The Same Old Locker Scene
"LET ME OUT! PLEASE!" Taylor Hebert screamed through the soreness of her throat. Her fists rapped the locker door, although the tight space restricted her efforts. Taylor sobbed, praying to whatever God out there to help her out.
{GAIA LISTENS TO HER CHILDREN'S CALLS. NO LONGER SHALL PARASITES REIGN SUPREME.}
[Main Quest Received: Shard Breaker]
There was a searing pain in her head that made her scream. It felt like something in her brain was being torn. She cried harder, her limited thrashing
[Warning: Due to outside interference, the Gamer system is running at minimum capacity. Clear Main Quest: Shard Breaker to unlock functions.]
A blue hologram popped in front of her tear-streaked face.
'W-what? What's this thing? Can it help me get out?'
[Dimensional Dungeon Found]
[Recommended Level: 10 – 20]
[Enter Dungeon?]
'I'll go anywhere but here! I'll do anything! Please, just get me out of here!'
[Warning: You do not meet the recommended level for this dungeon. Are you certain you wish to continue?]
'YES! YES! PLEASE JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE!'
From Taylor Hebert's perspective, the locker disappeared, replaced by a cool rough surface.
From the world's perspective, Taylor Hebert disappeared from the planet, mucking up every single precognitive predictions. For three days, no one knew what the future held.
I fell to the ground with a groan. The cool hard ground felt amazing, compared to the cramped and hot and messy and smelly and horrible and-
[Gamer's Mind Active]
A blue screen broke me from my steadily declining mental health.
[You are currently in a Safe Zone.]
'It's the hologram thing again.' I thought as I wiped my face with my jacket sleeves. I was surprisingly clean, except for the remnants of tears on my face.
I pushed myself off of the ground before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort of standing up after the adrenaline and despair brought by the locker.
"Safe Zone? What's that? And where am I?" I asked out loud. The... holographic thing in front of me, disappeared for a split second before it was replaced by a much larger hologram.
[Dungeons: There are two types of dungeons, Dimensional and Overworld. Dimensional Dungeons occur in the presence of two or more Shards while Overworld Dungeons occur in Territories in the real world. You are currently in a Dimensional Dungeon.]
I feel like I should be terrified, confused, or at least feeling anything, but there's an eerie calm in my head. Am I being Mastered on top of getting kidnapped by a Tinker? Uber and Leet? No, I doubt they'd go out of their way to fuck around a worthless school like Winslow.
[Dimensional Dungeon: Contains three Zones: Safe Zone, Normal Zone, and the Boss Room. No Monster may exist in the Safe Zones. Clear three Sub-bosses in the Normal Zone to unlock the Boss Room.]
At least some of the terms were familiar, like Dungeons and Monsters. My memories were a bit fuzzy, but those terms were commonly used when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons with my parents.
Dad. Shit. That's one reason to get out of here quickly. I should have a lot of time, those bitches did this to me first thing in the morning after all, but I should move now.
I stood up, wiping the non-existent dirt from my pants "How do I fight my way out of here? I know what I have to do but I don't think I'll be able to do it with my stick arms."
There was no response from the hologram thing. I sighed. Of course nothing is that easy. I closed the pop-up screen by mentally willing it to disappear. Without the blue thing, I finally managed to see where I am.
I blinked, then looked backwards. My locker was behind me.
'I'm still in Winslow?'
I walked towards the locker I was shoved in, tugging the door open. It didn't budge. I tried another, one that didn't have a lock, only to be disappointed when the same thing happened. I approached another and was startled by the white outline that popped up.
I pulled the locker door and found my very first loot.
[Wooden Bat – Common]
- Does 2 * STR Damage
- Chance to Inflict [Stunned].
'Alright, I got a weapon. I should probably explore more just to see if there's something else here.'
[+1 WIS for good decision making]
'Wait. STR? WIS? That's definitely an abbreviation for strength. It's in that Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheet.'
I hummed, trying to remember the specific word used.
"I'm pretty sure it's Attributes." Nothing?
"Hmm, what about Statistics?"
I jumped when another blue screen popped in front of me. God damn it. It'll take a bit before I get used to that.
[Taylor Hebert – The Gamer]
Level – 1 (0/150 EXP until Level Up)
HP – 100/100 (10 HP/Min)
MP – 50/50 (5.5 MP/Min)
SP – 50/50 (5 SP/Min)
Statistics
STR – 10
VIT – 10
END – 10
INT – 10
WIS – 11
CHA – 10
LUK – 10
Points – 0
Status Effects
[Gamer's Mind] – Passive resistance to [Mental Attacks]. Calms the user. (Permanent)
[Gamer's Body] – Converts the body into a video game character. Debilitating effects turn into [Status Effects]. (Permanent)
[Blessings of Gaia] - +100% EXP received upon [Monster] kills. +100% EXP for Main Quest Completion. (Temporary - 4 Months)
[Gaia's Shroud] – Protects the user from [Scrying] and [Precognition]. (Temporary - 4 Months)
I blinked at the information. "Oh wow. Okay, I'm in a video game. Thanks, Gaia."
[+1 LUK from ?]
I smiled faintly. "Alright, I need to know what I'm supposed to do here, so... Quests?"
[Main Quests]
[Shard Breaker I]
Main Objective: Escape the Dungeon.
Bonus Objective: Eliminate 200 enemies.
