Chapter 5
A rusted axe flew in from our right and buried itself into Mie’s side. Blood sprayed against my face. She screamed a sharp note, then bellowed, “HOLY BALLS THAT HURTS!” She grabbed at the axe but flinched when she touched it. “OH MY GOD. IM DYING!”
I stumbled back, falling onto the ground, trying to wipe blood out of my eyes. Despite my blurred sight I registered Mie’s health bar, which appeared right above her as well as up next to her face in the upper left of my vision next to a little icon of her golden face. The health bar was showing two thirds full. Right below it, I could see a blue bar. Her mana bar? It looked like a quick view of my party members. But hadn’t her nameplate turned red? My own red—I assumed—health bar appeared at the bottom center of my vision on top of a green bar. My instinct and experience told me that was probably some kind of energy or stamina bar.
Clearing my vision, I took stock. I looked in the direction the axe had come from, and the troll-looking creature who had thrown it was looking around left to right, another axe in hand but unsure of what to do next.
Okay. That’s our target.
A two-handed broadsword swung by a tall elf cleaved off the troll’s head. Blood spurted northward from his corpse as it flopped sideways. His health bar grayed out, then vanished.
That guy’s head . . . just came off.
9/10 players remaining
I got to my feet. “Mie, can you heal yourself?!”
Through gritted teeth she said, “Does it FUCKING look like it?”
But I barely heard her as absolute chaos ensued. A bio mech appeared in front of me flailing a two-handed sword. From my left, an arrow whizzed past where my head had just been and pierced through my pointed elf ear. The pain was massive. Like the entire side of my head had just been smashed into a sharp brick corner. I clasped at my ear while blood came through my fingers. Another arrow took me in the shoulder. Pain slammed into me, and I saw my health drop a third.
However, despite the pain, I found my head relatively clear, like my conscious mind was still able to process thoughts. There was still pain, but I could still think with a mostly clear head. It wasn’t normal. I remembered quite clearly the feeling of stubbing my toe on Earth. The world itself would become pain, and that was all there was. But here, I could think through it. If I had been shot by an arrow on Earth, I would be on the ground . . . probably passed out.
I ducked as the bio mech’s two-handed sword swept over me. As I mentally focused on the mech, a red circle appeared at his feet indicating I had targeted him. I gripped my spear. I had never used a weapon in this capacity—to harm someone—and I was surprised when I naturally thrust forward with it after making the decision to attack. I thought of the motion as a Basic Attack. The spear punctured into the mech’s fleshy stomach, and a debuff appeared over him as I ripped it back out. I took a couple steps backward in horror at how easy and almost unintentional that was. A debuff with the icon of a red drop appeared over the mech’s head. I inspected it, and a little informational window popped up next to it.
{Major Bleed}
Description: -5 health per second for 10 seconds. This effect can stack up to 20 times.
The mech’s health bar dropped to a quarter remaining, and it made me think that hit location mattered here. Of course a blow to the stomach would deal heavy damage. This was real. More than anything, that thought finally spiked my adrenaline. My pain took a back seat as the chemical flowed through my veins. The mech had dropped his sword and clasped at his stomach in shock and pain as he stumbled backward.
While he backed away, I ducked another arrow and looked in the direction it had come from, finding its source. Two archers on the opposite side of the dome-covered event area were ignoring each other and firing away at everyone else in a semblance of a truce. I saw them pull back their bows. Another pair of arrows flew. I was able to dodge one, but Mie was slower and took a hit to the thigh. She . . . screamed. Her health dropped down to a third remaining.
I pushed her in the direction of a large boulder to get to cover. In our view, a short gnome popped up out of some longer grass behind a green goblin who was unaware of him.
I inspected the gnome.
Mike#9018077718290182712893
Level 0 Gnome
God. Why are there so many people named Mike? The gnome pulled a blunderbuss off his back, targeted the goblin. And fired. The goblin’s entire top half . . . exploded. His health dropped to zero, and the remaining bottom half of his corpse just sort of collapsed as if it were casually sitting down. Then it flopped backward.
“What the hell?!” Mie yelled as we rushed forward. “There are GUNS? AND I HAVE A STICK?”
I briefly saw the gnome’s level go from level zero to one right before I crashed into him—Mie close behind. We rolled in the soft grass, and his small figure squirmed like a little chipmunk in my grasp. This close, his features seemed familiar. It felt like I should know him.
Then I realized . . . it was him.
The gunman who had killed me.
