The Genesis Game 1

by Andrew O'Kelley

  "It's alright." Replied Seraph. "This is a learning point too. What you experienced was a status effect called fear, it has a small chance of afflicting a person anytime their hidden courage stat falls below a certain threshold. It does happen, and just like people's bodies heal after a battle, so too does the mind. Just try to do better in the future." Seraph didn't care if she lived or died long-term. He just needed her to stay alive long enough to use her ability and harvest the ability from her if she proved in the future to continue to be incapable.

  Seraph turned to look at his father. "Alright, so what's the plan dad? We still need to find more of these tokens, and from the look of it, we have to kill more monsters if we want more tokens to drop."

  Paul let the question linger for a minute, going over it in his head before looking back at Seraph with an eyebrow raised. "Oh, you want to ask me what the plan is? Why ask me anything when it's clear that you’re the one with all the answers. Why don't you just be the leader, it's not like you listened to me anyways."

  This was something Seraph had been afraid of happening, the edge to Paul's voice, things were changing between them at a rapid rate, both from the exposure to the dungeon, and their shared experience so far in it. Seraph had revealed too much and it was more than the man's processing could handle. "It's not like that. I told you, I have a restart ability, for that reason I had some foreknowledge because of my ability that you didn't have. I didn't want anyone to die, this wasn't my first time fighting this battle." Lied Seraph with ease, hoping to not have to continue the subject before holes in his arguments were discovered.

  This was not something he wanted to be debating. This was the problem with humans, and regular humans at that, wasting time at the wrong moments debating the obvious when it was neither the time nor place to do so. Reckless. His plan while not perfect had ended up ok, no one was hurt, and no one died.

  Paul gave him a harsh glare, his eyes narrowed in hostility and his body tense with frustration. "Oh, still going on about that restart ability I see, don’t you think it's getting a little tired? We all know you didn’t restart or respawn or whatever you want to call it. Well I'm on to you since you don't want to come clean.”

  “Here’s one.” Explained Paul pointing towards the exit. “You said that thing over there, the Gigas, it’s something we can't kill. You said we need to get out of here before it comes after and kills us, that's what you said right? Well it hasn't moved a bit except to stay near the door. That’s one lie I've caught you in already. Besides, if my decades of gaming experience have taught me anything it's that either it’s on a proxy defend of the entry point and will only attack if we get close, or its optional content."

  It was decent thinking Seraph mused, and it wasn't wrong at least about Seraph lying. The verdict was still out regarding the Gigas, but Paul was likely right, though it had been an educated guess when he had made his claims. The fact that Paul wasn't wrong didn't make it easier on him to defuse the situation, though he had a suspension that anything he said at this point was the wrong thing to say, having no options, he chose to say nothing in response.

  Alexander pushed forward wanting in on the conversation, interested, demanding to be more involved in the discussion, meanwhile Erin moved forward away, staying in the back, thankful that the spotlight wasn’t on her. “What are you getting at Paul? I thought this was your kid.”

  Paul shrugged. "I did too. But a lot is changing pretty quickly, and things aren't adding up to me. But here's what I’m going to do. I’m going to kill that thing. Maybe we can sneak past it, maybe it won’t even attack us if we try to just walk by it, but I don’t think so. What I do know from all of my gaming experience, is that these tutorials never introduce a boss too difficult to beat, that would ruin the fun. From my work experience I know no company wants the onboarding to be too difficult otherwise they lose too much if somebody can’t hack it. So that thing over there might be terrible, but I don’t believe we can’t manage to take it down. We just need to figure out the best way to approach it. But if I'm going to kill it, I’m going to need you guys to help me and back me up.”

  Seraph looked at him, he kept his face stoic and unresponsive, not wanting to influence the man’s decision, or the decision of the group. If they made the decision to try to kill it, he wouldn’t get in the way of that. This was how people got stronger, by challenging the impossible and pushing their limits. As it used to said, impossible is nothing.

