Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  That got me thinking. If I did a little hard math, at beginner level twenty, I would add 2.00% to my block, intermediate twenty would double to 4.00%. Advanced level twenty would add another 8.00%. I assume I would be able to level beyond level twenty but how far. And that was the most important question. “What’s the level cap?”

  The girl smiled brightly. “One hundred. You can’t go past level one hundred with any proficiency.”

  A little more math told me, beginner topped out at 10.00%, intermediate at 20.00% and advanced at 40.00%. That was a total of 70.00%. My base chance to block was 30.00%. Now, that didn’t include whatever increases I gained through my stats. That also didn’t consider the amount of experience it would take at the higher levels of the proficiencies. If I wanted to maximize my blocking ability I would need to carefully consider when to advance based on my stats once I figured out exactly which stats apply to my chance to block. In other words, I would not progress from beginner to intermediate until I had gained a total of 10.00% between my skill and my stats. Except that didn’t account for block absorption, which who knew how high I could raise it. My mind was sent spinning as I tried to run through all the different calculations in my head. In the end, I decided the best thing I could do would be to simply max it out at every level. I mean, I had eternity, the only thing I was in a hurry to do was to get past Purgatory. But if I went past Purgatory, didn’t I have a choice between Heaven and the joining the Heavenly Host?

  I threw that line of thought away. I would worry about what to do after Purgatory if, and when, I got that far. I finally thanked the girl, “Thank you. I appreciate the information.”

  The Cherub nodded. “It is always nice when someone comes in that isn’t a complete idiot. Now, get out there and get yourself trained up. And be sure to come back regularly for more training. I’ll be interested to see how far you can go.”

  I thanked her again and moved outside. I was eager to see how training would go with a large EP pool to draw from.

  Outside, I found the instructor working with the other beginners and moved to the back of the group to join in. Everyone there took up a different stance from my own. The spearmen and women generally took up one of a few different stances that seemed to vary based on the shield, which was either the buckler, the round shield, or the tower shield. Similarly, the swordsmen and women had similar stances, but most of them either used the buckler or the heater. There was only one swordswoman using a tower shield, and she was built powerfully and wielded an exceptionally long sword that was very nearly a spear. I can admit, her strength and size made me feel rather inadequate.

  The actual block training consisted of moving the shield between an upper block, lower block, and middle block in time with the instructor, then repeating, usually in a different order. I assumed it was like the mace training where they were looking to build muscle memory. I took regular breaks to replenish my EP as did many of the people there training. The only one that never stopped was the actual trainer.

  It made me wonder about the Cherubim. Just how strong were they? I mean, they looked like children but never seemed to tire. If anything, they seemed bored. Asher said they were thousands of years old. But could they really be that old? Assuming it would be rude to ask, I kept the question to myself.

  One hundred minutes flew past in a blur. Before I knew it, my training time was over, and I was about halfway to my second level with my shield.

  Shield: Heater - Beginner

  Level: 1

  Experience to Next Level: 43

  Block Absorption: +1-2 Physical

  Block: +0.10%

  Proficiency to use a shield in combat.

  Asher and I both hoped for more, but beggars can’t be choosers. More importantly, I didn’t have another twenty tiny crystals to pay for additional training. Well . . . I did but Asher wanted me to save them for training with my mace. The basic plan was to train in a different school each day. That day was the shield, the next day would be the mace, and so on and so forth.

  From there, it was back into Purgatory.

  Chapter 9 – New Room

  Asher started talking as soon as we were in the entry vestibule for my purgatory. “Now, you’ve got a weapon and shield as well as more power to bring to bear. I want you to clear this first room as usual then take stock.”

  I nodded my agreement. I assumed it was going to be business as usual. Farming crystals to pay for training, earning experience to bump my stats. Rinse and repeat.

  I smacked the first piece of furniture, killing the sloth demon with ease. When it died, I went to pick up the drop but found nothing. Not a single crystal. I looked to Asher and asked, “Where’s the loot?”

  “Keep going, I told you what I want you to do, now do it,” Asher said.

  I frowned at the little flame but did as I was asked. I killed three more before a tiny crystal finally dropped. I was confused to say the least. I killed my way through the room, smashing furniture and demons alike. When the room was clear, I had gained just eight tiny crystals.

  Asher chose then to speak. “As you can see, this room no longer pays out. You have applied enough statistical points that this room is no longer a threat to you, except for the demon’s ability to tempt you. If you were to go outside and return to your room to check your scroll, you’d also find that you barely earned any experience, I would be impressed if you earned even one hundred experience points.”

  “So, what do we do?” I asked.

  “We go on to the next room,” Asher said, directing his gaze to the balcony above.

  I grinned. Finally, something new.

  At the back of the first room was a metal stairway that led up to the balcony. I had looked at it many times before but never even considered climbing it . . . okay, I considered it, but Asher made it clear that he was against it. At least, he was until now.

