After leaving the clubroom, I headed over to the cafeteria for a quick lunch before continuing with my classes. I had one more today in the evening. It was the Designing GUIs class. As a future game designer, one of the important things I needed to learn was how to design GUIs or graphical user interfaces.
Unlike the professor in my first class, the professor for Designing GUIs was very proactive when it came to lecturing. Whenever possible, she would quickly create some examples for the class to follow.
Once class was over, I immediately head back to my dorm to prepare for the practice game coming up. I received a text from Fatty Yu that the other club members have been notified about my appearance and the practice game will be held in the basketball court at 5pm.
Checking the time, it was only 3:24pm. There’s still more than an hour left. So, I decided to play a few rounds of Magic Age – a game similar to a combination of MMORPG and MOBA.
Not going to lie…I’ve what one may call a sort of bad rep in the game. Basically, I’ve pissed off so many guilds that whenever they see me, they tried to off me. The keyword is ‘tried’. In the year I’ve played this game, they have never succeeded.
In the game, I played as a Ninja who worships the God of Trickery, making my character a deception-type build. Currently, I’m playing multiplayer. My character was wandering about in the mountains, looking for that famed ‘Tartarus’s Fruit’ – the legendary item that had tempted Tartarus since the beginning of time.
After more than an hour of searching, I was just about to give up when suddenly, I spotted a couple of players scouring the small forest tens of meters before me. Immediately, I used ‘Become Shadow’ – a support skill that allowed me to merge with the shadows and making it hard for others to locate me.
Using ‘Shadow Agility’, I boosted my character’s speed making him 40% faster. With a quick tap of the keyboard, I moved my character to some nearby bushes.
From the looks of their clothing as well as their emblem, the players were from the guild – Cloudless Skies. These players seemed to be searching for something. Turning up the volume, I began listening on their conversation.
“You sure it’s here?” A player wearing hardened leather armor with a katana holstered at his waist. From the looks of this player, I believe he was following the Samurai pathway
“Yea, our intel specifically said that the first key is located somewhere around here.” A sorcerer-looking player confirmed.
“First key?” I muttered as I moved in to hear the conversation a bit clearer.
“Can you believe it? We might be the first guild to find the legendary Tartarus’s Fruit! To think there were three keys needed to unlock an interdimensional dungeon!” The Samurai exclaimed as he turned over a rock.
The Sorcerer gave him a disparaging look. “It’s a legendary item after all. There’s bound to be some difficulty. Now stop looking under those rocks. Do you think the key could be under these rocks? If I was the creator of this game, I would put the key in or on one of these trees.”
“Ah, you’re right. My bad.” The Samurai scratched the back of his head while sticking out his tongue playfully.
The news shocked me. There were three keys needed to find Tartarus’s Fruit? If that’s the case, then this wasn’t a simple ‘gather-and-defend’ event. Nevertheless, I should wait here for now and strike once they find the key.
I turned my attention to the other four players. There was a Paladin, a Shadowmancer, a Barbarian, and…a Violent Merchant? Ah yes. I recalled one of Violent Merchant’s passive abilities was increased drop rate. Could it be that the key was an item drop from a monster?
I continued to watch the group of six as they searched everywhere. Then, as if triggered by something, the earth began to rumble and a screech of intimidation pierced the skies. The six experts immediately dropped what they were doing and formed into a simple square formation.
Suddenly, a giant Earth Wyrm squirmed out from beneath the ground. With another screech, the monster dove straight for the Violent Merchant. As the Violent Merchant rolled back, the Paladin rushed in with his shield raised and activated ‘Giant’s Mettle’ to increase his resistance against the enemy attack.
BOOM!
The Earth Wyrm slammed into the Paladin, pushing the player back, but the Paladin eventually blocked the attack. With its momentum stopped, the Earth Wyrm was vulnerable out in the open. This gave the Samurai and the Barbarian a chance to deal some raw damage.
The Barbarian approached from the left of the Earth Wyrm and slammed his warhammer onto the monster three times, dealing three massive blows. Meanwhile, the Samurai arrived on the Earth Wyrm’s right side and stabbed the monster at an old scar, dealing precision damage.
The monster screamed in pain and tried to wiggle its way out of the pincer attack. However, the whipping of its body was blocked by the Paladin’s ‘Allied Block’ move which allowed him the capability to lessen the damage from all attacks whenever an ally was within ten feet of him.
While the Barbarian and the Samurai continued to deal damage onto the monster, the Sorcerer and Shadowmancer both launched a Firebolt at the monster, setting it ablaze and eventually ending its life.
The five players were true experts. They were able to defeat the monster without suffering any damage. This showed the amount of hours they put into their gameplay. Well done!
After the monster died and the fire was extinguished, the Violent Merchant approached the target and placed his hand over it. With a flash of light, the monster disappeared, leaving behind various loot items as well as a copper key.
“The first key!” The Samurai exclaimed as he reached down and picked up the item they had been searching for.
