“Stabbings!” I didn’t know what a demon might say. Stabbing people was evil, right? Cleaving those two men into bits back in the forest had felt pretty foul. That being said, murdering giant ice cockroaches felt perfectly justifiable. Comparing the two extremes felt weird.
“Well, you’ll get your chance.” The Traveler was looking over the fire into the distance.
I sniffed the air and tried to look into the darkness for any sort of enemy. This would be a terrible time for a battle. Flying was still awkward.
The wings on my back shook. They were not pinkies at all. How on earth did the ARC give people feedback for items they didn’t have in real life? Tingles shot through them, and I danced back and forth in order to help the circulation along. Jiving around helped me barely avoid a weird gooey bit of acid that slid right by my chubby cheek.
“Ahhhwhathappened?” I shouted.
“Attack them!” Requiem pulled out two swords that looked to be blue and black. A trail of smoke spilled from behind one as it moved.
“Attack who?” I shouted again while trying to uncoil the remaining rope from both legs.
“Them! Now!” Requiem dove past me.
The collar about my neck warmed up again. This time the pain kept increasing steadily. These stubby [Red Imp] legs were not working correctly. I tried to flutter both wings and lift off the ground. My thinking quickly derailed as I tried to figure out if the marking on my stomach was a birthmark or a welt.
Ignored an Order
Total health loss: 21%
Pain zipped through and made the tiny body I occupied gasp and curl. Flying halted. My tail slapped around on the ground as my gimpy legs gave out.
“Get up!” Requiem shouted.
It hurt to stand. The ARC feedback was hiking up the sting for each percentage being ticked off. Oddly, my synchronization bar climbed as the damage stacked.
“Nowwhat?” I was determined to drag this all out for as long as possible.
This quest was straightforward. If I couldn’t kill Requiem directly, then maybe inaction and feigned stupidity would get him indirectly killed. My time as Carver had taught me that being proactive earned more results than sitting on a bench reading a book. That was probably a good metaphor for life.
“Help. Me. Kill. Them!” Requiem slashed at a giant rat creature.
The rodents possessed squirmy green eyes and a mess of tails. Large gashes were littered all across the monsters, and many of them were clearly infected.
“Ewwww.” I gave an unintentional shriek. The ARC pulled the thoughts from my head as it did everything else and bypassed any mental filters.
“Kill them!”
Another two percent of damage ticked by, and the synchronization jumped up accordingly. Still, pain hurt. I could avoid some by trying to follow the orders stated. Everything conspired to make me fail. Flying was way harder than expected. My tail successfully wound around my pitchfork, and everything started tilting wildly to the left. Moments later, instability allowed me to collide dead-on with a tree.
“Ha! You won’t escape this time!” another figure yelled triumphantly.
He was the goofiest-looking person I had ever seen. His neck had a piece of rippled white fabric around it that made no sense. The collar was popped up, one sleeve was too long, and his coat had points on the end that looked comical.
I actually preferred Requiem’s clean vest look. At least his dress code had some utility to it. Though Requiem’s cape was nearly worse than the puke-green one Awesome Jr. had worn.
It seemed like a bad time to wonder how Awesome Jr. was doing. Flying toward giant mutant rat creatures would have been far easier as Hermes. I knew my character’s stats and had loads more experience using that body. This nameless [Red Imp] avatar was still foreign.
“Kill him!” Requiem pointed one of his blades toward the new Traveler.
A sloppy attempt at using my [Identification] skill listed a bunch of useless question marks. I decided to nickname him PoserMan in my head.
I scrambled to at least fly in PoserMan’s direction. Flying was a huge failure. I ran into another creepy tree and fell to the ground. Boxes appeared around me, explaining that being bound for so long had damaged both normal flight skills and all [Focus] abilities. Oh well. The worst that would happen was my [Red Imp] self was killed by some super move. Maybe PoserMan would strike a pose and scream about unleashing a laser.
