Chapter Four

The Dreamslayer Stareater Maul

Ogre stormed away, so angry that he trembled. How could that…that…fat pig steal from me? And he did it so openly as if I were a bug and he a sparrow that might eat that bug! The dog felt Borhelm’s eyes on him, he kept seeing the self-assured greed on the creature’s face. Strangely, he smelled nothing, but the creature’s natural odor and the scent of fear from the other beasts. He does not fear me, obviously, he’s so strong that there is no way I can do enough damage to him to make him worry. And that’s even if he was paralyzed, asleep, and oblivious for a full year. Ogre ground his teeth making a sound like iron scraping stone echo out over the space. He walked away from the statues, the questions concerning classes, weapons, and armours unasked. I will not give that pig the satisfaction!

A wave of tiredness flowed over him, nearly dampening his anger. With a thought he pulled out another pile of meat wrapped on a thigh bone. He cooked it on the spit to give his paws something to do, other than clench and unclench, imagining the boar’s fat neck underneath them. A thought flashed in Ogre’ head despite the anger burning there. How much weight can I hold, on my person and in my Inventory?

Ogre lifted his meat from the spit and scowled. He ate it all despite what he saw ignoring the dry charcoal taste of the flesh. That too was Borhelm’s fault.

I cannot let down my guard just because one beast was decent towards me! Lam was a fox that acted out of character, most beasts do not…pigs will be pigs! After he ate his weight went up further. He felt full to bursting and knew that his stats, at least his agility, and speed would pay the price for his angry feasting. He sat there fuming, barely able to keep his eyes from drooping for a full minute before he succumbed and lapsed into sleep.

Darkness clad him in frictionless velvety nothingness and his mind fled away from the tower like an arrow shot from a bow. When Ogre opened his eyes again, he saw a sky swimming in rainbow hues as if all the heavens were cast in a luminous pale opal. He blinked and looked about him in awe. Trees Stood in small groves dotting hills and dips in the land, all as clear as crystal, taking the light of the world and throwing more rainbows about them. Their leaves were like precious metals, electrum, orichalcum, and platinum. The ground below him had grass the color of transparent gold, that was like velvet to the touch. The mountains in the distance were chalky blue, white, or gray all with the consistency of drifting cloud. But they were shaped as if molded by sand and water on a great beach with impossible perfect paws. When Ogre looked up above the dome of the sky he saw rings of light, multicolor suns set in a diamondglass halo, like burning gemstones.

The light settled on the dog, soothing his aches and pains, touching his heart and draining it of anger. What do I have to be angry for? The thought slipped past Ogre’s mind like a sigh in the wind. He breathed in deep smelling flowers that grew and bloomed as he strolled near them. They smelled like joy and singing, the cold wash of spring water on a dry-parched throat and the golden sugared smell of sweetmeats. The petals were flexible gems, as if cut by master jewelsmiths. They made fields of purple alexandrite and blue sapphire that popped up as his eyes swept to the horizon, their stems and leaves translucent emerald or jade. Ogre sat down and just absorbed the sights, smells, and feelings of soothing comfort. It’s so peaceful. Ogre closed his eyes and opened them again and the world changed.

Day or what passed for day in the place became night. Ruddy moons, from new to full, replaced the suns in a scarlet-black sky. The golden light that gave the dog such comfort transformed into a red edged shadow that hid the lands save for a colossal chalice. The Chalice rested on the same hill as he, a few dozen paces away from him, as tall as a tree and wide as a cottage. It was transparent gold, with streaks of iridescent pearl inlay that did nothing to hide the strange liquid bubbling in its bowl. The lip of the chalice was star swept black, darker than the deepest night but filled with light of moving stars, and celestial storms of light and energy. Look away from it! A voice commanded him, and he obliged. He felt his eyes and heart longing to stare at that black material, well past the time when his bones were bleached, and his life was less than a memory lost in the oblivion of time. The voice sounded like his. Ogre shook himself and peered at the liquid in the chalice. It was strange. It smelled like a future storm, too massive to be contained in the chalice, barely able to be held by the confines of the plane itself and yet it was held within it. The liquid made Ogre feel heavy just by looking at it, but at the same time he felt as if it was lighter than air.

