Chapter 9
The second semester of my senior year had begun a week ago.
The entire group was meeting up to take on the next hidden boss from the Shadows of Forgotten Lords quest. IK had figured out the next couplet.
But we were playing the getting-to-know-you game while we waited for him to show.
IK was never late, but VA and SI didn’t seem worried.
We were already using voice-to-text, in preparation for the fighting.
VerdantArcher: That armor’s sweet looking. What is it?
With football season finally over, there were no more practices to watch.
Charisse was between plays, and I could always use the extra money.
Customers were yelling back and forth at each other and asking for food, drink, and computer help from the busy staff.
I looked back at the screen and VA’s message.
ScarlettSaber: It’s blood armor. Whenever someone melee hits me, it extracts a blood price from them. It also gives stat boosts to my blood sword, increasing the amount of damage it does and the percentage of my life that damage refills.
VerdantArcher: Wicked. I’ve got two pieces missing still before I complete my protector of the forest set. The silent shoes and the camouflage cloak both give me surprise benefits.
ShadowImp: My hard to see you set is almost complete. I just need the dagger, but it’s the hardest piece to find.
ScarlettSaber: I’m missing the blood moon. It’s a bloodstone ring that would increase my damage. Question. How did you do a mind splice if you’re a rogue?
ShadowImp: I have a special crown that allows me to read mind splice scrolls. So, I carry a few around for surprises because nobody expects a rogue to be able to do mind splice. It works like a charm.
ScarlettSaber: What armor does ivory knight have?
A scream from across the room penetrated my headset and made me jump. It must have been a good scream because I only saw happy players.
VerdantArcher: He’s got the cavalier dragon armor. That stuff is insanely good. It’s a step up from our rare sets.
ScarlettSaber: Is his complete?
ShadowImp: Nope. He’s missing the dragon’s eye, an opal amulet that increases his reaction time. When he gets the eye, he won’t ever be surprised.
Buzz himself called out some pizza orders. If IK didn’t show soon, I was going to force Buzz to accept my help.
ScarlettSaber: Where is he? What’s taking so long?
VerdantArcher: He’s finishing up a homework assignment.
ScarlettSaber: Do you know him? I r l?
ShadowImp: Yeah, we all know each other. We’re planning on being roommates in college.
So, unless they were all bio-girls pretending to be guys, or a bunch of weirdos pretending to be high schoolers, he had told the truth.
It wasn’t like I had ever questioned anything he told me, but I was naturally cautious.
And maybe a little curious. IvoryKnight in all his glowing blue glory finally appeared at the spawn point.
VerdantArcher: There you are. ScarlettSaber was getting antsy.
ScarlettSaber: Was not.
IvoryKnight: Sorry, real life called. Okay.
Today’s boss is going to be tricky. She’s located in a busy area.
We have to go to the forest right outside the main spawn town and find the ninth tree from the well, with three branches.
It will have a boulder on the left. We need to knock three times and call out to the spirit.
Be extra careful because she has special abilities that can affect male avatars. And keep an eye out for kill thieves.
He didn’t say anything to me, but I felt his hint at me, hiding behind a male avatar. If I had been using a female one, we would have an edge in the upcoming fight. Yet it was subtle enough that I was pretty sure he hadn’t told the others that I was a bio-girl.
I sighed slightly at the lost extra income but zeroed in my attention on COTSA and the sounds of DragonByte faded away. ScarlettSaber’s red armor stood out amongst the green of the forest. VA and SI faded right into the trees. Even IK barely stood out as his blue camouflaged him better than my red.
IK was right. The woods were full of n00bs and people wasting time with low-level mobs.
After what felt like hours—but was only about one—we found the specific tree.
What a pain in the rear it was finding a single tree in a forest. No one was nearby for the moment, but who knew how long that would last.
The dryad spirit made a giant shriek as she left the tree. Well, that wouldn’t bring anyone running...
I readied my weapons and abilities. So did the others as she gave a long-winded monologue about having her tree disturbed and males being the downfall of nature. Ya-di-ya-da.
Finally, my avatar could move. We quickly learned that physical weapons were useless against her, so the others started using their magic.
