The first signs of being in a new territory was the thinning of underbrush. Though once that happened, it didn’t take long for Gem and June to spot a new variety of monster, deer with rocky antlers. So, of course, Gem ran right towards them.
Those first deer ran away up on seeing the boar chasing the two.
“Get back here! I’m a juicy freshly made character! Fight me!” And came flowing out of Gem’s mouth as they chased the fleeing herd of deer.
June grimaces at that, “I think we might have a disturbed an area boss.”
Gem hums for a second before nodding. “Yep! Seems to be the case, or at the very least, an above average specimen. I wonder what the normal boars look like?”
June, “Ignore that! How are we going to get rid of the thing? Your pn was to distract it with another monster, but these deer clearly won’t do.”
Gem ughs, “Obvious answer is obvious. If we’re being chased by an area boss, fight fire with fire! Quick! Back towards the low level area!”
June almost stumbles, “What? Wouldn’t that fire with fire mean finding another monster like that boar? Shouldn’t we head deeper to try and find one?”
The two hurdle a fallen log and the boar smacks into it. This sends the log flying to the side, but stuns the boar, giving them a bit more wiggle room.
Gem, “Whew! That was something! Anyway, of course we want to go towards town. If we go even deeper into the forest, we’ll actually die. What we need to find isn’t any equally dangerous monster, but another area boss!”
June, “I’m sure there are area bosses deeper in and if we go that way, we won’t get in trouble for leading a monster to town.”
Gem shakes their head, “Nah! I’m not saying we go to town. I’m saying that to keep people like us out of the deeper areas, the area bosses will be on the edge like this sb of mobile bacon was.” And they point their thumb backwards at the boar.
June can’t think of a response to that, their logic making a perverse sense. Why, of course the area boss would be on the edge! How else is it supposed to keep the noobs in check?
Though it probably helped that the edge of the new pyer forest was closer than the deep forest. The boar wasn’t that far behind, after all. So they ran and the closer they got to the edge, the more they had to speed up, just to stay ahead. It was to where even Gem was running out of breath, to say nothing of June.
But they made it! A close thing, for sure, but all that matters is the big ol’ deer with stone antlers where the tips have taken on a metallic look. A deer that wasn’t running away, but in fact running towards them.
June, through gasps manages to get out, “I don’t think it’s charging the boar.”
Gem grabs her arm, “Stay on target!”
June screams as the two monsters rush towards the pair. Then, as they’re moments away from disaster, Gem side tackles June, and the two go tumbling out of the way. It isn’t pretty, but it works.
What doesn’t work is Gem’s pn to aggro the two bosses on each other. Oh sure, they crash bang into each other just fine. They even deal a decent amount of damage to one another, being about equal and designed for the same task.
But it is that task that causes the problem. Whoever set them up, made that the priority over all else. So, are they mad at one another? Certainly! But they aren’t mad enough to ignore the pair of pyers in a heap at the base of a nearby tree.
Gem sighs, “Well, that sucks. Time for pn C!”
June side eyes them, “I doubt there was ever a pn A or B to begin with, let alone a C.”
Gem ughs as they pick June up in a princess carry. “But at least we’re having fun! Whatever other game could we experience this?”
June, “Who would want to experience thiiiii–”
Gem jumps straight up in the air as the boar crashes into the tree right where they had been moments ago. Then they nd facing backwards on its back and cmp their legs down. “Get ready for the ride of this lifetime!”
Suffice it to say, the boar does not like this new situation. However, the deer doesn’t have a problem with how things are and goes right on the attack, which sort of short circuits the boar’s decision making. In theory, it should stay aggroed on the pyers.
Except the deer had done damage to the boar and seemed to be going to attack the deer. So nevermind the baggage on its back, they could wait, it was the deer that mattered. But oh wait! Since it no longer was perma-aggroed on a pyer, the normal decision-making snaps back into pce and the boar isn’t doing too well in the health department.
All that adds up to Gem and June getting a first row seat to the deer chasing the boar. Well, the deer is technically chasing them and so not backing down like the boar, but it means the same thing. The boar running around randomly with the deer close behind. Never gaining on them, but not falling behind either.
This gives the pair a chance to catch their breath. At which point June asks Gem, “So, have you run an Analysis on it?”
Gem shrugs, “Pretty certain it’s a bit high level for me. I didn’t even bother trying to check the boar when we were in the tree.”
June shakes her head, “No, I mean the boar. You get bonuses and penalties to your attempt. I guess that isn’t something the guide would mention to prevent new pyers jumping on a monster to try and ID it.”
