When I opened my eyes again, I found two pairs of eyes peering down at me: one set was dark brown colored while the second set was yellow-green colored.
"Welcome back," a soft voice said.
"About time!" another voice grumbled.
I looked around the room. It was no longer sterile white. Instead, the room was metallic and tiny, as if I was on a military ship. However, the ceiling was over one story tall. "What happened?" I asked as my lovely companions helped me get back to my feet.
Alsaj pointed at a black orb attached to the ceiling. "When we were at the doorway, beams of light shot out from that orb and pulled us into the room. The light triggered an Intelligence saving check, which apparently I was the only one to pass. You were seated against the wall, but your eyes were closed. I tried shaking you awake, but it didn't work. The orb remained connected to the two of you, and there was no way that I could reach it to destroy this item and break the connection. I simply meditated while waiting for you to awaken," the monk recalled.
"I awoke first, and we had to wait for you to come back," Kalistra added.
I looked up at the aforementioned orb. To me, it looked like a security camera. It was placed just far enough from the entrance so that a beam emitted from this artifact could strike anyone at the doorway, which I noticed was closed again. I also noticed that the "corridor" that we were in had no exit. The doorway we had involuntarily entered was again blocked. The opposite end was also blocked. Before I could mention this, suddenly, there was a "hiss" sound.
Purely on instinct, we immediately put with our backs together and scanned for signs of trouble. Fortunately, no monster appeared to attack us.
"Look! There's an exit!" Kalistra said while pointing at an opening on the opposing end from the doorway.
"While you were unconscious, we were sealed inside this chamber with no way to leave," the sister confirmed my unasked question.
"I don't want to stay here a second longer. Let's go!" the cat girl ran on all four paws and exited the room.
Alsaj and I looked at each other and then we ran after her. When we left the corridor, Kalistra abruptly stopped running. I tripped over her, the sister tripped over me, and the three of us ended up in a tangle.
"Why did you stop suddenly?" I asked as I examined a bruise on my left elbow.
"Did you read your pop-up messages?" my master asked in a faint voice.
Her apparent uneasiness rubbed off on me and made ME nervous. I quickly looked at my messages. The first one read, "Special quest COMPLETED. 1 point scored = 1 XP earned. 5,000 points scored = 5,000 XP. Title ACQUIRED: Defender of Planet Earth." The second notification read, "-2 Health." Whoa! I couldn't believe my eyes.
The diminutive monk turned her head from Kalistra to me and back. "Okay, what's going on?" Alsaj asked. "You could either read his messages out loud or allow me to join his party," she demanded.
I gave her a nervous laugh and then stared at my master. This was a good opportunity to give the evil minx some payback for putting me on the spot. I barely resisted the urge to kiss my right pinky a la Dr. Evil.
Kalistra stared at me as she read the two messages aloud, word for word.
To her credit, Alsaj remained calm and collected while listening to the cat girl's recitation. She then turned to face me and asked, "So what quest did you perform?"
My master turned to me as well. Her tail and whiskers twitched. She was very interested in hearing my explanation of how I earned so much experience from only one quest. And the title? What the heck was a "Planet Earth?"
It was a difficult explanation because it presumed knowledge of a number of facts, such as the existence of Planet Earth, the fact that there was a vast universe and my world was just a tiny dust compared to what's out there, and the notion of flying in machines that reached the stars. "There was an invasion by foreigners, and my quest was to defend my home. Everything occurred beyond the sky, and I fought while onboard a flying ship." Well, this was not even Cliff's Note summary of what happened, but I didn't want to get bogged down with the scientific details.
"How many invaders did you kill?" the monk asked.
"15," I replied.
My master's ears perked up. It must have been a tough fight to defeat that many opponents. Kalistra was tempted to praise me for my amazing feat but ultimately declined to do so because it would only inflate my over-sized ego.
"I played a lot of these shooter games as a child, and the controls weren't too different from what I have been accustomed to already," I explained. After the neighborhood dog, Old Yeller, passed away, I spent a lot of time playing handheld games while waiting for the bus and usually it was a space shooter game.
