The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  I will say this, I was never so happy to see the village again as I was coming back. I had been in the game for less than 2 days, but it could have been 2 weeks for as much as I had accomplished. Entering the gate, I greeted Gavin, the man still looked hungover, maybe it was a permanent debuff. Remembering my earlier thoughts regarding the name of the village, I took a moment to look at the sign hanging by the village entrance ‘Hurligville’. I’m not sure what about the little town warranted a ‘ville’ in its name, but it didn’t matter enough to me to ask.

  I looked at my game clock and it was still before the midafternoon bell, but not much before, if I wanted to turn in the paws. I got to the townhall in short order and knocked on Homer’s office door and went in after he called for me to enter. I deposited the 15 Pack paws and 5 Alpha paws, more than a little happy for the bounty I was about to receive.

  Pack Wolf Bounty – 15 paws collected

  Reward: 30-Copper, 60 Experience

  That was one.

  Alpha Wolf Bounty – 5 paws collected

  Reward: 50-Copper, 150 Experience

  And that was two. I felt a little sad I didn’t get a piece of variable gear, rotten random number generator. It seemed the god of RNG still existed, even in this realm.

  Okay, so as I mentioned earlier, I had fallen behind on my Intellect, Wisdom and Charisma development. It was time to get reading and see if I could catch those up. I grabbed a book, ‘Trapology’ before I left townhall.

  From townhall, I went back to Ned’s Sundry to refill my Mana Water. I ended up buying four more canteens, filling two with Mana Water and planning to fill the other two with the stamina water from the Sergeant’s training circle. I also picked up a handful of other items today’s adventure made me realize I could use. I got a blank journal and some pencils, so I could start working on the writing skill. I picked up a common utility knife, I wanted to be prepared if I ever had to cut something free again, I wouldn’t be struggling to use my spear to do so, thankfully there was no skill required but it was also not usable as a weapon. And finally, I picked up a stack of Adventurer’s Jerky which restores +100-HP when eaten. It cost me 55-copper for everything, but I also knew, as I progressed in the game, things would just get more and more expensive.

  My final stop of the day was back to the inn to turn in the berries and retire to my room, hoping to read until dinner. I was looking forward to socializing with the locals to boost my charisma later. Other than visiting Sergeant Butters to get spear training I had no intention of leaving town until my Intellect, Wisdom, and Charisma hit their caps for level 3. Except for my trip back to the Johnson farm tomorrow, of course, but nothing there should prevent me from coming straight back to my room in the inn to continue reading and studying.

  Was it boring to grind stat points? Certainly, but I also knew from reading on the forums, past level 5 and the base of 50 stat points and 100 endurance, every point was a nightmarish grind. I might have to kill a hundred monsters 3-4 levels above my own to get even one point of strength. You could run a hundred miles for a single point of stamina. I had also read on the forums, there were quests starting at level 5 rewarding +1 to a stat of your choice, but those were few and far between. I know the counter-argument, I can just level up and then the stat points will come easier, well they don’t. Stat points get their own experience bars, each level requiring more experience than the last. At least, according to the forums.

  So, I happily sat in my room, reading ‘The Trained Eye’, which I had yet to complete. That said, I did start over, but this time I made notes in my new journal. I noted what the technique was in a condensed format, as well as what I thought it might do for me. I did this for each training technique as I read through the book and before I knew it I had reached the end of the book and had a list of twenty-one training techniques. I also received system messages informing me I had gained +3 Intellect and +5 Wisdom. The Wisdom increase honestly surprised me, I’m not sure why I gained more Wisdom than Intellect. However, I wasn’t going to complain about the mana regeneration boost, I did need it. If I wanted to make any real progress leveling up my, albeit limited, selection of spells, I would need to either increase my mana pool or mana regeneration.

  I set the book and my journal aside, it was about time for dinner and I was looking forward to the chicken pot pie and the blackberry pie, I had been promised for dinner tonight.

