Ritualist Page 6

  “Sorry about that, but now I can at least heal you. Need that quest progress!” Joe poked her on the neck and let icy water wash down her back. She yelped louder than when she had been bit, and viciously took out her rage on the next fox. As it died, a message sprung into Joe’s vision.

  Playing your fake role I: 1/5 complete.

  “Nice! Just need to heal y’all four more times. Who wants to take one for the team?” Joe looked around expectantly. No one met his gaze except a glaring Tiona.

  “You realize that it actually hurts to get bit, clawed, or bludgeoned, right?” Her eyebrow was twitching.

  “Well, yeah, but…”

  “No buts!” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “It’s obvious you haven’t taken damage yet or else you wouldn’t be excitedly telling someone else to get hurt for you. This is one of those quests we aren’t going to rush for you. We get hurt plenty, just wait until it happens naturally.”

  Joe hung his head. “Sorry guys, I wasn’t thinking about that.”

  “Not a problem, buddy.” Dylan slapped Joe on the back. “Just remember that to anyone who is in a capsule, this is real life until their contract is up. Pain hurts, and dying is avoided if at all possible. Think like that, and you are good. Play like it isn’t a game.”

  Dylan's words put Joe’s situation in perspective perfectly. As a medic, he would have never wanted someone to get hurt so he could practice on them. His whole career was based on prevention of injury and getting people back on their feet as soon as possible. This was his new life; for all he knew, his body had already been incinerated. He needed to treat this as real life, and from now on, he would.

  “Anyway, we are almost to the wolves. They hunt in small packs, so our defenses need to be perfect,” Tiona changed the subject when she was satisfied that she saw real remorse in Joe’s eyes. “We cut through the most narrow fox area, so be prepared to fight.”

  They walked around for a few minutes, looking for any signs of movement. The further they moved from the city, the slower they moved. Dylan gave a great heaving sigh and groaned, “Where are the stupid things?”

  His words seemed to be a trigger, because a wolf pounced at him from a bush and clamped its jaws around Dylan’s leg. With a snarl and a sharp jerk, the leg was twisted and dislocated with a loud *pop*. Dylan howled with pain as the remaining members of his group attacked the creature. Tiona was the only one with experience fighting wolves, so while the others were focused on helping Dylan, she turned and swung blindly behind them. Her sword impacted a leaping canine, which yelped and fell to the ground with a chunk of fur torn off of it. Taking advantage of its helpless state, she stabbed down through its chest to execute the creature.

  Joe was so surprised that he forgot to heal right away and instead swung his scepter at the wolf holding Dylan. *Bonk*. A damage indicator showing a red zero popped up over the animal, meaning that his most vicious strike directly to the head… was utterly useless.

  “I need healing!” Dylan gasped, breathless from pain. The wolf was dead–killed by the other party members–but its jaw was still locked around his leg. Tiona and the others circled around Dylan as two more wolves revealed their presence.

  Joe dropped to his knees and worked on pulling the teeth out of Dylan’s leg. A wash of fresh blood poured from the now-open wound, and Joe wrapped his hand around the holes to keep pressure on the leg. With his other hand he made a quick gesture, and water washed over the blood, leaving behind clean, unblemished skin. After twisting his leg into the socket, it took two more uses of his healing abilities before Dylan could use his leg again. By the time they stood up, the fight was over.

  Playing your fake role I: 2/5 complete. Exp: 48 (Wolf x4).

  Skill gained: Medic (Novice I). Don’t have access to a healer? Patch wounds together the best you can! This skill increases efficiency of bandages, medicines, and potions by 1% per skill level.

  “No one else even got hurt! Why is it always you? Maybe you should just give in to fate and become a tank.” The group’s archer elbowed Dylan good-naturedly as Tiona worked to skin the dead animals. “You know, intentionally draw in the attacks that are coming to you anyway.”

  “I have no idea why it happens! Maybe I just taste good,” Dylan rebutted wearily. Screaming in pain was tiring. “Also, no. Who wants to be a tank? Stand on the front line and take all the damage? Can you even imagine how much that will suck when someone is chucking a fireball at you? I don’t look forward to burning to death or cooking inside my armor as it melts onto me.”

