I frown, shaking my head and I stare into the distance. Shit, that doesn’t sound great. In an MMO, in a game, there’d be noob training grounds, places where people could start fighting monsters that were level appropriate. Maybe go out on quests and kill 10 rats or something.
Here though, we’re stuck in the real world and even the zone around Whitehorse is in the 10’s to 20’s. Sure, there are monsters that are lower leveled, in fact, the vast majority are low-level mutations but now that it’s been over a week and a half since the System came into play, even the mutations aren’t in single digits anymore.
I can’t blame them, can’t blame the citizens for not wanting to go out. We aren’t used to this, fighting and killing. I’m not used to this - but I can’t sit around either. Caught up in our own dark thoughts, the two of us sit quietly as the evening comes to a close, sharing some chocolate.
Chapter 13
In the morning, as we pass by the school, I spot the Constable heading out.
Amelia Olmstead (Level 14 Guardian)
HP: 410/410
“Still Level 14 eh?” I mutter and wave to the Constable. My companions look at me, wondering what I’m up to as Amelia trudges over, looking exhausted.
“Amelia, that your weapon?” I point to her beam rifle and Ali snorts, muttering something about how you couldn’t call that a weapon. I ignore him as she nods, thankful the little bastard is not visible or audible.
“Good. Come on, we’re going hunting,” I jerk my thumb to the trail that heads out to Long Lake, our current hunting ground.
“What? No! I just got off a shift,” she protests.
“Yeah, but you’re tough. A few hours, come on,” I reach out and grab her arm and start dragging her along the trail. She tries to yank her arm out of my grip and finds she’s unable to, while I continue to speak. “Look, Amelia, you want to get stronger, right? Protect people and all that jazz?”
“All that jazz? What are you? A ’50 crooner?” Ali next to me snorts.
“I… well… yes,” answering me, Amelia forgets about fighting me.
“Good, then come on. Only way to level up in this crazy ass world is to go all murder happy,” I suddenly chuckle and the three others stare at me as I begin to giggle, doing my best to explain. “Constable. Murder happy.”
“Baka!” Mikito mutters stomping pass me as I continue to giggle and pull Amelia along while she keeps casting very worried glances at me. She can’t escape my grip and after a while stops trying to which is good since I wasn’t really going to drag her the entire way. Only so much forcing I’m willing to do.
Amelia does well, though, by the time we pass the third hour, she’s nearly falling off her feet. I let her go then, smirking as I watch her glowing Status. Yeah, Level Up as promised. We escort her back of course and help drag the meat with us and when some guards hear about what we did, they quickly ask us to help out. For the next few hours, we cycle back and forth dropping off new low-level volunteers in our party, occasionally lending out weapons for them to use. Mostly we do our best to ensure they stay safe, though my Minor Heal spell comes into use more than once. After a quick discussion, we get an on-going agreement where we keep most of the Loot drops except three from the escorted parties. We leave them with a little since that’ll give them something to sell and buy in the Shop and at least helps pay for our time a bit.
Over the next few days, we spend most of the day playing escort for new guards and hunters, helping them slowly level up and learn to fight the monsters. With the three of us on-hand, we can keep even the Level 1’s safe which means we focus on bringing those volunteers with us as much as possible, giving them a quick level up. It’s slow going though - most of them don’t have the stamina that we have, at least until they get their first few levels. In the evenings though, Mikito, Richard and I spend time hunting by ourselves and learning how to fight together. It’s also when we can make the most money as we target bigger and nastier monsters.
Standing in the Shop, it feels like it has been ages since I’ve been in. I know exactly what I want to purchase this time though which is good because I don’t have that much to spend. Unfortunately, while fighting weaker monsters is great for our teamwork and the cooking pot, it doesn’t do much for our wallets.
To start, I pull up information about electromechanical force. The costs for simple, college level knowledge about the force is quite low, only a couple hundred credits. However, costs keep going up after that in leaps and bounds and there’s even a notation that leads me to information about the elemental affinity itself. My jaw drops at the price though – a million credits!?! Definitely buying the basic physics understanding of electromechanical force, I’ll leave the understanding of the affinity aside for when I’m rolling in riches. As it stands, I can, if I work real hard, actually feel the force for a brief 10-second window.
Since I’m thinking of spells, I spend a few minutes perusing the spell lists. I’ve been feeling rather naked without a ranged offensive option, though the only spell I can afford is something called ‘Mana Dart’. Not exactly thrilling and the details on the spell itself is less than inspiring.
Mana Dart
Effect: Creates a dart out of pure mana which can be directed to damage a target. Does 10 damage. Cooldown 10 seconds
Cost: 25 Mana
I could flick my finger at a monster and do more damage! Okay, probably an exaggeration and I guess it is a beginner offensive spell, which makes it one more offensive spell than I have and it’s ranged too. Still not thrilled but it’s better than nothing.
Noting that Ali is finally coming to a conclusion in his haggling from the tone of their voices, I skip over to what I came here to buy – a sidearm. I scan through the various options, finally selecting one that meets all my criteria.
Silversmith Mark II Beam Pistol (Upgradeable)
Base Damage: 18
Battery Capacity: 24/24
Recharge Rate: 2 per hour per GMU
Cost: 1,400 Credits
It’s not a great damage dealer, but the Silversmith can be upgraded which means that I’ll actually be able to use it in the future. It’s a good backup short-ranged weapon at least. As Ali concludes his haggling, he flicks the total over to me and I let out a low whistle. He might scream, shout and throw a tantrum, but his results are impressive. I still don’t have enough money to buy a Class Skill, not with the way my funds keep draining but at least now I’ve got more offensive weaponry.
Breakfast is sober in the morning. This is our first real test as a group, the Wexlix spiders significantly more dangerous than anything we’ve dealt with so far. On the other hand, the half dozen or so that I spotted shouldn’t be impossible. I’ve got my new pistol strapped to my thigh and I’m somewhat comfortable with it now after spending the previous evening practicing. I’m no crack shot, but I can hit a barn door at twenty paces.
Just as we’re about to leave, Lana moves to give Richard a particularly hard hug and whispers into his ear. Richard nods firmly while Mikito escapes from the culturally inappropriate touching by virtue of using her naginata. The two of them headed out, Lana corners me and pokes a finger into my chest, “Don’t you dare let my brother get injured, do you hear me?”
I nod, a slight smile twisting my lips, “Did you tell him to abandon us if it got too dangerous?”
She snorts, obviously not finding me amusing right now, “No. I told him not to die.”
Impulsively, I give her a hug and whisper, “I promise to send him running first if things get bad.”