“Marbles! A little fickin’ help for the kid, eh?” His new mechanical arm clatters and bangs against the floor as he scrabbles for a handhold.
FeeTwix: Use your explody marbles to kill it and Hiccup if you have to. As long as you’re not dead, we’ll respawn there after the battle. Plus you’ll get all the EXP, and you’re the one who needs it the most.
Well when you put it like that … Ryuk loads a combo clear and black marble in the pocket of his slingshot. He draws and aims and the slingshot grows uncomfortably warm in his grip.
FeeTwix: Watches are surging! 700,301 people right now. No pressure!
I need more light …
FeeTwix’s headlamp grows brighter and brighter, and the shadows leap away to reveal a number of treasure chests in the far right corner.
FeeTwix: How did you do that!?
Ryuk: I just thought it and … it worked!
FeeTwix: A spike in views, now approaching 800,000, no pressure, man but seriously, kill that thing! How do they say it in Japanese? Ganbatte! Ganbatte!
No pressure, Ryuk thinks as he releases a clear marble and a black marble simultaneously. “No pressure,” he whispers as the two marbles explode against their target.
+1 LUCK!
Skill level up!
Skilclass="underline" A Simple Request
Level two: 1 in 6.75 chance of a request being granted.
Caveat: Only works with a clear marble.
Requirements: LUCK > 4
Hiccup is blasted into the wall as the giant vine squid suddenly grows more giant; it inflates like a weather balloon, it bulges and squeaks against the floor and ceiling, swells and bursts in a shower of guts and viscera.
FeeTwix: What did you do? The fans are going crazy!
Level up!
Ryuk is awarded a ton of experience points, easily enough to level up.
Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 5 Ballistics Mage
HP: 182/213
ATK: 48
MATK: 81
DEF: 17
MDF: 24
LUCK: 6
A new pouch appears on his belt and a prompt appears:
New marble acquired! Knife marbles have continuous damage capabilities and can cause an instakill in the right circumstance and at the right level. BONUS! Double damage if they strike an unarmored portion of the target.
Hiccup is bad off, banged around, and angry to boot, but he still has life left and he’s less grumbly when FeeTwix’s avatar materializes, healing potion in hand. The goblin snatches it away, guzzles it down, and uncorks a satisfied ructus.
He narrows his eyes at Ryuk as the beak-bites, scrapes, scratches, bruises, contusions, evulsions, and eviscerations heal right up. Even the dings and dents in his mechanical arm repair themselves as he holds out his brass hand and wiggles his fingers.
“Don’t you hold out on me too,” Hiccup tells Ryuk.
“I got mugged back in Jatla. I don’t have a healing potion.”
“Now isn’t the time to be a cheapfick.”
“Never mind that – where the hell did you run off too when we got down here?” Ryuk asks.
“Show, don’t tell. Am I right?” Hiccup strolls over to one of the treasure boxes and kicks it open. Sure enough, it’s filled with rupees. “My guess is that there are several thousand rupees in here. Now I’m not saying we’re dragon eggs and Yoshi McNuggets for breakfast rich, but us Mitherfickers can afford finger bowls and appetizers next time we dine out.”
Ryuk does a quick check. The guild’s shared bank account now stands at 5,309 rupees.
Getting better.
“And the dream armor?”
“Gee, I dunno. What do you think is in this other chest?”
“Nice.” Ryuk works his way over to Hiccup, careful not to step on a severed vine or in any of the visceral giant vine squid splooge. The spell he inadvertently cast on FeeTwix’s headlamp is still working, but the far corners of the room have already started to darken.
“Potion.” Hiccup extends an open palm to Ryuk.
“Seriously, I was robbed. When I went out to recruit for the guild, there were these two guys mugging a goblin grandma. Well, I killed them, and then she stuck me with this great big knife and stole all my stuff.”
“Ha! That’s the oldest trick in the book right there!” Hiccup chortles, snorts, and winces when he slaps his thigh with his new mechanical hand. “By the Empress’ Mahoosive Mammaries, you are fickin’ pathetic. We’ll just have to stock up in the next town, and now that we’re back in fundage we can afford the good stuff. I’m telling you guys, there are a couple of healing potion manufacturers, but Hopkins’ Holistic Healing Nostrums, well they’re the best.”
“I usually charge for endorsements,” FeeTwix reminds him.
“Yeah? Well I don’t have a terse and witty comeback for that, but if I did, I’d say it now. The night is young, kiddos, so get your dream armor, Marbles, and let’s get to the nearest town. We could all use a little rest and we have two more days before we have to face off against the Shinigami.”
FeeTwix brings up a blue map and scrolls through it. “A resort town called Sotla isn’t very far from here; I bet we can get there without getting in another fight.”
“Sounds like a plan, Twixy.”
Ryuk approaches the treasure chest. He runs his hand along its surface, admiring the wood grain for a moment. He pops it open and a rainbowesque energy radiates all around him. A tingling sensation wraps around his body as the armor takes shape. Aside from a chest piece and epaulettes, the dream armor forms peculiar looking ribbed vambraces on Ryuk’s arm.
+30 DEF!
“Holy fickered hog tits. I’ve actually seen this armor in use before! Watch and learn, Marbles.” Hiccup equips a tomahawk and tries to whack Ryuk’s arm off. Mid-swing, Ryuk’s vambraces extend downward, deflecting Hiccup’s attack.
“It morphs to meet the attack.”
“It sure does.” Hiccup tries again and the armor peels off Ryuk’s arm to meet the attack.
“Cool, huh?”
“Very.” Ryuk admires the dream armor for a moment and instantly wishes Tamana were here to see him growing into a more formidable character.
She will be soon, he reminds himself.
Chapter 10: The Thulean
The three Mitherfickers take the long and winding road to Sotla and Ryuk gets the uneasy feeling that they’re being watched. Soft glows in the misty forest catch his eyes and keep him on guard. Nothing comes of it, other than the growing realization that if his magical abilities continue to develop at their present rate, he may become much more formidable than he imagined he ever would be when he chose to become a Ballistics Mage.
He keeps half an eye on the forest and lets his mind drift back to less than a day ago when he and Tamana visited the cathedral in Jatla to choose their new resetter classes. She suggested they try something different, something more challenging, more difficult to master. She’d take on the healing and face-to-face battling as a White Warrior while he would pummel enemies from afar. It was a perfect match.
Originally, he didn’t agree.
He’d wanted to be a Dark Assassin, one capable of intensely fast attacks. Assassins level up quickly and are useful in battle and quest-based scenarios. Add a dark magic sub-class to that and you get twice the killer. But Tamana hadn’t wanted him to – and she had considerable influence over him, more than anyone else for that matter. He’d caved to her wishes – well, her directions more exactly – and the rest was history.