Chapter 15:

The edge of my arm tore ever so slightly. Then another sharp arachnid appendage broke the skin of my chest through my shirt, followed by a warm trickle of blood down my torso. My eyes were closed, my mind sharp and focused. My limbs moved in a way more akin to weaving a basket than dodging for my life. I could feel bullets periodically bouncing off of the scorpion's shell, Axel’s gritted teeth, the pincers opening and closing in anticipation, and my stamina bar falling ever farther. I watched the scorpions' back legs tense, and I slid to the side. As expected, it started making a lunge towards where I would have been if I hadn’t started moving. My mind felt like a machine, running calculations and simulations until it overheated.

[Skill Learned!: Foresight (lv.1) Go to the system menu for details.]

I ignored the message and continued my life-or-death struggle. I could notice more though. Axel’s calf muscles on his back foot started to tense, he was about to start moving towards us. We both knew I could only last so long here. Another narrow dodge barely kept me out of reach of the scorpion's tail. My mana was critically low and my stamina wasn’t doing great either. I watched as my mana grew closer to zero, and then my mana failed.

[Dyschronometria II (01:29)]

A skull-splitting headache forced my concentration out, and I went from meditative choreographer to clumsy nerd almost immediately. I fumbled to the ground, losing my entire sense of time perception. I opened my eyes and all I could see was a blur, like looking through the window of a hyperloop, I just waited for the pincers to close over my head. They didn’t. After what seemed like seconds thanks to the second rank Dyschronometria debuff, the debuff was gone. I raised my head off the floor, which I hadn’t even realized had hit the floor. I stood and brushed myself off.

“Where did you go, Axel?” I called out. I saw the scorpion on the ground unmoving. I saw Axel underneath the Scorpion, also unmoving. “Axel!” I ran over to where his head was sticking out from under the scorpion. I took the philosopher’s flask out of my inventory, my hands shook as I poured it down his throat. It wouldn’t be great, but it would help at least a bit. He coughed, which confirmed that he was alive. I looked at the party status, which now only showed Axel and myself. His health was dangerously low, and it seemed he had broken some ribs.

“What happened? Can you speak?” I pestered him.

“It was weak-” He coughed violently. “-On its underside.” I looked towards the scorpion that still lay on top of Axel, and started pushing it off of him. Or trying to at least. He yelped as the weight shifted on his broken ribs. He grunted as he shimmied an arm out from under the creature and helped me push. After a few minutes of awkward struggling, the scorpion lay next to Axel. I helped him get over to a wall and propped him up against it. I sat next to him for a moment and caught my breath.

[Item: “Wooden staff” has been degraded to “Broken Staff.” This item is almost entirely useless!]

[Your party has defeated a “Giant Red Scorpion”

+200 EXP

+3 Red Scorpion Scales

Participation Rating: 7/10]

[Level Up!

You have reached level #11

+4 to all Stats

+7 Stat points

EXP to Next Level: 93/155]

“How are your ribs?” I asked. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Broken, you dumb fuck,” Axel scoffed. But then his expression softened a little, and he looked into the distance. “When I was a kid I fell off my bike and broke my arm,” Axel said with a chuckle. He seemed to want to continue, so I nodded silently. “I came inside the house, crying. M-my dad took one look at me and started kicking me to the ground. We didn’t have health insurance.” His voice was barely a whisper. “I’ve had a weird condition all my life that doctors couldn’t put a name to. Every time I went to sleep, I had these dreams. They call them lucid dreams.” Axel swept his dark mop of hair out of his eyes and continued. “It sounds like a blessing, but it’s a curse. Some days I would wake up in the morning, and I couldn’t get out of bed. Not because I physically couldn’t, but because I could barely motivate myself to do anything. I just wanted to go back to that magical world.” The silence dragged on, and I didn’t dare shatter it. “Eventually I broke out of that phase with the help of some medication. I spent the rest of my life in fear of those dreams because I knew they would suck me in again if I let them. And now look at me, a living part of a fake reality.” He started struggling to his feet. “What I’m trying to say stupid, is that I’m sorry I’ve been such an asshole. Thanks for listening.”

I stood up as well, and we started looking for an exit. While we did that we found a hefty treasure chest. I analyzed the items inside. I almost squealed in excitement.

[Mediocre Luck Potion: A gamble of a potion. Causes good or bad luck for a period of time. Contains one dose.

Rarity: Rare

Abilities:

-Causes one of the following status effects randomly: “Unlucky II” “Unlucky I” “Lucky I” “Lucky II”

Durability: 15/15

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

[Small Munitions Box: A box of assorted ammunition and explosives for the Unique Class “Gunslinger”

Rarity: Exotic

Durability: 50/50

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

[Ancient Tome: An ancient book of Lore

Rarity: Exotic

Durability: 47/50

Creator: Acolyte Cyra

Date of Creation: Year 4051 AD]

[Broken Compass: Pretty much a normal compass, but this one doesn’t work

Rarity: Junk

Durability: 6/15

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

We divvied up the loot and scooped up the gold at the bottom. Then something glowed gold at the bottom of the chest. An emblem of two circles connected with a line was etched into the grainy wood of the decaying box. I touched it quickly, but nothing happened. Axel was looking at me like I was stupid.

“There’s nothing left, stupid” He coughed stoically and put a hand to his ribs.

“Just, just gimme a second here,” I fumbled out a reply. I tried what should work in any fantasy novel, and poured a little bit of mana into the symbol. The wood dissolved, leaving behind a stone tablet.

[Piece 1/4 of the Cryptic Crypt encryption found!]

[Cryptic Crypt Encryption Piece One: This is a tablet that can be mentally digested using the skill “Analyze” to learn the written language, “Cryptic”

Rarity: Artifact

Durability: 16/20

Creator: Librex, God of Knowledge

Date of Creation: Year 4051 AD]

The tablet was covered in spiderwebs, cracks, and unintelligible symbols. It created an effect similar to a cross between cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and dyslexia. A new prompt appeared:

[Would you like to absorb the information source: “Cryptic Crypt Encryption Piece One”? (Accept) (Decline)]

I hit accept easily.

[Absorbing “Cryptic Crypt Encryption Piece One”

Time remaining: 1 hour * (Number of unique foriegn characters {58}) / ((Analysis Level {4})+(Enhanced Mental Capacitylevel{3})+⎷(Intellect{64}+Wisdom{65}+(Willpower{54}/2)))

[Calculating…]

[Absorbing “Cryptic Crypt Encryption Piece One”

Time remaining: (02:54:17)]