Stealthcaster Read online

  “We’ll get the chance eventually,” Solomon replied. “Just think of how many hours the developers spent writing code and programming the environments. You know how these games work, they always take the opportunity to show it off. If we can’t stop and look, then what was the point, right?”

  “I guess.”

  Sol glanced at her, then narrowed his eyes, leaning in close.

  “Does your… head hurt?” he asked, reaching for her.

  Ella whirled.

  “What? What do you mean?” she took an unsteady step back.

  “It looks like you’re injured or something,” Solomon said, taking a closer look at the side of Ella’s head where he could see some sort of wound forming in the surface of her gray skin. Reflexively, Ella put a finger to that spot, and groped around, gasping softly.

  “What is it?” she asked hurriedly. “I can feel it.”

  Solomon put his own fingers to the protrusion, a subtle, but visible bump along the smooth surface of her dull skin.

  “It feels hard,” he said quietly. “Like bone, almost.”

  Ella moved her hand to the other side of her head, just behind her temple, and she touched gingerly there, too, then gasped again and pulled her fingers away.

  “It’s on the other side, too,” she said quietly. Leaning forward, she glanced toward the group to make sure nobody else was near enough to them. Megyn, Kydel and Lionel all stood in a tight clutch, talking softly among themselves.

  Sol moved to the front of his friend and touched both temples, rubbing softly.

  “Yeah, definitely something going on there,” he said. “You sure it doesn’t hurt?”

  Ella shook her head. “I knew nothing about it until you just mentioned it,” she said. “I have no idea what this is.”

  “Maybe some kind of evolution? Whatever race you are, maybe as you go higher in levels, your body— changes?”

  “Oh, please no,” she said, turning away from him. “I had enough of puberty IRL I don’t need to deal with the Shyft version of it, too.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry,” Solomon said, stepping up next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to make you self conscious.”

  Ella sighed. “Why would the virtual world be any different than the real world?”

  “Was high school that bad?” Sol asked.

  Ella shook her head, looking away from him.

  “Worse.”

  Solomon wasn’t sure how to reply to that. He was pretty sure that throughout his high school career, he’d actually skipped more days than he’d attended, and the few he’d gone to had been beyond miserable. What the world had become had infected every element of life, including school. Who you were born to decided what you did, and your lot in life was more or less pre-ordained. Megyn grew up on the right side of that equation, but as much as it hurt him to think about, Ella must have grown up on the wrong side. It was hurtful to him because— he didn’t know. Ella had been one of his best friends, his only friends, but the truth was, beyond their nightly outings to go play illicit video games, he knew very little of her life. Her dad was a synthetics farmer, and she was training to be as well, and he’d just figured it was a life she was content with.

  Apparently not.

  “I didn’t know,” Solomon said quietly.

  “You were never there, how could you know?” she replied without looking at him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Maybe I should have been.”

  She chuckled. “Sol you dumbass, you wouldn’t have lasted a week at that school if you’d actually tried to show up. It would have chewed you up and spit you out.”

  Solomon opened his mouth to deny her statement, but he held his tongue. Truth was, as much as he hated to admit it, she was probably right. In real life he’d thought of himself as rebellious. Strong. A powerful kid who decided he didn’t need school and could get along fine without it. He’d not just decided it, he’d lived it and he thought that somehow made him— better.

  But Ella was right. He could see that now. Skipping school, not following the rules, it wasn’t a sign of strength, but of weakness. A fear of conformity. The stark realization that he wasn’t like the other kids, he didn’t have parents, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be when he grew up.

  He didn’t skip school because he was brave, he skipped it because he was scared. And what was he supposed to do with that information now?

  “Maybe you can help me,” Sol said finally. “Help me be stronger.”

  She laughed. “You don’t need my help,” she said. “Not anymore.”

  They stood in silence for a handful of moments, neither one of them knowing what to say, until finally Ella spoke.

  “Was that true, what Lionel said?” she asked. “Did you really shoot a magic bolt and cut a Sharak-Ku warrior in half?”

  Solomon shrugged and nodded.

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “How?”

