18

Fundamentals II

Rian assigned his Brass Knuckles to the quick-swap slot and closed his inventory.

Again Torgo jogged to close the distance, then pounced with another dash. Rian readied himself, swinging just as Torgo landed.

Torgo blocked with ease. Rian let his blade strike his and rebound, but instead of fighting against the imparted momentum to keep his sword steady, Rian let go, the weapon hurtling away out of his grip. Torgo was at a stamina deficit from blocking, and since he’d just dashed, he was out of options.

Rian activated his quick-swap slot, equipping the Brass Knuckles, and then dashed into Torgo. The dash automatically canceled itself as he nearly collided with him. Since he hadn’t spent any extra stamina struggling against the rebound momentum from their swords, he had just enough left to punch at full force.

He slammed his fist into Torgo’s leather breastplate.

You have dealt 64 damage! (Torgo’s HP: 137/201)

Torgo staggered backward, eyes wide with shock, then wound up and swung across as he retreated—to keep Rian away from any potential combo attack. A panicking, keep-away move.

Good. He was starting to get scared.

It took Rian a moment to process just how much damage he’d done. He’d dealt almost as much as Torgo had but with a lesser weapon, because he’d scored a direct hit while using physics to his advantage.

Realizing he had a moment, Rian retrieved the Lesser Health Potion from his pocket and chugged it as fast as he could. He hardly even noticed anything except for an earthy aftertaste. It felt as if the liquid evaporated the moment he drank it.

You have recovered 75 HP! (182/186)

“Oh, so we’re using items, now?” Torgo said with thinly veiled anger.

He reached into his pocket. Before Rian could even inspect what the item was, Torgo crushed a glass orb in his fist and spread his palm against the flat of his blade.

His sword erupted into flames.

It didn’t just ignite; the air around it exploded with white light and flooded the forest as if the sun had suddenly appeared in front of them. Torgo held the sword aloft as if it were so hot that he couldn’t bring it near himself. Smokeless fire consumed the blade, and Rian felt the updraft of heat along the wind, which was churning past him and even swaying the branches of the trees.

That…was definitely not a Beginner item.

So much for not getting one shot. And so much for playing fair, at that. Rian was almost tilted now. Dude can just whip out some crazy item like that, mid-match? What the hell!

He swapped his Brass Knuckles off and brought up his sword, though he figured that even blocking once would destroy his weapon.

Torgo approached, face scrunched up with murder in his eyes. He didn’t even bother to dash; he swung, and Rian kept away, the ground turning a scorched black where the blade passed over.

Rian continued retreating, unsure where or how he would find an opening around that ignited sword if it gave off a damaging aura. It was bright, but the sunglasses he was wearing were just enough to reduce the glare to something manageable.

Kat, you’re an actual lifesaver right now.

And then Torgo threw the sword at him.

Rian stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, as the burning blade spun through the air at him.

Torgo dashed, empty-handed, toward both him and the airborne sword. He canceled his dash as everything converged—him, the sword, and Rian.

The realization struck Rian just as Torgo caught the sword by the hilt mid-air and swung toward him without any delay whatsoever.

Torgo had bypassed the end-delay of the Dash skill. By throwing the weapon ahead of himself, dashing toward it, and catching it.

Holy sh—

Rian had no time to do anything other than attempt to block, and Torgo’s blade immediately tore through. Rian’s sword melted in half. Again. With familiar dread, he heard the upper half of his sword clank against the ground as it tumbled away.

The flames around Torgo’s sword extinguished—the item’s effect thankfully wearing off after a single hit, it seemed. He resumed swinging wildly at Rian, probably because he thought Rian was utterly defenseless now.

The moment Torgo swung and missed, Rian quick-swapped his Brass Knuckles back on and dashed into him. Halting a fraction of a second later, he jabbed, then held out his other hand to press Torgo’s hands away.

You have dealt 27 damage! (Torgo’s HP: 108/201)

It worked as he expected: he was too close for Torgo to swing at him or get his sword in position to stab. All the range that a sword provided meant nothing up close. No room to swing. No power to put behind it.

