The Bathrobe Knight (3 page)

Does that mean if I get a ton of points sunk into Power I’ll do a lot of Damage, but I’ll also be super heavy? I wonder how high this stat goes.

SPEED

The second attribute is
Speed
. Speed directly increases the speed at which a player may move, making it an important attribute for both offensive and defensive players in physical combat, allowing the player to do more Damage and evade attacks.

Your Current Speed is 45.

Speed increases Melee Physical Damage. Current level adds a 9% increase to the Damage of all melee attacks.

Speed increases Evasion. Current level adds 8.09% chance to evade targets with 1 Speed. [Note: in NPC vs NPC combat calculations, this attribute is based on the difference in speed between two opponents. For players, the speed stat will only augment their movement or reaction speed as they use their own quick-thinking to choose how and when they dodge attacks.]

Speed increases Melee and Ranged Attack Speed: Current Level adds a 9% increase to the attack speed of all melee and ranged attacks.

Ha! So speed is basically agility except instead of boosting ranged Damage it only boosts melee Damage? Well at least there aren’t any new concepts to understand so far.

Vitality

The third attribute is
Vitality
. Vitality determines the amount of health that a player will have as well as how much Damage a player will take from all Damage types. Vitality also reduces the effectiveness of diseases and poisons.

Your Current Vitality is 35.

Vitality increases Health. Current level adds 350 Health.

Vitality decreases Damage from all sources. Current level reduces Damage by 6.54%.

Vitality reduces the effectiveness of diseases and poisons. Current level reduces the effectiveness by 6.54%.

             
Yeah, yeah, vitality. Of course. I wonder if I have a lot of health for my level or barely any.

SPIRIT

The fourth attribute is
Spirit
. Spirit increases the player’s Magic Effectiveness and Magic Defense.

Your Current Spirit is 25.

Spirit increases Magic Effectiveness. Current level increases Magic Effectiveness by 10%.

Spirit increases Magic Defense. Current level reduces Damage by 4.76%

What? There is magic in this game? I wonder if I have any spells. Does that mean I could get a spell to throw fireballs or call down lightning?

CONCENTRATION

The fifth attribute is
Concentration
. Concentration increases the player’s speed when casting spells and their magic defense.

Your Current Concentration is 30.

Concentration increases casting speed. Current level adds a 12% increase to casting speed.

Concentration reduces Magical Damage. Current level reduces magical Damage taken by 5.66 %

If this stat and Spirit were high enough, I could chain chain-lightning spells. This game is going to be amazing. It’s too bad I’m probably a super noob at the moment.

• When a player levels up, the player is given 5 to 6 stat points depending on race that the player may then allocate towards the stat they desire. Due to a racial penalty, this function is currently locked.
  

              What? I don’t get to decide where my points go?

              While Darwin was getting aggravated at not having the ability to customize his character, a short brunette in a white Dress that didn’t properly flow past her ankles tore out of the woods to his left, running from three giant 7 foot white-horned Minotaurs carrying much nicer Axes than the madman had tried to kill him with just moments ago.
P--!!! Pause the tutorial!
Darwin began to think over and over again until the ding finally sounded.

• You have paused the tutorial. If you would like to end the tutorial temporarily you may do so now by thinking, “End.”
  

             
End!
Darwin quickly looked around for the corpse of the man he had just killed moments ago hoping to find the Axe he was using, but only found his Spoon lying where the man had been just moments before.
Oh yeah! Hope this works: Equip Dull Iron Axe!
and no sooner had he finished thinking it than the Axe appeared in his right hand. He grabbed the Spoon too with his left hand for safe measure. Utensils had been working well so far after all.

              “Over here! Run towards me!” Darwin yelled at the girl as he charged in her direction. She obviously heard him because as soon as he said it, she scrunched up her face as best a person could while running and charged in his direction with the tail of Minotaurs hot on her trail.

              The Minotaurs were staggered out a bit with at least a car length between them as they ran towards the girl. Darwin took his trusty Spoon and threw it again at the Minotaur closest to her left, but it only hit one of his horns and bounced off. Darwin’s heart began to pound at this turn of events. He was fully counting on the Spoon hitting the Minotaur directly in eye, but instead it just bounced off his horn harmlessly. Not knowing what to do next, he grabbed the Axe and held it up like he was holding a flag. It helped calm his nerves for a moment as the white-Dressed girl ran past him full speed and didn’t even bother to turn.

As soon as the girl passed him, he lifted the Axe all the way over his head and then did a running downward swing at the closest Minotaur. He didn’t really know what to expect next, but after 20 years of playing medieval video games and wishing he was the main character cleaving enemies asunder, he figured he might as well die trying.

*CRUNCH* The Minotaur hadn’t even bothered to dodge or even change his course as the Axe came cleaving down and split the enemy’s skull in half. As soon as the Axe hit the enemy, red numbers popped up right above the enemy’s head.

• Critical Hit! You have done 242 Damage!
  

              Then came the ding sound, but no window popped up.
I’m still in combat. Figures it wouldn’t tell me anything until the fight is over
.
One down, two to go.
Darwin kicked the dead white-horned Minotaur and pulled his Axe free from its skull.
That went way better than planned,
Darwin thought, looking at what he hoped would be his next victim.
Oh well, here goes nothing!

             
As the second Minotaur entered range of Darwin’s Dull Iron Axe, he immediately swung his much better Double Bladed Axe in a long horizontal sweep. Darwin was barely able to take his own Iron Axe and use it to block in time, but the blow still sent him back a step.

