Village of Noobtown: A LitRPG Adventure (Mayor of Noobtown Book 2)

by Ryan Rimmel

  Barrier: You can form a barrier using your Mana to protect against hostile spells. The barrier is most efficient in its simplest form, but, with enough experience, it can grow large enough to cover small groups. Gains experience by blocking hostile spells.

  I focused a Break Wind spell and cast it at the barrier, just to see what would happen. The greenish field of the spell locked onto a bird, but, when the spell came into contact with the greenish aura of my barrier, it shattered. I felt a stab of pain in my bowels.

  You have suffered 6 points of Feedback Damage from the interaction between your Biological Aeromancy Barrier and a Biological Aeromancy spell. Avoid that!

  It stung, and I got no experience from it. No chance to Power Level it that way, I supposed. I tried the same thing with a Magic Shot. The arrow dug deeper into the barrier but still exploded. I took 16 more points of Feedback Damage. My increased Willpower had improved the damage of Magic Shot by one point, which was the biggest improvement of that entire level.

  “Wait, why did my Magic Shot go deeper into the barrier than the spell I just cast?” I asked.

  Shart’s anger had to war with his desire to sound smart. After a moment, his pompous attitude won. “Barriers are most effective defending against spells of their own school, or an opposing school, if such a school exists.”

  “What is an opposing school?” I asked, thinking back to my Dungeons & Dragons days, where that could have had multiple meanings.

  “Elemental schools have opposing schools. Fire is opposed by water, and earth is opposed by air,” stated Shart. “So, if you cast a fire spell, it will do more damage to an earth barrier than a fire barrier. Fire barriers are best at defending against fire or water spells.”

  “So, if I see someone casting a spell at me, I should try to match my barrier to their spell school, which I can’t do,” I said.

  “Unless they fart at you,” nodded Shart.

  “On Earth,” I said, thinking of The Last Airbender and D&D, “The elemental schools are in a circle with the opposites. The elements that they are stronger than and weaker against are on either side.”

  “On Earth, where magic doesn’t exist, they have rules for magic,” chuckled Shart, rolling his eyes. “If I had the time, I’d love to listen to this pile of excrement. Do they have virgins writing sex stories as well?”

  I coughed. “The elemental schools oppose their opposites, gotcha.”

  “Earth is weird,” stated Badgelor, staring at me.

  “Basically, and before you ask, no, your school does NOT have an opposing school. No one is building magic to challenge the supremacy of farting,” glowered Shart. “Also, some spells are better at penetrating barriers than others. Spells that do no damage and cause unusual effects tend to slip by barriers. I’d expect your only spell to slip by anyone not specifically protecting against it, because it's next to useless. Just like you.”

  “Be careful, though. Your personal Barrier skill isn’t nearly as nice as the town’s,” stated Shart. “It's your first line of defense, but you’d be insane to count on it as your only line of defense against a powerful Wizard. Because your school’s barrier is so weird, it should be decent against everything, which means good against nothing.”

  Good to know.

  Despite my new magical class being mostly a bust, I still had new skills. Magical Implements looked similar to the skill I’d used when firing my magical rod. Realizing that I’d not seen that rod in several days, after Shart had complained about me using it as a back scratcher, I sighed. I didn’t want to go back for it, in any case.

  The other skills were duplicates and that meant I could assign them to other skills myself. Since my luck had been terrible, I figured that I’d try something totally crazy. Bringing up the entire skill tree, I looked over it. There were thousands of skills, each represented by a small glowing ball. Some of those balls were connected in some sort of vast web; others were sitting there by their lonesome. Still more were kind of muddled together, because I didn’t have any associated skills.

  Whenever I took a skill, I would learn the skill, and the map around it would solidify somewhat. When I’d taken my Crafting skills, they had all sort of merged together into a pretty consistent pattern, which told me what to expect from there.

