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The Crimson Quest: A LitRPG Adventure Page 10
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Cosmo looked at Stan then at me. He's laughing. “I like things like that,” he replied. “It's a real adventure! Taking a quest is fun and all, but it's actually a real advertising adventure . I am totally disappointed! "
“Awesome,” I shouted. "Thank you very much. Let's build a huge army and save my friend. We can do it, I know we can.
"Okay. So that's a deal. I'll help you. But first, let's kill some rats and goblins," Cosmo replied.
I opened my menu and sent Todd a new message:
“Don't worry Todd! Friends and I are coming to get you! We are getting astral dust now. Hang on tight ! We will be there as soon as possible!
Walker."
"Let's go," I said with a nod.
Chapter fourteen
We walked straight towards the dungeon door. "Does it go straight into the ground?" I asked.
"Not really. It just looks like that," Stan replied.
The players were lined up one after the other. A good mix of trolls, orcs, elves and humans. We stood in line. He moved quickly and in a minute we were at the entrance to the dungeon. "Do you have your torches?" Cosmo asked.
“We actually don't,” I replied.
"Do not worry. I'll hook you up.
Cosmo dropped two torches on the ground in front of him. I went for one, but got pushed aside by a random player. “Thanks for the torch,” the player shouted.
"It's mine," I yelled back.
The player held the torch above his head. He was short and dressed in all yellow. What the hell? Did that bag of bones dressed like a banana really disrespect me in front of my new friends? "Give it back," I ordered.
"It's just a torch," he shouted back. "To move on."
He ran into the dungeon and out of my site. “What a loser,” I laughed.
“I have my torch,” Johnny replied.
“It's okay,” Cosmo said. “It happens sometimes. You just have to be quick. Are you ready this time?
"Yeah. Forget it."
He dropped another torch and I quickly picked it up. "Thanks. Got it."
I opened my inventory and equipped the torch. We descended the creaky wooden steps while descending further and further into the dungeon. In my hand, I held the torch above my head. Once we got to the bottom I was surprised at the size of the dungeon. Hundreds of players were running everywhere. But all you could see was the fire of their torches. It was too dark to see anything else unless you were right next to a player.
I took a deep breath. My first dungeon! How exciting. Hmm, that smelled weird. A bit like old cheese. But I liked the cheese. I took a few steps forward. Suddenly there was a growl. It was a goblin. Damn, he looked pretty tough. I held my torch in the air. Its display name was showing its stats:
Dauntless Goblin Level 1
Health: 20/20
A level 1 goblin? How could he be hard? The rat I killed when I arrived was pretty tough, so I knew the goblin would probably be too ugly. My hands passed over my face as I prepared for the fight. Beside me, Stan threw his hands in the air. "Where's your gun?" He asked.
I felt a little embarrassed. "I don't have one yet."
Stan burst out laughing. "You're kidding, aren't you?"
"No, we don't have anything yet," Johnny replied.
Stan jumped in front of me and pulled out a large iron ax. "Look at this," he said with a boom in his voice. He rushed forward and made a 360 ° spin in the air. Right on the tail, he dealt a fatal blow. “I got it,” he shouted. "Did you see how easy it was?"
The goblin's body is gone and left some loot. Stan grabbed the booty and ran behind me. "Take the next one," he shouted.
I took a step back as another goblin approached. Stan nudged me. “Here, take this da gger,” he said. Suddenly a small rusty dagger fell in front of me. I picked it up and noticed an alert popping up in front of me:
Congratulations!
You just received your first blade!
Rusty dagger
Slot: left or right hand
Level: 1 (beginner)
Weight: 4 lbs
Damage: 1
I equipped the dagger and held it in my hand. Man, that was really rusty. The goblin leaned forward. He was ready to attack. I had a gun and was ready to teach him a lesson. "Come on," I said with my dagger out.
It hissed. But I didn't give him time to attack. I rushed in with my dagger and cut off his arm. The health bar above his head has lowered:
Dauntless Goblin - Level 1
+2 damage dealt!
Health: 18/20
2 Damage? That was all? I had to hit him 9 more times to kill him ? I jumped from side to side. The goblin was ready to attack, I could see it in his eyes. Suddenly he swung his incredibly long arm towards me. "Shit, that hurts!"
I tripped by my side and noticed my health bar had gone down:
Walker Williamson - Level 2
Hp 10/12
-2 damage received!
-2 damage? It wasn't as bad as I would have thought. I could kill this goblin, I just had to be careful. Suddenly a stray rat jumped on my leg. Shit! How did it attack me like that? The rat cried out. He was ready to bite me, but I wasn't going to allow it. I grabbed the rodent and threw it to the ground. My sword went up in the air, came down, and quickly sliced through it. The rat was dead. His body quickly disappeared and left some booty behind. I shrug my shoulders . I didn't need “real rat fur” anymore so I just ignored it. My attention turned to the goblin as it rocked back and forth. I jumped to my side and sliced it. Yes!