“YOU!” I said as anger rose up within me like a swelling tide. My spear had dropped during the impact, so I grabbed his shoulder and buried my fist into his wide-eyed face.
His nose broke.
It was this idiots fault—I punched him again—I was dead—blood poured from his upper lip—and he’d put my daughters life in danger. I punched him again, and his head snapped back. I watched as little white numbers floated over his head. There was a seven, an eight, and a ten.
A thought registered. Lily. If she died . . . The system had mentioned location was based off time of death.
I looked around frantically. Looking for her face among the combatants. There were only a couple in sight now, and neither of them were her.
A white ring flew out of Mike’s hands like a frisbee. It fell into the middle of the event area. I brought my attention back to him, drew my hand back, and punched toward his head once more, but before my fist made contact, an ice blue plane of what felt like glass appeared below my feet. CRACK! My weight broke it, and suddenly I found myself in the middle of the event area. He had just teleported me with some sort of trap ability.
“Oh shit!” I said.
I scrambled back toward the rock in a panic. Two arrows narrowly missed me as I sprinted.
Mie swung her massive staff at Mike, hitting him squarely in the head. A transparent layer of blue encased his whole body, and it looked like he had been frozen in place. Also, an icon that showed a blue explosion appeared over his health bar with a little number two next to it. White text also floated up.
{Stunned} for 2 seconds
I inspected that stunned debuff.
{Stunned}
Description: Target cannot move or perform any action unless otherwise stated.
I reached them and I knew I had questions for this bastard, but there was no time. In one motion, I rolled to my spear, picking it up as I went, drew back my arm, and pinned him to the soft earth through the eye. His health bar fell to zero as his body went limp.
I just killed . . . someone.
But . . . he probably had life credits . . . right?
Why did I care? He had killed me. Mie threw me a ‘what the hell is going on?’ look as we both positioned ourselves behind the boulder, staying low to avoid the steady stream of arrows. I glanced at my log.
8/10 players remaining
7/10 players remaining
6/10 players remaining
You received 25 XP!
You reached Level 1!
You unlocked the ability {Vaulting Strike}
Adrenaline and anger continued to throb within me as I took a look at that ability. It appeared in a little hotkey action bar at the bottom of my vision.
Active ability: {Vaulting Strike}
Description: You jump forward, striking at your enemy.
Maximum distance: 10 feet
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Critical strike chance: +25%
Cost: 40 Stamina. Scales with player level
Cooldown: 10 seconds
I glanced around the hilltop over our cover. The two archers had bows ready but had no targets. To our right was the sword-wielding elf and an axe-wielding human. They were locked in combat trading blows behind an even larger boulder.
“Did you level up?” I asked.
“Yeah, and I got an ability. It’s a full heal, but it takes up all my mana and has a five-minute cool down,” Mie rattled off quickly.
“What are you doing?! Use it on yourself!” I said.
“Dude. Chill,” she said. Then she raised her staff. A circular golden pane of light fell though her, and then the axe dropped out of her side, the wound sealing behind. The arrow pushed itself out, too, and I saw her noticeably relax as her distress faded away through our bond. I checked her health, which was back to max, but her mana had dropped to zero and was ticking up at a very slow rate. I looked over at the two players behind the rock and saw the elf glance our way, hold up a hand to the human, then point toward us, indicating they should team up. Both looked in rough condition; I noted an arrow in each. The human nodded in agreement and turned our way.
Blood sprayed over the elf’s torso as his sword became visible to me through the human’s chest.
5/10 players remaining
“That was pretty low,” I muttered, the fire within me grew hot as if it had just been stoked. This guy had no honor. My voice was thick as I said, “Fuck that guy.” I broke the arrow shaft off that was still sticking into my shoulder and tossed it into the dirt.
If Lily is here among backstabbing assholes—no. I took a deep breath. I need to focus.
Mie nodded her agreement and whispered, “What a dummy. Now he’s solo. Should I shove my staff up his butthole?”
I paused, the comment breaking through the blazing wall of red. “That’s what you lead with? Staff to the butthole?”
“Not to. Up. But yeah, I mean, what else would make that guy’s life miserable?”
“True. Okay then. That’s option one. Option two—” I cut off as I realized Mie had started running toward the elf. She was now completely out in the open. She got hit by an arrow in the arm, and another whizzed over her head. With no other good option, I sprinted after her.
