CHAPTER XII: ATTENTION
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{02:00 LOCAL TIME 1ST JANUARY 1ME}
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SUGAR & KUMA
Kuma’s ears perked up. She looked at the archer of their team not paying attention to his surroundings. A sneaky little non-hooman-looking ghoul was moving with surprising speed at him.
Chibi Kuma barked to get his attention, but her bark was like a chew toy in this form. She looked at her rousing hooman and started to lick her awake. She knew that kisses were not appropriate at the moment. But this form had a big tongue, so she licked Sugar’s nose. ‘MMhhm tasty. No, no time for that.’ Kuma thought.
Sugar rolled over groggily, Kuma licked her again, and she absently pet her over sized head. “Babe, I can’t right now, my head is killing me. I know, I know, I said I would never use that excuse again but...” Sugar opened her eyes wide, and was startled by Kuma’s Chibi form. “Kummie?, Where’s Jeremy?”
Kuma chirped back in response, jerking her head in the direction of the Archer.
Still a little confused, Sugar started taking in her surroundings. First, her outfit was a little too fitted. This wasn’t what she was wearing.
She didn’t mind showing off her body a little, but not at the conventions. As progressive as conventions could be, the world was still a long way from boys not letting their mouths and lower brains run away from their upper brain, and say stupid shit.
It was usually a safe place, but being by herself this year, she didn’t want to take any chances.
Like her Dad said, all it takes was one miscalculation, and Bam! You are getting thrown in the back of a van and shipped off to Europe as a sex slave, and that’s if you are lucky.
Kuma chirped again trying to get her attention.
She shook her head again trying to get her bearings. Her HUD was lit up like a Christmas tree.
‘Wait, HUD?’
It was all starting to come back to her. Right, she was in a game, but this game was so incredibly real. Beyond real it was as if... an unfamiliar female voice spoke to her in her head cutting off all thoughts.
[Mom, we have to move. Something...something is wrong. The world is changing.] Kuma nervously said in team speak just as clear as her own thoughts.
She sat up in surprise, and Kuma was launched off of her in the process.
Chibi Kuma changed mid-air and landed gracefully in her Base form. This form Sugar was much more familiar with calming her instantly.
“I’m sorry Kuma.” She hurriedly tried to comfort her. But Kuma started running to the Archer. “Hey!”
She finally looked up and saw a Feral ghoul just a few feet from the Puerto Rican ninja with the backward New York Yankee baseball cap. Command Sergeant Major Soto was the name in her HUD. Her mouth was suddenly dry, as the all too familiar scene of her teammates being ripped apart played in her mind.
A big red -198 critical hit and a stun icon appeared over his thumbnail for fifty-nine seconds on Sugar’s HUD. The ghoul sat on top of Soto, and was going to eat his face causing Sugar to freeze in horror, or was it terror?
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< DEBUFF ADDED >
{DEBUFF NAME: Terror 1
DEBUFF TYPE: Mental/Debilitating
DEBUFF DURATION: 4 seconds
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It was terror.
The Colonel’s analyze was sent to her and she now could see her enemy in a different light.
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< ANALYZE >
{Name: Feral Ghoul(Undead)
Level:10
HP:293/350
MP:25
DR:30
Highest Stat
Physical: Strength
Mental: Luck
Bane: Fire
Weaknesses: Light magic and Life magic. Decapitation = True Death.
Description: Ghouls come in many varieties, the one constant between them all is their insatiable appetite for living flesh. Undead Ghouls appetite is seconded by their strength and constitution. For their level they will always be stronger and tougher than their frame suggests. Feral ghouls are mindless creatures seeking out food, as they level they gain +1 to strength and constitution. At first specialization(Level 10) the Feral ghoul gains an additional +1 to either strength, or constitution, +1 to luck, and the active Race skill Sprint that doubles their physical stats for 10 seconds.
EFFECTS: Insatiable Hunger, Sprint, Undead regeneration}
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“A specialist.” She thought in awe, she had played games enough and had read a little on a bunch of systems before they were removed from the blogs online. Enough to know that Soto needed help, help that he was going to get it looked like. She smiled as she saw the Colonel running but she didn't think he would make it but at least he was trying.
“Rally here!”
She heard the Colonel yell at the top of his lungs, and then his body was yanked into a portal in front of him and it slammed shut behind him.
Sugar’s eyes went wide. “What the actual fuck.” She yelled as her debuff expired.
Sugar had two choices game or die. It was time for her to make that decision. She had spent her whole life feeling and being small, and slowly building her personality. But today that changes, today Sugar got a chance to become something she had always wanted to be. It was a little silly, but every kid had a dream. Hers was to be...
