Kit’s heart was thumping with fear, frustration and hope. His eyes were glued to the silver haired necromancer that would either be their saviour or their destruction. If Peaches spell failed, everyone down below would perish.
Kit knew he wouldn’t be able to stay still up on the hill if the necromancer couldn’t raise the corpses. He was positive everyone with him on the hill would be the same. Mars, Twix, Grandpa, Snickers, Leonard and Peaches were down there risking their lives. Pain gripped Kit’s chest when he thought that something irreversible might happen to them.
A glimmer of hope stilled Kit’s racing heart. The screams and bellows faded and his whole focus was taken by the slender silver haired man standing down below.
The red coated corpses started to glow, Kit watched as small twitches emerged from the bodies of the fallen creatures. Kit’s body hummed in delight. He was about to witness a spectacular display of magic!
Black smoke was pouring into the mouths of each fallen creature. Slowly the twitching settled, then something out of this world happened. Kit watched as a few trampling thickheads started to rise. Kit’s hope exploded into full blown joy at the magical sight of the monster coming to there feet.
A tug to his sleeves diverted his attention from the dramatic magical display. Snowball was standing on his hind legs with his front paws leaning on Kit’s leg. Snowball’s mouth was filled with Kit’s sleeve.
Snowball released his shirt and gave a frantic bark. The little dog then turned his head towards the mountains. Kit’s eyes moved to the direction Snowball was pointing too. Kit’s pupils shrunk at the sight before him. What the flying fuck was that!
A trampling thickhead three times the size of the others was heading down the ravine! The arching horns of the monster were glowing with a golden hue. Was this the rumoured mutated monster, fuck this was a boss!
Kit swung his head back to the necromancer. Peaches was still immersed in his spell and the others in the group were focused on the plains behind them. No was looking at the approaching monster, Kit tried to scream a warning.
No sound came out of his mouth. Chills shuddered down Kit’s spine, his breath caught in his throat. If he didn’t find a way to warn the small group down below the mutated trampling thickhead would catch them unprepared.
Kit frantically searched the ground for something to throw. If he could catch their attention by sound then there was a chance they could hide so Peaches could finish his spell. He knew the whole monster run hung on Peaches raising the dead.
There were no more large boulders left on the hilltop. Kit collected a handful of stones, hopefully this would be enough to grab their attention. Kit hurtled the pile of stones over the cliffs edge. He watched as the stones smashed on the ground below.
Disappointment coursed through him when the sound was swallowed up in the bellows and screams resounding from the plains. The small stones wouldn’t be enough to catch their attention. Kit became frantic as the mutated monster was getting closer.
He needed something loud enough to be heard over all the noise. He wished he had an exploding arrow to shoot. The loud boom would be enough to catch their attention. Kit swung his eyes over the hill top once again trying to find a boulder.
Kit’s eyes caught on the mountain peaks in the distance. ‘Ah fuck!’ A crazy idea popped into Kit’s head. ‘Well, I guess this is the only way.’ Kit glanced down to Snowball at his side, then brushed his hands across the little guy’s fur to gain some courage.
He then blew out a shaky breath. Kit turned towards the approaching monster, then started to jog up the hill towards the gigantic monster. Kit increased his speed, legs pumping. Sweat beaded on his face, ripples of pain spread through the inside of his body.
The pain increased with each step towards his foe. Kit hoped he could make it to the creature before the mountain area effect fully took hold of him. A silent scream tore from his lips, blazing heat started to spread inside his body.
‘Kit, you crazy fuck, jump!’
Kit was now even with the gigantic beast. He leapt of the edge of the cliff hurtling towards the frightening beast. Kit soared, an inferno rippled from his chest, his teeth clenched. His heart stopped, bones cracked, skin ripped, heat exploded out.
BOOM!
Ding!
[Player Kit has died]
Respawn: 30 seconds.
Kits corporal figure floated down to the ground. He twisted his sight to see if his sacrifice had worked. Kit could faintly make out the group in the distance. All eyes were focused in his direction. Kit let out a relived breath.
A happy hum escaped his lips. At least blowing himself up had worked. Next time he wanted to use the lucky sticky apple cider he was going to take something with him that could catch everyone’s attention. He was never going to blow himself up again.
The pain of an inferno exploding out of his body was fucking excruciating! Kit watched the group up ahead scramble into hiding. Relief flooded his system now that they would be safe. He was disappointed he would not be seeing the end of the monster run.
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He wondered where he would respawn. Hopefully it would not be too far from Spartan Fire. Just as he was thinking this the countdown timer clicked over.
[Player Kit revived at Wild Kokka village]
Penalty: - 3 Levels.
Credula’s pouch active: no items dropped.
Ding!
[CAL]
[Map Found: Wild Kokka village.]
Rewards: 50 experience, 1 Wild Kokka village reputation point.
Kit frowned at the name of the village, he was sure he had heard of this before. Kit racked his brain to remember. Finally, a light went off in his head. This was near the first teleportation stone he had gone through with Snickers!
