Hajime pauses to let his words sink in. “But I gave you two quotes to consider, the second being faced with a choice, do both. This lesson is far from complete and if I’m not mistaken, I think your ultimate quest is far from over.”
With that, he turns to the kitchen to make Ryuk a cup of green tea.
Chapter 27: Shogyo Mujo
Ryuk grips the sleek, biodegradable black box that the NV Visor comes in.
The visor has been over-packaged, and it takes him a good five minutes to get through the tape, rip through the inner box, undo the felt bag, take off the plastic wrapping, tear off the plastic covering the visor, unpack the wireless DHDNI, undo multiple twist ties, and remove the lining cover from the inside of the visor.
After placing the wireless DHDNI on top of a crescent-shaped Proxima router, he lies down on his bed and gets under the single sheet. The warmth he felt earlier is gone, replaced by a bitter cold that shows no signs of relenting. The blanket should help, but he turns his heating unit on over iNet just to be sure. After setting the automatic time-off to an hour later, Ryuk relaxes onto his pillow, takes a deep breath, and puts the NV Visor over his head.
The familiar tone and the Proxima logo appears, welcoming him.
The visor has already synced with the life chip implanted in Ryuk’s head, and the Tritania desktop he’s chosen takes shape and presents him with a live feed of his guild’s progress and a spawning point. A prompt appears, he selects ‘yes’, and sine waves slowly start to ripple across his pane of vision. Feedback picks up, and after a moment of this, his consciousness shifts and Ryuk is suddenly back in his avatar’s body, joining the Mitherfickers in the town square. The Aramis Security Force has also joined them and are methodically eliminating the walking dead.
Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 13 Ballistics Mage
HP: 232/378
ATK: 91
MATK: 120
DEF: 69
MDF: 42
LUCK: 10
FeeTwix Fajer Level 17 Berserker Mystic
HP: 129/600
ATK: 140
MATK: 28
DEF: 81
MDF: 40
LUCK: 13
Hiccup Level 12 Shield Thief
HP: 303/525
ATK: 76
MATK: 13
DEF: 156
MDF: 74
LUCK: 25
Zaena Morozon Level 16 Brawler Assassin
HP: 233/563
ATK: 165
MATK: 8
DEF: 93
MDF: 28
LUCK: 14
Tamana Nakamura Level 10 White Warrior
HP: 180/367
MANA: 121/233
ATK: 84
MATK: 19
DEF: 61
MDF: 95
LUCK: 4
He swipes the stats away after checking their new levels – his due to auto-leveling – and looks to Tamana, who’s hacked and stacked a credible body count. She’s a bit bruised and battered, but Ryuk sees that she’s better off than some of the others.
FeeTwix, his eyes solid black, gives Ryuk the thumbs up and fires a burst of unforgiving metal into the face of a zomb-orc. Not far from the Swede, Hiccup axes his way one-handed through an onslaught of zombie kindergarteners while nursing a healing potion with his non-mechanical hand. Across from him, the Thulean swordswoman single-mindedly serves up a second death to all of those who come within reach of her four whirling blades.
“How was it out there?” Tamana asks. An iridescent light twists up her free hand as she holds it in the air. After a halo forms, a pixelated snowburst of white magic shoots into the air that sprinkles onto the group. +75 HP!
“Never mind.” Ryuk pops out a magazine of black marbles and replaces it with a magazine of molten marbles. He aims at an approaching orc zombie of unusual size and melts its head off.
Instakill!
“Look at these fickin’ things – they’re like rabid fickin’ rats!” Hiccup sends another necrotic preschooler off for a dirt nap, finishes his healing potion, and overhand tosses it into the face of the nearest zombie ankle biter. Ryuk flambés the last one of the group with a molten marble.
Instakill!
With his goat-horned helmet tucked under his arm, the goblin rakes his mechanical fingers through a serious case of pink helmet-hair. He huffs and sighs, and fixes his gaze on Ryuk. “Seriously,” he says, “I’m fickin’ sick of killing zombies. We got some EXP and leveled up a bit, now let’s get back to the Mondegreen and get a bit of rest before tonight’s festivities.”
Tamana nods, proud of herself. “I’m almost caught up with you guys!”
Ryuk: They want to go back. Tired of fighting zombies?
FeeTwix: Ha! I was number three on Dead City’s leader board. Number three, the two above me were RPCs. I never get tired of killing zombies, nor should anyone. However, if you guys want to bail, I’m down.
Ryuk watches as Zaena gives FeeTwix a quick nod. He gets the sense that while he may talk a lot of smack, FeeTwix is actually running out of steam. His tommy gun disappears and he lifts his finger to select a new spawning point. “See you on the other side.”
Zaena and FeeTwix dematerialize in a flash of pixeled goodness; Tamana and Hiccup are up next, and the last one to bail is Ryuk.
The five guildmates take shape in their cramped room at the Mondegreen Hostel. As soon as they do, and before Hiccup can fart, burp, chug a healing potion, or make a ribald remark, they hear a faint knock at the door.
“I’ve brought refreshments.” Jim the hostelier bows slightly at Hiccup after the goblin has opened the door, and with a courtly flourish whisks the silver cover from a tray of dainties. Steam gently wafts from a platter of dragon wings and assorted hors d’oeuvres.
“Listen up, Mitherfickers,” Hiccup calls over his shoulder, “the dragon wings are mine; the rest is up for grabs.”
“No need to be greedy; there are plenty more,” Jim tells him.
Hiccup steps up to Jim and gives him the goblin eye. “If there’s more,” he says with a growl, “why didn’t you bring them?”
Jim narrows his eyes, his good natured smile fades. “If these do not meet your exacting standards, I can always take them away and you can find your own meal.”
“Um, no, these’ll be just fine, thank-you very much.” Hiccup gracefully takes the tray from him. “I was just fickin’ with you, Jimmy ol’ pal. To make things easier, I’ll go ahead and take the entire tray. The rest can have whatever they’d like. Shit, before I forget.” A necklace appears in his mechanical hand. “Twixy, this is for you to give to Liz, as you requested.”
He tosses the necklace to FeeTwix, who turns to Zaena with a sheepish smile on his face. “That’s not exactly how I was hoping that would go.”