Gleam of Darkness

by Elian Tars

  Oh, no… I don’t have that energy? I thought. I won’t be able to resurrect again if I die? Shit…Shit… I don’t like this at all!

  Stop! I told myself not to panic. Let’s make this my motto: If there’s a problem, I will solve it. That’s what I always did in real life. Why should the virtual one be any different?

  “Give me all the information available about rebirth energy.”

  The text appeared in front of my eyes the moment I had clearly formulated the thought and removed the word “my” from the sentence. Once I was done reading, I let out a sigh of relief and turned toward the crypt’s door.

  This energy alone wouldn’t resurrect me. It needed to be placed into an object associated with death: a headstone, a tomb, a gravestone, or something like that. That was the only way to create a resurrection point.

  In a hurry to test my newly found knowledge, I asked for information about the energy I had invested into the crypt. I saw the same scale, but this time it was showing 80%. Pressing my palm against the door, I demanded that it give me half of it.

  And it worked! 40% remained in the crypt, and the rest went inside me. It wasn’t possible to take more. Otherwise, the spell connecting me to this place would break. Now I could find a graveyard in another place and invest my 40% into it. After that I would have a chance of withdrawing the remaining 40% out of this crypt. Like this, it was possible to change the point of resurrection.

  Interesting. So, could I make two points then? Would both be only half full in that case? This would give me a choice of where to go after dying.

  A loud, crackling sound coming from the forest pulled me out of my idle thoughts. I immediately gathered myself and turned toward the sound, only to see an eight-legged, disgusting carcass creeping out of the thicket.

  Little Spider Changed by Decay

  Level 5

  HP: 219/219

  “Little” spider? That thing was the size of a sheepdog! Nasty and covered with rotting, bright green ulcers, it left a trail of putrid smoke behind itself. I suppose it would be better to run away until I find out what I’m capable of.

  As soon as I thought about running, the Little Spider arrived at its desired destination, and in a single jump, closed the distance between us. It hit my leg with one of its own.

  You have received 22 points of damage.

  Grimacing in pain, I immediately got into a fighting mood. I couldn’t die again. I had to win. I knew I had the pitchfork before. I hoped that it hadn’t disappeared after my death, and was just hidden someplace in the inventory menu.

  “Bring out the main weapon!” I commanded, as I leaned away from another attack. A familiar, poor man’s version of a trident appeared in my hand. Without wasting any time, I attacked.

  You have dealt 21 points of damage.

  My experience and reactions, which I had trained playing VR games, helped me avoid half of the enemy’s attacks. My body’s capabilities, luckily, weren’t worse than Little Spider’s. Naturally, he got me every other time, but I hit him every single one. So now, he only had 20 HP left.

  Dodging another one of its attempts at hitting me with its leg, which had a sharp claw at the end, I leaned forward, determined to defeat it. Suddenly, it arched, as if broken in half, and splashed its cobweb onto my boots. However, that didn’t save the vile thing. Slashing its side, I got it to 1 HP. With a nasty squeak, it backed away and fell onto its back, curling its legs to its stomach. Still feeling the heat of the battle, I was tempted to take a step forth and finish off the creature. However, my attempt at moving wasn’t successful. I looked down at my feet. The web had them firmly glued to the ground. I tried to cut it with the pitchfork, but in vain. The tip got stuck in the sticky mass and I barely managed to yank it out. Irritated, I spat and crouched to scroll through my logs.

  “Little Spider Changed by Decay” used “Web of Decay”.

  Skill effect: immobilization

  Your movement has been blocked by “Web of Decay”.

  “Web of Decay’s” effect will wear off in 10 minutes. The “Web” is immune to physical attacks.

  You have dealt 23 points of damage.

  You have defeated “Little Spider Changed by Decay”.

  XP received: 247

  Level up.

  Current level: 5

  You can use the slaying skill on “Little Spider Changed by Decay”.

  Well, now that I’m temporarily immobilized, there’s only one thing left to do… Deal with my stats.

  “Show my information,” I said softly, addressing the local system.

  The image of a black-haired tough guy, dressed in a dirty, white shirt and a vest, with traces of a slight stubble on his face appeared before me. At first glance, he looked like me. The height and weight seemed almost identical. Is that why I had gotten this particular character?

  There was a sign above the avatar’s head: “Peasant Bon. Level 5”. In the upper left corner were three lines. Red for “health” (124/230); blue for “mana” (100/100); and green for “energy” (126/220). To the right of the character was a list of main stats:

  Vitality: 13

  Endurance: 12

  Strength: 18

  Agility: 10

  Intelligence: 0

  Free stat points: 1

  Oh boy… I got a dumb one this time… Since I had just leveled, I got an unallocated stat point. This Bon guy had probably been level 4 when I entered his body. He must have distributed his points independently. However, he could have only spent a maximum of four points. This game probably had the usual scheme with “default” stats for your character. But here was my main issue — even if the guy had no intelligence points, the system had to throw in at least 2 or 3 points, right? Otherwise, which stat determined the amount of mana?

