章 4: Chapter Four: Recruiter
The room flashed in an array of bright colors, Drake feeling the woman's hand slip out of his or more so disintegrate. Nervously chuckling at her words as they echoed in the back of his head like that of a lingering shout in an empty hallway.
He was painted in a multitude of colors the room now nowhere in sight, the lights even encompassing the floor, having it fade away in a similar display of beautiful cascading light. But somehow he was still able to stand upright. Drake assumed he was now being transferred to the tutorial zone that the construct woman had told him about. Both anxiety and anticipation wracked his body and mind, his hands slipping ever so slightly at the cold sweat forming, both wrapped tightly around the wooden staff the introduction had given him. Looking down at the staff he had a last minute thought.
If she didn't tase me, I could have asked a lot more important questions.....
The rays of light began to dissipate, eventually clearing his vision, revealing a vast dense forest. The earthy smell of the wild and trees. The sounds of rustling bushes and branches, the cacophony of animal noises in the distance filling his senses.
But the next? The next were vibrations to his ear he could have done without. the sound of crying and weeping, and muffled screams reached him.
Drake quickly turned to his left and right surveying his surroundings, becoming disoriented from the motes of lights around him soon revealing more and more people. The sound of crying coming from some of the people on their knees, obviously confused.
"What is going on?! I'm supposed to be at my boyfriend's condo!" one woman said, her face a mess of smeared makeup, a familiar staff in her clutches as she looked around desperately, the expression on her face cemented in terror and confusion.
"Tyler! Where are you!? Tyler! This isn't funny buddy come out! Daddy isn't playing around anymore!" a man screamed at the top of his lungs, seemingly looking for his lost son. A long iron sword in one of his hands.
Drake looked around at the panic in people's faces, some walking around shouting names in search of others. Some fell to the ground once the motes of lights revealed them, looks of despair and confusion much like the woman before. There were also many who held smiles and eagerly looked at the new weapons in their hands, some holding swords, others bows with quivers on their back a small knife at their hip, and others with the same staff Drake held. Then there were some that held maces that Drake could only think of as the cudgels the system so fondly described, marking them as healers.
Drake panned over the large sum of people that had appeared. The motes of lights flickering out, finally finishing the transportation. He noticed a tower of a man standing over the crowd of people, his orange hair rough, and husky build a testament that he was someone Drake was going to stay far away from.
Drake noticed through the chatter, and yells that some of the people were not speaking English. He could pick up words of Spanish, German, and even Korean in the crowd.
I guess it's true. The whole world got pulled into it. At least there isn't someone speaking Tagalog. Oh and that I'm not going crazy. Dodged a bullet there for a few more years. Drake thought sarcastically.
While Drake tried his best to cope with the sudden realization that he wasn't dreaming, a hand clasped onto his shoulder.
"Hey man, do you know what's going on here? Some really hot babe forced me to fill out some stuff and told me I was going to be sent to some tutorial. Are we in some kind of shared hallucination or something? Where the fuck is this?" The man asked rapid fire.
Drake was forced to turn to face the man, surprised at his strength. Drake wasn't exactly a gym junkie but even with all his sedentary habits of playing games, entertainment and his art day job; he still went to the gym at least three times a week and ate healthy - OK, somewhat healthy - so he may not be named Arnold but Drake was no slouch.
But this man grasping onto his shoulder was of thinner build and slightly shorter than him, the strength he was displaying was disproportionate to his appearance.
Drake noticed the sword in the man's free hand, and panic quickly started to pit and knot his stomach.
"I only know as much as you do. Let go of me will you, you have the grip strength of a silver-back and it's starting to hurt," Drake demanded.
The man released Drake's shoulder apologetically. "Sorry, sir! Sheesh, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on, and where that chick went…" continued the man.
"I'm not a sir, kid. I'm like 26. And didn't you ask the construct questions? We had a whole hour." Drake asked, raising an eyebrow.
The man clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath. "Fucking boomer… No, I wasn't really listening. I mean, I kept trying to get in the chick's pants after she forced me to pick some game class. I just choose the first one that came up so I could keep talkin' to her."
Drake put his hand over his face listening to the man. He looked no older than 18 and he was clearly more clueless than he was, not even listening to the construct. What was this guy thinking?
Drake's mind wondered. How all these other people fared then during the introduction. I hope not everyone was like this kid, or we might be in big trouble.
Drake looked over the crowd again. There must have been at least a couple thousand people here. Most of them looked as confused as the person next to them, but he could again see some milling around talking to others, and some groups were starting to form over the confusion.
Drake scratched the back of his head with the staff nervously as he began to mill about himself. Thinking on what he should do, the only direction he had was the quest in the corner of his vision.
[New Available Class Quest. Reach Mage level 10 for advancement.]
This is telling me what to do in the short term I guess but I still don't know enough about what's going. Drake pondered, again regretting getting tased and not being able to ask more specific questions.
Doing his best to gauge the area they had been put into, Drake continued to walk around. Hearing suspicious rustling in the bushes now and then.
As more and more groups began to gather, but only a small few walked off into the dense unknown forest surrounding them.
