“Those lumps are tubers, feel free to try one,” Grayson dug one out of the fire with his boot and kicked it toward me.
“Are they good?” I asked.
“Delicious. I enjoy them in the early morning,” Grayson put his hand under his chin and extended his index finger next to his nose. “Come to think of it, I also enjoy them in the afternoon and evening.”
“Absolutely fascinating,” I said with a sarcastic smirk.
“Hey, Grayson. Who’s your favorite person in the world?” Karian asked him.
“Why you are, of course, my dear,” Grayson’s right eyebrow quirked up as did the corner of his lip.
“Isn’t he great?” Karian said.
“You said that already,” Oz said.
I ignored her fawning over Grayson and stretched my arms out to test the robe, then I pointed my hands like I was going to cast another bolt of ice.
“Do the hand gestures help?” Karian asked. “Like I said I hadn't had a chance to test a magic spell yet. I like focusing on my skills with the blades. I’m keeping the bandit’s knives, by the way. They’re only one level below me, but they’re wickedly sharp,” Karian said.
“I guess I need to start punching stuff so I can become one of the Calia Rai of the East,” Oz grumbled.
“I thought you wanted to use the sword,” I asked Oz.
“I was kidding. You play a mage in the game, and it seems to be your calling. Karian likes driving daggers into people’s chest, so that’s her calling. I haven’t found mine yet, but the short sword will do.”
“I’ve always identified as a bowman. Whilst my childhood friends had their own skills, I was drawn to the beauty of an arrow in flight,” Grayson said.
“Drawn,” I muttered.
Oz chuckled but looked down.
“As I was saying, the bow was my weapon of choice.”
“Was it your aim to become a bowman even at an early age?” I asked and tried to keep a straight face.
“You could say that, yes,” Grayson said.
“Hey, Grayson. Did you hear what the archer who shot a bullseye won?” Oz asked.
“An award I should think.”
“He got a pissed off bull,” Oz said and bent over as laughter finally got the better of him.
“You guys are awful,” Karian said, but I couldn’t help but notice the smile on her face.
“THE BEST WAY TO train in this world is just to go out and do it. See those giant wasps?” Karian pointed at a group of three or four who hovered near the ground. They were the size of small pigs and had long stingers.
We had wandered about a quarter mile from our camp and found the bugs hovering in the field.
“Those bugs are huge,” Oz said. “What about those lizard things you and Walt mentioned?
“I guess they’re not out in force today. Maybe we’ll come across some on our way back,” Karian said.
Oz had decided to change things up and carried the spear I’d tried using earlier in the day. He also had his sword, now in a proper sheath, strapped to the side of his leg, and on a belt that was much sturdier than the piece of cloth used to hold up his pants.
Oz had also strapped on some decent boiled leather over chainmail. It wouldn’t win any beauty contests but he had challenged me to punch him in the gut, and when I did he said he barely felt it.
“I sure as hell felt it,” I said and shook my wrist.
“I didn’t, and that’s the point.”
We had left Grayson behind to guard the camp. He put his back to the big rock I had leaned over and hit the guard from the day before and promised to keep his eyes open, and his ears tuned to the land, whatever the hell that meant. I have to be honest, the thought of killing him the way we had killed the bandit did cross my mind a time or three.
“Okay. I’ll hit them with a blast of ice then you finish the bugs off,” I said to Oz.
“Why don’t you help finish them off with that mace?”
“Because I’m the mage. I’m not a damage-dealing tank. That’s your job,” I replied.
“Now we have jobs? What’s Karian’s job then?”
“To make sure you two numbskulls don’t get killed again,” Karian replied.
She stood near us with her long blades drawn, and just out of range of the wasps.
“Fair enough,” Oz told her with a sharp nod.
“Fine. I’ll kill mobs with the mace as well. Just be ready. Now, are you going to stab them or throw the spear?”
