SpeedRunner (Tower of Babel Book 1) Read online

  His particular brand, the Order of Virtues, was a knightly brand. It marked him as someone of good moral standing and character, the reputation equivalent of starting as a Paladin. It led to slightly decreased shop prices and slightly improved relationship with nobles.

  And, oh yeah, it made every Evil Non-Humanoid aggro in a way larger radius.

  "Next we are going to go through how to equip your inventory while backing away from the scary goblin with the rusty hunk of metal." The description of the creature's weapon was rather accurate, less a blade than a triangle of rusted scrap metal sharpened to a point. The feral little thing was tossing it back and forth, one hand to the other with a toothy grin spreading widely over its disgusting features. Cayden could practically hear it humming 'Slice and Dice.'

  As the creature advanced, he retreated, left hand waving wildly in the air as he backed out of his character information and opened his inventory. His starter gear was all there, Albieth Steel breastplate, gauntlets and grieves, Ironwood round shield, and the ubiquitous beginner long sword. Each was equipped with but a tap of his fingers, the armor materializing overtop of his clothing, the shield glowing its way into existence strapped to his arm. A final touch and that hand too was now busy, as a shimmering blade formed into mundane steel just as the goblin lunged.

  It was fast. Like many his age who were stuck waiting to play, Cayden had occupied some of his time with the suddenly burgeoning business of martial training. He'd been passionately working on his sword and board for eight months in the lead up to this exact moment, but now that it was here he realized just how wasted those classes were. This level one creature was faster than his most talented instructor had ever been.

  Fortunately, the same was now true of him as well.

  His shield slammed down between the rusty blade and his tender innards. The weapon's pointed tip caught on the wood and a twist of Cayden's arm very nearly wrenched it from the gibbering creature's grasp, forcing it to retreat a step. At the same time, red damage numbers flashed into view at the corner of his HUD.

  Goblin Skirmisher hits You for 16 Physical. (Block)

  In MMORPG terms, Babel had an Action Combat system. There was no roll to hit, no accuracy stats. If you hit you hit, and where you hit mattered a great deal. A hit to the head or other vitals had the possibility of dealing double, triple, or more critical damage. By contrast, a blow taken on the armor, or especially the shield, left him subject to only minor chip damage. A blocked blow did only 20% of its baseline damage, provided it didn't exceed the shield's defense threshold, and skills could reduce that even further.

  The goblin looked unimpressed. Cayden was armed now, no longer the easy target it had hoped to prey upon. But it couldn't back down now, few creatures in Babel appeared to have intelligence enough to cut and run. Instead, the beast adjusted its tactics, circling him like a large cat rather than simply driving forward for the kill, waiting for an opening.

  Cayden gave it one, and the goblin predictably lunged for it. Youtube streams of the early level had taught him that goblin combat tactics weren't exactly stellar. Their weapons were inadequate against armor so they had to aim for gaps, trying to get in close where they could shiv a player multiple times for high damage. They were among the game's weakest enemies, and like most starter MMO creatures they weren't much of a threat one on one.

  So why is my heart pounding like this? Cayden thought between heartbeats, interposing his shield between the faux opening and the charging goblin. The creature drew up short, realizing its error, but Cayden pressed the attack. Wood slammed against the creature's face, and before it could fully recover he lashed out with his shoulder, the sheer weight of him bowling the gangly three-foot demi-human to the ground.

  You hit Goblin Skirmisher for 130 Physical (Critical)

  You hit Goblin Skirmisher for 20 Physical (Resist) [Knockdown]

  The resist warning was to be expected. Improvised physical attacks typically did little in the way of damage, particularly when struck against armor, but he'd been more interested in the knockdown. It gave him the space he needed to raise his blade over the goblin as it scrambled to its feet.

  “Skill Use: Southern Cross!”

  The sensation that followed that shout was like nothing he'd ever felt. A warmth washed over him as if his heart was pumping fire instead of blood. He'd heard others describe it as an out of body experience, but that didn't feel quite right to him. He was still in his body, still seeing the goblin before him, hearing its chittering cry of anger and feeling the trickle of sweat across his temple. But it was as if he'd gone from being the driver, to simply being a passenger.

  He had no control over himself as his body shifted its stance, gripping the blade more tightly as it began to glow with an unnatural golden light. Then it swung twice in rapid succession, the first strike cleaving the goblin from head to groin, while the second swept through it from right knee to left hip.

  Your Southern Cross hit Goblin Skirmisher for 315 Physical (Critical)

  Your Southern Cross hit Goblin Skirmisher for 98 Physical

  Neither strike drew blood from the goblin, though not for lack of trying. Sure enough, the goblin had wounds, but they were simply dark gashes in its flesh, flaked with ash. Its expression was frozen at the moment of the second blow, a mixture of incredulity and pain that lingered on its features even as they began to harden. Within seconds the already dark green flesh of the goblin had blackened entirely and started to peel away in flakes, ashes caught in a nonexistent wind. A few moments more and the entirety of the creature had scattered, the individual motes disappearing altogether almost as quickly as they took flight.

  All in all, it took less than ten seconds for the goblin to vanish.