"But 5,000 XP is still quite generous," Kalistra pointed out.
"True, it is," I nodded my head in agreement. "I received 3,000 points for killing the enemies, and then another 2,000 bonus points for reaching certain achievements," I explained.
"Planet Earth is your home?" Alsaj asked.
I nodded again. "It's the world where I came from." I turned toward my master. "What was your quest?" I was quite curious. Also, I suspected that the evil minx was trying to steer the conversation away from her own experience. But Dr. Evil wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily. Muahaha!
The cat girl hissed at me.
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However, we both stared at her in silence, refusing to permit her to dodge the question.
Kalistra's ears bent down. "Fine," she hissed again. "I found myself in the kitchen of a bakery with my leg chained to the floor. The baker promised to release me only if I baked 200 loaves of bread within a certain amount of time. The problem was that the oven wasn't big enough to bake too many loaves at a time and my speed was useless while the bread was in the oven. I managed to pull the last batch out of the oven before time expired but I had to work non-stop and hustle in the kitchen while the chain limited my movement in the kitchen," she revealed.
"How much experience did you receive?" I asked.
Her ears bent even lower. "Only 2,000," she grumbled and her tail whiplashed behind her. "Enough!" Kalistra stomped her left foot on the ground. "We need to find a way out and return to the surface." Without alerting us, she went down on all four paws and ran down the corridor.
I ran after my master and Alsaj kept up with me. However, I saw the cat girl stopped in front of another doorway, which was blocked. Again.
Dice started rattling inside my head and I groaned aloud, knowing exactly what will happen next. "Dexterity saving throw SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP."
Plob! The gray slime dropped from the ceiling but missed me as I managed to hop back in time to avoid the ambush attempt.
The three of us hacked at the cube-shaped, Jello-like monster until I finally saw the heart of the monster. I stepped into the slime; as the gray slime greedily enveloped my body, I reached out and grabbed the pulsating gemstone.
The stone immediately stopped beating and the slime monster shuddered. Its body hardened and slowly turned into sand.
"+200 XP." I quickly dismissed the notification. I held out the large stone and tried to give it to Alsaj.
However, the diminutive monk shook her head. "Lawrence, you're the visitor to our world and you have to be the one to insert the gemstone into the slot," she reminded me.
I placed the large gemstone into the slot at the doorway. Knowing what will happen next, I stood boldly in the doorway as the wall blocking our path lifted.
My companions stood beside me with Alsaj to my left and Kalistra to my right.
Sure enough, each of us was struck by a beam of light and pulled into the room.
"Intelligence check SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP." I looked around the room and saw that this time, Alsaj was slumped against the right wall; her head was connected to a beam of blue colored light. My master, on the other hand, was alert, conscious, and extremely agitated at the condition of the monk.
I saw that the room was another large corridor and both doorways were blocked. "What are we going to do now?" I wondered aloud.
"Would you like to spar with me?" my master asked. Her eyes glowed and her tail dangled in the air.
Uh-oh. Remembering how deadly our last spar turned out to be, I declined. "Master, I think I should just sit and meditate until Alsaj returns to us."
"Nonsense! Unbuckle your scabbard. We'll have a good spar. Not to worry. If anything goes wrong, I can feed you another Elixir," she grinned.
I winced. Yep, I was going to die. Again. The spineless worm that I was, I reluctantly obeyed my master. I unbuckled my scabbard and held my sword in both hands.
"I'm going to fight you at your speed and strength," the cat girl said. "I'm going to imitate our students at the dojo and spar with an increasing level of swordsmanship as you win each match. We'll follow the duel format with each match ending in three clean hits. And we'll call out as each hit is made. Shall I repeat these instructions?" she asked.
"No, I got it," I replied. I inhaled a deep breath. I may as well get this execution over with. Doubtless, the evil minx will take this golden opportunity to pay back for every slight, real or perceived, that I had inflicted on her during this quest.
