“Could've given us a clue,” Malcolm said through clenched teeth.
Valgrin held his breath. Stay calm Malcolm, don’t upset the wyrm.
“I gave you as much as I could.” Lyrk shrugged, lifting his palms up, “Rules and all that. I am seriously glad I didn’t have to kill either of you. Worth the lower payout.”
Valgrin bit his bottom lip. “Thanks? Did we even have a chance to take you out?”
Lyrk stared back, a smile spread across his face. “I’ve been in the EverNever for over one hundred years. I think I’m a little higher level than you, by triple digits. That last lightning attack hurt, and I lost my cool for a moment, but it would be like you stubbing your toe, at least as far as damage and annoyance. The keeping me blinded wasn’t a bad tactic, but it didn’t seem like you had the firepower to take me out yet.”
Malcolm looked over at Valgrin, then back at Lyrk. “Triple digits?”
Lyrk nodded. “Yes, I held back. This is an on-boarding dungeon, not an obliteration dungeon. The contract and the rules allow for me to hold back on attacking you. I liked both of you before I knew who you were. Neither of you were smash-kill types. You asked decent questions, even if you were stalling a bit. Then I found out who you were and I admit to being a little star-struck.”
“Star-struck?” Valgrin beat Malcolm to the question.
“Your names as Creators are well known. Not sure why the Structure allowed you to keep the Father Steele name Malcolm, I’d have thought they would have you take a lessor known name like Keith’s.”
Skwilly grunted as he walked over to stand by Valgrin. “You sure he is safe?” The priggy pointed to Lyrk with his snout.
“Safe?” Valgrin’s eyebrows rose. “He ain’t safe, but he seems trustworthy. If he wanted us dead, we’d be crispy by now.”
Lyrk grinned. “I’m as safe as anyone else around here.”
“So, what’s next?” Malcolm asked.
“Well,” Lyrk uncoiled a little. “For me it’s go cash in on the contract. Go take care of a little business. Then head north and get back home. If you ever make your way to Ruuna, look me up and I’ll treat you to dinner.”
“Thank you.” Valgrin and Malcolm replied in unison.
“Least I can do after this, plus you both have won me a lot of money in the past—so I owe you a meal, at least.”
Valgrin scratched his chin. “Gambling debts driving the need to get the payout?”
Lyrk hung his head for a second. “Yeah, took a chance thinking I was smarter than the house. I wasn’t. I do that from time to time.”
Malcolm held up a finger. Valgrin picked up the signal to stop asking. “Glad we could help a little, then.”
“And with that, I really do need to leave. You can stay in the lobby area until…um…” Lyrk paused and looked to the ceiling for a moment, “…Fred will stop by in the morning. Hope to see you up in Ruuna.”
The group said their farewells and Lyrk slithered away, while the others went back to their camp in the lobby.
Valgrin sat on the edge of his mattress. “Did you try to summon a bed today?”
“Yes,” Malcolm’s growl spoke more than the one word.
“Want to swap?”
Malcolm shook his head. “Going to check on my status. Three rooms should be a few points.” He sat against the wall and closed his eyes.
“Good idea. Status check.”
<
“Got points to spend, do you?”
Malcolm nodded his head and turned to Valgrin. “Fifty for going up a level—you get the same?”
“I did. Seems high. Do I spend them now, wait, or spend some and wait on the others? That’s my question.”
“Agree, and my question too.” Malcolm shifted and sat up straighter. “For me, in this system, does wisdom help what magic I have? Should I put it all to melee stats? Against Lyrk, I leaned on magic—the other fights were more speed and melee.”
Valgrin nodded. “Similar dilemma for me. Seems I’m a knowledge-based character—I just got spells unlocked before we faced Lyrk. I’m deficient in the physical stats, at least compared to my others. Wonder what scale this is based on and what is average?”
“Already asked Sandy and got the formula undisclosed answer.” Malcolm sighed.
“So, if I’ve tracked it right so far, almost everything is undisclosed. Stats, levels, health points, magic pool, how are we supposed to know what to do?”
<
“Thanks Sandy, don’t like the answer, though.” Valgrin stood up and paced. “Should we wait until we talk to Fred before spending our points?”
Malcolm sat in silence, his thumb scratching at his jawline.
Valgrin stopped his pacing suddenly and turned towards Malcolm. “Sandy, can you tell us the best way to spend our points to enhance our magic, and the best way to spend to enhance our melee?”
