We continued through the room, smashing chairs and small tables, bypassing the couch and the buffet table, leaving them for last. I gathered a dozen more crystals before all that was left was the balcony and the two largest pieces of furniture.
“With these last two,” Asher started. “These could be two or three of the little guys working together, or one really big sloth demon, something of a higher classification. You need to make sure you strike true, hit as hard as you can and hope you kill it or nearly kill it.”
In the process of smashing my way through the room, we learned that once the demons were forced out of their furniture form, they could no longer enthrall me. What that really meant was that I could then look at what I was fighting and focus on killing it. I still needed to deal with the occasional bite or scratch, they were vicious little beasties. But they were low level. In games they would be the fluffy bunnies you kill in the starter zone . . . that is, if the fluffy bunnies were actually demon rabbits that were trying to eat you alive.
“Couch first?” I asked, glancing between the two remaining pieces of furniture.
Asher bobbed, which I had started to assume was his version of a nod.
I creeped up on the couch, being careful not to stare at it for too long, lest I decide it might be a good place to take a nap. I lined up my shot, aiming for the middle. I stepped into the attack, swinging with all the strength I could muster. I hit with a resounding crack and thud as the couch split in two. Two different sloth demons fell to either side. I moved on the left one first, attacking haphazardly, but getting the job done with two more overhand swings on the prone monster.
Unfortunately, taking out the one, gave the other time to get back up. The wannabe couch arched its back and growled at me, its whole body shaking. It took a step toward me, giving away its weakness. It was hurt, limping. I grinned viciously, anticipating the easy kill. I settled back into my stance, ready to strike. “Well, what are you waiting for? Come at me!”
The demon leaped and I stepped into it. It was a homerun. The beast flew through the air, a long fly ball. If it wasn’t already dead from the hit, it would have been after it smacked meatily into the wall and slid to the ground. It left a trail of black blood from where it hit the wall, down to the floor where it finally settled.
I laughed. “And you said baseball was a stupid game.”
“It is,” Asher stated flatly. “Still, I suppose . . . maybe . . . it was a . . . decent enough hit.”
I grinned victoriously. I counted that as a victory.
Asher didn’t let me bask in the feeling for long, “Alright, get your crystals then we have one more to take out.”
I nodded and collected two crystals and two teeth. “What are the teeth for?”
“They can be used by makers to create potions, armor or weapons. It’s about the essence in the teeth. Enough of those and you have the potential to make a weapon with sloth essence enchanted into the blade to slow whatever you hit, or armor that gives you resistance to sloth demonic influence,” Asher explained. “But don’t go getting overexcited about it. It takes a lot of them, hundreds of them just to make one small piece.”
I nodded.
“Now, enough small talk, time for the buffet table,” Asher said, directing a glare in the direction of the table that sat against the wall. “Same as the couch.”
I glanced over at the table, more specifically, all the bottles of liquor. I felt like it might be considered alcohol abuse with what I was about to do. Still, it needed to be done. I crossed the room, approaching the table as I had the couch. I was intent to crack the table in half if I could.
As soon as I was a step away, I sank low, arm and mace ready. I pushed off hard with my back leg, my arm swung as I moved forward. The mace struck the broad side of the buffet table, cracking through the wood, turning most of it to kindling as bottles fell to the floor, shattering in a spray of alcohol.
“No!” Asher cried, seeing the same thing I did. Lost money. And yet, a single bottle seemed to have survived.
I moved to grab it up before something happened to it when Asher came between us. “Don’t,” he warned.
“But why?” I protested, it needed to be salvaged.
“How badly do you want that bottle?” Asher asked.
More than I wanted anything in my life. Just one sip. I mean, I deserved a rest after all the furniture smashing and demon bashing, didn’t I? And that was about the time it hit me.
“Evil son of a-” I cursed, letting rage fuel me as I brought my mace down on the surviving bottle. That sloth demon didn’t survive the first hit. I still hit it three more times just to be sure.
“I hate sloth demons . . . so much . . . so, so, so much,” Asher said emphatically.
I agreed but didn’t say anything. I was more concerned with the loot. Two crystals and a small vial. Holding up the little bottle with red fluid, I showed it to Asher and asked, “Is this a health potion?” Red vials of liquid were a common trope in video games as being health potions.
“Yes, a weak one,” Asher answered. “A good find. It will sell nicely.”
“Sell it?” I questioned. “Why wouldn’t I use it?”
Asher was quick to answer, “You have a large debt to be paid, that little vial is worth ten tiny crystals.”
And that resolved it right there. That little potion was money in the bank, so to speak. Speaking of banks, I would need to ask about that as well, but later, after we were done hunting for the day.
“Okay, time to leave,” Asher said.
“Leave? Why?” I asked.
