Open beta a litrpg fanta.., p.7
Open Beta: a LitRPG fantasy adventure (Pixelate Book 3), page 7
“I hadn’t expected this… Very well.” The elder held up his palms, and a quest reward appeared above each.
Without knowing what Dyz might be seeing, Konroh took stock of his options.
GAUNTLETS OF MASS - 2 ATK - Can use two-handed weapons in one hand (limit one weapon).
What a tease. Two two-handers would be cool. A single one nudged him toward a sword-and-shield build only with a bigger sword.
STOMPY BOOTS - 5 ATK - Movement noise increased 100%.
“OK, I can either wield one two-handed weapon in one hand…”
“Kind of a zanbato vibe,” Dyz interjected.
“Or boots that double my movement noise but have a hefty 5 ATK on them.”
“Any ATK on the first one?”
“2 ATK on the gloves. I just worry that I might pigeonhole myself with low-ATK gear and a unique bonus I’ll get attached to.”
Dyz snorted. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want you getting attached to awesome. Besides, I’m getting quieter and quieter.”
“Could help to have contrast.”
“Or we could both lean into silence and get the jump on more fights.”
“I seem to notice that we’re doing pretty well with everyone noticing me but not—”
“JUST PICK SOMETHING!” Mupmup ordered. “I believe in the Great Respawn. If you do not choose one of my offerings, I swear by Holy Izik that I will let you slay me before aiding you!”
“Wait. Hold up. You worship Izik?” Dyz asked. She turned to Konroh. “Do you think that’s programmed in or emergent behavior?”
“Who cares?” Konroh snapped. “It’s creepy. YOU’RE creepy,” he told the elder. “Gimme those.”
RECEIVED: STOMPY BOOTS
Konroh immediately donned them and took a few steps. It was like when you got home in the early morning hours after a night of drinking and didn’t want to wake your roommates. Everything was way louder than you meant it to be or needed it to be.
“Nice. I hate them,” Dyz huffed. She grabbed something unseen from atop the elder’s palms, and Mupmup lowered his hands. Seconds later, Dyz’s face disappeared behind a full-face mask akin to a bank robber pulling a nylon stocking over her head. There was a hint of skin tone beneath, and the fires from her eyes passed through seamlessly, but her facial features were indistinct.
“I’d rather I could see you.”
“I’d rather I couldn’t hear you, but I went for stats over quality of life. Sound familiar?”
Konroh couldn’t win this argument. He let it drop. “So. Secret passage. We get an escort, or shall we find our way on our own?”
“I have the key,” the elder pointed out.
Dyz smiled and produced her own copy, dangling it out of the elder’s reach.
Mupmup’s scowl deepened. “Go! Do not return. If you wish to escape Fate and Izik’s wrath, begone!”
Konroh and Dyz didn’t need to be told twice.
CHAPTER 15
KEEPING SECRETS
SECRET PASSAGE
Dyz locked the door behind them as they separated themselves from Mupmup’s clan of Green Gobos. “Well. That’s that. We aren’t the monsters they figured us for.”
“I’m 300 XP short of Level 4. I almost wish we had been.”
“Same here, but we’ve got our XPOTs, right? We can take a quick 400 XP in an emergency to lock in a level.”
“True.” Konroh chuckled. “This place is Reason #1 why I’d want the level, though. I could take that Blood Vision skill and see where I was putting my feet.”
Dug earth and rickety supports gave way after a short while to a natural underground cavern.
SECRET TUNNEL
Glowing mosses kept everything bathed in pale, inadequate light, but it was enough to pick his way forward with Dyz leading him by the hand.
“Or, you could have snagged one of their torches, stung my eyes the whole way, and not needed to hold my hand. Hmm, tough call.”
Even through a pair of leather gloves and the basic gauntlets that came with his Noble Knight’s Armor without counting as separate equipment, he liked the feel of being tethered to Dyz. She was a comfort at all times, even when they squabbled.
Alongside what could only be described as the intended path, a chasm glowed with crimson light. It wasn’t enough to see their way by, but it shed enough light to silhouette a monster climbing out to prey on them.
