Apostle of the Sleeping Gods

by Dan Sugralinov

  “Then I choose Stunning Kick,” I declared.

  “Don’t rush it, apprentice.” Sagda grabbed me by the chin, raised my head and looked me carefully in the eyes. “Let me explain how this normally works with... ahem-ahem... less gifted students. As they progress, every five levels, they may choose one of three attacks from different schools of the art of brawling.”

  “And what defines which attacks are unlocked...?”

  “Don’t interrupt!” yet another stiff smack from his cane shut me right up. “Special moves can be offensive, defensive, or counters. And there’s all kinds of stuff, including ones that give a chance of killing instantly. A student’s move set and their progress level define their combat style and new moves offered will be tailored to match. But!” The trainer bowed his head, twirled a pointer finger and held a pause. “If an apprentice saves enough room up here...”

  The trainer tapped a finger on his forehead and I realized he was referring to a game convention – the unspent points I got for every five levels of a combat skill. Technically, each one of those points could be used to learn a new move, and I had a whole fourteen of them saved up.

  “... then they will have a good deal more opportunities,” Sagda continued. “Many who choose the path of unarmed combat are in too great a hurry to learn new moves in hopes of varying their style and learning something new, something more powerful. But they all are missing something. Learning new moves won’t bringing them any closer to true mastery. A student who continues to perfect one skill without spreading themselves too thin will always achieve more. They can improve attacks they already know.”

  He had my attention. My Hammerfist was growing, becoming more effective as it was, without paying the trainer five hundred gold. But maybe he was talking about something else?

  “And mastering a move you already know when levelling-up makes it cost less mana, cooldown faster and do more damage!” the trainer finished solemnly then raised a pointer finger yet again. “A move can only be improved two times before it reaches its ideal state. And you, Scyth, are the first apprentice I have ever been able to teach this lesson.”

  Unarmed Combat Master Sagda offers to improve the Hammerfist skill:

  Heavy Hammerfist

  Through honing your mastery, you have improved the effectiveness of this combat move.

  −0.5 mana points to use.

  +5% normal damage per move level.

  +0.5% accuracy per move level.

  Ignores +0.1% armor per move level.

  Price: 5 training points.

  When I saw how fearsome my already crazily levelled Hammerfist could become, I agreed without a second thought. With a barely detectable smile, the trainer immediately offered yet another upgrade:

  Unarmed Combat Master Sagda offers to improve the Heavy Hammerfist skill:

  Crushing Hammerfist

  Through honing your mastery, you have achieved perfection in this combat move.

  -1 mana points to use.

  +10% normal damage per move level.

  +1% accuracy per move level.

  Ignores+0.2% armor per move level.

  Price: 5 training points.

  I accepted that one as well, then unwittingly started beaming when I saw the badass stats of what was still my only unarmed move:

  Crushing Hammerfist

  Level: 72.

  Cost to use: 1 mana point.

  Deals 4420% of normal damage.

  Accuracy: 437%.

  Ignores armor: 85.4%.

  “Wise choice, apprentice,” said Master Sagda. “Just one more stage until you can say you’ve completely mastered the Hammerfist attack.”

  “But teacher you said attacks have just three stages, right?”

  “Yes, there are three stages. I stand by that. But once a move is at maximum level, you unlock a way of dealing an uninterrupted series of blows. Combo! It has a special effect. Only a master of a higher level can break it and the stunned enemy will be helpless to counter!”

  I opened my mouth to ask some questions, but wasn’t feeling resolute enough to interrupt Bu’s academic tone. He continued talking about chaining moves. If you used them in the right order, it was possible not only to significantly increase damage, but also enhance the attacks:

  “Once you’ve learned how to combine identical attacks into a series, you will be able to pull off more and more complicated chains. The mighty Grandmaster Oyama can land chains more than forty moves long!” Sincere admiration sounded through in his voice and I made a mental note to try and find this grandmaster someday. “As a rule, his battles end before his combos do, because his opponents are either dead or begging for mercy before he can finish them. You now have enough power to learn this ability as well. Would you like to do that, Scyth?”

  Unarmed Combat Master Sagda offers to teach you a new combat move:

  Combo

  Level: 1.

  Composite combat move, joining other moves into one uninterrupted series of attacks.

  Number of slots in chain: 2.

  Cost to use: 90% of cost to use attacks separately.

  Cooldown: 10 seconds.

  Price: 3 training points.

  Unlike normal attacks with standard five-second cooldowns, Combo needed ten. Still, I agreed without thinking it through: two Hammers in a row with a separate cooldown would be a terrifying power! I took the new move, filled the slots to get it ready to use, and couldn’t wait to test it out, staring at a training dummy in the corner. But the master reined in my zeal:

  “Don’t rush it, apprentice. You can still learn one more attack. Choose wisely!”