  I was careful about climbing the stairs, lightly tapping each step with my mace just to make sure it wasn’t going to try to eat me. Nothing happened. As I reached the balcony, I kept my gaze locked on the floor, careful not to look at any of the furniture. In this case, the furniture was bookshelves. I remembered liking books more as I got older, though I rarely had time to read for fun. I was always reading this financial magazine or that news article about something that might affect a certain market sector. I almost felt like what I was about to do was wrong. I knew it needed to be done, but I didn’t like it.

  I settled into my stance. My shield was held protectively in front of me. I stepped into the swing, my mace cracked into the shelf sending paper and books flying. The bookshelf wasn’t a demon but about a dozen of the books were. Tiny, fast versions of the sloth demons I fought on the first floor. One hit would kill them, but there was so many. One latched its giant mouth onto my leg. Another onto the arm holding my mace. One bit onto the back of my neck. I fought them off, smacking them with my mace, stomping them under foot.

  When I slipped in a small pool of demon blood and fell back into another bookshelf, I knew it was all over for me as another dozen of the miniature sloth demons sprang at me. It was death by a thousand tiny teeth, and I felt every bite they took out of me.

  “I don’t like the library,” I gasped as I sat up in the familiar room of death . . . or was it rebirth.

  Asher snorted a laugh. “And clearly the library doesn’t like you either.”

  “What were those things?” I asked. The little ones looked a lot like the bigger sloth demons but there was nothing slow about them. They were fast and agile.

  “Still sloth demons,” Asher answered. “Sloth leeches to be specific. As you saw, they latch on and start to drain you. Thankfully, they are very weak. Less thankfully, they are a swarm. They only truly die when the entire swarm has been eliminated.”

  “So, I need to kill all of them before they are considered dead?” I asked.

  “Indeed,” Asher answered.

  I frowned at my companion. “Any suggestions?”

  A
sher unhelpfully replied, “Kill them faster.”

  “And how do I do that?” I asked.

  “If you are careful and don’t try to smash the entire bookshelf in a single blow, you might be able to take them out one by one,” Asher answered. “Assuming you can resist being enthralled and eaten.”

  I sighed. Being enthralled was a major problem. Taking out one shelf at a time wasn’t going to work, not if I had no way of fighting against their demonic . . . whatever. No, I needed to be smarter.

  “Asher, can I still throw stuff? I mean, without a proficiency, can I throw things?” I asked.

  Asher answered with a simple, “No.”

  Okay, so throwing something at the shelf was a no go. On to plan ‘B’. “Okay, I have an idea.”

  Asher stared at me looking bored and unimpressed until eventually, he asked, “And what is this grand plan of yours?”

  “Do you know what a choke point is?” I asked.

  Asher bobbed up and down once. “It could work. I assume you wish to use the stairs, yes? You will need to be fast,” Asher warned. “Oh yeah, and you’ll need to clear the first room again.”

  That . . . was less than ideal.

  “Wait, how long does it take for me to respawn?” I asked.

  Asher replied, “An hour, just long enough to make you start over again.”

  I sighed and exited the resurrection chamber. It was time to grind it out again.

  The first room cleared again without issue. Still, only a handful of tiny crystals, barely replacing what I lost after dying.

  I climbed the stairs again, this time without feeling like I needed to check every step along the way. At the top of the stairs, I took aim at the closest bookshelf. I swung for the books on the middle shelf. I splattered three of the little beasties. I didn’t wait to see the rest come to life. I ran for the stairs, trusting they were coming for me. I went straight down the stairs, taking two at a time and burning EP as I went. At the bottom of the stairs, I turned just in time to see two of the little sloth leeches leap through the air.

  On reflex, I raised my shield overhead and felt two impacts in rapid succession. Blocking as I did, showed me another of the things trying to attack from below. I swung my mace, splattering it. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I lowered my shield and waited for the next few to come. That was when I felt my shield shaking. The two I had blocked had their teeth stuck in the shield. I might have grinned a little when I smashed the shield into the wall, splattering the two leeches.

  It was just in time as three more of the demons were tearing down the stairs. I blocked one, smashed one and kicked the other across the room where it splattered upon contacting the wall. These things really were squishy and easy to kill. The trick was not allowing them to overwhelm me.

  Just one more came down the stairs and was easily crushed by my shield. When the last one died, the bodies liquified and were soaked up by the stone. I may have grinned a little at my loot. Five tiny crystals laid where the last sloth leech died. I added them to my pouch, checked my bars and went back for more. It wasn’t the most efficient way of dealing with them, but it worked. And for now, that was enough.

  There were only eight bookshelves on the balcony. It took nearly an hour to deal with them. The effort netted me forty-four tiny crystals. I briefly wondered if there was anything larger than the tiny crystals but didn’t linger on the thought very long.

  I was about to head for the exit when Asher surprised me. “You should scout out the next room.”

  On the far-left wall, behind the last smashed bookcase was an open door. I could immediately see another bookshelf blocking the way through. It was smashed as easily as the others and yielded the same payout. Past that bookshelf was another balcony, this one overlooking a veritable library, complete with reading tables, chairs, and couches. It was all intermingled. And from what I could see, it was about the size of a football field, at the far end of which I could see yet another door.

