Chapter 14

“Hi, Heather.” I greeted my unwilling morning guest with a wry smile.

“What is so important that I need to come over first thing in the morning. I do have a day job, you know.”

“How are your ribs?”

“Sore as fuck.”

“I’m making waffles, want some?”

“Okay, but I do have a meeting across town at 10:00,” she replied sitting in my sturdy oak dining room chair gingerly.

“Did you bring your toy?”

“I brought it.” Displeasure was evident in her tone. I thought I could change that easily.

I poured the batter in the waffle maker and made coffee for my boss, enjoying my second Coke of the morning.

“Can anyone see in right now?” I asked, after her electronic disruptor was buzzing on the kitchen table.

“I thought you were going to wait until we were in the Green Portal?”

“Something came up. I thought you needed to know. Since you are injured, I had thought you would have postponed our run.”

“I should, but I already have the time off.”

“This is my First Gold title,” I revealed the golden hued Earth’s First Gate Walker and its bennies in all its glory to her.

“Three Skill points? I thought you said one?”

“Everyone thought it was only one, I might have said a Skill point.”

“What’s this 10001 or less coupon? What did you get?”

“It’s a rebound Spell. When I successfully block someone, they take up to 50% damage of their attack. And no, I don’t know the criteria for the percentage determination.”

“Interesting, but that could have waited. I knew most of it, just not the two extra points.”

I swapped titles; ‘Earth’s First Super Human (Gold).’ Then turned it off once she read it.

“The fuck? Two more free Status points. Wait what the hell did you do to get that title?”

“When I Leveled to 3, I placed a point in Endurance. I kept two of the free ones until today. both of those went into Endurance.”

“I remember you said you started at 7 in everything. Did a 10 in Endurance gave you that title?”

“No. My Marble gave me a plus one to Endurance. That was why I suddenly added the two points to it. I wanted a ten before I added the Marble’s effects. We were speculating on my forum that ten was the theoretical max for humans. I wanted to see what happened after ten.”

“So an eleven makes you a super human according to the system. Did you receive anything else?”

I have a change in Status.”

“Wait. What ‘status’?”

“If you look under your name, you can see your current status. Like when Kate Blessed us it says: ‘Blessed’.”

“Okay.” I thought she was checking her own Status right then.

“Mine says ‘Steadfast’. When I click on it, it says that all Endurance related Skills are Hardened. No explanation on Hardened, but there is an asterisk following Endurance, Preservice and Pain resistance. My health went up too, by a lot, and it has an asterisk too.”

“What’s a lot?”

“Eighteen. It might be a coincidence, since I am so low-Leveled, or it might be a straight bonus. The formula for health is not given, just that I suspect it adds our Endurance per level.”

“Did it give you anything else?”

“Another 10K coupon.”

I gave her two of the waffles straight from the iron with syrup or butter and powdered sugar and me the other two. I used syrup and butter on mine, Heather stuck to syrup only. And lightly at that.

“Have you decided on which item you will redeem?” she asked between bites.

“As much as I want the pants, I will probably get the good jacket for ten thousand.”

“Why that?”

“The Orcs. Besides, it is a constant 4 DR and I can hide it under my clothes as long as they aren’t armored. I think. I can choose any form and make it long sleeved t-shirt. It’s better than anything anyone else is using.”

“It can get destroyed.”

“Maybe. But I will probably be dead by then if it happens. Or I can just go straight to Damage reduction passive. It gives an overall DR of 1, but warns that it doesn’t work on vitals, such as eyes, ears, groin and whatnot. It even says, ‘whatnot’ in the description.”

“How will that Skill synergize with your new Title?”

“No clue.”

“Go for it.”

“You just want to see how they match,” I groused.

“And? I still think it be best for you. Just add a slim Kevlar vest and the new undergarment set. It comes with a cup, which should be familiar to you. The thick pads have Kevlar and metal plates woven into them. It’s heavy but you shouldn’t have a problem, especially if you use a point or two of your extras in strength.”

