Pete opened his job skills screen. He had five points to allocate. As he squinted his eyes and examined the screen, he felt torn. Should he pump three points into steel hands? It would allow him to slap with twice the proficiency for a limited amount of time. His other choice was using all five points into strong fire.
In the end, he went with his gut and chose to do steel hands. This opened up three new abilities: strong steel hands, oven survival, and strong heat resist. He glanced at them.
Strong steel hands increased his slapping proficiency even further than its standard version. Oven Survival provided 100% burn resistance to pans, allowing a person to remove pans from the oven with their bare hands. Strong Heat Resist offered a 40% resistance to the heat, including heat-based attacks like fire.
As it was, Pete didn’t have enough job points to unlock anything else, so he closed the menu. With that done, he pushed off his blanket, rolled off the mattress where he slept, and began to dress.
At that point, he remembered the hole in his shirt. If he’d been back on Earth, his manager would have made him change it…or Zoey would have…or his mom would have…whichever of them saw it first. For the time, he couldn’t change his shirt…it was the only one he had. Sooner rather than later, he'd need to get a replacement, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted as a replacement. He supposed he could repair it in the meantime. Rather, the tailor could repair it. Later, Pete would have to check with them.
Another thing he hadn’t figured out was how to bathe. He felt weird asking Mod about a bathtub. What if that world didn’t have bathtubs? What if they didn’t have showers? What if they didn’t bathe at all? Did people not stink there? Pete smelled under his arm, causing him to wrinkle his nose and draw back. Did Round have deodorant?
If worse came to worse, he’d have to commission a swimsuit with one of the artisans in town and use the lake for a bath. He’d figure that out later, though. Since he had to go hunting nightshade terrors at their various spawn points, he was going to work up a sweat, anyway. It didn’t make sense to clean up before that.
When he exited the bedroom in the back of the bakery, Mod was already awake, baking what looked like deserts. While still going through his routines, Mod asked. “Did you sleep well?”
“I did.” Pete nodded. “Thank you again.”
“No problem.”
From there, the two enjoyed a few comfortable seconds of silence. Then Pete said. “I’m going to farm those tomatoes.”
“I’ll see you when you get back. Stay safe.” Mod pulled a pie from the oven setting it on the counter, and Pete continued out the bakery’s front door.
No sooner had he stepped outside when a dust devil kicked up dirt near his feet. Chasing behind the dust devil was the pixie named Tornado. His two siblings watched from a nearby corner, eyes wide with surprise.
When Tornado caught up to the wind phenomenon, he jumped, hurling his body into it and yelling, “tornado.” It caught his wings, spinning him before flinging him into the air. His wings fluttered as the dizzy child bobbed back and forth in the air before touching back down to earth. He laughed all the while. His two siblings joined him in his laughter.
Pete smiled and continued through town, passing by people. That early in the morning, he guessed most were on their way to work or school. When he reached the city gate, he came across Nick the guard.
“Good morning, son,” Nick nodded at Pete. “That was good pizza last night. When do you think you will have one with all the meats?”
“Soon,” Pete answered. “I’m starting to figure out how things work around here. If we’re lucky, I’ll have an all the meats pizza for you soon. When I make it will depend on what Mod can find in the market. Also, it depends on how many more tomatoes I can farm today.”
A wrinkle of concern creased Nick’s forehead. “Are you going up the mountain path into the forest again?”
“That’s the plan,” Pete confessed, asking. “Should I not do that? Am I not allowed to farm tomatoes like that? I’m sorry if it is a silly question. I’m trying to learn and remember all the rules in Round.”
“I understand.” Nick shook his head, no. “But it isn’t anything like that. We’ve recently had reports of thieves in the woods. So far, they’ve stuck to doing their work at night, ambushing unsuspecting travelers. You should be fine but be careful.”
Pete nodded his understanding. “If they attack, am I allowed to defend myself?”
“You can defend yourself against any impending attacks. It will not violate any local laws; it will not violate any of the laws of the moderators.” Nick explained.
“Good to know,” Pete told him. “Thanks for looking out, Nick.”
“Looking out?” Nick cocked his head to the side. It was his way of asking what the phrase meant.
“It means taking care of someone,” Pete told him.
“Oh,” Nick resumed a normal posture and smiled. “I get it. It is short for looking out for someone. That is good. Young people speak amuses me. Thank you for looking out and keeping me entertained, Son.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Anytime,” Pete told him. “I’ll catch you later.”
“I doubt you could catch me.” The guard told the pizzaman. “My agility rating is very high.”
“Alright then, I’ll talk to you later. Have a great day.” Pete continued past the gate, through the fields, and to the muddy path. Then he pressed up the muddy path into the forested mountains.
Unlike the last time he’d fought the plants, he had to find his own way to the nightshade terror spawn points. He wondered if there is a map prompt that could guide him to them… Or a waypoint arrow. When he thought about a map, one appeared.
It was a small circle in the top right of his vision. He could zoom in, zoom out, and reorient it with a thought. He could also change the units of measurement it used. He changed the unit to miles.
Three inverted triangles pointed to different locations on the map. When he looked at the triangles, the quest name, ‘Job Offer,’ appeared over them. “Those have got to be the three respawn points.” He said, realizing they were about a mile further in than where he’d fought the other plants.