The dog did not even recall walking up to the chalice, but he touched it and felt a bolt of energy run through him. It was a blissful feeling, one that he had felt once before. It is like leveling up! Ogre realized and a sudden burning passion to climb over that huge lip of star-swept black and drown himself in that liquid, ran through him.

“You do not yet know the taste of true power…and yet you long to destroy yourself with just a modicum of your potential.” Said a deep voice that he knew as well as he knew his heartbeat. “You are unworthy of your Vessel.”

Every hair stood on end, as Ogre watched a large form walk from the other side of the chalice and look at him with pale blue-green eyes, swimming in purple-pink sclera. The head was as massive as his own, but the body was so muscular that it balanced it out. The paws were larger and thicker, the claws like a bear’s, the canines longer and stronger, snow-white and glowing in the night.

“You let that buffoon fool you, that walking meat, that boar! And you let him make you angry before you can sate your anger with blood. Pathetic. A Berserker without strength, is a day without the sun…you are nothing.”

Ogre finally found his tongue. “You and I are the same are we not? You smell like me, you almost look like me, what are you?”

The dog in front of him growled so viciously that Ogre’s bowels turned to water. He stepped close and blasted Ogre with a blistering breath that smelled like his.

“Do we look the same?” He roared. “You and I, pup, do I snivel like you?”

The dog before him stretched out his arms balling huge paws into fists as thick around as Ogre’s thigh, its fingers as thick as his wrist. It’s body seemed to grow as he did, the limbs thickened, the chest and back grew heavier and even the head larger. This was a true monster.

“Look at me…truly look at me and see the truth.”

Ogre felt his mouth drop open. No, this beast despite the many similarities between them could not be him. “These numbers are impossible…aren’t you a level zero, you haven’t even leveled up?”

“You are weak, you waste the magnificent of our Vessel…And for that alone you deserve death.”

His body going cold, Ogre reached out both paws and felt the twin S-class pig iron axes fall into them. He was a mole versus a mountain, but he would fight even if he didn’t get a chance to swing his axes in defense. Another thought occurred to him, and he willed the pig iron greatsword from his inventory. He grasped the hilt of the greatsword easily in his teeth.

The other dog grinned baring fangs that were as welcoming as a bloodcurdling scream. Pink drool leaked from those too white fangs.

“There is hope for you yet…but you will beat your body into bloody stone and mud until it is forced to know strength. Grind your bones to ash, shred your muscle to pudding and wear out your hide until you can see through it. Give it all that you have, and you will not have to face me. Give me less than everything and I will show you pain.”

Sweat made the axes in Ogre’s paws slip until he held then at the base of their axe heads. He can do whatever he wants to me, can’t he? I cannot resist him at all! “What do you want from me? What will it take to spare me!”

The dog before him shifted and twitched as if barely constrained by a fraying lease. He howled to the sky of the strange world stretching claws that were like knives.

“Strength,” He said, before roaring a skill name, “Bloodlust!”

A shockwave of force seemed to peel the fur and the flesh from his bones and yet Ogre was forced to stay where he was, petrified by the skill. His heart quivered and a gibbering fear so great that it eclipsed even the pleasure from leveling up, filled him. It turned his mind to mush. He was not even aware when the other dog attacked and even if he had been, it would have been impossible to perceive its charge.

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Ogre woke with a yelp, feeling his heart pound, his body being torn asunder by that mad hound. The dog lashed out flailing his axes and swinging the greatsword in his maw, like a mad wind. Howls, shouts, calls of panic and a deep rumbling laugh over it all took a long time to reach the dog. When it did, he dropped to his knees breathing as if he had run for leagues without rest, soaked to tip of his fur with sweat. Even after he stopped flailing it took long minutes before he saw the world around him. During that time his nose was filled with the stench of his own fear, his body shook, and mind replayed and slowed down his ruthless dismemberment. So much damage…I’d have to be soo strong to survive even a second after that berserk thing attacked!

“Are you well, Ogre?” Asked Lam, cautiously walking up, until he was five paces away, “I wager that Borhelm cheated you somehow, judging by your reaction, but you cannot defeat him yet. You must level up first.”

“It’s not…Borhelm.” Ogre said flatly after a stretch of silent breathing, “It’s…it’s nothing for you to worry about. I must get strong though, that we can agree on.”

The fox looked at Ogre with concern.

“What did he do to you, Ogre?”

