Of Brief Respites and Buildcraft

John, Ela, and Moira sprinted away from the crumbling ruins as fast as they could, drowning in the symphony of destruction they’d left behind.

With every wall, every floor, every pillar that crumbled, the collapse intensified, more and more stone and steel piling up to overwhelm what little support remained below. The shrill chime of shattering glass cast a dissonant melody over the low notes of concrete slabs slamming into each other. In the sky above, the darkness of the storm had begun to shift, the snow gradually melting away to once more reveal the deep bass of thunderous rain.

Clutching the singular piece of loot he’d managed to save, The Gamer ran as fast as he could, eyes flickering between the storm, his companions, and the experience bar crawling across the bottom of his vision. He would have sworn that he previously got his XP nearly instantaneously when fights were over, but this time it seemed to take an agonizing age to move.

’Or maybe it’s just because of what’s going on behind me,’ John thought, trying to ignore the burning in his legs as he struggled to keep up with the rest of his party.

Glancing over his shoulder for a split second, he caught sight of a huge cloud of black billowing outward from the bottom floor of the hospital. Crushed bits of stone spewed forth from every opening, swallowing the blown-out vehicles that lay in the long-dead remains of the parking lot around it. That creeping darkness flowed on further, devouring the other buildings on every side, racing down the street towards them.

John blanched, realizing that it was gaining on them.

Before he could voice that concern to his friends, though, his UI finally exploded in color and celebration, indicating that his XP bar had finally decided to fill up and grant him a level up. In front of him, he saw similar flickers of energy running up and down Moira and Ela as they ran - vibrant sparks of gold and green, respectively. The corner of his vision also began to animate, the health bars of his companions fully refilling as his powers healed them.

“Moira!” he shouted. “I’ve got the mana for a barrier now!”

“Turn into the next alley!” the Warden called back over her shoulder, pointing her hammer towards a small break between the buildings on their right. “That will give us some extra cover!”

Together, the trio veered off to the side with the storm of debris hot on their heels. Ela was closest, and got to the alleyway first, quickly running in with weapons raised to make sure the immediate area was clear of any minor undead. Moira was just behind, shield raised with a holy glow to banish the shadows. Last was John, who only just made it as the first tendrils of smoke began to creep in. Whirling around, he backed up just enough to make sure he could cover both his comrades, then held an arm out, palm upturned.

His mana surged from deep within - a refreshing feeling after running on empty for a while.

In contrast to the biting cold that had nipped at his skin since they’d entered the dungeon, the soothing cool of his own alchemical ice manifesting almost felt warm. The gusts of wind thrown around by the storm calmed around them for a moment, creating a tense stillness. Frost coalesced in the air as John channeled his [Swirling Mirrorjade Barrier], crackling as it ran up the walls of the ruined buildings on either side of him.

Then, as suddenly as it began, it snapped, a spiral of ice shooting up all around them as it wrapped itself carefully into a protective dome.

John completed casting his spell just in time, as a wall of pitch black shot across the face of the alley, then flowed inwards, swallowing the dome entirely. He could hear bits of debris bounce off the outer shell of ice, plinking softly, like the patter of rain on a car’s roof.

The dark cloud of debris fully swallowed them within seconds, cutting off what little illumination that crept through the never-ending cyclone above. The trio spent a split second bathed in shadow before Moira once more allowed her mana to flow into her holy shield, causing the divine bulwark to glow a faint white-gold. The light was relatively soft, but it was enough to let them see again.

Cautiously, John exhaled, letting his arm relax while making sure not to cut his connection with the ice barrier.

“Will it hold?” Ela asked, breaking the silence.

“It doesn’t look like it’s taking much damage from the random debris,” John said, mentally reaching out to feel the stability of the construct he’d called forth. “I doubt we’re in danger of it collapsing unless another monster finds us.

He turned to smile at Moira. “What now, though?”

The Warden nodded, relaxing her shoulders as the adrenaline began to leave her. “We should wait out the dust cloud. It would be difficult to navigate or defend ourselves while blinded.”

“Makes sense,” The Gamer replied, exhaling wearily. Then, moving cautiously in the confined space, he turned and sat down. “I wouldn’t mind a minute to catch my breath after that, anyway. How long do you think it’ll be stopped up out there?”

Ela and Moira shared a look, then both decided to join him in resting. The blonde first handed the sword she’d borrowed back to John, before unstrapping her shield from her shoulders and moving over to sit closer to him. The Warden, meanwhile, planted her shield in the middle of the dome so that it could continue to illuminate the trio.

“With any luck, the wind from this hurricane will help clear things up quickly,” the Warden said, gazing out into the shadow that had enveloped them. “I believe that the high humidity from the rain will help as well.”

