Freelance Saga 1: Learning Curves Read online

  He snorted then could not help but laugh. “Well, that takes care of that, I guess.”

  New messages began to pop up one after the other. He was instructed to reach level ten in unarmed combat by attacking the heavy bag ten thousand times. A counter appeared above the teaching instrument.

  “Well, I admit the hand-holding in this game is certainly blatant.” Scott waited to see if anyone answered him, but no new messages appeared.

  He turned to strike the bag. He casually smacked it with his fist, but the counter did not change. Curious, he struck again. There was still no change. Finally, he squared his shoulders and struck out with a serious intent. The counter decreased by one.

  “I see, so that’s what you people want.” Scott proceeded to strike the target repeatedly. However, he had no real knowledge of proper punching techniques. While he had briefly studied a few different martial arts and had wrestled a little in high-school, it had been years since he had seriously punched anything. He hunted and fished, but that wasn’t even remotely the same thing.

  Several minutes passed as he struck the bag. The counter decreased rapidly during that time. He began to sweat heavily, and his body began to ache. After a half hour he realized that he’d only reached thirty-percent of his goal. After the hour point he had reached his limit. He was not used to this level of dedicated activity. He was half way to his required goal but he was having trouble continuing.

  A new screen popped up and he chose to read it aloud. “When you are tired you should rest. If you sit in a safe location your stamina, mana, and hit points will regenerate.”

  “I have hit points? Well, yeah I did see them on my status menu I guess.”

  He called up his status screen and noticed that his hit points had dropped by thirty. That was not a good sign. “I can lose hit points just punching a bag?”

  Scott took a seat on a nearby bench and closed his eyes. After roughly one minute he felt a slight electric tingle skitter through his body. “What the hell?”

  Suspicious, he checked his status again. He had regained a single hit point. “I see. Interesting.”

  He waited a few minutes and discovered that every time the tingle occurred he regained one hit point. He decided that this meant that either he would always regain one hit point, or he regenerated one percent per minute. He would have to wait until he had more than one hundred hit points to find out.

  Scott felt completely refreshed after the thirty minute mark. He went back to the bag and started again. He punched, kicked, and used his elbows just to test the current request. Whenever he struck with focused intent, the attack counted.

  He grew tired again, with roughly twelve-hundred attacks remaining. He realized that using more than simple punches wore him out faster. This game was very realistic in that regard.

  The air smelled sweet, he noted, before he sat down again. He had not paid too much attention to the sights and sounds of the world until now. There was a subtle fragrance in the air. He could hear a soft noise that sounded like quiet background music as well.

  “This place, it’s nice.” Scott smiled then looked up at the sky. He had not had a workout like this in a while. At first he had seen this as just a sort of job, albeit a strange one. However, even if this was a virtual reality it felt very real.

  It was no wonder that they insisted that this place was real. His body ached. His knuckles were red and raw. The sweat made him feel sticky. If the truth were told, he enjoyed it immensely.

  Idly he decided to check his new unarmed combat stat. “Holy shit, it’s already at level eighty-eight!”

  When he was well-rested once more he stood up and went back to the bag. He checked his hands and noticed that they were no longer red and sore. That was certainly interesting. It seemed that not long after reaching full hit points he was completely healed.

  Scott started pounding on the bag again. The counter dropped rapidly, and it only took a few minutes to finish up. He started to grow tired after a few hundred punches, just like before, but since he only had twelve hundred punches left he stuck it out till the finish.

  Three hours and a few minutes after he started, Scott landed his ten-thousandth attack. The counter shut down and a brief fanfare erupted. A message screen popped up that announced that he had reached novice level in unarmed combat. His unarmed combat skill level had reset to one, but he had gained an additional point in strength, agility, vitality, and durability. His attacks were ten percent more damaging as well. The best part was that he had gained another level!

  “Sweet. I wonder how much I still suck?” Scott looked at his status and noted that the points had been applied to his stats. He had to admit that he did feel slightly stronger overall.

  The message screen popped up requesting that he apply the new points he had acquired from leveling in a very specific manner. “So, I need to raise intelligence, charisma, and luck, to ten.”

  He did as instructed. There was little choice since he was not able to add them anywhere else. Another arrow popped up. This time he was led to a charming little shack on the edge of a pond.

  A new screen popped up. He chose to read it aloud since he was a little lonely. “You have spent several hours at hard labor, training. Please rest inside. If you take a nap you will be pleasantly surprised.”

  Scott followed the advice of the message screen and entered the shack. The interior consisted of a table, a bed, and a small kitchen. He saw food on the table and immediately gravitated toward it. “Ah, this is for me then?”

  There was a note left on the table. When he opened it up he was informed that the food was his to eat. “Strange, that they did not use a message screen.”

  He washed his hands in the kitchen sink. The water turned on and off by itself. This little shack was quite modern if it had motion sensing technology for the sinks!

  The food proved to be quite tasty. He had not realized just how hungry he was. Now that he was stuffed, he believed that the message screen had the right idea. He needed to rest a little.

