Dagger Lord: A LitRPG Series Page 14

  Jack drew his own dagger. With the fortified steel hilt that the peasant had given him, it was a better weapon than it had been at first. Still, it was nothing compared to Mav’s beauty of a blade. Even so, Jack found that the wolves didn’t present too much of a challenge. As he ran at the first one, he was a little rusty, and the wolf managed to sink its teeth into his arm.

  10HP lost!

  [20 ATT – 10DEF]

  Since he was focusing on improving his speed, every time he got hit, it felt like a loss. Even so, ten hitpoints wasn’t a massive amount to lose. He moved his head side to side, stretching out his neck muscles. Then he stretched his arms in front of him and heard his elbow joints crack. Once he was limbered up enough, he gripped his dagger and moved into an attacking pose.

  He watched the wolves for signs of movement. After fighting the wraiths and atronarchs, he was getting used to the idea that despite its realism, Alfie and Henry’s game still had some of the traits that other RPGs shared. Creatures, for instance, usually gave themselves away before they attacked because they moved in similar ways each time. The wolf nearest him raised a paw and then leapt at him. Jack was far enough away, and had a high enough speed, that he managed to get out of the way.

  He backed off and waited. Once again, before the wolf attacked him, it raised its paw. Gotcha, he thought. Now, all he had to do was to wait for the wolf to give itself away, move out of reach of its leap, then hit it with a counter blow.

  Before long, he and Mav had carved their way through a dozen wolves. Jack’s stamina had dropped to just twenty points after his constant dodging and fighting, but luckily his post-combat messages appeared, and levelling up restored his stats.

  Level up to level 4!

  Level up to level 5!

  Level up to level 6!

  -HP increased to 390

  -Stamina increased to 324

  - Mana increased to 337

  -Base Attack increased to 11 [21 with dagger]

  -Base Defence increased to 10

  - Base Speed increased to 20

  Boost points: 3

  Dagger Proficiency increased by 25%

  [85% toward level 2]

  He spent his boost points on his attack and speed, increasing them to thirteen and twenty-four respectively. It seemed that his boost points would add a random amount to his stats; sometimes his stats increased by three or four, sometimes it was only two.

  His lack of defence was worrying. At ten, it was his lowest stat. The problem was, he couldn’t just level up his attack, defence and speed evenly. If he wanted to have an advantage here in Royaume, then he needed to focus on one or two areas. He decided that from now on speed was his priority, and then attack. He’d just have to increase his defence by upgrading his armor.

  It was getting dark, and with the wolves in that area of the forest dead, they would have to walk somewhere else in the forest to find others.

  “Maybe it’s time we call it a day.,” said Mav. His arms were coated in blood, though it didn’t look like he’d been hurt. It must have been wolf blood.

  Jack nodded. “You’re probably right. Hang on, what’s that?”

  He saw a shape across from him. This was no wolf, that was for sure. For one, although Jack could only see its vague outline while it stood in the shadow of a tree, he saw that it was stood upright on two legs. Not only that, but it seemed much taller than even Jack himself, and a hell of a lot wider. He suddenly got the feeling he was in trouble.

  No sooner had he gotten the feeling, then the shape emerged from the shadow. When it did, he saw that it was a bear. It was a seven-foot-tall wall of rippling muscle and fur. When it opened its mouth to let out a row, he saw rows of jagged yellow teeth.

  Grizzly Forest Bear – Level 10 – HP: 230 / 230

  Mav started to back away. He was about to run, when Jack caught his arm.

  “Can’t you kill it?” he said. “You’re a higher level than me.”

  For one of the first times since he’d met him, Mav looked worried. “Me? Take on a bloody bear? I’m a lover, lad. I’m sometimes a fighter too, but stealth is my thing. This son of a bitch is pure muscle.”

  “You can’t run away. Bears can outrun people,” he said. “If you try and escape, you’ll just trigger its predatory instincts.”

  Mav rubbed his head. “I’ve seen bears before lad. But never this big, and never out here. Trust me, there’s no fighting this thing, not even the two of us together.”

  “But the only thing we can do is fight it. If we run, it’ll just attack anyway, and we’ll have our backs to it. We’ve just gotta stay and fight.” Then, something occurred to him. He looked at mav. “Can you die?” he asked.

  “We can all die, lad.”

  “Not me. I’ll just respawn in the kingdom stone room. But what about you, Mav? If you die, is it permanent?”

  Mav nodded. “There’s no coming back for me.”

  That settled it, then. He needed to let Mav escape. The only way to do that would be to fight the bear whilst letting the old man run away.

  “I’m gonna go get this thing pissed so that it focusses on me,” said Jack. “When I do, I want you to leave. Do it quietly until you get to the clearing, then you can run properly.”

  “I’m not leaving you to get your head torn off.”

  “I’ll come back if I die. You won’t. So, stop being stubborn, and get your arse out of here.”

