Chapter 86: Proc
With his adrenaline gone, his anger spent, and a level of calmness now returned to him, Zach could hardly believe he’d been so ready to kill a man—even one as terrible as Varsh. It only really occurred to him in the moments following the duel how lucky he was that Fylwen had ended up doing the job for him. The more that his rage retreated, the less he could agree with his own actions. He supposed that this was what it meant to be “blinded” by hatred. Even still, as he held Kalana’s hand and hurried along with her through the city, he found himself wanting, at least for now, to focus on something other than Varsh, the dragon, his explosive display of power against its cursed defenders, or anything related to the turbulent waters he’d found himself recently sailing in.
“Zaaaaach,” Kalana said to him, “we’re gonna get in so much trouble if we’re not back in three hours for the briefing.”
“Well, we’re definitely not going to be,” he said to her with a laugh. “And I don’t care. Do you? Really?”
She made a cute, guilty-looking expression that saw her half-puckering her lips and averting her eyes. “Well, not really, no…but are you sure we’re not gonna be back in time?”
“There’s no way we will be,” he said. “Otherwise, we’ll have to rush.”
She squeezed his hand. “Okay, okay. But I don’t get how it’s gonna take us so long to get lunch.” She chirped happily. “I can’t believe you’re taking me on a date!”
He smiled at her. “You’re going to love this. I promise.”
Having taken a very brief shower in the ten-gold-per-use washing area not far from the beach, Zach had cleaned himself up while Kalana waited outside. This was something he could not have put off for another minute; he’d needed a shower so Gods-damned badly. He could actually see the grime that was coming off of him as the warm water relieved him of an accumulation of dirt, blood, sand, and sweat.
Scrubbing himself everywhere the sun shined—and also the places it didn’t—he was feeling fresh for the first time in more than a day. Now, with the hood of his cloak undrawn, he held Kalana’s hand and led her through the centermost part of the city in Shadowfall Coast. Waiting for the reddish DEHV-crossing barrier to fade away, he quickly hurried with her across a wide street, pausing on an island in the middle, where he was forced to wait for a second barrier to fade away. Then he crossed to the other side with her.
Ahead of them were two gigantic, parallel buildings that looked to be around fifty stories in height with a spire jutting from the roof of both of them. They were the two tallest structures in what was an all-around, pretty good city. Having only very briefly been to Shadowfall Coast once before, Zach’s opinion of it was that it was nowhere near as impressive or splendid as Tomb of Fire, but nevertheless, it was still a hundred times better than the Gods-cursed city of Whispery Woods.
Although Whispery Woods was about twice its size and contained a great many taller buildings, Shadowfall Coast was significantly cleaner, better funded, far safer, and although there were only a handful of buildings with more than eight floors—and only two skyscrapers—there were numerous flower-filled parks, a number of playgrounds, public swimming pools, and many of the streets had trees planted to both sides of them. The city was also roomier and lacked the oppressive feeling of claustrophobia that some of Whispery Woods’ denser districts could invoke.
The best way Zach could think to describe the city was that it was “homely.” It was a city that seemed more designed to be lived in rather than admired from a distance. It was not the kind of place tourists would flock, as it was low-tech compared to Tomb of Fire, lacking the flashy billboards, dazzling sights, or buildings that shot fire into the sky. There were no giant sports stadiums to be found, either. There was also only a single, small airport located on the northwest corner, and it did not provide service for international flights—not that that even mattered anymore since Peter IV’s antics had basically caused humanity to be banned from leaving North or South Bastia. But at any rate, the only real negative to the city was its lack of anything flashy or special to see. It was still a perfectly decent place to live.
I’d take this over Whispery Woods any day of the week.
“So, where are we going?” Kalana asked him. She was clearly excited, and seeing her happy made him happy.
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
“Bleh, okay.”
Zach continued to make his way through the city her with her, moving quickly beyond the two skyscrapers and farther into the start of what he believed was called “the commercial district.” Compared to Whispery Woods, navigating Shadowfall Coast was a far easier, much less stressful endeavor, as it was nowhere near as populated or heavily trafficked. Nevertheless, this did not stop Zach from swearing under his breath as he saw an older woman elbowing her husband in the ribs to catch his attention before pointing in their direction. “Are you sure?” he heard the woman’s husband ask.
