The party piled through Benjamin’s teleport to the common room of the mansion. He couldn’t shake the tension the eerie fort had given him, or the tightness in his muscles from the fight with the Acolyte. His body still hadn’t caught up to the fact they were safe.
“Alright team, let’s debrief.” Nicholas clapped to get their attention. Blood still seeped from several nasty wounds, but he stood like he didn’t notice any of it. His grin was wide as he bounced on the balls of his feet.
Sasha rolled her eyes and flicked a healing spell at him. The wounds knit together as the glow absorbed into his body.
Benjamin stumbled as he made his way towards one of the couches. Sasha and Bo jumped into action, catching him and helping him to lie down. His head nestled on Sasha’s thigh. Elijah clenched his jaw, forcing the white hot jealousy back.
“Debrief?” Benjamin grumbled. “Sure, Nic. We all almost died, and I feel like a truck hit me.”
His eyes closed as Sasha softly ran her fingers through his hair. His body relaxed a degree, tension melting under her touch.
“You guys just focus on allocating your stat points from the level ups.” Sasha told him. She leaned her head back, resting it against the cushion. “Then we can talk about how we can do better next time.”
“Speaking of which,” Nicholas turned towards Bo, fixing him with a glare. “I don’t want you putting any more points into Dexterity until you get your strength and constitution up some.”
“Dude, no,” Bo complained. His tone was whiny but tired. They’d had this argument before. “I can feel it. I’m so close to having enough dexterity to do that cool wall-running trick.”
“Bo, I can’t protect you if you don’t meet me halfway.” Nicholas’ hands balled into fists. “If the Acolyte had hit you even once, you would have died.”
Elijah backed off as the two began bickering, not wanting to get caught up in whatever obviously long-standing dispute those two had. Sasha gently touched his forearm.
“Those two have been like this since they started playing together,” she whispered. “Bo is trying to make a dexterity-only build.”
“Well, excuse me,” Bo snapped at her, but the moment he met her eye his tone softened. “Some of us didn’t get a lucky drop for an advanced class. So I have to play catch-up now.”
Sitting down in one of the reclining chairs, Bo let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. I get what you guys mean about meeting you halfway. Five health points isn’t going to be enough once we get into the higher-level dungeons.”
Benjamin’s eyes glazed over as he opened his stats screen and distributed his points. “There. Done. Two points in constitution and a point in strength.”
Nicholas finally smiled again, returning to bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Alright, I’m doing the same.”
“It’s full intelligence for me,” Benjamin said, sitting up from Sasha’s lap and steadying himself.
Bo and Nicholas shot him a disapproving look, but he shrugged his shoulders. “If you want to keep using my teleport, then I need more mana. I’m tired of feeling sick every time I have to cast it.”
Nicholas nodded his head in agreement. “Okay, that’s fair.” Elijah shrank away as the big man’s gaze fell on him. “What about you? You should have six points to spend this time.”
“I’m not entirely sure. I was thinking maybe putting some into intelligence, but I don’t really have any spells except for my summon familiar spell.” Elijah pulled up his stat menu as he spoke and considered each of the four options. “So then I was considering dumping it all into dexterity, since I need to get in close to enemies right now to debuff them.”
Nicholas cut off Bo as he made a sound, obviously intending to protest Elijah being allowed to do that when he hadn’t. “That’s fine, but you also need to be able to tank a hit or two, especially in large brawls where Sasha may be distracted.”
“So, I should assign all points into my constitution this level?” Elijah asked, hovering over the stat.
Sasha groaned loudly at him. “Why are you men all the same? Think Elijah.”
He took a step back, opening his mouth to reply but couldn’t find the words.
“If you get hit, you’ll take damage. So, you want to avoid getting hit as much as possible, while still having enough hitpoints to survive when you do.” She stood up, making sure that Benjamin was stable on his own before turning to him again. “But you also don’t want to neglect your other stats. Strength is going to come in handy, especially if you want to haul loot or wear heavy gear later.”
Elijah cupped his chin between his thumb and index finger. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
Elijah put his hand up to stall her as she geared up for another tirade. “Hey, hey. I get it, okay. No need to beat a dead horse. I’ll distribute my points more evenly.”
