Rat Queen Round 2

“Mia get ready! The Queen is back!” I say. We group together, scanning for the boss. It doesn’t take long to find it. A crashing sound through the trees and a roar points us in the right direction. As soon as the Queen becomes visible, I use observe on it to see if it’s any stronger.

Rat Queen, lvl 15 (elite)

The Rat Queen is much bigger and much tougher than her subjects. She can coordinate their attacks and turn a rabble into a dangerous horde.

“It’s the same boss as yesterday! Same strategy, slow it down or stun it, and I’ll hit it with attacks down here. We’ll take care of the smaller rats first so we can focus on the Queen.” I let Mia know. She nods and sends a large gust of wind at the Queen to slow it down. It struggles against the wall of air, but ultimately its initial charge is slowed to nearly a halt. I throw out icicles in rapid succession, dealing as much damage as possible to the smaller rats. Luckily, there’s only a few of them to take care of.

I see Mia start to visibly strain. “Let it go, don’t go too hard yet!” I say. She nods and releases the wall of air, lifting herself up with gusts of wind. I send some frost at the Queen, slowing its movement as it shakes its head and charges at me. Icy formations appear on its fur, although these are noticeably smaller than the ones on its subjects. I cast the spell twice more, it’s movement speed now significantly slowed. Slow enough in both action and seemingly thought, for me to use an old tactic that usually only appears in video games.

I line myself up perfectly and when the rat is right near me, I dodge to one side and let it slam against the tree just behind me. The slow movement speed of the Queen means that the impact is significantly less than it would have been otherwise, but it still seems to take some damage. I fire a few icicles at it and Mia slams down with a wall of solid air, before it recovers, turns and charges again.

I get an idea, and I let off another freezing blast at it when it’s right up close. I’m lucky in my timing, and it freezes completely, less than a metre from my face. I stab it in the eye and it roars as the freezing effect wears off, blood spurting from the wound. One swipe of it’s clawed front paws sends me hurtling away, as Mia slams down into it once more with a wall of solid air.

I crash into the ground, narrowly missing a tree. I lie there, winded for a moment. I check my HP. I’m only down to 15HP. A stark reminder that I’m fighting way above where I should be. I breathe in and Gamer’s Body fixes my wounds, leaving me with my mostly reduced health bar. I stand up, dusting myself off as the rat charges again, clearly hurt. I fling more icicles at it while running, knowing I can’t survive another hit.

It charges after me relentlessly, determined to kill the thing that dared to blind it in one eye. Wait, that’s it! “Mia, keep it still! We have to blind its other eye!” I yell, casting freezing blast at it again. My mana bar is dwindling, but I know if I don’t keep fighting, it’ll kill me. I’m determined to control this fight, despite being the weakest being here.

Mia blasts the Queen with gusts of air, pressing it to the ground and making it difficult for the huge rat to move. I hit it with more freezing blasts, trying to get the freezing effect to kick in again. My mana bar is drained down to only 10MP by the time it finally works and the rat freezes.

Mia redoubles her buffeting air as I aim an icicle and fire from just out of range. It misses and the Queen swipes at me as the freezing wears off. I dodge backwards just enough for the counter to miss me, and fire the last icicle that I have mana for. It hits dead on and the rat howls in pain as it’s vision is taken away.

I move backwards quickly, guessing that it’s going to go into a kind of berserker rage. I’m partially right as the Queen starts swiping and clawing everywhere within reach of it's paws. I cautiously stay out of range and Mia lets go of the gusts of wind keeping it slowed. She lands next to me and we back away as the rat screeches and howls. “I’m out of mana, I can’t hit it anymore.” I whisper, careful not to speak too loudly and alert the Queen of where we are.

“Do you still have your knife?” Mia asks. I nod, showing her the blade, which somehow isn’t covered in blood from the rat. Maybe the blood is just a visual effect, instead of actual blood? “Give it to me. I see your health bar and I saw that hit you took before. You can’t survive another hit. I can, I’ll get up close and stab it.” She whispers. I think for a moment before nodding. I hand her the blade. She takes it and once again raises herself into the air, this time a lot more silent.

With a focused effort, Mia directs a gust of wind at the rat from a different direction to where I am. It turns and howls again, swiping at what it thinks is its enemy. In doing so, it leaves its side wide open. Mia swoops down and stabs the knife into the rat, raking the blade across its side. More blood bursts from the huge wound that she tears into it. She flies upwards again, then slams down one final time with a wall of solid air. The rat makes an angry yet defeated cry, once, twice, then falls over and disappears.

1500xp

LEVEL UP!

My health and mana bars suddenly refill, and I cheer. Mia lands and on impulse, I hug her. She wraps her arms around me for a moment before we separate and I realise what I’ve just done. “That was awesome!” I exclaim, ignoring the embarrassment and awkward feelings rising up in me. She looks at me, grinning. We look into each other’s eyes, a feeling of accomplishment growing that can only come from a shared challenge beaten. I look away before I stare too much.

