Having shut us up, he started punching things into the teller, “I got a lot of things I’ve got to be doing right now.”
I looked around the empty store, “Phone orders or something?”
“No. Tarthirious. There’s this prick in first at the Arena and I’m sick of him. So. You want Hawaiian, right? £8.” he said bluntly, producing a pin-and-chip machine from under his bench.
I pulled out my card before Gerald had the chance and pressed it to the machine, “Bout ten, fifteen?”
The owner shrugged, “Depends on how long my match takes.”
I sighed and sat down at one of the small stainless-steel tables, Gerald joining me when he noticed. I’d learned a while before that it was easier to just wait, not through my action, but by the action of people passing through the neighbourhood.
They’d kick and scream if the meal took more than ten minutes to prepare, so the owner would just take longer and start smoking. It was a major health code violation, but the MPs weren’t that interested in enforcing that particular law. I, and most others, figured it had something to do with him giving them free food.
But the food was good and the wait times weren’t really that horrendous.
“So how do you want to play out tonight?” Gerald asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“How do you mean?” I asked once I’d regained my bearings, the early morning I’d had only just starting to mess with my cognitive function.
Nothing too bad, just enough to make my brain a bit slow on the draw, and certainly nothing that a good dose of vitamin P(izza) wouldn’t fix.
“I hate to be forward or presumptuous, but are we going back to your place?”
I thought the answer to that question was rather obvious, but I was really happy that he’d actually consider me before just deciding he was going to spend the night again. “I thought so, yeah.”
He nodded unsurely with a half-smile, he wanted to ask more but was obviously trapped in the same anxious box I often found myself in.
I can never stand asking too many things of a person in a row. If I were to catch fire and ask for a bucket I’d probably be too uncomfortable to ask for the person to get some water in it.
“Yes,” I said, reading his thoughts, “I figured you’d spend the night.”
His smile turned true and he let out an almost silent sigh of relief, “Brilliant. Thank you, should we get my stuff for the morning before or after dinner?”
I smiled wickedly, “No, you must honour the age-old tradition of the ‘walk of shame’.”
“I thought that was only for one night stands?”
“I’m sure it’s the same for boyfriends and girlfriends. It’s just crueller.”
Gerald fell silent, not losing his smile though, and gave me a handsome eyebrow raise, “Boyfriend and girlfriend, huh?”
I shrugged and looked over to the kitchen as the owner started swearing uncontrollably, clearly the match had not gone in his favour, “That’s what we are, aren’t we?”
The eyebrow raise disappeared and my boyfriend smiled so wide that his eyes were forced shut by his cheeks, “I suppose we are. Honey.” he said in what seemed to be a deliberate attempt to become single.
“If you start calling me honey before… Just don’t or I’ll slap you.”
He smiled cheekily, “Okay, hone-yeow!” he yelped with a laugh after I slapped him across the face.
“What did I tell you? And now you’re in an abusive relationship.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘look at what you made me do’ people, it’s unbecoming.”
“You want a fresh one?”
“Do you?”
“That’s misogyny.”
“No, that’s equality, loser, look it up.”
The owner had had enough, “I swear on all Gods above and below I will rub my balls all over your pizza if you don’t both shut up!”
Gerald and I shared an embarrassed look before holding hands and smiling at each other. We were so content with everything, and I hadn’t thought about the deadline that was drawing closer and closer once in the last 36 hours.
Life was starting to become, well, life, and not just some eat, work, game, sleep, repeat cycle that drove me further and further into a soulless depression.
My world was finally warm again for the first time in years, and nothing could stop it.
Daemion: Chapter 5
Lucky Llewellyn has fallen.
Congratulations Daemion the Dread, you have won.
Max Level Reached.
No Experience Points awarded.
+3,500 gold.
342,500 gold.
Match over.
Searching for match…
…
…
…
Search cancelled.
Player disconnected.
Opening chatroom.
‘We have to stop, it’s getting unreasonable.’
…
…
‘Saturation necessary.’
…
…
‘No. I’m done. I’m pulling the plug on this before someone realises, because from what I’m seeing she’s in the store with the player I just defeated. If he happens to read the profile he’ll see that there’s no way she just fought him.’
…
…
‘Miss Redmond is unaware of our actions, and the other player became disconnected the moment he clicked on his messenger tab. If you attempt to leave before this is done what happened to your predecessor will happen to you. Don’t make his mistake.’
…
…
‘Threats don’t work with me, it’s one of the many reasons our mutual friend chose me in the first place. Another is he trusts my judgement on these matters.’
…
…
‘Do your job. Don’t make contact until it’s done.’
Left chatroom.
“Welp… I’m going to jail.”
Player has joined.
Searching for match…
Kylia: Chapter 18
It was fun watching Gerald pack an overnight bag, the best part probably being when he was very ‘sneaky’ in packing a box of condoms.
He was so adorable.
