Chapter 16
Harry had barely switched the screen back to the map he needed to view when he got yet another reply. He eyed the message worriedly as he could well imagine just what the man would have to say to him. He briefly considered deleting the message without reading it but knew that wouldn't stop the man from spamming his Inbox again until he actually replied; so he opened it.
Don't you pull that crap with me! Besides; I'm already here on the third floor
inside of the Furgrin Forest. Where are you?
This time, Harry let out a soft whine of frustration as he stared at the message. The last thing he wanted was for Agil to see him as he was now. He didn't want the man to hate him because he'd pretended to be an adult all of this time. Before he could think of a suitable reply, Agil sent yet another message.
I don't have all day, buddy; I have a shop to run and I've already lost three days
trying to find you.
Harry hunched his shoulders and took several steps backwards instinctively, feeling more than a little trapped as he imagined Agil growing angrier with each passing second. Icy numbness crept up his spine as yet another message came through for him before he could even think about replying to either of the last two messages.
Don't be stubborn, gaki; I'm not the only one who's been out here freezing his ass
off looking for you. Just tell me where you are already!
Bowing his head, Harry swallowed with difficulty as he realized he was running out of options. He could hide in the stump again and pray they'd give up, he could tell Agil where to find him, or he could run. Coward that he was, Harry chose to run under the misconception that fleeing would protect his friendship and he sent Agil one last message.
No.
Harry didn't even bother to check the map as he turned north and Sprinted away from his temporary camp; the nine year old far too frightened this time to notice the initial delay before the Skill activated. He reached the edge of the forest some fifteen minutes later and still didn't stop. He would have Sprinted all the way to the nearest town in order to access a Teleport Gate (he had stopped carrying Teleportation Crystals with him after he'd reached level fifteen in order to save room in his Inventory) if his legs hadn't given out on him just a few miles out into field he was in.
His entire body was aching again and he actually felt winded (as if he'd actually spent the last hour running non-stop); feelings that had been arbitrary prior to whatever glitch had happened to him after reaching level thirty.
Needing a moment to catch his breath, Harry hobbled over to the only tree he could see in the entire field and climbed up into its branches to avoid sitting out in the open. He then dug out an apple from his Inventory to take the edge off the hunger he'd been feeling off and on for the past few days and absently took a bite as he tried to figure out what exactly had happened to him in an effort to forget about the fact that he'd just ran out on his only friend. His attention was soon drawn to the apple in his hand when he realized that he could feel a bit of juice from the fruit trickling down his chin and coating his fingers. In fact, the fruit tasted far more natural than it should have.
Furrowing his brow, Harry stared at the fruit before he took another couple of bites in order to see if he could figure out what was different. It wasn't until he bit down on a seed that Harry realized it wasn't just his imagination that the fruit he in his hand was behaving unlike any of the other game fruit he'd eaten previously. The oddness of actually feeling the apple settle in his stomach (once he recognized the sensation) was even more disconcerting as his Avatar shouldn't be able to feel the weight of food settling into his stomach. The system's apples should not have seeds, Avatars don't get tired using their Skills unless their Hit Points (also sometimes called Health Points or HP) fell into the orange or red, there was not supposed to be any delays in activating his Skills, and Avatars didn't feel pain, get dizzy, or vomit blood.
His eyes wandered a bit as he tried to puzzle out what had changed (and wondered if any other Players had experienced the same thing) until they ended up resting on the shortened golden bar hovering above his head that indicated that his HP level had been cut in half at some point. Harry gasped and his eyes widened comically as he jerked his head up to stare at the HP bar in confusion bordering on hysteria; HP bars were supposed to be green when they were full, yellow when you took a hit that dropped you below three-quarters of your total HP, orange when your HP Level reached about half of your total Points, and red if you had less than one quarter of your HP remaining.
HP bars did not turn gold.
There was no explanation for the change. He could think of nothing that he'd done to corrupt his HP counter only to blanch when he realized that there was a chance it was a side effect of whatever glitch it was that had taken hold of him after he'd reached level thirty. He also hoped the fact that it wasn't displaying the ratio of remaining HP to the total number of HP he had gained was just a side effect of whatever it was that had (hopefully) temporarily turned the bar gold. He opened his Menu to check his Stats in order to put his mind at ease, intentionally ignoring the six new messages that he had from Agil, and felt his breath catch at the back of his throat as he read his new in-game classification.
Only one thing ran through Harry's mind as he stared at the open Menu; what the hell does Indefinable Immortal Object mean? He felt himself grow dizzy when he finally glanced down to check on his HP Total to find that instead of the four digit number he expected there were six dashes and the words; System Error, HP Incalculable.
His head went all fuzzy and he had more than a little trouble breathing as he simply stared at his Stat Page. After nearly twenty minutes had passed, he tore his eyes away from the disturbing revelations and reached out with a shaky hand to close the Menu only for yet another urgent messages to pop up right as his finger connected with the Menu; opening the message instead.
James, what the hell is going on? Is someone threatening you? Are you trapped some where by a Boss Monster? Does it have anything to do with your last job? I know you know how to take care of yourself but you take far too many risks; especially when you take into account the fact that you keep telling me that you have no true in-game fighting skills.
No matter what is going on, you know I'd be willing to help you in any way I can,
right?
Harry closed the message and closed out the Menu; he had no intention of replying. He studiously ignored the troubling golden bar floating above him as he glanced out over the snow covered field and tried not to think anymore. A cold breeze shook the branches of the tree he was hiding in and Harry shivered as he wrapped his arms around his knees and curled up to conserve body heat. He was just considering pulling his blanket out of his Inventory when he was ambushed by the returning flock of Carrion Crows that had made their home in the tree he was sitting in; he'd completely forgotten to check the tree for signs of their nests before he'd taken refuge in it.
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