A New World (Gamer, Book 1) (8 page)

"Sorry, I'm not very good with this
thing."

Harry looks at the device in her hands and
puts his hand out. She hands it over to him and passes him a
stone.

He puts the stone in it and shoots at the
ghost, hitting it dead center in the chest.

"Nice shot. Have you ever used one of these
before?"

Harry shrugs.

"When I was a kid, I was interested in super
antique kid's toys from 200 something years ago. This is just one
of the things I tried because it looked fun."

She laughs and pats him on the back before
handing over her little bag of stones, so Harry can get to
work.

It soon becomes clear that the stones are
having no effect on the ghost that is approaching them and the
noise has already attracted a few more to them.

"No luck," Harry says, handing Axel back her
weapon.

They both look at the ghost and prepare
themselves for a fight. Axel streaks forward with her sword and
chops the translucent shape across the front. Her blade passes
straight through and Harry comes around in a big spinning attack
that knocks the ghost slightly to the side.

"Damn. No luck."

Harry swings again and the monster moves to
the side.

"The wind…" Harry says in surprise as he
swings one more time and the creature moves a little in that
direction.

Axel sees Harry's attack and grabs her bow out
again. She swings the large wooden weapon at the creature and it
shifts towards the wall. Harry comes around from the other side and
performs a 360 degree spin that forces a large amount of air into
the ghost. The creature disappears completely and a small silver
drop of water falls to the floor from where the ghost
died.

A little message comes up telling them that
they've just received a special item.

Both of them open up their inventories as the
next set of ghosts move their way and laugh out loud at the weapons
they have received.

Harry pulls his brand new feather duster from
the air, which is way to oversized to dust anything.

"
Ghost killer
. Someone has a very good
sense of humor."

Axel chuckles and they turn to the three
ghosts rushing their way. They race towards them dragging their
weapons behind them and both spin around as they come into range to
get maximum wind velocity.

The ghosts are hit by the air and suddenly
dissipate. Their attacks when joined together are incredibly
effective it seems with the right type of weapon.

They stop moving and lean against the wall
breathing hard. The feather dusters, for all their appearance of
lightness, are apparently also very heavy at the same
time.

"We had better check our inventory. One of
these things might have dropped something we can use."

They both look towards the entrance and note
some blobs slowly moving across the threshold of the entrance of
the cave. Harry and Axel set to work concentrating on sorting
through their inventory, opening all the loot bags that they have
received from the several mobs they have managed to kill so
far.

Harry pulls out a small bun and begins to eat,
while Axel finishes off her bags. The blobs are getting pretty
close and it's probably time to move.

Axel pulls out her bow again and taps her
quiver. Her arrows are slowly returning and she smiles in
satisfaction at what she sees.

"That's very handy. Where did you get
something like that?" Harry asks, watching as arrows
materialize.

She laughs and pulls an arrow out to cock to
her bowstring. They both look to their health meters, which of
slowly recovered and begin to move forward as Axel answers Harry's
question.

"I brought it from another player for four
gold. It’s enchanted, which is a kind of magical spell. You know
what magic is, right?"

"I met a wizard a few days ago. He could shoot
light at creatures, but I normally think of magic as that ancient
art of cutting a woman in half and other weird stuff they tell us
about in history lessons."

"You’re sort of right, but this is in-game
magic."

The quiver is still refilling in front of
Harry's eyes and he raises one eyebrow.

"How do I learn some of this
magic?"

"Well you either are a mage or one of the
other magic using classes or you're like you."

"Like me?"

"No class players can learn any skill," she
says. "I'm an archer, so I haven't got a hope in hell in learning
anything, no matter how hard I try."

"That sucks."

"A little, but in exchange I can learn archery
skills and don't have to figure out how everything works. The game
just inserts the skills into my brain, so that when I play, I can
shoot with the best of them. In contrast, you are a regular human
being learning to fight."

"That explains why I'm not some mighty warrior
after killing those few hundred pigs."

"Yes, but you got a fancy title, Pig Killer
Elite."

Harry gives her a look that spells out quite
clearly what he thinks of that title.

"So I can learn magic?"

"Yes, most definitely."

Harry stops in the middle of the corridor and
glances over to Axel as they approach the skeletons.

"So I can do magic? Like right
now?"

"Of course, as I said, you only have to figure
out how it works," She says. "As you are a no class, you can cast
spells just like a regular wizard. You just have to learn
how."

"How do I learn?"

"Well that's the thing. First, you have to
figure out how magic works in the game and, to be honest, I have no
idea how, even though I've had wizards tell me the details, and
then you have to learn how to cast spells. That's all.

"Harry looks at the skeletons and raises one
hand, forming the shape of an old fashion gun.

"Bang."

Nothing happens and the creatures almost look
offended.

"I guess it's not quite that simple," he says,
feeling disappointed. "Still, magic, eh? That would be very
handy."

"Well, tiger, if we get through this, then
I'll introduce you to the dodgiest mage I know, maybe he can help
you figure out how it works."

"It's a deal."

