Difficulty: Legendary (LitRPG Series Book 1) (Difficulty:Legendary)

by Gregg Horlock

  Janus? Where had that name come from? Of course! That was the username on the note I had been sent. I felt an eagerness to skip the creation screen and get straight back into the game, but I knew I had to stay calm. This was important.

  I studied the character in front of me. The class selected was tinker. There was no way I was going to be a tinker. What did they even do? In the articles I had read about Re:Fuze, I didn’t remember seeing anything about a tinker. It hardly sounded like a powerful class.

  I focused on the class selection and tried to change it, but to my dismay nothing happened. I tried again, and a message flashed on the screen.

  Character settings locked. Cannot be changed. Please confirm.

  No way, this character was all wrong! Not only was the class one that I would never have chosen, but the attributes were all wrong. Strength 1? Endurance 1? The first enemy I saw would make mincemeat out of me!

  I focused on the attributes and tried to alter them.

  Character settings locked. Cannot be changed. Please confirm.

  Damn it. I couldn’t change a thing. In the bottom part of the screen the ‘confirm’ button glowed red, as if it was begging me to press it. With no other option, I was going to have to do it. Tinker or not, at least I was going back to the game. At least I had another chance. Another chance to make CR for my parents. Another chance to find my brother. Most importantly, a chance to kill Herelius Rouge.

  I took a deep breath and then pressed confirm. The screen changed to black, and then text flashed on it.

  Feeling under the weather? Buy health potions, or make friends with a mage!

  Dots of colour began to fill the screen millimetre by millimetre, as if it was a TV set that was slowly being tuned in. Soon the screen swam with colour; greens and reds and browns. They joined together to form a picture, and a few seconds later, I found myself in Blundow.

  It was a small village square with four shops. Each of them had a sign above the door with symbols carved into the wood. One showed a hammer and an anvil, another a potion bottle with steam floating off the top. Voices cried out around me.

  “Mana potions for sale! Half the price of the NPCs!”

  “Anyone want to trade a great sword for a bow?”

  “I’m going to kill you the second we get out of Blundow.”

  Newbies ran around me. Some swiped with swords, despite the fact that in the small village they couldn’t harm the NPCs or the other newbies. A mage stood at the side of the square and cast ice balls from his fingertips, watching as they rushed into the centre of the square and then dissipated. I looked around, and I quickly saw that it was easy to tell the NPCs from the other players. Players had their names and levels above them in blue, whereas the NPCs were green.

  Blundow was founded by Temerus Jack, one of the first merchants in Re:Fuze. He cast a spell of protection over the town so that new players could have a safe place. No other players can harm you in Blundow, but beware! After level 5, you can no longer stay.

  I swiped with my hand and made the text box disappear from my screen. For a few seconds I was intoxicated by the richness of the game, by how real the sounds and the smells were. This was another world, and it was one I had always craved. It was an escape from the drab grey colours and depressing poverty of my sector. It was a place where anything could happen.

  Despite the possibilities that lay before me, I knew I had things that I needed to do. Top of that list was one burning goal; to find and kill Herelius Rouge. First, though I needed to know where he was. I wouldn’t attack him straight away, because he would kill me with a single blow. I wasn’t a complete idiot. At least if I knew where he was, I would have a direction to set on once I was strong enough.

  I walked through the village square. A barbarian rushed by me, barging me with his muscled shoulders. I became aware of how weak my tinker was. The obvious thing would be to improve my strength and endurance, but I knew deep down that was silly. I was never going to be a warrior, no matter how much I wanted. This was the hand I had been dealt, and I would have to play to the advantages of my class. That meant improving my skills.

  “Hello, traveller,” said a voice next to me. “Need to know more about the world?”

  I looked to my right and saw a portly man with a bald head. He wore a jacket with a shirt underneath. His name was written in green above his head.

  Percy Jack, Town guide, Level 4

  Percy was an NPC, and I guessed he had been put there to give advice to those new to Blundow. I looked at him and nodded.

  “Good to meet you,” I said. “Listen. I’m looking for some information.”

  “If you want potions, try Hobbes’ Bottlerack.”

  “I don’t need potions, I need to ask you something.”

  “If you need a blade, Curves’ Death Store is the one for you.”

  “I don’t need swords either,” I said, starting to feel annoyed. “I have a question.”

  Percy frowned. “So what is it you need?” he said, his friendly tone gone.

  I leaned in closer to him. “I need to see a list of players on the world map.”

  Percy looked around him, as if we were conspirators sharing secrets. “And why would you want to know that?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Aren’t you a nasty one?” he said.

  Chaos point gained.

  Total Points: 1 (99 until next level: Nasty Git)

  I got a chaos point for that? I couldn’t believe it. I knew that you got Chaos points by doing something bad, but I hadn’t realised that the NPCs would be so touchy. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to accumulate chaos points, so I knew I had to be careful.