She reached the sword-wielding elf and took a swing with her staff. The elf seemed caught off guard at the sudden charge. I couldn’t blame him. I was too! He had to step back to avoid the blow, but his sword had a long reach. He swung in a wide arch, and Mie’s arm—her non-staff wielding one—went flying off. A large chunk of her health fell away.
Blood began spilling out of her severed stump. I noticed the same Major Bleed debuff I had seen earlier appear above her head. She stumbled back—screaming once again—as I reached them. I targeted the elf and activated my Vaulting Strike ability for the first time. A timer appeared over the ability as it went on cooldown while my body sort of just . . . knew what to do. I took a couple big steps forward, and I power jumped up some ten feet—higher than I thought possible—and then I darted, spear first, at the elf. I brought my arm back and thrust my spear down at his head and met . . . nothing. I hit the ground and did a summersault to my feet.
The elf had activated some sort of quick dodge ability. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. I looked behind me and saw his sword coming down toward my neck. Mie was there, her staff raised and blocked the blow. I spun, thrusting my spear forward again and punched it into the elf’s chest. His eyes went wide as he fell to his knees, his health bar showing just a sliver of red. I twisted the spear . . . and ripped it out.
He dropped dead, and once again, I dealt with the fact that . . . I had just . . . killed someone. But it’s fine, I reminded myself again. They have life credits still. . . for now.
4/10 players remaining
“Don’t,” I said, breathing hard while I addressed Mie, “just go running off without a plan! But. Good job.” She was groaning and holding her stump. I glanced at her health; it had dropped dangerously low after the bleed debuff had run its course. “Your health is low . . . and your arm . . . is over there.” I gestured over to the limb that had come to rest in the grass. I felt her anxiety spike. I couldn’t blame her. I had no idea what would happen if she died. Does she have life credits too? Are we actually partied? Is anyone else? Does she even count as a player? We still knew nothing about who she really was, or why we had this strange connection, and no one had offered us any explanation. I glanced over the large rock, jumping a little to do so, and saw the two archers spreading out, each slowly approaching our flanks.
“Ah shit. Mie, they are coming. We don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t think we are both going to make it out of this. I will find you if this turns south. I promise.”
Before they came fully into view, and, as we turned to face them, I heard her imitate my voice through gritted teeth. “ ‘Oh my god, Mie. I love you. I’ll come find you and do perverted things to you.’ ”
Vaulting Strike refreshed, and I grinned at the absurdity of her joke as I activated it. I soared, coming down hard on the woodland archer. I stabbed him right in the temple, and his health zeroed out. The guy was squishy.
You received 25 XP!
3/10 players remaining
I turned to see Mie running at the other archer who looked to be some kind of green-skinned orc. The archer’s bow was drawn. THUNK. The arrow took her through the eye.
Her health dropped to zero.
2/10 players remaining
My abs clenched as I saw her party icon gray out, and the red fire inside of me threatened to return. In my upper right, I noticed my life credits tick down by one. Well fuck . . . at least she’s still alive. I kept the rock in between myself and the remaining archer, using it to my advantage. I let the fire rage inside of me as I waited until my Vaulting Strike ability reset. Once it had, I rushed him, targeting him as I went, then activated my ability once more. He released an arrow that passed under me as I reached my apex. And just like the woodland elf, I speared him through the temple as I came down on top of him. This time the number that floated off the dead orc was a lot greater than my other hits, and yellow instead of white. I guess that was a crit? I landed on one knee.
1/10 players remaining
Entry Event complete
I pulled my spear out of the guy’s . . . head, stood up, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. I’m still alive. I had somehow pulled that off.
Holy.
Shit.
I glanced at my logs. It had been spewing information out constantly, but I caught some important bits.
You received 25 XP!
You reached Level 2!
You unlocked the ability {Sweeping Strike}
Active Ability: {Sweeping Strike}
Description: When performing a sweep with the spear, your arm and spear strengthen, becoming hard to block. Successful hits deal damage based on your level and physical attack. Causes {Rooted} for 5 seconds.
Cost: 50 Stamina. Scales with player level
Cooldown: 10 seconds
I took a look at that rooted effect.
{Rooted}
Description: Target is unable to change their physical location but may still perform any non-movement action.
That was an interesting mechanic and I was curious to try it out, but more lines were still appearing in my system feed.
Congratulations, you unlocked the location {Hearth}!
Congratulations, you survived entry to Hearth, awarding {Beginners Chest}!
The description of the chest was generic as I inspected its text in my feed, and while looking for where I could find it in my interface, I noticed a few new icons. They were nicely laid out in the bottom right of my vision.
