by James Hunter
There was something about the way he stood—shoulders back, a contemptuous sneer gracing his lips, eyes squinted, one hand resting on the hilt of a sword at his hip. This guy wasn’t an ostentatious overblown jerk like Octavius or even Barron Calloway… no. Something worse by far. This guy gave off the vibe of a sociopath, the kind of person who liked to pull off spider legs for the sheer pleasure. Even worse, he was walking toward them.
“Dizzy.” The obvious sociopath leaned over and spit onto the street while his team fanned out around him in a semi-circle. “You give any thought to my offer? Time’s running out, but there’s still room for you and your… playmates in the Hardcores.”
“Not a chance, Headshot.” Her voice was dripping venom. Dizzy rolled her eyes and dropped a hand to her massive maul, mirroring the man’s posture. “Especially not after that crap you pulled a few days ago. I’m done with you. Let me say this clearly enough that someone with even a walnut-sized brain like you can understand. You. Are. Toxic. Anyone with even a shred of common sense will stay as far away from you as they can get.”
“I always love it when you talk pretty to me.” Headshot’s gaze was bouncing to each member of Dizzy’s party in turn. It came to rest on Sam and Finn. “Ooh, fancy boys! What do we have here, huh? Robes, staff, potions. Why, if I didn’t know any better, Dizz, I’d think you’d found a couple magic users and were holding out on me.”
Dizzy repositioned herself in front of the man and extended an arm, planting her palm on his chest so he couldn’t take another step forward. “I’m not holding out on you because I don’t owe you anything. Anything. You stay away from them, Headshot, and you stay away from my guys, or I’ll make it my personal mission to burn you and everything around you to the ground. You hear me?”
“Oh, I hear you, but how’s about you open up those pretty little ears of yours for a second. You’ll regret this.” His voice was as sharp and as cutting as a live blade. Sam’s mouth was dry. How did someone get that freaky in just a few days? It had to be a skill, intimidation, maybe? Sounded right.
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Her lips were pulled back in a snarling grin. “You’ll never be strong enough to take me out if you keep losing experience from player killing. Now, if you’re done, how about you stop harassing real gamers and get lost, loser. You and your whole brain-dead crew. Who should all abandon you before you do something too stupid and get caught in your mess.”
Before Headshot could reply, she moved, shoulder checking him and subsequently punching a hole right through their ranks. Sam followed behind her, offering the big talker a frosty stare of his own.
“Should we be worried about him?” Sam quietly asked once they were finally clear of the gates, leaving Headshot and the rest of the Hardcores behind.
“Guy’s a total punk,” she scoffed, the epitome of confidence. “Don’t sweat him or the Hardcores. They talk a mean game, but they can only really target the newest of newbs. The only thing you have to worry about is staying alive long enough to take out all the mobs we’re about to pull for you guys.”
Avoiding bad company is the key to long term success, everyone knows that! Well, except all the people who constantly get it wrong. Not you, though! Even with your abysmal perception, you know a truly bad apple when you see it. Good work! Wisdom +1, Perception +1. Seriously, though, those guys are the worst!
“Wow. The game is rewarding me for staying away from them.” Sam told his group. The glares turned onto him for a long moment, before snapping back to Dizzy.
“Alright, everyone,” Dizzy boomed, projecting her voice so the whole crew could hear her. “Now, I know your blood is hot right now, but don’t let those guys get into your heads. We can’t afford to play sloppy. Instead, use that anger to be absolute murder-machines out there! Today is all about our two new teammates. We’re gonna pull mobs and push them to level like no one’s ever leveled!”
“To that end,” Dizzy continued her speech, “I think it’s best if we split up for the time being. Bigger parties mean fewer challenging encounters, which means less overall experience. So, we’ll chop it down the center. Me and Arrow,” she nodded to the gangly Ranger who’d gotten them drinks earlier, “will take Finn due east, bypassing rabbit territory and making for the fox zone. Since Finn is a native and can’t respawn like the rest of us, we’ll be playing it safe and conservatively.”
Finn looked pleased as punch that he’d been paired with Dizzy.
