I reached the end of the upper passage, which terminated at a simple yet solid-looking door. I looked through the vines to my left and peered below. There were two desiccated warriors guarding a much grander arched doorway. One of the mobs held two daggers, and the other was unarmed. I pulled down the vines, withdrew one of my stones, and hurled it at the closer mob. I missed its head but hit its shoulder. It stumbled into its companion, knocking both to the floor. The pair struggled to rise, moving like zombies from an old movie. I didn't waste any time. It took six more stones to kill both, three of them missing, but I was happy as the last throw was a headshot. The two kills gained me five fragments.
For a moment, I debated going back the way I'd come to take the other path, so I could loot the three mobs below, but there was no way the few copper coins and desiccated livers I'd gain would be worth it. I did spend the time to find seven more stones, replacing the spent projectiles before moving on.
The door opened into a circular room, well-lit by a large hole in the wall on the right. The vast world outside once again shocked me, but only for a moment. My attention was immediately pulled to a chest on the far side of the room guarded by three desiccated warriors. The one on the right held only a shield. The middle warrior was equipped with a simple longsword, and the one on the left clutched a hammer a bit smaller than my own.
I stared at the three mobs, my palms growing sweaty on my hammer's haft. I couldn't face three of these monsters. One unarmed mob had been terrifying enough. In unison, the monsters lurched forward, slow steps bringing them toward me. I looked past them to the sturdy-looking chest and gritted my teeth, my desire for loot warring with my fear. If I could fight them one at a time, I could do this.
An idea formed. I just had to kite them, leading them along until I had a more favorable position.
I jogged along the wall's curve to my right, testing the warriors' movements. As expected, the dead, mindless warriors turned to shamble toward me in a straight line. I waited and then continued to my right. I was now quite close to the chest. I could probably take whatever was inside and get out of here without needing to fight them, but I'd made my decision. I needed to see it through, and I didn't want to get in the habit of running away from fights. It was a habit I worried would quickly stick.
I kept pulling them toward me, moving every few seconds until I was back at the room's entrance. Now, however, the monsters were coming at me single file instead of all at once. I backed up to the door, opened my inventory, and pulled out a stone. I threw it at the lead mob, the warrior with the shield. It hit the shield, causing the warrior to falter but nothing else.
"Come on, Henry." I was an idiot. I should have kited them so the shield warrior was in the back, not the front. Now, my stones weren't effective. I could try to hit its legs, but the mob was nearly upon me. I cursed, raised my hammer, and swung. The warrior raised its shield and took the hit. Before I could get my hammer up for a second attack, the monster bashed me with its shield.
Now, I have never been described as small, and at this point in my life, I was as big as ever at 6'6" and three-hundred and sixty pounds. The long-dead warrior was barely up to my chest and had long ago dried up to be little more than bones and skin. The shield slammed into me, which didn't feel great, but I didn't move. The shield bearer, however, was shoved back, falling into its two companions. None of them fell to the floor, but they were all sent stumbling.
I hesitated for only a moment before I stepped forward, swinging. My hammer smashed through the shoulder of the first mob, sending it crashing to the ground. Burning pain bit into my upper arm as the second warrior's sword nicked me.
I stumbled back, grabbing at the wound. Certainly, this pain couldn't have been worse in real life. It was so real, but surprisingly, it was also bearable. An anger rose in me, a deep rage contained far below the surface of my emotions, and once again, I let it surface.
I withdrew a stone from my inventory and, with a growl, flung it at the sword-wielding mob only a few feet before me. I aimed for its chest, the stone slamming into the warrior's ribcage with a satisfying crunch and throwing it back into the still-standing mob behind it.
I followed the flailing warrior, barely avoiding getting hit by its sword as I stepped into its range. I brought my hammer down on its already cracked sternum, smashing it to bits. A thud reverberated up my leg, and I twisted toward the pain. Still on the stone floor, the shield warrior pulled back to hit my leg again. I bent down, grabbed the shield, and yanked both the shield and the mob up. The monster's grip failed, and it was sent careening into the stone wall.
I didn't give the last warrior a chance to gain its feet. I dropped the shield and rushed forward, kicking the mob in its side. Pain shot through my previously stubbed toe. Funnily enough, the pain in my toe was by far the worst I'd felt in the tutorial. With a roar of frustration and pain, I brought my hammer down on the corpse, turning its skull to little more than dust.
With a thundering heart, I turned about, ready for whatever was next, but it was over. Three husks of once-men lay still and broken on the floor.
Ding.
"Skill acquired: Heavy weapons - Hammers."
I shook my head, trying to clear the anger that had bubbled up from somewhere so deep I had forgotten it existed. After a few deep breaths, it fell away like water squeezed from a sponge.
"What the hell?" I said, looking at the crumpled enemies at my feet. I had been so terrified to face one unarmed mob less than two hours before. A part of me worried about the anger, but another part, not unsizable, was nearly giddy with the destruction I'd wrought. I had been wholly consumed, with no worry or hesitation controlling my actions. It had been liberating.
"Alright, focus, Henry."
I missed the increase in fragments, so I tried focusing on only that. The number appeared: 22. The fight had gained me nine more fragments. So far, the secret path had allowed me to gain an extra twelve. I assumed fragments would be used for leveling up, so I was thrilled.