Rewards: 10,000 EXP, 1 Shard Box, 1 Gacha Coin, [Queen Administration] Shard and Title.
Bonus Rewards: 5,000 EXP, 1 Gacha Coin.
"Alright, seems like a pretty standard quest. Destroy everything then get out."
I moved towards the other lockers, tugging open the ones with white outlines. I also found a first aid box attached to the wall of the girl's locker room. I looted the lockers and the box, gaining a disappointing amount of items. There were some drugs though, and a kitchen knife for some reason.
[First Aid Kit]
-Restores 1/2 of total HP.
[Stimulant]
+100% SP/Min regen for 5 minutes.
-Chance of Status Ailment: [Crashing] upon expiration of effects.
[Kitchen Knife – Common]
- Does 1.5 * STR damage.
- Chance to inflict [Bleeding] which deals -5 HP per second.
[Spare Shirt – Common]
+ 1% Damage Reduction.
- Just a spare set of clothes. Better than nothing.
Now where do I put these? My backpack's missing, probably thrown away by those fuckers because why not add more pain to the misery.
'Wait. Video games have those[Inventory]-'
I was interrupted by a flash of blue. A blue screen with a pretty cool and slightly disappointing 3D rendition of me in the left hand side, with boxes beside it containing the clothes I'm wearing. Separate to that, on the right hand side were empty boxes.
I grabbed the knife, and it appeared on my [Left Hand] equip slot. Then, I slowly pushed the knife in one of the empty boxes on the right. It disappeared silently, both from my actual hand and the equip slot, appearing at one of the boxes. Cool.
I shoved my loot into my [Inventory] and approached the locker room's door, bat raised. Time to face whatever the fuck this is.
I finally encountered one of the monsters after stalking the halls of Winslow for about three minutes.
[Skill Created and Activated: Sneak] Hiding behind a trash can, I peeked at it.
It looked human, slightly shorter than me, except that it was made out of crystals. The[Crystal Minion], as I called it in my head, was standing there, in the middle of the hallway, menacingly. Facing the opposite direction of where I was. Still, menacingly.
[Skills Obtained:]
[Sneak] (LVL 1) (5 SP/Min)
- Hides presence from enemies.
[Observe] (LVL 1) (No Cost)
- Provides basic information about target.
Cool! I don't have to assume shit and rush it half-cocked just to figure out how to beat it!
"Observe!"
[Crystal Minion] LVL 3
50 HP
0 MP
Description: A defender of a Shard, generally used as cannon fodder.
Three hits to kill with my bat. Alright. Okay. Cool. Let's do this.
[Skill Created and Activated: Brave Roar]
[Skill Activated: Sprint]
I exited my cover with a roar, running towards the minion.
[Target Startled]
[Skill Created and Activated: Heavy Swing]
It jumped up a bit before turning towards me, but it was too late. I swung my suddenly glowing bat against its head.
[-30 HP]
[Target Stunned]
The monster fell down while something swirling appeared over its head. I hit it again, barely noticing the pop up of[Hit! -20 HP] as the[Crystal Minion] shattered into a million pieces.
I grinned triumphantly. If this is what my enemies are like, then I'd be out of here in no time!
[Post Action Results:]
[Loot Obtained]
+ 50 EXP
+ $10
Holy shit. I get money from killing monsters? This is amazing. I mean, sure, I probably need to find out if they're legit, but that's a problem for when I get out.
[Skills Obtained:]
[Sprint] (LVL 1) (5 SP/Min)
- Running but slightly better. 2% Increase to Movement Speed when Active.
- Passively increases END by 1%. Scales with level.
[Brave Roar] (LVL 1) (10 MP)
- Area of Effect [Stun]that lasts for 1 second. Duration scales with level.
[Heavy Swing] (LVL 1) (10 SP)
- Increases damage inflicted by half of base damage. Affects Critical Hits.
- Chance Increased for [Stun] and [Shatter].
[Armed Combat Mastery – Melee] (LVL 1) (Passive)
- Increases Base Damage by 1%.
- Increases Critical Chance by 0.5%.
Well these skills make my job easier. I can cast [Heavy Swing] five times before I have to rely on basic attacks. Same goes for [Brave Roar], allowing me to stun the monsters for at least 5 seconds. Theoretically.
My mind whirred, using its 10 [INT] points to good use.
The combo I used earlier wasn't really viable. The fight took way too much Stamina Points. 5 for [Sneak], 5 for [Sprint], 10 for [Brave Roar], and another 10 for [Heavy Swing].
30 points of Stamina for a single [Crystal Minion]. More than half of my total SP.
I'll have to manage my skill usage. Spam [Observe] instead of using [Sneak] beforehand, try to walk slowly instead of rushing in... Now that I think about it, [Heavy Swing] and [Brave Roar] kind of overlap effects, except for the level of certainty which is nullified by the [Wooden Bat]'s buff.
Alright. I'll try to sneak up on my enemies without actually using [Sneak], then bash their heads in and pray to Gaia that it gets stunned with [Heavy Swing]. That way, I'll only use 10 SP per fight.
[+1 INT and WIS for planning]
Now, time to find out if my plan works.
After my Stamina regenerates, at least.
A/N: Well. Here we are. Hopefully something different, despite the very unoriginal beginning. Criticisms accepted, but my heart is weak so please be kind. Review, no flames please.