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Each of the three lawmen had been carrying one equipped weapon and one sidearm, the thing about that was the weapon not considered to be in their 'equipped' slot at the time of death was considered fair game by the system. As we were searching the bodies we managed to make out with a couple of gold, two flintlock pistols, and an Epic-Class rapier. Blink took the gold and Steve was given the pistols after it was decided it would be best to just sell them and be done with it. I, however, after some consideration, was given the rapier for my own.
It was a fine, silvery weapon, with a long blade about half an inch thick. It was heavier than I would have expected, but it felt somehow right in my hand as I picked up and took a few practice jabs into the air.
Rapier (Epic)
1 Handed: 12 Base Piercing Damage
+2 Agility
I knew that the difference between Masterwork and Epic was only in the fact that an Epic version would have a small Stat increase, whereas basic and masterwork weapons did not, but that stat increase combined well with my Nymph racial and, thankfully, boosted me up to having an effective agility of 9. Not a bad upgrade, I would say, to gain from a single item.
I could feel it too - I wasn't in the same class as Blink, hell, I knew that I wasn't even in the same school to compete with that kind of speed, but I still felt somehow lighter. And every time I drew the blade and took a practice swing I found myself amazed at the blur of my own hand and the sound when the air itself was cut by the slashes. Even the sour-looking Steve seemed fairly satisfied as he watched me practice, going so far as to personally show me a few basic stabs. His tone was reserved, rarely more than a couple of words or giving me a quick example or two with his dagger, but more than anything I just was flattered that he was seemingly acknowledging me as part of the group.
Blink had decided that we were going to take the day getting me some basic achievements, ones that would open the way to bonuses and attunements required to access services in the Underlands. Especially now that I had just live-streamed the systematic murder and robbery of three Antherian lawmen. They bickered about whether the men we had killed were AI or whether they were McBeal's team of collaborators, but from the sound of it, there was no real way for them to know since we had slaughtered them before they had a chance to demonstrate any of their combat skills. So anyway, there was also a very real chance that these men would be respawning and also reporting what had happened to whoever their superiors may have been in the Kingdom. Either way, I was as good as marked a Delf terrorist right there with the rest of them.
So I traveled with the little band of murderers for some time, Blink leading the way to an Underland zone entrance. The entrance itself was known to be staffed with Wood Elf NPC scouts on halfway decent spawn counter, watching for any sign of Underland incursion into their lands. We jumped once and did what felt like quite a lot of walking, but judging from what I knew of the Game, the trek was nothing really, not considering some of the journies I would someday need in order to get to the really interesting advanced locations.
I took the time too to really get a good look at Gray and at Steve, my new partners. Until now they had sort of faded into the background in my mind next to the far more flamboyant Blink. Neither of the two said much, but Gray was by far the more reserved of the two. He wore a faded ball cap with a 'Z' logo in the middle, reminding me somewhat of some book I had read a long time ago about some kid with a scar on his head. Gray's coat was made of cloth and reinforced with sections of leather, a long gray affair itself lined with a number of visible, haphazardly sewn pockets. The whole coat was long enough and wrapped tightly enough that it looked more like a cloak than anything if you didn't look too closely, and tightly holding the sides together was an overly large belt lined with odd, bubbly liquid beakers. His Status Text confirmed that he was formally a Wizard, a standard class yet one that, like Warrior, had a firm place in the game Meta. And his variance listed him at 20%, meaning that at 0% he would likely at least be recognizable. Assuming, of course, that the change his variance level represented was a matter of height and muscle rather than alterations to his facial composite.
Steve wore a fairly unassuming dark, cloth shirt over top of what was fairly obviously a top-tier leather get-up, complete with shoulder holster throwing knives and spring-loaded daggers. His daggers were sheathed and strapped to his back, under the loose folds of the shirt, and from the front, he could almost pass for your run-of-the-mill villager. Ironically, when I looked at his Status Text that's exactly what it said... 'Steve, Villager'. And while I knew there were ways of altering your Status Text in the game, there was only one way that I had heard of to do that without time-limited spells or magical items. It was fairly likely to me then, from what I knew, that our friend 'Steve' too had a legendary class - namely, the Assassin. His variance also, like Blink's came in at a strong 10%.
Now, for comparison, let me give you an example of what my own modifications were doing to my own, in character variance. Slight coloration changes to my eyes and hair accounted for a whopping 1%. The changes to my facial structure accounted for a grand total of 2% of the listed variance. My voice alterations had added an additional 10% variance, and the minor body sculpting had come in at another 5%. The other 42% of the 60% listed on my Status Sheet all was accounting to the intricate, heavily modified wing-blades that I wore at my back - and most of that was due less to the fact that I had them and more to the fact that they were modified to the point that they were barely recognisable from the starting dragonfly-wing template - as well, of course, as the fact that they were integrated to be directly controlled by my brain.
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Considering, I think, it's safe to say at this point that my inflated charisma stat wasn't a result of any inherent likability, but rather having been generated entirely by my mutant levels of innate tolerance for Avatar variance, that would mean that the amount of variance I experienced would be, at most, half as much as would be demanded from your average player. So if we take into account a, for the sake of argument, 200% increase in variation percentage, that would mean that changing hair and eye color would normally account for 2%. Minor facial changes would account for about 4%, and body sculpting alone would require a good 10% of average variance tolerance. So then, that would mean that Steve and Blink had either modified their faces or their bodies, but not both, and Gray had either slightly modified both his face and body, or he had modified his face or body to a fairly moderate degree when compared with his physical form.
