JESSIE : LEVEL 8
DAY 50 : B-DAY, THIRDWEEK, BOREAS, YEAR 1
OUTSET 7 : BOGGY DUNGEON 1 : BREATHE
[ NEW S.T.A.T.S — STRENGTH: PHYSICAL=28 - MAGICAL=16 — TENACITY: DEFENSE=16 - SPEED=28 — APTITUDE: STAMINA=24 - MANA=20 — TILT: CONTROL=28 - LUCK=16 ]
[ NEW COMMON C.R.A.F.T. AUGMENT: HEAVY ARMOR / LAYERED ARMOR — EFFECT 1: ON ARMOR CREATION, SELECT FROM ANY APPLICABLE ARMOR TO INHERIT THE SIZE, APPEARANCE, AND FEEL OF THAT SELECTION, EVEN WHILE RETAINING ALL OTHER EFFECTS OF ACTUAL EQUIPPED ARMOR — EFFECT 2: DISASSEMBLING A PIECE OF ARMOR ADDS IT TO THE APPLICAPE POOL, ALLOWING THAT VISUAL TO BE LAYERED ONTO ANY OTHERS SHARING THE SAME EQUIPMENT SLOT — WARNING 1: DEFAULTS TO NORMAL APPEARANCE IF NO SELECTION IS MADE — WARNING 2: LAYERED OPTION CANNOT BE CHANGED AFTER ARMOR CREATION ]
I’m in a good mood today. A great one, actually. For three reasons, no less. The first of which is currently covering me from head to toe. My brand new full set of Slizardic Heavy Armor. I only found six of eight pieces in the medium set over two weeks of grinding that whole place into the ground.
Despite finding literally hundreds of left medium gauntlets each, Mich found the only right one between the both of us. The fuck is that about? But it stopped really bothering me once I got a type of drop I never saw before. Slizardic Heavy Armor Blueprints. Of course, there was the matter of needing at least a Common CRAFT Skill to make at least Common Heavy Armor.
I’d never really cared to invest a point into my CRAFT that could instead go into my CLASS. Or Core since it counts as CLASS progress insofar as working towards higher-rarity Skills. But that all changed once I found the Blueprint. And it really changed once I hit Level Eight and had the Equipment Points to spare.
So after I leveled up, I used a precious Skill Point on my first CRAFT Common. Then, I disassembled a lot of Left Slizardic Gauntlets and Grieves. The drop rate apparently massively favoring the left side of the body, it left me with enough raw materials to craft a full set of Common Slizardic Heavy Armor. I then disassembled the whole set to unlock the pieces as layered options. Afterwards, I still had enough left limb leftovers left to make a heavy set for the entire party. And another for myself. And another with different layered settings. And another and another.
And that’s the second reason I’m happy today. I’m getting all the effects and stuff from wearing a suit of heavy plate armor, but I don’t actually have to ‘wear’ the armor. The clothes I layered over it are still just as heavy. But with my Physical Strength and Stamina, the full set makes me feel about as restricted as tight clothes used to when I was… Human, I guess? Superpowers aside, my STATS alone are at the point where still calling myself that just feels kind of dishonest.
But, like, I’m wearing a helmet right now. Except I’m not. Because I layered the full plate helm with a black Common headband I found for $5 in Welcome Hill. I even disassembled it before I left the shop. Which isn’t illegal. But it did land me a pointed glare from the woman I bought it from. I stopped disassembling stuff in front of Welcome Hill’s shopkeepers after that. Not to say I still didn't disassemble every last thing I bought in that place.
I’m wearing three non-layered pieces right now. But that’s just because the form-fitted dark metal boots are incredibly badass and the shoulders give me a satiny black cape. Although I do have some layered switch-outs if I ever want to mix it up. After my spending spree, you could even say I have all the layered options a girl could disassemble. In that town, anyway.
