Chapter 23

Stabby, stabby, bad dagger

My next memories were scattered and disjointed. I remembered waking up, people looking down at me, but everything was hazy and hard to focus on, and the pain holly shit the fucking pain. Honestly, the pain was all there was for a while, just so much pain. The next memory was of what I thought might have been Tilly sitting by my bed. Oh, I was on a bed now. When did that get there, or when did I get here? There was still pain, and parts of my body felt numb. That couldn’t be good, but then I was out again.

I didn’t really know how long I was in that in-and-out phase, but when I woke up properly, the pain that had permeated my body had definitely retreated, and my head felt more or less okay. Felt like I had a really bad hangover. The only other person in the room when I woke up was Frank. He was passed out in a chair in the corner of the room. It was a plane room with nothing on the walls. I was pretty much the only thing in the room, oh, and the bed I was in, and Frank passed out in his chair.

I sat there for a little just thinking about the fight and what had happened at the end. I remembered getting stabbed in the back and passing out, but that shouldn’t have left me down and out for, like, fuck I didn’t even know how long I had been out for. Okay, it was time to wake up Frank. I needed to know what the fuck was going on. “Hey, Frank,” I said, but he didn’t wake up. “Hey, Frank!” I said, slightly louder this time, but still nothing. Fuck! Okay, what the fuck is he fucking dead or something? I decided I would try again. I had socks on. So it took some work and pain, but I got one off and balled it up. Then I threw it while simultaneously yelling at Frank.

“Hey, wake the fuck up, man.” That time, he spluttered away, arms and legs flailing, almost tossing himself out of the chair he was sitting in. He managed to save himself and kept his butt in the chair. “Hey, Franks, what’s up, man? Catch some good ZZ’s?” I asked him.

“What? Oh, damn it. Guess I did fall asleep. My bad kid. How are you feeling.” Frank asked me. I had to think about Frank’s question. At first, I was just about to say I was fine, but was I? I looked internally and did a full assessment of my body, and yeah, I did seem to be okay. My head was still pounding a bit, and as I moved around a little while sitting in the bed, my back still hurt a little, but only in one place. My body had a general ache, but I could handle that. The spot on my back didn’t hurt more than a bruise would have, so I thought I could be confident when I told Frank.

“Yeah, I seemed to be doing okay.” However, the real question is, “How long have I been out, and what was the result of the battle?” Frank just stared at me for a second, then let out a deep breath. He started in,

“Well, Travis, I don’t know where to begin. I guess, well, you got pretty fucked up. That knife that the elite stabbed you with was not a normal weapon. It was enchanted or spelled or whatever with corruption. We took it to the shop to see if we could find more information about it, and it turns out that it’s a rare thing to find on a newly integrated planet. He was actually surprised to see one. Apparently, it wasn’t anything special in the rest of integrated space.

Braxin actually said that it was a piece of shit dagger and that the craftsmanship was barely passable, but in a newly integrated world like ours, even a weapon such as this was not bad for such low leveled beings. The True power of these weapons was not the primary damage they dealt but the lingering effects.”

Apparently, in the state I had been in when I got stabbed, I came very close to losing my life. In fact, if Frank hadn’t gotten his new class, I would have died. They had tried to feed me Senzuketa Beans. They had even smashed them up into a past and tried that on my wounds directly, but nothing helped until Frank used his healing assist ability. At that point, I finally stabilized, and they felt comfortable that I would recover. Every then, Frank stayed with me most of the time I was out.

The only way that Frank was able to give me so much of his time when there were so many injured was that even though the Senzuketa Bean paste didn’t work on me, it was able to help many of our fighters pull through otherwise life-threatening wounds allowing Frank to dedicate more of his time to helping me fight the corruption that had been flooding through my body. The only good thing about the whole situation was that I actually got a small amount of resistance from the dagger.

It was only five percent, but that was great. I felt like resistance training might be something to consider trying to train up. It seemed to be like a dangerous hobby, but it could mean the difference between life and death in this new world, and if all I had to do was endure a little pain, that was fine with me. Franks’s eyes went wide when I brought up my idea about resistance training. The look on his face became one of extreme concern. I took in Franks’s expression and decided now was probably not the time to discuss that with him.