Kalistra held her sword in a mirror image of my stance. "Let's begin!" she barked and took a big, clumsy swing at my head!
I read her movement and easily ducked under her swing. I poked the tip of my scabbard into her left ribs. Wow! Kalistra wasn't kidding when she stated that she will increase her level of swordsmanship. This meant that she was currently imitating a beginner, namely me from my first day of training. I wasn't THAT bad, was I?
"Hit!" she called out and then tried an overhead slam with her scabbard.
This time, I decided to block the attack and, at the same time, kicked at her left knee, which was leaning forward for the attack. It was similar to the move that the deceased drow leader, Khaz, used in her duel with Kalistra. When I saw my master's knee buckle and she lost her balance, I whacked her on the shoulder.
"Hit!" she yelled and hopped backward. When her feet were set, Kalistra aggressively charged at me. Her arms were behind her back, her scabbard was held parallel to the ground and to her right side. Like a hitter in a baseball game trying to hit an overpowering fastball, she took another big swing at my head.
I ducked. With her back now turned toward me, I simply tapped her back.
"Yield!" she called out. The match over, my master bowed deeply to me.
I quickly reciprocated and bowed from my waist.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" my master grinned.
"No," I admitted.
"That was a Beginner at our dojo. Now, I'm going to imitate an Initiate-level pupil. Get ready for round two!" she said enthusiastically as her tail dangled in the air. That was the only warning my master provided me before she launched into her "Charge" technique.
I tried to raise my scabbard to block and dice started rattling inside my skull. "Dexterity saving throw FAILED. -5 Health. Status: Stunned. Duration: 3 seconds." Before I could move again, I felt two more hits, one on each shoulder, and my duel was over. I dropped my scabbard in disgust. "I wasn't ready," I argued with the evil minx.
Kalistra wiggled her left paw at me in a tut-tut manner. "If you weren't ready to fight, you shouldn't be holding your scabbard," she refuted. "Furthermore, this is one of the favorite tactics that contestants use in the Melee Tournament," she pointed out. "They try to bum rush you as soon as the judge signals for the match to begin.
"Fair enough," I admitted grudgingly while massaging the lump on my head.
"While it wasn't my intention to stun you, head blows do give a chance for this to happen. So, these are the types of attacks that you need to be wary of because once you're stunned, the match is over," she instructed me.
"Yes, master!" I barked out. I bent down to grab my scabbard and prepared to engage again.
"Round three!" Kalistra said and used the same skill again.
This time, I was ready for her bum rush. I waited for the perfect moment and then activated the "Slide Step" technique. Swoosh! My opponent's scabbard missed my head, leaving her back for a counter strike. I took this golden opportunity to end the match with "Duel Winner" technique.
My master turned around and faced me. "Much better," she said.
I noticed my pop-up messages and quickly read them. "Slide step skill SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP." "Duel winner skill SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP."
When Kalistra saw that I had dismissed the notifications, she continued her lesson. "Duel winner is an advanced technique. I suggest that you avoid using it in the first match if possible," she requested.
"What if I meet a very skilled swordsman in the opening round?" I retorted.
The cat girl's whiskers twitched. "We can't afford to have you knocked out in the first round. That will bring great shame and ridicule to our dojo. Thus, if you believe that you MUST use this technique, then do it. But once the gallery becomes aware of this technique, the rest of your opponents will be on guard against it."
"I will try my best to avoid using this technique in my first match," I agreed.
"Wow, I never realized that swordsmen are that sneaky!" a voice interrupted us.
My master and I turned our heads to the right wall.
Alsaj waved happily at us. "Please continue!"
Kalistra's eyes narrowed at the insult. "Using strategy on the battlefield isn't 'sneaky.' Battles are not won with might alone. Even your infernal 'void' techniques have limitations," she replied.
The diminutive monk giggled at the barb. "Care for a friendly duel?" she challenged.
"Sure, why not?" the cat girl accepted as her eyes glowed with anticipation.