Despite their different life experiences, Nick saw something of himself in Gideon. For starters, they both truly understood the intoxicating freedom of role-playing games.
“I’ll do it,” he said with conviction.
Mike gave a low whoop from the kitchen.
“If you tell me where your daughter is,” Nick said, “I’ll send her back to you.”
Gideon gripped Nick’s hand, tears streaming down his face. He didn’t need to say anything - his gratitude was etched across a face hollowed by years of pain.
Now that Nick’s primary objective had been settled, it was time to talk tactics. Mike served bowls of beef Stroganoff and joined the lively discussion. Details about the upcoming series were closely guarded, but Gideon advised that the first episode was entitled “Lavora High Temple” and was heavily skewed in favor of mana builds.
Nick listened with intense interest, knowing that he couldn’t simply roll the same old strength build this time round. In fact, he’d been dex-rolling some of his favorite RPGs, getting used to using long, short and cross bows as primary weapons. He liked the idea of engaging enemies at range. It appealed to his defensive mindset.
Ranged battle wouldn’t really help him with PvP, but DEX builds had plenty of other tricks. Speed. Agility. Sharp, fast weapons. Bombs, knives, poison and back-stabs. There were plenty of ways to bring down a larger, stronger opponent.
If what Gideon said was true, mana, not dexterity, was the order of the day. Even so, instinct told him to stay his course. Roll for a pure DEX build and make the absolute best of it. Trusting his instincts had gotten him this far and he wasn’t about to stop now.
Gideon responded to Nick’s decision with a respectful nod. Mike, on the other hand, thought the pixel runner was crazy.
“Why you want die?” he asked. “Dex builds like little girls, running around until smashed like strawberry jam. You never do before, why do now?”
It was a fair question.
“Because there’ll be another bounty on my head,” Nick said. “The media have made this about me versus the Syndicate, who aren’t in the habit of losing. If there’s any way I can put other pixel runners off their game, I’ll fucking take it.”
Mike looked at Nick for a long moment. “You little girl.”
Nick shrugged. There would be no convincing the Slovakian, but Nick remained steadfast. The more he thought about it, the more a Ranger, Brigand or Duellist build made sense.
At the very least he’d be able to get some distance on ambushing enemies if he had enough agility. It was almost certain that Neutron would not play a fair game, and extra maneuverability might just save his life.
“What’s your plan?” Nick asked Gideon. “Where will you be?”
“I have a shuttle booked for Phoenix tonight,” the Russian replied. “Once I infiltrate the Neutron facility, I’ll wait by my daughter’s Immersion tank. I’ll have Oakshield on a direct feed. When you make contact with Inez, I’ll know about it.”
Nick swallowed. All of a sudden there was a lot riding on this run. To break the tension, Mike offered shots of vodka. Gideon refused, shuffling his way to the door.
“I must go,” he said, looking intently at Nick. “I won’t be able to help you this time. I recommend you play conservatively, at least until you reach my daughter. By my reckoning she’s somewhere in the Tower of Old. Her NPC name was “Tania” the last time I checked.”
Nick nodded. “She’ll be my first priority.”
Gideon’s face broke unexpectedly into a radiant smile, an echo of the man he once was. And then he was gone. Nick refused Mike’s offer of a “night cap”, heading to bed earlier than usual. He had a lot to think about.
The next morning found the pixel runner out on the balcony, watching a distant storm beyond the atmos-shell. Lightning flashed through a billowing dust cloud, but there was no rain. Dry storms were becoming more commonplace. Unfortunately, the regional water catchment could no longer be relied on. The body corporate at Clementine Towers were looking at investing in dew-trap technology for the roof.
A sharp rapping on the window broke Nick’s reverie. He went inside to investigate. Mike was standing with a middle-aged brunette.
“Angie Maddox,” she said, thrusting her hand out confidently. “Reporter for Pacific News.”
Nick’s pulse quickened - these guys had a national audience. He reluctantly agreed to a five minute interview, mindful of the time. Neutron’s Immersion technician was due to arrive any minute.