  “Some people choose to be tanks… some tanks are chosen. I think you are one of the chosen. Just ignore perception and put everything into constitution!” the archer demanded cheekily.

  “Let him build his own character.” Tiona stood up and pointed at a pile of fur. “Let’s find a good spot to store these and keep hunting; we can skin them later. Wolf fur is good for armor, so it’ll sell nicely back in town.”

  ~ Chapter Seven ~

  They were able to hunt down two more wolf packs before everyone judged that it was time to head back. According to Dylan, being caught out of town at night was a death sentence no matter what level you were at. They started walking back to the city as Joe looked over his gains from the hunting trip. He had gained another ninety-six experience from his part in killing wolves but still hadn’t ranked any of his skill above novice level one. Trying to understand why, Joe asked Tiona what he had to do to rank them up.

  “Well, to boost skills you need to use them over and over or study how to use them better. There is a common saying that to be a Master of the sword, you need to have ten thousand hours of combat. If that holds true here, imagine what it takes to become a Grandmaster or a Sage!” Tiona shook her head in wonder. “Also, if you are good at the skill already, it will level a whole lot faster. A five-star cook in real life apparently has his cooking skill to journeyman already. Supposedly it is so the game will appeal to a wider variety of people; not everyone is a combat fanatic like I am. Now, there is another way to increase skills, but it is almost as hard.”

  “What is it?”

  “Leveling!” She laughed at his incredulous look. “At every level you get at least one skill point. Some people have said that they got more than one, but there is no way to know how they did it. You can spend a skill point on any skill to instantly increase it by one, but I think it is a much better idea to hoard those points until you really need them. Why bother using them on a novice skill?”

  “One skill point per level? That’s absurd!” Joe thought about how many skills and spell he already had. It would take him until level eighty to get one of his skills to Sage rank!

  “You can sometimes get skill points from quest rewards, from being the first to find an area, or doing special actions. It is really hard to say how hard it will actually be to-”

  Joe was driven to the ground as a wolf the size of a small horse landed on him. A savage bite tore into him as his teammates screamed. They charged at the wolf as it howled in triumph. A very dazed Joe looked at the text floating in front of his eyes as he struggled to move in spite of the pain.

  Sneak attack by Dire Wolf! Double damage inflicted! -60 health! Undying robe effect triggered! Health set to 1! Bleeding: -5 health per ten seconds! Stunned for 5 seconds! 4… 3…

  This was a good example of being non-realistic: though he was at only one hit point, he was still able to function so long as he could fight through the crippling pain. Joe waited for the stun effect to fade, mouth moving like a fish as he tried to gasp for air. The agony was almost unbearable, but the fact that he couldn’t move was what was really terrifying him. He would never go back to being a quadriplegic! As soon as he could move again, the pain intensified further. Joe moved his hands, and forced his spell to activate.

  Lay on hands: Health +10. Bleed effect: Health -5. Heal: Health +5. Lay on hands: Health +10.

  He was able to outpace the bleed effect with his healing, and twelve seconds later, he
was back to full health. There was a small benefit to having almost no constitution; he could get back on his feet much faster than a normal, beefy character. He surveyed the battle, noting that almost all of his teammates were heavily injured. If the sneak attack had done double damage to him… that meant that a normal attack could do thirty damage? With a normal constitution, this meant that each person could take three attacks before dying. He hurried to join combat, but decided to keep his distance. Joe started hurling balls of healing water, boosting his target’s health by five points every few seconds.

  Tiona moved like a terrifying force of nature: twisting around attacks, bending at odd angles, and stabbing into exposed weak points with perfect timing. Her movements were graceful, but no matter how hard she tried, she was still taking damage every few seconds. Though she was usually able to avoid the main attack, she was still nicked by claws or teeth. This enemy was simply that strong and agile.

