Class changed. New class Fighter.
Adaptable: No experience penalty for third class.
You have gained a new skill: Crushing Weapons
You have gained a new skill: Missile Weapons
You have gained a new skill: Slashing Weapons
You have gained a new skill: Throwing Weapons
You have gained a new skill: Two-Handed Weapons
You have gained a new skill: Metal Armor
You have gained a new skill: Shields
You have gained a new skill: Block
Ability gained: Taunt
Jace sighed. It was done. He was now a Fighter. Shaking his head, he really couldn’t wait to be Mordred again.
Chapter 36
Jace stood alert until his health and mana regenerated and then resummoned Luna, dumping as much mana and health into her as possible. The streams of energy formed into the familiar shape of the orange tabby and she appeared.
The cat spun around, looking around at the dead wolves before finally relaxing. “Bad wolfers!”
“Bad wolfers,” Jace agreed. He scratched under the cat’s chin. “Sorry I couldn’t save you.”
“Protect Charlena,” the cat meowed.
He smiled at her. “Yes. I have to protect her. We can’t let anything happen to her.”
“Yes,” agreed Luna.
Within a few minutes, Jace’s health and mana had recovered from the summoning and they were able to continue on. He kept up his jog and walk routine until early evening. As the sun dipped into the trees to the west, he slowed to a halt.
He had expected Charlena to have logged into the game by that time but her character was still glassy eyed. The time of day in game corresponded to the time of day in the real world, more or less. She’d generally been logging in before nightfall each night.
Why was she tied up with schoolwork? Or was it something else? Had the kiss scared her away?
Wait, hadn’t she initiated the first kiss? Was he a bad kisser? Jace hadn’t had any complaints from the few girlfriends he’d had.
As the minutes ticked on, Jace began pacing back and forth across the road as Luna sat near Charlena and followed him with her head. Why wasn’t she logging in? Had something happened? Had WorldCog found her somehow? But how would they? She shouldn’t be on their radar at all.
Jace went from scenario to scenario, each as unlikely as the last, as the minute ticked by and the sun’s glow had completely disappeared. He’d already goggle his Cat-Vision on, so the change wasn’t as noticeable but now he could see stars in the sky. And still Charlena wasn’t logged in.
Unable to take it any longer, he motioned to Luna. “Come, let’s get going.”
Luna looked at him. “Noms?”
Jace gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry Luna, there was no place to fish. If we find a river or lake, I can fish for one.”
He checked himself to make sure that he didn’t have the Hungry debuff. Jace didn’t but he knew it wouldn’t be long. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Another few hours and he’d definitely have it. If he hadn’t found a place to fish before then, he’d need to eat one of his rations.
Turning towards the west, Jace began his job again, keeping a watchful eye on his Stamina. He threw backward glances at Charlena running behind him, but she remained glassy-eyed. Trying not to worry about her, Jace continued on.
Hours later, when the moons hit their zenith, Jace knew it was midnight. Charlena hadn’t logged in and he was really worried. His mind had conjured all sorts of scenarios about what might have befallen her, adding to his foul mood.
He kept up his pace throughout the night with no sign from Charlena. By morning, the trees began to change, as did the surrounding landscape. The trees became shorter and more twisted, while the landscape around him grew wetter. He realized the forest was giving way to swampland.
The mayor hadn’t said anything about a swamp. In the game, swamps were a breeding ground for all sorts of monsters and creatures. Generally, it was not a place low level characters wanted to go. Not to mention, it was starting to stink.
As if on queue, Luna complained. “Smell bad!”
He reached down and petted her. “I know. But we need to go this way. Hopefully, it won’t be long.”
By noon, or what Jace thought was noon, Jace realized he had been wrong. The swamp had not only continued but as he got deeper into it, a mist or fog of some sort permeated the area, obscuring the sun and cutting his visibility. Not only that, but things had grown louder. If he’d thought the forest animals made noise, the swamp was alive with all sorts of life - though none of it visible.
The worse thing was the biting insects. They bit and stung him mercilessly. They were tiny and did no damage but Jace cursed the developers who decided to include them. He realized a normal player could just turn down their sensory feedback but not him. He had to endure their full biting fury.
The only positive thing was that the swamp seemed to hold fish and he had been able to catch a fish for Luna to eat. It looked a bit foul and Jace guessed it was a catfish but his familiar ate it raw nonetheless. He didn’t eat any, choosing instead to use some of his rations. He wasn’t about to risk getting poisoned or contract some sort of swamp disease. Without a healer, a disease could give him some major debuffs.
When Luna had finished her meal, they continued through the misty swamp but this time the going was slow. With the reduced visibility, he dared not jog. It would be too easy to run right into an ambush or even stumble blindly into some swamp creature. Instead, Jace and Luna continued at a brisk walking pace.
Throughout the day, Jace saw movements in the swamp on both sides of him. Once he glimpsed what looked like a log until two large eyes opened, revealing it to be an alligator of some sort. The second time, he’d seen what looked like a falling branch on a tree that ended up being an enormous snake nearly a foot thick.
