Sarah and I had both leveled up after the battle. We had figured out how to determine our current progress between levels through our Stats ability. I reached Opal 3 while she was over halfway through Opal 2.
We looted everything we could from the Goblin Village. While I only took the things I thought were a necessity now or possibly in the future, Sarah, on the other hand, took anything she could get her tiny hands on.
We obtained hundreds of Opal Coins, a bunch of random potions including Health Potions, Mana Potions, and even a Resilience Tonic which seemed to increase one’s Constitution temporarily. We also found Torches, miscellaneous tools, scraps of metal, pelts of unknown creatures, rusty weapons, makeshift armor, as well as some shiny trinkets and jewelry. I rather had left most of this behind, but Sarah insisted we needed it. She carried most of the junk items while we split the other useful items down the middle.
In the end, we ended up with 344 Opal Coins which I was happy about. The potions were useful but the rest was useless to me. Perhaps a merchant or someone would take it off our hands for some extra coins but I doubted it.
We also assigned our attributes.
Sarah put three into Strength, making it 7, and one into Constitution, making it 3. She was now over twice as strong as me.
I had eight unassigned points to spend. I went from 2 to 4 in Constitution, 4 to 6 in Agility, 3 to 6 in Dexterity, and 4 to 5 in Perception.
The increase in attributes made my body seem like it had been reborn. The difference in doubling your Constitution, as well as Dexterity, was massive and immediately noticeable. I wanted to try to juggle 100 chainsaws while running around in a circle. That’s how good I felt.
After assigning our attributes, we agreed we would review and open the loot boxes we received from our achievements once we reached another town or city. We didn’t want to get caught out in the open as half a dozen chests sat out ready to be stolen.
We made our way back to the comical painting on the crude sign that had led us to the village. Instead of heading back toward Bloomsora, we decided to continue down the road in hopes of finding an orb. There wasn’t any benefit after heading back to the same town to rest when we were on a time limit.
“Did you have to kill all those baby goblins?” asked Sarah.
“I didn’t plan to,” I said. “But they went after me. Not much I could do about it.”
“Oh…”
“They were so weak but had crazy teeth. Their mothers bit me!” I said, showing her the torn portion of the sleeve of my shirt.
“Hm”
I could see she wasn’t convinced of my reasoning to retaliate against the weaker monsters. I changed the subject to focus on her.
“Well, you were a badass fighter out there. Did you see yourself? My god, it was astonishing and terrifying at the same time,” I said. “I sure am glad I have you on my team.”
She perked up. “Really? You think so?”
“Yes, you really were a force to be reckoned with. Those goblins didn’t stand a chance.”
“You’re glad I am on your team?” she asked.
I smiled at her. “Yes, I am glad.”
Her mood changed in an instant. A smile grew on her face and her walk became cheerful.
“Good! You definitely need me,” she said. “How else would you have gotten those two levels back there? You would have run off before you even shot an arrow! Too bad we couldn’t save that guy.”
“Yeah. That is too bad,” I said. “But I don’t think there was anything we could do. They are NPCs—.”
“I know, I know! I know that they are NPCs. I’ve heard you mention it. But it would’ve been nice to still have saved him,” said Sarah with a bit of anger in her voice.
“You are right. Well, let’s just focus on going forward. We will find somewhere safe and open our loot boxes as we agreed. Maybe we’ll find an orb. Maybe we won’t. Maybe we find some more monsters to train on. We have plenty of daylight left. Anything could happen.”
She nodded as we continued walking down the path.
We walked for about an hour, passing by empty fields and deserted landscapes. No sign of any NPCs or monsters crossed our path. I was hoping we'd stumble upon another village or some sort of settlement, but it seemed like we were the only ones left in this desolate world.
Just as I was starting to lose hope, we noticed someone running towards us in the distance. The figure grew closer, sprinting as if their life depended on it. Sarah and I stopped in our tracks, waiting for the person to reach us.
As we walked we noticed someone running down the road toward us.
“Is that another NPC?” I asked.
“I hope so! Or WAIT—Maybe it’s Marybeth!” said Sarah.
We stopped where we were as the person sprinted toward us.
Gasping for breath, the man finally arrived, holding up a finger to signal us to wait. He bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He looked like a friendly fellow, with a round face and disheveled dark hair. He wore a light-blue shirt and khaki pants, giving off a laid-back vibe.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He was unlike any NPC I’ve seen so far. I leaned over to Sarah and whispered, “I don’t think that’s Marybeth.”
She jerked her head and glared.
“Oh, man. Woo… I am… tired. One sec…” said the man between breaths with a thick accent. After a few moments straightened himself. “Sorry, I saw you guys down the way and wanted to catch up.”
“You saw us all the way down there?” asked Sarah. “OH! Are you going to give us a quest?”
The man’s face changed to a puzzled look. “…you guys speak Japanese?”
Sarah and I exchanged a confused look. I examined the man.
[Ren Yamashita]
Classification: Plague Dancer
Rank: Opal 2
“Ren Yamashita? You’re another survivor. We haven’t seen any other survivors yet,” I said with raised eyebrows. “And no, we don’t speak Japanese. I mean, at least, I don’t. Sarah you don’t speak Japanese, right?”
“No, I don’t,” she said.
The man remained silent. His face was still painted with his puzzled look as he seemed to take in the situation.
I chimed in, breaking the silence. “Does it even matter we speak Japanese? You spoke English just fine.”
His neck arched forward as his eyebrows shot to the top of his head. “I am not speaking English! I am speaking only Japanese.”
We paused for a few moments as I tapped my finger on my lips.
“Weird. This must be similar to when someone interacts with an NPC. They switch their language to the person interacting. I wonder how it works with survivors like us,” I said. “Heh, oh well. I am not going to complain. That makes it easier on all of us.”
