Codename: Freedom: Survive Week One
Page 25
There was one spearman that was closer than the rest. It led with its spear, holding it with two hands.
As it lunged, I spun without thinking, my sword parrying its spear. Doing a 360 with my shield still over my back, I landed, chopping deep into its neck. My body had obeyed as I carried out a move I would only dare during a game. What was I doing?
The next goblin came at me with sword and shield. It stopped short, suddenly trembling. Noticing its glare I knew the hobgoblin wasn’t finished with me yet.
I slashed the back of the goblin’s calf as I ran by. The rest of the goblins had stopped running at me.
My first thought was to get away, but after years of pulling monsters as a gamer, another thought came to mind. If you have a raging beast charging after you, it’s only right to take advantage.
It was becoming harder to keep running. Body, don’t fail me.
Without stopping I headed right for the backpedaling group of goblins. This time I didn’t bother attacking them. Their focus was elsewhere.
Nearing the main goblin line, I veered to run parallel down the back of the enemy army. I turned to see my pursuer; its tree-club swung low, driving two goblins through the air and another spun in a different direction. The rest scattered like green ants before a blue flame. Its toeless foot was dragging behind. The injured hip swung its good leg forward awkwardly. Even with a crippled hobble, its speed was nothing to laugh at.
It was time for codename chaos.
Turning into the rear of the mass of goblins, I leveled my shoulder into one and jabbed another in the neck with my sword. Bouncing off of the pair, I regained my stride and kept running. Every ten feet I dragged my blade across the back of the goblin necks at the rear of the fighting force.
It was only a matter of moments before I faced a goblin that saw me coming. I deflected its blow and put some distance between me and the goblin line. Looking back, I saw dozens of goblins were leaving the formation and chasing me. Just behind them, the hobgoblin was somehow picking up speed. Its yellow eyes were now blood red.
The pace I set was no longer determined by my will, but whatever my failing body could manage. My lungs pounded. Or was that my heartbeat? Was I going to fall now?
Funny. It wasn’t fear of pain, but defying the hobgoblin only to be done in by the lower class goblins that bothered me.
Stumbling, I just barely caught my footing. My legs were pushed to their limit. Note to self. Increase endurance.
I heard the carnage behind me as the hobgoblin caught the goblins running after me.
Were my eyes getting blurry? I thought I saw Kline running at me.
I stumbled again. This time I fell.
With my face resting happily on its side and my lungs sucking air, I almost stayed there and welcomed my death. Perhaps if I died I would awaken fully energized and save on recovery time. For some reason, I doubted it would be that easy.
Chapter 22 – Final Confrontation
An annoying bark came inches from my ear. The panic in Wink’s whimper demanded that I kept moving. Was this some kind of annoying warning system?
Pushing up from the ground I fell more than ran forward but managed to keep my feet under me. If they reached me then I’d greet them with my sword if I wasn’t already dead.
I was seeing Kline again. His pearly whites greeted me from about a hundred yards away. Real or not, I would reach my friend. Wait, was that Peter and Oliver running behind him? Who in their right mind would be here behind enemy lines?
My arms and legs were moving on their own. Nothing was allowing me to stay on my feet except for sheer will. I continued on. Fifty yards. Twenty. It was then that I realized they weren’t just a figment of my imagination.
Kline led my friends. When I was about to slow and ask him what he was doing, he shot past me and yelled, “Can’t let you have all the fun!”
Oliver and Peter followed.
Bewildered, I stopped and looked to see what they were up to.
Kline had inventoried his spear and shield and was two-handing his woodcutter’s ax. He struck a goblin on the shield and even though it was ready for him, the creature’s knees buckled as if it had been hit by a truck. He didn’t just use the blade, but also the flat rear of the ax like a hammer. Swatting goblins like flies as he waded through their charge, their bones shattering, chainmail or not.
Oliver wielded a new weapon, an iron-balled mace. He went from goblin to goblin, bashing one and crushing the next.
The two strong men held nothing back. I had known they were impressive, but they both seemed to defy physics with their explosive blows. Had they been holding back or pacing themselves?
Peter didn’t hold back either, but unlike the two men, he wielded his long sword in one hand and a short sword in the other. I had seen blade masters before, but watching his footwork baffled me. He stepped lightly from one foot to the other, tiptoeing through the midst of the enemy. His blades never missed their mark. From slash to skewer, the monsters fell before him like leaves meeting a strong wind at the end of fall.
The giant arrived, rising up against them.
I was interrupted by a cackle of snorts to my side. The rear of the goblin army was no longer facing the players defending the city.