He had just watched me almost die from one stab of that dagger, and to hear I wanted to use it as a trading resource probably seemed like crazy town. I let him off the hook and told him I was just fucking around. He let out a breath in relief and asked me not to scare him like that again. Frank left the room after he checked me over. He said I was good to go, then said he would let me get dressed. Before he walked out, Frank threw me a bag of holding. After my clothes were on, I walked out the door and found Frank standing outside waiting for me.

We chatted a bit, and Frank caught me up on what I missed while I was out of it. It turned out I hadn’t missed too much. We had lost a lot of people in the battle, but not as many as I had feared. In the end, the spell that sent magic projectiles into the midst of our army did fuck us and killed quite a few people. The caster had only gotten off two shots before it had been taken out, and most people had taken cover by that point anyway. It was really the caster’s initial spell that had dealt the most brutal blow to our forces.

We had lost thirty-seven people from the wall, and about fifteen members of our elites were dead as well. Frank said the Council was gathering in the council room, and we were headed up there now. My shoulder was starting to ache a bit more now, and it probably would be an early night for me. We got to the council room, and I opened the door. I didn’t make it more than a couple steps into the room before a small, wet blob slammed into my waist.

I was a little surprised for a second, but then I smiled and hugged the little, the small, wet blob. “It’s okay, Tilly. Hey, Tills, I’m okay. It’s okay. Stop crying.” I told her.

“You looked like you were dead. I was really worried about you.” She said, and then her face scrunched up, and she smacked me. “Don’t do that again! Okay!?” She said, and I scooped her up into a big old hug. “It’s okay, kiddo, so what’d I miss?” I said, and I threw her up onto my shoulders. She let out a little giggle as she flew up. Beth, Janet, and Brianna were in the room. It looked like they had all been seated around the table but had gotten up, and now they were gathered in front of it, waiting for Tilly to finish.

“Hey y’all, so, what did I miss?” The next few hours were filled with everyone telling me what had happened over the week. Yeah, I was out for a fucking week. It looked like I hadn’t missed much, but it was enough to wear me out. The people we had lost had been honored at a ceremony two days after the attack, and I was honestly kind of happy I was out for it. I didn’t really do well with grief and other people’s grief. I just got super fucking awkward, and that wouldn’t have helped anyone.

The Council had also decided it would be a good idea to buy the infirmary offered in the town menu Beth had access to. After the battle, it seemed like an oversight we hadn’t perched it already. Another big thing was that many people had classes now and were level ten. Janet said I would have to check my notifications out soon if I haven’t already. She said I would probably be pretty happy with the rewards from the battle. All I could think after that was, rewards?

They lost me to my notifications after that. First off, I was now level sixteen, which was pretty fucking awesome. On top of that, I also got titles. The first title was called Settlement Defense Level 1, and it gave me a plus three points for every stat.

I also got the next level, Settlement Defense Level 2, which turned those three points into five. I got another first in world title. That title was excellent. It was called First Settlement Defiance, and it gave me five percent to all stats.

So, if I had thirty-nine strength, I’d get five percent of that added to that stat, well, rounded to the nearest whole number, and it would grow like that forever. It wouldn’t be much now, but if I had five hundred strength, then from that title alone, I’d get plus twenty-five points. It wasn’t amazing, but in the realm of titles, those were probably the best ones to get.

The last notification I got was a one-time bonus. Apparently, you got graded on all large-scale conflicts you were involved in. You could even get bonuses for certain acts and accomplishments in battle. I was awarded a B+ ranking and two bonus rewards for my B+ ranking. I received a large bump to the XP I received from the battle, which was the primary reason I had gained three levels during the fight. With my B+ ranking, I also earned some bonuses. I got the bonus one-man war machine and another bonus called Follow Me.

Bonuses were like limited titles and could be earned again during each significant engagement, and they wouldn’t last more than three months or around 90 days. I knew this first and foremost because the notification told me so. Secondly, because I asked Braxin about it, he sold me an information packet on war bonuses, which is apparently what they were actually called. It explained quite a bit.