If he could get someone to show him the way to the to where the ingredients for making rum was then he could be home within a days. Before his excitement could take off Kit remembered why he had respawned in the first place.
Dread filled his heart, his last sight before he respawned was of the group protecting the necromance trying to find a hiding spot. Did they conceal themselves in time? Kit started to pace with a nervous tension.
He wanted to rush back to see what the outcome of the monster run would be. He sucked in a calming breath. That would be useless, it wasn’t like he could return in time to help. Even if he could there was not much he could do.
He stopped his pacing to think of his next step. Should he wait here in case someone else respawned? It would be better to travel in a group back to Spartan Fire, plus he could get some news about the monster run. There was still over an hour on the timer when he died.
Kit plonked himself on the ground, he should definitely wait. What if Mars respawned? Kit thought about the other participants in the monster run. He honestly didn’t think there was any other players participating in the monster run besides Mars and himself.
This would be a good opportunity to see if there was a player they hadn’t noticed yet though. Kit wiggled around on the ground until he was comfortable. It could be a long wait. He decided if no one had turned up after an hour he could safely leave.
To distract himself he decided to have a look at his menu. He wanted to see how many levels he had gained for participating in the monster run. Kit pulled the menu open,
Kit + Immune to all poisons 5 days
Level: 84
Health: 6,410 (20,000)
Attack + 450 (30)
Class: Swordsman
Stamina: 310/310
Speed + 495 (105)
Sub class: Chef (Gold) Lvl 44
Tier: Novice Chef
Magica: 290/290
Intelligence + 534
Money: 18 gold 519 silver 800 bronze crowns
Experience: 768,000/2,200,000
Agility + 620 (5)
Culinary Points: 11,227
Clothing: White apron
Defence + 420 (10)
Free Points: 110
Weapon: Beginner Sword
Armour: Basic wrist guard,
Swift Feet boots
Bright blue flapping Mackerel! He had risen 55 levels in under 1hour, this was incredible! How the hell was that even possible? Kit furrowed his brows, was it because of the perk in his founding members position. Getting three times the amount of experience points if he was in the forsaken state was amazing.
Kit assumed it was a combination of this and the high level of the trampling thickheads that had caused this jump to his swordsman level. It was no wonder players tried to become a permanent resident of a city. The bonuses were well worth the effort.
Kit didn’t think he would be this lucky again, an event like this didn’t come up very often. Plus, he wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to participate in something like this again. He didn’t think his heart could take all the stress.
The menu disappeared as Kit clicked out and the respawn arch came into his view once again. It looked exactly the same as the one in Red splash village. Now that Kit had calmed down, he noticed he could hear cows bellowing in the distance.
Kit’s eyes started to sparkle at the sound. Milk! Cows produced milk. An itchy feeling started in his feet, he really wanted to rush over and find the cows. He wondered if he could buy some for his farm.
Then he remembered that his farm didn’t have any employees yet. Who would take care of the animals? A sigh left his lips. He really needed to expedite hiring a farm manager.
Kit slapped his forehead at this thought. He hadn’t even checked to see if anyone had applied. He quickly pulled up his farm menu. Four applications dazzled Kit’s eyes, he quickly clicked on the first on one the list.
Flaming red pepper! This application was amazing.
Gorge Smallholding
Work history:
Manager of flamingo farm - A large farm that produces crops and cultivates misty mountain sheep.
Skills:
Master harvester
Composting genius
Motivating the plow
Mystical farm solution
Seeds of gold
Fast hands of fleece
Farm hands of discount
Expected salary 1 platinum (negotiable)
This person had so much experience. Kit wanted to click on hire immediately, then his eyes fell to the salary. Why! Why was it so much? Kit could only shed imaginary tears. He opened the other three application to receive the same shock.
Disappointment flooded him. Why were they all so expensive to hire? Kit reopened his recruitment notice and reread his listing. Kit’s eyes settled on his farms size. Was this the cause? Kit cursed himself for being greedy and increasing the size of his farm.
He had an inkling that firing a farm manager wouldn’t be possible at this point in time. No one would want to run a new farm this size without being paid a fortune. He wanted to start his farm now, how could he achieve this without spending a small fortune.
Currently he did not even own 1 platinum. Even if he did, he would be converting it to real money so he could keep playing the game. He only had 8 weeks left to come up with the 3 platinum and 150 gold crowns needed for him to keep playing.
The drive to get up the mountain to find the treasure increased. He need money for real life and to make his restaurant and farm prosper in game. Kit felt the pressure to succeed crash down on him like a pile of bricks.
He did not want to leave his friends and business in the game. Going back to his lonely life was no longer a possibility for him. Since playing the game his eyes had been opened up to a new possibility of life for him.
Kit did not miss his old miserable self. He had a feeling that if he could no longer play CAL, he would become even more depressed that he previously was. Kit shook his head, now was not the time to dwell on things he could not change yet. He still had time to collect enough money to keep playing.
Kit swung his gaze around to find the village that would be near the arch. A rustic village that was twice the size of Spartan Fire came into view. He became eager to explore the new surroundings. Kit went to take a step to go and explore, then he paused.