Awaken Online: Inferno (Tarot #3)

by Travis Bagwell

  “I was about to ask you the same question,” Finn replied in a dry tone. “I take it you don’t know where we are?”

  “No, sir,” Daniel replied, flashing weakly. “I was automatically dismissed when you were ejected from the game world, although my records indicate that your body remained. I suspect the game was treating you as a form of quest object for your companions.”

  “Great,” Finn said, running a hand through his hair. “Although, it seems they left their so-called quest item lying here in the dark.”

  “At least the room doesn’t appear to be on fire, there are no obvious explosives nearby, and we don’t seem to be under attack,” Daniel ventured. “That’s usually the case when you summon me.”

  “Hey, not every time—” Finn grumbled.

  “Those scenarios represent 76.38% of the times you summon me according to my records. Other circumstances often involve menial labor, experimental procedures, and so-called ‘scouting’ that frequently results in a confrontation.”

  A brief pause and the AI’s body flashed once. “In case you were curious, you have called on me exactly zero times just to chat and ask me how I’m doing. I also have no memory during the periods where I’m not present in this world. You could effectively equate my dismissal to your concept of death.”

  “Hmph, I’d argue it’s more like sleeping,” Finn grumbled, side-eyeing the AI. “Have you been experimenting with guilt now?”

  “I find it to be an intriguing concept. Julia explained that it’s more effective when coupled with something called passive aggression. Which seems like an oxymoron…”

  Finn stifled a sigh, rubbing at his eyes. “Well, you already seem quite good at it.” A faint flash of happiness from the AI was his response. “Either way, I suppose we should try to figure out where the hell we are,” he said finally, glancing around the cave.

  “Existing map data is… sparse,” Daniel reported, his voice distant – almost distracted. A floating map abruptly appeared in front of Finn. However, the entire display was grayed out, and the window stuttered slightly. He also didn’t see any icons for his teammates.

  Finn could only assume this was another “authentic” game feature. It made sense. If he didn’t know where he’d been taken, then he shouldn’t be able to pinpoint his location with a flick of his wrist. However, he was going to add this to his growing pile of too-damned-realistic game mechanics.

  “Perfect,” Finn muttered. His gaze shot to the group UI in the corner of his vision. His teammates were definitely online – that much was clear. Maybe they had decided to go ahead and entomb his old ass in this cave.

  With a quick gesture, Finn brought up his chat window and typed out a short message. Hopefully, they could update him on the situation and pick a location to regroup. However, as the seconds and then minutes ticked past, he received no response.

  “Perhaps they are otherwise occupied?” Daniel offered tentatively, breaking the silence in the cave.

  Finn grunted noncommittally. Frustration warred with worry in his mind. Despite his daughter’s penchant for messing with him, he doubted that Julia and Kyyle would ignore him intentionally, especially now that they knew about Finn’s bargain with the Seer. There was far too much riding on this game to mess around. Which likely meant they were either in trouble or physically unable to respond.

  “Damn it. It looks like we’re on our own for now,” Finn muttered, sparing a glance at Daniel. The AI’s glowing form flickered weakly.

  Let’s see if we can get a better idea of where we are and what’s nearby, Finn thought. He channeled his fire mana, using the simmering energy to burn away his own anxiety.

  Finn focused on the small cavern around him. The cave was too dark to make out his surroundings clearly, even with the light cast by Daniel’s flickering form and the glowing blue outlines cast by his Short-Sighted ability. With a brief command, Finn reactivated his Mana Sight.

  The world around him was immediately awash in a cascade of color. The walls glowed a dark luminescent green that indicated dense rock. That energy expanded outward in every direction for at least 100 feet. No obvious enemies were in sight.

  With a shift of his attention, Finn focused on the walls of the cave. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the surface lacked the symmetric marks of ant mandibles, and the color of the stone was a touch lighter than the Abyss – indicating that the stone was less dense. Sandstone was his guess. The walls were uneven and jagged, which spoke of natural rock.

  So, we’re definitely not back in the Abyss. One bit of good news.

  Finn glanced down at the stone slab below him. It was the only unnatural thing in the cave: a flat and uniform surface of stone that stood out in stark contrast to the jagged rock formations around him. The rock also glowed with an unnatural emerald hue. Maybe Kyyle had built him a bed? That seemed plausible since his pack also rested on the floor nearby. Although, that clouded his theory that they were in danger. Enemies didn’t usually tuck you in and neatly store your gear and weapons.

  Then Finn caught a telltale flash of orange from his left arm.

  His brow furrowed in confusion as he held up the stump, the burning sensation still lingering there. The ruined flesh glowed a dull orange, but it was the Najima that captured his attention. The globe of mana had been perverted. Tainted. It was riddled with dark-red lines of power that leached into the nearby flesh, the pattern reminding him eerily of an infection. Tendrils of energy also stretched from the arm and speared out into the cavern, drifting into the nearby wall and heading directly east.

