Gary didn't expect the torch light to count as a shadow, but he did a flip and fell on his face for -1 HP the moment he came inside. Not only did it count as a shadow, he quickly found that the shadows from the 6 torches in the room stacked up to make his body totally wild and worse yet, the flicker of the torches made it nearly impossible to control.
Should I go find another place? No. I will be stuck with this stupid class for another 7 days so I better get used to it, especially because no one is here now. I have to get better so I can catch up with the others.
Gary took a few minutes to stretch and flex. His body didn't have stiff virtual muscles or anything, but the motions helped him get used to the feeling.
Slowly he started to adjust to his new body. It wasn't easy, but there was power in his movements. He could hear the wind whip around when moving fast and feel the power in his muscles.
While finishing his exercise, Gary noticed a goblin shift behind a rock. He didn't know if it was the only one, but he felt the time was right to test himself and learn to fight.
The goblin was pale green and bald with sickly baggy skin. It held a rock in one hand and the other had sharp, bloodstained and dirty claws. Its body was coved in scars and scrapes, as menacing as it was, it looked like it had just come from a fight and would die if a strong breeze caused it to fall over.
Gary took a step forward causing the air to stir. Even with his practice, he couldn't guess where the fire would dance, so it was tricky, but he could move.
The goblin shifted again, looking another direction.
Just a few steps more.
Gary clutched his dagger and took another lightning fast step. Then on the next step he slipped and kicked a stone. The stone whizzed across the air and slammed into the wall shattering into a sprinkle of rock dust.
"Nruh?" the goblin whipped its head at the wall followed by another goblin that Gary hadn't noticed before.
In a flash, Gary dove behind a dark piller before they could even turn their heads around and see where he was.
Both of the goblins stood up and carefully scanned the cave. One of them even quietly pointed at Gary and moved closer, but slowly with unfocused eyes.
Do they not see me in the dark?
Gary got ready to stab them if they charged and held his foot in the light to make sure he would keep the bonus power of the weird bug.
Is this bug abuse? It's not like I have a choice.
The goblins closed in, and even looked directly at Gary, but just continued to look around, until they finally notice Gary's foot in the light.
"Mugrglac neenac?" the goblin asked his friend while poking the shoe.
Can they only see in the light? Either way, I'm sure I will soon be exposed, so now is the time to strike.
Gary thrust forward with his knife plunging it right into the goblins head. He could feel a critical hit as the knife went in, though he couldn't understand how the feeling of a critical hit worked, there was just no other word for it.
Knifejuggler level up! 260% damage to knife attacks.
Nice. I'm getting stronger!
The goblin dropped dead at the other screeched and lunged, but its movement was sluggish compared to Gary who dove to the side and tripped the goblin.
While it was in the ground Gary had an easy time stabbing it with his knife at the spine. He let a satisfied smile creep up his face when he heard a small click.
I broke his spine. Goblins aren't so hard after all, are they?
But the smile dropped as he pulled back his knife handle. Only the handle. The blade was left inside the goblin. Gary blinked hard and looked at the handle of his expensive knife until a identification popped up.
Broken Bronze Dagger:
Damage: 0 Accuracy: 0 Durability: BROKEN Value: 0
A standard dagger made of bronze. Broken.
What the...? Value zero? It's useless now?
While Gary struggled to come to grips with his dagger's new status, the living goblin stood up and give him a hiss.
"Don't bother me now, you worthless thing!" Gary spat as he kicked wildly at its head.
Unfortunately, all of the practice Gary had done was forgotten in his frustration causing him to use his full power, kick way over the goblin's head and spin around to nearly fall on the ground.
The goblin took advantage of this and scrapped away -36 HP with its dirty claws across Gary's leg.
With a thought Gary found his hit point bar.
Hit Points: 32/100
One more hit like that and I'm dead. Is this area too much for me now? Well, not much left to lose.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Gary took a boxing pose and bounced around the room a little to get himself ready. The goblin lunged, but Gary side stepped and thrust his elbow down harshly feeling another critical hit from his elbow.
The goblin dusted itself off, but Gary didn't give it a chance to counter attack. He kicked harshly and smacked its head for another critical hit knocking it across the room.
The goblin got up yet again, but with a slight wobble. It hissed at Gary and tossed its rock, but Gary ducked and tackled the goblin.
With it held down he punched over and over, feeling a few critical hits from the goblin's head and neck. It finally died just in time for Gary to feel the effects of low stamina.
Wow. It was much more simple with the knife, but how will I get another?
Just then Gary saw something glitter from the belt of the goblin. Looking closer he found a coin pouch with a few coins inside on each of the goblins.
Gary counted out 6 copper coins between the two of them.
Is that all I get in return for my broken 63 copper coin dagger? What am I going to do now?
Gary stomped out of the cave and looked up to the sky.
"Didn't go so well down there?" The guard NPC asked.
