I braced myself for the incoming blow from above. Using both of my daggers as a shield, allowing my knees to slightly bend, relieving some of the shock from the impact. I stole a quick breath before knocking the creature backwards, sending it through the air, it's eight legs useless as it landed on it's back. I didn't give it even a moment to recover, pushing my advantage I activated a dagger skill, my daggers turned a bright orangish red, letting out a battle cry I dashed at the creature and slashed at it relentlessly. It screeched in pain, rolled over, and leaped away. It's hp bar blinked red, soon it would be dead.
The sweat building made my armor stick to my body but by this point, it had zero effect on my ability to fight. There was no wind, hardly any light, the only source being emitted by the three flickering torches, and fighting in such a tight space made it difficult to breath, and even with the healing from Jin I had slowed down ever since the creature had been brought down to mid yellow hp. I would have to upgrade my stamina later.
"Jin it's almost t..." I shouted
"O-Sin-Ku-Da-Ru." Jin chanted.
"What are you doing!?" I asked bewildered, looking back at him. That wasn't a healing spell. It was a fire spell; he was going on the offensive. "Wha..!"
I was slammed in the gut by a fireball, knocking me to my knees. Pain exploded through my body but the only thing I could feel was my blood boil from anger.
"You Son Of A Bitch!" I spat, watching my hp drop dangerously low. One more hit like that and I would be done for.
"Nothing personal, it's just, the last hit drop, and whatever is inside of that treasure room, could get me into the stronger parties like you. Maybe I'll get a "Luck or Unluck" drop, and that would put me on the same level as the best of them, you understand right?"
There was no emotion in his words, like her death was just another thing he needed to check off his list.
The creature screeched, it was preparing an acid spit attack. What now? There was no way I could tank both attacks. Time froze, as the realization set in. She would die if she didn't make a decision.. Now!
7:30pm 2063 June 9th
It had been a week since the launch of the fourth expedition into Sycronic, and it had been the greatest week of Terresa's life! It had started with every player getting an hour to pick their class from the seven avaliable. Knight, Rogue, Swordsman, Cleric, Potion Master, Necromage, and Mage. After choosing your class you would than customize it's looks, come up with a name, and than you were done.
Everything was streamed on the first day with no option to turn it off, giving the players zero privacy but that was fine for most players, they would mostly advertise a business of some sort or brag to the viewers how they were going to be the first to clear the game, and "nonchalantly" mention their twitch channel or whatever platform they streamed on. It was the same as the previous expeditions before it. After the first day players were given the option to turn on and off streaming whenever they liked, though it would automatically turn itself on after 24 hours of being turned off, so the player would have to remember to turn it off again every 24 hours if they didn't want to be streamed. Section bosses were the one exception, streaming mode was always turned on in those fights and were live broadcasted to all of Sycronic's media pages. They would some times have up to 15+ streams up simultaneously only fighting secton bosses, sometimes the over all streams on their pages reached 300+ with all garnering anywhere from one thousand to one hundred thousand views or more, it was insane, and players in game were able to watch the livestreams as well.
Terresa had created a Rogue, giving it elven ears, with short, orange and green hair, light blue lips, pale skin, and had went back and fourth between big and not so big breast, finally deciding on small breasts, and a little butt, to compliment her nice slim figure.
The toughest part of the entire ordeal was naming herself. "Terresa" didn't really seem like a warriors name, and now that she was actually creating the character, none of the names that she had thought of beforehand seemed to fit either. She spent atleast twenty minutes thinking of the perfect name until it hit her. What did this character mean to her, why had she wanted to be inside this game so bad, it all shaped itself into three characters.
She would now be known as, Iru (to exist).
She got started immediately on day one, searching for all the best paying quests or any that gave gear, weapons, or high experience points (xp). She knew that those quest zones would soon be filled with players, and she needed to get to them before she had to share the space with the expected mob of players. She would also explore the first section to find a good farm (a place where a high density of monsters would spawn consistently but little if any, players knew about or visited in order to gain the maximum xp and currency possible) or find the route to the second section, and sell the info to anybody willing to pay.
She had spent the next three days doing exactly that, finding a decent place to farm near the Deadzone. The "Deadzone" is an area full of water where monsters beyond the level cap spawned and attacked any player missfortunate enough to fall in. In layman terms, it was a part of the map you didn't enter unless you wanted to die. Most people avoided even going near it and just stayed near the middle and southern parts of the section; all but her. Terresa was willing to take the risk. It was the only way to keep from falling behind the more powerful parties that had already begun popping up.
One of those parties ran by a Necromage named Arn, had supposedly found the way to section 2, and was selling the info for a steep price. Terresa had planned to wait for the info to become more well spread, maybe sneak her way into a party that already knows or buy the info for cheap. Every last skull counted, espicially when player merchants, blacksmiths, info brokers, and other player based proffessions became the norm not to far down the line.
