by Dakota Krout
It wouldn’t be a good idea to explain where the level actually came from, so Joe decided on a half-truth. “No, sir! No one else gave me a quest; I got a special reward for completing a quest for the Kingdom.”
“The Kingdom? How did they give you experience toward your scholar job?” Boris, for good reason, didn’t believe the story he was being fed.
“It wasn’t scholar specific. Part of the reward was experience toward your ‘profession’. I really cannot tell you much more.” Joe tried to appear as sincere as possible.
“Fine, keep your secrets like those impotent mages at the college! Stupid nation is getting shrouded in ‘mystery’. O~o~oh, I don’t tell other people what's going on. I’m so surprised that we aren’t advancing and need to do everything twice,” Boris spat sarcastically. “Whatever. Well, you advanced to level two. Just perfect. Why not? You are already a ‘special’ case. Alright, you didn’t bring any new information into the library, and you never advanced our cause.”
“Sorry about that?” Joe looked up at the man with a hopeful grin.
“Humph. Well, rules are rules even when they are stupid. You are level two as a scholar; you now have access to the ‘uncommon’ book section. I would suggest that you try to get to the third level the correct way, otherwise other scholars may start becoming antagonistic toward your special treatment. To that end, you can gain job experience in a few ways: either by doing research and creating something from the books that no one else has been able to, completing a quest you find in the books that you confirm with me before you run off, or the standard way, which is to bring back lost or forgotten knowledge and donate it to the society of scholars.”
“You know about quests in the books that haven’t been completed?” Joe was excited to hear about this. Maybe he wouldn’t need to hide his ability to find secret quests!
“What do you mean? Of course I know! Did you know?” Boris looked at Joe like he had insulted his mother. “Ugh. Just… just go take a look around the ‘uncommon’ book area. Your face is bringing back bad memories, even though you don’t look like a walking corpse anymore.”
“Rude.” Joe snorted and walked up the stairs leading to the second level. At the top was a sign warning off anyone who didn’t have access to the uncommon section. Walking through the archway that denoted the entrance to the room, he felt as though he had just walked into a thick spider web. Joe shivered, brushing at himself before realizing that it was probably a security measure against intruders. Looking around the empty room, he smiled and activated his job’s special ability to see books containing truth.
He beamed as he looked at the golden glow coming from the shelves. This section had far fewer fully black books, though not all the books here glowed brightly. Maybe this was the distinction between common and uncommon books: the fact that the information was more accurate or maybe from a more reliable source? Either way, Joe had some work to do. He was happy to see that the ritual from the first floor had been in range of this room as well. This was easy to notice because the section he was looking at contained a lovely gradient of colored leather. It was too bad the books didn’t all have titles; it would have made finding the information he was pursuing far easier to attain. He pulled a few books down, trying to get a feel for what sort of material they contained. Ah, it seemed he was in a section that had never interested him in reality, but here it was a potential gold mine: history.
In Eternia, history could be more accurately labeled ‘lore’. It was fun, interesting, and… wrong. Joe read through the first chapter with a twitching left eye. The book was wildly embellished and inaccurate. Drat! Whoever had written this had gotten a good chunk of the facts correct but had been trying to flatter whatever noble house they were a part of. The cover still glowed a soft gold, but Joe felt that his eyes were deceiving him. What he really needed was to…
A thought crossed his mind, a thought that made him very hopeful. He put the book on a small table, grabbed a few pages, and tried to will the pages to jump to pertinent information. The pages fluttered, and when he looked at the resulting page… yes! The words on this page were shining a bright gold, the specific coloration he had found which signaled a clue to creating a quest. This part was about an investigator who had a perfect record for only punishing criminals. Everyone else who was captured–who was innocent–was let go almost instantly. His story was a sad one unfortunately, because he was targeted by various groups who had an interest in ensuring their dark deeds went unpunished. The author of the book thought that the assassin who killed the investigator had been funded by a noble house and because of the glow of the words Joe was able to see that his thoughts had been correct.
“So this… if I find more information, will it become a hunt of the noble house, the abilities of the investigator, or something else entirely?” Joe debated for a moment; should he really take the first quest that he found? Maybe he should look over some other options? He started skimming through other books, but his mind kept wandering back to the partial information he had found. “How can I call myself a completionist if I don’t take and complete every quest possible?”
He sighed and began searching through other books that were on either the same or a similar subject. Another hour passed and he finally was able to put together a comprehensive and detailed version of events. No quest prompt appeared until Joe added a small part about how the investigator had left detailed instructions on understanding criminals in a place where criminals were sent to repent.
Quest created: Seeker of truth! An influential investigator met an untimely end due to his relentless pursuit of criminals. He may have left detailed records of how he was able to sniff out evildoers. Follow the clues you have found, and find the truth for yourself! Reward: Unknown. Penalty for failure: None. Accept? Yes / No
Joe accepted the quest and walked downstairs with his notes. He needed to talk to Boris and make sure that this was an acceptable quest for a scholarly reward. “Boris? Got a quest here, would you look at it and approve it?”