“Right now?” She asked, gripping her staff tightly.
“Right now.”
He called up his stat screen and distributed points. Feeling his body changing as he confirmed the allocation.
[CHARACTER STATS]
Name: Elijah
Class: Reality Warper
Level: 3 (92 / 174 XP)
Health: 30 / 30
Mana: 20 / 20
Strength: 3 (Beginner)
Intelligence: 4 (Beginner)
Dexterity: 5 (Beginner)
Constitution: 6 (Beginner)
Skills:
- Reality Warp - 3
- Summon Familiar - 1
“Alright, one point in strength, two in dexterity, and three in constitution.”
Benjamin cleared his throat. “Well, as fun as this has been, I feel like I’m in the middle of the worst hangover imaginable, and you guys are being way too loud. Plus, I want to sleep in my own bed tonight.”
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Nicholas turned towards the mage. “Wait, we still haven’t gone over the debriefing.”
But before the words had fully left the fighter’s mouth, Benjamin shimmered and faded from existence as he logged out.
Bo couldn’t suppress a laugh upon seeing Nicholas’ face when Benjamin left.
“Fine, no debriefing tonight. I need to log off soon, and Benjamin was right; a real bed does sound nice tonight.” Nicholas looked over at Bo. “You going to log out too?”
“Yeah, unlike you mooks, I have some things I need to get done in the real world.” Bo nodded his head, pulling a dagger from his inventory.
“Elijah, if you happen to unlock anything special for enchanting, take a look at my dagger. Since you wrecked my last one.” His hand came down fast and drove the tip of the knife into the table. It was the knife that he had earned as a reward from the Acolyte loot drop.
“Bo!” Nicholas scolded. “You can’t just—”
But the rogue had already faded from existence.
Nicholas glared between the spot the man had been standing and the dagger. “Some days I really can’t stand that man.”
“What about you two? Going to be logging out or staying a bit longer?”
Elijah shrugged his shoulders. “I just started a couple hours before I met you, so I’m going to stay in. Try to experience the city some more.”
Sasha locked her arm into his and smiled. “I’ll show you around. My pod still has…” Her eyes glazed over as she pulled open menus. “Looks like I still have another week before my tanks need refilling. Plus, I want to head to the market and see if there is anything good for sale.”
“Alright, just be careful.” Nicholas’ stern expression fixed on Elijah. “I’m trusting you to keep her safe. If you need anything, or if someone gives you trouble, ping Alastor.”
“Nicholas, we’ll be fine,” Sasha told him, her voice soft but firm. “I’m a big girl; I can handle myself against the creeps.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll take my leave then. Before I get trapped into going on a shopping trip too.” His voice dripped with mock disgust.
He looked them both over before nodding and shimmering away.
Sasha rolled her eyes at the vanishing fighter, then turned to face Elijah. “I’m sorry about him. He can be a bit of a turd sometimes. You don’t have to come shopping with me if you don’t want to.”
“No, no. I’d be happy to go shopping with you, Sasha.” He said, actually wanting to go shopping. He was curious about what interesting items he could find at the market. “But first, I kinda want to take a look at Bo’s dagger.”
He pulled the knife out of the wooden table and checked it over, opening the debug menu.
[Item]
Dagger
Rank: Apprentice
Damage: 5-6
Condition: 100/100
Enchantments:
Debug{
Striking[Basic,DMG_RANGE+2]
Stagger[Apprentice,STUN_CHANCE_PERC += 5]
}
A useful combination of enchantments, especially for a rogue like Bo, and yet another piece to add to his ever-expanding list of spells and effects.
He gently placed the knife back down on the table, thinking about all the enchantments he’s acquired in his mental list. The underlying system was starting to open up to him. He was sure there were many other enchantments that he hadn’t come across yet, but he also could add spell powers to weapons.
The possibilities were endless, and he got the feeling that his ‘Reality Warp’ skill could become vastly overpowered, especially once he was no longer restricted to touch only. He was looking forward to being able to mess with enemy’s weapons and armor from afar, bolstering spells, and hot-swapping effects on his and his party’s gear on the fly. It would require practice to learn to do it quickly. But he had all the time in the world to learn it.
