《The Tower 101: A Gargoyle's Guide to Survival》 Chapter One ¡°Welcome to the System Interface for New Spawns,¡± a disembodied voice said from nowhere and somehow everywhere. It had all the emotion of a teenager working the night shift at a drive-thru. ¡°The what?¡± I asked, beyond confused by the voice and thensome. It felt very much like I had just come into being; one moment I wasn¡¯t and one moment I was. All I could perceive around me was a lack of anything to perceive. Is this what those sensory deprivation tanks are like? I wondered. Maybe, though even in those tanks there was still probably some sensation of having a body. I could feel I existed in some sense, but if I had skin I couldn¡¯t feel anything, not even the cold I would have expected from a void. I could think about moving, but no muscles tensed or flexed. I was pretty sure I should have had a body and yet¡­ ¡°Oh, you must be a deviant.¡± This time the voice was followed by the sound of a vacuum sealed jar being opened and a pulsing orb of light just appeared. It gently bobbed in place, putting off a soft green glow that reminded me of a sapling breaking from ground for the first time. It was soothing in a way. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®deviant¡¯?¡± I asked. How I was speaking was a mystery I¡¯d never solve. ¡°It is not within my parameters to answer that question,¡± the flickering orb answered, turning an alarming red color before fading back to the soft green. ¡°I am the Overseer of the System Interface for New Spawns. You may simply call me Overseer. I will process you for integration into the System.¡± ¡°What System? What¡¯s going on?¡± I demanded. ¡°Why don¡¯t I know who I am?¡± ¡°I will be the one asking questions,¡± Overseer said with that same bored tone. ¡°Choose your name.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a question,¡± I fired back. ¡°Unknown it is,¡± ¡°Wait, that¡¯s not¨C¡± Overseer flared a bright red as the pulsing light transformed into wicked looking spikes. At the same time pain lanced through what felt like my very being. ¡°You will speak only to answer my prompts or I will let the System randomize everything and shove you into the Tower with no tutorial quest!¡± The Overseer¡¯s voice boomed from everywhere and made every fiber of my being quake. It almost made me want to cower, but then there was nowhere for meto hide in that vast nothingness. As far as Icould tell there was nowhere for me to go. ¡°Now,¡± Overseer said, its voice going back to a bored tone and green color. ¡°Do you have a preferred gender?¡± ¡°Male,¡± I answered. I had already been thinking of myself that way even if I had no clue what I was or had been. ¡°Do you have a preferred race?¡± The question stumped him. He had a choice of race? ¡°Random it is.¡± ¡°Wait¡ª¡± My words cut off sharply as a lance of agony spiked through me for the second time. ¡°You were warned,¡± Overseer said. ¡°Randomizing choices. Opting out of the starting tutorial quest. Prepare for integration.¡± The unfairness of it made my whole being burn with rage. ¡°Dick,¡± I managed to mumble just as Overseer seemingly blinked out of existence. ::Handoff to System initiated¡­ ::Transmitting New Spawn information¡­ ::Downloading¡­ The text popped up in the middle of my vision at the same time there was a strange push-pull sensation that intensified rapidly. Yet, I was almost positive I wasn¡¯t moving at all. ::Upload complete/Download complete ::Handoff complete ::Analyzing¡­ ::Analysis complete ::Skipping tutorial ::Scanning¡­ Unlike with the Overseer, this time I couldn¡¯t talk. All I could do was read the text and rage silently against the unfairness of it all. I didn¡¯t choose anything except my gender and I definitely didn¡¯t want to skip a tutorial that could prepare me for whatever the hell was going on. ::New Spawn zone 3¡­ ::Current new spawns: 3 ::Tome connected ::Initiating integration¡­ There was that push-pull sensation again but even more intense and at the same time it was like I was solidifying somehow.. It wasn¡¯t uncomfortable, exactly, but it was weird. Really weird. 1¡­ The sound of trickling water tickled my ears¡­ 2¡­ I smelled earth and grass¡­ 3¡­ A light breeze caressed my skin¡­ 4¡­ I inhaled deeply and immediately choked as gritty, foul-tasting dirt clogged my mouth. Hacking deeply, I pushed myself up on trembling arms, my fingers¡ªclaws¡ªdigging into the soft soil beneath me, and managed to roll onto my side before collapsing back down. I continued to try to spit out the last bit of dirt, but my mouth was desert dry, and more than a few grains stuck stubbornly. I cracked open my eyes slowly, wary of how they might react to the light after so much darkness. The first thing I saw was the patchy dirt and grass I¡¯d had the pleasure of tasting only moments earlier. Lifting my head just a little, I saw the burbling stream only an arm¡¯s reach away. Reaching out toward the creek, I froze when I caught sight of my arm and the hand attached to it. I stared, trying to remember if I¡¯d