CHAPTER XIV: LOOT
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{03:01 LOCAL TIME 1ST JANUARY 1ME}
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SOTO, SUGAR & KUMA
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< ALERT >
{YOU ARE NO LONGER STUNNED}
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Soto had just closed his eyes when he was stunned already resigned to his fate of death, but as soon as he saw that message, he was back in gamer mode.
[Colonel, you son of a bitch you actually saved me. How?] Soto said in team chat.
[Rude.] A female voice said back to him.
Soto’s eyes snapped open and saw the ghouls rushing past him. His HUD messages shot to the front of his vision as energy suffused his body, giving him a massive euphoric feeling that focused him.
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< CLASSES LEVEL UP >
{The noble Class gains +3 to every Attribute except Magic, The Combat Class gains +4 DEX, +1 INT, LUCK, and +1 free Stat. All pools refilled}
{Experience until next level [290/3000]/[290/3000]}
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The clarity of leveling up took him out of feeling sorry from himself gamer mode, and into ‘I’m a boss’ gamer mode in an instant.
He quickly absorbed the updated class spell information scanning the current situation at the same time. Unlike The Colonel, Soto was well-versed in multitasking. When he wasn’t being caught off guard.
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< SPELLS LEVEL UP >
SPELL NAME: FOCUS SHOT(Active): Form a bullseye that both zooms and adds damage to any range weapon.
Zoom: 1.1-2.3. Additional Damage: 13%. Cast time: 5 seconds. Cost: 45 mana. Duration: 1 attack. Cool down: 45 seconds. Requirements: Chant, Range weapon.
SPELL NAME: INSPIRE(Toggle): The Noble can spend mana to buff nearby allies. Remove any fear and preventing fear for 10 seconds. Increase Resistances +13%. Cast Time: Instant. Cost: 9 mana per minute. Requirements: Chant.
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“INSPIRE!” Soto said the chant. As the power left him in a bubble it boosted all of his and his allies' Resistances. His mana started to fall quickly.
Soto then pulled his gear out of her inventory. His Dark Head Seeker(P) bow and Bladed arrow quiver(P) both appear at the same time. He noticed the count of his arrows had gone up by two to match his current class level.
Only after all his preparation did he respond to the voice.
[Sugar that you?]
[Yes and no, I am her familiar so while I am me, I am also her.] Kuma explained.
That caught Soto off guard. But it wouldn’t be the first game he had played that he had talked to animals.
[Good copy break] Soto paused.
[What is the situation?]
Information was needed. He had checked out, which he didn’t have time to admonish himself about. But Soto didn’t live in the past. ‘Besides it's just a game’ he thought with a grin as he took aim at one of the bigger ghouls.
[Why do you always seem to be running for your life when I am trying to talk to you Sugar? I swear my womanizing days are over.] Soto joked even as his breathing calmed.
He released the silver arrow just as the shaft turned black with dark mana from the environment.
Three major things happen in succession as the arrow flies through the air.
One,
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{Lesser Ghoul level 15 has died! +1500 EXP}
{Experience until next level [1040/3000]/[1040/3000]}
< QUEST UPDATE >
Find and kill 10 Lesser ghouls (1/10)
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The three team members get the prompt as Battle Kuma killed the closest ghoul to her as soon as she realized the archer was up and relatively safe.
The new non-hoomans were much tougher, but still slow after it had used some other skill Kuma was unaware of. But they never defended their neck, and Kuma took advantage ripping it off with her sharp midnight black teeth. Then she ran out of mana in her Battle form and changed into her Chibi Kuma.
Soto didn’t notice any of what Kuma was going through, he was still watching his arrow fly true. Just as it was about to hit the back of the head of what Soto thought was a Feral ghoul, it shot straight up in the air.
Two,
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< CLASS LEVEL UP >
{The Player gains +3 LUCK +2 INT,+1 DEX, CON, & CHA
All pools refilled.}
{Experience until next level 940/3000}
< SPELL LEVEL UP >
SPELL NAME: Void Bolt: A small bolt of dark and death mana. Cast Time: instant. Cost:25 Mana. Damage:27 + I/2 (where I is
intelligence). Range: 27 meters. Cool down:8 seconds
Requirements: chant & hand signs.}
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Sugar leveled up with the massive influx experience from the Lesser ghoul kill. She let the notification wash over her, she didn’t even remember leveling up the first time, and she was pretty sure she would have, it was like the best massage, with ice cream being fed to her, while her husband had a meal between her legs. She shuddered at the thought almost stumbling.