Settled on the couch, Angie began by probing into Nick’s rough upbringing. She wanted to know how he was coping with the recent loss of his father, but she also delved into the long-term absence of his mother.
“I was nine when she died,” Nick said. “She was hit by a flyer down on Venice Parade.”
“Did you see it happen?” the reporter asked.
“Time to go, lady,” Mike said, noticing Nick’s consternation. “We have serious business today.”
“Understood,” Angie said, letting the subject drop. “I have one more question.”
Mike nodded sternly.
“Nick,” she said, her wrist pad flashing as it captured photos of the room. “It’s rare to see a pixel runner pit himself against one of the big corporations. Do you see yourself as a rebel, or a revolutionary?”
“Neither,” Nick murmured. “I’m just a hab urchin who loves role-playing games.”
Angie nodded thoughtfully. “Thanks for your time, Mr. Stanners.”
Mike hustled Angie to the door.
“Good,” he said when they were alone. “Your face all over country now.”
The Neutron technician, an unassuming character named Joe, arrived within the hour. He set about rigging the Immersion Tank for Nex compatibility while Mike watched him like a hawk. Nick pondered the coming game, his nerves tightening. After several minutes Joe gave a thumbs-up.
“Live tank in five minutes,” he said, kneeling by the diagnostic panel.
That sent daggers of dread through Nick’s guts. Was he really ready for the brutal world of Oakshield Junction? One thing was certain - once he spawned, there would be no time for doubt. He stripped naked, glad for the minor distraction.
“Watch out for me,” Nick said to Mike as he climbed the ladder.
“Of course,” Mike replied grimly. “I have men on perimeter, begging to put bullet in technician’s head.”
Joe gulped nervously.
Nick lowered himself into the cool gel, feeling curiously energized all of a sudden. He was about to enter a realm where all the cares of this world could be forgotten. Joe’s voice was distant as Nick let himself sink to the bottom.
“Three … two … one … launch.”
The gel’s lemon haze darkened, then faded altogether. Tingles danced down Nick’s spine as a title scrolled by - LAVORA HIGH TEMPLE. He smiled as the introductory movie began playing. He was back.
The human Kingdom of Durandor has never been more vulnerable. Buoyed by their victory over Prince Jannibar’s army, the Dark Kobold host marched across the Northern Fields unopposed. Setting camp at the base of Durandor Castle, their siege has lasted more than two years. Thousands of peasant folk are trapped in the cellars while the castle is bombarded day and night. The remaining garrison, valiant thus far, cannot man the ramparts forever.
Holed up in the Winter Palace, King Alain is desperate for a solution that will save his people from the bonds of slavery. A student of the magic arts, the King has identified one that could exploit the kobolds’ known weakness to ice - the Great Picello, a veteran Robed One. Alas, the Lavora High Temple, home of Picello’s famed Frost Magi, has been silent for several months. Alain has called forth the best mercenaries in the land to locate the mage and deliver him safely to the Winter Palace. The time of Men is fading - only Gods and Heroes have the power to rekindle the flame. And as history tells us, Heroes can emerge from the most unexpected of places …
His mind racing, Nick was faced
with a character creation screen. Each series of Oakshield featured entirely new heroes. Pixel runners weren’t permitted to carry over gear, skills or stats, but they were able to retain their usernames. Nick had no choice but to stick with his stunt name BaronFuckAss. After all, it was the only way Oakshield viewers would recognize him.
Nick had decided his discipline in advance, wasting no time in choosing Ranger. His preferred defensive STR build usually ate ranged characters for breakfast, but Nick had a feeling today’s opponents wouldn’t be strength-based. Genius or stupidity, he was sticking to his plan.
Stat allocation was trickier. Nick was used to pumping most of his available points into strength, stamina and vitality. For a pure DEX build, stamina was the most useful of those three, but it wasn’t his main focus. In the end he decided to split his points between dexterity and agility, intending to boost stamina as he progressed.
Nick’s rationale was that with a high DEX he’d be able to kill enemies with less arrows, but if he needed to flee sticky situations, he’d have enough AGL to get away safely.
