by Prax Venter
He dropped to the ground and rolled, trying to get the fanged ribbon snake off. Jack staggered to his feet just as another magically charged pebble zipped at his face, cutting open his cheek.
7/20 HP
Jack began to panic. He was so pissed at himself for just walking right up to this unknown thing without checking to see if there were any of the annoying flying snakes in the area. Now he was in severe danger.
The white snake flapped in the air in front of him as the living gemstone charged up another attack. He was ready this time and was able to duck the more powerful boss attack, but the hissing snake took the opportunity to dart past and try to shave off more of his health.
Jack swung his sword up to meet the snake, but he was beyond flustered and still off balance from dodging the rock.
The snake nicked his arm as its flat serpentine body flapped past, taking more of his dwindling life.
6/20 HP
With a roar of rage, Jack activated his Double Strike and cut the ribbon snake to ribbons, ending its life. He spun to face the Floor Boss again, only to be struck in the side of the head by another stone.
3/20 HP
Jack’s eyes almost bulged out of his head from rage. He leveled his sword on the cut-gem boss monster and prepared to continue his ultimate attack when he heard more tiny hissing entering from the path behind him.
With an instant to decide, Jack grit his teeth as he sprinted for the Exit Orb. His stomach twisted into knots, hating himself for losing everything and failing on his first try.
He just barely ducked another rock as he slammed his fist on the glowing Orb that would take all his items away and send him back outside to face the Town with shame.
- 11 -
Jack found himself standing under swift black clouds outside of the Tower.
“Damn it!” he swore, as self-loathing quickly took over. He could tell Lex was right next to him, but the last thing he wanted to see was the disappointment that he knew he would find in her eyes.
Ryea and a few Townsfolk had gathered near the fountain to wait for them, and when he looked at the thick, freckled woman, she gave him a tight-lipped frown.
“Ha!” a familiar gruff voice snorted behind him, and Jack turned around to see Harrak standing by the cliffs. “Still a Level 1. Told you he was a curse. Nothing but an extra drain on our thin resources.”
The old, bearded man kept his wild, bloodshot eyes locked on Jack as he and the other Townsfolk walked away. Only Lex and Ryea remained.
He saw the leather-clad woman hold her hand out to the chest to deposit her haul and turned his eyes down to his own hands. The ruined gloves were gone- but he wasn’t surprised. It was exactly what he was told would happen if he ran. Just to see it for himself, he opened his inventory.
No items, and zero coin.
“Jack,” Lex said from his side, putting her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay-”
He shrugged off her touch and spun toward her. “It’s not! I never learn, damn it!”
She recoiled from him, and what he did see reflected in her large eyes was disgust. He didn’t blame her. He was disgusted with himself. Lex’s dark eyebrows were pulled down, and her lips were pursed as she dealt with the full brunt of his anger.
Her mouth snapped shut after a few heartbeats, and then she turned to walk away. Jack thought about stopping her, but his mood was dark as the fast-moving clouds above him. Perhaps it would be better if he were left alone for a while.
Then he heard his old Team Lead’s voice in his mind.
“Think before you act, Jack. Before you do anything, ask yourself, what would Stevens do?” He could even see the skin around the older man’s grey-blue eyes wrinkle as he made the lame joke. But it was good advice. Why did that feel like so long ago?
He watched Lex walk past Ryea toward the inn and spoke loudly to be heard over the growing wind blowing in from the sea.
“Lex, I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
The shorter leather-clad woman paused but didn’t turn around. Ryea stopped with her and shot glances between Lex and Jack. He continued.
“I’m just so mad at myself for letting you… for letting everyone down.”
Lex said something to Ryea that was lost to the wind. Her auburn-haired friend nodded and shot one more glance at Jack, causing her long braid to almost slap herself in the face before clomping toward the inn alone.
The golden-haired woman in the tight black armor spun around and walked back up to Jack, her eyes locked on his. Her straight hair blew back from her face as the wind hit her, and it reminded him of the ribbon snakes he had just faced in the Tower.
“Walk with me,” Lex said, searching his eyes before she turned and walked away. He followed her off the smooth stones layered in front of the Tower, and they both strolled along the cliff with the vast, dark ocean on their left. White plumes of water shot up into the air as the waves impacted the distant black boulders that cradled the bay. After walking in silence for a while, she finally spoke.
“Did you learn anything in the Tower today?”
He took a moment before answering. “Yes. I need to be careful and look where I’m going before rushing into something. And clearing the Floor before facing the Boss might be a good idea.”
She looked over at him. “Then you haven’t let me down.”
He took in a deep breath of crisp sea air. By how quickly the temperature was dropping, he could tell it was going to start raining any minute. Lex used her inventory interface to instantly equip her heavy cloak before she continued.
“I didn’t go in alone my first time. I accompanied a full party of experienced Climbers, and they walked me through with ease. My father… and my mother were with me, and they would have not let me come to harm.”
She paused, but Jack remained quiet. Farther out across the waving grass to their right, they passed by the ruins of the farm where he spent his first night, and she spoke again.