Asher sighed. “Up there is guaranteed death,” he said, looking up toward the balcony. “You’re just not strong enough yet to deal with what’s up there. For now, we’ll step out, wait an hour for the floor to reset, then come back in and clear this portion of the floor out again.”
“We don’t even want to try?” I asked, looking longingly at the balcony above.
Asher was quick to answer, “No! We don’t even want to try. I know you’re eager to get stronger, but for today, the best thing you can do is farm this for all it’s worth. Trust me, I am your guide.”
I grumbled but agreed, albeit reluctantly.
“And don’t even think about improving your Body or Soul,” Asher said. “You don’t need it to farm this area. All you will accomplish by improving either is to reduce the experience and loot drops.”
“How long will we be farming this then before I can level up?” I asked.
Asher’s answer was disappointing, “We’ll see where you’re at after a week. And you better learn to live with a little disappointment. Things will be slow to start, at least until we get that monkey off your back. Until then, no risk taking.”
I nodded my understanding.
“Good, then let’s go,” Asher ordered.
An hour later I was back inside, and the floor looked the same. The monsters were the same. Everything was the same . . . except not the same. The furniture had been moved and what was a monster the previous run wasn’t necessarily a monster the next. It meant there was no way I could be certain of looting anything except for whatever the corpses left behind.
We got three more runs through that first room without an issue. I slaughtered sloth demons without remorse. By the time we reached the end of the fifth run, I was killing most of them in a single blow, regardless of how I hit them. Asher claimed it was due to my gaining familiarity with the weapon and learning the demons’ weak spots.
It was also about then I ran into something new. I attacked the couch as usual. Hit it with all the strength I could muster right in the middle. I fully expected it to split into two sloth demons. What I got . . . a single larger sloth demon.
“It’s a minor sloth demon, attack the joints and keep moving. It’s slow, so, circle it and hit from behind,” Asher warned, just as one of its talons lashed out at me.
I quickly sidestepped, dodging most of the damage, but it still clipped me, reducing my HP by
8 in an instant, ‘52/60’. If it had struck me fully, I might have been in real trouble.
It might have been over confidence, but aside from the quick attack, it seemed rather slow, leaving the limb hanging out in space, leaving a giant opening for me to capitalize on. Instead of circling around to hit it from behind, I stepped forward, swinging hard. I hit it in the hip, lifting it off its feet. Only then did I realize just how stupid I was to have gotten so close. The limb it left hanging out in space suddenly retracted, and the talon sliced through my side. It baited me and I fell for it.
26/60
One more hit like that, and I would be dead.
“Circle it, you moron!” Asher cried in warning, yet again.
I moved to my left a few steps, as rapidly as I could while trying to keep it in front of me the entire time. Thankfully, it was slow, terribly slow. Just a few steps and I was behind it. I stepped into my swing again, hammering into its lower back, somehow knocking it prone on its belly.
“Don’t rush in,” Asher warned, and just in time. All four limbs suddenly shot from the body then fell limp to the ground. Thankfully, another warning came before I rushed into attack. “Not yet. Just wait.”
The body spasmed, sending the talon tipped legs in a frenzy for a moment before settling again.
“Wait for it,” Asher coached.
Another spasm. Then two more. Slowly, the sloth demon seemed to have regained control. It pulled one talon tipped limb in and began pushing off the ground, attempting to stand again. That was when Asher ordered the attack. “Now, aim for the head!”
I closed the few steps rapidly, swinging hard for the bulbous mouth-head-thing. My mace slammed into the side of the ‘head’ and the beast collapsed. It pulled in the same leg and tried to stand again.
“Don’t just stand there, attack!” Asher cried.
I attacked. I swung again and again until the beast finally stopped trying to stand up.
“Yes!” I cheered excitedly, sitting back, and waiting for the body to melt and leave me that sweet, sweet loot. Hopefully, this thing would leave me more loot than the others had. I looked to Asher, expecting to see him just as excited as I was. He wasn’t.
“You just got very lucky,” Asher said. “You were one hit away from our entire day’s work being flushed right down the drain. Now, collect your loot. As soon as you’ve healed up, we’ll be leaving for the day.”
“I can keep going,” I said. “We’ve already got enough to pay off Billy.”
Asher wasn’t having any of it. “You agreed to do what I tell you. This is not a discussion. We’re done for today. It’s time to consolidate your gains.”
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, feeling confused. What should have been a moment of triumph turned into something . . . else.
Asher didn’t answer, just continued floating toward the exit where he waited for me to join him.
We moved through town in silence. Asher only spoke once to direct me toward one of the barkers I heard earlier to sell my loot. He also instructed me to purchase a small bag with strings that I could tie to my rope belt. All told, after the small expense, I made one-hundred and thirty-two crystals. It was enough to pay Billy off and maybe even get some more training.