What she didn’t know was the combination of gaining the Dexterity stat increase, the buffed resistances from Soto’s class spell, and most importantly three luck, had saved her life. Because, while she was interested in her level-up, most of her attention was on the arrow that shot up in the sky just as she looked back at the Archer on one knee aiming at her pursuers.
The arrow disappeared into the darkness of the night and Sugar looked back at the archer with a ‘what the fuck?’ look.
Soto quickly grabbed another arrow, just as he was about to fire, however, he heard another female voice on the wind.
“Human you don’t have to use an arrow every time, your bow has built-in ammo.”
The calm voice sounded like it came from right next to him, but turning his head he saw nothing. But he did hear something.
Sugar on the other hand had her hands full with the lesser ghouls barreling down on her. She didn’t anticipate their speed.
Then she heard a sound from the air.
Three,
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< G-SKILL QUEST UPDATED >
{Danger Sense is now Student 9}
{Skill Quest: Dodge death 10 times while the using the skill(9/10)}
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Sugar didn’t hesitate as she jumped back instead of going on the offensive. The instinct again saved her life.
Soto, and to a lesser extent, Kuma looked up as two fast-moving silver projectiles came crashing down like mortars.
Soto saw the arrowheads were much more blunt than pointy. He frowned. ‘What the-’
BOOM
The arrows hit the two Lesser ghouls making two explosions of skull and brain matter. Some of which peppered the prone Sugar.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Soto and Kuma watched in horror as -10s and -20s kept hitting her.
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< BATTLE LOG >
{Lesser Ghoul x2 level 14 has died! +2800 EXP}
< CLASS LEVEL UP >
{The Player gains +3 LUCK +2 INT,+1 DEX, CON, & CHA
All pools refilled}
{Experience until next level 740/4000}
< SPELL LEVEL UP >
{SPELL NAME: Void Bolt: A small bolt of dark and death mana. Cast Time: instant. Cost:25 Mana. Damage:28 + I/2 (where I is
intelligence). Range: 28 meters. Cool down:7 seconds
Requirements: chant & hand signs.}
< QUEST UPDATE >
Find and kill 10 Lesser ghouls (3/10)
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Sugar’s pools being refilled from leveling up was the only thing that kept her alive.
Soto looked at his battle log.
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{Lesser Ghoul level 14 x2 has died! +2800 EXP}
{Experience until next level [2440/3000]/[2440/3000]}
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‘Shit, she already passed me in level.’ He said sourly but still hoped she could continue to advance since looking at his HUD, he could see that Colonel was still in his team, but out of range with a greyed-out thumbnail.
“What happened while I was passed out?” Soto said scanning the area. Even in the short time he was passed out, it had grown noticeably. “Is this place bigger, and are the monsters getting stronger?” He asked.
[I’m heading to cover Sugar hooman, you seem fine.] Kuma said as she ran off in her Chibi form to heal Sugar.
[I’m fine Kuma. No thanks to our team archer by the way. What the hell was that Soto.] Sugar yelled.
Soto grimaced.
[Yeah, my bad, my title bonus should have prevented any injury.] He said apologetically.
[I am assuming that your plan wasn’t to kill your teammate, but pretty sure your bonus can’t account for the fucking bone fragments of your victims. The explosion itself felt like a light breeze.] Sugar said.
[Very good point Mom.] Kuma said still running to Sugar thinking ’Short legs, short legs.’
[The EXP is going up a lot with the levels. Its like one second we were getting a trickle of EXP, and now the flood gates are open.] Sugar pointed out.
[Facts, we killed a ton of the feral ghouls and they weren’t giving anywhere near that EXP like this.] Soto replied.
[We can speculate later, we have more not hoomans coming.] Kuma brought them back to the game.
Soto looked up and saw more feral ghouls with the bigger lesser ghouls in the background, but they were catching up faster.
“We have to find cover. Let's make our way to that Homeless area over there.” He pointed past her. “We should do something to protect them anyway. Where is the Colonel? He would have recommended that much earlier.” Soto looked around.
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< QUEST >
{QUEST NAME: STOP THE OUTBREAK II
QUEST TYPE: Legacy (Legendary Chain)
DESCRIPTION: Something ominous has been unleashed on your local area, investigate for more updates. You have found Feral ghouls which means there is at least a lesser ghoul making the feral ones. After killing the feral ghouls you notice they are multiplying that can only mean one thing...
