by Lucas Flint
Nodding, I hit accept and the prompt disappeared from view.
“All right, then,” I said, looking down at Aimi and Riku. “Sorry for the delay. Cy and I will have you guys freed in a jiffy.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Luckily for us, Aimi and Riku did not attack us when we freed them. Riku thanked us profusely for our mercy and kindness (although I had the impression he secretly thought it was actually a show of weakness on our part) while Aimi merely bowed and informed us that she would send orders out to all members of the Ninja Guild to leave me, Cy, and my Teammates alone until Master Haru was defeated. She also invited me to come with her to the Ninja Guild headquarters in order to begin the mission, but I told her I wasn’t ready to go just yet and that I would head out later on. She actually seemed a bit disappointed by that but didn’t say it aloud. I guess being a ninja meant keeping your thoughts to yourself.
In any case, as soon as Aimi and Riku left, Cy and I decided to go back to bed. Although I heard Cy start snoring in his room the second his head hit the pillow, I was less lucky. The knowledge that I had picked a fight with a powerful ninja master on top of the troubles going on in the real world with Project Second Life and Capes Online made me feel extremely anxious. I normally wasn’t a very anxious person, but for some reason this stress was weighing on me and I couldn’t just go to sleep.
Because I couldn’t sleep, I decided to check out my character screen. Opening my menu, I toggled over to the tab labeled ‘WINTER’ and saw this:
Secret Identity: Winter
Real Identity: Nyle Ash Maxwell
Level: 25
EXP: 3,500/15,500 (7,000 EXP to the next level)
Available Stat Points: 4
Available Power Points: 2
Alignment: Hero
Class: Fighter
Reputation: Household Name
Powers: Super Strength [Level 2], Ice Beam [Level 3. Next Level: 10 PP], Freezing Touch [Level 2. Next Level: 10 PP], Hero Sense [Level 2. Next Level: 4 PP], Ice Dagger [Level 1], Ice Shackles [Level 1], Ice Slide [Level 1]
Skills: Scan [Level 3], Perception [Level 2], Dodge [Level 2]
Combo Powers: Blizzard [Level 1]
Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 5/5], Energy Cannon
Health: 40
Stamina: 20
Strength: 30
Defense: 18
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 15
Agility: 18
Evasion: 10
Accuracy: 15
Dexterity: 17
Energy: 40
Luck: 2
HERO STATS
Courage: 10
Justice: 11
Trust: 6
Fame: 511
Willpower: 9
I stroked my chin as I observed my Powers. Despite the fact that it had been two weeks since I defeated Dark Kosmos, I honestly hadn’t leveled up that much since then. In fact, I leveled up for the first time since the Blackout yesterday and that was only after a couple solid weeks of grinding.
There were a variety of reasons for that. Chief among them was the simple fact that it took more experience to level up the higher up you went. As a result, it was only natural that my level growth would slow down at some point. It was inconvenient, but to be expected. It didn’t help that most of the missions and enemies I faced after Dark Kosmos left were fairly easy and low-level, giving out low rewards and experience that made it harder to grow quickly.
I wasn’t sure how to fix the last one. According to Cy, I could level up faster if I went to areas where higher-leveled enemies existed. He pointed out to me that North Adventure City, for example, was home to the Blood Crime Syndicate, whose members were closer to my level than the random thugs and crooks wandering around Main Street. He also suggested that I could leave Adventure City entirely and go visit the rest of the world to find stronger enemies to defeat.
Frankly, I wasn’t quite ready to head out into the wider world beyond Adventure City just yet. It was mostly out of laziness because even though I knew the world beyond Adventure City had a lot of opportunity, I preferred to stick around and protect the streets of Adventure City than go elsewhere. The way I saw it, Adventure City was my home and my city now and I needed to protect it. Plus, from what I understood, it was easier for Heroes to build up Trust and Fame by focusing on one particular location than spreading your attention across multiple places.
