by Dakota Krout
She spasmed once more and fully collapsed. Jaxon wasted no more time flipping backward and skipping at full speed to the exit. His sporadically swinging body made the surprisingly speedy snakes miss their subsequent series of strikes. Jaxon shoved open the door and slid through.
Congratulations, Challengers! You have attained a ‘Beneficent Human’ record for not killing your opponents, even while you easily could have killed them without taking damage. Sixth duo survival room completed! Rarity of final reward increased by 20% for completing the sixth duo room with a record. Minimum reward rarity set to Unique.
“Nice!” Jaxon told Jess the happy news as she appeared next to him. Then he looked around the room, and his smile faded a little. “Well, Jess, I think we had a good run.”
“What are you…” Her face paled as she took in the opponents arrayed against them. Six… creatures were staring at them through beady eyes nearly hidden by their shells. They were heavily naturally-armored quadrupeds, somewhat lizard-like, with their heads making up two-thirds of their total size. One of them opened their mouth and opened and opened it. Its jaw was open wide enough to engulf Jaxon with a single chomp, and he wanted no part of that action. There had to be magic involved for these things to exist, otherwise they would simply topple over due to their unbalanced bodies.
The massive beast in the lead moved back a bit, then launched forward at a speed that should have been impossible, somehow leaping with its heavy body nearly a dozen feet toward them. It landed as the humans tried to dodge, catching them off-guard and bowling them over. The others jumped and landed, forming a massive dogpile that crushed both humans to death.
You have died! Calculating… you lose no experience, but you have been barred from reentry to the Temple of Tempering in the solo and duo areas! Time remaining until respawn… Variable. Reward must be chosen before respawn. Please choose your reward now.
Chapter Twenty-one
“So we have to choose something to share between us?” Jess’s voice caused Jaxon to scream, a long and shrill sound that only slowly petered off.
He caught his breath, turning and looking at the incorporeal form of the woman standing beside him. “Oh. Jess. You startled me.”
“No crap.” Jess was eying him up and down as if he were suddenly going to sprout a second head devoted to screaming. “What do you think we should get?”
Jaxon turned back to the rewards, and they started going through the options together. As they discussed the available Unique rewards, there was one obvious problem. Jaxon was the first to vocalize the issue, but Jess nodded along grimly to his words, “It appears that there is a great reward in the form of two-piece set items, but if we split them up, they become little better than trash. Everything else is… okay, but these are the obvious rewards to take.”
“So now the question becomes: how do we decide who gets the set item, or do we settle for subpar rewards?” Jess finished the line of thought for the both of them, and they both settled into introspective silence.
“I think–” Jaxon started.
“I don’t mind–” Jess spoke at the same time, stopping herself from completing the sentence when she realized they were talking over each other. “Go ahead.”
“Sure. I think that this place is really designed for people that have been together a long time or really trust each other. It’s obvious that by working together, one person could leave here much stronger than when they walked in, but that means there is going to need to be a lot of trust involved.”
“I don’t mind taking a lesser reward. That way we both get something for sure.” Jess sighed and motioned at the consumables, money, or experience options that had appeared.
“Nah. Even with how cool some of these items look, they don’t really fit into what I want to be doing. Let’s get one of the set items, and you can have it.” Jaxon shrugged as Jess looked at him skeptically.
“How do I know that you aren’t just trying to screw me out of a reward?” Her voice was dark; obviously, she had gone through some trouble in her past.
“Call it an introductory offer from my party. This way you can start working with us knowing that we operate in good faith.” Jaxon’s smile seemed to take on a different light to Jess. No longer was he incredibly menacing; he was simply… very intimidating.
“Alright then.” Jess swallowed and looked at the studded leather armor that had made her heart sing. “I really want this set.”
Jaxon looked it over and nodded. “A flat five percent increase to dexterity, a scaling defense ability, limited self-repair, a once a day ‘flash step’, and a ten percent bonus to stealth. Probably because it is made out of hide, huh? Huh?”