“Just look! It’s definitely them!”
At the same time, another woman across the street, who’d been about to enter an electronics store, immediately stopped and turned to look as the excited whispers of those nearby her quickly picked up in volume, and now, dozens of people seemed to take note of their presence.
“Gods damn it,” he growled. “They’re coming over to us.”
Kalana shot him a fierce look. “You better be nice, Zach. You got us in trouble last time you were in public.”
“Wait, I did?” he asked, genuinely surprised to hear this. “When? How?”
“It was when you were sneaking out of the hospital. You cursed at some girl our age.”
He scratched his head. “Are you sure? I don’t even remember that.”
“Yah I’m sure! It was all over the news, and I had to apologize for you.”
Zach laughed, finding that hilarious. “You’re kidding me?”
“It’s not funny,” Kalana said. “You really hurt her feelings, and you were mean to other people, too.”
He sighed. “Okay, I’ll be nice this time.”
“You better,” she said, poking him in the chest.
One by one, a crowd began to form around them, and before Zach realized what was happening, he and Kalana were signing autographs and taking pictures with people. He didn’t want to do either of those things, but he knew Kalana would get mad at him if he didn’t. Whispering to him that they’d only stay here for a little while, he endured it as best as he could. Then, at some point in the middle of it, Kalana’s mouth opened, she let out an “ohhh!” sound and she dropped down to her knees with her arms extended widely.
“And who is this little angel?” she asked, as a mother approached with her daughter, who looked, at most, three or four years old. “Hi there!”
“Are…are you really Pwinncess Kawana?” the girl asked in her high-pitched, singsong voice.
“Yep I am. And who are you, cutie?”
“I’m Tila,” the girl said. “Can I be a pwincess too?”
“Yes!” Kalana answered immediately. “But only if I can have a hug first.”
Aww, sheesh, Zach thought, rolling his eyes as Kalana hugged the little kid while her mother thanked her and took a bazillion photographs on her phone of the two of them in various poses.
“Zach, I love her,” Kalana said. “Look how precious she is.”
“Thank you, Princess Kalana,” the girl’s mother said. “You just made her whole year.”
“You are very welcome," Kalana said. Then the little girl shyly raised her hand and waved goodbye, and Kalana did the same.
“Bye,” Zach said, also waving and trying his best to seem interested. The girl didn’t even care about him. She had just wanted to ask Kalana little-kid questions about magic and princesses. She wanted to know if Kalana had a castle, and Kalana had said that she had something better than a castle.
After close to a half-hour of this weird, impromptu “meet and greet,” Kalana finally decided to let the two of them get on with it. She apologized and stated that she and Zach really had to go, but that they’d definitely come back to the city again and would sign more autographs and greet more people. Zach hoped this was just an empty promise she was making so that they could leave, because there was no way he was stopping to do this every fucking time he wanted to go somewhere. Gods, this was annoying.
Taking her hand once more, he continued to lead her through the city, the two of them now walking a little bit faster. “Wasn’t that fun?” she asked him as they sped their way down a busy shopping distract while even more people began to stop and take in the sight of them. Many yelled at them as they passed, and most of it was polite or endearing. But one guy in particular shouted something filthy and lewd at Kalana, and now, Zach stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at the son of a bitch who’d spoken to her that way. It was some guy who looked to be in his early twenties riding an electric bicycle.
“Hey!” Zach shouted at him, caressing the sword on his back. “You better fu—”
“Zach, no!” she hissed. “Ignore it.”
“Yeah, but! He just said—”
“Who cares? He doesn’t matter. Ignore him.”
Grumbling, Zach decided not to let one asshole in a tank-top ruin the second-half of his day, as the first-half had sucked beyond all measure. “Okay, fine, but if I see that guy again, I’m wave-slashing him.”
“Don’t even make jokes like that,” Kalana said, frowning. “You gotta adapt to our new lives sooner or later, so you might as well start now.”