  The very first window came back, allowing me to choose between Scorpion Strike, Dragon’s Tail and Stunning Kick.

  I imagined that levelling new attacks would take time, but not give me a significant advantage. Maybe that Stunning Kick? Although it wouldn’t do much damage, it did give a chance of stunning an opponent. In the Arena, that could change the course of a whole fight. With that in mind, I chose it.

  “Another wise choice, apprentice!” Master Sagda grinned in satisfaction. “That is all I can teach you today. Now you may go practice what you’ve learned. My training hall is at your disposal but I’m going to get some shuteye.”

  After he left, I went and stood opposite the training dummy, which was about my height, though the first time I came in the dummy seemed taller. It was like a wooden person with no arms or legs mounted on a sturdy spring.

  Training Dummy

  Level always equal to whoever is attacking it. Skill and moves improve ten times slower than with a real enemy.

  Durability: indestructible.

  It was just a training dummy but, after my first hit, combat mode was activated and logs were being made. I landed a Combo and realized that I could now do unbelievable damage without any plague energy.

  * * *

  I still had some time before the former Dementors would arrive. We had agreed to meet after lunch because Ed was taking his sister to an amusement park and the others had gone with.

  And I wasn’t going to waste my extra time. First and foremost, I wanted to level cooking and that would give me a chance to also figure out what to do with the stacks of swamp monster meat. Second, I wanted to comb the auctions for Zombie Rat Innards. The Destroying Plague was not unique to Tristad, and I was hoping that, without any recipes around, players would be trying to sluff off the nauseating offal at auc. That way, I could buy it all up and cook them into Roast Undead Rat Chitterlings to hasten our progress. I figured my clanmates would appreciate that just as much as me, since their levels had taken a hit.

  Chef Arno was all in a lather, running around the kitchen and driving on his assistants. On the burners, there were pots and pans simmering, frying and boiling. Something was baking in the oven and it smelled fantastic. It was so busy I couldn’t find a single burner to cook on.

  “Scyth!” Arno exclaimed. “Come by for a snack? Then you gotta go take a seat, buddy...” He g
ot distracted and shouted at Rada the young chef girl: “Who cuts onions like this?! Give me the knife!”

  Damn these game mechanics! I had three inventory slots all filled, giving me nowhere to even put a pot, wood and tinderbox. And without those, I could not start a fire and cook on my own. I started think. Just then, Arno was working with a muscular low-level chef to take a huge pot off the stove, which was filled with some kind of bubbling gruel, either porridge or soup.

  The steaming vessel was set on a stone table and Arno made sure his assistant doled out even portions of the concoction, then sat on a chair and, turning to me, complained:

  “It’s like this every day. The owner thought up this scheme: from one to two we serve full meals in the tavern. Three whole courses. And we need to serve new dishes every day! The compote is already boiled, the forest porridge with meat and berries is finishing up on the stove over there and, although we planned to make a fisherman’s stew, we couldn’t find any proper fish! Can you believe it, Scyth? Some bandits robbed this morning’s shipment from port and we had to quick run to the market and buy some river fish. They’re pure scales and bones! Yuck! We barely finished in time!”

  “My sympathies, Arno,” I said.

  I couldn’t ask him for any favors now.

  “So then, what are you sitting down for?” The chef shuddered. “Can’t you see they’re already serving?! Go sit at a table, they’ll bring it out!”

  “I didn’t come here to eat lunch. I have some free time on my hands and wanted to spend it cooking but, for that, I need to use your stove.”

  Arno sized me up, quickly considered something and made an offer:

  “You can easily level your trade by cooking river fish. Over in that bag, there’s plenty left: carp, bleak, ruff, and perch,” he pointed to the far corner of the kitchen. “It’s easy work and it goes fast. If you want, you can use our stocks, Scyth.”

  I thanked Arno and headed for the bags, simultaneously skimming my list of known recipes. Dishes that were written in gray couldn’t improve my trade, while green ones had a very low chance. Yellow ones were almost certain to increase my level, and red ones were a sure thing but carried a risk of failure. Anyhow, I was not going to be stingy with free ingredients.

  I dragged the bag over to a free stove, borrowed one of Arno’s pots and got to cooking. I made Smoked Perch, Fried Carp, Crispy Ruff, and Fish Fry, bringing my level up before my very eyes. The chef gave me a basket to fill with completed dishes.

  When my level in the trade reached two hundred fifty, Arno gave a chuckle of approval then offered to increase my rank. And again for free!

  Your rank in the cooking trade has been increased to Expert!

  Current level: Expert (251/500).

  Chance of cooking a dish with known recipe: 100%.

  Chance of inventing a new dish: 15%.

