You have been invited to join the group Quest:
The Charge for the Runeportal! Do you want to accept?
YES NO
Aiden read the question and wasn’t sure what to answer. Jabari however, was standing there with a big smile and apparently waiting expectantly for a response.
Unfortunately, Aiden realized he only had two options. Accept the question and join three teens he had just met, or take on a street full of angry, fiery imps by himself and try to find a way back to his home, his world, without any help.
With a weak smile he chose “Yes”.
Quest Accepted!
The Charge for the Runeportal!
The message appeared surrounded by a shower of sparkles that Aiden thought looked a lot like fireworks. Then it disappeared and for a moment was replaced with a bright map of the area, with a bright blue light, right over where Jabari was standing. There were two other blue lights nearby, a short distance to the right of Jabari’s lights. Aiden looked down the road, to his right and as he expected, the two girls who Jabari had introduced as Morgan and Elara were nearby fighting against a few more of the imps, confirming for Aiden that the blue lights were definitely the others in his group.
“Welcome to our humble quest,” Jabari said with a big smile and an elaborate arm flourish and bow. He then stood back up, motioned at the imps nearby, gave Aiden a slap on the shoulder and announced, “Come on, let’s go get your experience with that club up to level 3!”
With that, Jabari engaged the nearest imp, which immediately pulled a small group of four imps over to them both.
“Jabari, what are you doing?!” Aiden shouted, as one of the small fey saw him and fired up at him.
“Getting you some experience,” Jabari answered.
One of the imps immediately noticed Aiden and growled at him. It reached its hands out toward him and little flames dancing from the tip of each finger, the center of its eyes was glowing red as it glowered at him.
Aiden hefted the newly acquired Burnished Batton. The smooth, well-polished baton felt a bit heavier than the Tree Branch, even though it was at least half a foot shorter. Holding it felt a lot like holding a baseball bat, if a bat was nothing but a long thin shapeless tube of yellowish polished wood.
The creature waved its hands toward him menacingly and then, snarling and screeching at the top of its lungs, it started toward him.
Aiden hauled back and hit it just before its fiery fingers reached him.
A message immediately popped up:
Strong Shot!
Club Attack: +3XP
“See, you got, this!” Jabari shouted encouragingly, “Just keep hitting them, the more you hit the more experience you get and the quicker you’ll level.”
“So, once I get more experience, this will get easier, right?” Aiden asked, starting to understand the way this new world seemed to work.
“Oh yeah! After you gain a few attack levels you’ll probably be able to just one shot these any low level Enchantling,” he said with a smile.
Aiden swung his Burnished Batton again and hit the imp that was still attacking him:
Critical Hit!
Club Attack: +4XP
He watched as the imp crumpled in the corner and second later, it had deflated and became a melted mess.
“Just like that!” Jabari encouraged. “Keep it up and we’ll be at the runeportal in no time.”
Jabari might be happy about it, but Aiden wasn’t as sure. But there really wasn’t any other option. He certainly didn’t want to stay here.
Aiden pulled back and swung again and was rewarded with a hard thud as he knocked the next angry imp off its feet and to the ground.
Connected!
Club Attack: +2XP
It started to get back up but this time, Aiden didn’t wait. He knew they would just keep coming at him until he stopped them, or they reached him. He looked over at the charred buildings around them. He didn’t want to think about what that would feel like to have one of them touch him.
He hit it a third time and the imp crumpled into a heap while the system recognized more experience.
Well done!
That Level 2 Fire Imp is finished!
The bar for his Club Weapon skill continued to move a bit closer to Level 3. Jabari was right. It would only be a couple more imps before he was at level 3. He hoped that also meant that they would get a little bit easier to fight.
Jabari had collected another three imps and brought them closer to Aiden, “Care for an imp?”
Aiming carefully, Aiden swung at the nearest one and slammed it in the stomach:
Got it!
Club Attack: +1XP
It screeched angrily and clawed at the bat. Each place the angry little fingers touched the Burnished Batton, turned darker, nearly pitch black. Aiden pulled the bat away and then hit it again, this time careful to pull the baton back quickly.