That was the key to it, really. Something new to collect. To complete. And a literal eternity to do it. At the end of the day, that fact overrode everything. It wasn’t even a choice when you get right down to it. And I’m more than satisfied with the result. But as content as I am about the decision itself, something has been bothering me. Why have I never found a blueprint before that one? Not even from the wolfspiders. Blueprints can’t be bought or sold, but can apparently only be ‘found’ by a qualified crafter.
As Mich attested about his Achievement for finding every possible drop from that rotting tree dungeon, those blueprints aren’t even in his loot table.
So why are they in mine? Can I just pick up any Heavy Armor Blueprints at all? Or did those gross-ass abominations have something to do with anime? Huh… Yeah, not sure what genre they’re from, but I think I’m actually good with not knowing. Whatever it is, it seems like the total opposite of swords. Also the smell. And the slime and the blood and the rest. I took those weeks to clear that hellhole out of this world specifically because I never wanted to see, or think about those things, ever again. A placid, content grin involuntarily spills onto my face as I remember that it’s gone now. We made a real difference in Heaven by ridding it of that cesspit. It’s truly better for the loss.
Rachel seems to spot my dopey smile. “What’s got you in such a chipper mood?”
I placidly grin up at the ceiling of the swamp-like dungeon we’re inside of and take a big whiff of the stale air. Savoring the taste, I blow out a contented breath. “What’s not to love? I’ve finally got self-repairing pants. And a helmet. And for the first time in half a month, I’m in a dungeon where I’m not about to get all close and personal with literal fucking nightmare fuel.”
Rachel winces in understanding. “I get that. Especially the last bit. Thanks for the armor, by the way. But…” She steps back and examines me more thoroughly. From my sleek, segmented black plate grieves, to my black jeans, gold belt, shirt, and bracelets in the glove slot. Then past my black pauldrons and cape, and finally up to my head completely uncovered by anything visible through thick crimson hair.
Then Rachel looks down at her own mismatched assortment of layered armor pieces. “I do appreciate you giving me the heavy armor. I’m even wearing it now. But how about, after this, us girls sit down and put together a proper outfit for me? I’ll cover the material cost, of course.”
Uh oh… Now there’s a lump in my throat. “I, um… Sorry. I don’t have enough Slizard parts for that. I kind of… Already used them all?”
Rachel’s entire world seems to fall away. “Oh…”
“Yyyeah, and I wiped that whole place off that map, so…” I try to offer a reassuring chuckle. “But as soon as I find another Blueprint, I can make you some Layered Armor with that instead.”
That seems to cheer her up. “Oh. Well then, why wait? What other blueprints do you have?”
My throat-lump bobs up and back down once it seems to realize it can’t get any higher. “I’ve only ever found the one.”
“Oh… They’re rare then?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Oh, ok…”
Ross picks that moment to voice an important concern. “Wait, I’m confused. The helmet I get. But why couldn’t you wear pants?”
I look wearily at him despite the fact that he kind of just saved my ass from what was turning out to be the most awkward conversation I’ve ever had with Rachel. “Oh, don’t you start.”
Mich sighs and takes Ross over to the side, lowering his voice without seeming to realize that the acoustics of the area make his whispering pointless. Nevertheless, he gestures covertly over to me. “She bought the pants back in that town where we met Rachel. She just couldn’t equip them until now.”
I grumble partially to Rachel, but mostly to myself over the sore subject. “Apparently they don’t ‘carry’ pants that don’t go in an Armor Slot…”
Ross’s eyes go wide at the realization before narrowing again in confusion. “Oooh… So what?”
Mich eyes us all just as wearily as I did Ross. “So… It goes like this. Everyone starts out with eight Equipment Points, or ‘EP’.”
Reading the room, Ross has no trouble choosing the least of three evils on who to offer his attention. Nevertheless, evil is evil. So his reply still comes out strained. “Oh great, more points to keep track of.”