  He didn’t like the fact that he was going to have to face a painful death to allow his friend to escape, but what else could he do? He wasn’t selfish enough to let Mav die just to spare himself the agony.

  Mav started to back away. Then, he turned and began walking in the opposite direction, toward the edge of the forest. While he did so, Jack walked toward the bear. He looked at how big it was, how giant its paws were, how sharp its teeth looked, and he gulped. This was going to hurt like hell.

  He gripped his dagger and approached the bear. The beast stood up taller on its two legs, showing off its size. Jack began to wonder if it was trying to intimidate him to avoid fighting. Maybe if he backed away, he could just escape like Mav had. Maybe the bear was posturing because it didn’t want a fight, unless it could avoid it.

  The beast started approaching him. Well, there goes any chance that this thing wants to be friends. Jack backed away. Twigs crunched under his feet, while full-sized logs crunched under the bear’s. The bear reached him and swiped at him with a paw. Jack dodged to the right. Then, in a counter-attacking move that was becoming instinctual for him now, he sunk his dagger into the bear’s side.

  4 damage inflicted!

  [23 ATT – 19 DEF]

  Dagger Proficiency increased by 5%!

  [90% toward level 1]

  Four hitpoints of damage for a counter attack? This fight was impossible! He was going to have to use something with a little more power. Despite the rather pathetic hitpoint damage, something good had come from this, at least; it seemed that if he fought creatures that were much too tough for him, then his dagger proficiency increased quicker. The higher the level of the creature he fought, the more it increased.

  Before he could react, the bear took one big, lumbering step forward and smacked him in the face with one of its claws. It felt like a double dose of pain; first the power of its blow made him feel like someone had hit him with a club, and then its claws slashed his cheek.

  115HP lost!

  [125ATT – 10DEF]

  A hundred and fifteen hitpoints? Yogi Bear’s attack was incredible! There was no way he’d be able to beat it. The best he could do would be to keep it busy long enough for Mav to escape. That meant he was going to have to hurt it and try to slow it down.

  He backed away from the bear and then activated force strike. He felt energy pour into his dagger. While it did, he kept an eye on the bear. Right now, Jack was vulnerable. He couldn’t attack while force strike was getting ready, and one hit from the bear would break his power and he’d have to start again.


  The bear swiped at him. Jack was far enough away that one deft step allowed him to avoid the bear’s attack. His dagger shook in his hand, and Jack could feel the unspent energy coursing through it. He lurched forward and stabbed his blade into the bear’s chest. The bear roared, and Jack smelled its horrible breath as it blasted his face.

  7 damage inflicted!

  [26 ATT – 19 DEF]

  Dagger Proficiency increased by 5%!

  [95% toward level 1]

  Force strike wasn’t having much of an effect! The bear still had two hundred and nineteen hitpoints left, since Jack had only taken eleven from it. Even though Jack’s attacks had been the equivalent of a flea bite, the bear was pissed. It roared again, this time so loudly that a bird took flight from a nearby tree.

  There was no chance he could win this. No chance of escape, either. He just had to keep it busy long enough for Mav to escape. He just wanted to do one thing before he died. He was so close to dagger level-two that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

  The bear charged him. Jack utilized all his speed in one fluent pivot, spinning around so that he was behind the bear now. He slashed it across the back. It was a weak attack, but he hadn’t had time to ready force strike. Besides, he didn’t think he could kill the bear now.

  5 damage inflicted!

  [23 ATT – 18 DEF]

  Dagger Proficiency levelled up to level 2!

  Attack Learned: Chain Slice

  [When using chain slice, one attack with your dagger will cause secondary damage to all enemies within a certain distance from your target. Consumes mana]

  He felt a glow spread through him as his new attack was committed to his character sheet, but there was no time for him to bask in it. No sooner had he dismissed the smoke-text, then the bear turned around. It growled at him. It stood tall on its two legs and it held its paws up. A mean glare burned from its gaze.

  “You’re going to kill me now, aren’t you?” Jack said.

  Then, as if in answer, the bear charged him.

  Chapter Twelve

  He woke up in his kingdom stone room. It wasn’t as if he’d been in any doubt about what had happened, but a message soon informed him that he had died. Not only that, but he had lost thirty flek, which was double the amount he’d lost the first time he had died, and his population morale had dropped from thirty-two to thirty. It looked like the penalties he suffered with death got worse each time, which made him decide to try really, really hard to never die again.

  Luckily, his loss of flek was off-set by the fact that Mav had looted the wolves that they’d killed. He’d skinned them and added them to Jack’s inventory. In the building room, Jack found that he could see inventory items, and that he could sell them. By selling the wolf pelts, he earned one hundred flek.

  All told, it wasn’t the worst day he’d ever had. He’d levelled up to level-six, learned a sweet new combat move, and he was seventy flek in profit. His only loss today had been a little bit of his dignity with his second death, and a drop in population morale.

