CHAPTER 22: Surfin’ Bird...
We followed the trail for hours until it diverged in the opposite direction. We found a seat on a boulder just off the trail that looked over the top of the trees. It was a serene spot with a nice view of the descending mountain. I was looking over the map and knew the area below.
“If we follow the trail it will lead us West-Southwest into the ski mountains, Manchester is South and a bit East. Whaddya think Big Boy? Want to split off the trail and cut through the woods straight to our destination? It should be the quickest way. Normally, I would advise against it but nothing is normal so, fuck it.”
“Woof!”
“Alrighty then. Let’s do it, straight through we go!” I hopped off the rock, heading straight toward our destination on the map.
I practiced with my sword as we ran through the woods, swinging between branches and slicing down small trees as we moved. I kept laughing at myself but pushed to continue. All I could think about was what I would look like a week ago doing the same thing.
Some random hiker dude is walking through the woods and hears a dog and a guy huffing and running full speed. He looks over to see me sprinting and swatting a sword around in the air cutting branches off of trees as I pass. Ha!
My proficiency level in blades wasn’t as high as I thought it would be, only being 13.
Out of 100?
I imagine my use with Blood Lust and all the time spent fucking around with knives when I was a kid was the main reason it’s that high in the first place.
My staff and unarmed skills were my highest while spear stubbornly refused to level despite being my main damage dealer on the trip.
My ranged weapon proficiency was horrendous but the Makeshift Range was quickly going up the more I used my Atlatl, starting at level 1 yesterday morning and moving to 8 over the course of our hike.
Bow was 0 and Crossbow 2. I only shot a bow once, and no matter how hard I tried I just didn’t get it. I hated it. I wanted to be like the great Elf Legolas from the Northern Mirkwood, but I was the complete opposite, like Randy from The Home Depot. My arrows either flew high in the air getting lost in the woods or they slammed the ground 10 feet in front of me.
I vowed to never sully the bow again, but maybe someday I’ll give it a whirl.
I had 4 class points to spend and only 2 skills to choose from, one physical, one ranged. So I did the obvious and plopped 2 in each.
The first skill was an evasion skill named, “Two-Step”. The description read, “Dance between your enemies to avoid strikes, 10% Increase to Evasion at level 1. It moved up to 15% at Level 2.
The name really had me thinking about this system shit, “How does it know what two-stepping is?”
The remaining points were put into the ranged skill, “Scout Gaze”, which gave me the ability to zoom in on a target like a set of binoculars. It took a few seconds to get the hang of it and my first attempt threatened a headache when I tried to push the zoom function more than I should have. I had to relax and let the skill act on its own. The second point gave me better clarity and slightly more distance, though I wasn’t sure how much as I didn’t prepare well to test it.
After running with my sword for a while I began switching weapons constantly while on the move, trying to master the act.
Before, when I switched weapons I had to select the weapon from my inventory and it took a bit to appear. It never took the same amount of time and of course took up some of my vision, which made switching in fight dangerously stupid, but now I was able to summon them directly into my hands instantaneously with a thought.
We hit the bottom of the mountain within minutes, our dexterity blessing us with speed and more importantly, the grace not to stumble and painfully roll down the entire mountain.
I made a short whistle to get Arthur’s attention and he waited for me to catch up.
“Anything around?”
He sniffed the air then answered No with a head shake.
“Let’s walk for a bit, that was fun though wasn’t it?”
“Woof!” I could tell he enjoyed bouncing from rock to rock at break neck speeds.
“We should do that more often, a sort of training, just run up and down the mountains. We obviously used our Dexterity but also Strength to catch ourselves and make sure we didn’t let our limbs go crazy while bouncing around, Endurance to push ourselves that hard and test our stamina, then Intelligence to keep our speed rolling and plan our next steps while moving.”
Arthur seemed to love the idea as his tail went crazy slapping back and forth, he bounced in front of me excitedly and his tail whacked me right in the soft spot.
“Ghuuh.. Uhhh, watch the tail dude, that thing is like a dang baseball bat now!” I said laughing but still in pain, “You’d figure with all the buffs and stats that being hit in the ole special area wouldn’t hurt as much as it used to, but I guess a low blow always does the trick regardless of stats. Good to know anyways. I’ll have to build myself some special armor. You too.” I joked.
We continued talking for a while. I could tell Arthur enjoyed the conversation even though he couldn’t talk back.