Solid Swat
Club Attack: +2XP
It hissed again angry, and the fire shot from its fingertips, but with one more strike from Aiden’s baton, it was on the ground in a heap.
Connected!
Club Attack: +2XP
Another Leve 2 Fire Imp Done For!
Aiden took a second to catch his breath. He was nearly at the next level, but it was exhausting work.
He looked around, there were still so many. Jabari and the others worked at their, slowly and steadily, hitting, dousing and kicking over and over, like a simple dance they had done before. But for Aiden, the bat seemed heavy, and the imps seemed never ending.
A new imp came by and he hit it hard, ignoring the messages as they each appeared and disappeared. All he watched was his Club Attack level bar getting closer and closer to Level 3.
He swung hard, connected again, and again and then another imp was nothing more than a small swirl of color at his feet.
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Congratulations
You took down a Level 2 Fire Imp!
The message quickly disappeared and was replaced by another:
Level Up!
Attack Skill: Club Attack Level: 3 - Moderate Hit Description A light to moderate hit that can knock apples from a tree, making harvest time a breeze.
Aiden gasped with excitement. “I got it, Jabari!” Aiden shouted excitedly, “Level 3!”
“Level 3?!”
Aiden saw one of the girls, he thought was Morgan, staring at Jabari intently, her hands on her hips and her face a frustrated from, “Jabari, you didn’t tell us he was from the Academy!”
“He’s not!” Jabari answered happily. “His Club attack was just unlocked! He just needs to level it now and we can get out of here.”
Aiden tried to follow what they were saying, but it wasn’t making any sense. The system was translating but he wasn’t understanding most of it.
“What else is unlocked?” Elara asked, curiously.
“Not sure, but he has Club Attack and that works for these imps!” Jabari answered.
“What?” Aiden asked Jabari, but Jabari waved him off.
“Don’t worry about them,” Jabari answered, “just keep hitting the Imps. And keep looting. Wait… have you been looting?” he asked suddenly, intensely concerned.
Aiden looked around and realized there were sparkles that he had forgotten to check in the mayhem.
“I’m doing it now,” he answered Jabari as he focused on each on and one by one the sparkles disappeared leaving whatever the imp held on top of the puddle.
“What’s there?” Jabari said, keeping an eye on the imp stalking him nearby.
“Um, nothing much, I mean I don’t see any weapons,” Aiden said disappointed. “Just small… metallic squares maybe?”
“Squares?” Jabari said the word slowly, “Are the small glittering squares?” he asked.
“Maybe,” Aiden said hesitantly, “They look like they are made of some sort of metallic purple glitter?”
“Yes! Those are coins!” Jabari said excitedly. He was in the middle of fending off two of the imps, but he spared a glance toward Aiden. “Transfer those coins, you really want to get those!”
“How?” Aiden asked, not quite sure what to do with them. He tried to pick them up off the ground like he did the bat, but the slipped through his fingers. “I can’t pick them up.”
“You don’t pick up a coin, you transfer them,” Jabari said.
“Aiden, you don’t really need the coins,” Elara said in between kicks to an imp.
“Stop distracting him with coins, Jabari!” shouted Morgan and then to Aiden she added in a softer tone, “Don’t take any chances, Aiden. Just don’t let any of those imps get close!”
Aiden looked at Morgan and Elara then back over to Jabari.
Jabari was smiling. Softly he said, “Or, transfer the coins and then fight more imps,” Jabari arched a brow and gave him a meaningful look, “I’ll keep an eye out for imps,” he added.
Aiden stared at the sparkling squares again. Even though he understood why Morgan would want him fighting, if there was anything he learned from years moving from house to house as a foster kid, it was that when you found something of value, you didn’t leave it behind if you had a choice.
Frowning, he focused intently on one of the small purple glittering squares and then under his breath, whispered softly, “QCore, what’s that?”
The system responded promptly, and a small label appeared over the sparkling piece of metal:
Plum Galvanite Coin
Aiden nodded. That was a good sign.
“QCore, can you transfer that coin to me?” Aiden asked hopefully.