Jace kept them moving, making them walk single file down the middle of the road. The movements and sounds kept his nerves on edge the entire day to a point where he could swear they were being followed just out of his sight range.
He wasn’t sure when exactly it had begun. He’d caught little glimpses of movement out of the corner of his eye but as soon as he turned to get a better look, he hadn’t seen anything. He even asked Luna if she could smell any enemies but she just responded with “smell bad.”
When darkness came to the swamp, his visibility dropped almost nothing as the mist seemed to get thicker. He could barely see the road in front of him, even with his Cat-Vision. Jace was forced to reduce their pace to a slow walk.
Worse yet, there was no sign of Charlena logging in. Her character continued to follow them with its glassy eyed stare but she was not there. Jace really began to worry about her. She knew they were traveling between the towns. Why wouldn’t she log in? Was she okay?
He kept walking, even as the dark swamp seemed to be closing in around him. He looked back to make sure everyone was still with him and once again caught a glimmer of movement to his right. Then there was movement to his left and he snapped his head around to see. There was nothing there. At least nothing that he could see.
Moving in the mist shrouded in darkness, he lost all track of time. It was night, that was all he knew. Had he been walking for one hour, two hours or six hours? He didn’t know. The movement continued on either side of him, just out of his view and his nerves were raw from fear and concern. That’s when the sounds started.
There were plenty of swamp sounds but these broke through the normal swamp animal sounds. It was like a hissing to his right but a strange hissing, almost like someone letting air out of a balloon or air coming in through a cracked car window. Now it was on his left. And behind him. They were surrounded.
Jace’s weapons were already in his hands and he strained his eyes to see the sources of the noises. He glanced down to see that Luna’s fur was standing up and her back was arched. She knew something was out there too, but she
couldn’t see it any better than he could.
The sounds were moving now, circling them. There were at least three, maybe four of them. But what were they?
He couldn’t tell exactly where they were but he knew they were close. And they were slowly getting closer. Still he couldn’t see anything but swirling mist.
The other swamp sounds went quiet and all he heard was the hissing, slowing circling them. He stepped back so that he was straddling Luna and right next to Charlena. He had no idea what was out there, but he would do his best to protect them. He checked out his new Fighter ability.
Taunt
Range: 15 ft
Cost: 4 mana
Description: Scream out a primal challenge to your foes that force them to attack you for 60 seconds.
It seemed straightforward. Unfortunately, unlike a real fighter, he didn’t have the armor or extra health to take blows from multiple enemies. He also didn’t have the benefit of a healer to keep his health topped off. He had only himself. And he didn’t think that was going to be enough against what could be at least four opponents.
The hissing was growing louder and now he could make out shapes in the mist, moving slowly - almost hypnotically around him. It was still hard to make them out but they seemed to be bipedal but they weren’t human. At least, not like any human he’d seen. Was that a tail swishing behind them? Darn this mist!
They couldn’t be more than 10 or 12 feet from him now though still mostly obscured by the mist. They were slowing circling but Jace could see that they were definitely bipedal. He could tell that they were side stepping around on almost human legs and they definitely had tails. He could see them swishing back and forth in the mist. They held something in their hands. It could be a club but he wasn’t sure.
Suddenly they stopped moving and Jace braced himself. He only had 14 mana. That was enough for one Taunt and five Feints. If these were anything like the wolves, they would each take at least two critical strikes each. That was eight critical strikes, which meant eight Feints. He wasn’t going to have enough mana. And if each of them landed a blow, he’d wouldn’t last past the second round.
Luna rubbed up against his leg, looking up at him. “Use mine.”
Use mine? What did she - ? It hit him. He remembered he could pull from her mana. That changed things. That gave him another seven Feints, which was enough to take them. If they just lined up and let him kill them. Unfortunately, they weren’t going to just stand there and let them hit him. They’d be fighting back.
He thought about their weapons. They definitely looked like clubs. If so, that meant they did the same damage as a dagger - 4 points of damage. He was wearing four pieces of armor, giving him 2 Defense - enough to reduce the damage by 2 points. That might do it. If only he had a shield or plate armor.
A shield… plate armor. That sparked a memory and he brought up his spellbook. He remembered seeing an armor spell. He looked through it and sure enough, he was right. The Air Armor spell provided 1 defense plus 1 point of armor per rank of Air Magic. Unfortunately, he only had one rank but that extra point of defense would reduce his damage by 1 more point.
With Air Armor, he might just have a chance. Of course, it only lasted a minute at his current rank. He’d have to wait until combat began to cast it. But did he use the Taunt ability first or the Air Armor?
Casting the armor spell would use up another 4 mana. That cut his Feints down by two. He prayed it would be enough.
The figures in the mist were still not moving, standing unnaturally still. Even their hissing had stopped. There was no sound at all in the swamp. He looked from figure to figure, trying to gauge when they would attack. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Kill the soft skins!” hissed the figure to his right and then everything went to hell.