We were crossing through some old farm land when I asked, “What level are you now anyways?”
He stopped and wrote in the dirt, 12.
I stopped beside him for a minute, “Oh! You’re already level 12, do you have a class? Or even get to choose a class?”
He nodded no to the first question, and yes to the second.
“Why haven’t you picked one?” I asked receiving an awkward shrug.
“You can shrug too? Dang. You’re full of surprises. I wish you could explain it to me but I’m happy guessing. Hmm, you can’t decide what type of bad ass dog you want to be?”
He made a groaning sound, that sounded like that was kind of it but not really.
“You have it down to a couple choices but they’re close?” He shook his head yes and let out another yip.
“Well, whatever you choose, I’m sure it will be perfect for you bud.” I assured my dog as we continued.
Arthur paused a minute after we started walking and I turned to him, “What is it?”
His eyes were closed and he looked to be focusing on something, so I waited patiently.
Minutes passed and I took a seat on the ground next to him, I didn’t know what he was doing but I wanted to help so I focused on that emotion and put my hand on his head to give him scritches.
After another moment I received a notification.
[Party Member, Arthur Weston, would like to synergize his G.N.I. with yours.]
[Accept—Yes or No]
“Yes,” I voiced my acceptance, curious what the initials G.N.I. stood for but that was just another question to throw on the back burner.
I felt an odd vibration over my skin as my hairs stood on end. Arthur’s interface suddenly popped up above my own, smaller than mine, as if I were watching a video through my own interface, which I suppose I was.
This system crap is confusing...
I watched as Arthur navigated through class choices, most were centered around being a protective pet, defensive quadruped tank classes and such. Lots of classes ending in Mutt, Pooch, Mongrel.
The first class he showed me seemed perfect. It was a core awakened class and a Unique Growth class called “Precursor’s Canine”. It had the ability to adapt, with multiple magical specialties.
The class offered Light, Fire, and Earth magic to start, with an emphasis on fast and vicious attacks and speedy defense.
“That class has to be it Arthur, I don’t know what else you could have been offered, but that’s my choice regardless. There has to be a reason our cores or whatever are awakening these class choices.”
The next class he showed was a light magic and speed class called “Guardian Hound of Gaia”.
I wasn’t a fan of the religious sounding classes as they seem to push toward serving this system and whatever the “Creator” is, but it did sound like a good build for him and it was legendary.
Did he get this class option for coming into contact with the Gemhorn?
I kept reading and I finally understood why Arthur wanted this class.
At the bottom it read,
“The Guardian gains the ability to translate all languages and speak with all intelligent life forms”
“Arthur. You want that class because we would be able to talk? Is that it?” I asked, feeling the sentiment.
He shook his head up and down.
“That would be amazing, so I get it. I would love to be able to talk with you.” I said but reading over the class again, I became more wary.
“The description is a bit confusing. The guardian lives to protect those of Gaia? We aren’t on Gaia. The only thing we know about that place is that they have crazy rocks that hypnotize you and drive you mad and power house deer that can communicate telepathically.” Arthur whined, I could tell he really wanted to choose this class but more importantly he wanted to be able to communicate easier. I had a bad feeling about the class, it felt like a bribe.
What did that fucking Deer do or say to him? I could tell they were communicating but I don’t know what was said.
I took a knee, “Bud, I promise we will find a way to communicate outside of one or two barks and head nods. Just not this way. I think it’s a trap. To get you to serve them, whoever killed and kidnapped our people. I will find a way to make it possible. If I can’t, I’m sure your uncle can help.”
If he’s alive...
He was always smarter than me and maybe smarter than everyone else in the room. If he wasn’t on his computer, he was messing around with some sort of technology and building little inventions. If he wasn’t swallowed by his computer, he’s with my parents. Probably figuring out why everything has gone to shit and more importantly, to him anyways, why none of the electronics work.
Arthur was reluctant but I got the feeling that he agreed. He closed out the connection and we kept moving.
I kept a close eye on him, I could tell he was still having trouble denying the juicy bone they set in front of him.
Once we made it to the middle of the hay field we could finally see a road in the distance. We kept straight, cutting through the field the long way.
Closing in on the road I noticed something odd stretching across the power lines. From a distance it looked like a singular black mass, long and motionless like a giant snake. I put Scout Gaze to use and zoomed in to see what it was.
