Char started walking back to her truck, but stopped when she came to the body of one of the monsters. “Video game rules,” she muttered to herself, considering the ragged corpse. It didn’t look like a video game monster. It was oozing and gross and it stank. She really didn’t want to touch it, but she couldn’t risk passing up anything that might help her survive. She bent over and gingerly touched a finger to the corpse.
Corrupted Juvenile Dire Opossum
Level 6
Would you like to loot? Y/N
“Yes.” She wasn’t sure she needed to say it out loud. The interface had responded to her thoughts in the strange white space, but it felt weird to just think something and have it happen. As soon as she spoke, the text box disappeared and was replaced by another. The corpse of the monster crumbled away to dust.
You have received:
3 copper credits
“OK. Where are they then?” Another box appeared, this one divided into a 5x8 grid. At the top was the word “Inventory”, and at the bottom was a currency counter showing slots for copper, silver, gold, and platinum credits. The currency counter showed 3 copper. The inventory was otherwise empty. “Well, an inventory is cool. Starting gear would have been better, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Walking to each of the small monsters, she looted them all and came away with a total of 23 copper coins, and a weak healing tonic, which she hadn’t stopped to look at yet. On the third monster she looted, Lulu took an interest. She was sniffing at the body when it crumbled to dust, and it made her sneeze. The comical, affronted look on the dog’s face made Char smile. Lulu chuffed at the dust pile, then bounced at it with her front paws as if challenging it to make her sneeze again.
The small monsters had all been levels 4 to 6. The real surprise was the large one that she’d squashed with the truck. When she touched it, the info box read:
Corrupted Dire Opossum Matron
Level 26
Would you like to loot? Y/N
“Level 26? Holy crap. Yes, I’d like that loot.”
You have received:
[Flesh Domain Core]
[Tree Climber Gloves]
[Weak Stamina Tonic]
124 silver credits
39 copper credits
Char checked her inventory screen and saw two small vials, one red and one green, a pair of fingerless leather gloves, and a multi-faceted crystal orb. Each item sat in its own grid square, like tchotchkes in a display box. She reached out and took the gloves. They’d looked small in the inventory screen, but as she pulled them out, they became a full-sized pair of gloves. She turned them over in her hands, examining them, and another box appeared.
[Tree Climber Gloves]
Leather (Light Armor, hands)
Increases climbing speed by 15%
when climbing trees.
Improves grip when climbing trees.
Conditions: Hands. Body rank F.
You meet the conditions to use this item.
She was about to pull them on, but the crust of green and red blood on her hands made her decide to wait. Reminded of her wounds, she turned her left arm to see how bad the damage was. The pain had lessened quite a bit, so she’d mostly ignored it. Now, she was shocked to see how bad it was. The monster’s teeth had punctured deep, and shredded her flesh to ribbons as it had torn loose. It should have been agonizing. Char’s stomach lurched and she felt a little faint as she looked at it. She was pretty sure she could see the bone in one spot. There should have been a lot more pain. Maybe I’m in shock, she thought.
She looked away and let her stomach settle, then looked back, looking closer. She was braced for it this time, and the nausea didn’t return. She’d have to wash it really well. There was needle and thread in her sewing kit. Stitching herself up wasn’t going to be fun. She squinted and looked closer, confused. It was hard to tell under all the blood, but it looked like there was new, pink skin around the edges of the wound already
She put the gloves back in her inventory window, marveling at the way they seemed to shrink down to fit into the grid square. She wondered what the limit was, and made a mental note to test it later. She had other things to do first.
She went to her truck. The driver’s side door was still hanging open, so she reached just inside and pulled the release for her side-box door. From the side-box, she pulled out a gallon jug of water, and then rummaged in her tool box for a clean red shop rag from the bundle she had stashed there. She started to pour the water over her hands and arms to wash the blood away, but paused as she remembered that Lulu had been injured as well. I’m not being a very good dog owner, am I? She admonished herself. She was too used to only having to look out for herself.
“Lulu! Come here, girl. Let’s take a look at those scratches,” she called, and Lulu trotted over. The dog sat, whining softly, and lifted her left paw to scratch at the air, as if asking Char for something. Char went to one knee and petted Lulu’s soft fur, angling around to Lulu’s side to see her wounds. Lulu leaned her shoulder against Char’s knee, and Char could feel her trembling slightly. “I know, honey. I’m scared, too. This whole thing is crazy. Monsters and freaking video game rules. Oh, and I’m really sorry about Steve. We didn’t talk long, but he seemed like a really nice guy.”
