“Undead Knights…two on the right.” I whispered quietly to Nick. I saw his hands glow orange as he prepared [Pillar of Flame]. I gave a quick nod to Elsa, who used her [Stealth] to sneak behind the two. The Undead guards didn’t know what hit them. Nick’s fire erupted from the earth, igniting both. Before they had any chance to react, Elsa had driven a [Shadow Blade] enhanced dagger through both of their decaying skulls. The burnt re-animated corpses hit the ground with a thud.
Nick gave a grin. “[Pillar of Flame] just hit Level 6.”
“Nice job.” I patted him on the back. He was only a few years younger than I was, but he had taken a liking to me and I felt some obligation to be supportive.
I saw Cain jumping over a fence and starting to move building to building, Graham at his side and Theresa behind him. Nick, Elsa, Matt, and myself moved forward slowly. Albany was much larger than anything we had cleared before and it looked like the minimum level here was 16 for the minor creatures and 17–18 for the larger normal ones. I was almost certain that even without going into the crypts, a dungeon that had opened in Albany’s cemetery, there would be high level Elites and perhaps a Colossal in the area. We had to be careful.
As we turned another corner onto a residential street, a single Undead was in the road and poking at the body of a wolf. It saw me and began to run back down the alley. “Undead Alchemist - Level 16”. It didn’t seem to be dangerous, but it could warn those who are. I fired several shots and watched its health drop to red. It almost escaped to warn the other Undead in the area. Luckily, Graham rounded a corner into the same street at just the right time. With its exits blocked off, the creature began to chant a spell. Graham’s [Spirit Blade] put a quick stop to that. He gave me a nod and fell back with Cain and Theresa.
I led my team around the block as we cleared out Skeleton Workers, Skeleton Rattlers, Zombie Walkers, and Zombie Scouts. Despite only getting 1/4th of the XP from a kill, and then having that total lowered another 40-60% due to the level difference, each kill brought me closer and closer to Level 20. After the 1st hour, I was at 45%. Nick was 90% of the way to Level 18, Elsa was 50% of the way to Level 18, and Matt was 85% of the way to Level 17.
Gear was also improving. I still hadn’t found any solid upgrades for myself, but Albany seemed to be dropping solid items. (Boneforged Chestplate) as well as (Walker Boots) were both Level 16 Uncommon pieces that had dropped and were looted by Cain and Matt respectively. My gear had an average item level of 10. My highest was a Level 12 piece. For as much killing as we had been doing, my gear still felt oddly under leveled. I wondered if this was part of the game system to give more relevance to crafters. If it was, then the few Dexterity Weapon crafters out there needed to up their game. There were so few on the market that the prices were ridiculous. Supply and demand was a bitch. Still, like everything, as people leveled up the lower level gear lost its value on the market. The same (Viper Pistols) I bought for 750 gold just a few months ago would be worth just a little more than half of that now.
We turned into a small courtyard with rusted over swings and a large sphere shaped structure. It took me more than a minute to realize that it was a jungle gym and the courtyard had used to be a children’s playground. “Albany Elementary” was written on a nearby sign. The Zombies and Skeletons walking around the playground filled me with an odd form of rage. I gave a nod to Nick, Elsa, and Matt. It was time to be more aggressive.
Nick erupted [Pillar of Flame] in several locations around the playground. Elsa charged out and began to slice at the creatures with her [Shadow Blade] as I fired my first [Multi-Shot] of the day. 3 of the 6 shots landed for critical hits and, with my [Bone Piercing] passive, instantly killed 3 of the creatures. The other three stumbled around, looking for their target before Elsa charged them and cut them down. As Nick deployed [Summon Phoenix] the remaining dozen or so creatures on the playground stared into the sky at the screeching familiar. Nick sent fireballs out across the field as Matt sent spheres of green energy. You didn’t need a tank when you were putting out this much damage.
I took careful aim at a Level 17 Skeleton Guard and fired with my right pistol, watching the creature crumble from the critical hit. I turned to my left and saw a Zombie Walker charging me. As it got close enough, I aimed my left pistol up and shot it from underneath the jaw. It crumpled. I heard the faint sound of Leveling up around me and smiled as Matt and Nick gave each other a high five. Elsa took out the last of the Zombies, giving me a nod.
We began to look around the field, seeing the glowing signs of loot to be received. Out of the 21 kills on the playground, only 11 had item drops. Of those, only 5 dropped gear. I thought it was safe to say that the item drop rate was 25%. However, of those five, only 2 were above Level 10. (Boneforged Dagger) was a Level 15 Uncommon. Elsa was glad to take it. (Scout’s Boots) was a Level 14 Uncommon. It was finally a DEX/AGI piece of gear. I was glad to see an upgrade for the first time in a while.
I took a look at the gear before equipping it. My last piece was a Level 10 Common that gave me +3 Agility and +3 Dexterity. This new piece of gear literally doubled it. +6 Agility and +6 Dexterity. As I equipped the boots on, which held a dark tan color instead of the solid black of the last pair, I could feel the speed boost. With my [Analyze] passive, matched with [Ranger’s Mark], and my [Bone Piercing] passive, my high dexterity meant I was putting out critical hits with what felt like more times than not. A critical hit was around 300% of normal damage from what we could tell. [Ranger’s Mark] added +50% damage. This meant that a critical attack, normally worth 3 times a normal attack, would now do x4.5 normal damage. Bone Piercing increased that damage against Undead enemies significantly. I had a feeling the Albany Crypts was going to be a breeze.