Requirements: Find the source of the undead.
Objective 1: Talk to girl 0/1
Objective 2: Find and kill 10 lesser ghouls 3/10
Objective 3: Kill 100 feral ghouls 0/100
Time limit: 22:33.58
Temporary bonus: Mana Regen is moderately increased.
Rewards: 2200 EXPERIENCE and Legacy boots
Failure penalty: Death, zombified}
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Sugar looked at the quest. She must have gotten it when she joined their team. “What girl do you have to talk to? She scanned the area Soto wanted them to go. It was a tent city with a few abandoned cars and RVs, but it was better than standing in the open without a tank or fighter class to absorb damage.
[Kuma, when does your battle mode come off cool down?]
[1 hour as long as I conserve my mana. or you level up.]
[You’re the girl, but that is for later. When Colonel is back where is that dude anyway?]
[Damn that's not good at all. Let's head to where you said, Soto.] Sugar started to run there, and Soto followed behind Kuma who trailed her.
[I don’t know where that Colonel guy went, he just disappeared when he was trying to save you. So I stepped up.] Sugar said getting back into gamer mode.
“Good so he is not dead just out of range, I hope so, if I lost him on the first day, my pride as a pro gamer would be wounded.” Soto toggled off his INSPIRE skill as he moved. He glanced at Colonel’s thumbnail in his HUD, it was greyed out but his HP and MP were full.
They outpaced the Ghouls easily. They weren’t very dexterous creatures, and as such they had no chance of catching the three of them.
Kuma led, Sugar a few steps behind and lastly Soto, well Soto wanted the loot point still, and he was going to risk getting it. It was what all gamers wanted. Why? Why not? Why play the game if you were not willing to put a little skin in it?
Soto sprinted over to the now brown floating loot point. “Oh cool it’s changed.”
When he touched it, the globe dissipated into a mote of brown, white-grey with a slight pink light. The pink light equally separates and goes into the two players in the team. The rest break into three and two shoot into Sugar and Soto. A small tendril spilled off of Sugar and reached Kuma in her Chibi form. She barked a happy bark.
Another tendril goes straight up in the air.
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< LOOT >
{You have received:}
{Ring of Shadow Camouflage (P)}
{100 common Mana crystals 1/1 ratio}
{10 uncommon Mana crystals 1/10 ratio}
{1 Rare Mana crystals 1/100 ratio}
{1x Common health potion: Heals 30HP plus 10HP per second for
5 seconds.}
{1x Common Mana potion: Refills 30MP plus 10MP per second for 5
seconds.}
{5x Uncommon bandages: Stops bleeding effect, heals 10HP for
5 seconds.}
{2 bottles of water: stay hydrated.}
{2 dry rations}
{All items sent to inventory}
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Soto smiled at the loot. It wasn’t a ton, but he also didn’t know what any of the mana crystals did. The ring on the other hand he got a description in his HUD.
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{Item Name: Ring of Shadow Camouflage (P)
Item Type: Ring
Item Rank: Platinum
Item description: Simple black ring of Shadow mana-infused obsidian that seems to absorb the light around it.
Item Effect: The first 4 new dark or shadow environments will be blended into automatically and the player will be 40% less likely to be detected by similar level or tier powers or items.
Rare Mod: Utility; Stacking: Ring effects stacks with any other camouflage powers.
Platinum Mod: While in camouflage the player’s attack does 4 times more damage once per target. Camouflage is broken when attacking.}
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Soto looked at the Ring of Camouflage impressed. He was very delighted it stacked with other camouflage powers because he hadn’t fully explored his Noble Bloodline Ability.
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{BLOODLINE ABILITY NAME: Hide in the Shadows(Passive)
ABILITY LEVEL: STUDENT 0
As a Noble you and your bloodline are one with the dark, while standing in shadows or the dark you slowly start blending in, the longer you are in the shadow, the more you blend, and this effect speeds up as you level this ability. Try out more applications of this ability to unlock the full potential of your Nobility title.
STUDENT EFFECT: Gain dark vision when in shadows or the dark.}
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That was about to change he was going to fully utilize all of the powers at his disposal.
Sugar got the loot prompt and her face lit up with a huge grin.