  In the end Seraph decided to speak up. “If you’re serious about this, I’ll help as I can, but I can’t promise I’ll be able to save anyone if that thing ends up being too strong for our group. I know you four don’t know what you're getting yourself into, but try to be careful here, we don’t know what lies ahead beyond the Gigas.”

  Paul's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he hardened his heart and made a decision. “It’s not your place to second guess me, I don’t need you to save me, I don’t need you to look out for me. I don’t know you, not really. It’s been bothering me, but you’re not my son, and I'm going to figure out a way to get him back, back from you, whoever you are.”

  For all of his anger and accusation, Seraph knew that Paul wasn’t wrong, though it was complicated. It was not something Seraph took personally, when he looked at Paul, he didn't see an angry man, he saw a defeated man venting frustration, and his main frustration wasn't wrong. His world had changed in fundamental ways, and Seraph wasn't his son, at least the same son he had this morning. "Do what you need to do." Seraph said. "But as for me, my eyes are on the door, I’ll help if I can, but I won’t die for this."

  Paul ran his fingers through his hair, showing his anxiety, anger, and embarrassment, unsure of what to say.

  It was Erin who intervened. "Look, let’s all take a step back and just wait a minute OK before anyone does anything they might regret. Things are a little heated right now, so instead of antagonizing each other, let’s let things shimmer down and settle before re-engaging. I’m sure everyone needs to adjust themselves and work around with their stats?”

  Paul nodded his head in agreement. “You’re right, I need to assign my stats, I'm level 5 now and looks like I get two points for level, so I've ten stat points to spend, I'm thinking of going all in on strength."

  "So, what are you leaning towards?" Asked Alexander? "I leveled up too, I'm level 3 now and I’m extremely unfamiliar with how to build and I’m open to ideas."

  They both looked at Seraph. "Well Luca, do you have any insight into this level up business?" Asked Alexander with a grin. "You know, on account of you being an expert? I mean, you’ve done this before right" Erin shifted uncomfortably as Alexander and Paul both looked at Seraph with questioning eyes.

  "Yeah I do. I have some insight into the matter." Replied Seraph coldly looking Alexander right in the eye, thinking to himself that he had chosen the wrong person to target with his wrath. "Whatever you do, don't try to min-max your stat selections, these aren’t arbitrary numbers, it’s your body. You need to understand that you have to upgrade your stats relative to each other. If you upgrade your strength too much, but not your endurance, you'll break your own bones every time you move. If you forget to upgrade your perception, you'll find yourself easily breaking doors, drinking glasses, the floor, you name it, all because you’ll be lacking the ability to regulate yourself."

  "Wow, seriously I didn't know that could happen?" Replied Alexander, his mind blown as he realized what he was going to do with his stats would have completely backfired. "Thanks for telling me that, that's a lifesaver."

  "I wasn't finished." Chided Seraph. "It works the same way with agility and perception. Have you ever waved your hand in front of your face and saw only a blur? Well if you upgrade your agility without keeping pace with your perception, all your senses do that same thing and then it doesn't matter how fast you are because your perception of your own speed can't keep up with your ability to process it."

  All three of them were fixated on what he had to sa
y. "What about luck and intelligence? What do those do?"

  Seraph sighed, he hated having to bluntly interpret data for those who couldn't infer the answers from the existing pool of knowledge they had. "Intelligence governs how many skills you can hold and how fast some of the skills progress. But likewise, you don't want to ignore it either, there are going to be times that you need to be quick on your feet to think of solutions to problems, quicker than anything you've experienced. As for luck, luck just affects your loot pulls from the loot table, nothing else."

  Paul looked at him in embarrassment and asked the question on his mind. "Are you really my son, are you my Luca?"

  Seraph looked at him, contemplating how to answer. There was no other way around the truth, so Seraph would give him a version of it that the man could tolerate. "Yes, I am your son. But I’m not Luca, not really. I haven’t gone by that name in a long time. I spent over 30 years in this dungeon before dying and triggering my restart ability, when I died, I bled to death at the end of a massive battle, I was a little older than you are now.”