My bonuses gave me some cool effects. War Machine was pretty straightforward and just gave me a straight-up boost to all my stats of plus eight to each stat, but like I said, it was temporary. Follow Me was different. It didn’t give me a straight-up stat boost like all the other titles I’d gotten. It gave me, but it gave me a twenty percent boost toward the influence my words had on others.

The crazy thing was it didn’t say anything about only affecting allies, so I think I could also use it on my enemies. If that was true, it would be cool and useful. I could be like these are not the humans you’re looking for. Haha, that would be awesome! When I finally pulled myself away from my stat sheet and notifications, I noticed everyone had returned to what they had been doing before I arrived.

The first person to notice I was back from outer space was Beth, and she just laughed at the dumb little happy smile that was on my face now. “So, you happy?” Beth asked me, and that pulled everyone away again from what they were doing to see what she was talking about. I shot to my feet and gave an overdramatic fist pump. “Fuck yeah, damn, that’s fucking crazy! Level sixteen and war bonuses? Fuck yeah.” I said, pumping my fist into the air a couple more times. Then, as if just to bring me down, Brianna said

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Yeah, and only a bunch of people had to die for it. You’re almost too happy about wanton slaughter.” She gave me a disapproving look, and I sat back down.

“Yeah, I almost forgot about that. Are people doing okay? Oh fuck, and Brianna, I’m so sorry about Rich. How are you doing? Shit, how are people dealing with the trauma?” I asked her.

“Well, it’s kind of odd, actually. Most people are doing rather well, to be honest. As far as how am I doing? I mean… I’m doing okay. No. You know, I’m pissed as fucking hell at this fucking “Master.” This piece of shit is going to regret messing with us. I can tell you that,” Brianna said.

“As far as the villagers, people seem to be dealing with the aftermath well. I think it must have something to do with enhanced stats or something, but most people are doing okay. They seem to be using the battle as motivation, if anything.” Beth said, echoing Brianna’s sentiments.

“There is some bad news, however, and you might have already assumed as much, but we didn’t kill The Master. It wasn’t him or her. It doesn’t seem like The Master was directly involved in this battle. This Master guy must have thought his forces were enough to deal with us. He probably didn’t count on anyone over level ten here yet.” Beth said. I had to think about what Beth had just said. I kind of figured we didn’t kill The Master.

“Well, that’s not that hard to believe. None of those guys felt strong enough to be a master type of guy. That means we’ll probably have to do this whole thing again at some point or even multiple times hell. If this Master had some kind of ability that let him control or at least strongly influence the monsters around it, then this Master could just sit back and keep sending waves at us till we cracked under the constant assaults.”

I finished, and everyone looked like they had been thinking something similar. “Yeah, that’s about where we got, and if that’s the case, we may have to send out a scouting party to find The Master, but that may be exactly what it wants. That’s where we’re at. Now you’re awake… well. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. You just woke up from a pretty horrible injury, so just take today to relax. We’ll focus on all that other stuff tomorrow.” Beth finished, and everyone realized I hadn’t been up for more than a few hours after being out of it for a week.

“Oh yeah fuck, right. So, how are you doing? How’s your back?” Brianna asked. “I’m actually doing okay. I’m still a little tired, and my back is definitely a little achy, but other than that, a couple good night’s sleep and I’ll be good as new”, I said and then tried to do a little to-da-hands. I got a tinge of shooting pains in my shoulder and couldn’t keep it from showing. I hid the pain well, but not well enough enough. Everyone in this room had the highest stats in Tree House Village except little Tilly, so they all caught my moment of pain clear as day.

“Yeah, dumb ass. Sure, you’re fine. Go lay down before you hurt yourself again.” Janet told me, and I gave her an embarrassed smile in return.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Do you want to give me a hand?” I asked Janet. She rolled her eyes at me but smiled and agreed to help me return to my room. I told the small group goodbye. Then I made Janet bridal carry me to my room. We left to raucous laughter from the whole group when Janet finally agreed and picked me up.

