Stealthcaster Read online

  Lighting a candle, Solomon laid back on the bed and opened the journal, once again flipping back to the beginning of the thick book. He had a tendency to skip through the pages, not lingering on the words he didn’t understand, just latching onto the ones he did and assembling a strange, mismatched narrative in his head. Tonight, he decided he would try something different. Jumbling all of the words together in the book was not serving him well, so as he flipped back to page one, he scowled down at it, isolating the strange collection of characters that stared back at him.

  “My kingdom for a notebook,” Solomon whispered, looking around the small cottage. Laying on the bed he noticed the thin, wooden wall nearby him and an idea occurred to him. Sitting up, he reached into the small sheath that hung on the end of his bed and removed the narrow iron dagger, one of the prizes from his early battles with the imps, and something he never thought he’d find a use for ever again. Moving his finger to the title page, he looked at the jumble of strange characters there for a moment, noting that the title itself ‘Journal of Kremjak’ was joined by a subtitle in smaller text beneath it, however the subtitle was written in those strange foreign characters.

  For a moment, Sol wondered if it might be a totally foreign language and suspected his chances to translate it would be next to none, but thinking back, he had to remember that at its core, this was a game he was in. A game designed and developed by a company marketing to the widest audience. That audience was mostly English speaking, so in Solomon’s mind, somewhere along the way, the weird characters he was reading must translate to words in English.

  Four words underneath the title. One medium length, two short, one longer. He focused on the longer word first, noting that the third character and the eleventh character were both the same. Reaching over, he delicately carved the character in the wooden wall, then returned to the book, noting that another character actually appeared three times in that third, longer word. The second spot, the sixth spot, and the tenth spot. In two of those cases, it was next to the previous character. He carved that character just underneath the first in the same spot on the wall next to the bed, then rolled back over, tapping the blade of the knife on his palm. Two other characters appeared twice, and he noted those on the same plank next to the other two. One of those two characters made up the third word, all on its own.

  It only made sense that this character should be an ‘a’. Solomon carved the equivalent alphanumerical character next to the foreign one and then looked back at the inside of the book. Silently, he counted the characters, then identified the one he had marked as an ‘a’ in the longer word. It appeared twice there, as well as alone in the third spot, and again in the first medium-sized word.

  Solomon’s heart raced as things started to come together, the words almost coming to life in front of him. He smiled softly, looking at the longer word, suddenly suspecting that he knew what it was. Quietly, he counted out the characters in his head and smiled even more broadly as the ‘a’ fell into place in the two separate instances he anticipated.

  Leaning over, he used the dagger to carve out a word on a separate wooden plank, then matched the known characters in that word to the strange foreign shapes he’d seen there.

  Yes, it all fit. The third word was, without a doubt, StealthCaster. He’d seen that class referenced throughout the book before and had known early on much of the tome must have been built around it, but he’d been so eager to just consume all of the words he actually understood, he hadn’t taken the time to decipher the title page yet.

  Now, with that word known, he started matching up characters and letters.

  After only a few moments, he confirmed that the full title of the book was The Journal of Kremjak: Tales from a StealthCaster.

  You have learned the Skill:

  Reading Level 01

  (You can read and decipher simple words)

  INT: +1

  “Oh no!” Solomon shouted in the darkened room. “No no no!” Clenching his eyes shut, he desperately tried to suppress what he knew was coming, the skill addition and the influx of additional XP. He was only 165 points shy of level five, but he had to choose a class by level five, yet here he was diving, swarming headlong into level five and he hadn’t made his decision. What was going to happen now? What was this stupid game going to choose for him?

  “Please no!” he shouted out loud. “Don’t choose my class, please don’t choose my class—!”

  Congratulations, you have reached Level 05!

  Level: 05

  (55% to next level)

  XP: 8385/15300

  HP: 250/250

  MP: 175/175

  Your diligent progression continues! Onward and upward!

