by Rick Scar
“Compass (Silver): Enchanted.
There is a secret shadow path.
It’s there, alright, but not in sight.
A simple thing holds simple math,
Just look at it through light.”
There was something off about this compass, but he couldn’t pin down what it was.
“Not exactly what I was hoping for, but still great. All of these are pieces of one quest! Ooh, could be a quest chain. Plus, those Shadow Order folks might have skills to share; I’m practically one of their kind. Shadow is my middle name! Ha-ha!”
There was nothing else in the room, except small door with a padlock, opposite the window. While picking the lock, RAVen was thinking how this room was out of place. The door squeaked, and he saw the rat right beneath him.
“Seriously, what would this room be for?”
Chapter 7. David and Goliath
He stopped thinking about it the next moment, when he shouldered his crossbow, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
-1
Miss
Miss
-1
In Ascension, all monsters were ranked: Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, and Duke. The lowest rank monsters had no tag at all.
The first hit made the rat squeal, and then it started sniffing the air above its hideous head, trying to smell the source of hostility.
Miss
-1
Miss
-3
When crit happened, it looked good against those ones and misses. After another round of shooting, the rat figured where the offender was and stared at RAVen with its rage filled eyes. The purple haze around those eyes was getting thicker, and, apparently, the monster didn’t know what to do—it couldn’t think of anything better, than just stand there, taking hit after hit.
Woosh.
Woosh.
Woosh.
The reloading time between shots gave the rat time to think of trying something—it was circling around the warehouse in a hope to evade RAVen’s attacks, but it kept coming right back to its initial position. Three hours later, its health was at 4700. For some reason, the monster didn’t regenerate, to RAVen’s advantage. If it had, he would have given up in the beginning. Will had nerves made of steel; he was shooting at the damn thing again and again without changing his position. First three quivers had quite an effect on the rat—patches of its skin and blood splatters were all over the place. The fifth quiver was almost empty, and the rat looked more like a bleeding porcupine than anything else, but was still above 50%. Six hours later, it was at 17%, and going down steadily, which was the only thing that kept Will from folding under pressure. Two hours more, and the rat fell like a ton of bricks. It spent its last breath on a plangent high-pitched roar, which made the rest of the horde stick their ugly noses out of their holes. There were four of them, but they were not as tough as their dying leader that Will was still shooting at.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” said he with a spiteful smile, knowing he wouldn’t be able to run away if he had to lure them out of the basement. The newly arrived reinforcement got a front row seat for the grand finale of the execution of their fellow rat.
“Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Congratulations! You’ve made the impossible!
Awarded the title: David and Goliath for killing a monster 10 levels above you.
+4 Strength
+2 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath II for killing a monster 20 levels above you.
+5 Strength
+4 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath III for killing a monster 30 levels above you.
+6 Strength
+6 Stamina
Awarded the title: David and Goliath IV for killing a monster 40 levels above you.
+7 Strength
+8 Stamina
Permanent bonus: +10 Level neglect
+45 Influence Points
Congratulations! You are the first player to kill a monster 40+ levels above you.
Awarded the title: Fearless.
Physical resistance is permanently increased by 12%.
+10 Physical damage
+6% Chance to deal critical damage to target 5+ levels above you
Your name will be known in the nearby lands.”
“15300 XP, level 9, and all these sweet bonuses! Sixteen hours of my life well spent. That level neglect is exactly what I need.”
One down, four to go—four more level 40 rats lined up for murder. Will distributed his hard-earned points between Strength and Agility, the remainder was spent on Energy. Then he stepped away from the doorway and logged out.
“What if it respawns? Hmm… Let it!
Chapter 8. A head start
At the age of nineteen, Mollie Houns was one of those hyped top 20 pro gamers. Rollin’ Dice—such was the name of her clan—would always make the top 10 list for any game they were playing, including Gates of Darkness, where they really made a name for themselves. The young lady was a born leader, any clan member could testify to that. She was rolling in sponsorship offers, and her gaming videos were a must-see.
Ascension made a predictable impression on her and worked like a red rag to a bull. Needless to say, the game was a smashing success. In fact, it was so popular, it set a new record of most number of active players in one day. This public frenzy was spurring her competitiveness.
Rollin’ Dice chose third Floor as their grinding base. They were numerous and growing fast, recruiting new players. Loot drops in Ascension were not as valuable as they were, say, in Gates of Darkness. The first day in the game brought Kingmaker—Mollie that is—only twenty one silver, which was next to nothing compared to five and a half gold for the first day in Gates of Darkness.
The girl logged out, and closed her eyes. She felt weary—it seemed as though this ascension wasn’t going to be a fun ride.
Mollie’s family were businesspeople, owning and operating a game capsule making company. She herself was a proud owner of one of those new generation capsules that stood in her room.