“And how do I get a special-forces set of body armor?”

“You tell people you bought it, that you have connections to us and the state police. Thirty-five thousand for that isn’t all that bad if you think about it.”

“I can’t afford thirty-five thousand dollars, even if you do give it to me.”

“You don’t have that much saved up?”

“I do, but I still have to pay taxes on it.”

“Just don’t take any exotic vacations. You’re a smart man.”

“You sold me on it,” I replied after some consideration. The DR was permanent, “but I can’t afford thirty-five thousand dollars. When do you want to go into the Green Gate?”

“Thursday. My ribs will take months to fix and we can’t wait that long.”

“Expect five or six days inside. At best, we will be mostly camping and hiding a lot.”

“Okay. I have to go. Monday morning meeting.”

“Have fun,” I didn’t miss those.

“Come in to the office later to get fitted.”

I saw Heather out. She could have waited until next week for the run, but there’s no rest for the weary.

Soloing the Orcs wasn’t going to be easy, especially since it was the fifth run.

I needed to heal and spend my extra points on strength before entering. Damage Resistance of 1 for ten thousand was also too good to pass up.

Jason Blakely. Axeman: Level 3 (1138/3500)

Title: Orc Slayer (White), Zombie Slayer (White), Earth’s First Gate Walker (Gold), Ghoul Slayer (White), Earth’s First Super Human (Gold).

Status: Steadfast (=Hardened)

Points: 2-2->0

Strength: 7 +2->9

Force Multiplier: 1

Agility:7

Endurance: 11*

Damage Resistance: 1*

Pain resistance: 1*

Perseverance: 1*

Speed: 7

Intelligence: 7

Health: 43/63*

Mana: 10

Skills:

War Axe: Level 3

Sharpness: 1, +10% damage per Level above 1, adding to the +25% damage when attacking unarmored opponents.

Spells:

Refraction: 10 Mana, Recharge time 30 minutes; rebound some of the block with a Weapon against the attacker with a successful block. Duration 30 minutes.

Equipment:

Krell’s Rune Axe

Locked.

Money: 5699 silver

Inventory: 3/100

Learning my lesson after Endurance, I placed both points in Strength. I hoped to break the Orcs guards easier for faster kills.

After getting measured at the PRA, I went to Kyle’s. His nephew was training with him so I let them be, I could talk to them later. I spent my time correcting my strength, and over swinging, and under swinging practicing against the target dummies. Two points in strength sounded like a lot. It was more than that! I was massively stronger than before. More so than I anticipated. I went from a strong linebacker to a top tier weightlifter in one afternoon. I was constantly off balance in my swings and blocks.

I kept under and over compensating for my sudden increase in strength.

I think Kyle had enough of my bumbling, storming over to my practice area just before lunch.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“A magic item made me a lot stronger. I’m trying to get accustomed to it.”

“Fool.”

“Can you help me? My balance is messed up.” Breathing out, “so is pretty much everything else. It’s like when I try walking, I bounce or stomp. My swings are devastating or weak, no moderation.”

“Hmmph. Show me.”

I spent all day Tuesday there until he closed. Wednesday too. By the end of the second day, I was mostly normal. I had worked nonstop on practicing and adjusting to my newfound strength. The trick was not restricting it, but going with the flow.

My instructor gave me the stink eye when shooing me out the door both nights, mostly so he could lock the doors and go home. I noticed that even with almost nonstop motion for the last two days, I had barely any sweat accumulated.

My supposed ‘Super-Human Endurance at work.

After two days my control wasn’t perfect, but good enough. The Orcs should make for great practice grounds.

Thursday morning, Heather came over with my new PRA-assigned body armor. Her teasing about me paying thirty-five grand for a set was just to get in my craw. All of the top field agents were supposed to be assigned two sets. That was a practice more noted than actualized. “I can help you with this,” she held the cup in her hand with a grin while fondling my underwear.