“I suppose if the wait gets too lengthy, I can try to clear some of it out with my magic,” John said, smiling dryly as the redhead sat down across from him. “Though that’ll probably burn mana really fast.”

“Well, while we wait,” Ela interjected, “can you bring out the weapon case again? I should check and make sure nothing was damaged when we used it as a shield.”

John blinked twice, then willed his inventory open, scanning with his eyes to find where the container had ended up. “Oh, yeah. Good call. I didn’t even think about that when I threw it in front of us.”

“Better the equipment than us, if it is broken,” she sang, reassuringly.

Grinning, John nodded his agreement, carefully manifesting the case between them while making sure not to accidentally spawn it poking through one side of the dome. There was a wide dent across the top face where it had eaten the first hit, and near one of the bottom sides was a deep gash where the second had sheared the metal face apart, exposing the black foam padding underneath.

Shifting so that Ela could situate herself in front of the container, John turned to their other companion. “Well… what do you make of this, so far?”

“I must admit, that creature was far more formidable than I anticipated based on your story,” Moira replied, placing a hand on her side where the boss had tried to crush her. There, the silver sheen of her armor was now stained with the boss’ black blood. “Were the previous monsters you battled that powerful?”

“No, definitely not,” The Gamer said, tilting his head back to think. “That thing was level eighteen or nineteen, if I remember right - twice the level of the last boss we fought - heck, that made it nearly twice my level…”

“So the undead here are twice as powerful as before?” Moira inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh, maybe? That boss was about twice as strong as the last boss we fought, yes, but, kinda by definition, a boss in a game should be stronger than all the more common enemies around it,” John explained, scratching his chin. “No way to know for sure how dangerous the small stuff will be until we run into some.

“There is one thing we can bet on, though. The popup I got when we entered said that there’s two bosses in this stretch of the dungeon, which means we’re going to have to fight one more monster at least that strong before we’re done.”

The Warden frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “The Lady has set out quite the task for us, then.”

“Yeah, I guess you could put it like that,” John said, shrugging. “I have no idea if Lady Gaia made this place for us to explore, or if it already existed and she’s just letting me take us there.”

“Regardless of what this world truly is,” Moira replied, “She gave us one of your ‘quests,’ commanding us to fight through it, yes?”

The Gamer nodded, remembering the popup he’d gotten back in the hallway of the manor. “Yeah, she did… and, generally speaking, games don’t give you quests that are meant to be impossible…

“That thing was probably about as strong of a boss as we could have taken, though.” He frustratedly ran a hand over his forehead and through his hair. “If I'd been half a second slower, that thing would have taken my head off in the elevator. Nearly skewered me down in the snow, too. I’d be dead if you hadn’t jumped in front of me.”

“None of us would have survived without the others,” Moira stated, firmly. “Had you both not gotten to me so quickly after the floor collapsed, I am not sure how long I would have held out.”

“I seem to recall you jumping to shield me as well,” Ela said, poking John’s side to get his attention.

The Gamer sighed, but couldn’t hold back the smile her voice brought on. “Yeah, well, we’re both pretty lucky that at least some of my powers still work when I’m out of mana…”

’I kinda just fell into being a mage based on my early stats and spells,’ he thought to himself, continuing that thread internally. ’I don’t really have a backup plan besides grabbing whatever weapon I’ve got lying around in my inventory and pretending I know how to use it.’

John pondered that for a few moments, but, before he could vocalize it as a question to his comrades, his train of thought was interrupted.

“Speaking of the dangers we have faced so far,” Moira said, her voice sharper than it had been a minute ago, “what exactly is that thing you risked getting crushed to dig up?”

“Oh! Uh, I’m not sure,” John said, his cheeks flushing faintly red. He’d been so distracted running - and then talking - he hadn’t even gotten around to using [Observe] on the loot yet.

“You don’t know?” the Warden exclaimed, frustratedly. “Why did you stop for it, then!?”

“OK! OK! Hold on!” he replied, raising his hands defensively. “That sounds worse than I mean it. Lemme explain.

“So, I’m not entirely sure where and when it started, but it’s common shorthand in video games to use colors to quickly distinguish the rarity of items. Remember when the boss died, and all those different colors started flying out? That’s what that was - items of all sorts dropping for us to pick up.”

John held up the metal-encased book he’d looted, appreciating the heft as he showed it off. Now that he had a chance to actually look at it, he thought it looked to be about the thickness of an encyclopedia or dictionary, but with an odd, patchy binding holding it together. He figured it might have been glued together from a few different books, judging by the mottled colors that made up each section.

It wasn’t the book’s size that gave it weight, though - it was the armor that was fastened to it. Someone had taken sheets of scrap metal and fastened them to the outside covers, armoring the spine, front, and back in a similar metal that the armor John was wearing was made of. He guessed it was heavy enough he could use it to bash a zombie’s brains in, if he was ever that ****.

