Haru: Novice, Level 3/20
EcruEmu: Novice, Level 3/20
Optifex: Novice, Level 2/20
As Haru rushed to meet up with the rest of her party farther down the road, she noticed more and more nametags hovering over the ground. In area chat, pleas for resurrection flooded the window frame. She shivered as she walked through the field of countless dead players. Beyond them, the town filled with dragonlings awaited.
Though, she thought she spotted the silhouette of someone wandering through the wheat fields that flanked the right side of the road. But they disappeared into town before she could make out any of their features.
After she caught up to the rest of the party, new music began to play, a sinister organ. The sky grew darker, more purple. The trees inside the town proper had no leaves. The only living thing within the town limits were the tiny dragons walking and flying around. And they were the party’s quest target.
“So,” Emu broke the silence between them. “As you can see, if you’re not careful,” he pointed all around, motioning toward the dead players, “we’re going to have a long walk back here.”
That wasn’t the case for Haru. If the fights went badly, it was the end. For all of them.
Emu continued his speech. “The hard part is finding just one of them alone.” He looked around. “They agro and will link.”
Haru listened intently, deciding that she would tell everyone why she couldn’t de-level after Emu finished his explanation. But a chirp rang out between her ears and the private message hum echoed just the same.
Haru, this is the professor, Adam Min. I cannot emphasize this enough. Do not, under any circumstances, tell them about you being a surrogate player. You’ll destroy the reputation of our game!
Haru looked up, attempting to track the source of the professor’s voice. She wondered how he could hear her thoughts. Speaking in her own head, she hoped he could hear her voice.
Professor, have you been with me this whole time? Why can’t I say something, they need to know.
She was uncomfortable with hiding the truth. Haru recalled the last time she did that. It nearly cost her best friend everything. As Leonora crossed her mind, she hoped that her pirate pal was still hanging on.
It takes a lot of power to send and receive these messages, I can’t do it haphazardly. Haru, I know how you must feel. But this is different. Players call surrogates ‘fake players’. And if a game starts using fake players, it’s a sign of decline and they will start leaving in droves. You must keep it a secret at all costs!
It bothered Haru greatly to not speak the truth. She was trapped. If she spoke out, the game would be damaged. If she didn’t and failed, the game would be over.
“Are you paying attention?” Emu loomed closely next to Haru.
She jolted back, startled by her party member’s sudden proximity. “Y—yes! I, uh…” Haru looked around, struggling to think of an excuse.
“Well, don’t be so nervous.” Emu turned back to look toward the town.
Haru couldn’t hold back a trembling cackle.
“I’ve soloed this area before. We just need to be alert and patient.” Emu nodded and used the ‘psyche up’ emote, pumping his fist into the air.
A sudden warmth filled Haru and her inventory opened on its own, to the key items list. The Mark of Patentia glowed for a moment before the menu closed itself. She clasped her chest, the source of the sensation, and wondered why that just happened.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Emu took a step forward and turned to look at his companions. “C’mon, let’s go get ‘em.”
Without hesitation, Opti followed.
Though Haru’s nerves paralyzed her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Leonora was counting on her. Her cat companion Vernal was relying on her. Everyone, the whole game was depending on her.
“C’mon Roo, let’s get started.” Opti called out from afar.
Haru was caught off guard by him using the nickname all her friends called her. It reminded her of better times when she was an encounter boss. Now she was in the position of the players she held so dear. The thought eased her fear. With a deep breath, she took the first step toward them, then another, and soon even moving was calming. Not having to go through this alone made it far easier, and the realization eased her anxiety.
The three edged into town. Dragonlings could appear from anywhere. Any hole, any crevice could contain a foe.
“Take it slow.” Emu whispered. “We only need to down three, let’s not pull the whole town.”
Shoulder-to-shoulder, the group crept forward, approaching the first house on the road. Nearing the door, they stopped, weapons drawn. That’s when Emu looked down at Opti.