  “Good evening, Dogson,” I greeted the proprietor and bartender.

  “Evening, Bye-bye, you have still got about 20 minutes until dinner will be served,” he added.

  “Sure, can I get a pint. Something not as strong as what you served me last night,” I requested.

  Dogson smirked a little, then filled a pint, this time the ale was a reddish gold. This beer, I knew only too well as an amber ale, my favorite. He set it before me, “Clan Rashisa Amber Lager.”

  “Clan Rashisa?” I asked.

  “An Orc clan from the Rashisan Highlands,” answered Dogson

  Orc’s make beer? I was admittedly curious about how it would taste. I was not disappointed. It might have been the best amber ale I’d ever had and even if it wasn’t it was still delicious. Orc’s don’t just make beer, they make good beer. Who knew?

  “Started without us I see,” said a voice, drawing my attention away from my beer. I turned to look, it one of the two ogres I had met outside of Ned’s Sundry. For some reason, whenever I heard her speak, I couldn’t help but imagine a pink-haired pixie on a sugar high, which did not fit with the image of the ogre before me.

  “Can’t fault me for having a beer before dinner. Especially not a good beer,” I retorted before turning to face the pair.

  “I suppose not,” she replied grinning. Though the grin was a little distorted as her head was cocked to the side as she was too tall for the room. Just behind her, I could see Olaf had it worse.

  “Why don’t we sit,” I motioned to the open couches around the fireplace.

  “Oh, thank god,” said Olaf. “Was expecting to have to use 2 chairs, one for each cheek.” The man sat heavily upon the couch, easily covering half of it. Once Micaela sat next to him, there was no more couch to be had.

  I laughed as did Micaela. “Where do you guys usually stay if not at the inn?” I took my own seat in an armchair just across from the pair.

  “The mine has a bunkhouse for its workers,” answered Olaf. “They have oversized cots and chairs designed for the larger races. Food too. It’s kind of . . . meh but it beats trying to stay at an inn where we just don’t fit. I heard Root City has inns with accommodations for all the races.”

  “I heard the same, I also heard every store and shop is built to accommodate all the races too,” I added in.

  “All the dungeons and large group dungeon raids are supposed to be large enough for all the races, and then some,” Micaela added. “I’m sure the designers thought of almost everything. Unfortunately, there are just some provinces that weren’t given the same level of design thought. I’ve even heard some provinces are hostile toward certain races.”

  “It makes it all very realistic,” I said, sipping at my beer, trying to make it last until dinner. “So how goes the mining?”

  “Not bad at all,” said Olaf, who was now grinning broadly, looking just a little too pleased with himself.

  “And just why do you look so pleased?” I asked curiously.

  He leaned forward and motioned for me to do the same. “I hit a geode today,” he whispered.

  “What’s that?” I asked. I honestly knew nothing about mining.

  “It’s a rock egg, filled with a bunch of rare gems,” he answered, then leaned back again.

  I leaned back again. “So, it’s valuable?”

  He grunted and nodded slightly. “I’ve already dropped what was inside it in the mail to our broker. I don’t know the going rates for gems, but I suspect we won’t have to mine again if we don’t want to.”

  “That valuable?” I asked.

 
“Oh yeah,” said Micaela. “Anyway, best not to talk of such things too loudly. We won’t know anything for certain for a few days.”

  “Well congratulations then,” I said happily.

  “Can I get you folks something drink?” the only waitress. “How about you, sugar? Need a refill?” she turned and asked me, leaning in way too close and pushing her cleavage into my face.

  I think I just solved the mystery of who I was flirting with the night before. “You bet, doll,” I tried to flirt.

  “Oh, you stop,” she said, playfully swatting my arm. “I will be back with your refill in a minute. You want your dinner too?”

  “Please, thank you. Can I get a couple of extra-large servings for my friends too? Two flagons of Rashisa Ale for them as well?” I asked, possibly ogling her a little too long.