Skulls were the in game currency, ranging from, Normal, Blue, Red, Gold, and Platinum. Normal through red dropped from all mobs (monsters), and most quests gave it as well, as long as you were within twelve levels of the mob you would get a random amount of skulls after defeating it. Item drops worked the exact same way, meaning if your were level 14 and the mob you killed was level one, you would not get an item drop or any skulls. Also if you are five levels higher than a mob, you will gain 25% less xp from killing it, and with each five levels you gain less and less until eventually none at all from that level of mob.
Gold and Platinum skulls were special. Gold skulls could only be obtained in S tier quests, treasure rooms, or beating Gurdians and Section bosses. Platinum skulls could only be obtained by completing SS tier quests, treasure rooms, and beating Section bosses. The two skulls held significant value with one gold skull being worth 100 red skulls, which was worth 1000 normal skulls, and 500 blue skulls, while a single platinum skull was worth 100 gold skulls.
Guardians were weaker section bosses, basically mini bosses. Section Bosses, unlike mobs or Guardians who were spread all throughout the labyrinth, could only be found every fifth section, and blocked the path to the next five sections. They also held rare drops that could only be obtained from beating
one, and the final blow mechanic guranteed a drop for the player who last hit it.
Terresa had watched so many videos talking about how the prices set by the other players for rare item drops were outrages, so the way she saw it, save now and only spend skulls on things that were absolutely neccessary. However on day four, she thought about it some more and decided that the purchase would be worth the expense. She could steal the best farming spots, and since the mobs were higher level than her level of fourteen, she would earn skulls and xp much quicker.
A smart investment.
So she went looking and found the man Arn, sitting with three others in the tavern next to the potion shop. They seemed like a rowdy bunch, all but one who seemed detatched from their conversation.
She took a breath, forced a smile, grabbed the cup of ale she had ordered, slammed the warm liquid down, not stopping until she finished the entire thing, practically slamming the cup back onto the table, walked up to Arn and got in his face, so close that she could feel his warm breath spiced with ale press up against her own face.
"I heard you're the one to talk to for info on getting to the second section, that true?"
He sat flabbergasted for a moment, looking into her eyes as if searching them, and than smiled, "Yep that's me, the name is Arn and you are?"
She widened her smile. "Names Iru."
Arn stuck out his hand in between the miniscule amount of the space between the two. "Nice to meet you Iru."
She looked down at the extended hand, than back up at him, took hold of it with her own, and gave him her most manly handshake. "Nice to meet you Arn!"
"Now that you know each other on a deeper level you can get out his face slut." The woman to her left spat.
"Oh right sorry..." Did she just call me a slut? Terresa thought.
As she tried to retreat, Arn stopped her with a hand to the cheek, sending prickles through her entire body. He moved even closer resting his lips near her ear. "So you're interested in me, how about we talk it over some dinner on me?"
She slowly lifted her own lips near his ear matching his energy, speaking in a sweet tone. "Only if you drop dead first."
She pulled away and looked him in the face expecting to see him fuming.
He was instead smiling, a big goofy smile, "You hear that Bard!? she told me to drop dead." He laughed, facing a tall black man, who was enjoying his comically large cup of ale.
"Maybe you should take her advice." The woman from before snorted.
"Hey that's mean Lydia, do I gotta spank you like I did last night? This time I won't be so delicate." Arn joked.
The woman stood abruptly, knocking over her chair and gave him a fuck off look.
"What, you want it right here and now?" He teased.
"Fuck off and Die!" She shoved Terresa out the way and left.
Fuck you too. Terresa thought.
"Arn..."
She turned around to see the man known as Bard shaking his head.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Arn said turning his attention back to Terresa. "Sorry urm.. I.. I.. Iru right? What was it you wanted again."
Well atleast he remembered my name. "Info on the route to the second section, I'll pay of course."
He snapped his fingers, "Right um before I give you that, let me ask, what level are you?"
That seemed to grab the attention of both of the other men around the table.
"I'm level 14."
"Oh really! Awesome, you're a level under Bard over there." He pointed.
"Your point?" She snapped.
"Yeah Arn what are you getting at? You aren't think of inviting this girl to the party, are you?" The detatched man asked now very interested in the conversation.
She bit the inside of her of cheek, she wanted to tell the prick to go to hell. What had she done to evoke such a reaction from somebody she had never spoken to before? Besides she didn't want to join their stupid party anyways.
"Why not, we've still got two spots open, and she's the highest level rogue we've come across." He shrugged.
"You know Lydia won't like this." Bard sighed, taking another gulp of ale.
Arn shrugged again. "She'll just have to get over it," He turned and looked at Terresa, "I like you, I think theirs something.. special about you.. I can't really explain it but I've got this feeling... that.. like if I let you go now... I'd end up regretting it you know, so what do you say, will you join my party?
He stood up, basically towering over her, he had to be easily 6ft 3 or maybe 4 she wasn't sure. He tilted his head as he peered into her eyes. His blazing red eyes gave away nothing but his goofy smile made it difficult to distrust him. For such a skinny man he had a puffy face, like he had focused all of the weight in that area. Add that to his nappy black hair, and light brown skin complexion, and he was actually a pretty handsome man... And she hated his guts.
"That was gross man, like seriously I might actually vomit," she spat, "I'm here to get directions, not to get in a serious relationship with, no offense, someone who looks like they made tanning their entire personality."