  You killed Goblin Skirmisher.

  You have earned 19 XP.

  "Dadada dada dadadaaa..." Cayden mumbled the Final Fantasy victory fanfare, still uncomfortable in his skin. He had regained full control over himself the moment the skill was complete, but he now knew why more than one player had rerolled as a different class after mere minutes after trying their luck as a melee fighter. The sensation felt as invigorating as it did wrong.

  Light glinted at him from the ground, and Cayden smiled in spite of the moment's discomfort. He hadn't seen it fall, but as he leaned down, he caught sight of a fist-sized crystal in the tall grass that had fallen from the remains of the Goblin's collapsing body. At his touch, the crystal pulsed with light, and itself crumbled to nothing while a new message appeared on his HUD:

  Goblin Remains

  27 Zeni

  Goblin Fingerbone

  Goblin Shank

  Torn Bandana

  Not exactly a massive haul. The bottom two items were vendor trash that would be worth a few more Zeni, but the finger bones were a nice catch. They had a drop rate of something like 0.05% and served as a crafting reagent for both of the professions that he planned on taking. Lucky start.

  "So... that happened." Cayden laughed to the empty air. In the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten he was on camera. Good thing he'd kept his composure.

  Mostly.

  Chapter Four

  "So, as you saw, skill use is the name of the game." Cayden had spent a few minutes in the aftermath of his first battle just trying to orient himself, to draw down from the adrenaline high. But now it was time to get back to business.

  Briefly toying with the setting menu of the AR system, Cayden made his twitch chat in the lower left of his field of vision. As expected his stream was going wild, showing a little over thirty-six thousand viewers. At least he wasn't talking to himself. Then again, considering that there were more than a few comments lamenting the fact the goblin hadn't gutted him, perhaps being alone wouldn't have been so bad after all.

  "I didn't get a good, normal swing in with my sword there, but to give you an idea, here is the typical damage on my longsword," Cayden said, pulling up its stats on his paper doll.

  Beginner Longsword

  A
common one-handed blade used for centuries by the nobility.

  One-Hand Damage 40-90

  Required Level: N/A

  Required Strength: 8

  Required Dexterity: 4

  Durability: 24/24

  “By way of comparison, here is my armor.”

  Albieth Steel Bracers

  A set of Bracers made from common Albieth Steel

  Defense: 60

  Required Level: N/A

  Required Strength: 12

  Durability: 20/20

  Albieth Steel Breastplate

  A breastplate made of common Albieth Steel

  Defense: 60

  Required Level: N/A

  Required Strength: 12

  Durability: 20/20

  Albieth Steel Cuisses

  A set of Cuisses made from common Albieth Steel

  Defense: 60

  Required Level: N/A

  Required Strength: 12

  Durability: 20/20

  Ironwood Round Shield

  A round shield formed of interlocking Ironwood

  Defense threshold: 120

  Required Level: N/A

  Required Strength:10

  Durability: 30/30

  Common Albieth Steel. Cayden snorted. Albieth Steel was, admittedly, the most common metal used by beginner craftsmen, but it felt almost ridiculous the way the game treated it so casually. In reality, Albieth steel was yet another physics-defying wonder, uncommon almost by definition More durable, flexible and lightweight than aluminum by order of magnitude; the material was revolutionizing half a dozen industries at once. Hell, Cayden had flown here on one of the new supersonic jets built with an airframe of common Albieth steel.

  "Even as a hybrid class, I'm a little bit more tanky than I am fighty. If I hit myself in the chest with my weapon, I'd do an average of about fifteen damage, not terribly threatening. Which is where my skills come in." Cayden wiped his brow with one hand while the other queued up the skills screen. He hadn't had a chance to look at it yet, but he probably could have recited everything he found there from memory after his months of preparation.

  Southern Cross

  Type: Active Combat Skill

  Skill Level: Novice Level 1. 5% to next level.

  Effect: Swing twice in rapid succession. 50% increased damage on each attack.

  Cost: 150 TP

  Shield Bash

  Type: Active Combat Skill

  Skill Level: Novice Level 1.

  Effect: Strike foe with your shield for main hand weapon damage plus 1-second stun effect. (Diminishing returns apply)

  Cost: 200 TP

  Grasp the Earth

  Type: Stance (Self) [Earth]

  Skill Level: Novice Level 1

  Effect: 400% HP recovery per second. Critical block enabled. Skill ends if the user moves more than five feet from the original location.

  Cost: 100 TP. 5 TP per second.

  Taunt

  Type: Active Combat Skill

  Skill Level: Novice Level 1

  Effect: Greatly increase aggro against all nearby enemies.

  Cost: 100 TP.

  "These are the four primary starting skills for Guardians. I will gain another primary skill once every even level until level ten, and then every ten levels after that." Skill choice was another big reason Guardian had found its way onto his radar as a solid class for his run. Good starter attack, healing and tank skills all in a single package. "In addition to these class skills, Babel has a pretty huge list of common skills, though none of them will pop up in our skill log until we've gained at least one level in them. For example..."

