King
2283 Words
We rode in silence for a while, giving me time to think. Finally, after exhausting hundreds of fantasies of escaping my fate, I thought about the Scourge of Flank town. The mint reminded me of someone I knew. It was weird, but I once worked with a man named King Refer, King for short. The guy liked to go hiking in Colorado, or that's what he told everyone. Then, on one fateful trip to a Chinese restaurant, the guy spilled the beans, he ran weed. He bought it legally in Colorado and sold it back home. Mint was one of the scents he used to throw off the drug dogs.
We used to partner a lot on a mobile bleach game together. Ugh, I spent so much money on that game, but I wanted H Ichigo full Vasto Lorde maxed out. That character and Ulquiorra Hogyoku mode were my jam.
I wanted to get my phone out and search for his number but resisted the urge. That was two phones ago, so my chances of finding his number were nonexistent. One silver lining if anyone could do well in this world, it would be him. If I survived, then I'd see him again.
We regrouped with the bulk of the Spotted Clan's patrol. Several mounted three-woman cells joined until three hundred Hyenoids entered Flank town.
The town, what could I call it other than a mixture of rustic and almost modern. In this world, magic functioned as technology. A nearly limitless energy source flowed from the air into great machines and did everything. Water heated through magic in the equivalent of water heaters, it was recycled for repeated use, and it was drawn from the air itself from great turning moisture farms. Grand water towers covered the highest buildings in the city. Thousands walked about to fulfill any number of purposes. Every street was clean of s**t, refuge, and the homeless. From the glittering skyscrapers to the mom-and-pop eateries, this place felt like a mix of city and town.
Once the gates closed behind me, the smell of ash disappeared. Then, in the distance, I spotted the reason behind that. Great air filtration machines worked tirelessly to cleanse the air in Flank Town. If they didn't, then the people would smell nothing but smoke all day.
"Is this your first time seeing what magical engineering can do?" Silent asked.
Ding!
RP+2 with Silent
Silent 32/100 Innocence turns her on; she believes two silver was money well spent.
How would she feel when I didn't put out? "It's really different from what I'm used to. That's not a bad thing. I've never been to any of the major cities in my country." I said.
We approached a large official building, and she hitched her horse to a shaded post. "Wait here while I report my findings with the boss. I'm off duty for the next few days anyway with the skins as evidence it's the Slither Clan's problem now. So don't get into any trouble. I'm setting your collar for long-distance, but it'll still shock you if you mess with it. If you even try and run away, I'll track you down; I know your scent now." Silent promised.
"I'd probably only get lost here anyway," I said.
Silent's ears flattened. "We all have our lots in life. You could have found a worse slave master than that centaur mage. Their kind doesn't normally take to humans. She could have rented you a copper per night and left you in a brothel year-round." Silent said.
"I'm not running away; if I'm not here when you get back, then I've probably been kidnapped," I said.
"Then I'll track you down and arrest whoever stole my property. You have my word on that." Silent grabbed my face and stared me in the eyes. "Don't react if you smell mint." Silent said.
I opened my mouth and closed it. The message was clear. If the serial killer found me while she was gone, I shouldn't react if by some act of God. While the possibility was low, my luck might make it a certainty.
She left, and I sat on the porch for an hour. Then, finally, I picked up a rock, tossed it up, and caught it. Then I grabbed another and began juggling one-handed. With my enhanced reflexes, powerful senses, and deft hands, juggling wasn't complicated.
Every couple of minutes, I added a rock. Once I had 10 in rotation, a snake girl and her mother slithered up to me. The girl took a copper coin from the mother and threw it to me. I caught the coin and tossed it with the rocks. The little girl clapped while I juggled 11 items.
Ding!
DEX +1
DEX 6
For a while, people watched, and on occasion, one or two people would throw me a copper coin. I always caught them adding to my juggling.
Three hours flew by, and I'd increased my juggling to 21 items, 11 of which were copper coins. Already I'd made twice as much as I was worth. That was troubling. Either this town was obscenely wealthy, or a one-armed slave wasn't worth much.
By the fourth hour, my juggling hit 34 items, 15 of which were coins, and the rest were rocks the kids threw at me when their parents refused to give them more coins.
Ding!
DEX +1
DEX 7
My hand flashed like lighting inventorying all the coins until there were only stones in the air. Then as the rocks fell, I stacked them on top of each other until there were no more. The children clapped one last time before the parents pulled at them to leave. Then, I spotted someone I recognized.
He dressed richly without a slave collar. I recognized him right away for the man who once sat across me at the new China buffet. The later food poisoning had solidified the memory, like mixing concrete hardens on shoes after mixing. King smelled like weed and AXE body spray. It seemed that three years hadn't changed my old friend much.
"Red is that you. Man, it's been, I don't know how long. Why didn't we keep in touch?" King asked.
"You know how it is. I woke up one morning, went to take a piss, and my cat jumped on me. My phone fell in the toilet right as I was flushing. I never saw it again." I said.
King blinked, then shook his head. "Yea, I believe it. So, what are the odds we'd pop up in the same world? You're the first actual person I've seen. This place is crazy. What parameters did you pick? Mine turned out pretty useful." King said.