The dog peered at Lam form the corner of his eye, then at the beasts who made sure they were many paces away from them. “I…He…It is unimportant for now, Lam…what I need to know now is things that will help me on my way.”

That gift from Tulron, the fourfold increase to wisdom and exp…I’m sure he would not like that a boar, a creature that is not a cat, supplanted it. I can use this to get back at that Boar…but I don’t like that, Cat. He is nearly as bad as the pig, or worse. How much did he steal from him? Surely, knowing is better than not remembering the depths of my lost?

Is he worst? Does it matter that I don’t recall him stealing from me? Ogre shook his head trying to clear it of the annoying thought.

“How was your leveling, Lam?”

“I used all of my insight, but I have yet to use the status points…” Said Lam walking closer. “I plan on saving them until, we reach the Town of Beginnings.

“The Town of Beginnings? I have not heard of this.” Ogre pulled up his status and pinpointed the status points next to his Heroic Level. Thirty-two points. They must not be worth that much considering in some of my stats I have over a thousand of them at level one. Wait…my debuffs from overeating are they gone now? I feel I lot lighter now. But…how is it…Am I heavier?

“It will be where we head after we leave the Tower. They will have an Adventurer’s Guild and resources that we can use to slay monsters, gather jules, and raise our levels. Borhelm told us a little about it.”

Ogre nodded. “What about the status points?”

“They are quite valuable. Each point can raise a stat by 2%.” Said Lam, picking up either scent or tone that showed what the dog thought about the status points. “You are, if you will forgive my callous words, a monster of an adventurer. No other beast as a level one can destroy level five and above adventurers with the same ease as you did. It is more impressive as you were level zero when you did it. Listen, Ogre, you must know that there are base differences between most beasts. Typically, it depends on their weight and body size. So, at level one Borhelm would likely still have more health, strength and other physical qualities than we who are a lot smaller than he is. However, your size is relative to the weasels so the points should almost be negligible and yet even when they were reinforced by leveling; tougher stronger, faster, and even cleverer than the common by two-fold at level five, and you thrashed them with ease. Not to mention the carcajou or the higher leveled weasels.”

“They were cowards that thought to slay me in a group, they were not confident in their abilities one on one, and so all I had to do was to separate them and slay them as quickly as possible.” Said Ogre. “I used whatever means I could to survive.”

“Those means, that fighting intellect would have been brilliant in a beast, decades old. Under the time limit that you had and the different variables with the diverse levels, it is strange that you did not bleed out. You should have died.” Said Lam, “Fighting intellect aside, your raw power overwhelmed our foes. And your head…I’ve never seen weapons bounce off a skull like that, horns yes, a skull no.”

Ogre went quiet, he did not realize that Lam saw that. Seeing his mood, Lam changed the subject. “So, can I see the full extent of your stats? I will show you mine as well. It will be necessary if we are going to be a successful party.”

Ogre thought of Borhelm and his trick, which made him pause. Don’t be an idiot, Ogre, he literally risked his life to save yours.

“Yes of course.”

“Your intellect and the rest of the mental stats is higher than mine, why did you complement my fighting mind if yours was so much better?”

Lam was still staring at Ogre stats, he seemed to be sweating. “Your strength is as high as a level one hundred plus warrior and your other stats are on par or better than my best ones. What…oh…the mental stats are based on level and how far above common you are in relation to your level. At level twenty-five 250 is common for intellect, so I’m about half as smart as others…not truly but for the sake of this example let’s say it’s true. However, for you, a level one, 10 is common, which would make you over eight times as smart as the common level one. In actuality, intellect just simply relates to a need to know. So, in truth your hunger to know things will be eight times greater than the average. And that is Artificer’s territory.”

“It’s fascinating the way the Status Archaia works, there is so much to learn about the nuances of one’s stats and the delicate balance that exists between them all.” Said Ogre, “But it’s unnerving to think that these stats have the power to influence how we think and what we desire.”

“Yes,” Said Lam, clearing his throat, uncomfortable, before he ignored the dog’s last words. “But of course, there’s more than one’s status that you must take into consideration. Gear, apparel, armaments is also important. You would have died without elixir. And there are more than health vials to balance out the risks of being an adventurer. You would have learned much of this if you could recall what happened in the tutorial.”

“Speaking of that, what is with those special ‘S’-Class weapons? Where did those weasels get them from?”

