The Cheater's Return

by Brian McGoldrick

  "I wonder how many shots that trap has."

  As Raven Goddess looks at me, she has an amused glint in her eyes. "Do you want to repeatedly close and open the door to see how long it takes to run out of ammunition?"

  "Not particularly."

  Raven Goddess laughs. "Pound on the wall as hard as you can."

  Following Raven Goddess high-handed command, I slam the tip of staff into the wall a half-dozen times, and nothing happens.

  Raven Goddess places her ear against the wall. "Hit it some more."

  After a dozen more blows, Raven Goddess takes her ear away and shakes head. "From the sound that is very thick stone. Let us check the others."

  We check all the walls with the arrow traps in them but turn up nothing.

  "Did you notice anything about those pit traps?"

  I shrug. "They all have spikes at the bottom. I wasn't really paying much attention."

  Raven Goddess looks at the floor covering one of the pit traps speculatively. "Open them up for me."

  After we check all the pit traps, we find three that have an area of broken spikes in a corner, but no sign of the spikes themselves.

  Raven Goddess takes out some torches and a couple coils of rope.

  "Where did you get that?"

  "In the village. The wise woman had them."

  After Raven Goddess ties a torch crosswise to the end of her staff and lights it, she ties a coil of rope to the other end of her staff and stands next to a pit with broken spikes. "Open this for me."

  I force the trap door open, and lying at the edge of the pit, Raven Goddess lowers her staff with the rope. "Where the spikes are broken, a section of the wall appears different. Let us check the others."

  We find there could be concealed doors in the bottoms of all three pits.

  Raven Goddess frowns. "The Tomb Lord can probably levitate. He could use any of the three doors, and I did not notice any footprints in the dust."

  "I don't think I can scale the walls of those pits. It didn't look like there was much in the way of handholds. We'll need to use ropes."

  I head for the middle tunnel, and Raven Goddess follows me. The cell doors are about the only place where we can tie off ropes that will support my weight. I could try tying a rope to some of the low relief sculpture on the walls, but the stone would probably break under my weight. With the amount of force it took to open the cell doors, they should easily bear up under my weight.

  When I force open the trap door, Raven Goddess jams it open with her starter dagger. The joys of unbreakable objects.

  With the rope tied to the cell door nearest the corner with no spikes, I slide down it, and Raven Goddess follows me.

  "Look down not up!"

  "If I don't look up, I won't be able to catch you if you fall." Raven Goddess is still wearing normal clothing and that is too fine of a view to pass up.

  "You are an insufferable, obnoxious man."

  "Thank you. I always love to get compliments."

  Once she reaches the bottom, Raven Goddess tilts her head back to glare at me, but she does not hide the amusement in her eyes. "Why are you standing around like a dolt? Put those hulking muscles to use and pound on the wall!"

  As I take my staff out of my storage, I laugh.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  When I hit the side wall, it sounds like I am beating some kind of weird drum.

  After searching the bottom of the pit, we do not turn up anything that might be a trigger to open the door.

  "Maybe, we missed something in the cells."

  Raven Goddess looks up with a frown. "Do you think you can break it down?"

  "I'll make a lot of noise."

  "And that was not a lot of noise when you checked the wall?"

  I shrug and beat on the wall with the tip of my staff. With all my strength and mass behind each blow, I can feel a little give in the stone every time I hit it.

  After more than thirty blows, the stone starts to crack. After more than fifty blows, I punch a hole through the middle of the door. After more than a hundred blows, the door cracks into pieces, and I shove them into the tunnel beyond.

  Raven Goddess half smirks at me. "At least, all that mass is good for something."

  "You're really getting obnoxious."

  Raven Goddess' smirk changes into a grin. "Now, you know what it feels like to put up with someone like yourself."

  "Ha. Ha. I do love starter weapons, though. You can't beat an indestructible item."

  "Technically, they are not indestructible. Starter weapons are made indestructible by dimensionally shifting a common item, so that it is out of phase with the rest of the world. Because they are out of phase, it is almost impossible to destroy starter items, but it can still be done. The materials used are incredibly strong but nowhere near indestructible. There are some very high power artifacts that are made from the same materials as starter weapons, but starter weapons are the work of the Quantum Control Program." Raven Goddess stares at my staff with an odd expression.

  From that expression, I would almost think that Raven Goddess has a personal problem with the very existence of my staff, but I do not know why she would feel that way. There is far too much of her history that is shrouded in mystery. At the same time, she is both the most famous and the most mysterious of the cryogenic immortals. At least, ninety percent of the cryogenic immortals are a part of the Church, and the rest are all wealthy or city-state government agents. Their appearances in the real world are few and far between, and every time one of the non-clerical cryogenic immortals appears outside Primacy Online , they cause a stir.

  Morgan Danan is almost never seen outside of the City of Mann, and her public appearances there are shielded behind walls of security. For her to have appeared in Yukon City with only a handful of bodyguards, I was shocked beyond belief. At first, when I saw her in the audience at Vinny's place, I nearly had a heart attack from the shock, and now, I am even more confused.