"My weapon is broke and I'm out of money. Where can I fill up my hit points?" Gary asked without looking down at him.
"There's an inn that way-" the guard pointed stiffly. "-that will heal you for 25 copper, but it takes some time."
Gary winced at that price. He only had 43 coins total. He might have a chance to save up and get a new dagger, but not when healing cost so much.
Gary sighed while trying to figure out what to do.
"You know the rewards for my quest are not that good. It's just a decorative stone," the NPC told Gary, but it sparked an idea in Gary's head.
He had a Stonesmith class. Maybe he could make his own knife. He would only have to have it count as a knife to gain his bonus from the Knifejuggler class.
It's worth a try, right?
With a quick jog down to the cave, only almost falling once, he grabbed a small pile of stones and returned to the sun were he could control his body better.
Stupid buggy game. Why can't you program shadows that leave me alone?
Shadowedger level up!
30% bonus to agility when the threshold of a shadow is cast across your body.
30% stealth for the part of your body covered in shadow.
30% physical and magical power for the part of your body covered in light.
Gary's face lit up at the level up messages, but his excitement quickly died down after thinking for a moment.
Oh, of course it was this class and not a bug. Wait... I have just started to get used to moving at an extra 25% and now you expect me to re-learn everything? Where is the level down option?
With a groan Gary plopped down and started banging rocks together in a crude attempt to make a stone weapon.
After a few minutes of work Gary had something resembling a knife. The handle looked uncomfortable, but the blade was sharp enough to cut. At least if you press hard. Gary inspected his work in the hopes it would qualify.
Decorative Granite Dagger:
Damage: 1 Accuracy: 0 Durability: 1/1 Value: 0
This crude decorative weapon has a handle totally unfit for combat.
Why is the description so harsh? It's my first try, ok?! Anyway, this has a damage of 1 and it's called a dagger. Maybe this will work for a hit or two?
Gary carved out seven more daggers, though one of them just came out as a "lump of granite" so he tossed it on the ground.
Next he ran off to the inn. The building had an unmistakable sign with a moon and bed and it had a cozy warm light coming out of the windows. Gary grumbled when he thought of the flickering shadows of a fire, but he managed to control his body well enough to walk inside without any players commenting.
"Welcome traveler!" a thin NPC with a giant mustach said the moment the door opened. He then stood perfectly still by the counter. There was a fireplace and some chairs with a group of players chatting, but Gary had no interest in them.
There was a wooden sign with "25c per rest" carved into it.
"Hello. How is the NPC life treating you?" Gary said and counted out 25 coins. Some of the players gave him a look, but he ignored them.
Just how well can the A.I. in this game understand things anyway? This is the future after all.
The NPC laughed. "Good! Good! I actually got a message about you from my friend, Granite Cave Guard One. He liked you. I do too. Tell you what. How about I lower that price down to 22 copper coins for you?" He said and waved his hand over the coins leaving three behind.
At this point, every coin was precious to Gary. He even got a little moist in the eyes while taking them. "Than-"
"DID YOU SEE THAT?" one of the players shouted as they all stood up.
"Did you know you can get bonuses by being nice to NPCs?" another asked.
"Was that some special quest? How did you trigger that?" another asked Gary.
"I don't know." Gary shrunk back while grabbing the keys to his room.
"Innkeep!" the first guy stuck a finger in his face. "What are the conditions for that bonus? Is that discount permanent?"
"I like him so the discount will remain as long as I like him," the NPC calmly said.
Gary utilized the shadows to quickly run down the hall and find his room even as they shouted for him to wait. He wanted nothing to do with other players for a while.
With a sigh Gary locked the door and took stock of the rustic room. The bed had bits of straw sticking out of it and looked authentically uncomfortable, but he felt no real need to sit or lay. The windows didn't make sense. He knew there was a room to his right, but he had a clear view out to the town. Gary pulled the curtains of both windows before anyone saw him.
The only thing that didn't look like a medieval inn was the bright white digital clock face showing 30 minutes.
Why didn't I bring some rocks with me? Maybe I should send a message to Mikey and see how he is doing? He could probably give me some good tips to get cash.
Message to user Mike_Armani Hey. How are you enjoying the game? These NPCs are really cool. One of them gave me a discount, but I'm having some trouble getting cash, the monsters don't drop much. Can you give me some tips?
While Gary waited for a reply, he lit a candle and covered the clock to allow him to adjust to his new bonus.
With a tricky moving shadow flickering around the room, Gary practiced staying either mostly in the shadow for the bonus to stealth, or mostly in the light for the bonus to his power. He pretended to fight slimes and goblins, but especially he pretended to wipe the cruel grins from the laughing faces of thoughtless people.
Finally getting used to this again! I will be strong!
Shadowedger level up! 35% bonus to agility when the threshold of a shadow is cast across your body. 35% stealth for the part of your body covered in shadow. 35% physical and magical power for the part of your body covered in light.