She made herself a tea, and sat at the computer in a cross-legged position. She checked the ratings first: one Crimson Berserker was at the top. The name was familiar to Mollie—Crimson Berserker was main aggro monger and a former leader of the Fortuna clan, an old-time rival of Rollin’ Dice. He was level four at the moment—there were not a lot of players who could achieve that in such short period of time. The rest of the positions, second through tenth, were three of Mollie’s clan members and their opponents. First days in a game are usually meaningless warm up, but this gap between the first place and the rest was a valid concern. She made another sip, and switched to reading forums. When the cup was empty, she went to bed.
The next two days were all about monster annihilation and clan management, yet Crimson Berserker was still ahead of the pack. He just kept leveling up, and, as much as Mollie hated it, there was nothing she could do.
Riqual Caverns, home to Coal Mantises, level three to five anthracite monsters, was turned by Rollin’ Dice into a grinding spot. The place was perfect: Mollie and her crew were slashing monsters non-stop.
“Hey, Maker, check this out,” the healer named Beglamore called, “there’s something going down here.”
“What is it?” Kingmaker asked.
“It’s the rating...”
Mollie, swinging her weapon, frowned, because she didn’t want to be reminded about her archenemy’s success, and said, “Listen, Bucky—that was Beglamore’s real name—I don’t care if that bastard leveled up again.”
“N-no, it’s not it,” said the guy with a voice of a shocked person, “it’s something else. You have to see this.”
“OK, but if you’re wasting my time with some nonsense, you’ll know what respawning feels like!” reacted the girl opening up the rating tab, “What the…?! Level nine?!”
“I know, right?”
�
��How is this possible? Son of a…! His name is hidden. Who is this guy? It’s been only three days, and he’s four levels ahead of Crimson Berserker!”
“Don’t ask me, I know as much as you!” said Beglamore in a self-justifying tone.
Soon, everyone was talking about that anonymous someone, at the top of the rating chart. This caused some serious ruckus among the players, so serious, people were asking administrators to punish the cheater. Crimson Berserker who had never paid any attention to ratings was as baffled as everyone else, after he got the message,
“Yo! Check out the ratings =)”
“No need, you know I develop fast.” replied Berserker not knowing how inappropriate his arrogance was this time.
“You definitely wanna see it. You got got!”
“lmao.”
“See for yourself.”
Which he, the clan leader’s right hand, did following his friend’s advice. He paused for a moment trying to find the right words.
“What the heck is this?! Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?? Who could have skyrocketed like this? What the hell!”
“Dunno, bro.”
Three days after he killed the first rat, Will was level fourteen. He didn’t know, that his progress was what everyone was talking about, because he had turned off the Show my name in the ratings option from the very beginning. He was going to maintain a low profile, just in case.
When RAVen logged back in, he saw that the rat had respawned. This was perceived as good news, and he immediately left a message for Pak, where he was asking for ten silver worth more bolts with extra fire, light, or holy magic damage.
“Ha-ha! Come to daddy!”
Yes, it was tedious and monotonous, but at the same time exciting; he couldn’t wait to finish off the rest of the rodents. The loot bag from the first rat was still there, so were the four weaker rats. RAVen was wandering if there were going to be more titles, and how many more level ups he was going to get, and if that was going to be enough to leave Skiavra. He was thinking that while shooting and reloading. Level neglect, improved stats, and more powerful bolts allowed for higher damage. His personal record was 21. Click! Another bolt inevitably hit the bleeding monster, piercing its skin. The rat shrieked, its demonic fellow rats backed it up, as if they knew they were next.
-12
Miss
Miss
-11
Four hours and thirty minutes of constant battering made the rat only seventeen percent alive:
“Cursed Rat: level 40.
Health: 781/4600.”
That was the fourth rat RAVen was butchering in the last couple of days. He was wasting fewer bolts than in the beginning, and fire was helping a lot, sometimes litting the target ablaze; DoTs lasted long enough too. Oldak was right about the magic, yet this increase in damage was of little consolation—the rats were still too hard to kill.
RAVen kept on attacking, and, ninety minutes later, another rat bit the dust.
“Level Up”
His last conflict lasted for ten hours, and its resolution made him level fifteen. He didn’t get any more titles, but that didn’t discourage him. Pak sent plenty of bolts, so he was determined to keep working. The goal was to kill all rats in one day, since there was no other way he could get to the loot. He looked at the time and left the game to make himself a sandwich and read the forums.
Who is this player?
Calibur wrote: The True Serenity guild is looking for number-one-rated player!
Eternal wrote: True Serenity sucks! True Chaos is where it’s at! Come join us, or contact us at any time.
Regular Joe wrote: Stop flooding! I’m just curious who this guy is. Has anyone seen him at all?
Bright Flare wrote: You fool! How are you going to recognize him, if you don’t know his name?
WHeeL wrote: Right. Inspect every player for LVL much? Ha-ha. LOL.
