Through the smoke, he saw the tall man with pinched features begin running away. The woman with the pistol still had it extended; the now empty gun kept shaking until she dropped it.
Vale whipped his hand forward with his last enchanted throwing dart while running forward. The dart nailed the woman in the sternum and she burst into flames. Must have been a critical, thought Vale.
The woman was thrashing around, dying as the fire ticked away her remaining hit points. Vale kicked her down to the ground and stabbed her through the chest to put her out of her misery.
“Don’t shoot at me again,” he muttered as he ran past.
The tall man was almost to the end of the alley and relative safety, but Vale was too fast. He was easily three times faster than the last would-be bounty hunter. When the man was only a few feet from the mouth of the alley, Vale crippled his legs with an economical flick of his rapier. The man slammed to the ground and Vale stomped down on the man’s back—hard.
The man tried to scream, but he had no air in his lungs. It didn’t stop him from trying to draw a pistol, though. Vale snarled and thought, What is it with these people and pistols? They’re actually hard to use…
He cocked his arm back and slammed his blade into the back of the man’s skull. The tall man’s body stiffened and grew limp beneath Vale’s foot. He snarled in disgust. He really didn’t like PVP. Why couldn’t other players leave him the fuck alone?
He looked up and down the alley at the carnage and the strewn bodies. He checked his mana again.
Mana: 73/90
He had just killed six other players in decent gear, probably between level seven to nine. He had only used up seventeen mana, and he hadn’t even gotten a scratch. He’d probably overspent a lot of mana. He needed to learn to optimize his [Elemental Magic: Air] skill better.
He whistled soundlessly at all the gear just asking to be taken. “Well, if it’s just lying around…” he grumbled. He wasn’t going to enjoy carrying everything in his loot sack, but at least it was only a short distance to his favorite fence.
***
“2,142 gold! Holy crap!” Vale exclaimed. He’d had a good haul indeed. The shady merchant just smiled. Vale had no doubt the unctuous man would make a killing reselling all the gear. Well, he would have if he wasn’t an NPC. The NPC’s name was Vernon Carlsmit, a name Vale always thought was a bit over the top.
Suddenly the shady merchant Vernon leaned forward and winked conspiratorially. “You’ve been a good customer to me, and I always see you wearing that pig sticker,” he said, gesturing to Vale’s rapier. “I actually heard about a weapon like that lost in some ruins some time back. A powerful one, too. It was probably nothing, but I can still tell you about it, though.” The man guffawed.
In Vale’s vision, a window popped up:
You have been offered a unique quest by an NPC due to your relationship with the shopkeep and your status as a Legendary class.
Do you accept the quest?
Well, that’s a no-brainer. Vale chose YES.
Congratulations! You have started a quest for a legendary weapon!
Listen to the shopkeep’s tale and watch for other
opportunities to further this quest line!
Vale smiled as the sweating merchant began telling his story.
***
Trent was in the great mood when he logged out and Surfaced. His mood lasted right up until he checked his messages on his persocomp and saw several missed calls from his best friend Steve. The latest just said,
Vale was confused. Steve knew that Trent played as Vale, but he’d already seen almost everything the media was saying about him; most of it was just speculation.
However, after Vale used his persocomp to generate a telescreen in his field of vision and turned to a news station, he cursed.
Most stations were playing in-game footage from two hours ago. The FPR, first-person-recorded, video had caught a very pissed off looking Vale dePardon utterly dismantling the criminal bounty hunters in an alley.
“Well…shit.”
This is the end of the sample.
Thank you for spending time with me!
-BC
Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred Page 32