I looked at one that looked like a backpack that was labeled ‘Inventory’ and mentally selected it. A familiar grid of inventory slots appeared. There was an infinity symbol in the upper right which I assumed meant the inventory didn’t have any sort of weight or count capacity.
I looked at my items. I saw the bread and the water, but no Beginners Chest. My adrenaline was wearing off, and an ache throbbed from the broken arrow still sticking into my shoulder. I mentally selected one of the breads and was pleasantly surprised to see it appear in my hand. Curious, I toggled the menu off, then thought about storing the bread. It popped away, now stored back in my inventory. Huh. That’s nice.
I got the bread back out by thinking about it, and it popped back into my hand. I inspected it.
{Basic Loaf}
Description: Heals 100 health over 1 minute when out of combat.
I tore it in half and noticed some steam come off it. It was warm. I took a bite, and it was incredible. Fresh and moist. Light and salty with a touch of sweet. It smelled like Sunday afternoon, and I lost myself, enjoying every bite.
Once I finished, my health was back to full, the arrow had slipped from my shoulder painlessly, the wound sealed itself, and I felt normal once more.
I took a deep breath and realized just how much tension I had been holding. I relaxed my arms and shoulders and took a more thorough look around. The corpses of the dead players were still strewn about the hilltop. I went to each corpse one at a time, and after turning them all over, I verified that none of them were Lily. Thank God.
I noticed a couple changes in the event area as well. The purple wall had disappeared, indicating I could now leave, and I also found the chest.
It stood plain and simple in the middle of the arena. I walked toward it, its details becoming more visible. It was a small sturdy box about the size of one of those plastic storage bins I had back home. It had a metal latch that I flipped up with my foot. The lid popped open, and immediately I noticed a green light shining and flickering as if it was physical. Like a firework of green, minus the noise. I tried to glance inside but couldn’t. I mentally inspected the chest and found a similar looking grid interface with a few items. There were a couple options, and I selected the {Loot All} option as my log updated.
You received {Silver Coin} x30
You received {Basic Loaf} x20
You received {Unfiltered Water} x20
You received {Weak Health Potion} x2
You received {Ring of The Sole Survivor}
I took a look at the ring.
{Ring of The Sole Survivor}
Rank: Uncommon
Grade: Stellar
Slot: Finger
+3%-7% Health Regeneration per second
I didn’t know if that was good, but it certainly felt good. I popped the ring out of my inventory and slipped it onto my index finger. It fit perfectly. I mentally selected yet another icon that had appeared called ‘Equipment’ and another window popped up in front of me. It was transparent like all the windows had been so far, so I wasn’t too worried about it obstructing my senses. But focusing on anything other than my surroundings made me uneasy.
My character stood tall in three dimensions, and all my available equipment slots surrounded me. It was a familiar interface to me, but I took a quick once-over to make sure there wasn’t anything unusual. There were the normal slots for head, shoulders, back, arms, wrists, hands, chest, legs, shins, feet, main hand and off hand. The main hand was filled with the broken spear I started with. Then there were the two ring slots, one which was now filled, and a slot for a necklace. There was also an undergear slot, which I was happy to see was filled with a pair of basic boxers.
I closed that interface. I should’ve felt excited. This was everything I had ever wanted in a game. And the game had come to life. The interfaces were smooth, the combat realistic, the graphics . . . I looked around . . . incredible.
But . . . I felt dead inside.
I . . . am dead.
This . . . is real. And now . . . it is my life.
The sun was nearing the horizon, and pink and purple clouds painted across the sky. The wind brought the scent of grass and iron from all the blood. It looked and felt like the real world. Maybe a touch more fanciful and majestic, but it looked normal.
I remembered the blunderbuss blowing off the top of the goblin, the teleportation trap whisking me away, and the forest elf’s quick dodge . . . Jesus Christ. I got extremely lucky winning that entry event. Moving forward . . . I need a plan. I need to get stronger. I need—I cut off my thought process as I noticed another icon show up to the left of my life credits. The icon was one of those triple stacked people icons. My stomach dropped, and I felt my throat tighten as I inspected the new metric.
Players Remaining: 1,000,000
Life Credits: 4
Two—no three—very unpleasant things hit me at once.
I was in a massive battle for survival.
My life credits . . . had just dropped by one, I assumed due to my mysterious connection with Mie . . .
And maybe worst of all . . .
I was absolutely alone.