  He sighed long and deep. He’d been talking brave about that battle to Lionel and Woody ever since it happened, but the truth was, the sudden outburst of magic had frightened him a little bit. Made him wary. Uncertain of the direction he was choosing. The power had been raw and uncontrollable, and he’d barely managed to focus it into the amplification crystal. If he hadn’t had the crystal, he wasn’t sure what would have happened. A small part of him worried that instead of firing the Sonic Shockwave at the yellow-skinned Sharak-Ku, he might have hurt his friends.

  “Well, I’ve been reading that book,” he said. “Every chance I get. I was reading it the whole walk home from finding the Harefolk. And— yeah. It’s part of the StealthCaster Skill Tree. A Sonic Shockwave.”

  “Wow. ‘Sonic’? As in sound?”

  Sol nodded. “I guess so. I still haven’t fully translated the text of the journal, but yeah, Kremjak seems to have devoted his life to learning how to tap into sound waves and use them. Harness them. Focus them into different magical abilities. That’s what the StealthCaster Skill Tree is all about. So far I’ve unlocked Echolocation and Sonic Shockwave, which are different variations of those sonic abilities.”

  “Have you learned anything about who Kremjak was?”

  Solomon shook his head. “I’ve been talking to Lionel about that a little bit.”

  “Lionel? Why?”

  “Well, he spent some time in Elderand. He said they have libraries there. Academies. All sorts of places to learn things. I think after we take care of whatever we need to take care of with the Amazons, maybe we should head there and see what else this world has to offer.”

  Ella smiled softly, nodding her head.

  “I think I’d like that,” she said. “Have you asked Megyn yet?”

  “Asked me what?” They both turned away from the pond as Megyn and Lionel approached, Kydel hovering in the background, checking the horses.

  “Just talking about what we might want to do after this is all over,” Solomon said.

  “Don’t put the cart before the horse,” Lionel corrected, nodding and crooking a finger. Solomon shook his head. This guy was every inch the goody two-shoes that a Paladin should be. He stood there, his head tilted, square jaw firm, and pretty boy European good looks carving his face into a sense of caution. For a moment, he thought he saw Megyn dart her eyes toward him, then correct herself quickly, looking straight ahead again.

  “And what would that be?” Megyn asked, ignoring Lionel’s cautionary tale.

  “Check out Elderand, the city to the north. Where pretty boy here came from.”

  “Hey,” Lionel said, looking offended.

  “That does sound fun,” Megyn replied. “But Lionel’s probably right, we should focus on what’s ahead of us first.”

  “And what is ahead of us?” Lionel asked. “More of those creatures we fought earlier?”

  Solomon nodded. “Yeah. And don’t assume they’ll be push overs. We were lucky to get past those other three, if this clan is even larger in number, we could be asking fo
r trouble.”

  “We need to get moving,” said Kydel, walking up to the others, turning her curved swords over in her hand.

  “Just a moment,” Solomon said. “I’m going to gather some plants and nuts over by the edge of the pond. I think they’re curative, and it might do us well to have some healing salve with us on this particular attack.”

  “Very well,” Kydel replied, “but please be quick about it. We cannot afford to give the Sharak-Ku too much more headway.”

  Solomon pulled away from the group nodding, and walked over to the curved edge of the pond. His Herbivore skill was at level two now and as a side effect of that, there was some minor passive boosts that showed him when there were plants that were particularly valuable nearby. A growth of green and pink flowers were tall and thick along the eastern edge of the pond and he began picking them, sorting them on the ground, gathering them together, binding them, then putting them in his pouch for storage. For a few moments he went through this, then as he reached for one more bunch, an alert triggered in his head.

  Congratulations, you have reached Level 03 of your Herbivore Skill!

  (Part of the Hare FolkLore Skill Tree)

  (Identifying edible plants)

  (+10 to health when eating wild berries)

  (+35% to chance of finding health restore ingredients in the wild)

  XP: 500

  He smiled softly at the bump in level for Herbivore. He’d been stuck at level two for all of these Harefolk skill tree skills until he’d leveled up the entire tree, but now that the tree itself was elevated, he’d be able to ramp up all of the sub-skills as well. For such a relatively simple game there were plenty of intricate complexities that he found himself truly enjoying.