Travis Mullins

Level: 16

Race: Human

Class: Path of the Pole Arm

Experience needed to next Level: 46,450/50,900XP till next Level.

Stat points per level up: +3 free

Titles:

Lucky Bastard (+2 to luck)

Explorer 1 (+3 to all stats)

Settlement Defense level 2 (Plus 5 to all stats)

First Settlement Defiance (+5% to all stats )

First in world to:

complete a dungeon run (+8 to all stats)

War Bounces:

War Machine: +8 to all stats for the next 90 days.

Follow Me: 20% boost toward the influence my words had on others for the next 90 days. (83) days remaining

Resistances:

Element of Fire: 5%

Element of Corruption: 6%

Stats:

Strength: *63 WB: (+8)

Dexterity: *61 WB (+8)

Intelligence: *45 WB (+8)

Wisdom: *46 (WB (+8)

Constitution: *51 WB (+8)

Luck: *34 WB (+8)

* = modified

(+) = Amount modified by

Class Sheet

Path of the pole Arm

Level 1:

Plus two stat points to Strength each level up.

Plus three stat points to Dexterity each level up.

Step Lightly:

When activated, it gives you the ability to move up to ten feet so fast that it may appear as if you have teleported to people with a dexterity of less than twenty-five and an intelligence of less than twenty. Anyone with a dexterity over twenty-five and an intelligence over twenty will see you move, but you will move at 300% of your normal movement speed. Step Lightly, coasting 50 mana and 20 stamina to activate.

Pinpoint:

Pinpoint:

Pinpoint increases your accuracy by 125%. This ability can be activated at the cost of ten Mana and five stamina per second, allowing you to land critical hits more often and deal more damage with each strike.

Quick Strike:

When activated, Quick Strick at the cost of one hundred Mana energizes your arms into almost a seizure-type state. This causes you to strike out with your polearm many times in rapid succession.

The next few days went by, and everything got back to normal, well, normal-ish. We were no longer taking people up to do dungeon runs. We figured with The Master’s cronies running around, it might not be safe. Safety was a relative here, but yes, it wasn’t safe anymore. Most of our troops who fought in the battle were level ten and had obtained a combat class.

This was a good start, but only a few people had been into martial arts pre-integration. I say most because some of the prior police officers from the group that took the Claremont with us had taken some for self-defense, at a minimum. There were two people, a boxer and a jujitsu instructor. The boxer was a man named Sam, a big white guy with a bushy beard. He was about six foot five inches, and the guy looked like he cut trees down for fun.

Then there was Susan. Susan had spent her time off duty with her husband Tom and their two cats, Mario and Luigi, two tabby cats that were very fat and very happy. She also spent some time passing on her knowledge of jujitsu. She had been teaching a weekend class for “older people mostly,” as she put it, but was proficient and quite good in the combat style.

Susan was more than willing to help teach people what she knew, and so was Sam. Along with a few more folks who had been long-time students of various martial styles, the Council devised a training regiment we could implement. Hopefully, it will help guide our force in a more informed direction regarding combat. I took part in the trading as well. I had to restrict myself in almost every way because my stats were a lot higher than my teachers, but I still learned a lot, and it was starting to show in the council training bots.

Janet was a beast, and our one-on-one matches were getting intense. Beth was more focused on defense, but I eventually could wear her down and win. With Janet, it was up in the air every time we went at it. I won about sixty percent of our matches, but when I did, it wasn’t by much. Twice now, Beth had to step in and stop the fight before one of us got too seriously injured. We were both guilty of getting carried away in a fight, and Beth let us know loudly a couple of times.

Eight days after I had woken up, I was sitting in my room with Janet, and I had a dagger in my hand. “I still think this is so fucked. If you fucking die? Are you sure it’s not going to kill you? Because I swear, Travis. Are you sure you want to go through with this? I’m not gonna call you a pussy… again. Look, I said I was sorry, but come on, let’s just go fuck? That sounds good, right? Maybe Trish is around?”

“I said go time, Janet. Go Time!” I told Janet. I was hyped.