“But why?” Zach asked her. “Why do I have to, Kal? Why do we have to? I just want to be me. I don't want to watch what I say in public and kiss babies and be hassled everywhere I go. Why can't I just call this guy an asshole and tell him to piss off?”
“‘Cause that’s just how things are now,” she said. Then her voice softened. “I know it’s hard, babe, but you’re not just a regular person anymore. You can’t keep pretending you are. We have all kinds of new responsibilities now. When you say something in public, it has weight now. You can hurt people really badly, or you can ruin lives. You have to be careful.”
“I’ll try.”
“You’ll get used to it. We both will.”
This time, it was Zach who squeezed her hand as they made their way down three more consecutive blocks in the commercial district. “We’re almost there,” he said to Kalana, who beamed with excitement and became absolutely giddy.
“I can’t wait to see where you’re taking me,” she said.
“Well, it’s actually a bit further than you think, but it’ll be worth it.”
At the very end of the least-populated part of the commercial district, Zach paused outside of a store with an old, crooked sign above its awning that read: Good Sittings: Family Furniture. Kalana glanced upwards at it, then tilted her head questioningly.
“In here?” she asked.
“Just come on,” Zach said, now himself becoming excited.
The last time he’d been here, the store had been closed, and he’d kicked in the door and did damage to the place. It made him feel kind of guilty. Lacking a security camera, no one could possibly know he’d been the one who’d done it, and thankfully, as he entered the shop with Kalana and began to walk across its green carpeted floor with her beside him, no one appeared to pay him or her any attention. In total, there were only about seven shoppers inside, and each of them were busy inspecting various types of furniture. None glanced his way, and thus none flocked to him for autographs or pictures. Even the shopkeeper mumbled a halfhearted greeting without turning his head to look at either him or Kal.
Not wanting to give anyone the chance to spot them, he tugged on her arm as she looked around, seemingly confused. “Hurry,” he whispered.
“Where are we going?” she asked back. “You said we’re going out for lunch.”
“I promise you, Kal: we are. You just need to trust me. It’s a surprise!”
“Okay, okay.”
Very quickly, he hurried with her into the back corner of the shop, and then he pushed open a door to the men’s room. Kalana stopped and did not enter with him. “I’ll wait out here until you’re done,” she said.
Zach laughed. “No, come in. This is where we’re going. Hurry, while it’s empty.” She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it as he reached outside, grabbed her hand, and yanked her inside with him.
“Zach, I can’t be in here,” she moaned. “This is the men’s room.”
“You won’t be here for long. Follow me closely.”
“Are you…is this some kinda prank you’re playing on me?”
“Kal!”
“All right, I know. Okay, I’m following you. It’s stinky in here.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Like I said, we won’t be here for long.”
With Kalana’s hand in his own, he led her across the bathroom, pausing at the third stall. Then he opened it and stepped inside. “Follow me,” he said.
“Follow you where?” Kalana asked. “Into the toilet?”
“Almost,” he said with a laugh.
“Huh?”
“Just watch.”
Zach, closing the lid, stepped on top of it, then pulled gently on Kalana’s arm to indicate that she climb up and stand beside him. The two of them together could only just barely fit on top of the seat. If either of them had been level 1 and had no points into dexterity, they would’ve both surely lost their balance and fallen over.
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“Okay, ready?” he asked her.
“I guess,” she whispered hesitantly.
“Let’s see how much you really trust me. On three, I want you to jump forward with me into the wall. If you do it, it means you really trust me.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked.
“I am.”
“Okay, then. I’m in.”
The two of them both laughed. And then Zach counted. “One, two—and three!”
While holding hands, the two of them jumped forward and into the wall. Judging from the way Kalana’s body stiffened, he could tell she was expecting some kind of impact. The fact she’d done it anyway was proof that she really did trust him. She let out an adorable, cute little squeak as they came closer and closer to the wall. She was likely more afraid of causing massive damage to the store than she was at getting hurt. Yet, as she was about to find out, there wouldn’t be any damage to the store: because rather than collide with the wall, the two of them slipped straight through and then traveled beyond it, finding themselves both in a narrow hallway so dark they could not see in front of their own faces.