“You’re my boss, isn’t that sexual harassment?”

“Says the man who lives with three underage girls.”

“Two,” I grumbled.

Making me strip in the living room, I tried on the new breathable Kevlar boxer-briefs.

The thin layered and padded Kevlar t-shirt had patches of stretchable material in the back, sides and around the shoulders for better movement. Otherwise, the material would be too stiff for a full range of motion. All of the articles were in a dull black material. I bet they were non reflective too.

“Turn around.”

I did.

“Well damn. Were you ever a model?”

“NO, I was never a model!”

“Shame I’d love to see those pics. Put the second layer on. It has a thicker weave for better protection. The long sleeves shouldn’t hamper you.”

It was a bit stiff. The buttons were only the first step which were covered with a Velcro flap. I began testing range of motion, liking the feel and movement.

“Slacks next.”

She even had a dark gray Kevlar belt and buckle. The last item was a camouflaged reinforced combat jacket. I wasn’t sure about that, but it didn’t hinder my motion, too much...

Not like my motorcycle jacket was any better. But the Kevlar inside of the lining of the combat jacket would give significantly better protection against the slashes of the Orc’s weapons.

Gloves, boots and helmet completed the outfit.

Using her camera phone, I was ordered to spin in place, “not bad.” She had photographed every step of my changing.

Fuck no, I never wanted to be a model.

“Your turn.”

“I was going to change when we got there.”

“It’s in the basement behind my furnace. I discovered it when I went to change the filter last fall.”

“Convenient.”

Heather was more body shy than expected. She wasn’t a great beauty. But had a decent, yet serious face along with a body that matched her lean athletic frame and workaholic personality. She faced away, blushing hard while donning the same outfit as I just dressed in, yet in the woman’s version with the addition of velcroed fitted broad saucers curved around each of her breasts, more of them overlapped on her back in well-designed areas. Arm, thigh and shin protection were not forgotten.

Her armor seemed stronger than mine, yet more rigid.

My jacket’s chest area was inlaid with smaller, more separated plates, since I needed a much greater range of motion than she did. I considered a set of overlapping plates in its stead in the back or experiment around with old fashioned metal armor like scale mail or brigantines. Something to think of in the future.

My Axe required my hips to swivel along with my upper body for the necessary torque. As a Mage, she did not need that much torso flexibility.

This was definitely not the regular combat outfit that she wore with her company in our previous runs. Both of us had thin covered reinforcements that we strapped to the outside of our arms and thighs. I also attached a set to my shins. Heather’s padding and protection was thinner and lighter than mine, I noticed after we were both dressed, yet the reinforcements and extra plates and padding more than made up the difference.

“Aren’t those too heavy for you?” I meant the extras that her armor had over and above mine.

“I can handle this much.”

“Don’t forget you will be wearing a pack.”

“We won’t be fighting with those, you said.”

“No. But it is possible to get surprised.”

“I’ll just drop mine if it happens.”

I’d trust her. She did have years’ experience as an active field agent with the FBI and had done pretty well in the last run, I thought she even outperformed Edna in a couple things.

I reviewed what we were likely to meet at our initial contact, where we needed to hide, and other essentials. Heather patiently waited and seemingly mentally noting each and every point.

Inside the Green Gate Level 1, mark five, we stowed our packs in a familiar and yet inconspicuous spot. We really needed a better way of labeling the runs.

“Open sky?” she asked while looking up.

“Be glad it’s not raining. My second run, it rained on and off the whole time.”

Crouching, she spied in the direction of the hut, while I stayed back. Inching back to me, “seven.”

“Orcs visit each other. They are probably eating dinner together, playing Bingo or something. Just get comfortable and wait.” Thankfully the pigs kept their peace when guests were over.

I had warned her earlier not to do anything to attract the attention of the pigs, once riled, they would squeal until the Orcs investigated or shut them up.