When we got back to my place, pizza in hand, it took a lot of energy to just sit down and start watching TV and not to devour each other, but we managed it. So far our whole relationship had been pretty great, and efficient, however we were successfully making sure that it wasn’t just snogging and shagging.
We were talking about our lives, my stuff with losing my family, Gerald’s stuff about how his was on the other side of the country and he only saw them maybe once a month. We didn’t belittle, or tease, or otherwise hurt each other’s feelings. It was nice, boring, but nice.
“-and that’s how I got the scar on my right thigh.” Gerald finished as he put the other half of our pizza in the fridge.
“Why were you in the thing’s cage in the first place?” I asked between my raucous laughs.
He shrugged and came to flop back on the couch next to me and turn off the TV, “I don’t know. I just really like animals I suppose.”
“Heh, yeah, I noticed that.”
And just like that there it was. Our first lull as a couple. The conversation just kind of ended and we were practically fresh out of things to say.
We should’ve seen what happened next coming, but by the time we’d fully realised I was already thoroughly satisfied with one foot propped up along the top of the couch with the other on the floor with my knickers still around my ankle.
We were animals.
And, come to think of it, probably not great neighbours.
“We must stop meeting like this.” Gerald said, his pants most of the way back up and a glass of water in his hand. “It’s unseemly.”
“Isn’t it just?” I said euphorically as I rolled onto the floor with a big grin on my face and started crawling around looking for
my pants.
“Would you mind if we had another shower? I know that was rather quick, but there was certainly a lot more effort involved than last time.”
I found my pants and decided to be mean, “Glad to hear sex with me requires a lot of effort.”
“Oh shut up, you knew what I meant.” he said as he walked up behind me, grabbed my arse, then sat back down.
“Good,” I said, looking back at him while staying on all fours, “you’re learning. Initiate congratulatory butt-wiggles.” I said as I started, you guessed it, wiggling my butt.
He laughed at my little display then took another drink, “Shower?” he asked, reminding me that I hadn’t answered.
I rose to my feet and nodded, “That sounds great. Would you mind if we got in some Tarthirious afterwards? No quests or anything, just a little bit of time so we haven’t missed an entire day.”
“Works for me, I get the feeling too when it’s been too long. Can you imagine if we’d had a videogame like this a few years ago? Back when we weren’t getting paid to do it?”
“Honestly? No. I can barely remember anything before everything changed, and I don’t exactly have a lot of international friends.”
Gerald chuckled for a second then stopped, “Now that I think about it, neither do I. I’ve fought other people globally, but I don’t have their phone numbers or anything. Most of them I don’t even know their real names.”
“I guess that’s what happens with servers,” I said with a disinterested shrug, “they just keep you with your countrymen and that’s it.”
“But that’s not it. It’s not just in the game. I don’t know a single person outside the UK, do you think that’s deliberate?”
I sighed and stomped my feet, “I think I just had a fantastic orgasm and you’re ruining it with your hypothetical conspiracy theory. Can we please have a shower?” I asked in a very convincing voice that hid the fact that I often found myself wondering the exact same thing.
Gerald smiled his cute little smile and nodded, “Yeah. For some reason I get very thinky after sex.”
“It’s probably the only time your brain gets any blood.” I said before poking my tongue out at him.
He wasn’t having that though, and my flat was soon filled with excited shrieks and giggles as he chased me all the way to the shower, where he promptly helped me get undressed.
Shortly after we got the water running Gerald and I discovered something pretty cool. As it turned out we’d been going about shower sex all wrong, what I had to do is put my hands on the wall and… I’m sure you’ll figure it out if you ever get in the situation.
Point is I felt like I’d just discovered electricity, and no one had to tell me how to do it.
I started giggling as we dried ourselves off, and before Gerald could ask what I was on about I blurted out “Achievement unlocked! Have interesting sex!”
Luckily I’d found someone who shared my sense of humour, and he started laughing his head off.
I couldn’t get over how great we were together, and I just couldn’t stop smiling, all the way through until we sat down and started playing Tarthirious.
Fine, so maybe I kept smiling for at least five minutes afterwards. We’re adorable and there’s nothing you can do or say that will convince me otherwise.
Armelia: Chapter 16
I took a deep breath of the morning air as the sun warmed my cheeks. Lukithir had become the hustling and bustling commune of people from all over Tarthirious that it was meant to be. The heavy smash of hammer on steel made me spin on my feet to see the blacksmith working over a sword, who looked a lot like the one from Kalretch without the hair.
“Good day,” he said shortly after being labelled as Lioka Gredhall, “how can I help you?”
I looked over to Gerry for help, but he’d already wandered off to the market. “I’d like to learn how to make arrows.”
Lioka dropped the sword, that was singing with the sheer amount of heat it was emanating, in a barrel of water and dusted himself off, “Certainly, what type? I can train you how to make stone ones for 30 gold, iron ones for 50, steel for 75, or obsidian for 150.”
At first I wanted to learn obsidian, they would definitely be the most powerful, but once the excited feeling of getting OP arrows wore down I realised it would be both incredibly difficult to find the rare material, and even more expensive to buy it.
