by Edward Brody
You have failed to pick the lock. Your lockpick has been destroyed!
“Only one left, man,” Ozzy stated the obvious.
“Yeah,” I said. I looked up to Adeelee. “Do either of you have lockpicking skills?”
“I know how it works, but I’ve never tried,” Adeelee explained.
“A firm zero knowledge,” Ozzy said.
I sighed. “Alright, last try.”
I lifted the last lockpick and attempted the same process over and over again, trying my best to be careful and to be faster than I was on my slower attempts. I managed the first and second pin, thinking for sure I was going to get the chest unlocked. Right before I had the third pin fastened, the other two dropped, and the metal snapped right before my eyes.
You have failed to pick the lock. Your lockpick has been destroyed!
You have reached level 2 in Lockpicking!
“Damnit….” I cursed. I shook my head in disappointment and threw the broken piece of metal to the ground. At least with lockpicking you still got skill gains on failed attempts.
“So I guess that’s it,” Ozzy said.”
“Not quite yet.” I reached inside of my bag and withdrew the skeleton key.
“A skeleton key?” Adeelee asked. “Why not use that in the first place?”
“I wanted to give lockpicking a try. And I gained some skill anyway, so it wasn’t a total loss.”
“Skeleton key?” Ozzy asked.
“Apparently, it can open any non-magical lock.” I looked down at the chest again. “Let’s see if that’s the case.”
I held the white key by its skull-etched head and slid it into the mouth of the lock. Before I even turned the key, I could feel a sensation pouring from the key and into my arm. When I looked down, the eyes of the skull were glowing. The key twisted on its own, causing a click to ring out from the box, and then the key just melted into white specks of sand and fell to the ground, vanishing.
I turned to Adeelee and Ozzy who were both looking on with anticipation. I didn’t say anything; I just smirked and reached for the lid of the treasure chest.
The aged wood and metal of the chest creaked as I pulled it open, and when it was half ajar, the weight of the lid caused it to fall back quickly and slap against the mud and water below it.
I immediately saw several weapons at the top of the pile of loot inside the chest, and below I could see what appeared to be scrolls, gold, and gems. “Fuck yes!” I cooed.
I lifted a hammer out first. It had flat, round edges on its head, and its handle was long—just short enough that it was able to fit in the chest diagonally. I imagined that someone strong enough might be able to wield it in one hand, but it was heavy enough that I had to hold it with two.
You’ve Received: Iron Hammer of Stunning. 10-29 Attack Damage. Requires 15 Strength. Requires 10 Dexterity. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 4.7. 2% chance to stun your target on hit.
I read the stats out loud and turned to Ozzy. “You got the skills to use this?”
“I don’t even know what skill it requires,” Ozzy replied.
“Blunt Weapons,” Adeelee said. “Maces and hammers are affected by the same skill.”
“You want it?” I asked, holding it out in Ozzy’s direction.
“Let’s see what else you’ve got in there first.”
I grabbed a sword next.
You’ve Received: Polished Steel Sword. 15-28 Attack Damage. Requires 15 Strength. Requires 15 Dexterity. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Great. Rarity: Common. Weight: 2.9
“Nice,” I said. The blade was long and caught the moonlight of the sky overhead. With Divine Sight in effect its shine was almost blinding. Its hilt was long—long enough that I could get a grip with both hands—and while it wasn’t a magic sword, its damage rating was much higher than the sword I was carrying. There were two open slots on each side of the sword as well, so unlike the sword I had been using since losing Mythanthar’s Blade, this one could be expanded on. “I think I’ll hold on to this one.”
“Shit, I could’ve used that.” Ozzy said.
As I replaced my Bronze Sabre with my new sword, I started reading the stats of the sabre off to Ozzy, just in case he wanted to use it, but he affirmed that the sword he was already using was better, so I simply stowed it away in my bag.
Below the polished sword were four additional swords. They were all quite rusted and had stats that were far lower than anything any of us would use at our levels. Chances were they wouldn’t fetch more than a few gold if I were to sell them, so I tossed them the side, revealing the other loot below.
You’ve received: Scroll: Devour Corpse. Consume the fleeting life force from a dead corpse to recover a portion of your health and stamina. Requires 32 Intelligence. Dark Magic Level 10. Necromancy Level 5. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 0.1 kg
“Necromancy?” I asked. Further, that was the first scroll that I had seen that required two schools of magic.
You’ve received: Scroll: Calm Soul. Lower the aggression level of a single target. Requires 25 Intelligence. Mentalism Level 8. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg
“Mentalism?” There were a lot of magic trees that I hadn’t experienced yet.
You’ve received: Scroll: Recall. Travel to the targeted rune location. Requires 25 Intelligence. Arcane Magic Level 10. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg
“Oh. A recall scroll,” Adeelee cooed, her voice perhaps more enthusiastic than I had ever heard it. “That scroll alone is good enough reason for you to have spent your skeleton key.”
“Shit…” Ozzy said. “Chests have some good shit in them.”