  He brought up his character screen and checked where he was up to. All told, it made for much better reading than when he’d first seen his screen, days ago.

  Name: Jack Halberd

  Level: 6

  EXP toward next level: 13%

  Hitpoints: 390 / 390

  Stamina: 324 / 324

  Mana: 337 / 337

  Attack: 13 [23 with dagger]

  Defence: 10

  Speed: 24

  Skills

  Skill 1 – Truespeech Level 1

  Trueword: Modus – Alter the moods of others

  Skill 2 – Mind Manipulation Level 1

  Power: Mind Shield – Conjure a mind shield to stop others from breaching your mental defenses

  Skill 3 - Empty

  Skill 4 - Empty

  Weapon Proficiencies

  Dagger – Level 2

  Attack: Force Strike – Store energy for one powerful attack

  Attack: Chain Slice – Cause secondary damage to enemies near your target

  Kingdom Stats

  Flek: 202

  Population Morale: 30/100

  Population: 30

  Farmers:20

  Watchmen: 2

  Men at arms: 1

  Unoccupied: 7

  Well, despite having died twice already, he was making progress. He’d earned two skills, he’d levelled up his dagger proficiency, and he was making some small progress with getting the people of his kingdom on side. Small steps, but steps nonetheless.

  Later that evening, he was sat on his bed and reading a book on military command that he’d taken from the bookshelves in the building room. He heard someone knock on his door.

  “Come in Elena,” he said. He assumed it was her because she was unfailingly polite about entering rooms, and she was the only person apart from him who’d still me awake by now. Mav had drunk himself into a slumber hours ago.

  The door opened. Instead of Elena, Jack saw the first watchman that he’d appointed five days ago. This man was dressed in regular peasant garb, except that his shirt was much cleaner since he didn’t have to work in the fields. A ‘W’ painted red on his sleeve marked him as a watchman. A club was looped through a rope belt across his waist. The watchman almost stumbled into the room. At first, Jack thought he might be hurt, but he couldn’t see any wounds. The watchman wore a grave expression on his face.

  “A party has arrived on the outskirts bearing Lord Veik’s sigil,” he said. “Would you like me to engage?”

  “Engage as in…fight them?”

  The watchman nodded.

  “I admire your balls, man” said Jack. “Wait – that came out wrong. I mean you’ve got guts, and I like it. I like your guts. But let’s make it a rule that you don’t start fights that will get you killed.”

  The watchman breathed out, visibly relieved that Jack didn’t expect him to start a battle. “They’re in a closed carriage. There are guards on horseback escorting it.”

  He wondered if Lord Veik himself had decided to visit. The thought made him want to reach for his dagger. He pictured the Molde-infested horse that Veik had set loose, intending to ruin his crops. No, he told himself. Getting angry would be the wrong way to handle things. His kingdom wasn’t strong enough yet, and he needed to keep away from starting an all-out war.

  “Let them pass until they reach the drawbridge,” he said. “Keep them there and let ‘em stew a while. Stay in the castle and make lots of noise with your boots. I want them to think this place is less of a graveyard than it looks. After a while, bring them in.”

  “Shall I have them escorted to the meeting room?”

  “No – I don’t want him seeing any more of the castle that he should, and especially not the command wing.”

  “Where should I take them?”

  He checked his interior castle map. He needed somewhere that was out of the way. A place where Veik wouldn’t learn much about the interior of Jack’s castle. He studied the map for a few seconds, before finding what he needed.

  “Have them taken to the third study on the ground floor. I’d like you to stand guard outside while I have my meeting. Keep your club ready. If I knock twice on the table in quick succession, I want you to storm in, and start clubbing the hell out of them. Come to think of it, that will be the plan for my meetings from now on. Whenever you hear me knock twice on wood, you run to my aid and go crazy.”

  The watchman nodded. He fidgeted on his feet.

  “Is something wrong?” asked Jack.

  “Lord I …uh…have patrols to do.”

  The watchman’s face had gone pale. This was a big man with a heavy club; what could possibly have unnerved him so much? Discomfort was written all over him.

  “What is it about this visitor that scares you?”

  “Lord, I…”

  “Okay, don’t worry. Just stay guard outside. I won’t summon you unless it is absolutely necessary.”

  As the watchman
left the room, Jack paced. He checked that his dagger was in his sheath, and he made fists with his hands. It was time to play the lord again.

  How was a lord supposed to sit when receiving visitors? Jack didn’t know, but he hoped his current posture was somewhere close.

  At least he was happy with his choice of meeting room. The Castle Halberd builders weren’t content with just one study on the ground floor, and instead had designed three. Jack sat on a balloon-back chair in the third of them. It was a few minutes’ walk from the drawbridge and wouldn’t give his visitor chance to view much of the castle on his way there. That was for the better, since there was little to see.