  “Sorry, Percy. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Could you do me a favour, please, and show me a list of players in the game world?”

  “Of course I can,” said Percy.

  I smiled. It was one step closer to finding Herelius. It was a small step, but I had to start somewhere. “Great.”

  “I can show you,” continued Percy. “But not until you’re level one. Now get lost.”

  Quest Received: Becoming a Somebody.

  At level 0 you’re a nobody. Get those rude NPCs to take notice by levelling up.

  Reward: 20XP

  When I swiped my hand and removed the quest text from my display, I noticed that three newbies were looking at me. Two were warriors, and both wore the same greaves and brandished similar one-handed iron swords. Next to them was a mage. Her face was covered by a hood, and when she looked at me, she sneered. I looked at the text above her head.

  Reebus, Mage Level 2

  “Tinker, tailor, candlestick maker,” she said, looking at me through squinting eyes.

  I turned on her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” said one of the warriors next to her. “Except you chose the worst class possible. You’ll die the second you step foot out of Blundow.”

  Reebus laughed. I wanted to get angry, but the truth was that they were right. My class wasn’t geared toward fighting at all, and I knew that I would have to make sure I joined a guild as soon as possible.

  Right now though, I had to get to level 1. Until I did, Percy wasn’t going to talk to me, and that meant I couldn’t get any information. So how was I going to level up?

  “You might want to get some EXP under your belt,” said one of the warriors.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “And where would I do that?”

  “I’ve met some noobs,” said Reebus. “But you’re the greenest of them all. See that forest over there? That’s the Forest of Ashenhall. They call it the Killing Fields. Go over there and murder some mousekin.”

  ***

  I left the hubbub of the village square behind me. I found the name ‘Forest of Ashenhall’ to be a poor description for what it actually was. There were a few small oak trees spread across a plain of grass. Every so often there were mounds of soil, and dotted around the grass were mushrooms that sprouted up from the g
round. In the distance, half-hidden in the shade of a tree, a dwarf and a giant seemed to be fighting something.

  Ashenhall Forest was once part of Ashenhall Manor, an estate owned by Baron Ashenhall. After the Baron was betrayed by his son, he burned his own manor to the ground. All that remains is the forest.

  I swiped away the message and took stock. I needed to get to at least level one, and to do that I needed 50 experience points. I guessed there were other ways to earn experience, but the most obvious was to start killing critters. So where were these mousekin that Reebus had told me about?

  As I stood and watched, a mound of mud across from me started to shake. It vibrated more and more, and then I heard a squealing sound. The mud exploded and flew off in different directions over the grass, and before me stood a mousekin. It was a small, weasel-faced creature with sharp teeth and a protruding nose. It had small paws with oversized claws on the ends, and the underside of its nails were covered in soil. It looked around for a few seconds, blinked, and then saw me.

  I quickly patted my chest to bring up my inventory. As a tinker, it seemed I wasn’t equipped for fighting. I had the standard cloth shirt and boots. Instead of the bronze sword of a paladin, all I had were two daggers. I equipped one in each hand, closed the screen, and then saw the mousekin running at me.

  It was stupid, but at first I was nervous as the feral creature sprinted in my direction. I knew that the game was fitted with sensory amplifiers, and that when the mousekin bit me it would hurt. Well, I wasn’t going to give it the chance. I was going to stab it until the exp points leaked out of its dead body.

  As the mousekin came within a hands reach of me, I stabbed out with my dagger. The mousekin screeched, and I saw its health bar fall down a quarter of the way. This was easy; all it would take was four stabs, and it would die.

  As I went to stab it again, I felt different. My arms felt heavier, and my swing was slower. I took a step back and quickly brought up my character screen.

  When I saw my stamina level, I was appalled. Just one stab with my knife had brought my stamina down a third of the way. That meant that I needed 4 hits to kill a mousekin, but my stamina could only support 3. So what was I supposed to do?

  I didn’t have much time to ponder it, because I felt a stinging sensation on my hand. I swiped away the character screen and saw bite marks on my left hand. Blood trickled out and over my skin and onto the hilt of my dagger.

  10HP lost

  85/95

  10 HP for a mouse bite? This was ridiculous. As the mousekin prepared for another assault, I waited until it was close and then stabbed it again. I felt a weariness fall over me, and watched as the mousekin’s health bar dropped to half way. It ran at me again, and this time my strike dropped its health to just one quarter.

  I stepped back. My breaths came fast and shallow, and even my meagre inventory bag felt heavy on my back. I wanted to raise my knife and deal the killing blow, but I knew that I couldn’t because I had no stamina. This was just stupid. What was the point in a tinker if I couldn’t even kill the most basic creature in the game?