While PoserMan failed to pose, my chubby arms and legs managed to coordinate a recovery. Requiem was off in the distance, quickly dodging between a horde of giant rats. They looked more like dogs next to him. To me, those monsters were closer to horses.
Requiem was a violent jerk who sounded childish, but he was also pretty good with two swords. He slashed into one monster and shaved off most of its health bar. I tried to lift the silly pitchfork, but my tail still had a hold on it.
Poor [Coordination], [Focus], and my tail conspired to plant the pitchfork into the ground at an angle. It was just enough that one of the giant rat mutants, which had been dodging away from Requiem, slammed into the propped up item and impaled itself. The rodent turned and snapped at my face.
I did what any sane person with a complete lack of [Focus] and disabled mental filters would do.
“Bad doggy!” My chubby hand smacked the rat thing right in the face.
It snarled and snapped. The desperate attempts at retaliation only drove its body further down the pitchfork’s spikes. I glared at the weapon and tried to figure out how it was so strong.
Skill Used: [Identification]
Results: [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift]
The details read almost like my normal weapon. Damage was above average for this path. There was a [Regeneration] effect. It was [Bound] to me. I had no idea what that would mean in the long run. For now, it was pleasant to see Carver’s gift carrying over to this latest task.
“Good! Kill another!” Requiem yelled the order at me.
I didn’t have much brain power to argue with the Traveler right now. Another two of the mad rat-dog things were hovering nearby. They seemed slightly leery after their buddy died to my accidental impaling.
“You’ll never stop me, Requisite Ass!” the other person taunted.
I was too busy yanking out my pitchfork to give him much attention. Requiem was leaping after him.
“It’s Requiem, you tool!” Requiem corrected the other person.
There was a loud series of clangs as they swung weapons at each other.
This pitchfork shared many of the same characteristics of [Morrigu’s Gift]. I focused on shifting it to a long pole instead of the four-pronged tip that it had been.
Weeks of practice with Shazam helped make the change smooth. My mental image wasn’t exactly complex either. The weapon’s top slowly pulled through gory rat bits to merge into a single spike.
In addition to better control over [Morrigu’s Gift], I had also practiced a lot of situational awareness. For example, being single-minded in my focus on transforming the weapon meant two giant rat creatures had plenty of time to attack. My practice had failed me.
Claws are bad, mmkay?
Total health loss: 48%
Voices above! One slight rake of the claw was enough to shave off a quarter of my health! I scrambled to dodge another attack. As Hermes, I was used to using my legs. The natural reflex of kicking was useless with a [Red Imp]’s stubby legs. I wiggled them at the monster’s face anyway while both wings hummed wildly.
No, really, stop doing that
Total health loss: 73%
“Stabbings! Letthestabbings happen!”
I kind of lost it at that point. Being a [Red Imp] made me small and weak. Once my hands were on the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift], weeks of practice kicked in. This character was weak but insanely fast compared to the Hermes avatar.
I turned and fluttered. What would have been a smooth extension of the current pike form into a rat’s eye ended up skewering its gut instead. That was les
s effective, messier, but still damaging. I retracted the weapon and turned it flat in time to block the gnashing teeth of an another attacker.
“Finally! You’re useful!” Requiem Ass, Mass, whatever, was keeping an eye on me even while fighting.
Getting his commentary on my combat skills irked me incredibly. I had only been playing for a month in real time. That was four months in-game. I had a master’s in business and accounting, not a black belt in Stab-fu.
I did manage to get back to the pitchfork form and sink the weapon deep into another rat’s flank. He turned and squealed at me. Giant teeth snapped in my face, and spittle flew everywhere. I hurriedly extended the handle a bit and flew backward into a tree.
The latest rat turned and went for my arm. I yanked out my weapon and made a beeline for Requiem Mass. Maybe, just maybe, he was looking away and wouldn’t block this rat.
Almost as soon as the thought occurred to me, I crashed into the ground and skidded. Burning crawled across my neck’s skin, and something actually sizzled. Any grip I had on the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] faltered as my hands tore at the object melting my flesh.
Warning!
