CJ giggled at his own antics. It’d been weeks since he’d seen a movie or even experienced the slightest bit of joy. He was surprised at how well he’d been holding himself together with all the constant danger and revelations about the apocalypse swirling around him. Then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing out here. He needed to clear five bolster dungeons before the next full moon. Checking the current phase of the moon had to creep further up his priority list. Knowing how much more time he’d have would be imperative. His ability to jailbreak peoples slates, needs more attention. Is that all he could do with it? In the last few minutes, he’d just increased the number of questions he needed to ask Sun Wukong.
The combat training he was promised at the end of this quest was becoming less and less necessary. He had a crew of people he could rely on, and Monty was taking on more of the physical work. Wasn’t CJ more of a caster anyway? Shouldn’t he be strategizing from the back row? CJ took a quick look at his mana points and noticed he had twenty out of two hundred and twenty points. Back line probably wasn’t going to be his role. The Kinetic Energy Converter would see to that. Perhaps he should develop a hybrid magic tank role.
“Are you just going to stand there staring off into nothing?” asked a strange voice from within the room.
“What the fuck?!” exclaimed CJ as he spun around pulling his mana filament wire, “Who’s in here with me?”
CJ’s asshole clenched shut once he realized the door had shut behind him. It made absolutely no sound at all. He couldn’t even see the seams. His Polychrome flames had gone out due to his lack of concentration. Then a yellow light, not unlike sunlight began emanating from the book on the pedestal.
“Skittish one. Look I’ve been laying on this thing for a long time and I’d prefer it if we could get out of here before the demon in the painting realizes what’s up.”
The voice was coming from the book itself. CJ’s mouth was slack jawed as he just stood there staring at it.
“You’re a talking book. Wait, demon?” asked CJ before turning toward the painting again.
The perspective in the painting had changed. At the very bottom of the canvas the grassy field gave way to shrubbery and fallen branches. The bulk of the image was just the tree line now and the red eyes were staring daggers at CJ from far too close.
“Let me help. Pick me up, grab the Examiners robe, and get us both the hell out of here with that flame spell of yours. Sound like a plan. Good.”
“Right, out is what I want,” he said grabbing the book and stuffing the robe into his inventory before casting the Polychrome Flame spell again. He felt the five mana leave his chest and flames bloomed around his hand again. Concentrating he switched between the spectrums of light until the seams in the door started to appear. As the magic worked and the door drew itself in the stone, CJ peeked back at the painting. It now showed large razor sharp claws bursting from the trees grasping for the edges of the frame. Adrenaline raced through CJ noting that the entire forest in the painting was now on fire.
With the book tucked under his left arm, CJ wrenched the door open with his right. He could fee the heat from the burning forest begin to fill the chamber. Smoke billowed from the painting into the room. As soon as he stepped back into the tower stairwell all those sensations stopped. The door swung shut and CJ’s vision was bombarded with slate notifications.
Hidden Dungeon Quest Complete: The story of High Examiner Liber- Find the magic book containing the story of High Examiner Liber. Do not release the trapped demon. Rewards; Living Story book and High Examiners Robes.
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New Item: Living Story Book, Legendary- This book lived the story contained within. Any stories it tells will be projected in a ten-by-ten yard area around it. It can learn new stories if its fed books and mana. Cost is determined by the size of the book fed.
New Item: High Examiners Robe, Rare- This garment can absorb and take the form of any other clothing, at that clothing’s expense. Once absorbed, the High Examiners Robe will take on both the properties and its appearance. The person wearing these robes experiences double their mana regeneration.
CJ gasped at how much colder it was out in the stairwell. His Polychrome spell was still going but the heat coming from it wasn’t enough for the whole stairwell. He looked down at the book gauging whether or not it would fit up his sleeve. It was as thick as a websters dictionary. That was not going to fit. He’d have to carry it for now.
“Should I just call you book, or do you have a name?”
“My name is Liber. You may refer to me as such, what pray tell is your nom de plume?”
“Pen name, no I have a real name. Its CJ.”
“That is just two letters in what is currently known as English. But you get what you pay for I suppose.”
CJ noted the snark in the books voice and absolutely understood why it was locked behind a secret door. Then he suddenly got an avalanche of messages from his party chat. They were asking where he was. Then a series of messages about the torch light changing. All of that culminated in messages about incoming enemies and bang-bang-bang.
Gunfire echoed off the walls in the hallway. CJ was closer to Rubio then the ground floor teams. He skipped down to the last few messages in the chain.
New Message from Monty: They are coming over the walls.
New Message from Rubio: I’ll do what I can, but CJ was right, there are thirty two of them and I can’t cover every approach.
New Message from Psycho: Hopefully, CJ is at the fallback position; several Dodo’s made it into the tower first floor. We couldn’t pick them off from the keep. Elena is running out of stamina but the bodies she has pilled up are preventing a bum’s rush on us.
New Message from Party Leader CJ: Fuck, I’m here. I’m on my way.
CJ sprinted down the stairs looping his left pinky into the Mana Filament Ring’s pull tab. This way he could keep moving and do damage while holding the book if he needed to.
“What exactly is your plan?”
“My friends are in trouble, and I missed the beginning of the second wave somehow.”
“I can answer that. The Examiners office exists in a separate pocket of time. The high examiner felt that gave him a more ever youthful appearance. He more often than not just missed important appointments. That’s why he moved out of that office.”
“Thanks for the history lesson but I really need to pay attention no--” CJ stopped speaking as a large beak snapped out around the curve of the stairs smashing into gray-blue wall. Chips of stone shot out in CJ’s direction but at this point he’s learned to lean into incoming projectiles. He managed to earn a paltry five mana regen for his trouble before ducking down and stretching out his mana wire. It slid easily through the flesh of the bird who even now lunged its beak toward him. Its head was separated cleanly from its neck and tumbled down the stairs behind the bird. CJ slid on one of the steps and slammed his left shoulder into the wall. From this vantage point he could see the fall back position landing. Two Dodo’s were trying to eat their ammunition.
CJ retracted the wire back into the ring and pulled a deck of cards. He leaned Liber against the stair and wall, so he wasn’t forced to one hand the action. Holding the deck in his left hand he began throwing with his right. The nine of clubs was flung down the hall connecting with the flank of one of the birds. It screeched out in pain as its companion looked around confused. The Queen of clubs cracked into the beak of the screaming. Its head was split open and it hit the ground with a thud thanks to that whopping thirty damage in one shot.
CJ snuck a peek at his mana levels. The cards cost him a single mana each if he wanted them to do damage, just like every cut with his ring. His mana was now at seventeen points considering the shrapnel absorption from earlier. The confused bird got its shit together and charged up the stairs. Ineffective vestigial wings flapping the whole way. Two cards flung out stopping it in motion as it slid into four sections. The king and queen of diamonds sliced right through it for a combined seventy points of slicing damage. Two more mana down.
“That is an odd style of combat. I don’t think in my millennium of consciousness I’ve ever seen anything like it. Are you not a mage?”
“Magician. Two shows nightly.” he said with a thumb jutting at his chest.