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Char very carefully examined the deep scratches along Lulu’s side. She had to brush the fur aside, but she didn’t want to hurt the dog, especially since they’d only just met and Lulu didn’t have any reason to trust her. Lulu whined a bit, but didn’t pull away. The cuts were pretty deep, Char was sure they were deep enough to need stitches, but she didn’t think Lulu would hold still and let herself be poked with a needle. She’d planned to try out the healing tonic on herself, but decided it would be better to give it to Lulu. Sewing herself up wasn’t going to be any fun, but at least she knew the reason for the pain. For Lulu, who wouldn’t understand, it would just be torture.
She called up her inventory window with a thought, and chuckled to herself over how quickly she was becoming accustomed to the convenience of it. She plucked the red vial from its cubby and examined it.
[Weak Healing Tonic]
Consumable. Uses 1/1
Heal a small amount of damage.
The vial was the size and shape of the test-tubes she’d used in her science labs in college, except there were no measurement gradations down the side, and the lip wasn’t straight. It curved inward slightly to hug the cork stopper. A thin bead of wax around the edge sealed the vial and held the stopper in place. Char looked from the vial to Lulu. She wasn’t sure if she could just pour the liquid into Lulu’s mouth without the dog spitting it back out. If she tried to struggle with Lulu to force her to take it, she might break the fragile trust that was forming between them.
She would just have to try and see how it went. She got the feeling she would be doing a lot of that over the next… however long it took to get used to this changed world. She popped the cork out of the vial and started to move it towards Lulu’s mouth, but a text box interrupted her.
You are attempting to use a consumable on
an animal. Human consumables cannot be
used on animals.
You have discovered a [Dog]
Would you like to adopt
[Lucifer the Pit Bull]
As a pet? Y/N
“Um, yeah, I’ll adopt her,” she scritched Lulu’s ears and added, “Assuming you’ll have me, of course.” Lulu licked her face, leaving a trail of slobber down Char’s cheek. “OK, I’ll take that as a yes, then.”
You have adopted [Lucifer the Pit Bull]
New pet options are available in your interface.
Your pet is injured.
Would you like to spend Vitality
To heal [Lucifer the Pit Bull]? Y/N
“Vitality?” Char hesitated. There was way too much she didn’t know about how things worked. What was Vitality? She knew the word meant ‘life’, but had no clue what it meant in the context of the game. Would she be giving up hit points that would come back, or something more permanent? She looked at Lulu and realized it didn’t matter. She couldn’t leave the dog in pain, it just wouldn’t be right. “Yes, heal Lulu.”
She felt something being pulled from her, and then there was a searing pain down her side. Char inhaled through her teeth at the pain. Lulu’s wounds knitted closed over the course of a few seconds, not even leaving a scar or bald patch. Char’s side hurt. It felt like she had been cut open in three parallel lines down her side in the same place Lulu’s injuries had been on the dog’s side. She lifted her shirt to see the damage.
Three long red welts marred her skin. The skin hadn’t been broken, there was no blood or open wounds, just painfully swollen red marks. The pain didn’t linger for long, and faded away to nothing after less than a minute, but the welts remained. “Damn. OK, Lulu, we’ve got to remember that there are no free lunches in this new world. Looks like everything has a cost.” This thought made her eye the open vial of red liquid with suspicion. A healing potion felt a little too much like a freebie. But, no, she realized. I did pay for this, didn’t I? I paid with blood and fear. Bracing herself for whatever happened next, she tipped up the vial and poured it down her own throat.
She was pleasantly surprised by the sweet syrupy taste of the tonic. It tasted a bit like cherry cough syrup with a slightly herbal after-taste. A wave of warmth flowed through her, easing aches and pains from her crash. A burst of pleasant heat on her forehead reminded her of the gash there even as it erased it. The remaining heat went to her arm, and the flesh pulled together, new skin grew, and what was left as the magic ran out scabbed over. The tonic wasn’t enough to heal her up completely, but it had gone a long way towards setting her right.
Flexing her arm to make sure everything worked and the wounds weren’t going to pull open and bleed again, she smiled. “OK, magic is cool. Lots to complain about, but I’ve got to admit that this new state of affairs may have some perks. What do you think, Lulu?”
At the sound of her name, Lulu let out a chuffing bark. Not that loud, but loud enough to startle a flock of birds out of the trees at the edge of the lot. They were brilliantly colored, more like something she would expect to see in a rain forest, not a temperate Illinois wood. Their wings were loud as they took to the air. Char looked around at the dark wilderness surrounding the odd gravel oasis. The woods were dense, and she couldn’t see far into the depths of them. There could be more Dire Opossums or other ridiculously named toothy beasts.
They were going to have to venture out into that, but not right now, not tonight. The truck should be safe for a night, at least, and she had a whole stack of notifications that she hadn’t looked at yet. And she should probably do something about Steve. It didn’t feel right to just leave him out there on the ground, but she didn’t have a shovel. She’d have to look for one in the warehouse. And weapons… she was going to need to find weapons. It was going to be a long afternoon, and this was only day one. She had a feeling things were going to get much worse.