Violation of Traveler & Familiar contract, damage being issued. Punishments will increase in severity if further disregard is shown.
No kidding, machine! And the giant rat monster I had been fighting was drawing closer. Two more hits from one of those and I would fall apart.
“Ahhh! Ihateit, I hate it!”
Why did this punishment hurt more than the beatings from Requiem? Why did it hurt more than the teeth, claws, and bites? It was as if the ARC had kept everything peaceful until it needed to send home a punch.
Death was an easy way out. This was just a game, and it would plop me back into the Hermes character safe and happy. No. That would be bad. I had to kill Requiem somehow, not die sniveling about a lot of pain burning my flesh. Or I could log out.
The pain stopped and left my character gasping and crawling on the ground. Out of habit, I reached for my weapon.
“You and your little demon mongrel won’t stop me from completing this quest!” PoserMan yelled.
“I’ll kill you, Freakinstain!” Requiem Mass turned and threw something toward the rat attacking me.
His projectile dug into the creature’s side and sent it tumbling. It collapsed a few feet away, heaving and staring at me with hatred.
“It’s Frankenstein!” the man with his funny neck piece and long coattails said. PoserMan would have been a better name.
Darkness swept through the entire area. My vision flickered as things went from normal colors lit by a fire to a strange alternate vision. Everything seemed to be in shades of black and white. I saw Requiem Mass cover his face and scowl. He swung around blindly with the sword that had smoke trails.
Frankenstein turned and fled into the distance. His body seemed to be composed of multiple squiggly pieces that fluttered in one mass. Similar to how Jean, the Voice, and her clothing appeared.
The lights came back up, and Requiem was cursing at the empty space where he had been fighting. Next to me, the giant rat breathed its last and fell limp.
“Worthless!” Requiem stomped over to me and kicked the rat in its head. “You were meant to stop him from doing that!”
“What, what, whatare you. What?” My head shook in confusion. What the heck was Requisite Ass on about now?
“I summoned you so that you could see in the dark and help me kill that fucker,” Requiem said through grinding teeth.
Hadn’t Requiem asked what use I would be? Clearly the young man already had a plan in mind.
“You’re theidiot. You didn’t tell methat!” I shouted rapidly.
“I did! And you didn’t listen! But don’t worry, we’ll work on your listening skills right now,” he said.
“No thanks, opting out, didn’t signthe line.” I tried to back up, but my tail was going wild. Fighting back had proven a bit impossible due to the pain that burned on my neck every time I tried to disobey.
“Hold still,” Requiem said.
I tried to back up anyway, and the ARC feedback sent me to my knees. He smacked my small [Red Imp] form in the face. Then he punched me. My health bar dropped in chunks again.
The beatings continued. My synchronization jumped up. I focused on watching it climb and tried not to think about what was happening to this character’s insides. It felt like having two headaches, banging my foot against a counter, and whacking my knee on a table all at the same time.
I gasped and groaned. Somewhere in there, one middle finger was raised up to his face. My chubby little arms were normally red, but there were lots of purple and other bruises forming. One eye had nearly swelled shut, and my toes weren’t responding right.
“Why won’t pain break you?”
He threw me off to one side, and I rolled along the remains of damaged trees. I chuckled weakly between gasps for air. This round was in my favor. Mental fortitude had won out against attempted abuse.
The ARC’s muted feedback had almost rigged it against Requiem. If this had been real life, things would have gone the other direction. Poor Requiem. None of the AIs in Continue were that simple.
“You foolish, foolish mortal.” I slowed down the words and scowled at Requiem. My mind scrambled to put together something suitably demonic. “You know nothing of Hell. Physical pain is the least of life’s traumas.”
I could feel my thinned lips pull back in an unintentional snarl. The [Red Imp] body was expressive compared to normal me. None of that bothered me right now. I was angry at the Traveler, and he was clearly full of his own rage.
Reward:
For reaching 25% Synchronization, you will gain access to additional racial skills.
Unlocked! Rank 1 synchronization – Racial Passives increase.