Boris’s head jerked up off his desk, and he blinked tired eyed. “Boy, you do know that some of us have other things to do at night? We were supposed to close an hour ago! Let me see the ‘quest’ you’ve found.” He snatched Joe’s notes and looked over the details. Joe had included references, showing which book and page he had gained the information from. “Hmm. Interesting, but how does this help our society?”
“Since I am uncertain what our society does as a whole, I figured it would be useful for us to have these methods of determining truth from people. That way, we could validate information coming to us from third parties.” Joe’s words made Boris nod softly.
“It would indeed be useful… if it exists.” He tapped his chin a few times and nodded. “Alright. I approve this quest as a suitable scholarly mission. I’ll add on fifty points toward your job upon quest completion, one hundred if you are able to secure the techniques described here. Yes, you get points even if you bring back nothing.”
Quest rewards updated: Seeker of truth! Rewards: Unknown, profession Exp: 100. Failure: None, profession Exp: 50.
Excellent! Now that quest was fully worth attempting. Joe waved at Boris, who scowled and started locking the doors to the library. Maybe he should get Boris a fruit basket or something to cheer him up. He was rather nice, no matter the curmudgeonly aura he exuded. Joe started walking toward the–oh dang! His prisoner! He hurried back to his rented warehouse, entering and rushing over to find an unconscious mage, Cel. “Shoot. Totally dehydrated. I never gave him drinking water or food today! After the ritual emptied him out, too! Ah, I’m a terrible medic.”
He channeled cleanse into the collapsed mage, getting his water levels to a stable point. After a long minute, Cel stirred and woozily glared at Joe. “You left me here. I thought you were going to let me die!”
“You could have used the water to drink!” Joe tried to defend himself. “Or at least changed and cleaned up a bit. You seriously smell.”
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“Is that my fault?” Cel howled and jumped to his feet. “You left the bucket of water over there!” He pointed, and sure enough a bucket of full water was patiently waiting to be used… about five feet from the edge of the ritual.
“Ahh. Sorry about that.” Joe scratched his head sheepishly. “I’ve never had to take care of a detainee. Slipped my mind.”
“Slipped your…?” Cel slid to a sitting position with an unpleasant *squelch*. “I’m going to die here, aren’t I?”
“Stop being so dramatic!” Joe rolled his eyes. “So long as you are at least a little alive, I can drag you back to full health. I am a cleric, after all.”
“So there’s no escape,” Cel whispered with wide eyes.
“Drama queen!” Joe groaned as he rubbed his bald head. “Look, I’m going to eat some food. Would you like some?” Cel’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food. Joe was unsurprised; a noble brat like this had likely never had to miss a meal or even skimp a little. Pulling some food out of his storage ring, Joe handed over a basic sandwich and waited for Cel to start before he ate his own.
“Look, I’m going to bring that bucket over, and here’s a spare set of clothes. Try to clean up, get changed, and get some sleep. Tomorrow we are going to do more rituals! ...Hey, can I call you ‘Tate’?”
“What? No! My name is Cel. Why would you want to call me ‘Tate’?” Cel asked suspiciously.
“It’s short for potato!”
Cel didn’t blink, but his hands trembled. “And… why would you want to call me ‘potato’?”
“Because much like the noble potato, you are not a battery… but you are going to be used as one!” Joe chuckled as he brought over a pillow and thin blanket for Cel. “Sleep well, Tate!”
“I’m going to light you on fire when I escape,” Cel whispered as he watched Joe leave the building. As the door closed, all light in the building vanished, leaving him in a large and hopefully empty space. Small scratching sounds reaching his ears made sleep difficult that night.
~ Chapter Thirty-four ~
Joe awoke with a positive outlook on life. Something about going two days in a row with his only wound being a papercut just felt… right. He had a nice breakfast, storing an extra plate of food for Cel because he deserved a pleasant surprise. Grabbing his notes, he went to the store for more paper, ink, and a spare quill. He also purchased another bucket of chalk from a nearby art supplier; it wouldn’t be good to run out when he needed it! Joe was walking back to the warehouse when he noticed that the roads were quiet. Very, very quiet. He reached for his scepter, getting a firm hold on it just as his senses screamed at him to move. He jumped as hard as he could, reaching rooftop level just as the entire road seemed to explode.
A hurricane force updraft from the massive flame threw him to the side, and he landed heavily on the rooftop. He took no damage from the fall, his jumplomancer class coming into effect. The blast did take ten points off his health, a sickening amount since he was nowhere near the epicenter of that attack. He looked around, trying to find who had attacked him.
“Ha! Had some kind of a shield up, did you? Mage armor? Blast threw you clear to the roof!” a jovial voice called to him. “Not many people get to see Volcanic Conflagration and live to talk about it! You impress me!”
“Impress you enough to make you go away?” Joe looked around, eyes narrowing as he saw a beefy mage in a bright red robe talking to him. How had he missed seeing that? “Why did you attack me? Who are you?”
“That should be an easy answer for you!” The mage’s face and voice turned dangerously furious. “Not only are you a rogue mage, but you also killed one of the most promising fire mages of this generation! Where did you hide Cel’s body?”
