by Ryan DeBruyn
“Jeff give weapon!” Mur growls softly. I blink; luckily I do still have the goblin weapons. I take out the pile, and Mur moves from it and back to each corpse, crossing the green arms over stone axes, clubs, and maces. I watch for a moment before joining him.
I’m scalding hot and sweating one second and shucking off blankets before being ice cold the next. I think the scrape with death combined with the excitement and accomplishment of victory left my body confused. Is this the time for celebration or to review my life choices?
Instead of attempting to sleep, I choose to break down the relative ease of that boss fight. It was almost like we found the exact way it was meant to be done. Almost anticlimactic, but there is a part of me that grows in confidence throughout my assessment. That encounter seems to be set up in such a way to encourage the use of our exact tactics.
Just like Ride or Die, most low-level groups of adventurers avoid boss portals because the creatures inside are so much more powerful than the mobs outside. Recalling my weapon bouncing off the bone armor, I can agree with that assessment. Now, though, after the victory, I am curious about two things: If we enter another Leporid dungeon, would the encounter be the same? It seems that way, from remembered mercenary gossip. Second, if there is a sure-win strategy to this encounter—is there one for all boss portals?
I’ve only seen one other portal, and that was Chunkalunk’s Rodentia Dungeon. I examine that boss room in my mind’s eye and discover after hours that I might’ve found the method. Chunkalunk threw Acorns of the Great Oak up at the group above. Not only did it lob them up at the adventurers, but the projectiles also grew in size. Would it be possible to roll or heave the acorns back down at him?
I wake up this morning with that same compelling thought buzzing around in my skull. Despite little sleep, I’m full of energy and practically leaping out of bed to begin the day. The shower and breakfast are quick, and before I know it, I’m standing with Crash in an open area beside the weight area in the Training Room.
Mur is standing nearby as well and seems ready to go through our loot. Or maybe he is just thinking about having an entire Leporid corpse for brunch. That thought reminds me of my qi stores, and I find them just below one hundred this morning. I consider avoiding the town and gorging myself instead. . . like Mur.
One major problem with my thinking slaps me in the face. I have to check in at the church daily. It was part of my original ruling. So how exactly should I check in while avoiding Ride or Die? All I have come up with, so far, is finding another entrance each day and exiting randomly as well.
“Master, are you going to show me the loot from yesterday?” Crash interrupts my tangent. I shake myself out of my first depressing thoughts of the morning and instead focus on what has me bouncing to start the day.
“Loot!” Mur exclaims in English, and I stare at him in surprise. He just rubs his hands together and says, “Hurry.”
He really has been learning.
I dump out the subspace, smiling as the pile forms in front of me. Crash and Mur need to step back as it continues to grow. Three Leporid corpses and Snowball’s corpse take up the majority of the pile, but there are perhaps twenty roots, the quest item, and eight large shimmering stones. Plus the pelts, bones, and the four other pairs of ears we’ve collected. I can see my broken spear sticking up from inside the pile, and I sigh.
Today, I will need to spend more bitcoins on a new weapon. Every bitcoin or ounce of mithril I make just gets spent immediately. It’s a never-ending slog, and I think part of my excitement today is to see if a boss room’s loot will tip that scale.
First, we need to butcher the corpses and decide what new app to gain from the daily dungeon quest. In fact, with these four new pairs of ears, we’re doubling the number we had on the monthly quest. I’m starting to doubt we are going to be able to complete it in time. . .
“What do you think, Crash, can you break down the ore in that rock for us?” I ask my AI.
“No, Master. This rock contains impure mithril ore. A Smithy app would be needed to break down each one into approximately an ounce of the metal once impurities are removed.”
The stones are each, at a minimum, the size of my head. And they can only be broken down into an ounce?
“That’s it?” I whine and see Crash nod.