Dyz let go of his hand.
Konroh spared both to grip his Ravager’s Sword, ready to Parry. He also stood stock still in a vain attempt to quell the ungodly racket he now made wherever he went.
Ever so gingerly, he took one hand from his sword and held it toward the approaching beast in the darkness.
TUNNEL TROLL - Humanoid. Can see in darkness.
Awesome. Useful. He wondered how he could possibly get LESS information, short of a series of question marks. Nothing in his experience as a Knight, Wizard, Blood Mage, or Blood Knight had given him any special insight into his opponents. Why start now?
In the pitch black, he could actually make out Dyz’s location by the fiery glow of her eyes. Twin trails of purple left streaks in his dark-attuned vision.
He also realized that if he stood here doing nothing, she’d be fighting alone.
Testing his footing before putting down his weight, Konroh tiptoed like thunder toward the Tunnel Troll.
“Over here, you big lug!” he taunted, hoping that he could attract its attention away from the attack Dyz would soon be delivering.
The Tunnel Troll didn’t need an engraved invitation. It bellowed a challenge and loped toward Konroh with a cantering gait.
When the blow arrived, it came from a rock club the size of a parking meter. And it felt like it had the weight of one too. Konroh’s arms jolted just from deflecting the attack.
He backpedaled.
Dyz sank a dagger attack into the creature’s unprotected back.
“Twenty-one!”
“You can keep it silent if you’d rather,” Konroh called back to her. “We have no idea of its HP total, and I don’t know that I’ll be attacking it. These Parries feel like I’m canceling out a ton of damage.”
“So noted.”
The daggers plunged in, and the only sounds were the violent parting of flesh, the beast’s shrieks of pain, and the unceasing cacophony of Konroh’s movements as he defended them both against getting squashed.
Again and again, Dyz slammed her attacks home. Konroh was the obvious threat. He was noisy, visible, and clearly strong. Dyz was a mystery, a stinging mosquito that the Tunnel Troll promised itself it would deal with once this pesky Blood Knight had been dispatched.
With a roar, the Tunnel Troll collapsed as the stinging mosquito got the better of it.
The pair flanked the body, studying it in confusion. Konroh gave it a kick. It was solid, yet there was no reaction from the corpse. “No XP. No loot. Body didn’t even…”
The troll stirred.
“Regeneration!” they shouted in unison.
Down came the Ravager’s Sword.
14
3
+3
+7
The Tunnel Troll stopped moving again. “Good DEF on it,” be muttered. “But how do we keep it down?”
“Too bad you didn’t snag one of those eye-searing standing torches from the Green Gobos’ village. Fire usually cures regen.”
“I don’t think we were in a diplomatic position to be walking off with the decor. You got anything at all? Acid? Matches?”
“Sure. I’ve got a Bic lighter right here. I brought it along in case I needed a toke at lunch.” Dyz patted herself down as if searching for it. “Oh. That’s right. I left my pockets in my other body.”
Choosing not to engage her on that level, Konroh focused on solutions. “It’s a game. Right? There must be a solution here somewhere. Look for something hidden nearby. A wand. A vial of acid. Kindling to start a fire. Anything.”
“What’ll you be doing in the—”
Down came the Ravager’s Sword.
14
3
+3
+7
“—meantime? Got it. You keep the troll hacked to bits. I’ll find a more permanent solution.”
Down came the Ravager’s Sword.
14
3
+3
+7
Konroh noticed that he could chop off limbs, and they slowly wriggled their way back toward the body. Even in the darkness, the mosses were enough that he could watch in dread fascination as the creature reassembled itself.
Down came the Ravager’s Sword. An arm came loose from the body.
14
3
+3
+7
Konroh kicked the arm aside. It sailed a few feet in the direction of the chasm.
The…
Chasm…
“Hey! I got it!”
“What?” Dyz called out. Her fiery eyes popped up from behind a rock, the only visible portion of her in the cavern tunnel’s dim recesses.