I knew he was about to swing again, I just knew it. Indeed, he swung. But this time he missed it. What a predictable little goblin. Was this his main attack pattern? I sliced it on the other side and waited for its predictable swing. But, he didn't swing. Instead, he kicked me. I tripped back. He laughed and the n rushed over to me. Then its sharp claws gripped my skin. After that he bit my arm. I fell by my side as the pain took hold. The pain was deep, but it started to subside. I checked my health bar:
Walker Williamson - Level 2
Hp 4/12
Yeah. Exactly what I thought. Until 4/12 now. I had to be careful because I had no way to heal myself. Then it hit me, I needed to find a healer. We were going to need a healer in our party if we were to save Todd. My eyes were fixed on the gobli n. I was tired of playing it safe and was about to attempt a series of quick attacks against him. "It's time to die," I yelled, running with my sword above my head. Quickly, I sliced his left shoulder and then his right. Then I jumped in and delivered a slice of oversized . Wow! His health bar quickly dropped:
Dauntless Goblin - Level 1
Health: 08/20
I smiled. The goblin wasn't that difficult. I could kill him. The goblin rushed over to me, but I wouldn't allow it this time. As he tried to grab hold of me, I threw my dagger at his chest. He cried. It was time to end the life of this pathetic creature. I sliced it. Then again and again.
The goblin fell to his side and curled up. He was dead. Yes! I jumped into the air with excitement. The loot was left behind:
Goblin tooth
Value: 0.00
Weight: 0.1 lbs
A goblin tooth? It was no good. What would I want with a goblin tooth? I threw my tooth down and looked for a rat. About a yard away, I saw a rat backing me. What a fool. Did this rat realize how dangerous I was? I jumped forward and stuck my sword straight into it. It was dead. Wow, that dagger was stronger than I expected. I checked the loot left by the rat.
Real rat fur
Value: 0.10 gold
Gold: 0.10 gold
Yes! That rat actually left me some gold. I needed to find more rats like him. I scanned the ground for one of his family members. Then I saw one. He looked up and jumped in the air. But it was too late. My blade had met him halfway through his journey to my body. I picked up his booty.
Real rat fur
Value: 0.10 gold
Nope. No gold this time. I had killed a goblin and a few rats. When was I going to level up again? I o
pened up my inventory and searched my experience bar to see how close I was to reaching the next level:
Walker Williamson - Level 2
97/100
Wow. I was really close to reaching level 3. With my new dagger, I was really starting to like fighting and leveling up. One more rat should do the trick. I scanned the area and noticed that Johnny was approaching a rat. But then he backed off. "Let me understand," I yelled , running up to him.
I went straight down with a jumping attack and hit him in the back. Loot dropped on the ground:
Real rat fur
Value: 0.10 gold
“I hate having all that rat fur,” I laughed.
“We should open a rat fur store in the village. I think it would be a real success, ”Johnny replied.
Before I could respond to Johnny, an alert popped up in front of me:
Congratulations!
You have progressed! Open your inventory to distribute points.
With enthusiasm, I was eager to open my inventory. What would I increase this time? I thought about if for a minute and realized I wanted to be stronger. Damn, I was going to use all my points for strength this time. It was time to become powerful. I quickly opened my inventory:
Note to the user: you have 4 points to distribute. Use your points wisely.
Walker Williamson - Level 3
Male Male - Warrior
Statistics:
HP: 14/14
Endurance: 12
Mana: 10
Attributes:
Strength: 7 (+4 added!)
Persuasion: 3
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 1
Stealth: 2
Agility: 2
Skills:
None yet
Benefits:
None yet
Capacities:
None yet
I was only a level 3, but I was already starting to feel like I was making major progress. Then I noticed my arms were a bit bigger. But was it my imagination? I did not know. I looked at my dagger and wondered how badly damaged it had been. Ti - me to check:
Rusty dagger
Slot: left or right hand
Level: 1 (beginner)
Weight: 4 lbs
Damage: 3
Impressive! In my mind, a 1-3 damage jump was huge. Of course, I was still weak, but at least I could kill a goblin much faster. In the past, I had become addicted to leveling up in some MMORPGs. It literally took over my life sometimes once I started. I could feel the same urge to come back to me. I wanted to kill other goblins, but I knew Todd needed me. I looked ahead and saw Stan fighting two goblins at once. Cosmo ran to his side and gave him help. “Hey guys,” I shouted . "Can we go after you kill that goblin?"
"Of course," Cosmo yelled, delivering the killing blow to the goblin. Then they both walked towards me. "Did you level up?"
"Yeah. I reached level 3."
“The first few levels are the best,” Cosmo says with a chuckle.
