Getting A Win

Log

Your skill in Spellcasting has increased to level 2 You have gained the Weapon skill (knife) at level 0 Your Weapon skill (knife) has reached level 1 You have gained experience in your Weapon skill (knife) 2.5/25 to level 2 You have defeated Orc Berserker, level 1. You have gained 22 experience points You have gained a level! You are now level 3. Free attribute point available On an odd level gain a title ability. As only one ability was available to you, you have gained it automatically. Gained the ability Useless(1) You now have 7.3/50 experience to level 4

Abilities:

General Anxiety Disorder (Mild): Your parents were right! It is all in your head. Doesn't mean it won't give you a -5% penalty to resist fear effects here though.

Novice Recovery: not having a class doesn't make you completely worthless. While you do not have a class you recover health at 1 health point per minute. You gained this ability by being reduced to under 50% of your health without a class. You retained this ability when gaining a class due to your Useless title.

Run Screaming: When you move in a direction directly away from enemies aware of you, your movement speed is doubled.

Run and Hide: When you are out of direct line of perception of monsters, monsters will not enter a room you are in unless they are intentionally looking for you. Your skill in Stealth increases more quickly when you hide without intention to ambush or spy.

Trauma: you have experienced something too terrifying for your simple mind to bear. Some people learn to grow stronger from overcoming their trauma. You are probably headed for PTSD. If you come face to face with the source of your trauma again, there is a 50% chance that you will be completely unable to act. If you don't, it'll haunt you for the rest of your life. It sucks to be you.

Useless(1): What part of useless did you not understand? Despite clearly not being suited for life in the Tower, you have continued leveling up. You gain nothing from this title. If you somehow manage to get rid of the Useless title, you may replace this ability with one from your new title.

Recovery was slow. I followed Chum's advice about the Wizard class and put the attribute point I'd gained into Knowledge. I didn't suddenly know more stuff, but I think it did something to my memory and ability to discern useful bits of information out of the vague fog of the past. I could see how it interacted with magic; I certainly had an easier time remembering the shape of the sigils and the incantations of the spells I knew. Not that these were particularly complex, but I definitely noticed it took less effort to bring them to the forefront of my mind.

The older man that I had rescued also had this dazed look in his eyes and was also going through his journal. He had participated in the fight, and I had even gained the experience bonus for fighting together with him. After the fight was over neither of us rushed to talk and exchange details, but rather checked our journals about our advancement. A minute ticked over, and I actually felt some of my ribs push back together and heal in an instant with a little grinding crack. I felt better.

"Hey, Chum," I said. "Yeah boss?" Chum said. "This whole thing is a fucking Skinner box, isn't it? We do violence, it rewards us with skills and experience. Dopamine gets released and we learn that violence gets rewards," I said. "Don't know who this Skinner is, but sounds like a smart guy. Sorry, can't talk much about the purpose of the system, but I can tell you that you get actual benefits from the journal. It's not just describing your advancement; when a skill increases it actually boosts your ability to perform that skill, and I'm sure you've noticed that at this level each attribute point is a meaningful percentage increase of your total ability," Chum said. "Yeah. And the best way to get those goodies is to murder people," I said. "Pah, people this time. Probably some sort of interplanar murder-hobo torture enthusiast. He deserved it and most monsters aren't intelligent. Like that spike gremlin that got your friends before you met me," Chum said, "It's good, it makes you stronger. It's a dangerous multiverse out there and it's not a bad thing to be willing to be the first to the punch when it comes to punching." "I just hate feeling good after killing somebody. Like it could lead me to a dark place," I said. "Hell yeah, brother," Chum said. I guess I shouldn't be talking about this to the literal devil on my shoulder.

Since I was advancing down the path of the murderhobo anyways, I decided that I would go all the way and as I got healthy enough to walk and think at the same time I squatted down next to the dead orc and went through his pockets. I found a leather pouch full of coins. They were silver (or at least silver-colored, I don't know metallurgy), and there was ten of them. I threw the whole bag to Chum,

"I don't know what that book's worth, but I bet it's no less than five times what's in this pouch. May as well start paying off my debt," I said.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. "Cheers, boss. I don't know for sure, but we should get the book appraised before you go throwing money at me. You're probably right about the value of the book, but once I get the money I can't give it back," Chum said. "Consider it an advance if it comes to it," I said and kept looking over the body.

The denim was tight for the orc, which concurred with my theory about the providence of the trousers, so I wanted nothing to do with them. He wasn't wearing anything above the waist. He had some piercings- a nose ring and a few eyebrow studs- that looked like gold, but at that point I wasn't yet ready to cut jewelry out of corpses for a quick buck. The only item of significance was the axe. It wasn't quite as heavy as I expected, but it was heavier than a wood-chopping axe by at least double. I could lift it and carry it, and probably could even swing it, but I didn't think I could use it quickly in a fight.