There were tens of topics discussing the mysterious player. Will, not knowing what the fuss was about, opened up the ratings page. What he saw made him stop chewing on the sandwich he was eating. Atop of the list was an unknown level 15 player with 75 Influence Points. Four levels behind, having as much as 42 Influence Points, was Crimson Berserker. Do-or-Kill, another guy with a whimsical name and 33 Influence Points, was level 11, and breathing down the leader’s neck.
“Wow.” said Will, when he realized he was the man of the hour. Then, he shrugged, scrolled down in a hope to find something new, and continued eating.
Chapter 9. Fearsome enemy
In the following week, Will was exterminating respawning rats. He was level thirty, which meant rats were dying faster. Three and a half hour faster. When the third rat was done with,
“Awarded the title: Fearsome Enemy.
Stronger monsters beware of you. When you are near, high level monsters automatically reduce their aggro radius by 5%.
+2% Main attack damage when attacking monsters 10 levels above you.”
He was, finally, close to finishing off the last of the rodents which had only 7% left. The floor of the warehouse was sticky, and slippery, and red in color. It was covered with pieces of mangy fur, and patches of flesh, and thirteen loot bags. At last, the wretched beast gave in, went down, and rolled on its side.
RAVen sighed with relief and was going to jump down from his hidey-hole to collect what was rightfully his, when he felt someone’s presence. He lay low and started sweeping up the warehouse with his eyes. Nothing was happening for a minute or so, but then the young man heard a nasty scratching sound. The source of the sound revealed itself shortly—a giant ten foot high rat crawled out of the cellar to the center floor. Purple haze was surrounding its entire body filling the space around it. Its enormous claws were inciting fear instinctively.
For a moment, Will forgot he was in the game. The rat was scraping the floor boards, producing that horrible sound and sniffing the air around it. Then, it slowly turned its head toward where Will was hiding.
“Oh, shoot!”
He pulled the trigger before he realized it. The loaded crossbow sent Will’s regards to the boss, and Will immediately moved away from the line of sight deeper into the room.
“Pack Leader (Viscount): level 51.
Health: ???”
“That’s bad. If I leave now, will the rats respawn? Will the boss still be here?”
One thing was clear—that was no usual mob, so RAVen didn’t feel like finding out what it was capable of. He was thinking over the course of action, when, suddenly, a massive hit into the wall of the hideout made him jump.
“Whoa! Now what?”
He looked down and, almost immediately, regretted it. Another hit came, and the walls trembled—the rat was lashing the hideout using its tail as a whip. RAVen wasn’t sure how long the flimsy construction, he was protected by, was going to hold. He started shooting at the monster. The rat returned the favor—it was trying to get puny human, but was only hitting the walls.
Miss
Miss
Miss
-14
The last shot set the effect—the rat was stunned and started waving its head around—which made it somewhat easier for RAVen to hit the target. Then, the bombardment continued with double force; planks in the walls cracked but didn’t break, which inspired hope, but only for a while. This duel lasted for five hours, during which, Will was sticking out the doorway only to take a shot and get back in immediately. He was missing and had to adjust the scope a lot, while evading the rat’s attacks. Finally, the floor damaged by the monster started falling apart with a frightening sound. Will knew, nothing good could come out of it, so he rushed to the window. When the room fell down, he was standing on the ladder by the outside wall, watching the rat hover over the fragments of what was left from the hideout. It took the monster two seconds to realize his assailant wasn’t there, so it started sniffing the air again. In a moment, their eyes met. They were eyeballing each other, until the rat made a sudden move—it dashed toward the door, obviousl
y wanting to get to RAVen from outside. He underestimated the monster and had to act quickly. He started climbing up as fast as he could. He was almost there, when the ladder bounced off the wall and started sliding down. Apparently, the monster just bumped into the ladder at full speed. RAVen jumped off the rung he was standing on and snapped at the edge of the roof. He pulled himself up and looked down.
“Phew! That was close!”
The ladder lied shattered to bits, and the rat boss was looking right in RAVen’s eye.
Chapter 10. The Cursed Shard
Will stepped away from the edge of the roof trying not to lose visual of the rat, which, for some reason, wasn’t going anywhere. Having considered all pros and cons, he decided he’d stay where he was and continue ruining the rat boss’s day. He switched to holy magic bolts, and pointed the weapon at the beast.
-15
Miss
-13
Miss
The rat twitched and moved a couple yards away, which was fairly pointless. Bolts were raining down on its head and body, delivering pain and causing indignation. Will didn’t know how much health it had left, but he knew, that the concept of “sitting duck” was hard of an idea for the rat to grasp. He kept shooting restlessly for ten hours straight. It was wearing him out and, eventually, started affecting the fire rate and accuracy.
Miss
Miss
Miss
-10
RAVen felt his arms were growing numb from all this shooting and reloading. Aim and fire! Reload, aim and fire! He was looking at the rat through the scope knowing, that everything ends. And right he was. The rat boss trembled, burst into purple flame and slowed down. The monster was bleeding pretty bad, and, two seconds later, it dropped dead.
“Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