The man contemplated a bit before responding as his puzzled expression faded away.
“Wow! Well, that is super cool. You are the first real people I ran into. I saw you from waaaay down there,” he said pointing back behind himself.
“How? Did you put all your points into Perception or something?” I chuckled, finding his claim hard to believe.
“Yes!” he said with a big smile.
I stopped laughing. “What? Why?”
“It makes you see, hear, and even smell really well! It’s amazing. I can see soooo far. I even heard you whisper earlier. And your smell…” he said, “…well, it’s not the best.”
Sarah scoffed and gave him a side-eye. “What is a Plague Dancer?”
“I am glad you asked,” he said, grinning. He pulled out a wicked, curved dagger from a sheathe hanging on his hip and began to turn it over in his hands.
Sarah and I were on the same page. Without hesitating, she pulled out her two jagged whips and took an offensive stance. I pulled out my bow, notched a lightning arrow, and aimed it at the man’s face.
The man looked up as he continued flipping the dagger over.
“AHH!” he screamed, tumbling backward and dropping his dagger as the sound of metal bounced off the cobblestone below us. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
I lowered my bow but kept the arrow notched. “What are we doing? You pulled a dagger out on us!”
“I was just showing it to you!” he said with a shaky voice.
“Jesus Christ. You don’t just pull out a weapon on people without at least telling them,” I said.
“You also had a really creepy smile on your face,” added Sarah.
“Ah… well… shoot,” muttered Ren. He pushed himself off the ground back to his feet and brushed himself off. “Sorry guys. I don’t think things through before I do them. I do that a lot. Always screwing something up. Can I pick up my dagger?”
He pointed at it on the ground.
I nodded at him.
He bent down and grabbed it by the hand and quickly placed it back into its sheathe on his hip.
I gave him a flat smile and unnotched my arrow. Sarah rolled up her whips with a quick flick of her wrist.
“Alright, so Plague Dancer?” I asked him.
“Oh, right,” he said. “OK! So Plague Dancer is really neat. I basically just teleport around monsters and stick them with my dagger and teleport away. It’s super fun, actually. I have an ability that lets all my attacks become poison, disease, and other afflictions. Then I use my dance ability that lets me teleport to monsters for a second which is enough time to give them a quick jab or two and then it teleports me away to another monster! It does that up to ten times before it returns me back to my original position. I can use it from really far away, thanks to my Perception.” After he finished speaking, he threw a fist upward in the air, fist-pumping.
Sarah and I looked at each other.
“Cool, huh? I can use it every 30 seconds too,” said Ren. “Although, by the time it finished there’s usually about 20 seconds remaining before I can use it again. It seems to count down the second I trigger it.”
“Sounds like a nice ability. So you just jab and then hide?” I asked him.
“Yes! I make sure my original position is far enough away that they can’t see me when it finishes. Then I just do it a few more times and then they end up dying from all the afflictions,” said Ren, quickly shooting out another question. “Can I come with you guys? We would be a great party! I could stay far back and just do my thing. And you are a bow guy right… Asher?” he asked, staring at me. “You can stay far back too and just shoot. But not near me because I don’t want to get attacked,” he continued, turning to Sarah, “And you… Sarah… have whips. So that probably means you are up and close. It would be great. What do you all think?”
I began to respond. “No, I—.” Sarah cut me off.
“I think that sounds absolutely brilliant,” said Sarah. “Asher, add him to the party please.”
I clenched my jaw tight. Fuck. I did not want another person in the party. Especially this guy. But I had a suspicion Sarah would want him in our party the second I found that he was a survivor.
I turned to Sarah and spoke in a whisper. “Don’t you think we should talk it over first? What if we can’t trust this guy? He could just poison us with his dagger and then bounce. We’d be screwed.”
“I won’t stab you,” said Ren with a somber voice. “I am all alone. You are the first real people I’ve seen here other than my so-called friends.
Sarah glared at me.
“I also can show you a settlement I’ve seen. I haven’t been there yet but I am pretty sure it’s full of supplies and possibly other people,” said Ren. “…I also know of a place where we can level up.”
My eyebrows raised. “Level up? As in a village of monsters? Or something?”
Ren flashed a grin. “Something like that. The place I have in mind is more of a small town. It’s loaded. I haven’t been in it myself but I’ve been picking off groups of them as they leave.”
I did not hesitate.
Would you like to request Ren Yamashita to join your party?
Yes.
Ren Yamashita has joined your party!
Party members:
- Asher Loveless
- Sarah King
- Ren Yamashita
“Yeah! Thank you!” shouted Ren. He raised his hand up for a high-five. “We are going to kick some ass!”
Sarah jumped up and high-fived his hand and then said, “Ren, you should know that vulgarity makes you sound uneducated.”
“Welcome to the Party, Ren,” I said with a laugh. “I think we should scout out this town today and then head to that settlement you mentioned to rest. Then tomorrow we raid it.”
Ren responded to Sarah first. “Oh, sorry missy. I’ll keep the swearing to a minimum.”
“Don’t call me, missy,” she snapped at him and then cocked her head and smiled.
He pulled himself away from Sarah. “OK. I can show you guys the town. But we have to be quiet when we reach it. I usually don’t have to get very close but you guys probably will see or hear anything.”
“That is fine,” I said. I turned to Sarah. “No, running in. We’ll scout and make a plan for tomorrow. Sound good?”
“Yes, Asher. Of course,” she said.
“Great!” I exclaimed. “Ren, lead the way!”
We began to travel down the road, the way we had been going, as Ren led the way. Ren turned his head toward Sarah and asked, “What’s a Bloodfire Berserker?”