Stunned silence fell over the entire tavern. She must've spoken way to loud because everyone was staring.
Oh fuck! I wasn't thinking! Her heart dropped into her shoes, what if he doesn't give me the info, wait, is he violent, oh fuck if he and his party jump me outside of the safety of the town, I'd be done for.
It started with a chuckle, than two, turned into full blown laughter. everybody was laughing.
"Where's that legendary charm that you're always boosting about Arn!?" A skinny man near the entrance laughed.
"With that tiny chop stick he's got in his pants what did you expect!" A husky woman at the bar mocked.
"Couldn't be me!" Another man joked.
"Aye girlie, if you ain't gonna join Arn's party how about mine you'd make for good company, and you wouldn't have to deal with Arn's little pecker!" A grizzley man with minotaur horns roared.
She let out the breath she had been holding in. "Maybe I'll take you up on that." She smiled.
"Piss off Tirion she's ours, don't you have some more steroid shots to the ass to take!" Arn attacked back. The minotaur man flipped him a middle finger. Arn looked at her and took a deep breath in and spoke. "Look, no game, no pickup line, no joke, I really want you to join our party.. no we need you to, I truely believe that you could be a great asset to us, and you're clearly a lot of fun, and even if you're a wet blanket, we'd still love to have you here, I mean look at Ken over there," He pointed at the man who had insulted her, "He's as boring as they come but we still love him."
He's persistent I'll give him that. I wonder, "And if I say no, will you sell me the info anyways?"
"Of course not."
She bit her cheek again. Figures, "How could I say no to that." She let out an exhausted sigh.
He smiled victoriously. "Lets go! Welcome to the group, we call ourselves "The Dark Cyphers" and we're happy to have you, let's celebrate," he raised his cup, "To Iru, Cheers!
That was that. They spent the rest of the night drinking, joking and talking about the second section. The next day they spent half of the afternoon heading to it, and the rest of the week exploring it.
"So what do you think oh fearless leader?" Terresa asked looking into the suspiciously monsterless area up ahead. "It's gotta be a trap room."
Arn stuck his head in trying to look around.
"Hey spaghetti for brains, it's clearly a trap." Lydia said, flipping her hair to the left.
Terresa pretended to have not noticed but she knew the insult wasn't only towards Arn but another little jab at her. Things between the two had gotten no better since her joining.. actually it had gotten worse, with neither girl willing to try and make peace, and why should she? Lydia had, had it out for her even before she joined, so if Lydia wanted to make nice, she'd have to woman up and come to her.
"Sure is." Bard agreed.
Arn sighed. "Why can't it ever be a treasure room!"
Bard pulled out his map. "Ok we've explored every exploriable area in this section, we should focus on getting through the Guardian."
"I've been thinking about that." Arn said moving away from the entrance ending next to Ken. "Me and Ken doll over here scouted it and to be honest, I feel like we have a good chance of taking it down."
"Don't call me Ken doll." Ken said shooting a nasty look.
That set off a lively strategy debate on the Guardians movements, attack patterns, team formations, and anything else of importance, as they headed back to town. The moon was out by time they got back so they decided to call it a day.
"Hey Arn so I was gonna make some content tonight if you're up for it." Lydia asked suprisingly sweet like.
Terresa had learned from Arn that Lydia and him were not dating. Lydia was a content creator on OnlyFans and sometimes Arn would "help" make content. It was a common thing to do for content creators nowadays, in fact Bianca Summers, the worlds largest OnlyFans model used the game to boost her numbers to a stupid amount. She earned more than the twenty million dollar prize by time the five years were over, and continued her success with investiments in stocks and real estate. You could say it's sick that a bunch of people like watching video game characters have sex but it works, and it's still not even close to the weirdest thing you could find online.
And It wasn't just OnlyFans models and pornstars taking advantage of the games popularity. Streamers, musicians, artists, even authors and anyone who needed or wanted internet fame braved the dangers.
Arn yawned, "Naw not tonight, I want to get some sleep before the Guardian fight tommorow."
They were currently at the tavarn, Bard had already left while Ken was entertaining two cat girls.
"Oh, ok.. bye then."
"See ya."
And than there were two.
Ever since that first day, Arn had been a complete gentleman towards Terresa, and seeing how he treated the other girls like they only mattered when he was trying to get some. It kind of freaked her out.
"So what's your night looking like?" Arn asked finishing his drink.
Is he trying to pick me up?
"Umm, I think I'm going to check if quests have reset, and if they have I might do one before catching some zz's. She shrugged.
"I see." He yawned. "So dedicated, have fun."
"Umm, yeah ok, night."
"Night."
She exited the tavarn relieved and strangely upset.
"Hey! Hi there!" Somebody infront of her shouted, getting her attention.
The light skinned wolfman stared nervously down at her. The parts of his body not covered in armor were instead covered by light blue fur, the same color as his tail. I wonder if the carpet matched the drapes, the thought made her swallow down a laugh. He smiled as if reading her thoughts.
"Are you Iru?"