  “I still can’t believe you’re at level six before we got there,” Megyn said, shaking her head. “You were at zero when we were crossing level four. Now, all of a sudden—”

  “It’s all about the quests,” Sol replied. “Grinding monsters is fun and all, but when you get handed a bonus quest worth two grand XP, it changes the whole world.”

  “Well, maybe we’ll find one of those nice bonus quests,” Ella said. “I’m a bit over two thousand away, and I think Megyn’s even less.”

  Megyn seemed to be doing some calculations in her head, then nodded agreement. She squinted at Sol for a moment.

  “What XP do you need for your next level?”

  Sol paused, checking his HUD.

  “Good grief,” he muttered. “25,500.”

  Megyn smiled softly, nodding.

  “Yep. It’s all based on formula. Go figure, the coders used math to figure this stuff out.”

  “What formula? There’s a formula?” Sol looked legitimately confused.

  “Of course there’s a formula. We are in the middle of a gigantic computer program, right?”

  Kydel narrowed her eyes at them trying to follow the conversation, but eventually just threw up her hands.

  “Do me a favor and come let me know when you’re ready. Every minute counts!”

  “See, there’s a base XP,” Megyn said, “which is one hundred times your level. So right now your base XP would be 600, get it?”

  Solomon nodded softly.

  “So the Extra XP, which is a little boost the programmers threw in there is your current level plus your previous level multiplied by that Base XP. So for level six, it’s (6+5) * 600. So that Extra XP equals 6,600.”

  Solomon’s eyes started to glaze over somewhat as she was speaking.

  “Ummm…”

  “Then to figure out how much XP is needed between levels, they take your level plus that base XP, which would be six times six hundred, and then that gets added to the extra XP. So in this case 3,600 plus 6,600 which equals 10,200. Right?”

  “What the hell are you even talking about?”

  “So then you look at your current level, which at level six is 15,300. That’s the XP you needed to get to where you are now, right?”

  ”That much I can confirm, yes,” Solomon replied.

  “So then we add the 10,200 to the 15,300 you had to reach to get to level six, and you get 25,500! The number needed for level seven! Brilliant!”

  Lionel, Solomon and Ella stood in a spread semi-circle, looking at Megyn with vacant, confused expressions.

  “You are such a nerd,” Solomon said, shaking his head.

  “This is great!” Megyn shouted. “I can use this formula to figure out how much XP we need for every single level!”

  “If level seven requires over 25,000 XP I’m not sure I want to know that information,” Ella said, shaking her own head.

  “Are you done?” Kydel asked.

  “I have a headache,” Solomon replied, running a hand through his hair. “Let’s go stab something, I at least know how to do that.”

  The group chuckled softly as they gathered around the horses and the wolf, throwing their legs over and prepping their mounts to take off to the east.

  “I’ve never been so depressed about gaining a level,” Solomon whispered as the horses charged into the trees, the hooves growing quiet among the darkness.

  Chapter 33 - Clash

  * * *

  The group had lost track of time as their mounts cut through the trees, darting between trunks, running haphazardly through the thick forest, cutting across the paths and routes connecting different parts of the Gallowind Wood. They were making good time, of this, Solomon was certain, judging by the track of their progress on the map, but they had to keep moving, press forward, not let up.

  Megyn cut in at the head of the group, Tyson handling the tricky passage with grace and strength, bounding over roots, veering around trunks, and cutting a narrow swath through the thick trees as if he were running wild without someone clinging to his back. To Megyn’s credit, she acted as if she were one with the wolf, moving with his movements, ducking as he needed to increase speed, becoming an extension of his curved spine, his silvery white hair curling over her tensed arms, tangled between her fingers. They were moving fast, her brown hair whipping behind her, just above her flapping cloak. Nearly everyone wore long cloaks or capes and in every case they arced straight out, fluttering in the wind as they raced through the trees toward the intercept point.