A hero.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Her mind raced trying to process everything happening around her. But her body was in gamer mode. She fell back on a time when she was one of the best gamers in the world, and started to embrace the new world.
First thing first.
“ROUND ONE, FIGHT!” She said with a mock deep voice under her breath. She smiled as her head turned to the feral ghoul.
Kuma’s barking got the ghoul’s attention right as she was about to eat Soto’s face.
The feral ghoul looked up from her impromptu snack at the furry meal coming her way. Her hunger getting the best of her. It caused her to hesitate, but only for a second before going back to Soto’s stun form, since he was helpless, and tasty looking.
There was a time in a gamer’s life that they decide what kind of gamer they want to be?
Sugar was a mom, a hairstylist by trade, an actress for a paycheck, a vloger for a little bit of exposure, and a gamer for fun.
Today she had to become a different type of gamer. She had to become a hardcore gamer.
A hardcore gamer was someone who lived for the game they were playing. They were one with the game, and game was one with them.
She was no longer afraid of death. Just the very thought of not making a difference made her sick. She was...is going to make a difference even if she died trying.
“BARK!”
Then she heard Kuma bark again, and all those useless thoughts fled her mind. Leaving behind just a hardcore gamer chick and her puppy.
[Kuma move left in two seconds.] She jumped into action dropping her staff.
[One.] Kuma started to count
Sugar started a chant for a new spell as her hands started to move in a intricate hand gesture.
[Two!] Kuma yelled, and jump to the side at the same time.
The action again caused the feral ghoul to jerk her head away from her meal. She opened her mouth unhinging her jaw and began to scream at Kuma.
“VOID BOLT!” Sugar chanted while finishing the hand sign that was second nature to her all of sudden.
The feral ghoul’s back of her head exploded out taking the neck and spine with it. A massive critical hit of -525.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Sugar causes CRITICAL DECAPITATING HEADSHOT -525 DAMAGE to Feral Ghoul ((35 void bolt X 2 critical magic damage minus 25% dark resistance) X 10 decapitating damage)}
{Feral Ghoul lvl 10 has died! +110 EXP}
{Experience until next level 600/2000}
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< SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Danger sense is now Student 7}
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Sugar more sensed the attack coming than felt it. She ducked just as a ghoul jumped at her from behind. She kicked up using the ghoul’s momentum to send it sprawling across the ground.
The ghouls rotting face left a black blood streak as it slid across the pavement. But that had given her some space. DANGER SENSE had saved her life, and VOID BOLT had saved Soto’s.
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{Class Skill Name: Void Bolt
A small bolt of dark and death mana. Cast Time: instant. Cost:24 Mana. Damage:26 + I/2 (where I is
intelligence). Range:26 meters. Cool down:9 seconds
Requirements: chant & hand signs.}
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She saw what her cool down on the VOID BOLT. It was not going to be ready by the time the new ghoul recovered. Plus looking at the battle log she had gotten lucky more than anything. If is wasn’t for the ghoul’s mouth being open, she would have just done a little over fifty damage and that won’t help.
[Kuma, protect the archer.] She said in chat with her familiar.
Kuma was making her way back in her Base form. She looked up with concern, but then followed her hooman’s orders. The not hoomans were getting stronger, and they were coming their way.
Kuma transformed into her Battle form as she turned back to Soto’s laid out body.
Sugar faced the ghoul that had began to stand up again. This one was similar to the one she just killed. Its movements were jerky, but quick. Sugar figured that had to be the Sprint skill.
‘That is good,’ she thought. That means the skill duration will run out soon. Which was perfect because she doubted this feral ghoul was just going to let her shot it in its mouth like the last one did.
The feral ghoul turned to her. She didn’t have any identification skill so she didn’t know what level it was, or anything about it at all. She absentmindedly thought about how Colonel got an analyze power this early in a game.
That thought was fleeting since the feral ghoul had started to run at her, again.
She did the math.
If the ghoul’s SPRINT skill lasted ten seconds, her cool down was nine. Since the ghoul had attack her right as she used her spell, chances are there would be a second or so before the ghoul’s buff ran out and her VOID BOLT came off of cool down.
Well that was a big if, and that was also taking in to consideration that she had just stood there and waited. Sugar had become very adept at running for her life in the last few hours, so setting up a stupid feral ghoul who had chased her for a few seconds was going to be child’s play. She ran, not out of fear this time, but strategy.