  I had other skills and I started reviewing them. For example, Mana Control was a skill that allowed me greater access to my mana. It had a few skills connected to it. Then, there was Hiking and its associated skills, like Sprinting and Jumping. I wasn’t really interested in any of that this time. I wanted to try something different. Each of the skills I could select were chosen at the lowest rank of proficiency, Amateur.

  Unskilled was not a rank, in case you were wondering.

  Searching the deeper portions of the map, I spotted a skill orb. Figuring my luck couldn’t get any worse, I selected it and applied my skill buff.

  You have learned the skill Rope Use. You are an Amateur. What can you knot do with ropes?

  I blinked, as my mind was suddenly filled with hundreds of ways to use ropes more proficiently. Grumbling, I watched, as the skill suddenly moved inside my skill map, stopping in a tangled mess of other skill orbs.

  “That’s got to be the Sailing skill area,” I thought. That made sense, at least. Shart had mentioned it, and, as I thought, I realized that many of the knots I now knew would be useful for sails. I tried to get a sense of the nearby related skills but was unsuccessful. I’d have to get on a boat, as the more points of reference I got, the more the skill map locked down.

  I smiled sadly. I could think of many uses for these knots, but my favorite target was worlds away.

  I picked another skill at random.

  You learned the skill Dodgeball. You are an Amateur. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

  Well, fuck. That didn’t seem useful at all. I guessed, if I trained my Dodgeball skill up to legendary heights, I could kill people with a dodgeball. That just didn’t seem all that practical or realistic, though. Unlike the Sailing skills, which were jumbled together, it turned out that Dodgeball had a spot in an existing skill tree, one that I already had some other skills in. Dodgeball’s skill orb suddenly moved and latched itself to the ‘Hiking’ tree, which further expanded. It was only then that I realized that the entire tree was some sort of Athletics skill set. I could now see many other Athletic choices in the skill set. Some of them could maybe be handy in the future. They could also just as easily be other things elementary school kids did in gym class.

  I considered picking another skill closer to my main tree, but then figured ‘in for a penny’, and selected one more orb that was flickering about.

  You learned the skill Plasma Control. You are an Amateur. It's the fourth state of kicking ass!

  Now, that looked impressive. Its orbit changed, and it was suddenly part of the ‘Magic’ skills tree, with Mana Control on the bottom. It was way at the top, like the star of a Christmas tree of destruction. Reading through the skill description, I paused. “Increases Plasma Damage on all spells that cause Plasma Damage by +5.” I, of course, didn’t have any of those kinds of spells. Still, the actual act of locking in the skill tree was useful. After I’d learned Plasma Control, a variety of other skill orbs had moved between it and Mana Control, roughly defining all the many magical skills.

  With my skill choices made, I continued walking through the forest. Mage had been a disappointment, but I’d picked up a few new abilities that would hopefully be useful. Most of all, I’d learned one significant ability that I was hoping I could put to good use in the near future.

  Now, if Shart annoyed me, I could tie him up.

  Chapter 22: Safely Walking with No Danger

  Jim

  HP 310/310

  Stamina 325/325

  Mana 60/60

  “What are you going to do? You can’t make me fart. I do that, anyway,” cried the badger. We were currently walking towards the eastern gate of the Western Fortress.

&
nbsp; “What do you mean, I can’t? It's my only spell,” I stated.

  “You are my human companion. Any spells of yours that have a negative effect will not work on me,” stated Badgelor. “That should tell you right away who the boss is and who the peon is.”

  Animal companions were not required to respect their humans, unfortunately.

  “I could just stab you,” I offered.

  “You would not enjoy that,” growled the badger. “I need you alive, not necessarily healthy.”

  We entered the eastern gate of the Western Fortress in silence.

  Fenris had assigned 5 guards to the fortress, which was a pitiful number. They represented a significant fraction of the more skilled fighters from the town. They served more as scouts than anything, as such a small force couldn’t possibly hold the fortress. On the other hand, with the gate in place, all they had to worry about were stray goblins.

  The smaller eastern gate of the Western Fortress had been repaired, and the crack in the wall had been patched. Easily climbing it was no longer in the picture. As such, the Fortress was reasonably hard to enter for any large groups. The men had spent their time here improving the quality of their living arrangements and throwing out a truly massive amount of refuse.