<
“So there are two ways to cast?” Valgrin resumed pacing, pondering on the information. “Can you tell us which spells draw from other objects and which do not?” Valgrin asked.
<
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Malcolm stood up. “Is there anything else you can tell us that would help us understand what we should do? Not just to be more powerful, mostly we want to survive.”
Valgrin started counting the seconds of silence that followed Malcolm’s request. He reached fifty-three before Sandy responded.
<
“Are you saying it’ll be five hours before you tell us if there is anything else?” Malcolm’s forehead furrowed.
<
Malcolm barked out a laugh. “Guess that’s her way of saying goodbye.”
“Would seem to be. I guess I could use a bit of a nap. Beats just staring at the wall waiting.” Valgrin laid back on his pillow. He opened his eyes when he felt Malcolm standing over him.
“You implying I’m boring?” Malcolm failed in hiding his smirk.
Valgrin stared back up, then closed his eyes. “Got it right on your first try.” He heard his friend snort and shuffle away.
“Skwilly, you game for keeping the jerk awake for a few hours?” Malcolm called out in a stage whisper.
“You are confusing. Valgrin said he wanted to nap. Why should we try to keep him awake?”
“You’re no fun either.”
Valgrin smiled as he heard Malcolm slide down the wall. Now I just need to stop the adrenaline, relax, and get some sleep. Not sure that’s going to…
“Hey!” Malcolm shouted.
Valgrin jumped up, nearly bumping heads with his friend. “What are you doing back over my bed?”
“Fred’s here, and it’s time you woke up. You just took a nine or ten-hour nap.”
“Nine…no way. If I slept at all, I just fell asleep.” Valgrin looked over at Skwilly for support.
“No, Malcolm is right. You slept through the night. And sometimes you slept loud.”
Valgrin rubbed at his eyes and looked around, his gaze settling on Fred sitting on a chair nearby. “Sorry, must have been more tired than I thought—and sorry for snoring.”
Malcolm backed away and took a seat on the floor. “I didn’t hear a thing. Slept almost as long as you did. I think our bodies needed to recover from all the weirdness. You know a cold snout is better than any alarm clock at getting you awake, fast.”
“I am glad I could help. I didn’t know it was Fred coming through the door and I couldn’t reach Valgrin quickly.” Skwilly tried to shrug.
Fred stood up and cleared his throat. “I have several things I must attend to today, so let’s get started. Now that you’ve onboarded and gained a level, it’s time for you to immerse yourselves in the EverNever. That’ll start by you going to Sanpra and finding the tavern called Izzah Place.”
Malcolm cut his laugh off before Valgrin did. “Isa place? What kind of name is that?”
Fred nodded. “A place that wanted that reaction when you first heard of it. Now you’ll never forget it. By the way, it’s spelled i-z-z-a-h. The owner’s name is Izzy, so you’ll want to get that right. She’s not someone you want to get on the wrong side of. She’d never let you forget it.”
“So, you lined up a place for us to stay?” Valgrin got out of his bed and stretched as he asked. “Is this where all the newbies stay?”
“The onboarded, you mean.” Fred put his hands on his hips. “Once again, the two of you are a slightly special case. The others that complete onboarding get to stay at a guild barracks, or military barracks—depending on what is available. They are allowed to stay there for a month before they must provide their own way. Because of your notoriety, we made an exception for you—again. Izzy agreed to give you each a room. You can stay there for up to ninety days before you either move out or take over paying for your own way.”
“Seems sort of fair.” Valgrin’s words fired out in short bursts. “Of course, I mean, other than us getting ripped from our lives. Dropped into this world with little information.” Valgrin’s face turned bright red, his finger waving in the air. “We still don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know how to get back. Yeah, seems a room for ninety days is a good place to start.” He stopped shouting, but still glared at Fred.
Malcolm stepped in between Fred and the advancing Valgrin. “Fred, I would point out to you that Valgrin might be a wee bit upset—and now that I think of it, I’m not far behind.” Malcolm’s arms crossed over his chest. Both men now glaring at a nonplussed Fred.
“So it seems. I’d offer you something, but you’re getting what I have already. You’re in a position to work with what you have or throw a tantrum.”
Valgrin exploded. “Tantrum! Given what we’ve been through, you should be grateful we’re not taking you out.”