“Just learn, don’t give up, and don’t die. Jack, it might be many, many days before you find the right drops or the right layout- but eventually, you’ll defeat the first Floor Boss.”
She stopped, reached out and put one of her gloved hands on his arm. “Hold still,” she said.
Jack stopped and faced the elfish woman standing in front of him. Icy gusts of wind from the sea sent her cloak flapping behind her and exposed her pointed ears. She closed her large eyes, opened her mouth, and began to sing a wordless melody. Jack was enthralled.
Yellow wisps of glowing energy spun around his body, and a pleasant tingling sensation washed over him like he had just sunk into a warm bath. Then his Hit Points display began to throb with her voice.
4/10 HP, 5/10 HP, 6/10 HP…
Jack had totally forgotten he was near death. Lex finished her song, and he was left fully restored.
When she looked up into his eyes, he put his hand over hers and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “You cut it too close in there today, but I can tell you tried.”
He gave her a weak smile, and they stood on the cliffs of Blackmoor Cove for a moment before the silence became awkward, and she pulled her hand back. Lex gathered her cloak with a fist at her chest and continued leading him away from Town.
After a short walk through the waving grass, they came upon the corruption that infested the land.
He had seen this before when helping Garl get the fishing net, but that was below, down on the beach. Then, the purple writhing mass of purple-black pus was blocked by the ocean on one side and the cliff on the other. Now that he was up here, Jack could see that it spread for miles over the rolling hills ahead of him. Lex kept her gaze locked on the corruption as she spoke.
“I wanted to heal you before we reached the edge of the Town’s influence, just in case, but the reason I brought you here was to remind you what your true enemy is. It’s not anything in the Tower…” She turned her golden eyes up to his before she continued. “And it’s not
yourself. Get that straight right now.”
Jack looked down into her eyes again. He saw a deep pain there, and he realized that Lex was speaking from experience. He nodded and turned back to face the stretch of insanity spread out before him. He was glad she brought him here and resolved to get his mind right. Maybe this time it would hold.
They looked out over the vile substance for a while longer before Lex motioned with her head that she was ready to go. They walked back across the cliffside, and Jack’s thoughts raced through his head. He felt stupid for exploding like he did when he came out of the Tower, and in front of an audience too. And to think, he wanted to lead his own team in the silver mines. Looking within himself, Jack felt a new thread of determination glowing in his core. Even though everything around him was obviously just a game, he had never felt more focused on working on his discipline.
He also didn’t want to die, and survival meant better equipment. Then a realization crashed into the side of his head like a freight train. Jack’s eyes darted down to his sword and saw the same white leather hilt. He stopped walking and pulled up his Character window.
“What is it?” Lex said, also stopping and turning toward him. He ignored her and willed info about his decorative leather scabbard to appear.
ARV Alternis - [Sword | Value: 4/10]
| Dmg: 2 |
| Hit Chance + 0.02 |
“It’s the same…” Jack mumbled, drawing his weapon.
Lex took a step back, but then turned her attention down to the blade- and her eyes opened wider than he had ever seen them open.
At that moment, the black clouds racing overhead burst open and frigid drops of rain washed over the landscape.
Lex ignored the downpour for an instant, locking her eyes on Jack with a new and potent expression of awe. Then reality caught up to her. Lex pulled up the hood on her cloak and began sprinting toward the inn, and out of the rain. Jack chased after her, hitting every drop on the way.
The Eye o’ the Storm was warm, and the smells hitting his nose reminded him how hungry he was. It was almost enough to distract him from the ramifications of his odd, and still-upgraded, weapon.
When the door closed behind him, Lex yanked off her hood and spun around to face him.
“How-!” she started to say more and cut herself off. The common room was more filled than it had been yesterday, and everyone’s eyes turned to them. The blonde, elfish woman in front of him darted her eyes around as she thought and then shook her head.
“Whoo! How cold it is out there,” she said, obviously trying to cover up what she meant to say.
“Yeah…Windy, huh?” Jack tried to play along. They were both terrible actors, and it wasn’t until they were seated at a table did the murmuring conversations start up again.
Demi gracefully stepped up to their table shortly after.
“Everything go okay today?” She was looking between them both, one of her silver eyebrows arching in such a way that implied that she expected an interesting answer.
“Fine,” Lex said quickly, giving her friend a smile. “He’s still a level 1, but I think Jack has potential.” She held out her leather-gloved hand to the innkeeper that Jack began to recognize as the standard trade offer gesture. “Two dinners and two rooms please.”
The older woman squinted her eyes but pawed the air and accepted the trade.
“Coming right up,” Demi said, then turned to him. “Glad to see you survived your first solo run, Jack.”
“I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for you. Thank you again.” He flashed her a smile loaded with genuine gratitude.
Demi just nodded and left to do whatever it was she did behind the white eye curtain. When he turned back to face Lex, he found her large eyes boring into him. He wanted to talk more about his rule-breaking item, but she was giving him clear signals that he should just keep his mouth shut about it. He gave her a short, quick nod- intending to convey that he got the message.