  I requested information about each of the stats. My suspicions proved correct. Health, energy and mana were distributed via a simple formula: 100+10*X. X being the according stat. Health depended on one’s vitality and mana on intelligence. There was also something about quicker regeneration but information was vague about that.

  However, energy was a bit trickier. It depended on one’s endurance and was constantly used up on movement and battles. Because of that, it needed to be monitored; otherwise you risked stumbling upon your enemies while exhausted. The speed of its consumption was not specified. Actually, it wasn’t specified for any of the stats.

  The last two stats, strength and agility, were tied to attack speed, evasion and the chance of dealing a critical hit. Strength gave +1 to damage in close combat. Thanks to the pitchfork’s modest +1-5, my damage was now at 19-23.

  “Show the skills menu,” I said after I had dealt with the basics.

  “Skills, abilities and special characteristics” were written on the section’s title, under which were three equal columns. My gaze immediately went to the center:

  Abilities

  Opening and analyzing abilities requires a physical action.

  At the bottom, it said:

  Ability points: 1

  I wasn’t sure if I understood correctly. In order for any skill to appear in the menu, you first had to try it out once. There was so little information. However, the third column seemed easier to understand.

  Special stats

  Reach level 10 to see special stats.

  So, I had to level up first.

  Oh well, on to the most completed column.

  Skills

  I could see that the previous owner of my present body even managed to learn something by himself.

  The Way of the Force

  Level 1

  Passive skill

  Every tenth unit of strength increases vitality.

  Skill level up is available.

  Cost: 1 skill point

  The Way of the Strength

  Level 2

  Passive skill

  Every ninth unit of strength increases vitality.

  There were no usable skill points— I guess there wouldn'
t be any until level 5. I wouldn’t use them anyway. I had to study the rest first.

  Strength of the Weapon

  Level 1

  Passive skill

  Increases the chances of primary weapon withstanding the enemy’s attack by 10%.

  So one could break their weapon. That was odd. I guess I should always keep a spare one in my inventory. And yes, this skill could also be leveled. It increased my chance to 15%.

  Power Strike

  Level 1

  Active skill

  Cost: 3 energy points

  Recharge time: 5 seconds

  Do an additional 20 points of damage when attacking with the main weapon.

  I would have +35 points of damage after leveling it. Not bad.

  Some sort of a looped GIF started playing in my head after reading all of this and I saw Bon gripping the pitchfork’s hilt with both hands. He stepped forward with his right foot, hitting upwards with his weapon and piercing through the stomach of a sword wielding, faceless enemy that was standing in front of him.

  I realized that I could repeat this skill even though I had just seen it for the first time.

  The villager’s last skill turned out to be slaying. After reading the skill’s description, a new GIF played in my mind showing Bon spinning a pitchfork over his head before swinging it down and stabbing the prone enemy in the head.

  Cost: 0 energy points

  Recharge time: 0 seconds

  Can’t be improved.

  Looking at the GIF, I remembered the riders that had attacked us the field. Those guys must have been slaying using their horses’ hooves. So, I suppose it’ll be possible to study similar techniques later on. If that’s the case, I won’t have to rely on the pitchfork anymore.

  Speaking of which, “the pitchfork/war fork”, or even “trident”, was listed as my primary weapon. I had always played as a swordsman. I had never liked characters with wooden weapons.

  My main weapon had two unknown skills: A Crescent Hit, which damaged all of the enemies in front of you when you held the weapon in your right hand and hit with it as hard as you could; and The Stunning Hit, which caused additional damage when you hit the enemy’s head. GIFs of the skills played in my head and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to perform them in the same way the villager had. I could perform the action itself, but it wouldn’t have had the same effect. I had to study them first.

  The last three unlocked skills were radically different from the previous ones. Looking at them, I started to wonder how a simple villager like Bon, with his focus on strength, had developed intelligence and mana.

  Dark Side of the World

  Level 1

  Passive skill

  Reduces the effect of any debuff, except those caused by the power of the Gods.

  10% chance to block such debuffs.

  Attention! The effect is reduced by 10% before unlocking the skill.

  Eyes in the Dark

  Level 1

  Passive skill

  Allows you to see in the dark just as well as during the day. Allows you to see things hidden in the dark.

  Attention! The skill’s effect is reduced by 10% before unlocking the skill.

  Tranquility of Darkness

  Level 1

  Active Skill

  Cost: 15 mana

  Cooldown: 3 seconds

  15% chance that a minion of Darkness will discover its “Tranquility” and will refuse to keep fighting you and your team. The power of Darkness awards those loyal to it. Followers of Darkness gain 40% chance to accelerate the regeneration of all of their stats after experiencing “Tranquility”. In case you use the spell on someone who is not an adherent of Darkness, and is incapable of understanding its “Tranquility”, there’s a 15% of chance of casting a “Horror” status effect on them.

  In order to use the only active magical ability I’ve had, I was supposed to stretch out my right hand with my fingers splayed out and, feeling the flow of the energy within my body moving to my fingers, release it into the target. All of this, as before, I had figured out by looking at the GIFs. This one showed purple arrows forming into countless snake-like streams.