  Joe fired off his healing spells as fast as possible and would have continued doing so if the creature’s rage-filled gaze hadn’t snapped to him. With a snarl, it charged past the other members and made a beeline for the healer. Just before the ball of fur, teeth, and fury reached him, Dylan barreled into the animal’s side and knocked it over. The wolf was back on its feet in a flash, but now its focus was riveted on Dylan.

  “Damn it, I am a tank!” Dylan griped as he stabbed the wolf. Joe used the distraction to run around the fight and heal Tiona. After two uses of healing spells, Tiona rushed back into the battle. With the team getting healed each time the spell was off cooldown, the fight quickly drew to a close. A well-timed arrow *thunked* into the heart of the great animal, and it finally fell with a mournful howl.

  Zone alert! Members of the guild The Wanderers have killed a local [animal] field boss! For the next twenty-four hours, all wolves–having lost their protector–will take 20% bonus damage! The Wanderers guild gains +20 fame with the city of Ardania!

  The area alert faded, leaving only the reward for the battle in Joe’s view.

  For being the first to vanquish the field boss [Silver Dire Wolf] you gain +1 skill point and +50 personal and guild fame with Ardania. Return the pelt of the fallen animal to the town guard for a monetary reward! Exp: 150. For fighting through pain and saving yourself from otherwise certain death through sheer willpower, Wisdom +1.

  Joe made a choking sound as he was engulfed in light. Euphoria flooded through him, and he levitated an inch off the ground. There was a soundless explosion, and Joe dropped to the ground completely refreshed. Even his clothes were clean! He looked around to see two other members of the party dropping to the ground as well, goofy smiles playing across their faces.

  “I love leveling up.” Dylan gave a shudder of happiness and looked at the massive wolf. “We need to hurry, it’s already getting dark.”

  “I’m on it.” Tiona started skinning the wolf, trying to keep the fur as intact as possible. “Someone collect the meat as I go, it’ll make it easier to flip over, and I bet Dire Wolf meat will sell for a good price. I’d eat it.”

  “Same. Sounds exotic,” the archer responded greedily.

  “You realize you are talking about eating dog, right?” Dylan sent a queer look at the pile of meat that was swiftly growing.

  Joe sat on the ground and exhaled softly. That had been way too close. His mind was frazzled, and his thoughts were fuzzy. He wanted to sleep. Joe reached out and plucked a flower growing next to him, twirling it in his hand and smelling it.

  New skill gained! Herbalism (Novice I). Plant? What plant? All you see is ingredients! Whether they are for dinner or for creating potions is up to you! Usable raw plants are 1% easier to find, 1% easier to process, and have 1% greater effect per skill level!

  Joe continued looking at the plant in his hand, and it did indeed seem a tiny bit more distinctive. Without the notice, he would have chalked it up to not looking at it properly beforehand. He stared at the flower, trying to figure out what it was. The pop-up bar over the plant only showed question marks as his knowledge check failed, so Joe simply shrugged and put the plant into his pocket. He really needed to get a bag.

  “Ready to go, cleric?”

  Looking up, Joe noticed that the archer was holding a hand out to him. “Sure thing, archer. What’s your name, by the way?”

  “XSnipeMasterX.”

  “I’m not calling you that.”

  “Then call me Chad.” The archer grinned at him.

  “That’s almost as bad!” Joe chuckled at the grinning ranger as they walked through the slowly darkening forest.

  Joe was the only person not carrying either a load of meat or pelts. He had tried to, but the stamina drain was so severe that he had only been able to take a few steps at a time with a single pelt before needing to recover or risk collapsing. Tiona had loaded his burden onto Dylan, stating that ‘if he were more weighed down, he would do fewer stupid things’. Now moving at as frantic of a pace as Joe could maintain, the group swiftly retraced their steps to the town. Joe was having an easier time of it since not only was he unburdened, his class ability of darkvision made sure that he never stumbled on the roots and stones hidden by the encroaching darkness. Most of the animals they would have normally had to face were hiding, burrowed away from the dangers of night.