I looked up to Adeelee and her big eyes staring down at me and the scrolls. “Do you want the scroll?” I asked.
Adeelee took a deep breath, and for a second, it seemed like she was considering it. “You should keep it, Gunnar. I have no arcane skills and rarely travel far from the forest.”
“But it would help you get back to the forest faster.” I winked. “You know, just in case you ever feel like your skin is about to change.”
Adeelee chuckled and grinned. “As ambassador to the elves, it would serve you better to be able to travel quickly between Edgewood and the Vale.”
“I’ll take it if you guys don’t want it,” Ozzy offered and started laughing just as soon as he did. He knew the value of a recall spell as much as we did, but he also knew there was no way I was going to give it up to him.
“I’m sure you’ll run into another sometime,” I said snidely.
Ozzy shrugged. “I don’t know any magic anyway.”
And I didn’t know arcane. I started thinking of how I could learn arcane magic so that I could work my way up to level arcane magic level 10 as quick as possible, and the only person I knew who could teach me was Eanos. The crabby old bastard had been pretty clear that he didn’t want me requesting any more favors from him, so I wasn’t sure how I could convince him to teach me.
I placed the scrolls in my bag and reached for the next item.
You’ve received: Schematic: Runestone of Flames. Engulfs your weapon in flames, adding additional fire damage and chance to ignite target. Requires 20 Intelligence. Requires Inscription Lvl 10. Requires: Red Inscription Powder. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 0.1 kg
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I muttered after reading the stats of the Schematic to Adeelee and Ozzy. I could see a vial of red inscription powder sitting in the chest as well. “I’ve got a runestone in my bag, and there’s a red vial in here, but I won’t be level 10 in inscription for ages.”
“Give me the materials, and I’ll make it for you,” Adeelee offered. “I have a chisel with me.”
“Really?” My excitement was starting to grow. It had been a long time since I had found any decent loot, so getting all the chest loot at once was a real rush.
“For
shizzle,” Adeelee said.
“Hey what’s this ‘for shizzle’ stuff?” Ozzy asked. “I haven’t heard any other NPCS talk like that.”
“It means ‘for sure,” Adeelee explained with a smile. “You’re a Reborn, so you should know.”
I chuckled. “Aaron, ‘The Sizzler’ taught her that. At first I thought it was kind of annoying, but now I think it’s kind of cute.”
Ozzy raised an eyebrow, and a second later I felt a little tinge of embarrassment flood into me. I turned to Adeelee and she was blushing a little bit, looking far more embarrassed than me. Had I just accidentally flirted with her? I wasn’t sure how she took it, but it felt like I had.
I quickly pulled the blank runestone out of my bag and handed her the schematic, the runestone, and the inscription powder. Adeelee gave a slight nod as she accepted them.
Ozzy cleared his throat. “All that loot and no shields or plate armor!”
I straightened myself back up and turned back to the last bit of loot that was left inside.
You’ve received: Ruby. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.
You’ve received: Pearl. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.
“You can have these if you want them.” I tossed the ruby and pearl to Ozzy and he looked at them curiously. “Haven’t seen a pearl before, but the ruby should sell for quite a lot to vendors.”
“Nice…” Ozzy said and slid them into his bag.
There was a small, flat gray pipe with a couple of holes at the top that was sitting at the bottom of the chest.
You’ve received: Demon Kazoo. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. ?????
“I don’t know what the hell this is,” I muttered. “Some sort of musical instrument?” I placed it up to my lips and blew through the pipe, but no sound came out. I looked inside, but it was hollow. “I guess it doesn’t do anything either.”
“Here. Let me see,” Ozzy said.
I tossed Ozzy the kazoo and started scooping out the gold from the chest which was all that was left from the haul.
You’ve received: 690 Gold Pieces
“I’ll split the gold three ways for 230 each,” I said confidently.
There was a loud buzzing sound that almost sounded like a duck call. I turned to see Ozzy blowing through the kazoo.
“Hey…” Adeelee said suddenly. Her eyes were wide with concern, and she rubbed dust from the top of the rune she had finished making as she moved closer to Ozzy and I. “Don’t—“
She was cut off as Ozzy blew through the kazoo again, the loud sound bouncing from the trees surrounding us. “You have to put your fingers on the holes at the top for it to work right,” he said with a smile. “But I don’t know what the point is... It sounds terrible.”
Ozzy held the kazoo up to his lips again and was about to blow before Adeelee shouted again. “Don’t!”
Ozzy creased his eyebrows and tilted his head, as we both wondered what the problem was.
“Drop that and gather up,” Adeelee said with a fearful voice. “We need to get out of here, now.”
“Noooooooooooooooooo!” a beady voice said. Walking out of the thick of the forest and directly towards us with rage burning in its eyes was the same small, cat sized imp that I had seen on my first trip through the Vale.
Name: Forest Imp
Race: demon
Level: 11
Health/Mana/Stamina: 150/150/50
Status: unknown
“Noooooooooooooooooo!” the imp said again and then started speaking quickly in some sort of unintelligible, rapid gibberish that was impossible for us to understand.