  He slipped into the bed, pulled the covers tight, and took a little nap. When he woke up a new screen appeared. He had gained three points in strength, agility, and vitality for his hard physical exertions! He would be able to increase his stats after hard training whenever he rested for the evening. Since he was in training mode currently, that process had been sped up. Usually, this sort of increase would require a full night’s rest.

  “That is great to know. It seems like everything but faith and durability has reached ten points.”

  Scott had a strong suspicion that this was the goal of the training exercise. He would probably reach the ten point mark in all stats, possibly even reach level ten.

  A new message screen appeared. This one warned him that he would now have to fight a monster. If he chose not to fight monsters in the future due to taking up a non-combat profession, that would be his choice.

  “So, it has come to this?” He followed the arrow and read the various messages that popped up. Monsters were elemental creatures that manifested in this world at various points known as spawning sites. Each monster species had its own territory and rarely left.

  Monsters were essentially immortal, just like player characters. They lost a level when defeated but respawned in their territory. This meant that monsters near human habitats were often quite weak due to constant hunting, but monsters in distant locations would be numerous and much stronger.

  He reached a location that reminded him of a back yard arena. It was a large circular area made of dirt and sand.

  Scott walked into the arena and a column of light surrounded the area. He pressed his hand against that light and realized that it was a barrier. There was no way out.

  The message screen that appeared told him that he would have to fight a weak monster here. When the monster was defeated he would be able to leave.

  “What, I’m supposed to punch or kick it?” What kind of crap was that? Sure, he had unarmed combat skill, but that
’s because he had not found a weapon when he first went to get the training this stupid tutorial offered!

  Motes of light appeared suddenly in the far side of the arena. They drew together and formed into a radiant outline of a four-legged creature. When the light faded a small turtle-lizard thing had appeared.

  It did not immediately attack, so Scott was uncertain what to do. It was not in his nature to just walk over and punch a random lizard. He wasn’t hungry so he didn’t see a reason to kill it, either.

  The message screen suggested that he use his observation skill. He did so.

  “This thing is a dragon? It’s so small!” The thing was the size of a chicken, a small chicken at that!

  The dragon roared, but the sound came out more like a menacing gurgle. “Graaaoorrrgh!”

  “Bring it, hand bag.”

  The little dragon-thing ran toward him at breakneck speed … for it. It jumped toward Scott but the man easily turned to the side. The lizard was faster than any turtle had a right to be, but it was still not very fast.

  It jumped toward Scott again, and he moved out of the way once more. This pattern repeated a few more times. The wanna-be dragon did not seem to have any more talents. Scott finally decided to try hitting it.

  The next time it jumped at him, he turned away just like before. This time, however, he kicked at it while it passed. The hard-shelled monster flipped over from the attack and landed on its back.

  It tried its best to right itself, but it wasn’t able to move properly. Scott felt bad for it for a moment. Then he remembered that it had been trying to kill him this whole time. His foot stomped down, hard.

  He repeatedly stomped the squealing thing until it shrilled loudly one final time, then stopped moving. It quickly dissolved into the same motes of light from before then faded away. In its place were three coins and a piece of shell.

  A brief fanfare erupted and a new message popped up. “Congratulations on defeating your first monster! You have earned three copper coins, and found a piece of loot. Use your identification skill to learn more.”

  The light barrier disappeared. Scott left the arena then checked the piece of shell. He learned that it was a useful item for crafting purposes. It can be used to create armor or shields if he gathers enough pieces.

  A new message appeared. Now that he had a piece of loot he could access his inventory menu. Scott immediately called out, “Inventory!”

  A new screen popped up. The inventory window acted as a method of organizing his goods and items. Following the onscreen prompts he clicked on an empty slot. The inventory screen asked if he wanted to store the items in his hands. He said, “Yes.”

  The shell and coins disappeared and a new icon appeared in the location he had chosen. “Well, obviously that is possible. Real world my butt.”

  The coins had been registered as part of his wealth. After further review he noted that his inventory could house ten separate objects and twenty of each object. He learned that if he wanted more space he would need to purchase a bag or pack. “Seems legit.”

  He shrugged then looked around for a new arrow. What he saw was another message screen. This one suggested that he might want to go back to the arena and use his identification skill.

  Scott walked back into the sand pit and followed the advice of the screen. He didn’t see anything special. He tried a few more times, and nothing happened. It was not until he looked in the general area that the monster had been at when he beat it that he finally saw something. A treasure chest faded into view!

  “Seriously?” He walked over and opened it up. Inside the chest he found a change of clothes, a set of boots, a backpack, a canteen, and oddly… there was also a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

  He changed his clothes when prompted, when he chose to wear the backpack a new screen appeared. “I see, so I can carry one hundred pounds of items without feeling the weight. That makes perfect sense.”

  Scott attached the canteen to the side of the backpack with a D-ring attachment that the pack had. The treasure chest faded from view and an arrow popped up to lead him away once more.

