Chapter 13

This little song of mine

Deep Fork Creek, OK

12 January

~12:30 PM

Sitting on the cement road catching my breath, I cast healing on myself as I wait for the healing to complete and my mana to regenerate. I glance down the road, while I am waiting, at the herd of cattle. The mixture of black Angus and white-faced cattle are standing still staring at us like cockroaches right after the lights have been turned on. Running between the cows is Lonk, with a look of concern radiant on her face even from over fifty yards away.

Continuing to glance around at the rest of the team, I see Beau and PJ, uninjured, are vigilantly looking outwards and monitoring for threats with an arrow notched. However, Slim has blood seeping out of his side and is resting on the ground. Leighann is kneeling next to him applying pressure to the wound.

Berating myself for sitting on the ground when I have party members injured, I jump to my feet and jog over to Slim and Leighann. Even Lonk’s is running towards me, while I sat there and didn’t help out my team.

As kneel next to Slim, I apologize “I’m sorry, I should have checked on everyone right after the battle was over.”

Slim, just waves me off. “I know you have been a little busy. They had you on the run, with all of the orcs chasing after you. That was quite a fight being challenged by the boss orc. I am sure it took a lot out of you.”

Looking into his eyes, hoping he could feel my sincerity, I pointed out, “A leader's primary responsibility is to accomplish the mission and to his people. As soon as the mission was accomplished, I should have looked to my people.”

He nodded and looked away, ever stoic, I was not sure what he thought about it. However, the system must have believed me. Hearing a ding, I checked for the last notification.

For expressing concern for your team over your personal needs, the system has awarded you one Charisma point.

Shaking my head to stop being distracted, I cast heal on Slim. As the glow from the spell pulsed beneath Leighann’s hand, she released her grip on his wound and stood up. Standing next to her and offering my hand to Slim, I pulled him to his feet.

It was then that Lonk arrived. Bowing low, she asked me. “What would you have me do Lord?”

Turning away to survey the battle, I looked around the freeway at the eighteen grisly piles of dead orcs spread out around the freeway turned battlefield. Flying above us, I could see that two Turkey Vultures and a few crows were already gathering. Before too long there would be many more. Being used to a little roadkill, they were looking forward to a feast. We needed to be on the move before the vultures would draw other preditors to our location.

“Lonk, we need to quickly loot all of the bodies. However, we don’t have room for all of their armor or weapons. We need to only take the best.”

Pivoting back to Leighann, I asked her, “If I loot the contender, will you help Lonk loot the rest? We can settle all of the loot tonight when we camp.”

“Sure Shea, you know how much I like to loot,” Leighann responded as she walked away with a twinkle in her eye.

Calling out to Beau and PJ, “Can you two take point? Be sure to keep a watch out for additional ambushes and a good place to camp for tonight?”

With a quick confirmation, both of them climbed onto their horses and rode off quickly over the bridge.

Glancing back at Slim to see if he had recovered, I could see that his shirt was torn, but the flesh underneath was turning from red white. Looking again in his blue eyes, I inquired, “Are you okay?”

Nodding he confirmed, “Right as rain.”

Now that I knew he was okay, it was important to get the heard moving forward again. I asked him, “Can you ride back and help Austin and Colton get this heard moving again?”

With a tip of his black cowboy hat, Slim was in the saddle and weaving between the cattle as he went towards the back of the herd.

I moved over to the contender and started to loot his burnt corpse. Pocketing the few coins that I gather, I examined the rest of his equipment.

You have examined a Large Saber:

Weapon Damage: 2 x Strength

Weight 2.8 lbs

Length 3.4 ft

Requirements: 14 Strength, 15 Coordination. Players with insufficient abilities will suffer a penalty to hit and to damage.

You have examined a Scale Mail:

Mineral: Iron

Armor Protection: 55% damage reduction to damage physical damage taken to the torso

Weight 12.4 lbs

Size: XXL Adult

Requirements: 19 Strength, Players with insufficient abilities will suffer decreased protection. Improper fitting will affect the damage reduction bonus provided by the armor.

You have examined a Masked Helmet:

Mineral: Iron

Armor Protection: 55% damage reduction to damage physical damage taken to the head

Weight 2.9 lbs

Size: XL Adult

Improper fitting will affect the damage reduction bonus provided by the armor

The Large saber had a 2x strength bonus that could be very helpful. Even though the scale mail was extremely dirty from the fire, it wasn’t damaged and provided the torso with a 55% damage reduction. The helmet was looked like a famous helmet worn in a popular gladiator movie.

