Alpha World Book One: Gamer for Life

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Thirty feet down the hall he came to a door with a plaque on it. The plaque identified the room as Records. Alburet considered going in, waffling between escaping or exploring. Who knows, he thought, this place might be closed to him once he did escape and that decided him. “Fuck it,” he said softly as he pushed on the door, causing it to open inward.

  Alburet

  Human Summoner

  Level 2

  Strength: 5

  Agility: 5

  Constitution: 10

  Intelligence: 15

  Wisdom: 15

  Charisma: 20

  Health: 200

  Mana: 250

  Spells:

  Demon Skin

  Demonic Retribution

  Abilities:

  None

  Exploring

  The door swung open silently, making Alburet leery. Stepping into the room he saw it was mostly empty, a single chest along the back wall and a desk with chair the only furniture. The only other thing of note was the Skeletal Clerk that was standing up from the desk, level two with 150/150 health. It held a letter opener in one hand and a tome in the other like a shield as it advanced towards Alburet.

  Setting the torch down carefully so it wouldn't go out, Alburet quickly cast his Demonic Retribution and Demon Skin before arming himself with the dagger and a femur. He’d thought about using the torch as a weapon, but the book might have useful info and he didn't want to burn it. When the skeleton got into range it lunged at Alburet with the letter opener. Batting aside the strike with his femur, Alburet returned an attack with the dagger. Alburet chuckled happily as he saw the dagger inflict full damage, 9 points, to the mob.

  The next couple of seconds were parries and blocks by each of the combatants, until the skeleton landed a slight puncture on Alburet. Two things happened as the blade pierced him, firstly Alburet grimaced- this was the first time he’d been stabbed here, and it hurt. Secondly a flame flickered out from the wound, traveling up the skeleton's arm and bursting in a small pop on its chest, damaging it. Alburet lashed out with his dagger as the mob withdrew the letter opener for another attack, landing a hit clean to its head.

  After landing the critical Alburet started to fight more defensively, not wanting to get stabbed again. The earlier damage, while it had hurt, was mostly blunt trauma which had almost been like full contact sparring in a dojo. Well, minus the first one where his hand had been getting shredded by teeth. Blocking the next attack, Alburet waited, not taking the small openings which would leave him vulnerable to counters.

  The fight took longer than it should have, but he only ended up getting stabbed one more time. Grimacing until his health returned to full and the pain went away, Alburet shook his head. “Full pain sensory at low levels is fucking wrong, so you know my somewhat benevolent overlords.” he said out loud, knowing that the medical staff could hear him.

  He looted the mob, which netted him the letter opener, book and a new Femur Club. Picking up the torch, he examined the desk and was disappointed to discover it had no drawers and nothing on it. Setting the book down, he turned to the chest along the back wall. He nudged the lid and found the thing locked, sighing he knelt down and looked more closely at the lock. It was rusty and pitted but still held the chest closed and he didn't have a key.

  Sitting down before the chest, Alburet inserted the letter opener and began to fiddle with it seeing if he could make the lock pop. After several minutes he’d made no progress so decided to try bashing the chest with a femur to try and break it open. The top of the chest crumbled inward after half a dozen blows.

  The chest contained eight silver, six scrolls, a dry inkwell along with a stylus and a small shield that fit in the palm of his hand. The front of the shield was engraved with an inscription, 'Trusted Guard' and had a pin on the back so it could be attached to clothing. Chuckling, Alburet attached the shield to the front of his robe. “I'm a guard again, surely this won't go badly,” Alburet laughed as he added the silver to his bag along with the letter opener before grabbing the scrolls.

  Carrying them to the desk, Alburet opened the first five which turned out to be lists of people, listing height, weight and a short description of their crimes. The sixth one was about him, describing in detail the crime he had committed in the real world. He read through it once, his facing going hard before he placed it on the ground and applied the torch to it, causing it to go up in flame quickly. “Fuck you very much for that, Mindblown,” he muttered.

  Turning to the book, he opened it to find a history of the Prison he was trying to escape. Imperial Prison Alctriuz had been founded in the year 50 Imperial Reckoning by decree of the Emperor Augustus the First. Flipping to the back of the book, Alburet found it ended with the prison’s completion in the year 75 IR. It was designated to hold the very worst of the Empire’s criminals. Shrugging, he placed it in his bag along with the letter opener, maybe it would be worth something if he reached a city.

  Standing back up while stretching, Alburet made sure to keep the dagger in his main hand as he left the room. Stepping across the line that should divide inmates from guards, he adjusted the badge on his robe and started down the hallway again. Another fifty feet brought him to another door that held a plaque denoting it as Processing.

  He pushed the door open to find a decent sized room with three desks, two of which were broken. The sole remaining desk had a Skeletal Clerk seated at it. The skeleton glanced at him then looked away and continued to sit there. Alburet shifted into a defensive posture as it looked at him, but as it looked away a grin came over his face. Walking into the room, he noted a Decayed Guard along a back wall next to a door marked Property.