[Night Vision] now has an (Infrared) specialization
[Fire Resist] upgraded to [Fire Immunity]
[Cold Weakness] has been added
The Traveler drew his mouth tight and waved an arm. Everything faded away as my summoned status was slowly released. Maybe now I could see what was going on with my Hermes character.
Session Thirty-One — What is Love…
I watched the pretty swirl of lights pass by and came to in a confusing situation. My Hermes character was currently strapped to the back of a horse thing. The first thing I noticed was a bobbing landscape filled with tiny pop-up boxes. A dozen of them were stacked on one side and cited failed skill checks.
“Horsemanship?” I muttered. Somehow my character was slowly learning [Horsemanship]. A system message happily informed me that any skills gained by my autopilot would be vastly reduced compared to normal play.
Two of the strange mounts were present. They were like the ones from [Haven Valley]. William Carver’s character had been so nearsighted that most details had slipped by. It was way easier to see what they looked like now that my vision wasn’t screwed up.
The creature’s ears were a bit too long and floppy. Their legs were thicker. I was riding the love child of a Clydesdale and an elongated rabbit. Plus, they snickered instead of making nice normal horse whinnies.
The one under me was plodding along. The second was being ridden by a woman in heavy-looking plate armor. For a moment, I thought that Elane, or SheHulk, had come back to haunt me. But this woman was much taller and almost seemed a giant on the back of her horse-rabbit thing.
“What are these?” In all my weeks as William Carver, I hadn’t paid much attention to the wildlife beyond [Coo-Coo Rill]s. A box displayed as the [Identification] skill kicked in. Great. They really were Horse Rabbits.
Skill Used: [Identification]
Race: [Caliburr]
Status: Bored
Details: [Caliburr]s are used as long-distance travelers. Their top speed isn’t very high, but they can travel for hours before needing to rest. They tend to travel in packs of two or three.
Warning! Leaving two [Caliburr]s unattended for too long
will result in a population explosion. [Caliburr] young often attract hungry monsters.
Something tiny yanked on my ear. A familiar clack of jaw muscles snapping shut indicated one culprit. The [Caliburr] under me let out another weird snicker, and we kept moving along.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I said to Dusk while raising a hand to pet him.
The small [Messenger’s Pet] perked up.
“Have you been helping Shazam babysit me?”
Dusk nodded happily.
“I kind of expected you to turn up while I was over there with Requiem,” I told my little friend.
He shook his head and a sad face with eye drops appeared in the thought bubble. That was amazingly handy at confirming how Dusk felt. Part of me wondered if Requiem Mass had one for my [Red Imp] body. Hopefully that thought bubble showed him being stabbed over and over.
“Aw, it’s okay if you can’t come. Someone has to keep my autopilot in line,” I said, and the [Messenger’s Pet] nodded. “Where are we going anyway?”
The [Messenger’s Pet] shrugged. I looked forward at Shazam. She had a hand on the lead for my [Caliburr] and was riding her own slowly. Shazam’s other hand was poking at the air nearby. The woman’s expressionless gaze hadn’t faltered once in my presence.
“Hi, Shazam. I’m back,” I said.
She gave me a single thumbs-up and went back to fiddling with something in front of her. I assumed it was a player interface of some sort. Shazam was one of the first people I had noticed using the interface like that. Most Travelers just went blank for a moment when focusing on system menus.
“Where are we going?” I asked again.
Shazam turned to look at me and pointed at my side a few times. I looked down and saw the scroll case.
“Oh. Messenger stuff,” I said.
She gave me a thumbs-up again and turned around.
“That reminds me, I spoke to your Voice. Irene, right? She seemed…” Nice wasn’t the right word. “Clinical.”
Shazam gave me another thumbs-up, which made me frown. A simple acknowledgment was not the reaction I expected when talking about someone’s personal Voice. At least, that wouldn’t be my reaction. Was she really so passive about everything? If anyone ran up to me and said, “I know you have an Ultimate Edition,” my freak-out meter would skyrocket. Even Beth didn’t know.
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