Lam called two daggers from his inventory by waving his fingers in a fan. Then he held them both up for Ogre to look at. “They are basically the same. The weight’s the same the material: pig iron, and balance and so on. But one is classed as ‘E’ or common and the other as ‘S’. S-class weapons have a seven-and-a-half-fold increase to the amount of base damage they can inflict. This multiplier is achieved by some mystical means that not even Borhelm knows of. Or at the very least he won’t tell us what it is. I completed ten levels of the Tutorial and I have yet to see a S Class weapon drop from the monsters in them.”

(S) Pig Iron Dagger [Pierce + Slash]

Dmg: 67.5

Wt: 9

(E) Pig Iron Dagger [Pierce + Slash]

Dmg: 9

Wt: 9

“Where, did you get that dagger from? And what about the weasels they too had some S-Class weapons, all of the higher level ones did at least.”

“It was a gift from the Tower. We were allowed to choose from a list of special items and abilities. I’m sure you have a gift too. The tower said that it was recompense for bringing us into the tower against our will.” Said the fox, “You just have to call it forth like anything from the inventory.”

Ogre smiled. I wonder what did I pick? What if it’s an S-class greatsword? If it’s like the 200 pounder I have in my inventory then the base damage would be at 1400! With a thought he summoned the gift from the tower.

It did not fall into his paws and for that he was grateful. It fell right before him and made the entire world jump when it dropped to the flagstones. A groan so deep that it sounded as if the tree itself was speaking and a rush of wind pulled at Ogre’s fur, as if to draw him close to the weapon. He barely noticed it. It was a maul. Or rather a greataxe. No, it was both. And so large that it was a weapon fit for a giant. It was so beautiful that it belonged to that other world of jewel-like flora and luminous shadow. The head of the weapon rose taller than Ogre nose’s if he were to point it at the sky. Monstrous teeth-like jaws clad the hammer portion of the weapon, affixed to an opaline hulk of ore that surrounded a perfect ball of star-swept blackness. That blackness was the same as the material that rimmed the chalice in his dream: star-studded night sky, awash in the glittering lights of suns exploding and points of infinite gravity spewing bands of rainbow hues from both ends, as twin impossible flames. The axe portion was red gold with an iridescent patina covering it like the hue of a white pearl. The face of the blade swept gracefully towards a haft as thick as the dog’s thigh. The breathtaking red gold metal flowed over the translucent diamond like maul like blood or paint but fixed so that it did not move from it’s place. Runes as complex as the ones on the giant crystal square was carved on the haft. To Ogre’s surprise the haft was shaped like a great femur, with ball socket joint used as the pommel of the weapon. He could not tell if it was a colossal thigh bone in truth or shaped from a mold to look that way.

“That is not…a weapon…it’s way too…”

(???) Dreamslayer Stareater Splitting Maul [ ???+???+???+???]

Dmg: ???

Requirement: Strength 10???

Wt: ???

Description: Indestructible weapon made to slay Cosmic Horrors. Crafted of impossible metals shaped in the hottest crucible in the Everhigh Eversung Endless World of Imaginacium

Ridiculous is not the word for it…it is mad even by the tales of myth. That requirement would make it impossible to wield…I would have to guess. Ogre thought before speaking. “I don’t understand what the requirement is asking in terms of sum.”

Lam shrugged, “I too do not know.”

With a start, Ogre realized that he was holding a key. He looked at it and dropped it immediately. It glittered with orange rust that faded to a deep chocolate brown then to rough dark iron. It was large and heavy enough to make him grunt but it was more rust than metal. The Status mirror called it: Low Rubbish Key of the Decrepit. Why would such an ugly item be paired with such a beautiful weapon? The dog looked around and saw the other beasts, Otters mostly being drawn towards the maul as if pulled. Their eyes glued to the black mass in the center of the maul. Ogre willed it away.

“Wait…If I could just…look at it a bit longer.” Said Lam, with an odd feverish cast to his eyes.

“No.” Said Ogre flatly, recalling how that starry black material hypnotized him in his dream. “It’s time to go.”

On cue, Borhelm started bellowing that it was time to exit the tower and make their way to the first town. Ogre looked at the giant boar before his belly gurgled and he clapped both paws over his middle. His body reminded him of the many pounds of meat that he ate. Firstly, I’m going to need the latrine!