Did I do something wrong. "Who's asking?"
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Jin, an up incoming infobroker, tell your friends, I've got leads on what you needs." He said.
"Yeah." She said shortly.
"I heard from a trustworthy friend that you're the highest level Rogue in the game right now, is that true?"
She just stared at him as if he had just asked to see her social security card.
"We could talk somewhere less.. open, to talk about this if you'd like. What I have to say is sensitive anyways." He said looking around.
The streets were mostly empty, even a week into the game, there weren't many players on the second section.
This is shady as hell, the type of thing that gets players jumped, robbed, or even killed. She wanted to tell him off but something itched at the back of her brain. What if it's something good... Really good!
"I'll pay for a room since I was gonna anyways, you can follow if you want." She said walking passed him.
"Ok cool, lead the way!" He said skipping alongside her.
12:55am June 10th
Their were three kind of inn's in Sycronic. Wealthy, Moderate, and Poor. You could find all three types in every town, and they had unlimited rooms but a single player could only rent three rooms at a time. Renting a room rose by .75 percent everyday for continuous rent. Which is why everyone just waited for midnight to rent a new room.
The difference in pricing for the three types was dependant on the amenities provided, and the small buffs given. The poor inn's apparently never changed. Only providing a mat to sleep, it gave zero buffs no matter what section you were on. In exchange it was extremely cheap, and better than sleeping in the streets and being looked down on by the other players, especially in the early sections. If you were caught sleeping in a poor inn, you could convince the powerful players that you were just saving up for some powerful gear or item but if you were caught sleeping on the streets, they wouldn't care, there would be no chance of joining that party, meaning, less chance of advancing through sections, or having a the benefit of being in a party strong enough to control a farming area of a section. It wasn't a death sentence but it would definantly make things tougher for yourself.
Moderate inn's offered a comfortable king sized bed, indoor heating, a furnished kitchen, bathroom, and living room, and some Moderate inn's in higher sections came with small swimming pools on the top of the roof, accessible through the rooms. The Moderate inn's also gave buffs that lasted as long as you were renting a room. On lower sections it was a slight hp boost or apparently in rare cases Terresa read some even gave luck boosts which was a big deal because it was not one the eight stats (Speed, Mana, Stamina, Hp, Strength, Magic, Defence, Detection) with rogue having a nineth stat being stealth, and Potion Master's had like four different potion masteries but they had a different kind of stat tree than the other classes. Unlike these stats luck could only be increased by finding and equipping luck items, or drinking luck potions which couldn't even be crafted until you had cleared section 39 and were a Potion Master with a high level of enchant potion mastery.
This of course was knowledge gathered by the other three expeditions, so some of it may be changed thanks to the year of updates the game goes through after every expedition.
Wealthy inn's. Everything was large, everything looked and was very expensive, it was a rich persons paradise, and a show of money and statis. Meaning it was, very, very, very with a few more zero's, expensive. It had powerful buffs even in lower sections, giving boosts to three different stats and in higher sections it always gave an "Unlock or Luck" boost dependant on the type you had the most of. Wealthy inn's were basically legal cheat codes, they also had different types of attractions on the roof, like item showcases that showed off the most powerful items that could be crafted or found up to that point, and sometimes in higher sections there would be a gianormous projector that would have a showing of real musicians performing live, and more things like that. You even had to pay a hefty price for invitations for outsiders to attend those events.
Terresa personally thought it was a giant waste of skulls but to each their own.
"Wow, um no offense but I thought someone from one of the more powerful parties like yourself, would be staying in a better inn than this dump," Jin said attempting not to breathe in the fumes of the inn, "What, you saving up or something."
It was definantly not the most pleasant place to sleep. It was always cold, and the mat smelled like piss, actually the entire place smelled like one big toilet but it was cheap, and later down the line the sacrifice would be well worth it.
She just ignored him, paying for a room, and made her way to it at a brisk pace ignoring the sounds of people getting their freak on that easily escaped their rooms thanks to the inns thin walls.
"Damn it!" She growled when she opened the door to the mess hidden behind. There was a leak from the floor above soaking the mattress. She rushed over leaving Jin in the hallway and snatched up the mat. She turned and faced him. "You just gonna stand there or..?"
He cleared his throat and forced a smile. "Right, um, thanks for the hospitility I guess." He slowly crossed the threshold and shut the door behind him.
"Fuck... So what's this big oppertunity that you just had to tell me about?" She asked dropping the mat away from the leak and plopping down next to it.
He glanced nervously at the droplets of water that were still slowly coming down, coughed and started, "Well I have found a secret area, that I am certain is a treasure room."
"What!? Are you sure!"
"Well I'm sure it's a secret area, and I'm one hundred percent sure that it's unexplored but I'm not sure what's inside."
She sighed. "Is that all? Great you can leave now, thanks for wasting my time."
"Wait! you haven't heard the best part, the area is character locked, and I don't know if you know this but..."
"But in the expeditions before this, character locked areas always had treasure rooms." Terresa finished.