“I certainly did not kill him!” Joe shouted at the man. If the spell he was creating was any indication, the mage didn’t seem to believe him.
“See this? Nasty little spell called ‘lava worms’. Not all that useful in a war, the damage over time is quite small. Torture though, well… this spell is great for that. The worms burrow into you and start swimming around. Painful, very painful.” There was dirt flying up, collecting and liquefying in the intense fire he was generating. “I’m strong enough to keep them hot till they reach your brain. You have until that point to tell me where his body is.”
Joe prepared his scepter. There was no way he was letting that stuff swim through his body. The mage wasn’t listening to reason so there was nothing to lose. All or nothing at this point. Joe had recovered only a very small amount of stamina from that jump and had been hoping to use it to escape. It wasn’t going to happen; this man was far too powerful for that. He knew the mage would eventually track him down even if he somehow escaped right now so he wasn’t even going to try. Joe jumped off the roof and swung down, hoping that his ability to fall at half damage would save him from his own recklessness.
The mage snorted as Joe fell at him. “I have mage armor too, you moron. I’m fully trained, so mine isn’t a flimsy covering, either. I may as well be wearing plate armor!”
Undeterred, Joe swung as hard as he could even as lava worms entered his legs with an excruciating, searing pain. His scepter hit, but the bulk of it seemed to bounce off as if it had just impacted a wall.
Dexterity check failed!
Joe belly flopped onto the steaming street, losing over a quarter of his health at once. The mage made a dismissive gesture, and a fireball took off most of Joe’s exposed skin and eyebrows as he was slammed bodily into a nearby building.
“What was that supposed to accomplish? You are even closer to death now. Don’t worry, foolish little warlock. I know that you travelers are restored by the gods in the city square a few hours after you perish. That’s why I am not worried about killing you. Not at all. When you come back, I’ll be there. You will die as many times as needed to ensure that you stay dead!” The mage lifted a hand, and fire began collecting in his palm.
“Yes,” Joe managed to croak out through his charred lips. The lava worms were ravaging his insides.
“Oh, still able to speak?” The mage was about to continue, but a strange chiming noise filled his ears. “And now I have tinnitus. Great. I was too close to the blast zone. Now I need to pay for an overrated healer-”
Joe blinked, and within that moment, the mage vanished into the street. Through fluttering, mostly-gone eyelashes he was able to see: You have chosen to activate ‘Gravedigger’s requiem’. This ritual lasts for ten seconds after activation. Heh. At that point, the lava worms reached his brain, and he was unable to heal himself from the catastrophic damage to his grey matter.
You have died! Calculating. You were attacked in a safe zone by an NPC that was set as non-hostile. Your alignment with the mage’s college: neutral. NPC reason for attacking: death of student. Reason for attack invalid. No action was taken that should have flagged you for assault. _ERROR_ Safe area. Please have patience, this issue is being elevated.
A short time passed before a new message appeared. Alrighty, let’s see here. Oh, you again, huh? Setting your notifications to ‘extra snarky’ didn’t drive the point home, you are still breaking things? Let’s take a look. Huh. No, for once, you were the wronged party. If the mage had attacked you because you took his student captive, we would be having a different talk right now, but, technically, you were in a safe zone at a safe time and were still attacked by a mage who is not supposed to attack you. Here’s my take on this. Three hours till you respawn, no loss of experience. I’m also giving you a temporary boost to your reputation with the college for six hours when you respawn. You’ll be set to ‘reluctantly friendly’. That should give you enough time to make your case before turning into a human tiki-torch. Good luck! Stop breaking my world, or I will break you!
-Love, Certified Altruistic Lexicon.
Joe felt a bit leery about this situation; he just got a signed note from the AI in control of the entire game. He had specifically been told not to draw the AI’s attention! Wh
ile he was out of the game, he did a bit of reading and called his mom. She was ecstatic, of course; he was calling her so often now! For her, it was only a little over a day since the last time they talked, though for him it was two. Joe told her about his new friends, and she told him about how she had been on perpetual vacation after she had gotten the winnings from her lottery ticket and sent him off. There were a few sad moments, such as when she asked when he would be coming to visit. Really, there was nothing he could say about that… so he just shook his head and told her it would be a long, long time. When they finally ran out of things to say, they reluctantly hung up, and Joe flopped into the fluffy chair that he was able to create in the area.
The time passed quickly with a nap, and an alarm woke him up five minutes before he was allowed back into the world. He got himself ready and stepped into Eternia as the ‘portal’ appeared. A very familiar and unpleasantly smiling face was waiting for him. In fact, it was the first thing he saw. “Why, hello there. Let’s talk about how you managed to drop me a kilometer under the ground, shall we?”
Joe winced, the bright red robes were covered in filth and the mage himself was heaving with what appeared to be barely suppressed anger. If he was this furious after what would have been six hours… “Oh, hey there. It’s such a… surprise to see you.”
“I bet it is.” The mage’s hand burst into flame, and he started reaching for Joe’s face with a maniacal grin on his face.
“Your apprentice is alive, you know,” Joe tried to keep his tone conversational as his eyelashes curled from the heat, “but if I don't get him some food and water soon, he won’t be.”