  When I was playing Primacy Online V , Raven Goddess and I had an odd relationship, but she never acted like she has been doing the past few days. I have never seen this side of her, and I cannot help but wonder, how much is the real Raven Goddess and how much is an act?

  Putting my worries aside, I turn toward the tunnel, and as I step into it, I spot a lever on the wall and point to it.

  Raven Goddess shrugs. "You might as well pull it."

  Rumble. Clank.

  Above us, the trap door opens full and Raven Goddess' dagger falls to the floor of the pit.

  "Maybe it can only be opened from the inside."

  Raven Goddess looks down the tunnel. "If that is the case, would that not mean that there is someone or something here that locked up behind the Tomb Lord, when he left?"

  I turn my attention to the tunnel. It runs for less than ten meters before curving to the left. Like the tunnel portion of the cave above, I only have about ten centimeters of clearance on any side. This tunnel gives me the impression that it was made to allow only a single Half-Giant at a time to pass unhindered.

  Reaching the curve, I see another almost straight length of tunnel stretch out ahead of us to another curve. The floor of the tunnel is covered in a thick layer of dust, and now that it is dust that has not been churned up by the destruction of a door, there is no sign of footprints or any other disturbance.

  "No one has used this tunnel in a very long time."

  Raven Goddess nods. "I would bet on there being entries in the pits in the other four halls, and the Tomb Lord probably uses one of them."

  Scritch. Thump. Scritch. Thump.

  "Do you hear that?"

  With her head cocked to the side, Raven Goddess pauses for a moment. "It is the sound of metal scraping on stone, and something heavy and metallic landing on stone."

  "Let's check it out." I continue down the tunnel, and Raven Goddess follows at my heels.

  After a few more twists and turns, we reach a smooth panel and another lever. The scraping and ba
nging are much more audible. From the sounds, the source should be very near to the door in front of us, but it sounds like there are two individual sources.

  Squatting down, I look over my shoulder at Raven Goddess and keep my voice to a whisper. "It sounds like there are two sources of the noise, and both seem to be moving. Are you ready?"

  Raven Goddess draws the matched pair of short swords that she acquired from the village head's stash and grins. "Of course. I have been getting bored."

  Scrunch!

  I pull the lever, and with a loud grinding of stone on stone, the wall in front of me slides slowly upward. Upward? Now, that I did not expect. Someone put a lot more effort into their secret door mechanics than I expected.

  A chapel or temple, I am not sure which it is, opens out in front of us. It covers an area of about twenty meters by sixty meters, and the secret door is in the center of the back wall. An altar is at the far end, and two rows of Half-Giant scaled benches fill the center.

  If this is a tomb, why is there a chapel or temple inside of it?

  Just seeing this room, I get a chill down my spine. I feel as though the tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of the dead are staring at me in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

  Shaking off the unnatural chill, I look around the room.

  The walls are covered with more low relief sculptures of torture. Every single sculpture is different. Even when two sculptures are showing the same form of torture, the details between them are different.

  The altar at the front of the room is carved from the same greyish stone as everything else, but the top of it has been stained black. It looks as though the blood of countless victims has soaked into the stone and permanently stained it.

  I step into the room, and Raven Goddess enters and stands at my side.

  On opposite sides of the room, two rusted metal golems turn toward us. Though from their appearance, they could be animated armors. Seeing me, the rusted things slowly move in our direction. With the speed they are moving, we could avoid all year, if we did not need to sleep.

  They both have basically identical physical dimensions. Standing a little over 3m in height, they are similarly proportioned to a Half-Giant, but a little bit broader and bulkier than I am. Before getting their feet into the air, they drag them halfway through each step, and when they put their foot down again, they lurch and wobble. The things are barely able to stay on their feet.

  "Golems or enchanted armors?"

  Raven Goddess cocks her head to one side and stares at them for a few moments. "Neither. I think they are automatons. The Fomhoraigh were great lovers of magic technology."

  I do not waste my time asking how Raven Goddess knows that. She would only give a vague response that would leave me with more questions than answers.

  "I guess we should destroy them, then."

  Raven Goddess laughs. "It would be the prudent thing to do."

  Clank.

  Approaching the automaton to the right, I strike its knee joint with my staff, but the only thing that happens is my hands get numbed from the impact. As the automaton makes a slow-motion swing at my head, I easily step out of the way.

  "This thing is fucking hard!"

  Raven Goddess laughs. "Have you looked at it with Identify Monster ?"

  "No. Why?"

  "Look at it."

  I activate Identify Monster and the result surprises me.

  Invalid Target

  What the fuck? Whether it is a Golems, an enchanted armor, or an automaton, its information should still show up with Identify Monster .

  "This isn't an automaton. What the hell is it?"

  Raven Goddess circles around behind the metal thing at a slow pace. "It most certainly is an automaton. Other than origin, what are the strictures on Identify Monster ?"

  I shrug. "Rank and Level are the only ones I know of, but I'm Level 8, and even if this is an Extermination zone, it's still only Level 10 at most."

  Raven Goddess smiles at me. "Zone Levels are set by the Quantum Control Program based on the combat potential of the zones inhabitants, Levels are assigned based on the capabilities and experience contained within a monster. Even if there are outliers, the Quantum Control Program sets the zone based on the general range. These two automatons are outliers. This entire tomb is probably filled with outliers."