“Take over stabbing it. I’m going to hack off pieces and chuck ’em into the chasm. Hopefully, that red glow is magma or something. Worst case, if its head, limbs, and torso are all in separate places, we won’t have to worry about it following us.”
“On my way!”
They did as planned. Dyz jabbed the thing to bloody hamburger while Konroh hacked off and hauled away larger pieces.
He kicked them down the chasm in different locations in case the fall, and whatever was down there, didn’t kill it.
When the last piece went down, they knew the plan had worked.
500 XP
XP: 200/8,000
Two golden-gong swirls accompanied the dual advancement.
>>>LEVEL UP!!!<<<
YOU GAIN
2 ATTACK
3 DEFENSE
15 HP
0 MP
1 SKILL CHOICE
“You comfortable hanging out here in the darkness to pick skills?”
“I could be hanging from a glider, pursued by a dragon, and picks skills,” Konroh replied.
BLOOD VISION - See in darkness, tinged in red. Creatures with blood can be seen clearly.
CLEAVING STRIKE - A killing blow with a swinging weapon can continue onward to strike another opponent.
RIPOSTE - After a successful Parry, quickly attack back for half damage.
CRACK SOUL - 8 MP - Attack the vital spirit of a target for metaphysical damage equal to 5x your level. Killing blows yield HP equal to your level. Does not affect objects or creatures with no soul.
Oh, shit! Three awesome options there. He’d long since dismissed Cleaving Strike as non-viable. Unless it led to some great options later on—and that seemed pretty likely, now that he considered it—the cleave path wasn’t worth it. Riposte was a mainstay of his last knight run. But by the same token, Crack Soul probably would have killed that Tunnel Troll without resorting to shenanigans.
After all, what good was regenerating a body with no soul left in it?
Also, there was still the small matter of Blood Vision. Now, it sounded most like a fun gimmick than a responsible skill choice.
“Dammit.”
Konroh looked up from his UI. “You too?”
“Yeah. Three good options. Fourth isn’t horrible, but I’ve at least ruled it out. But I can’t bear to part with all three of these.”
“Well, I’ve got that Blood Vision I talked to you about, the Crack Soul spell that absolutely wrecked everything in my Wizard run, and Riposte, which makes me a total package in melee combat.”
“If I help you pick, will you sort mine out?”
Konroh shrugged. “Sounds fair. What’re you looking at?”
“True Invisibility lets me completely disappear and not just hide when I Stealth. I’ll fool traps, most spells, probably that Blood Vision of yours, though I’m not totally sure. I used the hell out of it my last time as a Rogue. Then I’m looking at Stabbing Throw, which gives my full opener bonus on thrown attacks. HUGE hit-and-run potential. And my Shadow Assassin option is Shadow Jump, which is a darkness-to-darkness teleport.”
“Wow.”
“See my problem?”
“Well, we know plenty of dark places all up the spire. The game’s more dark than light, and especially where it matters more. Your stealth is still pretty good, so I’d skip the invisibility, kick your thrown opener down the road, and take the teleport.”
Dyz took a long breath to steel herself—Konroh heard it more than saw. Backlit against the glowing chasm, she tapped the air. “Done.”
“Now me.” He tensed. This felt weird. Like they were about to try some weird sex thing and he was too embarrassed to admit he had doubts. Controlling his character build was super personal. He couldn’t Old Yeller any of his top picks. Yet he had to.
“You’re right. You’ve gotta Riposte. Anything happens to me, you can grind out most fights. And don’t you heal hitting stuff? Yeah, that’s a slam dunk.”
“OK… What about the one I save?”
“Well, you advised me against invisibility, so we’re going a little lighter on the stealth and lurking. On the other hand, keeping to the dark is even more key, so not needing the light is probably a good thing. You do plenty of damage, even if you have no spells at all.”
“Weird way to use the Blood Knight class.”
“Seems like you’re still more Knight than Wizard hybrid. Lean into it. Keep the Blood Vision around for a dud level.”
“If there is one…”
“If there isn’t, all the better,” Dyz reasoned.