But despite my slow level growth, I had managed to earn a couple of new Powers since Dark Kosmos’ demise: Ice Dagger and Ice Shackles. Ice Dagger I got when I realized I could use my ice Powers to form weapons, while Ice Shackles I learned about a week ago when I used Freezing Touch to restrain a handful of [Crooks] who we needed to interrogate. This meant I had unlocked all five of my Costume’s available Powers, meaning I would need to get a new Costume or Power Crystal at some point if I wanted to expand my Power set, although that was another example of my laziness, because my current Power set met my needs quite well and I didn’t see any reason to change my Costume until I got all of my Powers to at least Level 5 so I could keep them.
Regardless, I had managed to level up earlier today but had not gotten around to adding my newly-attained SPs and PPs to my Stats just yet, again due to laziness. Considering the nature of this mission, however, I decided it made sense to invest my Points now rather than later.
I had doubled down on my play style as a Fighter specializing in Energy-based attacks. Seeing as all of my Powers required some degree of Energy, I invested my 4 Stat Points into Energy, thus bringing up the total to 44, and then tossed my 2 PP into Hero Sense, thus requiring only 2 PP left until it reached Level 3.
Now my sheet looked like thus:
Secret Identity: Winter
Real Identity: Nyle Ash Maxwell
Level: 25
EXP: 3,500/15,500 (7,000 EXP to the next level)
Available Stat Points: 4
Available Power Points: 2
Alignment: Hero
Class: Fighter
Reputation: Household Name
Powers: Super Strength [Level 2], Ice Beam [Level 3. Next Level: 10 PP], Freezing Touch [Level 2. Next Level: 10 PP], Hero Sense [Level 2. Next Level: 2 PP], Ice Dagger [Level 1], Ice Shackles [Level 1], Ice Slide [Level 1]
Skills: Scan [Level 3], Perception [Level 2], Dodge [Level 2]
Combo Powers: Blizzard [Level 1]
Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 5/5], Energy Cannon
Health: 40
Stamina: 20
Strength: 30
Defense: 18
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 15
Agility: 18
Evasion: 10
Accuracy: 15
Dexterity: 17
Energy: 44
Luck: 2
HERO STATS
Courage: 10
Justice: 11
Trust: 6
Fame: 511
Willpower: 9
Satisfied with my current stat distribution, I closed my eyes and went to sleep, this time finding it easier to drift into unconsciousness now that I had my character sheet out of the way …
-
The next morning, Cy and I had a somewhat late start. This was mostly due to the ninja attack last night, which had interfered with both of our sleep schedules. In fact, I had to practically drag Cy out of his bed so we could get ready to head to the Ninja Guild headquarters, which I now noticed was a glowing blue spot on my map. I wasn’t sure how it got marked on my city map like that, but maybe it had been automatically added after I accepted that mission from Aimi.
In any case, I made sure we both got a good breakfast of bacon and eggs before leaving. Despite how tired he was, Cy nonetheless cooked us a very fine breakfast, which was a good reminder that Cy, despite his general clueless nature, was a lot more competent than he seemed.
As we ate breakfast at the small table near the kitchen area, Cy asked, “So, boss, what’s the plan for today?”
&n
bsp; “Going to the Ninja Guild to start that mission we got last night,” I said in between mouthfuls of eggs. “I thought I already told you that.”
“Yeah, you did,” said Cy, nodding, “but I just was wondering if we needed to make any preparations.”
“Preparations?” I asked. “You mean like distributing our Stat and Power Points? I already distributed mine last night and your character growth is set on ‘Auto,’ so I don’t have to worry about that.”
Cy scraped the tines of his fork against his half-empty plate. “Actually, boss, I was thinking about the Darkbane. You know, Dark Kosmos’ old sword?”
I froze when Cy mentioned that. I knew all too well what he was referring to.