  I stare at Raven Goddess with narrowed eyes. "What are you saying?"

  "These two automatons should be, at least, Level 100 and around Rank 4 or 5."

  What the fuck? I am too shocked to actually say the words, and they remain thoughts within my head. Rank 4? Level 100? At least?

  "Can we even destroy these things?"

  Raven Goddess smirks. "Look at how damaged they are from the erosion of time. If we break through their armor, where it is already badly corroded, we should overcome the Level and Rank suppression. They are nothing but free experience waiting to be claimed. Each one should be worth ten shares of 2,000 to 3,000 experience each."

  Assuming the median value, if one could suck all the XP from one of the automatons, it would be enough to go from Level 1 to Level 8 in a single kill. That is quite the nice chunk of XP, but Raven Goddess might be the only cheater with a chance at acquiring it all. Even three shares per automaton will be quite a nice boost, it would be as much as I earned from killing all the zombies in the cave.

  Before the automatons get to the end of the benches, I hop over the tops of some of the benches and start leading them back the other way. Neither automaton tries to destroy any of the benches to get to me. I do not know if they were programmed in a way that makes them avoid random destruction or if they do not register the stone benches as destroyable. Whichever it is, it makes it easier to deal with the things.

  It seems strange to think of magic automatons and programming in the same concept, but even though they are constructs of magic, they are still programmed. The only difference is that instead of electromagnetic signals and storage, they use magic spells and enchantments.

  This automaton has a hand-sized section of armor in the middle of its thigh that looks almost rotted through.

  Clunk.

  Lunging at the automaton, I use the reach advantage of my staff and stab at the weak point on its thigh. The dull noise from the impact does not even sound like I am hitting metal. As the automaton makes another slow swing at me, I step back and check my combat log.

  Guardian Automaton: -1 Untyped Damage (Suppression: 99%) (Damage Reduction: (75 Damage Absorbed By Damage Resistance) Physical Mitigation (-23%) (101% Skill Expression (+110% Damage))

  "This is insane. Their Damage Reduction works against Untyped Damage, and I have 99% Suppression after defenses. That must be from Rank and Level. I'm only hitting for 1 point of damage."

  Because Rank and Level Suppression never reduces the damage done below 1, if you can get past the normal defenses of your target, you will always do at least 1 point of damage no matter what the level difference may be. From the way the data shows up in the combat log, the suppression is being applied to the damage after the other defenses are applied, and if the automaton only has 23% Physical Mitigation versus my attack, its armor is greatly weakened by the corrosion.

  All armor has a mitigation factor for damage. It is separate from any and all forms of Damage Reduction, which is normally the result of some sort of special Ability or Talent that a Monster possesses. Though, I have encountered both NPCs and players with Damage Reduction, but that was the result of magic items, as best I could determine.

  I am not sure if the Suppression or the automaton's Damage Reduction working against Untyped Damage is the bigger problem. Untyped Damage will normally cut through any and all Damage Resistance. With the exception of environmental effects like falling, it is a ridiculously rare Damage Type, and defenses that will actually block it are even rarer. Golems and other constructs normally have no defense against Untyped Damage. Even if these automatons are half-corroded, they are still special in a bad way.<
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  Raven laughs and sits down near the center aisle between the rows of benches. "If you break apart their weakened armor, you can damage the vulnerable internal parts. When you directly attack a vulnerability without any form of armor or defense protecting it, Suppression will no longer affect your attacks. Keep up the good work. Even with them being as slow as they are, I dare not get close enough to try and hit one."

  "You have a staff, too."

  "Yours is so much bigger than mine. I'll be cheering for you!" Raven Goddess grins like a kid in a candy store.

  "Thanks." I do not even attempt to hide my sour expression.

  As long as I do not stand too close, this automaton will never hit me, and as long as I keep going back and forth without letting the automatons get past the ends of the rows of benches, the automaton on the other side will keep turning around. This is nothing but a mind-numbing exploit of the automatons' programming.

  My hits slowly chip off pieces of the corroded armor, but it is going to take time to get through it. If I disable the automaton's leg, destroying it will be much easier. With the exception of not being able to take any breaks, it will be just another long and boring grind, little different from killing the zombies in the cave.

  When I played Primacy Online V , I hated these kinds of exploits, but I used every single one I encountered. If you can find them, they make Leveling up a lot faster and more efficient.

  Thud! CRASH!

  The automaton's leg finally gives out. It only took me a bit over an hour and a half to do enough damage to cripple it.

  "Are you going to disable the other or try to finish that one off first?" Despite Raven Goddess' serious expression, she has a glint of amusement in her eyes.

  "I was thinking about taking a break and letting you do some work."

  Raven Goddess frowns. "I am just a frail human woman. My staff is too short and light."

  I do not respond and just give Raven Goddess a flat look.

  With a smirk, she takes out her staff and tosses it to me. "Catch!"

  The lack of weight catches me by surprise. Her staff is made from black stained wood and mine is made from fire blackened metal. Hers is barely a tenth of the weight of my staff.