  “Alright, sugar,” she said in a sultry voice, giving me a wink before she sauntered off.

  “Oh, you dog,” said Olaf, barely containing his laughter.

  “Hey, +1-Charisma from flirting,” I defended myself, though I had to admit. If the opportunity truly presented itself, I’d be a damned fool not to indulge.

  “All men are pigs,” said Micaela, trying to look affronted but failing. I could see the corners of her mouth twitching in trying not to smile and join her husband in laughing at me.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, what else is new?” I asked, a chagrined smile on my face.

  “So, flirting builds charisma?” asked Olaf, finally getting his laughter under control.

  “Yeah, just about any kind of positive socializing. I guess I got pretty hammered last night with one of the guards. From what I hear, I flirted, told a few entertaining stories and when I woke up the morning I’d gained a few points of charisma.”

  “So, we’re saying getting drunk is a good idea?” asked Olaf, a mischievous spark behind his eyes.

  “If I say yes, will I be waking up hungover again?” I asked. Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to get so drunk again.

  Micaela and Olaf both laughed loudly, clearly enjoying themselves.

  “I’d love to get good and pissed with you. but we have work in the morning. I promise though, as soon as we’ve paid off our Seedpods we’ll get well and truly pissed together,” offered Olaf.

  “Deal,” I replied. I do love the British, good accents and fun expressions.

  Eventually, dinner turned up, I flirted more with the waitress, who thanks to Micaela, I learned was name Trish. We all drank a few beers, enjoyed conversation. Eventually built up a crowd as we started sharing stories and past exploits.

  “Alas, late bell has tolled,” said Olaf, hearing the chime. “It is about time me and the missus got back to the mine.”

  “So soon?” I asked. I was having a grand time. I had a good buzz going, I was drunk for sure, but not too drunk. I wouldn’t forget everything in the morning.

  “Yeah, sho shoon?” echoed Micaela. The poor girl was completely sloshed and would definitely be feeling it in the morning.

  “I blame you for this,” said Olaf, sighing loudly.

  “Harsh but fair,” I said with a small laugh.

  “Still, it was a good night. Even got a few points of charisma myself. I’m sure the wife did too but . . . well . . .” he sighed, exasperation apparent.

  “I understand,” I replied.

  Olaf carefully guided his wife out of the inn. Once outside the man lifted her into his arms. “We’ll have to do this again soon.”

  “You know where to find me,” I said, motioning to the inn behind me.

  “That we do,” he replied, then gave a final wave and started his walk home.

  Back inside the inn, I went back to the bar to settle up with Dogson before turning in for the night.

  I was awoken again, by a new miserable rooster cock-a-doodle-do-ing, right outside my window. Through sheer force of will, I refrained from executing it, as I wasn’t nearly so hungover. Just a pinch of a headache. I dressed and made my way downstairs for breakfast.

  Dogson presented me with a pint again. I didn’t feel the hangover was severe enough to warrant hair of the dog, but I drank it anyway. Another hearty breakfast and I was out the door.

  “Morning Sergeant,” I greeted the man, as I came around to the back of the barracks.

  “Morning,” he said in his standard gruff manner. “So, what are you looking for today?”

  “Training as usual,” I replied.

  “I kind of figured that part out already. I meant what do you want to learn?” he asked.

  “Oh,” I said dumbly. “Well, I need a technique for dealing with multiple opponents at the same time.”

  “I have just the skill,” he said with a grin.

  I was beginning to dread this man’s grin. I had already gotten the impression, his grinning meant bad things for me, well, not bad but certainly not good. “How do we start?” I asked, a little reluctant.

  “Well, this one is pretty easy as you already know ‘Jab’. This skill uses the base skill of ‘Jab’ and escalates it,” he explained.

  I had a feeling I knew where this was going. “Multi-Jab?”

