Chapter 19

According to the Doctors at the hospital, Toff would be kept in a coma for a week, give or take while he recovered.

Cait was seriously down when she found out about Toliver’s death. She didn’t join us after our usual powwow at my house for the box opening ceremonies.

Heather handed over her Silver Key for a promise of a return Key, Ed’s firstborn and a host of other unreasonable demands.

Heather’s untoward cackle had to have been heard three floors down when Edna unlocked her chest, only to discover a Spellbook and a diamond. Neither, should have elected that over-the-top response, but Ed’s disgust at reading the title of the Spell sealed it for the rest of us.

“Rain of Fire.” Requirements: A Level 4 Fire Mage with 25 mana. Casting cost 15 Mana. Recharge time 15 minutes. Area of effect; 10m x10m x 10m.

The bartering and bickering session ensued at length, with excessive volume. When Edna brought Nat’s name into the mix, Heather quickly capitulated to all of my frontline partner’s, demands. And then some.

Heather now owed Edna her first-born and other excessive promises and favors.

Ed did follow my example and unlocked her Rune blades after her 2500 Silver nugget diamond redemption. Her scroll reading was incomprehensible to me, and the rest of us, like mine was to them.

I did discover her blades’ name: Sonya’s Scissors. The Rune she unlocked was Leech. She shared its description: on a successful attack that penetrates the skin of a living creature with blood as the primary medium, the blades have a 2% chance of draining 1% of the target’s lifeblood, thereby healing the wielder. Stackable chances on the same target.

“So, you kill bosses and the energizer brute bunny, kills mobs. I like it,” Kate grinned. Strained, but a faint smile eked out. Tol’s death hit us all hard.

Earlier, I had casually mentioned that I just might have a certain class’s restricted Level 5 spellbook in my inventory. Those big dark grey eyes stared me down to make sure I wasn’t lying. I grinned and walked to the shower. No answers were forthcoming. She had been in a better mood since.

Seeing Toliver die like that was very hard on the girl.

“Alright Jason, what broken Skill are you going to unlock next?” Ed was not pleased that she had to trade her Spellbook away from our first Silver lockbox, even if she couldn’t use it.

A strange coupon and a Skill book. The book was a familiar one. “Ed, I’ll trade you this Skill book for everything that you traded Heather for that Rain of Fire Spell.”

“What is it and what’s the catch?”

“No catch.” Tossing the book over to the disgruntled woman, “Catch.”

She did and instantly agreed on reading the cover. She didn’t even ask if I were serious. That book disappeared in a millisecond.

Damage Resistance. Just like the one I redeemed with my purchase. It had saved my ass countless of times. I had considered it my best Skill. I knew better after that run.

Jason, remind yourself to thank Heather for that suggestion. I said to myself for the countless time.

I even received a warm hug from Ed, a first, “Thank you, Jason.”

“Hey, I can’t let my partner get chopped up and scratched all the time. Now can I?”

“Thanks,” she repeated warmly.

Warm was a new side to my friend. One I had not seen before.

“Quit playing all lovey-dovey,” Heather demanded, still high on her new Spell.

“Get a room. But not until you tell us what else you got,” Kate nagged me.

“A coupon.”

“Another ten thousand one?”

“No, a weird one.”

I handed it over to Kate, who was all impatient.

“Increase the rating of one title. User’s Level cannot exceed seven. What the hell does that even mean?” Kate questioned. “You know if it were anyone else other than you, this thing would be worthless. We only have white titles so far.”

Huh? They didn’t get the Undead Scourge and Ghoul Lord Slayer?

“Check again,” I asked to see what she said was true.

“OH, I missed that.” I felt better. “I got Ghoul Lord Slayer; a green title.”

And suddenly not so much better. “Anything else?”

No. Nor did anyone else.

“No one else got a Blue title of Undead Scourge?”

“And Jason breaks another dungeon. You suck.” Natalie threw at me.

“I can see why he got it. He did kill half of the zombies himself.”

“It was nowhere near that many.” Maybe a third. At most.

“HALF. Maybe more. You did Jason. I watched. We watched. You might not want to talk about it, but you killed a thousand zombies and dozens of ghouls all by yourself while the rest of us protected your back.”

“No one besides you, could have taken that hit from the Ghoul Lord and lived. Look at Christoff and Toliver. One died and the other is in a coma even after downing a magic potion. He too would have died. Chris’s (he didn’t like being called Chris) chest was caved in. You got back up and fought. You earned that title,” Kate was adamant.

“Maybe.”

“Just use your stupid coupon. We need you strong.”

“Jason, use it on the Superhuman one. The Gate one might have serious repercussions.” Heather suggested.

“Ed, what do you think?”

“Superman. Go for it.”

“Okay.”

Jason Blakely. Axeman: Level 4 (2410/4000)

Title: Orc Slayer (White), Zombie Slayer (White), Earth’s First Gate Walker (Gold), Ghoul Lord Slayer (Green), Earth’s First Hero (Rainbow), Skeleton Slayer (White) Undead Scourge (Blue).

Status: Steadfast* Hero#

Points: 4

Strength: 11*

Force Multiplier: 1*

Agility: 8

Endurance: 12*

Damage Resistance: 1*

Pain resistance: 2*

Speed: 7

Intelligence: 7

Will Power: 1**

Health: 33/105*

Mana: 29

Skills:

War Axe: Level 3

Undead Scourge: +10% damage versus Undead.

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

Armor Piercing: 2. The second Level gave me a boost of +10% damage over a +25% from Level 1.