With a grim nod, Konroh selected Riposte and tagged Blood Vision to see yet again at a future level.
NAME: Konroh TITLE: Sir
CLASS: Blood Knight LEVEL: 4
HP: 50 MP: 0 ATK: 22 DEF: 13
SKILLS:
NOBLE BLOOD
BLOOD WARRIOR
PARRY
RIPOSTE
“We’re in OK shape,” he declared.
“If I remember this place, it shouldn’t be much farther to the old crypt.”
“Think you’re right. Since I can still hardly see a darn thing, you can take point.”
It wasn’t far at all.
WALKING HILLS
“Well, we crossed over.”
From the lead, Dyz grumbled. “Wish they’d fixed that. We shouldn’t know that down here. Hold up.” She paused. Konroh couldn’t make it out, but he had to imagine she was filing a bug report about the area name. It was weird that it turned off player-to-player communication, especially now that he could hear her the rest of the time.
“OK. We’re good. Let’s move.”
The pair made it into the crypt complex. Konroh reached again and tapped Dyz on the back. “Eyes sharp. Mummies coming up.”
“Mummies? There weren’t any mummies last time.”
“I cleared this place. Remember? Oh. Guess what… also vulnerable to fire.”
“Oh, this’ll be fun. How tough is this gonna be?”
Konroh felt the only fire he needed. It burned inside him. “Not as tough as us…”
Torchlight lit the tombs by this point. Konroh wasn’t nearly as dependent on Dyz for his footing. There was probably even some tactical option to use those sconce-mounted torches along the wall in combat against the mummies. But, unlike the troll, Konroh had no reason to believe the mummies would regenerate.
He spotted Moaning Mummies lurching out of cubbies to either side of the passage up ahead. Wrapped in linen. Arms outstretched. Shambling. Just as predicted.
“Not to be unchivalrous,” Dyz said, “But any chance you can block the corridor and solo these? I’m not a coward, it’s just…”
“Yeah. I think that might be the play.” Tactics weren’t for making heroes. Songs and movies did that. Tactics won battles, and winning pretty rarely earned anyone bonus points.
Armored in simple linen, these things didn’t have much in the way of DEF. Konroh held off both Moaning Mummies, Parrying to set up Ripostes.
9
It didn’t seem like much, but it was a half-damage attack after DEF, and he’d swatted aside two club-like arms flailing his way. Unless these things got behind him or could deal more than 32 damage in a hit, he was perfectly safe.
So was Dyz.
“Watch my back,” he instructed. “I can hold two of these things off forever.”
“Right.”
9
9
9
9
Konroh lost track along the way as he attempted to work out their HP.
125 XP
Nice. His fire attacks had eaten these things alive. Well, dead, but that wasn’t important. What mattered now was that one was dead.
Deader.
Un-unalive?
Whatever. Dyz hung back, spectating, as the second big, dumb undead brute flailed ineffectually at Konroh’s stonewall defense.
9
9
9
9
9
9
125 XP
“Easy enough.”
Dyz scoffed. “Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to resist combat?”
“Nope. None at all.”
She flipped him off. Then, she noticed what he already knew. “No loot?”
“Yeah. Funny, but there was no troll here last time. I wonder if that thing had loot or not. We’d have never found out unless we brought spelunking gear.”
“And a magma snorkel.”
Konroh snickered. “Well, assuming our brains are overclocked to hell, and we’re stuck replaying this game for what ends up feeling like years before we get out…”
“Assuming that,” Dyz allowed.
“We’ll have to remember to grab torches and find out.”
“Duly noted.”
They dispatched another pair of Moaning Mummies with equal ease and boredom, respectively.
The complex branched out, and Konroh led them straight to the altar with the ghost who grants class upgrades.
“So, this is what it looks like before you unlock it?”
Konroh brushed off a dusty old plaque and read aloud: “I offer blood in exchange for power.”
“Do you actually see it saying that, or are you ad-libbing? Because for me, it says ‘I offer sight to see in darkness.’”