  “More or less,” he replied. “So, this is a purely offensive skill. You’re going to ‘Jab’ multiple times as rapidly as you can, creating a cone of damage directly in front of you. Now, each ‘Jab’ will not do as much damage as your regular ‘Jab’ attack, but it doesn’t matter. You will be striking so many times so quickly, you will make up for the damage loss. As I said, this sacrifices defense for all-out offense, this is one of the few skills I will teach you to do so.”

  I nodded, picturing what he wanted in my head.

  “So, the only thing to do is to start doing it,” instructed Sergeant Butters. He motioned to a pair of dummies placed next to each other. “Get to it.”

  I started out standing at attack range and used ‘Jab’ once to test the range.

  “Do not start in range of the targets. In real combat, you will always have to shift in or out to attack. Do not get lazy now.”

  I shifted back away. I shifted in and used ‘Jab’ then triggered it again.

  “Stop!” ordered Sergeant Butters. “Do not use ‘Jab’. I told you this is similar to ‘Jab’, but not ‘Jab’ itself. If you use the existing skill, then all you’re doing is using your skill. You need to start by jabbing, then continue jabbing repeatedly. Not with the skill, but with your own arm. Also, accuracy with this technique is actually a detriment. You are not trying to hit the same point on the target. You are supposed to be trying to cover an area with damaging spear thrusts your targets will have no way of a dodging or predicting. Now, try again.”

  Okay, so I wasn’t supposed to use ‘Jab’. I shifted in again this time I attacked, moving as if I was going to ‘Jab’, but instead I used my arm alone to do it. Then I thrust again, and again, but on the fourth attack my hand hit my shield with a meaty thud, followed by me dropping the spear and cradling my hand, which now carried a debuff ‘crippled’.

  “I told you to sacrifice defense,” warned Sergeant Butters.

  I took the liberty of casting a few ‘Lesser Heal’ spells on myself, then I tried to target my hand directly which successfully remove the ‘crippled’ debuff to my great pleasure.

  “Try again,” ordered Butters.

  And so, I did. This time as I shifted in, I pulled my shield back, still partially covering my face, but giving the arm holding the spear, free range of motion. I attacked the dummies, arm forward, all the way back, arm forward, all the way back. It was ridiculously slow. No way was this going to get to a rapid speed. I need to shorten my thrust, either not go so far forward or not pull back as far.

  I shifted back again, my body reclaiming my natural spear and shield stance automatically. I thought it was cool. It had only been a few days, and I was already building muscle memory.

  I shifted forward again, my shield arm already pulling back as my spear arm shot forward hard when it reached full length my arm naturally bounced back but I cou
ldn’t allow my arm to come all the way back, so I thrust forward again just as my elbow started to bend. Thrust, rebound, thrust, rebound. I had found a rhythm to my attack. I was so close. Unfortunately, my stamina quickly approached depletion, so I shifted back.

  “Better,” said Sergeant Butters. “Get some water, recover a little and then get back to it.”

  I filled my canteen and the two spares I had picked up the day before.

  Once my stamina had refilled I went back to it. It didn’t take very long to get back into the rhythm of the attack.

  “Good, now you need to start moving faster. Do not worry about being accurate here. You need to be fast and attack with reckless abandon. Create a cone of damage in front of yourself,” the sergeant instructed.

  I tried to give up control as instructed, but it wasn’t easy for me. It was hard to stop focusing on a target and just attack recklessly, trying to push as much speed out of my arm as possible.

  You’ve learned ‘One-Handed Polearm’ subskill ‘Rapid Striking’.

  One-Handed Polearms

  Level: 19

  Experience: 64.22%

  Current Damage Modifiers

  Damage: +9.5

  Critical Strike Chance: +0.95%

  Subskill: Rapid Striking

  Damage: -2 Strikes: 10 Cone: 30⁰

  Skill Stamina Cost: 49

  I love this game so much right now. Yeah, it bites that ‘Rapid Striking’ reduces the damage of each spear thrust, but the 10 attacks in a row more than make up for it, especially an attack capable of hitting multiple targets.