Poshh!
A sperm whale smashed the water causing waves that overturned many Surfboards.
Seth was lucky he dodged in time. Despite all the grievances, he was still enjoying the race. The Surfboards were easy to man, but dolphins, whales, orcas and even birds attack them regularly.
Seth remembered when he played something similar but the realism was way below this one. What made it easy for him was that everyone was equipped with a scanner that alerted them a few seconds before an attack. He was a fish in the water.
But the more he got close to the island, the more alert time decreased.
Seth swerved away from the sudden rise of another whale but a bird swooped down and knocked him over. Thankfully, he was fastened to the Surfboard and the attack only broke his momentum.
After he was so close to the island, the alert was not enough to be an advantage.
Boom!
Seth timed the next whale attack and situated his trajectory to be towards the island. He did suffer shocks to his body but nothing serious.
And he managed to reach the island. While countless others were still being overturned by the marine beast. The moment Seth touched the shore, the boat disappeared.
'Damn, now I have to crawl!' He dragged his body until he was fully on the sand then he caught his breath. Taking some seconds he wobbly tried to stand.
Seth was not a complete cripple, he can walk albeit barely. His hips and legs were the ones that lacked the strength to support his weight. But if given time, he wobbles around at home. And now, that was what he was trying to do.
He was one of the few that reached the shore fast and he wanted to use that advantage to its fullest. But the moment he started moving he fell. He wasn't even able to take three steps.
The exhaustion he felt was almost the same as the outside world.
"Damn it!" Seth cursed frustrated.
He used his hand to drag himself forward little by little. Sadly, he couldn't move faster than the players. And the moment the players reached the shore they started sprinting. Some even stepped on his back and laughed.
'Shitty game. Why should I be a cripple here too!?' He felt like crying.
He was angry at himself, the game, and also at those that stepped on him and laughed just to slow him down for their amusement.
His hands were not much better than his legs in terms of strength. After crawling for some time, he started gasping for air, he became too tired from crawling.
"I gave up!" Seth said. He was not even seeing the inner forest let alone know how far he was going to move.
Ding!
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
"Fuck you! I can't compete!"
Ding
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
[You have level up to Level 0]
"What? Level up to level zero? What does that mean?"
Seth was confused for a moment but then he felt he was no longer exhausted. He tried standing and voila! He did it!
Then he took his time to wobble forward with less effort than usual. The moment he passed the first tree he saw miniature brawling fields. The players that passed him were all fighting for a better Weapon.
"Move away!" Someone pushed him from the back. It was a young girl that managed to reach the shore last! She too was then flabbergasted seeing the fights.
Different Weapons were floating above a circle. The stronger players with strong physiques checked Weapons' descriptions before they chose or moved to another one. The weaker ones are having a hard time getting their Weapons.
The truth was that everyone has his Weapon in there but some make a shitty decision and make a valueless Weapon with no Redeemable Aspects.
Now was the chance to grab another one that someone made with extraordinary Aspects.
The Weapon arena was made of circles of 3m in diameter and the Weapons were floating at the centre! The Weapons produced a hallow that made the arena around it.
When a player enters the circle, he can grab the Weapon, see its description and an option to leave the arena will be presented to him.
But if another person entered before the person leaves then the Weapon will float away for them to fight and the winner will take the Weapon.
By moving around, one will mistakenly enter into a Weapon circle and if there are contenders they will immediately attack that person.
Seth looked around trying to spot his Staff before he heard a monotonous announcement.
Ding!
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
[You have levelled up to Level 1]
Seth felt invigorated again and he spotted a light which showed him where his Staff was.
The girl that pushed him away was the one checking the Staff. No one was touching it, so she tried her luck.
[Staff of Elevation]
[A uniquely designed Staff by Seth Enoch The Cripple to support his legs while walking. It has much to be discovered]
Seeing the description the girl lost interest and dropped it. And the Staff floated in place
'Haha, idiot. They didn't know!' Seth rejoiced. 'I need to move fast before some lucky bastard finds its uniqueness.'
Taking three-step
Bam!
Someone punched him in the face for no reason when he got close to a Weapon arena circle.
He fell, but that did not deter him as he kept moving forward avoiding all the Weapons arenas circles
Bam!
Someone was thrown over him. Seth did not care, he crawled toward his Staff.
Boom!
Someone kicked him on purpose because he did not get the special sword he crafted. He still keeps crawling!
Step!
A lanky teenager just stepped and stood on him by pretending as if he was stepping on a stone.
"Please, let me go!" Seth begged.
But instead, the boy looked at Seth's destination and ran to grab the Staff. Thankfully he met with a punch too when he got close to a certain Weapon arena circle.
Since Seth was crawling slowly he was able to avoid every circle. But some that lost redirected their anger at him when he was close to their arena.
Pow!
Someone kicked him again. Seth's eyes were blood red and his face was filled with bruises yet he kept going. The nature of the battlefield invigorated him as long as he was moving forward and if he stopped he would feel weakness enveloping him.
He managed to reach his Staff and enter the circle. At the same time, a bulky man entered and grabbed the Staff.
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
He was frowning, evidently, he lost a fight. And seeing its description his face contorted to anger and said.
"You did not make anything useful but a Staff that can make you walk! Fucking Cripple!" Out of anger, he trampled Seth with his feet before he walked away.
Seth sat with difficulty and groaned. He then realized he was bleeding from his nose.
He sighed!
One thing about Seth that made him exceptional was that if he stared at a goal, almost everything else dulls out.
It was after this realization that he began to feel pain all over his body. He tries to ignore the pain and stands. To his dismay, his leg was broken.
"You gotta be kidding me!"
Seth collapsed with a frown as he felt pain covering his mind. Thankfully the pain was halved several times than normal!
What disturbed him the most was he couldn't reach the Weapon. Many people tried their luck, but seeing a Staff that only helps a cripple walk they lose interest.
It's better to take a crappy sword at the very least.
+5 EXP
+5 EXP
+5 EXP
[You have levelled up to Level 2]
+5 EXP
+5 EXP
There was one guy, though, that was tempted by it.
[Staff of Elevation]
[A uniquely designed Staff by Seth Enoch The Cripple to support his legs while walking. It has much to be discovered.]
[Someone touched Staff of Elevation]
+5 EXP
"It has much to be discovered. What does that mean?"
The boy thought what if it had some amazing Aspect? But then seeing the remaining Weapons, one was a Dagger and the other one was a Shield he decided to take the Shield.
He was one of the unfortunate that failed to retrieve their actual Weapon.
Seth stared at the Staff before an idea came to him, he raised his hand thinking it would float to him like Mjolnir.. but it did not!
In the end, all Weapons were taken and only he remained. Still, the Staff did not come to him. One hour passed like that before he decided to try standing
It took all his courage before he managed to stand with one fractured leg and managed to touch the Staff before falling.
As he touched the Weapon, it followed him.
"If not for the freaking riches I wouldn't have played this nasty game again!" He grumbled out loud.
But a smile crept on him as he caressed his Staff. Just holding it made his injury begin healing.
"Staff of Elevation. They will regret knowing they left out a true treasure. I believe this Staff is as far if not better than Anna's shield!"
[Congratulations. You have retrieved your Staff of Elevation. Cherish it well, Lucky one!]
[You will be transported to a beginner village]
[Note: the NPCs are called Dwellers]
If you read to this chapter, how about you leave a comment of "Hi" or something, you know... greet each other!!!