Mich pats him on the shoulder. “I know what you mean. But at least these ones are easy to understand. Relatively, anyway. So, you start with eight. And every four levels, you get four more.”
“Oh, okay. I do remember that ‘EP’ bit in my Level Four notification. I wasn’t sure what that meant. So you get one per Level then?”
Mich shakes his head. “That would be easier, but not quite. At Level Seven, I have the same 12 points to play with as you at Level Five. Jessie, at Level Eight, has 16. And that’s all she’ll get until she jumps to 20 at Level Twelve. The same goes for every four levels after that. If you’re ever wondering how many Equipment Points you have, just round your Level down to the nearest number divisible by four, add eight, and that’s your EP.” He shrugs. “Or just check your menus. You can even put it in your HUD if you want. Not sure why you would, but there you go. Like I said. Simple, right?”
“That remains to be seen. So what do you spend the points on?”
“You don’t quite ‘spend’, so much as ‘allocate’ them. Like so many things in The Gamesphere, Equipment is organized by rarity. A Common boot costs one EP to equip. Equipping an Uncommon boot in the same slot would instead cost two. Your combat style isn’t weapon-reliant like hers, and we haven’t found much in the way of rare armor, so it makes sense that you haven’t had to worry about it yet.”
Ross slaps his own forehead. “Oooh… I tried to equip an Uncommon shoulder piece I found while you two were off clearing that tree. But it wouldn’t let me. That’s probably why, huh?”
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“I’d imagine so. Try it again when you hit Level Eight. Or just unequip your helmet or something.”
Ross’s left gauntlet disappears from his forearm. A second later, an absurdly huge set of angular pauldrons appears around his shoulders. They’re at least three times the size of my black ones. Ross’s eyes go wide for a more positive reason than the rest of us. “Woah… Guess I have a reason to level now.”
Mich chuckles at just how happy Ross’s revelation made him. “Right. So, since Jessie’s been running around with a Rare sword equipped along with mostly Uncommon armor, she hasn’t even been able to equip a helmet before now. Let alone a full set.”
I call over to where the two boys are talking in a corner. “Or pants! Let’s not forget the pants!”
Mich sighs. “Yes. Or pants.”
Remembering something important, I jump to my feet. “And speaking of things I haven’t been able to equip… It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” I look around at the group expectantly, only to be met with blank, slightly confused stares. “At least it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for…” In fact, it’s the third, and greatest reason for this being a proportionally great day.
[ RARE WEAPON EQUIPPED: SLIZARDIC KATANA - 69 PHY - 34 MAG ]
I swell with pride at the System confirmation As it appears strapped to my waist. Not only is its Physical damage objectively hilarious, but it’s actually pretty apt. Despite the sword’s gross origins, it’s made of a sleek black that someone who isn’t me might even call ‘sexy’.
I take another deep breath, savoring the moment of debuting the second katana I’ve ever held. I exhale slowly, blowing air through my teeth in an attempted reference of my own. My revelry lasts right up until I start unsheathing the sword. “GARF!!!” All at once, my breath catches, I drop the katana, and I flinch back from the water spraying off my blade like a partially-blocked hose on full blast. Thankfully, the water stops the moment I let go of the hilt. But my sentiment remains. “What… The FUCK..?”
[ UNCOMMON ACTION: SPACIAL ANCHOR - SWORD ]
Teleporting to my dropped katana, the resulting shockwave splashes all the water left in and around the still-drenched sword, in all directions. Less like a water balloon and more like a water grenade. Is that a thing? It's probably a Skill, right? Fuck, I’m putting this off aren’t I? With all trepidation, I reach down to pick up my katana. But the instant I touch the thing, the omnidirectional water jet resumes. Jumping back again, I re-drop the sword. Then I just glare at it.