An hour later, dusk started falling. Heather reported that the other group left and the current group of one male and three females, were busy at their end of day chores.

“There isn’t much moonlight tonight and the starlight is almost useless. Even if we try and sneak up on them while they sleep, I’m not good enough not to wake them. Are you?”

“I might be. But not with my staff.”

We were not allowed to use any external weapons in the dungeons. She could use one of their machetes if she wanted. I’d remind her of that later.

“Then we wait until all four are inside. It shouldn’t be long now. As long as I can block the door, I shouldn’t have much trouble. If they see you, one will definitely break off and charge. Probably one, maybe two. The women are a little smarter than the men. Both sexes are cunning fighters and pretty decent too. As for strength, the women are stronger than you and the men are generally a notch stronger than them.”

“I’ll watch from here.”

I killed two, the male and a female before they got out of bed. The other two females died fast in the enclosed space, where my Axe, strength and new Skill Level, easily overwhelmed them.

“You can come in, Heather,” I called out. Using her Spell, she lit a branch on fire to use as a torch. I pointed out where the usual hiding spots were in this dungeon, then pointed at the weapons on the table and ground, telling her to stow those in her inventory.

“You can use those weapons. Keep one if you want to take it out. We will sell the ones you don’t want for two silver each.”

“We can take these out of the dungeon?” she was surprised.

“Yes. I always carry one in my inventory. We can use them if something happens with our primary. For those that have a one-handed weapon, these might be a decent alternative for a second. Or, like David the other day, if one gets caught in a zombie, he could have pulled one of those out and used it.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone because of fear of getting caught with a higher Portal.” She was on the verge of accusing me of something stupid.

“Yes.”

“I see.” There was no judgement in her voice. “Let’s go to the next one.”

We doused the torch and headed off to the next hut. It hadn’t moved. We arrived to the sounds of sex coming from inside the mud and straw hut.

I grinned at Heather and she soundlessly slapped my arm. The second hut’s occupants were easier to dispose of than the first. Nothing useful was found in inside. But my companion did point out that one of the wives had torture marks all over her torso after examination. We were moving much slower than expected, since Heather insisted on studying each hut and its surroundings. The Orcs too.

The third hut, we weren’t so lucky. The pigs woke and began squealing on me creeping up. One of the wives must have already been awake and while exiting the hut to shout at them to shut up, saw me.

Shouting her word for whatever they considered me to be, the naked woman snagged her weapon hanging inside the door and stepped aside.

My rush to trap the family inside failed. Sensing my intent, the wife stepped forward and met my initial attack, giving time for her family to wake and exit.

She died, but not before two made it out. Then a third.

I blocked the male and kicked the female, giving us distance. The third Orcess didn’t wait and charged low, hoping to tie me up.

Heather helped out with a Fireshot to the body of the kicked Orc, knocking it back and drawing its attention. I had forgotten that her Fireshot hit harder than normal if the target was at full health. Great for a sniper. I spiked the male Orc and allowed the last female one to open tackle me. She aimed at my thighs, and I thought I could fight her off.

With the second wife’s attention split between Heather and I, I had a brief second to slice the waist of my tackler, she hit me hard enough to wobble me. But I was safe from falling on the initial hit.

The Orcess’s dying scream focused the last one’s ire on me. Sidestepping away from the one who wasn’t dead yet, gave me room to kill the last wife. Finishing of the dying one, I separated myself from the family and thanked Heather for the distraction.

“I have your back.”

The small pouch of ten extra silver that she found under one of the wives’ straw pillow was always a welcome surprise.

The third hut Heather spent less time on; it closely resembled the first two.

They all did, in my opinion.

Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the forth hut, no one was inside. There were Orcs living in it, just not there at the moment. The pigs never shut up until we left the area, just like the others. We hid in the grasses just far enough away for the walking bacon factories to quiet down.