“Sam, Finn, this is Cobra_Kai_Guy.” She waved a hand at a stocky man with flowing hair tied up in a top-knot, beef-slab arms, and a heavy linen garment that looked like a judogi, though one without sleeves. “Everyone just calls him Kai or Guy. Sam, for the time being, he’s gonna be your group’s squad leader. Kai, I want you and Sphinx to take Sam out to the northwest. Rumor in the bar is that there’s a Direwolf or maybe even a pack of Wolfmen lurking around that area.
“Intel isn’t close to accurate since all we have is gossip, but the high number of player deaths over that way tells me there’s something going on. Since Sam is looking to grind and grind fast, your crew can play things a little closer to the edge. Take some risks. True, you might all get wiped out, but the chances of pulling down big experience are way~y~y better if you’re all willing to roll the dice a little. He’s still low level, so I say it’s worth the gamble. Anyone have any questions or comments about that?”
Nothing but crickets in reply. Everyone knew to hold their tongues when it came to grinding hard. “Good. Then let’s get out there and make it happen. Remember, everyone! Play smart. Play your roles. We don’t need heroes; we have plans, and good plans are better than heroes any day of the week. Stick to it, and we’ll rendezvous inside the gates before dark.”
She paused and look at each of them in turn. “This last bit is important. If, for some reason you get separated, you get back here. Make sure you get back before dark.”
“What happens at dark?” Sam felt naive, but it was better to ask than to get in trouble.
“They close the gates, which is the next best thing to a guaranteed death sentence. So far, not a single soul that’s been trapped outside the gates after dark has survived.” Plan made, the two teams split. Dizzy, Finn, and Arrow taking off in one direction, while Sam and his two new teammates started trekking in another, cutting through the tall grasses and low-clinging scrub brush outside the city walls.
Game trails covered the area, which made finding the mobs closest to the city walls ridiculously easy.
“Bro, we’ve totally got incoming,” Kai called, his light voice mellow like some of the SoCal surfer kids Sam had gone to Berkeley with. Up ahead, Sam caught his first glimpse of the Mobs that called this little chunk of land home. Bunnies. Although, to be fair, these weren’t precisely your average, run-of-the-mill rabbits. They were the size of large bobcats, and each had a small, blunt horn protruding from their skulls. They were also quick, territorial, and mean little things.
“Sam. See that little hill?” Kai waved toward a small rise, positioned at the end of a grassy valley. “Just post up there, and I’ll funnel these little dudes your way. Hopefully, they’ll come at you one at a time. Sphinx, there’s another burrow about thirty feet up, go pull ’em back this way.”
Sam followed instructions as the surfer-turned-Monk slipped among the small swarm of incoming bunnies, moving like a serpent as he evaded bashing techniques and narrowly avoided chomping, square teeth. It almost looked like he was performing some sort of complicated, pre-rehearsed kata. Twirling, ducking, diving, moving from one stance to another, many of the stances Sam recognized on sight from long nights in his dojo. Back Stance. Cat Stance. Half Moon Stance. Open Leg Stance. There were about twenty other stances that Sam couldn’t even begin to guess at.
Despite the absurd number of bunnies closing in around Kai, he never took a hit and never delivered one either. Definitely a Monk class. Kai continued to dance and weave, drawing the vicious rabbits into the narrow valley between the two hi
lls, luring them closer and closer… ten feet out, then nine, eight.
Finally, when he was just a few mere feet from Sam, the Monk leaped into the air, flipping and twirling as he sailed over Sam, landing as gently as a kitten on the grass. Which, of course, left Sam open and completely exposed to the horde of furry death. The rabbits faltered for a moment, apparently bewildered and mystified by the Monk’s sudden disappearance, but they quickly located a new target to focus their furry fury on—the poor little Mage just a handful of feet away. As one, they let out a cacophony of squeaky roars and charged en masse, moving more quickly than the sewer Jellies ever had.
Sam was ready and responded on sheer instinct. He lifted his hands. The voluminous sleeves of his new coat fell away. Sam began pumping his arms, spamming Wind Blade like there was no tomorrow. His time down in the sewers had bumped the skill up to Novice III, which hadn’t increased the damage, though it had added a tint of blue light to each attack. As a result, a flurry of blue slashes filled the air, chewing through the rabbits with pitiful ease. The first blow landed straight on and cut the lead rabbit clean in two, while his next sheared off a bunny leg, crippling the creature before a third finished the task for good.