After a few moments of nobody doing anything, Ross hesitantly walks up to the sword. Standing above, he withdraws a water bottle from his inventory, opens, and carefully tips it so just the tiniest few drops of water fall out. He jumps back as soon as literally any liquid comes out of the bottle, barely dodging the few droplets that explode like shrapnel in all directions the instant it makes contact with the black metal. Solemnly nodding to himself, Ross puts the water bottle back in his inventory. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” He looks around, visibly surprised by the odd looks he’s now getting. Clearly bewildered that everyone didn’t reach the same conclusion, he elaborates. “It’s hydrophobic. And violently so at that.”
Rachel and Mich seem to get it right away. “Oooh.”
Leaving me the only one in the dark on why my new sword is broken. Mostly out of frustration at the situation in general, I throw my arms to the side and fight myself not to actually yell at Ross. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“That it repels water. Or any other fluid, really.”
“Oh.”
Mich walks from him to me and puts a hand on my shoulder this time. “Looks like it’s back to the spider sword, kid. Sorry. I know you were excited.”
But I’m already clenching my fists, arms ramrod straight at my sides. The ‘kid’ remark does nothing to help my mood. “No.” Those last two nightmarish two weeks… After all that? I slam my foot down. “NO.”
Mich sighs in exasperation. “What do you mean ‘no’? None of us, least of all you, wanna get sprayed every time you touch your weapon.”
But I don’t move. I don’t respond. I just navigate my menus. Fuck it. Fuck the whole goddamned fucking thing. I’m sick of the indecision. I’m sick of tiptoeing around this. And I’m SICK of getting wet all the time.
[ COMMON C.L.A.S.S. PASSIVE: ANIME / ELEMENTAL BREATHING — AVAILABLE MODS: COMMON=16 - UNCOMMON=12 - RARE=8 - EPIC=4 - LEGENDARY=2 - MYTHIC=1 ]
‘Fuck it’ aside, I’m currently midway through breaking into a cold sweat. So I run through the facts again to psyche myself up. The Common mods give minor changes to range, damage, efficiency, and various other bonuses like that. Uncommons basically do the same thing, but with major changes instead of minor ones. But Rare is what I want. What I need, really. Because this water shit is well and truly on my nerves. Rare is just where it starts changing the element. And those elements only get better at Epic, Legendary, and Mythic. All told, I only have a bit less than 25% chance to get any of them… And what if I land in that other 75? Then what do I do about this? Go back to the ‘Spider Sword’?
As time passes and I subconsciously hang from the ledge of pressing the mental button, Mich’s eyes gradually widen as he puts two and two together. “Wait. Jessie, what’re you doing?”
Before I pull the trigger, one last whispered word escapes my lips. “No.”
[ USE TRUE RANDOM MOD STONE ON COMMON C.L.A.S.S. PASSIVE: ANIME / ELEMENTAL BREATHING? ]
I hold my breath. Aaand-
[ COMMON C.L.A.S.S. PASSIVE: ANIME / ELEMENTAL BREATHING — EPIC MOD SET: UNIVERSAL CONSTANT ]
My mouth goes dry at the same time that the world lurches. It even knocks the wind out of me. But the lurch only accelerates from there. It’s like the whole of reality is lagging. Everything moves in slow-motion one moment, and skips forward the next. Then it pauses before, without accelerating, jumping into fast-forward. Then it moves faster. And faster. What the fuck is going on? “Guys? What the fuck is going on?”
None of the other three seem to register anything out of the ordinary as they just look at each other, even while themselves speeding up and slowing down at seemingly random intervals. Although Rachel does look at me with concern. None of them answer though.
Determined to at least make something out of this situation, I bend down to pick up my katana. Everything feels… Wrong. But what about the only reason I did this in the first place?
Coming down with what feels like extreme motion sickness, I tense up for more than one reason as I grasp my fallen sword’s hilt. Then my relatively unchanged tenseness continues for one less reason as I catch the distinct lack of water erupting from it in an omni-directional torrent.