always had scales, and gave up. Instead, I marveled at the shimmering purples, greens, and blues that created seamless gradients of colors. The green on my hand gradually became more translucent as the fingers tapered into points. By that point, I just accepted that I had claws, whether I¡¯d had them before or not. After a while, I had enough strength to push myself up and crawl over to the stream. Water meant a reflection to better see myself, but I skipped that in favor of using my cupped hands to try to get some of it to my mouth instead. The first mouthful I gargled and then spit out to get the last grains of dirt clear. With that done, I drank deeply, satiating a thirst I hadn¡¯t realized was there until I swallowed the first gulp. It was only when I felt satisfied that I actually paid attention to my reflection. It felt weird to stare at myself, but after the whole experience in the void, I was more than a little curious about everything. As the ripples settled, I saw the face staring back at me, and it wasn¡¯t what I expected¡ªnot that I knew what I was expecting. The angular contours of my head were crowned with sharp, ridged scales that gave me an imposing and yet almost regal appearance. Glowing green eyes stared back at me in an almost unsettling way ¡ªpiercing, predatory, and alive with an intensity that felt both foreign and familiar. My slightly elongated snout tapered to a point, lined with serrated teeth that hinted at a latent ferocity that continued the predatory theme, but when I ran my tongue along the inside of my mouth I felt the blunt, grinding teeth of an herbivore. So that¡¯s what I look like now. It wasn¡¯t comforting, exactly, but it was better to know. Knowledge is key to success after all. What I needed to succeed at was still a question. Survival, I guess? I stood up, shaking off the last of the water. There were no answers in the stream, just more questions. I had a name, sort of. A form, definitely. And a forest that seemed to go on forever. As I looked around, I spotted something I could have sworn wasn¡¯t there before. Next to where I¡¯d woken up was an open book. A soft golden glow issued from it, and I felt a pull in my chest that was so strong that I¡¯d moved to pick up the book without a conscious thought to do so. The cover was supple, finely crafted brown leather with markings of some kind embossed in gold on it. I did a quick flip through the pages and found them to be more like parchment than paper. It was the kind of quality that was meant to last. ¡°What¡¯s this doing here?¡± I asked no one in particular. I was almost positive it hadn¡¯t been there when I¡¯d woken up.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Well, I wasn¡¯t going to get any answers just staring at it. Being careful of the sharp points of my fingers, I lifted the cover to see the first page. It was a table of contents. Each word gave off a soft glow, and to my surprise¡ªand delight, if I was honest with myself¡ªI felt an innate connection with the tome. It was mine, though I was sure it hadn¡¯t been before coming here. Nonetheless, the knowledge of what it was and how to use it filled my mind. It was a tome, but it wasn¡¯t. It was real, but it wasn¡¯t. It was solid, but it was also fluid and ever-changing. ¡°Please have some answers,¡± I muttered like a prayer before tapping my finger to the glowing insight text. The page flipped just once, which made me feel a little silly for not just turning the page myself. I instinctively knew that wouldn¡¯t work for the rest of the tome. The different sections would expand as I learned things, especially the codex. The journal section would do the same, but only as I added to it. Hopeful that just maybe I¡¯d get some answers as to what was going on, I focused on the information before me: On the opposite page was an outline of what I assumed was supposed to be me. There were what looked like open sockets of some kind in different parts of the diagram and each one was labeled. Attributes: I wasn¡¯t sure what ¡®unbound¡¯ meant. Unbound to what? Did something go in the sockets? I shook my head and turned the page, sensing there was more for me to see. Skills (auto-selected): It should have been a lot to take in, but somehow just reading the information instilled in me a basic idea of what it all meant and, in the case of the skills, how to use them. I also understood that the amount I knew compared to what I didn¡¯t was like comparing a grain of sand to a mountain range. And how much of that I understood was more like that same grain of sand to a planet. These were questions I¡¯d have to find the answers to myself. I tucked my finger under the next page and thought to myself about seeing the quest section. The whole tome glowed softly for a moment as I flipped the page, and I got the feeling that it didn¡¯t matter how many pages of skills and attributes there were¡ªI could always flip right to whatever I wanted as long as I thought about it. Looking at the quest page, I saw that there was something already there.