Still, Asher didn’t look pleased as he guided me to my room.
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you now?” I asked, once we were safely in my bunkroom.
Asher sighed again. “You nearly died because you didn’t listen. We made a deal. You listen and do what I tell you. You almost lost everything because you didn’t. If you can’t listen to me . . . then I see no reason to advise you.”
I felt like a heel. “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I wasn’t . . . I was overconfident. It won’t happen again.”
“It will happen, and it will cost you,” Asher said angrily. “You humans can’t seem to help yourselves. You all think you know what’s best.”
“I’ll do better,” I promised. “And you’re right. I’ll probably do something stupid again. But I’ll learn from it. That counts for something, right?”
I don’t think Asher believed me. “Do better? If you don’t, you’ll never get out of Purgatory. I can’t help you if you’re not willing to help yourself and that starts with listening to your guide. If I tell you to jump inside Purgatory, I expect you to do it! No questions, no comments, just jump. So, when I tell you to circle behind something to attack it, you circle behind and attack it. Am I understood?”
“I understand,” I said, feeling miserable. I really screwed up.
“We’ll see if you really do,” Asher said. “Now, get your scroll, you’ve got some experience to spend.”
That’s cheered me up, but also confused me. “I thought you said-”
Asher cut me off, “I said improving. You can spend the experience without improving your Body or Soul. Basically, you are buying the points and not spending them. This will bank your experience so that if you do die inside, it won’t all be wasted.”
I was slightly confused by his statement until I looked at my scroll again.
Name: Victor Goodspeed
Highest Floor Cleared: 0
Experience Earned: 874
Hierarchy: 4th
Rank: 12th
Title: Sinner
HP: 60/60
EP: 70/70
SE: 10/10
Body
Experience to Next Point: 100
Unused Points: 0
Strength:
8
Reflex:
6
Constitution:
7
Recovery:
4
Soul
Experience to Next Point: 100
Unused Points: 0
Faith:
1
Spirituality:
2
Righteousness:
2
Fortune:
8
Applied Statistics
Health Regeneration
6
Energy Regeneration
4
Spirit Regeneration
2
Attack Power
16
Divine Power
2
Speed
3
Accuracy
50.60%
Perception
3
Critical Strike Chance
0.40%
Demonic Resistance
1
Luck
0.01%
I had 874 experienced earned. But that wasn’t the important part. I must have glossed over it before but just below the part that read ‘Experience to Next Point’ was a line that read ‘Unused Points’.
Asher hovered next to me. “Start with putting in 100 points into Body.”
“How do I do that?” I asked.
Asher groaned in annoyance. He answered me like he was speaking to a child, “Touch the line ‘Experience to Next Point’.”
I glared at him for just a moment. I was more interested in seeing how this worked. I touched the scroll and a slide bar appeared in the air above it. I slid the bar over until it read 100. I thought about looking to Asher for further instruction but didn’t feel like listening to him being rude. I touched the paper again and it flashed, the numbers updating.
Body
Experience to Next Point: 125
Unused Points: 1
“Now, do it again,” Asher instructed.
I did.
Body
Experience to Next Point: 156
Unused Points: 2
“One more time,” Asher said.
I frowned at him but did as I was told.
Body
Experience to Next Point: 195
Unused Points: 3
“Again,” Asher ordered.
Body
Experience to Next Point: 244
Unused Points: 4
And just like that, I was down to 103 points of experience.
; “Good, now dump the rest into Body,” Asher instructed.
“Wouldn’t it be better to put the points in Soul to get my first point there?” I asked.
Asher growled. “No, you can upgrade your Soul when you are getting a lot more experience from killing stronger monsters. You need to get your second Body Proficiency as soon as possible.”
I wanted to argue but I really didn’t have a leg to stand on. Asher was supposed to know what was going on better than I did. And he did say he had a plan. Plus, I sort of owed him after not listening and nearly getting killed for it.
“Ten points to get your second body proficiency,” Asher said. “That’s the goal. Tomorrow, before we go inside, try to find the rat, and pay him. Then we’ll see about a little more training with the mace.”
His mention of the mace made me curious to see how much it had advanced.
Blunt Weapon: Mace - Beginner
Level: 3
Experience to Next Level: 37
Damage: 3-6 Blunt
Hit Rate: +0.30%
Proficiency to use a mace in combat.
I was sorely disappointed. I had expected it to grow. I knew I had gotten better with it as the day went on. How was it not stronger? I looked to Asher for an answer.
Asher quirked an eyebrow, then smirked before answering, “You didn’t spend experience to make it stronger. Why would it be any better?”
“But it got better at the school?” I countered.
Asher snorted. “At the school specifically for training blunt weaponry? Gee, I wonder why?”
Purgatory: The Devil's Game Page 8