Chapter 37
The creatures sprang forward and Jace could see that they were some sort of bipedal lizard creatures. He didn’t have time to analyze them in his HUD. As soon as he heard the cry, he immediately cast Air Armor. “Aeris Armatura!”
Wind swirled around him and coalesced into a sparky suit of armor made of hardened air. He couldn’t feel it but hopefully it would do its job. “Come get some!”
The lizard men skidded to an abrupt halt, weapons still raised to attack but making no move. Now that they were closer, Jace could see that they were wearing leather loincloths not dissimilar to the one he had when he respawned. They also had leather bands tied around their arms and legs that had many colorful feathers attached to them. Their scaly green bodies were decorated in white and red war paint, giving them a very primitive look.
They looked back and forth at each other. Finally, the one that had called out tilted its head, a long forked tongue slipping in and out of its mouth.
“You speak the language of the scaled ones?” it asked, looking over him curiously.
Now that they were closer, Jace recognized them as lizard men, or saurians. They were intelligent reptilian humanoids. They weren’t inherently good or evil but stayed away from civilized society. His Monsterspeak skill was allowing him to speak and understand even the lizard men. Jace answered the saurian, “I can speak your language.”
Since they weren’t attacking him, Jace scanned them in his HUD.
Swamp Saurian Hunter
Level: 4
The lead saurian flicked his tongue again and looked over Jace. He seemed to stare at the distortion caused by the Air Armor. After a moment, he lowered his weapon and signaled the others to do the same. He gestured at Jace. “You are… magic man?”
Jace nodded. “I know some magic.”
The leader gestured to the others who came over and they whispered too low for Jace to hear them. Occasionally one or the other would pop his head out of the huddle and look over at Jace. After several minutes, they broke apart, and the leader stepped forward.
“I am Kagask,” he said. “Hunt leader. Will you come back to our village?”
Jace tried to keep the frown off his face. He may or may not be able to handle these four, but there was no way he could handle an entire village. And just a minute ago, these things had been ready to kill him. Still, he needed to be diplomatic.
“I cannot,” he told them. “I am on my way to the human village Skystead. I am in a hurry.”
Kagask shook his head. “You will not make it.”
“Why? Will you stop me?” Jace asked, tightening his grip on his weapons.
Did they intend to fight him? Or try to stop him? His Air Armor had expired, but his mana had regenerated, so he could cast it again. He’d been willing to fight them just a few minutes ago and he still could.
The saurian shook its head. “I will not stop you but ahead, maybe half a day, are the Dying Grounds. The Raagaax hunts there. You may have magic, but it will still devour you. Many of our braves have we lost to the Raagaax.”
That bothered Jace. There was some creature ahead of them that killed the lizard men. “What is the Raagaax? What type of monster?”
“It is a swamp dragon,” Kagask told him. “Even with your magic, you cannot win against him. It destroyed your human caravan almost 7 suns ago.”
“Swamp dragon?!” Jace asked in shock. Dragons were powerful raid bosses. They took a full raid of 40 people to bring down. If it really was a dragon, he had no hope at all against it. Perhaps he could sneak by on his own, but not with Charlena walking next to him. The dragon would spot them and kill them.
Dragons didn’t live long in VEIL. Once players learned about them from NPCs or quests, the raiding guilds quickly organized a raid to kill the monster. They would teleport in, kill the dragon, loot its hoard and then go back to their normal activities.
That meant they would teleport into either Sinking Springs or Skystead! He and Charlena might hitch a ride back to the capital. Jace got excited until he realized he would still need to make it one of the villages. Maybe he could just die. Then he’d reappear back in Sinking Springs and he could hitch a ride.
“If you come to our village,” Kagask told him. “I will show you a way through the swamp.”
Jace’s head snapped around to the saurian hunter. “What?”
His HUD updated unexpectedly with a scrolling message. He did a double take as he read the message.
Kagask of the Willow Marsh Clan has offered you the quest, “Speak to the Elder”
Reward: +25 faction with Willow March Clan, +50 faction with Kagask, Safe Passage.
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
The lizard man had offered him a quest! Jace knew it wasn’t unheard of for intelligent species to offer quests, but it was rare. And it was limited to creatures who spoke the common tongue? Was he getting the quest because he could speak and understand them? Had the game AI adapted its programming to allow for any intelligent creature to give quests?
This was a major development if it were true. Did that mean only he could get these quests from monsters - assuming he could live long enough to talk with them? The notion was mind blowing, as it opened up a virtual world of possibilities.
“If you and your companion come to my village and speak with the elder,” the lizard man repeated, snapping Jace back to the situation at hand. “I will lead you around the dragon, to the mountain.”
The lizard looked at him suspiciously. “Why do you want me to speak with your elder?”
“You speak with the elder,” he said. “Maybe save the village.”
Jace considered that. It sounded like a quest. And if part of the reward was safe passage, he’d be a fool to say no. Still he hesitated a moment longer. Could he really trust these lizard men?
Realizing he didn’t really have a choice unless he wanted to turn around and walk all the way back to Sinking Springs, Jace agreed and accepted the quest.
VEIL Online - Book 1 Page 24