  "Holy. Wow, just wow." Said Alexander as Erin looked on with something like pity and touched Paul’s shoulder to comfort him as the man’s eyes looked to the ground as he processed the admission, for a moment a few tears dropped from his face, but as quickly as they came, they were gone.

  With his eyes red but having regained his composure he looked towards Seraph and asked. “So, what do we do now?”

  Seraph responded, "We continued what we’re doing, we survive, we grow, and I do what I can to keep you guys alive, and you stay the team leader."

  Paul scoffed. "Why? Why should I stay the team leader when you can clearly do this so much better than me.”?

  Seraph smiled, a rare smile as he tried to fix the situation. "No, I can't. I basically ran solo. I had teams I worked with, but I wasn't on a team myself. This is something you can do, and something you can teach me, and we can work with that, from now on, call me Seraph it’s been my name a long time now."

  "Because of those wings on the emblem you got? The wings I made fun of you for?" Asked Paul.

  "Yeah." Answered Seraph. "I was given back my legendary class when I restarted. I didn’t think it would be the case, I thought I’d have to work my way up again. In a sense you could think of it as a new game plus mode. It just hasn't been unlocked yet for me to use it."

  "Well I guess I can see why Paul might be ready to believe you, or at least not doubt you since your related and all. But why should me and Erin believe anything you say?" Asked Alexander.

  "Because my dad isn't wrong. The Gigas can be killed, and since I don't need to hide what I know anymore, I'm going to tell you how we can kill it, and all of us are going to take it out. But first, we are going to fix up your stats. Dad put 5 points into strength, 3 points into agility, and 2 points into perception. Alexander, your call what you do but until you can learn some finesse and find some training, you should focus on your endurance. Erin I'm not sure if you got any points, but if you get any put them all into intelligence it'll also help to get you from suffering from mental based status effects.

  "What about you" Asked Paul? “What are you building towards.”

  Seraph thought for a second, he hadn’t actually considered what he was building towards.

  “Honestly, I haven’t thought about it.” Admitted Seraph. “It’s been on cylinders on go, ever since I woke up in this body and before committing to any plan of action, I’d like to do some analysis on what I could have done differently build wise. But for now, I only hit level 3, so I don’t feel bad assigning the stats I'm working with. With these 6 points I’ll be splitting them evenly between agility and perception for now. Erin, I know you didn't ask but if you got any points to spend split them between intelligence and endurance it will help keep the fear effect from triggering again, and if it does trigger, it won’t last as long, that will give you at least offer some resistance and resilience to it. Need to be prepared for what come who's ready to kill a Gigas?"

  Everyone raised their hand, and for a minute Seraph thought this might have been a good idea.

  Chapter 10: Teamwork

  * * *

  To everyone’s surprise, Erin jumped at the opportunity to step forward and led the way. According to Seraph’s plan she didn’t need to do much, she just needed to be the first one out, so she could use her ability and then maintain the ability in a pending state as the rest of their group did their own parts, waiting for the signal to release it.

  “Alright guys. On the count of three, everyone needs to go. Remember your rolls and stick to the plan and you’ll be ok.” Seraph said as he looked at each of them, waiting until he got a nod in affirmation that they understood what their role was in the take down of the Gigas. One after another they gave him the acknowledgment he was looking for.

  Satisfied, he began the countdown. “One, two, three. Go.” Seraph commanded in a low voice.

  They ran out into the exposed danger of the Gymnasium from their hiding place. Each of them shielding their eyes as Erin pulled upon the innate power of her passive ability, Starcall. A white light barely the size of a tennis ball appeared into existence at the feet of the giant monster, though the monster seemed not to notice as it stood passive and unmoving near the exit. The light blinked and pulsed, but if the Gigas noticed, it refused to look. Unconcerned for the thing beneath its feet.