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As soon as my eyes landed on the mass I figured out what it was as they all shot vertically into the air as a pack.
A murder of overgrown crows flew high into the sky as they made their way toward us.
I zoomed in on one and a health bar popped up.
[Rotspawn Crow—Level 18]
[Corrupted Avian]
“We have about a dozen Rotspawn Crows, Level 18 maybe higher. They likely have some type of poison attack. Plus, they fly. Wait for them to strike, dodge then snag if you can. I’m going to get some target practice.” I removed my atlatl and javelins.
“Let’s get to the edge of the field and use the trees for cover!”
We both accelerated toward the treeline as one of the crows shot down through the sky. The wings of the crow set off black smoke as it flapped, making it difficult to pin point the body.
I heard something hit the ground behind me and looked back to see the ground hissing where a small feather dart struck. All of the weeds and grass turned black in a circle surrounding the location.
“They shoot out poison feathers! Stay clear!” I yelled as we continued to sprint for cover.
The bird kept lowering itself to my back as we ran for the treeline, it was trying to line up a shot. I rolled behind an old maple tree as soon as we reached the treeline, with a javelin loaded I poked out on the other end and let it loose. The crow shot at the same time.
I missed my mark as I ducked back into cover, but I did glance its wing.
Adjust.
I twisted back around the maple and let another javelin loose.
The bird was attempting to rejoin its pack but I struck the wing again, this time it was enough to send the crow tumbling to the ground.
Arthur dashed into the field.
Leaping through the air he caught the bird in his mouth then bit down finishing it in one bite.
“Arthur be careful! Poison birds, don’t put them in your mouth!”
He was fine as he joined my side, but the murder of crows was not happy.
They all screamed in a gruesome cacophony as one by one they fell.
“Eh, I think we made ‘em mad. Get ready.” I said watching as they dove from the sky.
I let another javelin loose, this time using destructive impact. The projectile streaked toward 3 of the birds bundled together, The javelin hit its mark and the small explosion killed the small group.
Rotting darts fell from the sky peppering our position. The tree we used as cover was rotting in half and about to fall on top of us.
“Arthur to me!” I yelled letting another Javelin fly toward the bunch as we took off to another tree.
We slid into cover prepping another attack when a group of crows appeared within the shadows above, diving and pecking at us with swarming intelligence.
I switched for my sword and cast Retaliating Wind. I stepped in front of a dart meant for Arthur. The feather stuck in my Light Plate and I was forced to stash the armor before it rotted away.
I swung my sword desperately, lashing out with my first Arcing Thorn Whip. I managed to take out multiple crows with the wild swing.
I rolled away from a pair using shadows to teleport and flank me.
They were attempting to disorient me while shooting darts so I was constantly playing defense.
Arthur jumped vertically, snatching one of the remaining birds and snapping its neck as I followed his attack with my own rapid flurry of movement until I finally struck the remaining birds down.
“Right tool for the right job...” I switched sword for spear just before being bombed by more birds. Two-step activated as I literally danced through the rain of darts.
I stabbed out with multiple Gale Charged attacks at the crows dive bombing us. Gusts of air shot from the tip of my spear, each hit was enough to knock them out of the sky for Arthur to snap them up.
We went back to cover as the rest of the birds gathered in an attempt to organize.
Arthur held up his paw.
“Are you telling me to stay?”
“Woof!”
“Well, alright. Show me what you got.” I said laughing that my dog is now telling me to stay.
Arthur ran into the field drawing the attention of the remaining group. They all fell from the sky at the same time. I gripped my spear but stopped myself.
I have to trust him, he isn’t just a fuckin’ dog anymore.
The Crows shot out 5 darts at once from about 15 feet away. The feathered darts sailed at top speed toward Arthur, who just stood there waiting.
Just before the poisonous darts hit, a flash of light.
I blinked away the white spot in my vision to see him walking back to the area where he stood a moment prior, snapping up the flailing birds as he went.
Each bite greeted my ears with a loud, CRUNCH.
“Well... You showed me!” I looting the glowing birds.
“Woof!” He was feeling full of himself.
“Stay out of the Black shit until it dissipates.” I said, not knowing how long the rot or poison would stay in effect.
I checked the items looted from the crows, we received a few Health Potions and a new crafting material.
