A faint series of howls could be heard in the distance, and he remembered that he was still very much vulnerable to those gremlins. He had barely defeated one of them before, and they seemed to swarm in packs rather than roam individually. He got back into his car and turned on the engine, but realized that there was only about a quarter of a tank left.
“Damn, I should have refilled that this morning. Who knew that the goddamn apocalypse would happen later in the day?” Sam thought as he stared at the gauge. Then he clapped his face into his palm. He was literally parked in a gas station. He put the vehicle in reverse and sidled up to one of the pumps. Getting out of the car, he closed the door and took out the pour, inserting it onto the car. As he flicked the switch he noticed a flash of green next to the main body of the pump. A flare of light illuminated the face of a gremlin smiling mischievously as it dropped a lit match onto the oil slick floor.
“Shit!” Sam screamed as he ran for cover. The explosion ripped through the gas station, detonating the supplies of gas below the ground. Pillars of flame erupted from the asphalt and he was sent howling off into the distance.
Sam woke up in an awkward position. His left leg was bent at an uncomfortable angle and when he tried to move it, a bolt of pain shot up the limb. It was broken. Sam looked around him and saw that he was lying on the roof of the gas station, one foot protruding down into the roof of the building. Groaning as he withdrew his injured limb, he got himself fully up onto the roof. Sam cursed softly as he cradled his leg. The only way that he was going to get some healing was to level up again. Hopefully a level up would be potent enough to heal him fully.
Other than his broken leg, he was surprisingly unharmed. Perhaps Strength improved his general durability a little as it increased muscle density. The main problem was getting down off of the roof with his broken limb. The only way that he was going to get down was by either falling or climbing, both a no go with his broken leg. Besides, the ground was covered in a crawling carpet of gremlins, all attracted by the fire.
Mere seconds later, a shockwave ripped through the air as something exploded in the middle of the crowd of gremlins. A man strode out from behind a nearby building, cocking a shotgun that had the unlikely addition of a grenade launcher to it. Sam stared, he recognized that man. It was Jeffrey, the survivalist that everyone in the town thought was crazy. The man lived on the edge of town in a shack and would frequently set off explosions. The only reason that nobody ever complained was out of fear for their safety.
Now his preparations had been justified. Jeffrey pointed the shotgun at the gremlins and rather than bullets, miniature fireworks spiraled out. They were clearly modified as none of them exploded in the normal colorful displays of a firework, but with the orange glow of gunpowder. The gremlins fled the area and Jeffrey approached the gas station.
“Whatcha doing up there?” The man called out in his rough, raspy voice.
“What the hell does it look like, admiring the scenery or something? My damn leg’s broken!”
Jeffrey nodded sagely at this.
“Ah, take this then. It’ll fix ya up real good.” The man tossed up a small crystal that was a deep red in color. As Sam caught it, his interface popped up.
Contact with mana enhanced object achieved. You have gained the skill Basic Analyze:Common. Use a small amount of mana to gain a basic sense of what a thing is.
A mote of light appeared on the gem and Sam stared at it. With a pop, he felt a little of his mana drain out of him and into his eyes. They lit up and he stared at the crystal.
Basic Healing Crystal.
G-Rank Magical Item
A condensed nugget of Life aspected energy. This crystal only can heal those of the lowest levels to any great extent. Excessive consumption will pollute your core and mana channels.
Sam debated whether or not to use the crystal with himself. Core pollution didn’t sound very appealing, but it said that happened only in cases of excessive consumption. One use would probably be fine. Unsure of how to use it, Sam clenched his fist around it to bring it up to his face, but the stone crumbled away and a red light sank into his body. He could feel a warm sensation creeping down his leg and into the limb. A crack like a gunshot rang out as his bone snapped back together. Sam clenched his teeth to avoid crying out. Why would people use these things willingly? He tested his leg and was surprised to find that it was completely healed.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Oh. That’s why.” Such an effect was nothing short of miraculous. Something that would have taken weeks or even months to heal normally had been mended in a matter of seconds. He looked down over the side of the station. Jeffery stared at him with a gap toothed smile.
“Come on down, boy. I don’t bite.”
Sam sighed and jumped off the side of the gas station, landing with a thump on the concrete. He walked over to Jeffrey and looked him over. So did the other man apparently, as he began to speak.
“Only level 2? Come on now, I’m already level 7. What have you been doing since the green critters appeared?”
Sam was shocked. If the other man was really telling the truth then he was far beyond human now. Sam used his new skill on Jeffrey.
Jeffrey Hawlings
Level 7
Human
Unlike in games, there was no health bar under the man’s name. Well, this was a simple analysis skill after all. All it was supposed to do was to tell you about something, not file an IRS report about the subject. Maybe if he upgraded it further it would reveal more. So far, the rarities were similar to in video games, another point of similarity. This was almost surreal.
He felt an irresistible force pulling at his right arm.
“Hey!”
“Hurry the hell up! We need to get to safety,” Jeffrey said irritably. The man was basically dragging Sam down the road.
“What about the car?”
“You wanna drive that thing?” Jeffrey scoffed as he pointed at the melted heap of scrap that was all that remained of Sam’s car.
“Oh.” It hadn’t been the best of cars, but it had still been his car. He felt a small twinge of sadness at leaving it behind, but it was only a car. He had far more pressing concerns. When he looked at Jeffrey again, he saw something that made him want to close his eyes. The man’s legs were moving as if they were walking, but they had faint afterimages as they went back and forth. He must have pumped his Dexterity or something to make him go that fast. His Strength too, his fingers were like iron bars clenched tight around Sam’s wrist. A small group of gremlins came around the corner but Jeffrey growled at them and they went away. Sam let the man pull him limply, he was extremely tired, probably an effect of the healing. They moved around the town at a quick pace, and eventually they left it and went into the woods. A faint light beckoned from between the trees and Jeffrey sighed.
“Ah, my humble abode. Ain’t no gremlin bastards around here. Well, there are some, but I made sure to put the fear of God in them.” He dragged Sam into the building and slammed the door behind him. Sam took in the door. It was a foot thick construction of solid metal and concrete, the thing must have weighed over a ton. Jeffrey must have had some money hidden away somewhere as there was no way that he could have afforded something like that without significant cash. Jeffrey sat down with a satisfied groan and slammed back a shot of amber whiskey that was waiting for him on the side of his table.
“Damn, that hits the spot! Ain’t no government bastards coming around here to try to condemn this place, no sir.” Jeffrey cackled madly. “Sides, if they did, I would give them a good taste of my fist.”
Sam sighed, he was now stuck with a man who was very possibly out of his head.
“You do realize that all the government people are probably leveling up faster than us? Though, to be fair, they all might be dead. And that last thing you said, well, I would just think about it before saying it in polite company.”
Jeffrey snorted.
“Polite company? All those people are probably dead now. Taken by them gremlins.” Jeffrey was probably right, but Sam didn’t indulge him. Now that they were safe, he had a few questions for the man.
“Ok. So, you're a higher level than me, right?”
“Yeah. What of it?”
“Have you ever heard of the Dao?” Sam asked.
“The Dao? What’s that, some sorta Chinese food?”
Sam sighed.
“Never mind. Can I get out of here? I need to level.”
“Be my guest. If you die, it ain’t my fault though. Also, that leveling thing slows down a lot very quickly. Wassat called, deviating returns or something?”
“No, I think you mean diminishing returns,” Sam said. “Also, I think you might want to put a few points into Intelligence.” That last bit was said as he was already halfway out of the door so by the time Jeffrey understood him, he was already gone.