I quickly looted the three corpses, gaining their weapons, some copper coins, and two more desiccated livers. With a greedy smile, I turned to the chest, my reward for having to move all those damned stones.
"No," I said as I approached the chest. There was a keyhole. "No," I said again, scanning the room, hoping to see the golden glint of a key dangling from a hook on the wall. I wasn't so lucky. I did spot a previously missed opening in the floor, a staircase going down.
"I just want what's in the chest." My shoulders drooped, and I turned toward the stairs. I hesitated, turning back to the chest.
I might as well make sure it's locked.
To my surprise, the chest opened easily. Inside lay a large crystal. I picked it up and stared. It was beautiful. Multi-colored swirls slowly cascaded inside the crystal, like currents in a river. I stroked the crystal, the eddies inside swirling in the wake of my finger's path. It was mesmerizing.
The spell broke and I laughed. I felt like Gollum hunched over the One Ring. I focused on the crystal and nothing happened. I deposited it in my inventory and yelped in excitement. I hadn't noticed it before because all my items looked the same, but each was faintly highlighted white. The crystal, however, was highlighted with a bright purple hue filling its square. I immediately focused on it.
Legendary Uninfused Affinity Crystal
Legendary. Legendary! I'd found a legendary item already. I wasn't sure what rarity tiers existed in the game, and while it was possible that legendary was only the third rarity out of ten, typically, legendary rarity meant it was a scarce and powerful item. It was possible that Dev was just messing with me, but I doubted it. I desperately wanted to know more about the crystal, but the tooltip was frustratingly brief.
I opened my character sheet.
Name: Henry Harding
Age: 28
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 360 lbs
Class: N/A
Race: N/A
Fragments: 22
Level: 0
Attributes:
Body: 2
Mind: 3
Faith: 0
Luck: 10
Affinities 0/2
Passive Abilities 0/3
Skills 2/6
Heave - Level 1
Heavy weapons - Hammers - Level 1
Spells 0/6
"What does having a 'not applicable' race mean?" I stared at the odd designation and shrugged. Maybe I'd get an option to change my race after the tutorial. I couldn't imagine what it would feel like being a dwarf or elf or orc, but I might have to switch just to see. Usually, I played a human in games, though.
I was also struck by my luck attribute. I had been too overwhelmed with everything the first time I'd looked at my stats sheet, but now, it stood out. Why was it so much higher than my other attributes? Did my luck attribute affect the loot in the chest? I'd take the high luck without worrying about it too much. It was a stat I usually ignored in most games, but it could never be bad to be lucky.
Finally, to the reason I opened my stats sheet in the first place. I stared at the affinities section. The crystal had to do something here. Perhaps the crystal would grant me an affinity. What did it mean that the crystal was uninfused, though? Was that good or bad? I wished I could hop on the game's wiki. I didn't like using online resources in games, but I usually caved when I had a question I didn't want to wait to answer.
"Any hints would be appreciated."
I waited, eyebrows raised, but nothing. Dev was really sticking to his no-involvement rule. I could see his point, though. I felt a significant amount of pride at having found the chest. If Dev had influenced that at all, it wouldn't have been the same.
I stood, glancing around the room to see if I'd missed anything. A thunderous crash sounded from somewhere far beyond the walls of the room. I had no idea how large the castle was, but the noise sounded distant. I stood still, waiting, but after a minute, nothing else happened. I quickly thought of potential causes to settle my thudding heart.
Maybe it was just another boulder rolling down the mountain. It would be neat if Dev had programmed random environmental events like that.
I waited a moment longer, shrugged, then descended the stairs to another circular room with a door. A key was fitted into my side of the door, so I turned it and swung the door out. I placed the key into my inventory. I was now on the other side of the large double-door the two warriors had been guarding. If I'd come through the main path instead, I would have reached this point and found a locked door.
I heard something shift and scrape from behind me. I turned. The entrance opened to a massive chapel. Large pillars ran the length of both sides, lanterns hanging from each. Shadows among the smashed pews danced from the dim yet harsh light. The end of the chapel was raised. The entire wall beyond the dais was a carving depicting a man with a flaming sword fighting a demon.
I barely noticed any of this. A creature, over twice as tall as I was, scraped claws against the bottom of the carving. Its body was massive. Bands of leather crossed its flesh, so tight it looked to be binding the monster's mottled red flesh together. Small wings, too small to be useful, sprouted from its back and long black horns from its head.
The tutorial boss. I crept back through the door I'd just opened, closing it slowly behind me.
I was supposed to fight that behemoth. How could I possibly hope to defeat it?
With a growing sense of sickness, I realized I wasn't. This was the boss that taught the player what kind of game they were playing, the boss that showed the player the game would be challenging and that you would likely die… a lot.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't put myself into a situation where I knew I'd die, even if it was fake. I sat on the cold stone floor with my back against the wall. Dev would just have to accept that he'd made his game too real. Unfortunately for me, though, I still itched to play. I'd never been as engaged in anything in my life as I had been exploring these ruins.
I bit my lip. I didn't have to face the boss, but I could keep playing. I stood and went back up the stairs. I might not be able to continue, but I could at least go back and ensure I did everything.