  He followed the arrow to various places and continued to learn about the world. Eventually, he returned to the cabin once more and was released from the tutorial after being instructed to go inside and receive one final present.

  “It’s a book?” Scott lifted the book and read the title. It was a history and manual for various aspects of the world.

  “So, after I read this I will be allowed to do any training that I want until my twenty-four hours is up.” He sat on the bed and leaned against the wall. The day had been very tiring. It was hard to believe that it was only four in the afternoon.

  Scott opened the book and began to read. A bright light erupted from the text. The book dissolved into that light. The radiance flowed toward him in a stream and pierced his body. He could not move, only accept what was happening.

  Words, images, intimate knowledge of the world and its nature filled his senses. When this bizarre memory upload ended, he knew the names of popular towns and professions. He possessed an education similar to an average citizen. He even knew about the strengths and weaknesses of common monsters and weapons in the region he would travel to on his next visit to this world.

  “That was intense!” Scott looked around, wild-eyed. He began to recognize certain things by name that he had misunderstood before. The motion sensitive sinks, for instance. They were powered by crystallized elemental energy. It regulated its energies for human usage. All powered systems in this world were like that!

  A new message screen popped up. He checked it out and nodded. There were optional objectives that he could undertake if he wished.

  “Dungeon exploration training sounds useful.” Scott clicked on that option and a new arrow appeared in the air. He followed the arrow and moved on to his next training location. Life in this strange land would require that he know many things that he had not had knowledge of before.

  The dungeon was not that far from the cabin, less than a mile. He stared at the structure before him then shook his head. “Seriously? They call this a dungeon? It looks like a dilapidated shopping mall.”

  The message screen popped up again and he could not help but laugh when his suspicion was confirmed. “Forgotten mall, huh?”

  Scott followed the prompts that the screen sent out. First, he checked the immediate surroundings from the outside. This shopping mall had few exterior windows, so stealth surveillance was not an issue. When he did come to a window he was cautioned to move carefully.

  He peeked through the window briefly, saw nothing, and then crawled past it to avoid being seen if he had missed anything. There was little of interest outside of the mall at first, but he did find one thing that unsettled him. It was a corpse!

  “What the hell?” Scott inspected the dead body and saw multiple claw and bite marks. It was like a thousand tiny animals had worked it over. It was badly decayed. He could not tell if it was a woman or a man. He could not even tell if it had been human!

  He nearly left the corpse where it was, but he remembered something from before. “Identify.”

  The corpse became illuminated in red light for a moment. Several smaller points of light appeared in different locations on the body. Scott held his nose closed and leaned down to check them out. He found eighteen copper coins, a small dagger, a pistol, and a piece of paper.

  He held the pistol up and stared at it. Since the memory upload he had known that this world had guns. However, he also knew that they were rarely used by anyone outside of city patrols and professional militias. They were considered weapons with little use outside of hunting weak monsters or fighting low-level bandits.

  “Eight shots left, a thirty-eight caliber pistol. Hmm, only an attack power of one hundred forty? Even a rock was attack power one.” The idea that a thirty-eight caliber pistols only produced a little over one hundred forty times the power of a simple rock was not an easy one to accept.
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  He considered the weapon for a moment then placed it into his inventory. It could break with a few more uses and he had little ammunition. It would need to be used sparingly for emergencies. The knowledge that he had acquired told him that a weapon with an attack rating of 140 would be suitable for use till around level forty or so. Properly equipped weapons usually needed to be in a range of 3-4 attack points per level to remain useful.

  The sheet of paper turned out to be the words for a basic torchlight spell. Scott followed the instructions and held up his hand, palm up. “Gather here, spirits of the sun. Dance above my hand. Bring light to the darkness.”

  Nothing happened, not that he had expected that it would. It would be too simple to be able to cast a spell solely because he knew the words.

  The message screen had other ideas, however. He read the information that it provided then he smirked. “Now that’s convenient.”

  Since he had chosen to take the dungeon exploration option he would be granted this spell for free. Normally, he would need a real spell-book, actual training, or something similar to use a spell. He gained the torchlight creation spell immediately afterward.

  “Oh, so that’s what I did wrong.” Now that he knew the spell, he knew how it operated. It could not be used in broad daylight. He would have to use it in a darker area. It was still too easy, but it was a game world so who was he to judge?

  Scott walked away from the disgusting corpse then remembered to check his knew knife. The blade proved to have an attack power of twenty-seven, and a durability of eighteen. He kept it out despite having no dedicated knowledge of using a knife. It was still stronger than his natural unarmed combat skill. That skill relied on raw strength as the base, so even with his ten percent bonus he only had an attack power of eleven.

  He quickly slid into the dungeon entrance and looked around. There were no immediate threats, but it was darker inside. He tried his light spell again. This time, the spell activated and took twenty points of his mana with it. He had no other use for it right now, but the sheer amount of mana that it took was a cause for concern. The spell lasted only ten minutes per use, after all. Even if he rested, that would give him one hour of exploration time at most.