“Oh my gosh,” Jess groaned with an eye roll. “You are the absolute worst. Can we get this then?”
“You’re sure?” Jess nodded at him, so Jaxon finalized the selection. A pair of studded leather leggings appeared in his hands and a similarly designed chest piece in hers. He handed over the item before she could become worried in the slightest and then vanished from Jess’s view as she respawned in front of the temple.
“Jaxon?” She looked around but didn’t see the man. Shrugging, she put on the armor and began testing out her new capabilities.
The Monk was having a very different experience. Jess had vanished from his awareness, and the void around him was now shining with golden light.
Congratulations, Jaxon! You have passed the duo trial! By fully giving the reward to your companion without expectation of rewards for yourself, you have proven that you are trustworthy and generous. These are the most important traits in any long-term relationship. While this knowledge about yourself should be reward enough, passing the trial demands compensation. Scanning… accessing skills. Accessing desires. Accessing quests. Accessing titles.
Possible reward determined: Unique Specialization. Requirements: ‘Monk’ class. A title that allows you to interact with specific animals (Title: ‘Snake Charmer’ selected, Title: ‘Entomologist’ can be selected for usage instead). A powerful Monk-specific title (Title: ‘Legend’ is valid substitute). Total cost reduced by half thanks to ‘duo success’ modifier. Cost: Five ranks of ‘Acupressure’ skill. Five ranks of ‘Adjust’ skill. Ten ranks of ‘Contortionist’s Dodge’ skill. Eight ranks of ‘Body Compression’ skill.
There are no current trainers for the specialization offered, and no further information can be offered without accepting the class. Accept? Yes / No.
Jaxon’s finger hovered over the ‘accept’ button, but he was having a hard time with the thought of giving up two Master level skills. Also, his dodge skill did more than just help him dodge; it helped his body bend in ways it normally couldn’t. He had never heard of a specialization costing like this! Why was he being charged just to rank up? Then again… he would be blazing a trail for others to follow, and he was sure the rewards for this choice would eventually pay dividends. Not allowing himself to mourn the loss, he mashed the ‘Yes’ button twice, not giving himself a chance to be talked out of it.
He screeched as he felt some of his memories vanish. An entire section of how to properly treat his patients was just gone. He knew it even if he couldn’t remember exactly what those methods were or how to pursue and reclaim them. His body stiffened slightly, then more than slightly. Ten percent less ability to bend was a serious inconvenience. Jaxon really hoped this reward would be worth the loss. Body Compression was less of a loss, even though it would have been useful to start that at a higher level.
Assigning reward. Congratulations! you have earned the specialized class: Bonecruncher (Mythical). Class bonuses: Gain +3 Dexterity, Strength, and Luck every even class level! Lose 1 Charisma each third class level. Gain the class skill: Living Weapon. To increase your class level, defeat opponents using your class skill.
Your Mana has been unlocked!
Skill gained: Living Weapon (Novice I). Your hands now have the ability to transform into living weapons which will have their own damage, stat
istics, and levels. Caution! Your weapons have been designated as a creature in the same phylum as the creature title used in class generation. You will need to teach, train, and control your living weapons in order to use them properly. Current cost: 50 mana per second. Length of transformation is dependent upon class level, weapon level, and how well-trained your weapons are. Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Caution! It is recommended that you do not assign skill points to living weapons until you are certain they are trained.
Jaxon appeared in front of Jess as she was settling back to wait, a sheen of sweat on her face the only sign that she had spent the interim with training instead of lazing around. She was taken aback by his sudden appearance, but easily kept her composure. “Hi, Jaxon. Anything interesting happen since we last talked?”
“I’m pretty sure.” There was another notification waiting for his viewing pleasure, but he ignored it for now. Jaxon felt at himself, squeezing his hands and wincing at their reduced mobility. He made a few extra movements, working his way through his normal warm-up exercises. “Ugh. I’m going to really need to work to get those skills back to an acceptable level.”