But I had an idea. The focus of both how to summon her and the diatribe she had subjected us to was her tree.
While the others kept her busy, I snuck behind her and started hacking away at the tree.
Sure enough, she gave a howl of rage and pain.
IvoryKnight: Great thinking, Scarlet.
I was proud of my idea, but a warmth also filled me at the use of a nickname.
It felt intimate, like our talks. She tried to attack me, but the others jumped between us, allowing me to increase my rhythm.
I noticed that my blood damage was working, sucking the health from her tree as if it were her body.
She used vines to slow me, growing them at the base of my feet and up over my arms.
ScarlettSaber: IK!
Something wrapped around my shoulder in real life. I started and turned toward the touch. It was just Buzz. My thumping heart slowed a little.
“Computer 42 have problem. You fix?”
I looked back at the fight and kept clicking the attack button as fast as I could. “Gimme a few minutes and I’ll take care of it.”
He left and I turned my attention back to the dryad boss.
In a few moments, the hold loosened on my avatar as I could speed up again.
Then the vines disappeared in a sweep of a blue sword.
My hero. He stood at my back, fending off the dryad, but I knew for a group that lacked a strictly magic user, they must be running low on abilities.
My fingers sped up—flying across the keyboard as I increased my chopping pace.
Every once in a while, she would send a mental blast at me, but my high stats helped me fend them off.
The little physical damage the blasts did was refilled as I continued to attack her tree body.
I had tuned out the guys’ chatter about the dryad and how IK was coordinating their attacks.
So I missed the warning they sent by a fraction of a second.
I was so focused on her health bar—it had a mere sliver left—that my brain processed the signal a moment too late. A blast knocked me off my feet.
Then a familiar figure appeared from behind the tree and stood over me for a second.
Gloating. He turned and took the last few swings, stealing the kill from our party before racing toward the safety of town.
I was actually a pretty easygoing girl, even if I didn’t make friends easily.
There were few people I completely disliked—like Stephanie.
But I was beginning to hate-to-the-depths-of-my-soul RogueStriker.
The loot box was also missing, so he’d had some help to get past the guys.
And the last couple of hours of effort had become worthless.
A boss from a secret quest should create some sort of separation from the busy world around, so griefers couldn’t come and steal a kill like that. I slammed down my headphones and scribbled madly in my idea book.
I’D JUST LEFT MY COMPUTER and headed toward number 42 to fix it so Buzz could sling pizzas, and I was all for it after that disappointing dryad boss and loot steal.
Stephanie and some guy brushed past me, heading for the snack bar.
Just what I needed. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her.
She continued in the opposite direction without so much as a glance my way.
I huffed. What was she even doing here? At least DragonByte had been a Stephanie-dragon-free zone, until now.
DragonByte staff was slammed in the kitchen.
The smell of baking bread and cheese filled the building along with the clang of oven doors and plastic plates thudding on the counter.
Irate at someone I couldn’t take it out on, I’d go for whipping a computer back into shape.
Work money would have to replace loot money.
A smoky voice carried above the crowd. It would be considered sexy if it wasn’t for the aggression carried in it.
I looked for the commotion. Of course. It was Stephanie—well, not her, but her boyfriend, I assumed—since she was hanging on him.
Number 42 was going to have to wait longer.
I pivoted and headed in their direction to diffuse the confrontation, but my steps stuttered as I took in the words. People were looking.
“So you’re ScarlettSaber. No wonder you refused to meet. You just pretended to be a bio-girl. Is that how you get your kicks?” the jerk asked.
Ni answered him. “I’m not ScarlettSaber. I was logging out for her. She was just using this computer. And I’m assuming she didn’t want to meet with you because you’re a jerk.”
Darn it. In my irritation, I’d forgotten to log out. And when had Ni shown up? I’d been so engrossed in playing that I hadn’t noticed him arrive at DragonByte. That was a first.
I hurried back toward the computer I’d been using before a crowd formed. The jerk’s hands closed into fists. I couldn’t wait until graduation because I was so over high school bullying. I wasn’t worried about Ni getting hurt or anything; I just didn’t want a fight in my workplace.