On the other hand, dancing sword and mana guard could or could not create light, it all depended on the game. In some games, mana shield would create a nimbus around him, which would give him at least a small amount of light to work with, but it could just as easily be an invisible effect. Dancing sword was in a similar category; it could be made of light, or it could be like a normal sword and not help at all. The same could be said of major refresh; there could be a light effect when he cast the spell. But the nearly half an hour cooldown on major refresh made it unlikely for that to be very useful.
Deciding that his best bet would probably be dancing sword. Most games would create an object of light for an effect like this. He didn’t anticipate it being very bright, and the gap during the spell being active to when he could recast it meant that he was going to spend about 2/3rds of the time in darkness. The question was, which slot was he going to put it into?
Looking at the other xatherite, then at the map. He decided that he needed to place cone of frost, fireball, minor dancing sword, major mana guard, and major refresh at least. That meant he could complete the easy constellation if he wanted. He could also get four out of six in the larger one or put some in the larger one and then slot more into the six-slot constellation that had two reds, two oranges, a yellow, and a white.
With a heavy sigh, convinced that he was making the wrong choice, but unsure what would be better, he put dancing sword and major mana guard in the first constellation on the right. He then put fireball in the white slot and major refresh in the orange before putting cone of frost and storm in the red slots of the six-slot constellation in the bottom right of the starmap, leaving minor acid dart and major spark unslotted for now.
Satisfied that he had made the best choices available to him according to the knowledge that he possessed, Drew confirmed the changes.
Congratulations citizen, you have taken your first step on your training. Fight well, survive, and prevail.
Drew grasped his skull as information suddenly flooded his brain. The correct actions to cast six spells burned paths into the neurons in his head. Then his eyes rolled up, and he slumped down into the chair, unconscious.
Waking up an unknown amount of time later, Drew groaned, a hand rubbing his temples as a massive headache prevented him from thinking straight for several minutes. The pain receded slowly, gradually allowing room for more coherent thought. As soon as it was at a manageable level, he cast his first spell. His fingers twisting in familiar patterns he had never made before implanting the xatherite.
There was a flash of orange light, the first color he had seen in the real world since the voice had said: “Begin.” His headache reduced to a much more manageable level, the pain in his neck from his abrupt collapse earlier disappearing as well.
“Guess that answers the question on cast times.” He felt like he had just woken up from a good night’s sleep as he stood up and stretched. Looking around at the darkness, he muttered, “Well, here goes nothing.”
His fingers twisted to form a circle between his thumb and pointer finger, then made a strange jerking motion. Then there was light. A translucent gladius, made of what appeared to be glass, came into being about two feet in front of him floating in midair and glowed with a faint red light. It wasn’t bright, but it was enough for him to see a few feet around him, which was all he needed. He turned towards the snack bar and made quick work of finding a bag of chips before the sword, following behind him over his shoulder, disappeared, plunging him into darkness yet again.
At least now it was darkness with a bag of chips. He ripped the bag open and began to stuff his face. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since last he ate, but his body certainly knew that it was hungry.
Six bags of chips, a soda, three candy bars, and two bags of peanuts later, the edge of his hunger was gone, replaced by a faint craving for something more substantial, which he had a feeling he wasn’t going to get in the near future.
Now armed with some light, his belly mostly full, and his thirst temporarily abated, his immediate issues had been solved. Now came the hard part… getting out of the bunker.
Chapter Three — The Door
Of course, to get out of the bunker, he first had to get out of the room. The watch floor, or rather the former watch floor, was about 100 feet wide, 80 feet long, and had large vaulted ceilings. There was a small changing room off to one side and then a heavy-duty metal door that required a key code to open. The door didn’t require a code to leave, a safety measure he was glad had been implemented. It did mean that he wasn’t going to be able to get back in without breaking down the door.
Not willing to risk leaving anything inside that he was going to need, he worked in short bursts. Waiting for the light from the sword to appear, he would then rummage through the various lockers and desks looking for anything of value. Throwing his civilian clothes in a duffle, he kept his uniform on; it was sturdier and would be able to protect him better from the monsters he expected to encounter. After all, the bunker would make a perfect dungeon.
Filling up the two duffle bags that he found in Marsh’s locker. They had Marsh’s distinctive smell-the larger man sweated even in the climate-controlled watch floor. He stuffed one with extra clothing and other supplies he thought might be useful; the other had all the snack bar food shoved into it. It also had the box of organic pop tarts that he found in Marsh’s locker; he’d tried one and determined that they were as disgusting as they sounded. He also grabbed the fire axe as it was the most effective melee weapon he could find.
Now with the two duffles at his feet and the shaft of the fire axe leaning against his hip, he stared into the darkness. A fear deep within him stirred, trying to pull him down to inaction. He was before the door but sensed that as soon as he stepped out of the quiet darkness of this room that all of this would become real. He was going to have to face monsters, more darkness, and who knew what else. The world had kept on moving while he had been in the tutorial. His partner hadn’t returned; he was five floors down in a bunker near the primary nexus, and he was alone.
Wallowing in the fear that threatened to swallow him, Drew let that wash over him, let it eat away at his resolve. Then he pushed it away. He had acknowledged his fear, had experienced it in full. It would not control him. “Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unquenchable soul.” He quoted Invictus to himself as his fingers formed the seals and pushed down, activating major mana guard, the yellow light flashing briefly before disappearing into his skin.
He lifted the axe, holding it in one hand as he pushed open the door, the red light of dancing sword sending strange shadows around the antechamber.
Drew paused for a moment, looking around the small room. Then he slung both duffles over his shoulders and stepped forward. The silence here was the same, comfortingly without any of the wheezing breath or the clack of claws on cement that his brain had imagined monsters would be making.
He didn’t look up.
The only thing that saved him was the dancing sword responding to threats automatically, slashing up at the chitinous mass that clung to the ceiling above him.