by Dakota Krout
The best-case scenario would be to defeat all of them at the same time with some tricky maneuver, some clever plan, but he had nothing. Joe was the one who could make a sly plan come together; Jaxon was the sort of person who damaged his opponents until they stopped moving. Wait... stop them from moving?
With all the force he could muster, Jaxon activated intimidation. "Stop right there, criminal scum!"
He chose those words because they reminded him of a game he had played in the past, where this phrase had been one to inspire fear and an ‘oh dang’ moment. Just as he had hoped, for a bare second, his powerful intimidation effect caused the three cats to stop and flinch. Using every last drop of his stamina, Jaxon swung with his right hand, his left, and his right again. The first two attacks generated instant death for his targets, but the third and final enemy was so powerfully enhanced that it was able to dodge as if Jaxon were moving in slow motion.
His final opponent's manacle snapped, and the chain that had bound it vanished into motes of light. From that point forward, Jaxon had a hard time following what was happening. Although his dexterity would allow him to dodge every attack if he could see it coming, his perception was simply not up to the task. The demi-human tore open Jaxon's left thigh, then ran to the wall and used it as a springboard to get onto his other side. Razor sharp claws dug into Jaxon's right rib cage, only the bones stopping his lung from being punctured. Jaxon had forty-six health remaining at this point and had no illusions that he would be winning this fight, let alone the next one he would need to face.
Why was he not already dead? His oxygen-starved brain tried to answer the simple question, knowing that it would have significant bearing on this fight. He remembered in the past how he would watch cats play with their kills and realized that was exactly what was happening. The only way to win, or at least to defeat his opponent, was to make the fight no longer fun. Jaxon slid to the ground bonelessly, doing his best to play dead. The Cat Man stopped and sighed, as if it was genetically forced to do so, and sauntered over to complete its kill.
It reached down and grabbed Jaxon by the neck, pulling him upright and beginning to squeeze. Jaxon smacked at its wrist uselessly, already fighting for air. This caused a grin to appear on the Cat Man’s face, and it let out a slow, pleased chuckle. "That was plenty of fun, but I must say I am pleased that I am the one who gets to exact revenge. Heh-heh. After all... if someone were exacting revenge for me, that would mean that I fell in combat. A good fight, for a human."
Jaxon simply smiled as his vision began to fade, so the beastman frowned and began swinging its arm to tear his throat open. Jaxon closed his eyes and activated Adjust. Slapping at the demi-human’s arm had kept the needle from extending, but he now had ten stacks of Adjust on the wrist. As the skill activated, Jaxon's opponent was rocked with a hundred points of damage, shattering not only its wrist but the bone all the way to the shoulder.
Taking a deep, heaving breath, Jaxon pulled air into his withered lungs. He stumbled forward, tackling the Cat Man to the ground and landing several weak and sloppy blows on its chest. The monster was fully in shock, its brain dealing with the absolute agony it was in as well as trying to process the adrenaline pumping through it. By the time it could focus enough to launch a counterattack, all it could see was a fist coming for its face.
Exp: 25 (25 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level seven).
Exp: 30 (30 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level eight).
This was getting tedious. Jaxon skipped to the final two messages.
Exp: 120 (60 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x2) (Level fourteen).
Exp: 70 (70 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level sixteen).
It seemed that each of the enemies in the room increased by a level each time one of their compatriots died except at the very end, where Jaxon killed two of them nigh simultaneously. Those two had both counted as level fourteens, although the final one had still gone up two levels. Jaxon had gained twenty-five experience plus five experience per level of the demi-human. He was damaged and near death, but defeating ten foes had netted him a whopping four hundred and seventy experience!
He was sixty-seven points away from his next level, but looking at the measly eighteen points he had remaining in his health assured him that the next fights were likely going to be too much for him. His clothes were extremely tattered from the sharp claws that had been cutting into him, so he had no shortage of impromptu bandages to bind his wounds. After the bleeding effect was taken care of and he was applying pressure to his rib cage and thigh, he was down to six points of health.
Congratulations, Challenger! You have passed through the sixth solo survival room. Rarity of final reward increased by 1% for completing the room without a record.
Jaxon leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. Over the next hour or so, his health slowly regenerated. Unfortunately, his maximum health was capped one hundred and twenty-three points lower than normal due to the grievous nature of his wounds. Until he found a way to be magically healed, surgically healed, or respawned… he was stuck at two hundred and seventy-seven for his maximum health. Typically, this is where Joe would come in and fix him right up. Right now, Jaxon was really missing his team leader. Looking at his blinking notifications, he was pleased to see that the fight had at least been beneficial.
Skill increased: Contortionist’s Dodge (Student IX).
Skill increased: Intimidation (Journeyman VI).
Skill increased: Aerial Acrobatics (Beginner V).