Malcolm had turned and had his hands on Valgrin’s shoulders. “Stick with me, Keith. We don’t stand a chance on our own and without Fred. It sucks, but it is what we have—you know that, so vent and let’s get the calm guy in control, Keith.”
Valgrin stared at his friend. The words swirled in his head. The truth battled against how he wanted to feel. Screaming would be preferred. I need to let it out. Stop it, Keith, this is not getting you any closer to Kara. I want to go home. Need to keep working towards that—take every ally and advantage you can find. Malcolm’s words kept feeding his thoughts, his body relaxed, his teeth stopped grinding. His breathing calmed back to normal. He felt a flush work its way up his cheeks.
“Sorry. I was out of line and overreacted. Sorry, Fred. Sorry, Malcolm—and thank you, Mark. Sorry, to you to Skwilly.” Valgrin’s head dipped.
“No need to apologize.” Fred stepped forward. “I’m surprised it took this long for this to happen, though I was expecting Malcolm to be the one to yell at me first.”
Malcolm nodded. “I can see how you’d think that. I’ve been too distracted by shiny things. And I don’t have a wife to worry about.”
“True. I will not rehash what I told you a few days ago. I don’t like this either and I’ll do what I can to help. As far as your inquiry to Sandy, for example. Here’s what we can tell you and stay within the allowed parameters. Sit, this may take a few minutes.”
Both men sat down and watched as Fred paced. Skwilly made his way over to Valgrin and plopped down.
“Jumping right into it. Each adventurer type that is brought into the EverNever starts with a default of two hundred points and then earns points at each level. The fifty points you earned for this level increase are just about the maximum anyone can achieve by jumping from four to five. However, you got a few extra bonuses along the way and are both at the upper end of stat points for the fifth level. That was done to offset you don’t have any loot or other items from the levels of experience you have. Well, you have a few skills and spells. Those are for your class and would be available, mostly, to anyone else.” Fred stepped over to the chair he’d created earlier and sat back down and asked. “With me?”
Both Valgrin and Malcolm nodded, remaining quiet.
“Good, typically the upper three hundreds are considered elite level fifth rounders, so as I said, you’re up there. We see a few closing in on five hundred total, but that is rare. In the future, you’ll see a drop in points gained per level, and it is variable. For the two of you, I would predict thirty to forty-five points. There is no cap, even if there is a predicted max. If you earn a bonus that puts you over what are the expected points, you get them. Levels one through ten award a higher point total; afterwards, each level awards roughly half as many points. At level twenty-one and above, it’s reduced by half again.”
Fred paused, waiting for the others to catch up.
Valgrin raised his hand. Fred nodded to him. “Okay, if I understand—somewhere around seven hundred points would be the most we could earn by tenth level, and a thousand by twentieth, and then just add each level past twenty? That close?”
Nodding, Fred replied. “Close enough, the Structure doesn’t deal with absolute numbers—at least at our level, but your calculations are in line with what we use. Typically an elite, or master, adventurer is anything greater than six-hundred at tenth level. So, again, both of you are close already. I would expect it wouldn’t take much to be close to seven hundred for either of you. You’ll probably level out with the other elites by the time you hit twenty. Oh, and there is no cap to an attribute, diminishing returns maybe, but no cap—if you want six hundred in strength, go for it. You just won’t last long in a fight, and you’ll get winded before doing much.”
“That helps.” Malcolm gave Fred a thumbs up.
“You guys pack up and head north to Sanpra. You can call up a compass display the same way you do you stats. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow or the day after. Basically, you’re part of EverNever now, so welcome—and stay alert. I have to run.” A shimmer of color flowed over Fred, then he and the color vanished.
“Sounds like this is the start of us being, mostly, on our own.” Malcolm turned to Valgrin.
Valgrin ran his hand through his hair. “Not much to go on.”
“Hard for you to cheat when you don’t know the rules.”
“Hey! I never cheated.” Valgrin stood up.
“So you say.” Malcolm laughed, gathering his gear.
“I admit to applying the rules in creative ways.”
Malcolm slung his bag over his shoulder. “Mm-hmm, creative.”
“Guess I’ll have to leave the bed here.” Valgrin shouldered his backpack, stopped, and looked over at his friend. “Okay, maybe I cheated a little, now and then.”
“And the truth shall set you free!” Malcolm patted Valgrin’s shoulder. “Ready to head north?”
“Yep. Come on, Skwilly, adventures await us—oh goody.” Valgrin laughed, hoping it hid his nervousness about what might happen next.