Character locked areas were as the name implied. Areas in which you had to be a certain character class and meet specific requirements in order to enter. Normally it was either have the highest level or the most points put into a certain attribute, something like that. Though once on the first expedition, there was a locked area that could only be unlocked if you were the potion master with the most doors opened. Nobody knew who that was and so that area was never unlocked. It was funny watching the players getting outraged at not being able to open it. Locked rooms always held powerful loot due to their exclusivity and you'd be crazy to pass one up if you met the requirements.
"Bingo you know your stuff. Take a guess at the requirement needed to enter this one."
She thought for a second. "The highest level rogue."
"Bingo, two for two."
What's the catch? Theirs no way he's just telling me this out of the kindness of his heart. "So what, you want me and my party to take you with us?
"Um, actually the area is also limited to only two players.
"What! That wasn't in the other expiditions!" She gasped.
"Yeah I know, I was surprised as well."
She studied his face searching for any sign of deciet. "Let me guess, instead of being paid for this information, you want to come with?"
"Three for three, I mean," his mood darkned, "I am the only person who knows where it is."
Why'd he say it like that? "Explain, what do you mean, this is starting to sketch me out."
"No what I mean't is, me and a friend stumbled on the area like three days ago, and since we couldn't enter I started asking around about you and we were gonna aproach you together and make this deal but he was gonna be the one going with you instead of me, but I heard that he... died yesterday in the mountains."
The mountains.. "Wait you don't mean XaRN do you?"
He looked up. "You knew him?"
"Not really but it was the talk of the tavarn all yesterday.. I'm sorry for your loss.." She knew she shouldn't ask, "..were you guys friends irl?"
"Yeah um, can we stop talking about this please."
"Sure thing.." She cleared her throat, "Anyways, don't get me wrong, that was sad and all, and this sounds intriguing but I've got stuff to do tomorrow so..."
"That won't be a problem, if we leave right now we could be back by morning." He said forcing joy back in his voice.
"Yeah I don't know, I've been exploring all day, and I'm really tired..."
"I get that, and I completely understand, but imagine the possible find within the first ever treasure room, and, and, we don't know how this new version of character locked areas work, for all we know the requirements could change if the area stay's unexplored for too long." He said moving closer to her.
He could be right, I would be missing out on an item or items, that could put me on track to being the most powerful player in the game.
But Jin was just so... suspicious. He was a walking red flag, and she was positive that he wasn't telling her everything. "Ok fine." She finally responded.
"Really! Great! Lets get going!" He said.
"Slow down. Let me make myself clear," She said standing, "We are not splitting the reward, whoever get's what, keeps it, no hard feelings, in fact don't even tell me if you get a drop, and I won't tell you, and just to put it out there, I don't trust you, you're shady and give off bad vibes, and I'll be watching your every move."
He gave a nervous laugh, "While that does hurt, I personally believe you should trust me, I am the most trustworthy person I know, however I don't blame you, and I am completely fine with the arrangement that you have laid out, and if theirs anything else I can do to make you more comfortable with me, just say the word." He smiled and pulled out his map from his inventory.
Maps auto filled themselves out everytime the owner visited a new area of the labyrinth but the owner could highlight specfic area's on the map and write notes. They also allowed you to teleport to section towns that the owner had visited before.
"Shall we go?" He asked.
She sighed, "Let's get this over with."
2:02am
They had teleported from the inn to the front gates of the section one town, and made the hour long journey towards the southwest quadrant of the section near the deadzone. A strange wave of dread washed over her as the eerie night sounds of the labyrinth echoed around them and over the walls of sections yet to be explored. She shook it off and continued to follow Jin until they came across a tiny opening that Terresa had never seen before that seemed to follow along the coastline.
"The mobs inside are level twenty, and the character locked area is at the end." Jin said.
"Level twenty!?" She exclaimed.
She was level twenty five, and he was only level sixteen, this would be difficult.
"Um, yeah, can you not do it?"
She stared into the darkness, listening to the skittering and other noises resonating throughout the area ahead, and for a moment the fear she had been holding back surfaced, constricting her throat, and made it hard to breathe, as if she were drowning.
"Um, are you ok?" He asked tapping her on the shoulder.
She pulled away from his touch, and looked at him. "Don't touch me," she said masking her fear in the blandness of her words, "You're a Cleric right? We'll be fine as long as you keep me healed, I'll just have to do more than normal to pick up the slack.. don't worry about dps, just heal got it." She turned her attention back to the unfamiliar passage, took a deep breath, exhaling slow, and took a step forwards.
It was dark inside: the only light came from the moon, and the visible stars glinting beauties. Spider webs began to appear all around as they made their way further in.
"Hold up.. wait a second." Jin said."
Terresa stopped, her guard up.
"I know a small amount of fire magic. I can make us a light," He inhaled, "O-Sin-Ku-Alz-Utz." A small but bright flame appeared in his hand, the heat pressing welcomely on Terresa's skin.