As Torgo attempted to pull his sword back toward himself, Rian pushed against his grip and created another opening as the blade veered off course. Rian jabbed again, conserving his stamina.

You have dealt 25 damage! (Torgo’s HP: 83/201)

He could see the mounting frustration in Torgo’s eyes as he recoiled from the jabs.

This was it. The next move would decide it.

Backing away, Torgo got clear of him and then threw his sword at him again. With aggressive speed, he dashed and then immediately canceled it. Rian ducked out of the way of the spinning blade, then turned his head to follow Torgo as he landed past him, coming to a halt, catching his sword in a reverse grip like an oversized dagger.

He was going for a stab. A back-attack.

Just as Rian had expected.

Torgo hadn’t used anything that looked like an “Energy Strike,” which Rian assumed would have some graphical effect when used. With Dash being a repositioning tool, it had only been a matter of time before Torgo used it to set up a back-attack that would deal a tremendous amount of damage, killing Rian in one hit.

With a sword, Torgo had more reach than him now, and exploiting that advantage by stabbing rather than slashing meant Rian was in an even worse position to deal with that extra range. But the actual area of threat was small, with a thrust being a one-dimensional line of attack. It was more evadable, and riskier.

Torgo was going for it all, and it was going to leave him wide open. It was a desperation tactic of someone afraid to lose. An overextension. All Rian had to do was predict when it was coming, anticipate the attack. And then trick Torgo into thinking it would work.

Get baited, asshole.

Rian kicked off sideways to clear Torgo’s trajectory, spinning as he leaped to turn around, the sword thrust nearly glancing the side of his chest. As he landed, he immediately dashed, propelling himself into Torgo barely a few feet away. With jarring acceleration, Rian’s body exited the dash as he came into range, but the enormous amount of momentum endowed into him remained in his upper body, and he clenched his fist and crushed it into Torgo’s chest.

You have dealt 114 damage! (Torgo’s HP: 0/201)

Torgo’s feet left the ground as if the blow had momentarily removed all weight from his body. He fell backward and landed, limp.

Light shimmered around them, the PVP instance dissolving into the Overworld. Again the bowman and the other Beginner were standing there, giving a light applause, looking mildly impressed.

You win!

Combat grade: B+

Achievement unlocked: “It’s Just You and Me” (Play your first PVP match).

Achievement unlocked: “And It’s Gonna Be Me” (Win your first PVP match).

Your PVP rank has increased! (F→E+)

You have gained experience! (+345)

LEVEL UP x3! (Lv. 6→9)

You have gained 30 Max HP! (186→216)

You have gained 30 Max MP! (154→184)

Available attribute points +6

Hot damn. Three levels for all that?

That seemed…unusually high for a single PVP match, but Rian wasn’t complaining. He was just glad to be alive and still holding the locator item in his inventory.

He looked down at his palms, disbelief settling into him. He wasn’t entirely sure how he’d just done that—beat someone in the top 14%. It was his first real PVP match, and he’d felt entirely in tune with everything. Moving around and fighting like that had felt completely natural, almost disturbingly so.

After exiting the PVP instance, everything was back in place. His broken sword wasn’t lying on the ground any longer, but was somehow sheathed at his hip again.

He looked up at the sound of footsteps. Torgo was standing, marching toward him with that same murderous expression. “You piece of shit! My record was perfect!”

Your companionship with Torgo has degraded! (Lv. -1→-2)

Torgo is now your Rival!

Victory EXP multiplier: 1.5x

The other Beginner stepped up and attempted to place his hand on Torgo’s shoulder. “Wait, don’t—”

Torgo shoved him aside, then drew his sword, aimed it, and dashed.

Activating Dash required being in the natural position for it—leaning forward, kicking off the ground like in a sprint. Rian had hesitated for just an instant, and now there wasn’t enough time to evade.

Torgo’s entire body whipped backward as if he’d run into a wall.

