Hunters bond, p.5
Hunter's Bond, page 5
> You pierce Unknown Beast for 107 points of critical damage.
If the projectile had caused it pain, the knife seemed to drive it over the edge. Claws retracted and Simon gasped as the weight suddenly left his chest, the beast leaping for the trees with an unearthly screech. Something whistled through the air, and out of the corner of his eye Simon saw another metal ball collide with the beast, the impact of it striking cleanly against the skull, breaking bone and sending the beast crashing down to the jungle floor. A foreboding shhhnk sounded when the shrapnel exploded again, and instantly the creature went still.
> You have slain Unknown Beast! You have gained 35 XP.
> You have learned Precision Strike. Identify and strike a beast’s weak points to deal automatic critical damage.
Good to know the game retained that feature. There’d always been something baked into Apex games that allowed players to even the score. Otherwise it would have been impossible to bring down Beasts of Legend solo. Not that Simon was in any way comparing… whatever that was to a Beast of Legend, but it was definitely a visceral introduction to the game world, and one he would have died from if not for the intervention of another hunter.
Pushing himself up with a groan, Simon pressed his palm to one of his shoulder wounds and found his skin stained with his own blood when he drew his hand back. He even felt a little dizzy at the loss of it, and the pain—while manageable now that he wasn’t in fear for his life—still thrummed through him. The hyper-realism of this game was intense.
“You all right then?” the voice from earlier said.
Simon looked up to find a lean man with salt-and-pepper hair and a handlebar mustache. He was dressed in leather armor that looked a step up in quality from Simon’s own, dyed a rich green color that fit more easily with their surroundings. The man’s most distinctive feature by far, though, was a weapon that looked like a cross between a musket and a mini-cannon, the barrel still smoking from the ammo that had been discharged.
“Yeah. Fine, I think.” Simon flexed his fingers, finding them all still present and accounted for. His entrails had thankfully not become his extrails, either. “Thanks for that.”
“Ah, anytime, mate.” The man beamed brightly, looking far more approachable than his weapon suggested. Simon felt a little more at ease when he put it away, hefting the gun onto his back. “Looks like he got you good.” Thick, fuzzy brows drew down in concern. “I’ve got some bandages in my pack, if you’re interested.”
Since his wounds only healed at a glacial pace—at least if this was anything like previous titles—Simon didn’t see himself turning down that offer. “I’d appreciate it. I don’t have anything to pay you with, but—”
The man waved this off. “No need. Looks like you’re having a rough morning anyhow. You get dropped off from the beach?”
Simon looked in the direction the man gestured. The jungle trees thinned out, opening up into just a few scarce palms. Now that he was made aware of it, he could smell the salt of the sea breeze that drifted from the ocean. Was that where he was supposed to spawn? It’d seemed weird to just suddenly appear in the middle of a jungle clearing without any weapons and only the most basic armor.
If that was the case, how did he respond to that question? The game wasn’t feeding him dialogue prompts. Everything he said was comprised of his own words. Was he supposed to roleplay and act like he belonged in this world, or just fess up to being a player? Come to think of it, was the man who’d helped him out another player, or an NPC?
He concentrated on the figure that stood before him, trying to inspect the man. A red health bar appeared above his head, followed by two more bars Simon guessed were stamina and mana. None of the numbers were visible, though, and instead of a name all he got was “Unknown Ranger.”
“Hel-lo?” the man asked in a sing-songy voice, waving his hand in front of Simon’s face.
Okay, apparently the game didn’t pause when he was inspecting someone.
“I… just ended up in the jungle,” Simon said, making a split second decision. If he was going to immerse himself in this world, he might as well go the full mile. “I don’t really remember how I got here.”
“Rough draw there, mate. Explains why you’re out here without any weapons, though.” Setting his hands on his hips, the man looked around, his gaze falling toward the beach where Simon could now see billowing white sails. “Tell you what. I’ve got a ship anchored just off the coast with a stock of weapons for Lacerda. Grab what you need, we’ll make sure you remember how to keep yourself alive out here, and I won’t have your imminent death on my conscience. Sound good?”
The man was so jovial about it all that Simon couldn’t help but laugh. If he was an NPC—and with a ship oh so conveniently anchored nearby, it sounded like he must be—he was a lot more personable and entertaining than the NPCs from previous games. “Sounds a hell of a lot better than using this knife.”
“I hear that,” the man said, slapping Simon on the back. “Oh hey, what do I call you?”
“Si—” Simon’s real name came reflexively, but he interrupted it with a cough, bringing his fisted hand to his mouth. “Arheis. My name’s Arheis.”
And he’d best start thinking of himself that way, if he intended to go full immersion. Simon was some pathetic, unemployed loser who lived alone in his studio apartment. Arheis was a Guardian who could make his destiny whatever he chose. There was no contest.
“Nice to meet you, Arheis. Name’s Treyous, captain of the Lady Katherine.” He jerked his chin toward the beach. “Come on then. I’ll introduce you to my girl, get you squared away.”