Rising to my feet, sword in hand, I’m overcome by a distinct sense of vertigo that I respond to by holding my breath. But then, the world freezes. And not just the world, but everything and everyone in it. Myself Included. What… The fuck? Belatedly, I remember to breathe. That at least, unlike apparently everything else, I can do. And as I do, everything stutters. And jerks. And slows to the point of freezing again as I get startled by the hand once more on my shoulder.
Mich looks me over with a concerned grimace before talking like a corrupted sound file. “You okay, Jessie?”
My head whips around so fast that my neck feels like it’s a hair away from snapping. But that doesn’t mean I’m about to admit to anyone, much less him, that my plan was anything but perfect. So I try to remain as outwardly un-tense as possible despite the aforementioned redundant reasons for me being very much otherwise. “Yeah.” I gesture with one hand at the distinctly dry black sword I’m holding in the other. “See?”
Rachel raises her fist to the air in mini-celebration. “Whoo!”
But even I can tell she’s more worried than happy just now, despite clearly joining me in pretending everything’s fine.
Ross grins in exalted relief from across the room, exiting his hiding spot as he registers the lack of water spray. “Oh thank Christ.” He resumes walking down the refreshingly only slightly putrid path. “Shall we?”
I make a point of perking up in what I hope is believable excitement. “Yes, we shall.”
Rachel snickers at Ross. “Looks like the sword isn’t the only hydrophobic thing around here.”
Ross glares back as ‘us girls’ walk behind him, further into the dungeon. “Oh, shut up.”
Only Mich stays behind, glaring a hole into the back of my skull before eventually following after us.
Can he see how unsteady I am? Does he know? Is he really that observant? No… That’s the wrong question. Are Ross and Rachel really that unobservant? I mean at this point, I’ll take two out of three. I know I don’t deserve to trick anyone with how I’m barely holding it together. Yet, poor as it is, I don’t let up on my attempt to pretend at normalcy.
A few wends and winds in the path later, we run into the dungeon’s first monster group. A bunch of rats. Or at least they look like rats. They’re just way too big. But not what I’d call ‘monstrously’ so. More like a normal rat was scaled up to the size of a house cat, really. And that somehow made them purple. And gave them buck teeth. And a curl at the end of their tail like the center of a lollipop.
Making sure not to hesitate and give up the act, for the first time, I properly unsheathe my newest sword.
[ COMMON ACTION: IAI QUICKDRAW ]
[ UNCOMMON ACTION: COUNTER SHEATH ]
[ RARE TOGGLE ON: EXTEND-O-SWORD ]
The enemies jerk and jump towards me.
I bat one away to send it flying into the wall. The next splatters the ground with blood from the wide gash I across its stomach.
But a third sinks its freakishly wide bucked teeth into my ankle.
Then the first gets up and practically telefrags me for my trouble.
So does the second, despite what I thought was a pretty debilitating injury.
Before I can do anything but hyperventilate, my HP starts melting thanks to the rapid-fire attacks from all sides. Appropriately, that’s when I panic.
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
The first aura burst throws all the rats away. But the next eight don’t hit a thing.
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
[ COMMON ACTION: AURA BURST ]
Aaand now I’m out of mana.
[ COMMON TOGGLE OFF: RADIAL AWARENESS ]
At that, I find myself unable to do much but watch in mental dissociation as the rats I just aura-bursted across the room dash back over at super speed. They join the rest that swarmed me in the meantime, and promptly get back to biting me over and over like nothing happened. Thing is, it’s been a long time since those first few spiders killed me like this. I have armor now. Which is good. And I invested all my Tenacity points into Speed. Not Defense. Which, while generally conducive to my normal fighting style, at the moment, is bad. Very bad. So bad in fact, that none of my teammates can even make it over here before my HP melts all the way down to zero.
[ YOU DIED — XP DEBT: 4,096 — RESPAWN DELAY: 8 HOURS ]
Fuck…