“How lucky!” The Barbarian agreed as he rummaged through the loot.
“Alright, enough of that!” The Sorcerer replied. “We have what we came for. This mission is a success. Now, let’s pack up and head back.”
The other five players nodded in compliance. Quickly, the six gathered the loot into their storage bags and prepared to head back. They didn’t get far when I attacked.
My target was the Paladin. I needed to at least immobilize him so that he could not attack or provide healing support. First, I secretly applied ‘Stalker’s Mark’ on the Samurai. Any target with this mark would take 20% more damage.
Then, I crept up behind the Paladin and ensnared him with ‘Earthen Grip’. As a hand made of earth shot from the ground and grasped the Paladin by his ankles, I wrapped the enemy in a ‘Bubble Trap’, which prevented him from attacking. Both spells dissipated in three minutes. I needed to hurry.
Though I was careful, the two spells made enough noise for the other five players to notice. As the Violent Merchant moved to the back, the Samurai and the Barbarian leaped towards me with their weapons drawn.
Instead of backing away, I leaped towards the Samurai as well. With a quick draw of my short blade, I managed to overwhelm the Samurai. Coupled with the Stalker’s Mark, my attack managed to deal a significant wound on the Samurai’s chest.
As the Samurai staggered back, I pressed onward with a ‘Rapid Strike’. Immediately, the Samurai’s health dropped by half.
“Cover me!” The Samurai roared out as he retreated.
The player reached into his bag and pulled out a healing potion. As the Sorcerer bombarded the space between me and the Samurai, the Samurai downed the potion and immediately felt its healing effects.
Seeing the Samurai’s health recover by 10% and seeing him reach into his bag for more urgently motivated me to continue attacking. Using quick movements of the keyboard and mouse, I maneuvered my character around the blasts and appeared before the startled Samurai.
“Z-Stride!” The Samurai gasped while he pointed a finger in my face. “Y-You’re the Trickster!”
“That’s right.” I confirmed my nickname.
I received this nickname for the many tricks, movement skills, and feints I would incorporate in my battles. Before the Samurai could utter another word, I swiped my blade across his throat. This was a powerful attack of mine known as ‘Assassinate’. I could only activate this attack when my target was surprised or stunned. Coupled with Stalker’s Mark, the attack was an instant kill.
Before I could catch a breather, I noticed some fluctuations in the air behind me. As my instincts heightened, I leaped forward just in time to dodge the Barbarian’s sundering leap attack. His warhammer smashed into the ground, creating a web-like dent.
Naturally, I won’t be staying to deal with the rest of the players. The only thing I wanted was to kill the Samurai so that he would drop the key, which he did. Unfortunately, before I could pick it up, the Barbarian and the Shadowmancer interfered. Meanwhile, the key was picked up by the Violent Merchant.
I needed to end this fast. The Bubble Trap enveloped around the Paladin was on the verge of breaking. I had no time to waste.
I reached into my bag while I broke through the encasement and leaped from shadow to shadow. Pulling out a few poison daggers and crossbow bolts, I sent them flying towards the Sorcerer.
The Sorcerer roared and raised up a ‘Flame Barrier’, blocking the bolts and daggers aimed at him, and letting the ones that missed fly by. But then again, he wasn’t my real target.
Screams echoed behind the Sorcerer, causing him to turn around in horror. The Violent Merchant was dead! A poisonous dagger had embedded deep in his right eye while a crossbow bolt pierced his heart.
As the Violent Merchant scattered into particles, the key he held a few seconds ago dropped onto the ground with a clink. Taking advantage at the enemy players’ surprise in the death of another one of their own, I waved my had for a spell and then rushed towards the key.
Once my hand touched the key, I melded into the shadows and logged out. Looking at the clock, it was almost time to head to the basketball court. I quickly washed up and changed into something more comfortable before heading out to the gym.
*****
“Attack! Kill him!” The Barbarian roared as he swung his warhammer at the slippery Ninja once more.
The Ninja dodged but didn’t attack as if to tease the Barbarian for his incompetence. This angered the player even more, causing him to wildly swing his weapon around. The Ninja sidestepped and moved back when suddenly, his whole body was dragged forward towards the Barbarian’s mighty swing.
The Ninja was magically influenced by the trap spell ‘Vector Launch’ – a Shadowmancer’s ability. As the Ninja was dragged towards the Barbarian, the Barbarian swung his warhammer down, crushing the Ninja into dust.
“I did it! I killed the Trickster! Hahaha!” The Barbarian roared with laughter as he saw the dust form into a cloud around him.
Wait…that’s not right? Why was the Ninja crushed into dust and not into particles? Well, the Ninja turned out to be a decoy…a substitute. What remained in the place of the Ninja after the dust cloud was a wooden stump. This was the Ninja’s ‘Shadow Clone’ skill.
Seeing that they were tricked, the four players felt disheartened and embarrassed. The Barbarian, in particular, roared with anger and swore to rip the Trickster into pieces and drink his blood with his skull. Well…that’s a story for another day.