  Cooking recipes added: juicy lion steak, rich rhinoceros soup, hot apple cider, fried mollusk, fried goose wing, spicy wolf brisket, meat in Dragon’s Breath sauce, battered stoneskin fish...

  To improve your skill in this trade, prepare dishes with known recipes, come up with your own recipes and experiment with ingredients

  You have received experience points for advancing your rank in a trade: 50.

  Experience points at present level (13): 441/11400.

  I messed up plenty of fish because I was mostly cooking red dishes but, along the way, I even invented a new recipe – Well-Done Carp in Sour Cream. How sour cream entered the mix, I had no idea. Out of pure boredom, I splashed a bit of soured milk into the pot of carp as it cooked. Still, it wasn’t an especially useful dish: if you ate the whole thing, it restored twenty health points and gave a ten-minute buff that made mana restore ten percent faster. It could be quite a boon to low-level players at least.

  With Arno’s permission, I put everything I cooked into the basket and was planning to bring it to auction to sell. All in all, I stood to earn less gold that way, but I was going there regardless to see if I could buy Zombie Rat Innards.

  Every river-fish dish I knew had turned gray, but I finished off the bag out of principal. My progress in the trade was stalled at 254. It was time to start experimenting.

  I dug into my backpack for a Toxic Filet of Bighead with Blood and first tried to simply fry it. Time and again, I turned out either blackened lumps of coal or inedible blobs that looked revolting. The meat either burned or disintegrated. Then a notification would tell me I failed.

  Attempt to create a new dish!

  Failure!

  “Scyth, let me give you some advice,” Arno cut in after I had ruined the first stack and was getting to the second. “I don’t know where that meat comes from, but it looks very delicate. Try mixing it with a bit of apple cider vinegar, some herbs and red onion. You might not even need heat. Yeah, and some pepper! Try a fiery red one...”

  He pointed at a spice bag and I followed his recommendations. I took the pot off the stove and dropped a bit of swamp bighead meat inside, then did exactly as Arno said. The first three times it did nothing, so I started messing around with the proportions of vinegar and spice. Then I thought maybe the game needed heat to trigger the cooking process.

  So I put everything into the pot again, mixed it up and put it over the coals. And three seconds later I pulled it off.

  Attempt to create a new dish!

  Success!

  You have created a new cooking recipe: Marinated Filet of Swamp Bighead with Onion and Herbs!

  Experience points received for new cooking recipe: +100.

  You have prepared Marinated Filet of Swamp Bighead with Onion and Herbs.

  Marinated Filet of Swamp Bighead with Onion and Herbs (1) added to your inventory.

  Marinated Filet of Swamp Bighead with Onion and Herbs

  Ingredients: toxic filet of bighead with blood, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, spicy pepper, red onion, herbs.

  With proper preparation, the extremely toxic meat of the swamp bighead can become a true delicacy! Its inventor, Scyth, experimented many times before discovering the proper combination of spices and heat.

  Special effects when eaten: +10 to highest main attribute for three hours.

  Effect lasts until death.

  Value: 54 silver coins.

  Cooking trade: +10.

  Current level: Expert (264/500).

  You have received experience points for progressing in a trade: +10.

  I wasn’t the only one to be impressed. Arno jumped over in excitement, gave me a hug and started to shake me:

  “Two new dishes in less than an hour! Scyth, you have great potential for mastering cooking! Let me give you some advice. Actually no, I insist! You must take part in a cooking contest!”

  “Arno, it was just a coincidence!” I denied. “That recipe came from you! And almost all the ingredients were yours!”

  “No, young man!” the chef shook his head. “I never would have thought to heat up a pot of cured fish! It’s not my style at all!”

  He spent a long time talking in heated tones about the culinary tournament. It was held every Sunday and master chefs from came from throughout Disgardium to compete. The application consisted of sending a signature dish to the organizers at the chefs’ guild. The big condition was that you could only prepare a dish of your own invention. If an applicant could pass the selection process, they would be invited to the next tournament by a letter that would directly teleport them to the main guild hall on the day of the contest.

  “Scyth, did you know that, as the inventor of a new dish, you get a one percent commission each time it’s sold? Of course, for that, you need to register the recipe with the chefs’ guild...”

  I remembered that I had another two new dishes up my sleeve as well: Baked Undead Rat Chitterlings and Well-Done Carp in Sour Cream, and I agreed.

  “What do I need to do, Mr. Arno?”

  “With your permission, I can take your dish and make the application myself. I have just one request. You ar
e allowed to take one companion with you, and I would be delighted to visit the guild. I have lots of things to do there. And if you go so far as to officially recognize me as your trainer at the tournament, it would go a long way toward flattering an old geezer...”

  Arno looked sheepishly at the ceiling and I smiled. No matter what he said, he was a big strong man, no geezer.