  Alexander was the first to strike. He ran up the wooden bleachers to give himself a chance to strike at the unprotected side of the Gigas. With the noise in the room as heavy as it was, his footsteps landing heavy on the steps as he ran up them did nothing to alert the monster that he was coming, the monster's attention focused completely on Seraph as Seraph run towards him.

  The elven man pulled his spear from his pocket and extending it as he leveled it and charged, bracing the spear with his body and shoved it into the side of the Gigas who screamed in rage as it counter attacked and brought a fist down, breaking the bleachers where Alexander had seconds previously been standing on, the attack missing him due to Seraph’s instructions to move backwards immediately after striking, having informed the group of the Gigas’s attack patterns.

  The monster seeing Alexander still alive bellowed in rage, the scream throwing everyone into a short state of fear, a fear that stopped Alexander where he was in paralysis as the Gigas gave chase after him. It’s attention fixating on him with a terrible look in its eyes, eyes of the deepest gray that bore straight into him, full of pain and anger. They all knew if Alexander got caught, the thing would be merciless and take it’s time enjoying killing him.

  “Uh guys, I got its attention.” Alexander yelled, his voice cracking as it betrayed his fear as he tried to pretend to be more confident than he really was. “I need help though, I can’t move, I’m stuck. I can’t move at all guys, I’m really stuck.”

  “I have you Alexander, just breathe and be ready to move when you get the signal.” Replied Seraph as he ran behind the Gigas into the monster’s blind spot. He tightly gripped the mace in his hand and aimed his strike at the back of the monster's ankle, bringing all of his strength against it, hoping the effort would break bone, hoping to cripple it.

  The Gigas roared in anger as it quickly turned its hulking body, it’s arms swinging out in all directions to catch and kill the man that had tried to harm it. “Alexander, that’s the signal, you need to move, move, move.” Yelled Seraph as he worked to dodge the blows that were coming his way. Every hit the Gigas threw was devastating, if even one of those punches landed Seraph knew it would have killed him in a gory end.

  “I wasn’t able to cripple it, like we planned. It’s still mobile, careful guys!.” Shouted Seraph giving warning to everyone else.

  Alexander ran out of the way, jumping around on the bleachers, barely staying ahead of the monster. As Alexander moved, the Gigas followed, its oversized hands fists catching on pieces of the bleachers, tearing off boards and planks with a glancing touch, the rem
aining parts pulverized instantly into dust. When Alexander finally realized the Gigas was no longer following him, he panted out of breath, sweat rolling off of his body as he looked at the path of destruction that had followed him.

  “Get back into position Alexander while I’ve got his attention, just be ready to go again though.” Yelled Seraph. Alexander swallowed hard and forced himself to push his fears down as deep as they would go as he tried to find a foothold on the broken wooden planks to maneuver himself back towards the Gigas and the weak point that Seraph had exposed by holding its attention, the back of the neck. One step after another running as fast as he could over the broken patching he ran forward, thrusting his spear forward with all the force he could use and jammed the spear into the monsters neck. But it was not enough, the thing was barely harmed. A thin line of blood was the extent of the damage he had caused to the monster.

  This time the Gigas screamed as it brought both of its fists down overhead as Alexander scrambled to get out of the way of the descending fists. Both Seraph and Alexander both realized he wasn’t going to be able to run to safety.

  “Just jump!” Yelled Seraph as loud as he could.

  Alexander heard it and jumped off of the bleachers, just as the Gigas’s fists crashed down destroying the remaining portions of the bleachers that Alexander had been standing on. The Gigas not to be deterred picked up a piece of the broken boards and went to throw it at the broken man.

  Seraph not willing to let Alexander die, moved in to attack. Though he had been unsuccessful in his first attempt to try to cripple the giant, the bones too dense and sturdy for Seraph to damage at his current level, he believed he could still damage the creature if he shifted the focus of his attack, and in doing so, save Alexander.

  He needed to focus on a different target, something weaker than the bones of the ankle had been, Quickly he realized the top of the monster’s foot was likely what he was looking for, it should be less protected and less durable, it would have to do.