The fearless rabbits kept right on coming, leaping over their downed brethren in a mad scramble to exact vengeance. The problem for them was that the valley forced them to come at Sam in a single file line. It was a perfect chokepoint of sorts, which turned the depression into a killing field. Obliterating the whole lot of them was the work of seconds and felt almost… unfair. Seriously, it was like shooting fish in a barrel—or in this case, rabbits in a funnel. Thanks to the almost absurd amount of Mana he could bring to bear and the relatively low cost of his Wind Blade spell, it didn’t even sap all that much of Sam’s Mana pool.
But before he could get settled, Sphinx materialized out of thin air, her legs a virtual blur as she sprinted toward him, shooting up trails of dirt in her wake. Following behind her was another fifteen or twenty rabbits, though the precise number was hard to count. “Ope, get ready, sweetheart! This little group of misters is very angry. Oopsie!”
This was the first time Sam had heard the mysterious-looking Sphinx speak, and he was completely blindsided by what he heard. She sounded like a Wisconsin native! Who in the world were these people, and where had Dizzy recruited them from?
Sam shook his head—there would be time to answer questions like that later. For now, he was in bunny slayer mode. He planted his feet wide, took a few deep breaths, and unleashed the next round of Wind Blades. The spell took one and a half seconds to cast, a tiny bit more when he was casting it with each hand, but currently did nine damage on hit. As far as he could tell, that was nearly triple the health these things had. If the Wind Blade wasn't stopped by something, it continued for the entire ten-meter range.
This translated into slaughtering the incoming wave of bunnies, who followed the exact same route as the previous group, despite the fact that the way was littered with bodies and bunny gore. This group of rabbits, though far more numerous than the last, didn’t fare any better. Sam cut them down like a farmer taking a sharpened scythe to a grain harvest. Once the last long-eared head toppled from furry shoulders, Sam just stopped and stared at the corpses. “Yikes. I guess I needed to have sharp words with them, but still. It was knife to know them. Shanks for your time.”
Wow. This whole time he’d been thinking his training at the College was worthless, but if this encounter was any indication, then he’d been woefully wrong. He was awesome! So was magic! Really a cut above the rest!
Angry Horned Rabbit x23 defeated. Bonus: Unassisted Victory, Flawless Victory. Exp: 138 (4xp * 23 rabbits * 1.5 for Bonus Content). For fighting smarter not harder, Wisdom +1.
Skill increase: Wind Blade (Novice VI). Killing makes you better at killing again. Yay you!
Title unlocked: Bunny Reaper. When this title is actively displayed, you strike fear into the hearts of Rabbits, making them take 11% bonus damage! Good job striking terror into rabbits. You must be really proud of yourself.
Bunny Reaper! Oh, heck yeah, that was a way better title than High Five, I Tried! Plus, his previous titles would still work even when not actively equipped, while this new one required him to display it for the bonus. That was a no-brainer considering the circumstances. He quickly pulled up his character sheet and swapped titles with a thought. A glance at his Wind Blade spell made him pause. The damage had jumped to eighteen per hit, but the cost had also jumped to twenty-four per cast after spell efficiency reduced the Mana cost. He could only send off twelve or so blades at a maximum now!
“Whoa. Dang, dude,” Kai the Monk guy slapped him roughly on his shoulder. The friendly gesture sapped Sam’s health by five points, doing more damage than the entire group of rabbits had. The Monk hardly even seemed to notice. “Cool attacks, but you really need to work on your kill-quips.”
"They died from natural causes. A blade of wind cutting them apart would naturally kill anyone." Sam got a nod for this attempt at humor.
“That was some seriously impressive grindage, bro. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone kill the rabbits like that. No wonder Dizz was so gung-ho to recruit you and your buddy.”