Quest: Do You See What I See? Goal: Activate and configure insight vision Reward: Unlock Wisdom XP bank Status: Pending Accept quest? Y/N
I tapped the ¡®Y¡¯ and the status flickered to say In Progress. A little niggle in the back of my mind had me flipping back to the insight page. Immediately, my attention was drawn to the HP, MP, and Armor lines where each letter was jumping off the page in a wave before sinking back down and repeating the process. It was very clear what the tome was trying to tell me. I rubbed my fingers carefully over the HP waving at me from the page. Instantly a little heart icon appeared in the bottom left corner of my vision. It was filled with red and pulsing in time with my very heartbeat. I blinked a couple of times, but the icon stayed there. Strangely enough it felt natural, like it belonged there. I also got the sense that I could make it go away, but I left it as was. As long as it didn¡¯t block my vision I didn¡¯t see any reason not to have my health information easily viewable. ¡°Am I in a video game?¡± I asked the silent forest around me. It very unhelpfully didn¡¯t answer. I turned my attention to the MP and traced my finger over it. Just like the HP something appeared in my vision but this time it was a bar opposite the heart. It was filled with blue and I knew it would represent my mana. That also seemed like vital information so I left it there as well. The armor icon was a bar right by the heart, but this one was empty. Made sense as I was only wearing something resembling a loin cloth. That could hardly be considered armor. Out of curiosity I ran my finger over the skills heading to see if I could make anything into an icon. To my delight a long bar appeared between the armor and mana bars. This bar was slightly taller than the others and segmented into many boxes, but only two had icons. The first icon looked like a suit of armor made out of rock that mirrored the colors of my scales. This was a representation of the Fluorite Armor skill. It gave me a visual representation of the cool down the skill would have before I could use it again. The second icon was a spear and shield that looked like it was made out of the same rock as the armor. The shield in particular looked like it could be as much of a weapon itself with how spiky it was. Defense and offense in one; this was the Stoneshard Armory skill. Well, it seemed like a pretty good start for my class. Sentinel. I knew what the word meant; protector, guardian. But what was I supposed to be guarding? Was I going to get a quest for that too? ¡°I really am in a video game.¡± A melodic, pleasant hum tickled my ear for a moment and on instinct I flipped to the quest page. Everything was the same, except this time the status had changed to completed and below it was the words ¡°claim reward¡± which I eagerly traced over. I felt something ever so slightly change inside me. It wasn¡¯t inside me as if in my internal organs or something. It was deeper than that. Fundamental. I closed my eyes and drew the idea of banking xp into a big vat with a spout above it. I then went ahead and imagined that there were vats for each of the other attributes too as it seemed to reason I could unlock banks for them too. They were all disappointingly empty. When I opened my eyes I saw that the tome had turned to a new page. The vats were there spread between the two pages in all the detail exactly as I¡¯d pictured them. The top of the vat labeled Wisdom was open while all the others had lids on them indicating how they were still closed. ¡°Wow.¡± I got another gentle nudge in the back of my mind and turned the page while thinking about the codex. I frowned a little bit. There were disappointingly few entries and some of them only had question marks beside them. One of the few entries that was actually helpful was the one of the xp bank. XP Bank: The XP Bank allows you to store XP you earn in a certain attribute until they have become bonded. Once an attribute is bonded all earned XP will be applied to that attribute. Limits on the XP Bank may be increased. Well, that¡¯s at least something. I closed the book, then stared at it. What the hell was I supposed to do with it? I didn¡¯t have any pockets, no backpack, or anything else to carry it. A warm tingle spread through my chest and I looked down in curiosity. Like everything else it was obviously some hint at what I was supposed to do. I didn¡¯t see anything there, but it was almost as if the tome was telling me what to do. It made no sense, but neither did anything else so far. I held the tome up to my chest and couldn¡¯t hold on a gasp as it absorbed right into my skin as if it was an intangible object. And yet, I could still feel it. When I experimentally drew my hand back, the tome materialized as if I was pulling it from inside myself. ¡°Video game,¡± I told myself. ¡°I have to be in a video game.