Anyway, it was probably prying a bit on my part for me to analyze their stats in such detail. Especially considering my viewers could also see the status text I was looking at, if not hear my own interpretations and extrapolations. But as we walked I figured it was their own fault for playing the part of stoic, silent warriors. I understood the boys had an aesthetic to maintain and all as battle-hardened rebels, but, in actual practice, walking along in dead silence for a good hour was mind-numbingly boring for me personally.
When we finally came upon the camps of Wood-Elf scouts I had been promised it was more than a little of a relief. It seemed, at first, as though the long, exhausting trudge through the woods would be over and there would now be excitement and violence enough for the lot of us. And yet, impossibly, after about our fourth kill, I started to realize that this wasn't by any means any better. The three of them fell into a pattern, one I could tell that they had practiced a thousand times before and could probably carry out in the dead of night without having to change out of their pajamas or open their eyes. Steve would go into stealth mode, his body becoming, not invisible, but so perfectly camouflaged that you wouldn't have even known he was there - the only tell being the slight outline of the edges of his body against the terrain as he moved, and even that being so subtle that you would have sworn your eyes where playing tricks on you even as you stared right at him. Blink would make some noise, just enough to draw one or two of the Elves we had scouted out from hiding and into known terrain. While Blink was engaging the NPC in swordplay, Steve would un-stealth just long enough to drive both daggers into the back of our assailant. The entire time, Gray stood back with his eyes subtly glowing, watching the battle and, on a rare occasion, shooting a lone scout sniper out of a tree with a sudden, crackling jolt of lightening.
Really, the only deviation from their method and possible hiccup in the plan was my own small part. Because while Blink was fighting the incoming Mobs, it was on me to dart in with my rapier, do at least 1 HP of damage, and get away before they were the wiser. It was awkward, the first few times I tried, and if it wasn't for the lightning fast speed of Blink, and his unquestionable skill at keeping each of our targets on the defensive, I knew I would have died several times over. Eventually, I was able to get a feel for the programmed thrusts and blocks of our prey, and it was hardly any trouble to score a hit on an arm, or against an ankle before darting back behind Blink and running to safety.
And so the hours passed. Incoming mob, Blink intercepts with fancy swordplay, I dart in from the side and score a hit - immediately followed by the grand finale as Steve darted in and impaled the NPCs from behind. The entire time, after the initial learning curve was past me, I never even felt like I was in any danger after those first few awkward minutes. And, really, I probably wasn't in any danger at all, what with Gray constantly watching our backs and shooting down any hidden foes in the brush. It was almost anti-climatic, then, when sweating and exhausted, the status notifications finally popped up in my vision.
Achievement Unlocked!
Elf-Crusher, Tier 1
Elves slain: 100/100
Reputation raised with The Undercity from: ENEMY to: ACCOMPLICE
Reputation lost with Anthera from: CITIZEN to: ENEMY
Achievement Unlocked!
Fencer, Tier 1
Rapier Kills: 100/100
+10% Rapier Damage
Special:
+1 Agility (Permanent, Max: 10)
Dropping to the ground and panting, I motioned for the group to halt. Whispering, "I just unlocked Tier One of Elf-Crusher and Fencer. Dunno if that's it."
For the first time in hours, Blink's voice responded. The resonant sound of another human voice that wasn't grunting or screaming came as a shock to my ears, my brain taking some seconds to process the words he was saying, "Ok, that's it Magpie. I think we're good for the day."
I nodded, keeping my voice a few decibels lower than was strictly necessary, still a bit on edge, "All right then. Thank you all so much for your help here. These guys would have literally skewered me if I tried to do this alone."
Blink only shrugged, glancing to Gray for a moment before continuing. Relaxing a hair as he saw Gray's continued, diligent scanning of the surrounding branches before he continued, "You're going to be our Support, Mags. Right now you just need to focus on getting stronger and letting us support you. You won't be K.O.S. now in the Undercity, so go buy yourself some Fencing lessons if you have the time. But tomorrow, noon, make sure you meet me by the Undercity portal stones so we can get you to a Druid trainer."
I raised an eyebrow, glancing at the looming trees for a moment before continuing, "You think the standard trainers will be able to train me?"
He just nodded and grinned, "The basic abilities are the same, so you should be able to gain something from it. Though no one really knows for sure considering you're the first Arch-Druid that we've... that anyone has ever heard of. Only one way to find out, though, get me?"
I simply nodded and went to my menus. I figured if I jumped to the Anthera portal I was bound to, it should be safe enough to jump to Undercity from there. I had no desire to try to use this entrance to the Underlands and wander around from there if I could help it. The Undercity could be, literally, hundreds of miles from here physically, and there was no guarantee that I would run into another portal line just wandering around blindly. Honestly, chances were that if I tried it, I would die before I had gone a hundred feet, then have to not only deal with being back at the Anthera bind point, but also the lockout timer and the biting commentary of my viewers.
I waved at my crew as finalized my selection, "Have a good night you all. See you tomorrow."
Their small smiles and hesitant waves back I held tight to my thoughts, keeping the memory to warm me as I went through my series of jumps, from the sunlit forest and into the dark caverns of the world below.