Unlike the sword and shield he’d received previously, this was devoid of any attempt at decoration or flourish on the outside, giving it an exceptionally plain and practical look. The only hint of real color he could see was a faint blue tinge to the pages that were barely visible past the outer plating.

“This little thing,” John said, turning it around in his hands, “was glowing orange-ish, which is basically always the color for something unique or ‘legendary.’ Even if I didn’t know what this item specifically was, I could know immediately that it was going to be the most powerful reward we earned - or at least the most rare.”

’Let’s hope my guess about that was right…’ he thought, finally casting [Observe] on the one piece of loot he’d gotten.

“Yeah, see!” he exclaimed, happily, willing copies of the window to be shared with his companions as soon as he read the word “legendary” in the rarity section. “It’s a spellbook, it looks like.”

“Interesting,” Moira said, her anger momentarily measured by curiosity.

John scratched the back of his neck, nervously. “It was a risk, definitely, and, uh, maybe not the smartest one to take, in hindsight, but there was a reason behind it, at least.”

As his voice trailed off, all three of them turned to the small glowing windows, reading about what item he’d risked his life to save. Though he was sure the description would provide much desired context on the world they were in, John couldn’t help but let his eyes be drawn immediately to the stat bonuses - they’d caught the word ‘regen’ and his will to read in order melted away instantly.

’That’s… really good. This thing would basically double my regeneration immediately,’ The Gamer thought, before catching himself. ’Ah, my staff takes up both hand slots though. In a literal sense, I bet I could carry both, but I doubt the bonuses will apply if I try to cheat like that…’

Brow furrowing, he took note that both the staff and book had been damaged before moving on to weighing his options. *’I’d be trading a damage bonus and maximum mana for the added regeneration. Probably the former is better in combat, and the latter out of? That’s not counting the damage type conversion, though.

’I’m fairly certain that holy damage is good against these undead, but that might not always be what I’m throwing spells at. I guess, for now, I can just stick one in each weapon set…’

Opening his inventory and character sheet, he quickly juggled his items around, setting his trusted staff up in his first slot and the new spellbook in his second. Though the new item took up only one hand, he chose to leave his other empty, to give himself some flexibility. He still had the leg-strapped sheath for the spare dagger, so he could choose either to draw that manually or go out of his way to equip the Shield of the Final Knight from his inventory.

’I’m going to need to keep practicing my item swapping,’ he thought, flipping his sets so that the book appeared gently in one hand, ’...and maybe get some strength to help with carrying this. Who knew mage items could have a STR requirement?’

Mage.

That word brought him back to an earlier train of thought. So far, he was basically still just playing off the stat block he’d started with - a heavy focus on intellect, with only the barest spread of others besides libido. Technically, he had access to a sword, shield, and armor, as well as a party supporting him.

John opened his character sheet to look at his stats again, and was caught off guard - he hadn’t just gained one level, he’d gained two!

Blinking with surprise, he thought back to his previous level analysis; he supposed it made sense that he’d get a huge chunk of experience from facing a boss that was so much stronger than him, but it was still a lot. Then, he checked his notifications, finding one new one waiting for him.

’That makes a little more sense,’ he thought, making a mental note for later about the lore tidbit hidden in the popup, as well as the second instance of a “???” secret reward. ’This plus the boss just barely pushed me over the line… that gives me a lot more flexibility.’

He now had ten entire stat points left to distribute - enough, John figured, to make an immediate and meaningful difference if he wanted. He could push agility or charisma over twenty-five, if he wanted, likely unlocking a new scaling bonus for either of them, or he could push a lot of points into either his mana or regen stats.

“If I was gonna try and split my focus, now’s about the time…” he muttered, thinking back on the helpless feeling of being out of mana as the boss bore down upon him. “I either balance my physical stats so I’m not totally helpless in a fight… or I double down, and push through until my mana problems are fixed…”

“What was that, John?” Ela asked, her voice snapping him out of his calculation spiral.

The Gamer blushed, realizing that he’d let his internal debate out into the open. “Uh, sorry. I’m just debating what to do with my level ups.”

“Do you want to talk through it?” the blonde asked, gently nodding towards Moira. “Maybe we can help you decide.”

“Yeah, actually,” he said, smiling at her. “That would be nice. You both have a lot more actual combat experience than I do, so you’ve got a more realistic perspective.”

“What exactly is the question, John?” Moira asked, leaning in to lend her attention. “I still am not entirely sure I understand how this game system works.”

“Well, here, lemme show you my window, and take the explanation from the top…”

A/N: Real life has been very bad for myself and my family recently. I apologize for delays, again.

patreon.com/DinoWritesFantasy