The area they were in now was only slightly taller than a ventilation shaft and only slightly wider, too. Side by side, Zach’s left arm was touching the left side of the smooth-feeling wall. Even though he couldn’t see Kal, he could tell from the sound of her gasp that she was beginning to realize where they were heading.
“Ohhh! I know where you’re taking me, Zach! I figured it out!” She kissed him. She was probably aiming for his cheek, but since she could barely see him, she ended up kissing the top of his head, instead. Now, with even more excitement in each of their steps, they made their way across this short stretch of dark hallway until just ahead of them was a metal, push-bar door labeled B7->B8. Now, free from having to be considerate towards the safety of others, they were free to move as fast as they wanted. Thus, upon entering the door together, the two of them raced down eleven flights of stairs then arrived at another door.
“This is so much fun!” Kalana squeaked. “I wanna go first!”
“Wait, be careful, Kal, there’s going to be a—”
Kalana was already backhanding a level-15 pirate in the face for 91,413 damage as she shouted out, “Wow, this is so, so cool!” and ran forward to jump aboard one of the pirate ships floating in the massive, indoor lake that spanned almost the entirety of B8. Seeing her have fun like this warmed his heart. “Nooo! Don’t attack me!” she shouted playfully as she more or less insta-killed about eleven different mobs before Zach had even walked through the door.
“Wait for me,” Zach said, hurrying after her. He darted over the short, indoor pier, and then reaching the end of it, he leapt across a small gap and landed on the stern of a large wooden ship.
“So, this is a dungeon?” Kalana asked. “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! Baby, this is incredible! I can’t believe you did this without me. No fair. Wow, look at that,” she said, her feet making tapping noises against the wood as she raced to the bow of the ship and started fidgeting with the wheel of the ship’s helm. “Look how real it looks. Is this an Adamus dungeon, Zach?”
“A what dungeon?” Zach asked. “And…I’ve heard that name before. He’s a Great One, right?”
She nodded. “He sure is. Adamus is like my great, great, great, great times fifty grand-something.”
Zach gasped. “Wait, seriously?”
She turned around and smiled at him. “Yah-huh! I told you I come from the Gods, remember?”
“So that’s what you meant,” he said, slapping himself in the forehead. “I thought you were just being arrogant. You mean you’re literally related to them?”
Again, she nodded. “Some of them. Adamus Vayra is my ancestor. See, I learned all about it in the Elvish archives on my island.”
“So this dungeon was made by Adamus?”
“Yep.”
“Now that I think about it, his name gets referenced quite a bit. You know what? We should pay Moldark a visit. I didn’t pay any attention to what he was saying last time I was here, but I’m pretty sure he used that name. You’ve got me curious now. So…this ancestor of yours, he made all the dungeons?”
She shook her head. “No, only some. All the Great Ones made dungeons, and they all have their own style and way of doing it. The only reason I said this one’s probably an Adamus dungeon is ‘cause I read that he loved stories about pirates and pirate ships when he was younger.”
How much super-secret knowledge does my girlfriend have? Zach wondered, astonished. I bet even Olivir doesn’t know this.
Zach began to walk towards her, but stopped short as one of the swashbuckling pirates respawned to his left. It tickled him by swinging its hook at his face, and now, like Kalana, he dismissively backhanded it in the face just like she had, only in his case, he hit for 12,275 and earned himself +1000xp. Then, out of nowhere, there was a sound similar to an engine being started, and a bunch of red lasers surrounded him; it was almost as though they were the bars of a circularly shaped prison cage. They vanished immediately after appearing, and the noise also cut off. Now, Zach looked around himself for a moment in a brief state of bewilderment. But then he remembered: he’d received a whole bunch of new equipment. It must’ve been something from the gear that Fylwen had given him.
“Kal, mind if I stop here a second to look at the stuff your mom gave me?”
“Take your time!” she said cheerfully. “I’m exploring!”