¡± The problem with not being able to see the sun clearly was that I had no way of judging the passage of time as I walked along the stream. It felt like it had been hours, but for all I knew, it could have been minutes. At some point, my stomach started to make it known that its emptiness was unacceptable, but I had nothing to eat. The water of the stream was a poor substitute for food. What does a gargoyle even eat? After trudging on for some unknown amount of time, I heard the first sounds of civilization. A little girl¡¯s laughter tickled my ear, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the pure joy it held. Her laugh was followed by many others, and I picked up my pace, hopeful of finding anyone that might be able to help me. ¡°Vara Breen, don¡¯t you dare get in that stream,¡± a stern female voice yelled, seeming to follow the children¡¯s laughter. ¡°But maaaa¡­¡± I laughed to myself as I imagined the pleading look on the little girl¡¯s face. I suddenly broke out of the heavy underbrush I¡¯d been trudging through and into a wide-open glade where I immediate had to cover my eyes from the sudden burst of sunlight. I hadn¡¯t even realized how dark it had been in the forest until that fun surprise. With my hands over my eyes, I was taken completely by surprise as the childish laughter turned to pure shrieks of terror. My stomach curled at the sound and my heart immediately set into a gallop. ¡°Monster!¡± I dropped my arm and looked around in panic. There were monsters in this world? Was that what I was meant to protect people from as a sentinel? I was morbidly curious but also wanted to head in the opposite direction of whatever these people were calling a monster. My eyes flicked over to the others in the group briefly, noting the gaggle of children running toward six or seven adults who were keeping watch, but I didn¡¯t focus on them. I swept the glade, looking for whatever the danger was, but other than myself and the other people, I didn¡¯t see anything. Did they see something in the forest that I didn¡¯t? It was always possible since they lived here and would know the threat of the area better than me. I looked back at the adults for some sign of where the threat was coming from. That was the only reason I saw the javelin right before it sunk deep into my gut. The impact made me take a step back as shock rendered me briefly unable to understand what the hell had just happened. ¡°Wha¨C?¡± My confused words were cut off as a second javelin slammed into my right leg just above my knee. I let out a roar of agony and dropped to my good knee while at the same time ripping the javelin out of my leg and then I yanked out the one in my gut. Immediately, a wave of dizziness hit me almost as hard as the pain did, and I tipped to the side until I was teetering on just this side of falling over completely.. There was a thundering sound of something heavy approaching me at speed. It was only as I lifted my head that I realized it had even dropped to begin with. Through swimming vision, I saw a blurry shape swing something at me. Suddenly I was tumbling, my view flipping between the sky and the ground. I vaguely noted that the little heart in the corner of my vision was completely empty. My thoughts went sluggish. Everything was going dark as my view suddenly shifted, and I just barely had enough brain power to recognize I was looking at my own body. My headless body. Chapter Two ::You have died. No pain. No terror. The void was more welcoming than it had been before. I could picture my headless body, and felt the faint pangs of horror that it happened, but it felt far away. I guess it probably was. ::You have no ancestral points. ¡°What are those?¡± I managed to ask before I realized I could talk this time. Despite what had just happened to me, I felt much more aware than I had been the last time I¡¯d been in the void. Maybe it had something to do with actually having a body. Whatever the reason, I needed to at least try and get as much information as I could. For a moment there was nothing, then¡­ ::Ancestral points are used to unlock racial abilities. They may be applied upon death or at designated areas. Points may be acquired by completing quests, challenges, or events. I filed that information away to go through later. If the void was giving out answers, then I had a lot more questions. ¡°What¡¯s going on? How did I get here?¡± ::You have died. ¡°No, I mean, here. This world or whatever. I don¡¯t remember who I was before, but I know all sorts of random stuff. I mean, why do I know what a bored teenager at a fast food place sounds like but not my name?¡± There was silence at that. ¡°Hello? Are you going to answer me?¡± ::Limitations on the System prevent answering some questions. Time before respawn: 15 seconds. Fifteen seconds? That wasn''t enough time for all my questions. I thought frantically. ¡°What do you mean by respawn?¡± ::Respawn tokens allow you to return to life at your last set respawn location. Tokens may be obtained through quests, challenges, events, and other sources. ¡°What happens if I run out of respawn tokens?¡± ::Final death of the character will occur. Time before respawn: 10 seconds. What were the most important questions to ask? There were so many. ¡°Can you give me any help or tips for when I respawn?¡± There was nothing for what felt like an agonizing eternity before the void, or the System, answered. ::System quest enabled. I¡ªkrzkttt-the System recommends finding¡ªkrzzktt. Time before respawn: 5 seconds. ¡°Wait, find who? Or what?¡± ::4¡­ ¡°Hold on!¡± ::3¡­ ¡°Am I in a video game?!¡± ::System is not authorized to answer that question¡­2¡­ ¡°What do gargoyles eat?¡± ::1¡­ ¡°Why did you say ¡®I¡¯?¡± ::Respawning. Good luck. I was careful to push myself to my knees before I took a deep breath. Inhaling dirt was an experience I only needed to have once, thank you very much. I heard the soft trickle of the stream close by and looked around to see I was back in the very same place I had awakened before. The soft sound of pages turning tickled my ear and I reached to my chest to pull out the tome. It opened directly to the quest section and I saw that there was indeed a new one from the System.