  There had only been one smallish group of goblins here, even before the Goblin-Warg Civil War. They hadn’t had a large presence on this side of the valley to begin with, but, after the death of the Warg Master, they had abandoned everything west of the village.

  “Hello there, Mr. Mayor,” called down DarrienGareth, the chief guard of the Fortress. He was a sturdy fellow with broad shoulders, brownish blond hair, and an oversized nose.

  “Greetings, Mr. Guard,” I responded. He looked at me strangely, so, I amended my salutation. “Greetings, DarrienGareth.”

  “Ah, yes, sir,” he replied. No one here understood nicknames or jokes. I had ‘Mayor’ as a title; he did not have ‘Guard’ as a title. He called down, and, a moment later, the bar that kept the gate closed was released. The gate was pushed open slightly. For anything less than a cart, slightly was plenty.

  I walked through the yard, making small talk with DarrienGareth as I went. They were settling in nicely. Goblins stank terribly, and, when I last left the fortress, my eyes were still watering from the pungent aroma. Thankfully, the men had somehow gotten rid of the putrescent odor. The air was fresh and clean now. You could even catch faint hints of the ocean on particularly breezy days.

  Several Warg corpses had been discovered, and, as they did not decay naturally, the guards had to do something with the bodies. Eating Warg meat gave you the runs something fierce. However, a couple of the guards had developed an herbal concoction that smelled quite a bit like BBQ sauce. It served the dual purpose of making the meat tastier and counteracting the diarrhea. DarrienGareth was a big fan.

  “I’ll be traveling to Narwal for a trade mission,” I told him. “I will be back here tomorrow evening to meet with Fenris and SueLeeta.”

  DarrienGareth nodded, as he opened the small door in the massive western gate. The western gate was a 50 foot tall, magically enchanted gate, designed to be impervious to everything. Everything except man sized doors, apparently. The man sized door allowed a regular human to pass through. I highly doubted the entire garrison could open the large gate.

  “Good luck,” said DarrienGareth, as he closed the door behind him. I was free. I turned around and looked at the impressive stone wall and realized that I was out of the starter zone. For the very first time, I had entered the larger world of Ordinal.

  The air outside the valley smelled different. Perhaps it was my imagination, but it seemed to smell lighter. I felt lighter. I was no longer responsible for a town’s worth of people. I briefly wondered if I should perhaps consider giving up the town to GowenDoud. It would certainly eliminate a lot of stress.

  Nah. That guy’s an untrustworthy asshole.

  I brought up my map. With my new Great Explorer Talent, I could see a road that ran past the gate that connected Narwal to my town and beyond. The road actually had another branch going north that I didn’t know much about. Maybe, after I got this trade route situation handled, I could explore in that direction.

  It was very probable that I’d have to deal with the goblins in the valley first, though.

  As the three of us continued trekking west, the two miserable shits still riding on me, I saw the coastal landscape. The ground here was hillier than the mostly flat valley I had come from, giving me a better vantage point. I could now see enough of the coast to realize that my town had a respectable natural port, compared to this stretch of the ocean.

  Narwal was on the eastern edge of the Riverlands, just south of the Coastal Territories. I knew this from my Great Explorer talent. I was still not entirely sure about having knowledge forced into my head, but, I had to admit, it was useful. I remembered Avasophia mentioning that her people had all come from the Coastal Territories before being ambushed on the High Road near the Western Fortress.

  Crossing the threshold of a hilly roadway, I entered the forest. Birds fluttering about, and I could hear frogs croaking in the distance. The entire forest looked like some sort of magical glade. I suspected that the road wasn’t frequently traveled, yet, it wasn’t overgrown, either. I didn’t even see any wolves, a constant annoyance in the forest of the valley. I was looking forward to a peaceful stroll through the woods.

  That’s when the puma attacked me.