Physical Vulnerability Curse: 1. 10% chance of Cursing the target to receive increased damage from all physical damage sources.

Equipment:

Krell’s Rune Axe:

Unlocked First Rune:

Rune of Stamina; a 10% chance to absorb 1% of target’s Stamina per attack. If multiple targets were struck on the same attack the % chance stacked on all targets affected by that one attack.

Spells:

Refraction 10 Mana, Recharge time 30 minutes; rebound some of the block with a Weapon against the attacker with a successful block. Duration 5 minutes.

Extended Slash: 4 Mana, Recharge time 10 minutes; Duration; 1 minute, all Melee attacks extend an additional two meters, dealing the same type of damage as the weapon, in an arc projected from the tip of the blade or head of the weapon used. Intermediate Level Skill.

Money: 4303 silver

Inventory: 8/1000 (two brass, one silver and one gold keys. A mostly used First Aid kit and a couple other minor tidbits.

(*=Hardened)

(**=Advanced Attribute)

(#= bonus to Health, Mana, Status points per Level, Luck, Charisma, Healing rate, Mana regeneration, experience per run. Restriction removed for learning new Skills, Restriction removed for learning new Spells. Ability cap removed. Level cap removed. Inventory cap extended. Boss encounter rate greatly increased. Hostile encounter rate greatly increased.)

I was glad that I was sitting already. WtF?? Hero? What was with all these caps?

Boss encounter rate? Hostile encounter rate...

“Jason, what happened? Are you okay? You glowed for a second there.”

They could wait a minute or two. I needed to read and reread everything on my Status. There were a ton of changes.

“Hold on,” I snapped at them. I was still trying to process everything I read.

“Kate, can you get me a Coke please?”

“Sure.”

“I think I know why the Level cap on the title upgrade exists.” Accepting the Coke from Kate, “Thanks.”

I didn’t think that was what they expected me to say first.

“Why?”

“My Gold title was upgraded to a Rainbow one. What-ever-the-hell that means.”

“So, what is it now, can you show it to us?”

“Not going to show it to you,” holding up a hand, “I will tell you what it says though. My Status changed along with a ton of my other Statuses.” Taking a breath, “I’m Earth’s First Hero. I’m a Hero now. What the fuck.”

“What’s the difference?” Edna meant in titles.

Chirp, Chirp, *Chirp. Heather silenced her cell and checked to see what the alarm was for. We all paused our questioning until she was back with us again.

“Five minutes ago, a black portal appeared in the gardens above the city hall building.”

“Five minutes ago. Just like exactly when Jason upgraded his title,” Kate repeated for effect. Not that any of us would forget.

“I would guess so.”

“Anyone want to bet that that Gate is a personal invite to Jason?”

“No bets,” Heather agreed with Edna.

“What will happen if anyone else goes in?”

“Death. / Die.” Heather and Edna agreed with each other again.

“Jason are you holding back on us?”

“Heather, you might want to warn Director Quinn not to let anyone enter that portal for now.”

“You are holding back.”

“No, I just haven’t had time to digest everything yet.”

“Tell us first. I can call the director later.”

“My new title granted me:” I paused and then read the bonuses at the bottom of my Status aloud, “Bonus to Health, Mana, Status points per Level, luck, charisma, Healing rate, Mana regeneration and experience per run. Restrictions removed for learning new Skills. Restrictions removed for learning new Spells. Ability cap removed. Level cap removed. Inventory cap extended. And last, the bad side of the coin; Boss encounter rate greatly increased.”

Heather broke the silence first, “Does that mean the ghoul lord was your fault?”

“I don’t think so, remember, I just got that title now.”

“Is it me, or does everyone think that Jason has been pushed in this direction from the beginning? I mean, how many people get their own Green Gate in their basement?” Kate accused me or maybe the gods that be.

I ordered a few pizzas. I was suddenly very hungry and it was too early for beer.

Our talk never quite ended. Even four hours later, those three were still at it, while I mostly listened.

Mostly.

I needed a distraction while they alternated between attacking and supporting me. I still had not chosen the cupboards for my new kitchen, nor the countertops. Bringing up the site that Bruce, my builder, recommended, I played mix and match.

“Ed, what do you think of me placing three points in my weapon and one in Sharpness, which is great against unarmored opponents?”

I honestly did not ask that question just to get those three to change subjects. Really!

“Level four should be okay. If it’s you.” She didn’t want anyone to be better than her with their weapons.

“Why Sharpness?” Kate asked.

“Everyone we are fighting is unarmored. Jason already has a two in Armor Piercing so that would make sense. I think.” Heather spoke my thoughts.

“Why not save the last point? Who knows what you might want to add later. Besides, it’s not like you don’t cut through everything right now.”

Ed had a point.

“Save the Point Jason,” was Kate’s vote.

“There is something serious we are not considering.”

“That we are rushing too fast?” Heather guessed.

“Yeah, we did not belong in level four. We made a ton of mistakes.”

“We were greedy,” Kate thought aloud.

“We rushed. We should have backed away from the center of the city, where the ghouls were everywhere,” Edna added.

“The cargo container was obviously a trap,” was Heather’s input.

“Let’s not go back there until we are all fours and fives.” I agreed with Kate’s suggestion. So too did Ed.

“The experience that it offers is a trap, the teams that run it now are on borrowed time.”

“I think that level is meant to teach us safety awareness. It’s not the level, it’s knowing when to back off and knowing when not to chase the shiny prizes too aggressively.”

Heather had a point.

“So, you are saying that we should return?”