I was just about to stand up when I noticed the leather belt that was holding the large saber’s scabbard to its waist. Interestingly, there are several insets for stones similar to the ones on my armor and my double-bladed battle-ax. The thought of my battle-ax sent a grimace across my face remembering that the shaft of the battle-ax was now broken. Hopefully, I will find someone that can fix it soon.

Deciding that all of these pieces the orc contender is wearing, are worth keeping, I remove them from the orc and wrap them up with the belt. As Granny pulls up next to me in the wagon, I use the belt to hook the equipment to the outside of the wagon.

As I watched the cattle stream past me, I decided it was time to get back in the saddle and keep moving. Mounting Whiskey Chips, we trotted onto the bridge over Deep Fork Creek. Pausing to look down at the coffee with creamer-colored water slowly flowing under the bridge below me, I wonder how everything is changing so quickly.

“Pansofia,” I called, “Can you provide me a summary of the notifications from the last battle?”

“Yes, Lord Shea,” Pansofia replied in a sweet chirpy voice. “Please let me know if you would like any additional information on these notifications”

You have received 2977 experience points from killing nine level 5 orcs and eight level 6 orcs.

You have leveled up twice. You have been awarded 10 attribute points and 2 Skill points.

Flame has reached 3% synchronization.

You have learned a spell Water Shield.

Water Shield has reached 1% synchronization.

You have learned a Spell Create Liquid.

Create Liquid has reached 1% synchronization.

Wow, I was on the cusp of leveling up, but with nearly three thousand experience points almost everyone in the party should have reached level 3. I need to remember to encourage the team tonight on leveling up. We also need to split up the loot. I wonder if the cowboys will be willing to give up their boots, jeans, and flannel for armor and weapons.

I know that most of the team is just focusing on the cattle drive. To focus on the bigger picture and what this means to the world today seems overwhelming. Remembering how teenagers used to act when there was an internet outage, I wondered how they are responding now. Just the loss of technology, no cars, radios, cell phones, television, the internet would be too much for many people.

Combined with the battles we have faced from the orcs and goblins, I am proud of our team. I don’t know how many contenders there are in the world today. However, I have already defeated three of them. Together, we have risen to the occasion. With a shaky tenor voice, I start singing as I struggle to manage my emotions. This time it is “Whatever it Takes, by Imagine Dragons.” It was then that I received a new notification.

You have received a temporary increase of +2 towards your willpower.

I hadn’t paid much attention to this message during the battle with the orc contender, but it seems that I was learning a way to buff my skills. Is it possible to boost other stats before combat depending on the songs that I sing? Or is this another instance where there is power of life in death in the word? Or is it due to my inner determination to continue to not give in to the madness of this new world? Whatever the reason, I vow to experiment with it in the future.

Spurring Whiskey Chips on, we ride to the front of the drive as I looked at the PISS.

Personal Interface Support System (PISS)

CHARACTER SHEET

QUEST

INVENTORY

MAGIC

SKILLS

TMS

HELP

Name

Rick O. Shea

Strength

20

Screen Name

LordShea

Agility

16

Level

9

Coordination

18

Experience to next level

5,378

Constitution

16

Total Experience

39,622

Intelligence

20

Faction

Undecided

Wisdom

19

Race

Human

Willpower

18

Profession

Undecided

Charisma

15

Class

Strategist

Luck

18

Personality

Survivor

Attribute Points Available

0

Titles

The Harbinger, Quickdraw, Quickening, Decisive

Skill Points Available

4

Maximum HP

72

Mana Recharge (PS)

0.37

Mana Well

76

Magic Capability

100%

Personal Interface Support System (PISS)

CHARACTER SHEET

QUEST

INVENTORY

MAGIC

SKILLS

TMS

HELP

Fire

Gas

+

Mineral

Liquid

SPELL:

Synchronization %

Learned Spheres:

Unlearned Spheres:

Flame

3

Fire

Gas

Wall of Flame (WoF)

5

Liquid

Mineral

Smoke Screen

1

Cauterize

2

Heal

5

Flame Blade

2

Flame Hands

2

Hydrate

2

Water Shield

1

Create liquid

1

Personal Interface Support System (PISS)

CHARACTER SHEET

QUEST

INVENTORY

MAGIC

SKILLS

TMS

HELP

Weapon Skill

Level

Skill

Level

Long-Handled

7

Examine

5

Bow

2

Sneak

3

Short-Handled

4

Night Vision

3

Shield

2

Acute Hearing

3

Detect Ambush

2

Intimidation

2

Horseback Riding

5

Diplomacy

2

Animal Husbandry

3

Sub-Horse Whisper

2