  Chapter 23: A Minor Threat

  The puma launched itself at me from nearly 20 feet away, slamming into me with enough force to send me flying. My passengers crashed to the ground nearby. Shart splatted into a rock, and Badgelor, who had been asleep on my shoulder just moments before, was awoken by being slammed into a mighty tree. The badger looked pissed.

  That didn’t help with the puma, however. It continued ravishing my backpack, trying to get through my dried goods for the kill. I released the slip knot I’d tied, and the pack came free. I rolled forward, somersaulting into a bush. The Puma instantly realized that I’d somehow cleverly escaped it and discarded my pack. It stomped towards me, snarling.

  That gave me a moment to use Lore.

  Puma: Level 7

  Health: 110/110

  Stamina: 130/130

  Mana: 0

  Skills: Stealth Initiate

  Pumas are stealthy hunting cats that take great pleasure in stalking their prey. Many an unwary individual has been overcome by these deadly creatures. They are occasionally pack hunters and are most dangerous when they aren’t alone.

  Standing, I drew my shortsword and readied myself. The cat was easily as fast as I was, and, even with my perks like Mobility, it could outmaneuver me. As I carefully continued to adjust my position, trying to prevent it from pouncing on me again, the creature suddenly stopped.

  That’s when the second puma pounced on me from the side. I had the Perception skill, which granted me almost supernatural senses, but that only made the flying leap of this creature all the more terrifying. I hadn’t noticed it, until it was way too late to stop it. One moment, I’m watching the first cat; the next moment, I’ve got 180 lbs. of angry kitty trying to eat me.

  I jammed my left forearm into its mouth, counting on my bracer to minimize the damage. It did not. Even activating my Mitigate skill, I was still taking 8 points of damage per bite. The only saving grace was that the bracer prevented it from breaking my arm. That should have left my other arm free, but, when the puma landed on me, a front paw had pressed firmly on my shoulder. Thus, my free arm was pinned to the ground. To make matters worse, it was using its rear paws to dig into my lower body. Those claws were doing significantly more damage to my gut than my armor could resist.

  In mere moments, I’d taken 36 points of Crushing Damage from a number of bites, and the cat showed no signs of slowing down. I yanked down hard with my left arm, bringing the cat’s face level with my own. Two could play that game, I thought and bit down hard on its
nose. The puma attempted to jerk itself away, but I had it pinned between my forearm and my teeth.

  Snarling, it lifted its paw off my pinned arm and attempted to push me away. That was unfortunate; in doing so he allowed me to bring my shortsword into play. I released the bite on its nose, as its ferociously sharp claws neared my handsome, yet rugged, face.

  I’d played this game before, and I went full Wolfenstein on him, driving my shortsword into its ribs over and over again. It tried to bite off first my arm, and, then, just my hand. I somehow miraculously managed to avoid losing any fingers. After several more stabs, the puma rolled free, bleeding heavily from the side.

  The whooshing of air alerted me to the first puma, as it attempted to crash into me. The cat seemed even more determined than before. However, this time, I was ready for it. As the puma lunged at me, I rolled away from it and back to my feet. This caused the creature to land hard several feet past me. Completely undeterred, it spun around to attack me again.

  I didn't give it the chance. Activating Thrust, I lurched towards the creature with similar speed, driving my sword into its neck with a thwack, as the hilt made contact with its flesh. The creature shuddered, as I twisted the blade and yanked it free in a geyser of blood. The puma collapsed to the ground, dying.

  Glancing around, I saw Badgelor, who had grown to his full size. He was fighting off a third puma. Shart had flown over to be closer to the battle. Once again, he was sitting uselessly by, this time in a tree, waiting for me to finish all the hard work.

  The second cat was at less than half health, and I was only down about a quarter. Grinning, I waved at him to advance. The cat leapt, and I used Mobility, again, to slash at its side. This cat landed closer and twisted around to snap at me, biting into my already damaged armor and jerking me off balance. Even as it did that, I managed to slash it across the face with my sword. A wet gash opened from its mouth to its ear, as I crashed to the ground.