An arrow was sticking out of Torgo’s chest. An arrow that had launched and struck so hard that it was enough to reverse his momentum entirely. An orange number floated in the air—3,401 damage—as Torgo fell backward and hit the ground, motionless.

Rian looked aside, and Lahir was standing with his bow raised.

“Sorry,” Lahir said to the other Beginner, who had landed on the ground and was sitting, merely watching with impatience. “I don’t think you’ll disagree that he deserved it, at least.” Lahir scoffed, then lowered his bow and glanced at Rian. “Using an S-tier item in low-level PVP. What a scumbag. He must’ve really had it out for you.”

The other Beginner stood up and dusted himself off. Beside him, Torgo’s body evaporated into light. “Can’t believe him, sometimes,” the Beginner muttered. He headed down the footpath toward Thile Harbor and said to Rian as he passed by, “Good game, by the way.”

Whisper messages started appearing in Rian’s chat window, but they were hardly what he would call “whispers.”

: scrub

: that was a fluke and you know it

: fight me again, no instance this time

: bring your main

: I’ll take your main down on this char you little bitch

Rian focused on Torgo’s name, then saw the drop-down menu appear. With satisfaction, Rian lifted a finger and pressed the BLOCK button.

Sweet, sweet silence.

“He’s probably going to come back,” Lahir said. “So I’d move along, if I were you. I think you ruined the match record he had on that character.”

Corvis stepped out from behind Lahir as if he’d been hiding there all this time. He winked at Rian, then floated up to sit, unnoticed, on the bowman’s shoulder.

“Where’s he going to respawn?” Rian asked, desperately hoping it wasn’t Elmguard.

“Thile Harbor,” Lahir said. “It’s closer. If you’re both leveled down to rival status, you probably won’t have to worry, though. If you’ve never heard of it, there’s an anti-griefing mechanism that’ll send people to different Overworld layers to keep them from constantly getting player-killed for revenge.”

Relieved, Rian smiled. “Well, that’s good. He’s already spamming my whispers.”

Chuckling, Lahir said, “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. This isn’t your first character, is it?”

“It is, actually.”

Lahir stared at him. “You just took down someone in the top thousand.”

Rian blinked. “Uh—”

“I mean, on a Beginner alt, of course. Torgo’s main is in the top thousand or so, I think. But still. This really isn’t your first character? It’s not an alt you’re training up for the Sacred Tournament or anything?”

Rian shook his head. Sacred Tournament? he thought. That sounded official as hell, but he’d never heard of it.

“Dude,” the bowman said, eyes wide. He adjusted his feathered hat. “You’ve either got a real knack for this stuff, or you’re the luckiest son of a bitch ever.” He held out his fist, and Rian fist-bumped him. “You don’t have some kind of hidden Luck stat, do you?”

Lahir glanced aside to tap something on his HUD, which appeared like translucent glass to Rian. “Ah, damn,” Lahir said. “Gotta pick up my daughter from school. Hey, let me know when you hit cap, all right? I wanna see what you’re really capable of.” He held out a hand, and Rian shook it. “Name’s Lahir, by the way.”

“I—uh. I could tell.”

“Oh. Right.” Lahir checked his inventory again, then closed it. “Left the name-displayer item on and I didn’t even realize.” He smiled, shrugging as he started walking down the footpath. Turning back to Rian, he waved and said, “Well, take care, now. Good luck out there, Allen.” Giving Rian a thumbs-up, Lahir disappeared in a swirl of blue particles—the log-out animation, if Rian had to guess.

“Remarkable,” Corvis said at last, looking more satisfied than Rian had ever seen him. “Quite remarkable. Yindra has truly chosen well.”

Rian shrugged as he started walking again, finally, down the footpath to Elmguard. There were plenty of attribute points to spend from the three levels he’d gained, but first he wanted to get as far from Thile Harbor as possible. Even if there was an anti-griefing mechanism like Lahir had said, there was still a possibility of Torgo being on the same Overworld layer, and Rian didn’t want to risk being out in the open.

“Yeah,” Rian said, mostly to himself as he opened up his map, “I think that’s enough dealing with toxic players for today.”