Magic in the first expedition was soley given to the spell casting classes (Mage, Cleric, and Necromage) but the developers thought it gave them an unfair advantage over the other classes who couldn't fight from range. So in addition to the four magic types that already existed (fire, water, holy, and cursed) they added a fifth type called enchantment magic. It could be used to combo with your weapon skills, and were exclusive to the classes without long range capabilities in the hopes it would close the power gap between the classes. The games magic had always amazed her, not just the system or the complexity of some of them. It was as simple as the aesthetics of each spell, and the obvious work and love put into every detail, from the spell itself, to the activition words called "Codex Link" that you had to say in order to use the spell. It was all so.. breath taking, and when she had first seen it used in game she almost cried, and when she used it herself, she did cry.
All Codex links were different but they did follow two rules. The beginning of the Codex was always the same depending on the type. For example enchantment spells all begun with Di-Tapu, while all fire spells began with O-Sin-Ku. Terresa believed that it was done this way because this was how other players knew the type of magic that was being used, mostly due to all of the spellcaster classes being able to use atleast three of the five types of magic, and it would be unfair and unbalanced if it weren't done this way. Of course that was only her opinion, the reasoning behind why it was like this had never been explicitly stated. The second rule all spells followed is, the longer the cast, the more powerful the spell.
She suppressed her astonishment of such a trivial spell, and looked forwards only to find eight pairs of eyeballs staring back at her.
"Posion Spitters!? On This Section!?" She exclaimed, drawing her daggers and getting into her defensive stance.
It advanced forward, dropping from it's web, and spitting a glob of light green, mucus like substance at her. The area was kind of narrow, making evasive tactics difficult but Terresa made it work, she dashed over to the wall to her left, ran up it three steps, avoiding the glob, pushed off, launching herself into the air, and twisted around until she faced the creature. It had stopped it's advancement and was preparing to spit again.
"Di-Tapu-Wei!" She shouted; simultaneously activating her weapon skill, "Rushing Strike."
The creature stopped forming the glob, and just stood confused for a moment, and that was all Terresa needed. She thrust her blade downard into the creatures sack.
Critical hit! But she wasn't done yet. The creature screeched as it's hp rapidly decreased to red. Terresa wasted no time thrusting her other blade into the same area. It's hp dropped to zero , and for a moment the creature turned white; than shattered into a million pieces of data before disappearing; leaving only the experience gathered by both players, and a poisoned gland, which was one of the quest item's posion spitters would drop.
"Wow! You two hit it!" Jin exclaimed.
She scoffed. "Face em all the time on section two, as long as we don't get surrounded it should be smooth sailing."
"Um, if you, don't mind me asking," he swallowed, "What was that enchantment you used?"
She thought about answering, when she heard skittering coming closer. "I actually do mind, and get ready we've got company."
"Oh ok."
Unless the spell had obvious effects, most people would keep it a secret because some spells could only be found as drop items or hidden npc quests giving the player an advantage in pvp or pking. The enchantment she used was a spell she had acquired from a quest that Ken had discovered exploring the lower end of the mountain pass that was assumed to connect the second and third sections, maybe even the fourth and fifth. The pass was basically unexplored due to the mobs spawning being level fourty, and those were only the ones on the lower end of the pass; for all anyone knew the further into the mountain you got, the more powerful the mobs got.
The only other way to the next section was the meadow path near thebmountain where mobs didn't spawn but a level fourty griffin guarded the entrance. It was the first guardian to be found and had been causing a lot of problems for the players; however if Jin wasn't lieing about the area up ahead, that would mean everyone missed one, and she could be on her way to being the most powerful player already.
They continued forwards slaying poison spitters one after the other, their spawn rate was the one forgiving part of the entire ordeal, as they fought their way through corridors and dimly lit rooms, they would rest for a while in the cleared section. The fights would consist of anywhere between two to six spitters, and even though they considered just fleeing some area's, they had surprisingly cleared everything so far. It would have been much easier if Terresa could use her enchantment in every fight but even if she weren't trying to keep it's effects a hidden from Jin, enchantments didn't use mp, and instead put a huge physical and mental strain on the user after multiple uses; only Potion Masters could relieve the effects at level... 50 or so. The enchantment she was using was nothing special compared to ones that could be found later down the line but it was a powerful tool for fighting without a tank. It allowed the player to break all agro, and making the user untargetable for a few seconds as long as the player didn't attack.
It had just reached four minutes after three twenty when they finally arrived to a wall covered by a large red X. Terresa knew the symbol well from some of the footage she had watched from previous expeditions. She turned her head away, both shielding her eyes from it's bright red halogen light burning itself into her retina's in the darkness of night, and to hide her excitement.
They had found the character locked area.
Jin looked at her. "All you have to.."
"Yes I know." She said quickly, turning back to the blinding X. She took a breath, and advanced forwards, placing her hand on it. It was warm, so warm that it almost burned her skin. For a moment nothing happened, and they just stood in silence; until the glow of the X changed from red to a mustard yellow, and the booming voice of the labyrinth itself began to speak.
"You Have Come Far And Faced Many Dangers O Great Warrior!" it proclaimed, "I Commend You, For You Meet The Requirements It Takes To Face The Treacheries That Lie Beyond This Point!"
Texts appeared.