  “Stable progression, that’s good. I would expect most of the furniture to be higher tier demons, but the bookshelves should all be filled with sloth leeches,” Asher said, evaluating the room ahead. “Start with clearing the balcony, I would suggest using this doorway as your new choke point.”

  I nodded, rolled my shoulders, and picked out another bookshelf to smash. Somewhere, I just knew there were men and women weeping over what I was doing. Some people loved books far too much.

  I smashed the sloth leeches, one after another, collecting crystals as I went. I was a little disappointed that the demons never seemed to drop anything else. No teeth, no potions, and no other loot.

  When the balcony was clear, I asked, “Do we keep going?”

  Asher hummed in thought. “No, I don’t think we should. I think this is a good point to reset and re-clear. You should be able to get two more runs in today if you’re quick about it.”

  I wasn’t going to argue. I wanted to get down into the library and start smashing demons, but I understood that playing it safe was probably the smart move. Still, it was a little disappointing.

  Two more clears went much faster now that I had a method for the bookshelves. So well in fact, we decided to squeeze in a third run. I finished the day with three hundred and four tiny crystals. Based on the time, I guessed I would be able to clear through the balconies probably five times a day.

  I grabbed some meat on a stick on my way back to my room, happy to have something a little heartier to eat. It was a small indulgence that Asher wasn’t exactly happy about but didn’t fight me on.

  Once back in my room, naturally the first thing I did was check my experience gains. Only one thousand six hundred and two experience points earned. I hoped for better. The next day would be better. That was all I could do for the time being.

  “Hey, Asher,” I started, leaning back on my cot. “What’s the short-term goal? I mean, now that we have Billy taken care of, temporarily at least.”

  Asher was kind enough to answer without any snark. “Twenty total Body points. We want to get your third Body Proficiency slot. With that, we can get you a special attack related to your mace or shield. Then we’ll start pumping points into your Soul. With that, hopefully, we can increase your demonic resistance. That will at least give you a chance at fighting back against the sloth’s ability to ensnare your mind. Maybe then we can get some real loot.”

  I nodded. I was extremely interested in that ‘real loot’ Asher mentioned.

  Early the next morning I was back at the blunt weapon school for one hundred minutes of training and another level.

  Blunt Weapon: Mace - Beginner

  Level: 4

  Experience to Next Level: 101

  Damage: 4-8 Blunt

  Accuracy: +0.40%

  Proficiency to use a mace in combat.

  I was somewhat impressed by the growth of the skill. The damage increase was much more than I thought it would be. I asked Asher about it.

  “I told you there were benefits to having familiarity with the weapon while you were alive. It will cost less experience for every level with the weapon, significantly less. I don’t yet know to what degree, but it will be worth it,” Asher said.

  That made me frown, so I asked, “Then why did you keep offering to let me change weapons if the mace was always going to be so much better for me?”

  Asher sighed. “Blunt weapons, in general, lack versatility. That means there will be far fewer special attacks available to you. Now, you will again be stronger with those special attacks than your peers would be, but the lack of versatility will eventually hurt you. For example, swords have dozens if not hundreds of special attacks due to the different types of damage a sword is capable of dealing. A mace can only deal one type of damage.”

  I assumed when he mentioned types of damage he was referring to piercing and slashing or cutting and stabbing. Though there may have been more that I just didn’t know enough to guess at. It was true though, a mace could only deal one type of d
amage, blunt damage.

  Asher continued, “They are also slow. You might hit harder but the interval between your attacks will be longer, and as you learned with the sloth leeches, speed matters. The point was, I would have understood if you wanted to try something different. This would have been the only opportunity for you to waste a proficiency slot.”

  “Couldn’t I just tear the page out?” I asked.

  Asher looked at me aghast. “Don’t even joke about something like that. That scroll represents your body and soul. It’s not just words on paper. Trying to take out a page would be like trying to take out a piece of your body or soul. Not only would you lose that proficiency, but probably the slot and several stat points.”

  I took Asher’s warning to heart.

  I was moving past the exit ramp toward the regular entrance to Purgatory to resume my grinding when a most unwelcome voice caught my attention.

  “You should see about getting yourself a guide. I tell you, if I could do it all over again, I’d have gotten a guide myself. Really useful, them. They know all kinds of stuff. I can show you the way if you like,” Billy said, his arm around the shoulders of a young man that couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen. I was kind of surprised to see someone so young there. Then again, I had yet to see myself in a mirror. Just how young did I look now? I know, in my head, I was still the same fifty-year-old man. Petra did say I was restored to my prime, but when was that? I needed to find a mirror, but first, I needed to save that poor soul from Billy.

  “Leave him be, Billy,” I said sharply, stopping the man’s sales pitch.

  “Well, if it isn’t my old friend, Victor,” Billy said, glaring daggers at me with his eyes but smiling with his mouth. He turned back to his latest mark, “Don’t mind Vic here, he and I had a falling out. Now he’s rather bitter about the whole thing. Anyway, I was saying-”