  Walking over to the door Alburet pushed on the door to find it locked. Frowning he turned and saw the key on a chain around the clerk's collar bone. Pursing his lips, Alburet tried to think of a way to get the key that wouldn't start a fight. He glanced at the Decayed Guard, noting the same rotting leather and club the previous one had had. He still didn't have a chance of taking them both on at once, not with the guard having armor and a club. Simply asking for the key crossed his mind, but he dismissed the idea. If this place operated anything like real world jails, it wouldn’t work as the one who had the key was responsible for everything in that area.

  Walking through the room, Alburet didn't see anything obviously useful. Stopping, he scratched at his chin and considered his options again. He really wanted into the property room, there should be something worthwhile in there at least. Chewing his lip, he glanced at the room again, when his eyes went back to the broken desks. Chuckling, he began to move the wood to the doorway. Once he had it shifted, he went back to the barracks room and started shifting a few pallets to his pile of wood. Nodding to himself, he went back into the room, making sure he had a clear run to the door.

  Rebuffing himself with his spells, he walked up next to the guard that was still ignoring him. Once he was ready, he attacked with the dagger right to the guard's skull. He blinked as the combat log showed 36 damage done, not stopping to figure it out he ran for the door. The guard turned and began to move after him followed by the clerk. Once he was past the debris, Alburet turned and waited for the two skeletons to reach him. Once both were on top of the trap he touched the torch to the pallets and watched the whole thing go up in flame. Using the torch as a club Alburet focused on parrying the guard’s attacks as it stood on the edge of the fire. Taking a few hard hits, Alburet grunted in pain as he let the fire do the hard work for him as it ate away at the health of the two mobs who stood in it mindlessly.

  By the time the fire died out both mobs were dead and Alburet had regained his health lost to the guard. As he waited for the ashes to cool he blinked when the badge on his robe vanished in a haze of dust. “What the fuck?” he muttered, trying to figure out why the badge would vanish. Chewing his lip as he thought, the only thing he could come up with that since he attacked the guard he was no longer trusted or viewed as a guard. “Well fuck it, I hope
the Property room is worth it.”

  He felt a rumble from his belly, frowning he glanced at his buff bar. Two new icons were there indicating he was Hungry as well as Thirsty. The debuffs indicated that he had six hours to find food and drink or he would be hit with a Parched debuff as well as a Starving debuff. He nodded, Vicky had told him about the issue with food for long term immersion. He had six hours and he didn't know how much longer he would be here so he ignored it for now.

  A few minutes later he was able to touch the ash without being burned so he sifted through it until he found the key for the room. Briefly, he wished that the burned out wood and straw vanished like the bodies of the mobs he’d killed. Taking the key, he approached the door with a smirk as he used it to unlock the door before pushing it open.

  There were open containers all along the walls on the floor as well as on shelves. The first one was engraved with a numeral 1, then next had a 2 and so on around the room. “Just like my old property room. Wait, my ID number on that scroll had been thirteen,” Alburet went down to the bin with a 13 on it and pulled it off the shelf.

  Inside he found a small glass vial filled with a red liquid, a small vial with a blue liquid, a small polished stone with a house etched into it, a slim leather bound book and soft leather boots. He looked at the boots, smiling as the description popped up for him.

  Preserved Soft Leather Boots- (armor 10 for feet) Durability 25/35

  He slipped the boots onto his feet, nodding at how perfectly they fit. Once he was done he checked the other items to find out what they were. Examining the book caused a quest to pop for him.

  Small Healing Potion- (Restores 50 health)

  Small Mana Potion- (Restores 50 mana)

  Homestone- (Returns the owner to last bind point. SOUL BOUND.)

  Preserved book- (Maybe someone wants this.)

  Quest: Find a person who wants this eldritch book.

  Reward: Twenty Thousand XP.

  Blinking at the quest, Alburet opened the book to see writing in a dark red ink in a language he couldn't even begin to understand. “It's not Greek, but it might as well be for all the good it does me,” he muttered to himself as he started to put it into his bag. When he tried to put the book into his bag it refused to go in.

  Sighing, he pulled out some of the femurs he had been carrying, dropping them into his bin so he could add the book, potions and stone to his bag. Once that was done, he began to go through the room checking each bin. In total he found another five silver and 25 copper. There was a lot of ratty or decayed cloth and leather that didn't even show a value for selling them, so he left them. The only other thing of note in the room was a quarterstaff in a corner.

  Worn Trusty Staff

  15 Damage

  50/100 Durability

  He put the dagger away before he picked up the staff and felt better. “Not sure this will make up for the loss of the badge, but a better weapon and boots is worthwhile plus a quest with nice XP if I can get out of here,” he muttered before shaking his head, “Talking to oneself is a sign of insanity, right?” He chuckled darkly before he left the room and went back to the hallway.

  He found no other rooms until he came to a set of double doors blocking his way forward. They had bars and glass set in them, so he peeked in to see a room with two Decayed Guards standing in the middle of the room. Considering his options, Alburet wondered if it was worth hauling more wood and straw down to the door to trap these two. Reluctantly, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort since the door was wide enough for the mobs to simply move around him.