The Bastion sitting across from him took in a deep breath and let it out, visibly relaxing. She seemed to notice that she was still wearing her armor and took a moment to switch her equipment loadout to a soft, green tunic. Lex tucked an errant strand of blonde hair behind a pointed ear before she spoke.
“So, tell me about your first first Floor, Jack.”
“Well, everything was a maze of crystals and it was like nothing I have ever seen. I fought a few of these flying snake things and felt like I was getting the hang of their attack patterns. I butchered the last few I faced.”
Lex nodded slowly. “Good, but always be prepared for the unexpected. Don’t bet your life on any pattern repeating. Tell me about the Floor Boss.”
“It was a giant gemstone that chucked rocks at me using magic lightning bolts. Did a lot of damage. I- I walked right up to it like an idiot. Before I was able to do much, another flying snake sunk its fangs into my neck from behind. It was… bad.”
Jack looked down into the woodgrains of the table. “Definitely going to clear the floor first, tomorrow.”
Demi came back to their table and provided them with the same meal they had the day before. He felt horrible about making Lex pay for him again. Her father’s words really stung him earlier.
Jack looked up into her golden eyes. “Thank you, again… for dinner.”
“It really is nothing, Jack. I have nowhere else to spend the coin I find. But you are welcome, nonetheless.”
They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Every now and then, thunder from the storm raging outside could be heard over the murmuring Townsfolk crowded around the roaring hearth. Based on the condition of their ancient stone houses, he didn’t blame them.
Lex waved Ryea over after they finished, and they chatted for a while before he felt like it was time for bed again. The timer still showed that there was about two and a half hours before it switched to the door with the up arrow- Entrance’o’clock.
Time was funny here, he realized. Based on a bit of quick math, the days were only 21 hours long. Then again, he skipped ahead over six hours when he slapped the Exit Orb on the first Floor. He still had so many things to learn about this world.
“I have a question,” Jack said when he found a break in the one-sided conversation Ryea was having about being sick of seaweed. “What is this world called? Are we in a country? Are there other countries or other groups of…” He stopped when he saw that they were looking at him like he was talking nonsense.
Ryea cracked a smile and gave him an answer. “Our world is called Subroutine Sana, Jack.”
His heart skipped a beat.
“Did… you just say Subroutine?” he asked.
The woman with the long braid looked over at Lex and gave her a little bump with her shoulder.
“I think it’s cute- he’s just so helpless,” Ryea said and then turned her dark brown eyes on his. “You are such an odd creature.”
Jack rubbed his eyelids with his fingers and then tried to wrap his mind around this again.
“Does the word ‘Subroutine’ mean anything else to you guys?”
The women looked at each other and then back at him- Lex with a small frown and Ryea with a half-smile. Both shook their heads from side to side.
“Does it mean something else to you?” Lex asked.
“Back on Earth, it was something computers did,” he said, thinking about his home again. It struck him suddenly that he still had no desire to use the bathroom.
“Back on earth?” Ryea asked.
“Yeah, it’s where I came from- where I was, before here.”
Ryea looked disappointed. “We all live on dirt, Jack,” she said. “Well, I hear some Towns are on sand- but I bet there’s earth under the sand-”
“Never mind,” Jack cut her off.
“Yes,” Lex said standing abruptly. “Maybe someday we can all learn about the people of this world. But now it’s time for us Climbers to call it a night.”
The doughy woman in overalls frowned but wishe
d them both good luck in the Tower tomorrow. With a few waves to other Townsfolk, Jack followed Lex up the stairs, and his eyes rested on her slightly pointed ears. This was something he was going to ask about tomorrow- but carefully.
He expected a repeat of the previous night, but Lex wordlessly entered his room and closed the door once he was in with her.
“Tell me, very slowly, how that thing works.”
For an instant, he thought things were about to get much more exciting, but he realized she was pointing to his sword belt.
“What,” he began with a smirk, “you mean you weren’t born with this specific knowledge?”
Her golden eyes darkened. “This is not a game.”
“I know,” he lied. “Honestly, I’m not sure how it works myself. I seem to be able to, I don’t know… merge specific weapon types with this irremovable item- upgrade it. It worked with a blade I found, but not a club.”
Her beautiful eyes bounced back and forth, and Jack could tell she was reading over its item description. He shifted a little, feeling her intense attention on him. Eventually, she turned those big eyes up to lock on his.
“Keep this between us for now,” she said, her voice low and serious. “My father already mistrusts you, and there are many Townsfolk who are… wary of change. We are so close to slipping backward. Three, maybe even two bad luck runs in the Tower, and Blackmoor Cove and all its people could become erased with no one to even carry the sad memory of our bleak existence.”
“Man- that’s dark, Lex.”
“It’s our lives.”
Jack reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She had a smaller frame, and his hand easily closed around more of her dark green tunic than he expected.
“We’ll save this Town, together,” he said with conviction. “Especially since now we know that I can cheat.”
She nodded and tilted her head down to face their boots on the wooden floor. His eyes were drawn to her ears again, and he just had to know. He took his hand off her shoulder.
“Lex,” he started and waited for her to look back up into his eyes. “I want to ask you something, and I want to preface my question by reminding you that I know nothing about this world.”