He loved her so Gods-damned much. She was running around looking at every nook and cranny of the place. She seemed to have a very deep appreciation of it. She kept remarking how she “couldn’t believe” a “place like this existed” and that she wanted to see even more dungeon floors. Right now, she was climbing up to the top of the mast of the ship they were standing on. There had to be about twenty of these ships on this floor, with most of them appearing to be optional and ignorable. Every ship was within a reasonable jumping distance from at least one another ship—assuming adequate strength—and if one were to jump only in the direction straight ahead from where Zach was facing to the opposite end of the lake, just five ships needed to be crossed in order to reach the door that said B8->B9 and was visible even from here.
Zach’s last time here, he’d been in a rush to save Rian and Lienne, and he’d ignored the vast majority of this floor. Yet even this time, he doubted he’d bother “exploring,” as he was hungry and wanted to get to Angelica’s.
For the moment, though, he took his eyes off Kalana as she began looking at everything and anything around her, and he checked out his new stuff simply by pulling the hood of his cloak over his head then willing a list of his currently equipped items to the front of his vision. Coincidentally, the very first item he inspected appeared to be the one responsible for whatever had caused those red, laser-like bars to appear around him.
Name
Strength-Bound Gloves of Might
Rarity
Rare
Armor
+5
Strength
+7
Dexterity
+7
Ability
5% chance on any successful non-ability melee attack to grant a minor blessing of strength, increasing the user’s strength by 15 for 30 seconds
Willing forward a list of his buffs, he confirmed that this was indeed the equipment that had caused the effect. Along with Will of the Favored, he now had a buff named minor blessing of strength with thirteen seconds remaining until it faded away. Zach smiled, feeling his mood begin to lift. As he continued to take stock of what had been given to him, his appreciation for Fylwen continued to rise. She’d really done right by him. It was true she’d given him a scar that would never fully heal, but boy, she was trying to make things right! This, he realized as he read the rest of his items.
Name
Decorative Shoes of En’zahar
Rarity
Uncommon
Armor
+5
Speed
+5
Luck
+5
Name
Barzak’s Trousers
Rarity
Uncommon
Armor
+8
Speed
+5
Dexterity
+5
Name
Robes of Dark Awakening
Rarity
Rare
Armor
+15
Strength
+10
Dexterity
+10
Constitution
+10
Ability
Frostbind
Cooldown
15:00 (minutes)
Description
Shackles of ice rise from beneath user’s target, rooting them in place for a maximum of 30 seconds (decreased by resistances and diminishing returns)
Name
Cloak of the Downtrodden Assassin
Rarity
Epic Rare
Armor
+15
Strength
+10
Constitution
+15
Intelligence
+15
Ability
Shadow Merge
Cooldown
30:00 (minutes)
Description
User becomes cloaked in darkness, disappearing for 30 seconds. Can still be seen by Elves and Gnomes. Mobs will not aggro the user while cloaked. If the user has already aggroed one or more non-boss mobs, aggro is removed. If the user has aggroed a boss, Shadow Merge has no effect. Attacking or taking any hostile action against any entity, regardless if targeted or intentional, immediately ends this effect.
Helm Sight Level
Full
Already amazed to the point he could cry tears of joy, Zach now inspected the accessories she’d given him. The silver bracelets—which were really more like chains—that he’d wrapped around his wrists and lower forearms appeared to the be the same, and now he could confirm that they were indeed duplicates of the exact same item.
Name
Silver Bracelet of Fortunate Acuity
Rarity
Uncommon
Intelligence
+5
Luck
+10
Finally, he called forth what might’ve been the coolest of his new equipment: the skull-shaped pendant, which was constantly releasing just a few tiny puffs of purplish smoke from each of its empty eye sockets. Honestly, though, Zach thought it was badass. And its stats were pretty cool, too.
Name
The Knowing Skull of the Great Forest
Rarity
Rare
Constitution
+15
Intelligence
+15
“Wow!” he said aloud, causing Kalana to become curious and hurry over to him. She leapt from the top of the ship’s mast, flipping in the air before landing in front of him in a crouch.
“What’d you get, Zach?” she asked, returning to her feet.
“Join my party. I’ll show you.”
“Okay!”
The great thing about his current Helm Sight Level was that he could now view any information he wanted no matter who was around him, as it all became private unless he invited someone into his party. Previously, by tapping his shoulder four times and accessing his inventory, anyone in his vicinity would be able to see what he was doing.