My eventual goal is to be able to slowly build my own self-sufficient factory within the Training Room. A smithy would go a long way to being able to refine minerals and perhaps even create my own weapons. Still, forgoing the twenty free points is more difficult this time, and I wonder at what point I can deem the Training Room applications complete. Truly, I still need something to increase my mental stats as well.
“Crash, F-rated apps don’t give daily quests and rewards, right?” I ask offhandedly as I pick up the quest item and walk to the quest board.
“Yes, Master, but the F-rated apps do give small aura benefits if you are working within them. For example, in a Smithy you will be more likely to succeed at crafting a weapon than if you were to attempt it outside of the Training Room.” My eyebrows rise, and my head tilts as I consider his words.
“So then what are the Locker Rooms and the Sleeping Cots doing?”
“Master, the Locker Room won’t offer you a quest ever, but as it is upgraded, you will be able to see more information about yourself in the mirror. The Sleeping Cots help you fall asleep faster and feel more rested after each sleep.”
“So at the F-ranks the Home Library and Strategy Games would do what?” I ask.
“Sire, they will give you a learning and comprehension boost while working within their areas of influence. After upgrading them to the E-ranks they will also offer daily quests, like the Gym or Kitchen. The Sleeping Cots will also offer a quest once upgraded.”
Would the daily dungeon quest’s free points be the best reward, or is investing in more apps for the Training Room better? If it were only me using the Training Room, the points would assuredly be the most efficient way to gain strength, but with Mur and the possibility of adding others—perhaps an investment in the applications would be of greater benefit?
The daily quest item becomes rising concrete walls on the far side of the room from the kitchen. In twenty-four hours, a Smithy will be there, and I can hopefully start gaining extra mithril to pay against my debt. The location choice makes me curious.
“Crash, if I wanted to design the layout of the room would I be able to?”
“Yes, Master, and the Training Room can grow larger as well, so you will never run out of space for more applications.”
Nodding my head, I move back to Mur to help in skinning and butchering the corpses of the Leporids. I see Mur with one of the minions. So I start with Snowball, who is brown as well under the layer of white bone armor. I can see all of the broken pieces of armor in the loot pile and am curious if we can sell it or use parts of it to make something akin to a shield. The problem, of course, would be the thickness of the rabbit’s bone armor would make it too heavy. It would either break into pieces or stop the attack without much in between.
It takes a few hours of bloody work, and a few reminders to Mur to stop eating and continue, before we are done butchering the four corpses. We also have more meat, bones, and pelts than ever before. I can’t help but hope that we can not only afford new weapons but also perhaps some armor after selling everything.
I leave one corpse’s worth of meat for Mur to devour, and the high-quality boss meat I keep for cooking meals. I hope the quests will be better when using the more powerful creature. Now, though, the question is, do I sell the rest of the meat and forgo my gorging strategy, or try to cultivate in the city again?
My inner miser wants to save money, and gorging on food is wasteful from that point of view. Yet, Mur doesn’t have access to the sun or moon—so him eating the food isn’t wasteful? There is some decidedly crooked logic in my head that I should probably work out. Right now, though, it’s time to visit the shop app. I need to sel
l and purchase a few items.
I remember my earlier thoughts about purchasing a new weapon and begin scanning the shop and auction house for something. Unfortunately, the names for the weapons mean little or nothing to me. I can tell by the pictures that some of the items are swords, knives, maces, or something else pointy and dangerous, but that’s it.
“Crash, could you suggest a weapon that is bladed but also keeps enemies at a distance?” I ask the air, knowing that the AI is always listening.
“Yes, sire. Do you still wish the weapon to be designed for melee combat?”
“Hmm.” I deliberate a moment, weighing options. I could use a pistol like those guards in town or any number of other firearms. They are quite effective against low-rank monsters and humans alike. On the other hand. . . “Crash, I think I will stick with a melee weapon. Even Barclay’s cultivation journal suggests it.” In fact, even the mercenaries and Leah used to suggest learning the intricacies of a melee weapon as you grow. That way, you can be stronger at high ranks.
