Three men, or as near as they could be called men, stood atop battlements. There was no warfare, as was the norm for the constructed reality. Instead, they sat, smoked, drank, and talked.
“You know, being nice to him like that, I don’t think we did him any favors.” It was followed by a baying laugh that set the others on edge.
“No, but have you ever seen anything like that? I checked the logs. He never lost a hand outright.” This one preened, adjusting feathers and pecking bits of dirt out.
Smoke drifted upward from the third. He tapped his pipe on the ash dish and reloaded it before speaking. “Did you forget to check his threads?”
“His shoes were mediocre at best, and most of his clothes looked like he’d been wearing them for a few weeks, at least.”
“Pitbull,” the smoking man admonished. “I mean his threads of fate, not his clothing.”
“No,” the hyena-hybrid said. “No, I did not forget to check. I just didn’t. Why would I? He’s a random kid that wandered in before we were ready.”
A rumbling, smoky laugh came out of the frog. “That alone should have clued you in to how special the young man is.”
“I did forget,” said the second man. “I guess, with everything going on, I wasn’t all that invested.”
“His fate threads are very interesting. You can still see some of the echoes in this place, if you look hard enough.”
All three fell silent, looking into the distance for a long time.
“Did we do the right thing?”
“What, sending him up without a real fight? Sure, why not?” The bird shivered, shaking loose a bit of dust.
The hyena picked up a glass filled with amber liquid and took a sip, enjoying the drink but not really noticing it. “His threads are wild. If I’m reading them right… his luck is off the charts.”
“That is pure hyperbole,” admonished the frog. “He is, however, the luckiest person I have ever been near. I wonder what his luck stat is. Surely at least a four.”
The bird laughed, a cooing sound deep in his chest. “A four? Did you see the hands he drew? If he didn’t have the highest, it was the second highest. Constantly. A four does not do that.”
“It nearly looks like outside influence.”
“As if the gods would notice a little… what was he, level six?”
The frog shook his head. “I think he was level eight.”
“The tutorial isn’t over,” said the bird. “Never mind his presence, how is a new entrant to the system already level eight? And just a few weeks in? Those in the tutorial are what… level three? True geniuses might be level five?”
“Three weeks in? Five is a stretch, but I have heard of it.”
They sat in silence for a moment. “What kind of planet are we dealing with? Especially to turn out a monster like that, this quickly?”
“You do know we’re level ninety-nine, right? About to break into the next rank?”
“Yes, and that young man has managed to climb nearly to the second rank in three weeks. It took me a year, and I was called a genius in our world.”
“You made level twenty-five in a year?” The hyena whistled in appreciation. “It took me fifteen months.”
“And that kid out there is a third of the way there, after three freaking weeks. At this rate, he’ll be twenty-five by the time the tutorial ends for his planet.”
They all looked to the sky, as if they could see the elevator that had taken the young man away.
The bird shook his head. “What a monster.”
“You know,” the frog said, letting out a cloud of smoke. “I think it is a good thing we did not tell him he could get on the field.”
“Why? The game probably would have ended even faster.” The hyena shook his head and started pacing. “No, we did it right. As it stands, he got what, thirty-some XP?”
“Yes, and for a single match. Now, imagine if he had earned direct XP.”
He stopped pacing and looked across the field at the frog. “At one-to-one, instead of ten-to-one. He would have gained levels like mad.”
“He probably would have figured out a way to prolong the game.”
The dove spoke up. “If he’s the monster we think he is. What if it is just pure luck?”
“There’s no way someone would be doing this well with only luck. There’s a drive there. He will overtake us, and not in the distant future. He’s going far. Let’s just hope he remembers us fondly, if we ever run across him again.”
They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, the frog spoke. “Well, he was right about one thing. We need to start adapting our strategies. And I like his idea, we should do this instead of directly fighting the humans. What if there are more like him?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The hyena shook his head. “That one? I don’t think he’s a once-in-a-generation genius. I think he’s rarer than even that. But a planet that can give birth to something like him? Yeah, we should put a layer between us and horrible pain. I would rather play this anyway.”
The frog tipped his pipe toward the canine, then tapped the ash out again. He reloaded, looked at his friends, and nodded. “Then we have practicing to do. We can step our skill down, but we cannot fight higher than we are capable of. It is time, gentlemen, for us to become serious.”
–––
Boss scenario completed!
XP Awarded: 32
Hidden quest completed: Befriend the bosses
Additional Award: 100 XP, Title Upgrade:Titan, Title awarded: Pacifist, Title awarded: Sleuth, +101 Renown
Title upgraded: Titan became Titanic
Titanic:
You cleared a dungeon Boss floor without using any skills!
+2 to all stats, +2 to constitution
Pacifist:
You cleared a dungeon floor without engaging in combat a single time!
+1 to all stats
Sleuth:
You found a hidden quest and completed it!
+1 to intelligence
Investigator:
You are the first in your world to find a hidden quest and complete it!
+10 to intelligence
Level up!
