Ready? Fight!

He reached full health and mana just as a loud bang sounded, meaning the timer had run out, and John opened his eyes to see a familiar brown colored, disfigured dog at the edge of the clearing, sprinting toward him at full speed.

He cast Spy on the creature, and learned that it was exactly what he thought it was.

Duck Hunt Dog

Iconic Character, Level 5

Has broken the wall between video game and reality specifically to laugh at you for missing a couple of shots when firing at birds.

He summoned the gun from his inventory, and fired three quick shots into the dog, the last three of his magazine.

The result was a faceful of gunpowder for the dog and minor damage.

Damage Type Ineffective! .5x multiplier applied!

15 dmg! (3x)

That’s not good. I’m pretty sure those were my last few bullets too. To confirm this, he fired at the dog, the response being empty clicks. He put the gun back in his inventory as he noticed ducks rising seemingly out of nowhere, a giant black mass herding out of the trees.

Turning on him all at once, at least a hundred dull beaks swarmed on him. And that’s just the front of the swarm. He decided to cast Spy, to see if it were its own entity.

Duck Swarm

Level 10

A hostile duck swarm made out of every duck the Duck Hunt Dog has ever picked up after being shot down. They now serve him, and have no will of their own.

He called up a wall using Mana Construct, dozens of ducks slamming into the wall and shattering it. Dozens more grazed him, but thankfully most completely missed.

-2 hp! (8x)

The dog laughed that annoying, signature laugh as he watched John struggle to remain standing under the barrage of yellow beaks.

The wall had taken a little less than half is mana, and he dove to the side as the ducks went in for another dive bomb.

He leapt up, thankfully the evasive maneuver hadn’t cost him any health. When he got his bearings again, he noticed the dog running up to him. He conjured his most recent construct, expecting the baseball bat, but receiving the wall he had made.

Right, forgot about that, the dog ran full speed into the wall, which gave John an obscene amount of satisfaction. He backpedaled as he watched the dog and the ducks, careful to keep enough mana that he could summon another wall at any time.

Apparently, some of the ducks had broken their wings in the past attacks, as at least twenty of them had started walking toward him on the ground. They seemed to be moving straight in his direction, unaware of any obstacles that might block their path. A few were blindly running into tree stumps. This gave John an idea.

The next time the ducks came down for a dive bomb, he sprinted toward the dog. The dog, seemingly realizing his plan, started to run away, but hit the edge of the barrier. John ran full speed toward the cornered dog, the ducks close behind him.

At the last moment, he sidestepped the dog and created a wall between him and it.

The full mass of ducks, several hundred if not thousand, slammed into their master.

The dog laughed an insane, hellish laugh as its own attack killed it.

John finally relaxed as he noticed all the ducks dropping out of the sky.

That was too close, and that boss was for a level one dungeon! That’s crazy! I’ve gotta take Jenny with me for the next one.

He sat on a stump and waved the popups away as he realized his own mortality. If I even do anymore. That was way too close for comfort. I don’t want to die.

He decided to look at the popups he had just waved away, hopefully the rewards were worth it. He was bowled over by popups, so at least he hadn’t nearly died for nothing.

+200 xp

+$500

+Random Egg

+Duck Call

Quest Completed!

• +2 skill points
• +1 stat point
• +100 xp
• +2 levels in Marksmanship

Level Up!

Achievement Unlocked: You’re the Boss

Defeat your first boss! Hopefully the first of many!

• You will now see a boss’ loot drops upon using your Observe (or its variants)
• Enough XP to level up!
• Guaranteed Legendary (already awarded)
• You can now see the health of a boss with Observe (or its variants)

Level Up!

Achievement Unlocked: Like a Boss

Defeat a boss you couldn’t have defeated otherwise with its own attack! How resourceful!

• +2 Wisdom
• +1 Intellect

Those rewards were insane. Though he reasoned he wouldn’t get the same thing for his second boss, with the extra skill and stat points, he would practically be as strong as if he were a level above what he actually was, which was five now.

He decided to cast Spy on the rapidly fading dog, to see if he could still view its loot table.

Duck Hunt Dog

Defeated Boss, Level 0

The first boss you ever defeated. There was a good chance you were going to die here, so I’m impressed.

Common: $500 Uncommon: Explosive Bean Can Rare: None Epic: Mystical Egg, Light Gun Legendary: Duck Call

Damn, I would’ve liked to have gotten that Light Gun, as Marksmanship seems to be my main damage dealer.

Speaking of which, he needed to buy more bullets, pronto. They were ineffective against the boss, sure, but they wouldn’t be against other bosses (probably). Still, an epic item and a legendary item were nothing to turn up his nose at. He opened his inventory and decided to Spy each, starting with the ring he had gotten.

Avian Ring

Rare Item. Made of sterling silver with a jade stone, this ring is carved to represent a hawk. This ring makes the user feel lighter, as though their bones were hollow, similar to a bird, resulting in +2 Agility. In addition, any animal under the Avian classification will be 50% more likely to listen to your commands.

That was awesome! He slipped the ring on immediately, and noticed that though he did feel faster, the feeling of lightness the ring described went beyond his agility. He felt like his body weighed less. A new spring was in his step. Deciding to go in rarity order, he next used Spy on the egg.

Mystical Egg

Epic Item. The longer this egg is left to mature, the better the projected results (up to one day). Currently, the odds of each are: 20% born as adult, 80% born as chick; 5% chance of magical bird, 95% chance mundane bird; 11% chance of two random attributes, 33% chance of one random attribute, 66% of no attribute.

That was… interesting, and a lot to take in. He would have to run the numbers on that later to see what the chances were of him getting anything good. In the meantime, he used Spy on the Duck Call.

Duck Call

Legendary Item. You may use this call three times to summon a swarm of ducks to attack one entity, after which the ducks will disappear. Swarm does not scale with level of user and will always be the same level as when first called. Level of Swarm: 10. Remaining Uses: 3.

That, on the other hand, was super useful immediately. He could even use that to just farm this dungeon three more times… if he could recreate it. This seemed like the type of thing to save for when he really needed it though, so he figured he’d do just that. I do really want to see it in action though. He was extremely hyped about his rewards, but decided to spend the stat and skill points tomorrow during the bus ride to school, he would have a clearer head, and it would give him something to do on the bus ride.

He decided to text Jenny and ask about tomorrow.

John: Heyo, I think because of my powers I don’t have to sleep :D I was wondering if you’d want to fight some more baddies tomorrow, and maybe we’ll explain some stuff to each other? You’ve still not even told me what Abyss means

He didn’t think he was going to get a text for quite a while, but sitting in his room about five minutes later he got a ping, and noticed that she had replied.

Jenny: Hey weirdo :P most people aren’t awake at three am especially people who don’t have some sort of bs powers that let them avoid sleep. Lucky you I’m awake. Sure, we’ll go looking for trouble tomorrow, maybe later we can finish what Keith and Joan interrupted ;)

John: Sounds like a plan :D It’s not my fault my powers are bs, I am going to **** them though. I'm going to try to sleep, so I'll talk to you tomorrow

Though he had no need to, he decided to test if he could still sleep. Setting an alarm for forty five minutes before the bus came, he laid in his bed and tried to sleep. Immediately, he fell into unconsciousness, similar to a console shutting off.