“If I throw the spear I won’t have it in my hand anymore, now will I?”
“Man. You’ve been in a pissy mood since last night,” I said.
“With good reason. Dying was a wake-up call, and it sucked. I don’t want to go through that again. I’m having some PTSD or something. Just do your job, mage.”
I frowned and prepared to unleash a bolt of frost. Then I got a very good idea.
I thought of the first shapes I had learned and then threw in a flourish where I lifted my hands into the air.
The flow of mana left me like a breath and almost felt like some of my essences flowed out of my fingers. The fingers of Draedor sprang to life underneath the wasps and snagged two of them. The second set of symbols leaped to mind, and I pointed at the wasp that had not been snared and fired.
The frost formed and once again my hands felt like they were deep in the bottom of a freezer looking for the last of a bag of chicken nuggets.
The wasp took the blast and exploded. Wasp goo, skin, wings, and his stinger blew out in every direction. Part of the ice blast caught the other two wasps. I followed Oz as we waded in. I took one out with a single swing of the mace, crushing its head like a jar of peanut butter. Oz stabbed the third one, and the wasp jerked away as the fingers of Draedor faded.
He leaned over, got his other hand on the spear, and forced the wasp downward then drove the tip of the spear into the ground, so it was stuck there. The wasp tried to lash out with its stinger, but I moved around it and smashed his head as well.
With each kill, my XP bar advanced, and when the third wasp fell lifeless, the warmth once again suffused me.
“Ding,” I yelled.
“You got all of that XP,” Oz said in frustration.
“Gotta let a playa play,” I replied.
“Not bad, Walt. Now. Are you guys ready for a real challenge?” Karian asked.
“No,” we answered in unison.
“Come on. This will be fun,” Karian taunted.
“How about if I take out a bunch of wasps this time. I’ll hit 3,” Oz said.
He was right. With careful use of my Draedor spell, I snared two of the wasps. The third one came at us, and Karian led it away. Oz wove in with the spear and got one right in the carapace and once again drove the bug into the ground. He spun, pulled his short sword, and whacked the head off of the second wasp. Then he leaned over and stabbed the other.
Karian backed away from the wasp but called out, “Oz. Come kill this asshole before I waste my time doing it. This won’t even get me a sliver of XP.”
Oz put his foot on the wasp and dragged the spear out of the ground. He jogged across the short expanse between him and Karian and smacked the wasp with the butt. It spun around to sting him, but he was ready with the sword and chopped it in half.
“Ding like a mutha fucka!” Oz bellowed.
“Good job, bro.” I high fived Oz, because we had both made level 3.
“Yeah. Now let’s go have, as Karian put it, some more fun.”
As you probably guessed, it wasn’t fun.
13
BEARS AND SHIT
Mom used to say I wouldn’t amount to much because all I wanted to do was play video games. She had a point. After threatening to kick me out of the house at twenty-one, I found a compromise by promising to return to school and finish a degree. I didn’t say what kind of degree. I kept that part out of the conversation for as long as I could.
She and my dad worked a lot so it was easy to enroll
in an online school that promised I’d get my associate’s in business in eighteen months. I would, of course, leave the occasional graded paper laying around, so they knew I was sticking to my promise. My scheme kept them off my back for two years. I graduated, if you can call it that. Honestly the classes were so easy a ten-year-old could have completed them.
Things got hairy after that, but I milked it for another six months. When they discovered me, one day, lying on the floor with my VR helmet on, and my body bouncing around from imaginary blows, my cover was blown.
I was forced to find a job, or I was out in the next two weeks. I knew a guy named Daniel Drinkel who was in my guild and worked at AlgerTech. He got me an interview, and I spent a few hours practicing my questions. It went okay, and I was brought on and given a job doing data entry. I had to work from home a lot and somehow managed not to get fired.