• You have taken 72 Damage!
  

              This time when the red Damage numbers popped up Darwin knew it wasn’t the Minotaur but him who had taken Damage. As the Minotaur swung the Axe a second time in the same horizontal fashion, Darwin decided to try something different: he dodged. Then as fast as he could, he swung his Axe out to where it caught the Minotaur’s leg with the middle of the Axe’s shaft, and he pulled it with all his strength. It worked. The blade dug into the Minotaur’s knee and pulled the Minotaur right onto his back.

• You have done 124 Damage!
  

Having finally gotten a hang of the combat mechanics, Darwin took his Axe and cleaved the second Minotaur’s head in two just like he had the first one.

• Critical Hit! You have done 248 Damage!
  

              The ding sounded again so Darwin turned his attention to the last Minotaur on the field. Even though he had killed two of the giant Minotaurs, his nerves started to give way as the third one came closer. The first one had been too easy, but the second one had almost killed him and that fact was starting to sink in. The fact that he could die. He got back into his awkward Axe stance where he was holding the Axe handle inches from his chest, and the blade was almost touching his face.
Just one more. You’ve killed two already; you can kill one more. Don’t wimp out on me now.

Darwin readied himself and was preparing to dodge the final Minotaur’s impending attack when a giant ball of ice zoomed over his head and hit the Minotaur square in the center of its hairy chest. The ball of ice didn’t disappear either. It slowly expanded from the spot it hit on his chest, growing ice all over the Minotaur’s body as the Minotaur dropped its Axe and began using both hands to try to get it off him.
Now is as good a time as any.

• Critical Hit! You have done 248 Damage!
  

              *Crunch* This time when Darwin’s Axe dug into the Minotaur, the sound wasn’t the same bloody, bone-breaking crunch as the first two times, but it was close enough. It was still the sound of victory, a sound quickly followed by the now annoying *Ding!*

• You have gained 550 EXP!
  
• You have reached Level 6!
  
• You have gained 550 EXP!
  
• You have gained 550 EXP!
  
• You have reached Level 7!
  
• 2 Sharp Double Bladed Iron Axes have been added to your Inventory!
  

              This time all the messages that had been stored during combat flooded his field of view as one giant update.
I’m alive! And … Level 7 ey? Unequip Dull Iron Axe.
The Axe vanished, confirming Darwin’s theory on how the Inventory system worked. He turned around to see if the girl he had tried to help was okay.

              “Thanks for the save. I thought those White-Horns had me. You know, they had been chasing me for almost 10 minutes before you showed up?” The girl was fine. In fact, she was more than fine. She was beautiful.

              “You don’t say . . .” he said, trying to keep his words to a minimum. He always made mistakes when talking to attractive girls.

              “I do. Most of the NPCs of the 8th Legion were decimated when they first pressed. I think I’m one of the few PCs to have made it out okay.”
So it is a game. It’s a game and there are both playable characters and non-playable characters.
NPCs he could kill without feeling bad to help him level. He wasn’t a murderer; he was a farmer. The grinding side of his gamer personality suddenly pulled a smile across his face.

              “Are you going back?”
If it’s a game then that ball of ice was probably a spell she cast. With her, we should be able to kill the White-Horns. We should be able to level. I don’t know where I am, but I’m definitely not going to die out here because my name was gray to some PK.

              “Yes. I have a quest there. Did you want to join? I can share it?”

• You have been invited to Kass’s Party. Would you like to
  Accept
  or
  Reject?
  

              “Yes.”
Accept.

• You have been invited to join Kass’s “Subdue the White-Horn Horde” quest. Would you like to
  Accept
  or
  Reject
  ?
  

Accept.
Darwin smiled the same smile that even his mother had once said was creepy.
Equip Double Bladed Iron Axe. Equip Double Bladed Iron Axe.
“Lead the way.”

              “Umm . . . before that. It’s jus . . . do you have any other clothes? Your Bathrobe may have opened up once or twice during the fight.” Darwin had forgotten entirely about his wardrobe since the event at his apartment had first taken place. No wonder he looked strange to the girl, he was standing there with only his blood-soaked Bathrobe and Slippers holding two giant, Double-Bladed Axes that had looked normal when carried by 7-foot-tall Minotaurs.

              “Oh, uh . . . no. I just started playing. Maybe you have some spare pants or shoes?”

              “No. Sorry. Let’s just go.” She pulled a staff out of thin air and started walking back to the woods she had just run out of minutes ago.

              “Sure thing, boss.” Darwin smiled. He not only wasn’t a murderer, but he was in a video game. He was in a video game with EXP and items!
 
While most people would probably be terrified at the idea of needlessly charging into life threatening scenarios, Darwin’s gamer instinct to grind had fully taken over. He wasn’t Darwin. He was Arch Lance Ser NightVale off to conquer another world.

Robert
:

The quiet hum of machinery filled a room that had otherwise gone silent hours ago.  Normally, this time of night would have found the small room completely empty, everyone already having gone to bed. Working late nights was nothing new to Robert. Not only was it something that was expected of him as part of his job, but it was also something that he secretly relished. The day times were filled with the hustle and bustle common to any office space.  Coworkers chatted away, keys were smashed in a noisy and often imprecise fashion, and the barely-audible sound of music traveling through headphones that was just loud enough to be a distraction but too quiet to make out any lyrics or enjoy were common.