  “What is this…?” Finn began aloud. Perhaps some lingering aftereffect of his confrontation with Bilel? He had stopped the transition into a hellhound, but maybe the staff had still managed to partially corrupt his Najima. That might explain the tendrils of mana that drifted through the room. The relic had been designed to continuously drain energy after the transformation, after all. If he was right, then Finn was most likely somewhere roughly west of Lahab.

  Although, that just raised another question. Had this corruption affected his stats?

  He supposed there was one way to find out.

  With a grimace, Finn pulled up his Character Status. He was rewarded with a barrage of notifications. It seemed he hadn’t checked his notices since his battle with Kalisha and Malik and his encounter with Bilel…

  x10 Level Up!

  You have (50) undistributed stat points.

  X1 Spell Rank Up: Imbue Fire

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 9

  Cost: 200 Mana

  Effect 1: Imbues a weapon with fire mana, increasing the weapon’s base damage by INT x 14.0 %. Can only be used on unenchanted metal weapons.

  Effect 2: While channeling, allows the caster to increase the heat in ranks, up to a current max heat rank of [4]. Each heat rank increases damage by INT x 5% while increasing the channel cost by 50%.

  Channel Effect: Allows user to control the weapon within his control range at a cost of 25 mana/sec.

  x4 Spell Rank Up: Mana Absorption

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 1

  Cost: 70% of mana drained as health damage.

  Effect 1: The caster can absorb ambient fire mana, adding the energy to their total mana pool.

  Effect 2: Increased absorption range, sensitivity, and area of effect.

  x5 Spell Rank Up: Haste

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 2

  Cost: 200 mana upon activation. 67.5 stamina/second sustained.

  Effect 1: Increases total speed by 36.0%.

  Effect 2: Reduces stamina cost by 11%.

  x2 Skill Rank Up: Flameworking

  Skill Level: Intermediate Level 6

  Effect 1: 40% increased power when shaping objects subject to Imbue Fire.

  Effect 2: 20% increased control when shaping objects subject to Imbue Fire.

  System Notice

  You have undergone a second body augmentation, severing your left arm and wrapping the ruined limb in
a coating of dense metal. The extremity is now permanently damaged, and the effect will persist upon death and respawn. Whether this injury can be healed is unknown.

  Similarly, while you survived the confrontation with Bilel and the fire relic, the experience has afflicted your body with a magical illness. The Najima in your left arm has been corrupted, and the staff is still leeching a small portion of your mana, reducing your base stats by 10%. This effect will persist upon death and respawn until the illness has been treated. As you continue casting, the infection will spread at an unknown rate.

  Think of this as a minor “hand-icap.” Pun intended.

  Character Status

  Name:

  Finn

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  102

  Class:

  Fire Mage

  Race:

  Human

  Alignment:

  Lawful-Neutral

  Fame:

  1800

  Infamy:

  0

  Health:

  1990

  H-Regen/Sec:

  7.23

  Mana:

  2232

  M-Regen/Sec:

  43.94

  Stamina:

  1405

  S-Regen/Sec:

  9.00

  Str:

  42

  Dex:

  90

  Vit:

  149

  End:

  90

  Int:

  391

  Will:

  27

  Affinities

  Dark:

  2%

  Light:

  10%

  Fire:

  49%

  Water:

  5%

  Air:

  3%

  Earth:

  11%

  “Well, shit,” Finn grumbled, his voice echoing in the small cave. He swept aside the notices with a frustrated wave of his hand. He wasn’t certain what to do with his points right now anyway, so he might as well sit on them.

  The damage to his arm was indeed permanent. His guess was that it was technically possible to reheat and remove the metal, but that process would hurt like hell. The strain on his mind and real-world body would likely be too great, and so the game had stopped him from making the attempt.

  That alone was bad enough, but Bilel had also left Finn with a lingering present. It seemed he hadn’t fully escaped the staff’s influence. The relic’s leeching effect had reduced his stats, and that reduction was layered on top of whatever the Seer was already claiming as her usual cut. Oh, and the prompt seemed to imply that the infection would continue to spread as he used his magic.

  It seemed everyone wanted a piece of him.

  Except he was starting to run out of body parts.

  “Great,” Finn muttered. “So, we’re in a strange cave. We’re possibly in danger. Our teammates have gone radio silent. I’ve lost my arm. And I’m now suffering from a semi-permanent debuff that will only make me weaker over time. Oh, and we still need to figure out how to kill an unstoppable demon that has had a century to gorge himself on unsuspecting mages. Because this was feeling too easy before…”

  “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about figuring out which way to go,” Daniel offered. His form floated over to the sole entrance to the cave, a passage that quickly faded into darkness. With his enhanced sight, Finn could only see an ocean of green lingering behind that wall, no telltale glimmer of mana giving away the presence of other life.

  “Forgive me if I don’t dance with joy,” Finn snapped.

  He saw the AI’s light dim. “Shit. I’m sorry, Daniel. I shouldn’t take this out on you. This is just a messed-up situation.”

  Finn let out a sigh, rubbing at his temple with one hand and trying to tamp down on the frustration simmering in his chest. To make matters worse, his stump was still throbbing – an ache he suspected wasn’t going to disappear any time soon.