  The mousekin didn’t seem to carry the same fatigue as me. When it ran at me again, I stepped to the left and let it miss me. Gradually, I saw that my stamina bar was filling up.

  That was it, then. I would just have to strike 3 times, rest, and then when I was ready, deal the final blow. This couldn’t go on, though. I needed to increase my stamina as soon as I could. The problem was that to do that, I had to level up. And to level up, I had to kill mousekin. Oh, what a frustrating circle.

  Finally, after minutes of sidestepping, my stamina had filled enough to let me hit the creature again. As the mousekin rushed toward me, I got ready. Those sweet exp points would be mine.

  Just as it reached me and I was ready to strike, a fireball shot by me. It hit the mousekin square on the face and incinerated its fur and skin. The fire spread to the rest of its body, until finally it was a pile of bones and ash. The air filled with the smell of burnt hair and meat.

  I heard a laughing sound to my right. I looked and saw Reebus stood twenty feet away, with fire dancing on the edge of her fingertips. Blue text flashed above her head.

  15 EXP Gained

  So she’d stolen my points! How long had she been waiting there, ready to steal my kill? I couldn’t believe it. A fire rushed through me hotter than the flames on the mage’s fingertips. This was the fire of anger.

  “Better be quicker next time, Tinker,” she shouted over to me.

  I knew that if I reacted I would just be playing into her hands. Instead I walked across the forest away from her. Another mound exploded, and again a mousekin and I carried out our death dance. I had whittled it down to a quarter of its health, and then rested. When I was about to kill it, another fireball rushed across the forest, the flames lighting the twigs of the trees that it brushed passed. The mousekin exploded in flames and died in front of me. I turned around and saw Reebus. Text glowed above her head.

  15 EXP Gained

  I might not have had strength or endurance going for me, but I certainly had intelligence. I looked at Reebus and smiled, trying my best to hide the fury inside me.

  “We’ve got a good eco system going on here,” I said. “But it’s a little off balance. How about you stop stealing my kills, and we work together? We’ll each whittle down the mousekin’s health, and then we’ll share the kills. That way we kill them quicker, and we both get exp. What do you say?”

  Reebus thought about it for a second, and then she started laughing.

  “I say that you should go sit on a sword, tinker,” she answered. “I’m auditioning for the Serpent guild, and I need to level up.”

  Chapter Five

  When I got back to Blundow the sun had set and the village square was covered in darkness. I realised that the game had a day and night cycle, but that shouldn’t have surprised me really. This was a total immersion game, and that meant that the sun would have to fall eventually. For a few minutes I stood at the edge of the square and watched the lamps glow in the windows of the shops, and I marvelled at the tiny pixel fireflies that bounced against the glass and tried to get to the flame.

  I found the armourer stood outside his shop. He was a large man and he wore a black apron that bore signs of wear and tear. He crossed his arms across his barrel chest and stared at me as I approached.

  I had decided that I needed a new weapon. Having a dagger in each hand meant that I could strike quicker, but that amounted to little if I had the stamina of a new born baby.

  “Bit late to be out isn’t it?” said the armourer. His name glowed green above his head.

  Yandel Curves – Armourer, Level 3

  I nodded at him. “I’m an insomniac. I was wondering what you had for sale?”

  “And you can keep wondering,” he said. “Because I look at you, and I smell a level 0. Tell me if I’m wrong.”

  “You’re not wrong,” I sighed.

  “Then go away and level up. Hasn’t Percy told you about this?”

  For a newbie village, the people in it weren’t helpful. Maybe it was a place where they gave you tough love. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t going to be put off by it.

  “Listen,” I said. “I’m going to level up, and then I’ll come back and buy from you. Until then, what’s the harm in letting me look at your wares? I won’t try to get anything. And then at least I’ll know how much CR I need to buy things from you, and I won’t have to annoy you by coming here and not having enough money.”

  He uncrossed his arms and put his hand to his chin in thought. I noticed that he had tattoos on each of his knuckles. They were tiny blue spirals.

  “You’re a slippery one,” he said. “But you make sense. Aye, go on then.”

  I heard the flourish of trumpets in my ear, and then a message appeared.

  New Ability Learned: Snake Tongue. You can charm the most stubborn of people with your words, but sometimes they drip with poison.

  Do y
ou accept?

  Snake Tongue wasn’t the most flattering way to describe the ability, but I liked the sound of it. I realised that this was a world where fighting ability wasn’t the only way to do things, and I sure as hell was never going to be a warrior. If my weakness was my physique, then I’d have to make my mind strong. I accepted.

  Ability slot 1 filled – Snake Tongue – Level 1

  Charisma increased to 3!

  Warmth started in my stomach and spread to my chest, and then it flowed out into my arms and legs. I couldn’t help but smile as the feeling covered me.

  Achievement Unlocked – ‘Baby Steps’

  You learned your first ability!