Above his head were the words King in red letters. But below that was something I hadn't seen before. He had a health bar.
550k/550k could be read in a crimson bar. Oh, King was practically glowing with his full head of black hair and round spectacles. But why did he have a health bar? I didn't have a health bar. I knew that for sure. At the time, I concluded it was either a hiccup in the system or a difference in our parameters.
"You know just the classics for any RPG. I saw a bunch of weird stuff like qi, colors, sins, and virtues. Those sounded like a lot of trouble, so I stayed clear. As for skills, just a bunch of D and E's, you know my luck." I said.
"You're a one-armed slave with terrible skills; I think the game is a troll. What are your quests like?" King asked.
"You know I just have to fight lions, zebras, and backflip a thousand times or lose what parameters I scraped together. How about you? What awesome quests do you have to do? Are you in business again?" I asked.
"I'm always in business, but no, nothing like that. Though, those centaurs love to smoke. My former body belonged to a well-off magic engineer here. I guess my former training proceeded me." King looked me up and down. "Do you want some help out of your situation? I could use someone normal to talk to, so I don't go crazy." King said.
Some force hit me then. All of a sudden, it was like nothing existed but the two of us. If King asked me to do something, I'd be glad to do it.
King held his hand out, and my hand raised without my intention. Suddenly, I realized I was under some type of skill. If I didn't do something, then King would take me away from here to God knows where. Sure, we were friends, and I wanted out of my situation, but something felt off. I sniffed the air, and my eyes widened. The scent came from King's shoes. It was faint and entirely overpowered by the other aromas, but I could smell the barest traces of mint.
Instead of taking King's hand, I grasped my collar. A powerful shock struck me then, and the sensation faded. The world around me came back into focus.
"Alright, why would you do that?" King asked.
"I'm not going with you."
Ding!
7th Quest Completed
Locate the Scourge of Flank Town
Stipulation: Don't leave until you've identified the Scourge
Rewarded: 1 Bronze PARAM Die, 1 Bronze Skill Die
While many have accused me of being smart over the years, the accusation never stuck. That fact was made worse when perception is involved. My senses have been heightened to incredible levels. While many can detect a charisma technique after the fact, few can at the moment. By shocking myself, King's spell was broken, but that did little to deter the man.
"Red, it's ok, buddy; I know it hurts. Let me help you." I tried to pull away, but King seemed to flow by force all his own. He grabbed my lame arm, and I felt it shift and pop. Lightning coursed through the limb. My hand twitched, and suddenly, I could move my arm. King smiled before putting a finger to his lips. He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "You're my friend Red, and that's why I want you to know that I can send you to hell on earth if you sell me out. Tell a soul about me, and you'll never move again in your life. You'll sustain yourself on s**t and piss until you die." King said and took a step back. He patted me on the shoulder, and my body felt like it was made of clay.
His message was clear. King could heal my body as easily as he could destroy it.
I engaged Force Aura. Suddenly his touch stopped well before it landed on me. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "So, you stopped me from touching you with my most basic skill. Do you think that matters?"
"550k health sounds like a lot for a week's worth of leveling," I said.
King tugged on his robe and shook his head. "Who would believe a slave anyway? Your just property: if I tap your collar a little too hard, you'll be shocked to death. No, I've covered my tracks well this time. I've perfected my method while you backflipped in the desert and fought a bunch of dumb animals." My one-time friend turned his back on me. "If you tell anyone, you'll regret it. Forget you saw me and remember the help I've given you. What are the lives of a few hundred NPCs worth, after all? We're all just ones and zeroes in the end." King said.
I watched my one-time friend vanish in the crowd. Another hour passed before Silent tapped me on the shoulder. Slaves worked tirelessly cleaning up waste in the streets while giving me jealous looks.
"Wow, what a meeting; how did you hold up out here in the sun. While the air cleansing systems keep the city cooler than the outside, the sun can still be brutal." I reached up and flexed my wanking hand.
"Some traveling magic engineer healed my arm. Did you have something to do with it?"
While I knew good and well she didn't, I needed an excuse to send good people to their deaths in a vain attempt to expose my old friend. That made me think seriously. If King had his s**t together, then a little investigating wouldn't do much good.
This wasn't something they could handle. King was my friend I knew some of his tricks. I opened and closed my hands. He gave me back my arm and I was preparing to take him down. There were humans among the dead. King was killing indiscriminately I didn't want him around. I'd have to either kill him or chase him off.
"Well, did you get a good look at the good Samaritan? Not a lot of our engineers will get out of bed without some gold as a reward." Silent asked.
I shook my head. "No, I was too excited about having two working arms to memorize his features. He wore expensive robes." I said.
Of the system users with the VIT parameter, King was by far the most dangerous. My fight with him would set my stance against vitality users in stone. For a flesh, mage vitality is the fuel, while intelligence is the engine. While some genuinely gifted flesh mages have proven to be good people, their power is nothing compared to those with vitality.
Nickname: Red
Title: Traveler
Parameters
STR 3 (5)
CON 13
DEX 7
AGL 17
QI 6
PER 19
MAG 5
World Waifus Relationships
Kale 19/100
Silent 32/100
- Writer