  You have been awarded:

  5 Stat Points to Distribute

  You did not choose your class prior to reaching Level 05. As a result, a class will be chosen for you…

  …please wait…

  The breath caught in his lungs as a loading bar scrolled slowly by in his HUD, painstakingly crawling from left to right, asking him to wait while the software did who knew what. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the steady progression of the loading bar any more, shutting out anything in front of him, already dreading what the result might be.

  …thank you for waiting.

  Shyft 2.0 has completed its analysis. You have been provided the hidden class: StealthCaster.

  Solomon’s eyes sprang open, pupils darting left and right. StealthCaster? The game had actually chosen the StealthCaster class for him? He’d been on the fence between that one and some other mage-based classes, but he hadn’t pulled the trigger. Now, it had appeared, that the game pulled the trigger for him.

  His breathing evened and the simulation of his heartbeat slowed to a regular rhythm, giving him at least a short measure of peace. Pushing those thoughts to the side, he steadied himself and focused more purely on the book in his hands. Slowly, but surely, over the period of the next hour or two, he had begun crafting an entire alphabet, matching characters for letters the entire step of the way. Flipping to page twenty, his eyes widened as he read.

  Congratulations!

  As a member of the exclusive StealthCaster Class, you receive the following bonuses:

  AGI: +4

  DEX: +4

  INT: +2

  Skills

  Kremjak Clarity

  (The Journal of Kremjak fades into focus, its foreign language becoming all the more clear.)

  You also gain exclusive access to the StealthCaster Skill Tree.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked the StealthCaster Skill Tree

  XP: 500

  Available Skills:

  Echolocation

  Sonic Shockwave

  Cone of Silence

  Sonic Shield

  The Skill Tree starts at Level 01. You may not upgrade the Skill Tree directly, but once you upgrade the lower level skills, the Skill Tree itself will increase in level as well.

  Continue researching the StealthCaster Skill Tree to further investigate these associated skills.

  This was getting better and better. Just outside, he could hear the noise and din of combat training growing fainter, quieting moment by moment and he could tell it was getting late.

  But he couldn’t help himself. He kept reading, kept digesting, kept translating where and when he could, and by the time the world outside was covered in complete silence, the dark of night settling over the Amazon village, he’d reached a stopping point around page fifty. Finishing the page, he traced the rows of characters to the end. Everything seemed a little bit easier to understand, the letters and words forming before him, making a strange amount of sense the further along he read. Reaching a certain page, suddenly, an indicator flashed in his HUD.

  You have learned the Skill:

  Echolocation Level 01

  (Extend your will through the layers of sound. Hear what others cannot, track and monitor enemies and friends even through solid objects.)

/>   LUK: +1

  The skill offered no real buffs beyond this core ability and the mysterious luck bonus, but maybe that would be enough. He promised himself only a few more pages as he started to turn to the next one, knowing that if he wasn’t careful, he’d be staying up way too late reading this book. But he’d be laying here reading the book as a StealthCaster, and officially back on track with his XP and his levels.

  Chapter 05 - Practice Makes Perfect

  * * *

  “Dammit, Solomon you stayed up way too late reading that book!”

  “What?” Sol snapped awake, looking over toward Megyn, the bright, early morning sunlight almost painful.

  “Get your head in the game, okay?” Megyn said, clapping her hands together. They stood at the edge of the thick growth of trees on the south side of Gallowind Wood, a short distance from Thorathon Village. Solomon had begged out of combat training last night, but when Esmelda’s fist slammed his door this morning, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to pull that off again. The journal had been resting closed on top of his chest, and he couldn’t remember exactly how far he’d gotten. He’d been hoping to try out the Echolocation skill, but already the morning had been a whirlwind of activity, and he couldn’t quite get in the right headspace.

  The first time he tried it especially, he knew he’d need some concentration and some focus, or else he risked wasting mana in a ‘pray and spray’ approach, and he didn’t want that to happen.