Raising my sword and shield to meet them, I found I was the furthest thing from their minds. They started to back away. I moved out of their path. Over a hundred of them fled the line leaving those still fighting the players alone to their ultimate demise.
Their retreat left me free to watch my friends. The goblins they were fighting had caught on. They were trying to get away as my friends and the hobgoblin cut them down.
Holding up his hand, Kline signaled for Peter and Oliver to back away. What was the old fart up to?
The boss monster didn’t slow. It now wielded its tree-club single-handed while using its other hand to help keep its balance.
With his ax sitting on his shoulder, Kline looked up at the towering beast.
When the beast swung, Kline darted in well before the blow could reach him. From a two-handed grip, he cranked his ax back, then unleashed it. The blow was so vicious it took the hobgoblin’s front leg that was holding its weight right out from under it.
With a single leap, Kline bounded to the creature’s back. Like lightning from heaven, his ax struck down dead center on its spine with all of his might. Again, and a third time was all it took. I was close enough to hear a sickening crunch as he crippled it
The beast tried to fight, but its arms only twitched in response.
He jumped off and started walking toward me. Grabbing his ax by the neck he offered me the handle.
“Would you like to do the honors?” he asked. Never had I seen him so serious.
His offer was not about finishing the hobgoblin. This was the first time I had seen him show what he was really capable of. It was a challenge.
“I’ll get the next one.”
He nodded, “Good answer," then turned to finish the job.
“Kline,” I said, stopping him.
He turned back. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
His customary grin returned.
I watched him walk away to finish the monster. It came up to his waist even though it was still face down on the ground.
As his ax struck home, a chorus of popup windows flashed one after another. There were so many of them it could have been a dangerous distraction even though they were translucent.
From the pack of goblin slingers sirened a long horn blast. The most disturbing squeal imaginable rose up from the remaining army of goblins. In a panic, they all fled, each in their own direction.
Few of them were left in close proximity to where the hobgoblin had been. I caught one that was within a few strides, but I still needed to fully recover so I didn’t pursue any others. The defenders had other ideas. Hundreds of men surged forward, their cheering deafening.
A second horn blast called in the distance. It came from the eas
tern gate where the other battle was taking place.
“Hold your men back!” Cornelius demanded through group chat. “We mustn’t leave our station defenseless! Let those that have gone pursue. It will be enough.”
Immediately voices rose up and down the line relaying the message.
“If I may,” Victoria said over the same chat channel. “Check your notifications. I think it’s actually over!”
“It’s true!” Peter added.
My friends were walking toward me after looting their kills.
I found myself more than just physically exhausted. This trial had been as much an emotional one as physical. Letting my legs go limp, I fell back to my rear. Lying back, I stretched my arms in victory.
Bringing up the largest popup window, I checked to see what they were all talking about.
Quest Type: (Regional Event)
You have completed the quest Survive Week One!
Colonel Erriach will not continue trying to take the city now that Master Sergeant Rrasche is dead. He has been caught in the act of trying to breach the side entrance of Willingham and killed!
Reward: +10,000 Experience, +Access to trainers, +Ability to form a guild.
Bonus Reward: For causing the goblin leaders Rrasche and Grrach considerable damage in combat, 10% discount for all training facility costs per boss monster you fought for the next month.
+20% Discount Training Facility
(Duration: 1 Month)
Note: Porting into a Gym or Training Room requires you to go to the physical location of a Training Facility. If an enemy army of more than 100 enters your city gate you will be ported out of training immediately and will spawn at the Training Facility.
The bonus reward was nearly as impressive as the primary one. Though I didn’t know how much training would cost, 20% was nothing to laugh at.
Seeing the next popup, suddenly my energy returned. I jumped up and smacked Kline on the shoulder while yelling, “Ding!”
He grabbed my leather armor on either side of the chest and literally picked me up over his head, tossing me up like a child. He roared while matching my excitement.
Note to self, don’t get into a pushing contest with Kline.
Finally putting me down, he said, “Woah! This is amazing, man! You are going to have to explain to me what this all means!”
“Hah! Don’t worry. Your gaming mentor will take care of you!”
“Blah!”
I couldn’t wait, so I checked what all the level ups got me. My entire character status screen had transformed.
Level 18
You have reached Level 18!
Ability Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 42 meters!
Level 19
You have reached Level 19!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 44 meters!
Level 20
You have reached Level 20!
Ability Points +1!
Advancement Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 46 meters!
Level 21
You have reached Level 21!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 48 meters!
Level 22
You have reached Level 22!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 50 meters!
Level 23
You have reached Level 23!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 52 meters!
Level 24
You have reached Level 24!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 54 meters!