“You lost skill levels?” Jess shot to her feet, looking him over. “What happened? Did you go through another trial or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I got a bonus reward for letting you take all the loot and earned a specialization.” He held up a hand as her face brightened and her mouth opened to ask a question. “I lost a whole bunch of skill points, and even though the cost was halved as a reward, it really hurt my abilities. I’m not even sure what happened, and I only got a single skill out of the deal. It’s started at Novice one, for goodness sake.”
“What does it do?” Jess asked quietly, realizing that Jaxon was having a hard time right now.
“I have no idea. It seems to make my hands deadlier as weapons or something.” Jaxon lifted his bare hands, not even needing to inspect them to know that there was no change. “It’s an active skill, so I need to test it out. There aren’t any enemies around, though, so I’m not sure whether I should bother.”
“Do you need to have a target?”
Jess’s question made Jaxon pause. “No. No, I suppose I don’t, do I? Good idea. Let’s see what happens. I can only hold the transformation for six seconds at a maximum right now anyway.”
Keeping his hands held high, he spoke the skill aloud and with authority, “Living Weapons.”
His hands spasmed, and his fingers locked together. They shifted and compressed, bending forward as if he were reaching for his elbows with his fingertips. There was a small surge of strangeness, neither light nor sound but something that hurt the mind to look at directly. The change was actually nearly instantaneous, but as it was the first time he had experienced the shifting sensation, Jaxon was able to experience the change on a visceral level. As the skill finished activating, he looked at what had previously been hands on the end of his arms… and they looked back. With a trumpeting roar, his hands announced to the world that they lived!
Jaxon looked over at Jess with maniacal glee showing on his face. “Jess, I take back every complaint I made about this. I have T-Rex Head Hands!”
Chapter Twenty-two
“Whoa, there! Bad lefty! Down!” Jaxon forcefully pulled his hand away from his face as it snapped at him, saliva splashing on his cheek. He looked over at Jess as he ran out of mana and his hands returned to their normal state. “Whew! My goodness, I haven’t had to tame my hands since I went through puberty!”
“Disgusting.” Jess sniffed at him. “So… what the heck just happened?”
“I ran out of mana to sustain the T-Rex head hands.” Jaxon was squeezing his hands into fists, trying to feel exactly what had changed with the skill usage.
“Not what I meant.” Jess was staring at his hands as if she expected them to lunge at her. In other words, no different than usual. “Also, don’t call them that! They have a skill name.”
“Should I give them names, do you think? I called this guy ‘Lefty’ out of habit, but as a T-Rex head, should it be something different?” Jaxon was staring with rapt fascination at his hands.
“Your normal fists have names?” Jess shook herself, trying to focus on the situation. Jaxon’s strangeness seemed to be infecting her. “I meant: what was that? Was that the class skill you got?”
“Yes! Now I need to practice with them and train them. I should really only do that when I have some enemies around. Best way to train something is to have a way to reward it, after all.” Jaxon turned on his heel and started walking over to the edge of the plateau the temple was on.
“You’re going to feed your hands?” Jess muttered indignantly, following after him a moment after he dropped off the edge of the cliff. She watched as Jaxon slid down the slope like a snowboarder, somehow maintaining his balance on the steep drop. She shook her head and started carefully making her way down. “If I try that I am going to fall and break something.”
Jaxon reached the midpoint of his descent and hopped in the air to shift his momentum a bit. The slope was changing from about seventy degrees to a forty-five-degree angle, so his speed also reduced drastically. His excitement had consequences; his worn-out boots chose this moment to lose their last point of durability and vanished into motes of light with a sound like shattering glass. Jaxon’s swift reflexes allowed him to catch his balance, but he was now barefoot on a rocky hill, moving at a fairly high speed. “Ow, oof, ah!”