They turn back to the skeletons and each take
a deep breath. The fight is only beginning.

*****

"You know, I think we've killed this skeleton
before."

"I'm getting that feeling too."

They looked down at the skeleton that they
have just defeated. It looks like every other skeleton that they've
seen, yet in some way the hallway looks vaguely
familiar.

"Do you think we are going round in
circles?"

"It's possible, but everything looks the same
here."

Harry nods his head and they stand thinking
for a moment.

"Maybe we could try marking the wall or
something?"

Axel walks over to the stone side of the
corridor and slashes her short blade across it. It creates a small
thin line that immediately begins to close as the damage to the
rock disappears.

"Well, I guess not.”

Axel turns and continues walking down the
corridor. Harry follows her with a thoughtful look on his
face.

They come to another set of ghosts and quickly
defeat them. They have become very proficient in defeating the
monsters in this area; however, the item drop rates have been
pretty low so far. They are well-stocked on pieces of skeletons and
decaying armor: None of which can be sold for anything that would
vaguely represent a financial windfall.

Harry stops as they come to a strange little
outcrop that they have passed several times already.

"I have something that we might be able to
use," he says, ruffling through his inventory.

He begins pulling the items out - piece by
sticky piece - and Axel gives him an amused look.

"Pig entrails? You keep that
trash?"

Harry shrugs and starts tying entrails
together, which is a squishy proposition in itself.

"There's an NPC tucked away just off from the
farm that I like to work around that buys these things for one gold
a ton. I have six tons in my bag right now."

"Six tons!?! You kept every single drop of
entrails?"

"Well, one gold per ton isn't so bad,
right?"

Axel shrugs in defeat and then begins helping
Harry ties entrails together. It's not long before they have a long
rope of them sitting on the floor, which they tie to the rock
outcrop before beginning to walk.

A few minutes later they find themselves
rather surprisingly back in the same place. The same rock formation
with the pig entrails still tied to it is right in front of
them.

Harry and Axel look at each other and then
turn around and start walking in the opposite direction. It's not
long before they come to the rock formation again with the entrails
still tied to it.

"Count the minutes, okay."

Axel nods and they begin to walk. They come
back to their starting point and Harry looks to Axel.

"Three minutes exactly by my
clock."

"We've been going around in
circles."

"Yeah, but did you see any exits or corridors
anywhere?"

They both look at each other in shock and
realize that there's something very strange going on
here.

Harry looks to the entrails and then to the
corridor. He begins to walk until he comes back around to where
Axel is standing.

"I didn't see a single exit just
now."

They sit down against the wall and bring out
some food. They both look thoughtful and very concerned at the same
time. Eventually they are going to have to sleep. Even though their
bodies are safely sleeping in the real world, they still require
some rest. When that happens they are going to be defenseless. And
that's not even considering the food issue. When it runs out, they
are slowly going to starve to death. The only way out of this place
is death and neither of them look too excited about the concept of
having to go back through the blobs, slimes, tentacles, ghosts,
skeletons and worse to get back in.

"Maybe there's a hidden exit?" Axel
muses.

Harry raises his eyebrows and then stows away
his bread. They begin walking with one hand on either wall and it's
not long before Axel finds something that doesn't seem quite
right.

"There's wind coming through this wall," she
says.

Harry walks over to inspect it himself. It's
very firm and feels like rock, yet there is most certainly wind
coming through it.

They pull forth their weapons and began to
assault the wall. It's not long before one of Axel's arrows pierces
through and it shatters in a blueish sparkle of light.

They step through and find themselves in a
well lit corridor. After only a few meters of walking, they find
themselves in a moderately sized open space. The roof of the cave
has been cut away perfectly by something and they can see the sun
shining through some trees above.

"We must have passed this place dozens of
times. That's a pretty nasty trick," Axel says, looking back to
where they entered.

Harry nods and then looks around the room.
There are three exits off the area and he stands looking at them
trying to decide which to take.

"Which is your favorite direction?" he
asks.

"Well, I'm right-handed so we could go
right."

They walk over to the right-hand exit and step
inside. There is a growling sound and something slashes out of
them. Harry and Axel jump back as they see the translucent shape of
what looks to be a wolf.

"I don't think right is the right way to go,"
Harry says, trying to discern if the wolf can leave the corridor,
which proves to be impossible for the beast as it is chained to the
wall.

"So middle or left? It's your
turn."

Harry looks at the two exits and then reaches
into his inventory. He pulls out a chunk of pig's entrails and
chucks it into the middle exit. There is no sound from the tunnel,
so he throws another lump into the far left side. There is a loud
growling and then the sound of something being chewed on. He
decides that the middle is the best way.

They step through and come into an identical
room with an identical looking roof.

"The same trick as before?"

Laughter from above makes them look up. There
is a tall man wearing a dark blue robe with black boots and heavy
leather gloves and shoulder armor above them. His face is hidden
away in the darkness of his hood and they can't make out much
beyond that he has a rather evil looking appearance.

"I think we found who we are looking for,"
Axel notes.