  Cayden turned his attention away from screens and cameras to focus out on the horizon. Far in the distance, he could see a slight flicker of movement. An animal, or perhaps a player running back and forth. It was difficult to pick out fully, but he didn't even really have to see it for his purposes. He just had to try.

  New Skill Learned!

  Eagle Eyed

  Type: Passive

  Skill Level: Novice Level 1

  Effect: Improve vision at long distances by 5%

  Took it long enough. Cayden thought grumpily. He'd been staring for nearly half a minute at the horizon, and he must have looked like a complete goon to his audience.

  "Eagle Eyed. There are a ton of these, movement speed increases, swimming, language skills, etc. A lot of them aren't all that useful, and I won't be going out of my way to train the vast majority of them unless I lack for something better to do."

  "My primary skills, on the other hand," Cayden continued. "Are going to be crucial to my success. Southern Cross is solid DPS; Shield Bash will allow me to stun enemies out of really nasty special abilities, Grasp the Earth will allow me to fight multiple mobs at once if I need to, and the critical block will let me tank like you wouldn't believe."

  The only dud in the group was taunt.

  It wasn't that he was antisocial or anything of the sort, other people just didn't fit into his planned run. He'd had to decide pretty early on whether he was going to try and account for other players, and the sad fact was, he didn't know anyone here, at least not anyone who played seriously enough to keep up with him. He couldn't rely on pickup groups, or finger-crossed hopes of finding a consistent one, so he'd chosen a solo route by default.

  Two greatest words in the English language. Cayden thought wryly.

  "I picked a class with no passive abilities because while they can have the lowest lows, they can also have the highest highs. A passive tank can reliably kill equal level mobs, but they always have to run at the sight of something a few levels higher because they don't scale well at all. If I play well, I can kill something four or five levels higher than me. If I mess up, however, I could go down against something that the passive tank wouldn't even blink at."

  "Which segues, poorly I guess, into my final point. Active skills. I'm sure you all caught onto my big boy Shonen moment in the fight there with the southern cross? Well, that is what is called an active skill." He reached to the side, plucking his sword from where he'd planted it tip deep in the dirt after his battle. "Active skills are system assisted maneuvers that you can find in just about any class. To use them you simply have to possess enough TP, MP, or occasionally even HP and call out for it. Your mirror, assuming you have it on you, will hear the command and activate the skill. For example."

  “Skill Use: Shield Bash.”

  Heat built in him again as his body moved of its own volition. His right leg slid back, shield arm moving to interpose itself between himself and thin air. Once he had finished adopting the proper starting position, he leaped into action, a wild swing of his left arm dragging his round shield through an invisible opponent before at last returning him control of his limbs.

  "Not going to lie, it feels weird as hell." Cayden laughed. "Other classes have similar abilities. An ice mage might cast snowball by saying Skill Use: Snowball, at which point the system would make him adopt proper posture, carry out the correct gestures while speaking in tongues. However, there is a way around that."

  Cayden rolled his shoulders, straightening his back and pacing for a few moments before lifting his sword above his head and adopting a particular stance. He had to shift back and forth on the balls of his feet for several moments, bending his knees here, turning his hips there before he was satisfied enough to call out. “Personal Skill Use: Southern Cross!”

  His sword sparked with life and light, a similar but distinct feeling of warmth washing over him. He hesitated for an instant, not quite sure when to begin the motion, and in that moment the light on his blade died, the feeling of power leaving him. His combat log told him what he already knew.

  Personal Skill Use Activated: Southern Cross. -150 TP.

  Personal Skill Use Failed: Southern Cross. -150 TP.

  I know the developer wanted to put in a penalty, but geez. His failure to correctly follow through fully doubled the skill cost, taking over a third of his TP in a single attemp
t.

  “The problem with the way around that is that with physical skills it is like trying to do some frame perfect moves on Mario Bros. If you swing too early, or too late, the whole thing fails and it doubles the cost on top of that.” Cayden planted the sword once more and rubbed at his temples with a gloved hand. He knew from watching training videos that Personal Skill Use wasn't easy, but he had a feeling he'd been underestimating just how hard it was going to be to master. “Used properly, personal skill use can allow you to throw your skills with ease, avoid the setup danger, cancel out of them mid usage and generally make them useful in PVP since you won't be insanely predictable. Used poorly, well... I'm sure you can figure out what happens then.”

  “On that note, I'm going to cut the feed for a few minutes while I indulge in a different type of feed.” He looked longingly to the homemade lunch that had gone terribly neglected. “Then we are in for some good old fashioned, quality grinding.”

  * * *

  One of the first stumbling blocks for new players to Babel was trying to treat the first level like any other MMO. Two years after release date in any typical MMO, the beginner areas would essentially be an abandoned wasteland, seen only by a trickle of new players, alts and the random cluster of somewhat creepy role-players. There simply wasn't an incentive for existing players to spend much time in the opening areas of the game.

  That was not true of Babel. In fact, during his research, Cayden had stumbled onto a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center that showed, among other things, that the vast majority of players never advanced higher than the tenth floor of the tower. Considering the massive influx of farming corporations over the last few years, this shouldn't have been as surprising as it was, though their number for the first floor alone was staggering. 8.4 million players.