Equalize

by Ryan DeBruyn

  Chapter Five

  Rocky raised an eyebrow and took on his customary head tilt; he had attempted to remove the blinking corners in his combat log. Not only was his interface lighting up, but it was also more insistent in its frequency. The green color was the only aspect which was favorable, and he hoped it meant good news.

  When he thought notifications, up popped the standard blue box. This time, due to the changes he’d made to the notification preferences, he was rewarded with some repeating information in the form of levels he received from the golem fight but also some very pertinent aspects.

  Rocky furrowed his brow as he read, and his eye developed a bit of twitch; the corner was still flashing insistently green.

  For killing a Level 3 Wood Golem you have been awarded 210 Etherience.

  For killing a Level 10 Wood Composite Golem you have been awarded 2975 Etherience.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 5! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  165 Stasis Etherience used.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 6! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  400 Stasis Etherience used.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 7! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  800 Stasis Etherience used.

  Congratulations! You have reached level 8! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  1600 Stasis Etherience used.

  Final 10 Stasis Etherience applied to the current level.

  Stasis has ended.

  You have killed a Level 74 Master-Beta and Lesser Member of the Steel Wolf Pack! Whoa, captain kill-stealer.

  For dealing the killing blow on Master-Beta Level 74 and Lesser Member of the Steel Wolf Pack, you have been awarded 123 Etherience. (Moderated: Damage Dealt)

  You have killed a Level 32 Epic-Alpha and Alpha of the Steel Wolf Pack! The rumors are true; you are a dirty kill thief.

  For dealing the killing blow on Epic-Alpha Level 32 ‘Steel’ Alpha of the Steel Wolf Pack, you have been awarded 688 Etherience. (Moderated: Damage Dealt)

  Congratulations! You have reached level 9! You have been awarded 1 stat point and 1 skill point.

  7621 Etherience added to Stasis bank.

  Rocky wasn’t sure how he felt about the new layout but realized it gave him much more knowledge about the world. Most importantly, if the leveling trend continued, he could clearly see that each level doubled in the amount of Etherience needed to advance. His eye continued to twitch to the timing of the pulse of green light. There were definitely some pieces of information missing, as he had only earned eight hundred eleven Etherience from those mercy kills but still gained a level that would have taken thirty two hundred Etherience.

  Rocky grimaced and continued to deduce more from the information. It seemed that if you had four or more unspent skill points, you were unable to move on to the next level, and you entered stasis. Perhaps this would be something that would change at later levels, but right now, it felt like the correct conclusion. Another oddity also stood out to Rocky’s keen eye and that was the disparity in levels between the Lesser Member and the Alpha.

  How the hell was the monstrous, steel furred Alpha a lower level than a weaker Beta? Maybe it’s the Master vs. Epic in the class.

  He let that thought drift away because the green, flashing light was pulsing rapidly, and he was jarred out of his thought. He still had that unexplained Etherience bump to find. So, running his tongue over his teeth in mild frustration he looked at the corner.

  Congratulations! You have conquered a Territory!

  By defeating the current leader of Chimera’s Roost, you have been granted leadership over the new Territory.

  Would you like to name your Territory?

  Yes

  Later

  Rocky blinked rapidly at the message then mentally chose not to name the Territory yet, not even knowing what a Territory was or if he would hold onto it. Instead, he chose the “Later” option and watched the screen wink out and be replaced by another box. The message it contained made Rocky’s eyebrows shoot up into his dark hair.

  As the new Territory Leader, you have been granted access to the Leader Class Tree. As the first sapient being to own a Territory on the continent, you have been granted an ancestral spirit guide.

  Your Territory has been modulated to reduce unstable Ether flow.

  Ambient Ether flow within the Territory is now stable.

  Best of Luck, Leader, and may your ancestors help you rise!

  Rocky read the message but was distracted as his eyes tried to simultaneously track a new icon that seemed to float from the notification screen and join his interface opposite his currently active and decreasing de-buffs. The countdown timer of this new symbol immediately began counting down at the top right of his vision.

  Once he finished re-reading the leader message, he trained his eyes and mental focus on the timer, which stopped the next menu box from opening. Instead, the bottom right corner went back to flashing, but this time with a gold tinge; his eye began twitching again. A small box popped up under the de-buff.

  “Time of Ether assisted protection for Territory: 32 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes, and 56 seconds.”

  It continued to count down as he watched, and he felt his heart stutter and then beat erratically. Well, that was a development Rocky hadn’t considered. He wondered if that meant it was a safe area or something entirely different. He made the assumption that it was a good thing but felt like everything was coming at him far too fast.

  Rocky had literally woken up less than twelve hours ago, and already he was the proud owner of a Territory.

  Not that I wanted any of this. The Territory. The sword. I would trade them both for a working cell phone and an answer to what the hell is going on? I just need to go a bit farther to get a signal. The parking lot must be really close, and it always had service.

  Rocky decided to get the notifications out of the way, then assign his skill and stat points before deciding what to do next. However, before he could make a move, something dark black and the size of a Bengal house cat crawled into the clearing, dragging wings that clearly were too big to be used behind it.

