by Adam Drake
Rob stared in amazement at what he'd done, panting for air.
“Well done, my Lord!” Saif said as he ran over. “You slew the beast!”
Rob tried to smile. He'd lucked out, and he knew it. If it hadn't had been for the shield, the lizard would be the one celebrating.
“Your swinging technique is, uh, unusual, my Lord,” Saif said, helping him to his feet. “Yet still quite effective.”
Fumi climbed down from the crate and stomped over to Rob, looking angry. “Why didn't you blast that vile beast with your magic? Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Rob blinked at her in confusion. “Magic?” He looked to Saif, “I have magic?”
“No, my Lord, you don't,” Saif said shaking his head.
Fumi's face contorted into an expression of incredulity. “A king without magic? How is that even possible, Sage?”
“It is complicated,” Saif offered with a frown.
“Bah!” Fumi said and wheeled around to pick up the two halves of the trench lizard with both hands. She shook them at the men.
“There will be more lizards coming, mark my words. If we had a king with magic, then these would be dealt with already!” She stomped to her tent, but before she entered she said, “At least we get a break from eating rat. We're having lizard tonight!” She vanished inside.
Rob leaned against the table, recovering from the ordeal. “That could have gone better, don't you think?”
Saif shrugged, “Perhaps, my Lord, but it was your first true contest, after all. And you did win. Oh, you have lizard all over you, allow me.” He produced a rag and began wiping at the blood on Rob's jerkin, smearing it around.
“Saif, what was she talking about my not having magic? Is that something I should be using?” The thought of casting spells excited his inner child.
The Sage shook his head. “Alas, my Lord, you have no magic to speak of. You don't even have mana to source the spells. The cursed king Perrin's existence negates your ability to do so.”
“But I can use magic once he's destroyed, right?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“That doesn't sound comforting,” Rob said as he tried to wipe lizard blood off his sword. Saif used his cloth to clean the blade.
Rob was worried. He'd nearly lost a fight to a dog sized lizard. How could he tangle with anything else and expect to survive?
Seeing his disappointment, Saif tried to comfort him. “My Lord, don't worry. Once Perrin is destroyed you will go on to be a great spell-wielding adventurer King.”
Rob nodded, smiling.
“But until then,” Saif said, “you will just have to rely on your swordsmanship.”
Rob's smile vanished. This guy really knew how to mess up a pep-talk.
Saif paused in his smearing of blood to gaze at Rob.
“What?” Rob said, “Do I got blood on my face?”
“No, my Lord,” Saif said, “I do believe you have finally progressed.”
Confused for a moment, Rob noticed a stack of message indicators at the bottom of his vision.
Saif put a hand on his arm. “The administration of your progression takes focus and clarity of mind. Perhaps it would be best if you retired to your manor to do so. I believe we will be lizard free for while.”
Rob shrugged, picked up the shield and began to walk away when he noticed the Sage wasn't following. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I have an errand to run, my Lord. I shall join you shortly,” Saif said as he wiped at the table.
Fine, Rob thought as he marched down the muddy path. I could use a break from him, anyway. But if Rob was being honest with himself, he had no idea what he was doing. With Saif around, it gave him enough guidance to know what to do next.
He discovered he'd left the door open at the manor when he went to investigate Fumi's screeching.
As he entered, he sheathed his sword so he could thump the door closed. His heart was still hammering in his chest and he felt a strange sense of clarity. All the surrounding details were crisp, and bright.
Adrenaline?
That had been intense. He hadn't been in a fight since junior-high, and that was scratched up as a loss. Now he'd engaged in actual combat, life and death.
He removed the shield, holding it up to inspect it. It looked like an old, warped piece of a door with a couple of leather straps tacked onto it. Its surface was marred with deep scratches.
Wooden Shield
Durability: 15/30
Blocking: 3
Value: 25 Copper Pieces.
He leaned the shield against the wall and plopped down in one of the chairs. An image of the trench lizard's jaws snapping at him flashed in his mind.
Those things were one of his quests. Saif had mentioned they were pack animals, too. How the heck was he going to take on a bunch of them at once?
Rob shook his head. Worrying about that now would only give him an ulcer. Focus and clarity as Saif said.
He looked at the stack of prompts collapsed at the edge of his vision and brought them up one at a time.
Ding! Gratz! You have successfully progressed to the next level. You have been granted 2 main attribute points and 5 skill points to distribute as you see fit.
