Jacob glanced around the room looking for anyone to pick up on his prompt for help. He stood there with his grin fading as no one appeared as he had expected. “So much for that triggering an introduction script…”

Jacob turned back to the door examining the doorknob that lacked a keyhole and the wooden door. His eyes traced the outline of the door as he tilted his head. A puzzle perhaps? A type of escape the room challenge? Well then, let’s see what we can find. He stepped closer and squatted down by the bottom left of the doorframe.

There he gripped the edges of the doorframe seeking any loose stones. He moved his hands methodically in a clockwise manner tracing the path of the doorframe. Each time his hands slid forward his fingers would wiggle in various directions trying to find purchase on anything that might open a path for him. He continued his search all the way around the doorframe.

Jacob stood back up and let out an annoyed sigh as he reached the end of the doorframe. Well no secret latches. At least none that I could find. He slowly paced around the room letting his eyes dance across the hay strewn room. He kicked up the hay as he passed hoping that he might reveal anything that could aide him in escaping the room.

He paused as he came to the end of the small room and turned around leaning back against the wall. The game wouldn’t have me locked in here with no solution. The rogue route of checking for secret switches and pressure plates/stones didn’t work. Though I suppose that is to be expected given that I don’t have any abilities or skills related to that type of character. If I operate off the assumption that I have everything I need to escape the room, then one of my abilities should be the solution.

He stood back up and brought his hands together in a rectangle. “Abilities!” barked Jacob. From the rectangle formed by his hands, a small window popped up displaying his three abilities. His face scrunched up into a frown, a result of seeing his Dealmaker ability greyed out. The frown faded as he noticed his other two abilities were marked active and available. Maybe this is a tutorial stage designed around unlocking my abilities…?

He checked that his Bound by the Light ability was indeed active. If Bound by the Light is active, then Veralic is probably a prisoner that has recently been sealed. This could explain my current situation. He selected his Gifts of the Dark ability and examined the gesture shortcut. He brought both hands together, his fingers grasping around an invisible ball. He ripped the invisible ball into two halves, each held in his claw-like grip. He raised both hands up to shoulder height in offering as he said, “Gifts of the Dark!”

The hushed whispers echoed lightly in the room as he was surrounded in a black mist. An ancient voice called out hushing the other voices, “Ask and you shall receive. Anything you wish for can be yours, so long as you are able to pay the price!”

“I need the power to escape this room!”

A low rumbling laugh rolled out from the black mist surrounding Jacob. “There are many ways to escape this room, half-blood! Come be more specific. Do you wish for a skeleton key? How about raw strength to tear the door from its hinges? Or how about blasting your way out?” Finished the ancient voice of the mist with glee.

Jacob blinked for a moment gathering his thoughts. “I have no use for a skeleton key as the door lacks a keyhole. As for strength… I don’t have enough to trade for the amount I would need considering I couldn’t even budge the door with my current strength. Blasting might work… Ok, show me available abilities that can be used to blast objects.”

“As you wish…”

A series of abilities popped up in a window before Jacob, most of which were greyed out due to his lack of PP. He filtered out the ones he couldn’t access as well as any abilities that cost more than 50 PP. I can live with half my PP being spent on an ability that will help me out in combat, but I haven’t had a chance to look at everything else I can use PP on yet. Always keep a rainy-day fund. He scrolled through the available skills noting that most were oriented around the game’s elements of earth, fire, and shadow. There were three fifty pointer abilities Jacob was examining.

50 PP – Shadow Tendrils: The caster summons spikes of shadow energy from their shadow to strike at nearby targets within 3 meters. This is a fast hitting ability that is difficult to dodge. Summons 4 tendrils, each tendril can inflict up to 7 (+KNO%) shadow damage. Cost to cast: 25% max mana.

50 PP – Hellfire Ball: The caster summons an orb of hellfire to fling at targets. Can be dodged due to being subject to the caster’s agility for throwing speed. Has a 2x damage multiplier versus environment targets. Burns for 6 seconds dealing 5 (+KNO%) fire damage each second. Cost to cast: 20% max mana.