Name: Alabaster Blackwood
Race: Half-dead Human-Zombie
Faction: Blackwood Company
Job: Half-dead
Age: 20
Renown level: Unknown
Renown: 1270
Level: 9
XP: 31/145
HP: 1840/1840
HP regen per second: 0.92
MP: 480/480
MP regen per second: 0.24
Stamina: 1200/1200
Stamina regen: 0.60
Strength: 93*
Agility: 60*
Constitution: 92*
Wisdom: 24*
Intelligence: 35*
Charisma: 26*
Luck: 29*
Free points: 2
Titles: Investigator, Noble II, Pacifist, Primal Rebirth, Prime, Prime Realtor, Primordial, Reborn, Royalty, Sleuth, Star-born: Dragon, Titanic
Skills: Unarmed Combat
Abilities: Earthen Bulwark I
Spells: None
Notes: English, Zombie Common
Chakras:
Crown: Locked.
Third Eye: Locked.
Throat: Locked.
Heart: Locked.
Solar Plexus: Locked.
Sacral: Locked.
Root: Unlocked. 1 of 3 assigned: Earthen Bulwark I.
–––
Basil sat back, wiping his brow. The last one had been a doozy. He had finally been a bit more adventurous and tried a larger bet. Alabaster’s words were still haunting him. The minimum bet was working. It hardly affected his reserves. But being in the action… just that was enough to justify a larger bet. Knowing he could potentially alter the results by helping one side?
He looked at the total chip count sitting in the corner of his vision. 1310. It was a fortune. He could retire right then and there, go home, and live in luxury for a hundred years. Then he checked his quest.
Digital Adventurer (Hidden Quest):
Play every slot machine on the first floor, 77 out of 150 complete.
He was halfway done. There had been a mean streak around the forty machine mark where he had lost three hundred chips on six machines. Still, he had made that up in the last five machines. He felt a rush, hitting that button. It was a bigger thrill, the more he bet. And so far, he had come out on top, but he wondered how long his luck would hold.
“How long have I been doing this?”
He looked around the casino, still a riotous mix of flashing lights, brilliant displays, strobing spotlights, and all manner of electronic noises meant to entice gamblers. But there were still no signs of other patrons. It had bothered him a bit. Then again, the tutorial was still active.
“Right, nobody left on the planet, except, apparently, Bast. And those poor sods that were caught up in our zombie invasion…”
Basil shook his head to refocus. Even if it had taken a day or two, that meant he only had a few days left to finish the hidden quest. Hidden quests could give some serious rewards. He might even, if rumors were true, get something like a title. And, since there was nobody else on the planet at the moment, he would probably get the First title, which always rewarded more. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He would be the most powerful zombie in his family in thousands of years.
“C’mon,” he said. It had become a sort of mantra. “Mama needs a new car.”
He jabbed the button and the world faded to black around him.
–––
“Man, those guys sure were nice. I mean, the game was kinda weird, and definitely traumatizing, but nothing a few weeks of therapy can’t help me overcome. Or months. Probably a few months.”
I shook my head. “Aw, who am I kidding? This is the new world. Everything is horrifying. People died all the time before, now they’re going to die even more often, except some people who die won’t stay dead. Well, not us, I guess. Stupid resurrection being locked away.”
The elevator came to a smooth stop. My senses were much more attuned to the world around me, and it was enough that I felt the gentle easing of motion. It was uncanny, yet I felt sure in myself. Perhaps it was my increased wisdom, allowing me to accept things about this new world. Of course, that made me wonder if the system was messing with my head, but even if it was, there was nothing I could do about it.
A chime sounded and the doors slid open. Bright light filled the room, drowning out the gentle ambiance the elevator had maintained. The roar of a crowd assaulted my ears. I stumbled back, coming to a stop against the rear wall of the elevator. I could just make out people screaming and shouting, though nothing was clear. I blinked my eyes and put a hand up to shield them. Even as I did that, though, the light went away.
“WHO WILL FACE THIS MONSTER?”
That voice, while not one I had heard before, had a very familiar cadence. That was an announcer, like the kind I had heard for sports events online.
“THIS IS A ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION GENIUS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! GET IN THAT RING, AND YOU GET A THOUSAND CREDITS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. AND IF YOU WIN? OH-HO, IF YOU WIN.”
The clearly barrel-chested announcer took a break to breathe in. I stepped out of the elevator and felt like I was slapped in the face with a wet towel. The room was rank with the stench of people. Beneath the smell of sweat, though I could make out blood, urine, even shit. I had a sinking feeling in my chest.
“THAT’S RIGHT, IF YOU WIN AGAINST THIS GENIUS, I WILL PERSONALLY FUND YOUR RISE TO LEVEL TEN!”
I smirked. That was only one level. At the rate I was going, that would happen in another floor or two anyway. All I could see was the underside of bleachers. People clapped, stomped, whistled, hooted, and hollered. It was insane. I had only heard a crowd like that once or twice before.
“IT SEEMS WE HAVE A CHALLENGER!”
Right as I stepped past the bleachers into a clear area, the light blinded me again. I put a hand up to shield my eyes, and that’s when I saw it.
“WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON, FIGHTER.”