“That ice magic is definitely cool!” She says and I can only agree wholeheartedly. It made the fight so much easier, even despite the massive amount of damage I took. I pick up the loot without looking at it and shove it into my inventory. “Aren’t we gonna check it out?” She asks. “We can once we’ve had some food, I’m starving.” I reply. She giggles and we exit the barrier, walking back inside to Mia’s place.

New Quest!

First kiss

Goals:

• Have your first kiss

Optional:

• Have your first kiss with Mia Burgess

Reward:

• 500xp

Optional:

• 500xp

Well that’s new. Yeah it’s a shocker, I haven’t had my first kiss yet. Definitely not a bad goal to work towards, and it’s something I would’ve liked to do anyway. I accept the quest, then I move on to thinking about how to spend my statpoints. As the last fight proved, I need more health. More HP is never a bad thing, but I’m not sure if I want to spend all my points on Endurance.

After contemplating, I spend one point in Intellect to make it an even number, three in Charisma to give myself slightly more likability and put the remaining six points into Endurance. I also got popups for skills levelling during the fight that I ignored, that I now want to check.

My character sheet is starting to look a bit better. My health bar has substantially increased from the points in Endurance. Every extra point between **** and I, is a point well spent. Cryomancy, Freezing Blast and Icicle all gained a level during the fight, the former slightly buffing ice spells, the latter two slightly reducing the mana cost and slightly increasing the damage and freezing effect.

A quick look at my money reveals that the money the boss dropped is $5,000, a huge increase from yesterday. Maybe it’s a variable amount? I’m not sure, either way, I’m really happy with it. I’m making good progress on all fronts, hopefully soon I’ll be able to take care of myself when it comes to gangs. I observe Mia as well, while I’m at it.

Mia Burgess

Lvl 19, student

Second Daughter of the Wind

19 years old

Single

Relationship: +59

Emotions: Tired, happy, satisfied

“Hey you gained a level!” I say. Mia looks at the party interface. “Oh yeah I did, that’s cool!” She replies. She opens the door and we get inside. We sit down on the couch in the living room and I open up my inventory. “Time to have a look at that loot.” I say to Mia while pulling out the first item.

Rat Meat

A container of meat from oversized rats. Can be consumed or sold.

A stack of the same stuff I got yesterday. This time it’s only a stack of 4 of the containers. I let Mia know what the little container is, and a sour expression comes across her face. “Not a fan?” I ask. She shakes her head. “Doesn’t taste very good. Some people probably like it, but certainly not me.” She says.

I nod, storing the container back in my inventory and testing whether or not I can combine the two stacks. It works, and now I have 11 containers of rat meat sitting in my inventory. I pull out the next item, another repeat of yesterday’s loot.

Oversized rat bone

This is the bone of an oversized rat. It has limited magical properties that make it useful as a crafting material.

“I guess repeats are to be expected, given that we farmed the same monster as yesterday.” I say. The new stack of 8 of the oversized bones will hopefully provide some nice upgrades to equipment. “Do you want any of these?” I ask. She shakes her head. “I have access to better materials. Besides, you need them more than I do.” “Thank you.” I reply, stowing the items away in my inventory and once again, combining the two stacks, with the resulting single stack containing 10 rat bones. I pull out the last item.

Amethyst necklace

A pretty necklace with a purple amethyst gemstone and a gold chain. No magical properties, but looks pretty.

I offer the necklace to Mia. “For you.” I say simply. She takes it and inspects it, an appreciative smile breaking out over her face. “Thank you.” She responds. Mia puts the necklace around her neck, fastening the clasp at the back and letting it hang down. She admires it for a second more before looking back at me.

“You know, I can’t explain it, but I feel comfortable around you.” She says, her pretty blue eyes staring into mine, the honest smile radiating warmth and contentment. “I’m glad you do. I feel comfortable around you too. Like I can be myself.” I reply.

She grabs the remote from the table and after a few clicks of buttons, puts on the same show we were watching before. Mia puts the remote down and moves closer to me, laying her head on my shoulder. A few thoughts run through my head before I ultimately decide to go with my instincts and put my arm around her, feeling a warm glow of happiness as this gorgeous woman and I cuddle on the couch. She doesn’t pull away or ask me to stop, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign. I settle in and enjoy the episode.

“Are you sure you don’t want some of the money? It’s $5000, that’s a pretty decent amount of money.” I say. Mia shakes her head. “I already get an allowance from my family that’s more than that. The necklace and the fighting experience is enough, and you need the money more more than I do. Thank you for the offer though.” She says.

It’s 7pm and starting to get dark outside. I need to start going home. I ponder asking her if I can stay the night, but I feel that we haven’t known each other long enough for that. “Thanks for today. Fighting rats with you is kind of fun, if fucking terrifying at times.” I say, chuckling. She giggles.

“Can I have your number?” I ask, as the thought strikes me that I haven’t asked yet. “Oh, sure!” Mia says, and we exchange numbers quickly. She walks me out the door and out of the barrier. “See you tomorrow at school!” Mia says. “See you!” I reply, hugging her once more. She embraces me for a moment, then we separate and I turn around, walking away with a smile on my face.