You have learned a new skill: Basic Swordsmanship.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to better use bladed weaponry such as swords.
You have learned a new skill: Basic Defense.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to better defend yourself against attack (non-magic based).
You have learned a new skill: Dodge.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to avoid most attacks.
You have learned a new skill: Basic Shield.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to better use shields and is effected by the Block ability.
You have learned a new skill: Block.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to block most attacks.
You have learned a new skill: Basic Combat Attunement.
Advancement in this skill will allow you to better assess how to move and strike while engaged in most forms of combat. Affects all other combat related skills.
Sheesh, Rob thought. Talk about information overload. But considering he'd just had a fight which used all of these skills he shouldn't be surprised to see them appear. He used his shield and gained that skill. Blocking the lizard's attack gained the blocking skill.
Again, watching Todd play his rpgs was paying off in dividends. But it still was a little overwhelming.
He searched the edges of his vision, looking for a way to bring up his character's stats screen.
Then it appeared.
Character Stats:
Robert Barron, Level 2 – 0% to next level
Kingdom Level 1
Hit Points: 60/60, Mana: 0
Energy: 100/100, Speed: 10
Armor: 4
Strength: 10
Constitution: 10
Intellect: 10
Perception: 10
Dexterity: 10
Luck: 10
Undistributed Attribute Points: 3
He immediately noticed his hit points had increased from 50 to 60 thanks to the new level. More hit points meant longer survivability.
Rob blinked at the undistributed points. When he gained the level he was given only 2 points. Then he remembered the achievement he got on the island for completing his first quest which gave him an additional attribute point.
Okay, three then, he thought. But what do to with them? He'd seen Todd agonize over spending points like this before. In that game, he said once you spent them you couldn't get them back or move them into different attributes. Was this game the same way? He erred on the side of caution and decided to make every point count.
Unsure even how to begin the process he poked his finger at the word Strength. A prompt appeared.
Add how many points to Strength?
He recalled the lizard landing o
n his shield and the weight of the thing dragging it off his arm. He didn't want that happening again. He decided on putting a single point into strength for now. He hoped it would make a difference.
His Strength went up to 11.
He scanned down the other attributes trying to remember Todd's gaming talks. Constitution was directly linked to how many hit points he had. So he selected it and added a single point.
When he finished, his hit points jumped from 60 to 75.
Nice! More hit points good, less hit points bad.
He ignored intellect figuring he was smart enough already, and perception effected how he noticed details in the environment, but didn't sound that useful so he skipped it for now. Maybe he'd put points into it later when it meant something.
That left dexterity and luck. Dexterity directly effected his ability to fight, dodge and jump. Luck was just... luck. He'd ignore luck for now and put his last point into dexterity, increasing it to 11.
He waited a few moments. He didn't feel any stronger, more healthy or even more dexterous. He figured such incremental changes would be noticed over time.
He swiped away the character stats screen and hunted for a way to summon a list of his skills.
It appeared.
Known Skills:
Basic Swordsmanship: 5%
Basic Defense: 5%
Dodge: 1%
Basic Shield: 5%
Block: 5%
Basic Combat Attunement: 3%
Unspent Skill Points: 5
Man, those numbers were depressing to look at. He understood he'd just gained the skills and he was just starting out, but it still hurt to see.
He had 6 skills in dire need of boosting, but only 5 skill points. Everything listed needed help.
He selected Basic Swordsmanship and added 1 point to it. Immediately, it rose from 5% to 10%.
Okay, nice.
He did the same for Basic Defense and, it too, jumped from 5% to 10%.
So each point added 5%? He liked that.
But when he added a point to Dodge, the skill only rose a meager 1% to 2%. Shoot. Different skills were effected by points differently, he supposed.
He stared at Basic Shield and Block. They were more or less the same, but he suspected Block had a greater influence, overall, so he stuck a point in it raising the percentage from 5 to 8.
The last point he placed in Basic Combat Attunement which effected all other combat skills. It rose from 3% to 5%.
Swiping the last prompt away, he sighed. He felt exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally, too. He'd been in three separate fights since he arrived at the island and was still dealing with the fact he'd been completely yanked away from his life.
Tired, frustrated and more than a little sore, he went over to the bed. He removed the trunk and placed it on the floor, then stretched out across the straw mattress, sinking into it.
In moments, his eyes closed, and he was fast asleep.