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< LOOT >
{You have received:}
{Void Staff (P)}
{100 common Mana crystals 1/1 ratio}
{10 uncommon Mana crystals 1/10 ratio}
{1 Rare Mana crystals 1/100 ratio}
{1x Common health potion: Heals 30HP plus 10HP per second for
5 seconds.}
{1x Common Mana potion: Refills 30MP plus 10MP per second for 5
seconds.}
{5x Uncommon bandages: Stops bleeding effect, heals 10HP for
5 seconds.}
{2 bottles of water: stay hydrated.}
{2 dry rations}
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< ALERT >
{No inventory or storage device detected. Would you like to send everything but staff and current outfit to TEAMmates storage? Be advised you won’t have access to items unless your teammate wills it.}
{YES/NO?}
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Sugar smiled. “Yes.” A black staff falls from a few feet above Sugar hitting her in the head. “Ow!”
Soto felt his weight increase. “Oh, I got your items. Don’t worry next time you shouldn’t even worry about asking just do it, I don’t mind.” He said sarcastically. “Colonel will love carrying all your stuff, he is like our pack mule.”
“I’m not sure he would appreciate that at all.” Sugar argued.
“You’d be wrong. You clearly don’t know him, he was originally a M1A1 Tanker. All he did was lug a bunch extra gear in and around their sponson boxes for the entire Troop, while the scouts did everything.” Soto said smiling.
“What is a Troop?” Sugar asked confused.
“A Calvary company size unit,” Soto answered.
Sugar realized that she was talking to military guys and sometimes they said things that made a lot of sense to them but often meant not a damn thing to civilians like her, she was definitely a civilian, and her dad never wanted her to join. Even though he loved it.
“Yeah, okay.” She wasn’t about to admit that though. She was smart enough to put things together eventually, and she knew how military people could get when asked to over-explain. Plus she was a girl gamer, and Soto was just treating her like a real teammate. That was very refreshing.
Soto isn’t paying attention to Sugar, he was looking through all the stuff he got. “Can you identify any of these?” He pulled out some small dark blue crystals glowing with an inner light.
“I am assuming these are mana crystals.” He handed them to Sugar once he caught up. His dexterity being the highest in the team. He easily kept pace as they jogged to the new location even after his detour.
“I don’t have any skills that can do that. This game is hardcore. No additional information on anything, but bonded equipment.” She brought up and showed her prompt for her new staff.
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{Weapon Name: Void Staff
Weapon Type: Staff
Weapon Rank:(Platinum)(Upgradable)
Weapon Level: 1/4 EXP to next level 0/2500
Description: A black staff made by a dark cultivator who was trying to gain a mod that could give her a movement power. Staff eliminates the hand sign portion of casting.
Spell cost reduction: 20% per level
Weapon Damage: Base Damage: 40. Critical hit times 4 bonus damage to light-based combatants. Penalty to dark and death-based combatants. Damage doubles per level.
Bound to: Sugar
Rare Staff Mod: Utility Bonus; Void Slow
Platinum Staff Mod: LOCKED}
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Soto looked at the tool-tip function that was still available. He smiled at that little cheat before looking at Colonel’s thumbnail and frowning. ‘Where are you battle? You missing out on some good ass EXP.’
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< TOOL-TIP >
{RARE STAFF MOD: Utility Bonus; Void slow
A successful attack that does damage has a 30% chance to slow the target. The affected will slow the target for 10 seconds. Slow reduces the target’s dexterity by 30% (60% to Light and life creatures) (15% to dark and death creatures.)}
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Soto shared the tooltip with Sugar. “That is awesome not in here, but overall absolutely.”
“You have a tooltip?” Sugar asked. She didn’t have one and was very lost without it. She knew the stats of her gear just not what the Mods meant.
“Yes,” Soto answered without any more information. He was looking around scanning the area. “Let's make our stand here.” They were in between a bunch of flaming barrels and tattered tents, a few free-standing bathrooms were off to the side with showers on the other side. While it was a homeless area The mayor and Governor had done a great job of supporting them with clean amenities.
The dull flames had initially kept the ghouls away, but they were following the teammates into the firelight undeterred. Which made Soto and Sugar very happy.
The homeless people who were sitting there, scared and confused, were rightfully not nearly as happy as the duo, however.
Sugar turned to them with sad eyes. “We will protect you don’t worry.”
Some of them nodded back at her, but the lying majority of them just huddled next to each other scared, sobbing, and wishing for a reprieve.
Sugar, Kuma, and Soto were about to give them one. They all look at each other with a gamer’s mischievous grin.