Two weeks ago, I had killed Dark Kosmos with his own sword, the Darkbane. Like Dark Kosmos, the Darkbane was a weapon that hadn’t been released to the general public yet. Despite that, I had managed to use it against Dark Kosmos and I took it with me when we left Dark Kosmos’ Hideout. I originally considered wielding it myself, but the Darkbane’s full power was apparently locked to anyone under Level 30. Even Scan, which was now Level 3, could tell me nothing about the sword or what kind of power it had other than its true power was locked to me until I reached Level 28.
As a result, I left the Darkbane in my room under my bed. Perhaps that wasn’t the safest place in the world to keep such a powerful weapon—especially after this recent ninja attack—but it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to put it right now. Nor did I want such a potentially powerful weapon to end up in the hands of the wrong person. If a player like, say, Atmosfear were to lay his hands upon the Darkbane, the potential for damage, death, and chaos was untold.
“What about it?” I said. “I looked under my bed this morning and saw that it was there. The ninjas didn’t try to steal it.”
“True, but don’t you think we should take it along with us anyway, just to be safe?” asked Cy. “I don’t think anyone is going to try to break into the Base while we’re away, but it would probably be safer to carry it with us.”
“Maybe,” I said as I sipped my coffee, “but frankly I think I’d rather upgrade the security features of my Base. There are a lot of Thief players out there who might try to steal such a unique weapon from me. I’m already famous for defeating Dark Kosmos. I certainly don’t want to be caught carrying around something like the Darkbane.”
“Do we have enough money to upgrade the Base’s security?” asked Cy. “I thought you said we didn’t have enough money to do that.”
I took a bite out of my bacon, chewed, and swallowed. “I only said that because I didn’t think we would need to upgrade it. After those ninjas, though, I don’t want to take any chances. What kind of upgrades can we get that will make it harder for ninjas to break in?”
“No clue,” said Cy with a shrug. He leaned forward suddenly. “But I do know a place where we can buy such things. A good friend of mine runs a store near here that sells Base upgrades at very reasonable prices.”
“A friend, huh?” I said. “Is he an actual friend or just someone you know?”
“What’s the difference?” asked Cy in complete sincerity.
I sighed when I remembered that Cy didn’t think the way normal people did. “Never mind. If your friend’s store is on the way, then we can stop there for a moment and see what he has available.”
“His store definitely is,” said Cy, nodding eagerly. “In fact, I will lead the way. You don’t need to worry about even walking there yourself. Leave it to me.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Upon retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have left directions to Cy, mostly because his confidence in himself vastly dwarfed his innate sense of direction.
At first, Cy took us on what seemed like a fairly logical path. We headed due north, which was the general direction in which the Ninja Guild’s headquarters was. According to Cy, his friend’s store—which was apparently not located in the Shopping Plaza like most in-game stores were—was a ‘special’ place that few players visited, which was part of the reason why the prices there were so good. I was a little dubious myself but told myself that maybe Cy really was going to show me a secret shop that actually did have good prices. It certainly would give me an edge over the other players … assuming we could even find it.
We walked around the City for what felt like hours, going up and down streets, taking detours and shortcuts through back alleys I didn’t even know existed, and generally wandering aimlessly. More than once Cy got confused and one time we even walked in a circle three times in a row before I had to put that out to Cy (who insisted he meant on walking in the same circle three times).
The only good thing to come out of this aimless wandering was that it helped fill out my map, but even then, I had a hard time seeing myself ever coming back to any of these tiny, obscure spots. We didn’t even get to fight any bad guys, either. We did run into a couple of wild [Cats], but they were treated as noncombatants by the game and so we didn’t fight any. Not that the [Cats] we saw were really worth killing. Scan showed me they didn’t even have Levels, which told me that they probably gave out exactly zero experience to anyone who killed them.