When they started looking internally for more testers, I was the first one to apply. Daniel had left a few months ago and started his own company that specialized in Holo-apps for the latest Android devices. He and I got along well and would often hide out in the break room, and talk about our guild raids. A few weeks after he left, he called and offered me a job with the company, but I turned it down because why would I leave the greatest game company in the world?
He later made a fortune and retired at twenty-five.
As soon as I got into beta testing our actual game, I would show them what a hard worker I was, and then I was sure I would advance up the corporate ladder.
But if you’re reading my journal you know how that turned out.
Once I reached level 3 I quickly dropped my satchel and took out the medallion. I rubbed a bit of grime off the back and located the stats.
3 LE
20 DU
10P MA
I hung the medallion around my neck and my mana pool expanded. 10P must mean ten percent. I wished I had a pencil to jot notes in my book. At least it would be somewhat useful then.
The new cave was smaller than ours and a lot more disgusting thanks to piles of bear shit all over the place, not to mention animal bones and a carcass of a weird bird with a lizard’s head.
“I thought bears ate berries and shit,” Oz said.
“Not here. Bears are man-killers. Vicious creatures that can enrage. When they go that route you better hope you have a few levels on one, and some killer gear,” Karian said.
“That sounds like the way the game worked back in the day,” I backed her up. “At least some things haven’t changed.”
“Speaking of better gear. When we get back, I’m going to try out one of those shields. I bet I can stab the hell out of stuff while keeping my guard up,” Oz admitted. “This spear feels kind of cool in my hands. I’ve almost hit one skill level with it.”
“Good, man. Like I said, you’re going to have to be the tank.”
“We’ll see.” Oz didn’t look convinced.
“So I’ve done this one before, but I was a little over-leveled at the time. But even then it was a hard battle,” Karian said.
“Is there a quest attached?”
“Yeah, but if you kill the bear, you should be able to bring the teeth to a woman in Weslori. You know the drill, she’ll tell you about how the bear needs to die, and you can tell her you just happened to be walking through this area when the bear attacked you, and you killed it.”
“Might be easier to go back to the cave, find the idol thing that the villagers of Candleburn wanted, and hand it in. I bet we’d get a nice XP boost,” I said.
“Forget that tutorial town. It’s a buggy mess. I think they dropped that in there almost as a joke,” Karian frowned.
“A joke? We got thrown out of that joke,” Oz protested.
“See?” she said. “It’s funny.”
I didn’t know why Karian was so amused, and I didn’t know if we could take a damn bear. We were both level three, and I was already starting to see some serious advancement to the next level. Along with my new experience came a boost to my mana pool in addition to my new mana boosting medallion. I thought that I might have enough to get off one slow spell, and two or even three ice blasts.
“So how high of a level is she?” I asked Karian.
“She’s blue to me so about equal. To you guys she is probably strong yellow, but between you both, I think you can take her. We have lots of healing potions so don’t be afraid to get hurt,” she urged us.
“Fuck that. I’m out,” Oz said.
“What?” I turned to ask.
“It hurts, for real, when we take damage. I’ve had enough,” Oz said.
He had a point. I didn’t relish the idea of getting injured again either.
“But we can do it. I’ll slow the bear, blast her with ice, and you can keep her at bay with the spear. It shouldn’t be too hard,” I said because it was a good plan. “I’ll get about half or more of her health down, and if we’re in trouble, I can just slug back some mana restore and keep pelting her with ice.”
“I don’t know. Why don’t we go kill some easier game?” Oz said.
The bear growled from her cave and then poked her nose out.
She was a beauty, that’s for sure. Deep brown pelt, and eyes like a maniacal teddy bear. It would be a shame to kill an animal this majestic. On the other hand, she wasn’t real. She was just bits and bytes and some graphics. She existed outside of our world in a virtual place, and she would probably get us to level 4.
She took a tentative step outside as she sniffed the air. Karian drew her daggers and went into a defensive stance. “If anything goes wrong I’ll be right here.”