“Then it should be a spear or naginata, sire.”
“What is a naginata?” I ask, testing the word for the first time.
“Sire, it is a long quarterstaff with a foot- or two-foot-long blade attached to the end. It can be used like a spear to a limited degree but excels at keeping enemies farther away.”
I first open the shop and click over to the sell tab.
*Run-Down Pawn Shop [Gray]*
Buy |
Item – Quantity – Price – Total
Snowball’s Exoskeleton – 0.9999 – 10 Bitcoins per – 10 Bitcoins
Leporid Skeletal Systems – 5 (Selling 4) – 1 Bitcoin per 2 – 2 Bitcoins
Leporid Meat – 225 Pounds – 1 Bitcoin per 15 pounds – 15 Bitcoins
Leporid Pelt – 5 – 1 Bitcoin per – 5 Bitcoins
Broken Spear – 1 – 4 Bitcoins per – 4 Bitcoins
Ever Root – 22 – 1 Bitcoin per – 22 Bitcoins
Total – 58 Bitcoins
Would you like to sell the listed items?
Yes | No
Clicking yes allows me to relax for one of the first moments I can recall in the Training Room. Thinking harder, it may be the first time I’ve felt this way ever. Fifty-eight more bitcoins brings my total to seventy-six. If we keep farming like this, that thousand-mithril total isn’t too far away.
Still, I need a new weapon.
Unfortunately, to be able to purchase a new naginata and a mace for Mur is too expensive, and just like that my dreams of armor fly out the window. With a sigh, I remove the mace and purchase the naginata for fifty-five bitcoins. The suction arm gets to work, and I am soon looking at a sleek new black quarterstaff with a gleaming two-foot blade on top. My urge to play around with the weapon diminishes when I see how sharp it looks. The auction house had an option for forty bitcoins, but I can’t afford to wait the twenty-four hours. Perhaps if we make good money tonight I can place a bid tomorrow.
My bitcoin total is back down to twenty-one, and I’m starting to see why money and pay were so important to all those mercenaries. This come and go of wealth is terrifying. It’s like there is something that just keeps reaching into my pocket and taking it.
With that reminder of bitcoins, it’s time to work out, and so I change into a new set of clothes that isn’t stained with blood from butchering.
During setup, I manipulate each station of mine until the quest is fully green, meaning it’s in the E-category. This change increases the amount of free physical points to four again and has the benefit of increasing both my Jade Bones and Iron Muscle foundations thanks to microtears. Mur, of course, has copied my setup exactly. So I point to the holo-screen.
“This all green, Mur?”
“Only here green,” he states as he points to the top of his screen and a few other random places. I’m right. The app is scaling the difficulty of the quest for both of us because I put the same weights on all of our exercises today.
“Add weight. Get green for Mur,” I grunt, and move toward his bar.
It turns out that we can get him to go green but only after increasing the weight on the bar to approximately three hundred pounds. I ask him to attempt to bench-press the bar and see Mur struggle minutely for the first time during a workout. I nod to myself, and we move around the room increasing his weights accordingly until he confirms that he does have an entirely green screen.
Then we start our warm-ups.
Chapter 35
September 4th, 151 AR
Jeff Turle
The workout difficulty leaves both me and Mur with the shakes. My breath feels impossible to catch, and my legs vibrate so badly that walking to the locker room becomes a real test of patience. Still, the four free physical points means that today I can increase my physical stats again.
I turn on the hot water, hoping that the heat will soothe my sore muscles. I figure ranking up will get rid of any leftover pains and so choose to save my qi. Thinking about rationing my qi reminds me of my highest priority today: Getting to another rooftop. To continue to grow as cheaply and efficiently as possible, I need one. That decision brings on a wave of worry. Each time I use a rooftop, I seem to be risking interaction with another powerful group from the Suburb or, far worse, the authorities. And yet, it’s a risk I must take to have any hope of avoiding groups like Ride or Die in the future. If I have any chance of being independent and strong, it lies with my cultivation.