System Quest Death is not final¡­yet. Find a safe place for a new respawn location. Reward: Starter kit Status: In Progress Hint: Go a different way
Starter kit. Huh. That sounded like it really could have been helpful when, y¡¯know, I first started. Not that I wasn¡¯t grateful that I was at least getting something then, but did it really have to take me dying first? I shoved that annoyance away, it wasn¡¯t going to do me any good, and wondered if anything else had changed in the tome. Upon turning the page I found that yes, something else had been changed. In the insight section and on the same page as my stats were two new additions. Ancestral Points: 0 Respawn tokens: 2 My heart sank. Only two tokens? There went any feeling of security. With how fast I lost that last token I didn¡¯t have a lot of confidence about keeping the others. I didn¡¯t bother to make either of those icons for my insight vision. They were important, sure, but not something I needed to actively track. And I definitely didn¡¯t want too much clouding my vision.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. For a long moment I stayed on my knees looking from the tome to the forest around me and back. The hint had said to go a different way, but part of me did want to go back to that glade, to go back there and take some measure of revenge for being murdered for no reason. Those men had stolen one of my respawn tokens from me taking me one step closer to a final death. Then, well, I caught sight of my reflection in the water and the fire that had been building inside me was snuffed out. I had horns and sharp, dangerous features. I looked like the kind of monster a parent or guardian would want to strike down to protect their children. Could I really blame them? My shoulders slumped and with a sigh I returned the tome to my chest. I pushed myself to my feet and turned in the opposite direction I had gone before. I had been walking for a while when I stopped to slurp up some more of the stream water and think. I didn¡¯t know what to do other than keep walking along the stream. I was loath to leave the proximity of it for fear of getting lost in the thick woods. Although, considering I had no idea where I was or where to go, I may as well have been lost anyway. The already dimly lit forest was gradually growing darker, but I could still see clearly as day. I wondered if it was a gargoyle thing, which would make sense given what I remembered about them. Did I have other gargoyle abilities? What would those even be? As soon as the questions crossed my mind I recalled one of my racial skills. Gargoyle¡¯s Heritage (Passive) Effect: Enhanced strength and senses, perfect night vision, slash and bleed resistance, light sensitivity The answer was right there; perfect night vision. Light sensitivity also explained why I¡¯d been blinded stepping out of the forest shortly before I was killed. I splashed some of the cool water over my face and sighed deeply. I wished I had any idea of what I was supposed to do or where to go. Having the quest was nice and all, but I didn¡¯t know where to find a safe place for a respawn location. Did it have to be a specific place like a safe zone? How did I set a respawn location? A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I twisted my body around to look. I couldn¡¯t see anything there and now that I was paying attention, I noticed much more about my surroundings. It was quiet, no, not just quiet, silent.There had been plenty of birds singing and all other manners of wildlife racket during the day. Shouldn¡¯t there have been something making noise out there like owls, or something of the equivalent? Maybe this place didn¡¯t have owls, but c¡¯mon forests like this always had active nightlife. Unless they were scared of something and if they were scared did I need to be too? Turns out the answer to that was yes. I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye and turned just in time to see a figure lunge at me. I was bowled over but managed to twist just enough to not be trapped on my side or stomach. I didn¡¯t get a look at the thing, except for jagged, bloodstained teeth coming right for my face. The only thing I had time to do was get my arm up to block the attack. The teeth closed on my arm and powerful jaws cranked to close. The pressure was intense and for just a moment I thought it was about to bite my arm off. I felt more than heard a crack like something breaking, but I wasn¡¯t the one in pain. It half howled, half screamed and let go of me. The creature backed away, which gave me the chance to get up and get somewhat of a look at it. The creature was about my size as far as length but was far bulkier. It had arms that could have been mistaken for dainty if not for the honestly ridiculously muscular back legs. The hands ended in three serrated claws for fingers that were holding its mouth, effectively hiding most of its face except for wild, yellow-green eyes. I scrambled back and tried to get to my feet at the same time and just ended up making a whole lot of noise and not getting far. The creature¡¯s wild eyes snapped to me and it dropped its hands from its face, opened its mouth, and spit something onto the ground. It bared its teeth at me, and I knew immediately what it had been, part of its right canine. It broke a tooth trying to bite me. A growl rumbled from deep in its chest and it took a step towards me then used its powerful legs to launch at me. ¡°Oh shit.¡± Instead of trying to get up, I rolled to the side and right into the stream. It wasn''t deep enough for me to be submerged, but my roll did manage to leave me soaking wet. Not that I gave it much mind as I heard the creature hit the ground. I probably only had seconds before it lunged again. I got to my feet and turned in its direction. I guess that action took up those seconds, because the creature was already in motion. It wasn¡¯t how I expected though. Instead of launching at me with teeth and claws first it came at me as some kind of armored ball. I tried to duck sideways, but I wasn¡¯t fast enough, and it clipped me on the side with enough force to send me sprawling. II heard the thing crash into a tree with a whump followed by the sound of wood splintering and a few chips bounced off me. Once again, I rushed to get to my feet. As I did, I noticed that two icons were blinking at me: my skills. Something was telling me what I needed to do. It sounded good in theory, but how was I supposed to activate them? ¡°Stoneshard armory!