He started to take terrain damage, the rough movement tearing up his feet. Flashes of tiny numbers leaving his health filled his vision, and when he finally got to a flat area, he sat down and gripped his soles as hard as he could and hissed in pain, “Ssss-ahhhh!”
Jess slowly made her way down, taking long enough to arrive that Jaxon’s health was nearly full. She looked at his position and the blood around his feet, then reached down and pulled a small rock out of his heel. She held up the blood-soaked object and waved it at him. “You can’t get to full health with something like this stuck in you. Come on, that's basic.”
“I would have gotten around to it.” Jaxon looked at his health bar, noting that it had fifteen health greyed out. Drat, unless he got magical healing, a health potion, or some kind of advanced first-aid, his health was capped at four-fifteen. There must have been a bunch of debris or something in his feet as they healed. “Worst possible time for my boots to give out.”
“Weren’t you crushing small creatures recently by stomping on them? I feel like that would have been worse,” Jess retorted with a small, happy smile.
Jaxon was enraptured by the expression and found himself speaking before he could stop himself. “My goodness, you look far less severe and annoying when you smile! It almost makes me forget that you almost murdered me recently.”
The first real smile he had seen from her vanished like fog in the noontime sun, and she turned and stalked away from him immediately. Jaxon stood up and reached for her, but she ducked out of his weak grasp. He locked eyes with her. “Jess, I really mean that.”
“You are such an–”
Ah-whooo! The still air was shaken by the throaty howls of the monkeys in the forest. It seemed the humans had been spotted, and the predators in this jungle were hungry. Jaxon turned toward the forest and allowed a malicious smile to spread across his lips. “I guess I should get a warm-up in before bringing out Lefty and Terror. Then I can bring them out and show them what happens when you try and attack me. I might even give them a treat if they show the proper respect.”
“I can’t get over the fact that you are planning to feed your hands.” Jess gave up on being mad at Jaxon for now, instead turning to face the loudest of the sounds coming toward them. There were a couple hundred feet of grassy plains surrounding the base of the plateau before the forest began, and though the primates coming toward them were being loud currently, it was unlikely that they would just charge straight at them without even attempting a stealth attack.
Sure enough, the howling from the closest group faded away to nothing even as the grass at the edge of the forest started rustling. Jess was easily able to track the progress the animals made, but Jaxon began griping in frustration. “Is the wind moving that section of grass, or is it the stupid monkeys? Are they already behind me?”
Jess grabbed his arm as he started to turn around. “Jaxon, I think one of their skills might be to make you look away from them as they get close so that they take you from behind.”
Jaxon’s eyes widened in horror. “They can do that?”
“What? Of course they can stab you in the back.” Jess shook her head at Jaxon’s oddly relieved expression. “I need you to listen to me. I don’t have a weapon, so it’ll be really hard for me to fight these things. You can’t see them right away, but if we work together, I’ll be able to let you know where they are and you can fight them off. That sound like a plan?”
“Sounds lovely.” Jaxon settled into a fighting stance, then glanced at Jess. “Am… am I facing the right way now?”
“Yup, you’re good.” Jess stood behind and to the left of him, carefully watching the grass around them. She knew the creatures were close, and she needed to be ready for them. Her eyes caught a faint motion as one of the beasts turned its head too quickly, and she calmly let Jaxon know. “Ahead, just a few feet and to your right. I’m pretty sure that one is the closest to you, and I think it knows it’s been seen.”
Her warning was spot on, as the Trial Primate chose that moment to act. It exploded out of the grass, which should have been far too short to hide this large creature. Jaxon knew it was coming and was even able to dodge most of the swiping claws, but he overestimated his abilities. He had become used to moving and dodging at the last second, but his body was unable to keep up with the strain he put on it with his lowered skill levels. Four lines of blood were drawn on his cheek, passing just under his lips and missing his neck by a hair’s length.