  Sol glanced at his map as they charged, leaves and branches clawing at his own flowing cloak, snagging on the cloth, scraping at the horse he was riding. If what the map said was correct, there was one more group of layered trees ahead, a thick clump of twisting trunks and sprawling branches, only maybe thirty yards separating them and the Sharak-Ku, who were making their way back home with Queen Soracia in tow. They had to do this quickly, but they had to do it carefully, or else they risked the snakes doing something rash to her to prevent losing her to the enemy.

  “Ride fast!” hissed Kydel, picking up speed so she was riding in the group with the others. “Strike faster! Don’t give them time to think! Cut them down and rescue our queen!”

  Solomon looked over at Megyn and saw her concentrating, narrowing her eyes as she rode, and he suspected she was using that new Wilderness Instinct skill she’d mentioned. Suddenly her eyes sprang open and she turned to him.

  “They’re here!” she shouted, her voice almost frantic. “They’re right here!”

  All as one, the group barreled from the trees, out into an open clearing, a vast and oblong meadow, ringed by thick and tall trees. The grass grew in long, bristly strands, and it blew gently in the midnight breeze underneath the pale face of a plump, round moon. All around them the grass and trees were lit in a melancholy hue, gently illuminated by the moon and stars above, not as clear as day, but light enough to see. The moment they breached the wall of trees, the first horse hooves striking soft ground, there was movement all around them. Solomon saw a small group of the snake creatures near the opposite edge of the meadow, and sure enough, Queen Soracia was bound and held among them, flanked by two large snake skinned guards, both of them with hoods flaring behind their narrow, serp
entine heads.

  None of them were abominations, at least from what Solomon could tell, all of them standing and moving on two feet. Weapons were flashing out of sheaths, rough hewn metal glinting under the moonlight, the gruff bark of their unique language erupting between them.

  The group that held Soracia was only four, a small clutch of them, but more shifting shapes appeared in the trees behind them and as their mounts charged over the grass, exposed by a lack of trees and the abundant moonlight, Sol could count at least ten of them, emerging in a fanning semi-circle ahead of them.

  “There she is!” Kydel shouted, pointing toward Soracia.

  Solomon’s eyes scanned the area and he activated his built-in Deeper Insight skill, their stats flooding his HUD one right after the other. There were too many of them for him to track, their hit points and mana points flooding into his vision, but he could tell they were each individually nearly as strong as Rulaaz had been… and there were fourteen of them. At least.

  Suddenly he was having doubts about this whole thing.

  Megyn and Kydel apparently weren’t.

  Almost immediately upon breaking into the clearing, Kydel removed her bow from her shoulder, coming up into a well-balanced kneel on the spine of her horse. She drew out an arrow, loaded it and swiftly sighted on a target, as Megyn repeated her motions on the back of Tyson alongside her. Kydel screamed, a throttling warrior’s cry, a scream of anger, rage and onslaught as the arrow snapped free and scorched through the air. It struck one of the Sharak-Ku warriors full in the face in an explosion of bone and blood, the creature’s shout of surprise muffled by the dull crack of impact. Megyn’s arrow drilled the same target in the torso, punching through leather armor and sending the snake stumbling.

  Ella chanted quietly as their group approached at swift speeds, her clenched fist glowing a light, pale green. While still astride her horse, she lashed her hand forward, blasting a luminescent rocket at another Sharak-Ku. It hit home, knocking him back with a splash of sizzling acid. Solomon tensed his arms, bringing his knees up as his horse raced closer to the group guarding Soracia. He could feel the low, hot hum of power resonating from the enchanted metal of his axe, and he touched it with his fingers, drawing it from the looped rope around his waist. Horse hooves pounded in the darkness as they charged forward, the Sharak-Ku moving away, separating, getting in position, everything moving in a strange slow motion. The axe was out of his belt and in his hand, his arm cocked back and Axe Throw silently enabled. He eyed one of the Sharak-Ku to his left, the one shuffling backward, pulling a sword from its sheath and amid the slow motion silence. Pausing for the briefest of moments in a strange half crouch on top of the horse, he focused his mind on the metal touching his palm. When he’d hit level six, he’d funneled all of his stat points into wisdom and intelligence, hoping to leverage slightly enhanced capabilities there to better use his skills and magic. It was time to put that to the test.