Another good thing was that we didn’t run into any players, nor were we ambushed by potential Villains seeking to improve their own rep. In the aftermath of the Blackout, the vast majority of players had logged out of Capes Online, some permanently I learned. Others were slowly trickling back in, but the number of active CO players was still at an all-time low and likely wouldn’t recover for a while according to the news I read on the forums. It meant Adventure City felt strangely barren, despite the fact that it was still full of NPCs living their day to day lives. Not that I was complaining, however, because the lack of active players meant more missions, experience, and items for us.
After what seemed like an eternity of walking, I finally had enough and said to Cy, “Cy, are you sure you know where we’re going?”
Cy stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. We had stopped in yet another random back alley somewhere in North Adventure City. We were nowhere near close to the Ninja Guild headquarters, but according to my map, we were about a mile or so from our Base. It sure didn’t feel like we had only walked a mile, though.
“Of course I do,” said Cy, turning to face me. “I’m sure my friend’s business is located somewhere around here. I went to it loads of time in the past, although it’s been a really long time since I last visited it. It might not even be open anymore.”
“Might not even be—?” I couldn’t even finish the sentence I was so angry. “You mean we’ve been wandering around aimlessly for hours looking for a store that might not even be in business anymore?”
“Yeah,” said Cy in a nonchalant voice that annoyed me to no end as he looked around. “My friend was getting pretty close to retirement age the last time I saw him. Could be he’s not even with us anymore, although he was a pretty tough old guy who—”
“That’s it,” I said, interrupting Cy without any sort of apology. “I don’t care about your friend or his store. We’ve wasted enough time as it is. We need to get back on track and go to the Ninja Guild to complete this very important mission we got.”
“But don’t you want to make our Base more secure?” Cy asked. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find his store. It’s close. I can feel it in my soul.”
“The only thing I feel in my soul is how annoyed I am at you for wasting our time,” I snapped. I pulled up my map and spotted our position. “Right, we are here and the Ninja Guild is over there. Looks like it’s going to be a long walk unless you can fly us there.”
Cy shook his head. “No can do, boss. I’m not strong enough to carry you with me and Flight is only Level One anyway, so I can’t fly very far or high. You’re too heavy, but not in a fat way or anything like that.”
I sighed. “I told you that you should have invested those PPs in Flight. Would have allowed it to reach Level Two right away.”
“But boss, you s
et my growth level to Auto,” Cy argued. “That means I get to decide how I spread my SPs and PPs. If you don’t like it, you should probably change it.”
I was about to say that I might just do that when my Hero Sense suddenly started tingling. I looked around suddenly but did not see anyone else in the alley aside from me and Cy.
“Cy,” I said, still looking around at the garbage-strewn alley around us, “you don’t sense anything off about this place, do you?”
“Off?” Cy repeated. “Like what?”
“My Hero Sense is tingling,” I snapped. I summoned an Ice Dagger in my hand. “That usually means that there is a Villain nearby, although I don’t see anyone.”
“A Villain?” said Cy. He also looked around, but he seemed far less alarmed or worried than me. “Huh. Do you think it’s one of the Villain players? I heard there’s been a distinct lack of Villainous activity from players since the Blackout.”
“Don’t know who it is,” I said. “But we should be careful anyway, because—”
A loud scream suddenly pierced the air, followed by a deep grunting noise that did not sound human. Suddenly, a woman appeared at the end of the alley, running toward us as she screamed her head off. I had just enough time to see her nametag floating above her head—[CIVILIAN KATHY]—before she ran straight into me. She hit me so hard that we both nearly fell over, but I managed to keep us both up, although she leaned against me so hard that I found it hard to remain standing upright.
“Whoa there, lady,” I said as Kathy clutched me with a grip like iron. “Settle down. What’s the problem?”
Kathy looked up at me. She was a rather pretty young woman with short, dark hair and a floral-patterned dressed that fit her rather shapely body quite well. Her blue eyes were big with fear, however, almost to the point of panic.
“Are you a Hero?” asked Kathy in a panicked voice. Her eyes widened. “You’re Hero Winter, the Hero who defeated Dark Kosmos!”