“You can say that again, Kai!” Sphinx appeared on Sam’s other side. “That was some gosh darn impressive work, buddy! I like my class, but maybe I should rethink it all and go back ta try again! I took the tests too, but maybe I just didn’t push far enough to get a class like that.”
“Dudette, that’s not the way to think about it, ya know?” Kai headed over to the slaughtered bunnies and dropped down onto a knee, pulling a simple stone knife from a thick silken sash wrapped around his midsection. His hands moved with practiced ease as he parted skin and muscle, parceling up the meat and pelts. “Like, if you’re always measuring yourself against other players, you’re constantly gonna be rerolling. And here’s the thing—every class has its own, like, advantages and stuff, ya know? Besides, your class is totally cool. Gonna be super powerful in the late game.”
“Oh gosh, you really think so?” Sphinx responded, a hint of red creeping into her cheeks.
“Totes, sister. Totes.”
“What is your class, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sam asked as he watched the pelts practically fall off the rabbits.
“Oh, of course, I don’t mind sharing, sweetheart. I’m an Infiltrator, which is a sub-class of Rogue with a bent toward killing and sabotage. I’ve been talking with a few Master Rogues, and apparently, it’s the best sub-class for those who will later go on to specialize as Assassins.”
“Specialize?” Sam quirked an eyebrow. “I haven’t heard that term before.”
“Whadda ya mean, ya big goof? You mean to tell me that no one at that fancy College of yours has explained the way specialization works?” She pursed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. “Okay. Let me see if I can explain it for you. Everyone starts off with a base class—some rare, some basic, and just about everything in between, know—but they don’t keep their base class forever, now do they?”
“No, no. When a person reaches level ten, they get to specialize, and there are an awful lot of different specializations. Even some hidden ones that no one knows about, if ya believe the gossip out there. Having a rare base class almost guarantees you’ll get a rare specialization, but even the most common base classes can unlock some gosh darn intriguing playable options under the right set of circumstances.”
“As an Infiltrator, chances are I’ll end up as some sorta specialized Assassin. If I keep progressing, I’ll find a proper class trainer to initiate me into the Assassins, at which point my class will officially turn from Infiltrator to Assassin. From there, I’ll keep working, training, completing assignments until I specialize even further—probably end up as a Death Adept, Free Blade, or a Temple Assassin. Going that route will mean I can’t pickpocket or steal like a typical Rogue, but I’ll be stealthier than a shadow and deadlier than a mama mo
ose protecting her calf.”
“You want to be an Assassin?” Sam was more than a little shocked. It just didn’t seem to fit. Why in the world would this sweet, midwestern mom want to go online and murder people?
“Sure do. It’s a nice change of pace, I suppose,” she offered Sam a smile and a shrug. “Quite different from what I do normally. I’m a middle school teacher, but since school’s out, I thought spending some time in here would do me good. Get back to my gaming roots, dontcha know. At first, I was a little worried about the Assassin path, since this whole game is just so gosh-darn real, but I talked to my therapist about it and she seems to think it’ll be cathartic for me. Just sort of purge all the simmering, pent-up rage building inside my chest like a hurricane of blood and fire. Use it up in a game, yah?”
Wow, that had gotten really dark, really quick.
“Okay then. So, where do we go next?” Sam edged a few steps away from Sphinx, eager to change the topic to literally anything else.
“Well, bro, if you want the big experience gains, we gotta head into Wolfman territory. No way you’re gonna put up big numbers taking out these guys.” He nudged the corpse of a bunny with the toe of his canvas shoe. “For now, we’ll work our way into fox territory and see how you do against those little, furry dudes. They’re tougher than the bun-buns, but I think you’ll be okay. After that, the real grindage starts.”
Chapter Sixteen
For the next several hours, they murdered their way through rabbit and fox territory while the sun slowly traced an arc through the sky. They finally paused when the blazing orb stood directly overhead like the watchful eye of some great, golden god. Since it was noon, they decided on a quick bite to eat—grilled rabbit meat and bread provided by Sphinx. After all her talk of death, killing, and assassinations, Sam was understandably wary about eating anything she’d touched, but the food ended up being excellent. He was sure the taste was helped by the fact that he didn’t immediately die. Strange how that can change how you perceive a meal.