Treyous’ “girl” was a small merchant ship that housed five or six cabins, a decently-sized cargo hold, and a handful of sailors. While it wasn’t the most impressive vessel he’d ever seen, Simon—Arheis—had to admit it was useful. Tucked away in the hold, the captain just happened to have crates of iron weapons fresh for the taking. Swords, daggers, lances, staves, and spears all shared space in the crates, ready and waiting for new players to snatch them up. Arheis picked out a spear and examined it, testing the weight of it in his hands.
> Iron Spear
Slot: Main Hand
Damage Type: Piercing
Attack Power: 25
Durability: 30/30
Quality: Common
Nothing great, but at least it was at full durability. The base form of a weapon was only meant to last a few hunts, anyway, until players had enough materials to start augmenting the stats and properties. Speaking of… dammit. He’d completely forgotten to carve that lizard-cat he and Treyous had killed in the jungle. While he wouldn’t be able to go back and salvage the materials, he was hopeful he could find out what it was.
“Ah, a spear. Good choice,” Treyous commented from where he leaned against the wall of the ship. “You’ll be wanting a shield to go with that.” Crossing the hold, he grabbed an iron bar and used it to pry open another crate that was filled with wooden shields of all shapes and sizes.
Before sifting through them and forgetting all about his question, Arheis decided to try his luck and ask.
“Thanks for this,” he said, offering the man a smile. “This may be a weird question, but… what was that thing that attacked me?”
“Not a weird question at all. I’d want to know what to call the bastard that was about to rip my throat out.” Treyous let out a hearty laugh, clearing his throat when he realized he was drawing too much amusement from Arheis’ near-death experience. “That was a Lamica. They don’t usually go for humans—or anybody else, for that matter—but there aren’t as many Suffenti in this part of the jungle as there used to be.”
Sensing the potential for a quest, Arheis probed a little deeper.
“Why’s that?”
“Obviously plenty of trees for them to hide in, so it’s not like they’ve lost their means of hunting.” Treyous shrugged. “My guess is something else is getting to them before the Lamica can.”
Sure enough, a quest window appeared, giving him the details of what Treyous had just told him.
> Out-Hunting the Hunter
Treyous mentioned a mysterious beast is thinning out the Suffenti population and making the Lamica more vicious than before. Discover the beast in question and report your findings to Treyous.
Quest Level: 1
Reward: 750GC in currency and 100 XP.
There was no option to accept or decline the quest, so Arheis assumed it was a mandatory quest, and probably required to leave what was obviously the tutorial. He dismissed the window, a brief notification popping up that said the details of the quest were automatically added to his journal. The tome glowed softly at his belt, and Arheis rested his hand over top of it.
“I have to get these crates into Lacerda, but if you end up spotting the culprit, the Guild’ll probably pay good money if you take them out.”
That… really wasn’t much information. Not that Apex had ever been big on hand-holding, but it was obvious Treyous was doing the NPC version of dismissing him. Pressing his luck again—and not really wanting to find out firsthand what it felt like to be killed by a Lamica—Arheis tried to see if he could get anything more from the man.
“Anything else I should know before I head back out?”
He’d never touched a spear or shield before, let alone the Guardian class. If Treyous could point him in the direction of a weapon or class-specific tutorial, he’d feel a lot more confident about venturing back into the jungle.
“Stick ‘em with the pointy end, yeah, mate? And don’t stop ‘til either you or them are breathing your last,” Treyous said with a broad grin.
Okay, so he definitely wasn’t going to get any more tutorials from this NPC…
“Oh, almost forgot!” Treyous announced, snapping his fingers. “Make sure you save anything you pull off the beasts you fight. Worth a pretty penny in town, and you’ll want to bring them by the forge at least once.”
Strengthening and augmenting one’s base weapon with beast parts was a major draw of Apex’s gameplay loop, eventually making every player’s weapon unique. …If they didn’t look up a meta build online and follow it verbatim, at least. Arheis was looking forward to learning the crafting system of this game and seeing if anything had changed, but he needed to actually kill and carve a few things first.
“I appreciate it, Treyous,” he said, remembering his manners.
“Don’t mention it. We hunters’ve gotta look out for each other, yeah? Whole damn jungle’s bound and determined to make a snack of our intestines!” Treyous barked a laugh, slapping Arheis so hard on the back that he had to brace himself to keep from falling. “Get you a shield and get back out there. Maybe I’ll see you again in Lacerda.”
The box of shields was highlighted with a soft glow, indicating this was the next step of the tutorial. Propping open the wooden lid, Arheis looked through a collection of wooden, leather, and metal shields that probably wouldn’t stand up to too many attacks. Not wanting to complicate things, he picked up the iron shield and gave it a once-over.
> Iron Shield
Slot: Offhand
Blocking Type: Physical
Blocking %: 75
Durability: 30/30
Quality: Common
The blocking percentage was an interesting attribute. He could only guess at what it did, but it seemed like that number was out of 100, and a 75% block meant even when he raised his shield, he’d still take 25% damage from any given attack.
“Better than nothing,” he murmured to himself, strapping the shield to his left arm and following Treyous above-deck. Warm sea spray doused his skin, only adding to the humidity already present in the air. Drawing in a deep breath of the salt-tinged air, Arheis looked around for any landmarks. The tree canopies rose high above the jungle, and cliffs stretched on higher still, blocking out his view of any settlements or man-made structures.