Necrotic Ichor—4—Magic—Crafting Material, Sought after for its many uses, the Necrotic Ichor can be used in crafting potions, poisons, and enchantments for Weapons and Armor.
“It seems there’s a lot more to this new world than I thought.”
“Baarr?” The sound raised in pitch sounding like he was trying to ask what or why?
He gazed at me with curiosity in his eyes.
“How did you share the notification and your screen? I’ll show you what I mean. Actually, don’t answer that, I don’t think I’ll understand. Just, give me a minute.” I came to a stop and opened my grid.
Below my own Health and Mana bar on my HUD it had a spot showing Arthur’s full name with his health bar below. With my inventory open I selected the item and concentrated on what I wanted to do.
My eyes lit up with pain as if someone just poked them with a rusty screwdriver, but I held my focus. Not letting up I pushed the system to show the item to Arthur. I twitched as it felt like a hundred little fingers moved their way up my body, poking me from my toes to the top of my head. While this happened I felt as if I were underwater, I could barely hear the buzzing insects and chirping birds anymore.
All of a sudden, it was over as I felt something trickling down through my beard and wiped the side of my head.
“Apparently the system doesn’t like me poking around with it. Why did you have such an easy time with it?” I said, adding the question to the long line of mysteries to solve, “You got it right?”
“Woof. Barroo?” I was assuming he received the shared item description but was wondering why we were here in the first place.
I went on a rant as we moved, explaining how I thought there had to be a ton of different potion recipes rather than just Health and hopefully, Mana Potions. It somehow moved into a long winded hypothesis of what could possibly be the reason for the loss of technology. Arthur nodded along with my rant and let me get it off my chest.
“Sorry, I know it’s not important. A lot of shit has been bugging me... Bah, let’s go. We’re probably 12 miles away so we should make it there before sundown if we’re lucky. Let’s stay away from any bad guys and try to work our way into town if possible. You have your map open and know where we’re going right?” I asked.
“Woof.” One dull bark that sounded like I asked a dumb ass question.
“Fair enough.”
After a few steps back into our hike Arthur suddenly began glowing a bright golden yellow that nearly blinded me.
I immediately searched our surroundings. We were in the center of an empty two-lane highway.
I initiated Scout Gaze while I removed a health potion and moved to Arthur.
I couldn’t see anything or anyone around us, “You good?! Take this and get down.” I canceled the skill and turned to Arthur.
“Woof!”
It sounded like a happy bark. I leaned over Arthur to protect him while he stood frozen mid step.
The intense golden glow began changing colors. First to a fiery orange, then a deep maroon and finally an earthy brown. The surrounding glow rapidly flickered between the colors, showing each numerous times before fading back into Arthur.
[Party Member, Arthur Weston, would like to share a notification with you.]
[Accept—Yes or No]
Yes.
[Congratulations! You have accepted the Unique Growth Class—Precursor’s Canine]
“I don’t remember glowing? Eh, actually I was knocked out after choosing mine so who knows.” I whispered before catching up, “Wait, your class is still Unique, mine changed to Common after I accepted it. Did yours change as well?”
Arthur shook his head left and right, leaving me with more questions, ”Well, that’s good I guess, can’t have both of us being weaklings. We wouldn’t make it far without ya Pucker.”
After a few miles I could tell Arthur was completely exhausted. I was able to sleep after selecting my class, not by choice but even when I woke up I was still drained.
“Yip.” I called to Arthur and he turned back, “Let’s take the rest of the day off. Find a camping spot and get some rest so we’re fresh before we get into town.”
Arthur looked at me sideways. I swear he could communicate better with a look than I could using words.
He knew what I was up to and tried to push on.
I called to him again and fell to the side of the road feigning exhaustion, “I’m tired! Come on man! I guess that little mountain run took more out of me than I thought.”
Arthur sighed and walked up to me. He stuck his nose under my arm and attempted to get me back to my feet.
“Nope! We only have a couple hours of sun left, we camp. I need you 100% when we get to town. You’re the tough guy here, plus a nap and some training wouldn’t be a bad idea.” I could see him start to waver, so I poured on the logic.
“Something about selecting a class takes a lot out of you. It’s not anything you have to feel bad about Puckeroo.” His head dipped toward the ground, “Let’s go find a spot to set up camp, there’s a river not far from here, maybe we can find some water that I can actually drink.”
“Woof!”
Arthur finally gave in when I mentioned my need for water.
He really is a good boy.