  “Look, I know you hit level five last night, I’m happy for you,” Ella said. “But we’re in training mode now, okay?”

  “But you better believe,” Megyn said, “we want to hear all about this StealthCaster class after this is done.”

  Solomon smiled broadly, seemingly eager to explain.

  “Later,” Megyn emphasized. “I said after this is done! AF. TER.” She emphasized the last two syllables, as if speaking to a young child who barely understood English. “Capture the flag, right? Are you with me on this?” Megyn asked. Solomon looked from her to Ella, then back again, nodding.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “With you all the way.”

  Megyn looked at him through unconvinced eyes and held that store for a moment, until the shattering clang of a bell rang out, deep in the wood.

  “That’s the signal!” Ella shouted. “Let’s move!”

  The three of them charged headlong into the trees, Ella ducking low and moving swiftly, passing almost noiselessly through the leaves and branches, while Megyn leaped over low brush, dodging in and out of thick trees. Solomon was considerably less subtle, pulling out his throwing axe and holding it close as he moved through the woods, eyes scanning the gaps between trees and leaves for any sign of enemies.

  Dull snapping of bowstrings sounded from his right and he held up, letting a pair of dull projectiles whisper through the air in front of him, smacking leaves from narrow branches. The Amazons had promised to use target arrows without the sculpted and sharpened broadheads, but he suspected they’d still hurt like crazy and he wasn’t too interested in getting stuck like a pincushion.

  To his left, he saw Ella whirl to the opposite row of trees, a rippling blue circle forming out of thin air, nestled against her outstretched palm, forming a small, solidified bubble in the air. Arrows smacked into the hardened sphere of invisible energy, shattering into fragments, which peppered Ella in the back as she turned away.

  Megyn dropped low, sliding along the dirt and leaves, loading an arrow, swiveling, and letting it fly, scorching through the trees. There was no sound of anyone being struck, and Solomon darted forward again, shifting left to wind around another tree and get a better angle on forward trajectory.

  “Slow down, hot shot!” Megyn shouted, leaping to her feet. “Working together, right?”

  Solomon nodded, looking back at her. “Yeah, yeah, sorry, Megyn.” He held, dropping low and staying in position by the trees while Ella and Megyn caught up to him. Ella dropped low, pressing her palm to the dirt and closing her eyes, trying to get a feel for anyone in the area, using her natural affiliation with nature.

  You have learned the Skill:

  Druid Detection

  (You can sense a disturbance in the natural order of things)

  She opened her eyes, smiling.

  “Hey, I just learned a new detection skill,” she said, but her face settled back into a scowl. “Not that it did much for us this time. Nothing here, at least nothing that feels unnatural.”

  They continued through the trees, walking quietly and carefully, slowing their pace considerably.

  “Everything is quiet,” Megyn said, looking left and right, her bow and arrow held at a ready state in front of her.

  “Too quie—”

  “Shut up, Solomon,” Megyn snarled.

  “Man, you’re feisty today.”

  “I’d rather not start the morning with an arrow in my ass, thank you very much,” she said, looking back at him.

  “They’re blunt tip arrows. Worst thing that happens is an ass bruise. I don’t think they’d actually go in your ass, unless, well… you know—”

  “Solomon!” both Ella and Megyn shouted at the same time.

  “Shutting up now,” he said, pushing aside a branch and stepping through into deeper forestry.

  “Huh. Sloppy.”

  Solomon froze as he stepped out into the clearing, coming face to face with a trio of Amazons. Two of them were archers, each with recurve bows drawn and loaded, while the third held a longsword in two hands, her eyes narrowed and mouth tilted into a sneer. She looked as if she were enjoying this way too much.

  He looked left and right, searching the trees around him, but the path that had led to this clearing was empty.

  “I thought the whole goal of this exercise was to show how you could work together?” the Amazon with the sword asked. “Where are the other two?”

  Solomon shrugged. “We figured I could handle the three of you all by myself.”