He needed to get a better grasp of his stats and own situation before he even tried to leave. He didn't exactly like the sounds of the forest that he was hearing. Distant yelling, grunts and animal cries.
Stats first. And I was so excited I never asked or figured out how my magic skills work. He thought.
Still walking, something in the back of Drake's head was telling him that staying still wasn't a good idea. He began going through all the commands he knew for games in his head.
Character Sheet. Stats. Status? Ah there we go! He thought. A familiar blue window popping up in front of him
[Drake Wallen]
[Race: Human]
Tutorial Alias [Shot]
[Base Class: Mage] Level 1
[Vitality] 17
[Strength] 10
[Dexterity] 26
[Intelligence] 24
[Wisdom] 25
[Endurance] 9
[Skills] Basic Mana Bolt [Rank NG]
[Titles] NA
Drake looked over his stats for a moment. His Mage stats were his highest, he assumed from the class bonus. Meaning he was starting around 13 on average originally for his stats.
So how do I quantify these stats? Was that guy earlier a Warrior? That must be why he was so strong even though he didn't look it. And why does my skill not have a rank? Drake wondered, but before he could continue another hand grabbed his shoulder.
Drake turned again to the person who had stopped him. Grumbling inwardly that he was getting tired of being touched.
"Hey there! I'm Chris. I'm forming a group so we can figure out what's going on and finish these class quests together. I'd be happy if you'd join us." The man said, pointing a thumb over his own shoulder at the small group of people gathered behind him.
Drake cocked an eyebrow, looking over the man's shoulder at the people. He was certainly fast and good at gathering people. There were a little over 20 people already following him around like little chicks. They all had different weapons in their hands, some swords, some bows, cudgels and staves. Most of them held swords though. Drake wondered if that was just because people didn't know any better in the introduction and just picked the first choice that came up, or everyone had just seen SAO.
Drake looked back at the man talking to him. He was taller than Drake was, so Chris was at least 180cm. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and an athletic build.
"I'll pass. I'm more of a solo player," Drake lied, turning to walk away. He was already wasting too much time figuring out the stats and skills that he hadn't gotten a chance to ask about in the introduction. What the construct said at the end tugged at the back of his mind. He needed to hurry up and get to grinding but he kept getting interrupted by random people.
Before Drake could walk away the man grabbed his arm again. "You shouldn't go alone, it's safer if we stay together. We don't know what's out there. We should work together to finish the quests," Chris said, pushing the issue to persuade Drake to join.
Drake waved off Chris's hand, rubbing his wrist from the strength of the man's grip. "I don't have to do anything. Where the hell are your manners, who raised you? Going around demanding people to join you. Good luck, but no thanks, I'll be just fine alone," Drake retorted. Chris frowning at his response.
Chris was right, Drake admitted. Staying together was a sound plan and probably the smarter choice. They would have more people and more classes, they even had Priests, which Drake assumed would get healing spells if they didn't already.
But. Drake just didn't like this guy. The way he had talked to him was too demanding and entitled. He knew these types of guys who were a little charismatic and could group up people to benefit themselves. Chris kept saying 'we' but Drake knew he meant 'I'. And there was also that…
He reminded Drake of those people in games that would party up because it was convenient for a kill quest. They would need 15 of some monster, and party up to finish it. But they would always steal the last hit on the quest mob and then end up leaving right away when they were done. Not caring if the people they were partying with finished. As well as some things best forgotten from his personal life.
Drake again began to walk away as Chris muttered something under his breath. But a loud scream brought the attention of all the remaining people to a man being assaulted by some furry animal alone on the edge of the gathering.
"Help! Someone help me! What the hell is this thing?!" the man screamed.
The animal on top of him was biting ferociously at the man's arm, scratching and clawing to reach him. It looked like little man? No... Monkey?
The man continued to scream as everyone looked on, not sure what to do. Drake may have thought it was a small monkey but in truth it was still around half the size of the man.
The monkey dug into the man more and more as he screamed. Copious amounts of blood began to fly out of the man's arm as he screamed again for help.
Finally the tall giant of a man came over and grabbed the monkey by the scruff of its neck. It flailing around helplessly in his grip.
The giant held the monkey to eye level as if inspecting it. And after a moment threw it up into the air and swung the sword in his hand through it in one strike, bisecting the creature. The parts of the monkey fell to the ground at his feet, a pool of blood forming around the corpse. The giant didn't seem perturbed in the slightest but frowned at his sword. Even from the distance Drake was at, he could see why. The sword had snapped at the tip.
Was this giant's strength so massive that the basic sword couldn't even handle it?
Drake chuckled lightly to himself at the scene. Watching the man throw the sword away and walk over to a small tree. The giant gripped the trunk of it and pulled it straight out of the ground, roots and all. Shaking off the dirt and cleaning the branches he made a makeshift club from it, walking off into the forest.
Yeah that guy isn't human. Definitely staying as far away from him as I can. Is he a superhero or something, maybe his name is Hercules. Haha… Drake thought to himself, still chuckling wryly.
Drake walked over to the monkey corpse, walking past the man seeing that he was still kicking just fine. While many other people went over to see if the man was alright.