NAME
Jeremiah, L.
CLASS
Ranger
LEVEL
19 (15%)
GOLD
4,015
STRENGTH
10
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
DEXTERITY
35 (18+17)
WISDOM
14 (9+5)
AGILITY
33 (20+13)
CRAFTING SKILLS
Cooking (1)
SPECIAL SKILLS
N/A
ACTIVE SKILLS
Multi-Shot (11)
Quickdraw (9)
Ranger's Mark (4)
PASSIVE SKILLS
Tracker (8)
Resolve (7)
Bone Piercing (5)
Analyze (1)
MAIN-HAND
Viper Pistols (7U)
[+5 DEX]
OFF-HAND
N/A
HEAD
Bullhide Hat (10U)
[+5 DEX, +5 WIS]
CHEST
Shackleford Vest (12C)
[+7 AGI]
LEGS
Gnoll Hunter's Leggings (12C)
[+4 DEX, +3 AGI]
BOOTS
Scout's Boots (14U)
[+6 DEX, +6 AGI]
As we moved throughout the school, I was surprised to see very little in the way of humanoid enemies. Most of what we encountered were Level 15 Sewer Rats, Plague Hounds, and Giant Termites. Elsa would unlock a door with [Lockpicking] which was a passive skill that she had upgraded quite a lot it seemed, and then Nick would simply start flinging fireballs. His new passive was [Inner Flame] which reduced the energy cost of fire spells significantly. Matt hadn’t gotten any new spells with his Level 17 advancement, but he had been able to gear up over the last few weeks and was proving to be nearly as lethal as the rest of us.
The closest we got to danger in this portion of the school was when none of us saw the Giant Termite’s on the ceiling tiles. As we walked down a hallway lined with old arts and crafts, a large white insect landed right on top of Matt. The furious chittering caused all of us to turn and see him struggling to not be ripped apart. A second and then a third dropped from the ceiling, nearly tackling me and Nick in turn.
Elsa reacted fast, stabbing at the one on top of Matt as Nick and I took care of our assailants. Elsa managed to kill the Level 15 Termite swiftly, but Matt had taken several points of damage to his arms and chest. His [Restore Life] energy restored him, but Matt was tired and it was showing. He would never ask for a break, and it was my job as whatever type of leader I had become to give the order for one. “Alright, let’s hole up in a Classroom here for a bit. Let’s let everyone get their energy back.”
Everyone seemed happy to do so. I realized that Elsa may not have as many points in Wisdom as I had, and Nick and Matt were consuming energy at a far greater rate than I was. We stepped inside the room and Elsa locked the door behind us. I slumped down next to a chalk board and stared at it for a minute. “2x2 = 4….2x3 = 6….2x4 = 8….damn.”
The select few who chose to be combatants in this new world had a lot of varied personalities, but we all had one thing in common. We were all able to comprehend, or at least pretend to comprehend, the horrors of what losing 99% of humanity meant and move on accordingly. We were all able to do our jobs and keep going. There were more people back in Harehill who got drunk in the Pony every night than any of us would like to admit. Market pills and tavern alcohol were providing relief. Maybe they were weaker than us, or maybe they were just better people than us. Even with all of our abilities to shut out the horror of the past, there were times where it broke through. Seeing the school and the playground was one of those times for me. There were kids here and, at most, 1 or 2 were still alive.
It only took me a second before I realized this was Graham’s town. It was so ‘matter-of-fact’ before. Graham knew the layout. Graham came up with the battle plan. Graham came up with the looting plan. This was all Graham’s idea and I had never once stopped to consider how he was dealing with all of this. He had mentioned having a wife before all of this. What happened to her? I knew she hadn’t made it, but I never asked him how. Should I have?
I held my head and sighed. Nick came over and sat next to me, putting his hands on his knees and staring at the ceiling. “It’s kind of cool, right?”
I looked at him, hoping the wet eyes weren’t as visible as it felt they were. “What is?”
“I mean…before all of this…people were seeing 4 minute mile time and sending them to the olympics. I think everyone in this room could do a mile in 3 minutes or less. Magic was in fairy books and people trained their whole lives to shoot a fraction as well as you can. You can hit a potato on a stick on the other side of Harehill from the balcony on the Pony with a pistol. That’s the type of things snipers couldn’t even do in the old world. It’s…it’s kind of cool.”
I gave him a half smile and opened up my Market Menu. Energy Potions meant for Level 15s were going for 540 gold. With fees, that’d be 702 gold. I didn’t need any potions, I was fine. Buying 3 meant spending over 2,000 gold. I gave a shrug and smiled as I pressed the button. Maybe it was silly and it certainly wasn’t the best use of my gold, but I wanted to do something nice for once. I handed out the Energy Potions to the group and they raised their eyebrows but took them. In fifteen seconds, all 3 of them looked like I had given them 6 energy drinks and a gallon of coffee. They were ready to go and so was I.
We opened the door and marched down the hallway. The single Termite in the hallway gave us a faint screech before a critical hit from me sent it to the afterlife. As we opened got to the gymnasium, I saw broken metal chains on the doors. Someone tried to use this as a base. I opened the doors and stared at what sat in the middle of the room. The giant white legs and bulging white body clicked faintly from the center of the gym floor. On the bleachers, Level 15 Termites crawled like a hive. The paper-like nest material that covered the bleachers and a good portion of the floor seemed to house even more. I stared at the massive Termite in the center and my face got tight. I read the profile.
T’sk Tikan - Level 22 Colossal