Three huge skill increases. Woof. He stood up, not tired enough to sleep and knowing that he was losing time. Jaxon looked at the door to the seventh room, acknowledging that it was most likely going to be the final room he entered. He took a deep breath and walked over as confidently as possible. Pushing the door open, he walked in and looked around. Relief filled him; the room was empty! This was obviously some form of resting room, otherwise how would–
A rift appeared in the air in front of his eyes. Not some sort of portal, but it seemed that there was an invisible creature opening its mouth. Jaxon tried to dodge to the side but found that he was surrounded on all sides by the creature’s limbs. The appendages tightened, and Jaxon was held in a powerful bear hug as the creature crunched down on his skull.
You have died! Calculating… you lose no experience, but you have been barred from reentry to the Temple of Tempering in the solo areas! Time remaining until respawn… Variable. Reward must be chosen before respawn. Please choose your reward now.
A list grew in front of Jaxon's eyes, seven options only, but how in the world would he be able to choose just one of these?
Chapter Eighteen
The options were very straightforward, but Jaxon read through them very carefully to ensure that there was no tricky wordplay at work.
Ten free skill points
Five free characteristic points
10,000 experience points
One skill useful to your class (Minimum rarity: Rare)
One weapon designed for your class (Minimum rarity: Rare)
One piece of armor designed for your class (Minimum rarity: Rare)
One accessory designed for your class (Minimum rarity: Rare)
Jaxon was currently in a black space, a void where nothing was around him or visible except for the screen. As interesting as the options were, he was still rather disappointed. Truly, he had hoped that he would find what he needed in order to specialize. Instead, he was looking at a near-standard quest reward. Ah, well. At least he had tried. Jaxon reached out and tapped the skill option.
Are you sure that you want to choose a skill as your reward? You will not be able to change your mind. Yes / No
“Yes, I am sure. Thank you, game, I appreciate you trying to look out for me." Jaxon smiled as the screen in front of him vanished. A spot of color appeared on the horizon, instantly noticeable against the black void. He did not squint; he did not stare. Jaxon knew that if it were coming for him, whatever it was
would appear shortly.
Within moments, a massive wheel broken into thousands of tiny segments appeared in front of him. As far as he could see, whether it was up, down, left, or right, the wheel filled his view. The noise of a massive gong being struck filled the area, and a single section of the wheel splintered off. That section shrunk and compressed, turning from a pie slice into its own wheel. That zoomed closer to Jaxon, and all he could see as an identifier was the word ‘Monk’.
This tiny wheel began to spin, moving so fast that static electricity built up and discharged around it. With a sound like thunder, it stopped, and Jaxon received a new notification.
Skill gained: Body Compression (Novice IX). Your body is still only flesh and bone, but now it will grow stronger as you deal or receive damage. Gain one health point per five hundred points of damage taken and survived. (Not retroactive). Gain one point of Constitution per 1,000 points of damage dealt from physical attacks. (Not retroactive). Bonuses may increase as the ranking of this skill does.
The world around Jaxon begin to appear again, the black of the Void and the colorful wheel vanishing and the white walls of the temple and the muted browns and greens of the plateau and plains around the area appearing. He was excited about his new ability and was very much so looking forward to speaking with Jess and telling her about it. He was also curious what she had received, since it was likely that she would be able to see and defeat the monster that had taken him down.
"Jess? Jess, are you out yet?" He heard a sound from around the corner of the temple and skipped over to say hello. He screeched to a halt and raised his fists in readiness to attack when he saw the small group of people standing over Jess with a knife to the back of her neck.
"Ah! You must be the famous Jaxon!" A man in Rogue leathers stepped away and cautiously approached the Monk. "My name is Chris. I am the leader of this small group. I'm not sure what all Jess has told you, but she ran off with some of our guild’s tools. We are simply here to reclaim them. I ask that you stay out of the way, and then we will deal with you soon."
"He means he’s going to kill you, Jaxon!" Jess screamed from her position on the ground. "Run! Run, you moron!"
"The hick heard me just as well as you did!" Chris stepped over and kicked her in the side of the face. "He obviously knows better than to run like you did!"
Jess just spit out a tooth and tried to get as much blood and saliva as possible on Chris's boot. "Jaxon is not exactly known for his mastery of subtle language."
"Fine, we will deal with him first." The Rogue looked over at Jaxon, measuring him up and down. "You don't seem to understand the situation that you are in, and it seems that Jess does not believe you will be able to understand. So I'm going to lay this out for you very clearly: give me all the money you have, give me any items you have, and you are free to go."
"Nah." Jaxon took a threatening step forward. He paused as the knife at Jess's neck dipped and drew blood.
"Ah, ah, ah... none of that now." Chris smiled a sneering grin, flicking his tongue over parched lips. " Either you give it to us willingly, or we take it off of your corpse. Take another move that is not exactly what we tell you to do, and she will be sent to respawn before you. Now, if you both do what I tell you to do... I will make sure to go ahead and leave you here, alive. It is not the most hospitable of places, but from what she tells us, if she were to respawn before you… well, the Wolfmen would not be as pleasant as we are."
Jaxon slowed to a halt, for the first time since joining this game genuinely feeling bad for another person. If Jess were slain here, her respawn point would be the Wolfman encampment, and they would kill her over and over until he was able to arrive and save her. If he were to fling himself off the cliff, the intentional death would likely set his respawn time to double or triple the norm. “What do you want?”