Gem ughs, “I resemble that remark! Anyway, let me give it a check, [Analyze]!”
{
Species: Hillback Boar
Tags: [Adolescent], [DemiBoss], ???
Level: ??
}
Gem frowns and snaps their fingers, “Aw shucks, it isn’t a full boss.”
June thwacks them on the back of the head. “That’s amazing news! Be better if we got to see the things level, but now we don’t have to worry about its stat ranks counting for, like, five of the things added together. It only has the strength of two boars. Heaven forbid it was a higher tier of boss!”
Gem ughs, “As if we could have stayed ahead of it for as long as we did if the beast was even more dangerous!
“I wonder if I can get anything on the deer? [Analyze]!”
{
Tags: [DemiBoss]
}
Akhier
Dungeon's Path
So the world ended. Whoopsie? We didn’t even see it coming. Quite literally as it came at us faster than the speed of light. Don’t worry though, it got better. Also, I am not joking about the world ending. Most people say that and mean humans are inconvenienced for some reason. Nope, all matter disintegrated at the atomic scale there for a few moments. Apparently the local universe wasn’t actually stable? Don’t ask me to go into too much detail. It would require both of us to have a few more college degrees than sense, and I at least ck them (both the degrees and the sense). Anyway, the energy/matter/wibbly wobbly strings were at a local minimum and not the universal minimum. Basically, what we took for sea level was actually a nice little mountain ke and when the dam busted so did, well, everything.
Now here is where things go a bit off track with what normal meant before. You see magic is real, qi is real, gods are real. Not on old Earth mind you but souls pay little attention to time and space so we dreamed of it. In fact, the closer the shift in reality got to Earth, the closer our dreams got to the new reality. This is basically me tip toeing around the fact that it was a ‘System Apocalypse’. Reality became a video game, I became a dungeon, and this is my story.
Doyle Huxley just wanted a normal life but as the above might clue you in on that just isn’t in the cards. He gets to experience a “Path Based System Apocalypse” and some early paths he takes, both literally and figuratively, lead to him becoming a dungeon.
The aim is to release chapters once a week on Friday.
Cursing will be avoided and no naughty adult action will take pce in the story.
NeoRealm
Jason has just turned 18 and will be finally be able to py The biggest VR game out there, NeoRealm. Using a bit of knowledge from his past (life) he wants to start his adult life with a bang. Taking the road less traveled will sound quiant compare to where he wants to go.
~NeoRealm~ the most realistic VR game to date. A Fantasy world which even after years of exploration is still mostly unknown. Want to experience the mysteries of the Arcane? Become one of the many types of Magic Users and work to improve your ranking till you can move mountains, or just ftten them if you prefer. Do you just desire to wield sheer physical power? Then train your melee skills beyond all others and decimate towns with a single swing. Or maybe you just want to know what its like to be a cat person. We have those too. Come on in and join us at 5x the speed of boring old reality (you heard us right, not your average everyday 4x time compression!). *WARNING - limited to those age 18 and up, we are not responsible for any minor losing their grasp on reality, sanity, or species
Banished Talent
There were things hidden in the darkness and they’re about to introduce themselves to the hood of my car. Not that the knowledge will do me much good. Some Talents aren’t too appreciated by the Powers That Be, and with magic? Sometimes the best option is to just Banish the problem.
I’m Alvin Smithson and let me tell you my story.
Alvin grew up on Earth, or at least one shockingly simir to what you’re familiar with. Except for the magic. And Alvin? Despite never having experienced magic before, he believed in magic a little too much. So when magic found him, he was past the point of being returned to his boring modern life. Then things got worse when they tested him to see if he had any magic of his own.
Join me, as we get a front-row seat to Alvin being banished from Earth and as he descend into a painful rebirth. He won’t be leaving the pnet alone, though. Much to his misfortune, a person going along has decided this is all Alin’s fault and is more than willing to make their displeasure known. So now Alvin only has a limited time to learn about his power in a pce actively trying to kill him.
Can Alvin adapt fast enough? Gain the power needed? Or will he be just another life snuffed out in a realm where no one has ever escaped from?
This novel has been finished and while you can read it in the entirety here and on my Patreon, there is a more polished version avaible for purchase as an ebook for 3.99 on both Amazon and my Patreon. I will get more of the cut if you buy it on my Patreon shop, but I understand that getting an ebook on kindle can be a hassle so feel free to use Amazon. If anything, it will help boost the story in the algo.
[colpse]