Looking at the corpse up close it was definitely some kind of Monkey or Ape, but it was one he had never seen on earth before. It had grayish fur with patches of black here and there. But its face was that of a bat more than a primate. Its nose crushed and turned up, and its eyes beady black, most notably were the two large fangs coming from its mouth.
Before Drake could inspect the creature more a new notification came into his peripheral.
[New Subjugation Quest. Kill 20 Vampiric Apes]
[Reward: Experience, 2 Random Sub-tree Stones]
Drake smiled at the classic game quest like dialogue.
So it was a Vampiric Ape? Simple naming sense. He thought.
Drake noticed people starting to look over and gather around him now, their eyes lighting up a little as they got closer to the corpse.
Oh seeing the corpse was the trigger for the quest? I need to get going then before these things get hunted down. He thought.
He began to run off into the forest away from the groups, hearing a voice behind him yell as he did. "Hey, everyone look at this weird ape! Looks like it triggers a quest."
While wondering why someone would announce that instead of keeping the information to themselves to get a head start, Drake continued to run until he was well away from the groups of people.
Huffing a bit at the extended run, he leaned against a nearby tree. Slightly surprised he hadn't run into anyone or any of the Vampiric Apes on the way. Usually starter areas were dense with stuff to kill. Had that one Ape just wandered off and found them?
A few moments after gathering his breath, Drake heard the rustling of leaves above his head. Looking up he saw the figure of a Vampiric Ape, gapping open mouthed drooling down at him, a finger in their mouth as if sizing up Drake as a tasty meal.
"Clever girl…" Drake mumbled through his heavy breaths.
Drake wasn't sure if the Ape had waited for him or he had run into a tree that it just happened to be in but it didn't matter since the beast was here now. The Ape launched itself off the branch like a leopard pouncing outstretched over a small river down onto Drake from above a moment after they're eyes had met. Pushing Drake to the ground.
But not before Drake had luckily managed to bring his staff up in time to meet the Ape's open maw.
The ape struggled to bite through the staff to get to Drake's head, slowly chipping away at the lacquered wood, coming just centimeters from his face. The stench of the Ape's breath filled Drake's nose forcing him to scrunch his face up in disgust.
Unsurprisingly the Ape was slowly winning over Drake as they struggled. Both grunting in a tug of war over the staff. Struggling with the ape and rolling back and forth.
Drake Grunted out, "Get! Off! Me! You filthy animal!" He yelled through gritted teeth, swinging his leg into the back of the Ape, in a desperate attempt, pushing it off him and flying into the tree it had leapt off of. The Ape hitting the tree with a reverberatingly loud thud.
Drake jumped to his feet as quickly as he could, gasping for breath from the struggle, gripping the staff in both hands ready to fight the Ape. But it didn't get up to charge back at Drake.
Somehow the Ape had hit its head when it slammed into the nearby tree, knocking it unconscious or at least stunning it momentarily. Drake didn't let the opportunity slip, and ran to the unconscious Ape anxiously trying to get there before it recovered.
"Always beat a mob when it's down or stunned!" he shouted a sneer on his face, raising his staff over his head. Bringing it down with full force on the beast, with a loud thwack. Placing a small dent in the Ape's skull. But he was sure the beast wasn't dead yet as it suddenly started flailing from the impact, raising its hands in defense.
But Drake knew if the monkey got back up he wouldn't be able to beat it as he was, he didn't know how to use his spell yet and the Ape was physically stronger than him. So he did the only thing he could, and beat the shit out of the poor animal.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Drake brought down the staff like a hammer on the Ape, lost in his desperate attempt to kill it before he ran out of strength and energy. Several more swings he finally ceased, but only because he couldn't raise his arms anymore.
He prayed that the Vampiric Ape had died as he fell on his back gasping for air. The adrenaline pumping through his veins, his hands shaking from it. He also shook from the realization of killing another living thing for the first time as the adrenaline wore off.
The one sided beating of the Ape after the struggle had cemented in his mind that this truly wasn't any game. It also far too vivid and detailed to be a dream.
The smell of blood was now in the air, and gathering himself, he brought his hands holding the staff up so he could see the damage it had taken. There were teeth marks in the center of the staff but it had changed color from a dark brown to a darker red from the blood of the beast.
Drake could now feel and see the blood that coated his hands from the fight and wasn't sure what to make of it. The warm sticky liquid stuck to his hands and clothes so he tried to wipe it off on the grass, barely able to scrape off some of the liquid.
Finally he got up and walked over to the beast, a mode of light coming into existence by the foot of the beast. The light eventually fading after a second of vivid color and a small crystalline stone was left.
Drake wiped his hand on some of the cleaner parts of his shirt again before he picked it up and inspected the item.
[Sub-tree Stone: Internal Mastery] [Common]
[Unlocks Internal Mastery Sub-tree branch]
[Requirement: Have one or more empty Sub-trees. Have the Main Class-tree unlocked.]
Drake lightly read over the description, but soon succumbed to the smell of blood and viscera around him. Leaning against a tree away from the scene he let loose in miserable fashion the contents of his stomach.
"Uhhhh, why is it always carrots? I didn't even eat carrots…"
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