Chapter Twenty
Alex had never really appreciated the benefits of a good knife until she'd lost hers over a cliff. In the real world, a simple blade could be found at any local hardware store. She bet if she scavenged through her trailer at home she could come up with a dozen of the miniature weapons.
Having spent the past three months in the game without one had been difficult because she'd had to rely on ropes and pulleys to create her traps. So many jobs would have been easier if she'd been able to apply a sharp edge.
So on the precipice of regaining that ability, Alex was about as nervous as she'd been in the game. Even making her weapon hadn't been as fraught.
She placed the first jagged gator bone on her lap. The long jawbone set with sharp teeth looked ferocious, but she needed to turn it into something more utilitarian. She wrapped a strip of flexible bark that she'd stripped from a tree around the handle, pulling it tight then tucking the end back into the weave.
As is, the jagged bone could serve as a simple weapon, but she wanted more than that. She needed a tool.
Alex took a deep breath before summoning the faez that lurked in her mind, flooding it into the item as she cast the Minor Creation spell.
Her hands grew warm as the magical energy passed through her. A tingling anticipation traveled up her spine.
When the transformation happened, a spike of ozone hit her nose.
You have received: Jagged Bone Knife
Alex leaned her head back and said to the rocky ceiling, "Oh, thank Merlin."
Item: Jagged Bone Knife
Dmg: 5-15 ? 25/25 Durability
Slices so thin you can't even see it
The gaps between the teeth had filled in, smoothing to a razor edge, while the handle fit perfectly in her grip. Alex slashed it through the air, feeling the way it shifted beneath her grasp. The balance was decent, but she wasn't planning on using it as a weapon.
Filled with possibilities, the first thing she did was pull out the bark hide she'd scavenged from the Sprouting Barkhippo. So far, she'd been unsuccessful in making armor from the various hides and skins she'd recovered. She hoped that the blade would bridge that gap, allowing her to shape the items she wanted to create.
Alex wasn't a seamstress, but she knew enough from her mother's ramblings how to size a shirt. After drawing an outline on the bark hide with a piece of crumbling chalk-line stone, she sawed through the tough material.
When she was finished, she'd turned the bark hide into the two halves of a shirt.
Before she attempted to make armor out of it, Alex searched through her Handysack for anything that might increase its effectiveness.
Item: Screechlion Heart
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The screechlion had been a terrible foe with feathers like a barn owl across the body of a stocky lion. Its dreadful screech had nearly ruined her trap when the sonic noise knocked her minions from the sky.
After a tense showdown, she'd managed to kill it, earning the heart. She hadn't known what to do with it, since it didn’t give any hints to its use, but Alex decided it would be a good addition to her armor.
Alex set it in the middle of the bark shirt. The bloody heart pumped slowly as she prepared her spell.
When she cast the Transference spell, a series of nodes and lines appeared on the screechlion heart connected to the bark hide. Alex studied the lines, trying to find a path that went between the two without crossing. When she saw the connection, she traced the path and the heart disappeared into the hide in a flash, leaving a chimeric stone behind. The bark hide glowed faintly.
You have gained a skill point: +1 Transference
Alex waited until her faez pool had regened before placing her hands onto the hides, imagining a shirt of armor, and pushing her faez into it with the Minor Creation spell.
Her efforts were rewarded with an audible pop. A shirt of barkskin armor appeared in the middle of the rocky cave floor.
Quest Completed: Create a piece of magical armor
You have gained experience: 5,000 XP
Item: Screechlion Barkskin Jerkin
AC: 12 ? Durability 90/90
Effect: Once per day immobilize foe for 10 seconds with Debilitating Screech (No more than five levels above)
Earplugs not included
Alex pumped her fist into the air before examining her new creation. She was worried that the armor would be rough on her skin, but the inner surface was soft with fuzz like the downy underhairs of a screech owl.
After she put it on, she checked her stat sheet because she was curious why she'd gained points in the Transference spell with so few uses. As she hovered her hand over the spell, she was presented with information that she'd never seen before. The additional information was probably from the tier two analyze skill.
Transference
Base Ability: Cunning
Max Skill = Level + Base Ability
Hovering over base ability told her that it was responsible for the chance of increasing, as well as spell effectiveness. Then as she checked Minor Creation, she saw why the spell was only a few points higher despite the fact she’d cast it hundreds of times duplicating minor items.
Minor Creation
Base Ability: Endurance
Max Skill = Level + Base Ability
Alex switched to her skills to see if they had hidden information as well.
One-handed Whip
Base Ability: Agility
Max Skill = Level + Base Ability
Her level was five and her base Agility was two, which meant her One-handed Whip could only reach a skill of seven currently. This changed things considerably. She would have to prioritize her skills based on the max level possible. She was also a little disappointed when she checked her unique skills.
Cunning Strategist
Base Ability: Cunning
Max Skill = Level
The unique parts of her class were limited by level, which would keep them smaller, and it would take longer to reach tier two. She assumed the longer wait would be worth it.
A few of the general skills like Cooking, Analyze, and Sense Direction used her main stat as the base ability, which was good since every player needed them.
Wearing her new Screechlion Barkskin Jerkin, Alex headed to the small pond near her camp. Dragonflies skimmed across the mirrored surface of the water, leaving faint lines. Lily pads clustered in the corner near an old log that she used for collecting water.
With a walking stick for balance, Alex moved to the edge, looking down at herself in the water. The log's motion created tiny waves, making her reflection blurry, but eventually it smoothed out, revealing a person that startled her.
Normally in games, she used outrageous avatars that showcased impossible physiologies. There was something freeing about playing as a character that really couldn't exist in the real world. But in Gamemakers Online, she was playing as herself. Sure, the game augmented her abilities, turning her into a magical force, but it was still her beneath the magic.
After four months in game, she wore a barkskin jerkin, carried a wicked black whip, and her hair had grown past her shoulders, but it wasn't the equipment that had startled her but the look in her own eyes. She put a hand to her cheek, expecting to pull away a mask but it was all her. She still had her chubby cheeks, but the hungry, almost feral look made her feel like Princess Mononoke from her favorite Miyazaki movie. It also reminded her of when she went deep into the woods with her dad on hunting expeditions.
In honor of her father, Alex crouched on the log, scooped up the rich black mud with her finger, and drew lines beneath her eyes. He'd never really understood her fascination with video games, but she hoped he'd be proud of her survival in this brutal game world. When she finished surveying herself, Alex headed back to camp to prepare for the next hunt.
