He turned left and tried to keep a sharp eye out for white, fluttering ribbons.

  The path ahead of him curved to the right, and he could see himself getting lost here easily. Everything looked the same. After an uneventful stretch of ground-up crystal, he came to an open dead-end area with a wooden crate resting in the exact center.

  Suspicious, Jack approached the box carefully. It was simply crafted and just begged to be opened. Looking over his shoulder and scanning the area again, he found no threats. His eyebrows crept to the top of his head as he bent down to open the box.

  Before Jack’s hand could touch the lid, his intention alone caused an interface panel to open.

  Floor 1 - Chest

  Ruined Leather Gloves - [Hands | Value: 1]

  | Def: 1 |

  Splintered Wooden Club - [Club | Value: 1]

  | Dmg: 2 |

  A smile spread on his lips as he moved the items into his Inventory. After they were both safely in his possession, the wooden chest faded away.

  Jack straightened and considered his new loot. The first thing he did was move the gloves over to his ‘Hands’ equipment slot, and tight leather coverings appeared over his fingers.

  He held his hand before his face and saw that the gloves were indeed ruined as multiple rips and holes made them all but useless. Flexing his fingers, he made a series of tight fists, causing the old leather to creak against the strain.

  Curious, Jack pulled up his full Character panel.

  Jack - Hero Class: Irrelevant | Level 1

  [Health: 15/20 | Mana: 26/30]

  [Defense: 5 | Dodge: 10]

  [Main Hand Damage: 2 | Off-Hand Damage: 0]

  [Hit Chance: 0.87] [Critical Chance: 0.01]

  A slight satisfaction warmed him up from the inside as he glanced across his attributes and imagined them growing more powerful. Jack focused on the club in his inventory and wondered if he could use it to upgrade his weapon as he had done before.

  Bracing for a flashing light and a booming voice, he moved the club over to his ‘Main Hand’ equipment slot, but he got a familiar info panel instead.

  You cannot remove this item. Please increase complexity s%(null) for more options.

  “Okay, so I can’t merge you with clubs,” he said to himself before he closed all of his menus. “One for me, one for the Town, I guess.”

  Jack turned back, retraced his steps back to the intersection and continued to explore his first Floor in the Tower. The concept that he was in some sort of game and not the real world drifted to the front of his consciousness. The fact that everything he was doing now felt completely right bothered him a little. Was he losing his mind? His sense of self?

  His inward-focused thoughts were shattered when Jack heard a tiny hissing noise from up the path. Flapping in the non-existent wind about five feet in front of his face were two of the flat snake creatures, and he was disgusted at himself for not paying closer attention.

  One of the creatures lunged at him, and Jack danced backward while bringing up his sword. When the blade cut the flapping ribbon snake in half, he spared a thought of gratitude to Kron and Ryea for making him train the day before. There was no way he would have been able to do this without practice.

  Jack gripped the white, leather-wrapped hilt of his upgraded sword and faced the remaining opponent with confidence.

  The creature swirled in midair, looking for an opportunity to strike, but Jack could tell it was leery after watching one of its kind dispatched so quickly. Going on offence again, Jack tried the same fake lunge trick that had worked before, causing the snake to try and dodge the telegraphed attack.

  He smiled as he changed the blade’s direction, and with a powerful downward chop, he sliced the creature in half.

  “Perfect Win!” Jack called out to the sky with a deep voice, mimicking a fighting game he enjoyed popping quarters into as a child. He had ended two foes without taking a single hit and gained back two more mana points. He searched the sparkling gravel at his feet but didn’t see any item drops this time.

  With a half-smile plastered on his face, Jack continued forward on the curving path between the dense crystal clusters.

  A few minutes later, he found another empty, circular area with a wooden box. Only this time it contained no equipment.

  Floor 1 - Chest

  25 Coins

  Jack quickly moved the money over to his inventory and rubbed his tattered gloved fingers together. It felt like an immense weight had been lifted that he really didn’t know was there. He wouldn’t have to rely on the charity of Lex or the Town for his meal tonight- well, he didn’t know exactly how much the fish dinner cost, but he was pretty sure this would cover it.

  Jack left the dead-end open area and backtracked again, returning to the intersection where he had faced his first enemy. It was a short hike through the sparkling gravel, and he found himself back inside the starting area.

  Feeling pretty good about things, Jack picked one of the other paths leading away from the Exit Orb, and he prowled among the crystals looking for more prey.

  Two more flying ribbon snakes eventually blocked his way forward, but now that he had a better idea of how to exploit their intelligence with feint attacks, he dispatched them both quickly- without taking any more damage.

  Jack was positively glowing as he bent down to collect the one item drop.

  Rotten Leather Jerkin - [Chest | Value: 2]

  | Def: 2 |

  His current chest armor had a defense value of 3, and he was a little disappointed by the lower-quality drop, but felt good about collecting more loot to feed the Town. Plus, because of the Rest Bonus Mana per kill, he was back up to full power.

  He came to another intersection and picked the right side again, trying to be methodical in his explorat
ion of this crystal maze. As Jack pushed deeper into Floor 1, he was growing disappointed that he hadn’t run into more enemies or chests. About fifteen minutes of crunching through gravel passed, and he tried to stay focused through the boredom.

  It was then that he finally discovered something unique. Down another intersection, he noticed an enormous glowing blue crystal, hovering above the ground, and weak arcs of electricity radiated out into the ground under the elongated clear gem at the end of the path. The blue-white light show it cast onto the sparkling shards in the area was absolutely mesmerizing.

  Jack turned again and strode directly toward this new and interesting object. He was about ten paces away when a bolt shot out from the ten-foot gem and struck the gravel to his left.

  He pulled out his sword as the rock that had been hit by the lightning rose up and whizzed right at his head.

  Completely unprepared for the attack, the small, sharp gem struck him square in the forehead, and his Hit Points flashed red.

  13/20 HP

  “Shit!” Jack yelled, backing away. Was this the Floor Boss?

  He held his sword up, ready to deflect another attack when he saw the glowing white sphere of the Boss’s Exit Orb by a cluster of crystals in the corner of this area.

  With a twisted grin, Jack held out his sword toward the giant clear gemstone near the back of the room and activated his Mining Laser attack.

  A burst of red energy blazed out from his upgraded sword, and he felt his mana begin to drain as he prepared to unload his entire pool of Mana on the strange, perfectly cut gemstone creature. His beam lit the Floor Boss up with a crimson glow, and he heard something that sounded like a mix between screeching and breaking glass.

  After about four seconds and 8 mana, he saw a white flutter from his right. Before he could react, stinging pain pierced the back of his neck, and he was forced to cancel his attack.