Landmarks were also marked out on the map, including one called the Rock Table. From what he could tell, it was the rocky outcropping at the top of the cliff face. If that were the case, it would provide a fantastic view of the town. Pete decided he had time for the detour.
He continued up the trail, examining the other symbols on the map. One of the symbols was a yellow circle with some type of bison skull inside it. Of all the symbols, it was the only one that moved, but it seemed to remain within the bounds of the forest far to the north. In relation to the symbol, Pete couldn’t get any identifying notifications to pop up. Nonetheless, he guessed it was a notorious monster.
Pete climbed the path up the mountain, through the trees, following it as it curved from north to west. When Rock Table was straight south of him, he broke away from the path. Two minutes later, he came to the outcropping. True to its name, it was flat, like a large, gray, stone table. Pete walked onto it and took in the view.
From the high vantage point, he could see the entire town of Greenlake. It rested on the southern bank of the lake. Due to the body of water’s enormous size, Pete could not see to its other side.
Green, hilly fields extended as far as he could see to the west. To the east, those hills ended in mountains, including the volcano he had noticed before.
In the country, he noticed the occasional house. They looked like tiny white boxes. Some had red barns next to them.
Back home, he’d never witnessed so many beautiful colors mixed together in a natural setting. The green of the vegetation contrasted with the deep blue of the lake. The volcano, purple mountains, and their white snowcaps blended with a cerulean sky.
If he had the time for it, Pete would have stayed there all day, but he knew he didn’t. Instead, he returned to the path, continuing through the forest until he reached the first spawn point.
As he arrived, he examined the plant monsters. There were five of them, each of them level one. Where his first encounter with the monsters was less than ideal, he felt more confident this time. So he jumped straight in. One slap. Two. Three. Four. Five. After five slaps, there were five dead plants. One of the plants did manage to scratch him, though… It caused 2 HP of damage.
Prompts indicated he gained twenty to thirty experience points per creature. Also, he received twelve more tomato plants. Fighting the monsters reminded him of the beginning of a JRPG. When he played those games, one of his favorite things to do was level up on the weak monsters at the beginning of the game. When he was twenty to thirty levels higher than everything in an area, he’d move on.
This strategy made the games take longer to get through, but he never had to worry about getting frustrated at a boss battle. In Round, a similar approach seemed appropriate. Instead of frustration, he could avoid death by power leveling. Though, he wasn’t sure if power leveling was against the rules of the moderators.
A bush rustled to his left, pulling him away from his prompts. When he investigated, he didn’t see anyone, but he noticed some footprints in the mud. They seemed human-shaped, bigger than a pixie’s but smaller than a regular-sized person’s. Had someone been watching him? He looked around. When he didn’t see anyone, he moved on to the next spawn point.
The area held six nightshade terrors, five level ones, and a level two. He used his new skill steel hands, doubling his slapping proficiency. This provided a significant increase to his attack. Then he targeted the level two monster. The attack caused the monster three hundred HP of damage. After, he made quick work of the other plants.
In the end, he gained two-hundred-three more experience and added sixteen tomatoes to his inventory. After the battle, he received the standard proficiency prompts, too. When his slapping proficiency rose over forty, he earned a new prompt:
You have learned slapping skill Slap’m Silly. Use Slap’m Silly to render an opponent unconscious without depleting their HP.
That skill is terrific, Pete thought. It would be nice to be able to slap things without having to worry about killing them. And if he ever had a difficult time falling asleep, he could use the skill on himself.
Bushes near him rustled again, and he pulled away from the prompts.
Near the bush, he found the same, small footprints. He took some time to search the area, but he couldn’t follow the tracks in any specific direction. So he sighed, decided not to worry about the footprints, and moved to the third spawn area.
It only had two of the creatures, a level one and a level three. Level three? Pete worried as he looked at the beast. It was massive, at least a head taller than Pete. It had countless fingers and vines sprouting from its hands and body.
Could he win against a level three? Pete pulled up his HP. He still had 79/84. He thought he could take them, but he needed to be careful. If things got out of hand, he needed to be able to run. Should he target the level one monster first or the level three?
He made his decision and leaped into action, slapping across the weaker creature. It dropped, becoming a lifeless pile of vines. As he spun to face the larger monster, he activated Steel Hands. Yet before he could swing, it cut across his shoulder, tearing a new hole into his pizza uniform. Then the attack cut through his skin.
After reading a prompt that he had received 12 HP of damage, Pete answered the creature’s attack. As the other nightshade terrors had died in one slap. This level three monster did not…so Pete slapped it again. The second slap did the trick, causing the plant to fall. Prompts appeared. One of them read:
Congratulations! You gained a level!
Pete threw his hands up and shouted, “WOOOOOT!”
A disturbing rumble answered his wooting. It came from nearby trees. He wondered if making loud sounds in the forest was a mistake. A gigantic turkey emerged from behind a tree, running straight at him. At that moment, he knew it was a mistake to make loud noises in a forest.
The words above the turkey identified it as The Turkey Titan. It was level twelve, way too strong for Pete to fight, so he turned and ran. While he escaped, he jumped over branches and juked around trees. Moments later, he reached the muddy path and followed it all the way to Greenlake.
When he finally turned around, he realized the turkey…was nowhere in sight. It hadn’t followed him. As he panted to catch his breath, he realized one other thing. Even though there was no stamina bar, he could still get tired.