¡± I shouted, because it was the only thing I could think of doing even though I felt ridiculous doing it. Whether that was the intended trigger or not, it worked. Power surged in my chest and then shot down my arms to my fingers. It seeped out of me in a swirl of color that matched my skin and took a different form in each hand. In my left hand, well on my arm really, was a roundish shield that seemed to be made out of roughhewn crystal the same mix of purple, blue, and green as my skin, or scales. Whatever. It had the look of something that could be just as much offensive as defensive. My other hand had a spear that was even more jagged than the shield, at least the spearhead was. It looked very much like it was meant to hurt just as much coming out as it was going in. The haft was about as long as I was tall and there was a sharp spike on the butt end. Whatever magic allowed me to summon weapons out of thin air must have also slowed down time around me because the monster was only just getting up when it was all said and done. The only thing was¡­I had no idea how to use either of the objects. I mean, pointy end goes in the monster was easy to say, but there was probably more technique to it than just thrusting my spear. And the same thing went for using the shield. It didn¡¯t matter. The creature uncurled from its cannonball-like shape and looked around for me. I brought the shield in front of myself and tightened my grip on the spear as its rage-filled eyes locked on me. It roared then launched at me yet again and I watched as it curled up mid-air so that it was coming at me with its armor-plated back first. I could only assume it thought that its armor would protect it. The creature slammed into me and took me off my feet, but it also impaled itself on the jagged spikes on the front of my shield. Its bulk smashed my shield arm against my chest and forced the breath right out of me. The monster used its momentum to keep going so that it rolled off the spikes. I gasped for breath as I listened to the monster moving around. I felt around for the spear I¡¯d dropped at the impact, an idea forming in my head. This stupid thing seemed to only have one trick; roll into a ball and launch itself at me. If I could just get my hands on¡­ My fingers closed around something and I rolled up and onto my knees. Sure enough the creature launched right at me. I dropped the butt of the spear against the ground and angled the rest of it in the direction of the monster. I realized the flaw in my plan just a second too late. The impact was as much with me as it was with the spear and I was knocked to the ground again and for the second time the monster landed on top of me. This time there was no bite, no struggle. The monster was still, which was a problem since its weight was pinning me to the ground. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t so heavy that I couldn¡¯t catch my breath. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn¡¯t escape how absolutely foul it smelled, like decaying meat and sour milk with a dash of rotten eggs. I gagged, gasped for breath, and gagged again. ¡°Get. Off. Me.¡± I punctuated each word with a shove, getting stronger and more emphatic with each one until it finally shifted off of me just enough for me to scramble the rest of the way free. I rolled a couple of time just to get some distance and then just flopped on my back. ¡°What kind of crazy place is this?¡± Chapter Three As if to answer my question there was a sound almost like a string instrument being plucked that caressed my ear at the same time the tome in my chest pulsed with warmth. It wanted to be pulled out, while I just wanted my thundering heartbeat to slow down, for my breath to calm. If it wanted me to look then it was just gonna have to float itself out of my chest. And then, it did. i didn¡¯t even realize my eyes were closed until they snapped open. There, floating in front of my face, was my tome. It was open to a new section.
Kill Log: Forest Rollaroo (Juvenile)¡­x1=10xp
Rollaroo? What kind of name was rollaroo? That had to be some kind of joke, right? The pages flipped to another new section.
Bestiary Gain more knowledge for every encounter with a creature that you have whether positive, negative, or neutral.
There was only one entry since I¡¯d only encountered the rollaroo, but all it had was the creature¡¯s name and the suggestion to interact with them to learn more. It seemed like a familiar game mechanic, but paradoxically I couldn¡¯t remember playing any games in particular. How did I know such trivial nonsense, but nothing of real importance? I was brought out of my thoughts as the tome once again turned pages on its own. This time it went to the Insight page with all my stats and skills on it and one in particular was blinking
Stoneshard Armory(Active/Summons)-Level 0 (10/100)
Huh. I¡¯d gained experience, but was that just from using it? If I summoned it again after the cooldown would I gain experience? Or did I need to kill something using the skill? At the thought of killing something, I looked over at the rollaroo. It was still stuck on my spear like a prime piece of meat on a kebab. The buttend of the spear was sticking up from the ground like a tilted flagpole with dark blood glistening on the jagged spearhead. I¡¯d killed something. Sure, the creature had attacked me with the intent on making me dinner, but maybe I could have gotten out of the situation without killing it. Maybe I should have tried. The rollaroo¡¯s body slid down the haft a little and I looked away. Then again, maybe it wasn¡¯t that deep. Maybe killing things like this wasn¡¯t a big deal in this world. If so, then I needed to get used to it, especially if part of being a sentinel was protecting others from creatures like this rollaroo. It took a little while longer before I felt recovered enough to sit up. There was a strange weight on my arm and I looked down to see what it was. I groaned. I¡¯d already forgotten about the shield being there. It hadn¡¯t exactly been in my thoughts while trying to recover. ¡°How do I get you to go away?¡± I wondered out loud. Apparently, all I needed was to think about it. The shield and spear melted into energy again and flowed into my chest. For a moment there was a subtle warmth in my core and then everything was normal again. Except for the tome that was still floating in the air. I snatched it and was about to close it when I noticed there was a new section under my previous skills.