Reading over his new equipment, Kalana gave him a celebratory pat on the back. “Mom must really like you,” she said. “Which is weird, ‘cause she killed you.” Then her voice abruptly became sad, and at first, Zach thought it was because she was reflecting on the things he’d told her about what’d happened to him. But he soon realized that wasn’t quite it this time around, as with a whisper, she said, “My mom never gave me a gift in my entire life.”
“I’m sorry,” Zach said, feeling guilty. “I never even considered things from that perspective.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure she will eventually. I’m more worried about you getting too close to her, Zach. I dunno what happened for you two to become such good buddies all of a sudden, but I think she’s a bad influence on you. And it’s really giving me whiplash. One minute, she’s your worst enemy. The next, she’s your partner in crime, and you’re plotting murders together.”
He chuckled. “That’s…fair, actually.” Scratching his cheek, he said, “Hey, let me check my stats before we go on, okay?”
“Mhm.”
Zach dismissed his new equipment, waiting a few more seconds for his temporary strength buff to wear off, and then he called forward his stats.
Name
Zachys Calador
Level
19
EXP
42,500/65,000
Armor Bonus
48
Strength
102
Dexterity
87
Constitution
85
Intelligence
120
Speed
70
Luck
35
“Whoah,” Kalana said. “That’s really, really high for level 19, Zach. Like, really high stats.”
“I…I know it is,” he replied. For the first time since finding the spawn point, he finally didn’t feel insecure about his stats.
Lienne had once explained to him that, for a stat to be considered “average” respective to the kind of role someone wanted to play, it needed to be twice your level. This included gear but did not include buffs. So, for example, the bare minimum amount of constitution that someone level 20 should have if they were attempting to tank was 40. The same was true for someone who wanted to primarily cast spells: in which case they’d want 40 int. But again, that was to be average. Each additional point respective to one’s level made them above average.
Right now, Zach had the average amount of strength, with gear, expected of someone who was level 52. In fact, with the exception of luck, he was running wildly ahead right now in every single stat. This meant, if he wanted to level up really quickly, he could find mobs in their 50s or maybe even low 60s and potentially hunt them for xp.
Do I really want to become more powerful, though?
Right now, in this moment, the answer was definitely yes. Earlier, when his entire body had been taken from his control, and he’d been terrified, he’d felt the opposite. But for now? Once again, he’d reverted, and so yes, he wanted to level and become stronger and stronger.
Is it bad that my luck is so low? I doubt it has anything to do with real-life luck.
Having had so little free time recently, he now had the chance to consider some of the things he’d wanted to know but had needed to put off. Such as “luck.” What, specifically, did it do? Seeking to find out, he called forth the glossary—or tried to, at least. When attempting to will it forward, the following appeared before him.
Current Helm Sight: Full. A Helm Sight Level of Legendary or higher is required to make use of the glossary.
“Meh,” he grumbled. “Hey, Kal.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you happen to know if luck increase the chance that things will happen if they’re based on chance? Like, ah, my sword. It has an 8.5% chance of giving me 25% of my stamina back each time I hit something with it. Does luck make that higher—meaning more likely to happen?”
“Uh-huh,” she said. “For every thirty points into luck, it increases the chance of a programmed random occurrence by one percent.”
“A what?” Zach asked.
She snickered. “A proc. So, umm, if you had 90 luck, that would go up to 11.5%.”
“But what exactly is a proc?” he asked. “Does it just mean ‘thing that has a chance to happen?’”
“Well, kinda. It’s like…okay, so, if you hit a bad guy with your sword and you get that 25% stamina thingy to happen, you could say your sword proc’d. At least, that’s how I’ve heard Alex and his friends use the word.”
“Makes sense.”
Zach scratched his chin. He felt like he was really starting to get a handle on how things worked in this world of leveling. He’d learned a great deal in a short time, but he was really, truly starting to get the hang of it. With that thought in mind, he took Kalana’s hand into his own, and together, the two of them ran forward and jumped from this ship to the next one. He was finally going to take her to Angelica’s.
“Ready to keep going?”
She nodded. “I love dungeons now!”