Rick smiled when his mental lights came up and the beach starting area greeted him.
He stomped the five crabs and got a boost and a skill.
Boost +1
He put the boost into speed, again hoping to survive long enough to get the speed boosts that would make the Hammer Fist skill most viable.
Strength: 1
Speed: 2
Stamina: 1
Active Skill Acquired!
What, Like a Volkswagen?: An unexpectedly powerful punch at short range. Useful in tight places. Cooldown 20 seconds.
Hmm… He took the sandy path through the reads and low dunes, anxious to make it to the cover of the low forest where he’d be less exposed. As soon as he entered, he encountered his first player, though the woman’s back was turned and she walked slowly away from him.
The soft sand muffled his steps as he stepped forward. His enemy’s title card floated over her head as he got closer. 07Amanda, the card read.
Sorry, Amanda. He slipped his arm around her neck, and though she struggled, in only fifteen seconds, she’d succumbed.
Victory!
Two orange boxes and a blue rose from the woman’s body as it faded before it finished dropping to the sand.
Boost +2
He placed another point into speed and dropped the other in stamina.
Strength: 1
Speed: 3
Stamina: 2
Passive Skill Acquired!
Power-Sack: Immune to genital attacks.
That’s useful…
He jogged further down the path, took the left fork when it presented itself, and made it another several yards when the sandy trail turned to gravel.
He’d not taken this path yet, as he’d only ever started at the beach that once. He listened, but no thunder sounded. He relaxed and slowed, searching the trees and low brush on each side of the path.
Unexpectedly, the path dipped and the ground on each side rose, slowly at first, before the green on each side of the path ended and sheer, rocky cliff walls replaced it. The narrow path descended further, but he stopped. The terrain formed a great pinch point for an ambush, and a large rock looming ahead on the left gave him second thoughts. Plenty of hiding space there.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
He flattened himself against the right cliff wall and slowly peeked around the rock. Nothing.
Wait. A patch of gravel, a nearly perfect circle the diameter of a manhole, lay on the ground in the corner formed by the large rock and the wall of stone. After scanning the scene for threats, he crouched to examine it, sweeping some pea-sized rocks away. Beneath it lay more pea gravel. He scooped it out rapidly, checking his surroundings for threats every few seconds.
When he’d gotten about four inches down, he struck a metallic object that wasn’t easily swept aside like the gravel. He checked again for enemies, then furiously scooped the rocks away until he’d dislodged the box.
When he had it, he turned and stood, placing his back against the rock, making it easier to see all pathways an enemy might use to approach. Overhead, a lone black bird soared, though it was impossible to know how large or how high above him it loomed.
The box had a simple tension latch—similar to one you’d find on an antique metal lunchbox you might find at a memorabilia shop. It consisted of a loop of metal wire attached to a lever, pushed closed so the wire pulled a grooved tab on the cover down toward the base of the box. He flipped the latch and pushed the lid open.
Halo Boost Points Acquired!
Boost Points +4
He frowned at first, not believing his good fortune, then smiled before frowning again. Is this Ditto? I haven’t had a start this easy since…
Since never. He’d never had a start this good. “Ditto?”
There was no answer. Does it matter? Even if he’s helping me, it’s not like I don’t need the win.
He applied a boost point to strength, simply because, presented with such a bounty so early, he didn’t want to curse his lack of strength if he got to the end of the box canyon with no way out except to move an obstacle. He put two more points into speed, and the last into stamina.
Strength: 2
Speed: 5
Stamina: 3
Again, he started along the path, which descended further down at an easy grade as it gently curved leftward, allowing him only a medium distance’s view before the walls of the canyon merged together a couple yards ahead. The curve continued at such a regular grade that although he advanced, the limit of his sightline remained a constant distance away.
Anxiety rose in his stomach as he descended further down the slope. He had yet to experience a true dead-end in Ruckus Online, but who knew what awaited him at the end of a descending canyon? The earth seemed intent to swallow him, and he debated turning back.
He’d been caught underground when the lightning ring came for him before. Unlike with a real lightning storm, the tons of earth and rock served as no barrier to the elimination mechanic. If he got trapped and couldn’t find a way out in time…
But he hadn’t. He’d been trapped once or twice because he’d been unable to find the path forward, or because he faced an enemy that whittled his time away until the lightning ring took them both. And though that had happened, that it had happened only rarely in the hundreds of hours he’d spent in some version of the game made him think that had he been more resourceful, he’d have found the way out. The lightning ring had simply gotten to him before he was able to figure it out, or the game design had broken down enough that whatever clues it presented had gone over his head.
Erik—a game designer and an old friend of Rick’s from before he’d been to prison—had frequently detailed the ways “infuriatingly obtuse” gamers had either gotten stuck when they shouldn’t, or broken the game in ways no one expected. Just as likely, though, was the possibility the game designers downplayed how much their own intimacy with their work blinded them to the perspective of anyone experiencing the game for the fourth time instead of the four-hundred-thousandth.
As so often happened, his attempt to think it through got him no closer to a decision about whether to continue forward or turn back before it was too late.
He set off at a run. Maybe if I’m fast enough, I can get to wherever this is going with time to make it back if it doesn’t work. He wasn’t sure he believed it, but curiosity spurred him forward.
He relaxed some as the canyon gently snaked back to the right, relieving his worry the path would only gently take him back toward the ring of lightning.
When his anxiety reached a crescendo, he debated simply running back to the fork and taking the other path, but it was then something amazing caught his eye.
The end of appeared from around the final gentle curve, and what a splendid end it was.
Carved into the rock itself, a massive set of columns rose high, all the way up the cliff. Relief statues of humans and animals had been carved along the entirety of the massive building’s edifice, making it appear like the images of Petra he’d seen on some history documentary, though it topped it with its complexity and the gentle arcs of its carvings.
As he got closer, his awe only grew. Dwarfed by the sheer visual weight of the entire structure, the stone double door at ground level slowly came into view.
But is there a way out? Contrary to quelling his anxiety, nearing the end of the canyon only exacerbated it. Why hadn’t Alex mentioned there was a temple or a city carved into the stone of the game world?
A sense of foreboding filled Rick as he approached the entry point. The right half of the door stood ajar, but only halfway. He squeezed through easily, but he felt every inch a trespasser. It’s a game. You’re supposed to be here.
Darkness shrouded the massive room he’d entered, though windows carved into the cliff face at intervals allowed light to stream in from outside, but the corners remained shrouded. From somewhere in the distance, the sound of stone scraping stone echoed.
Tiny storms of light dust rose from his feet as he slowly advanced further into the room.