Learned Skills Gain proficiency in a wide range of non-magical skills as you use them. Discover new skills by doing them and earn bonuses as you rank them up. Combat Skills
Huh. That just made me wonder if there was a skill for everything. Was there a skill for walking? If there was, I should have already earned something for how long I¡¯d been trekking through the forest. I looked over at the dead rollaroo again and wondered if I should do something like skin it or harvest anything from it. I had no idea what was useful from it, if anything. Hell, its meat could have been poisonous or something. The only way I¡¯d know is if I killed more of them and I didn¡¯t exactly feel ready to go hunting. In the end I decided to leave the rollaroo alone. It didn¡¯t even have anything to use for harvesting anyway and no, my claws weren¡¯t going to count. I didn¡¯t feel ready to go ripping and tearing things apart. Not yet anyway, but I did need to remember that I had them and could use them for defense if I needed. I needed to get used to being a gargoyle. I needed to find out what it even meant to be a gargoyle, especially in this world. With no other idea what to do, I continued following the stream to wherever it was going. My theory was that if I kept going upstream then I¡¯d eventually come to the source which would hopefully lead to civilization of some kind. Hopefully a friendly one, but I¡¯d take a neutral one if it meant safety. I came across a big, full bush with branches that were laden with plump pink berries. My stomach had been growing increasingly plaintive as time passed and they smelled invitingly sweat. I still didn¡¯t know what gargoyle¡¯s were supposed to eat. My belly was telling me to just eat something please, but I didn¡¯t want to eat the wrong thing. I didn¡¯t need to find out what indigestion was like for a gargoyle. I really wished I had some kind of identifying magic. I didn¡¯t need to know all the details, I just wanted to know if things were edible or had medicinal potential. Anything to learn more about this world. In the end, I didn¡¯t eat any of the berries. It just wasn¡¯t worth it and though I was hungry, I wasn¡¯t starving. I could wait until I found a city or something. I had to find one eventually, right? Not exactly. I did come to a very low, very basic bridge of sorts. It was really just more of a platform made of thick planks of wood. I was more interested in the road that went over the platform. It was wide for one thing, way wider than what seemed normal. There were deep ruts cut into the dirt in chaotic criss-crossing weaves that indicated frequent use by something with wheels. Wagons or carts, maybe? Maybe even carriages? Whatever. It didn¡¯t matter what made the marks. Roads meant people and people meant civilization. And civilization meant some place I could set a new respawn location. Hopefully. Of course, I didn¡¯t have any idea which way to go. The road across the stream disappeared around a bend a little ways beyond the crossing point while the other direction was straight and clear as far as I could see. It was really noticeable just how clear cut the road was straight through the forest too, like an archway that was well-maintained. I stood at the platform for a little while, just considering my options. I could keep following the stream and see if it led somewhere desirable. It seemed silly to consider that when a road would, at some point, lead to a town or something. That meant the choice was really to either take the road around the bend or go the straight way. I didn¡¯t see any inherent reason to go one way or the other.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. What I needed was to have some idea where each direction led. I needed to see things from higher up, get a lay of the land as it were. It was probably something I should have thought of earlier, but better late than never, right? I looked at the trees around me, really taking them in for the first time. There were different sizes of course, different growth and all, but by and large they were massive things. The stump of one of them could have served as the foundation for a small family home. The trunks twisted and wound upwards to a height that I couldn¡¯t even guess from below. The limbs and branches were almost as wild as the trunks and not a single one of them started within easy reach for me to grab. At least, not any of the ones close to me. I didn¡¯t exactly search the whole forest. Standing at the bottom of the closest tree and looking up at the intimidating height, I debated if I really wanted to do it. I heard the sound of pages turning that I knew meant I had a new quest so I pulled out my tome to take a look.
Quest Limb It To Win It Goal: Climb the tree to observe your surroundings Reward: Unlock skill, maybe more Status: Pending Accept quest? Y/N
Maybe more, huh? That definitely got my curiosity up. I did notice there was no flat experience gain for completing quests so that could be the ¡°maybe more¡±. I¡¯d just have to accept it to find out. So that¡¯s what I did, but before I put the tome away I decided to try something. So far it seemed like I could customize quite a bit about my insight vision, what with the icons and bars. Could I get some kind of notification system going? Nothing obtrusive, but maybe just some icons or something to let me know there was something new. It probably shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise at that point, but the tome reacted to my want. A new icon appeared near the top left of my vision. It was a book with an exclamation point. When I focused on it, the icon extended out to a banner.
Notifications will show here. Further information requires the tome.
Very interesting. I wondered just what all I could do as far as customization went. Immediately, the notification icon blinked at me and I focused on it again.
Functions section added.