  However, I found it strange that a guy like Bon had such cool elemental spells. I remembered the words that I had heard before I got into the villager’s body. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I would wager that he hadn’t had any intelligence or magic before my arrival. That would explain why no points had been spent on upgrading intelligence.

  The fact that the two passive spells of Darkness, although locked, still worked, backed up my theory. It was something like an inborn predisposition. But was it really inborn? What was the difference? One of them had saved me by blocking the effect of Decay after the Little Spider’s last attack. I got lucky, since the skill had only 1% chance to trigger! That meant that it wouldn’t activate next time. I had to learn Dark Side of the World as soon as possible. Bonus protection from debuffs would come in handy.

  On the other hand, I don’t know how common these debuffs are. What if they are rare and I am only wasting skill points?

  But who was I kidding? This dark voice and its words had touched some hidden chords in my soul. They had touched something forgotten, but so dear. The darkness… I haven’t been afraid of it for the longest time. Night made me feel much better than day did. I liked the idea of being a dark mage more than I liked the idea of fighting with a pitchfork. Although… I felt safer with it.

  I made a mental note about further upgrades and then went back to the character menu and put the only available point into intelligence.

  The first level of Tranquility of Darkness should now be active. I’m sure I’ll unlock the other levels in the future. Even if I were to use it on one target I would have to activate it several times in order to increase my chances. I would need mana to do so.

  A rustle and a muffled squeak made me instantly close all of the interfaces and get ready for the next bit of trouble. Luckily, nothing happened. The Little Spider finally came to its senses and, without paying any attention to me, staggered back home, sluggishly moving its legs. I checked its stats. It had recovered 2 HP.

  Interesting, had it already been 10 minutes?

  I swung the pitchfork at the web. It cracked into pieces like a porcelain plate and released its hold. I stretched my legs, looked around and saw a rising pillar of smoke. Suddenly I realized that Bon’s village was on fire. Strange. I didn’t know the territory and the GIF only showed me the field. How did I know this village, then?

  Synchronization with the body: 10%

  Villager Bon wishes to know if there are any survivors.

  Attention!

  Quest available: “Search for Survivors”

  Quest giver: Villager Bon

  Quest objective: Return to Bon’s village and take a look around. What if someone besides him survived the attack?

  Reward: XP and maybe something extra

  Villager Bon accepts the quest.

  Chapter 3

  A village on Fire

  I accepted the quest and, right away, opened the stats menu. The message about “synchronization with the body” seemed to me even stranger than the fact that I had given the quest to myself. Everything was the same, except for two lines:

  Intelligence: 3

  Mana: 130/130

  It turned out that, after synchronization, two points had been added to my most underdeveloped characteristic; to the one I had believed had been completely absent in Bon.

  Clouds of smoke that were rising into the twilight sky grew larger by the second. I had to hurry if I wanted to see the village. Otherwise, I would only arrive to see its ashes.

  I looked around and ran down the grassy path. As it turned out, the cemetery was located on top of a hill, under tree canopies, so it was an easy run. I had been running for merely 10 minutes; however, my energy level fell by four points. At the same time, I didn’t feel any fatigue, not even a shortness of breath.

  I slowed
down as soon as I saw the wooden stockade. For a while I was moving cautiously, ready to jump off the path into the tall grass at any moment. But then I realized that at such a slow pace my efforts would come to nothing. The far side of the village had already burnt out, and the flames had already reached the middle of it. A little more and it would have all been over.

  Hoping that the masked riders had already left, I picked up the pace once again and rushed toward the fence. Obviously, its purpose was to keep wild animals away. I was not an animal, so, grabbing the edge, and with a sort of pull up, I managed to jump over the fence. I almost ripped my pants in the process.

  The fire was getting closer. I heard a loud, crackling noise, so loud it rang in my ears. I heard the falling roar of burnt beams in the distance. What was I doing here? Why was I suddenly trying to be the hero? Suffice to say, I wasn’t much of a hero. All this time, I had thought that if it became unbearable, I would be able to get out. But now, I had a great opportunity to find something that could make my efforts worthwhile.

  “Anyone alive?!” Having broken into the nearest house, I shouted. For a moment, I stood froze on the doorstep.

  Man, the nonsense that went through my head.

  In the center of the room, on the floor, in a puddle of fresh blood, there were two corpses laying side by side, a man and a woman. Another three smaller bodies were at the far end of the room, by the wall. All five were beheaded. Chaos was the only way to describe the room itself. Whoever had done this had most probably been looking for treasure.

  I flew out of that house and into the street, cursing. It took only a minute to check the three other houses. The scene was about the same, except the killing method varied. In the first house, the victims’ hearts had been pierced; in the second, their heads had been smashed; and in the third one, the corpses looked like burnt dolls.

  The flames started taking over houses that were about thirty meters away from me. I stopped in the middle of the street as I looked around, hoping that I would find something. I guess I was lucky. The masked riders must’ve left the village before my arrival. Maybe it was time to go? My throat was starting to get sore from the smoke.

  If I don’t burn, I could easily suffocate.