She picked up he staff to have a weapon in hand. The second she noticed the ghoul’s speed slowed down, she knew it was her chance. The one problem was she didn’t know how long the feral ghoul’s cool down was on the Sprint skill. There was only one way to find out. Why did she always have to do things the hard way?
Looking at the enemies coming their way, she figure she will find out some other point, no need to experiment, yet. She was growing a predatory smile on her face.
The ghoul should only have one hundred and seventy five hit points now. Her VOID BOLT still didn’t have the punch to kill it without critical hit, especially with 25% damage negation. But getting a critical was what she wanted, and that was she got. From Kuma.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{KUMA (familiar of Sugar) does CRITICAL DECAPITATING BITE
-1000 DAMAGE to Feral Ghoul}
{Feral Ghoul level 13 has died! +145 EXP}
{Experience until next level 745/2000}
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“Level thirteen? What is going on now?” She almost stumbled trying to figure out how much more HP the feral ghoul will have at level thirteen as opposed to level ten.
It ultimately didn’t matter. She had to kill it before it activated its SPRINT skill again. So she went on the offensive.
She had out paced the feral ghoul for the few seconds once its buff was gone, so she had room. With the dark resistance the ghouls all seem to have, she really needed to do a ton of damage to bypass that.
She waited counting in her head the whole time.
The ghoul got within a few feet of her and leap without any extra noise or flailing. She reacted.
“VOID BOLT!”
She was not happy with the results. A blue -30 before a small red -17.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Sugar causes CRITICAL HEADSHOT -17 DAMAGE to Feral Ghoul ((35 void bolt X 2 critical magic damage minus 25% dark resistance) X 5 head shot)-30DR}
< SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Danger sense is now Student 8}
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Sugar had no time to be pissed as she dodged the too fast recovering ghoul. Her danger sense had saved her, again. She had just reacted when she sensed the dangerous attack from the feral ghoul. She had to buy nine more seconds. She ran, again. The ghoul quickly turned and gave chase.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{KUMA (familiar of Sugar) does CRITICAL DECAPITATING BITE -1000 DAMAGE to Feral Ghoul}
{Feral Ghoul level 15 has died! +275 EXP}
{Experience until next level 1020/2000}
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Sugar was glad that Kuma was doing better than her, but she was not about to let her pet out do her so easily. She stopped, and pivoted to face the rushing ghoul.
Sugar saw when the ghoul activated it’s SPRINT skill again. This time she was ready. She ducked at the last second as the ghoul predictively leaped at her.
She stabbed her now recovered staff up at the neck of the feral ghoul just as her cool down came off.
“VOID BOLT!” She said with out the hand signs.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Sugar causes CRITICAL DECAPITATING HEADSHOT -525 DAMAGE to Feral Ghoul (((35 void bolt)2 critical magic damage)minus 25% dark resistance)10 decapitating damage)}
{Feral Ghoul lvl 16 has died! +320 EXP}
{Experience until next level 1440/2000}
< SKILL LEVEL UP >
{Danger sense is now Student 9}
{Skill Quest: Dodge death 10 times while the using the skill(3/10)}
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The feral ghoul’s head was torn from its body spraying black blood everywhere. Sugar rolled out of the way of the blood just as it hit the ground she was occupying a moment ago sizzling.
She jumped up and looked around scanning the area. She could see that Kuma was about to be in trouble, she had three feral ghouls she was keeping at bay, but she couldn’t land a solid kill on any of them because they seem to be more clever than the others. A matter of fact they even looked different slightly bigger than a normal feral ghoul.
[Kuma if you can kill one do it they are playing with you.] Sugar yelled in chat.
[I can see that, but what about the archer?] Kuma responded a little annoyed.
Sugar looked at her HUD as Soto’s stun counter ticked down to thirteen seconds. She grimaced.
[A little over ten seconds. Can you take one?]
[I can for sure. But my battle form is running out of mana] Kuma said wary.
[What happens when it does run out?] Sugar asked dreading the answer.
[I go back to my base form.]
“Shit!” Sugar knew that would be bad, Battle Kuma was her biggest offensive weapon, losing her would be a quick death for both her and Soto.
[Okay, I’ll try and get the other ghouls’ attention. Take that chance to kill one. We need information on what they are.] Sugar strategized with her puppy.
[They do smell different from the other not hoomans.] Kuma said.
‘Not humans?’ She couldn’t help but smile at Kuma’s naming conventions. Then she got in range for her skill. When the VOID BOLT left her staff the three ghouls turned to her as if sensing her magic.
‘Well I did want their attention, didn’t I.’ Sugar thought.