  He pondered the previous fights with the guards then the new weapon he had picked up. He would be able to deal way more damage than he had with the femurs. Add on top of that the fact they would be harming themselves when they hit him due to his Demonic Retribution spell and he smiled.

  He opened the doors, which groaned loudly causing the two skeletons to turn to face him. Setting the torch down carefully, Alburet waited, but the skeletons didn't approach him. Taking a moment he applied his Retribution buff before he threw a copper at one of the guards. It glanced off the skeleton, who took a step toward him before returning to its starting spot and the single point of damage dealt to it healed.

  Sighing, Alburet made sure he had a good grip on his staff as he ran into the room and swung it at the one on the right. The staff thunked off the skull soundly and Alburet noted the 32 damage done to it as both Guards turned to attack him. Alburet was suddenly glad he used to work out at the dojo closest to his home. The staff felt familiar in his hands as he wove his attacks while trying to mitigate the damage done to him.

  The skeletons didn't go for any advanced tactics, standing side by side and swinging their clubs at him. That made things easier for Alburet as he concentrated on the one he’d attacked first, shifting around his opponents. The fight was mostly uninteresting as the skeletons never tried to flank him, allowing him to kill one, leveling as he did, then the other with only a few wounds to show for it.

  This should be almost over, he figured, this would be the entrance area. Maybe a gated yard out the other set of double doors leading from this room but that should be it. A very basic layout for an intake area, but this one should be inside a gated compound connected to the main jail. The skeleton's loot only consisted of two unwieldy clubs, so he left them alone as they weren't worth any coin.

  Taking a minute, he dropped his points into Constitution before he glanced at his new spell. Summon Least Imp: Mana cost: 10% of total mana pool while minion is active. Duration: Until dismissed. Allows the Summoner to summon a Least Imp to his side. Least Imps assist the Summoner by casting small fire blasts at visible foes. Alburet looked over the motions and words needed and blinked as there were two noted. The other one was listed as original use of spell, only used once and costing no mana.

  Shrugging, Alburet mimed opening a book and spoke the words for first time use, “I summon the Infernal Retinue Society to aid me in my choosing of a minion.” He chuckled as he finished the words, as no one would summon the IRS and expect actual help.

  A glowing red pentagram appeared on the floor and began to blaze with hellish light. Stepping back slightly, Alburet watched as a bipedal toad appeared inside the circle. It glanced at Alburet before perching a pair of spectacles on its face. “Ah a first timer, greetings to you Summoner. I'm Bettzle, the assistant tasked with picking the Infernal best suited to assist you. You are looking for a Least Imp, correct?”

  “Greetings, Bettzle. I am indeed trying to find the Least Imp that will be my helper.”

  “Well, lucky for you we have a few to pick from. Your choice can never be changed, so pick wisely.” The toad gestured and four ID pictures with stats appeared in the air before Alburet.

  Each of them showed a Least Imp, an orange-red creature two feet tall with pointed tail, small stubby wings on its back and long claws on its hands. Its face was sharp and angled with a lot of sharp needle teeth in its mouth. They each seemed identical in image, so he looked at the relevant info to make his choice. They each only had 2 Strength, 4 Agility, 5 Constitution, and 3 Charisma, but their Intelligence and Wisdom were different along with another rating listed on each of them: Loyalty.

  “Bettzle, what does the Loyalty rating denote?” Alburet asked as he couldn't get a pop-up tool tip on what it was for.

  “It merely tells you how easy or hard it will be for you to gain happiness with the creature, hardly worth noting. Most Summoners are very content to take the most apt creature that is available, none of them have ever voiced issue with the one they chose to my knowledge,” the toad said while adjusting its glasses.

  Alburet recalled Vicky telling him differently, that Loyalty was very important. Sadly, that would mean taking the imp with the worst stats. The one with Loyalty of Very status only had 8 Intelligence and Wisdom, the one with the worst Loyalty rating of Not had 20s in both stats. Chewing his lip, he had to decide whether to trust Vicky's advice or to take the obvious nume
rical advantage. Shaking his head, he hoped he was right and picked the one with the best loyalty rating.

  “Interesting pick, to choose the weakest Imp. Oh well, it's your business Summoner. Best of luck to you and I'll see you when you learn how to summon your next Infernal.” With that, the toad took off its glasses and snapped its fingers, vanishing as the sound faded.

  Looking back at how to normally summon his imp, Alburet did as the spell instructed. He held a hand out level, palm down next to him and spoke the words, “Your master calls you forth.” A bright flash and puff of smoke happened and when it cleared a small imp stood there.

  “Greetings my master. Thank you for choosing me. What is my name to be?” The imp asked, looking up at Alburet.

  “What is your name normally?”

  The imp chuckled then spoke briefly in a gut wrenching voice in some language that Alburet didn't understand. “That is why we normally take the name given us by our master while we are under his or her command,” the imp smirked up at him.

  “Noted. I take it that was your native tongue?” The imp nodded but remained silent. “Okay. I'll call you Bob.”

  “Bob shall be my name then, master,” Bob replied with a toothy grin. “What are we doing?”