His stats settled, he moved into the inventory screen. The Ranger began with a Dancer’s set, which included a very light leather chest piece and trousers. It went against his every instinct to begin a dark fantasy RPG without gauntlets or a helm of some kind.
Nick’s weapons included a simple wooden short bow, 70 plain arrows and a plunge dagger. The bow was just a base weapon, but the dagger was quite good, conferring bonus toxic damage. The deadly blade was transferred straight to his quick-equip cycle.
Mindful of his five-minute timer, Nick accessed the perk screen. The available Ranger perks promised to be effective in the early stages of the game. The items included a Zestus ring, which boosted stamina regen, a cowl that provided invisibility in ranged woodland and a pair of boots that made no sound. In the end Nick chose the Assassin’s Boots, figuring he would be back-stabbing with the plunge dagger fairly often.
Nick now had to choose where to spawn. Lavora High Temple was located in the foothills of the Hammerhorst Mountains. The world map encompassed a swathe of hilly woodland. There were ten spawn points for what Nick assumed would be around twenty pixel runners. That figure suggested he was likely to spawn alongside one other runner, maybe two. He selected a spawn point in the south east quadrant, eying off the large lake and reasonably open woodland in that region. If he was going to spawn near lethal enemies, he wanted to see them coming.
Nick took a deep breath as his view went dark. Gradually he became aware of a grass tussock, so he focused on it while he dealt with the slight nausea of transition. He was standing on a grassy verge by a glittering sapphire lake. The edge of a sparse wood was visible a half mile to the east. A figure was bolting toward those trees. A pixel runner. Without hesitation Nick hared after him.
The runner was also a Ranger. Nick couldn’t allow him to reach the trees, where he’d be able to loose arrows from cover. As it was, Linguist05 already had a two-arrow lead. Enveloped by shade, the enemy Ranger turned and loosed his first arrow. He must have pumped all his points straight into DEX, because the shaft hummed like a lightning bolt. Nick tumbled out of the way just in time, already thankful for his AGL score. He continued running, hardly breaking stride as he closed the distance.
Cool as a cucumber, Linguist05 loosed a second arrow. It sang through the air and struck Nick flush in the chest. The head passed through his leather chest plate like it was made of soggy parchment. Over half of his HP was drained. He was flung back several yards, giving Linguist05 time to loose a third arrow. He only just swerved out of the way, waiting a split second for his stamina to creep back before continuing his run.
Unable to loose again, Linguist05 quick-equipped his plunge dagger and retreated further back into the trees. Nick followed suit, bursting into the dappled forest and tracking his opponent carefully. The bastard had disappeared. His Ranger perk was woodland invisibility.
Cursing under his breath, Nick backed away to give himself a wider field of view. He detected a subtle blur to his left, so he knelt instinctively and swung his dagger in an unorthodox uppercut. It was a strength build move with a dexterity build weapon, but it was effective. The blade found meaty resistance, and Linguist05 appeared on the end of it. The dagger had sunk hilt deep under the runner’s jaw.
Nick retrieved the blade and wiped it on the slain runner’s leg. Satisfied there was no immediate danger, he looted Linguist05’s inventory. As expected, he had the same starting kit that Nick had. Except … the Woodland Cowl lootable. What a massive early bonus - to kill a rival Ranger and gain a second dexterity perk. Better still, he’d already earned a ton of Love points.
“Fuck yeah,” Nick said as he equipped the cowl. Hopefully he could put the thing to good use. As for the other gear, his arrow count was now doubled and he could sell the second Dancer armor set to the first merchant he came across.
Elated with his good start, Nick continued north through the trees, keeping the lake to his left. He noticed clumps of herbs similar to the healing herbs he’d found on the fields of Durandor. Sure enough, they maxed his HP. He kept three for later.
At length he spotted a flock of large birds on the near shore and crept closer to investigate. It was time to test his bow. Using the woodland as cover, Nick lined up the nearest bird and let rip. The arrow pierced its neck and killed it outright. Thrilled, Nick whooped with joy but was forced to retreat through the trees when the other birds came after him.
It was strange to be able to move so freely. As a strength build he’d gotten used to being encumbered all the time. As for the birds, their approach lacked cohesion. Nick suspected he was difficult to see in his woodland cowl. He had ample time to pick them off one by one, drawing the rest from the lakeshore once he’d finished.