50 PP – Primal Spikes: The caster summons a wave of spikes in front of them that erupt in a 60-degree cone for 2 meters. Any targets hit by the attack take 25 (+KNO%) earth damage and become snared for 6 seconds. Cost to cast: 30% max mana.

Jacob rubbed his chin in thought. Shadow Tendrils is nice due to the casting speed and reliable damage. Hellfire Ball is decent but situational, though the burn effect can be used for area denial. Primal Spikes is an all-rounder throwing out damage and crowd control for a hefty cost in mana. I can roughly get four shots off with Shadow Tendrils before my mana runs dry. Hellfire Ball will get me five shots while Primal Spikes will leave me with only three shots. The damage output on Primal Spikes is too low with my mana regen right now. I’ll have to come back for C.C. effects when I have more PP. That leaves me with Shadow Tendrils or Hellfire Ball. Given this is my first ability, I should go with maximum flexibility. Hellfire Ball’s potential for area of effect damage and area denial wins out today then.

Jacob removed his hand from his chin and tapped his selection with his right hand. A red glow of energy encompassed his right hand with the closing of the windows. His left hand glowed with a faint white mist of energy the coiled around his wrist. He lifted both hands up to shoulder height initiating Gifts of the Dark.

The black mist swirled up around the white mist coiled about his hand in response to his offering. The black mist swelled as it fed upon Jacob’s PP. The red glow of energy solidified into a ruby gem in Jacob’s right hand with the last of the offered PP being consumed.

Jacob dropped his hands to his side dispersing Gifts of the Darkness. He tilted his right hand up to see the ruby gem in his grip. He smiled as he squeezed on the gem causing it to sink into his scarlet tanned palm. A series of notification windows popped up.

Congratulations!

You have successfully acquired the ability Hellfire Ball.

Hellfire Ball: The caster summons an orb of hellfire to fling at targets. Can be dodged due to being subject to the caster’s agility for throwing speed. Has a 2x damage multiplier versus environment targets.

Burns for 6 seconds dealing 5.55 fire damage each second. Cost to cast: 32 mana.

Congratulations!

You have activated an ability that uses the mana system. Your Mana Pool has been unlocked as a result. Your mana pool is calculated as 10xKNO+5xSPI.

Mana Pool (M.P.) - 160

New Ability Detected!

You have a new ability that is currently unassigned to a gesture. Please select Hellfire Ball and assign a unique gesture to activate the ability. Please note that vocal components may be added to gesture commands.

Jacob dismissed the notifications with a wave of his hand. He brought his hands together into a rectangle and said, “Abilities!” He scrolled down to Hellfire Ball and selected the gesture options. He fiddled with the options settling upon a hand gesture.

“Perform the desired gesture in 3… 2…1…” notified the game system.

Jacob touched his thumb over his index fingernail and flicked his wrist opening his hand like a fire cracker had just gone off. He then held his hand palm up grasping at what he imagined would be the Hellfire Ball.

“Please repeat the desired gesture for verification in 3… 2… 1…”

Jacob repeated the task once more and then selected the mirror option which would allow him to perform the gesture with his other hand. He continued into the settings, this time for a gesture that would cancel the spell. For this sequence, he waved the opposite hands not casting over his other hand as it formed a crushing fist. Like snuffing out the spell when I don’t need it.

Jacob grinned with excitement and rushed towards the center of the room. He touched his finger tip and flicked his wrist bringing the Hellfire Ball into existence. He wound up ready to pitch the crackling ball of fire when he stepped on the soft padding of hay he had kicked around earlier.

The grin slipped from his face. Might want to move the hay away from me. Getting burnt by environmental damage caused by my own spell would be a bad way to start. He crushed the spell out of existence and bent down. He pushed as much hay as he could to the side opposite the door. Done he stood up and brushed the clinging hay from his hands.