Janet tried to talk me out of what I was about to do. She had been trying for the last two days since I had decided I was going to stab myself with the corrupted dagger on purpose. At first, Janet had thought I had been fucking around and had called me a pussy for not trying it already. Then I told her that, fine, I’ll do it, and Janet flipped her script as soon as she knew I was serious.

We’ll all that was a moot point. We were here, I had the dagger, and it was go time. I only let Janet be here so that if I indeed need medical attention and passed out, she could assist me. She had also insisted she be here. I tried and failed to tell her I would be fine on my own, so here we were, and, like I said, go time. I took the dagger and held it inches above my palm. My main reason for choosing my hand as the place to cut myself had logic behind it.

Well, it was pretty straightforward, actually. If things got out of control, I could ask Janet to cut my arm off. Hopefully, that would just solve the problem, but it was a plan, so I didn’t feel like I was going into this completely unprepared. I also had a smoothie made from Senzuketa Bean and Mana kissed water. It was faster and just better all-around at healing. I was just about to push the dagger into my hand when Janet tried to stop my stupidity one last time.

She flashed me, and that actually did get me. “What the fuck, Janet! Jesus! Fuck.”

“Got you to stop, though.” She managed to get out between bursts of laughter. She even sucked her tung out at me. I just shook my head and then plunged the dagger into my hand. I had to do it before I could think any more about how stupid this was and how much pain I was about to feel. Janet released what I was doing at the last second but only got out, “No, Travis, don’t.” Before it was too late, I had a smirk on my face as I achieved my goal. It was immediately whipped away as the pain filled my world.

After the first wave of pain, I had just started to get the pain under control enough to try and blink back the tears to see when I realized the dagger was still in my hand. I tried to reach up with my other hand to pull it out, but my arm wouldn’t move. Fuck, maybe I fucked up? Next, I tried to speak, but when I opened my mouth, all I could let out was a scream. That seemed to be enough to shock Janet out of the stupor she was in.

The fact that I had just stabbed myself with a corrupted dagger that would cause great pain and that had nearly killed me less than two weeks ago I think she just couldn’t believe it. She jumped when I screamed, and then as if realizing the same thing I had, she ripped the dagger out of my hand. The pain instantly receded a little, and I actually cried at that, but it just got mixed in with the tries from the pain.

Janet then tilted my head back slowly and poured some of the smoothie into my mouth. That helped a fuck ton and allowed me to actually think again. I looked over at my hand, then my arm. My hand was filled with black lines running through my skin from where the blade had pierced the skin. The lines then continued up my arm to the elbow as well. They weren’t progressing any further, so that was good.

Janet laid me down, and I lay there for the next three hours. When I was finally getting used to the level of pain I was experiencing. The black lines that had been running up my arm had now receded to just above my wrist, and I could visibly see the line slowly shrinking. I decided it was time to sit up, so I did, and I was doing okay. My jaw was sore from clenching. The place where the dagger had cut into me was oozing a blackish-green puss-like material, and I sat there for about twenty minutes just staring at my hand oozing.

Janet pulled me from my wound at that point, and she had brought Frank with another member of our newly founded medical core, in toe. “Fuck, okay, well, he’s doing a lot better now, it seems. sorry to waste your time, Frank.” Janet said with a pissed-off look on her face the whole time she talked.

“It’s fine, Janet. While we’re here, we might as well check him over,” Frank said, placing his medical bag on a chair in the room. Sense Frank was here, and I seemed to have done okay with the first dose of dagger. Maybe it was my pain-addled brain talking, or maybe I’m just a dumb ass, but as I saw it, it was a good time for a second dose. I looked over at Frank and his assistant prepping to do their ones over of me and said,

“Frank, pull the dagger out if I can’t, and if the corruption looks like it’s gonna move past my shoulders, just cut my arm off, okay?” I asked him. Frank looked at me like what the fuck are you talking about? I then raised the dagger to plunge it into my other hand. This time, Franks, along with those of his assistants and Janet’s, went eyes wide. Frank only managed to get out, “What the fuck?” And Janet just said, “Fuck!” Before the pain was back in full force.