Equipment: Orcish battle axe. This mighty weapon deals devastating damage in the hands of an orc or a particularly strong human. Too big to use effectively at low levels unless you have a exceptional physique score, this axe will kill most enemies you can find in the first challenge in one hit, if you can swing it.

I went to the older man, who was dusting himself off and getting ready to talk to me himself.

"Hey, kid, thanks a lot. You saved my life, I don't know what to say," he said. "No problem, I was going to try to fight the orc anyways. I'm Alex," I said. "Lawrence," Lawrence said, "Well thank you anyways. Did you say orc? Like from the hobbit books? What kind of damned fool business is going on here?" "Yeah, kind of like from those books. Nobody's really sure what's going on, but there are some people to the north- what we've been calling north, we have no idea about what directions are- that have been trying to figure it out. It's probably safer there than here, safety in numbers and all that," I said. "Damn. I think I should get over there, I would be dead if you hadn't been here, doesn't seem like a good idea to go at this alone," Lawrence said. "I'll show you where it is on a map. Want this axe? It's probably too big to use properly, but I have no use for it and it may be better than nothing," I said. "That is really big. And I cannot take it, you saved me, now you're helping me find safety. You killed the orc creature, it's yours," he said. "I have no use for it. Did you get a level, or any titles or class from that fight?" I said. "Don't have a class or anything, but I did get a 'distressed' title," he said, "And I went to level two, halfway to three actually." "Good. Put a point in physique, maybe you'll be able to use it. I have my own thing going on already, so I cannot spare the points anyways," I said. "Well, if you are sure, thank you again. If we meet again I will find a way to repay you," Lawrence said.

I looked around the room and while it was absolutely demolished and covered in a thin film of a foul smelling substance- the leftovers of Chum's ability, which I wasn't even going to think about- there wasn't really that much blood. Compared to the carnage in the cafeteria, the orc had gone down pretty clean. Another hour had passed, there were about 65 hours left in the challenge.

"Find anything useful in the supply cabinet?" I asked Lawrence. "Some bottles of some sort of colored liquid. Blue and red," he said. "Does it say what they are in the equipment section of your journal?" I said. "Hold on," he said and went to check. He took out reading glasses from his inside pocket and put them on before reading, "Hey, yeah. It says I got two of what it calls health potions and a mana elixir. Says they can heal wounds and stuff." "Artemis will be really excited to get them, if you're willing to share. And, uh, if you really wanted to reward me..." I said. "Oh damn, didn't even think of it. Take them all!" Lawrence said. "No, you should keep at least one of the health potions on you. In case of emergency, and if nothing else Artemis will give you a good reward for it if you make it to the guild," I said. "If I make it? Jesus, are there more monsters on the way?" he said. "I didn't see anything, but be careful. I've heard of some pretty nasty things, like people have died here," I said. "Damn," he said, "Well alright, take one of the red ones and the blue one. I can't make heads or tails of what the blue one is saying. So I'm going to this guild?" "Yeah, some people are trying to figure out what's going on, trying to organize. They're looking for people to help too, maybe you could help them out. Oh, speaking of which, I'm here trying to solve a problem for them. Have you seen three middle-aged, balding men? Kind of Italian-American?" I said. "Hey, I did see some people like that. Back then I was just hiding, thinking I would wake up from this nightmare, you know. Went past no more than two hours ago," he said, "I think I overheard them talking of exploring the gym, whatever that meant." "Which way were they going?" I said. "That way," he said, pointing in the direction I had been going already. I had seen a few 'gyms' on my way here, but hadn't dared to go in. If the people I was looking for were exploring rooms, they were in real danger. "Thanks Lawrence, that's good info," I said, "But I guess it means we're going different directions." "Seems like. And I guess we should get going. And hey, thanks again, kid," Lawrence said. "Good luck, Lawrence," I said, and he left the room before I did.

I needed to know more about these rooms, and as it happened I had a walking infodump in my service, and so I asked Chum:

"Do you know anything about these rooms? Like which ones would be more dangerous?" I said. "Not exactly, but there is usually some logic to them. Like, a library is a place of learning, so you can find a lot of knowledge there, and a monster you find there might be knowledgeable and willing to share their knowledge," he said, grinned and pointed at himself with both his thumbs in a 'this guy' gesture. "How does it make sense that a horrible monster was in the cafeteria," I said. "That's the 'not exactly' part. Once the demiplane has been populated by monsters they can go through any unlocked doors. At least by default, sometimes barriers are used, but I haven't sensed any here yet. A place like a cafeteria, even the most simple-minded of monsters would understand that people would go there to look for supplies, so it's a perfect place for an ambush. They're probably intended as a place for you to get food and supplies, but monsters know that too," Chum said. "So what would a gym be intended for?" I said. "A gym like a place where you train your body? I would guess there would be tools and machines for training. Maybe even a bunch of lower-level monsters that you can kill for easy experience. You should check one out," Chum said. "Looks like our quest is leading us there, so I don't really see an alternative," I said, and began walking towards the nearest gym.

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