“Run!” Adeelee yelled.
Chapter Eighteen
01/12/0001
Adeelee dashed away from the demon, and Ozzy and I followed suit, not sure what was going on.
“Why?!” Ozzy asked. “He’s only level—”
“Jirapzz—rapz—rapz—rapz…” an otherworldly voice echoed through the air, and we were all three frozen in our footsteps.
It felt like invisible hands were holding on to each side of my body and forcing me to slowly turn around and face back towards the demon. I could see Ozzy and Adeelee turning in unison and none of us were able to do anything about it.
When we were fully turned around, the pink-haired imp was still there, standing with his arms crossed, but suddenly beside him was a muscular, naked creature, three times the size of a human with a flat, swollen face and its mouth open wide, revealing a pit of nothing but terrifying black. It’s skin was an ashy brown and protruding from its head were two large curved horns. Its knees were pointing in the wrong direction, and its hands had four sharp, pointy fingers.
Terror crept over me as we were forced to march slowly towards the creature, one step at a time, having no control of our bodies.
“What—is—going—on—?” I struggled to say through my clenched teeth.
“C—c—cleanse!” Adeelee managed to grunt.
All three of us suddenly fell to our knees and regained control of our bodies.
Adeelee quickly held her fingers up to her nose and closed her eyes, and within a second the sound of birds flapping their wings and chirping could be hear all around the forest, something that seemed especially out of the place at night. Whatever she cast drained more than half of her mana.
Hundreds of birds seemed to appear out of nowhere, startling the two demons that were standing in front of us and creating an almost deafening sound as they all began swooping down at them, attempting to land pecks.
The smaller demon cowered between the larger demon’s legs and the larger demon began to swat its hands around, moaning in annoyance at the birds.
“You summoned a demon with that thing you blew into,” Adeelee huffed. “Probably the owner of both the kazoo and the chest.”
“Two demons,” Ozzy corrected.
“No, you summoned the small one. The small one summoned the big one. Forest Imps are able to summon demons twice their level for combat, making them unexpectedly dangerous. They aren’t normally aggressive unless—”
“Unless you steal their shit and blow their kazoos?” I finished.
“Something like that,” Adeelee acknowledged.
I looked up the demon as it began firing balls of blue flames from its hands in various directions, killing many of the birds and frightening several others.
Name: Psy Demon
Race: demon
Level: 22
Health/Mana/Stamina: 320/300/100
Status: aggressive
“Run?” I asked.
“It’s a little too late for that,” Adeelee said, reaching for her sword. “Their magic will surely stop us if we run. We have to fight.”
Ozzy sighed and readied his sword and shield. “Level 22? How?”
Adeelee rammed the point of her sword into the ground. “Tsarra!” she shouted and turned towards Ozzy as she stood back up straight. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Tsarra, Adeelee’s great leopard, came running up behind us and took a position behind the elf in preparation for attack. Ozzy was startled by our new guest, but realized pretty quickly that the cat was on our side.
I pulled my newly acquired sword out of its sheath and readied it for battle for the first time. It felt surprisingly good in my hands, despite it being a new weapon. Maybe it was a testament to me getting better in my sword skills.
“Sora?” Adeelee asked.
“Sora? She can’t—”
A sudden bolt of pain ripped through my chest, and I was thrown backwards and to the ground, dropping my sword in the process. Blue-hued flames were rising from my chest and quickly subsided, leaving no mark on my armor, yet a cold and simultaneously hot feeling pulsed across my chest. It was a feeling like nothing I had ever felt before, and it knocked 40% of my health away immediately.
I lifted my head up from the ground and trie
d to regain my composure as Ozzy started running shield-first towards the demon. The birds had mostly subsided, but a large swarm of them still flew high up ahead.
The demon shot a similar blue bolt of magic towards Ozzy, which Ozzy blocked with his shield. The blast caused him to jerk back a little, but his health bar showed no damage and he continued to move forward.
“Flank,” Adeelee ordered, and Tsarra started running towards the demon in a somewhat circular route. Adeelee turned to me and cast Nature’s Regrowth, and my health started slowly pulsing its way back up.
I picked myself off the ground and grabbed my sword, just as the smaller demon came out from hiding under the larger demon’s legs. I started running forward, eager to help Ozzy and Tsarra out but having a feeling in my gut that we had bitten off something far more than we could chew. The frenzied gorilla in the forest had been level 20 and was hard enough for us to handle on its own, but this demon was level 22 and had another demon with it that was equal level to me and was also a caster.
The smaller demon slapped its hands together and both Ozzy and I froze again in our tracks. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Tsarra was frozen as well.
I could hear Ozzy grunting in a struggle to fight the magic, and my fingers were slowly starting to lose their grip on my sword before Adeelee cast her dispelling spell on us again, granting us back our movements.
When Ozzy was within distance of the larger demon, he lifted his sword to swing, but the demon lashed out his hand against his shield, knocking him to the ground. Tsarra, coming from the other side, jumped at the larger demon’s free arm and clamped her jaws down across the demon’s elbow.