“I’d like to learn stone and steel thanks.” I less said, and more complained.
-105 gold.
10,145 gold.
Learned how to craft Stone Arrows.
Learned how to craft Steel Arrows.
I know you may be asking ‘Why did you learn how to make stone arrows when you were just going to learn about steel ones afterwards?’ The answer’s simple, stone arrows are easy to make.
Picture this; you’re out in the woods and you’ve just nocked and loosed your last arrow. Your enemy is down to its last bit of health, but you can’t get in and start whaling on him with your sword, he’ll eviscerate you.
That’s when you realise you’re surrounded by sticks and stones. You grab them up, wait the two or three seconds it takes to make the arrowheads, and blamo, you’ve got a fighting chance.
If you’re really clever though, you’ll take advantage of the long distances between objectives and create them passively when you’re riding your horse or sitting in your carriage.
And why didn’t I learn iron crafting as well? Because pretty much wherever you buy iron ingots you’ll find steel, and they’re not that much more expensive and do far more damage.
“Would you like to buy some of those materials as well?” Lioka asked as I went to find Gerald, “I’ve got steel ingots for 10 gold a piece, and some honed shafts for 1 gold.”
I wanted to find Gerald, I really did, but this guy had significantly better deals than the last person I was forced to barter with. “I’d like ten steel ingots and fifty shafts.” I said with a smile, until I realised what I’d asked for and couldn’t decide whether I was deeply disturbed by the idea or gloriously entertained.
-150 gold.
9,995 gold.
Received:
10 Steel Ingots: Weight: 1(-1).
50 Honed Shafts: Weight: 0.5(-0.5).
I seethed at the idea that my gold had fallen under 10,000, but then remembered the piece of the Skeleton King’s crown. “How much would you give me for this?”
The blacksmith took it from hands and started looking it over before tsking, “I’m afraid I don’t know much about things like this, best I could do is 10 gold.” he said as he handed it back, “You might have a spot of better luck heading down to Thenrir’s Artefacts, he’ll know a lot more than I do and will probably give you a better deal.”
I nodded my thanks and went in the search of the store, which turned out to be was just two doors down from the blacksmith.
The store was filled with bookcases brimming with ancient totems and gems while bones and talismans dangled from the roof. It was in no way creepy, dirty, or otherwise decrepit, it was actually quite clean, as was the owner, Thenrir the Collector, who was a very proper looking elf.
“How may I help you today madam?” he asked in a posh voice as I approached his counter.
I pulled out the piece of the crown and showed him, “I was looking at selling this.”
It was quick, and dissipated even quicker into an apathetic look, but I was sure I saw his eyes widen. He shrugged, “It’s nice, maybe 75 gold?”
I looked from the piece to the elf a few times before making up my mind, “Surely you can do better than that. This is certainly a rare item.”
Thenrir continued to keep up his unimpressed attitude for a few more seconds before giving in, “Alright, alright, 2,500 gold. You’re clearly a woman who knows what she’s got.”
I smiled and shook my head, “I just know people.”
+3 Speech Skill.
Progress: 8/100.
+50 XP.
Progres
s: 1680/2250.
Piece of the Skeleton King’s crown removed.
+2,500 gold.
12,495 gold.
Thenrir thanked me for my patronage, and I left for the blacksmith’s again in the hopes that I’d meet Gerry back there.
Unfortunately I had no such luck, he was still busy dumping a bunch of his loot from previous quests to pay attention to my boring tasks. Initially I thought he was being mean, but I eventually came to see it from his point of view and got past my loneliness, before getting onto Lioka’s workbench where I started making my arrowheads.
Steel Ingot removed.
Created: 5 Simple Steel Arrowhead.
Simple Steel Arrowhead removed.
Created: 1 Steel Arrow: Damage: 3.
Equipped Steel Arrow.
+1 Smithing Skill.
Progress: 1/100.
+10 XP.
Progress: 1690/2250.
Steel Ingot removed.
It took me over three minutes to make all fifty arrows, which felt like hours, but by the end of it I’d made 25 simple ones that did three damage, and 25 standard ones that did seven. I’d also gotten my XP up to 2180/2250 and my smithing skill to 50/100, which meant I was about ready to start making some strong equipment, then after 75 it was powerful, then finally master-grade.
I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I was really excited to start inflicting some real damage with things I’d created with my own two hands. I always felt a deeper connection with my weapons when they weren’t simply quest items or made by others, it meant that I’d really participated in the entire procedure, from creation to execution.
Probably a bit weird, but meh, I liked it.
“Gerry! Finally, what were you doing?” I asked as the battlemage came from the other side of the city.
“Just knocked over a few quests while I was here, I was carrying a lot of very important things for a lot of people that I just forgot about. What about you, you learn crafting?”
Legends of Tarthirious : Books One-Four of Kylia's Story (Legends of Tarthirious (A LitRPG)) Page 11