The bear growled low in her throat, again, as she appraised our threat level.
“Here’s an idea. Let’s leave now,” Oz said.
Too late. The bear clambered out of her cave and sniffed the air again. Then she set her eyes on us and charged.
I barely got Draedor’s Fingers off which slowed the bear. The slim appendages caressed her feet from the ground as she spun and snapped at them.
“Son of a bitch,” Oz shook his head and advanced with the spear.
There were only about twenty feet separating us as we closed in. Karian stayed behind but shouted encouragement. “You guys got this.”
I hit the bear with a blast of ice, and she howled in pain. The discharge struck her side, and icy shards exploded outward. She staggered, so I hit her again.
Oz let out a yell as he ran toward her and when he was a few feet away, he took the spear in both hands and drove it into her chest. The bear roared in agony and rolled over and over, taking his weapon with her.
“Oh my god, you guys,” Karian called. “You have her.”
Oz went for his sword, pulled it from the sheath, and then ran into a claw. She smacked at Oz, and the blade took the brunt, spinning him to the side. I looked up at my HUD and found I did have enough for another blast. She was partially obscured by a large rock, so I moved in to unleash the spell.
Oz recovered and stabbed at her, but she backed up and reared to her full height. The spear stuck out of her side, flapping up and down.
I summoned the symbols and let the last ice blast flow from my hands. The bear took the full brunt of the blow right in the chest and flipped onto her back. I swear the earth shook as the gigantic beast flopped over. Oz finished her off with a stab to the jaw that must have penetrated her brain because she suddenly straightened her body, knocked Oz off his feet, and fell still.
My XP bar leaped as I hit level 4, and then sailed a good way toward my next level.
“Ding!” I said trying to contain my excitement.
A wave of dizziness hit me. Then a sliver of pain opened up between my eyes and for a second I saw double. I shook my head, and kept this to myself. It was probably just from over exertion this morning and nothing to worry about.
Oz leaned over and put his hands on his knees. “Ding indeed. That wasn’t so bad.”
“Not bad at all,” I said. “We just took down a
red mob. Probably blue between us but still.”
“Whatever. I’m just glad we didn’t wake up naked again.”
“That makes three of us,” Karian said with a giggle.
Something moved in the cave.
“Oh crap. I hope she didn’t have cubs in there,” I said.
I couldn’t imagine killing a bunch of bear cubs even if they were just digital projections.
Something snuffed, and then a huge figure loomed in the entryway.
“Uh, guys?” Oz said as he walked backward to keep his eyes on the threat.
Karian had leaned over the bear to look at the wounds the ice had left. Spots of frost still spotted her fur and had left bleeding wounds behind.
“Is there another one?” I looked up and found my mana was almost entirely depleted.
The shape filled the entire entrance then stepped out into the light.
Karian’s face fell. “He wasn’t here the last time.”
“That’s a big goddamn…” I started to say.
“Red! Run!” Karian screamed then backed up two steps, turned, and ran right into me.
I got my arms around Karian, and we twirled around but didn’t fall. I held her as my eyes grew larger and larger until she pushed me off, and then ran, but not before she grabbed my hand. “Now, let's go.”
Oz dinked around trying to get his sword back in its sheath. As the huge bear materialized, he grabbed the spear and gave a yank to free it. He worked at the wooden haft, but it was stuck.
“Dude,” I yelled.
He got the hint, turned and followed Karian and me.
I got as far as thinking about the slow spell but decided that discretion might be the best form of caution and made my legs work faster. I cursed the mace as it banged against my leg. Thump. Thump THUMP. I was going to have bruises for days.
Unless I ended up getting eaten and that didn’t sound like fun. What if the bear didn’t kill us and we were left on the ground with big maul marks? Bleeding out while we dragged our sorry asses back to the cave for more healing supplies.
SHARDS OF REALITY: A LitRPG novel (Enter the Realm Book 1) Page 13