I turned and looked for Johnny. Where was he? Then I saw him. He was leaning against a sleeping earth wall. I walked over to him and kicked him in the leg. "Are you sleeping seriously?"
His eyes opened. "Sorry," he replied. “I am so stylish. I didn't get much sleep because this strange elf haunted me. He kept me awake all night.
"Haunted you? A player you killed? Cosmo asked.
"Not really. His own cousin killed him.
"Did you carry any of his personal effects when he haunted you?" May - be a sword or other weapon?
“No,” Johnny replied. “I was sleeping in his bed.
"That explains it," Cosmo replied. “A lost soul can haunt someone who sleeps with one of their personal items. It is actually not easy to do. Whoever haunts you must have a passion for it. Most players cannot do this. It does make sense though, a bed would be considered a personal item. What were you doing while sleeping in her bed anyway? It's kinda weird.
“It's a good bed,” Johnny replied.
Cosmo rolled his eyes. "If we go, let's go."
We climbed the stairs out of the dungeon. Once on dry land, I knew it was time to focus on building our army.
Chapter fifteen
We were standing right outside the dungeon door. The sun had been replaced by clouds and the wind was blowing very hard. Dust flew around us as I shielded my eyes. "Is there a storm coming?"
"It does happen from time to time," Cosm o replied casually .
We started to walk and the wind stopped. I waited for him to come back, but he didn't. Everything was calm. "What's going on with the weather here?"
"I think that could have been a problem."
“Speaking of glitches,” I replied. "When pensez- you that they will solve the problem of the exit button?"
“I think that's bullshit,” Cosmo replied. "Something's going on that they're not telling us about."
“I heard they would never fix the problem,” Stan yelled from behind us.
"Who said that?" I asked.
Stan shrugged . "That's just what I heard."
Will never be repaired? How could the company do this? Wouldn't they be prosecuted or something like that? Stan looked at Johnny, me and then Cosmo. "Good. I'm out. It was fun and all, but I have to start doing what I do best again. Relaxing."
"Okay. I'll be in touch," Cosmo replied with a punch.
Stan fled away as I got straight to business. "Okay. Let's start an army. We have to go to the peasant village and give them gold. They said they would fight for me.
" Polka dot ants ? Yes, they will fight for next to nothing. That is true. But, they will also die very quickly without the proper armor and weapons. Do you really want to send them into battle with only Straw Hats?
I had to admit it. I was not impressed with the physical condition of the peasants I had seen. They were really pathetic. "But I don't have enough gold for that," I replied.
"Me neither," Johnny shouted.
Cosmo took a deep breath and crossed both arms. He narrowed his eyes as it looked like the dragon tattoo on the side of his face was doing a little dance. “You really caught me at a good time,” he replied. “In general, I wouldn't even consider creating an army with new players. But there is something about this climb that I miss. That zero- to-hero feeling that you get when you build something from scratch. You know what I mean?"
"I'm just starting to feel it," I replied. "It's a great feeling."
"And I hope I can feel it someday," Johnny replied.
Cosmo turned and pointed to a small cluster of hills. “Between these two hills is a small valley. Well, that's actually where a shallow stream flows. If we follow this stream, it will flow directly into an old wooden hut.
We started to move away from the dungeon and down a steep hill covered in dead grass . As I walked, I grabbed a few dead trees to help stabilize my balance just to make sure I didn't fall. “So what's in this cabin?”
"The guy is a little weird," Cosmo replied, carefully walking down the hill. “But he has what we need. Overall he's a great guy, but you just gotta keep your cool with him.
"So he has weapons?" Weapons we can afford?
Johnny stumbled next to me and hit a tree stump with his left leg. He rocked beside her before grabbing my arm. "I'm going to fall," he explained, regaining his balance.
"You will live," I replied. "So how much gold is it going to cost?"
"Don't worry about it," Cosmo replied. "I get it. He'll get me a good deal.
After several minutes of walking, we arrive at the small cove. Then, out of nowhere, a group of three players approached us. Two of the players wore mostly red leather while the other was dressed all in brown. The figure in brown had brown hair that matched his outfit. He was also the ugliest of the three and was super skinny. In fact, it looked a lot like a broom. It was weird because I had never seen anyone who looked like a broom before. In truth, I didn't even know it was possible to look like him. The broom-like guy walked over to us. He held out a hand in f
ront of him. "Who goes here?"
“We do,” Cosmo replied.
The other two characters approached us. "This is the property of the Dragon's Eye Army."
Cosmo lau ghed. "Is it correct?"
"Yes," replied one of the characters.
Cosmo approached the group. He itched his nose. “Let's see here. A level 2, 7 and a 4? Are you sure you want to lose your bodies today? I don't think you do. Being a lost soul is no fun. You should educate yourself about this before rushing in. You do not think?