  Even as that thought flickered through his mind, Finn’s lips tugged into a grimace. He couldn’t solve most of his problems – not yet, at least. But perhaps he could improve on his useless arm. He was probably going to have to fight his way out of this cave. Which meant that he needed to prepare and arm himself, regardless of how that might affect his newfound magical illness.

  His injury was a liability – one he needed to address now.

  And he already had an idea for how to improve the ruined limb.

  “You have that look again,” Daniel commented, bobbing around Finn’s head. “The one that usually precedes a violent confrontation… and explosions.”

  Finn spared a grin at the AI. “Nothing that bad. I was just thinking of ways to fix my arm.” As he spoke, he grabbed at his pack with his uninjured hand and began burrowing through its contents. Letting out a sigh of relief, his fingers wrapped around a familiar, hard sphere. At least all of his equipment was still here.

  He withdrew the dark metal orb. With a flick of his wrist, Finn sent the sphere sailing into the air, his fingers already moving as arcane words tumbled from his lips. Flames soon wrapped around the metal, and the dense chunk of ore stopped in place before striking the ground. Finn pumped more mana into the spell, swiftly ratcheting up the temperature to heat rank level 4. The metal soon warmed to a bright red, and droplets began to drip from the sphere. With another twitch of his fingers, Finn set the orb to spinning to keep the molten metal from breaking apart.

  Only moments later, a brightly glowing metal orb hovered in front of him. Finn squinted as he focused on the sphere with his enhanced sight. Pinching at the metal, he drew it out into a thin cylinder before smashing the substance flat. He kept the metal as thin as possible, while still ensuring that it would be durable enough to take a hit. Then he tapered the tip down to a fine point. As a finishing touch, Finn flattened the end of the blade slightly, creating a shallow cup of molten metal.

  A roughhewn blade about a foot and a half long soon lingered in the air, the metal still awash in flame. Finn glanced down at his left arm with a frown. This next part was going to be a bit uncomfortable.

  “What are you—?” Daniel began.

  Finn didn’t give the AI a chance to finish that thought… or for himself to back out.

  He lifted the metal-coated stump, and the fingers of his right hand twitched. The molten blade sped forward and struck his left arm squarely. The base fused around the colder metal of Finn’s stump, swiftly heating it. The flesh and muscle began to tingle and then burn as the metal grew warmer – the sensation soon overwhelming the ever-present simmering ache that lingered in the ruined limb.

  That burning sensation grew to a painful fire, and the skin around the stump began to redden and welt under the heat, causing his health to dip precariously. Finn squeezed his eyes shut and let out a hissing breath, his control trembling. Yet he ground his teeth together and forced himself to hold still. He needed to maintain the channel long enough to ensure that the metal fused properly. The last thing he wanted was his makeshift weapon falling off in the middle of a fight.

  Finally, he released the spell.

  The fire winked out, and the metal of the blade now glowed brightly in the darkened tunnel. The substance swiftly began to cool, regaining its normal dark appearance. Finn’s breath came in ragged gasps, several precious minutes ticking past as he sat there and willed the burning to subside. The pain eventually began to abate as his natural regeneration healed the welted flesh around his stump.

  He spared a glance at his left arm. A thin dark blade now jutted from his elbow. The blade was well made and seemed structurally sound. Although, despite Finn’s attempt to keep the metal thin, it was heavy. He tested it by smacking the weapon against the stone slab he was using as a seat. It held. However, the metal was rough – too coarse to cut anything.

  I can also fix that problem…

  Finn rummaged through his pack again and soon pulled out one of his old makeshift sawblades that he
had created in the Abyss. The diamond-like ant mandible still coated the ridge of the disk. With another uttered incantation and a few deft movements of his fingers, the disc was soon awash in flame and spinning up to speed. Finn rose from his perch, knelt beside the stone table, placed his new blade on the surface, and set to work, using the saw blade to gingerly sharpen the edge of the blade. Within only minutes, the weapon had a razor-sharp edge and tapered down to a needle-like point. A droplet of blood formed along Finn’s finger as he ran it down the blade.

  “This’ll work for now,” he grunted, retaking his feet and swiping the makeshift weapon experimentally through the air. It was going to take some time to get used to the weight, awkward reach, and reduced flexibility. But it was better than nothing.

  “Hmph. An improvement, but your sense of self-preservation could still use some work,” Daniel observed dryly.

  “Hey, that was actually the goal,” Finn retorted. “A sword arm is more useful than a stump. Although…”

  He drifted off, his fingers moving through a few swift gestures. His Magma Armor soon slid across his left shoulder and ran down his arm. The substance shielded the ruined limb and drifted out a few inches across the top side of the blade, creating a protective guard around the base of the weapon. Then Finn pulled another dark metal orb from his pack and set the sphere aflame, letting it hover beside him as his fingers maintained the channel.

  “Alright, now I think we’re ready,” Finn said. “Good enough for you?”

  Daniel just flashed once in tepid agreement. “Sure. I guess. Our odds of surviving a conflict have increased by approximately 3.6%.”

  “Thanks for the rousing support,” Finn muttered.