"Are You Willing To Brave The Dangers Knowing There Is No Exiting Until You are Dead Or Have Cleared What Lies Ahead!? OR! Will You Turn Back Now!?"
This was... SO FREAKING COOL! Sure it was a little melodramatic and cheesy with the, "You Have Come Far And Faced Many Dangers O Great Warrior" stuff but it was all so... surreal, and gave her goosebumbs. All she wanted to do was geek out but she kept her cool and read the text in front of her.
It was basically just a repeat of what was stated including the accept and decline options. It also showed the requirements to enter. Only a party of two could enter just like Jin had said; maybe she had judged the guy to quick.
She turned to him. "You ready?"
He swallowed nervously and gave a slight smile, "As ready as I'll ever be." She returned the smile and pressed accept. The X changed it's glow from yellow to a mossy green, and than the wall vanished revealing a path forwards.
"You May Enter Warrior But Be Warned, Your Life May Have Just Been Forfeit!"
"What a warm welcome." She joked.
"Right.." He said clearly shook by the ominous warning.
"Man up guy, we got this.. well I've got this, and as long as you don't soil yourself when I need healing, we'll come out of this with great loot ok!?"
He managed a weak nod.
She sighed, "Good enough, let's go."
It felt as if they were moving through a slightly more roomy coffin. They were currently walking down a corridor too narrow to support them walking side by side, and unlike the area's before it, there was a ceiling, one that five foot ten Terresa had to duck in order to fit, so her six foot and some inches party member was doing some weird squat walk; his every move forcing a labored breath out of him.
"I know that Cleric's are backliners, and it seems like you don't need to level up anything but your mana and magic but heres a tip." She said. "You should level up your stamina and hp as well, support classes start getting prio targeted by the mobs, and bosses further into the labyrinth."
"I know but. Syndrome, a Cleric. In the second expedition, didn't, level up her hp. Or stamina, until section 6o, and she was, the fifth rank, Cleric. Of the, second expedition, and. In the party, of the section, clearing.. badass, that was Kanter!" He said as if the mere effort of speaking was slowly killing him.
Terresa stopped abruptly.
"What!?" He asked crashing into her, knocking him backwards.
"I'm just surprised, nobody I've met so far knows much about the previous expiditions," she said thinking back to all their conversations, "but you seem to know your stuff."
He sat back, groaning from the effort and inhaled sharply. "I thought it might help while inside, even though they change a few things in the year that the game goes into maintenance, but, it's not like it could've hurt to learn whatever I could."
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. It were almost as if she met her twin flame, even if he was kind of spineless... close enough.
"Did you know that Kanter was in a duo with a Japanese Potion Master named Zealot, from section 8 all the way to 20..."
"No."
"... and Zealot was teaching Kanter Japanese..."
"Oh that's cool."
"... until tragically Zealot was killed by the floor 20 section boss, which at the time was the Twisted Clown, who Kanter himself admitted was the most tough battle he had taken place in during his time inside but you probably already knew that already anyways..."
"Mmhm."
"...after Zealots death, Kanter continued learning Japanese Ig (in game), and when he got out hosted a tribute banquet in his friends honor, all.. in Japanese!" She squealed.
"Yeah sounds.. touching it really does but um.. don't you have somewhere to be later, I don't think we have enough time to sit here and.. chat, about our favorite moments of the previous expeditions." Jin said obviously not interested in the conversation.
Embarassed, Terresa turned around, as if in the mind numbingly dark room he could see the embarassment inscribed on her face. "Right, we should keep going, sorry about that.. I just got excited."
"No, no, I just.. don't want to make you late for your thing." He said to quick.
Terresa didn't respond, instead she started forward again.
"Iru.. Hello.. you started walking again didn't you."
It was pitch dark in the tiny space, and not knowing where or even if the passage opened up to a larger space, they opted not to light a flame.
That was until, in the distance a dim light flicked into view.
"Finally!" She exclaimed, picking up the pace.
"What? Is it a way out?"Jin asked his every word screaming with effort.
The dark had warped her sense of time but she was certain the last time either of them had spoke was a few minutes ago when she asked him to "back up a bit." Terresa was now looking forwards to this.. experience to be over more than ever now.
"Yep." She said coldly.
She quickly exited into a larger area, an action she regretted immediately. It was because she was distracted, a rookie move; what was she expecting? A sleeping beast with a sign above it's head that said "Boss" in Sycronic bosses couldn't leave a certain designated area but they weren't mindless sheep. Like some even knew how to speak, some slept, some even lured and killed other mobs. And some laid traps for unsuspecting prey.
A web wrapped itself tightly around Terresa's neck at lightning speeds, forcing a gasp out of her, and before she could draw her dagger, both of her hands were bound by two different webs, digging deep into her skin, and pulled her arms so far apart, it felt as if they would be ripped from her body. Her legs were the last to be snared, pulled with the same intensity. She wanted to scream, she tried to scream, but the the web was crushing her throat, bringing tears to her eyes.
And than it landed with a BANG! The rancid smell of it's breathe made Terresa want to vomit. The webs had lifted her off the ground and held her at eye level with the creature but it was easily teen foot. It's unnerving, black eyes, blinked simultaneously as it inspected its prize, like some kid admiring what they had won in one of those claw machines at the mall.