The response was nearly immediate:
Coin Transferred
Aiden smiled excitedly. That was the easiest thing he had done since he arrived. Of course, he wasn’t exactly sure where it went, once it disappeared, but it was ‘transferred’, which for now was good enough.
He then looked over at the next sparkling square, ‘I wonder if that’s the same kind of coin?’ he thought, but before he could whisper the words, a label popped up:
Plum Galvanite Coin
Startled Aiden looked away, and the message disappeared as well. Frowning, he returned his attention to the glittering marble he thought again, ‘What’s that?’ and again the message appeared:
Plum Galvanite Coin
Aiden nodded in understanding and grinned just a bit. When the QCore appeared, he had thought the system had been able to read his mind, but everything had happened so fast that he wasn’t ever sure. This time, he was sure. He didn’t need to speak out loud to get the system to respond. He just had to ‘think’ and it would ‘hear’ him.
Focusing again on the coin, he concentrated and thought just one word, ‘Transfer.’
The second coin disappeared like the first.
Smiling, Aiden checked each of the other piles and with a few thoughts and the QCore’s help, transferred each of the coins in just a few seconds.
Grinning ear to ear he looked over at Jabari, “Got ‘em,” he said with a smile.
Jabari smiled back, “Great, now get a few more imps so we can clear up this mess and head to the runeportal.”
Aiden glanced around the empty street, taking in the scene. Jabari was right, the number of imps swarming around had definitely diminished since they started, there weren’t that many more.
Nodding, Aiden tightened his grip on his baton. Empowered by his recent upgrade to a level 3 Club Attack, he felt a surge of confidence as he faced the scuttling, malicious creatures.
This time instead of waiting for it to come to him, Aiden targeted the nearest imp, a particularly gnarly creature that hissed and spat as it approached. This time, his movements were more deliberate, the swing of his club more forceful. The impact of wood on the imp's leathery skin sent a satisfying thud. It stumbled back, dazed by the powerful strike.
Super Hit!
Club Attack: +1XP
Aiden frowned, as he read the system message, he earned only one experience point, but the imp definitely felt the blow. He swung again…
Critical Connect!
Club Attack: +2XP
The creature stumbled, dazed and Aiden hit it again, this time it fell to the ground in a heap, and soon swirled into dark brown and deep red sparkles.
Club Attack: 1 XP!
You ended a Level 2 Fire Imp!
Aiden frowned, “Jabari, something’s wrong,” he said, worried, “I’m not getting much experience anymore?”
“It’s fine,” Jabari replied offhandedly.
“But I thought,” Aiden began and Jabari interrupted.
“Really, it’s fine… it’s just basic leveling law applies to attacks like everything else. Your skill level is higher than the challenge level, so since it’s easier for you, you earn less experience. After all, it’s basically just practice now. But it’s fine, you’ll just kill them faster, so you’ll gain experience at about the same rate as the last level,”
"Okay,” Aiden said, a little disappointed. “Then I guess, one down and," Aiden considered how many imps it took to level last time and added a few more for good measure, “like eight or nine to go.”
“Probably something like that,” Jabari answered, “so keep going!”
He took a few steps toward another imp and swung again with a fluid motion. The club whistled through the air, connecting with a sharp crack. The creature undeterred reached to try to bun him with its hot little fingers, but he hit it again and then again until it collapsed into a heap of colorful swirls and sparkles.
The messages were appearing and disappearing, as he attacked and then beat each imp, but Aiden had stopped paying attention to them. The only thing he was looking at was the small bar labelled “Club Attack” which was eking up ever so slowly.
Where he once would have hesitated, now he advanced with purpose. Each swing took less out of him, each impact more effective. What had taken four or five hits to subdue an imp now took just two, maybe three at most. His timing, his aim, his entire approach had improved dramatically.
As he dispatched another imp with a particularly forceful blow, he looked at the bar. It was so close to his next level. He looked around for another fire sprite or imp but he didn’t seen anything. Morgan and Elara were still working on one and Jabari had another.
Then, nearby, he saw movement at the bottom of a bush and raced toward it.