  The group entered town with grins on their faces, relieved to have made it before the gates were locked. That would have been an almost assured death sentence. They turned in their quest, gaining three gold and ninety silver coins for the pelt of the Dire wolf. Joe was disappointed at first, but the ecstatic faces of his groupmates assured him that the reward was a good one. As they talked about how they were going to spend their shares, he didn’t have the heart to tell them that he could likely buy a small town with his bank account. They made their way back to their tavern just as the gates *boomed*, signaling that they had been barred for the night.

  No one was outside to see a few rotting rabbits begin to twitch.

  ~ Chapter Eight ~

  “Wake up!” Joe howled as a cup of cold water was tossed on him, causing him to launch himself from the bed. His stamina instantly drained from that maneuver, and he ignobly collapsed into a pile on the floor.

  “Why!” he sputtered at the grinning Tiona as he tried to use the bed to pull himself to his feet. “How did you even get in here? I rented this room!”

  “So? How would that stop anyone from getting in? You didn’t even bother to lock the door!” She wagged a finger at him admonishingly. “You were supposed to stop thinking of this as a game, remember? As for why, well… you are just going to have to see it to believe it. Hurry up, it’s a beautiful morning.” They went downstairs where a beaming guild master was turning his brightest smile on Joe.

  “What’s up with him?” Joe was feeling distinctly uncomfortable from the creepy look. That smile was intense enough to classify as a light-based weapon.

  “You remember how we killed the Dire Wolf last night and we got reputation for the guild? That’s what the smile is for. We need to be at least ‘friend’ level reputation to get an official Guildhall in the city. Getting a leg up on the competition is great because there can only be four official Guildhalls in the city. The first four to do so will get the title ‘Noble Guild’ and have access to elite quests for the Kingdom.” Tiona shrugged as if this was inconsequential and pointed at a bowl of food. She waited until he started to chow down before continuing to speak.

  “Eat fast, we need you right away. Oh, and did you look over your stats after leveling? You should have gotten a little stronger and gotten at least one skill point. I wouldn’t recommend using it until you know how you want to build yourself, but feel free to ruin your character. The best way to see any changes is to say ‘delta status’. That will let you see only the changes on your sheet instead of a wall of text you can’t see through.”

  Joe nodded at her and quickly intoned the words ‘delta status’. As he looked at the tiny window, he found that he was rath
er cheerful not to have to slog through an exhausting list.

  Intelligence: 16 to 17

  Wisdom: 16 to 18 (Level +1 for feat of willpower)

  Perception: 18 to 19

  Unused skill points: 1 to 6 (Level +1 for boss kill bonus)

  As expected, intelligence, wisdom, and perception increased by one while the others didn’t budge, but when he glanced at his skill points, he nearly choked on his admittedly dry bread. He had six points! Six of them! He got one point from the wolf boss so did that mean he gained four points from leveling? Joe tore through his menus until he arrived at his class description, and his eyes lit up when he read the words, ‘they gain skill in their chosen pursuits at four times the speed of an average human, due to their vast thirst for power’.

  He wanted to shout for joy, but he knew that if he disclosed this information in public he would likely be killed by other players out of jealousy. Doing his best to calm himself, he reached his hand toward his skill sheet. He shivered, feeling entirely too frustrated. Joe was itching to spend a couple points on his spells, and only Tiona’s rather timely warnings about waiting kept him from becoming a miracle healer overnight.

  After finishing his breakfast, he was led to the gates by a grinning Tiona. The other party members looked a bit leery but followed quietly. Stopping just before leaving town, she pointed at the field of rabbits. “Take a look, let me know what you see.”

  Joe glanced at the beautiful landscape, and his perception-enhanced eyes instantly locked onto a hopping oddity. What was wrong with that rabbit? Just as he realized the truth, a screen appeared in his vision.

  New zone quest: ‘Waste not…’ The innumerable bodies left lying in the open have allowed a dark corruption to take hold of the rabbit population! They aren’t that smart, but they are hopping mad and hungry! Kill all zombie rabbits around Ardania before the normal rabbit population is converted to the undead. Time remaining: thirty-six hours, twenty three minutes! Reward: Reputation based on contribution. Failure: the area will slowly convert to dead lands. Animals will starve and become much more vicious.