  His heart broke into pieces, and he completely forgot about the flashing corner when it began to nuzzle the large Chimera. No wonder the Chimera hadn’t decimated the wolf pack. It was forced to stay grounded to protect this little guy—or was it a girl?

  How do you even tell with a Chimera?

  Rocky began to approach watching as the small, cat-like creature attempted to turn its massive mother on to her side and failed to move more than a few feathers. Rocky made a leap of logic and assumed it was probably feeding time. He quickly reached into his backpack and pulled out his sports bottle which had a soft plastic nozzle cap on it.

  He then walked around to the more exposed side of the giant Chimera. Once there, he began to milk the giant creature. While Rocky had never been a farmer, he had visited friends’ farms and had gotten the crash course as a child on milking a cow, and this was surprisingly similar. Within moments, the bottle was filled to the brim, and he just managed to close it before he jumped at a voice from behind him.

  “Young man, I wouldn’t suggest drinking that if I was you. I am not an expert on mobs in this region, but I am going to go out on a limb and say satisfying your odd fetish, in this case, may kill you–”

  Rocky landed back on the ground from his mini-spastic jump and strained to see a tiny, semi-transparent, stern female hovering in the transition of light and shadow made by the giant Chimera. The only reason she stopped speaking is that the Bengal cat sized Chimera rounded the corner and leaped at her.

  “How rude! Kill this filthy amalgam this instant!” She crossed her arms and scowled at the cat as it tried in vain to paw at her, which only succeeded at making it fall on to its back. As soon as it gracelessly landed, it began wiggling around as if it was struggling to get back to its
feet. The glare of the stern woman slowly shifted to a smile as she succumbed to the utter silliness of the baby Chimera.

  Rocky coughed and rolled his eyes, “Who… what…” Coughing again and shaking his head, he tried a different, less rude tack. “My name is Rockland Barkclay. What is yours?”

  The woman, who, by this point, was smiling and making almost cooing sounds at the Chimera, turned and glared at him. “I know what your name is, lackwit. Are you going to come over here and feed this cutie pie? Or are you going to stand there all night and let it starve to death? If it grows up to be anything like that one over there,” she pointed at the dead Chimera, “it would be a very useful pet or companion. Hurry up, come now. Chop-chop.”

  Rocky felt his blood boil; his fingers clenched around an imaginary throat as the woman spoke, but he managed not to actually strangle her—or at least try…

  Who is this ghostly woman, that was now playing with the baby Chimera?

  He slowly staggered towards the big cat and felt the ground vibrating with the purrs of the medium dog-sized creature. While it was cute, its swinging paws and his mood made him snark back. “Yeah ‘cause that’s going to make it easier to feed. Just get its spiky claws swinging around. Perfect! Why don’t you feed it?”

  The small women turned from the cat and glared at him again. “Ancestral guide…” she pointed two thumbs at herself as a claw passed right through her, “incorporeal…” another paw passing through her punctuated her point, “idiot!”

  A few moments later, Rocky’s face had returned to its normal shade and the steam that had probably shot from his ears had subsided. Now, however, he was short some skin, a shirt, and a pair of pants. He had begun feeding the tiny Chimera from his sports bottle as the woman finally spoke again.

  “It only took you that long to win its trust because your Charisma is so abysmal. Honestly, who are your parents? They should know better than to let such a low level out of the house, let alone the safety of the town. Your stats are so unbalanced it's obvious you should be a soldier, not a leader.”

  Wowsah… who is she to judge–

  The rude woman savagely interrupted his internal dialogue, “I can’t believe I was forced to materialize and guide an imbecile.” Rocky’s hand involuntarily twitched, which sprayed the baby Chimera with milk to its indignant sputtering. The action cost Rocky a bit more skin. The tirade came to a stop as she saw this, and she shook herself, then looked at him.

  Since he was no longer in the shadow of the dead Chimera or perhaps because the sun had risen higher, he began to make out her appearance. The aggravating, tiny, ghostly woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties and held herself with an air of superiority that nearly made him spray the Chimera again. Her body was made up of different shades of pale, white fog, and her eyes seemed to radiate intelligence. She was wearing a ghostly gown that easily swept down past her feet and covered her up to her shoulders. The garment was just a hint whiter than the rest of her which was why it was distinguishable.

  Rocky, whose eyes currently shone with pent-up anger, really hoped she grew on people because otherwise, abandoning his Territory and escaping this sticky situation forever was going to be an easy decision.

  That’s when she snapped to her full height, and her smoky gown flowed out as she curtsied. “I am Selaphelia, a former lieutenant of the guild, Cathodiem, and your great, great, great—you get the idea—Ancestor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Rocky sputtered, attempting to say the name under his breath.

  As soon as he began butchering it, Selaphelia sighed. “Sela will be fine, Rocky.”

  Rocky and Sela locked eyes with each other, the Chimera breaking the standoff with a hiccup. They caught each other smiling at the infant with its overly large wings, and Rocky’s smile faltered momentarily. A large yawn by the infant creature brought on another round of smiles. His shoulders dropped, his face relaxed, muscles giving up their tension, and a small chuckle escaped his lips.