“Take two.” Whispered Jacob. Again, he touched his finger tips and flicked his wrist igniting the spell into the palm of his hand where it hovered ready to be thrown. He wound up and pitched as hard as he could, propelling the Hellfire Ball to the base of the door. A blast of heat and flames burst out upon contact with the door. For six seconds the door burned and blackened with the hellfire filling the room with smoke.

Jacob waved a hand in front of his face trying to clear the smoke blocking his view. He glared in frustration at the charred wooden door. He stomped over and gave his best attempt at kicking it open only to be repelled onto his butt from a lack of balance. His face reddened as he scrambled to his feet. He turned his back to the door and stared at the hay piled against the wall. “Ok, getting burnt doesn’t sound too bad so long as I can get out of here.”

Jacob moved a large pile of hay around the door taking care to tuck as much as he could under the sliver of the door. He waited a minute for the smoke from his first attempt to clear through the ventilation. Satisfied with his preparation, Jacob flicked his wrist summoning another Hellfire Ball. This time he flung the ball casually into the center of hay at the bottom of the door.

Wisps of flame licked out consuming the hay and door. Jacob stepped forward only to receive a shock from his suit’s bottom right leg. His leg went numb like it had fallen asleep as he saw his leg catch fire and char. He rolled down patting out the fire as a notification window popped up. Standing up he read the new message and chuckled.

Congratulations!

You have successfully taken damage unlocking the health system! Your Health Pool is calculated as 10xEND+5xSTR+3xAGI.

Health Pool (H.P.) - 180

-30 HP, environmental (fire)

Jacob brought up his character screen for reference while he waited for the flames to clear from the door.

Character Screen: Veralic (Pythag3)

Level: Contractor 1 /Experience(EXP): 0

Race: Half-Devil

Origin: Dark

Base Stats:

Health Points (HP) – 150/180

Mana Points (MP) – 127/160

Health Regen (HR) – 10/minute

Mana Regen (MR) – 31/minute

Strength (STR)-10

Knowledge (KNO)- 11 (+1/Level)

Endurance (END)-10

Spirit (SPI)- 10

Agility (AGI)- 10

Social (SOC)- 11 (+1/Level)

Resource Stats:

Potential Points (PP) - 50

Fate -11 (+1/Level)

Abilities:

Bound by the Light – Prevented from gaining experience from defeating/killing enemies.

Gifts of the Dark- Able to exchange your PP to the Dark for stats, EXP, abilities, and resources.

Dealmaker- Able to create contracts allowing the trade of stats, EXP, abilities, and resources.

Hellfire Ball - The caster summons an orb of hellfire to fling at targets. Can be dodged due to being subject to the caster’s agility for throwing speed. Has a 2x damage multiplier versus environment targets.

Burns for 6 seconds dealing 5.55 fire damage each second. Cost to cast: 32 mana.

The fire flared back to life bringing Jacob’s eyes back up to the scene unfolding. The door had crumbled to charred pieces leaving a path out into the hallway. Unfortunately for Jacob, that hallway was made of wood. The flaring of life from the fire had been the walls and ceiling catching fire while he read his status screen.

A smile flickered on his face. Well Jacob, the good news is you found a way out. The bad news is you’ve started a small inferno that may just burn the entire place down. Better get moving before you burn too. He jumped forward trying to avoid the flames as best he could while rushing to get out of the hallway.

He turned right running as fast as he could manage with his out of shape body and slid to a halt. There at the end of the hallway were two humans dressed in the garb of soldiers. They had looks of confusion as they were examining the smoke billowing through the hallway. Jacob’s dash through the hallway drew their attention and anger as they shouted, “Prisoner is free!”

Not good! Thought Jacob as he pivoted on his left leg and ran the other direction. He flicked his hand summoning two more Hellfire Balls. He flung one to the ceiling and the other in the path of the pursuing soldiers to buy time. I’ve got to escape!