“I already told you.” Chris smiled and gestured at Jaxon. “I want all the money and items you have. Keep the ratty stuff you’re wearing, but lose the gloves. I can recognize a fist fighter when I see one. Don’t bother trying to hide things. We can scan your inventory.”
Jaxon reached into his inventory and pulled out a small fistful of coins: a couple gold but mostly silver and a single copper. He tossed them to the ground, followed by some seeds, a picture of a skeleton covered by a goopy, red overlay, a few empty bottles, and an empty water jug. Then he took off his gloves and threw them on the pile, finally looking up and staring at the thieves. “All set then?”
“Sure looks like it.” Chris took the money, the water jug, and the gloves. After he picked over the pile, he turned back to the others. “This guy is carrying around more trash than anything actually useful. He has more seeds than coins on him! You planning to be a farmer, Jaxon?”
His party members laughed along with him and moved away from Jess. She slowly sat up, apparently exhausted by the whole ordeal. Chris walked over to her, grabbed her by the chin, and forced her to meet his eyes. “You find and return that dagger. You try to skip out on this, and we’ll hunt you until you hit level one again. You get me?”
Jess averted her eyes, so Chris smacked her in the face. “I said, get me?”
“I get you, Chris! Jeez!” Jess spat out a mouthful of blood from the powerful backhand.
“Well, hot dang, she can listen.” Chris strode over to his team and started down the plateau without looking back. “Let’s get going. Looks like we need to try and recruit a new member again. Have fun with those monkeys, you two!”
After Jaxon and Jess were alone again, Jaxon blew out an extended breath. “Fun friends you have, there. I’m glad I took a skill reward.”
“You had the option for a skill reward?” Jess looked up, her curiosity beating out her anger and embarrassment momentarily. “How far did you get through the temple?”
“I only got to the seventh room. There was some kind of invisible monster that bit my head off.” Jaxon growled about that, but there was no help for it at this point. “How about yourself?”
“Room three,” she stated quietly. “It was really hard to do anything without a weapon. Listen, Jaxon, I’m so sorry. I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. Some people are just terrible for no good reason. We didn’t lose anything that is hard to replace, so how about we just figure out what to do next?” Jaxon offered his hand to her and pulled her off the ground. As he did so, a door appeared and opened in the wall. “What the…?”
He let go of her hand, and the door vanished as if it had never existed. Grabbing her hand again, the doorway opened. “You know… I do remember this place telling me that I was only barred from solo attempts. Want to go together?”
Jess was staring at the temple with burning fervor. “Oh, abyss yes.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Before we go in, we should really go over a few things.” Jaxon let go of Jess’s hand and sat down. “Should I be concerned about those people? Are they going to come back? How can we work best as a team?”
“They got what they wanted, and their cruelty is only matched by their laziness.” Jess spat to the side, disgusted with them and the fact that she had been trying so hard to join them. “They won’t be back. As for how I can help in there, unless I get some kind of dagger, I am only going to be useful for tactics and spotting enemies. I think that is your weakness, so at least I can make up for that.”
“I see. Yes, that would be nice. I will be able to help by beating our opponents to death.” Jaxon smiled brightly as he spoke. “To me, not having a hand-covering weapon means that I will need to paint the enemies in my blood as I fight. Perhaps I can make a rudimentary hand wrap with the scraps I was using to bind my open wounds a little while ago.”
“You are so strange, Jaxon.” Jess shook her head in frustration. “I have no idea where you get this attitude. It’s really out of place.”
“Jess, I wasn’t joking a while back. I’m in my nineties in real life. I spent
my entire life attempting to master and perfect my chiropractic abilities and built an empire devoted to health and healing. I… I may have been too focused in the past because it was over five years before I found out that I had been voted out of my own company by the board of directors. I was given a pension and a cold ‘thank you for your time’. Then I had no family, friends, or coworkers. I became even more obsessed with perfecting my craft.”
“If you are so down about that, why are you still trying to work as a chiropractor here?” Jess candidly questioned him.
“What are you talking about?” Jaxon cocked his head to the side like a dog hearing the word ‘treat’.
“Well, you still seem obsessed with your work. If it brought you so much heartache, why not find something else to do?” Jess trailed off as she saw him shaking his head.
“You misunderstand.” Jaxon threw his arms to the side and stared at the sky in wonder. “Thanks to this game, someday I can objectively and empirically claim that I have learned everything there is to know! I have the body of my youth back and have strength and a range of movement I never expected! Everything else is secondary to becoming the ninth-level Sage of Chiropractic Care! I’m not sad about my past. Everything has led me to the here and now!”
Still staring up with his arms splayed and chest heaving with excitement, Jaxon had never looked more insane to Jess. She coughed, and he seemed to realize that something was amiss. “Eherm. Tell me… um. Tell me about you?”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Not that you care about anything but work, obviously, but I’m thirty, unemployed, and getting deeper in debt so that I can try and make money in this game. I’m in a pod, like any serious player, but the upkeep is ruining me. I used to play games super seriously when I was younger, and I’ve always been really good at setting up raids and player vs player stuff. I’m a strategist and tactician before anything else.”