This world was his now, not the dying one outside the confines of his immersion pod.
He looked up and noticed Sasha staring at him.
“What?”
“Just wondering what you’re thinking about? You’ve got a super serious expression on your face.”
Laughing, he rubbed the back of his neck. Could she understand the position that Elijah was in? Maybe not, she’d been acting and making crazy money since she was a child. This was just another game to her, but for Elijah, this was an escape. A chance at a new life in a new world.
“Nothing, I was just trying to figure out game mechanics,” he told her, hoping she would believe him.
She looked at him with a scrutinizing expression, then shrugged her shoulders. “Well, in that case, are you ready to head out to the market? Or do you want to stand there in deep thought a bit longer?”
“Lead the way.” He motioned towards the door.
She took him by the arm, pulling him out of the mansion and down the streets of the city.
“Can I ask you a question, Sasha?” Elijah finally asked her after several minutes of walking.
“Nope,” she shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him. “I can’t tell you anything about the next movie in the ‘Twisted Desires’ series. I’m under NDA until the press tour starts.”
Elijah stopped in his tracks and stared at her. Then he laughed. “No, no. That wasn’t what I meant. Though technically you just broke the NDA by telling me that, since your character wasn’t confirmed to be returning yet.”
She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, pointing her finger at him. “Don’t tell anyone,” she grumbled, poking her finger into his chest.
He grinned at her and took her arm in his own, continuing down the path they were on. “My lips are sealed, I promise. Though now I’m wondering how your character made it out of the hotel before it exploded.”
He watched her face, looking for any hints that she might give him, but she was tight-lipped.
“That wasn’t my question anyway,” he finally relented. “I was wondering why someone like you was playing a game like this? You get to travel the world, meet amazing people, do things that someone like me could never dream of. So what drew you to the game?”
She was quiet for a long time. Elijah assumed that he’d gone too far, or asked her the wrong question. He was about to apologize when she finally spoke. “Because here, here I get to make my own story. My whole life I’ve been who others wanted me to be. Gabriella in ‘My Little Toyshop’, or Victoria in ‘Highschool Survival’. And I definitely don’t have to be Annabeth from the ‘Twisted Desires’ movies. For once in my life, I get to have an adventure as Sasha Bjornsdotter. I get to run around with a stick and make sure you jerks don’t get cut open by skeletons, or bears, or whatever.”
“You make it sound like you’re babysitting us.”
She laughed as they rounded the corner to the market. “No, you couldn’t pay me enough to babysit you four.”
He smiled as she led him into the throngs of people within the city market. It made the rest of the city feel sparsely populated. Elijah had to turn off his ability’s passive pop-ups within a few seconds of entering the district. People jostled and shoulders bumped, and it seemed like he was going to get crushed by the crowd on more than one occasion. Sasha had told him that PvP was turned off here, which was probably the only reason more people didn’t take damage while shopping.
Finally, making it to a relatively uncrowded side street, Elijah had to stop and take a few deep calming breaths. Sasha noticed him and placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, feeling stupid, “I just get anxiety around large crowds. Stupid of me to assume it would be better in a game.”
She nodded ?at his words and then smiled at him. “You’re not stupid, Elijah. I’m proud of you for trying.”
Elijah felt a blush running up ?his cheeks.
‘Strange.’ he thought, ‘why can I blush in game?’
She looked around at the buildings surrounding them, then pointed upwards. “Come on, follow me.” Without wasting a moment more, she took off towards a ladder and began scaling it, making it up onto the rooftops in just a few seconds. She turned around and looked down at him, waving her arm for him to follow.
He struggled to follow her, even though he knew his dexterity stat was higher than hers, implying that there was more going on than pure stats, but he made it onto the roof. The rooftop was alive with market stalls. There were significantly fewer people up here, but it still hummed with life as vendors hawked their wares.
“Think this will be a little more manageable for you?” She asked, her tone full of acceptance and understanding.