“Captain,” Arheis called after the tall man. Treyous turned to face him again, one bushy brow arched. “I seem to be a little turned around. Which direction is Lacerda?”
“West northwest from here,” the captain explained, shielding his eyes from the sun. “Lacerda’s in the heart of the jungle. You can’t miss it.”
Arheis doubted that, considering the jungle seemed to be one big tangle of trees, vines, and things that wanted to kill him. But that at least gave him a direction, and he made note of it in his journal, finding he had an innate sense of which direction was north. Armed and with some idea of where to go and what to do, Arheis made his way off the boat and hoped using a spear and shield would come as naturally to him as the dual blades had.
Chapter 5
As it turned out, there was nothing natural about hoisting a heavy shield and thrusting an unwieldy spear.
Just as Arheis made his way to the shore, Treyous had one last surprise for him: A sparring partner. He had no idea if the game was taking pity on him or if the tutorial process was supposed to be this chaotic, but he was grateful for the chance to figure out his weapon skills. The deckhand Treyous had volunteered for the task was a brute of a man, built of solid muscle and an uncompromising stare that pierced straight through any and everything—including Arheis himself.
They squared off on the beach, a generous distance away from each other to give both parties a chance to prepare. Since Arheis had no earthly idea what he was doing, he checked the straps on his shield and the fastenings that lashed the spear head to the haft of his weapon, hoping it wouldn’t be a problem that both were a little wobbly. Across the way, he spared a glance at his opponent and saw the man swinging a morning star through the air, the whooshing sound of it reaching his ears.
“Haven’t got all day,” the deckhand groused.
“Right,” Arheis said apologetically, rolling his shoulders and settling into a wide-legged stance. “Let’s do this.”
No sooner had the words left Arheis’ mouth than the deckhand charged, yelling like a deranged goat and swinging his weapon wildly. Adrenaline coursed through Arheis’ veins, everything in him wanting to run, or at least roll out of the way. Instead, he forced himself to block, lifting his shield and bracing behind it, his teeth clenched.
If the shield was meant to stop the man’s momentum, it did an awful job. Arheis was flung backwards, his balance the only thing keeping him from landing in the sand as the deckhand’s strength and energy transferred wholesale into Arheis’ shield, distributing through his body in a blow that made his bones rattle and his shoulder scream in pain.
> Deckhand charges you for 5 points of damage. (20 deflected)
While only a small amount of damage, the knockback was a serious problem—enough that Arheis knew he must be doing something wrong.
“You can’t just stand there with your shield up all the time! You have to anticipate the attack and time your block to absorb it,” the deckhand informed him impatiently.
As odd as it was that a random deckhand knew how to use a shield, Arheis wasn’t about to complain. He clearly needed the lesson.
“Try it again?” he asked, shaking off the first charge and readying himself in a looser stance, his shield arm held before him but not fully braced.
The deckhand moved a generous length of distance down the beach and, after a brief warning, started to charge. Arheis could feel his heart racing, threatening to pound out of his chest as his gaze focused on the man, every muscle in his body coiled and just screaming at him to do something. But he waited until the last second, preparing to block the attack at the exact moment and—
> Deckhand charges you for 25 points of damage.
> You are stunned.
The deckhand slammed into Arheis like a battering ram, his shield thrown in front of him a few seconds too late to be useful. Rather than the shield deflecting the blow, the deckhand seemed to completely deflect the shield, sending Arheis flying backward, his momentum interrupted by the hard ground. He groaned, unable to move from that sad, crumpled position he’d landed in. He might as well have been hit by a truck for how much it hurt.
The deckhand, of course, barked out a laugh. “Can we get a healer over here?”
It took a heal and a few more tries before Arheis grasped the timing of it. The final time when the deckhand charged, he focused everything he had into getting it right. When he blocked, he felt a more satisfying transfer of energy, the knockback dispersing between his body and the deckhand’s. He was able to hold his ground without hardly flinching at all, and the system messages that followed highlighted his success.
> Deckhand charges you for 5 points of damage. (20 deflected)
> You have learned Iron Guard. Raise your shield at the moment of greatest impact to further reduce the force of a blow.
So it was essentially some kind of power guard move that he could use against big attacks. That would come in handy during hunts, and he already felt a little more competent having learned an actual skill associated with his class. The deckhand wasn’t quite done with him, though.
“Can’t get by on defense alone,” he warned, rhythmically smacking the haft of his morning star against his palm. “Let’s see if you can use that fancy stick of yours. Toss the shield for now.”
Undoing the straps and buckles, he let the heavy piece of metal fall to the sand and hefted his spear with both hands. It was relatively light, and when the deckhand came near enough, Arheis jabbed at him. The spear failed to connect, and he jabbed again, then again. Arheis whiffed all three times, the deckhand more nimble than he’d given the man credit for. The muscles in his arms burned, because while the spear wasn’t insanely heavy, it was awkward to use and had enough weight to matter.