“Hey,” Emu’s brow dipped, “where’s your sword?”
Optifex brandished his fists, ready to punch and kick. “What? I don’t have one.”
“Huh, that’s an interesting bug.” Emu looked surprised. “Well, raising your hand-to-hand skill isn’t a bad idea.”
Shadowboxing with intensity, Opti smirked. “It’s already level two. Now I get two hits per attack.”
Emu nodded. “As you level it higher, you’ll get more too. Especially if you pick Monk as your main job.”
Haru leaned around the corner and stifled a gasp. “Guys.” She reached to poke Emu. “Guys, I see one.” She voice was low as she spotted a dragonling hovering inside the house the three stood beside.
The other two stopped and turned toward the door with wide eyes.
“I don’t see him.” Emu stepped forward.
“Don’t! You’ll agro.” Haru gritted her teeth.
“If I can’t see him, he can’t ag—” he started but suddenly took over half his damage and was thrown backwards.
From inside the house, a blue baby dragon emerged. It was what caused the damage. The move ‘Body Slam’ allowed it to charge forward and throw its target, Emu, back.
“Whoa!” Opti jumped then rushed the dragonling.
Haru drew her sword, and her auto-attack triggered almost instantly, dealing 25% of the creature’s HP.
Opti’s followed up but both attacks only dealt a measly total of 10%.
Suddenly the baby dragon turned and engaged Haru. It whipped its tail and struck her for a quarter of her health. She recoiled but the battle seemed to be going in their favor.
After the next round of auto-attacks from the party, Emu recovered from the knockback and stood upright. He drew his weapon and engaged.
The dragon landed a second attack on Haru, dealing another 25% HP.
Then they finished it off.
Both Opti and Emu leveled up at the same time.
“Ding!” Emu called out cheerfully as he looked over his stats, the level up having healed him to full.
Haru couldn’t kneel fast enough.
“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Emu spoke cheerfully as he looked over his greatly increased stats.
Laughing nervously, Haru nodded. “Not bad. Right.”
After she healed, the three returned to prowling into town. In the middle of the road, another dragonling was walking around, a red one.
“I got ‘em!” Opti called out and rushed forward, his fists at the ready.
The opening dealt 20% of the beast’s health. And this time the dragon didn’t start out by using an ability. It smacked Opti with his tail, removing 25% health.
Haru and Emu charged the creature down. Their combined opening blitz dealt 50% HP.
The dragonling suddenly turned and smacked Haru for 25% of her health. She let off a whine. “Why do they keep targeting me?”
Emu laughed. “HowRude of them would it be to not?” He was referencing her character name.
Just before her auto-attack triggered, the dragon struck her again, putting Haru at 50% health.
“That wasn’t very nice!” Haru shouted as she swung her sword. The damage downed the creature. Haru’s sword skill increased by 1.
“Yeah, giving these things a rare chance to double-attack was mean of the devs. That’s for sure.” Emu shook his head.
“When do we get weapon skills?” Opti looked at his fists.
“Your first one is at level 5.” Emu sheathed his sword. “Then one every ten weapon levels, except for the last skill. That one is locked behind a quest.”
Haru took a knee to recover. “That will be nice to—”
A smack from behind forced her to stand, exiting recovery mode. Haru was at 25% health now.
“Agro!” Emu shouted and bolted for the red baby dragon that engaged Haru.
Opti jumped forward and entered battle.
Emu’s auto-attack triggered first, and it locked onto him. Opti followed up with his own strikes.
Haru readied to draw her sword when the dragonling puffed its cheeks, started to vibrate, and red orbs formed around its body. A deep growl rang out from the beast.
“Run!” Emu turned to flee. “Fireball!”
Haru gasped and turned to escape, but the area of effect for the ability was far too big. And it was one of the AoEs in the game without a red marker to show players where it would hit.
She was about to take massive damage from the dragon’s blast.