Individually they didn’t yield much XP, but collectively he netted 650. Soon he would be able to level up. Some of the birds also yielded feathers of various colors. Nick couldn’t imagine what he might do with them but all loot was worth taking in the early stages of an RPG.
He continued north through the trees. Carefully. Just one ambush and he was toast. Rolling a DEX build certainly raised the tension level. Nick was already developing a newfound respect for all those dexers he’d killed over the years.
He heard a splashing from the lakeshore, so he veered left, keen to level up. It was a large shellfish, burrowing into the muck. He let off an arrow, but it struck the thing’s shell for zero damage. He sighed - this is why he preferred strength builds. How the fuck were dexers supposed to [these] things down?
Strategy, that’s how. He needed to use his attributes. He advanced slowly, creeping close enough to aggro the beast. Two more shellfish burst from the mud and scuttled toward him. Nick backed away, but the shellfish were much faster than the birds had been.
Panicking, he loosed an arrow but it went wide. The leading shellfish lunged several yards and knocked Nick to the ground. Stunned, hey lay helpless as the shellfish stomped him for even more damage. He was now down to less than 25%. He just had enough stamina to roll free and head into the trees.
The shellfish were smart enough not to follow him in, instead heading back to their hunting ground with angry snorts. Nick frowned. That hadn’t gone well. But he was nothing if not determined. He saw a level up in these creatures and he wouldn’t be denied. Perhaps he could draw them up the shore one by one.
Like a true professional he checked his intended battle ground to ensure there were no other creatures lurking under the mud. Satisfied, he carefully drew the nearest shellfish away from the others. Quick-equipping his plunge dagger, he boldly advanced and began strafing the thing. His heightened agility enabled him to stay right on the edge of the creature’s attack trigger. He slowed down for a moment, drawing the shellfish into its high smash attack animation.
The clumsy move offered Nick ample opportunity to flank it with the dagger. He sank the blade into the soft pink flesh under the thing’s face. It squealed and s
huddered, but Nick knew better than to over-commit. As with all brutally hard RPGs, patience was the key. He continued strafing, waiting until his stamina maxed before drawing another attack. The time he plunged the dagger in twice, knowing it was enough to kill the shellfish outright. He looted a hard shell from the corpse. Probably no use for a dexer, but a tradeable commodity nonetheless.
Nick was able to dispatch the other shellfish in similar fashion. Perhaps a dexer’s life wasn’t so hard after all. He just needed to be adaptable. In many ways it was more exciting than the methodical block and slash of strength fighting.
Scooping up the other two shells, Nick eagerly accessed his stats screen to level up. He was unsure how to spend his point. Should he simply spike his DEX and count on hitting enemies hard from range? Or should he be looking to boost his stamina as planned, so he could roll repeat-roll and land more blows?
Instinct told him he would need plenty of dexterity once he reached Lavora High Temple. He pictured devilishly mages with strong area attacks. Being able to roll and dodge wasn’t necessarily the best way of dealing with that. Hard-hitting arrows, on the other hand …
His mind settled, Nick allocated a point to DEX. For this mission he would be a classic Ranger and focus on bowcraft.
Happy with his build, Nick moved north up the shore line. The sun was high and bright, but thankfully lacked the sharp sting he’d endured in the deserts of Bariz. The austere, noble peaks of the Hammerhorst Range rose to the east. That was dwarf territory, and if he remembered his Oakshield lore correctly, they weren’t on speaking terms with humans. He had a feeling he’d be seeing more of those mountains as the series continued. If he survived. Nothing could be taken for granted in this place.
The morning wore on. Nick skirted the lake’s north shore for a couple of miles, dispatching another flock of birds along the way. They were a little tricky in large numbers, but he made sure he gave himself plenty of space with the bow, picking them off one by one. Any birds that reached him faced the plunge dagger. By the time he cleared the area he was 800XP richer and well on the way to level 3.
Dexterity Build: A LitRPG Saga (The Complete Dexterity Build Cycle) Page 2