Was this it, had she underestimated the true nature of the game, done in by her over confidence.
Save me, please somebody, mo..
"O-Sin-Ku-Da-Ru!"
A warm light whisked by her, and her right arm fell to her waist, snapping her out of her panic. She bit down hard on her lip, gathering all of her courage, she whipped out her dagger and hacked away the web that held her other hand. The pressure on her neck was now almost too much to bare but she had to hold on just a little longer. She quickly pulled out her second dagger, and used the two to successfully parry the creatures bite.
She cried from the effort, tears stinging her eyes, she pulled one dagger back and stabbed it in the side of the head.
It screeched and retreated back a few paces, she used the oppertunity to cut her neck free gasping from the release as she started into a free fall, hitting the ground with an awkward thud, rolling in case of attack.
She looked up at the creature; it's eight souless eyes staring down at her.
The boss name, level, and hp, appeared above. "Black Widow" level 28, it's hp had been hardly effected by her blow to the head.
She hadn't noticed Jin run up behind her. "You ok?"
Startled she turned and looked at him. "Oh, yeah I'm fine.. thanks."
"Kru-Tke-Pu-Tee." He chanted. A warm light green light wrapped around her, slowly healing her. She cut off the webs that covered her legs while he did this. The pain of the entire ordeal was all gone, as if it had never happened. The holy healing magic that the Clerics possessed; it did it's job well.. to well; motivating the party to fight without fear because your injuries would all be immediately healed, higher level Clerics could even restore missing limbs, everything but death was fixiable. Sounds like a good thing but in the past expeditions it made players cocky and play to agro thinking they would be fine, and puff, they were dead.
"Don't mention it," he said glancing up at the giant beast, "Can we beat it?"
She snorted cocky like, "Of course."
I braced myself for the incoming blow from above. Using both of my daggers as a shield, allowing my knees to slightly bend, relieving some of the shock from the impact. I stole a quick breath before knocking the creature backwards, sending it through the air, it's eight legs useless as it landed on it's back. I didn't give it even a moment to recover, pushing my advantage I activated a dagger skill, my daggers turned a bright orangish red, letting out a battle cry I dashed at the creature and slashed at it relentlessly. It screeched in pain, rolled over, and leaped away. It's hp bar blinked red, soon it would be dead.
The sweat building made my armor stick to my body but by this point, it had zero effect on my ability to fight. There was no wind, hardly any light, the only source being emitted by the three flickering torches, and fighting in such a tight space made it difficult to breath, and even with the healing from Jin I had slowed down ever since the creature had been brought down to mid yellow hp. I would have to upgrade my stamina later.
"Jin it's almost t..." I shouted
"O-Sin-Ku-Da-Ru." Jin chanted.
"What are you doing!?" I asked bewildered, looking back at him. That wasn't a healing spell. It was a fire spell; he was going on the offensive. "Wha..!"
I was slammed in the gut by a fireball, knocking me to my knees. Pain exploded through my body but the only thing I could feel was my blood boil from anger.
"You Son Of A Bitch!" I spat, watching my hp drop dangerously low. One more hit like that and I would be done for.
"Nothing personal, it's just, the last hit drop, and whatever is inside of that treasure room, could get me into the stronger parties like you. Maybe I'll get a "Luck or Unluck" drop, and that would put me on the same level as the best of them, you understand right?"
There was no emotion in his words, like her death was just another thing he needed to check off his list.
The creature screeched, it was preparing an acid spit attack. What now? There was no way I could tank both attacks. Time froze, as the realization set in. She would die if she didn't make a decision.. Now!
"Di-Tapu-Wei!" She shouted through gritted teeth.
Both attackers faltered. "WHAT THE..!" Jin roared.
It was kill or be killed, a dark voice in the back of her head urged her forwards. With new energy she dashed towards him meeting his horrified expression with a volley of punches.
He let out a battle cry and tried to fight back but Terresa's relentless, and precise strikes left little chance for a counter attack, and he was quickly laid on his ass, hp blinking red.
It was kill or be killed.
But even as her blade pierced the mans skull she could feel the regret douse her rage. To late. She looked into his hurrified eyes before it happened, remorse and regret filling her own, and than.. puff. He disappeared into a dancing light of data.
He was dead... really dead... and she had been the one that murdered him. Murdered. The word lingered in her head like a boulder weighing on her soul. The urge to vomit caught in her throat but she didn't have the luxury to process what she had done. The job was not yet complete.
A ball of acid whizzed by her cheek nearly ending her, and yet she didn't even flinch. She slowly turned to face the creature staring it down, tears rolled down her cheeks. She swallowed hard, pushing the vomit down, and with one more breathe; gathering her strength, she charged head first at it. It tried retreating to the web it had stationed on the wall behind it but it was to slow. She activated her dagger skill "Rushing strike" both blades turned an orangish red, she lept off the ground and rammed them into it's sack. It's hp dropped to zero, the battle had finally concluded but she felt nothing but a deep need to cry.