  When she smiles she doesn’t seem like a demon ghost. Maybe this could work out after all.

  Finally having access to the calm, rational side of his brain, he figured he would start by asking for her help. Asking a woman for help seemed to always work in the past. Not to mention he needed help, badly.

  Before he could enact his plan to get on Sela’s good side, the kitten fell asleep, and Rocky realized that he needed to obtain all the milk he could gather from the mother

  Sighing, he disentangled himself from the cute but deadly animal.

  Unlike its mother who was of tawny coloring, this little one was black from head to toe. It had black feathers and no mane yet, but forming on the top of its head were two, tiny, black stubs that would one day become its goat horns. Its back end was comprised of shiny obsidian scales, and it had a tail that ended in a shape akin to that of a scorpion rather than a porcupine mace like its mothers.

  Rocky hustled over to the mother, dumping all but one of his full water bottles on the ground. He then filled each bottle, making sure not to lose a drop. The realization struck him that this was all the milk he would get; the next obstacle would be keeping the liquid cold and fresh. Hopefully, the infant would wean quickly.

  What was it that Goldblum said? Life will find a way?

  For now, he placed the bottles in his mesh bag and put them in the deepest shade he could find. Later, he would place the bottles into a river or lake like he had done with his water at the cabin.

  Rocky then strode around to the massive steel wolf. Touching its fur with his fingers was interesting as it was soft yet extremely tensile, almost sharp. Rocky’s inner greed menagerie squealed in delight, and he immediately knew he had to spend a day or more here harvesting this creature and the others for their hides.

  He made a note to ask Sela if there was a loot system, thinking primarily of the two golems he had managed to kill back in the cottage clearing. Then Rocky grimaced, reconsidering talking to the abrasive woman and just tried touching the body and mentally looting the corpse.

  Rocky almost dropped the two, small, glowing crystals that dropped into his hand, eyes wide in excitement before narrowing as he turned them over in his fingers, trying to figure out what they were.

  The two crystals both shone the same muted cyan, but that is where the similarities ended. Each crystal was a different shape, making beautiful patterns which reminded Rocky of the sugar crystals he’d made in sixth grade.

  However, he soon discovered, when he attempted to break a piece off, these crystals, while seeming fragile, were just as hard as diamond. As he continued to stare, he remembered his new skill Analyze and mentally used it.

  Crystallized Ether

  Crystallized Ether is one of the byproducts of ambient Ether. As organisms grow in strength, the muscles, organs, skin, and bones absorb the ambient Ether to increase stats, creating a lattice of this new form of Ether. To find out more, increase your Analyze skill.

  Rocky quickly placed the crystals in his bag after reading that and then wiped his hands on his torn-up pants somewhat disgustedly. He had just confirmed that there was loot, though, even if he had no idea what the items were for. Despite his twisted mouth and grisly thoughts, he would find out what they were before throwing away the possible soul related crystals.

  Rocky tried to cut the wolf’s metallic hide with his soul bound sword and was reminded his sword wasn't strong enough to cut through its fur. He looked around, wanting to make a piece of armor or rough protection from this substance. His greed penguin fell flat on its back in shock when he noticed nothing was available. Rocky groaned because he just knew that if he could figure out a way to make even a basic poncho from this stuff, he would be far safer on his continued trek to his car and eventually to his family and friends in Ottawa.

  The groan turned to a sigh. At this point, if his family was still alive, it would be because of his brother-in-law and the group of friends that played Dungeons and Dragons weekly. He hoped they had been able to link u
p; combined, perhaps, they had a chance. The whole group of players lived in one suburb; the concern was for his mother, who lived next door to his sister, who hopefully could take care of her.

  Wiping a bit of moisture that had fallen on his cheek, he sniffed once and forced an attitude change. They would make it through the initial surprise of the new world, and he just needed to focus on gaining as much strength and power as possible. Before his eyes even left the giant wolf, he noticed Sela floating by its side. Forcing one foot in front of the other, he walked in her direction, his curiosity overpowering the knot in his stomach.

  What is she was looking at?

  He noticed the considerable number of quills sticking out of the beast, and Rocky wondered if he could collect them all as he finished his approach.

  Sela, seeing him coming, turned towards him with a smug expression which immediately made Rocky cringe. Pointing at the beast, she said, “You should use the claw from the other creature that is stuck in this one's side.” She was guiding him with a soft voice and clear inflection. “It clearly can cut through the fur. Even a child is more resourceful than you.”

  Rocky’s jaw tensed, and his body tightened as he glared at Sela while she continued to investigate the beast.

  Calm, you’ve got this. Don’t let her get under your skin. She’s just a grouchy, ancient hag.

  With a deep breath, he forced his fists open. Out of some sort of stubborn spite he almost chose to not use the forearm-sized claw. The deadly looking talon must have been ripped out of the Chimera during the fight, but no matter how much he didn’t want to, he had to concede it had succeeded where his sword had failed. He pulled the broken claw out of the deep laceration and set it aside, then began pulling out every quill until he had a stack of twenty-three off to one side.