  The woman with the sword smiled wide, then dropped back into a fighting stance, the two archers separating slightly, their weapons pointed directly at him. An arrow launched and he surged forward, silently activating his Scamper skill, his legs tensing and moving with increased speed and dexterity. A second arrow fired and he swiveled, slapping it away with the broad side of his axe, then he turned just as the woman with the sword lunged at him, swinging in a high arc. Swiveling back, he brought his axe up and deflected the blow, a metal on metal, echoing clang sending him to one knee as two more arrows were loaded and aimed.

  “Uh, this isn’t going to end well,” Solomon whispered, as his arm wrenched to the side from the force of the Amazon’s second sword strike, knocking him off balance. She pulled the blade back, adjusted slightly, then swung again, and he twisted hard, knocking this blow aside with the axe as well, but not before an arrow fired from his right side. The blunt, metal tip of the projectile struck his left shoulder blade with a sharp sting and he shouted in pain, lurching forward, the second archer drawing on him as well. A few scattered HP sprinted away, not enough to cause significant harm, but enough so he noticed, especially for a training. There was a quick rustle of leaves and a blur leaped from the tree, a lithe form cloaked in foliage darting like a missile. Ella hit the ground next to the second archer and sent her stumbling awkwardly as her staff came around and slammed into the Amazon’s shoulder, forcing the bow from her hand. All at once, Ella lashed out with her right hand and spat out a narrow acid arrow, sending it hurtling toward the first archer, who scrambled out of the way just as the stream of sizzling energy consumed the bow and arrow she was holding, sending the charred, withering weapon to the grass.

  The Amazon with the sword turned to face the newcomer, charging toward her, but Solomon kicked out with his leg, tripping her and Megyn appeared from behind him, leaping over his head and tackling the already off-balance warrior, throwing her to the ground as well. Ella leaped over Megyn’s attack and landed next to the other archer who was looking
at her acid sprayed hands, and she brought her staff down in a tight arc, blistering the woman on the back of the head with the business end of the narrow, metal stick.

  All three stood in the clearing, looking at the fallen Amazons, then Megyn shot a cocky smile to Solomon.

  “Thanks for being the bait,” she said with a nod.

  “Ya know, next time, you could tell me I’m the bait,” Solomon replied, standing. With his free hand he reached around and rubbed the sore spot on the back of his shoulder. “Those arrows don’t tickle.”

  “We figured you could use a hard lesson,” Ella interjected. “And you’re welcome by the way. Megyn wanted to wait until you got shot twice.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  The three of them finished walking across the clearing, and Solomon held up a hand.

  “Hold on a second,” he whispered, then looked at Ella. “You gave me an idea earlier.”

  “I did?”

  He nodded, and dropped down to a kneel, setting his axe in the grass and steadied his breathing into a low, even rhythm, listening to the faint sounds of the forest around him, the scant chirps of wild birds, the chitter of insects, and the far away noise of people in Thorathon Village. Noise was everywhere, you just had to condition yourself to listen for it.

  Closing his eyes, he tried to look and listen past the extraneous distractions, to peel away the background and listen deeper, to let his ears ride the invisible waves of sound cascading through the forest.

  He activated Echolocation, feeling the swift draining of his mana energy, the reckless spending of magic that his mind was unaccustomed to, for this particular skill anyway.

  The world swirled around him into an inky blackness, revealing only the outlines of shapes around him. Trees blurred into shifting, uneven blobs, falling into a steady quiet. In his mind’s eye he could see another clearing on the other side of the trees, empty except for a single post in the center, rammed deep into the ground, with the light fluttering of cloth snapping in the wind. Nobody was around it, and nobody seemed to be in the surrounding trees either, a wide expanse of empty silence. He could hear people in Thorathon Village a good distance away, and this new way of seeing mapped out the shape and slope of the ground around them, he could even see the still forms of the unconscious Amazons they’d just left in the path. But the way ahead seemed completely clear.