But there’s not only me to consider; there’s also Mur. Since he automatically gains physical stats as he grows, I need to find a way to increase his mind stats. The only question is, should I prioritize my own growth? I chose the smithy with the acorn quest item as a way to hopefully pay off the debt to the church faster. Should I take the free points today from the quest item turn-in?
The simple answer I come to is no. I can take another one or two quest items from dungeons and ensure that Mur has an app or two that helps his mind stat growth. The fact it will help me as well solidifies the decision.
After my day’s second shower, I stand in front of the mirror and blink at the foggy Status display.
*Status*
Overall rank: F-2
Free points: 6
Free Physical points: 7
Free Mind points: 0
Status Effects: Chef’s Physical Boost [Green] (6 Hours remaining), Well Fed (22 Hours remaining), Fetid Odor [Yellow] (14 Hours remaining), Training Room [Purple]
Total Bitcoins – 21
Physical Stats – Chef’s Physical Boost +1 [Green]
Strength – F-2 {6 / 10}
Speed – F-2 {6 / 10}
Endurance – F-3 {5 / 10}
Mind Stats
Capacity – F-1 {8 / 10}
Synapse – F-2 {7 / 10}
Recovery – F-1 {8 / 10}
Spells & Skills:
Gartusk Language – F-7
Infusing – F-1
Iron Muscles – F-5
Jade Bones – F-5
Sea of Qi Size – F-5
Current Fill: 15 / 15
“Crash, my Mind Stats increased again,” I say excitedly, and the blue head appears on the foggy mirror. “How come they went up so much this time?” Mur walks in behind me from his own shower. His towel is wrapped around his head. But he barely has any hair?
“We cannot answer that precisely, Master. Our only guess is that you have used strategy to your advantage in fights.” Tilting my head, I wonder, does that confirm my thoughts on boss strategy from last night?
“Chief smart. Smart-strong,” Mur grumbles his own answer to my question and I’m unsure how to take a compliment on being smart from a goblin. Not because Mur is dumb, but because the Gartusk as a race have been portrayed to have ‘limitations’ there. I smile and nod at Mur before turning back to the mirror.
As the mirror continues to slowly clear of fog, I notice a new skill and hurriedly click it.
Infusing [Gray]
Qi sent from your
body will linger longer and remain under your control. The more qi used or controlled, the stronger the effect. This skill will not be able to create damaging spells.
Rank: F-1
“Crash, is [Infusing] what I think it is?” I ask, my pulse thumping in my eardrums.
“I do not know what you are thinking, sire,” Crash retorts with a head tilt in the mirror. I run my tongue along my teeth and stretch my jaw to release the tension from that remark.
“Crash, is infusing what infusers use to heal party members?” I clarify.
“Why yes, sire. But they are much better at it than F-1,” Crash says quickly. I slap my hand onto the mirror where the AI’s head is.
“That was rude,” Crash remarks, and I see the blue outline around my palm vanish. I shake my head and slowly lower my hand. Crash was clearly trying to get a rise out of me with his response, but I shouldn’t give it to him. I just don’t feel like being reminded of how weak I am.
Still, if what I did with my weapon was infusing, then I used it in a way I wasn’t aware of. Technically ‘Infusers’ are a rare type of cultivator that can heal others. They are sought out for grouping, and if I have the skill, I may be able to use it to gain access to much stronger groups in the future. Once it levels up. . .
On that note, I hurriedly top up my bars on four stats: Capacity and Recovery both get two free points and Strength gets one. Then, with my physical points, I add three more to Strength and four to Speed. I brace myself on the counter and close my eyes, relishing the feeling of the qi-like energy as it ripples through me. I shudder with the feeling it leaves behind before opening my eyes again.