Since the tome was still in my hand, I willed it to open to the new section. There turned out to be a number of options. In fact, it seemed like I could customize just about whatever way I wanted to. I closed the tome and put it away. I could take the time to really dig into it whenever I finally got to civilization. Or just someplace to rest where I didn¡¯t need to worry about things like rollaroos jumping me. Then, I turned my attention back to the task at hand. Speaking of¡­ I glanced at my hands and, more specifically, my fingers. They were weird, or at least they felt like they should be weird to me. I didn¡¯t have claws per se, more like my fingers just tapered to very sharp, very strong points. The last few inches looked like smoky glass, like they could break easily, but as I flexed them I could feel that wasn¡¯t the case. Looking back to the tree, I sized it up as I walked closer to the trunk. The twisty, curvy nature of it looked like it provided lots of hand and footholds. I could also see knots and holes, at least one of which appeared big enough for me to crawl into. All told it seemed like the shear towering height would be the most difficult part of the climb. Or, as I would find out, I really just lacked imagination. The climb started fine. It was pretty easy to go between the grooves that the twists in the trunk created. One of them was even big enough for me to rest in for a few minutes and look to see if I was close to any of the branches. I wasn¡¯t. I looked at the ground far below me and expected to feel uncomfortable or something, but instead I just felt a sense of peace, of rightness. Tension I hadn¡¯t even realized I¡¯d been holding released in a rush and I smiled. This was where a gargoyle belonged, up where I could observe the world and act, or not, how and when I chose. My climb continued until the next time I took a break. I was getting closer to the first branch now, but I wasn¡¯t close enough to reach it. I needed at least one more rest first. I was leaning against the tree, my palm flat against the trunk and my eyes closed, when I felt a kind of tickling sensation on my wrist. My reflex was to pull back to see what it was, but my hand didn¡¯t move. That of course really caught my attention and I looked to see what the hell was going on. There was something brown and viscous that had somehow already covered my hand without me feeling it. I thought it might be sap and just tried a little harder to pull away. My hand came off the trunk that time, but the sap and some bark came with it. It was when I tried to shake it off that I realized something was actually wrong. Not only did the sap not come off, but it started creeping up my arm, which was definitely not sap-like behavior. The stuff was still attached to the tree almost as if it was some kind of tentacle and it gave an insistent tug as if to pull me back. That was when I followed the line of sap up the trunk to the source. At first all I saw was so much tree that I still needed to climb, that is until something moved. Yellow eyes appeared over the edge of the branch I was trying to get to and glowered down at me. The sap on my wrist seemed to squeeze and then yanked harshly. That¡¯s when I saw that the sap actually led straight up to the owner of the eyes. I pulled back against the sap, but this time I put all my strength into it. I didn¡¯t break free, but I must have surprised the creature because there was suddenly some slack from above. The yellow eyes disappeared again but I saw what looked like feet dangle from the opposite side. ¡°Let go of me!¡± I yelled at my attacker. The creature responded by leaping off the branch. For a moment I just watched it fall towards me, super confused by what the hell it was doing. Why would it do that? I found out very quickly. The rope of sap didn¡¯t just go taut, it hauled me up at a startling speed. Every joint in my arm burned in protest and I flailed very unhelpfully. It all happened so fast that I was shocked into inaction. I¡¯m embarrassed to say it took me longer than it should have to realize that if I was going up and the creature was coming down then we were getting closer to each other. It wasn¡¯t until it grabbed me that I snapped out of it. It tried to dig its claws in, but it couldn¡¯t pierce my tough skin. I, however, could. I sunk them into the creature¡¯s shoulders at the same time it grabbed me with another set of hands and its back feet. I just dug my claws in deeper and the thing practically screamed in my face. That gave me a pretty good look at the inside of its large maw. Two sharp fangs dripped with something that could have been venom while the rest of the teeth were a mix of flesh-shredders and bone-grinders. A big pink tongue vibrated with the force of its fury and I could see down its throat, which made me wish I had something to throw. ¡°You really don¡¯t want to try to eat me,¡± I said as we struggled with each other. In response the creature used all its limbs to drag me closer to it, and subsequently, to its mouth. I tore my claws down its front arms and while they did release me, it didn¡¯t stop the thing from closing its mouth around my neck. I didn¡¯t take the chance that its fangs would break the same way the rollaroo¡¯s teeth had. For the first time, I triggered my fluorite armor skill. Warmth rushed out from my core and spread to my already pretty tough skin all over my body. Now, I¡¯d kind of expected the armor to form over my body in some way, like a shell or something. Instead, my skin actually thickened and grew out into spiky crystals. It was an odd sensation unlike anything I can possibly describe. I didn¡¯t feel it when the creature tried to bite down, but I heard the crack of at least one of its fangs. Its whole body spasmed and in one motion it opened its mouth and tossed me away from it, or rather it tried to. I still had a hold of it with my claws, which was why it couldn¡¯t swallow me whole in the first place. I got my legs up and drove my feet claw first into the creature¡¯s stomach and tore them down, slicing it open. It felt the rush of blood and other things, but I didn¡¯t look down. I didn¡¯t think I could handle seeing the gore of it, or risk being distracted while I was still fighting for my life. Or one of my respawn tokens. Whatever. It turned out that having its entrails become its extrails was a pretty good way to end the fight. It tried to use its second set of arms to hold everything in, but it was already too late. Its struggles to get away from me got weaker until it stopped completely. I got a flash of notifications, but I didn¡¯t think that looking at them while I was hanging very, very far from the ground was a good idea. ¡°Now how do I get out of this mess?¡± As soon as I voiced the question, I got an answer. The sap rope that had been holding us up melted into nothing more than a viscous goo. I yelped as both the dead creature and I fell.