He hoped to dream of Anika, safe in the real world.
Instead, he dreamt of hell.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rob woke to darkness.
For a few moments he panicked, fearing he was back in the void condemned to float forever, but he realized night had fallen.
The windows were black and his eyes desperately tried to make out shapes.
Sitting up, he felt around the side of the bed, vaguely recalling a small nook along the wall. Maybe there was a candle and something to light it with.
His hand touched an object, small and hard, and a dim light appeared. The object he touched slowly grew brighter and he could see it was a round crystal.
In moments, his end of the manor was illuminated enough that he could see without problem. He squinted at the glowing crystal. Its entire surface emanated with a gentle warmth and looking at it made Rob feel peaceful.
He picked it up in his hand. It was warm to the touch. Better than a flashlight, he thought. Scanning the manor's room he didn't see anything amiss.
Why did Saif let him sleep for so long? He had questing to do and a kingdom to save.
Crystal in hand he sat up, putting his booted feet on the floor. He couldn't remember dreaming and he wondered if it were even possible in this place. This simulation.
He stood and walked to the door, the crystal's light causing shadows to dance everywhere.
As he placed his hand on the doorknob, he felt a breeze against the back of his neck. He whirled about, convinced something was there.
Only the rumpled bed and stick-bare furnishings were present.
“That's strange,” he said, rubbing at his neck. It wasn't his imagination, he'd felt it.
About to turn back to the door, he suddenly noticed something over by the little bookcase. He held up the crystal to see better. One of the books was laying on the floor, open.
He didn't remember doing that. In fact, he distinctly recalled replacing all the books back on the shelf.
Bending down, he picked up the book. It was the largest one, his history. He was about to return it to its place when his eyes snagged on some writing on the first page. He angled the light, so he didn't have to squint.
It was the list of his exploits so far, few that they were. But he noticed a new entry. The previous entry read, Robert Barron inspected his mighty kingdom.
But as Rob read the new entry, his eyes widened in alarm, icy fear washing over him.
Robert Barron has been deleted.
He stared at the words, mouth hanging open.
What the hell did that mean? Deleted?
He looked around, as if expecting to find an explanation, here in the darkened room.
Closing the book he checked its title to see if he had a different one. It was the same.
Another caress of air hit the back of his neck. He spun around, dropping the book to the floor with a thump.
The door was partially open, the black of night beckoning outside.
Someone is messing with me, he thought and unsheathed his sword. It felt good holding onto it. He knew how to kill with it, he'd done it before.
For lack of a better choice, Rob walked to the door and peered outside.
The glow of the crystal didn't go far. Only the mud packed ground, and some trees played at the edges of the light. He could feel castle hill looming in the darkness ahead like it was waiting.
Without realizing how, he found himself walking down the path toward camp. He must have been sleepier than he thought. Looking over his shoulder he caught the dark form of the manor receding into the night.
The main camp had a large bonfire burning at its center. As he approached, he scanned around looking for anyone. Did they fall asleep, too?
He stood next to the fire, its heat intense. “Hello?” he called out. “Saif?”
Something passed overhead.
Startled, he looked up, sword at the ready.
Whatever it was had passed on. A bat? He could only guess. But then he noticed the stars, and he gasped.
He'd looked upon the stars of his world thousands of times. Their formation were indelibly marked in his brain even if he couldn't point out a single constellation.
These were not those stars. The clusters of tiny bright lights were alien in their arrangement, sometimes veiled in clouds of red or blue.
But what did he expect? This wasn't the real world. Still, gazing upon this new set of stars was disturbing, almost offensive to some primal part of his brain.
His gaze dragged down to the bonfire, and he froze.
Someone was here.
On the other side of the bonfire stood three figures, their backs turned to him. They looked vaguely familiar, but they stood far enough away from the fire to be touched by darkness.
“Hello?” Rob said, he took a step around the bonfire to approach them, then stopped.
The figures turned in place and faced him.
Erwin and Fumi stared at him from across the fire, their faces contorted with hate. But it was the third fig
ure that nearly brought Rob to his knees.
Anika.
What the hell?
“What's going on? What are you doing here?” He shouted. He couldn't explain why, but he wanted to run away. Flee into the darkness to get lost forever and not look back.
But the sight of Anika's presence kept him from doing that. He wasn't a coward. Not if Anika needed him.
Like the other two, Anika glared at him with a hatred that shattered his heart.