Level 25
You have reached Level 25!
Ability Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 56 meters!
Level 26
You have reached Level 26!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 58 meters!
Level 27
You have reached Level 27!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 60 meters!
+4 Ability Points to Spend!
Of course, I already had planned what I needed to do with my points, so I waved Kline over to watch.
The first one for Guild Chat, since now that joining a guild was unlocked, it was going to become useful very soon.
Guild Chat!
Able to speak with guild members over great distances.
Only available if you have joined a player-run guild.
If only we would have had this the last couple of days. So many things would have been so much easier.
Since I had purchased all of the upgrades under the Basic tier, now it was time to decide what I would spend my Advancement Point on. Things were about to get a lot more complicated. In time everyone would probably max out the Basic tier, but as we advanced we would have to specialize more and more. There were limited ability points and the advancement points were even more limited.
It was essential to choose wisely. If every tier held advanced abilities like the ones Victoria explained when speaking about becoming a combat general, then the rest of my time in Codename: Freedom would depend on my choices.
Creature Indicator would probably give me access to improving my observational abilities and an upgraded Danger Indicator. It was the best choice for my own personal safety.
Communication was probably the farthest reaching upgrade I could hope for. It would give me access to improve both Group and Guild communication, and hopefully a personal chat soon.
Maps came in a close second to the Communication branch, no doubt giving some upgrades to Local and World Map that would be welcome.
Out of all the branches, the last one and perhaps the least useful was the Character Sheet. I told Kline as much and gave him some recommendations. He chose Communication. A smart move, since I doubted any of us would be hunting alone anytime soon.
Still, I had already decided on spending one of my rare Advancement Points on Character Sheet. The reason was that my current character stats were just too vague. I was used to similar stats in games, but not fully understanding how they were calculated was a pain. It was as if they were trying to imitate a game, but how they applied to the real world was only clear through experience. Kline’s higher Strength stat obviously meant he was stronger than me, but after watching him in action, I had a basic idea what 80 strength really meant in comparison to my 31 strength. That was as close as I could get to understanding it.
I had a feeling upgrading it would be the most useful. Yes, I had started to understand my new motivation, but I was under no illusion. I needed to get stronger.
Understanding that it might put me 10 levels behind the others for the rest of the game, I made my decision. Spending my Advancement Point with a click, a number of other options showed up before me.
Personal Training Tools
Character Analysis
Greatly increases the detail of the Character Status break down!
Includes Mental State Observation!
Each stat can be closely examined and broken down into its own individual list for closer examination!
Item Analysis
Greatly Increases the detail of inventory break down!
Will help with better understanding the strengths and weaknesses of an item!
To use on an item outside of your inventory, you must be holding the weapon!
I immediately bought both and examined my new character screen. There was so much information!
Character Status
(Character Status – Intermediate)
Player Name: Lucius
Level: 27
Health: 985.41
Endurance: 1793.3
Combat Level: Rank F – Level 99
Strength: Rank F – Level 95
Endurance: Rank F – Level 79.33
Quickness: Rank E – Level 10
Speed: Rank E – Level 4
Intelligence: Rank E – Level
7
Measurements
Fast Twitch Muscle: Rank E – Level 31
Slow Twitch Muscle: Rank F – Level 65
Flexibility: Rank F – Level 89
Cardiovascular: Rank F – Level 84
Anaerobic: Rank F – Level 92
Memory: Rank F – Level 97
Calculations: Rank E – Level 17
Definitions
Health Points: This number represents perfect health. As you are injured, the points lower depending on the part of the body that takes damage and how serious the injury. Your Strength, Endurance, Quickness and Speed are all taken into account when calculating this number.
Endurance Points: This number is based solely on your endurance. The type and intensity of the exercise will determine how quickly you lose points. Your strength, quickness and speed determine how much energy an action will take.
Rank: The ranks are G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S. Rank G is the lowest and S is the highest. The higher the rank the more powerful!
Levels: Each rank has 99 levels. The higher the level the stronger the stat. If the level goes past 99 then the player ranks up!
Where was I even supposed to start? I was even able to go more in depth with the Measurements and showed how every stat was calculated. This was exactly what I was looking for, even if it was far more advanced than any other character sheet I had ever seen.
Definitions (Continued)
Fast Twitch Muscle – Muscle fiber responsible for speed and power.
Slow Twitch Muscle – Muscle fiber responsible for enduring.
Flexibility – Fluidity of muscle and rank of motion.
Cardiovascular – Endurance during lower stress activity (Like running long distance).
Anaerobic – Endurance during high-stress activity (Like sprinting).
Memory – Mental capacity to store information.